The ground War Chronicles
The battlefield stretched like a scar across the heart of the continent.
Three fronts. Three infernos.
And every name, every cry, was swallowed by the roar of fire and iron.
[groundThree]
The forest had stopped breathing.
Thomas and John Snow sat among the fallen trunks, their chests rising and falling like the rhythm of dying drums. The world around them was gray smoke, ash, and the faint hum of engines that refused to die.
It had only been a minute since they stopped, but time in war had long lost its meaning.
Then, through the fog, a flicker a strange light.
Cold. Metallic.
It shimmered beyond the treeline like a ghost's lantern.
Thomas lifted his rifle. "You see that?"
John Snow's voice was barely a whisper. "Is it… the end of the forest?"
Thomas nodded once.
But before they could move, the earth trembled beneath their boots.
Footsteps dozens, maybe hundreds rushed toward them.
From the smoke emerged Naryan soldiers, faces pale as chalk, eyes wide with terror.
One stumbled forward, shouting,
"I've never seen weapons like that before! They're not men they're monsters! Iron beasts with hearts that breathe fire!"
Thomas froze.
John gritted his teeth.
The Aria Army had unleashed their new weapons.
They called them Odin-Class Cannons towering machines of steel that spat thunder.
And the War-Tankers beasts of iron that crawled on belts of metal, their mouths spitting flame and lead.
The forest cracked open under the explosions.
Smoke rolled over the land, swallowing the sky.
The Aria forces advanced in perfect formation merciless, mechanical, unstoppable.
John Snow turned to Thomas. "Is this a war grand
Thomas."snow move.
But John didn't move. His gaze was fixed on the glowing horizon where the machines marched.
The battlefield before them was no longer a place for men.
It was a graveyard where the pride of soldiers met the birth of machines.
[ground Two]
Elsewhere, the world burned just the same.
Twilight and Ema burst through the treeline, mud and blood streaked across their faces. Behind them, Lady Gaga, Daria, and Commander Blackwell led what was left of their company.
What they saw before them drained the color from their eyes.
Bodies tangled with shards of steel.
Horses screaming.
The ground torn open like paper beneath the tracks of the advancing Aria.
The air reeked of oil and death.
And the sound that terrible sound of metal grinding against metal filled the valley like a dirge from the underworld.
The Aria's plan was simple and perfect.
Divide the Naryans. Hunt them in pieces. Consume them whole.
Commander Blackwell's jaw tightened. He didn't speak often. He didn't need to.
When he finally shouted, it came like a thunderclap:
"Forward! Through danger! This is the battle we were born for! Don't look back fight!"
Twilight and Ema met each other's eyes, then charged.
Behind them, Lady Gaga and Daria followed, blades drawn, hearts steady.
Bullets screamed into the fog, but they did nothing.
The Naryans' rifles cracked, yet the rounds vanished against the iron hides of the machines.
The tanks rolled forward like gods of war, each one breathing fire.
Blackwell's hand trembled on his sword.
He had fought beasts, men, and tyrants but this was different.
This was war reborn.
"I've faced machines that coughed smoke," he thought.
"But these… these move like they think."
He swung his blade, the same one that had once brought down Merlin of the Wolves, and charged into the smoke.
Still, in his mind, one question echoed louder than the cannon fire:
Who planned this?
How did the Aria know their every move?
And then the realization.
Thomas. John Snow.
Zero. Aria.
Edwin. Rowan.
They were all missing.
[ground One]
Far from the chaos, the river carried Zero and Aria through the forest's veins.
The water was cold and black, whispering songs of death beneath the trees.
Zero dragged himself onto the bank, his arms wrapped around Aris's lifeless body.
He didn't speak. He only stared at her pale face until his hands stopped shaking.
Beyond the forest's edge stood the Gates of Aria's Kingdom tall, silver, and nearly unguarded.
Most of the Aria's army had already been sent to the other fronts.
The heart of their kingdom lay open.
Zero tore a splinter from a tree and carved a few words into the dirt beside Aria's still form.
Then he carried her into a cave nearby and built a fire at its mouth to chase away the dark.
"Rest now," he whispered. "I'll finish what we started."
He stood, slung his weapon across his back, and turned toward the red horizon.
The forest glowed with fire, and in that light, his shadow looked almost like a specter.
[Edwin and Rowan]
The boys were still running.
Branches lashed their faces, roots clutched their feet, but they didn't stop.
Somewhere beyond the woods, light broke through the smoke faint, trembling.
They didn't know what waited there.
Only that it was better than the silence behind them.
[Epilogue The War Draws On]
The Aria's strategy was merciless: divide and consume.
The Naryans fought with pride, but pride was a fragile shield against evolution.
Thomas and John Snow trained by the Wolves began digging trenches, setting traps, gathering what explosives they had left.
If they were to die, they would die fighting.
Twilight and Ema still battled at Grand Two.
Lady Gaga and Daria pressed forward with Commander Blackwell.
Zero marched alone toward Grand One.
And somewhere in the smoke and ruin,
the story of five kingdoms began to change forever.