“Lieutenant, are we going to die?” A man asked, his armor wearing him. He was barely nineteen winters old, his face still having plenty of baby fat. He had become an Adept only a few months prior, mostly against his free will. The man, more boy, had only become an adept to take over his father’s profession as a cobbler.

Every kill he made as a Novice had nearly made him hurl. Blood made him nauseous. He had been beyond happy to advance to an Adept because he no longer had to kill to level up. And as he leveled, he would be better able to make his father proud and expand the family shop.

His whole life, he had been beyond excited to become an Adept. He never would have expected that something he saw as his hope to a brighter future, would instead become the most likely cause for his early death.

Shortly after he had chosen his Adept Class and begun work with his father, an order was issued throughout the region. A draft. All Adepts under the age of thirty were to report to the castle of the City Lord.

Had the boy remained a Novice for just a few months more, he would have been safe. He would have been able to stay home, and live. If he had known that a war was coming, he might have chosen a Combat Class. Instead, here he was, in the middle of a siege, about to be ordered to scale the walls of a small castle in order to capture it, as a level twenty-one Cobbler. The Abilities from his Novice Class weren’t much of a help either. None of them were spectacular, and his skill in using them were even less so.

His Lieutenant, a large man who had made the military his career, looked down at him.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Only the Gods know.” The man replied with a shrug.

He had spent his entire life in the service. He enlisted the day after he received his Class. The man had seen countless people die in battle, both against Monster and Man. During his many years, he learned two things. One, that battle will claim who it claims, it matters not who they are, what their Class or title is, or even what they had planned afterward. And two, that oftentimes, man was worse than the Monsters they feared.

“Sir, are you not scared of death?” The boy asked, struggling to keep hold of the small axe and shield he had been given. He had only been given two days of military training.

His knees shook, and he struggled to control his bladder or his stomach as he watched the first and second waves of soldiers be bombarded at from above. Half of the first wave had been slaughtered before they even got ladders set up, and the second wave wasn’t fair behind. Magic flew down at them from the castle walls, coupled with countless arrows. It would not be long before he would be ordered to march forward as part of the third wave.

“No, I do not death. I fear what comes after.”

“Third wave! Prepare to advance!” Their unit’s commander shouted.

The boy was not the only one who was struggling to control his own body. Many failed, but the liquids simply mixed into the mud beneath them.

The City Lord had decided to take control of this enemy castle in preparation for the upcoming war. Not only would it give him stronger defenses around his City, but it would provide training for his Soldiers, drafted or not.

As the boy watched, his throat tight and legs numb, four of the Siege Mages stepped forward and launched their Spells arching through the air. Two of them being massive fireballs that exploded over the middle of the Castle, raining down fiery arrows. And two being similarly large balls of hardened stone. One of this large stones slammed into one of the stone towers of the Castle. The Tower fell, sending the defenders atop it falling to their probable deaths and crushing the defenders within under rubble.

The second slammed into the top of one of the Castle outer walls, destroying the battlements, pulverizing the defenders, and some attackers, and sending the rock tumbling over and into the Castle grounds on the other side of the wall, doing unknown damage to whatever was there. And that was the place the third wave was heading into.

“Third Wave! Advance!”

The formation marched forward. The recruits in front, followed by the veterans. Both to discourage fleeing and for them forward, and to soak up damage for the veterans. They started slowly, well out of range of the defenders. Gradually, they built up speed, until they were sprinting just before coming into range. It was as if they walked under a waterfall. Magical bolts and arrows crashed into the third wave, but they pushed forward, each one hoping their shield was enough.

As they got closer, they got into range of the more powerful magics. Explosions rang out from within their formation, splitting them apart. At this point, any semblance of a plan was destroyed. Everyone ran forward, to seek cover in the makeshift magic shields that had been erected at the ladders, hoping they would make it, many didn’t.

The Cobbler’s son dived into a crater left behind by a potent Fire Ball, holding his shield up. His uniform was caked in mud, blood, and parts of people that had been part of the third wave. His lungs burned, and his vision was fuzzy. But he was alive, for now. He still had another forty meters before he would be in the protection of the Mage Shields, and then he would soon be ordered up the three-man ladders.

An explosion erupted nearby, bringing short cries of pain and throwing dirt over the boy. Tears streaked his filthy face and his pants were wet, not all of which because of him.

Another person jumped into the crater. The boy spun around, raising his weapon.

“Woah boy, we ain't at the wall yet. Best save that energy for those bastards.”

“Lieutenant!” The boy cried.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Another three people jumped in. The rest of the boy’s squad. John, a large man of similar age. He had been a Blacksmith but had kept up with his skills, occasionally going out hunting with some of the Novices. He was a kind man, always looking out for the rest of the squad, even if they were rude to him.

Which brought the next man. A man of similar size to the Cobbler’s Son. Henry had been a tanner. And it seemed to the boy that the stench of his work had permanently soiled his attitude. No matter what happened, good or bad, Henry could say something that made it just that much worse. However, as much as the boy hated him, Henry had never brought the rest of the squad down. He did his portion, and ignored the rest. Which was annoying in its own right.

Finally, there was Lisa. She was the only other person in their squad, besides the Lieutenant, that had an actual Combat Class. She was the daughter of a Tavern keep and seemed to want a life more than that. Her Class was some kind of sword user. The boy had never had the time to ask, having only two days to prepare for a war wasn’t a lot of time. She was kind and the boy had a crush on her. As he saw her again, even as filthy as they both were, he promised himself that he would ask to court her.

