He was once again in the desert... Sitting in a trench, the sky was clear, free from storms, he could see their Fortress... Immense. How they'd ever take it... But, he'd been there before. He peered over the top, and surveyed the barbed 'no-man's land' between his OT line, and the enemy.
They'd been told that they had pitfalls, barbed wire, observers, even things called 'mines'- Unstable bombs buried underground. When pressure is applied from above, they explode in a fury of fire and shrapnel. They had to cross all of those obstacles before they could even think about getting to the Fortress...
But, he'd been here before. He stood, now, and looked around the glowing landscape. Then, he heard it... 'Thwack!', seconds later, the heavy exploding shells, with their shrapnel ringing across the desert. He dropped down immediately, and scrambled to a dugout.
Why had he volunteered? He looked at the badge on his left bracer and pauldron. He was still only a Corporal. An eagre Corporal who'd volunteered for the Observation Trench duty that day. Why? He wanted to be promoted, or injured, and on his way out. What he got was a ticked to Sergeant, and he was stuck with a squad who had been on leave on the rear line...
He was suddenly on the Overwall, looking out at a more distant Fortress. His second tour on the Front... He could feel his mind slipping.
"Sergeant!" a Private called to him. Meathos turned, and saw the young man's face. "Captain wants to see you, Sir."
Meathos nodded, and walked to the Captain, his double-barred insignia glowing in the hot sun. The Captain wasn't a large man, physically, but he demanded respect nonetheless. He wasn't a cruel man by any means, but he was strict.
"Sergeant, I know you're drawn thin. I would be, myself... But, we're sending your squad out first. A harbinger of sorts. Just go out there, find out where they're headed, what they've got, or whatever you can, and come back. We'll send the assault if you need it on the way back, you know the signal."
"And if I don't give it?"
"We wait for you to return. We can't send out the battalion without proper intel about what they'd be fighting against."
Meathos nodded, saluted, and walked back to his squad. His eyes were squinted by the bright sun in the clear sky...
He lay in a shell hole, surrounded by bodies and body parts. He knew not if the shelling or attack were over, because he still heard the bombs... He turned, looked out of the hole, and saw the Fortress, a ways off. Suddenly, sand began to blow from behind it, and across the desert. Within minutes, the entire battlefield was one massive sand storm. He was stranded. His squad was dead. Why had he volunteered? If he could only go back...
He waited in the hole for a night, drinking the water he found on the dead. He often talked to his strewn squadmates, the dead Gerudo: He knew they were the same. He knew that neither of them wanted to kill another man, but they had to. They had to kill, because it was their job.
If given another chance, he would do things differently.
He promised them all that he would do them differently from that day on. He would not draw his sword and attack another man, unless it was in self defence. He promised he would never kill another man, but instead, he would kill uniforms. All uniforms that stood against brotherhood and alliances.
Soldiers, no matter what uniform they wear, are a brotherhood. They are forced to kill, and none of them like it. He promised all of them.
"I'm sorry comrades, I did not know what I had agreed to. At first, you were an ideal. 'The enemy'. Now, i see you are exactly like us, men, with families, dying and killing in the name of land. If we were all to seek refuge within this shell hole again, I would start a fire and make us a soup with my helmet, if you would all be civilized, aswell... We are all brothers in a way, and I will preserve that. Anyone who stands in the way of brotherhood shall die. I will make sure of that."
In the morning, he ran in a straight line, and reached the Hylians. He was recieved with immediate leave, and a battalion transfer. He was a Hellrider from that day forth.
Why had he volunteered? The guns still raged in his mind...
He awoke in his pitiful cell, surrounded by a Gerudo and a Shiekah...