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Fucking of COURSE. Why wouldn't Tom barge in here, of all the fucking times?
A rush of rage pulsated throughout my body, watching as my best soldier and biggest fucking headache decided to bust into my quarters. Right when I'd reserved myself to letting these tears of frustration slip, too. I was about to take out some of my frustrations with Korbin on him when he walked his short ass up to my chair, placing a hand on mine.
"Cassi, what's going on?" Tom asked, in a tone more caring than I'd ever heard from him. It caught me off guard, as did Derrick, Phoebe clamoring to their feet. Hayden strolled in casually behind them.
"I…" Tears began welling up in my eyes, I turned away not willing to show my weakness to my soldiers. Regardless of our personal relationships, I needed to save face if I had any chance at keeping my rank at this point.
"Cass, don't do that. Talk to us, what's bothering you so much girl?" Phoebe said, quickly walking on the other side of me, softly rubbing my back. Which only increased the sheer amount of tears descending down my cheek. How fucking weak.
"It's not any of your concerns, or faults for that matter. I'm sorry if I led you to believe otherwise." I barely mustered, feeling like a quarter was lodged in my throat.
"Bullshit. You were my friend before you were my General. Cut the soldier crap and tell me what's wrong." Tom said, sounding angrier than concerned. He wasn't wrong, and it's arguable he was a better fit for this role anyway. If he cared to lead, that is. Granted, I did save his skin multiple times already. Still…
"I…I'm not sure where I'm fucking up." I said, keeping my eyes trained on Tom. It was embarrassing knowing my best soldiers were watching me sob openly, with Tom being the only idiot I wouldn't mind confiding in truthfully.
"We haven't lost a single battle, what are you talking about?" Tom asked. Hayden was just rubbing his mask's chin, watching everyone console me like someone's depressed ex-girlfriend. Fucking weirdo.
"That doesn't matter. Each time I've reported back, there were several times even I saw the fault in my tactics. I'm thorough in making sure we're equally prepared with every attack, and every defense. Yet every time we siege, or defend a Pylon, lives are needlessly lost. Or TP is absolutely blown through to make up the difference. I'm failing, and I don't know why." I said, finally letting it all out at once. It doesn't matter if they know anymore, Korbin's going to demote me regardless, which wouldtotally fuck over my class if I get dropped low enough. Being a Hell Knight under his faction required prestige, something I may very soon lose a lot of. Shit, worst case I may even get exiled for having suffered so many unnecessary losses already. Then I'm truly fucked, with no path or home. There's no way I'm getting another chance. I really just want to know where I'm fucking up at.
"Aren't all of those deaths and costs inevitable in war?" Hayden asked, standing in front of my desk.
"If your enemy warrants it. No one we've fought should've had a chance though, yet we managed to suffer losses all the same. I managed to let our men die." I said, amending who's really responsible.
"We fought so many different flavors of fucked up already, I sincerely doubt any of our men could blame you for our losses." Derrick chimed in.
"You don't understand, nothing we've dealt with has been above our pay grade, other than that Wyvern Tom found on the island-" I began.
"Which you saved me from, by the way." Tom interrupted.
"Yeah, I brought your snake and fled. Pretty sure anyone with a boat could've done that." I shot back.
"Cass, you're freaking out over shit that's come and passed. Why is it bothering you so much now?" Derrick said, stepping closer to my desk next to Hayden.
"Korbin…isn't happy with how we've been doing things. Particularly how I've been wasting resources left and right, hardly even noticing when I do until disaster strikes…" I looked away from them all, feeling resentment boil in my chest.
"…who the hell does Korbin think I am? He gave me less than a week of training, and thrusted me into this role. How the fuck was I supposed to know about that FUCKING Harp-" a hand gripping my shoulder snapped me out of my furious venting.
"Relax. So far all I've heard is guilt induced paranoia. You have no clue what Korbin's going to do when we get there, do you?" Tom asked, holding my shoulder firmly.
"No, but I know it's nothing good. I know I've certainly earned some sort of negative repercussions for my shortcomings. And, you know Korbin." I replied. While Korbin's by no means a tyrannical leader, his priorities often felt unpredictable. More often than not I'd understand them whenever he expanded on why they mattered, but that was few and far between. Especially not having seen the man for more than a few minutes in weeks.
