Chapter 16 Friendly fire?

It was now the 6th of June and Lili was up and feeling well again. Although Anna wasn't feeling well at all. The girl had been totally devastated by the news of her father leaving her.

Anna had refused to play with them during the previous night, and now she even refused to go to school. So with her and Anna basically now living together in Alex's home without any parental figures to take care of them both, it was now time for Lili to step up to the job.

After all she had promised Ivan that she would take care of Anna, and that's exactly what she intended to do. So with some effort she dragged Anna along with her to the forge to work.

Doing this she hoped to lift Anna's mood up, but she also really needed an assistant. So who better than the nice and beautiful little Anna, right.

Taking the girl to the forge she made sure to introduce her to everything. For she actually had many great things around her camp. She had a simple forge of stones and clay. There was no fire there at the moment, but soon there would be.

Then there was the tools, the bellows to blow air into the furnace, and most impressive of all was her grinding stone and Anvil. There were of course the other not so impressive things, but these were the most important of all.

And not only this, but within her hammer and Anvil she had infused within them her magic. For while she could turn things into pure crystals like white stones of light, she could also make runes of light.

For there was a problem with her crystal of light, and that was that they weren't all that strong. They could take a beating, and with some extra healing she could even begin to regenerate them, or grow them over time. But overall they broke easily under extreme pressure like when smashing them against stone.

So instead Lili had begun making runes that held the power of minor healing within them. And using rune tools and the Anvil to craft more things would then bring slight amounts of those healing properties upon that crafted tool. But to really bring those properties into that newly crafted thing, the rune tool would need to be used to craft new runes upon that newly crafted thing.

And so she didn't need to be the one making the tools, armours, weapons and all. It would be just fine if Anna for example would make them and the runes. And so she began to train the poor, demoralised and sad Anna to do just this.

So to motivate Anna into doing this job, Lili decided to start making iron armour for Ivan and his men. Iron armour that would all hold runes of healing. Which meant that its wearer would be healed while wearing the armour, and the armour would regenerate in time, although slowly.

Of course no normal iron armour could withstand a rifle bullet, but that's where Alex with his light of protection would come in. Of course Alex would need to learn to use his powers more before he could create proper runes of protection.

Also the runes were something made within the high imperial letters. After all the more complex the letters and the more time and love was poured into them, the stronger and longer lasting those letters would be. That's why high imperial was the one and only writing style she preferred to use. Also a peculiar thing about it was that Alex did say that it looked like some form of elvish, which was apparently a compliment.

So while teaching Anna and working on making some simple armour for Ivan and his men, time quickly went by. And as mid day came and it came time for them to head back for some food. Lili was then stopped by Eric at the lodge.

There Infront of the lodge was now only two vehicles. One was Eric's old truck and the other a newer looking black truck. And there before her stood Eric and behind him two crippled men.

One had a prosthetic left leg, while his right was deformed and burned. His lower body and his left arm also had great burn scars on them, and the man was clearly overweight and quite young.

The other man was a skinny man with glasses and no legs. He merely sat in a wheelchair which was quite a sad sight to see.

Both men were apparently people Eric knew from the army and had agreed to come meet her. They were clearly sceptical, but quite desperate to get help and so there was hope within them. And where there was hope for a miracle to occur, there was also fate.

So Lili agreed to heal the mem to Eric's and the men's relief, but not immediately. For while her core of light had recently grown nicely, it still was too weak to do it all.

And so instead of her healing them directly she decided to put these men on a rehabilitation course. A healing and wellness rehabilitation course held here in Eden itself.

And so on that day Lili decided to officially order Ludwig and Helen to close the private fishing lodge down. Instead this place was to be called camp Eden and the lodge was to be its center for now.

There Helen would serve the fateful food that was grown upon this holy land, and she would give them the pure waters of lake Eden as their drinks and nothing else. Lili would also hide stones of light around the lodge so by simply staying here and believing, people would heal and become better than they had ever before been.

Of course the rooms were limited in the lodge, so there would be a price to them. And the rooms would only be rented out to the fateful, so if Lili ever saw evil desires in any of them then they would be thrown out immediately.

Following Lilis orders the two visiting men were then brought inside and served only big holy tomatoes and holy water from the lake. The men seemed uncertain and confused, but with some encouragement of Eric they did as they were told.

Amd as they ate and drank their expressions immediately changed to amazement. They seemingly couldn't believe it, the tomatoes were the best they had apparently ever eaten and the water was so warm and yet so soothing to their souls.

And though no visible changes came after the first day, Lili could see their souls quickly change. Before they were clouded in darkness like Eric had been, but now they quickly became more clear and pure.

So the men decided to stay and go relax at the lakeside. Seeing it Lili was pleased. After all now she had energy to do other things and didn't need to use all her energy on Eric's friends. She of course could, but Eric had said that he was trying to convince more of his contacts to come here, and so for the long term it was best to do it like this. She couldn't just keep on healing everyone personally, after all if she did that, then she wouldn't have the energy to do anything else.

