August 8th, 2016 of the Georgian calendar
The usual quiet and beautiful ambiance of the countryside was interrupted by a platoon of M1 Abrams, the main battle tank or MBT of the United states army. Instead of it's iconic tan paint job was replaced by a forest green camouflage to blent in better with the landscape of the Special region or what the locals called Falmart.
The second platoon's mission was too escort the residents of a village named Coda which number about nine hundred to the town of Larshin. There had been reports of small bandit armies and what the locals called a 'flame dragon', a beast right out of a child's storybook but terrifying and with the ability to burn whole villages to the ground.
"This is Foxtrot actual, be advised the village is coming up." "Roger!" "Copy that, over." "Affirmative." Through the slits he watched the sigh of the village and the main road packed with a crowd, the refugees fleeing to a safer area. As the tanks rolled up the villagers looked up and froze in terror, thinking that these iron machines of war were giant monsters. These machines of war halted in front of them and made a low grumbling noise until a lone man in light green clothing and a weird helmet climbed out.
Smith casually walked up and pulled out his latin dictionary from his pocket, "Hello, I mean you no harm. Can you please tell you who is the leader of this village?" He asked in a understandable but broken Latin. A old man in modest clothing a fedora like hat stepped up. "I am, w-what do you want?" Obviously scared of the man and is strange metal creatures, "We are apart of the United states army and we're here to take you to Larshin where you'll be safe." The village chief let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, though it's a shame. We'll lived in this village for generations and now we'll have to leave our homes behind." In almost every war the civilians suffered dreadfully, losing their homes and way of life in fear of being caught in the crossfire.
"Don't worry sir." Smith walked up and gave the chief a Pat on the back, "When thinks settle down you can return home." In the most stereotypical friendly texan accent imaginable. "Pact up your finds and hurry." The Corporal gave a wave and walked back to the tank.
"Hey, hey, hey! Didn't know you had a way with words, though you'll smooch him or something." Said Pérez followed by laughter. "It's the hearts and minds loader, win the people you win the war." Williams just scoffed, "Did it work in Afghanistan, we'll been doing that for fifteen years and they're still blowing us up with IEDs."
Then Mckey decided to join in on the conversation, "Sir, I didn't know you could speak Latin?" "Well did'cha read your book? Everyone's was equipped with one." Mckey sat in silence, climbing back into the tank to secretly read his book.
After about twenty minutes of the villagers stuffing all they could carry into their wagons the caravan was ready and the along with their protectors set off to safety. In the middle of the journey smith opened the hatch and got up to take a smoke. He pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, lit the tobacco and took a nice long drag. His beloved wife back home would've scolded him about smoking, urging him to quit but god knew it took off the stress of combat. But the sound of children gasping caught his attention and he looked behind.
A group of children had gotten off their wagons and to the side of the road to observe someone, a young girl in a black dress holding a Halberd sitting down as a bunch of crows flew past.
The tanks slowed to a halt along with the caravan to watch this sigh, and that annoyed him. "Foxtrot, who is she?" Asked chomper, the codename for the commander of Dallas blues. "From what I can tell she's some sort of nobility, maybe a religious figure head." "A fucking what now?!" Smith looked down to Pérez, "how's a little girl-AAH SHIT!" The Cuban-American yelled bloody murder, Williams jumped so high he hit his head on the turret roof and Mckey didn't know what the fuck was going on. The little girl had managed to sneak onto the tank and now was looking down at them with big red eyes.
"Hello." 'How's this girl speaking english?' "Um..can you please get off my tank?" She giggled and like a superhero in a comic backflipped off the turret and back onto the ground. "Alright then, where are your parents?" "Dead dear warrior, they died nine hundred-thirty years ago. I'm Rory Mercury the apostle of Emroy."
Smith looked at her like she was crazy or maybe he was the crazy one and was just hallucinating this. "Rory if a may ask, who taught you English?" "Eg-lish? So that's your language huh? Fu, Fu, Fu." 'Oh fuck me...why me?'
