(Alright, I never have the attention span to finish an entire story, so I decided a short story would be a good idea. I had this thought, and I just went with it. Please, comments and crticism would be appreicated.)

I never thought I would need this parchment. The other guys had laughed when they saw me packing my journal, along with a quill and inkwell, and I had laughed too. I didn’t know why in hell I brought it either, but I’m glad I have it now. I don’t even know if anyone will ever read this, or if it will ever leave this place, but I feel better writing it.

If your reading this, congratulations, you get to partake in the dying musings of one Augustus Decimus, Aug to his friends, and Augie to his parents. Depressing I know, but don’t worry, it gets better. Well, I die in the end, but other than that its one hell of a story. Since you have this, I have a dying wish for you. Take the other page of this letter, and deliver it to the Decimus house in Skingrad. If you read the other letter I swear by the Nine I will haunt you for the rest of your days, which will be brief if my ghost has anything to say about it. If you’re the type of bastard who just takes dead people’s undelivered letters, well, you can just stay here in Oblivion and die like you deserve. If you’re a good person, I’m sorry you had to read that, but you know, can’t be too careful with people these days.

What is a nice boy like me doing in the Deadlands you ask? Well, I thought it would be a good idea to join the Legion. Defend my Empire, see new places, all that bull [censored]. What do you want, I’m from Skingrad. We Colovians just love dying for the Empire, almost as much as we love our wine. Damn, I had been looking forward to getting old and drinking wine all day. Well at least I don’t have to deal with dementia. In any case, it just so happens that a picked the perfect time to join the Legion, cause Oblivion gates started popping up everywhere. It scared the hell out of me when Kvatch was sacked, that was practically right next door. But then I was glad that I was in the Legion and able to go do something about it. You know how they say you get wise in old age? Well I think wisdom just comes the closer you get to death, because I’m feeling pretty damn wise right now. Hell, I’m practically lying in a pool of my own wisdom, and boy is it red.

Sorry, I’m getting a little morbid. I have to keep reminding myself that my mother is going to read this, and I’ve already said the word bastard. She would make me go to the Chapel of Julianos and pray for that. Well, some big hero figured out how to close Oblivion gates, so the Legion started being dispatched inside to try and deal with them. I wouldn’t say I was green, more like a yellowish color really. But in no way was I, or any of my buddies ready for daedra. We had been on patrols before, but that was it. The random bandit wasn’t a match for a bunch of trained soldiers, even rookies like us. Next thing we know, we’re fighting things we had seen in our nightmares! I’m only 18!

Sorry to break away from the cheerily dying tone there, I felt like I had to stress the fact that I had no preparation. Maybe it’s so I can kid myself that I would’ve had a chance if I was more experienced. There was a gate out in the Highlands, and lucky me, my squad was dispatched to shut it down. There were a lot of us, so I thought we might have a good chance. Quite the optimist right? Yeah, let’s go into hell and try and kill some demons, what could go wrong?

If you’re still reading, good for you, you’re either really morbid or I’m really charming. Either way, you’ve reached the climix of our little story. Me, four other soldiers, and our captain reached the gate. It looked exactly how it sounded, a gate into hell. A massive wall of fire, spewing daedra. There are these little imp looking things called scamps. I know you’ve seen them so I won’t bother describing them, I’m no author. Anyway, they came at us first. We killed a bunch of them, and once it stopped we decided to go in. The captain was confident, the scamps had gone down easily. I still had a bad feeling, and I said so. Oh you’re being paranoid Aug, this’ll be a walk in the park, you’ll be back writing in your journal in no time. Well, I guess they were right on that one, except I’m bleeding out, not at the barracks.

I know you’re wondering, how the hell am I still writing when I’m supposed to be dying? I write fast. If I can sit here and write a monologue, why can’t I try and escape? Well you’ll get your answer soon, be patient.

When we went through the gate, everything changed. The scamps were bigger, stronger. Our archer, a friend of mine, got hit with a fireball and fell off a sheet of rock. I ran to see if I could reach him, but as you know, lava runs underneath this place. He was gone.

We fought them off, and made it to the outside of the tower. That’s when the dremora started coming out. One of them summoned even more scamps. They jumped on one of my buddies and started scratching and biting. I cut away a few of them and grabbed for his hand, and I pulled. I let go when I saw his face. Those things got his helmet off and they tore up his face I can't go into detail, I'm sorry.

It’s hard to maintain my attitude after everything, but I want my parents and anyone else who knows me to read this and see that this didn’t change me. I can’t really explain it, but I want to be me until the end, I don’t want this to break me, even if I die.

I saw my captain get hit with a dremora mace, his helmet collapsed inwards. So we ran, me and the only other guy left. Scamps are fast, they caught my last ally as we ran. I turned to try and save him only to get hit with a fireball. It hit my leg and knocked me over, and I started rolling down a hill towards the lava. By some miracle, I stopped. I tried to get up, but my leg was too burnt up.

There was so much pain, I think I passed out for a while. Eventually a dremora found me and slid down the hill to finish me off I guess. I went for my shield and he slashed my arm at the joint, hence all the bleeding. But good news, I’m right handed. I brought my sword up and ran him through, and then I tripped him with my good leg. He fell in the lava. There’s my big heroic moment, the bastard (sorry mom) thought I was done for and I surprised him. Doesn’t matter, I killed him, it happened. Believe it or not, but I don’t exactly have any reason to lie do I?

Well there you have it, that’s how I got here. That cut on the armpit was pretty deep, I used most of my paper to try and stop the bleeding. It’s bleeding through my parchment bandage as I write. In fact, I’m really starting to feel the effects of blood loss. Thank the Nine my sterling wit is still intact. I’m not much good at the fight scenes I know, but hopefully the fact that I’m dead makes you feel better, you can’t really [censored] anyway.

You’ve reached the end of this little tale of mine. Think of this as the memoires of my final hours, at least it gives me some closure. I help it gives everyone else closure too. Whoever you are, thanks. I don’t even know if I’m writing to anyone right now, but if someone does read this, and you help me, it’ll mean a lot. Long bit of writing for a dying guy, I’m glad I wrote the important part first. Goodbye[/size] [size="7"]Augustus

I haven't read it, but can you please change the font and size? It's making it hard to start.

I like the idea of a young soldier describing the horrors of fighting, but the way you've written it hasn't quite given it justice. I think you should try to make it a bit more serious and descriptive, and try to surround the story Augustus' thoughts. How does he feel about death? Does he welcome it, or dread it? What did he feel as he watched his friend fall into the lava? Talk about the physical pain he's going through a little more too. That'll bring the reader into the story. I also think it'll be a good idea to change the font, just to make it a little more 'serious'.

Good luck dude, and I hope to see more

I know I haven't done it much justice, but like I said it's a short story. Plus, you're not going to describe the horrors of war to your mother. The way I thought of it, he's trying to spare his friends and family the thought of what actually happened, and at the same time give them some sort of closure. I was thinking about posting the other letter, where he gives his goodbyes to a few people, but I was gonna that after I get more feedback haha