PROLOGUE
There was no sound. Not even the wind or the rustling of the grass. Nothing could be seen. The whirling dust blocked the sunlight. But the silence was not peaceful. It was deafening. Frightening. Like the time stopped and no one could get out of the void. Even his heart stopped. Or that was it felt like to him.
He only listened for a long time. He closed his eyes. His whole body was bruised and he could not stand. But he was hoping for someone to help him.
He was going to die.
He had been thinking about this the moment he was thrown from the old building after the painful blow. He felt his heart beat slower and fainter. But he was still hoping that he can overcome the pain.
Now, lying on the rough dry land, he knew it was the end for him. But her image never left his mind. He promised her but he was not strong enough.
Then he remembered his parents who were killed in front of him and his friends who he only knew for a few months before they faced this terrible war.
Then he heard footsteps coming towards him. And hands shook him slowly. He found the strength to open his weary eyes and looked at the person.
“Ice.” His voice was broken and incomprehensible, like he did not talk for years. His friend helped him to stand up slowly. Blood oozed from his friend’s left shoulder.
“It’s over.”
He did not know what to feel. Many sacrificed their lives. His parents said that this was their fate. But how could they celebrate when families and friends died. Many vanished on this dry battlefield but the earth already buried them. They trained for this war and they all knew their destiny.
But the ones who were hurt the most are those who were left behind. They were alive but barely living.
They walked without a destination. Unable to see anything, their instincts told them to keep on moving forward. They kept silent. Both of them knew that words were not needed. Both of them already knew what happened.
He saw their ruined camp behind the shattered ruined trees. It was located inside the forest but it was not spared from the war. Those who survived were badly hurt, but they tend each other’s wound.
When the people saw them coming, he saw tears from their eyes and immediately averted their gaze. Then he looked for her. Someone was calling him but he kept looking for her. He forgot his body screaming of pain when the tears rolled down his eyes.
“Where is she?” he managed to ask no one in particular.
No one answered. They bowed their heads like they were surrendering, like there was no hope.
In that moment, he kneeled and also surrendered. Someone was talking to him but he blocked everything. He could not see anyone. He could not hear anything. But her image remained.
Her golden eyes. Her beaming face. Her comforting smile.
Then he closed his eyes, wanting to sleep forever.
