Coda is a village like all the others villages in the region. A few hundreds human inhabitants, a few small shops, a little temple dedicated to all the gods... Nothing to brag about. Every day was like the one before, working in the fields to ensure our survival during the winter, teaching the kids the most important things to know for their future life as farmers, praying the gods to ensure they'll not bring suffering on our community... Coda is the most average as you can expect from a village of the Formar county.
Everyone had a precise role : there was the baker, the priest, the cobbler, the farmers... Me, I was the village's elder, the chief, the ''boss'' as you say. During my life, I acquired enough knowledge on the functioning of this community that I was chosen by the villagers to lead them towards at least a full plate every day.
As I said, each day was like all the others, I was giving advices to a villager about how to deal with a little parasite of the region. Nothing bad, but it can become a real problem if you don't take care of them. So I was talking with this villager in the middle of the village's main street when an another villager arrived, panicked, screaming something like « The men in green ! They're arriving ! »
It caused the few villagers that were around us to panick and to flee to their houses.
I turned towards the entry of the village and I saw them.
They were four. At first glance, at least from our world's perspective, they didn't looked like soldiers. They didn't had any armor, swords, bows... but their clothings were uniforms, no doubt about that. For us it was strange, black boots, large pants leaving the legs unprotected, a lot of pouches on the torso, gloved hands and helmets that were not protecting the face. But the strangest things was the colors and the patterns of those clothings. Each one of this small group had a different color pattern.
The first one's was made of large stains of several shades of green and brown. On his right shoulder was a small banner composed of three vertical colored lines : one was blue, the second was white and the last was red. He was leading the group, so it was simple to deduce that he was the leader.
The pattern on the second one's uniform was made of tan background on which light and dark marks were like someone dipped a brush into paint and swinged it a few feet away from them. On his arm, he also had a banner but it was composed of red and white crosses over a blue background. He also had a darker skin than the others, like the one of the Western Desert's nomads.
The third one was the youngest one, judging by his movement that looked like they were too perfect. On his clothings, the large green spots were recovered by darker and smaller ones. His banner was a black line on top of a red one, itself on top of a yellow line.
Finally the last soldier was the one that surprised us the most. It was a woman with a skin color even darker than the Dark Elves'. The pattern was also the strangest one of all the patterns. It was composed of stains that had rather unusual shapes, like thousands of little squares combined together randomly. The banner she had on her arm is also the most difficult to explain. Red and white vertical stripes, and at the top right hand corner, stars in front of a blue background.
Each one of them had on their arm, below their respective banner, what looked like a circular coat of arm composed of what looked like the Holy Gate and a strange cross, a little like those you find on maps.
The green colors of their clothing was the thing that was remembered by the few fleeing soldiers of the imperial army that had their camp near Alnus Hill. Some of them, while trying to go back to their homes, passed by Coda and told us about the ''men in green'' : soldiers from an another world capable of making fire rain onto anything at ranges superior to any weapon known to the Empire. So the inhabitants of an almost defenseless village was no match for them. This is why most of the villagers that were here fled to their houses. They were terrified.
But those men didn't attacked. In fact, the one that I identified as the leader had taken off his helmet and his subordinate quickly made the same thing as they were entering in the village. It was an obvious sign of trust.
He took from one of his pouches a little red book and yelled in a broken language something like « We come in peace, we're just here to scout. » or something similar.
This surprised us too, a soldier that could read... Some thought that he was some kind of noble, but they were proven wrong by the fact that the other soldiers had a red book too.
I could feel that they weren't hostiles, and thus I went to meet them.
They were kind and polite for soldiers. We started to talk about the region, what were the most important locations of the area, the towns, the other villages, etc... He even asked me if I had a map. Yes I had one, like all the other villages' elders. But I refused to give it. In our world, a map is precious... It takes a long time to draw... I remember the leader saying something like « Us not taking map from you, just want to see it. »
I accepted in the condition that he will be alone with several villagers, to prevent him from stealing it... He accepted and left his men on the village's plaza to accompy me to my house. In my office, I took the map from it place in a chest and put it on my desk. I was expecting him to just look a it and try to remember it but he... How do you say ?... he ''took a photo''. For us it was all magic and it just added to the strangeness of the day. After that he asked me if his vehicles could enter the village. I said Yes because he wasn't an ennemy.
Earing a positive response, he grabbed a black object on his shoulder, and while leaving, started talking to himself.
Extract of Harmet Lo Donga's interview for french TV, November 2026
Coda Village, November 7th 2016, 1654 hours AT
« RCT3-3, this is RCT3 actual. Do you copy ? » asked Anthony in his radio
« This is RCT3-3, responded the voice of Chaumond, what is it Lieutenant ? »
« Bring the cars here, we're leaving soon. Copy that ? »
« Copy that, RCT3-3 out. »
As Anthony was leaving the village's chief's house, he put back his radio on his shoulder and joined the other soldiers on the plaza.
