CHAPTER 28: NO CHOICE

Heath’s eyes widened yet at the same time his body began to freeze up as he couldn’t process what had just gone down and what he should do.

"Dustin!" he screamed, lunging toward the corpse that now lay on the ground.

He got on his knees, holding Dustin in his arms as he hopelessly tried to shake him back to life.

"Wake up you motherfucker else we’re going to die! This isn’t the time to sleep!" he said out loud and received no reply.

All he got were the corpse’s lifeless eyes staring back at him.

Gritting his teeth, he looked around frantically to spot the enemy and the person behind the attack, but he didn’t see anyone.

No one was there.

All the knights and mages present around them were already engaged in their own battles and couldn’t possibly have attacked them.

His ears began to numb down, a low ringing noise replacing the screams and clanking of the battlefield.

"Get the fuck back here!" another knight said, holding Heath by his shoulders and shaking him back to life.

Blond hair and a body that was almost reaching his forties. He was Loren, one of the knights they were sent here with.

"R-Right," Heath replied. He then looked back at the corpse he was holding as a visible sadness grew in his eyes.

He then put his hands on the corpse’s eyes and closed them, finally putting it to rest.

"Did you see who did this?" he asked Loren.

"No, none of us—"

BANG!

Loren’s body crashed into the ground before he could finish his sentence, a similar hole punched on the side of his head with blood beginning to come out of it.

All color had drained from Heath’s face. Which was then replaced with an intense feeling of anger.

Or perhaps rage would be the better word for it.

"Who the fuck is it?! Come out you son of a bitch!" he screamed, holding his sword high and looking around in all directions.

BANG!

This time it was one of the archers who hit the ground, his bow still in his hand. The loudness this time was greater, however.

Which meant whoever was attacking them had moved closer.

"What the fuck is happening? Is this some mage?" one of the knights screamed, his expression full of terror.

BANG!

Again. As the loud crackling sound fell onto their ears their hearts were filled with terror.

They looked around only to see another archer tumbling to the ground.

"STOP HIDING AND COME OUT FOR ONCE YOU MOTHERFUCKER PIECE OF SHIT!" Heath screamed at the top of his lungs.

Yet it didn’t amount to much. All he could manage was looking around in all the cardinal directions, turning cold with the surety that he would find the one who was attacking them.

It did not happen, however. After all, none of them actually wanted to see the "monster".

The most terrifying enemy is the one you can neither see nor sense.

There was no one on the battlefield who understood this fact better than them at this moment.

Panic started to spread. This was not a fair fight.

They told themselves it was a ghost. A monster they couldn’t see.

It was a simple excuse to keep them from going crazy.

If we could just see him, we could fight back.

But a worse thought started to creep into their minds.

Sometimes, you can see the enemy fine and it doesn’t matter.

Sometimes, you are just weak.

And knowing you can do nothing to stop what is coming... that is the purest form of terror.

The fact that it was more than just a crazy theory was proven when they saw him.

The figure of a lone man moving rapidly toward them. Their eyes widened, all of them trying to decide what to do but not being able to come up with an answer.

Heath held his sword high and changed into an offensive posture yet did not do anything. Could not do anything.

BANG!

BANG!

The last remaining two archers were down as well. One of the knights started to lose his mind.

"T-This is useless! I’m out of here!" he said, throwing away his sword and making a run for it.

He could only take a few steps forward before the sound was heard yet again, forcing him to hit the ground face-first.

Heath looked at the man who was rapidly approaching them, and a million things raced in his mind.

A wave of pure, hot rage washed over him, drowning out the fear.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped his sword. Every instinct, every fiber of his being as a knight screamed at him to charge. To avenge his fallen brother, to cut this man down for what he had done.

He took a half-step forward, his body ready to explode into motion.

His eyes met the man’s across the field. And what he saw made him break into a cold sweat.

The man was... smiling. There was a grin on his face as he kept killing people one after another.

He had been enjoying this.

It was at this point that Heath understood how hopeless of a situation he had been put into.

It wasn’t a matter of if he would die or not, it was of how long till the strange sound hit him. Would he be the next one right away? Or after the knight next to him? Or perhaps he could kill them both at once.

The only thing he knew was that he was going to die. Therefore, since he was going to die anyway he raised his sword up in the air, looking directly at the man.

Then with a clank sound the sword dropped to the ground, with Heath bending his legs and sitting on his knees soon afterward and raising his hands up in the air.

I can’t die, he thought to himself. I’m sorry my friend... I am choosing the second option... I can’t come with you.

The thought was as clear and certain as the sky above. He would be dead before he took one step. Another body on the grass, just like Dustin’s. Just like Loren’s. A pointless death.

It wasn’t as if the rage within him had died out.

He wanted to kill this man. He wanted to make him pay. But what good would that do? What would his death accomplish?

He thought of Dustin’s wife and his little daughter waiting for him. He thought of his own son and wife.

An image of their faces flashed in his mind. Then he imagined them receiving the news. Two husbands. Two fathers. Gone.

For what? For pride? For a foolish charge against a man who could kill them with a sound?

For fighting for a country that treats them worse than humans if they don’t meet their criteria?

One of us has to go back, he thought to himself. One of us has to be there to raise them. It has to be him. I’m sorry it had to be, Dustin. I’m sorry.

"I promise I’ll raise her like my own child," he mumbled to himself, looking down at the ground.

To die meant failing his family. It meant leaving his children without a father, just like Dustin’s were now.

There was no choice. Not really.

Heath’s shoulders slumped. The anger drained out of him, leaving behind only a bitter and hollow emptiness.