Battle of a different kind..

The other day I was watching the movie "The Mummy Returns". In the first scene, there's a war shown with the Scorpion King (played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson). He led his team and after some years, they lost. One thing caught my eye. The Scorpion King was leading from the front - quite literally!

You see, since childhood, all the movies and epic TV serials (like Mahabharata) used to have the king "protected" by his troops. You realize that? Infact, Mahabharata used to have the kings totally protected, sometimes using the chakravyuh (multi-layered defensive structure / formation). The war usually ends when one of the king is dead or has accepted defeat. Even a game like Chess starts with the King covered (and thereby "protected") by his troops.

Now, why am I stating the obvious? Everyone knows about it. What's my point? I was thinking, what if...

Once upon a time, there were only two contrasting ideologies in this world. And despite repeated attempts to co-exist together, people belonging to those two ideologies decided to fight for their existence. A major war is about to erupt. Two huge armies on either side. Each side represents one half of this world. What's at stake --> Power to control this world! The winning group will rule the world and the losing group will forever remain slaves! And there will be only one ideology left to follow. Everyone has taken their respective positions. Horses and Elephants are in there too. This has all the makings of being one of the longest war in the history of mankind! Strategies are in place, tactics ready to be executed. There was one key differentiator in the tactics adopted. One side (lets call them side #1) had their leader leading from the front and the other right there at the back, protected.

And the war begins..

Side #1 is running towards side #2 with their leader in front and troops following and side #2 is running with the troops in front and leader being a mere spectator and ordering from behind. The two sides approach each other. The leader of side #1 raises his sword like a true champion to kill a hapless soldier in front of him. He flashes his sword, the sword misses the target, the soldier splashes his spear, hits the target!

Anti-climax guys!

No more swords clashed, everyone stood there stunned. Troops on both the sides didn't know what to do next. Such a scenario wasn't expected. The soldier who killed the opposition leader immediately died of cardiac arrest! Even the winning side forgot to celebrate. The opposition leader didn't even realize that he won! It took days for the news to reach him. Later on, a treaty was signed between the rulers and their new slaves and it was decided not to mention about it anywhere as it was embarrassing to both the sides.

One soldier who witnessed the entire incident secretly wrote about it and hid it inside a cave. Decades later, it was found. By me! As a mark of respect towards that soldier, I don't wish to mention the name of the soldier, name of the cave and the reason why I went there.

PS: Just a figment of my imagination. Trying something different.