Elkader was drinking the water of his canteen under the shadow of the small tree at the center of the plaza, Strauss was showing to the few kids that dared to approach him a few magic tricks with a deck of cards and Jenkins was checking her M249 under the watch of a group of intrigued women.
At the view of their officer getting back from the house he was in, the three soldiers stopped what they were doing and looked at their officer.
« Alright, started said officer, it's not the time to relax, I have all the intel we need and the convoy is going to pick us up. »
« Oh no Lieutenant, responded Strauss. The kids here started to enjoy my tricks »
« Shut up Strauss, continued an irritated Jenkins, I don't like how they're looking at me. »
« You have to understand them, they've never seen a black skin before. » Elkader said as he gave a small tap on the Lance Corporal's shoulder.
« You too shut up Muhammad ! »
The villagers' attention switched from the soldiers to the entrance of the village as a loud rumbling sound was getting closer and closer. And through the arch marking the entrance of the settlement, the three vehicule of Recon Team 3 made a theatrical entrance in front of paralysed crowd. The sight of those iron carriages moving by themselves was terrifing to say the least. On the side of the three moving beasts were strange inscription in an unknown alphabet above another inscription in a more decryptable language, at least for the few people in the area that knew how to read.
N-A-T-O...
NATO ?
What it was or what it meaned stayed a mystery as the four men in green hoped in the carriages and left the village before anyone could something.
East of Coda Village, November 7th 2016, 1904 AT
After the contact with Coda Village, the recon team headed toward the biggest settlement of the vicinity. The thing that got the attention of the Lieutenant was that this village was in the middle of an enormous forest, away from the main road. That and the fact that Coda's elder said something like « Villagers... good relations with them... But they don't like the Empire... » Doesn't the saying goes as « The ennemy of your enemy is your friend. » ? So the order was given to meet them as soon as possible.
The road was the same for the past 2 hours and the boredom was back. Marc had taken the small speaker from Clark and, with his own phone, was playing french music.
Playing :
Trust – Antisocial
As the elctric guitar riff was playing, the Corporal raised his voiced toward the british medic.
« Still convinced that french music is shit ? »
« I'm so bored I could listen to anything. » Answered the Staff Sergeant, looking at the countryside getting more and more orange as the sun was setting.
« And Clark ? Any opinion ? »
« Well I can't say I don't like it, but my ears aren't having an orgasm either so... »
Marc sighed.
« Strauss, want to add your nail in the coffin of musical taste ? »
The german private was about to start his comment on how he was liking it, but he was interrupted by the radio spitting the order to stop.
Trevis being the one riding shotgun, she opened the door of the P4 to go ask what was going on, but an image being better than a thousand words, she got her answer immediatly.
A few kilometres ahead, the gigantic forest they were going towards was burning. The wind was taking the smoke away from the group of soldiers, explaining how the day dreaming sergeant wasn't able to notice it before.
But why was it burning ? The day wasn't hot, maybe around 22 or 23°C, so it wasn't a bush fire like those in Australia in the middle of the summer. At this moment, the most logical answer to the question was that someone, or something, started the fire. Maybe Empire's soldiers as a scorched earth policy, maybe a raid by bandits...
« Ok this is bad, started the Lieutenant with his binoculars rived to his eyes, I think we just lost our new contact. »
« So what are going to do, Lieutenant ? » asked Moltke, also looking through his binoculars
« We can't really do anything right now, so I guess we'll have to wait... »
A monstruous scream coming from the forest cut the Lieutenant in the middle of his sentence. Everyone that wasn't looking at the burning forest reached for their binoculars, trying to identify what was the source of that scream. A scream of pain. A scream like those in japanese kaiju movies. And like one of those movies, appeared through the smoke the gigantic silhouette of a dragon.
From the soldiers perspective, it made quite an impression. From a simple « Shit ! » to an relatively more elaborate « Putain de merde, what the fuck si that ? », everyone said something to express their sentiment.
From their position, they were out of it sight. It was pretty obvoius seeing it size that the twelve soldiers of Recon Team 3 weren't in position to attack it. If the winged lizards used in the Empire's attack on Paris could resist to anything smaller than 12.7mm APC rounds, there was no way that a dragon that massive, maybe bigger than five or six stories building, could be dealt with.
Moltke made his voice rise again. « What do we do now ? »
« We'll have to wait until it goes away... And you see those clouds coming from the north ? It looks like it's going to rain this night. Maybe it'll be enough to put out that fire... So we stay here for the night. Gonna radio command about that... »
And so, as the soldiers were setting up a camp, the NATO HQ was informed of the existance of, and I quote the Lieutenant, « a big-ass dragon that burned down an entire forest ».
Unknown forest, East of Coda Village, November 8th 2016, 0712 hours AT
The once luxurious forest was nothing but a grey wasteland of ashes and blackened tree trunks. Even though a heavy rain managed to stop the fire during the night, the air was dry, hot, filled with the odor of burnt wood.
