A young man dressed in low-tech combat gear unsteadily got up to his feet whilst clutching his head.

The amber eyes and orange-ish hair glinted slightly as the sunlight seeped into the concrete-walled room.

Coughing for air, he brushed aside the stars and glimmery lights in his vision to spot many bloodied bodies lying around the room.

Completely unphased from the sight, the bright-eyed soldier assessed the situation around carefully without making a sound.

"Sarah... Wait... Who...?"

His hushed and confused voice echoed inside the bunker, although muffled by the gunfire and explosions outside.

After beginning to move, a sharp jolt of pain rushed up to his senses, stinging hard through the left thigh.

Glancing down, he would spot a jagged piece of metal sticking out of his left thigh, cut clean through his cargo pants.

He slowly expanded his hand above the wound and focused.

Nothing.

He grimaced in anguish and tried again, concluding with the same result.

Nothing.

Shaking his head, he slowly lowered himself down and stretched the leg while trying not to move too much.

Taking out a small aid-kit from the side-pouch that said 'MEDIC', he uncapped and spread the saline solution on the wound.

Moments later, he began to carefully pull the jagged metal shrapnel from the wound before quickly bandaging it.

He smiled bitterly, seemingly troubled in his thoughts as he finished off the medical knot.

"That sure was a long dream about swords and magic... Well, back to reality... Who am I?"

Slicing off the dressing's loose ends with a swish of the combat knife drawn from his vest, he scuttled over to a nearby corpse.

Grabbing one of the standard-issue assault rifles lying on the ground, he ejected the loaded magazine to feel its weight.

"Twenty-one... That's enough."

On the way of limping out the hole in the wall, he kicked up a bloodied combat helmet that flew up to lob on his head.

"Sarah... I don't know who she is... But it seems like I need to find her..."

He gradually lobbed himself out of the hole in the concrete bunker wall to landing softly in a tight alleyway.

The memory loss was surely due to the concussion of taking on whatever that hit and busted in the bunker he was stationed in.

Yup, he was back to the 'real world' now...

Time to get back to doing whatever he was doing, and reunite with this... Sarah.

The Desert Town was currently under attack by multi-national troops united under one specific banner.

They were a peace-keeping faction formed after the events of 'World War 3', they were called the GOVERNMENT.

GOVERNMENT became corrupt and pushed its peaceful yet imperialistic ideals to a global scale after the world war.

This was no small feat for even a massive superpower, especially after the total downfall of the world's greatest nations.

But without Russia keeping them at bay, the GOVERNMENT spread its dominion far and wide, oppressing many along its path.

So, what happened to Russia? Did they get wiped during the war?

Answer: No.

Post-War, they were 'apparently' hit by their orbital nukes.

This turned the entire Russian territory into a nuclear wasteland.

It was a highly classified incident codenamed 'Blue Eclipse'.

Moving on, the GOVERNMENT began abusing their gathered resources during the war from their sponsor nations.

These said nations who had earlier supported them during the post-war period were utterly betrayed and stabbed in the back.

A pyramid placed upside down with a centered all-seeing-eye were present on every single soldier's arm patch.

The GOVERNMENT were highly trained and well-equipped with the latest technology, unlike the Desert Town's defenders.

Alongside a few hired guns, they had lesser gear and only the practical needs of survival on the hot and arid urban battlefield.

The Parallel Universe.

Milky Way, Sol System.

Earth, an Urbanized World without Magic.

2057 A.D. February 7th.

The bright-eyed soldier hid his presence in the alleyway as a patrol of GOVERNMENT troops rushed by.

Seeing from their variable gear, it seemed like they were a specialized squad that follows the main force from behind.

They were called 'Sweeper Squads', coming from how they would clean up everything that the main army missed along the way.

Coming out of hiding, he snatched the last soldier who was seemingly taking overwatch at the far back of the column.

A swishing chop behind the nape and the soldier would be then relieved of the real world for the next few hours.

"Five. Report status."

The radio at the chest-rig buzzed out a monotone radio message.

The recruit's enclosed helmet peeked out of the alleyway.

"Five... Status, green! I tripped on a stone and fell into the alleyway."

"Roger... But that's SIR for you! Now get back in line, recruit!"

"Yessir!"

"Good. We're down the intersection, advancing onto an enemy position, stat."

