Disclaimer: I own nothing as all characters and songs used in here belong to their respective owners.
AN: Hello people and thank you for offering reviews and views to my story now I am going to keep this brief by saying thank you to you all for sticking around my story, now this is where hopefully the good or more interesting part starts. Now let's start this story off with a bismillah and hope Allah blesses you all.
AN on update day: Sorry for taking so long but I wanted to make sure the quality was great but in the next chapter there will be combat so stay tooned for that,
Markus found himself seated in a wooden armchair with his head spinning and his vision containing black spots in It. He knew that anything given from 'above' would be a painful ordeal as the prophet had head aches and mild fevers along with other inconsistencies whenever he had a revelation.
Looking around, Markus found himself in middle of a circular white themed room with a blossoming black rose painted on the floor. Double glazed windows surrounded the room, which illuminated strong light into It. Making It so you couldn't see the outside of It.
The light revealed a wooden desk with what appeared to be an angel in human form manning It. He had golden brushed back hair while wearing a buttoned white vest over a long sleeved white shirt and a white pant to go with his angelic fashion style. Honestly the man offered a welcoming and elderly presence to him as he typed away in a computer with a stack of files stacked on his left and a small golden desk board on his left which read the words 'Administrator'.
The angel regarded Markus with his golden eyes, a light smile on his face and offered a handshake. "Peace be upon you mister Markus, I have found nothing but praises sang from the heavens as your heroic deeds have reached everywhere. Thank you for having faith in your lord and in all of us in completing our duties and do know that rewards in heaven and blessings for you on your mission will double from here on out. We do know that the title of the official Al-Mujahideen is a cumbersome one, filled with thankless trials and demands a lot of sacrifice from you but we assure you It will be worth It in the end as the new world will provide you with long overdue rewards as well."
Blinking a few times to stop his head from spinning, Markus returned the hand shake with a smile of his own and spoke his mind. "Peace be upon you as well; however, I feel like the title has more cons to It than pros but I will endure every hardship that comes towards me, aside from that I should feel like asking you more questions regarding my life... but said feeling is dying down or isn't there anymore. Can you explain that?"
"Well the reason is simple mister Markus, life of a Muslim is nothing less than a trial to decide the fate of their next life. We can't have you getting an upper hand unless you have earned It Markus or else It will cause more problems to everyone involved." The angel made sure the warning stayed in Markus's head while leaning forward.
Markus seeing no other reason for small talk between the angel as It didn't require any human needs such as 'interaction', urged him on to business. "Well let's get down to business than shall we."
The Angel humming in approval of Markus's eagerness said "Let's get down to It all right, as of right know you will be arriving in the world of Remnant. You are currently tasked with safe guarding the lives of everyone on Remnant from external and internal threats to the point that the influence of the Black Hand and evil in general is not present in Remnant, thus leaving Remnant alone to provide Earth with much needed reinforcements. This process can and will take 5 to 10 years." The angel paused to allow Markus to process the information after a few minutes.
"You do know that I have a year left before the main threat arrives right?" Markus muttered out a reply, clearly uneased.
The administrator let out a light hearted chuckled. "Calm down Markus, time has a tendency of being nothing less than a nuisance in the eyes of our lord, he will deliver you back to your people when the time is right." He smiled to ease Markus for good measure as well.
"However, the only thing I can do is warn you of some of the things you may encounter, the rest are something you must face alone when the time comes."
His facial features and voice had taken a serious tone as he continued his explanations. "You see Markus the inhabitants in the world consists of 2 races, known as the humans and the Faunus. Faunus are humans with animalistic traits so both of them are bound to get into conflict due to basic evil influence or basic differences between one another. The sentient beings of this world have similar cultures to yours, mostly the western and Asian side of things but that's aside the point."
The administrative angel continued on by rising from his desk and going for a walk around the room. "This world is plagued by monstrosities of Its own, they are known as the Grimm. They come in various shapes and sizes, their ferocity and ruthlessness has pushed the in habitants to 4 Bastions of hope that act as inter-connected constitutional monarchies with their "Vytal Council", mostly making the decisions."
Facing Markus, the Angel continued. "The reason the inhabitants of the planet or 'Remners' for simplicity's sake have survived for so long is because they are protected by major natural gifts from Allah. With some of them being aura and dust. Aura acts as a natural barrier of light which provides protection, enhanced strength/agility and a random offensive or defensive supernatural ability like super speed, shadow clones and etc. Called semblances. Yours will be unlocked when you fight your first battle."
"Dust on the other hand are elemental crystals like electricity, fire, Ice, gravity and other yet to be discovered crystals that play a vital role in the weaponry and technologies of the Remners, as such the only thing they do rely on is dust, leaving things like petroleum and other natural resources alone. These are only 2 of the major protections I can tell you Markus as of right now. The bearer of these gifts themselves have yet to unlock their full potential but that will change as you or more specifically, the title on your chest will play a vital role in understanding the mysteries behind the gifts more easily."
