Chapter Thirty-Two – The Front Lines

Mark woke up in his tent for the millionth time. Every morning was the same. He took down his tent in minutes and within 20, the entire army was ready to march. It was crazy how fast they could break camp, get in formation and march.

They had just entered a large plain. There was tall grass as far as the eye could see. Everything was peaceful. They continued marching. Then from out of nowhere, a single arrow came hurtling toward them. Another arrow followed a few moments later. The arrows kept coming until there were hundreds of them hurtling through the sky.

Some of them connected with their targets, most of them fell harmlessly to the ground. The army kept marching. Another wave hit, a few more soldiers fell, the army kept marching. When the army got to a certain point on the plain, the enemy sprang up all around them and attacked. The surprise gave the enemy an advantage, but the advantage didn’t last long. While the enemy did manage to kill quite a few soldiers, the ambush was quickly defeated.

The army continued to march. It started as a speck in the distance, then as it got closer, it got bigger. A huge boulder came hurtling at the advancing army. They managed to avoid being hit by it. Then another boulder came which also did no damage. Then several boulders at once came. It was too many to dodge all of them. The soldiers that were unable to get out of way perished. The army continued to march. More boulders came. The number of soldiers dwindled but they kept marching.

Finally, the source of the boulders came into view. Rows upon rows of machines that catapulted the boulders high in the air became visible. As the army got close to the machines, they stopped throwing boulders. The reason they stopped is because another army was there to oppose them.

The fighting was fierce, and Mark had thought that they had finally met their match. He didn’t believe there was an army that could oppose them, yet this seemed to be that army. Mark’s comrades began falling around him. He had to use all his training to stay alive. At a great cost of life, the army broke through the enemy’s defenses and destroyed the machines. When the dust had cleared, very few soldiers from either side were left standing.

Mark considered himself lucky to be one of them. The battle was a draw and Mark’s army retreated. They would have to wait for the new soldiers to arrive before they could make another push. It wasn’t defeat, just a delay of the inevitable.

They set up camp on the plains. Mark sat in his tent. He was tired. He didn’t want to fight. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see Carla again. He wanted to tell her how he really felt about her. He wanted to know if she felt the same way about him.

The next day Mark woke up in his tent. When he looked outside, he couldn’t believe what he saw. In the night, the enemy had infiltrated the camp and had captured the few forces that remained. They were taken to a prison and locked up. The plan was to publicly execute them as enemies of the state.

Mark was barely given enough to eat to stay alive. Of course, there really wasn’t much point in feeding the prisoners at all if they are just going to end up being executed anyway, they just needed to be kept alive long enough to make it to their execution.

One by one, Mark’s cellmates disappeared and never came back. This took longer than you would think. The reason is because they had to make a spectacle out of it. They had defeated this huge threat that had bulldozed its way across the planet. Stopping this threat was a big deal. So, Mark waited for his turn. Mark never wanted to fight, and he certainly didn’t want to die.

Mark wasn’t sure how much time had passed; He didn’t have a window and he couldn’t see outside. What he did notice was the number of his comrades still in prison was decreasing. There were only a handful of them left now. The odds of his “turn” coming up were high. Mark wished he could have stayed in the future. He could have graduated from high school and made a career for himself. He could have lived a life in peace instead of war. Now that life was coming to an end and there was nothing he could do about it.

His day finally came, He was dragged out of his cell and marched outside. A guillotine was waiting for him. A large crowd cheered, and he was taken up to the platform where the guillotine had been placed. Before Mark was put to death, the King felt it necessary to give a speech.

“A great army came to take over our Kingdom. That army has been defeated. It was at the cost of great life. We honor those who have died by executing the ones who remain alive that have attacked us without cause.” The King finished his speech and gave the signal.

Mark was moved into position. His head placed in such a way that it would soon be removed from the rest of his body. The executioner swung his axe, which in turn cut the rope that was holding the blade in its position. Once the rope was cut, the blade made its downward trajectory toward Mark’s neck with the intention of slicing through it. As the blade nearly reaches Mark’s neck, the blade mysteriously stops, as if frozen in time.

The ropes that were securing Mark’s hands disappear and he is free to remove his head from harm's way. The executioner grabs Mark. A mysterious woman appears out of nowhere.

“Forgive me, your highness,” The mysterious woman starts, “This person belongs to me, and I cannot allow you to harm him.” After saying this, both Mark and the mysterious woman vanish.