***

--- Coan Forest ---

April 15th, 2025

Rory Mercury quietly jumps on top of a boulder. She looks down and sees five men around a campfire trying to stay warm. It is currently night. Two of the men have naked women on either side of them being held or laying on the ground out cold.

She had been hearing sounds of battle from the west of the Roma River and had been wanting to investigate.

She sees that the men around the campfire are well armed and equipped. All are using standard Imperial weapons and equipment, so she knows they cannot be mercenaries or standard bandits. They are soldiers who had recently gone rogue.

"Man, I can't wait to get home," one of them said.

"Are you kidding? Do you really want to go back home after what we've been through?” a bigger man said.

“They are just going to put you back into the army or enslave us for running away," a third man replied.

"And besides, we are free now. We can take whatever we want. Rape anyone we want. No lord or king telling us what to do," another laughs.

All the men chortle and clang their glass mugs together.

“Besides,” another said as he rips off a leg from the beast they had killed for food, “We were promised riches and property if we enlisted. We are just getting what was entitled.”

He reaches over and pulls an elven woman closer to himself. She quietly whimpers.

Rory heard enough and stood up from her cover, "Why, hello boys. I see you all having a fun time."

The men turn around, wondering where the voice came from. They then look up at the massive rock next to them and see the infamous demi-goodness, Rory Mercury — a servant to Emory, the god of darkness, war, violence, and death.

All the men look up at her in awe and start to tremble in fear, taking a few steps backward away from their camp.

“Rory the Reaper…!” one man peeps out in growing horror.

“… what are you doing here?” another man said, tossing the women on his lap away and grabbing for his sword.

She smirks, jumps off the rock, and lands by the fire. She then flourishes her halberd behind her back, further intimating the soldiers. As she does this, she is humming a song she grew up with. It was such a childish tune, but when it was coming from the embodiment of the grim reaper herself, it was a song of death itself.

“I wonder what you have been doing,” she said and glances to her right. There were three naked, dead women.

She has seen this sight thousands of times. In this world, the strongest prey on the weak. That usually means that peasants get abused by the soldiers and their rulers. Rape and enslavement are the norm, and she has seen it all. But seeing the state of these women these men had left them in — dead or alive — just infuriates her. She finds no honor in such actions — soldiers taking and abusing whatever they want when they are supposed to be the protectors of the people.

She glares at them, "I was told some bandits attacked a small village nearby. They murdered everyone and took five young girls. I take it that it was you five."

Before anyone of them knows what to do, one of them charges her, taking a swing with his sword. The girl chops him down without sparing a single glance.

At the same time, two more charges at her, but the remaining two run away.

Once she is done with her first victim, she rushes towards the two attacking her and slashes them in half with a single twirl of her ax like scything through grass. She briefly pauses to take a glance at the remaining victims fleeing as fast as their legs could take them.

Her legs pump and she unleashes a blinding burst of speed, closing the distance in a flash to pass the closest one. Before he realizes what has happened, he falls down in two parts separated at the waist. Rory stops right in front of the last victim like a wraith appearing out of nowhere. He falls over scared to death, slowly back-crawling away futilely from his doom.

"Please don't kill me! I didn't mean it! I was forced to…," the man begs for his life as the reaper approaches ominously with a light neutral expression on her face as if she was disposing trash.

Rory steps on his chest, preventing him from escaping. She looks down at the man.

"Begging, mercy,” she said, “I highly doubt that you gave them that honor."

She cocks her head to the dead female corpses behind her. He had not made it any further than a dozen yards before being caught.

He continues begging for her to spare his life, but she would not have any of it.

“Tell me what I want to know,” she demands, “You are Imperial Soldiers. Why are there so many around here? Why are you here?”

The bandit continues blithering like a fool until she not-so gently persuades him to cease with a slight increase of weight to his chest.

“We… there is a new enemy in these lands,” the man finally said, “Our job was to hold the bridge crossing at the Roma River. We were slaughtered in the night.”

“I don’t believe you,” she replied, “I felt many souls pass through me, and I was not even close by. That means there had to have been a massive battle recently. I even heard the sounds of battle.”

The deathly terrified man nods, “Yes, your holiness. On Alnus Hill, the Gate appeared. These Otherworlders poured through and slaughtered us. One-hundred thousand soldiers died in hours. General Ulr Dan fell that night.”

This surprises her, “General Ulr Dan has fallen?”

