Myocardiotomy at my Hatred

The human screams of fright and also of pain and misery echoed around the city as a pair of light-blue eyes turned around to glance edgily as he remained hyper-aware, atop a building he glanced at the walls, for the first time in years things truly for humanity seemed to go for the worse instead of the best, his heart pumped thousand bets per hour, as the sounds of screams and people running could be heard, his eyes glanced at a pair of children running, a big piece of boulder about to hit them, immediately strapped on his back he took out a semi-automatic rifle, to above the trigger a circular switch to change the mode, his right hand´s index finger in a fast pace changed the configuration and easily the muzzle of the rifle augmented in its width and slowly it changed its shape to a bazooka-like rifle hybrid and the male easily after using the scope to target the boulder he pulled the trigger, the recoil was minimal and thus immediately without that much of an effort a missile was shot, as the missile took its trajectory easily the tip of such projectile suddenly opened to reveal a firm net made of metal and glowering with electric energy, as the boulder and all its pieces were captured inside the net which pasted itself nearby the wall of a building he tapped the his heels on the floor and rocket-boosters underneath the soles of his boots appeared as he threw himself towards the two children a pair of siblings a girl of six and a young boy of two, he rolled on the floor with them also, once it was done people like him but dressed wholly in black appeared out of nowhere to go against a giant colossal humanoid black monster, the forces already were controlling the chaos, as from the very walls cannon fire and explosions were heard, blood spluttering all around the walls as a gigantic earthquake for a minimal amount of time was felt, he rose and glanced at the two children, draped in common clothing. The light drizzle is raining, the skies are in the sunset and the only lights that happen to aid them are the common street-lights which bear enough but not enough light and the light of the sun slowly getting away this is the poorest district, Flea Corner. He almost widened glancing at their characteristics, two innocent children wearing nothing but rags and poor, yet they looked happy for their lives, glancing at them with concern.

—Are you both alright?— As he asked his hand was about to approach.

To both children yet before he could he closed his eyes and his hand hesitated, both children tilted their heads and he smiled albeit timidly, his eyes solemn and stern, sometimes the victims aren't the ones oblivious about conflict.

—You both seem alright, you shouldn´t be alone.— The male stated with kindness.

His face preventing him from getting emotional as he got up sharply and finally a pair of more adult humans dressed in rags approached and took the children away in between the disaster, a short skyscraper being the victim of the mad creature´s anger was being attacked, each time the alien monster a gigantic black humanoid-like figure with a strange oval skeleton for face and with rib-cage like protrusions from it´s dimly glowering red chest and on it´s right hand a cane made of a very large bone with stone-like attachments on it, the monster emitting steam from it´s nose, emitting weird deep pitched sounds and such crimson red foul eyes, a demonic alien in all words and senses attempted to tear through the walls of the city it wounded itself, the light-brown almost blond haired male could only glare at the figure with such a daring smirk.

This is the Supreme Commander, You all have to protect the city, it´s up to you all.

The Supreme Commander´s voice rung the orders through the communication´s network of the Force, as he rose himself with his rocket-boots once more to the air to the edge of the walls, in between the darkness and the hazy air of the poorest district, there was only wilderness of the night and the thick skies, the wilderness of the night being thieves, rapists and many other minor city crimes which, due to the heavy unsafe district they are committed at they are simply overlooked by the already overworked police, as other men approached, hovering above the skies, using their technology ships came forth and with them robots spherical in shape, two limbs and with rocket-boosters on their feet too, they already raised their cannons and started firing their ammunition at the monster, the ships also started launching their ammo, their cannons as they were fired, all the outline of their cannons glowered an electric blue in the death of the night.

—Time to take this thing out. Rosaire!— With a firm stance behind him rushing towards the monster.

A woman wearing the same uniform the all wore in black high-collared shirt, black pants and black boots, even though said shirt looked to be tighter than usual which heightened her assets, the pants even though military accentuated her curvy hips, and overall and finally the black overcoat with a black helmet with bluish visor lenses, the demonic creature whined as at least an army of twenty soldiers, though not exactly such easily rushed towards the beast, the light-brown haired male went to his hips and from his hop took out a straight double-edged sword made of a black-colored metal with the difference that atop its handle, a circle glowered electric blue on it´s edges and the sword´s edge took an electric blue edge, he smirked and thus using the rocket boosters cried out.

—Let´s go!— The male rushed.

Like all members of the self-defense force of the city they were dressed appropriately in the high-collared black shirts, black cargo pants, black military boots and their issued black coats which reached to their heels, nothing above their attire, as they rushed towards the gigantic monster, as the alien brought down it´s bone-stone club towards the buildings, it´s hands swinging with such strength they carried the air with them, as on his mouth his facemask provided oxygen and restricted him from the ambient oxygen, the same with the female, as many others a small army joined them as the robots continued changing their angles of shooting, the thirteen soldiers sent towards the defense of the outer rim of the city, the Flea Corner district, the computers detected an incoming demon attempting to attack from the very forests. All of them also had their issued helmets or goggles like the one he wears right now, where it shows a stat-sheet of the rocket-boosters, of the creature´s vitality and of course the computer calculating potential places to attack, it also displayed outside temperature and allowed recording for future training. With speed he rushed towards the beast, Rosaire trailing behind him with her rocket-boosters on the soles of her boots, As he attempted to swing the sword which cackled with mad lightning once due to the strong hold his right hand had on it, the beast rose and brought down it´s club towards the skyscrapper, attempting to tear it away, using it as an advantage the male passed through the underbelly of the creature and emitted a precise cut of the creature´s limb as a bigger ship arrived and a cannon-fire was heard, a multi-colored beam was shot towards the creature which received It point-blank.

KA-BOOM!

He spun, evading the potent explosive ammo that the cannons had, a stream of fire could be seen, a high-ranked soldier breathing out fire towards the monster, others used their weaponry to attempt and subdue the beast. Once again atop a two-floored house, the light-brown haired male glanced at the gate with a growl, as the skyscraper attacked could be seen on it´s last resistance and about to fall, as many people were getting out and running away from the skyscraper many used as an apartment complex.

—Edward.— The female came forth and descended by his side.

Calling forth his attention but he instead remained impassive as he glared at the wall slowly giving in, as the creature screeched and IT widely waved it´s arms wildly attacking many soldiers in the process, using it´s feet to literally stomp on a soldier and squash such soldier akin to a roach, such sensation caused him a visceral feeling as he maintained a firm grip on his blade. Tired already of such an injustice he did a war cry as the drizzle´s droplets fell on him and he used the rocket-boosters of the soles of his boots which propelled him nearer to the creature´s trajectory as it rushed towards the skyscraper ready to destroy it, passing through the monster´s side he poised his blade and managed to wound the creature´s side which caused it to squeal and roar out, as the male with one last pulse forward of the boots he deactivated the mechanism and in the very air descending he carved the blade deep into the very cranium of the creature, it emitted a sharp sound one last time and fell unceremoniously to the floor, causing debris on the surface and cobwebs on it also. Humanity, for its tragedies and wars has always hold victory in high regard, something such as victory and teamwork, sacrifice, brings out the best in all, as the male roared out and rose his right fist, he did a loud cry of victory which was followed by his comrade soldiers, men and women, whom some now stood above the walls, others using the rocket-boosters of the soles of their boots stood there also to share the taste of victory against the demonic enemy that threatened their walls, all while the robots returned back to their motherships and such ships returned back towards the inside of the city.

~Who are you? Why are you here?~ Such thoughts were interrupted by a scream.

—HELP!— A desperate cry echoed through the streets of outskirts of Flea Corner.

The poorest district of the city, once more reduced to nothing, humans in rags and barely even up to enough standards of dress, laid scattered, either in pieces, bloodied and dead, with missing limbs and/or with different expressions of blood and gore all around, what a tragedy, in the middle of the streets a blond-haired female wearing a long dark coat with three pouches strapped around her hips by her belt glanced worried, her light-blue eyes glanced at the dark-skinned male whom lied in the surface, arms opened and also wounded, blood seeped from the edges of his facemask and underneath him a slowly growing pool of blood. Discarded to the side where their helmets and their soaked faces in the drizzle of the sunset, as both the unconscious male and concerned female blond wore their respective facemasks to protect them from the enemy in the very oxygen. Tragedy cannot be prevented at times and with such, it creates strife, as humanity in its very nature is to conquer all odds and problems yet, at times, problems seem more real and less fantastic, less heroic and more menial, less relatable and more, common, even if such situations nowadays seemed to be fantastic rather than realistic, it all comes down to the one true enemy humanity cannot get away from.

Disease

Death

From that matter, the female with exasperation clutched her facemask, it was torture, worse than torture being not nearby the person her heart and feelings went out for, watching those you love slowly die and not have the knowledge not be capable of doing anything but watch is truly something horrible, beyond horrible, a true hell.

´Curse this world, curse this life. Raghiel…I’m sorry.´ She wanted to scream away at the world for the injustice at times humans lived.

When one is not powerful enough, their reasons to fight for many were all the same, to be spared of this hell, not even the high-technology the civilization has achieved in such times could aid them to prevent strife and tragedy, to have more than the hellish life the people of this place receive. The reality cannot be denied, We all die, we all die in either the rejoice of a fulfilled life or we die, with an unfulfilled life, to either situations outside of humanity´s own intervention or by the very darkness of humanity, cannot be denied that. The battle-cries of victory could be heard yet, she felt not in the mood for victory, as her empty-face marred with watery eyes expressed her true feelings from within, the enemy beyond the walls, she wished she could face them, kill them all.

—Damn it.— A dark-haired male felt frustrated.

His helmet also removed and his hair soaked, on his upper chest he had a special strap with two high-caliber guns, strapped to his left hip a sword and strapped to his back a military issued semi-automatic rifle, as close friend of the two, with his best-friend gone it felt bad, moreover to the God-forsaken war, they are attacked at all places with barely a day of reprieve before one again someone else knocking buildings down and attempting to tear through the city, though hopefully as the self-defense forces tear their way towards Flea Corner, they all have the same will, to undo this or just, perhaps, change things forever. As Edward descended from the monster´s head he had a stern face, a blond-haired male with short hair and a stern face also glanced at him.

—Well done.— At this the male himself smiled at the praise and turned around.  —Alright, disperse and be prepared for debriefing in T minus 5 minutes.—

And thus all the soldiers flew away using their rocket boosters to leave the scene and report back to the Headquarters, the Commander of the Self-Defense Force of the City Saeron gave his orders and thus unlike others he went to a wrist-watch like device on his left wrist and after pressing a button on the touchscreen a robot which was about to get itself back to one of the motherships which would've gone to the city, instead, did a curve and passed by him, outstretching his hand and grabbing a metal protrusion on the robot´s back he travelled back to the city, following him were all the soldiers, while in tragedy a woman mourns the slow death of her beloved.

—I´m sorry for arriving late.— A silent and meek voice spoke from between the group as they all turned around and met a figure dressed in the same cloths of the Self-defense force.

A Dragon-skull shaped futuristic helmet with the only difference that however above his military attire he wore a white coat with a hood, instead of the black coat they all wear, on the right sleeve a bold sewn red cross with a serpent coiled around the cross, said snake with it’s tongue protruding outside akin to smelling the air.  The coat long enough to reach his heels as from beneath the robes though the figure hid his eyes and only showed his nostrils and down, the figure´s skin was slightly clearer from the usual slightly tanned arms and limbs of the ones at his front, compared to them after all, usually other´s effort are done inside places instead of the outside world, that didn't meant that the effort cannot be felt, the most characteristic trait, the red cross on the coat´s right sleeve. Removing the helmet, showing the crowned visage of the Realm´s Prince as he tapped on the touchscreen of a wrist-watch on his left wrist, a camera above it started to project a light-green screen with various images, an animated pulsing red heart, a shifting pair of lungs to their side and underneath numbers, an oscillating plethysmograph and a blood droplet with a number in it.

—You took your time.— The dark-haired male stated to the figure in a coat as he turned around and asked them both.

—What happened?— He asked and went to his second pouch.

Without that much effort he placed a neck-collar he had in case of emergencies Megaria the blond haired female face framed by her glasses and freckles on her cheeks wore the same clothes they all wore, their uniform; the same simple light-armor composed mostly of the same high-collared black sleeveless shirts, the black pants and the military-issued black boots, the only variation there was allowed in the military was for him, in which he wore a long white high-collared coat that reached almost to his knees, as he checked the pupils first, then afterwards the face, neck, opening the shirt sharply allowing the cool air of the sunset air to creep through his shaking-in-fear hands touched the chest to see if there are any broken ribs, as he went to his pouch and a stethoscope found its way to his hand and immediately using it to hear heart and lung sounds, he checked everything and afterwards he went to check on the hip to see the amount of oxygen left in the mask. The shaking of fear couldn´t be retrieved, it doesn´t matters how many times as a medic you see the cases, the same things each and every day, one still feels the sheer anxiety and fear over each and every case arriving to you, each a surprise, each depending on your hands to live, it´s so hard.

—Fire.— He spoke out and nearby soon a shorter male with dark brown hair knelt down and he turned on the lighter, the male in white coat instead shrugged and nodded. —Alright, I´ll need help. He is unresponsive, better not allow that tongue to choke him. Alright, at the count of three the facemask will go down, I´ll protect tongue, and I´ll increase oxygen amount.—

Megaria turned towards the dark-haired male with concern and spoke out worried. —Is there any other way?—

The male shook his head and rose his white coat slightly for it to not be stained, showing three different pouches, opening one he took out a syringe and then a tiny flask with transparent liquid.

Epinefrin 1:1000

As he started checking the source of the blood, he checked the male´s lungs; left lung collapsed with half and almost three-quarters of the left ribcage broken, way to go, that was the source of the internal bleeding, the external bleeding was caused by a deep and rather furious stab-like wound on his abdomen, it attacked him good, probably one of the horns of that boar. ´The Epinefrin would cause a volume support and augment heart rate even more, yet the problem is volumetric, then I should instead support the amount of blood that was lost first.´ Going instead for a 500 mililiters of Saline Solution, the most optimal one and the one that was cheapest and handed out by their short-handed government, without that much of an effort and by controlling the bleeding site, he turned towards them and spoke out.

—It´ll be a short time, if push comes to the shove, when we get him to the Clinic, we can apply control.— He commented all while many asked for aid.

The shorter male grunted and got up. —CAN´T YOU WAIT THE FUCK UP!—

Sighing in relief, he turned towards the blond woman whom nodded, he took from his pouch a Guedel´s cannula and he nodded, it was sterile and protected inside a plastic bag, the moment the female removed the face mask this emitted oxygen as all the military-issued face-masks do, one done in a fast pace he controlled the neck, opened the mouth and with the curve upwards introduced 2/3s of the cannula and once done, he twisted it, perfectly placed, once again with the facemask lifted, going to the device by the side, he started raising up the amount of administered oxygen to 3 liters and he nodded and spoke.

—Please, take him to the clinic, once there I’ll try to control everything.— With an almost silent voice he asked the female which worried nodded. Not being empathetic enough he got up and did a nod. —You´ll be okay. —

—You should come with us F-.— At this he could only bit his lip and glanced at many wounded asking for attention, he shook his head as he interrupted her. —I would like to but someone has to take care of the wounded, I´m sorry guys. Go, I´ll reach you afterwards.—

The female nodded and took the male in a bridal style and went to the only clinic/hospital we have left in this city as the dark haired male went to attend more wounded as more support forces arrived to take care of the colossal gigantic rampaging monster that chose to penetrate the walls of our city this time, he could only glance tragically as he sighed. The very embodiment of a true medic´s work, glancing at the human misery is an every day's effort. How much time has it passed since we ever could have a good night´s sleep without having to worry for the enemies we see and those that we cannot, it almost seemed laughable. It almost felt like yesterday when this city was actually bigger, less confined and less cramped, where people smiled and could happily breathe the air, where I could actually see old couples enjoying the world after their years of hard-work, where there was something we used to call a normal life.

