章 9: Expect the unexpected
He decided to take advantage of the situation and flee the house before anyone could intervene. After what Eda had done, it would not be in her best interests for her to complain; his parents would not hesitate to report her.
He had no idea where he was heading, but away because he had felt locked in his room for far too long.
He began jogging and quickly progressed to running. He moved his head back to check where Donn was when his brain was clearer, but he couldn't see her. She was presumably still at home, watching what was going on.
He realized he was in Hyena's neighborhood by the time he stopped jogging.
"How did I end myself here of all places?" He murmured something to himself.
He needed to talk to Hyena anyhow; even if they couldn't repair their friendship, they could both sleep a little easier by clearing the air about what had happened. Especially knowing what he knows now.
He took a deep breath and mentally readied himself.
He reached the familiar house and checked the windows to see if he was home, but it was pitch black inside. He rushed up to the door and knocked rapidly, giving himself no time to second-guess himself.
He tried to hear if someone was inside at the time, but nothing indicated that they would be. When he turned to go, the door unexpectedly opened a crack, showing a weak Hyena.
"Hey, what's up? What are you doing in this place?" Intervar walked inside the door when Hyena tiredly opened it wider.
"We need to talk." Intervar wasted no time and proceeded to sit in the living room, the more time he spent there, the less time he had to question himself.
Hyena was the first to speak up after a few minutes of stillness.
"Look, man, I'm-"
"It's alright, Kirk informed me about Gavin, it was a set up," Intervar promptly cut him off.
The eyes of the other person widen in surprise, "Oh, I hope you weren't in any kind of danger. When I got it, I sensed there was something odd about it, and I was going to give it to you, but Donn found it first."
"It's nothing I can't handle."
Every time he was reminded of the mark, it felt like it was burning on his arm. In reality, it was making his life more difficult than it needed to be. He thinks that's the point.
He couldn't ask any magical folk for help, but he wasn't sure where else to go other than The Promise Ghost, who sounded like the easiest to approach. It would be nice to just rid himself of this damned mark.
"I-" Donn, who had come flying at full speed with some letters in her mouth, stopped Hyena once more.
Intervar was taken aback when she put an open letter into his hand with a little stone, but he immediately read what was inside. The stone was a portal to Queen Sei's meadows, which Queen Mantis had decided to take over. He cussed loudly and jumped up.
"What exactly is going on? Is it Kirk, or something else?" Hyena leapt to his feet, a worried expression on his face.
"No, but I need to get out of here quickly. Goodbye."
He stepped through the portal and found himself right next to Queen Sei's marching soldiers.
Adrenaline rushed through his veins, propelling him forward. He continued, glancing over both shoulders, looking for the queen, but didn't see her. A little bit of weight was off his shoulders.
If either queen were here, it only meant war, something much more serious than a petty battle. And he can't help the sigh of relief he lets out when neither of them show every time.
Donn must've dropped the letters on the table at Hyena's because she was completely covered in grass and dirt when he dashed to the front of the lineup.
He didn't regret not telling Hyena if he'd see him later or not; there was no way of knowing if it would be his last fight at any given moment; he only wished his last encounter with his family had gone a lot better.
He went in line, ready to fight, when a nearby aid applied magic to provide him with an appropriate uniform and weapon.
The knife was on his belt, tucked away safely, but close enough to grasp if he needed it, and the gun was black with green camouflage.
He and the other soldiers charged into battle, not seeing the enemy yet, but knowing they were close. They dashed up the hill, rifles drawn, and sat at the bottom of the slope, surveying the scene.
Intervar was first up front, and when he spotted a thin green light, he promptly rushed away, identifying it as a gun.
He went to the side and turned around to see an enemy soldier fire at the man beside him. They traded bullets, but Intervar was the one who fired the fatal shot.
He turned around and continued on his original way, coming up the hill and viewing a fellow soldier fall to the ground, dead. He peered up to see enemy lines, but no soldiers, so he turned around and continued on his previous course.
