A cloudless sky covered the outskirts of Fort Ringhold, the afternoon sun shining down on those gathered along its dusty fields. The heat only added to the tense atmosphere, not just borne out of the looming threat, but…

“Oi, what’re you lookin’ at?” shouted a man dressed in a dirty red uniform at another man wearing similarly blue fatigues. “See something you like?”

“Huh?” muttered the blue-dressed soldier, straightening his back as he shifted his weight off the spear in his right hand. “What the hell even is there to like here? It’s a fucking wasteland!”

“Of course one of you undisciplined fools would say something like that, don’t have that elite Valenloft training!”

“Oh please,” the second soldier scoffed. “I’ve seen you fidgeting with your hands while marching in circles.”

“You can never be sure of an enemy attack! That’s what we learned!”

“Enemy attack?! We’re in the middle of nowhere, and there’s nobody for miles! Cut the act, there’s no shame in admitting you’re bored.”

“…fine,” moped the first soldier with a sigh. “But it’s so weird that we’re marching together. I’ve been told all my life that you and your ilk are our sworn enemies. I even joined King Reginald’s army to kill you people!”

“Same here! But that’s the will of the goddess, I suppose.”

“I’m just doing it because of my liege’s orders. I was demoted from his elite guard to a grunt on the front lines because our new common enemy got past our defenses, but what could I have done about it? And how can I say no to my wonderful King ‘Reggie’?”

“Honestly, what’s the difference between our kings and the goddess? They’re both too demanding of us, if you ask me.”

“Right?! With how high and mighty they are, we’d just as well worship them instead of Allivaine!”

The two let out a round of laughter that did well to ease the last of the tension between them. At least, for the moment.

“Attention!” came the booming voice of a newcomer. Dressed in similarly red robes to the first soldier, this man had a chest covered in several medals. “Why aren’t you two lookin’ out for enemies?! You’re supposed to be facing that-a way, not towards each other! Unless you’d rather go back to killin’ each other instead?”

“Uh, no sir!” said the first soldier with a quick salute. “We’ll be paying attention now!”

The second followed with his own gesture of attention, though with his arms at either side of his body rather than one on his forehead.

“And you’ll also be payin’ attention to the latrines! You two’ve got yourselves toilet cleaning duties for the next week! That should teach you! Haha.” The officer chuckled to himself as he walked away.

“Damn him,” whispered the blue-clad soldier once the party pooper was out of earshot. “He’s not my officer, he shouldn’t be pushing me around like that… and he shouldn’t be pushing you around like that either!”

“Are your officers really that soft?” asked the first red soldier. “I mean, I was just joking about that ‘elite Valenloft’ training. I just spent a couple of weeks practicing forms before they tossed me a rusty spear and told me to guard my King’s life.”

“Nah, my captain would’ve done the same. You know, I actually hope we do get attacked and that annoying bastard gets himself killed so we can skip out on our punishment. Before he tells anyone else, I mean.”

“Yeah, but what’re the chances of that happening? It’s just brown wasteland for miles! Nobody’s going to come after us like that,” the soldier said with a snap of his finger, which just so happened to coincide with a deafening bang.

An earsplitting roar ripped across the dusty fields, grabbing everyone’s attention.

The two turned to look at its source, their ears now ringing, only to see a crater in the ground. Along with a plume of dust quickly spreading from the site. And a shower of the blood and viscera of their bastard of an officer.

“By the goddess! We’re under attack!” shouted the blue soldier, as he faced out into the vast fields of brown nothingness. “But where are they?”

Another explosion rang out from beside them, ripping apart the bodies of three other unlucky soldiers.

“It must be a team of siege mages! But they should be close enough to be seen! There’s nobody out there!”

“Come on, you’ve heard the rumors! They’re stronger than any mage on either side! That’s why we need those heroes to help us out, or else we’re toast!”

Three more explosions, this time in quick succession, ripped apart the group standing behind them. The ringing in the duos’ ears only grew louder.

“It isn’t a team, it’s an entire army of mages! Hundreds- no, thousands of them pooling their magic together! No lone team can throw this many explosive fireballs so quickly!”

Another series of bombings shook the ground around them in a wide distance, ripping a massive hole in the army’s expansive formation.

“Who even cares?! Let’s just get out of here!” shouted the red-dressed man as he broke into a dead sprint to his left.

“Hey, where are you going?! Don’t leave me!” shouted the blue-clad soldier as he followed just behind him.

“Reload!” shouted a man dressed in brown camouflage-painted military fatigues, lifting his hand to the sky.

A group of about a dozen soldiers moved like clockwork, picking up a large shell each and sliding it down the thick, metal barrel of a mortar. As soon as the packages slid down the well-lubricated tubes, a large thud reverberated from each wheeled device, and the missiles went flying off into the horizon.

“Reload!” the man shouted again, and the same actions were repeated. Rather than waiting for his soldiers to complete the current round, the officer pulled up his phone. “Snipers, what’s it look like over there?”

“Enemy soldiers are beginning to retreat, sergeant,” mumbled a woman from the other end. “There should be a perfectly clear path in a few minutes.”

“About time my fear aura started taking hold!” laughed the sergeant. He turned back to his soldiers, raising his voice again. “Reload! Keep up that barrage!”

The soldiers did so, launching another volley of artillery at the emptying wasteland. They were too far away to hear the screams or see the fleeing enemies, but they continued their tasks, eyes set only on keeping up their current rate of fire.

“Still hard to believe your aura can affect an entire army like that,” continued the sniper. “But that’s why you’re in charge of Squad Foxtrot.”

“Eh, it’s all a tradeoff. Sure I can influence a small army, but only by making them feel things a little bit harder. I can’t make that many enemies feel whatever I want. Besides, Artyom can do the same to 10 times as many people as me!”

“So that’s why you’ve got an artillery team following you around, to give people a reason to be scared.”

“Ha, it’s the other way around! I’m just here to make their jobs easier! Not as hard to mess up an army when they start freaking out over a couple of explosions.”

“Glad we have you all around them,” concluded the sniper. Squad Foxtrot’s sergeant could’ve sworn she was smiling on the other end. “Let’s kick some ass and save some lives.”

“Damn right,” he replied, hanging up the phone before dialing a new number. “Reload! One last round to drive home the fear of God!” he exclaimed to his soldiers.

“Alright, Squad Charlie. The way’s clear, roll out!” shouted the officer into the receiver. “Squad Charlie, you there? Hey Scout! Can you hear me?!”

A low humming could be heard from behind them, and everyone but the artillery technicians turned to look. Several specs of light could be seen in the far distance, quickly growing larger as the sound grew louder. Before long, the roar of engines consumed the men and women present, even drowning out the firing of shells.

“Roger that!” shouted a voice through the din as the first of the approaching figures passed the officer. It was a man seated on an RDV-4 Vulkan motorcycle, clad in tactical armor with a rifle strapped to his back.

Several more bronze-colored bikes zoomed through the gathered soldiers, weaving between the mortar installations, as they headed out into the dusty fields.

“Let’s hope they can get those kids out in one piece,” said one of the artillerymen.

“It’s Squad Charlie, of course they will!” scoffed their officer.

“I know, I just hope they find the kids all in one piece. Godspeed, those sneaky bastards.”