A squadron of transport helicopters carrying soldiers, equipment, and an assortment of non-combat personnel flew overhead, kicking up clouds of dust and leaves in its wake. The woman in charge of the whole operation followed them with her eyes and watched them land on the clearing a few hundred meters in front of her.
She watched as the soldiers hopped off the helicopters and formed a security perimeter around the landing area while the various personnel unloaded their equipment. A man wearing a khaki outdoor attire hopped off a helicopter and then began issuing orders to everyone, turning the mess of people into a coordinated unit.
He glanced at her direction and waved his hand before making his way over. She rolled her eyes at him and gave an annoyed huff as she continued to lean against the tree she took shelter under from the afternoon sun.
"Howdy." the man greeted her with a smile and then proceeded to lean against the tree next to hers. "Out of all the people, why did HQ have to send you?" she said as she suppressed an annoyed groan.
"I volunteered actually." the man smirked as if he was intentionally provoking her ire.
"Damn you Frank!" she cursed and walked towards the site of activity, away from him. The working personnel had nearly finished setting up camp and some of the soldiers already began patrolling the area to search for any potential threats to the operation.
"Now don't be like that Myse! Is that how you greet an old friend?!" Frank called out from behind her.
"You suddenly disappeared without a word for 7 years. 7 fricking years! You never wrote to me and never answered any of my calls. And then I find out that you had already joined the most dangerous division among the 10! Old friend my ass!" Myse looked back and spat those words at him through gritted teeth.
"So you were worried about me after all!" Frank called out and tried to follow her while grinning widely.
"Like hell I would!" Myse completely lost her cool and turned around to glare at Frank, her eyes seemed have the flames of hell burning inside them.
She stormed over to Frank with her fists tightly clenched. "Now, calm down and-" Frank tried to appease her but couldn't finish in time as she quickly kicked his legs out from under him and then followed up with an axe kick to his abdomen as he fell down, slamming him against the ground with his eyes wide as he had his breath knocked out of him. He laid there for a while, admiring the sky while refusing to make eye contact with Myse who was glaring daggers at him.
Myse gave his leg another kick before walking away from him with a huff. The workers and researchers openly chuckled at the sight while the soldiers struggled to barely keep themselves from grinning.
"That's enough! Back to work!" Myse ordered after she clapped twice to get everyone's attention. The workers shook their head with a smile still on their face as they set up camp while the soldiers resumed their patrols.
"Hurry and finish up. We'll camp for the night and set off first thing in the morning." she announced before walking off to talk about something with a female pilot.
Frank groaned as he stood up while painfully clutching his abdomen. A soldier proceeded to help him up and check for severe injuries. Fortunately, Myse had held back.
"You picked a bad time sir." the soldier said as he helped him to his feet and draped his hand over his shoulders to support him. "I heard her asking the female soldiers for pads."
"With or without her period, she's always been like that." Frank laughed, albeit painfully. "But it does make her assaults and temper much worse."
After the camp was finished, everyone spent an uneventful night sleeping until the morning with the soldiers taking shifts for the night watch.
Way before dawn came, Myse was already wide awake and staring at the stars as she sat at a thick branch of a particularly tall tree. She peacefully watched a shooting star streak through the pre-dawn sky and silently made a wish.
As morning arrived with the sun rising in the sky, the camp was busy with everyone preparing breakfast and getting their gear ready. Myse nonchalantly ate an army ration bar as she surveyed the camp. She hasn't seen Frank since when she gave him a beating yesterday.
But knowing him, she concluded he had already went ahead and was scouting around their target.
"Alright! Let's set off. I need 10 soldiers to stay behind and guard the campsite and some workers and all the pilots to get things ready in case we need a sudden getaway." Myse ordered as she slung an assault rifle over her shoulder and began leading the way into the forest. "Keep in radio contact. Report to me if anything happens."
"Yes ma'am!" everyone said in unison.
It had been quite a while since they traveled deeper into the forest. The temperature was noticeably lower than when they started despite the sun shining brightly in the sky.
The forest canopy wasn't very thick, causing generous amounts of sunlight to reach the forest floor. But strangely, only a few shrubs and plants except grasses grew despite the sunlight. They even found seasonal herbs that only grew during autumn and winter despite it being the middle of spring.
"This forest feels... strange." someone said.