—Please, aid her.—

He glanced and could only see at a dark-haired female, first time, her long hair probably very young also, in her early twenties late teenage years, it was a mess, a crushed left lung, her face-mask destroyed it was leaking oxygen outside, could already be considered a potential infected already, with frustration about to put on a pair of gloves many glanced at him strangely as he took out a pair of scissors and cut the uniform, as expected most of her left side of her chest had nasty protruding sections and had a collapsed flail-like breathing which meant her left lung was destroyed, punctured and due to her own lack of well-breath it could mean many things. He cursed, this might be an haemo-pneumothorax most probably, it had to be drained. Disinfecting the fifth space in between ribs he took out an abbocath syringe, using the upper edge of the rib above the space, with a firm push the puncture was done and immediately air and blood beads followed, a tiny trail of the vital liquid followed, immediately placing a sterile small bag he spoke out.

—Take her fast to the clinic, could be a bad hemothorax.—

It all started so simple, a global disease controlled, we had a few before and this was a respiratory disease; at first nothing happened, and we were confident we would end all well, it almost makes many resist the urge to chuckle. Just when he was about to get a creature from the very depths of the surface rose, a demonic looking-like spider, crawling up towards him, he gasped as it was ready to spit it´s acidic venom towards him but it was all stopped when a blade pierced the creature´s cephalothorax, a whitened light-blue mane of hair in a hime-styled cut and blunt bangs, her crimson red eyes a piercing glance towards his very own common light-brown eyes.

—Do you need help?—

A figure approached. The light-brown haired male asked alongside him a few men and of course Rosaire whom sided him always, the female shook her head shyly and spoke perhaps rather embarrassed by the presence of a man years her senior.

—I-I´m alright.— She stated with a slight blush on her freckled face, as the heroic male without any more effort carried the male on his arms he took the male in a bridal style and went on, leaving the scene, both friends turned around to perhaps search the friend that aided them only to find him no more in the streets. —You´ll take him to the Clinic, then?—

—Yes, thank you.— The female answered, it was already obvious, the only clinic/hospital they have left in this city, a Clinic on the edge between the Flea Corner and Restoll districts, as Megaria thought rather sadly at her wounded lover the male continued to trail off. As they continued to speak, the male glanced at their uniforms, then at them, as he chuckled out so suddenly.

—I heard from the Commander that the Social Service Medics of the clinic are given Master Sergeant Rank in the Self Defense Force, don´t know…since the war the White Ones haven´t fought and only have stayed cooped up on their clinics.—

Silence permeated around, but none more than Megaria and Oswald whom chose silence over anything else, the situation is rather dramatic for those that dress white selflessly for their fellow man, and probably harsher times would come by, moreover since the War against the Liminalfolk started, the Elves took leadership and they want nothing more than to bath themselves in glorious human blood, whatever the price they have to pay they´ll do so. These are dark times for the human race, from the once glorious kings of earth, now they have to share it with others.

—Cowards.— A soldier in the background worded.

Both turned sharply towards the person, it is nothing new that nowadays people that dressed in white above their clothes and wore red-crosses for the sake of selflessness and their fellow man weren´t well treated, better times could be perhaps demanded by the over-exploited under-appreciated work of the Medic, but that simply cannot happen, humanity always had had that hatred and dislike for them as ages went on, moreover nowadays.

—I heard some of them practice necromancy in their hospitals with the bodies of the critical infected, stealing their lives!— The light-brown haired young man shivered at the notion.

He never got to meet such places but the very notion of White Ones practicing necromancy made him shiver and feel fear, it felt rather sad if the last thing the world so white and pure as a dove itself is stained in black so morbidly by humanity itself.

—…they should all just die. We don´t need them.— Another soldier worded with fervent hatred and dislike, maybe even envy.

The truth however is more daring and shattering, if only they could see, if only.

—Let´s not talk about it. We have things to do, carry on.—

Silence permeated around, but none more than Megaria and Oswald whom chose silence over anything else, the situation is rather dramatic for those that dress white selflessly for their fellow man, and probably harsher times would come by, moreover after the war, the world lost from our seven thousand seven-hundred fifty-two million five-hundred ninety-eight thousand one-hundred fourteen humans, in the Third World War 2.9 billion people died most of them were elderly adults, adults and younglings from ages six to fifty-nine, that’s without including the three-hundred million of miscarriages since the coronavirus started in twenty-eighteen, leaving humanity with stagnating actual population of four-thousand five-hundred seventy-three million one-hundred ten thousand one-hundred eighty-two humans mostly composed of children of three-years and older. It caused him bitterness.

—I can take him to the Clinic.— The dark brown haired male trailed off by which the male with piercing blue eyes glanced at the dark brown haired male with a raised eyebrow but gave up and handed the male, not without stating his concerns to them.

—If anything goes wrong, do please, do not hesitate to call for aid.— The message was clear for both younglings in the eyes of their adults to understand the concepts that were being talked about, once left at the clinic, Rosaire stated her concerns, her light-violet eyes glancing only once behind at the clinic, it was a very lonely place and heavily melancholic, like the Hospitals, no doubt the clinic would have the same feeling and air to it. The Building looked bigger than one would expect of a tiny clinic, then again due to the modern times and the contingency tiny clinics were made bigger, since hospitals were now specifically for infected patients, the once tiny ´Near-Population´ clinics had to be made bigger, due to the shortage of adscripted personnel and the raise in the demand of medical residencies, clinics were made bigger and the government equipped them for medical residents to occupy such clinics, the once lonely in-social service physicians of each tiny clinic were now given more rights to clinical education and less administrative duties, rotating daily alongside Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine Residents.

—It feels, heavy.—

Edward's expression softened. —They are weighted by the tragedies we also have. We all have that feeling.— The male commented tragically.

They went forth north instead of south, each time they went more to the north the city changed it´s appearance, one could see thousands of skyscrapers and tall buildings with many apartment complexes where people life, on a few places there would be residential districts with one or two-floored houses but most of them were at secure and elite places, most of the city was tall skyscrapers lights which never died, passing by ships which carried merchandise and on their sides had led or screen-like announcement of their products, some skyscrapers projected videos of models with certain perfume or designer-cloth marketing, as the ships and even most vehicles were already of hovering tech, some ships looked modern, yet if one could look well, many buildings and even the screen themselves were so lively, even then the city that never sleep had people working day to day, their inhabitants making it so the capital could be a better place, that their country could be a better civilization, so that they as humans could be an example for the low-realm dwellers, all their technology high and so advanced, has never ceased to be, always there. Such ridicule notions.

The sharp single sound reached their ears, they saw bodies falling in the tallest point of the building, a woman in a business suit fell to the surface alongside her young child, while it is true that there is technological advancement and bliss in society, there are still people that suffer of many different things, not perhaps due to poor conditions, some died due to suicide, such scenario filled the melancholic mood in the hearts of everyone. As the blue eyes of Edward glanced sadly at the truth of the world naked, each day human compatriots kill themselves due to the unhappiness, others found life in the poor-districts fulfilling, if by fulfilling you mean sleeping each day with a blade by your side, it caused, sadness.

—She had a son.—

Rosaire trailed off at the tragical loss of a life, nowadays such young lives were valued, were priced beyond the value gold would give.

A soldier behind their short army trailed off. —Fools.—

The light-brown haired male turned around to glare at the black haired male with equal hazel eyes that has said so, with a smug stance as he just glanced at the world with eyes of superiority, without any further comment the black-haired male was punched on the face and then afterwards kicked so strong in the very same face that caused the man to drop to the floor.

—Do you enjoy it?— The male asked with a glare towards the man.

Those hazel eyes glanced shocked at the blue orbs which without that much effort glared murderously at the male. —Your words are as useless as your efforts, go on. Get up!—

The man groaned and attempted to get up, only to be harshly punched once more and blood this time seeped out, as the Light-Brown haired male spoke out.

—Do you enjoy what we´re living!? Do you like what you see? To see us humans in such a state of decay and decadence, is that what you want!? Then go on! Fight the disgraces that come to this city, I dare you to be naked and outside one day and come afterwards. You can´t even do that at all and you call yourself a defender of Humanity, your type nauseates me the most.— Stomping on the man's shoulder only once and pushing the sole of his boot on the man´s chest to maintain him to the very floor Edward spitted on the man´s side.

For the Sub-Commander of a small amount of force there was nothing worse than the type just being exposed here, these humans were the most toxic and spared themselves of the war, they just criticize without glaring at the curtains of their home, if you´ll criticize, watch yourself first and then afterwards change on your own.

—Y-you do this to those that f-follow you?— As he turned around the man trailed off. Leaving the question big to the young man´s shoulders who closed his eyes and sharply spoke out.

—The world isn´t build up with kisses and hand-shakes.— Leaving the man alone in the streets they continued to rush towards the headquarters.

Choosing to pass by the streets, a drunkard dark-skinned man with curly hair and dressed in rags, the poorest district of the city, Flea Corner, as the man spoke out.

—You are all to blame for what we have!—

One of the bounty hunters turned around sharply and took out his gun, cocking it towards the man that spitted at them, Edward outstretched his arm and spoke with emphasis.

—Let it go! They don´t know at all.—

The male commented rather sharply and they turned around as a loud chuckle was heard.

—You must feel superior ain´t it? Does it feel good? Having us in this damned piece of a country and having us suffer for the meagre scraps that they give you!—

Edward growled and continued to walk, as so did the soldiers that followed him, but it was different this time.

The man threw what he had left in his hand and blurted out. —THANK YOU! We sure feel so secured.—

Edward turned around sharply and faced the man with a flare.  —Are you satisfied with what you said? ARE YOU SATISFIED!? We suffer too!— Slamming the shocked man on the nearest building´s wall.

He turned around and they all flew away with their rocket-boots. They were entering Restoll as skyscrapers, bridges, roads, tiny rivers and lakes could be seen on the futuristic city, hovering ships and all, they finally arrived to the big headquarters, a big formal building of two-floors artistically designed, as he ordered the forces to disperse and get ready for the call-to-arms done each day to count the soldiers they had after the tragedy, a blond-haired man with purple eyes spoke out. The misery of the Flea Corner district which had that rotten smell, it´s houses were so close to the other, it´s alleys were very dark and very few lights and technology reached the poor city, old cars travelled still in Flea Corner and they used gasoline to feed such old cars off. To them it was still shocking to see the robots and the futuristic men fight.

—Sergeant First Class Edward.— Hearing a person call him stoically by his name and rank caused him to sharply turn and he of course bowed in respect mostly and did a military-like salute.

—Supreme Commander Saeron it´s an honor sir.— At this the white-haired man though shrugged and once more he crossed his arms and spoke rather sadly, he was a sharp man dressed in though in a white button-up shirt , black pants, black sharp shoes and above his attire the usual sharp blazer underneath though a black leather coat with a crown atop his head, meaning his title as Royalty and ruler of PietrOscura, as Emperor of it due to the right of blood he has as great-grandson of the revered Pablo Aragon Marti. If his son´s crown was ornately designed with many details pertaining the origin of their ancestry, the man´s crown was simpler as pertaining to his duty. He though had grave news, his daughter found many unsettling things. Like all his soldiers and inhabitants of the world, they use their adequate facemask, his adapted also with a tiny oxygen tank providing oxygen at the adequate concentration of 21% only, enough like the oxygen of the oxygen now so toxic and deadly to them.

—First Sergeant Helen´s force on their usual scouting duty discovered something terrifying.— The man commented.

Obtaining the very attention of the true leader of them all, Command General Saeron is the leader of the Self-Defense Forces, the one whom calls the shots under his authority are the several different Staff Sergeants to First Sergeants that made the Self-Defense Forces of PietrOscura, each force dedicated to different honorable duties to defend the city from any possible invaders, detect and eradicate threats.

—If you excuse me sir, what was what they saw?—

The dark Man closed his eyes and emotionlessly shrugged. —I would like to do so on another place my Sergeant.—

The commander instead stated out in slight contempt. —The vaccine will arrive soon to our hands, the more it approaches, the less this situation shall be dire.—

The Sergeant First Class widened his eyes. —For real?—

The leader smirked and both walked inside the offices as his mirthful chuckle filled the office he gently patted his chest at the self-praise, as if stealing from others could be a good thing. —Yeah, by the next month the medics will finally spread the vaccines and get rid finally of that unseen enemy in the air that threatens to eradicate us.—

The male growled and crossed his eyes. —Oh.— The male Sergeant´s face frowned perhaps in a rather deep-thought, yet he felt happy, truly happy, after years of effort of seeing so many people die they would finally get what they so need for them to prevail in the world and to build their own independent world inside a bigger world.

—Damn those Elves, I wish we had an atomic bomb ready to kill them all in once without damaging the earth and ourselves also.— Edward commented with hatred, the war left them with many lessons, one of them was to never underestimate those that came to earth and for second, to never once again trust on the low-dwellers, the war caused enough bitterness.

The Floating Country is where PietrOscura stands, most of it´s territory now is floating above the surface, still even then, it has it´s own portion of sea, a big pool of water but sea nonetheless and though there are many rivers and lakes, even then, the city is massively fortified and getting to it requires aerial communication and special means of transportation, no one can get to the Floating Country by easy means, PietrOscura is now a natural defense fort floating above the surface of the earth to spare it of any and all its elven enemies, done after the war to protect it. Nowadays, at least, all of the inhabitants of PietrOscura, the floating country in general found kinship in such a historical event, they´ve come to call it Ascention Day, the day where PietrOscura succesfully ascended above the surface of the Air, preventing Elven Attacks forever, or at least, making them not so easier to be done.

—Do not dwell on that Sergeant. We have to thank our world physicists' and engineers for pulling us up, as you already know this planet is an immense magnet, kept stable by the very rocks in the surface we have, the north pole and the south pole in simple terms are two magnetic bars of opposite magnetic forces that keeps them repelled, both repelling forces meet each other in the equatorial line, in the end by tampering with the sub-surface and the earth´s core, we managed to lift off from the surface, in doing so we managed to make the floating country´s own magnetic field overall very strong.—

To be specific the very rocks we stand on are very high in magnetic energies, using the same mechanisms of the poles, what maintain us afloat is the very own solar radiation´s electromagnetic spectrum, the electromagnetic spectrum of the earth´s own poles over the very planet earth we are at and our own electromagnetic enriched surface, through that, we´ve managed to maintain ourselves here. Plants grow, trees are well, we have mountains which produce river and lakes, and we´ve managed to a chunk of ocean, as tiny as it is, it is ocean.

— In the end the only conclusion drawn is that, reality wants humans dead. But as long as will exists, everything else turns irrelevant. To know your dreams is comforting.—

Edward had nothing to hide and neither did his pride, they were winners, though something so big being sacrificed never got them truly to think how much the war changed everyone in the end. Fuck them!

—You´re growling Sergeant First Class. Anything on your mind?— Saeron called forth.

Edward could answer was him straightening and shaking his head solemnly at the question. —No sir, not at all.—

Both walked to the main offices where a female in dark curly hair awaited, saluting to the Commander before removing her helmet. Her hands went behind her head and after pressing a few buttons, a few computer-like sounds were heard as the lights turned off and once removing the whole helmet and placing it on the nearby table, it revealed the face of a beautiful woman in her late twenties and her light-brown eyes with elliptical pupils to those of a feline so light they just called attention to see them, wearing the same shirt like everyone.

—First Sergeant Helen, Sir.— The female blinked rather estranged at the words of the male Sergeant First-Class, the female though turned around sharply at the Emperor Saeron whom remained stern.

