Chicamocha Canyon, Santander Department, Republic of Colombia, May 10, 1900
The night was cold, chilling I may add, the Andean mountains with their blissful and at the same time dreadful winds are much worse than the constant sound of artillery canyons being echoed on the canyon. I am currently near the Chicamocha Canyon, only a few steps of Bucaramanga, the city and the land of traitors, those who succeeded our union, just like what happened in America, has repeated in our nation. It is funny you know, the thinking that each man of this nation, that they are all right in their limits, were converted into a cold, and destructive war that brings pain and-
"Ramirez! I don't want to see you writing in your stupid diary, go and help the 3rd line to dig more trenches," a tall white man dressed in an officer uniform for the conservative army shouted at me.
"Yes, sir!" I responded, rapidly putting the little book in one of the pockets of my trench coat. I take my rifle that was leaned upon the wooden walls. Standing up, I proceed to take a long breath, relaxing a bit as I stretch. I begin to walk across the improvised trenches, passing through various artillery canyons settled on the mountain. Darkness descends into the place, the only light is a reddish one coming from the lamps in each sector where soldiers are eating and talking, as others are concentrated in the artillery canyons, recharging and getting ready to...
"FIRE!" a tall black man shouts, the sound of the artillery following it, leaving a dim buzz in my ears. You know, even by covering my ears the sound is still annoying and hurtful, like if someone would have shouted into one of your ears.
My attention is diverted for some seconds when I see a group of soldiers passing right next to me, all covered in blood and also in several bandages, covering both eyes and arms. I gulp hard out of the state of their injuries, even though, that is a usual sight in this war, but that doesn't mean that seeing the brutality of it can become something normal, it instead becomes worse every time you pay more attention to it.
I pass through several corners, each one with different signs varying from "Calle de Miranda" to "Calle del Libertador" being printed upon wooden planks, written on ink. Going further, there is a large wooden square against one of these walls, with several newspapers pasted upon it, one of the news, caught my attention with the title of "All foreigners in Peking Dead, Chinese groups under the 'Boxer name' have rebelled against the local colonial garrisons in the area."
Meaning, more war, hurray!!!!.... nope that's not good...
I finally arrived at my destination, a sector that didn't have any class of wooden walls, only artillery canyons covered in a type of sheet, being safely guarded by the rocks around this area. Several soldiers are quietly sleeping on the ground, while others are with shovels, digging on the earth, working in that area. A man is smoking a cigar near them, watching his soldiers work while he is just resting upon the chair. I give a long sigh, before straightening and getting close to him.
"Sir!" I begin standing closely, waiting for his response. He shows an amused face before talking.
"And who the hell are you son?" the man says after smoking deeply the cigar.
I look at him with curiosity, yeah, it is just great the coordination this war is currently having, I can not believe that we are winning the war, "Jose Ramirez, from the 5th, I came here in the orders of Captain Santos for helping your division with the trenching works sir!"
His somewhat amused face changes to a frown, as he shouts to a soldier in his back, "Lucas!" a young man, maybe in his 20s, immediately appeared in front of him, waiting for the order, "give this man a shovel and indicate him where he can mess with this terrain," he finishes, smoking again.
"Si señor!" the young soldier exclaimed as he turns back to a small bunker. You know, I was thinking, when this war finished, I'm hoping to settle in this sector of the country, maybe I'll grow coffee, even marry, just the dreams of this lonely soldier.
The soldier comes back slowly with a shovel, I can see how his legs are almost shaking for some reason, something that is betrayed by the face of pain, and I know what this is, an injured soldier that was probably sent back to the front lines to help the officers of the governmental army.
He handles the shovel to me, simply nodding after that. He begins to walk towards the working zone, me following him from behind. In this zone, the only thing that gives light is the moonlight, not as powerful as a prospect, but still, it is fairly dim for someone to at least have a comfortable vision. People are generally just working, coughs and other sounds of disgust are echoed, almost like if ghosts were sickened by them, I usually don't believe in the local myths, but of what I know, this zone is full of spectres based in the native folklore, some farmers believe in them, but in the end, it is just a form to scare people.
