War, Elements, and Magic

CHAPTER 2: I JUST WANT TO BE FREE - 1842 EG

Sub-Chapter 1: Acadia May

'Watch the right flank! The Avon are pushing hard!'

Now here was the challenge I've been waiting for. 15 years of the academy has led to this point, with me staring down the enemy I swore to destroy.

'Watch from the rear, it's the Ern!'

Yet, I wasn't here because I hated them. I know, kind of hard to kill someone who you don't really have that much opinion on.

'Major, watch your left!'

I was in this for the adventure, the chance to see the world and what it was truly like outside the walls of Orto. I dreamed about it every day and night I could.

I saw an Ern from the corner of my eye. Just like I was warned, he was on my left. I turned my head and stared at the Ern. As I did he began to slow down. It was plain to see that he was starting to regret it.

I didn't see the point of killing him. He was just as scared as some of the others. If anything, he had more guts than some of them as well.

'Look, turn back now.' I said with both pistols aimed right at his head. 'You don't need to be here'.

He paused for a second as he looked around him, with the thirty troops surrounding him, each with weapons pointed towards him

I continued, 'Just turn around, and enjoy the rest of life'. I then turned my back on him. Stupid mistake, I know, because he charged me right afterward.

With his blade quickly closing the distance, I took out my devices, the Alles and the Könnte. Aiming both right at his kneecaps, he went down right as the shots made contact.

I quickly put both of my pistols away before saying 'Take him to the medical tent. See if we can get any information on his fellow soldiers' whereabouts and whatnot.'. One of the privates nodded as she dragged away the Ern.

The entire battalion started to relax as I looked through the forest, where I could finally appreciate the nice breeze as I stood there. For just a few moments, I felt relaxed.

I looked to one side, and then to another, as the faint sound of explosions from three days ago continued. It was too quiet

Out of nowhere, blaring sirens went off from the left and right, and with it, barges of Ern Troops and what seemed to be Avon soldiers charged from either side. In that instance, my senses finally regained control of my thoughts, with it taking only a few seconds for me to bark out orders again, 'Sergeant Rose, Markus, and Langer take your fire teams to the Northern Barricade, and Warrant Officer Juna, take your platoon and cover the Western Barricade...'

I snuck a glance over at either side as I grabbed several blood boxes.

'The rest of the Battalion, ready the cannons'.

Everyone nodded as the six pieces of artillery were pulled out from several tents, with everyone else scrambling to get the ammunition.

BAAM

As I stared out into the forest, the force of an explosion sent me crashing into a tree. I could feel my right leg and back explode in pain as I fell to the ground. At least ten others, along with all the cannons were seemed to be blown to bits as I struggling to at least sit myself up.

As that happened, shots from the Ern killed several more. As they readied for the next volley, one caught a glimpse of me. I crawled on all fours, but my right leg screamed with pain as I tumbled behind. As I did, one of the bullets grazed my side.

I couldn't hide it, my right leg hurt like HELL. As I yelled out for help, one of my guys from within the trench jumped out, charging in my direction.

He nodded before taking my hand and dragging me across. As I was pulled, several flames and head-sized stones flew past me, with most of it knocking out the Ern Unit. Taking out my weapon mind fall into the trench, I aimed the barrel towards the only ones standing.

"CREPITUS!"

In an instant, a miniature ball of explosives left the barrel of my Hecate as I quickly prayed to Ayn that I wouldn't die.

With one eye closed, I watched as the explosion seemed to creep towards a steel wall created in a last-second ditch by the Avon. As the kõr hit it, a hole was blasted through, with small splinters flying everywhere.

I quickly swiped my device in front of me as I yelled out, 'Monfã faru!', forcing the splinters to stop midair. As I cursed silently as the guy who rescued me laid flat on the ground.

However, I could hear from some of the groans in the front that I left my mark.

They kept coming though, with herds of them storming the dirt path. I gradually stood up, though still unbelievably painful. After taking a few seconds, I leaned against the wall, stabbing a needle into my arm from one of the blood packs. I instantly felt better as I pointed both devices straight at the guy at the head of the charge.

I yelled out 'ULTIMUS EKRIXI!'. In one sudden burst, a glowing yellow ball was fired from my Hecate. Once it reached the stone wall, it exploded on impact, with shrapnel flying all over the place. The size of the explosion was comparable to the size of one of the old redwood trees.

As I stared at the destruction, I almost forgot to protect myself from the after-effects as I fell right my back.

After a few seconds, I stole a glance at the mess I made, only to see a 30-foot crater where the Avon once stood. And inside the area, nothing existed, not even the trees that were there beforehand.

It was weird, seeing so many gone in a sudden flash of explosions.

After looking around for a bit, a couple of privates gave me their notes on the surroundings, as well as giving me their own thoughts.

