Prologue (A Glimpse into the Future)

New Novel Project

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In the grassy lands of Alnus Hill...

A high humidity, coupled with temperatures over 30°C in the hills; it was hellish. The sun was so ruthless with its heatwave today, and in this kind of day, people that works in labors tend to have a bad day at their work.

And as for Alnus Hill, their were soldiers lined up and gathered into uniform formations, as if they were in preparation for an invasion.

The soldiers wore some military equipment that was almost the same as what the Roman Empire soldiers wore in ancient times in Planet Earth, from their armors, clothes and to weapons, all were medieval and Roman-like.

And somewhere in the sea of uniformedly lined soldiers, a certain soldier was having some trouble...

Tirus felt his sweat drip down from his forehead. It was a hot day today and his helmet didn't do him any favors, it was almost like an ocean of sweat was pooling down from his brown hair.

He was at least thankful that the Empire's regulation helmets were all open face, so it wasn't absolutely blistering. But he does have this strong impulse to use his iron shield as a crappy fan to at least cool himself down.

Alnus hill has never really been this hot before. His five foot long black tower shield shone in the light. His black breastplate was also stifling, and he had to repress the urge to strip down to his undergarments.

If he wasn't surrounded by thousands of his comrades he may as well have.

Alnus hill itself was home to what was known as the Gate. A magical passageway that lead to other worlds. Rumor reached the Emperor that it was to open itself soon, and as soon as it did, they were all going to charge in, and kill or enslave every living being they could find.

If the other civilization on the other side didn't expect it to be coming, then they might be able to get this war done with soon.

He had a girl to marry, so he couldn't waste time conquering nations. Not to mention that there were more important things in life rather than waging war to whatever blameless nations that lied on the other side of the Gate.

He sat down, and looked out over Alnus hill, seeing grassy fields stretch out for seemingly miles before they were stopped by a thick forest.

The trees in that forest were tall and they had broad green leaves that were perfect to side down beneath for a shade against this overbearing heat.

But the soldiers of the Empire received no such thing here, and it looks like they wouldn't be getting it anytime soon.

Sure, they had tents, but Tirus couldn't leave his post until he was given the order to, as the Gate could open at literally any moment now. Meaning that he most likely wasn't going to be leaving his post until nightfall.

He heard the clinking of training soldiers in full combat gear behind him, and a few officers shouting out formations, checking equipments and other such orders.

He waited there for hours, or at least what felt like hours, before he heard a bellowing shout from the other side of camp.

"The Gate has opened! Shield formation now! Advance when formed!" One of his superiors yelled.

The man had gray eyes with the same color of short hair, and deep crows feet. A long beard hung down almost to his chest, and a large mace was tied to his belt. A flag bearing the empires mark was in his hand, the asterisk like symbol flowing through the wind.

It was time to fight, and then marry the girl he loved afterwards. Maybe he could bring back a souvenir from the other world, or maybe not. He wouldn't waste time trying to find foreign trinkets, all he wanted was to be by her side.

He grabbed his tower shield, and found his squad mates. Soon after, their officer in charge lined them up in a block formation, with Tirus being near the back. The men in front then locked their shields together, and uniformly marched forward.

A massive line of similarly formed squadrons were laid out like a line in front of the Gate. They all waited for a moment, and then the squad in front of Tirus' began to proceed, with them following in tow.

The cavalry unit and dragon riders were all behind them, ready to spread out and assist the main force if necessary.

Tirus would never ride one of those things. Everyone in his unit constantly corrected him about the dragons that the other soldiers rode, saying they were wyverns or something. But for all Tirus cared, a large lizard with wings is a dragon. He didn't care how many legs it had.

He continued to muse about the subtle differences between large winged lizards, when he suddenly noticed that they had just passed through the entrance of the gate.

The front of the gate itself was shaped like the entrance to a mausoleum, with a square body and triangular roof. Several turquoise gems glowed in between the marble pillars beside the entrance, along with a single well cut one directly above the entrance.

Tirus felt no different than treading on a concrete floor after stepping through the gateway, but he then noticed that he and the other units of his squad were bathed in the same turquoise glow that the turquoise gems were producing.

Another thing that threw him off and made him consider turning tail was the fact that the entire hallway leading up to the other end of the corridor was just pitch black. The walls, ceiling, and floor were completely black, as if they were made of solid obsidian.

They continued to march along, until Tirus could spy what looked like the other end coming into view. That also made him uncomfortable, for all he could see from the other entrance was brown sand. Like the other side was a desert, his guts were telling him that this area was dangerous.

He was right though, this desert was the remains of what used to be a city of Earth. But now, the area was just a radioactive wasteland.

"Addy, if I die, know it was for doing something stupid." Tirus muttered lowly to himself.

Suddenly, the unit in front of them stopped, when they were a few feet from the hallway. He had heard a theory once about the Gate that it could lead to any world.

If that were true, wouldn't that mean that it could go to a world where humans were the size of mountains? Maybe that's why they stopped. There wasn't enough room for them to continue through the entrance.

Suddenly, Tirus' eyes widened as he heard an urgent shout.

"Withdraw immediately! Form a shield wall around the Gate, and no matter what, don't break it!" Their officer shouted, his voice seemlingly sounded like he was in a panic.

Tirus' years of military training kicked in, and he and his whole squad immediately turned heel, and began sprinting back towards the exit. Not so fast as to trip the other members of the unit, but fast enough to get the hell out of there quickly.

The sight of them retreating in such a uniform way was quite grand in itself.

It was accomplished well enough, however, he heard something that could make the strongest man have his legs turn soft.

The hallway that used to echo with steps was now filled with blood curdling screams from behind him. He heard flesh getting ripped apart with the sound of grinding metal.

