Trigger warning for slight swearing, a little gore (kind of), murder, death
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I step outside of my tent, looking out over a field. That field would be covered in blood by nightfall tomorrow. The stars sparkled above me, the night air blowing the leaves on the trees. I took one last look inside my tent, where three other men were sleeping. I grabbed my bag, which I’d packed during dinner while everyone was gone. I was done with this. I was done with fighting, I was done with this war. I wanted to go home. I hooked my bag over my shoulder and cast one last glance at the man laying at the far edge of the tent. Grayson. My best friend, my only friend. He and I had grown up in the same village together, and had been inseparable since the day we met. When he learned that I was leaving to fight, he decided he was going to come with me. I hated leaving him, especially now. I looked down to the side of his pillow, where I’d left a note. It explained what I was going to do, and how sorry I was.
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I turned my back to the tent and started to walk. I walked to where some horses were tied to a tree. Grabbing a saddle from the stand, I tacked up the horse. I quickly tied my bag onto the saddle, slipped the reins over the horse's head, and climbed on. I needed to get out of here, as quickly and quietly as possible. I reached down to my boot, just checking that my knife was still there. Once I knew that it was secure, I urged the horse forward, slowly gaining speed until we were entering the woods at the far edge of the field. I dared one look back. I saw someone standing outside my tent, looking out towards me. I bowed my head in shame and continued on.
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We sped along the forest path. I heard a faint cry. “Help!” I stopped, listening for the cry again. “Please, anyone. Help!” I dismounted and tied the horse to a nearby tree. Looking around, I saw a small decline on the side of the path. I crept towards it, and glanced down. The decline was small and steep, leading to a muddy puddle. There was an old woman, huddled up in the mud. “Hello there, ma’am. Is everything all right?” I asked her. I slid down the decline and helped her to her feet. “Why thank you. I’d fallen down. The mud’s awfully slick. What is a young man like yourself doing out in the middle of the night?” I knew she recognized my uniform. She knew exactly what I was doing. But on the off chance she didn’t, I wasn’t about to show my cards so quickly. “I could ask you the same, ma’am.” She laughed, a sweet noise. Then with agility I thought not possible, she leapt up out of the mud onto the path. “Well, don’t just stand there. You’ll ruin your boots. And close your mouth, you’ll catch flies,” she said as she wiped mud from her arms. I clambered up as well. “Who are you?” I asked.
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The woman laughed again. I watched in awe as the old woman disappeared. In her place, stood a young girl. Her dirty and old clothes had been traded for a simple white dress. Her blonde hair shone in the moonlight. She smiled up at me, and something shimmered behind her. Wings rose above her head, sparkling with every color of the rainbow, and others I couldn’t name. “My name is Ariana Arin. I know where you go, and what you plan to do. If my word means anything to you, dear soldier, I tell you to return. You do not know your place yet, but I have seen it. You are the key in this war, Dadrin Mirth. Do not turn away now.” Ariana started to rise up, her wings carrying her. “Wait. Why should I go back?” I called up to her. She smiled, “All you need do, is in your time of need, call my name. Your deepest desire will be fulfilled.” She continued to rise up, towards the stars. I climbed aboard my horse, and started riding back to the camp. Ariana was right. I couldn’t turn away now.
* * *
I stepped inside the tent. Everyone was still asleep. Good. I reached over and snatched the note from Grayson’s pillow. He didn’t need to know what I’d almost done. I laid down on my makeshift bed. As I placed my head on my pillow, I felt something. Fumbling around in the dim light, my hands closed around a piece of paper. I unfolded it, and in the near darkness, started to read. If you are reading this, I know you either changed your mind, or I was terribly mistaken. Dadrin, you are my closest friend. I hate to think that you would give up on us. -Gray. So he had been the one to see me. There was nothing I could do about it now. I placed the note down, and tried to sleep. Tomorrow would be a big day, and there would be no chance for errors. Sleep was a necessity, no matter how distraught I was.
