***

--- nearby forest ---

April 4th, 2026

Sharpe watches Karlin rush off to Alnus.

He has seen Rory run before. DARPA tests show that she can run around forty miles per hour on a flat surface. From his estimates they are eleven or twelve kilometers from Alnus. In this terrain he assumes it will still take Karlin an hour and a half to get to Alnus.

He was not expecting to see Karlin here, let alone her being an Apostle. More he thinks about it the more he realizes he should have seen the signs. It explains why she took so much interest in his daughter.

He looks towards the battle and right now he knows what he needs to do. If Selina’s kidnappers are still alive, then he wants them. Dead.

“What are your orders sir?” Wolf asks.

“Wolf,” he says. “Rally your men to move in. We are going to push. Randy, bring up the flamethrower and burn everything. I want them dead.”

He sees Randy orders the two combat engineers carrying the M11 Incinerator flamethrower(1). That soldier fires a long stream of fire into the Wood Elves position, burning everything. The trees, the elves, anything they can use against his forces.

Based on the evidence and the timing(2), he assumed Selina kidnappers wanted to trade her to the Wood Elves so he ordered a unit with flamethrowers. He remembers what happened last time(3), the Wood Elves using Fey magic to control plantlife to entangle the whole team, and the knights and Myui’s assassin maids, effectively immobilizing everyone including a superhuman Apostle like Rory. It took the divine intervention of Tuka to release all the groups from the entanglements and Lelei’s firestorm spell to effectively defeat the Wood Elves and rescue Selina in the end.

This time he won't allow them to use that advantage.

He aims his M4 and fires.

“Support the combat engineers,” Randy orders. “Escort them and advance, keep up the pressure.”

He stops and aims his rifle, taking out an elf.

He starts to see a tree getting up after a Wood Elf cast a spell on it. He also starts to see tree roots and branches coming alive.

“You’re up Wolf,” he orders.

“Swordsmen on me, prepare to charge,” Wolf orders. “Alendor, use the flames from the flamethrower and maximize the damage.”

He watches five Humans, Volradens, and a Warrior Bunny charge forward. With their melee weapon they start cutting down the roots and branches.

He also sees a militia elf walk up to one of the flames. He uses his spirit magic and controls the flames, spreading it more. The elf directs the flames towards that new Ent, engulfing into flames.

He can see that the Wood Elves are frightened by the flames, seeing their magic isn’t working this time. He can see Lashin and Haoulis rallying what remains of their forces, to focus on using their arrows.

Andrew rushes over. “Colonel. I see the Human remains. Looks like the Wood Elves were trying to take them prisoners.”

He looks over and sees the dead bodies of Selina’s kidnappers. He then sees two survivors huddled together bound up. It looks like Lashin wanted to take them prisoners.

“Andrew, take two and secure those two,” he orders. “I want them alive.”

He looks back and sees the Wood Elves crumbling. He follows up behind Wolf wanting to keep the pressure.

“All units,” he says. “Get right up. Keep the pressure. Break them. Keep the M11s covered. Burn them out.”

He sees Lashing moving around in panic. He can see the frustration as Lashin mannerisms. “Wolf, cover me.”

Wolf nods and leaps forward. He rams his sword into a Wood Elf into a tree.

He gets a good line of sight of Lashin and aims his rifle. He can see Lashin calling for his people to retreat.

He fires.

The bullets got Lashin attention, getting hit in the arm.

Two elves get in front of Lashin and use their spirit magic. They turn the flames from the flamethrowers at him.

Randy rushes at him and pulls him down while Decimus gets in front and blocks the flames with his ballistic shield.

“Thank you,” he says.

“Last thing the girl needs is her daddy getting set aflame,” Randy says as he helps him up onto his feet.

“They are pulling back, Lieutenant Colonel,” Decimus says.

Hearing that he looks. “Do not let them escape. Don't let Lashin escape!”

That is when Randy places his hand on his shoulder. “Sir, we won't. We shouldn’t go after them. Our tanks are low and you have bigger concerns.”

“I agree with the Sergeant Major,” Wolf adds. “I smell a lot of blood and smoke in the air so I cannot detect them. We could walk into an ambush if we over-extend ourselves.”

He looks at both of them angrily. His emotions scream to go after the man who is trying to kill his daughter, twice now. He desperately wants to end this now however his training and logic side is saying Wolf and Randy are correct.

“Damnit,” he mumbles angrily. “Stand down and get ready to fall back. Let them go.”

“It is ok sir,” Randy says. “We will get the bastards. Next time.”

He takes a frustrated breath and remembers Selina kidnappers. He quickly heads over to Andrew's position. He plans to get some answers before handing them to the Military Police.

