0920AM NW Time - June 23 - 1969 - Dryadalis Kingdom - Southern Region
Tanks of the 1st Armored Division rolled down the grassy fields of the Elven South. Spies and scouting teams had reported a massive Zapad-Vostok force marching through the south, possibly aiming for the important Elven coastal city: Anyllunaa. If the coastal city were to be captured, it would not only give up half of the Elven nation, but also cut off important resources, such as magic crystal mines connected to the city. As a way to prevent a battle in the city and having the civilian population dragged into war, portions from the 4th Army of the Hirtheareth Order and the 1st Army of the House of Tharaf are planning to intercept the enemy forces before they march to the city. The U.S is also helping, mainly to gain a supply of magic crystals to experiment with. They’ve sent portions of the 1st Armored Division, and the 104th Infantry Division.
The American forces there are under the command of Lieutenant General Hung Dehart, as the Elven forces are under control of Duke Elen Gildi the III. Dehart, a middle-aged veteran of WWII, sits on a hill overlooking a grassy field with a single pathway leading to Anylluna, which is only 30 miles away from where he is now. They had been there for just a few hours, and both armies continued to wait for Zapad and Vostok forces to take them by surprise. As Dehart sits on a tree stump overlooking the plains, Gildi comes behind him while using translation magic.
"You have been sitting there since last night, General Dehart," Gildi said with slight concern.
"Yeah, but just because I’m a Lieutenant General doesn’t mean I’m excused from any responsibility the normal soldier does," Hung said while drinking a cup of coffee. "And please, just call me Hung."
"Well, Hung, is it smart to stay up for such a long time, regardless of whether you are able to do so?" Gildi said without the knowledge of caffeine. "But I do appreciate your commitment. I wish there were more people like you."
"Yeah, I wish there were too, but there are too many bad apples that in turn rot the rest in the branches, ruining the ones that have barely matured." Hung pointed his cup at the Duke and said, “Have you ever heard of coffee?”
“No, I don’t believe I have.”
As the two men continued to talk, an Elven scout came running to them.
"Sir, Zapad and Vostok forces spotted 5 minutes out! Wyverns in the air have been spotted escorting them!" The scout said, out of breath.
"Do we have any idea how big their forces are?" Gildi said, heading back to the main camp along with Hung.
"No idea how big their forces are, sir, my apologies!" The Scout said before leaving the two,
"Mind explaining what the hell wyverns are?" Hung asked Gildi.
"They’re large winged bipedal beasts. Their scales are colored a light blue, with the ability to fly and breathe fire. Their scales are so tough that it’s extremely difficult for even magic to pierce them."
"Hmm, a scouting team a few days ago west of here reported a situation of fighting one, but said it was going for head-to-head combat rather than flying."
"Those are what we call ground wyverns, far larger than the ones who fly, with twice the thicker armor, making the head the only good area to hit it at, as well as it spewing melt fleshing acid. But, despite having wings, it can’t fly."
"Shit, and here I thought it was gonna be an easy battle, but now we gotta get rid of some winged bastard creatures."
"Yes, but I’m sure you Americans have some measures to take care of flying enemies?"
"Yeah, we have anti-air measures, but it’s not as if we expect to use them, so it’ll take a while for them to be set up,” Hung said. Once both men finished talking, they walked into a large tent, where men of both races talked. Translation magic was also being kept by some elven mages, meaning Gildi no longer had to keep his up.
"General Hung Dehart, Sir Elen Gildi, as I’m sure you’ve already been told, enemy forces have been spotted heading this way, so we must act quickly," Major General Paul Ward said.
"Where are our Divisions currently in place?" Hung asked Ward.
"Parts of the 104th Infantry Division, and the 1st Armored Division are currently in place waiting to attack alongside parts of the 4th Army of the Hirtheareth Order. The 1st Army of the House of Tharaf is holding back to provide support. Though some men from them are still getting ready.
"Do we know exact numbers yet or is that still unknown?" Gildi asked his own men.
"Not yet, sir. But we know they have at least a few dozen wyverns in the sky, and possibly some ground wyverns," an elf responded.
