[19th August 1917, Forest of Tats, Annarack, Nao]

In the windless dawn of the jungle, footsteps; the crunch of broken twigs and branches; heavy breathing and an infant's cry break the silence. The couple run for their dear lives, their hearts restless; their ears hearing through the deafening silence, they wish to hear it, but they don't want to.

Natria and Flohelm ran; Natria tried to soothe her child, but the jerks of their run did the opposite. Exhaustion came over the little guy; how long could he cry without milk:; the child fell into deep slumber. Quite a relief for his parents, as they had just reached the opening in the forest. In front of them stoop hundreds of acres of cornfield. They were the Great Corn of Tats, in just a few days they would be harvested, for now they were the perfect site for hiding. Suddenly, they heard gunfire from the direction they came from.

The couple entered the corn stalk as soon as they heard the shot.

"They are near." Flohelm whispered, his brow coming together.

Natria nods, as she gently brushes the head of Barchen.

"We are close, the farm is not that distant from Shidan, if we can just mak-" Flohelm was interrupted by another shot from the same direction.

Flohelm grabbed Natria's hand, and the couple tiptoed through the forest; they tried to look for an exit on the other side; it didn't help. The corn didn't seem to end wherever they went. In whichever direction they moved, they always seem to return to the same place. Exhausted, Natria fell to her knees.

"We can't give up, we nee to continue!" Flohelm tried to cheer her up. Natria didn't seem to listen.

Flohelm was about to cheer her again when another shot, this one much louder than the previous one, was heard.

Natria's expression changed; she got alert, her muscles became tight, her face devoid of any expression except rage. Quickly, she got up, and the couple continued their journey. Fifteen minutes had passed since they enter the cornfield. Suddenly, Flohelm heard rustling to his right;

"They are near. We should continue." Flohelm said, each word he spoke reflected his helplessness. He was scared.

"Where did that fucker with the chick go?" a rough voice came from the east. Flohelm's heart dropped, he sat down on the ground trying to muffle his scream.

"Must be around these stalks. I'll make sure he pay for his troubles in interest!" another voice came.

"You think boss will let us have the chick?"

"Only if she survives him, heh." the voices laughed and mocked.

Flohelm' soul boiled and raged with anger; he wanted to shut their mouths there and then but he kept quiet, knowing very well.

"Anyway, search the stalks. I can't wait to enjoy that chick." the voice commanded.

Flohelm and Natria sat still, without moving an inch. With every rustling, their souls vibrated, the hair raised in fear, their hearts felt they would burst, but they kept quiet.

"I heard they had a child or something?" a voice questioned.

"Right about that, she's a used one but that doesn't change the experience for us suckers does it?" they laughed again.

"What would we do with the child?" the voice asked.

"Kill that fucker, throw him off the cliff or something." the other voice replied.

Something snapped in Natria upon hearing the last line. She could never let her child die; that would stain her honour as a mother. Her eyes narrowed down, her face booming with determination; she kissed her son's forehead. Quietly she handles him off to Flohelm. He was confused, then he saw the tears in her wife's eyes.

"No.." a soft answer came from his mouth.

She leaned closer, kissing her husband for the final time. Natria stood up and ran in the opposite direction. The bandits noticed her; they followed with a chase all while Natria shouted, "You can do this!" Every second or so, his voice became fainter and fainter. Flohelm was left alone now. Everyone he cared about was gone. Vahana, Nocus and finally his wife Natria, they all sacrificed themselves. In the depths of his mind he drowned; would he let all those sacrifices go to waste?

"No!" he answered in a determined voice.

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[19th August 1939, Forest of Tats, Shidan, Karsen]

"Cut down every single tree you see! Orders from the Lord!" commanded Major Recrooze Jannet.

The forest was quiet, its inhabitants were long gone; what remained now was nothing but a husk>

The workers obliged, within the span of two days, with the help of five hundred men, Major Recrooze cleared out one thousand trees.

"Great work! You shall rest till the Lord arrives." commanded Recrooze.

It was noon when the horns of arrival were heard; the Lord had arrived! Recrooze felt the ground vibrating with the marching of soldiers as the Lord made his way. In the distance, he saw him, his Lord, the dictator of Avenriot, the mightiest of mightiest, Natria Av' Hamil.

All the workers bowed in his honour. Recrooze got on his knees, serving a half bow in front of his Lord.

"Grear work done, Major Recrooze!" complimented Natria.

"Thank you, my Lord!" Recrooze responded.

