CH2: Past Life (2)  

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CH2: Past Life (2)

One month.

One month we fought at this battlefront.

Everyday I continued to ask myself why we ever sought war. What was the point of it all?

I saw as our advance broke into the city proper.

We were the attackers… the aggressors… the invaders.

Our advance brought war to the civilians. They had no part in the conflict, merely collateral, yet they bore the brunt of it.

In my first month as a soldier, I experienced many things.

I heard bones smashed for the first time.

I saw limbs torn from bodies before my very eyes.

I smelt the festering flesh as well as cooking one. Imagine, rotting flesh on one side and burning flesh on the other. What a sight!

I saw families crushed under buildings and saw flesh stuck to walls.

Our superiors told us to think of our enemies as numbers… a statistic. We were not 'killing', we were 'neutralising' and 'eliminating'.

They dehumanised our enemies, telling us to call them 'targets', 'tangoes' and whatnot. All just to make it easier to kill… to justify the killings... to allow themselves sleep at night.

Yet, at the end of the war, I watched these same people break down. Once all the 'excitement' died down, they relived their actions in the war everyday in their dreams.

Grown men wept!

Men shed no tears…? Haha. What bullocks!

I saw grown men… strong men weep as miserably as I've ever seen.

The same people who justified the 'elimination' of 'tangoes' and accept the inevitable 'collateral' damage, began to experience shame and regret.

Eventually, a few of them took their lives.

Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS) they called it.

Yes, we won the war. But at worth cost?

What was the point of the war? Why were all these lives lost?

For our countries? For the people? Or for the ideologies of men most of us didn't even know?

To you reading this book, I tell you from one who has experienced it firsthand, if you have not experienced what I experienced… seen what I saw… know what I know, then you have no business wishing for war.

Take my word for it. Very few good ever comes from it. Mostly just pain, suffering and death!

…

I'm sorry.

It seems I lost myself.

Those darks days still cast more of a shadow on me than I realise.

Please allow me to get back on point.

-

After the one month war, aside all the harrowing experiences, I discovered something perhaps disturbing.

I was good at being a soldier.

Yes, I didn't like it, but it was a fact I couldn't deny.

I didn't know if it was the instinct to survive that drove me, however, I took to the battlefield like fish to water.

Even as the world was crumbling around and within me, I remained steadfast to complete my duties.

Eventually, I earned the attention of the Lieutenant who led my platoon.

I, a mere corporal, was taken under the wing of this Lieutenant.

The war lasted three years.

In these three years, I shared the battlefield almost everyday with my Lt. We saved each other more times than I could count, with him claiming I save him far more times than he did I.

However, I had stopped counting long ago. I was merely glad I had a friend I could count on… a big brother I could look up to in this hellish place.

When the war was over, I received numerous accolades for my actions and was promoted to a Sergeant after the three-years war.

My Lt became a Captain.

He was given his own unit to lead. So, he convinced me to stay on.

This was a great opportunity.

Due to our successes in the war, my Cap was asked to form a small elite unit to act as vanguard in future wars, much like we did in the past war.

It was unlikely the unit would see much action because the country was recovering from the war. So we saw it as a cushy job where we received the best training and pay within the Army.

In truth, many of us wondered how the Cap pulled off getting control of the unit.

A unit like that would normally be under a Brigadier General or a Colonel, maybe a Lieutenant Colonel if the person showed promise.

But a Captain? This was unprecedented.

However, thinking about all that was above our paygrade.

For the most part, the unit functioned as we expected. There was hardly any conflict our country was involved in so we hardly saw any action. However, we kept training and training.

Eventually, we were called on a few missions, which we successfully carried out.

One such memorable mission was when the daughter of the president was abducted.

Our unit was in the closest position to respond, so we were called in to rescue her no matter the cost.

The hostiles had carried her over our borderlines into neighbouring territory.

There were tensions with our neighbour at the time so we had no choice but to sneak into the country. We were effectively behind enemy lines at that moment.

We fought through numerous enemies and we finally got to the 'princess in distress'.

Then, we found out that the group responsible for this was another set of ideological fools calling for war without actually ever experiencing what war was. Just the romanticised nonsense fed to them by the media and story/history books.

They wanted a war between their country and ours, to decide the 'true hegemon' of our continent of the world.

What a ridiculous reason!

So they kidnapped the daughter of the president, knowing that it would spur the man to conflict to recover his daughter, as well as spur our people to conflict to defend our 'national pride'.

The worst part of it is that I knew that their plan would work.

We had to get the president's daughter back home.

So we quickly made our way back.

Unfortunately, the country's military found out about our presence.

During one of the exchanges with a pursuing unit, the president's daughter, Annabelle, and I were split from the group.

