0600AM NW Time - July 2nd - 1969 - US Territory - US Military Base
Burton walked through the hallways of the now finished research lab that they created some months prior. He drank his cup of coffee as others like him walked through the hallways, to continue their research of magic. Originally, Burton had worked to help on keeping the relationship with the Elves, but Lieutenant General, Hal Moore had taken over the position, allowing Burton to help research magic and other such things like the unusual magic crystals. Burton continued to walk until reaching a hallway and walked up to a door, unlocking it with a key. He entered a lab, as multiple men walked around, carrying boxes of equipment, and magic crystals. Typing of keyboards fill the room, and the sound of machines, working away, as men look at papers. Burton examines the room, before walking to a small door, labeled, ‘Sigmund Heinz Office.' Burton takes a second to think, before knocking on the door.
“C-coming! Just hold on a second! Too much shit on the floor…” Sigmund said on the other side of the door, before opening it. Upon opening the door, Burton could see multiple papers, and boxes all littered on the floor of the office room. “Ah! Burton, It’s good to see you,” Sigmund said, shaking Burton’s hand.
“Well, It has been some time since we’ve talked, and I also got the letter you sent me. Something about the Elven bodies, no?”
“Yes, this way,” Sigmund said, walking out of the office and to another door on the opposite side of the research room. Upon entering the room, Burton could see dozens of coffee cups on the floor, paper scattered about, and multiple boards with x-ray pictures on them.
“Now, I have a lot of things I personally wanted to discuss with you before I put it into a report,” Sigmund said, grabbing a few of the x-ray photos. “Now, a few weeks back I believe, we were rudely interrupted, and I was about to talk about an Organ, right?”
“Yes, I believe so, but why not just say this to me in a letter?”
“Well, I think It’s better to talk face to face, the mind generally remembers things more face to face rather than reading text.” Sigmund walked to the other side of the room, before grabbing a large anatomy of the human body. “Now, here we have the heart, and all of our other organs, and Elves actually have an identical anatomy like us, but what I found is that the Elves have another heart-shaped organ, underneath their heart, behind the liver.”
“So, another heart…?”
“Well, sort of, but It could help answer how the hell they’re able to use magic. Thanks to the elven government, and volunteers, we’ve already got some videos and papers on some elves doing magic,” Sigmund said as he passed papers on test studies of elves using magic. “From shooting fire from their hands, water coming from their hands, hell, there was one that literally dissolved a rock! LIKE HOW THE FUCK DO-” But before Sigmund could finish what he was about to say, Burton slapped him.
“Listen, mate, I think you’re going a little bit crazy and going off track of what you originally wanted to say.”
“Ah… yes, thank you, mate… This is my hypothesis, and that is this special organ, which I’m calling the second heart, is practically identical to the heart, but has a different purpose. Once again, thanks to the elven government, we have been given knowledge on magic while in turn giving technology and whatnot, and what we’ve learned is that they can use magic through something called Mana, which is like set storage of magical power they keep in their body to then be used later to create their spells and things. What I believe is that mana is similar to oxygen, but the source of mana is something I don’t know and the majority of the researchers have already given up on, but they take in mana by breathing obviously and that mana goes straight into the second heart like oxygen does for the main one, and red blood cells carry it through the body. But, how they convert mana into magical power is something I don’t know about yet!”
At this point in his rambling, Burton thought that Sigmund was going a bit crazy, either from the days he’s possibly stayed awake, evidence from the number of coffee cups on the floor or from the number of hours he’s spent researching, Burton wonders if he’s even sane anymore.
“Look, Sig, I think that you should possibly rest for a bit… You seem to be going a bit… Insane…”
“Me? Insane? Please! H-have you seen all of those fools who've given up already!? I on the other hand? I am looking into the very depths of how magic works! I will not stop until I collapse!” Sigmund at this point seemed to have gone full crazy and grabbed Burton’s shoulders. “Hell Burton, I can even find the secret of eternal life! DO YOU REALIZE THAT? ETERNAL LIFE, WE CAN BECOME GO-” Before he could finish, Burton smacked him again in the face, causing Sigmund to fall onto a large pile of papers, and knocking down the towers of paper.
“Listen to me you fucking nazi! You’re sounding like you did back in 1939!” Burton shouted at him.
“N-nazi…? A-ah, m-my apologies!” Sigmund said, quickly getting up. “I-i seemed to have gotten a bit overboard… Sorry… Force of habit…”
“Force of habit… Just get some fucking sleep man! And maybe calm down on the caffeine.” Burton walked away and out of the room into the research room. “Now, maybe take some medication to help you sleep and by tomorrow you should be alright,” Burton said as he rested a hand on Sigmund’s shoulder.
