Chapter 1: Moscow, Soviet Union, May 9th, 1946
Looking down over the parade of infantry, tanks, and all manner of armored vehicles, Sofia Gorbunova felt such great pride in her nation. She was flying her U-2 biplane as part of the Victory Day celebrations. One year ago today, the Soviet Union had finished annihilating the vile Nazi government that had invaded them. This day would be marked by cheers and joy for many, many generations to come. Of this, Sofia was certain.
Sofia had flown her U-2 during the war, harassing the fascist Germans and every chance. She enjoy shooting and bombing the Nazi pigs, and had great fondness for the nickname the Germans had give her and her fellow female pilots.
"The Night Witches," Sofia said, though she could not hear herself over the wind.
From what Sofia had heard from her officers and brother who fought the Germans on the ground, the Night Witches were despised by the Nazi to the extreme. Prisoners captured by her brother talked about how they lived in constant irritation and fear of the Russian biplanes. No matter where they were, no matter what time of day or night, they felt that a biplane bearing a red star would swoop down and reduce them to dead meat.
Sofia felt tears well up in her eyes. Her brother, Alexei, was not here to celebrate this day along with her and their motherland. He had died in the final days of the war, in Berlin. Shot through his neck by a fanatic Nazi sniper. His sergeant had written a letter to her, expressing his condolences and describing her brother's final moments. Even as he lay dying he talked about finishing the fight but shooting Hitler right through his stupid mustache. He also spoke of building a new home for his sister and himself after the war was done.
"You were brave, Alexei. I wish you could see what I see now." Sofia said, looking once more at the parade and the cheering people of Moscow.
Then, she noticed something strange. A large column of men in an area of the city that parade of Soviet soldiers and vehicles had already passed. Stranger still, Sofia could swear they had cavalry among their ranks. Cavalry was a relic of war, useless in the modern industrialized world. They were no longer part of the Soviet military. As far as she knew, there should not be any cavalry in their parade. This celebration was signified by expressing the Soviet Union's excellent machine and soldiers. So where the hell had this cavalry come from?
Sofia decided she needed to investigate. First, she reported what she had seen to her superior over her plane's radio. She agreed an investigation was necessary. Sofia and two other pilots broke off from their formation and flew down to get a closer look. As they got closer, Sofia found herself even more thoroughly confused. On the streets below, what appeared to be a medieval army was marching through Moscow. They wore armor and chainmail, their weaponry consisted of swords, spears and bows.
In fact, when Sofia flew closer to them, a few of them fired arrows at her biplane. Sofia reacted quickly and flew up higher again, with her comrades close behind.
Using her radio again, Sofia said, "Captain, I have no explanation as to how or why, but Moscow appears to be under attack by knights and medieval cavalry! I swear I haven't gone mad! They are real!"
After a moment of silence, her captain replied, "I know you are not crazy, because I see them too. We are not the only ones. I have been contacted by superiors on the ground. Apparently, this medieval army is attacking and looting all the buildings in their path. We have been ordered to conduct strafing runs on them. I am glad I insisted on live ammunition for our planes.
Sofia had agreed with her captain when she had argued for that. However, she had done so out of loyalty and respect to her superior officer, not because she actually thought they would end up in battle. Better prepared than not was very accurate here.
Once all the other pilots had been told the orders, they flew in formation. Once Sofia was at a low enough altitude, she fired directly into the primitive invaders. Usually, in battle, Sofia could forget about everything but the task in front of her, however, she had far too many questions to do so.
Who were these knights in armor? Where had they come from? They could not have just appeared in Moscow out of thin air, could they?
Out of the corner of her eye, Sofia noticed something flying towards her. This thing was not another U-2 or any sort of Soviet Aircraft. As it got closer, Sofia was able to see it was a winged creature with scales and claws. On its back was a knight like those on the ground, carrying a lance.
A dragon rider?! Sofia exclaimed mentally. This was something of a fairy tale. It defied all logic. Yet, here it was, flying straight at her with harmful intentions.
Sofia was a trained Soviet pilot, and reacted in a suitable manner. Her biplane was quickly able to out maneuver the dragon. The moment she was in the proper position, she fired bullets in the scaly invader. The creature and its rider fell to the earth like a stone.
When Sofia had strafed an enemy column or killed a Nazi fighter in World War II, she would smile triumphantly. However, this situation was too strange for her to exalt her small victory. Then, Sofia saw more dragon riders to her right.
