Prologue: Fateful Encounter. The day the sky light up
I still remember that day like it was yesterday.
¿How could I ever forget it?
I was 11 years old, living comfortably with my family in our house in Oured, the capital city of Osea.
As every child that age I spent all night playing video games and messing around. Hell, I was shocked when I found out it was 6 am already.
Just as I was preparing myself to at least sleep something before my parents woke up I heard a sound like nothing I've ever heard before.
Glancing through my room's window to see if there was anything around me, I figured it came from the highway close to our home, the sound getting stronger each passing second.
Trying to adjust my eyes to the highway's light piercing through my window I spotted some sort of plane rising from it. It was a painted jet black plane with a strange symbol on its tail similar to one of the drawings in one of my mom's books.
I was shocked, rubbing my eyes for a bit while the strange plane ascended quickly to the skies. I shook my head in disbelief, 'A plane? Taking off from a highway?' I kept repeating myself as I thought that playing games all night and the lack of sleep was already messing with me.
Just as I was heading to my bed another sound echoed from the highway, turning quickly I spotted not one plane, but three more rising quickly where the first one was headed. The same black color and symbol printed on them.
I was baffled, not sure if my mind was already playing tricks on me or if this was reality. I just stood there glancing at how the four aircrafts quickly faded from my view high up in the sky.
Curious I grabbed the jacket laying on my chair and tried to pursue them. Leaving my room as quietly as I could so as to not wake up my parents I made my way to the front door, slowly grabbing the keys and opening it.
My bike was resting on the porch, releasing it from the lock I started to walk away slowly so as to not make any sound, paranoid that my family would hear me leaving the house.
It wasn't the first time I've done this honestly, I was somewhat of a troublemaker growing up; messing around, getting on my teachers nerves and so on. Sometimes I thank my parents were so patient in coping up with me and my antics, it wasn't rare for me to get scolded a lot though.
Racing through the empty streets of a morning in the city of Oured I tried to keep up with the planes flying in the air, if I was right they were headed to the ocean.
Why was I doing such a stupid thing so early in the morning? I don't know honestly, I still can't find the answer. But I knew something, that first plane was calling me. I don't know how to describe it but something was telling me I needed to follow them where they were going, see what would happen next.
So I kept pedaling my bike, going faster each minute and trying to push my legs to their limits to get there faster. If they were heading to the ocean I could meet up with them at the shore.
Racing through the streets and into the main avenue, I was taking any shortcut to the shores that I could remember. As it was New Year's Eve most of the shops were packed with lights and decorations, showing how the city was almost ready to celebrate another year again, even my favorite comic book store had big posters with discounts because of it.
As I arrived at the shore I dropped my bicycle and looked around, the sky was still dark, showing little glimpses of light as the sun rose up.
I still couldn't find them, there was nothing there, just me and the sound of the waves hitting the shore. After a while I gave up, what was I thinking going all the way from my house to the city limits just to follow a plane? If my dad wakes up he's gonna kill me once he finds out.
Just as I was turning around to pick up my bike an explosion echoed in the distance, turning around I spotted a trail of smoke and a fireball going all the way down to the ocean.
Adjusting my eyes to the distance I picked up the form of an aircraft. Was that plane shot down? What happened?
As if answering my questions there he was again, the jet black plane coming through the smoke the fallen one created. He just flew by where it crashed and turned around, the other three planes quickly catching up to him.
Were we getting invaded? I remember my dad telling me Osea was at war with Yuktobania, a country from the other side of the world. But it should have ended by now, I remember watching as our president, Harling, shook hands with Yuktobania's Prime Minister after both of them were supposedly taken hostage.
Was that a lie? Were the four planes that took off from the highway Osean pilots deployed to protect the city? But why were they jet black? I remember on TV our aircrafts being light grey and having our country's emblem on their wings, not that weird drawing they had.
It didn't make any sense, picturing different scenarios in my head I couldn't come up with anything about all this. Another explosion shook me off my thoughts, a trail of smoke was all that's left of another aircraft; the same black plane was the author of it.
