Silence.
They had reached the camp where their foes once laid. Collectively their voices were extinguished; no words were to be spoken. Loosing one was themselves was more than enough to hold such a silence. The air was thick with smoke, it was hard to breathe as they ventured through the desolate, silent lands just outside of Stragea.
He had almost forgotten what such an atmosphere was like. The memories of previous starry night played like an old recording through his mind, his ears replayed the voices he once heard and his nostrils burned at the smell of both the smoke, and the gunpowder that covered his body. His boots picked up the burnt dirt replacing the mud that he had marched through not long ago. The cold wind blew over the camp scattering smoke in the opposite direction giving way to sunlight and the deep blue sky.
To soon. He thought to himself as he stared at the shifting environment around him; this was no longer a walk in the woods, the road was long, and it waited for him as he led the pack, his brothers behind him. The silence was once a surprise, he assumed that the constant noise of life would remain unchanged and everlasting, yet as the countless soldiers that once occupied this camp simply vanished, he was left wondering if he himself were dead amongst the ashes and embers lining the path he walked.
Yet he was in a world not of his own, alive. He didn't know why; his reality had finally cracked and the world around him seemingly came into fruition as contemplated what was the truth. A touch placed him back into reality. Staff Sergeant Baker was the one who always stood nearby in the event he needed someone to assist him in walking. He asked him what was wrong, yet the Staff Sergeant received an answer that would only make him curious about the state of his brother's mind.
Sergeant Randall felt like he was in a dream. There was no peace, no games, no laughs, no jokes, no deaths, and no bloodshed. "Something's not right." He said to himself once again as he came to a stop at a nearby collapsed building running his uncovered fingers over the burnt surface.
"You think they're all dead? That was a massive explosion." Richard commented. He held his rifle upright standing over what was believed to be a small crater filled with ash and ember. "Yo princess." He commented. "Do you know the fuckers we killed?"
Breathing in the ash filled air the wind around sang like a choir. Thick smoke emanated from small fires spread around the destroyed camp a red haze glowed through, providing light alongside the scattered rays of the sun. Dead leaves, mud, and brushed aside hay.
"Check it out." Simon said as he picked up one of the enemy's firearms from the ground. "Wooden stocks, bolt action." He showed the rifle to Sergeant Randall, his eyes grew wide as he slung his rifle and held the new one in his hands. A thick layer of mud covered the weapon hiding the war-torn wood. Turning around and aiming down the sights of the rifle, he maneuvered his left hand around what appeared to be a cylindrical magazine and he looked down the metal sights.
"Germanic uniforms, American ALICE gear. Austrian weapons?" Mike muttered to himself gaining the attention of the princess. Looking beyond the destroyed lands, he stared at the few stone buildings around the camp that were desecrated by the explosions that happened at ground zero of the attack he and the others called in not several hours before.
Pools of blood. Piles of bodies. Barbed wire. Bayonets, bayonet lugs. Embers, ash, smoke.
"Do you think this shit is for real?" Richard asked as he knelt on the ground taking a look at one of the dead bodies. The attire itself was very reminiscent of the old Bundeswehr military uniforms from World War One and World War Two, yet they all had some form of ALICE harnesses or vests with miscellaneous poches attached to simple black belts. "How many did we just kill?" He asked with a nervous voice. "What the hell did we hit with that fucking artillery strike? That explosion was to large for it to be an ammo dump!"
"What are you saying?" Captain Thompson asked in a stern voice.
"Look at their skins!" Richard screamed.
She had finally received the answer to the question that had plagued her mind. It wasn't the smell of the burning buildings, smoke, or dead bodies that stood out to her the most. Lecca turned around alongside Lieutenant Patterson and Sergeant Randall.
The smell of burning skin painted over their nostrils with a sickening stench.
The battle for Stragea was over. The frontlines had been diminished into nothingness. Yet the looming threat of the Demon Lord persisted, and this new adversary threw all logic out the window. Standing on the lands belonging to the king of Yondel, the remaining seven stood silent. They had finally arrived at the detonation site. A large scar was placed upon the planet, a large sludge of blood and an unknown chemical laid at the bottom, the pulsing red heat made the princess shiver as a cold sweat ran down her face.
Sand picked up by the wind blew across the gazing sun. The fall air was cold, and it gracefully swept over the hills and forests both beyond, and behind where they stood, no man's land. No life could ever be sustained here, in this wasteland created by the efforts of man.
"We probably just pissed off a lot of locals!" Richard announced as his "argument" with Captain Thompson continued. "We're supposed to be "Holy Knights", respectively sir. A whole damn settlement and all of its inhabitants were killed!"
"How do we know these guys were invading!?" Thompson reported making the E-4 quiet. "They looked just confused as us, and it did not look like they were setting up for a siege!"
"That's what I mean, sir!" Richard said confidently. "We should've attempted to contact them, sir!"
Releasing the anger that had built up in his face, Captain Thompson looked at the ground with a horrified and perplexed face before turning his direction to the princess and Sergeant Randall. "They attacked you two, correct?" Thompson asked
"Y-Yes." Mike said. "Three of them attacked us. We killed the leader not too long ago."
"It was a retaliatory strike then, they even attacked us before we arrived. It's no more than self-defense." Thompson quickly concluded. "Listen up! You're ROE is changing: Do not fire unless fired upon! We need to establish some contact with theses forces, find out what the hell is going on, clear!"
"Yes sir!" The group said in unison.
"So, what now?" Lecca asked as she took the lead alongside the captain.
"You said we would go beyond." The older man admitted as he stared ahead at the clearing smoke. "The orders you were provided; it was to help the kingdom, yet I don't have a single idea what you mean. We can do so much within the walls, yet you want us to follow you into the unknown where some "Demon Lord" possibly waits." He admitted releasing his pent-up frustration.
Partly flustered, Lecca resigned herself to lead the men, no, her Reclaimers, deeper into the Demon Lord's domain. She could imagine what the world beyond would look like, much of it was obviously new to her due to her status as the First-Born Princess, yet even now she built up the fighting courage to take the first step forward, her boot making a clear mark in the mud. They were far from any "safe zone", yet it was their duty to go beyond what any normal soldier could reach, and then some in the name of the king.