The blood dripped from the blade as the rain fell onto the muddy soil. The mixture of iron and earth filled the air with its scent as the man looked at his blade closely. It was chipped from the countless people he had slain on this battlefield whose bodies are now just lying in the rain pooling their blood to make the battlefield a river of red. He took an oath to fight and now he is questioning it as he crumbles onto his knees. His armor, which was once a lovely blue, now dyed crimson and brown covering the holy symbol he was fighting for. This was meant to be a way to take back the holy grounds from the non-believers… he was told of an army not just butchering the citizens as well. He surveys the scene as he is bent down as he sinks into the muddy ground. The fires still burn with the holy retribution he once had, destroying not only the defensive buildings but the homes and livelihoods are now crumbling from this as well. Is this what his god would have wanted? These people claimed to be following the same god as him. His hearing slowly returned to him as he realized as his heartbeat softened, he could hear the screaming of a woman from the town. He slowly dragged himself out of the mud as he forced his weak and tired body to the screaming. His armor creaked as his legs burned as they realized that the fighting was over and demanded rest. When he walked what felt like miles but only a few hundred feet, crossing over his fallen comrades and his enemies and the people who lived here. He found a woman being crushed from the fallen burning building. He could save her, but when he got there, she only screamed as seeing the devil himself. He caught a reflection in a pool of bloody water to find she was not wrong… her countrymen blood covered him as he checked to find that even if he was to pull her out, she would die from the bleeding. He was not a medic and could only do the action a fighter would do. His sword for the final time was plunged into her neck. This action which could be called a mercy silenced her screams as now the only thing left to hear was the rain as the soldier rested his eyes unable to pull from the ladies as life slowly faded. What felt like a lifetime before he could force himself away, he pried himself and left his sword there taking off the helmet he wore. It dropped into the mud with his blade and the rest of his armor. He could no longer keep fighting like this. He remembered his wife begging him to return not to leave her alone… that was five years ago. He hopes… that if he returns, she would be there to remember him. But the kind man he once was now gone. All that is left is the monster of war who finally had enough. Even if this damns his soul forever, he shall no longer take a life or shed blood in this holy land. He slowly stands grabbing from the dead coins and covering their eyes with coins. Enough to cover the ferryman's fees is the least he can do to make sure they can go to the afterlife and move on unlike him. As he slowly dragged his body away into the forest near him to maybe find another way to devote himself to his god other than being the fighter he was raised to be. This was no holy war. It was only a greedy slaughter. As he walked into the forest drenched in the blood of those, he called unholy he wondered why the rain suddenly tasted of salt. He slowly raised his hand to his face to find tears coming. His heart started to cry out for the lives he had taken in this foreign land. Crying why his god would have wanted this? His body screamed as he found an oak tree to lay down next too, forced to stare at the village and the dead in this small place of somewhat dry cover. His body is unable to move anymore. His heart forced him to cry and beg for what he had done wrong. Why is he the only one left alive of his friends? He looked down to find he was only now covered in bruises and small cuts everywhere from his armor. The holy symbols that covered the fallen seemed to have mocked him. Almost like the eyes of his deity and the foreigner were both looking at him with disgust. Before he could get much of a breath in a flash of light and a sudden pain happened. His eyes went full white, as he looked around, he no longer felt any of the blood and he finally felt clean. He looked around only to find a being there. His eyes were horrified as there were no words to describe it. Unmoving, decaying, fleshly metal. It started at him with no eyes as he slowly tried to force himself away. His running led him nowhere as this creature crawled onto him, his body feeling like he was on fire as the creature felt wrong. Its existence should not happen as it got around him, his head was filled with the screams of everyone who died next to him. He fell from this trying to drag his way out as it slowly consumed him as another screaming voice. Its form wrapped around as the only thing left was his hand and his eye able to see from this horror as it tried to consume him. That was when…. He finally saw it… the god he was fighting for. Goddess should be more accurate as it pulled him out. Her hair was like that of the wheat fields of home, her eyes were as dark as the void but filled with vibrant life. Her clothes wrapped on her ever-changing form, one going from a small child to an elderly woman. The clothes collard the emerald green of the forest before it slowly broke away to the earthly black of the fertile soil. Her face was vague as it was the most beautiful lady, he had seen but it kept changing. She only smiled at the warrior as he felt like he was with his late mother. Comforting him like he was a kid. The coldness left him as he felt the fire of life ignite him. He then awoke he was on a carriage with an old man bald and what seemed to be blind in his eyes treating his wounds.  “You were lucky. We found the battlefield and you were the only left alive. Though you are now covered in the veins of lightning you are finally finding the light. It seemed the goddess gave you a chance to redeem yourself by making sure your sins were not consumed. We are heading to church deeper in the woods. You must be confused, but the goddess of the earth has given you this second chance.”. The soldier was stunned as his body screamed when he tried to move as he slowly looked up to see new scars formed around his body. It seems that he was given a second chance to be redeemed for the murders he committed… though will he take it? Or will he be consumed again in the monster of his own creation.

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