Leaves brushed and danced around the feet of the Boruma as they stood in their shield wall. Across from them in the centre of the lake, the banners of the ships flicked in the wind. There were about 30 boats with golden banners, these being the banners of Rhexdice. She held what was estimated to be about 23,000 warriors. Then there were the 28 boats with their blue banners. These were the Thorned Shields, Thorn’s army, about 20,000 warriors. Due to the sizes of the boats (they were big so they could carry as many soldiers as possible), they looked to be much closer than they were.

Liam and Yantraki stood behind the wall, just being able to peek through the gaps in the wall to see the boats as they slowly approached. All they could do for now was wait for the enemy to start their attack. His eyes then moved over to what looked to be the two flagships of the fleet as they were the largest and were decorated with flowers and feathers. As the two flagships met, he knew this had to be Thorn and Rhexdice talking about their battle plan.

Rhexdice jumped slightly as her boat collided clumsily with that of her sister’s. Looking over she could see Thorn as well was a little shaken from the hit. Shaking this off Rhexdice quickly jumped across to her sister’s boat. Thorn embraced her sister before moving back and planting her hands on her shoulders.

“Tonight, we feat on the bones of our bastard of a sister.” She yelled cheerfully in Amazonian. Rhexdice smiled and wrapped her arms around her sister.

“Indeed, we shall have a fine feast…” Rhexdice said, her smile immediately fading as her sister hugged her again. She couldn’t wait to have her killed once this was all over, after all that was what the high priestess of the Sun Sisters said was a good idea.

“Remember I want the male called Liam alive,” Rhexdice said, smiling at her sister.

“I understand sister, but first I have news that our warriors have seen mother alone on the smaller beachhead. I plan to send 5 of my ships to go and deal with her, that would be about 3570 troops who will go to fight her. I only request you send some of your ships to give us support as she can only summon two of her large vines at a time. So, if we send to of your archer boats, she will be too distracted trying to fend off the arrows to stop my warriors!” Thorn said cheerfully, an obvious blood lust in her eyes. Rhexdice had to admit her sister Thorn was a good warrior, but she was way too reckless to be a leader.

“If you don’t mind, I would like to go say hello to Yantraki,” Thorn said, pointing to the shield wall. Rhexdice’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the confusing looking border that was now set on the larger beachhead.

“What are they doing?” Rhexdice asked as she started to walk back towards the side of Thorn’s boat where she could then leap over to her flagship.

“No idea but hope to find out soon!” Thorn said as she watched her sister lept back to her flagship. The boats separated and Thorn soon used flags to give orders to some of the nearby ships to go for the smaller beachhead, the others were to follow her to the main beach. Rhexdice did the same. She used flags and drums to signal for two of her boats to go supply support to Thorn’s warriors, while the others were to follow her.

Kenyanire smirked as she watched a handful of boats start to charge towards her.

“When do you think we should start the slaughter?” Thormoenia whispered in Amazonian from her place in the trees.

“Be patient, wait until they are on the beach then we will attack,” Kenyanire said, placing her hands on her hips confidently.

Five of Thorn’s ships crashed onto the shore. Without wasting a moment, the warriors leapt from their boats and stormed the beach. Their large, curved axes shone in the sunlight; the metal of their shields did the same. Bloodthirsty gazes in their eyes the warriors charged towards Kenyanire. Kenyanire’s lips curled into a smile as she watched the sky darken as arrows started to scream down towards her. Throwing her hands into the air. Vines formed from magic, vines far larger, thicker and stronger than any tree trunk. They ripped themselves out of the sea and raised their bodies over the smaller beachhead, covering the beach in shadow.

“Ok, now you can have your fun!” Kenyanire yelled to Thormoenia. Laughing Thormoenia let out a war cry and along with her huntresses stormed the beach.

Thorn’s shield maidens had barely gotten off their boats as the huntresses’ arrows were already finding their targets.

“W…. Why” A warrior muttered as she turned to see Thormoenia was already by her side, her war spear raised high into the air. Air cracked as Thormoenia’s spear cut through the girl’s neck. Blood splattered onto her chest. Grinning Thormoenia moved on to her next targets.

Several warriors leapt at Thormoenia. Their axes aimed for Thormoenia. Thormoenia turned from the woman she was currently dismembering. To the warriors charging at her. She quickly counted how many of them there were.

