Excerpt from the diary of Private Raz V’a  van; 

from the book

  “We were the legionaries of Malus ‘The World Breaker’”

“It was my second month of dessert warfare on Volun 4 and up until now our only enemy was boredom since for the past 5 weeks there had been no activity along the front and I was enjoining a pleasant breakfast while listening to the morning music and the local weather news broadcast.

Are you cold tonight?

Do you worry tonight?

Are you sad tonight?

Well tomorrow will come,

With the first rays of sun,

And tonight will be here no more.

“A lovely song, and now for the latest development for the upcoming storms. An unpredicted change is about to occur within four locations, those situated in mountainous regions may expect a strong blow, to come from the southern direction, the city folk can this time rest at ease, with the exception of the local capitals, which are expected have its first share of heavy fall in what appears to be an unpredictable pattern. Those of you who have decided to take a long walk into virgin territory I hope you are prepared for the coming storm and finally chaotic fog is expected to befall on the western parts, mainly beaches and vacation areas and for the coming seasons the storm is believed to produce great change in the environment and medium.......but we would like to a.s.sure our listeners, that no matter how hard the storm hits….. it may seem dreadful and without end, but like all things good and bad it  will eventually come to pa.s.s……”

We will be warm,

And safe from the storm,

And tonight will be here no more!

The sparrows will soar,

With the light from the sh.o.r.e.

And tonight will be here no more!

The windwaker, which some clever b.a.s.t.a.r.d had hooked up to a coin machine to charge us a penny a minute told us the latest news or at least it did after I placed a coin in its mouth.

But the peace was not to last, for we had received word that we would have a new commander, namely Commodore Metternich per Pelasgiamus. The news was greeted with mixed results among our ranks the majority received it well since the young Commodore was a Hero of the Empire and had made quite the  name for himself, for he and his ship ‘The Vampire’s Vengeance’ were renowned for their struggle against our Empire’s enemies.

‘Headmaster Metty is here!’, ‘The Fox of Marengo has arrived!’, where the joyous cries of many sailors and soldiers.

Others were indifferent and some reacted with distain since a new commander meant things would change and if it was one thing being the army taught us it was that you can be sure that a soldier’s world would be bad, go to h.e.l.l and then things would start to get nasty.

Those were the thoughts going through my mind as I was walking to where our company’s doctor was staying in order to get some Drava pills, which was medicine that gave you extra energy to stay awake and some extra stamina for fighting, the side effect was that it blocked any kind of dreams you could have while you were asleep.

 That may have been a good thing since from that day on things would go from bad to worse and beyond, for what we would see in the upcoming battles would have only given us nightmares.

Private Raz V’a  van, Imperial Logistic and Engineer Corps.