“Broken Promise”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Kanter’s sword felt heavy in his hand as he stumbled backward. His knees gave in and he collapsed into the mud.

“Soldier!” Leftflank-Leader Aurinn shouted at him over the clashing of swords. “Get up!”

Instead, Kanter’s sword rolled from his limp fingers as he stared blankly ahead at the equally blank stare of the man lying in the mud in front of him. Even though the man had only been dead for a matter of seconds, Kanter could’ve sworn that his skin was already beginning to shrivel around his bones, leaving behind only a skin-covered skeleton.

“Soldier!” Leftflank-Leader Aurinn screamed. “That’s an order!”

Still, Kanter found that he couldn’t move. No matter how hard he tried, the dead man’s hollow eyes weighed him down, pulling him deeper and deeper into the mud with each passing second.

Kanter finally managed to tear his attention away from the body in front of him, only to land on his blood-covered sword. The sword that, mere moments ago, had only ever been used for threatening the enemy. The sword that had never before experienced being soaked in another’s blood. The sword that had just taken its first life.

“SOLDIER! STAND AND FIGHT!”

Kanter’s fingers trembled as he kneeled in the mud. His mind and body were two separate entities, neither even realizing that the other existed. The only thing he was truly aware of was that he had broken his promise.

Final Comments: I’m enjoying being able to Kanter’s character more! I think that he could be really interesting, especially when contrasted with Iza.

Overall Rating: 🥰