There is a military quote that stuck with me. A single casualty is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic. What is the value of a man? On paper, nothing. In the heart of strangers, nothing. It is only when we can see ourselves as the ones who have lost that we can finally understand. This emotion granted to us humans, empathy. I, Erich Von Stapel, have seen the deaths of hundreds of thousands of my own men. Men who had families, who had wives waiting for their return, kids who yearned for their father's embrace. The faces of the slain soldiers' families are ones that I would never forget. I sometimes have to disconnect myself from reality to somewhat blind myself from this feeling that the moon gave me. I remember a tale my mother used to tell me. How the Aeon of Conservation was born out of the will of all humans and Aeons combined. How Conservation shielded the world from a devastating blow from the Aeon of Guilt. An unstoppable attack meant to blow everything up. She told me that even if things do seem like they are going to go south, if everyone decides to pull together, a force that is unshakable will rise.
When I raised my hand to command my soldiers to charge into battle, why is it me that dictates when a person should die? Why is it that I'm responsible for this emotion? No matter how hard a general tries to desensitize himself from the cries, he will never forget the anguished faces of the slain. I don't know whether to call this empathy bestowed on me a curse or a blessing.
What was I doing? I was bound for execution. Then a sparkling blue light swooped in and saved me. That's right, I got captured, I capitulated, I lost. My responsibility as the general of the Umstürzlers was supposed to be taken.
I opened my eyes to the familiar room I grew up in as a kid. I picked up the guitar I always had in my room and tried holding down the strings. My rough and thick-skinned fingers were barely able to control the strings before Erika burst into my room, telling me to go eat breakfast instead of playing the guitar.
"Jeez, even after decades, you still are the bedrotting kid you always were. Now hurry up and get out of bed."
It had been a few weeks ever since the war ended. The city had grown silent due to most men being sent off for conscription. The emperor had signed a new conscription law requiring everyone between the ages of 17-55 to be conscripted into the military. Those who could use loxes would be taken into the military no matter how old they were. The women were left to run the businesses and factories their husbands had. Kids were stuck in a difficult situation. Most families in Wien sent their kids abroad to Fukviyu or other neighboring countries. Even if no one said anything, everyone knew another war was about to break out.
This one, even more bloody than the last.
Brother, when will the spillage of blood of us Wienians cease? Have we not suffered enough? Has our country not been through enough? Why are you siding with the Royal Family to drag us through another bloody conflict?
Erika knew exactly what would occur if the Luvian Empire and Fukviyu fought. Wien would be the battlefield. Due to this fact, we planned on escaping Wien to try to seek refuge in the neutral entity of the Royal Academy. If we made it to Nautilus and sought immunity from the Academy, then we wouldn't need to fear any assassination threats. The only problem was that Wien was currently under martial law, and thus entering and leaving was completely forbidden.
Then I remembered that crack in the walls that led to the graveyard. The place I used to play my songs at night. No soldiers usually patrolled that area. We could sneak out under the watchful eye of the moon. But then the issue of borders arose. All borders were closed, and making it to Nautilus without using any of the main roads would be extremely dangerous. Selina was also still injured, and it would be painful for her to walk such a distance. Erika and I took out a map, and she shook her head. The only way to Nautilus was by going through the Forest of Spirited Trees.
The distance from Wien to Nautilus through the forest was roughly 230 km. The distance itself was rough but not the worst part. The issue was that the forest itself was said to be plagued with mystical beings that guarded it. The foliage was dense, and trees blocked out all sunlight. Navigating through the forest without a spirit guide would just be asking to get lost in the forest. Not to mention, those who had gone into the forest never returned. From what Erika had told me, letters were censored heavily and getting outside help would be impossible. We didn't have any choice but to go through the Forest of Spirited Trees.
I told Selina about it, and she just nodded, saying that she trusted my judgment. So when dusk fell, I strapped Selina onto my back and held a bag of supplies in front of me.
Erika, holding onto some bags herself, asked me if that wasn't heavy.
Selina looked away into another direction, and I said that military drills were much more difficult and that lifting this was a piece of cake.
As I had guessed, there were no guards around the cracked part of the wall, and we snuck out of the city without anyone noticing. Standing in front of all the gravestones, I couldn't help but straighten my back and raise my hand to my head. It was my last show of respect for the fallen soldiers of Wien. Selina, who was on my back, also raised her bandaged arm to her head to salute the fallen soldiers. After a moment of silence for the soldiers, we continued on our way towards the forest.
I couldn't help but constantly look behind me to see if anyone had noticed us yet. It was due to a significant part outside the capital being flat terrain. Our ancestors had chosen this place to start the civilization due to its geographical advantages. The rivers protected us, and the flat terrain gave us plenty of time to spot the enemy. But this very advantage was making me anxious. Anyone at any time could look over the wall and spot us immediately.
"Is it uncomfortable, Selina? I could shift you up a little bit more if you want to?"
"No, it's alright. It's pretty inefficient to walk like this, right?" She asked back.
"You don't need to worry about it."
"It would be easier if I did this."
I could feel her body heating up and her chest pressing harder against my back for support.
And then, with her crystalline loxes, she created two sleds made out of crystals.
"Get on."
Erika and I sat down, and suddenly the sleds began to pull themselves forward. It was indeed much faster than walking and would get us out of view. But Selina's body grew heavier as the sled continued to pull us. She was expending her loxes to get us away as quickly as possible from Wien.
I looked behind me to get a look at her face to see if she was alright.
"Don't look at me right now!" She yelled out, panting.
We continued for a few hours on the sleds until we finally saw the forest in the distance. Behind us, the sun was rising, and it was soon dawn. The crystalline sleds then shattered, and Selina's head fell limp onto my shoulder.
Erika said that she had fallen asleep. Most likely due to lox exhaustion. She did bring some lox stones she had bought not so long ago from a wandering trader. I shook my head and said it would be best to let Selina get some rest. If she were to wake up, she would force herself to help us again.
Erika then looked at me with a sad expression. I knew the day would come, but I didn't know it would come that soon. Days prior to our escape from Wien, our mother had grown incredibly bedridden. Years of working as a nurse told Erika everything that would happen. Mom would let out this wheezing, as if trying to gasp for air. We stayed with her the entire night that day, and she left us by the morning.
"But I think Mom was happy in her final moments. She smiled knowing that her son was finally back. That he was holding her hand again."
"Even though our mother had lost all of her memories and her ability to think rationally, she recognized you after years. Something inside of her told her that you were important to her. That day she found you outside on the streets with Selina, she knew the instant she saw your face that you were her son."
"I'm sorry, Erika, that I wasn't here more during her last days."
"I think she would be proud of you."
We both smiled and continued on, knowing that our mom would watch over us.