"Very few people choose war. They choose selfishness, and the result is war. Each of us, individually and nationally, must choose total love or total war."

  Act One: The War of Vidley

  Private Kyro Marchuk

  16th of August, 1844

  Two years before the War of Reclamation.

  "COMPANY! DOUBLE MARCH!" our Lieutenant yelled as he marched next to us the straps of our knapsack were digging into my shoulders as we began to jog the bottom of my feet were already aching from pain through the rough snow it was our harsh good morning in this army.

  We descended down a hill. Some men even tumbled down as we reached the bottom where the uniforms of Maurian soldiers hung from the trees.

  "COMPANY HALT!" The Lieutenant barked out. We all lined up in two ranks, panting and trying our best to remain as structured as possible.

  "SHOULDER ARMS!" The Lieutenant yelled as he shouldered his Saber. We shouldered our muskets the sound of wood and steel echoing in the woods.

  "PRESENT ARMS!". We raised our muskets toward the hanging clothes, and the silence that followed was thick until the order came.

  "FIRE!" The Lieutenant yelled, bringing his Saber down. I squeezed the trigger, and the line of muskets erupted into a large mass of black powder and bullets. I lowered my musket, holding my ears as they began to ring. Boris pulled me back in place as I gripped my musket back in place.

  "Good work, brothers..but we have much to improve." The Lieutenant said approaching and inspecting us.

  He scolded various men for various reasons until he stopped in front of me.

  "Marchuk. You posture." He said, pushing my back straight with the dull edge of his Saber before nodding and inspecting the rest of the men.

  "Company! Form column!" He ordered as we all shuffled and squeezed into our positions.

  He stepped in front of all before he whispered something to the musician, and then the bugle began to play the tune for recall. The Lieutenant made a sweeping motion forward. We began to march forward and back to base.

  At base, we did our daily duties, and by midday, a small platoon of us was called as bandit reports came in.

  We marched through the snowy woods, with light rain and fog covering our view. We took soft, hesitant steps forward.

  Boris was behind me, his eyes scanning the area before he whispered. "Why have we been sent and not the provincial guard?"

  "They say the provincial guard is too far.. We were the closest." I responded and took cover behind a tree looking to my left, trying to find the Corporal, but the fog was too heavy.

  Our Sergeant snuck up behind me, grabbing my shoulder as he whispered.

  "Move up in a crouch. Ten paces of separation with the line behind us. No. Loud. Noises. Keep line." He then let go of my shoulder and began to crouch walk toward another group of men.

  I nodded to Boris, crouching down as I took small steps forward. Every step into the snow felt like a gunshot.

  "Do you see anything?" I whispered to Boris, who shook his head, his eyes wide before he whispered.

  "What if our black powder has become damp? What, then?"

  "Then we use our bayonets." My eyes narrowed to a shadowy figure before us as I hesitantly raised my musket.

  "There.. forty paces to the left. I'm sure there's something." I whispered and raised my musket. Before I heard the crack of a musket, the bullet whizzed past me. I fell back on the snow scrambling for my musket before firing blindly into the area.

  "Cover that area!" The Sergeant yelled as he came running toward us and dragged me back. Boris went running for cover behind a tree.

  "Load your musket. Fire and move. And pray to whoever you worship your black powder doesn't get wet." He said before moving toward where the shots came from he raised his arm and invited us forward. I began to desperately reload my musket, tasting the black powder as I ripped the cartridge.

  We followed behind before one man a runner was sent to inform the right flank.

  "You, you, you, and you. Go forward with the rest, cover your brothers, and keep an eye out." The Sergeant pointed to me Boris and two other men.

  We jogged toward where the shots came from as we got closer and then erupted the boom of muskets that shrilled past us. Boris raised and fired his musket, and the loud cry of a man was clear. Then it went quiet.

  Boris retreated behind me as I went forward and raised my musket. I took a deep breath. Listening and watching. I heard a crack of a leaf toward my left. I nudged the man next to me as we approached the sound.

  Getting close, I watched three figures, one being dragged by the other two.

  "HALT! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" I yelled and watched as our reinforcements came in, aiming their muskets toward the enemy.

  The bandits turned around, and one began muttering something before he threw his musket toward us.

  "We ask.. we ask for you to tend to our father! He is hurt we sim-"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "COME FORWARD OR YOU WILL BE KILLED." The Sergeant yelled, aiming his pistol toward the bandit.

  The bandit who had spoken raised his hands in surrender. The other followed suit his musket clattering at our feet as he dragged the wounded toward us.

  The two standing were young. Almost identical. The one lying was older, his eyes showing pure rage.

  They were swiftly detained before the Corporal got closer to the youngest one.

  "Is there more?"

  "More? Of us? Only one." The bandit whispered, lowering his gaze.

