(They are no longer very entertaining, are they?)

(No, they are not. In the end, they always fall to us. Every single one of them.... We are simply beyond their means to resist.)

(Should we continue, then?)

(Of course. If we exist not for taking them, than what purpose do we serve?)

(Yes, of course. The next city, then. Let us see if their guardians are any stronger.)

"Stephen Vanneste, please come forward."

I hesitate, at first. The man standing before me is the highest elder of my city - few have had the honor of having an audience before him. I must be very careful to speak correctly.

The moment of hesitation passes, however, and I step forward. The other elders of the city are here, as well as a somewhat large crowd. Considering my past, I likely shouldn't be nervous at this point. But I am.

The high elder looks at me for a few moments without saying anything. The entire room is completely silent - were it not for the light noise of the crowd's breathing I might imagine myself completely alone.

"Sir Vanneste, do you understand the nature of the duty you have been asked to fulfill?"

I nod. I'm very, very afraid of the duty I've been asked to fulfill, but also very, very honored. I am to save this city - I am to stop the ravager of our world. I don't know if I'm strong enough to do so, but I will certainly do my best. I will overcome, of that I am certain.

"Very well." The high elder gestures to one of the other councilmembers, who steps forward and hands me a small dagger.

"This shall be your weapon, Knight Vanneste. It was crafted long ago, and is said to have properties which are anathema to the creature you will hunt."

"Go with faith, Knight Vanneste. The fate of our people depends on you."

With that, the ceremony seems over. The high elder and the other councilmembers leave through the back of the room, while the people who had been spectating from their seats above slowly file out of the balcony. Many of them are casting furtive glances in my direction and whispering to the others with them. I know exactly what they are saying; ever since rumor began that I was to be selected for this job people have said the same words, in the same tone, without even meaning to.

They speak of me as though I am already dead.

I don't allow it to bother me - at least not visibly. I have faith in my ability - I will find this monster, and I will drive it away. It is just that so little is known about the creature. I do not wish to be defeated by surprise.

I remember when I was approached by Councilman Zhang about this job. He had made the visit seem routine - a briefing about another attack which the looters were planning, perhaps. It had taken me a while to realize that he had been speaking of something else entirely.

"Sir Vanneste," he had said, his voice already nervous though I hadn't noticed it at the time, "the council is going to require your services once more."

Like the loyal servant of the council I was, I asked more. I was rewarded with very little information, save that my ability to use steel and my cunning in battle were going to be of more use to me than my ability to lead men.

Reflecting upon this, I realize that the councilman had given me ample opportunity to refuse. My own curiosity had led me to where I was now - perhaps I would come to regret my decision to follow the path which Zhang had shown me.

Nonetheless, I will still do my job.

After days of hinting, Zhang had taken me into his confidence: the council had lost contact with three cities within the past year. From east to west; Kalns, Forss, and Creteen - and in that order. Reports from those cities were incomplete but showed that they, too, had lost contact with other cities further east, before they themselves were silenced.

This was disturbing news to me, as I was supposed to be in charge of the defense of our city. Perhaps the looters were gathering in greater numbers, or had more organization.

"No." Zhang had said to me. "That is the most disturbing aspect of all - for we have our spies within each of the looters' enclaves. When communications ceased from the cities east, so too did the communications of our spies. We have sent others to determine the fate of those people, and none have returned."

"These people have simply vanished."

I still think of those words. Simply vanished. Gone, with no trace. I found myself thinking aloud to Zhang about the people which built our cities.

"Yes, the records show that a great and mighty civilization once encompassed this world. The members of that civilization built our cities, and the catacombs beneath. We know nothing of them today except what we can decipher from the writings they left behind. What you are no doubt recalling is their fate - one of the few things we have a conjecture upon. It seems that they, too, some long time ago, vanished."

It seemed to me then that I might have been prematurely jumping to conclusions. I had very little information, after all. It seemed rather irresponsible to go off proclaiming that the end of our kind was at hand with only this small knowledge.

Reflecting upon it now, though, I can see that councilman Zhang was trying to steer my thoughts in this direction. The council had, I found later, been conjecturing this for some time. While it might seem that our world was repairing itself from whatever disaster claimed the city-builders, they had found that it seemed to be slowly dying out. Communication between cities had been shrinking for centuries - entire cities had vanished before, but never on so quick a scale as seemed to be happening now.

Zhang had related to me the tale of Nexttennon, one of the largest cities that had existed since the extinction of the great builders. Nexttennon had housed perhaps thousands of people, and had been a hub for trade, as it was next to the great sea. This had ceased a few decades before the city's demise, however - all ships from overseas had simply stopped coming.

Though this had stunted Nexttennon's size some, it did little to actively destroy the city. However, one day, all communication stopped from it.

For ten weeks, its neighboring cities sent people toward it, to report what they could of its demise. Within this time, none returned.

At the end of the ten weeks, the first man who had been sent to Nexttennon was returned to his home. There, he told the council of the horrors he had witnessed. Nexttennon was aflame, when last he had been able to see it. Its people were mad - killing themselves or others, and crying out their twisted minds to all the world during the few moments they existed. Abominations crawled the city - once human, now no more than beasts, they would consume one another and then burst. The streets and buildings were covered with blood, and entrails lined the doorways.

The council had been speechless. Madness, they decried - the man who had somehow returned to them could not be sane any longer. Nonetheless, even if he only believed he saw such things, something had to have happened to instill that belief in him. Shortly after the man gave his story, he began to lapse into a sickness. The council still asked of him, though - what had caused such a thing as he had seen?

Zhang had hesitated at this point, though I had begun to think I had heard the story before. He went on to repeat the one word the man had managed to say in reply, before he died.

"Legion"

It had made me shiver then, as it does now. The Books had foretold its coming, though there are very few - even among the councils - who hold the Books in any regard any longer. Nonetheless, the man had seen something that he could only describe by invoking that word. The councils believed him, though, for they had seen what he had done after witnessing the beast.

His eyes had been clawed out, by his own hand.

Even Zhang was unsure if the prophecies of the Book were truthful, but the certainty was that something was overcoming the cities, and it was growing closer to ours.

Even now, I wonder to think at the council's decision. It had been announced a week before this day, but it still astounded me; and I knew of it beforehand. The highest elder had decreed that the city would be evacuated. All the peoples of the city would walk overland to the next one west.

The beast which was bent on destruction would not be fooled by such a trick, however. One had to stay behind, to drive the beast away. Judging from the tales of old, a group would only be turned against itself. An individual would have to make the sacrifice for the rest of the city.

I volunteered.

Now I find myself a dead man already. People are beginning to pack their few items, the guards who I loosely commanded are preparing themselves for the journey - no doubt some looters will try to take advantage of their unusual situation, and they must be prepared. None speak to me - none want to be reminded of my obligation. Because, in reality, they no longer have anything to say.

I turn toward where the councilmen had left. Through that passageway, and another that Zhang had shown me a week before, lied the entrance to the catacombs below. I was to move toward Creteen along the most traveled route and try to attract attention to myself. I had my orders, and I knew what I was to do. Mustering my resolve, I moved forward.

I would drive away Legion.