Cycle 2 - A Shared Nightmare
The march was sullen. They had to keep quiet, but usually there was still conversation. But today, no one talked. Maybe everyone was dealing with the loss of a fair portion of their century. But for some reason, everyone was being wary, not just of their surroundings, but of each other. That needed explanation.
Dominus called for a stop around midday. “You’re all quiet today,” he commented. “What’s wrong?”
Thelus shook his head. “Bad dreams.”
“Really?” said Praetoria. “I had nightmares too. Something about a battle...”
“Me too!” exclaimed Postea. “Everyone was fighting each other.” He gulped, turning to Dominus. “I killed you.”
Dominius frowned. “I remember…”
Everyone started talking. Aldric accused Araris of butchering him, while Gammax glared at Stella, who shrank back.
Luxet murmured to Dominus, “Sir, we are still in enemy territory...”
He nodded. “Quiet!” he ordered, and everyone hushed. “It seems we all had the same dream last night. So? What can we learn from this? What does it mean?”
“We have traitors among us,” whispered Thelus Ascheion. “That’s what it means.”
“Or, at least, a strong fire or earthcrafter trying to get us to think about killing each other...” said Gammax, turning slowly to look at Thelus. “Like you, maybe?”
“W-what? No! I’m not a traitor!”
“Aren’t you?” Amuro Ray said, advancing on him. “You certainly seem to be trying to make us distrust each other.”
“I’m not! I promise! Great Furies, I just had a dream like all of you! That’s it.”
“A dream which you brought up in the first place,” Luxet noted quietly.
“So? Does that automatically make me a traitor, just because I talked about having a bad dream?”
“When that dream seems to have been shared with everyone else in the camp, and you draw the conclusion that there are traitors among us? Yes. It does.” said Amuro.
And before anyone could stop him, Amuro Ray plunged his blade into Thelus Ascheion’s neck.
Dominius froze in horror for a moment. Then, “Legionare Amuro Ray!” he called sharply. “What was that?”
Amuro Ray stared at the corpse for a moment before he turned. “Sorry, sir,” he said shamefacedly. “I don’t know what came over me. It was just... he seemed like a traitor.”
“Seeming is not good enough to murder someone,” said Dominius, frowning. “You have latrine duty until we get back to camp for that, and I’ll have to include that in my report. But we need every soldier for now, unfortunately.”
“Sir.” Amuro Ray saluted.
“Let’s get moving,” Dominius commanded, and everyone packed up and headed out, just as quiet as they had been before.
The night was uneventful, fortunately. No dreams came to haunt Dominus’ sleep, and even the Canim didn’t howl.
Unfortunately, the morning definitely made up for the quietness of the night.
Dominius was woken by Luxet shaking his shoulder. She’d had the night watch, he remembered. “What?” he whispered.
“You should really come see this, sir,” she whispered back.
When he got up, the last thing he was expecting was to be led over to Straw. Straw’s face bulged out at Dominius in a grimace of horror. It seemed he’d been strangled with his own sword, warped all out of shape and wrapped tightly around his neck. He looked up at Luxet grimly.
Dominus shook his head. “Bury the body. Don’t-” he cut off at her gesture.
“There's something else,” she said softly. She led him past the rows of sleeping bodies to the sentry. He saw that Mulciber was on duty. She acknowledged them as they approached.
"Tell him what you told me," Luxet ordered.
"Sir! While I was doing a patrol around the camp, I got jumped from behind by someone. I managed the dodge their blade, but was having trouble doing much better than that. But then someone else came along and pushed my assailant away. By the time I got back up, both of them were out of sight. They came from behind, and they had a sword. Sir, I think one of the soldiers in our company. I immediately told the Tesserarius, who went and told you."
Dominius frowned. “These can’t have been traitors,” he said. “Why not just slit all of our throats first?”
“Perhaps vigilante justice?” suggested Luxet.
Dominius shook his head. “Regardless. I’d hoped to keep one death secret, but I have a feeling there's going to more death before this is done. Organize a burial detail, then, but make it fast. I want to be back at camp before seven more sunrises.”
Luxet nodded and withdrew, and he stood staring down at the corpse for a long moment. Straw hadn’t been killed in battle, or even probably by traitors. He'd been killed by his own men, in some twisted sense of justice or revenge.
It had to stop.
Elodin was lynched! He was a Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Metal and Tier 1 Earth!
ThatTinyStrawMan was killed by a metalcrafter! He was a Loyal Legionare with Tier 1 Water and Tier 3 Earth!
Burnt Spaghetti was attacked by a metalcrafter, but didn’t die!
Vote Tally
(3) Joe - Lopen, Gamma, Elodin
(3) Elodin - DC, Conquestor, Joe
(1) Hellscythe - Araris
Please note that the cycle limit has finally been set at eight. So cycle eight will be the last cycle of the game.
Also, with PMs, please label the cycle it was created - PMs now stay open for two cycles and can be blocked or redirected halfway through the 2 cycle period.
PMs coming out as soon as we can.
Cycle ends in about 47 hours.
The signups OP has been edited to reflect the various rule changes and clarifications. Be sure to have a look.
