Fiction:Tenet/History/11

= Masters made slaves =

Lo! We the Assurhab march once more. Our numbers are reduced but our power is grown. We adorn ourselves in the armor of the fallen; we wield the weapons of the deceased; we consume the flesh of the dead. From a dead bladesman comes knowledge of the blade. From a dead bowman comes knowledge of the killing shot. We take what we need and we become strong.

Lo! We meet the Da'mir at the plains of Ankamwri. We meet them blade to blade and destroy them, for each of us is an army. And we reave the fallen, and we cook their flesh, and we become strong.

Lo! We torch the Da'mir cities. We ransack their arrogant palaces. We cast down their false gods. We destroy the Da'mir, we explain to them their weakness with sword and fire, and we become strong.

Lo! The Da'mir king surrenders. He kneels before our king the Eschaton, the uniter of the world, and he exposes his neck to our blades. We kill him. We quarter his body and send his parts to every corner of the Da'mir empire so that they may know he is dead. We cut his heart from his chest and present it to our king the Eschaton to eat. We take his head and return to our lands in triumph, driving the Da'mir in a crowd before us. The masters are now slaves in their turn! We have become strong.

And our king the Eschaton returns to his throne. He is guided by two angels, one at each shoulder, and they tell him to unite the world. And this is what he says:

"We have won the first battle, but the war has only begun. I am king of the Assurhab and the Da'mir, but many kings beside still sit their thrones. Our strength is depleted. For now we must rebuild. We must consolidate our power. And in a year's time, we will march for the rest of the world."