The soldier stops, pointing at a sector with his hand, "this is area 69, under the principal orders the trench will try to follow the back of those rocks, towards the other side of that hill."
"Nice," I say, a half-grin appearing on my face.
He begins to get close to me, speaking in a secretive voice, "beware, man, this is a sector of the scare dogs, the so-called area of stinking liberal snipers, and also the freaking Venezuelan forces helping them, just, try to be cautious," he finishes with a worried face.
I slowly nod, thinking about his words, because, this place is a death trap for the ones that believe that this could be camping trip, hmph, maybe everyone wishes that this could be a simple camping trip. I begin to walk downhill into the area I was assigned to work on, as the soldier behind me begins to retreat to his HQ. Going slowly down the hill, I reach a zone that fairly looks like a plain covered in dead trees and small holes on the ground. A sign is placed on the dirt with a skull and some words reading "Precaución! area controlada por rebeldes," that translating them into English, it means that this zone is controlled by the rebel soldiers, the liberals.
I slowly walk through the plain, reaching one of the holes, I hear a sudden sound that startles me, making me shift my body towards the direction of it, that thanks to my good luck, it's just another soldier digging on the earth.
"Thank God, " I mumble with partial hesitation as I begin to work. One of the sounds that you just get used to it is the sound of the rifles being fired in the distance, must be another charge by either the Liberals or the Conservatives, paced in a trance of back and forth, guessing who will end up winning these battles.
The only battle that I fought was three days ago, an ambush by the liberals with the pretext of trying to destroy our supply lines towards the front, a desperate action since we currently have the high ground, per se, but thanks to the complications of the traps, it slows the pace of the war for us and them.
I repeat it, the worst part of all of this is the freaking traps, there is nothing so horrible like those, it is just like living with rats on the carpets near the trenches, life is becoming more and more isolated in these zones, a feeling that just crushes your soul.
My uniform is becoming dirtier, my face is already covered in mud thanks to the subterranean ponds under the small banks of dirt, those sounds of a battle begin to be more scarce, it must be ending, "with a victory of our part, " I say, looking towards the small town in the other side of the mountain, fire can be seen as well, an accident probably happened in that terrain. I pass my dirty hand through my face, cleaning the small sweat droplets that are present even in this cold night.
"In that my friend, I gotta fully agree with you," a voice behind me says with a bit of pride, I slowly turn back with a confused face, getting to see a tall man, even though that part is hard to say thanks to the darkness of this night, something that only makes me more confused every second I stare directly at him. He is using a trench coat with a rifle on his back, a grin is visible on his mouth that is accompanied by a cigar. The cloud of smoke is exhaled by him, as he chuckles softly while crouching, "gotta get to work."
Before he could join me in this zone, I leave the shovel resting upon the dirt as I get close to him, "and who might you be?" I ask while raising an eyebrow.
The man initially reacts with a confused face before responding, "James Rochester, at your service," he says while rasing one of his hands as we shake hands.
"James Rochester?" I begin with a small trace of suspicion, "I suppose that you are American right?"
James smokes again, finally getting into to the zone where the trench is being dug while bringing his shovel, "you got that right' in target," he responds, I can be Latin American, but I can recognize the famous 'Southern Accent' of the United States.
I chuckle softly before responding, "I thought that you were all busy killing Chinese*."
There is a moment of silence before we both begin to laugh softly, "right, those Boxers deserve to be kicked in the ass, but I preferred kicking the ass of those rebels, after all, I am closer to home."
I address him with a weak smile, "well man, let's get this thing done."
He smokes one last time before throwing the cigar to the floor. He takes the shovel and begins to help me, both digging in almost unison.
"And tell me," he begins, his eyes focused on the amount of dirt in front of him, "where did you learn to speak English?"
I halt for a small second in the middle of my work, giving a long sigh as I clean a drop of sweat on my front, "studied it on New York, was a teen when I visited the U.S."
I resumed my task, as he begins to snicker, "So you went to my country ehhh," he gives a long sigh before briefly ceasing to work on the amount of dirt, "what are you doing here?"
