Royal Air Fleet I

7th, November

(Recommended Song: Kerry Muzzey – Time to Go)

Hrist woke up very early to sneak down out of the palace and headed to the stables. There was nothing really stopping her from doing what she was doing, however she didn't want to wake anyone. The maiden had done what she could to train Asterion, now a Pegasus, how to fly. Today was his maiden flight through the skies. Asterion greeted her at his stall door, now much larger for his wings to stretch out every once in a while. The Valkyrja removed his blanket and checked his hooves, then equipped a small blanket under the new saddle her empress was instructed to craft for flight. His bridle was equipped after she had given him a chance to eat his grains and ate an apple.

"Are you ready to soar through the skies my friend?" she asked him as her hand rubbed his muzzle and gave him some scratches. He nickered as he nuzzled her chest. "Understood. Just do what I've taught you and everything will be fine. You are strong and powerful, more than capable of keeping up with the fastest flying creatures in this land. I know you will do well." She led him out of his stall and outside, with the quietness of the castle only ever so slightly altered with the movement of Security models patrolling the walls or Civilian models performing duties for when the empress would wake. Hrist mounted Aster and let him stretch his wings, preparing himself for the flight as he stretched and trotted around a little.

Once he was ready, she let him flap his wings slowly, watching for any feathers damaged or strain on his part. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary as he slowly rose into the air, eventually leaving the safety of the walls. Dawn broke as the sun could be spotted over the mountain tops, with her enjoying the slight cool breeze. It was warmer today than normal, allowing her to stay calm and not worry as much about the steed's health. There was no way she was going to ride him on his first time if it was too cold, as he might cramp up. Over time, he'd be much more accustomed to moving in most weather, excluding freezing cold or pouring rain. Even Selene had warned her that fighting in bad weather wasn't the best choice, with most armies tending to keep their distance until it cleared up. A spell could fix the weather, but sometimes that would cause irreparable harm to the land without rain or snow.

Asterion was feeling proud to be in the sky, pushing faster and higher as she let him feel the wind under his wings, got used to moving quickly or slowly, enjoyed his first time with the land no longer touching his hooves. As he reached closer to the clouds, she could see Gold Pine in the distance, but she wasn't heading in its direction. She wanted to give him time to move through the valley and see just how high the mountains could go, teaching him the size of the world wasn't just a trail or road he needed to cross.

"You're a fantastic steed Aster, Empress Selene should be proud to have you, and I am grateful for the honor to ride you." He whinnied as he agreed, moving much faster now. The transformation from horse to Pegasus increased his speed dramatically, easily able to keep up with one of the "turboprops" that her empress had told her about. While not capable of moving beyond the sound barrier unless in a full dive, he was fast.

(Recommended Song: Christopher Tan – Sogno di Valore)

As if mentioning her name would cause her to show up, there was a sound of a propeller nearby that got closer. Like a divine being, a P-51D Mustang came out of the clouds, with Selene flying in a traditional World War II cap and goggles, the cockpit closed. She didn't realize that Hrist was in the skies, also sneaking out to test her brand-new toy. It wasn't a jet, but she loved it all the same. The engine pistons pumped strong and proud, the heart of the flying machine carrying her forward. Hrist's mouth was agape with a small grin erupting on her face. She laughed as the Mustang flew near her, doing a barrel roll.

She could see Selene smile and give her a thumbs up, before she pointed behind her. Hrist looked behind the fighter… and through the clouds came the largest thing she'd ever seen. Descending from the clouds came a massive armored Zeppelin, emblazoned on the side the name Majesty's Grace. It had gold polished rivets with a massive lower gondola with multiple floor tiers and four engines attached to the rear near the rudders, with two more on the sides of the ballonets and a curved deck on the top for launching fighters. It was an aircraft carrier that flew by itself, uninhibited by the ground. Four anti-gravity boosters were hidden underslung from the main body near the front and back ballonet. While there didn't seem to be many weapons installed that could be seen, that didn't matter as much. It was guarded.

