There were no real differences between the sunsets of the two worlds. Or at least, that was the conclusion that Cipher had reached after spending many evenings sitting on the small wooden steps that were in front of the home he had to live in. From where he was, he could see the trail leading to the small isolated building while at the same time enjoy the calm of the surrounding forest. Having to live in an air base such as Valais meant that there never were any down time. Even the few trails around the base were not safe from that with the noises of fighters and transport planes constantly taking off, landing or taxiing. But here, everything was silent. From time to time, a bird would sing or wind would shake some branches, but apart from that, not a single noise. And Cipher had never realized before how much he had missed this kind of calm.
Sometimes, a villager would come, seeking help or information from the two mages. From his position, he could see them coming, usually with enough time to stand up and slowly make his way through the woods, following a hidden path towards a lone and secret waterfall. The old man used it as a class room in the open, sitting on nearby rocks while his student applied his teachings using the water. Seeing magic with his own eyes was always fascinating, and it made him feel a little bad each time he had to interrupt, not only because he was forcing the lesson to end early, but also because he couldn't enjoy the show longer.
That particular evening, Cipher was using this calm time to clean off his handgun, even if it hadn't seen much use since the attempted attack by the bandits. On a large piece of cloth, he had laid down all the various metal and plastic parts and he was picking one after the other, rubbing them clean of any dust or any dirt that could have got there. It was a boring thing to do, but that weapon was one of the few things that still linked him with his own world. He had to take care of it.
When he finished the cleaning, he slowly started to put the complex puzzle back together, something he could literally do with his eyes closed. But as he was sliding the barrel back on, something strange attracted his attention. Something unusual was going up the trail towards the house. Quickly, he finished putting the gun back together, slid in the magazine and pulled back the slide with a distinct metallic sound. With that done, he focused on the mysterious cloud of dust that was closing in fast, trying to find out what, or rather who, was causing it. And he found the answer to his question pretty quickly.
Horsemen. Quite a lot of them.
"Oh shit." Said the pilot to himself before rushing into the woods.
If by walking, he needed a few minutes to arrive at the waterfall, here only one was needed at full running speed. When he reached it, he had already made so much noise by running that the class had already been interrupted, the two mages looking towards him as he quickly took back his breath.
"What is the matter?" asked Lelei with her emotionless voice, creating a shocking contrast with her messy hair and the sweat mark on her dress.
"A lot of people on horseback… I don't know who they are, but they are coming and I really doubt they're going to be friendly."
The old man was still on his rock, and it looked like he had picked up the meaning of the words, but he still waited for the translation that quickly came to him. Calmly, he nodded before standing up and quickly walked passed his apprentice and the pilot. They both followed him back towards their home, wondering who it could be. Bandits? Imperials Soldiers? Mercenaries?
But all their guesses turned out to be wrong when they finally emerged from the woods. The riders had already arrived and dismounted, some having even forced the front door open. Kato launched some words at the riders, immediately shifting their attention towards him. One of them, who probably was their leader, loudly whistled to signal the other who started to form a circle around the three. But it was obvious that they did not come for the two mages.
Cipher immediately pulled out his handgun in a defensive stance, looking at all the potential targets and checking if there was anyone trying to sneak behind him. They were too many of them, and considering they would need at least two rounds each to take down, he did not have the ammunition needed. But it was only at this moment that he realized that even though they were tightening up the circle, none of them had drew their swords yet, making him feel even more uneasy.
The leader of the riders rose his arm when the circle got tight enough for his liking, causing his men to stop where they were. Then, with a powerful voice, he spoke in the direction of the three. Cipher knew he was the target of those words, but despite his best efforts he did not understand a single one of them.
"What did he say?" he slowly whispered to Lelei, still holding his pistol ready for anything.
"He says that, in the name of the Count of Italica, we must follow him without resistance."
As always, no emotion in her voice.
"Why?" replied Cipher, looking directly into the rider's eyes.
With Lelei acting as the middle ground, a tense discussion started.
"Our lord got wind of the many rumors about a Lord of the Demons living near Coda and roaming his land. His Highness is intrigued by those rumors and would really like to meet the man hiding behind the name of Demon Lord."
