Offensive

Book 2.

Volume 1: The Chamber of Secrets

Chapter Three: Offensive

*****

It's nice in the daytime, it's summer, the birds are singing, the flowers are growing, and everything in the countryside is on schedule. Here too, no exceptions. Since early morning and still working, the village grandfather-farmer took the scythe and went to mow the tall grass in the field, so that the cows would have a place to pass. The old man, tall, a bit hunched over, wearing his old gray shirt and brown pants mixed with dirt, with thick galoshes and a farmer's hat on his head, is working hard and does not know the word "rest". It would go on like that until the evening, when the bang went off. A huge shell fell right next to him. The old man grabs his head and falls to the ground, he was just cutting the grass, and now he has to hide in it. The farmer is badly stunned. Such an explosion and the sound of it shook his ears, almost bleeding out of them if the shell had exploded close to the old man. After a couple of minutes he was able to come to his senses and even got to his feet himself, and that's after the deafening noise.

- What the hell was that? - he was frightened to death, peeking slightly out of the grass and squatting toward the projectile. - What the hell is that thing? - Well, the farmer didn't understand anything at all.

On the ground lay a huge piece of iron, heated and slightly broken. The old man had never seen such in his seventy years of life, and here, right in the field near him it falls. He was lucky that there was an explosion twenty meters away. Then grandpa hears such sounds in different places. A hundred meters away another such piece of iron flew in. Another one flew towards the village and exploded there. In general, an incomprehensible chaos began. The farmer clutched his head in despair and fell to his knees.

- Could it be that the war has reached here...? - Poor man, he has been through so much, what village life alone is worth it: to get up early every day, walk through the woods to the store which is twenty kilometers away, plow in the patch, look after the farm, sell the dairy products to the towns, and add bursting shells to the mix. That's fine.

A few hundred men in uniform appeared in the distance. Tall, healthy and sturdy men in richly plaid uniforms with a golden flower banner on their chests, wearing silver colored pants and with all kinds of weapons in their hands, be they swords or spears. The old man at once recognized the army of the country of Flowers.

- My dears," he waved cheerfully to them, "wait a minute...

The Flower Country is at war with Titania, for their borders overlap, but the front is in the east, and the military are going west for some reason, no, they are not, they are running west at a pace! The surprised old man didn't get it and decided to ask one such warrior why they were running back into the country, after all, they should be advancing there, to the east.

- We're retreating! Evacuate your people, the enemy has broken through the line of defense, we have no one to defend us! - said the tired man, his face all smeared with earth, as if he had been lying under the trenches for a week.

The soldier went on running, but the old man had no time to flee. His family, his wife, his children, his grandchildren, his neighbors, none of them knows that just ten kilometers away is the merciless army of Titania, killing everything in its path. And with some new kind of weapon, what are those flying iron stones heated to near-explosion? The farmer rushes back and seeks to warn all his loved ones that it is time to leave. Meanwhile, the shells continue to fall and land on the homes of innocent citizens. A wave of panic spreads through the village, and the villagers go outside to find out why a hail of explosive shells has hit them out of the blue, but at the sight of the fleeing army of the Flower Country, everything on their faces shows: Titania wins, and literally humiliates the military of the Flower Country. The village burns, houses are destroyed, people pack up and flee in a hurry, the most horrific picture of their innocent lives collapsed. Many died before they even knew that the enemy had invaded their home. The shells hit the apartments and blow them up along with the people.

- What's going on here? - Stunned by what she sees, Miyazaki watches in tears as her village dies, neighbors are killed, other people's lives are destroyed, and their lauded army eventually flees.

- Miyazaki, hurry up and run to your house and save your grandmother, I'll go to my place and get my things! - Kai nudged her friend and ordered her to save the old lady, no time for jokes now.

- Kai, don't leave us, we have to stick together! - She shouted, but the boy was already too far away. And even though Kai lived alone, being without parents or anyone else, the boy successfully worked and made a modest living.

Miyazaki grabs his brother's hand and the two of them run back to their house. Fortunately it hasn't been destroyed yet. The girl accidentally collides with a soldier and falls to the ground with Toda.

- Forgive me! - The man apologized and lifted them to their feet. - Tell me, are you all right? - He stroked Toda's head and checked their health.

- Yeah, I'm fine... What happened here? Why is the whole village on fire? - Miyazaki cried, just like that, in just a couple of hours her peaceful home was turned into ruin, just as their army was losing.

- Titania is advancing on our country. They want to find a special room where some documents are kept. We don't know what it's about, so we just retreat. - Miyazaki guessed that's what Kai told her when he told her to take all the documents about the Titan with her. She would have handed the files over to the military, but why should she? - Girl, get your brother and run away from here, your house will be gone soon! - He grabbed Miyazaki and Toda and forcefully dragged them behind him to keep them away from the falling shells.

- No, let me go, my grandmother is there! - The girl breaks free from her grip, takes her brother, and runs into the house. The military man tried to stop them, but realized it was no use. He only prayed for the salvation of these children and ran away.

- Grandmother, Grandmother! - Unfortunately, a shell hit their little house, though it didn't explode and lodged on the roof, giving at least some chance for the old woman's life.

Miyazaki sees Granny sitting on the chair and together with her brother pulls her out of there. The old woman can't stand up on her own, she was sound asleep, and when she wakes up, the house was already on fire. She had inhaled a lot of carbon monoxide and could not even think. The entrance to the house had collapsed, the roof was burning and falling right down, and the ceiling was collapsing right in front of them. The girl is not going to give up and goes to the window.

- Toda, get in first! - Miyazaki makes her brother get out of the house first, he will already be taking her grandmother in.