Suddenly there was a roar, everyone turned their attention to where it came from as saw a wyvern, 'Shit, we've been spotted!' "This is Foxtrot actual, prepare haul ass!" He ordered in the radio but then the wyvern disappeared as something in one big chomp ended it's life in a instant, this now dead wyvern was the least of there worries now as a large shadow covered the caravan and blocked the sun.
There hovering in the air was a giant red reptile with wings, a dragon! Smith and the other tankers looked with aw as the villagers screamed in terror, quickly hopping back into their wagons to make a brake for it.
"The fuck is that?!" Said Chomper, "it's a goddamn flame dragon!" Shouted "cowboy" the commander of Honey badger. Smith from what he was hold these things were fucking killing machine and the refugees wouldn't be able to flee in time before they were turned into barbecue.
He had made his decision, "All tanks move forward!" "What! Your going against that thing?!" Rory's attitude took a 180 when she heard him. "Little girl I wont repeat myself, away with the caravan and don't move!" Smith said before climbing into his tank and it rushed forward. "Pérez! Load HE!" "Yes sir!" Like a synchronized machine he loaded the shell in the chamber and yelled "clear!" The air was filled with a thunderous blast as the M1 Abram's cannon sent a shell flying at the beast, hitting it in the gut.
It had hurt the dragon but it didn't do any serious damage. "Sir the HE stunned him but he tanked it!" Shouted Williams, "All tanks use Armor piercing and aim for the fucking-" Mckey sent the tank in a violent swerve to dodge a stream of flames.
"Way to fucking close!" Mckey cried out as he started to hyperventilate, thoughts of being burned or eaten alive filling his mind. "Taking evasive maneuvers!" called out Thumper as his tank narrowly missed the chomp of the monster.
The refugees watched in horror as the flame dragon sparred with the other-worlders' beasts, taking shots at it and the dragon moving out of the way like a beautiful ballerina dancing to the rhythm of a epic string quartet.
Now this wasn't some roman wannabe acting like some extra in a blockbuster, this was the boss and one wrong move meant being cooked alive. The other tanks in retaliation fired their cannons, "hear's a present ya damn reptile!" Yelled Thumper of Dog tag hunter While Cowboy missed, Chomper and Thumper had hit him in the chest and arm which few in the other direction.
The monster roared in agony as black blood gushed out of it's wound, filled with anger it swooped down on one of the green things like hawk. It with its momentum slamed into the Dallas blues, flinging the sixty-four ton tank back a couple yards like a toy, bending the barrel ing flipping it sideways. The dragon in victory let out a mighty war cry as it
"Chomper!" "That's it Williams! Put that fucker into the ground!" "ON THE WAY!!!!" BANG! The shell slammed into the dragon and tore the scales and elastic skin off it's right wing. Losing control the dragon fell down and created a shockwave as it hit the ground.
The tanks wasted no times and came in for the kill, the dragon attempted to get up but a shell it hit in the face and tore flesh and bone off. The rather sorry creature was simply torn to shreds as the tankers filled it with round after round, straying the coaxial guns and ramming it to make sure it wasn't getting up. Smith's crew would give the finished blow by driving the tank onto it's chest and crushing both the ribcage and internal organs with a loud CRACK!
"Hey...what did I miss?" Said a voice on the radio, Smith let out a chuckle. "Haha! A tough bastard as always!" "As always!" "This is Foxtrot-3!" Said Cowboy, " How 'bout we get a nice picture right 'ere! The press will sure go nuts over this!"
Fuaneos 9th, 867 of the Imperial calendar
She felt like she was going nowhere in terms of finding out who or what these other-worlders were, tales ranging from men with powerful magic unlike the world had ever seen to demonic spawns who took sadistic pleaser in gutting their enemies alive. The senate at the capital had not given the general public a proper understanding of the situation, even many nobles knew little if not anything about what was going on.
