Warriors Lament

Journal 1

The Silence was the worst part; whether it was the stomp of boots to the shouting of men, there was always noise. Now there’s always nothing; it’s as if the air around me is holding its breath, waiting for whatever silenced them to silence me. I stumbled from the battlefield to a nearby village, dilapidated and overgrown, the only reason I still know others live is the howl of wolves and the constant sense of dread, and the feeling of being watched. I have to get home, cross the mountains that divide me from safety, let everyone know… let them know what happened. I didn’t wish to become a messenger of the dead, but I guess that’s the cost of living…

Journal 2

The forest had eyes… at least that’s how it felt as I trekked through it and up the mountain, until I realized that the eyes were the bones of hundreds, maybe those fleeing from the war, but they were marred with the marks of claws and teeth instead of blades.

The mountains are infested with ruins, which I decided to foolishly enter, in the hopes that one might lead through the mountain, saving me days of travel. Though my idea seems to have borne fruit, I’m positive now that something follows me. Perhaps it’s the statues that line this place, statues of ancient monsters and deities… but I swear they move, and I can hear them. Soft whispers… whispers of the friends I had lost, voices I should have never heard again. I tried to get some rest, but the shadows grow more restless. I tried calming myself by drawing, but my mind keeps circling around what awaits me in the dark. I’m getting out of these dammed halls before whatever spectre haunts them decides it’s done taunting me.

Journal 3

The sunrise… I don’t think I had seen anything more beautiful than that sunrise. I had crossed the mountains, exhausted bleeding, but alive. Whatever haunts those cliffs took the voices with it… I don’t know if it’s dead… if it can die even, but it’s not following, keeping its silence with it as the sounds of birds and beast alike return to me. It’ll still be some time before i reach home, but i don’t travel out of duty anymore, i’m alive and for the first time in a while… i’m glad to be.