Following the movement of the flagship was its escort fleet, two battleship dirigibles covered by eight cruisers, twelve destroyers and twenty frigates for faster movement. There were also what looked like hidden airships, the aerial equivalent of submarines in the sky that Selene had once mentioned were "Prowlers" for sneak attacks with camouflage and invisibility fields. There was also one spare aircraft carrier next to the Majesty's Grace, albeit smaller. It looked to be able to carry helibots and armored troop transport. Flying as escort nearby were multiple wings of drone fighters with what looked like painted red fins and tails, completely different design from the Mustang with four engines and turboprops, four wings and twelve guns. One of them flew near Selene with an emblazoned call sign "Red Tail 1-1." While this world had no idea who the Tuskegee Airmen were, she was paying homage to some of the best pilots out there. Each one was a Super automaton with a personality core.

They flew in formation as Hrist cheered, before doing loops and aerial acrobatics. "Come on Aster, let's show them what we can do." Asterion dived and rolled, with Selene heading after them. He was every bit as nimble as the P-51D Mustang, with his wings flapping to gain his top speed. They flew over the valley, eventually coming up to Gold Pine and zooming past, waking the people up with the odd sound that the engine of the flying machine caused. Surprisingly, Aster on a few occasions moved faster than the fighter, with Selene's max speed being somewhere shy of 500 mph with some small modifications to the engine with steampunk technology. They were dancing in the sky, with Aster loving the movement, the freedom he had and the partner following them.

"You ready to land? I understand if you don't want to. Hey, where is her majesty going?" she said to Asterion as she watched the Mustang pull back and head for the Majesty's Grace. As she flew nearby, a door opened vertically with a boom arm rotating out and latched to the sides of the wings, holding her in place as the engine slowly died, the propeller stopping as the arm pulled it in on the gondola's first floor. There was a landing platform that extended outwards below her that the fighter was placed on, with enough room for her to get Aster there as well. "Come on, let's go see what this thing looks like up close, maybe rest your wings." They flew up to the aircraft carrier dirigible and softly landed, no need for the mechanical arm to come out and pick them from the sky. Selene hopped from the open cockpit and looked at her with a smile. Hrist and Aster were finding it a little difficult to breathe. Automatons rushed out and placed a mask over Aster's nose and handed her one for her face as well.

"I guess I wasn't the only one who woke up early to play!" she laughed out as the empress looked at Asterion and Hrist, an air mask over her nose and mouth that was clear. The battle maiden dismounted and ran her fingers along the wing of the fighter. "She's a beauty, isn't she? The fighters stationed above are far faster than her, but I like it. It felt… right." Selene pulled off her cap and pulled up her goggles. Her hair was in a top hanging ponytail and flailing from the wind as she smiled at her under the mask.

"You didn't improve her much it seems. I would think you had added some modifications" Hrist stated. Automatons came out to help take off the flight jacket and give her a warmer coat. They offered another to the Valkyrja, who despite wanting to show she was strong without feeling the cold, they were at a high altitude, roughly around 8,000 feet, the start of altitude sickness. The platform pulled back inside as the door closed and sealed, the area pressurizing. Selene took her mask off as Hrist followed her actions.

"No, not many, just a few improvements to the engine for oil and fuel efficiency, a little more horsepower, that's about it. It's no Pegasus or the fighters above, but it's great to fly." The empress beamed as she patted the nose cone of her fighter plane. The callsign on the side read "Clockwork 1." She kissed two fingers and placed them on the nose cone.

"You're going to make Aster jealous." Selene looked over at the Pegasus and felt a little guilty.

"Oh, I'm sorry Aster! You're still the best Pegasus out there, bar none." She walked over and gave him some attention, with him enjoying the affection he received. On a normal day, he was taken care of by automatons with at the very least twice getting attention from Selene or the Valkyrja. They couldn't wait to have their own Pegasus, so the dev was gathering intel in the background for new towns that bred horses. Giles had informed her that there were certain places that excelled at specific things, with Eld Horn Town being the best hunters, at least human hunters. There was always the dark elves and wood elves that were better with a bow and arrow. The empress rubbed her nose against his muzzle and gave him a kiss. "You are very special, you are. So are you for teaching him to fly. I owe you one, fantastic job" she said to both the Pegasus and Hrist.

