Chapter 5

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As we continued onward through the countryside shrouded in darkness, our feet shaping the ground beneath us, the less distant sounds of battle quieting down as time quickly passed, our synchronized watches ticking down to midnight. Was the fight about to end? It seemed too soon, even if we had to fight our way through the estate and the steel beast. Something felt wrong, something told me we should have been afraid, even though our feeling of dread was slowly dissipating. A light of a town lit up the night sky on the horizon, further brightening our path with the gleam of the stars. We were close to our destination. Soon, everything would be revealed, we would know which side won the battle - or whether something more sinister happened. All of us were curious - even George, his expression turning grim with a note of confusion painting on it. It was unusual to see anything but anger or disgust on him, and as such, a slight concern crept into my mind. Vlandeers, as Arthur called him previously, seemed like a grizzled veteran - he should have known something. Maybe he did, which is why his face seemed different.

With each step, less and less noise reached our ears, even though they were becoming louder. We left the side road, stepping onto a main one, occasionally littered with abandoned cars, surrounded by tall, naked trees. There were no signs of a fight. Not far away from us, the first signs of the city were drawn, short, dull-colored buildings stood in front of the tall, bright ones. We saw some people making their way across the street, visibly armed, but with no concern for their safety. At first, I considered them to be nothing but Galvanian militia, but I was corrected in no time by Arthur, having identified them as our own. But what were they doing in the open? We had a war to win - not lives to spare. Either way, if they were still alive, perhaps it was safe to move up without a worry. With our sergeant’s command, we sped up a bit, closing the distance between us and the group of soldiers. As soon as we passed the first buildings, I recognized one of them - Felix. He stood in the middle of the group which just noticed us, his silhouette shorter than other men, waving his hand towards us. They certainly expected no trouble. In less than a minute, we caught up to them and began to ask many questions. We had to know what happened - the silence began to slowly agitate us.

- Felix, care to explain what kind of a party you’re throwing here? - I asked him, freeing up my left hand.

- And if we’re late to it. - added George, looking at him with suspicion - What are you doing here? Not going to fight the Galvies?

- It’s over, guys! - he shouted, despite how close he was to us, before turning over to Arthur, ignoring us in our sergeant’s favor - What are you doing here? They sent you this late to help us clean up or what?

- We had… Issues along the way. - Arthur replied, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, trying to bring attention to Jean and his now spent tube - We did clean up what you missed. Is the battle over?

- Yes… And, no. We’ve found something new just out of town. Helped us make it all easier, and will make us stay here for longer… Or not at all.

- Ghosts? - joked Arthur, chuckling under his nose. - Or maybe something fell from the heavens?

- Thousands of angels, if you please- It’s best you see it yourself.

As he said it, he turned his back on us and started to walk away, wishing for us to follow him. Left with no choice, we followed. My mind began to think again - what could he probably mean? Perhaps we just fought a skirmish, but I doubt we missed a star falling from the sky. And even then, I did not believe in anything extraordinary happening. Our world was not a fairy tale, even if my mind wished to believe otherwise. Whatever it was Felix wanted us to see, it was human… Or was it? Despite my initial claims, I started to imagine scenarios that could not be real. A comet that shook the ground, ripping off trees from their roots, shaping the terrain to its liking. Perhaps a creature that aided us in our struggle - our culture was full of legends about ancient humans, people who have uncovered the secrets of the night sky, fantastical sentient creatures… Whose existence nobody could confirm. At least until now. I kept thinking, but as I wondered, I felt a weak punch into my shoulder. I turned my head to locate the person that made me go back to reality. It didn’t take long.

- Still burning? - asked Beatrice, looking me straight in the eye. With my head out of the clouds, I took a quick glance at my arm, covered with the long sleeve of my brown jacket, not even bothering to roll it up, before turning back to her.

- Not in the slightest. Are you worried about me? - I replied with a note of sarcasm in my voice.

- Not at all. I was just checking up. - she moved her sight ahead of us, pointing at Arthur and Felix who walked a few meters ahead of us, discussing something just soundlessly enough for their words not to reach us - What do you think they’re talking about? Something that Sevens found? Can you imagine what it is?

- If it’s him talking, I’m sure it’s something about girls. Durand’s a simple man. Can’t suspect him of questions about the meaning of life, especially with Arthur being his companion. They got that question answered, anyway...

- For how long have you known him? - she asked me again, raising one of her eyebrows.