"Five copy. Returning to the squad, over."

The bright-eyed soldier tucked back the radio before quickly stripping the GOVERNMENT soldier of his attire.

Quickly putting on the looted gear, he had now disguised himself as one of the attackers.

Thankfully, it was a full-combat-suit that had exo-frames alongside an enclosed helmet.

His leg limp and true identity shouldn't be revealed any time soon thanks to that.

He was now fully geared in the GOVERNMENT Desert Camo.

"Five, report."

"Resuming overwatch duty."

"This is three. Your designated position has been marked on your HUD."

Another static voice rang over the radio... Although was easy to figure that the speaker was a female.

"Clear copy. Moving into position."

'Five' broke off from the squad as they all scuttled through the open streets that were trashed with car wrecks and burning tires.

The four squad soldiers tactically advanced against the enemy barricaded in a motel down the street while suppressing them.

"Five, take out that gunner at two o'clock!"

BZZT.

There was no reply over the radio comms.

"Five. Report status-"

Before the squad leader could finish his sentence, a loud shift came by as he fell.

"Fuck! Lead is hit!"

"Three, popping smoke!"

FOOOOSH!!!

The thrown canister flushed out a smokescreen filled with glittering particles by the squad leader.

"Blyat! Why is Five missing in action now of all times-!? He's our Sniper, even though it's his first day..."

"Ugh... Squad, retreat to the designated fall back position!"

The wounded squad leader shouted over the comms as he clutched his chest area in pain.

"We're not leaving you behind, sir."

The female soldier, callsign 'Three' daringly ran back into the glittering smokescreen.

She then began to haul back their squad leader amidst the hailstorm of bullets.

The others present in the squad began returning fire towards the vicinity that the shot had come from to suppress the sniper.

"Cyka! (pronounced: "Suka!") I knew we couldn't trust that rookie to be our overwatch!"

"Shut up and suppress the vicinity behind us, useless Russian cunt!"

The automatic rifleman, Two, shouted over the comms as his rapid gunfire roared through the buzzing mic.

"Over there!"

Three, the female soldier, shouted as she turned on her high-intensity laser-beam.

It visibly flashed a bright green line pointing towards an elevated walkway staircase on the far streetside.

Moments later, bullets smacked and pierced through nothing but the sandstone railings.

Four, the squad's automatic rifleman, gasped out.

"Did we get him...?"

"No blyat! But where did he relocate to---- OOF... AGH----!?"

The first shot impacted Six's helmet, tumbling him slightly before the second one went clean through his ballistic mask.

Another smoke grenade that was thrown puffed out as it whizzed down the streetside, spanning forth a field of blinding smoke.

The remaining squad members quickly retreated with their wounded leader back to a checkpoint blockade up the street.

"Guys, report status! How's Six doing...?"

The squad leader panted out as Three was busy unfastening his armor plate to tend to the bullet wound.

"Two. All green. One box remaining."

"This is four! I've confirmed that SLAV IS DOWN! I REPEAT, TRI POLOSKI IS NO MORE!"

"Fuck...! Two and Four... Keep them at bay while Three checks on my condition!"

" "Affirmative!" "

((Think of this as War Thunder Callouts XD))

"Sir, get the foam-pack ready!"

Doing immediate field surgery, Three dug out the bullet that was stuck in the commander's chest with her fingers.

Thankfully, the advanced carbon fiber armor platings had stopped the subsonic sniper round from doing further damage.

"Arghhhh!!!"

One screamed out in pain as he gritted his teeth and squeezed the button on the handle of the tube he held.

The tube emptied wound-stabilizing-foam which coagulated the gunshot wound with fast-reactive mending substances.

Three then helped up her commander before fastening back the armor plate and giving him back his Marksman Rifle.

"Alright squad... We're in quite the pinch here... I'll call back up from the main force ahead of us!"

"Yeeaaah! Woohoo! Let's go avenge that Ruski Vodka Dude!"

Four glanced over his shoulder before turning back to suppressing the street with his light machinegun.

"Sir... This..."

"Three? What's wrong?"

"The... Subsonic sniper round... It's one of ours...?"

She said with a quite shaken tone while lifting to inspect the bloodied bullet.

BZZT.

An interference came over the comms.

