Once we were outside, I noticed the streets had died down, as it usually does later in the day in Vaporic. The sun was slowly setting, and most people were getting ready to retire as shopkeepers and head home. I saw a few people closing up their shops and heading home for the night.

No longer could the various chatterings of voices be heard throughout the street. Instead, it was pleasantly silent, which I always liked to hear.

Then speaking, I could hear Edgur say, “This way,” Edgurthen started pointing down an ally before he said to all of us. “This way leads to the guardhouse; I had everyone expect to meet us at the guard's position.

I gathered some of the Red-Dawn Special Forces I have been personally training. I also hand-picked some officers for this task, and they should be readily awaiting our arrival there as well in the guards building.”

I could hear Edgur pausing for a moment, which struck me as odd, but he then said, continuing.

” I do not think will need a larger force warranting the intelligence is correct from our scouts.”

Taking a deep breath in, I answered, “Very well, Edgur, I trust your decision.” I was not entirely convinced but hopeful about the information we had acquired. Nevertheless, I turned around to the ladies and told them.

“Once our mission begins, look sharp, and remember to keep an eye out for the human party once we arrive in the forest. Do not let your guards down for any reason. It may be safer to be prepared for the worst just-in-case.” After thinking about what I just said, I tried to say then something comforting to ease the awkwardness I created, ”Nobody was going to die in this trivial matter while I was there, whether it was Red-Dawn special forces or a friend. The more we are prepared, the better it was, is all.”

Edgur walked ahead of us, now taking the lead and leading us towards the direction of the guardhouse. It wasn’t long before we arrived at a building made out of stone and mortar. The guardhouse was located beside a large iron gate with bars on it. This large gate was the entrance to the city.

The structure was made entirely out of huge cuts of stone and concrete blocks. The main section of the guardhouse was built into the wall extending outwards. This was, after all, our capital's main entrance in or out, and it was very effective at keeping people safe. But if you started looking closer to the building carved into the large cuts with only one visible single heavy iron door, indicating this is where people would enter while the gate was up. So inside this building, I tried to explain to everyone standing around me that this was where Vaporics military kept some of the lighter weapons they used in combat. In addition, there were various types of magical armours used by the military, like heavy reinforced magic-infused armour and other various types of ammo for magical weapons and bombs.

Some other casual supplies were kept close in cases of emergencies, like antidotes, health potions, or mana pots. I saw Edgur walking up to the door of the building, and next, Edgur opened it and was the first to walk inside. The ladies followed each other in a single file line into the stone building beside the gated entrance. First to fallow was Aurora, after was Locust, finally myself.

Once inside, we were standing in a small, dimly lit area with a heavy locked reinforced steel door in front of us.

‘: The team was all crammed into this tiny area before Silvar looked frustrated at Edgur, asking him.

“Did you forget your key or something, Edgur? Why is the second door not already opened for us”.:.’

I was not impressed when Edgur said, “Funny thing you should ask, I may have dropped it when I fell back at the dinner, he-he oops” I could hear him laugh nervously while I watched him lifting his hands.

Scratching my head, not looking amused whatsoever, I reached into my pocket and out with my right hand came the skeleton key—': The skeleton key for his province Algia.:’ I tightly grasped onto the key pouring magic into it before I whispered, “Take the form of the Vaporic guards building inner door lock” While looking at the key. Next, the key started glowing, and the teeth started to change, forming new patterns and ridges before shaping itself into the entrance key.

Shaking my head while looking at Edgur, I told him, “I am charging you for that key, bud.”

I could hear Locust, chuckled a bit when she heard that; I then asked everyone to move a bit so I could move up to unlock the door. Inserting the key now, I twisted the lock. A familiar pop noise could be heard, then suddenly, the locked door clicked, and the door was opened for us. I heard Aurora after I did this let out a huge sigh, and then I saw her roll her eyes before she looked at me and said,

“Well, that was more of a headache than it needed to be. Why do we even have that stupid little area,”

I could understand her view, so I tried to answer her straightforwardly as I knew she did not like it when I beat around the bush, “It's an extra safety measure since the outside door is not locked. I am sure we could have yelled and someone, and they would have come. Let us in since we are military. But that might defeat the purpose if we are supposed to meet our subordinates at a certain time in the main area, and well, let us face it. Having them come to open the front door to then walk with us back to the meeting area would be pretty unprofessional especially coming from their own commander." After making that comment, I started turning to Edgur, but I noticed he was casually trying to play it off.

Now the door was open, and we started continuing inside the building. We slowly walked down the dimly lit corridor in a single file line till we arrived in a large room with tables around it. Each table had a group sitting at it. There must have been at least 16 people in this room all gathered now, excluding Aurora, Locust, Edgur and I.

