***

--- Fort Alnus ---

April 28th, 2025

Sharpe wakes up all sweating and breathing heavily. He takes a look around and sees that he is in the passenger seat. He looks around as he tries to remember where he is at. He looks at his watch and it said 0147.

He then sees the strange glow from the Gate. It is not bright or distracting, just an alien-like glow. "Damnit."

He grabs his helmet and gets out of the JLTV. He sees his Rangers in their beds asleep. The only one who is awake because he is on guard duty.

"Morning sir," Scott said.

"Morning Scott," he replied.

"You are up early sir," Scott comments. "Is there anything you need?"

He looks at Scott and then looks away. "Stay on guard duty. If anyone needs me, I will be on the western line."

He walks through the base. While the only source of light is the half-moon and the power-generation lights everywhere it is dark. Besides that, it is pretty dark.

He passes the British and Canadian sections of the base as he heads to the refugee section. They are the first NATO allies to arrive in this world and are establishing their base of operations.

He gets to the refugee section and sees the building he wants to check on. He nearly got to the door but stops himself. "Don't get attached Sharpe."

He then walks away, heading to the western outer perimeter. Currently, the outer perimeter is made up of a trench system around the Gate. Three kilometers out in one large circle. This style of defense is only temporary until the military is ready to build a more permanent base.

He gets to this spot on the line that is being guarded by two 2nd Division soldiers.

"Good evening sir," one of the soldiers said.

"It is morning Corporal," he responds. "How is the line?"

"Boring sir," the Corporal said.

"Good," he replied. "Keep a good eye out there though. We have no idea what is out there. Now excuse me."

He starts walking down the line until he finds a spot where he is alone.

Once alone he then takes off his helmet and sits down. He looks out and only sees darkness. The only light is the moon and stars.

He can feel his hand tapping his knee as he feels stressed out. "I don't know if I can do this again."

He takes a deep breath and pulls out his M1911 Colt pistol. He holds it in his hand and looks at it.

---

Rory Mercury looks out the window of the shack. "It seems like my little soldier is awake. But he seems to be struggling."

She sensed Sharpe coming over but saw him leave which confused her. She has been curious about this man's sense of the town.

She looks over to Selina as she sleeps. While she is not one of her worshippers, she has made a vow to protect her.

She thinks back to the town. While Sharpe thought he was alone she watched him confront those four men. She thought he was crazy to fight them, especially a lion. All for a slave girl to.

She decided to watch and see what happens and she was impressed by the results. Watching him carry Selina away in his arms she thought he claimed her as his property. However, that idea did not sit well with her because she felt something was different. He ordered his team to help the people evacuate when he had no reason to.

"Time to get the truth," she mumbles.

She leaves the shack and then jumps. She lands on the roof of the next shack.

She then jumps again, passing four shacks and softly lands on another roof.

Being an Apostle, she has superhuman abilities like enhanced strength, speed, agility, and regeneration. All are needed in the name of her God Emroy.

She gets to the last building and sees a large gap between her and the line. "Now where is he."

She closes her eyes and places her hand on her chest. She then starts to feel for him. After a few moments she finally senses his soul, but she does not like what she feels. The presence of Palapon, the God of Revenge.

She rushes over to his location. She sees him sitting there looking at something, but she can tell that something is wrong.

While it has only been a few days since she met him, she has already learned a lot about him. He prioritizes other people's safety and wellbeing over himself. He is brave to the point of fault. And what she finds interesting is that he is a soldier, but he is independent. He finds ways to obey his orders but do what is right.

In all her time in this world, she has found it interesting that battle brings out the true side of a man. She sees phony people all the time just living their lives but a soldier who is putting everything on the line, she has seen their true sense of who they are.

She walks up behind Sharpe and sees the gun in his hand. She saw him pull that weapon out and fired it at the Flame Dragon. It did not affect the dragon; she is not even certain the projectile even hit the beast. But it did show her that he did not fear the dragon.

She walks up and then jumps on top of his lap without warning.

"Ouch!" Sharpe said, shocked by what just happened.

She looks at him, studying him. "Are you an agent of Palapon?"

Sharpe looks at her, confused by the question. "Who the hell is Palapon?"

"Answer the question, Major," she replied.

She looks closely into his eyes, wanting to see how his soul said.

"How can I answer the question if I don't know who Palapon is Rory?" Sharpe said.

She sees that Sharpe tries to push her off. She grabs his hand and stops him. She can see the confusion in his eyes, how a young-looking girl like her ability to overpower a well-trained adult male.

"I want to know if I can trust you," she responds.

Rory watches Sharpe now looking at her, very directly. To her surprise, he looks at her like he is in control of this situation. She wonders if he still does not understand what an Apostle is or if he doesn't care.

