Fragments Gallery
Lost Journey: Last Moments
Blood seeped freely from a wound in my side. I groaned and shifted slightly, trying to press my hand more firmly over the hole. I was rewarded with a fresh spurt of gore flowing past my fingers. I gave up and lay back feeling my strength desert me. After a short time the pain went away. I knew then that I was dying. I'd suspected that I wouldn't survive the night, but still a scrap of hope had held on. But I'd just lay there for far too long with my life oozing away between my fingers.
There was no hope any more. I'd been a soldier long enough to know that.
In the embrace of the newfound silence I thought back on my life, on the choices that had led me here to die. Every choice had made so much sense when I had made it, I had been sure I was walking the right path. But now looking back, I wasn't so sure. So many choices made in the heat of the moment which if made differently may have led somewhere other than this battlefield.
Still I wasn't sure if I regretted the life I had chosen.
Here on this field I had been fighting to defend my country. I had been fighting to protect those that I loved. I had done what I could to ensure their safety.
It was just bad luck that I had happened to meet that monster on the field. My eyes closed as I thought back on the last hours of my life.
The roar of battle surrounded me as I blocked a ferocious swing from one of the rebels on my shield and then retaliated with a swift upwards slash of my own blade. I caught him beneath his rib cage, ripping through his thick hide armour and cutting into the warm flesh beneath. He gurgled as he fell. His final act of defiance was to wildly hack at my exposed side; I easily stepped out of the way.
I must admit that I had felt some mild contempt for his clumsy attack. I remember thinking some disparaging thoughts about the rebels. I had wondered then how they thought they could every defeat us.
It had been then that I had turned and saw him. This rebel moved through the field like a whirlwind, felling my brother warriors as a farmer would cut down stalks of wheat. He wasn't too big, he didn't crush his opponents through sheer force, but he was fast. He didn't seem imposing, he just seemed… dangerous. His red and silver plate mail glinted wickedly in the sunlight as he caught my eye. With a sneer he had advanced on me, his twin blades gleaming with a cruel promise.
He slashed at me with one sword and I caught the blow on my shield. He began to sidestep to the right so I moved to my left. My gaze locked on his as we circled.
He slashed again, this time with both blades, and I bashed them away and returned with a cut of my own. He whirled out of the way and then lunged back in. Before I knew what had happened he had slipped under my guard and thrust his sword through my chain mail. Savagely he yanked the blade from my gut as I numbly fell to my knees.
He turned and began to walk away as I collapsed to the ground.
After that the battle had moved away. I had managed to lift my chain mail shirt enough to reveal the wound but I could do little more to treat my wound. Eventually silence had fallen. Still no one came out to find me. I could only assume that soldiers were searching the field, but they just hadn't reached my section yet.
So I would die alone.
As I lay there dying I wondered what it had all meant. Had my life made a difference?
Would I be remembered?
As I reflected the world began to pale. Everything began to go white. It was odd though, even though I could see the world changing but it did not register to me.
I blink against the light as my breathing begins to grow more and more ragged. This is the end I find myself thinking, it's almost over…
My breathing returns to normal as I find myself chained to a chair in a dark room. My dying moments remain vivid in my mind for a few seconds before beginning to fade.
"Welcome back," It is the man again, my torturer, "What was the message behind that time?"
I relax back into the chair as I absorb the memory. There didn't seem to be a message behind it. My death had almost seemed pointless, maybe out of place is a better description.
The man looks disappointed at my apparently lack of response. He begins to gesture to someone behind me. He's going to restart it.
"No wait!" I cry out, "It's…"
"Yes?" he asks me, "Continue."
I frantically search through my thoughts. For a second I had thought I knew the answer and then it had been gone. But it must still be in my thoughts somewhere. It-
"Reflection!" I exclaimed, "That's what you're looking for. You're looking for the man's self-reflection at the end of his life."
"Yes, yes we are," The man looked pleased, "Well done."
He looks away from me and points behind me.
There is a click and then the light begins to increase in intensity.
The man returns his attention to me, "We shall begin the next one. You have..."
The man's voice faded as the light cause me to close my eyes. When they opened I was no longer in the room.