Chapter 2

At Universidad João Chávez, a student calling Elacan.

a student named Carlos, who was about to go to bed.

a student named Peter.

Elacan was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room and writing in a notebook. He was focused but clearly not paying attention to what he was writing and probably hadn't noticed Carlos walking towards him. When Carlos saw Elacan looking at his notebook, he cleared his throat to get Elacan's attention.

"Uh...huh..wha..." Elacan finally looked around to meet Carlos' eyes. "Oh...um...hi Carlos."

Carlos sighed before answering her question. "What are you doing here?"

"Just uh...studying." Elacan said as he shrugged.

Carlos sat down beside Elacan and placed his elbows on his knees. He watched as Elacan continued to write, but after watching him for a while, he realized that Elacan was not concentrating properly.

"...There's something wrong?" Carlos asked him.

"Elacan says I'm worried about our battle tomorrow against the Military College. Do I look worried to you?" Elacan responded irritably by crossing a line into his sentence. "...Sorry, just wondering, but I'm fine. I promise."

"Are you sure? Because you seemed distracted now. Something bothering you?"

Elacan was silent for a moment and then shook his head before speaking again. "

Elacan says this war will never end against the Military College that has an army bigger than ours. If the enemy has so much power, what should we be worried about?"

"Well, maybe they have less power now."

"But they still exist, Carlos. You saw what happened today."

"Yes, I know…" Carlos paused. "Look, I think it would be better if you went to sleep.

Carlos says that tomorrow will be a long battle. We're going to need our energy."

Elacan raised her eyebrow before looking at Carlos, giving him a skeptical look but sighing when she realized Carlos wasn't going to budge. He nodded and rose from his seat before heading towards the door.

"Goodnight." he told Carlos before leaving him alone.

After he closed the door, Carlos took a deep breath and leaned against the wall behind him. He let out a long breath as he heard his best friend come out of his room.

long morning

the bell rang

warning all students to prepare and take their weapons and prepare for the battle against the military college of San Marcos.

The students who were waiting in their rooms quickly gathered their things and went downstairs where their weapons were located. Weapons and armor were provided by the army, which also helped them to protect themselves from enemy attacks.

Most of them had no idea what to expect.

Elacan and Carlos were prepared for battle against the military college of San Marcos. He had trained with many elite martial arts students, but the training was mostly limited to self-defense skills.

His fighting skills weren't bad and were considered good enough. But he was still inexperienced compared to his opponent.

It appeared that Carlos' teacher, Professor Benjamin, believed that Elacan's abilities could be useful in taking on students, but as a veteran, he was given authority to choose which soldiers to train. It was decided that there were too many students for Benjamin to select. So he chose only the best of the best. He taught Elacan how to use her sword, spear, and other weapons and how to avoid being overwhelmed by the number of opponents, which could easily overwhelm a regular fighter. He also taught Elacan how to handle weapons and armor.

However, none of his lessons worked to teach Elacan how to defend herself from others with the help of her own abilities. Benjamin was very strict and hard on any student who got hurt, and even harder on Elacan. This was all because Elacan couldn't keep his mouth shut.

the war begins

started like a normal day

and it was like every ordinary day: Carlos, Elacan and other students left their homes and walked through the streets. They kept the conversation to a minimum and didn't talk about anything important. Carlos, Elacan and others talked about everything in general. The topic was usually a little controversial at times

an explosion attacked Carlos' house in Batana Vieja. Carlos, Elacan and other students hurriedly entered the house to look for any survivors and discovered several bodies scattered throughout the hallway. All the students had wounds all over their bodies. Most of the students were wearing full armor. There were three or four people without armor, the blast attacks continued and students from the Colégio Militar began to invade people's homes. After the initial surprise, they tried to defend themselves from the enemy, but it was difficult. People tried to fight, but it was useless. It only took three days for everyone inside the military complex to die.

Carlos, Elacan and the other students survived. Carlos was seriously injured and the other students were dead. They lost so many people, but the situation did not look hopeful for the future of the war.

Many people feared the possibility that the Colegio Militar de San Marcos might win. But the most terrified of all were the people who didn't know anything about the war, who didn't understand why soldiers attacked people without warning.

"How long do you think this war will go on until we have nothing left to fight for?" a student from the University of Santa Cecília asked her friend as she stood in front of the classroom where all the students and teachers were gathered.

"If you want to know, ask yourself." Carlos replied while raising his eyebrows. "There is no reason for these wars to continue.

Nobody understood this, but most people wanted to believe that what Carlos said would make some sense.

A few minutes later, the teacher entered the room with another student in tow. She introduced herself as Miss Maria and stated that she was the new headmistress of the University of San Marcos.

Dona Maria started talking to the students about their duties in running the school. When she finished speaking, the students immediately ran out of the room. The principal said goodbye and dismissed the students. Everyone left except Elacan and Carlos.

"What are you waiting for?" Carlos asked him as he turned to Elacan. "We should leave now. It's late."

Elacan turned and gave Carlos an annoyed look as she passed him. Carlos frowned as he watched his friend leave the room.

"He doesn't even know why he's here." Carlos muttered to himself as he shook his head.

