tragedy-art (November-2024)

Helpless.

Back, again, at the start. The drums sound, and you're brought infront of the War Chief. Your home city is about to go to war with the Ai-mo homeland, for some dispute you've grown to forget.

A tiny city, only you and your brother exist on the frontlines, given instructions from the brass. You'd follow them, but you learnt the hard way that they lead to the burning of your family. So, instead, you ignore orders once more, and head to make friends with the nomadic people in the distance. Can you call it friendship? You've lost count of how many negotations you've held with these types of people, that they all kind of blur together. But you know you cannot fail, and so you add another grain of salt to the ocean.

What even is the point of friends anyway? Every time you've tried, whether you've succeeded or failed, it gets ripped away from you, indifferently, uncaringly. You even managed to convince the brass to listen to you a couple times, broke bread together with the Jarl himself. And yet, that same Jarl doesn't even know your name.

And yet, your pursuit of knowledge has proven even less fruitless than the fools errand of friendship. You deserted everything you knew and loved to learn the ways of the Ai-mo, to maybe find an answer to this hell you suffer. But, even the forbidden scriptures clued you in to the world's cluelessness.

You'd tell your brother about your pain, but you feel he'd see you as manipulative. You can't bear the thought of that. If nothing else matters in this thrice-damned curse, he does. You've seen him die brutal deaths time and time again. You've saved him from some. You've observed him succumb to others. What a horrible person you are.

As you rally the newly acquired nomads into battle, you wonder if there will ever be an end. You're at a loss, distracted once more, as you take an archer's volley to the face. It's not the first time you've succumbed to this pain, but it hurts just as much as before. As you bleed out once more, you feel a tug on your stomach.

Back, again, at the start. The drums sound, and...

-# Inspired strongly by 'In Stars and Time' -# *amended non-contest version here https://discord.com/channels/283436219780825088/369205530306019328/1311745244739665932