Author's Note: So, my school got suspended for about two weeks due to the COVID-19 scare giving me some extra time to get started on a new chapter. Too bad I got stuck on a large writer's block throughout it. It took me a while, but I finally decided on now to work on my "State of the World" chapters. Anyway, stay safe guys, otherwise enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.
Blood Orchid
Somewhere along the Mistral Border:
"Did you hear what happened to the Atlas Branch last week?" one of the members asked as they huddled around the fire.
It was a cold night, and the White Fang group really didn't want to be out here in the deep wilderness. The older members in particular spoke out against the night patrols, claiming that the woods were haunted by demons. That particular member of thier group went out to emphasize that they weren't Grimm. Now Jade wasn't one to be superstitious, but with all the weird things that have been going on lately, her skepticism had begun to wane.
"Yeah, one of the outposts in the tundra got attacked, right?" another asks.
"It wasn't just an outpost," one of the older members sighed.
Everyone turned to him as he continued.
"It was a Forward Operating Base," he anoucnes sadly, "And it was completely destroyed."
"What?!" another member cries in disbelief. "How? That's over a thousand people!"
"Official tally is 1500," the older man replies solemnly. "The entire base was wiped off the map."
"By the brothers," another gasps, she then asks "Did anyone make it out?"
"I was there with a few others that day," he answers somberly, "We were out on patrol and were on our way back when it happened."
"Did you see what it was?" Jade asks.
Every turn to the old man.
"One of the guys claimed that he had seen what looked like a few thin rods rain down from the sky right before the mountain was completely obliterated by explosions. I thought that the mountain was erupting for a moment."
"Wait…thin rods?" one of the members murmurs to himself. "Like a missile?"
He shook his head, "No exhaust."
"Bomb them," another offers, "Like dropped from the air."
"It wasn't dropped by any aircraft I've ever seen," he replies, "We would have heard it well before it was in range."
"Well, maybe it's some kind of new aircraft that the Atlas military are working on," another comments, "Like some kind of invisible, quiet airship."
"That sounds really stupid," the girl next to him deadpans.
The old man stops them before they could escalate their argument, "Whatever it was, it had to have been a powerful one, because those bombs wiped the base out in only a fraction of a second, and when we got there, all that was left were just a bunch deep craters."
"There was nothing left?" Jade asks in disbelief.
"They even collapsed the underground tunnels. I requested a transfer as soon as we regrouped with another outpost." He scoffs, "But I wouldn't have taken it had I known I would be sent to Mistral."
"Why, what's wrong with Mistral?" one asks.
The old man shrugs, "Rumor's have it, that there are demons that haunt these woods. Grimm, humans, faunus…everything has been targeted by them. They are claimed to have glowing red, demonic like eyes and everything that has ever been encountered by them has been completely wiped out with extreme prejudice."
"What like ghosts?" a member snorts.
"No, they're not ghosts," the old man counters, "Ghosts don't leave bullet holes."
Before anyone could counter, the alarm bell for the camp further upwind from them went off. Everyone instantly jumped to their feet and grabbed their weapons, they all watched in horror as the fire from the camp went out as they fired randomly into the areas around them. Their screams shook Jade to her core as they echoed throughout the dense forest.
"Shit…" a member curses, "Shit, shit, shit!"
"Oh this is great," a member said hysterically, "This is fucking great! Now what are we supposed to do?!"
Another member grabs his collar and asks "Are you finished?"
"It's game over man, game over!" he cries back. "What are we supposed to do now?!"
"Shut the fuck up, all of you!" the old man barks. He turns to the front and says, "White, Fletcher, you two see anything?!"
Fletcher shook her head, "There's nothing back here!"
They all stopped and the old man's face pales when he hears a distinct thump followed by a whistling noise.
"Incoming!" the old man screamed.
He barely managed to scream in time before Jade's whole world was engulfed in white, when she finally came to, she found herself on the floor with her ears still ringing. She laid there dazed as a massive firefight raged on before her. She stared as White ran up to her screaming inaudible words, in the distance, she could hear the faint thumping of the rifle fire and she watched as tracers flew around them. Fletcher was running in her direction before a grenade goes off, launchering her mangled corpse into the air.
"Jade, hold on!" White screams as he begins to drag her out of the hole she was in.
White fires off a pistol in one hand while he slowly pulls her into cover. He let's go for a moment and turns to face the enemy right as a round cuts through his head, showing Jade in bits of skull, blood, and gray matter. Jade looks over and sees the old man barking orders while he fires an assault rifle at something before him. A snarling and howling noise can be heard off in the distance, the old man shifts his rifle in the direction. The old man is then tackled to the ground by what looked to her like a soldier encased in head to toe in futuristic, metal plate armor. She watches in horror as the soldier extends a blade on his fist and drives it into the old man's throat. The soldier pauses before looking straight at her, the glowing light coming from his visor bore straight into her soul. Acting quickly, she reaches down and pulls out her pistol hoping to at least take one of them with her.