She has heard of him. Imperial Soldiers usually represent who their General is and Ulr is known to be very respectable. He was one of the few Generals she somewhat liked.

However, that was not the most important thing she heard, “Did you say the Gate?”

“Yes,” the man said, “The Gate has opened, and invaders are attacking us. I was at Alnus and they slaughtered us. We tried to hold them on at the bridge, but they were destroyed. Us. Nothing can stop them. They are pure Evil. Not even the goddess Hardy and Siflis can compare to them.”

She tenses upon hearing Hardy. Hardy is the goddess of hell and the underworld while Siflis is the goddess of all acts of evil. For this man to reference both catches her interests.

While she is no fan of the Empire, having another faction that could be worse than the Empire is not in her best interests. If what this soldier is saying is true then she knows that she must investigate.

As she thinks, she notices the man getting confused.

“I answered all your questions,” the man said. “Can I go free?”

For a moment she thought about letting him go free for answering her questions. While Emroy is the goddess of death, he isn’t for pointless death. However, she glances back to the three dead bodies and the other three injured women all sitting there scared.

She looks back at him and unceremoniously cuts off his head. Rory licks her lips at the sight of crimson fountaining out of the neck. She enjoys the smell of death, especially from those who deserved it.

Nevertheless, what he said was true, over the past few weeks she had felt tens of thousands of souls bursting through her body, creating a massive orgasmic experience she had ever experienced. For her god Emroy, she is a vassal for souls that die in battle when she is nearby. While she had experienced this for over nine-hundred years, she had never experienced this many at once.

She starts walking back and forth, thinking about what to do.

“I must go to Alnus and find out the truth. If they are hostile, I have to kill them. Oh, by the gods, I hope this will be fun. Things have gotten boring recently,” she mutters to herself.

She then hears a noise from the three women still alive.

“Oh! I almost forgot about you!” she exclaims.

“R-Rory,” a young woman shakily said, terrified of the Apostle and the slaughter she had just committed in front of them, “What will you do with us?”

Rory places her hands on her hips and thinks out loud, “If I recall, there is a village nearby. I will take you three to them, and they can deal with you. Small villages are usually nicer, anyway.”

***

--- Alnus Hill, five miles away ---

April 25th, 2025

Three Joint Light Tactical Vehicles(2) or JLTV leave the American controlled hill of Alnus.

After the last battle, the Vanguard program went into effect — to go out and explore this new world, map the areas, make contact with the locals, determine who is and who isn’t the enemy, and so on.

The Ranger team, Vanguard-7, is on their first exploration mission into this new world. They will not be the only team being sent out. There are four other teams departing as well.

Major Sharpe sits in the passenger seat in the command JLTV. Unlike the other versions, the command version has more space in the back for equipment or personal.

Right now, he is talking on the radio. He is speaking with one of the other teams sent out.

"Don't forget Bailey, when you die out there, I'll get your sports car," he ribs at him.

"Hell no. Sharpe, I will send you a therapy book after I register a reading class for you," Captain Bailey shoots back, sarcastically.

Alicia sits in the back, reading a book as she partly listens in. She messes with the controls on her radio set and mutters, "Boys... they never grow up.”

"Be my guess, just make sure she is a hot teacher. Now watch your six," Sharpe said back to Bailey.

"Your team too. Vanguard-5 out," the radio goes quiet as their convoy heads north.

Once the conversation is over, Alicia makes a comment to her boss., “You seem to be in a happy mood today major.”

Sharpe glances back. He knows what she means. Since he took command of this unit three months ago, he has not left a good impression. He knows that and regrets that, but he just could not help it. The only time he feels calm is when he is in combat.

“Well yeah,” he replied, “Always wanted to go into space, well visit a new planet. Here we are. We are the spearhead of this grand discovery,” he looks forward and glances to the right, “And it’s good to be back on the field…”

“Damn right,” Corporal Andrew Steele said, “We’re going to be in the history books for this.”

“History books, my ass,” Alicia said, annoyed as she works the radio controls once more, “This sucks. No satellites, no drones to bounce a single off. We‘re back in the fucking stone age."

“That is war Corporal,” Sharpe replied in a commanding tone, “In war, you might not be able to use your fancy toys. You must always be ready to fight without technology. If you must use a smoke signal, do it.”

“I understand sir,” Alicia said with some annoyance, “That sounds like it came from experience.”

“Sir,” Andrew speaks up, “Have you been in combat before? I mean, with how you acted in the invasion...”