Even if he had spoken with somehow softer words, Cipher was not believing him.
"What tells me you're not going to throw me in a cell?"
"Sadly, I cannot give such a promise. But speaking from experience, I can tell that the Count respects warriors and is generous with those that show him respect."
The rider made one step forward, a move that Cipher answered to by pointing his gun towards him. There was no escape for him nor for the mages, so he had to talk his way out of this.
"One condition."
"And what is this condition?"
"I'll come with you only if you let the old man and the girl alone. They don't need to be dragged into this."
There was a long moment of silence after Lelei finished translating the pilot's words. Each second felt longer than the one before and tension was rising at a slow but constant pace.
"Sadly," the rider finally said, "seeing as the girl is our only way to communicate, it seems that I cannot comply with your demand. I can assure you that no harm will be done to her, but she has to come."
"Well then too bad. Now if you would please leave, my hosts and I have better things to do."
When he finally heard the answer, the rider could only laugh. It was a 'can you believe what that guy is saying' laugh that Cipher had always found irritating, and in that kind of situation it was not doing any good to calm things down.
"Are you refusing an order from the ruler of this land? Because if you are, you are leaving me no other choice but force you to comply."
Cipher had the reputation of being a calm and silent man, but even a man made of ice can sometime loose his cool and act without thinking about consequences.
"Go fuck yourself."
No translation followed. Instead, the translator looked back towards the pilot with her emotionless eyes.
"I do not believe this is appropriate in this situa…"
"Say it!" he yelled, gripping his gun tighter than ever before.
Again, there was a moment of silence as Lelei thought about the best words to use to convey such an insult.
"He… He rudely encourages you to perform sexual intercourse with your own person. This is the literal translation of his words, which are an obvious insult in his language."
The riders could only laugh even more as they listened to the mage.
"So you have decided to take that path," finally said their leader with a smirk, causing all his men to stop laughing. "You must suffer the consequences of that choice. Get him, boys."
Everything that happened next did so in only a few seconds. The riders drew their blades and charged Cipher from all angles. By the time the pilot finally pressed the trigger, he was tackled from behind, ruining his aim and causing the nine millimeter projectile to fly off into the stone wall of the house. After that, everything became a blurred memory for Cipher, the adrenaline taking over his mind as he tried to resist arrest.
Overwhelmed, defenseless, beaten and far from his metal wings, the so called Demon Lord could only offer a pathetic spectacle.
For the generals back at the Headquarters, the strategy was "Take care of Belka first, we'll deal with this later." Only a small amount of resources was dedicated to guard B7R, mainly conscripts from Sapin and guys from the Ustian reserve on the ground and rookie Osean pilots flying old planes in the air. Meanwhile, for us mercenaries, it was back to work as usual. I moved one step up the chain of command by being given Cipher's position as leader of Galm while a young pilot from Crow Team named PJ volunteered to become my wingman. Together we participated in most key operations of the offensive, including the armored assault on Hoffnung. Heh, I even remember the rumors running on the base that some generals wanted to firebomb the city completely, but I'm not sure anyone in their right mind would ever want this.
It was not long until we got Belka on its knees. We only had to cross the mountains, victory would be achieved and I would have been payed. However, we underestimated how crazy Belkan leadership was. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place, and the only thing they could do was press the big red button. On top of that, they also knew about what was going in the Round Table, and if they couldn't have it, nobody would.
One morning, the entirety of the Belkan Air Force took off at once, completely submerging Allied radars with contacts. Most of those contacts were either barely air worthy fighters or transport planes, sitting ducks for all the allied fighters launched for interception. But Command quickly realized what was going on. All those planes were flying to hide something with their radar signatures. Our new order were to stop engaging non-threatening targets and investigate. It wasn't long until we found the true source of all that mess, a heavily guarded squadron of nuclear bombers heading south towards B7R. The battle that ensued was a true stage of apocalypse.
We were successful in neutralizing the threat towards the Round Table, but I still believe our mission was a failure. Twelve thousand innocent people died in only a few seconds in Waldreich, and many more followed them in the grave due to the radiations… All of this because an incompetent military leader couldn't assume his failure and made his own people pay a price nobody should have paid.
