Stick War: Inamorta and beyond

Chapter 5.5: Miner's life

Back at the camp, soldiers were busy training for their next battle. The order empire's soldiers are inexperienced and overconfident. Most have not even felt how was it on the battlefield. Most of the generals were worried how they are going to fight the swordwrath if the treaty is signed. Though most of the order empire consists of soldiers, there are also a group of people named 'miners'. They are people who wanted to join the war but are too scared to die.  Meet jack, a miner who was once a soldier. He was became a miner after the first battle with the archidons (He was in the battle in chapter 1).

Jack's POV

"Phew, that's all the gold I can find today." Jack said while wiping his forehead.

"Hey! Jack, our work for today is done! Let's go back to the bunks!" my friend, dan shouted across the mine.

"All right, just give me a few minutes and I will meet you back in the camp!" I shouted back.

Hi, I am an ex-soldier and became a miner. I have seen first hand what war is about, I always thought war is a game. But on that night, I realised that war is not a game, it is hell.

*Flashback to the first battle*

"Soldiers, this may be the first and last time on the battlefield, do not be afraid. Our enemies are the archidons, they are professional at long range but weak in close combat. So be out of sight when we are far. Be stealthy and do not make a sound.I bit you all good luck."

"Heh, this mission is gonna be easy. Just kill a few archidons right?" I boasted, not even thinking what I just said.

I was overconfident, instead of stealthy I was hasty. I rushed through the forest faster than the rest of my teammates. When all of a sudden,

"All right, just a little furth-."

Arrows started flying from all directions. I quickly hid behind the tree to save my life. I saw my comrades fall dead to the ground. That's when I realised that war is not a game, it was hell. Just when I thought all hope is lost, a soldier rushes out and managed to kill one of the archidons. Soon, another charged and killed another archidon taking aim at him. And then, my comrades rose and charged towards the enemy. However, I could not move at all. My legs won't let me stand, I was too afraid to move. After that battle, we were victorious but suffered many casualties. We started out with about 40 men and only about 15 returned. I was one of the 15 who survived the carnage. At that point, I never wanted to enter the battlefield again.  And so, I transferred into a miner.

*Flashback end*

I made my way back to the bunks and talked to a few of my fellow miners on the way back.

"Hey, have you heard about the recon team who has been sent out to do diplomacy with the archidons?" asked dan.

"Huh? Diplomacy with the archidons? Isn't that suicide?" I replied.

Somehow, four soldiers had made their way to the archidon territory to do a mission ordered by the king himself. I got a bad feeling that a huge battle is going to take place.