Staring at the carnage, praying that the sun would never rise.
Living another day in disguise.
These feelings can’t be right, lend me your courage to stand up and fight,
on tonight.

January 18th 2013
“I know this is hard. The past wars you have been are different are this. Those you fought were people you did not know. They were your enemies, they were the rebels, and they were the bad guys. But not now, not this war. The one you are killing may be your family, they may be your friends, and they might be your lover. But you are a soldier, you are a man, bring pride to your Guild. Bring honour to us, us of Kerning, the thieves guild.”

Twelve million thieves stared at Dark Lord. Some were frightened, some were angry, some were unwilling, but most were confused. Some were young, just beginners, some were old and experienced, all were called to fight.

Never had two jobs declared war on each other, peace had been assured between the jobs for so long that no books had recorded any Job Wars. It was a mere rumour that everyone ignored till now. Never had they ever imagined that peace would be destroyed. Never did they think we would be fighting their loved ones.

The war had begun five days ago and already the death toll had reached to three thousand. Chaos has erupted from the once safe Victoria Island. Those uninvolved in the wars had either died or escaped to Obris. All thieves and mages were banned from entering Obris till they had ceasefire. No one knew how long the war would last, nor did anyone except for Dark Lord and Grendel the Really Old know the reason of the fight.

Ooooo….
Stand up and fight.
The fighting rages on and on, to challenge me you must be strong.
I walk your land but don’t belong, two million soldiers can’t be wrong.

“You look at your bloodied hands, you look at the red stained grounds, you mourn for the bodies strewn across the streets, and you ask me why. I will tell you why. But not now, we must make plans for battle. The story is a long one, and after you fight this battle that is going to take place in the Dungeon, I will explain all that is happening, why you are fighting, why people are dying. I swear to Obris Gods that we will end this war, we will win and people will stop dying. For I swear in the name of Tihieff, our lord, we are the right side. Now let us fight.”

Twelve million thieves looked around and cheered. They were going to win, they were right! Mages would die.

It’s no fun but I’ve been here before
I’m far from home and I’m fighting your war.
(Not the way I pictured this, I wanted better things)
Some are scared others killing for fun, I shot a mother right in front of
her son.
(Take this from my consciousness, and please erase my dreams)

August 25th 2013

Eight months had passed since I had seen the Dark Lord. Eight months … Battles were carried out every day, death tolls rose to one million. I had long stopped counting, stopped believing that the war would end, I longed for my family, my friends, my loved one … My enemies.

“Wolf.” I shook my head and looked up at the sound of my code name. There were a total of five ranks – Pawns, Bishops, Rooks, Knights and the King. I had nearly laughed when that was announced.

How ironic, I had thought, the Dark Lord and Gendel were playing a game of chess, and we were the chess piece.

Pawns were mostly the beginners who just became thieves, they were usually the young ones, aged from seven to twelve. Bishops were those reaching second job or had just reached second job, ageing from thirteen to twenty one. From Rook onwards, there were no age limit, only the test of skills.

Usually those above Rooks were ‘protected’ by Pawns. Protected as in the Pawns had to jump in the sword’s way as it was about to kill you. Rooks were from second job to reaching third job, Knights there were no limits, you just had to know how to fight and as for Kings, there were only fifteen Kings for the Mages and seventeen Kings for us. Only Kings were given code names.

Eight months ago, I did not know whether to laugh or cry as they put me in charge as a King. Seven Knights were put under my command, one hundred Bishops under each Knight and one thousand Pawns under the Bishops. Already one King had died, and the rest of the Platoon were sent to their deaths under the belief of destroying a base camp of the Mages.

But I had learnt a few months ago, not to make friends; it wouldn’t make it easier to fight knowing that maybe all of my brothers in Job were going to die. I only cared for the five remaining Knights under my command.

