The Race to Volturnum
Crab
A thousand times I have seen the Darkness of the dread South. I have journeyed there to rescue the fallen and to lead the others home. Now I watch as the armies of the Empire gather, and I am the one who will show them the way.
I am Hiruma, of the line of the Crab scouts, and I know the Shadowlands better than anyone. But even I know them only for a few miles beyond the wall, and nothing more. We have never needed to go farther.
They say a major oni army gathers to the south, that Akuma himself rises to block our way. If that happens, we may not make it to the Shadow's city.
There must be another way--a way past the shifting lands of the far South. If there is, the Crab do not know it. Perhaps Atarasi, our Thunder who saw the Shadowlands, could have told us of a way. If we cannot find it, then we will meet with Akuma's legions and fight until the Empire dies.
I look out beyond the wall, and I realize there will be no shelter where we go.
I am a Crab, and I am afraid.
But that will not stop me.
It is time to march.
--Hiruma Yugure