War.

For as long as any can remember war has ravished this land they call home. The desert floor was permanently stained red from the blood of the fallen on both sides. Heroes in the eyes of their respective causes, evil that must be destroyed in the eyes of their enemy.

"Why are we even fighting anymore?" A man thought to himself.

He winced in pain as he lay there, on the ground next to his fallen comrades. The desert sun viciously beat down on him as it rested high in the sky.

Through the ringing in his ears, he managed to make out the muffled sound of hoofbeats drawing ever more near. Indistinguishable screams and chants increase in volume along with them.

He was above average, only slight, in both height and build. His skin was stained a light chestnut brown by the intense solar rays.

Gingerly, he rolled over onto his hands and knees, to avoid being trampled by the charging calvary.

They had to be friendly, for his enemies had no need to ride on horseback. Especially considering some of them could fly.

His squad had been ambushed by a party of Beast-Warriors, as they called them, the name they call themselves is still unknown to him, and any other for that matter. Their origins were unknown as well, shrouded by myth and legend. Some say they hail from a neighboring nation that has long since vanished, others say they're native to the mountains in the Western region of Ushura. The darkest tale of them all however is that they were once the former slaves of an ancient king that tried to revolt against him. The king refused to stand for such disobedience and ordered the Mage Paladin of the time to punish them, cursing them and their offspring for all eternity to walk the Earth as a half-man, half-beast monstrosity. This tale however is banned from discussion in public, leaving most to believe it has some merit.

Regardless of their origin, the Beast-Warriors are a force to be reckoned with, especially for a squad of lowly foot soldiers like the man's own. They never stood a chance, the twenty-one of them had been massacred, leaving him the lone survivor by pure chance.

"If only we'd been armed with a Mage to help counter their massive advantage.” he thought.

Not that any one single Mage below the rank of Grand would've made much of a difference, there were far too many Beast-Warriors.

"Halt men!" A voice bellowed.

The oncoming horses slowed down to a trot and then stood motionless.

"You there on the ground." The voice called out to the man. "State your name and rank soldier, and then tell me what happened here."

He climbed to his feet and stood at attention, saluting the man on horseback.

"Sir, I am Sergeant Shakur Hassan. We were ambushed by a group of Beast-Warriors, they massacred us all before we had a chance to draw our weapons. I'd say there were at least thirty-five of them."

The man stroked his chin, analyzing the situation.

"I believe they're preparing for a large assault on our outmost Western flank Sir." He added on.

"I was thinking the same thing Sergeant." The man said in return.

He motioned for one of his men to move up abreast of him.

"Lieutenant, I want you to prepare a messenger to ride back to our command post and have one of our spare horses prepared for this soldier right here. They'll want a firsthand account of what happened."

"Yes Sir!" The Lieutenant saluted before riding off towards the rear.

"Thank you Sir!" Shakur said.

"Pay it no mind Sergeant. When you get back to the command post tell them you bring an urgent message from Major Ahmed and need to speak with the Commander. I'll be pushing ahead with my men another couple of miles until we find a good position to hold, inform them of that as well."

"Yes Sir!"

“One more thing Sergeant, I want you to request a full twenty-one-man squadron of men and two Mages. I’ll take a single one if that’s all they can afford to spare.”

The messenger the Major had called for came up to the front of the company, towing the spare horse Shakur would be riding.

"Very well Sergeant, you have your orders, now get a move on." Major Ahmed said, before immediately turning towards his men, "We're moving out, onward men!" He shouted.

Shakur quickly mounted his horse, taking the reins from the messenger. The two of them wasted no time getting up to a full gallop heading in the opposite direction as the column.

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Shakur reasoned we'd been at a full gallop for five or so minutes, having gone through the same training as himself, the messenger knew it was time to slow the horses down to a canter for double that amount of time before resuming our gallop.

They were a little over thirty minutes away from the command post.

"I'm sorry about your squad." Shakur’s companion said.

He turned to him, "Thank you, they were all good men. It pains me that they had to go out that way."

A wave of sadness washed over Shakur. But this is war, casualties are to be expected, that doesn't make it any easier when they happen, however.

"I forget my manners, I'm Sergeant Shakur Hassan. I hope you're having a better day than myself." He said with a smile.

"I forget mine as well Sergeant, I am messenger William Salah." He finished with a salute, seeing as Shakur had the higher rank.

"At ease messenger Salah. No need for any formalities here. We're just two friends traveling on horseback right now, please just call me Shakur."