However, quickly noticing who just arrived, I watched as the Special Forces Red-Dawn all stood up and started turning to face their captain before saluting him and me. The Red-Dawn special forces salute was simple. One needed to raise their right hand into a fist, palm facing towards them, then following up with tucking their arm into the chest completed the salute. Edgur and I copied the gesture and saluted back. I saw a look in Edgur’s eyes while he was admiring his team, with a feeling of pride before turning towards me. He started saying, ”Allow me to introduce our V.I.P.S to you. Here is our Lord Silvar, my friend Aurora, and Locust. I will allow them to all properly introduce themselves.”

Aurora stepped forward and introduced herself first; starting simple, she said, “Hello, I am the first daughter of the Count Of Civil affairs, Duke Julix Horcrop, in our provinces senate. As Edgur has told you, my name is Aurora Horcrop, and I have been in our military for a few years now as a tactician, though my experience is limited. I specialize in water magic, as that is my affinity. It is a pleasure to work alongside all of you.” Next to introduce themselves to the Red-Dawn special force was Locust. She walked up next and stood beside Edgur and Aurora before I heard him say.

“How do I begin? My name is Locust Arvert, and I don't have any fancy title parents like Aurora. I was born in the small outskirts villages close to the east border and adopted by a family of elite assassins.

I am currently employed for the Lord as an elite personal assassin due to my unique skills, and I don’t really have any magical ability... But, I do use my dual axes with some unique fighting skills, which I hope not to have to display later today.” I saw her finish saying the last part with a sadistic grin while licking her lips.’

Stepping forward last was me as I went on to say to everyone, “I do not think introductions are in order, but I do not wish to be rude. Greetings, men and women of the Red-Dawn Special Forces. As you may already know, I am Silvar Algia Alterrit, Ruling lord of the capital Vaporic and the province Algia.

Thank you for all attending and being present.” I felt that was short and sweet and then did not say anything else as Edgur went on to say, “A man of few words...Now that the introductions are done. Units of the Red-Dawn, I am sure you are all surprised to see the lord in person, but keep the pointless banter to yourselves till after we finish as we have a mission overseas. Now it is the utmost importance you listen closely to Lord Silvar as he is going to brief us.”

I could hear all members of the Red-Dawn reply.“Yes sir” ‘: The Red-Dawn enthusiastically responded.:.’

Looking at the Red-Dawn, I forgot their uniform was an all dark red attire, with matching armour covering all the main areas of the body that needed protection. In addition, they all had on a dark silverish slated white colouring on the offset of their armour which almost looked like a grey colour indicating ranks within the order. Every member of Red-Dawn also wore a dark red face mask covering their faces as identities needed to be kept safe, and each member used various handheld or long-ranged weapons.

The teams Edgur formed consisted of different classes each situation would require. He always thought of everything. One team consisted of magical users, another was the saboteurs, next was a marksman, and the infantry close quarters experts formed the last. Some of the close-quarters squads also were able to cast basic magical enhancement spells. Most of the Red-Dawn forces were close quarters specialists. Groups consisted of sword users who dual-wielded swords with the odd magic caster for magical support. Zoning back, I began speaking to the strike force.

“As you are all aware, the Red-Dawn Special force consists of 1,000 units which should be no shock to you being a part of it. Compared to our province military myself and the senate control of approximately 10,000 units which are fully stated and skilled for combat, you are all unique. Red-Dawn creation during the great war was for unique special tasks in enemy territory like espionage, sabotage, and to mark and kill high-level threats to our nation; you were all once under the direct control of my mother. Now the responsibility falls to me; however some things happened, you were all placed under the supervision of Edgur and another few captains I had personally appointed to be in charge of. But the time has come. I was doing some personal tasks in the capital, but now I need you directly. Separate to the army, you act independently, and we have a job that has come up. Remember, you are under an oath of non-disclosure to everyone but myself. I don't want to arise suspicion within the capital's senators. With all the various missions you have gone on being reconnaissance or other small disputes with various factions within our own borders, this will bring nothing new. But this is one thing we are trying to keep on the down-low, not spook our citizens or senators but unfortunately... Last night, while on routine border patrol, a few of you discovered that a human party was seen in the Forest Of Lost on Algia’s side. Bearing the crest of the lightning mark. I am glad to say we now have some new developments on that note and some information that leads us to believe it is the province of human witches/wizards of Haven. Due to our history with their province on the construction of the border wall, we never heard of them ever coming to our side to wage conflict before the great war, which leads me to suspect there may be something bigger going on here. So with two of my captains and the lovely novice tactician Aurora plus you sixteen Red-dawn special forces, I believe should be enough to investigate this matter successfully.