"You want to know if you can trust me?" Sharpe restates the question. "The answer is no."

She is surprised to hear that response. She was expecting him to say yes and give her some standard reason on why he is the good guy.

"Trust is something that needs to be earned," Sharpe continues. "People like to give out trust like throwing candies but when real issues arrive, they fly like flees. Trust needs to be earned, built from the ground up so when you are in the trench, surrounded by the enemy, the person beside you will still be there. So, you cannot trust me because we just meant just like I cannot trust you. Your question should be, should we learn to?"

She blinks, surprised by that answer. She thinks about his response. "If you don't trust us then why did you save all those people?"

"Your world attacked mine," Sharpe states. "My people want payback but that doesn't mean we have a free pass to do what we want. What is the point in coming here if we are just going to bomb everything? I want to win but I want a victory that matters. The only way to do that is to be better than our enemies."

"Better?" she asked.

"What is the point of winning the war if nothing changes?" Sharpe continues. "So, let me ask you this. You are a fine girl who can take care of herself. Why are you here? Why are you not fighting against us?"

She smiles. "Because I do not support the Empire. They have reigned over these lands for long enough."

She then let go of his hand and places it on her chest. "Long ago when I was twelve, I was chosen by my god Emroy. The gods of our world cover many responsibilities."

"You said that before," Sharpe said. "What does that mean?"

"Emroy is the god of darkness, war, violence, insanity, crime, execution, love, and death in all related in what I said," she said, arms crossed as she smiles. "I go around my world spreading the will of Emroy."

"Interesting," Sharpe said.

She then takes a breath and looks away. "Let me guess you think I am evil or something."

She thinks that because she is known as Rory the Reaper. Death follows her wherever she goes which does not bother her. However, it is a reason why she usually travels alone. Many people see her as someone who brings death to her. While she believes Emroy represents the reality of the world and she chooses to see it in a positive way, most see her in a negative way. That is why she is known as the Reaper.

"If you want to see it like that," Sharpe replied.

She glares at him. "Why don't you ever speak plainly!"

"Because it isn't Tuesday sweetheart," Sharpe replied and gives her a wink. "Most would see all that as an act of evil but those same people who rarely have to fight or put themselves on the line. Stating the obvious but I am a soldier. You must be insane to leave a warm bed and food to go fight in another country. You do what you must to protect the ones you care about."

She giggles at him, avoiding the word love. All her life she always found it strange that men avoid terms like that. She always heard that words like that were not too manly enough or dumb excuses like that. She finds it interesting that Sharpe’s world is similar.

"Do you mean to protect the ones you love?" she corrects.

"That and more," Sharpe replied. "You?"

"As I said," she replied. "I want to help people in my world. Not the powerful, not the nobles or the royals. Just the people. I think you people have the same goals as me. I think you have the same goals as me."

Rory looks at him closely, feeling the presence of Palapon fading. She can sense a conflict in him, a deep pain. While she does not know she can fully trust these people, yet she can see that she can trust his actions. Sharpe is not an agent of Palapon, not because he does not know who Palapon is but his actions. However, she does wish to know who he is an agent of.

She then hears footsteps coming and looks over.

Two soldiers walk up, both being Alicia and Scott.

"Sir," Alicia said. "Command is on the horn and needs…. What is going on here?"

"Are you two…. Doing it?" Scott asked.

She looks up at Scott finding it a strange question. She then looks at herself and then Sharpe, realizing that she is sitting on his lap. From their point of view, they look like they are getting a little too intimate.

She then smirks as she gets an idea. She places her hand on her forehead and leans back. "Oh, thank you. This man wanted to thank me in the battle, but I think there was something in the drink he gave me. I think he seduced me and the next thing I knew I was here on his lap."

"Sir?" Alicia said.

Sharpe looks to his Rangers and then at her with a smirk. "All true. I seduced her. To be honest I didn't even have to try. The easiest seduction I ever had. I even got bored, too easy."

Hearing that she slaps him across the cheek. "You prick! You were not supposed to agree with me! You were supposed to beg for forgiveness and beg me not to tell anyone!"

Sharpe places his hand on his cheek. "One. Ouch. Two. If you cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I play to win."

Sharpe then winks and her and gets up and walks past his Rangers.

She stands up, unable to believe that he challenged and defeated her at her own game. "Prick. I was supposed to win. This is war!"

"What the fuck just happened?" Scott asked, confused.

"Rory" Alicia said in a concerned voice. "Do you need help? Did he assault you?"

"If he tried to assault me, I would have easily killed him," she responds, brushing off Alicia's concern. "He just won this round."

"Ah, shit there are two of you now," Alicia mumbles. "I'm going back to bed."