While she had no idea who this enemy was, or what they intended to accomplish, they remained enemies of the Soviet Union. Just as Sofia remained one of its protectors.
*blank*
General Cincinnatus had not been eager to undertake this campaign. When the Gate, a holy site of the Saderan Empire, began to open, most of the empire's leaders were overjoyed. They had new lands to conquer. According to legends handed down through Saderan and other nations of his world, the Gates were objects that possessed tremendous magical power. Enough to connect two worlds to each other.
It had been so long since the Gate had last opened that most believed this was mere legend. However, the court sorcerer had said there was no doubt. The Saderan Gate was opening, and if their spies were to be believed, so was the Gate in their neighboring nation of Orte. Determined to out-due their old rival, the Emperor of Saderan, Molt Zanac Rayle Saderan III, had wasted no time assembling an invasion force to raise the Saderan flag in the new world.
General Cincinnatus had not liked the idea even a little. The Saderan Empire was already a powerful nation in their world, with Orte being the only nation that could possibly pose a threat. If they wanted further imperial expansion, there were the smaller nations to the south and the island to the east. Going to another world, they had no idea what they would find. What sort of people would they be fighting? How numerous would their forces be? What weapons and magic would they wield?
So many questions that went unanswered even as they marched through the Gate. Now, General Cincinnatus would have to find out first hand. When he first stepped foot on the ground of this other world, he was happy to see buildings on brick and stone. At least they had that in common. The general's aid, a sorcerer named Alicca, stood beside him.
"Honestly, I think the architecture of our empire is more beautiful and elegant than that of this world." Alicca said. "Perhaps we should burn a few buildings down during this attack so we can construct new, better ones?"
General Cincinnatus thought about this proposal. "Only if the people here put up a heavy resistance. Until then, let us try to take as much as we can intact."
His aid was a very bloodthirsty individual. During the war with the Donnas Duchy, Alicca had been unnecessarily brutal with the peasants they conquered. General Cincinnatus was more reserved when it came to violence against those who were not soldiers fighting them. Better to show people they would prosper under your rule. True, there would always be disloyal elements that needed to weeded out, but better for a people to obey because they wanted to.
As General Cincinnatus was thinking about how they would rule this land and integrate into the Saderan Empire, a messenger came running up to him. Once he had kneeled, he delivered his message.
"Sire, several of our dragon riders have been killed, along with their steeds!" The messenger said. "The otherworlders seem to possess dragons of their own, though they bear no resemblance to our own. They were still eliminating our dragons as I left, and it can be assumed that our casualties have increased."
Another messenger came up as the other finished. "Sire, I report that the enemy forces have engaged our cavalry. They have strange staves that wound the enemy with an invisible attack. What's worse, the enemy also commands large metallic beasts that are literally crushing our infantry. Their skin is so hard and thick, our swords and arrows can do no harm to them."
General Cincinnatus clenched his fists. More messengers were hurrying towards him. Not even a full day into their invasion and events were already going very badly for them.
Hearing a noise overhead, Cincinnatus looked up. He saw what must have been one of the enemy dragons. It was true that the creature looked nothing like the dragons the Saderan Empire had. In fact, it did not appear to be a being of flesh and blood. Though Cincinnatus could not see the dragon very well from the ground. He did see something being dropped from it.
This confused the general. Had the creature laid eggs as it flew? When whatever the things started to hit the ground, he figured out what their purpose was at least. The first one to do so suddenly unleashed a burst of flame and pieces of metal. Cincinnatus saw men wounded by these things and heard their screams of anguish.
"Damn! Damn! Damn!" Cincinnatus silently cursed the Emperor and the Senate for starting this war. "We have made a terrible enemy today!"
*blank*
"This is outrageous!" General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, shouted at the men gathered before him in a room in the Kremlin.
The unquestioned ruler of the Soviet Union, along with those politicians and officials who had come to Moscow for Victory Day, had retreated to the safety of the Kremlin. Everyone in Stalin's presence was nervous. This was supposed to be a grand day of celebration. Not the day of another invasion of Russia.
When Hitler had violated the previously existing peace agreements between their nation and his, Stalin had been shocked into a period of silence and isolation. That was not the case here. He was furiously puffing on his pipe. Stalin had gone to great lengths to ensure that the Soviet Union would never again face invasion ever again. Under his leadership, the Soviet Union had kept control of every single millimeter of territory they had seized by the end of the war. Of course many of those nations were "independant," at least, on paper. However, the Soviet Union was undoubtedly their master, and therefore, so was Stalin.