Sucking in air between his teeth with a frown, he continued on. "The people have yet to receive the light of Allah but your main objective is safeguarding them from the Black Hand and evil in general. Put preaching on the back burner for now as this would stir the minds of our enemies who are everywhere, the people as of right now are celebrating a time of peace between one another after a great conflict which happened 70 years prior over different views and slavery of the faunus, but the people have practically forgotten about the threat looming outside their walls with nothing to show for. If the Grimm or the Black Hand comes knocking as they have all but abandoned fighting and view the Grimm as nothing less than feeble animals due to their arrogance except for a few that is."
The angel had his hands clasped behind his back and didn't bothered to mask disdain in his voice as he continued. "A new front is being fought in the shadows with 2 major parties and with a lot of 3rd parties thrown into the mix. This front is a necessity for your survival but the secrecy of the fight has led to no vital results being made and both sides are required to bring this conflict out in the open to end It. Within time you will be dragged into the fight itself and will act as the deciding factor of It however be warned as the major powers in this world have no clear owner to It and will likely be besieged by many 3rd parties like ravenous hounds, dragging millions into needless bloodshed. Not only that the side you will be allying with will have Its leader being a cursed yet powerful individual, as such caution is advised while dealing with him. As he has grown unstable and untrustworthy of pious men like us over the years. "
Returning to his desk, the angel calmed himself before continuing on. "As such to begin your sacred mission, we will drop you to the 'Kingdom of Atlas'. A militaristic kingdom with the finest military Remnant has to offer as such It is attacked both internally and externally by our enemies. For now, this all I can convey to you but find a place to settle in Atlas, show the people on why you are called the Soldier of Allah and protect them at all costs. You will be given a tablet and equipment as well for further questions related to your mission. For now, farewell Markus and remember to trust no one but your lord." Without a second's notice, light molded onto Markus and sent him away from the Administrator.
YEAR: NOVEMBER 1ST/2053rd VYTILIAN YEAR
REGION: CAPITAL OF ATLAS (MANTLE)
LOCATION: ATLAS ACADEMY, HEADMASTER'S QUARTER ROOM
DAY: THURSDAY
TIME: 0:00
Lieutenant General James Ironwood was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. He required. No needed his sleep after a taxing day of working for the current headmaster of Beacon, Ozpin. As such the summon from the security council of Atlas to him and nearly all military commissioned officers had brushed his already strained nerves the wrong way.
For the undoubtedly long meeting, he poured himself some much-needed caffine from his kitchen and made sure that his uniform was wrinkle free and his appearance was up to par by military standards, before going out of his room and taking the elevator from his office to the ground floor of the academy.
His uniform was a double breast pocketed white shirt decorated with eye catching promotions like the medal on his left breast which a star with 3 sabers sprouting from Its lower half, two 5 stared promotion pads on his shoulders and a plethora of standard military medals on his right breast pockets. His white pants were simple and only held a holster for his powerful revolver.
Ozpin was a man of mystery who had a humble yet sharp mind in dealing with threats to humanity. The man's charismatic nature and wisdom had swooned James over to his inner circle along with other military and intelligence personals from Kingdoms around Remnant, to fight of Salem and her minions in secrecy.
Ozpin had tasked James with setting up a spy network to check on the whereabouts of the spring maiden and the Black Queen's agents in Atlas, the task was a daunting one but a very basic network was setup by the end of the day thanks to his friends in Atlas.
Riding down the elevator, he made a quick phone call to his bodyguards and fellow friends who were probably heading towards the Atlas Military HQ anyway.
Stepping out of the elevator an into the floor. James felt the familiar feeling of the 6 km wide, cubed education block of the academy where his office (the pillar in the middle of the block), state of the ark training facilities and class rooms along with the teacher's and visitor's lounge were present. The block was a 4 storied cuboid building which had a mono pitched roofing style that pointed to the courtyard and looked similar to the rest of the 2 blocks of the academy.
The architecture had a metallic yet spartan feel to It which showed of the wealth and discipline of Atlas through the subtle use of white and blue color schemes which worked wordlessly with the well-maintained walls and floors of the academy. Various portraits, statues and info kiosks of previous servicemen were spread all over the ground floor to give good impressions to visitors and students alike.
Saying a quick hello to the staff member manning the information desk, he marched out of the block greeting various senior students, staff and soldiers standing guard along the way, while tossing the coffee cup in a dust bin after finishing It.
Instead of expecting the usual calm snowy weather, James was instead introduced with a face full of frost which felt like tiny needles picking away at his skin and the cacophony of sound annoyed him to no end. He tried to open his eyes but they were soon forced shut by the onslaught of the wind and snow raging about. As such he raised his free hand over his head to partially allow some visibility.
Looking around he saw the entire courtyard covered with snow. The security protocols during a bad weather had kicked in with floodlights installed all over the academy opening up, the Atlassian Knight 130 security droids had been activated to replace the human soldiers outside and take their positions.
