For me, the year had little else to offer.

For the United States of America, things became interesting.

A new national group was established in October. I discovered this through the full-page advert in the Crossway Chronicle.

The National American Women's Temperance and Morality League.

Quite the mouthful to say the least. I read on to find out what its angle was.

"Calling upon all Christian Women to stand together against the myriad of sins plaguing our nation. Join your fellow sisters in standing against these sins and bringing our nation back to its moral foundations."

That was just one part of the spiel in the ad, but it was enough to make me understand this organisation and what it stood for. It harped on continuously decrying the sins of the flesh and alcohol that were rotting America's moral character.

I made a note to myself to avoid this organisation as much as I bloody well could.

Nothing was more dangerous than a group of people who believed they were morally and ethically justified in their actions. Any form of fundamentalism was a disaster, as it left no room for introspection and thought. It demanded only obedience and compliance.

The ad indicated that the organisation had already established several chapters across the country, mainly in the northeast. However, it seemed to seek to merge with other similarly minded groups. In my timeline, I knew such pressure groups led to prohibition in the United States. I couldn't remember if it was a single group or a collection, but they did bring about the banning of alcohol.

Historically, that was proven to be a disaster.

I dreaded thinking about what would happen if the chapter were set up in Crossway and they decided to turn their attention towards me. It was a bit amusing to think of a horde of women coming over the hill with pitchforks and burning torches, decrying the sin and evil of my dungeon.

No, it was not a horde of women; I feared it was a horde of heavily armed men carrying guns and badges.

I saw more of these adverts appearing over the month of October, and I had Herbert do some reconnaissance for me. I would have asked Amy to take care of this particular problem, as she was better suited to it, but she was heavily pregnant again. The child was due any day, and I did not want to interfere with the birthing process and put either at risk.

They plan to move her back to town to be closer to the doctor, enabling him to perform the reconnaissance I need. I decided to expedite this process by placing additional orders for him. This would make getting the papers to me a bit harder, but it was a trade-off I was willing to live with.

October passes and rolls into November, and on the seventh day of that month, I received news from both Herbert and the local paper. Albert was the name of his third child, born the day before. The news from the local paper was an international story, which had me thinking the moment I saw the headline.

"USS Newark Bombed!"

The USS Newark had been visiting Havana harbour in Cuba, flying the flag and representing the United States as the negotiations for Cuba joining the Union continued in Washington, DC. On the night of the fifth, just before midnight, there was an explosion on the ship that punctured the hull, causing extensive flooding and loss of life amongst the crew.

The terminology and picture being created by the news article clearly were saying that it was an explosive device planted against the ship's hull by a row group within Cuba, trying to derail the accession of the country to the Union.

The President was decrying it as a savage and barbarian act perpetrated against the United States by rogue elements within Cuba.

I got the Portland Times a few days later, and the contrast was quite striking. They reported that there had been an explosion, that the investigation was still ongoing, and that no one had claimed responsibility. The event escalated tensions across the island, and many people are actively picking sides within the government, military, and civilian population.

"I think someone is stoking the fires of war."

President Fredrickson was beating the war drum. He had already made several speeches to Congress and the press, each one more belligerent than the last, and as the days went on, his rhetoric only increased. Call me cynical, but next year is an election year, and they were still suffering from the economic effects of the crash that occurred earlier in the year. There's nothing like a good war to distract the population, especially against a smaller, weaker opponent.

Communication with the outside world was difficult because Herbert spent time with his newborn son and wife. I cannot fault this, but it was damned annoying, as there was so much going on right now.

The ultimatum was issued on December 1. Due to lagging communications, I only found out about it several days later. The language was flowery and dressed up in diplomatic terms. Still, it boiled down to the fact that the US military was planning to occupy the island to help restore order so that the civilian government could transition to join the United States of America as the 48th state. The Democratic Party dominated Congress and the Senate, wholeheartedly supporting the President's initiative. The expiry date on the ultimatum was January 1, 1894.

I spent a few days thinking about what the United States was planning. In my timeline, they would have won. I was sure of this, as I vaguely recall some form of conflict between Spain and the United States around this time or in the early 20th century.

My Cuba had never gained its independence from the Spanish Empire when war broke out. This Cuba had spent nearly 80 years as a British protectorate and had been extensively rebuilt economically and militarily. The Cubans had an effective small Navy and an equally effective army. The biggest problem the Cubans had was the divisions in the country.

Looking at the United States, they had a vastly larger army; however, the United States Navy was nowhere near what was in my timeline. The Navy was more of a coastal defence force with limited power projection. They had only just completed the first of the three new battleships that were promised to the Navy.

This made me pause and think. Could the United States of America invade Cuba in this timeline? The British and the rest of the European powers stayed out of it. What central and southern American powers existed also did not take sides. Many of the Cuban upper echelons had burned many bridges over the few years since their independence.

The Army would overrun the locals. The US Army had the numbers. The Cubans were better trained, equipped, and knowledgeable about the terrain. Taking the island will be far more difficult than my timeline, but it will go their way.

The Navy of both sides will decide it in the end.