Who was he? Not even a minute passed by and he just shot down another aircraft. He was good, no doubt about that, if this was an invasion he was single handedly taking care of it.
Another plane quickly got behind him, it had a different color, gray, that was probably one of the enemies. The black painted one was trying to shake it off to no avail, the other was practically ready to shoot him down. Just as he was ready one of the black aircrafts got behind him and got rid of him fast.
His teammate saved him before the other had a clear shot, quickly reasumming a tight formation next to the aircraft.
As fast as they appeared, the other planes were shot down. I was amazed, how fast they took off to the skies, how fast they shot the enemies down and how they took care of each other. Every time one enemy aircraft tried to get close to them, another black plane would shoo them away, if not striking them down.
Most of all that formation, each time they separated they regrouped as fast as they could. It was impressive, four aircrafts united as one. But the one on the front was the one showing the example, jumping head on if anything tried to get close to the three behind him, unshakable when facing danger.
I stood there in silence, was that it? That was the end of the invasion? It was pretty anticlimactic to just throw a bunch of planes and try to conquer the capital city of a country if you asked me. More so when there's a bunch of badasses on our side.
Several sounds behind me broke my thoughts, turning around I saw military trucks heading my way. Scared, I grabbed my bike and ran to some bushes next to me. Hiding the best I could do so as to not be seen.
They just stopped where I was standing, I was quick reacting this way, they would've seen me otherwise. One man got off the truck and started ordering the soldiers, shouting non stop.
"Quickly! Cut the road next to the shore, and inform Harling of the situation!" He kept repeating. Military cars complied with him and stopped on the road, no one could come closer to where we were now.
That also meant I couldn't just leave without anyone spotting me, damn.
"Sir, we should prepare an evacuation of Oured while we have time!" One soldier shouted. Evacuation? Why? The four guys up there just got rid of the invasion problem. "No, we won't make it in time." Came the General's response.
"Form as instructed!" The one I supposed was the general shouted. After that command a small wall next to the bushes I was hiding in got rammed by a tank, breaking it without a second thought and pointing to the sky. "If worse comes to worst we'll have to fire with everything we've got to try and damage the SOLG before it comes crashing onto us." He continued.
SOLG? What's a 'SOLG'? And what are they so afraid of? 'Look up to the sky you idiots, can't you see those four already cleaned up.' I thought.
Just as I tried to put my head on what was going on, I started to feel heavy vibrations throughout my body, an engine sound getting louder each second. As I took a peek behind me from the bushes I was hiding I saw a tank coming straight to me. Panicking, I jumped out of the bush before the tank crushed me, landing face first near the debris of the wall crushed by the other tank.
"It huuuuurts..!" I complained while rubbing my head. Several footsteps shook me out of my thoughts as they were getting closer. 'They're coming here!' I thought, 'What do I do!?'
Looking around me I basically did what is thought to be a terrible idea but a great one at that time, crawl under the tank next to me.
'Please don't crush me, please don't crush me..!' I prayed to the heavens. I could see several soldiers going straight to the shore and preparing what I guessed were some guns.
"We're mounting every artillery we've got right now, Sir!" One soldier exclaimed. "Good." Was his general's response.
Several trucks stormed the beach after that, all of them doing the same thing of deploying various soldiers and preparing guns pointing to the sky.
"You'd call me crazy thinking that with these small AA artillery will even dent a fraction of the SOLG." The general chuckled. "But we have to prepare with everything we've got just in case."
"Wouldn't just launching missiles do the job?" The soldier next to him asked. "We already have everything this city has pointing there." Came the flat response. "But that damn thing is as sturdy as a rock, missiles won't do anything to it. And even if it does with how close it would get by that time half the city will end up being vaporized anyway."
What the hell are they talking about? First planes, then aerial combat and now some SOLG that's invincible coming down at us!? What is even going on here!? Why there's no alarms or something telling the people to just get out of here if we're gonna get killed!?
"Sir, permission to talk?" The soldier next to the general suddenly spoke, breaking me out of my thoughts. The man in command nodded, letting him speak. "We're just sitting ducks here. If we're gonna die then at least we should let Oured be evacuated, having half the city saved is better than just risking it all."
