Where all the roads have ended

"Where all the roads have ended" is a military song composed in 1507 in Achysia, at the end of the First Great War. Its composer remains unknown, but it is believed that it was someone in the circle of the military, as the song became very popular among the withdrawing columns of soldiers after the Armistice of Kevala. The song is written from the perspective of an Achysian soldier at the end of the first year of the conflict, when the soldiers started to realize that the short war that was promised to them by leaders was more and more of an illusion, with the stalemate of the trench warfare unbroken by countless offensives. The lyrics mention both the Kathic-Achysian Front and the Eastern Front, and describe the empty despair of the soldier singing it, and of his companions. The soldiers is starting to doubt the purpose of his struggle and of all the violence, and is starting to lose hope that he will ever return home, instead believing that he will die on the battlefield. The horrible conditions of war are clearly presented, as is the dejection of the soldiers stuck on their positions, but despite that, the song does not portray a defeatist message, which is perhaps why it wasn't immediately censored by the Imperial authorities and by the officers. Instead, it seems to evoke a sense of hopeless loyalty, a sense of duty, with the soldier continuing to fight and to take part in the war despite it all.

The song became popular once again at the beginning of the Second Great War, but it was quickly and immediately censored by the Autocratic regime. Despite that, it continued to be sung or hummed by soldiers and it was used as a marching tune in the units where the officers were less inclined to listen to Autocratic directives. In a twist of fate, it was once again openly sung at the end of the war, by the Achysian troops under the authority of the Transitional Government that were being moved in order to defend the northeastern border after the Armistice of Vathora.