{"sf1_id":220073,"sf2_id":"YnLZrV3e","title":"Soldier's journal (Artemisia - Prologue part 1)","author":"Onissarle","words":721,"posted_at":"2011-02-06T19:09:00.000Z","tags":["Journal","Zion","artemisia"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/220073-soldier-s-journal-artemisia-prologue-part-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/YnLZrV3e","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/0b/66/0b66d0e2-304d-4700-b2d3-9cab2a2cb71e","description":"","content":"\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; I was a Sergeant then, and not long into my stripes, when we were pushed to the front lines. \u0026nbsp;My lieutenant had died some weeks earlier, the healers had been too few and far between to save him from the festering of his wound. \u0026nbsp;The men's spirits had faltered without him and I was barely holding the squad together in the dismal days and chilling nights we held those worthless ruins.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; We hunkered in our trenches, crowding around torches that flickered in the freezing drizzle. \u0026nbsp;Thankful for what little warmth they offered. \u0026nbsp;In our complacency, we thought the enemy a day's march to the east and we didn't know we were under attack until it was too late. \u0026nbsp;Soldiers poured into our outer trenches and we were forced to fall back towards what remained of the town's walls.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; There we regrouped and pushed back. \u0026nbsp;After the initial confusion, it had become clear we outnumbered our attackers and without the element of surprise, they quickly lost the advantage. \u0026nbsp;Ankle deep in mud I stood, shouting orders and directing archer fire when the world seemed to turn on its head. \u0026nbsp;My own men came charging back towards me from the murky night, stumbling and crying out in their panic.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; I managed to grab the arm of a soldier as he tried to half run, half crawl past me. \u0026nbsp;Pulling him to his feet, I shook him to his senses and demanded a report. \u0026nbsp;His eyes half crazed, he stared at me for a moment and said just one thing through his chattering teeth.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \"It's the demon! \u0026nbsp;The demon has come for our souls!\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; I didn't feel the man pull from my grip, nor see which way he fled. \u0026nbsp;My body felt suddenly numb and the sounds of battle muted as I became transfixed on a vast sword, draped in gore, that was slowly sliding down the muddy bank towards me. \u0026nbsp;In its wake stood a monster. \u0026nbsp;The faltering torch-light danced off red armour, highlighting the flash of blades and the horns of the beast as it stood atop the rise. \u0026nbsp;With every step it took forward, men died. \u0026nbsp;I swear by the Goddess herself that I saw a man run it through with a spear, only to be batted away like a bothersome insect. \u0026nbsp;Without so much as missing a step, it pulled the spear from its own body and drove it through the prone soldier's chest, staking him to the ground.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; The Demon of Ashlai, she had truly come for us all. \u0026nbsp;I stood, unable to move as I watched the brave and foolish charging her monstrous form. \u0026nbsp;They fell, some screaming and some in silence, into the mud. \u0026nbsp;She fought as if possessed but in her eyes I did not see the madness I expected, what dwelt there was only death and in that heartbeat I believed it all. \u0026nbsp;Every story and frightened whisper, The souls of the fallen seem to writhe in her bloody armour and in my mind, I heard their screams.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; She came ever closer, walking, running and even seeming to dance through the carnage she scattered all around her passage. \u0026nbsp;As she drew near I heard her voice drifting to me over the crying of the wounded. \u0026nbsp;Reciting the same chant over and over to herself as she cut down those too slow to flee her path.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Goddess, who shines your light upon us,\n\nSet free those who fall before your gaze.\n\nGrant to me your blessings,\n\nand let their strength become my own.\n\nThrough their death, I am reborn.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; She prayed. \u0026nbsp;That thing prayed to the Goddess to bless what she did. \u0026nbsp;I had no words for it and no thoughts beyond the cold fear that had consumed me. \u0026nbsp;A fear so deep it felt as if the world was crushing my soul. \u0026nbsp;My report said I sounded the retreat and withdrew what was left of my men from the battlefield, but in truth, I ran. \u0026nbsp;I ran in blind fear, giving no heed or thought to my men. \u0026nbsp;We all ran together, like frightened animals, into the night.\n\n\u0026nbsp;\n\n_- From the journal of Captain Aelos Ferriere_\n  \n  \n\n"}