1240 HOURS.

  SATURDAY, 20 AUTUMNSUS 1441.

  GLACIES, YONDEL.

  A LETTER FROM VITA HAD ARRIVED. There was a small uptick in hardline bureaucratic policies growing with town and villages close to the northern frontier. This was no mere coincidence as settlements away from any major industrial or populated center tended to fall to the more extreme reactions to any problems that appear. It was a headache to the older senator, he much rather that the issues that were often taken into the hands of the people and local representatives be given to the king and his party. It would be much simpler to deploy the military and have official government representatives alleviate and resolve all issues, especially those that might entail dealing with the Demon Lord and his endless armies. There was much to handle within the confines of security, but unfortunately Orpheus had been reassigned to the foreign affairs committee by Alexander Lockhart, the head of the royal court. Communication with his fellow senators was hampered due to this move, but at least they could get work done on securing allies in other principalities and kingdoms.

  Procedures had been put in place and enacted for this very moment. Not long ago the session that the royal court was having was suddenly halted due to the appearance of Reavers within the throne room. Thankfully the court was in a separate facility on the other side of Glacies, but that fact remained that the ancient executioners had been summoned within the confines of the palace. Normally such an incident would see the removal of the king due to sheer negligence of the reality of magic, but this was quickly covered up and all witnesses present were given a strict gag-order. It was only by chance that Orpheus had learned the truth; he had a contact within the Royal Guard that informed him on the situation before the gag-order was given. Armed with this information the senator was able to get the gears moving within the machine; he had little time, and he needed to convince his fellow committee members to evaluate the current standing King Aldrich had with allied nations.

  Not a boring day around here. Orpheus thought. He was fifty-six. Being that old was considered ancient amongst his peers. For thirty-two years had he worked within the royal court, and in that time, he had spent more time at the desk than in his own home. His administrative duties prevented him from every truly enjoying the wonders of life, but he didn’t mind. He was a man of pure objective will and there was no time for distractions. A frown appeared on his lips. The only family he had was long gone, in a nation far away. He could never see his child, nor his wife, and the reality was harsh even if he wasn’t responsible for what happened. Was it his fault for never reaching out? Perhaps, but he was just following orders. There was nothing wrong with that. Orders were meant to be carried out to the letter. It was best that he didn’t concern himself with social needs, he could fill that through visiting the local tavern and enjoying quiet nights with the few coworkers he placed his trust in. His life was already clustered, and there was a lot of clean-ups to do beyond the confines of his office. For now, it was time to place a bitter smile on his face and continue his work. He had his hands full with the onset of Reavers and witches appearing within the capital city.

  “Senator Orpheus,” a frail young maid had broken the silence within his office. She was the same maid with short chestnut hair and a slim figure that he had seen being of service to the Holy Knights over the course of the week. She reminded him too much of his own daughter: That quiet demeanor and gentle gaze would only get her get her killed in the close future.

  Placing his hand on the wooden table, Orpheus sent a stream of mana through a small metal plate that fed into a porcelain teacup heating it and making steam rise from the drink within seven seconds.

  “Speak,” he finally addressed the young maid.

  She clutched a letter in both of her hands as her voice almost broke trying to speak to the man, “The Grand Edict sent you an invitation to observe the Holy Knight’s examination in the Forgotten Forest.”

  A small smile broke upon his face. “Is that so?” He chuckled, “Tell me dear, do you know why I think that the Grand Edict is a fool?”

  Her small hands began to curl inwards, and before the maid realized, the letter had been folded at the top right corner. “A fool?” She parroted not understanding what the Senator meant by insulting the highest enlisted soldier within the Royal Army.

  Holding his tea by his side, Orpheus up a document from his desk. “He believes that the Holy Knights will fail, and as much as that would benefit us both, we all know what these men are capable of.”

  She couldn’t help but stare.

  “Do not misunderstand: I have no intentions for you to know what my years a politician will be like, but for the Grand Edict’s career? It is nothing more than a farse that will fall apart upon true adversity from the threat of Teufel. This Demon Lord we all see is only a small piece of the puzzle. And if this kingdom is to survive, we will need more than swords and young men to protect the futures we give to the children of tomorrow.”

