Proof that Republicans have no idea what they are talking about

 

 

 

 

Republicans think Jobs are a plenty and it's easy to get them and not be poor

 

 

A preview of my fantasy book "The Gates of Illusion"

THE  OCCULT  DIMENSION  SAGA

BOOK ONE

THE GATES OF

 ILLUSION

PROLOUGE

          Ever wonder why there are a lot of ancient and medieval stories and tales that have mythical beasts, magical persons, and mysterious worlds? Sure, there are some that occur in recent history or modern times, but why so much more in the very distant past? What is man’s obsession with having these legends in a younger Earth? Some people say our ancestors made these stories up, as a way to explain things that science had yet to understand. Our superstitious forefathers knew so little about the environment they lived in, and easily believed the chants and the imaginations of sages and soothsayers. But that’s not the real reason why.

          The reason is because the Earth actually used to be that way.

          Yep, in the ancient and medieval eras of mankind’s short history on this planet, the Earth was much, much different than the Earth we know today. All of the creatures and races of all the fantasy legends roamed the lands alongside humans. We humans competed for survival against them, as many of the creatures could have easily wiped us off the face of the planet if they had half of our intelligence. We had to create devastating magical spells and powerful weapons that could turn one man into a one man army.

          But it was not meant to last.

          For as mankind departed from the medieval era and started to enter the industrial age, a fundamental tear slashed through the fabric of the planar dimensions. This happens whenever a paramount change happens on a global level, and creates two dimensions, two versions, two realities where just one had existed before. We exist in just one of these dimensions. There are countless versions of the planet Earth, countless versions of Mars, countless versions of the galaxy, always increasing. Some realities are similar to ours, with only a few differences. Others are so bizarre and nightmarish that you wouldn’t even recognize the planet.

          Our dimension, the one that we live in, right now, was spawned from that moment in time, one where magic slowly died out over the years. All magical creatures and races slowly became extinct. Why? No one knows for sure. But what we do know is that is why there is no magic left in our world today. The magical Earth went on its history without ever knowing that a parallel Earth was created. The two were totally separate from each other, even separate and isolated in peoples’ minds and consciousness.    

          However, the magical Earth continued. It didn’t just cease to exist just because our reality was created from it. No, mankind progressed in technology just the same as it did in ours. Magic changed as well. Mankind lost the ability to cast spells from mana. No, they had to concentrate mana into weapons that cast these spells.

          Nations rose and fell differently than they did in our dimension. Soon no nations that we would recognize existed. The continents shifted and moved at an incredible speed, unattainable by our calculations. What would take millions of years for a continent to move now only took half a century. This brought about immense damage, and with it, change, to creatures, their habitats, and climates.

          Soon, mankind stopped organizing themselves by nations altogether.[1] Kingdoms still existed, but those are different than the concept that we today now as a nation. Cultures rose up that never existed in the Earth that we know. They had similarities, sure, but these cultures became the defining point by which people identified themselves by, instead of by race, religion, or tribe. A culture manifested itself into a faction, by which people still had a government or a ruler, but that was not where the real authority came from. The authority came from the faction.  

          In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, in this alternate dimension, scientists and magicians made a shocking discovery.

          In short, the Earth was never meant to continue with magic.

          Its core had become unstable because of the huge, overbearing amount of magic stemming from the people and creatures of the planet. That’s why the continents were moving so fast. That’s why strange things were happening to climates, like the seasons of the year all but disappearing. The strain also affected the whole plane that the Earth existed in. It was causing it to break down; implode on itself. The Earth was split from a physical sphere of mass, to several gassy, mystical planar dimensions that stayed together as it orbited the Sun. You couldn’t just sail a ship from one continent to the other anymore. You’d just go in a circle around the “mini planet” that your dimension now was, or worse, literally fall off the face of the Earth. The only way to travel through the dimensions was through designing airplanes and other flying vehicles that had a special material around them that allowed them to fly through the preternatural clouds that hovering about the land and water of each dimension.

          Fast forward to the year 2116. Human cultures had changed and history had been altered so much that humans even forgot the original name for the Earth. They now called the planet Erath. The vast majority of people see this as a time of the end of days. Each organization of humans, whether it be a kingdom, tribe, or clan, is highly militarized, with close of half of the entire population of any given group being a soldier, guard, or mercenary.[2] The dimensions are more unstable than ever. This would make bizarre and sometimes dangerous things happen to the inhabitants of the land, such as the very fabric of the dimension breaking in a particular spot. So one would walk through that spot by accident, and end anywhere from 20 miles away to 20,000 miles away.

