The Ghost of an Empire

Chapter Nineteen

The first battle of the Second Great War had started. And I was going to fight in it, for my  planet. And I fought alongside friends. I fought with Aika, for every hardship she had faced in the Gilt Order. I fought with Suuri, for every hardship he had faced in Zjarr's Government. I fought with Tym, for every hardship she had faced in Udara's Government. I fought for my adopted father. I fought for my mother. I fought for freedom. I fought for Udara. I fought for Vesi, because apparently this was my home planet. I fought for the Sayyora Solar System.

First, the four of us ran into the woods. We all had a good, long distance gun. We ran along with the Udara fighting front. We were headed towards the battlefield, the place were the Irinduines had gone. We ran with strength. We crashed through the bushes and leaped over streams. We ran through the soft rain, which the sleet had turned into.

And then we arrived at the field. The Irinduines were on the other side. We stood our ground. And then we charged until they were in firing range. People crouched behind trees and bushes. Behind missle launchers. Some people flew into the air.

For a moment it was silent. Then the first gunshot rang out, and then there were thousands.

The battle was crazy. There were basically three battles. The ground battle, flying battle, and the airship battle. The Irinduine airships were very outnumbered, because they hadn't had time to protect them. Me and my three friends soared into the air and joined the flying battle.

Bullets were whizzing everywhere. I quickly gave us a shield with my wristband, that Suuri had given back to me along with my pack. We flew around, finding a good place to start shooting. And then we did. The four of us shot at the same time, all hitting one Cyborg. One of the bullets got underneath his metal sheets, causing him to crash to the ground. Then, I shot a human Irinduine, who had been trying to shoot us with a big machine gun.

Suuri, who had the most powerful gun, actually managed to hit one of the three Irinduine airships in a vital place, and it fell down and exploded, killing a lot of Cyborgs and wounding people from both sides.

Aika. who was a very good shot, was hitting Irinduines all over the place. She was taking down a lot more than me. Me and Tym were both doing okay, but we had never had much battle training. We mostly worked side my side, in sync like we were always good at doing.

The battle was going well for the Udara people in general, and pretty well for us, too, until we were separated. Tym and Aika disappeared,  and me and Suuri had no idea where they were. We looked around for them quickly, called for them, but we couldn't find them. We were very distracted. And then I heard a gunshot that seemed louder than all the others.  I whirled around to look behind me, and there was Suuri, with a look of shock on his face. Blood was rapidly spreading across his lower chest. And like slow motion, he began to fall.

I almost fell with him. I managed to not to, and landed next to him on my wrists and knees. I saw that the bullet had gone straight through him, from his back to his chest.  As we stared at each other in shock, he began to say something.

"Er-is I l-"

And then he was silent.

He died in my arms, in the middle of a battle. The first battle of the Second Great War.

And now I did cry. I don't know if I cried silently, or if I was screaming. I only know that the tears were pouring from my eyes, covering my face, falling onto Suuri's forehead.

I don't know how long I sat there, but I didn't stop, or let him go, until the end of the battle.

And then I stood up. This was only the beginning of the war. And I was going to win it for Suuri.

+++

Hladan was there when we came off of the battlefield. He was with Aika, and Tym, who Aika was introducing as her "New best friend". Hladan was asking where Suuri was.

And then I came up to him. I said that I wanted to talk to him. And we took a walk through the forest.

"Your excellence, I'm extremely sorry to have to tell you this. But Suuri is dead."

Hladan turned white.  He wanted to say something, but I kept talking. "I want to thank you. I was one of Suuri's best friends. And I know that part of why he was such a good person" -I choked back a lump in my throat- "was because he was partly raised by you. He told me that you were like a father to him, many times. Thank you, so much. See, because he was so good, Suuri taught me  to be better. He taught me to trust people more. To open up and make more friends, because friendship is important. He taught me not to focus on work so much. I am going to start making music and art because of him,  I promise."

"And even his death had taught me something: To not take suffering lightly. I-I would like to apologize, your Excellency, for calling you those things that I did, those couple of weeks ago. I understand your reluctance and sadness now that I have experienced some myself."

I looked up at him. He looked down at me.

"Thank you, Eris of Udara", he said in his deep voice. "And now that I hear your words, I have decided that I will lead Zjarr to fight with Udara against the Irinduinde Empire."

I was speechless, but nothing needed to be said. We walked back towards the ships.

We had a war to win.

And.... Hey, everyone.

I hope you enjoyed my first novella! I thought it was really enjoyable to write, anyway, and I would like to know, what were your thoughts on this book!

I will be making a sequel, for sure, Eris' story, and that of many others, is not finished yet! I am not sure when I will begin writing it, but I expect quite soon! So, I will SEE YOU! In the next book. BUH-BYEEE!

yeah, that was a Markiplier reference. Sorrynotsorry!

ANYWAY. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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