.png){kind=logo}
The battle for the new nation will begin soon. Who shall win, who shall lose, who shall live, who shall die
Following the presidential election meant to provide hope and security to our country after the ravaging pandemic. Tom and Burren were exiled from their promised land who was now under the reign of a tyrant, Jack. Hiding away in a dark cove far away from their persecutors The two were planning their revenge. As the days passed more and more people resented Jack's dictatorship and joined the new nation of Solipia -who's only purpose was to overthrow the government. Soon enough they had rallied enough warriors for their cause, one of which was Lepida, a mythical warrior, spawn from hell. He had been banished from that realm for trying to overthrow his father, Hades. Some might consider him an anarchist, but that would be an understatement. His only reason to join the group was to get rid of the government, but why? Who knows, boredom perhaps. Legend has it that he once beat a whole army to himself. I can assure you, whatever stories you've heard about him, were watered down. After weeks of meticulously planning Tom, Burren and their ally Toby had finally come up with a plan to retake their once illustrious nation. The plan's code name: Bulwark
The irrational decisions of Jack helped the small rebellious group gain influence. Sensing the imminent threat, Jack solicited the help of Oneiro, a supernatural creature, who happened to be the adoptive brother of Lepida. Opposite his brother this warrior was weak, but his strength lay in his mindset. He was known throughout the lands for his amazing knowledge and overwhelming strategy. He had grown up in the shadow of his brother his entire life and was seeking revenge for the numerous times he had been humiliated. Until the day of the inevitable battle Oneiro's mission was to rally as many warriors as he could. Despite numerous attempts to negotiate with the neighboring nations nothing could be done, Jack's reputation was far to bad. If they could not convince at least one nation to help them, they stood no chance. The only slimmer of hope was Oneiro's army that was posted a 20 days walk from the Nation. This option was thought impossible for it would take at least one month, if everything went well. But now they didn't have a choice, Oneiro would have to leave Jack and go get his army. Oneiro mounted his fastest horse and sped off into the sunset. All they could do now was hope. Hope that Oneiro would make it back with his army before the battle against Solipia.
Back at Solipia, Tom was sitting with Toby, his childhood friend who had been a spy for them since day one. They were sitting at the top of a hill, waiting. The silence was such that they could hear Burren and Nick brainstorming the plan, or even Lepida sharpening his blades. Finally, Toby broke the silence by telling Tom, "I have something for you," taking out of his bag a rolled up piece of paper. At first glance it just looked like a regular piece of paper, a little ripped apart at some places and pretty old. But as soon as he opened it, Tom's face lit up. It was The Independence. This document that Tom, Burren and Toby had fought so hard and had given everything up to obtain. Indeed a few years before the election, before the virus outbreak even. Tom, Burren, Toby and others fought day and night for a long month against Minos for the independence of their nation. He was known as a king with no mercy for his opponents. Their battle was long and suffered too many casualties, but Tom, Burren and Toby came out on top, forcing Minos to surrender his land to the newly formed nation. On the independence it was written in a now worn out brown ink, "From this day onward, Minos recognizes his defeat and grants independence from his kingdom to the small but ever-growing nation of Lm....." The bottom of the page had been ripped off but luckily the signatures were still there. Tom looked up at Toby and for the first time in several weeks. Toby saw the light that he once saw in Tom's eyes, those eyes that had led them to victory so many times. Those dark blue eyes, so deep that even the ocean could not compare. Those eyes that Toby thought were gone were now shining brighter than ever. These new eyes were a symbol of hope, of tragedy, of strength, of death. But toby had never seen Tom's eyes so bright before. They lit up as though he had regained a reason to live, as though his life had started again. The two friends smiled at each other and the silence regained, the peaceful silence. Suddenly once more the silence broke as Burren yelled at them, "What are you doing, I told you to go get firewood?!". The two friends looked at each other and busted out laughing,
Finally, after weeks of meticulous planning Solipia finally finished their plan, the battle was set to take place 3 days from then. Quickly the word spread to Jack's ear. He began to worry, Oneiro had been gone for 36 days now, but there was still no sign of him. The anxiety started to eat Jack from the inside.
Jack couldn't sleep that night, he stayed up looking at the horizon, hoping to see Oneiro. Only two days were left before the battle and still no sign of him. Jack was going insane, he couldn't stop laughing, he wouldn't eat anything and would stare at the horizon all day.
