-Demeteous 17th, 687 of the Imperial calendar
"Let loose!" Yelled Dax while the line of soldiers fired their hand-kanonis at the enemy soldiers attempting to climb up the mountain side. The Zufmuut legion had taken positions on the southern side of mount Zaila where a old fortress building into the mountain side had been constructed by dwarves centuries ago. Linux was glad they had been given wolf hide coats that helped shield them from the cold but his hands still burned. The boy flinched as their invisible projectiles flew past, taking cover behind a rock.
"They're still coming!" Yelled one soldier. "Shut up and keep firing!" Barked Dax, "Or I'll have you left for the wolves!" Unfortunately his threats were not to be dismissed and there were those unlucky who had been cruelty punished for either questioning authority or showing a hint of cowardice. He heard the sound of a small kanoni firing and just barley see a unlucky person get hit, crushing the organs and bones inside him. In return, the enemy fired something emitting smoke from the back at them. "Get down!" Explosions rocked the rock face and a handful of men flying. Finally realizing that he rushed getting overwhelmed by other-world forces ordered a retreat to their second line of defense.
As fast as they could the soldiers climbed up the mountain slopes to their trenches but many were cut down before they could reach safely. Lunix had luckily been unscathed and was able to continue fighting but he only had seven balls left on him. He saw Felix and instinctively rushed to his side. "Felix! I need balls!" He said but the man shock his head "Im low too, so just stay down for now!" The man ordered and the boy simply nodded.
The Other-world soldiers crept closer and closer no matter how much lead they put down range and the defenders couldn't hope to match their magical firepower. Then he heard a legionnaire call out, "Get into positions!" Linux turned his head to see a mixed cohort of mages and archers running in formation towards the position just behind the trench, readying up for combat. The archers pull out the arrows and pulled back the string on their bows. "Loose!" In a instant, hundreds of arrows flow into the air. He watched the enemy run to cover as the area was saturated with arrows and no doubt in his mind at least a handful had been hit. Then the mages began to chant up a spell until a wall of blue disks covered the group though many were cut down before completing the spell. "ESH NA NUGI!!" With thunderous pops the disks shot out orbs going as fast as a wyvern at the enemy force who were barley a spec to the human eye.
Soon explosions rocked where the enemy stood, while not as powerful as the enemy's explosions they still could do a lot of damage. Even as they were bombarded the Other-worlders shot back ferociously and mages began dropping dead like flies. Lunix flinched as unlit orbs in the shape of scrolls shot past and hit their mark, one decimating the already battered cohort while another crashed into the fortress, blasting a hole into the structure but it was not all.
He looked in horror as he could see flying chariots hover towards their position, finally breaking the will of the Zufmuut troops. "Retreat! Its their Archangels!" Shouted one as they all climbed as fast as they could towards the fortress where they would be safe. A hot stream of death poured onto them like hot oil, turning men into red mist in a millisecond. Explosions rang all around, causing his ears to ring and hearing muffled but he soon came to a realization; he could find Felix anywhere.
"Felix!" He shouted, frantically looking around for the only person who had even cared for him in the whole legion. "Felix! Felix where are you?" Suddenly a hand grabbed his coat, "Don't doddle child! We need to move!" A muscular man in a regular Saderan uniform shouted as he dragged him along. "I-I need to find my frie-" "Forget him, we need to find cover now!" Then out of nowhere a explosion erupted near the pair, sending them flying. The Edener blinked a few times before pulling himself up and slowly recovered from the blast. He saw what looked to be spear fly pathetically low beneath the chariot, which after putting the pieces together originated from one of the scorpios positioned even higher above the fortress. The beasts switched their attention to the artillery and shoots explosive spears back at it, engulfing the weapons and the crews in a cloud of smoke but his heart stopped.
The snow at the top had been disturbed and began to slowly move down the slope and increase in size until thousands of liberas of snow came crashing down in a full fledged avalanche headed straight for them. Seeing the wave fly down the mountain towards them sent everyone into a panic as some rushed to the safety to the fortress, others ran or tumble down away from the avalanche while some prayed to their god of choice, even the Other-worlders withdrew their weapons as they attempted to flee on skis. Linux had decided he wasn't running towards the danger and attempted to run down the mountain side as fast as possible without slipping on the ice. The rumbling got louder and louder, trees were ripped from their roots and men were swallowed whole. In his head he begged Zufmuut and any other god to allow him to live but luck scoffed at him as he tripped on a rock, sending him tumbling down. Every was blurry as he was flung like a rag doll and struggled to get himself upright, though managed to do so just in time to see the white wave of death engulf him like a giant blanket.
