End and Beginning

The airship was flying at full speed, high in the sky, below it the blue sea, but not crystal clear or beautiful, rather grayish and agitated, a storm was approaching and not just a rainstorm, the drums of war in the distance, the launch of missiles accompanied them. Inside the vehicle were three passengers, none of them human, three angels and warriors who had taken on a task that, although as simple as delivering a message, was already dangerous because of who they had to deliver it to. The pilots, on the other hand, were more excited than the girl; they were accompanied by the great heroine of Cadreth Prime, so they couldn't stop speculating about what kind of high-risk mission this was, or if they would survive it.

"I heard she was the same one who stopped the use of Nova 6 at Inferno Point."
"An elite warrior," one of them mentioned.

"Isn't she also Supervisor Serena's sister?" the youngest pilot said.

"Yes, she is, but keep your voice down, didn't you hear what happened to her?"
"She lost her position just for talking to the guy we're going to visit."
"I heard he ripped her wings off."
"It's the worst kind of pain you can go through, like having your entire spine shredded in less than 10 seconds."
"And I don't want the same thing to happen to me just because I talk too much," the veteran pilot said.

"But is this guy really the same guy from the Atlantis story?"
"You know... the one who killed the other 6 final bosses."

"Oh yeah, I heard once that he was so angry that he ripped out the eyes of the True Dragon of Death with his own hands."

"That's nothing, I heard the guy survived a plane crash during an aerial battle against enemy aces, yeah, collision with explosion, fireball and all."
"They say the expression 'too badass to die' applies to him."

"Guys, can you shut up for a moment, this is serious," the girl in the back mentioned.
"If we mess up with him in any way, we'll go back to heaven quickly without using this ship."
"And without our wings, too."
"..."
"Look at it from a different perspective."
"No matter what the stories say, he's just another man."
"That's how he sees himself, or how he lies to himself."
"And that's the only truth you should believe if you want to come back from this mission alive."

"Yeah, sure, and if he were just a normal person, why are we here in the first place?"
"We're going into a war zone between humans, that's not our problem."
"It says so in the CSS manual."
"We can't interfere with the problems of level 3 or below sentient beings."

"It's our problem because he's here."
"He's the one doing us a big favor by searching for the Codex."
"..."
"You at least know what that is, right?" Stella replied, worried about the lack of context one of the pilots had.

"Ohhh..."

"Sorry Stella, he's the new guy I told you about."
"He's exceptional as a pilot, knows the air by heart."
"The problem is that his head is also only filled with it," the old pilot mentioned.

"'Oh, well, look, in general it's simple, in short, it's a stone that grants wishes.'"
"Typical fairy tale object, you've probably heard the story a million times."
"This stone got lost in the human world, and of course it's not good for humans to use it."
"The problem, besides humans having it, is that it's also in a war zone that's well documented by journalists."
"We can't just show up and take it back without risking our existence being discovered."
"So we called Cesar to help us find it."
"He will look for it and bring it back to us," Stella replied as quickly as possible.

"Yes, but if the stone is in a war zone, why is he doing us the favor of searching for it?"
"I mean, he's going into a super dangerous combat zone where you can easily lose your life to a bullet."
"To look for a little crystal in the middle of a firefight?"
"What's in it for him?" the new guy asked, understandably.

"If he finds the stone, we'll cure his sister who's in the hospital."
"She has a serious and almost incurable disease, we'll just perform a 'small miracle' in exchange for his cooperation."

"And isn't it easier for him to find the wish stone and ask for his sister's cure himself?"

"That's because it's more than just a stupid stone."
"I just gave you the summary, but the stone requires an advance payment, a very large one."
"So it's easier to give it to us than to ask for the stone directly."

"Hey, I've got the aircraft carrier on radar, we're close."
"I'm going into stealth mode."
"Hold on to your seats, it's not easy to land on a military aircraft carrier without being detected."
" Touchdown in 5 minutes!"

The spaceship lifted its optical cloak and disappeared from sight as if by magic. The main pilot maneuvered carefully, trying not to be seen by the watchful eyes of the Alliance carrier personnel, soldiers looking for any sign of an enemy attack. But the Angels managed to position themselves beside the runway for a few seconds, long enough for the girl to jump from the transport to the ship. Once there, her officer disguise allowed her to walk among the personnel without much trouble, especially when she already knew where to go, to the pilots' barracks, a door was closed from the inside, Stella knocked on the door and greeted inside.

"Good morning, Cesar," the girl said nervously, although she managed to hide the sound.
"Are you ready for today's mission?"
"We don't have much time, you'll be called into the briefing room soon."

"Stella!"

The man inside didn't reflect anything remarkable about him, his height was average and that was his most notable feature, the rest of his body was covered by an assault soldier suit, gloves on, helmet on, goggles covering his eyes, and as if that wasn't enough, he even wore a sky mask to completely cover his face. It was no coincidence, everything was planned, his identity was hidden for more than one reason, but the main one was to reveal as little as possible of his violent past, the impression his image gave to others was almost as important as his own weapon, he knew that better than anyone, at first glance he did not seem to be the great man of the cruel tales about him, but just another mortal, exactly the impression he wanted to give, the one he wanted to be known and underestimated.