"May I offer that such unpredictability provides as much merit to him as giving a form of praise for your efforts?" Hayden added, placing a hand on my desk. I wanted to protest, though it wasn't a terrible proposition. True, I knew I'd receive some form or admonishment given how short Korbin had grown with me over the last week over messages. Yet, he never explicitly stated any disapproval over my reported decisions, rather provided a few ideas that might've worked better posthaste.
"I suppose that's is sort of a possibility." I said after giving his words some thought.
"It is?" Tom asked, looking rather confused. His eyes widened looking back into mine, before nervously amending himself.
"I mean yeah, who knows?" Tom asked, shrugging his shoulders.
"In any case, you've been a fantastic General during my short tenure with your forces. I couldn't imagine anyone else quelling this fucking maelstrom of a guy." Derrick added, gesturing towards Tom at that last part. I couldn't help but giggle.
"No kidding! Haven't you saved his ass like, 3 times already?" Phoebe asked me through a sly smile. I chuckled remembering the times I carried Tom's unconscious body to a healer.
"Okay assholes, we're here to console our friend, not roast the badass lightning guy." Tom exclaimed, earning a laugh out of everyone including myself.
"To Tom's credit, there's been several situations in which his crazy antics paid dividends to our cause. And, I'm sorry if I'm hard on you, Tom." I said, realizing how rude I'd been to him the last few days. Sure, he fucked up basic instructions. That didn't mean he wasn't trying to be better, in fact his biggest flaw was being so damn hyper focused on doing so. Every soldier noticed when he slept with them in the barracks, almost all of them appreciated seeing their inarguably strongest Captain sharing a bunk with the lot of them. Yet, all I could think was how long it took him to start waking up earlier.
"Thank you! Takes a good leader to recognize real talent." Tom exclaimed excitedly.
"Let's not get carried away." I replied, with a smirk. Everyone but Tom enjoyed a hardy belly laugh for a while.
"Thank you guys, I didn't know I needed a little pep-talk, but it helped." I said, looking over the group of absolute monsters in human skin under my command. It felt bittersweet, not knowing if this was my last day being able to say they were my soldiers.
"Just keep that chin up girl, don't let Korbin change how you value yourself. You're a badass, through and through." Phoebe replied. I nodded in appreciation.
"Well, I don't know about you guys but, I think this was a mission success." Tom said, standing up and heading for the door.
"Why the rush? We're in the middle of the ocean, you can't go anywhere?" Derrick asked. Poor guy doesn't know Tom well enough.
"…seriously? The giant winged water snake I ride around on isn't giving you any ideas what I could be doing?" Tom asked, wearing a devious smirk of his own. Derrick's mouth opened to reply, only to freeze clearly realizing how stupid his question was.
"It's okay guys. Honestly I'm pretty beat, and I could use some shut eye before having to face Korbin." I said, my eyelids feeling heavier by the moment. All this pent up frustration blowing up felt genuinely more tiring than sparring.
"You sure? We don't have to leave if you need the company." Phoebe asked.
"I'm sure. You guys have sufficiently cheered me up to about as calm as I logically ought to be. I just want to prepare my mind for whatever curveballs coming my way tonight." I replied. The estimated travel had us rolling into the Elysium docks by sundown. The original plan was to be there by sunrise tomorrow, however the snakes were in better shape after the defense than projected.
"Just let one of us know if you need anything. We appreciate you Cass." Derrick said, heading to the door. Tom was already gone, probably grabbing Steve to go hunting around the ship.
"Actually, Phoebe, can you tell Tom not to be out too long? I'd rather not have to save his skin before possibly getting demoted." I said. Phoebe nodded and bolted out of the room. Hayden was the only one left, still standing in front of my desk.
"Is there something you needed, Hayden?" I asked, scanning his body for any sudden movements.
"No. It's what I believe you need, if I may." Hayden said.
"And what exactly do you think I need?" I asked, curious as to why he waited to share until everyone left.
"From what I've gathered, you have a squad of highly skilled warriors here. They all revere you as one of them, yet I've never seen you at the front lines." Hayden said.
"We've only fought together once?" I pointed out, easing an eyebrow.
"Of course, but you mentioned you used similar tactics each time. Was it wrong of me to assume you weren't always behind the Pylon walls?" He asked, and to his credit I absolutely have been doing just that, the only exception being sieges in which our tactics had to change mid fight.
"No, you're right. But I'm their General, I'm supposed to be there to direct our troops." I retorted.
"Indeed. However there is time between these sieges, no?" Hayden asked.
"Some. Most of it's spent collecting information on our next Pylon, or training new recruits." I responded, a mixture of reverence and anxiety rushing through me remembering the many sleepless nights.
