"The sun that rises at dawn shines for everyone, but not with the same intensity. Rich and poor, free and enslaved, all are victims of an unequal sun. In the end, the only solution to stop the misery is one drenched in blood. In the end, the only solution to stop the misery is one seen from the shadows."
Returning from a mission, Thamiso, as the leader of his squad, appeared satisfied with the performance of his comrades. Thamiso was a young soldier with blond hair and blue eyes, part of the empire's anti-terrorist unit. He wielded a black-bladed sword against the enemies of the empire.
With him were Ílliou, Lian, and Stan. All of them were promising and skilled soldiers, all Kashans. Kashans were humans capable of controlling nature and its elements, promoted in the military for their natural abilities.
"Hey, Thamiso! Don't you think our combination of fire and ice, Stan and I, is amazing?" Ílliou asked enthusiastically, swinging his black dagger.
"You guys are truly promising, Ílliou!" Thamiso replied, adjusting his eyepatch and smiling at his friend.
Thamiso and Ílliou had known each other for a long time, practically since they entered military school six years ago.
Lian, trying not to be left out of the conversation and the praise from Thamiso, exclaimed, "Ha! Your combination is nothing compared to my shield; it's a piece of cake!" Proudly, she lightly tapped her shield as if she were a commander encouraging her troops on the battlefield. Thamiso nodded in approval, looking at her.
"I think we'll soon be on par with an Imperial Blade, Stan!" Ílliou continued, excited about their mission performance.
Stan, who had been silent until then, decided to speak in a calm tone, "Imperial Blades? What are those?"
Incredulous, Thamiso turned to Stan, "What do you mean you don't know what an Imperial Blade is?! They are the strongest Kashans in the empire, the most skilled soldiers handpicked to protect the nation."
"Come on! What cave did you crawl out of, Stan?" Lian asked, laughing to make it sound less like an insult.
A few steps ahead, the cheerful and vivid atmosphere of the group was overshadowed by the social hardship. Entering a city on their way to the headquarters, the group encountered the daily life of the cities. Impoverished people begged for money, food, and drugs as the friends passed by.
Thamiso felt a heavy heart as he witnessed the scene. There was nothing he could do other than carry out his missions and act as a soldier. Children on the streets, more socially stable people closing their doors to prevent theft. Everything seemed to be falling apart.
Despite this, one event caught Thamiso's attention, and he hurried to check it out. Two imperial guards were arguing with a merchant.
"I'm not closing! I need to put food on my family's table!" The merchant seemed furious with the guards.
"What's going on here?" Thamiso asked, looking at the three individuals in the scene.
Upon seeing Thamiso's uniform, the two guards felt obligated to explain, due to military hierarchy. "This man is not following the security protocol approved by the parliament. We've been ordered to shut down the place."
The young man couldn't ignore the merchant's angry expression, as if he were being unjustly treated. However, Thamiso's reason told him that there was nothing to be done, as the order came from the parliament. Despite being a higher-ranking soldier, Thamiso didn't have the power to disregard the rules and act as he wished, and this tormented his mind. Looking at the ground, disheartened, Thamiso thanked them for the clarification, turned away, and rejoined his friends.
"Don't be upset, Thamiso, there are things we simply don't have the power to change," Lian said, trying to console her friend. Ílliou patted Thamiso on the back lightly, while Stan simply accompanied the group without much expression. However, as they raised their heads to move on, Thamiso and his friends were shocked. It was happening. The Purification was occurring, just as the group was in the city.
Purification was the name given to the public execution of Eletherians, a people treated as terrorists and seen as a threat to the empire's order. Children, men, women, the elderly, no one was spared. Thamiso knew that in a few seconds, those blindfolded humans with yellow eyes would leave this world.
The screams of children begging for their lives with their families, the desperation was evident. How could anyone remain untouched watching that? In an instant, the sound of gunpowder exploding was heard, along with the sound of bullets leaving the soldiers' rifles. In a fraction of a second, the bodies of Eletherians fell to the ground.
Thamiso, unable to bear the scene, vomited amid the sounds of people celebrating. There were cheers of joy from some citizens, as if they were exterminating evil.
"They're just children..." Thamiso said in a low voice as he recovered.
Ílliou and Lian put their hands on their friend's shoulders, trying to offer support. In contrast, Stan exclaimed, "Don't get carried away, Thamiso! They are terrorists, enemies of the nation!"
Stan's serious eyes met Thamiso's depressed gaze. Despite the work of the anti-terrorist squads and the entire army, which included the group, to hunt down and apprehend Eletherians, Thamiso had great difficulty in treating them as "enemies." In most missions the group was sent on, the criminals were arrested and detained, but rarely killed in combat. Stan, on the other hand, found it easier to follow orders and act rationally. Their ambitions and those of Thamiso were not the same. Ílliou and Lian were on a fine line between Thamiso and Stan. Both understood the opinions and feelings of their two friends, without being as cold as Stan or as emotional as Thamiso.
The atmosphere became tense with the divergence of ideas among the friends. They couldn't understand each other's feelings. On one side, there was Stan's rigid and cold perspective. On the other, Thamiso had empathy for people who had lost everything. Without letting an unwanted situation start, Lian interrupted, "We should hurry to the station so we don't miss the train."
Getting up from the ground, Thamiso nodded, and the group headed towards the train station, which was not far away. The empire's railway system facilitated the movement of soldiers throughout its territory, so they didn't rely solely on horses for all their missions.
Sitting in the first seat they saw, the friends put their weapons and gear aside and relaxed on the train seat. Wherever they went, they drew the attention of others because the uniform of an anti-terrorist soldier was eye-catching, as it was widely known that not just any soldier was part of this military unit.
They were departing from a city to the east to the capital's barracks, as they belonged to a district based there. This was the usual bureaucracy of every mission: receive it, execute it, and report it to the general who issued it. Despite the seemingly friendly situation among them, Stan criticized Thamiso for his attitude.
"Thamiso, you should control your emotions better. You're the captain of our squad, and we have orders to follow. Your sympathy for the Eletherians could put us in complicated situations."
Thamiso, irritated and raising his voice, confronted his friend. "And what do you think Eletherians are, Stan?"