          All factions only have one thing in common: their societies are divided by three militaristic castes that permeate through all aspects of the armed forces. All combatants are divided into one of three types of fighting styles:

          1. Warrior: these footmen still use hand-to-hand weapons and bows despite it being so far in the future. Swords, axes, maces, daggers, bows are wielded. The way how they use these weapons and are still effective against soldiers with guns and tanks is ingenious. For one, their armor is much stronger than anything worn in medieval times, so this allows them to take a lot of damage, necessary for them to close the distance against their ranged foes on the battlefield. Since this armor is so heavy, usually men are warriors; very few women can wear the armor required of a warrior and still be effective in combat. Most wear special boots of speed that allow them to run 20 or 30 m.p.h. Their weapons have also been strengthened by science and magic, allowing them to slice through tanks or shoot magical projectiles towards helicopters, for example. Some can block bullets and reflect back explosions. Still, even with these advantages, most soldiers still prefer using guns and vehicles to fight. Fighting as a warrior requires years of hard training and specialized techniques. You can give a man a gun and train him to fight in a few months. As such, only 3% of all fighters throughout all dimensions are warriors. They are a very small minority in the deadly art of combat.

          2. Mage: these magic wielders use a variety of weapons imbuned with powerful enchantments, anything from staffs to gauntlets to even some sorts of firearms. Many do not use the principle magic of their faction. They usually engage their enemies at a distance, but not as far as soldiers do, as many magical weapons lack the refined opticals that modern firearms have. Since they have to get closer to shoot, many employ magical shields to block firearm fire, or even blast them back. They are more numerous than warriors across the dimensions but still a small minority compared to the ranks of the soldiers. About 7% of all fighters are mages. Instead of being backed by conventional weapons such as artillery and fighter jets, like the soldiers are, mages use giant magical beasts as their support on the battlefield.

          3. Soldier: these gunmen make up the overwhelmingly majority of any military, around 90%. Their weapons are most recognizable by us, being assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, pistols, the works. However, since mankind developed differently through time than we did, many of these firearms work in vastly different ways than any firearm we have today. But still others are the same. The infantry are backed by armor, artillery, and an assortment of aerial combat vehicles. Many outfit the magical beasts than the warriors and mages use with huge firearms made specifically for them.          

          It is in these dangerous and exciting times that the ultimate battle between good and evil would be waged for Erak’s survival. Not only that, but humans would finally unlock the secrets that their new “planet” holds; to finely understand the chaotic and unpredictable environment that they have lived in for centuries. In short, mankind would soon discover its destiny…whichever one that may be. In that case, if there’s more than one possible destiny…is it really destiny then?    

THE FACTIONS

THE  HOLY  PALADINS

          The Paladins, (also called the Templar), are a faction of righteous warriors and battle ready priests that make up the strongest faction on the planet Erath. They are the main vanguard against the demonic hordes that have most recently taken hold of the Eastern deserts. They are united in their cause in stopping the demons of the Hellfire from spreading to any other lands and to completely eliminating them from this plane of existence. They are deeply religious, following their code of law with the utmost zeal, which strictly lays down what is permissible and what is forbidden according to the law of their only deity, which embodies their characteristics of virtue, dedication, and loyalty. With that however, is the paradox of being the most industrious and technologically advanced of all of the factions, as many citizens have found it hard to be both. There have been some cultural conflicts between the more traditional and religious paladins, and others who have embraced technology and science as their leader. Being the most powerful of the factions, the Templar has a deep sense of culture superiority, believing their way of life is superior to all other cultures, even that of their allies. With this comes a certain amount of hauntiness.

          The Templar are divided into 2 main kingdoms, the supra-kingdom called Eugenia, made up of a dozen vassal states acting under one international entity. The other kingdom is Amiciniu, the more powerful of the two kingdoms.

Principal Magic Source: Light (Holy)

Name of Warrior Caste: Paladin

Name of Magic Caste: Templar

Name of Shooter Caste: Marksman

THE  DEMONS

          The Demons have always been a part of Erath’s history. Wherever a corruption of culture and an insatiable lust for innocent blood has occurred, the demons have been a part of it all. They are the ones that seduce and corrupt people to madness. They jump from faction to faction, taking over their leaders' minds and plunging them into death and chaos. The demons' world is one of fire, blood, and suffering. Their culture has no remorse for the largest of misery inflicted on someone else even if it only brings the smallest of benefits to the demons. Their celebrations and parties usually revolve around the sadistic torture and killing of any non-demon that is so misfortunate as to be their prisoner, which gives the demons present a blast of evil and atrocious ecstasy.   Most recently they have taken over the desert nations of the supra-kingdom of Jalayya, and are poised to conquer the rest of the world. They have no qualms about taking the lives of the innocent for whatever reason. They seek to only enslave and destroy.