  1245 HOURS.

  SATURDAY, 20 AUTUMNSUS 1441.

  THE FORGOTTON FOREST, GLACIES, YONDEL.

  “Alright, everyone off the fucking cart!” A hoarse voice screamed from the front of each carriage as the drivers forced everyone out. One-by-one both soldiers and knights obliged the orders of the drivers and walked off into the forest. Other than the group of foreign soldiers present in the back of the convoy, the other platoon-sized elements were here to train on survival skills and defense tactics in forested environments.

  Mike was one of the last ones to depart before the carriages took off at an abrupt pace. His boots slammed into the semi-muddy ground, and he straightened his legs and readjusted the helmet sitting on his head. His AR was in check, and there were no issues with the wooded environment. Looking around behind the polarized visor, he noticed that the bright rays of sun attempted to cut through the tree canopy high above. Thought the trees were evergreens, they retained the size of the redwood forests that were in California. They had to have been at least a good five miles from the city walls of Glacies. He didn’t know how much longer they needed to travers till they reached the southern seaboard, but he did feel a small amount of humidity that reminded him of the countless times he had spent at the coast of Texas, New York, and the Carolinas. The convoy had ended up in a forested area. In the distance, probably no less than 100 meters out, wooden prefabrications were set up in what looked to be an obstacle course. The mud had gathered on the wooden planks and in between each wall was a set of wooden and hay targets with metal plates adorning the chests. It wasn’t a course; it was a kill house.

  Too bright, he groaned. He didn’t look all too bad; his face was shaved, his body remained relatively dirt-free, and it was only his boots and pants that were marred by the mud, but Mike had been unknowingly panicking the entire time he was encapsulated in the second carriage away from the rest of his fellow Rangers. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the idea of having the chance of speaking to the princess and Captain Maximus, but there was an uneasy pressure of being surrounded by trained swordsmen and two members of the royal family. Lecca was fine. It was her ‘brother’ that had been watching him like a hawk. He felt he wasn’t dressed properly to speak to the teenage boy. BDUs weren’t always an option when speaking to state members on Earth, and this very well carried over to this world. The added sunlight he found himself in was just the icing on the cake.

  Andrew hummed, “Talk about another world. They aren’t any trees like this in Pakistan or the middle east.”

  “You just now figuring that out, LT?” Mike slapped his shoulder, “I mean a mixture of Pine and Evergreen, haven’t seen much like it before.”

  “Fair point,” Andrew laughed.

  Mike had been brought back to the squadron by his lieutenant, and he felt lucky enough to have been found by the junior officer. Despite the surrounding area being barren observers littered the forest; a conglomerate of civilians, politicians, and military officials had gathered to truly see what the Holy Knights could hold a candle to when it came to the kingdom’s standards. As Oliver had gathered them to give them a short pep talk relegating the short time to tactics and an overall strategy, Mike had listened closely, putting together a general picture that they would have to work around. As it stood, the element leaders would take charge in the exercise, while Oliver himself only relegated his command to placing goal posts rather than official orders. It was a simple idea, one that kept mobility, and independence to his men.

  “The course has been prepared. Please report to Captain Orwell, immediately,” as they finished their discussion, the run-of-the-mil soldier from the local garrison had interrupted them just before they were to conduct gear checks.

  The captain looked amongst his men. This was unprecedented considering his brief from Princess Lecca and his sergeant had them starting later in the afternoon. “Right then. Lead the way,” Oliver said targeting the demolitions corporal next to him and dragging him by the collar before he could make a move on the local women he had spotted over a nearby hill.

  Being a short distance away, the men were led to a small observation post atop of a hill. Captain Orwell and Princess Lecca-Maradel were crowded around a small board at the side of the room while a single knight and a soldier remained in place watching the yet-to-be-used course. Maximus looked over his shoulder towards the disturbance. He seemed to be wary of those coming up to the post. He glanced behind the Rangers as if he were looking for someone, but when he failed to locate the person, he was searching for. He let out a small sigh, “Captain Thompson, I’m glad to see that your men are punctual. The examination course is ready.”

