The Beach Landing

Sokolovsky was sitting on his chair, his leg up on the table. He leaned his head by the window and admired the mysterious reddened sky. At first his brows were high, his eyes began to grew smaller and smaller, almost asleep. But when he noticed the sky turned redder than what it suppose to be, his facial expression changed drastically. He was surprised.

Suddenly a huge earthquake trembled by his feet. His instincts kicked him to act. He and his men rushed out of the office to the streets.

The people of Berlin were trembling. Their cars flipped from the massive shake. Thankfully, no buildings crumble. The streets were a mess of people who seek safety, including Sokolovsky and his men.

When the quake stopped, he noticed the sky is as red as the union flag itself. He stood unmoved, staring at the sky wondering what the hell is going on. The civilians who noticed the sky grew restless.

"Is the Americans attacking us?" A woman's voice sounded.

"God help us!".

In truth Sokolovsky too was soaked with fear, dipped into layers upon layers of doubt. Is this the end? Is the Americans nuking us? He wondered. But.... There is no mushroom cloud nor sound waves, what the hell is going on?

While the people are helping the injured and mumbling to themselves about the sky, pillars of light appeared all around them. The closest and biggest one was east of them. It looked as it was surrounding Germany! After the pillars of light faded. The skies darkened. It was as dark as night.

Starry nights, stars and moons illuminate the extinguished-like country. The dazzling stars twinkled as it was dancing. It was filled with colors of red, blue, green. Falling stars too could be seen sliding through the seemingly slippery sky. The reflection shown from Sokolovsky's eyes showed how wide his eyes is from the shock.

"Is this? The effect from an atomic bomb?" He wondered.

After paralyzed from the shock, one of his men approached him.

"Your orders?"

"Oh.... Right captain. Organize a handful of men and investigate the source of those pillars of light. Just the closest to Berlin, don't wonder of too far."

"Right sir." The captain saluted and left.

"Wait!" Sokolvsky shouted.

"Any more orders sir?" the captain was shocked.

"On second thought, bring companies of men, at least half of the Russian soldiers stationed in Berlin. I'm coming too."

"Eh?.... Well. Alright, I'll inform you when the troops are ready." The shocked captain saluted and left.

When the captain left, Sokolovsky still stood, watching the beautiful starry skies. It was beautiful yes, but roses have thorns. The thorns on wherever this place is very dangerous. It had poked a lot of flesh, made people bled upon bathes of blood. The atmosphere is truly frightening.

After an hour of so yet the skies haven't changed, Sokolovsky and his men rode to the source of light. He rode with his luxury vehicle, followed by jeeps and trucks. Not to mention he also ordered to bring necessary supplies such as extra food, ammunition, tents and fuel tankers which shocked his men.

After hours on his car, the horizon which once stood hills and plains now disappeared. What he saw was neither of those, nor what he expected. It was clear that it was a flat landscape, but it was unclear because it was dark and in the distance.

After approaching, it was truly shocking. The land of Germany was cut off by the mysterious flat landscape. Not just in front of him, but his left and right horizon too.

"Could such nuclear bomb make a flat crater this wide?" Sokolovsky muttered to himself. His men too was on an uproar. Discussing their thoughts and feelings. They were in fact scared.

As the company approached the flat landscape. Their bodies suddenly tremble when they realize it. Sokolovsky almost fainted. It was frightening! How is it here? It shouldn't be here! The sea! It is in fact the sea! The shoreline was visible, the horizon was the never ending sea, indicating it's not a river!

The company of men stopped their vehicles and parked near the beaches.

The company grew restless when they saw the sea, the beaches, the seemingly never ending horizon. Waves and breeze could be felt crashing to the 'beach'. They knew that 3 hours of travel from Berlin to the east, occasionally southeast would never be possible to reach the north part of Germany where the sea is located.

Skolovsky was trembling, his men too. But it was not only them. Civilians too were gazing at the beaches. The look on their face, it was truly depressing. Their face show signs of shock, fear, discomfort and hopelessness.

"Any of you speak German?" Sokolovsky asked his men.

"I do sir." The captain answered.

"Oh yes, can you ask them where this place is? Or what was this place?"

"Alright!"

The captain then approached the civilians and asked politely. After a while, he was stunned and seemed paralyzed.

"Boy what happened!" Sokolovsky grew restless.

"Um.... They say this was once the border of Germany to Poland. Sir." The captain slowly replied.

The company was dead silent, wondering how to process this information.

"No wonder it looked familiar to me...." Sokolovsky muttered.

"Captain I have a task for you."

"Yes?"

"Take photographs of this landscape, report it to Headquarters, ask them to bring more men and supplies here. Enlist German men too if needed. Then report to the Allies in and out of Berlin. Bring your high ranking men. Today, I promote you as General."

"Eh? What? This is too sudden sir!" The captain, now general replied.

"Yes, but you are the most trusted man right now. Good luck."

"Yes sir, I won't disappoint you!"

After the general left, the company set up tents and camps around the area, they number to 120 men. They explore the shoreline, examine the water and digging the yellow sand. It was truly a normal beach. The biggest question was how did the borders of Germany suddenly turned into beaches surrounded by the sea?

Occasionally they patrol along the shoreline discovering the borders of Germany in fact turned into beaches. They stayed for a few days.

-

Puffs of thick black smoke appeared from the funnels. The loud sounds of the massive steam engines exhausting power. The small armada of ships surfing the waters in a some sort of formation. Their flag hoisted proudly showing the flag of their mighty empire.

Lord Griz stood at the deck, feeling the cold breeze air breathing to his face. The fresh air mixed with the scent of burning coal. He stood there wondering about this new continent.

Suddenly, the observer shouted.

"Ahoy! Continent ahead!"

Immediatley Lord Griz took his telescope and looked to the distance.

"By the Gods that continent is massive! Boys! I can see green grasses! Not the wretched deserts! It's... It's beautiful!" The men who heard him became lively and excited. It was a treasure for the empire!

"Decrease the speed to 20 knots, no need to go faster. Radio the carrier ship to start flying the recon planes. I want the pilots radioing the details of that continent."

"On it sir." One of the men replied.

"Um sir, bad news, they said only one plane is available on duty, the others are broken down." The man reported.

"What?! Why?" Lord Griz full of shock.

"They say because you hastily order the carrier ship to start sailing, they have no time to check the planes nor bring spare parts."

"They dare blame me?! Grrr...." Lord Griz growled.

"Should they continue the order sir?"

"Alright, but remember to report through the radio in much detail about that Gods-damned continent."

-

"Gurk you're up." A man informed.

"Me? Are you kidding? There are much more experienced pilots than me wanting to fly! They can use my plane!" Gurk replied.

"It's your own plane. Rules of the Aerial Knights stated that only the pilots assigned to a plane can only flew that plane. Don't you remember?"

"Oh, right." Gurk mumbled.

After a while preparing, Gurk and other engineers stood on the smooth, long and straight launch deck. The engineers currently are lifting the plane from the compartment using a crane. Then they attached the plane to a catapult.

The man than stood at Gurk and wished him.

"Good luck my boy, stay safe, your wife is waiting."

Hearing this Gurk stood silent, becoming slightly grim. Flying the plane is truly a dangerous thing to do even with training.

As then Gurk climbed into the Biplane and readied it's engine. The propellers on the front started spinning. He looked at his control stick, then he looked at his surroundings. After seeing the the engineers notifying that everything is working perfectly, he gulped and closed his eyes. He was thinking of his beloved for a while. Then he felt a huge thrust, sending him off flying through the launch deck to the skies.