William looked happy at that remark. Even from horseback, Shakur could tell that William stood roughly half a head shorter than him. He was thinner as well and looked to be a few years younger. Still in his teens in all likelihood, seeing as Shakur had yet to reach his mid-twenties.

Shakur reasoned it wasn’t too often someone spoke to him as an equal, messengers are amongst the lowest regarded in this faction of the military. It also just so happens to be the lowest-ranking faction in the military, it's made up entirely of ordinary human soldiers. Any of the Mages or Dragon Knights instantly outrank any of the normal human soldiers below the rank of Commander simply by belonging to one of those factions. The Beast Tamer faction ranks below those two yet still above the likes of Shakur and William.

"It's unfortunate they caught us as off guard as they did, not that us being ready for them would've made much of a difference. Those damn things already outclass us soldier to soldier, let alone when we're outnumbered thirty-five to twenty-one. It just would've been nice to take a few of the bastards with us." Shakur said.

"Damn abominations they are." William began, "I hear they chose to be like that in exchange for the advantage it gives them over us normal people. Makes me sick, sacrificing their humanity for something so heinous."

"I've heard many stories about them William, I choose to believe they're just that. But regardless of their origins it doesn't matter, they're our enemy and they outclass us man to man." Shakur responded, a little more coldly than he meant.

William showed a brief wave of hesitation before speaking again. "If it wasn't for the Mages and Dragon Knights I worry we would've fallen to those savage beasts long ago."

"I feel the same my new friend."

They rode silently for a few minutes, before clapping their heels against their horses' sides and bringing them up to a gallop once more.

The miles were eaten up under the horses' hooves as they continued this pace, Shakur designated William to watch behind them in random intervals to ensure they weren't followed while Shakur scanned the countryside ahead of them. This is a well-traveled military road so neither of them was expecting any trouble, but these days you never know. Shakur’s squad wasn't even on the frontline and they still got ambushed by a large group, the two of them wouldn't stand any chance against any number of Beast-Warriors should they come across any, even taking down a lone one with just two lightly armed men would be nearly impossible. Anything more than that and their fates were sealed.

They slowed down to a canter once more, one more rotation and they would reach the command post by Shakur’s calculation. It was shortly after midday by now, the intense desert sun showed the two men no mercy. Thankfully they’re on the outskirts of the desert and not in its heart. Most of the war has been fought in this region, the heavy sands of the desert merged into rocky plains which eventually led into the mountains of the West. Where the Beast-Warriors and their allies, the Dark Alliance, called home. While they’re more accustomed to the harshness of the desert, many of Ushura’s cities were built on large rock outcrops or patches of solid ground spread throughout the country. Most commonly by the one large river that ran through the country, or the streams that branched off of it

"Sergeant Shakur?" William said.

"I thought I told you to just call me Shakur," Shakur responded mockingly.

The tone completely missed William's ears and he swiftly apologized.

"My deepest apologies Shakur, I simply forgot. My mistake."

"It's alright William, pay it no mind everyone makes them. Now, what were you going to ask me?"

"Oh yes," He paused. "I was just curious about something."

"And what might that something be?" Shakur said.

"I was wondering Sergeant, if there were really that many Beast-Warriors, how did you manage to make it out alive?"

Shakur took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry if that was out of line Sergeant, please don't be upset." William quickly said.

"No no, it's quite alright William, you need to stop worrying so much. How can you expect to move up through the ranks with that attitude." Shakur said.

William drew quiet, staring down at his horse.

"Truth be told Shakur I don't think I can or will. All I'm good at is running away, that's why I'm a messenger. When the fighting starts I get scared and don't know what to do, so I do the only thing I can, which is to run away. I make for a damn fine messenger but sadly that's about all I'm good for."

Shakur looked over at him, had they not been on horseback he would've placed a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be alright William. I have faith in you, I know you'll make for a fine soldier here soon." I said.

Before he could make any objections Shakur continued, "As for your question I wish the answer was a heroic one. I'd love to say I fought them all off by myself bare-handed but that just isn't the case. Truth be told, I got lucky. One of them jumped down in front of me from the ledge along the roadside and hit me clear across the face, knocking me unconscious. They must've thought I was dead and moved on once everyone else was dealt with."

William didn't say anything, not that Shakur expected him to. He had the feeling William was painting him as some heroic figure in his head because Shakur had been treating him with kindness. But the world is a harsh one, and those we look up to often aren't what we imagined they were.

"I reason that's been enough time, come on let's get going. We have a command post to reach."

Shakur kicked his heels into the horse's thighs once more, charging them forward.