July 21, 1639

Washington D.C.

“Robert, please have a seat.” President Lee gestured toward an empty couch.

The gruff-looking secretary nodded, his gray hair complementing his demeanor. “Glad to be here, Mister President.”

“How’s the progress with the Lourians?”

“The first part of Operation Shock was a success, and we were able to eliminate the Lourian army near Ejei. We even captured a few magicians — who we’re now in the process of interrogating — and one of their nobles.”

Lee nodded. “Nice. And the Marines?”

“Three of our Marine groups have successfully completed their assigned objectives; no casualties. The fourth is currently in the process of liberating a slave caravan, and they’re expected to wrap up shortly. The footage from the missions are ready to go; we’re transferring the data to your press teams right now.”

“Excellent. And the special forces teams?”

Robert laid out a series of reports on the small coffee table between them. “DEVGRU is preparing for the assault on the Lourian capital. We have several Delta Force and Green Beret teams working with the CIA, assisting rebellious lords with local objectives. So far, the Lourian logistics have been scrambled to all hell. With the local lords starting to realize just how outmatched they are, they’ve been holding their troops. We won’t have to worry about any full-scale invasion of Qua Toyne for the time being.”

Lee sighed, “Whew. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to wipe out their army. That would’ve been pretty detrimental for our future plans after Louria surrenders.”

“No kidding, sir. I doubt the locals would’ve liked us after culling a significant percentage of their workforce, fathers, sons, and brothers.”

“Yep. Makes Operation Awe all the more important. By the way, how’s that coming along? When is Hawthorne scheduled to arrive at Jin Hark?”

Robert flipped through a few papers from the Navy. “Hmm… looks like they’ll be getting there in about a week. They’re restocking on munitions right now and expanding their amphibious assault units. I sure hope this’ll work.”

“It has to. I just hope we won’t need to actually invade the city.”

“Hmm, I think the chances of that being necessary are slim to none. The Lourians will be too worried about our beachhead and fleet of warships to even think about consolidating their forces at the castle. Don’t worry about it, Mister President. This’ll all be done in a week or two.”

“Yep.” Lee took a sip of water. “Say, did you get that file on the Ravernal Empire?”

“Ahh, I’m not sure. Who’s it from?”

“Should be filed under a uh… ‘Lieutenant Vasquez’ with the Seventh Fleet. One of the observers sent from Qua Toyne brought it up during a conversation, and it turns out that we might not be the only advanced power on this planet.”

“Oh? So I assume that’s where all those radio waves and industrial pollutants are coming from,” Robert suggested.

“Actually, no. Those radio waves and the World War 2 era vessels we saw on the satellite images are from the ‘Gra Valkas Empire’ and ‘Mu’. We managed to pick up some of their radio waves and isolated a significant number of these references, along with a reference to the ‘Holy Mirishial Empire’ and ‘Civilized Region’.”

“Huh. Interesting. So then, who are these Ravernals?”

“Not sure; the report wasn’t that informative, but we did get a gist of them. Turns out they’re the big baddies of this world: genocide, enslavement, all that. I’m not sure how real these tales are, but the general consensus seems to be that the Ancient Sorcerous Empire is undeniably real. Honestly, I don’t think we can just dismiss this as a fairy tale; I mean, look at us! We were transferred. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch for someone else to have also been transferred before us.”

“Alright. I’ll take a look at the file once I get back to my office. What do you think we should do with this intel?”

“I think we need to take this threat seriously. They were reported to have used a small arrow of light to wipe out entire cities before… sound familiar?”

Robert’s eyes widened in realization. “Nukes?”

President Lee nodded. “Yeah. I sure do wish Reagan’s Star Wars Program became a reality. That would’ve been quite the relief.”

“Heh, well maybe it ain’t too far off, Mister President,” Robert smiled. “This time around, we’ve got magic. We have the potential to get it done, but that depends on any advancements we’re able to make, and if we can make these strides before this ‘Ravernal Empire’ makes their prophesied return.”

“Yeah.” Lee checked his watch. “Okay, I don’t wanna keep you here for too long. Let me know if anything important happens with the Lourians. I gotta check up on stuff with Steven anyway.”

“Alright Mister President. We can continue this when I’ve read up on the Ravernals.” Robert got up and walked out the door.

A few minutes later, Lee heard a knock. He looked at the open door. “Ah, Steven. Any updates?”

“Yes, sir. Doctor Pollan has discovered a few areas of interest. The oceans to the east seem to have constant stormy weather and certain regions of this world seem to be constantly clouded by uh… clouds. We can’t see what’s under.”

“Interesting choice of words, Steven. Go on.”

“Ambassador Anders got your request about the Ravernal Empire, and he will be seeing the Qua Toynians once they’ve finished their emergency meeting. On that note, our intellectual exchange has progressed nicely, but the Qua Toynians want to buy some of our books.”

“Hmm… I’ll let the Department of Education and the Department of Commerce come up with something reasonable. I still think it is best if we, as much as possible, maintain our scientific and technological edge. Anything else?”

Steven scrolled through his tablet. “Umm… looks like Ambassador Nathan has successfully established relations with two kingdoms north of Alaska: the Kingdom of Fenn and the Gahara Thearcy.”

