#galdun

TL:DR, That took me way longer than it should have.

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1: A path, crossed and divided.

‘My mission, take out an Omnic royal that has been scouting the area with his troops’

‘Sure sounds easier on paper than in practice’ I said to myself, hastily getting myself to the ‘area’ that he was supposedly scouting with his troops. The area in question was part of the forest that separates their empire from ours. I guess I could call this some kind of border patrol, but the border has never been defined. Regardless, I was wondering why they would only send me to do this mission and not the rest as well…then again I’m not like them. There were some other details that confused me. For one, why was this a dispatch and not a reconnaissance mission? It’s those details that really make our cell’s existence questionable. Beyond those confusing details however, it was a mission with a goal and it was a goal that I should complete.

‘We haven’t found anything suspicious yet, sir.’ I heard someone say in the area I was in. I stopped running, high behind one of the trees and kept listening, as this could maybe give me an idea of what I was really dealing with. I heard that the troops were right in front of the tree I was hiding behind. However, they weren’t facing me, as they were searching the trees and bushes on the opposite side of where I was. Because of me running, I started to get out of breath, so I needed to be careful be careful, as I was certain that those troops would be able to hear my panting. Even so, I had to know what was going on, so I looked over where the troops were.

Then…I saw my target, riding on a white horse, with that oh so familiar outfit that the Omnic royalty would wear.

‘Indeed. I don’t think that their hideout is anywhere in this area.’ Another guard that was searching on of the bushes said. Their? Hideout? Something about what that guard said made me worried, because…he was incorrect. Our hideout was close to here. Still…it was a good thing that he thought otherwise.

‘*Sigh*, Too bad then. We should head back then.’ The Omnic royal said as he turned his head around far enough to the point that I was able to identify which of the many royals he was.

‘A man, Light brown hair, long hair at that, sharp jawline, greenish eyes. Slight scar on his chin…Damn it. This wasn’t a royal. This was the son of the Omnic royal Latornus Gradiam…No…He is a royal, and I need to take him down as this is a mission I need to complete. The problem now however, was that they were heading back, and that meant that they were going back to the Omnic empire. This meant that I had to set foot in there as well without being seen or captured by their troops.

‘No. don’t think of it like that. This isn’t a mission to get caught off guard. This is a mission to catch someone else off guard’ I said to myself, trailing behind the royal’s regiment. Of course, that was a problem in and off itself, as they were all on horseback, compared to me on foot. Guess I had no other option but to trail behind, or, above them as I was going to use the trees to my advantage by jumping from one to another to keep up with their speed. Eventually, his regiment stopped right outside one of the outer villages of the empire.

‘Perfect, now I just need to take him down.’ I said as I stood up on one of the branches of the tree I was in. I grabbed my Omnibreaker from one of my pockets, only realizing that I left it in its dagger form. I had to change its form from dagger to crossbow, however, I had to make sure that no one would see the process, as the transformation made the weapon glow intensely. So much so that it was easily noticeable, even in day time. Regardless, it happened without any noise, as none of them even noticed it glowing so much. Looking over to where The Omnic royal’s son and his regiment were located, it looked like they were talking to some of the folks who live close to the gates of that village.

‘Tss. This is gonna get messy if I don’t get this done right in one go’ I said, because If I were to mess up the first shot, the townsfolk would think that they would be ’attacked’, since they lived very close to the gate itself. I also had to be careful for where I was standing on. The branch that I stood on didn’t look like it was going to support me for that long. That, and the knowledge of that I could fall off of this tree by the slightest movement by me or the tree itself, made this one shot crucial for the sake of not just me but the mission itself.

‘One shot and only one shot. That should do it’ I said as I aimed for the neck of my ‘target’, as the neck is one of the most vital body parts of the Omnic people.

I lined up my aim on his neck. Now is my chance!

‘What the….’ I said out loud, because the tree had begun to shake somewhat…that could mean only one thing. I quickly lost my balance and fell off of the tree branch I stood on.