That question leaves me in a confused trance for a short second, "what do you mean?"
He remains in silence before answering with a frown, "how could a guy that studied in another nation fight in a useless war like a dog?"
I remain silent, trippin' through my thoughts, "I suppose that it is that sentiment for this nation you know, that makes you do thinks that could probably get you killed."
"And you wanna get killed?"
A smile appears on my dirty face, "that would make me immortal, even if it does not makes sense to most of us."
Before he could say something else, a sudden sound alerts both of us, not being one of the shovels digging on the earth, but the one of someone or something passing through bushes in the forest in front of us, like if he or she or it is struggling to pass through a very narrow corridor.
"What the hell is that...." James whispers, proceeding to raise his sight over the small hill of dirt, finding a dark figure walking through that zone, "it looks like a horse...."
I also raise my view, watching the mysterious figure. James takes his rifle in a very slow manner, putting it above the hill, beginning to aim at the target.
"Wait..... what if he is from some official here?" I ask, also raising my rifle, but still in a neutral manner, "besides, why shooting a horse, I am pretty sure that it more useful alive than dead."
He remains silent for a second before responding, "I don't think so, why would a high ranking official of this area just..... let a horse walk freely," our attention yields to seek an answer, analyzing its movements.
"What the hell, is that a person," James says, looking worried, "maybe a scout of us?"
I remain silent as I watch the figure that looks like if he or she is trying to hide behind the bushes, "I don't think so."
I put my rifle as well over the small mountain of dirt, targeting the mysterious figure. Before I could even say something, James fired his weapon, but not targeting that person, but pointing to the side. The figure becomes alert, as he or she gets close to the horse and in a hurry, proceeding to lead the animal to the top of the hill, going towards the burning city.
"Damn it!" James shouts while shooting again, "I'll go to the HQ, follow him!" he almost yelled, leaving me a little bit dumbfounded and also with no options. If that figure is a liberal spy, then it could announce that we are building new fortifications in this zone of the canyon, and possibly destroy the offensive planning that we created.
"Al carajo..." I mumble while standing up and proceeding to run towards the fleeing figure. I can hear how my companion is also running in the opposite direction. With the level of light of this starry night, it is very difficult to see around this lands, only getting a dim notion of something moving in the bushes. Getting towards the foot of the hill, I start to climb it with difficulty thanks to the spikes and cactuses in the area, the canyon is almost desolated in that part but still, it is full of flora that sums a problem upon moving. I pause for one second as I raise my rifle and proceed to shoot the figure, missing my target for barely anything, I start to climb up again, not letting this one escape.
With all of my forces, I finally arrive at the top of the hill, starting to run as fast as I could, almost like if I was charging towards something in the middle of a hasty battle, but to my surprise, no one is around, it is like if the person I was chasing simply disappeared with the horse. I cease running and proceed to walk slowly. The town in front of me is burning, releasing ashes and heat that, combined, produce a disgusting smell around the air, but the one making the worse of all, is the one of flesh being incinerated, immediately sending chills down my spine. The light coming from the fire is strong, giving a warm radiance that combines itself with the fear of something dead and rotten, just like in a nightmare or something that you could only read in books of fiction.
BAM! a bullet passes right next to my left arm, almost hitting me. I immediately drop on the floor, crawling to seek cover, that again thanks to my luck, a large rock is just on the side of the road leading to the town. Two shots again fall next to me, failing to get their target, that in this case, it is me. I breathe heavily as I lean against the rock, waiting for an opportunity to respond to my enemy. Four shots are repeatedly heard, each one hitting either the rock or the ground. I waited three seconds for a response, but nothing came, meaning that it must be recharging. Not wasting an opportunity, I proceed to aim towards the tower where my attacker is shooting. I fired 5 shots in the direction of the figure hiding in the shadows inside the room of the tower. I dropped again on the floor, recharging my weapon as I waited for his response, that to my surprise, it never came. I fire again directly at the direction of the window, and dropped again, waiting for the response, and again it didn't come. Cold anxiety begins to appear inside of my mind, several possibilities being formed, but my decision is trying to kill whoever is inside the tower.
