The Chronicles of The Unsung Heroes

World of Fire

Anders, Osmond, and Fehmeeda had reached the captain in his personal quarters. They told him everything that they had learned from Cyrus. But to the unfortunate news told by Captain Casimir, something far worse may be brewing. Captain Casimir, while holding a piece of paper looks at the three chosen souls carrying a very solemn look on his face. "After being forced to leave the Unknown Lands, we received word from one of our spy teams." Captain Casimir stopped for a moment. He folds the piece of paper and places it in his left pocket before continuing. "The whole world is now plunging into the fires of war. I fear the hand we played from before is mostly to blame." Captain Casimir had relayed to them. Keeping his eyes closed in shame. Anders takes one step forward. "No captain! I refuse to believe that. The emperor had kept details and facts about the mission hidden from us. You can't help that." Anders finished saying as Osmond took a step forward to speak next. "Exactly! The emperor had manipulated us to start a war. Something HE wanted!" Osmond had finished relaying to the captain with a hint of anger in his voice. Fehmeeda steps up next after Osmond to speak. "No one is perfect captain. But it is up to us to set things right. We may be the only ones who can put an end to this Eternal War." Fehmeeda finished relaying to the captain. To reassure him and suggest that they bring the fight to the fullest. In an attempt to end this war for good. Captain Casimir looks at them surprised. Casimir fixes his face to give a stoic appearance. "Yes... you three do have the ability to do so." Captain Casimir had said to them whilst looking away. "No captain. All of us here, do." Anders told Captain Casimir, looking at him intently. Keeping a serious face on as Casimir looks back at them. "You really believe that?" Casimir asked surprised to hear that from Anders. Casimir continues. "Well... then prepare for war. I'll go let the other captains with us know. Dismissed!" Casimir declared to the three. Anders, Osmond, and Fehmeeda, salute Casimir before leaving his quarters and making their way to the armory. After navigating through the narrow halls and arriving at the armory. Opening the doors, walking through and closing the doors behind themselves, to greet the armorer. The armorer presents them their clothes that they had worn before leaving on their mission to the city. They take their clothes and go to the changing rooms to get into their original clothes. As they exit the changing rooms, they hear an announcement calling their names to the meeting room. The three of them make their way to the meeting room with all due haste. They reach the door to the meeting room, open it, only find Captain Casimir as well as Captains Titus and Eisa. They close the door behind them as they enter the meeting room. They greet the other two captains before taking their seats. Captain Casimir paces back and forth, letting his thoughts run through his head at light speed, holding his chin. Captain Casimir stops dead in his paced tracks, turns to face the others at the table before speaking. "As you may have been made aware... the world is taking a nosedive into a bottomless pit of fire." The captain waves his left hand, creating a magic holographic view of three empires, all sitting next to each other. One being in the middle and the other two on opposite sides. "Wakoku is preparing for war. From what we can gather, they are readying their defenses. Against what? I cannot say for certain." Captain Casimir briefly points to the kingdom in the middle. "This kingdom here, Shenzhou have their eyes peeled wide open. It could be them that is very well preparing for a strike." Captain Casimir relayed to everyone in the room, keeping himself standing straight to maintain a stoic appearance. The door slams open, a man standing at the entrance, panting heavily. He runs into the room with all the haste he can muster. "CAPTAIN! Urgent message came in from the kingdom of Joseon." The man relayed to the captain hastily whilst breathing heavily. "Gather your breath and then tell me what the message is." Captain Casimir told the man, briefly putting his right hand on his left shoulder. The man straightens himself out, stretching his back, takes in a few deep breaths before continuing. "Joseon claims that Shenzhou has started their invasion. They are attacking everyone, even innocent people. They are requesting our aid captain!" The man finished relaying the message to Casimir. "What shall we reply captain?" The man asked Casimir. "Why request our aid directly? Seems weird." Casimir had spoken to