Chapter 6

The Final Spark in Tension

‘‘I also forgot to mention but…I don’t have anywhere to stay.’’

That was Arnold, realising that he hadn’t slept since entering our world. The bartender joined in by saying.

‘‘It’s no problem, you can stay in one of our rooms. I’d happily let you sat a night or few. Anything for the soldiers.’’

While saying this he poured a shot of whiskey.

‘‘Try some out, it’s on the house!’’

Even in his past life, Arnold wasn’t much of a drinker. He preferred to always be sober, not that his job even allowed him to be drunk. He would go to work at noon and go home around 1AM, the time he had in the morning he mostly just slept through.

However this didn’t mean he didn’t have friends. Most of them were his coworkers, who he’d work with all day long but he also had some friends outside from work.

On his days off he would hang out with them. They didn’t drink as well, point being he hadn’t gotten used to the taste of alcohol. Whiskey, being a strong drink, wouldn’t really go well on his tongue.

‘‘Oh come on Arnold, it’s just one shot.’’

And so he drank it, the rest of that night was a mystery as he got drunk and couldn’t remember what he did.

On the morning he found himself in a bed looking at the ceiling. As we mentioned, he didn’t remember anything, but what he did know was that Adalie wouldn’t miss the opportunity to mock him.

‘‘,,Oh come on Arnold, it’s just one shot,, HAHA, should’ve seen your face. Ahaha I just can’t, you were so red, didn’t even know on which planet you were, not that you do anyway. *ahem* Was this the stunt because it sure did look like one HAHAHAAA!’’

‘‘Shut up before I go to you and personally hit you till you bleed out. And I want answers! Why did you send me in this country? Didn’t you want me to suffer? Speak up!’’

‘‘Calm down now. And jeez, your deduction skills are worse than your alcohol tolerance. Didn’t you hear? Tensions are really high with the neighboring country. Oh and I have maybe also skipped a few months and sent you at the worst time, ooooppsiee. Today is the 30th of November, better get ready for war and this time-don’t die as quick!’’

And so her voice echoed further out until he could no longer hear her.

Arnold stood up and stretched for a bit. After that he proceeded to look around him.

A small, cozy room. Around him were a bed, for one person only, a drawer with a vase on it and a desk a little more to the right.

‘‘*sigh*Guess I’ll just show my way out.’’

And out he goes, through a door, some stairs and another door and he is outside.

Immediately upon stepping foot onto the snow he was greeted with a familiar face-Simo.

‘‘Ay Arnold, told you I’d show you around. Let’s go!’’

He was sitting on a bench in the distance, supposedly waiting for Arnold to wake up.

He ran up to Arnold and greeted him.

‘‘How are ya? Crazy night, wasn’t it? But before we start our walk around town I need to tell you something.’’

To this unusual tone Arnold furrowed his brows.

‘‘What is it?’’

‘‘The reason they sent you here. I heard the Soviets send a message, proposing an exchange of territory. The government has decided to decline the proposal. We think they might act aggressively upon receiving the news. So Arnold, today we’ll go training, I want to show you some strategies.’’

‘‘That would be great!’’

‘‘Also, be on the lookout for any Soviet soldiers. Okay, let’s go!’’

And so they started their walk around town. Arnold met a lot of friendly people, got caught in another snowball fight and saw a lot of unusual (to him) buildings.

A highlight of that particular trip would be Arnold seeing a church.

Approaching it he couldn’t quite make out the purpose of the building.

‘‘Aaah, the church. I see it every day, yet it still surprises me.’’

‘‘What is a church?’’

Of course he didn’t say it out loud, but in his head he was trying to search for the meaning of the structure.

Religion wasn’t nonexistent in Arnold’s world, the religions just weren’t the same.

And so the trip was finally over.

It was about noon that Arnold was getting really hungry, so they went to a little restaurant.

‘‘Choose whatever you want, I’ll treat ya to it, after all you must be quite tired from that snow fight haha.’’

He chose a steak.

After that quick meal it was finally time to go out training.

They followed a stone path deep into the woods.

Simo took out two pairs of skis and gave one to Arnold.

‘‘You’ll need these if you want an advantage over the enemy.’’

Both of them were in uniforms, blending in with the snow quite nicely. The uniforms also provided a lot of warmth which was quite good to have in this cold unforgiving climate.

‘‘The peace will end soon, won’t it. At least I had a little break.’’

And so they started shooting at designated trees, slid around in their skis and Arnold fell on his knees.

But the fun wouldn’t last for much longer.

They were standing in a semi-open field when a loud whistling-like noise shattered their eardrums.

An artillery strike.

It hit Arnold’s shield fast.

Thankfully that strike didn’t do much to his shield.

A black fog emerged from the blast area.

‘‘Arnold, are you there?’’

He saw Arnold emerging from the smoke with not even a scratch.

‘‘Just what are you? Ah, no time to waste now, take cover!’’

‘‘No need for that.’’

Arnold flew high up in the air and spotted the advancing soviet soldiers. With a few precise explosive shots he took them out. But more where emerging from behind.

‘‘There goes my peace.’’

This didn’t help Simo’s suspicions.

‘‘I guess they heard us shooting, maybe that was the final spark to ignite the flame.’’

Said Simo in a monotone voice.

Ready or not, it is time for war…