I always thought enlisting as a soldier would be to fight for honor; for dignity. But this... This was far from honorable.

It was a bloody mess, magic being hurled everywhere, corpses being flung across the fields of blood, the screams and cries of friend and foe alike echoing through the area just outside the castle’s gates. The things they taught back in the academy could’ve never prepared us for actual war.

“Push forward! Push these cowards back!” The commander of our legion would yell at the top of his lungs.

How much longer could we keep this up? I’m not even sure if we could make it past the damn gates considering how outnumbered we are in comparison to them. Both mages and archers lined up on the top of the walls, raining down on us.

I’d slowly advance with my cohort, taking down the knights who were left outside the castle. It was stressful, to say the least. Having to worry about both the Numen being flung across the skies aimed at us, and the people in our path.

Our numbers were slowly dwindling, becoming a war of attrition. All they had to do was hold us off until we couldn’t take anymore, while we needed a chance, one single golden opportunity to push them back all at once. And so we waited, biding our time for that chance. A few seconds turned into minutes, those minutes feeling like hours; like an eternity, but the opportunity we had been hoping for never came.

As we lost more and more people in this siege, many began to falter, with some even running the opposite direction, all of whom are probably either going to be captured and tortured to death, or will have succumbed to their injuries by the time they've been found.

“Do not lose hope! The Gods will shine down upon us today!” Our commander would shout, a last-ditch effort to boost everyone’s morale, and it was effective enough to drive them back to the gate.

I hacked and slashed my way through, alongside what remained of my cohort, and advanced through the enemy ranks alongside the legion. We had to make do with what little men we had, our four hundred eighty strong cohort turning into only around two hundred surviving knights.

The darkness of the night made it difficult to differentiate between friend and foe, the only thing lighting up the skies was the flame Numen and flaming arrows coming from the mages and archers on top of those damned walls.

Our cohort was the first to make it to the gate, leaving the destruction of it to the only Flamebringer in our ranks. “Stand back and cover me, Talis.” Our Flamebringer would say to me, charging his Numen into his fists and letting out a large blast, decimating the gate into nothing but ashes and cinder, the smell of burning wood engulfing the nearby vicinity.

Awaiting us on the other side, however, were hundreds- no, thousands of knights and mages in a large courtyard, ready to strike us down had we charged in foolishly. We stood there, anxiously anticipating what would happen next.

Suddenly, a large man with Numen manifested in full white armor, wearing a helmet embedded with the antlers of a stag, would approach our cohort. “You.” He’d point his greatsword at our Flamebringer, “What is thine name?”

“It’s Nico. Nico Prauldwyn, Flamebringer of the 51^st cohort of Trazia.” He’d stare the man down, tightly gripping his sword. “What do you want from us?”

“I am called Reine the Lightseeker. Proud grand-knight of the Laurei.” He’d set his sword on the ground, his stance seeming unshakable. “I suggest thou surrender now, ‘lest thou lot wish to die a dog’s death.”

Nico would spit on the ground in the direction of Reine, raising his sword, “We will never surrender to you empire mutts.” He’d say, as he charged towards him.

The knight would let out a sigh, “If thou seek demise, then so be it.” He’d raise his weapon, in anticipation of Nico’s attack.

He’d hurl four flaming arrows towards Reine, which were all in vain as it was easily avoided without Reine even moving an inch from where he stood. Nico got close, aiming to finish the fight with a swift strike to the neck, which was effortlessly parried by the grand-knight, Nico’s sword recoiling off the greatsword, losing his balance.

“A futile effort.” Reine would say to Nico, before swinging his sword sideways, cleanly lopping off his head in one fell swoop. “Is there anyone else who wishes to court death?”

Everyone by the gate went silent, the silence almost drowning out the screams of the people outside the hallway of the gate. Clink! Clank! Clang! The sound of weapons dropping to the ground would echo throughout the area, I look behind me and see the terrified faces of all the comrades in my cohort, and I have no choice but to lay down my arms as well.

Reine would unsheathe his greatsword, “A wise decision.” He’d then slowly walk away, “Send the prisoners to Thunder’s Call.” He’d say as he walked away from everyone, walking towards the large building made of lightly colored bricks in the center of the city of Sakaris.

They started to approach those who opted to surrender, placing tightly made shackles embedded with a large density of Numen onto our wrists and ankles, preventing us from using any Numen whatsoever. Having these shackles on me felt as if I was being dragged down to the ground, those who couldn’t quite stabilize their Numen were struggling to even get up and had to be carried out by the knights.

I took one last glance outside the gate, seeing the lifeless corpses of those who had died in my cohort, and the rest of the legions being shot down with arrows and magic as they tried to run back to where they had docked the ships.

It was our complete and utter defeat; we couldn’t even make it past the gate with the number of soldiers they had stationed here in Sakaris. They started to line us up around the courtyard, readying the carriages to send us off to Thunder’s Call, which was a thirteen day’s ride away from where we were.

“What do you think they’re going to do to us…” A woman next to me would mumble to herself, the anxiousness of everyone that was captured visible on their faces.

“Will they even come back for us?” A man whose eyes seemed like that of a dead fish would say, “It’s too late for us… We’re going to die…” He’d exclaim, furthering the fear and anxiety everyone was holding in their hearts.

A few hours would pass as the carriages were prepared, the guards laughing and drinking while we, the defeated, were left to rot and starve in the streets of the courtyard, with the occasional leftovers being fed to us in secret out of both kindness and pity of the citizens.

A man with a whip would approach us, “Line up and get in! And make it fucking quick!”

I quickly hopped inside the fourth carriage from the front alongside five others. “Get movin’ we don’t have all night now!” Another guard would scream right outside the carriage, I’d take a quick glance outside and see the others getting inside the carriages in a hurry, with the ones who weren’t able to move properly being left behind and executed on the spot.

After everyone settled into the carriages, we started to move. It was a long journey towards the prison-fortress we were headed to, and an even longer journey until we could get out of there, if we could get out. The stories we had heard back in the academy of that place made it seem like an absolute shitshow of a nightmare- but those were just stories, hopefully it really isn’t like that.

“So, err... What made you all enlist? I’m Glenn, by the way.” A young boy, who looked as if he had just turned fifteen would say, in an attempt to lighten the mood in the carriage.

“I’m Damian, I joined in search of honor and glory.” The large muscular tan skinned man with braided hair would say, sitting across of Glenn would say, “But it seems that was cut rather short…”

“Uh. I’m Reanne Fairwind, I was sent to the academy by my family and inevitably conscripted as a foot soldier.” The shy and quiet woman with gorgeous light-green hair next to me would say.

“You were from the academy?” I’d ask her, curious as to why I never saw her.

“Yes, I graduated four years ago, just before the war started…” She’d say nervously, “Were you perhaps.. From the academy too?”

“I was, I graduated the top of my class last year, and eventually conscripted.” I’d say, all while letting out a sigh right after. “Oh, and the name’s Talis.”

“Oh! So you were the one the professors always talked about!” Another young boy would say, sitting across from Reanne, “I’m your junior! My name’s Iferos, everyone!” He’d say excitedly, everyone chuckling over how innocent he acted, easily lifting up everyone’s mood. “What about you, miss? What’s your name?” He’d suddenly ask, everyone’s gaze averted towards the woman sitting directly in front of me.

“I’m Viella of House Caelum. Now shut the fuck up and let me sleep.” She’d coldly say to him, Iferos’ cheery smile disappearing from his face.

It’s still a long ride until we get there, around thirteen days left. I hope nothing goes wrong.