“Who the hell are you…,” he says as he gets close. He stops when he gets a good view. He now feels his blood boiling once he sees the leader. “Holy Fucking Hell! How the fuck are you still kicking? I thought I killed you Roger! Or is it Kevin this time?”

“Hello Jackson! Long time no see!,” Anlgos-Lead says in a sarcastic, but scared tone.

***

--- Fort Alnus, General Stanford Office, middle of the night ---

April 5th, 2026

Stanford is sitting at his desk, watching the argument unfold.

Colonel Yang is off to the side looking stressed out as he tries to retrain Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe from beating the crap out of Agent Castillo, the head CIA agent on Falmart.

“You people hired that asshole to kidnap my daughter to trade for the intel about the Haryo!” Sharpe yells.

“Now calm down Lieutenant Colonel,” Castillo says. “Let's remember who the Haryo Tribe are. They pose a great threat to the United States. Imagine if someone in the Cabinet was being controlled by a brainslug or the President herself?”

“No, no, no,” Sharpe replies. “I've been in black ops way too long to know better. I killed enough of you special agents to know there is always an angle. You wanted that slug thing so you could use it. That is all you give a fuck.”

“While I will not deny having a brainslug would be nice,” Castillo says. “Currently my superiors are more afraid of it. This isn’t a Hollywood movie, the CIA isn’t always looking for what we can use, if it is a threat to mankind it is our responsibility to purge it.”

“Point made,” Sharpe replies as he gets in Castillo's face. “I am so glad you nearly got my daughter killed for your noble cause. By the way, how the fuck is he still alive? I shot him two times in the chest through his fucking heart!”

“Past agents' health is not my area of expertise,” Castillo replies. “I apologize for what happened to Selina, Sharpe. There was no intent on our part for any harm to come to her.”

After hearing that he can also see Sharpe break.

Yang grabs him by the shoulder. “It is ok son.”

“No it is not,” Sharpe says. He then points to Castillo. “This bastard also attacked one of my Rangers.”

“If she was meant to be killed then she would have,” Castillo says.

“I am sorry Castillo,” Yang says. “Sharpe has a point here. You also attacked a uniform US Soldier. I don’t care about your covert missions, you have no authority to attack a soldier under my command.”

He looks at Castillo. While Sharpe is being irrational, which is very unusual for him however makes sense under the current situation he is impressed by how calm Castillo is. He stands there like a stone, either no fear for his life or doesn't care at all. However, his gut is telling him something else is going on.

“I want answers!” Sharpe demands.

“You do not have clearance for CIA operations on Falmart,” Castillo says. “But as I said. The Haryo Tribe is a threat. Look how easily they were able to infiltrate Alnus. We lost a high priority target(4).”

He can see Sharpe about to attack Castillo for his lack of answers. While this isn’t suited for a military office, especially with his record he can understand. It is not easy for a man to know people are trying to harm their children. There are no limits on how far a father will go to protect his kids.

He is starting to realize that he needs to intervene in this situation and end the Wood Elf threat. But first, he needs to save Castillo.

“Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe,” he says. “I am placing you on leave for the week.”

“What?” Sharpe says, shocked.

“You heard me,” he says. “Spend this week with your daughter and Sarah… Captain Rose. With your friends and relax. You are all winded up and at this point you're no good on the field. The war can wait.”

“You heard the General Sharpe,” Yang says. “Report to the hospital.”

He can see Sharpe about to protest but stop himself.

Sharpe then looks directly into Castillo’s eyes. “If I see those fuckers who kidnapped Selina again, I swear Ii will put a goddamn bullet in their heads this time! Heads! Not the damn chest! So, they can fucking stay dead!” He then storms out.

Castillo looks at the door after Sharpe leaves. “Duly noted.”

“Colonel,” he says.

“Don’t worry sir?” Yang says. “I will keep an eye on him.”

“John,” he says. “We don’t leave our people behind. Don’t let him fall back into that depression again.”

Yang nods and leaves.

Once the Rangers leave, he looks at Castillo. “Are you going to tell me what is going on?”

Castillo looks at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I want the truth,” he states. His tone implying he is in no mood for games. “There is no way you would have fallen for Lord Lashin's trap like that. Trading Haryo secrets for a pre-teen girl? And then Karlin appearing at the last minute to save the day? You planned all this?”

“As I told Sharpe,” Castillo says. “I am not at liberty to explain my mission.”

“I am a five-star General. I am leading the largest multinational military force since World War Two,” he states. “One of my best officers is about to go insane because of your games. Either you explain to me now or I will find out my way and trust me, you won't want to be on my bad side. I won't allow you to screw over my soldiers.”

