The war room was dark but warm, candles flickered against old stone, casting twisted shadows across the maps that covered the walls. The scent of ink and sweat hung thick in the air, clinging like blood to a blade.
I stood at the center, arms crossed, facing a room full of monsters.
And yet… I was the scariest one there.
Kaleid slouched near the back, still chewing on a roast leg of some poor beast. Krelza the Bonewitch was muttering curses over a set of enchanted tokens, while one of her skulls rattled on a chain like a disobedient pet. A dozen lesser commanders huddled in the corners, eyes flicking nervously to me.
"Speak freely", I said, pinning them all with a glance. "This is a war council, not a funeral."
A thin demon with twisted horns cleared his throat. "L-Lady Rin, we... some of us wonder why we're holding prisoners instead of killing them. Especially the humans."
I walked slowly toward him. "Do you think fear ends when a man dies?"
He swallowed hard.
"No", I continued, "fear lives on. In stories. In whispers. I don't need corpses, I need messengers. Survivors who go back home and tell everyone what they saw. Tell them about the girl who tricked their greatest general into a canyon. Tell them about the demon army that didn't need brute force to win. Tell them that even mercy is a trap."
Silence.
I turned back to the map table and tapped the edge with one gloved finger. "They'll think twice before charging in blind again."
Kaleid grinned. "You should put that on a banner. 'Mercy is a trap'. Catchy."
"I'm not here to be catchy."
"Could've fooled me", he muttered.
Later that night, I walked through the camp alone. The stars above were cold and sharp, like needles in a velvet cloth. Fires crackled in pockets across the hillside, where demons and darkspawn laughed, sang, or simply sharpened their blades.
I passed a young imp trying to juggle flaming stones and failing miserably.
"Stop before you set yourself on fire", I said.
He squeaked and dropped all three. "Lady Rin! I-I was just trying to---"
"Learn balance?" I offered. "Focus first. Show off later."
He blinked, then nodded rapidly. "Yes, ma'am!"
Even now, in the middle of a cursed war, I found myself teaching children again. Just like in the slums.
Memory: Back Alley Classroom
"Why are you teaching us?" one of the street kids had asked me, years ago.
"Because no one else will", I'd replied. "And I need a team someday."
We'd stolen scraps of chalk to draw fake battlefields on brick walls. I showed them flanking maneuvers using moldy bread and rat bones. We practiced silence. Planning. Patience.
I wonder how many of them survived.
If any of them saw me now… would they recognize me?
Would they fear me?
I stopped at the edge of the ridge, looking down at the battlefield again. The vultures had started to circle.
Someone approached.
A soft step. Light breath. Not Kaleid.
I turned.
It was Ravien, the quiet shadow-born scout with white eyes and no voice. She bowed and handed me a scroll.
I unrolled it slowly.
A rough map of enemy camps. Updated patrol patterns. More than that, scrawlings in red, notes of infighting among the Alliance generals. Lack of supply coordination. Possible mutiny brewing in the western flank.
(*scrawlings - to write something quickly, without trying to make your writing tidy or easy to read*)
My smile returned.
"Beautiful", I whispered. "They're crumbling already."
Ravien tilted her head.
I traced a finger along the weakest path. "Send this to the Bonewitch. Tell her to prepare a ritual. And have my 'prisoners' spread rumors about our next target. Wrong ones."
Ravien bowed again and disappeared like smoke.
I stared at the map for a long moment.
This was the kind of battle Jinto had dreamed of, a war not won on the battlefield, but in their minds. Lies. Ghosts. Paranoia. He once told me:
"The most dangerous enemy isn't the one in front of you. It's the one already in your head."
Now I was in their heads.
I was becoming the thing they whispered about. The tactician who saw everything. Who turned kindness into a weapon. Who never struck the same way twice.
They didn't know whether I'd flank them, curse them, or bribe their own men out from under them.
And I wanted that.
No, I needed that.
Because fear… was stronger than steel.
As I turned to leave, Kaleid appeared at my side.
"Rin", he said. "You going to sleep at all tonight?"
"I don't sleep much these days."
He nodded. "You've changed."
"Good", I said simply.
"You sure you're not becoming the monster they say you are?"
I looked back at the map. The plan. The blood that hadn't even dried yet.
"No", I said. "I'm becoming worse."