“5” She muttered as she yanked her spear from the warrior’s guts. Her hands gripped her spear tightly as she started to twirl it. She then sent the spear flying towards two of the warriors. Wood hit flesh as two of the girls was sent slamming to the ground.

Leaping forward Thormoenia’s foot bashed into the side of the face of another one of the remaining 3. The remaining two soon found their faces cupped into the powerful hands of Thormoenia. A wide sadistic grin spear over Thormoenia’s face as she threw both the girls into the air. Catching them by the neck. She held them up high so the other warriors could see, she tightened her grip around the necks of the girls’. Cracking of bone and tearing of flesh sounded through the sky as Thormoenia let the two bodies of the girls’ flop to the ground.

Shaking, another 20 Amazons were now staring down the blood-splattered Thormoenia. Giggling she charged towards them. A look of seriousness, sadism in her eyes and a twisted grin across her face. Reaching behind her back, Thormoenia reviled a long, sharp Kukuna metal knife. Thormoenia’s knife soon found itself ripping and tearing through the necks of the shield maidens.

Kenyanire smiled as she watched the huntresses rip and tear their way towards the boat where the commander of this beach head’s attack was barking orders to the shield maidens. Flicking her arms downwards, Kenyanire sent the vines crashing down onto the two boats that were still trying to pepper her with arrows. Wood cracked and splintered as the shrieks of Amazons flew through the air. Bodies from the two ships flopped down into the water, their part in the battle now being over.

Thormoenia clambered onto the ship of the commander, her body painted in the blood of her warriors. 200 shield maidens stood, stunned at the bloody Amazon. For the average Amazon, it would take 10-20 humans with assault rifles to take them down. Meaning when two Amazons fought it was usually an even battle. But as the warriors stared at the blood caped body of Thormoenia. They realised no matter how many Amazons they had, there would be no chance. Gripping the knife tightly, Thormoenia raised her spare hand to her lips. Her tongue slowly protruded through her lips as they parted. Keeping her eyes locked on the head warrior on the opposite end of the boat, she licked the blood from her hands. Pointing her knife towards the head warrior, Thormoenia grinned as she saw the terrified looks of the two hundred plus warriors.

“Tell your warriors to surrender and come with us peacefully,” Thormoenia said, her grin spreading even wider as her huntresses started to board the boat. Shakily the head warrior of the Thorn Shields looked over the side of her boat. Fear filled her heart as she saw the huntresses had already made quick work of the other boats that had landed on the beach.

Slowly the head warrior raised her short sword. Pointing it towards Thormoenia.

“KILL HER!” She screeched. There was a moment of silence before Thormoenia lowered her knife. The head warrior looked down to the shield maidens. She could smell the fear that almost reeked off their bodies. The warriors parted as Thormoenia walked forward. None dared to look her in the eyes as she made her way towards the head warrior. Only the sounds of Thormoenia’s footsteps filled the Amazon’s ears as she approached her. Her eyes twitched with fear as Thormoenia came to a stop, her body casting a shadow over the Amazon.

“Will you surrender peacefully?” Thormoenia asked again. Blood trickled down the side of the head warrior’s face as Thormoenia lifted her knife and ran it across the petrified woman’s cheek. The woman’s silence was all Thormoenia wanted to hear.

“Fine, then I give you all here a chance to join our tribe. Sacrifice your war chief here and I shall spear your lives!” Thormoenia declared.

The head warrior shook as she stumbled back. The eyes of her warriors were now fixed on her, a merciless look smeared across their faces. None of the warriors said, nor resisted as Thormoenia grabbed the head warrior by the hair. Blood pooled onto the ground as Thormoenia cut off the head of the head warrior. Raising the bloody head into the air, Thormoenia let out a war scream. The warriors echoed the scream. Smiling Thormoenia walked onto the commanding post of the boat.

“Climb aboard sisters! You Thorn shields, take the oars and start making way towards the archers!” She yelled, pointing towards Rhexdice’s boats. Not wanting to join their commander as a new decoration on the boat, the warriors quickly jumped to work.

On the other beachhead, Liam watched as Thorn’s flag boat and her remaining war boats landed onto the beachhead. Raising his hand, he singled for the archers to begin their skirmish. Arrows flew through the sky and started to splinter the shields of the warriors. Despite the screaming bolts of death coming towards them, the warriors carried on with little regard for their lives.

