A day had passed since the ceremony… Harry still did not know how to truly feel about it. On one side of it… He had just been given quite a promotion. From prisoner to right hand and chief of the black helmet division… But on the other side of the spectrum. He was stuck as those roles now… No turning back. His fate was more than sealed. It was as if a sword had been stabbed through him right into a wall and then bolted shut somehow. Even if he wanted to run, he knew that he possibly never could now. He had a role in this system, and that was all that mattered now.

He collapsed onto his bed as the sun silently went to sleep, like it always did under the waves of the horizon, as the darkness of the cold, lightless moonlight lit his room through the small window on his wall.

A small knock on his open door brought him back to the present moment. He lifted his head off his soft pillow to look at the newcomer. One of the new recruits of the black helmet division? He looked like a teen. The kid stammered over his words, but it was clear what he was trying to ask. He did not wish to go to the upcoming battle… He was asking for a way to desert. Harry let out a small sigh of compassion… He knew how terrifying war could be… His grandfather died in one but he also knew that as the new chief of the black helmet division… He couldn’t afford to lose troops before a battle… If a single soldier left. How many more would follow after him?

He stood up from his bed, towering over the smaller soldier as he placed a warm hand on his shoulder. ‘‘I have an idea… At the beginning of the battle… When we rush the enemy kingdom. Run the opposite way. But make sure no one sees you.’’ Harry whispered gently into the soldier’s ear.

The soldier’s eyes widened at the sound of the whisper sharpening like a knife right next to his ears… The general had given him a way to get out of this… Alive. The soldier nodded before turning to leave, but…as he took a step, he froze.

“Luke Hamilton is my name sir… Thank you.’’ He said as he finally left the room silently.

Harry sat back onto his bed, left alone… In silence… Wondering if he had done the right thing… Saving a single life. What if that kid was the most important piece for the battle… What if— A slow applause resonated at the door. The queen stood there tall as she gazed deep within his soul… How long had she been watching…

‘‘ Not bad… Not bad… First day after your promotion and you are already making a soldier desert?’’ She said with a low chuckle. ‘‘Good to know you have backbone…’’ She wasn’t mad…? She…was smiling… What the hell was up with her! This was unlike her! … Was it? No… It definitely wasn’t; she was a cold and ruthless queen who was keen on enforcing her— Then why did she not kill him for all the transgressions he had done already?

Elaria let out a small, quiet chuckle meant to be restrained to herself as she placed a sheathed blade onto the foot of Harry’s bed before turning to leave with a cocky smile. What the hell was all this about? Harry reached over to unsheathe the blade… The handle was slightly curved at the bottom with a sharp metal point to it, while the blade was pointed straight without any curve… The blade adorned a very intricate design that depicted the beheading of the last king of the queendom. He let out a small sigh as he placed the blade back at the foot of his bed as he stood up and walked up to his closet to grab the armor that had been given to him after the ceremony. As a chief of battle… He wanted to check on the enemy territory before their battle. Just in case there were traps.

The armor was as intricate as the queen’s… Well, slightly less to make sure he knew he was still under her. His sallet was adorned with neat silver patterns engraved into the black metal-like material to identify him as a member of the black helmet division… A grand purple metal plume had been soldered to the top of his helmet. His bevor was lifted up to the top of his nose so that only his eyes could be seen out of the helmet when he lifted it. The chest plate was adorned with a design that reminded him of his house… It looked almost exactly like the forest next to it… The rest of the armor was pretty normal.

With a small sigh he stood up from the chair wearing the armor in question… It was lighter than he expected… But it still looked robust enough to endure warfare… Not bad. Walking back up to his bed, he gripped the sheathed blade and tied it onto his belt, making sure it was tied tight enough for it not to fall off in his walk.

‘‘Where are you going.’’ The voice of Elaria rang out… She had not left? Harry glanced at the wall next to his door and sighed as he saw her simply leaning against it. What the hell did she want…

Harry quickly explained that he was going to scout the enemy territory to make sure they wouldn’t have laid out traps for them… The queen let out a small sigh and began walking toward the exit… She was already in armor—wait, was she going to accompany him?