Principle Magic Source: (Red) Fire

Name of Warrior Caste: Hell Knight

Name of Magic Caste: Demonist

Name of Shooter Caste: Heretic 

THE  WARLOCKS

          The Warlocks are a shadowy culture of dark magic. They distinguish themselves from the other "evil" factions by not having anything to do with the undead, as the Necromancers do, and nothing to do with demonic rituals. However, the Warlocks have been on the Paladin's side in as many wars as they have been against them; their loyalty stems from self-interest and survival more than devotion to an ideology. Whichever side can help them the most, that's who they go with. This is natural due to the fact that they are the rarest and therefore the weakest of the factions because a group of Warlocks tried to take over the Paladin country of Amiciniu 30 years ago, in the bloodiest revolution the kingdom had ever faced. The Warlocks almost won, but the Paladins put their revolt down, and in the sectarian cleansing that followed, the vast majority of the Warlocks were killed. The Paladins killed any Warlock they could come across, even ones that had nothing to do with the uprising. Only a few survive in enclaves across the planes; they do not have a kingdom of their own. Many gave up their culture in exchange for whichever’s they lived with, for a safer life with no persecution.

Warlocks have an insatiable lust for battle, hence why many of them are sell-swords and mercenaries in whatever faction they reside in. Many factions openly discriminate against Warlocks, for they see them as a violent, unpredictable, angry people, and so, their unfairness is warranted.

Oh, and they love heavy metal.   

Principle Magic Source: Purple Fire (Spectral)

Name of Warrior Caste: Shadow Knight

Name of Magic Caste: Warlock

Name of Shooter Caste: Assassin

 SOUTHERN  NATURE

          Also known as the Tropical Nature, this faction inhabits the vast jungles and plains that are below the dimension cloud that is Amiciniu. Their faction is also a supra-kingdom, made up of near a dozen separate smaller kingdoms. They are the descendants of the colonists that came from the Northern Nature faction, after overpopulation had occurred in their lands. They are the most peaceful of the factions and the least technological developed, as their culture demands a close, harmonious relationship with nature, (hence the name of the faction). Many of them see they cannot advance in technology past a certain point without damaging their environment to a point that they are not willing to tolerate. In the balance of technology and industry advancement versus nature, nature always wins. Their society shapes people to be very laid back and not quick to rash thinking or decisions. They are also the most isolated, being in the far south of the planar sphere. Much of their land is still unexplored to this day. They are known for their beautiful architecture amongst the lush jungle foliage. Their healing magic is also one of the best among the factions, only comparable to the Paladins.  

Principle Magic Source: Lightning (Water for non-lethal combat)

Name of Warrior: Ranger

Name of Magic Caste: Druid

Name of Shooter Caste: Amazon

THEURGISTS  

          The Theurgists of Jalayya inhabit the great Eastern Desert and the lands surrounding it. They are a mystic people who have the closest relationship with pure magical energy, without any of what they would call the corruption of any elements. Magic is much more present in their culture than any other. They are an emotional, religious, and an impulse driven people. Many outside of their culture see them as bizarre and backwater-ish for staying with magic instead of embracing technology. Sadly however their kingdom has been invaded by the demons, and now is locked in a bitter and terrible civil war: With the demons and their Theurgist allies on one side and the Theurgists backed by the Paladins on the other. The Paladins have had to outright invade many parts of the kingdom, to battle the demons that their Theurgist allies could not battle. Theirs is a land torn by strife and hatred. They look towards magic as their salvation. 

Principle Magic Source: Pure non-elemental magic

Name of Warrior Caste: Spell-sword

Name of Magic Caste: Sorcerer

Name of Shooter Caste: Insurgent

BARBARIANS

          The Barbarians inhabit the savannah and jungle lands south of the great Eastern desert. They are broken up into either small independent kingdoms or one of several dozen tribes. Orcs, Cat-people, goblins, and humans all make up these fiefdoms and tribes. They are in constant, ever shifting war with one another over land and resources. It is the Wild West of the world today. True to their name, Barbarians love to fight. Prowess in battle is a celebrated trait from childhood. Tribes often go to war with each other for the sole purpose of honing their war skills. Their principle magic is not an element, but rather, they use magic to shoot anything from daggers to spears to bullets at speeds unattainable without magic. The magic is a telekinesis that moves metal. Like Warlocks, they are also good mercenaries, as long you feed and pay them well.

Principle Magic Source: Metal

Name of Warrior Caste: Barbarian

Name of Magic Caste: Battle Mage

Name of Shooter Caste: Hunter

NECROMANCERS

              

           The Necromancers are the terrifying and bone chilling masters of the dead that inhabit the single kingdom of Rineck, in the cold and barren wastelands. Death is the central concept of the Necromancers' culture. Most of the creatures and people in this culture are undead in some hideous form or another. Those are who are alive are simply in the process and preparation of becoming undead. The Necromancers' love for suffering, torture, and death are only rivaled by their demon allies. No one wants to get captured by Necro soldiers, for very few ever return from one of their prisons. Those who do...are never the same. Their plane of existence is an unnerving one to travel through: it is always night. The sun never goes up. It is always...dark. 

