S1, 03 By the Fountain at Vitruvian (August 9, 2015)

Life is short, yet beyond value. No one can live long without encouragement, but encouragement itself would seem senseless and empty if there was no such a thing as discouragement. Only a balance one must find.

It is May, 2095.

The Aurelian high-command, in alliance with the Imperium, have ordered the defense of the planet Qoter...

\_\_\_\_ ...on behalf of the Earth

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_and all her people.

In the nights before battle, the general briefs his troops.

\_\_"Soldiers of Aurelia , you are tasked with repelling an invasive force from among our home world. On Qoter, you will find both allies and enemies mixed into an ever changing atmosphere of distrust.

\_\_The Imperium is our only ally —though they have been hunting us for decades, though they have brutally ravaged our own ken and snuffed out the dreams of our children; It is vital to our existence that we focus on the common enemy.

\_\_To those of you who may be lucky enough to find a future in this war, I can assure you that it will be a difficult one. Although it may be best not to, I am compelled to say this: Be wary of the Imperium's diabolical scheming, and of your own counter-intuitive thoughts aswell. And of this I can say, that in the context of the individual...

\_\_Everything on this planet... is... your... enemy".

*Regentis, the Great City; planet Qoter -*

*Time: 23:27 Earthtime, May 26th, AD 2095 -*

\_\_While it is true that this planet, the second of it's solar system, has indeed been the host of many wars and conflicts throughout it's history; which of these can be compared to the third coming of man, that is, the Collective? Having arrived only two years late of their enemies, the Collective have found them to be more fated than yielding.

\_\_This story will cover the events which happened by the Fountain at Vitruvian being centered around our protagonist, Deirdre. She was sent to fight on Qoter as part of Aurelia's ceasefire agreement with the Imperium in late March. Prior to this, she had only received three months of military training from the Academy of Toliv, mostly in physical and instructional forms hence she and her platoonmates all lacked tactical sense...

Captain W.R. Capsmay observes from afar.

\_\_\_\_The Imperial Captain, concerned yet saddened, says:

\_\_\_\_"I remember thinking, as I defended this city years ago, that no Aurelian would ever enter the gates of Regentis...

...Yet here they are now, acting as if we needed them. Showing off their subpar intelligence, they are not civil enough to coordinate or even relay their maneuvers with us".

The captain then contacted headquarters.

\_ "Sigma-nine to Chi-command:

An Aurelian ground squadron has entered our sphere of influence without prior contact, we are requesting backup to overwatch the situation. Do you copy?

\_\_Over".

However, headquarters did not respond in a way which he expected.

\_ "Chi-command to Sigma-nine:

There is a far more dangerous threat in your area than a squad of ill-prepared capitalist, are you not aware? C.A. Lieutenant Limitra will arrive to assist you, E.T.A. five minutes. You are ordered to remain strictly defensive until then.

\_\_Chi-command out".

This was worrisome news to the captain, and to his squad aswell.

\_\_ To think they were oblivious of the dangers approaching them; —but also coming to mind the monstrous lieutenant, who was within the clique of their seemingly psychopathic commander. They could not but be skeptical of what should happen in the upcoming minutes.

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Now, this danger which approaches —Three Collective mages, each confident in the ability to to carry out their mission.

"We seek a confrontation".

"Our scheme against that mechanical shadow cannot fail. Not this time".

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Meanwhile...

...The Aurelii are having problematic difficulties.

"Hey, bro", Fred inquired of the Aureilian officer,

\_\_"How's about we take us a break 'n load up on some bellytimber"?

"No"! Replied Addison, the officer,

\_\_"If we should stop now, those acolytes will track us down".

\_\_Their current situation was, while being the most grave they had ever been in, not nearly as bad compared to what many others had overcome. Deirdre understood this, but her companions didn't seem to. For reasons like this she often stayed quiet in discussions, unless of course, something so heavily prompted her to speak up.

But for now, it seemed the officer had made his point that they would continue moving.

\_\_\_Then Cherilyn got an idea...

"Sayyy, I think we should just slowly work our way back to HQ. Ya'know, carefully, and steering clear of any enemies. That way we can get away from those acolytes, rest, and refresh ourselves". Cherilyn said.

"That's a better idea". Addison stated, "We'll head back. Comrades, follow me"!