“SHEILD WALL!” Thorn screamed in Amazonian to her warriors. Ceasing their charge, the warriors quickly formed the wall. Priestess didn’t hesitate to use spells to place protective sheets of magic in Infront of them to stop the arrows from penetrating the shields.

Crouching down behind the wall Thorn stared towards the enemy shield wall. What the fuck were they doing? Her warriors had done so well so far due to their knowledge of shield walls and weapons. They had gotten these from a crashed human boat that landed on their small slice of the shore. The humans on the boat said the items aboard were replicas of human artefacts thousands of years ago before humans came to their planet. Thorn’s tribe had studied this type of battle and revolutionised her warriors. Thorn started to think. She could see what looked to be… Boruma? That was fucking impossible…. Why would they be using slaves as soldiers?

Anyway, why were they also in shield wall formation? The only people who knew this besides them was…the humans. Thorn started to grit her teeth. Her sister and mother couldn’t possibly have sided with a human? Let along listen to his ideas.

“Move forward slowly, priestesses give cover to our warriors,” Thorn ordered and her warriors and priestesses moved into action. Muttering spells, the priestesses formed more shields to protect the warriors getting off the boat.

Liam watched as these transparent shields of light appeared around the warriors as they slowly started to approach the wall.

“Ok everyone, get the pikes ready!” Liam yelled down the line to the warriors. The Boruma steadied themselves as the pike girls prepared for fighting. Blinking quickly for a few seconds, Liam looked through a small gap in the shield wall. Something was wrong. Long, lanky shadows were now cast over the beachhead. Boruma of the second shield line quickly aimed the shield upwards. Arrows peppered the ground behind them. Banging and clashing of metal on metal and the splintering of wood filled Liam’s ears. As he pulled himself closer to the shield wall. He could now see the lengthy arrows that were protruding out of the shields. Only just being held off by the few inches of the Kukuna metal sheet.

“It’s alright, your plan is working,” Yantraki whispered into Liam’s ear. She hoped he could hear her as she wrapped one of her arms around him to keep him safe. With the constant sounds of screaming as the arrows peppered their formation, the Boruma only just managed to keep themselves sane. After all the arrows the Sun Sisters were using were designed to place the ranks of an army into distress. The arrows were designed so that just before the tip of the arrow sat a well-crafted piece of rock. Because of the way the rock was crafted, as the arrows flew through the air and into the rock It would give out an ear wrenching noise. The noise was as if a person was screaming in horror.

Liam looked down the ranks of the warriors to see Andreaka and Icaria. The fear on their faces was undeniable. But they also somehow kept, the looked of stubborn bravery. Liam knew that these two, for whatever reason, held a sought of sway over the hearts and minds of the other Boruma. As if they were some sort of idols amongst them. Knowing this he knew how important it was not to let these girls fall. Moving carefully out of the grip of Yantraki Liam crawled over to the two girls.

“What are you doing?” Yantraki said as she went to grab him. Only for an arrow to slice into the ground next to her. Causing her to retreat to the relative safety of the Boruma shield wall.

Icaria jumped as a hand planted itself onto her shoulder. She turned the knife in hand, ready to fight. Her mood was instantly calmed as she saw the slightly scared but still smiling face of Liam. She returned an uncertain smile of her own. Liam took a close position with the two Boruma girls. He wanted to make sure they knew he was with them. This seemed to give the Boruma a boost of courage as they steadied themselves for the slowly approaching shield wall of Thorn’s warriors.

Screams of Amazons filled the air as the shields of the shield maidens fell and they bolted towards the shield wall. Waving their short swords and axes above the head, they started to hit their weapons against the wall in an attempt to breakthrough.

“NOW!” Liam screamed and Yantraki immediately translated in an even louder voice to the warriors. The shields peeled back, and the pikes quickly stabbed forward. Metal ripped into flesh as the pikes pierced the flesh of the unexpecting warriors. Blood splattered onto the floor as the pikes devastated the warriors. Just as quickly as the pikes shot forward, they retreated as the shield wall reformed.

Thorn looked on shocked. She watched as her warriors fell dead on the floor. Their swords and axes weren’t doing anything against the spiked shields. It didn’t help as when the Amazons tried to charge or kick down the wall, they would be stabbed by the spikes or held off by the spiked shields. She couldn’t bear it any longer. Warrior after warrior were falling to the wall of spikes. Thorn took in a deep breath and started to mutter in her native tongue.

