Down in the city, there is a constant mix of screaming from frightened individuals, soldiers yelling commands and the continual sound of endless fighting.

"INCOMING!" A soldier yells as a mortar round explodes onto a building next to her.

The side of the building crumbles away and crushes fleeing civilians beneath.

An Arma Piscina attempts to cross a bridge, but the sheer weight of the war machine buckles the bridge and it collapses into the river.

"New command from HQ, blow up the bridges, don't allow any more of those bloody tanks to get across" a commanding officer informs the soldiers around her.

It is beginning to get dark again as the reinforcements from the hill make their way down to the city.

At the top of the hill battlements are under construction, along with dug outs in an attempt to get some sort of advantage from the high ground.

But again, you can't really call it dark.

"About bloody time!" A soldier yells at the new arrivals, just as a rocket explodes into the hillside behind them all.

Thomas begins to look pale again looking at all the bodies around the place.

"Hey! Where the fuck are you running off to?" Daniel asks, watching Angel speed off in front of them.

"You two are going with me" he instructs them.

They both take a glance over at Marissa, she nods and they scramble after him.

"Where are we going?" Daniel asks as they make their way through the rubble.

"To the front" Angel replies.

"Fuck that" Thomas states, and stands still on the spot.

Angel turns around and realizes how frightened the pair of them actually are.

An Arce Caelo crashes down nearby, sending tremors through the ground, a building to the left of them completely collapses.

"At the very front is where I got that picture" he informs Daniel softly.

"Fuck it" Daniel snarls, and wonders off ahead of them.

"I'll bring him back, you retreat to the hill" Angel instructs Thomas seeing the expression on his face.

"I swear this bastard is gonna get us all fucking killed" Thomas remarks, and storms on after Daniel.

The three of them continue to make their way through the city and notice that soldiers are evacuating civilians.

"We need to find somewhere to take shelter for the night" Daniel points out.

"This way" Angel beckons them.

He leads them to a church that is amazingly still intact, with an upside-down tank outside it, and a helicopter crashed into the roof.

Making their way inside, they see that the building is empty, wood, tile and glass splinters underfoot as they step through the bits of roof that have caved in.

"Well it's not much, but at least its dry" Angel remarks.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Lightning and thunder immediately crack, shooting across the sky as rain begins to pelt down outside.

Thomas sits down on the floor leaning against a church pew, whilst looking up at the sky through the hole in the roof, as another flaming zeppelin drifts overhead.

"Mind if I sit with you?" Daniel asks.

Thomas nods gently and clenches his hands together resting them on his lap.

Angel on the other hand, has gone off exploring the church and is rummaging around an ammunitions box behind the marble alter.

"Now this could be useful" he mutters to himself, picking up a rocket launcher.

"Fancy a snuggle?" Daniel asks as he gently nudges Thomas.

"Love too mate" he replies, and the pare of them lean closer together to get what little comfort in the situation they can.

As they fall asleep, Angel breaks open the door to the church steeple, and clambers to the top until he reaches a window and a balcony.

He observes the distance through his binoculars, all of the Arma Piscinas have lined up on the outskirts of the city, and none of them are advancing, almost as if they are waiting for something.

"This isn't good" he mutters realizing why they are not advancing.

A vast array of Arce Caelos can be seen off in the far distance, he can barely make them out in the smoke ridden skies.

He decides to take his resting point for the night at the top of the steeple.

The following morning they are all awoken by a bombardment of shells.

Helicopters and chinooks flying overhead attempt to land and airlift people to what is now considered the safety of the hill, whilst planes continue their onslaught as the dog fighting intensifies.

Angel looks down and can see soldiers are already starting to abandon their posts, fleeing for their lives.

"Morning sunshine" Thomas greets Daniel, and gives him a gentle slap to the face to wake him up.

"Mhhhmm morning" he replies, whilst having a stretch and a yawn.

Out of nowhere, a plane crashes into a building at the side of the church, the helicopter stuck in the roof begins to fall through, and they scramble towards the main doors to escape.

As they make it outside the pair of them head to a safe distance at the other side of the street, before watching as the steeple collapses.

"Fucking hell, that was a close one" Angel yells, announcing his presence as he clings onto a part of the steeple that is still intact.

"Well done for making it out alive lads" he tells them with a cheeky grin on his face.

"He's genuinely insane" Thomas mutters turning to Daniel.

"You can say that again" he replies now watching Angel shuffle down to the ground.

Buildings begin to explode around them as yet another bombardment of shells pellet the area they are in.

"We're running out of time, the enemy is planning on wiping us all out in a single attack" Angel informs them.

"How?" Daniel asks.

"Notice how there isn't any Arce Caelos in the sky" he points out, quite literally pointing to the sky.

"There aren't enough of them to level a city of this size" Thomas remarks as they continue making their way through the city.

"There are more coming" Angel informs them.

A military truck drives past and quickly grinds to a halt when the people driving realize that Thomas has a portable radio.

"Hey you! Radio operator, come over here" a woman hollers to him.

Angel observes the uniform of this lady and quickly realizes that she is the general of the army.

He appears to hide behind the truck, much to Daniels confusion.

"Radio into HQ" the general instructs Thomas.

"Righto" he replies realizing who she is.

He adjusts his radio, connecting to the right frequency to contact HQ, before passing the radio over to her.

'Command this is general Scarlet Watchtower, we have suffered heavy losses and casualties, requesting permission to order a full retreat' she informs them.

'Under no circumstances do you give up the city' Comes the response.

'With all due respect, we are struggling to even hold our position let alone defend it' she informs them calmly.

"What are you doing?" Daniel asks Angel.

"Being nosy" he replies, putting his finger to his lips in a shushing motion.

Daniel rolls his eyes at this response.

'You hold that city! I don't care how many of you die in the process' the person from command snaps at Scarlet before the line goes dead.

"A Haven soldier, you're a bit far out from where you are supposed to be" Scarlet states in quite a bit of shock.

"We thought that too" Thomas agrees with her.

"I'm here for reconnaissance purposes, it would appear that your command has been lying to us" he informs her, and shows her his ID tag made from metal and glass.

She almost does a double take at what is inscribed onto it, he indicates for her to keep quiet about it, and she nods in reply.

"DANIELS!" A familiar voice can be heard calling over in their direction.

"Hello Marissa" he greets her.

"General, most of the city has been evacuated and everyone is making their way to the hill" Marissa informs her superior officer.

"Good work, the rest of you to bridges seven, eight and nine with me" she instructs everyone loudly.

The general and her subordinates drive off in the truck ahead of everyone else, and they follow behind on foot.

Daniel takes out the photo from his pocket again, and kisses it.

Thomas notices the worried expression on Daniel's face.