Chương 175: War’s Begun

"Get the construction team ready! You! Search the labs! Someone get me Francis!" Emile shouted orders without reserve.

He stood beside Willow at the entrance to the labs, standing upon a pond of fallen rubble and black slime. He turned to the closest survivor, a man covered in mud, buried underneath stone and limb alike:

"What happened?!" Emile demanded.

The man looked up into Emile's eyes, but his own were empty, as a gray film had drowned them out. He parted his lips, a breath fell, then he looked down and away at his two bloodied palms.

A single tear fell from his eye and washed away the dirt and mud that covered his cheek.

Emile approached him and placed his palm on his back. While healing the man, Emile spoke again in a softer tone:

"I'm sorry we didn't arrive sooner —" he sighed, "but beasts are storming the forest as we speak. I need to tell King Alexander something lest we retreat. Please, help me."

The man looked up again. He was no older than Emile, just a young man forced into a world construed by war. As Emile's essence coursed through his body, the soothing coolness calmed him, but as his muscles relaxed and his grip on reality returned, so too did the emotions swell within his heart.

Through a runny nose and stopped up throat, he finally started to speak:

"It was something in the lab, I — I don't know —"

"It was the bacteria —" Jazz interrupted, "Croft was working on it…."

Emile spun around. He saw Jazz sitting across the battlefield in a fetal position, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees as she pulled them into her chest.

"Bacteria?" Emile repeated, "What bacteria?"

"Willow brought it when you were taking care of Blood… it was in the water sample," she forced out.

Emile shot a glance at Willow and she nodded her head in agreement, but it had been over a month since she brought back that sample. Why did it suddenly transform now? And why did it have to occur at the same time the rest of the forest was invaded?

"Where was the water source?" He asked Willow.

"It's deep in the miasma, further than the ravine. I found a small pond at the bottom of a cave I stumbled upon right outside the thickest section of miasma."

"So it's near the Dead Tree itself?" Emile asked.

"As close as we've been."

Emile clenched his fists. He didn't know for sure, but he had a hunch that the pond wasn't discovered by mere chance. Not only that, but simultaneous attacks?

They were being watched, toyed with, Emile just needed to figure out how.

"Reporting, sir!" Another man's voice echoed beside Emile's ear.

Turning around to face the music, Emile was met with an unwavering pair of eyes. Francis stood still like an object, his arm locked in a salute towards Emile.

"I need to communicate with Alexander immediately, I'm sure you can figure out why," Emile nudged to the collapsed laboratory behind him.

***

"What's the situation?" Francis mimicked Alexander.

"The camp was attacked while we were out. Most of the researchers died and a handful of soldiers," Emile informed.

"Attacked? By what?" Alexander asked.

"I'm still trying to figure that part out. It came from the labs, some bacteria we picked up a month ago to study suddenly transformed —"

"Where were you?" Alexander interrupted.

"My cohort and I were exploring the miasma. Actually, we stumbled upon a civilization of foxes that live beneath the forest. They're highly intelligent and worship a woman by the name Madame Mercy."

"…"

"Did you say Mercy?" Alexander asked after some time.

"Yeah? Do you know her?" Emile asked.

"Know her? No, not personally at least, but just her name makes this far more complicated than I originally thought. She's not someone we can talk about so casually, I'll be coming personally to discuss this further."

"Wait!" Emile shouted before Alexander left.

"What?!" He yelled back, clearly on edge from mentioning Mercy.

"I have more to report!"

"Well spit it out!"

"The forest is under siege. I don't know where they're coming from, but my soul is calling them corrupted. They attacked the foxes first, that's where we were while the camp was being destroyed."

"You and the camp were attacked at the same time?"

"Yes — it could just be a coincidence —"

"Never believe in coincidences, Spright. The world isn't so kind… and neither is my old friend it seems.

War's begun. Hold out for two more days. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Will do."

"He already left," Francis commented.

"Oh…"

Emile left the meeting room with Francis. Roy returned to his room to sleep along with Blood and Willow. As it stood, Emile was the only member of his cohort still awake.

He returned to camp only to be greeted by a crowd of people, many of them wearing grief on their shoulders.

Emile confidently strode up to the crowd. He stopped a few feet away, marking a clear distance between the two parties.

"Mariah, Sam, and Lu please come to the front," Emile directed.

Immediately, the crowd parted and three figures could be seen making their way towards the front. They stood in line before Emile, in the distance between himself and the crowd.

"Permission to speak freely —" Emile said bluntly. He didn't know if Fallen Sky's military operated the same as Earth's, but he knew that universally people had an issue talking comfortably with authority.

Just as Emile made the claim the three underlings sighed in relief. Emile visibly watched as their muscles loosened and their shoulders rolled back in leisure.

"Where have you been?" Mariah was the first to speak, a tinge of despair occupied her voice.

"Before I fill everybody in I want to take this moment to say something and not just to you three, but to everyone behind you as well —" Emile paused to gather his thoughts, "On behalf of my cohort, myself included, I cannot apologize enough.

The majority of the fallen were not soldiers, but researchers who effectively volunteered to participate. Now, I'm aware they're each receiving their own benefits from accepting such an unexpected mission, but nevertheless, their lives shouldn't have been lost and that is my responsibility to bear.

Do not blame yourselves. I'm sure many of you are reimagining the day, 'what if I was there?' 'what if I woke up an hour sooner?' I can assure you, none of you would have been able to make a difference.

If you must hate someone, hate me. For I am responsible for their lives and I am the reason you lost them."

Emile wasn't from a bowing culture personally, but never in his life did lowering himself feel more appropriate. He bent his body strictly and lowered his head beneath the crowd's waist.

Gasps suddenly filled the crowd and Mariah's hand reached out to stop Emile, but she was too late. Nobody dared interrupt Emile, so for over a minute nobody spoke and the entire camp remained still and silent.

"We were ambushed in the forest —" Emile answered Mariah's question, completely filling the crowd and them in on the cohort's recent affairs.

When he mentioned the declaration of war and Alexander's pending arrival, the crowd threw their arms up in the air and roared. Emile observed in silence, grateful there was still something out there that could pull smiles out of their newly disturbed hearts.

"With that being said, we need to repair the camp immediately and prepare for King Alexander's arrival! This is a mandatory order for all of our camp's residents: survive the next two days!" Emile yelled until he was out of breath and the crowd joined him.

If only it was that easy.

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