Enough Talking

-Unbelievable...!- murmurs someone in the small crowd after me and one other general finished our reports -What is the meaning of this?- -This isn't something of the human world, just what is behind this war?!- The stupefied looks are all now directed to the general who witnessed the first sand man appearance -You knew about this yet decided to keep silent about it?!- -Aren't you one of us? Keeping silent about things between us will only ruin us all, or are you plotting something weird?-

-I didn't do that with any bad intention! I rushed to General Cai after that weird occurrence, he suggested me not to talk about it so we wouldn't spread panic as we had no other information about it whatsoever- the man turns to the Head General and the man nods, confirming his words as true -But... That other man who was with me didn't cooperate, yet his stories didn't go around for much before he died. Nobody believed him either since he was the only one telling those-

-But why not informing us? General Cai, aren't we supposed to work together for the best management of this Armada?- -Yes, that is abuse of power to hide informations from us!- -The General clearly doesn't trust us or our secrecy anymore- and the murmuring goes on...

-I always knew you looked down on us!- -Just because you're the one in charge that doesn't mean you are more important than us-

-Men... Let's calm down for now- asks a general from the joint Armada -Mind your business, Luo's man! Your previous General is the example of how untrustworthy those in charge are- -EXCUSE YOU?-

-I propose we vote for a new head General to be chosen- -You've been trying to win the men over for months now just to ask for an election! Like hell we'll let this happen-

-Shut the hell up everyone!- I yell gaining death stares from everyone, Qin Luo looks at me helplessly as he was just about to ask for silence himself as a General -Do you seriously think that staying here, in this tend, to point a blaming finger at someone is gonna solve anything?! We're here to decide on how to ACT now that the fact has been confirmed as true, we aren't eachother's enemies... The real enemy is out THERE! And we are the only ones who can stop this war, if even us on the front lines starts acting so weary, then all hope is lost!

I hate this stupid humanity, we always end up making the same mistakes... We lose faith and hope, we get depressed and give up... Then we find a bright spark but it won't last again, the next moment we will end up losing our focus of the greater picture and once again concentrate on ourselves only!

WE MUST forget humanity here! We aren't lucky enough to have spare time to lose on feeling down or having bad days. You can blame me too for that, but not even once have I stopped giving my everything out there!

This isn't some kind of fictional story where an hero appears, or a motivational speech gets said at the end of the book so everyone comes together and becomes invincible and the story ends... We will lose trust in ourselves, we will doubt our brothers, we will get killed even! But life goes on, war goes on! We cannot let anything drags us down or thousands of innocent peoples will die because of that. Our parents, our children, our families... It is a sad world with no good ending. Yet we must FIGHT, WE MUST WIN THIS WAR! FOR EVERYONE- As soon as I've finished talking I realize how my bow was risen high and silence fell in the room, everyone looked so little and scared yet their eyes were shining bright

-Once again Miss Ying is right...- interrupts the silence General Tian -What do you suggest as our next move?-

-Sir, I know as much as all of you, but I can clearly do more to discover the truth than any of you... So I will just improvise, I don't even know where to start but I guess that once you're thrown in the water it will come natural to move your hands and legs... Wether that will be a success is yet to be seen tho- I kneel on one leg while talking in front of the head General, Qin Luo grips tight on his spear as he's most probably fighting against himself, wanting to stop me from taking on such a dangerous mission... Yet he knows very well that someone has to do it for the whole war's benefit. And that someone can only be me.

-If you all want to talk about cooperation then vote for this: I declare that Miss Ying has complete authority to act freely. She can investigate anyone no matter the rank and take as many men as she may need without having to ask for permission. She can also launch an attack in complete autonomy and resort to torture, might she find anyone to be suspicious- says loudly General Cai hitting the hilt of his axe on the ground, making all the other man look down to the ground in submission as they agree with him -Very well, then it's settled... You are all discharged!- and so everyone starts pressing to go out of the tend.

...

As I am leaving, Qin Luo's hand comes to grab on my arm and holds me back in the most of the confusion -Not you, we still need to talk- he simply says, dragging me back inside the tend and closing the door behind the last escaping ant.

-What?- I ask facing him, he tries to talk but then sighs with a smile

-Now that all the idiots are gone, we can talk real buisness- Cai's voice echoes from behind Qin Luo -So, do you or do you not have a idea about the whole matter? You can be frank here, we all know you're the most knowledgeable about such mattes- he seats back down, looking deeply into me completely focused

-I do have some ideas going around in my mind, many pieces of a puzzle but none of these fits with eachother yet... I need to sort them out first- I reply going forward to talk in front of both men.

-Pieces? What pieces?- intrude General Tian, Qin Luo comes beside me wanting to be part of the conversion... He knows that one of these pieces is related to the deities and it is not something one can talk about so lightly, he wants to help me cover that up but honestly there's no more need for it... Not when the war's true colors are coming through

-My Lords, you all know how I've been sneaking into those bases since the day I joined this war. And even tho I do bring my men with me now, not a single one is allowed to follow me in the deepest part of the camp... That is because the dangers lurking inside aren't of this world, in each of these bases there is one core made of some sort of evil power that the enemy used to enhance their troupes... That must be why they've been so victorious up until now, but once said core is destroyed then their men instantly become weak and we are able to win over them.

But that's not it, each of these cores is sustained by divine powers... Many deities have been kidnapped by our enemies and got locked up so they could milk their powers for years. I don't know how those pure powers get transmuted into something so evil and wicked but I've witnessed it with my very own eye, once the core is gone the deity stops suffering and the men dies.

You might still think why I don't take the men with me at this point, well that is because not only the cores have a guardian of their own, but other creatures such as Yougais an so roam around the enemy's lines... General Luo can be my witness since he's been kidnapped by one who claimed to be the Boar King once, Zhou Zhang too ended up in a trap with me that had been layed down by a Fox Spirit woman- "and I'm afraid some of those creatures are inside our camp too..." But I don't say this last part to them.

General Tian's mind seems to be in complete chaos as he stares blankly meanwhile General Cai is holding his chin as he reexamine my words, afterall he himself witnesses some weird occurrences... The water fload, my flaming sword as I killed that smoke creature who tried to harm him... -Mhn, good. You should go and get started with your work now, there's no time to lose-

-Yessir!-