Chapter 1

It's been over three months since the fabled Gate over the sacred hill of Alnus appeared. As well as the Imperial discovery reciprocally made over there. At this present moment, the Saderan Empire's construction teams add the finishing touches (simply put, decorative fabrics of Imperial designs) upon the monolithic structure that they completely built around the mystical portal. But the overall completion is not over yet; as the magic users in service to this Roman-like imperium form a perimeter surrounding the supernatural gateway and begin their meticulous chants to stabilize it in adherence to their man-made doorway.

The legate named Sadmus Em Pioten watches this final phase of magical stability on his armored warhorse for a while. Then he turns his steed around to face an organized army of over a hundred thousand legionaries, armored warriors on horseback, wyvern knights on standby, and auxiliary beastmen waiting under his command. "Soldiers of the Empire!" The commander begins his speech. "Beyond this Gate on Alnus Hill is a vast land filled with untold riches and barbarians to be conquered. All of us warriors are here to bring glory and prosperity for our beloved Empire, by mastering the resources and the uncultured people from this new world that our civilization are eager to use through this great expedition. Stand fast and strong, loyal legions and subjects alike! Even when our mages are done with this project of opportunity and ourselves moving to the other side of the Gate, you will all do as the Emperor and Senate commands us in bringing the light of our civility upon these foreign lands of beyond. In this manner of discipline, stories of our grand achievements over that new realm shall be told for many generations about to be born as Imperial citizens!"

No cheers have manifested by the commander's speech, but there are excitements within the eyes of many legionaries waiting for the military 'adventure' to begin (Those led by the older Count of the Folmari Clan were more troubled with the 'indecent' aspects of attending this otherworldly escapade). On the other hand, the beastly humanoids care more for the upcoming battle beyond that supernatural opening to a different world than the ultimate goals of their Imperial patronages.

"Needless to say in the name of the Twelve Gods, we all have to respect our diligent mages' necessity of time with patience to achieve their incantations correctly upon this prized structure before us. Us warriors certainly cannot rush up their delicate bodies of magic; lest we wanted a terrible mistake that have them whine so much all the way into the fumbling ears of those mulish sages living in Rondel." Multiple laughter from the assembled troops have been elicited by that previous statement, but the Imperial magicians maintain their focus on stabilizing the Gate for sure. "Heh, jesting aside, keep up your readiness for the upcoming exploration while our loyal mages continue working with their duties to the Emperor and Senate. We are all counting on each other's back for diligence here. Carry on, soldiers!"

"YES, LEGATE!"

Accordingly so, the Imperial expeditionary army went back to waiting for their allied spell-casters to finish up the solidification of both the legendary gateway and their constructed masonry together with magic. Half an hour later, a large flash of light blindly radiates from the Saderan-made framework and instantly disperses across much of Alnus Hill. When the spherical luminescence disappears, the structural covering on the 'sacred' mound looks quite oddly the same as if nothing happens. Only the magical participants can tell whether the paranormal bonding ritual really did succeeded or not.

A minute afterwards, the leading member of those mages walks to his legate for relaying important news. "My lord... our stabilizing ritual has evidently succeeded as planned."

"That is good to hear, Master Oboeform." Naturally, Sadmus reorients his visual attention towards the Imperial army given to him standing by. "Soldiers of the Empire, FORM UP!"

As ordered, the Imperial combat participants in the thousands organized themselves in battle formations (while their military bands echo triumphant sounds through trumpets and other loud instruments). Armored riders on their wyverns hover above the legions, as they're expected to fly through the newly-synchronized Gate first for being vanguards when ordered so. Conscripted and volunteered beastmen gather together in skirmish lines for their expectations to follow up the airborne warriors' first engagement. Human legionaries assemble in long columns to fit through the magic-tampered portal; and yet leaving enough space on both flanks for their horse-riding knights to travel in unison and single file.

Satisfied, the commanding legate soon exclaims his next order. "Now then... In honor of our beloved civilization and Emperor Moltor Sol Augustus, MARCH FORWARD!" Appropriately so, the military expedition firmly move towards the fabled gateway as a great whole (aside from several legions ordered to stay behind: half of them guarding the army's camp followers that were expected to wait for a few days before their turn to enter through the Gate; the rest serving as reserves against potential savages and/or brigands that would have stupid ideas about raiding the legions' current encampment). Either by shear bravery, arrogance, or both; the expeditionary fighting force travel through the reinforced Gate leading to the unknown realm — with some understanding that the Imperial 'explorers' cannot see the darkness making up the inter-dimensional tunnel.