‘GAH’ I yelled as I fell onto the ground after falling down about a meter or 6. Nothing was broken, so that was a good thing. But now I was wondering.

‘What made that tree move around like that?’ I said out loud. But as I raised my head I heard a

‘…Sorry’ was the word that I heard someone say, and as I lifted my head upwards, I saw who it was.

A woman, with pale white hair. Dark grey eyes and she was wearing a hood and mantle.

…..She looked at me, as I was still on the ground. I looked back. We….just stared at each other for a moment until…

‘OVER THERE’ One of the troops shouted as he pointed towards me and the woman. All of the others quickly looked around and noticed us. Soon after, their ‘leader’ turned around with a bitter expression said something, and I could make out what he was saying to his troops.

‘Kill him’ was what he said, with a grin on his face as he turned his head away from my direction….damn. Sure is an annoying situation that I had gotten myself into. I stood up, but at that point all of his troops were already storming towards me. Looking behind me, that woman was still standing there.

Damn…Guess I’ll have to retreat on this one. However…

‘Hey you, Jump on my back and close your eyes. I’m gonna get you out of this mess as well.’ I said to her as I turned my head around to tell her this…for some reason though, she did not refuse to go along with the idea, as I was already sure that she wasn’t going to cooperate with a total stranger. Regardless, it was a good thing that she was not carrying anything along with her. Otherwise this plan wouldn’t have worked. I got on my knees so that she was able to get on my back. Once she did, she wrapped her arms around me and…she’s light. Wait…what am I thinking? Now is not the time to think about someone’s weight! I need to get out of here before those troops have a chance to get their hands on me or her.

‘You might want to hold on tight. Things are going to go fast for the next few minutes.’ I said to her, but she didn’t reply back. I’m guessing she just agreed with what I said. The troops were approaching…but they made one crucial mistake right there. They ran towards me, instead of using their horses to get over here faster.

Do they really think that they can catch me when they are just running like that? How idiotic can they get?

‘Here we go then’ I said as I jumped up, back into the tree that I fell out of. Looking back for a quick second, the woman was still holding out. Good

‘Are you going to be fine? I’m gonna jump from tree to tree to evade them.’ I asked her. She didn’t say anything, but nodded as a reply. More than enough for me.

‘GET BACK HERE YOU HEMOLITH PEST’ Was what I heard one of the troops chasing us shout at me…How I wish I could just turn around right now to kill him. But alas, that it not my mission, or something that I would even want to do. I kept jumping from tree branch to tree branch in an effort to further increase the distance between us and them. Eventually, I was able to evade them by jumping from one tree, to another that was on the other side of a river cliff that the former was at. This made it near impossible for the troops to chase me without falling into the river.

I ran a little bit longer until they were out of my sight.

‘Out of breath again. Sure isn’t a good day for me.’ I said out loud. Turning around, the woman was still holding her arms around me quite firmly. Her eyes were still closed too…but I could feel that she was trembling somewhat from what had happened.

‘Eh…you can let go now. It’s over now.’ I said, sighing somewhat in relief. She got off my back and opened her eyes again. Turning towards her though, and she stepped back…was she scared of me?

‘You don’t need to step back. Don’t worry. I won’t do you any harm.’ I said to her. Try as I might have though, but it didn’t work. Hell, she didn’t even look in my direction. After standing there for a minute or so though, she started to say something back.

‘Y…Y…You…’

‘Yes? I?’ …..What kind of situation did I just land myself into.

‘You…did not…need to get me away from them.’ Was what she said in the end. Not get her away from them?

‘In other words, you’re telling me that I didn’t need to get you out of that situation we were just in a few minutes ago?’ I asked her. Yet again she did not say anything back, replacing words with another nod.

