Final Preperations

Mary carried a stack of pancakes to the large room. Even though everyone else had already woken up and started to eat, Vivian was still asleep. Mary set Vivian’s plate down on the nearby billiards table then shook her awake.

“Uggh. You better have food for me.” Vivian groaned. The smell of nearby pancakes wafting into her nose improved her mood. A hand reaching out of the sleeping bag grasped at air before grabbing the bottom of the table.

Mary set Vivian’s clothing down next to her.

Vivian peaked her head out of the sleeping bag and eyed Mary suspiciously. “What are you going to do and what do you want?”

“I am going to follow a lead to the northeast of here. I need you to stay here and protect the others.”

Vivian looked at her clothes and the stack of pancakes peaking out from behind the billiards table wall. She sighed. “You didn’t really give me much of a choice, did you? Sure. I’ll do it.” She sat up and started to put on her clothes.

“I will be back before nightfall. If I am not back by then, I need you to gather everyone and retreat back to Jesperville.”

Vivan nodded and tried to reach for the pancakes without getting up only to fail once again. She fell onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

Mary grabbed a pancake and tossed it onto her face.

Vivian slowly ate it without using her hands.

“I will see you later Vivian.” She left the room.

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Mary walked down the dirt road back to Jesperville until Woodside disappeared behind her. Once she was confident no one could see her, she took a sharp turn into the forest and walked clockwise around Woodside until it was to the southwest of her.

The forest itself was peaceful. The trees swayed gently in the wind. Very few of the black specks could be found among the leaves and on the ground. Fresh animal tracks, while still rare, signified the return of animal life to Birch’s forest.

Mary looked towards the sky. There were no birds. The sky darkened as a drizzle of rain found its way through the tree cover.

After walking for some time, Mary could hear people up ahead. Boots snapped and crunched against the ground as the voices marched closer. She put on her goggles and turned on their thermal sight, coloring the world in various hues of blue. Farther off in the distance, humanoid blobs of red, yellow and green made their way southeast towards a cliff. She flipped off her thermal vision. Most of the people were carrying staffs and swords, likely soldiers working for The Consulate of Mages. One of them, who was talking with one of the soldiers, looked to be no older than sixteen.

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It hadn’t been long since lunch and the sky was already dark. The occasional drop of rain splashed onto Dusty’s cheek. The dark grey clouds dominating the sky overhead suggested things would only get worse.

“We were always extra careful back in the mines during days like this. Maybe we should postpone my field training until tomorrow.” Dusty looked nervous, not for himself, but for the people around him.

“This ain’t the mines kid, it’s war.” One of the squad members patted him on the back and leaned in. “We both got messy jobs, lotta life er death, but we’re just fightin’ three people. Don’t get much easier than that.”

“What if they use the weather against us? I once managed to keep my friends from getting mugged because one of the muggers slipped on a puddle. I know you probably won’t slip, but still.” His face darkened.

“It don’t always work like that when you got trained people fighting, kid. We got ‘rules of engagement’. We also got magic on our side, not just numbers.”

“I felt the same way now as I did when I went into the mines for the last time and ended up here. I should’ve listened then but people needed me, my friends needed me. I thought if something went wrong, I could save them. I was wrong.” Dusty started to cry.

“We all catch those feelin’s, that’s just life in a warzone kid.” He pointed to a rock-covered door on the side of a cliff-face. “See 'at. That’s where we’re goin’.”

A light fog rolled in as they approached the door.

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Mary watched as the fourteen soldiers followed by the teenager walked through a door attached to the cliff.

Another person from Earth…

She continued watching for an hour.

Fog rolled in and the rain became heavier, but there had been no more signs of human activity.

She traced her way back to the orphanage, covering up her previous tracks as she went. Not a single plant or twig had been trampled underfoot nor had any discernible markings been made or footprints left behind.

Rather than enter the orphanage, Mary went behind it and searched the fields for a scarecrow, the dense, albeit withering, crop shielded her from any onlookers.

A large scarecrow lay on the cracked ground. It's post was snapped in half, but it was otherwise in a serviceable condition.