—First Sergeant, your report.— At this the female did a sharp military salute and after the Command General called at ease she eased herself and immediately gestured both men to follow her, once there she showed a map, the New World Map, the old world map was obsolete, after the changes the winners did to the world, the world was structurally altered once more to be once again what it used to be in the pre-historical age before the fabled Second Cataclysm of the World The Meteor of Chicxulub which destroyed most of the prehistoric life. And of course added to the map in a certain region of the world was also the Floating Country, in which the female finally pointed to a more specific map of the floating country.

—They are approaching Sir, in the mid-day a big force was seen appearing from some portals produced by a magical matrix.—

Edward growled in anger. —Those damned Demons.—

The woman continued. —No doubt sir, many messages were received of this party coming, they are many, no doubt their intentions are to destroy us, though the question is how did those creatures got to our world?—

The Command General and also Governor spoke sharply, as his duty to protect the citizens and in the administrative charge of the Military Forces. —Supreme Commander, Could we truly survive this?—

—I have the utmost faith in our forces. Intel?— He asked to the female.

She sighed and with her closed eyes shook her head, she had a rather disappointed and serene visage, all while both males glared at the whole thing with hatred, such passionate burning hatred they would´ve burned the whole map, finally cornered after a year of survival. At this the female widened her eyes and shook her head almost as immediately as she dropped a folder and cleared her throat, to many it would´ve been a funny thing but the Master Sergeant knew better than that, as she spoke solemnly.

—Only what we have.—

The Master Sergeant nodded and his lips curled up in a smirk. —Then we have hope, they will be easy to defeat with our technology. They are not that much capable. Moreover we as the military force of the Humanity won´t allow it to fall, it´s the capital after all. We are the supreme armed force. It is expected though that the first wave of enemies shall be the demons. Moreover, they´ve made it clear that the War is not over yet.—

The female shook her head and dropped a photo taken of the armies of Demonic Creatures approaching.

The Master Sergeant massaged his chin rather elaborately as he glanced at the photos and the map rather critically and with a calculating eye. —How much time?—The blond-haired man turned to the curly-haired female whose face maintained itself stern.

She closed her eyes, the tension could be seen from her eyes when speaking about time, her mind going through many calculations, times surprised her from going from a simple Teacher to a military woman, such a change in her world but it didn´t surmount to the sacrifice her loved ones have made, they had enough time to take them out.

—One day Sir, two days is being too generous.—

The Master Sergeant nodded his face in a grimace being aware that their years of peace will be forever cut abruptly by reality itself. —A day, then. Good, prepare all the forces, there´s no doubt that the City will be stricken nonetheless, there are high probabilities of losing Flea Corner—

Edward frustratingly shouted out, as he gazed directly at the Master Sergeant, those were people, he was emotional, the very people they swore to protect, they are going to leave them vulnerable to the hands of the enemy.

—No! All but that! I won´t allow it! They are humans too! They deserve the same rights as our families, I´ll save them. I swear i´ll save them.— He called out with so much determination.

Before he could leave the office the door was abruptly kicked close by the Master Sergeant himself and glared at the male with fierce command and dislike, he won´t tolerate insubordination, moreover in this tiny trust circle.

—Control Yourself Sergeant First Class, remind yourself, you´re here for your talents not for your will, cool your head, or go home!— The leader of the forces snapped kicking the door to the point that a portion of the door snapped and his feet literally just went through the thick wood.

Edward shocked could only watched scared as the man retrieved his leg and glanced at the young light-brown haired male with blue eyes with a heated glare and turned around.

—Go and communicate this to all other section leaders, First Sergeant Helen, good job. You´re dismissed.— The man commented with a stern face as the woman did one last salute and dismissed herself from the building.

The man easily took out his facemask and from the pocket of his pants as he took out a cigarette and after snapping his right hand´s fingers his right hand´s thumb now had a flicker of fire as the cigarette lightened itself up and he sucked to tobacco smoke, as he smiled the woman was an elite, respected and demanded respect, she didn´t needed of her power nor of her body to win it so but rather through her own achievements and will. The silence permeated in the office for seconds, the seconds turned to minutes, as the awkward silence between Edward and the Supreme Commander whom remained stern, where the general stood before a map of the entire world, the post-war map of the world, changed by the ones that dared to almost destroy the human race, the young Sergeant First Class remained stepped up, bashfully glancing to the floor with a deep from on his visage, as they both remained rather awkwardly like that, the Commander glanced to the young male analytically.

—If you open your heart too much you´ll find yourself a premature death.—

The young male stated. —How am I supposed to be a good soldier if we have no people to shield?—

—Soldiers don´t protect people, they protect the rich and priviledged, everything else is just a mask.—

The young male shook his head. —No sir, you´re the one whose wrong on that assessment. You aren´t a King without your people, one is not a soldier without something to protect.—

The man turned to the map once more. —So you´re choosing to tear all your clothes and self for them.—

The young man blinked and his fists clenched as the man chortled and started chuckling out, before it turned to a full laugh, he laughed out loud mockingly at the prospects of what the foolish minor Sergeant spoke, the Supreme Commander simply glanced at the map once more.

—If such a sacrifice is needed, then yes, that is my choice.—

The Supreme commander snorted. —This generation is filled of idiots, the sacrifice of humanity through the ages and yet it seems as if you´ve forgotten the stains of history on our race.—

History? What was history related to saving and imploring to the people from the invasion of the foreign forces to the Floating Country? He male´s glance was one of an incredulous visage, was he wrong in being in the institution believing he would be a priority to defend the people. The rich? Why would he protect them? Are they truly the priority instead of the people? Has he been wrong?

´Were my assessments wrong?´ Edward thought rather sharply as his fists clenched and he frowned and glared at the man.

—Then i´ve got nothing to speak to this organization!—

He turned around and retreated himself angered from the organization that dedicated to the defense of the territory, the self defense force that he once dedicated his life to, after the war things weren´t the same and certainly he believed that the SDF would be an extent of that unified army, only to be led with disappointment after disappointment, retreating himself from the building into the sidewalk and walking from it to the direction of home he wore a dark-colored coat to cloak his military identity, in an effort to not be chased by the people of the city.

´I won´t be fooled twice.´ He thought about moments ago how he was mocked by the people of the city for his protection, was it a reflection of how putrid and aged the SDF already was into its only few years of service to PietrOscura? Probably, he didn´t know exactly what to do either, Edward was at a loss and without an answer as of what to do or think.

´What I know is that I let my feelings storm out?´ At this he glanced to the front with a frown, going to his coat´s pockets to take out a pack of smokes, he took a cigarette and lighted it with a gunmetal zippo-lighter and once ignited he closed the lighter and stored both the pack and the lighter into his chest coat-pocket. As he glanced to the night skies, with a stern visage his right hand went to the cigarette as he simply opened his mouth and gently exhaled, with his hands in his pockets he continued through the sidewalk and with constant thoughts about it, once all smoke was out the cigarette went back to his lips and he went forth through the streets.  With a glare through the glare to the streets a buzzing came rom his pant´s right pocket, placing a hand on it as he walked the streets he answered.

—Yes?—

The voice from the other side of the phone emerged as his stern and mild-confused visage changed and he spoke out.

—It was mild ·chuckle·, How are things with you?—

He asked rather awkwardly attempting to make some conversation on the other side as the other side of the phone continued.

—I´ll meet you at home.—

··(Scene Break)···

Helen after wearing her helmet once more and once it was powered up, walked the streets rather busy. As she thought of the voyage home, somehow she took a detour passing through the pedestrian bridge heavy on guards which communicated Restoll with Flea Corner, the female took out her Self-Defense Force ID which caused the other soldiers to salute and bow at her presence, she indeed thanked them for allowing access, and once again her eyes had to be strained and hurt with the vision of a mildly devastated Flea Corner. The perfect example of misery in paradise was so summoned by this place.

It looked devastated and desolated, she could easily glance at the darkened streets, the entire walls of the district with racial graffiti, mobster graffiti, property marking graffiti, threatening messages, devious and scandalous naked woman graffiti, and overall racial discrimination graffiti, as she passed by the streets glancing around, a man approached and she easily took out a submachine gun and pointed it at the homeless man dressed in rags. The man turned around and hurried back into the darkness of the slums in fear, it was usual of this district to be like that anyway.

As she passed by, on certain corners they were. South-American women dressed in skimpy clothing, leaning on posts or on lonely buildings which weren´t so lonely. Somewhere nearby bars or brothels of the area. As cars passed by dirt and rocky roads at moderate paces, the streets had cracked pavement, old cars of ages ago, of the time humanity was at the cuspid of its civilization on planet earth, before the tragedies, before the war itself. One can even see outside a building a tall man dressed in a dark brown leather coat kissing a voluptuous brazilian woman in a very revealing parade outfit, groping the woman’s ass. The man dressed his guns and weapons appropriately, the young man rather showed easily the logo of the self-defense force.

Going further into the poor district, she glanced at a ruined orphanage destroyed in that alien´s attack, dead children on the surface, no one bothered with such useless runts, she turned her head away emotionally and went further to walk as her breath was shallower and her eyes watery but no tears would come out, not yet. Not perhaps for a variety of reasons, rather she would not rather waste them on the streets, she, enjoyed her tears on happy moments than on melancholic moments. But that wasn´t exactly what got her on her edge, but the thought of loosing everything in a day, a decisive battle, their defiance has been enough and now they want to claim the last of humanity to them, and somehow she tugged on her collar, it felt tight for a reason, was it an effect perhaps or just her inherent sensations, either way she took a turn to a street, watching a pair of homeless people scurrying through the goods of a headless soldier to sell such artifacts to all adventurers, pieces of high-tech sold well in the black market. On the unmaintained streets many teenagers and young men, barely at adult age  riding their bicycles wearing their respective facemasks.

In between the tight alleys and corners she finally found it, akin to the heart of Flea Corner, in between poor people and disgraced a heaven built as a four-floored building, a clinic. It was already the dead of the night, most people would either be asleep or just around, underneath her face-mask she wore a smile, such a tiny building had such a big world, it´s a small world, though inconveniently she could see also outside the hospital, on the parking lot people crying and hugging themselves.

One never learns truly the nature of loss until they touch this place, a hospital, just as it gives life it can also be a place where injustices are committed by death everywhere around, without any age restriction. She approached to the barred gates and a military-man of the Nation´s Military Forces wearing a face mask, ever stoic in their green camouflage gear, holding their weapons up-front as a threatening material and for intimidation, the female though spoke out for the man to open the gates for him, she wanted to meet him; for already days he´s not been able to be at home and it tore her away. Such a world tore her away of her brother, and she never understood why.

The male soldier approached and gruffly spoke out. —Yes?—

She showed her Self-Defense Force ID. —Sorry, I´m here to meet my little brother, he´s a…in-social service physician in the clinic.—

The man nodded abruptly and hastily opened the door. —Oh, you´re here to meet a Doctor. It´s alright, please do come inside. Though, do please, keep your weapons to yourself.—

The female nodded at the kind man´s gesture as she walked the route towards the general entrance, through the main door in there a sleeping receptionist was there, all around was an empty reception, and one might call such a night a miracle since there weren´t patients at all in the public clinic, rather after the invasion of that demonic creature, people were less forward of getting out and being attended by the clinic. She approached to the tiny window to speak to the woman until she heard the speakers on the ceiling blare.

RED CODE IN RESPIRATORY WARD

RED CODE IN RESPIRATORY WARD

Red wasn´t a very well-liked color due to it´s association to the vital liquid, blood itself. She went to the twin-doors which gave access to the hospital and the soldier whom took care of the door was about to lash out at her with authority but she showed her Self-Defense ID and rushed inside.

—STEP ASIDE!—

Many civilians which were around heard a hasty voice of a male whom pushed them away and literally ran as fast as his heart could take him, in the Flea Corner Clinic as a modernized health establishment it had it´s respiratory ward to attend infected patients whose lives were on the line against the deadly coronavirus disease, the unit had a horrid smell, people around ore full-bodied protective equipment, a young man in black hair, a face-mask, dressed in black pants, black boots, a black high-collared sleeveless shirt and a white coat roared even inside his facemask as he arrived to the unit, the curly black-haired female in curiosity peeped as she widened her gaze and glanced at her brother, pushing through those in protective equipment.

Who is it?—

The Nurse answered and he turned around to a flat-lined Seven-Months pregnant woman, he literally rushed towards her side, got on the bed, straddled the woman and started doing chest compressions.

—GET A GYNECOLOGYST AND A EMERGENCY OR FAMILY PHYSICIAN NOW! PREPARE FOR RCP! WE ARE LOOSING HER!—

The coronavirus didn´t respect social classes, had no respect for pregnant woman or seven-month´s embryos. As he positioned her he started doing chest-compressions on the pregnant woman without rest. Helen glanced rather shocked as her brother started doing chest compressions another medic arrived, a resident perhaps and he started taking time and having everyone around ready to channel solutions, prepare the adrenaline someone else moved the bed as they had a strange valve-mask like equipment on the woman´s mouth and started giving oxygen.

CODE MOTHER ON RESPIRATORY WARD

CODE MOTHER ON RESPIRATORY WARD

The speakers blared their alarms respectively and even more physicians were already around, pediatrician residents arrived to the scene almost immediately as Gynecologyst residents did, all while her little brother continued doing chest compressions.

—One minute, fifteen seconds.— The Family Physician Resident stated out loud. He glared at the nurse in protective equipment whom annotated that and soon a syringe was injected into the IV drip channel and perfused directly onto her vein. The tone was mocking, raised, with authority as he glanced rather daringly and challengingly at the young In-Social Service Physician.

—You´re getting slower.— The family physician called out but the black-haired young man shook his head abruptly, his compressions got meaner, fuller, stronger, deeper, he growled as he shook his head.

—Five minutes of those or you´re out.— The very tone caused the female to growl and about to step forth, when an arm was placed right before her, a light-brown haired man with light-green eyes framed by glasses, wearing a burgundy red polo shirt, khaki-colored cargo pants, and a white-coat above his attire, brown/white tennis shoes turned towards her. The Family Physician glanced at the monitor, it was answering, a flicker of life could be seen, the Gynecologyst and Pediatrician residents whom obsessively glared at the cardiotocographic register and the monitor turned towards the man whom kept time and gave a short almost imperceptible nod.

—Stronger.— The man spoke out ordering as the young in-service physician continued pushing through, as time went on one could see him sweating, slowly the veins of his temples bulging and pulsing, yet he never ceased to do perfect chest-compressions, his body eating out adrenaline and body-fat with ravishing insanity.

—…time…— Finally the young physician had a voice, he called, with effort, almost groaning as the man had a tiny smirk and spoke out. —Is that all you can do?— The resident called daringly.

The Gynecologyst spoke out. —Prepare the operating theatre, we´re opening her up to take out that baby.—

The pediatricians closed their eyes and remained stern, nodding their heads.

—Twenty-eight weeks…we´ll prepare the NICU.—The voice of an older taller man with dark brown hair, burly, wearing a white button-up shirt, black pants, black shoes and a white coat above his attire spoke sternly as a few of the pediatrician residents rushed away to prepare for the delivery of the woman, as a Nurse approached to the physician whom kept time.

—Do we call out for the bed-carrier?—

The man nodded.

—Call for three, without a bed, I want them to move this one to the third floor. This boy mustn’t stop his chest-compressions, lest our efforts be in vain.—

The man continued and turned around to meet the young man as the residents disappeared from the ward as they came; there were only a few little, one per service, the Internal Medicine Resident was attending a critical respitarory patient in the ICU, the pediatrician resident prepared the NICU, the Gynecologist resident prepared for opening up the mother to take out the baby and the surgery resident was also prepared to enter inside the procedure and alongside the gynecologist reanimate the patient if worse case comes forth. The Family Physician Kept time and the Emergency Resident, surprisingly wasn’t seen around at all. Therefore it’s only two medics, the one keeping time whom cannot be shifted and the in-social-service physician whom kept giving chest compressions, while the clinic in the day seemed to be rather full, in the night, it was a lonely place with a few personnel, then again, all interesting and adrenaline-filled things happen in the night. The bed-carriers came forward almost immediately, rushing towards the room in their protective equipment as the young man already was sweating, he looked pained and in effort as he continued to give chest compressions, all while the med was being moved, the person atop the woman’s head continued to grasp the bag which activated the valve-like mechanism which gave pure oxygen at 100% to the female patient, as they were being moved to the third floor.

