The white sandstone buildings of the Defense Area were gleaming in the scorching mid-summer sun. The Defense Area was comprised of three buildings: the Ministry of Defense, the Defense Secretariat, and the Command of the Weermag, the Royal Army. Most of the government buildings in Maida were made up of white sandstone, and in summer, the stone walls of buildings were hot enough to vaporize water, but somehow, the interiors were cool. Beautiful charbaghs surrounded the three buildings, with the Ministry of Defense in the center, the Command of the Weermag on the left, and the Defense Secretariat on the right.
A well-built man in his peak thirties was rather in a hurry. He quickly showed his ID to the Army Police, entered the Defense Area, and dashed to the Defense Secretariat. The powerful heat of midsummer almost dehydrated him, and the look of worry was all over his place. He entered the building and requested the receptionist make a phone call to the Defense Secretary, showing his ID to the bewildered receptionist. No one dared to directly talk about a man of such power, and this man's casualness made her dumbstruck. Only after seeing his ID did she call the Defense Secretary. "Good morning, Secretary, a man from the frontline with an officer badge from the garrison is here... Oh, is that right? Oh, I am sorry; I will tell him immediately." The receptionist turned her head towards the man and said, "The secretary wants to see you; please let me show you the way." The Office of the Secretary of Defense, General Roy Ambitious, was on the third floor of the building. The receptionist led the way towards a huge corridor with carpets from Persia, engravings from the artisans of the Deccan, and chandeliers from the Ottona (Northern Akol) which were the norm of every government building in Maida. Then they moved towards the right and arrived in front of the majestic wooden gate. The receptionist told the man to knock on the door and enter, and then she went on her way. The man knocked on the front door of the secretary's office. He was signaled to enter by a guard. The office was large and contained a huge desk, a sofa set, a round table, and 3–4 big bookshelves. The secretary was buried in a mountain of folders. As soon as he saw the man, he jumped up from his desk and gestured for the man to sit.
"What brings you here, Brigadier, and at this hour? Something happened?"
The Brigadier responded with difficulty, "Sir, regarding our little plan, umm, actually there is a big problem. Sergeant Hades Persay is dead, apparently murdered. Our men are currently looking into the matter." He could see the color of the secretary's face change. He continued, "Whoever the assailant was, did his work perfectly. We don't have even a bit of a trace. I am a bit afraid too, since they targeted one of our inner circles with such an accuracy. Do you think that it was an old man's play?"
Roy Ambitious responded, with a cold, calm look, "Brigadier, It is a big loss for us. Hades was a capable man. We should indeed send our condolences to his family. Our mission took a hit. A major hit. I order you to delve deeply into the matter. We cannot underestimate the enemy. To get something, you have to lose something. It may sound a bit harsh, but it is the reality. Hades' methods were not perfect, but he delivered the result, and it is because of his and all our hard work that we are here. The old man, if involved, will pay a huge price. Find out what his men are doing, and take the help of Queen's (the country's secret information agency) if you want. We will not let Old Man's son Raisena and the Weermag take the glory. Thank you for coming all the way here. I will inform you about the next part very soon. You may leave now."
"As you wish, sir." Brigadier Abel Maxen stood up and bowed, opened the door, and left the office. 'Secretary can be a bit cunning at times; let's see what he's going to cook now. It would be troublesome if Weermag was involved. What if the Prime Minister... no, it's not possible..then who is the threat—Weermag or someone else' he wondered as he left the premises of the Defense Area.
At the South-Western border, the special 5,000-man army was rapidly advancing towards the goal. After day one, they had successfully moved 25 km inside the forest. It was difficult since the forest was very difficult to navigate. The Right Wing, which was in charge of keeping out the monsters, suffered huge casualties due to sudden attacks by the hidden swarms of forest apes. Twice, they were ambushed by these monsters from behind. It was certain that these monsters were closely following the troops, and the moment they saw the soldiers lose their guards, they ambushed. After some ferocious fights, the right wing successfully managed to control them. The intelligence of these monsters could not be neglected. About 10 divisions were annihilated, amounting to a loss of 584 human lives, or about 1/3 of the right army. This prompted Raisena to order 500 strong troops from his main army into the right army, since this was the main wing responsible for fighting with the strongest warriors. The current order was somewhat like this:
The Left Wing (commanded by Lt. Rai Bahadur): 989
The Main Army (commanded by Maj. Raisena): 1986
The Right Wing (commanded by Lt. Si Yu): 1416
The advance for day one was halted. The dusk enveloped the skies. The night outside the walls was difficult. Most of the monsters were nocturnal, and an offensive advance will result in an even bigger loss of lives. The deaths of around 600 soldiers on the very first day, despite entering 25 kilometers outside the buffer zone and into deep forest, blunted the morale of the soldiers. Around 100 km was more to be covered, excluding the return journey. "So, that's why they call it the Black Forest; the darkness of the night and the gloomy air with our sunken heads—all of it makes this forest dangerous," Juto remarked. The others, especially Sochi, gave him a nasty scowl. Samara and Lunana were with Rai, discussing the strategy for tomorrow, while Futon went to bed early. Shikara was mending her injuries with the help of Al-Mar. It was nothing severe, but a deep laceration on her right thigh and many abrasions all over her body were present. She slipped her leg and fell into a deep trench. It was lucky that she didn't get any serious injuries. Al-Mar cleaned her wound with water and an antiseptic and then stitched the muscles with an absorbable catgut, giving interrupted sutures, and then the fascia and the skin, also with catgut. She then used her green healing magic and healed the wound. The abrasions, she said, will heal on their own, and it would be best to let them heal naturally. Shikara asked, "Bro, you could have used the healing magic from the very beginning, but why did you first clean it, suture it, and then use your magic?" Al-Mar giggled and, with a smile, responded, "Well, healing magic is not that great. If it were, then medical science would never have been developed. See, I can heal—that is, I can stimulate the various cells involved in the process of wound healing—but I cannot kill the bacteria or the other microorganisms that have entered your body, and if I use healing magic without suturing, it will leave a big scar, so that's why. Eat these tablets to prevent any superadded infection and be careful next time, got it? I will explain my magic later. Good night." "Good night," said Shikara, and then she went to sleep. Outside their tents, Sochi was on night duty. Despite her deep words in the morning, she could feel the absence of Hades. Hades was the binding force of this squad, and without him, she wondered, everyone felt so distant. Her eyes were full of rage, and at the same time, they showed the emotion of loneliness. She wanted revenge; she wanted to find the killer of Hades. She was determined.
Elsewhere, the messenger hawk arrived at the capital. It landed on the branch of a large peepal tree. An elderly figure was resting under the shade of this huge tree. The evenings are best spent in the cool shade of the tree, he wondered. On seeing the hawk, he stretched out his hands, and the hawk gracefully perched on his arm. He patted the hawk, took out the letter attached to its legs, and opened it:
"Sir
We found the newspaper that we were looking for and burned it down, along with a pamphlet. It will be shown on the big screens soon."
He smirked. "It will be really funny what those two will do now. Soon all the cards will be on the table, and then nobody can challenge us. Oh, these imbeciles!!!"
He stood up, gave the hawk a treat, and then slowly walked towards the grand building that was standing in front of him.