Squinting due to the unpresented blizzard hampering his vison, he could see the block that housed the student's dorm rooms, medical wing, stationary shops and the amphitheater on his left while the block with the armory, the training arena and other educational necessitates was on his right.
The flag poles with the flags of Atlas on each end of the courtyard were fluttering violently due to the wind with a blueish foggy hue being created in the area, the blue light pollution of the capital casted a dark blue cover over the clouds of Atlas, promptly blocking the shattered moon behind It.
Right in front of him was the main military atlas headquarters, it was 5 km, 3 storied structure with Gable roofing and dormers on Its roof. It had bullet proof windows on It's side with shutters on them, while hidden security cameras were dotted around the statues of former legends in various poses and actions on Its entrance and roof.
The entrance Itself had 6 porticoes, with a wide marbled stairway leading up to It. The flags of Atlas, other military forces and to James's dismay, the Schnee Dust Corporations well detailed snow flake emblem, as he wasn't really fond of the man behind It.
Hoofing It to the HQ, he met his personal body guards along the way and trooped It to the HQ. As soon as he passed through the security checkpoint of the HQ, he was met by some familiar faces.
His first friend while joining the Atlas military was John Nickel, a vice admiral who wore the same uniform James was wearing but It was in navy blue instead of white and his promotions and rank were replaced with insignia of bullheads and cruisers. He was a tanned man with a crop fringed hairstyle for his black hair. He was one hell of a friend and was damn good in his job, he mostly had the same characteristics of Ironwood.
The second one was none other than the head the Special Activities Division of the Atlas Secret Service, Bradford Silver. He had a hair style of long messy hair styled upwards with a low fade. A slim body with a vertical scar running across his chin and his clothing was that of a black suit with a white shirt and red tie, normally mirrored by the security council employees. He had a tendency of being very up to date, precautious of nearly everything and would normal treat everyone he encounters with skepticism.
The both of them were close friends of Ozpin as well. As all three were recruited by him during their trainee days and mostly shared the same age as well, 34. As James and John were already showing early stages of aging with stubs of gray hair growing on their sides and stress lines on their faces while Bradford had neither and looked young.
Aside from those two, the rest were simple soldiers and intelligence officers the Lt. General had yet to familiarize with making It so that high ranking officials were already in the council chamber. He approached the duo with a small smile on his face.
"Hello John, Bradford. I hope the two of you got some sleep after working for Oz?". He said while extending his hand.
The look of their wary faces and heavy eyes already told him the answer. "Nah we are just fine and dandy after setting up that backdoor in the CCTS tower for Oz! It isn't like some of us had to constantly forge paper work to fool the idiots guarding the damn thing with an emergency software update. You know how nerve racking would It be If we got caught right?!" Bradford replied with a snort.
"I see you are as pessimistic as usual. Besides It will be worth It in the end If we zero in on the maiden's location." James replied after making sure there were no eavesdropper.
The reply had caused Bradford to sour his mood and point a crooked finger at James. "Don't talk about shit like that over here James, last time I checked the security council couldn't give two shits about the privacy life of Its citizens and normally has the rooms of people like us bugged to the brim."
"Calm down Brad, the amount times we have talked about things like that in public would had gotten us caught a long time ago. Besides the places we normally talk about things like that are mostly bugged or security checked by us." The Lt. General tried to appease the man.
"Aside from that matter, does anyone know what the hell is going on with the weather? The brass had to order all civilian ships and any military ships lower than a corvette or carrier class to land immediately as they say "They would immediately spiral out of control If they got anywhere near the North-Eastern sector of Atlas." Basically, the industrial and mining areas of the SDC.
"Last time I heard from a fellow agent that a brother's damn tornado was spotted near fort Maxim, ya know the area some good kilometers away from the Capital, where the SDC has been finding new dust mines to over work the poor Faunus bastards inside It." Bradford replied with clear distaste for the SDC but continued on.
"It's a minor one but the damn thing is causing blizzards and snow storms all over Atlas in random directions practically causing a state of emergency. Do you know what the weird part is? The closer you get to It the calmer It gets however there is a circular wall of snow practically stopping anyone or anything from going in or out that surrounds fort Maxim as a whole. Making It so they are dead in the water and without communication until the blizzards pass."
"Well that is definitely a problem, I hope the security council has more information on this." James stated while furrowing his brows.
The trio left and entered the council chamber which was a large circular chamber with 4 circular metallic desks on each quarter of the circular room arranged in 8 columns and 4 rows. Each quarter represented the ASS, Navy, Infantry corps and a newly announced paramilitary division that was greenlit by the security council 2 months ago with their representatives I.e. fleet admiral, general, etc. In front of the desks with a large wooden desk and the flags of their factions on their sides. The respected high-ranking officials of their faction right behind them.