himself silently. "Excuse me captain?" the man had asked, wondering what it was he had said to himself. "Nothing. Go to tell the emperor we will be arriving to aid the people." Casimir had told the man who relayed the message. The man saluted Captain Casimir before running off and closing the door behind him. Casimir waved his left hand briefly to make the magic hologram disappear. He then looks at everyone sitting at the table. "Prepare yourselves. We go to Joseon to aid them. I want our primary focus to be aiding the people. Our secondary purpose shall be providing any air support." Captain Casimir told everyone in the room with clear intentions. "What about the three chosen souls?" Captain Eisa had asked Casimir curiously, wanting to know if he had anything possibly separate specifically set for them. Captain Casimir looks over at them. "Well... we can provide our own support on the front lines. Make sure more men can go back home to their wives and kids." Osmond spoke up to Casimir and the others whilst Anders and Fehmeeda nod in agreement. Casimir was left to his thoughts for a moment while Captain Titus spoke up after. "Sounds good. I will also divert some of my men to the front lines for defense of Joseon. Perhaps we can even shut down this assault." Captain Titus pondered aloud. "I will provide what medical support I can to everyone who needs it during that time. I will have my men set up casualty tents to help treat wounded men back to walking health." Captain Eisa stated to everyone in the room, making his intentions very clear. Captain Casimir looks around at everyone with a sense of pride and joy. Knowing that he had the right people beside him the entire time. "Alright. Prepare yourselves. We head for Joseon!" Captain Casimir had bellowed with a sense of urgency. Everyone leaves the room to get ready for their arrival to Joseon. The captain reaches the bridge and takes his spot right in front of the wheel. He looks over to a panel that sits next to the wheel and presses a button and holds it. A green light is lit up and stays lit. "As you may be finding out right now, we are heading straight for war. Know that it was not us who started this war... it was those in power who started this fight! We know that war is hell, BUT when we meet the enemy there, they will be ours!" The captain spoke into the mic to encourage everyone on his ship. The captain releases the button as the green light turns off. Meanwhile, Anders, Osmond, and Fehmeeda are waiting in a lounge area of the ship. Looking at the others, liking the captain's resounding speech. The other two captains return to their ships before preparing for teleportation to Joseon. Some few minutes pass on by and the ships engines start revving up. They start to grow bright and then suddenly vanish into a few portals. The portals lie there briefly before growing small and vanishing. The three ships are flying through white empty space at incredible speeds. Captain Casimir standing on the bridge looking out the window, looks over at one of his bridge officers. "How much time until we arrive at Joseon?" he asked curiously. "Thirty seconds captain." The officer replied. Captain Casimir nods in response. The three ships fly through the openings in the white space and find themselves above the capital of the Joseon Empire. The portals behind them close shut as if to have never been there. The communications officer listens in on his earpiece. He looks over to the captain. "Captain. Emperor of Joseon wishes to come aboard." He finished relaying to Captain Casimir. Casimir nods in response, saying "tell him, permission granted. We will meet him in the hangar bay." Casimir replied. "Aye captain" he replied before sending the message back to the emperor. The captain leaves the bridge and starts heading to the hangar bay. As the captain enters the hangar bay, he notices Anders, Osmond, and Fehmeeda already there, speaking with Volante. They notice Captain Casimir entering the hangar bay and immediately stand at attention. Casimir motions his hand for them to be at ease. "The emperor of Joseon will be aboard soon. Knowing what he wants, I want you to prep and depart to the front lines to help with defenses." Captain Casimir told Anders, Osmond, and Fehmeeda. "Aye captain!" Anders replied as the three salute him briefly. The hangar bay doors open, as a shuttle flies in slowly and lands close to Captain Casimir. The side door to the shuttle opens revealing a man wearing a gujangbok with nine symbols embroidered on the dress, showing dragons on both sides of the dress, and a moon above them on both sides. The dress being colored black with gold outlines. The