The Other Side: A Second Chance

We continued on our way up the Duskland Mountains. The military convoy took up the majority of the road beside us as I trailed behind Father, his hand still holding mine, while Mother walked beside me, and Isa, Varis, and the rest of our group traveled behind.

The sounds of the raging conflict continued behind us, yet the unnerving realization that it was only getting louder and louder etched into my mind as we hurriedly made our way. I could hear Mila sobbing uncontrollably as Mrs. Hautchkins carried her, doing her best to console the young girl. I, admittedly, felt like breaking down as well. The inner child within me just wanted to give up; everything around us was happening so quickly that I'd yet to even process what was going on.

Though I held on, I had to stay strong. So, I pressed onward. As we went, the mountain incline became steeper and steeper, and eventually the last of the convoy drifted past us. A scorched and heavily damaged truck carrying what seemed to be a dozen wounded men and women—the sounds of their groaning and crying audible as they rolled past us—did nothing but dampen my spirit as we finally moved onto the center of the road.

It was around midday when I looked back over my shoulder and back towards the valley and New Gessik that I saw nothing but black smoke, and my heart sank. Even the sounds of gunfire were fading, and all I could do was hope that perhaps this was a victory and not the worst to come.

"This makes no sense." Father said as we walked. "After the attack on Oren, it was said they were pushed back."

To which Mother chimed in, "And not only that, but the majority of the combat was also still happening beyond the eastern peaks. The invaders would've had to scale the peaks to get into the valley, which should've taken a week or more."

"They probably used the airships," I said softly. "Peter did say in his story that the airships carried those fighting machines he called demons." I gulped as the realization hit me. "Maybe they're airdropping them behind us?"

"Air dropping behind?" Father blinked. "Flanking…" he muttered and glanced at me. "When did you become a little strategist?" He smiled faintly.

I blushed and shrugged. "It just seemed obvious. If I had a bunch of flying ships that could carry soldiers, why not just have them go behind my enemy's lines?" I suggested.

Based on the history of the Twilight War that Isa taught Varis and me, conflicts in Enora have always been similar to those of the old fantasy stories and games I used to play back in the day. In typical pitched battles, two armies clashed. Yet unlike medieval history back on Earth, Enora was home to various beasts and monsters that allowed for aerial combat, like griffins, dragons, and rocs. Enora isn't unfamiliar with fighting wars in the sky; it just hasn't experienced it in a long while.

What this world, as far as I can tell, hasn't experienced, however, is mechanized warfare. At least not in the sense that I've experienced over the past week. Massive zeppelins, armed to the teeth, magical fighting machines. The most I've seen the Hein's Guard possess were trucks. If this were a game of Sid Meir's Civilization, I'd say they were in the early industrial era, while Rusimia is far into the atomic age, based on what I've seen.

And from a lot of Civ games I played in the past, the industrial kids don't tend to win. So, if I had to guess, that's what's happening. The Rusivites are blitzing us with those zeppelins that attacked Oren, and based on what Peter told me, they are probably dropping those fighting machines off behind the lines and wreaking havoc. That's how they're moving so fast if I had to guess.

Yet this is all speculation. I thought. The best thing we can do right now is to just keep moving.

Father gripped my hand tighter as we continued up the side of the mountain. We walked for another few hours as the sun moved across the sky, like a beacon guiding us westward. I watched as it descended beneath the Duskland mountain before us. In the deep shadow of the behemoth dousing us in darkness, a cool breeze wafted down from below, rushing over us all as Father called out.

"We need to make camp." We stopped as we turned to face everyone behind us.

Everyone looked exhausted. Mother hunched forward, hands on knees, as Varis leaned against her, clinging to her for support. Herbert dropped to his knees, the older man coughing as his children came over to him. The only people who seemed unfazed were Peter, Isa, and the Olsons.

I couldn't understand how they weren't tired. Or at least did a good enough job at hiding it. My little legs burned despite Father helping me along by pulling me.

"I think we should keep going, Mr. Ashflow." Peter said it calmly. He pointed in the direction of New Gessik, which was burning as I saw the orange light of fire contrasting with the darkness that slowly engulfed the land. The entire horizon was lit in a faint, orange haze. "If we keep pushing for a few more hours, we'll reach the mountain trail; that'll at least put a wider berth between us and them. Come morning, we could start our descent."