The general pondered, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple. "I agree with your sentiment, Claude. But with the commotion chaos would erupt and we'd end up losing more time than now, just think of how half the soldiers you see here would have to be in every exit of the city controlling everything is in order."
The soldier paused for a second, looked around him and nodded. "It would be disastrous, to say the least." He sighed as he closed his eyes. "Then we're holding on for a miracle, huh."
"Heh." The general chuckled after his companion ended. "You clearly don't know who's up there then." As he looked up to the sky, the four planes regrouped one next to the other. "As long as those four are above us, victory is secured."
"So it's true what the soldiers fighting the Yukes say then." The soldier said as he gazed at the black jets. "As long as Razgriz is on our side, we can't lose."
'Razgriz?' I thought after that. 'Like, the myth of the Demon of Razgriz? The hell?' I know the story, I remember my mom having the book with the story of a demon bringing chaos to the world, only for it to die before returning and bringing balance to it. But what does that have to do with this?
"Yes, so just sit back and enjoy the show." The general responded. Turning around he saw another soldier messing around with a radio. "Hey! you!" He shouted. "Turn that damn thing up! We need to know what the hell's going on here!"
As the soldier quickly shouted 'yes, sir!' and started to mess around with the radio, I was pondering on what the general said before. How is it we've got Razgriz anyway? Those are just planes there, not some northern fairytale. What is even going on here?
"The SOLG is falling!"
Someone on the radio suddenly shouted, breaking me out of my thoughts, nervousness clear in his voice. "We have to get to the SOLG, fast!" A female voice quickly added, the same nervousness present in her voice.
Several screams and voices pilling up made everything a mess to listen to, but I could hear something between them all.
"Captain!"
"Blaze!"
"Blaze!"
As another truck stopped next to where I was I couldn't hear what the people speaking on the radio were talking about, only some mumbles consisting of worried voices or people just shouting.
After the noise died down I could hear a male voice speaking. "Let's end this war! Blaze, engaging!" Said voice roared, a sonic boom shook my body as I started to squeeze out of the tank, glancing to the sky I saw the four planes storming out to the open sea.
"You see?" The general suddenly said, "Even now they're showing why everyone followed them to death in war". As he started to walk, he extended his arms to graze the now rising sun. "We might have all the odds stacked against us, but their unbreakable will always shows up. Never giving up until everything's said and done."
I stood there in silence, watching the sky where those planes were before.
"I can see an explosion!" One of the soldiers exclaimed, shaking me out of my trance. Turning around I saw where he was pointing, from afar there was a small explosion in the sky.
"This is it, they are taking that thing head on!" Exclaimed the general. "Everyone in position! If they fail then it's up to us to stop it!"
Following his commands all the soldiers started to move around, I could feel the tank above me also having movement inside. 'Don't crush me…!' I started to scream internally as I prayed it didn't move from where it was.
Another explosion could be heard, this time a little closer. The general gritted his teeth. "Still not enough!" He shouted.
As several more explosions appeared in the middle of the sky I started to think what was going on up there in the distance. The people around me each have different reactions from joy to nervousness.
Whatever they were fighting up there sure was strong enough to withstand all those explosions, also making the soldiers here curse under their breath each passing second.
Soon a big shockwave rocked us all, the general was the fastest of all of us, covering behind a truck. "Shit, it's coming! Everyone take cover!" He shouted. All the soldiers went into a panic mode, following their leader's example and hiding behind the first thing close to them.
Copying them I crawled even further into the tank and closed my eyes, hoping for the worst.
I didn't notice one of the soldiers hiding behind the same tank I was.
Soon a bright light emanated from the sky, it wasn't the sun, this one was closer but bright enough to make it seem like it was daylight.
Then a huge explosion was heard, followed by a massive shockwave that actually rocked the tank I was below a little, the earth itself also starting to shake massively. "Augh!" I screamed as my ears started to ring. Some soldiers felt the same from the various complaints around me.