The girl wraps her arms around the old woman and passes her through the window to her younger brother. Toda may be small, but he can hold an easy grandmother, for a while, though. Miyazaki stays in the house and takes one last look at it, at her parents' paintings, at pictures of her and Toda's little one, at all these things. She climbs over and hurries away from the house. A minute later, another shell hits the same spot as before and explodes. The girl is lucky; had she stayed even for a second, she might not have escaped. Toda handed his grandmother over to his sister and saw Kai in the distance, who waved and showed himself that he was okay and alive. The boy caught up with his friends and together with them went into the woods, however, all the villagers ran away just there.

Of the village was only the memory of the rapidly departing residents, alas, but the animals could not be saved. The whole farm with many cows, dogs, horses, geese, chickens burned down.

- Kai, what should we do? Grandmother is very sick, she needs medical help right away! - She was so terrified for her grandmother's life that she was willing to give up her own just to help her.

I don't know who to ask. Even Kai was scared out of his wits, his legs trembled and his body could barely stand, his eyes darted around, he was as scared as he'd ever been in his life, war was like that. Kai heard his friend and remained silent, he could not find the right words, he himself understood everything perfectly well.

- I heard from the warrior about Titania's army. They are victorious and now they want to find the secret room you found the very first.

- Miyazaki, did you keep the documents? - First thing the boy asked.

- Yeah, it's all in my pockets.

- Me, too. Don't give the files to anyone, we have to sell them to the top brass of the country of flowers! - Now that's a businessman. Even in times of war, he seeks profit for himself and his friends. Want to defeat the enemy, but do not know how? Pay us and we will give you the secret documents! Kai is a strategist from God.

- I wasn't going to! Ouch! - The girl was dragging her grandmother on her back and also running through mud and forest roads, through obstacles and difficulties, and where is Kai? Where is that gentleman? He just wants to sell something, and for a better price, while her friend continues to run through the pain in her back.

- We can't hide in the forest; if Titania's army wants to find documents about their country, they'll burn out the whole forest, but they'll get their way. Miyazaki, we have to go farther away. Our military is running to the line of the second front, in case the first one breaks through, and it already has, the army will defend itself on the second front. We'll get to the second front and go to the capital through it. - the boy came up with his plan. Why? The leadership is sitting in the capital, sell them information about the enemy, get the money and go to another country. In the meantime, they're running. Running without turning back, there's an enemy army advancing near them.

*****

Houses destroyed, fields burned, animals slaughtered, the corpses of those who failed to escape lay on every corner. Above them towered sturdy, pumped-up, uniformed men. Proud and commanding, aware of their power, they marched into the ruined village and stood a kilometer away from the forest. Each military man in the army of Titania wore iron armor, with titanium armor worn over it in black with red stripes for beauty. The armor went all the way to their feet, with tall metal boots on their feet and sturdy helmets on their heads, also made of titanium. The first line consisted of infantry, ordinary unarmed soldiers who could create energy shields to repel attacks with the help of Hikari, a short-range type of troops. In the second line were the long-range archers. They created large iron stones, heated them up, and threw them far, far away. The iron would hit its target, get even hotter, and explode. This kind of military in Titania is called a long-range type of force. And at the very end of the column usually go the generals and commanders, these guys run the army and create different tactics to win. One of these generals, a proud man in titanium armor, wore plain glasses instead of a helmet, looked boldly through binoculars and watched civilians flee in fear into the forest.

- General Satoshi, what are your orders? - A military man asked him.

Oda Satoshi, forty-three years old, general of the army. The Titan himself instructed him to find secret documents and deliver them to his desk. Majestic and arrogant, never likes the weak, preferring to execute them on the spot. Killed a hundred armed Warriors in his time, for which he was hired as a general by Titan.

Oda put the binoculars away and looked down on the soldier, a real piece of work.

- There's a secret room hidden somewhere in these woods. I bet it's underground. Burn the whole forest. If you see any survivors, kill them.

- Yes, sir!

The warrior shouted to the others to turn Hikari into flames and aim all that power at the forest. The army moved in close to the sign at the entrance and started to burn everything. The trees died instantly under the onslaught of Titania's army's firepower. One hour later, sawdust was gone from the forest. And after another half hour, the military finally found that secret room with all the secret archives. General Satoshi went downstairs and tried to find the files on Titania, but found none. Enraged, he tore up a piece of paper and screamed.

- Someone from the locals or the military of the Land of Flowers had taken information about our empire. Let's keep advancing. The files could reach the capital, we have an obligation to prevent that from happening! - The general left the room and clenched his fists angrily. That's the way he should be.

*****

By part, while Titania's army was burning down the forest, the boys had long since boarded the train and headed for the capital. Miyazaki's grandmother was given first aid and is sleeping gloriously in her room. The girl and Toda were sitting at the table, with Kai across from them. The three of them were looking out the window. Neither of them was in the mood; the train was on its way to the capital city of the Land of Flowers, the city of Tulip, and who knows what would be waiting for them there.

- Let's give the files to the leadership of the country and get paid for it, then we'll be able to provide for the rest of our lives! Just imagine, these files contain all the information about Titan and his country, we would get so much money!

Kai rejoiced, already a boy dreaming of a swimming pool, his own palace and a bunch of girls, but he was not yet aware that very soon an event would take place that would turn his whole life upside down. The Battle of the Tulip.

---------------------

Author: Youn Ji-min

Cycle: Madness

Click on like, rate five stars and leave some comments!

I'll post two chapters in one day and then do the same every other day. Occasionally there may be pauses to rest and build up new ideas.

Have a good time everyone, whatever it is, morning, afternoon, evening or night! 😁

Next Chapter => Siege of the Capital