Fight for honor, fight for your life.
Pray to God that our side is right.
Even though we won, I still may lose
Until I make it home to you
I see our mothers filled with tears,
grew up so fast where did those years go?
Memories wont let you cry
unless I don’t return tonight.

There was Ben, a skilled boy of seventeen years old. He was an excellent bandit, wielding only twin sais, he was one of a kind and I took a liking to him. He wore only black clothed vest and dream pants, as he did not believe in wearing armour.

Ken and Keinrich were brothers, both had a sense for danger and were equally skilled in throwing stars. They had developed a taste for bloodshed when Kennth, their brother had died. He was killed before I had been put in charge of them, but the three brothers were famous for teaming up and slaying mages.

Ivan was special in his own way. He usually kept to himself, hardly any emotion showed on his face, yet when it came to battles, he kept an eye for the Knights in our Platoon and me. He was around fourteen and it ached me every time we went for battle, I was always so afraid of losing him, of him at such a young age.

Jeannette was too shy but when it came to battles, it was as if someone had taken over her. She was the bravest of us all, always volunteering to take up any jobs no one else wanted.

As I looked at all of them, I wondered what would happen to them after the war, what would happen to us. Our souls were already tainted badly by the meaningless man slaughter. Ben pointed at the door of our living quarters, there was only enough space for three beds to fit in, the rest slept on the floor. A fellow King, Cat was standing there. She was dressed fully covered up in black like a ninja.

“Dark Lord has a message for you.” She pointed at me. “Get all the Knights with you too. They should hear this.”

So many soldiers on the other side, I take their lives so they can’t take mine.
(Scared to make it out alive now murder’s all I know.)
Nobody tells me all the reasons we’re here. I have my weapons so there’s nothing to fear.
(Another day, another life, but nothing real to show for)

We geared up and muttered own our prayers. The Dark Lord wanted us to invade Grendel’s base camp for information. A sense of nostalgia overwhelmed me. I wanted to stop the fighting, I wanted to go home. Some found this a game, but I grew sick to the core every day. Ivan probably noticed the look of disgust on my face and came over, giving me a pat on my shoulder.

“It’ll be fine.” He whispered and walked back to his area, packing his stuff.

I shuddered and said, “Guys. This isn’t a game anymore. We weren’t in any danger in the fights for the past few months. But this …” The contempt in my voice could be heard clearly for all listening. “This is dangerous. We are going into the heart of the enemy. We might die. You might die. I might die. This isn’t some sick story where I survive just because I’m the King. This is life, Ivan may be fourteen, but he can, might and most probably will die. He won’t survive just because he is young, just the way a village won’t be bombed because there are infants there.”

Everyone looked at me with hard, cold eyes.

“Are you with me to the very end?” I whispered. I was sending them to their deaths.

“Hell yeah.” Both Ken and Keinrich replied grimly.

“Of course.” Jeannette replied softly.

Both Ben and Ivan merely nodded. And so we marched off. It was a five day walk originally, but with the fighting and all, chances of survival would be higher if we cut through the Dungeon. Including the times we had to scout around, the total time taken might be fifteen days, if we were lucky. I sighed and led them on. It wasn’t long before we ran into a group of six mages.

Ben reacted the fastest, throwing a sai in the throat of the first. Followed by me, I targeted the second mage, who by looks was just ten, and slit his throat without hesitation. Ken threw five stars into the third’s stomach, while Kein threw a single star at the fourth’s head. Jean dashed ahead and backstabbed the fifth. Ivan calmly aimed a dagger at the heart of the last and yelled, “Talk.”

All these, happened within the time frame of seventeen seconds. My heart bled. We were … Indestructible.

“I… I… Whh…. What do you want from me?” The mage stammered. Ivan looked questioningly at me. I shook my head. Ivan stabbed the dagger in before a scream could be released from his throat. Jean instantly snapped into position and dragged the bodies to a corner. Ken and Ben helped instantly while Ivan and Keinrich went to scout.

I stared at my hands. As the blood was beginning to cake on my palms I felt myself flinching.