          Despite their culture’s closeness with the undead, not all Necromancers are evil. Some are peaceful who only practice their deadly rituals on people who have voluntarily offered to undergo it. They don’t bother anyone else. Needless to say, many people do not even give a Necromancer a chance to prove himself/herself as not a maniacal killer. Like the Warlocks, in any land where they are the minority, they are usually persecuted greatly, which only increases their militant ways to defend themselves. 

Principle Magic Source: Green fire or poison

Name of Warrior Caste: Death Knight

Name of Magic Caste: Necromancer

Name of Archery Caste: Marauder

NORTHERN  NATURE

          Northern Nature is very similar to the Tropical Nature faction, being as the Tropical people were originally part of the Northern, but moved south due to the ever expanding Paladin kingdom creating population issues for their neighbor. Some of their caste names are the same. Their architectural style however is much different from one another. This faction is of the one kingdom of Lyrina. They are also not very industrialized, instead drawing their power from their preservation and close relationship with nature. They are a reclusive faction, not going outside their borders very often except to do trade. To think this faction is "girly" or "feminine" is a rather deadly mistake, because while it certainly can be in some cases and applications, that doesn't mean they can't fight. Many invaders have driven into their lands, thinking them easy to defeat...and then they are never heard from again.

Principle Magic Source: Earth

Name of Warrior Caste: Ranger

Name of Magic Caste: Druid

Name of Shooter Caste: Bard

THAUMATURGIES

          The Thaumaturgies inhabit the dirt lands and the snowy capped mountains in-between the kingdoms of Jalayya, (to the south), and Rineck, (to the north). They have several kingdoms but none of them are in alliance with any other; in fact, they have little to do with one another. They prefer to study their magic books and practice spells all day long. They are a very scholarly and abstract thinking culture; talking with one for a long period of time might prove to be maddening. The Thaumaturgies and Theurgists used to be of the same faction, but their view on magic split them into two. The Thaumaturgies did not see a problem with using elemental magic that was suitable to their climate and fighting style. The Theurgists believed only using magic in its purest form, devoid of any elemental tainting, was the correct way to use it. This divided them so much that the Thaumaturgies left and went up to the plateaus and mountains north of the Great Eastern Desert. It may seem like a trivial matter to an outsider, and certainly not one to leave one’s kingdom. However, you must remember, to Theurgists and Thaumaturgies, magic is like religion. Churches have split because of objectively small issues but ones that the adherents cared much about. The same case happened here.    

Principle Magic Source: Ice (Air for non-lethal combat)

Name of Warrior Caste: Monk

Name of Magic Caste: Wizard

Name of Shooter Caste: Rune Launcher

EXCERPT  FROM  THE   PROPHECY   OF  THE  BANISHMENT  OF  TIME

Fire will consume the world,

Down to the very core.

Memories will be obliterated,

And none know why.

A sickness will follow, a spine-tingling

Panic of dread and tremors,

Wrong, wrong, a terrible wrong,

Two heroes will emerge,

One light, but not necessarily good,

And another dark, but not necessarily evil.

One holds the key to extinguish the Fire,

While the other holds the key to the core,

To fix the world that is now crumbling before you.

But how will they meet?

Look how the pawns scurry about,

Trying to keep their glass world from shattering.

You know nothing of which you exist in.

If you could only know the truth,

Of who the invisible hand is,

You would only feel one thing:

True. Primal. Unbridled. Fear.

CHAPTER  1

DEPLOYMENT

          ALLON  MAYFRED

          9:55 A.M. AN  OFFICE  BUILDING  DOWNTOWN  IN  THE  CAPITAL WESSIN  OF  THE  PALADIN  KINGDOM  OF  AMICINIU  

          I remember the exact time I got the email that announced the deployment that would change my life forever.

          It’s not often you say that, because emails are usually not life changing.

          It was easy to remember, because of course, each time you open an email, the time it was sent is in the top right hand corner of the email window.

          Let’s back up. First, an introduction before we delve into this. I’m Sergeant Allon Mayfred of the Marksman Caste of the Amiciniuan Army.[3] I currently work at the administrative headquarters of the Army in Wessin. I was wearing the standard uniform for Marksmen: black dress shoes and matching dress pants and shirt that were the colors of our faction, a yellow-ish white color.

          I guess some physical descriptions would be helpful in imagining what I look like. Well, I have pale skin, just under 6 feet tall, and pretty solidly built. I’m clean shaved[4], have blue eyes, and my sandy brown hair is cropped in a buzz cut. I also wear glasses.

          There’s nothing that really stands out about my office; it looks like any standard modern[5] office: cubicles with low walls, desks with tablets and docking stations, conference rooms, the works. I work on the 8^th out of 10 floors of the building. I’m semi close to a window, which is nice, especially for a pleasant spring day like today was.[6]  

          Anyway, back to the life changing email.

          It was from my battalion’s major. In 2 weeks, we were going to be deployed to the Barbarian dimension, to the fiefdom of Solsmore.

Attached is your deployment information. We will meet at 3 p.m. for our live orientation and further briefing materials.