—What happened?—

A random male nurse sighed and glanced down to the floor sadly, and spoke very solemnly.

—It´s been always like this since late twenty-eighteen when the war started, female pregnant patients all arrived with the same symptoms, respiratory illness paired with bleeding and thrombotic complications; in the end there´s been only miscarriages and abortions during the last portion of the year and this one.—

Helen had to close her eyes and almost cry in frustration, in the Floating Country, human females in reproductive age now suffered the loss of multiple children, to the point where already so many have given up, the government has sent the call, by the time already 100% of all women carrying children ended up without giving successful births science could no longer ignored it and finally stated that the virus had won, that humanity might be giving it´s last kicks. When a human dies, and someone tries to save such mellow man, one takes from them their very wish to save them, their will to live is taken abruptly by the one reanimating that they form a bond with the dying person, a connection is made through the RCP…but not as a deep connection as the one making the chest-compressions, the very effort, they very everything, all of it finally made a gigantic and great sense, even if for Helen it seemed rather unknown.

—Preserve her heart!— The Gynecologyst spoke out sharply towards the young male as they were arriving to the operating theatre, the Anesthesiologyst, the Surgeon and the Gynecologyst himself were readied, the whole critical procedure equipment and team of nurses were ready, the papers were ready, all was ready. The Gynecologyst turned to the family physician whom finally spoke out. —Done.—

The resident whom was giving ventilation support spoke as the young male shook his head and with a rather hoarse voice cried out.

—No.—

The Family Physician Resident instead spoke out. —Doctor, you´re interrupting the procedure.—

The man cried out and the young man whom remained doing chest compressions continued until a pair of male nurses with strength got him away from the operating theatre and out of the whole thing, to the dark changing rooms with one flickering so dull and dim light, it shone above him in between the cold darkness, he shivered as he shook his head, as he attempted to warm himself as he shook his head.

—You failed.—

The black haired young man remained with ragged breath, yet he anxiously glanced around and continued to rub his arms away from the cold that entered from the slightly ajar window, today wasn’t a good day for the young man, today death apparently chose to give a lesson to the young man, heroes don’t win and when they don’t win it’s a heavy price. You might say that the White Ones are emotionless, they don´t care for the death, they so easily hand out bad news and horrible news, yet underneath and behind their faces, the truth remains so different. Humans feel, are stricken by death equally, everything affects them akin to a column being hit repeatedly to test its withstanding and endurance, some are easily tumbled, others, remained but scars are left, deep, aching scars. The resident easily glanced at the in-social service medic whom continued to glance emptily at the floor. The man though had no mercy and continued to attack him.

—What did you do wrong?—

—No.—

The man glanced hardly at the young boy, yes, nothing affected the most than your first true experience with death, the first maternal death is always the harshest for a medic moreover when you´re directly involved in the reanimation process, it´s different from any other patient, you form a compromise to at least give the woman or the child an opportunity to see the cruel world they ought to live, it was a rather funny thing. The man about to continue bringing the young man down caused a woman to emerged from a door, a blond-haired woman whom spoke out.

—My patient died!— The woman cried out to the young man who hung his head and his shoulders afterwards, as the woman gripped the young man´s head and slammed him repeatedly on the nearest wall.

—If you cannot do a good CPR then don´t do it at all!— The woman continued to slam the young man´s face and head on the wall, up until blood started to slowly stain the wall, even then she showed no signs of stopping yet.

—DON´T GET INVOLVED WITH OUR PATIENTS EVER AGAIN!— The woman cried out and with one last strong slam, she walked away, all while the male doctor continued to reprimand the already beaten up male.

—So much years of studying for this huh, ·snort· Take responsibility for your failure and go away, i don't want to see you around for now.— The older man demanded.

A mother is the family´s nuclei, it all revolves around her, even a father cannot withstand the loss of a woman and the family nucleus agonizes, until eventually the other part of the binomial dies. The young man, only an in-social service physician glanced sadly at the whole thing happening.

—She was only a mother.—

With a shocked filled gaze, the man closed his eyes and turned around and spoke harshly to him, there was no need to further things, the boy has had a rough night already with this.

—Take responsibility for your failure, take a bath and go home, your shift has ended for today.—

The defeated young male, forced to go out of the door of the operating theatre department he emerged with a hung head as a would've been grandmother and father approached, first the father, a burly male. His eyes were empty, sad, depressed, emotional and attempted to repress the river that was a bout to come out.

—Was it all okay Doctor?— The man asked to which the male could only choke back a sob and shiver.

—I…I´m sorry…I…I…— He tried to speak.

The grandmother gasped and the male rose his face and spoke out.

—She died.—

The strike came to his face first and slammed him to the wall, feeling lightheaded, he felt his body be attacked, not knowing when the first fist landed and the next one went, his face, his chest, his abdomen, his tears cared less. Human anger, a visceral representation of itself, sometimes death is beyond the forces that Medics can control, they are humans, they fail too and yet humans don´t understand that medicine works miracles but also at times, things cannot be prevented nor saved. To his incompetence and stupidity, a child has been stripped of a mother.

—Hit me…—

Kill me...

—…hit me.—

Why am I here?

Why did I study medicine?

—…hit me.— In his thoughts he cried.

Self-loathe in his very thoughts as the hits ceased as he fell to the floor, the guards were already there subduing the man but the damage was already done, the adscript in charge of him for the time, emerged and took him away, more like dragging him from his very clothes, leaving him lying on the bench of the changing room of the operating theatre, the door was closed and a paper placed out on the door with an OUT-OF-ORDER tag. That way the young physician could be left alone to his thoughts and to himself, as the still immature young man emitted choked sobs were emitted from him, his whole body shook with self-loathe and sadness, it was his fault, his RCP wasn´t enough, his chest compressions were imperfect, he killed the woman.

´I killed her…´ 

Your stupidity killed her...

The male thought and glanced with so much sadness at his hands. They were somehow stained in drained blood, he shook his head and got up gently. Walking towards one of the nearest bathrooms he stripped himself of his cloths in the cold bath/restroom and after turning the left key cold water at first got out before steam was let out and the water was finally warm. Stepping inside the very bath´s water he indulged himself in the water. His hair was long enough to cause it to block his very eyes and ears, so symmetrically as he just remained there, it all went dark for him and he finally let it all out.  

A perturbed scream of anguish and pain tore the whole room. Unheard by the world due to how well-silenced were the changing rooms and bath/restrooms of the hospital for at times certain activities to occur. Inside a shivering figure could only glance with his widened light-brown eyes the very blood in his hands. Sharply taking a soap out of nowhere he washed his hands and soon there was blood on his arm, on his forearm, on his cheek, everywhere!

Obsessively and with anxiety the young man started to scrub the soap so hard on the blood as he attempted to wash it away, on the floor, the crystal water had red streaks of blood that wasn´t his. Anxiously scrubbing all of his body, washing his hair, everything, once he was cleaned out, with ragged breaths he leaned his forehead.

You killed her.

 ASSASSIN!

Your compressions were slow!

YOU ARE WEAK! The voices of his very thoughts in his head attacked.

The thoughts were of his own voice but in changed tones. It wasn´t the voice of his perception but rather the voice he talked with that others heard. Not his very voice he heard, yet the other voice, his perceived voice joined in and attacked him too. Both were unrelentless in their attacks which caused him to shake his head obsessively and grip his had with both of his hands.

—…no.— The perturbed young male cried out gently.

Sad, giving-up as he continued to sob and gag in his own sadness, his sobs were strangled and some were good emitted, it showed the nature and visceral feeling of the sadness he now had.

You are so useless you can´t save someone else.

Do you believe they´ll love you when they realize you killed a mother? Curse you in the name of God, in the name of Jeovah, curse you, be burned in the flames of the perpetual forever torment, SINNER! DEMON! His voices screamed.

He shook his head and cried out loud.

—NO!—

Behind the very door a dark-brown haired man with such solemn and stern hazel-eyes walked out from the Operating Department and easily walked through the corridors of the hospital. Finding a very distressed Helen whom turned her head around the department attempting to look out for her younger sibling. The woman seemed distraught as her sibling, it was hard, to understand this the life of a medic, misunderstood and hated by society, misunderstood by your very family, with no one to turn to except yourself, nobody to touch that sad soul so consumed by the darkness of man, doves turn into crows as they are faced by their life tragedies.

—You look distressed young miss.— The man stated.

The young female whom sharply shook her head and remained impassive but calm.

—I´m seeking for my young brother.—

The man instead nodded. —Oh, soon the shift will be over. The night´s cold, a cup of coffee would do wonders.—

The female felt dubious of the man´s intentions but otherwise, she nodded sharply and thus both were lead the way, as they trudged through the halls and alleys of the own hospital, passing by rushed people, tranquilized people, people sleeping others awakened, some stricken by worry and others simply taking a fair rest of their restful days, one may not realize but in the hospital, even the fairest of civilians can take a good rest.

—Any threats to the city lately?— The man asked.

The female whom blinked and remained impassive but she remained in her case and chose to stay silent, as they approached to a big cafeteria, at the moment only a slim quantity of people have finally been taking their dinner, it would soon be dinner hours anyway, as they both sat down, one across the other, a female in her late twenties with a man in his mid-thirties smiled and took out a vaping machine and sucked smoke as he pressed a button.

—You guys have my respect, it´s not an easy task to risk your life out there with the enemies that threaten to eradicate the human race. I would´ve participated but…this institution…— The man trailed off.

The female glanced with interest.

—Even then, you all have my respect. You fight those threats that our eyes can see while we, remain here tightly in bars attempting to fight the enemy in the oxygen, we are no different from you and our efforts are the same.— The female glanced at the table as the medic got up and went for two plastic cups, serving them coffee, this place didn´t served pleasantries, blessed they are with being served extra-heavy American Coffee, this brew heavily laced in caffeine for the restless nights at times the hospital gives, of the type that messes eventually with a human´s circadian cycle. Placing both cups of coffee, a general creamer, sugar and a milk carton on the table, the female served her coffee some sugar and some natural milk as she drank it to pacify herself and her thoughts.

—Your brother´s one of the in-service physicians of this clinic, then?— He asked.

Helen melancholically nodded, lately ever since entering in the Social Service, due to the nature of the recent years most if not all social services were shifted to hybrid clinics and due to the nature of the disease human civilization was transformed forever, moreover when their lives were changed forever when the land was lifted off to the skies, to prevent the envies and hateful nature of the surface dwellers to reach them and instead, stand closely to where they felt more at peace, in such peace they found their, own, paradise.

—He´s lucky, he gets to save people from the SDF daily in the very field, giving the pre-hospital attention before they come here ad he attends them in here too. What I wouldn´t give to outstretch my hand to those soldiers too and fight alongside them even, can’t blame them, the War Against the Liminals took millions of lives, for 2,500,000,000,000 people left in the world cooped up in this gigantic city. I wonder if we´ll do as well to have such a government.—

With a pair of rather amused eyes he snorted and inhaled smoke only to exhale it rather harshly after turning to see upwards to not be an asshole and wash the female in smoke, even if it smelled less bad than cigarette smoke.

—My brother served the army since the start of the war and chose to leave it all for the SDF, he died fighting against an Elf Raid. More laughable is, that we are only eight-million nine-hundred twenty-eight thousand seven-hundred twenty medics, of those only two-million two-hundred thirty-two thousand one-hundred eighty are those that serve the Self-Defense Force as either Pre-Grad Interim Medics or Social Service Medics. What is even more laughable, is that statistically a single medic shall attend 279,994 patients.—

The female closed her eyes in melancholic solemnity and bowed slightly towards the man in respect, it was only expected for her to give her respects to a deceased member of the SDF and also at the same time respectfully give her condolences.

—You have my condolences. Though, another question. Didn’t the U.N. stated that the most ideal practice effort is for ten humans to be assigned one medic.—

The man shook his head.

— That’s only theoretically appliable, many medics died in the Third World War by being forced as combat medics without prior education on Self-Defense, the adequate amount of medics that should be in an adequate scenario is 250,000,000,000. And don’t about the condolences, It´s alright, I only wish to be able to kill one of those abominations, my brother was taken away by one, I only hope he is in a better place.—

In the end the SDF is a country-wide military organization which dedicated to protect all the country from demonic attacks, each city with their own independent chain of command, all through the will of the Lord of the Land in Question of course, in the end it was all well. She never noticed the frustration the man´s face expressed, but he chose to only express passively his frustration than lash out at it.

—I heard there was a big attack today.—

The female nodded solemnly once more.

—Yes, the Flea Corner district was affected mostly, just the southeastern section of the city, not major damages.—

And various casualties.

Her thoughts trailed off rather tragically yet with a solemn seriousness, she won´t go further with those concepts than she already build up and divulging information to cause city-wide panic and potential Nation-wide panic would only cause further strife. Something she, wishes not to achieve.

—I see.— The man trailed off.

Finally they were surprised by a presence, it was a young solemn young man standing normal, the boy looked distraught yet his eyes expressed and like always carried that sense of inward peace and happiness, but the eyes, sometimes one has a chance to see deliberately with details, he can see the melancholic depressive sad solemnity and contemplation those eyes glanced at the world, the boy was hit hard, a talk with his sister ought to do him some good.

—Sister.— He called out rather shyly and hesitant, meekly slightly as the female turned around and embraced him, she spoke out to him rather preoccupied. —You´re alright?—

He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders with a firm nod, the female then nodded and was ready to take them home.

—Let´s go home.— The female commented but he shook his head firmly and now had a solemn face of responsibility, he had people to take care of before he could go home. —I want to see the patients I referred to the Emergency Department first and afterwards...we…we can go home. If we could, please.—

The female nodded vividly, she wasn´t going to stop her brother from doing his job, but could he at least take it easy?

Once they arrived to the heavy undermanned department of emergencies, it was placid and without patients except a woman with a child, Helen waited for her brother, yet time passed and he still was inside, she got rather impatient. She peeped towards a section of the clinic as a young woman dressed in rags glanced at the indications as she almost gasped and tears got to her eyes perhaps, standing her young sibling a dark hared young man, four years younger than her perhaps had a passive expression a passive smile on his face, heck one could even say he looked happy as he held a child of two years old perhaps, as he gently rocked his mid-section back and forth, the young child´s breath was passive also, on the room an Aura of calmness in itself echoed, on the background Mozart´s 1^st violin concerto echoed gently as his very focus was on the young child on his arms, and humanity and perhaps honor goes beyond just wars and things in itself. The woman though was surprised at having her crying child so easily soothed afterwards and after a final checkup the young male chose to just give true peace to his heart, as he opened his eyes, siblings crossed their eyes and the woman turned around and stood tense after a sharp gasp, the young male gave the child back to the woman and after a few instructions the woman was gone immediately as she came towards the Hospital, in the darkness of the Flea Corner District of the city.

Oswald though instead was alongside Megaria whom has never left Raghiel´s side since he came to the emergency ward, people came and went, until the speakers blared alarms and the ward was left almost empty and lifeless it shocked her, the female´s eyes turned to glance to the dark-haired male whose eyes glanced at a heat-shaped locket opened and with a photo inside, on the metallic side it had a tag.

Remember 7.11.18.

—Reminiscing again?— A female voice trailed off as Oswald shrugged and snorted, it was usual for her to be a cunt-head and mess around with them, get involved with their lives as she loves getting involved around that nigga´s dick.

As he went further to instead glance at the bullet and rotate it around his fingers, he stated rather glaringly.

