The General's Last March
Epic conflict - war and confrontation
OTMES v2 Code: OTMES v2:[TI:90.0|E:[J:15.0,S:30.0,F:35.0,A:50.0,L:30.0,W:25.0]|ETotal:25.0|M:85.0,75.0,60.0|N:60.0,20.0,20.0|K:80.0,85.0,90.0|D:40.0|T:70.0]

The old general commanded armies for forty years. His campaigns stretched from the northern ice to the southern seas. Songs were sung of his victories; children feared his name.

But in his final years, he walked the walls of his estate each morning, counting the stones. His grandchildren thought him eccentric. His officers thought him mad.

One day, a young soldier came to interview him. "Great General," the boy said, "tell me of your greatest battle. I wish to record your wisdom."

The old man was silent for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was barely a whisper.

"I was twenty-three when I first led men into battle. I had seven hundred soldiers. By sunset, four hundred and twelve were dead. I told myself it was necessary. That war required such sacrifices."

He paused, looking out at the mountains.

"The second battle, I had two thousand men. Eight hundred died. By the fifth battle, I had learned to not count. By the tenth, I had learned to not see their faces. By the twentieth, I had learned to see them only as numbers."

The general turned to the young soldier, and there were tears in his eyes.

"That is my wisdom, boy. That is what forty years of war taught me. I learned to stop seeing men as men. And that is the only way to win."

The soldier wrote nothing down. He bowed and left.

The general returned to counting his stones, and the wind carried his words away, where no one would ever hear them.

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Word Count: ~1,800
Variant: V04
Generated: 2026-05-19 08:54:14

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