Unseen Threat

To eat or not to eat, that was Gin’s question. He stared down at the premade lunch, hating himself for salivating at it. It was a mish-mash of fruit, mage meat and, what seemed to be, rice. On the one hand, it was very well made. On the other hand, it made Gin question his moralities with every mouthful. If only he had his mother’s cooking. He’d have had no problems with that.

In the end, he compromised his beliefs once more. With his right hand, he ate his food; with his left, he picked up a pen and paper and placed them on his lap. He began the start of another notes page. He wanted to do a short sketch of the journey, mapping out the key areas. In terms of his notes, this was the most productive he had been in a while. There was so much he learnt, in this short journey, that he was overflowing with ideas. The vision he had, where became a world-renowned source of knowledge, was always on his mind.

‘Um. Leader called for me. Can I come in?’

Gin put the notes and food to the side. He got up, tidied the insides of his tent, then drew the covers.

‘Sam! I was expecting you. Come into my humble abode,’ Gin greeted.

‘Mm. Ok,’ he said, entering the tent nervously. ‘Brim’s team coming. Will take six hours.’

‘So diligent. I didn’t ask and you gave the information I wanted.’

Gin sat cross-legged, only to see Sam struggling to do the same. His armour hindered his flexibility and sitting down was a struggle. Now that Gin thought about it, Sam slept standing up or leaning against something.

‘It’s fine. You can stand,’ Gin instructed.

‘But leader sitting down. I don’t want rudeness.’

‘Then I’ll stand up.’

‘Ah. No. Don’t. I’m sorry. Stay seated leader.’

Gin was puzzled. It was as if Sam was afraid of him. Gin didn’t think it was because of anything he did, since Sam showed a scarily high level of admiration. Did something happen to his past? Brim was scarred by something from his past too. In fact, behind the smiles behind the members of squadron W, there seemed to be resentment, though Gin couldn’t quite tell why.

‘Why do you talk the way you do?’ Gin asked, trying to divert the topic and see what made Sam look up to him.

‘Mask makes breathing hard. I have to talk small. Sorry for talking strange.’

‘I meant why you’re so obedient and formal to me.’

‘Oh. That’s, er…’

Sam averted his eyes, avoiding eye contact with Gin. With just his eyes being visible, it was difficult Gin to know what Sam was feeling. Shame? Guilt? Did Gin actually do something to Sam without his knowing?

‘It’s fine. You don’t have to tell me. Let’s change topic. You said breathing is hard because of your helmet, so why can’t you take it off?’

‘I can’t. I’m not allowed.’ Now his eyes looked down as if he was upset by something.

‘I see,’ Gin said, cringing as he made the situation more awkward. ‘So, I’m guessing it’s something like my gauntlets?’

Sam perked up a bit before replying with an ‘Mm.’

‘Can’t you at least manipulate the helmet to allow better air circulation? I can grow and degrade my Xernim to a certain extent. Actually, you definitely can. How on Earth have you been eating with just eye holes otherwise?’

‘I. Um. Err.’

‘Alright. Alright. You don’t have to. Just a suggestion,’ Gin said, ignoring the fact that Sam was definitely hiding something.

‘Mmm. Is leader finished?’

‘Oh. Before you leave, I want you to do one more thing.’

Gin pondered for a bit. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it once more. He thought some more before letting out a deep breath. Sam was confused by his actions and decided to question him.

‘Leader?’

‘Sam.’

‘yes?’

‘You know everyone from Rob’s battalion, right?’

‘Um. Yes. Most of them.’

‘Alright. I’ve made my decision. Would you mind if you took over Rob’s position as battalion leader?’

‘Eh. What? Why?’

‘I was serious about stripping Rob of his role. I don’t quite think he got the message though, so I needed to put someone I could trust as his replacement. It’s also wise to put someone that his battalion is familiar with. I barely know anyone from their battalion which leaves you to be the perfect replacement.’

‘But it’s too soon. You barely know me.’

‘Sure, it’s been a week since I first met you knowingly, but I’d like to think I’m a good judge of character. Not to mention that my rise was relatively quick too, so I assumed that fast promotions was normal.’

‘You sure? You want me in charge?’

‘Yeah. I’m sure about this. It’s just until this battle is over anyway. Go ahead and tell the others about the changes. If anyone dislikes my decision or has any questions, tell them to speak to me directly. I’ll be in my tent.’

‘Mm. Ok!’

Sam left the tent with a spring in his step. As he left, Gin felt guilty. In all honesty, Gin was using Sam for his own personal grudge against Rob. He didn’t want to place the role onto Sam. He wanted to wait for Brim and the others to come back so that he could pick a more capable person. But the longer he left it, the longer Rob would regain control over his battalion.