—I use this to remind me everyday to treasure all those near me.—

The female crossed her arms and brought a cigarette to her lips, she has had enough and certainly their friend wouldn´t mind them staying in the clinic or his loft wherever he lives, it was better than the shitty place they are given by the Self-Defense Force (SDF). Being between friends was also something more comfortable than being in the women´s dorm with hormonal repressed women whom are as edgy as hell for matters they cannot control, put their periods also alongside that cringy-edgy shit and you get a good taste of what truly room-mating in times of war is, fucking shit!

She snorted. —You blame yourself for nothing.—

He glanced at the photo underneath the words, it was of him holding a young girl, probably a year or two years old, his niece.

—Who would´ve thought that while I was in the war, my niece agonized with that virus and those fuckers killed her, what hurts the most is that I couldn´t say goodbye.— He closed the clock and purged himself of the dangerous sad thoughts that strayed him from his objective of keeping all of his friends safe, those things better than any other are the best. The CV is the Coronavirus disease that has ailed humanity to the point of extinction, it´s akin to a repeat of the human renaissance but more painful, and the times more disgraceful and less colorful. He almost resisted the urge to laugh, the human progress was almost taken away, the enemies were already around and seeking a way to destroy them, their evolution caused by forces beyond their control, all what is left for man-kind is rationality and the nature around them that even after all what has happened has always given them what they needed and in reply they collaborated with it, yes, when humans are most vulnerable they tend to look better after their surroundings to preserve them in an effort for such to be a reflection of themselves.

—This mood is killing me.— Oswald confessed and sighed, lifting himself as they both glanced at the female elder sister of their friend arriving with her young sibling to the emergency section of the clinic, both were amiably talking and speaking about something which caused the female to laugh out with normalcy, as the male chuckled and closed his eyes glancing to the side then towards their general direction. Megaria glanced at her lover, she took out a bag of potato chips, already the second one of the night, her fingers moving on a very specific anxious pattern, heavy withdrawal sign of a person craving to smoke a cigarette stick yet choosing to remain in a non-smoking place than to smoke.

—Have you ever tried vaping?— The female turned around and she emotionally spoke out.

—How do you see him?— She asked, didn´t even had to change from her uniform at all, we were indeed with the good or perhaps the bad luck, approaching to Raghiel and checking his condition, luckily the wound on his head was being controlled but otherwise there was no signs of fractures of any bone, even then perhaps asking for a head CT wouldn´t be so bad to check things closer.

—I´ll be honest Megaria, he has no signs of intracranial hemorrhage, it could´ve probably been a concussion which caused his unconsciousness; however, after checking the head CT we found only minor concussion signs, with a few recommendations we shall first manage it and see how he evolves, let´s hope he wakes up by tomorrow Megaria, otherwise he´ll have to be referred to Neurosurgery. I´m sorry.—

At this she shook her head and got up, shaking her head and smiling at him. —Don´t apologize.—

Her shaking hand rose up and her right-hand´s index finger got to his lips, as the young doctor pushed the hand away before it even made contact at all.

—Please, he needs you more right now than I.— He replied rather dejectedly, frustrated for not being able to help his best-friend more however they had their hands tied.

—You already go out of your way to help us Ferdinand, that´s all we can ask for.— He closed his eyes and sighed defeatedly, only if he could do more.

—It´s frustrating that this is all I can do, I know. Why not take a few blood samples, do a CRP and blood gases?—She got up eagerly and spoke out rather curiously.

—What are you expecting to find?— At this he closed his eyes and spoke solemnly.

—I want to see if there could´ve been a minor brain edema due to the concussion, we can´t do that much head CT´s either, beats doing nothing.— He stated to the female whom eagerly nodded and went for her utensils to take samples out of her boyfriend, with a smile the young male sighed and turned around and checked patients, closing the clinic after the consultation hours the few patients he had hospitalized after he did a good follow-up in the night, mostly only Raghiel and the boy whom was showing a better condition than the mild respiratory deficiency he showed at the start he went to his chair.

—Was all well?— Oswald asked to Ferdinand whom sighed and nodded, leaning on his chair as he once again continued to eat rather silently, in the mood to be solemn and slightly even melancholic as he ate minutes passed and gentle steps were heard, as Megaria handed him the papers with the results, he glanced at a specific one, as he wore a frown, as expected most didn´t spoke anything abdormal, even the blood-loss was that much minimal that the hematocrit and hemoglobin parameters were normal, although the CRP was slightly raised due to a probable inflammatory response, it could be very well just a minor post-traumatic reaction rather than a sensibile or specific tool to diagnose a brain edema.

—Alright, I´ll prepare dexamethasone 0.6 miligrams per kilogram, calculated to Raghiel´s weight of 84 it´s 50.4, 50 milograms in total, In a 500 mililiter of Saline Solution, five-hundred less a fifty, four-hundred-fifty…hmmm okay.— The male commented rather sternly and got up, getting away to prepare the solution passed to Raghiel, the Dexamethasone being a corticosteroid antiinflamatory substance which was a very trauma board recommended treatment for brain edema, while he didn´t had enough evidence through image of brain edema, as he prepared the saline solution, punctured the specific vein to now have it connected and thus having a stable solution passing, once more after five minutes, he approached and injected the substance into a special cork adapter which allowed for the syringe to get inside and inject substances through the vein using the saline solution as transport medium, with such once done, he retrieved the syringe after placing the adequate block, he turned around and nodded at his friends.

—He´ll be all well.— At this both nodded and rose their thumbs at him. The male just instead glanced at his sister whom also gave him a thumbs-up, he closed his eyes and held a smile, his turbulent feelings left perhaps for a minimal fraction of second with the support of those that he loves and cherishes the most, he´ll do anything to protect and save them from harm. If only, he could be stronger and less weaker. Before he passed though, a white, perhaps clear skinned female to be precise with curly auburn hair whose golden eyes glanced rather focused as she continued to annotate the brief data she acquired on the patient´s exploration, wearing the military issued high-collared black shirt, which embraced her body enough to not be uncomfortable, a pair of dark blue tactical pants paired with black boots, underneath such attire the white coat, which she modestly wore over her form, shining over all others, people have learned not to glance at the new generation of Medics; from Fourth Year Residents to Interims, war veterans that were test-subjects to save humanity from elves. She seemed so occupied.

—It´s you.— She received him rather welcomely like she would receive a colleague perhaps but slightly more warmly, perhaps as a friend, distant but enough, to him it was enough as he started aiding her.

—Would you mind if you could aid me in getting some blood?— He shook his head as she continued to annotate and he started gathering samples, going for tubes and a tourniquet, the needed syringe for the venipuncture, he easily did so fast and started to draw blood in it, the unconscious patient groaned, the whole area was occupied, the adscripts and residents were on their own stuff, a private moment in perhaps the less private of places, as if the world stopped itself, everything was so gentle and calm, so unlike  other times, but it was perhaps a good strike of luck.

—Are you doing anything tomorrow after your shift?— He shifted his eyes towards her for a slight moment as he turned back to the arm and continued gathering blood.

´I can´t run away…i…I must do it. I am aware I can have a no more than a yes, but…I´ll rather hear it from her lips and attack me, than to just pitifully build it.´ He thought rather in a soulful mood as she though blinked and shrugged.

—Not at all, sleep like everybody else does.—

Once he gathered the blood and transferred it to the tubes, placing them on the breast pocket of his coat, he went for his carried books and shyly embraced them as she continued to annotate the data.

—Um, excuse me, if it´s not too much to ask. W-would you like to go out for some coffee and doughnuts with me?— Embracing the books towards his chest, he turned his eyes shyly towards her as she blinked and gave a small kind smile which made his heart give an upstart beat, she also seemed to embrace her annotations nearer to her chest too.

—S-sure.— She voiced and thus he remained there for a minimal moment and then afterwards spoke.

—I…I´ll take these to the Lab.— He turned around and after getting out of the tent, he felt sober, full, not a single voice whispering in his head…he closed his eyes, slowly inhaled and equally exhaled, the usual sadness and melancholy of his face was turned into a more happy visage, for a tiny margin of time one could see truly the face of a healing person slowly learning to heal himself, slowly learning to be with others and love most of all, with himself. For the first time in his life, someone said yes, someone accepted his awkwardness.

Removing his white lab coat and walking alongside his sister, she stopped to talk to the guard, wearing his respective ventilative device with the respective mask, both stepped into the streets, when a rock was thrown in his way. It hit his chest. He rose his head to find a civilian pointing at him.

—It´s your fault!— He widened his eyes and soon others in the street turned, another civilian pointed out towards the white coat on his arm. They all held their hate, humans weren´t as white as many described them nor as poems stated, they are truly beings that consumed, when trouble arrived they sought out someone to blame everything. In a global epidemic, Pandemic to be precise, coronavirus, people had always to shift the blame of the virus to someone. Those dressed in white, the medic, was the one to blame. They are the ones that kill the people, the ones that deliberatedly chose whom lived and whom died, they all are to blame for the tragedy of the human deaths, they are the ones to carry everything.

—ASSASSIN!—He tried to open his mouth and a rock was thrown to the back of his head as he could only stand there in shock. The people he made an oath to save their lives as a medic, for the first time, were showing their true colors, has he made a mistake?  ´Kill me.´ He thought depressed already, defeated.

—…i´m sorry…— He whispered as they continued to throw rocks though this time a magical matrix shielded him from the rocks thrown, the female now dressed in her characteristic helmet turned to her sibling, asking if he was alright, he dimly nodded with his head hung as the people continued to shout insults at the young doctor whom simply couldn´t hold the tears from cascading down his very face.

—Doctor, one of your patients need to speak with you.—

At this he turned around to glance at the nurse cried out, standing inside the bates of the hospital, cared by the guards as he turned to his sister whom had a powerful grip on his shoulder.

—I…I’ll be with them in a short while.— At this his sister gripped his shoulder hard and he turned around sadly towards his sister, walking towards the hospital she followed him once more, once in the door which lead to the emergency department he easily glanced at her, she removed her helmet.

—Your shift ended.— She stated and he had a sad visage and spoke out and revealed his neck which showed a metallic choker with a blinking red light, the female´s eyes sharpened and had a murderous glare though not directed at her sibling.

—I´m their slave Sister, whatever they desire I have to do…their lives are in my hands just as they can do whatever they wish with mine.—

The female shook her head and stated rather sharply. —At the expense of not having a life; your family, your friends. Mother hasn´t seen you in months.—

Ferdinandhung his head and spoke rather sadly. —…I´m sorry.—

Helen sharply inhaled and ready to lash out but crossed her arms realizing nothing wrong was done, her face softened. —C-can´t you…ask to be left alone for only ten hours.—

The young male hung his head and afterwards shook his head and his shoulders slumped, his watery eyes were enough to express his sadness at the situation.

—I…I´ll see what I can do.—

With saddened and further downcast look he left his sister and rushed inside, leaving the young female alone, frustrated and angered, getting back her helmet once more she turned around and stomped away, one of the civilians easily was ready to throw a rock at her, she easily slung out her revolver and shot against the civilian, without even turning her head, it was an accurate shock to the neck, paired with another to the chest, fulminating the target by the time it was on the floor and cold blood on the floor, the man´s abdomen leaving a mess on the streets. The female continued to go alone by the streets, her face hidden inside a helmet, yet if one could see it clearly enough, on the neck, one could see tears cascading down. The guard rushed to the Triage medic, there was a man assaulted on the streets.

—D-doctor a man-.—

The Triage medic stood there and emotionlessly sat back down reviewing some papers rather emotionlessly.

—Yes?—

The Guard pointed to the streets. —A m-m-m-man is-.— At this the Triage doctor blinked and turned towards the guard, the dark-tanned man simply glance towards the guard.

—My eyes only see the Dark streets, as should yours. If you excuse me.— An article of the New England on his hands, printed on a modern printer easily, his pen started to underline important details the article stated to study for tomorrow. The nurse, stayed silent and continued reading a magazine, if the leader of the Triage team was relaxed then she also is.

—But…that man is-.— The man stated out rather emotionlessly.

—A bullet piercing his neck probably tearing the larynx which makes him a viable candidate for neck surgery, intubation and probably mechanic ventilation, that means a respiratory ward patient will have to die to give this one a ventilator, a bullet to the chest could have a pericarditis or a traumatic hemo-pneumothorax meaning a major trauma surgery, his abdomen exploded due to a magically-modified bullet probably leaving us with only a minimal amount of intestine which will need an ostomy and a major surgery to interfere, due to the contact of the tissues to the outside world the man is infected with Coronavirus and also with other bacteria which means we are going to infect the emergency ward and one of the surgery theatres we have and the hospital will have to stop activities for two hours in which the hospital will have to be disinfected. His abdominal aorta is in shambles, he probably lost one or both kidneys in that explosion which means our dialysis theatre will also be infected…we have no ways to manage his case, therefore, he is dead. Leave the police to pick him anyway.—

***(Scene Break)***

A pair of sad eyes already tired, after speaking some questions of a minor wound patient about wound care, he walked through the hospital´s rising ascending hallway, rather saddened, everything already at this hour was so silent, feeling thirsty, going upwards to the last floor´s storage wouldn´t be a bad thing either, passing by nurses and waving at them and wishing them a good night, some smiled kindly and their smiles met their eyes, others mildly and some just didn´t, it was as it is supposed to be, there are many people whom just don´t enjoy things after time has passed. Where did he stood? He asked himself that each and everyday, going inside the storage to find a water bottle to drink, to his surprise inside the storage room behind closed doors with special glass to glance from the outside to the inside but not from the inside to outside, a pair of saddened eyes glanced at a couple kissing frantically and passionately, his age; a young woman with green colored curly hair, he knew her…it caused his eyes to glance sadly at the scene. A muscular dark skinned male kissed her fiercely and his arms embraced her lower hips, her arms locked into his neck, his eyes glanced into the scene, pasting their bodies he saw them slowly grow closer and closer, with affection and love. Is it hard to ask for such a thing by oneself?

Trust

Sacrifice

Companionship

Commitment

Trust

In this dark world, was it so hard? They both removed their respective white coats and continued to kiss the other, their hands roaming their clothed bodies further, he glanced entranced and saddened at the scene, gently his right hand touched the window as they frantically could barely keep their passion to the other, her eyes glanced at his, her breath was shortened, her heart beat fast, her overall appearance slightly flushed and also shy and yet there was also trust, he looked flushed but confident, nervous yet firm, to feel so secure, he would wish to feel like that.

´Will I be ever able to love?´ He asked himself rather sadly glancing at the overall scene, loneliness is something one needs to get used to, this career, this path, his slavery takes so much time, by the time her high-collared military shirt was gone and his also they showed their mutual metallic chokers which made them just as him slave to the system, to the government, their tools to do whatever their whim desired, even then, the male caressed the female´s face ternderly as she leaned her face to such hand, nuzzling it and kissing it tenderly.

You deserve alone.

He closed his eyelids in sadness and tears cascaded down his eyes, why did he felt sad?

Envy, was it that?

Jealousy?

Did he wished to occupy that place and be basked with affection, the end of his emotional crisis and problems?

The world expects everything out of a man; go get money, be successful, make the world notice you, be handsome, take all the women, have status, BE A MAN! He snorted in sadness and glanced to the ceiling in pleading sadness.

´I was never a man…´ He thought and his hands went to his pockets, he had nothing in them, it was rather laughable, he´s poor.

´I´m poor, poor people cannot love; you can listen, you can be the other person´s shoulder and be in that person´s shoulder, but I don´t have money, thus for that reason I cannot love; I have no money I cannot have the right to love, I am not successful thus I cannot have access to love, I am not noticed by the world therefore no one will love me, I´m not handsome thus i´m not a loved person, I  do not have status thus I cannot love either…love…I want it…why can´t I have it?´

This world is not kind to some, to some it is easy to compensate their failures for other talents, but for those whose perhaps social skillset is so lacking, in the end, there´s nothing more than just an empty filled world of loneliness, a pit in which no one ever goes away, had it all in the end revealed that in the end he´s not capable of being loved and thus, he should´ve died a long ago.

