Through The Fractured Lens

Claire Corsini

My body froze at his words.

Any regular person would be psychotic for an answer like that…

But this man, Lucian—he wore his answers with pride, like he was so sure of it.

Despite this feeling, he was still only a man. A man who's foolish instincts and carefree concerns would lead him to his death—I was sure of it.

I walked away without replying, what would I even say?

This man.

He is so different from the rest. Everybody here tries to find ways to escape the upcoming war, and their potential deaths. However, he choses to accept, no—embrace it.

Whatever seems to be his fate tomorrow, he didn't care.

He didn't care if he would make it home to his family or not. He seemed satisfied enough to just get burnt to a crisp in the battle.

But why?

While I'm only a year older than him, I've been in the military since I had just turned 15. I've been deployed to multiple different zones, some of which are now nothing but rubble.

I felt like I knew as much as I could. Death was unescapable, it haunted everybody. Whether it would be tomorrow, the next day, or in 10 years—it found its way to you, regardless.

Regardless, it can't be helped. Looking into his eyes is enough to know his resolve.

Whether tomorrow is his last or not, he seem fulfilled, ready to depart from this world. No matter how hard I thought about it, it was truly impossible to understand. I couldn't be thinking about this man no longer, though. I had people I needed to lead, and I need to lead them well.

I have a strange feeling about tomorrow.

In truth, I've never been this frightened before.

The general was in such a rush to draft new recruits from the capital city, Eldoria, that it felt like the entire war shifted.

These new recruits were all young, full of life. Except Lucian, of course. What a strange person. These people had families, lives outside of this—yet, they were practically dragged to deaths door, a ticking time bomb until their heart stops.

As I walked back over to my bunk, the weight of my responsibility really set on me as I passed by multiple people, my age or even older, conversing about.

Instead of walking back to my bunk, I decided to take a detour, and walk outside.

Once outside, I was greeted by quite a few sitting around a fire, who actually invited me over. Despite having to lead them to war, I didn't feel like I belonged with them.

Making it to the far edge of the compound, I fell back onto the tall grass, looking up at the star-filled sky. The night was eerily calm.

I could make out a silhouette in the far distance, unsure of who it is.

Curiosity once again, got the better of me, and I decided to head over and see who it was.

As I got closer, I realized. It was Lucian.

"Lucian! What are you doing out here?" I shouted, hoping he could here me.

He didn't answer. While there was a good chance he did hear me, he more likely chose to just not answer me. I was probably not worth his time.

Still though, I rushed on over to him before taking a seat beside him.

By the looks of it, he was meditating… I couldn't understand why, in truth.

"Are you gonna answer my question?" I asked, starting to get a bit annoyed by the way he acts and treats everyone.

"Do I owe you an answer? Or are you gonna yell at me about tomorrow… what gives?" He replied.

"I come out here whenever I need a distraction. It wasn't my intention to interrupt your gracious period of alone time, your majesty." I explained.

"As long as you know that you're intruding, I don't care enough." He mumbled, too focused on whatever gears are spinning in his head to properly speak up to me. While it did make me mad, I still was quite curious about him… everything.

I let the silence pulling at me run through the air for a moment before speaking again.

"How'd you get out here so fast?" I asked.

"I didn't. I just walked over."

I sighed. While I wanted more of an answer, I very well expected it. It was unfortunate that he wouldn't say anything outside of what he needed to.

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by a siren. The war siren.

"It can't be—the advance wasn't projected to reach the villages until tomorrow night!" I stammered, unable to control my breathing as my heart raced.

Lucian took a glance at me, before staring back at the compound, which was now racing with soldiers sprinting to different areas, grabbing their weapons, anything.

People were as prepared as they could have been, but that wasn't enough.

"We need to go," he began. "Can't miss out on all the fun."

Before I could reply, he got up and bolted towards our barracks as people began piling up. I quickly got up as well, following in his wake. How could the forces have reached the village so fast? We had eyes on them days ago and at their pace they… forget it.

Even with all the sudden surprises, it was still all happening. It was happening now.

I raced over to our barracks and to my bunk, where I pulled out my bow. As I ran out, I dragged anybody else still confused outside with me.

Finally, General Iron Hand began speaking loudly on a platform.

"Despite what we believed, the Serathis forces have advanced into the village of Briarhill, along with the surrounding areas."

"Gather your weapons and get in groups, we march. Now!"

After the announcement, people began sprinting around. Some ran into barracks to get their weapons, others began tearing up out of pure fear, and the rest tried to get with groups of soldiers.

There was no time to fully organize, however we had been taught in times of emergency to pair up with people that would compliment our skillsets. Offensive based users would try to pair with a defensive based user to keep the balance, as an example.

Many were severely unprepared—unfortunately, that was a problem for another time.

If they made it past tonight, that is.

***

Time flew by in an instant as after only just a few minutes, we were marching. The village under attack, called Briarhill, was not far off.

In just a matter of 15 minutes, the village came into view.

It was one of the larger villages on the eastside, becoming very important for trade and transportation into Eldoria and surrounding cities.

As we approached, a symphony of flames erupted across the village as screams echoed in the distance.

The village was beautiful, if only I got a change to see it before this. We quickly made it to the edge of the city, where the general had split us up into different directions.

This was only one Serathis force, but it was one of the largest ones on the east, consisting hundreds of capable and trained killers.

These forces ran through the patrol guards in and instant, setting flames to anything they can.

I gestured for my division to follow me. Lucian stood close behind me as we raced down the western side of the village. A few stragglers appeared, which we quickly cut down. We had made a half loop around to the main entrance where we saw dozens of enemy soldiers ravaging the village.