The US Navy is not as powerful as it was in my time, and the Cubans had a British-based local naval force. If the US Navy can break through and land the Army, things will be over in a matter of time.

The US will win if it can land.

The only thing I could not predict was the Cuban population. The island was in confusion and divided. An invasion could rally them to the flag and make the war a bloody affair for all involved.

Now, I will have to wait as the snow has come.

"1893, what a year!"

The snows are heavy and road traffic grinds to a halt.

I track the days as December passes and 1894 arrives.

Storms blow in from the mountains and the north, causing the snow globe effect. I am forced to wait for news of the outside world. I could not force Herbert to come and risk himself in this weather.

The weather broke at the end of January, allowing him to reach me. He supplied me with over a month and a half of papers.

The war is on.

Cuba is in the middle of what can only be called a civil war. The faction supporting the joining of the Union had abandoned the capital and was concentrated in the western tip of the island. They comprised industrialists, some land barons, and military higher-ups. They called themselves the Unionistas.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

On the other hand, most of the Navy, the Army, and the civilian population opposed this. They controlled most of the rest of the island, but they were not as well-organised right now. They called themselves the Parlamentarios.

The US Navy was amassing in Florida and several other southern states with large ports in the Gulf of Mexico, and the US Army was shifting its formations to these ports.

There had been many diplomatic interactions with intermediaries, but the US was focused on war.

The stores returned at the end of January, and I was cut off until mid-February. When contact was re-established, I quickly devoured the papers that Herbert brought to me. Things were progressing fast now down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The most recent paper's headline screamed the first important thing I needed to know.

"The U.S. Navy wins the battle of Sandy Bay."

The next day, the headline reads the following.

"U.S. Army Lands in Cuba."

Both papers had impactful headlines, but the stories were remarkably thin on details. I learned that a battle took place on February 12 at the westernmost part of Cuba, in a place called Sandy Bay. The US Navy had met the Cuban Navy in battle and won a victory. Here, the US military landed its forces with support from local supporters from the Unionistas. They controlled most of this part of the island and were based in San Antonio to the north. The US military had landed here because many of the ports had suffered damage in recent fighting from insurgents opposing the US military.

I received the Canadian papers and additional details a few days later.

The battle had occurred on the morning of February 12, as the Americans had reported. The US Navy had sailed towards Sandy Bay with a large force of warships protecting the civilian convoy carrying the troops. A large part of the Cuban Navy had sallied forth and tracked them. They engaged that morning, and the US naval forces protected the convoy from the Cubans. The Cubans had many small coastal patrol ships and several of the new torpedo boats. The US military had several older warships, armoured cruisers, and one new battleship.

An observer on the island, who turned out to be a reporter from The Times with an extensive naval background, provided a comprehensive breakdown of the battle. The story had not been fully reported until a more concrete idea of the casualties involved was confirmed by the reporter.

His story was more factual and detached, with none of the jingoistic overtones of the Americans'. At the start of the piece, he admitted that the Cuban Navy had no real chance of stopping the American Navy but sallied forth anyway to meet the invaders. Up until this point, torpedo boats were more of a theoretical concept for navies than practical, but this battle seems to have changed a lot of opinions.

The Cuban Navy suffered heavy losses, especially to the smaller patrol boats that did very little in the battle. However, the torpedo boats, which many now call torpedo destroyers, reaped a nasty toll on the Americans. The American Navy lost four older warships and an armoured cruiser to the ships, and many in naval circles were adjusting their views on them and how they could be used. Many other American ships were also damaged in the battle, with two being towed back to the US for repairs.

The rest of the month passes with more reports of United States military forces being sent to Cuba. There have been sporadic clashes around San Antonio against the Parlamentarios. Nearly every clash has been favourable for the United States Army, and many within the US press claimed that the war would be over soon.

I was not so sure.

The US Army did not rush an offensive but spent the rest of February building up its military strength and started moving at the beginning of March. The target of their offensive was obvious: Havana.

Unnamed sources within the US military claimed they would have the city within two weeks and the island pacified within two months.

While this happened, I tried to keep abreast of what was happening in the rest of the world, but very little caught my attention. The only thing to note was that the French seemed to be going through some of their anarchist bombing campaign, but I couldn't find many details, as everyone else was focused on the war in Cuba.

On the 10th day of the offensive, the US Army reached Havana, beginning what many called the Battle of Havana. The US Army general in charge of the campaign claimed he would have the city within two days. It took them ten.

Over those 10 days, the news reports coming out of Havana clearly showed that the Parlamentarios had gone there to act together and entrench themselves in and around the city.

The US Army was forced to fight a well-equipped and trained force of troops far superior to what they were accustomed to. What initially began as an attempt to rush the city turned into a street-by-street running gunfight, with artillery used to help break strong points in the city. The Cubans possessed their own artillery, and the Americans found themselves suffering and in a difficult position. Ultimately, the US cavalry managed to break through the Cuban lines and silence the artillery, which turned the battle in their favour, but at a heavy cost, according to all reports.

