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-The year 1153, Fall, The Dusk – Funny Little Girl-
Today…
We lost someone dear. Two pillars of the last bastion.
A man and his wife, the bastions most powerful scouts. They were my dear friends in years.
I did not shed tears.
Numbed by the passing deaths I saw in my lifetime.
They orphaned a little girl.
She was just 9 years old.
For her, I felt wretched and sad.
For the first time, I decided to break one of my taboo.
I allowed someone to call me father.
Though, it seemed like she hates it.
So, she called me Uncle instead.
Such funny little girl.
That’s more acceptable though, due to my divine arts my looks are still the same as I was a young adult.
It’d make me feel less of an old geezer.
Hmnn, perhaps I’ll teach her my arts and my ways on how to become strong.
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-The year 1183, Spring, The Dusk – Hope's not loss-
They are here.
I’m waiting for this very day for almost a hundred years.
Proudly standing behind me, the bastion’s last army silently looked towards the upcoming enemy.
We’ve done all we could.
It was a preparation for a hundred years.
Behind me, lies the last bastion of humanity.
I heard earth-shaking roars continuously vibrating throughout the sky. Seas of monster horde which end I couldn't see.
I am currently sitting on a chair on the top of the towering walls as I write, my table covered by the strategies we were about to implement possibly any moment now.
Beside me was my feisty adopted niece, until now she refuses to call me father.
She matured enough to think for herself though.
I could see that she was ready to die with me.
The problem was… I am not ready.
I am not ready to lose her…
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-The year 1183, Fall, The Dusk – A belly-full of laughter-
This might be the last time I would write on this memoir.
I already decided to pass down this memoir to my adopted daughter.
I’ll force it.
Just like my father asked me.
I would ask her to read it.
I would ask her to continue it.
Anyways, I would also add my seal as my gift to her, my successor.
I would probably stay here till the end.
The soldiers in the army all knew that this might be the last. Thus, their wills were left to their families, friends, and brothers.
The months of testing and light skirmishes would be ending soon.
We already established a cave system with the help of the last remaining dwarves and gnomes to allow everyone a slim chance of survival. We also developed some edible scrubs that could grow there in the cave, and along with some livestock remaining, and magic items necessary to live there.
The last reverie is about to start.
I could hear the rumbling sounds of the marching army, it seemed like all their preparation are ready.
The great party is about to begin.
Oh! Perhaps Rosalyn would be reading this later once she arrives at the cave. So, I wrote something extremely important in another paper.
I think she would be shocked, thinking about it I could not help but burst in a peal of hearty laughter.
So, I wrote my thoughts nakedly.
I decided to protect her till the end.
It’s time, I gotta start moving my ass off.
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-The year 1184, Winter’s end, The Dusk – The Duchess -
I still vividly remember what that douchebag asked me to do last year before the war started.
As the monsters rushed through the walls of the last bastion. And death filled the four corners of its defensive walls, flipped inside and out. The soldiers were already battle hardened, killing anyone they see among the tide of beasts.
The more they kill the safer their remaining families would be.
I was ready to die with them and him, any time of the moment that day.
As long as I was with him, it would be a bliss. Even in death.
Yet, he pushed me away.
He stuffed my mind with things about righteousness and the things I could do if I lived.
He ordered me to lead the remnants of the races away to safety. I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad but that time this lady felt compelled that I forgot to think.
Yes, he ordered me as a general as to his soldier.
Though, he gave an old looking well-maintained memoir as a gift.
He said it was from his father, the founder of the last bastion.
He told me to read it when I arrived at the caves.
He told me to write my thought freely on it just like the two of them. Along with it was a box, he said it was his seal and his divine art which must be kept for the future generations to come.
It would serve as a beacon for me and the others.
Anyways, I knew he would make me his successor.
Though, it was the duty which forced me to lead the remnants to safety.
Not him.
We marched away from the last bastion. Though, It was more of a procession for the lost. I saw it all. I heard crying children on the bosom of their mothers. A shivering pregnant women weeping as she peeked from time to time at the last bastion. Mothers praying for the safety of their sons and daughters.
Despite that the carriages wheels continued to turn and move, there was no turning back now.
This lady carried it on her heart, the burden of the living.
It is winter now, yet it’s warm, no snow fell from the sky.
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-The year 1184, Spring, The Dusk – The Duchess Fellinton’s Ring-
We continued the journey which lasted for a month. When we arrived at our destination that time, it seemed like that the last bastion is still standing strong. We were warmly welcomed by the dwarves and the gnomes upon our arrival.
I ordered everyone at that time to settle in with their assistance.
One more month passed, we knew hope was a loss since there were no messengers coming from the last bastion. Perhaps, it already had fallen.
Until one night, few of the young scouts managed to find someone around the forest nearby the edges of the cave.
He was bloodied all over, one of his arms teared-off, perhaps chewed off would be a better term.
His face pale as a sheet of paper, dried tears mixed with dust could be seen trailing in the sides of his face. Lying there in peace and quiet.
I knew him.
He was one of the most trusted men of that guy, a brother from the last bastion.
It seemed like we were too late. He had already passed away from quite some time.
His remaining hand was grasping something tightly, as I open his stiff fingers one by one, a crumpled letter fell to the cold earth.
Slowly, I opened the wrinkly paper.
My tears fell…
…
…
I ran immediately to the cave, forgetting everything.
I looked for the locked box containing his seal and art.
Sobbing silently, I opened it, I saw a book of his divine art, his seal…
And a ring, a tiny paper tied to the upper shank.
My finger’s trembling, I slowly opened it.
“ My Dear Rosalyn,”
I knew you love me… Will you marry me…
Gently, I lose my grip on the letter from the departed messenger. It landed on the ground, the words within were written on glimmering blood.
“My Rosalyn”
I’m sor-ry… I would not be able to stay with you till we grow old…
…
…
So he knew…
Yet, this damn jerk decided to make me cry till his last.
Yay! Something finally happens. So in the past (or future, the book is not bound by time) human alliance was conquered by monsters (unclear if this is the last bastion of humanity, or just a random place).
Still, it seems unrelated to anything that happened until now. Shouldn't this be a prologue? Unless this is the narrative we're gonna follow now.