Nadzieja( Polish for Hope)

Chapter 18: The Versailles Aftermath

The year is now 1918 and World War 1 is still happening and tanks were being improved and produced rapidly. However, things were finally going to change when the Americans who have finally solved their conflict with Mexico and had prepared their armies finally arrived in Europe in early June 1918, Things started to look good for the Allies. During that time Colonel Robert Smith became busy with planning battle tactics as a new colonel, so he promoted Charles to a sergeant and gave him, David and Henry a new and improved tank to help with the war effort.

On 18th July 1918, Nelson Mandela was born.

The arrival of the Americans over time started to roll in great favour for the Allies because the Central Powers started to become desperate as they began using most of their resources which were effective for a while. But unfortunately, over time it became their downfall, as over the course of a few months the Central powers started to surrender one by one. Bulgaria was the first Central Power to surrender as it surrendered on 29th September 1918. The next Central Power to surrender was the Ottoman Empire which surrendered on the 30th October 1918. The next Central Power to surrender was Austria-Hungary which surrendered on the 3rd November 1918. With every Central Power country surrendering the Allie countries celebrated they got closer to victory.

Finally, on the 11th of November 1918 at 11:11 am, Germany the final Central Power surrendered and this ended the war. Allie soldiers including Charles and his friends who were in their tank began to celebrate this by having 2 minutes of silence to honour all the soldiers who died during this horrible war. Even souls in Heaven were very happy to finally see the end of the war they even had fireworks and music to show that.

Three days later representatives from all the countries that fought in World War 1 (with exception of Russia that was still busy with their civil war but they did wish the best of luck with what they were going to do) met up in the French city of Versailles (which is close to Paris) to discuss an agreement on the future of Europe. As this was happening most soldiers started to return to their home, though some like Charles and David decided to stay for a while to help the civilians and bury their dead

The discussions took about a week but once they were decided, Germany took all the blame for all of World War 1. They were given a very high debt which would take them over 70 years to pay, the other Central Powers were given debts to pay but nowhere near as high as Germany's debt. Germany was absolutely forbidden to have an air force and a navy and their army were greatly reduced. Germany lost all of its colonies which given to either France or Britain (Though Namibia despite becoming a British colony still used German as a co-official language with English). Germany also lost the region of the Rhineland as it becomes a military checkpoint guarded by French and British soldiers.

Austria-Hungary was separated into Austria and Hungary. The Austrians, Hungarians and Germans were to give up some of their lands. From which new countries like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were formed. Italy gained the south Tyrol region from Austria thanks to the treaty. Also, most countries in Europe like Germany, Austria and Hungary got rid of daylight-saving time except for Britain who decided to keep it.

After the treaty was signed. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany exiled himself to the Netherland where he spent the last years of his life hoping that Germany would once again be a monarchy or at least a constitutional monarchy with him as emperor but that never happened. Colonel Robert Smith was promoted to General though 2 years he stepped down from working with the army as he wanted to have a normal and peaceful life but he would come back to serve the army as General and taction during World War 2. Henry Vale decided he no longer wanted to be a tank mechanic and engineer so he became a car mechanic and engineer. Rajesh Sharma and his brother Karan managed to survive the war and returned to their families and friends in India who were very happy to see them again as they had a party for them to celebrate their return. Zachary Thompson survived the war but got PTSD which force him to undergo therapy for 5 years, but once that was done, he returned to his services as a fireman. Benjamin Wade survived the war and still continued to be a pilot as it was his childhood dream.

Meanwhile, our heroes Charles and David were waiting on a port in Dunkirk for a ferry to take them to Dover, England so they could make their journey back to their homes in London. Once the ferry arrived Charles and David entered it and sat on a seat near a window where they got a beautiful view of the shimmering blue ocean. A minute later after all the passengers entered the ship began to move and our heroes decided to take off their helmets and put them on their laps. "Thank goodness this war is over but we had a great adventure in the war to end all wars, to have peace." Cheered David. Charles then looks at David and replies "For now there is peace, but I have a feeling another war like that may occur, as feel the punishment we gave Germany feel way too harsh and may because of this cause another war. But I do hope I'm wrong and that we all learnt a valuable lesson from this conflict". He then sighs and looks at the ocean. Charles then sees a white dove flying in the distance which looked to Charles and David as a symbol of peace and a new beginning for Europe and the rest of the world. They both wondered what their futures will have in store for them.

At the same time back in one the Swiss Alps. The same Mayan priest guy from 1872 who didn't age at all since then as he was still young and active. The priest was chanting in various languages near an empty stone pool and ordering his followers to put hundreds of litres of water, human and horse blood into the pool. The priest then tells his followers to then put a bit of wood and a lot coal, , salt, iron and titanium into the mixture. During the time the ingredients were being mixed, the priest while chanting gets out his special knife and slits his palm opening leaving a huge jagged and bloody wound. The priest then began squeezing out a few big drops of his blood from his hand into the mixture. The blood drops that came out of his hand were for some reason glowing a very bright red. After that was done the wound in a matter of milliseconds healed like it never was there (though his hand was dirty from the blood). The priest raises his hands into the air and shouts "Rise my children, rise!"

At moment the mixture in the pool became liquid it then turned blood red and it started bubbling, frothing and fizzing like mad. And then 4 horsemen on their horses jumped out of the mixture. The priest looks at them and speaks. "Welcome, my children, for I am your father". He then starts giving each of horseman a name he looked at them one by one. "Pestilence!" he looks at the first horseman who looked like a samurai he had a crown attached to his helmet, his main weapon was a bow and his horse was milky white. "War!" he looked at the second horseman who looked like a knight, his weapon was a sword and his horse was fiery red. "Famine!" he looked at the third horseman who looked like an Egyptian mummy, he carried a pair of scales and his horse was raven black. The priest then looks at the final horseman who was a robed hooded skeleton, whose weapon was a scythe and rode on a pale horse. The priest then says "And my greatest creation Death!". He then stretches out his arms and shouts "You four, are my Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse who in the future with my Shinigami will help me bring forth a new and better world in fire and blood!" He clenched his fists when he was saying that. "Yes father!" Cheered all four horsemen in unison as they all raised their weapons into air to show their loyalty and respect to their father.