Meeting between Battalion Leaders

‘So then I have some water elementals instead of fire elementals. They would then form an anti-fireball team. Add some earth elementals and we could use stones as projectiles too! I can’t wait to see how they will do in the battle, Brim.’

‘No wonder Alder spoke so highly of you, Gin. If we succeed and get promoted, we could have other types of mages joining us.’

‘Eh? There are other types of mages?’ Gin asked in confusion, causing Brim to raise an eyebrow in suspicion.

‘Have you been living under a rock or something?’

‘I didn’t learn about other mages, when I was growing up, and squadron W is the only squadron I’ve been in. My only experiences of mages are the ones in this squadron,’ Gin responded, choosing his words wisely.

‘I see,’ Brim replied, accepting the twisted truth. ‘Well anyway, some types of mages are high ranked by default. You won’t see an acid elemental, or at least a living one, that is ranked D or below for example.’

‘Wow. That just makes me want to get promoted even more. Imagine marching on the battlefield, with no vision of the enemy, and a random blob of acid falls on top of you.’

‘errr. Alright then,’ Brim said, not knowing how to respond.

‘Hey. Don’t give me that. You’ve got to be a little crazy to make progress. It’s something my role model told me.’

‘If you say so. We’ve arrived at the room Emsee told us to go to by the way.’

Gin opened a door, letting Brim to enter the room first. Inside was a large round table. It was surrounded by roughly twenty chairs and only one of them was being used.

The occupant was a man covered in so much fur that you couldn’t see any skin. He wore just a pair of shorts, long enough to reach his knees. It reminded Gin of his fight with Varunel. Like him, Varunel was covered in fur. However, the man in front of him did not have Varunel’s horns, nor did he have an elongated snout. Instead, his nose was short and closer to Gin’s in shape. Was the fur fire resistant too? Gin wondered.

‘Hi!’ Gin greeted. ‘I’ve never seen you before. My name is Gin Gale. What’s yours?’

The man didn’t move at all. He just shifted his eyes towards Gin, grunted in a hostile manner, before averting his eyes and crossing his arms. Gin couldn’t help but feel offended. Brim could see his annoyance, so he placed a hand on Gin’s shoulder and shook his head shaking his head. It wasn’t worth it.

Gin and Brim sat down opposite to the man. For some reason, Gin felt like the man’s eyes were fixated on him. Did Gin do something wrong? Was it the way he greeted? The Xernims? The INS on his belt? Whatever it was, it was unnerving. He tried avoiding eye contact instead. However, it didn’t stop the glares he got and the tuts he heard whenever he tried to talk with Brim.

‘Do you know who that is?’ Gin whispered.

‘No. First time seeing him too,’ Brim replied.

The man gave a threatening growl. The two decided to stop talking, returning the awkward silence. The more the silence went on, the more Gin got agitated. He wanted to talk about mages. He wanted to talk about tactics. The inner child told him to ignore the man, but the responsible adult told him to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Luckily, the door to the room swung right open, dispelling the silence. Five people entered, three of whom Gin recognised. He knew Michal, Emsee and the colonel. The other two were new to Gin. Brim seemed to know them though, as he exchanged greetings with them.

One of them had the same rough, dark skin as Brim. His hair was black and braided. The other looked like a manush. She had pale white skin, average proportions (neither looking too weak nor too strong), and no defining feature that hinted at an ability. Instead, she had a tinoo resting on her shoulders. A fire elemental and a utility familiar type respectively, Gin assumed.

Everyone sat down apart from Emsee, who handed out some documents. They were very detailed. The first few pages contained hand-drawn maps of the supposed battlefield. The later ones were about the battle plan. Everyone took a few minutes to skim through it before the colonel called for everyone’s attention.

‘Is everyone ready?’ she asked. Brim raised his hands in response.

‘Aren’t there more battalion leaders? Shouldn’t we wait for them?’

‘You’ve probably haven’t read that far into the plan, have you? Basically, we’ve split into two main groups. I just had a meeting with that second group, which explains my lateness. The six of you will have a different role in the battle, so your briefing will be different to the other group.’