Liam smirked as he saw line after line of shield maidens fall dead from the wall of Boruma. Despite the now clashing shields and weapons that were now starting to inflict casualties on both sides. The battle was in their favour. The odd Boruma fell here and there as one of the Amazons managed to get a hand into the shield wall and pry the shield away from the Boruma holding it. They then stabbed forward, killing the Boruma. The wall didn’t break through as another shield Boruma would quickly take the place of the dead. A pike Boruma would usually then get in a quick stab to gut the Amazon that had killed their friend.

They were taking casualties but as long as the archers kept up the suppressing fire against the Thorn shields then they could probably win. Rhexdice archers were a problem, but their arrows could pierce the wall. The only casualties they were even inflicting were the Amazons from the trees and tree lines who were giving fire support to the front lines.

It was all working. The battle stood in their favour. Well until the earth shook. It shook with such a force it almost knocked Liam onto his side. Liam looked at the warriors around him. Their eyes were all fixed forward. Cautiously he looked to where the Boruma was looking. An Amazon with short dark blue hair was walking towards the ranks of the Boruma. Her deep blue eyes were almost as dark as her hair fixed onto Liam. Blinking for only a second, the warrior was already at the shield wall. Her war axe glistened in the sky. A long line of blue lightning following after her. Cracking of lighting and roaring of thunder filled Liam’s ears as flew back through the air.

His head slammed into the soft arms of someone. Looking around Liam saw Yantraki had caught him. Crouching down, holding Liam in her arms Yantraki stared down the woman who had just broken through the shield wall. Yantraki placed Liam onto the ground.

“Wait here, my love,” Yantraki said as she stood up and started to walk towards the woman, her war spear in hand.

“Hello, there sist” Thorn was cut off as Yantraki’s foot smashed into her face, sending her flying back.

Boruma scattered away from the Amazon. Picking up their weapons and reforming the wall. Priestesses emerged from the trees to heal the injured and move back the dead. Liam sprang forward. Picking up one of the Kukuna metal knives. Liam stood alongside the Boruma as they did their best to hold off the shield maidens. Despite now having to reform the shield wall and do their best to recover their losses, Liam couldn’t help but find himself watching Yantraki as she slowly approached her sister, knife in hand.

Thorn dragged herself off the ground. Smirking she wiped some blood off her bottom lip, it seemed her sister had gotten a little stronger after she came back from the mainland. She looked to her sister as she carelessly walked towards her. Arrows landed around Yantraki, but they weren’t enough to take her attention off her sister. Cackling sadistically Thorn leapt towards her sister, axe raised high into the air. Yantraki kept her emotionless, cold eyes fixed on her sister as she casually stepped to the side. Reaching out a hand she grabbed her sister’s axe-wielding arm. Thorn fell to her knees as her sister slammed her foot into her legs.

Raising her sister high into the air by the arm, Yantraki stared into her eyes. Thorn could feel a sense of dread swelling in her as Yantraki placed a hand around her neck. Yantraki moved her mouth to her sister’s ear.

“You almost hurt my husband back there…” Yantraki muttered into her sister’s ear. Heart racing Thorn jumped off up and kicked Yantraki in the side, forcing Yantraki to let go of her arm.

Jumping back Thorn reached behind her back and pulled out a long Kukuna metal short sword. Full of a mix of fear and rage she sprinted towards Yantraki; her sword aimed for her sister’s throat. Yantraki ducked away from the knife and charged at her sister. Her arms wrapped around Thorn’s waist as Yantraki drove her into the ground. Taking her sister’s sword, Yantraki placed it behind her sister’s head. Gripping her sister’s hair Yantraki lifted her head, before immediately smacking it back down onto the sword. She wanted to inflict as much damage as possible for hurting her husband.

“I will crack your head open slowly and feast on your flesh!” Yantraki screamed as she continued to pound her sister’s head into the sword.

Thorn threw her sister off her. Rolling away she jumped to her feet and started to try to mutter a spell. Before the words could leave her mouth Yantraki’s fist was already only a few inches from her face. Thorn moved to the side. Dropping down she punched her sister in the stomach. Quickly then moving around the back of her sister, Thorn prepared to now fight her sister on better terms.

