It was over. He knew it was over. The result was right there in front of his eyes, but he didn't like it. He had lived such a short life of only twenty-two years, but he felt like he had lived through thousands of lifetimes. He had seen, heard, and felt too much to even consider it a victory; a success. He should've done everything in his power to destroy their threat.

He wasn't the leader of a small army for sure, but he was the one who directed them in battle. He had to make sure that not a single life would be taken by the hands of death. He was the one they called the "Undefeated Tactician", the "King's Right Hand Man", the "Greatest Strategist" that had ever lived.

Not once had he lost a single person in battle. Several close calls, yes, but no one died on him because of his quick thinking and witty remarks.

"Many had told him that his accomplishments were outstanding, glorious even. Heck, at one point, he couldn't deny it since it was truth. Yet as the person that began their war, he felt that he didn't deserve a single bit of their praise.

With that dead, defeated dragon before him, he still lost. He was the reason for their war.

He was the reason that dragon came to kill them all.

He was the one who should be blamed for the destruction that befell their land.

And yet, he was still praised. He was still the "Undefeated Tactician", the "Greatest Strategist".

He should've sacrificed himself when he had the chance. Maybe then, he wouldn't regret seeing the end of the war.

As he sat on the edge of the cliff with his hands clasped together and head hanging listlessly, someone stabbed their sword into the ground nearby. He didn't look up as that person plopped themselves on the ground, throwing an arm around his slumped shoulders.

For a long moment, neither said a single word. Yet, even with the silence, he got the message. His eyes began to sting as he clenched his hands together in a harsh grip, his nails breaking the skin as his shoulders trembled slightly.

"I'm glad that you're alive."

Extremely short. Ahaha, but tell me what you thought! :D Truth to be told, It was an assignment for one of my college responses. The prompt was "take a picture from the internet and write a short story about it. I picked "..." by gimatina on Deviant Art. What? He did say a picture from the internet. XD

Hope you liked it!

Later!

~CloudyLightning