ELIJAH

	I stood in uniform with my brothers-in-arms, each of us dressed in our ‘Feddie blues’ as everyone has taken to calling them, although ours differed in that we were given hoods to go with our helmets as we were all mages in Evoker Platoon. We stood at arms length from one another, our commanding officer, Lieutenant Bennett, standing to our left as he awaited the go ahead from his superior, Captain Webb. Before us was The Wall, the wall where those bastard separatists stood bound and blindfolded, their purple and gold-trimmed uniforms now scuffed, torn and bloodied. It was the survivors from our latest battle with the Crowns, the Sovereign Convergence. A lofty name those damned monarchists gave themselves before they pillaged and murdered everyone south of Brisbane all in the name of establishing their new, independent kingdom.
	Beside them were deserters, Federalists like myself that ran in the face of battle or snuck away before the fighting even started. They were caught, of course. Every Federalist platoon had a diviner who reported directly to the platoon lieutenant, and they were meant to regularly keep an eye out for these kinds of things. The thought of leaving my brothers in arms to fight and die alone sickened me as much as the Crowns did, and I had no problems with what was to come.
	“Ready spells!” The order came from Lieutenant Bennett, and I felt the fire in my hands glower, ready to burn whatever I pointed it at.
	“Find your mark!”
	I took aim at the man before me, his Crown uniform more decorated than the others, with an intricately designed family insignia embroidered onto his shoulder cape. Whoever he was or whatever ‘nobility’ he belonged to, I didn't care. He'd die like the rest.
	“Fire!”
	We let loose our spells and burned the men lined up before us, enemy and traitor alike, their screams of anguish quickly extinguished by the fire eating away their breath as well as their flesh. I felt nothing for them as they fell over, dead, their charred remains and the sickly smell of their boiled flesh and burned clothes stinging in my nose. I didn't even feel satisfied. These were just soldiers and cowards, this wouldn't put an end to the war, but they chose their side and now they've been dealt justice.
	“Release spell!”
	I relented with the fire, whipping the flame from my hand and letting it fizzle out. The others did the same, then we all stood at attention once more in unison. Our commanding officer looked pleased with himself as he turned and saluted Captain Webb who in turn saluted another higher-up.
	“About face! Salute!”
	I did as ordered, and there across the yard was our commander-and-chief Thaddeus Crone in the flesh. He stood well above all the top brass and security surrounding him, his lizardman physiology dwarfing the average human man in uniform. His strong jawline and sharp eyes were unmistakable, it had to be him. He was wearing his own Feddie blues, as well as a sharp looking black and silver trimmed vest with blue tie and a cape that was slung over one shoulder. His officer's cap was cocked lazily over one eye and was held in place by the many pointed scales that ran up the side of his head. He looked over us briefly for a moment before nodding his assent. A job well done. He beckoned Webb to him and we watched, still saluting as the Captain hurried his way over. He stopped before Crone and saluted once more, the Prime Minister lazily saluting back. The two spoke for a time before Thaddeus nodded, turned and took his leave. I found myself wondering what exactly had happened and why he was here in the first place. He was too important to be wasting his time in a place like this. Sure, our camp hadn't been attacked in some time, but he was also our leader, both politically and militarily, if something were to happen… I dared not even think about it. What use would it be to dwell on that? My diviner certainly wouldn't appreciate such rot. Besides, Crone knew what he was doing. Perhaps he was here to boost morale or give one of his rousing speeches? Everyone enjoyed those. Webb turned to Bennett, who turned to me.
	“Fall out!” He ordered, and I turned to the rest of the men and repeated the order.

	We were relieved of duty for a time, the men and I taking our rest in the barracks.
	“I hear they're starting a new initiative,” One of the avalonian dog men and my section mate, Dylan said, “They’re gonna be makin’ a group of elite soldiers under direct orders from Thaddeus Crone himself!”
	“Is that why he was here? He was inspecting us?” One of the others asked. The rest of the men echoed the sentiment to one another.
	“You idiots, Thaddeus probably already has an elite group, do you really think he'd be here looking for new recruits?” another jeered.
	“Why not? We've been fighting for months on end and we're all still kickin’ ass, even managed to win every engagement we've been in!” Dylan argued, “I think Crone knows some elite soldiers when he sees ‘em!”
	My bunkmate, Lucas, scoffed, “Guess that leaves you out. You've been caught by the enemy with your pants around your ankles and your tail between your legs more than a few times now.”
