The Vow

The Vow is a short story that takes place years after One Final Effort.

Foreword
Let us regale the tale of the Timeless Siege,

''Long ago when the water ran clean, where the air was fresh and the stars shone bright... back to the time where culture ran vibrant, where there was talk of happiness and of joy, where our neighbours welcomed us with open arms as we did them... there was a thing called Peace.''

Peace was a kind testament of what we were before,

''It was the light that warmed our lands, which caused fruits to grow and which guided us from the sands to the mountain peaks. It was calmness and charity, as free as those who fly in the sky or those who sail across the ocean. It is what allowed us to sleep with our backs away from the wall, and without daggers in our grip.''

Peace however, is as fragile as glass,

''There stood our enemy in the far South. Lo, they were the antithesis of the Peace we learned to love and cherish. For they were War, they were the Lykos Kinsman. Hunters and Wolves who relied on their strength and prowess in War. Cunning strategists and deceitful manipulators who tore our lands from under our feet, set us out as refugees or as Martyrs.''

These were Warmongers,

''Warmongers who extinguished the light that warmed our worlds, to leave us in the bitter cold that killed our fruits and secluded us to shelters to plea and cry. They were violence and thieves, and cast the chains of oppression on us to make us slaves to their will, casting us in caves to never again see the light. They are the reason we sleep with our backs to the wall, with daggers in our grip.''

They should have destroyed us,

''Though the Warmongers stood strong, stood fierce and violent, they did not have the Will which we are imbued with. They did not have the dedication to what is Right and Truth as we did, as they turned their backs to false beliefs to support what Wrongs and Lies they threatened to spread. Though they pushed us back, we pushed back harder, until eventually they broke.''

For War can be broken too,

''But for as sinister as the Warmongers were, they had one last design. Though we triumphed to bring back our homes and lands, to enjoy the sun and the water, the heat and the Light, the cunning Lykos plotted to take even this away from us. They Burned our homes with their Toxin, Poisoned our crops and Polluted our water. Cast dark Smoke into the skies, to steal from us our Light.''

This is the world we live in now,

Because of the jealousy, of an entire Race.