The camp slumbered as the sounds of the forest spread. It was calming to these soldiers, for months they have all been out here chasing history and digging up treasures of an era that has been long forgotten. And frankly speaking the experience has not exactly been pleasant. Even in joint missions like this, guild politics still played a huge role in how the different factions of The Boreas treated each other, especially when power plays have already been made.
Pasco grunted in annoyance as he watched the fire about to die out in front of him. This entire operation had been one annoying fuck fest from beginning to end. He was a soldier for the military but honestly it didn't matter much, the military gave better treatment because they were the ones trying their hardest to catch up in power with the other guilds, however in the end they were all the same
The Trifecta Faction political war has been going on ever since the adventurers guild and the craftsman guild rose to power and the Kingdom struggled to retain it's hold. But since this damn started all the way up until this point nothing has really changed much. The common people are caught in the middle. Price hikes, displacement from your homes and lands, and even worse was the fact that they would still be drafted into the armies of guilds lords and forced to fight against each other.
Killing themselves on the battlefield while the Lord played politics and gods with the lives of the people. Pasco was fed up but then again there wasn't really much he could do about it. They were stuck in this constant circle of the strong using the weak and forcing the weak to become strong only for the weak to forget how they used to be weak and start acting like the strong they fought against.
The king had no spine to do what was necessary, leaving Pasco and many others to become disposable pawns for the Te Borean governmental bodies. Never the less being a part of this expeditionary army has been pretty much what you would call annoying. Pasco was the best scout and marksman of the entire expedition, it was by relying on his abilities that they had been able to find the treasure trove of information, knowledge and ancient technology and treasures that had been discovered on this expedition.
Normally even if he was a part of the Te Borean military, such skills would have won him a place of honor amongst everyone and the other guilds would be trying their hardest to poach him from the military. However Pasco had the unfortunate problem of being really paranoid.
Perhaps that was why he was so good at what he did. he was always expecting things to go wrong. And more often than not...they did not! Which wasn't bad in and out of itself, it was good to be extremely vigilant but for the rest of the camp Pasco had become the boy who cried wolf; and that just did not sit too well with them, even if he was so at what he does.
And it was because of this reason that when Pasco first laid eyes on the three tailed fox made of black flames, he did not immediately raise the alarm even though every bone, cell, and vein in his body was screaming at him to go wrong the warning bell 70 feet away from him.
It used to be that Pasco pitched his tent besides the bell, but after ringing it so many times to so many false alarms, the supervisors had thrown him to the edge of the camp leaving the bell in the middle. It was annoying but scouts were pretty fast and it would only take him a moment for him to cross that distance and go ring that bell…..but.
Was he sure this was something else to be alarmed about, Pasco was on his last strike, and there was only so much disciplinary actions and pay cuts that he could be given before he's kicked off the militia.
Besides this was a military camp, there was only so much that could be done in ways of entertainment before the men and women start getting bored and begin playing with their skills. So who's to say that this black flamed fox he was looking at right now, was not just some fool soldier's skills. It could be someone was also playing a prank on him, trying to get him in trouble…..it wouldn't be the first time and probably won't be the last.
So it was understandable why for the first time ever in his life he went against his instincts. Instead of raising the alarm like he wanted to, he held the gaze of black flames fox. This thing….whatever it was, there was something really off about it. To Pasco it almost seemed as if the fox was grinning at him, and that was unsettling.
But still alarms were raised, his mind at war with itself as it tried to justify his not moving an inch from the spot he occupied. But the fox wasn't doing anything wrong right, it was just staring at him, almost as if it was trying to keep his attention -!!
Pasco rolled out of the way, as a much larger black flame fox, this one with seven tails landed where his head had previously occupied. This time there was war with his mind. He turned, giving in to his most powerful movement skills, about to make the move to the bell when.
*Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!*
"Attack! Attack! Atta-urck!"
Pasco winced as he was shaken out of his shocked stupor by the decapitation of the soldier who had been ringing the bell. Honestly speaking he was shocked he had not been the first person to the bell, he was bell person….if there ever was going to be a person to notice danger and be right and warn everyone else was to be him, but…..but…..he hesitated, he doubted his own instincts for the very first time when they mattered.
Pasco vanished from the sight of the Black Flame foxes, his body blending into the night as he noticed the entire camp ablaze with fear. He could feel it, the manipulation and twisting of his emotions, the screams of his allies being swallowed by the eldritch black he was seeing. Their screams were horrifying, but he's quick speed also gave a brief moment to realize and find out they were being attacked by allies.
His very own people, soldiers…..more politics. Pasco growled in annoyance and instead of heading for the tent of his commanding officer, he diverted, moving towards the very edge of the camp and away from attackers and the poor fools being attacked…..he was done with this …..done with them for good.
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