A piece of shrapnel flew out, the ringing in my ears was painful and irritating.
I got back up with difficulty, there was still a lot to fight... And I would fight until the end for each of my companions, my friends, my brothers, we entered hell together... We will come out together, I would get back up a thousand times more if necessary.
The smell of gunpowder and burning flesh fills my lungs, the rain soaked my clothes making them heavy.
The storm battered the corpses... And the wind whipped hard against the ruins of what was once my base, I knew from the beginning... How this would end... Still, I had to fight.
I headed toward the emergency route; along my path through the ruins, I heard the enemy marching without any resistance. The lack of gunfire took my breath away, as it meant my men had fallen. Seeing the bodies around me confirmed it.
I clutch my rifle in anger, frustrated that I couldn't see this through, that I didn't prepare for the betrayal.
At the end of the escape route, I saw several of my wounded men protecting her. Along with them were my friends, those who were more than brothers to me, with whom I started this base, with whom I fought and won the war from the beginning.
The further I moved toward the road, the more horrified I became; mountains of my men's burned flesh littered the bombed-out tunnels.
But even counting me, the force of thirty thousand men had been reduced to what was in front of me, just thirty-one soldiers.
—Sean... —Eli, with tears in her eyes, ran towards me to give me a hug.
"Cap, we've... lost!" Braun said, loading his machine gun and preparing for his final battle.
—An escape breach can be created, they haven't found the tunnel yet, if it weren't for the bombing on the route we would have been able to regroup, the problem with escaping is that in our current state, only one can escape —said Caracas, the best sniper I had the pleasure of meeting, he was wounded in the shoulder, but he continued to aim his rifle at the entrance.
"Who wants to take the chance?" I asked them all.
"The decision has already been made," Voli said, approaching me.
"Who?" I asked.
Eli walked away from me with his eyes on the ground.
—You. —I got hit with the butt of Voli.
"Oh?" I fell to the ground from the blow; my vision blurred.
"You were the best leader we could have had. You don't deserve to die... I don't want you to die. Please, live your life, be happy... I love you." She kissed me. Immediately afterward, I was hit again, rendering myself unconscious.
As my vision blurred, despair swept through my mind. I didn't want to accept it, I didn't want to leave them behind. I swore I would die with them on the battlefield. I dreamed that we would live our lives together, enjoying the peace we fought so hard for.
It's not fair... This... It's not fair, not to them and not to me, and I don't want to accept it. I don't want to accept that this was the end of our journey, that from now on I'll never be able to see them smile, that I'll never be able to see them live out the dream they fought so hard for.
The pain of all those thoughts builds up in my chest. I feel like I can't breathe. My chest is burning, and my hands are numb with fear. However, my mind is shutting down from the blow, and I'm unable to even say goodbye.
As my eyes closed, all my dreams went with them, they faded away and it hurts, It hurts because the dream is slipping away from me, it hurts because when I wake up, they will no longer be by my side... It hurts because she will not be by my side, the woman I love, will no longer be there when I wake up...
Some time later, I found myself tied to a horse miles away from the place.
I woke up bathed in my own tears, my past still haunting me... I got out of bed, my dog perked up an ear and woke up, I walked to the kitchen and made myself some cereal.
I took a can of food from the pantry and served it in the dog's bowl.
I finished breakfast leisurely and went outside to pick up the newspaper. Standing in the sun, I stopped to contemplate my house; it was quite large. To be exact, it had a second floor. Although its colors were old, it was a burgundy color that, truth be told, mesmerized me and gave me a feeling of familiarity.
I had to flee my country because my own government had tried to kill me, but life wasn't so bad in the third world.
As I walked back home, a hole tore through space, a crack that distorted its surroundings appeared in the sky.
My first act was to walk away, a grotesque giant hand strangled me and pulled me inside against my will.
I was in a kind of dark hole, I was falling, my ears were blocked. There was no oxygen, and my lungs were burning; my whole body was complaining of the lack of oxygen.
My vision was blurring, and I was losing strength in my limbs. I tried to gasp for air, but there was no air inside the hole.
I climbed out of the hole. Almost unconscious, I hit the ground. I needed air so much that I choked from the speed with which it arrived; desperation had played a terrible trick on me.
It took me a while to recover. When I regained my senses, I deigned to discover what the hell I'd fallen into, because my clothes were soaked with a viscous red liquid.
My military clothes were completely soaked in blood, I regained my sense of smell when I saw the scene around me, but I wish I had never regained it.
