Chapter 2: Nov. 27, 1912

Nineteen year old Private Heinrich Jaeger was not sure he believed the report that had come to his commanding officer over the wire. According to the report, Berlin was under attack by medieval knights, goblins, and dragons. It sounded like utter madness to Jaeger. He wondered if whoever had sent the report was drunk, insane, or both. Either way, Jaeger along with two corps were mobilizing in Berlin.

Jaeger gripped his Mauser rifle tightly. This would be his first time in actual combat. He wondered how he would perform under the pressure of battle. Jaeger was both afraid and excited at the same time. These feelings only intensified when a dragon dove out of the sky straight towards his regiment. Jaeger stared at the creature in utter shock.

"It is a real dragon," Jaeger whispered to no one in particular.

Fortunately, not everyone was so dumbstruck. Most of the regiment took cover on the ground. Some of them fired upon the dragon. Someone shoved Jaeger to the ground. The dragon grabbed a soldier by his shoulders and began to carry him away. Two other men grabbed the soldier by his legs, trying to pull him back to the ground. The one who was grabbed screamed and stabbed the dragon with his bayonet.

Jaeger had gathered himself at this point. He and a few of the other fired at the dragon with their Mausers. Some of the bullet tore the dragon's wings, some struck its body. One of them pierced the monster's head. Seconds later, it collapsed to the ground, lifeless. Jaeger was the first to approach the corpse. He poked it with the butt of his rifle. No response. Just for good measure, Jaeger stabbed it with his bayonet. Still nothing. His regiment let out a shout of victory.

"Well done, men." Their Sergeant, Albert Kropp said and put the heel of his boot against the dragon's skull as if to brag. "This beast was no match for bullet, now was it?!"

"Sir, is that a saddle on its back?" Jaeger asked.

Sergeant Kropp looked, then said, "Certainly looks that way. Must have had a rider as well. It seems we are fighting an enemy that rides dragons. This is right out of a fairy tale!"

The Sergeant sounded genuinely amused. Jaeger was more curious than amused. He wondered where this creature had come from and what other creatures now roamed Berlin.

"Alright men, let's get moving. There is still a battle to be fought and plenty of enemies that need to be buried!" Sergeant Kropp shouted with a smirk.

Kropp love of battle was almost concerning to Jaeger. Though, he had other thing to be concerned about at the moment.

Friedrich Muller flew his airplane over Berlin, trying to make sense of what was going on in the city. Through the use of binoculars, Muller make out men in armor moving throughout Berlin both on foot and on horseback. Even from his current height, Muller could tell they were looting and pillaging. He noted where the largest groups were. At the same time, Muller tried to locate where these medieval invaders had come from. They could not have just appeared out of thin air.

"At least the Kaiser is not in the city right now." Muller murmured to himself.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was currently in Austria-Hungary meeting with its ruler. Had he been in the city, there was a real danger of him getting captured or killed by these strange invaders. That would have been a catastrophe.

Muller noticed something odd. He was flying over the center of Berlin now and he saw something that did not belong. Muller had been born and raised in Berlin, but he had never seen the strange gate-like structure in the center of a street. Whatsmore, the medieval invaders were flooding out of the Gate.

"What is that thing?" Muller wondered aloud.

Suddenly, Muller heard a loud shriek. When he looked to his right, Muller saw a dragon with a man riding it flying at him. Instantly, Muller maneuvered to avoid the attacker, then got into position to counterattack. He put a good deal of bullets through the beast and its rider. It went plummeting to earth. Muller smiled, enjoying his first kill. Then Muller headed back to base to make his report.

Remi was nothing more than a common foot soldier in the Ragna Kingdom's army. He was what they would consider the runt of the liter in his legion. The guy others bullied and gave the extra work to. However, Remi was also a very smart guy, for a peasant. Remi operated a secret trade circle. He traded not only spoils of war, but information about the superiors would prefer their soldiers not know. What missions were going to be easy, which ones were suicidal.

When his country's Gate gave his people a new frontier for expansion, Remi knew he had found himself a land of opportunity. Wars can be very profitable if a person is smart enough to take advantage of it. Remi had already pocketed some valuables he discovered on the corpses of the enemy civilians. A few rings, jewelry and a strange circular golden object.

Remi entered a what seemed like an eatery. He could smell cooking meat. There were a few overturned tables and broken plates. Remi grabbed a piece of food on an intact table. It seemed to be a sausage.

"Delicious!" Remi exclaimed as he shoved the rest of it into his mouth.

Just before he swallowed the last piece, Remi suddenly found himself lying on the floor. There was a sharp pain in his back. He could not move. The sound of people talking filled his ears. Then, Remi saw uniformed men standing over him, holding strange staffs. Or, perhaps, they were spears, because Remi noticed blades on there tips.

Remi was about to speak when one of them stabbed him in the throat with one.

Walter Swoltz yanked his bayonet of the invaders neck and started cleaning it.

"Did you really need to kill him?" One of his fellow soldiers asked.

"That bullet through his chest right around his lung. Doubtful he would have survived. Better to put the man out of his misery." Walter replied. "Besides, he was an enemy. Soldiers kill the enemies of their nation. Now, we should go find some more of these fools to kill."

Walter was a scary man. There was a rumor in his hometown that he killed animals nothing but a pocket knife and buried their remains in the woods for fun. He also had serious burns on his arms. The man never spoke of how he got them. Truthfully, Walter rarely spoke at all. Now, here in this war, had already demonstrated he could kill without hesitation. Walter was also very much a nationalist. He had the same mustache as the Kaiser.

As he and the others left the restaurant, two more men in armor with swords came at them. Walter shot both of them in the blink of an eye. One of them died due to the shot, the other was still breathing. Just like before, Walter put his bayonet through the man's throat. As the soldiers made their way further into the city, the harsher the resistance grew. The medieval knights charged at them in formations from the time of the Roman. Unfortunately for them, those formations were of little to no use against modern technology.

The Germans set up Maxim guns to shoot down their charging men. Artillery rained down, on the larger clusters of the medieval knights. Their dragons were being decimated by the newly formed German Air Force. One dragon was destroyed by artillery, exploding into chunks of meat.

What fools, to challenge the mighty German Empire. Walter thought as he killed a few more men. He had already made eight confirmed kills. Truly, Walter was a soldier to be feared.

With in a matter of days, the enemy forces were all either captured, dead, or fled back through their magic Gate.