When the day started to rose, the small recon team started to advance into the remains of the forest, following the trail that was supposed to lead to the settlement that was supposed to be here.
On the road, the VBL was advancing at the speed of the soldiers that were walking in a linear formation to cover the most ground possible. Everyone was focus, searching the area for anything that could move, despite the low odds of anything surviving such a fire.
After minutes of walking through a see of green, the soldiers started to found the remain of constructions.
The village they were looking for.
The village, and its inhabitants.
Or whatever remained from them.
Dark figures, frozen on the ground, the majority missing a part of their body... An arm, a leg, a part of the torso, the head...
For a lot of the soldiers, especially the one on their first deployment, it was like a nightmare.
The recon team regrouped next to what seemed to be the last thing still standing, a stone well. The order was given by the Lieutenant to establish a death count, and eventually search for a survivor.
But after a hour, nobody was found.
As Anthony was sitting on the edge of the well, Gomez approached, holding a small sheet of paper.
« We've counted 32 pile of ruble that look like coming from a building, he started with his light hispanic accent, but we only have 21 bodies. It's not enough. »
The Lieutenant sighed as he opened his water canteen and took a large sip. A sip large enough to empty the canteen.
« Yeah, if there is at least two people living in each house, he answered while taking the small bucket that was lying a few meters from him, whe should have at least 60 victims. »
After throwing the bucket over the edge, he was about to continue his setence but he was cut by a sound.
Bonk !
Everyone near the well turned their head toward the small stone structure.
The Lieutenant quickly searched for his flashlight, lit it, and pointed it down the hole.
There was a small amount of water, but nobody really noticed that because of the unconscious woman that was there.
« WE HAVE A SURVIVOR ! SOMEONE BRING ME A ROPE ! »
As Anthony was going down the well, a rope linking him to the VBL controlled by Moltke, Trevis was preparing her medkit, and all the others were watching the scene, trying to be useful in some way.
Anthony noticed that the water level wasn't high when he put his boot on the well's bottom, maybe 10cm above his ankle. In front of him, the girl was there, unconscious, her long blond hair making her head stand out of the dark background.
But it wasn't the time to describe her. Grabbing her by her forearm and her leg, the Lieutenant managed, despite the narrow space he was in, to place her on his shoulders.
« Ok I'm ready for the lift ! » he yelled, just to be sure he'll be heard.
« Roger. Start that thing Moltke. »
The VBL's engine roared, the rope tautened and the two started to rise towards the light, towards the grl's salvation.
When Anthony managed to grab the ledge and to pull himself out of the hole, he was immediately welcomed by the sight of Trevis, survival covers in her hands, grabbing the girl and wrapping her in said covers.
Rappeling down a hole only to carry up another people is an exhausting thing to do, but there was no time to rest. He followed the british medic to the back of the Humvee, where a stretcher was waiting.
And while her vitals were cheked, the young officer started to really examine the one he just saved.
She was young, maybe her mid 20's, quite tall for a woman, around the 1m75, with long blond hair. She was wearing green clothes like the one you see in fantasy movies wore by elves characters.
The only thing that was missing was the ears.
But after cheking her heart pulse, Trevis grabbed the hairs that were still in front of her face to put them at the back of her head, only to reveal the last clue necessary to make the mind of any geek blow.
Pointed ears.
The nail in the coffin.
This discovery silenced everyone. Even Trevis was shocked in a way.
Only one voice dared to break the almost religious silence. The voice of a hardcore Lord of the Ring fan.
Private 1st Class Cavendish.
« Ok we're definitively in Middle Earth... There were orcs, there was Smaug, now there is elfs... I swear to God if the next thing we see is two Hobbits trying to throw a ring into a volcano I'll fucking defect and move to Minas Tirith ! »
A few laughs rose into the blue sky of the Special Region, in contrast with the desolated landscape that was surrounding the group.
Laughs cut short by Trevis yelling at Cavendish that started to turn on his camera.
So here it is, the third chapter of OMJ is out. I really enjoyed writing this one, compared to last week's. Really hope that you enjoyed it.
I'm alfway through my finals so I used my "chapter in advance" now (basically when I post chapter X, chapter X+1 is written and I start writing chapter X+2). The last exam being on wednesday, I really hope I'll be able to bring you something next Sunday (Maybe an extension of the prologue, with the general's diary...)
But without further a do, let's go onto the reviews, or should I say THE review
Faust1812 - OH MY GOD FAUST READ MY FIC ! But more seriously I love HWGA and if I can say that GATE introduced me to manga/anime, I can also say that you introduced me to the worlds of fanfics. You're the one that inspired me to write this story, so I felt almost forced to put references to the story of Horsemen 4 (even if now they're US Army and not Marines). That being said always glad that someone enjoyed what I wrote.