´Kill me.´ He thought rather cowardly, expected out of a door a psychotic person to come and just shoot him or stab him, no one would miss him or cry for him being gone, sooner or later he shall be gone and be another martyr in the long lists of dead medics the world doesn´t gives a shit about, truthfully, because, being one in a million means nothing in the end, does it? He glanced entranced at the couple, sharing love and intimacy of such a deep level he could never fathom to obtain even in the greatest of achievements

MONSTER!

He gasped and then gripped his head and shook his head, rising his head to glance more at the scene.

…assassin…

He heard a whisper nearby his ear, gasping he found himself in front of the naked female embracing him close and whispering such things to his ears, he shook his head and did a step back, colliding with a wall, he sobbed out and he shook his head once and gripped his head stronger.

—…no…— He croaked out rather sadly and rose his head, the man was so near the woman as she embraced him near, their uniform motions…they were having sex. He chose to instead turn and walked out towards the exit of the hospital, after being given the leave, with a tired visage he emerged from the doors of the hospital, yet a figure stood in between his path and his very sister, an elderly man with a walking cane outstretched at his front, whitened hair, white button-up shirt, brown pants, black shoes, wrinkled skin and grayed green eyes.

—Do you believe in God?— The elderly man asked towards him, very firm and strangely strict and even sober for an elderly man, he glanced suspiciously a the man though, the way his back was slightly hunched, yet his legs didn´t seemed to be with a weak step but rather very firm, this was no common elderly frail man.

—Religion is a necessity for society, but no.— The elderly man spoke out more specifically even more intricate questions.

—My grandchild was born with a congenital disease which allows him to metabolize and process lactic acid faster than most, with the downgrade factor of a neurohormonal disbalance which causes clinical depression and manic crisis, he´s good at sports due to such and he´s hated by his peers for it. He is determinant to live his life with the condition he has. Do you think such determinism is a threat to him?—

´Not a normal question, this ain´t an elderly man, or at least a common elderly man. I´m tempted to use my Eye-Spell but such would discover his façade, he´s questioning me, is this a test? A commoner would feel inspired by a person whom against all odds attempt an honorable goal, but not glancing at it in a bigger picture is also ignorant and biased, Self-Determination is not perhaps what he´s asking, he stated so…determinism, not determination, this child´s determinism is to think of his condition in either continuing with it or dying by it, not thinking thoroughly any other choices he could have, thus eradicating and killing any capacity for free will he might have.´ He thought sharply and glanced at the figure, clearing his throat and taking a sharp breath.

—The slavery of his free will by having a biased vision that such entity calculates by having a perceived contractual duality with the disease he carries, not necessarily realistic or applicable but rather used as a medium to not attempt any other choices he might have.—

The elderly man now with a raised eyebrow continued. —So then by removing a man´s choice to free will retrieves his very existence and free-will?—

The male once more crossed his arms and nodded, the elderly man once more continued.

—You inherited a totalitarian empire on it´s virgin days, no defiance, ready for you to mold. Which one is more appliable to your own self-percieved reality; A) you acknowledge you can deny your inheritance or choose so, you can hand it or do whatever you wish with it, break it and hand people their freedom…you know their choices are endless. B) Your mentality acknowledges freedom is a lie, you cannot be given a choice, all you can do is accept your duty with a faux smile. C) Your mentality acknowledged that freedom and free will are an ever changing variable whose numbers, as pendulum of an old clock, vary on the left and right axis of the numerical values.— The young medic student closed his eyes rather tightly and thought about the more complex case the elderly man placed before him, he thought sharply.

´An ethical-moral question. A) is a liberalist view over the leadership, many would find such answer adequate but at the same time if one chooses such a path for a totalitarian empire, you would lead your country to break itself up, revolts would happen, genders would divide, society will be at unrest, thousands will die. But you cannot be radical and choose B) because it´s radical, absolutist and in the end instead gives more harm than good, an absolutist government where the governing figure sees itself as a slave would lead to a enslaved folk, a harsh iron-rule which will in the end cause wars and conflict, poverty and strife. Life isn´t white as A) or dark as B), Life is a complex variable of gray colors in which we are all free from any slavery and have the free-will to act upon our choices and mature in free-will enough to know  the full responsibility of our actions as any human would. C) is the appropiate answer due to it.´ He thought and opened his eyes finally speaking. —C is the correct answer, for as A) leads to a fast rupture of society and death, B) is the vermin of societies which will spread suffering and strife in the long run and C) is a realistic views that as rulers, we must always shift our own mentality according to the situations of our life.— He answered but the elderly man continued even then.

—My brother has a terminal cancer already, he has only a few days of life-expectancy, he´s with mechanic ventilation, barely managing to reach ventilation goals, multifunctional  decay. The man before being brought unconscious signed a last-will where he specified that if he ever were to be disconnected from reality and if the medic so determines and wishes to, can disconnect him from his life, for as to not suffer anymore. Would you A) disconnect my beloved brother and euthanize or B) continue his treatment.—. He closed his eyes and a cold face went to his visage.

—Euthanasia, giving the man a good painless death is at times better than Unnecessary Treatment endeavors.— The male commented sharply his own ethical vision of the situation which the Elderly man once again respected and continued.

—A spaceship with five of our fellow humans has been stranded in the stratosphere near our planet, four are infected with Coronavirus and have active symptoms, two of them already with oxygen saturation of 89% with notable dyspnea and two others are with fever and cough, a pregnant woman with Thirty-Nine weeks of gestational age is around that group with transvaginal fluid leakage. You have only one medical unit, you can attend one of those five only, four others will die. What would you do? Why would you do so?— The elderly man asked one more question to which he answered without hesitance.

—Attend the Woman´s birth, isolate her from the others. Not by principle but rather by logic itself, a pregnant woman is of more value than any other member of the crew, a pregnant death is more shameful than the death of any other being under our hands.—

He commented sternly towards the elderly man whom frowned slightly for a fraction of time before continuing, so far good answers, this one, not exactly satisfied but enough to be good answer.

—A man has married a woman and on their first marriage week, the husband feels yet not comfortable enough to have sexual relations with his wife. Is a husband forced to please his wife to compensate for his uncomfortable lenience at having sex? Should the husband appease to his wife´s demands, loose his free-will for the sake of pleasing his beloved? Must the woman be hedonistically centered and given priority over the man?—

´Might as well already hint that this is a question about ethical view of pleasure, they aren´t simple yes or no instant questions. If I answer yes to the first question then I state clearly that all actions must always lead to the pleasure of oneself or another, but if I state so otherwise I might be asked to explain, in a way if the husband forced to please his wife strips himself of any decency and freedom, free-will to be specific, in the end his actions would just be deterministic by default by choosing two of which pleases his wife nonetheless, meeting the same end. And not all times pleasing a person means that he does something intrinsically right, what if she wants to have vengeance on someone and forces him to do so to please her. Even if the wife might feel vulnerable, or perhaps even, hurt, where is the mutual empathy to the situation on the side of the male, communication solves all issues and in here, if engaging in pleasing a woman senseless would lose the substantial meaning a conversation about the topic could have. Therefore the first one is obviously a negative answer. The second one´s self-answered by the first one with a No. As for the last question, answering a yes or no superficially without good reasoning might as well be falling through making a sector of the population weak due to the relevance they receive, monopolizing social power on a single group of groups, leads to social strife and pain, therefore, a government´s actions to appease or work for the self-pleasure of a group of the citizens is something inherently wrong, since it can also turn the society into a deterministic hell; you strip people of their free-will and power of choice, soon actions will be seen as those that by those groups are seen as right or wrong, such would lead to not other options being explored, other ways to tackle problems, simply because in the subjectivity of the own beholder, they would catalogue such as against them or in favor of them, therefore free-will would be preserved is the third is answered no.´ He thought sharply and turned to the elderly man.

—To the three answers is no.— The elderly man sharply spoke.

—Have a nice night.— With such dismissal, the young male gave a few loose steps once more, almost tripping and falling face-first to the floor.  Helen wearing her helmet rushed towards her brother and her right arm embraced his back, loudly yawning and leaning to her body, the female closed her eyes and smiled, carrying her little brother in a bridal-carry style she marched away from the hospital by the sidewalk, an automobile parked, opening the copilot’s door to gently lay her tired sleeping young brother, due to the heat he undid the collar of his shirt, showing the metallic choker he wore which branded him a slave to humanity by profession and choice, these were harsh times for medics indeed whether they be of royal blood or not.

·· (Section Break) ···

Edward took a moment to breath once more as he arrived to the Apartment complex he lived independently at the Restoll district, as he walked the stairs he could only think deeply about the war that will happen soon, even though many would want to prevent it it´s something that cannot be changed, and that made him feel an intense anger and dislike at the idea of allowing Flea Corner to fall, if Flea Corner fell then Restoll would fall and if it does, then might as well one of the last free portions of humanity die too also alongside it, that much sadness it causes. As he easily glanced at the door he opened it and he was received by a light-brown haired female with curvy hips, a chest that many males would love to sink their face at and overall, a lovely woman, dressed in a homely light-pink sweater, khaki pants, cute pink flip-flops and a white apron above her normal attire, with a body that would leave many mature women jealous since most mature women do form great bodies such bodies paled with the body of this woman though, as he easily stepped in and he smiled.

—I´m home.— He stated rather gently towards the female that easily continued to prepare food, he sat down on the chair as he undid his equipment belt which had strapped his swords and electronic additaments to all the SDF soldiers, easily sitting in a chair, the female spoke out. Even if they lived in a highly technological society they, in the end, allowed themselves to have such humble housing.

—Was your talk with the commander well?— She trailed off to the male whom closed his eyes and glanced at his fists, he smiled and spoke out.

—There were details about my performance today.— As she smiled the food was done and both dined in silence and perfect harmony, their peaceful dinner has ended and as she easily snapped her hands and the plates were once clean and on their perfect spot, tiny usefulness for magic outside of the offensive defensive capabilities it had against their possible future attackers.

—You were very brave today.— Rosaire trailed off gently as she turned around, her back towards him as she started to undo her apron and Edward chuckled lightly and scratched the back of his head rather characteristically humble, it was slightly an awkward ambience.

—I guess my training did paid off.— The female instead giggled, as the male leaned back on the chair and stretched his arms as he yawned, and turned around, to his shock his eyed his eyes as Rosaire removed her clothes, leaving her only in her bra and panties, he though for modesty blocked his eyes and spoke out.

—W-w-what are you doing Rosaire?— He chuckled rather awkwardly and she took a few steps forward and turned the chair around, glancing at him, he seemed to be nervous though and it made her more comfortable to know that even the great Edward was shy enough around the concept of nudity.

—We might be on our last days, children aren´t bared in the world anymore, what is there beyond to us?—She took a hold of his wrists and she glanced directly into his eyes and he to hers, with a light blush on his cheeks as she spoke to him sternly.

—T-t-that doesn´t mean you must i-i-insist on those things.— He declared shyly to the female whom instead closed her eyes in disappointment and turned around, bringing forth her military cloths once more and wearing them, except for the boots she easily removed and now, with a passive stare she glanced at the rather sober male whom closed his eyes.

—There´s a big possibility that the elven prince´s armies would attack us in a day.— The female remained rather not impressed by the piece of information.

—So?— At this the male spoke out rather estranged and with a critical and analytical stare glanced at the female.

—Did you knew?— She shook her head and spoke rather sadly.

—No, but it will do us well if we stay together these last hours we have of life.— At this the male only smiled and nodded with a sad visage. —I know.—

The female sat gently on a chair to the side of the male, whom turned around to face her, approaching and kissing her lips, the woman submitted to the lip-lock and enjoyed the sensations the moment caused.

—Do you want to try?— He asked tense to the female whom closed her eyes and opened them, sharply, glancing at him once more and she spoke.

—Do you wish?— He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead to hers and spoke gently, feeling loved and being able to give and take it felt blissful, the best sensation of the world, in between the fights, the effort, tiny moments where one could open their heart to the other and the other did so too, sharing such vulnerability felt blissful.

—I do, do you?—He consciously asked to her which she snorted and glanced to a nearby cabinet where a box of folic acid pills rested, she closed her eyes.

—I´ve taken Folic Acid Pills everyday alongside my birth control pills. Wouldn´t want our child to have less than our smarts.— He chuckled and embraced her.

Getting her off her chair by carrying her and spinning around and never letting her go, she gently and genuinely embraced his head to her bosom. She gently slapped his biceps to which Edward let go and Rosaire walked with a shake of her hips toa nearby cabinet where a box of untagged pills rested, taking out the aluminium and pressing the plastic, the pill was now on her hand, taking two to be precise.

—Birth control?— He asked to the female whom shook her head and spoke out.

—Pro-birth pills actually, with a certain concentration of progestogen hormones one can actually speed-up the ovulation process. I want to try it once, even if it´s impossible for a human woman to be pregnant nowadays, i will take the risk.— She rose her head towards her beloved whom approached to her and spoke solemnly.

—Then I shall do my part on this too, you…will carry everything, I, it feels akin to me being useless in a sense. I mean, I don´t carry the nine months on my body.— She smiled and shook her head going for a glass of water to swallow the pills Rosaire had a perhaps solemn and passive visage, relaxed, she could get used to this.

—Come.— Rosaire turned around after swallowing the pill and leaned on the edge of the cabinets.

··(Scene Break)···

The Sky, many people never truly understood it´s meaning, after years of just glancing at the infinity of the skies one could truly feel limitless and with the desire to fly, as if such a thing could ever be true anyway. As the Self-Defense Force Soldiers moved around, ordering the common army soldiers to reinforce the energy cannons, all the soldiers with their respective army cloths, the light-brown haired male with blue eyes glanced at the reinforcement of Flea Corner District.

—This is what we have now, and we have to make due to it. Humanity is only what´s left of it´s own trace in earth itself.—

Edward glanced at Commander Saeron, he wasn´t surprised though he chose to perhaps trust this matter to the elves whom knew slightly better about it, with them being expert in such affairs and all, not that they didn´t knew about it, didn´t meant they wouldn’t fight.

—Those demons won´t be able to defeat the army alone. I´m not fooled by those tricks.—

The man turned around sharply and placed his hands on the young leader´s arms and spoke out very hardly to him, with a keen glare.

—Don´t underestimate their forces Sergeant First Class and remember, Flea Corner might fall with the people alongside it.—

The young soldier closed his eyes and glanced at his right palm once more, each time he heard the less he wanted to go by the man´s orders but he chose to remain there and instead glance at the effort his men were pulling off in strengthening the walls and preventing the enemies to penetrate it and attack. A day has passed since the suspicious attack of an armored Boar, back then things have been tense-filled and thus he easily any and all inhabitants of PietrOscura are though at peace, with the inhabitants of Flea Corner being their meat shield as the SDF forces attack.

—No doubt the savages want also to attempt to colonize our country, Humanity’s last stand.— The male talked out the obvious as he thought deeply about it, the elves wanted more lands, and the good chunk of land, even if minimal but acknowledgeable land of the country, capable of taking their technology and all what they possess, they´ve finally been the target of the envy of those elves, whom might´ve summoned those demons.

—I can barely believe it´s only been two years since the war started, to prevent attacks from the elves we managed to raise a good wall and save humanity from it´s extinction. The cost, of course the quantity of humans nowadays.— At this Sergeant Major chuckled out.

—Edward.— Marcus called forth to the male whom easily turned around to meet a dark haired male with a eastern-Europe-like face tore through the thoughts of his commander and handed out an envelope as he opened it, an update from the reckon squad from yesterday´s shift, they were reporting watching activity during the shift of night and midnight a few miles away from Flea Corner, which meant not good news. With that said, things eventually simmered out and they went away.