It was a rare occurrence since all the squad were orderly trained to not do so.

"CaLLinG fOr bAckUP wOn'T bE NECeSsARy, SiR..."

Five's distorted voice suddenly rang through all their earpieces integrated inside the tactical helmets.

"Five...? Just what..."

"Ka-"

"Five, the message cut off... Can you repeat that...?"

"Kaboom!"

Everything in the vicinity of the street checkpoint then erupted into smithereens.

A CENTURY LATER

(Desert Winds Transition Music)

Tossing the clunky helmet and weapon aside, the bright-eyed soldier rushed down the elevated staircase steps.

He then raised both his hands sky-high while slowly walking down the street towards the fortified motel.

The defending force that held the place quickly rushed out with guns raised as they scanned the vicinity.

"Hoh... So you're alive, C? I thought you were gone when your bunker took on that strange beam artillery."

The bright-eyed soldier now knew that he was called short for 'C'... And decided to play along.

"Aah... The concussion's still kicking... I have a bit of a memory loss right now... Took a little nap, teheh..."

They all laughed before entering into the motel filled with insurgent-looking people.

"If you didn't stumble upon us, those guys would've run us down."

"Hey, I'm sure you guys would've been able to handle it."

"My my, always humble as ever... You took out a 'Sweeper Squad' in one fell swoop..."

"Yeah, who's the real Sweeper now, amirite-!?"

One of the guys cheered from the background as the others also played around.

"Well... For me... That's normal, right?"

"You've taken down countless armored battalions singlehandedly! Don't forget that you're the rebellion's secret weapon!"

"Aah, I'm that great...?"

C played along, trying to gain a bit more information about who he was to the people present before him.

"Of course! Even if you lost your memories, we'll always believe in you!"

"So I'm like a war hero then...? Well, seems like it's the only way I can live in this seemingly harsh world after-all."

C grimly peeked out the motel window shutters.

"Something... The matter...?"

"Sarah... I no longer know who she is... But I have to find her..."

"She's cut off back at the Town Hall... The GOVERNMENT main force has surrounded that place... I'm afraid-"

C glared at the woman with dagger eyes which in return caused her to step back slightly.

The others who were packing their gear in the room turned to warily glance their way.

"Alright alright... Easy there C, I know you're crazily in love with her and all... It was just a joke..."

She raised her hands in defense as if a bit scared for her safety.

"So she's my lover...? Then I'll just have to go rescue her."

"But seriously... You're always like this when this... My my, and here I thought I was the stupid one!"

He turned away with a slight smile.

She grasped him by the shoulder.

"Hey, jokes aside... I'm afraid this isn't something you can pull off alone."

"I'm still going."

"They've finally begun to test their advanced weapons and prototypes in public, we don't stand a chance anymore!"

"I said-"

"Hey, listen to me! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

The woman spun C around by his shoulders and began desperately shouting at him.

The others in the motel room seemed a bit conflicted as they tried to continue packing their gear.

C still keeping a bitter smile brushed her aside before pacing towards the door leading outback.

"Well... There he goes... Let's just fucking get out of here already..."

The leader sounded a bit let-down as she gestured at the others to hurry up with their packing.

C glanced over his shoulder, blinking for the last time before slamming the door shut.

Now with no weapon but only his trusty combat knife, C sprinted down the sandy alleyways of the desert town.

Avoiding detection from the other government Sweeper Squads, he reached the square where the main conflict was present.

He glanced carefully down at the square that was filled with visible tracers whizzing about.

"I'm sure the former me would've had better plans than to recklessly rush in like this..."

The defenders who snuck out from the roofs and balconies were shortly gunned down by two GOVERNMENT squads below.

"I don't need to help them... But they're serving as a good distraction... I'll have to clear a path to the Town Hall..."

C mumbled out as he began sliding down the hillside before landing onto the sandy street.

Rushing up behind the two squads suppressing the square behind a few wrecked cars, he snatched a gun from one of them.

Proceeding to shoot the grunt twice in the head, he spun around and whacked aside his unsuspecting squadmate.

The soldier was whacked so hard that the buttstock made of lightweight polymer-material cracked and splintered apart.

Pointing the stockless rifle in the general direction, C shot down a few more 'GOVERNMENT' soldiers in the vicinity.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Little did he have time to react as he hit the deck behind the car wreck to avoid the many bullets that whizzed by.

