Ashes of the Stars Read Online Free PDF

born.
    They parted ways with their own followers and hearts full of hatred towards each other. Adam and Thomas didn’t disagree on everything. They both believed that some things should never be brought from the old world into the new one ever again. Anything that used up an excess of resources that could put the world in danger again like automobiles, mass production of food, books, and electricity were considered extravagant conveniences not necessary for the continuation of humanity. They both believed that if they took something from the earth, like a tree for a building or fire, that a new, young tree should be planted in its place. They both agreed on one more thing: should the others’ group remain alive and well with followers, the world could never have peace. The new war was born, and two hundred years later it still raged on.
    Children who grew up with the Legion’s influence learned this story and were taught it repetitively over many years until the story became almost like a rhythm in their heads. Thomas’s Clash was bad, they made sure we knew that. Freedom could never bring peace because there could never be an end to the atrocities if there were never any punishments for them. We grew up to call members of the Clash zealots and that was all they ever were to us.
     
    Ceid’s report about the place my team needed to scout was vague. He could tell that the people who inhabited the large town weren’t Legionnaires but he couldn’t tell if they were Zealots either. They seemed to have order, he’d claimed. They lived like the wild and free people of the Clash but he couldn’t find the typical chaos in it. He warned me of the guards that this new town had posted on its outskirts. They changed hands every night after sundown and every morning before sun up; they were armed and seemed prepared to attack.
    At dawn before my team left, guards allowed entrance to some stragglers who had sought shelter in my city. They were Legionnaires, they had survived an attack from the Clash a few nights prior. They were all that was left of their city. It was a shock to our system that the enemy had attacked so close to home but we weren’t so rattled that we were nervous to leave our home on our mission. The Clash attacking a Legionnaire camp was as common as us attacking theirs; it didn’t seem unusual or strange, it was just another part of this life.
    The journey to this new camp would take roughly seven days, depending on pace and weather. We had no faster means of travelling than on foot, though I heard once that in less extreme environments people were able to travel on horses. For us, every journey that we took ended up taking however long our slowest soldier walked. It wasn’t unusual to walk a few hundred miles in about a week’s time. On the journey I could sense the restlessness of my team. They didn’t like scouting if only because they didn’t like the uncertainty of whether we would be invading or not.
    I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t close my eyes, couldn’t allow the nightmare to invade my body after whatever it was that had happened in my house. Sure, I would lay down in my tent at night and I would close my eyes against the bitterly cold air, but I didn’t allow myself to doze for longer than an hour, certainly not long enough to dream or remember it, at least. After two days of Finn noticing my lack of sleep and casting worried glances my way, I made him go sleep in his own tent.
    We were only two days out from the new camp when we crossed into the hot and humid jungle territory. The wild overgrowth of trees and vines was amazing to look at, no matter how many times I saw it. It was just so bright, it almost hurt my eyes to look at. We traded our white uniforms for special jungle green and brown camouflage uniforms: same style cargo pants, tank tops, and body paint that we usually ended up sweating off halfway through the day. We abandoned our packs and tents at the edge of the jungle where we