The clamor of armies clashed but he had shirked every pain that pierced him. Violent gales sank into the valley depression and spread warmth onto their skin. A pair of ears twitched and a pair of eyes widened. Above him was a comrade’s face, bearing towards elsewhere, whose hand was holding him by his back. But the brute thought that he wasted enough of his time in rest, and rose, having forgotten what had happened. Without seeming to care for his wound, a hole which bore into his body, a wince telling otherwise, he sat up and took a breath behind his squad who heard him rise. Some stood and others knelt surprised, seeing Gin so easily recovering. He was unlike another who he eventually saw, by his side, laying on a river of mud. Motionless and soundless, blood poured out of him like an overflowing bowl of water, squeezed out of a crevice left by a blade. His chest did not rise nor sink, but each breath, however small, was present. The hands of his comrade-friend, Julien, pressed on his wound as molten red liquid, boiled in eifer, steamed and seeped past the gaps of his fingers. Zapped by electric currents running through the lancer’s veins freely without a master, cold sweat poured down his face. Sensing the one who had wreaked such havoc against them, he had yet to dare face their foe who was stood far and glaring, not within the reach of any of their blades. But the aura of the man was like that of a bonfire, whose flaming warmth turned soil into sand and grass to ash. That day, however, the lion sought no hunt for he found no worthy prey. He wiped the blood from his blade and flicked his sword to dry before it was slid back into its sheathe that produced a vibrant ring as if it was hummed to sleep again.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4Uw4p9TZZ
The feet of the general were heavy, weighted with words he had wished to say before the interruption, “I do not wish to entertain this bloodshed any longer.” Vasilevsky’s expression was mild with disdain as he said, “What’s done is done.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYHRtNbDaM
They could only hope so. The squad watched him, approaching, without a threat or a want for violence. Then, he halted, at twice the distance of his sword, but his imposing figure was enough of a deterrent that kept the youth’s spines straight at attention.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡijkhaSycgc
“Allow my honesty.” The general cautioned for those wanting to listen and even those who did not.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2InHu6SfK3
The six conscious and well grew defensive as their paranoia did too. Their hands tensed, and without ever realizing, their nails had dug into their flesh, drawing blood. Staring at the lion from below, who towered over them and seemed, confidently undefeatable, they began to submit themselves to fate as their eyes told.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1BTjuyKgk
Despite their thoughts having been programmed to fight as bound by duty, Vasilevsky offered otherwise. “The Aelon grows old.” He turned to the flags in the far, flaccid and feeble, and spoke, still with an admonishing tone, “It is but an ancient machine whose cogs have fallen ill to rot.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsylnWue5Sa
The glimmer of his breastplate, reflected from a puddle beneath him, faded as the clouds returned which blew onward, fleeting, and cast a gray shadow over the armies like a monotonal film.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLZpBRPPKP
“Yet, they cling onto this rusting relic.” The man held onto his armor’s straps and asked, “For what?”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMEVF3OZnC
Distanced, he loomed over them, bearing the weight of gold likes boulders on his shoulders, treading upright and carefully as he closed the gap between him and themselves. His feet sunk into the soil and his footprints were inches deep. For the first time since their meet, the squad have grasped the scale of his size that was perhaps equal to Miklós. But the air that formed around him had been seasoned by decades of blood iron.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliyP6N8fKg
Looking down on one, Vasilevsky remarked, “Never have they once considered the world for what little they know of it.”29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiAJM0Qepaj
A lancer settled down his comrade, resting him against another, with his hands soiled having pressed on his wound until his own veins had burst. Julien stood as blood dripped from the tips of his fingers and his nails which trapped the flesh of his enemies that disturbed him no longer. The squad tugged on his sleeve, telling him to sit and behave, and to ride out the storm, but after they had caught a glimpse of his expression, he was released from their grasp to let him say his piece.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEULnm61dr