Scuttling his back against the car that visibly shook from heavy gunfire, he never had a moment to spare a thought.

C grabbed the smoke bombs present on the soldier corpses below him and threw them towards the gunfire.

The first one was shot mid-air as it spewed smoke everywhere.

The other one, however, made it to the ground with a Clonk.

SPOOF!

The contents leaked out of the canister as everything soon became enveloped by a dense glittering smokescreen.

"Fuck, I can't see anything! The HUD is scrambled-"

"No shit, Sherlock!"

"Why didn't they give us IR goggles and ECM filters...!?"

"Dude! We're just Yellow Jacks! Only Camo Jacks get those-"

"Something's coming through the smoke! Wha---- ARGH...!"

"What the hell was that-!? Regroup! Regroup!"

"Over there...!?"

"There's something in the smoke! Aah! Fire!"

C, pretending to be one of them who was in a panic, shouted out from somewhere in the smokey haze.

Confusing the enemy soldiers, he emptied the half-broken rifle randomly to further simulate the firefight before tossing it aside.

All the soldiers soon began spraying all their shots towards whichever muzzle flash they deemed to be the enemy.

C who laid down flat on the ground snickered at the situation as he witnessed the many bullets whizz pass over him.

In the aftermath, as the glittering smokescreen cleared, one of the 'GOVERNMENT' soldiers slowly stood back up.

"Hey, friendly...!!? Fuck, we killed so many of our guys!"

"I'm down to two shots... You okay?"

"Yeah... What about you two ladies over there...!?"

The soldier shouted out at the two who got back up by the far.

"Hey, don't let down your guard while you're in the midst of a battlefield------ ARGH...!?"

Before the guy who stood close finished his sentence, one of the many 'corpses' below sprung up to jab his throat.

The other nearby soldier raised her rifle to shoot, but her vision was spun around as C roundhouse kicked her away.

Grabbing the rifle that was held by the soldier, C shot the two at the far who tried to draw their sidearms.

Pivoting his feet around, he aimed his rifle at the third one, but no bullets came out.

C shifted his fingers to throw the gun at the remaining soldier as he staggered and fired elsewhere.

Not having a moment to hesitate, C leaped for the nearest corpse and grabbed their sidearm to finish the job.

"Fucking mercenary... Die!"

A scream came from the female soldier that was tumbled away earlier.

C spun around to witness a high-voltage triangular-bladed-baton coming down at him with erupting sparks.

The electric arced about as he took on the baton with his trusty combat knife before retaliating with a swift punch to her side.

Luckily, the rubber grip proved effective in stopping the electricity from simply shortcutting his heartbeat.

However, the combat knife was discharged and flung away by the electrical impact as he backed away.

Before the dazed soldier could attempt another swing, C threw another punch at the GOVERNMENT soldier's face.

Reeling away as she groaned in pain, the soldier clutched her nose and ran back towards C with her shield-wrist expanded.

C lifted the sidearm and emptied the magazine at her.

Bulletproof? Oh no, it wasn't.

The wrist-shield was meant for melee combat.

Despite C's efforts to take her down, the frame-shield took on the shots before it crumbled off the soldier's arm.

Ramming into each other, the two of them then tumbled away and rolled about on the street as sand skipped about.

"The reason I joined the GOVERNMENT... Was to kill mercenaries like you... That killed my parents!"

Now strangled by the soldier who pinned him down above, C held his breath and frowned as he poked her eyes.

"Sorry, I can't die yet."

Dirty tactics as it may seem, but this wasn't a mock fight in a fantasy world no longer.

Do anything to disable your opponent.

Swift, simple, and effective.

It was just the common sense of how to survive in these conflicted parts of the world.

Toppling over the soldier with his legs, C proceeded to strangle her from behind with a triangular chokehold.

A few long seconds of struggle went by before the soldier's breath soon faded away.

"Everything's much harder without the hero's blessing."

The air suddenly shook as the wind was knocked out of him.

Gasping for breath, C staggered up to recover his combat knife before carefully making his way to the hillside.

Seemingly devastated, his face turned grim as he witnessed GOVERNMENT soldiers rush into the Town Hall.

A manually controlled G-Robo MK.2 had just busted through the wall with its explosive charge fists.

