He stood, overlooking the battle below him. Sword was drawn, and he held it loosely at his side. He hated this, every second of it. He had never planned on attacking them. He didn’t want revenge; he didn’t want war. Then they brought the war to him.

“Are you ready?” His best friend, Matthias, stands to his left, also watching the battle below.

“I am never ready,” Eli replies. He turns to Matthias, and Matthias can see the sadness in Eli’s eyes. It has aged him, changed him. He can also see Eli’s resolute will. That has never changed, will never change.

Eli turns and places one gloved hand on Matthias’ shoulder. “Let’s finish this,” he says. His voice is quiet and low. Matthias can hear the sadness, the exhaustion. They have been fighting in this stupid war for five years now. This stupid, needless war that no one really wanted.

Matthias also hears the anger in Eli’s voice. It is subtle, barely noticeable, but there. Matthias had a family to return to. Eli didn’t. Not anymore. Not after what they did. The catalyst to the war. Even now, five years later, the grisly scene of Eli holding his dead wife and child still brings tears to his eyes.

Eli begins to slowly descend the hill. The metallic clashing of metal on metal echoes in the valley, along with men screaming and dying. Each step he takes becomes heavier and heavier. *I don’t want this* he thinks to himself. I never wanted this.

He is now in the fray. Nothing stands in his way. No one. He has one goal in mind, and he is determined to get to him. Soldiers fall before him or move away as he moves throughout the field until he stops.

There he stands. Eli grits his teeth, his mouth forming a tight line. He watches two soldiers fight before him, one larger than the other and winning. The smaller soldier falls to the ground, yelling in pain. As the larger soldier raises his sword to give the death blow, Eli calls out. “James.”

The large soldier stops his deadly swing in mid air and turns to Eli. All around him, soldiers stop fighting: Eli is here! Eli raises his sword and points it towards James. James grips his sword in his hand, holds it up in front of him, and smiles.

“Hello, Eli,” he says. “How’s the wife and child? David, wasn’t that his name?” Eli’s eyes flash in anger.

“It’s time to end this, James,” he replies. He gestures around with his sword. “End this. Now.” James raises both hands up and in turn gestures around him.

“What, and end all the fun. You were always so serious, Eli,” he says. James then points his sword back to Eli. “You could have prevented all of this if you had just done what I had asked. Instead you chose to play the pacifist card. I did what I had to do to get you out of your stupor.”

Eli looks around him at all the soldiers that now surround James and him. Hundreds of weary faces stare at him. He gives James a hard look. “I never wanted this. I never wanted war. But you brought this stupid war to me. I’m ending it, here and now,” he says. His voice is still quiet, but it carries. Everyone hears him.

James sighs and begins moving towards Eli. “You can give it your best shot,” he says. “Say hello to Marie and David for me, won’t you?”

Eli doesn’t respond, but he lets his sword to the talking. As both men’s swords clash, they ring out like a gong all across the field. The battle is fierce. Each time the swords clash together it produces a sound like thunder. Both men are covered in grime and blood and sweat, but they don’t stop. Finally, as the sun dips below the trees in the far off distance, James falls to the ground. His sword clatters to the ground beside him. He breaths are fast and shallow as he looks up at Eli.

Eli stares down at James, pity in his eyes. But there is also anger. “Do it,” James says, his voice trembling from exhaustion. Eli continues to stare at James, then takes a deep breath, letting the air pass into his lungs and out again.

“I will.”