I resume to stand up again, running directly towards the door of the small tower. Entering with power, I start to climb the stairs rapidly, aiming my rifle to my front, expecting the enemy to come out of nowhere. Arriving at the last floor, I slowly begin to walk towards a rusty wooden door that leads into the room of that window. I breath several times and steel myself mentally and physically. I gradually open the door, finding a young man, maybe 19 years old could be his age, with a stain of blood on his Liberal uniform, looking tired and almost in a deplorable way, but now it is the turn of my bad luck to act in my story because when he noticed my face, he uses all of his last strengths that remained in his body, raising his rifle and shooting me right on the arm, causing me to fall in my back onto the stairs, leaving me unconscious.....
I slowly begin to open my eyes, as my senses are just beginning to get back in control. My body feels heavy, almost dizzy and at the same time full of adrenaline. I touch my chest, finding a bullet being stuck in my small flask that I would usually put in one of the pockets of the arm, as the smell of whisky is impregnated upon my vest.
"Me and.... my freaking luck," I say, staring down at the flask with a tired face, but something caught my attention, the white light coming from downstairs. Standing up slowly, I took my rifle and begin to descend, hearing the sound of flares flying high in the sky, darkness and the same artic cold has returned to the air, making my heart to palpate harder, at my understanding of my situation, I almost feel death, not knowing if this is true or not.
Going outside, I gradually wander towards the direction of the town, which still has that infernal fire, but it isn't with the same presence that it previously had. The night still reigns upon this lands, but this time it is being lighted up by white flares momentarily lighting the skies, just like if God would momentarily press the switch and make the light reign again in the jet black skies. I glance at every construction in the area, all in lamentable ruins. Propaganda posters are posted on the walls of some of the structures, I believe that this used to be a beautiful colonial town, but it was destroyed thanks to the war. Terror reigns the ambient, killing the warm heat, as my mind makes me feel cold inside, even though, I am very near to the source of this fire, located in the principal plaza of the town.
I stop walking, as I stare at a human figure mounted on a horse, just in the other side of the plaza. The fires only give me small details at first, his hair is blonde, something very weird in a Latin-American person, and the worst one, he is wearing a Liberal uniform, but no one dared to do anything, if this guy is real, we are simply not attacking each other, and don't ask me why, because I don't have any idea of that, I'm just mentally blocked, something is burning in my senses, a small voice alerting me to do something but at the same time, it is trying to comfort me, that I don't have to worry about anything.
In a sudden movement, he slowly begins to take the rifle off his back, and begins to aim at me, but he didn't shoot, as I am still not thinking clearly, I don't know if this is just part of my imagination or if it is happening. The man pulls the trigger and fires a simple shot towards the floor, making me give some steps backwards, bad decision on my part, as we both realized that this is real, making him fire again but this time my head on his targets list.
I begin to run through the various streets of the town, the man following me while riding on his horse while shooting again with poor accuracy thanks to his concentration in both trying to kill me and in riding the horse. Turning to my right with ferocity, I enter directly into the forest, the man is still following me, as my bad luck strikes again, I slip thanks to a small pond that was in front of me, making me fall hard on my face, but this fate does not only happens to me but also my attacker, as the horse that he is riding slips, almost falling over me. Thanks to my quick reaction that thing could have become an imminent death. The man flies through the air before landing harshly over a small bush right next to a tree.
I immediately take my knife that I was hiding in my pants, in the determination of stabbing him. The man realizes my intentions, making him to instantly jump towards the direction of his rifle that fell with the fall, but it is stopped by my hand, as I hold his boot. He sends several bucks right into my youthful face, breaking both my nose and my mouth, leaving me in a short moment of dizziness. He gets to the rifle, and just when he is about to shoot me, I leap towards him, making both of us fall downhill, while our forceful fight still raged on.
I sent a punch right into his mouth, making him transmit a painful shriek, but that is returned by a blow directly into my stomach, making me spit blood. A sudden thunder falls near one of the trees, making the horse screech in fear, slipping downhill towards the river, with us making the same thing thanks to a similar reaction that we both had with the animal.