The chamber was dimly lit due to a vertical rectangular pillar in the center with 4 flat screen TVs on each side casting blue light into the room. After taking a seat on his desk, James took a glance on the TV and saw a map of Atlas's borders which covered the continent of Solitas. It was a 5,400,000 square miles contorted continent with 2 minor sea masses near the Western sector. There were 4 military bases on each direction and were normally found near the shore lines as they had navy ports and air bases attached to them along with high ways connecting them, to the industrial sectors as they shipped cargo from governmental or civilian ships landing there.
3 air fleets and a 4000-man regiment were attached to the bases. Each fleet consisted of 4 corvettes with 60-70 men inside one, 2 destroyers which had 200-300 men in each and one fleet carrier with over 500 men inside It. There are 30 bullheads inside It, with each bullhead carrying 5-man specialist or soldier teams inside It and 20 fighters were present. The fleet carrier served as a command center as well.
One fleet from each base would patrol the borders to control air traffic, one fleet would patrol inland, act as escorts for industrial, civilian, VIP or governmental ships and one fleet would defend the base Itself while responding to nearby heavy Grimm incursions. The capital of Atlas was guarded and monitored by at least 6 air fleets due to high amounts of ships going in and out.
Below the map of Atlas. The live faces of Jacques Schnee, the head of the SDC with his pale skin color, white hair and a golden and white suit with epaulettes on display. The current lead council man of the administrative council, Percy Persimmon. A middle-aged lightly tanned man with classic long hair, a well-trimmed beard and sharp features on his face. He wore a fancy blue buttoned jacket with golden trimmings on his neck, joints and buttons and a brown pant and black shirt to go with It. The rest of the 7 administrative council men were present as well, who were evenly gendered and hailed from noble families like Percy with their golden trimmed and diamond trimmed suits, while following a general grey color scheme.
Glancing down to the representative of the Atlassian infantry corps and Specialists. He found General Maze Bronze. A grizzly old man with a diagonal scar going across his left blue eye and rumored to have some on his torso regions as well. He wears white pants with a white over coat that has a black sweater and red tie inside. His hair was white and had tall thick spiky hair coming out of top which curled around his head. He was considered a ruthless man by many due to him never losing a settlement or city from Grimm incursions but he was infamous for having the most casualties and was known to show little to no leniency to incompetence and cowardice but was rumored to indulge in political warfare as well If someone threatened his political and societal positions. He mostly acted on his own whim and sometimes in the interest of the kingdom as well.
"Thankfully he will retire in 6 years, just have to make sure I survive by then." The Lt. General reassured himself.
Looking at the current admiral of the Atlassian navy and 2nd notable yet 43-year-old heir of the Persimmon family who was awarded the position of admiral due to his younger but more successful brother taking pity on him, was Burgundy Persimmon. He was a chubby man with brown hair rounding around his head with a bald center, had bushy eyebrows and mustaches as well. He wears a blue overcoat with a white shirt inside; custom made for him due to his size, a golden belt on a navy-blue pant and 3 golden rings with the symbol of Atlas on each hand. If anything, what John told James about the man was true than James disdain for the man rivaled Jacques due to the simple fact that the man was known to secretively remove anyone who threatened his position, hogged all the glory to himself and was known for showing public support to anti-Faunus movement and sometimes even outright humiliated the Faunus working under him while supporting the racists with financial and political support.
"Hope the fat bastard chokes on a cake or something like that as soon as possible, the amount of jobs he has taken up, had many hard-working men and women living in the streets." James thought a bitter remark of the man.
The current director of the ASS was a woman in her 30s known as Azula Lapis Lazuli. She has black spectacles and had sharp features with keen blue eyes on her face, her blonde hair was a small twisted bun that was smoothly finished. She wears a black business jacket with white unbuttoned shirt to and a business skirt. She possessed well-toned muscles like most servicemen and was gifted with well-toned hips and breasts as well, to the ire of other women around her of course. She is normally known as a lapdog of the council who works in the shadows to make sure the positions of the administrative council and in turn hers, is secured no matter the cost. She is a shady woman by James standard, as both rumors both inside and outside the council have pointed to the woman not playing by the book, staging abductions of political rivals and Faunus sympathizers, running black sites to imprison or interrogate the aforementioned abductees and even be a cause in some disappearance of servicemen who spoke out of term or disobeyed orders be It abandoning a village to a Grimm attack or not forcibly removing Faunus protesters.
All in all, she was a bitch from James point of view and one that had tried seduce him for a quick promotion in the infantry corps but luckily her dubious nature had gotten her kicked out from It thanks to soldiers not liking her in general. Finishing the thought of with a glare to her back.
Turning his head to the newly added paramilitary division, which were theorized as an answer to more organized crime, corruption in the government and police department along with the detainment of powerful rouge huntsmen.
The Blue Gear was authorized with their lead commissioner, Gordan Copper. He was a pale brown and fair skinned 30-year-old man hailing from the famous Copper family, which was responsible in making renowned law enforcers from the days of Mantle, to dawn of Atlas Itself. Who true to their name exercised the law in a way as If It was their life force, lain down some of the foundations of legal guide lines for the police, Judiciary system and even some military policies related to civilian handling as well. As such Gordon was expected to be the next amazing thing, with his family's name allowing him to be the lead commissioner of Blue Gear.
