Preparation

The next week followed in a blur. It was as bad as hell week if not worse because it required my constant commitment without supervision or structure. There was no drill instructor or PT sergeant; I was left completely to my own devices. My own schedule. With this newfound freedom I became intimately familiar with the Absinthe ship, meeting a good many more people in the rec room and gym, one of whom made a distinctive impression upon me.

Feldwebel Swart, a huge well-built man from Germany with African roots was a lively and energetic gym enthusiast. He would often rep for me and was a constant source of inspiration on all things to do with physical training.

Without his constant badgering and persistence, I doubted I would have progressed as smoothly. His German-accented English would resound in my ears as I strained on the bench and leg press machines. “Vone more Armpit! Alvays vone more!”

The food and beverages were top-notch and very nourishing and supplied in copious quantities. Besides shipboard life though, the Sims I experienced with the team were all bleak landscapes filled with deadly four armed, three-eyed ghoulish zombie creatures that attacked without restraint and strained my unarmed combat abilities to the max. My swordsmanship, hand-to-hand and staff fighting skills, as well as teamwork, also increased markedly.

As a regular member of the team, I was under Major Gladstone’s purview despite retaining my rank as a title. Stone mentioned that team leadership was a privilege I would have to earn should I ever wish to replace him. What he meant by that I wasn’t exactly sure but I felt it might involve some kind of prowess duel. Besides learning more about my own abilities and ranking up several levels, I learned about the other members in the team and how they all complimented each other. Stone was right in that my abilities brought a redundancy to the team that gave him as the commander backup options. Especially when the team was split up, or if one of the other members died in the Sims.

I died several times, especially in the first few Sims. mainly because I was unaware of just how powerful the enemy Reaper troopers were. They weren’t pleasant deaths and I tried not to dwell on them. Whoever invented these Sims made sure that the death experience was something you wanted to avoid. Lieutenant Sarah Wilson joined us towards the end of the week, but we all quickly realized that her training had not been as specialized as ours, nor had she seen much beyond the basics in the forms of unarmed combat and handheld close-quarters weapons. While we all agreed that she was resilient, we decided she would not accompany us on this rescue mission.

It was on the last training mission that we won a side quest. The team had just found a small farmstead in the rocky countryside on our way back from the target building towards the extraction point; We were running later than usual and we were looking for a place to hole up for the night. The local version of farm animals were all dead, partly eaten and shredded. Stone thought the barn would be a good shelter for the night and sent Sánchez and Stiles to sweep the immediate area for threats, while myself and Charlie were assigned to clear out the homestead. Stone and Hugo remained on overwatch.

During the missions, Stone used Charlie, Sánchez, Stiles, and I the most. Probably to give us the benefit of more experience. Usually, when Hugo got involved, it was when things had gone tits up and we were about to be overrun. Hugo had no affinity with the five elements of magic besides his life magic. Like a paladin berserker, he would cleave and decimate with pure brute strength. His endurance and stamina were off the charts and his main three weapons he could summon were a hulking great axe, a great sword and a staff that could be mistaken for a great club. He certainly used it as such.

He was the strength we fell back on when our own was about to fail.

Stone kept him in reserve to fill the gaps if one of us lessers failed. I was told that would be my role on the mission, but that I needed frontline experience and the team needed to learn if they could trust my abilities. They were solid tactics and I couldn’t fault Stone one bit for his leadership. He was a great leader and knew how to get the best out of his men. I was enjoying working with professionals again.

As we approached the door, I heard movement inside and after peering through the window and identifying two Scalar adults inside I indicated to Charlie to go ahead with the breach. My hand on his shoulder, we moved forward, where he swung his size 14’s against the flimsy door. Smashing it open. I braced him, then I stepped past and into the room where I identified and engaged the two Scalar zombies trying to break down a steel braced trapdoor in the floor of their home.

After decapitating them both, Charlie and I cleared the rest of the house, then using a crowbar type tool, Charlie broke the hinges to the trapdoor and I jumped down, coat flaring behind me into a dark and dusty cellar. The wooden furniture that had been down there was all piled up as a makeshift barrier along the steps leading down.

