[AUGUST 20, 2035?] [3:45 AM]

It was still zero dark hundred but the 111th’s AO is bustling with activity as the men of the 1st Infantry battalion with elements of the 21st Armored cavalry are preparing for the first ever operation on this new mysterious world they found themselves in. Nomad and Pariah squad stood out the most since they’re the only ones that were wearing full CBRN gear while the rest of the battalion were only issued with standard APR masks. The doctors and higher ups are still afraid of possible disease transmission between them and the natives, especially that those natives are literal walking and talking corpses.

Sergeant Kerry was still adjusting himself with the tightness of the hazmat suit when he felt a tap on his shoulder. “All C-U-Rs are operational, sarge! We’re good to go!” Corporal Colbert informed him as two Ghost Hawks nearby had finally finished spooling up and were now ready to takeoff, they will be the spearhead of this operation, they are tasked with paving the road for the main bulk of the battalion and making first contact with the locals. He signaled his squad to board one of the Ghost Hawks.

“Dibs on the window seat” Martinez said as he climbed aboard the helicopter.

“Just get your ass inside the bird Martinez.” Kerry replied as he made sure everyone on his squad had boarded before jumping in and giving the pilot an all clear.

----------

The mood inside the garrison was bleak, dozens of scared and injured refugees huddled around the stone pillars as soft whimpers and their soft cries echoed on the dark corridors of the castle. General Gard Boros was formulating different defensive plans when a pale undead knight with a crimson chestplate had entered the room.

“Captain Lisandro, how’s the battle going?” he asked the weary knight. “The rebels have retreated for the moment but they’ll be back soon” Lisandro replied as he grabbed a vial of Sabina’s essence and poured it over a large slash on his face which quickly healed after a couple of seconds. “We haven’t spotted the big bastard or any of his fanatic lieutenants, yet.” he added.

Boros scratched his head, only to peel off a small piece of scalp — adding to the frustration he was feeling. Just what are those traitors planning? He thought to himself as he poured himself a drink. The uncoordinated attacks, Balthier nor his lieutenants not showing up during any of the skirmishes, and attacking a neutral trading hub for no reason. Every action that the rebels did doesn't make any sense in the grand scheme of things. He knew that the traitors did not favor deception tactics or complicated battleplans other than crushing their enemies with the sheer weight of their force, but every move that they made so far had only proven that there’s something terribly wrong going on that he doesn’t know about.

“What’s the word on our reinforcements, general? I heard your psyker rambling about the hammer of Zorenth about to fall down on the rebels soon.” Lisandro asked him.

“Monika is rambling on her own again? I should’ve bought her some raw mana stones that she was asking me about for the past week.” Boros sighed before offering the knight a spare goblet of wine which Lisandro quickly accepted, he doesn’t mind sharing some of his expensive wine with his men, compared to other pompous and obnoxious generals he’d met that would rather keep the luxuries given to a general by themselves. “I don’t exactly know when the army would arrive to liberate us and push those rebels back where they came from, but my best guess is that the royal cavalry corps would arrive sometime in the morning.”

“Let’s hope that your guess is correct, general. My men would not last long without hel-” Lisandro replied before another knight burst inside the room. “Captain! The rebels are back!” the man shouted.

“Just as I was enjoying the general’s company.” Lisandro huffed before grabbing his steel helmet and leaving Boros all by himself again.

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[4:30 AM]

Even though he is encased in a protective suit — he can still feel the cold touch of the wind as he looks down at the strange but familiar dark landscape below them, if he didn’t know any better he might have mistaken the area as his favorite national park back at home but alas — fate had thrown him in another dangerous situation that made him wished that he just followed his parent’s advice to dodge the draft and head for Canada.

“30 seconds!” Golf 1 informed Kerry as he felt the bird slow down and began descending. He and his squad readied themselves as their helo approached a large clearing in the forest, Kerry closed his eyes and held his breath to calm his nerves. The moment he felt the bird land, he swiftly jumped out and provided cover for the rest of his squad as they followed his lead.

His squad quickly spread out and started approaching the treeline as the two ghosthawks behind them had quickly left the area, they took cover behind the thick pine trees before setting a defensive line at the edge of the clearing. Kerry scanned the forest looking for any contacts that might have heard their rapid insertion, he waited at least a minute before he announced an all clear on the west and northern side of the clearing.

“Nomad, Pariah. Eastern and southern sides are clear, nothing but spooked wildlife here” Sgt. Sturrock from Pariah squad informed him over the radio.

