The End of This Stage and Play

"We should kill him. He's been notorious for causing more harm than good. I don't see why we shouldn't consider him our enemy right now. You know damn well that he can escape those binds whenever he wants."

"I said wait! He's a Tetsudo for God's sake, and a powerful one at that, we are not important enough to make a decision like that. Plus, the rosemetal is being shipped in tomorrow, and those things are completely immune to heat, we'll be able to lock him down easily."

Not the best thing to talk about so loudly. Plus, I already figured out how to beat rosemetal. I muse about these things as I listen in on their conversation, but I don't voice my thoughts.

Fiao had left with the rest of the army to continue their forward march to Evank soon after we had said our goodbyes. As for me, I guess I'm staying behind, it's expected, but... I'm not too sure what's awaiting me. In any case, I've already made up my mind, if I'm told to fight I will fight, and if I'm told to die,

well, I guess that would be the end of me.

I was in the middle of a great big field, two large wooden pikes driven into the ground, each holding chains shackling my wrists, it was a very insecure binding compared to previous times, but it was made with the expectation that I could escape at any time. I was surrounded on all sides at a distance by soldiers with bows, standing next to them were soldiers carrying large shields in order to guard against crossfire. In an open field like this, I was just a sitting duck.

Guess they learned, something like this would probably be a challenge to get away from, not that I particularly want to get away.

What would I do then? Live the rest of my life out in some remote mountainside like a hermit? Maybe switch sides? Well, now that I've found out that Fiao is fighting for Lyster that option is out the window.

I continue thinking about Fiao, there's a very real chance that this was the last time I'll ever see her, I cringe at the possibility, we parted on very awkward terms, I would like to see her at least one more time to smooth things out.

"Man..." I close my eyes and try to get some rest, nothing else to do really.

I open my eyes, the scenery had changed, the sky was gone, replaced by an endlessly massive tree, its branches spreading out, weaving a delicate roof of interlocking branches. I look down to the base of the tree. The ground was charred and blackened, the once green grass and dirt that littered the land all burned up, some places still on fire.

"Why do I see you right now?" I ask the man sitting down, his back leaning to the tree.

"Curious, I was wondering why you've never seen me before. Maybe you've only noticed me now cause of the flames?" He replies, a harsh smile plastered on his face.

He was on fire, immolated with golden embers, I watch cautiously as his flames lick at the root of the tree, threatening to embed deeper into the wood of the tree, setting the whole thing ablaze.

"Father, this tree is mine, get away from there now." I say harshly, indeed, the man before me was somehow my father, even when sitting down, the man still seemed to have a presence which towered over me.

"I am not your father, that man is dead." The man spits on the ground, which causes the ground around him to combust into flame. "Good riddance too, losing so shamefully to the water mana like that, guess he got too comfortable living as a king for the past couple years."

"However, I can tell that you haven't been living too comfortably for the past couple years." He says, ignoring my threat.

"Who are you?" I ask with no hint of falter in my voice.

"A little gift your father left you before passing, guess I'm what people would consider to be the fire mana, and I..." He points his finger up the tree. "Consume all." A twisted jet of fire shoots out of his finger tips, extending all the way into the branches and the sky.

I watch calmly as the flames simply pass through the leaves and branches, causing no damage whatsoever. "Heh, thought I would try to scare you for a bit there." He chuckles. "One day that is going to work though, I mean look around you, you're already on fire."

"You sure talk a lot." I say before stepping a bit closer, there was absolutely nothing about this thing that I liked.

"What are you going to do? Try and kill me?"

"Yes." I step forward and try to cut his head off with a sword of wind. However, the second my blade gets close to his neck, my body suddenly freezes up, an unfamiliar fear gripping my arms.

"Can't just kill parts of yourself that easily. I'm going to stay under this tree whether you like it or not." The man taps the blade, slicing his finger. I instantly feel something sharp bite my finger as well. I look down at my hand in disbelief, fresh blood oozing out of my finger.

"See? Although, you could actually probably had gotten rid of me for a long time, but... it's gotten a lot harder for you now."

"What the hell are you talking about? Stop speaking in riddles."

"Well, I don't really care you if understand me. If you continue down this road you'll find out soon enough. Although, just remember, I am not your enemy, I'm just an observer."

He raises his arms in a display of grandeur. "I'll keep this place nice and warm until next time."

I wake up to the sound of marching, I open my eyes then look across the field. "Hey this looks kinda familiar." I murmur.

It was that woman again, Stronl... Third time we've met, the last two times not being very pleasant experiences. Her being here... means I'm probably going to die.

"Another person that likes to speak in riddles." I say amusingly as she approaches me, I did hold a bunch of ill will towards her, but for some reason that feeling was gone now.

Stronl stops marching and plants the shield she was carrying into the ground, others around her doing the same. "Cain! Your actions have long since passed the threshold for being trustworthy. I trust you understand this and are prepared for the consequences."

I nod my head, a little bit disappointed at the ultimate outcome.

"Very well, then let us carry through with your execution, I too am sorry it had to end up this way." She begins walking forward, shield in hand, made out of pure rosemetal from what I could tell, spear also made with the same metal. I follow the tip of the spear with my eyes, tracking its sharp point, swaying from side to side as she walks closer and closer.

"I don't care anymore." I suddenly say out of the blue, not even intentionally.

