War.

The desert floor was permanently stained. Centuries of fighting, generation after generation, all for the war to continue.

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

Gingerly, he rolled over onto his hands and knees, to avoid being trampled by the charging calvary. He was above average, only slight, in both height and build. His skin was stained a light chestnut brown by the intense solar rays.

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, a party of Beast-Warriors the culprit. Their origins, much like the name they call themselves, were unknown to man. Only myths and legends existed to provide clues about their history.

"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.

"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 camp, 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 Commander Margrat. I'll be pushing ahead with my men 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 two full twenty-one-man squadrons 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, 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.

Shakur reasoned they'd been at a full gallop for roughly five 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 their gallop.

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

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

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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.

"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. Which was also at the bottom when compared to the rest, being comprised entirely of ordinary human soldiers

Any of the Mages or Dragon Knights instantly outrank normal soldiers below the rank of Commander simply by holding those titles. The Beast Tamer’s stood below the former 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. It was a well-traveled military road so neither of them was expecting any trouble, but these days you couldn’t be certain. 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 a chance against any number of Beast-Warriors should they come across them, 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 were on the outskirts of the desert and not in its heart. Most of the war had been fought in this region of the country in the recent past. The heavy sands of the desert merged into rocky plains which eventually led into the expansive mountains of the West. The Beast-Warriors had made their home there, along with their overseers.

"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 of them, 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." he 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.