"Why not utilize this time to grow stronger yourself? I can't imagine having another Tom would be a disservice to your cause." Hayden offered. I considered it for a moment before giving my answer.
"If I could afford the time to fine tune my personal skill set, I'd have used it by now. I appreciate the advice, however it's not something I hadn't considered. It's simply not a possibility for me at the moment." I responded, recalling the yearning feelings watching Tom dice through waves of beasts during defenses.
"But you may, soon. Something to consider, I don't mean to bother you. Rest well my friend." Hayden said, turning toward the door. I let him leave without a word, still deciding how to react. 'You may, soon', was most definitely offensive, implying I'll be outright demoted from any form of leadership. Though I myself had already acknowledged that possibility vocally, and I hadn't pegged Hayden as the most conscientious over social queues. In a way he's right, I may very well have a lot more time on my hands. Meaning even if I'm demoted down to just another soldier, I still have a chance at progressing myself and contributing to the Conquest. Hell, maybe even earn my rank back. Still, it just felt wrong to abandon my leadership role.
It's who I am, yet I haven't a clue where I'm fucking it up. Checking the time on my notifications, it wasn't long before someone was going to more than likely tell me exactly where and how…
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3 hours later…
"Looks like they're about to dock at the Elysium. We should hurry back." I mentally messaged Steve, gliding above the ocean. The distance he could fly over the water from emergence before having to dive back into the water had significantly improved since he got his wings, making sneaking up on oceanic beasts far easier. None of the beasts we'd encountered wanted to fight unfortunately, all of them either wished to be officially 'tamed' by me or were already. We'd only run into 11 beasts worth challenging or taming, making for little assumed gains in my profession. More bodies for our trade ships was always a plus though, I'm sure Korbin will appreciate additional fins on deck.
"Fine, pretty shitty we didn't find any game." Steve replied, leaning his body to the side and curving towards the ship.
"We sort of cleaned this region out of all opposition on the way here, what do you expect?" I asked, confused at his short term memory loss.
"Fish have children. LOTS of children. Meaning they should be fighting their power hungry selves to higher levels by now. It's been long enough for the cycle to reset." Steve replied with concern hanging in his mental tone.
"Relax, buddy. I probably got a lot of their parents working for us, I'm sure that affects the 'cycle' a little." I proposed, hoping to settle my serpent's nerves.
"Maybe…" Steve replied. After another minute, Steve circled above our unreasonably large ship slowly descending onto the deck. Most of the soldiers tending the ship spotted him long before he began landing, shuffling out of the way to provide a path. The ship was closing onto the docks, making our return just in time to miss Korbin spotting us as he entered the docks from the settlement.
Speaking of, both the docks and Savant Elysium looked 4 times larger than when I'd left it. Dozens of ships ranging in size and weaponry lined the massively expanded docks. The Elysium behind its walls stood over 35 feet, banners adorning our faction's symbol and turrets lining across the shiny dark and orange stone. A huge round hole in the wall at the front of the docks caught my eye, though I figured it was some sort of sewer drain from the city. Bad spot, but I'm sure it wasn't the top of Korbin's priority list.
"You ready?" Phoebe's voice from behind me caught my attention. She was standing beside Cassi, both staring intently as Korbin approached along the docks.
"As ready as I can be." Cassi replied. It was tough seeing the stress of leadership catching up to her, and genuinely excruciating trying to help the issue. I've never been great with crying people, mostly because I couldn't recall a method that ever helped better than just hugging and lying. Yet, I felt like owed Cassi more than that, and decided to genuinely try to reassure her she wasn't fucked. Quite frankly, she isn't. She's been fantastic as a General, regardless of whatever mistakes Korbin may have been harping on.
"Hey there ladies and gents. Long time no see!" Korbin announced, strolling up the ramp extending from the docks up the ship.
"My man, how the hell are you?!" I said, giving my old friend a handshake. He looked about the same, other than the casual attire he adorned rather than the battle armor I'd seen him in last. Didn't have that menacing axe on his back either.
"Never better, it's good to see you again, Tom." Korbin said, turning his attention to the others.
"Derrick! What up my man, how the fuck are you?" Korbin said, shaking Derrick s hand.
"Far more pleasantly than expected, many thanks to our General." Derrick said, gesturing to Cassi giving her praise.
