Location: Kalahari Desert, Botswana

Date: 26th April 2025

"We're getting done in!" The man's voice echoed across the battlefield just before a round struck his chest, taking the life from him as the bullet tore through his body and left a gruesome exit wound. The air filled with the sound of relentless gunfire, turning his face into a splattered mess, scattering chunks of flesh amidst the sand-covered terrain.

The two remaining defenders observed the lifeless body hitting the ground, shock paralysing their expressions. Taking refuge behind massive rocks in their defensive position, they clung to their skulls as the NZA troops closed in on their location.

One of the defenders turned to his companion, "Paul, we need to get out of here." He cautiously peeked from cover, clutching his rusted AK, but before he could pull the trigger, he was mercilessly gunned down. A single shot pierced his face, causing him to hit a rock on the way down, resulting in a pool of blood mingling with the sand.

Paul, the final defender, watched as his final friend lay lifeless. He was now alone, going into his pouch he pulled out a clock. Two Hours. He would die before then, he just knew it. If he did make it there he knew it would be nothing short of a miracle.

Overwhelmed with grief and fear, he drew his knees close to his chest, clutching his rifle nearby.

Suddenly, the crack of a twig snapped his attention to a rifle barrel poking around the corner of the rock. His heart pounded faster, and he gripped his chest as he struggled to breathe. His vision blurred as he saw a figure wearing a skull mask approaching, tilting its head to the side.

Just before he blacked out, a soft, continuous "Brrrr" sound resonated in his ears. Followed by the figure in front of him slumping to the ground.

His eyes opened in a flash as he sat up on the soft mat. As he looked around his vision was still hazy, he reached out attempting to put his hand on what he thought was a wall. His hand pressed down on it as it moved backwards and he was falling. Thankfully, someone caught him, wedging their hand between the ground and his face.

The female Ranger moved his face back onto the blowup mat as she gripped her radio, "He's awake."

A flash of light penetrated the tent as Mounts stepped through the doorway, he chucked his bag down as he looked at the Ranger, "Leave us."

The Ranger nodded exiting. Mounts looked around the tent and then to the man laying down, "I am Lieutenant Mounts," He paused, "My unit recently discovered information linking your people to vital knowledge that could help bring down the Oceanic Empire, do you have any clue why that may be?"

Paul looked to the side immediately giving himself away. He didn't speak.

Paul looked away, involuntarily betraying his unease. He remained silent.

Mounts acknowledged Paul's reaction as he walked closer to him. "I see... I'm also not in the mood to do this the easy way." With force, he seized the man's arm and pushed him into the mat, causing an audible pop. As Paul winced in pain, Mounts twisted the arm backwards, keeping it locked in place. "I swear, I will break your arm into thousands of pieces if you don't tell me everything you know," he said calmly, his tone chilling. "My qualification as a medic works both ways."

Before Paul could answer, the fabric door was pushed to the side once again, "What's going on here?" The figure asked.

Mounts didn't let the man go, "Testing reverse medication, along with enhanced interrogation, Sir."

Mclaw rubbed his eyes, "Let him go, while I'm not someone to tell you to not take your anger out on the enemy... he is not the enemy."

Mounts nodded letting go as the man grabbed his aching arm, "Understood Sir."

Mclaw patted him on the back, "Get some water and food, it wasn't your fault." Mounts exited the tent as Mclaw and Mabasa sat next to Paul, "Now... first I'd like to apologise for my subordinate, he gets like this when he can't save someone."

Paul sat up as he clicked his arm, "Quickly, can I ask for your name?"

Mclaw glanced at Mabasa, "Depends, will you tell us what we want to know in return?"

Paul struggled to his feet, "Explaining it here would be harder, it's probably easier to show you."

***

Paul lit a torch as he descended the staircase, the Rangers and GOU Operators escorting him switched on their helmet flashlights as Paul stopped, "No flashlights, please. We don't want to disturb anything down here."

The Rangers looked at Mclaw who laughed slightly at the comment, "Turn them off, you'll spoil the mood."

The Rangers nodded, complying, turning off their lights.

As Paul continued his descent down the stairs, leading into a long hallway. He began to explain, "Today we know that Churchism is the dominating religion, its hundreds of sects and cults, many hidden. But long ago there used to be another, a sect of Judaism that knew that God had descended on our world. My ancestors."

