"Ugh, this is the dinner we've had every day of the last month and a half!" came the exasperated cry of a lone soldier sitting next to our friend. He was a peculiar man, and always had a particular way of describing things. "The cans our food comes in are like hockey pucks, but worse because they'll dent!" He reported to the rag tag group, kicking the can that contained rice and beans into the weeds. Our friend, August Schumacker III, looked at his compatriot and rolled his eyes. August had a very strict appearance. He wore a standard uniform, nothing fancy. He had a large button on his jacket collar however, a signifier of his rank. He was of short stature, not very intimidating. He had a milk bottle white complexion with a very light blond hair worn in a simple comb over haircut. His eyes, however, were unique. He had deep amethyst purple eyes, a unique feature in his family. The men had eyes the color of amethyst, and the women the color of fire opal. He was a married man, and loved his wife and three sons very much.
These Hessians, they wouldn't know a square meal if it walked up and kicked them in the crotch. August thought to himself, reaching into his pocket and trying to find something he'd been gifted by his father. An old and slightly dirty handkerchief. On it had the initials AS II, the initials of his grandfather. It meant a great deal to August, as he had a great deal of pride towards his grandfather. He was an officer in the Bavarian army during the Franco Prussian war, and was well known for his tough as nails leading style. If you didn't meet his standards, you'd be back home and shoveling crap on your dad's pig farm. August the third however, was a tough as nails sergeant and not an officer, but he knew he'd get the promotion to lieutenant sooner than later. "Y'know, Helmut, I can still report to your sergeant you're being an idiot and throwing your food around instead of eating it." Helmut looked over with venom in his eyes, but didn't say anything. "Now, I recommend you finish your bread and get some rest in, because we'll be going over the top tomorrow."
Helmut, full name being Helmut Bauer, sighed and slumped down onto the trench bench we'd built in the prior few weeks. "You're an ass, you know that right?"
"Also a sergeant of the Kaiser's army, and I'm not gonna let you be an insubordinate little mongrel in my squad, understand me?" came the swift and sharp response of the annoyed sergeant. "We're on the border of France and if we're in top form we can push into the heartland and take Paris by the end of the month."
Helmut rolled his eyes. "And we'll be home by Christmas, right after we fill the trenches back in." This remark was not appreciated by the sergeant.
"That will be the responsibility of the losing army, which will not be ours, now shut up and drink your beer, or wine, or whatever else they gave us instead." August snapped, and he wasn't going to respond to whatever he said next. Instead, he went to sleep. He didn't know what it was, but something made him wake in the middle of the night and reach for his rosary beads to pray. "Most merciful God, I pray to you in this time of great trouble and strife. I try to keep your word in my heart and live by it in my life. I work hard every day, as well as on the sabbath when you deem it for us to rest, and I do not do as you may wish of me. I have killed innocent men, and have had to steal and pillage too. I beg of you forgiveness, for these things I have done and the people I have hurt. In your name I pray, amen." He finished and looked up on the trench parapet. There was a Frenchman? Well, at least he thought it was one, he couldn't see too well because of the light around him making him a silhouette. "Hallo?" the sergeant said, only to receive no response. The figure just looked at him and nodded, throwing him what looked like a piece of paper. It was crumpled, and not really worth keeping it.
"Keep it" came a deep booming voice, "if you come face to face with death, read it aloud and you shall see salvation." he continued. August was surprised at the volume, and was about to ask what the figure meant, but it disappeared before he could. The stunned sergeant opened the crumpled note. He read it to himself, still shocked that his men didn't hear any of what just happened. It was rather long.
