Sighards breathing was heavy, his eyes were bloodshot and his ears were ringing. His mind was in a haze as he looked at the bloody chunks of meat at his feet that once belonged to his best friend. They had been together for as long as he could remember but now that he turned to look at where his friend had once been, there was nothing but a small crater in the ground. Most likely a crater caused by a mortar, but nowhere were there any signs of his friend only small bloody chunks of meat, it was as if his friend had never even been there to begin with.
The world around him shook violently with the heavy explosions of the Americans heavy artillery fire. Dirt from the explosions around his trench flew like rain all around him obscuring his vision. Even so, he could still see the other men in the trench with him. All of them seemed so young nothing more than mere boys in his eyes their faces were filled with fear as their bodies trembled and they pitifully hugged their knees like the little boys they were.
He still could remember the early days of the war when all his comrades were well-trained and some were even battle-hardened veterans of the Franco-Prussian War. They were all so well-motivated and eager to fight for their fatherlands glory. None questioned the Kaisers reasons for war and all believed in his judgment.
Oh, how he cursed the mans name now. So many of his comrades and friends had died, even the people at home were dying of starvation. All around Germany, there was so much death and suffering going around and now the news had come in that the war was about to end. Germany was about to lose the war. What had it all been for? For what did his friends and family die for?
At least he had thought that his friend and he, would go on living with all limbs still attached, but suddenly the Americans had decided to launch a final attack of theirs. He couldnt understand why, why would they do such a thing? The war was about to end in a few hours, why toss more lives away now?
Gritting his teeth in rage he pushed away all such thoughts as hatred and rage overtook him. If the Americans truly wanted death then he was more than happy to give it to them.
Grabbing a hold of his M17 Steel Helmet he adjusted it and brushed away the dirt on top of it. Then he grabbed his M98 bolt-action rifle and cocked on open the action, then he took 5 rounds and placed them all inside and cocked it back close. With five rounds in, he was now ready to shoot.
Feeling the ringing in his ears slowly dissipating he adjusted his breathing and waited. Around him, he could hear the sound of the explosions disappearing and instead being replaced by the sounds of those steel beasts that the Alliece call Tanks.
Hearing their engines roar just made him mad. No more was war about honorable men fighting against other men in glorious combat, no now war had turned to a contest of money and machines. This was something that he despised greatly, all he had always wanted was an honorable death in the field of battle like his father had. But, in this type of war, there was no honor to be had, this was just an inhumane hell.
Listening to the explosions and howling of shells stop, he could now make out the sounds of men cutting through their barbed wire fence. Taking this as his sign he popped his head out from the trench. Through the clouds of smoke and dust blurring his vision, he could make out the outline of a Tank to his left, to his right about 20 meters away a group of 5 Americans was cutting through the last line of barbed wire.
With rage in his heart, he took aim, placed the tallest of the men into his crosshairs and like he had done so many times before he then pulled the trigger.
" Bam! "
The shot rang out and the tall mans head popped and he fell limply to the ground. The 4 remaining men didnt even seem to notice the mans death as they simply continued to cut the wire. The sight of the man falling down didnt move him in the slightest as all he could think about was.
" One down. "
Like a machine, he cocked another round into his chamber and set his sights on another man. Pulling the trigger yet again all he heard was another bam. The American man right then pulled his head back and the bullet blasted through his side and through both his eyes.
" Shit. "
Sighard thought to himself as the man started to scream in agony gaining the attention of his comrades. Both the mans eyes were destroyed with only a huge hole left there.
Loading another round Sighard aimed for the now bleeding man in hopes of finishing his misery fast, it was a mercy killing in his eyes.
Blood flew from the mans face as one man pushed him to the ground and started to attend to his wounds. The other two cut through the barbed wire just then and charged towards his position.
Seeing this he gritted his teeth in anger and aimed for the two charging men who were now firing bullets at him. With swishing sounds, the bullets passed him as he shot one of them in the middle of his forehead.
The American man went down immediately. Pulling his head back into the trench he loaded his gun and noticed that the men on his right were all dead now. In their place was a big dent in the trench line the size of a horse-drawn wagon.
The men on his left still seemed fine but they were slowly being gunned down by the Tank and the infantry following behind it. Then he heard the American mans battle cry. He couldnt understand the language but he knew the basics of the mans words, he was saying something like.
" For America! For Freedom! AAAAaaaaaa! "
Lying down in the trench he waited for the noisy fool. Following the source of the voice he aimed and immediately when the mans head came into view he pulled the trigger.
" Bam. "
Came the sound of his rifle as the man fell lifeless to the ground. Taking a deep calming breath, he loaded his last round and then stopped as he heard the agonizing sounds of screaming.
Looking to his left he could see the entire trench line being filled by the fires of the American flamethrowers standing above. Then he heard the hissing sound of a flamethrower about to ignite near him.
Turning to look he could see a flamethrower pointed straight at him from above his trench, but the flame wasnt igniting for some reason. Realizing this the American seemed to panic as Sighard quickly took aim and fired at the mans chest.
The bullet through the mans body and into the canister behind causing a huge fiery explosion to erupt. All Sighard could see was the wall of fire coming straight for him as he was then engulfed in its hellfire.