But he paid too. The most important officers of the Belkan Army turned on him and took over what remained of the country after executing him in his office. The first thing they did was declared that Belka surrendered to the Allies, and only a few days later everybody met at the negotiating table. But it was no peace conference, it was a trial against a whole nation. And as the guys with the fancy suits talked and debated, we pilots were still flying, eliminating those that still dared to deny Belka's defeat.
At the end of the day, we had won and we got payed. But in the time needed to end that long campaign, things had moved around in B7R. With resources they had brought with them, those guys had started to build defensive positions. With wooden fortifications, trenches filled with spikes, tents and the like, they were trying to secure their beach head. But they couldn't really go further than that. Every reconnaissance party they sent was immediately engaged and neutralized by ground forces while any attempted large scale assaults proved to be perfect airstrike training targets for those Osean nuggets. They understood that they were not going to leave the desert anytime soon, and it created a weird status quo where the most powerful wasn't doing anything while the weakest did not dare attack.
But even that did not last. All those men in armor had to come from somewhere, and that somewhere probably had loads of untapped natural resources that would be easy to take. And so, at the end of ninety-five, the news was released to the world and journalists were invited to witness the thing with their own eyes. The footage was being shown everywhere alongside the broadcast of members of the Ustio parliament calling it an unjustified invasion, asking for the authorization from the international community to take action. And, well, reaction were mixed. The Belkan War had a huge cost on worldwide economy and funding another offensive was going to be costly. Ustio's population wanted to go in, but they couldn't just rely on the neighboring superpower as the Osean public perceived any expedition as useless aggression, which wouldn't have fitted the Defense Forces really well. Unfortunately for those in Directus, almost everybody followed what came out of Bright Hill, but there was still one country that was more than happy to fill the void. And that country was Yuktobania.
They gladly shipped funds, equipment and instructors to train and reequip the Ustio military while soldiers from both nations started to train for the upcoming assault. I barely had time to enjoy a small vacation before the Ustio Air Force contacted me with a new contract related to what they called the "Special Region." And while the price they were ready to pay was laughable compared to what I usually asked for, I immediately accepted. Because money or not, I had someone to look for out there.
The sound of chains resonated in the throne room of the Italica castle as a man with torned out clothes was pushed forward by armed guards while an old man and a girl were following them. The guards stopped in front of the large podium that hosted said throne and pushed their prisoner on the ground.
"My lord," started their leader, "this is the man that you wished to talk to. He refused and proved to be hostile towards me and my men, leaving us no choice but putting him in chains."
Those words were directed towards the one sitting on the large and fancy chair, wearing the finest clothes that came to his city thanks to trade, Count Formar in person. Along the wings of the room were also nobles from all over the county and members of the court that had come, wanting to know more about the rumors that were floating around.
"You did good Ulgo." Said the Count as he stood up and stepped off the podium. "Master Altestan, it is quite a surprise to see you here. May I ask why you and your student came to Italica alongside this so-called Demon Lord?"
"Well we did not have a choice," replied the grey bearded man with a voice that truly showed his age. "Lelei La Lelena, my student, has used her magic skills to create a communication bound between him and herself. Letting your soldiers take him alone would only have resulted in incomprehension and misunderstanding, so we came along."
"Oh I see. I welcome both of you in my house, Master and Student of Rondel. But we must go back to the topic at hand."
He turned towards the prisoner that had not moved, kneeled down and grabbed the man's face with his hand to inspect him in detail. It was obviously the face of someone that had lived through many great battles, yet something felt different as the only scars he had were the fresh one that his men had inflicted during his capture.
"What is your name, stranger?" he asked. "And what kind of warrior are you to wear such a strange outfit?"
The Count and the prisoner were looking each other in the eyes intensely, trying to make the other back off.
"He told that his name is Cipher," replied the mage, not even bothering to translate the words to the prisoner. "He is a mercenary that rides large flying machines that he calls, in his own words, 'fighter jets'. The suit he is wearing is the uniform of the pilots of the nation of Ustio."
A rumble started to go through the audience, wondering what those mysterious words meant.