‘Look. If anything, you looked like the person that was cooperating with me on…what I was doing. In other words, it probably looked like you were helping me to them. Knowing that, the ‘leader’ of that battalion probably sent the troops after us to kill us.’  I said to her. She immediately started to shake her head in response. I swear to god is this her only way of communication? She has barely said anything to me.

‘No…I do not think that he would have killed us. After all, I am an Omnic.’ She said. Yeah okay, I already got the impression that she was an Omnic from her hair color. After all, most of the Omnic people have pale white hair.

‘I doubt they would give you the special treatment, knowing that I am not like them and you were standing next to me.’ I replied back. At this point though, she did look towards me. Probably because I said that I was not like them.

‘Then wait, if you are not like us, then what does that make you?’ she asked. I saw this coming, but I would rather not reveal anything about myself to a complete stranger. I should just keep it simple by saying what my goal is. I’m pretty sure that she would believe that.

‘I am…someone who will put an end to the Omnic Empire.’ Was what I said to her. She walked back immediately, and her expression turned rather frightened.

‘Don’t worry though. I don’t feel like you are my enemy. Only those that directly oppose peace are however.’ I added.

‘But…what does ending the Omnic empire have to do with all this?’ she asked me. To me, the answer that question was so obvious that it was flat out laughable.

‘Isn’t that obvious? The Omnic Empire is the reason that there is no peace. It’s all because of their rulers. They only care about themselves and those who are wealthy, while leaving the rest to fend for themselves. And then they look down on the rest.’ I said.

‘I don’t understand’ she said.

‘What is so hard to understand about it?!’ I said angrily.

‘I don’t understand how the empire is like that. I have never seen it like how you described it. The people aren’t separated by class. Yes, some people are not as wealthy as the others but it’s not like our empire is looking down on our own people. That’s just not how it is. Everyone is…’ But at this point I was sick of her reasoning.

‘Guess I need to get it through your skull.’ I said as I grabbed my normal hunting knife from my back pocket, lunging it at her, but stopping to prevent any unnecessary injuries. After all, I’m doing this to get my point across. Of course, because of this, she jumped back, holding her arms in front of her face as a means of protection. Stopping the knife just before it could hit them, I put it away again. Putting her arms down…now she was the angry one of us.

‘What was that fo….’ but I cut her off.

‘Let me be very clear about this. This whole ‘world where everyone is equal and no one would hurt each other’ that you think you live in is a far cry from the reality. There is nothing called equality in that so called empire of yours. It’s more of a tyranny then anything. And it’s the majority of the higher class that make it even worse.’

‘But…’ Once again, I cut her off

‘Listen, I don’t care if you were to be a higher or lower class Omnic. I don’t care about that at all. The one thing that I do care about is if you are someone who would make this matter even worse. If you were…I’m sure you would know what to expect.’ I said to her, trying to get the point across that her so called utopia didn’t exist.

She was….a little startled from all of this, and I’m pretty sure that she was just as confused. Understandable though. Hell if I was in her shoes, I would be just as confused.

‘S…So…What am I supposed to do now them?’ she asked me. Her voice was a little bit shaky. Guess I need to get this over with before miss here bursts into tears, as it looked she was going to any now.

‘Take what I’m saying as an advice. Look at your empire from another perspective, from the people that are being deceived by this whole ‘Peace and equality’ notion that they were to believe in, only to have it backfire on them, Like what is happening to them right now.’

‘Right now?’ she asked.

‘Yeah. Aren’t you noticing it? The people of the Omnic Empire are being neglected by their rulers. Instead, their efforts are only focused on fighting with the other empires in an effort to make themselves look all great and mighty.’ I replied, but it looked like that only confused her more…I started to think about it. What was her position anyway? Not that I should ask that to a complete stranger but…the way she’s acting makes it seem like she could be someone important. Oh well, from the outset she didn’t look like someone who would do harm to anyone. I’m guessing that she was also one of those that was being neglected by their empire. She look away, but briefly looked back to me.

‘Thanks for telling me all this.’ She said…well…that’s a surprise. She thanked for me…It confused me too, since it looked like she didn’t take it well at all.