I received orders on Comms to get Annabelle over the border while the others in my unit drew the hostiles away.

Annabelle and I had to blend into the populace to evade the pursuing unit and bide our time to make it over the border, which wasn't going to be an easy feat considering the simmering tensions between the two nations.

A week into our journey, we slipped up and were noticed by our pursuers. Left with no choice, I had to kill all our pursuers and I ended up with some injuries.

The injuries themselves were mild, however, they slowed us down significantly. Annabelle stepped up to help me.

This was a surprise to me.

Through the previous week, both of us hardly said any words to each other beyond necessary. I was a soldier and she was a VIP I had to get to safety. That should have been our relationship. However, after I became injured, things changed without the two of us realising it.

For the next three weeks, we supported each other to get over the border. During that time, we had to pretend to be a couple to evade suspicion. We unavoidably had some intimate moments.

It was… difficult at first, but we soon got used to it that we did some things instinctively.

This was a dangerous thing. She knew it… as did I. But surviving was the only thing on our minds then.

This broke the ice between us and we got talking. We got to know each other well. Too well.

I was playing with fire and I knew it.

But like a moth, I couldn't help being attracted to the flames.

By the time we crossed the border, I asked myself if we were 'pretending' to be a couple

I felt lost. We both were.

However, we had to return to our normal lives.

I was a mere soldier and she was a princess I could never reach.

Our return successfully put an end to the war preparations on both sides. The war was thankfully avoided.

I went back to my normal life.

A year later, the Captain called me.

"You're being reassigned." He said.

When I asked why, he replied, "The higher-ups want to form a small elite group who will carryout missions behind enemy lines. The main duty of this unit is to put a stop to war before it can ever start. Unfortunately, I can't join the team because of my rank. So, I recommended you for the unit. To prevent war... this is a dream I believe we both share."

"I won't let you down, Cap." I replied with enthusiasm.

For the next two years, I was overseas, doing all the dirty things imaginable to 'prevent' war. And before I knew it, I was leading this small elite team of ten men.

Then, I returned home.

I received news that Captain, now a Major was getting married.

I had to return home.

The Major was waiting for me as our team landed in the Air base.

He hugged me excitedly.

"I keep hearing good news about your team. I'm proud of you."

During our time abroad, most of us kept working due to our patriotism. We didn't actually know if anything we were doing made a difference.

Hearing Cap say these words meant a lot to me. They were the words of validation we all wanted. It especially mattered when it came from someone who I respected and looked up to.

The Cap took me out.

When we got talking, he told me about his fiancée.

"I have a lot to thank you for, Alex. I wouldn't have my position if it weren't for you. And as it turned out, I wouldn't have a wife if it weren't for you."

"What are you talking about, Cap? Everything you have is because of your hard work. If anything, I should be the one thanking you."

Cap smiled.

"It's not Cap anymore. It's Major. Neither are you a Sergeant anymore."

"You'll always be my Cap. And I your Serg."

"You're hopeless."

"Haha."

"You know… my marriage. It was an arranged marriage." He said while scratching his chin. "I belong to the Belair Family. Since I hadn't married at my age, they forced a political marriage on me. I thought I would fight the arrangement but I couldn't when I met the lady."

Cap blushed.

At the time, I didn't know about the Belair family but I did understand the Cap's reaction.

"Ho-ho, Cap. You fell in love? That's a surprise."

"Indeed I did." Cap admitted. "but that isn't the biggest surprise. I never thought the girl my family arranged would be her."

Cap showed me a picture of his fiancée.

It was Annabelle!

"Cap…"

"You know, she still remembers you. She wants to thank you for that time."

"I shouldn't…"

"Please, do it for me. This is the first thing she asked of me, I don't want to disappoint her."

"Okay."

We chatted for a while and I returned to the base.

Sigh… I couldn't tell you how I felt.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't sad.

I checked up the Belair family.

Turns out it was one of the 'noble' families in the Federation. The Family's wealth and influence put it at the top five in the entire country.

'Of course only a background like that is worthy of the president's daughter.' I remember thinking this.

The next day, I left the base to meet up with Annabelle and Cap.

I reached the café. I could see them through the window.

A handsome young man from an influential family and the president's darling daughter… it was picture perfect.

I remember a tear dripping down a corner of my eye. Only then did realisation dawn on me.

I froze on the spot.

At that moment, I received a message. There was an urgent mission!

I felt like I was given an amnesty. I ran away without meeting them.

Just like I gave up on my dream as a military novelist, I gave up on this dream I knew could never become reality.

So, I threw myself into my missions.

[A.N: If you're enjoying the book, please leave a review, vote with power stones and golden tickets. Gifts are also very welcomed. Also, please check out my other book Soldiers of Time. Thanks.]