"Oh I see. And I imagine that my guesses on your otherworldly origin turned out to be correct."
Even if the Count was talking to the prisoner, Lelei continued to reply.
"Indeed, what he described to me as what happened when he joined this world coincides with the few written records that I had access to during my studies. He said that he was fighting a great battle with those flying contraptions and that, shortly after achieving victory, he saw a bright white flash. When he woke up, he had appeared in our skies and destroyed his machine when he attempted to land."
The more the mage spoke, the more curiousness appeared in the minds of everyone present in the throne room, including the Count himself.
"But now, will this man give our ears the privilege of hearing the voice of such an impressive warrior?"
This question was not only aimed at the prisoner and the translator, but it also had a planned impact on the audience, another rumble showing the excitment.
"Cipher, the Count says he wants to hear your voice." Said the young mage, her facial expression still unchanged.
All the focus was on him, and diverse were the expectations. Was he going to try and speak in the local language? Or was he going to remain silent to defy the count?
First, there was a grunt. Then, he slightly opened his mouth just like if he was trying to find the good words to say in that situation. Each instant that passed building up the hype even more.
"Fuck off."
Those words were immediately followed by him spitting on the carpet, an act that rendered any translation useless. All the soldiers that were next to the prisoner reached for their swords, but they stopped when the Count raised his hand. In the meantime, the crowd remain silent, their shock only visible through their wide open eyes.
But the Count started to laugh.
"You are quite the daring man," he said as he stood back up, "and I like those that dare. But there is one thing I hate above all things in this world. People that lack any kind of respect towards me. It angers me more than anything else. And I am not a man that one can easily anger."
He said those words slowly and calmly but with a powerful voice that reached everybody in the throne room. And the second that followed, his fist violently hit Cipher's face, the ring mounted jewels cutting the skin of the pilot's cheek. The prisoner lost his balance and fell back on the ground.
"Look at you. You bear a devilish hound on your arm, but you are just a mere chained dog. And dogs that disobey are always punished."
It was then the fancy boot that kicked Cipher's stomach violently enough that it forced him to spit the blood that had accumulated in his mouth. He was used as an example directed towards all of those watching the scene, a tool to demonstrate that no matter the rumors on your power, the Count was always going to punish you harshly.
The prisoner visibly braced himself for the second hit, but it did not come, the boot stopping only a few inches from him. What interrupted the Count in his kick was the opening of the doors of the throne room, revealing one the Bunny Warrior maid employed by the Formar family.
"I am greatly sorry to interrupt you, my lord, but we received an important message coming from General Lanti in Alnus."
"A message? What does the old general has to say?"
"The inhabitants of the other world have launched an important offensive two days ago and have recaptured their opening of the Holy Gate. They did so with such ease that General Lanti believes he does not have enough men to prevent them from crossing and capturing the hill. Thus, he requests reinforcements from you and the other local lords in order to defend our soil."
The rumble linked with the audience's reaction rose once again as everybody shared their surprise and their concern. It gave time for the count to think about the decision he had to take. After all, it was a direct request from a high ranking general and refusing it was a risk he was not ready to take.
"Has he stated when he wishes the troops to arrive at Alnus?" he asked calmly, completely ignoring the bleeding prisoner at his feet, just like if nothing had happened in the last minutes.
"The messenger said that help must arrive as soon as possible as the enemy could make a push at any moment."
The Count shook his head. Even if his troops were already ready in a camp outside the city for a few weeks as a precaution, the news arrived at a bad moment because of the arrival of the prisoner. But there was nothing else he could do, especially if it was an emergency of that scale. With the time needed to prepare himself and give his order to his men, he hoped to reach Alnus by the end of day.
"Ulgo!" he called, immediately causing the leader to stand at attention, ready for any order.
"Yes, my Lord."
"Take this scum to a cell and tell the torturer to do his work. After that, prepare your men and your equipment for a long march towards Alnus."
"It will be done, my Lord."
"Mamina. Prepare my horse and my war equipment. I must leave at once."
The maid bowed before walking out while the soldiers started to carry the prisoner towards the door. All the eyes were turned towards him but suddenly, the looks shifted towards a small figure that rushed out of the crowd towards the Count, reaching for its hand.
