Chapter :2 New World New Problems

The grand battle that laid before Sera Hawke’s eyes lasted for about 5 hours basic repairs of the sentinels were finished within the hour she stayed to gather information in this strange new place, it took her quite some time to come to terms of her new found location but after rethinking the stories and the legends surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, things kind of made some sort of sense as recent as 1980’s there have been reports of strange sightings and missing aircrafts or ships.

But before she could think of celebration that she was finally free from people who wanted to use her a new problem arose in her mind… energy the sentinels could only function for so long with a tinge of panic she ordered Banshee to return to the others and start gathering resources, the Cargo plane crashed heavily on the far side of the battlefield with some soldiers investigating its fiery remains.

“I need to gather all I can salvage and get out of here” Sera thought as she ordered Ashura to strip the corpses of all things except for flesh,bones and cloth. The metal like weapon, armour and perhaps some local currency could be collected and be of use, Ashura started working while Sera changed sentinels to Riot and head towards the crashed cargo plane.

There were a lot of corpses along the way with Ashura trailing behind them and start harvesting potential ‘’resources’’ it took 30 minutes to finally get to the crash site, Sera saw people gathering to a sizeable mob ’’peasants?’’… she assumed mainly because of based on the difference in clothing and judging from the amount of grime they have all over them compared to the more clean and well decorated soldiers surrounding the area.

As Sera quickly approached the cargo plane she was topped by armoured soldiers. ‘’HALT!! who goes there!?’’ they shouted as they adapted battle formations each group divided by three, two front soldiers carrying shields and the other at the back holding a crossbow.

Seeing that the soldiers in front readied their weapons she also had the sentinels in formation with Riot and Torch Light taking the front lines intimidating the soldiers by their size and weight by the sound of their stomp as they move forward, the soldiers stopped their advance and stiffened as they realize just what they are up against.

‘’I said halt who are you to intrude on our territory, identify yourself or we will attack’’ said by a man wearing a luxurious shining armour designed with a lion motif, behind him were five robed men each holding a staff with gems beside them were stone golems about 4 meters tall, the stone golems were ordered to stand beside the soldiers as to boost morale and to threaten the sentinels.

Riot opened its chest revealing Sera Hawke after putting the tower shield in front of her she then said calmly as she tried to hide her nervousness ‘’this ship belongs to be I was attacked by enemies in the sky resulting to what you see here’’. pointing to the cargo planes fiery remains.

‘’No! The remains of this airship now belongs to the kingdom of Lavant, if you want we can make a deal but this ship now belong to us to ME!’’

Sera gritted he teeth and cursed inwardly ‘’of course they want a metal flying ship what the fuck was I expecting!? considering that there are no more than 200 people here I can still salvage this thing as long as there are no witnesses” with that thought the cloaked Banshee secretly maneuvered 100 feet on top of the robed men and unleashed a sonic attack.

To her surprise a yellow silhouette encased the what she would know as mages if this world is what she really think it is. Sera moved to charge at the stone golem in front of her, Riot punched the face of the golem and a large portion of its face was heavily cracked and a crystal with bright light could be seen in it. Riot punched the face of the golem repeatedly and grabbed the crystal.

With the crystal gone the stone golem became stiff as a statue, One of the robed men commented ‘’you put the crystal on the head!? are you an amateur!?’’

‘’everybody puts it inside the chest it was supposed to be clever!!’’ the other said defending himself.

‘’because then it can be well protected inside the chest! Who cares if they know where it is located’’ told the others.

Sera grabbed the crystal and threw it near the cargo plane while Torch Light lit the enemies on fire. commoners, peasants, horses, and soldiers were set aflame with invisible fire, every one seemed to be in agony while waving their hands and throwing their bodies to the ground. Banshee chased the fleeing targets rupturing their eardrums while Vulcan was focused on the mages yellow shield.

Eventually the shield cracked and killed the mages the already battered golems stopped moving and stood still like statues, without their masters command they were torn to pieces by the sentinels and the nearby Ashura could be seen waddling with dozens of what it would seem to be crumpled armours dropped to the ground.

Despite their numbers they were easily exterminated because they were caught unprepared fighting an unknown opponent Sera then ordered for all the corpses to be stripped of resources by Ashura and Torch Light to burn the rest.

By the hour Banshee was finished hunting down the runaways and have returned back the weapons and armours were that were collected by Ashura were either damaged or completely destroyed crumpled to the pile.

When the area has been relatively secured despite war going on in the nearby battlefield Sera came out of Riot and took the lead in rummaging through the cargo plane, most of which are twisted metal and some leaking and burning hydraulic fluids here and there but at least a generator was found relatively intact with some nicks and dings allover there were also some ammunition for Vulcan and the special formula for Torch Light though the Sentinel barely used fifteen percent of its reserves having extra would be a boon considering it would be the last of it in this world.