"What?! No, we shouldn't go back". Deirdre protested, "Just look ahead of us, there is a building which would be perfect to setup a stakeout in, and thereby resolve all of our problems".

"Soldier, I'll have you know it's a safer bet to head back and if you..."

Then, seeing Clyde begin walking in the direction of the building, Addison paused mid-sentence.

Clyde was soon followed by Cherilyn,

\_\_and Cherilyn by Fred.

This was a shock to Addison, he knew Deirdre often tried to take his authority, but this was the first instance where the soldiers responded quickly to her idea.

"A child will always pick the shiny box". Addison said angrily at Deirdre.

To which she simply replied, "Yeah...", referring back to him.

By now, it was well worked that they would setup in the building.

\_\_\_And to there they marched.

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Elsewhere, a battle is stirred.

"Even should one of us be brought down, of what difference would that be upon their fates?

Within the span of a thought they deal with their enemies.

\_\_\_Oh, but do we not come prepared this time? We should..."

"DAMNED MAGES"!

A more enthusiastic way to interrupt a sentence I would say.

"...Fancy an opportune encounter.

\_\_\_And hence our trials begin".

As life dictates, any useful skills acquired throughout one's time may yet still be inadequate when death tries.

"Very good, Private",the captain said to the sniper".

"Quick reflexes are what we need to keep us alive longer" .

Though the captain did not see the actual shot, he discerned well what happened.

"Yes, Sir, but there are two more, they are down by the garden". The sniper replied.

"If those mages want to stand there in the open, why show our necks to stop them?

I'll signal our old friend to come and finish 'em off".

We are requesting an air strike on the Garden at Vitruvian. Our target is presumed to be the Collective mage, Opprøris of Chrome, he is accompanied with a second mage of unknown identity.

\_\_Sigma-nine over".

After a brief silence, a response.

\_"Air-command to sigma-nine:

Your request has been relayed to and approved by 251st Central Command. An RTX8 LB missile will to launched by aircraft 42117 at your appointed target. E.T.A. two minutes.

Please remain at a minimum of eighty yards from target

to avoid incidents of friendly-fire.

\_\_Air-command out".

"Air strikes are fine" the captain gloated.

\_\_Ah, but I sometimes miss the days of disorderly ground fighting.

\_\_\_\_Hmm.. yet for the moment, we are too near to be effective.

\_\_\_\_\_\_Aludswood"! The captain called,

"Send our new friends an invitation to the party".

"Yes, Sir", replied Aludswood shrewdly, "I promise I won't hurt them".

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As for the two Collective mages...

\_\_\_\_The focus was now split; of the original seven shares,

\_\_\_\_three now remain in Opprøris and two remain in his left hand company.

"Tell me, while I still live,

\_\_\_\_why should I not continue over and incapacitate these inferior earthlings"?

"Hold fast, my apprentice, and your enemies with present themselves to you.

\_\_\_\_When the stargazers cast their tents, then the meteors will fall".

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At around that time, the Aurelian platoon entered their sheltered building.

"I'll flip a coin to decide who keeps watch", the officer stated.

\_\_\_\_But Fred interrupted, "Ha, last one upstairs keeps watch"!

"Bah, whatever".

\_\_Everyone else, the officer included, promptly rushed upstairs, yet our protagonist stood aloof at this seemingly frivolous happening. Apathetically staring out the window, watching the smog flow about as it does, she seemed to not care about her surroundings.

Was this simply ignorance on her part?

It didn't matter, history was written without consent.

An artillery shell blasted into the wall.

Their screams could be heard five city blocks away.

\_\_\_ Screams of pain,

\_\_\_\_\_\_screams of agony, and of defeat.

But the final one alone had outdone all the rest:

"OH! NOW THAT'S JUST PLAIN INSULTING"!

"What kind of artillery shell was that"?! The officer questioned,

"No spall effect?! None of us are even hurt"!

His company worried:

\_\_\_"But who fired at us"?

\_\_\_\_\_"How'd they know we were here"?

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_"I call shenanigans".

"Sir"! Clyde interrupted, "I see two Collective mages down by the garden! They must have fired at us. Oh? And a jet fighter approaching"!

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"In retrospect, I can think of ten thousand ways this could've gone wrong.

With a one in ten thousand chance of one of those happening".

The missile was loaded, it's target set.

Holding the lethal force of the Imperium within it.