‘Ah. I see,’ Brim understood.

‘Maria,’ Emsee whispered. ‘I don’t think everyone knows each other.’

‘Oh, right. An introduction is called for then. The red-haired fire elemental is Brim. He’s transferred from Squadron L. Other transfers from squadron L are Jake, a fire elemental, and Syndra, the utility familiar,’ the colonel introduced, gesturing towards Brim and the other two mages that he was friendly with. ‘The hairy sasquatch bestial is Rob and the child with the Xernims on his arms is called Gin. The stone elemental is Michal. Of course, you should know my second-in-command, Emsee, and myself. Just call me Maria.’

With the introductions done, everyone nodded to one another. Everyone except Rob, who glared at Gin. Just what was his problem?

‘Any other questions? No? Let’s begin then. Our intel says that the AAA will send a force of roughly five-thousand. We have four-thousand. Since we’re splitting into two groups, the combined strength of your battalions is two-thousand-five-hundred.’

‘That’s not nearly enough!’ Jake complained. ‘That’s a suicide mission. Not to mention seventy percent of this squadron is rank D or below. We wouldn’t stand a chance anyway. The best course of action is to have everyone on defence, not separate into two groups.’

‘I understand what you’re trying to say, Jake. I’m sure everyone has the same concerns. However, our aim is not to beat the enemy in a battle of strength. Rather, we will win by outwitting them. I’ll tell you how later on. But first, we will split your group into three small teams: utility, artillery and defence.

Emsee and I can’t join this battle. I am A rank while, even though Emsee is E rank herself, her lupim is S rank. The MBP said her lupim isn’t allowed, so Emsee is pretty much useless. The rest of you meet the requirement of being B rank and below.

The utility team is composed of Michal and Syndra, with Syndra being the overall in-charge of the team. Your role is to provide backup for the other two teams. Syndra, with the other utility familiar types, will send and receive information. I’m sure everyone has memorised the signals by now. Michal, on the other hand, has recently been creating armour for Gin’s battalion. He will be on maintenance duty. Any questions?’

‘No ma’am!’ Syndra and Michal said in unison.

‘Good. Now for the artillery team. That would be run by Brim and Jake, with Brim in charge of that team. You job is simple. Bombard the enemy with your fireballs, rocks etcetera. Whittle them down. Give our defence team protection with your waterballs. You guys are the support.’

‘Looks like we’re working together again,’ Jake commented.

‘Looking forward to it,’ Brim replied.

‘The final team is Gin and Rob. As the defence team, you are the backbone of this operation. You cannot let the enemy pass through you. With the armour and the training going on, this should be manageable. Just hold your ground and we will have a good chance of victory. And the one leading this team will be-’

The colonel turned to Emsee. They whispered something to one another. A mutual nod later and Maria faced the others once more.

‘Yup. The one leading the defence team will be Gin.’

‘What?!’ Rob exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and slamming on the table. He had been silent throughout everything, looking grudgingly at Gin. His deep, rough voice contrasted heavily with the light, authoritative speech of the colonel.

‘Is there a problem, Rob?’

‘That man can’t be leader. He definitely can’t be in charge of me! He’s a low ranked, weak, inexperienced, Xernim using piece of trash. Putting him in charge just confirms the loss!’

‘I’m a piece of trash?’ Gin retorted, standing up to match Rob head on. ‘I’m weak, you say? I’ve faced B ranks before and won. You’re probably all talk too.’

‘Enough! Stop. Both of you,’ Maria ordered. The two standing up, sat back down, eyeing each other in anger. ‘My choice was based on several things. First of all, Gin is your senior in this squadron, Rob. He’s been here for almost a year while you transferred only two weeks ago.

Secondly, he is a pupil of Alder. I trust his recommendations more than I trust you. According to Alder’s and my observations, Gin is great at adapting to a situation. Gin wins duels in which he would lose head on. His methods are unorthodox but it gets the job done. He’s constantly coming up with ideas. The armour Michal makes, the F ranks that can now be used in the battle, increasing our fighting force by five-hundred. He holds no prejudice to the other members, which is what our squadron is based upon. His battalion holds huge respect towards him. Even our battle plan came from an unpolished idea Gin came to my office to speak about.