moons having emphasis on shining brilliantly. "Welcome King Taejong, to my ship. How may I help you?" Captain Casimir asked after bowing to King Taejong. "Forgive me my poor use of your language. Do you have anywhere private to speak?" the king had asked in a low toned solemn voice. "Worry not. I do. If you would please follow me." Captain Casimir has responded in a kind manner. Casimir had motioned for the king to follow politely and started making his way towards the exit of the hangar bay. Anders, Osmond, and Fehmeeda, had looked over at Volante he had gotten the shuttle prepped and ready. Anders has a sword sheathed and equipped to his left hip. Osmond has a military black rifle with a leather strap, over his left shoulder. Fehmeeda has an emerald-colored staff with a brightly lit orb hovering just right above the staff. Fehmeeda uses magic to keep the staff hovering in place right next to her back. As Captain Casimir and King Taejong have already left the hangar bay, Volante peeks his head out of the shuttle to see the three standing there waiting for some kind of approval. "Waiting for some kind of approval to board, are you? Hop on! I've got the coordinates to where you need to go. Won't be long!" Volante told them cheerfully, knowing he gets to fly the shuttle once more. The three chosen souls look at each other wholesomely, smiling, before boarding the shuttle. They take their seats in the shuttle as the door closes and the Volante starts the shuttle. The shuttle lifts off from the ground and leaves the hangar bay of the ship. Anders gets back up from his seat and looks out a small window, seeing the three ships get smaller as Volante keeps flying the shuttle in its intended path. The shuttle flies over a beautiful city, bright green trees planted alongside buildings, holes in sidewalks with more of the trees planted in them, providing shade. Anders sits back down as the shuttle continues to fly. Sometime later, the shuttle arrives at a military base belonging to the Joseon Empire. Volante lands the shuttle on the landing pad, opens the side door for Anders, Osmond, and Fehmeeda to get up and exit the shuttle. "I'll see ya all soon! Take care now!" Volante yelled out to them as the door closes and the shuttle flies back off into the sky. The three chosen souls are greeted by the base's commander. "Greetings you three!" the commander greeted them happily, pleased to see them. "I hear you are here to help? If so, follow me." the commander told them while motioning to follow him. They follow the commander through a metal silver door connected to a big metal silver building. As they walk through the building, they notice how spacious the hallways are. "These hallways make me wish the ship was as spacious." Osmond said to the others half-jokingly. They walk through more of the building, seeing workout stations, firing range, magic range, before reaching their destination. Walking through a door, into a room with a table placed in the middle. A map lies on top of the table showing all three countries next to each other. Shenzhou in the middle, Joseon on the left, and Wakoku on the right. "While we wait for King Taejong-" the commander stops himself from speaking as he looks out a window. Taking notice to something unusual in the sky. The commander walks closer to the window to try and get a better look at what it is. He notices three trails of fire moving towards them in the base. The commander's eyes widen in fear, having realized what they are. He runs outside the room screaming, "MAGES! SHIELDS!" The mages scramble up in a hurry. Trying to get themselves positioned quickly and putting up shields right above the base. The three missiles collide directly into the shields, letting out an incredible loud bang. An explosion knocking everyone onto their backs, the shields shattering like broken glass into a million different pieces, vanishing into thin air. Anders, Osmond, and Fehmeeda get back up quickly as they hear canon fire off in the distance. Anders looks at Fehmeeda with wide eyes as she takes her staff and slams it into the ground. Creating a half bubble around them. The canon shells collide into the building, creating an explosion, breaking Fehmeeda's shield, shattering it, making it vanish into thin air. The three of them fly in three different directions. Anders slams into a wall, completely dazed. "Anders!" Anders hears his name faintly being called, still dazed and confused of what's going on. "Anders!" he hears again, more clearly. "Anders!" Anders hears again, shaking his head, seeing Osmond right above him. Osmond offers his left hand out to Anders. Anders grabs his hand as Osmond helps