Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-31749612-20170813085555/@comment-33398500-20180103220330

Those screams... those horrible screams...

Up until a minute ago, they were all around me, both man and monster had been screaming in anger, or pain, or despair, the echo still ringing in my head as I remained, for the moment, forced to one knee by the lamia currently in front of me.

My armour long since had its silver and blue covered in mud, and traces of blood from the fighting, and dents in my plates were starting to dig into my skin at points, causing some movements to become rather painful.

This wasn’t right...

Why were we killing them?

Why were we killing ourselves!?

I know the order believed that mamono were an affront to the Chief God, but why would such call for their deaths? If the Chief God were the loving, omnipotent ruler of all things, then why could they not be saved? Merely calming the raging tendencies of the mamono would be an easy task for a truly omnipotent being, wouldn’t it?

As I slowly got back to my feet, my legs shaking slightly as I attempted to once again support my own weight, along with the mud-caked armour I was still wearing, I felt impossibly stifled at the moment, and removed my helmet, casting it to the ground so I could see the beings around me, the order having formed up behind me, and the mamano behind the lamia in front of me.

Strangely, I could see looks of surprise from the mamono in front of me, the lamia included, it hadn’t occurred to me until now, but they might not have even thought I was human up until now, fully concealing helmet giving the impression of some kind of machine or clockwork soldier.

When I had been given command of the order’s task force to assail this town, I did, in part, believe we were aiming to do the right thing: to subdue radical mamono or to drive them off from the area, but even as we had arrived, all that had been thrown into doubt when I observed my own troops harassing locals and burning homes of ‘heretic’ couples of humans and mamano. I had arrived a day in advance to recon the area, and had even gotten to converse with some of those couples: they weren’t bad, just trying to survive in the world...

I was shaking still as I looked across at the mamono: many were terrified – and it was of me! Taking several steps forward, slowly, shaking still as pieces of my own armour pressed into my flesh, I picked up the white flag that lay on the ground in front of me, and impaled it into the ground.

“Enough.” I said, quietly at first.

“ENOUGH!” I repeated, shouting the word “THIS. ENDS. NOW!” Now removing my chestplate in order to stop the metal digging into me, I managed to get out “Cease this nonsense! All of you!” staggering from side to side, pointing at my own army “You are all to cease this madness! Not only do you kill them when they would not kill you, but you kill yourselves! All this to protect the image of a being either unwilling or unable to stop this insanity!”

“How dare you speak such h-“

“Heresy!? Have you been paying attention!?” I interrupted the outburst of one of my own troops “We’re the ones devastating this region!” I couldn’t help but express, beating my hand against my chestplate, causing still more discomfort as the metal dug in “...if the Chief God were truly both loving and all-powerful, why would this be necessary in the first place!? She could simply, with a thought, curb those ‘monsters’ foul habits that you hate them for so much!”

Slowly walking to the unconscious form of the lamia, I managed to barely pick her up, her tail dragging on the ground behind me as I stepped over to the scared-looking mamono and gestured to a minotaur “As touching as this moment seems, I lack the strength to carry her... if you would...” leading to a prompt nod from the confused minotaur, picking her up before I stepped back from their side, saying “...and you! What is your goal in this!? I have heard that mamono, even of the most radical factions, believe in uniting humanity and mamono in love, or something of the sort... how is THIS going to unite ANYONE!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“But we have-“

<p class="MsoNormal">“No! Enough! If everyone simply decides not to fight, there won’t BE a damned war!” as it slowly dawned on me, however, that I was losing the argument to both sides, even as I tried to stop this insanity, I shuffled off back toward the ruin of the nearby town, saying, even as the order troops began muttering mutinously and the mamono did not seem to have been moved by my appeal, I said one last thing “I don’t care if you still want to fight... I’m not having any more part of it...” leaving my sword where it lay as I continued to slowly walk, hate-filled muttering among the order troops now leading to a renewed charge, even as I found myself slipping in the mud, landing on my back to look up at the dismal black clouds and the rain still falling as I lost consciousness.

<p class="MsoNormal">Upon returning to consciousness, I saw the black clouds had parted, slowly opening my eyes before sitting up slowly, looking over the sight of the field, now dotted with dead on both sides, weapons strewn around the field, and the tattered white banner reduced to shreds of fabric on a stick, silent figures moving about the field to collect each sides’ dead. “Damn it all...” I muttered to myself, still having no idea who actually won the battle.

<p class="MsoNormal">However, this was immediately demonstrated when I realized I wasn’t alone “Hello there~” A minotaur laying there next to me said with a teasing wink, causing me to roll to the side. “Ah, don’t worry, I’m not gonna do anything... there’d be hell to pay with the others...” she commented, taking me a moment before I recognized her as the minotaur I handed the lamia off to.

<p class="MsoNormal">“So... I take it the order lost here?” I found myself asking her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah... shortly after your whole ‘hero’ speech failed, our reinforcements showed up and drove them off... the rest... well... let’s just say our matchmaking services are crowded right now... heh...” the minotaur said with a laugh. “Hey, m’lady, he’s awake!” she then called to someone behind the two of us.

<p class="MsoNormal">Upon turning my head, I saw a surprising sight: the lamia I had actually spared slithering over to me “Ah, it seems our guest is finally up... good...” she then said to me, the first time I actually heard her speak. “Come with me...” she continued, now leading me along. “Catch ya later~” the minotaur then teased again as I went with the lamia.

<p class="MsoNormal">As I went through the trashed ruin of the town with her, I couldn’t help but occasionally glance at the steady bounce of her chest as we walked, or rather, I walked and she slithered along “Are you all right?” I asked her now, causing her to look back at me and reply “Yes... thanks to you, I am fine... I wasn’t conscious to hear what you said, but Mina told me all those things you were saying to try to stop the fighting...”

<p class="MsoNormal">As we continued into the old town square, I couldn’t help but notice the number of mamono currently hanging around in the square, all seeming to turn as one when they saw me arrive, Mina adding herself to the group as the lamia stopped “Heh, silly boy... your timing is perfect, you woke up just before our victory celebration~” she then practically sang, as a chorus of shouts, moans and sharp groans replaced the earlier screams, echoing across the village from every direction at once “What’d you think we were incapacitating all those order guys for?” Mina then asked with a grin on her face. “Like I said... couldn’t keep you all to myself... there’d be hell to pay with the rest of us waiting for the ‘hero’...”

<p class="MsoNormal">As I started to step back, beet-red now as I understood what was going on, my legs ceased function as a snake tail wrapped around them, the lamia leaning in close behind me, whispering “It’s necessary~ Sadly, we lost a lot of mamono to your people recently, so you’ve got a lot to make up for~ Let’s get started~” was the last thing she said as her tail fully encompassed my limbs.

<p class="MsoNormal">I guess I should have seen this coming...