1 Mud and Blood

The sound of gunfire was overwhelming, along with the smell of burning that permeated the entire battlefield. The vast plain was littered with holes made by explosives and some of the dozens of trenches had already succumbed to enemy attacks.

Inside one of the trenches that still remained intact, a group of about six soldiers were taking cover against an imminent enemy attack. Among these soldiers, a young man was leaning against the rusted steel wall that lined the sides of the long hole.

The young man lying there coughed loudly and painfully as he squeezed his torso tightly before muttering: "...Dan, remember those meat pies we used to eat after school?"

Dan was kneeling in front of the young man trying to provide first aid to his more severe wounds but to little avail.

"I-I remember it clearly... now be quiet, Andrew" Dan replied biting his lips hard to the point that blood began to mix with his saliva... though his mouth was almost completely dry.

"...I can barely remember the taste" Andrew looked into Dan's eyes who realized that his best friend's eyes had lost all the joyful sparkle that characterized them.

Andrew and Dan had grown up together for as long as they could remember. They lived on the same block and every year they went to the same class at school. Finally, after long and arduous years, they graduated.

But then weeks after their holiday began came the news that all men over the age of 18 were required to report to the army for an impending war.

"I-I don't remember either, s-so we should eat our fill once we get home" Dan's voice stuttered uncontrollably as he watched the blood pour from Andrew's wounds like water in a collapsed dam.

"Hum... we'll eat our fill" Andrew repeated Dan's words almost in a stammer. "I also want to propose to my girlfriend..."

Dan bit his lips even harder, and the blood could no longer be contained inside his mouth and thin drops of blood began to slide down his chin.

"Y-you don't have a girlfriend... you idiot"

Andrew laughed awkwardly and then coughed again, only this time the blood spurted out of his mouth staining all of his military clothes along with Dan's. 

Seeing his best friend bleed like that, Dan's mind completely blocked, and he stood there for a couple of seconds stunned watching Andrew vomit more blood. Finally a nearby explosion made him react, he looked at the other soldiers next to them in the trench and when he went to ask them for help his voice stalled in his throat.

"W-what?"

Two of the four soldiers lay dead on the muddy ground of the trench. One had a hole through his helmet from one side to the other. The second had the left side of his face completely ruined by the recent explosion. The other two soldiers were still alive but one of them was smoking a cigarette quietly while the other was firing his rifle without aiming, just raising both arms, and pulling the trigger.

"J-Julius... call the commander, we need reinforcements!"

Dan shouted, catching Private Julius attention amidst all the noise. Private Julius turned his head without bothering to turn his body and looked at Dan with a grimace as he held the cigarette with his teeth.

"Swallow your dreams, they won't send any reinforcements"

Dan grimaced angrily and shouted: "Call him, dammit!"

Julius let out a long sigh and raised his right hand shakily as he activated the communicator.

"This is 115 squadron. Requesting immediate reinforcements in front of the bay" Julius dropped his hand limply next to the communicator and without giving Dan a second glance his cigar fell out of his mouth and blew the smoke into the air.

A couple of seconds passed time in which normally someone would answer... but there was no answer. Julius smiled and closed his eyes before snorting with contempt. "There's your reinforcements boy"

Dan lowered his head for a few moments waiting for a response, then when all seemed lost the communicator beeped.

"Affirmative 115 squadron. Reinforcements approaching the bay. Hold until then"

Dan smiled broadly and looked at Andrew who was shaking his head weakly.

"I-I knew it, damn it!" Dan turned his head and looked at Private Julius. "You lack faith Julius, we just had to wa... it"

Julius' head was slumped to the side of his body and his hand had loosely released the communicator. The soldier had died with the cigar between his legs after taking the last puff of smoke.

Dan lost his breath briefly at the death of Private Julius and then looked at Andrew whose clothes were all stained with blood.

"D-did you hear that, Andrew?! Reinforcements are coming!" small tears began to gather at the edges of Dan's eyes seeing that his best friend could no longer hold his head up.

"...Yeah, I heard him" Andrew coughed up blood again and continued speaking. "Good for you, Dan..."

"No no no no no" Dan held Andrew's head with both his hands not caring if it got blood on it and lifted it up so that their gazes were on the same level. "Andrew, listen to me! You can't close your eyes!"

"You know... those meat pies sure were delicious" Andrew smiled with all the remaining strength he had left as his sight faded completely and his head remained resting limply on Dan's bloodied hands.

Dan's eyes widened as a panicked expression came over his face and the tears that had built up began to fall uncontrollably down his face.

Dan felt the ashen air barely enter his lungs each time he inhaled. He gasped, not knowing what to do as he held the head of the soldier he had called his best friend for over a decade, who was now nothing more than a fallen soldier in battle.

His hands began to shake uncontrollably and looking into Andrew's lifeless eyes, Dan yelped in shock and jumped backwards, crashing into the trench wall.

His mind was completely lost, not a single thought running through his head was rational, let alone coherent. Dan just sat there in the mud with his whole body shaking as if an earthquake was happening inside him.

But suddenly, all the emotions and sensations he was feeling inside him were washed away as he felt an intimidating and terrifying presence arrive on the battlefield.

Slowly Dan raised his head until his eyes met a person tens of meters in the sky. The man was dressed in a luxurious suit totally oblivious to the war that was taking place beneath his feet.

"Alpharos..." a small unconscious murmur came out of Dan's mouth as he recognized the man.

Alpharos looked at the battlefield indifferently, his eyes did not register the dead soldiers that had fallen fighting for him, he simply saw a waste of forces that had lost to the enemy forces.

"The reinforcements" said the soldier who was still alive from the group.

Dan felt a slight relief in his heart but seeing the limp body of his best friend in front of him, negative thoughts began to build up in his mind.

Why were they fighting a senseless war? Dan didn't know much about politics or international relations between countries, nor did he know the reasons for the war. But he didn't need to.

They had killed his best friend, he didn't need a reason.

He looked with consumed fury at Alpharos, who at some point had raised his hand and a strange orange energy was beginning to gather on his hand.

"What?" Dan watched in astonishment as the orb of orange energy in Alpharos' hand began to grow larger and larger.

Alpharos reached out his hand and twisted it, dropping the orange orb to the ground. Then, the man vanished, leaving only the orb as a trace of his existence.

His hope that Alpharos had arrived as reinforcement vanished as quickly as it came. The orange orb fell with the help of gravity to the bewildered sight of the soldiers on both sides who were still alive.

The tears on Dan's face dried and stopped falling even though his best friend had just died at his hands, even though he knew it was the end.

Then, his whole world became white.