Mist

Inside Joke

After the victory, a human comes up to me and dusts me off. "You took a crumbling," they say in a frontier tang. "You wanna come to 'recon central'?" They provide the air quotes. As I open my mouth to ask what 'recon central' is, the human pats me on the back and says, "Great! We always need more recons." Because apparently I 'volunteered to be a recon'. What even is a recon...?

It's a very cold tent with mediocre food and low-quality seating. I sit angrily on a cold couch while a soldier plays music for us. Serdityy sits by me and looks at me and at the ground. My body and face are bruised up and he is perfectly clean. Serdityy pats me on the back. I kind of feel like I don't deserve a pat on the back by such a high and mighty human.

Serdityy clears his throat and says, "I'm sad to say this..." I look at him, confused. "But, I missed you." Now I'm even more confused. I thought he hated me. "Of course you're stupid and annoying sometimes," he continues. "But, you're funny" I smile, shake my head, and think I guess I am.

He quickly changes the subject, "Let me tell you how I ended up here: I got a message from the big boys of this war that they needed more capital soldiers, so I sent you off to the capital." I look outside and see the gentle snow flow across the mountain. "Then, it started to get boring at the base because the big boys wanted everybody at the capital. Apparently, it was at the top of their to-do list. Only me and four others guarded the base."

The soldier playing the music stops and tunes their instrument. Serdityy causes for him, then continues the story, "Once the Unity forces all focused on the capital, me and the boys conquered the rest of Mist. It was lonely and difficult. Two of them died of disease." I start to clump up the snow under me to form a tiny ball. "So, what was left of us shook hands and decided to go help the capital. I, because I am so high in ranks, could pull some strings and now I'm in charge of you and the recon group."

I form a tiny snowman. I scan the area for tiny sticks I can put on the snowman. "You're a good man. I needed you in my squad." I shake my head to pay attention to him now. He's offering his hand out. "Deal?" he says with a cough. I shake his hand. He gapes at me like I just did a crazy thing.

He laughs for the next few minutes over the fact that I shook his hand. Serdityy continues to tell every Vendetta Soldier in the tent about how I just shook his hand. They laugh, some to the point of ending up on the ground crying and rolling laughing. I awkwardly laugh. He shakes their hand and they laugh even more. I leave.

The snow is still gently falling while fire and explosions mark the mountains. The once picturesque mountains are scared and damaged. I sit in the snow and I name the mountains. I run back into the tent, grab a pen and paper, and start to draw the scenery. It's beautiful by my standards, but the drawing isn't, so I throw it and it disintegrates in front of me.

I think of the Blackcoat again. Serdityy said most of the Mist troops are here in the capital area, so she could be here. Also Como and the other guys. I hope they're okay. I feel something heavy building in my stomach. I try to think of anything else, but I only think of my friends, dead without a goodbye.

"This is stupid!" I yell. I grab snow and throw it. The wind catches it and blows it back into my face. It stings, badly. I cover my face. "I hate this. I hate war," I whisper to no one.