The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  Ballistas rested on the walls. Soldiers could be seen moving between positions on the wall—their armor well cared for, their actions orderly.

  Their training is no less than ours. Their weapons and armor are on par. Though it didn’t feel as though they were pressured when we were attacking them.

  Valter’s eyes looked at the marks on the walls where the siege weaponry had hit. They were scuff marks; nothing showed signs of destabilizing.

  The dead had been moved from the battlefield, but the bloody spots where they had stood remained.

  Although we can’t do much for the wounded, Vermire has healers who can get even the severely wounded back on the front lines in just a few hours or days.

  He was disturbed, looking at the outpost.

  “Just how was he able to amass so much power without our mistress knowing? He was just a small figure a few years ago. She was thinking of dominating him and using his outpost as her own in the future, but then we lost our spies within his walls and then there was the reversal with the Zatan Confederation. Now, when I look at Vermire, it doesn’t look like a simple outpost anymore. It looks more like a capital. Well-trained forces, strong construction, and with hidden means.”

  He looked down at the weapon on his hip. It had been purchased for him from Vermire. It was the strongest sword in the Twilight guard’s arsenal. Though Vermire had sold it like a simple cabbage.

  “Tomorrow, we will fight once again. I refuse to think that our force of ten thousand can’t defeat them. No matter the losses.”

  If we don’t defeat them now, then they could grow to be the lord of the Beast Mountain Range. We need to destroy them now.

  ***

  Aditya stood on the wall in his armor, his eyes looking across the battlefield. He watched as Valter returned to his tent.

  “The Twilight guards...I always wanted to pay them back for what they did.” Aditya’s voice was cold, filled with fury he had hidden when meeting the other outpost lords.

  “Well, I am told that they will no longer be a problem shortly,” a familiar man’s voice said a short distance down the wall. Aditya was startled and Miss Evernight cupped her hands and bowed to Elan as he walked up.

  “Please, Miss Evernight, we don’t want to give anything away. I am but a simple merchant,” Elan said.

  Aditya’s thoughts were washed away as he studied Elan. There was a new depth to him. He realized that he couldn’t see through the other man’s cultivation. When he had left, Aditya felt that they were on the same level, but in such a short period of time he had been left behind.

  “Elan,” Aditya said, tilting his head to the other man.

  Elan seemed to read his thoughts as he looked over the wall at the enemy. “Don’t worry. I feel that Vermire and the Beast Mountain Range will soon enter into a new period of prosperity. As the one to do so, I don’t think that the rewards will be small.”

  Aditya smiled, feeling a bit awkward.

  “Something on your mind?” Elan seemed more perceptive than ever.

  “Seems you really have taken over the information networks. I can’t keep anything from you,” Aditya said with a self-deprecating laugh.

  “Ah, I don’t know everything, but that is something I am looking to rectify,” Elan said mysteriously and glanced to Aditya. “What is on your mind?”

  Aditya debated for a second but he knew that it would be useless to try to hide his thoughts.

  “I, well...well, when I started this, I was simply looking for the rewards. I wanted more power, wanted to grow Vermire. You and your people have dealt with me in good faith. I didn’t deserve it—what I did when meeting Mister Jasper... You gave me a chance. I took it and I didn’t like it at first—I won’t lie. Now, well, Vermire is my greatest achievement, and although I care for it, I am your instrument. I want to prove myself to your leaders. Show that I can be trusted. That I can take on more responsibility. I want to use my strengths to grow something bigger than myself.”

  Elan and Evernight looked at each other. Both of them turned their gaze on Aditya.

  “Maybe one day you’ll learn the truth. I know that my leaders are interested in you. I can raise the subject with them, but there must always be someone controlling Vermire and the King’s Hill Outpost under our command. It will take time to get to that point.”

  “I’m not in a rush. I have plenty of years ahead of me now.” Aditya smiled.

  “It looks like the outposts going against you have used all of their contacts to wage this war,” Elan said.

  “They’ve certainly got a lot of strength right now,” Aditya said.

  “The situation in the other outposts varies. With all of the armies needing to prepare their siege weaponry, it has bought us a few days,” Evernight said.

  “Your forces are in place?” Elan asked.

  What he didn’t know was that Elan’s orders weren’t his own, but came from Glosil, who was watching the battle above Alva closely.

  ***

  “Thank you.” Glosil lowered his sound transmission device.

  “Something important?” Roska sat in the chair opposite.

  “Aditya’s second army is mobilizing to take out the other outposts,” Glosil said.

  “We could have dealt with the issue easily,” Roska said.

  “There were enough questions when you dealt with the Zatan Confederation leadership. Thankfully, each of the other groups thought it was the other that carried out the attack. This is a chance for Vermire to prove their strength.”

  “Are we going to add them to Alva?” Roska asked suddenly.

  “We might. We still have a lot of people who are willing to join from the Fourth Realm and it takes less resources to train them. Talking of training, shall we get back to the main subject at hand?”