It was finally the day, Jack had lost all hope, it was over. He walked up to his tower opened the window and hopped on the ledge, "how easy would this be," he thought staring at the pavement under him. He stood up, and looked at the horizon one last time. Then there it was, thousands of little figures walking, it was him, Oneiro. He had finally arrived. Jack could not believe it, he ran downstairs and opened the gate. Oneiro stood there, "we are not too late are we? "he asked Jack ironically. Before jack could answer a horn rang out in the distance, the beginning of Solipia attack.
Indeed Solipia had started their attack. They were all covered in armor and had swords sharpened by Lepida himself. The battle was going to be hard, but nothing could bring their morale down. They breached the South wall and entered the city and were soon met with arrows shot by the guards forcing them to take shelter in the environment and put their plan into action. They separated into 6 groups, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omega and Sigma. Each group had a different mission. As soon as the guards paused to redraw their arrows they started their attack. Before the guards even had time to react squad Beta were on the walls with their blades drawn , the guards stood no chance. The remainder of the squads moved quickly over the bloody corpses. They then separated, Toby looked at Tom and said "I'll see when this is over, we'll make it out for sure, and when we do we'll be the winners!" Tom responded, "for sure". The mission of Tom's squad was to kill Jack, Toby's squad's mission was to kill Oneiro. The remainder of the squad's mission was to lead the main invasion. Tom's squad was experiencing too many casualties too fast. At this rate they would not make it. They took the underground route and made it to Jack's fortress. They made their way in slowly trying not to be seen. After many long corridors they finally arrived to Jack. He was watching it all unfold, not worrying about the thousands of casualties. He turned around and looked at Tom as though nothing had happened, he wasn't scared, fazed or even uncomfortable; "If I die this country goes down with me you know?" he stated. "That's where you're wrong, you have caused so much pain for this country, caused so much death and destruction. It ends now," responded Tom, pointing his sword towards Jack tired old face. "So be it, "Jack said as the cold blade ran through his body.
Whilst this all unfolds, downstairs the battle kept on raging between Solipia, and Oneiro's army that was unaware their leader was already dead. Squad Sigma who had been waiting for the right moment to kill Oneiro, finally entered the battle, led by Toby. After a raging battle they made their way to Oneiro. Toby lunged at him from behind with his dagger drawn, "I've got him now" he thought as he threw his body towards him, but suddenly, Oneiro turned around and stabbed his sword into Toby's chest. Toby cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, the sword still stuck in him. His squad takes this opportunity to attack Oneiro, but failed, Toby was laying on the groundside, his body covered in blood. The battle raged on for several hours but with Lepida the enemy stood no chance. Sensing his defeat, Oneiro retreated, leaving the nation but swearing to return some day. The massacre that had occurred here before Solipia's eyes could not have been dreamed of, even in the wildest of nightmares. Arms, legs, heads, and corpses were piling up. The roads where covered in a thin layer of blood. Following their victory, the squads reunited, out of the two thousand men only a handful where left. Tom hurried and looked for Sigma, Toby's squad. He looked everywhere, until he ran into Burren looking over a corpse, "Burren, have you seen Toby, we were supposed to meet up in the tower after the battle but I can't see him any......" Burren looked up at Tom his eyes filled with tears, it was the first time Tom had seen Burren cry. "I'm sorry, Tom, I'm sorry,". Tom looked at the corpse in front of Burren, and there he saw Toby, his face white as paper, still holding onto his chest that was impaled with a long dark sword. Tom fell to his knees, and started to bawl, "You said that we would make it out for sure. So why, why, why ,why ,why! Why, did you have to die?"
Despite having won the war, no one was celebrating. A feeling of sadness filled the air. For the next 9 days the remainder of the troops and the civilians helped to clean out the streets. There were so many bodies that they needed to be buried in mass graves. Soon after the battle, Lepida left without any notice and was never seen again, rumors have it he went to chase his brother, but no one knows.
After cleaning the roads, a new presidential election took place. Burren won with 97% of the votes. Many years have passed since then, but this once glorious and illustrious nation, has now been cursed with this feeling of sadness. Hopefully one day it can fix. I believe so, after all, it's the nation of Lm...
The End