Eternal Dream

Chapter One - The Great War A woman dressed up in a battle armour walks through the rows of injured soldiers till she gets to a secret room with guards in front of it. "Let General Lewis know I'm here." She says and the guard bows and enters. Shortly after, he reappears and leads her in. "Thank you." She mutters as the guard leaves. "You're here, General Dancing Spear." A middle-aged man in a battle armour says tiredly. "General Lewis." She nods in greeting and walks closer to the desk. "What's the situation at the front?" "We've lost three out of seven cities. Chances are that they'll march towards the Devil's Gate before sunset. If we lose that city, the capital city is next. We're losing this war." "How many men do we have here? " " Out of one hundred thousand men, thirty thousand are gravely injured. Only seventy thousand can march. " " I brought a hundred thousand men. On the way here, I wrote for a reinforcement. They should be here within ten days but we don't have that long. " She comments as she stares at the map dotted with several red flags. " A hundred thousand men? They'll be cannon fodder. The enemy has at least seven hundred thousand men uninjured. " " They're not scared of battle. We need strategy to save this city. Not even Aeron the god of battle can win this war. We can only try to drag it into a stalemate. " " We've planted traps along the way. We've also poisoned the waters nearest to them and we've burnt mystic grass for seven days but we only managed to weaken a third of their forces. They're too strong. " " General "she stares him in the eyes with a disapproving look." You're too pessimistic. You don't have the mind of a warrior. " " If you can say that after you get to the battle front, then I'll truly respect you. I'll even submit to you as a servant. " He says and she frowns " Get me the battle reports. I want to be alone. " She says dismissively and he bows before leaving while she studies the map some more before he returns with some scrolls. " You can leave. Talk to your men. Even if you don't feel hopeful, you must not let their battle spirit die down or you'll fight your battle alone. We need more soldiers. Find a way to recruit more men. " " Yes". After he leaves, she sits down with the battle reports and reads them for a while until a young girl in battle armour walks in with a bowl of water and a towel. " General, are those the battle reports? " The girl asks as she sets down the bowl and dips the towel into the water. She wrings it dry and walks up to General Dancing Spear as she closes the scrolls. "Yes. They're full of lies. I'm afraid the battle at the front is more serious than we think." She drops the scrolls and takes the towel from the girl. "Call General Lewis in. I'm done reading these bullshits." "Yes." The girl bows and stops. "General, do you think General Lewis knows the battle reports are full of lies?" "He doesn't. He might sense there's something wrong but only a full time strategist like me can see through the lies. Even I was almost fooled, let alone General Lewis." She wipes her hands and neck with the towel as the girl leaves. "Iris." She calls and the girl turns around "Yes, General?" "Tell our men to get ready to set off. They can have two hours of rest before we leave. I have a hunch the enemy are moving soon." "Didn't General Lewis say that won't leave until sunset? There are still about eight hours left till sunset." "If we can predict their moves, we would have already won this war. Do what you're told." She orders and Iris bows again before leaving. The curtain moves and General Lewis walks in. "Your assistant says you asked to see me. I heard you plan to leave. You just got here. " " The enemy is moving soon. " She replies and he frowns. " That's why you were deployed here. Because you're good at strategy and your hunches are always almost right. " " The situation here is worse. It was only a matter of time before I was sent here. Come, there's something I need to show you. " He walks closer and she points a position on the map marked with a red flag to him. " Garthen has four war generals. This city they occupy is the closest to the Devil's Gate. From the reports, the North Direction Commander, General Halberd has occupied this city for thirteen days. According to his style, we should have received at least some soldier heads and challenges." " We've received none. What does this mean? " Ignoring his question, she points to a route. " With his style, this road should be completely unaccessible and if truly they're moving by sunset, a third of their forces" her hand moves to another spot. " should have gotten here. " "On my way here, I had some men scout the area for a thousand miles. On the contrary, instead of the road to be inaccessible, my men entered easily and found a blood river with the badges of our soldiers in that division and for three hundred miles, there was no sign of enemy soldiers. This is the very opposite of General Halberd's usual style." She reclines against a desk and watches the expression on his face as he comes to realization. "This means that either your information is wrong or.... my battle reports are false!" "Well