Innocent villagers mixed with our own soldiers covered the path ahead, but we had no choice but to keep going. The mix of enemy soldiers ahead seemed to notice our presence, and began heading to us.

It was time to engage in the real fight. "For Elyndor!" I shouted.

The group behind me was enraged as they shouted with me, charging into battle.

I lead the charge, before cutting back and gaining the proper vantage point. I wasn't an offensive soldier, and I lacked the physical prowess to shred.

However, I was a talented archer, and that's where I strived.

I formed an arrow out of spirit energy within the palm of my hand before I positioned it within my bow and cranked back. The smarter play would be to target their backline, ensuring that their soldiers leading the charge couldn't have anything to fall back on.

After leading my arrow for a minute, I finally found my target.

I released my arrow as it flew by, whirling around. It was fast and sharp, imbued with extra spirit energy just at the tip of it.

The arrow flew by dozens of enemy soldiers, barely grazing some of them. After a moment, I watched as it shattered the protection of one of their shield users, plunging straight into their chest as they fell back, blood spilling out rapidly.

The chaos of battle erupted around me as our forces clashed with the Serathis invaders.

The screams of the wounded and dying mixed with the clash of steel and crackle of flames. I formed another spirit arrow, searching for my next target.

My eyes found Lucian, only a blur as he slashed through enemies wildly.

He ripped through a dozen men in the matter of seconds, barely a scratch on him. I notice a Serathis soldier wielding a long spear sneaking up behind him, Lucian unaware.

I line my shot and fire. The arrow bolts through the battlefield before running clean through the head of the enemy.

Lucian glanced over at the body, then at me. He gave me a slight nod, before turning and running away.

However, I felt a sense of dread creep up on me.

We were winning, which is exactly what I had feared about this.

These forces came in, undetected and fooled our estimation, set fire to a village with thousands of inhabitants in the matter of moments, yet—these are all the people they have to show for it?

Something didn't add up here. How could they have done all of this… it didn't make sense. 

All my questions were soon answered in the matter of minutes. I had kept striking down men in their own backline for quite a while, but everything began to shake.

Suddenly, a swarm of our own soldiers lost their balance due to the uncontrollable power overwhelming the area, as some even began to get crushed under the weight of it.

And finally, a giant ball of fire rushed down the main street, engulfing not only our men, but the Serathis invaders as well.

While some were able to conjure shields in time to block the blast, most didn't make it.

The ground began shaking once more, and in the distance, a giant figure appeared wearing the label of the Serathis force.

They weren't just a regular soldier. This was a Vanguard.

He terrorized our forces one by one, igniting fire in their wake.

Bodies were burnt to a crisp, while any who were able to avoid the fire got struck down by regular soldiers following behind.

I watched in horror as the Vanguard tore through our soldiers like nothing, his massive form towered over the battlefield, wreathed in flames that seemed to bend to his will.

With each sweep of his arm, another group of our soldiers were incinerated.

My hands shook as I formed another spirit arrow in my hand, cranking it back. It would be useless, but I had to try something. I took aim and let it fly, watching as it sailed towards the Vanguard's head.

Just before impact, it was crumbled into dust.

The Vanguard looked over at me, forming a fist as energy wrapped around it.

A ball of fire erupted out of his hands, heading straight for me.

"Claire—Claire! Move!"

Suddenly, I was pushed out of the projectiles path, as I watched the ball of fire strike the buildings behind me in a blur.

Lucian stood before me, having being the one that pushed me out of the way. He offered a hand, and I took it. Brushing myself off, I looked over at him.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"What you do? You run. You are nothing but useless here, and you know it."

I didn't know how to reply.

"Grab whoever you can that's still alive, and leave."

"But what about you?" I replied, slightly concerned for him.

"Worry about yourself for once, Claire." Lucian declared, before diving off the buildings and over the mountain of bodies thrown about.

I began shaking uncontrollably, unaware of what to do.

However, he was right. I was useless in this fight, no matter how much I wanted to disagree with his conclusion.

Hopping off the building, I met up with a group of about 4 soldiers hiding behind one of the shattered buildings. They were all afraid, in need of direction.

One of them looked at me with desperation in their eyes.

He was no older than 15-16.

"C-Claire! Your alive! Please… what do we do?"

I took a moment before replying. "There's nothing we can do. Full retreat, now."

They nodded, clearly approving of the decision. They didn't want to be here any longer, as they proved to be no use at what stood against us.

As they were heading back, I did laps around the village. I sent whatever villagers and soldiers I could find that remained and ordered them back to the compound.

Once I got everybody I could, I began heading back myself.

Before I became out of distance, I observed the vanguard shredding through what was left of the forces that couldn't make it out.

Just as it was about to slam its fist into a soldier, he was deflected and pushed back by a burst of wind.

"You dirty Serathis scum. It's about time you get a real fight, don't you think?" A muffled voice spoke out of the alleys riddled with ash.

The shadow walked out, and it was General Iron Hand.

While Vanguards were typically stronger than generals, General Iron Hand was one of the strongest there was. His pure, raw strength combined with his shattering speed made him a daring opponent.

He cracked his knuckles before diving in.

An army of flames rushed over his body, but were quickly diluted by Iron Hand's water magic.

General Iron Hand wielded the capability to manipulate both wind and water, which proved to be an amazing asset in this fight.

I watched as they exchanged blows, unable to keep up for any longer.

Trusting in my general, I headed back, catching up with the remaining soldiers on their way back to the compound. Lucian was still nowhere to be found, and I was worried about him.

Lucian… where are you?

'Don't do anything rash, Lucian,' I thought to myself before walking off.