Bombs and artillery shells rained down on the City. Explosions and cries of its population filled the air. The Sky was red from the fires of the once great city. Zorzal could only stare at what remained of it, even he knew he lost, he even admitted it. The days of the empire were counted and he would likely be killed by the invaders he at first called barbarians and later grew to be afraid of.

Whatever help he had and whoever was at his side were either dead, dying or captured. His Father? Dead. His Brother? Missing. His Sister? Captured. His favorite Slave? Captured. What remained from his once great empire was 4 guards that were protecting him. His generals long since lost hope and either died or surrendered their legions, or what remained of the, to the enemy.

He could see the enemy soldiers from his balcony advancing on the streets as they got closer to his castle. He could hear the banging at the door and the desperate attempts by the guards to keep the doors shut for atleast a while longer. Soon they broke through and started killing his guards, all that remained was him and his 4 pretorian guards. They might have the upper hand, they might be stronger but they will not take away the last thing he has in his life. The decision on how he dies.

Unsheathing his sword he got ready for a fight he knew he had no way of winning. The last thing he saw was a flash of light and then darkness.

The Night sky was filled with illumination flares as Alnus Hill erupted in a cacophony of sounds, be it artillery, machinegun or just normal rifle fire. The German weaponry chewed through the Advancing Imperial forces like hot knife through butter. The Veteran soldiers of the Imperium slowly buckled under the unrelentless wall of death and even the centurions faltered. What was once a Veteran legion of the Empire turned to a crowd running away from their enemy. The Artillery followed and started to cage in the retreating force.

With no natural cover on the plains near the Hill of Alnus the Artillery was fast at work killing the retreating forces. At the Hill in one of the Tanks with Binoculars in hand a General was watching the whole situation. Next to the tank several officers were standing and waiting for their orders from the General.

Putting the binoculars down he turned to them. "Have the soldiers expand the defense perimeter, order them to dig positions for machinegun nests, mortar and artillery positions. I am certain the enemy will send reinforcements and I want this hill prepared for them" The Officers of the artillery, pioneer and infantry units saluted and went to work. He then observed the fields ahead and talked to the other 2 officers remaining "Have small teams go out and map the surrounding area set up acurate ranging positions for artillery and prepare to move out and map the land once the counter attack is repelled." The 2 officers saluted and went to work.

The General resumed watching the terrain through his binoculars. Rommel knew this was going to be interesting.

There we go. Only took me almost a year to write 500 words.

So this is a introduction of sorts to the real story that will begin in the next proper chapter. So far tell me what you think.