Suma’s POV

After flying for six hours straight, our squad finally landed on the eastern coast of the Island of Sangu. We spent the last several days preparing ourselves, and saying our goodbyes to our friends, just in case the worst happens. Now, myself, Captain Gigoales, Lieutenant Datahu, Nine, Rou, Odens, and Jake were all on the island. It was the dead of night, with only the light of the moon to help us see, but most of the light was being blocked by the rising smoke from the mountain, or volcano as Jake called it, at the center of the island. Landing in the jungle, we all immediately got to work making temporary cover for ourselves. Using different spells, we molded the rocks and dirt to form a hollowed-out space underground and covered it with the local trees and plants. There were two exits, and both were hidden with shrubs and tree roots. Captain called it a ‘dugout’.

One by one, the other summoned their familiars, and they left to scout the forest. Jake went with them, but he landed with us so there was no need to summon him.

“Alright everyone, start sense sharing. Except you Suma; you keep watch.” The Captain said.

“Yes sir.” I said.

“Keep your eyes on both the sky and the ground Private. SUFs could be hiding anywhere, and we cannot be sure we were not seen on descent.” The Lieutenant said; a SUF was short for Southern Union Forces. With that, the eyes of the rest of the team all started to glow as they began to share their familiars’ senses. I left the dugout and waited in a tree branch, constantly switching between watching the sky, the land, and what little of the beach I could make out from the trees. During training, the squad had been taught various ways to hide at night while being on lookout, but the only one I was good at was the ‘tuck-and-press’ method. It is exactly what it sounds like. I was pressing myself against the tree as closely as I could manage, with my wings and head tucked in, trying to hide behind and under the canopy.

After an hour, and three wing cramps, Jake contacted me over our private connection. “Suma, everything okay there?”

“Yes, nothing has happened yet. Have you found anything?” I asked him.

“No, it’s dark as crap, so I can’t see a thing. Plus, I had to send the bike back. It doesn’t turn it well, so flying it through a jungle didn’t end up working. I’m walking right now. Only thing I’ve found is a black-sand beach, but I can see a light in the distance.”

“How long will it take you to reach it?”

“A while, and I doubt I can get close. It might be a city, so they’d have guards.”

“Okay Jake, avoid it for now.”

“Have the others found the contact yet?” Jake asked.

“I have not spoken with them in an hour. Are their familiars still searching?”

“I don’t know. We all split up a while ago. Some of them are pretty fast, even in a jungle.”

“Okay, let me know if you find anything.” I said, and the connection ended. Looking up towards the moon, it had not even reached the first quarter point in the sky. Sundown happened only an hour before we landed, and we have only been here for two. Nine hours till sun-up. I thought to myself. It ended up being a long night.

Just before sun-up, we all summoned our familiars, or sent them home, and I went back into the dugout. Actually, I was the only one who summoned their familiar, and Jake was not overly happy with being summoned into another tunnel. Luckly, I remembered to make him a larger space for him to sit down in, but he was still very uncomfortable.

“Alright, situation reports. What did everyone see?” The Captain asked, as we all sat in the dirt, with only the light from a single luminous braid to help us see. Roots hung from above us, occasionally dripping water down. Thankfully, we were several feet underground, so it would not get hot for several hours. Unfortunately, that also meant it was almost freezing cold.

“Cities?” The Lieutenant asked.

Nine answered, “one village, not a lot of Neame living there. It looked like it had been attacked, more than once. About a day’s travel if we stay low. If we fly, we can be there in a few minutes. To the northwest.”

“I saw something that could have been a city, to the south.” Jake said. “There was a lot of light. I got as close as I could, and I think I saw buildings. But I spotted something that looked like a guard tower, so I left.”

“You did the right thing. We’ll send one of the familiars better suited for stealth back tonight.” The Captain said.

“I found two villages to the west. One was abandoned, but the other was being occupied by SUFs.” Odens said.

“How could you tell?” Lieutenant Datahu asked.

“Some were riding familiars, and using villagers to grow food. The people growing looked half-starved, and the ones on familiars were wearing emblems like the ones we wear on base.”

“Anyone find our contact?” The Captain asked.

