At night, in the middle of nowhere, a building can be seen on fire. People running in and around it fighting each other. On one side there were a group of international terrorists and on the other side, soldiers had just been ambushed here.

The mission that they had received had been quite simple, get in the compound, in the silence of the night. Get the hostages out of the grasp of terrorists and get out before anyone can notice anything out of place. The mission had been quite simple at the start but soon had taken a turn for the worse.

"Retreat! Retreat! Get the hell out of here. Watch each other's back and pull out. We need to get out of here right now!"
Colonel Shepherd had been barking orders at his men as they retreated. They had been ambushed in the middle of the mission and a few good soldiers had lost their lives. He did not want the rest of the soldiers to lose their lives for nothing.
He had been watching the back of his men while taking cover from the ongoing fire.

'How did this happen? There is no way that they knew we would be coming. The mission had just been approved a few hours ago. Unless we were betrayed.'

The dread had been eating Shepherd alive that one of his men might have betrayed him. He was not ready to accept that it was anyone on his squad that betrayed them. He could blindly trust his life to these men and they could trust him with theirs.

"Keep going boys we need to make it to the extraction point. Alpha will be sending a helicopter out for us, We just need to get there. Keep going! James! Stop daydreaming in the middle of the battle and get a move on."

Shepherd Yelled at James who had been falling behind the others. He had been lagging behind the others in a daze and had just fallen down. After hearing Shepherd he snapped out of it, got up, and fell back in line with a single response.

"Yes Sir."

"We're three minutes out from the extraction point Alpha. The helicopter better be there, and mind telling me why are we the ones getting ambushed when we were the ones to attack them? Were we betrayed?"

Shepherd wanted to know as soon as possible if the leak came from them or not. He could not take it anymore, knowing the traitor might be among them. He had been yelling his orders nonstop, because of all the noise from gunfights and blasts.

They were running in the middle of a burning battlefield while taking cover from the fire at small intervals. They were running through a forest at the moment. The temperature of the place had risen up from the burning trees and still blasting grenades.

Their mouths and throats had dried up from the heat and constant screaming. Although their mouth and throat were dry as a desert their skin, their uniforms were drenched from the never-ending streams of sweat and blood.

While running from their pursuers in midst of the noise from the battlefield Shepherd's comm gave a static as it conveyed Alpha's devastating message to Shepherd. Dropping the morale even more than it was.

"The Chopper is ten minutes out Shepherd. You guys have to hold on for ten more minutes and help will be there. Just hold on! As for your other question, we can only wait and find out. Get back to safety first, then we will talk."

"That is a negative Alpha. My men cannot hold on for another ten minutes in this hell hole. We are getting surrounded by the enemy from all sides. We are sitting ducks here." Shepherd did not push Alpha for his other question because he was right, this was not the time for it. They needed to get out of here first.

While Shepherd had been talking to Alpha he was distracted for a moment and had taken a hit on his left arm. He stumbled and fell to the ground. He was out in the open and had to take cover so he crawled to cover and safety.

'Goddamint! Let me get out of here alive and I will find out just who it was that betrayed us. And I promise there will be hell to pay!'

Shepherd was furious that he did not know who went behind their back and sold them out. He just wanted to bite into their neck chew them out. He leaned on a tree and tried to patch his wound with one hand which was hard.

Sergeant John rushed over as he saw his battalion commander get hit. "Are you alright sir!" John Inquired. He helped quickly bandage his arm. It was hard for Shepherd to do it with one arm so he did it for him so that they could move on. It was not safe for them to stay in one place for that long. As the enemy was gaining ground on them.

"I am fine Sergeant." Shepherd took his hand and stood up. "Alpha is sending a chopper but it is ten minutes out. We need to hold the fort for another ten minutes. Take charge from the front of the squad and lead them through the cover of the trees. I will cover our retreat. ETA is ten minutes, go!"

Sergeant John gave him a nod in acknowledgment of his orders and moved forward to take charge of the squad. Their retreat continued for a few more minutes until they reached their destination, the extraction point.

When they reached the extraction point the chopper was not there as Alpha had said. Now all they could do was to take cover behind trees, some big rocks, and ditches. They holed themselves in a position to brace for the upcoming enemies. They had to be very careful at this stage of retreat. They were stuck in one position, were dead tired, many of them were injured including Shepherd and they were running out of ammo.

The only thing they could do now was waiting for Alpha and the reinforcements. Then began the longest ten minutes of their lives. Where each minute felt like an hour.

*************

"How are the preparations going on? Will everything be ready in time?"

Asked the King when he entered the throne room. People were running around doing work as fast as possible. They had been on a tight schedule and everything needed to be perfect for this to work.

"Yes, my King everything is ready. The runes have been drawn according to the records and the mana stones have also been prepared. A few final adjustments are taking place and we should be able to begin in a few minutes." The old man reported to his king as he bowed down before him.

The king entered the throne room and surveyed the people working nonstop. Just in front of his throne, in a small area, some type of symbols had been drawn on the floor. In the symbols drawn on the floor in a circular pattern, eight cubes had been placed. They were all glowing in different colors.

The king took his seat on the throne and tried to relax. He was trying to calm himself down and tried to believe that everything will be alright in the end. Just then a man came up to him, bowed, and spoke in a soft voice.

"Your majesty, all the preparations have been completed and checked again for any possible mistakes. With your permission, we can now begin."

The king whilst sitting on his throne heaved a sigh and looked at all the people present there today. His officials were all standing by his side in two neat lines on both his sides. They were just as anxious as the king was. They did not know what the result of this would be.

He then looked to his right, where his queen was sitting. A beautiful woman sitting by his side, his love, his partner. She wore a gentle smile on her face and gently nodded at him. She was trying to encourage her husband for what was to come.

He then shifted his gaze to his left side, where his children were also standing by his side. His son and daughter, waiting for him to make his decision and begin.

"Every preparation that was needed has been prepared. Everything that was required, that requirement has been met. Now that we are ready, let us summon our last hope, The Hero!"

The king drew a heavy sigh as he stood up from his throne. He looked straight ahead at the place where everything had been prepared and the ceremony was meant to take place. He started thinking to himself, what he was about to do.

'I cannot believe that it has come to this that to save my people and the kingdom I have to rely on someone I don't know at all. Someone who might try to save us or just join hands with our enemy and destroy us all.'

All he could possibly do now was to hope for the best and be prepared for the worst. And the worst was yet to come.