Once Upon a Magpie Moon

Most people would agree that the death of a person leaves an empty hollow in reality.But what about the death of thousands in the same place and time? 

Consider, for instance, a nuclear strike? Wouldn’t this create vast canyons in reality and couldn’t this stretch space-time itself?  Sometimes these black holes might form bridges back into the land of the living and there's no telling what might try to come across them.

Extract

End of Sui Dynasty 612 AD, Surla River, China - North Korean border,
The mud was red and yellow and it was ankle deep. Commander Xaio dragged his feet out of it and plunged them back in one at a time. His progress was slow but it wasn’t just because of the mud. His soul was heavy and this made each step an impossible task. A few weeks ago he had been in the vanguard of a proud army of three hundred thousand warriors and they had been well trained and were ready for battle. Today, there were less than three thousand, the rest were dead or dying somewhere out there.

There was a reason why the mud was yellow and red. The red was the blood of his men and the yellow was the clay they’d died in. He staggered. Something had wedged itself into his sandalled boot just underneath his instep. He slumped onto a rock and poked his finger into the mess covering his foot. A small, smooth pebble was clutched between his grasping fingers. He was about to hurl it away when it glinted. The commander tried to clean the bloody mud from the pebble but it clung obstinately. “Fetch water,” he shouted to one of his servants. When he poured it onto the pebble he saw that the stone shone with pearlescent light. It was a moonstone in three colours.
 

Moonstones were supposed to be lucky but clearly this one didn’t work. He tucked it into his sword belt and levered himself to his feet again. He wondered what would happen next. The defeat would have repercussions at home and the consequences would be dire for his emperor. He would never survive the disgrace but honour meant that he would have to atone. In time, he would return to the capital to face the consequences, but, for now, his duty was to the dead.