"Father, are you leaving?" said the innocent voice a small girl, looking directly into his eyes.
He knelt down and grabbed her two shoulders with his hands before speaking with a soft voice.
"My duties await me, Myui. I must go."
The little girl's eyes started to fill up with water and a few drops fell down on her colorful dress.
"But I do not want to be alone…"
"I will not be away for long. I will come back very soon." He said after pulling her closer.
"You… You promise?" She asked, faltering through her tears.
"I promise."
And as the door closed behind him, the last thing Cipher saw of the Count was a man hugging his dear daughter goodbye.
Thanks to my contacts in the Ustio military, I managed to get a hold of the first reports of the Special Forces team that were ordered to cross the portal. Covered with sealed HAZMAT suits, the first thing they had to do was verify if there was no toxic material anywhere on the other side. Strangely enough, the enemy had not build its camp around the structure, but at a good distance downhill, allowing the operators to sneak unnoticed into a nearby forest to do their tests. One half of the team brought back all the needed samples while the second half started to set up the reconnaissance operations. A large force was stationed all around the hill, quickly building up rudimentary defensive positions, but for some reason they never built anything on the Hill itself. It was only later that we discovered that the reason for such a large flaw in their defense was religious as they believed that no building other that the Gate itself should stand on the Holy Hill of Alnus.
With a few hideouts in the forest, they observed to answer the key questions that their superiors had. How many enemy soldiers were there? What kind of equipment did they have? What kind of non-human species were part of the enemy force? What was the layout of their installations? After a few days, they knew everything they wanted and quickly disappeared back through the Gate while rumors of forest monsters started to spread among Imperial troops.
Within another few days, all the equipment and all the troops needed were gathered in the rough desert, and the entire world was watching them charge into the black void through all the cameras that had been invited by the communication department of Ustio's military. I remember it just like it was yesterday because I was there in my first assignment as an assistant reporter for OBC. Vehicles were in order, soldiers were all geared up and waiting for the signal, and us journalist got beautiful helicopter shots of the first tanks entering the building. As a symbol directed at Oured and Bright Hill, the first vehicle that officially crossed the Gate was part of Ustio's Fifth Armored Regiment, but the tank itself was the most advanced Yuktobanian tank available for export at the time. What's funny however is how, when we were there, all the soldiers we saw had fine Yuktobanian gear, but all the reports and logistic documents I got my hands on all confirmed that most Ustio soldiers were still equipped with leased Osean equipment from the Belkan War… Things people are willing to hide for the sake of politics.
After that, everything I know comes from reports and soldier interviews. On the other side, it was still night, but morning was quickly coming. The first tanks moved in and secured an initial perimeter, allowing for infantry to safely move in. As expected, the enemy had started to move in towards the hill as soon as they heard the sound of the engines, starting an intense battle. For hours, Imperial troops charged up the hill while the Yukes and the Ustians forced them back down with heavy machinegun and tank cannons. In the morning, the last groups of hostile soldiers finally fled and the ruins of their camps were secured, and the start of the campaign was deemed a success as combat engineers rushed with trucks filled with supplies and pre-built structures needed to build key infrastructures while medical vehicles extracted the injured and prisoners were escorted towards a detention camp in the desert.
And if you asked anyone at that time, regardless if they were a soldier, a journalist or a civilian, they would all tell you one thing. It was just the beginning of a new page of history, and we were far from reaching its bottom. From that point onwards, every discovery was going to completely change how we perceived our world and our lives. And I had the chance to be one of those that brought all those ground breaking news to the world through their cameras.
It was on the tenth day that someone finally opened the heavy metal door of Cipher's cell for something other than bringing him his tiny ration. With the light coming from the torches in the corridor, the pilot could only see a large shadow standing in the way.
The shadow ordered something with his heavy and greasy voice, but Cipher did not move, lying on his mattress, or rather the pile of half rotten hay covered by cloth that was acting as a mattress. The man launched his order a second time, this time yelling, only to see the prisoner turn away from him, hoping this loud man would just go away and close the door behind him.