"Did anyone see you coming? Did anyone follow you?"

"No, there were no problems."

"Good, so what's the situation this time?"
"Have they finally confirmed the presence of the Codex in Oslo?" the warrior said as he loaded his weapon for the last time.

"That's right, we were able to visually confirm the target."
"The Codex is currently in the custody of the I.S.C. research team in Oslo."
"The research is being conducted with extreme caution, so it's impossible for us to get any closer or retrieve it."
"The Empire's surprise attack on the city of Oslo is our best chance to steal it without arousing suspicion."
"After all, who cares about a robbery when the whole city is under attack?" Stella replied quickly.

"The I.S.C. had it all this time? Seriously?"
"And how the hell did they manage to get it in the first place?"

The man was surprised by the angel's statement, but how could he not be, since he had joined the Alliance army he knew exactly who they were. The I.S.C. was a multinational technology company, one of the largest in the world, contracted by the Alliance, they were responsible for researching and manufacturing new weapons for the continental war, technology, vehicles, pharmaceuticals, if it was new and partially technological, it most likely had the I.S.C. logo on the side. When the United States entered the conflict and their equipment purchased from the I.S.C. reached the front lines, they were able to change the course of the war, soon the other countries of the Alliance followed suit with contracts to have their weapons as well. The fact that the Codex was under the control of such a dangerous and powerful corporation was undoubtedly bad.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Cesar, I'm afraid the only answer I can give you at the moment is that we don't know, we're as surprised by this fact as you are."
"I also regret to inform you that the Codex is not the only important thing in the possession of the I.S.C."
"As far as we know, there is at least one other object from the dark days of Atlantis."
"Unfortunately, our spy had to cut off communication the moment it was found, so we're currently trying to get it out of the country secretly."
"We believe that both objects are stored together in a large capsule."

Stella looked at Cesar, because of his equipment she couldn't even see a gesture in his body, she hoped to see if he showed any reaction, something with which she could see his feelings, something with which she could see his thoughts, but there was nothing. So instead, she plucked up courage and tried to speak as calmly as possible to make a good impression on the great warrior in front of her.

"We hope this will cause some serious complications, so please adapt to the situation as quickly as possible."
"The top priority of this mission is to retrieve and extract the Codex at all costs."
"As for getting out of the city, we're trying to set up several escape routes."
"We will inform you about them later."

"Alright, that's fine."
"But today I'm assigned as a helicopter pilot."
"What excuse will I use to infiltrate the I.S.C. lab if I'm supposed to fly over the city?"

"During transport to the war zone, you should be able to fake a mechanical failure in your helicopter."
"We even have several other Angels in the city to help you make your crash more realistic."
"In fact, right now one of them is slightly damaging the rotor of your helicopter, nothing extreme, but it will definitely convince you enough to stay on the ground with the other Alliance soldiers.

"Ah, how annoying."
"Well, at least I can finally finish my work with this 'incident,' as you like to call it."
"..."
"What about my payment?"

Stella felt a shiver run through her body when she heard him; she did her best to hide it, but she couldn't lie to herself. She was nervous to hear that the man was upset about all the extra work on this mission, just one, but hiring the survivor of Atlantis for this task, someone who had already suffered martyrdom before all this, expected a worthy payment, one that Stella didn't think just healing his sister was enough for, but the Emperor hadn't asked for any extra payment, so she and her superiors just gave the rehearsed answer.

"We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused, Oh Great and Wise Emperor."
"But if you will allow me to speak to you, I can personally assure you that once this mission is over, we will have finally tied up all the loose ends of the war against the dragons."

"I don't give a damn about the title of emperor, Atlantis, or the damn War against the Dragons."
"That's not putting food on the table these days."
"My sister, that's what I'm asking you, you shithead!"

The girl's heart almost stopped when she heard the man's obvious anger; for a moment she thought she was dead. Stella remembered the cruel way her sister had been tortured for simply upsetting the same man she was talking to now; she feared her wings would be torn off as well. But the Emperor just stood there, waiting for her answer, so one had to be given. Stella decided to just play along and suffer the problem of making it real later; it was much easier than facing his wrath, which not even the True Dragons survived.

"Your sister Maria will be cured as promised."
"We've taken care of her from the beginning; she hasn't even suffered from a simple cold, and even if this mission succeeds or not, we promise to heal her at any cost."

"...."
"Okay, that's good, it just means I have to do my part and that's it."
"I can't wait to leave the army after this and go back to my family."
"Visit my sister in the hospital and see her get discharged."
"I need to make up for a lot of lost years with my family because of all this shit," the man returned to check his equipment one last time.

The danger had passed; Stella could breathe again; she had survived. The only thing left to do was to leave the place as soon as possible to avoid any trouble, so she hurried her goodbye as much as she could.

"Okay, then, it's time for me to go."
"I wish you luck on your next mission."
"Everyone in the sky is counting on you again."

Stella bowed her head as a final gesture and turned to begin her march back among the carrier personnel, playing her role as just another officer. Her journey to the landing strip was without any major incidents; shortly after, she was able to locate her transport waiting for her nearby; she got in quickly and the vehicle started moving to leave this place as soon as possible, leaving the man in charge of this dangerous and poorly planned mission behind.