The Valkyrja blushed a little with the compliment. "I am honored you feel that way." Selene smirked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Drop the formal speech, we're on my flagship… airship… I still don't know how to say that right if I get a naval or space fleet up and running. Are you hungry or did you eat breakfast already? I'm going to try out the dining hall on this thing if you want to accompany me." Hrist was surprised there was such a thing on a warship in the sky but agreed. They headed over to the room and sat down, being the only ones on board beyond the automatons.

"You built this craft?" Hrist asked as she looked around. The mantling on the walls was gold polished with silver inlay, four crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling with a large dining table made of Gold Pine wood. The carpet was luxurious red, with what looked like a gold fiber emblem of gears and cogs flowing with other unknown symbols. Despite needing certain things to be smaller due to size constraints, there was ample space to move through the hallways and rooms inside. The entire ship was close to 500 meters in length, massive for what it was for. Selene sat down and checked the menu of what was available right now.

"I did I did, hmmm… they're well stocked obviously…" she picked a smaller breakfast sampler plate and some orange juice as Hrist chose a much more substantial plate. "This wasn't exactly one plan but multiple. This is a home away from home for me, an emergency escape from the castle, a command center for large scale battles as well as an ambassador's station for when I have to head to different towns or cities to talk to them. Gone are the days of having to fly around in helibots all the time, this shortens flight considerably. It even has long range teleportation systems to allow jumping from one continent to the other, or even further." Hrist was surprised it was so capable, blinking at her detail.

"It looks almost as if it was made for a goddess. This place, this… 'airship,' can it defend itself?" the battle maiden asked.

"It has limited defenses, but it isn't meant to fight on its own. There's a contingent of fighters above us ready to launch, a full brigade of automatons inside, point defense weapons and a few missile silos. Most of the power comes from the fleet guarding it, with a hefty chunk of the inside of the ship used for communications, intelligence gathering and strategic force projection. It… I'm not losing you on this am I? Sorry if I'm not explaining it well, it's pretty complicated." Hrist seemed to understand what she was saying perfectly fine, despite the gap in technological know-how. Somehow, there was some sort of universal translation going on in this world, allowing all spoken language to be reworded into something anyone could understand, even if the mouth wasn't meeting the words. She had noticed it at the beginning with Gold Pine, but somehow just got used to it while talking to Giles. Her first hint things weren't how they were supposed to be was with the map. Some of the symbols looked like they shouldn't be making that sound the shop owner told her.

"I understand, thank you. It's quite sturdy to fly so high."

"Strong and light armor, lots of engines, a personal invisibility field and something we barely got working this morning. I have something installed called an energy shield. Some would call it a deflector shield. It's only class 1 apparently, which is mainly due to the design of the emitters and not any issues with the materials. The first one is always the test phase to see how well it holds up, the next few classes will be stronger." The empress didn't want to go over every single defensive system or offensive system with her, there were so many that were used in the airship it would blow her mind. The maiden was still getting used to gunpowder weapons and her automatons, teaching her about what she would be commanding over in her stead for battles in the war. The Valkyrjur were sponges for everything she could teach them, wanting to learn as much as she would explain. If they were to be her generals, they'd need to adapt to the new life she was giving them.

She didn't know how to explain that the main body of the dirigible was a honeycomb structure to keep it functioning, with intake systems hidden throughout the outside membrane to bring in air, some of it used in conversion to helium to keep the thing floating. It didn't need to get refueled much at all with the way it gathered from the sky while moving.

"Does that mean this, 'energy shield,' will only protect against small attacks?" Hrist asked. Selene sighed and nodded.

"It's mainly for protection against smaller threats right now, like… gryphon riders or some fort cannon firing up, wizards launching fireballs. I've seen at least two of those used so far, well, at least one of them given the first magic caster attempted to shoot a fireball at me. Those gryphon riders seemed to be slower than Aster though." Hrist grinned. Aster was as fast if not faster than her flying machine due to the small ritual she used, imbuing the horse with energy as a war mount to a Valkyrja. While she wasn't anticipating being his main rider, she knew he could carry her quickly into a fight due to those enhancements. He wasn't just a horse with wings.

"This, 'class 1,' it will be improved in the future?"

