I stayed plucking my ears as I listened to the orchestra being performed by the five members of this kpop group.

“Alright, seriously! Whose bloody idea was it to fucking blow into the nose bones of a mammoth? Like what the actual fuck! As the General I wish to behead all of you this instant.” I spoke quickly as I begged for the ringing to stop.

The five knights that now looked like assassins sent from hell all stared at me as if they didn’t know what they did wrong. You bloody know what you did wrong! Don’t think you can play me for a fool.

“General, did we do something treasonous?” spoke the heaven striking beauty that is this knight in front of me.

I might just keep her head as a trophy. Wait, that’s creepy. What am I even saying. Even i scare myself sometimes.

“You must have misheard during your trumpet solo. Anyways, what did you guys just do.”

I asked as I gazed at the breathtaking beauty’s blue eyes that blinked rapidly as her eyebrows furrowed with confusion. She shook her head that caused some of her flowing hair to swish past my nose.

Eucalyptus? Smells like honey mm….

Plus fifty points just for beauty!

“We were raising the morale of our knights by announcing your presence on the battlefield. Surely the battle is in our hands.” Spoke the wavy haired Troy lookalike on the far left.

I leaned over to look at him and could see his sparkling eyes filled with determination.

Wait, it just dawned upon me…. I know none of their names!

Leaning forward to the now positive point knight, I brought my mouth close to her ear.

“The hangover must have been more effective than I thought. Umm...what are your names?”

She didn’t take long at all before straightening her back and puffing her chest.

“Captain Amanda of Cavalry.” she announced with pride. “Starting from our left is Captain Lance of Archery.”

Lance instantly did a small bow towards me with a smile that supported his chiseled jaw… I’m not jealous, I swear.

“Captain Klaso, Spearmen second line.”

Klaso was the one with curly hair who had some sort of aura that I couldn’t comprehend… One that said, ah I don’t like you. Kind of feeling. Nonetheless he gave me a smug smile that made me want to punch his face.

“Captain Themen, Infantry first line.”

Ah, so the scary looking guy was named Themen. Well, I can’t really blame him for looking like this with scars when he is our front line. You have just gone up a few stars knight, good job. I’ll clap in your honor.

“And our support, Captain Owens, third line.”

The ginger looked at me and saluted with his arm across his chest. Oh, formality with this guy I see. I could tell just by looking that he would be loyal under my wing. I’ll treat him well, hehe.

“We are the five captains under your command, General Grim. Use us to your will.” spoke the authoritative, yet cute sounding Amanda.

I got a sense of my own authority as I wondered how much power I actually had in this dream. I looked onto the battlefield. From where we were, seeing the action in detail was impossible. At most it looked like a bunch of people pushing each other like it was an American Football game.

Bringing my hand to stroke my sharp chin, I more closely examined the battlefield. A forest clearing was about to be passed, we would be in control of more than half of the battlefield. There was only one thing that kept bothering me.

Why aren’t the pigs, i mean pig knights, or boar knights or whatever, attacking back? Our army already outumbers the enem but not by much. And with just our infantry and spearmen, they have pushed the enemy back considerably.

Hmm, then why do they refuse to move?

My ears perked like a frightened kitten as the sounds of loud rustling suddenly came to my ears. I turned my head to the thick forest clearing to our far side.

“An enemy?” Amanda exclaimed, dismounting from our horse that I very much enjoyed. “Protect the General!”

The beauty unsheathed her sword and stood in front of me while the four on horseback rode a couple meters ahead of us.

The rustling grew louder as did the tension in the air. If this went on any longer, I’m pretty sure I would get a heatstroke in this tin can suit. Moments after I started patting my armor like I was getting frisked at an airport, a knight rode slowly towards us on horseback.

He looked young, probably fifteen? Twenty at most. He wasn’t wearing any iron armor but I could see the torn crimson banner on the horse so he was obviously one of our men. And I must’ve been right because the five knights quickly looked more relaxed however chose not to sheathe their weapons.

“Captain..a trap...” he slurred out in a yell then fell off the horse and onto the floor like a sack of rice hitting pavement.

I didn’t even have to squint my eyes as I saw the arrows sticking out of his back like peacock feathers. I glanced upwards to peer inside the forest where he came from but it was too dark and thick to see through.

“D-did he just die?” I sputtered as we all stared at what happened.

Captain Klaso who tried to question my tactics, rode up to the body and dismounted. He searched through the body as if looking for something.

“He’s dead.” he announced.

“Who is he?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off the body.

“Part of the scouts sent to the forest clearing next to the battlefield.” answered the suave Lance.

“What could he mean by trap?” Amanda asked the question that was wandering my mind.

I’m sorry for this knight but what he said ran rampant in my beautiful mind. Trap obviously meant the enemy had something up their sleeve but… what?

I stroke my chin once more but this time with more intensity. Then my eyes widened as I came to the realization.

Swiftly bringing my attention to the battlefield, I could see our cavalry already starting their charge.

“Rescind the order!” I yelled out.

Without hesitation, Amanda put her pink lips onto the mammoth horn and blew two times. I watched as the cavalry charged forward but suddenly curved to the side and U-turn back to their positions.