We both arrived at the border of a violent river, the water running like if a thousand horses are galloping towards a battle. The man jumps over my back trying to drown me as he tries to lower my head in the cold water. You know, this is the moment where you gotta do decisions that you might either hate or love in your future, and this is the one I took.
I quickly send a direct blow on his lower parts, making him scream in pain, but the man wasn't going to allow being defeated, as he used his last force to push me onto the river, stumbling as I fall directly towards the horse that is very near to the river's border, making him stumble momentarily before falling into the river, with guess who accompanying our friend here, well that would be me.
"F....U...RICK!!!" I forcefully say as the water draws me into the depths of the river. I try to fight the current of the water, and as I can tell you, the stallion is doing the same thing, struggling for his life. The water is just turbulent and incredibly cold, making me stumble onto several times towards some rocks along with the place, The Chicamocha river is known for this, being violent. In one second, something begins to happen.... everything begins to become calmer, as rainbow light starts surrounding both the stallion and me, a vibrant aspect is coming from it thanks to the warmth and the kind of peace that it irradiates, but this is what I call the calm before the storm, as in a second, the water suddenly sinks me above the water, my body filling dizzy, but I notice something, I am breathing UNDER THE WATER!!!!
My forces are dissipated, my view becomes dizzy as darkness becomes the only thing resent of my surroundings, I didn't feel wet, I feel my clothes totally dry, and a soft air blows my hairs in an eternal abysm. Opening my eyes, I see how several dots, which I will classify as stars, begin to appear around me. Suddenly, I can almost swear that I saw Jupiter passing right next to me, much smaller of what you could expect, and at the end of what seems to be an endless tunnel of death, a bright light surrounds me, making me feel calm......
My view starts to grow clearer, my first sight is a blue sky, it is no longer night, apparently, the day has already come to the Colombian lands. I still have my rifle right next to me, something that I notice when I begin to move out of my uncomfortable position, but to my great surprise, my clothes are completely dry, and the pain I previously felt simply dissipated away.
I touch my lips and make pressure on them, but at my surprise, no pain is felt, neither in my arms that were heavily scratched and fractured after that fall.
I start to stand up, slowly but steadily into my full height. My brown eyes tiredly glance at my surroundings, trying to recognize this place, but instead, I found a brown horse with a black mane standing shakily on his four hooves. A sense of mercy enters my body, as I begin to get close to the stallion with my rifle on my back. Both of my hands are raised upwards as I try to make myself as harmless as possible. The horse spits water and shakes slightly his mane when his black eyes meet my brown ones directly.
"Hey there buddy," I say softly, getting closer and closer to the horse. The animal seems to not care about my approach and proceeds to simply turn back and takes a bite of the grass. I begin to pet him lightly on the neck, making that the horse to simply try to get closer to me, his eyes are still fixed on his dinner.
"Excuse me," a sudden voice promptly startled both of us, as the stallion momentarily raises his view to see the new visitor, before shrugging and going back to the delicious thing he previously was doing. While in my part, my eyes widened and my mouth hanged in shock, I simply don't have a description to the beast I am seeing, I don't think that any human in the world history has seen something like that.
"Who the hell are you?" I say shakily, pointing my rifle at his direction, I am not going to let whatever that thing is getting close to me, adding up to the creepy things of this thing, he can also talk. A sudden movement coming from him startles me, seeing how he is coming from the direction of the horse that left his food to also stare at the beast in front of him. There is no expression in the face of the horse, but you can deduce that he is as shocked as I am, "more like WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!"
It looks like a combination of several animals into one, a sight that sent chills down the spine of one, almost like if it was a class of a German experiment made up by trying to combine several parts of animals, uniting into a thing, like in Frankenstein.
"Excuse me for my interruption, " the creature begins, walking towards us, a grin appearing on the apparent muzzle of the beast, "but would you like to accompany me for a cup of tea?" he asks, raising an eyebrow in the process.
