saved her from this calamity back then, she couldn't help it that the abandoned could no longer be human, it wasn't her fault, so why did she have to die with all the others?
While Ailana pondered her thoughts and the injustice of her situation and her people, the undead, after hanging the little girl, turned to the next in line. A calm-looking middle-aged man.

She took her eyes off the girls and no longer pursued the horror, she had to calm down, she had to stay calm, calm!She tried to concentrate her thoughts on something else and so she let her gaze wander over the landscape. Yes, her old home, how lively it had shone so long ago. How beautiful she was!
Ailana tried to remember what the trees looked like before they were so dead and gray. For a few moments she closed her eyes and imagined the spring green of the leaves and how they gently waved in the wind. She remembered the blue sky she hadn't seen in so many years. Blue sky that looked out from behind snow-white clouds and the warm rays of the sun that tickled her skin. Of her once beautiful homeland that made her heart blossom when the country woke up in spring after a cold winter. To the laughter of children playing, the rattling of water mills and the church bells that rang at lunchtime. Of life in general!
It was spring again now, and yet nothing seemed to point to this time of year. When she opened her eyes again she saw nothing of life, not even the trees were alive anymore. Without leaves, bare they adorned the edge of the path where she kneeled. The sky above her, for seemingly endless years, cloudy and gray. The sun seldom shone through the haze of death and only rarely did its rays give her comfort and hope.
About 5 years ago her carefree life took a sudden turn when the Scourge invaded her country. The ignorant and surprised people would be literally overrun by the undead and their plague. She let out a small moan when these horrific images of that day accidentally flashed before her eyes.

How everything was full of life and joy. And now? Now everything that she had once loved was in pieces, destroyed by these terrible undead. She felt deep in her heart a great hatred for the abandoned, how much she would like to take revenge for all the suffering that happened to them.

But suddenly she was torn from her thoughts. She felt her heart sting painfully in her chest, felt her pulse begin to race, her breathing quickened and her hands trembling.
Ailana had to watch as the man next to her, who gave her a little comfort with his presence all day long, was pulled out of line. Two undead grabbed him under his arms and literally dragged him on his knees to the nearest tree where the little girl was already hanging. He was kneeling a few meters away, now exactly across from Ailana. He did not look into the far distance as he had the hours before, he looked straight into Ailana's eyes. His thoughts weren't far away, his eyes were wide awake and yet she couldn't see any signs of fear in them. There was no fear to be seen, although he knew full well that his time had come.Aliana couldn't take her eyes off his, there was something in them that she had apparently never seen or hadn't seen in half an eternity. What did his eyes reflect again?

Her mind raced, what did his eyes remind her of?

It was ... damn what was it?

She knew that look ...

could it be…

impossible…

... right now?

But now she was quite sure, just at that moment she saw - hope in his eyes.

Hope, but for what?

He was going to die that was for sure! The undead guard was already pulling their knife out of their belt. So what was he hoping for?
She thought feverishly and thought, but then suddenly she understood that he really was no longer hoping, he really had long since come to an end with his fate. He no longer hoped, no much more, he gave Ailana hope and courage to endure whatever she would expect. He gave her courage to endure her fate and hope that maybe everything might go better in another life. He had seen the fear of the unknown in Ailana's eyes and now he wanted to give her hope in the last few minutes of his life. Hope?

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Thank you for reading, I ask for your criticism! ^^