บท 4: First Deadly Encounter

Above and below are nothing but blue. Fluffy clouds floating on the bright blue sky. The dark blue oceans below reflecting the bright glares of sunlight. Roars of the engine and propellers slicing through the air resonates in unison. The cold breeze air breathing through Gurk's face. His eyes fixed on the green horizon, the new land. He wondered in excitement, what will this new continent look like? He was the first person in the empire to see this continent. Later, his name will be on the history books he thought.

He then turned on the radio communication system to the mother ship.

"Aerial Knight plane A-12 on the radio. Over." He muttered through the speaker.

"This is mother ship. Radio loud and clear over."

"Same here." Gurk replied.

"Oi, oi, how is it looking from there?" A distinct sound could be heard.

"Is this? Lord protector Griz?" Gurk shocked.

"Yes.... Hey, I've heard this voice somewhere.... Oh! It's you Gurk!" Lord Griz sounded from the radio.

"Yes sir! Reporting on duty. The shoreline is just up ahead. From here, I can assure you that this continent is lush with green. It has a lot of hills too." Gurk reported

"Incredible! Report when you see more. Over." The radio ended.

He couldn't help himself in excitement. "Gods almighty, it's Lord Griz! I wonder what kind of honor he would get when I returned home." He mumbled to himself.

While his minds was ecstatic, suddenly an unpleasant feeling filled his heart. The engine stopped, then started then stopped and started again. It stuttered restlessly. It was clear that there is something wrong with his plane. Goddamn engineers! Can you do your job any better?! He raged and slammed his head on to the side.

"This is Aerial Knight plane A-12 repor-" Before Gurk could finish.

"What do you see there? How is it?" Lord Griz immediately cut him.

"No sir, I think my plane has some malfunction. Yeah, it's getting worse by the minute, I think the engine has some faults..."

"What?! Curse those engineers! Where are you now? Can you return back to the ship?" Lord Griz too was enraged.

"Sir, the engine is exhausted.. I don't think that I can return to the ship, but the shoreline is just up ahead. I will just land on the shoreline and wait for rescue. I'll turn on the distress signal. Please hurry." Gurk unpleasantly talked through the radio

"Oh, alright. While you're at it, describe the continent for me." Lord Griz greedily requested.

"Aye sir."

After a few minutes accompanied by engine stuttering, he could see the shoreline very clearly. He could also see the green hills and plains. But something in those plains bothered him. It was a house! It's clear that it's not wood, indicating this continent is not simple and primitive. The house had gardens and roads connecting from it. This encounter only happen in a few seconds. After that, the immediately turned his plane sharp right, parallel to the shoreline.

After that, he immediately contacted the radio.

"This is Aerial Knight plane A-12 over."

"This is mother ship. Radio loud and clear. Over."

"Reporting, the continent is indeed green. However the most eye catching is that I saw a big house from the distance. It doesn't look like it was made from wood. I also saw no indication of cities or forts built, probably this is a rural area."

Hearing from the radio Lord Griz and his men inside the radio room were surprised. They knew that supposedly houses in rural areas normally are made from wood, simple peasant huts or villages. But the supposedly rural house are made from possibly stone?

"There are also no signs of fishing village or ports probably this continent was an inland kingdom." Gurk continued.

"Alright. Any other information?" Lord Griz asked curiously.

"Sadly no sir, in a short moment I would be landing on the shoreline."

"Copy that."

After a short while the radio from Gurk sounded again.

"Wait sir! I saw the locals by the shoreline. The plane couldn't held any longer! I guess I would land near them!" The sound of panic could be heard from Gurk.

"You are equipped with a revolver aren't you? If they approach you, shoot them immediately." Lord Griz replied through the radio.

"Yes sir."

After the radio ended. Gurk immediately turned off his already stuttering engine, slowing it's speed. At this moment his height is about 20 meters from the surface of the sand. The locals could see the plane buzzing above them. Gurk watched below, he was surprised that the locals did not run from the plane. He thought that the plane might scare the locals mistaken as a beast.

After gliding for a while, reaching a certain speed, the plane descended from the air. It's wheel kissed the surface of the hot sand. For a while, the plane skated through the sand until it stopped. He then proceed to turn on the distress signal.

Gurk then looked his surroundings. To his right is the ocean. The waves crashing and the breeze blew from this direction. In front of him was the beach and the shoreline. It was long, the edge could not bee seen. To his left are the green hills from the emerging continent. It grew a lot of grass and some trees. While enjoying the view of this new continent from while seeted in his cockpit, he heard voices behind him. Little human girls and appears to be the mother was chasing the plane. This made Gurk shocked.

