War | What Is It Good For

War is never a good thing. It's never a solution to something, but more of a "deadly bandaid" that will eventually come back as an infection. You might think you've won over you enemies. You might think they will never come back once their heart stops beating... this should be true... they wont "physically" come back to get you, but there are other ghosts that can haunt you as well. 

I've only known this War, but I assume all wars are like this one. In my mind, I don't really want to do this, but Lord Aether needs me and everything in my soul tells me to fight for him and aid him in anything he wants or needs. I cannot fight it and wont fight it any longer. The days go on and many lives are lost, but we continue on. 

Hannibal unleashes monsters not of this world upon us, but we continues to fight them anyways. I see many mortal Ballators fighting with myself and against me. The ones who chose to fall under Hannibal’s curse are foolish and blinded by his false hopes. I charge at them and slowly, one by one, they drop to their deaths. Of course, some have hit me back. At this point in the War, I have many new scars and probably some broken bones to show. I know Hannibal’s Troubadour is somewhere… waiting to kill.

Then, I smell him. He smells of oil and deception. His mechanic like body cannot hide from me. We stop and stare at each other, chaos all around us. A clash of Gods off into the distance as we turn to see our Lords meeting at well. In a way, I feel sorry for Hannibal… fighting his father like that, without second guessing it. I could never fight Lord Aether like that. He is my Father and creator. Hannibal’s Troubadour and I turn to face each other again. He smile at me and I swear blood or is it oil drips from his mouth. He is ready to kill, but so am I. 

He has no horns, but something seems fishy about it. I don’t trust his physical form and I am right do to so because anything of Hannibal’s always comes with a trick. Just before we clash, he attached some sort of weaponry to his mechanical body. This threw me off and he quickly jabs me and I cry out in pain. But I dare not let that stop me. We brawl and brawl. Blood and dirt mixing below us, we are battered and exhausted. But we keep going. I will not let Aether down! 

All around us, fighting and death is happening... There aren't many chances to look around while fighting, but when I do catch glimpse of it, I am sickened by the run of evil around me. It's hard to tell right now, who is winning, but we are both losing at the same time. No one is going to win after this War. Yes, we may stop Hannibal's destruction and save the world of the Ballators, but let's be honest, our emotional scars will never go away. 

I am brought back to the fight with a small blow from Hannibal's minion. I call out to Lord Aether and ask him for strength. Something inside me feels it and with one last blow to his head, Hannibal’s ugly Troubadour goes down. His breathing is shallow and for a moment as I watch his eyes fade, I feel sad. Things did not have to happen like this. What a waste of a soul that could have been good and kind. He breaths his last breath and for a moment, I feel the war ending, but off in the distance, you can see the two Lords, Father and Son, fighting to the death. Will it ever end… and if so, who will win this awful war.

I look around and there are many injured Ballators. Some are good and some are evil, but we all stop and watch at Lord Aether and Hannibal's fight continues. We are awe-shocked at the sight of the 2 great Lords fighting. It's almost like a dream. Their power and might can been felt deep within our bones. It's something I cannot even put into words. We all stand there, both sides, watching as out Lords continue the onslaught.