GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?



She shook her head to dispel the image of a happy family. The promise that she is going to make soon will make her future with Ravin too distant to be realistic, so there's no use thinking about it at all. Even if she survives today, it will be a while more before she can be together with Ravin and have beautiful kids.

Her head swerved sharply to observe the army of Vipers. Unlike the ocular monkeys, they don't look nervous, and they aren't in formation like proper soldiers. It is obvious that the Vipers aren't soldiers. Normal Vipers have no need to fight when they have paragons. But they are here because their paragons arranged them to be so. 

Both armies are composed of soldiers of necessity, but only one army is truly confident. The Vipers are all looking in the same direction that she is looking at too. She can feel Situ finally moving, and so can they. Situ is their source of confidence, but he is the source of dread for the ocular monkeys. His movements mean that the Vipers are also done with their preparations.

She muttered quietly, "It seems it is time. We will try our best. Let fate decide who is worthy."

Then she rose up to her feet and into the air to address her soldiers. She rose to a height where they could all see her. It is important that they see who is sending them to their deaths.

She said to them, "We must fight."

She paused before continuing. "We have to fight."

Her words echoed across the plain. It reached the tired men and women, and it barely settled within them. He has stated the obvious. They wouldn't be here if they didn't know already that they had to fight.

"As I look at all of you, I see the faces of the tired and the weary. You have had to fight at night and then spend the day rushing toward the next tribe for weeks now, so you are tired. You are tired, and you are weary. But you are here. That's what matters. That is what counts."

She sighed and let some of her own tiredness show. Then she rubbed her face before continuing. "We are here because we have to fight. We will die today. We know that. We are against a terrible enemy, and yet we fight. We do not fight for wealth or glory. We fight for our future. We are to lay down our lives for our children. Think of them as you die today."

She isn't going to delude them about their fate. They are going to die today. But she will give them a worthy purpose to die for. It is the least she can give them. Every soldier should die for a worthy purpose, or their sacrifice will be in vain.

"Think of what you have gone through. Think of the suffering our people have endured. Think of the yearly hunts that the Vipers visit on us. Think about being forced to migrate and think about the treasured trees you had to leave behind. Think of the children you left behind. They are hungry right now. They are hungry and weak. They do not fight anymore, and they do not laugh. They are weak because they rarely have food to eat. They are waiting for death."

"Our children should not suffer. They shouldn't have to sleep with nightmare-ridden dreams, and we shouldn't have to watch all of this while being helpless." She shook her head. "It is not right. It is just not right. They deserve better."

"Tell me, have you eaten today?" Most of her soldiers shook their heads at her question.

"I know. I have not eaten either. I don't need to eat, but I still remember the starving nights. The nights when I had nothing to eat. Those were nights that I slept with a weak and shaking body. It is not that we are lazy. We are a hardworking race. But we still don't have food to eat."

"And why is that? We have been forced to live in barren lands. Still, we struggled. We worked hard and planted in the barren lands. We had to look forward to a poor harvest, but that didn't stop us from trying. Then we are forced to flee when the Vipers come to hunt us. The fruits of our labor are left behind for our enemies to take. We don't get to harvest what we suffered and toiled for. It is a poor harvest, but it should have been ours. It is not right. We have suffered enough."

She raised her voice to them. "We must fight now before it is too late. We must take up arms before we are too weak to fight. We must fight for our future. If we are to die today, we die for the children." 

"Imagine a plane that is controlled by us. Imagine a plane where we can go anywhere unafraid of Vipers. Imagine a plane where all our children have more than enough to eat. Imagine a plane where they are strong and healthy enough to fight amongst themselves. I promise you today that I will give it to you. I will continue to toil for that future. I swear it on my heart and origin that the Virut plane will be ours someday. Your deaths will not be in vain. I swear it."

She swore, and her Oath echoed through fate and karma.

"Join me today so that we may die for our children." She raised her voice and shouted, "For our children."

They roared too. "For our children." 

She raised her spear to the sky and roared, "For our children."

Then they rushed forward to meet the Vipers. Ocular monkeys followed the battle sage into battle despite being tired and hungry. 92% of the ocular monkeys that fought that day died. That is more than 900,000 ocular monkeys. Their death was not in vain.