  Oliver nodded his head, “Wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”

  “Still there are parameters in place that will have you going in blind.” The knight captain growled, “Those stooges above me want to see you fail so they get full control. There isn’t anything fair about this.”

  “Rather not have it fair. We can show those suckers what we’re made of. Besides, it’s not like war is fair,” Sergeant Malkovich commented making all the Ranger’s chuckle and grin.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “Remember gentlemen, this is an evaluation.” Lecca smiled impressed by how carefree her men were.

  “No problem princess. Wouldn’t be a Ranger mission if this evaluation were easy,” Malkovich fired back.

  Lecca couldn’t giggle.

  “Captain Orwell and Lecca have a point,” Mike said trying to be a voice of reason. “We don’t know what we’re walking into, and the last thing we should do is get overly confident in our abilities. If we are to fight a war against some Demon Lord, then the concept of magic, monsters, and so on will be beyond our traditional doctrines. I don’t think even mock battles would be enough to adapt. It would take years.”

  Letting out a groan and turning around, the knight that was at the edge of the room spoke, “Fine, watch out for a total of ten targets in this first section. Continue navigating east, deeper into the forest and reach the other side by sundown.”

  “Alright, we’ll bite. Get in position, we start in five!” Oliver boomed.

  Marching through the short cut grass, the Rangers would soon gather at the staging area to the kill house. They all took the extra three minutes they had to stow away unnecessary gear and load extra magazines as Oliver took the time to survey the entrance of the target building. Maximus was right, they were going to march into this blind, but at least they would put on a good show for those damned knights sitting comfortably in the castle awaiting their reports. Finding the urge to spare a glance to the observation post, the captain saw both the princess and Maximus watching them silently.

  “Rangers, listen up!” He boomed, “Take this as a blind test, the same one the cadre gave you in RASP! Focus on light discipline and target identification. Go for accuracy over speed, understood?”

  His men remained silent while sharing small nods.

  “Simon, on point. Richard, cover the rear.”

  Knights and soldiers had gathered. It was a bit intimidating that there were so many men watching the Rangers. It was like they were a flock of birds just frolicking around waiting to get a piece of bread, in this case action, and Oliver knew it. It was unfortunate that they were under the watch of the higher brass in the castle. If this was just a normal training event, he would be more than willing to teach these men how they fought. Either way he would still need a bottle of scotch in the end…

  Making his radio squawk, to check if communications still worked, he watched silently as his squadron moved to the starting line. They all were in a horizontal line. It wasn’t ideal, but the beginning approach was a ten-meter walk to the kill-house, and with the limited information they had, who knows if potential targets could appear outside. This was not a time to show off, as this was a live-fire exercise, and if something went wrong one of his men could get injured or killed, and God-forbid the same would happen to one of the many soldiers standing in close proximity. It was near impossible to anticipate what was to happen, but for now the switches on their rifles remained on safe. Each rifleman remained in a stoic silence as they readied themselves. Mike, Malkovich, and Andrew were rigid holding their rifles in the low ready. It was only a matter of time till the evaluation began and they were thrown into the fray. The rest remained in positions of rest, but they were clearly alert as they scanned the kill-house looking for potential spots where a target could suddenly appear.

  Lecca remained in place as she watched from the observation post. A cup of tea had been handed to her by one of the soldiers, yet she never rose the cup to her lips as she opted to never tear her eyes away from the course. Beside her a scribe was standing next to Maximus with a scroll in his hand and a feather pen in his other hand. History was going to be made, military history. Weather this document was going to see the light of day to the public, one thing would remain; those present would speak of this event with either smiles or frowns. She was confident in the Holy Knight’s capabilities, but there was always chance that this could severely backfire. And yet, there was a chance for this to succeed beyond all limitations. The Kingdom of Yondel, K?nigreich Yondel, had experienced more than fifteen national security incidents, more specifically breaches of security. Intruders, radicals, spies, they were all here to destroy the kingdom from the inside out. There was little intelligence about any of the factions operating to undermine the current king’s power, and any effort to search for such organizations had been stonewalled by local government representatives. A revolt would happen if the king interfered, and a revolt would happen if nothing was solved. Trouble was brewing, and Lecca had been ordered to lead foreign soldiers into the fray. If they could prove themselves now, then the possibilities to solve the kingdoms problems would be endless. Solutions would sprout, and life would continue without mishap.

