The Commander

This War was righteous, there was no escaping that.

They had destroyed everything he loved.

They had taken his life and stripped it from all its worth.

Ever since the conflict began, the country had been split in two:

“The Glorious Revolutionary Army” and “The King’s Men”; both 

sides absolutely sure of their virtue and their reasons for fighting.

As the hostilities escalated, the land they so fervently fought for

had suffered the ravages of war and was almost unrecognizable,

its green fields scorched and its magnificent cities razed to the ground.

There were some who resisted this call to war however and, as the years

went by, some groups emerged which called for a ceasefire in an attempt

to, as they had put it, “save this land from its own people” but with their

limited influence and the unquenchable thirst for justice and retribution

both sides felt, there was no real chance of an armistice.

The hours before dawn were coming to an end and the camp had began

to stir. As his Captains went over the battle plans one last time,

the Commander surveyed the horizon that separated both armies and

felt a sudden calm washing over him. This was it, the final battle, what everything

had been building towards. Millions would die, yes, but the cause was just and

victory was within reach.

The Captains excused themselves to oversee the final preparations for the

march at dawn as a private entered the Commander’s tent with an urgent

letter from the High Command. He took the envelope and dismissed the soldier with

a wave of his hand. What could be so important in these last crucial moments

before the final battle? He wondered.

  

As a wave of disgust and rage washed over him he read the short message contained

in the letter over and over again. “Peace”, “Negotiations”, “Cease-Fire”. The words

sticking in his throat and refusing to go down. This was unacceptable, unthinkable,

there could never be peace with those monsters, those animals.

The first lights of the morning dawned on the horizon 

echoing the light emanating from the burning letter.

The battle would go on, the fight would be won.

They had taken his life and stripped it from all its worth.

They had destroyed everything he loved.

This War was righteous, there was no escaping that.