The General would've preferred if Kuraku hadn't kicked in his door and disturbed him while he was arranging his pieces across the war table, but for his Vice-general to be so agitated, he figured either reinforcements had arrived from the Capital or his silver ant scouts had returned from their mission—judging by the wrinkles on her forehead and the small shake of her head as she made eye contact with him, it was the latter that'd come bearing bad news.
… Well.
About time.
Closing his eyes briefly, he rose from his desk and left his office, following Kuraku to the walls of the outpost. His dreary fortress on the border of Hagi’Shar was about the same as when he'd had it constructed two months ago; the fungus mortars were still shelling Boreus in the middle of the night, the mushroom barracks were still stacked with soldiers in training, and by now the gravely injured had already been lying in their graves for the better part of the month. Without more information on the Boreus, he wasn't going to advance and send anyone to die—but that'd change after today, once he heard what the silver ant scouts had to say about the blackrock mountains.
He had to admit he was taken aback a little, though, when he got to the vine walls and a dozen carpenter ant soldiers were already there, prying a gate open with their bare hands. Right out the gate, on the snow, several medics were attempting to give the sitting returnees first-aid to tide over the pain, but one look at the three of them and he already knew this was the end of his Silver Ant Battalions. The three children shot to attention the moment they spotted him nearing, though they managed little more than wobbling around until their legs gave out under them; their cold, detached expressions told him they'd lost even their pain receptors to the cold already.
Kuraku, ever the diligent assistant, waved the other soldiers away as he knelt before the three children. At the very least, they sat at attention—backs straight, shoulders squared, legs crossed. Blood trickled down their cheeks, over their noses, splattered across their thin runner cloaks. None of them had their rifles or axeblades with them, and their skin all over was the colour of deep bruises. Frostbite had gotten to them, but two months out in the Hagi’Shar would do that to them. He was rather impressed already that none of them were missing a finger or two.
Even still, it’d be a waste of time and resources to get them medical attention.
They were dead ants breathing, just waiting for him to give the order to fall over.
He’d let them do that in a bit.
“... Designated M1N-K2, M1N-K4, and M1N-K5 of the First Silver Ant Battalion,” he said, rattling off their names from memory, “I hereby give you permission to speak for the remainder of your lives. Where is the location of the Boreus nest, and what happened to the other battalions?”
K4 and K5 in the back lowered their heads, tucked in their chins, and only K2 in the centre kept her head lifted. “General,” she said, a quiver to her voice. “Would you like a walkthrough the location of the Boreus nest from our current position?”
He nodded firmly. “Spare no detail.”
Under normal circumstances, he’d have Kuraku rush back to his office to grab a map, but there was no time for that now. With a single finger, K2 drew in the snow next to them a rough map of the Hagi’Shar region—she labelled the small circle at the far southern border as their outpost, and drew a whole swathe of triangles north to symbolise the blackrock mountains. He motioned for her to continue as he stared intently, watching the zigzagging line she slowly carved through the snow.
“Two hundred and fifteen of us travelled in hatch formation away from the outpost, crossing the flat hinterlands we previously retreated from within five days,” she started, her line eventually stopping at the base of the blackrock mountains. “We lost the Fifth Silver Ant Battalion to Boreus patrols in the process. Seventeen scouts. Once we reached the base of the mountains, we split into two and travelled horizontally across the mountains, reaching the western border of the Hagi’Shar here,” she crossed out the western border with one finger, “and reaching the eastern border here.” She crossed out the eastern border with her second finger, then dragged her fingers together until they were back at the base of the mountains where they’d first separated. “We lost the Seventh and Eighth Silver Ant Battalion to more Boreus patrols during these two weeks. Forty-two scouts in total.”
He hummed in understanding. “And the Boreus nest is not at the base of any of the mountains.”
“Yes,” she said curtly, and with only a single finger, she started carving a wiggly line further north, “and knowing the nest is not on sea level, we surmised it had to be up in the blackrock mountains. There was a steep two-thousand metre slope leading up the sea of clouds right where we were, but we chose to take the long way around here on the right for the ascent–”
“Why?”
“Because of our intuition,” she said, not missing a beat as she continued drawing her wiggly line. “We felt if we took the direct path up the relatively straight slope, misfortune would befall us. Decree Three: When in doubt, know the Attini Empire is right. Therefore, between the left and right roundabout path, we chose the right path that would take us a few days longer to breach the sea of clouds. We managed to do so within six days, losing only six scouts to hypothermia in the process.”
He stalled in silence before nodding. The silver ant scouts were trained to traverse the most difficult of terrain; their mutations that lent them their ‘intuition’ weren't to be underestimated. “Understood. We will not take the straight slope in the future as well.”