“B-but they need me to help research, I can’t just leave on short lease…”
“Don’t worry about that mate, I’ll write a report for you explaining why you went back to your accommodations.”
“I-I see, thank you, mate… I’ll see you tomorrow…” Sigmund weakly shook Burton's hand before leaving the research room. Burton looked on, before sighing.
“God, I feel as if he’ll accidentally kill himself one day…”
0925AM NW Time - July 2nd - 1969 - Dryadalis Kingdom - Linga Forest City
It's been a while since William and Sofie had stayed in the Capital of the Elves. While they’ve been to dozens of cities all across Europe and Asia, they both had noted that the Elven Capital has quite possibly been the most interesting place they’ve ever been to. Of course, this could be attributed to the fact that the city is supported on large trees, connected platform by platform. William is currently exploring the Elven city, while Sofie sends back the information they’ve gathered to U.S teams back in the military base in the East. William, for the most part, had already adapted to Elven culture, but even still It felt strange since it felt like a mix between Medieval European culture, and Eastern Asian history.
William marched down busy streets on the elevated platforms, not necessarily sure what to do. For the most part, the information they’ve gathered had been insignificant in terms of how important they were. The only truly important thing that has been going on is that a few U.S military members are also going around the city, as per agreement between the U.S and Elven governments, but they’re not allowed to have their weapons out, and only allowed in the city if it’s to help assist the Elven government or heavily monitored. As William continued to walk down he watched as a large group of hooded figures walking in unison walked past him. Compared to back home, people with hoods and cloaks weren’t uncommon here, but his interest piqued as he watched one of the figures “accidentally” bump into an Enforcement Officer, an equivalent of Elven police, and snatched something from their pocket without them noticing.
“Sofie, I think I just found something Interesting,” William said through his microphone in his ear.
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“Really? What is it, some sort of secret organization or something?” Sofie responded.
“No, just saw someone in a large group pickpocket something from those Elven police officers. Find it a bit suspicious.”
“Really? You're gonna waste our time with thieves? But if you're gonna follow them, how many are there?.” William began to quickly walk behind them, making sure to keep his distance to not be seen.
“Around four people, possibly multiple females, and males. Though, It looks like one of them is barely fifteen, at least in terms of human years, judging by their height.”
“Alright, keep track of them, I’ll be at your location in a few minutes,” Sofie said before quickly disconnecting from the microphone. William tracked the hooded Elves and watched as they continued to walk deeper into the Elven capital. Eventually, the group stopped at a small bakery shop, and the largest one walked inside as the other three stayed outside the shop. William leaned against the wall of another shop just a few short meters away and tried his best to not stand out. Then, after a while of waiting, the tall person walked out, holding what seems to be a scroll in his hand. Before William could start following them again, he felt a sudden hand on his shoulder. He immediately grabs the person's hand, before letting go realizing It’s Sofie.
“So that’s how you meet your friends, huh?” Sofie said.
“It was just an accident, didn’t expect that you’d be right next to me,” William said, before going to follow the group, and Sofie followed.
“So, anything interesting you watched them do?” Sofie said.
“Well, the tallest amongst them walked into a small bakery, and came out with a scroll, and I don’t think that they’ll eat bread on that.”
“Well, I had a few other CIA operatives who are also here to meet up with us, and judging where these guys are going, I had the operatives to meet with us in the Middle Plaza,” Sofie said, handing two photos, showing two men in their mid-thirties.
“Middle Plaza? The hell is that?”
“Well they never mentioned it in the packet, but after a while of talking with the locals, I learned that apparently, It’s a large platform that connects every single platform in the city, well, as many as possible. It’s kinda like a town square.”
“Alright, we’re losing track of our original plan, let’s try and catch up with the group.”
-----
The group of hooded figures continued walking until they reached the Middle Plaza, where a massive tree rested in the middle, as hundreds of wires connected it. Thousands of Elves walk around, as multiple markets give out food. Sofie separated from William to meet up with the other CIA operatives, while William made sure to keep track of the group. William stayed behind the group, but quickly hid behind a food stall as one of them turned around to him. He waited for a few seconds until the person turned away, and he quickly went back to following them. Eventually, Sofie returned with the two other CIA operatives.
“Noticed one of them turned around in your direction, think they noticed you?”
“Hopefully not, and guess these two are the other operatives? William said, talking about the two men.
“Yup and gotta say almost didn’t see them, disguises are probably too good,” Sofie said. The now four CIA operatives continued to follow them until the hooded group suddenly split. One group headed down further into the city, while another group went into another building. This, in turn, resulted in William and Sofie going in a group to follow the group who went into the building, and the other operatives to follow the group that continued to walk down further in the city. Sofie and William walked into the building where the other group entered, but found nothing other than a small wood carving shop, with little wood carvings of things such as knights, and more.