Mclaw observed the drawings on the wall as Paul spoke, noting a depiction of a baby's crib surrounded by several men, followed by a man standing next to a boat, and finally, a man on a cross with the letters "INRI" written above him in an unfamiliar language.

Paul continued, "After God left Earth, we struggled, we were persecuted, we were tormented. But we continued, not once did we break. If our sacrifice was required we would die in the name of the truth..."

A Ranger looked at another trying to hide a laugh.

Baker shot him a glare as the Ranger shut up.

Paul paused in front of a picture, his voice carrying a sense of historical significance. "After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, European cooperation became much more commonplace, and our next target was the enemy religion of Islam."

Mclaw nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm familiar."

Paul chuckled softly. "Oh no, you are not. Islam, as it exists today, lacks many of the scriptures they had back then. For instance, Jesus used to be a part of their texts."

One of the Rangers appeared confused. "Who's Jesus?"

Paul didn't look directly at the Ranger, and Mclaw answered instead, "From my understanding, Jesus is one of their Gods."

Paul shook his head, wanting to clarify the information. "Actually, Jesus is one of the three persons of God. He is both fully God and fully human." He then refocused on the topic, realising he was getting side-tracked. "But let's not digress. Over the next few decades, we prepared meticulously, building and readying our fleets and armies. It all culminated in 1170 when we launched a massive offensive through Spain, pushing the Muslims back and retaking all that had been lost 400 years prior. We encircled their troops, decimating their forces." He pointed to a picture on the wall, depicting a group of valiant warriors standing before a pile of enemy corpses while holding a banner aloft.

Mclaw examined the image with intrigue, admitting, "I've never heard of this before."

Paul's lack of surprise was evident. "This history was purposefully erased by the victors. Here are the last remnants of it."

The four Rangers exchanged confused glances, while the GOU operators stood attentively, absorbing the conversation.

Paul turned around to face them, his expression serious. "Before I continue, may I ask if anyone here is religious?"

One of the Rangers nodded cautiously, asking, "What if we are?"

A mischievous grin appeared on Paul's face. "Then I can share with you the veiled truth, hidden by the Church."

He began walking further down the corridor, and Mclaw looked at the Ranger. "I can send you back up if you need. We have more than enough to restrain him if he acts out."

The Ranger, determined, replied, "That won't be necessary, Sir. I can take a few hits to my pride."

Mclaw nodded, trusting his judgement, and caught up with the rest of the unit.

As he hung back slightly, Mclaw whispered into his headset microphone, "If this guy is trying to deceive us, I want to hear everything he has to say, because the greatest lie is one mixed with a bit of truth."

Mabasa's voice came through the earpiece, sounding concerned, "You don't trust him?"

Mclaw nodded subtly. "An enemy of my enemy could still be an enemy."

Paul placed his hand on the wall, saying something in Latin. Mclaw repeated it in English, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Mclaw paused thinking, "The Bible?"

Paul nodded, confirming Mclaw was correct in his translation, "Correct, Matthew 22:37, Jesus's first commandment." Paul walked further down putting his hand on the faded drawing, muttering something else in Latin, Mclaw didn't bother to translate this time so Paul continued, "Jesus's second commandment."

Suddenly, the room illuminated with a blue and green glow, "After the great Crusade of South-Western European reclamation, we got greedy, a few months later we pushed into Northern Africa, we chased the Muslims across the desert, doing what your Montgomery did nearly a millennium later."

Mclaw turned back to Burt, "Amy, any records?"

She was already flicking through her wrist console, "Bits and pieces, I've found records of a major war between Islam and someone else... no clue who though. Most of these records date back around a hundred years or so from the British Museum."

Mclaw watched Paul closely, "Forward the files to my sources, they'll scan the other national archives for anything restricted."

Paul tilted his head back slightly, "Believe me now?"

Mclaw raised an eyebrow, "I'm getting there."

Paul smiled, walking down the long corridor, "Around the borders of what is Egypt today, our armies were hundreds of thousands strong, we were enclosing on the final Muslim stronghold when we received a message from the Vatican, it said, "Do not advance any further, the Pope has lied, your beliefs are false, any continuation of this campaign will lead to eternal suffering."

He placed his hand on a picture of a circular schematic, the drawing was perfectly preserved.

Paul continued, "We attacked," he paused, "hundreds of thousands of knights and peasants attacked the walls, it was a death charge, they scaled the walls using siege machines, causing opening, Norman archers let their arrows go... it was hell for the enemy. But then he appeared..."

