"No movement, lieutenant."Atlas flinched, unable to recall even his name– but for a brief moment. He looked up from the human skull he was using to sharpen his blade and stared at who had spoken.It was Matthew, and not Gerrard, so this wasn't the time the MacMillan drew near. That would be almost two days from now.Luckily."That's good, keep at it," he said, trying not to sound too commanding, because he was dealing with huge disdain here.But for the orders of Achilles, none of them would accept a stranger as their lieutenant. Atlas stood and walked towards the shabby hut at the edge of the kingdom's border. It was originally a war room for the army of this kingdom, but like most things, they were no more.Now, it was a sort of haven for Atlas, his home. He got in and took a pen and his diary, or LOG book as he preferred it to be called, and began scribbling. The day was coming to an end, and he would need to be up all night as a sentry, so he'd better not waste this chance."LOG

The sun didn't drop below the horizon, even though it was afraid of what lay beyond the Vidirian forest, so it hid itself behind dark clouds, and in typical magician fashion, disappeared.And unfortunately so. Its rays were the only thing that kept some semblance of warmth alive, and without it, hypothermia and frostbite ruled the hours until its next appearance.Atlas walked to the ridge and aimed. For a few seconds, he actually convinced himself that he was scouting for the MacMillan, but the truth slipped through the wall of discipline.The MacMillan wasn't going to arrive, not today, not tomorrow, and apart from that behemoth, there was no immediate threat worth keeping him awake all night– no! That was a lie; even butterflies could kill nowadays.But he remained awake. The MacMillan had not arrived because they kept watch until it did; if he decided to sleep and not do what was to be done, he could change the forthcoming events and get them all slaughtered.Besides, the Xhosa mem

He stood and straightened his clothes. It was the same gear today, but a different strategy. And by Hope's grace, a different outcome.He stared into the distance, and not long after, the first bullet fired.Gerrard reset. Like the last five times, he had missed again.'I'm beginning to wonder if he actually made this group by his merit.'The MacMillan tore through the mist as it rushed forward, not for the traveller that had supposedly seen it, but for the one that the cosmos wished to break.Atlas.Soon, it entered the rigged zone, and Atlas took a deep breath, then jumped off the ridge to meet it.His dagger swung out the moment he landed, saving his neck from the ferocious slap across. He skidded back and immediately whistled, inviting the rest of the melee fighters into the fray.Originally, the plan had been for them to stay hidden until the beast was lured their way, but that hadn't worked, so he'd try something different.Shock and awe!Figures clad in snow camouflage darted o

Atlas had a heart attack, a stroke and a seizure all at once. He had lived in the slums once, and it wasn't a good experience. "Fear not, lieutenant. We have employed the best of currently available human resources and services to see that it is refurbished to greater splendor in good time," said Achilles' pupil.The room went quiet and motionless. No one here knew how to translate bullshit to regular English.'What a sesquipedalian.'Atlas shrugged off his pain and took the IV needle out of his hand, standing up even when he had been told to rest.He needed to get back home, for obvious reasons.As he attempted to walk out, he suddenly remembered, and then turned. "Since when did the hospital become a graveyard?""It isn't," replied someone Atlas had not cared to know who they were."So why did I have to wake up next to a dead person?""Her death was sudden. We haven't been able to conduct the ceremonies required of us before burying her," the young man replied."Ceremonies? Who is

He didn't smell blood in an ominous sense, or due to his belief that someone or something had died somewhere close...he actually smelled blood.But it could just have been the boar that the kingdom guards had caught. Though he didn't buy that.He sighed and cleared his mind of the thought as he ran down. If someone had been looking from afar, they would have seen two shadows moving at pace with the wind. One dimly lit, and the other following the path of the first.The plantation was close to the station, and since cargo concerning its upkeep usually came in through there, its location had been a matter of convenience.Matthew and the other Xhosa member reached the walls confining it soon after they set out with blitzing speed.The first thing that caught his attention was the smell of more blood. And truly, smeared along the wall were valleys of cold red blood.Most of it had dried, but by the looks of things, the being that had been slain to produce this was slain quite recently.M