The troops slammed into me sending me sprawling onto the floor. I activated my obsidian shell before hundreds of soldier’s feet stumbled over me, rushing towards the diplomats Rayan and I had made a deal with. I was disoriented and had already lost Rayan in the turbulent sea of people.

Rayan, unlike me, didn’t have any extraordinary physical powers. His sight rivaled that of an eagle and his nose could track scents like a hound, but his powers weren’t exactly useful when getting trampled on and I was certain he would die if I didn’t find him soon.

I wove my way through the soldiers, scouring the ground for Rayan. It was hard to find anything in the chaos. The dirt and mud only made it harder to locate him. The sounds of explosions were deafening and the wave of smoke and ash blinded the men marching towards the town. Soldiers crashed into my obsidian shell, pushing me away from where I last saw Rayan.

A guttural, no primal scream came from inside me. I mustered all my energy and pushed through the sea of bodies. In that moment, I didn’t care what happened to the troops, what I did to them. All that mattered was saving Rayan. I threw soldiers aside as if they weighed nothing. Some tried to stab me as I did this while others stumbled away.

Eventually my eyes locked on Rayan’s muddy leg protruding from the ground. I dove over his crumpled body and shielded him from the current of troops surging onto the battlefield. I mustered the energy to stand and hoisted Rayan onto my shoulders. He had been knocked unconscious, his head bleeding from blunt trauma.

I rushed back to the station the Duke’s army had hastily cobbled together. It was a slow process, pushing through the troops moving in the opposite direction. Tents were scattered sporadically with no apparent pattern or thoughtfulness, so it took me longer than I would’ve liked to locate the Medic’s tent.

Long lines of beds housed hurt soldiers. Most had gained missing limbs, red blood oozing out of the newly torn openings. Screams resonated throughout the tents and rivers of tears streamed down onto the uncomfortable blood soaked sheets.

The stench from the room was horrendous. It took a lot of willpower to hold down the remainder of what sat in my stomach.

“My friend needs to be treated.” I said to the first overworked nurse I saw. Dark rings encircled her eyes. Her hair was unkempt and uniform disheveled.

“Lay him on a bed. I’ll take care of him when I get the opportunity. Many have been injured and there are more streaming in by the minute.”

“Trust me. You’ll want to treat him first or the Duke won’t be very happy” I suggested.

“And who are you?” the Nurse said with attitude.

I activated part of my obsidian shell. The nurse stared at me for a few seconds.

“Well, I guess I can treat him right now, but he’s not the only one hurt. I don’t know why you higher ups were thinking of starting a fight. You’ve killed a lot of good men today. “

I just nodded. What she said was true. Even if I wasn’t the one to initiate the attack, I did bear some of the responsibility just based on my position.

I rushed back towards the conflict. My instincts screamed at me for my stupidity, telling me to stay clear of the conflict. Soldiers had already touched the city gates and were starting to scale the walls. Hot tar and oil was poured over the walls. The Duke’s men were set ablaze, causing the men to scream in agony before their bodies were turned to ash.

Many troops fell from the steep walls but many more reached the top. It wouldn’t be long before the troops had pried the city gates open.

I pulled magma from the ground, pushing it towards the village wall. It began to glow. I pulled on the magma and the wall started to lose its form. The top slid out from underneath wall, collapsing onto a house in the village. I pushed the lava back underneath the surface while soldiers poured into the opening, filling the small town.

I slowly stepped over heaps of dead carcasses that littered the ground. War stripped the soldiers of everything but their most primal instincts. They were no better than animals.

Houses burned. Clouds of smoke gathered in the sky. Snowy ash fell from the sky, still hot from the flames.

I watched the villagers scurry around panicked. Troops were pillaging village shops, breaking windows, and hollering. I didn’t like the chaos I was witnessing. The brutality of it, the lack of regard for the people.

I thought back to the conversation I had with the nurse, how these were good men. I came to the conclusion that war brought out the worst in people, their fears, their violence, their lack of empathy.

This violence was unnecessary. A deal had already been arranged. I wondered who had formed the troops and sent them to battle. Deep down I knew who did it, but I wasn’t sure. I wouldn’t assume the worst in people without substantial proof.

I slowly perused the city streets. I thought about escaping now. Rayan was injured. The troops were widespread. I didn’t want to leave Cloud though, and I wanted to learn where Crom had gone. That would be hard to do while hiding.

In the end I decided to stay with the Duke’s army. I had almost two months before the army laid siege on the capital. There would be other opportunities to escape.

“Help! Anyone help.”

I followed the cries for a savior. They guided me through the rubble filled alleyways, growing louder and louder as I grew closer and closer.

