Light and the singing of birds filtered through the curtains covering an open window. Siegfried opened his eyes to find himself in an unknown room, resting on an unfamiliar bed. Looking around the room, he appeared to be back at the castle outpost; he lay on a large bed in a private room that was lightly furnished. Christos was sleeping on the opposite end of the room, on a chair next to the door. As Siegfried sat up, his movements roused Christos; after he shook off his sleep, he noticed Siegfried was up and smiled brightly at him. "Welcome back to the world of the waking, Sir Siegfried. You gave everyone quite the fright. How are you feeling?"
"Rested. I'm feeling good, thanks. What happened? I remember making it to the car, taking off, and an explosion, then nothing; just exhaustion." He scratched his head as he surveyed the room he was in. "Also, where are my clothes? I seem to be naked."
"Ah, yes. You were a tad battered, so we had the medics check on you; the clothes were in the way. As for where you are, you're back at the outpost, and it's been five days since we destroyed the enemy's base." Christos stood and stretched before heading to a dresser on the wall next to the bed. He pulled a set of clean clothes out for Siegfried and tossed them onto the bed. "Some clean clothes; that should do, yes? Since we've returned to the base, we've had six skirmishes against the blues; they have all been minimal compared to their normal assaults, and they all stopped after the second day. We have sent a few scouts to the crater that was once the enemy base and haven't seen any signs of survivors. Sir Talib is happy to say that the area is, tentatively, clear of blues. With a rotating skeleton crew watching the surrounding areas for enemy movement, the remainders of our forces, as well as Chieftess Sayen's tribesmen, have been celebrating nonstop since the second day. We've been waiting for you, Sir, with bated breath." The shining smile didn't leave Christos' face the entire time he caught Siegfried up to speed; all the while, Siegfried finished getting dressed.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting, then. Where's the rest of the infiltration unit; Boris, Blake, Talib, and Sayen?" patting down his new clothes, Siegfried looked around the room absentmindedly to see if there were any signs of his friends.
"They are celebrating with everyone else in the grand hall; if you have the energy, I'd be happy to escort you to them." Christos headed to the door with a spring in his step, opening it for Siegfried.
"Sounds good; I want to talk with the lot of them...and I'm starving. Lead the way, Christo." Siegfried smiled at Christos as he looked at him in confusion over his new nickname. Once Siegfried reached the doorway, the pair set off down the stone hallway toward the sounds of laughter, singing, the clatter of cutlery, and other noises of the celebrating soldiers being rowdy.
The pair walked through a few different hallways, twisting and turning through the castle as they got ever closer to the source of the great racket that filled the castle's halls. As the sounds continued to grow, they stepped into a tall hallway that held a giant pair of ornate wooden doors at the opposite end. Christos motioned Siegfried to head in, and with surprisingly little force, the doors swung open to reveal the great hall. A giant room was once used for entertaining guests and holding grade parties; its floor space put the enormous chambers of the enemy's base to shame. The hall had several long tables covered with all manners of food and drink, with soldiers from every walk of life sharing their joys with one another. On either side of the room, grand archways opened into a magnificent yard and garden; all three, the hall, the garden, and the yard, were full to bursting with people. Soldiers were sharing stories, food, and drink with one another, groups singing their hearts out to whoever would listen, corners with passed out partiers piled up as they slept off their food and drink. Still, others were in small groups playing music with anything they could, be that proper musical instruments to the pots and pans stolen from the kitchen, and even more, still were enjoying it all and laughing with their entire being. These men and women, these warriors, soldiers, travellers, medics, and survivors were enjoying themselves like they've never done before, for it was the first time in nearly half a century that they had something to celebrate with all of their beings. They were all loving life.
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Bodanen: Cobalt War
FantasyThe world of Bodanen has known war for forty-five years, but outside the capital of An-ox in a small trading town, a less than average farmer has grown up relatively peacefully. When the war comes to his home, he finds his aptitude for violence to b...
