The Cruelty of The Gods - Part 1

Beam bit his lip, the reality of his defeat setting in. An emotion he hated bubbled up and ate at him. "Damn it," he cursed, as he forced himself to deal with it.

"Heh, you really are trash, aren't ya lad?" Dominus said, but his smile as he said it didn't quite match his words. He put his hand on Beam's head and ruffled his scruffy hair. "To be honest, watching you there, for a second, I thought you might go all the way. You have no reason to be bitter about this defeat – you fought an enemy you had no business fighting, and you even managed a good attempt at complete victory. Frankly, I'm stunned. Seeing you make such progress in just a week – it's frankly unnatural. You should be pleased with yourself, lad."

Indeed, when he'd arrived and he'd seen Beam's last charge – he'd been sure he had it. Dominus was a man with such a wealth of experience under his belt, that seeing the conclusion of a Second Boundary conflict moves in advance was far from being a difficult feat.