          Blah blah blah and then the email went on for a while longer, and then ended with some inspirational Templar quote and motto, SEMPER FI for the faith! Sorta thing.

          I felt of a wave of different strong emotions from many different parts of the email, which the end result was feeling very confused because I didn’t know how to feel about it. First, about the deployment in general. I mean, I got back from my last deployment 5 years ago, so it’s not like I was being sent out right after getting back. Our kingdom has been fighting the Demons in several dimensions for 13 years now, so it was normal for soldiers to have multiple tours of duty.

          I can’t really say that I enjoy combat or don’t enjoy it, it’s a complicated relationship. I don’t revel in killing Demons, as I think killing anything, even it is Demons, shouldn’t be celebrated. But these are Demons we’re talking about. I could go on and on about why it is good to exterminate them wherever we can. They destroy and kill anything that isn’t them, without qualms about following any rules of war or killing non-combatants.

          Anyway, I’m digressing. The real thing in this email that alerted me was the fact that Rayzar Baelon and his mercenary group was stirring up trouble in Solsmore.

          Rayzar Baelon. How to summarize all my thoughts about Rayzar Baelon. He is a very unique individual. He was born of the Nature faction; his mother was from the Southern faction and his father from the North. He was born and lived in Amiciniu. Until he was 15 years old, by all accounts, he was a normal kid.

          But at 15 years old, his life took a turn for the worst and tragic. All Paladins in Amiciniu know his story; that’s how much of a national headliner this was. One of his high school teachers, Talin Depert, had Demonic sympathies. He was outraged at the current war between the Templars and the Demons on the western edge of the Theurgist dimension. He could not believe that we wanted to exterminate the Demons and purge them of the Theurgists’ lands.

          He became so outraged, that he took a group of his students, including Rayzar, through the clouds of the dimensions in a vessel, to the Theurgist’s dimension, to fight on the Demons’ behalf against the Templars. A traitor, in a summary. Why he thought the students, only 15 or 16 years old, would be good fighters against hardened Templar warriors is beyond everyone. Many of them got killed.

          But not Rayzar. He had found his calling in a bizarre turn of events. Exposed to the Demon’s religion and sadistic ways, he proved to be quite the warrior. He killed several Paladin soldiers and wounded dozens more in the months that he, his classmates, and his teacher were in the Theurgist lands. Long story short, the war ended after several months, the Paladins defeating the Demons in that particular war. That ended in 2105. Rayzar was injured in a battle, but not before leaving the lands. Using his connections made in and skills honed in through the war, he started his own paramilitary organization.

          He betrayed his kingdom; he, like Talin, switched sides from the Templar side to the Demon side. His rebel group, aptly named “Renegade,” traveled from dimension to dimension, fighting for the Demonic cause wherever the Demons popped up to try and take over a kingdom. I personally fought against him and his squad on my first deployment to the Theurgists’ dimension in 2108, and again on my second deployment to a remote part of the Thaumaturgies’ dimension in 2111, (the Demons tried to establish a foothold into that dimension; we beat them just last year).

          And so Rayzar and his Renegades have traveled the dimensions ever since, killing and massacring wherever they show up, and causing quite a headache for us Paladins. He is not the only drive the Demons have; they have and are causing plenty of trouble for us without Rayzar at all. Still, everyone wishes he would just get killed in combat and his organization would crumble, because he’s been just such a major thorn in our side for several years.

          The extraordinary thing about it: Rayzar is so young to be doing all these amazing yet horrible acts. He is only 26 years old, a year younger than me. He is definitely the poster boy for the concept of an “evil boy genius.”

          I knew from the outset that this deployment, with him in the mix now, would not be an easy or uninteresting one.

          Little did I know exactly how interesting it would be.

Later that afternoon…

          3 p.m. arrived a lot faster than it usually did. A few minutes before, I got up from my desk and walked to where my commander and the rest of my battalion would be for the live orientation. It would be in the large auditorium downstairs on the second floor. This was the only room in the entire building big enough to hold everyone from my battalion at the same time. I walked past other departments and offices that were in-between my desk and the elevators. Then, I took the elevator down.

          I arrived at the auditorium. Some soldiers were already seated, spread out amongst the hundreds of seats. I saw Emnu, who was another Marksman, and my best friend. He was sitting near the front, as usual, like the dork he is. He’s short, scrawny, pale skin, freckles on his face, light brown hair cut in a buzz cut, and wide, thick rimmed glasses. He has a childish buck tooth grin when he smiles.

          Emnu is my engineer. He is infantry, but he doesn’t do the heavy fighting like I do. Instead, he is my support. He runs comm or if he’s in the field with me, he controls the drone that assists me in battle, for example. So, the fact that he is small and scrawny doesn’t matter as much.

          “Hey, what’s up man?” I asked him as I tapped his hand and sat down next to him.

          “Hey Allon” he said cheerfully, (as usual), “I’m good I’m good man, how about you?”

