Everything began at the start of the "liberation". Along with thousands of other Chirihas, I applauded our emperor. Two weeks later, I volunteered to join the army. I was quickly trained on mana transfer, since my role, as of most volunteers and conscripts, was to transfer my mana to the mages that had enough knowledge in sorcery to fight. Alas, the enemy ended up understanding our tactic and started attacking the mana givers, and I ended up wounded.
I remember it all. It was a disaster. We arrived three thousands, we left six hundred. I, as well as a fellow comrade, was awarded a medal for the successful rescue of our corps' main mage out of the spell hell. We were progressing in the Land of the Kunrafu, determined to free our Chiriha brethren.
This wasn't the first fight opposing us to Kunrafu. Again, the Hendeyus had found a way to control the Chirihas in Kunrafu and convince them to attack us, their brethren. Like us, they were used as simple mana tanks. We will never forgive this: friends that just lived a couple of towns away from each other now had to alienate themselves if not struggle to death. We are powerless, observing our brethren, brainwashed, used as cannon fodder, and must resist mercy that we inherit for witnessing our fellows.
That is why we despise the Hendeyus; most of us chose not to hear what our elders told about them, that they wanted to subjugate and enslave the Chirihas in every land, that they were only attached to the physical world and therefore didn't care about the morality of their doings… We thought that was just unfounded beliefs; after all, it is well known that the Chirihas always seek to help out others, and the Kunrafus just proved that pursuing in that direction – with the Hendeyus – will just cause our end as a free people.
More than the spells, the reality hit us and we had to strive, chasing the dream of being free at night, but with the only hope of surviving during the day.
The really important thing for me was to keep thinking about Tsuydo. From eight in the morning to five in the afternoon, day after day, we were under heavy assault from all kinds of spells. As time went by, even the strongest nerves were shattered by it. I kept thinking about the fate of the Chirihas, and there was not one man there who wasn't hoping that we shall soon finish off this rabble once and for all, whatever the cost. The hope was that those of us who had the good fortune to see our homeland again would find it purer and less corrupted by Hendeyu influence. The sacrifices and misery exacted daily from hundreds of thousands of people, the rivers of blood flowing every day against an unbelievable world of enemies would, we hoped, result in smashing Tsuydo's external enemies and bring about the destruction of the subversion that targeted us. For us, that would have been better than any territorial gains, any amount of gold or any other compensation.
Half a year passed, and arrived the day that still haunts me. I was in a small shelter on the frontline, where couriers would come and give the orders from the higher-ups. Suddenly, a blueish beam exploded a top corner of the room, and before I could even think on how to react, the explosion projected the wall into rocky smithereens that flew toward my direction. But before anything could happen, a memory came back to me: Flashing before me was a small child struggling into the water, battling against death. It would not have been the first nor the last child to die in his brotherhood, but as the grim reaper was on the point to bring him to the depths of the water, another kid, not older than the little child, grabbed his hand and took him back to safety. This little child was me. I had already cheated death once, and I'm ready to do it again. As I thought to myself: I want to live on!
And at the very moment I thought that, my body suddenly dashed in a way that seemed random to my semi-conscious soldier self, but such as to protect the vital parts of my physical being.
Everything happened very fast, and the next thing I remember is waking up around some healers and alchemists looking after my wounded left thigh. This was in a way the best day of my life as I cheated death a second time, but also the worst, since as the fight pursued, I was wounded and unable to help. I was forced to watch our once great land of Tsuydo crumble, day after day.
The once all sprouting crops, burned to nought.
The cities, once populated of thousand of Chirihas, now had only some hundreds of them left.
The buildings, the temples, the graves of our heroes… They destroyed every trace of our existence.
I witnessed all of this, moving from an infirmary to another, getting farther and farther from the front, seeing more wounded civilians than comrades around me and hearing their sorrows.
I was powerless. I could only witness my land perishing before my eyes. My mind was filling with thoughts such as "If only I was still able to fight, I could prevent all of this…". I was even starting to regret surviving, after all, maybe the gods called me back to spare me from this disaster…
But I'm alive. I'm alive because I wanted it. I stayed alive from my pure will, and committing the suicide at this point would just be contradictory. So as I left the hospice, I decided that I was going to keep existing without caring for what Hendeyu had scheduled for the Chiriha. For it seems that I will survive if I want to, my other wish will be to destroy the Hendeyus and free the Chriihas. Will will win!