Luckily the one of he four engines is still … repairable its twisted but all of its components are still intact and with time it could be easily repaired beverages did not survive the crash except for the canned foods the rest were either lost or damaged beyond recognition, the large jeep that was supposed to carry the supplies to her bunker were also heavily damaged and fixing it may not be worth it something Sera needs to think about, fortunately a small APC survived with only dents its tracks are bent but with Ashura it can straighten them up enough for travel as the other sentinels were busy dislodging and moving the supplies. She saw a pile of crumpled metal after a closer look her face reddened and shouted ‘’what the hell am I supposed to do with that!’’ as she pointed at the weapons and armour twisted and crumpled like paper.

Luckily the endeavour of Ashura has not completely gone to waste as there were over one thousand pieces of gold coins and about five thousand pieces of silver coins, some of the soldiers and mages also have valuables such as gems and other potential magical artifacts.

Gemini Doc and Torch Light worked together to cut out the useless parts and gather the useful electronics, gadgets and other supplies towards the APC while the heavier materials such as the titanium plating from the plane and the engine were moved to the jeep.

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The materials loosed from the cargo plane that could not be taken along were buried hopefully it wouldn’t be found, It took an entire day to make minimum repairs to the engine and vehicles by the time it was already dark Sera came inside Riot with the shield in front of the sentinels chest. Every sentinels are charging their energies using the recently repaired engine while Sera Hawke slept.

Alarms rang it was 5 AM Sera wasted no time and left the area they traveled away from the battlefield after an hours drive they stopped to a nearby river where she cleaned herself of grime she then looked at the map taken from the soldiers and studied their location, As expected…. the place has nothing special on it Sera thought there might be something special that a portal could be maintained ‘’ I supposed that I really should prepare for a more permanent stay I need to go find a big city’’

With map in hand Sera traveled to the nearest city Kaladia in accordance to the map horse drawn carriage could have took days to travel from city to city but with vehicles it only took 4 hours Sera has to slow down for the sentinels to catch up as they approach the gigantic city gate, a line of people waiting to enter the city could be seen and her presence has attracted attention.

Despite the heads turning her way she still fall in line while kids are pointing at her sentinels while some at her vehicles having no horses pulling them the small commotion has been noticed by the guards.

At close up the towering presence of the sentinels are indeed intimidating specially for the guards and soldiers alike for they know exactly what they can do, the soldiers put up a brave face and asked ‘’Identity and reason of visit please’’ trying to be as polite as possible. The idea of offending nobility made his back shiver.

As Sera was stretching she replied to the soldier ‘’Sera Hawke…. traveling, I came close to a battlefield about 2 days ago and decided to stay over to the nearest city for shelter’’ as she said that the have been another commotion in her surrounding.

‘’I-s is that true!?’’ asked by another guard.

‘’I don’t know the other but one side was from kingdom of Lavant’’ she replied

After a few minutes the line of people quickly entered the city the clearly these people are refugees wanting to avoid war, you wont see it unless you look at them barely enough clothes most of their possession are cattle and grains.

As she entered the city its as exactly as she feared, except for the main roads most of the place is just soil if not mud that nobody seemed to care. She asked around to find the mayor of this place before long Sera was pointed to a luxurious mansion in the center of the city the surrounding area is also clean, dry stone,flower beds, fountains and fine establishments it would seem that only the outer rings of the city were poorly maintained much to her relief.

Again the presence of the sentinels were truly a force to be reckoned with as guards of what she could only assume as rich people were putting themselves in between their masters and Her sentinels, as she approached the mayor is already out and prepared to welcome her.

The fat man dressed in fluffy clothes covered in a colorful trench coat asked courtly ‘’to whom do I owe the pleasure of visit my lady’’

‘’I want to buy a house inside the city I was told you are in charge of these matters’’

‘’yes yes my lady indeed I am what kind of house my lady?’’ asked the mayor but his eyes are more interested on this magnificent steel golems behind his guest “and may I know your honored name my lady?’’

‘’I am Sera Hawke I make… golems’’ she said worriedly as she does not know what kind of reaction would that make the robed mages back then seemed important and well treated.

the mayor clearly stunned but looking at the steel golems behind her he was clearly convinced ‘’I-I my humble self is Dalton lady Sera my guards can lead you to peruse properties you want to purchase but may I invite you for lunch?’’

‘’no am in a hurry perhaps some other time’’ Sera declined flatly

With that one of Dalton’s most trusted guard led the way towards the establishments that needed selling.

Sera pointed out at a building made of stone grasses grew as tall as knee high ‘’ what about this?’’

‘’um… lady sera that is an old brothel it was isolated ten years ago due to the spread of…. certain diseases I would strongly advice against this my lady’’ the guard politely said.

‘’hmm, fine lets move on’’

The guard introduced Sera to an old smithy it has a large underground basement and everything is built in stone it was also along the waterway with a waterwheel that could power the billow and large hammers.

‘’no too small… next’’

And then another location a tower made of stone 5 floors high has been spotted as Sera pointed ‘’what about that one?’’

The guard said reluctantly ‘’well… that is an old wizard tower technically yes and no, you see its enchanted my lady, the old wizard who lived there was eccentric but twenty five years ago he stopped appearing to public the mayor called for him on multiple occasions for his expertise but he never came out no matter how loud we came, the mayor even hired some drunken thugs to assail the tower to no avail not even his shadow cold be seen it could not be entered’’

‘’hmp! Well see about that! If I can break inside it can I buy it?’’