“Ward, are our anti-air guns already set into place?” Hung asked.
“Uh, well, not exactly sir, all anti-air guns were all set to the back due to many not thinking they would have even been used…”
“And how far long back are they…?”
“Well, the enemy forces will be here sooner than the guns…”
"God damn it! Now we have to give ourselves time to set up anti air defences against those wyverns, and deal with those on the ground," Hung said. "Gildi, what else is important to know about these Goddamn beasts on the ground?"
"Well, as I said, the ground wyverns are ferocious beasts, but they are hard to maintain and control." Gildi said. "If we are able to free them from their chains, they could cause havoc on the enemy, possibly giving you enough time to set up the anti-air measurements," Gildi responded.
"And how on earth are we gonna let those damn beasts free in the first place?" A man said.
"Magicians from the 1st Army of the House of Tharaf should be able to unchain them with magic from a distance, but it’ll have to be done in an open area rather than the mess of trees they’re marching through, otherwise the magic might fail," an elf said.
After some discussion, a plan was finalized in a rush. The Americans and Elves were to wait in camouflage for Zapad and Vostok forces to march out into the open grass field from the forest they’re marching from. Once out in the open, magicians from the 1st Army of the House of Tharaf will use magic to unchain the ground wyverns, hoping they’ll cause havoc. Once the Zapad and Vostok forces are distracted, as well as the wyverns in the sky, it’ll hopefully give enough time for anti-air measurements to be set, as well as the divisions to be set into place. If either the wyverns have killed a substantial number of enemies, or if the wyverns are killed, the Elves and the Americans attack, and defeat the remaining forces.
"It’s a bit of a long shot, don’t you think? It requires a bit of luck for it to really work," an elf said.
"Yes, but If we possibly want minimal casualties, this long shot of a plan is probably our best shot at winning," Gildi said. After some more talking, the plan was approved by both sides, and everyone went to get ready.
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After a few minutes, the forces of Zapad and Vostok march out of the forest and onto the path in the open grassy field. As they marched out of the forest, six large ground wyverns were chained up, being guided by what could be dozens of magihorses for each, and being kept calm by magicians.
"My, don’t those ground wyverns look bigger than they usually look…?" A magician from Tharaf asked Gildi, who’s leading them himself.
"Yes, they most certainly are… They must be feeding them something special. But, our plan will not change. We shall continue with what we planned. "
"But, we haven’t even thought of the most important part, how are we even going to get close?"
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Hm, please just leave that to me," Gildi said, standing from his hiding position. Gildi grabs his golden longbow from his back and grabbed an arrow beside him. As he pulled it back, the tip of the arrow began to glow.
"Alright, I recommend you men close your eyes once I fire this arrow," Gildi said, right as he shot the arrow at the marching troops. All the men quickly closed their eyes. Those unfortunate enough to not understand what was going on had the unfortunate feeling of their eyes being burned off as a bright light flashed in front of them. Once the light dispersed, the ground wyverns began to struggle against their chains, aggravated from the sudden flash. The enemy forces, blinded by the light, had no idea what was going on. Many ran rampant, and many were killed by the wyverns. The only ones not blinded were the wyverns in the sky.
"Alright, move forward, and men, remember what we are fighting for!" Gildi shouted at his men. The magicians from Tharaf moved closer, without much fear. Once the magicians got close enough, they used their magic to release the chains on the six wyverns, which succeeded. As they quickly backed away as the ground wyverns wreaked havoc, a man grabbed onto Gildi’s shoulder.
"Uh, Sir, I-i think a wyvern is staring at us," A man said, pointing at a wyvern as it slowly looked in their direction.
"I-isn’t it supposed to be blinded still?" Gildi said in a panicked voice. As they continued to run back, the ground wyvern slowly began to run towards them. As the men frantically ran, many were killed, either by being crushed, or by toxic acid being spewed on them. Gildi quickly ran back to his bundle of arrows and grabbed one, and as he pulled it back, the tip of the arrow began to glow red. Once he fired the arrow at the wyvern, and it exploded in its face. But once the dust settled, it did nothing more but anger the wyvern and turn its attention to him.
