Celebration

I gulp down the wine, the sweet flavor of the wine satisfied what ever thirst i had before.

"If you guys want more, there's 3 more bottles." Thalia announced, the team excitingly rejoiced after she said 3 bottles.

Looking at my glass i realize that it was empty. The wine tastes wonderful, i grabbed an open wine bottle and poured more of it, every sip i wanted to drink more of it.

We talked amongst one another, taking breaks to pour more wine into our glasses, eventually emptying one whole bottle of it.

"Hey Damon, you finished talking to the strategist?" Sebastian approached me. Sipping from his cup.

"Yeah, i spoke to him and another person."

"What happened later on? If you don't mind me asking?" Sebastian asked.

"He brought somewhere else, to meet a doctor. He helped me with these visions i was having." Before Sebastian can respond, Lennox calls him over to him for something, leaving me standing next to the wine bottles.

On the couch, Alina sat down still holding her glass of red wine, she turned on the tv and started watching the news. I sat down on the couch as well, relaxing from standing up.

The lower third caption on the news read: "Governments allocate more funding to their military as mercenary support is restricted.

"Today governments of the alliance have begun spending more funds on their militaries due to the imposed restrictions. From navy to army to air force, all of which have received more funding, in turn bolstering their strength. More and more orders from the military to war factories were seen as war factories struggle to keep up with the orders of tanks, armored vehicles, weaponry, and support equipment the nations ordered. Despite the struggle however, manufacturers are happy for these orders, as they receive payment from the orders." The woman on the news explained.

"First it was us that was prospering, now it's the military. But i guess it's good that we strengthened our own military more than us." Alina commented.

"We interviewed one of the ceos on this matter, and he had this to say" After speaking, a large text appeared on the screen, the woman began reading the text as i read it, "We are happy for this surge of orders, even though many like me are struggling with fulfilling these orders. We are trying our very best to complete them on time with the best quality possible"

"I wonder what that means for the deals parabellum and other mercenary academies, are prices for our guns gonna get higher?" Alina pondered.

"Oh Damon, what happened when you went with Sebastian." Alina asked me, sipping her wine.

"I went to the strategist to talk, and then i met a doctor that said he will help me with these visions."

"I see," Alina swirls her glass.

"So did you get a task to do now in the academy?"

"Yeah, the doctor is telling me to sleep and hope that i can get these visions again."

"Perhaps these visions of yours may help us, maybe you may see our enemies as well." Alina chuckled.

I take a long sip from my glass till i realize it was empty. Looking at the bottles, there was only 1 bottle not empty, for one last time i poured more wine to my empty cup before i get drunk on it.

"You seem to be liking the stuff." Alina commented.

Alina drinks her wine until her cup became empty.

"Well that's my fill for today." Alina stood up and walked off.

finishing my last cup i walked as well, going to the sink Mary took the glass from my hands.

"I'll handle the washing Damon." Mary places my cup with other cups on the counter.

Turning to the tv, Alina changed the channel. Now showing the game that we played before.

"Hey guys, wanna play?" Thalia asked.

"I'll join after i finish this." Mary replied to Thalia, who was washing the cups we used.

We sat on the couch, controllers in hand ready to play Guns of Honor, maybe i can get lucky here and win again. The map chosen was an oil rig, similar to the one we went to back then, before we began we picked out loadouts, i picked one with an ar and pistol, the screen showed the gamemode of, high wolf, get the highest amount of kills than everyone else. I spawned on an open platform on the bottom level, water brushed on the edges of the platform. In front of me were the stairs to the higher levels. The countdown began, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, begin.

I started moving up the stairs, about 3 flights up i get to the 2nd platform, on it were large cargo containers with no doors. I ran around checking the whole platform for anyone, as i peeked a corner i see one, in an instant i fired at him, quickly killing the enemy.

"Well shit." Lennox groaned.

While scouting the platform, i discover a second set of stairs to the platform above. As i walked up, gunfire rung out. Some bullets even flying above me. In the killfeed, Alina and Sebastian's names came up, killed by the same person. Thalia. The platform was empty, with only a small structure on the side and many small barricades for cover as well as the large drill in the middle. In an instant, a hail of bullet in my direction began hitting me. I moved my character to the nearest cover, close to death. Before i knew it, i was killed by Thalia, she ran to the side of my cover and killed me.

"I'm gonna beat Damon for sure." Thalia boasted, smirking as she did.

I respawned on the platform below again, going back up. On the 2nd platform, there were players fighting on it. In an instant, i searched the platform and killed 4 players on it, nearly dying in the process.

Heading up, gunfire began hitting above me, as if Thalia was expecting me. I need to run for cover to cover, try to find Thalia and shoot her. Time to run, i ran to the same cover, quickly switching targets while looking at where the rounds come from. After a few times of running around i found where she was hiding, inside the small building. I can run closer and closer to her shooting at her as i do to suppress fire against her, the killfeed continued with fighting on other platforms with the occasional kills by Thalia as the others attempted to go up. I readied myself to put the plan into action. Out of cover i ran, firing in bursts at the house to suppress her. Repeating the same tactic i got into the house, and caught her by surprise. In a few seconds, i killed her.

"Son of a-" Thalia cursed after getting killed.

With Thalia back to her spawn, i went to pursue my teammates. To win this game.

After killing the rest for a few minutes, i came out victorious, winning the match above everyone else.

"Well, Thalia turns out you didn't win" Lennox mocked Thalia

"Shut up!" Thalia shouted in an annoyed tone at Lennox.

"Alright, i'm done with the cups. I can join now. Thalia hands Mary another controller, starting off the next round was a new map. Desert Outpost. The map showed a moderately sized camp with multiple buildings from big to small, burning vehicles outside acted as barricades for any firefights. With my normal setup of rifle and pistol i spawned inside a building, one surrounded with computers, servers, among other electrical communication equipment. Same gamemode as before. The countdown started once again. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Begin. Instantly, i looked around, there were 2 doors that led to other buildings. Running into one of them i immediately spotted another player, who also spotted me. In an instant a firefight between the both of us began heading to cover sometimes hitting one another. I can try to flank him when he goes back to cover.

A quick run to the side of the enemy's cover i killed Nora. Though as i did, i got immediately killed by Thalia. Respawning, i went to the place i was killed, killing other players i spotted, Thalia wasn't there. Ignoring her for now to focus on the rest, i killed and died multiple times. Unsure of who is actually winning, not knowing that i already killed Thalia. We continued playing the game, continuing to kill and die getting more and more competitive with more kills happening than before as everyone started focusing more into the game. Now it was almost unknown on who will win as i continue and even become more focused in fighting, killing more and trying my best to not get killed by my teammates. The round ended. And the winner. Thalia beat me by 3 kills.

"I won this round, good game guys." Thalia officially ended the game, even if it was just 2 rounds.

While we said good job to each other and continued to celebrate playing the game. Knocks coming from the door caught our attention. Sebastian stood up to open the door to who it was. From the couch we couldn't make out who it was. After seconds of talking, Sebastian closes the door, walking to us.