The guy on my right was the one to speak first. 'If you to the east, a little down the path we noticed a friendly...' as he talked, he's supposed friend bumped him in his shoulder and coughed.

I laughed for the first time in a while. 'We're in the middle of a war zone private, don't worry about addressing me as the "O'great" Lieutenant Colonel or anything like that. Right here and now, you are my fellow soldier-in-arms, nothing more, nothing less.'.

The private on the right sighed in relief and started to speak a bit more casually, saying 'Well, I managed to spot a friendly unit to the east. When I signaled them, they signaled back that we should hold our position. They also signaled that we should relax while we can. After all, it's predicted that the Ern has 100,000 on this field right now.'

The private on the left chipped in and said 'I agree with Private Weru here, ma'am. If I may say, I think we might actually have a tough time with the amount those Ern are tossing at us.'

As they talked, I began to feel at ease. I mean, I did nearly kill myself with my own spell. With that in mind, I blurted 'Y'all gonna die tomorrow'. As I finally laid down properly, the only response I got was cold glares, along with some trembling bodies.

Finally, the private on the left spoke up again, and replied with 'Really?'

'Sorry, I forgot to mention that that's IF you don't pay attention and get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be even more hectic than today, that much I can almost guarantee.'

Most of the troops laughed, probably out of relief, as they cheered and sang the night the way. As they performed for the entire forest to hear, I slept peacefully, with nothing clouding my head as I fell asleep.

SUB-CHAPTER 2: A Breath in the Wild

I was quickly swatted away from my dream, with a couple of fingers poking my face as I turned over to those same fingers nearly going for my eyes.

OATE!!! What the actual SHEO are you doing, Ms.Juna!? You would've been the next day's meal if I didn't see you first.'

The Warrant Officer giggled a bit before saying 'Well that would've been bad. Anyways, that's in the past...'

'That was just four seconds ago you i***t. What's so important that you had to wake me up at what, midnight?'

'I think it's one, but that's not the point. I really just wanted to chat with someone. After, being the youngest one here is a bit, scary.'

'You're what, 25 years old?'

'Oh, thanks, but no, I'm 30.'

'Well then, you have nothing to worry about.'

'huh?'

'The higher-ups won't tell you this, but most are around you're age as well'. I said with a smile. Pulling out my alles and könnte, I took out a tissue and began to clean both pistols. Continuing on, I said 'But no worries, I get it. I don't think anyone gonna judge for your age anyway'.

After a bunch of awkward stares and glances at the ground, Juna would ask "So, do you have any dreams? Maybe someplace you want to visit?"

"Yeah, but they seem far away at this point," I replied

"Well, you can always wish, right? After all, what's the point of life if you don't aim high?"

As I tried to find constellations, I murmured, "I guess you're right...well, I guess if I had to pick, maybe the Persi Palace in the center of Ern. I heard it was huge, bigger than anything the Avon or the Oslionians could build. Though, in all honesty, instead of that, I would much rather just be able to see what the world has to offer.

What about you?"

"Honestly, the five corners of Rikta always seemed neat. After all, it's said that all five masters of each element reside in the area. Though I would be killed on sight, it would still be nice to see what it looked like.".

Silence quickly followed, with Juna then asking "So, what's the story between those magical devices? Are they made by you or did you get someone like the Lord Chancellor to make those for you? Either way, I might want to buy it from you if ever you want to say… part ways with one of them…

I'm just joking, those would be worth a fortune, whether self-made or not. Not something I would be looking at."

"Oh, no worries. About what you asked though, these are self-made. After all, I couldn't say I'm a 'proper' Ion or Lieutenant Colonel if I can't even make my weapons."

'That's pretty coolio.'

'Coolio? What, is that some new made-up word from the Capital?'

'Oh, uh… no, it's some term I heard from an Oslionia... I mean Ern Soldier once!'

"I see. Coolio… sounds weird, but… I like it."

I simply nodded as both me and her glanced at the stars, with my eyes betraying me as they quickly slammed shut.

SUB-CHAPTER THREE: Chaos ensues

I was quickly awoken by the sound of whistles, with one of the privates from earlier screaming at the top of her lungs as the sirens went off, 'ION MAJOR AKIKO, THE ERN DIVISIONS, THEY'RE CHARGING FROM THE SOUTHER SIDE SIDE!'

I quickly jumped to my senses, twisting my head violently as I witnessed what seemed like thousands of Ern troops charging our position from the South.

'MAJOR, we need our orders!'

As my back and leg throbbed between pain and extreme pain, I finally managed to place my full attention on Juna, and what she said.

'Listen up!...' I said as I quickly got out my weapons. '... I don't know-how in the SHEO they managed to make it behind us, but I need companies one and two to secure the Southern flank'.

