Rule 32: Enjoy the little things in life.

At last, the battle was won.  The enemy was defeated, and the great Warrior had his victory.  At long last, his campaign against the evil was complete. But at what cost?  The Warrior looked over his shoulder to where she stood to see the joyous look of victory on her face.  But she was not too be seen.  He frantically searched and after a few seconds he laid eyes upon her.  She was lying on the floor, crumpled, blood seeping from her wounds.

The Warrior ran over to her, not bothering to sheathe his sword, instead carrying it with him still drawn.  As he approached her, he could see what had happened; a stray spell had hit her, for it was not by a blade her injuries were made.  He shook his head in defiance, for such a great victory could not happen the same time at this terrible tragedy.  He knelt down and gathered her into his arms, her long auburn hair getting tangled in his armor, her crimson blood spilling onto his hands as he tried to stem the bleeding.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t good enough” she tried to say as she choked.  He reassured her that nothing was her fault and she had performed beyond perfection.  ”Remember when we met?  Who knew it would end like this?” She whispered.  He nodded.  Of course he remembered when they met.  He had been a mercenary, hired to defend a village from raiders, she was a wandering Ranger, passing through.  Together they defended the village, and after seeing each other’s prowess in battle, decided to join up together.

“Don’t try to speak,” he said, “a cleric will be by soon, you’ll be fine.”  They both knew he was lying. “Shh, be still,” she said, “It was good, not a bad end to a life spent wandering. Goodbye, my love.”  He was unable to say anything.  The Warrior simply held his Ranger and watched the life leave her eyes.

“What’ll he do now?” One of his allies said. “Endure.  Endure as he’s always done,” another said.  For indeed he had endured.  There were many friends buried beneath the ground they traveled.  But this time was different.  No one was sure what would become of the Warrior.

He moved his hand to close her eyes, removing it from one of her wounds.  The blood from it spilled out, onto his blade.  He closed her eyes and goes to wipe the blood from his blade, but at the moment he touched it, a faint magical sensation ripples through his arm and into the sword.  Without any explanation, the sword starts to change.  It grows longer, thinner, sharper. More like her.  But the most drastic change is that the blade itself became the auburn color of her hair.  He did not understand but he accepted.  He cut off a lock of her hair and wrapped it around the hilt.  It was fitting that since he was a different man, so should his weapon, a veritable extension of himself, also be different.

He gently laid her down and stood up.  His allies, having seen what happened, offered no claims of “It’ll be ok” or “I understand”, but rather bowed their head in reverence and respect for the fallen: the Ranger, and all their lost.  For on that day, the price of victory hit them all like a resounding gong.

Something different. Felt like writing. Please enjoy.

The other night I had a dream. In it, I was standing outside my office in the parking lot. Not sure what exactly I was doing at the time, but it doesn’t matter. I was in the parking lot of my office, the white two-story building lay ahead. I started to walk across the street to enter when saw the smoke and then heard the noise. All of a sudden, the building was engulfed by flames. My jaw dropped and yet no sound came out of my mouth. The next was the worst part. Next I heard the screams. Not just any screams, but the screams of children. For whatever reason, there were children in the building while it burned.

I dropped everything and started running towards the door, the whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion. As I got closer to the door, I noticed a woman also running towards it as well. About my age, but I didn’t recognize her.

Then the dream fast forwarded a bit. I was in a burning room by a window. Apparently I’d been helping kids get out of a window when a burning beam had fallen on my back and pinned me to the ground. Despite the kids outside, I was overcome with an immense feeling of failure. I turned to my side as little as I was able and heard more kids screaming, retreating, and the woman stuck under a beam similar to the one on my back. And then I believe I died.

This dream repeated several times over that night. Each time ended just about the same. Different numbers of kids survived, sometimes the woman died with me, sometimes she didn’t, but each time was the same sense of failure and my death.

When I awoke in the morning, I was naturally shaken. Took a shower to try to put it behind me, then went to work as it was a monday. As I pulled up, I expected to see it in flames, but it was normal as ever. Just my coworkers, pulling up at the same time I did. I got to my desk and lost myself in my work, finally able to free myself from the dream.

The day passed on normal as ever. Lunch came and went. As I walked back up the stairs from my local sandwich shop, I noticed some balloons and that the office across from ours was having bring your kid to work day. Rest of the afternoon went as any other monday would have.

Shortly before I was getting ready to do my last rounds for the day, I received a call from my mechanic. Couldn’t hear him well, so I stepped outside to the parking lot to get better reception and some quiet in which to hear him. A few minutes into our conversation I saw the smoke and heard the noise. All of a sudden the building was engulfed in flames. My jaw dropped and yet no sound came out of my mouth. Next I heard the screams. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I dropped my cell phone. I started running. Despite knowing how it would end, I started running. I looked to my side and saw the woman. Despite knowing how it would end, I kept running. I kept hearing the screams. Despite knowing how it would end, I kept running and re-entered the building.

–theindiegeek