Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 700: Brothers in arms

Chapter 700: Brothers in arms

Within the Dead Valley, cannons roared with reckless abandon as men, their overall strength and numbers bolstered by the presence of beasts, tamed mutants and machines, fought against one another with cold and hot weapons, letting out war cries in support of their rulers.

Lifeless bodies were scattered across the battlefield with a new one added with each passing moment.

The reason behind this mindless conflict, King Atiphates of Milatrea, a dark-haired man with a slender build and an average height, somehow found himself at the center of it all, his eyes filled with dread as he watched his soldiers fight for him, laying down their lives without the slightest hesitation.

Unlike his counterpart, Atiphates was no fighter.

In truth, he was more politician than warrior, yet he found himself on a battlefield, leading hundreds of thousands of men in a battle that, in retrospect... should not have happened.

Just as he thought to give a new decree to those who fought under his banner, he heard a voice call out to him, one that was all too familiar.

"Atiphates!"

He glanced towards the origin of this voice that somehow managed to reach him despite the prevailing sounds of war.

And there he was, approaching with a band of warriors.

They fought through his protection until finally, Lyssandros stood a few meters away from Atiphates.

About them, men fought, exchanging deadly moves in a delicate dance of life and death.

The two men exchanged looks and for a moment, the noise about them died down as they focused solely on one another.

"You were like a brother to me!" Lyssandros exclaimed. "Why did you have to betray me?... Why did you take the one thing I asked you not to take?"

"... I don’t know." Atiphates breathed out, his eyes revealing his confusion as he truly couldn’t understand why he had done what he did.

Lyssandros gritted his teeth. "I would have given you anything!... Money, land, women!... All you had to do was ask."

"... You have to believe me, brother; the situation is not as simple as you think it to be."

"Do not lie to me!" Lyssandros bellowed. "Look around you."

And Atiphates did just that, his reddish brown eyes moving across the battlefield.

He watched one man kill another with a blade through his heart, watched another get torn apart by a beast of war and yet another subjected to the brutal weapons of a machine.

There was no need to care if each of these men was under his banner or that of Lyssandros.

All that mattered was that they were fighting a war... one that held very little substance, giving up their lives in a fight that should have never happened.

"Many have died, given up their lives in a fight to uphold the dignity of their master... do you dare claim that you still do not know why you decided to embark on this path?" Lyssandros questioned, his anger justified.

Despite his warrior background, he was a man who despised wars; after all, he had seen the pain they caused and realized that, at the end of the day, wars were meaningless.

Yet, the one man that he thought shared the same dream as him, a dream that could have one day seen not just the Alliance but the entirety of Henos indulge in peace for a thousand years, had gone ahead to betray him.

For Lyssandros, Atiphates took not just his wife, but his dream as well.

He stripped him naked and left him in the wilderness with nothing to cover his shame.

"Answer me!" Lyssandros bellowed as he held the hilt of his long sword tightly.

Atiphates remained silent as he met the gaze of his brother and then, after several seconds of silence, he dropped to his knees, catching Lyssandros off guard.

"I have been a fool, brother... please, punish me."

As he spoke, Atiphates lowered his head, offering up his neck.

Lyssandros stared at Atiphates, realizing at that moment just how weak he was.

This was not the air of a man that wished for war... So why?... Why had this war taken place?

For what reason did thousands of men give up their lives?

"Stand up, brother!... Fight me!" Lyssandros said. "I will not kill a man without a sword."

Atiphates raised his head to regard Lyssandros. "I never wished to fight, brother. I thought myself wise before now but I realize that I have been played for a fool, just like you. Kill me, brother, kill me, and end this war before it’s too late."

Lyssandros hesitated, prompting Atiphates to rise to his feet.

Just as he made to speak, a gunshot echoed and Atiphates stilled.

Lyssandros turned wide-eyed, his gaze falling upon the hole that now existed between Atiphates’ temple.

He watched the man he called his brother drop to his knees before falling to the ground with a dull thud.

At that moment, Lyssandros couldn’t hear anything else... he couldn’t see anything else.

All he saw was his fallen brother and all he heard was the gunshot that reaped his life.

***

"All the worlds a stage."

In the pseudo-divine kingdom of the Jester, a place where the foolishness of man took center stage and nothing was taken seriously, Harlequin remained in a tent, accompanied by her fellow Apostles.

"And all the men and women are merely players."

All were hunched over a map that depicted the situation of the continent in real-time, their expressions unreadable.

"They have their exits and their entrances."

None seemed bothered by the latent danger on the horizon in the form of the Goddess Ninmah.

"And one man in his time plays many parts."

Or perhaps they were, but they knew they could do nothing about it.

"His acts being seven ages."

Instead, all their focus was on seven pieces that represented seven individuals in Henos, each of these pieces connected by strings that were being controlled by a disembodied hand floating above the map.

"And of those seven..."

Just then, two of the seven pieces that persisted on the map crumbled, one following swiftly after the other.

"Two have passed and five remain."