The forest itself wasn't weird. The trees weren't menacing, there was enough light, and they could hear the birds singing. But something about it just seemed off. The temperature decreasing the deeper they get wasn't helping either.
Myse remained vigilant as she scanned her surroundings. She had her rifle ready with her index finger pointed beside the trigger, ready to fire her weapon at a moment's notice.
Everyone paused as they heard a set of heavy footprints running towards their way. The soldiers visibly tensed as they raised their weapons, just waiting for orders from Myse to open fire.
"Don't worry. It's just Frank. Put down your weapons." Myse said and clicked her tongue.
Sure enough Frank came into view from behind a tree as he weaved between them while ran towards the group. Myse opened fire, startling the soldiers who she just told not to shoot, and hit the trunk of the tree that Frank was just about to pass.
Frank jumped at the sudden gunshot and then immediately took cover behind another tree out of reflex.
"What the hell Myse?!" Frank cursed.
"You left the camp on your own without informing anyone. Do that again and your head will be the one receiving a bullet. Now get your ass back here." Myse scolded him though she doubted he would listen.
Frank ran towards them and immediately rejoined the group as if it was the happiest moment of his life. "I have never been so happy to see you again. I thought I was going to go insane." Frank laughed nervously while wiping the sweat off his face.
Myse observed that he had changed his attire at some point yesterday. Frank was now wearing a dark red full battle dress attire with black combat boots that seemed to absorb most of the light that hit it, complete with a matching black tactical vest and custom S-22 Sniper Rifle. She was quite surprised Frank managed to bypass the soldiers on watch and run off on his own. She might have to scold them later as well.
"What did you see sir?" a research scientist asked.
"Not see, more like heard." Myse interjected. "Had he read the briefing I sent to HQ, he wouldn't have been pissing his pants in fear."
"Well ma'am, I believe it's because he switched with Captain Williams at the last minute. We were supposed to be briefed on the way here by the operation leader but after they switched, we immediately took off before we even saw Captain Williams, the file is probably still with her" One of the escorting soldiers spoke up.
Myse shot Frank a glance, who was looking around the forest as if looking for something to suddenly pop out and attack, then lightly massaged her forehead in annoyance. "Anyways, we'll be entering what I call a Time Echo. It is usually formed when a large scale spell protection spell is cast in an area with very dense mana."
"Places with a Time Echo like where we're going are very rare. But they weren't uncommon a century ago." Myse continued with her explanation as they resumed walking.
"They're usually cast to protect something like treasure or tombs. But the one we're heading towards seems to be naturally formed which is why we're investigating the manner."
"A Time Echo records everything that occurs within it while playing the sounds of a different time period. It's quite mysterious how we could hear the songs of birds from yesterday or maybe years ago. But being inside one can be dangerous as it warps your sense of time and direction. Watches, compasses and communication devices won't work there. The only-" Myse was interrupted by her radio crackling to life.
It was nothing but static for a while before a voice finally got through. "Commander Myse. Base needs a report on your progress. Over."
"Tell them that we're close but we might lose comms for a while. Over." Myse replied and released the talk button.
"Copy that. Over and out."
"As I was saying," Myse cleared her throat "the only way to communicate with the outside is with a mana relay which we unfortunately don't have the luxury of having."
"We're getting close. Everybody stick together and stay alert." Myse ordered.
"Frank, what did you hear?" She asked him.
"I heard voices of people. Lots of people. There were children playing and there were even vehicles. But I couldn't see anything,which was why I thought I was going insane." Frank replied.
"That's strange. We didn't have any records of a village or settlement existing here..." Myse pondered. "Everyone, keep moving. We're very close."
The group continued walking through the forest in silence while looking for anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly, a dense wall of fog appeared before the group. It stayed within a certain area and looked as if it cut through the trees that was in its border.
"We're here." Myse said. "Did you see this when you were running about on your own Frank?" she asked.
"Well yeah, but I thought it was normal. I couldn't tell for sure early in the morning." Frank scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"You probably got your dumb ass into the Time Echo without knowledge." Myse rebuked him.
"All right. Now, all of you may hear things that you cannot see. Don't be scared, they're not ghosts. They are just a record of a different time in the past." Myse turned to the group and placed her hands on her hips. "Get ready, we're going in."