After that the day went much the same as it usually did. She and Anna worked on the forge while the others did their own things. And later that day when Alex came they then began to train, after which they headed to Alex's place again and played till it became really late.

But during this time she couldn't help but wonder what was this Kiev? What was Ivan and his men doing there exactly? What was going on there?

Throughout the day she had occasionally checked in on him and found it all to be so strange. The streets of the city were crowded, full of makeshift blockades of trash and different looking groups of people in all sorts of outfits. There was also a lot of armed men walking about, some of which Ivan and his friends interacted with.

Ivan and his friends held some stacks of money in their pockets, although this money was quite different looking from the US dollars she knew. But as they talked to some armed men and they took them to some office building.

There they met with some military uniformed man with a cool looking coat of arms. There Lili could see a shield with black and red as the primary colours. There was also some strange text. And in that shield there was another shield with white edges, a black colour in the center and a white trident looking symbol in the middle.

For a while they seemed to be under a sort of questioning by the military man. He seemed a bit suspicious of them, but as they showed him the money he immediately showed a smile. The man stood up, took the money, shook their hands and exchanged some words.

Then as Ivan and his men signed some papers, they then shook the man's hand happily. All saluted to the man and together they all said in unison. "Slava Ukraine!"

And quickly after that they were given rifles, a simple vest where they could hold some magazines, a camouflaged bag and a funny looking helmet. After that they were sent to a car where they joined one other man who began to drive them out of the city and towards some other place.

They talked a lot, but Lili couldn't understand any of it. Although she could understand that something bad was about to happen. Ivan and his friends acted calm, but there was an murderous intent in them. Throughout the day, whenever Lili focused on them, she could feel it always there. Especially when they met with that man and now as they were in the car.

So from time to time Lili kept on checking on them just in case. And she also made sure to reinforce their blessed crosses with her magic.

They drove throughout the night and as Lili woke up the next day and checked on them. She found them to be at a small airport of some kind. There in front of a big long building, was three armoured vehicles parked back to back. And next to them stood 50 soldiers.

All the men wore those strange looking helmets, military uniforms with those black and red trident symbols on their shoulders. They had black boots, bags and rifles in hand just like Ivan and his men had.

She could feel that they were anxious about something. She could also hear gunfire in the distance which could explain their anxiety, but why was Ivan and his men full of bloodlust.

Ivan stood before them all with his phone in hand, and rifle there resting Infront of him. One of his friends was on the left, one on the right and one on top of the center most armoured vehicle.

The four men had formed a sort of circle around these soldiers it seemed. But Ivan didn't seem all too pleased as he looked to someone in the distance and called him over.

He was arguing with someone. Or well it sounded like he was arguing with quite a few men, but as he did the other gathered men joined in on the arguing as well. Then the voices in the distance quieted down, Lili couldn't see who he was arguing with, until 12 soldiers ran over and seemed reluctant as they joined the group in the center.

And as all were now gathered and then showed a smile, Ivan did so as well, but then suddenly his phone dropped. The men's expressions turned to confusion, Ivan raised his weapon and then without a word all four men started firing.

From four different directions bullets flew into the gathered crowd of soldiers. Some tried to run, shoot back or just duck down for cover, but all failed. The attack was so sudden that no shots of retaliation were fired then.

And within ten or so seconds all the soldiers lay dead or dying on the ground. Ivan and his men didn't show any emotion, For their holy crosses were now working to keep them calm and collected.

Ivan and his men merely loaded new magazines into their guns, walked over to the wounded soldiers and with a few precise shots they ended all the wounded men's suffering.

Seeing it Lili was stunned. It was so early in the morning, she had barely slept a few hours and this is the sight that she ended up waking up to. Just what was going on here? Why was Ivan shooting men who were just a moment ago acting like friends towards him? Had the man truly gone insane or was he like so always?

She could not for the life of hers figure out why Ivan and his friends suddenly gunned down their comrades. She could merely watch as they began undressing the men, taking their weapons and throwing everything into the armoured vehicles.

But as they were doing this, yells suddenly came from the big structures direction. Hearing it Ivan and his friends barely reacted, they looked like some emotionless psychopaths as they calmly jumped into the armoured vehicles.

Ivan went into the driver's seat as one of his friends manned the gun, as the two others manned the other two vehicles guns. And then the gun fire began again, but much heavier than a moment before.

The armoured vehicles were quite small looking and seemed to have extremely weak armours, but their turrets did seem quite effective at tearing holes into the big building before them.

While the vehicles kept on shooting and pinning the enemy down in the building, Ivan drove his vehicle as close as he could to the building and then he hopped out. With three of his men giving him covering fire, he entered the building alone and began clearing it.

There in the hallways he saw men hiding and covering in fear as powerful bullets came flying in through the thin walls of the building. They were merely just kneeling or laying there in fear as Ivan aimed at them and began to shoot.