Yet, even with all this power and influence, somehow the Soviet Union had been caught unawares. This humiliation would not stand. Someone, or many someones, would pay.
Vyacheslav Molotov, Foreign Commissar of the Soviet Union, entered Stalin's chamber. Beside him was a young colonel, by the name of Daniil. He brought with him news Molotov hoped would mollify their leader.
"Comrade General Secretary, I believe we have made a discovery." Molotov said, then introduced Colonel Daniil.
The colonel came to a stiff salute. Daniil had fought the Nazi's from start to finish. He started out no more than a sergeant, but his determination, ability to get the job done no matter what, and the many casualties of the war earned him multiple premontions. The man followed orders, but always used any wiggle room he could find to accomplish the most. Few members of the Soviet military were brave enough to take such actions.
Failure to follow orders even slightly could result in severe punishment. Either the quick death of a bullet to the head, or a slow one working in a gulag. Which was the better way to die was tough to tell. For Daniil, the bullet was preferable. A slow death of humiliation doing menial work was utterly unacceptable.
It was only because Daniil had never technically disobeyed order, coupled together with his successes that spared him any punishment. Facing Stalin, though, was a completely different danger opposed to fight Nazi soldiers, planes and Panzers. Say the wrong word, do the wrong thing, no matter how small, and Stalin would order your death without a second thought. Everyone with half a brain knew this.
After he had sat down, Daniil began to explain. "General Secretary Stalin, a few hours ago. The police received reports of a building having appeared on the edge of Moscow. The citizens said it had just appeared out of thin air. These reports were laughed at. How could anything so impossible really happen? Then, reports came in of a medieval army coming through this structure, attacking and looting everything in sight. These were initially treated with a similar dismissive attitude, until they continued to flood in. All the knight sightings and force, if looked at from above, originated at this structure."
"I, and others in the Soviet military, believe this structure is a kind of Gate. One which this medieval army is passing through to invade the Soviet Union. We have no scientific explanation for how this is possible, but this seems to be the case."
Stalin let out a puff of smoke. "Tell me, Colonel, if these knights pass through this Gate into the Soviet Union, can we pass through to their homeland?"
Daniil gulped. "General Secretary, we do not know at this time, but if we can seize the Gate, we may be able to find out."
"Then, we will have to do so. I want this magic monstrosity to be taken by the Soviet military intact." Stalin smirked. "If these fools in armor think they can attack us without consequences, they will quickly discover otherwise."
Daniil gulped. He remembered the vicious vengeance the Soviet army had taken on the treacherous Germans. These medieval people were in for a great deal of suffering, maybe some deserved, maybe a lot not. Well, that was their problem, not Daniil's.
*blank*
General Cincinnatus cursed the foolish emperor. He cursed the foolish Senate that had permitted this invasion. Most of all, he cursed the otherworlders and their powerful sorcery that was utterly decimating his army. Left with no choice, he had ordered his men to flee back beyond the Gate. Flee like rabbits from fierce wolves.
Due to a shortage of messengers, the General's aids had been ordered to take up the role. They rode along the lines of battle on horseback shouting, "Flee! Hurry, back across the Gate!"
This was a dark day for the Saderan Empire. Their army was being annihilated, and he had no doubt the enemy army would seize the Gate on this side. Once they did, the best case scenario would be that they destroy it, forever separating their worlds. The worst case, as well as the likeliest case, in Cincinnatus's opinion would be a reverse invasion of the Saderan Empire.
"Sire, the enemy! The enemy is almost upon us!" His aid, Alicca, said in a panic.
He desperately wanted to run back to the Empire's soil. However, if Alicca abandoned his commander, he would be executed for cowardice.
"Alright, let us return." General Cincinnatus said, as he heard a sound overhead He looked up. "By the Gods?!"
One of the bizarre enemy dragons was diving on them at incredible speed. He and his men raced to the Gate on their horses. They never made it.
Suddenly, General Cincinnatus was on the ground, pain surging throughout his body. He tried to rise but found he could not. He looked to his left and saw Alicca on the ground. Blood was gushing from wounds in his back, but Cincinnatus doubted he could feel it. The man's eyes were blank and his face frozen in a silent scream.
We have poked a sleeping fire dragon and filled him with rage, General Cincinnatus thought moments before he took his last breath.