The smell of decay wafted through my nostrils and nearly made me gag. The gruesome scene was adorned by piles of corpses. I had fallen onto a corpse; the sight before me was worthy of my most horrific nightmares.
I was in a forest where oak trees lined up evenly, providing even coverage of the sunlight. The grass looked freshly cut, and it would be an incredibly beautiful forest if not for the aforementioned incident. This had been a combat zone. Judging by the state of the rotting corpses, it wasn't difficult to guess that the battle had happened a few weeks ago.
I heard a rather loud noise in the distance and looked out to find its source.
A few kilometers away from me, there were some two-meter-tall metal men, as robust as a tank, showing off their combat endurance and advancing without hesitation.
Each of them fell to the ground, hitting the earth with their heavy metal bodies.
It was a group of soldiers firing at them from tree branches, and they quickly destroyed the robots. One of the soldiers resembled one of those metal beasts in height and build. The man had black hair and eyes that accompanied a sinister gaze.
Those soldiers had very good aim, every bullet they fired broke something inside the robot and made it explode.
I ran my tongue over my dry lips to moisten them and accidentally brought a piece of rotten meat to my mouth and ended up vomiting.
When I realized it was too late, the cold on my neck wasn't coming from the wind, it was coming from the metal of a knife.
I looked into his eyes, reflexively managing to place my hand in his, thus gaining time and having the opportunity to counterattack.
All the soldiers in the group approached me and started speaking to me in a language I didn't understand. I simply couldn't understand the words coming out of their mouths, I couldn't even decipher what language they were speaking.
One of the soldiers was a woman with green hair, she showed a smile, her expression was happy, she took a small bottle from her backpack and out of it came a single pill, I wanted to refuse.
But logic told me I should have been dead by now if that's what they wanted, so I got carried away and took the pill.
My vision blurred, I felt faint for a moment, I felt a blast of cold air on my face, my ears popped, and I was back to normal in a matter of moments.
"Hey, can you hear me? Do you understand me?" said the green-haired girl.
"Mason, let him go. You know very well those clothes don't belong to the enemy," said a burly man with short blue hair.
"I know a soldier anywhere," said the man with the knife at my neck.
"I already told you I can recognize him. He was a very important general in my country; that's who I was telling you about. But he was supposed to be... Dead," the girl said.
Following this, the man let go of me with a suspicious look in his eyes. The girl's words caught my attention.
—Do you know who I am?
"Of course, you're Sean Dorvin, general of the elite army of the Angels of Death," the woman replied.
"I think introductions are in order first. I'm Ashley," the girl said cheerfully.
"I'm Grayson," said a man who looked similar to the one who had the knife at my neck, who was the same one who resembled those robots.
The differences were in their size. Grayson was a slightly smaller Mason, not as muscular but still well-built. The other difference was his hair and face. He had longer, well-groomed hair, tied back in a ponytail, and was a handsome man.
"I'm Omar, call me Rango," said a dark-skinned man, thin and yet clearly strong.
"Darius, they call me Doc," said the blue-haired man.
—I'm Lump, but you can call me Tech. —The shortest of them all introduced himself, he was about five feet seven inches tall.
"Mason," the man with the knife said in a deep voice.
"It's time to return to the base. I know you have a few questions, but listen to me. We're in another world. This isn't the same one you and I used to live in. It has its own history and its own laws, but the strange thing about this place is that it has magic. I know it's hard to believe, but you'll see for yourself. The general problem is that these people suffer a lot. They're treated like slaves; they're nothing more than property to him... But you being here gives me hope," Ashley explained.
"Too much information to make sense of it quickly. What do you mean, another world?" I asked.
"The maps, the history, everything is different. You've seen the robots. It didn't take me long to conclude it's not the same world," Ashley replied.
"Did a giant Black Hand pull you through a hole in the middle of nowhere, too?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," he replied.
"Tell me, Mr. Sean, we've heard a lot about you from Ashley, who was about to get your name tattooed on her buttock. Would you like to introduce yourself?" Grayson burst out laughing as he finished the sentence.
"What did she tell you about me?" I asked them.
It started to rain heavily.
"You are General Sean Dorvin, General of the Reapers, also known as the "Angels of Death." You won a lost war with only 30,000 soldiers," Tech replied.
"Follow us. I have to show you what's going on. We really need your help... they need it," Ashley said. We all started walking.
