Mercenary Tales Poem by Demetrius JonesDixon

He stands at the stone gates
One that he has passed through many times
A string of sigils craved into the stony frame
It wards off evil
Two torches attached to the gates to provide light
He stands at the stone gates
But for maybe the last time?
He stands in basic clothing
With a two-handed jagged toothed cleaver strapped to his back by a large black cloth
The colorless cloth has those gold cursive words painted onto the strap
That reads 'Overstand Basics'
His leader a centaur with attitude compared to fire
Stands there, humanoid arms crossed
Face blank, with a cold stare
The young man is not swayed by these eyes
For his eyes are more frigid, they have been for the past three years now
None of his band of brothers are there to see him off
They don't know of this moment
His former leader turns tails on him and trots back into the encampment
He just calmly turns and walks from the gates and heads down the beaten path
Hours of endless walking
Aimlessly walking
The moon shines bright and rain begins to fall and quench the dry earth
The young merc just keeps walking through the rain, down the muddy path
The moon shines bright
He cannot tell if he is crying or if that's just rainwater flowing across his face
His eyes wide with a blank stare at the moon
He falls to his knees, gazing at the glowing space rock
He slowly lets out a thunderous roar
Trying to instill his emotions into the Sun's doppelganger
The roar is oh so painful, as if the soul itself is crying tears
He grabs the mud and paints his face
He stares blankly at his hands and gazes at the moon
He laughs like madman as the rain washes away the painted mud and cleans his dirty hands
Honestly... confusion can't let him grasp the situation
The moon... it shines bright
He removes his fixed eyes
Stands and continues to stumble down the muddy path
Honestly... confusion can't let him grasp the situation