Despite this, many of the attackers were indeed shot dead right at the entry point.

So many people died in just the blink of an eye... The breach was devastating for both sides.

In reality, you can never expect anything to go your way.

"Sarah's in there... I need to hurry..."

C grumbled out as he lobbed himself and skidded down the hillside before rushing forth after the sound of gunfire beyond the wall.

There was another explosion that caused him to flinch as dust fumed outside the busted hole in the wall.

He coughed for air and brushed away the dust.

"Did they... Was that a suicide bomb...?"

Scaling down into the lobby, he landed into a bloody scene to see the many corpses of his allies alongside enemies everywhere.

Shoving the thought of checking for any friendly survivors aside, C ran through the corridors after the sound of gunfire.

Upon turning the corner and rushing into a circular room, he immediately recognized the blonde girl with aqua blue eyes.

She was busy shooting at the hulking metallic humanoid figure which rapidly advanced towards her in the background.

The girl took a few steps back as she continued firing at the robot which only took dents, much to her 7.92x57mm Battlerifle.

A whirling sound came as the robot's hydraulic fist spun and plunged its way through the air towards her at melee distance.

She raised her battle rifle to block the hit but was thrown away by the immense force which crumbled the sturdy-looking gun apart.

Slamming against the far wall with a slight gasp, she went silent and crumbled down onto the rubble below without moving.

C drew his combat knife and rushed up to confront the mechanical monstrosity before it could approach to finish Sarah off.

G-Robo MK.2

Breacher Variant.

Standard Issue.

Its power arms were usually filled with explosive charges that were propelled at the designated breaching points.

Luckily enough, it seemed to be out of explosive charges... Otherwise, Sarah would've already been blown to bits.

It was currently resorting to taking down any hostile threats until further orders were given.

The robot operator, on the other hand, was probably killed during the breach attempt after the suicide bomber came.

Not recognizing who C was, the robot didn't do much but simply scan for C's identity as he rushed up against it.

"FROST PMC... Status: Rogue... Project C... Named... SCAN ERROR------------"

It paused in its robotic announcing as its head snapped left and right a few times.

Its mainframe was damaged, coming from the few sparks flying out the power pack on its back.

C didn't wait for it to recover and dashed in.

He jabbed straight the monitor head with his combat knife.

Robots don't feel pain. You have to completely disable them.

A certain someone's words soon rang through C's troubled mind.

He soon realized his mistake upon remembering the laws of this world.

The monitor head wasn't the place to attack... It was the power pack!

All he did was get his knife stuck.

"OVERRIDE: ELIMINATE HOSTILE THREAT."

The mechanical beast turned to face C as it clamped onto his right hand.

It began pulling him away from the knife's grip with sheer force as C tried his best to resist.

Alas, the hydraulic arm proved to be superior.

C grunted out as he began hammering against the metallic arm with all his strength.

A crunching sound came by as C screamed out in pain before kicking himself away from the robot which loosened its grip.

Glancing down at his right hand that was now crumpled and twisted strangely, he gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes in pain.

Shaking the thought aside, he darted back in with a last attempt to stop the unyielding mechanical monstrosity ahead of him.

Somehow avoiding the hands that grabbed for him, C grappled and swung his dangling right arm over the monitor mount.

Retrieving the trusty combat knife with his left hand, he instead plunged it deep into the sparking gaps on its power pack.

Sparks flew about as C roared out in both pain and anger whilst thrusting the knife in even deeper.

The robot began rambling around in desperation as it couldn't properly control its posture due to the short-circuiting.

C screamed out his last before finally running out of strength to clasp onto the knife any longer.

His grip came loose from the knife which in return caused him to be thrown off the robot's back.

"Aah... Is this it...?"

Before the G-Robo MK.2 could reach down to crush him, a puff of smoke fumed out from the power pack.

An eerie and lifeless frame reaching out with its hands towards C then knelt still in its eerie resting place.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the beaten yet alive bright-eyed soldier unsteadily stood back up.

"Aah... Where's the Holy Grade Healing Magic when I need it now..."

C slowly limped up towards the dying Sarah in the background.

She coughed and glared up at him weakly, gasping for breath.

"Your eyes... Make sure to keep them bright as always..."