Slowly but surely the earth stopped shaking as the light from the sky started to fade. There were several car alarms going off around us because of the powerful shockwave that caught all of us off guard.
The general was the first to peek out of his hiding spot behind the truck, he started to laugh like a madman soon after everything calmed down. "They did it!" He shouted. "Those crazy sons of bitches did it!"
As I opened my eyes I started to crawl out of the tank, all of the soldiers getting out of their hiding spots and joining their general in celebration, each of them shouting and throwing their helmets to the sky.
"Salute the aces of Razgriz!" One of the soldiers shouted. As I looked up from where I was I saw the four planes pass by, everyone was running to the shores in a vain attempt to follow them.
"Razgriz…" I repeated. I kept looking at them, my eyes fixated on the way they flew as a smile started to form on my lips. "You can hear these cheers!? Don't tell me you can't hear 'em!" A soldier shook me out of my thoughts as he shouted while grabbing a radio lying around.
In the middle of this mayhem I started to question what the hell I was doing there. Not only was the entire thing as bizarre as it sounds, it looks like it was taken from a movie. For a second time I glanced at the fighter jets trying to seek an answer. There, I found it.
"Dark blue." I muttered.
A deep, dark blue sky where the planes were flying. There they looked so free, like what happens down below doesn't matter to them. 'It's beautiful.' I thought as I slowly raised my hand in a vain attempt to touch it.
That moment I forgot about everything, about the planes, about my family, about the dozens of soldiers surrounding me, everything. My mind only focused on the sky above me.
That was the moment I fell in love with it, the moment my destiny was sealed.
"Hey, was this thing always here?" Suddenly my trance was cut off by a soldier kicking something below the tank next to me. Taking a look at it I froze when I recognized what it was.
'That-that's my bike!' I screamed internally as I started to panic, 'Damn, now what do I do!' I looked around trying to think of something, I was next to a tank, my bike is basically a pancake because of being crushed by another tank and I'm in the middle of a good dozen of soldiers armed to the teeth.
"Hm? Hey, is there someone there?" Another voice behind me suddenly spoke. If I wasn't scared enough by now then this surely finishes the job. "Uhhhh, no!" I tried my best to put on the deepest voice I could in a vain attempt to persuade him.
Suddenly I heard a gun click. "Hey, you! Show yourself now!" The soldier now ordered as he started to walk, his weapon aimed at where I was. 'This is it, I've really done it now!' I cursed at my bad luck and stupid decision of being here.
Quickly looking at my surroundings I took a deep breath. 'Well, here goes nothing!' I thought as I stood up and made a run for it. I could hear the soldier shouting behind my back. Looks like the commotion was drawing attention because several soldiers that were celebrating turned around to see what was going on.
And that was the moment all hell broke loose.
In a matter of seconds what once were cheers and an overall good mood emanating from the soldiers turned into a competition of who shouted the loudest and started to run in my way.
"Goddammit stop there or we'll shoot!" One of the soldiers shouted as he also joined the pack behind me. "Damn me and my luck!" I cursed as I ran past a truck and knocked down a barrel to try and stop them from chasing me.
Behind the trucks, coming out of the tanks, these guys were popping out of nowhere with the intention of stopping me. Using my advantages of being young and small I started to crawl under trucks or places the soldiers couldn't.
'Damn, how do I get out of this one!?' I thought as I dodged a soldier jumping to get me, only for him to miss me and crash face first on a tank. Looking around I realized there's vehicles all around me. "If my dad can drive one then how hard can it be?" I said as a grin appeared on my face. "All right, let's do it!"
That was the moment I set my plan into motion, shouting I mustered all the strength I could to run faster. More than once jumping some makeshift barricades the soldiers made.
There were two trucks parked one next to the other blocking my way, one of them had its doors open. "I have an idea!" I thought out loud, I ran as fast as my legs let me to the truck that had its doors open. As I entered the truck I slammed the door shut and locked it in an attempt to buy time from the soldiers.
"He's in the trucks!" I heard someone shout. "Shit, if it starts moving, shoot the wheels!" Another responded.
"Okay I remember dad using the car's handbrake to make it move a little." I thought out loud as I started to look around. "If it's basically the same thing then it should work, right?"
