The more I gazed upon the ruins, the more I felt an unsettling emptiness. The sweet scent of victory, so intoxicating mere hours ago, had soured into a bitter regret.

"Commander, we've secured the perimeter," one of my soldiers called out, but I barely registered the words. My mind was adrift on memories of the loved ones I'd lost in this endless war, and the innocents who now lay slaughtered in the streets.

I turned to face the soldier, my armor battered and caked with blood. "Tell the men to stand down. We've had enough death for one day."

The soldier nodded solemnly and turned to relay the order, but I remained fixed on the devastation around me. This hollow triumph was no true victory at all.