lifts him up. "Where's Fehmeeda?!" Anders said aloud with great concern. "This way!" Osmond said to Anders, motioning to follow him. Osmond and Anders hear gun fire and spell slinging followed by minor fiery explosions. Anders and Osmond take cover behind a broken wall. They peek right above the cover to see what's going on. Anders spots Fehmeeda on the other side of the ruined building as both sides of Joseon and Shenzhou are fighting each other. Anders and Osmond look at each other and nod. They jump over the cover, Anders unsheathing his word, and Osmond arming himself with his rifle. Anders powers up his sword, turning the blade to make it look a dark blueish color emitting from the blade as haze. The soldiers of Shenzhou are jumping in through the broken walls and windows, while Osmond fires away at them. Piercing through some of their armor, taking their life, as they fall to the ground motionless. Some Shenzhou mages teleport in, slinging fire towards Anders. Anders immediately cuts through the fireballs being slung at him, setting off minor explosion on both sides of himself as he continues to charge through, as Osmond provides some covering fire. Osmond shoots down some of the soldiers flying in, attacking everyone in sight. Anders thrust his sword forward, piercing through one of the mages and cuts through the side. The mage falling to the cracked, ruined ground, lifeless. Anders cuts through a couple more mages, slicing through their bodies like butter. Anders jumps over a pile of rubble and reaches Fehmeeda. Fehmeeda, slinging fireballs and ice spikes towards all the enemies trying to charge in. "You alright, Fehmeeda?" Anders asks as she turns to face him, the enemies having a break in there charging efforts. "Yeah... where's Osmond?" Fehmeeda asked concerned. "He's back on the other side, helping those soldiers defend what's left of this base" Anders spoke, confident that Osmond will be alright. "We should regroup with the soldiers here and push these attackers right back to their home!" Anders suggested, keeping a serious face. Fehmeeda nods in agreement. Anders and Fehmeeda run back from where Anders came from. They both jump over the same pile of rubble and see as the Joseon infantry is defending themselves with Osmond's help. Fehmeeda and Anders look at each other and nod. Fahmeeda puts a thin shield over herself and Anders to protect themselves from flying debris, shrapnel, explosions, and bullets. Anders charges into the fray as Fehmeeda keeps close behind him for support. Anders swings his sword to the left, slicing through a Shenzhou soldier, cutting clean through. Fehmeeda fires off a few fireballs at a few distant targets, colliding into them and exploding. Sending debris and armor flying. Anders ducks as the debris flies over him. He jumps back up, swinging his sword to the right cutting clean through another soldier. Keeping his charge consistent, Anders, thrusts his sword forward, piercing another Shenzhou soldier clean through to the other side. He slices his sword through to the right, cutting through his body with ease. Fehmeeda fires off a few ice spikes, piercing a few distant Shenzhou mages though their chests. Their bodies dropping motionless, there life having completely left them. Fehmeeda turns around as Anders keeps charging towards Osmond and his small group of Joseon soldiers defending their position. She puts up a shield, blocking fireball attacks, protecting everyone on her side from the explosions. Fehmeeda's shield drops as she turns back to see Anders close by to Osmond. She starts running towards them as Osmond and the other Joseon soldiers provide her cover fire. Bullets flying past Fehmeeda, piercing the Shenzhou soldiers' chests, as they fall onto their backs, they continue to fire their rifles, protecting Fehmeeda from their attacks, bodies dropping onto the ruined floor. Fehmeeda reaches Anders and Osmond standing with the rest of the soldier as they stop firing, seeing a break in Shenzhou's charge. Fehmeeda breathing a little heavy from everything that has just happened, looks up at Anders and Osmond. "Alright Fehmeeda?" Osmond asks. Fehmeeda nods yes. One of the Joseon soldiers approaches the three. "Have any of you seen our commander?" He asks worriedly. "Not since this blatant attack." Osmond had spoken, adrenaline still rushing through him at full speed. Anders nods no while Fehmeeda thought back for a moment. "I think he may have been dragged off somewhere." Fehmeeda said as if questioning herself. The soldier, Anders, and Osmond all turn their heads to look at Fehmeeda. Now curious as to what she saw and where the commander could have gone. "You