At the end of this month, my attention was diverted back to the gates of my dungeon. I had two men ride up to them and disband the horses. They approached the gates cautiously, checking for any hidden dangers. They stepped into the courtyard and looked around. This enabled me to listen to their conversation, and they seemed to be a pair of hopeful treasure seekers. However, looking at the size and extent of my graveyard, they decided to seek better opportunities elsewhere. I watched them ride away.

The loss of Havana was a blow to the Cuban forces defending the island, but they did not give up the fight. March was over, and the fighting continued on the island.

I was still looking for my next two Hunters, now, I had taken the perk to gain an additional one.

Not counting those two men who had visited at the end of March, I had no other people come close to the dungeon. Herbert and his family have returned to their house and reported that traffic along the road is back to normal after the winter weather. I can confirm this with my observations.

Around me, spring was in full force and claiming back the world from winter.

I observed the space in front of the gates and planned to have the hunters go out at night to clear the area again, as well as the track that led down to the road. Nature was once again attempting to reclaim these spaces. Within the graveyard, it was a very similar situation with the plant life now growing aggressively, trying to reclaim everything around them from the unnatural graveyard that occupied the space. I had two beehives within the dungeon, and I let them do their thing as they were helping to spread and pollinate wildflowers throughout the graveyard and my flower beds.

Speaking of which, I would have to start weeding them soon.

Knowing the time it takes sometimes for a hunter to appear, I was in no apprehensive mood. But I thought to myself, it should be a bit quicker now that I'm putting the call out for two.

April was a slow month so far.

I was awaiting news from the Cuban front, as reports normally take 3 to 5 days to arrive. This was because the main telegraph office in Havana was damaged, which meant reports had to be sent out by other means until it was repaired.

I was sitting at the top of my special bubble, looking across the world on a pleasant spring day, when I noticed someone approaching the gates on horseback. I shifted down and found Amy approaching. This was my first time seeing her in many years, as she avoided the dungeon after our last conversation. The girl was gone, and I was now looking at a more confident woman. I was surprised to see her here, as I thought she would be home with her third child.

She rolled up close to the gates and dismounted her horse. As she did this, I summoned my avatar to the courtyard a few metres from the gates. She turned and found me standing, waiting for her; she was unsurprised. She walked into the courtyard and stood a short distance from me.

"Amy."

I greeted her.

"Keeper." She replied. I noticed the slight hesitance in her voice and the distance in her tone.

"What brings you to New Midian today?"

She took a few seconds before answering, and I could see she was gathering her confidence to speak to me.

"I want to know what you're planning for me and my family."

And there it was. She knew about the deal I had made with her husband, but I had been very vague about the details. They understood that their job was to turn people in my direction when requested, but I instructed them not to do this at that time. Of the two, she was far smarter, and I knew that one day she would come and ask this question.

"I've already explained what is required of you through the deal with your husband."

"I understand what you expect of us, but I want to know what you expect of our children." I could see a mother's concern. I knew I would have to try to alleviate it and be careful not to alienate her more.

"I will require one of them to carry on the deal."

She blinked at that before speaking again. "One?"

"Yes, one. One of your children must choose to fulfil the contract when your husband dies. The terms and conditions will not change from what I offered and promised to him, which would also be true to them."

"You will not force any of them?"

"I cannot. The choice must be made willingly and freely. I cannot force them or intimidate them or trick them."

She kept quiet for a moment, thinking about what I just said. Right now, I am thankful that my avatar does not show any of my emotions that I do not allow, as I was lying through my bloody teeth. If one of the children accepted the deal from the father, then I would honour it without question.

She seemed slightly relieved by that answer, but I could see there were more questions.

"Ask them."

I prompted her as she looked at the site, surprised, but then remembered who she was speaking to.

"What… What if one of my children goes further? What will happen if one chooses to try to become one of your Hunters?"

Now that was an interesting question I hadn't thought about.

"If one of your children or their descendants meets the criteria required, I would accept them as one of my Hunters."

"You would not force them?"

"No, Amy. Like the deal with your husband, my Hunters come to this place freely and of their own will. The deal they make with me is one that I must honour as they must honour their part."

Again, she seems happy with my answer, but I sense there's still more. I wait for the other question or questions to come.

"I have one more thing to ask you."

I indicate for her to continue.

"What happens upon my husband's and my death?"

"I do not understand your question."

I answered honestly, as I didn't, but I could see that it was something that was weighing heavily on her.

"I mean, are we going to heaven or hell?"

And there it was, the question I think she was trying to find the answer to the whole time. I think about her question for a few seconds and answer honestly.

"I have no answer for you. I can only speak of here and now. What happens after death is beyond my remit."

I could tell that she was unhappy with the answers, so I decided to give her some more information.

"I was once a man."

She looks at me, surprised by what I just said to her.

"I lived a life, and I died. Some force beyond death brought me here and reincarnated me as the Keeper of New Midian. So, I will tell you that there is something beyond death, but what form it takes seems to be far more varied than any religion will tell you."

I'm not sure that's the answer she's looking for, but she thanks me anyway. She turns and walks away, remounting a horse and riding back to her home.

I did not dismiss my avatar and watched her the whole time she left. I continued to watch long after she was gone, thinking about the future and the question she had asked me.

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