My eyes darted around the place as my mind jumbled with a thousand things at once. With explosions drawing closer now, I snapped my finger in satisfaction. 'I need Company four to make protective barriers around the perimeter. I need the rest of you guys to start extracting blood from yourselves and place them into bags along with grabbing the other blood bags for those putting up the barrier. We don't know what these bastards are gonna throw at us.

I then quickly searched for Juna before pointing her, saying, 'I need you to work on communicating with the back to see if we can get reinforcements up here now. As for myself, I'll see if I can go someplace to signal to the other packs that we need assistance. Lieutenant Dan, you're in charge until I return. That's all, now MOVE IT!'

The entirety of the troops yelled "YES Lieutenant Colonel!" as they set to work. As they dragged on ahead, I started to look around, seeing If forgot anything.

'Lieutenant Colonel-' a voice said as the battle raged on in the back

As I looked at the young private, who somehow stood there in complete peace, I replied, 'Yes?'

'Several scouts report an incredibly fast air vehicle going several times faster than anything the military knows of' the private said before grabbing her weapon and taking off.

Picking through the sky, a trail of thick smoke covered right above us. As I followed it, I started to run, yelling

'RETREAT, RETREAT'

Chaos ensued as the Ern troops stood outside the perimeter, with my own scrambling in all sorts of different directions.

As I limbed away, the shots from our camp stopped. I quickly hid behind a tree as I picked over. Within the blinding flash of light created, I screamed into it,

'Monfã faru!'

Even with the protection kõr, I was again sent flying before skidding on the ground. I patted around me, making sure all my limbs were in check before staggering up. With the remaining energy I had, I silently chanted,

'lẽnsǔ, lẽnsǔ, lẽnsǔ, lẽnsǔ'. Even with the kõr, my leg still pulsated in pain.

But, I continued to walk as before reaching a hill. Step-by-step, thump-by-thump, I worked my way up. As I did, I could hear what seemed to be metal rubbing against metal. As I kept on hearing it multiply as I got closer to the top. Halfway up, I received a transmission from Juna. After using a couple of drops of blood, I managed to connect. With a burst of noise, she spouted,

'Akiko, where are you?'

'On a hill, I think... North West. Look, I'm-'

'Alright, we're on our way, Lieutenant Colonel'.

As the transmission fizzled out, metal grinding on metal becoming the dominant sound in the area, I continued to make my way up the hill. After getting to the top of the hill, what I could see had my complete notice. What I saw, it, it, it was haunting. For miles, and miles around, as far as I could see, there was nothing but a land filled with craters, with nothing living insight. Smoke was rising and I finally saw the source of the terrifying noise. Metal beasts, the size of small houses, crawled on the ground, with the amount of them ranging in the thousands easily. As they moved, they fired balls of pure destruction at the Avon in front of them, with the noise of each beast ringing louder than the one before. Behind them, I saw hundreds of thousands running like madmen, with the guns readied. And right on the side of the metal creatures, I saw, it was no work of the Avon.

The Oslionian flag was stamped on the side of each one of those things. Worst of all, I did not see the end of them, the line of metal brutes stretched beyond my sight.

Looking at the tanks at the head of the pack, I got out both of my devices. Firing a charge from each, I held my breath, hoping it would at least stop a few.

As it hit, the ground was dislodged from where it originally sat. I impatiently waited for the dirt to settle. Once it did, I saw several tanks on their sides, but the rest of them seemed to only have a few scratches.

Within seconds, stone walls were conjured up by the Avon, and were destroyed within a second as the tank rolled over them as if it was a dirt mound. I could see, with what I had on me now, it was almost futile. So, I sat there, with nothing to do. I wondered for a bit if I should take the opportunity to run. Though, with how it looked, it seemed as if all the world was just a big battlefield, with no place safe for anyone.

Out of nowhere, with a sudden sound of the earth crumbling as I fell into a hole, which kept getting deeper and deeper until my back hit the ground, with a few cracks from my body echoing inside, along with yelp as the pain surged more and more.

Within another instant, I was covered up by dirt. Right there, my body was held hostage by the very thing I found rest in. I heard footsteps along with a scream from someone I think I knew. However, it quickly died down in an instant.

For hours on end, I survived by making minuture water spells, nearly drowning myself in the dirt in the process.

After some time, something clicked in my head. if I was gonna die, it wasn't going to be at the hands of some stupid mistake like resting

As I prepared myself, I quickly murmured,

'Põ rĩmo...', allowing myself to use over half of the blood left in my body. As the spell was released, I could feel my body fading away as the explosion opened up the ground around me. Lucky me, dying before I even got to explore part of the world.

But then, in all the silence, I heard some voices, though they weren't rushed at all. It seemed as if they were having fun.

I wish… I could've had some fun too.

But, there's no fun for the dead.