- A few days. Yet I doubt I’ll hear anything new from him.

- You’re quick to judge, aren’t you? - she let out a quiet, shy giggle - But what did they find? Any ideas?

- None at all. Probably a plane wreck, or a burning blimp. - I answered untruthfully, averting my eyes from her. I did not want to be labeled as the weird one with an imagination that ran wild. I had to keep my cool, prove I was trustworthy… It felt ironic. Lie to make others believe I could be trusted.

- Really? Maybe they found a sword set in stone that nobody can pull out, or a rich family of crystals in different colors, beautifully sparkling in the moonlight… Who knows? Possibilities are endless…

Our small talk was overheard by George, who decided to throw in his hardly wanted opinion. - We’re going to see, ladies. No need to fret over it now. What comes, comes. Now stop dreaming, carrot.

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With his words, Beatrice was disheartened, her head tilting down, staring at her feet, dragging her through the gray, ruined street. All it took was a sentence directed towards her to make the girl nearly blindfold herself, hear no evil. I intended to find out why. I started to walk more slowly, letting her get ahead of me, sincerely hoping her head was full of thoughts. As soon as I saw George by my side, I picked up the pace, deciding to accompany him instead. As soon as I noticed him direct his attention towards me, I started to speak, concentrated on the road ahead.

- What’s the deal between you two? - I asked him outright, not wishing to waste any time - All I see is you keeping her mouth shut. Bad past or...

- You could say that. - he answered, now looking in the same direction as I was. - She stays with her head in the clouds, refusing to listen to the sound of reason. Someone will die due to this. And if that wasn’t enough, speaking in her direction might give you a tumor… Under the right conditions.

- Tumor? - I asked him, confused.

- A nasty one that will never leave you be. It’s best to avoid talking to the carrot, not only will she not say anything useful, you can hurt yourself in more ways than one if you keep trying. Besides, you got everyone else - why try to get a shut-in open up?

- Fair point, but… How can you get a disease by talking to someone?

- You’ll see how if you keep insisting. I ain’t going to tell you. Made that mistake already.

He sped up, leaving me behind, as I slowly waddled forward, knowing less than I did previously. She either spoke with ghosts and laid curses on people, or… Something else. The first option was not completely insane. She sometimes stood completely still, almost like escaping our reality for a lush, colorful one, seeing what we could not see. Her imagination was beyond whatever me or anyone else could dream of - even that I considered myself a creative one, always seeing countless imaginary pictures in my mind whenever given the occasion to space out a little. As for other explanations… I had no idea. Perhaps she was infected with something. But she would not be walking alongside us if it was the case. Or maybe he was just lying.

Not long afterwards, we reached the other end of the rather small town, passing a few of our friendly soldiers along the way. Outside noise had stopped completely, only our speech and sounds of crickets sometimes disturbing the silent night. Arthur and Felix never ended their rambling - which happened to be exactly what I was expecting from them - before suddenly cutting silent as they stood on the edge of a small hill and looked down, still too far away for any of us to see what they gazed at. A silent swear could be heard from our sergeant before he turned his head over to his companion, asking him if what he saw was true. I stepped forward, curious to see what they have found. As soon as I moved close to Arthur, he was halfway through lighting up his cigarette, refusing to speak. But I understood why. In front of us, on a large field which was a home to seeds of wheat not so long ago, stood an army. Hundreds of men, holding rifles close to their bodies, standing shoulder to shoulder, barely illuminated by the lights of their distant camps, shrouded in a thin fog. They stood still and watched us from the distance, yet none of them took a step forward. Their uniforms were barely visible in the darkness, but they seemed darker than Galvanian grey jackets, their black, round helmets showing no similarity either. They gave an impression of haunted spectres watching the living follow in their footsteps. But I could clearly see their bodies. They were humans, waiting on us… I did not know who they were, however, nor what they wanted. I turned back to face the others, but judging by their faces, they knew just as much as I did. Once again, I opened my mouth to speak, but I was interrupted in no time. Everyone started asking Durand about the meaning of this “Finding”. He had few answers, however. The soldiers were not hostile. They simply watched and listened, like they were chained to the very ground beneath them. None of us knew what their plan was… But we all expected them to stay. They were not Galvanians, here was nearly no doubt in my mind, and an army like this did not get here by accident. I wanted answers. Someone would have to know, if not us…

I took a hold of my radio, bringing my head closer to it, keen on asking the man who sent us here, and I hoped he had a good explanation. Felix looked at what he probably saw as a brick, raising an eyebrow, but remained silent. I clutched the device tightly, pressing a button, before speaking in an agitated voice.

