Mago woke up covered in a cold sweat. It was early in the morning, the sun couldn't be seen on the horizon yet. The dark night sky was slowly gaining a bluish tint, and the stars were still visible and the moon shone dimly.
Mago's breathing was rugged. Ever since the siege ended three days ago, he had the same nightmare. In his dreams, he faced the shaman over and over again, always plagued by his feeling of helplessness and fear in the face of that immeasurable strength. If he hadn't had help from Ragan and Bismark, and managed to take the shaman by surprise in the end, he would be dead.
It didn't sit well with Mago that he didn't win with his own strength. Not that he was foolish enough to reject help in a disadvantageous situation, but he simply didn't like it.
Wiping off his sweat, Mago got dressed and started his training. First, he practiced his inner core before picking up his greatsword and going outside towards the square where he and the others had been ambushed. The square was used as a training field by the army, since the city of T'cammen didn't have many open places and the Imperial army had not yet had any time to clear an open space in the jungle near the city.
The Commanders had yet to brief the army, but Mago had heard them talking about building a supply route directly from the Empire to T'cammen, making it easier for Primigenia to advance.
'If we build a supply route, it means we will be staying here for quite some time.' Mago thought while swinging his sword in the empty square.
Hours went by and the sun had already risen high in the sky.
Mago wasn't alone in the training field anymore. Hundreds of soldiers were there, polishing their skills.
"Oii, our dear Colonel, your promotion ceremony will start soon.", came a shout from the edge of the square. It was Bismark, donned in his mage's robes. Ragan was standing next to him.
Today was the day that Mago's promotion to Colonel would be made official. Andremes had given Gauder the freedom to choose his new Colonel, and like his words during the siege had previously indicated, he chose Mago.
"Right, I'll get cleaned up quickly and make my way there.", Mago replied absentmindedly. The promotion left a bittersweet taste in his mouth. If his previous Colonel wouldn't have died, he knew that it would have taken him much longer to receive the rank of Colonel. He didn't feel like he had earned it yet, he just got lucky.
'Well, the campaign has barely started. I'll have a chance to prove myself worthy of this position before we return to the capital.' Mago contemplated.
Half an hour later, Mago was kneeling before High Commander Andremes and Commander Gauder in front of the whole of the 1st Corps.
The ceremony was short, Gauder handed Mago his new uniform, said some encouraging words and explained his duty as a Colonel, and introduced him to the 1st Corps as the new Colonel of the 2nd Division. After that the troops gave their new officer a salute, and that was the end of the ceremony, and the regular soldiers dispersed.
Mago and the other officers on the other hand were summoned to the command center of the city. They used the tribal chief's previous house/hut as the new command center. It was located in the city center and was quite large. The soldiers had quickly renovated it, such as building a regular floor instead of having the ground covered in animal pelts, and they had also torn down some of the shabby walls, making a more spacious area for the officers to gather.
The officers sat around a long table that was previously used at the commander's tent. Andremes sat at the head of the table with his three Commanders sitting around him. Mago sat in the middle of the table, with the Colonel of the 1st Division on his left side, and Bismark on his right side.
Bismark had gotten a seat at the table thanks to Mago promoting him as the Captain of his previous Brigade. Bismark had shown excellent leadership skills in the ambush and had taken personally charge of Mago's 5th Brigade when Mago had been busy commanding the battlefield.
Ragan was named as one of the lieutenants of the Brigade as Claude was promoted to the rank of Captain. He was going to take charge of Captain Farren's previous Brigade.
The reason why these two were promoted was partly due to their capabilities and partly because Mago wanted to have officers he could trust. He had never interacted with the lieutenants of the other Brigades so he was not familiar with them.
"So we gathered you all here to give you some news. We will be staying at T'cammen for the few months. We will build a supply route that connects the city and the southern territory of the Empire. Besides the supplies, there will be some merchants and workers coming. These people will be the first Imperial citizens of T'cammen. So while they are on their way, we will be fortifying this city so that it will never leave the hands of the Empire.", Andremes announced.
"What about after the few months? We can't just leave the citizens here undefended. Are there any reinforcements coming to protect the city?", asked one of the Colonels with a frown.
"There will be no reinforcements. The tribes have only 40,000 troops left while we have 75,000. There is no need for reinforcements. Once the fortifications are complete we will leave behind 20,000 troops to defend the city while the rest will go and eradicate the remaining tribes once and for all.", Andremes explained.
The meeting went on for a while after that. Some minor details were discussed and the tasks of each officer were decided. Mago wasn't given any task.
"Colonel, since your Division is missing half of its troops and you are new in command, I suggest you take this time to train your men and familiarize yourself with them.", Gauder remarked as the meeting was coming to an end.
Mago simply nodded and gave him and Andremes a salute and left the tent. This was what he had wanted. He knew nothing of his new troops, and his Division was functioning with half the original manpower.
And so days started to fly by. Mago integrated to the rest of his Division the new roles of the mages under his command. He also held competitions to see what level of skill the troops had and gave them roles that in mind. He was pleasantly surprised by the overall skill of the Division. They weren't known as veterans for nothing.
It had been close to a month now. Mago had spent all this time training with his Division as well as strengthening his inner core. He still had occasional nightmares of the shaman that had so easily beaten him, but he wasn't as afraid as before. He slowly started to see the shaman as his next goal. He wanted to be as strong as him. Someone who could easily trample on others.
On that day, Mago had just finished training with the troops.
They had all started to get adjusted to their new roles and positions. They also learned to respect their young Colonel. He was truly hardworking and always seemed to have their best interest in mind. They could often see him brooding over problems while murmuring about the lack of men. He had asked Gauder to recruit some people from the capital but his idea had been rejected.
It would take time to integrate the new men into the Division and a force, while lacking in manpower but unified and used to working with each other, was better than a force that had a wide skill gap, was divided, and where the older members didn't trust the newbies with their backs.
Begrudgingly Mago had to agree. The inexperienced recruits would most likely create more problems than they would solve, so Mago had to let go of that idea.
When Mago was walking back to his hut, which was located near the center of the city, he noticed a strange patch of earth around a hut that was next to the command center. There were patches of moss and weeds sticking from the ground, giving an unnatural look. It looked like they were strewn around there to cover up something.
Feeling curious, Mago walked closer and felt the ground below him. He couldn't feel or see anything wrong, even after removing the hastily planted patches of vegetation.
'Maybe I'm just overthinking this.' Mago figured and stomped on the ground in light frustration. He had wished to find something intriguing to relieve his boredom. He had done nothing but train for the last month and wished for a change of pace.
Just as Mago's stomping foot hit the ground, he could hear the sound of something breaking and looked at his feet.
Crack! Woosh!
Mago fell underground.