Three of the Duke’s men stood in front of me. Their weapons were drawn. They had surrounded a frail shivering old man.

“Tell us where you keep your gold old man.”

“I told you I’m broke,” cried the old man.

“The lady over there says you own the inn. I reckon you have some coin. Now don’t risk your life for some money. Tell us where your savings are,” said the now frustrated soldier.

“And why should I do that. I’m old anyway. Killing me would be a mercy. I’ll be haunting you as ghost before I tell you where I keep my money.”

I watched as one of the soldiers slowly moved up to face the old man while holding his sword firmly.

“Stop,” I yelled.

The soldiers turned around to look at me.

“Shit!” yelled the one farthest from me.

The other two soldiers turned to look at their panicked compatriot.

“He’s one of them, one of the freaks.”

Panicked looks crossed the faces of the other soldiers.

“Look sir, we didn’t mean to harass this old man. Times are tough and we’ve been putting are lives on the line. Felt it right to line are pockets and help our wives,” reasoned the middle soldier.

“Shutup! We’re too late for that Tom! He saw what we were going to do! If we go with him, we’ll be on the guillotine,” hollered the farthest soldier.

Both soldiers looked at the farthest soldier briefly before pointing their swords at me. Their hands were twitching, fear evident on their faces.

“Look, I won’t kill you. I’ll just have to report you to the proper authorities.” I said in a calm tone. I didn’t want to punish the soldiers, but they had almost killed this old man. I had to report them at least.

The troops lunged towards me. I activated my obsidian shell and sidestepped the sharp blades, dodging them with ease. My fist landed on one of their faces. An audible crunch echoed throughout the alley. It was clear I had broken his nose. He stumbled back away from me.

The soldier farthest away from me threw his daggers. They bounced off my hardened skin. I picked up one of the daggers that had fallen onto the floor and launched it back at the soldier. Instead of bouncing off of him like it did with me, the dagger pierced the soldier’s neck. He slumped over onto the floor, now motionless.

The other soldiers dropped their weapons and stuck their hands in the air. They were shaking in fear.

“Stand over in that corner.” I commanded.

The two remaining robbers shuffled over to the wall with their shoulders hunched.

“You’re free to go.” I said to the old man.

“I’ll be on my way,” he responded.

“Good.” I said.

I latched onto the soldiers. I couldn’t risk having them run away from me. I made my way out of the city gates and headed back to the camp where the injured rested and the unharmed worked to fix the gear that had been broken and bury the dead.

It wasn’t long before I found an officer. He was ordering troops to dig graves for the deceased. I shoved the two soldiers to the officer.

“These two soldiers need to be punished however you see fit.” I said before I walked away.

The battle had already ended so I felt it was time to confront the other wizards. Aside from Rayan, I was unhappy with their decisions and wanted to know what happened. My eyes wandered around the camp trying to locate one of them. It was still hectic in the camp so I had trouble getting a clear idea of where they were.

I stopped one a soldier who was frantically scurrying from one side of the camp to another.

“Where are the other wizards?” I asked him.

“They are in the commander tent.” stuttered the soldier.

“And where’s that?” I asked.

“I’ll show you.” he said.

Soon I stood outside the relatively small tent the frantic soldier had sworn held the others. It was plain. If I hadn’t asked where it was, I’m sure I would still be looking for it after nightfall.

Cloud sat with his hands covering his face, while Sarah and Jared had grins on their faces. They clearly thought this waste of troops was a success.

“Why’d you mobilize the army?” I asked.

“I didn’t feel it was likely they’d agreed to accommodate us, so I conferred with Cloud and Sarah and the consensus was that we should attack the village before they had their defenses prepared.”

“That wasn’t the consensus. Rayan and I weren’t even there to give our opinions. You nearly killed Rayan.”

Sarah’s smile wavered while Jared acted as if he couldn’t care less.

“Rayan and I had already come to an agreement with the diplomats. If you had waited, we would have been in the city already without losing any troops” I said.

“Well, it worked. Now we have plenty of supplies for the troops and we get to keep the gold.”

“For the soldiers that survived! Have you gone down to the city! Have you seen the mayhem you created!” I yelled, my face now bright red.

“Look. You don’t control a battalion Erik. I’m the Duke’s nephew. I’m the one in charge around here.”

“Not for long if you continue making decisions like that.” I shot back before storming out of the tent.

I sat on a hill looking down at the bright red glow of a war-torn village. As the sun set, the village blended into the sunset, hiding the ugly chaotic aftermath beneath a thin-veil of peace. Time would heal the wounded village, but no time would make me forget the horror I had witnessed today. I knew this was just the beginning and that saddened me. I knew this sadness would linger.