Ten
Don't trust anyone who starts at the beginning, there is no way at the time to know what the beginning was. How could we have known 7 years ago that one skirmish, out of a dozen that season, would lead to a war with no end in sight? We could not, and so we could not have documented the carnage, and to start at the beginning would be a fiction, relying on imperfect memories to weave a story of our valiance in the face of our enemies abhorrence. As I said, that would be a lie. Instead I shall start today, not because a decisive battle has been won or lost, or a new ally gained, or a new weapon unleashed. No, today was like any other day during the campaign season of the last 7 years with one exception. Today is the day that I realized that this war will consume me, for instead of hoping to find and kill the last of them, I found myself hoping that I would continually find more, to continually be able to kill. My desire for victory has been overwhelmed by my desire to see them