Author's note: ehehehe...sorry this took so long. I'll try to be more timely with future updates...really! In case it wasn't clear, the POV at the end of the last chapter was Vice. Thank to allreviewers...are we still allowed to put notes to reviewers? Just in case, I'll just give a general thank-you. Enjoy the (admitantly late) chapter!
Chapter 11--Combat Experience
It was dark.
This barely registered in his mind. It was always dark here; so be it. He was a creature of the night, he reveled in darkness. So many people looked upon his World and sighed at the tragedy. They could not understand, would never understand. He understood. He saw what they could not see. There was no tragedy but in the mind. He was not tragic, would never be tragic. His soul did not invite pity. If his was a harsh life, so be it. So be it if every day was a struggle to survive. So be it if every night he was aware that he had merely extended his life for one more nonexistent sunrise. So be it if his world was washed in blood.
So be it.
This was his life, his choice. If it was a dark one, it only reflected his nature. One who sees in the dark has no fear of night. One whose heart has died has no fear of losing his life. This was his darkness, and he would not exchange it for the light of a thousand infant suns.
No need to run from a darkness that was mirrored in his soul.
-o-o-o-o-o-
The lookout was shouting--something coming towards them, moving fast. His eyes raked the barren, misty plain, searching for confirmation of the report. Nothing...no--wait! There--the grasses rustled like a cat stalking prey, shifting apart in a rapidly approaching line as something rushed toward them, unseen in the ocean of grass. The grass was golden yellow, beautiful in death. It cast sharp, confusing shadows in the distorted moonlight, making it difficult to keep the approaching enemy in sight.
He did not need to see it to know that it was an enemy. Everything that approached was an enemy.
The moon shone on his gaunt face as he ascended the lookout post, limbs pulling him upward like a spider. The same faint moonlight bathed the lookout beside him the pale white of a corpse as he pointed behind them. Something else was approaching--flanking them.
He heard the kara-kacho calling them into position, drawing everyone back into the shadow of the crumbling building they lived in so they wouldn't be struck from behind. He nocked his bow, listening in the dark for the tell-tale rustle of grass that would give him a target to shoot at. He needed no visible target to attack; the enemy that could hide from his eyes could never hide from his ears.
There--to the left. He drew back the string and sprang from hiding, sighting as the target leapt forward as well, bearing down with a lance. He waited for the enemy to get in range...waited...but then--from above! He pulled back into a crouch, groping for a short-range weapon as he looked upwards to see--
"Yuugi--Yuugi!"
Yuugi sat up, half-expecting to see someone standing before him, poised to attack. Instead there was only Scat, shaking him awake.
"Come on--there's a battle today," she said, heading for the door with Skitter at her heels.
Yuugi followed her, trying to remember his dream. It had been vividly real, so much so that the waking nightmare of enslavement in the Chaos fortress seemed dreamlike in comparison. Now that he was awake, however, he felt it slipping away. He struggled to hold on to it, but it was like trying to hold water in his hands; it was quickly gone.
Yuugi shook himself, trying to come fully awake as he followed Scat and the other members of division 24 down one of the many identical steel corridors. He wasn't entirely sure what the slaves had to do in battle; he couldn't imagine the Chaos army leaving its military victories to groups of malnourished children.
A pair of Clanner warriors led the slaves to their destination, paying them little attention. One, a woman with dark, tanned skin and smooth black hair, was obviously furious about something. She shot sidelong glares at her companion, a pale, brooding young man carrying a spear, but said nothing for a few moments. Then, glancing around to make sure no one was listening (apparently the idea of the slaves eavesdropping did not occur to her), she began arguing with him in a barely-restrained whisper.
"This is ridiculous! We are not some hired hands to be ordered about at the discretion of a--"
Her partner shushed her quickly, giving her a glare of his own. "Don't talk like that! They'll hear you somehow, and then it will be the end for both of our Clanns. Things are bad enough without your people making them worse!"
"Making them worse?" the woman hissed back, now shaking with rage. "Making them worse? Death would be preferable to this--this--" She lapsed into furious silence, having no words for the shameful position she and her Clann were in.
"Perhaps it would; it doesn't matter," the man replied coldly. "The penalty for disloyalty is far worse than death. I would not report a Clanner of any Clann, but if you do not wish to discover the price of your words for yourself, I would advise you to keep such opinions quiet."
The look on the woman's face was reply enough, and her partner also fell silent. Most of the slaves, used to their masters whispering amongst themselves, didn't bother listening, but Yuugi did. Yuugi was perplexed by the apparent paradox of Clanners serving the Overlord; with their strong honor code, the Clanners would never submit to such an alliance if they didn't want to...but then why their obvious anger at the situation?