Father looked to Herbert and his family as he contemplated this. "Herbert, do you think you can go a little longer?"

The older man coughed and nodded. "Yeah. Just give me some water, and I should be good."

Isa pulled out a canteen and passed it over to Herbert, who took it and drank from it deeply. After a few moments, he coughed, wiped his mouth, and thanked Isa as he handed it back.

"Alright, then we'll keep moving. Just until we make it to the mountain pass," Father said as Varis and the Hautchkin kids groaned, but aside from that, there was no further protest.

The two moons of Enora hung high in the sky above us, their light guiding our way. It had to have been around midnight when we reached the mountain trail. Essentially, it was a ravine that sliced the Duskland mountains in half, allowing a safe passage through it rather than going completely over it.

To say I had a fear of heights now would be too late, as Father and Isa began to make a small camp near a grassy clearing close to the edge of the ravine. Not so close that you'd fall off accidentally, but close enough that it still made me uncomfortable. The gorge below went down far. It was beautiful, and at the bottom was the Kenchala River that swept through the mountain.

Honestly, if we had a boat, I wonder how far we could sail down this river. I wondered as I looked around the site where we were setting camp—the space large enough to house all of us as we pitched our small tents. Father made it clear that no fire of any form or light was to be used. Instead, Isa passed out pieces of dried meat and cheese for us all to snack on that was gathered from Mayburry.

It wasn't good. The meat was tough and salty, and the cheese tasted like no cheese I had ever had before. Yet it did its job of filling me up. There weren't enough tents for everyone to go around. The Olsons had their own, along with the Hautchkins. Yet our family, along with Peter, only had one.

Mother and Father offered the tent to Isa, Varis, and me while they chose to sleep outside on bedrolls along with Peter. Isa warned them that up here in the mountains, even in the spring, it'd be getting cold, yet my parents insisted they would be fine. I could only assume that Mother may have had a spell or two. Or they'll cuddle.

Yet I didn't question it further. I was exhausted. The hike up here had taken it out of me. So, when the tent was pitched and my bedroll was laid out, I wasted no time crawling into it and passing out.

---

 

I lay on my side, sleeping soundly. I enjoyed the little bit of rest I had that night. Yet something felt odd as I rested. I felt as if a presence was looming over me. Not Varis or Isa, yet something larger, taller, and much darker. My eyes opened groggily as the sensation began to take hold, and my eyes widened in fear as my heart raced rapidly in my chest as something began to lower itself over my small body. A cool breath blew over my skin, sending goosebumps up and down my frame as the low, monotonous voice of a man whispered into my ear.

"Northeast, ten miles, there are three of them, and they're coming rapidly."

Everything went black.

Suddenly, I flew up out of my bedroll, panting heavily. My chest was heaving up and down as sweat poured down the sides of my face. Varis, who was beside me, also gasped and rolled over as Isa, who was asleep on the far end, shot awake and looked at me.

"Luna, what's wrong?" She whispered, her face filled with worry, as she grabbed a small lantern and went to turn it on.

"Don't!" I squeaked out. "Don't light that." I gulped. "Th-they're coming. They're coming."

Varis shifted and said, "Luna. It was just a nightmare—"

"N-No!" I moaned. "It was one of those dreams."

Isa's eyes widened. "How much time?" She asked.

"Th-they're…" I paused.

The dream figure said 10 miles… not the same measurements in this world… Which I think roughly translates to gilos.

"About 10 gilos, three… things are heading this way. They're moving swiftly; we don't have much time!"

Isa nodded and said, "Gather your things. I'll tell your parents."

Isa quickly crawled out of the tent as I immediately began to grab my items and pull my boots back on.

Within a minute, I had gathered my bedroll and was helping Varis get the tent. It was still night, from what I could tell. Probably a handful of hours of sleep. By my rough estimate, dawn wouldn't be for another few hours.

"Everyone, get up!" I heard my father call out. "We need to grab our gear and start moving!" I felt my heart lurch in my chest as I glanced over and saw my father going to the others' tents and waking them.

"Wh-what in the hell is going on?" I heard Olson ask with a yawn as he began to crawl from his tent.

"We have company on its way to us!" Father said as I could hear Mila from the Hautchkins tent choke a sob as Herbert and his wife came out.

