General Harnacei awoke at dawn to meet with General Harning. The two quickly ran over their attack strategy with each of their squad leaders and readied themselves for battle. They each had to cross the mountain pass in order to cross the border between Hutch and Alsenia. However, they decided that the best route was to send each squad through different footpaths through the mountains instead of taking the highway road where an ambush could be set up. Scouts also went ahead to overtake any border patrols that were stationed along the paths.

Haracei’s group had been tasked with traversing the western portion of the mountain range, bordering the nation of Iscanon while Harning’s group traverse the eastern edge of the mountain range, bordering the Empire. Hutch was used to prairie battles unlike Paslone so it was decided that they would be much more useful in the plains between the Empire and the Capital. The General was personally worried about turning their back to the Empire since they were the first to summon a hero in this war but General Harning assured him that they wouldn’t be a threat.

Saddling up, the General gathered up Jean-Paul and his squads to start heading through the mountains. The jagged rocks along the path dug into the Norhs’ gloved hands as they climbed up the mountain path. The poor soldiers not riding on Norhs were stuck hiking the steep rocky incline with only their spears to help stabilize them amongst the loose, jagged stone.

After nearly two hours, the squad had crested the first mountain and could see the Capital of Alsenia in the distance beyond the next mountaintop. To the east, Jean-Paul and General Harnaceicei could see some of their other squads in the distance to the east. However, Jean-Paul’s eyes caught something different. He couldn’t tell whether his eyes were playing tricks on him or not so he turned to Haracei.

“General… is it just me, or is that area of land getting taller?” Jean-Paul asked, pointing exactly where the Empire was.

With a confused expression, Harnaceicei looked where Jean-Paul was pointing. “What in the nine hells are you talking about this-” Harnacei froze. Squinting ever so slightly, he eyed the area and within seconds turned to his men and yelled, “Take cover as best you can! Make sure to avoid any boulders! The mountain is about to shake!”

The men became frantic as they all scrambled for safety. Harnaceicei and Jean-Paul simply watched in anticipation and awe as the Empire rose out of the swampy earth in the form of a marble-white pyramid-like cityscape. With it though came a thunderous crack that echoed through the mountains like a howl from death itself. The Mountain range began to shake and rumble, the soldier's legs became weak and their armor rattled against the earth where they were huddled. Landslides formed across the entire mountain range, causing the mountain highway to be completely blocked with rubble.

“Good thing we didn’t take that road,” Jean-Paul commented as the tremors subsided.

“Let’s just hope that none of our squads were caught in any of those landslides,” Harnaceicei said with an annoyed but thankful tone before calling out to the rest of his squad. Most of them followed his order but some were fairly shaken up by the ordeal, requiring a little more coercion from the rest of the squad in order to continue.

Walking along the path over the next mountain, Jean-Paul rode up beside Harnaceicei. “Any thoughts on what that was?” he asked with a curious tone. Though the General didn’t even acknowledge his presence so Jean-Paul continued with his questions. “That was the Empire’s territory that you told me about, correct? Should we be worried?”

Since there was no other way of shutting up the Frenchman, Harnaceicei shook his head with a sigh. Whilst continuing to ride along on his Norhs, he began answering his questions. “That was in fact, Imperial territory. What caused it is beyond me… but I’m beginning to think that General Harning may have been wrong about the Empire not being a threat.”