To this day, historians argue what point Remnant lost the war. The romantics insist it was the heroic sacrifice of General James Ironwood. Veterans say the unstable and untrusting alliance between Mistral and the White Fang was to blame. A strategist will say the surprise assault on Beacon the night of the Vytal Festival sealed our fate. Everyone's free to believe as they wish, but the story of our Great War never was so important to me.

Heroes who lived and died are given a disservice of a three paged epilogue. An aftermath is just as important as any turning point. the Creeping Wail didn't leave the moment it won, it festered, growing violenter than before. Survivors didn't return to their homes when the battles ended, they defied death by living. I often hear what was done and not how we responded.

As a survivor of multiple battles and even more skirmishes, I confirm they all boiled down to the same series of events. The Wail would attack, carry off some of our numbers, and then it'd return with our friends at its side. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from believing it wasn't horrible, that I didn't clutch a blade to my chest every night with the intention to kill an attacker or myself. My hope is my testimony will tell you how we forced ourselves to live after the end.

Future generations need to know the price we paid and what mistakes cost us. War is an ungodly spectacle people gobble up, ignoring the lessons. If you'd like to read about the war, I've included portions of battles (because spectacle can be quite the page turner). I've also listed several letters and documents uncovered on the mainland or mementos from family and friends.

My only request is after finishing this book, don't forget us. If our names and deeds are immortalized on page, I'll know I've done my job. I'll know everything we've done was in a service for the next generation.

Once upon a time, we were the people of Remnant.

- Blake Belladonna