Compared to that, you reckon he isn’t leadership worthy? How about we have a vote. See if the others have the same opinion. All in favour of Rob, raise your hands. Now all in favour of Gin, raise your hands.’

The vote was completely one-sided. With a vote of seven to one, Gin won. Brim, Maria, Michal and Emsee put their hands up straight away, with Syndra and Jake following soon after. Even Gin, who wasn’t sure whether he was worthy of the role or not, put his hand up, without hesitation, after hearing the colonel’s opinion of him. The only vote against Gin came from Rob himself.

‘Tch,’ Rob tutted.

‘Don’t disrespect your superiors like that, Rob. That includes Gin,’ the colonel snapped, with Rob looking away in response. ‘Now that’s settled, let’s discuss the plan. Please go to page two.’

Everyone turned the pages to find a map labelled ‘The Path’. The path began at Eilat, in Israel, and ended at Suez, a town in the city of Egypt. It was the strip of land that connected Eurasia to Africa. Either side of the path was the sea and in-between the land and the sea were walls supposedly several kilometres tall. In fact, all coastlines were surrounded by the same wall.

Gin found it odd. In books of the past, Gin saw maps of the exact same area. The land that connected the two continents was more than five-hundred kilometres in width. The map in front of him showed that the path was only thirty kilometres wide instead. The area, that was once land, was now water. What happened in the past to cause that? Gin wondered.

‘All your battalions will hold the defence in Eilat,’ the colonel continued. ‘It’s a four-hundred-kilometre trek from our home in Jerusalem. The AAA’s barracks, in Cairo, is more than five-hundred kilometres from Eilat. Along with the fact that their army is larger, it should take them two months to reach us. On the other hand, it should take us a month and a half to reach Eilat. We will depart in ten days, so be prepared by then.’

‘What’s the plan once we get there?’ Syndra asked.

‘Defend. Unfortunately, we don’t have information on what type of mages you are facing. Just don’t let them through and the other group will do their job. However, if you can’t stand your ground, then it’s all over. Winning is one thing, but not losing is another. That’s why being outnumbered isn’t as much of an issue.’

‘Then what happens?’ Brim asked.

‘The other group will do what I assigned them to do. They’re leaving tomorrow morning, so that they could be prepared on time.’

‘You’re avoiding telling us what the other group is going to do, aren’t you?’ Rob pointed out. For someone who looked like he didn’t care beforehand, he suddenly got curious, Gin noticed.

‘Indeed,’ the colonel confirmed. ‘It’s actually a request from someone. Not knowing what they’re doing won’t hinder you, so it’s irrelevant information anyway. For now, finish any last-minute training, get your battalions prepared and we will rendezvous outside the tree in about ten days. Everyone understand? Good. You’re all dismissed apart from Gin.’

As everyone but him got up, Gin could feel the malice intent coming from Rob. The two obviously didn’t like each other. However, what annoyed Gin the most was the fact that he had done nothing to make Rob despise him in the first place! This annoyance prompted Brim to pat Gin on the shoulder. It was a supportive don’t-worry-everything-will-be-fine sort of hold. Gin thought it wasn’t needed (why would he fear Rob?), but it was good to know someone trusted him.

‘I’ll be honest with you, child,’ the colonel started, making sure everyone had left. ‘Your luck is incredible.’

‘Why are you saying this all of a sudden?’ Gin asked.

‘You were, supposedly, an unranked thirty-three-year-old man that looked like he was a hundred and thirty. You had no distinct abilities and used pieces of metal that I have never heard of as your way of fighting. You got trounced in the initiation test, but got through via a technicality. You should have died, but somehow lived without a heart. Your training with Alder was complete and utter shambles. Not once did you show any skill nor composure.’

‘Alder said I was improving though,’ Gin said in defence.