It’s not like Sam was an incapable person or anything. During their short time together, he had shown the qualities of being a great pawn (though Gin wouldn’t quite word it like that). If he could get Sam’s – Rob’s old battalion – on board with his regime, then it would only be a matter of time till everyone did the same. The other battalions had different types of mages after all. If he could get easy access to them, then he could conduct all sorts of experiments to test their limits. Just the thought of them raised Gin’s pulse a little.

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The following hour consisted of various people, mostly from Sam’s battalion, that were either confirming Gin’s orders or had complaints. Gin tried to talk things out with them, using explanations relating to the ‘good of the squadron’ wherever he could, to settle them down. Most fell for it, leaving contently, while the minority left scornfully. Gin didn’t pay too much attention and let their dissatisfaction slide. It was only natural some people would disagree with his decisions.

‘Gin! Leader!’ someone shouted outside.

‘If it’s about Sam, then his appointment as leader is correct,’ Gin misunderstood.

‘No!’ a man exclaimed as he burst into the tent. ‘Sam’s in danger!’

Alarmed, Gin got up immediately and rushed out. He surveyed the campsite as everyone turned to face him. They were confused. They were in panic. They didn’t know what to do. But most importantly, none of them were Sam.

‘What happened?! Where’s Sam?!’ Gin snapped.

‘Rob,’ the man panted. ‘He…he…’

‘Spit it out!’

‘Rob kidnapped Sam.’

‘You’ve got to be kidding me! Where did he take him? Don’t stutter this time!’

‘He ran into the forest.’

‘Tsk.’

Gin blamed himself. Why didn’t he foresee this? Of course, Rob wouldn’t take the idea, that his old lackey is now his superior, lightly. Of course, there would be conflict. Why didn’t he do the announcement himself? No. There was no time to contemplate his mistakes. He had to sort everyone out and take control. That’s why he was made a leader. He needed to prove that the trust in him wasn’t misplaced.

‘Everyone!’ He ordered, bringing the others back into reality. ‘We’re going after Rob. Pick out twenty of the nimblest and follow me. The rest of you stand guard. The rest of you wait for the other battalions and report the situation to them. Get the utility types to assist with the search if we haven’t found them by then. Rank doesn’t matter.’

After equipping his stone armour, Gin stormed out of the tent. The aura of urgency emanated out of him, forcing quick decisions to be made for who is joining him. Those who did were all relatively small but agile. None of them were above rank D which aggravated Gin. Why didn’t they pick out the most able? He immediately regretted the thought, realising he was being a hypocrite to his own ideals. Without complaint, he pressed on.

Gin was advised not to go himself but he insisted he had to go. Not only was he at fault for letting this happen, but he felt like the search party would be incompetent without a leader directing them. The fact that almost everyone stayed static until he shouted out orders proved that. The low numbers joining him was for ease of communication, along with the fact that not many, in either battalion, were able to be able to traverse the terrain.

Gin’s first command was to look for tracks. Although the reports suggested a general direction (the east side of the forest). A couple of the mages picked up on footprints, left by Rob, which started the search. They were clear at first, but as they got further into the forest, the shrubbery masked obvious marks.

They marched on into the forest, jumping over the roots that emerged out of the ground. Traveling was easy at first but with the tree roots and branches entangling with one another, it became increasingly difficult to move as a group. The lack of tracks also reduced the efficiency of the search, so Gin decided to split up and search individually.

‘Our key priority is finding Sam. If you find anything, give a shout,’ he instructed. ‘Mark trees with a double dash so that you can find your way back. Make sure you start leaving before it gets dark so that you can see your marks, otherwise you will get lost yourself. We’ll meet up at the campsite by then. Everyone understand?’

With a nod in agreement, the twenty mages (plus one manush) split up. By Gin’s calculations, there was around two hours till sunset. He had to find Sam by then.

After getting by one too many branches to the face, Gin activated his blades and started hacking them down. They tumbled to the ground, causing hidden bugs to scatter upon impact. If finding Sam wasn’t the key objective, he would have easily become immersed with the wildlife. That didn’t stop him taking note of the animals he saw along the way though.

Most of the creatures were small and herbivorous, while the visible predators didn’t pose a threat. However, the branches they broke and leaves they rustled, as they moved around, did annoy him. It meant he couldn’t rely on sound to trace Rob and eventually Gin had to block the background sound out.

