Arc 2 Chapter 3
It is a rather normal morning, filled with my work as a councilmen. Some judicial matters, a building permission and the talk about another diplomat that has arrived. Nothing too interesting, just normal. If there weren't the disturbing news of a war in planning and the declaration of war from New Eden, I would call it an idyllic live. Yet this changes rapidly when I get an unusual call for a meeting. The call itself isn't so strange, but the meeting location is. Who in their right mind would hold a meeting in the inner court of our castle? There weren't even tables or chairs there, not to mention coffee.
But call is call and I ain't in a position to disrespect one, even if it seems ridiculous. I leave my office and make my way towards the court. But I am not alone. All the others are also on their way there. Normally a meeting only includes the councilmen with the corresponding specialisation. It just doesn't make sense to discuss the matters of the juridical court with a farmer, not to mention to discuss agriculture with a judge.
So why were all councilmen summoned? What could possibly be so important? Did enemy troops arrive at our borders? Filled with anxiety I walk towards the meeting location. The first thing I see is a stranger. Is this the diplomat? Wasn't he from a settlement we never heard of before? What news could he bring that are so important? Before I know it everyone arrived here and he begins his speech.
Oliver's POV
It didn't take long to summon all the councilmen here. They got quite a lot of them though, I guess there is a lot more to do than with our five thousand people. It looks like they got a lot of different people here, only a few look like the stereotypical official. Since everybody is finally here and has a good view of me I begin my demonstration.
“As many of you already know I am a diplomat from Evervale, a small city that is sadly currently surrounded by New Eden, which we deem our enemy. Until recently they didn't know much about us and though that we are just another normal village. But it won't take them long to learn the truth. Until then we need to either evacuate or change the borders.” I say, “Now many of you might think why should we risk so much for a small town? I will demonstrate some things for you and after that you are free to make a decision.”
With that it begins. For the first part I got the help of five guards. The audience is startled when they ready their weapons, some scream when they open fire. Silence engulfs the court when they see me unharmed and playing with the bullets, without touching them of course. Picking up some boulders from a corner of the court I start to float while being in a vortex of flying granite. The silence deepens. I place the boulders on the ground, erecting a tower with them. Then I try one of my more trickier abilities. I bend the light around me. Rendering me invisible. It needs a lot of my concentration and the effect just doesn't justify the price.
It is a flashy trick, that is useless against anyone with a soul-sense. It is impressive thought. I move a bit and regain visibility. My audience is already awed. But my most destructive and impressive move is yet to come. I once again begin to bend light. Creating a space light can't escape. Collecting more and more energy, aligning the rays and bundling them. I create a laser and shoot it upwards. It carries enough energy to create plasma out of the air and causes a consecutive thunder. Although immensely destructive and long ranged the price is absurd, it leaves my soul completely exhausted.
To catch and manipulate so many objects at such a speed requires me to fasten my thinking and processing power to extreme extents. The toll is huge. Creating a small fusion chamber is actually easier, but the range for a plasma bolt is just crap, as soon as it leaves the control area it begins to collapse. Range is one of the primary deficits of all soul techniques. Sure we can hurl projectiles over a great distance, but so can others, like everyone with a gun. Sure we can render them ineffective, but we will get exhausted at some point and there are so many of our enemies.
Exhausted I end the demonstration and let them discus what they have seen. In the meantime I regain some of my strength by feasting on soulmist. When I finally hear that the discussions calmed down I open my eyes and await their decision.
It is like I have anticipated, hey will rush their advances towards Evervale, but they need at least three weeks to reach it, we will have to hold out this long and help them after they rescue us. As for after the war, they would like us to spread our techniques. As for if we should join their country and their alliance that remains undetermined for now. But they welcome us as their allies.
Satisfied I prepare to travel home, but just before my department one of the councilman hurries towards me and gives me a small device, he quickly explains that it can be used as an de- and encoder for long range communication. I thank him and bid him farewell. I depart like I arrived. Flying.
Over the week I make six more of those visits and convince over half of the alliance to help us. After that I make my way back towards Evervale. Once again I thank our luck that not one country has working aircraft. It would be disaster if there were any bombardments. But we have to patrol our vicinity in a wider range to make sure that we aren't approached by artillery.