Castillo stands there in a cold manner, thinking of his response. “I already told you my primary mission here on Falmart.”

He didn’t like that answer. Castillo's mission here is to find the mission Earth slaves, conduct counter operations against the Haryo Tribe and the Oprichnina. However, he noticed that Oprichnina said, ‘primary mission’.

“My other mission is to hunt down the remaining Old Guard and prevent them from acquiring alien technology or in this case, fantasy alien biology or magic,” Castillo states. “My task force had nothing to do with the kidnapping and attacking of Selina Sharpe and Captain Rose.”

He thinks about that for a moment. “But you knew about it? And you knew Karlin was an Apostle in hiding.”

“It was not hard to give Karlin a note saying Selina was in danger,” Castillo says.

“And because Karlin took an interest in Selina because of their shared faith and connection to Rory, she would naturally go save her followers,” he says, putting the pieces together. “Which means this trade by the ‘Old Guard’ would be ruined?”

“Perhaps,” Castillo states.

“Ok,” he says, annoyed by Castillo's attitude. “Who is the Old Guard? Do I have a security threat I should know about in Alnus?”

“Direct threat, no,” Castillo replies. “But what I am about to tell you cannot leave this room. Years ago, there was an internal struggle and many old agents from many intelligence agencies from around the western world were purged from their home nations. These people were responsible for waging proxy wars all around the world, toppling governments and supplying extremist arms groups. All this for multinational interests from politicians to corporations.”

“These groups weaken however they are not dead,” Castillo says. “It is not in the US interest to these groups to have this world's treasures or they will be used against us. That meeting was one way to purge the current cell here.”

“I understand,” he says as he leans back. He remembers the lies about the 2003 Iraq invasion about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq which turned out to be false. “I understand what you are doing, however you cannot put my people in danger like that.”

“This is war General,” Castillo says. “In war there are casualties. However, if I saw another way, I would have taken it. While you or Sharpe don’t trust me, my faith in all their abilities ended up paying off. These Wood Elves though are proving to be more problematic than expected. Of all the hostile factions in Uros, they are the only ones that take us truly seriously. The big difference between them and the Haryo is that they are not deluded themselves to think they can outsmart us and learn about how we operate far deeper than anyone. They have a single motive, and they are being very careful how they operate around us. I will direct more resources against them and see if I can put an end to it before it escalates further.”

“However, at the same time, we also have even bigger concerns than both the Wood Elves and the Haryo combined that we need to seriously deal with. One of our main suspects of espionage, Dr Aman Sabanis from the Saint Lee hospital had disappeared. I believed the Russian FIS had deleted him to cut loose end(5),” Castillo states.

“Wasn’t that the doctor who treated the girls from alcohol positioning?” he asks, confused. “The report said their stomachs were not adjusted to our drinks.”

“The official report, but we believe it was a Russian trap,” Castillo says.

“Sharpe also reported that the FIS said there were Chinese spies in Alnus,” he says. “Any leads yet?”

“No luck so far,” Castillo answers. “Sometimes I prefer dealing with the Haryo and Wood Elves since at least they still do not comprehend how we operate fully like the Chinese and Russians.”

--- Alnus Hospital ---

Karlin stands at the window, looking in the surgery room alongside her are the girls.

She sees Selina laying on a bed passed out with doctors all around her. While it has been hours since she got her here, she has been given no information on Selina status.

As an Apostle of Miritta she has the ability to use Healing magic. It is a rare ability that people who only value life can use.

Healing magic can do many wonders however she learned a long time ago it is not a cure. It cannot fix severely damaged organs, blood lost, cure diseases, and dismembered limbs. It heals cuts, recover stamina, and just overall basic health.

With that, she is amazed by the medical technology these Other Worlders have. She has seen people hurt like Selina before and they either died or were only partly recovered thanks to Healing magic. With this technology, it fixes what her magic couldn’t.

“How is she?” Rory asks. “Doing better?”

“I don’t know,” she replies. “But the healing wonders these people have truly amaze me greatly.”

“I know,” Rory says. “I wish I were there though. I should have been there.”

“Why didn't Sharpe call us for support!? We are her big sisters after all!” Lelei angrily states

“He had to act fast at the time! Calling you girls to get to the position would take too long, which would result in severe consequences! Besides, none of you would know all of this would happen,” she says. “No one did.”

“But you,” Rory replies.

“I told you, sometimes tip me off,” she says.

She found that interesting. When she went to her shop after the school day ended, she saw a note explaining what Selina had taken.

She looks at Rory and sees this worried look on her. “There is no need to be this worried. I have faith that they would heal her.”

“I hope so,” Rory says. “But it is not just that. Jackson has already been through a lot and has been under a lot of stress. With his mate attacked and Selina nearly killed, I am worried all my work over the past year is going to go away.”

