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Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Echoes of War 
by Kathleen McCluskey 

The battlefield was a wasteland of ash and smoke. Bodies littered the ground, twisted in unnatural poses, their eyes fixed and glossy. The soldier pressed forward. His breath came in ragged gasps. His armor was dented and his shield cracked, but he could not stop. Not now.

He had watched his brothers fall. One by one, they had been struck down. Some by arrows that flew faster than a blink, others by blades they never saw coming. The soldier had fought side by side with a knight who was killed by a swift strike to the neck. The bishop, his commanding officer, had fallen moments later. His prayers were cut short by an unseen enemy. But the soldier lived. Somehow, through sheer determination or perhaps luck, he had survived when all others had perished. Now as he stumbled through the smoke, he could see them, the ones responsible for this carnage.

The black king and queen.

They stood tall and regal at the center of the battlefield. Their dark figures silhouetted against the swirling chaos around them. The king held a sword in one hand, his expression cold and calculating. The queen stood proudly beside him, her eyes glinting with malice. Together, they ruled over this war torn land and every death that occurred here today had been under their command.

The soldier gripped his sword tighter. His heart pounding in his chest. He was close now. If he could reach them maybe, just maybe he could end this carnage. He could stop the endless slaughter and bring peace to the realm. But with each step he took, the air seemed to get heavier. The weight of his fallen comrades bore down on him. The cries of the dying echoed in his ears. His vision blurred, the ground beneath him unsteady. He could barely keep his footing but yet he pressed on, forcing himself towards the dark figures.

As he neared the king and queen, he realized that he was alone. The entire battlefield had grown silent. The sounds of battle were replaced with an eerie stillness. Every other soldier, friend and foe alike, lay dead or dying around him.

He was the last.

The king’s eyes locked onto him, and for the first time, the soldier felt a flicker of doubt. The king did not move, nor did the queen. They simply stood there, waiting, as if they knew how this was going to end. The soldier raised his sword, his hands trembling. He could feel the sweat dripping down his face, mixing with the grime and blood that clung to his skin. This was it. The final strike. The end of everything.

Yet, as he stepped forward, a strange sense of familiarity washed over him. The battlefield, the fallen soldiers, the towering king and queen, it all felt like something he had seen before. It felt like something he had experienced a thousand times over.

His sword wavered in his hand.

“Why do you hesitate?” The queen whispered. Her voice was as cold as death. “You are nothing but a pawn in this game.”

The words struck him like a blow. A pawn? No, he was a soldier. He had fought bravely, pushed forward against impossible odds. He had watched his comrades die, and yet, he stood.

But the queen’s words swirled in his head. “A pawn.”

It was then that he realized the truth. He had been moving forward, step by step, toward a goal he did not understand. He had followed orders, obeyed commands and sacrificed everything…and for what? He was not a soldier. He was something much more insignificant.

As the realization sank in, the soldier’s legs gave out beneath him. He fell to his knees before the black king and queen. His sword slipped from his grasp. He had come so close, but in the end it had been all for nothing. He was just a pawn – expendable and replaceable.

The king’s gaze was cold as he lifted his sword, ready to deliver the final blow.

That’s when the soldier heard it. A single otherworldly word that seemed to reverberate through the air. It echoed across the battlefield.

“Checkmate.”

The king’s sword fell.

Darkness consumed him.

.

Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!