The Fields That Once Held Fire

You're laying back against the trench as your friends, and the strangers you've just met talk about what they had just went through. What all of you had just gone through. The war has been waging on for three years now. Thousands of men had died at the hands of other men and their guns by now. To top it all off you had heard that the druids and their dragons had just entered the fight. You knew the rebels had been up to something this whole time. It was all they had talked about in school before they sent you out to war. [[The Whistle]]

Your thoughts about the past got cut off as a captain came marching down the trench blowing his whistle. As men go over you could hear a whistle on the other side of the field followed by guns firing. ===><== (align:"===><==")[Do you go over?] [[Yes]] [[No]]

You go over just as bullets land around you throwing dirt over you, and stinging your skin with small splintters of metal. Men fall around you as you get to your feet to start sprinting. Your heart was racing making your body weak before you got a chance to move. Your hand gripped your rifle so tight that you thought you would break the wood that decorated it. ===><== You have a clear shot at an enemy do you want to take it? [[Take The Shot]] [[Keep Running]]

You stay where you are when the captain got to you. He jerks you up by your jacket shouting at you. "Get your ass over that god forsaken wall! Now!" as he yells you freeze and fall to the ground. You look up at him and see anger on his face. Before you knew it he pull a pistol out of his jacket and shoots you. (align:"===><==")[[Fields Of Fire]]

You ready your rifle for the shot, but your hands are too shakey from the excitement. You take a deep breath and go to one knee like you had been taught. As you ready an enemy is coming at you from your left. They are far enough away that you could defend yourself, but you will loose your shot if you do. (align:"=><=")[[Keep Your Shot]] [[Pull Your Knife and Defend Yourself]]

You ignored the shot you had preferring to keep yourself as safe as you could so you kept sprinting. Bullets flew around your feet. Some of them flying close enough that you could feel their speed moving the loose pieces of clothing you wore. When you got to the enemy trench you shot the closest guy dropping him fast before you dropped in for a quick hand to hand fight with his buddy. When he started to over power you a shot was heard as blood splattered across your face. It shook you but you managed to gather yourself quickly when you saw allies standing behind him after his body fell to the ground at your feet. It was a sight that made you happy to see. Quickly you loaded a new round into the chamber on your rifle ready for whatever comes next. (align:"==><=")[[Push On]]

You held your shot assuming you would get the shot off before they could get to you. This assumption was wrong. You got your shot off as the enemy charging you managed to drive their bayonet into your gut. As they drove you into the ground one of your friends killed the enemy. They stopped to look at you. "This isn't good, but I think you'll be okay if we get you back to the line." They spoke with a smile as they removed the rifle, but left the bayonet where it was. You got passed from one man to another until they got you onto a medical truck on your way back to Crown City. As you passed under the golden gates your vision went black. "It looks like you made it back home honey." (align:"=><=")[[Mom?]]

You threw your rifle as the enemy when they got close enough before pulling your knife. You jumped on them with the knife aimed for their neck. Your knife missed, but not by much. You knicked them with your blade. The blood was nice to see, but you knew deep down it wasn't enough. You needed to do more. He is looking at his rifle you need to act fast. (align:"==><=")[[Run At Him]] [[Dive For His Rifle]]

You could see your mom sitting beside you in the truck looking down at you with a look of sadness and happiness mixing on her face as she looked down at you. For a moment it was like you had never been injuried in the first place. You could barely feel the truck under you as it went down the cobble streets of the golden city. You tried to talk to your mom, but you couldn't speak. Your body was too weak. "You don't need to speak my child. Your body is weak. Save your strength. You just can't sleep." Your eyes started to get heavy as a hand shook you and your mom's fading voice begged you to stay awake. (align:"==><=")[[Fight Your Sleep]] [[Give In]]

You run and takle him right as he got his hand on his gun. You hear a bang before both of you stop moving. You stare at each other as your body goes weak. He pushed your limp body off of him before struggling to his feet. He moves the bolt on his rifle before walking two steps and collapsing from a gunshot. Your vision goes black as you see men go over you like a wave in the ocean pouring into the enemy trench. A light comes over you as the field leaves and your body becomes light. (align:"==><=")[[Fields Of Fire]]

