“The nation owes your people a debt of gratitude ,” the President of the Rein Republic thanked Esther , the enforcer standing before him.
Esther Schovik took a swift turn and observed the war room , counting around thirty or so military officers.
“ What is the status of the Mage Association ? Are they mobilising yet?” she asked him.
“ They are largely uncooperative , but our goals remain aligned. They have rounded up nearly all mages on the earth , planning to launch a major offensive at the three Titans that have so far appeared ,”
“ Their efforts will be in vain if they try to take on a Titan , even if it's just one. They should focus on the monsters instead ,” Esther clicked in annoyance.
“ Pardon my asking , but why are you helping us ? Don’t all enforcers work for the Titans?” The Inspector General , Pablo Masuri , approached the two of them , taking a hard stance against Esther.
“ Do I need to answer to you ?” She matched his gaze with a colder one.
“ Yes , as a matter of fact you do ,” Pablo stood his ground.
After a short standoff where she failed to find fear in his eyes, Esther broke the silence , “ I am human like you . Earth is special to our race , wherever our origins may be .”
“ At the moment , what matters most is that we have a group of enforcers ready to stand with us against the Titans. Your people have already proven themselves by showing us safe sanctuaries to hide our people whilst the war of the world rages on. Let us trust them to have our backs as well,” The President supported her.
“ Of course Mr President ,” Pablo was not one to start a quarrel with his commander in chief.
“ The Titans still don’t know what we are doing at the moment , but they will soon realise our betrayal. This is why you must give Jack Kamphar your full support when he comes back to earth. Amongst the ranks of us enforcers , he is the only one with the potential to go head to head with a Titan and win ,”
“ He will be well received on his return ,” the President assured her.
Having completed her business , Esther chanted a few hard to remember words and a narrow rift appeared in front of her. She stepped through it and the portal closed behind her.
“Mr President , when do you think the Rein Republic should reveal its alliance with the enforcers to the rest of the world? It would certainly speed up our efforts to unite the remaining nations to our cause ,” Pablo asked once Esther left.
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Esther’s portal led her to the world of Praiyas , in the human oasis that Hamilton’s group had arrived at. This was the group that the Mage Association had tasked with hunting down Jack.
She appeared inside one of the makeshift tents , where Naaman was patiently waiting for her as he read some books.
“ Superior , you shouldn’t have waited. I would have personally sought you out to give my report,” she was shocked to see him.
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Naaman put his book aside and reclined into the comfort of the rocking chair , “ This human oasis wasn’t built to protect so many people , I fear it won’t hold out for much longer ,”
“ Of course superior , I know we only have very little time left. The Rein Republic has remained true to our pact though ,”
“The Titans won’t come smiling once they figure out what we’re up to. To make matters worse ,the non-human enforcers working under our Titan have refused to take our side . It is only a matter of time before they go ratting us out ,” he sighed .
“ Should I eliminate them , Superior? They are posing a serious threat ,” she suggested.
“ Yes , but don’t leave just yet. Wait for the right moment when no one will be suspicious ,” he cautioned .
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After their little get together , Naaman walked out of the tent , ordering Esther to remain in it for another twenty minutes before she got out.
He was happy to have thought of that , because the first person he ran into was Hamilton , when he left the tent.
Hamilton ,though , did not notice him at first as he was preoccupied with listening to the grievances of the civilians they had encountered when they walked through the portal.
Henry Wilberforce , the commander of the unit , had made sure to pick out a portal that the government had not been using to evacuate the civilians. To tamper with his plans , Naaman had asked Esther to manipulate the coordinates of the portal so that it overlapped with a portal already being used for the evacuation.
All this led to the mages sent to hunt down Jack finding themselves in the company of clueless civilians and some military officers , too disorganised to make any meaningful step towards their survival on the new planet. It was Naaman’s plan to buy Jack a little more time to grow.
Hidden among these civilians were a few enforcers who had been tasked with protecting the people from the dangers in Praiyas. They were loyal to Naaman and couldn’t have been happier to see their leader finally joining them.
“ We cannot take civilians with us when we leave ,” Hamilton tried calming down the crowd that had formed around him , begging him to take them under his wing.
“ But sir , the military hasn’t done anything to help us ever since they brought us to this desert world. We will starve to death if things go the way they are headed ,” one of them insisted.
“The Mage Association will coordinate with the military and come up with a solution ,” Hamilton sounded polite but deep down he felt like knocking the teeth out of a few of them.
He was already angry at having lost his friend , a crowd jumping him with their baggage wasn’t gonna do him any good.
But then again , the civilians were doing this to every mage they crossed paths with. It even happened to Naaman as well when he came over.
“Don’t worry , we are all together in this and no one is getting left behind. The Mage Association is even working on a feeding program so all you just have to hang in there for a little longer ,” Naaman did it like a natural, calming down and dispelling the crowd that had been hounding Hamilton without end.
The military , having been overwhelmed by the unexpectedly high number of citizens who turned up to be relocated through the portals , had been left with insufficient means to adequately provide for everyone. The government too had its hands tied with most of the nation's agricultural lands destroyed by the invading monsters.
The Mage Association was however different. Being an international unit , they had a surplus of food that they could share with the people . To the civilians , the mages were like a surprise blessing , coming to their aid when they had least expected it.
“ Thanks ,” Hamilton said , wondering how the group had wound up in a camp of civilians.
“ I also did not expect that we would find ourselves here. Now we have to worry about how we are going to feed all of these hungry mouths on top of our own ,” Naaman said , unsure of how genuine his concern was.
“ I agree with you there , these people are just piling themselves on top of the problems we already have ,” Hamilton started walking over to a large shady tree to escape the blistering desert heat.