"Gah!" she cries as she felt something hot and sharp cut into her shoulder.
The next thing she knew, she was on the ground with a boot on her neck and her arms being restrained behind her. With her face shoved into the dirt, all she could see were her attackers boots.
"Sir!" one of her captors bellowed out in a deep, accented, machine like voice. "We have a survivor."
"Take her back to base," their leader instructed, "This one may be of use to us."
They lifted their boot off of her and she looked at them long enough to see one of them lift their rifle up and smashes the stock down onto her face.
1000 Hours, Saturday, March 28th, 2028, Mistrial Hall
Gathered before the main podium was a massive crowd of thousands, cheering loudly from their seats. Their cheers grew louder as the military marched through the pathways parading around with their prominent banners. The presence was overwhelming to anyone who was there in person that day. It was late spring and by now, the orchid trees surrounding the paths of the park have blossomed into beautiful pink flowers, lining the place with shades of pink and red.
The rally attendees patiently waited as their political party's leader, Scolar Visari made his way to the podium. He was a large, bald, intimidating fellow whose eyes were filled with ambition and determination. For months, their party leader had worked tirelessly and now, for the first time, is addressing the kingdom, as well as the world as their leader. Mistral may still have a monarchy for the sake of tradition and formalities, nut the true power of the nation sat in thier Heiarchy which was headed by a Primarch, in other words, him. The crowd dies down as Visari silently gauges the audience before him, he makes a few adjustments to the microphone and takes a deep breath. He raises both of his hands and slams them down onto the podium quickly grasping the attention of everyone watching.
"Blood alone moves the wheels of history!"
All the attendees were on the edge of their seats.
"Have you ever asked yourselves in an hour of mediation," he pauses as he glances around at the crowd, "Which one often finds during the day, how long we have been striving for greatness?"
He straightens his stance and narrows his eyes.
"Not only the years we've been at war," he leans into the microphone for emphasis, "The War of Work, but from the moment as a child, when we realized that the world could be conquered."
He starts to raise his voice again.
"It has been a lifetime struggle…" he strikes the podium again, "A never-ending fight, I say to you…" he strikes the podium once more and becomes more animated in his body language, "And you will understand that it is a privilege to fight!"
He pauses as the crowd starts to clap.
He confidently smiles and raises his hand into the air and triumphantly shouts "We are warriors!"
The crowd starts to clap louder as they grow more riled up by the speech.
"Citizens of Mistral, I ask you-" he leans forward and firmly grasps the podium, "Once more rise and be worthy of this historical hour!"
The crowd stood up from their seats and began to cheer.
"No revolution is worth anything unless it can defend itself!" he bellows. "Some people will tell you "Mistrali" is a bad word. They'll conjure up images of white-feathered cowards and submissive rats. This is our duty to change their perception. I say…"
He looks out among the crowds once more.
"Mistral men and women unite!" he pauses to catch his breath, "We must never acquiesce, for it is together-" he takes a sharp inhale before he bellows "Together that we prevail!"
He begins to amorously point among the crowd.
"We must never cede control of the fatherland, for it is…."
He points at the crowd and they all shout "TOGETHER THAT WE PREVAIL!"
At that moment, a small breeze picked up and blew the blossoms off of the orchid trees and they gently rained down upon the crowd. The streets then erupt in thunderous applause and the rest of the world stood silently as the Mistrali people in one voice, made a declaration, and as time will come, a challenge.
Author's Note: This is Part: 1 in discussing the current state of the world and it's politics. The other nations will be touched on also, but probably won't be as big of a scale as how I am setting up Mistral. I'll go into more detail probably in the next chapter, but Mistral is going to play a major part later on. In this world, I have made them quite a bit nationalistic, and that will be important later on, but firstly no, they are not Nazis. If anything they are more racist in nature rather than national socialist.
One last note, this is to address something in the first half of the chapter. No, it is not some orbital cannon or whatever generic sci-fi weapon that you can come up with. I am willing to bend the rules on what military tech is being used, but orbital weaponry is off the table. It would be pointless and an incredible waste of resources to get such an object into orbit and then further maintain it when it wo9uld be much easier to use a plane and just drop a bomb.
Which was exactly what that thing was. It was just a simple, laser guided JDAM, dropped about 18 miles out. Specifically, it was a handful of GBU-31 2000 lb Hard Target Penetrators dropped by an F15. Anyway, until next time, see you. Remember, Big brother is Watching.
