A gust of wind howled…carrying an aura of darkness. Elliot tucked in his dragger back into his sheath. His palm scoured around his fastened belt, ensuring his sword. Suddenly, a rustle in the bushes echoed in his ear. Slowly and steadily, he drew Vivamus, the only equipment his father left when he left the world. The blade was lifted carefully; it could be seen clearly in the darkness.

He checked on his pocket; the jewel was still there. The fate of the people, the fate of the Empire and the fate of the world…rested in his hands. He could see the trail, crystal clear…but he knew he couldn’t follow it.

He then hastily turned back; his men were still waiting for the signal.

Finally, Elliot glimpsed at them with his sparkling maroon eyes which burnt for freedom. He hollered, ‘We will fight until our last breath! But…but do not ever mistake me of saying that we will lose, brave men. We will rise again…the flag of Flargesia will rise again!’, he then paused to take a deep breath and continued, ‘I will tell you our strategy now...’

There was a sudden huge whisper between the huge group of army, but Elliot ignored it and continued, ‘I have the jewel with me. You all will fight the Bradgers surrounding me, and whatever happens, kill them all and try to the best of your ability to get me to the lower side of the precipice of the hill leading to Flargesia and the rest is on my shoulders.’

‘Yes Sir!’, they all shouted in chorus as the stones below them rattled and the grass hairs rustled.

‘We have only one more hour left.’, he said with his eyes at the horologe, ‘Remember the plan…I need five colonels around me protecting me as I have the jewel and I should place it in the cauldron to defeat the Bradgers. So, I take Colonel Elias, Colonel James, Colonel Dave, Colonel Lloyd and finally Sergeant Major Hollard. The rest will fight the army.’ Everyone screamed in unity, agreeing to what Elliot said. He clapped his hands and then a man dressed in torn green robes arrived there instantly. ‘How many soldiers do we have?’, Elliot asked. The man replied, ‘Seven hundred cavalrymen, one thousand infantries, hundred cannons and seventy howitzers and ten majors.’

Elliot replied, ‘So in total, around two thousand soldiers, I believe?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘And what information have our spies brought regarding the Bradgers’ army?’

‘Sir, we were informed by spies that they…’, he hung low his head and continued, ‘They have four thousand soldiers, sir.’

He grinned and spoke up, ‘Take it as a good approach. So, each soldier has to kill two soldiers of the other army.’

Suddenly, the man’s eyes glittered with a point of hope. As usual…Elliot always liked to take a good approach even though he didn’t have a glimpse of what fate awaited him.

Elliot sighed. Only one mission did he need to do…pick that jewel and place it in the cauldron near the flag of Flargesia…but a challenge he and his army had to face…a challenge that could change the fate of the world…a challenge that could flip the coin and shatter all dreams and hopes to mere little pieces of memory.

The Bradgers stood right in front of them, waiting for them to come and try to reach the precipice leading to Flargesia. The problem was that as soon as Elliot and his army got nearer, they would attack and kill him and his army. But…they want the jewel more than Elliot’s life. With that in his mind, he stood firm. Now Elliot and his army have no choice…rather than fighting the two-times bigger army of the Bradgers in order to get to The Invincible Territory of Flargesia.

There was only half an hour more left was the war

*            *            *

Time flew by and it was time for the first day of war to begin. Elliot gasped as he grasped his sword and sheathed it. All his army members were ready for anything waiting for them, but little they think believed they would fail. All of them still had a belief in their hearts that the flag of Flargesia would rise again.

He got out of his camp to all of his soldiers ready for the strike. He walked ahead of them and leapt onto the leading boulder in front of all the soldiers.

And then, his horse followed him. He fixed the saddle on his horse and sat.

He hollered, ‘Brave soldiers, no matter if you win or not, your names will be prescribed in the book of legends! All our lives…all our sacrifices…all our families and all our forfeitures are devoted to one moment…one instance this is it! Our ancestors protected this jewel, sacrificing everything they had, and it is time and it is our duty now to restore its power in the cauldron! We may have fewer people, but we have better people. Hail Mother Flargesia!!’

‘Hail Mother Flargesia!’, they all screamed. Elliot could see the flames in them, ready to do any sacrifice. Tears trickled down his cheek.

He turned towards the opposite side. The Bradgers stood in front of him, aligned in a pattern. There were four rows of army on the centre, right-wing, left-wing and at the back the reserves stood. Their army was vast and huge. Elliot turned back towards their army. His army stood as per his instructions in position. His army used the Eagle Formation. The right-wing and the left-wing was filled with cavalries…with each strength of three hundred and fifty. Two hundred supreme ranked infantries stood on the front…positioned like the head and beak. Eight hundred other infantries stood at the back, forming the body of the bird. And the tail was filled with rows of canons and howitzers. Five hundred guards guarded the perimeter of their formation leaving the part in front, checking for any attacks from the backside so that the army could suddenly be alarmed.