"That's right, you beast, come here!" Gildi ran away from the main group running, and the wyvern gave chase. Of course, it’s impossible for him to outrun such a thing, but as long as he’s able to divert its attention from his men, he doesn’t care if he dies or not. As Gildi ran, suddenly more explosions rocked the wyvern, tanks from the U.S. 1st Armored Division. The shells had damaged some of its scales, but it didn’t stop it.
"Shit, unless those things can pierce its scales, there’s no way they can easily kill that wyvern!" Gildi said to himself. The wyvern started to charge at the mass of tanks lined up, but a shell from one rocked the side of the wyvern’s face, causing a large hole on the side of its face. It staggered back as more shells hit its face, and it died soon after when a straight shell hit its face, spilling its upper mouth open.Gildi stood in shock for a minute before a slap to his back from Hung, and Gildi immediately activated his translation magic.
"Well, it seems as if you’re having some fun, and we can see that some of those giant beasts have already been killed, as well as the majority of those poor bastards down there," Hung said, pointing at the dead bodies of ground wyverns and dead Vostok and Zapad forces.
"Yes, and it still seems like the wyverns in the air are still too busy dealing with the ground wyverns to notice us. I assume that your anti-air defences are ready?" Gildi said.
"Well, of course. But, we have changed the plan a bit. I mean, you think we were going to let you have all the glory? " Hugh said as he reached for a radio on his hip. "Alright, LET LOOSE! Oh, and uh, cover your ears, Mr. Gildi." Upon saying this, artillery and anti-air guns from behind them began to fire, causing massive explosions on the enemy. Anti-air guns fired upon the flying wyverns, tearing them apart, and turning them into nothing but mist of blood. The remaining ground wyverns were torn apart from the constant blows from the artillery, meaning their heavy and tough scales meant nothing. The Zapad and Vostok forces didn’t do much better, their armor was enforced, but only enforced from blunt attacks, not high power explosions that could tear them apart. The proud combined army of over 15,000 soldiers, were reduced to a meager 2,000 survivors.
"My, I do somewhat feel bad for the sorry bastards down there…" Gildi said.
"Yes, but this is a war, and that means we have to do anything we have to do," Hung said.
1240AM NW Time - June 25 - 1969 - Dryadalis Kingdom - Anyllunaa
U.S soldiers patrol through the streets of the Elven city on M-715s, with their Elven counterparts. They’re there to not only help establish the U.S navy by using the harbors there, but to as well as to gain access to the magic crystals from the mines in the city. The Elven civilians there were confused by the Americans, but gladly accepted them due to reports of Americans helping in pushing back the Zapad and Vostok forces. The American soldiers took this whole heartedly, many simply taking the opportunity to get free things, mainly alcohol. But, the older ones amongst the soldiers, (those in their 30’s or 40’s) didn’t necessarily share the same view points on the Elves, but they were often ignored. As the M-715 drove down a small stone road as the driver and another man talked.
“Can you believe they’re gonna try to get the navy here, Nick? Like, are they gonna build new ships or are they gonna disassemble some ships from back home and reassemble them here?” The driver said.
“You really worry about that Anderson? Well, I bet it'll be expensive as hell to bring resources from back home to build new ships for no real reason. Reassembling them Is probably easier, but I’m just guessing out of my ass,” Nick said. As the two kept talking, they came across a road block, caused by a carriage filled with supplies tipped over, causing it to spill all over the road.
“Shit, should we help, or should we just find a different route?” Anderson said.
“Cmon, let’s help, I’m sure the Elves in the back can translate for us with their… It’s called magic right?”
“Yeah, yeah, and yeah It’s called that,” Anderson said, turning off the truck, and climbing out of the truck, before being followed by Nick. As they walked out, the Elven soldiers that were staying in the back also came out to help.
-----
After a while of helping out to clear the road, they get back to the truck. As they headed to the truck, Anderson noticed a young boy at the corner of the street, stealing some bread off a store window.
“Uh, Nick, you don’t mind looking after the truck, I gotta catch myself a thief,” Anderson said, throwing the keys to Nick, which he promptly catched.