"Yes, we have a slew of research projects going right now, Orlo is helping me with that. I swear, I can't wait till that research lab is complete for him. I got Juliet to get me a construction team to get a research building made on the castle grounds along with a medical lab for Turnie. Having me do all the work for experiments might have had me miss some opportunities and having fresh eyes on different projects will help." While she was boasting about all of the research she was doing, it wasn't the empress performing most of the work, but her stations inside her inventory. There was almost no way to explain that to the battle maiden.

The food arrived and was placed in front of them, with a glass of milk provided for Hrist. "You have cows now? I did not see any at the farm." Selene sipped her orange juice.

"Oh, uh… yeah… we don't have cows…" she replied, trying to find the words to explain where that came from as she glanced between Hrist and the plate of food she had.

"Then… where does this come from?" the maiden asked as she sipped it a little and blinked. It tasted just like milk, no odd flavor or smell, white color.

"A tree actually. We worked a little on improving a group of seeds via alchemy, so instead of producing fruits, some of them now create these drooping bags that fill with milk. We're still working on getting one to grow meat, but that seems to be kind of difficult. Until then, trying to find soy bean seeds, we could maybe go vegetarian if that's the case." Hrist was surprised that it came from a tree. It wasn't almond milk or made from rice, it was just as if a cow had provided it. The mutation was revolutionary, creating new life… like a true goddess. She continued to be awed by the empress.

"You don't like eating meat?" the maiden asked her as she took a bite from her bacon.

"Oh no, I'm fine with it, but I've been kind of living off a high protein diet when I was huddled in a cave, I need a little more diversity right now, that's all. If I can get a tree that grows meat, that defeats ninety percent of the maintenance in raising livestock, methane pollution, the slaughtering of the animal, processing and packaging. With a tree or plant, water and fertilizer, good soil, let it grow, harvest the 'fruit' as it may be, profit. No real waste to worry about. We might keep some royal livestock around for the fertilizer or, I dunno, a petting zoo for any nice nobility we find along the way for their kids? There's many different options." Having the royal farms produce all forms of food had now made them entirely self-sufficient, with only new seeds wanted for newer crops to grow. Instead of trying out the food from a trader, she wanted to know where the food came from, so she could acquire the means of raising or growing it herself.

"It seems difficult to think of any 'nice' nobility being alive in that despicable kingdom" Hrist grumbled out as she ate some scrambled eggs. Selene looked up at her as she ate her own eggs over easy.

"Hey Hrist, do you believe everyone in that kingdom is evil?" The battle maiden stopped eating and used her napkin, something she normally didn't do. Eating almost like a pig was a normal thing to do in Asgard, as there were incantations to clean oneself afterwards. Now that she was a general, she felt she needed to hold herself to a higher standard in her empress's eyes.

"I do not believe all of them are evil, we are rescuing the people from their government, but the way I see it, the nobility is in… what is the word… 'cahoots?' with the king of Artinia. To me, they are damned. The only way I would change my mind would be to meet one face to face who has been trying to help rather than hinder." The dev looked at her food and thought for a moment before giving a haphazard nod with her eyebrows raised, understanding her reasoning. The problem might not be the nobility, just the company they have to keep so they can protect their families in her eyes. As she had seen, Gold Pine was full of many people who were good honest workers, with Mayor Stafinson doing his best to take care of his village at the time.

For all I know, they might have an inquisition that keeps going around to find anyone who defied the king. There very well could be nobility who are decent people. I'll still stick with Hrist's thought process on them though until we find one.

"Ma'am, it's Orlo" she heard via coms. There was no way to connect the Valkyrja to Communication is Key without a communication earpiece, which seemed to have some range issues without radio and communication systems installed into the listening and radar posts in the mountains. They were already being upgraded to make sure chatting was crystal clear with no capability for ECM to block conversations. Surprisingly, while not able to get the maidens to talk with their minds, they could still use the same encryption that her ability provided, even changing to new "frequencies" if they ever thought their communication was compromised, which seemed very doubtful.

"Go ahead Orlo, what's up?" she asked as she remembered Hrist wasn't given an earpiece just yet. She opened her inventory and pulled out one of them, which made the maiden's eyes go wide. Up until now she hadn't seen her open her inventory, ever, even when they fought the abomination her eyes were on the creature and not what Selene was doing. For all she knew, the Lazarus System was dropped down by one of the flying helibots. The dev pulled out the earpiece and handed it to her, motioning to her ear as a wearable item like an earring. The general nodded as she started to put the earpiece on, with a small dial on the side to change to different channels. This reminded Selene that having some communication soldiers on the field would help if she led a charge to a town or city.