... unknown amount of time later
His conscience returned to him as he could feel cold air fill his lungs before wheezing it out, he was numb and could barely move. He turned his head to a small fire surrounded by two figures, one turned around and let out a chuckle. "The little lad's still alive!" Linux's eyes adjusted to the darkness and saw that the person was a dwarf with a long facial hair and thick armor covering his body. "There's no need to be afraid, Berica pulled you out of the snow. I am Suloc." He said while pointing to the man he had met before. "T-t-thanks." He stuttered as he his teeth chattered, "I would've been a goner had it not been for you." The large man grabbed the boy's hand and shook it. "No problem kid." "Hey! Did you forget about me?" Linux immediately recognized the voice and ran in its direction to a snow covered but alive Felix, hugging him tightly as hard as he could.
"Felix! Im glad your ok." The man patted the boy and returned the embrace. "How did you survive?" The boy asked, Felix pausing for a moment. "How about I tell by the camp fire, don't want you to turn into a ice statue." The two then sat by the fire next to each other and the silver haired edener began his story. "When the avalanche began I like many of our companions rushed into the fortress to bunker down. Once I got there realized you weren't inside with the rest of the men, despite my best efforts I was held back and only pray for your safety. I'm truly sorry I could reach you in time." At the end if Felix's story, Linux had a question. "Well, how did you meet with them?" Suloc and Beric looked at each and the dwarf let out a sigh.
"I was inside the fortress tunnels when the avalanche occurred, cleaning my hammer for battle. The snow hadn't completely buried the fortress so a group of us included Felix here went out to find survivors. We had to wait until some large chariot picked up it's own men and fly off first or we'd be turn to shreds. Unfortunately only you and Beric here were the only ones we managed to pull out alive, the rest either were dead or died before we could treat them." Suloc sniffed his running nose before continuing. "We went back to the fortress but the bastards locked us outside." "Outside? But why?" This time Beric spoke, "They said there were too many mouths to fed and needed to conserve their food until reinforcements arrive, so we camped here."
The fire crackled and popped as the night dragged on, the conversation morphing into tales from the past and legends from their respective homelands. The four before going to bed tied rope around the trees with small cups from Suloc's sack to warn them of any hostile people or wildlife. Linux decided to stay up a little longer in his little hole in the snow, watching the stars twinkle in the night sky as the wind howled.
November 21st, 2016 of the Gregorian calendar
A little over a month ago a ceasefire had been made by the United states and the Saderan empire to reach a peace agreement but that was now blown into the wind and the Saderans were throwing waves of men at them per usual. The United states having defeated the finger peninsula kingdoms at the battle of Safria where almost all of them had been killed or captured, forcing the kingdoms to surrender on the conditions that the US army would help combat bandits who'd take advantage of the situation.
But things weren't as peachy in the Dumas as Kowalski would've hoped for. For the last two days, there had been a number of avalanches all across the mountain range including the one on Mount Zaila where of the battalion strong force from the 10th Mountain division, thirteen had been killed and injuring another forty while practically burning the fortress which protected it. The general took a nice sip of his coffee as he looked at the map on his desk which showed positions of fortresses, passes, valleys, ridges, roads, etc. Surprising the Saderan forcing were not fighting like they had done before in massive human wave attacks but had begun entrenching themselves in Forts, caves, snow covered forests and tiny villages with hit and run tactics like insurgencies.
Wanting to bring the war to a speedy closure devised a plan to punch through the Saderan line of defense. He'd order massive air and artillery strikes on mountains to cause avalanches that would bury the defenders with having to risk losing men in an assault, but these would target slopes that would threaten to block the Appia highway. From the ring of spies recruited from corrupt and disillusioned commanders in Sadera, he was informed that 580,000 legionnaires alone defended the Dumas and eastern Romalia while another 70,000 protected the even less traversable Desseria highway in the north. 'It feels like Im living in a shitty TV show.' He thought to himself, 'I should be back home watching my grandkid go fishing instead of this bull-' Then before he could continue his internal monologue, a female subordinate came rushing in.
She saluted him before saying, "Sir, I have urgent news. We've lost contact with the garrison on Apostle hill." She said and stood at attention. "When did we lost contact?" "Two hours sir, there's reports of a rough snowstorm in the area that may have something to due with the radio silence." Kowalski stood and rubbed his brow. "What is the unit on that hill?" The woman wasted no time to respond, "It's the 1st battalion, 24th Marines sir."