K2 dipped her head, and now that her finger was deep in the blackrock mountain range, she started drilling a circle. “Once we were above the sea of clouds—estimated three thousand and one hundred metres above sea level—we established a forward camp in this location and fanned out in seven groups. The Second Silver Ant Battalion travelled northeast,” she drew a line extending northeast of the circle before crossing it out, “but they did not return or fire a pheromone flare after one week. All twenty-one scouts presumed dead. The Third Silver Ant Battalion went east,” she drew another line going east before crossing it out, “and they did not return or fire a pheromone flare after one week as well. All seventeen scouts presumed dead.”
One by one, she listed off the remaining battalions and the direction they’d chosen to explore in search of the Boreus nest. Far north was a bust. Northwest was a bust. Southeast was a bust. Only two of the ten battalions he’d sent out remained at that point, but then—breakthrough.
“The First and Tenth Silver Ant Battalion travelled west together, and we found traces of Boreus movement around a kilometre-long, kilometre-wide glacier,” she said, drawing two lines going west before circling out a huge chunk in the centre of the mountain range. “We split one last time: the Tenth Silver Ant Battalion travelled north to the crest of the glacier, and we, of the First Silver Ant Battalion, travelled south to the trough of the glacier. While we discovered traces of something peculiar in the south, the Tenth Silver Ant Battalion fired a charred pheromone flare a week ago—the signal that they’d located the Boreus nest in the northern crest of the glacier. All nineteen of them are presumed dead.”
He glanced over at Kuraku, and she wasted no time running back into the outpost, ready to chart the location of the Boreus nest onto the war table. Normally, this was where he’d tell the silver ant scouts to fall over, but K2 was unusually fidgety with her fingers; he turned back to her with a small frown.
“What is it, K2?”
“... While the Tenth Silver Ant Battalion discovered the location of the Boreus nest, we discovered signs of human activity south of the glacier,” she said slowly, as K4 and K5 lifted their heads to corroborate her claims with resolute nods. She kept drawing in the snow, then, carving a line straight down. “There is… a village in the sky. Children with white hair. Bow and arrow hunters. Out of fear of discovery, we did not approach them and merely observed them from afar, but they were hunting Boreus across the southern end of the glacier. They appeared technically unskilled, but, strategically, they were not terrible at hunting Boreus as a group.”
His gaze met her’s, a silent, appraising assessment. “There are people living up there.”
“Yes.”
“All children.”
“Yes.”
“Hunting Boreus close to the nest.”
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“Yes.”
“How?”
“We did not understand either,” she said, shaking her head. “We… were aware that we should have returned the moment we located the Boreus nest, but it was our intuition yet again that told us to stay. Observe. We tried to understand the strange abilities and physiques they possessed, but to little success, so on our way down three days ago, we circled around the mountains and attempted scaling the straight slope up to their village. We figured if we tried entering their village up front, we would be able to make contact–”
“Did you not fear being discovered?”
K2’s gaze was steady. “They were Boreus hunters, and they did not look the type to harm other humans. We believed we could communicate with them.”
“And what of your attempt to scale the slope?”
“Brutal failure. The eighteen of us were discovered and pursued by a Boreus patrol on the way up. We attempted to reach the village by ourselves as a last ditch effort to take refuge, but then they…”
“...”
She trailed off mid-sentence, and the light in her grey eyes seemed to swirl. He snapped his fingers in front of her and scowled; she snapped to attention once more, closing her eyes as she took a deep, shuddering breath.
“... They are human, but they are not,” she breathed, and it came out as a cold, ghostly whisper. “They rode the snow, barefoot, and an avalanche followed them down. The air twists around them. Moonlight refracts and distorts their form. They dress thin, their skin is paler than ash, but their eyes are deep crystal blue—they each slammed into a Boreus and felled it in a single blow.” She started shivering, and her arms went to hug herself. The other two scouts did the same behind her, teeth chattering, irises swirling like mad. “T-They have no defined shape. We could not perceive them clearly. Children they are, yes, but they… do not speak like children. Their lips are ornaments. They speak with the will of the mountains. Their voices tear through the sky, bleed out our eardrums, and they… t-they–”
He clapped his hands on her cheeks, forcing her to look him in the eye.
It wasn’t just an illusion; their irises were swirling, ever so slightly, as though whatever had made them dizzy and nauseous in the first place were still affecting them.
“Calm down. They must simply be children with Swarmsteel Systems,” he said plainly, as K4 and K5 in the back lost their will to stay conscious. He ignored them as they fell to the side and focused only on K2. “What insect classes were they? If they could survive in the high-altitude cold and walk around with nothing but thin cloaks, they must be De Balla Pioneers from the Rampaging Hinterland Front. Or perhaps Nocturna from the Mori Masif Front? The Attini Empire has no records of anyone living in Hagi’Shar, so what insignia do they wear?”
K2 gulped, her words coming out stammered. “I-I do not know. They wear no crest–”
“Recall the details. They must have an insignia or an emblem somewhere, be it on their cloaks or in their village–”
“There is… a white worm devouring its own tail on the back of their cloaks, but that is it,” she blubbered, raising her hands to grab his wrists; he didn’t let go of her cheeks regardless. “They… uh, they also have… high attribute levels. Immense stamina and physique. There was… s-someone coordinating them when the few of us who survived, but I–”
“Their leader,” he demanded. “Give me a description.”