  “The evaluation begins, now!”

  All eight heavily armed Rangers took off downrange. It was too late to make any second guesses. Now was the time to complete the objective, and there was no room for error.

  Rapidly descending upon the kill house with their weapons drawn at every possible angle that they could be eliminated, the Rangers stormed ahead and began to gather on the most eastern wall where the nearest entrance was. Simon scanned the entry way and pied the corner which was thankfully closed off by a flimsy door that opened inwards. With no other option the PFC turned around and placed his foot against the door handle. After a confirmatory nod from the Range behind him, Malkovich, he slammed his boot into the door and sent to door flying from its hinges and onto the wooden floor interior. Just managing to move out of the way in time, Simon was able to avoid a gun barrel being swiped where he was formerly standing. From the post they stood at, both Lecca and Maximus stared with widened eyes as the same resounding shots that they had heard in proximity not two hours earlier boomed from the interior of the fabricated house. Down at the line, both the knights and soldiers gathered reacted to the booming sounds by covering their ears, with some of the more cowardly taking cover behind the nearest object. The Rangers were here to kill; thankfully, they were only hay and wooden targets.

  A sly smile grew on the silver-haired princess’s face. Captain Orwell and the other military observers noticed her reaction, becoming unnerved how demonic she looked looking upon the Holy Knights.

  Oliver had made the ultimate order to spare only a single bullet per target. If this wasn’t a true evaluation, then they needed to converse all they ammunition they could while still putting on a show. Swinging to the left side, Mike, Andrew, and Jacob fired four bullets to four targets within a small room. The lead bullets tore through the thinly made, and poorly armored objects before the first brass casing crashed onto the floor. Each hole was precisely placed in the center, a testament to the training, ability, and discipline the men had as they stood around the room scanning for more boards to shoot. In the calming second that the three Rangers allowed, the gun smoke slowly cleared, a small amount of sunlight broke through the only window showing they had indeed eliminated all hostile enemies present.

  “Left side clear!” Mike boomed.

  “Right clear!” Malkovich responded.

  “Circle out to the exit!” Oliver ordered.

  “Coming out!” Andrew roared.

  Moving swiftly and regrouping on the northern side of the building, the Rangers gathered with the captain and his fireteam. Each held their weapons covering their designated fields of fire. This was no ordinary training event in the middle of Fort Benning; the surveyors waited for them on the other side, and every mistake could be a fatal one.

  “30 meters to the tree line!” Oliver bellowed as he set his safety on his M-5.

  “Rog’! Move it, get to the fucking tree line!” Malkovich followed up.

  “Hooking left!”

  A small smile broke on Mike’s face. They had completed the kill house in 23 seconds.

  One-by-one the now accustomed ‘Holy Knights’ stepped outside of the building and began a daring sprint to the thicker parts of the forest. Lecca and Maximus remained dead-silent as the men barreled across the semi-open field in the middle of the forest to the other side. Some of the knights and soldiers below made some crude comments on how the Rangers conducted themselves during the raid, but as the inspectors arrived, both knew that they had just set more than five records within the house. To simply be amazed was an understatement. This was going to change everything no matter the result of the examination. The soldiers present would attempt to recreate their success, and in their failures would come a change of doctrine at the highest levels.