Then the mages began their song:

\_\_"Arrst",

they declared,

\_\_"Arrst Eris'e Intrii,

\_\_\_\_Cru'cas For'vey Re'vey,

\_\_\_\_\_\_Okzata Enkaa"!

Sung with words the air can hear, and of commands the wind can obey.

No earthly metal can withstand the will of the Collective.

"Of all the thoughts which have passed through my mind...

I DID NOT EXPECT THIS"!

The captain's last words were mixed among the outcries of his comrades before their final departure from our world.

\_\_While life can, at times, be brutally unforgiving at the slightest of mistakes, life is also wholesome and complete in all ways. Even to such an extent, that simultaneously, a people may be reveling who are not your enemy...

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"Duuuude! You see that? They totally got wasted, man"! Fred laughed.

"Imperials are so stupid"!

As everyone celebrated, our protagonist alone was in awe of the two mages power, but at the same time was overcome by a sense of fear and sadness.

"C'mon", Fred rallied, "It's aur turn to frag em' mages now"!

Deirdre argued from below, "Yeah, sure. They can re-direct a sophisticated Imperial missile, but they can't ever stop our primitive toothpaste lasers, right? You're gonna get us killed with that logic, Fred"!

"But they don't even know we're here"!

"Don't tell me the same people who project visions into our minds are incapable of reading them. Reading minds is easy to them, especially when our attention is focused on the readers themselves".

"Okay", Addison questioned, "Since you seem to have all the answers, how should we access this situation"?

"We can fight acolytes so long as there remains any, but leave the presence of any mage for the Imperium to handle".

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\_\_"Take a moment, listen to them!

No matter the place or time in history in which we conquered, rebellious people from everyone have all carried this same sense of stupidity.

Now, my apprentice, clear your mind of these senseless beings. Our true enemy approaches".

The sound of an unintelligible singing could be heard around the garden.

The left hand mage walked into and stood in the fire to exhibit her mental abilities, and Opprøris turned to face the incoming threat. Both already anticipated what was coming.

"To my partners in aggressive diplomacy, greetings!

\_\_\_\_What compels you personally to enter the realm of the Imperium"?

"Where is your cowardly master hiding, Limitra? We will kill him alongside you"!

\_\_\_\_"Oh, but there's only two of you! Hmm... where did the third go"?

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"Uhh, guys", Clyde spoke, "I think there's another mage down there or somebody.

Are you all still arguing? Okay then, I'll just...watch them... I guess...

I don't know, they seem pretty distracted".

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"Cease your arrogant speech, Limitra.

\_\_Look at me!

Observe this knife, you will find that there are only two others like it in existence. These three knives are possessed by the most prominent warmages of the Sar'zilenen progeny. Therefore, know that I am one of these.

I have been withholding this weapon from slaying those deemed less desirable for the sole purpose that I may gorge it into your ugly face"!

"I have already been well informed concerning the subject of your ancient relics. But now I must correct you when I say this:

There are only two warmages left".

"Pretentious underling! How dishonourable!

You boast of your previous achievements, yet I can sense at this time that you are not entirely focused —your body is present before us but your mind is concerned with matters elsewhere".

Suddenly, a revelation.

The Aurelii had never left...

\_\_Their incoherence had prevented the mages from understanding. And the left-hand mage had the misfortune of taking on all their stupidity in the form of a laser to the legs. She could no longer stand, and her control over the fire was lost.

"Curse you dull-minded rats!

\_\_Keep to your plans and quit changing them!

Curse you dull-minded rats!

\_\_May you all learn what it means to burn"!

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"Ha! And to think we were going to leave"! The officer said.

It was the first time Clyde, or anyone in the platoon, had ever killed a Collective mage.

"Lucky thing you took notice of what was happening".

"Our fallen Aurelii: Avenged"!

"Dang, man, nice shootin'", Fred complimented,

\_\_"Your shot was so hot, I'm sweatin' buckets over here".

"No... it's just really hot in here...", Clyde replied, "And getting hotter"!

Before anyone could offer an explanation, or even question what was happening,

the mage's curse had set upon them.

"No, nope, too hot"!

"Alright, that's enough, I'm outta here"!

Unbreathable heated pressure, scorching metal surfaces surround, the very definition of an over it was. Panic ensured as the Aurelii scrambled to outdo the swiftness of the fire death.

"By gosh, what's happened"?!

"The metal is warping"!

