It happens.
Countries, empires… they disappear.
It hasn't happened for a long time.
There is a difference between a nation's dissolve and a nation's disappearance. The last one to disappear was Holy Roman Empire, France was the last to see him.
It was in battle.
The battle that killed HRE. Or at least they thought it was battle that killed him.
France told us all the story once. He was a mess. He told us the day I mentioned it. Seeing it.
Italy couldn't stop crying.
France said that he was about to face HRE when the boy nation's eyes went dim and he dropped his sword and walked away from battle into the trees. He said he followed him into the forest and kept on calling his name. The French men was genuinely worried about the boy. France himself didn't want to hurt HRE it was his bosses.
He trailed behind the empire until they came to a clearing that housed a mirror. The mirror was covered in vines and moss and looked like it wasn't made of a shiny dark glass or rock.
It would have looked beautiful if it wasn't for the scratches that marred all along its surface.
France said that he HRE just stepped through the mirror. Just like that. No weird light nothing. He just stepped through as if it was a door. What he found surprising was when France stood in front of the mirror no reflection stared back at him.
When France went to go have a closer look at the mirror its surface scratch free and… eyes of all shades of red and purple stared out at him. All glowing and staring.
France had never run so fast in his life when a hand reached out from the mirror at him.
When he came back to the battle field it seemed as if the battle was won. When he was told that The Holy Roman Empire was disbanded did he realised what he had just witnessed.
He had witnessed the end.
The end of a country, nation, empire and life.
He had found out what happens to us when we die.
It's always kept me up at night. That one day it's going to happen to me. It didn't make sense that I lived after my dissolve. West held me all night, he was so scared that I would finally leave him. But something did happen when I dissolved.
My eyes.
They turned red. They used to be the purest blue. So pure that people said that that it reflected my soul. I was much more calm back then. I mean sure I was a rebel but most people are. I just grew more rebellious and loud so people will notice and remember me.
So I am never forgotten.
Some nations that still hold a grudge against me say that I'm on my death bed and that it's just a matter of time…. And I think they're right. I feel ancient. Like a piece of butter scraped to thin on toast.
I'm starting to see The Mirror wherever I go and it's scaring me. It just sits there in the corner of my room to red pin pricks that mirror my own staring back at me.
And I can't help but think that maybe I'll not wake up tomorrow.