	The barracks was filled with laughter as Dylan turned red in the face. I watched idly from the bottom bunk as he hopped down off his bed and Lucas did the same, the two of them sizing one another up. Nearly everyone formed a circle around them, my bunk acting as one side to this makeshift fight pit, excited to see another round of fisticuffs between the boys.
	“No spells, just fists,” Dylan spat, his pointed dog-like ears already tilted back as he bared his fangs. The man was built, more than most of the men around us, and none of us were slouches. You had to be fit to be a mage. It took a lot of strength and endurance to cast spells, especially if you were fighting for hours on end like we had been. Admittedly Dylan was a tough bastard and a good soldier. It probably had to do with his avalonian side, it made him more loyal and hardworking than the average Race of Man. Still, everyone knew Dylan was only a halfsie, and on top of that he had a bad habit of not washing for days, but I'd rather be sharing a foxhole with him than anyone else. Today was not one of those days, as Lieutenant Bennett personally saw to enforcing his hygiene; he probably knew Crone would be here today and wanted to be sure we looked our best. Even if we had just finished executing a few prisoners.
	Lucas was leaner by comparison, and taller to boot, he was just a human like me, cocksure of himself. His skin was a little more sunburnt than his usual tan complexion and his blonde hair had been bleached from the sun. He was what most people would call a pretty boy, that is before he became a bushman, and  on top of that if he hadn't gotten his face bone broken around his left eye and nose. Other than that he might have been an actor if it wasn't for the war. The problem was he was an instigator who liked to fight and he didn't back down even if he was losing. I hate to admit he was my friend, but that didn't mean I had to get involved in every fight he ever started, the asshole.
	“Fists, eh? Alright, one for you and one for yer girl back home,” He chuckled, which only riled up Dylan more.
	Before the first punch was even thrown the doors to the barracks were thrown wide open, with Lieutenant Bennett at their center and two of his toadies from the diviner section standing on either side of him with Captain Webb behind and to the side. Everyone at once turned to face the Lieutenant and stood at attention, our arms up in salute for both him and Captain Webb.
	“What's this?” Bennett asked incredulously.
	“Just some exercise, sir,” Lucas fibbed.
	“Friendly competition!” Dylan added.
	“Cut the shit. Straighten your uniforms and get ready to move out.”
	“Lieutenant, where is our destination, sir?”
	Dylan asked stupidly. Bennett turned on his heel and marched over to get face-to-face with the dog-man, and though he was larger than the Lieutenant, Dylan shrank down under his glare like a battered puppy. The Lieutenant was probably the only man alive capable of making Dylan feel nervous, and his face twisted into a sarcastic grin.
	“A little patch of home, you lucky sheilas, you. You're being inducted into a new unit, Corporal Bailey! A new master for Evoker's favorite dog, courtesy of our favorite Prime Minister.”
	He stepped away from Dylan to allow Captain Webb to address the rest of the platoon, “You're all going to have to clean up your act from now on, Evokers, you're going to be looked up to as elite soldiers, so you are expected to act like it. I don't know what Thaddeus Crone saw in a witless little shit pusher like you, Corporal Bailey, but you had better not disappoint him or you're gonna miss being out on the frontlines! Sergeant MacGellar, get your men in line!”
	“Corporals! Get your sections in line!” I belted out, and each man fell behind one another to form ranks, with Dylan and Lucas leading their own sections and me leading the last.
	“Now get your asses out and onto the Usurper!” Lieutenant Bennett barked at us.
	I turned and we immediately began our march out into the yard. The Usurper – the Captain's nickname for our unit's airship, was hovering around forty feet in the air within the base at the far side. It seemed to me that out of our unit, our platoon, the Evokers, were the only ones boarding the airship. Twenty-four of us marched on and were ordered to board the ship, and I didn't have a clue where we were going.

	The trip north was short-lived, as we made our way further back behind Federalist lines and turned eastward into the Great Dividing Range. What exactly was out here was anyone's guess, except for Webb and Bennett.
	It wasn't long after we crossed over the top of the mountains did we finally come to a stop. Below us I could see a few WarMUTTs, Dingos I think, patrolling the mountainside, their aether rifles primed and their rangefinders active. Their paint jobs were different from the usual Feddie blues, their chassis were painted black as pitch while their left arm was painted white. A bright red lion adorned it on the shoulders.  Beside them was a thin control tower that couldn't have had more than two men inside it. It looked more like a watchtower than anything. Maybe they were diviners. We must have been given clearance because the Usurper continued on and the Dingos went back on their patrol.
