Blood drains into the rivers like an unholy baptism as feet carry him forward. Static fills the skies as a thunderbolt strikes down to incinerate those within its strike. Charred flesh covers the metallic one heavy in the air. War is never an ideal aspect, especially for those not meant to take part. Elias exhales the shaky breath he'd held as he continues forward. All this time, he thought he signed up for something worthwhile, for the safety of Paldea. But what was safety if not at the price of a few lives?

(He didn't want his sacrifice to fall under the rose-colored glasses of a promise of safety and freedom.)

What were they fighting for if not for safety? The answer was simple, a battle for conquest. The sounds of rummaging and destruction carried a dissonance in the air that made his stomach churn. They burn maps, letters from home, anything they can get their hands on. Elias can only hear the screams of his tortured soldiers as he is forced to blend in with the carnage. If they think he's dead, maybe they'll overlook him.

The gurgling of his fellow soldier is enough to alert the enemy soldiers. Elias feels his body go numb. He's going to die here. Maybe it's what he deserves after lying to his fellow soldiers, telling them they were going to make it back home. The lies he's forced to tell for the hopes of conquest offer a burden that he'll never shake. He was there to treat the trauma that came from war, and he was forced to take the brunt of something he didn't understand until this very moment. As the soldier approaches, all Elias can do is silently pray. White noise static clouds his mind the moment he watches an enemy soldier stomp on the head of the soldier just a few yards away who had barely clung to life.

This was the price they paid for conquest, and they had nothing to show for it.

prompt conquest
words 336
total sleep score 200

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

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