POV – Corporal Mason Blackwood, Soldier under Daniel
The night air was thick with tension, the kind that made your trigger finger itch before an order was even given. My boots pressed against the gravel as our 60,000-strong division moved like a tide, but I was just one drop in the ocean, assigned to General Daniel Blackwood's patrol unit.
We didn't expect resistance this deep in the secured zones. But when we turned the corner on that narrow, rocky ridge—there they were. Dave 5678's men. Old faces. Former brothers-in-arms.
For a moment, time froze. Both teams halted, weapons raised but not fired. You could taste the old rivalry in the air.
Dave himself stepped forward, his voice carrying the arrogance of a man who thought his stripes still mattered.
"General Daniel," he sneered, dragging out the title as though it didn't sit right in his mouth, "your men are on my patrol path. Step aside."
The silence that followed was deafening. My hand twitched against my rifle. Everyone knew the truth—Daniel wasn't just some soldier anymore. He was a General, commanding sixty-thousand men, while Dave was still just a commander over scraps of fifty. But pride makes men blind.
Daniel moved forward slowly, calm but sharp, his presence pressing down like a storm before lightning.
"This isn't your path, Dave. It's Blackwood territory. You and your fifty follow my orders now."
I could see Dave's jaw tighten. His men shifted uneasily—some of them glanced at us, some at him, unsure who to obey.
And that was when it hit me. I used to fight side by side with these guys. Some of them were my drinking buddies before the promotions reshuffled us. But now? They looked at us like enemies.
Dave barked, "I don't take orders from you. Not now. Not ever."
The second those words left his mouth, every rifle clicked into readiness. My own pulse hammered in my ears. The boy—yeah, the same one who once mocked Daniel when he was just a lieutenant—was in Dave's line now. His hands shook, eyes darting between the two leaders. He looked terrified.
Then Daniel said something that made every hair on my neck rise. Calm, steady, deadly:
"You're still alive, Dave, only because I allow it. Don't mistake mercy for weakness. Choose—move aside… or be moved."
And I swear in that moment, even before Dave answered, every soldier knew where this was headed.
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