Once Upon a Story [ INCONSISTENT UPDATES ]

Lost Victory

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠
death
graphic description of a battlefield
grief

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭
"You're not allowed to die, dammit!"

The villain's voice quivered, threatened to break as they shook the hero's limp shoulders. "I promised myself you wouldn't die here. I promised you I'd get us both out of this."

"[...] Damn it, I promised!"

Nota bene: I know you're not supposed to add [...] at the beginning of a quote, but I wanted to show that I removed part of the original prompt. It's not my work, so I wanted to make sure it was clear that I modified it.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭
272

[ here lies my heart ]

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤
Interstellar | Ben Berkenbosch
00:00 — 03:31

He didn't know how long he'd been there, fighting. His body screamed in pain with each movement, aching and stiff. He breathed deeply, clutching the hilt of his sword; the wrappings stained red. Flesh sank beneath his feet, bones rattled, and cracked as he came upon them. The greater light faded, the lesser relinquished its glory. The sky, thick with clouds, rumbled, thundered with cracks of light.

Another deep breath, a sigh of relief; victorious regret.

As he turned, preparing to celebrate, his eyes caught a glint, glossy red. Panic surged through him, denial. His dead muscles and crumbling joints fired. His mind surged, adrenaline spiking like fireworks. He lunged forward, stumbling on the dead piled in the plain and fell to his knees.

The first body came clear, the second, he brutally shoved away, desperate. There she lay, taken down by the very weapon she forged with her hands, blade deep in her stomach. She was still, eyes open, looking left, looking at where he'd been; waiting. His eyes painfully swelled with tears; gasps racked his throat, too shocked to scream or cry out. Temporarily.

Suddenly everything came, like a rogue wave at sea.

Drop after drop, water fled from his eyes, pouring onto her armour, mixing with the rusted blood. His silence broke, whimpers, sniffling pleas came to light. Then, a cry, soul-shattering, full of rage; anguished.

His grief ran across the plain, shaking the souls of the dead. Rising to the heavens, it came down, lightly, then dumped in a downpour. The anger slowly settled, the sorrow numbed to passable. There was nothing left, only him,

                                                       them

                                                                            dead

dying.