"I believe I've been able to further expand our research into teleportation." Both Selene and Hrist looked at each other.

"Something better than blocking teleportation or scrambling the coordinates? Like what?"

"Like creating brand new ammunition for projectile weapons that can teleport to the target, there is no travel time." The empress was all ears now as her eyes widened with Hrist stopping eating to listen to this.

"Wait, so bullets can travel to the target without needing to fly through the air? They just appear at the enemy? That's incredible" Selene said as she picked at her small pile of home fries.

"The bullets will be able to use the electrical field of the enemy to home in on critical parts of their body, teleporting directly to that point and then… continuing on their way through an exit path. This makes them bypass armor without an energy shield or very strong protective magic to defend against it."

"Does it have restrictions? I mean like does it not work on certain enemy types, like undead or weird blob creatures or something?"

"From what I can see via short range scans while we were fighting the abomination, they still produce an electrical field to move the muscles; even magic produces an over field that may move skeletons, meaning the bullets might not normally hit critical areas like eye sockets or manipulation armor, they will be attracted to mass, which would be the forehead of a skull or sternum of a rib cage. For… blob creatures… explosive charges or acid rounds with a teleportation crystal should be viable as a tandem projectile. This however does not use the same magic that we encountered in the temple, that's the catch." Selene seemed a little confused, then understood.

"Wait, so this doesn't use tier magic, but my dimensional magic? You got that to work?" she asked as she glanced at Hrist, who seemed to be a little confused. Magic was magic, no matter how it was cast to her. The Valkyrja didn't yet understand there was a difference between Yggdrasil and Arcanic's Wizardry spells.

"Yes ma'am, I was able to incorporate your teleportation spell instead. I apologize if I wasn't clear on which spell was in use for the experiments. I had reached an impasse for the use of the tier magic system to further experimentation, instead switching gears to dimensional magic to further the design."

"Good work. Does it home in on the electrical field though?"

"While it will perform in those regards, a new modification would need to be installed in all gunpowder weapons. It 'locks' onto a target's energy signature until it dissipates, or the module is reset, to keep the projectiles from firing at closely packed targets. Testing was done on… um…" Orlo trailed off.

"Don't tell me you tested it on living creatures?"

"No ma'am, of course not. We had to use it on drone automatons due to regular training dummies not providing the electrical field. It felt… odd… attempting to destroy allies." Selene looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He was right, attacking other automatons was similar to her fighting humans, excluding the fact that the drone didn't have a personality core or some humans being evil. It was a slippery slope losing that sense of right and wrong when attacking a creature or object.

"I understand. Don't worry, they didn't feel anything obviously. They don't have real personalities like you do, just purely machines to work for us." Orlo acknowledged that. Hopefully it would set his mind at ease.

"Have you heard back involving the brigades sent to Eld Horn Township yet ma'am?" he asked. Her eyebrows raised as her mouth fell agape for a moment.

"Oh crap, nearly forgot, I thought they were going to engage without further orders, could have sworn I told them to take the town. Are they stationed outside?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am, camouflaged right now. Do you want to set them to task?" he asked.

"Yeah, although there isn't exactly a general there to oversee. I'll make sure they give the town a chance to surrender. There aren't any forts nearby are there?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am, a small one for town defense, but it seems to be mostly for… transportation of illegal goods. Ornithopters detected wagons in transit from Sweet Water Harbor, might have been narcotics or specialized consumables by the chemical scan." The empress seemed confused.

Why wouldn't that be transported to the imperial city? Is it a layaway station? Storage Depot?... something doesn't feel right…

"Orlo, we have ornithopters above the town, right?" she asked as she double checked the positions of her intelligence gatherers. There was camera feed from multiple positions as she watched the people. Some were healthy and out hunting, but there was a large amount that seemed to move around the streets slowly, almost like zombies. Zooming into the faces seemed to show they were drugged up, maybe not forcefully… probably willingly. They probably did it to forget their horrible life.