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Still, it would've been more theoretically surprising if the Saderan Empire's adventurous army were competently aware of outsiders hiding in their camouflaged sites that borders along the vast circular area of Alnus Hill; and watching with patience the grand gathering of Imperial might striding into a different reality.

Like this Alpha-19 fireteam observing the big event almost two kilometers away for instance. "Alpha-Nineteen Five to all recon units present. Confirm visual on Saderan military movement through the space-time anomaly, over?" A feminine voice from the individual wearing ranger-like outfit whispers into a communication device on one of her ears while she uses advanced binoculars at the central target covered in magical masonry. Very soon, the hooded female agent receives audible corroborations from other scout teams about the latest movement by the Imperial expedition. The tones from incoming confirmations she has heard variably ranges from professional answers to somewhat obnoxious comments.

Needless to say, the most annoying responses the servicewoman is getting were from her own reconnaissance party (wireless connection not required). "Nice baby step you just did in stating the obvious, Chlorin."

She turns her annoyed head at the verbal offender (who wore a suit of ballistic armor, an enclosed combat helmet with a visor, and a hooded cloak) next to her post. "Do you have a better plan in mind, Romeo? From what we all could see today, verifying our observations is the only task at hand."

"Just saying it, babe. At this point I might add, the top brass apparently hasn't given us an immediate update on any permission to halt that medieval invasion we're seeing here... without the need to massacre those unarmed camp-followers of women and children over there from our own orbital super-weapons above us."

"Only if we recklessly disobey orders for heroic attempts on the upcoming captives from this alternate 'Earth'; instead of us recon units to simply stand by and keep watch on the situation at Alnus Hill."

"Yeah, sure... making sightseeing at a safe distance on an inter-dimensional 'asshole' that our Saderan thugs are marching into right now."

"Right... so, did you recalled any sort of limit for how much insults anyone of us should deliver during this surveillance mission?"

"Uh, no. I don't remember hearing that kind of restriction from our synthetic echelon above us. And I doubt that whatever slander we could spew out onto those Imperial conquerors over there would be so influential enough to rain down saturated strikes from outer space; if they understand our preferred language, that is."

"Noted, Romeo... it would be a big shame for all those young kids belonging to those Saderan participants to suddenly get obliterated by orbital artillery because of your demeaning witticisms."

"Yeesh... that's not something my stomach would tolerate for my entire life, Chlorin. Also, who in their right mind would deliver such explosive horrors of war upon those pretty lasses — without getting a chance to be woe by my handsome charm?"

"Don't you mean making abrasive attempts to impregnate those overindulged hags with your manly genital?"

"Eh... Okay, I guess you're still sensitive about the lovely noble-gals being all carefree while your alluring sisterh-"

"Hey, you two!" alerted the team leader with his own enclosed helmet still on: Second Lieutenant Kaydin Buck, that is. "Can both you pipe down the chatter while I'm trying to ask permission from High Command to disrupt that Imperialistic 'expedition' any way possible?"

"And you kept getting a no for each try, correct?" replied the female operative.

"Uh... well, good guess. Considering that I'm currently a bit busy with receiving a go from our higher-ups for confronting those Saderan invaders and their crude behaviors, while using the old-fashioned wireless communicator instead of activating my telepathic ability."

"With due respect sir, those micro swarms of ours on standby are qualified enough to intercept any captive from this parallel home-world of Humanity that the Empire's invasion has manage to carry away. Perhaps you should input more trust on the large collections of tiny drones that had already inoculated the previous abductees of Japan for continual survival on this planet."

"Yeah... leaving those unlucky folks to remain alive with those fancy abusers, while their friends and families at the other dimension are about to suffer greatly by the Saderan-style of military adventures. Quite hypocritical, don't you all think?"

"Of course, sir." Chlorin tiredly said. "Rather 'normal' for us teammates here to simply listen to your 'critical' feedback repeatedly for some months so far. Wondering what our leaders are thinking about your 'exaggerations' this very instance while in current contact with you, anyway?"