- David, what’s the meaning of this? There are hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers, standing right outside our gates. They don’t look Galvanian, so who are-

- Corporal, - he interrupted me, talking calmly into his own microphone, probably seated comfortably in his dusty office, sounding like he did not have a care in the world - We already received reports of unexpected enemy troops. We will investigate, please, remain calm and await further instructions.

- Further instructions?! - I exclaimed, raising my voice even higher - Even you don’t know what we’re dealing with? They could raze this entire town to the ground, how did this slip through your-

Before I finished, I felt someone’s hand hold mine, attempting to move it away from the radio. I let go of the button, cutting the transmission short, and looked at Felix, who took a step back afterwards. There was no response from David. Durand shook his head and smiled, his amber eyes meeting mine.

- We told him already. Long ago… He either does not know why it happened, or is trying to hide something. We should be fine with both. When the time is right, we will do what is needed.

I stayed silent for a moment, hardly believing his words. He simply accepted that he could have been lied to. In another situation, in another time, I would have found it to be a boon. But then, it was nothing but insanity. Our lives were at a stake. A single lie could determine whether we lived to see another sunrise. My silence was broken soon afterwards as one of the distant men revealed himself a light of their vehicle, showing his dirty uniform. I recognized it - just as everyone else did. Sudverians. Wild, yet brilliant people of the harsh, wintery east, tied by a tradition of war and conflict, neighbors of almost every nation on Teurora, keen on seizing anything they could lay their eyes on. Conquerors of countless nations, owners of numerous lands. They came here looking for riches and trouble. The news of them crossing Galvanian territory, however, were recent and mostly unknown to us back in the moment - it was impossible for them to reach us in a matter of days if it took us this long to cross a single mountain. They moved with haste that was unavailable, unknown to us. It was either a pact that allowed them to move freely... or something way more sinister. But for now, we could do nothing but wonder. We had hoped for an explanation to come swiftly. We all shared our thoughts in that moment of uncertainty, often finding common ground - expecting nothing good to come out of it.

- Sudverians. - noticed Arthur, prying his eyes off of his binoculars - That’s the last thing I expected in this place. Are they allied to Galvies now?

- Doubt it. - said George, resting himself on a nearby rock. - They are not known to make alliances. Mavericks, every last one of them. Can’t say how we missed an army this size moving through these lands, however…

- They are most certainly headed for the mountains. - noticed Jean, sure of his theory - That’s where most crystals mines are, and the only place worth controlling all the way until the bay. And these hills are the only territory our military took so far.

- So what you’re saying is…

- Even if they are not hostile now, it’s only a matter of time until they set their sights on us. They won’t stop now just because a new contender stands in their way. They must be confident in their strength.

- Hope you’re wrong. - I replied, looking back at him after a moment of listening. - Don’t fancy myself taking them all on.

- You’d rather skip all the glory, eh? Don’t mind if I take it. - Felix showed his teeth in a wide smile before stepping closer to the edge, pointing his finger at the lines of people in front of us - If they come, we’ll push them back, all the way to the borders of Daugavma and all the other lands they took!

- And we will do it without breaking a sweat. - said Arthur, walking back towards the town - Nothing is written yet, so don’t get your hopes up! Let’s meet up with the others and think of something. If David’s got no plan, we will make one ourselves.

As he said, we did. We moved back and rejoined Durand’s team deep inside the town, discussing our next move. Eventually, our command spoke again and ordered us to wait and see - which was the only plan we could agree on. For the few next hours, we tirelessly built defenses around the town, placing sandbags, moving abandoned cars, preparing for the worst. Yet nothing was to come. They stood their ground, just as we stood ours. Not a single sound disturbed the silence. But we all knew that once the first shot was heard, our world would change. Never before in history had Union’s people faced the Sudverian threat this close to their homeland. The only line separating them from our country was the mountain range - and us, holding the town. But as the night passed with no news, we came to expect nothing. We spent our evening talking and drinking, less and less convinced that we were in danger, feeling of uneasiness slowly slipping away.

Then, as the sun rose again, we received the news. Our leaders tried to grasp the situation, explain it, find us a solution that would prevent further conflict. They failed. As the sun rose again, we heard a whistle. And with this whistle, they moved. The Second Teuroran War began, giving birth to more horrors than any other.