War of freedom.. War is inevitable

Prologue

Fate was watching him, every move he made, he knew that very well. It was just waiting for him to make a mistake so that he could punish him afterwards. Because fate was inherently malicious. Still, he couldn't help it. He had to do it.

But actually he was forced to, it wasn't even his own will. Or is it? Raen shook his head, who was still watching in this mess. The war confused people's minds. In war, the good deeds were indistinguishable from the bad.

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Roman paced restlessly up and down the door. He nervously chewed his thumbnail. Behind the door his wife Alea was in labor. It was not his first child who was just about to make its way into this world; his wife had given birth to a young daughter two years ago. Roman sat down, but immediately jumped up again. It was early in the morning and outside it was still pitch dark. In the middle of that cold winter night, they had finally arrived here after a dozen grueling days of travel. But in spite of the heavy exhaustion that had accompanied him like a trusted friend for many weeks, Roman did not feel tired now. The tension of waiting kept him awake.

On an urgent impulse, he took the belt with the sword from his shoulder. He couldn't bear its weight any longer, and he didn't want to lift his newborn baby while he had a weapon with him, or bring the newly born life into contact with death. For just a few days ago this sword had drunk the blood of the enemy in his hand. Roman shuddered at the memory of the hopeless war that raged in the south of the country. And suddenly his head overflowed with images of desperate resistance and senseless bloodshed. It tore his heart that there was so little hope for all of them, and that he was so powerless on his own. It tormented him to know that he would not be able to protect his family once the enemy managed to conquer the mountains. His family that was to grow by one more member tonight.

Roman continued his ups and downs in front of the door, trying to drive away his bitter worries. The Goddess of Destiny had spun the threads of her web as she saw fit. She had disapproved of them and decided to make them suffer. Roman bit his lip. A human being had to be obedient to Sets and humbly accept all that fate held in store for him. With a smile on his face and God Hyaun in his heart, as the priests Hys always preached.

Roman forced his attention to what was going on behind the door to the birthing room. It could happen at any moment. He stopped and listened to noises, but nothing moved in the room that was forbidden for warriors during the birth process. The door stayed locked.

Matt leaned Roman against the wall.

"With Hyaun in his heart," he whispered to himself, wondering whether his second descendant would be a girl again, or this time a boy. He thought of possible names that should begin with the same letters as the names of the father or mother. That was the custom. Roman and Alea. The boy had to start with an R and the girl with an A, as her first daughter was called Andra. Roman considered: Ro, Re, Ra ...

The pain came so pure and sudden that Roman was instantly staggered. Flashes of lightning shot through his head, cutting his mind like bright knives. Startled he groaned and suddenly he felt sick, but the pain he felt was not his own. What he received was another person's final inner outcry. It was horrible. With a dry throat, Roman dragged himself to the little bench opposite the door and dropped onto it. He sat there with his hands pressed onto the metal browband on his forehead, listening, trembling, to the horribly distorted voice that echoed in his head. She sounded infinitely desperate, exhausted and discouraged, worse than he could have felt himself in those dark days of doom.

“Hear, my faithful servants, my beloved people of Hy! It is with little regret that I leave this world that can no longer bring me anything but pain and humiliation. But at least I can be sure that the gift of the Spirit will now return to the bosom of my people. It was a special honor for me to have been its bearer, even if I failed. My beloved people, ... I wish you ... luck! ”After that there was nothing more, just hollow silence.

Roman, who sat motionless, hadn't been the only one at that moment whom the voice of the Prince of Hy had reached with such unbearable force. All over the country, frozen in horror, all warriors had listened to the agonizing death message of their Setna, who was their leader and in possession of the holy powers of Hyaun - their God-chosen protector, who was no longer.

While all of Hy remained undecided and filled with grief in the cold silence that followed after the prince's message, Roman's son began his life with a first powerful scream. As if, despite his innocence, he sensed the tragedy that had just happened. Roman noticed the emerging unrest in the birthing room through the fog of his mental rigidity and he tried to collect his senses. Finally the door opened in front of him and with tears shrouded in his eyes he accepted his son, who had entered the world of human beings at the same moment as someone else had left it forever.

A little later Roman was sitting on the bed in which his wife was lying. They looked at each other, happy and fearful at the same time. He still had the little boy in his arms, but his thoughts could not let go of the prince's brave suicide, which no one else in the room was allowed to know about.

"Are you staying here now?" Asked Alea, her hopeful tone was unmistakable.

Roman looked down. "No, I'm not afraid."

"But ... why not?" She looked at him with wide eyes, and he thought how happy she was, since she had no idea of all the terrible things out there.

“It's not over yet, Alea. We have to get ready to flee north over the nori ”, he tried to teach her as gently as possible. “Just to be careful. North of the river you are safe for the time being. ”