Rosalis and Uliraf stood in front of Graydon’s lifeless body as it was presented on a large marble slab. They said their goodbyes and condolences, wishing him well in the afterlife. Rosalis walked up to her brother and kissed his forehead. She stood up straight and Uliraf wrapped an arm around her. Rosalis sighed heavily and laid her head down onto his shoulder, realising that she had lost her only family.
Rosalis sat at a chair as Uliraf handed her a pint of cider. They both raised their tankards.
“Here’s to your brother,” Uliraf said. “may the afterlife be a utopia where he will be able to escape from this living hell.”
“Amen.” Rosalis replied and smacked her tankard into his. They both proceeded to down a quarter of a pint in one go, drowning their sorrows in drink.
Uliraf stood in front of the army. Their swords were sharpened, their armour was hardened, their nerves were prepared. “Tomorrow, we fight for Rosalis’ kingdom!” He announced. “In the dawn, we march for battle! We are at the point of no return! Some of us will fall, but it is a sacrifice that we are willing to take! Your deaths will not have been in vain! Your names and actions shall echo through history and through time itself, never to be forgotten! Look out for your brothers and you too shall survive! We will show our enemy that we are not to be trifled with! If you shall fall, fall with honour and dignity, and we shall meet again in the afterlife! If you find yourself sitting at a table with a great big roasting pig in front of you and a huge tankard of mead, do not be shocked! For you are in Valhalla! And you are already dead! Soon, we will be free of this living hell! For some of you, that may be sooner than expected, but your death to you shall be a blessing! Do not look back! You are not going that way! Look towards at what is in front of you! Your enemy! Your foe! Your targets! Remember this – they will not give an ounce of sympathy to you! They do not care about you! Whilst they have been sitting by their warm fires eating wild boar and drinking mulled wine, we have been surviving in freezing tundras, scavenging for scraps of food, forcing ourselves to drink from icy rivers and lakes! Whilst they have been singing songs of praise and glory, we have watched as our friends and family were executed by tyranny in front of our very eyes! What have they done for us?! They left us on our own, forcing us to deal with our problems ourselves! But we will show them! They will soon know what it is like to live through years of pain and suffering! Through years of torture and cruelty! They will soon know what it is like to live under tyranny! They will soon realise the consequences of their actions, themselves having done nothing to help us! Our suffering has become our greatest strength! We shall show our foes what we are capable of! If they want blood, then we will give it to them as their own! Keep walking forward! March! March! March! It is now or never! Tomorrow, we will fight the last battle of our lives! Slice their limbs off with your steel! Impale them with your spears! Crush their skulls underneath your steel sabatons! Kill them all!”
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