'To be a magician is the greatest honour, join us on the journey through land of the red, let us defend our final days and emerge victorious as a hero.' Such was written on a piece of paper, once a poster grabbing attention of all who passed by and now, old and torn laying on the ground. With a gust of wind giving it the support it needed, it was ready to fly away but was trampled by the foots of two men running.
"How long till the back-up gets here." Asked the junior who was falling behind due to exhaustion.
"…" the one in the front had determined gaze as he looked around the horizon, to the left was a tree not so far and to the left was a stone about the size of cow, up ahead at a vast distance was a mountain only slightly visible due to the fog that was surrounding it, realizing that there was no place to hide snatched away whatever hope there was left.
The lack of response from the senior was enough to discourage the heart of the junior, with a awkward smile plastered on his face he asked, "we are to die, aren't we?"
"Yes." A simple answer with no emotions and no expressions behind it.
"Why!? Why us! we came to help so why?"
"…"
Both kept running while trembling with each step barely keeping up with each other.
Upon reaching the tree, the two sat under the shadow without speaking a word to each other, facing opposite ends, each in their own train of thoughts. For a while they kept to themselves but when a slight vibration was felt through the ground the junior lost his patience
"Senior, may I ask you something?"
"…"
"I will take that as a yes, why did you become a magician?"
"… that is a hard question to answer."
"You must have had something in mind when you decided at least."
"I can feel the ground trembling; they are getting closer."
"We are going to die anyway so just answer the question!"
Dark shadow now visible at the horizon, the ground was shaking in a chaotic rhythm and the screeching noise felt like there were needles in the ears, their numbers were in hundreds, thousand even, they were neither men nor animals, born from the depts of the world with destruction of the world as their only goal, they are called the bringer of the end, The swarm of mindless foes drenched in dark blood, shouting at the top of their lungs, closing in on the mountain.
"Well, if you are not going to tell me your reason let me tell you mine! I became a magician because I was forced to be one ok! I do not want to die! I Don't care about that stupid honour." the junior said while leaning on the tree and hugging his knees with his head covered up by his arms.
"I wanted to be a superhero…"
The junior lifted up his head and turned in a blink of an eye refusing to believe his own two ears.
A sudden burst of light followed by a huge sound came from direction of the swarm, a massive explosion, encapsulating all of enemy troupes
Then a strong gust of wind caused by the explosion went by and yet the sound had yet to return.
"…"
"Wha-what happened?" the junior said while looking towards swarm of enemies, the dust clouds blocked the view and there were no noise nor vibrations that could indicate that the enemies survived.
The junior with the support of the tree got back up on his feet with an astonished look on his face as the dust slowly settled, he walked a few steps forwards gradually coming out of the tree's shade as he looked over the horizon.
A massive crater with filled with dark liquid bubbling due to the intense heat present was now visible.
"Is that-?" the junior covered up his mouth but the feeling of disgust took over and he threw up as he got on his knees.
The silence remained.
The senior stood up and walked over to the junior, he sat down with his legs cross, he said no words nor make a single sound for a while "I do not blame you for being in such a state, I do not blame our team for dying in battle due to their lack of experience and prowess, I do not blame the house of Grebe for sending us on a hopeless mission, for such is the life of a magician…" while speaking he moved his finger through the dirt on the ground resembling the words, 'You can quit now'
Up until now the junior gave no reaction to anything said, he didn't even react to his senior sitting in front of him but after reading 'you can quit now' he finally gave a reaction. Raising his head to see the face of his senior who had his short black hair covered in mud, the brown eyes despite everything still had a bit of warmness left and the back name badge still was clean and intact on the torn and dirty grey uniform.
The senior kept his gaze down towards the ground the entire time, junior had realized that it must be hard for senior as well.
A faint light among the mist near the mountains caught junior's eye.
a dozen of military vehicles was approaching them.
Not from pain nor from fear but the thought of finally being saved was the one the made junior pass out.
Even as the backup arrived the senior kept sitting on ground with his gaze downwards.
***
"Why did we send backup to the Grebes? we already have our hand full from our own problems!" in an unknown room a familiar voice was heard with their hand slamming the table. The room was full of awards on the left wall as well luxurious ornaments, and on the right, there were a few book shelves big enough to hold thousands of books each. In the middle of the room was a chair and table full of papers, the chair was turned backwards facing a huge window overlooking the navy-blue sky.
The familiar voice continued, "We have already being pushed back on the frontlines ourselves, sending out backup to others when we are in tight spot. I gave you the reports, did you not read them?"
The man in the chair took his time as he looked over the sky, he replied with a calm voice yet commanding voice "Were you able to recruit him?"
"Wha-"
"Were you able to recruit Augustus Vane? commander Sven Blight."