"You have indeed done very well, raise your head." Natria ordered.

Recrooze obliged.

"For your loyal service, I shall promote you to the rank of Lt. Colonel! You shall be transferred to Canth immediately. I believe you shall give your best there!" Natria said.

Recrooze had an expression of bittersweet happiness.

"Perhaps you want something else." Natria commented when he saw Recrooze's face.

"Um.. No.. Wh-Wh-What makes you say so, my Lord?" Recrooze fumbled with his words.

"Your face Lt. Colonel, it doesn't bear the expression of satisfaction, tell me, what else do you demand?" Natria said, his voice loud and clear reverberating through every surface in the surrounding.

Recrooze saw no point in hiding his emotions.

"My Lord, I have grown up here in Shidan, this place is very close to my heart, and now war is just around the corner; I want to give all of myself, I want to sacrifice myself for the count-" Recrooze said when he was interrupted by Natria's hand on his shoulder.

"Lt. Colonel, I understand your emotions very well. As a soldier, there is no great honour than dying for our country. However, the nasty Germans are always on our noses, those fuckers might attack us when we are busy with Narchasia, we can't afford to lose our land to them, can we? I hope you understand. With your leadership, I believe it won't be long till Berlin is ours. I trust you Recrooze make me and our country proud. Make sure I won't regret my decision!" Natria said in a proud voice.

Recrooze stood in silence, contemplating what he just heard from his Lord, after quite a while, he took a deep breath.

"Yes, my Lord! I understand. I shall make you proud." Recrooze replied, giving Natria his Avian(hands raised forward with palm side facing down) salute.

"Very well then, now, if could excuse us General Caft and I have something important to discuss." Natria said.

Recrooze gave him his final salute and left.

"My Lord, do you really think those Germans will retaliate, if you do we mu-" Caft said.

"Shhh!" said Natria as he pressed his lips against his thin lips.

Caft stopped.

"Oh dear Caft, do you really think the German will retaliate after what we did in Chemnitz?" asked Natria in a sassy tone.

"No, my Lord, certainly not! Not after our display." Caft replied.

"Very well then, we shall begin our preparations for the war!" Natria said in a sinister voice as he narrowed his eyes. The twilight light shone from behind, giving the mere mortal the godly glow, just like he was to his people, a god!

[19th August 1917, Forest of Tats, Annarack, Nao]

Amid the leafless trees, a man ran with his child, tears continually rolling down his face, his feet crushing his heart like the leaves as he ran. He could hear the pursuers close behind, but he continued. He can't stop now, he had lost everything but he can not afford to make all those sacrifices end in vain. He ran even when he felt his legs might break, he ran even when his lungs were about to explode; he ran and ran until the limitations imposed by god himself became the Goliath and thus David fell. Clutching his child in his hand, Flohelm fell on to the ground, the fallen leaves cushioning his fall, though it didn't matter. The man had already lost conscience.

Flohelm slowly opened his eyes, his vision slowly adapting to the dark surroundings. An elderly woman sat by his side, countless wrinkles covered her face, each a testimony to her experience. Profesional or rookie, it didn't matter, as soon as the thought of Barchen hit him, he panicked.

"Where is he?' he muttered as he hastily sat on his bed.

"Where is Barchen? he questioned as his words merged into one another.

"Oh god please, please tell me where is Barchen?" he questioned repeatedly.

"Please, no god, why don't you tell me?" he said in rage.

Tears rolled out of his eyes, irrigating the already made tear mark. Al this time lady remained silent; her calming expression devoid of any change.

"Are you talking about the little boy, som?" she said in a calming voice.

"Yes, yes, yes!" he replied, speaking 'yes' multiple times.

"Worry not, son. Your son is with my women, they're taking excellent care of him." she said, trying to calm the agitated young man. Flohelm refused to believe her, he kept on requesting to her about Barchen but the woman just sat there looking at him with an expression of pity. Flohelm's blood was boiling. In a fit of rage, he tried to get out of his bed, but felt a sharp pain near his right leg.

"You shouldn't move, otherwise my treatment will of no effect and in the worst case we might have to perform an amputation. Flohelm stopped for a second, thinking of all the choices he had made, thinking what they had brought upon him. His mind calmed; anger slowly receding away in its place guilt and sorrow came; all he could do now was retrospect! His eyes were too dry to cry. Devoid of any light in his eyes, he just sat there, still, looking at the clock like a lifeless corpse as the clock ticked and ticked and ticked.............