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I awoke to the sharp blast of a horn. Wake up call. Everyone in my tent started getting ready, pulling on boots. We left the tent within a minute, heading to the campfire ring assigned to my tent. We shared the ring with two other tents. We shared rations to make meals, which always turned out well. I sat down near the campfire, which was already burning. Grayson sat down next to me. “You read the letter,” he said. It wasn’t a question. “Why the hell would you do that? Leave us on the eve of battle? You’re lucky I’m still talking to you. I can barely look you in the eye right now.” Someone came around, passing out bowls full of warm food. I started eating, shrugging off Grayson's questions or giving one word answers. It’s not that I wasn’t sorry. I was conflicted. I didn’t want anything else to do with the war. But I also knew I couldn’t abandon everyone. I focused on Ariana’s promise. Call my name. Your deepest desire will be fulfilled.
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I finished eating and walked away from the campfire. A moment later, two people approached me. The other two men I shared a tent with. Calem and Oren. Calem was younger than most of us, only 17. I was 23, as was Grayson. Oren was 28. He was a strange man. Quiet, yet threatening. “Mirth. We need to have some words with you,” Oren barked. I stood, squaring my shoulders. “And what do you need to say to me?” I asked coldly. “Gray told us everything,” Calem said, Grayson’s name like a whip on my skin. “And yet I’m still here. I’m fighting. I made a mistake, worked through the errors, and found my common sense again. Anything else?”
“We thought we might teach you a lesson about abandoning your brothers,” Oren growled. He raised a fist and sent a punch flying at my face. I quickly ducked out of the way. I lunged forward, tackling Oren. We landed on the ground, dry dirt flying everywhere. Calem joined in the fight. It was 2 against 1. I was outnumbered. I scrambled away, punching and kicking wildly. I was bleeding in various places, and Calem had a split lip. Oren seemed unscathed.
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A crowd started to gather around us. Oren pinned me to the ground. He brought up his fist. I prepared myself for the eye-watering pain of a broken nose. But then: “Get off him!” Grayson shouted. Calem jumped up, eyes flicking back and forth. Oren pushed himself off of me, getting back to his feet. Rage boiled inside. I wiped the blood from my face. Grayson approached me, looking down at me the way you looked at mud on your boot. “You disgust me.” He offered me a hand, and I gratefully took it. As he pulled me to my feet, he whispered. “I have a reputation. Don’t think I’ve forgotten anything.” I nodded as he released my hand. I tried to brush the dust from my clothes, to no avail.
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I pushed my way through the crowd to the edge of our camp. A small stream was bubbling along. I knelt down, scooping the cold water into my hands and splashing it onto my face. I watched as the red-tinted water fell through my fingers. I looked up, into the woods. I saw someone standing behind a tree. “Who goes there?” I called out. I didn’t get a response. I groaned. Great. I was seeing things. Then I saw a flash of white fabric. So I wasn’t insane. Good to know. I returned to the main camp as a horn blew a pattern everyone knew. I rushed to my tent, not acknowledging the looks of hatred from everyone else. I grabbed my sword from the floor and slipped it onto my belt. I slipped a knife into a sheath and strapped it to the inside of my forearm. Another knife, this one long and curved, was placed on my belt, hanging near my sword. Then I ran out of the tent to see hundreds of my fellow soldiers lining up. The battle was about to begin.
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* * *
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Two hours into the battle, and my arms were near ready to fall off. You never get used to how heavy a sword feels after swinging it around for hours on end. My sword was covered in blood, as was I. Everywhere I looked, people were being struck down. There was not a dry blade in sight. There was a whish near my right ear. I turned to see an arrow stuck in the ground. Someone was shooting, and they would not miss again. I followed the arrows trajectory to a boulder a few dozen meters away from me. I’d found my next target. I fought my way towards the boulder, which was easier said than done. 221Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZz2Q4MFgx
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Eventually, I stood at the foot of the boulder. It was larger than it had seemed. I put my sword into its scabbard and found two handholds. Then I started climbing. Mind you, I don’t have much experience climbing large rocks in the middle of battles that could turn the tide of a war. I continued up the rock, which was painstakingly slow. Eventually, I got to the top. The person shooting had their back to me. He knocked an arrow and pulled the string back. As he took aim, I grabbed my knife from my belt. Being careful to not alert him of my presence, I crept forward. When I was within an arm's reach, I shot forward. His bow flew from his grasp, falling down to the battlefield below. I wrapped an arm around his torso, using my other hand to press my blade into his neck. I closed my eyes as I dragged the knife across his skin. Blood spilled onto my arm, and the man slumped down. I carefully placed him on the rock. Remorse immediately filled me. This man had a life outside of this war. He shouldn’t have had to die. I didn’t even know his name, yet I mourned for him. I will call you Osicuss, I thought. Osicuss meant one who has been killed in the language of my village. I looked out over the battlefield.
