THE DESERT OF ASHES OF MEN

Also Commander Fritz will go alongside us on the mission. I heard that he is engaged with Lady Kathleen, but why would they go for this mission together? Well, if it’s for the kingdom they would do it, besides it’s the order of the King to send us.

We are all seated in Lord Fritz’s office. Whereas he began spoiling us the information about this grave mission. As he stood in front of us with a tense atmosphere, he is making the surrounding seems out of the air as we are afraid to make our breath noticeable with our tensions.

“Cut it out,” Commander Fritz snaps. “Take it easy, you all. You are airing your grace in this room, and now it’s hard to breathe.” Then he smiles. “This is an ordinary mission, you fools, another day for grace enwrap job.” Then he shifts with a serious glare to us. “What makes this grace enwrap mission stern is that in the area where a tremendous amount of grace would be hovering there will be other kingdoms that will enwrap that grace as well. A battle is expected, blood could be spilled. We are going to bring a giant grace container to enwrap it. If we succeed on this mission, this grace that we can bring home can sustain our kingdom for the next ten years.”

And all our eyes are widened by what we hear. Sustain for ten years? This is crazy, jarring. Everybody becomes optimistic.

“Let’s do this then.”

I turn to my left to see who said that. It was Lady Christine.

“But we must be very careful,” Lady Cristina says beside her.

“Come on, sisters, we are monsters. It’s easy,” Lady Kathleen adds.

Lady Raiva grins with her deep eyes, yet her beauty is still visible.

They say those words while their gorgeousness is myriad on it. Such a view, very ravishing ladies. Who would have thought that these are mega legionnaires of this kingdom who can annihilate what comes against their way.

In front of my seat, the brothers stand up. “This mission will supersede because we are here.”

I feel at ease and animated by hearing their daringness. After all, their records show that they never failed a single mission. And they are undefeated in battles and wars.

Especially Willie, as he has been a captain on different missions. His performance has been superb on the tales. He is a candidate as the next commander on their brigade where he belongs to, the ‘Moribund Brigade’. He’s like me, a candidate to be the next commander on our own brigade. But I’ll be honest that I’m way behind by looking at him. And now I’m beginning to question my own worth and weight in my strength, but I admit it that he’s versed than me. Even legionnaires today when they encounter him they can’t help to call him ‘captain’. As they are respecting his death grip.

They are the elites after all. Unlike me, I may have a lot of kill counts and records of accomplished missions, but those are weak enemies that I’ve encountered and easy peasy missions. I haven’t been into a life and death battle yet.

I have a thought that I must join them in their gallantry so I also cry, “For the Kingdom of Chamenos!”

We have arrived. This is the Crypt Gate of the kingdom. That can teleport legionnaires to certain areas outside the kingdom.

At the gate there’s someone who seems to have been expecting us to come for this prized mission. A giant man—the great Lord Commander Alvin Elban. This is the one—the shield of the King, the legendary, and the strongest legionnaire next to the King.

It’s my first time to have a closer look at his scars all over his skin that is not being hidden by his armor. His face is filled with deep scars. At the same time, it’s filled with muscles though he is a little bit old as his hair has gone to black grey. His dark suit mixed with steel. Crafted in it his whole body the huge shield with blue shimmering scales. The symbol of our kingdom he carries it whole. It is massive to see it close. The scales are huge, shining like a gem.

He has an eye that’s so sharp that even a move of a breadth of hair he can heed. He is the only one who has the power to fly legionnaires who are dispatched for missions. His cherub sword possesses the power to teleport. But in the past, he never showed up in the crypt gate whenever I go out for a mission. The chamber is powered by his cherub sword, and we teleport without him. But this time he’s here. What is he going to do?

There are three types of missions that legionnaires are being dispatched to go outside the kingdom. First, ‘Grace Enwrap’. This is when we espy that there is a great amount of grace. That will hover anywhere in the world that our radar can detect in range. So a team of legionnaires will be sent out and will bring a grand grace container. That is designed to absorb the grace that is wafting on the surface. Once the container reaches its full tank, legionnaires will retreat and return here in the kingdom to use the grace that was absorbed, to sustain our kingdom. They will transfer all the grace to our kingdom’s fountainhead which is located at the head of the Bastion. In this way, it will sustain all the power supply of our kingdom caboodle. And this will help our King not to be drained of his grace quickly.