"Yes ma'am, there are more than a few people that seem to enter two key locations, what look to be 'hookah lounges' for the residents to forget." That annoyed the empress. While she wasn't against recreational drugs, it was a thing and would continue to be a thing everywhere, she didn't like that they were using it just to get away from real world problems. If they used it on free time, fine, but using it consistently unless hunting seemed like no life at all.

"I sent portable hospital tents and auto docs with the brigades for injured civilians… alright, I'll see if they can't attempt to take the town peacefully. First thing's first, getting that fort to stand down. If it doesn't, well… it's going to turn into rubble anyways, doesn't matter to me if there are any bodies hidden under it."

Meanwhile

Guard Lieutenant Hyland was writing some letters explaining how well the drugs he was getting was working on the people of Eld Horn to his king to review. The silly peasants did only two things most days, be passive and hunt for the kingdom. They barely could remember their numbers when it came to payment for pelts and meat, allowing his men to easily swoop in and 'assist' with the sale, getting even more money from their pockets.

"Sir! You need to come outside immediately! There's… some sort of army lined up outside the walls! They're talking to us!" one of his guards said in a panic. He dropped his quill into the ink pot and sighed. No one was stupid enough to attack an Artinian fort, they must have been out of their minds.

"I'll be there in just a moment then." He got up from his desk and picked up his jacket, buttoned it up and prepared himself, slicking back what little hair he had on his head and waxing his mustache. A quick snort of snuff from a snuffbox and a look into a polished bronze mirror before he was ready. He stepped out of his room to see the entire fort running for the walls, preparing a few of the advanced ballistae as well as cannons that were fired by the few wizards stationed there. The cannonballs were propelled by using mana. As he walked up to the walls, he could hear a very loud voice speaking to them.

"THIS IS THE CLOCKWORK EMPIRE. YOU ARE CURRENTLY AT WAR WITH US. WE REQUIRE YOUR IMMEDIATE SURRENDER OR FACE DESTRUCTION. YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO COMPLY BEFORE WE ENGAGE. FAILURE TO RESPOND WITHIN THAT TIME PERIOD AUTHORIZES US TO ENGAGE. HOSTILE ACTION AGAINST OUR FORCES IS A RESPONSE." Hyland laughed. These metal men stood watching his walls with odd looking boxes with tubes on the top, large cannons. He didn't see any wizards, no shields on the soldiers or swords. They looked to be carrying some sort of stick. These were peasants wearing metal plates to scare them.

"Fire a ballista at one of those boxes. Pierce it and show we will not cower to such an idiotic display. Did they really think this was going to work? Pathetic." His sergeants acknowledged and loaded the ballista, firing one bolt outwards and hitting a Heavy Battle Tank… plinking off the front glacis. There were a few moments of silence as the tank raised its two cannons at the wall.

(Recommended Song: Epic Score - Fire At Will)

"WE WILL TAKE THAT AS HOSTILE ACTION." A loud thunderous roar was heard as all the tanks started to engage, firing shells that started to topple the walls in huge chunks. Hyland's eyes widened as he ducked and cowered, trying to get away from the hell that was just unleashed on his fort. It wasn't a joke army; these metal men were incredible with amazing firepower. He heard whistling sounds as mortars dropped in and detonated, flipping his men end over end into the air screaming. It was a massive slaughter as he tried to run for the stables, but saw it be obliterated by some sort of explosive dropped from the sky.

There were metal creatures flying above that dove on occasion, spitting red and yellow death from weird openings in the wings. One wall completely collapsed with the men falling to their deaths, the ballista team and wizards above quickly having their lives ended as the metal soldiers charged in and fought in perfect formation, the sticks they were carrying spitting more projectiles at amazing speeds, penetrating armor with extreme ease or blowing heads off.

At one point one of his soldiers managed to get near one, attempted to strike with his sword, was dodged with a quick sidestep and backhanded backwards, snapping his neck in the process. These weren't just soldiers, in his eyes they were demons from some unknown hell come to destroy them. One of his wizards attempted to teleport out, with him screaming for the wizard to not leave him. The magic caster looked at him and disappeared… for a few seconds. He reappeared after those seconds disoriented, looking around and wondering why he was still in the fort very confused by what had just transpired. The scrambler system was in use. There was no way to escape. A quick mortar round and the wizard wasn't there anymore.

