Thud.
An arrow pierced the ground, displacing the earth. Its quivering shaft rapidly slowed as a crowd of onlookers gathered.
"It's a raid!"
Alarm bells rang throughout the camp, and the soldiers stumbled out of their sleep in shocked disorientation.
The camp scattered and scrambled as whistles of death screeched from above. Shouting in confusion and screaming in agony, men were felled by the plummeting arrows. The torches were knocked over, and the camp burst ablaze, the bodies of those both alive and dead feeding the gluttonous conflagration.
Steel arrowheads glinted in blood and flames.
Soon the enemy was upon them. After the first wave crashed through the gates, the walls soon collapsed.
Iker unsheathed his sword and confronted his belligerent opponents.
Clang! Clang!
That was one down. A sword arced toward him as he turned. He parried, lunged, stabbed, smacked down an arrow as another knicked his ear. Charging forward, Iker pushed a foe into the flames. Something grabbed his ankles. He looked down; it was a dying man, pleading for life.
No, not a man. An enemy.
Iker stabbed his sword through the wretched being's heart.
Fwoosh.
He swiftly stepped back as another opponent engaged him. As the enemy charged, Iker countered and struck, and that was another one down.
Iker looked around. "Lieutenant Leroy!" he shouted. The blistering heat and the billowing smoke stung his eyes and scorched his throat. And everywhere was the smell of fire, of blood, of steel, and of burning flesh. "Lieutenant Cassius Leroy!" he shouted as his blade cut short the life of another.
"Yes, Captain!" a hacking cry responded.
Iker hacked his way toward the origin of the voice.
Swoosh, clang! Ka-chink! Thud.
"Cassius!"
"Here, Captain!" A bloodied man emerged from the smoke. His sword was stained with blood and guts, and his shield was riddled with scars by steel.
"Did a response arrive from the Marshal?"
"The Marshal?... My father?"
"Yes, your father!" Iker grabbed his lieutenant by the collar and pulled him aside before killing a foe. "Are they going to send reinforcements?"
"Y-yes! General Rivers left the capital a couple of weeks ago!"
Hail of steel rained from above, and the two sought cover behind the wreckage of a collapsed building.
After the final projectile had landed with a distinct thud, the battlefield was eerily quiet. Fires no longer roared but were now crackling as they neared extinction, ragged breaths methodically marked the passage of time, and the blowing wind whistled in the night.
Iker peeked out from behind his cover. From an approaching mass of darkness were glinting tools of killing, and from within the mass, Iker saw a familiar banner, a familiar face.
It was the Duke, the Sargomon Empire's famed general. He was the one who caused such devastation during the beginning of this war, and he was the last remaining pillar of the enemy's forces. He was the final barricade to the end of the war... and to peace.
Iker scanned his surroundings. Many of his men were dead, and most of the survivors were injured. Those who were somehow fine were still battered and fatigued.
Yesterday's thrill for victory was lain at the feet of defeat.
"... Lieutenant."
"Yes, Captain."
"Gather the troops, rescue the injured, and retreat."
"... And what about you? What will you do?"
"If it's as you said, then General Rivers can't be more than a couple hours away. Give him the rundown; update him on the situation. I'll keep the Duke here with whoever remains."
"If you're trying to send me away because of that promise with Father—"
"That's not it." Iker looked across the field. "That elusive bastard has finally appeared, and if he's killed, it'll be the end of the Sargomon Empire. This is an opportunity to end the war, Cassius. An opportunity to go home."
"No, you're sending yourself to your death! If I'm the only one to return safely, then what am I—"
"Who am I, Cassius?"
"What does that matter—"
"Lieutenant Leroy. I asked you: 'Who am I?'"
"..."
"Don't disparage me, Lieutenant. I've proven my worth on the battlefield. I've saved numerous, slain countless, and survived through what other veterans and seniors of war have not. I will not die today, nor will I be dead by tomorrow."
"Still..."
Iker rose to his feet. "Hurry and run, Cassius." He spoke with a smile. "Let's meet at sunrise."
***
The vastness of the enemy forces was simply an illusion of the darkness.
Following Cassius's retreat, Iker and the remnant few took charge to hold the line. As they entered close quarters, they discovered that the enemies were fewer in number than was originally thought. However, for every one of Iker's men were a dozen of the Duke's.
Neither side backed down, and both hurtled themselves into the impending chaos.
At last, Iker found himself facing the infamous general.
"Why don't you peacefully surrender, Duke?" Iker asked as he leveled a sword at his opponent.
The Duke sized up his new challenger. "You must be the one they call the Herald." He readied his stance. "I've been wanting to meet you."
"My thoughts are the same."
They both advance.
Clang! Schwing! C-clang!
In a flurry of swirling steel, the blades nicked at the plates of armor, seeking the gap that would lead to a fatal blow. The distance closed, and the onslaught of blows increased in their intensity.
Iker tried bludgeoning the Duke with the hilt of his sword. The Duke blocked and countered with a thrust.
Schwing. Thawck! Clank!
Iker stepped back, creating a distance that was soon closed by the hounding Duke. The Duke took the first move, attacking with a sweeping strike. Iker parried. One grabbed the other's sword, and the two wrestled with steel.
A feint.
Tink!
Sidestep and riptose.
Swoosh! Clang!
Iker released his sword, grabbed the Duke by his neck, and pulled him close. A dagger cleaved through the neck.
The Duke fell.
Iker remained standing, stained in blood.
Thwunk.
Iker lifted his eyes to look across the field. An enemy soldier was standing there with a crossbow trained in his direction. No sooner had Iker spotted the soldier, the enemy was cut down by one of his own—Ethan, was it?
Everyone knew that Ethan had a sister. He had been against her relationship, but when he received the wedding invitation, he was over the moon. Ethan didn't get the chance to give them his blessing, so he was counting down the days until he could go home.
But, was that fear on his face?
The ground flipped from beneath Iker's feet, and he dropped to his knees. He looked down and saw a crossbow bolt protruding from his side.
He looked up.
Ethan jerked forward and collapsed.
A life vanished, and its extinguisher stood behind, the lifeblood running down his sword.
With a roar, Iker rose and charged. He collided with the enemy, slammed into him. He pummeled into the sack of flesh and blood the blade of his dagger.
Thwoomp. Thwoomp. Thwoomp.
Over and over.
Thwoomp. Thwoomp.
Thwump.
Another bolt.
Iker watched as Adrian fell.
Adrian's mother had been widowed by the war merely a year ago. He had a child on the way. He promised his wife he'd return.
Thwump.
Another man with a crossbow.
Another man down; another life that would never be known.
Iker rose, picked up a blade, and charged into the foray. He ran. He cleaved into enemy forces, rallied his men. He stumbled. Again, he rose. He hacked his way through the night.
The earth swayed. Iker struggled to make sense of the world. Was he standing or sitting? Was it the ground he saw or the sky? Was he moving? Was he still?
Did he still have to fight...?
The blood in his eyes tinted the world in a sinister red.
The sky, too, was bleeding. The red dripped over the mountains and the trees and leaked from the heavens to the earth.