"My name is Sean Dorvin. I was the general of an entire company; now I'm nothing but a bastard, without men or goals," I replied.
"You were accused of treason, is that true?" Ashley stopped dead in her tracks after asking me that question.
—Yes, the government had allied with the mafias to fight the war, but the mafias took advantage of this, corruption spread like a plague, I had to strike a blow and fast, but a day later, I had nineteen damn divisions in front of my doors, they bombed us and all they needed was to drop a damn nuclear bomb that day.
"There are nuclear bombs on your world?" Tech was interrupted.
"So you betrayed them," Mason accused me.
"I didn't join the army to serve the government, I joined the army to save people. If the government came before that, then I had to put an end to it. To do otherwise would betray my loyalty to my people," I responded to the accusation.
Mason raised an eyebrow and continued walking, we all resumed the path beside him.
"I tried out for the Reapers, but during the final physical, I landed badly and twisted my ankle, making it impossible for me to continue. You guys really were the best of the best," Ashley told me.
"You're lucky, you would have died like the others," I replied.
"This is definitely not the warrior you promised us," Grayson said mischievously, taking it as a joke and without any seriousness.
"Why do you say that?" Ashley asked.
For my part, I decided to remain silent.
"They destroyed his will to fight, they shattered his pride... Can't you see that?" Grayson replied.
—His gaze isn't much different from Mason's, —Rango mentioned.
—I'd appreciate your lecture about how I'm a broken toy. Far from me, I asked them.
"You're General Sean Dorvin. You brought victory when everything was against you. How could you forget that?" Ashley asked.
—Don't forget, I just lost everything, miss... I lost everything —I replied.
"We've lost everything too," Grayson muttered.
"You're going to have to explain it to me if you want me to understand you," I told Grayson.
—We've already... Lost, we're fighting a war we've already lost, but with no chance of surrender, we no longer care about dying, but we see children crying in fear, we are their last hope. Even all those who have already given their lives for the future, we can't let them go to waste. Our people in the cities are treated like tools. I don't know you, but Ashley spoke of your exploits, she told us of a man who never gave up, who never made false promises, she told us of a man who with only 30,000 men, wiped out an army of a million soldiers in just three months, a general who was capable of bringing an empire with millions of soldiers and resources to its knees with just one company.
"She said your name was a word of fear to every enemy soldier. They called you the god of war. Where is the man she spoke of?" Rango explained, looking into my eyes for an answer.
—That man... You're seeing him... I'm not denying that I was that man, but if you want me to fight this war, you're going to have to make me want to fight, I told them.
"You don't seem like the man she's talking about," Doc said.
— I know. —I mumbled.
The forest grew ever thicker; you couldn't see more than 12 inches ahead. Mason cleared the leaves from the path, revealing tents and orchards scattered about in a row. The land was poorly tilled, obviously unskilled; it looked like a shelter made of sticks and torn pieces of cloth. Still, there were a fair number of small tents, and in the center was one larger than the others. A little further to the left was a larger tent; I could see wooden tables inside that tent; I could see that it was obviously a dining room.
The lighting came from small crystals; the light they emitted was no brighter than that of a fire. There were people working, and at least 300 people jogging around; I assume they were soldiers.
Some children, in frayed clothes, hugged Ashley.
—Ash, it's so good that you're back, every time you leave... —The little boy didn't finish his sentence because he burst into tears.
Ashley comforted him. He was hungry, the boy wasn't in the best of shape, not to mention almost skin and bones.
"Come on, stay here. We need to talk to the base leader." Ashley led me to a tent with some beds and a roughly carved wooden table. There was a rifle on the table.
They left me alone... I really don't know what's going on.
Every time I look at that rifle I get a headache, but somehow it attracts me, I have a jumble of emotions in me that makes me dizzy, staying calm was impossible for me.
I took it carefully and my fingers ran over the gun, feeling the wooden grip with my fingertips. I gripped the gun correctly, my muscles relaxed, they already knew what they were doing, instinctively I pulled the trigger, the recoil brought me out of my trance.
I felt so good with the gun in my hand, I felt confident, I felt the adrenaline coursing through my veins once again. Then I remembered—to be specific, I remembered the feeling that made me join the army.
Ashley and the others quickly entered the store. I put my gun down, gave them an aggressive, adrenaline-fueled glare, and crossed my arms.
"What's wrong? Why did you shoot?" Ashley asked, puzzled, but I interrupted her.