Silence immediately followed as, in the distant east, a howl similar to that of a train echoed towards us. A soul-crushing sound was soon followed by another, and then a red light shot upwards from the far-off canopy down below the mountain. It was a flare that exploded in the air and, like a second sun, cast a red glow upon the world.

"It's them!" I heard Peter shout from further down the path whence we came.

I hadn't even noticed he wasn't in the camp. I thought. Was he keeping watch?

"The demons are coming! We need to go now, right now! They'll be on us in minutes!"

Minutes? But my vision said they were miles out! I felt my heart kick up a few notches as panic began to settle in.

A second distant howl came from below as the flare drifted across the night sky towards us.

"We know!" Father said, "Grab your items; we're moving."

"We don't have time, Mr. Ashflow!" Peter said as he panted. "These creatures are fast. We need to go now."

"We can't just abandon our necessities."

Peter shook his head. "Mr. Ashflow. I've seen these things; trust me. We need to run now."

Father blinked and hesitated as he glanced at Varis and me, who, thankfully for having a head start, at least had our tent packed up.

"Fuck!" He cursed. "Alright people! We go now!"

Abandoning our camp, we quickly began to make our way through the mountain trail, with the distant, lifeless screams of the invaders following behind us.

---

 

By dawn, Mr. Olson informed us that we were about halfway through the pass as the road began to narrow out. Just wide enough to fit maybe a single truck or wagon. Too narrow for my personal preference. Glancing to my left, I felt my stomach churn at the sight of nothing but a massive drop leading to a river some hundreds of feet below.

The sounds of the Rusivite "demons" could still be heard, yet Peter was confident that such monsters couldn't fit on the path we were on and would need to climb the mountains. Yet I'm not sure. The sounds—the train-like howl these things created—seemed like they were getting louder. Yet I hoped this was simply due to the mountains amplifying the noise.

We traveled in darkness for some time. Our feet were dragging as exhaustion due to our lack of sleep began to creep in; even Mila had stopped crying due to her being too tired as Herbert carried her on his back.

Eventually, even Father lifted my tiny legs off the ground and carried me in his arms, which I thanked him for. Yet immediately regretted it.

As he held me to his chest, my vision looking back, I noticed down below in the chasm along the Kenchala River, there was movement.

"Pa-papa! Down! Down in the river!" I squealed out in fear as I pointed.

Everyone came to a stop and glanced in the direction I was pointing. Down below, towards the river, were three massive beasts. Hulking machines made of clockwork and metal stood upon four legs, their heads boxy-like, housing a massive, single glass-like eye on their front.

The glass eye projected forth a blue light, similar to that of a massive flashlight, as the three of them waded through the deep river waters with their spider-like limbs. The lead-fighting machine unleashed a daunting, soul-less howl as blue fire followed by black smoke erupted from the exhaust pipes on its head.

Holy fucking shit. They're actual death machines, and they're massive. How deep is that river? They have to be, like, 7 or 8 yards tall.

Yet despite moving through the difficult terrain, these monsters moved dangerously fast. If I had to guess, probably fifteen or twenty miles per hour. Faster than anyone could run. You would need at least a lone strider, or one pulling a wagon to even try and outrun these things.

"By the divine." Father muttered. "Look how fast they're moving." He gulped.

"It looks like we know how they're maneuvering so fast," Herbert said softly, and everyone else nodded.

Father glanced back and said, "Keep it quiet. Let them move on ahead; let's go." Father tightened his grip on me, and we continued moving on.

---

 

Sometime in the afternoon, we reached the other side of the mountain pass, and what I could see was breathtaking, to say the least. A vast rolling plain, interspersed with woodland and farms, and far off we could see the Kenchala River leading into a large lake. Yet beyond that, on the far-off horizon, What I saw was a gargantuan tree. A massive, sprawling organism reached high up into the clouds, its branches extending far out.

An Urd tree. I thought as my mouth fell open and I glanced at Varis and the Hautckins kids and saw them looking equally stunned. Yet Olson and his family, along with the rest of the adults, seemed uncaring or used to such a sight as we continued.

Yet the peacefulness of the far-off mega-tree was soon shattered by the sounds of conflict down below the mountain. Rapid-firing machine guns tore away the silence along with the loud booms of cannon fire. Far off, I could see flashes of explosions followed by plumes of black smoke.