*ROAR!!*

It was a roar of a beast. In fact, it was the strangest roar that the soldiers have ever heard. They had their fair share of beast encounters, such as Wyverns and the Empire's 'Hounds. But this roar was the scariest of them all.

It made their hairs stand up and teror began to quickly fill their hearts. The soldiers around Tirus also happen to hear the strange roar all of these and they got the chills.

Their curiousity made their shoulders turn, and then their heads...Tirus was not an exception.

There, they saw a huge Wolf-like beast of metal. Its skin seemed to be entirely made of iron and its ruby-like eyes gleamed with a hellish glow. Its claws seemed to be capable of ripping through a dragon's scale and its mouth had the sight of blood and flesh.

Surrounding that beast was the mutilated corpses of his fellow soldiers. Guts were spilled, limbs were torn off and heads were separated!

The sight of this much blood and gore made the stomachs of the soldiers ache. The beast growled in aggresiveness and it then lunged at the other retreating soldiers, and this time everyone was running in panic.

Many were pushing each other as they broke formation, and soon the beast reached them with its claws lashing out to someone.

*Rip!*

*Tear!*

*Shred!*

The hallway that used to echo with human steps, was now filled wih blood curdling screams. Tirus heard it all, he heard flesh getting ripped apart, along with the sound of grinding and breaking metal.

The beast was truly powerful. And to his nightmare, their were hundreds of Iron Beasts that came from the other side of the Gate and they began to hunt the retreating soldiers. Though, he didn't see it.

As the side of what can truly be described as slaughter and chaos echoed through the hallway, the running Tirus could only wonder to himself...

'What the hell have the Empire gotten themselves into!'

If the enemies there was proved to be too much for the army to handle, or for humans to handle, then his honor be damned, he was getting out of there.

The empire could charge him with desertion and all of the dishonorable degeneating accusations and words they could throw at him, but he didn't care.

He cared for his own life than such trivial things, furthermore, nothing was keeping him from returning to Delilah.

The retreating soldiers all made it well enough, and began forming the wall around the entrance. Tirus made sure that he was right next to the gate and be behind a soldier with his shield. So the seemingly unstoppable beast that was charging through there that made them retreat, wouldn't see him first; they would see the men up front.

If it was some sort of Army-wiping beast, then they would need Rory the Reaper on their side to handle for something like that, or any other apostle would do. Sadly, her holiness doesn't usually participate in these kinds of things anyway.

Many other men scrambled out, and with every single one, he noticed that they were beginning to hold much more fear in their eyes and their bodies were trembling, spears and shields on the verge of being letted go.

Spittle flew from a few of their mouths as they scrambled past the still forming shield-wall. The ground was trembling and the soldiers clenched their asses and prepared for a hard fight.

They weren't able to fight that Metal Beast in that hallway, as the area was to narrow and the beast was quite strong. But now they were in a more wider area, and they could be supported by archers.

If they do it properly, then that Iron beast would be slain.

As if it was on cue, the huge wolf-like beast came out of the entrance of the Gate, its body shining with metallic luster under the luminous sun. The vibes that the beast was emitting felt dangerous.

"Kill it!" Their officer roared.

The soldiers then letted out some loud battle cries to overcome their fear as they charged towards the beast with their spears thrusted forward.

"What a barbaric way of attacking..."

Tirus, and the soldiers, including the ones that remained to maintain the shield wall, suddenly heard a rough voice that sounded out from the entrance of the Gate.

What came next was the sound of thunder of fire that came through the black entrance of the Gate. Following it, was speeding lights of three different colors that struck the charging soldiers, piercing through their armors and then burning through their bodies.

Holes were even visible on their figures as they all instantly died and collapsed mid-way through the charge. Many of the beams of energized light even managed to hit the shield-walling soldiers.

One of the lights managed to hit at a man besides Tirus, and the result was horrifying. The impact pierced, or rather, burned through his shield and it pierced through the soldier's armor and then flesh as easily as it melted through the shield.

A moderate 'Uh' was the last thing that the soldier next to Tirus would ever sound before he collapsed on the ground, dying. And the same can be for the other soldiers besides him.

They couldn't fight back at the what seemed to be an attack made through magic. They were all just mundane soldiers, how could they fight back against a Mage as powerful as the one who owned that rough voice.

By the gods, Tirus somehow wasn't hit by those lights and he immediately dropped his shield and ran as fast as he possibly could in the opposite direction of the Gate. He wanted to have nothing to do with this.

Why did he have to join the military?

The Robotic Wolf beast saw the running human and it immediately sprinted towards him. It only took mere seconds before it managed to catch up to the human and bited his legs.

"Aaahh!" Tirus screamed in agony as heard a gruesome squelching sound behind him and then feeling immense pain at his legs before he tripped and struggled at whatever bitted his leg.

Tirus kept screaming in pain as the iron wolf proceeded to flail him around before dragging him back to the entrance of the Gate.

His fate was sealed. He was going to be devoured by this beast.

"Ah, this little man somehow didn't get hit. Hehe, how lucky."

Eyes closed and teeth clenched in pain, Tirus suddenly felt that his broken, bloody leg was free and he opened his eyes. Only to see a tall man whose body seemed to be made of Metal, eyes glowing red and the same color can be said for the Aura that surrounded him.

This was not a man...It was a demon.

"Armors that's completely the same as the Romans and the same can be said for their pitiful formations, hehe." Ultron said before proceeding to walk past Tirus as he spreaded out his arms, to the new grassy environment of a different, but seemed to be the same planet environment.

"Unpolluted Air and a beautiful scenery, and it looks like the people here have medieval level technology.....Hehe, what a wonderful world."