Special Task Force Pt: 1

*SIZZLE*

"-And thus, the 78th Arcana War comes to a close, and Kesmia finds it's new king."

Hm, seems ready.

I flip a fat stack of pancakes onto my plate, drenching them in syrup, before sitting down at my table.

Smells divine.

"And now, a quick word from our very own, King Kamika-"

*CLICK*

I turn off my TV. Ridiculous. Now, let's dig in-

*BEEP, BEEP, BEEP*

"Ugh, what the hell now?" I pick up the phone.

"Kane! Where the fuck are you, the meeting starts in 5 minutes!" The voice is so loud, I move my head a bit away from my phone.

Meeting? 

...

Ohhhhh, the meeting about the attacks.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm almost there. In my car now." I lie, standing up from my table.

"Hurry up, this is the 3rd time this month! And you wonder why your rank is going down..." 

"Yeah, yeah, almost there." I hang up.

That voice was my boss, Commander Carson. Always nagging at me. What a waste of good pancakes too...

I put the plate in my fridge, grabbing one for the road before getting dressed. I put on a pair of jeans and a leather jacket over my white t-shirt, and a glove over my right hand.

I lock up and hop in my car, hoping maybe I can make it to the meeting by no later then 8 minutes late.

My name is Kane Banks, or Commander Kane as I'm called by most soldiers in the rebellion. That's my official title but, I'm not currently the commander of any squads. Used to be commander of Squad C but I got demoted and replaced by some new guy, Hardy or something. I'm 39 years old, past my prime as my daughter says but, I have experience.

I'm pretty sure this meeting is to discuss the attacks that have been going on in random cities over the past couple weeks since General Klein's death.

If you ask me, this whole thing with the Arcana war is one big joke. Kamikaze's been ecstatic over his recent victory and being appointed king, and the circumstances surrounding Klein's death are still unknown too. Kamikaze says he defeated him in some climactic showdown but it sounds like a load of bullshit to me. 

Oh, right, the attacks.

I don't know many of the details at the moment but it seems like random ass towns have been going up in flames lately. Nobody knows how so the only thing we can can think to classify them as are some elaborate terrorist attack. But, whatever, I don't see how this involves me at all. The only reason I've even been coming to these meetings in the first place is because Carson won't get off my ass about getting my rank back up, saying I'm a "valuable asset" or whatnot. 

Gimme a break, he's the one who demoted me in the first place!

After about a 7 minute drive, I park in the parking lot of the HQ and see General Carson standing outside. Man, he looks pissed.

I step outside the car and wave, trying to maybe lighten his mood in any way I can before the inevitable scolding.

"Hey Carson! Long time no see, y'know, I was JUST thinking about how excited I was for this meetin-" Carson slaps me on the back of my neck.

This asshole just slapped me.

I ball my left hand into a fist, preparing to counterattack, then realize that would be a stupid idea and un-clench.

"What the fuck?!? I told you, I got here as fast as I could! I had to take Cleo to school-" 

"I think we both know Cleo doesn't go to school, and even if she did, it would be pretty hard to take your kid to school when she's been staying with Mindy for the past month." Carson interrupts me.

"Asshole." I mutter under my breath.

"Do you know how bad this makes me look? Having to wait for your sorry ass to decide he finally wants to actually do his fucking job?" He asks me.

"I'm not even a commander anymore! Why should I have to-"

"Not currently, no. Just follow me, we have important matters to discuss." And with that, he turns his back and begins walking into HQ, to the meeting room I assume.

"Could you stop interrupting me! And, hey! Don't turn your back on me!" I follow after him.

We end up in the meeting room, where there's a table in the centre and lines of computers on each side. Standing at the end of the room, are 6 people wearing dark grey robes and... oni masks it seems.

The Jury.

The Jury is a council of around 12 people with immense power in the political world, their influence spanning across the entire world, not just Kesmia. They're the group in control of the Arbiters, a smaller team of the most powerful arcana users in the world. The Jury never show their faces, nor do they often come to any meetings in person, so it must be important. The Jury has been funding our rebellion against the Arcana War for unknown reasons, so it would be unwise to oppose them, even though I know damn well they're up to something.

"Ah, the late one has arrived." The one in the middle says, his voice cold, almost like a snake.

I wanna call him out for referring to me as the 'late one' but I know better than to talk back to The Jury. 

