Arynthe's Story

Plan of attack

185 ar. 

There were approximately 200 exiled Ashirians, but it was nothing compared to the amount of Torrayans that showed up. It looked like Zad had gathered half the sector for this mission. I even saw Kett and Pirak in the 4th row. 

"It took a while," I began my speech, "but the revolution is going to end. We gathered here with an army of exactly 2574 people, so the rebels are extremely outnumbered, especially because I'm pretty sure most people there will pick our side. This cannot fail." 

On the screen we hang behind me I showed my plan of attack. At first sight it was childishly simple: We'd divide into eight groups, each one taking over one city. The group that went to Shela Valley was the largest, though that was more of a psychological thing, so that the rebel government in the Team Tower would surrender more quickly. 

"We simply take over the entire place, punish the most important criminals, find a new Mara that can keep the peace and then go home," I said. "Nothing complicated. Any questions?"
"Yeah," a man in the front replied, loud enough for the rest to hear. "How do you know it won't go wrong again?"
"I'm so glad you ask," I said, and smiled. "This is where the history books come in. History can only be written by the victors. Our easy victory here will be a symbolic one as well as a real one: it'll show that like this, Ashirians and Torrayans together, we're strong and capable of doing many great things, and the rebels that choose to stand alone are easy to break. See what I mean?"
"Yeah," the man said.
"Because of the way this is going," I continued, "future generations will see us as good and righteous, rather than a bunch of evil people that have no right to set foot on Ashirian soil, in case the rebels would continue to lead the planet."

The man scratched his head. He looked around at the mumbling crowd. 

"Isn't it wrong to interfere with people's beliefs like that?" he asked. 
"Brother," I laughed, "everything you will ever do will interfere with people's beliefs. Every memory you're a part of is one that changes people's view on things. Your very existence changes the way people look at the world. It's impossible to prevent that. We'd better just use what we have."
"Sure," the man said, "but I'm worried that we're becoming what we're fighting."
"Not us," I replied. "You don't write the history books, and I'm not becoming Mara again, so it's not like we're taking over this world to continue messing up like they do. We're not just brutally replacing the government by our own, we're just taking down the idiots and then letting society stabilize again, with some new knowledge: the adventure revolution was a bad idea. Simple as that."
"I guess you're right," the man said. "But do me a favour: if you end up writing a history book, put this discussion in it."
I nodded. "No problem. Any other questions?"