1 Prolouge - Death comes to Us all the Same

There has been many lukewarm days in my life. Listless, drained and uninspired. Even today is just one of those days but it is just that today happens to be a bit bloody, not quite, a very bloody day in fact.

Men killing one another, screaming, crying, dying, just another mess of a day on a battlefield. Even though we are stationed away from the frontline, this supply depot got ambushed and battle and chaos ensued.

Consecutive bombardments left my ears ringing but gunshots, shellings and screams of pain and agony echoed through the entire battlefield, until now that is.

Dark clouds and smoke overtook the world and the sky has been pouring like a madman as if wailing for all lives that are lost today. All sounds faded and disappeared into the harmony of rain or perhaps the battle itself must have ended.

But at this point, I could care less about which side won and lost. After all, one thing that has become painfully clear to me is that my life ends here and now.

I surveyed my proximity as I leaned my back on the broken fence of what used to be a farmhouse. There seems to be no one left here beside me, at least no one alive.

What once used to be a green field now charred and soaked with mud and blood. Furthermore, it is now decorated by a mountain of corpses. It is funny how I still remember the fragrance and warmth of the sun and the grass which now assault my nostrils with the stench of blood and flesh.

I jerked my head a bit facing upward towards the sky. It is cloaked with thick and dark clouds.

My thoughts and consciousness are slowly eroding along with my dull discomfort and numb pain. Multiple shots landed on me but miraculously they missed the vital organs thus I survived. Unfortunately, my left leg got obliterated from a shell so I crawled all the way back here but now that I've lost that last bit of strength and I will probably bleed to death.

As I stared at the weeping sky, fragments of memories before I joined the army and my time with my comrades occupied my mind.

Just yesterday, we were having a merry time at the tavern. But now, they are all gone and I'm on my way to join them.

" It seems this is. . . as far as I go."

I gave my all but it ends here. Since I am the last one to go, that's something to brag about, isn't it? But drawing closer to death is making me remember that story my mom used to tell when I go to bed.

The story of the end of the great Mikazuchi. The story of how he went to a place further than heaven as he perishes under the azure sky. I remember wanting to be like him, a strong and chivalrous hero, but most importantly, the coolest hero. I wanted to imitate him even in death.

As I was lost in my thought, a ray of light pierced the clouds and before I comprehended what I just witnessed a loud explosion followed suit from the direction of the city.

If the target was the city, I don't know what kind of a joke weapon they could have used to be able to feel the impact all the way here in a field about 14km away form it.

For a mere second, hope returned to me. Hope to fulfill my wish to die under the blue sky.

The dark clouds looming over me have disappeared or more like they have been blown to smithereens.

But disappointment greeted me from behind the clouds.

" Dusk. . ."

What a funny twist of fate I have. I lost my strength to keep my eyelids open as I saw my hope got blown away with the clouds. Blood loss is finally getting to my head I suppose.

I will just slowly wither away like th-

" Still alive?"

A cold and stern voice rang in my head sending chills to the very core of my being. Hearing it made me wonder if I have already passed but the burning sensation and pain indicate otherwise. As I opened my eyes again for one last time, I found a young boy who can't be older than 14 standing in front of me pointing his gun at me.

He donned the formal army uniform for the Chivalrous Order and an eagle badge above his pocket. Children of noble lineage usually get drafted into the army at early ages by their parents so seeing a boy as young in such rank is not a rare sight.

But his jet black hair fluttered in the wind as he stared at me with those obsidian eyes. He looks so out of the world making me doubt if he is actually my fellow countryman.

We were said to be descendants of the sun and naturally had bright colored eyes and hairs, even after a millennium of conquest and assimilation with many different ethnics and races. This is my first time seeing a person with black hair in my entire life. You can't find two people with eyes and hairs like that in the entire continent. And on top of it, the aura he gave out, it makes my heart which was halting race again. Whether out of fear or admiration just excitement, I have no idea but it confirmed my suspicions.

He's no doubt. . . .

" I will relieve you of your duty now. Rest in peace."

I thought it was a bad day but. . . my friends. . . you guys have lots of things to catch up to. It is not too bad of a way to die if I can boast how it was the grim reaper himself who dragged me to the depth of hell.

Well, we will. . .have a long. . .nice . .conversation there.

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In the year of 1129, February in the Aldinian Calendar, 100 years after the fall of the Empire, the United Kingdoms launched an invasion on their neighbouring state, the Principality of Hyme. The historians believe that it was nothing more than a desperate attempt to stop the remnants of the empire which split into many princely states and duchies under the banner of Prince Solance the sixteenth.

But at that time, no one would have guessed that this insignificant war would result in a conflict that would continue on for another 1000 years. Many historians still debate how and why this conflict spiraled out of control to that extent. It was called in many names, the era of madness, the fall of humanity, the second coming of chaos.

But it is the most widespread and commonly known as " The Great War ".

A war for a Nation's dignity? A Conquest? A Rebellion? For Freedom and Equality? Hatred? Or perhaps for the Survival of mankind itself.

This is not a story about a hero who would save mankind from demons, not about the strongest of the strongest champions, nor about the smartest and wisest of sages.

This is a story about wars and deaths and that of a certain young boy and his trifling life as he tries to survive in this world of madness.