He saw the girls wearing bright colored dress, yellow, red and green. Their hairs are golden yellow. He had never seen a human with golden hair before. He then took his revolver and bailed from the cockpit.

Seeing the tall. Black haired caucasian man exiting the plane, the little girls and their mothers approached from the distance Gurk. They were full of Excitement. The mother spoke in German to the man. Seeing the man didn't respond, the mother then spoke in Russian, and yet there was no respond. The mother this time was sure, and spoke in English and yet still no respond. The mother stood confused. It couldn't be possible that he was from the ocean didn't he?

Gurk at first looked at the woman and children from the distance, examining them. It was concluded that they were not hostile, a civilized human being. Then he was bombarded with unknown language from the adult woman. He stood near his plane, not being able to respond. The mother stopped talking, silently staring at the man.

Her children however, were very amazed by the plane. They had never seen a plane so up close to them. So they approached the plane.

Seeing this Gurk grew unhappy. His heart filled was already filled from rage. He didn't even think and started to act based on his instincts. Seeing the little girls closing in, he took out his revolver, cocked the hammer and aimed at them, then pulled the trigger. A loud bang could be heard. Immediately he cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger again. Bang. The two little girls dropped to the sand.

This barbaric actions happened in an instant. The mother who saw from the distance immediately shouted and cried while running towards the lifeless girls.

Seeing the mother rushing as a threat. He cocked his revolver again and shot the mother.

Sokolovsky was sitting by chair under his tent, smoking his favorite cigar. He was reading the reports. Thoe reports are very shocking, it was not detailed, but it pictured the phenomenon as a whole.

They reported that the western and southern part of the Allied occupied of Germany are the ocean. Same as for the Soviet occupied of Germany, the east and southern part was also the ocean. Lay north, Great Britain had disappeared, including all the nations that border Germany to the west, east and south.

But the most surprising fact that the northern remote islands of Germany are still 'here'. Including Germany's ports and ships, stationed at the harbors.

Just as Sokolovsky was having a headache, there was a radio report that there had been an encounter of a plane flying from the ocean. It is reported that the plane is flying low by the shoreline, east of Sokolvsky's base. Hearing this, Sokolovsky prepared his men and rushed east.

After a few minutes along the shoreline, he spotted the plane. The plane was an old fashioned biplane, like a recon plane. But this odd looking biplane looked much ancient and rusty. It was colored red with an odd looking decal picturing some sort of crest. While looking at the plane, he noticed something unpleasant.

Among the plane there was a man and several bodies. The man stood among the bodies coldly, quietly looking at the Sokolovsky's convoy, approaching him.

Gurk was examining the bodies of the little girls and the mother he just shot. The once beautiful face of the girls lay lifeless now. Gurk didn't mind himself at all when he killed the girls, he was just fascinated by their golden hair. Immediately he took a knife and cut the girls hair and stuffed it into his pocket. The sweet scent of hair surged through his nostrils.

Suddenly he heard roaring sounds of engine, coming closer and closer to him. This made him filled with fear. Are those? Engine sounds?! He wondered to himself. Then he saw with his own eyes.

"Are those? Cars? Impossible!" he muttered to himself.

Seeing the car coming to a close, he lay paralyzed, looking the car with full detail. Cars are very expensive on the Albatross Empire. Mostly nobles could afford those three-wheeled motorized vehicles. While high ranking nobles manage to own a four-wheeled cars. But when he saw four-wheeled motorized vehicles approaching him, he was shocked. He was overwhelmed by fear.

As the four wheels was about 10 meters from him, he snapped out of his shock. Immediately took his revolver which still had 3 cartridges left. He cocked it, aim, and fire, he did this until his revolver is empty.

Seeing Gurk firing his revolver at Sokolovsky's jeep, offering less cover than his beloved car, Sokolovsky immediately ducked his head. While he was lucky that he was not hit by the flying bullet, the driver beside him got his head blown off. The entire convoy stopped, while the Sokolovsky's men rushed out of the truck with their SKS carbine.

Meanwhile Gurk was rushing his revolver reloading procedure while taking cover behind his plane. Suddenly gunshots could be heard. It was very loud. Bullets could be heard flying and bouncing of his cover. Not just one or two bullets, but multiples of bullets repeatedly buzzing.

Suddenly while Gurk was still reloading, he felt pain and shock from one of his legs. He immediately jumped out of cover from the shock. The next thing he know, multiple sharp pains could be felt all over his body. Before he could shout in agony, his head exploded from a headshot.