Touching every nook and cranny from the truck I realized how many buttons it had, also how unbelievably uncomfortable it was. 'Why do you need this many buttons and stuff? You just drive this thing don't you?' I thought as I saw a button next to the steering wheel. "Is it this one?" As I pressed it the truck started to shake and make noises.
"The bastard turned on the engine!" I heard someone shout from outside, "Hey, you! If the truck moves we'll start shooting!"
"Okay, that wasn't the one." I gulped as I saw from the corner of my eye more soldiers pointing to the truck. Looking at it more I saw a stick next to the steering wheel, "Hey, it was a stick too in my dad's car. Must be this one for sure!" I said as I got a hold of it. As I pulled I realized it wasn't moving, I tried again with both hands and had the same result.
"C'mon man, what now!?" I screamed as I pulled with all my strength to no avail. "All right, you're moving like it or not." I said as I put my feet on the dashboard, grabbed the handbrake with both my hands and started to pull with everything I got. "Move dammit!" I screamed as I started to yank the lever to make it move.
Unconsciously I pressed a button the handbrake had at the top and it suddenly moved with ease, as I was unprepared for it I flew backwards crashing to the seat in a cartoony way, "Augh!" I cursed as my face came into contact with the soft, yet hard, cushion.
I didn't realize that, by accident, I kicked the gear lever as I flew backwards.
As I rubbed my head and sat properly on the truck it began to move, getting slowly faster. "Shit it's moving!" The voices outside started to scream. "Fuck it, everyone fire!"
As the soldiers started to shoot at the truck I entered into a panic mode, grabbing the steering wheel and slamming the gas pedal to the ground. I started to drive the truck out of the beach. "This thing is harder than it looks!" I cursed as I barely evaded a tank in front of me.
What was once a peaceful shore turned into an invasion of soldiers preparing guns to them cheering and then to an all-out shooting against a truck.
Overall a grade A shit show with me as the target.
Trying to get away from the soldiers the truck was getting hit from every place, bullets flying around and piercing the entire vehicle. "It'll be bad if I get hit with one of those." I said as I started to shake the steering wheel in an attempt to evade them.
Of course doing that with a big truck is next to impossible but at least I wasn't getting shot.
Slowly the sound of gunfire got quiet, looking around I saw a clear beach without soldiers ahead of me. "Yeah baby I did it!" I screamed joyfully.
As a way of letting me know I jinxed it I heard a sudden sound from a gun, followed by a 'pop' coming from the truck and the steering wheel moving violently in every direction.
I then realized they shot a wheel and now the truck was moving everywhere. If I knew how to drive this wouldn't probably be so fatal since someone experienced can regain control of the vehicle and drive it away.
Of course that wasn't the case for an 11 year old boy.
"Ahhhhh dammit!" I screamed as I grabbed the steering wheel for dear life, the same steering wheel shaking violently from right to left and the truck following the same pattern. The movement quickly got more violent each second.
Thinking I had enough I reached for the brakes and slammed the pedal in an attempt to stop the truck. It didn't take me long to realize how bad of an idea that was.
The truck let out a screech, followed by a sudden turn to the left. Its entire momentum from going top speed to zero made it lose the little balance it had.
At that moment I swear I saw everything happen in slow motion. The truck began to tip violently to the side, myself grabbing the steering wheel with all the strength I got, some pencils and stuff suddenly levitating next to me as the floor was now at my right side.
Then it stopped, the next thing I knew was a loud 'bang' that shattered the front window and me flying to the passenger side, my body slammed to the left door as I let out a cry of pain.
Those seconds for me were the longest in my life as the truck came crashing to the right and started to slide on the shore. I could hear the metal of the vehicle making various sounds because of being torn or just damaged from the crash.
As it came to a full stop I opened my eyes, coughing because of the amount of dust and sand now on the cockpit of the vehicle. Standing up on the passenger's door that was now my floor I used the seat next to me as a wall while trying to clean some window shards off my shirt.
