A house, small and secluded, sat alone in a meadow of green grass and yellow flowers. A sole tree with a swing, wavering slowly to the song of the gentle spring breeze, cast a shadow on the ground, tempting the weary to rest beneath its shade.

The door to the house slowly opened, and a woman walked out. She was as fair and beautiful as they come, her black hair and brown eyes could captivate the heart of any man—but she was clearly a taken woman as evidenced by the ring on her finger and the bump on her stomach, poorly hidden by her beautiful, white sundress.

“Is this…heaven?”

A man stood next to the house, seemingly invisible to the beautiful woman who just admired the many colorful flowers with a longing look in her eyes. his clothes were shredded, faded, and withered.

His filthy black hair and almost invisible scars contrasted heavily with the meadow he found himself in, and even more so with the beautiful woman admiring it.

“Who are you? Why are you here? Hey, what’s the deal with this place, do you know anything?”

The man asked, again and again, but she offered no answer. Her beauty was captivating but she was a mere stranger to him, for he only knew war in life. His friends were few and far between, most departed long before himself, others soon after, he was sure of that.

War was his friend, enemy, and lover. He fought night and day for his people, and he was regarded as a hero by most, yet he was only one of many others who gave their lives away to stop the demons’ invasion.

“Hey, can you not hear me?”

The man called to her yet again, hoping to get some answers or at least some acknowledgment, but the only answer she provided, was silence.

Confused and out of patience, he decided to walk closer to her to get her attention. He was eager to talk to her, to talk to anybody that wasn’t shouting orders at him, begging for mercy, or bleeding to death in his arms, yet every step he took towards her only filled him with more dread.

He couldn’t decipher why. The woman was beautiful and so was the house she presumably lived in, but he couldn’t help but feel more and more awful emotions swelling up in his heart the closer he got. Fear, sadness, betrayal, and anger formed a vortex within him that only got intense with every step he took.

“what…is happening? Why I’m feeling like this? this is my heaven isn’t it, I shouldn’t suffer…I did everything I could, why can’t I get a rest already?”

His heart grew heavy and he could fell to his knees, his light brown eyes gazing at the flowers and grass he was about to trample. There with his head down and his heart heavy, he remembered his last moments in the land of the living.

A large room, white walls, and a white tile floor. Doctors and nurses rushed about, avoiding each other and dragging equipment back and forth, almost as if they were dancing the hums and beeps of their medical machines.

He lay on a bed, his conciseness leaving him as he was being prepped to undergo the greatest experiment to be conducted since the augment project.

A doctor approached him, his name tag too blurry to read and his face covered with a medical mask, making him look like a clone of all the others prancing about.

“the anesthesia should take effect soon, I apologize for the delay but you seem more resistant to it than the third-generation augmented, and that’s saying something.”

The doctor removed his glasses and lowered his mask, revealing his face to the man as his vision blurred further.

“don’t worry about the mask, it’s just a formality when it comes to augmented individuals. Your immune system is too strong to be affected by anything in this room…I just want to say that I’m thankful for your sacrifice, and I want you to know that whatever happens here, regardless of the success of project phoenix—you are a hero, thank you Mr.—”

the doctor couldn’t finish his words before sleep took the black-haired man, who closed his eyes and slept soundly for the first time in years.

The memories of his last moments gave him the strength to stand back up. He died a hero, laying down his life so the future generations would get to live in a world that was theirs, one unsullied and uncorrupted by the filth of the otherworldly colonizers.

“wake up, you’ve still much to do. You can’t give up, it’s not time for rest, not yet.”

The soothing voice echoed throughout the meadow, inviting him to raise his head and face the gentle creature who owned such an angelic tone. The vortex in his heart grew stronger as he laid eyes on her, the beautiful woman standing amongst the flowers.

“wake up, stand up, fight. Your war isn’t over, not yet.”

The beautiful, painting-like world slowly crumbled to dust around him. the flowers withered and died, and the tree’s green leaves slowly turned into dust that fell upon the now dilapidated and ruined home.

The woman herself changed in appearance, her fair and beautiful face was now decorated with battle scars, and her long silky hair became almost as short as his. Even the child she carried was no more, replaced along with the dress with the ragged and torn uniform of a soldier, just like his. Everything changed, all except her voice, her beautiful angelic voice remained as captivating as ever.

“WAKE UP ADAM.”

Everything crumbled further and nothingness consumed the meadow, coming closer and closer to Adam, but before it could reach him the woman grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

His heart was no longer plagued by a vortex of emotion, he tried to speak to her one last time, knowing that this was probably their last meeting.

“What is your name?”

Adam opened his eyes before the woman could give her answer, escaping the crumbling meadow and waking up in the dilapidated ruins of a graveyard.

Dirt and broken stones covered most of his body except for his upper chest and head, giving him just enough space to look around himself in shock and disbelief.

