233 73 Years Ago

[73 Years Ago]

The temporary military camp was populated by dirtied white tents that was organized in neat rows and columns. Nearby in the distance were the sound of explosions as artillery shells rained down on the battlefield many kilometers away, and in the sky, numerous airplanes flew about, engaging the enemy's airplanes while providing air support to the troops on the ground who were also aided by the reinforcement of sturdy tanks. However, scarcely were there any tanks and airplanes that bear the Vilheim symbol, with the last of the Vilheim planes being shot down and crashing towards the battlefield. All the remaining planes in the sky, and most likely all the tanks on the ground, all bear the Jorzan flag as the enemy forces closed in on the camp.

In the camp, there was dead silence whose wrath did not reach the surgical tents where the screams of pain from patients echoed followed by the frantic surgical procedures that the medics performed. However, it is all a futile effort of prolonging a life that will surely be lost sooner or later or be lived in eternal trauma. No anesthesia is used as those have all ran out at this base, and really, there is no expecting that any anesthesia would do any good for those who have a third of their body completely flattened and turned to mush by tanks and fallen buildings. Next to the surgical tents were a large tent with rows on rows of cloth on the floor for those who had just finished surgery and whose condition have stabilized to rest in. In this tent, the wounded soldiers, many of which are missing limbs and other body parts with dirtied bandages wrapped around their bodies, sat or laid on the ground on top of the thin cloth in a state of silent solemness. A sense of despair and smell of death permeated the tent as some of the wounded soldiers would die from their conditions only to have their body removed from the tent and to have two more wounded soldiers tossed into the tent by other soldiers called in to help the medics. The emotion on all their faces, both the healthy and wounded soldiers, have been wiped away by the brutalities of the war and the losing effort.

I stood at the top of the lookout tower and gazed at the old, stone city walls that surrounded Palisia, our nations capital. Slowly, I turned my head in the opposite direction, looking over at the battlefield and at the enemy planes that flew in the sky, opening fire with their machine guns on our troops and the artillery shells that rained down on our soldiers. Command had sent almost every available soldier up to the Front, desperately trying to fend off the Jorzan attacks. Even though they tried to censor the status on the Front, everybody knows that we wouldn't be able to hold the lines for much longer without any reinforcements. Yet...where are the reinforcements? Does there still exist any other Vilheim units in the country that have the leisure to send aid our way? The entire nation is being attacked, and...us, the last line of defense of the capital, the unit tasked with the most important task of all...are here fighting on our knees with no aid in sight. That's how bad the war has come to.

In the distant sky over the battlefield, I saw the wings of a Jorzan plane catch on fire as it crashed towards the ground. For a moment there, my spirits were high, thinking that maybe there is still hope for victory. But... when the numerous other Jorzan planes flew back into view, I knew immediately that hope is false, a mere illusion.

"Alevian!" I heard a familiar voice call my name. "Get down from there! The General has orders!"

I looked over the edge of the lookout tower and down at the ground. Standing there while waving his hand up at me and looking up was my childhood friend Loyd who was drafted the same day as me. Upon hearing his words, I walked over to the ladder in a solemn state of mind that caused each step of mine to become heavier and climbed down the ladder, reaching the scorched earth underneath me.

"We have orders to mobilize," Loyd said to me. On his face was a serious expression, an expression that seems to have been locked to his face recently. It really has been a while since I've last seen him smile the way he used to do so often prior to our enlistment.

"Mobilize?" I looked at him in surprise. "To where? The Front?"

Loyd shook his head. "No. We're retreating."

"Retreating?!" I exclaimed with widened eyes of disbelief. "B-but the Capital—Palisia is right there!" I pointed in the direction of our home. "We're just leaving the Capital and running away?"

"..." Loyd remained silent.

"Loyd!" I exclaimed to him. "That's where our home is. We didn't become soldiers and go all the way south just to get pushed all the way back here to run away. We wanted to protect our home."

"But..." he paused and took a deep breath. "It looks like we failed in doing that."

"Are you kidding me?" I staggered a few steps backwards out of disbelief. "It's that bad now?"

"Yeah," Loyd nodded as he looked down at the ground in frustration.