"Oh — that's right, I was in the middle of-" A verbal response of authority blasting through Buck's helmet comm link returns his focus at hand. "Uh, whoa-whoa hey-Hey! Lower your harsh tone, buddy. Of course I'm serious about maintaining surveillance on that 'Alnus' magic portal; although hard to recognize my dignified face when just using audible communication lines as you honchos commanded." Quickly in return, a stern feedback goes into both ears of the second lieutenant's human head for several seconds. "...Wait, you're all still adamant on putting unarmed camp followers in the godlike cross-hairs of our orbiting weapon platforms of mass destruction?" Obviously, another retort (confirming yet concerning the unwritten fate of the Saderan civilians) is transmitted through his comm device. "Hey, I'm too aware of the unorthodox contingencies imposed on our unsuspecting targets' families over there. What about any news in reconsidering the welfare of 'Earth' people in archaic captivity and those who are predicted to be stolen, however?" Then comes the replied statements that the statuses for the otherworldly captives today and the 'very near future' remain unchanged; eliciting a disgruntled groan from the second lieutenant. "Really? Just do nothing like the previous last three months of silent observation?" The voice on the other side of this dialogue confirms Alpha-19's current objectives; plus the reminding ramifications still in place for disobey such orders. "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about my team and myself showing restraints from doing a hidden plan stupid enough to earn a dreaded transfer to Bad Company." A final statement of cautionary expectations is delivered to the team leader's ears, before the communication link ended at last. Kaydin simply sighs out his personal disappointment while returning to his current task with the team he's in charge, "Welp... looks like it's more watching on that space-time anomaly for now as 'compliant' assets, people."

"No surprises at that, 2nd LT." Romeo shrugged while observing the Saderan troop movement far away through his high-powered sniper scope; specifically on one particular horse-riding nobleman. "Although I could say the same for that sympathizing aristocrat of beast-ladies over there."

Second Lieutenant Buck quickly uses his own binoculars to triangulate said target and (with further optical magnifications) sees the misgiving face of Count Folmari leading his troop into the black void within the 'restructured' Gate. "Hmm... Kinda shameful for that Coltez fella to not say no to the invitation from Emperor Moltor sitting on his throne."

"I don't think the Count of Folmari has any other choice against the Imperial decree for their expedition, sir." Private Washburn added through his own comm link while also performing the observation directives as given from the higher echelon. "If he did, the trading center of Italica and its inhabitants would've been scorched to the ground three months ago."

"I'm not like under a giant rock to be that deaf for Coltez's dire circumstances, of course. But I sorta wish that he had stronger backbone for his project for multi-ethnic principles; as well as those politicians in the Saderan Senate to be more level-headed on other societal methodologies than blunt conquest stuff."

Corporal Cobbs airs out his remark through the localized airwaves. "Yeah... good luck with convincing the gods in the ethereal shadows here to relax their constraints on life-changing tech and philosophies, as usual."

"Guys, can all of you cut the chattering right now and stay focus on those upcoming spoils of war that the Saderan Legions are about to bring over?" Chlorin reminded.

The team leader of Alpha-19 oddly speaks, "Uh, hold up... have those self-deceiving barbarians actually prove themselves to be that good in slaughtering and capturing their extra-dimensional victims so soon? Or were the foreign opponents at the other side of that gate thingy showing worsen incompetence in battle than the Imperial a-holes?"

"Sir, neither of such outcomes have yet to occur. All the more important to pay attention on the target of activity for every minute given here; in consideration of the fact that a large percentage of the Empire's expeditionary legions has now entered inside the inter-dimensional pathway."

"Hmm... true, but I can also say that some chit-chats might be needed to kill some time when doing this lengthy period of spying our Saderan bastards."

Corporal Agu comments, "Hey boss, what would you think of our beautiful pupil here getting promoted to a higher rank than yourself?"

"Eh... that potential of being ordered by a former Trojan Mare would certainly be a change of pace," Kaydin remarked. "Especially if she gets some commanding competition from Commander Zavarro in the airwaves."

The female teammate adds, "Or perhaps a better cooperation with the synthetic superior officer on getting this team back on track at this instant."

"Oh sure, that possibility does sounds... rather scary to witness."

Mickey contributes, "Less scarier than that conjecture is to simply return our focus on the long-distant investigation, sir. She does have a point in putting aside such chatters right now."