"You want me to lead this war? Give me an idea of what's going on here," I asked impulsively, letting the adrenaline rush carry me away.
"They lost the war unfairly. Now a man who calls himself God rules this place. These are the only ones left." Ashley had a distant look, a familiar look, a look of exhaustion.
"And tell me what's fair in a war? You can't come to me with that empty argument. Welcome to war." As I said that, more memories came back to me.
Mason just watched.
—You just don't understand... There is magic here... There are gods, please... You fought against evil, you entered hell itself and came out, you won a war, with everything against you —Ashley begged.
Leaving tales aside, I fought for what was right. That was my side of the story; the winner tells his side of the story. I had regained confidence in myself, the weapons, the fight; of course, I fought for what I believed was right. The battlefield was my natural habitat, and my body demanded it; anger and bloodlust built up within me, a product of remembering my brothers.
"I joined because an entire empire is treated like slaves, children are suffering, I can't turn a deaf ear when I hear them cry, when I hear children begging for their lives, will you fight for the innocent?" She was desperate.
"If that's how you say it, of course I'll fight again, but you can't expect an answer from me without me knowing what's going on. Don't take me for a fool." Every word that came out of my mouth was like daggers that drove Ashley even further into despair.
The memories fit together more and more, like a puzzle. The faces of my former classmates appeared, etched in my mind. I saw myself reflected in them, and their voices in my mind grew louder.
The children came closer to see what was happening, the soldiers who were training also came closer.
"Doc, please tell him," Ashley asked.
Doc's gaze lost its shine.
—We were once an empire, we obviously had our armies, but the god of fire attacked us, he killed us all with his magic, with an army inferior to us he took our positions, when we returned to life we had to fight against our own defenses and without weapons, we simply couldn't.
What Doc told me raised more questions than answers.
—Magic? Gods? How did they fight if they were all killed? What kind of rancid story is this? You must be messing with me.
Doc raised his hand, and a kind of green ball began to form inside it. What I saw in front of me was incredible; I couldn't believe it. I must have been going crazy.
—Let me explain how I explained it to Ashley. In this world, magic exists; basically, everything is powered by it. Gods are beings who possess a different and much more potent magic, which they produce in much greater quantities. Magic is an extension of oneself, so a god has a different 'extension.' That's why they're called gods, since they're much more powerful than normal people. Previously, there were many of them, but Adam, one of the first gods, sacrificed his life for justice. Using his soul, he created rules; one of them is fair combat. If a god abused his powers to kill, his victims would return to life in the great tree. When we returned to life, we had no weapons, nothing to take back what was ours, —Doc said.
—You didn't have any magic users capable of fighting him? Are there no other gods?
—The gods disappeared, and very few people alive can fight a god. Those people are called sages. We once had one, but he got sick and died decades before this, Doc explained.
—Basically, your strategy was effective. Let me tell you something, Ashley. When you go into battle, you analyze your enemy's weaknesses. Your weakness was magical defense. I would have taken advantage of that too, but I more or less understand your point. Ashley, you begged me for help... Show me the reasons why I should fight by your side, I said.
"They killed my mom!" a child shouted.
"They killed my older brother!" another child cried.
—I want to eat with my family again!
There were at least 40 children crying in front of me, all with scars and bruised hands. The soldiers weren't much different; they were all young men between eighteen and twenty years old, their hands also covered in calluses.
"What are you waiting for, bastard?" I saw myself, smiling alongside my former brothers, with my people, with my beloved soldiers. "Are you going to ignore the children?" I accepted the reality before me, even if it might be a lie, even if I might be being manipulated.
"Time is money, we'll take action now. Show me your leader." The strength in my voice returned, I cracked my fingers, and mentally prepared myself for what was coming.
Everyone's expression changed to one of happiness, apparently Ashley spoke too highly of me.
Ashley, whose eyes had lit up like a Christmas tree, led me to the largest tent. I walked in next to her, while Mason stayed outside. The tent had a hammock next to it and a large table with papers and maps.
There was a man sleeping in the hammock. He had gotten up and greeted Ashley.
"I've told you about him, he's the person from my world who can win this war," Ashley said happily.
"Really?" the man said, showing no sign of interest.
"My name is General Sean Dorvin, I'm here to offer my services." I introduced myself, placing my hands behind my back and standing up straight.
"Well, I really don't know what to tell you. Once we finish the forest, we have a trench that surrounds the entire forest; they outnumber us four times over. There's simply no one who can win this, unless they come with an army. We'll stay here defending what's left of our sad lives," the man said.