Seeing that they had reached their destination (another steel door), Yuugi realized he had better stop worrying about the Clanners and start worrying about this battle. From what Scat had said, division 24 was continually getting new members to replace those killed in battle; the odds of survival were very low.
The female Clanner opened the door, and the slaves filed inside. The room they entered was a large hall, with doorways on all sides. Many of these doorways were filled with Clanner troops filing in to stand with the other members of their respective Clanns in orderly rows. Even though they would fight and die together, the Clanns did not even look at one another if they could help it, let alone speak. The Clann leaders were attempting to discuss their strategy, with little effect. So far, the Clanns serving the Overlord acted as fairly autonomous units, taking orders but showing little interest in the Chaos Army at large, and even less in each other. Even with their lives at stake, the Clanners could not overcome their old feuds and rivalries.
Only one wall of the room was not broken by doorways. This side contained several shallow alcoves, lined with shelves. Some held bins full of something Yuugi couldn't quite make out; others held cases full of maps. The Clann leaders were holding some of these maps as they considered their battle tactics. Yuugi caught a glimpse of one map; it showed a grassy plain scarred with pits and trenches, with the occasional tree scattered about. Before he could take a closer look, one of the Clanners sharply ordered the slaves into line, and he was forced to move back.
The Chieftenns folded up the maps and put them back in their cases, retrieving something else instead. As he stood at the head of the force holding it out, Yuugi recognized it. Suddenly, he understood.
It was a Gating Device.
This room held maps of battle sites in other Worlds, and the Gaters necessary to reach the battles. A force would enter the room, look through the maps for a last-minute check of tactics, and then travel to the site of the battle. The generals of the Chaos Army sent battle locations and primary objectives to the various Chaos fortresses and military bases, where the commanding officers stationed there could handle the details.
The Overlord was ingeniously directing his war in spite of being trapped outside the Multiverse.
The Chieftenns activated their Gaters, opening large portal gates. The Clanns filed through, vanishing one by one into another World where they would begin the assault. The slaves followed, being handed equipment to carry as they left. A Chaos soldier shoved a pack into Yuugi's hands and pushed him through the Gate. Yuugi had just enough time to glance at it and see that it contained bandages and antiseptics before he entered the Gate and left Dark World, knowing that he might never return.
-o-o-o-o-o-
It was raining.
The cool water poured down on their faces, blurring their vision and making their feet slip in the mud. It had been raining for hours, and would probably continue throughout the night.
The rain would make it hard to see. They must remain alert to survive.
Darkness had fallen swiftly, engulfing them all in inky blackness as they stared ahead through the curtains of water, crouching in the trenches, tense and ready for battle.
They were coming!
They must be defeated. If not, no one would be left to warn their people. There would be no reinforcements, no preparations for a full assault. If a full assault was what they were planning. If they were going to return at all after this night.
Beside the shivering humans stood those who felt no cold from the rain, saw better in darkness than in light. The ghostly, flickering lights of their bodies were the only illumination, shining blue-white in the darkness. The small band of elementalists had eked out an existence on these sparsely inhabited rolling hills several miles from the city; their water elemental companions had joined them in a peaceful coexistence that most humans of this World would have deemed impossible.
The water elementals were also nervous and fearful this night. It was well known that magic users numbered among the enemy's troops, and magic was far deadlier to an elemental than a blade. The rain was good for them; they could control water, could bend it to their will. They would need all the help they could get this night.
The Chaos Army was approaching!
-o-o-o-o-o-
"What shall our plan of attack be, commander?" whispered one of the Clanner scouts. He had forged ahead, moving silently through the brush and long, thick grasses to find and report back the enemy positions.
The commander stood, stoically ignoring the frigid rain as she considered. The Clanners were stubborn about showing weakness as a general rule; for the commander of the group, it was essential. It would never do for her to lose her composure and dishearten her people.
"We will make an entrenchment here, just below this rise--order the...others...to place the stakes," the commander began; she could not bear to refer aloud to the slaves of the Chaos Army, knowing the shame of depending on outsiders--especially children--to aid the Clann.
"The enemy is few in number; it will be best to surround them. Split the troops in three. Keep one group here to man the fortifications. Then, send one group to confront the enemy directly, but be sure that our forces are less in number than theirs. They will grow overconfident and attack. The third group will be ready to move in behind them and trap them. Then we will finish them."
The commander could not keep a look of disgust from passing over her chiseled features. The shame it would bring to her Clann, to attack an enemy outnumbered and surrounded in the dark! They had become like the feeble humans of their World, without the honor of the Clanns. But in order to survive in these dark times, it must be done.
