The sky wept heavily, as though in remorse...
Raindrops splattered as armed soldiers in dark coats and metal helmets ran past him in his dimmed vision. His breath was heavy, and his thrumming heartbeat reverberated right in his head.
Eddie was jolted out of his daze by the ear-piercing shrill that resounded above him, it wasn't unlike paper sheets being torn. Nonetheless, he instinctively shook his gaze up as rows of heavy shells teetered back and forth amidst the two warring sides, causing the silver sky to dim considerably.
Boom!
Boom!
The ground quivered as the explosion swallowed everything in quick succession. Soldiers who were caught in the midst of the explosions screamed horrendously, creating a horrific event of bomb blasts never to be forgotten. Blood splurged, and there were charred corpses everywhere.
Eddie's ears buzzed from the shockwave as he was forcefully thrown to the ground by another soldier.
" What are you doing standing there dazed, this is warzone lackey!" The soldier rebuked in a loud hoarse out-yell which only reached Eddie's hearing in a dull echo.
Eddie swayed his head from side to side to regain focus and opened his eyes to see a brawny soldier whose blue iris had dimmed to the point of turning black, his dark blonde hair was hidden beneath his helmet, and his face was muddied in dirt and debris, but the sternness in them was still discernible as he pointed towards a heap of charred soldiers who had been caught in the chain of explosions just now.
Eddie didn't look towards where he pointed just yet. He knew the soldier, it was Sergeant Combs!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!
"Incoming!" Amidst gunshots and forceful outbursts of Stielhand granites (1), another soldier with a rifle in one hand, and with his other hand holding his helmet tightly, yelled as he ran past both Eddie and the sergeant. Eddie looked towards the soldier with his heart pounding crazily, still shaken and in a daze.
" Take cover!" The brawny soldier released his grasp on Eddie and rose to run behind the frenzied soldier toward the nearby trench. Eddie who felt the urge to do the same, found himself unable to do so as he only watched the soldiers run about.
He heard the familiar sound of tearing resound again, this time, it was very near and right above his head. However, the shell soared just past him and landed right at Sergeant Combs who was on a charge to take cover.
Boom!
Dirt splattered about along with a blast that forced Eddie to raise a palm in front of his face. Debris fell on him but Eddie was too scared to give concern. He quickly looked to search for the Sergeant, but all he saw was a charred corpse and a detached torso whose head stared dead at him. Eddie trembled in spot out of fear and couldn't help but feel dread wash over his being.
His throat suddenly contracted and he struggled to not retch.
A cold sweat broke on his forehead as he realized just how grave the battlefield was.
Sergeant Combs was an excellent soldier at the cream of the crop. And there he was, lying dead and no more, merely a dismembered corpse!
Even with the grotesque scenery before him, his survival instinct kicked in. Eddie instinctively knew to crawl and find a safe space in the nearby trench.
"Aaaa!!"
Bang! Bang!
"Ugh!" " Aaaa!"
Boom! Boom!
"Hah! Haa!" Amidst the whole on-slaughter of the warzone, Eddie's breath became heavy and suffocating as he ran and jumped in a trench. He quickly lay in the trench trying to collect his breath. He only just realized he had long lost his rifle.
Bang! Boom!
Feeling as though he was being buried, as dirt splattered from above on his body, Eddie looked around him out of caution. He found several soldiers lying dead around him. The smell of blood, iron, burnt body, pungent odor of gunpowder, dirt, decay, and sulfur corroded his senses.
Frightened, Eddie quickly reached to grab a rifle from a nearby fallen colleague as a last nudge at survival.
' This war is already lost!' He thought with a tight grasp on the rifle as his vision grew dim and hazy out of desperation. He didn't realize he was sobbing.
The number of the enemies by far overwhelmed theirs in the battle. It was a lost war they were fighting, they all knew this.
Everything else around him seemed to dim and darken. The bombings and gunshots dulled into a distant echo as though he were isolated from it all.
Tap! Tap!
Eddie stopped trembling and looked up when he noticed that something strange was going on.
The heavy raindrops had stopped and now fell in slow motion, a sudden soft hymn of an angel descended upon the battleground. The battle ceased and every other bomblast was no more to be heard.
A holy silence reigned!
It was as though the battle suddenly ended abruptly, the way everything grew silent at the hymn. Everyone stopped on their attack to listen to the holy hymn.
Eddie couldn't help but stand from the trench to peer a look.
' What's going on?'
Just as he peeked, his heart nearly stopped at the sight before him. He had never witnessed such absurdity that had befell the battleground at this moment before.
There in the sky, in the middle of the battleground, a man hovered in the sky... No, He was flying!
Eddie's back became soaked in sweat as he fell on his behind. His eyes constricted and trembled incessantly as he shivered in sheer fright. This could only be a nightmare!
Suddenly, the man covered in a golden shimmer of light that shone brightly raised his hand. The holy hymn waned as if heeding his command.
" Elum!" An authoritative chant descended on the silent world.
That single word seemed to echo through space.
Buzz!
This time, Eddie's jaw dropped seeing the orb of golden light that formed in the man's hand. He struggled to breathe as his breath became disorganized. He had to breathe in air through his mouth, sucking in and heaving out desperately.
His whole face was covered in cold sweat as he watched the orb of light grow larger and larger in the man's palm that was raised.
The man seemed to turn his head a bit and flashed a shit-eating grin as he lowered his raised palm at the enemy troop.
Brightness... Intense brightness was the only thing that remained after.
...
" Hah! Hah!" Eddie suddenly sat up in bed, breathing hard to catch his breath. His eyes were constricted and his back was covered in sweat.
He yanked his sheets away and ran to the bathroom.
"Urgh!" "Urgh!" He bent above the chamberpot as he retched and threw up. Eddie had a bout of nausea...
Eddie soon raised his head when he was done. He washed his face and walked out of the washroom in a stagger. It was dark and he bumped into stuff, but he was still able to make his way to the room that was lit by a single gas lamp.
Eddie's room was small and had a simple detail. The only furniture he had was a wooden chair, a table, a bed, and a mirror on the wall.
He grabbed the wooden chair to sit in front of the mirror and observed himself under the dim lighting of the gas lamp.
Dark eye bags formed an obvious sign of distress and insomnia on his gloomy face.
"Hah!" He slapped his palms on his face and lowered his head as he sighed. Eddie knew what had happened. It wasn't the first time after all.
This had been going on ever since he left that battlefield. He'd been having nightmares and had been haunted by his past trauma ever since.
' That war...' although it ended, he still couldn't forget. The corpse and the stench, the fear of facing death. And... that man with mysterious powers.
' That man...' Eddie's veins bulged as he recalled.
crack!
' That man was...'
crack!
The image of the battle flashed in his mind, the focus was on the man covered in golden light.
crack!
The dazzling light cracked like broken memory fragments as the man's figure gradually became clear. The man was brawny, with deep blue eyes and blonde hair. He had a shit-eating grin worn on his face.
' It was Sergeant Combs!'
...
[1] Stielhand granites, also Stielhandgranates used in world war I and II. They were handheld explosives with wooden handles and metal heads.