Today was no normal day, usually it started the same way, get up, put armour on, scare soldiers out of their bunks, but today, it was different. They were worried, all worried, they had spent the last week preparing for this battle, stuck in the castle, training, keeping fit, but nothing could dispel the sense of fear.

I in fact, was the only one who could get any sleep, a few hours yes, but sleep none the less, it was after 2 hours of trying to get back to sleep that I decided I would try cheering up my men. It took me another 5 minutes to get up though, we were tired, all tired, I stumbled over to the mirror in my small room, looking at myself in, wondering if I would survive the day, wondering if any of us would survive the day.

I looked at myself thoroughly, taking in every detail of myself, in case this was the last time I looked at myself, my short, jet black spiky hair, the scar running diagonally across my face, starting somewhere next to me left eye, going across the bridge of my nose and ending up at my right cheek. My stubble, it had always won over the women, still does, and of course, that smile, my mother had always told me my smile was a winner, she use to say to me, "Dante, I just can't help but being happy around you, you know, damn that smile of yours."

But his mother wasn't around anymore, in fact, none of his family was, the had been brutally murdered by the evil plague that swept across this land, intent on destroying all, he could remember their deaths, he had been hiding under the sofa when it happened. They had burst through the door, knocking everything over, I can still remember the feeling of absolute terror I felt, I was only a small child after all, they grasped my mother, father, and sister and started hacking at them, with those swords, twisted pieces of black metal, built with the purpose to kill, and make it painful. I had watched as they stabbed, hacked, and ripped at my family, tearing of flesh and meat, cracking open their bones, splattering the room in a bloody mess, when they had finally left I was crawled out of my hiding place, I did not cry, I was past the point of crying, I felt no remorse either, because from that point on, I knew what I must do. So other the many torn body parts of my family, standing in a pool of their blood, I made a vow, a vow that I would kill every one of these fucking monsters. Oh how my family would be proud of me.

Enough of the past though, it only made me sad. I stepped back from the mirror and began to suit up. Ever since I had become a captain in the royal army, I had been issued with a special suit of iron armour, it consisted of thick metal plates covering my back and chest, thick leg armour and knee caps, large, pointed iron boots, slightly less heavy armour along the arm to allow movement, and a pair of large, scaled shoulder plates. I had refused the helmet though, I wanted to look those bastards in the eyes as I drained their life from them, I wanted me to be the last thing I saw as they died.

I walked out of my room into the main barracks and looked around me, all I saw were tired, scared men, sitting quitly in their own sorrow, I couldn't stand this, if we were going to die, we should at least die with a smile on our lips.

"Come my brothers, we have a battle upon us and you sit he in silence, why not make the most of our time?"

"Ha, like you and that Italian women yesterday night Cap'n?"

"Aye Sergeant, not that I've seen you with a women in a while, in fact, I don't think I've seen you with one at all."

That set the mood, for the next hour we laughed, we made jokes, drank, and gambled, for this could very well be our last hour, and we were determined to make the most of it.

And then it came, the call for war, we all fell silent, all knowing what this ment, we could hear the screams as the women and children were evacuated through the underground caverns. None of us could move though, were too shocked, did we really want to do?

And so I said, "Come my brethren, let us show these pitiless monsters what war is!"

"Aye sir!" They all shouted in unison.

We grabbed our weapons, me with my blade, heartshade, a 1 and a half handled blade, long, light, and sharp, very sharp.
After my men had got all their equipment together, we moved out. We made our way slowly through the streets, full of frightened citizens running in the opposite direction, all across the city we could hear them, and they should run, for these monsters were merciless.

We arrived at the front gate in less than 15 minutes, we were expected to be at the front, for our unit was the best. The king himself had asked us to be there, but of course it was only to buy time for him to run through the caverns with all the others who weren't fighting, not taking part in this battler like he should. I spat on the cobblestone at the thought of him.

It was not long till we were ready, lined up behind the gate, and then, after a final fanfare from the trumpets, they opened, revealing a scene of utter despair, a burned and ruined landscape lay in front of us, and right there, a mile from the city, was a massive horde, a horde come to kill.

And we ran.

We ran right towards them, an army of a thousand, verses a horde of hundreds of thousands, we all knew the odds, but we were stubborn bastards, we cared not, we had nothing much to live for, and so we ran.

And they ran.

Screaming, whooping, howling, they ran, I bit my lip as I charged, thinking if I might survive, I doubt it.

And then we clashed, my first swing decapitated 3 of them at once, spraying blood everywhere, another 10 took their place, so I decapitated, disembowelled, and simply scythed my way through the mass of bodies, it was an orgy of blood, it made me happy, to be in my element, slicing, stabbing, cutting. I was happy, so happy I laughed, we all laughed, laughed at the simpleness of war, at the fact half of us were dead already, the fact that we, were losing.

And that's when it happened, a great big beast, obviously a general, lumbered up to me, I tried repeatedly to hit it, but the monster effortlessly deflected my sword each time, and then, as it was stabbing, something happened, the world quietened, slowed down, and then a rushing noise. It had distracted me and I was stabbed, in the right side of the stomach, and then a flash of white and nothingness.

'Is this what it's like to be dead?' I wondered, 'no, if I was dead there would be nothing.'

And then the blinding white melted away.

I was in a strange place, near a forest, and then I heard a scream, and saw, in front of me a grey pony, no pegasus?

And then blackness once more.

To be continued...