"For my people, I will sacrifice all that I am," she whispered firmly. "My honor, my life, my heart--even my soul." She sighed softly, thinking of her people dying of disease and starvation in their own homeland, driven almost to extinction by a combination of poor conditions and constant attacks. Her people were plains dwellers, living closer to the human civilizations than other Clanns, so they were a constant thorn in the humans' sides.
The commander inwardly shook herself, clearing such thoughts from her mind. A battle was no place for introspection, even if it was a battle of shame, of dishonor.
"We attack on my signal. Go!"
-o-o-o-o-o-
Skitter mewled softly, shivering even with her patchy fur. She hated battle days. Every time they had to go to the room with the steel doors and the bright-doors-to-other-Worlds, it made her feel sick inside. Everywhere they went, there was blood and dark and death until she wanted to throw up from the bad feeling inside her.
But like the other slaves, Skitter had grown accustomed to the life inflicted upon her by the Chaos Army. She suppressed the wobbly feeling in her stomach and the achy feeling in her heart, ready to once again go to a strange place and follow directions she didn't understand so that people she didn't like could kill people she didn't know, for reasons she didn't want to know.
Skitter shivered again; this time, it had nothing to do with the cold. She wanted very much to ask Scat what was going on, but Skitter knew that would get them into trouble. She consoled herself by standing as close to Scat as possible.
Yuugi stood on Scat's other side, but he wasn't paying much attention to the soon-to-be-battlefield. His thoughts were far away, with his friends back home. Yuugi didn't want to think about what was happening; it was too horrible to confront.
I hope they're all right...Grandpa must be worried...Joey's probably mad that I went off without the gang. But Tristan will calm him down...Tea will be worried too, but she'll keep a cool head...but there's nothing they can do now...
Yuugi sighed, tearing his thoughts away from his friends. He had to focus on staying alive for now; his friends were far away, and he was facing death alone.
One of the Clanners was approaching. She surveyed the field as she walked, brushing water out of her close-cropped hair. Reaching the slaves, she dropped several bundles in front of them.
"Ready the fortifications. The leader has declared the plan of attack; you will place the stakes as I direct you. Then, you will be assigned and wait for further orders."
To help alleviate the shame of having outsiders do the work of the Clann, the Clanners often treated the slaves like one more unit of troops, receiving orders and following them like everyone else. This was fine with division 24; plenty of commanders preferred to give them orders with the lash.
Picking up the bundles, the slaves trudged off. Yuugi examined the contents--sturdy wooden stakes with sharpened, steel-shod tips. They would easily stop a force of charging enemies from reaching the Clanners.
Reaching the gently sloping hill, division 24 undid the wraps on the stakes and began placing them, digging slots for the stakes to be placed in so they would remain sturdy even against an assault. Yuugi helped Scat shove one of the stakes into the ground, thankful that at least it didn't give him splinters. The footing was slippery from the rain, and they struggled to keep from sliding down into the trench. Finally, coated in mud and rain, the exhausted group stepped back. The crude fortifications were finished.
Setting up the fortifications was thankless work. The commander ordered it more out of habit than anything; it was rare for the enemy to break through the ranks far enough to even encounter the stakes and trench. But going through the motions was important. The Chaos Army, contrary to its name, was actually highly organized, to the point where an outside observer might suggest that so much organization was both redundant and detrimental to getting anything done.
That was exactly the way the Chaos Army liked it. Chaos created by order was the best kind.
The commander surveyed the field once more, checking her forces, making sure everything was in order. She nodded, satisfied. Turning to her aides, she sent them off to inform the leaders of each individual force.
The slaves were also split up; some were sent to carry supplies for the front-line troops, some manned the barricades with the second division, and others (including Yuugi) were sent off on individual assignments.
A stern-faced man gestured impatiently to Yuugi. "You will accompany me. Here; carry this."
He thrust a satchel into Yuugi's arms, then shouldered his own bad and walked off. Yuugi hurried after him, glancing down at the bag he carried. It was full of bandages, bottles of salve, splints, and the like; this man must be a Clanner healer. He would move about the battlefield, offering aid to his allies. Yuugi would have to follow him around carrying extra supplies.
Yuugi didn't mind this task; although being a field medic was dangerous, it was also important. Yuugi saw only good in helping the injured, unlike most of the other tasks the Chaos Army could have assigned him to.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Scat rushed along the trench, stumbling as she struggled to keep her balance in the mud. She set down her crate of ammunition and dashed back for more. Skitter stayed at her side, shivering; she was unable to lift boxes, but she was too frightened to leave Scat's side.