"Gotta agree with our private and the lovely apprentice on this one, Second Lieutenant." Dutch stated his current train of thoughts. "A nice break from this latest small talk should be in order."

"Seriously, Dutch?" Kojo speaks out, "I don't feel that exhausted yet from making more witty dia-"

Buck intervenes, "You know what — Returning to our spying positions quietly sounded more affordable at this moment. So let's go back work!"

"Man... you're no fun, sometimes."

Anyhow, Alpha-19 continues observing faraway at the Alnus Hill activities for half an hour. During that waiting period, the Empire's participating expedition has yet to return from the Roman-like gate construct and their camp followers remain stationary as being told before. Up until dozens of Imperial soldiers eventually arrive back to Falmartian lands... with subdued people moving in chains — courtesy to the archaic army's supplemental mancatchers. Obviously (in a negative kind of way), fearful humans of Asian-descent are exposed to the alien landscape disregarding their consents. Worse still, several Japanese children and possibly foreign tourists were among the otherworldly captives getting routed towards the closest paved highway that leads to the Imperial Capital and its territories. Nevertheless, several swarms of tiny insect-like drones covertly approach the newly-enslaved groups via dispersal patterns. Therefore, the unaware 'Earthlings' get bitten by the stealthy injectors — without alerting both the victims and the overconfident captors.

"I count 89 captives, Second Lieutenant." The hooded female operative relayed her observation of the subjugated humans being herded into horse-drawn carts to be away from that supposedly sacred portal.

"And all of them, including the kids, are now inoculated with nanobot fluids for tracking and health continuity purposes — which is unsurprising as usual."

Romeo verbally cuts in line, "Hey boss, weren't our nano-swarms supposed to stay at their ambush positions?"

"Hmm... kinda think about it, they did just made a deviant action from their original objective of all-out swarming tactics. Wonder if those collective bots will report back about that adjustment being done by themselves... or given a separate order from the top brass?"

"Yeah... same here. Now how do we ask those synthetic hiveminds about their atypical logic in a polite way?"

Chlorin replies, "Well, I can think of two options: wait for the cooperating swarms to relay their related testimonies or request permission for action disclosure from themselves."

"Then waiting their reports is it," Kaydin decided for the whole team. "Perhaps those ultra-synergistic intelligences would comment their opinions on orbital bombardment against medieval noncombatants."

"Such suggestions are not up to us on recon, sir."

"I know, young lady. Any method harsher to the collective robo-masses than diplomacy will provoke them to dismantle every organ of our human anatomies... in a cruel manner, keep in mind."

"Noted."

An hour of clandestine survey goes by... and the current encampment of the Saderan camp followers hasn't been altered. So does the guarding legions still in reserve. Additionally, no additional captives are brought out from the Gate within the 60-minute duration. Boring... in other words.

"Second Lieutenant," Private Washburn asked. "Any clue of what's happening on the nation called Japan at the other side today?"

"Eh, just some guesses that could stretch from the Saderan expedition fortifying their short-term gains to somehow the Nippon military forces are taking a bit too long get their lazy butt up and running."

"Isn't that tone quite cynical while also taking a somewhat nonpartisan stance during this job?"

Buck tilts his head sideways a couple times. "Hmm... perhaps it does sounded a little pessimistic under one point of view. Yet it can also be interpreted as a sign of moderate caution for any unforeseen possibility, sorta."

"Right... what kind of uh, unexpected manifestations we can think of?"

"Beats me. Maybe a herd of terrifying armored fighting vehicles will soon bursts out of that magically-tampered gateway and starts killing everyone at their sights. Another wild estimate could be horse-drawn wagons full of technological items that those Imperial muscle-heads unbelieva-"

"Veil-Gamma-51 Actual, here. Got eyes on two figures on horseback emerging out of the extra-dimensional site. All recon units, verify."

Like all the survey assets in static position notwithstanding, Alpha-19 return their focus to mission priority and locate the equestrian duo in a relative snap.

"Alpha-Nineteen Five to all recon units, horse-riding targets identified." The cloaked woman responded through the secured airwaves; just like virtually all the hidden scouts had done.

