“What’s going on out there?!” A sergeant from the Second Legion yelled.

“Get me a runner! Ow!” Said another while being shoved out of the way by a medic rushing to the front of the tent.

“Tell Squad F10 to move to the west.” Said a huge-eyed scout from his perch, built above the command tent. He closed his bright, nearly solid black eyes and groaned in frustration. “NO. WEST!” He shouted.

“Squad Y72 is getting pounded out there. Send T31, they’re nearby.” A captain ordered.

“No, T31 made contact with the monster force in that sector.” The scout replied.

“Then find me another!” The captain barked.

“Has anyone seen or heard from H57?! My sister’s in that squad! She’s a part of the Third.” The distraught reptilian medic called out to the scout in the perch.

“Then she’s in a hole.” He said dismissively before looking at the woman, his huge flat eyes focusing on her and then the armband around her bicep. His chest tightened. He turned back to the battlefield, pausing on one spot. “Try Medical Tent 9. Looks like they managed to get some squads out of the hole in that sector.”

A slight smile grew on her scaled face before determination reignited. “No, just knowing is enough. Thank you!” She said racing back to her post. She sat with another squad, mostly made up of medics. A squad that would be sent out near the end of this wave.

“Oi! I need eyes on the eastern front! It's quiet out there.” Said the first Sergeant, until another shouted above him. “Get me a sitrep on F10. Did they move?”

“Aye, nothing quiet about the eastern front! The Eastern Front has met with the monster horde. All squads engaged.” Well almost. He focused on a small squad for a moment, they focused on getting people out of a hole. No need to change that. He then swung his head back around. “F10 now engaged in the center field along with Squads G11 and F12.”

“What of the Y72!?” A shout came from a different sergeant.

The scout’s hands gripped the railing. “Nothing quiet about this Raid at all.” The scout said to himself. “Give me a moment.”

Len walked away from the pandemonium, which—poor is the command tent, though he guessed most of the tents were in similar states. Sergeants and Scouts ran around yelling orders or other changes that must be made. Scouts that specialized on long range intel gathering reported on what was happening. Somewhat poorly from what he could gather. Then again he was spoiled by Mel’s near miraculous talents. He never lacked for any battlefield information back when he ran tents just like this one.

Len watched the nearly overwhelmed scout from his perch yell out findings to three separate officers, each shouting louder than the last. Poor guy.

Len turned back to the tent itself and watched the chaos ensue, thanking the First Ones that he wasn’t part of that anymore. He didn’t miss that stress. Not that his new work wasn’t stressful, but it was at least meaningful.

A notification popped up.

—SQUAD L7 NOT IN DESIGNATED SECTOR—

Repeat or Change Directive?

Nevermind. I am a part of this again. Drat. Len thought to himself with a sigh. Of course he’s not there, not when a giant hole opens up and swallows his friend. I doubt any squads are where they are supposed to be. He checked the separate tab in his character sheet. It gave live updates on the welfare of his squads, or squad in this case. Nothing detailed, just the current health and stamina of the members. He wouldn’t get a kill count or an achievement run down until after the raid.

All seemed fine on that front, no deaths. Tawny ran a little low on stamina but Len was sure that bird they picked up from Rache would handle it.

But he needed more information, so Len turned his attention elsewhere. He looked up at the overtaxed scout again. Len couldn’t quite get a read on the man’s gene, he could think of a few that came with large eyes like that. Len shook his head and searched for another command tent. One that hopefully did share the confusion, not that he was going to get his hopes up.

After a minute of searching, he found one where only two sergeants yelled at the scout. It would have to work. Not like they could say anything to Len anyway.

Len hopped into the air, flames igniting under his soles. He pondered on the Raid as he flew. In all his years as a fighter and eventual leader in Raids, Len was used to the unpredictability that came with them. Early starts were nothing new, uncommon, and a pain but not unheard of. He’d seen second waves arrive quickly as well. No, what bothered Len was the ambush. Monsters don’t fight with tactics, they don’t strategize. Not ones in the Forest.

There were hardly any bipeds here. Gremlins and the occasional Hemgremlin, but no truly intelligent monsters. Werebreeds never made their homes in the trees. They stayed in the Hills or the Desert.

But then what ambushed our Legion? From what some reports are saying, these monsters used primitive bows and some had archery skills and abilities, which is in line with Hemgremlins. But so many. And there was the matter of the holes themselves. Weyrms was Len’s guess. They were another Desertborne monster but being the only creatures capable of such a feat meant they had to be the answer. But that only drove the mystery further. To have so many and not a single one emerge. The death count should have soared by now. And to be so coordinated. It was maddening. But before he could spend more time elaborating, he made it to his destination.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Len quelled his flames before he landed on the command tent perch. His sudden arrival on the rickety platform made it wobble and caused the scout to jump and nearly fall right off the platform. Len caught her arm and balanced the scout. Her gene was immediately recognizable, a Jiraff splicer. No other gene elongated a person’s neck quite like it. Her shoulders stopped at Len’s chest but her head stood just a tad higher than his own. They made terrible fighters but some of the best battlefield observers. But off putting as well.

She twisted over to Len, eyes filled with shock. Len winced for a split second. “Sorry about that, love. Just need you to get me info on a squad right over there.” Len nudged her head around over to the eastern edge of the battlefield, where he assigned Liam’s squad.