Elacan walked into Carlos' room and grabbed her backpack off the top of the closet. Carlos followed Elacan outside and the two went out together into the night, trying to find their way back to Carlos' house.

When they arrived in Carlos' neighborhood, they stopped to chat for a while.

"...So you'

Carlos says he would go to sleep and says good night to everyone

Carlos went to his room and Elacan went back to his own room. Elacan lay down on the bed and opened her laptop. His first class the next day was about to start and he wanted to prepare for what might happen the next day.

but he couldn't concentrate anymore

His mind kept wandering to what Carlos had said earlier

Elacan' heard a strange noise in Carlos' room and got up from the bed to check on Carlos. He calmly walked down the hall to Carlos' room, making sure he didn't wake anyone else up. When he got to Carlos' room, he knocked softly on the door, waited for Carlos to answer and then opened the door.

a hooded man has a knife full of blood is on the ground Carlos was dead his eyes were wide looking straight at Elacan who quickly turned and left as quickly as possible. The hooded man looked at Elacan.

He chuckled before getting up and walking to the window. He looked at Carlos one last time before walking out the window.

Elacan ran down the street as she covered her face with her hands to try to block the tears that were starting to form in his eyes. He was running as fast as he could, trying to forget everything that had happened. But as he fled, he thought of the person he had just murdered. The hooded man killed Carlos in cold blood. A soldier from the Colégio Militar de São Marcos murdered Carlos as punishment for saying something that bothered him.

Elacan knew what kind of soldier was responsible for killing Carlos, but he refused to tell anyone about it. Not because he cared about Carlos dying, because he didn't. That's why Carlos died. He was a victim and someone needed to take responsibility for his death. Elacan knew Carlos deserved it. Even though his death brought shame to the school, it was necessary for everyone involved.

Elacan stopped walking when he reached a place where he could feel safe to breathe again.

the day after the students found Carlos' body

the news quickly spread throughout the campus. Some students couldn't stop talking about the shocking news. Everyone was upset. They thought that Colégio Militar de São Marcos would win and that everything would be resolved. Now everyone expected to lose and felt guilty for not having won the war and brought peace to the planet.

"Carlos was the only soldier warrior enough to stop the war. I'm ashamed to say that I failed to protect him."

people kept whispering while avoiding eye contact.

Some girls started to cry. They blamed themselves for his death and cried aloud. No one comforted them, however, no one dared to say the words the girls needed to hear. Because it was obvious the girl didn't blame herself.

"I'm sure they won't blame us if we don't show up tomorrow." Elacruz whispered under her breath as she looked at the crowd of people near the school gates.

"Yes, you're probably right"

people complained and said in front of the gates that Carlos was the hope to end the war, Carlos was perfect is a skilled warrior and now he has been murdered by the enemy.

"Hey, don't worry guys," replied Elacruz. "You'll be fine. Don't cry, you'll see the sun tomorrow."

"That's true." Someone whispered in the crowd.

Elacruz smiled brightly at her classmates even though there was pain written all over her face. He looked at the crowd of people again. There were more than twenty people beside the gates. Elacus, Elacruz, Carlos and a bunch of other students from both schools sat behind them, while the rest of the people were behind them.

Carlos' parents were nowhere to be seen. Carlos had two older brothers, both still in high school. One brother was studying medicine while the other was working on a construction site.

The students decided to be silent for a while. No one was really willing to break the silence, because that would mean they would end up admitting their feelings.

but Elacruz broke the silence

pointing at Elacan saying he was blaming him for Carlos' death, he yelled, "This isn't your fault! None of that. You can't control things like that!"

Elacan looked at him and remained silent. He wouldn't argue with Elacus. The truth was, if he hadn't been there, Carlos might still be alive.

Elacruz says that Elacan was close to Carlos' room only he could have killed him and didn't tell anyone.

soon everyone started to look

Elacan and yelling at him.

It felt like they were arguing over Elacan, as if Carlos was still alive despite his death, as if Carlos' death meant something that the war was useless since everyone lost.

Everyone started screaming in anger, blaming Elacruz for Carlos' death. The people around started singing 'Carlos',

Elacruz looked at her friends with anger in her eyes and clenched her fist. But he still couldn't stop them. People were very noisy. He knew he should speak up, but he couldn't say anything against them and so he was silent and let everyone scream and scream in front of him. It was painful to hear all the voices screaming at each other or at him. He knew his father was part of those voices. His father didn't know the truth, but he could imagine what it would be like for his father.

Elacruz couldn't take it any longer and tried to flee the crowd. He managed to get through the crowd and flee the campus. He ran until he reached the forest. He sat on a tree stump and buried his face in his hands. He was crying. He was angry. He was sad. He was confused. He was scared. He was tired.

it feels like it's not a drug and says Huguel Herinque lying in the tree

Elacruz says it's you

Huguel Henrique says that I am the leader of the Military College

Huguel Herinque takes his gun and shoots Elacruz in the head, killing him.

Elacruz's body falls to the ground lifeless.

Huguel Herinque gets up, picks up Elacruz's body and throws it in the car.

Huguel Herinque walks to the edge of the hill and throws the body

the body falls to the sand below him

Huguel Herinque leaves.