A thunderous boom shook Philip’s very bones, rocking his body as the massive cannon he was manning dug a bit deeper into the sand. “Bella! Did it hit?” he shouted upwards, squinting to see the woman who climbed the wall of the keep.

A distant explosion, only one of many, shook the ground, and she nodded, “You hit the vehicle support! Go a bit closer if you want to hit the tanks!” she shouted. Philip nodded, shouting orders to his little three-man group of artillerymen. Between them, Philip was the highest leveled, which afforded him a suite of general enhancing Traits, like [Increased Stamina], [Increased Regeneration], and [Dexterous Muscles], among others.

He used his Traits to finely adjust the cannon’s barrel and gestured to the two loaders. They gave him thumbs up, so he pulled the cord and let the shell fly. Another boom came, and he looked up to Bella for direction. After a moment, she gave a wide grin, “You nailed a nasty one!” she called down, “Aim further out so you can hit the supply trucks!”

Philip did as he was told, pulling the cord after a few more moments, “How’s that?” he called.

There was a pause, “Good! Do it again, they’re regrouping!” Philip did exactly that, pulling the cord to the backdrop of the booming artillery, “Again!” Another shell was launched, “That’s good! Ah, that doesn’t look good! Go as far out as you can and put in the special shells! The ones Nikolanians gave us!”

“Alright!” he replied, gesturing to the two other Earthborns to load the shell. Over the previous days of loading, firing, and reloading, they had become a well-oiled machine, firing shells into the battle for twelve hours in the day and switching with another group for the other half of the day. That meant that, in doing their jobs, they were quite efficient. They soon loaded the shell into the cannon and Philip pulled the cord. The thunderous boom heralded a massive explosion somewhere in the distance.

“You forgot to aim out!” Bella shouted, “Do it again, but this time, listen to me!”

“Sorry!” Philip replied, remembering to fully raise the cannon, then he decided to aim it downwards a few degrees, since whatever Bella was calling out was likely a bit closer than she originally called out for. He pulled the cord and let the second special shell rain. There was a massive explosion from somewhere and a loud cheer raised from the front line.

“That got ‘em!” Bella called, “We’re almost done here, just launch a few more shells and then we’re on break!” Philip commanded the two fellow earthborns as they  shot another few shells into the fighting. He stepped back, letting the new team of three take over, and began walking away. Bella landed in the sand beside him, giving him a grin, “Nice shooting there, Phil. Nice loading, Nancy, Gil.” The three of them gave thumbs up in response, smiling as they made their way to the western part of the fortress.

The western section had become the hub of tents, kitchens, and medic tents that made up the main bulk of the domestic life in the fortress. They walked for a while longer, passing groups of people smoking, playing cards, somehow dozing off in the constant noise, eating, reading, or any number of other recreational activities. They eventually found their way to their own tent group and all collapsed at the table. Sitting there were Mark and Caleb, both of whom were slouched over while nursing cups of tea-- since the upper levels of command forbade them from drinking alcohol. “What’s up, you two?” Bella asked, “Mark, are you still angry about Eva?”

The man gave a weak shrug, “I know she’s fine, but I just wish she wouldn’t go off and do stupid shit like this. I mean, she’s gotten lost in the depths of cities multiple times. I’ve had to drag her out of strip clubs in the hearts of two cities after she wandered around. It’s not a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, you know? Now she decides to join the lich on a wild goose chase in the role of the goose. It’s stressful.”

Philip vaguely nodded, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. He was still filled with a lot of sadness about what happened to Jack, or rather, Mori. He went back to the question of whether or not he was projecting his memories of Jack onto Mori, but he simply could not help himself. There was something of the friend he had in Mori, but it was all gone, wiped away and replaced with the logic-defying, god-heeding, bull-headed lich that ferried them to what a lot of the earthborns who had seen the front line had called the Heart of Hell.

They all agreed to go there. They all agreed to pack their things and to set sail for the front line, but it was still a place worthy of being called the Heart of Hell. Dead were ferried back as much as wounded were, though in terms of combat power one was barely worse than the other. The only problem, to high command, came from those that couldn’t even be brought back, ‘not even in a bucket,’ as one of the necromancers remarked.

“Hey, you agreed to let her go, so you obviously don’t mind her making her own choices,” Bella said, “I’m not saying that you’re wrong to get frustrated, but just remember that she’s her own person. With my time atop my soapbox ended, you’re right, I don’t know what she’s thinking either. I mean, she must’ve fallen in love with Desire to want to go with them.”

Caleb groaned as he looked between the two, “More power to her, but I’m personally more interested in what’s happening on the front line. There’s been a lot of materials being withdrawn from the warehouses and I’m wondering where it’s going. On top of that, I still don’t know what happened to the supposed airskiffs. I doubt they just left them there, right?”

“Who knows,” Philip said, “We’ve just got to do our jobs. I mean, the only thing we can really do is the support stuff. They don’t exactly trust us with anything else.”

Bella nodded with his words, “Well, we’re the few who showed up who couldn’t be put on the front lines, so they need us to work overtime. Can’t have the guys up there getting killed because they don’t have enough bullets.”

Philip nodded, looking off into the horizon when he saw something odd. There were shapes flying towards them, all different colors. They were large, and numerous. Numerous enough that more people than only him had seen it. Men and women scrambled about to meet the potential threats, but the buzz of activity died down when a roar blasted across the sands. Then another. Then three more. The roars were as numerous as the shapes, and the gathered soldiers gaped at the spectacle.

It was then that Philip turned his head to look east, towards Aekan, only to see more shapes on the horizon. They were all the same color, a brass-like orange, and their approach was not announced with a roar.

It was announced by the lights of shots and the thunder of cannon fire. 

Philip grumbled and shook his head. The shots were aimed at the dragons, so there was nothing he could do. He would have preferred to be anywhere else, but he could not run. There was nowhere to go. Instead, he settled back down at the table, and closed his eyes, listening to the roars and cannonfire, the gunshots and explosions, and the scraping of steel and magic flying.

Eventually, the fighting stopped, and a cheer rose in the lines. Bella tapped him on the shoulder and he looked at her annoyedly, “You think they won?” she asked, gaining some satisfaction from seeing him annoyed.

“Probably,” he said, “But this is probably just going to escalate things. Bigger toys will be brought out to match the dragons.”

Bella grumbled at him, “You’re acting like seeing dragons flying around and blasting armies of mechanical death machines is boring. Can’t you enjoy yourself a bit more? I mean, we’ve got nothing else to do out here, right?”

“Bella, people are dying,” he said, shooting her a glare, “Remember that. People are dying. We might find some relief from that fact on occasion, but people are still dying. This isn’t supposed to be fun.”

She stopped for a second, furrowing her brow, “I… Yeah, you’re right. But if you stay there and mope about it, then that just brings everyone else down. Come on, let’s go see the dragons and admire them before they start keeping the skies clear.” He let her drag him from his seat and followed behind after a few moments of token resistance. He did not enjoy fighting with her, but he had to get his point across. At the very least, he could get some momentary relief from the constant, bloody routine by seeing their new allies.