18 The Borderlands (1/1)

Kevin was sweating profusely he was clad in full plated armor and wore a heavy shield on his back. He was a knight of the army. At his enlistment he swore to keep the borders of the eternal empire save. But he had his doubts, he wasn't even a citicen of the eternal empire he was part of a nation that got swallowed by its ever lasting expansion. When the army of mages attacked his glorious home country couldn't compare at all. They only had about 50 mages at that time and about 200.000 soldiers. Not one of the soldiers that he was part of now, clad in heavy armor with a shield and a weapon of choice, no their army was much simpler. Most of his old army were civilians that were conscripted with a pitchfork clad in light or no armor at all. They didn't have the military recources that they had now. But in exchange for their new military and stronger economy they had to give up their freedom.

Kevin never liked how his home had become after the was. Everybody was always so busy and nobody had time to just chill. He wondered where their path would lead them. Apart from the fact that nobody had to be hungry anymore there were other things that changed. For example the catpeople that wandered the streets now. They had ears and claws like a cat and even some fur at some places but mostly they had still humanoid shapes.

Previously it would have been impossible to see a catman walking in the streets without a slave collar but even that had changed. It was too much for Kevin to handle and he instead choose to voluntary join the united army. But he soon learned that things were not much better in the army. Every nation that was part of the eternal empire would have to send an army that would be under their direct command.

Now Kevin was standing together with his other human compannions in line and next to their line started the line of catmen. It wasn't that he hated the catmen it was just that they got the exact same treatment as him he found that very unreasonable. One of the catmen even once came over to their camp and invited them to a drink. How could Kevin drink with someone of the other race?

At the end only a hand full of people came with the catmen after he guaranteed that he would pay the first round of beverage.

”Attention!” A shout could be heard from the front. Their commander spoke. He was one of the rare people that were actually from the magic race. Their army was obligated to have at least one of them as commander.

Kevin never saw anyone higher ranked than their commander and their commander only seldom appeared if there were changes in their plans. Every part of the army had a sub commander that was of their own race. These sub commanders would usually take charge of everything only rarely did they bother the actual comander.

”We got word of the Castery Dominion, they seem to have a problem with some of the chaos fraction assembling an army at their border and asked of our help in this matter!” The commander yelled at them.

Kevin got cold shivers at the mention of the chaos fraction. People of the chaos fraction could be of all races but no matter the race they all worshipped the god of chaos. Those people were all very brutal savages that changed their bodys with chaos magic giving them unhuman strength.

The thing about chaos magic was that you could perform it anywhere and even a commoner could use it if he got the right instructions, usually by the god of chaos or a high ranked priest of that order. It was like terror!

”Sire, yes sire!” The army answered in a loud booming voice. This boosted Kevins self confidence by a lot. After the commander told them the general details of the plan and left the rest to the sub commander Kevin went to the armory and asked for an enchanted blade.

Previously things like flaming swords were a thing only for the elite knights of the kingdom but since they had been annexed they could ask for those things and with some luck even get one. But Kevin was very unlucky all that he could get was oil and a fire stone so that he could set his sword ablaze.

After that he went back to his camp where he tried to get some rest before they would march 100km towards their new destination. If Kevin was lucky the auxiliary army in the area would join them and he could meet his brother again.