  "Is he armed?" The Corporal asked once again.

  "I don't know. I swear I don't know, he broke off from us a day ago! He's the one who killed those civilians, not us! We're simple bandits we..it's me my father and my brother we don't kill. I swear on my life we don't kill if we.. we don't have to."

  The corporal sighed and looked to the Sergeant, who gave a quick nod. Me and Boris were approaching the musket they had thrown when the final bandit came out of the woods wielding an axe he slashed toward Boris, who just narrowly parried it with his musket.

  "Kyro! Kyro! Shoot!" He yelled. I raised my musket and fired at the man hitting his shoulder as he stumbled back and began to wince in pain.

  "I had hoped you aimed for the head.' Boris said, catching his breath as he cocked the hammer of his musket back and aimed toward the bandit of the ground who looked up at us and let out a low unsettling growl.

  "Him! We were hunting him before you came here! He's the killer! He's the maniac, not us!" The young bandit exclaimed while the other two simply stared.

  The Sergeant came forward and cocked the hammer on his pistol with one swift blow. The bandit who had just attacked us was dead, blood staining the snow around him, his eyes slowly sliding up

  "Sir..?" Boris whispered.

  "It's no different than taking the scales off a fish private. The scales are useless and to be disposed of. The organs.. some people have a use for them. Others don't." The Sergeant said before turning to the other bandits and saying.

  "Work is finished. We return, and you will be imprisoned and later charged for your crimes." He informed the bandits. The walk out of the forest was a silent and tense one. The bandits were silent, not daring to make a sound.

  It was an hour of marching until we encountered the Garrison regiments their uniforms cleaner their face prettier their attitude higher.

  "You actually caught them?" One said.

  "We actually do our job," I replied before the Sergeant pushed the bandits forward. The Garrison men took the bandits and nodded to us before we sighed and walked to our side of the fort.

  The sun was already down, and it was freezing cold. I walked into the barracks, which helped warm me up just slightly. I lay down on the bottom bunk Boris on the bunk above me.

  "We did well for our first mission, don't you think?" He said poking his head over the frame.

  "I assume so. It was a lot more firing in the direction where I hoped they were than actually seeing them." I said and closed my eyes, already trying to sleep.

  "But at least we actually shot something," Boris said and laid down.

  "Goodnight, Boris," I whispered.

  "Goodnight."

  The morning sun came, and we began another day of drill and duty. We cleaned. We drilled. We listened to every order and the bugle that sounded.

  We were called to the parade grounds where our company Captain stood. We lined up, and next to our formation were a detachment of Marines. Their captain is next to ours.

  "COMPANY! AT ATTENTION!" The Captain yelled and looked down at us from the stage as he took out a paper and cleared his throat.

  "Today is a grand day, brothers. Hetmanate Pavel Timofeyevich has given us an order. We of the second Nisdru Company of the nineteenth regiment of foot alongside a detachment of the Secound marines will deploy to the island of Vidley to combat a settlement of..." he looked up from the paper his face was nervous, a look we never saw on him. A man who was a veteran of the bloodiest war in our history for the first time showed a flicker of fear.

  The air was thick. Nobody spoke, but everyone was thinking the same. The Maurians have launched an invasion, perhaps with their allies now.

  "A settlement of inhumans. We are to proceed with extreme caution as the capabilities of the enemy are unknown. We will be transported to the island via the KTS Grey Foal. We will receive artillery support from the HKS Ironwake. The enemy is expected to be of a small number less than a hundred men. At thirteen hundred hours, we will embark and deploy." The captain said and then stepped off the platform.

  "COMPANY! You are to receive new uniforms completely, have your gun in perfect condition, conduct ONLY two shots at the shooting range, and wait for further orders. DISMISSED!"

  "Dismissed?" Boris said, slowly turning his head to me. There was a long moment when the square we had all formed didn't move and didn't breathe. It stayed stiff.

  Finally, someone took the first step out, and we all followed. I was rubbing my head before me and Boris made the line to receive our new uniform.

  "Inhumans?" I whispered and looked over to my staff Sergeant, who had a more confident face with a hint of a smirk.

  He heard my whisper and immediately stepped closer as he said.

  "I'll bet you my rations if their beheaded men. I fought some before in those same woods where we caught the bandits. Ugly fellows with large arms and legs, tiny feet, and larger hands, their faces right on their chest, but they're not as smart as us! One came charging at me, and then BLAM!" He said, shaping his hands as if he were firing a musket.

  "He fell to the floor with one shot to the chest." The Sergeant nodded to himself and walked off to instruct other people. I looked at Boris, who was looking back at me with a smile tugging at his lips.

  "Do you believe him?" I said.

  "I do. Hell, I saw one once, but as he said..dumb easy to kill. There's a reason you don't see many now.. and they never made settlements. Most I heard of one doing is a small spear." Boris said and stepped up the line as he tapped his chin.

