"All Quiet On The Northern Front"

Instructions

[The War] Jayden sat silently upon an old wooden chair, the frail, weathered wooden supports creaking under his weight. He sighed, his breath misting in the icy Northern air. Their camp - the southernmost fort of Ghida, had been under siege by Anarchist soldiers for nearly a month now, and they were slowly wearing down the mere 100 soldiers posted here. Jayden's head slowly lifted, listening. The constant arrowfire and sword clashing that had filled the bitter winds since the siege had begun was... gone. It was silent, and that worried Jayden more than anything else. He stood up, leaving his helmet behind and bursting from the door of his cabin, glancing around the rest of the camp. business seemed as usual: Soldiers about polishing weapons, sitting around fires, brushing off the light dust of snow that had been left overnight. Jayden's tense shoulders relaxed slightly as he saw nothing strange. He made his way to the front gates, climbing up the latter of the tower to the left of the gate, overlooking the scenery outside the camp. He pushed himself up from the ladder and up onto the platform, his boots clattering against the wooden floor, lifting himself to his feet. He paced the railing, looking over. He didn't even get a second to see anything before the wall rocked below him, the far, northern wall collapsing and anarchist soldiers pouring in like a bursted dam. Jayden instantly sprang to action, drawing his sword from his waist. He slid down the ladder and instantly charged forward, joining his fellow soldiers in combat. It was like mites slowly eating away at a wall of wood, one solider falling, and then another, and then another... Jayden fought onward, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he swung his blade with all his might, cleaving arcs through the anarchists. He couldn't let them take this fortress. It was Ghida's first line of defense, their first bastion. If it fell... Jayden never finished the through, as before he could, a single arrow sailed through the air, fired by some anarchist among the horde. And struck Jayden perfectly in the left eye. It felt like he was falling through nothing, his body going limp and numb as he hi the ground, his blade clotting beside him. His vision, or what was left of it, was left staring up at the grey, bleak sky, the sun rising. It could have been hours, it could have been days. Jayden would have never known. The battle continued, day turning to evening, evening turning to night. The battle eventually wore down, not with a bang, with a fizzle. The anarchists won, taking only an hour or two to sack the fortress before moving north, more than likely going off to do the same to the next encampment, and the next, until they reached the capitol. At one point, an anarchist nudged Jayden's prone body, asking another if he was d3ad. The other anarchist shook his head, telling them he was a goner and to not waste arrows on him. As darkness overtook the sky, Jayden lay still, his vision blurring, his entire body numb. He had failed. Was it worth it? Would his efforts be in vain? Would his kingdom, his home, fall? He didn't know, and didn't think he ever would. His eyes slowly drifted shut, the darkness overtaking him. Suffering, Oh The Suffering, Silence, Oh The Silence.