Her father had asked her to ride along with the order of the roses to Alnus hill where they'd gather intel on the invaders but she had hoped to see if she could find anyone who was there at the battle to give further insight. At this point she was exhausted from riding from the five day ride and in the back her mind she could her the tiny voice in her head telling her to go back home away from the front but she wouldn't give up now!
"Your highness!" Piña jolted from the quite ride being interrupted by none other then Bozes Co Palesti, one of the first noblewoman to join. The blonde's short temper and skill with the sword made to be a potential dangerous foe if you were on her wrong side but as loyal as man's best friend.
"There's a small just down this road." The princess nodded, "We'll rest there for the time being and see if anyone has any information about the other-worlders." "Are you sure we can trust what some random myth a person says?" Said Norma Co Igloo, one of only men in the order of the roses. "If they tell truth they will help bring victory for the empire and if they are found to have lied, then they shall be publicly crucified." Was she really going to sentence some every day peasant to death, likley not but despite times call for desperate measures and the very survival of the empire that kept the land from falling into Anarchy laid upon her shoulders. After a few minutes the party had finally reached the town, with people going one with their lives like nothing was happening. She and the others dismounted their horses and Piña, Igloo, and Bozes to enter the town's tavern, not ideal but was a soldier's favorite to ease off after a battle.
The four had opted to wear cloaks to hid their, especially the princess' static although most hade never seen her face and when they entered it was largely empty with only a handful quietly minding their own business. And right in the corner was a man, probably in his late twenties in ordinary peasant clothing and on his belt lay a Imperial wyvern corps short sword! Just what they needed! The man was so invested into his drink that he almost didn't notice Piña and Igloo sitting down in the nexts adjacent to him.
"Hello, is there something you need?" He asked politely, the the blonde man asked a question that shook him. "Sir i must ask, are you a deserter?" Even though the man with the sword quickly looked up with his eyes coming to life with horror but they soon returned back to their dead stare. "Im sorry but your mistake-" "That's a wyvern corps short sword." Said Piña sternly, "The only way you could've gotten hold on that sword, either you stole it or you are a wyvern flyer." "The penalty for desertion is death but we have not intention on reporting you so long as you give us information about these other-worlders."
The hazelnut haired man let out a sigh. "I am Enic Haa Dangig and these other-worlders are nothing the empire has ever seen and to be quite frank, I don't think it can win this." Piña refused to believe it, "Yes they are a new challenge but surly Sadera could turn the tide. What do they look like? How powerful is their magic?" "As strong as the gods. They can kill thousands with these small stars that can tear even ogres apart." He paused as memories of the horrific slaughter crept back into his mind, "And they have massive pieces that can massive explosion leagues away, not even the mages could stop them. The other-worlders also have these giant steel elephants that do the same out of their trunks."
The three began to seriously feel unnerved, the ability to wipe out whole armies wasn't normal but their loyalty and love for country wasn't going to waver in face of a army of powerful mages. "My unit was wiped out in minutes by their flying stars, as far as I'm concerned I am the sole survivor. I..I couldn't face my family let alone my superiors after the defeat, so I decided to start a new fresh life here in his town. Now please, can you leave me in peace?"
Piña's imagination went wild with what these people looked like but still she had one more question on her mind. "Sir Dangig, what do you plan these Other-world are up to?" Dangig took one final sip of his alcohol, "They'd must light attack Italica, it's after all a major trade hub." It hit her like bricks! Why didn't she think of it before! Without saying a word she got up and rushed to the door with Igloo and bozes right behind. There are one in a lifetime chances to claim glory and it was her turn but how so wrong she was...
Im back, ive got a little bit of Piña and Dangig in there. Im not sure if I should bring him back but that matters not, soon we'll finally get to the siege of Italica. Stay safe, stay positive and i bid you adieu!