Gordon himself appeared to be a man with pale skin and chocolate eyes. His body slim yet had light muscles on him and didn't appeared to follow the trend of normal high ranking Atlassian police officers, who take the easy life with their obese stomachs, lanky muscles and carefree nature. As Gordan's eyes alone told James that he was a hardworking man and aimed to be the best law enforcer his family demanded. Gordon's clothing consisted of black pants, a light blue overcoat with a black vest over It and a white sash around It. His head attire consisted of a blue peak cap with a black outline to make sure the white flower pattern embroidered on It stuck out along with a blue colored gear cap badge on the top of the hat as well.
James found that information related to the Blue Gears was scarce at best, as the organization was reported to be setting up shop within the capital and filling up Its rank. As such Gordon was theorized to be working around the clock and appearances of the man was noted to be job related only which was far and few between. James had yet to be acquainted with the man but he prayed to the brothers that he wasn't like the leading figures of the army right now.
As the rest of the high-ranking officials and representatives filed in with stoic yet somewhat weary expressions due to most of them not being night owls aside from the representatives themselves and hand full of few officials.
"Alright gentlemen, I hope you have seated down now, as the matter of what we are about to discuss is of extreme importance." Percy stated and after a few minutes after glancing down on some documents on his desk, continued on.
"As of right now. The minister of communication, Celia Blue has just reported that the CCT system is currently offline due to... technical difficulties. Leaving us in the dark for who knows how long before contact with the rest of the kingdoms is established and the go ahead is given for the Atlassian fleet to reestablish dominance over the south-eastern sectors, thankfully the continental transmit system with their nodes aside from the one in fort Maxim, are still up and running."
"Not only that, the Atlas Meteorological Organization has also reported a large tornado of some sorts, cutting out fort Maxim and the SDC mining base right near It from any form of logistical support from the Atlassian military while making sure the regions inside It are not affected by the tornado Itself, fortunately enough."
Propping his hands together on his elbows, Percy reported. "The blizzards all over Atlas are also reported to be caused by this tornado as they match the wind pattern of the tornado Itself. The tornado was reported to have "popped out of nowhere", as half of the fleet of fort Maxim which was tasked with guarding the base Itself had spiraled of control and crash-landed on the outskirts of the tornado while the rest of the fleets assigned to It were not present near It during that time."
That was some form of relief, from Ironwood's point of view but the news that followed immediately soured his mood with a grim expression on his face. "Unfortunately for the men inside the tornado, a region wide yellow alert was sounded, an hour before the tornado appeared."
Percy waited for the news to sink in, as a region wide yellow alert meant that a sizable Grimm force was being amassed that could potentially threaten to overcome the military forces inside It. A tense atmosphere was created in the room with some of the officials who were somewhat bored or weary, sweat dropping at the complications of the alert. Normally one or more than one of the fleets would have been rerouted to deal with the threat but with the tornado cutting off potential reinforcements and the already half-sized fleet overseeing It, meant that fort Maxim would potentially fall.
"What about rerouting the 21st mechanized infantry from the capital, to fort Maxim?" Maze spoke up.
"I am afraid transporting those men on land would prove to take 3-4 hours, provided of course the roads are free from snow or Grimm." Percy replied.
"Well It would be better in declaring a state of emergency and having the Atlas military mobilized, If that's the case. This way we can account for other unforeseen circumstances."
"Alright gentlemen, the loss of fort Maxim and the SDC mining base assigned to It, would be a major blow to the security council's and Atlas's as a whole, credibility to host the Vytal Festival in 2 years. Not only that It would also cause financial consequences to our ally I.E. the SDC. Damage to them, is damage to Alas remember that." Flickering his gaze to Maze, Percy continued. "Maze I propose in leaving you as in charge in making sure, Atlas remains safe and fort Maxim doesn't fall." Seeing no objections, the faces of nonmilitary officials flickered off the screens while leaving the security council to deal with the mess.
YEAR: UNKNOWN
REGION: UNKNOWN
LOCATION: UNKNOWN
DAY: UNKNOWN
TIME: 23:30
Markus found golden light coating his body and wind battering away at his ears as he dived across the sky to Remnant, with an eerie feeling of calmness on him.
The helmet thankfully allowed him to see through the snowy onslaught on his face. That he was able to make out a plain snowy plateau with alpine forests on the outskirts of It at the south and a bit of It on the west, there appeared to be a small hill with an open cave mouth facing the plateau on the North end of the plateau with blinking lights and structures just behind It but couldn't exactly make out what they were as his vison was somewhat hampered by all the snow that was being tossed around.
Oddly enough after jerking his head to the side, Markus found that he was in the middle of a tornado that stretched around the area he was in but instead of tossing things around inside It, it left the area in the center of It, alone except for the mild strong winds inside It.
