Bearing the Burden

The sound of distant gunfire and artillery filled his ears as soon as he stepped out the door. The wailing sound of air raid sirens rings across the land as he walks across the lawn. He steps over a crater and ducks under the rotors of a crashed helicopter.

He stands looking over the valley, destruction is everywhere. His eyes scan over the rubble, and the scattered fires that dot what is left of his home.

Then he is gone traveling towards the south, when he comes a cross someone standing on a hill similar to how he just was, surveying the scene. "it's beautiful" the person says. "It was beautiful" says the first man just before sliding his sharp thin piece of metal called a knife across the persons neck.

He leaves that person laying in an ever growing pool of blood. He thinks of what he has done, the motion was so smooth and practiced, like riding a bike, something you never forget.

He caries on, his shoulders sagging from bearing the burden. A tear runs down his cheek. Not because of what he has done, because of what he said "Beautiful ". That word made him so sad, because it reminded him of his mother.
He is Ed Johnson

He now in a humvee, speeding down a road. His buddy is yelling bearly audible over the gunfire and explosions.
"Johnson, the objective is 3800 meters to the south, let's GO!!!!!!"

He is so tired, more than he he has ever been. He is tire of wearing armor and carrying a gun. He is tired of killing and living in this world of death and sadness. He lets go. Starting over. He leaves the destruction behind and goes to the happiest place he can think of. He can feel his body falling, it feels slow but he knows he is going fast. Ed hits the ground. Hard.

Ed awakes. His sore body aches all over and he can't remember anything. He brings up his hands to shield his face. He sits up, looking around. The world is different, it's quiet and peaceful. He stands and stretches. He is disorientated and can't think straight. A big orange dog greets him. Ed is very light headed, and casually mumbles answers to the questions the dog asks him.

He idly pets the soft orange animal, with apples on its side. It about as tall as his chest. "Huh, I don't remember having a big dog that talks with a southern accent." Ed mumbles "HEY"!

His mind comes back to him as he relize that the dog is not a dog and can speak English. The creature is picking over him touching all of his gear.
"What the hay is this kind of apple" say the orange animal
The too familiar sound a thin metal pice sliding out of it's home with the distinctive metal click reaches Ed's ears.

Instincts take over and Ed instinctively toss the grenade away and tackles the orange animal and shuts his eyes tightly.
KABOOM!
His ears ring, his head hurts badly from the shock wave. Ed scans the bushes with his riffle. No movement. Thats a mistake to many have made. He quickly kneels down by the orange animal with an apple on its side. It's knocked out, a large pice of shrapnel stick out of its right leg, just above the knee.

Ed goes to work, removing his EMT pouch and taking out the supplies needed. He pours anti-septic on the wound, before using his combat knife and tweezers to slowly remove the pice of metal. He then wraps a pice of gauze around the wound. His shoulders sag as he remembers how he got this good at removing shrapnel. He performs like a trained doctor, with smooth fluid movements, funny Ed has never had a single hour of formal medical education.

He stands up and stretches, the sun is setting. Ed suddenly feels a massive amount of fear rush through him. His heart races, and he feels surrounded. He grabs his gun and takes off running. And keeps running, and running, until finally he feels safe. It's fully dark now and Ed comes upon a clearing in the forest. He sees another creature standing in the clearing.

It has a dark mane moving in the wind, and a horn coming out of the top of its head. It also has a shiny curved pice of metal that glimmers in the moonlight sitting on its head. Ed strolls out into the clearing and walks up next to it. "Nice night tonight."
A look of complete horror and shock fill the face of the animal before it quickly disappears in a flash of magic.

Ed casually strolls over to bush at the edge of the clearing. Sure enough the animal, which looks very similar to a horse appears in front of him. "Hey talk to me!" shouts Ed. Anger fills his voice as he clamps his fists tightly.
"AAAHH!" screams the horse and disappears again.
"COME HERE!" shouts Ed and he runs full speed towards a spot in the woods. The horse appears right in front of him, and he hits the horse hard taking it down to the ground. Ed comes up on top and grabs both of its front legs twisting them painfully.

"AHHGH! " says the dark horse "I am royalty!" shouts the horse pinned under Ed. "oh I'm so sorry your highness, I guess I didn't introduce myself, I am Ed" says Ed sarcastically twisting the arms of the animal even more. "How did you know where I was going to be! " shouts the dark horse, very frustrated to be stuck like this. "And what did you say your name was?" said Ed angrily still tightly griping the creature. "I am Princess Luna, what kind of wretched creature are you!"

Ed gets a distant look in his eyes. He releases his grip on the princess and stands up. He starts to walk away, but turns back and says "I am a soldier." before fading into the night.