The saltiness of the water and wind was splashing on me, I could taste the tiny bits of salt

and it made my face scrunch. I felt as the wind was breezing past me traveling farther and

farther hoping it would reach its final destination. I turned around and waved goodbye to that

the wonderful town of Sevilla, the wonderful country of Spain, it’s my home after all and I may

not return. The King, Charles V, had ordered me and my crew to explore the new world,

where Columbus sailed to and many more to come. I, in particular, was excited to go after all but I was

mostly excited for what was promised. The king had told me that if I went, great wealth

and adventure would be awaiting me and also my country.

Before leaving for Panama many months ago, a council was formed with some of the highest

men in all of Spain, and I was told that we were going to a new world to grow the Spanish

empire. I was assigned with my good friend Diego de Almagro and some one hundred thirty

men or so, though I did request more after Panama, since the governor declined our request to

send reinforcements to the new world. We set sail soon after five in the morning, I looked over at

Diego and saw that he was writing something. It seemed to be a journal so I asked him. “What’s

that?”, he kept writing until he finished his sentence then responded, “A journal, just in case I

don't make it. I want to write down everything that happens or that will seem important.” I felt

this enlightened expression on my face but it wasn’t intentional, I think Diego might have noticed

it too and let out a little laugh. Months and months went by, some days were boring and some

days we were all up until the sun greeted us the next morning. It wasn’t until we saw land though

that I saw everybody excited for the first time. We hit land and everyone was overjoyed, my guess was they were happy to be on the ground for the first time in many months.

I had half my crew set up our supplies while the other half including myself and Diego went to look for the local people here. We saw large villas made up of various woods and stones, it was like an entire city but with colors. There were at most millions of different types of farms, and the animal barns were painted with various yellow hues, they were like the dandelions that have just bloomed and have just said goodbye to their fluffy form. The corn rows were greener than the earth itself, they had the height of a mountain, the rivers were filled with beautiful hand woven baskets to catch the fish that had scales that shimmered in the sunlight. There was a castle in the distance that was somewhat off putting to the gorgeous scenery, and so we marched our way over there where we met the leader. As we entered inside we were greeted with flying colors, from the baskets to the jewelry and the hand stitched blankets. There was a startle that hit everyone in the room as soon as we opened the doors, the leader immediately rose up and greeted us. We were all extremely surprised, we didn't know that the leader was expecting us at all. After greeting us all he pointed at himself and then said, “Atahualpa”, Diego and I exchanged glances and then he repeated himself, “Atahualpa”. I assumed that was his name, but before I could say anything, Diego immediately started asking him about the bible. He took the book out and forced a picture of Jesus in front of them all he asked about it, they didn’t know who he was. That's when he said “We’ve all come to ask you if you can accept our King as your new ruler. Also to accept Christianity and your prime religion. If any of these terms are disagreed upon, there will be immediate consequences.” They all looked at each other simultaneously and with semi-shocked looks on their faces shook their heads in disagreement. As soon as they said that, Diego and about twenty others rushed out and headed back to where the other half set up our stuff, while the rest of us stood there in disappointment. I was really hoping the people would accept our offer, but as Diego said, they must go through with the consequences. Before Diego had left, I had noticed earlier that he had looked completely unamused with the new world as if he had been here already before he was also already familiar with a few of the locals addressing them by what sounded like names.

We all devised a plan to attack on the empire at night with everyone in approval, everyone but Diego, he sat away from everyone else looking down but still listening to every word we were saying. The next morning came and we planned our attack out multiple times with every single one of the men who came on our voyage, everyone except Diego. He was gone. No one knew where he was and nor did anyone pay attention. I wanted to search for him but a part of me knew that I had to carry out our attack plan.

Fighting the urge, I gathered my men around a small round table and laid out a map, the edges were all torn up and discolored but there was nothing else I could have possibly used. I had brought a quill which had dried ink all over the feather, the ink itself was a deep red color which I thought was fitting for the upcoming battle. I could feel the eyes of my men watching me move my hand all across the table and the silence spreading like a disease, for a moment I thought I was the only one in the tent. I told them we were to capture everyone in the main hall of the castle, including Atahualpa. I drew a large X over the spot where the main hall was and a path leading our tent to the castle and the castle to a large meadow where we were to fight. I drew a shortcut for my men who were going to the castle and I drew a path for my men who were going to go straight to the meadow, which included myself.

We went over and over our plan until there were zero flaws, zero mistakes. By nightfall, Diego still hadn’t returned but had to continue without him. I ordered some of my men to capture Atahualpa and the guards that were inside the castle and then to hold them hostage, soon after an army of hundreds of men were after us. They chased us to an open field where we fought until morning, men dropping left and right. I was doing particularly fine until I saw Diego kill one of my men and my sword dropped. It felt like the entire earth shook, and then he looked at me, at the time I had no idea what came upon me and I just acted upon rage. I grabbed my sword and started running. There were voices in my head just screaming at me, the sobbing and slashing from everyone around me were growing louder, the bodies around me, dead or alive were starting to disappear.

Everyone and everything was looking at me. At that moment it was as if the entire world was shouting my name, until it wasn’t. Until my blade pierced his skin, until my heart dropped from all the build up anger, until I realized I had just killed my best friend. It was over now, I could do nothing more. He was dead and it was all my fault. After that it seemed like the war was over, lucky though we were victorious and put an end to the entire Incan empire. I dropped my sword and just stood there, staring at what could have been avoided. I shuffled my feet back over to our tent and about thirty other men followed, we had lost the majority of our men while they only lost a small percent.

A couple of weeks later I opened Diego’s journal, while I was reading it a man approached me claiming his name was Diego as well. At first I didn't believe him but then he pulled out his sword and told me that Diego de Almagro was his father and he had come for the vengeance of his father. That's when I felt a sharp pain on my side. I looked down and everything was fuzzy, I could barely see. All I did see was the color red. Red was always my favorite color, I never expected to see it running down my body though. All my red was leaving my body, accumulating into one pool. A pool deeper than the deepest oceans, a pool as passionate and the color red, as raging as the color red. All I could see at this point were my memories, when I waved goodbye to my town, when I had memorable times with my crewmates, when I killed my best friend.

When all I could see was the color red.