88 Sweeter Than Victory

…It'd been a pleasant, cool night when it happened.

"Mama! Look, look! The sky! Two shooting stars!"

No one could have expected it. It wasn't their fault.

"Hey, look! What the hell is that? Someone order fireworks or something?"

It was not supposed to have even happened in the first place, but that was how life often was.

"I-Isn't it getting brighter? …What the hell is going on up there?"

Unpredictable. Ephemeral. Unfair.

"Who cares? Let the conquerors take care of it. Come on, let's go."

There was nothing they could've done, anyway. It had happened too fast.

"…H-Hey, it's not stopping! I don't think——"

They had all disappeared, in the blink of an eye. Reduced into dust.

It had been nigh-instantaneous — swift and painless.

An in-depth investigation would later conclude that approximately eighty-five kilometers had been affected by the unexpected event.