Markus soon detected 2 duffle bags on his figure, as he descended down to the plateau. His arrival on the snowy earth caused a large shockwave that immediately tossed further snow into the air.
Momentarily blocking out any form of vision one would have, if they were to be in the area.
Rising slowly from the ground, Markus unhooked the 2 duffle bags on him and after taking a quick look around, immediately started rummaging through the bags,
The first one was black in color and had an emblem with small 2 Arabian swords in deadlock, on its center. Inside It Markus found a tablet with 6 non-blessed ammo clips and 6 blessed ammo clips for his M16 around It, along with 3 smoke grenades, 3 flash bangs and 2 High Explosive grenades. He found a small parchment inside It that presumably had the password for his tablet and also told him that the bag had enough space inside It to store his Al-Khalid armor.
The second one was simply white and filled with one set of non-military clothing that at first glance would fool anyone but in reality, there was some concealed armor on It. There were some blankets, men hygiene items, a prayer mat, a Quran and some rations along with a gem as well but the most eye-catching thing was the white colored Steyer Aug A3 CQC model prototype that had the same number and types of rounds that were found in the black duffle bag but the ammo clips were white instead of black, Markus immediately had fond memories of the men that the gun was normally associated with, which were the ex-commandos of Pakistan, now they served under him and still mostly used the same rifle. The second last notable item was his personal black smart phone which was used to catalogue the names of the men and civilians that died under his command or fought side by side with him, the reason they died and ways on how to prevent their deaths from occurring. All in all, the information was mostly stored away for commanders both new and old alike.
The final item was also a European long sword that had protection Duas on Its edge instead of It being on the fuller of the blade like the sword in the Al-Khalid's set. He found a parchment inside It that said "For your public persona". With that he immediately decided to reach Atlas as soon as possible and set off to the cave he saw to see what was going on there.
As he stalked along the snow while his cape flickered haphazardly, Markus allowed his thoughts to run wild. His mind wandered off to his conversation at the war room, he handled the situation like a teenage than an adult or a military general at that.
You see Markus had a tendency of forgetting things due to the simple fact on how busy he was, unlike normal generals or commanders who are found in the back lines. Markus was known for staying in the front lines and gong to battles after battles without a stop.
A day wouldn't pass where Markus didn't receive a new scar, dead bodies of his men or enemies and stuff that no man in his lifetime should endure nor see. As such Markus was normally a rare face to be seen in the briefing rooms as he would normally speed off to any new threat that popped up and dared attack his ummah(community).
Thanks to that, in the information department and information of enemies at that. Markus would draw blanks to the point that commanders and officers alike would drive their hands to their faces or shake their heads, as he would end up getting the most basic of things wrong but ended up surviving life-threatening situations due to him not having the necessary information was thanks to his ruthless nature and unfaltering resolve.
Markus knew that they were thinking that a moron will soon command them when he's older enough and prayed to Allah that he would sort out his problems by then.
Sometimes when the situation would get so bad that his side was left outgunned and outnumbered while Markus himself was in a wounded state and to make sure Markus was able to operate properly with a heavily wounded body.
He had to resort to a cave man style mindset as a coping mechanism, where the only things he would do is think, pray, kill, eat, sleep and talk in either grunts or small words. Anything other than that and he was more likely to pass out or spew words out filled to the brim with stutters that a toddler would have a better time communicating.
This way his reputation with the military would normally lead to him being the most brave and ferocious warrior to ever live one day and the next a bumbling idiot.
That really didn't deterred Markus from developing a sense of brotherhood and deep bond between his people and treating them like family but a sense of disappointment was to be detected oozing from them which ached away at Markus's heart. As he knew they deserved better due to the trials all of them had to endure after the cataclysm.
"You have to focus on the task at hand Markus or else you ain't getting through this alive." Markus thought.
Markus let out a growl of frustration before deciding to focus on his surroundings, which consisted of snow covered trees and bushes that were far and few between along with some rock formations that were poking out of the ground.
The snow was familiar to Markus yet lacked the sinister sensation he felt back at earth, however the mark on his chest was starting to glow faintly which was odd for Markus.
The dry trees he encountered didn't seem lifeless or besieged by dark magic at all as they seemed more natural and alive to him, like the ones in Mecca which were a rare sight for a busy man like Markus.
Caressing the bark of the tree with an ungloved hand, gave off a pleasing sensation to Markus as he longed for the touch. Moving his hand to the leaves, he felt the smooth texture of the alpine leaf after genteelly removing the snow that covered the layer against his scarred hand.
"Finally, trees that aren't dead. Hope this world is filled with more beauty than the bland and bleak world back home or at least the formally beautiful world that is." Markus thought.
Markus let out a heartfelt chuckle before returning to the task at hand and saying a quick praise to his lord.
Markus resumed his pace along the tundra while keeping an eye out for anything resembling the black hand. His footsteps were muffled thanks to the roaring winds and were quickly covered by the snow, giving potential enemies a run for their money in tracking him while his honed senses scanned the area.