You dive for his rifle and get to it before he does. You managed to fire off a blind shot. After you load a new shot you see he had fallen over. You waste no time and put a well aimed shot in his head before tossing the rifle in a nearby artillery crater. With that finished you grab your rifle and continue into the enemy trench. As you drop down into it you could hear artillery being fired. As it started falling you saw a group of men just ahead of you pushing deeper into the trench to continue the fight. (align:"==><=")[[Join The Men]]

You thank the men as you join up with the men in the back and push forward deeper into the trench. You could feel the anxiety of the group, but you could understand why. This war has taken so much form each and every person in Espire. A country that had ripped itself apart fighting a civil war. This war hit deep just based off of why it was being fought in the first place. After the thought was gone it was time to ready for the coming fight. (align:"==><=")[[Ready Up]]

You fought the best you could, but you went in and out of sleep. Your body wanted to go out to whatever is next, but you refused to go. If the gods wanted you then it would have to be later. You had something you needed to finish, but you don't know what it is yet. When your brain was finally ready and sorted out what it needed you found yourself in a hospital. Multiple people filled your room with life. The only one that caught your eye was your elderly father sitting the corner reading his newspaper. Your stength is failing you, but you think you could talk, but not for long. The other people around you was a general you think you've seen before, a reporter that security is trying to force out of the room, and a nurse who was checking on your meds. (align:"===><==")[[Talk To Your Father]] (align:"===><==")[[Talk To The Nurse]] (align:"===><==")[[Talk To The General]] (align:"===><==")[[Talk To The Reporter]]

As you give in to the exaustion the gods called you into the afterlife, and there stood your family alongside the life that you wanted to have when the fighting was all over. Two children chased your mom through a field of flowers with laughter floating between them. It warmed your heart and soul to see all of it. Soon you found yourself joining them in the fun. With that your life was at peace and at its end. (align:"===><==")[[Fields Of Fire]]

Thank goodness you have woke up. I was worried. You have been asleep for three days. They most of the metal out of you, but some couldn't be gotten out. They say you can't be sent back out to fight. So you're able to come back home with me if you want. (align:"====><=")[[Make Your Choice]]

You have been injured quite badly. There is a good chance that you won't see the battlefield again. If you ever need a job we can give you one with us. I don't fully know what yet, but we can figure something out. (align:"====><=")[[Make Your Choice]]

These injuries could keep you off of the front. If you want to get back into the fight we might be able to find something, but we would need some time to come up with something. If you want back in just give me the word. (align:"====><=")[[Make Your Choice]]

Thank you for seeing me the general won't talk. What is happening out there on the battlefield? I've heard so many different things about the fighting. I need to know. Maybe we can work together? (align:"====><=")[[Make Your Choice]]

You fell in at the end of the group with another man. He looked terrified of it all, but who could blame him. You all ahd been surrounded by death for months now going no half a year. This battle was the first big battle of the war. The rest of them, and the ones you had grown used to couldn't have been seen as more than just policing some trouble makers. This was something different. This felt like the end of a world and the birth of the apocolypse. Bodies lay everywhere covering almost every inch of ground between the two trenches an area called No Man's Land. You assumed it was because all it held was the dead who tried what everyone was afraid to try. Every man that lives through running between the two trenches though has looked death in the face, but what about the man clearing an enemy trench? You are about to find out. (align:"==><=")[[Ready Up]]

You shouldered your rifle as the group comes across a split in the trench. You and half of the group go one way while the rest go the other way. (align:"==><=")[[Go Left]] (align:"==><=")[[Go Right]]

You cut left with men on your heels ready for a fight. Everything seemed quiet as artillery was falling all around sending smoke and dusty into the air. It was making it hard to breathe and harder to see what was around you. Every so often you could hear something being sent across the ground catching your attention briefly until you could see that it was nothing. Even your hair seemed to stand on end. That was until you came across a room filled with enemies hiding from the fight. You looked around at the men that had come with you hoping for an answer of what to do. (align:"==><=")[[Kill Them All]] (align:"==><=")[[Arrest Them]]

You and a group of men go right. This part of the trench had been ravaged by the walking barrage. It brought down many of the walls and dugouts. The area stank of death and human waste. It was almost suffocating to breathe. It looked as if some of the men started fighting each other to try to escape the fighting. It was sad to see, and if you where to have been in their shoes you would have done the same. As you and the group kept walking through the trench all you found was bodies. Nothing happened, that was until you got to the end of the trench. When you and the group got there men appeared from over the top of the wall. They fired bullets down over the whole squad. You took a bullet to the arm as you started to raise your rifle. It caused you to hit the ground as everyone else started taking shots. It all seemed to be moving in slow motion. You started to panic and crawl away from the slaughter. As you crawled you saw a hand gun laying next to a dead body under the rubble. (align:"====><=")[[Grab The Gun]] (align:"====><=")[[Run Away]]