I tripped and fell and indirectly barged my way through when I came upon two young Scalar, a young boy and his not much older sister clinging to each other in desperation.

The boy had a sharp knife pointed in my direction, two of his four hands clasping it as if clinging to life itself. Arms trembling and eyes tearful, he shouted something at me. His sister had that blank, shocked look trauma victims wear. Her mind was far away, and she just held onto her younger brother, and probably saved me from a serious injury by preventing her brother from trying to slice me while I struggled with the broken bits of furniture that tangled my feet.

Charlie shouted down the hatch “Armpit! are you okay? what is down there?”

“Yeah, yeah, hold on a minute. We have some Civies down here. Uninfected it looks like. They’re kids.” My stilted reply was done in stages as I found my feet and presented my open hands to the boy, showing I was unarmed. I had dispelled the blade when I was falling.

“Kids?” was Charlie's reply as he clambered down the steps to join me. Charlie’s imposing size made the girl faint, and the boy cowered over her, still pointing the knife at us. He was saying something to his sister, but she was out cold.

“Some magnetism you have there, Charlie.” I mocked lightheartedly “She swooned at the sight of you.”

“Well, I’ll be darned!” was Charlie's snappy retort “What are kids doing here?”

“It ’s a war zone. There are bound to be kids.” I said. Looking around the room to see if there was anyone else down here. It was clear what had happened. The parents had hidden the kids away when the Reaper troops had come through this area and while they both had been infected. The kids, safe in the cellar, had not come out, and with supplies had survived down here until our arrival.

“Don’t worry, we are here to help” I crooned, not sure what else to say. I didn’t know the Scalar language and hoped by my tone the boy would get the idea and put the weapon down before he hurt himself. His attention on me, he turned to follow me as I circled around and was surprised when Charlie moved suddenly and quickly to disarm him.

The boy put up quite a fight, but Charlie held on, pinning both pairs of arms while carrying the boy upstairs. I picked up the unconscious girl and carried her gently. I placed her on the floor in the main living room. The young boy had stopped struggling, but his eyes held serious malice. I chuckled at the irony. Here I was the alien.

These medieval people had never seen humans before and were just coming to terms with their predicament against the Reapers. Stone moved into the house with Sánchez and Stiles, and I showed the dead parents with a flick of my head, then using hand signals asked them to remove the corpses, while I blocked the view from the little lad. Fortunately, he had been too busy wrestling with Charlie and now only had eyes for me.

When his attention shifted to see what Stone, and the others were up to, I stepped closer to block his view, conjuring my staff to distract him. If I had to guess, he was probably about the equivalent of an eight-year-old human child. His size and demeanor were about the only similarities. The rest of him was very different and left my thoughts reeling when I thought about how my life had changed. His Scalar features of almost reptile type skin, cool to the touch, with a grey tone were strange to my sight. I had until now only seen the zombie versions of Scalars and it was amazing to see this species without it trying to bite my head off.

His three eyes were tearful as he himself tried to come to terms with what was happening. It was a lot for a little boy to take in and comprehend. I reached out my hand to touch both his arm and his sister's foot and let the magic flow.

She came to abruptly, sitting up with a gasp.

The healing and cleansing spell dissipating any dehydration and dementia she was suffering from, similarly, the boy appeared to fill with vitality where before there had only been despair. It was then that the two Scalar kids dissolved into the ether as if they never existed and a red glowing orb replaced the girl. I checked my battle log and saw a new prompt.

Bonus Quest: Rescue the Scalar Children and restore them to full health

Bonus quest complete!

You have received a reward.

I looked at the others in the room. Hugo had just moved back in to see what was going on and Stone indicated we should all touch the glowing orb.

“We’ll be seeing ye on the other side,” he said cryptically as everyone including myself stepped forward, grasped the orb and together we faded from view. The next thing I knew was that all too familiar vertigo feeling, and without fail I stumbled.

Next to me was Sánchez; the others were not with us. Both he and I were standing on a rocky ledge with a view out towards a luscious valley, which extended into a plain out below us. Far in the distance, I could make out several forests and two very large and tall trees in one of the forests.

I immediately realized I was back in the land of Illuminous.