“Copy that Pariah, keep watch on your sector and report any activities over” He replied just as he grabbed a couple of IR beacons from his pocket and threw them at the large clearing behind him where the Ghost Hawks had previously landed. “Crossroads this is Nomad. LZ alpha is clear, I repeat LZ alpha is clear.”

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[Command Center] [4:50 AM]

Collins was reviewing the pictures taken by the drones yesterday. It was an assortment of aerial shots of what looks like a large medieval city in the far north. What caught his attention is the large formation of men clad in dark crimson armor marching down a large dirt road towards the general direction of where the 111th will make contact with the locals. “Captain Miller, are you sure these people aren’t the same hostiles that attacked us?” he asked the british man standing across his desk.

“I’m confident to say that they’re a different faction, sir. We’ve cross referenced the bodies, equipment, banners and even the statements given by those… things you’ve caught.” Miller replied before bringing out another stack of photos from a folder he was carrying. “We also found the rebel’s main camp that the prisoners told us about, we’ve picked up a couple of movements here and there but the camp is mostly deserted from the looks of it.”

Collins shuffled around the photos before grabbing one and setting it down on his desk. “Is this the ruins that the prisoners have referred to?” he asked while tapping on the picture showing grey buildings covered in plant overgrowth, it’s layout was unmistakably modern compared to the surrounding settlements, he could even see satellite dishes and even solar panels on the roof of one of the buildings. “I guess so sir. We also picked up and decoded a broadcast signal coming from that area. Here sir, take a listen to it.” Miller replied as he brought his radio and switched frequencies.

“MAYDAY. MAYDAY. THIS IS RESEARCH OUTPOST CEDAR. WE ARE CURRENTLY UNDER ATTACK BY THE -STATIC- REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. I REPEAT. REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSISTA- -STATIC-”

Collins sat there thinking as the broadcast continued to loop every 10 seconds before Miller turned off the radio. They have already established that they are somehow whisked away in another world, dimension or time; where they are somehow in the medieval ages with magic and fantasy creatures that only exist in fictional writings, but the fact that there are traces of modern civilizations have shocked him completely. He was trying to think of an explanation to this revelation; it was possible that somehow a country from Earth had been here through some kind of science experiment or portal, then that means that they could go back to their own world again. “Can you investigate those ruins, Captain?” He asked the British captain.

“I’ll see what I can do sir.” Miller replied before leaving his office while Collins stashed the documents and photographs in his desk and left for the command center.

The HQ building was quiet for most of the time. Air-conditioning was turned off and only a couple of lights in the hallway were lit in order to preserve electricity for the critical systems around the base. Collins entered the room guarded by two MPs which immediately stood at attention when he passed by them, he walked towards the middle of the room where he could view the large screens at the edge of the room.

“Major General! Combat Outpost Orbe Novo had been established, sir! 1st battalion is ready to conduct operation dawn breaker on your command sir!” an officer informed him as he watched the bird’s eye view of a medieval village and its surrounding forest, he immediately grabbed his radio. “All callsigns, all callsigns. This is Godfather, Commence Operation Dawnbreaker.”

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[Point Bravo] [5:00 AM]

Suppressed gunshots echoed in the night as men of nomad and pariah squad were slowly advancing towards the town while the rest of the battalion were encircling the area to prevent any of those things from fleeing and alerting the bulk of enemy forces down the road.

“Contacts! 1 o’clock, near the wheelbarrow!” Colbert called out before unleashing a deadly accurate burst of 6.5mm bullets which made short work of the creatures but not before one of them had let out a loud deathcry.

“Fuck, we’re made.” Kerry cursed, “Everyone hold your position, let them come to us.” he added as he crouched down and aimed his rifle towards the village.

A couple of seconds later, multiple abominations had emerged from all sides of the village. Kerry aimed down his sights and was momentarily caught off guard with what he saw through his scope, instead of the familiar blood thirsty gaze he faced down during the defense of Razor, he was met with a face (or what he assumed is the face of the abomination) that was akin to a scared dog running away. He smiled underneath his mask, he was damn ecstatic that they beat them back so hard that they'd blindly retreat from a fight the moment their presence was known.

“Cut them down boys!” Kerry gleefully ordered as a cacophony of suppressed gunshots and the 40mm cannons from the Marshalls hidden in the treeline had annihilated any abominations that dared to set a foot outside the limits of the town.

“Get some baby!” Pvt. Lance shouted as he unleashed machine gun fire on the fleeing abominations with his SPMG.

Kerry squeezed off a few rounds before spotting something glowing in the distance. “Shit! we got a fucking wizard! 12 o’clock!” he shouted the moment he recognized the familiar strange symbols he saw during their holdout in checkpoint alpha.