“Bring the cavalry underneath our slope. Have our frontlines stop the push.”

This dream wasn’t Civilization V, no, it has way too many mechanics to be compared to that game. Then what am I replicating? The question bogged my mind endlessly.

“Why are we stopping the push? Should we not crush them with all we have like you ordered earlier?” questioned Captain Klaso who looked seriously antsy with his hands gripping the reigns of his horse so hard that his hand started turning a different shade.

I brought my arm out and pointed towards the overhanging forest clearing next to the engaged army. Our knights were heading right in front of that!

“The enemy is planning to ambush us with archers who know what else once we cross that path. Our archers would not be able to hit their troops with the thick trees acting as cover. If we move our archers up, their cavalry will have less ground to cover and thus make for an easy wipe of our own archers.

“Have the infantry and spearmen disengage and retreat to under this slope. The enemy has a much bigger army than presumed. We will defend fromthis slope.” I ordered as if I was actually a general.

Ha! And my cousin says I’m not assertive enough, think again Ron! Who would’ve thought I would be the commander of an army.

“Understood. We will need to direct the forces on the field. I’ll go down.” Amanda spoke with her gentle authroitativae voice.

Not only is she cute, but she’s also obedient. Hehe, my granny always told me to find someone loyal.

“I’ll ride to the frontlines to alert the infantry and spearmen.” Captain Klaso said as he rode back towards us.

“You should stay here.” Captain Lance interrupting. “I’m a faster rider than you so It only makes sense that I would be able to cover the battlefield more efficiently.”

“Tsk, do you think you can order me ar-”

“I like it! If Lance is indeed faster, then sending Captain Klaso would provide no benefit. Captain Lance, direct the archers towards the forest as well.”

“Not towards the enemy?”

“The enemy will be coming from that forest. I guarantee it!”

***

Amanda set off towards the cavalry while Captain Lance went towards the archers first. He directed them as ordered to shift their direction towards the unknown forest. The old General may have the layout of the forest but I for one, did not have that luxury.

Captain Lance then sped towards the battlefield and started gesturing and blowing into his horn. The army must have gotten the message because they slowly changed from their offensive formation into a defensive one, putting their shields up with spearmen right behind them.

I watched with a pinch of pleasure as the scene in front of me started shifting towards my vision. I could see from the corner of my eye that Captain Klaso was gripping tightly onto the reins of the horse for whatever reason. I paid no mind to it, maybe it's the shift in plans who knows, but I’ll show him in victory.

“The Support Knights have been placed in the forest surrounding us, we should be safe from up here.” the ginger said as he rode from out of the forest.

I smiled with joy as I saw the movements of confusion on the side of the enemy. The enemy cavalry have been getting restless upon seeing our army.

Now the battlefield was completely changed to a defensive formation with all our knights beneath the slope.

“Enemy!” Yelled one of the knights below.

I shot my sight up and watched in slight horror as light armored enemy knights started pouring out all across from the forest.

“General, their cavalry is moving!”

I turned my head to the back line of the enemy to see their cavalry speed to the side and into the forest out of sight. That forest could lead them here but we have already prepared some support knights… hopefully they can hold.

Pause, wait… why am I taking this so seriously? I’m actually surprising myself right about now. It’s like the mind of an actual general took over.

“General, it isn’t safe here, we don’t know what’s going in those forests.”

Tsk, I really didn’t want to go… I would miss my imminent victory! I refuse!

“No need, I’ll scout ahead.” Captain Klaso said to my surprise.

I nodded my head and watched his horse’s tail wag out of vision and into the darkness.

Turning my attention to the pay-per-view event, our knights formed a shield wall while the archers were raining down arrows ontop of the new enemies.

“There’s too many! Can we hold?” Captain Owens asked with terror in his voice and I don’t blame him.

I expected a sizable ambush but this is too much!

I could feel my legs tremor in my armor as I watched endless numbers of enemies pile out. The only saving grace out of all this was that our infantry and spear men took down most of the enemies they used as bait.

“Send the cavalry to the archers.” I muttered for Captain Owen to blow his thingy.

He didn’t hesitate and blew the horn a single time. That caught the attention of the cute knight below us.

She looked up and Captain Owens gestured towards the archers. She rose her sword high into the heavens and brought it down, aiming the directions of the archers.

Our cavalry rode between our force and theirs, aiming for only one thing.

The enemy charged closer with their knights in light brown armor. However because they were aiming for being agile in their planned attack, it made them very susceptible to our archers.

The corners of my mouth turned.

These bitches stand no chance!

Swoosh!

The sound of a whistle? Why would there be a whistle here?

I felt my body grow heavier to the point that I could no longer stand. My vision hazed and I fell from my horse.

“General!” Captain Owen’s voice said in distortion.

I could see him crouch over my body.

Through blurred vision I saw him pull out his sword and thrust at the knights surrounding us.

Gah, why does my chest hurt? Is this…

Not a dream? This has to be a dream right?

I glanced down, not even having to tilt all the way down before seeing the steel tipped arrow pierced through my armor. My eyelids became as heavy as my body and was too much to keep open. I stared at the steel arrow, three dots were all I saw engraved into the steel arrow before…

Darkness once more…