From the journal of Maj. Cidra Hahn, dated 03.02.2041…
Holy Lady Athena I cannot hear you. It has been nearly ten years since your voice was silent to my heart.
The darkness of that time haunts me. I pray I shall not be swallowed by the darkness again.
Picon, gone. Virgon. Gone. Thousands up thousands, souls burnt to cinder. It is beyond horror, beyond comprehension. I must keep to my tasks.
147.
I cannot hold their names in my head without a ledger. I led them to slaughter. I think they shall not be the last. Ares rides with us now, gods help us all.
147.
Into the blackness, without the final rites, without the grace of passage eased into the next life.
Do they drift forever? Shall you drift forever in darkness my love, my heart?
Is that my fate as well?
Perhaps I deserve no better.
Wise Lady I pray for the mercy of clarity. I pray for light.
I cannot hear you now.