          “I’m doing fine” I replied, “Just trying to process today’s news.”

          “Yeah I know” Emnu said, “No matter if we’ve done this before, it’s still a powerful feeling…you’re like ‘Oh shit, it’s gonna happen again.’”

          “For sure” I said, “…Well, at least Solsmore is not as crazy as our first deployment.”

          “Well, it isn’t right now” Emnu said, “But now with Rayzar there, it’s bound to get more intense. You know just as well as I do how he can incite stuff.”

          “Yeah” I said grimly, “It’s sad but true.”[7]  

          We chatted for a few more minutes as the rest of the troops entered the room. Then, the lights went out, the stage lit up, and our commander walked to the middle of the stage from the side behind the curtains.

          “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen” he said.

          We all saluted him.

          “At ease” he said.

          We stopped saluting him.

          “This is the orientation for our deployment to Solsmore” the commander said, “For veterans and new blood alike, it will be a dangerous and challenging task. I’m not going to sugarcoat anything. That’s how us Templar deal with things.”

          “Our mission is to assist the Solsmorian troops in quelling the Demonic insurgency. We will do so in a variety of tactical roles. Sometimes we will provide support to Solsmorian ground troops, other times, we will go in with them. It will all depend on the tactical situation at the time.”

          “As you know, the Demons have been spreading into the Barbarian dimension for several years. Having close to 3/4s of the entire Theurgist dimension, the closest dimension to the Barbarians, this is their natural stepping point to spread. Solsmore has been combating an insurgency for approximately 3 years, and we already have 500 Paladins plus their support already stationed in Solsmore, helping the authorities combat them.”

          “Well, one battalion is due to return home soon, and King Okurn has ordered that another be sent on top of the battalion replacing them. So one is being sent back home and two are being deployed, and we're one of those two.”

          “You all should already be up to speed on the background information needed for this deployment, a.k.a. on the Barbarians, on Solsmore in particular, the history of this insurgency, etc. The only other major piece of information to be added is the Renegade Demonic mercenary group, headed by Rayzar Baelon, arrived in Solsmore several weeks ago. They spear-headed this latest drive by the insurgency, which is why the death toll has spiked so suddenly.”

          Soldiers grumbled and cursed under their breath at the hearing of the name of Rayzar Baelon. Most of them hated him just as much I do. But more than that, deep down in their hearts, many of them were afraid of Rayzar. None of them would ever admit it; that is not what a soldier does. But they feared him because Rayzar has killed literally hundreds of Templar and Paladins single handily in the various wars we have fought against the Demons in the Theurgist’s dimension. There’s a reason why he is legendary, and why he is the symbol of the resistance against us.

          In addition to his exploits in the battlefield, Rayzar committed an assassination 8 years ago so bold and so devastating to our Templar kingdom, that everyone around the dimensions was shocked that an 18 year old could’ve pulled it off. In short, Rayzar went undercover into Wessin, underneath the noses of all our intelligence agencies. Somehow,[8] using demonic magic unknown to us, Rayzar transformed into the ultimate Demonic flying beast, the Crimzon Dragon, a hulking scaled red dragon with glowing yellow eyes and launching an inferno of fire from its maw. He attacked the Royal Palace, where our king at the time, King Geonaan, and his entire royal entourage of advisors and lords were. Everyone was caught completely off guard, as Rayzar transformed just feet away from the Palace grounds. The Royal Guard and Geonaan fought bravely, but Rayzar killed our beloved King, his entire entourage, and many Royal Guards. By the time reinforcements came, Rayzar had transformed back into his human form, and vanished in the chaos that had engulfed the capital.

          That was 8 years ago. Now, we would be fighting the same demon, in a land familiar to him but not to us. And he has 8 more years of combat experience than at the time of the assassination. Reports say he, being 26, is at the peak of his physical and magical condition. And he has a small army of demonic mercenaries at his command. That is what we’re up against.    

          “Our deployment will be the same as any deployment is: 10 months” our commander continued, “New comers, you will find all the resources you will need to prepare for deployment in your information packets. Sergeants, as always, you will instruct them on what they need to do to succeed. You already know the ropes so it is your duty to help those who don’t.”

          “I have complete confidence in your ability to succeed and defeat the Demons” our commander was finishing up, “We have defeated them twice already in the past decade, and we will defeat them again. Our gods, our faith keeps us safe in these troubled times, and gives us the strength we need in order to save our kingdom from the clutches of evil. Many of our brothers and sisters have died on the battlefield; let us honor their sacrifices by finishing the fight.”

          “Now, let us conclude by saying the Templar motto.”

          We all chanted the hymn that guides our society; that we also hear only 10,000 times a day.

Duty keeps us bound.

Faith keeps us pure.

LIGHT KEEPS US UNITED.

