"Yeah, I was in the 'March back in '42. Back then I didn' think much on the call we got, it being all out of sync when it should have happen'd. We left our duties on the gears and made right for the barracks, no questions asked. I got trainin' as a lancer, and we sallied forth from Mechanus with an air of invincibility and a purpose in our unfeelin' hearts. We were Mechanus, and we were going to bring Law to the rest o' the Multiverse."
"I saw my share of combat in that foray, on the slopes of the Great Mountain no less. Yes, we spilled blood on what ye'd call the Upper Planes, and I have no regret for it. We were opposed, and we fought our way through where we must. But it were a fair and honorable fight, and in that, we could not be beat. So on we ground, 'til we came to the cobblestone paths under the Great Boughs in Ysgard. T'was there we were beset by the Valhallans, and they were eager for battle.
"I was among my Lancer kin in the second ranks. As we marched forward the Valhallans rushed into the ranks of the Monos in the lead. Blades clashed, metal scraped on metal as both sides pressed against each other. Over the scores of Monos ahead of me I could only make out some of the terrific fighting ahead - the bodies of Monos were swept up and apart as the whirling weapons of the Valhallans cleaved through the ranks. In short order, something happened that I had never conceived could occur - the Monos broke rank and began to flee. As they did, they uttered a mind-numbing shriek - like that of a frightened child confronted by some unconquerable horror. We Duos, though, held. Our fleeing brethren broke against our shield wall, either blindly changing their course to flee along the wall or cut under the blades of the onrushing Valhallans.
As one, three Duos thrust their spears, as they had been taught, into each Valhallan that advanced upon us. Yet, even through pierced by our spears they fought on, not willing to recognize that death should have claimed them. In return, brothers around me fell to axe and blade and in that half-hour of fighting I found myself alone and separated from my Duo brethren. A war chieftain of the Valhallans took my eye with a blade and left me on the field, thinking I had succumbed to the wound. As he took a victory stance on me stunned frame, and with a great howl surveyed the carnage about him, for the first time I felt something."
"I felt rage."
"I stirred, my spear already shattered and I seized the chieftain and we wrestled. All the while, he laughed at my rage - which only awoke other feelings within my soul. Finally, I wrested his axe from him and slew him. At that, his laughter died and my own began. I was no longer one among many. I was one, and knew of my own self and moreover, of my own mortality. The rest of the 'March had passed me now, but it did not matter so much. I no longer was a cog in the great machine that was Mechanus, and I tarried as my sense of self grew. I never returned to the army, much less to home."
"I wandered back to the Outlands, and by then I was truly my own being. Since then I have been a sellsword, loaning my skill with whatever weapon I find or is given to me. My payment? Knowledge. Knowledge of the worlds, and knowledge of myself. Perhaps, one day I'll march back into the halls of Primus and tell him all I've learned. But, I suspect that day'll never come - I'll never willingly return to what I was."