The ten majors summoned to guard Elliot came forward and took their positions.

He hollered out loud with an aggressive face, ‘Attack!’

Everyone screamed as the other general of their army yelled to attack too! According to the plan, the right-wing and left-wing along with Elliot and his majors began the run. The stones began to rattle.

Soon, Elliot got closer to their army---close enough for an arrow to pierce through their skin, but his task was only…and only to place the jewel on the cauldron. Soon, it was time for the majors’ fight.

The Colonel took on five soldiers as his unsheathed his sword and thrust it on one while he kicked the other out of his saddle and drew out his spear and struck it on the horse’s limb, causing a man to fall over. The others fought with their bows.

Elliot got so impressed with the others that he didn’t notice a Bradger rush towards him and almost killed him…but he was just in time to unsheathe his sword and slash it through the man’s chest. He quickly took out his spear and threw it at a man profusely trying to shoot arrows at him. He then buckled up as he killed another one using his sword.

He then turned towards the left to see what the state was. The right-wing was becoming outnumbered! Suddenly, he felt an arrow fly past him by an inch. He took out his bow and arrow and shot it at him. He then used his four master tactics, as he sheathed his sword and picked four arrows and spammed it at the Bradgers.

‘Sire, we’re one-fourth way through.’, The Colonel yelled.

‘Sire, I don’t know if we will make it. Our wings are losing. Soon, they will pierce through our army and then…we’re doomed.’, the Sergeant Major shouted as he speared one more.

‘Colonel Lloyd and Colonel Elias, you can leave me.’, Elliot yelled.

‘But sir…’, they tried to argue. ‘Do as I say! You have served me well. Now serve your Empire! They need you. You both can only change the state of the wings now. The Bradgers are getting too close.’,

Elliot yelled back as he kicked a Bradger away.

They both nodded as they pulled their horses back.

Just then, a cannon flew onto three of the colonels, making them rush backwards. The cannon the blasted heavily with sparks and flames all over.

Elliot could only watch as a colonel was thrust onto the ground. But he got up again with Elliot’s help.

With the parting of the two Colonels and Sergeant Major, ahead of army of Bradgers hurried towards them with a group of twenty others. The Sergeant Major killed two as he rushed inside, but they came back near Elliot, afraid.

The Colonels yelled loud as they tried to slash through the Bradgers, but they were even stronger.

‘Retrieve! Army, retrieve!’, Elliot yelled out loud as his gasp couldn’t control itself.

‘Sire?’

‘I say, retrieve!’, he yelled retrieve!’

They all buckled themselves up as they turned. Elliot felt an arrow pass through his hair. He shot back but missed. He then tried to concentrate on retrieving the army. Giving up was the only choice they had now even though he didn’t prefer that himself, an inevitable fact which kept poking him.

They got closer to their army camps and thank god that the Bradgers at least knew some war ethics, they didn’t get into their territory. But instead, made fun of them, mocking as they partied around.

All the soldiers got into format with their heads hung low as everyone walked away cursing in ancient Greek. They struck their swords down as they kicked their horses and got into their camps. The retrieve of their army was a great shame… on the first day itself. Tears of shame rolled down his cheeks as he walked towards his camp. He called his worker and a man came into his camp. He said,

‘Tell the others that we will have a group meeting after half an hour from now.’ The man obeyed.

Elliot’s body pained…but he realized that in the coming days, he is going to suffer worse. He rested on his bed and had a short nap when he again woke up and realized that it was time for the meeting.

He dressed up and got to the meeting. The Majors were already there.

He glanced at everyone’s faces. It was filled with bruises but mostly…shame, utter shame.

He began, ‘I understand…brave men, but---’

‘We don’t deserve to be called brave after this incident, sire…and apologies for interrupting you.’, the sergeant major said with an aggressive face.

But Elliot sighed and continued, ‘There was no other open door…please understand.’

‘If there wasn’t an open door, we had to open another one and if there wasn’t another door, we had to make one!’, Colonel Lloyd screamed, ‘We could have still commanded for guards of the other face to help us and could have at-least made pierced into half the army and then get to the cauldron from the sideway with the other majors on your left and we could have almost embraced victory, sire!’

‘How dare you raise your voice against me?’, Elliot yelled, though, knowing that he was right. He continued, ‘I’ve called all of you here to plan tomorrow’s strategy. But…all of you don’t want to plan, instead blame the past…then all right. Good night!’, he said angrily as he walked out of the camp. ‘And…’, he stopped and told, ‘I’ll just promise one thing…tomorrow, we won’t be the only one with bruises.’