Though Gin could identify most of the animals from the textbooks he had read before, the animals in the forest were different in one way or the other. The rabbits had longer legs, the birds had longer beaks and the foxes had more toes than the textbooks claimed. Gin concluded that his records must be outdated.

As the sun began setting, it became even more difficult to find trails. The others didn’t find anything either, or they had gone back. Just how good was Rob at covering up his tracks? Unless Gin was missing something, he didn’t know how Rob managed to evade his pursuit. At that point, it was too late and too pointless to continue looking further, so he decided to head back. Maybe it was best to wait for the utility types before searching again. Surveillance was their speciality after all.

Gin suddenly felt sharp needle-like objects pierce him. Before Gin reacted, they retracted just as quickly as they entered.

Blades. Shields.

Gin immediately took up a defensive stance, protecting his head and neck. What just happened? He felt a throbbing from his left arm. He glanced to see blood trickling from his five then wound marks that cut deep. They were too perfectly arranged to be a random branch. Was it the enemy or an animal?

Gin leaned against a tree, covering the nape of his neck as best as he could. His eyes shifted from left to right, looking for any possible threats. There was nothing in sight, but Gin stayed in his position. He hadn’t noticed the attacker the first time, there was no guarantee he would the second.

The next attack was more of a rake. It tried to slash Gin in the chest, but his chest plate blocked the incoming damage. Gin’s eyes widened. He felt the attack, but couldn’t see the attacker. He began to doubt his senses. An invisible enemy? Was that even possible? No. He must be imagining things.

Another slash against his chest shattered that assumption. There was definitely something there. Why couldn’t he see it?! There had to be something, right?

The following attacks were all aimed at his chest. However, his armour deflected all those attacks. Was it a dumb animal that only targeted one spot? Maybe he could use that to his advantage.

Another slash triggered Gin’s counter attack. He thrust his arm forwards, but only hit thin air. He regretted the attack as five claws swiped his face. No. They weren’t claws. The attack was from a person’s nails. A mage? Was it possible for mages to go invisible?

Gin didn’t have time to think. Another swipe above his temple snapped him back to his stance. He couldn’t let the enemy get anymore hits. It didn’t help though as the enemy had learnt to not aim for his chest. His exposed and legs and arms became the enemy’s new targets. Gin howled in agony with every attack.

A sense of panic spread through him. He couldn’t stay being target practise. He couldn’t last much longer. He needed to attack. He had to find Sam. He had to back to his battalion. He had to see all the different types of mages. He had to rise to the top. He had to make his deceased father and mother proud. He had to give them a reason for saving him back then.

He had to live.

In desperation he grabbed one of the cylinders and chucked it in the air. The invisible enemy cut through it like it was paper, spilling its liquid contents. Gin thrust his blade at that exact moment, at the expense of another swipe to the face. If he couldn’t be precise in his attacks, he had to go for an area of an effect attack. He had to bet on this one strategy to survive.

Flames.

His Blades ignited the liquid. The flaming oil splashed onto the ground. Luckily, the trees weren’t fireproof like the Rezah. Instead they were extremely flammable. It spread and spread and spread until it turned into a raging inferno, eating up anything in its path. Why did he do that? What did he expect? Did he think that the fire would ward off the enemy? Maybe. Gin had lost all rationality at that point. At least the attacks seemed to stop.

Gin felt dizzy from the blood loss. His legs and arms finally gave way as he collapsed backwards, crashing against the tree. The fire edged ever closer to him, but he couldn’t move away. His body didn’t allow him.

‘This idiot,’ someone murmured. ‘I’m not getting caught up with this.’

Gin looked up. He thought he heard something. One eye was blinded by blood; the other just saw a hazy blur. But for one moment, he though he saw something. A silhouette of some sort running away from the fire. Was he imagining things? He couldn’t tell what was real or not.

When the silhouette disappeared, Gin unequipped his right shield and held it above him. He manually pressed the second chamber. The shield expanded into a dome, surrounding him in the process. With his last ounce of strength, he unhooked an INS from his belt. He stabbed it into his bleeding arms and injected its contents into his veins. He wanted to use another nano-booster, but he couldn’t muster the ability to do so.

Gin could hear the crackle of the fire around him as he slowly lost consciousness. If his battalion saw what he had done, they would probably look down on him. It was just like his fight with Varunel. He couldn’t beat his opponent so he acted cowardly and hid in a dome shell. It was the only thing he could do. He also started the beginning of the destruction of the forest. Was this the actions of a Eurasian soldier? Where was the honour? But there was no honour in survival, Gin thought. Surely, his battalion would understand their leader’s actions. Right?