“I did Captain.” The Lieutenant said. “He was at the north shore of the island at midnight, just like he said.”

“Did he have the information?” The Captain asked.

“Our target is most likely stationed in the capital city. Most of their forces are there. I believe it is the city Sentinel saw; to the south of the island.”

“Good work.”

“There’s more sir.” The Lieutenant said. “The contact has been working with a small Roshia resistance. They have been trying to free some of the occupied villages, but with little success.”

“Roshia?” Nine asked.

“That’s what the island’s natives call themselves.” I told him.

“I wish the wind beneath their wings, but that is not the mission.” Captain Gigoales said.

“Understood sir, but I think they may have valuable knowledge about the island. If we can make contact with them, it could prove useful.”

Stolen story; please report.

“What do you suggest?”

“Private Suma, Sentinel, and I should go meet them, and learn what we can. The religion of the island includes Vikings, or Viki as they are called here, as a punishment from the Chaos Dragon.” The Lieutenant started to say.

“Not a Viking... or a Viki.” Jake mumbled, but he was ignored by the Lieutenant.

“Maybe we can use that to our advantage.” She finished.

The Captain sighed, “Fine. You leave at sundown. You have one day to learn what you can, then get back here as soon as you are finished. Good work squad. Now get some rest. I’ll take first watch.”

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Jake’s POV

Night fell once more, and the three of us thankfully left the hideout. I don’t know how they felt, but finally being able to leave it made me feel like I could take a full breath again. Being stuck inside another cramped cave gave me flashbacks, and anxiety all over again. To save Suma’s energy, I summoned my rune-bike, which was an experiment I’d been working on for a few months, but finally finished, with plenty of help, before we left. It was a bicycle frame, attached to rounded metal sheets that had runes engraved into it with mana infused metal etchings. The runes were basically designed to create a simple hover effect by using wind. Other runes were added to help with balance, speed, and to eliminate the noise created by what were effectively gale-force winds under it. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked well enough. Actually, it looked like a pile of garbage, and without the runes to cancel out the sound, it would be as loud as a jet turbine. I tried to explain the runes to the army researchers who helped me build it, but they couldn’t wrap their minds around the though of sound being a wave and a sphere, or what it meant to cancel a soundwave, in the time we had left on base before our team took off.

Under the cover of darkness, Suma, Lieutenant Datahu, and myself flew as quickly, but quietly, as we could to meet the contact in time. However, we made it… barely. Our meeting location was a sandbar off the coast of a beach.

“I don’t see him.” I said, still sitting on the bike. I took the daljar off its mount and away from the runes; effectively turning the bike off.

“He’s already here.” The Lieutenant said. At that moment, what looked like a cloud of dust in the shape of a Neame suddenly appeared, then started to blow away, leaving a real Neame behind. It looked like dirt-clods were stuck to his body, but as they fell off, they turned to dust. With each clod that fell, more of him became visible.

“What the?!” I said, surprised.

“Sometimes I forget that you cannot sense mana.” The Lieutenant said.

“Did you know he was there?” I asked Suma.

“I knew something was there, but did not know it was a Neame hidden by an illusion spell. I assumed it was simply stagnant mana pooling together.” Suma said, as surprised as I was. It was dark, so I could barely make anything out, but that was mostly due to the Neame’s natural color. At first, I thought he was black, but as my eyes adjusted to make more of him out, I saw his feathers were actually just a really dark shade of blue. So blue he was nearly invisible in the dark. The only reason I could see him at all was the incredibly faint yellow sparkle he had, and his vibrant yellow eyes, both of which were weird. So far, with the exception of a few of my team members, and some priests, every Neame I’d seen had brighter blue feathers, a white sparkle, and more human-like eyes.

The Neame looked up at me, and chirped like a bird. Admittedly, it caught me off guard. “What is he saying?” Suma asked.

“Wait, you can’t understand him either?” I asked. “But you’re… actually, never mind. Dumb question.”

“What?” Suma asked.

“Well, I was going to ask why you can’t understand one another if you’re both Neame, but I realized that was dumb.”

“Can you understand all of your people?” Suma asked, confused.

“No, that’s why I realized it was dumb.” I said.