Every legionnaire carries his own grace container as well, a small cube. That in case when they battle with other kingdom’s legionnaires who will try to ambush us in the field. And when we defeat them, we can absorb a dying life grace. So that we can transfer it to the fountainhead.

The second mission is the ‘Grace Hunt’. This is when we ambush other legionnaires from different kingdoms who do the grace enwrap. The strategy is we surround them unnoticed. And when they are done absorbing the grace. Then we jump to them and slaughter them and steal their grace container.

And the third one, ‘Grace Loot’. When our radar detects that there are small kingdoms or villages that show up in an unspecified region, Or a small force of a kingdom that we can detect, we invade them. We destroy everything and kill the strong and drain their kingdom’s grace. And when we find weak ones, we uproot them and bring them to our kingdom to be prisoners. We lock them to our ‘Sacrificial Guardroom’. This cell is designed to absorb their grace until they wither and die. They become a sacrifice to sustain our kingdom’s life force. This is the place also where people who are born without a cherub sword. And not given a waiver of the kingdom, to be immolated.

Where is it? Where is Lord Commander Alvin’s cherub sword? I heard it was a giant Excalibur, as giant as he is. But I don’t see it. Well, I need to focus on the mission.

We enter the heart of Crypt Gate, a chamber encrypted with great magic from the King and Lord Commander Alvin.

Wall carved with lines that always make me dizzy to stare. As if it makes me wharf in and be teleported right away to a faraway land. At the center is the circle of position where we should stand before we jump somewhere else.

I am positioned to stand facing the door that we entered. I could see our flag’s crest of our kingdom, and a thought suddenly talks to me: Will I ever see this flag again?

Lord Commander was with us in the chamber. He lifts his hand a little high as if he wants to draw his sword, but I don’t see him carrying it. Then, I see some glitch in the air as if some dimension is being sucked or I don’t know. Then his Excalibur unfolds in his hands pointing up as he is holding it straight.

Whoa . . . what was that? Then Lord Commander stretches his sword to the center. And they follow in drawing theirs as well and stretch it forward and make it touch with his sword. I’ve never done this before, so I followed them. I unsheathe mine and lean it in front. But what makes this teleportation different? Is it because these are massive legionnaires? Does this need the Lord Commander’s presence? Anyway, this is a good and fresh experience!

“Unleash your grace, be on your guard, and prepare to die. In the name of the King. King Jonary with his grace granting this mission and his power to send you off. You need to return for the kingdom and for the King,” the Lord Commander says with a heavy tone.

He is indeed the Shield of the king, and he is the great guardian of the kingdom with his might. His cherub sword’s power, it can teleport that’s why he is assigned to the Crypt Gate as well. But the shape of his sword is not for teleportation. It’s huge and massive. It’s a weapon for war!

My body seems to be pulled by gravity! Here we go, this feeling of being sucked by something. And as I look at the others whom we face each other, their image is hitching and dematerializing. And I gear up myself to wherever and whatever situation we are gonna resurface. With my grace uncloak and my guard up. Let’s go!

In a splinter of an eye blink, we are in the middle of a dying dessert. It’s not only a dying one but already a dead desert. Gray-colored instead of a yellow means this has been a tainted area. Or a jettison demesne, or my final thought, a lot of blood has been spilled in this desert. I’ve never seen a desert like this one, and I have a bad feeling about this place. This is like a death zone. It’s not a desert that surrounds us. There are also some steep rocks nearby maintaining around. Seems like this isn’t a desert before. A grave war takes place here a hundred years ago, and the result is this place becomes a dead desert.

We form a back to back formation. A fortified one to take action on whatever will surprise us, or whatever we surprise to. It is empty and quiet, and the heat is mixed on the air that we breathe, and it seems kind of bothering my nose and throat. It’s hard to breathe with a dense heat in the atmosphere.

There it is, the grace hovering on the surface. A water-like whitish floating in the air, it’s visible, and it would make you want to drink it and take it. But it can’t be done without the grace container. This is grace itself that sustains life. This is what we have come for. We need this for our kingdom to survive.