Later that evening,

          The orientation, or briefing, or whatever you want to call it, went into the evening, longer than I usually stay at work. This was to be expected and what was needed, because there was a lot to go over in a short amount of time. It wasn’t until 6:30 p.m. that Emnu and I exited our building.

          Wessin looked like any other modern Templar city[9]:  Wide, open, clean streets that, for the most part, crisscrossed the city into square grids. Like all factions, the architecture was a blend of modern and medieval buildings. Sharp, glass covered skyscrapers was dotted around downtown, amongst office buildings and banks made out of marble that was a beige and gold colored mix. One such building that was almost gothic in its architecture was across the street right in front of me as soon as I exited my building. My building was of modern architecture; a big rectangle 10 stories high.

          Emnu and I took the sidewalk to the left towards the closest monorail station, as we do every day after work. We take the same line home; he just gets off a few stops before I do. He lives in an apartment with two other roommates. The apartment was still in the downtown area but was a ways from the center of the entire city. I lived in a townhouse just on the border between downtown and where the suburbs start.

          As Emnu and I walked towards the station, for some reason, I took in my surroundings a lot more than usual. I guess it was because I knew that in a few days I would be leaving, and so, almost subconsciously, I started noticing more of what would soon be gone.

          Even though I’m used to the beauty of Wessin, (because I’ve lived here for several years,) every once in a while I’m still mesmerized by it. The sun was setting, spewing its bright yellow rays over the marble streets and sidewalks[10].  Shadows of the flying cars above sped all across the lit ground.

          Oh yeah, we have flying cars. I better talk about that.

          These flying cars looked just like the regular cars on the ground streets. In fact, many of the flying cars could switch to ground driving with the push of a button. People needed to be able to do this because outside of the big metropolitan centers of our kingdom, we have not built flying lanes for cars to fly in. We don’t need to in places where there is not enough traffic to justify building flying lanes.

          Anyway, so these lanes were high above most buildings, at the same height of the majority of the skyscrapers. A lane was a path of electromagnetic fields, maintained by a substance that was clear yet partially visible, like glass. These lanes were thick enough to be seen by drivers of flying cars, so they know where to go, yet clear enough that they are not a solid substance. The cars float several inches above the electromagnetic fields by maintaining a magnetic field of the same charge.

          So with having a good amount of traffic above in the skies, this relieved the congestion down on the ground streets. Granted, we still have bad traffic jams and rush hour congestion, but it would be unbearable without those flying lanes. And we have buses and the monorail to help out to.

          The monorail is the best and fastest way to get around the metro area, because it is a modern monorail that, by, again, using magnets, can travel to 200 m.p.h. in a very short amount of time. The rides between stops are only 15-30 seconds. The station we were going to, Li-Fed Plaza, was two blocks away from the building I worked at. Not a bad walk at all. It was a sunny and slightly cool early autumn evening. I treasured the mild temperature, for in a few weeks it would turn cool with getting more into autumn.

          All types of people walked the sidewalks. Our kingdom, being the most prosperous of any other, attracted many immigrants from all of the other dimensions. Our population were mostly humans of fair skin, but we have a lot of black humans also and of every shade of skin tone in-between. We also have a lot of species that are just as intelligent as humans, and co-exist with us. Many lizard people from the Tropical Nature faction, (their proper names are Iksars), Djinns and Ifrits from the Sorcercer faction, and Orcs and Cat-people from the Barbarian faction all lived in our kingdom, especially in the downtown metropolitans that dotted the lands. Most of the people I saw wore suits or other formal business attire, as this was the business and government sector of the city. Many others wore some sort of traditional Templar garb, such as robes or loose fitting cloth shirts and pants.

          “You know, I’m really gonna miss this place” I said to Emnu as we approached the monorail station.

          The station was just a platform up two stories from the ground. I got out my monorail card from my wallet.

          “Don’t we always?” Emnu said as he did the same.

          “Yeah, but I feel it more already than I ever did before for the first two times” I explained as I swiped my cards across the sensor at the one of 8 turnstiles to enter the platform, “Compared to deployment, Wessin will seem like heaven.”

          “Got that right” Emnu replied, right behind me, “We’ve done good for many years to make it to where we are today, us in particular, but the Templar on the whole. You read about what happened in the Warlock Rebellion and you just shudder. This kingdom hardly looks like the one that existed 30 years ago.”[11]

          I could only nod in agreement as we got to the platform. A few minutes passed, and then a monorail train came speeding into it. It was sleek, with the front car almost in the shape of giant bullet. The metal was shiny and thin, and had streaks of blue and purple amongst mostly gray. The seats all had seatbelts; it went way too fast for people to stand and hold onto a pole like older monorails or metros did.

          In a few seconds we were off, shooting down the monorail track through downtown. The view, which I didn’t get to see for very long because we were going so fast and would be at the next stop in only several seconds time, was one that I never got tired of. And the fact that I only got to see it for a few seconds only made me savor the moment even more. To the right was the Wessin harbor, housing all sorts of boats, commercial, private, military, etc. On the upper levels of the harbor was where the various aircraft and starships were housed.  