"That's not what they told me. They told me you were fighting to save your people." I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. The guy had disgusted me.
"They want to, but if you're a general, you'll understand, soldiers are too stupid to understand reality," he explained arrogantly.
My patience ran out. I started raffling off punches, and he took all the winning tickets. I gave him a punch to the cheek, knocking him out instantly.
—Don't come bothering me with that. If they have a general like this, then I'll ask them myself, who are they going to follow, this piece of shit or me? These kinds of people disgust me.
Ashley was surprised, she was going to speak but was interrupted by Mason himself who entered the store.
"I kept quiet because Ashley spoke so highly of you, but even if you were able to defeat the fire god's army, how do you plan to defeat the fire god? You couldn't even defeat me," Mason ranted arrogantly.
"That piece of shit you call a general tramples on the dreams and desires of his own soldiers, those he should treat like brothers. I trust what they told me. Do you think I can't beat you? Beneath me is a mountain of corpses as high as mountains. Don't give me that garbage of yours."
—Then beat me. If you beat me, I'll accept that maybe Ashley didn't pump you up, that maybe you are capable of winning.
Mason approached me to hit me, I could easily guess the trajectory of the blow, he wanted to give me a right hook. I could almost measure the force of the blow just by looking at me, if he managed to hit me my lights would go out, of course I didn't let him collect his arm, I jumped and used my hands to push myself onto his shoulders, my legs surrounded Mason's neck, I used my weight to knock him down and hit him in the face, when we hit the ground I was on top of Mason's neck preventing him from breathing.
"You rely too much on brute force." I stood up and noticed Mason's group and many others staring in astonishment at what I had done.
Ashley was almost jumping for joy.
—My name is Sean Dorvin. I can get you out of this shit, I can save your people. I'm not like that unconscious bastard. I offer you another option, an alternative to doing nothing... You want to save your people? Save all those children whose innocence was stolen? Beat up the guy who put his name before peace? —Adrenaline keeps me from putting any mental obstacles in my way. I did the only thing I know how to do: war.
"If you give us the option to fight, of course we'll take it, even if we die trying. Either way, we're dead," said a white-haired woman.
She's tall and completely albino, she's shorter than Ashley, but not far behind her; even her eyes were as white as snow.
"Then I will fight with and for you," I said with a smile.
People went to spread the news to those who hadn't seen him. They took the unconscious general away without me saying anything. I was left alone with Mason's group.
"What are we going to do?" Grayson asked.
"For now, I need to understand the situation. Let me read the documents, I'll make a plan, and we'll get going. You'll hear back when the sun rises... The sun rises here, right?" I had to ask that last question.
—Hahaha! Of course, General. We'll see what he comes up with. Mason, move your fat ass. Grayson started kicking him to force him up.
"I'm coming... I don't trust you yet, though," Mason said painedly as he left.
"Oh! Stop crying and act like a man." Grayson paraphrased Mason's words in a stupid tone to mock him.
Everyone except Ashley and Grayson stood waiting for Mason to walk away.
"Please don't let us down..." Grayson said before leaving with a broken voice.
My stomach rumbled, Ashley heard the noise.
—Let me get you some food so you can work.
He left me alone, which allowed me to talk to myself. What the hell am I doing? I answered that question all by myself. "The usual."
Ashley walked in and placed the bowl of soup she brought on the table.
"We don't really have any food, we have to ration it, but we won't lack energy..." Ashley tried to say cheerfully.
—Relax, I more or less understand the situation, I replied.
"You haven't changed, Sean," Ashley murmured.
"Have we met?" I asked.
"Sean, you saved me. I was in a concentration camp, and you came with your army. You freed me, just like you did so many others. So, let me give you the same help you gave me. Let me be with you, let me be your companion. Let's return to our world together, let's fight against that scum together." He gave me a smile.
"Why are you willing to give everything for these people?" I asked her sincerely.
—My hero gave everything for people who had nothing to do with him. He could have done nothing, but he did. He fought for what was his... He had nothing to pay for.
She was referring to me, although I fought for my country and its people, I liberated many countries in the process.
—If I didn't do anything... Who would?
"That's why I'm doing this. You traveled to hell to fight for the innocent. I'll do the same, because I lived through that hell..." Ashley said, her eyes watering.
"I like to hear that." I smiled gallantly at him, raising my fist.