Volume 3 Chapter 5 Before the War

Chapter 5 Before the War

I

The three came out of the manhole and entered the town. Luckily, there were not many people walking on the street since a battle was about to be here.

All the windows and doors in the towns were closed, some of which were even sealed by planks. The city was immersed in an atmosphere of fear.

There were several notices posted on the walls. They walked up to one of the walls covered with notices and posters.

All notices and posters were about the war, such as:

All adult men shall join the battle!

Hail Normania!

Reauneians eat shit!

Other notices were filled with sentences of inspirative ultranationalism too.

Most notices and posters were illustrated. In those illustrations, Normanians were depicted as charming heroes and heroines while Reauneians were depicted as short ugly goblin-like people.

Besides those notices, there were also arrest warrants in which the most dangerous criminals were drawn, including them.

Suddenly, they smelled blood on the wind. They walked towards the source of the smell and saw a young man sitting on the ground cutting something with a small saw.

They walked closer and were dumbfounded by what they saw!

That man was cutting his left foot! They had learnt that some mad people would engage in some acts of self-mutilation. However, it was their first time to witness such scene.

That man didn’t notice them at all. He was absorbed in his self-harm.

Blood was dripping down from his foot and gathering into a small scarlet pond on the ground. In extreme agony, he was clenching his teeth.

Finally, the left foot was totally cut off his body.

“Ah!” he let out a roar in pain!

He turned back and looked at the three.

His expression became weird.

“I’ve read about your story,” whispered the man.

“What do you mean?” asked Stasha.

“You’re those barbarians from the west who have destroyed the Grey Factory, aren’t you?” queried the man.

“You know us?” Yanni raised his eyebrows in astonishment.

“Yes. Somehow you’re my heroes. I have seen the substance of the world but I keep running and hiding from it. However, you’re trying to change it. There is a elf with you, right? Where is she? Is she gone?” pursued the man.

“No, she is captured by Hoemuo,” answered Yanni.

“Hoemuo will lead his army of fire to attack this city soon. If you’re strong enough to defeat him, you will save Aisling,” revealed the man.

“Thanks for your information. By the way, why do you cut off your foot?” asked Floria.

“Because I want to leave here. The city has been sealed off. No adult man and his family are allowed to leave the city unless he is disabled and not able to fight anymore,” replied the man.

“And that’s why you cut off your foot …” murmured Stasha.

“War is cruel, kids. I’ve seen people incited to fight for the kingdom. They’re even willing to die for their belief that their nation is the supreme nation in the world. They all have families. They’re supposed to live a life of felicity, but they’re idiots who try to fight for their narrow and hilarious values. I am not an idiot, kids, because I know that nothing is more important than my life. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to leave the city,” explained the man.

“Do you need any help?” questioned Floria.

“No, I don’t deserve. After all, I am a deserter. They will hate me, curse me and even kill me if they find out what I am doing. I’m sure that they will hate me even more than their enemies. Humans are always passionate about killing their own kind,” sighed the man.

After those words were spoken, he got up to his single foot and jumped to the front of the door of a house nearby. He knocked on the door. The door opened. It was a woman and a boy, who must be his wife and his son. He didn’t want his family to smell his bloody self-dismemberment, so he did it outside of his house.

His wife was crying, knowing what he was doing. However, she was smiling as well because she knew she didn’t need to worry about his husband dying in the battlefield anymore.

The severed foot of him was lying quietly on the ground. The air was filled by the bloody smell and the soil there had been fully dyed red.

II

“Look, the map is here! I’ve found it!” said Stasha.

Yanni and Floria walked up to the map and began to read it.

They needed to find the barrack. Although it would be an adventurous move, they had to do that. They had to fight together with the army against Hoemuo. After all, Hoemuo was leading an army to invade there. It was impossible for them to fight a whole army.

Soon, they arrived in front of the gate of the barrack.

There’re two guardsmen there.

“Who’sre you? Why’re you here?” demanded one of the guardsman.

“Wait, they’re three of the four western barbarians who have destroyed the Grey Factory. They’re wanted criminals!” the other guardsman pointed out.

Without more words, they charged towards the three. For sure they were no match for the three. Yanni knocked one of the guardsman to the ground and kicked down another.

Other soldiers in the barrack heard their fighting sounds and went out to check what was happening.

Not many soldiers knew who the three were, since the appearance of wanted criminals was not popular hotspot, but they all knew that they were trying to break into the barrack.