think he was kidnapped?" Anders asked curiously. "You think so? Couldn't be. Too much of a waste of soldiers' lives for one man." The Joseon soldier replied thinking to himself of different possibilities. "Well, either which way, he is not here. We have to find him." Osmond suggested. "We'd be spending a lot of resources for one man. If he's gone, then we may have to let our losses go." The soldier suggested back, thinking that something more serious may yet come. "This all happened very quickly. No way they could have already left Joseon. I bet they are seeing the losses over this. Plus, it is possible that they could have captured more than one leader. Not just one commander." Anders stated to everyone. "I say, we gather a small party and head out, to find out where he is." Anders finished saying to everyone emphasizing how important this could become. The Joseon soldier looks over at him. "That way we can plan a proper rescue." He replied to Anders with a confident upbeat attitude. "I'll go grab a few others to join us." The Joseon soldier had told them as he quickly left to find a few others for this emergency mission. Fehmeeda waves her left hand, creating a holographic magic screen to call Volante. Fehmeeda relays a message to Volante to pick them up just outside the ruined base, and that a few others will be joining them. She then makes the screen vanish with the wave of her hand. The Joseon soldier returns with one other to join them on this emergency rescue mission. Fehmeeda takes one step towards them. "We have a shuttle on the way. Join us right outside this base." Fehmeeda told them. The party of now five make their way outside of the base to wait for the shuttle. They see in the distance a shuttle flying towards them. Assuming it is Volante, they wave it over to them. The shuttle lands with the side door opening up. "Come aboard!" Volante yelled out to everyone, eager to go. Everyone hops on as Volante looks back to make sure everyone is on before pressing the button to close the side door. The shuttle takes off as Fehmeeda walks up next to his seat. "I would advise to keep heading eastward in this direction since that is where the attack came from." Fehmeeda suggested. "I'll cast an invisibility spell on this shuttle, so we don't get caught." Fehmeeda had explained to Volante as she waved her left hand and made the shuttle go invisible, absolutely hidden from sight. Volante flies them close but not to close as to be heard by the enemy. Volante lands the shuttle, opening the side door. "Good luck!" Volante yelled out to them as they jumped out of the shuttle, landing firmly on their feet. The side door closes, and Volante flies the shuttle slow and low as now the invisibility is gone. Osmond, while holding his rifle, motions everyone to stay where they are at as he crouches, walking towards the edge of a cliff. As he nears the edge, he gets on his stomach, going prone, hiding well in the bushes. Osmond looks through his scope to see what the enemy may be packing. To his surprise, it is not nearly as much as he thought it would be. He sees prisoners being rounded up, chained and loaded onto a shuttle to be shipped off. Osmond nods no, thinking to himself that this is not to bode well. Osmond snuck back to the group to report what he saw. "They snagged more than one commander it seems. They're putting them on shuttles and flying them back, to what I am assuming, there base." Osmond reported to everyone. Joseon soldier nodded. "We should make our move at night." Anders suggested. Fehmeeda nodded in agreement. Osmond looks over at the two Joseon soldier to see if they are in agreement. They both agree to move at night but no later than that. Hours pass by; the sun moving at snail's pace across the sky. The sky starts turning a deep yellow, clouds moving in. The dark starts settling in, moving across the sky as it turns to a black, dark, night. The Joseon soldiers, already equipped with night vision goggles, put them on and activate them. Fehmeeda uses magic on herself, Osmond, and Anders to allow them to see clearly in the dark like prowlers of the night. The Shenzhou soldiers, now with less guards, being less wary, start to pack up to leave as the group start slowly making their way towards them. Hiding in the shadows of the night, they stalk the Shenzhou soldiers, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Osmond has his rifle aimed and ready. Anders looks around the small set up base, looking to see if there is anything to worry about. to his surprise, he did not spot anything that would harm their operation. Anders puts his right thumb up, giving Osmond the okay. Osmond nods and