"Alright, mission has changed," Aurelia snapped, pacing back and forth in front of some sort of table. Shifting, the succubus-not-succubus grabbed a point on the table and yanked up; a town sprang into view- or rather part of one, a plaza with a church. "This is the first stop we'll be making. We've received word that a masked stranger showed up and killed two of our soldiers with some form of magic; our databases are turning up nothing, so we're suspecting an undocumented arch demon. God isn't likely, but we must keep it in mind."
"God-?" Fox tried to cut in, but Aurelia continued.
"The stranger scattered our troops and unleashed some sort of bio-weapon on those that remained; they're alive and holed up in this church, according to recon. A scout drone made it in only to be shot down by one of the soldiers inside; maybe for fear they were being hunted, I don't know. We need to evacuate them."
"Why aren't the soldiers themselves being sent back in?" Haru angled her head. "You mentioned that we had enough soldiers for them to be scattered; can't they regroup and push back?"
"We believe that this is what the masked stranger wants; a massive push. We're hoping that whatever is going on, a small handful of people will make it through better than a small army. Once we have evacuated them, we're going to split the troops into smaller units and have them work together to hunt down the infected, rather than a major force. Teams of four to eight, in true CA fashion."
"Got it." Fox nodded, leaning back.
"Alright, but here is my question; which of us will go forward to save those trapped in the church?" Lif chuckled, leaning forward. "In my advice opinion, Haru should stay back; she has no magic, and she is puny."
"All the more reason to bring her- and she might be without offensive magic but she isn't useless, Lif," Aurelia snapped.
"Pop off, queen," Ica giggled, crossing his legs.
"Shut up, this is serious," Aurelia snapped. "I'm bringing Fox and Haru with me and Cobalt to break him out-"
"Hold on, I'm a human," Cobalt tried to cut in, but shut up when Aurelia shot her a glare.
"What we suspect is that the army drew the attention of whatever individual it did because of the high concentration of mages, demons, and the like. Most of my magic is only useful in the bedroom; me, a human, and two low-magic demons have the best chance at slipping by undetected, if that's the case. Meanwhile, I'll be sending Charlotte to clear out the residential district of town; Lif will take care of the suburbs with less population, keeping your expertise in recon and carefulness in mind. Any questions?"
"Yeah," Cecil grinned, where he leaned on the wall off to the side. "What about me, boss?"
"You, Cecil," Aurelia paused, nodding. "You're going to be staying back."
"What?"
"We'll talk about it later. After the rest leave. I won't leave you in the dark, I promise. Just give me a minute." Cecil frowned, leaning back against the wall. "Rest of you, move out, get to the birds and I'll be behind you in a minute. If you're unaware, Hokuto is on a mission in the frozen North, right now."
The lot of them stepped away, and, once they'd reached the hall, continued; except for Charlotte, who threw an arm around Fox and Haru both, covering their mouths and holding them back outside the door. "I'm curious," She whispered, so softly that it could barely be heard.
"Cecil, you haven't been sleeping," Aurelia muttered softly, but still audible. "You work out and laugh and joke and flirt and pretend you're fine, but you're not okay."
"Captain, are you flirting with me? How unprofessional."
"No, Cecil- tell me, what's gotten into you? You've killed hundreds, maybe thousands of people but ever since we got back from Starria-"
"I'm just, tired, okay? Ashamed." Cecil cut her off, his voice suddenly wary, as if an act had been dropped. "Yeah okay big deal; I've killed thousands or hundreds or whatever. Who, though?"
"What do you mean?"
"Who, Aurelia? I've killed racists and rapists, murderers, fascists and pedophiles without a second glance, but those were just normal people that we failed to save. Ones ripped from their homes and left without a chance to fight back. Of course I'm going to feel guilty."
"No, Cecil." Aurelia sounded sad, but there was a mountain's worth of firmness in her tone that brooked no argument. "People die- and not just in our line of work, but all of them. You can't save everyone, and just because it wasn't a battlefield doesn't mean you failed. Besides; we didn't save them all. It was you who grabbed Fox and got her to that barn. She's still alive, isn't she? You didn't fail. If anybody did, it's… the others. Hokuto, and the ones who didn't make it out, like Sophie."
"Captain,"
"It's amazing that you can still have a heart, Cecil. You need to get some sleep, though; clearly, you need rest. When I'm back, maybe we can talk about a vacation for you. Not a punishment, just some time to unwind and stop stressing; I'll book a ski resort in Ravenwood for you, or maybe a beach house in Alcantore."
"Aurelia,"
"No." Footsteps, and Aurelia burst into the hall behind them, brushing past the girls without so much as a blink.
"You knew we were listening?" Haru couldn't help but to blurt out. "Or-"
"I don't do secrets. How could you trust me otherwise? I don't care who listens to what- come on. Let's get moving," Aurelia jerked her head, and Charlotte followed, releasing the two girls with a laugh.
-
Alexander paced to the window and looked down; the infected, if that's truly what they were… they acted as if possessed, standing in a ring around the church and staring up at him silently. Every one in eyesight only watched; We're under siege. They know we don't have more than a day's worth of food and water. I just have to pray that reinforcements show up; are the others waiting back at camp, sitting on their thumbs? Have we been written off as worthless trash? Or maybe, just a few disposable soldiers?
Hah. Don't have more of an ego than you deserve, Alexander. You showed up four weeks ago; some summoned hero you are, having fallen into some apocalypse straight out of a video game.