"Of course, I expected as much." Korbin replied, quickly heading towards Phoebe. It wasn't a bad idea for Derrick to brown nose Cass before she got possibly laid into by Korbin, if you didn't know him. In reality he just pissed him off to no end for trying to manipulate his judgement. At least I could count on Derrick's contribution to the conquest going forward.
"Phoebe, it's good to see you again. How's your progress with taming Miss Becky here?" Korbin said, greeting the archer and her snake.
"Honestly? Better than I could've expected. Your general here knows where to throw us." Phoebe said, adding to the random Cassi love.
"Yes, I'd sure hope so." Korbin said with less vigor in his tone than before.
Guys, please.
"And you must be Hayden. I hear you're quite the formidable necromancer, though your origin is rather brief." Korbin said, extending his arm for a handshake to him. Hayden accepted the offer, chuckling before replying.
"Indeed, harbingers of new life often carry little personal attachment. All of mine died without renewal long ago, unfortunately. But it's a pleasure to meet you, sir Korbin." Hayden responded.
"The pleasure is mine, we can make great use of your…talents for, as you say, 'renewal'." Korbin replied, heading toward Cassi.
"Hello, Cassi. It's good seeing you under calmer circumstances. Come, we have much to discuss for our goals moving forward." Korbin said in a surprisingly chipper tone. Cassi was visibly surprised, raising an eyebrow at him after he turned around heading for the docks. Cassi turned to me looking for some sort of explanation, to which I just shrugged and followed after Korbin.
"He doesn't seem all that upset." Phoebe whispered, leaning closer to my ear as we walked along the docks.
"Yeah, yeah he seems fine." I replied dismissively. It was hard refraining from sharing how good Korbin was at hiding his emotions. The man knew when to snap, and when to save face better than anyone I've ever met. He may very well be absolutely seething with rage, but none of us will know until he cares to share. Cassi and Korbin discussed with one another ahead of us, their words washed away under the sound of crashing waves around us.
Okay, maybe I let the sounds distract me, however it'd been a long time since I'd gotten to soak in the ocean breeze blowing with every descending wave. Sure, I'd spent plenty of time in the water, though none of it was spent simply enjoying the ocean. Everything was goal oriented, packed with fighting and recruiting. Derrick's hand pressed on my back from behind, trying to subtly tell me I'm slowing down. Eventually I was walking stride for stride beside Hayden, who hung in the back of our group, as we entered into the settlement.
Wonder fluttered throughout my chest seeing the grandeur our Settlement had adopted in my absence. 6 massive spires stood absurdly tall, the tops actively under construction seeing a group of ant-sized workers laboring hundreds of feet in the air. None of the spires had any roofs being constructed, though I find it hard to believe they're going any higher.
The settlement itself expanded outwardly, slowly crawling its borders towards the woodlands partially surrounding us. With good reason, considering how busy the settlement was. Our population had exploded since we left on our conquest, hundreds of men women and children bustling about. Most folks were either hard at work at their professions, or shopping for amenities themselves. The buildings reminded me of futuristic concepts not even our world accomplished before the integration, having tube-like elevators for individualized travel between floors visible from outside. Housing stacked on one another for dozens of floors, all made easily accessible. Orange glowing energy glowed off the building as sundown arrived, illuminating the settlement.
"Oh m-…oh my lord a-are you Tom? THE Tom?!" I random elderly woman asked, grabbing my arm as I passed by.
"Uh…the one and only?" I said, feeling genuinely uncomfortable at her forwardness. Phoebe called ahead for the others to hold up, drawing all of their attentive stares to me and this lady.
"H-honey! It's him! It's the Savior of Savants Elysium!" The elderly lady yelled to a younger woman, looking somewhere in her 20's.
"What? Oh my…you're really him!" The younger woman exclaimed, looking utterly shocked to see me.
"Last I checked, I'm indeed Tom." I said, confused at the excitement. A few surrounding heads snapped around hearing my name, all of them adopting the same ecstatic energy.
"Tom? The Savior of Savants Elysium?"
"Is it really him?"
"I can't believe he's here!"
"Thank you, Tom!"
"All thanks to Savants' Savior!"
What. The actual. Fuck.
I looked over to Korbin hoping he'd save me from whatever psychotic fandom has been developing here, only to be met with his devious grin. Instantly, I knew this was his doing. Korbin walked over, addressing the growing crowd of citizens crowding around me.
"Rejoice! Our great Savior and oldest defender of Savants Elysium has returned!" Korbin declared with pride, pointing his hands at me. The crowd cheered in response, clapping and screaming their love and support of me. Absolute strangers, whom I've never met before, all flocking around me like some kind of celebrity. It was…terribly uncomfortable.