This wordless reply was enough to anger the man that reached Cipher's neck, lifting him off the mattress and throwing him out of the cell, directly at the feet of two armed guards. After a few kicks on the stomach, they lifted him back on his feet before forcing him down the corridor. A few turns later, he was pushed into a barely lit room and kicked again. Without being able to take back his breath, the guards reached for his hands and his feet and chained them to the wall in a way that spread his arms wide open while having to stand up, like in some sort of temporary crucifixion.
The large man had a large grin on his face as he watched the two guards and, when they were done, waved them away with another instruction. The two nodded before exiting the room, leaving Cipher and the man alone. He had his doubt, but now the pilot was sure that this was going to be his first torture session.
But for long moments, not a single question came. Instead, the torturer sat down at a work table and started to look at some parchments. From time to time, he would look at Cipher with a small grin as the pilot's limbs started to hurt more and more over time. On top of that, he would drink wine from an expensive looking glass while making direct eye contact with the prisoner who had not received any water since the previous day.
When he finished his cup, he still had the same vicious smile. Cipher could not bear looking at him any longer, so he turned his head and closed his eyes and, if he could, he would have closed his ears. However, still being able to hear proved useful when the sound of metallic parts being rattled inside a bag. He reopened his eyes only to see his handgun, its magazine and all the nine millimeters cartridges being laid down on the table.
Seeing that his action had led to a reaction from the prisoner, the torturer laughed again as he looked at one of the small shiny cylinders. According to the soldiers that had brought him here, the mage had insisted on emptying the weapon to make it safe to handle but she had not said anything regarding its operation, simply claiming she only knew about this safety operation.
Suddenly, the door of the room opened again as the two guards escorted Lelei inside the torture room. She was alone with the guards and did not have her stick with her, clearly showing that despite her status as a mage, she was not trusted by anyone in the castle. Without even saluting her, the torturer ordered the guards to leave and, after the two closed the door behind them, directly started to ask his first question. And without any other choice, Lelei could only translate.
"How do you operate this weapon?"
But Cipher did not answer. The only thing he did was looking at the young mage, hoping she would understand what he was going to go through if she did not do something about it. The torturer barked the same question again, and Lelei translated it again.
And still, the pilot kept quiet.
It angered the torturer enough that he rose up from his desk and reached for Cipher's neck. But instead of strangling him or punching him, he simply pulled him down with his hands still chained to the wall. Cipher yelled, his arms and shoulders being forced into positions that they had never been designed to be in. But instead of saying something towards the prisoner, the torturer turned his look towards Lelei.
He did not want to get any answer from the prisoner, but from the mage. And the longer she stayed silent, the more he pressed on Cipher's back and the more the prisoner yelled. Cipher looked towards her for help, but her face had not changed, still showing no emotion. But for a few seconds, he noticed something changing in her eyes. It was like she was feeling the pain too and was trying as much as possible not to say anything.
"Please… Don't… talk." Where the only words that left his mouth.
Discreetly, she nodded before looking at the torturer.
"I believe you are losing your time. From what he had told me, he is trained to endure the most terrible forms of torture in his world."
The torturer let go of Cipher, looking curiously at the blue-haired girl.
"The most terrible forms of torture?"
"Indeed. He gave me the example of a method where lightning is used to inflict concentrated pain to a prisoner."
Another smile appeared on his mouth as he sat back down in front of the disassembled weapon.
"Then if I cannot make him speak, perhaps you will be able to give me answers to the multiple questions I have."
Without really realizing it, she made a step back. With his tone, she understood that despite her status as the student of a renowned Rondel mage, if he was not able to torture Cipher, he was going to torture her if she did not answer his question.
But suddenly, someone knocked. With an annoyed sigh, the torturer stood back up and opened the door.
"What?" he asked before he could even see who had knocked to clearly show that he was not happy with that kind of interruption.
"Sorry to interrupt you, Sir," said the young guard that was revealed by the opening of the door, "but Miss Myui desires to see the prisoner."
The torturer could not prevent himself from letting out an annoyed sigh, looking angrily at the guard.
"Why would she like to see him now?" he asked, ranting on his own. "I thought she knew that I always let my patients rot a little before asking them anything. Here, I barely got started."