  “Your close protection details?” Roska smiled.

  Glosil nodded.

  “For the first three days, we pushed them to the limit. We all gave them medallions that made them the same strength. The majority held up through it all. Then we moved them into specific training, testing them on shooting, scouting, engineering, spell casting, mortars, medical support, close combat, and ranged combat skills. The basics were already there; we gave them the tips and tricks that will turn them from a good operator to one who can jump from one task to the other without issue. Next, they will be participating in the tournament held in Vuzgal. While there, they will be matched against people from across the realms. This is to temper their fighting styles.”

  “Unlike before, they were trained as soldiers first and warriors second. They’ll be able to reintegrate quickly into units. Bringing that higher combat capability with them,” Glosil said.

  “Good to know that those annoying reports are of some use.” Roska smiled.

  Glosil snorted as she continued.

  “Once they have completed their combat training, then they will be organized into CPD or close protection detail squads and assigned to different combat companies.”

  “Have you organized the group that will take over advanced training for roles beyond sharpshooter? The staff teaching right now are the best we have and I would prefer to keep their skills honed by allowing them to train with their units.”

  “I wanted to clarify that with you. The CPD squads will be on a rotating basis. They will train and be active with their units, but every combat company will effectively have three, not two, CPD squads. One attached to the artillery platoon, the other to the support platoon and the third on a three-month rota giving advanced training to the new privates and overseeing the recruit training?”

  “Correct. They’re our best fighting force. The more information that they can give our basic soldiers, the stronger they will be.”

  “Is this competition within Alva thing going to happen as well?” Roska asked.

  “The competition will be for school-related subjects. While the military is in Vuzgal, they can go to the Battle Arena to train, but unless given permission they are not allo
wed to enter the tournament events,” Glosil said.

  “Okay,” Roska said, curious.

  “Competition is good, but I don’t want the units fighting one another over something stupid. Now, how is the training program going for the special teams?”

  “After completing their CPD training, then they will need to wait a month until they can go on and apply to join the special teams. If they want to become an officer, they can begin their officer training right away.”

  Glosil nodded in confirmation, following along.

  “Training for the special teams will come in three parts. One, test of training. They will go out with a special team training cadre, to clear dungeons, to traverse different terrain. Instead of checking what they have learned, they will have to demonstrate it in every environment. The second part is that they will run missions to scout, gather information and plan out an attack on different groups in the Fourth Realm. They must do so without being detected and complete these faux missions to a high standard. This will also aid us in knowing just what kind of strength our neighbors have.

  “Finally, they will be bid on. They must not only be the best person at the tasks set out for them; they need to be part of a team. The special teams and their leaders will pick out the ones they want, bidding upon them. They will remain within the special teams on a three-month probationary timetable. If they are a good fit with the rest of the special team, they will remain. If they aren’t, then they will be up for bid once again. They can be bid on three times before they will be returned to their unit, with an invitation to attempt the course again in six months.”

  “Sounds rigorous,” Glosil said.

  “Our job is to be able to operate on our own under any condition in any realm. I aim to make sure that the new special teams are all capable of this task.”

  Glosil could see the determination in her eyes. The special teams were a ragtag group, but they were one hell of a fighting force.

  “I’ll leave it to you,” Glosil said.

  “Do you want us to be ready to act if something unsuspected happens in the Beast Mountain Range?”

  “If the Alva Healing House is targeted, then I will send you in.”

  “Understood.” Roska nodded.

  Chapter: Vermire’s Second Army

  Lukas moved forward through the alleyways, his cloak hiding the dagger in his hand. From three other alleyways, a total of eight others appeared.

  “Where’s Donner?” he said in a low voice.

  “Watching a noble who came from one of the kingdoms. He’ll give us a signal if they are on their way to reinforce the outpost lord,” Simone said.

  “All right.” Lukas nodded. “Ready?”

  The rest of the squad all nodded as they opened up their cloaks to reveal their armor. They all wore dark armor to not reflect the moonlight. On it was the Vermire coat of arms.

  “Let’s go and earn our pay.”

  Lukas kept his shield on his back, half hidden in his cloak.

  They moved through the alleys and then stole across the streets, edging closer to the lord’s manor.

  Lukas was from the old guard, the ones who had trained with the unknown trainers. Simone and Donner were the only other veterans. The rest were the new guard, trained in secret and unknown to the other outpost lords.

  A screen appeared in front of them all as they held back.

  ==========

  Your position has changed. You are now an Outpost Level Guard.

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  ==========

  Your position has changed. You are now a Village Level Guard.

  ==========

  ==========

  Your position has changed. You are now a Small City Level Guard.

  ==========

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  Your position has changed. You are now a Medium City Level Guard.

  ==========

  ==========

  When attacking another outpost, city, village, or location with an interface, a war status is applied. You gain a 5% bonus to your stats.

  When you are defending your lands, you gain a 13% increase to stats.

  ==========

  Strength filled Lukas’s body.

  A title—never thought I would get one of those!