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I still hope that we won't have to deal with the main force of New Eden until we are united with our new allies.
Upon my return I am greeted and instantly led to the council chambers. After a short discussion we come to the conclusion, that we should encounter the next group of investigators outside our borders. That could create the image of a big group of soulless that eliminated their force. The good news I brought gave us a lot more options, since we now know that all we need is to play for time.
Why not go on the offensive? Most of us can move in a rapid pace through the woods. We can flank them and use guerilla tactics to slow the enemy down. Our individual firepower is far greater than theirs. But we won't be able to protect the city like this, the chance to get flanked is too high. After some time we come to the conclusion to evacuate all non-combatants to a higher place in the mountains. There are some caves we created years ago in case of an emergency and also as training to manipulate matter. They are ideal hiding places.
I return to my home and am greeted by the two adolescence that already returned home after their training and schooling. I inform them of what will happen tomorrow. That they will be evacuated to let us fight more freely. They take it rather hard, they don't want to be a burden. They want to help. But I convince them that their best way to help is to continue and lead the training and foremost protect the younger ones.
In the evening the city is filled with serious discussions and farewells. Nobody here thinks that the war will be filled with glory, our thoughts are dominated by calculations and premonitions. We may seem cold to others, but all our actions are created from the need to protect the ones close to us. They are our reason to live. We aren't driven by power, it is a to feeble thing to orient our live on it. Wealth too lost its drive when the world collapsed, all that matters are the ones next to us and our collective survival.
Why oh why must we wage war after we finally regained our footing in this changed world? Is it too ingrained in our very being? Why did we never find such a thing in our soul? Is it in our brain? Our body?
The next day comes to fast and with it comes war. In the morning we evacuate everyone and as many of our valuable things as possible, that includes some solar panels, the radio station, cows, chicken (Which reached the height of a wolf.) and a lot of books. We already lost so much knowledge, because the atmosphere or the changed micro organisms in the air speed up the composting.
Then we left the city, a caravan of cows and carts will be our base of operation, a lot of us still need food and water, luckily we always have a big stock of it, since we also try to trade with it. We move towards a big clearing in the forest that surrounds our save zone. When the others begin to build the camp I lift off and check the surroundings. A surprisingly big force is coming towards our direction, it isn't a problem though, we still outnumber them greatly. What worries me more is that I spot the enemies main force, which is identified by its special flag that points out that their leader is present.
This is good for their moral, but it is also a rather dumb thing to announce.
It seems like we underestimated the enemies scouting abilities. They probably got wind of the fact that a lot of forces try to invade the area from this direction. With this the main force stands between us and our allies. We need to change our plans. I quickly move towards the group of investigators, there are one thousand soldiers here. They march towards our city, seems like vehicles are too rare to use them on this small operation. We need to take care of them as soon as possible. I guess it is time for a warm up.
I lunge into battle and attack their backline, swinging my sword, this one consists of a tungsten and steel alloy. It cleaves through their kevlar armour as if it was paper. One swing and ten people are dead, unsatisfied by that I unleash a huge wave of pressure towards the marching troop. A sound wave of above 180 db can rupture organs. This one is at 250 db, even for me it is dangerous, but I can protect me by freezing the movements of air around me to a minimum.
This pressure wave is like an explosion. The guys closest to me are shredded and even cooked by it, the ones farther away simply collapse from organ failure. A hundred of them are now simply gone. Finally they begin to react, my attack took them by surprise and the time seems a lot slower for me.
Overall this fight is a mere slaughter. A pool of blood, flesh and bodies covers the ground. I hate that this is necessary. But this is war. People die. I quickly return to the base. When I return I get questions if something happened. No wonder I am once again covered in blood and flesh pieces. This shock-wave is so ugly, but this isn't about elegance or showing of. It is a bloody business that shouldn't be glorified. Not by a reason or by our religion. There shouldn't be anything that can justify it and yet there are people who force us to do it. Because of them, running away isn't a solution, they will follow and they will kill. The question isn't if someone will die, but who.
Deep in though I reach the commando tent and give my report. It will be a long night filled with discussions.