IV age of peace. Leitawsha. Heavy rain poured down. A typical day during autumn in this region. Most people stay indoors or atleast wear appropriate clothing, carry an umbrella for their own safety at such weathers. Dense rainfall like this makes for great sound insulation.
*splash, splash, splash*
A boy is running down the waterlogged streets of a town, mud slightly sticking to his visibly worn out shoes, wet earthly spots sprinkling onto his shirt and shorts. The sreets resembled wide footpaths more than actual streets of more developed areas.
*splush, splush, splush*
'Why is living so cruel? Maybe if I wasn't like this. It can't be their fault. I should've tried better. Yeah, I'm at fault. Maybe... if something happened to me, they'd show more attention... God, why is existence like this?'
Lost in pitiful thoughts, he helplessly wiped streams of lustrous tears of the sky from his face. Eyes sweltered red from endless sobbing.
'If i vanished... if I died, all burdens would disappear. God, would you help me?'
A child plagued by dark thoughts, desperately crying, stumbling through the uneven, crude, ragged, wet muddy streets. Yet for none to see, none to hear, none to even suspect in the deafening rain.
'If they saw, if they knew, if they cared... It feels so meaningless, so empty, devoid of purpose. I just want peace and happiness. But I'm undeserving. Dying in desperation suits me, suffering fits me... God, do you even exist?'
Clouded by thoughts branching to multiple others, intertwining, tangling with them, his vision blurred. His soul quivered as he cursed himself. The boy fell flat on the cold dirt bewitched by the filthy path's windy elegance. A passerby would hardly be able to discern the child from the earth drenched in rainwater.
*squensh, squensh*
A man stepped before the corpse. Dressed in a military trench coat, a miltary officer's cap sitting atop his wavy dark brown hair at length of barely reaching the shoulders, black leather boots protecting from the wet dirt.
Not lowering his head, the officer stared down with dark hazel eyes, standing in the dull atmosphere. A few moments pass until he took out his gloved hands out of the pockets, threw the body over the shoulder and walked away under the grey veil of rain followed by an abrupt lightning-like flash.
.
.
.
Two guards stood at their post, leaning their backs against the reinforced wall of concrete, guarding a metal door. The guards were on low alert. They'd be snoozing off if not for the rainy weather. Afterall, very rarely did any personnel enter or leave the guarded site through here, especially during such unfavourable weather. The wall features lookout towers atop it built every few hundreds of meters, barbed wire layed out between them. The site was heavily protected by the national military ground forces of Leitawsha. Military forces renowned across the realms as the main forces to have established the age of peace which has been lasting for more than thirty years now. Putting it bluntly, people took up this specific post for the easy money - low effort, decent pay.
*yawn*
Just as one of the guards was about to close his eyes yawning, they were flashbanged by a sudden explosion of light infront them followed by a sizzling sound.
"Gagh!" exclaimed the guards, squinting their eyes out of reflex.
It took them a moment to recover their vision, blinking. In place of the light, now stood a military officer gazing into their pupils with dull hazel eyes from under the cap. His uniform was more soaked than those of the guards that had a small luxury of a short roof above the door to shelter them from the weather.
The officer's dark emerald green cap had a dark platinum emblem in the form of a demonic hand pierced by a sword. The coat shared the same shade of green as the cap and additionally had a tenpoint star medal the colour like the emblem's hanging on a strip of jade-like cloth with silver stripes on both sides of it. These certain symbols have an important meaning for Leitawshians. Symbols deserving of respect and whoever earned the right to wear them.
When it dawned upon the guards what authority the officer possessed, they hastily saluted and flung open the thick metal door, lowering their gazes.
"At ease" the officer disinterested, forced out the command and unhurriedly walked in, grey droplets dripping from the uniform.
*tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap*
The guards drew a sigh of relief as the pressure of the veteran's presence dissapated as the sound of the boots tapping on the concrete path distanced further. They glanced at eachother, closed the entrence and continued to guard the post properly now for the rest of their shift.
.
.
.
The fatigued veteran burst open the entry to a mostly empty room lined with dark surfaces, covered in spots of mud and blood, as well as other substances. He unbuckled a leather bag the approximate size of a palm off the uniform's belt. He held the green bag in his palm and unbuttoned it. Azure rhombus marks surfaced on the bag in a circle, they shone dimly. Consequently, a pile of bodies of various creatures, including humans, appeared in the corner of the room infront him.
Before leaving, the officer momentarily hesitated and glanced back at the child's cold corpse atop the pile's peak. He glanced intently at the body. For a moment, something different unveiled itself behind the tired eyes of the hardened veteran.
*cli-click*
The door handle's mechanism clicked into place as it was being closed. The resolute officer leaned back against the white wall besides the door, hands in pockets. The corridor was quiet, only the mild sizzling sound of yellow ceiling lamps filled the backround. He took out a golden vintage pocketwatch, flicked it open. The tiny ticking metal hands of the watch showed half past five in the evening.
"I should write up a report and sleep in early today" he concluded with an exhausted sigh.
He leaned forward off the wall and straightened himself out, took out a black pen lined with silver ornaments from his coat's chest pockets and a report paper format out one of his bags resting buckled onto his belt. Pinning the paper against the wall, he swiftly scribbled a report. "159 august 15th. Refining materials collected. Subjugated 12 adult wolves, 1 juvenile bear, 3 adult feline demi-human runaways. Retrieved a deceased teenager's body afflicted by a heavy curse from the outskirts of the town of Sueligh. Signed. Allona Zeviret".