“The hell are you wasting your time catching a kid for?”
“Well, I want to keep the reputation we have right now, since I enjoy the free stuff,” Anderson said, before running after the thief. Anderson ran past the corner where the kid ran, as he followed the trail of dropped items on the sidewalk. Eventually, he caught him by the scruff of his neck in an alleyway. As the kid struggled against Andersons grip, Anderson noticed a large pile of stolen tools, and jewelry.
“Would you look at that, I got an experienced thief on my hands,” Anderson said. Anderson examined the thief he caught. Torn clothes, scars over his body and face, and seeming to be extremely scrawny.
“Jesus… now I just sorta feel bad…” As Anderson thought to himself, a couple of Elves walked into the alleyway. They look like police in his mind, they don’t look like an Elven soldier due to not wearing any heavy armor, but they do seem to have the Elven symbol on their shoulder, two swords and a crown. They say something in Latin to him, with a bit of aggression in their voices. But, Anderson showed them the American Flag emblem on his shoulder, and they all immediately stopped what they were saying. After a while, Anderson had let go of the kid, but making sure he couldn’t run away, as Anderson watched the people who he assumed were the Elven police take away the items the thief had taken.
But, Anderson felt bad for him, mainly for the rough conditions the child thief is in. Anderson sighs, and pulls out a candy bar, a Butterfinger, from his chest pocket. He then grabs a small book with Latin words and phrases that were distributed to all U.S soldiers currently in the New World.
“Uhhh, Hic, aliqua vera American stuff… think I said that right…” Anderson said, as he put the Butterfinger into the kid’s hand. He seemed confused for a second, but Anderson left the alleyway before the kid could say anything.
-----
The Elven child looked at the strange thing the American gave him. He wasn’t even sure what it was, and he couldn’t ask the American since he was gone, nor did he sound like he spoke very good Elvish. It felt smooth, and a bright yellow, with what seemed like words were on it though he couldn’t read it. He messes with it for a while, until he accidentally tears it, revealing something underneath it. He tears at it a bit more before the upper half of a dark bar is revealed. He looked at it for a bit, but he noted how sweet it smells. He looked at it for a second, before breaking a piece off, and eating it. The taste of sugar exploded in his mouth as he ate the rest. After he ate the whole thing, his friends came running down the alleyway.
“Kieran, you ok?” One of the boys said, running to him.
“Hmm? Orist, Rydon? What are you guys doing here?” Kieran said.
“We just saw some enforcement officers pass by here with all the stuff you stole!” Orist, the shortest of them, said. “T-they didn’t hurt you, did they?”
“I’m fine, one of those… Americans…? Got me out of trouble with them, though I doubt I’m completely off the hook.”
“Americans? Oh, those fighting out in the south, why'd one bother their time with you?” Rydon said.
“Sorta got caught stealing some bread, and I thought I would be able to get away…”
“Dang, and what’s with that thing in your hand by the way?” Orist said.
“Ah, uh, I don’t know, that American gave it to me and a really sweet bar was underneath it, so I ate it.”
“Do you think they have more of those?” Rydon said.
“Probably… I think we can follow them and probably get more…” Kieran said.
“I won’t lie you guys, that sounds like a stupid plan,” Orist said.
“Well, I really don’t care about your opinion, Orist,” Rydon said. With that, the three went to follow the American, with Kieran leading the way.
-----
After an hour of asking around the city where the Americans were, they eventually arrived at a large fenced off area. In the distance, they could see a large harbor, with a large thing covered by a fabric. Though they didn’t understand what It was for, since it was so far away from the main harbors.
“Woah, what do you guys think this place is?” Orist said.
“Who knows, maybe there’s some super secret big project there?” Kieran said. The three kids argue for a while, until an alarming noise booms in their ears from the harbor. Looking back at it, they watch as three figures run away and towards the nearby woods, as what seemed like beams of light appeared, hitting two of them. One of the figures, though, managed to escape past the gate, and into the nearby woods. The three kids go into the woods to where they thought the figure might be, but Instead they find nothing more than a brown cloak, with holes and blood on it.