Stronl tilts her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"A little bit ago, you asked me whether I think I'm a good or bad person, I don't care anymore." I crack a smile. "Just thought I'd throw that out there before I die, probably not the answer you wanted, but it's what I truly think."

Stronl blinks for a couple seconds before thrusting her spear forwards, quickly plunging my body into agony as she tears off a chunk of my shoulder.

"Aghhhhhh, gurg..." I clench my teeth hard, trying to stop myself from screaming out. I begin writhing around subconsciously, as if trying to shake off the twisting and turning manglers running through my body.

"W-agh... wh-what are you doing? Kikikikill me.." I speak, having difficulty even getting words out of my mouth.

"That's odd, are you not angry at me for this unnecessary cruelty?" Stronl inquires; she could have easily ended me right there.

"iffff, that's what you wantttt... te-te-te-to do." I let out of a scream right after saying these words despite trying my best to stop myself.

She then leans into my ears and whispers. "Alright, then avoid this."

I look down to see her spear rocketing towards my stomach. Immediately my entire body turns into fire, the wind from the force of her thrust scattering the flames of my body backwards, I then rematerialize tumbling through the ground, I cry out in pain as the ground scrapes against my shoulder.

Instantly the soldiers around me unsheathe their swords, every last one of them equipped head to toe in rose metal. Stronl raises her hand, calling for all of them to back down.

I shiver in pain as Stronl slowly walks towards me, pointing her spear at my throat. "I'm not going to tell you anything this time. You decide yourself if you want to avoid it or not." Wait what? Thousands of memories flash through my mind at once, none of them pleasant, every one of them making me rather die.

Stronl then takes her spear away from my throat and removes her gauntlets, exposing her bare skin to the outside world. She then points her spear at my throat once more. What are you doing?! You're going to get burned if I turn into fire!

I watch in slow motion as Stronl rears her arm back, purposefully giving me ample time to react. Well? What do I do now? Do I want to die? With how the past couple of years have been going; it seems tempting. My mind struggles and turns as I am forced to use my own independent thought once more.

The spear begins moving forward. Live or die, live or die, if I choose to live, I'll burn her arms, maybe even permanently damage them, it just seems... Selfish.... Maybe that was the point of her doing that, to put this pressure on me.

As the spear draws closer to my throat, I begin internalizing my whole world, my values, my philosophies, my desire to see Fiao, my very being.

My name is Cain, and I am...

I am...

Greedy.

The Tetsu inside my body begins to swirl and swirl. Surprised at how quickly the nature of my Tetsu changed, I open my palms and let out a stream of wind. Tilting my head to the right, her spear gets knocked off course by my wind, scraping against the side of my neck and lodging itself into the grass beside me, my neck now resting against her bare arm.

For a moment we both freeze.

"Any more of these tests?" I look up into her eyes and ask.

"I've seen plenty enough, I firmly believe that you are now useable." Stronl nods her head in affirmation.

I close my eyes in exhaustion, my body slowly going into shock. Useable huh? Strange, a couple weeks ago and I would have never thought that I would be this willing to slave myself for royalty. Heh, my old self seems like such a distant memory at this point. I don't care about what people want to do with me; the only thing I will never do is let that man's flames reach my tree.

I wake up to Stronl sitting by my side on the ground cross legged, shuffling through mounds of paperwork, while I was lying flat on the ground, and in a pleasant surprise I was not restrained whatsoever.

I touch my shoulder gingerly. There was a nasty scar, but all the skin and muscle seemed to have regrown back, it was a true miracle of Anku.

"Hi." Was all I could think to say.

"Why hello." Stronl doesn't even look away from her papers as she says this.

I wait patiently for her to continue talking, but she stays silent. This continues for the next hour until she finally sets the papers aside and stands up.

"I apologize, but I didn't want to break concentration." She says. "You must be curious as to what's going to happen to you now yes?"

I was tempted to sarcastically say 'no' but I control myself. "Yes, what am I going to do from now on?" I sit up as I say this.

"Now that they know that both of our Tetsudo are on the offensive, we are very susceptible to a flank. So we're going back to the capital until our scouts have sufficiently gathered enough info to confirm if the enemy is coming or not. Don't forget, your reputation is still in shambles, so actively fighting in the front lines might cause harm to moral."

"As expected." I nod my head, shame Fiao and I would be separated for quite a while longer. "By the way, I still don't really understand that good or bad question, can you explain it to me?" I ask.

"I asked that question because you have to be willing to be just a tool." Stronl says bluntly. "And tools do not have a sense of morality, you are going to see good people on both sides, you're going to see bad people on both sides, none of that matters when the victors write the history-books. The ones who win are the good people. At least… That's how I think of it. There's no doubt Yesenia has a very different outlook on this." Stronl admits.

"So yes, your answer of 'don't care' was actually perfect for me." Stronl continues. "All I needed was to test your candidness."

I sit up off the ground and look at my hands; I have to be willing to be a tool huh? Someone with no individual thought other than to serve the country. I think back to the dream I had, somehow, I knew that that place looked much different before, probably full of fresh green grass and wildlife, something must have happened recently to char the ground like that.

"Stronl, I think… if I fully give up on my free will something bad is going to happen." I say hesitantly.

Stronl rests her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, once the war is over you are free to reclaim it. After all, that's why I gave you a choice in the final test. Keep that ember locked away somewhere and don't lose it. If there ever comes a point when I completely lose sight of my humanity trying to win, I permit you to reignite it."