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felinefablesSo yeah, here I go again with one of my “What if” thoughts. In this case, based on some of the “Pitch the completely irredeemable Nightmare King” stuff. This is one of those things that has been plaguing me, so I needed to get it out of my head. Maybe a part one of something.
-------
Guilt is an awful motivator. It is a constant, tiny nagging voice, that can build up into a sonorous bellow if you let it. And when you don’t allow yourself time to grieve, it deafens everything else. Especially the voices of concerned friends, colleagues or loved ones in general. (His wife and child were his world, and now his world is broken, why does everyone expect him to just move on? They don’t, but guilt and grief are experts at twisting such truths.)
The Tsar allows him to take some time off. He practically orders him to, really, but Kozmotis can’t bring himself to care. He has a job to do, he has to make certain that no one else will ever be hurt by the Shadows ever again.
In the beginning, no one thinks of his actions, of how he mercilessly attacks each pirate ship they come across. They know how he lost his family, how his wife and daughter were his world. His crew, still sailing with him after that terrible night, remember the grief that he only revealed when the last Dream Pirate lay dead on the deck of his ship.
But they are also veteran soldiers, and the oldest of them remember other battles, wars on other planets where even the bravest of soldiers were not driven mad by fear, but by grief. They remember how those soldiers would drive themselves into a frenzy because they had no one to come home to, because the very beings of Fear itself had taken it all from them.
The difference is, that these soldiers did not have the power of a General.
When some of these veterans follow General Pitchiner into battle, however, they start to wonder if they are trying to defeat the Fearlings, or trying to protect the General from himself.
Hope is a fragile thing, and when it is declared that the Shadow Prison is to be built, the soldiers dare to look at one another and hope, that perhaps knowing these creatures being sealed away will being their General the peace that he needs, that they know he longs for.
General Kozmotis Pitchiner cares not for the news.
———
Of course no one thinks about it in the beginning when the General continues to attack the Fearlings in a manner that kills them all. They have been at war for so long, having to get used to the thought of capturing, rather than killing, is a difficult one. The first time they capture a ship full of Fearlings alive is considered just as much of a victory as any other. The veterans remember, however. They remember the time before the massacre, of how the General would look at the Fearlings with pity, how he would treat them with kindness and respect, despite their own sneers and curses.
Now he looks at their prisonors as he looked at the Dream Pirates that night after what has been so long ago now.
There is death in his eyes, and it puts the veterans on their guard.
It is a long journey to the Prison of Shadows, and some of the soldiers are new recruits. Accidents are bound to happen, and this time is no exception.
The captive Fearlings are found dead one morning. General Pitchiner stands among the bodies, their black blood covering him, soaked into his clothes, his weapon, even his hair. When asked, he simply says they were trying to make an escape, and he got there in time to prevent it.
No one says anything. The report states the exact same words as the general: Prisoners tried to escape, and they were executed as a result.
No one questions it outside the ship.
Amongst themselves however, the veterans talk. The General is not the first to break in this manner, and his men vow to make certain that nothing else will happen. They have their orders from the Tsar, orders that can only be ‘ignored’ for so long, before something dreadful happens.
The General is a good man. He just needs to be reminded of it.
-------
Guilt is an awful motivator. It is a constant, tiny nagging voice, that can build up into a sonorous bellow if you let it. And when you don’t allow yourself time to grieve, it deafens everything else. Especially the voices of concerned friends, colleagues or loved ones in general. (His wife and child were his world, and now his world is broken, why does everyone expect him to just move on? They don’t, but guilt and grief are experts at twisting such truths.)
The Tsar allows him to take some time off. He practically orders him to, really, but Kozmotis can’t bring himself to care. He has a job to do, he has to make certain that no one else will ever be hurt by the Shadows ever again.
In the beginning, no one thinks of his actions, of how he mercilessly attacks each pirate ship they come across. They know how he lost his family, how his wife and daughter were his world. His crew, still sailing with him after that terrible night, remember the grief that he only revealed when the last Dream Pirate lay dead on the deck of his ship.
But they are also veteran soldiers, and the oldest of them remember other battles, wars on other planets where even the bravest of soldiers were not driven mad by fear, but by grief. They remember how those soldiers would drive themselves into a frenzy because they had no one to come home to, because the very beings of Fear itself had taken it all from them.
The difference is, that these soldiers did not have the power of a General.
When some of these veterans follow General Pitchiner into battle, however, they start to wonder if they are trying to defeat the Fearlings, or trying to protect the General from himself.
Hope is a fragile thing, and when it is declared that the Shadow Prison is to be built, the soldiers dare to look at one another and hope, that perhaps knowing these creatures being sealed away will being their General the peace that he needs, that they know he longs for.
General Kozmotis Pitchiner cares not for the news.
———
Of course no one thinks about it in the beginning when the General continues to attack the Fearlings in a manner that kills them all. They have been at war for so long, having to get used to the thought of capturing, rather than killing, is a difficult one. The first time they capture a ship full of Fearlings alive is considered just as much of a victory as any other. The veterans remember, however. They remember the time before the massacre, of how the General would look at the Fearlings with pity, how he would treat them with kindness and respect, despite their own sneers and curses.
Now he looks at their prisonors as he looked at the Dream Pirates that night after what has been so long ago now.
There is death in his eyes, and it puts the veterans on their guard.
It is a long journey to the Prison of Shadows, and some of the soldiers are new recruits. Accidents are bound to happen, and this time is no exception.
The captive Fearlings are found dead one morning. General Pitchiner stands among the bodies, their black blood covering him, soaked into his clothes, his weapon, even his hair. When asked, he simply says they were trying to make an escape, and he got there in time to prevent it.
No one says anything. The report states the exact same words as the general: Prisoners tried to escape, and they were executed as a result.
No one questions it outside the ship.
Amongst themselves however, the veterans talk. The General is not the first to break in this manner, and his men vow to make certain that nothing else will happen. They have their orders from the Tsar, orders that can only be ‘ignored’ for so long, before something dreadful happens.
The General is a good man. He just needs to be reminded of it.
