Chapter 7: Hot and Heavy

Crisp morning sun fell onto their skin, the air cool and soothing while the forest stirred to life. The rustling of bushes and leaves with the occasional sound of birds chirping. But they don't have the luxury to enjoy the relaxing scene and sounds, they have a village to evacuate and safe keep.

Lambda 3-4 and Lambda 3-5 hopped back out of their vehicles, getting their boots back dirty on the muddy ground road, and immediately got to work. The two squads help haul heavy cargo onto the back of wagons, and those that are loaded up are brought onto the road, creating a line of wheels and white cloth with the neighing of horses.

Forming a long caravan, the vehicles of the two squads are split up. The APC in the middle of the line, creating a strong defense in case anything tries to pierce the center. Lambda 3-4's Humvee will be leading the pack by staying at the very front of the convoy while Lambda 3-5's Humvee stays at the back.

The once quiet and peaceful village is now riled up with shouts and the tapping of boots and shoes on wet ground, but this evacuation doesn't only affect the village, but also those living outside of it.

In a quiet cabin inside the depths of the thick forest lived two people, a retired grand wizard and his pupil, a mere sorceress, Lelei la Lalena, and Master Kato. Lelei is obligated to help the grandmaster sorcerer Kato in any matter, in exchange for learning and delving deeper into magic.

And so they lived in the same house together near Koda village. The retired master had enough with the rowdy and busy life in Rondel, the city of magic, and the eternal bickering of other retired masters. So he seeks out peace outside of Rondel and decides to settle down here, within the forest near Koda village. It's also a suitable place to practice magic with the high presence of fairies and the ancient trees pulsing with magic.

That's when he met Lelei, a relatively young girl that is eager and very invested in magic, and wanted to learn and improve upon it. He saw great potential within the girl, so he took the girl in as his pupil.

"Lelei! Help me with these books!" The master sorcerer called out to his pupil for help as he was carrying a high tower of books in all colors and sizes, nearly tipping over and falling onto the muddy wet ground.

Lelei, the beautiful blue-haired mage glanced over at her struggling teacher and set aside her work on the cart to focus on the old man. "Master, we cannot fit any more books into the wagon. If we do it will break our axle" The mage politely informed Kato.

Kato insisted and walked over to the back of the cart, placing the stack of books onto solid wood and breathed out a sigh of relief as the man stretched his back. "Oh Lelei, we are sorcerers, we don't need axles and mechanisms," Kato said with a sly grin and took his stave from the back of the cart, holding it up confidently. "We are sorcerers!"

The little girl looked unimpressed by Kato's behavior, disappointed moreover. "Magic should not be used for selfish and petty reasons, master, you stated it yourself." The girl coldly replied to Kato's statement, quoting Kato's words from the past.

"Ah well.." The retired master clutched onto his stave tightly. "If you phrase it like that then I suppose you are right" Walking to the front of the cart, they both take a seat and Lelei holds the leash that controls the donkey that will be pulling the filled cart. Books, food, and items of magic filled the cart they rode on, taking up every inch of space possible and even more so stacking them up higher to fit more.

When Lelei struck the donkey with the leash to move, the donkey attempted it but cannot move at the end of it. "We are not moving" Kato stated the obvious in an unimpressed and salty tone.

Lelei glanced over to the master of magic again, with her usual neutral expression. "I've already informed you of the problem if we add more weight to the car,t master." She raises her stave into the air and it glows a faint blue hue, then the hue surrounds the cart lifting it up into the air, hovering just above the ground. Kato sat there embarrassed and apologized for the trouble.

A column of wagons stretched on for miles, packed to the brim with items and furniture the villagers wanted to bring with them, but it will only cause harm and inconvenience more than good.

After ensuring that everyone is ready and prepared, the column starts moving lead by Lambda 3-4's humvee at the front. Larry is manning the .50 cal, keeping an eye out for any hostiles and ambushes as the sun rises higher on the clear blue sky.

Roomy let out a disappointed and impatient sigh as he looked on to the horizon, letting the car move by itself without even stepping on the gas pedal. "This is going to take all day.." He muttered, glancing over to his commanding officer on the passenger seat beside him. "Where are we heading to again sir?"