The rubble of what was clearly a graveyard long ago sat undisturbed, time has taken its toll on it. the overgrown grass mixed with mud and the remains of destroyed tombstones made the foundation of the apocalyptic scene he found himself in.

Many graves beside his were wide open, yet they contained nothing but skeletons covered in mud. Whoever dug their graves clearly cared very little for the dead. They were shallow and contained no coffins, just the remains of men and women long forgotten thrown haphazardly underneath a small layer of dirt.

As grim as it was, such a scene was not alien to Adam. the war was long and grueling, the dead were less important than the living and they were treated as such. Every resource was important, every drop of water and every stack of wood was needed to fuel the armies of mankind on their quest for liberation and vengeance.

Adam fell to his knees as soon as he managed to dig himself out of the bowels of the earth. He was naked, exhausted, thirsty, and in pain. Overall in no shape to fight or even move on his own, yet that was the only thing on his mind.

His first great battle was to be against his own pain as he pushed himself to stand back up and look around. The first interesting thing he spotted was a stone sticking out of the ground right behind him.

He quickly realized that it was his very own tombstone, covered in moss and filth and so decayed that even after he wiped it off as much as he could, only a few words were legible.

“In loving memory of Adam Williams, years too scuffed to read…so I was dead, the Phoneix upgrades must’ve worked, although the resurrection took its sweet time to kick in…but that dream, what was that...no it doesn’t matter, I need to report to the nearest military outpost, get back in the fight and tell them about the success of the project.”

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He shambled around the graveyard, using the tombstones as support while fighting the exhaustion, pain, and hunger plaguing his body. His eyes darted around, attempting to spot anything that wasn’t a monument for the dead or the long-withered corpses they were built for.

“damn it, where did they even ship my body to?”

The painting of despair seemed to be endless. The more he dragged his aching body the more mud and corpses he found, no salvation or help can be attained from those long forgotten by their loved ones, those whose bones almost turned to dust, and thus Adam looked further and further.

In the distance he spotted was could be his escape. An iron gate, broken and rusted beyond repair stood, losing its battle against time yet still somehow standing tall enough for him to see it, for it to lead him back to the land of the living.

He ran, stumbling over his own feet and slipping over the mud and bones of the dead. He ignored his pain and fought through his hunger, using the image of victory as fuel to run faster.

He Imagined the impact he could have if he was to return, immortal augmented soldiers are the weapon humanity needs to end the war, to finally put an end to the nightmare.

No more children will have to be orphaned by war like him he thought, taken and turned into super soldiers to fight beings who wielded powers so immense, that the people of old would’ve mistaken them for gods.

He remembered the faces of those who didn’t make it, from a thousand suitable children, only he survived the augmentations, but after he rejoins humanity no more kids will suffer that fate. Soon, it was all going to be behind him.

Once he reached the gate, sweating and breathing heavily, he saw an asphalt road beyond it. massive cracks streaked across it. weeds and even flowers sprouted out of them, standing proudly in defiance of man’s attempts at taming the world.

The light of hope he just found dimmed slightly upon seeing the state the road was in. the destruction of it was not caused by human war machines or by demonic magic, but by the all-consuming power of time.

“how much time does it take to turn a damn road into a garden?”

Adam brushed off the feeling of dread that snuck his way into his heart and looked at the gate, reading the words written on the old, rusted metal.

“Yellow Rock cemetery…I know this place, a town should be nearby, maybe I can get some supplies and establish communications with the military…if there is anything more than corpses there that is.”

He took a single look back at the graveyard before walking out, the woman in his dream was right, he thought; his time hasn’t come. He can’t rest now, not when victory is so close.

Memories of past battles, slayed foes, and dead comrades flooded his mind, reminding him of what he fought for and whom he fought against. He remembered the many towns, just like the one he was heading to, left destroyed by the demons. The populace is always too weak to defend themselves and the army is spread too thin to make it in time.

Rage and hatred intensified in his heart as he remembered the bodies of humans, still clutching their arms even in death. They know that their weapons have no effects on demons, yet they pick them up and fight nevertheless. Their bravery only takes them so far, however, for even the bravest of them ends up dead…regardless of age or gender.

He was only ever dispatched to save such places a few times. Augmented soldiers were very few when compared to the army as a whole, and they were only ever sent where the situation required them most.

Humanity put its fate in their hands, it was their answer to magic and the demons who wield it. Some of the downtrodden in forgotten parts of the world who witnessed their control over gravity at work even came to worship them as messiahs, emissaries of their god of choice sent to combat the demons in his name.

The long trip to the town gave Adam enough time to relive many memories and cultivate more hatred for the demons that brought destruction to his world.

He passed by very few destroyed vehicles on his way, some civilian, but most military. They were much different from the ones he was used to—but seeing as advancing military technology was the only thing humanity focused on, it was not much of a surprise.