“I got him sarge” Colbert replied before firing his underbarrel grenade launcher and obliterating the hooded figure and some unfortunate abominations that were nearby.

“Good hit corporal! Keep up the fire everyone!”

The one-sided fight lasted about five minutes before the gunfire had slowly died down and a hundred dead abominations and a couple of hooded figures had littered around the edge of the town; they waited a few more minutes for stragglers before advancing forward to the town.

“Wedge formation everyone! We’re going door to door, fireteam bravo will breach while fireteam alpha will provide cover. You got that nomad squad!?” Kerry asked with enthusiasm.

“Hooah!” his entire squad simultaneously replied over the comms as they approached a medieval looking house.

Fireteam bravo (led by Colbert) had switched their flashlights on and had prepared to breach the front door while fireteam alpha (led by Kerry) had spread out and provided cover for fireteam bravo. Colbert took a deep breath before giving the signal to breach, they quickly burst in the house — checking every room and corner for any hostile entities but had found none, instead they were greeted by a gruesome scene in what they assume is the dining room. A woman with a pale, rotten and leathery skin was lying on the ground with her torso nearly gone — leaving only bones and a large pool of black blood.

“Jesus fucking Christ” He heard one his squadmate’s muffled voice before grabbing a dirty white sheet nearby and covering the body of the woman.

“I’ve seen some fucked up shit in Detroit man, but nothing like these.” Martinez muttered

“Is the upstairs clear?” Colbert asked Martinez as he examined the thrashed dining room, it was very clear that those abominations had managed to break in and had killed and feasted on the poor woman.

“Yeah, it’s clear.” Martinez replied.

“Okay… Everybody out now.” Colbert ordered before lighting a green chemlight and dropping it in the front door. “House is clear, sarge!” he called out to Kerry who was watching the western approach.

“Good, Crossroads wants us to check out a church on the northside part of the town. Let's move it!” Kerry replied before beckoning the squad back into formation again. “Is everything alright corporal?”

“Yeah sarge, It’s just — we found a dead civie inside. I wish we could’ve done something.” Colbert replied as he leaned on the stonewall and did a short breathing exercise, he really wanted to throw up after what he saw back inside that house, but doing so would jeopardize his role in this operation.

“Hey, we can still do something Corporal. We still have locals holding out against those things down the road, so get on your feet soldier.” Kerry assured Colbert with a quick pat on his shoulder, “Their lives depend on us reaching them and we still have a long way to go.” Colbert recomposed himself, “Right, let’s go sir” he said before joining the squad’s formation.

Nomad squad had slowly walked on the dark and quiet streets of the abandoned town, torn bodies of the townsfolk and obvious signs of struggle were prevalent on every corner they’ve turned to. Pariah squad were following closely behind them while the rest of the task force were clearing every building they passed by, distant gunshots were occasionally heard as squads from the opposite end of the town had encountered some straggler or two. After what felt like an eternity of tense street and alleyway clearing, they finally stumbled upon the church that command wanted them to investigate and secure.

“Everyone stack up at the front door! Fireteam alpha will clear the ground floor while bravo will sweep the second floor.” Kerry ordered as he flipped up his NVGs and turned on the flashlight of his MX. He shone his flashlight towards the stone church and noticed a large figure perched high up in the roof. It was a statue of a robed woman with her arms open wide like it was waiting for someone to embrace with, while multiple chains were hanging all over her.

“Fuck, door is blocked sarge” Colbert informed him

“There might be survivors inside, watch your fire squad” Kerry said before turning towards Martinez, “Do your magic soldier”

“With pleasure” Martinez replied as he switched his MX to the M26 MASS that was holstered at his back. He rushed towards the front of the stack and quickly blew off the hinges of the door before kicking it in.

They quickly moved in through the broken door; kicking and pushing the wooden pews that were piled up behind the door. The beam of their flashlights cut through the dark interior as they swiftly checked every nook and cranny of the church for any signs of life. “2nd floor clear sergeant, no signs of anyone here!” Colbert shouted over the parapet above them. Kerry approached the altar at the end of the room, he saw a single red candle burning bright on top of it and some weird looking blue stones scattered on the altar. “1st floor is clear!” he shouted before pressing his earpiece. “Crossroads this is Nomad, Church is clear and secured.”

“Tag the church and regroup at the north side entrance of the town, Nomad. Crossroads out.”

“Copy that Crossroads.” Kerry replied as looked at the beautiful stained glass that dotted the sides of the nave. “We’re proceeding to the second phase of dawnbreaker people. Let’s mo-” Kerry said before he heard a muffled cough at the sanctuary behind the main altar, he and the rest of fireteam alpha had quickly raised their rifles towards the general direction of the disturbance.