I stood there, motionlessly and stared at the sky in shock. I thought back on the day two years ago when I first left home, leaving behind the wife I had just married to head to the front lines. Our marriage was an arranged one by our parents, with our first meeting being only a month prior to our wedding day. I doubt that there is any serious love involved in our relationship, but...there is no hatred. In fact, there seemed to be something that has begun to sprout. Maybe if I wasn't drafted, then something might've developed, but even though there is barely anything between her and I, as her husband, I still have a vow to keep with her. It is my duty to fulfill the promise I had made with her the day I left home for boot camp. But...

"Everyone's packing up right now," Loyd continued saying as the nearby tents were torn down. "We're heading further North to Fort Sarendale."

"What about them?" I asked Loyd as I pointed at the battlefield.

"What about them?" Loyd looked at me with a confused expression on his face.

"We're...going to leave them? And what about the wounded? How are we bringing them with us?"

"We're not..." Loyd's voice was grave, stripped of humanity from this desperate and grim situation. "We're leaving them. Those people out there fighting and those people that are wounded and can't move on their own...we're leaving them."

I remained silent. Leaving those fighting on the front without aid and leaving those wounded here is basically sending them to their deaths. The Jorzans wouldn't have any mercy on civilians, let alone soldiers.

"What about the civilians?" I asked with a trembling voice. "Has the evacuation started yet?"

"There's no evacuation," Loyd clenched his hands into tight fists as he tried to quench the burning inferno of anger and frustration in his mind. In his eyes, there were tears forming that reflected the light of the sun. "We're...leaving them too."

"We're...giving up the Capital?" I shook my head in disbelief. "We're leaving the people at the mercy of the enemy that knows no mercy?"

"That's...what the higher ups decided," Loyd whispered. "Alevian...we better get going. Or else we'll get left behind."

"You're leaving?" I asked my childhood friend with a trembling voice.

"I..." He opened his mouth to speak but soon closed it as he suffered himself from a mental dilemma. "Me staying here wouldn't change a damn thing. I won't be able to get my family out on time. My father and mother are old, so old that they can barely walk. I don't even know if they're still alive or not cause the last time I saw them was when I left Palisia. I...I basically have no one left in Palisia."

"I'm staying," I shook my head as I gazed at the scorched earth underneath. "I...My wife is still there."

"Why risk your life for someone who you have no love for?"

"You're right about us having no feelings for each other. But," I looked up and gazed into his eyes. "I made a promise with her. I promised her that I would protect her."

"Then break that promise," Loyd raised his voice as his emotions flared up. "Break that promise... I'd rather you, my best friend, live than die trying to fulfill an empty promise. Your wife probably cheated on you while you're out here fighting in that uniform. Why bother going back?"

"Loyd," I sighed and shook my head. "Watch what you're saying."

"I...I'm sorry," he backed off and apologized. "But...if this is what it's going to take to get you to come with us, then it's worth losing your friendship."

"No matter what you say," I looked in the direction of the city walls of Palisia. Since the tents had been dismantled, I could now see the city walls from the ground where my eyes naturally wandered and took in the city where I grew up in with great nostalgia in my mind. "I'm staying."

"Alevian..."

"But," I looked over at him and smiled. "I promise you that I will catch up once I have my wife with me."

"..." Loyd stared into my eyes with tears in his.

"That's a promise," I smiled. "A promise that I will not break."

"You better show up," Loyd smiled and wiped away his tears.

"Are you crying?" I mocked him, just like how I used to do when we were kids.

"No," he sniffled. "It's just dust in my eyes."

"Haha," I chuckled as I was relieved that I saw this young man smile once again. "You better go and catch up with the others or else they'll leave you behind."

"I know," Loyd nodded his head. "But...if you are planning to head back in the city, I suggest you change out of that uniform. The Jorzan bastards will shoot you on sight if they see you in that."

"I know," I nodded. "But that's assuming they won't shoot civilians on sight though."

"You think too highly of them," Loyd shook his head. "They're not that merciful that they kill you immediately."

"Damn..." I muttered in disbelief even though I've seen first hand how the Jorzans would torture and torment civilians.

"I best get going now," Loyd muttered to me. "You better show up at Fort Sarendale."

"I will," I smiled and nodded to him.

Slowly, Loyd turned his back on me as he started walking to join the larger group of soldiers in the retreat. I watched as he walked away, with my eyes taking in his figure. This may very well be the last time that I see him. Loyd stopped in his tracks and gazed over his shoulders at me, probably to take in what may probably his last view of me before he turned his head and continued with his march.