(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

‘Horrible Regret’
You stand on the deck of your flagship, the Divine Hammer, as it floats over
the continent of Agarheim, held aloft by the winds of magic. The very
landscape roils and shudders beneath the bombardment of your fleet, one
thousand ships' cannons and bombards hurling their sorcerous fire down
like vengeful gods. The shockwaves began to hit your ship only minutes ago -
a constant vibration that sends shudders through the whole of the ancient
craft and moves your very bones - accompanied by a constant, rumbling
bass. As the land's mountains begin to sink and the seas that surround it
begin to boil off into the atmosphere, your first officer comes to stand
beside you.
"My Lord Admiral... permission to speak freely, sir."
You nod your aquiesence, your stomach sinking as you guess at his question.
"My lord... forgive me, but how? What gives us the right? A billion lives..."
You speak without turning to him, unable to take your eyes of Rhumos, the
nation's vast capital city, as it vaporizes into a cloud of super-heated gasses
twelve miles across and growing ever-wider. "If you only knew the full
treachery of the Agarites, First Officer Felm, one which is beyond most any
man's comprehension... then you would know. You would speak of our right
to annihilate them? We've no right to let them live."
"But... sir? Traitors, all of them? Surely, among the hundreds of thousands.
How many innocents-"
“Silence! Speak of it no more - our king has spoken, His will be done. The
task set to us is a horrible one, not fit for contemplation or questioning.
There is no room for pity, no room for remorse - only *duty.*"
The two of you stand silently for a time, watching the last minutes of
Agarheim. At long last you sigh... a low, stuttering exhalation that sounds as
if something has broken inside you. Beneath the brazen plate that covers
the ruined half of your face, your dead eye begins to weep...
"Falm... my friend... I would have you understand. I know now, as I look
down at what I have wrought here, that were I to think upon what I have
done... what I have *truly* done... I would be struck mad. A deed such as
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