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Then I saw him. Grayson, fighting with someone near the edge of the battlefield. He was losing. A deep cut on his arm was bleeding heavily, and he was fighting with his non-dominant hand. I leapt down from the rock, ignoring the searing pain in my left ankle. I needed to get to Grayson. I started making my way towards him. Whenever someone attacked me, I used every ounce of strength to get it over quickly. Then, I saw a few meters away from Grayson. Closer, closer. Three meters. Two. And his opponent landed a blow across his chest. I watched as time slowed. Grayson fell backwards, blood pooling on his skin. His opponent ran away, leaving Grayson motionless on the ground. I rushed forward, hastily putting away my sword. His eyelid fluttered open. He was still alive. I hooked my hands under his shoulders, dragging him off the battlefield.
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The stream marked the edge of the battlefield. I needed to get Grayson out of there. So I hoisted him up onto my shoulders and carried him over the water into the woods. I placed him down on the moist forest floor, his back leaning against a tree trunk. I knelt down beside him. His breaths were shallow. “I am so sorry, Gray,” I whispered. He coughed, the blood from his wounds spilling onto the bark of the tree. “I knew you’d come back, Dadrin. Give my mother this when you get home. Tell her I miss her,” he said, his voice straining. He reached into a pocket hidden in his shirt and stuffed a piece of paper into my hand. “No, Gray. You’re coming home with me. We can make it,” I insisted. It was a lie. We both knew it. Grayson took a labored breath, his body shaking like an earthquake. His eyelids dropped, his breaths coming slower and slower, until they stopped. The moss settled around his body, forming his deathbed.
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I stood, greif flooding through me. “I want this all to be over. I want it all to be over. Ariana, help me,” I begged. I staggered forward a few steps, then fell onto my knees. My heart ached as I called out, “Ariana! Stop this all. Please.” I blinked, and she was standing in front of me. “As you wish, my brave soldier.” My vision went blurry. A moment later, it cleared. The sides of my vision remained blurred. Ariana offered me a hand. I took it, and I was pulled to my feet. I felt eyes watching me. I turned to see Grayson standing in front of me, smiling. His blood stained armor had been replaced by a white tunic and white pants. I looked down at myself, and saw I was wearing the same. Then I cast my gaze to the ground. I saw Gray’s body, slumped against the tree. And I saw another body, lying on the forest floor. I looked at the second body with extreme curiosity. A knife was strapped to his forearm. A sword and a second knife hung from his belt. Boots caked in mud donned his feet. It was- “Me,” I whispered. Ariana nodded. “Welcome, Dadrin Mirth. I have long awaited your arrival. Gray was just telling me about you as you called for me.” I took a staggered breath as Ariana placed a hand on my shoulder. “What happened to me? Why am I here, but also there?” I asked, looking back down at my body on the ground.
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Ariana reached behind her back and pulled out an hourglass. She handed it to me. All the sand was resting at the bottom. A small brass plaque was attached to the hourglass. It read: Dadrin Mirth. “What is this?” I asked. “It’s your hourglass. Every single person has one. When it runs out, you move on from the mortal world.”
“So I’m dead,” I clarified. Ariana nodded. “That… that can’t be right. I need to go home, I need to say goodbye. I need to…” I felt Ariana embrace me, her arms comforting. “Not all wounds can be seen,” she whispered. “Your’s ran deep inside. But you needn't worry now. Everything will be okay.” She stepped back, and in the blink of an eye, she became to old woman again. “Goodbye, Dadrin Mirth and Grayson Byrain. May our paths cross again.” She started to walk away, disappearing into the woods. Grayson turned to me. “I’m sorry,” I said. He walked towards me. I thought he would walk right past me. I thought he would ignore me. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me. “Thank you. You stayed with me until the end. So, thank you.” I smiled. “You’re my brother. And brother’s don’t abandon each other. Ever.”
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