	I wondered what could be out here, there was nothing for miles. Then below us I saw a light shining up from the valley. A door began to slide open with a loud hum, hidden by the natural foliage. It kept opening wider and wider until it was wide enough for the Usurper to fit down below it. Down we went into the open maw in the valley, where the airship navigated smoothly down a sloped corridor made of metal and stone. Floodlights lit our way and guided the pilot, and I saw silhouettes of soldiers watching from catwalks overhead and weapon emplacements to our sides. Soon we passed through another opening that led to a hangar that was large enough to house several airships not unlike The Usurper, but that wasn't what drew my attention. Below on the ground floor there must have been hundreds of WarMUTTs all standing in ranks and ready for duty. When did we have time for all of this? Was Thaddeus and his men building this facility for the last decade? With MUTTs available it wouldn't be impossible, but how had he kept it all a secret, and for so long?
	It wasn't exactly a question I could go around asking, and in the long run it didn't matter anyway, we had the base and the forces and that was what was important.
	When the ship docked, we were boarded by several soldiers wearing black uniforms and matching military caps, a blue goat's-head patch on the left breast and shoulder of their jackets and three blue stripes cutting diagonally across their left lapels. I noticed their right had their rank displayed, and many of them were commissioned officers. From their epaulets they wore aiguillettes in silver around their right arm, their hats sporting a similar effect over their brims. At the forefront was another Lieutenant who addressed Bennett with a salute.
	“Lieutenant Bennett, I am Lieutenant Kissinger. Line your men up and follow me,” He instructed, and Bennett turned and gave me the silent order with a look. I barked out the command and everyone fell in line at once, and we were marching off again.
	Exiting The Usurper gave me a greater feeling for the grand scale of the hangar. This base, whatever it was, was absolutely massive. Was this the Federalist headquarters? We were led through a door opposite of the docking bay, through well-lit hallways made of concrete with several paths with little to no distinct markings. This place was built like one huge bunker, not a window in sight. Soon we reached the end of a hallway and were moved into a briefing room with desks and chairs all facing the front where another man in a similar uniform to Kissinger stood waiting. Half of the room was already filled with other soldiers like us from another unit. We were directed to take our seats, and after we did so, Kissinger took his leave. I noticed that each desk had a folder on it filled with paperwork, and decided it best to leave it unless instructed otherwise.
	“Well, you’re here now, Evokers and Magehands.” He announced, “Now where exactly is ‘here?’ I’m sure the thought crossed your mind once or twice when you saw the entrance. Would you believe me if I told you this part of the Great Divide only came about after The Great Cracking? After almost seventy years they never named it on paper, but we did. Welcome to Lycia, gentlemen.”
	“Thank you, sir,” We answered in unison, and he chuckled.
	“Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself. I am Captain Reis. Today we have brought you here to make you an offer to join our ranks,” He looked over each of us with a self-assured smile, pausing for dramatic effect. He must have found this all very entertaining. I already didn’t like him.
	“You were hand-picked by Thaddeus Crone himself for his personal elite force. Should you accept, you will immediately be promoted to commissioned officers with ranks befitting your station and receive all the benefits that come with that. Every officer here regardless outranks any officer within the Federalist regular forces. You only answer to your superiors within our ranks. You will be trained in MUTT operations and tactics as well as how to better utilize your magicks in high-density aether situations. What do you men say to that?”
	The men were astonished, and admittedly I found myself speechless as well.
	“I take it you are interested,” Reis smiled, “A simple ‘yes sir’ will do.”
	“Yes, Sir!” We answered unanimously.
	“Excellent. Welcome aboard. You're all part of Chimera, now. All the paperwork is laid out before you with all the details and benefits of our unit, but I will go over them all. You will be expected to memorize them.” He gave pause again and looked each of us over before continuing.
	“Allow me to explain the structure of our Chimera. Chimera is broken up into three equal branches and the head. The branches are as follows: Panthera, Capra and Serpentes. Panthera is the bulk of our forces with combined arms of infantry and MUTT teams. They may occasionally have a mage or two in the mix but their structure is not too different from the average section in our standard Federalist forces.”
	I assumed that meant that a diviner section was assigned to each platoon, since that had become the standard in the army for the last few years.