His E.V helmet was constantly operational and picked something up after 5 minutes of walking. His helmet was on magic detection mode and picked up a small pile of orange magic residue just up ahead.
Markus whipped out his M16 and scanned the surroundings again. After finding no one, he wearily approached the residue to see what It was.
He saw what appeared to be 5 shell casings spread inches away from one another with 2 of them being yellow and 3 of them being red. Picking a red one up, Markus saw that the shell casing resembled his own NATO ammo used for his main rifle and appeared to give off impossible heat which should had stop doing so due to the cold temperature but against all odd was able to do so, as If It was fired just recently.
Markus saw that the heat was concentrated on the back of the shell where the red magical residue was concentrated as well.
Markus effectively summarized that this was Dust and the flame elemental kind at that. Glancing down to the yellow ones he saw small twitches of electricity that further backed his summary.
Now the question was what was It used on? As Markus advanced forward and started going to direction of the cave, after pocketing the casings. He saw a man-made asphalt road which had one end going to the cave and the other curving into the forest at the west end, with snow piling up on most of the road.
He felt a more refined sinister sensation which was unique to the possessor while going to the cave, past experiences with that damn enemy was mostly hateful and frustrating as Markus was competent enough to remember that It always zeroed on people who showed even an ounce of fear thus gaining a notoriety for being a high threat to civilians and the hopeless. Markus fortunately got more effective in dealing with that type of enemy over the years but personally he hated It the most.
The cave would be a mile or 2 away from him so It may take him half an hour to reach It If he went in this cautious pace.
Further up ahead along the road, Markus saw street lamps toppled down on their sides with various fading pawprints of various shapes and sizes, which resembled ones of bears and wolves.
The weather around him was starting to calm down, to the point that he was able to somewhat make out a destroyed perimeter fence with a roadblock and toppled over guard tower with the support structures caved in, 40 meters away from him.
Markus practically broke into a sprint as he saw 8 metallic armored bodies strewn about on 2 sandbags, on the side of the road. Worry was racing in his heart but in the back of his head Markus knew that these men were already dead.
As he closed in he saw a corpse of a soldier lying hunched over on the sand bags with his arm dangling over the edge of the sandbag, while his blood caked the sandbag. A white symbol which may have been representing Atlas, was on the flag pole toppled downwards near him.
A metallic suit was donned on him with the helmet's design revealing a slacked jaw, which had Its main chest piece destroyed by a huge claw mark as he saw the fragments of It nearby, another claw mark was found on his exposed torso which was deep enough to cause harm and pin him but not outright kill him. The killing blow on the other hand was a bite on his throat which was ripped out.
Glancing around he saw the wounds and dry blood on the similar bodies, which were animalistic and brutal in nature as one had his arms ripped out with his mouth agape which meant that he died screaming.
Another, a woman had her entire lower section ripped out while leaving a pile of entrails and gore. She clutched a rifle which had Its ammo all used up, the stock of the rifle being reduced to this mangled and broken mess as she presumably attempted to fight of the rage induced beast ripping her apart.
Most of the bodies were in similar states of mutilation spread around the sand bags while nearly all their gear was destroyed in a stampede of the horde of enemies that rampaged through them aside from a futuristic gun which reminded Markus of a FN P90 but with no scope, in a white and black color palette and had a clip inside It with 30 rounds.
The state of the bodies had Markus's heart pounding continuously as vows of vengeances coursed through his body, the helmeted eyes of the soldiers did little in stopping the accusatory feeling the dead would give off to Markus one way or another for allowing this to happen. An untapped rage was slowly becoming unearthed from the confines of his heart, he needed to locate the ones responsible and immediately administer justice.
The bodies were mostly left alone by Markus as he spoke a quick prayer for their souls with the words. "Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un". Which meant that all men came from Allah and is to him we will return. Right before he left, he noted down the names of the men and women slain to be archived and mourn for another time, by genteelly surveying their body tags.
Markus was surprised to see the names being mix and match of color names. "Must be a cultural thing by the locals." Markus thought briefly before glancing around.
A pair of footprints with the sole pattern matching of that of the soldiers, was moving away from the checkpoint and towards the cave.
"Hmm, a runner must have been sent to alert their superiors while the rest of the soldiers stayed behind to hold them off." Markus analyzed internally.
The footprints were starting to become clearer and deeper as he further ventured on, after 10 minutes he saw the unfortunate fate of the runner with his vision of the E.V helmet on normal mode.
A woman with black stacked and inverted smart bob hair, in her mid-twenties and a uniform of a grey blazer jacket with white pants was lying face first on the ground in a puddle of her own blood and seemed to be hunched over in a protective manner over something with her arms bent inwards.
Her entire back section was shredded with her skin torn to shreds, the cloth barely clinging on to her bare back and blood oozing out of there with various wounds on her arms and legs, on closer inspection a bite wound was found on the back of her neck.