I raise my eyebrow as my mouth twitches, my senses are losing control of the situation before I resolved to speak to him again, "that is not what I-I..... ju-st asked," I pause for a second, looking at the thing with very close attention, "I a-asked, w-w-who the.... h-ell are you."
Although my rifle is pointed directly at him plus my hateful hateful glare, not a single trace of fear is manifested on his face, "oh! excuse me for being so rude," he begins talking in a kind of British accent before continuing, "let me present myself, my name is Discord, a humble farmer from the lands of the Draconequusians."
My frown changes to a confused face, "what the hell are you talkin' about."
An evil smile spreads across his face, "I want to give you the warm welcome to the forest between worlds."
"Forest-" I stop, giving a quick glimpse to my surroundings, the 'lake' where I previously appeared to isn't a lake at all, but it is instead a small pond, it's like if the world would have suddenly shrunk a bit, and at my other impression we are actually in a forest, a very weird one, the trees are in some strange positions and the colours of many of them are just off the chart, making me feel dizzy, and as I can see it, the horse is feeling like this as well even if he does not expresses it.
One of the things to notice as well is just how quiet the place is, this forest just feels incredibly warm and calm, even the sounds of walking through the dark grass are barely heard, there are no bugs, no animals, and no birds that could be singing songs, filling the emptiness of this forest, even though, it just seems that it does not need it, it is just too good to be true.
"Donde carajos estamos?" I spat looking again at my surroundings with a worried face. The creature proceeds to get close to us.
"Looks like something has thrown you here," he begins with an evil smirk, "into uniting a land, but I suppose that you are an expert doing that right? aren't you in the middle of a war seeking what the inhabitants of my land also want, union," the creature finalizes while levitating in the air, not noticeable at the moment thanks to the trance that both the horse and myself seem to be locked upon.
"What are you talking about?" I ask again with a sceptical look, giving a step back. I start to lower my rifle very slowly.
He raises one of his paws and begins to move it on circles, "you see, I need this, it needs to happen so I can finally begin my own games," he pauses for a second, getting close me, "and I need others to firstly solve my problems there."
"Just see it by yourselves," he continued, and in an unexpected instant, a force levitates us, both the horse and I.
"What THE HELL!" I shout, my nerves are boiling out of my tongue, the horse is also in fear, as the stallion neighs desperately while looking down.
"You might want another companionship," he says while looking at the stallion, "you will discover things about the universe..... that you could not find in your own imagination."
I begin to breathe heavily as the force suddenly pulls us towards a different pond, advancing to drop both the horse and me inside of it.
"See you in wonderland!!!" the creature says as everything becomes darker and darker until silence reigned the place, and in a moment, another light appeared, throwing both of us into the dunes of a desert, the only thing I know is not knowing what the..... hell just happened.
The blinding light of the desert makes me see stars momentarily as my eyes slowly come back to normal. The heat feels like if it is boiling you at a thousand degrees Fahrenheit, and the sound of the air moving the sand complements the background of the dilemma I got myself into, though, there is no way I can know if this is real or not, it feels real, but at the same time... fake.
"Uhhhh... what.. just happened.." what the hell.....
A voice just spoke behind me, causing me to slowly turn to understand who said those words. At my impression, the same stallion is the only one that appears to be with me in this desertion.
Calmness floods my body as I sigh, "at least I have some sort of company ehh," I say, becoming silent for some seconds before starting to chuckle, "the voice must have been a kind of vision thanks to the heat," I lower my head as I put my hands in my belt, "it isn't like the horse just talked!"
The stallion raises an eyebrow while seeing me silently.
He opens his muzzle, the intentions clear "where the hell am I, and who are you?" he says while pointing his right front limb in my direction...
My eyes widened, my fists clenched, and my mind suddenly becomes dizzy.
The stallion's eyes narrowed, as his shocked face becomes a glare, "you are... a CONSERVATIVE SOLDIER!!!!"
And that is the moment my friends, where I decided that I need to rest for a while. My body begins to shake heavily, as I fall over one of the dunes.
Yeah... a little bit of rest would not be that bad.... and at that moment, I closed my eyes and went directly into the realm of dreams.