  Running, no sprinting in full kit is horrible. Mike groaned to himself. The sudden burst of speed in the humid air was enough to make him dizzy when the squadron was fully concealed in the thick forest that now surrounded them. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he watched as his visor slightly fogged. The technological marvel that was the HUD was now slightly dampened by the heat circulating from his body and out into the warm forest. Slowing down to a stumbling walk, Mike and the others slowly came to a halt. All around the beauty and quietness of the forest came into fruition as they calmed their bodies and minds. Upon stopping the Rangers formed a small defensive circle around Oliver as he withdrew his compass and brought out a map that he was provided by Maximus. It took him ten seconds to adjust to the odd magnetic fluctuations he received from the tree he was perched next to before he found a spot where the magnetic polarity was normal, and within the moment he gained his squadron’s next bearing.

  “We should be heading northeast with this bearing. There’s a camp on the other side of the forest where the princess, Captain Orwell, and proctors should be waiting,” Oliver said as his squad mates kept watch of the horizon through the scopes of their rifles. “Get me a ten-meter spread, sling your rifles and double down on water. We don’t know what we’re walking into.”

  “You heard the man, get moving.” Andrew followed up.

  They rose in a synchronized manner. Even with their weapons down, the distorted vison gone, their eyes were drawn to the surrounding forest: brown, yellows, spots of orange, and the overbearing deep green pointed that the early stages of fall was rushing ahead. Every odd step a pile of dead leaves was compresses and shattered under the weight of their boots, and a shaky trail of their movements began to be imprinted on the ground. Though this was no bad omen by any means, traversing a forest within a world they were just now starting to venture through wasn’t the greatest idea. No one could guess or anticipate future problems that they would encounter, whether it be hostile flora, fauna, or the occasional targeted human, the least they could fall back on was to dispatch any threats with their firearms.

  Mike was drawn to the endless void ahead. They were sucked in like a whirlpool in the middle of the ocean, and all he could see is the darkness of being under the canopy. Being this far in meant that there were no landmarks, rivers, or tree lines. Just the endless stretch of what the mind would believe to be the same part of the forest. Yet, even in this cluster of colors and atmospheres, life continued; the scattered rays of sunlight broke through parts of the canopy and scattered light onto the floor. It highlighted the evergreen trees and pines, and there off to the side small bugs, and animals watched as the Rangers continued. Many of the animals that the sergeant and others could see were practically carbon-copies of wildlife on Earth. It was almost unsettling in a way when they spotted a buck with a single horn protruding from his head.

  That looks way to similar… Mike stopped himself as they reached the middle of the forest. All around them bead and orbs of light slowly separated from the trees and the ground and floated upwards in random intervals. Some of the orbs would collide into each other or into the trees and create a fine mist that would dissipate by the time it floated down to ground level.

  “What if this shit could be magma?” Anthony released the tension in his body with those words.

  “It’s alright. No need to be too worried, could just be magic?” Malkovich tried to placate the grenadier. Though he himself had no desire to get near the orbs.

  “Nah, no way it’s alright,” Anthony looked at the orbs through his rifle scope only to freeze as he saw nothing through the optic.

  “How the fuck did you end up as a corporal?” Jacob chided.

  Ignoring what he saw, Anthony lowered his rifle and pressed the PFC’s helmet deeper on his head, “Don’t ask me fuckhead.”

  Mike added to the fire, “Well for starters, he is a contract-based corporal.”

  “Sarge,” Anthony felt his voice fall as he had no argument.

  “Shut the fuck up before oh captain my captain does,” Andrew shook his head while hiding his smile.

  Soon enough their voices would fade from the forest as they continued further in. Even with the ability to read thermal signatures through his HUD, Mike could never anticipate the single figure standing high above in the shadows of the canopy. The person watching them was trained, they were sitting on one of the large branches as two axes held their body in place. The person observing the Rangers let out a satisfied hum as they stood up and looked behind them.

  In a single motion did the person spring from the branch and into the air, within that same second, they simple vanished in air causing a small pressure that disturbed the surrounding trees.

  Scattered leaves and magic-filled orbs were thrown around the forest, but no other noise was made.

  Publicly Available Information: Specialized Training:

  Conducted by members of the military such as: Archers, Musketeers, Mages, and Mountaineers, specialized training from marksmanship to survival skills are trained on a large piece of land owned by the royal family just outside of the royal palace.

  The training regimens require high endurance, special awareness, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.