"With all due respect, have you not heard the news?"
"What news?"
"Ulgo came back from Alnus Hill…"
"And?" His voice was getting angrier and angrier with time. He had other, more important things to do than listen to the young conscript relaying the orders of a girl that had no authority over him.
"He… He brought back a tragic news… The…"
"Come on! Speak already! What is this news that interrupts me in my work?" At this point, he was yelling.
"The Count has been killed."
"Here he is, Countess."
Like ten days ago, the prisoner was thrown on the ground in front of the throne. But this time, there was no noble man in fancy clothes. Just a mourning girl with her eyes filled with tears sitting in a chair that she was way too young to sit into. Next to her was the man that had arrested Cipher, his outfit covered with dirt and dried blood. He was the only rider present, and the pilot had no trouble understanding that whatever happened to them, he was the only survivor. The crowd was here too, but all the faces were closed, some openly crying.
The man named Ulgo started to speak.
"This… This banner on his arm… The army that killed the Count was flying this same banner. Their devilish magic destroyed our forces in an instant with fire and thunder. They will be coming for Italica next, and Sadera after that. Countess, this prisoner is too dangerous to be left alive. We must eliminate him."
The girl stood up and made a few steps off the podium, imitating what her father had done ten days earlier. When she arrived next to Cipher, she elegantly wiped off her tears before looking at him in the eyes.
"Why?"
The question in itself was simple enough, but what it carried was heavy for the young girl.
"I… I… I don't know…"
After all, what could he say? Sure he had guessed that the Ustio military would have found a way to cross that damn portal, but he had crashed way earlier than that. But there was something in him that continued trying to find an answer, reacting to the sadness on the young countess' face.
"Why?" It was the exact same question, but her voice was completely different.
It was drowning in her own tears.
The question echoed in Cipher's head. Had scenes like that happened each time he shot down an enemy plane or dropped a bomb on a tank.
"It's war… I guess… People die because it's necessary to someone else's interests."
At this point, he was expecting to be either executed on the spot by one of the guards or brought back to the torturer. But he also had another weird feeling.
He was feeling responsible for this undeserved sadness.
He was sure that one of the objective of the troops that crossed was to find him and that, if he had not been transported over here, none of this would have happened.
"Countess," launched Ulgo, trying to stay polite, "this is not wise to stay so close to this man. Only the Gods know what terrible magic he could use against you."
There was a long moment of silence. A heavy silence that everybody present felt. If Cipher had anything to say, it was now or never.
"Don't… Don't engage them… Let them come to you. If you don't attack them, they'll come to you without unnecessary bloodshed. If you don't give them reasons to be hostile, they won't be."
The fact that he had spoken on his own without being asked anything surprised everyone present.
"Silence, you! Your words obviously carry the most devilish of poisons. You will only get…" started to yell Ulgo who was more than angered by the prisoner's insubordination even if he didn't understand a single word, but he was interrupted by the Countess that waved towards him.
The young girl then turned her look towards Lelei, who had remained silent in the back, asking for a translation as she had understood that his tone carried no evil thoughts. The mage, with the best words she could find, explained the meaning of the pilot's sentence. But that did not prevent the rider from speaking again.
"Countess, I cannot recommend following any advice coming this mouth. It is obviously a trap that will lead to our destruction."
But she did not listen to her advisor. This prisoner was speaking the words she deep down wanted to hear, and because she was just a child seeking a way to end her sadness, she needed to hear more.
"What should we do, then?"
"Order your troops to stand down and let them come to you… If… If they are from Ustio, I think everything should be fine if you don't threaten them."
"Do you swear on your honor that what you are saying is true?"
The theatrical way she asked this question clearly showed the influence that her father had on her, making some people in the audience shed another tear.
"I… Yes… Or at least that's what I think will happen… But I don't have any information, so I could be wrong."
When the translated words reached the Countess' ears, her reaction was mixed. She was not doubting his honesty that was bringing hope to her heart, but the reserves he expressed were making her uncomfortable. He could see it
"But I really hope I'm not…"
The first flying things that got deployed and were operational on the other side were helicopters and, well, do I really look like a helicopter pilot? Even if the plane parts had already been shipped over on trucks, we had no runway to take off from, meaning that we fighter pilots just sat around doing nothing. And while all the others were feeling boredom, I was feeling something completely different.