C didn't say anything but instead took her in his arms and hugged her slightly while making sure not to move her too much.

"Don't do say anything or move... Your spine's in big trouble."

When C was done, he quickly shed aside the tears that came from both pain and bliss.

Resting her back down, he finally realized that Sarah had already passed out.

"Sarah...!?"

Quickly checking her vitals by the neck, he soon calmed down after realizing she was okay.

"Internal bleeding... Aah... Should I just surrender to the GOVERNMENT so they can treat her?"

C, no longer having the will to fight, carefully lifted Sarah over his shoulder and began to pace away from the place, however-

CLICK.

A pistol's hammer abruptly sounded from behind him.

He hadn't even noticed the enemy's presence.

Just who was he up against...!?

He slowly rested Sarah back down before turning around with his hands raised to see a familiar beauty standing before him.

"You're... Me... From the dream...?"

A beautiful girl with amber eyes and orange-ish hair.

She somewhat represented a female version of himself.

"Although you are my Twin-Brother... Don't group me with the likes of you..."

C, completely dumbfounded, smiled weakly as he glared down the barrel.

"Twin-Brother...?"

The girl's calm face turned into a slight frown.

"The Pyramid Guys told me all about it... What you did... To the Frosty Guys, including father!"

Frosty Guys?

C soon saw her arm patch that reassembled a snowflake with a sword going through the middle on his Twin-Sister's arm-patch.

FROST PMC.

It was the thing that the robot said earlier when it had analyzed him... Was he somehow affiliated to them?

Somehow, he felt an uneasy feeling that he had a bad attachment with this so-called 'Private Military Company'.

"And what about... Father...?"

Completely dumbfounded due to the memory loss, he tried to further ask his self-proclaimed 'Twin-Sister'.

"You... Have you forgotten everything...!?"

The girl threw her pistol aside and pounced on him.

The two of them rolled and tumbled down the rubble.

C, with a disabled hand, wasn't able to resist against the girl who was superior in both strength and skill.

Eventually giving up the fight, C squinted his eyes as she began strangling him with a lethal chokehold from above.

"Sister... At least make sure... Sarah survives... Oka--- a-- y--"

Gradually fading away with his consciousness, he took a last glance at the unconscious Sarah who was lying beside him.

She was so close, yet so far, and little did he feel anything while subconsciously reaching out his crumpled hand towards her.

"This...", his self-proclaimed 'Twin-Sister' let loose of the chokehold as she slowly glanced up, "Orbital Strike...?"

A cryptic magical formation spanned out around them and brought down a pillar of white that swallowed everything whole.

C, with his last remaining strength, opened his eyes to see a woman dressed in pure white reaching out to him from above.

"Xiveall... Drofganl... This shall be your new destiny..."

Pitch Black.

Distortion.

It felt as if he was falling through some sort of garbage chute.

The spinning darkness all soon came to an end as he regained the view of his tear-filled-vision.

Now lying on some sort of pedestal altar, C was still groaning from the pain he had earlier received.

The ceiling was like that of an ancient cathedral, long lost through the warring ages and passages of time.

Although the depictions of gods and angels seemed extremely different than what it would usually be.

"By the gods! The holy maiden collapsed! And what of the hero's hand? Hurry and bring forth the healers with haste!"

The voice of an old man like that of a priest sounded alongside a few rumbling footsteps.

"What's up with this church... Am I in heaven...? Aah... Only if I had some... Divine Blessing... Enough to save Sarah back then..."

He reached out his crumpled hand towards the vivid paintings of the gods before everything went black.

A gasp broke out as Vixella quickly sprung up out of her bed.

She looked around the room, blinking once just to realize that her right hand was stretched forth all the way.

It was just the usual private train cabin.

"What a strange dream... Aah."

A stream of tears trickled down her surprised face.

The varying feelings of regret, hate, pain, and confusion went through her mind... It simply wouldn't stop.

"Hey, come on... It's all just a bad dream... Just a bad... Dream..."

Like a child who had just had a bad dream, she repeated to herself while attempting to brush the tears aside.

Grimacing weakly with both hands grasping onto her face, Vixella just couldn't stop the tears which poured an endless waterfall.

Shut-in her cabin all alone, the lone sorrowful night went on as the pneumatic train puffed onwards to the Vespelian border.