[ WP ] `` You and I both know this war is unfulfilling , lets make a better one . ''

I tried to catch my breath as I took in what he'd said. 
 
 A drop of blood fell across my eye from the cut I'd taken on the forehead and I angrily reached up to dash it away so it would n't impair my vision. I knew that it left a bright smear of red across my face and did n't care. All that mattered was the fight. 
 
 `` Well?'' 
 
 He stood across from me, the clatter of battle around us had faded into the background. They'd cleared a ring of space for us as we fought, the intensity of our battle drawing a healthy amount of battlefield respect from them, even as they fought and died in their own battle. 
 
 Soldiers knew. Knew what it was to appreciate skill and prowess so far beyond their own, even in the midst of their own desperate struggle for existence. 
 
 ``... What?'' Even that word was a struggle to articulate. The battle had been going on all day and I was *tired*. 
 
 `` Look at them, Solan,'' my opponent waved his hand out to the side, gesturing to all the others. `` They do n't know why they're here, do they? They think they're here for their king, or their government, or their families. They fight for impure reasons and their battle is impure because of it.'' 
 
 He sheathed his sword, letting it glide back into the scabbard that hung from his belt. 
 
 `` It's different with us. There's a reason they call you the'Berserker,' General.'' 
 
 `` Put up your sword,'' I said through gritted teeth. `` Our fight is n't over yet.'' 
 
 `` Yes, it is,'' he said, spreading his arms to the side, leaving himself vulnerable if I should choose to strike. `` I felt it from you, and I know you felt it here too. The purity. You and I are cut from the same cloth, Solan. We do n't fight for any other reason than because we can. Because it's what we're good at. It's what we were born to do. This battlefield, Solan? It's unworthy of us. It's unworthy of men of our talents and skills.'' 
 
 My grip tightened on my sword. I longed to take that last step, thrust, put an end to this war. Despite the whims of the power mad king that had invaded, everyone knew that it was this man, their warleader, who was the tactical genius behind their strategies. He had been the driving force behind the conflict, and the war would falter without him. 
 
 But... he was right. There had been something here, when I met him in battle on the blood-soaked field. A purity and cleanness that I'd never felt in battle before, and knew I would never feel again. 
 
 I longed for it. Needed it. Lusted after it. 
 
 `` Alright, talk,'' I said shortly, sheathing my own sword. 
 
 `` Warriors of our caliber deserve a fitting stage to showcase their skills, their pure ideals and motivations. This war?'' He waved his hands again, encompassing the battlefield. `` This war is n't it. It's undeserving of us. It's unfulfilling. Let's make a better one.'' 
 
 I did n't want to admit it to myself, I did n't want to acknowledge its truth... but it could not be denied. A clear and singing fury burned through me and I felt it again, something I thought I'd lost a long time ago. It burned in me again and I knew that I'd finally found my match. I knew that I would never rest until I knew, once and for all, which of us was better. 
 
 And I knew that a battle of such purity deserved, no, *needed* a better stage than this one. 
 
 `` Three years.'' I said. `` We'll meet again three years from today, right here. You find people of like mind and so will I.'' 
 
 `` And then?'' He asked at my back as I turned my back on this war, already in search of the next. 
 
 `` And then we'll see, wo n't we? Who really is the better warrior between us. Who's purity of purpose will see them to victory.'' 
 
 `` Yes,'' he said. And even without seeing it, I knew that a battle-ready grin was stretched across his lips. Knew it because the same was stretched across mine. `` Yes we will.''