Frustration.
I knew he was out there somewhere and that I had to do all I can to find him and bring him home safely. But I was naive. I thought that the portal was going to be the biggest obstacle, but in reality it was the busy schedule and the working speed of Yuktobanian combat engineers. I can't really blame them, though. They had to build a brand new base out of this air with limited resources.
But still. I was frustrated enough that I spoke about it to my superiors before asking them if I couldn't be given a rifle and join one of the recon teams. And strangely enough, the officers on the Ustio side of the command chain seemed to agree with me. We were already there and the only real thing we were doing was taking room in the mess hall and in the barracks. However, it was the Yuke side of that same chain that was really in charge of the important decisions, and they were not happy to see mercenaries try to mix with their well-rounded and trained squads of patriotic soldiers.
But, somehow, both sides found a common ground. Mercenary pilots that had experience as ground troops could volunteer to be integrated into one of the few reconnaissance squads coming the Ustio Army while all the Yuktobanian units were to remain closed off to any foreign element. We also received basic equipment from the Yuke stockpile, but apart from rations and ammunition, it was the only thing we got.
And that's how I ended up in the middle of an Ustian recon team tasked with making contact with the local population and write down all the useful information. Despite the cold start from the soldiers and their lieutenant, relations quickly warmed up when they found out that an airstrike I conducted had saved their unit during the battle of Hoffnung.
During the following week, we went through various trails and dirt roads in a large radius around Alnus Hill. Either we would find a village on the way or the recon choppers would give us the coordinates of a settlement they had spotted. Then, we would use a method that the intelligence guys had cooked up and that proved to be quite useful and effective.
First, we would park our vehicles at a safe distance. The lieutenant and one other soldier would then approach the settlement as peacefully as possible while the rest of the team either guarded the vehicles or stay on over watch. The first objective was to get in contact with local authorities which usually took the form of one or several elders that acted like mayors. If we were lucky, they would be the first one to come to us, but the most common case had us talk our way to them with terrified guards that only wanted to protect their communities from the evil invaders that were described by Imperial propaganda. Talking to the locals was far from easy. The only thing we had was a small booklet containing a set of prewritten sentences and the basic grammatical rules. But with time and practice, we got the hang of it.
Everything passed without me even realizing it. All those events, all those villages, all those people, it all mixed up in one blurry memory. But there is one village I will never forget. It was early in the morning and we were in an area that had not been surveyed by the helicopters. We had spotted the smoke stacks of chimneys from far away, and for this time, I went with the lieutenant. On the approach, everything was going as usual. When we entered the village itself, as usual, the villagers had already fled to their own houses and we were quickly approached by a few guards and the elder. We started out usual routine, but the way he spoke was different from all the other people we had met so far. In fact, he quickly explained why he had such a tone.
He was expecting us.
That really confused us. When we asked for an explanation, he just replied that showing us would be easier. So, after a few radio transmission to keep the rest of the team aware of the situation, we followed him. He led us away from the village, which clearly wasn't helping. In fact, it added suspicion on top of the confusion. We had bullets ready in the chambers and the fingers ready to flip off the safeties at any time while the others were following our movement from a distance.
As we walked, the old man still tried to give explanations, but almost everything he said was lost in translation. Something about someone arriving, fire and the local count getting involved. But after we took one last corner in the road, all my questions disappeared. We had entered a large field, its ground completely returned and messy over several hundred meters like some kind of beast had went through a rampage in that area. But it was not really to identify what had caused it, as the shattered wreckage of an F-15 sitting in the shadow of the nearby tree.
Thanks for reading this chapter of Tales of a Demon Lord. Sadly, I believe this is going to be the last one in a while. I don't really know where to take this story, and I'm feeling more interested by continuing OMJ and starting a new, better planed project. I'm deeply sorry for those that followed this story exclusively, but I don't think that trying to continue it is worth it right now. I might still write a new chapter in the future, but it can be in a long time.