Hells Bells

The Abandonment of Azur

June 22, 2025. Innerworld. Academic City of Milern. Yensom Federation.

The Academy grounds are lively in the summer sun, Talun rolls around under a tree, trying to block out the noise, and trying to sleep. Talun receives a kick to his back, which has him scrambling to his feet. He then swings at the person who kicked him. The person catches his fist with relative ease.

RISHU: Is that how you treat a superior officer?

TALUN: Oh Fuck.

Talun's arm is twisted and he is swung around into the tree he was napping under. As Talun waddles around on the ground, Rishu jumps up on the tank next to the tree and grabs a bag on the side of the turret. She jumps back down onto the ground and throws the bag to Talun.

RISHU: Get your gear on and move your tank to the training yard, the academy heads are getting on our ass about "Safety". They are so old school and too reliant on magic that they believe the tank can just cause chaos by some rouge magician. A bunch of fucking morons.

Rishu walks away muttering the last sentence under her breath. Talun stands to his feet and heads toward his tank, he climbs up over the commander's hatch and crawls into the tank. He puts on his equipment but stops halfway through and starts wondering why the commander of the 101st was here. He doesn't dwell on that line of thought for long and continues putting on his equipment. He grabs his helmet and lowers the microphone.

TALUN: Hallon, let's get movin'.

He gets no response on the radio. He climbs out of the tank and looks down at the driver's hatch seeing it opened.

TALUN: Hallon?

He receives no response again. He ducks back into the tank and grabs an Omerian shock trooper helmet sitting by his feet. He picks it up and looks out back at the driver's hatch. He chucks the helmet into the driver's position. The driver is startled awake by the sudden Helmet hitting him on the head.

TALUN: Get us movin' to the training yard.

The driver closes his hatch and starts the tanks engine. The metal beast roars to life. Talun closes the hatch and the tank begins moving. The students mingling around in the academy grounds focus their attention at the metal behemoth trying to maneuver down the crowded walkways leading to the training yard. Talun messes around with the speaker switch trying to get it to work again, when a putrid smell hits his nostrils. He opens the commander's hatch, sniffing the air until his eyes settle on a nearby row of trees. The tank moves past the trees into the training yard. The tank parks itself in the middle of the entrance, with an eerie silence setting upon the field. Talun still smells the putrid air coming from behind those trees. He hops out of the tank and begins walking toward the trees, while the driver calls out to him. They both notice movement behind the forward most tree. Talun draws his pistol, while the driver clambers behind the mounted minigun next to the commander's hatch. He spins it around and focuses on the trees. Talun notices a goblin move out dressed in a school uniform, he then feels a sharp pain in his chest. He falls to the ground clutching an arrow lodged into his ribcage. The goblin ready's another arrow, but is immediately shredded by the minigun. The driver climbs out of the hatch and jumps down onto the ground. He rushes to the commander's side, all the while yelling over his radio. Talun's vision starts to fade, when a portal opens with medical and MPs running through. They strap him into a stretcher and rush him through the portal, with it closing behind them. An oxygen mask is strapped over his face as he falls unconscious.

( Though the treaty has long since been signed ending hostilities in Yensom, the people who study magic hold great resentment against the US, for the way they see magic as a useless tool. The magicians see the US as a form of evil magicians and are influencing the Federation too much for their liking. Situations like the one above are not uncommon in the magical city. The Innerworld is only composed of humans, so where did the goblin come from? Magical experimentation to create a soldier that replenishes their numbers fast and can move faster than humans. It was a failure as the goblins were infertile, so in some academic cities you can see the failed experiments wondering about)