Reconnaissance

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"Let's get there quickly," Valeria said with a cold voice as she climbed up on the railing, her eyes glowing green.

"Um, actually, I don't think I can send you to a battlefield in this state," Viktor said, his grip tightening on my shoulder, showing his resolve.

Valeria just turned and shot Viktor a cold look, an unreadable expression on her face.

"I'm gonna go anyways," Valeria said, totally ignoring Viktor's pleas, as she gripped her shoulder and visibly winced in pain.

"Look, you're still not in a condition to fight. Leave it to me and James, we got this. We will just scan the area and come back." Viktor said, walking up to Valeria and staring down her face while pushing me away.

I was just pushed aside like nothing. This argument was beyond me right now. Adante and Zorro watched on with anticipation as the stare-down began.

No one said anything for a couple of minutes, and eventually Zorro broke the silence.

"Guys, I think all three of you should just go. It doesn't matter at this point if you three are just going in for recon." He said, a serious undertone in his voice, as he stepped up, and Viktor and Valeria instantly turned to his commanding voice.

Valeria seemed to contemplate a bit, and then finally huffed and begrudgingly agreed. "Fine, you two can come." Valeria put her foot on the railing again.

"No," Viktor said, with a totally serious voice.

"What?" Valeria asked, and suddenly she seemed to remember and scoffed a bit.

"What do you mean? I think you know what I exactly mean." Viktor said, slightly going back from the railing.

Valeria's scoff became more malignant, as she continued walking up to Viktor, closing the distance. I was wondering what was happening, and still confused as to why this was even happening in the first place.

Viktor kept backing up until he found himself backed against a railing on the opposite side of the roof.

"Valeria, please. Let's talk about it." He said, putting up his arms in front of him as a makeshift barrier between the two.

Valeria though, completely ignored that, and walked into Viktor's personal space, and he leaned slightly over the barrier, trying to avoid Valeria, his face quickly contorting into one of horror, as he was squirming in his place like a little boy, something very different from his usually big and bulky presence.

Valeria then quickly turned to a confused Zorro and me and had a smile on her face. Without saying another word, she twirled back grabbed Viktor's collar, and started wrangling him around.

"N-no, Val, please don't!" Viktor screamed as she tipped him over the edge, teetering on the brink of a fall from the rooftop.

Zorro and I continued to watch uncomfortably as she continued to harass Viktor who was petrified. After what seemed like a couple of minutes, she stopped.

Valeria turned back again, this time having a satisfied look on her face, and said "You see. Viktor is afraid of heights. So this idiot won't be with us."

"Let's just walk, Valeria. You know it's better, and with James with us too, it will be better." Viktor said, his normal demeanor and voice returning.

"Alright, alright. I've had my fun so we can go now." She said, as she put her hands behind her back and started to skip down happily.

All three of us then headed out in the direction of a plume that was rising from the door of the Imperial Nexus.

As we headed out, I could just see a lot of people running away from the direction of the Imperial Nexus, and we just found ourselves going opposite the general flow, going towards the Imperial Nexus.

As we got closer, we saw destroyed buildings and damaged pavements, and we started to encounter bodies of dead and dying soldiers, who were fatally wounded, or struck by arrows.

"It looks like a scene of carnage here." Valeria as she quickened our pace towards the castle. Viktor was also in tow, now holding the large battle axe behind him.

As we got to the castle, the scale of the entire battle just increased, as the number of bodies began to pile up. And then, we eventually got to an army that was standing right in front of the imperial nexus.

Valeria stopped in her tracks and stopped Viktor and me too. "What the hell? Why are there so many soldiers here?" Viktor asked Valeria, and he had a concerned look on his face too.

Sure, he and Valeria may be very strong, but against enemies numbering in the thousands, there isn't much they can do.

All three of us silently skittered off into the tree line, watching everything that was happening with absolute silence. We looked on with curiosity as these guys were sitting in the back, not knowing much about what to do.

"Psst, guys," Valeria called out to us, slightly startling me in the process.

"What?" I whispered back, trying to keep my voice down.

"We can work our way around and we can quickly scale the wall." She said, gesturing to the side alley that led to the back of the Imperial Nexus.

As we slowly reached the wall, which was cold cobblestone, I looked up and it was a massive two-hundred-feat endeavor to scale.

I turned to Valeria and asked her "How are we going to climb it?"

Valeria, always quick on her feet, began to explain her plan in hushed tones. "We need to find some handholds or crevices in the wall. It won't be easy, but if we're careful, we can scale it without being noticed."

Valeria continued, "We'll have to move slowly and quietly. Viktor, you take the lead and test the handholds. Ed, you follow Viktor and help him spot any secure spots. I'll bring up the rear and make sure no one notices us from below."

This made sense, as Viktor was the heaviest in the group, and any ledge or foothold that could support him would also support us.

"Just a moment," Valeria said, as she pulled out a small scroll.

"Is it one of those?" Viktor asked, his voice slightly getting excited.

"Yes," Valeria said as she undid the seal on the scroll and it rolled out into her hands.