Being this matters of personal importance to myself, I have personally come to oversee the operation is carried out with nothing but success failure is not an option.”

After I finished, I could hear Edgur chiming in, saying after,

“You heard the Lord's force, and failure is not an option form up, grab your weapons, and let us move out. If we do this right, nobody will get a disgrace mark, and I will personally see you receiving an honour to add to your uniforms. You sixteen are some of my best trainees I personally had the honour to train, and I was hoping you all would be able to show your worth to the lord, especially you, Claire.

You are a perfect example of Lord Silvar's dream of equality for everyone in his province regardless of birth status, fighting skills, or magical power. Remember, hard work and dedication are bound to pay off”.

I could not help but watch as Edgur started looking down the middle row before pointing her out, now asking her to step forward and to greet ‘Silvar.’

The woman stepped forward, and while doing so, she thanked Edgur for his kind words. She had a very soft-spoken voice to her and was very well mannered. She held a knife in each hand, which was connected by a thin metal chain-rope. The woman had long orange hair that ran over her shoulders down her back, with hazel eyes and white skin. Other than that, I couldn’t get an accurate read on really anything else, with her wearing all that armour. However, after I inspected her, I noticed Claire turned to face me and bowed her head before raising it and giving him the Red-Dawn Special Forces salute.

Laughing now at the sight of her being so formal, I could not help but say to her. “Easy. No need to salute. Claire, was it? I noticed Edgur mentioned my dream a bit, and allow me to go into some details; I indeed have a dream, many dreams, in fact, for our province and the nation we live in. We are all born equal and not limited to what skills we have chosen to pursue in life, whether combat or civil skills. A province where who’s family you were born into does not play a role. Your actions carry more weight than your last name, and I want a world where everyone can pursue what makes them happy and with whoever makes them the happiest. I want everyone to have equal opportunities,”

I found myself ranting a lot today, and I felt embarrassed as I turned to Claire. Finally, I decided to speak to her directly as I went on to say, “People like you can help me show the senate if everyone is given an equal opportunity, we can make an impact-full difference regardless of what hand we were dealt in life gave us. That is just some of my latest bill’s sole purpose was to do, and I am happy to see the start of it even if it’s in something as small as in mine and Edgur’s Special Forces.”

Turning back to my friends and the group of Red-Dawn who were present, I continued to tell everyone. “The mix of everyone's combat skills and civil skills is what makes us all unique. You all wanted to become military officers or specialists. It was your dream. Even though you were all told to do something else, we all have what we want to pursue in life, and I want everyone someday to be doing what they love.”

I could see Claire was impressed I spoke so casually for being the lord; I am sure no one expected that. ‘: Stunned, Claire replies.:’ Wow, that was unexpectedly beautiful.”

When Claire finished, I could hear Aurora interrupting in her classic jealous fashion,” Indeed, although Claire, it seems to have impressed Silvar, you will still have to do better to beat me.”

I could tell Edgur, just like myself, found it odd Aurora felt threatened as he replied,” You also have us Silvar,” I saw him pulling Locust in a while, standing proudly in front of the Red-Dawn like a father with his daughter on prom night. Replying to the gesture now, I started laughing a little while I said, “Thank you, guys.”

Once we were finished laughing, I then said to them all affirmatively,

” Thank you guys for the support. I needed to get that off my chest anyway. Hopefully, that was a good morale boost. So our goal is to recover information about their reason here. After that, I will determine if there is any reason for further hostilities. If they resist or decide not to cooperate, we will immobilize them, then force-ably detain them for questioning. Please try not to kill them until after we get the information, but you all can protect yourself's, especially if there is no other option. I permit you to kill them...Understood?”

I listened as the red Red-Dawn Special Forces together shouted, “Understood, Lord Silvar!”

Now that our talk was over, I watched as everyone was getting their equipment together. The sounds of sharpened weapons, arrows shuffling about while being loaded one by one into quivers could be heard next to the noise of magical rounds being gathered up, and the poisons that were getting hand-picked of the shelves and selected for the job ahead. It didn’t take long till everyone was ready to head out. I could tell not much time had passed, and everyone on the encounter force was ready, together we exited the building fully equipped and ready for war. Edgur had the guard at the gate open for us, saving me the trouble. Turning around, I looked at the city of Vaporic one last time before turning towards the gate and started following Edgur, Aurora, Locust and the Red-Dawn Special forces.

The sound of the gate could be heard sounds of metal shrieking slowly as the gate lifted.

Once we had gotten outside the walls, the gate could be heard closing with a booming sound that could be heard in the distance as we were all walking away. With each step I took, the city began to fade further away as we walked until we left the cities walls, a sight now, at last, heading towards the Forest of Lost.