Paul gulped as his hands started to shake, "A single figure appeared above the fortress, floating. We watched in awe as he waved a hand, our first wave was annihilated, then three more." Paul paused, gripping his fist, "Today the church calls that figure, the Black Death, it was their excuse for the indiscriminate annihilation of our forces."

Mclaw bit his lip as he heard Burt's voice, "Indeed the army was killed by the Black Death, but there was no account of a mystical flying figure."

Mclaw raised his eyebrow as Paul noticed, "You don't believe me, huh? Colour me surprised."

Mclaw looked back at the Rangers, "I'm putting a gag order on all of you, this gets out, I'll put your head on a pike." He paused, "Keep this out of the reports."

The Rangers raised their eyebrows that Mclaw was seriously suggesting any of this could be true.

Mclaw looked back at Paul, "So why didn't your ancestors flee back to Europe?"

Paul chucked, "They tried, the remaining 2000. But as they retreated, they encountered another army, at first, they thought it was the Muslims, then they thought it was their allies, next they would notice it was a third party, they flew different banners and no papal banner."

Mclaw knew Amy was shaking her head, "And that was the church's army?"

Paul nodded, "Over the last ten years, the church gained control of the Vatican City, eventually usurping the pope and putting in their religion. They then built up armies and sent them to make sure we were defeated."

Mclaw looked at him, "And I'm guessing you lost, could you tell me the name of the battle?"

Paul nodded, "Correct, we lost, being forced to flee into the desert, we reached a part of Africa far from everyone else... We left Europe behind mingling with the locals, until the colonists came, they attacked us, the British Empire took out lands slowly choking us, and then the Germans came. They forced us out of power leading to the collapse of our whole regime,"

Mclaw walked behind him, "Do you hate us for it?"

Paul turned his head, this time it was his turn to look confused, "Why would I?" He looked back to the wall, the pictures showed a large group of people walking through an area with loads of greenery, "When Jesus erased our original sin, he made us be able to be born without the sins of our ancestors, he didn't just do that for those who chose to follow him he did it for everyone."

The religious Ranger spoke up, "But why would he?"

Paul looked to the ceiling, "Because our God believed we were his best creation and even if humanity goes astray one day it will come back."

Mclaw looked down the end of the corridor, "You are speaking past tense now, what changed?"

Paul didn't answer, instead, he asked a question, "Have you realised the true enemy yet? Captain?"

Mclaw placed his hand on his M1911, "No, tell me, who is it? The Church?"

Paul walked past Mclaw, continuing down the corridor, "Ha, the Church is but his mere pawn, one of his methods of control."

Paul walked further and further as Burt and Baker raised their rifles. Mclaw followed closely, keeping his pistol at his hip, "Who is he?"

Paul retrieved a small clock from his pocket, and Mclaw's eyes widened, his face draining of colour. "WHO IS HE?" Mclaw urgently demanded.

In the middle of a more spacious cave, Paul began to respond, "The Om-"

His words were abruptly cut off as he was crushed, blood spurting across the cave walls, causing the Operators to shield their eyes. In the chaos, their flashlights turned on, illuminating the gruesome scene.

As the blood settled, a swarm of bats suddenly stirred, flying straight down the tunnel, causing the Operators to drop to the floor in an instinctive reaction.

Mclaw, standing amid the bats, found them avoiding him completely. He carefully walked forward, approaching the slab of human flesh left behind by the horrifying event. "Dammit," he muttered under his breath.

Gradually, the bats began to calm, and the sound of several sets of footsteps rushed down the corridor from behind. The Rangers, now on their feet, confronted Mclaw, "What did you do?"

Kneeling by the slab, Mclaw replied with a mixture of remorse and fear, "I... didn't do anything. This is a phenomenon called a death clock. It gives you a countdown of the exact time and date you must die. If you do not die before then, you become this." He gestured to the macabre slab before them.

Mabasa appeared from the darkness, "And how do you know all this?"

Mclaw opened one of his pouches revealing a clock, "Because I have one."

~~~

Authors Note:

J here! So this chapter may have answered a few questions about the overarching story. However, I did also touch on the religious side of this alternate world. Many of their religions and much of their old history align with our own, so I have tried to be as respectful to all sides of the argument, as I can, in showing how these religions have developed under new conditions. I, personally, have no opinion on religion and only use it as a storytelling device.

The character's opinions on religion are not my own, I do not condone any opinion characters may have. They are just storytelling devices to progress the plot and give characters unique personalities.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!