Corporal Agu banters, "Yep, we all heard your professional comply like a well-behaving recruit." Chlorin quietly gives an annoyed look at the helmeted sharpshooter while the whole team witness those two horse-riders from afar. "...Uh, unless my eyes are simply fooling themselves, it appears that the jockey pair are galloping their horses towards our position."

"Yeah... considering that I'm also seeing two helmeted horsemen moving onto us presumably and not taking the paved road system, I can definitely say that the entire fire-team is not seeing an illusion here." Kaydin solidified his observation. "Which means that we need to hide ourselves immediately, people!"

Alpha-19 comply the urgency for further concealment via the activation of their electromagnetic invisibility. A period of time later, the horse-riding duo reach the camouflaged site — and yet unconventionally pass through that location without stopping. After several yards and more of the growing distance between the speeding equestrians and the scouting group laying low, Alpha-19 deactivate their optical cloaking technology and look at the apparently hurrying horse-riders with confusions.

Dutch speaks, "So... any reason why those two horsemen were going that fast; with a sort of urgency excluding the time to take a closer peak at us?"

"I... don't understand their motives either. Can't really use my mind-reading powers when certain HVTs won't stop moving as expected." The 2nd Lieutenant verbally supplemented, prior to then look around and see his fire-team giving him a kind of annoying stares. "Ooookay... let's just review the latest footage of those equestrian guests."

Two weeks later at night-time...

A quad-tiltrotor VTOL transport (assembled under stealth specifications) makes a steady landing on an unspecified area of grasslands. Its rear ramp-door automatically lowers toward the solid surface; and coming out calmly from that cargo cabin... are two relatively large draft horses fitted with harnesses that connected the four-legged mammals to a comparably big wagon covered in a sturdy-looking hood. Sitting on the perch of that rather heavy carriage is a woman wearing a blue-hooded robe and apparels akin to medieval rangers — although her clothing sizes and facial masking over her mouth could mistaken this covert individual as a man if not given a closer look. Likewise, the unrevealed items inside the horse-drawn wagon are concealed underneath some heavy-duty blankets. In contrast, a small flock of hovering combat drones (each construct equipped with a built-in cloaking device and energy weapons) follow this singular caravan from the quad-engine aircraft's delivery space. Several seconds later, the high-tech transport closes its cargo door and lifts itself up to the nightly sky.

Not long afterwards, the cloaked driver takes out a hand-held computer device shaped like an elliptical disk from one of her robe's interior pockets; while the allied airborne robots activate their invisibility. With the portable instrument on the palm of her left hand, she immediately turns it on and an interactive hologram manifested from a projector in the center. The female agent's right hand manipulates the holographic display to bring out a virtual map concerning a triangulated waypoint (provided by the ever-diligent spy satellites in orbit, evidently enough) on this vast, diverse region of Falmart/Falmarius... and the long distance between that approximate target and her current location. A period of time paying further attention to details on the displayed interface later, she deactivate her high-tech gadget and putting it back inside one of her pockets. Soon, the woman takes the reins in both hands and signals the well-built horse pair to start moving — without expressing some sense of hurry.

Not exactly a punctual method of travel to locate the two unknown horsemen that had slipped underneath Saderan detection abilities before the expeditionary catastrophe at Alnus Hill was pronounced from Imperial survivors. Nonetheless, the steady speed of her trained animals would attract little attention from a great deal of denizens living on this medieval continent... aside from the typical exceptions of bandit raids, savage attacks from unfriendly humanoids, Saderan interceptions, and other future hazards to come. In any case, the shrouded items and possessions within both the large carriage and on her person are tremendously more than enough to terminally solve any unsavory hostile that will arrogantly attempt to prey upon this traveling deception.

Yet a question remains unanswered in her mind... on the worthiness of those clandestine guests from that parallel Earth at the other extra-dimensional side to be permitted in utilizing the somewhat 'forbidden' instruments of 'modern' warfare for whatever obligations they have on Falmart/Falmarius.

A/N: The mysterious duo that came out of the 'infamous' gateway are shout-out characters from the GATE fanfiction story "Rogues" by Uboa (formerly named Tempest Dynasty as described from his/her bio on this website)... which appears to be dormant of story updates since February 2017. It does make any avid reader here to wonder if others like this person simply no longer has the interest of fanfic writing — or something important or terrible had happened to said writer. Anyway, you're free to volunteer your suggestions and criticisms of where this fanfiction creation shall go.