*            *            *

And true to his word, Elliot was right. The second day of war was fought ferociously. Elliot didn’t again stay dreaming, instead, he himself killed almost hundred of soldiers. He stabbed a person on his heart while he simultaneously kicked the other one out of his saddle and simultaneously, with his other hand he threw a spear. When both his hands were free, he used his bow and arrow and often used his stiff legs to kick Bradgers out of their horses. Vivamus had blood all over it at the end of the battle, and Elliot was almost relieved that he had kept his word and moment by moment the number of Bradgers fell. And more, he was glad that his soldiers were pleased of it.

This went on for five more days until the seventh day…a most unexpected news reached his ear:

After the seventh day of war, he laid down on the soft mattress with bruises all over his body…but he had unbreakable faith in him that not one scar would be prescribed on the flames of freedom from the Bradgers. Suddenly, he heard a soft knock on the door. ‘Come in.’, he ordered and a man…his guard came forward and stared at him for a moment with grateful eyes.

‘Sire…’, he stammered with tears falling, ‘Sire…I have good news. We were told by our spies that after these seven days of war, the count of their army is equal to our…thousand on both sides. We have a great chance to win…we mustn’t lose this opportunity!’

Elliot’s heart started pumping louder…the good sort. He could hear the patriotism in him thanking him for all his efforts. But out of delight, he was only able to say two words: ‘Thank you.’

Eighth day of war…everyone had a boosted self-confidence in them. They saluted before the flag just two minutes prior the war was about to start. The Bradgers blew their horn…and the mighty eight day of war began:

They rushed towards the enemy and fought as if they were going to win the war. None of the majors had faced Thanatos. They were well shielded, and they fought well. Two of them protected the back, while the other eight came with Elliot. Soon, the eighth day of war was too over.

The ninth day also was sort of the same…but…but…the ninth day was a disaster indeed, too for Flargesia. The Bradgers had come up with a plan to kill Colonel Lloyd as he was the right arm of Flargesia. They surrounded him with another formation using twenty Bradgers and none could rush to his help as the other Bradgers kept them busy distracting and fighting with them. And this…was a huge loss for Flargesia, certainly. Especially when there was only one day left for the war to end.

The Colonel’s body was buried and just when Elliot returned to his camp, the same man (his servant) came towards him, running.

‘Sire, finally!’, he cried.

‘Yes?’

‘Sire…’, he panted as though he had just finished a hundred-kilometre marathon, ‘Finally, sire…’

‘Stop beating around the bushes and come to the point!’, Elliot yelled as tension grew between them.

‘The Bradgers…they…they had a backup army in cases like this while they are losing. And…and the worst part is that…they have a count of one thousand and five hundred now while we have only nine hundred and fifty-six!’

Elliot’s heart pounded faster than ever and sweat trickled down his forehead. Blood drained out of him…the future of Flargesia was right in front of his eyes. A throbbing sensation occurred within his temples…an unusual symptom of feeling frustrated. All his hard work was just going to sink down into a good-for-nothing task.

He sent the informer away and cautiously sat on the soft mattress. He wasn’t afraid of the Bradgers…he wasn’t afraid of demise…he wasn’t afraid of anything except…except seeing the downfall of the flag of Flargesia. With an injured heart, he slept that night with his dreams pale plain.

Elliot didn’t tell anyone of this until everyone was astonished seeing a wide range of army of the Bradgers when the previous day itself they were winning heavily. All of them started questioning Elliot, but he stayed quit…pretending as if he himself also didn’t know, though he knew that he couldn’t have kept this masquerade for long.

As both the armies yelled attack, Elliot had a thundering fear within him. He knew he couldn’t win this war…he had to hide the jewel…no matter what, the jewel shouldn’t end up in wrong hands.

The war had a real turning point. The Bradgers outnumbered them easily. With each second, the number of Elliot’s army were decreasing rapidly.

And alas, they lost. The Bradgers inflicted a crushing defeat on the others and Elliot was dragged to their camp to hand over the jewel for which the ultimate war had taken place.

‘Where is the jewel?’, a guard demanded.

‘I would rather give you my life first!’, he spits outback as he groaned, ‘Kill me, first. Then take the jewel. At least, that would make it clear that the jewel came into wrong hands after my death. Kill me!’

‘If you gave us permission, then why even hesitate? Alistair, you know what to do. Carry on with the honours.’

Then a man with red robes came forward, carrying an axe.

Fear gobbled upon Elliot as his stomach lurched when the man raised his axe. He swished it down and it was just a matter of seconds when Flargesia had once more lost a loyal, brave and truthful general.

His head rolled down the battlefield. He prayed to the almighty for a hero to be born who would again be able to take up the mantle of freeing Flargesia from the Bradgers. He hopes that he would be able to the Bradgers forever…and that hero, yet to be born was Ellswerth, Elliot’s son.

And thus, ended the ten mighty days of war…but the future isn’t decided yet…