One of the Clanners looked disgustedly at the boxes Scat had set down, then at his weapon. He held a rifle in his hands, issued by the Chaos Army. The forces of Chaos had found that despite all their magic and sophisticated technology, one of the most efficient ways to kill someone was with a spray of bullets. It was hard to survive after having one's torso ripped apart by a powerful firearm.
To use such a weapon against an enemy armed with knives and sticks was to be a coward.
The Clanners had increasingly discovered that surviving as a people meant living in shame. To preserve their way of life and the lives of their children, however, they accepted their fate with stoic composure. The Clanner grimaced, but began loading the rifle.
-o-o-o-o-o-
The commander of the elementalists peered uncertainly through the curtains of rain. The storm was getting worse; soon it would be directly over them. They must finish the battle quickly, before their opponents could gain the upper hand with their superior numbers.
The elementals had reported that the enemy seemed to be attempting a flanking maneuver. Without any way to gain a terrain advantage, the elementalists must attempt to crush the foe with a single, decisive strike.
"Get into position, everyone. Prepare to charge!"
-o-o-o-o-o-
"Commander, they have gone mad--they prepare to charge!"
The Clanner commander surveyed the field dispassionately. She stood at the front line, ready to attack with her troops. The plan of battle dissatisfied her; there was no glory in such a strategy. All the reports of her scouts, all of the planning and activity, had no more taste than if she had swallowed ash. At this report, however, she turned to the scout, her face alight.
"Truly, they are a people of honor. Rather than flee or allow themselves to be trapped in a corner like rats in a hole, they attack us head-on, knowing that they have almost no chance of victory. To find such a foe, when all I could have expected was shame...there is nothing higher."
The commander unsheathed her sword, raising it in the air as she called to her troops. "Come--we go to meet them! As they have wagered their lives on this assault, so shall we! The battle shall be decided by this attack!"
The plan was abandoned; none of the Clanners questioned it. Like their captain, they were only too happy to fight the foe head-on, with no further sneaking about. They ran forward eagerly, following the commander they loved and respected. If they could not die for their own cause, they would at least die on their own terms.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"Quickly--follow me."
Yuugi hurried after the Clanner healer, barely able to see between the driving rain and the rapidly falling twilight. All around them, people were fighting, screaming, dying. In the midst of battle, it was difficult to tell one side from the other; in the end, most of them would be lifeless bodies sprawled in the mud.
"Hand me those bandages," the man said, kneeling beside a blood-covered body. The injured Clanner stirred, groaning in pain. A broken sword blade was embedded in his side. The Clanner choked, blood spewing forth from his mouth.
"Time is passing, child."
Yuugi shook himself, and began handing the healer various things from the pack he was carrying. Watching anyone, even someone who was almost an enemy, lying in a pool of their own blood was sickening. A good healer learns to suppress their normal, shocked reaction to such things, but Yuugi wasn't trained to do so. He'd seen plenty of people die, but it wasn't something that one got used to.
"Can you speak? Can you hear me?"
The healer checked the other Clanner's pulse; he tried to speak, blood choking him. The healer watched dispassionately.
"This one is too far gone; come."
Yuugi nearly dropped the pack in shock. This man was a healer--how could he just give up like that? They were on the same side, they were comrades...and now one was leaving the other to die.
"But...he's going to die!"
The Clanner turned to look at Yuugi coldly. "Yes, he is; there is nothing I can do to prevent it. If I waste time trying to save him, others will die. I will fulfill my duty. His life is of no consequence in comparison to the greater good of the Clann. He would agree. Now follow me."
The healer strode off again, dodging around battling Clanners and elementalists, avoiding magical blasts from the elementals, keeping an eye out for any injured Clanners.
"Wait--what about them?" Yuugi asked, pointing to a pair of bodies contorted in pain.
The healer looked at them for a moment, then shook his head. "They are not Clann. They are the enemy."
"But--they're injured! You're a healer!"
"I am a Clanner. My first duty is to my people. These strangers, other Chaos troops--they mean nothing to me."
Yuugi opened his mouth to argue with the healer, furious, but the Clanner, seeing that Yuugi wasn't following him, grabbed his wrist and dragged him forward. Yuugi shut his mouth. There was no point.
Then, to Yuugi's surprise, his arm was released. The Clanner quickly drew a blade from beneath his cloak, turning to face one of the elementalists. The enemy had spotted him and immediately leapt to the attack, but the healer was prepared. It is not uncommon for Clanners to be trained as both healers and warriors, just in case.