"My deepest apologies." I bow my head slightly.

I've had plenty of practice on my 'good commander' voice during my times leading Squad C, so I can be respectful when I want to. I just REALLY don't want to, especially to these people. 

"No matter. Commander of Squad A, please make your report." The snake like one says.

"Yes, sir." Carson makes his way over to one of the computers and opens a file. 

There are tons of text pages and images, and he scrolls through each one, showing them to us. They all appear to be pictures of the remains of the towns that went up in flames- what's left of them. Carson begins speaking.

"These are all pictures taken at the attacked cities, approximately 3 months ago. As you can see, the buildings are in rubble and charred completely black, whatever did this must have some crazy destructive power." He explains, continuing to scroll through the pictures.

But then, the next picture he shows is different. There's... nothing. All I see is a large, empty dirt patch, but the dirt is black. 

"What the hell is this?" I ask him.

"This is the first picture taken of the more recent attacks. 2 weeks ago." Carson explains.

"Attack? You mean that was a town?" I ask. That caught me of guard.

"Yes. Was." He shows multiple more pictures of just charred dirt.

Something reduced multiple towns to completely nothing?  Impossible. I mean, there's no way something can-

"A spectre." The Jury member says.

"Huh?" I ask.

Carson nods.

"That's what we think. The only thing with fire powerful enough to reduce entire towns to ash is a spectre." Carson agrees.

A spectre... I know a few things about spectres. Supposedly they're the followers of the demon king down in hell. Almost completely made up of flame. But why would a spectre be destroying random towns?

"In fact, we have proof." Carson clicks on a new file. A video file.

"What's this?" I ask.

"A satellite video we managed to get. It shows the destruction of one of the towns." Carson responds.

The video plays, and from the moment it starts, it's horrifying. Starting in the middle of the town, and slowly expanding outward, is a cyclone of black fire. Villagers desperately try to run away, their screams booming my ears, but they aren't fast enough. The fire engulfs the entire town, and when it disappears, nothing is left. Except....

"Huh? What is that?" I point at the monitor.

It's blurry, but I see a black shape, it seems to be wiggling around a lot. Or, flowing? I can't tell.

"We believe that's a spectre." Carson replies.

"Very interesting... I knew it would be the right call to come here." The snake like Jury member chuckles.

He then begins to leave the room, followed by the other 5 members.

"We would like it alive if possible. I trust you'll do your jobs." He says before disappearing into the hall.

"Ugh, 'I trust you'll do your jobs'. Fucking asshole." I say after they're gone.

"Quiet." Carson snaps.

He turns the computer off and stands up.

"So what now?" I ask him.

"We find that spectre." He says. 

"Haha, something that can incinerate an entire town? Yeah, right. And who do you trust soooo much to give that job?" I joke.

"Commander Kane. I hereby appoint you commander of Squad Y, and task you with hunting down, and capturing this spectre." Carson announces.

"...Huh...?"

"I trust you'll get your work done immediately. Good luck soldier." He begins walking off.

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" I reach out and grab him with my gloved right arm.

He stops instantly due to the strength of my grip.

"So you think it's a good idea to send someone like me, who doesn't even have an arcana, to hunt down some all powerful hellspawn?!? Do you want me to die?!?" I yell.

Carson sighs.

"This will be your chance to regain your influence. Don't worry, I've already gathered up several soldiers who I'm sure you'll put to good use." He finally manages to shake me off and leaves me all alone in the meeting. 

"No way..." I mumble.

This bastard is trying to kill me...

---3RD PERSON---

In an RV outside the rebellion HQ, sits a boy and girl.

"Why did you sign us up for this?" The girl asks, sounding annoyed.

"Oh, come on! It sounded fun." The boy replies, sounding cheerful.

"It sounded fun? If that's your reason I'm leaving." The girl begins to leave the RV.

"Wait, no, don't go! We need to climb the ranks of the rebellion right? What better way to do that than to join a squad and flatline some monster? It's called strategy." He explains himself.

The girl sits back down and the boy starts talking again.

"Squad Y huh? Sounds badass. I'm so pumped!"

"Calm down." The girl says.

"Awww you're so cold." The boy slouches.

The girl stands up once more and opens the RV door.

"I'm getting a drink." She says before jumping out of the RV, her green hair waving as she does.

"Oh! Get me something!"