Every time he passed by one he would search it for something useful, hoping to find some clothes at the very least as the idea of walking into a town with nothing but dirt covering his body was not appealing.

After a few failed attempts, Adam’s luck finally turned when he approached a mostly destroyed military cruiser that, unbeknownst to him, was hiding exactly what he needed behind its rusty doors.

“AHA, look at that. A good-condition Army uniform, thank god they use advanced reinforced fibers to make these. A rifle too but this thing is practically falling apart in my hands, at least there is still a single anti-magic round in the magazine, I can use it still… but, why are there no corpses inside any of these cars? Why abandon them so randomly in the middle of nowhere?”

Now dressed and armed with a broken rifle, he continued down the long road, wondering about the oddities it presented.

“Yellow Rock is very far away from any important sectors so a lack of people or military hardware is normal but this is weird… could it be that the area’s been taken by the demons? They were pushing south the last I heard and I’m might’ve been dead for decades now, whatever the case, this is not good.”

Hours passed and the sun was coming down when he reached a hill overlooking the town. He could see people moving in and out of the small houses scattered around, preparing for the long night soon to come.

His eyesight was superior to that of a normal man, but even he couldn’t make out much at such a massive distance without binoculars. He knew that the risk of just running into an area without conducting proper reconnaissance was never worth the reward, but hunger and thirst clouded his mind.

Demons don’t take over towns anyway, they just destroy them and move on. The town seems to be in good shape from here and the people… well I can’t see them too well but they aren’t wearing any armor, so they can’t be members of the demon army. I just have to risk it.

Everyone was inside their homes by the time he made it to the town’s entrance, a simple wooden gate marked introducing the humble settlement as Yellow Rock.

Drenched in sweat and near collapse from hunger and thirst, Adam walked in. He thought about knocking on a random door and asking for help, but since the people here are probably on edge from the constant threat of demon attacks, there was a chance he would get a bullet in the stomach as a greeting.

“Hello, my name is Adam Williams of the UHA army, commander of the 7th Dragon Knights regiment of augmented soldiers. I’ve been in a…coma for a long time and I need some help. I need food and water urgently; a satellite phone would be nice too if you have one.”

Adam called out into the empty street, hoping someone would be kind and naively trusting enough to lend him a hand, but none replied.

I suppose people this close to demon territory would be a little distrusting, those bastards can use magic to mimic humans after all—oh someone is actually opening their door.

A door to his left began to open slowly, and the smell of food wafted out into the street which almost made him jump from happiness; however, a look of terror appeared on his face once he turned around to greet his savior, for it wasn’t some old man too old to fear the unknown or some child fascinated by the tales of the heroic augmented soldiers who promise to save the world, but a short female demon with dark blue skin and small horns protruding out of her head.

Demons looked similar enough to humans that one can generally tell their age at the first glance, and she was no exception.

Her appearance was that of a young lady, one too young to even be a threat to a normal human armed with anti-magic on a battlefield due to a lack of experience, but she still terrified Adam beyond words.

He was so tired and hungry that he could barely stand. The gun he carried was less useful than a rock, and he couldn’t even use his arguments in any meaningful capacity if he tried. He understood that right now, he was weaker than a toddler with a functioning weapon.

The two stared at each other with shocked faces and wide-open eyes, and to Adam’s terror, the other doors opened one by one revealing more and more demons. Children, women, and old demons showed themselves.

what’s going on here? Demons don’t occupy areas like this let alone place their noncombatants in them. I-I need to run. Damn it, I got too excited and walked into enemy territory.

“y-you’re human? By the spirits, the legends spoke—.”

The demon couldn’t finish her sentence before Adam attacked. He used every bit of power he had into throwing an augment attack that did nothing but push the demons back and cover them in a blanket of dirt.

Augments were humanity’s greatest weapon as they were the only real counterpart to the magic used by demons. They made the few who survived the trials necessary to be able to wield them into demigods. The feint blue light that shone from an augmented soldier’s body before they struck became a sign of fear among demons, and one of hope amongst the humans.

The laughable attack he used would be considered a mockery of the real thing, but to his luck, it was just what he needed to make his escape.

Before he could turn to run, however, the dust he was to use as his blanket suddenly and instantly dispersed revealing the figure of the female demon, air forming a barrier around her body, shielding her from the minuscule damage and removing the cover Adam so desperately needed.

“wait!”

The demon shouted and lunged at him, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

Too tired to use his augment powers once again, Adam decided to bet everything on a bluff. He aimed the broken rifle at the demon, gripping it so tightly that it started breaking under the pressure of his hands, but it proved useful before it crumbled.

The demon lunging at him as well as all the others in the back jumped away and dispersed in fear, giving Adam the window he needed to make his escape.

He ran and ran and ran until his legs couldn’t carry him anymore, and finally collapsed under his own weight on the cold grass of a nearby forest he ended up in.