"Haha, alright guys yep, yep thank you." I said, waving at the growing crowd of citizens. I leaned closer to Korbin, who continued charismatically gesturing at me like a champion at the Olympics.
"Korbin, please get me the fuck out of here." I said, looking around for an escape myself. I knew he set this up somehow, meaning there's a chance he won't let me leave. My grappling hook however just might reach the building beside us. Oddly enough, it had another one of those massive circular sewage holes in it, like the one at the docks.
"Fine, but I won't be here every time you come home." Korbin whispered back before stepping in front of me.
"Alright folks, the Savior has very important business to attend to. Please respect peace until we have finished our work." Korbin announced, earning a collective disappointed 'aw'. Slowly the crowd dispersed, headed back to their respective business.
"Korbin." I began, trying my hardest not to freak out for what he did.
"Thomas." Korbin replied.
"Not my name, and you knew that. Why the fuck are these people calling me their 'Savior'?" I asked, hoping he hadn't actually employed people to bother me or something.
"Because you are, Tom! You selected this location, you're our best soldier, our strongest asset during a defense-" Korbin let a single chuckle escape before culling his smile back to a serious look.
"-and the fearless Savior of every man, woman and child since our first Pylon defense. There wouldn't be an Elysium without you." Korbin added, his eyebrows furrowed wearing a devious toothy smile.
"…no." I said, realizing what story he'd been perpetuating fully. He'd been telling people I saved everyone, when my biggest failure to date was getting everyone but him and his family killed that day. He made me out as some budding legend, something I'm for the people to lend their trust to outside of himself. It's bullshit.
"Oh yeah, you're the people champ. The one we need." Korbin replied, hanging hard on that last word, implying there was no getting out of this.
"Fucking why, Korbin? Why the hell didn't you say you did it?" I asked, more than furious at the fable he whipped up at my expense.
"Because why the fuck would I be here if I'm the best we got? Wouldn't it make more sense that I'm the brains, signaling it's muscle to protect the body?" Korbin asked, manufacturing a merit in his fucked up prank. The worst part, it was just logical enough to make me relax. I sighed before responding.
"Fine, I can be your hero. But I'm not upholding this shit anywhere else. If they see or hear some shit other than your little story elsewhere, I'm not lying for it." I exclaimed, refusing to compromise my truth for his lie every day of my life.
"Deal. Most of these folks are never leaving the settlements anyways. Just don't pop their bubble, and we're cool." Korbin replied, quickly walking toward the Pylon building after. Phoebe snickered behind me, which she quickly stiffened into a straight face seeing my hateful glare. I liked Savants Elysium. I'd selected the location for selfish reasons of course, and it panned out all things considered. The idea of returning to the epitome of peace in my eyes was always something in the back of mind during our conquest.
Now, it's just going to be another fucking job being here. Lying to every citizen that latches onto my forearm like a damn groupie, reminding me of my worst guilt every step of the way. Korbin swore he'd never bring up my mistakes that day again in the contract that used to give me splitting headaches when I even thought of Randy, but I suppose he never said he couldn't lie about it.
Korbin stopped at the Pylon building, turning to face the rest of us.
"This is unfortunately where I must ask all but Cassi to either remain here for a time, or visit the many new shops and amenities at our training facilities. Hell, you can catch some Z's for all I care, however there's important matters me and your General must discuss." Korbin said, waving Cassi into the building. She slowly made her way in, her head hung low.
"When will we know what we're doing next?" I asked, hoping to hear word on returning to our conquest as soon as possible.
"I will call you." Korbin said, closing the door to the Pylon building behind him. With that, Phoebe, Derrick, Hayden and I were left with our serpents to our own devices.
"I hope she doesn't get chewed out too badly." Phoebe said, cringing in fear for her friend.
"I'm not sure if you've spoken with Korbin long, but if he's angry enough to bring her back? I'm sure a stern talking to is the least of her worries." Derrick replied, only magnifying Phoebe's look of concern.
"I'm still not entirely clear why she's in so much trouble? We've only known victory, and I can't see how she was expected to foresee the Harpyja incident." I said honestly.
"Not sure that's for us to know anyways." Derrick added. Everyone fell into an awkward silence until Hayden stepped between our little circle.
"Seeing as though we have nothing urgent to tend to-" he placed a hand on my shoulder, an odd cold air leaking through his black glove.
"-how about giving me a tour of this place?"