Anyway, the three had defeated Master Mortis and Achnosiris. Those common soldiers posted no threat to them at all. The three kept going deeper in the barrack and no one could stop them.

“Enough!” one of the soldiers shouted.

“Colonel …” greeted other soldiers.

The three looked at the colonel that the soldiers referred too. That was a tall man, even taller than Yanni and he was extremely muscular.

Aggressively, the colonel drew an iron mace and charged towards the three. Ferociously, he smashed his mace at Yanni, and holding up his stellarite shield, Yanni parried the attack of the colonel.

The impact between the mace and the shield produced a formidable gust of shockwave. Everything in the barrack was shaking. Some glass windows even fractured slightly because of the shockwave.

After the shockwave, the mace of the colonel broke into pieces.

The colonel stopped attacking and began to observe the three.

“Your faces are familiar to me,” whispered the colonel.

“They’re those wanted criminals who have destroyed the Grey Factory,” reminded one of his fellows.

“Oh, I remember. Why do you come here?” demanded the colonel.

“We’re going to fight with you against Hoemuo,” answered Floria.

“You want to redeem yourselves …That’s interesting,” commented the colonel.

“Your name is Marcus, right?” asked Yanni.

“How do you know my name?” questioned Marcus the colonel.

“We’re friends of Bianca, your fiancée,” replied Stasha.

“How can she be a friend of you? You’re outlaws!” Marcus seemed a little angry.

“You may think that we’re heinous ones who had committed horrible crimes, but in fact, we’re not. All those 8 people we’ve killed are not innocent. We have principles. Master Mortis and his fellowmen are murderers. They have taken the lives of thousands of dwarves and they’ve also polluted the earth deeply. They’re sinners. Now we’re here to punish Hoemuo. He is a bringer of war, right?” explained Yanni.

“So you’re some kind of vigilantes …” murmured Marcus.

“You have to let us help you. You’ve seen our powers. Your soldiers cannot stop Hoemuo at all, but we can!” proposed Floria.

“Yeah, we have no choice. My scout tells me that Hoemuo’s army is pretty close to us. Without your help, we will all die,” agreed Marcus.

“By the way, your fiancée wants you to leave the barrack,” revealed Yanni.

“That’s impossible … I have responsibilities here. Without me, who will lead those soldiers?” sighed Marcus.

III

Marcus took the three to a small lounge. They sat around a table.

There was a small window in the lounge, outside of which, soldiers were training on the lawn. Those soldiers were rather disciplined and enthusiastic. Clearly, all of them were ready to fight and sacrifice in the battlefield. To them, death was just a path to their spiritual Valhalla.

Though they didn’t believe in religions like Valhalla at all now because of the development of sciences such as necrology, mechanics and elementalics, the concept of sacrificing for their kingdom and nation had become a new form of Valhalla.

Clearly, Marcus was zoning out.

Not only the professional soldiers but also the people were going to join this battle. Every adult man must fight for the kingdom according to the law, except that man who had just cut off his foot.

Maybe he could live a happy life ever after.

“What are you thinking about?” queried Yanni.

“I’m thinking about Bianca. I am a colonel. It is one of the greatest honours in Normania, since there is only one general and seven colonels in our kingdom. However, she isn’t proud of me at all and she even persuades me to leave the army,” sighed Marcus.

“Because she is worrying about you. War is cruel. You may die in the battle,” revealed Floria.

“I know. But fighting for the nation is …” argued Marcus.

“It is just void. It means nothing,” protested Floria.

“Normania is my mother land!” growled Marcus.

“Well, don’t you want to live a happy life with Bianca?” pursued Floria.

“For sure I want … However, we shall value the interest of our kingdom and nation over the interest of family and individual … Just like you three. You three have beaten Master Mortis and he is one of the sources of the corruption of the government. Aren’t you fighting for the country too as vigilantes?” replied Marcus.

“I think it’s hard for us to communicate with you because our values are too different. Anyway, I think we’d better talk about Bianca instead. How did you know her?” asked Stasha.

“We grow up together. We’ve been playmates since our childhood,” narrated Marcus.

When talking about Bianca, Marcus’ ferocious expression became tender. His aggressiveness as a soldier fully dissipated because of Bianca.

“So she is your childhood sweetheart?” queried Floria.

“Yeah,” Marcus nodded.

“When did you realize that you had fallen in love with her?” inquired Stasha.

