chapter one

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one | desolation

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one | desolation

"...that concludes our report." I bowed alongside Griffin as he finished relaying the results of our mission in Vaitis Empire to our leader; Loan.

The tall woman called for us to raise our heads and return to our place in the front row of the small crowd gathered in the room. Her eyes glowing a beautiful copper colour as she began to regard the rest of the gathered group around us. "Firstly, I'd like to welcome home our squads from their various missions. With the coming of a new ruler in the Vaitis Empire, I highly doubt the war will continue in the same direction it has been moving in previously." The sunlight coming through the curtains gave off a warmth to the room that contrasted the cold and serious air that surrounded us. "The other continents won't just sit on their hands either, not with the possibility of the last remaining neutral nation taking up their own stance in this war. We need to act immediately if we are to reach our objectives with as little casualties possible. We will have to send out scout units soon."

Our leader strolled over to the side of the room, stopping before a well dressed individual with striking pink eyes and the palest of paper skin. "Milo, I'll leave this operation to you and your team, this will be your first major task as acting general. Find out the motives of the Empire and keep an eye on them."

The shy character, who was merely a teenager, saluted. "Yes ma'am." Though it was easy to tell that they were nervous, just from the slight quiver in their soft voice, there was no denying the look of determination that was burning behind their glassy eyes. Only those of us with keep ears caught the softly whispered 'good' that our fair leader breathed out.

Milo, a new kid who quickly climbed the ranks enough to secure themselves the position of 'acting general' for the reconnaissance units. When they first started here, the kid was weak and had no experience of the outside world. Then again, if you take into consideration where we found them, it all makes sense. Making eye contact with the kid, I watched as their shoulders dropped slightly and the corners of their mouth twitched up. In return, I gave a slight nod, the same motion I would make whenever they managed to meet their goal during training. The kid's growing up, and I feel old as shit.

"Johan, have we heard back from our scouts in Lirian?" Loans voice snapped me back to attention.

With blue eyes shut, and a solemn expression, the large man to my left shook his head. "After their arrival at the checkpoint, we only received two daily reports before communications were cut off. Based off of the last message, it would appear that General Smith has deployed their own units to infiltrate Lirian as well." Johan sighed at the end of his report, running a dark hand roughly through his short hair. From where I stood I could see his hands trembling ever so slightly. Johan was the sort of leader who would memories the names of each foot soldier under his leadership as well as their favourite foods--even down to even the birthdays of their siblings. A leader who truly cares for and appreciates their soldiers. They were his family.

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