The guard said ‘’well… first of the old wizard has to be confirmed dead or… hmm well technically he has been away for so long and has not payed taxes for twenty five years that property should already be forfeit by default to the mayor’’

With that Ashura,Riot,Torch Light and Vulcan took turn on attacking the tower’s door, after 3 hours of combined 60 tons of sentinels assault finally the barrier protecting door winked out and has been smashed to pieces Sera turned to the guard and asked “how much is this place?’’

The guard wide eyed and shocked ‘’900 gold coins my lady..w-would you pay installments or’’

Sera cut in ‘’ here take it’’ she thew a bag of gold coins at the guard ‘’count it before you leave’’

‘’t-that would not be necessary Lady Sera, would you need anything else my lady?’’

‘’yes I need a house keeper, a chef and a runner’’

‘’a runner?’’ the guard asked slightly confused

‘’someone who I can tell to buy things for me within or outside the city’’ Sera clarified

‘’oh! Yes we have a lot of those but I would suggest against going outside the city, bandits have been emboldened and roamed the roads because of the war regional defenders have their hands full’’

After a few more clarifications with employee requirements the transaction was done Sera entered and explored the tower inside Ashura followed by Vulcan and investigate if there are traps left by the former owner while the rest of the Sentinels guarded outside.

‘’well.. this is going to take a damn while’’ as she marveled at the surroundings, there were a lot of curiosities laying about shelves and tables, as they moved forward Sera also noted some statues which made her paranoid thinking that it could come to life and start attacking as they move top floor the masters bedroom the door was unlocked and a pile of bones could be seen littered on the floor more than a dozen of them from the looks of it some were smashed to smithereens as in there are just dust inside some f the clothes instead of bones.

And the supposed wizard and master of this tower lay dead surrounded by bones with arrows and swords sticking out of his corpse. On the wizards left hand a broken staff its gem cracked and dull it has long lost its magic while on his right had a piece of note written in blood Sera took it and read through the letter.

‘’ to whoever reads this note I am the wizard Narud I hope you can give my body a proper burial and I shall give ownership of this tower to you, as for the other corpses you can just throw them out you need not worry for their origins as their mission to take my life is done I am using the last ounce of my strength to write this letter, soon I would be dead I hope to whoever receives this letter would give me an honored burial I am not a superstitious person but as my life slips away from my grasp I cant help but fear of my spirit,would there be afterlife, would I go in hell or would my spirit remain in the mortal plane wandering around. The tower itself is an old artifact ancient in fact but its nothing more but a sturdy piece of stone its use has been long lost in time as for my other properties they are yours now if they are still around, I was sure some of the assassins manage to escape perhaps they took everything or maybe put the entire tower to the flame…….’’

The letter goes on like an old man rambling in his last moments nothing really of import, by some thought Sera collected the corpse of the wizard including the broken staff and letter the wizard is to be covered with bed sheet and blanket. ‘’ I should have a casket… no maybe a sarcophagus with carvings would be more appropriate, buried on a mausoleum’’

By the time she finished making sure there were no more traps in the tower Sera was greeted by 3 people sent by the guard to be employed to Sera.

Without further ado Sera said ‘’ introduce yourselves and what you do’’

The people one by one step forth and started introducing themselves hoping to be employed by someone powerful, Sera’s arrival actually made waves in the entire city nobody unimportant comes in boarder cities like Kaladia specially the way she came in magic wagons 6 towering steel golems.

“I am Peter my lady I am a carpenter, stone mason and a sculptor’’ Peter was already a highly sought after employee but he only earns 5 silver every month even though his family also has jobs, with the war going on around having something extra does not hurt when Peter heard about Sera Hawke he told his entire family and bribed the guard with all his 1 gold coin something he had to save for a year and now his gamble paid of.

‘’I am Lydia my lady I am a chef’’ wife of peter she was convinced after getting a glimpse of Sera Hawke at the city gate.

‘’ I am Bellato my lady I am a runner and a gardener’’ son of Peter and Lydia, word travels fast and with him running around doing deliveries he already knew the gist of things before even getting here.

After introductions Sera was pleased “ alright each of you would earn 10 silver coins each month I hope you do your job diligently, you will be living inside the tower do not touch anything yet as some of the objects are magical in nature the last thing you want is losing your hand. Nobody is allowed in the 5th floor, The 4th floor would be where your sleeping quarters, the 3rd floor the kitchen and dining area, 2nd floor would be where well be entertaining guests, 1st floor would be dedicated for defense. Now go get your things and move them in your quarters by tomorrow morning you would begin your first day at work.

After that Sera went to the masters bedroom and had Torch Light incinerate the assassins bone and their personal effects outside and put into a jar, it would be a tribute to wizard Narud after the mausoleum is finished, she then went and studied the map the lay of the land and occasionally questioned the family of employee about the surroundings.

Now Sera would truly begin her plan for the future.