"Judging by how precise and similar in size the slash marks are, the creature of Grimm responsible for this must have lived long enough to understand how to track, immobilize and kill a human efficiently." Glancing down on her bare back, "efficiently It's animalistic nature allowed It to be."
The signs of intelligence the creature was showing and safe to say the Grimm meant that they were very similar to nearly all his enemies, which meant that If they get to live long enough than their intelligence and power would increase as well. Making It so that Markus would have to deal with them in a moment's notice or else the survivors would pass their teachings on to their superiors and learn, effectively making their off springs or replacements stronger.
Glancing around Markus saw the hilt of a blade poking out of the snow, after taking it out he saw the woman's weapon of choice was a sword with the main components of a rifle attached to It after an inspection from a critical eye, the weapon was a mecha-shift weapon which was weird at best due to the amount of time It would take in maintaining a weapon like that, but perhaps these Remners may have found other means to negate the problem?
After crouching down and gently moving the woman on her back, Markus came face to face with a young and beautiful but tear covered face, her dilated hazel eyes told Markus everything on how the poor woman died a long and painful death with regret overflowing her heart with each drop of blood.
A gauntleted hand was about to close her eyes before Markus remembered that he had to know the person's name in order to do a dua for closing the eyes of the deceased.
Looking down on her chest he saw a blue I.D card with the symbols and letters in white on her left breast.
The top left of the card had a picture of the same woman smiling right in front of him, with the left side giving him the information he needed which was that her name was Olivia Rainart, her rank was classified as a "Specialist" and her deployment area was called Fort Maxim.
With that Markus closed her eyes while saying "O Lord, forgive Olivia Rainart and raise her ranks amongst the rightly guided, be a successor to whom she has left behind and forgive us and her O lord of the worlds. Make her grave spacious and illuminate It for her."
With that he was about to leave before he was an object in her arms.
Markus found a blue rectangular tablet or at least the back-leather skin of Its back, with the same symbol on It.
Turning It over he saw that the display screen was open and oddly enough was in this holographic form. Markus saw that the battery level was about to run out in 10 minutes due to the awkward way the woman was holding may had left the tablet going for an hour or so without the auto lock kicking in and conserving energy.
On the screen, he saw a map on the region he was in with a 4 km wide base just right in front of him and just behind the hill, while the hill Itself being called "SDC mining operation site". The map also had marked the capital of the kingdom which was to the west of him while also marking the crash sites of unfortunate aircrafts that were foreign to Markus dotted at the south or more specifically the forest while a handful had crashed around the base.
On the top left Markus saw white text which said.
Cross. Continental. Transmit. System
STATUS: UNAVALIBLE
Continental. Transmit. System
STATUS: UNAVALIBLE
Continental. Transmit. System (FORT Maxim)
STATUS: ONLINE
REGION STATUS: YELLOW ALERT
THREAT REQUIREMENTS REPORTED BY: OLIVIA RAINART
AUTHORISED BY BASE COMMANDER: DANIAL BRONZE
MAIN OBJECTIVES UPDATED: ALL PERSONAL ARE TO HERE BY REPORT BACK TO FORT MAXIM IMMEDIATELY WHILE HALTING ALL SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATIONS FOR DOWNED ATLASSIAN AIRCRAFTS NEAR FORT MAXIM. A LARGE GRIMM FORCE HAS BEEN DETECTED TO COnVERGE ON FORT MAXIM FROM ALL SIDES.
EXPECT LITTLE SUPPORT FROM THE SURIVING AIRFLEET AS THE WEATHER IS STILL UNFITT FOR THEM. HAIL FOR REINFORCEMENTS HAS YET TO BE ANSWERED SO NO REINFORCEMENTS ARE SET TO ARRIVE IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS.
ALERT SOUNDED: 1 HOUR AND 17 MINUTES AGO.
"Got to hurry and make sure those boys survive the onslaught or else the same fate I saw will be repeated ten times over." Markus thought grimly.
Before even a second had passed Markus's title started to glow in a hazel color, the same color the woman's eyes were as such this unprecedented anomaly caused Markus to make his E.V helmet go into magic detection mode, the sight caused Markus's world to slow down as his brain attempted to process what was happening.
Right in front of him was a near identical ghostly replica of the same woman except had a hazel colored glow to her, was standing perfectly still with a grin on her face and her arms behind her back.
Markus encounters with spirits were brief yet frightening as they would keep on yelling and begging to give them control of his body, while sometimes even recounting the tales of their punishments being served to them in the grave. One glance at them alone would give off a feeling to any human that they were people who deserved It, as such when that feeling was not present Markus was profoundly confused yet severely scared at that same time on how to deal with the situation.
"Hiya stranger, you don't look like from these parts, are you lost?" The ghostly woman or Olivia inquired in an accent that was similar to the same one found in an American countryside.
Update: Just correcting some grammar, nothing more. Also more reviews would be welcomed and a follow as well, If you are satisfied by the story that is.
