《Roach》Chapter 32: Ruin

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Nobody else was there. Just the silent breeze. A lone vulture circled above. I slowly made my way forward through the ruins. The grass and vines had already overtaken the structures. Around me was a graveyard. Swords and crossbows were laid around like tombstones. When I amde my way to the actual tower, there was nothing left but rubble. It was true. All of it was gone. The empire was gone. The Queen was dead.

I looked down and saw the head of a single roach. Only his exoskeleton was left, and most of it was buried in the soft dirt. Grass was growing out of his eye sockets that looked to be staring right back at me. It was empty yet sprung up many emotions within me. Sadness. Anger. Acceptance. After travelling this far, I was half expecting to see some kind of graveyard, but now that I was here, it felt so different. They were my brothers. They were my sisters. They were all buried and covered up in a newfound field of grass. Flowers grew where concrete used to be. Poppies sprung up where the bodies laid strewn. Butterflies and ladybugs - all of them blissfully flew around without a care in the world.

I unsheathed my blade and stared at it. And then I stared back at all the empty exoskeletons around me. No blood. No trail of corpses. Just empty shells. And then I looked back at the one roach's head in front of me half-buried in dirt. I took my blade and pierced the dirt behind the skull sticking it into the ground like another headstone. I took out my electric crossbow and laid it out carefully in front of him. I didn't know him, but he was still my brother.

When that was done, I looked up at the bright blue sky. I was so used to seeing a dark sky above me. But I still remembered how the sky used to be. It was the same blue sky, but it looked so different.

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The vulture still circled above me as I pondered what to do. All I've ever known was being a loyal soldier. What was my purpose? What was I supposed to do? I didn't know. For the very first time in my life, I didn't know what to do. I felt so empty - a void. My eyes were gray like I was already dead.

I walked away from the rubble and ruins that was once the Queen's iron tower. And as I walked away, I could feel that one head still staring back at me. My reflection upon the blade was getting smaller and smaller. Grass and flowers sprouted from the head's eyesocket. And they slowly danced with the cool breeze.

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