A ten-foot-tall metal soldier with what looked like multicolored brown and green spots covering the body appeared in front of him and stared down at his prone body on the ground, covered in dirt and mud. He crawled backwards and evacuated his bowels and bladder while doing so, the behemoth continuing to stand there aiming some handheld cannon. That was all he would see as his vision went dark due to the cannon firing.

Half Hour Later

Liyana tried to get her brother up and awake for the next hunt out in the Morelar woods, they needed to make their quota before winter set in. Unfortunately for her, he was hyped up on Scooze, the drug constantly brought from Sweet Water. As she shook him, he rolled over with his eyes blood shot, unwilling to do much. Today was supposed to be a free day for him, but she had made him promise to help out in tracking a new herd seen of Eld Horns found along with some wild turkeys. The Eld Horn was a massive deer with horns that grew curved at first like goats then downwards, arcing towards each other and finally facing backwards like wings folded. It acted as armor for the beast when confronted by predators.

"Come on Davin! You promised me you'd help damn it! Don't be this way!" she shouted as he rolled and looked at her.

"I changed my mind. I need this after what happened yesterday. I just want to forget." He was referring to the confrontation between himself, her and a guard. He was attempting to molest her, but Davin came to her rescue… or so he thought. Apparently, the guard was a sergeant to Lieutenant Hyland at the fort and was willing to fake documents to get him arrested, never seeing his sister again. They were orphans, never really knowing their parents, however Liyana had shown some skill with a bow and crossbow, eventually becoming the head huntress for the town… due mostly because no one else wanted the position. It required a lot of paperwork to be sent with shipments of goods, some of that paperwork making her need to head to the Halivast fort, being leered at by the guards the entire way. She was pretty, with long brown hair weaved into a ponytail that she draped over her shoulder, with a small number of freckles on her face. Her brown eyes always were shifting around her, watching and hoping there weren't any guards nearby to cause trouble.

While the soldiers were supposed to be there to protect them, they mainly caused issues and attempted to fondle the more attractive women in the town, her included. While nothing got beyond some pawing due to her brother, it could quickly get worse. Davin was her main line of defense, but now it seemed it was either acquiesce to their perverted actions or never see his sister again. He couldn't take it, he had heard stories of how horrible the Artinian dungeons were.

"I need you. Please. I can't go out there alone. I might be in charge, but if those guards… if they…" she shook him one more time.

"Get one of the other hunters to help you. Maybe… maybe if we rotate… they might forget… like we do…" he drifted off. He was going to be this way for quite a few hours, useless in his bed. She kicked the side of one of the posts, not even making him jump as she was frustrated. Maybe he didn't want to think about what would happen if they got their grubby hands on her? Maybe he didn't want to watch her be touched by them, it would haunt him for the rest of his days or be the end of him.

She groaned out loud and picked up her bow and quiver, took one last look at her brother and left their small lodge. It was a gift provided to the head hunter, otherwise they did what they could to scrape together money to stay at the inn at town. As she closed the door and looked up at the sky, she prayed there would be no bad luck, that somehow, she could get through the day without one of the guards finding her. Her skin crawled each time they touched her face or her shoulders out of revulsion.

The huntress slowly made her way through the streets towards the market, checking on anything that they might be needing to buy. The meat looked fresh, as was normal, but the vegetables looked quite wilted with no fruits available. She saw two guards standing in an alcove and decided to pull up her hood to hide her face, hoping to get by them without any problems. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work.

"Hey there luv! It's you again! And without your brother stopping our little tryst this time! Guess he learned his lesson huh?" both guards ran up to her with one speaking. He grabbed her wrist as she pulled away, trying to keep her distance. They cat called and slowly pushed her into another door alcove as others looked at her, feeling sorry for what she was going through, but fearful of doing anything. They continued doing their own thing, somewhat happy it wasn't them. To be pretty in this town meant you were there to be ridden by the Artinian soldiers, used and abused as if you would enjoy it.

"Let me go, I have to leave now, or the game will get away!" she snapped as she kept her hands up to protect herself from their groping.

"Oh luv, we can help with that, ey Tavish?"