With everyone in agreement you all raised your rifles and fired trying to ignore the screams of the men that sat there begging for their lives. They didn't even try to hide from what was going on. When everyone had fired every shot you decided to go in and check if everyone was dead. As you did your foot caught something at the foot of the doorway. Just as it exploded a man tackled you from behind driving you on the bodies and under his. The explosion shook the room and made the man who tackled you shudder before he went limp. You felt warm liquid soaking through your clothes as your ears rang to the point where it made your eyes hurt if you tried to open them. You couldn't hear it, but men started pulling rubble from the doorway. Soon they got to you and lifted you out and got you back to a truck so you could get to a hospital. (align:"==><=")[[Mom?]]

As you looked at them you saw the fear in their eyes. It brought some pitey to your heart. Somewhere deep down you knew that you couldn't take them from their families. You gave the command to get the men out of there and cuff them. They won't be happy about being arrested, but it was better than being dead. As the men entered the room a small metallic noise could be heard before a bright light could be seen. It didn't take long before an explotion knocked everyone off their feet. When your vision cleared you looked where the men had been to see the room had collapsed. Several of the other men went to clear away the rubble, but you knew that it was all lost. They died when it collapsed. They still dragged the bodies out, and as they did you decided to help. As you did you saw a body moving under all of the dead. You got close to check if the person needed help. When you got to them a hand gun flashed out from under them and before you knew it you had been shot. As you fell the men killed the man and got you back to a madical truck. It was time to go home. (align:"==><=")[[Mom?]]

You grab the pistol and raise it to return fire. You got trained on them, but never got issued one. This action left you open for more enemy fire. You managed to get off six shots before you took more bullets. As you fell you saw two of your enemies fall dead as well. As you laid in an growing pool of blood you smirked. A medic ran to you and started giving aid as the still standing members of the team returned fire. They tried speaking to you, but you couldn't hear any of it over the ringing in your ears, and the deafening sounds of gunfire. Everything seemed to get slower as your body got colder. You could read the medics lips. He was telling you to fight the calling words. (align:"====><=")[[Fight]] (align:"====><=")[[Surrender To Them]]

You ran away as fast as you could. Bullets landed all around your feet some of them catching the back of your shoe. You could feel the heat and some stinging pain. You kept running until your legs started screaming for you to stop moving, but you knew you couldn't stop. You kept running until you ran into the other group. You managed to get some of them to comeback with you. Although by the time you got back they had all been killed. (align:"====><=")[[Finish Off The Enemy]] (align:"====><=")[[Pull The Men Away]]

You struggle against them as the medic keeps working. You could feel his hands deep inside you fighting the bleeds as he can find them. Sometimes he was calling over to someone you couldn't see, but you knew it was a call for help. (align:"====><=")[[Keep Fighting]] (align:"====><=")[[Move To The Otherside]]

I hope your life was worth it. (align:"====><=")[[Fields Of Fire]]

You fight to keep your eyes open with all of your strength. As you do you get brief imgaes of you being carried through the field and being put onto a truck being sent back home. (align:"====><=")[[Mom?]]

If it is what you want then it is the way to go (align:"====><=")[[Fields Of Fire]]

You and the men that came with you decided to stand and fight the enemy. It cost many lives on bothsides, but you managed to push the enemy away. It made you feel like a hero in some way to hold the line, but you wish still that it didn't cost so many lives in the process. On your way back to meet the rest of the group you wondered if it was worth the loss. That thought left your mind though when you heard a faint whistle in the air. You look up in time to see an artillery shell falling between the two groups. It happened so fast that when it was over you blacked out and came back to see everyone getting loaded into a truck. (align:"====><=")[[Mom?]]