They slowly approached the back of the altar when he noticed a weird shimmering effect on the empty middle chevette, he aimed his rifle directly at it; the light from his torch refracted as if it’s underwater. He was about to give the order to check it out when suddenly, the shimmering effect disappeared, revealing four undead people huddling close together.

“PUT YOUR HANDS UP!” Kerry shouted. He noticed one of the figures; a pale young girl with signs of decomposition, was nervously holding a knife in a very awkward way. “Drop the knife!” he yelled. The girl was still hesitating, her hands were shaking noticeably as she tried her best to shield two children behind her. He could barely hear the soft sobbing of the terrified children as the girl started to hyperventilate. “It’s okay, we’re here to help but I need you to drop that knife first.” he assured the girl as he slightly lowered his rifle and raised his right hand, a tense moment had passed before she tossed it to the ground and raised her hands.

“Please don’t hurt us” The girl begged nervously as one of the men kicked the knife aside.

“Lance, check them for any concealed weapons” Kerry ordered before informing the second fireteam of the situation, “Bravo, double check the second floor for any weird shimmering effect, we found some survivors hiding beneath it.”

“Copy that, we’ll do another sweep”

Kerry looked at the fourth large figure that had slumped over the girl’s shoulder, it was a bald man with a very bushy beard and was wearing some kind of dark red monk robe. He noticed that he was holding two blue stones that were similar to the ones on top of the altar, Lance noticed this too and quickly tossed it aside before gesturing an all clear to him.

“Sarah, check them for injuries.” He said before contacting the colonel, “Crossroads, Nomad. We found four survivors hiding inside the church sir, one of them is unconscious.”

“Copy that Nomad. Echo squad from Bravo company is on their way to relieve you, do your best to help the survivors before they arrive. After that, double time it to the rendezvous point. Crossroads out.”

----------

Captain Lisandro struggled to breathe as the dust from the collapsed watchtower had invaded his nose, throat, and even his lungs. He tried to stand up but a large wooden debris had impaled him on his left leg. Lisandro cursed as he heard the hair-raising shrieks of those poor souls turned abomination by the traitor brother; he saw dark shadows moving around the dust cloud that surrounded him, he brought out his dagger and turned to face towards the direction of the horrible shrieking — ready to die fighting for the country that had liberated his family from the rule of the dark lord when suddenly, he felt someone grabbing him from behind.

“Captain Lisandro! Let’s get you out of here” He heard the voice of one of his men as he saw some of his knights rushing forward to defend him from the abominations, “Haera! Block the entrance now!” One of his knights shouted before a slim woman wearing a purple robe had calmly walked towards the shattered gate and casted a firewall, blocking those damned creatures from entering their garrison.

He was quickly carried away by his loyal knights to the castle’s hospital. On the way there, he saw some archers setting up makeshift cover on top of the wall’s parapets while his knights had started bringing out spare mana stones for the vampire mage who was maintaining the wall of flames at the gate breach.

The hospital was overflowing with both injured refugees and knights, a man in white robes approached him the moment he was set down by his knights. “Good to see you still in one piece Captain” the old man greeted him.

“The Lady isn’t eager to see me just yet apothecary” He chuckled as the man examined his wound.

“Then try not to get injured out there, this is our last supply of her lady’s essence.” the man said before pulling out the wood impaling his leg and pouring a thick black liquid on the wound. “Then I'll make it count, apothecary.” Lisandro replied as he felt the soothing sensation of Sabina’s essence on his wound which was quickly reverting back to it’s healthy state, he still admiring the potion’s work when noticed General Boros entering the hospital.

“General! The rebels have breached the front gate, they’re massing all of their troops outside as we speak. We can’t hold out any much longer, you should flee to safety while we have their attention, I’m sure the vampire mage has enough mana to teleport you away from this battle.” Lisandro pleaded with the general but was ignored as Boros shook his head and offered him a hand instead, “And abandon my men and over a hundred innocent to die in the hands of the rebels? No Captain. I’ve sworn an oath the day I accepted this position and I won’t break it just to save my skin, so get up and let’s get back out there” the general replied to him as he grabbed his hand and stood up.

“Captain! General! One of Balthier’s lieutenants is approaching the flame wall that the vampire mage had set!” A knight shouted at the entrance, He and the general quickly rushed out of the hospital.

Lisandro felt the warm embrace of the morning sun as he left the damp and musty hospital building, his remaining men had formed a defensive line formation near the broken gate while their vampire mage had summoned a temporary rune barrier before retreating behind his knights.

