Seven Souls |Updates Fridays|

14 The Nameless

_The Nameless_

His feet thundered against the ground as he ran, completely ignoring the feeling for rocks beating against his bare feet. He hadn't the time to grab shoes when he left. It was then or never and he couldn't stay. Neither of them could. It was leave with the chance to live another day, or stay and die any day fighting for a cause he didn't believe in.

The penalty for deserting would be worse now that he was of age. Though still a teen, the seventeen year old boy was considered a man to his people. Children were reprimanded for deserting. Men were killed. So he couldn't be caught, because then he would die anyway, all too soon. He wanted to live, like anyone else. But what kind of life did you have if you only spent it fighting for someone else's war? An old war- older than you were.

His entire life was spent either poor as dirt, fighting to survive, or in the war from the time he could hold a sword properly until now. He couldn't even remember the faces of all of those who died at his hands, and he wondered if he were to be killed, if the person would remember his face. It was a morbid thought, but he felt morbid. He felt dirty from his years being one of the many disposable pawns of his nation. A decade spent slaughtering both the soldiers on the other side, but also innocent people at the commands of war leaders.

It was a disgusting prospect and he had decided he wanted no more part of it. Him and his brother. Well- the man wasn't really his brother but they had been close for many years and saved each other's lives on multiple occasions. In the boys opinion, this man was closer than a brother, blood be damned.

One afternoon, preparing for the next battle that was not looking good for their side, the both of them had decided what it was that they were going to do. Done were they of letting their lives be controlled by malicious puppeteers. They wanted to be free- to live a life worth living. Unfortunately that life could not be in their home land. It was too war torn and toxic to them- do dangerous to stay in whether in the military or not. Definitely if they deserted. So they had decided that after noon, that they were going to leave.

But this wasn't a decision one could sit on and plan out. People often listened, and any suspicion or evidence directed in their direction would bring death to their door. Upon deciding, they had to leave right then, before anyone was to find out. They had packed the only things they owned and had gone swiftly- so swiftly the boy hadn't even grabbed his shoes.

They had been traveling for three days now, walking and running and sleeping only a handful of hours each night for fear of being caught up with. Most nights were restless, the two of them hardly slept with the danger of the military lurking around the corner. They had to get off of this continent and find a way to someplace safer. From what the two knew of the world, the closest continents were The Midlind and the southern Continent of wild people.

The midlind was a safer place to be- but not for them. The lords of the continent would send them back, or execute them for fear of being dragged into the West's bloody affairs. As far as the two knew, it was the south that they had to get to. The place was full of wild tribes of people who would leave you be if you left them be. If they could only get down there, and get some land, they could farm and make a life there.

However, first they had to get off of this continent, and the closest to them now was the Midlind. They would have to swiftly make their way south without being too noticed. However, this would be difficult. He had heard the people of the Midlind were not very diverse unless you went south. His dark skin would stand out from the pale people of this land, and he had heard that these sickly looking pale fleshes did not appreciate that difference. This would be a real challenge.

They would have gone straight south, but that would require them crossing over more of their continent, which was far worse since they were so far north. It had to be the Midlind. They had to take the chance.