You took the men away from the fight deciding that it wasn't worth it over some bodies. As you guys fell away a sound came from behind you. The enemy had dropped down into the trench. Your heart raced as you and the men ducked away into half standing bunkers. The men closest to the opening fired their guns until their clips had emptied then they would rotate deeper into the bunker as the man behind them took their spot to do the same thing. If nothing more was done there was a chance that everyone was going to be stuck in the bunkers. The same tactic was being done across from you. When it was your turn bullets seemed to fly by like the enemy had gotten one of the churches machine guns and turned it on you. The bullets never seemed to get a break, You almost didn't want to lean out to fire back, but you needed to. As you leaned out and started firing when a bullet flew close to your head. You tell yourself again that something needed to be done. (align:"====><=")[[Rush The Enemy]] (align:"====><=")[[Fake Running Out Of Ammo]] (align:"====><=")[[Escape Alone]]

You and the men reload before putting on bayonets. Some of the men prayed to the national god of the church while others prayed to the old gods. It was someting the church would hate to see. They had banned the old gods, but now wasn't the time. No time would be the time. All of these men fight together. Some of them chose to fight. Others are conscripts. Either way everyone in Espire would fight for a set amount of time. Some would fight longer. Others will vanish in the middle of a battle such as this one. After everyone was ready you all charge out of the bunker. The enemy was caught off guard. By the time hand to hand combat was being fought half of the men that had been with you was killed. By the time it was done all of the enemy had been killed. (align:"====><=")[[Go Back With Your Men]] (align:"====><=")[[Run]]

You and the men fell back deeper into the bunk and waited. You hoped the men across from you would do the same but from where you ended up you couldn't see them anymore. You could only hope they knew what to do. All that hope was lost when you heard gunshots get paired with the screaming of the men in the other bunker. It made you sick knowing that it was all because of your choices. Maybe now it will allow you to finish off the enemy with the men you have left. Everyone around you held their guns at the ready you joined them just in time to catch the enemy coming into view. "Fire!" Someone yelled, but it echoed so bad in the area that you didn't know who yelled it. All you knew was that you pulled the trigger as the other men did. The enemy fell one by one before they knew what hit them. Soon enough of them died that they started to back out while firing blindly. Only one man got hit before everything calmed down. It was up to you what the next step would be. (align:"====><=")[[Give Chase]] (align:"====><=")[[Get The Men Out]]

You duck out of the bunker as the fighting is going on. You fire back shots blindly while your fear is deep in your body controling your actions. Your mind went quickly to running away. You needed to worry about yourself and not your men. Bullets kicked up dirt as the enemy focused on you. You got lucky that they missed as you dived around a corner and took off into no man's land with a white flag above your head. The only thing you didn't think about was who saw you get away? If someone saw you then it was all over for you. They would take-[[Fields Of Fire]]

You and the men chase what is left of the enemy force. You clear what was left of the enemy force before everything was done. The other team came to help you clear away the dead before relief forces came to send you and the rest of the attacking army back home. On your way to the trucks a small enemy force ambushed everyone and fired off shots before they all got taken out. You took one in the chest as you climbed into the truck. (align:"====><=")[[Mom?]]

You've chosen to save the men that was a left after deciding the enemy had seen enough death today. You and the men ran without a second thought. So fueled by tunnel vision that you didn't see the enemy standing above you. Not until the bullets rained down on all of you. The last thing you saw in your life was everyone you saught out to save die because of the choice you made. (align:"====><=")[[Fields Of Fire]]

You decided to go back with your men. As you return to your camp an enemy force ambushed the camp. They targeted the trucks as the attacking army was loading up to leave. You take a bullet that leaves you laying in the truck with medics standing over you. The army coming in to releave the attacking forces managed to kill the enemy force before they could get too many shots out. (align:"====><=")[[Mom?]]

You looked to each of the men and shook their hands before walking off unafraid of what they might do to you. As you walked you tied a white cloth to your rifle and put it over your shoulder. Behind you a sound could be heard softly over the wind. You couldn't tell what it was, but you could swear that it was a hammer being pulled back on a revolver. That soft sound was followed by a sharp cracking noise roaring through the air. The pain that came brought you to your knees shortly before your face went into a puddle. The water slowly replaced the air in your lungs. Each breath was being met with pain. After hours of laying in the water you finally die covered in so much pain that you couldn't feel it anymore. (align:"====><=")[[Fields Of Fire]]

//This is the end of the prologue. This choice will start the real story.// Who do you choose? If you go back out into the fight on the front you could get more people killed than you would save. If you went back you could go and be behind the lines if you wanted. That or you could start a life here at home. Maybe you could do some good without seeing all of the death that the war would leave behind.