He saw general Boros climb up a wooden crate and began addressing the men around him, “Proud warriors of Zorenth Kingdom! Today, we will make our last stand right here! We will not retreat nor capitulate to the devils outside these walls! Our bravery here will ensure us a place in Lady Sabina’s paradise!” Boros shouted defiantly as the sun shone on his battle worn armor, revealing its worn crimson paint and several dents and scratches. The men cheered and some shouted their battle cry, he even saw some of the refugees took arms with whatever they had and joined the defensive formation of his knights.

He heard a deep voice coming from the opposite side of the temporary rune barrier, “Your souls will be enough to bring back the rightful heir to the throne!” the hooded figure levitating had shouted as it casted a lightning bolt to the barrier, slowly shattering it piece by piece.

He noticed the general joining his side, “It’s an honor to serve under you General Boros.” He said to the bulking old man beside him. “I couldn’t ask for a much better captain than you, Lisandro.” Boros replied as he drew his ornate and glowing longsword, it was a special weapon enchanted by the ancient’s machine and given by Lord Drakul himself for the General’s heroic actions during the battle of Armageddon.

He can see the horde of abominations and even some of the large disgusting creatures that he was hearing from the scouts, their hungry and feral eyes locked on with the defenders as they tensely waited for the rune wall to break. He tightened his grip on his sword and held his breath as he watched the hooded figure charge a final lightning attack to shatter the rune wall, but before he could cast it, the hooded figure suddenly exploded.

“What the” Lisandro blurted before an ear-shattering sound made him wince and he caught sight of two arrowhead shaped objects passing above them and quickly disappearing above the clouds, he could hear a weird chopping sound when he looked back at the hooded figure who was missing both of his legs and an arm.

“The demons are coming back! Retreat! Retre-” The hooded figure shouted as he tried to crawl away before being hit by multiple small explosions that completely tore him apart, he could see something approaching on the horizon.

The bloodthirsty rage of the abominations we’re now replaced with fear and terror as they scattered among themselves, their loud whimpering and howls was suddenly drowned out by what Lisandro thought was gunfire from the Aevum’s Elite soldier’s muskets. The prospect of the Aevum empire invading them during the height of his country’s civil war had suddenly crossed his mind but something was off, the musket fire was continuous rather than the lengthy volley fire that he witnessed during the military festival last year.

“Hold your ground men!” Boros shouted as some of the creatures we’re frantically trying to escape from the unknown assailants that they’re willingly charging towards their lines, the knights and archers took down the feral beast easily as they tried to slip past the defenders rather than fighting them.

“What in the world is happening?!” One of the knights shouted as the sound of rapid gunfire and explosions was getting closer and the chopping sound that he’d been hearing was getting louder. He felt the ground shaking as he saw one of the large abominations running towards their defensive formation when suddenly, a mysterious black wyvern had flown above them and unleashed a light arrow that obliterated the massive beast before flying off. “By the gods” he muttered as he looked at the scattered remains of the hulking monster.

It felt like an eternity had passed, waiting nervously for any more abominations to enter the breached gate as the black wyvern flew in and around their garrison raining down fire to the rebels outside. Lisandro was still thinking who could be their mysterious saviors when he noticed that the sound of gunfire and explosions had died down.

“CAPTAIN! WE HAVE MYSTERIOUS MEN APPROACHING THE FRONT GATE!” One of the archers on top of the wall shouted.

“What are they doing?” he asked.

“One of them is waving a white flag sir! I think they want to talk!” The archer replied.

Lisandro turned towards Boros, “What should we do, general?” he asked as the mysterious black wyvern flew past them again.

“Well, we have no choice but to meet our mysterious saviors.” Boros replied, “Come, accompany me, captain.”

Lisandro chose some of his best men to follow him before ordering the archers and even the vampire mage to stand guard and prepare to defend them in case these mysterious people are hostile.

They slowly walked outside the battered walls of their garrison, hundreds of dead abominations had surrounded their castle that they had to tip-toe around the corpses to avoid tripping over them. He can see the humanoid figures lurking in and around the forest as they pass by a burning wreckage of what once was a terrifying siege weapon. He saw a group of strange people wearing some kind of green armor in the middle of the road, one of them was waving a makeshift white flag while the others stood guard.

“Hello there! We come in peace!” He heard a muffled shout from the man waving the white flag as they got close. The man was definitely a human, he could see his face through some kind of glass over the strange armor he was wearing.

“Who are you human? Are you warriors of the Aevum empire?” General Boros asked respectfully as they finally met face-to-face.

“Uhh - No sir. I’m Sergeant Ben Kerry of the 111th Infantry division, United States Armed Forces. On behalf of NATO forces of MOB Razor, we’re here to establish contact with the locals”