  "I thought so. It is an island we could be seeing some reptilian tribe?" I whispered before the man behind us Burian interrupted.

  "I live in the swamp, and I can tell you reptilians are rarer than beheaded men now.. They only swim in pairs and underwater now. This is something..different. Father used to tell me that the only reason an animal makes a nest is because it feels confident. Whatever it is, they either think they can handle us. Or don't know we're coming for them at all."

  "My father came across proxies once. They and undead men one in the same. He said he was out on patrol looking for a Maurian forging party when, out of nowhere, a proxy came screaming at him. Ugly things..humans but not humans. Take whatever form the Mindeaters killed them in..the one my father killed, he was missing his whole lower jaw, and his right arm was just flesh. Took a well-placed shot and a bayonet to kill it." I said and shuddered at the story before I took more steps forward as the line shortened.

  "Proxies still are just mindless hives.. and mindeaters aren't that much smarter and really, really rare. The only reason your father fought one was because it was easy for a mind eater to find a corpse with how destructive that war was." Boris responded before grabbing his new uniform and nodding to me as he stepped out of line.

  I grabbed my new uniform and nodded to Boris as we made our way to the barracks where we fitted ourselves and went to the shooting range with only two rifle cartridges as instructed.

  I took aim first and squeezed the trigger hitting the red dot of the board.

  "With that aim, you could've been a rifleman," Boris said before aiming his musket and taking a deep breath.

  The shot ranged out, and his landed at the very edge of the board. I began to reload my musket, spitting out the paper cartridge from my mouth, and said.

  "Father gave me a rifle before I even knew how to shoot. My mother saved me from his drills at a young age, but once she passed away, I think my father truly lost his mind. He kept yelling about the Maurians coming back for another war, how I will be Kalmar's next general..How I must be prepared. Every day was training and shooting until I could perfectly hit a boar's head from 500 yards away with his old musket. These rifled make the job a lot easier." I said and took aim and once again hit the red center.

  "But don't feel so bad. At least your childhood was as normal as this place is." I said and watched him ram down the ball and place the cap on the nipple of the gun before he pulled the hammer back.

  "My father wasn't the..honorable veteran your father was. Mine avoided the draft fled to Kiprus..came home once it was all over. But I don't tell that to anyone but you. To everyone else, he was part of the Garrison militia." Boris said and fired his musket this one hitting closer to the center.

  "I joined simply to spite him. He wanted me to be a coward like him. I refused." Boris said and nodded before looking down the barrel of his musket.

  "Well, it's time for cleaning.. and then who knows what," Boris said as we took out the rags and gun grease and began our work.

  We cleaned for what felt like hours the silence of the mission weighing heavily on us until our Sergeant came to us. He tapped our shoulders and said.

  "Go get your medical examination."

  We stood up, slinging our muskets over our shoulders and walking to the long line there was to the medical quarters. Once there, we were tested in various ways before being weighed. We were deemed combat-ready.

  "COMPANY READY YOUR EQUIPMENT!" The Lieutenant yelled before the order was echoed by our Sergeant. The entire company dispersed into their respective barracks. I prepared my pack and pulled on my great coat before rolling another up and tying it to the top of my pack.

  We all emerged in line neatly from our barracks muskets and uniforms ready. It was around midday now.

  "COMPANY! FALL IN FOR MOVEMENT!" The Lieutenant yelled as we all made our way to the exit. The Captain finally came out of his quarters, his face grim and heavy.

  "We are to begin leaving. We will be arriving at the island in about.. an hour and a half. I expect you all to work with discipline." He said coldly before he raised his Saber and ordered.

  "COMPANY! FORWARD MARCH!"

  We began to march out of the fort. There were no drums, no loud parade, it was silent. As we marched through the city, civilians looked at us with worry and confusion. It was lucky for us that the port was close.

  The transport ship was already there.

  "COMPANY! HALT!"

  We all halted at the dock in a perfect column. The naval admiral stepped out. His men, dropping the docking board.

  "MARINES! YOU ARE INVITED TO MY SHIP!" He yelled, and the Marines marched forward and into the ship. The admiral then fixed his attention on us.

  "SECOND NISDRU COMPANY! YOU ARE INVITED TO MY SHIP!" And we began our march into his ship. Once aboard, we were allowed to do as we pleased.

  The faces of the older men were engraved in my mind. The captain, the lieutenant, the naval officers, and even my own usual courageous Sergeant all showed uncertainty. It only made me wonder what was to come.

  The ship pushed forward, and I, alongside many other men, almost fell on our bottoms.

  I watched the water below me so eerily calm compared to this knot in my throat. The uncertainty of it all only made me feel much. Much. Worse.