"You are stressed. You must focus, or we'll die," A soft voice behind him, and Alexander turned, trying, failing, to force a smile.
"Are you worried? About a pervert like me?"
"No. If you don't focus, we will die."
"Mm." Alexander nodded, sitting down, slowly, on a half-rotted wooden crate. "What's your deal, anyway? I mean why's the Elven Legion or whatever trying to help us out?"
"Because we share a common goal; protect people. Do you know why it is in this world that a human might possess magic?" The blonde sat, as well, smoothing her pants.
"I don't, no. Are elves like, some reclusive species that lives far away, or something?"
"That is… a strange question. Or rather, unrelated. Yes, though; we live in the Forest of Fae."
"What's that?"
"A… what? It's a living woods between Starria and Mir, where the forest itself rejects all intruders. Have you not heard of it, somehow?" She seemed bewildered, almost disbelieving.
"No, I haven't- we got a little more in common than you might think," Alexander chuckled and took out his knife, slitting through the bandages on his wrist and peeling them back to show the blackened skin there, which seemed almost to swirl and ripple, like ashen sand blowing along a slope under the surface. "See, I was summoned here from another world. Failed ritual in Starria. I was meant to be a hero."
"Ah…" The elven woman's eyes softened, and she hesitated, then nodded. "You escaped. How?"
"Special team from Mir sent me. One that answers to the Queen. The others that were pulled out with me joined up with them."
"You chose not to?"
"Not sure if I was welcome- but even if I was, I think that it's more noble to be here, fighting among the others. I'm not something special, just because I was summoned- but I do have a few things in common with you, I'd hazard to say. I came from somewhere far away wrapped in mystery too, compared to this world. The other guys, they think I'm hiding some fancy power, or something- and it turns out I can use some sort of magic I don't really understand, but it's nothing world ending, or army decimating… so, yeah. Just wanted to throw that out there; I can understand what you're probably feeling. The being out of place and among people who accept you out loud but may never, in private. That's what you're worried about, right? Why you're so defensive?"
"Hm…" The elf looked away, swallowing, eyes dark.
"My name is Alexander, if I forgot to mention."
"Mine is Eileen."
"That's a beautiful name- but now isn't the time for flirting, we can both agree. Will you tell me, what you mentioned before? How a human might come to use magic? Please, sorry, forgot my manners," He added, crossing one leg over the other and letting his back against the wall, shivering.
"Well, as you may or may not know," Eileen sighed, leaning on her staff. "Demons are formed, as are angels, when a human dies and their soul does not accept death, and thus reforms their body in hell or heaven; other worlds, connected to ours, parallel, with many rifts where one might slip through. When a soul is so determined to revive that they come back here, on Earth, without needing to land in heaven or hell, realms full of magic to aid them; that is called a Risen. Or, in the words of some; the indomitable human will."
"Got it. Risen, demons, angels; and they're all the same thing at the end of the day with some sort of classist classification system." Alexander nodded, grinning quietly. "Am I following so far?"
"There would be no war if we accepted those who are unlike ourselves and stopped seeing the differences," Eileen nodded sagely. "It is abundantly rare for it to happen, but there are very rare instances in which a human, when faced with circumstances they cannot control, and yet refuse to bow to, may merge body and soul; they change, on a fundamental level, and become as flawless as they can be. I am immune to sickness, resistant to injury, resistant to mental manipulation, and I have been twenty years old for over seven hundred years."
"Wow. Grandma. I'm like, totally into it."
"…What?"
"Joking, joking. Please, continue."
"Anyway. Those humans who have connected with their own soul without dying develop magical abilities stemming from the soul; from their most honest self view. This is also the case for angels and demons, but for a human to connect with the soul before death… it was once believed to be impossible. It creates us; neither human nor angel. The term elf… It comes from an old fairy tale. Before our existence was understood, it was what they called us; a reclusive sort of angel, they thought, that stuck to themselves and sought peace. The truth is we seek not peace; but avoid violence without a purpose."
"Stopping whatever this is from spreading, and taking the war to Starria; that seems like a good purpose," Eileen added with a soft smile. "So please, try to be strong. I will support you- and the others who currently rest downstairs- as best I can."
"What was that," Alexander whispered, stiffening.
"What was what?"
"I heard something, outside," He whispered and rushed to the window, ducking, peeking only high enough to see outside. A few of the infected had turned, begun to run, snarling… and then more, more, more, some pouring out of nearby buildings… soon, it was like a wave of bodies pouring forward, and Alex froze in terror, watching a veritable small army sailing forth.
"RIGHT THIS WAY- AND WELCOME TO THE SHOW, BITCHES!!!" He heard, screamed through the night as a flash of cyan and lilac flashed past with such force that the windows rattled, bodies rent in two, sailing through the air as whatever- or whoever- it was flashed past, laughing maniacally, gone in moments and taking the wave of bodies with it in another direction.
-
"Alright. We clear any that are still near the church itself, we get the trapped soldiers out and we flee. That's it. We aren't going for Starria's base of operations yet; we don't know who's guarding it, we don't know how difficult it will be," Aurelia muttered, and Haru listened, checking her rifle, disengaging safety.
"Let's do this," The badger girl murmured, rolling her shoulders.
"Magic doesn't matter, don't worry," Aurelia murmured with a backward glance at her. "Just focus, okay? We've got this. Shouldn't be many left; in, kill, out."
"Got it," Haru agreed, and closed her eyes, sucking in a breath.
Don't need magic to shoot.
I got this…