Ashen War

The darkened sky never ends from sundown to sunrise. Its presence is felt by every living man in this war torn world. Here I stand beside your grave with our daughter saying our last goodbye, we plan on taking shelter to the nearest kingdom under the great king’s rule. It’s not safe in our region of the land anymore, I’m sure she will miss you dearly.

The fighting had reached our home and the village that was near our house was raised to the ground; only rubble and bodies remain. I barely recognise anyone from the village, their faces filled with horror on their lifeless bodies that lie on the ground. I was horrified and that vision still sent chills down my spine. How we managed to survive was nothing but a miracle, if our house was not a ways away from the village I’m sure we would be with you by now in the afterlife.

We plan on taking a less traveled road to reach the next town hoping that there we can find shelter, food and protection from the fires of war. I just want to say to you that I wish I wasn’t leaving you in this lonely place, please forgive me. I’m doing this for our daughters sake. I need to protect her from the horrors of war, I need to do everything in my ability to keep her safe so please understand that this might be the last time we would visit your memorial. Goodbye my love.

As we say goodbye to the one we loved, our journey began, to find a safe place where we can live and rebuild what was broken. Traveling is not an easy task, challenges are plenty for a single person to face from knowing a safe place to camp to foraging for meals that will sustain yourself once your rations have run out, plus the monsters and wild beasts that roam the area. If it were only me then i’m certain that i could survive longer, if i manage to encounter a beast i am confident that i can out run it and hide and wait for the danger to pass but if im with my child then our chance of survival is slim. I do not wish to worry my daughter, I don’t like seeing her cry so I will mask my worries and tell her that everything will be alright.

As our travel continues we decided that it’s best to camp tonight on the edge of the forest. As the wolves howl at the fool moon their songs carried by the cold wind of the night. It made me forget all the things that troubled the night, for the first time since that tragedy I gained some semblance of sleep.

As I slumber deeply, and reality and dream become one, I become unsure of what is happening in my surroundings. I heard a dead lover’s voice, my daughter’s cheerful laughter and the faces of the people from the village and what had happened to them. I heard their cry, their plead to spare their life and I saw how they were brutally killed like animals in the slaughterhouse. As the shock of my nightmare wakes me up, I feel the cold sweat on my face. As my eyes dart around to check if my daughter is safe, as i frantically look around if everything is alright i saw my daughter right where we went to sleep, cradled in my hands and hugging me tightly, she must have felt that i was worried and give me a tight squeeze of a hug, telling me that i’m right here dad, please don’t worry. As I started to calm myself down again I saw a creature with blood red eyes staring me in the eye, a monster that feeds on my fears. I tried to scream but my body won’t obey me as this realization hit. I prayed to every god I know to please save me and my daughter. As I hug her tightly waiting for our grizzly end in the claws and fangs of this monster. I heard her voice ”are you okay dad, you’re hugging me tightly that it’s making me hard to breath″ i couldn’t show her that i’m afraid, i need to steal myself and give her a reassuring answer, i muster every courage that i have and tell her that i am okay “dad is fine my cupcake just a little cold that’s all”. As time passes by and my child returns to her sleep, I remain awake staring down this monster right in front of us. I wondered why the beast watched us sleep. It could easily tear through us and eat our corpse but it seems that it does not want to eat, it only watches as I despair and fear. Does this monster eat fear? I asked such a question but I know that no answer will come to me. As the dawn of the day arrived and its light filtered into the forest grounds, I felt the sun’s warm embrace and closed my eyes for a moment to savor the comforting day, as I slowly opened them the monster was gone. No trace of it was left, like it never existed there in the first place.

As our journey continues and as more sleepless nights are had. I grow more paranoid for our safety. It won’t be long now before we reach another small town there. I hope we can find rest and finally an end for our search for protection in the coming war. I look forward to arriving in the village and sleeping on a bed for once instead of the ground. As I continued to fantasize about the town and that we would finally be safe, I was brought back to reality when I saw the sight of a town turned to ash and ruin, similar to what had happened to our village.

Another village burned, the smell of ash and rotten corpses linger in the air. A horrible sight, one I’m quite familiar with. When we left our home I promised that I would protect my child from the horrors of war. i will keep that promise, as we approach the destroyed village, i told her that we would play a game: “close your eyes sweety, will play a game and part of this game is that you need to close your eyes” my daughter replied with a question “why should i close my eyes dad?” “Well that’s part of the rules cupcake” I replied with a playful tone.“you will tell me what you see when your eyes are closed, you will be using your other senses to tell me what you see, use your imagination kid.” “okay dad” as she said with a warm smile. “I smell burnt wood and charred meat, the people here must like their meat well cooked” said my daughter, “Yes. darling everyone has a different taste for their meal” i reply trying to not ruin her world with the horrible truth that the land we walk now is a devastated and charred village filled with the corpses of many soldiers, civilians, enemy forces and children that once played in this once a live village.

I pray to whatever god there is that this journey will end soon for i cannot take it anymore,the lies i told that everything will be fine and that we will be okay. My heart can’t take it anymore, my daughter is the only one I have left. I pray that we can finally be safe that this endless war might end but until that day comes, we will continue to travel to find shelter and safety.