Inside ALEXEIN: A Rewritten Mantinea, and a Brain-Melting Day!
Inside ALEXEIN: A Rewritten Mantinea, and a Brain-Melting Day!
Today was a rollercoaster of emotions while working on ALEXEIN, Volume 1: The Golden Dawn. I meticulously checked historical timelines, ensuring accuracy and tightly weaving the narrative with the historical events, and my brain nearly short-circuited several times!
But I’m thrilled to say I uncovered a critical mistake in my initial draft and have been able to completely rewrite a key scene: the aftermath of the Battle of Mantinea in 362 BC.
Epaminondas, his face pale yet expression resolute, placed a hand upon the wound, his gaze never leaving the battlefield. “The victory is ours, Pelopidas,” he whispered, his voice strained yet unwavering. He then fell, his body succumbing to the fatal blow.
The world fractured around Pelopidas. One moment, the roar of battle filled his ears, the clash of bronze a loud symphony of violence; the next, a suffocating silence descended, the sounds of conflict fading into distant echoes. Epaminondas, his lover, his closest confidant, his partner in both war and life, lay dead. The battlefield, the clash of armies, and the desperate struggle for dominance faded, leaving only the raw, searing pain of loss.
Pelopidas, his grief a physical force, grabbed Epaminondas’s body, his fingers tightening around his lover’s lifeless form. He gathered his strength, channeling his emotional turmoil—the crushing weight of his sadness, his rage, his profound sense of loss—into a terrifying, unstoppable force.
“Kill them ALL! Kill them until the last of them falls!”
Pelopidas 's grief transformed into a weapon, fought with reckless abandon, a fearless fury born of loss and a burning desire for vengeance. Nothing mattered now except revenge for his lover.
Pelopidas thought, his mind clinging to Epaminondas's final words: "Ensure Thebes's dominance. Maintain our power. Let this victory serve as a testament to our strength and unwavering resolve." I will ensure that this victory solidifies Thebes’s rule for years to come. I will make sure that they never forget this day.
They fought on, their grief fueling their relentless assault; their tears mingled with blood, creating a crimson tide across the winning battlefield. The ground ran red, stained with the blood of the fallen and the tears of the victors—a haunting, unforgettable testament to a victory purchased at an unimaginable cost. The echoes of Mantinea, a complex and poignant blend of triumph and tragedy, would resonate through history. The brutal and emotional reality of the battlefield and its impact on those who fought within it could never truly be understood or described.
They fell, one by one, before Pelopidas's relentless onslaught—a terrifying dance of death fueled by grief and rage. Consumed by the loss of Epaminondas, his mind was a battlefield of its own, the only light a burning memory of his lover's unwavering resolve and tactical brilliance.
The Sacred Band, Pelopidas’s killing machines, stood amidst the carnage, their faces grim and unsettling, their movements stiff and mechanical. They had eradicated, yet their rage remained, a simmering fire beneath a mask of grim exhaustion.
With the enemy's final breath, a terrifying silence descended, broken only by the wind’s mournful cry. The emptiness that filled Pelopidas was horrifying, a gaping void where love and life had once resided. The sense of loss was overwhelming, so profound that it made him laugh—a broken, convulsive sound, tears streaming down his face.
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