“Umm, Sir, I-I’m supposed to—”

“Shhh, Legion Squad L7 dear.”

She tilted her head above Len’s. Len suppressed a shudder. “L7? There is no L7, that designation would go to the Fifth Legion and they don’t…” Len just nodded and raised his sleeve just a bit to show off his moving flame mark trope.

He couldn’t help but grin as he watched the switch flip in her brain. The spark of recognition flared up in the woman’s eyes. Her neck lumbered around him. Its strange movement made Len somewhat queasy and killed that grin.

“Commander Ainsworth?!”

“The one and only, now about my squad,” Len said, pointing her head again.

“Jiraff, sitrep on T30! Now!”

Len leaned over the side of the platform. “We’ll be just a minute sergeant,” Len called and waved down at the man whose narrow eyes squinted. “Who the hell are you? I swear I will have your head on a spike for disrupting one of my…”

Oh, I don’t have time for this. Len snapped his fingers and flames erupted right next to the man’s leg. The sergeant jumped nearly ten feet in the air, which impressed Len, those flames weren’t even heated much. Len didn’t want to burn the tent down.

Upon landing, it looked as if the sergeant had seen the error of his ways. “Commander Ainsworth!” He saluted Len before scurrying back into the tent.

Len let out a sigh. “Okay, so L7.” He readied himself to explain it all over to the scout, but to his surprise, she was already staring off in the right direction. Her eyes switched between scanning the battlefield and the far off look signaling someone was looking through their char sheet, or the battlefield map in this case.

“L7, correct?”

“Yep.”

The woman gulped. Len watched as her entire neck and throat pushed the spit through. He silently wretched. “Um…I don’t know how to tell you this. I only see three members, Sir. Are others in the hole?”

Three, they’re all alive so I'm sure it's fine.

“That’s fine. It's a small squad, only four of them. Tell me what they are currently doing.”

She didn’t question him, instead turning her attention back to the field. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she did but Len was glad she didn’t.

“They seem to be assisting people out of the hole. Two squads from the looks of it. Hmm, that is an interesting use of powers.”

Len frowned. “Which squads?”

“Not sure, I need to see their respective captains for that. Oh, wait, one just hopped out. Along with the fourth member of L7. Squad A5’s Fennel Blines. The other squad leader is climbing up now.”

Len shook his head and ignored the scout’s words. He heard what he needed. Oh, they aren’t going to like this command. Len pulled up the earlier notification about changing the directive.

He thought up the command and sent it off. Sorry you two, but I need Liam to score high.

——

“HEY! DOWN HERE!” Tawny’s shrill voice came from the hole.

I ran up next to Rashith and Hait. Hait looked overjoyed, white Rashith held onto his normal air of indifference when it came down to anybody who wasn’t him. I looked into the hole. It was much deeper than I thought at first. At least fifteen feet, way deeper than what it started out as. Rock formations stuck out of the ground all over. Soldiers were scattered among them, using the rocks as cover, not sure whether it was safe to come out or not. The rock formations near the edge of the circle were much larger and densely packed together, making for ideal cover from the archers from earlier. The rock formations shrunk in size and number closer to the center you got. The direct center held nothing but dirt. That and a few people. A large Minotauren and some others.

Then I found our lightning mage. Behind a small rock stood Tawny, waving her hand around trying to get our attention. Someone stood next to her, fully armored, pulling the excited girl’s arm back into cover.

“DID I GET THEM?” She asked.

“Thank God,” I said under my breath.

“NOPE, LIAM HAD TO FINISH THE JOB!” Hait answered, matching her volume. It was a must. Just a couple hundred feet away, monsters and splicers were pitched in heated combat. Combat they would have to join, sooner rather than later. I turned away from it. Focus on this first. I’m sure no one will be mad at helping other squads.

Tawny pouted at the news, crossing her arms. Then her companion lifted his helmet. It was Fennel. That’s good, maybe we can join up with him.

“IS IT CLEAR?” Fennel yelled.

“YES CAP!” Hait responded.

I turned my attention to the surrounding area, looking for something to get them out of the hole. The sides of the hole were mostly dirt with no footholds or anything. I watched a few other soldiers try to climb out but slide back down as the dirt gave way. Wait then how did that one soldier climb out at the start? I looked over to the arrow filled body at the far edge of the, a shiver ran down my spine.

Then the ground rumbled underneath us. Grabbing the scruff of his outfit, I pulled Hait back from the edge just as his spot fell into the chasm. The rocks and stones in the pit shifted not too quickly, but enough to mess with those inside who tried to walk around. After watching for a minute, I noticed that the ground in the pit was swirling around like a whirlpool. A really slow one, but it explained, at least partially, why the hole was deeper. The fine dirt in the center seemingly seeped into the ground below, thankfully those in the center already made their way to the edges.

Watching the dirt just disappear from the pit brought on a bad feeling in my stomach. We needed to get them out of there now. I looked over to where the archers fired from, all missing now, hidden in the wave of monsters and soldiers fighting.

They must not have been the direct cause. Then what is? That didn’t matter, we needed to get them out before the hole grew any deeper. But how?

I placed Hait down, who held his arms together and shivered. I looked at my claws. Still icy. “Sorry.” Then the metaphorical lightbulb switched in my brain.

“Hait, how well can you shape your water?”

He shrugged, “Not s-sure what y-y-you m-mean?”

They can’t be that cold.

“Can you make a ladder? Or stairs maybe?”