It seems those three fighting machines that went by finally made contact. I thought as we began our descent down the winding path. Let's pray that the military can kill them before we get there.

As we made our way down the mountain, we came across another group of refugees from New Gessik. Strangers who had thankfully fled hours before the attack. There were about ten of them in total: a family of akumari, about three of them, and seven humans of varying ages. Most of them have also been strangers to each other.

They had made camp about halfway down the mountain and were kind enough to let us rest with them as the sun began to set. The distant fighting we heard down the mountain had ceased; hopefully, this meant the fighting machines were destroyed.

The "leader" of the new group we found was a man by the name of Paul. The strong-looking blonde human was armed with a broadsword that was strapped to his right side, yet on his left, I saw he carried a holster with a loaded cycler.

The group had made what I knew back in my old life to be called a "Hobo fire." As in digging a pit in the ground and building a fire within the hole to hide the light of the flame. It was pleasant to sit around as we warmed ourselves up in the late evening.

Father and Paul seemed to hit it off with each other as we ate our rations that night, and I couldn't help but listen in.

"We actually came from Tristem. One of the border towns when everything went to shit," Paul explained. "Like everyone else, we were naive in expecting a peaceful resolution and left too late."

"Well, I'm glad to hear your family made it out as well." Father said, "What did you see being so close to the front?"

"Hell," Paul said bluntly. "It was an awful shit show. Those fighting machines they have are not the only ones. There's even bigger ones."

"Bigger ones?" My father said he was shocked.

Even my head perked up as I glanced at them.

"Aye. Towering behemoths. I'm talking fifty or sixty garos tall. They towered over the Tristem clock towers, tore through buildings with every step, and cut through bridges like they were paper."

"You're kidding me?" Father said softly.

Yet the other strangers shook their heads.

"I'm not, Mr. Ashflow; they were carrying the little ones, like the ones you saw in the gorge. They unleashed them upon the town and began firing magical bolts from their heads down into the town as they strutted right in, and don't get me started on their roar."

"What's up with the roar?" Varis asked, chiming into the conversation.

Paul gulped. "It's a sound that'll put the fear of the gods into you."

I took a shaky breath and shifted nervously, but stopped when I felt my mother wrap her arms around me.

"It'll be okay." She whispered.

Father scratched his neck and said, "We haven't seen any of those yet."

"Aye, that's because they're too big and slow to enter the Heinland Valley. That's why we went through it to avoid them. But if the army doesn't stop them here, surely you'll see them in the coming weeks." Paul sighed.

My father took a deep breath. "What else? Did you see anything else?"

Paul nodded. "Yes. Those little ones, they're taking people."

"Taking people?" Father asked. "Where?"

"Dunno. Some of them have these baskets they're carrying; people who can't get away and aren't slain are snatched by their tendrils and thrown into the baskets. I saw it when going through Knucktin the day after we fled Tristem. The machines tore through the Hein's Guard as if they were a sheet of paper, slaughtered the soldiers, and before they could get off a second volly, when the machines entered the town, they began scooping up men, women, and children."

I felt my heart drop, and I saw that even Varis looked horrified. I glanced over at the Hautchkins and Olsons, and everyone's faces held a grim look.

"This isn't just an invasion; this is an extermination," Paul said, "just like the ultimatum said in the papers. Surrender, or risk annihilation."

It's a genocide. I thought.

My father turned away from Paul and rubbed his face as he looked back down at the rolling fields and river. Far off on the horizon, I could see lights. City lights. The Metropolis of Johanneson. Still days away. Yet it was close.

"Is there any good news?" He turned back to Paul.

Paul nodded. "There's one slim hope. They're not invincible."

"That is true," Peter said. "I never saw one die, but they can be damaged."

"Well, I have—we have," Paul gestured to his group. "In Knucktin, we saw a magister send an ice spear through the eye of one of those monstrosities. Killing it instantly, and it detonated the magrite within, which made it blow up. Yet unfortunately, that mage was gunned down seconds later by the others. Yet his sacrifice showed these things can be killed."

Father glanced towards Mother, who gripped me tighter and nodded. "Then at least, we stand some semblance of a chance if we encounter one of them." Father muttered and took a deep breath. "Everyone, let's try and get some rest. Tomorrow we'll make our way to the ferry."

It took ages for sleep to come to me.