Inside the plane, everything was cramped. The racks containing bombs were so close that he could barely move. The overwhelming smell of oil and diesel filled his nostrils as the massive engines roared to life. The vibrations from the machine passed through his body, making him feel like he was a part of the machine, a mere organ in a living mechanical beast.

As the War Moth began to move forward and taxi towards the runway, Abraham felt the motion of the plane. It stopped momentarily before preparing for its ascent. Without warning, the engine hit full throttle, and the noise was deafening. The plane accelerated so quickly that Abraham’s body sank into his tiny leather seat. There were no windows to see from where he was, but he imagined the vast blue sky and clouds outside as they climbed higher and higher.

After a few hours of travelling, Abraham’s crew mate gestured for him to pass the first bomb off the rack to be loaded into the bay. He attached the chains and winched the bomb into place above the doors. As his crew member pulled the lever, the doors opened, and for a brief moment, Abraham saw a vast forest that he had never set eyes on before. Over the next few hours, Abraham glimpsed more and more of the land below with each bomb that dropped.

After several hours of bombing it was time for the crew to return home. Abraham’s crew member looked over to him, “First day on the job, you did great! We’ll be back tomorrow to finish off the job and then we’ll move onto our next target.”

Abraham said, “Thanks! It was tough at first, but I feel like I have the hang of it now. Just out of curiosity, what was our target today? It just didn’t look like I was expecting.”

“What do you mean?” the crew member asked.

“Well, all I could see was forest below and maybe the odd small village, although it was hard to tell, being able to grab a glimpse here and there,” Abraham replied.

“Ah, well, these islands are directly on the border between the Kingdom and the Horde Army. Our task was to create a curtain of fire to stop the potential spread of the Horde coming our way,” the crew member answered.

“So, we weren’t bombing the Horde army?” Abraham asked, a look of worry coming over him.

“Well, you see, these islands are not occupied by the Horde army, but our task is to continuously create an impenetrable curtain that they cannot cross,” his crewmate replied. “The forests and villages, who are those? Are they our enemy?” Abraham queried.

“Who knows? They are not part of the kingdom, so it’s safe to assume they probably support the Horde, but either way, this is the route they take to get to us. So even if they are not directly our enemy, they aren’t exactly stopping them, so either way, it needs to be done!” the crew member replied.

Abraham’s heart sank as he realised that the villages and forests they were bombing were not necessarily the enemy, but just innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.

As guilt flooded through Abraham, he realised that his actions, which he believed were helping to eradicate an evil plague from the kingdom, had only caused chaos and destruction. He thought of the innocent creatures in the forests and the people in the villages who had been incinerated due to their fear of an unknown force that he had yet to see. Doubts about the cause of the War Moths crept into his mind. Looking around the decrepit belly of the flying mechanical beast of destruction, he no longer felt excitement. Instead, he saw the decay and neglect of the old plane – the rust, the puddles of water, and the stench of the engines. He realised that this was not a glorious peacekeeping machine, but a machine of chaos and death.