\_\_Our protagonist, having been the only one downstairs at the time, found it simple enough to dart out the same door which she entered. She didn't stop running. but continued for a ways until far out of sight. Discouraged within her being, she thought:

"For every infliction on them we make, they are avenged seven times. I am only one, one of seven billion of earth, but even all the stars of earth's night sky belong to them".

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"Pitiful, scurrying in all directions like diseased vermin.

\_\_Dare they oppose us without comprehending our powers —how stupid.

They are pathetic; do you not agree with me, limitra?

Ohh... I understand. Heh".

\_\_\_Opprøris now noticed his situation.

"Ah, you are intelligent. Sometimes, I question if you may even be a human like us".

\_\_"Opprøris, wise and powerful", Limitra began, "You are empowered to read minds, tell me then —This weapon is compatible with five different types of munitions, with which of these will I use to cast your soul unto Daja"?

"You stand but a stone's throw away, and you threaten me with a gun"?

Only now did both parties realised that their confrontation would end swiftly and within a short time.

Opprøris used his eyes and stared upon the deathly-figured being before him.

\_\_"Your conduct, I find to be as cunning as it is attractive. How you confidently march into trouble, how you effortlessly kill off all my assistance, I would say that you could even stand your own against this galaxy's finest mercenaries".

\_\_\_Limitra affirmed her grasp to her weapon.

"A wonderful addition to the Collective's army you would make.

Oh! And I should mention this: There has been no one from all of Chi-command who would approach a Collective mage, at such a range as this, without an intent to defect.

And it is the better choice... Allow me now to assist you".

Opprøris sang: "Sujee J'ar'r..."

But instantly...

Without giving a moment to think, Limitra threw her weapon at the mage.

Shocked beyond words was Opprøris, and physically harmed aswell.

Limitra cried out in her language:

" आप नीचे जमा करें "

\_\_- Āpa nīcē jamā karēṁ -

With a handgun, she fired once upon the mage.

\_\_Twice.

She was relentless.

\_\_\_\_Three times.

The sound echoed through the smog.

\_\_\_\_\_\_Four times even.

Fatality was ensured by the fifth shot.

"I can speak a goofy language too you plank!

\_\_You're so dull-minded, you don't deserve a laser.

\_\_\_\_Primitive bullets work just fine at this range.

You thought I'm a good fighter? If my master were a golden statue, your sons would bow down to it —that's how defeated you all are"!

She then retrieved his relic of a knife.

"This day seems ever so productive, soon gaining two for the price of one.

\_\_Ah, but no more boasting...

My errand's done, vengeful fulfillment awaits" .

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An unforeseen defeat for the Collective may not imply Aurelii victory...

\_\_For our protagonist, this day was covered in grief.

"Just over a year ago,

\_\_I was laying in a hammock,

\_\_\_\_peacefully

\_\_\_\_\_\_though the world was far from peace,

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_it was a paradise in contrast to present times.

I recall when I fell asleep,

\_\_but nothing before.

\_\_\_\_Everything since then has seemed like a dream,

\_\_\_\_\_\_as if I was born into it and knew nothing else.

And who could have known, that within my time,

\_\_the two great nations of the Imperium and Aurelia would hold together

\_\_\_\_to combat the will of the Collective.

Oh, but you! O' Etrion,

\_\_our two worlds engage below you, but all you see is plunder.

\_\_\_\_I despise your leisure!

You wouldn't care if the Collective overran our world.

\_\_If a future,

\_\_\_\_where my life is scorned as a spectacle of idiocy,

\_\_\_\_\_\_seems appealing to you

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_then I despise more than just your leisure"!

All this she said with her voice, and apparently angered someone nearby.

\_\_A dart struck her side and quickly injected fluids into her bloodstream.

\_\_She felt an intense wave of paralysis overcome her body.

"Only a tranquiliser, 'tis all, only a tranquilliser.

Whoever shot it obviously means not to kill me".

\_\_The dart made loud hissing noises as it emptied the last of it's fluid.

"Well... I think it's a tranquillizer.

I... hope... it's a tranquilizer".

It wasn't.

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BONUS:

\_\_\_\_- Concluding commentary -

\_\_Congratulations on scrolling all the way down here! While your here, why don't you click that comment button and tell me how cheesy my storywriting is? Don't forget to rate 2 stars for all your wasted time, or 3 stars if you chuckled at "Toothpaste lasers".

This is the original main image.