Richard faced the bored and impatient driver, turning over from admiring the forests. "A city called Italica. Yeah, I know, naming a city after typography." Richard sighed and shook his head, chuckling to himself. "The chief said it's a safe place for them, so… yeah." He finished, shrugging indifferently. "Orders from command as well, so shut your whiny mouth Roomy"

Roomy groaned while rolling his eyes. "This sucks!" Roomy complains, over the speed they're at and the city where they're heading to. "We haven't had a good night's sleep to Lieutenant" Then Roomy suddenly gets a kick on the back of the head. "OW!"

A voice speaks from behind Roomy "Shut your whining! Orders are orders unless you want to mop the mess hall and the barracks by yourself!" Larry ordered Roomy to shut the fuck up or face the consequences that come with not shutting the fuck up.

Sighing and shaking it off his shoulders, Roomy focused back to driving, although there's not much to focus on except for the empty road.

The humvee radio crackles to life, with Cassie's voice on the line. Picking the call up Richard speaks. "Go ahead, Cassie"

"Sir, stop the caravan. A wagon broke down in the middle of the column." She reported and requested the convoy to stop. With a glance over to Roomy, the humvee stopped and the wagons in the back stopped as well.

Stepping out of the humvee, Richard made his way down the convoy of wagons and carts until he arrived at the broken one. Unfortunately, the horse pulling it has run amok in a fit of panic and kicked a little girl on the chest who's now on the ground, breathing heavily and in critical condition.

Three other operatives are already on the scene, one tried to regain control of the horse and calm it down, while another and Cassie stayed back, awaiting the horse to be calmed while aiming their weapons at it.

The villagers and the girl's parents stayed back behind the strange people in black, scared and surprised by what had happened. Flailing and pulling about, the horse continues to cause a ruckus as the operative has hold of its leash and is attempting to suppress it.

Something ran past Cassie in the corner of her eye, and when she glanced at it she found a girl with light-blue hair had run over and was kneeling down next to the hurt girl. "No, wait! It's dangerous!" She yelled out, rushing over to pull the blue-haired girl away as quickly as she could.

But things took a turn when the operative handling the horse fell back onto the ground, and the horse neighs, moving up to its hind legs, the signs of it highly distressed. As it rose up onto its hind legs, the crushing force of a horse's hooves is about to be hammered down at the two girls, a force that can fracture and break bones can even result in death.

Taking a glance, the girl looked at the horse, and as if life flashes through her she froze in shock. But in a flash, a quick burst of three loud bangs echoed across the road and the forest and the horse fell dead onto the dirt.

Richard gave Turbo's men a thumbs up for their quick action, and Cassie rushed to the injured girl and knelt beside her. Silence has beveled the convoy as the strangers fired their magical staves for the first time, and the sound it creates is terrifying and brought quick death. But the silence is broken by a rapid beeping sound, coming from Cassie's vest pouch.

Cassie, getting a little annoyed by this device that's beeping, which she knows to be the Kant counter pulled it out of her pouch, it must be broken. Checking the levels, she tilted her head, and the girl beside her leaned closer to take a look as well. Cassie glanced at the girl and swore that the levels rose up a few decimals from before.

She realized something she should've realized much quicker, a reality bender! Quickly she stood back up and pulled out her sidearm, knowing how dangerous reality benders are from experience. "Reality bender!" She called out, and the operatives around her immediately react and slap on their Veritas to check, a blue-type.

[-]

Lelei is shocked, taking a step back and standing up, but keeping her body and head low. When the other-worldly medic yelled, Lelei was surprised. She is soon surrounded by the faceless men in black with their staves slightly raised. This caused yet another ruckus as the villagers around yelped and stood back, shocked as well.

The atmosphere is tense, uncertain, and scary. The men-in-black took glances on their strange instruments, while still keeping an eye on Lelei. That's when she hears the calls of her master, Kato. "Lelei!" He approached them, running over but then immediately stopped by another of the men-in-black and receives the same treatment as her. "What the-" Kato cursed as his approach is abruptly stopped.

Talking in their language, two more men arrived at the scene, one appears to be their leader and another only a simple soldier. The two approached Lelei as Kato watched in worry, worried for his pupil and the rest of this caravan. "What is your name?" It surprised Lelei when one of the two approaching soldiers asked her a question in the same tongue.

"Lelei la Lelena, a student of magic and master Kato's student." The two converse with one another, perhaps about what she told them. Either way, they looked rather unhappy with their body language and something tells Lelei that her simple life of magic will be changed forever.