“Alright everyone! Spread out! Keep your shield up! Don’t slow down, and don’t make yourself a target! Let’s go!” The lieutenant shouted, only giving them a few moments of rest.

As one, they all scrambled out of the crater and sprinted forward. Arrows sailed past them and explosions rang out around them, but none hit them. After what felt like an eternity, the Cobbler’s Son reached the relative safety of the Mage Shields and turned around. He didn’t have the most stamina, and he certainly wasn’t the strongest. But if there was one thing a coward like him could boast, it was that he was fast.

He watched as Henry soon joined him, a few new arrows embedded in the wood of his shield. Then Lisa, the side of her own shield burned. The Lieutenant was next, an arrow in his shoulder, but it didn’t seem to bother him much. John was the slowest among them, his shield riddled with arrows.

A fireball landed right behind the large man, sending up dirt and throwing everything that was near it, including John. Lisa gasped as John fell hard. But after a moment they could see him move. After another moment, John propped himself up and gave them a big smile to show that he was ok.

The arrow just seemed to appear in his eye. Lisa screamed, the boy had to be held back by his grim Lieutenant, and Henry glared up at the Defenders on the wall. John had only been four meters away.

“Pull yourselves together! We can mourn after we take this damn castle! Take out your anger on those bastards up there!” the Lieutenant shouted, just managing to control them, “You three up first! Let's go! Move it!”

Pushing them to the nearest ladder. The attackers constantly moved up, there always seemed to be space for more on the ladder. They all chose to ignore the broken corpses of the men and women who had fallen off the ladders. The outer walls of the castle were only ten meters, but even for the Adepts, falling from that height unprepared and landing at an awkward angle was still plenty enough to kill.

Despite the multitude of people all attempting to climb the ladder, they moved quickly, and it wasn’t long before the boy and his squad were climbing. The ladders had walls on the sides to help protect the climbers against projectiles, but they couldn’t protect them from all of them, and it was broken in several places.

After only three meters, they passed through the protective film of the Mage Shields, leaving them seven more meters to climb almost completely exposed. The defenders were focused more on the climbers closer to the top, but that did not mean the ones at the bottom had an easy time. The boy nearly fell off when an arrow struck the shield on his back.

Their own Mages and archers were doing their best to suppress the defenders, but there was simply too many places for them to hide behind while still shooting down at them. The squad took their second loss three meters from the top, when an arrow was shot into his hand, causing him to fall. His screams ended with a thud that the boy heard even through the rest of the screams and noises.

The second wave had managed to carve out an area around their ladder, allowing them to get off the ladder without contest. They all quickly took their shields off their backs, designed to quickly come to hand, and drew their weapons. The Lieutenant had another arrow in his side, but he ignored it once more. Lisa and the boy were still fine, for the most part.

The Lieutenant didn’t spare them a glance and immediately went to reinforce the ring around the ladder. Lisa and the boy joined him, even as the boy’s heartbeat was in his throat. The Ring was small, but thick. Three men thick, and their squad joined the third. The boy followed the example of everyone else and held up his shield providing protection to the second row, who supported the first row, or took their place.

Several arrows impacted his shield, but he couldn’t tell how long it had been. There was a bit of a stalemate. The defenders couldn’t push the attackers off the wall, but the attackers also couldn’t push to take the wall. But that changed when a stray Fire Ball, cast from their side, slammed into the battlements, shattering them and disrupting the footing of everyone nearby.

The Defenders were the first to react. They surged forward. The Lieutenant took a sword to the stomach, but even as he yelled in pain, he brought his light axe down in the neck of his assailant. However, before he could recover, two more Defenders rushed forward. They didn’t bother to swing at him with their weapons. They just ran into him, throwing him off the battlements through the hole the Fire Ball created. He did not go easily, he grabbed one of them as he fell, bringing the man with him.

The boy got distracted by his officer falling to his death and took a spear thrust to the side as punishment. He screamed in pain and fear, falling to the ground. Before the Spearman could step forward to finish it, Lisa stepped in front of him with her shield raised. She fought furiously even and soon shoved the point of her axe into the chest of the Spearman. The boy watched, desperate to stand and help her, but he fell to his knees as the wound at his side pulse, a flood of blood coming out.

However, Lisa was still only a low Adept. She could only do so much, and that limit was exceeded when three Defenders stepped forward. She could only defend herself from one, maybe two, directions. While she was defending herself from one, and fending off a second, the third got around and thrust his spear into her back. She gave a pained sigh and fell to her knees, dropping both her shield and her axe.

“NO!”

But they didn’t listen to the boy. They probably didn’t hear him. The rest of the battle was still raging around them. The one in front of Lisa didn’t hesitate to put the point of his own spear through her chest. Not one of the three gave her another glance as they moved past her corpse. But while the other two moved past, the one who dealt the final blow to Lisa noticed the boy still alive.

He walked up to him, and tilted his head, examining the boy before him.

“I’m sorry, unless a Healer treats that soon, it will be a slow death. I shall grant you mercy.” He said, a sad expression on his face.

He stepped forward and raised his spear to the boy’s heart.

“May you find a better life in the next one.” He recited, quickly thrusting, ending the boy’s life.

The man withdrew his spear and bent his head in a quick prayer. When he finished, he raised his head, catching an arrow through his throat. He fell to the ground, drowning in his own blood.

Overhead, more Siege Engines and Magic soared through the air from both sides. The names of the dead quickly rising, and soon forgotten.