He moved alongside the lines into an abandoned building, looking for somebody, but finding none, he dashed to where enemy lines faced the main grounds, where he eventually discovered a Dohi soldier and fired at him, killing him.
He ran down to where the man had died, passing an enemy soldier, but instead of turning around to kill them, he darted behind another abandoned building and turned to face another Dohi soldier.
Intervar discovered that his suspicions were right as he lifted his gun and killed them. Queen Mantis' troops had made it out to the middle grounds.
He ducked once more and reloaded, as gunfire erupted all around him.
He dashed back into his lines, searching for anyone who didn't belong there but finding nothing. He did find a number of his guys, both dead and alive, but nothing to be concerned about until he heard bullets close by.
He turned around to see a Dohi soldier hiding near the medic tent, armed only with a knife; his soldier was firing at them but kept missing.
Intervar raised his gun and began firing, but all he got was wood until a nearby soldier with a better angle fired and killed them.
He chased down the soldier who was heading towards the enemy lines, and when he saw that his fellow soldier was confronting three enemy soldiers, he quickly raised his gun and killed all three of them before sprinting over to where his soldiers were.
He reloaded, then fired at more of the enemy trying to cross their lines, almost completely hidden behind a wall with only his head and gun visible.
He promptly emerged from cover and dashed out to kill other soldiers.
A drone ignited somewhere, and a chunk of metal flew off, hitting Intervar in the side and nearly knocking him out.
He, on the other hand, stood up and watched his soldiers slaughter another enemy with clenched teeth.
Due to all the gunshots and arrows flying around him, he backed up to a safe distance to take care of the metal, but then he realized something: his protection ward must've fallen off somewhere or eventually broke.
He guessed the latter because it made the most sense, cussed lowly, and then stood up.
He couldn't be in the middle of the field while also tending to his wound.
He pushed forward again, killing a soldier before anybody could fire a shot, before reloading his weapon.
As additional foreign soldiers approached, he continued to fire rounds, killing two more than the three others who were killed by a bomb.
He stared up the hill and saw more soldiers trying to get past their lines but being pushed back. A stray soldier made it through and tried to hide in an area where he was probably going to camp, but he was swiftly slain.
He returned his attention to the enemy lines and slaughtered a couple more troops. His fellow soldiers were right next to him, standing toe to toe and even across the line.
They were winning by a landslide, enemy soldiers being knocked down like training dummies.
He remembered why they were winning as he looked over enemy lines; these were not troops he was fighting against, but criminals, poorly trained criminals.
They were caught for robbery, drug possession, and fraud, and didn't even deserve to die like this. And some of them deserved it: murderers, kidnappers, and other worse crimes.
But who was it that was keeping them apart?
They were all the same in the eyes of a desperate queen, then a rifle was handed to them and they were told to fight for their life in a war they had not signed up for.
He was overwhelmed with hatred, but still raised his rifle to fire at another soldier; he couldn't pity the people who were shooting bullets at his head, whether they had a choice or not.
A soldier, no, a criminal, approached him from the side and fired at him, but missed; Intervar fired back, and they fell motionless to the ground, blood streaming down.
Then fire broke out everywhere, catching some of them in the flames and setting them ablaze. They ran around in pain, screaming, before collapsing to the ground.
More arrived as they screamed, but it was pointless; his troops had won the battle and it was time for them to retreat.
He went to run back with the rest of his comrades, but soon changed his mind after an idea flashed through his mind like a light bulb.
He saw an enemy he had killed earlier in one of the abandoned buildings and snatched his clothes, Intervar was smeared in too much blood for anyone to recognize him just yet, and with the army being made up of poorly criminals, they wouldn't bother to check him out.
He then slowly sprinted away to join the rest of the group in similar uniforms.
As the ancient echo of bullets they left behind crunched under the wheels, he jumped inside the bus with the rest of them, none of them looking at each other.
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