“I understand,” she says. “I know you invested a lot into him. Just have faith and have love.”

She looks into the surgery room and sees the doctors walking around. This machine is sticking a needle into Selina's arm. “I wish I understood what they are doing though.”

“They are administering Intravenous therapy on Selina to stabilize her,” Lelei states.

“You like your big words Lelei,” Rory replies. “These people have to be complex about everything.”

That is when she hears Sharpe coming down the hallway. “Here comes Sharpe.”

She looks over and sees Sharpe around the corner.

“Where is she?” Sharpe says as he slides up. He then looked into the surgery room. “What is happening? Is she ok?”

“We don’t know yet Jackson,” Tuka says. “But they haven’t come out here and given us bad news.”

Sharpe walks up to the window and watches.

“How is Miss Rose?” she asks.

“Sarah is fine,” he replies. “She was hit on the head hard but she will make a recovery.”

“That is good,” Rory says.

“Sharpe,” she says. “Do you know who and why those people took her?”

“Right now, I cannot speak about it,” Sharpe says. “Military rules and right now…”

“I understand,” she says.

She then notices the surgery room door open and this woman walks out with a Polish flag on her arm. The woman walks up to them.

“Miss Daolo,” Ewa Kowalski says. “I have an update for you.”

“Thank you but the father has arrived,” she says.

Kowalski looks and then notices Sharpe. “I am sorry Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe. Selina came here with Miss Dalol here. I didn’t know you were here.”

“I just arrived,” Sharpe answers. “Forget all the medical stuff, is she going to be ok?”

Kowalski takes a breath and then smiles. “Yes, but she will be in the hospital for a while in recovery. Miss Daolo got her here in time, so we were able to repair the main artery. The next stage is to keep giving her a blood transfusion.”

“Blood transfusion?” Sharpe says. “She lost that much blood?”

“I am sorry but yes,” Kowalski says. “She should make a full recovery as long as she stays here.”

“Ok,” Sharpe says.

She is glad to hear that. She cannot remember the last time she ran that hard and she is happy she made it here in time.

“Can we go in?” Yao asks.

“For now no,” Kowalski answers. “We want to keep as few germs coming in and out as possible. Her body is weak and needs time to build its strength again. Getting sick at this stage might complicate her recovery.”

She watches as Kowalski walks away and then looks to Sharpe.

Sharpe looks at her. “So, you are an Apostle? How long did you know Rory?”

“Ahh…,” Rory mumbles, trying to find an answer.

“Rory! What are you hiding something that I need to know this time?” Sharpe angrily stare at her.

“It is not Rory's fault,” she says. “I asked her to remain quiet. I did not want my status as an Apostle to interfere with the community. Rory did tell me to tell your superiors so I did(6).”

“Is that true Rory?” he asks.

“Yes,” Rory replies, a little nervous on how he will respond.

Sharpe looks back at her. “All this time you have been an Apostle to Selina’s goddess, influencing her.”

She has seen Sharpe kind before, people who do not like surprises like that. He is clearly protective of Selina, with much justification. “If you wish for me to stop, I will respect your commands, Sir Sharpe.”

Sharpe looks back into the surgery room, looking at his daughter. He then looks at her again and gives her a strong hug. He starts to cry a little. “Thank you so much.”

She looks down at him and smiles. She has found it fascinating that a little princess from this world and a warrior from another have so much love for each other. She can see how much he cares for Selina.

She places her hand on his back. “I promise nothing will ever happen to her. She is my favorite follower.”

“Rory if you mind? After Selina recovers, hex her for me so anyone tries to harm her will die a gruesome death,” Sharpe asks.

“I cannot hex living beings, Sharpe! I can only do it with objects,” Rory replies.

Beside being in a combat role, Rory also occasionally provides magical security measures for NATO cargo drops from the planes or ground assets in the battlefield by hexing its so only NATO force and their native allies can use the military assets while enemy combatants cannot steal or sabotage them without the risk of having their body bleed out from touching the hexed assets. However, hexing is a very lengthy process, so she can only hex a limited number of NATO military assets in the midst of battle.

“Maybe I just put it on her ankle,” Sharpe states.

“Colonel! I know you are worrying about the safety of Selina but I think putting a tracking device on her is a little bit too drastic! You are violating her privacy! Not to mention treating her like a criminal!” Lelei states.

Sharpe takes a frustrating breath. “I know… I could have lost both Selina and Sarah today.”

Rory walks up to him and places her hand on his arm. “You should go take a shower and get some rest Jackson. We are all here so go rest.”

Sharpe looks around. “Call if you need anything or if anything happens,” he then walks away.