Fight for honor, fight for your life.
Pray to God that our side is right.
Even though we won, I still may lose

“Clear.” I nodded at Kein as he spoke and we walked on silently. I asked Ken and Jean to lure around the buildings and follow us. “Stop.” Jean jumped down breathlessly. “There are around one hundred mages there guarding the entrance of the dungeon from Kerning.”

I cursed loudly and sat down on a rumble. Ivan was looking towards the direction and climbed up the building, or rather what was left of it. Ben looked at me and I nodded, he then followed suit. Kein was suggesting to me the many different options we had. Jean too had sat down and was probably thinking of the safest option. Ken has gone around lurking in the shadows.

“There is a way.” Everyone looked up. “We need a distraction. The rest then go off without being noticed.” Ken looked doubtful at what Ivan said.

“How.” I asked, not being in the mood for beating about the bush.

“Shadows. We create an entire army of shadows and pretend they are about to attack. Most of them will be distracted. The rest… we can easily slip past with dark sight. Shadows will have to be directed directly at the gate they made. They have to be made slowly and formed up-” Ivan continued.

“Anyone have a better plan?” I interrupted him. No one said anything. “Let’s do this.”

Staring at the carnage, praying that the sun would never rise.
Living another day in disguise.
These feelings can’t be right, lend me your courage to stand up and fight.

We casted dark sight and caused shadows to rise up from the ground. That caused wide spread panic and the mages killed many of themselves in an attempt to destroy the enemies. I closed my eyes and ran, not wanting to witness anymore. We managed to climb to the top of biggest tree without being caught. Ivan scouted the area and returned forty five seconds later. We ran pass dead guards and found what we were looking for.

It was in a mini container as big as my hand. Just as we were about to leave, guards filled the room, together with Grendel, and another female mage.

Kein and Ken reacted first, they cast smoke bombs instantly. I was stunned at first, but my training and instinct kicked in, I hasted and aimed for the gold. Grendel yelled a warning the second he realised my intentions, but it was too late. I had made a perfect leap on him and drew my dagger across his neck.

“Freeze.”

Although I whispered, it was as if I had shouted. Everyone in the room froze, I motioned for Ken to help Jean who was slightly injured. Ben had too grabbed onto the female mage, while Ivan had cleverly taken the container from me and hid it.

“What do you want, Chris Ngoh?” Grendel boldly asked. “You want to stop the war don’t you? You are sick of the fighting, the bloodshed, you miss your family and friends. Help us, we are going to end the war. Listen to me Chris, and I assure you, by tomorrow there will be no more war.” He looked at me sincerely.

Watching the death toll rise wondering how I’m alive.
Stranger’s blood on my hands, I’ve shot all I can
There are no silent nights, watching your brothers all die
To destroy all their plans with no thought of me
No thought of me, no thought of me

Ohhhhh…..

My insides froze. I couldn’t do it. He was right. Tears rolled down my cheeks. War was no game. People shouldn’t take it that lightly. I remembered that I swore to end the war, no matter what it would take. And now was the time to make the wrongs right. The dagger clattered nosily to the ground. Ken looked shocked and was about to throw a star, but I shook my head.

“Let’s end this.”

Walk the city lonely
Memories that haunt are passing by
A murderer walks your street tonight
Forgive me for my crimes; don’t forget that I was so young
Fought so scared in the name of God and country

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Okay so I was listening to this song, MIA by Avenged Sevenfold (the title). After listening to it a few more times I fell in love with in and went on as usual to find the lyrics. Recently I had rented the show Blood Diamond, so I guess seeing so much war made me write about this.

It’s a rather crappy piece of work, I had only planned for it to fit into the lyrics. I didn’t really expect to be have so much ideas and stuff to write about, thus resulting in thi crappy ending. The ending was supposed to be about how they became barlogs or something but I felt that was lame and ended it like that.

And my new computer can’t take sreenies. ( I think)