“If you two are finished?” The Lieutenant said, annoyed. “He is greeting us.”

“Can you ask him to share a few memories with me?” I asked Lieutenant Datahu, remembering how Suma helped me, my mum, and Dr. Maxwell understand her by doing the same thing.

“For what purpose?” She asked.

“So I can understand him too. It would take too long to explain.” I said. She tilted her head in confusion for a moment, then chirped like a bird at the Neame, who hadn’t stopped staring at me since he showed up. Hearing her chirp threw me off again, but I saw the Neame cut his eyes away from me for a moment towards her, then nod his head.

A scene of a small village filled my mind. A few years ago, this probably would have been pretty amazing, but with everything that’d happened lately, a sense of dread washed over me instead. The village was filled with Neame, all going about their daily lives, flying around, growing food, and other things. Until a large spell was cast, killing a great many of them. Things spiraled quickly from there. The emotions of the memory had already started: fear, anger, mourning, and a desire for revenge. As the memories progressed, some of the villagers began to fight back, this Neame among them.

A little more time passed, and a voice began to come from the memories. “Our spells were weak, and most of us had no familiars, but we fought until death; ours or theirs. My comrades, my friends, my family, they all fell. But as time passed, we learned, and grew stronger. Now, for each of my comrades that dies, seven soldiers of the Southern Union die with them. We are Roshia; we endure.”

“Alright, I can understand him.” I said. Both the Lieutenant and Suma looked surprised, but the Lieutenant a good bit more so.

“What? Did you just learn his language?” Lieutenant Datahu asked.

“I had nearly forgotten you could do that.” Suma said.

“As expected of a Viki.” The Neame said before spreading his wings and bowing. I groaned internally for a second, but let it pass.

“Wait, you can speak our language too?” Suma asked the Neame.

“No, I’m afraid I cannot speak the language of the mainland.” The Neame said, standing up straight again. This confusing conversation went on for a few more minutes, until we realized that Suma and I had both learned his language. Or at the very least, we could understand it. According to Lieutenant Datahu, who spoke both languages, all of us were speaking in our native tongues.

“Can we focus?” The Lieutenant asked with an exasperated sigh. “Nok, we need you to take us to your resistance’s main base. We want any information they might have that could help us complete our mission.”

“I can, but first…” He turned back to me, and bowed again. “Great Viki, I know not what my people did to earn the wrath of your kind, but I beg of you, please forgive us. Spare my people from any more of the Great Purifier’s punishment, please.” The Neame, Nok, said. My stomach sank when he said ‘Great Purifier’, because I knew exactly who he meant.

“Don’t do that.” I said, uncomfortable, and shaking my head. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“A Viki has descended upon us, and brought with it Southern Union forces. And now, another descends, and brings mainland forces. I do not know what these signs mean, but please spare us. We will-”

“Stop! J-just stop… The Viki aren’t descending. You didn’t do anything. We’re not… I’m not here for you.” I said.

“But… the Great Purifier has sent-”

“The Chaos Dragon didn’t send anything. And we don’t have anything to do with him anyway!” I snapped, sick at the thought of being compared to him. My mind flashed back to the memories I’d seen from him, but I shook them off. “My people don’t work for him, we never have. He’s a monster! A violent psychotic monster! I would die before ever working with him!”

“This is heresy!” Nok yelled, clearly upset.

It was the Lieutenant who stepped in. “Sentinel, get some altitude and calm down. I will talk to him.” I plugged my daljar back into the mount, and flew to the coast. Suma went with me.

About twenty minutes passed before the Lieutenant came to talk with us. “What was that?” She snapped.

“I’m sorry. I just-”

“You could have cost us the information. I understand that you have a history with the dragon, but personal feeling can never come before the mission. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Ma’am.” I said through gritted teeth.

“Good. He has agreed to lead us to the resistance, but your words made a mark on him. You’ve shaken his beliefs, his faith in why he was fighting, to the core. If you do that while at their base… they may lose the will to fight. Should that happen… then they have already lost. In the future, just play along.”

“You want me to say I’m working with the dragon?” I asked.

“If that’s what it takes, then yes. These people have nothing, but if you can give them even a little hope, then do it. Even if it means lying.”