He screamed in panic and tried to roll on the ground but the flames wouldnt die down. Soon extreme pain set in as the fire burned his hair, and eyebrows and started to melt his skin all the way to the bone.
Then came the familiar sounds of the artillery firing, but it wasnt the Americans. No, the sounds were too close. Then through one of his eyes not yet consumed by the fire, he saw a flash that immediately tossed him to the ground and buried him in the soil.
He could feel the soil fall into his open wounds and to his relief it extinguished the fire. A mix of relief and pain overtook his mind and he soon started to lose consciousness. At least now there would still be a face for his remaining loved ones still to look at when they buried him, was his final thought.
But then next he knew he was standing in front of a mirror in a German hospital. On the radio the news was playing, talking of the end of the war and many people around the hospital were cheering.
In Sighards one good eye, there was no joy as he looked at his now hideous deformed form in the mirror. From there the years just seemed to fly by. Now he was old, without a wife or children to call his own and even his last remaining relative, his little sister had abandoned him.
No one said it, but he knew that nobody could stand the sight of his hideous form for long, for not even he did. For a long time, he had contemplated just ending this all, but his will to fight and to do whatever he could do for the betterment of his homeland had kept him going.
Despite his will to keep on fighting, his damaged body just couldnt keep on going. Now in his fifties, the work at the docks had become too much and with the ever worsening situation in Germany, he feared that soon he would be fired from his job. He was not a religious man, but he did find himself praying for some god to come and save him from this tragic end. There was still so many things that he wished to still do in this life, but most of all he wished to see the German people finally rise to glory. He wished to see this so that he could say that all those sacrifices and deaths werent for nothing.
Just then when his life seemed hopeless and lost, he had somehow without even thinking. He had found himself in front of the biggest German man he had ever seen. The man seemed bigger than any bear and more muscular than any Greek god in his eyes. Looking at the mans deep blue eyes he felt at a loss like he were a drifter stranded in the middle of the deep blue sea.
The man seemed like the god Odin in the flesh. His mouth was shut and he couldnt find any words to say, all he felt like he needed to do was toss himself to his knees and pray to this man. But before he could the man had taken hold of his medal and after holding it for a few seconds the man had simply wished him luck and left.
After that, he didnt know why, but he felt that there was something different about his medal and there was a feeling in the back of his mind that he needed to pray to this man and the medal his godly hand had held.
Like so as he closed his eyes and prayed, a feeling of warmth started to come to him. His mind felt at ease and his physical pains left behind by the scars seemed to go away. Somehow he felt that praying to that man was the right thing to do.
Then as days passed rumors about a mysterious man blessing people and healing them started to circulate more and more. And, just like those rumors said he too started to feel changes start to take place. After a week his vision had returned and much better than ever before. His hair and eyebrows had started to grow.
Also, his scars had started to fade and in their place, there was now young healthy-looking skin. Now he seemed as if he were back in his twenties, Walking on the streets he had noticed that nobody hardly looked at him anymore with disgust. Instead, now he felt that some women even seemed to look at him with some mild interest.
Now as he looked at the newspapers he found stories of angels visiting nearby fields in Hamburg. Soon a thought came to him and he started to suspect that what if the man was truly an angel? As he thought of this he could suddenly feel his medal start to spread warmth and he could see it emit a small light.
Seeing this he felt like a light of understanding had just shown on him. Indeed this was no man that had blessed him, no this was an Angel of light. This was a messenger of god come down to Earth to see the German race rise to the worlds number one power.
Walking mindlessly on the shores of the river Elbe he suddenly stopped to see a group of women and men looking inland at something with great interest. Turning to look at what it was that had caught their attention he then saw it.
In the yard of a 2 story house there, the Angel of Light was doing what he believed to be pull-ups. The Angel wore nothing but underwear which exposed his godly physique to all the onlookers.
Without a second thought, he started to run towards the Angel with stars in his eyes. The people on the beach looked at the man in wonder as he then also gained the attention of Chad.
Letting go of the bar, Chad then watched as the man tossed himself to his knees in front of him. The man pushed his head low into a Kowtow position and then excitedly with an almost sobbing voice said.
" Oh, Angel of the heavens, Angel of Light, my Lord. Please let this pathetic being of mortal flesh serve you! Please I beg of you! Whatever it is you desire I will do it, even if it kills me! No, even if you tell me to kill myself then I will gladly do it for you! Please just let me serve you! I wish for a higher purpose in this mortal life of mine! Oh please, Lord! "
Hearing this, Chad felt a bit taken aback. But as he thought about it, this was something that he should have expected after all that he had been doing so far. With a small sigh, Chad then said firmly.
" Good, very good. I like your attitude. You shall then be my first Warrior of the Light. But before I can trust you fully you must prove yourself. Now tell me your name. "
Lifting his head Sighard then said.
" I am Sighard Hoff, your Holiness. Please tell me what must I do. "
Nodding his head in satisfaction Chad then said.
" Good, then your first test shall be to do 100 Pushups, 100 Sit-Ups, 100 Squats and a 10 Kilometer Run every day for a week. You see before you can truly become one of my warriors, you must first demonstrate your physical abilities and train them to the utmost best that they can be. After that, I will give you more tasks. If you lack a home then you can build yourself a home here in this yard. Now get to work. "