Swiftly recovering Yantraki turned and started to sprint towards her sister. Running as fast as she could, she leapt into the air. Her foot came crashing down onto Thorn’s arms as she attempted to block the attack. The attack wasn’t enough to take Thorn down, but it sent her back a few feet through the sand. No warrior from either side dared to move as they watched the two warrior’s fight.

The slightly stunned Thorn gave Yantraki enough time to tackle her sister’s legs. Yantraki blinked for a few seconds as she saw her sister’s knee going towards her face. Before her brain could even register what was happening, she was already lying on the bloodstained sand.

Liam’s eyes widened as he saw Thorn going for one of the short swords. Liam yelled to the Boruma in broken Amazonian for them to advance. The shield wall did what he commanded. Sluggishly the wall moved forward. Stepping over the dead. Now and then a Boruma would stop, draw out her knife, then brutally and mercilessly stab an injured enemy warrior to death. Liam couldn’t help but be terrified and amazed at the fury in the eyes of the Boruma as they avenged their fallen sisters. Even Andreaka, Icaria were in positions where they didn’t have the time to stop as they needed to hold the formation, kick or spat on the dead. Tears rolled down their faces as they looked back to see their dead sisters. But Liam noticed something about the Boruma then. All that anger, hate, and depression they held, only moved them forward. It fuelled them, like a machine of hate and vengeance as they purposely kicked the faces of the dead enemies.

Liam broke from studying the girls though as he could see the archers from the trees could only delay Thorn from grabbing her weapon for so long. Knowing if they kept at the speed, they were going Yantraki would be dead. Liam made a brash decision. Arrows were falling from all sides, indiscriminate in their targets. Taking in a deep breath. Liam made his move.

Bashing past the shield wall, Liam sprinted towards the two. Arrows fell around him as he could hear archers in the trees being killed by the Sun Siter archers. Knife in hand Liam barrelled into the side of Thorn. Thorn stumbled as she looked down to her side. Blood was trickling down her hip. A gagged blue blade was sticking out of her side. A fist smacked into her stomach, then another on her lower back. Looking down she looked at the small human that was furiously punching her side. Smirking Thorn looked down at the human, her vision blurring as the human pulled the knife from her side.

Once the Amazon had slumped down onto her side, Liam sprinted over to Yantraki. Thorn watched through her blurred vision as the small silver-haired bot started to try to drag Yantraki back towards the shield wall.

“A fucking human…” Thorn laughed as she looked down at the thick pool of blood that was now gathering around her.

Rhexdice watched as Liam pulled Yantraki back to the shield wall. Seeing Thorn on the brink of death, and that the smaller beachhead was now defeated, and a boat filled with huntresses were now approaching. Rhexdice decided to kill off two birds with a volley of arrows. Flicking her wrist her warriors were given the signal. Each of the remaining boats started to unleash arrows onto the beach to kill the rest of the Thorn shields.

“Load the poisoned tips” Rhexdice ordered as her armada of boats unleashed their devastating volley.

Liam looked to the sky as a shadow fell over him. Seeing the arrows coming down towards him, he started to drag Yantraki with what remained of his power. A hand went onto his chest and pushed him down onto the sand. Yantraki now sat over Liam as she started to use her long arms and superior strength to drag them both back towards the shield wall. But she knew her struggling was in vain as an arrow landed on her leg.

“Keep fucking moving! You idiot!” Liam said as he tried to struggle out of Yantraki’s arms.

“We won’t make it, just stay here, with me…forever” Yantraki muttered as an arrow cut into her lower back. Her eyes closed as her head slumped onto Liam. Right then, for the first time. Something switched in Liam. He dragged himself from under the Amazon and started to drag her back to the shield wall with what remained his might. Thorn’s warriors started to slump to the ground as they hurriedly made a shield wall around Thorn’s body.

Andreaka, Icaria and a handful of Boruma broke rank and charged forward. They formed a shield wall around Liam and Yantraki. Several Amazonian priestesses helped to drag Yantraki back to the shield wall. As Yantraki was safely placed behind the wall, Liam looked out to Thorn and her warriors as they tried their best to save Thorn’s life. Biting his bottom lip Liam looked to Thorn. He was going to regret this, but then again, he was never the person to waste an opportunity nor let these shield maidens die like dogs.

Picking up the shield of one of the shields of a now-dead Boruma had been holding, he sprinted towards the warriors. Once he reached Thorn and her warriors he came to a stop. Crouching behind the shield for protection, he started to yell to Thorn.