‘I’m going back.’ She said as she turned around and started to walk away.

‘Do you even know how to….’ But this time, she was the one that cut me off.

‘I know how to get back. You don’t have to worry about me anymore.’ She said as she kept walking…Guess that ends that weird encounter.

‘What a strange person…whatever it’s not my problem anymore’ I said to myself as I also turned around and walked away.

As I walked back, I continued to wonder about what kind of person she really was. At first, she looked like she could care less about what I said to her. Guess that all changed once I started to talk about how the people of the Omnic Empire were being left to rot, a contrast to her whole vision that the empire was all ‘Peace and equality’ But like I said before, it’s not my problem anymore, since it looked like she had finally known the truth about the Omnic empire that was hidden away from her.

‘Stop thinking about it too much and just go home’ I said to myself

Let’s just listen to my conscious before my thoughts will change itself.

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‘What is so hard to understand about it?!’ Really…What was that guy’s problem? Who was he even?! If I can’t understand him, then how about he doesn’t understand the way I see things? That guy pisses me off…good thing I’ll probably won’t see him again.

It was a good thing that I actually knew the way back, since I always came here with the family when I was younger. Oh well. After a while, I was close to the gate again, and to my surprise he…ugh…he was still there with his guards.

‘He would kill us’ or something along those lines was what that guy said. I wouldn’t go that far, but thisguy that he was talking about was still considered as the…he wasn’t really well considered by the empire. A snob was the least hurtful comment about the son of Latornus Gradiam. The ‘Brat of the empire’ was his nickname, and as far as I knew, no one really called him by his actual name. I even forgot what it was. Regardless, as I walked to the gate he noticed me.

‘Oh wouldn’t you believe that. It’s her’ He had said. I walked towards them, with his troops moving out of the way.

‘You really know how to scare them off. He thought that you saw me as one of them.’ I said. He followed up with some laughter…like he always does.

‘I’ll be damned, especially since my troops thought the same. Don’t worry though, it was never my intention to hurt you, young miss.’ He said. Just…calling me young miss. Really?

‘You know that I have another title that I go by right?’ I asked, because clearly, he was just playing with me right now. And especially after what happened just minutes ago, was I not in the mood for his jokes.

‘Heh…I’m sorry. Let me address you properly then……

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As I exited the woods, I ran back to the village that I had been staying add for the reason to be able to complete this missions given to us. The village was close to the border between both the Omnic and Britannian Empire. Thankfully though, it wasn’t one of those hotspots where troops were fighting each other constantly. A stark contrast actually; if anything, it was more peaceful here than anywhere close to the border. As I was close to entering the village, I saw the rest of, what I would call my squad.

‘Mission complete?’ Aldes, The Hawkeye, asked me.

‘I’m afraid not. I’ll tell you all the rest of the details later on. For now, you just need to know that we still have to get his head off of the hit list.’ I replied to Aldes and the other 2 men, Galdun, The Pummelerand Morjat, The Trickster.

‘It’s been awhile since you of all people had failed a mission. Do tell us what happened.’ Morjat asked me.

‘I’ll tell you guys later. I just want to rest for now. After what happened, I’m tired.’ I replied.

‘So what do we do now then?’ Galdun asked.

‘Well, we wait until we get another mission from the Army’s office.’ I replied, as we started to walk back into the village

‘You sure know a lot of this, captain.’ Morjat uttered

‘Well…yeah. I made this army’s ‘cell’ myself, so it should a given that I would know everything that was going. Both in our cell and in the army as a whole. Also…could you not call me captain? You know I have a normal name. So just call me by that.

‘Well fine then….’

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‘My lady, Ruler and heir to the Throne of the Omnic royal family, Princess, Naralika Arlian.’ the brat uttered.

‘Ka’tal Sa, The Hemolith and Leader of the Hunters’ cell. ’ Morjat said in a rather corrective manner