"Right right, be a right joy to go out there with you, no one watching out in the fields. Fun can happen out there, things we're sure you'll enjoy."

"Get away from me! I don't want any of that! Can't you just leave me alone?!"

"Can't do that for such a pretty face luv. You'll get used to it eventually. You see, we're the law around here and-" That was all he could say as gasps were heard from people nearby as they stared at the entrance.

(Recommended Song: Two Steps From Hell - Bastion)

Two loud noises were heard like spells being cast by wizards as the guards at the front gate toppled to the ground, with what looked like metal men with large… metal boxes rolled into the street. They seemed to be moving in formation, ignoring the civilians and targeting the guards. Tavish, and the guard groping her, turned and looked at them in awe. That gave Liyana a chance to get around them, with their hands reaching out to grab and pull her back as the metal soldiers moved by. That was the exact thing they shouldn't have done. One soldier looked at them, its weird eyes focusing before it aimed its metal stick and fired two times, killing both of them.

Liyana screamed and cowered with her hands on her head as the metal soldier didn't attack her, just continued forward looking for more guards to fight. "You are safe now Miss" was all she heard from it as it moved on.

"DO NOT BE ALARMED, WE ARE THE CLOCKWORK EMPIRE. WE COME TO END THE REIGN OF THE ARTINIAN KINGDOM. WE ARE ASSUMING CONTROL OVER ELD HORN TOWNSHIP. DO NOT TAKE UP ARMS AGAINST US, FAILURE TO PUT DOWN WEAPONS IS PROVACATION TO TREAT YOU AS HOSTILE. ARTINIAN GUARDS ARE CONSIDERED HOSTILE. REPEAT, DO NOT BE ALARMED, WE ARE THE CLOCKWORK EMPIRE. WE COME TO END THE REIGN OF THE ARTINIAN KINGDOM. WE ARE ASSUMING CONTROL OVER ELD HORN TOWNSHIP. DO-" The voice was blaring out from one of the box wagons rolling on its own, with no horses pulling it. Two large treads wrapped around the wheels as it moved forward, with the turret on top looking for larger foes to slay. She couldn't believe her eyes, these beings, whoever they were, did not attack the citizens, only the guards stationed here. There were a few that stopped at corners of each town block, taking station and guarding that location. People looked at them as they continued watching the area.

One man jumped in front of the armored wagon and started to pray, sitting on his knees as he shot his arms out into the air. Two metal soldiers came around and dragged him out of the way as the wagon continued moving forward. Two of the metal soldiers leapt at an Artinian guard and slammed him through the wall that protected the town, creating a hole in it.

As she slowly moved away from the awe inspiring army moving through her town and headed towards the front gate, with more of them pouring through, she heard noise above them as huge metal vehicles flew by, some even carrying what looked like crates held by winches. As she passed the one metal soldier at one corner, the design of the armor looked different, wearing black with blue stripes on it. The guard looked at her as she watched it.

"Do you require assistance Miss?" it asked in a soothing tone. It had its hands behind its back in a formal stance. It looked to be the same size as any other human, smaller than the larger military soldiers that kept pouring through the gate.

"Um… no, not at the moment. I… well, I need to get through the gate to go hunting." It looked towards the gate as she turned around. A neat space between one block of metal soldiers and the next was opened for her to pass by.

"The way is temporarily clear for you Miss, please be careful when outside the walls. If you have any issues or notice any crime, please do not hesitate to warn us. We are here to serve and protect." She looked back at the soldier in awe. It didn't touch her in any way, assisted her in getting out of the town somehow by silently telling the other metal soldiers to allow exit and even warned her it was willing to look out for her. Whatever this Clockwork Empire was, it already had made one hell of an impression with the people in the town.

As she left the gates and jogged away to the forest, she could see the number of soldiers still outside. Hundreds, thousands even were moving into the town, showing their power and force they had available. She could hear the same bang noises from those weapons they were carrying, probably ending the threat of any other Artinian guards stationed inside. That was when her eyes roamed and fell onto the destroyed burning rubble of the Halivast Fort. Two metal vehicles flew over her head, moving off in a new direction with one of them flying wingman. She had never seen such soldiers or vehicles before; this empire must have been incredibly powerful.