Prelude
A young man stood on the podium, looking out at the crowd that had formed to hear his testimony. His appearance was unremarkable apart from the faint scar that ran down the centre of his eye, rendering it blind. If one were to look closely, there were further blemishes on the skin of his forearms and hands, and no doubt behind the smart cotton shirt concealing his upper half. He was pushing on six feet tall, with light, but worn, skin riddled with a spider web of scars. The unblind eye was dark like his hair, almost black but with a light bronze ring circling the inner iris. Unremarkable as he appeared, the crowd watched his movements with the utmost attention.
There were ten rows of pews running down either side of the room, cramped with the old and young alike. Beyond that, a crowd of people pressed into the empty space between the pews and the door, which was left ajar so that the people beyond it could also listen in. All in all, there must have been over six hundred people sardined in a courtroom equipped for two hundred. Despite this, there wasn’t a sound to be heard, even the children who’d snuck in remained silent and eyes forwards, boring into the face of the young man. The young man’s eyes lazily gazed over the crowd as if the magnitude didn’t at all faze him.
The judge, who was on the podium raised above and next to him, spoke “in the glory of this country, do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?” his voice boomed in the silence.
“I swear it.” The young man answered, unfaltering, his voice crystal clear and void of emotion.
“You may begin your account of the war.”
“Thank you. The conflict between Regean and Garlantia began before what most people consider the start of the war, while officially Garlantia’s borders were closed, it was known throughout the nation’s militaries that Garlantia was active, yet nothing could be proved. Things began over ten years ago, when I was seven years old…
