Echoes from the Paths

Chapter 20

The sound of gunfire filled the air, drowning the cries of soldiers scrambling through the trenches of the battlefield. Explosions shook the earth beneath them as bullets whizzed past.In the middle of all the chaos we see a young boy on the ground, his face covered in dirt and blood.His head pounded, his vision blurry. The only thing he could focus on was a bird soaring high above the battlefield, moving freely in the sky.

The boy reached his hand out and murmured weakly, "It's dangerous here....You'd better fly away.... Fly far away..."

Before he could think any further, strong hands grabbed him shouting his name, "Falco!"

The boy, Falco recognised this person, his older brother Colt Grice , "Colt,....why?"

"Good you can talk! You will be fine!" Colt reassures his little brother as he picked Falco on his shoulders.

"We're gonna run for it! Hold on tight!"

As they began to run, machine guns started firing upon them as several soldiers were shot down dead before they could reach the safety behind the trenches as Colt managed to pull himself and his brother into the safety of the trenches and the next thing he was with a group of young fellow candidates-Gabi, Udo and Zofia who were kneeling beside him trying to wake him up while Colt was reporting to their Commander, Theo Magath.

"The Eldian vanguard got bombed." Colt said, breathing heavily.

" Only a handful of us survived."

"And the trenches?" Magath asked.

Colt with frustration on his face asked, "You can't possibly expect us to dig any further!"

Magath titled his head and said, " I can't? Is that an order? Does an Eldian presume to give me orders?"

Another soldier beside Magath yelled at Colt, "Hey! Watch your tongue around Commander Magath! You filthy devil!"

As Colt was reporting to Magath, Falco was still dazed.

"Falco? You drunk or something?" one of his friends, Zofia asked him with a straight face.

"Looks like he hit his head pretty hard." Gabi said and meanwhile his other friend, Udo stared at her deadpanned.

"Way to say the obvious Captain Obvious "

Falco blinked, still dazed and struggled to process his surroundings. "Where.....are we?"

All three of them widened their eyes in surprise before Udo started explaining, " Do you remember how we've been at war for four years? Between Marley and the Mid-East allied forces?"

Falco still looked confused, unable to process the information.

Gabi sighs before dumping some water on the poor confused boy. "Yeah, looks like we need to explain the operation from the top."

"Listen to this, Falco."

"We're about to put an end to the four years of war. "

"Once we take Fort Slava - or more precisely, once we sink the Middle East Federation's fleet in the port behind it- Marley will have won the war even with the last few battles that we have lost."

"But first we have to take Fort Slava and the hill that protects it. But if we fail and with the losses we gained from the last few battles, we'll have no hope of winning the war."

The words finally registered. Falco groaned, as his body aching up as he sat up. Around them, soldiers in Marleyan uniform huddled behind cover, waiting for orders. The trench stretched far along the battlefield, while in the distance was a massive fortress, Fort Slava loomed over them while gunfire rained upon them from machine-gun stationed along with its walls, pinning them down.