“Then why was it the Confederacy who attacked us?” Julien looked up, thinking that he could outwit the lion.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLlP18ot4sk
“Hah!” Vasilevsky spew a fake laugh overhead. “Is that what they tell you?” Wondering, he knew that it was truth to them.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOchRvoKKU
The squad’s eyes had gone cold, unsure of his meaning, but those brighter than the rest could only assume. It could indeed be so. Where the truth was the lie and how lie became the truth. Their pupils constricted from realization.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOFTQ8WvFI
“We have only come to understand the truth of the alliance when we realized it was never just us who were the victims of this ploy.” Taking on a lesser tone that was not berating but educating rather, the colonel general sighed. “Every nation involved in this farce has been in a brawl with one another since Kennedy created this new world order.” Telling them what was known knowledge, he figured that they had been blinded by everything that they were taught.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBKEsKcxDa
Holding an open palm that appeared beneath the hill in the distance, Vasilevsky aimed his sight along his fingers and pointed at the headquarters of the Aelon where no more horns blared and their drums fell silent. At the foot of the encampment, a cloud of cavalry and their clobber of hooves rolled down the ridge, past the wooden gates and the streams of troops flowing into hiding. They were the only detachment on the offense, a foolish endeavor led by a warrior general clad in bronze and armed with an eared spear. Charging for the frontlines where they would hope to pause the Confederates’ unstopping advance, their commander taking to the field with what little numbers could not solve his crisis of morale. His army did not turn and fight and continued their withdrawal. But the officers of his headquarters could not do any less, gazing outward at their mobilized force with the strength of a breeze.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCosjPKOVFK
Vasilevsky retracted his fingers that curled into a fist and shielded the hill from his eyes. “They wasted at themselves.” Undoing the buckles on his arm to the straps of his shield, he voiced disappointedly. “And still, they wonder why this war is done.” The general jested.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVyuoxVozq
The last buckle was undone and the shield found itself freed. The lion turned his arm and the weight of the bulk began to slide. Of four dozen pounds, at least, a third of the construct made of gold, the shield fell to the earth like a meteor that crashed and sent a wave of dust afloat. The collision ran across the bedrock like a bell inside their ears that startled some soldiers and his mount too, whose neighs of unease had to be soothed by the easy voice of a lieutenant colonel who kept the creature under its reins. The lion flexed his arm whose joints and bones ached. Hot mist surfaced out of his slow boiling blood like an underground spring of magma.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtEf724Dyd
“War is never done…” Julien suddenly corrected the colonel general, defiantly.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2DCyZVqyv
His crowd of enemies were in silence but their eyes were stayed alert, pressed against the seven. However, there was one colonel among the observers who was not as uptight as they were.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjNZptcYLq
The young man’s breastplate appeared to have been flayed from a beast, wearing steel wings bound to his back. A chain ran across his collar, but what it was for, not many knew. Bearing an impression of a cast of a god, he was mortal alas, whose hands were scarred and had cuts overlapping cuts. Holding onto a shaft of an ornamental glaive, the young man was tall and well-built, of an age between his second and third decades. His stance was wide, proper and upright, never swaying and never loosening any of his nerves. He was often seen in thought and contemplation, burdening his head. Strands of silver hair poked out of his helmet fashioned with the metal beak of a hawk, sipping at the scarlet red shine of his armor with its tint reflecting on his soft, pale face clawed onto by the silver talons of his helm. The colonel’s pupils were larger than average but was always darkened by the shadow cast down from his helmet’s overhang. Rose-like, his eyes were sharp and emotionless, caring only for duty.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡElS4q4sj3w
Lifting his head, the young colonel spoke in a mature tone, “That may be true for war’s very nature.” The lion’s hawk gazed upon the near-felled lancer whose worsening color spelled trouble for the squad. “But a war can be ended as easily as a man’s life is taken.” His senses perked as he said.29Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDq4J4PcFY