“Rhexdice has betrayed you! Get behind the wall and I can assure you we will help you and your people!” Liam screamed. Not knowing if her ears were fooling her in her last moments, Thorn smirked. She nodded to her warriors and together they made their way towards the Boruma shield wall.

For a few seconds, the arrows stopped. Not wanting to question what was happening. The group sprinted towards the wall. The Boruma were at first hesitant to allow them to pass, but Andreaka, Icaria managed to convince them. They dragged the almost dead Thorn and what remained of her army past the wall and to the little safety the shield wall provided. As a shadow fell over the beach yet again. The sky glowed red. It was not apparent why the archers had stopped their attack. Flaming arrows started to litter the beach and jungle. Killing the Amazons in the trees alongside anyone who wasn’t under one of the shields. But even then, there wasn’t much safety there as the shields started to catch light due to the flames.

Amazons and Boruma started to scream as the five-foot flaming arrows started to land onto the Amazons. Their bodies being engulfed by the magic flames. Most Amazons started to storm towards the water. More and more Amazons flopped to the ground as the arrows found their marks.

Chaos and confusion took over the battlefield as Boruma alongside Amazons sprinted to the water to put of the fire. Liam looked to the boats as they fired another volley of arrows. He then looked to the smaller beachhead, praying Thormoenia had taken one of the boats as he planned. Thormoenia and her newly captured boat were charging towards the enemy, but they would probably still take about 10 or so minutes. It was quite obvious which boat belonged to her as she had taken the time to strap the bodies of the dead along the sides of the boat.

Simply from looking around the battlefield at the chaos of people trying to fight against the flames, Liam knew they probably weren’t going to last long enough for Thormoenia to attack the boats. Turning around to face the jungle, Liam started to scan for the high priestess. His eyes soon landed on her. she was busy healing an injured Amazon. To Liam’s knowledge, she was the only one who could use fire magic.

Quickly running to her side, Liam planted his hand firmly onto the high priestess shoulder. Her head snapped around to look at him.

“What!” She snapped.

“I have an idea. Get some archers here with their bows and some arrows. You use your magic to make a fire. The archers will dip their arrows into the fire then shoot the arrows at the boats. Amazons can’t swim so burning the ships means we will probably get them all.” Liam instructed. The Amazon quickly understood what he meant as she jumped into action. She ordered and organised archers into place. Once positioned, she summoned a line of fire in Infront of the girls. Confidently, she then instructed them to dip the heads of their arrows into the flames, before then firing them at the boats.

Arrows of fire were exchanged for a few minutes as Liam reformed the now extinguished shield wall to fend off the non-flaming arrows. Their defences were only able to hold on for long enough until Thormoenia’s boat chased the remaining forces away. Even some of their flaming archers managed to get a few good hits in on Rhexdice’s archers. They even managed to set one of the boats up in flames.

Bodies from the flaming boat toppled into the water. Thrashing around in the water they tried to swim. But soon the struggling stopped as they slowly started to sink into the depths.

As arrows came to a stop and the last of the flames were put out. Liam moved over to the priestesses who were trying to wake up Yantraki and the others who had been hit by the non-flaming arrows. His now macabre and tiered eyes fell onto the unmoving body of Yantraki.

“Fuck…” That was all he muttered as he collapsed to his knees. A sea of bodies around him. Gritting his teeth Liam stood. He curled his hand into a fist. The priestess turned around as they heard something loud, like that of flesh hitting flesh. Their eyes fell onto Liam’s bloody fist and the scratch across the left side of his face.

Pulling himself together Liam turned and stormed back towards the warriors. Alongside the others he dragged began to seek out and drag the injured back to the small amount of safety the trees provided. Even as the enemy boats started to retreat, Liam continued to drag the injured away from the battle.

As long as he helped someone, then he wouldn’t have to focus on the death around him. As he dragged a Boruma back to the trees, he couldn’t help but feel sick swelling in his throat as the smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils. No force in the world could even consider the idea to him to imagine what was causing the horrid smell. The battle was finished. But he couldn’t help but find the aftermath to be nothing more than gut-wrenching. Thousands lay dead. Even more injured. The battle hadn’t lasted long. All they could do now was try their best as a collective group of survivors to do damage control.

Ignore the background on this one. No clue why but it just came out weird.