The river was beautiful, with a clear blue color that made you think you were looking up. A gentle current that flowed down stream.
It’s turning red! A rain of arrows just heading to me! It’s an ambush! In my confusion and panic, I had only one thing on my mind, my sister and daughter in the village just a couple of miles downstream.
Quickly, I tear a piece of my cloth and with the blood of the man lying next to me, I write a short note to my family. I was done in a jiffy, put the letter in a bamboo and dropped it in the river, hopefully some one finds it.
Unknown to me, I was being observed all the while, as soon as I dropped my message in the stream, it was picked up by one of the soldiers. I never felt more pain, my attempt to alert and save my family had failed.
The general came to me, stepped on my face and said, ‘you have failed nobody, for you are the last of your kin to enter the abyss’. Those were the last words I heard before this darkness in which I dwell.