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I became immortal today.

I walked through the streets with my fellow soldiers and slaves, parading before the battle to come. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't nervous, but it never fails to steel the heart when the beautiful women of your village smile their encouragement, or when children who rely on you to defend them watch you ride by in awe. They may not understand it yet, but we came to protect them from the barbarians they used to live under. We who are doomed to fall in mere hours need this revelry; it is the gateway between the fear and doubts in our own hearts and the courage we always suspected, but never knew we had.

Of course I stood a better chance of returning home than some of those who marched beside me. I'm educated, not in the arcane, but both in numbers and letters, and that put me at an advantage when we were asked to defend our homes. They set me to lead my fellow men. While not a promise of survival, it helped my shaking legs move forward.

Not far from the walls of the City, an old man carrying his daily burdens fell before my horse in exhaustion.

"MAKE WAY!", yelled one of the guards, grabbing the hilt of his blade.

"Come now, Guard. Let us not spill the blood of our friends before our enemies get the chance. Now, old man, allow me to share your burdens beyond the walls."

This seemed to satisfy both the guard and the women watching nearby, the latter of which, in truth, was my primary reason for being so merciful. The old man, however, gave me a strange and knowing smile, and agreed to my help.

We walked together for nearly a mile outside of Delsia, with my horse bearing his load. We spoke like philosophers and peasants, mixing our high-minded ideals of the world with any vulgarity we thought shocking enough to make the other laugh. Whether it was a desire for companionship before battle or genuine compatibility, I liked this man. There was something fatherly about him, but without the oppressive concern of judgment or correction. Like a father who was simply to know his son was doing well, this man was forgiving, kind, and earnest. As we neared his small hut, I began unloading his things, and breaking from the crowd of soldiers. As I laid his items at his front door he asked, "What can I do to repay you?"

"Make me immortal so that I may face my enemies without fear.", I joked.

He began grinning from ear to ear, and said, "May the Gods will it so, Alexander."

I turned to join the ranks once more, mounting my horse to make up time lost, and shouted my goodbyes.



After weeks of travel we finally saw our enemies. The Halsians were strong, to be sure, but our Cohorts had consistently defeated them. They were a divided peoples, and our leader knew how to exploit that. It wasn't always this way, but by the time I joined this Legion, we were fairly capable of winning our battles.

Our people have hated the Halsians as a whole for over 300 years. Sure, of the barbarians out there their women tend to be the most beautiful. Sure, they were sometimes adept fighters and clever strategists. Of course there was a healthy fear and respect of them. No one ransacks Dinaris, though, and gets to play friendly after, no matter how many centuries pass. These people killed and raped our ancestors, and under Volar they would pay. I intended to help collect that payment.

We did our positioning and repositioning on the hill for some time until our leader felt he had the advantage. We began our march forward, and the Halsians began their chaotic rush toward us. It never failed to make me somewhat uncomfortable when I saw them like that; frenzied, blood-mad beasts. More than warriors, at times, but instruments built for taking my men, my friends, from me. Still, we were the most disciplined and well equipped force in Almora by far, and we never failed to come out victorious under normal circumstances.

There was a Cohort between mine and the head of the battle, but I knew the men were tensing up nonetheless. Something felt wrong, though. It seemed as though the Halsians were moving too quickly through the ranks of the first line. Then I saw it: they had flanked us. In our positioning, we ignored too frequently the trees behind the hill we were posted on, and from the left flank came a much larger, more concerning group of barbarians. I turned my men to hold the line, and we saw our first taste of battle in weeks.

I fought in a state of meditation. Something about this battle broke beyond my conscious mind, and allowed me to float as though the Gods were in charge of my body. Thoughts drifted in and out of my mind as men fell before me. The woman I had the night before we left our temporary home. What was her name? Did she even know mine? And how did that old man know my name? In fact, I'm sure I never told him. "May the Gods will it so, Alexander.", I remembered him saying, just as the blade of a Halsian warrior slid through my body like clay.


I woke up to the sounds of our men surveying the field for supplies, survivors, and the bodies of their friends. I began to stand, and the men around me drew their swords in caution. "Explain yourself, Commander!", cried one of the men. They were clearly shaken by my resurrection.

"I must have hit my head on something and fell out.", I tried.

"Absolutely not, sir. We have several men who tell of your death. They say a Halsian ran a sword straight through your body."

I lifted the leather and shirt covering my mortal wound to find that nothing but some blood remained. Rather than explaining myself, I looked as confidently as possible at the men and said, "Perhaps your reports were mistaken?"

This seemed to barely satisfy them, as they turned and walked away grumbling about the newest recruits and how Delsia hasn't a chance with men like those. I took this time to walk from the battlefield down toward the trees the flanking Halsians came from. Not far into the tree line was a small stream, and I opted to wash my remaining blood from my body. I needed time to think about what had happened to me. Was that old man one of the Gods? Had Nidel or Urdir robbed Death of my soul upon my death? I didn't understand the implications or rules for this deathlessness, and I didn't fully believe it, ignoring my recent miracle. I would need time to figure this out. Hopefully I could do that before someone else could catch on, may the Gods will it so.