This will work.

Mary picked the scarecrow up and took it back to the orphanage.

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The fifteen men used magical lights to navigate the unlit tunnel to another stone door deep within the cave. The squad leader, a sergeant, tapped his staff against the door causing it to scrape open.

The cave behind the door opened up considerably to a massive four story tall chamber. Magical lanterns lined the walls as well as the columns of stone and brick which prevented the cave from collapsing in on itself. A network of paths led to various doors, tunnels, and an assortment of food service stands.

Directly in front of them was a checkpoint manned with five guards, each wielding a sturdy staff. Their armor was shiny enough to be nearly blinding when looked at directly. The guard in the center approached Dusty’s squad leader. She held a large, seemingly nondescript stone tablet in front of him. The squad leader placed his hand on the tablet then pressed his staff against it. Blue energy flowed from his staff into the tablet. He removed the staff. White flooded over his hand, encasing it in a spherical blob.

A green glow emanated from the tablet followed by the guard signaling them to keep moving.

The squad leader led them through a winding tunnel with many forks. There were no ore veins in the cave, and many gaps had been filled in with stones or bricks.

“What is this place? How old are these tunnels?” Dusty looked around in awe at the sheer scale and clear effort put into the facility.

“The fewer questions you ask the better.” The squad leader silenced him.

They eventually found their way to a large, empty chamber with a door at the other end.

The squad leader knocked using some sort of code.

The door opened up and five soldiers walked out. “Doctor Ishmikhov gave us orders to follow your command.” The soldiers saluted.

“Your first order is to guide us to an available briefing room.” The squad leader returned their salute.

“On it.” The five soldiers ended their salute then marched in front of the squad, guiding them through the tunnels.

Dusty tapped the squad leader on the shoulder and whispered. “Who is ‘Doctor Ishmikhov.’”

The squad leader whispered back. “Someone you never want to meet. Now stop asking questions.”

Doctor Ishmikhov’s soldiers led them to a room with a large, rectangular table capable of seating twenty. It was made of the same stone surrounding the room and its feet merged with the stone floor beneath them. The chairs were simple wooden chairs, made from the trees outside.

The squad leader took his place at the head of the table and pushed his chair aside. “You are all to be seated. He motioned Dusty to sit at the chair he pushed aside as he spoke. "We have been given a lot of clear instructions that need to be followed and it will take us some time to get through them all. The troops in Woodside and our scouts stationed in Jesperville have already received this briefing.”

The squad leader motioned Dusty to stand back up.“Onto our first order of business.” He pointed at Dusty. “This is Dusty. He is a hero being trained by Belzinth himself. He is here as part of his training so he can observe and experience how things are done around here. Your first priority is to keep him safe which means his life matters more than yours. Am I clear?”

“Yes sir.” The others shouted in unison.

Despite the rocky walls and empty space overhead, there was no echo, in fact there hadn’t been any echoes at all the moment they stepped through the second door.

Wow, dampening sound with magic. I’m not sure how safe that is but it sure is neat.

The squad leader motioned for Dusty to sit back down. “Are there any objections to Dusty’s participation?”

No one raised their hands.

“Very well, onto the next order of business.” The squad leader rested his hands against the table. “This fight will be one unlike any we have ever had before. We are facing a great, emerging threat to all people. Our tactics for this mission have been modified to accommodate it. We will need to account for the sudden bad weather as well, though I’m sure many of you are already experienced in that regard.” The squad leader droned on.

Dusty spotted a fox plush at his feet. He looked around. No one else seemed to notice, they were too busy focusing on the conversation.

The plush jumped at him when he reached for it causing him to jump back and scream.

The entire room looked at him.

“Sorry, I thought something jumped out at me.”

“You’re time at the mines gettin’ to ya?” The soldier he was talking to earlier joked.

“This is why I don’t like faces this fresh joining us. You better shape up kid.” The squad leader demanded.

“Y-yes Sir!” Dusty panicked.

“Now back to the order at hand…” The squad leader resumed his lecture.

Dusty’s vision blurred as he became lost in thought.