The Achievement Junkie

"Hmmm…" A man sat behind a makeshift desk with papers scattered about which were covered in scribbles, coordinates, and various orders given by him or other military higher-ups. He clasped his hands and fiddled with his thumbs. "It seems that we'll have to speed up our schedule. Gather the officials and tell them that we leave tomorrow night."

"Gen. Toms, are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, you two assistants will pass the orders onto the officials, who will then pass them on to the captains. After that, enjoy a good meal and get a good night's sleep. There's no telling when the next time you'll be able to enjoy that," stated General Toms.

"Sir, yes sir!" Both men saluted and left the general's tent in a rush.

One assistant looked to the other and smiled. "Dirk, we're finally getting out of this place."

"Yeah, but Loire, are you really looking forward to the massacre waiting for us?" asked Dirk.

Assistant Loire's footsteps came to a halt as he smirked at Assistant Dirk. "This is what we signed up for. This is why we became assistants to the general. If you're not wanting war, then why did you take the position? That doesn't make sense."

"Maybe I just wanted to pay raise and a way to make sure that my family got what they needed." Assistant Dirk continued to walk on without a care for Assistant Loire. "If you don't hurry then you'll be late for our meeting with the officials."

With a chuckle, Assistant Loire caught up to Assistant Dirk and rambled on about the excitement that was waiting for them on the battlefield-to-be.

After a few minutes, they entered a tent which had a number of other soldiers coming in and out. But then the other soldiers took a seat at a large table and gave their attention to the two assistants.

"Men, we're finally leaving this mountain pass and we'll soon go on a rampage in Trodar. Tomorrow night we head out, so make sure to tell the captains and to inform the Sandros soldiers as well. Also, enjoy yourselves while you still can. Unless you're confident you'll survive the onslaught, get your fill now." Assistant Loire was the one to give the order while Assistant Dirk looked on and paid attention to the different faces and reactions of the officials.

While some officials were excited, others seemed nervous and a few had a look of terror or regret. But none of them spoke up as they knew the assistants and the general were unforgiving to anyone who dared rebel or disobey orders.

"You're dismissed. Now go inform the others," stated Assistant Dirk with a nod.

The officials promptly saluted and exited the tent, leaving the two assistants to bicker or laugh amongst each other.

Most officials immediately left for the soldiers' tents in search of the captains. Only a few dared go elsewhere first, most likely in search of some alone time to take in the situation before reporting it or to finish up some matters they already had on hand.

One of those officials made his way toward the cafeteria once he was out of sight of the others. He easily weaved through through the foot traffic of the camp and entered one of the largest tense they had, filled to the brim with soldiers enjoying an evening meal.

The officials scanned his surroundings, as if looking for something that wasn't there or something that seemed out of place. Eventually he got some food and sat himself sitting at a distant table in the far corner, the one nearest to the kitchen storage and not the exit.

Like always time passed as more and more soldiers found themselves leaving the cafeteria, but the official did not. He had been slowly consuming his meal, almost meticulously. His head stayed down for the most part while he only inspected the area on occasion throughout his meal.

"Official Harolt, how's the meal been?"

Suddenly filled with energy and alertness the official shot to his feet and saluted. "Assistant Loire, the meal's been good."

"Hmmm… I see. How did the captains take the news?" asked the assistant.

"Sir, I've yet to give the report. I myself felt a bit distressed about it and took the liberty to grab a meal to calm myself and allow me to better deliver the news," replied Official Harolt.

Assistant Loire blinked and tilted his head as he chuckled. "Really? I wouldn't expect that from you. I've got some time, so how about you and I go and give the report together? Then we can come back and drink the night away while we still can."

"Yes, sir. Why not?"

The official started raking the remaining food into his mouth as he cleaned up his plate. Though he seemed delighted to have the assistant's help, alarms were ringing inside his mind. 'Daliea, do it now!'

'But it's too soon--"

'It's now or never,' stated Rydel. 'One of the assistants wants to take me to the tents to the soldiers' tents and you need to act before he arrives.'

'Got it!'

An audible sigh rang out in both Rydel's and Daliea's minds. 'Just be careful and don't do anything that would guarantee your death.'

'Don't worry, Jack. We got this covered,' added Rydel.

'Yeah, together with Bowzer we'll make sure to get the job done,' Daliea assured Jack confidently as the mental conversation came to a close.

Daliea, who had the appearance of the Limneer soldier, found one of the many empty tents belonging to an absent soldier in his company. She quickly changed her appearance to that of a man in a Sandros mage's uniform with the mark of a lieutenant on his shoulders, ready for battle.

Just before the rush of soldiers returned from the evening meal to the privacy of their tents, one of those tents at the center of the campground exploded in a plume of fire.

Everyone nearby rushed with buckets of water and large blankets to try and put it out but the fire kept growing and growing, expanding to the nearby tents unstoppably. The most terrifying thing was that they couldn't put the fire out.

These flames were both orange and white with a tinge of blackness that seemed so dark that even the devil's heart couldn't compare. Every possible thing they could think of to put the fire out was rendered useless, not even able to stop the fire from spreading. The flame seemed to spawn from hell itself.

Captains and officials tried their best to get closer to the fire's center but it was impossible. The heat was too much to bear and they weren't strong enough to make it past the outer ring of the flames.

News spread across the entire camp as all soldiers and officials made their way towards the company tents.

Inside the cafeteria, everyone started to yell and shout as they bolted for the exit. Assistant Loire's face suddenly tightened up as he turned his head toward the distant tents of the thousands of Limneer soldiers as if he could peer through the canvas surrounding the cafeteria.

"Harolt, come with me! We've got to put that fire out!" Assistant Loire was shouting to official Harolt while he was already halfway out of the tent.

Unable to disobey orders, the official followed suit and dashed alongside the army of soldiers hurrying back to their quarters. Before long they arrived but it was too late to save the majority of the tents.

By then they were focusing on salvaging the remaining tents instead of fighting the fire. The officials and captains had ordered their soldiers to douse the remaining tents in water and dirt in order to create some kind of barrier between the canvas of the tents and the ensuing flames.

The look on Assistant Loire's face was baffling as his mouth fell agape. Official Harolt reacted the exact same way, or at least he did on the outside.