One by one men fell dead in the hallway. They had no bulletproof vests and their helmets were of no use against Ivan's bullets, so the men died. Only a few lucky ones managed to avoid instant death as their comrades took the bullets for them.

Then from behind their dead comrades they returned fire. One, two, three bullets struck Ivan. Two on his left arm and one in the chest.

He winced in slight pain, finally showing some emotions as he fell back behind the corner. His holy cross began working immediately, it started to close his wounds slowly and take away the pain.

But within his chest was still that singular bullet that hadn't passed through like the rest. Lili couldn't heal him fully up in fear of leaving that bullet stuck there.

Though Ivan knew this and so with but his bare hand he ripped open his wound. Blood flew as his flesh tore, then he reached in and pulled it out.

And within an instant Lili activated her healing and the wound began to close. Only a minute or so and he would be fully healed and ready to go again, but Ivan didnt wait.

Instead he got to his feet, went over to the window and pointed to his men on the position where to shoot. Seeing his signal the men turned the armoured vehicles turrets and then large bullets flew.

Within an instant the hallway was shredded and the men were ripped into pieces there. Ivan came to look upon them and saw nothing but pieces of meat and metal left there. So he continued onwards until the building was fully cleared.

The man was ruthless, he didn't hesitate in the slightest, his aim was perfect, eyes sharp and ears capable of picking up the slightest of sounds there. His reaction speed boosted by Lilis healing was also quite good.

Ivan seemed unstoppable as he went around the building. Although as he did this a few more men opened up fire onto the armoured vehicles from the outside of the building.

Acting quickly the vehicles turned their guns and with a few precise rounds managed to stop the enemies fire. Seeing it Ivan began firing from the buildings third floor upon the enemy in the open field and so the few enemies there fell and the battle ended.

Within only a half an hour or so it seemed that the airfield was taken. The enemy whoever they were had been totally caught off guard, but Ivan and his friends didn't seem like they were just yet done.

After gathering over 70 rifles, some rocket launchers of some kind and military uniforms with helmets and all. They then broke into some locked section of the big building and there they found even more weapons, ammo and grenades.

Hauling them all into the three armoured vehicles they then finally began to drive off towards the sounds of distant gunfire.

Curiously Lili watched Ivan and wondered what was going on. It all just seemed so random, so mindless and why did all the surroundings look so poor compared to what she saw in the United States?

Peeking from a hatch above the driver's seat Ivan looked upon a sign that red. "Mariupol."

Soon a statue of some strange hooded man was seen and she could also see many cars were driving away from the city called Mariupol. They seemed to be trying to get away from something, although many were still driving along side their armoured vehicles towards the city still.

Driving past the first set of tall concrete buildings, further into the city and towards the gunfire. They then came to a crossroads, and there in the middle of the road they stopped and got out. They ripped the insignias off of the armoured vehicles sides, Ivan got a top one if the armoured vehicles as he then began to speak.

Soon people gathered around and began to cheer, Ivan's friends opened up the vehicles and soon weapons, uniforms and all were being handed out to the people.

And once enough people were ready, they climbed atop the armoured vehicles, some got inside and then they drove off leaving the rest of the weapons behind for the people to take.

Driving a bit further along from there they then came upon a scene of an intense gunfight. Before them they could see men in similar uniforms as before taking cover there before them on the street. They were taking cover behind buildings and a wall as their armoured vehicle kept on shooting into the distance, down a street.

Seeing it, the men riding on and in Ivan's and the two other vehicles disembarked. Then the three armoured vehicles spread out, turned their guns on the unsuspecting soldiers and then began firing. Through Ivan's scope Lili could see men and that armour in front be quickly reduced to disgusting messes unlike that what they were before.

Quickly the other men on foot joined in and a massacre began. Once again the enemy was totally taken off guard and pretty much in the open. And once more Ivan was ruthless, there were no survivors, no prisoners, just death.

And after finishing all the men there they then began driving around the city's streets hunting down the rest of the enemies. And as they drove around they came across many different types of enemies.

Some enemies acted professionally, some even wore what seemed like decent military gear and they even managed to return fire or run for a while, but most seemed to lack any military experience and were quickly eliminated.

Soon the city's streets were littered with some blood and men's body parts here and there. It was a gruesome sight and only a few handful of enemies managed to escape it.

And as the fighting ended and calmness returned to the city, people then came around Ivan and his friends to cheer for their victory. They seemed happy, some were worried, but more were excited as they looted the corpses for guns and anything useful.

Lili could even see men with large cameras and vests with the words. "Press."

She could also see heavily armoured and armed men in black with white cloths tied around their arms. These men also wore masks to cover their faces and yet Ivan seemed happy to see them. Quickly he went to shake the leader of these men's hand and then they said. "Slava Donbass!" And then the people cheered.

Curious of all that she saw there Lili decided then and there that, during that coming day she would go to the library again. She would take Anna there and she would then learn of this place called Kiev, Mariupol, Ukraine and Donbass. And why it was that Ivan and his friends were shooting at these military men?