The Bubble Has Burst

Mortis stood on a balcony overlooking the small legion of troops that he had assembled. He knew it wasn't much but with the training they had he knew they would do well. He had a bad feeling in the back of his mind that this invasion wouldn't succeed. He would still have to try to help Italy take back Sicily.

"We are here because the threat of harm is too close to home. We need to push back this threat by any means necessary. This fight is not only for us but for Italy. We must protect Italy because I know that we all have family in Italy and here both. We must protect that family and we must protect Italy because even if we live in this country, this country was part of Italy before I claimed this land. We are united and we will fight as one. We are going to take back Sicily!" With the power of the last statement, he saluted his soldiers.

His soldiers marched off toward their southern border on a path to Sicily. As they marched down the street people crowded the sidewalks cheering them on. They walked through clouds of confetti that seemed to come out of nowhere. Life in the fog had become something strange but still normal for everyone. They hated it but realized they couldn't change it. The conclusion they came to was the fog was never going to go away. The entire war was just to gain time to research a way to live in the fog without dying.

The soldiers mumbled to each other about how they thought the invasion would go. Many of them felt that the invasion would be pretty easy. As they continued their march it began to rain. Confusion entered their voice because it has been a long time since it had rained since the fog had rolled in. Many of the soldiers sounded as if they had started crying. The masks kept anyone from knowing for sure, but many of their voices betrayed them. Reality hit them when artillery landed nearby knocking some of them off their feet.

Shouts of fear emerged from half of the soldiers as the others yelled about their ears ringing. This was the first real fight that they had been in and it scared them. They got back to their feet but no one got back into formation as they continued onto their goal. As they got closer people could be heard screaming between explosions that shook the ground under their feet. The smell of smoke seeped into their masks as ash mixed with the rain that fell onto their masks. Many of the people froze in their steps as they caught sight of the bodies that littered the ground. Some of them were laid in one piece but others had been cut into many pieces.

"Get over here!" A voice called from a crater that had been blasted into the ground nearby.

All of the soldiers ran over there in fear as they struggled to breathe. When they got over to the man that was yelling they could see his uniform was stained in blood and dirt. He cleared the mud from his lenses and cheered when he realized he wasn't surrounded by enemy soldiers. He looked around confused before he realized that it was less than half of the original number of soldiers that were supposed to be present.

"Where are the rest of you?" The man asked his voice cracking as he spoke.

"Sir, what do you want me to tell him?" One of the soldiers asked into a microphone mounted on his lapel.

"Tell him that the others went into a different crater." Mortis responded into a microphone as he looked at a wall of screens showing camera feed of his soldiers in the field.

"Okay, well I have a plan." The man said as they all huddled together.

The plan he gave was for them to build a bridge while the French navy kept the enemy busy. The man signaled to another nearby that had a radio. As he spoke the rest of the soldiers gathered up the supply before getting ready for their charge. Overhead navel shells whistled through the air as everyone counted down in their mind. When the explosions occurred everyone yelled.

The combined forces of Italy and the A.F.A.F.I. were charging towards the coastlines between Sicily and mainland Italy. They had been toating materials to build a temporary bridge for them to cross tanks and other heavy armor into Sicily. They had managed to get anywhere near close to the coast under the cover of French naval fire. The smell of fire mixed with burned flesh, and blood hung in the air around the soldiers as they continued towards Sicily.

The air was heavy with fog and burning water. Their masks had been caked in mud making it hard for them to see. Groups of the men had huddled in the craters crying for their homes. It was strange that all of them thought that getting into Sicily would be an easy invasion. This was not the case. Many of their men died when the charge first started this struck a hard blow to their morale.

When they got to the coast the death toll slowed down because they managed to get under the gunfire. This gave slight panic to the group that sat at the bottom of the shallow seas. the rain began to pick up causing vision to become worse as they couldn't keep the rain clear of their lenses. This is when everything became real for not only his soldiers but for Mortis as well. This was a lesson to him that he was in control of many people's lives and that his choices have the biggest effect on the country.

"This is going to be a shit fest, but we can win this war I think." Mortis said as he turned away from the screens.

Behind him the screams of his men echoed into the empty halls of his home.