I started to touch my body trying to find if I had cuts or bruises from the crash, I only found a small one on my right leg but other than that I was unscathed. "Oh my God." I said as a smile appeared on my face from the sheer luck I have. "No way."
Somehow, someway I was safe after having a terrible car accident. Even to this day I cannot think of how I survived that and even more how nothing happened to me.
Looks like the plane gods came to my rescue.
"Visual on the truck." The voice of a soldier shook me out of my thoughts. Trying to peek behind me I could see some lights coming my way as several footsteps were getting closer.
"Okay if they catch me now I'm really gonna get killed." I gulped as I imagined what they would do to me after crashing their vehicle. Looking at my surroundings I saw how there was no front window other than some pieces of glass hanging. Slowly I walked out of the cockpit while trying not to cut myself as I heard several pieces of glass shattering while setting foot outside of the truck. Looking around I saw some stairs leading out from the beach. 'If I get there I can run to the city and lose them.' I thought as I formed a new plan in my head.
Turning around to see the truck I was shocked at how messed up it was, the front window was nowhere to be seen, the light bulbs broken, the metal body torn or scattered around me. It's a miracle I was walking.
As the sound of soldiers was getting closer I turned to the stairs and made a run for it. It was time to leave this crazy night behind and return to my house before my parents killed me.
As soon as I set foot on the stairs my body relaxed like never before. Letting out a sigh while trying to catch my breath I looked back to the truck, the soldiers walking around it probably trying to find me. A grin appeared on my face as I started to laugh "I did it!" I screamed "See ya losers!"
Turning around, my escape was halted as I bumped into something, falling butt first to the floor. "Hey, what the-" My voice was cut in half as I looked up and found the deadly gaze of the general that was giving orders on the beach.
I could feel my heart skipping a beat as my eyes widen in terror. 'This is it.' I thought. Tears started to fall on my cheeks while covering my head from anything the man in front of me was planning to throw. "P-Please don't kill me! I can explain!" I shouted in terror.
The general remained there, a stern look clear on his face. Then he sighed while looking at the mess I made of one of his vehicles.
"All right now we got you-Sir!" Suddenly a soldier shouted after going up the stairs. He gulped and saluted the man in front of him, the latter just rubbed his temples in response to said soldier.
The general was dumbfounded, he was looking at me then to the soldier in front of him and then to the wreckage. "Really?" He finally said after closing his eyes. "I leave you alone to do a debriefing for five minutes and this shit show happens?"
"Sir, I can explain." The soldier said with fear present in his voice. "We heard movements near a tank and before we could realize an intruder was caught in the middle of our vehicles and then tried to escape using a truck".
The general gave me another look which made me fear for my life. "So you're telling me that the mighty Osean army, the one that just won a war against couldn't see that a child was messing around our vehicles in a restricted area and then he wasted a truck trying to escape?"
The soldier stood there in silence, blinked and scratched the back of his head. "Well, when you put it that way it sounds like we are idiots."
"Oh, how should I treat you then?" The general responded. Then he turned my way, his deadly gaze not leaving his face. "And you, what should we do with you now?"
I gulped as my body was shaking, "I-I just got curious because of the sound of planes and then I got caught up with all of you." I clasped in front of me as I closed my eyes. "Please, it's the truth! don't kill me!"
I just knew at that moment that if the soldiers didn't kill me, my parents would, no questions asked.
The general's response to my outcry for mercy was just to sight and look to the sky. "I can already feel the amount of paperwork I'll have to do because of this." He then turned to the soldier contemplating the scene. "You, get the hell out of here before I have your ass shot out of one of these tanks."
The soldiers squirmed as he saluted his superior before turning around and running away.
Then he turned to me, getting into a sitting position to reach my height, his eyes not leaving mine. "All right kid, this is what we'll do." He turned around to see if no one was in hearing range. "If you don't do as I say you can kiss your ass goodbye, you hear me?"
Feeling the seriousness in his voice I knew for a fact he wasn't lying when he said he would basically kill me, so I gulped while nodding my head to his command.
After listening to the general, only one thought ran through my head.
I hate trucks. And even more, I hate the army.