          The golden rays of our setting sun reflected off the waters of the Western Dimensionia Sea, making them seem almost white and not blue at all. The rays also reflected off the glass enclosed skyscrapers to the left of the rails, seemingly illuminating several blocks of streets. As a manly man, I have no problem admitting that it was quite a beautiful sight to see.

          I got home to my townhouse just a few minutes after 7:00. It is only a 5 minute walk from the monorail station to it, so it was great for commuting. It was built out of bricks that were a reddish-orange, with areas around the windows made out of a beige marble. Our wooden door was a bright red.

          Our? Oh, I forgot to mention that I live with my girlfriend, Aymine. She is a year older than I am, and she’s an Administrative Assistant for a local consulting firm. We’ve been dating for almost a year and a half, and living together for only 2 months. She’s been the first girlfriend that I’ve lived with, which has been an exciting yet challenging experience to say the least.

          I had not been dating her the last time I got deployed; so for her, me being deployed to Solsmore would be a new experience for her. Of course, she knew from day one that dating soldier always meant the possibility of me being deployed. She said she would be fine with it, but it’s easy to say that when it’s not actually happening. So I wondered, how will she take it??

          I unlocked the front door, not with a key, but by simply swiping a card on a scanner where, in the olden days, the doorbell would be.[12] The door opened, and I walked inside. Our foyer was very small, barely big enough to be even be called one. The walls were a very light gray, almost white. Immediately to your left as you walk in are the stairs to go up. In front is a small narrow hallway that led to the kitchen. To the right was our living room. I saw the lights on in the kitchen, so I knew Aymine was already home.

          “Hey hun I’m home” I hollered as I came in.

          Aymine peered her head from around the corner, giving me her charming blissful smile. She had sharp brown eyes, pale skin like mine, and dark brown hair. She was wearing her usual work clothes: a white dress shirt, a black skirt that was just above her knees, and black high heel shoes.

          “Hey there sweetie” she said cheerfully as I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, “I just got home a few minutes ago, so I didn’t have time to cook dinner.”

          “That’s okay” as I put my briefcase on my seat at the table, “You cooked last night. We need to eat these leftovers in the fridge.”

          “Okay” she replied, “How was work?”

          “Oh boy, here it comes” I thought.

          “Well, I have some very big news. It’s not necessarily bad or good, it just will be…difficult” I said carefully.

          “What is it?”

          “In a few weeks, my battalion will be deployed to Solsmore” I said.

          I looked at her. She didn’t show any emotion as she thought about what to say.

          “It’s because the demon insurrection has gotten a lot worse recently, isn’t it?” She asked.

          “Yeah” I answered, “Rayzar Baelon and his gang showed up, and are doing what they do best.”

          “Damn that Rayzar! He’s taking my honey away from me!” She pouted as she put her arms around my neck and kissed me.

          I managed a smile.

          “Yeah, duty calls” I said.

          She went back to the counter.

          “It’s okay” She said, “I know this will be difficult for both of us, in different ways. But you’ve not been deployed in 5 years, so we should consider that fortunate.”

          “Yes, I’ve had a good run, haven’t I?”

          She smiled and nodded.

          “If it’s for the good of our kingdom, then I accept it” She said.                         

---

[1] For reasons we’ll find out later, (well… you’ll find out later, I already know the reason. Duh).

[2] The natural response for a good number of humans to go grab your weapons when faced with fear.

[3] Is that a lot of weird words at once? Sorry, it’s Erath. Better get used to it.

[4] Which shows my baby face.

[5] Of course, you have to remember that the word “modern” means something different to you than it does to me. I’m a century in the future compared to you.

[6] Different dimensions have different seasons. Some have stopped having seasons altogether. The dimension of the Paladins has 3 seasons: Spring, Fall, and Winter. Sorry, no Summer anymore.

[7] Hey, I’m your life, I’m the one who takes you there! Oh c’mon, I couldn’t resist!...Oh, I guess for you peeps who aren’t into heavy metal, this is completely making no sense. Hint: copy and paste the first sentence of this footnote into Google and see what ya get.  

[8] Rayzar has admitted publically that even he’s not entirely sure how he did it, because he hasn’t been able to do it since.

[9]This faction is the closest to our civilizations, especially Western civilization, so you will see that many aspects of its society and culture are easily relatable to us.  

[10] Remember, each dimension is a little different in relation to weather, climate, etc. While our sun would set with deep orange and purple colors, in the Templar dimension, the sun set with different colors.

[11] I am 27 years old, Emnu is 25. We were both born in the midst of the Warlock Rebellion but are both too young to remember anything about it. By the time were old enough to start remembering things, the Rebellion had been crushed. But we would hear all about it from our parents, our neighbors, our older friends, our teachers, etc.

[12] These cards were given to us when we purchased the house.