Heaven Falls

Chapter 4

Damien

Amestrid - The Hawk's headquarter

1 hour before setting off

The big day has come.

I'm standing in a crowd of soldiers, at least a thousand of them, all in complete set of uniform: black boots, grey trousers, darker blue shirt buttoned carefully, an XM – 21 rifle across shoulder, two additional hand guns held by the holster at the two sides of upper thigh. Everyone is ready, judging by the looks on their face.

But am I ready?

I quickly shut the thought. It's definitely not time to think, I'm here, this is real, I was chosen. I am ready.

"Line up!" the voice of the commander slashes through the crowd. He is wearing a commander's uniform with a one golden star hat. His hands holding a long stick, keep pointing at the direction where we have to follow.

We walk into a long hallway which seems endless with two sides of concrete walls, dim lights fill the ceiling, the air is cool, the smells like metal. I have noticed there were at least ten hallways like this when we entered. The line of soldiers before me are surprisingly quite, the only sound now is the footsteps. Everything is suddenly frightened somehow. This must be the way to the Pit – where our Landing Fortress is waiting.

Landing Fortress, our common and (looks like) only way of  our transportation during a field trip. It's like a mobilize version of the Hawk's Headquarters. Only offense forces have this, and Counts are the leader and instructor in every Fortress. I have seen it flied so many times when training in the court, but this time I will be on it, for the first time, chills runs in my vein. I can't wait. I try to imagine what's inside it, there will probably a large control room where Count Wyatt and the pilots work their magic, then a huge space where they stored all the Armors and Heliases. I have never seen an Armors directly because they are supposed to be piloted by mentors or experienced troops, I heard that they were large metal combat robots. But I will be given a Helias, that was what I were told to do, and I have observed many Heliases before, even rode an imitation-scene one. Still, I'm very excited to see all the hot weapons and cool technical stuffs on the Fortress.

Once we reach the place of what seems like the main entrance to the Fortress, everyone stops at the same time, all eyes on the front. I try to look through the shoulders of the soldier in front of me, he must be 5cm taller than me. There is a platform covered in red carpet, a long collection of black wires connected to a speaker, and a micro held in a high metal stick. Behind that, a large screen same size as a jumbo tron hung in the air by two thick and heavy wires. I look up, the ceiling is much more higher now, about 30 meters tall, and all black, no lights, not even a flash of sunlight. This must be the underground of the Headquarter. Unexpectedly the Fortress's main door opens, letting some lights into the dark place. A man figure coming out, followed by a woman with a golden star commander's hat which reflects the light. The shiny scene from behind makes them look like the two shadowy figures coming out from nowhere. Now the man steps onto the platform while the woman stand down, today he is wearing the standard Count's uniform consists of red velvet trousers and blazer with long shrimp's tail. A straight line of silver buttons is tied correctly, his knee length black boots are also polished. His brown short hair is carefully combed, shows off his face. Only this moment that I notice such beautiful eyes he has, they are blue as diamonds, his high nose is a remarkable spot on his face. I have seen this man a lot for three years and haven't seen a glimpse of these noticeable marks. Count Wyatt is holding a golden stick in his left hand, he is adjusting the mike, which tells me that a speech is about to be made. Beside him, the woman wearing the commander's hat is patiently waiting, she scans the crowd. For some reasons, I try to avoid her gaze.