Horror Stories(Creepypasta)

111✴Three Truths

The two men, perched on a steep hillside, watched from a safe distance as an invading army destroyed the city below them. The towering stone wall that protected the city, once strong and unbreakable, couldn’t hold back the onslaught. Even over the sounds of war, the watchers could hear the yells of the invading commanders directing their soldiers. No man, woman, child, or beast was to be left alive. The instructions were carried out with swords and spears, and the slaughter was completed in the space of a day.

The two watchers, Danel and Keret, understood the implications of what they’d witnessed. The destroyed city was not the one from which they hailed. No, their city was the next closest, about a two day’s march away. Nearly a year earlier, along with several other soldiers, the two men had left their city on a mission to escort an ambassador to a faraway land. The mission had soured, and the ambassador was now dead. On the return journey, the other soldiers had become victims of either the desert heat or nomadic attackers. Danel and Keret were the last survivors of the mission, and were on their way home to report the failure of the undertaking. The two men had nearly stumbled, unexpectedly and accidentally, into the army of the invaders. It was an army from a land they weren’t familiar with. Luckily for them, they remained undiscovered, but a return to their own city was beginning to look impossible. Half of the invading army had already marched off, even while the other half continued with the slaughter. Danel and Keret watched as the foreign soldiers headed toward their city, and they could hear the commanders talking their men up for yet another siege. They considered trying to get out ahead of the traveling invaders, so that they could maybe, just maybe, reach their city first to give warning. But the quickest route was through a small canyon, which was the same route the invaders were taking. They knew it would be impossible to follow that course and not be spotted. They chose a longer route, and hoped that the extra distance would be negated by the fact that two lonely men could travel faster than an invading army.

Upon their arrival, they found that they were too late; their city was already surrounded by the first half of the invasion force. Soon, the rest of them would arrive, and the attack would begin. Danel and Keret didn’t have to discuss it, they both knew their city’s fate would be the same as its neighbor. The invaders wanted this land for themselves, and their army was mightier than any they’d seen before. It seemed as if it was guided by an unstoppable force. The walls of their city would fall even faster than those of the city that came before.

The two men found a well hidden position on a hillside, grimly observing the preparations unfolding down below them.

“It’s hopeless, we can do nothing for them,” Keret lamented.

Danel subconsciously rubbed the stone amulet that hung around his neck. It was a movement he made whenever he was deep in thought. Finally he responded, “I won’t leave her there. I can’t just leave her to die with the rest of them.”

Danel looked down upon the doomed city, the city of his birth. He’d served it faithfully. At a young age, he he’d been ripped from his mother and given to its army. He was trained to be a soldier, and he belonged to the city itself. Emotions were beaten out of him. All of his life, he followed pointless orders, he fought in battles, and then he followed even more pointless orders, never questioning his superiors or their motives.

As he surveyed the scene, he wasn’t surprised that, save for one, he felt no concern or pity for the inhabitants he served. He had done all he could for them. Now, at the start of their unavoidable demise, there was no sadness for the city itself, just a stoic acceptance.

Donatiya, his wife, was the only person for whom Danel spared concern. His battlefield heroics had allowed him the privilege of marrying her. Most of the soldiers weren’t given that luxury. She was the only woman he had ever loved, and she was the only person who had loved him. His marriage, and his friendship with Keret, were the only two important relationships he’d ever formed.