Dinner and Attack

There's an awkward silence between me and Saffire as we walk down the castle halls, outside to the special barracks. I need to say something.

"How long have you been in Klein's army?" I ask her.

"Since birth. He took me in when I had nowhere to go. I'll forever be indebted to him." She replies. 

"Oh, I had no idea." I look at the ground.

"Yeah, well, no one knew. Don't worry about it." She says.

I had no idea her situation was like this. I thought she was just a normal girl going to high school with normal duties and a normal family. I feel bad now that I know.

"And here we are. This will be your new home for the duration of the war however long this lasts. Go unpack your stuff and make yourself at home. Dinner starts at 6:00 in the dining hall." 

And with that, she walks off. She didn't seem anywhere near her usual chatty self. Maybe the stress of the war is getting to her. I go inside the special barracks and see the other commanders, sitting on their beds, all minding their own business. They all look so depressed.

I sit down on an empty bed and begin unpacking my clothes and supplies. I wonder how long this war will go on for, or if I'll even survive. I look around at all the other commanders. Is that sadness or stress I see on their faces? I decide to take a short nap until dinner time.

—- 

“Klein sir. It’s come to our attention that Kamikaze’s army may be closer than we thought.” A guard says in Klein’s office.

“They can come whenever they want, it makes no difference to me.” Klein replies.

“Our scouts say their army should arrive tomorrow morning at approximately 5:00 AM. I suggest we gather our troops and prepare right away.” 

“Later.” Klein says.

“W-what? But s-sir, the army is large and if we don’t start preparing now, we may be overwhelmed.”

“I said later. We have an important dinner soon to address everything we need to know about this war. We can begin preparing afterwards.”

The guard doesn’t seem to agree, but he gives in. 

“Alright. I apologize sir. Dinner first.”

—-

The alarm in the barracks go’s off, waking me from my nap. 

6:00 PM.

Shit, dinner’s starting now. I need to make my way over to the dining hall. I might be a little late, but I start my walk to the dining hall. When I arrive, there seems to be some sort of commotion at one of the tables. 

“So what makes YOU think you can fight along side US?” One of the soldiers seems to be trying to intimidate someone. There’s a massive crowd around the table so I can’t fully make out what’s happening.

Whatever it is, it doesn’t involve me so I go grab a steak and mashed potatoes from the counter and sit down at one of the empty tables, looking around to see if I can find Emerald. Has she not arrived yet? The commotion at the table doesn’t stop.

“Come on, say something! Don’t just sit there!” The soldier continues.

“I’d rather not.” A voice finally emerges from the table. The voice was bored and uninterested. Wait a minute.

I stand up from my seat and run over to the table, pushing through the crowd.

“Emerald?!?” I call out.

“Oh hi Link. I was waiting for you.” Emerald looks up at me from her seat.

“And who’re you?” The soldier that was harassing Emerald turns to me, getting close. He gives me a little shove.

I decide it’s probably best to just ignore him.

“Emerald, come with me.” I hold out my hand. 

“Hey, Kid! Don’t ignore me!” He’s getting agitated now. 

Emerald takes my hand and stands up. I begin to take her to my empty table when the man cuts us off.

"So you wanna ignore me huh?" He sneers.

"Can you go away, you're annoying." Emerald speaks up. The man flinches a bit.

"You little-" He holds out his hand suddenly as if to do something.

"Shit!'' Without thinking I rush in between them and instantly feel a shockwave coursing through my whole body, which sends me flying into a wall.

An arcana?

The pain is intense and there's little bits of rubble around me from the impact into the wall, and blood dripping down my face. The whole dining hall is observing the action, all gathered in a massive crowd now. Emerald runs to my side and kneels beside me.

"Are you okay?" She asks. Surprisingly, I even hear a slight bit of worry in her voice.

"I'm fine." I say, standing up. All signs point to me NOT being fine, but i'm pretty pissed at the moment so I need to suck it up.

The man stays standing in the same spot, looking surprised I jumped in front. I approach him again, pulling back my fist to hit him in retaliation. Before my fist can connect, a booming voice echoes from the stage-like platform at the rightmost end of the dining hall.

"Enough!!!""

The whole crowd turns in an instant to see General Klein staring at us from the platform.

"I applaud your eagerness for battle, however, this is not the time nor place to be having petty squabbles amongst yourselves. We have much more important matters to discuss." Klein says, his deep voice echoing off the walls.

At his side is a guard, and Saffire, who's holding some book at her chest.

"This is an important dinner for a reason. I am here to explain to you all the situation we currently find ourselves in, along with how we will be going about this war to secure victory." Klein says.

"Our enemy, General Kamikaze's army approaches our homebase as we speak. They will arrive tomorrow at approximately 5:00 in the morning. When they arrive, we will be waiting for them. Leave no one left alive. One thing Kamikaze's army lacks is free will. His soldiers are all brain dead zombies only existing to serve him and him alone. They have no thoughts other than to kill all who stand in his way. I'm sure we will suffer casualties, but I know we will not lose." Klein explains.

Tomorrow?!? I have to fight tomorrow?!? Damn it. I was at least hoping for some time to prepare before being thrust into battle. 

"As we all know, this is a very important war, and you all serve very important rolls as my soldiers. If I tell you to fight, you fight. If I tell you to flee, you flee. If I tell you to die...you die."

Sheesh. I hope it doesn't come to that. The crowd all looks at eachother, whispering.

"And with that, let us enjoy this meal!" He calls out. Tables and tables of food is rolled out into the dining hall by guards, with turkey, stuffing, wine, and much more. Food is dished out among everybody, and me and Emerald go to our empty table with plates full of food.

The dining hall is packed, yet somehow we still have the table to ourselves. It seems people are purposely avoiding us, likely because of Emerald.

"You know, you didn't have to take that blast for me. I probably could've dodged it." She says to me.

"No way, did you see yourself? You weren't even paying attention until I was flying across the room. You need to be more careful here." I reply.

"I would've been fine." She says before taking a sip of her wine.

"Aren't you too young to be drinking wine?" I ask her.

"Yep." Is all she says.

This girl's a handful.

"You still have blood on your face." She says.

"Oh! Lemme get tha-"

She's already wiping it off herself with her napkin.

"Oh. Thank you." I look away.

"Sure." She says.

"Look, be safe tomorrow at the battle. I know you're not bad in a fight but anything can happen in war." I say to her.

"You too." She says.

"I mean it. Be safe. I don't want someone to die because I brought them along." I tell her.

"Mhm, I will." She's pretty focused on her food.

We finish up our meal and both head back to our respective barracks to get some sleep for the big fight tomorrow. At the special barracks, I see Saffire standing outside the entrance. I don't know what to say to her, and before I know it, she's gone. I hope she's safe in the battle too, since i've never seen her fight. I assume she must be pretty skilled though since she was raised by Klein since birth. I get into bed and begin to doze off, falling into a deep sleep.

"Everybody!!! They're here!!!"

My eyes open. Morning already? I grab my katana and pistol and run outside. The sun is rising. I look over the walls of the fortress and I see it.

An army. Massive. Their eyes all glowing dark purple.

And coming right for us.