“Sa… Same height as me,” she started, her irises starting to swirl out of control. Her nails dug into his wrist, breaking skin, drawing blood; he ignored it again. “White cloak. No shoes. He was the only one with dark hair, tied at… braided at the end. After he saved us eight survivors from the Boreus, he picked up one of our rifles and shot seven of ours out of our hands. Stripped the last rifle by removing the bolt. Then he–”
“He handled one of your bolt-action rifles?”
“Y-Yes. He fired seven times before we could fire once. Then he… he used that voice again,” she hissed, gripping his wrists so hard he felt his bones creaking. “We didn’t understand his tongue, but it felt like he was telling us to… leave. And forget all about them. Then he knocked us down the slope with his voice, and then we… we spent the past three days running back here. Lost the other four in the process. Only the three of us–”
“Enough, K2.”
He wiped a single tear from the corner of her eye with his thumb, patting her head as he did.
“All of you were wonderful,” he said, swiping a drop of blood from his wrist and sliding it across her forehead, brow to brow, “and I will remember your name.”
“...”
The wistful smile allowed only for a soldier on the brink of death surfaced on K2’s lips, and he lowered her on her side, letting her rest.
By the time Kuraku stepped forward with a blanket—and he’d realised she’d been standing behind since quite some time ago—he’d already laid all three scouts flat on their backs. Their eyes were all closed and their faces were all cleaned with snow, their skin as unblemished as they ever could be; now that he was standing on his feet and looking down at them, he guessed they were all between thirteen to fourteen, but no older than fifteen.
Not particularly young.
But not particularly old, either.
“... Should I report the presence of these ‘worm children’ to the Capital, General?” Kuraku asked, holding her blanket behind her as he turned, waving up at a few carpenter ant soldiers to carry the bodies in.
“Report?” he muttered, the two of them walking back into the outpost, heading straight towards their office. “There is nothing worthwhile to report to the Empress and Her Four Families. The scouts were starved, freezing, and exhausted—for all we know, they had merely seen hallucinations, or imaginary manifestations of the ‘will of the mountains’ in their cold-addled states. The Empress and Her Four Families would not care for a report as ridiculous as children living all the way up at the very top of Hagi’Shar.”
“But our silver ant scouts–”
“Are good children who do not lie regardless,” he said, glancing around to nod at her. “Take a hundred carpenter ant soldiers with you and establish a forward outpost at the base of the mountains, right under the straight slope K2 mentioned. We will eventually turn it into a base camp we can use to ascend the blackrock mountains with, and once we get up there to establish a second entrenched outpost, we will have access to the glacier where the Boreus nest lays. At that point, our mortars can shell it and annihilate it from afar.”
She raised her brows, trying to read his expression, but he turned away just as quickly as he continued pacing towards his office. Then he heard her saluting, arm thumping her chest.
“How am I to establish a base camp if there is heavy Boreus presence at the base of the mountains, though?” she asked, and it wasn’t an outright refusal of his order; he knew better than anyone else she could probably erase a hundred or so Boreus by herself, so her own safety wasn’t of any concern. She simply needed to keep the carpenter ant soldiers going with her alive as well in order to properly establish the camp.
For that, he had a plan—and it began with him cracking his knuckles.
“Until you finish establishing the base camp, I and the rest of the soldiers here will draw all Boreus attention from you,” he said nonchalantly. “Do try to be as quick as possible, though. My stamina is not endless. Establish your camp within two months, secure the perimeters, and once you are done, summon me with a pheromone flare.”
“Understood. I will depart with the soldiers tomorrow.”
Kuraku split off before she could follow him up the stairs to his elevated mushroom office, and once again he found himself alone, in dim candle lighting, staring at the war table with all his pieces scattered across the map.
Closing the door behind him, he walked forward and placed his fists on the table. His battalions and his soldiers’ red wooden pieces were at the far southern border, and the Boreus nest with the yellow piece was dead in the middle of the blackrock mountains, three thousand metres above sea level. No matter what, his forward army would have to scale the mountains if they wanted the nest in mortar range, which meant they had to pierce the sea of clouds at the two thousand metre mark, and then ascend the final thousand metre slope up to where K2 had tried to reach.
He looked around for any spare coloured pieces, but found none he could use for the worm children standing between them and the Boreus nest.
…
But, on second thought, he figured he didn’t exactly need a different coloured piece.
He swiped a red piece from his southern border, placed it right where the village in the sky was supposed to be, and stared at it for a little while longer.
Wondering.
Pondering.
Dark hair.
Braided at the back.
And someone who can shoot seven times with a bolt-action before a single shot can be returned.
…
He wasn’t a soldier on the brink of death, but still he allowed himself a small, small smile.
As the General of the Hagi’Shar Forward Army, he felt he could give himself at least that much.
… I remember each and every last one of your names, after all.
----------------------------------------
Arc Two, “The Children of the Moon”, End