A quick drabble.
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Battered, barren, scarred and beaten, the worn-out soldier came staggering out of the dense, yet dead underbrush. A soiled country flag lay draped over his back, accidentally letting it get all the grime. Wilted grass lay at the mercy of his heavy, burdened footsteps. Ashes were sprinkled over the misery written all over his despaired face.

His almost-jittery, robotic movements had took almost every ounce of the life out of him. It felt as if there were cracks in his bones, the broken fragments sticking out of his skin, deforming him in the most gruesome ways possible.

But he continued pressing on, trying to spot even just a little speck of hope in the gray mist.

Eventually the fog cleared, revealing a dark blue sky. Two hills that were somehow positioned close to each other appeared in his sight. A tall fire tree loomed above a small, simple bamboo hut.

Despite the condition he was in, he started to place his feet, one by one, on the inclined surface.

The first rays of the sun were beginning to penetrate the purple-capped mountains, guiding him on his path to seemingly a far-fetched dream, one that had always stayed with him once he stepped foot in the barracks.

Orange, red and yellow colors were beginning to paint the sky as he tightly wrapped his fingers around a bamboo post and held on to it to catch his breath. When all of that is done, his feet slightly stable, he limped towards the tree that he had loved sleeping under so much.

He let his camouflage pants fall, revealing a pair of black rolled-up pants underneath. The white, tattered shirt was revealed as he forcefully tore off the darned soldier suit off him. Eventually the helmet resting atop his head was replaced with a reed hat.

Eyes pointed to the sky with sheperd's stick in hand, he was turned into a silhouette of the man that he was before this all happened.

His neck hurt, his legs were wobbly, and the light nearly blinded him, but all of that didn't matter.

He had found his long-lost dream.

He had found his long-lost hope.

The sun had risen.