In The End

Section 1: Chapter 12

Silvana had known that doing magic was unavoidable. She prepared for the exhaustion she would face by drinking a cup of herbal tea with four teabags - it was worrying how quickly her supply was diminishing. She muttered the simplest spell she could. Even that had made her come within an inch of fainting. When she was supposed to be on a break, the youngest scientist insisted she teach him Elvish. He was a very fast learner, even if Silvana's teaching left much to be desired, particularly in her weakened state. She'd barely been able to get back. Tonight, she had to stay somewhere with plants and herbal teas.
She shook her head, "Maybe tomorrow. I'm pretty tired," she said, "Can we just stay in for a night?" Naoki nodded, "Sure, sure," he said, turning on the TV. Immediately, the words "The Lord of the Rings" flashed onto the screen. Naoki turned to Silvana, "I think you'll like this," he said, "It's about Elves and magic and shit," Silvana nodded, and sat down next to Naoki, holding his hand. When the first hazy figure came onto the screen, Silvana gasped in astonishment and tightened her grip on Naoki's hand. Naoki smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders. After the initial surprise went away, she didn't have the heart to tell him she'd seen much stronger Illusions than this. Still, it made her forget where she was. The world inside the screen didn't feel like the grey landscape with the broken buildings outside. It felt like her world, and she was back there again.
............

The movie went on, and Silvana got quite interested in it. When adverts came up, he went to make her some herbal tea. He knew it helped her a bit while she was away from nature. She slowly drank one cup, while the movie continued. Naoki knew he shouldn't fall asleep with her like that, but he was so tired for some reason... As Silvana lay on her back, he lay on his side, still holding her hand, and fell asleep.
He had weird dreams. Or rather nightmares. He was reliving a mission, but... He didn't recall it. He saw it exactly. His team in the field, when a bomb went off. Pieces of earth flew around, pieces of flesh, blood, limbs. The one that stepped on it got blown up. They gave themselves away, and the decision was made to retreat and save lives, but unfortunately they were too far gone. In their careless escape another one got blown up, and Naoki couldn't watch, but at the same time couldn't look away from the bloody massacre. He stood there as the enemies cornered them and now they didn't hear buzzing radios and strong commands between the leaders, which included him. Now, everyone knew this was it. They were all doomed, the enemies were chasing them and the snipers were picking them out one by one.
He ran off with a few others, but got shot, and someone dragged him away. He felt himself being dragged onto a helicopter, hearing the noise of the propellers, and seeing the mess of the bodies down below him as the aircraft flew up into the air, with him and a few other survivors. Leaving behind those they couldn't help. Those he couldn't help although he was one of the leaders.
He was responsible for their deaths.
However he still felt like this was a new experience. He couldn't recall this... Particularly traumatising mission.
And the same phrase was repeated, but he didn't know what it was. He just heard the same words over and over again. And he figured, maybe he just forgot the mission. And the phrase which at the time clearly had a large significance. It wouldn't be the first time his memory proved to have gaps he just couldn't feel.
But the phrase.... Rang some distant bells and sent chills down his spine.

"... code sigma ..."

...................

Silvana had yet another nightmare.
She was shooting and killing for her life. In front of her was what was left of the famous stone wall of the Dwarf city Bis. In front of the wall stood the remnants of the militia, clad in thick Dwarven armor and holding swords which looked like they could bludgeon as well as cut. One of them grabbed a fighter, putting his iron gloves around his head, The skull cracked. Her fingers moved independently of her brain, and she shot an arrow into his eye. He fell to the ground, still holding the unfortunate remains of the fighter. One of the militia pointed to her and barked a command. Silvana didn't have to be multilingual to jump out the way. A javelin flew through a spot where her heart had been seconds before. There was a yell as a fighter dealt with the one who had thrown with the javelin. They had killed about three quarters of the militia. They were winning, but they were a long way from victory.
There was a cheer from the right flank.
"Finish it!"
Silvana's hands immediately moved at Argenta's command, reloading and firing. She'd only fired once before the fighters charged into the few survivors of the militia, roaring. The militia tried to mount a defence, but it wasn't enough. Swords that skewered through the fighters didn't seem to have any effect as they grabbed their axes and eviscerated the militia. A few of the stronger members grabbed the militia's own swords and dug them into a gap in the wall. Slowly, the stone was prised open, and the fighters screamed something out to Argenta. They ran into the village. A pair of older Dwarves were standing on the street and the fighters slaughtered them like animals, leaving their bodies on the road..
The screaming started. Silvana stepped through the wall slowly. She saw the bodies, and suddenly, she felt her knees weaken and she fell to the ground. Silvana was used to killing people. She had seen a lot of death, but Argenta had always made it clear that the people that died had been guilty of something. She couldn't see what those two Dwarves had done to merit execution. She lay there, knees tucked to her chin, hands around her ears. The slaughter just went on and on. Animals howled and bellowed. Babies screamed briefly, before they were silenced.. Within half an hour, the smell of smoke filled the air.