C10 - End of the Prologue.

'Inner dialogue/thoughts'

"Normal dialogue"

"Online Comments/Twitch comments/Narrator"

[Reading description of games]

[System]

(Word Count: 1,135)

~ With Aiden ~

On the battlefield, what is the most feared thing for tanks? It is not the soldiers charging at them, nor enemy tanks, nor enemy field artillery. No, for tanks, the biggest fear is being immobilized. Now, for the second time that battle, the Mark IV controlled by Aiden faced this fatal issue once again while on the offensive against the Germans.

'Fuck, that narrator wasn't kidding when he mentioned the Mark IV as unreliable!' Aiden mused.

"Damn it! We're stuck! This is bad, this is really bad!" Aiden, from within the tank, stomped his foot onto the accelerator, but the tank just would not move. He could hear the engine straining through the thick steel armour, and the smell of gasoline beginning to fill the confined space.

From the high hillsides surrounding their position, the cries of German soldiers reached their ears. "Damn, they're ambushing us! We need to move, NOW!" Micah's voice was tense with urgency.

Around them, Allied soldiers lay fallen. The Germans were approaching from a blind spot where the tank's main gun could not reach while it was still stationary. They began hammering on the tank's entrance with military shovels.

"I can't get it moving! The tracks are just spinning in the mud!" Aiden was panicking, repeatedly trying his best to get the tank moving, but it remained stuck.

"Fuck! Keep trying!" Micah left his seat as he moved towards the back of the tank where carrier pigeons were kept. On the other hand, the last remaining member of the tank crew, Brian, took over the mounted machine gun to try and keep the German soldiers at bay.

From the corner of his eyes, Aiden noticed Micah's movement and couldn't help but ask his chat. "What is he doing at a time like this?! Is that a letter?!"

His viewers, ever present and observant, quickly offered their thoughts.

"Is he writing a will or something?!"

"No! If I remember correctly, back in World War I, the army used carrier pigeons for communications!"

"Then he should be writing a message for help!"

Seeing the responses, Aiden understood what Micah was aiming for.

"WAIT! I REMEMBER THIS IN A HISTORY LESSON! IF A TANK IS STUCK AND FACING IMMINENT THREAT, SOMETIMES THEY WOULD REQUEST FOR ARTILLERY FIRE ON THEIR POSITION, HOPING THE TANK'S ARMOUR WOULD HOLD!"

However, the latest comment from one of his viewers had left him panicking to stop Micah from killing all of them. "What are you doing?! Are you trying to get us killed?!"

Micah did not listen to Aiden's words at all. He continued writing before finally tying the note onto the pigeon and opened the small compartment that would let the pigeon fly out of the tank. Just as the pigeon had left, a lucky stray bullet had managed to find it's way through the small hole before Micah could close it, and had struck him dead centre between his eyes.

Once again, Aiden could only watch on as his teammate fell right in front of him.

The game then shifted perspectives, with Aiden finding himself in the point of view of the carrier pigeon. The pigeon flew through the war-torn skies, flying over burning fields and ruined towns, until it reached the Allied command outpost.

The Allied commander in charge of the battle received the pigeon and retrieved the message tied to it. The message read: "Emergency shelling mission! New coordinates: 3-1-7-2-4-1, Echo-Lima-Echo-6-0"

The commander immediately relayed the coordinates to their long-range heavy artillery and gave the immediate order to fire. Three rounds were launched as the commander sent his prayers to the ambushed soldiers. He knew that ELE60 meant that whoever it was that sent the message, were out of options and were surrounded by enemy soldiers with no hope of rescue.

The perspective then shifted back to Aiden. Outside of the immobilized tank, the German soldiers had halted their attempts to break into the tank, seemingly waiting for reinforcements. Within the tank, Aiden took a seat on the floor, a defeated expression etched into his face.

Aiden stared at the dead body of Micah, who's eyes were still left open. 'This is it, huh. . .'

Suddenly, the panicked voices of the German soldiers could be heard erupting from outside the tank, scrambling to get away from the tank. Hearing their panic, Aiden scoffed as he reached out his hands to close the eyes of Micah. "It's been an honour fighting with you, Micah. And even you too, Finch."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In that instance, three consecutive and resounding explosions rang into Aiden's ears as the game screen shook violently, before gradually becoming blurry and ending in a black screen. Silence fell, as not a single sound was heard after.

Five seconds later, a game prompt appeared in the centre of the screen:

[Thank you for trying out the Prologue Story Campaign of "Battlefield 1". The full version, including Multiplayer modes and extended Single-Player Campaigns, will be available worldwide on June 1st 20XX. Pre-order now for a 10% discount.]

Seeing this, both Aiden and his viewers, along with the other streamers who had joined in to watch the live stream, were not surprised. A game of such high quality would naturally not be free and come with a price.

"So. . . It is a paid game after all. Fucking hell, I thought I would be able to play the whole game for free after downloading the content without paying a single dollar. But even if it cost a hundred, no, a thousand dollars, I would still pay to play more of it!" Aiden remarked, more to himself than his viewers.

"Pre-order for a 10% discount?!"

"Are you kidding me?! That's 10% more than what other gaming companies would give!"

"Guys! It's released on June 1st! WHY?!"

"That's still half a month away! Can't they release it sooner?!"

Looking at his viewers, Aiden chuckled before he commented with a knowing smile. "I know the full game is still half a month away, but don't forget guys. This prologue campaign is free to play, RIGHT NOW!"

Aiden and his chat moved on to discuss about the game. From the realism of war to the little details that he had missed while he was immersed in the gameplay. Then, one of his viewers posed the question that none of them knew the answer to.

"What's the deal with Epic Games? I've never heard of them ever before Aiden played this game. Are they a major gaming developer?"

- End of Chapter 10 -

E/d note: I have deleted chapters 11, 12 and 13 because first, i did not upload chapter 10, and second, those 3 chapters mentioned were released in random order .-. I have no idea what was happening as i was releasing them. Anyways this fanfic has been put on hiatus until I have the time to get back at it. I will release the rest of the chapters i have fixed - up till C21 - here on Webnovel.