“The hell? Where did those guys go?” Sofie said.
“Not sure, but since there’s no one here,” William said, before closing the windows of the small shop, and locking the door. “Let’s take some time to look around,” William said before pulling out his pistol. Sofie nodded, before pulling out her pistol, and both putting up their guards. They look around the shop for a while but find nothing until Sofie finds a door behind a large shelf.
“Could be where they ran into, shall we?” William said, leaning against the wall next to the door.
“Alright, guns loaded and armed,” Sofie said as she leaned on the other side of the wall, and kicked it open. They peer into the room, guns up, but they see nothing but a large storage room filled with boxes, and dimly lit by lanterns hanging on the ceiling. They slowly walk through the storage room, not putting their guard down for a second. The Eerie Silence of the room filled their ears, making Sofie and William put their nerves on end. As they continued to walk, William stopped Sofie, putting a finger to his lips, and pointed in the direction where they heard footsteps. They both stay still for a second, before they get their guns up, and slowly walk up to the noise, making sure not to make much noise. William and Sofie hide behind a shelf, and as the footsteps got closer, both of them turn the corner with their guns out, but only to see It’s the other two CIA operatives, who also had their guns out.
“The fuck! I thought you guys went to follow the other group!?” Sofie said.
“W-we did! They walked into a building and we followed them, but they were gone by the time we got inside. We found a door and here we are,” One of the Operatives said.
“Same thing for us, but where the hell did they go?” William said. The four operatives slowly began to traverse around the large storage room. But suddenly, the crashes of boxes behind them caught their attention, and William quickly turned around but was quickly tackled by a hooded figure. Sofie and the other two operatives quickly opened fire, but they were also quickly tackled by the other three hooded figures. William fought with the hooded figure on top of him, but he managed to gain the advantage, and he kicked the figure away, knocking them into a shelf. Sofie and the other operatives also kicked the other hooded figures. William attempted to grab his gun off the floor, but one of the other hooded figures quickly grabbed him, and held a knife to his neck, causing the fight to quickly freeze into a stand-off.
The hooded figures held swords, as one held a crossbow, pointed at Sofie and the other two operatives.
“Quis es?! Sicarii estis?!” (Who are you?! Are you assassins?!), One of the hooded figures said, revealing themselves to be an older man.
“Latin… What should we do, Sofie?” One of the operatives said.
“Well, either we work this out, or their brains are gonna paint the walls.” Sofie breathed in deeply before responding to the Elf.
“We aren’t assassins. We’re… CIA,” Sofie said in Latin.
“CIA… never heard of an assassin group like that,” Another hooded figure said, revealing themselves as a female.
“We’re not an assassin group, we work for the United States,” Sofie said.
“United States… Those men in strange clothing out in the streets said something similar, but why were you following us?” The hooded man said.
“My friend, who you’re holding a knife to his neck, caught one of your friends stealing something from one of those Elven Enforcement Officers,” Sofie said.
“Wait, United States? I read from a document about a human nation agreeing to help defend the south from Zapad and Vostok forces in exchange for land,” The female Elf said. “Perhaps we got on the wrong foot, we’re willing to put down my weapon if you put down if you do the same.”
“Tialha! What do you mean! Why should we even do that!” The male Elf said before she kicked his leg.
“Nylian! You dumbass! Maybe you should think for once before you shout someone's name out loud! Now, humans, do we have a deal?”
Sofie stared at them for a second, before slowly nodding and putting her gun down, and the other two operatives did the same. The man still holding the knife at William's neck, Nylian, and William grabbed his gun from the floor and walked back to Sofie and the other operatives. The female Elf, Tialha, said something to another hooded Elf, and they walked away, leaving only three Elves. She pulled her hood back, revealing her golden blonde hair and green eyes. Nylian then pulled back his hood, revealing his bulky face, with a large blond beard, hair, and green eyes. The final one, a seemingly younger boy pulled back his hood, revealing a relatively soft face, around the age of fifteen for a human.
“You know, for apparently being humans, you look far more like Elves, disguises perhaps?” Nylian said, noticing their fake ears pointing out of their hoods.
“Fake, can’t be going around sneaking around without looking the part,” William said before Sofie slammed her foot onto his.
“Now, Ms. Tialha, why do you want to talk to us in the first place?” Sofie asked.
“Well, I have read documents regarding your country and I want to talk to see if you can help us. I understand that your country is a democracy of sort, correct?” Tialha asked.
“Well, more specifically, we’re a Federal Republic with a presidential system, but why are you even asking this?” William said.
“I’m asking to see if you can help us. We wish to revive an Elven Democracy on these Elven Isles. I… We need you to help the Saplings of Liberty.”