“And at that enemy camp last week,” Alicia adds.

Andrew looks at him, “We all have been talking, and nothing sounds right. We have been hearing other rumors that—”

Sharpe glances sharply at them, clearly warning them not to continue the topic. He sees that they got the message and stayed silent.

He felt like crap after that, so he looked outside.

He sees the trees and the mountains in the distance. It surprises him how similar this world is to Earth.

After some time passes, he sees a fork in the road.

“Alright Alicia. Tell everyone that we will be heading into that forest over there. I want everyone to keep a sharp eye out. There might still be strangers.”

Alicia speaks up, "You don't sound confident in our mission."

"It is not that,” he replied, “Everything we knew, all of our rules and values are going to be tested to the extreme. We have invaded a Tolkien(3) like world. It looks like we are technologically superior over the enemy but that does not mean we won’t come out unscarred. Even if we think we have everything figured out, always remember the enemy gets a vote. But if we are not careful, this could end up like another War on Terror."

"The reason why we are being sent out first for these recon missions is because we are the ones who will be making the rule book. Everything we do will set the standard for the foreseeable future," Sharpe finishes, thinking about the situation.

"Alright Steele, let's head that way, maybe that path will head to a town or something,” he orders while pointing.

As they drive, he looks at his little Optimus Prime toy on his dashboard. He had placed it there before they left.

Prime is a noble leader of the Autobots in the franchise Transformers. Always noble, doing the right thing and a clear great leader among his troops.

He looks at it to help remind him why he is here and who he is. Hoping to be as strong as he is,

***

--- Fort Alnus, Alnus Hill ---

April 25th, 2025

First Lieutenant Sarah Rose, Vanguard-7 Logistical Officer, walks around the newly constructed command building she will be working in for the foreseeable future.

As she carries the box into Vanguard Command building, she sees more construction equipment and supplies coming as the US Army continues its build up. The primary Division operating that had been sent to secure this side of the Gate had been the 1st Cavalry Division.

Currently, she can see the Army Airfield for the 101st Airborne being set up. She also sees a new motor pool and barracks for the incoming elements of the 2nd Armored Division and 10th Mountain Division.

Over the past few weeks, there had been a large amount of construction on this hill. Contrary to popular Hollywood beliefs, a military cannot just appear somewhere and wage war. The only way to wage a modern war is having the infrastructure and logistics needed to support the boots on the ground.

“Come on Sarah,” Second Lieutenant April said. She is Vanguard-5’s Logistical Officer.

To help the Ranger Vanguard teams being sent into the unknown alien world, each team has its own Logistical Officer to help with mission updates, logistics, and resources. They help make sure their teams have all the up-to-date information and equipment they need to carry out their mission and survive.

Sarah heads to her office and starts setting up her computer.

As she works, she gets a check-in from Alicia complaining that their commander is acting cold and isolated again.

Sarah thinks back to right before her team left. She had tried to tell Major Sharpe to be careful out there and be a good representative of Earth to the locals. He did not take it well.

She does not understand what is wrong with the Major. His attitude and forced distancing are hurting the unit, and she is worried that he will screw up a first contact scenario.

However, she is conflicted on that opinion. She can see in his eyes that he knows what he is doing. Sometimes, she wonders if he is punishing himself, and that is why he acts the way he does.

“You need to stop thinking about him, Sarah,” April said, “You think about him like he is your boyfriend.”

She looks at April, “Well, take away the attitude, he is handsome looking.”

“Handsome and rude,” April responds, “Only a matter of time until the Army boots him. Still cannot believe he oversees people.”

Sarah leans back in her chair and thinks, “I think there is a reason why he is here. He kind of reminds me of my father a little. I think he just needs someone to believe in him.”

“You are such a schoolgirl, Sarah,” April teases.

As she is working on her station, she sees the Vanguard leader Colonel John Yang walk in. He is the head of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the Special Region.

She stands up and salutes, “Sir.”

“Stand down, Lieutenant Rose,” Yang said, “I just came by to see how the Major is doing.”

She takes a breath thinking about it. Major Sharpe, he prefers to be called by his last name. When he joined the team, it was a rough start. He was very distant, quiet and he seemed to hate being in the Rangers.

“I got their last check-in about twenty minutes ago sir,” she said, “They should be entering the forest soon.”

“Good,” Yang said, “We don’t know what is out there yet. I want them all to get back alive.”

“I understand, sir,” she replied, “I will remind him of that.”