‘Your improvement was comparable to an E rank going to rank D. You lacked speed, precision and strength. You could tell why I was sceptical, when Alder said he wanted to appoint you as his replacement. Do you know his reason as well?’

Gin thought for a bit before saying, ‘Because I had potential?’

‘No. Although he had said that at one point, the real reason was different. It’s actually nonsensical now that I think about it. He wanted to appoint you as the next leader of his battalion because you accepted the Xernim.’

‘Wow. That really is bull-’ Gin said, stopping himself from swearing.

‘I guess it’s not his fault. We were in the same squadron at one point and he was always bullied for being a Xernim user. They’re sort of a hated bunch. The MBP conditioned everyone to believe that the successful are those who are strong by themselves. Those who rely on parasites to be their strength are considered weak by most, even if they are stronger in a one v one.’

‘So, what does that have to do with me?’

‘You treated him differently. You didn’t see him as a Xernim user, but as a mentor to be respected. You accepted to use Xernims by your own accord. Even though you were arrogant and rash with him, he valued you highly. He sat you out of training so that you could observe everyone else. He was preparing you for the role.

I, on the other hand, didn’t like the appointment. In fact, I was about to demote you as the war was coming ever closer. But then you came to me. You had ideas. You presented them to me in my office. You used something I didn’t expect anyone to use: their intellect.’

Gin was confused. Was that something like that so strange? Well, it was a world where people are taught to be prejudice on rank, category and squadron, Gin concluded.

‘Is using my brain really that strange?’

‘Look, child. That question just shows your inexperience. But yes, it is strange. All the battles I’ve been involved in were just a question of who were stronger. We didn’t think about how to win efficiently, it was just a contest of who could kill the other faster.’

‘Battles of brawn rather than wit.’

‘Exactly. Alder, my predecessor and I thought there must have been a more efficient way of using resources, so we founded this squadron. However, the MBP wouldn’t give us missions and, as a result, mages stopped applying to us. The only ones who did were the low-ranked.

So, when you actually came up with battle plan, I looked into your other work. I was surprised, child. Your battalion members have improved drastically, most of them are at least a rank or two higher in ability. Your project with the F rankers has come to fruition. They will become a great asset to us, for sure. Your work is what squadron W is built upon. Not only that, Joan has been enjoying her time with you as well.’

‘She has?’ Gin said in a surprised tone.

‘Yes, child. She was actually my medic before you, but she decided to become yours.’

‘She used to be yours? And she voluntarily decided to become mine? This is news to me. Thought she hated babysitting me.’

‘She didn’t have to do anything when she was with me. I never got injured or did anything stupid. You, on the other hand, are rash and got hurt regularly. Although she isn’t the type to say it, she enjoys helping you heal. It keeps her busy. She also found a passion in cooking. I’m presuming that was because of you too?’

‘Possibly,’ Gin responded, thinking back to the mage-meat meals Joan make for him.

‘I’m side tracking a bit. Essentially, if you didn’t apply to this squadron, you would never have gotten a chance to join. If you didn’t face Varunel, you would never have peaked my interest. If you never had contacts with Wontiferus, we would probably never have gotten this mission. If you never met Alder, you would never have been a battalion leader. If I wasn’t the way I am, I might not have been so lenient with your ideas. While the other leaders needed to be B rank and battle experience, you just happened to be in the right place at the right time, doing the right things.

I’ll re-iterate again. Your luck is incredible. It’s like a super natural power, beyond our control, is governing your fate. However, whatever the reason for your rise in power was, you have my full support.’

‘Was the point of keeping me behind to give me this pep talk?’ Gin asked, buoyed by the encouragement.

‘haha. No, child. I actually wanted to speak to you about something else, but I sort of spoke my mind to you.’

‘A lot of people tell me how they feel. Don’t know why though. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?’

‘I actually believe that one of you should know what the other group doing. Having no one know might lead to doubt, and a loss in morality, when things get rough.’

‘That makes sense. What are they going to do then?’

‘Remember the abnormality you pointed out?’

‘In the documents I gave you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh, we’re actually going to use them?’

‘Exactly. Now let me show you how.’