Post making contest 2.0

Why did you come here?

You've survived a grueling four-day carriage ride to the edge of a filthy swamp, just to wait another three hours for a barge to take you to the marginally-less-filthy barracks that you'll be living in for the next six months.

And it's not as if you'll really be able to rest in those barracks. Thankfully, as a new recruit, you won't see combat duty unless there's an emergency. But you'll still be living in a warzone, and a warzone filled with ferocious swamp-beasts at that.

The smell alone gives you plenty of cause for regret. You thought all the stories were exaggerating the stench, but if anything, they were understating its potency.

You consider telling the carriage driver to take you back. Indeed, he looks like he's expecting you to ask him at any minute. He's made it quite clear that he doesn't think you have what it takes to last here, and frankly, you have to admit he has a point.

But you also know that you can't turn back. You came here for a reason, after all.

Why have you come to this swamp?

This post passes rules 1 and 4!