—Mr. Marcus, you have to see this.— A guard called forth and the soldier followed until he was at the tall post, as he scaled once above, he pointed to the horizon beyond, taking out a pair of binoculars he blinked and glanced at nothing.

—It is nothing at all, we are all well.— The dark-haired male commented carelessly and turned around, giving to the commander a confident thumbs up, he glanced at the city from the inside, as the work was done the forces left and a minor force was left to guard the wall until the very earth quaked and the full blunt-force of the strike done at the wall caused the careless male to now be gripping the edge of the building and prevent him from falling, as another earthquake followed, as a panicked soldier stated.

—INVADERS!— And thus to their shock a figure appeared, this time a pale-skinned creature standing on it´s four-legs gigantic enough to be the size of half-a-skyscrapper, it was a sort of a dinosaur yet grotesque overall with four yellowish glowing eyes, and along it´s neck lines of bio-luminiscent dot-like skin-appendages glowered dimly, slowly it´s back opened grotesquely to show that on it´s entire back, it had more bio-luminiscent blister-like skin-appendages grotesquely opening it´s maw to reveal multiple short tentacle-like appendages as if it were it´s tongue and such things had oval-shaped tips which also glowered on a white-ish color, the creature screeched sharply and brought down one of both of it´s hands and a skyscraper was torn akin to swiss cheese and the demonic alien raced the Flea Corner district of the City.

—Notify the Sergeant Major Immediately, don´t hesitate. Call for the aid of the robots and tell the forces to come, Humanity…has finally faced another challenger.— The soldier called out as from the surface multiple arachnid like monsters of human-height average, they were all black in their exoskeleton, eight legs firm, their legs making a characteristic sound as they stepped on the city´s surface, they had a single big green-colored eye-like appendage, as they extended a section of their body, to produce insectoid-like wings capable of flight, as a soldier of the few that were around easily took out it´s gun readied and shot one of the arachnid monstrosities with a sniper rifle, right into it´s very eye, the creature unceremoniously fell, before though it was assaulted from the back of the ceiling of a household by an agyle reptilian-like creature, olive-green colored, reptilian scales, sharp fangs which without any mercy bit and tore through the man´s low mid-section and it´s hands literally pushed the man away whom had a quarter of it´s medsection eaten away by the creature that hunched slightly, legs and hands on the surface it screeched, no eyes, the man had a glance of shock as the creature rushed and did it´s killing bite on the man´s side of the neck summoning immense amounts of blood, two more like them started assaulting soldiers whom attempted to defend themselves as they could, and of course beyond the forces of the low-dwellers were approaching. As Eight-Thousand Humans came forth, all of them soldiers of the Self-Defense Army, a quarter of the whole total of the members of the army they all came fast with ships that carried gatling gun firing robots that shot the creatures, plasma energy cannons that fired multi-colored beams towards the bigger creatures.  A portion of the soldiers went by their own rocket-boosters on the soles of their boots, another portion rode the ships to the site and descended on the enemies directly to attack them, all soldiers with their military-issued blades and their basic knowledge of Fire and Lightning magical offensive spells.

—We´ll have our chance, for now, aid us in eliminating those alien bastards!— At this the male nodded, yet in the depths of the Headquarters of the Self Defense Force in Restoll, a protective barrier was being summoned by the very own authorities of the Self Defense Force and the Soldiers of said squadron, through the use of a complex magical matrix made of various different archaic magical symbols of human esoteric books, they managed to cast a barrier, though at the cost of the stamina and vitality of many soldiers. As slowly the walls started having an ethereal light-blue colored like extension that slowly curved and formed a dome above the remaining section of the city.

—Where is the First Sergent?— Commander Saeron demanded and many faces turned around, no presence of the woman around them all, which meant she wasn´t present for the summoning of the barrier. At this the Supreme Commander of the Forces widened his eyes in realization. His daughter and his son were always that near, it made the man rather tense as he spoke out his orders.

—Sergeant First Class Edward, go to the clinic and retrieve First Sergeant Helen, her force and yours shall go there as a tactical squad. Eliminate aliens as they pass by you, don´t hesitate…because if we do humanity will fall.— With a straight military salute, all the males immediately rushed away from the Headquarters using their rocket boosters of the soles of their boots as propellers, all while a demonic roar was heard and a literal beam attacked a skyscrapper. As a red flare was shot towards the skies, the male Sergeant could only widen his eyes.

The red flare were the Soldiers in charge of caring after the access bridge to cross the river are being attacked, the red flare meant that Restoll would fall in the next attack, and if it falls might as well say Goodbye. Two flares shot up towards the skies, the first one a green light which was an answer from the headquarters, the green flare summoned all the defense forces the city has, all the forces  were literally called forth to charge finally against the enemy, and then it followed a yellow flare, which meant that Citizens were evacuated, citizens of both sections.

From the hill where the Castle of PietrOscura remained, the sound of machinery was heard and from behind the mountain a gigantic multi-colored beam shot towards the demonic alien being whom was attacking already the tall guarding towers that were in the border between Restoll and Flea Corner, the attack was an effective attack was done to the gigantic alien that without that much of an effort  roared and did a step back, the creature now had a gaping hole on its armor and it´s body as many soldiers widened their eyes.

—What in the blazes is that?— From the peak of the canyon an observatory like building had a cannon which pointed itself towards the creature, they all growled.

—Not time for that, get to Flea Corner!— Edward Ordered immediately as he shot towards a building laterally behind the raptor creature, rising his sword he easily slashed the creature´s left side of the neck and a portion of the back, as the creature roared, turned and attempted to smack away, but it couldn´t, through raging fire spells and lightning beams, many soldiers were instantly attacked and incinerated, unhooking himself he roared and took out another of those reptilian beasts that attempted to attack another soldier whom was defending itself, the creature screeched and sharply swung a clawed arm, managing to wound his right ear, he cared less as he held both lades in a stabbing motion, he descended on this time a bipedal creature with sharp-strength, a finned tail dragged on the floor and two spikes adorning it´s maw and protruding frontally, at least one got the heart, with his body´s strength pinning the elf to the floor. The monster did a loud cry and close to its body two thin arms with sharp pincers attempted to tear the light brown haired male whom easily swung his left arm and his right arm which held a small blade also swinging it on the creature´s neck, blood was summoned on the floor as behind him he heard a loud cry. A roar was heard and the male turned around, the reptilian raptor creature almost ready to swipe his arm, though all it caused was for it´s head to be chopped off and be bathed in a mess of blood. Clinging to the building behind him holding her blood-stained sword and with blood smearing her face she had a ragged breath, his lover.

—Thanks for the save Rosaire.— Both traded each other a nod and with each other´s backs to the other, as they glanced around, once determining there were no enemies around they both went to the nearest trash-bin and or urban contraption which allowed them both to parkour above the building and jump through the roofs and ceilings of buildings and finally went to the battle-site, as many soldiers were fighting creatures out of the world and never thought of, once arriving to the clinic they could see it heavily with guards, the guards were unarmed but one could see already it was very silent, on the gate stood an emergency physician in a tent ready to receive any wounded and kill demons.

—Sir.— The man spoke very sternly towards the light-brown and blue-eyed male whom easily crossed his arms and spoke very sternly and also hurriedly.

—We have no time for that, we need to know where First Sergeant Helen is, the last time we were aware she was in this clinic.— At this the emergency physician nodded and soon a demonic cry of battle was heard, before both could turn the male emergency physician gave a jump and twisted, kneeling now on the surface, the raptor´s head was cut off, no blood being emitted from the wound at all only faint smoke and  its arms emitted a greenish-blue flame-like hue and inside that very hue one could see the faint greener outline of a blade, and smoke being generated.

—H-how?— The female asked shocked and the emergency physician stated rather with a smirk as he cracked his hands and fingers.

—You guys were not the only ones that received education about Esoteric Science.— The male physician commented to both whom blinked and glanced around, then back at the physician whom chuckled and spoke out.

—Basic spell of all medics to learn in case of self-defense, go inside now.— The medic hurried them both as they rushed inside the emergency ward´s entrance and inside there Helen and Ferdinand were silent as both glanced with tension at Raghiel´s state.

—I can´t leave with Raghiel being still unconscious.— The male bit his lip as he glanced at his best friend still lying in the surface, with things getting critical he needed to find a solution soon.

—We have to leave brother, the city won´t resist that much longer.— Edward was about to interject but the young male continued to ponder.

—The Dexamethasone is an antiinflamatory drug, it should´ve already minimized the inflammatory reaction, even the CRP and Arterial Blood Gas had reduced lactate and CRP markers. Why?— He asked whispering a hiss rather frustrated, not capable of understanding why at times even science and knowledge failed in this regard, could it be that perhaps he´s taking a longer time metabolizing the drug or in the absorption process, he bit his lip and was tense now.

—We need to get to Restoll Sir, most civilians are being evacuated as it is. We have to get out now before the invaders get to us.— At this the young male turned towards the brown-haired male sharply, all while a nurse spoke rather fearful.

—But there are patients in the respiratory wards, lest not even say recently-aborted and miscarriaged mothers, children and even adults hospitalized by the denizens, we can´t leave them to their fate?— Edward bit his lip, curse their planning they never got to that point, the attack was surely not going to be repelled well, they would get to this side.

—We´ll have to defend the hospital if it comes to it.— An Emergency Resident in the ward stated solemnly and turned towards Ferdinand whom closed his eyes and now stayed solemn but heavily melancholic, no doubt if Flea Corner fell, might as well fall the hospital with the residents inside it, the male almost resisted the urge to chuckle.

—What a year to make my residency, ain´t it?— He slanted with certain mockery and irony at his own situation now, what a great day to be an emergency resident, in probably the most contradicting time humanity has overall.

—What do you suggest then?— Edward asked to the male whom remained silent and Rosaire interjected.

—The hospital has an emergency tunnel? The Elven wars sure created enough fear on our engineers?— At this everyone except Megaria whom stayed with her boyfriend went to the archive department where the blueprints of the clinic were placed and in the old and new ones they found something that was amiss, a tiny place on one of the forgotten to put rooms where there was a big enough tunnel that lead apparently to the Restoll concentration Hospital. With that, they could access through the tunnel to get to Restoll and towards a safer route.

—Why not send patients and people through it?—At this the male resident of the emergency ward nodded and turned towards the nurse.

—Call them all.—

··(Scene Break)···

Through the dark tunnels, after the patients were finally sent through the tunnel, finally the group composed of Ferdinand checking on the portable monitors on Rudwig, the bed being pushed by Owswald and Megaria, at the front with their semi-automatics drawn both Rosaire and Edward were edgy glancing around with tension, Helen behind marking the pace behind watching everything be well.

—Did you tried smelling salts?— The dark-haired male pushing the bed suggested, his dark brown eyes glancing at the young medic whom stood by the side of the bed checking on his best-friend nodded, they didn´t worked in the effort to wake him up, the least Head CT showed a more uniform brain with no signs or indications of edema anymore, with that said they felt an earthquake.

—We have to hurry this up.— Edward paced faster and thus the group continued going through the tunnels, hearing a sound the male pointed the semi-auto towards the direction his ears heard it and was about to shoot when the tactical lamp-lights they had revealed it was only a rat, which made him groan.

—Fuck, we are really taking our time.—Going through the tunnel, their radios started to receive sign.

Command General Saeron to all units, Restoll´s been successfully barricaded, I repeat, Restoll´s been successfully barricaded.

Helen nodded towards Edward whom took his communication radio and pressed a button.

—This is Sergeant First Class Edward, First Sergeant is with me, we have managed to evacuate the patients in the clinic. Will arrive to Restoll´s General Hospital, I repeat, we´ll arrive to Restoll in a few.—

He ceased to press the button and they continued their trek in silence, no doubt it was a certain they needed reinforcements, pushing the pace faster, they trekked through the big tunnel, by already an hour or so, until they finally saw the light, once arriving to the other side they were received surprisingly by the Commander General of the Army.

—First Sergeant Helen, your men are waiting for you., the Robot Forces are covering slowly for us.—

It was all a disaster, the hospital was destroyed, various bodies were being carried away, on the crumbled building or what was left from it bloodied wounded bodies were scattered on the floor, others were pieces underneath the boulders, Ferdinand glanced at the whole disaster, buildings ruined and partially destroyed, in shambles, the hospital had nothing left in it, ruins only not even a fourth of the big establishment remained, he could see the dead bodies of patients and colleague doctors, it sparked feelings of sadness and viscerality deep inside him. Yet with a shocked filled face he knelt down and gripped his head as he started to raggedly breath. The White Ones left, were tending to the wounded as the SDF members carried those deceased, regardless of the wounds they themselves had, some of them had some of their attire with some stains of dust from the debris, others showed their neck, intimacy which showed necklaces or rather tight, extremely very tight metallic-like chokers with constant beeping lights keeping a track of all of them, where they go and what they do, perhaps even their very thoughts. Some bodies were even brutalized as they had sections of their bodies missing or simply chopped off, more like, eaten off by the threat determined to take them all away, it seems that being lifted into the earth´s skies made them the first ones to be attacked by invaders, that meant also, the most vulnerable of all, if only they had a good defense mechanism. The servant of humanity has turned into a tool that was given so much power, that in the end, it was left abandoned and had to be reduced of it´s powers, and the only way others could do so is by reassuring dominance over them.

—Brother.— Helen called out concerned towards her little brother approaching to him as he shook his head.

—I can´t…— He groaned out tiredly and also sadly as the young female spoke out.

—Please brother, we depend on you now. Don´t give up.— As he rose his head tears on his eyes as he cried out.

—HOW CAN I NOT GIVE UP!?— He cried out and clutched his head as he cried out and sobbed, deeply perturbed.

—So many dead, no…all we wanted was to, to breathe air once more, without being so restricted… they were innocent! Why take them away!? ·cough· ·Cough·—

The male started to cough erratically as the elder sister patted her young brother´s back. Humans have always fought their harshest battles alone!

—If push comes to the shove, evacuate everyone. You both too.—

Ferdinand glanced with widened eyes at Helen, Oswald and Megaria, they are going for battle, he could already see the uncomfortable visage of both Oswald and Megaria, they wanted to stay until Rudwig recuperated his conscious, as the young male doctor shook his head in denial as he clutched to his sister´s shirt, gripping her sleeve with such strength.

—…no— At this the female closed her eyes and spoke out.

—Brother, I have to go.—

The male shook his head intensely and spoke out. —…please, don´t go.—

The female closed her eyes, her watery eyes about to cry, Edward without any feelings approached and yanked away the hand of the male medic, leaving him on the floor with a shocked filled visage in his very eyes.

—NO!—

'And just like this, another loved one leaves me, am I fated to be alone? I HATE THIS!´ In his very thoughts he screamed what in his reality he screamed and cried out, with tears in his eyes and a pained-filled face, one of the last loved ones and family he had on this very mortal world has been so stripped away, the coronavirus has taken everything he ever loved, the enemy in the oxygen, in the very air, took it all away from him, then afterwards today the war takes his sister away. She left him, because.

´She hates me…·sad chuckle·…No…´

—Let’s go.— Edward spoke out ready for battle, yet the young male approached and was about to follow them to the battleground, he, he will defend his sister from the demonic nightmare.

—I’ll go too.— The young male rose, sobbing he declared as firm as a crying and pained child could sound as, he knew how to defend himself in this harsh cruel world.

—Brother, you have to stay here and tend the wounded, you’re Medic. You´re one of the few left in the city, do us all a favor. Do your job and leave us the battles, they need you more than we do.—

She pointed towards Raghiel and all the wounded that were pained which made Ferdinand close his eyes, once the young man was settled in the bed the young male could only glance sadly at the whole visage of his best friend, it seems that in the end he was useless o even defend what he loved and cherished the most.