The Clanner was well-trained, but the elementalist had the advantage of surprise, and the strength of desperation. He struck wildly, ignoring injuries and relentlessly attacking. Then, with a skillful twist of his blade, he knocked the Clanner's weapon out of his hand. He quickly followed this with a sharp thrust, driving his blade into the healer's torso. The Clanner managed to lessen the blow by turning aside at the last moment, but he slipped and fell. The elementalist, thinking he had slain his foe, moved on.
Yuugi crouched next to the fallen Clanner; he was still breathing. But Yuugi didn't know how to help him. He had no training, no experience--for all he knew, he could make the injury worse.
What do I do? I can't do this! I'm not like Joey and Tristan, I can't fight! Whenever we were in trouble before, we got through it because we were together...but now I'm all alone. I can't do this alone! This man is going to die because I can't help him, he's going to die and it's my fault...but what can I do? My friends are gone...I'm really...on my own...
The Clanner tried to get up, but collapsed again with a cry of pain. He pressed a hand to his side, trying to stem the flow of blood, but there was nothing he could do. He was bleeding to death, and there was no way for him to stop it.
No...I can't give up now. There are people who need my help--I have to do something! I may be alone...but I can do this. I can't always rely on my friends for help. I have to be strong enough...to do this alone.
Yuugi looked at the Clanner's injury. It didn't look too deep...he just needed to stop the bleeding. He sorted through the pack he had somehow managed to hang on to, taking out some bandages.
Let's see...I've seen people do this before, I can do it too...it's not that hard...
Taking a deep breath, Yuugi started bandaging the Clanner's injury. It was difficult to see what he was doing through the rain and the cover of night, but he refused to give in and let the man bleed to death when he could do something to help.
The Clanner was at the point of passing out. Through a haze of pain, he wondered in amazement why a human would help a Clanner. As he sank into oblivion, a last vague thought passed through his mind...
Could he be...the one?
-o-o-o-o-o-
A lone candle guttered on the desk, casting hideously twisted shadows across the bare walls. The room's occupant ignored them; he was working.
He didn't have to use a candle. Every room in the base was equipped with electrical lights. It was irrelevant in any case. His kind saw best at night...
It wasn't really his desk. He was only staying at the base temporarily, and had been assigned this room. It was sparsely furnished; the walls, floor, and desk were all made of the same durable steel as the rest of the base. It was vaguely unsettling to see his distorted reflection wherever he looked.
He did not mind the stark, cold room. The emptiness inside it reflected the emptiness he felt inside himself. That hole was filled by the orders of his master. The orders of the Overlord.
The Lieutenant sighed, sitting back in his steel chair. He idly considered changing the base regulations to make sure there was some furniture of a different material. At the very least, it would help the monotony.
He shook his head, trying to focus on his task. The Lieutenant was tired; he had been traveling from base to base for some weeks now, inspecting and making sure all was in order. It was necessary but tedious work, and he had little time to rest. The inspections had become almost automatic to him, but this time...
Gash turned the object over in his hands, feeling the cold metal surface. It was not quite smooth; the strange thing was covered with faint seams, detectable only with a careful examination. It was the only point of color in the room, gleaming brightly in comparison to the desk, walls, and floor, although it could not bring color to the Lieutenant's pallid face.
The Lieutenant's thin, white finger traced over the design on the front--a highly stylized eye. What was it called? The Eye of Someone...Horace? Horiss? It was the only decoration on the golden pyramid.
According to the aide who had delivered it into his hands, it had been taken from a captive. The Lieutenant hadn't asked which one. He didn't need the aide to tell him that.
The Lieutenant sighed again, setting the Millennium Puzzle down on the desk. He should rest; he would be busy tomorrow, continuing the inspection. He still wasn't used to sleeping during the night...
He would tour the outside of the base tomorrow, inspecting the fortifications and the rotations of the various guards and scout patrols. Gash wasn't looking forward to it; he felt uncomfortable so close to the sea. No one in their right mind would build anything so close to the water's edge. To step off that edge was like walking off a cliff: there was only one way it could end.
The Lieutenant stood up, drawing his black cape around him. He would rest now. He would rest, and stop thinking about this. He would rest, and this pointless question would stop repeating itself inside his head. He would rest...
The Lieutenant lay down on the wall shelf that served as the room's bed. He didn't bother to put out the candle; the light made sleep seem more natural. Sleeping during the hours of darkness...a ridiculous notion.
Of course, in fallen Akarana, most of the hours were dark.
The Lieutenant closed his eyes, steadying his breathing. He was an experienced campaigner, able to sleep whenever and wherever necessary. With the ease of long practice, he shut out all distractions, all noises, all thoughts.
As he fell rapidly into slumber, a last thought remained, having stubbornly resisted banishment. It echoed in his mind as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Why...?