my information can't be wrong." She shrugs as he shakes in rage. "It's not the time to get angry but the time to think. We've established the fact that it's not General Halberd in that city and that your battle reports are false. The most important thing now is to determine who's in that city or we'll be dead with our eyes wide open. " " A blood river of five hundred miles is a well known strategy of East Direction Commander, General Bloodlust to put fear in his enemies. But with his arrogant nature, it's unlike him not to deploy anyone for three hundred miles. This seems like a strategy of the South Direction Commander, General Elusive Shadow. The fourth general, General Wind advocates speed and instant kill. If he was the one in that city, I wouldn't have been able to get any information at all. He would be at our doorstep before we know they plan to leave. He's very dangerous. " " So who do you think is in the city? " He asks, worry clouding his features. " I have no idea. It's easy to change battle strategy but old habits die hard. However, the person in this city has managed to incorporate the attitude and characteristics of two major generals into one. If my intuition is right and they're moving early, that'll mean the incorporation of the three identities of East Direction Commander, General Bloodlust, South Direction Commander, General Elusive Shadow and West Direction Commander, General Wind into one. " " What do we need to do? Give your orders. " " The strategist behind these men is very dangerous. I have a feeling that none of the Generals are in that city. If that's the case, then this would be the war of trapping a turtle in a jar. It'll be an all round attack. This is why we need to leave early. Give me twenty thousand men. Stay with the remaining fifty thousand men and protect the city. We're setting off now! " She commands and he salutes " Yes! " •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Twenty minutes later, General Dancing Spear rides out with an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men towards the Devil's Gate. "If we follow the Dark Forest, how many hours do we have left until we get there?" Iris quickly opens a map with one hand while the other holds the reins. "About three hours. But the Dark Forest is very dangerous and it's filled with bandits. It's a death trap." "Fire arrows as a warning. If the bandits know it's me, they'll stay off." She says and Iris closes the map. "What about enemy ambush?" Iris shouts as most of her words get lost in the wind. "Dark Forest is our territory. They can't pose a threat to me." General Dancing Spear shouts back. "But just in case, tell the men to kill every enemy on sight." "Yes!" Iris raises her right hand into the air and makes weird gestures. Immediately, all the soldiers turn towards the Northeast direction and starts riding towards the Dark Forest. She makes another gesture and five flaming arrows are shot into the forest. "Faster!" She commands and all the soldiers shout in agreement, urging their horses forward. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The sound of battle fills the air as General Dancing Spear dismounts her horse and runs up the stairs to get to the city wall. The war at Devil's Gate had already begun on full force. "General Gruffydd, what's going on?" She questions hurriedly as she looks over the wall into the distance where the enemy soldiers were approaching. From the distance, they looked like an army of ants. It was like a rolling black wave was coming and even the ground was shaking slightly from their momentum. "Gwendolyn. What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here." Gruffydd shakes his head in sorrow and a lump forms in her throat. "The battle reports were false." She forces out and he nods. "The scribes under my subordinate falsified the information. He was a mole. He has escaped already and I've dealt with my subordinate according to the military law." " There are at least a million men out there. I've only brought a hundred and twenty thousand men. We're going to lose this city." " I know. " He sighs." Which is why you shouldn't be here, Gwen. Why are you here? " " I had a hunch so I came. " " You always have a hunch." He says bitterly." You must leave. " " Tell me what I need to do. " She insists stubbornly. " You need to leave." He repeats and she shakes her head before grabbing her spear from Iris. " Tell me how I can help." She grits out. Just then, huge boulders and bombs appear in the air as the enemies fire at them. " No need! " She snaps as Gruffydd opens his mouth. She runs to the wall and stands on it. " Gwendolyn! " He shouts as she stands to face off a huge boulder. She ignores him and raises her spear. As the boulder comes close, she releases a shout and swings her spear at the boulder. "That's suicide!" He mutters. Her spear shatters the boulder into smithereens and with a weird footwork, she's in front of another boulder which she shatters with the same technique. "There's a reason she's called Dancing Spear." Iris says and grabs her own spear as she runs to join General Dancing Spear on the wall. Suddenly a boulder hits the wall and Gwendolyn staggers.