—no…they all die in my hands. Why…WHY BELIEVE IN THESE HANDS THAT HAVE KILLED SO!?— He screamed towards his sister whom remained looking at the breaking young man whom cried, glancing at his very hands and putting them forth towards the man. He hoped his sister could say something, anything at all, but all she could give was a sad look, as the she gave his orders. His very sister could only glanced with sadness at her young sibling.

—…take him away.— The female sharply turned around, in her very face she was crying, her eyes were emotional and her very face was tearing itself apart, she had to make a stern face, strength is the most thing that is valued in this world, her brother was too good, too good is he for this cruel dark world.

—SISTER!— The young man cried out with resentment and hatred but all what was answered was a punch to his abdomen and being dragged away from his sister´s presence, as he knelt down he pleaded to the female.

—…please…help me…— At this the female whose firm raised head never revealed her emotions, though her cruel and realist visage was a woman conscious of the Post-War world, this is such a world. Before she could say anything his Uncle stepped forth, the cruel man with dark brown hair glanced at his nephew with pity and also without any mercy, this was Edmund; Uncle and member of the royal family of PietrOscura and a very cruel man.

—Did we expected too much out of you? What a disappointment, you aren’t desired.— The words stung deeply into the young male´s chest, the words you aren´t desired had a lot of explicit things which made him hang his head, and his back to hunch and his shoulders to slump as the elder man harshly took a hold of his hair and rose him.

—You’re a member of the Royal Family, you’re a Great Archduke, GET UP, SHOW YOUR WORTH AND DO YOUR DUTY!.— The Uncle snapped right at his nephew and the of soldiers of the Defense Force dragged him away to a tent as he silently sobbed, his family never loved him, they never did, coming to a world was their mere pleasure not something he truly wanted, if they made him feel pain was for their utter pleasure and not for the fact it was his own self. The Entire forces of the SDF were gone as they came, it was easy to distinguish the fact they were now so alone using the boot sole rocket boosters they flew away, leaving the young male with his best-friend alone.

—Ferdinand.— The dark haired male turned towards a Family Medicine resident with green-colored hair and red eyes, with an overall worn and lazy look, on his hands a vaping device, on his formal clothes could be seen a metallic choker which blinked a constant light of red color, the mark all medics nowadays have and that the male so jealously hides with his high-collared SDF shirt.

—It is time.— He commented to the young male to which he shook his head and pleaded, anymore spitted from life and abandoned to rot and die.

—Please, no...—

The man spoke melancholically.

—Your hospital rotatory time as In-social service medic has ended. Time comes in the life of all medics where you have to grow independent from the hospital, this, is such time.—

With the folder on his hands, the ambient air felt cold, he felt cold inside his heart and his soul, tugging his high-collar and glancing inside at the very thing that casted him as a slave, a collar in itself, metallic, he closed his eyes and breathed out in tension.

—In short words I´m bashed out to the unknown?— The family medicine resident closed his eyes and glanced at the horizon and then afterwards placed a hand on the young male´s shoulders.

—Not exactly. This part of your social-service takes courage, you not only face clinical and administrative problems, but you have to constantly fight Modern Obscurantism, some die in that fight, being hated for not being able to produce miracles or just for being a woman. Dressing white outside means losing any and all feelings that ail humans so, you either withdraw yourself from the experience or live long enough to dress the darkest of blacks inside to the point of feeling estranged from all except those that dress white like you.— Once more left alone, the ambient felt even colder in his heart and soul, gulping and feeling somehow choked even if he didn´t, he closed his eyes and breathed out in further tension.

USELESS!

He widened his eyes and turned to the side, sitting by his friend’s side he fidgeted anxiously, it felt akin to being running a whole mile yet he didn’t run at all, those dark creatures could be roaming around, as he easily turned around rather sharply he shivered and with his hands he rubbed his biceps to maintain himself warm even if he wore his white coat.

COWARD! The voices attacked him harshly with negative thoughts.

He slowly hung his head, his eyes shadowed by his very hair as the room suddenly seemed to be closing inside him, even if it was a tent it closed to him, and slowly it felt colder and colder. It felt awful, it felt bad.

ASSASSIN!

—No.— He cried out gently and gripped his hair with both of his hands in exasperation as he shook his head gently, denying everything, in his very thoughts he denied their words, he denied them, he wanted to kill those voices, to eradicate them, to get them to disappear forever and be free, but, things couldn’t be that way, could they? Going for a sleeve bag in his shirt a tiny bottle of pills, he opened them and swallowed two pills in an attempt to cancel and dull out the voices.

They hate you.

—NO!— He cried out loud and gripped his head harder, as he closed the bottle of pills it was dropped to the surface and he gripped his head, shaking his head viciously and fast in denial, he wasn’t an assassin, his sister loved him, his friends loved him, people wanted him, right?

THEY ALL HATE YOU! THEY LIE TO YOU, THEY HATE YOU WITH THEIR DEEPERMOST HATE.

He gagged as he started sobbing and crying intensely, the thought of being hated by those he loved, the thought of being truly alone in this world, it felt so sad for him he wanted to kill himself. Why can’t he be loved? Why must he be alone? WHY MUST HE SUFFER SO!?

—…please No.—

You’ll be alone, THEY WILL ALL LEAVE YOU. ALWAYS ALONE.

—please…help…— He shivered and his whispered plea of help towards the world went unheard off, it was almost as If life wanted him to suffer for a crime he did, the question is, what did he do?

They prefer to die than be with a monster like you.

—Please…someone help me…— He shook his head and got up, he got up and attempted to run away, only to trip into himself and fall harshly to the floor, he started sobbing openly and crying even more.

WEAK!

—Please…no…— The young male pleaded the voices but they were so intense, so intense in their attacks he was collapsing into himself, so intense they in the end would leave him in shambles. He shook his head, he wanted to believe, as the smiles and motivations of his friends reminded him that he had to stay strong.

They all lied to you, their smiles were fake…they hate you. You are alone…

—CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!—

You were never desired.

—ANYONE PLEASE HELP ME!— He screamed out loud, exasperated, in despair, to anyone to embrace him and comfort him, but the world simply won’t give him such comfort, all what he was given was silence, such a silence enough to kill, enough to destroy him, enough to make him die so slowly and fast at the same time. Loud sobs were already heard as he got up slowly, weakly and sat on the chair, he sat on the chair and buried his sobbing and crying face on the bed his friend lied, as he attempted to quell his sad soul without solution. A groan echoed in the room, it seems that Raghiel was slowly coming to his senses, immediately the male knew he had to maintain himself rigid and cold, tears that the world cannot be able to see except they qualify him as weak, yet he knew that even then he was weak, never strong, no matter how much power he obtains, he’ll always be a weak fool. As a groaning Raghiel opened his eyes and slowly raised his chest, Ferdinand´s hand touched his chest, the male soldier still dressed in his full SDF gear he turned around to glance at his friend.

—Ferdinand, where am i? What happened?— The male asked to his best-friend which made the male tragically close his eyes and glance to the side.

—The Elven Forces have arrived to the city, Flea Corner is completely destroyed as is the Clinical District of Restoll, the robot forces managed to quell them and push them towards the grassy plains of the Flea Corner-Restoll border once more. Megaria and Oswald are on the battlefield alongside all of the SDF forces.— The young male spoke melancholically to his friend whom turned around the bed and got up hastily.

—I have to go and aid Megaria now.— He commented firmly and Ferdinand nodded and took his friend´s side, both got out of the tent as the male now had a way to start things, the dark-skinned male glanced at his friend whom now wore his SDF gear, on his chest was a special and unique strap to hold two revolvers yet he only carried one, strapped on his hips the hilts of two custom SDF-issued Falchion Swords, swords made of tactical 5160 high-carbon stainless steel and of course on his very back three big pouches with solutions, direct IV and IM treatments, pain-relieving patches, and many more things, materials for minor and middle-sized surgeries. All materials a medic would need to interfere even the most critic of patients in the battlefield, heck he even carried materials to build up a pocket microscope and test-strips to analyze bacteria, urine, blood itself and discard any metabolic and or infectious problems immediately. Before they could go though, both were interrupted by a woman, dressed in khaki pants, tennis shoes and a pink formal short-sleeved bouse, a white haired elderly woman with a high ponytail, standing tall although once could see on her legs the robotic hydraulic supports to strengthen her standing, her magenta eyes turned around and after finding the dark-haired young man her eyes lightened and approached to him, the male spoke out.

—Grandmother Margearyet, you should be back in the castle.—The young male commented to his elderly great-grandmother whom shook her head and took a breath, it was hard after all to try and breathe wearing facemasks due to the contingency.

—I know but…I, I wanted to see you out and hand you what is rightfully yours before it is taken away from you.— Her eyes went to a side-tiny bag she strapped to her shoulder and found it, outstretching her hands holding a wooden heavily ornate box she opened it revealing what were three rings, the first one a pure 24k gold ring with silver in its very center and in it a pure flawless ruby gemstone, it was so beautiful, on the rim around the big flawless ruby, to the left side were a three tiny black star sapphire nuclei and to the right three pure sapphire nuclei, these were tiny and ingrained with depth in the edges of the ring. To the side was a simple signet ring with the signet of the descendants of his Great-Grandfather Marti and finally to the side, a precious ring with a internally flawless ruby inside it in its depths a flawless diamond in the very center of the ruby akin to being its core and of course the ring is made in pure silver.

—W-w-what are these?— The dark-haired young man asked to his great-grandmother whom giggled and spoke out with sincerity and her eyes remained at attention towards the rings.

—These rings are for you, well, at least; they should be yours. The first ring is actually a ring that your Grandfather used as a symbol of power, since Crowns are so overused nowadays, the ring which is actually very old, is a symbol that means your power in the Kingdom and your relevance. Crowns are to never loose your grip on the real world.— At this though Ferdinand instead closed his eyes and sighed, with a rather emotional smile his eyes went to the ring and spoke sadly.

—You know i-.—

The woman instead spoke sternly and with a heavily strict tone.

—Don´t you start! Listen young man, as per your name and inheritance states, you shall carry these rings and take care of them, taking your part into caring the treasures of the family is important.—

The male had a rather deadpan expression his eyes half-lidded once more, once again he was listening to another one of his great-grandmother´s speeches and reprimands towards him, all while at his side the dark-tan skinned male had a grin and attempted to suppress his laughter.

—You´ll wear those rings on your right hand and that´s final, and wear your crown always!— The woman commented to which her son easily sighed dejectedly and with a shy blush he placed the flawless ruby ring on his index finger, the diamond core ring on his fourth finger and the signet ring on the fifth finger.

—Alright, I´ll see you soon.— Both with their sole rocket-boosters flied away, he heard his great-grandmother´s voice in the background and he closed his eyes, his lips curled up slightly and a tear cascaded down his eyes, he missed his mother, quite much. Ferdinand glanced at the city, in shambles, there were no people anymore, mostly were already on the tents tended by the residents, as he easily glanced with sadness at his home, his city being destroyed, he glanced with sadness at how much of his beloved city was left, invaded by the enemy to the point nothing was left. Was this the fate of humanity, to be destroyed finally after it´s two-thousand twenty almost twenty-one years of surviving in the world.

What is the plan?

Through a comm-link both turned back and saw the entire left-over forces of PietrOscura with many white ones following after them, armed and ready for battle, propelling forth, an older dark haired male with short curvy hair with light-green eyes spoke solemnly as they glanced to the air, all of them using their propelling boots ready to rain down hell on the invaders.

—C-c-captain.— The young male stammered all while the male emitted a chuckle and with a worried glance glanced frontally.

Enemies at Twelve, Eleven and One O’clock.

—S-s-sub Captain.— The male commented in surprise as a purple haired woman with long hair tied in a high-ponytail and with a stern glance forward, siding them also a platinum blond haired woman sided with Clemmond and got ready for battle.

Have no mercy, the city shall either be rescued by us or fall before us.

As their ears started to hear it, The sounds of roars and battle-cries were a constant in the battlefield, as the numbers of the invaders were reduced progressively, the Self-Defense Force soldiers started a new battle, they all had swords, guns, pocket-knives for personal fighting, the amount of losses on the human side were considerable, but however were up to now only a thousand, all thanks to the efforts of all the soldiers knowing medical spells to heal themselves while others summoned defenses to protect the futuristic city´s forces. The Combat Medics swiftly alongside the General Forces tore through the forces, with remarked ease,  As the last dragon was being faced, it spat out it´s fire and followed close by three different fireballs. The Demonic Dragon roared as it claimed its power.

“You Humans have Overlived your Power, it is time for you all to succumb to the Shadows!”

Helen, Edward and Rosaire summoned a strong magical matrix with the shape of a shield to block the powerful wave of fire, Ferdinand instead immediately manifested a bluish-silver colored magical matrix on his hand and blew on it firing out two highly-pressurized jets of water towards the fireballs that were instantly carved a hole through their centers, jumping above and swinging a one-handed double edged European bastard blade whose edged glowered in an electric blue color he swung the sword and electricity of high amperage and of an intense purplish color crept out burning to steam certain pieces of rock as such fireball was cut in half,  the pieces unceremoniously fell through gravity to the floor. Edward jumped above Ferdinand heroically and swung his blade and thus the Dragon´s head was cut off effectively, leaving a shower of blood and a mess in the process.

A sense of fulfillment filled him, as the demons fell fast, the battlefield was cleared as humanity has won against the demons with their own courage and by themselves. As a hero he easily defeated and prevailed, he felt as a hero to humanity, to his race, to his nation, to his family, to his future wife and probably his future child even, someone worth of respect, someone worth of being looked at by others, all shame left, all placed different and more greater than what it was, he loved it.

´More, more, MORE´ He thought out in his mind loudly, ignited by the sheer bravery of his actions, Ser Edward he would´ve been in the past. After this battle he´ll speak his feelings truthfully to her, leave it all for her and have a happy life once this invasion ends.

From the very shadows assaulting the female swordsman an elf dressed in a very exotic armor with short pink-hair with silvery strands and lilac cold eyes and a fierce expression attacked, using a one-handed big ass sword on her right hand. On her left hand holding a crystal ball which pulsed with magical power and the male evaded and started to parry the swings. With speed unparalleled the female disappeared and everyone got on edge, the female swordsman with pink hair-with-silver-streaks and fierce lilac eyes. On her hands a double-edged European sword with an elegant design, allowed her to do fast swift rushes.

The light-brown haired male parried the first strike with his right hand´s rapier blade but then before his left hand could swing his other blade, the female elven swordsman was faster to swing a small blade to his throat and impale his sword on the human´s chest. The light-brown haired male stood shocked and could only glance as Rosaire widened her eyes.

—EDWARD!—

Above them flaming arrows were descending and ready to kill as many as it could be, the elves fighting roared as the Liminalfolk were already rushing as the second wave of enemies and the last army that the Elves had at their disposal, Lamias, Centaurs, Harpies, Werecats, Werewolves, Youkai Cats and Foxes, Youkai Dogs, Satyrs, Humanoid Mantis’s and Spider Hybrids. A tiger’s loud roar tore the battlefield as a big two-floored building heighted white sabertooth tiger with black strips on its body appeared, it’s fur curled, above it’s head raised as a gigantic White vortex was created in the thin air, the flaming arrows absorbed as from the air itself a flaming presence descended, a flaming mint-green eyed Phoenix flew down akin to a missile directed at the enemy forces, many Liminalfolk threw their arrows and prepared their swords, even some already prepared water spells, a line of five werecats, three lamias and two elves prepared a massive combined magical matrix in shape of a rhomboid and a powerful strong pressurized pillar of water threatened to strike the flaming bird whose from the very top opened it’s beak and a very strong flame with white outline pierced through the water, the fires instantly turned the water into vapor and angling slightly to the side, it generated a destructive firestorm, as the bird returned as the tiger jumped and snarled at the elven forces, from underneath the surface tree roots and flowery roots and stems rose, from the dry grass surface.