“It is a long process … At first … Alas. She is really great … I wish I could survive this battle. She isn’t like me. I am violent and combative but she is … She always believes in peace and kindness. That’s why she doesn’t like what I am doing … I am a soldier … I am a murderer … But I have no choice, I must kill Reauneians to protect my people …” muttered Marcus, hesitating.

The instant his voice broke off, a soldier stormed into their room.

“Colonel! It’s Hoemuo! Hoemuo is coming!” stammered that soldier.

IV

Hoemuo was coming.

The three stormed out of the lounge and walked to the lawn where the soldiers were training themselves.

They looked up to the sky, which had became red.

A catastrophe was heading for this town.

There were thousands of fireballs coming down from the sky. It was like the end of the world.

It was said by the necrologists that before the history of human, there was a kind of beast called dinosaurs. They had already gone extinct, but humans could know that it once existed through their fossil. The necrologists speculated that the reason of their extinction was an asteroid which fell upon the earth and destroyed everything.

When it happened, the asteroid and its falling fragments looked like those fireballs in the sky created by the elementalists.

Now, Mildwind Town was going to be destroyed in a similar fate.

Even if the army and the three could defeat those abominations of fire, soldiers would die and people would suffer.

There were no winners in a war. There were only losers. To be precise, there was one winner: that man who had cut off his foot and left the city as a disabled person who would only be a burdensome to the war.

Soon, that horrible rain of fire smashed down on the ground of Mildwind Town. Those fireballs were not common fireballs. They were flying soldiers from Reauneia.

When this rain of fire ended, mushroom clouds began to appear.

Just like Hoemuo and the scout that the villagers caught, all the soldiers of Reauneia had mutated, enhanced by the fire elementium developed by their elementalists.

The instant those Reauneian soldiers impacted on the ground, a formidably destructive shockwave was generated. Buildings began to fall with a surge of wave of scorching wind.

Some trees and bushes decorating the street began to burn. Everything in the town was dyed flame-coloured by the twisted elementalical fire.

A doomsday had come to the town.

“It’s like the end of the world,” commented Stasha.

“Exactly,” consented Floria.

“Do you remember our first fight after bathing in the Spring of Sylvana?” asked Yanni.

“For sure. The necrologists destroyed the Dream Forest with a necroplane, and we defended the forest that day,” recalled Floria.

“Yeah. It’s just like that day. A rain of fire, and everything was burnt to the ground,” drawled Yanni.

Marcus was listening to them chatting too.

“Beware the radiation emanated by those soldiers,” he remined the three.

“Radiation? What is radiation?” replied Yanni.

“You know nothing about elementalical radiation? You’re so uninformed. Elementium is a kind of radioactive material. The radiation it emanates can harm people’s health like poison. It can mutate human cells. Most mutations will make people sick and weak. Therefore, many soldiers get ill after fighting with Reauneian soldiers because Reauneish soldiers are radioactive too since they have been enhanced by elementium ray,” explained Marcus.

“It sounds horrible. Luckily, we’ve bathed in the Spring of Sylvana so we’re not afraid of any kind of poison, including radiation,” commented Floria.

“Bravo. Radiation is lethal to normal people. After a place is invaded by Reauneians, it will become inhabitable because there will be too much radiation left in the battlefield,” replied Marcus.

“How about you? Will you and other soldiers be infected by radiation? And those Reauneish soldiers? Won’t they be harmed by their own radiation?” questioned Yanni.

“Luckily, we Normanian soldiers have taken the serum which makes us immune to radiation,” responded Marcus.

“What is the elementium ray that you said? Is Hoemuo mutant too because of radiation? You said that people would become weak and sick after being radiated, but Hoemuo seems to have mutated into a stronger one,” pursued Floria.

“Elementium ray is a kind of radiational ray which can cause directed mutation to strengthen the soldiers, though those soldiers will become inhumane monster and their lives will be shortened in the end. Normal soldiers have bathed in normal elementium ray, while Hoemuo has been radiated by a stronger form of elementium ray since he is an imperator,” answered Marcus.

“The radiation seemed more fearsome than the pollution produced by the Grey Factory,” murmured Stasha.

“That’s why elementalists have to be stopped before the world is ruined by them. We shall show them no mercy because they will not show us any mercy. You want ask me whether I want to spend my lifetime with Bianca. For sure I want. However, my desire for felicity doesn’t’ mean that I can run from my responsibility as a soldier. No one in the kingdom can live a happy life if we’re destroyed by Reauneian army,” said Marcus Firmly.

“Your logic is true, but … We just hate wars,” sighed Stasha.