  He looked at the others who had shocked, excited, and pleased looks on their faces.

  “All right, for the city of Vermire,” he said in a low whisper.

  It focused all of them as they pushed on. He sheathed his sword and checked his boots that had a sharpened spike on them, and the two hooked climbing picks.

  They reached the road around the outpost lord’s manor.

  The dark castle stood higher above the village. The gate was closed and there were guards on the walls, looking out.

  “Archers, get a vantage point to support as needed.”

  The archers helped one another, climbing up the walls and houses quickly, hiding in the shadows of the chimney stacks or on balconies, anywhere that gave them a clear line of sight to the wall. Everything was lower than the manor walls, but it was better than nothing.

  Lukas saw another cloaked group appear down to his right, then another to his left. He made eye contact with the leaders and nodded to them.

  We need to attack while they’re not watching but not take so long that they start to get suspicious.

  Lukas laughed and staggered; the group laughed and chuckled, looking as if they had just been out drinking.

  “You got any more of that brandy, Vax?” Lukas asked as they kept walking, taking a shortcut around the castle.

  The guards, bored and jealous, looked away and kept on their routes.

  “Now,” Lukas hissed.

  He turned and ran with Simone. They jumped the moat around the walls. Lukas got a pick in, hitting the wall. He nearly lost his grip and stabbed his spiked shoe into the wall. He stuck his other spike in.

  There wasn’t a noise as faint spell lines could be seen on his gear.

  The Silence spell won’t last long.

  He looked to Simone. Groups disappeared into the alleys again. Others with the climbing gear stuck to the wall, starting to climb up.

  Someone fell into the moat with a splash.

  The team started to laugh as they looked to fish out their fellow, another drunk who had fallen down. The Twilight guards all looked over, something to draw their attention.

  Lukas got to the battlements. Simone had beaten him there. They looked at each other and nodded.

  They got over the crenellations and onto the wall. A door opened to their right. Simone rushed the door, Lukas behind. The guard was laughing as Simone used her pick, hitting him in the throat. He had a surprised look on his face as she pulled him out of the way with her pick and threw the second, hitting someone inside the defensive tower on the wall.

  A guard ran at Simone, tackling her. The two of them fought on the ground.

  Lukas took a lesson from Simone. He saw a guard moving around the brazier that was inside the tower and he threw his pickaxe. It made a dull noise, piercing their armor and sticking in their chest. The last of the Silence spell wore off as they dropped to the ground.

  Lukas used his other pick, hitting the man who was fighting with Simone in the head.

  She rolled him off and spat to the side.

  Lukas was about to talk when there was a yell down the wall.

  “Guess it’s time we went with Plan B.” Simone threw off her blood-stained cloak, revealing her armor as she pulled out her mage’s staff.

  “I liked Plan B more from the beginning.” Lukas’s cloak dropped to the ground as he drew his sword and grabbed his shield. “Time to kill this bitch.”

  They went down the winding stairs to the gates.

  Lukas kept an eye out as Simone started to cast a spell.

  Another two groups met them there.

  “Sounds like the fighting is coming from the northwest.”

  “Hopefully they can keep them distracted,” Lukas sai
d.

  Simone finished casting her spell. The inner metal gate started to rise quickly; the second door opened outward and the bridge started to lower.

  People jumped up onto the bridge before it had come down all the way. They rushed in. Other groups had circled around through the alleys to the three main gates.

  They headed into the manor, using the maps and detailed blueprints on the manor. They didn’t head for the main castle, but a secondary tower that looked out over the city.

  Alarms were being sounded out and guards were woken from their rest; torches were lit and the castle started to come alive as the outpost looked at the manor in shock.

  Teams broke off to their different goals: groups to ambush the forces coming out from the barracks, others to force their way into the secondary tower.

  Lukas touched the spell scroll he had been given and passed it to Simone. “Channel this when we get near the gates—don’t have time to slow down.”

  “Got it,” Simone said.

  ***

  Lady Sumi woke up to the alarms, frowning as she got up. “Whoever dares to wake me up will not live for long,” she hissed.

  She got her clothes on and her shoes, moving to the tower’s window to look down at the castle. She saw her guards running out from their barracks with their torches. Suddenly, archers’ fire and magical attacks landed among them, stopping the torches from advancing.

  She looked at her second courtyard. Her guards were on the walls. There were only a few of them. The others were running across the ground, getting ready.

  Suddenly, a golden spell formation appeared in front of the gate.

  A spell scroll? Sumi felt shock for the first time as a blast of power hit the gate. The gate exploded and a section of the wall fell apart.

  As the dust settled, armed and armored men and women passed through the gate, attacking the Twilight guards.

  ==========

  Your outpost is under attack by a city’s army!

  ==========

  They’re on the same standard as my Twilight guards? Who are these people? Is it Baron Jermei’s people? Are they looking to support me on the outside and stab me in the back? We have been monitoring the other outposts—they couldn’t have sent people over this fast!