peers through his scope. Aiming directly at one of the soldier's head, Osmond presses on the trigger, firing his rifle. The bullet flies at high speed, zips on by, piercing through the helmet with extreme ease. Blood flies out of the helmet in a cone like shape, shocking all the Shenzhou soldiers there. "Gongji!" one of the Shenzhou soldiers yelled out to warn everyone else. They scramble to ready themselves for battle as Anders, Osmond, Fehmeeda, and the two Joseon soldiers charge them quickly. Anders unsheathes his sword, jumps and thrusts his sword through a Shenzhou soldier trying to grab his gun, piercing through his back to the chest side. Osmond and Fehmeeda run past Anders, firing away. Osmond hitting far off Shenzhou soldiers, bullets piercing through their chests as they had gotten ready to aim and fire. Fehmeeda had summoned and thrown ice spikes at nearby Shenzhou soldiers, piercing through their necks and helmets. Everyone one of them dropping to the ground lifeless. Anders had sliced his sword through to the left side, cutting through the soldier as the Joseon soldiers run up next to him and provide him some cover fire as some of the Shenzhou soldiers started firing back. Fehmeeda slams her staff into the ground, providing everyone with limited shield capacity. Bullets hit and collide with the shields, weakening them. The two Joseon soldiers fire back in the same direction as the Shenzhou soldiers. The Shenzhou soldiers take cover from the firing, bullets flying past them, skimming across the rock's surface, barely protecting them. The remaining Shenzhou soldiers run, knowing that it is too late to fight back and win. Anders, Osmond, Fehmeeda, and the two Joseon soldiers group up back together. "That was a clean charge. Good job everyone." Osmond had congratulated everyone. Everyone looks over to the one last shuttle still grounded. Anders slowly walks over to it, opens the side door, and peers carefully inside. To his surprise, he sees nobody. He motions Fehmeeda over. She walks over looking at Anders curiously. "Can you send out a small pulse wave. Detect anyone that may be cloaked with that invisibility magic?" Anders asked still looking inside. "Of course." Fehmeeda responded with confidence. She stabs the ground with her staff, sending out a pulse wave that covers the whole the shuttle. Fehmeeda let out a sigh of relief to know that no one is hiding in there with invisibility magic. She nods to everyone, letting them know that it is safe to take the shuttle. They all take a step inside as Anders closes the side door behind them. One of the two Joseon soldiers, walks up to the pilot's seat. "I did take some classes. I may be rusty, but I should get us there fine." the Joseon soldier gulped nervously as he had stated that to everyone. "Does not leave me with too much hope." Osmond muttered to himself quietly. Everyone grabs onto something as they hear the shuttles engines roar and lift up into the air. The shuttle stops suddenly and then starts moving forward. Osmond looks at Fehmeeda and Anders with wide eyes as if the soldier is going to get everyone in the shuttle killed. Anders waves his left hand in front of his neck nodding no. "We'll be fine..." Fehmeeda uttered quietly to Anders and Osmond. The other Joseon soldier walks to the front, sitting in the co-pilot's seat. He looks at a screen showing their current position. He presses a button, and the screen zooms out showing where the drop-off point is for the prisoners they have captured. The soldier in the pilot's seat adjusted the course to head to that point. 
An hour has flown by since they had taken the shuttle to make a rescue attempt of the kidnapped commanders. "Almost there" the Joseon soldier sitting in the co-pilot's seat announced to everyone. The lights in the shuttle suddenly turn red followed by a loud alarm. "What's going on?" Anders yelled jumping to the front quickly to find out what the issue is. "Missiles!" Everyone's eyes go wide with fear after what the soldier in the co-pilot's seat yelled out to everyone. The soldier in the pilot's seat notices two missiles in the distance flying at incredible speeds towards them. The soldier moves the shuttle to the right, dodging the first missile. The second missile moves right by the shuttle, exploding near its engines, forcing the shuttle to fall down in a circular motion. Everyone hanging on for dear life. "Hang on everyone!" Anders yelled out to everyone. Fehmeeda quickly tried to put out a protective spell on everyone as she struggles to keep herself up as the shuttle spins out. The shuttle slams into the ground, shattering into pieces, knocking everyone unconscious.