How long has it been since they've entered our city?

It must have been days since the pagans' initial forces arrived. Before that, we were constantly being bombed by them. I remember just waking up one day, being surprised at the loud noises, and seeing the devastation these horrid things would bring upon us. The Clergymen would call upon all the faithful men, women and children of the city to take up arms and fight against the enemies of God. They would chant and pray for victory, and so would the people.

I remember seeing my people with fanatic fervor in their eyes, ready to fight in a holy crusade against these faithless filth that would dare to attack us. Ready to boil them and avenge our fallen brothers and sisters like it was Innocence Lost all over again. I…wasn't so eager to fight against them.

Honestly, I never truly cared about the Church's teachings. I pretended to care, of course, but I actually only really cared about the people around me. I only took up arms just so I could defend them and also because I was forced to through mandatory service.

Because of this, when all the people I cared about died, I lost any and all reason to even fight at all. I wanted to leave all of this, and so I planned my desertion. When the opportunity came, I took it.

I remember it was in the middle of the night, where I would barely evade the patrols guarding the base. I was so close to being caught; it was probably out of sheer luck that I even got out of there. I suppose it helped that my body was smaller compared to other people. Now, finally free, I planned my escape from the warzone that was the Steam.

If only I knew how hard this would actually be.

Aside from having to avoid Devout patrols, I would also need to avoid the Pagans. They had a shoot on sight policy against anybody that wasn't them in this city. It made sense, considering how fierce the resistance of our people was and how many guerillas were in this city that would lay traps and ambush them. Because of that, it was only safe for them to assume that there were no noncombatants in this city, and that they had all taken up arms against them. So fierce was the fighting, that anywhere I went, both the corpses of our people and the pagans scattered the area. I would hear gunfire and explosions everyday and see smoke coming from atop ruined buildings, presumably from the bombings of their air support. I saw fire spreading, either from our forces or theirs. It truly was a nightmare.

I understood now why war was hell. This ruin and destruction everywhere…I don't think I'll be able to ever forget about any of this long after all of this is done.

Now here I am, hiding from a pagan patrol. I can hear the loud footsteps of their power armored men, alongside the many quieter footsteps of the less armored soldiers. When they pass by, I'll see if I can cross the street and not trip on the rubble and corpses while at it. It'll be quite a while until this patrol finally moves past me though, so I'll prepare myself for now when they eventually do.

And so, I waited.