“Ambassador Nathan…?”

“Our former ambassador to Japan, sir.”

“Oh, right. Carry on.”

“Fenn has formally invited us to participate in their annual military festival, which will be taking place in September.”

“Oh, that’s only a couple months away.”

“Right, sir. And you might want to see this,” Steven said, flipping his tablet around to show a satellite image of Fenn and Gahara.

President Lee gave a surprised smile. “Why, that looks just like yin and yang!”

“Indeed. NASA was quite curious as to why it looked this way, and it turns out there is a dense formation in the center, right between Fenn and Gahara. We’ll need to expand our relations with them before we launch any expeditions or send research teams.”

“Damn, let’s move this higher on the list then. I’m itching to know what’s down there, unless of course it’s Godzilla or something.”

“I doubt it sir. There’s also one final update: a few Gallup polls were released today regarding your handling of the transference and international trade. Over 95% of polled citizens approve of your decisions so far, and over 70% are eager to see the outside world.”

Lee smiled. “Dang, 95%? Okay!” He clasped his hands together. “Umm, before you go, schedule some appointments with the cruise line CEOs and the airline CEOs. We can do some cruises to Maihark for the time being, and then flights once we get the airports set up. Oh, wait. Have we set up any tourist rules yet?”

“No, sir.”

“Alright let’s get that done first then. I don’t want any Americans accidentally running into a wild wyvern or a chimaera and then getting eaten…”

“I understand, sir.”

——

Somewhere Between Ejei and Gim

Wyvern knight Muller analyzed the ground below as he scanned through openings in the clouds. “It sure became cloudy all of a sudden…”

“Quite,” his partner replied.

“Hey, hold on, I think I see something.” Muller angled his mount toward a patch of darkened ground. As he approached the anomaly, his heart dropped.

Bodies of the dead, burnt and shredded beyond recognition, lay strewn about across the gouged earth. Hundreds of ravens and vultures flocked about, picking apart any meat that survived the hellish catastrophe. He decided to land near a group of trees, where he discovered an intact tent. He dismounted to investigate and entered the tent. There was nothing inside, save for an overturned table and several quills and empty sheets on the floor. “What the hell happened here?”

Before he could even come up with any hypotheses, a shrieking sound pierced his ears. It was like the sound an arrow produced when flying through the air, but much louder. He pushed a tent flap with his arm and looked up, trying to identify the source. Several small dots appeared outside of the cluster of clouds, rapidly closing the distance between themselves and his allies who were still in the air. The small dots became larger as they approached, revealing artificial shapes — metal dragons.

A bright object detached itself from the wings of the aircraft, leaving a trail of smoke as it rapidly accelerated into the clouds. Muller couldn’t see his allies through the thick weather, but that didn’t mean the enemy couldn’t. Several explosions rang out, lighting up nearby clouds with an orange glow. Muller waited anxiously, hoping that the light arrows miraculously missed, but his dreaded expectations were confirmed when he saw chunks of red falling from the skies.

He broke down, falling to his knees. He wanted to cry out for the loss of his comrades, but kept his mouth shut for the sake of remaining hidden. After a couple minutes of lament and grief, he moved toward his wyvern, leading it into the forest. He clutched the protective charm around his neck, realizing that he avoided certain death and vowed to make it back home to his family.

——

“It’s following me! I can’t shake—” The transmission cut to static. Within the Eastern Subjugation Army headquarters, the top officers crowded around a manacomm. After hearing the latest message, they were speechless.

“That’s the fourth or fifth time we’ve heard about these homing magical light arrows…” General Pandor muttered, worried about the consistency and frequency of these reports. “Magician Tallon, please have all wyvern knights grounded until further notice.”

“Sir?”

“It is too risky to keep them in the air. Have them grounded, but ready to take off at a moment’s notice.”

“As you wish, my lord.” The magician relayed Pandor’s orders to the wyvern knights, who immediately began to descend and return to their base.

“General Adem,” Pandor gestured toward the door. “Let’s go outside.”

Adem followed Pandor to the manor’s garden, where they spoke privately. “I’ve received many reports of delays,” Pandor began. “Our reinforcements will not be arriving for a while, if at all.”

“If at all?”

“There have been rumors of local lords purposely sabotaging the deployment of their troops or otherwise causing the delays.”

“Hmph, it won’t be long before someone finds out. For their sake, I hope none of that is true,” Adem grinned sinisterly.

“Now now, Adem. Let us focus on the war. What do you think of these Americans?”

Adem’s evil grin disappeared. “I think they are a force we’ve gravely underestimated at the start of the war. I know not why they help those filthy demihumans, despite being a human-only nation. I… I think I should return to Jin Hark to request reinforcements.”

Pandor raised an eyebrow. “Oh? That’s quite an unexpected surprise from the aggressive Adem…”

“Yes. I see the situation for how it truly is. I would have sent a runner, but then our request for expedited reinforcements may not be filled. If I were to ask myself, however, then HQ will recognize the gravity of our predicament.”

“A wise analysis, General Adem. You should make haste, then.”

Adem nodded and left for the stables to retrieve his horse. As he walked alone, he tried to calm himself. He needed to relay this new information to that snaky Parpaldian envoy.