[ IP ] Un Immortalis

My quiver weighing down my back, sweat running down my face, I loaded the crossbow. One shot. That was it. One shot, and then I'll either be dead, or he will. I'm not sweating because I might not win. I knew that I'd likely die from the beginning. I'm sweating because I do n't know if I want to win. I do n't think he does either. Who has the moral high ground, here? I win, my people take his home. Everything he knows and loves will be lost, but at least what I know and love will be safe. He wins, and my people are turned out into the desert. They die of dehydration or turn to cannibalism. I ca n't fathom winning, and I ca n't fathom losing. My resolve is iron. My body will fight to the last even if my heart decides that it's all for nothing. Nothing can save me. Nothing can save him. We are two faces of the same coin. The moment is here. I will make or break everything I know. I begin to raise the crossbow, and go into a trance. 
 
 
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 I wake up feeling as though I had been asleep for months. My family is all around me, but I am too dizzy make out our surroundings. Someone says `` He's here! He's back! Fourteen months, and here he is!'' I ask him `` Am I alive or dead?''. He turns to me and opens his mouth. I black out. 
 
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 Again, I awaken feeling rested. Again, I ca n't make out my surroundings. This time, there are only a few people. Somehow, I know that this is where I will stay. once again, I ask `` Am I alive or dead? ``, But I realize, I do n't want to know. I pray to god that this place, where there are so few, is death, but I can not bear to hear the answer.