The queen simply kept on walking… Not bothering to answer his numerous questions about her intent. Harry could only sigh as he followed after her toward the grand open door that led toward the numerous warhorses. Elaria quickly pointed to one of the horses. A large black one, motioning for Harry to go on that one while she hopped on her royal silver warhorse. Without a word she motioned for her horse to start galloping toward the forest that separated the two dominions. There wasn’t that much distance to cross to reach where they wanted to go… At the edge of a cliff that was high enough to scout the enemy kingdom from afar. The queen gently pulled out a pair of binoculars from her horse’s sachet and tossed one to Harry so they could both observe the distant land.

Harry almost fell off his horse just to catch it, which made Elaria burst out into laughter… She…was laughing… Genuine laughter. Harry couldn’t believe his eyes. Her laughter was warm unlike her cold attitude and appearance… She almost seemed nice. But Harry knew better. This was a cold and ruthless woman. Not a puppy. Harry brought the binocular up to his eyes as he began to observe the kingdom that stood right next to the lake down the cliff… The people seemed to be happy. Joyful, in fact. A lot of mechanics were out… Strange. What were they working on? New armor or weapons? Did someone tip them off about the upcoming war? Too many questions for such short time… Let’s assume that they did in fact get a tip-off by someone… Who? Who could it be? Maybe the kid who asked to desert this morning? Perhaps. It would make sense… Does it…?

The queen motioned for Harry to head back to the castle and rest so that they could fight in the war at top shape tomorrow morning. He had only been a general for a day now and yet he was already going to lead his half of the army as the right hand of the queen… His life made no sense… Questions only circled in his head as he galloped back toward the castle. If there was a leak… Who was it? If there wasn’t, what were they preparing for… Too many questions… His mind could blow up from how much information he was processing in such a short amount of time… It was almost inhuman.

The scar on his nose ached against the blowing wind, a reminder of his duel… Of his place. A rumour had been passed down from his grandfather to him by his mother days before the incident at his house… The wind is the thing that holds the memories of a world… So was this world taunting him? Was this how he had to interpret his grandfather’s word? If so… Why was this world so fixated on him? Why did everything have to align to torment him… First his mom… Killed in a home invasion before him… Now he was forced to serve a ruthless queen. If the wind hold memories… Who holds his fate? Who was so cruel to him?

Was it a god? A person? Someone even higher? Hell, if he knew… Did it truly even matter? He was just a pawn in a higher game. His role was to move forward and keep doing so as long as he was told. Just because some queen chose that for him instead of having him killed… What if he had died… Would it be so different? Would he still have to follow someone’s orders in hea — He definitely wouldn’t go to heaven… He did kill someone… So… Would it be the same in hell? Or whatever bad afterlife there was… If there is one.

Harry got off his horse and gave the reign to a guard before walking back into the castle, where his questions kept on going…

If there was a higher being… What did it even look like… How powerful even was it? How far could it see… Was it locked to our dimension, or could it see more than we possibly could? Could it see our memories…our thoughts…our lives? Would it write it all down to record our lives, or would it simply watch in amusement at our suffering? Perhaps even both? What would a higher being even want in observing us… Does a higher being have a goal? If yes. Just how far would it go to reach it? How much would it be able to sacrifice?

If he knew how right he was… He wouldn’t yet…

Harry froze…

‘‘Who just spoke?’’ He was alone in the hallway… Who… Was he hearing things? Harry shook his head trying to snap back into reality and at that same moment… The ground trembled… His gaze shifted to the nearest window. A red glow crashed through the sky… Just like a star dancing accross it… A rough dance at it landed down with a loud rumble from the ground… What happened? Where did it land? Certainly felt like it landed close to the enemy territory… Hopefully that will destabilize them… Harry thought with a sigh as he collapsed onto his bed… Falling asleep.

Deep into silence.