	“The next branch, Capra, on the other hand is a special forces unit that specializes in surgical strike teams made up of WarMUTTs and mages like yourselves. I hope you gentlemen are well versed in illusions as well as evocation. Either way, we will be spending time training you as each of you will be assigned to Capra. Finally, we have our Serpentes branch, which handles the more… delicate situations when the need arises. Information, misinformation, high-value targets, that sort of thing. The less I tell you about them, the better it is for your health, I'm sure you all understand. Just know that any info we get we owe it to our brothers and sisters in Serpentes.”
	“What about the head?” I heard Dylan ask. Reis smiled at the avalonian, “Draconis. They are the best of the best, the personal guard for our glorious leader, Thaddeus Crone and his top brass. You may have seen them when you were scouted, or perhaps you didn't?” He grinned a toothy grin, “They often go unnoticed, but they are always present around our higher-ups and political leaders.”
	“I want to join Draconis!” Dylan said excitedly, “What do I have to do?”
	Reis seemed pleased with his eagerness, more so than most people would be, anyway.
	“Follow your orders and enforce Thaddeus's will and you might. Anyone can join Draconis, that is, if you can be the best.”
	That had gotten Dylan hook, line and sinker. He was ready to get back in the fight already, I could tell by the look in his eye.
	“First thing is first, however. You will be instructed on how to operate our WarMUTTs starting today, but first we should get to your new ranks and uniforms as well as assigning you to your new sections.”

	We were taken to a locker room where we were given uniforms that had apparently already been tailored to us with all the patches and pins sewn on with our names. The new uniforms were strangely comfortable and made me feel stronger, more agile and aware of my surroundings. I couldn't say exactly what they were but I knew it had to be enchanted. That alone was worth it, and I idly tugged at my lapel to admire the new rank I had been given. Lieutenant MacGellar. I liked the sound of that. The structure of the platoon I had been put in charge of was similar to the old Evokers, though it was much smaller, with three sections only made up of four men from a mix of both Evokers and Magehand soldiers, and a fourth that I was personally assigned to with only three men. I supposed that made sense, we would be MUTT riders, after all. Somehow I had lucked out and both Lucas and Dylan were assigned as my two section mates acting as my second lieutenants. I knew them both well enough to rely on them, even if Dylan wasn't the sharpest man and Lucas liked to stir things up.
	“So do you think we'll be fighting behind enemy lines?” Dylan asked, doing his best to adjust the collar to his new uniform. I noticed his new patrol cap even had holes in the sides trimmed out for his ears to fit through. My uniform fit pretty well for me as well, my boots in particular actually fit my feet for one, which only made me wonder how long we had actually been scouted for and if they had extensive files on us on hand. The other men in our platoon listened wordlessly, no doubt having the same thought on their mind as Dylan.
	“I'm pretty sure we're just going to be reinforcing the frontlines where they need us,” Lucas shugged, adjusting the buttons on his cuffs. Now that the three of us were dressed, I nodded.
	“I don't know, but if it means killing more Crowns, then I'm all for it,” I replied honestly, turning to the rest of our men, “Come on, hurry up and get those uniforms in shape, we're elites now and need to be ready for anything!”
	Exiting the locker room, Captain Reis and the newly appointed Captain Bennett stood waiting for us. He was now in charge of three platoons including ours, though I hadn't yet seen the other lieutenants or their men. My sections filed out behind me and awaited orders. Bennett remained stoic while Reis smiled that same look that he had earlier, that smug bastard. Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way.
	“Shall we go to the MUTT bay?” Reis asked us.
	“Yes, Captain,” we all answered immediately, and we were marched off once again.

	We were ferried onto an industrial elevator large enough to lift at least ten of our WarMUTTs at a time, the things being relatively large compared to the seventeen of us. The elevator took us down and droned loudly as it went, but we remained stone faced as we approached the ground floor, where several MUTTS had been stationed, but our destination was elsewhere. At the bottom, waiting for us were several vehicles, a jeep for the two captains and a larger military troop truck for me and my men. They took us down the gaping corridor that led us further back into the facility.
	It wasn't long until we found ourselves in a training area with a smaller bay that housed enough MUTTs for the whole platoon with several of the trainers waiting for our arrival. Good, we can get started on that. We were each assigned our WarMUTTs, each of them a distinctly heavier armored Harrier model with an extended cockpit for the trainers to ride in with us. It was definitely a trainer MUTT if I had to guess, probably a bulked up D series, as we had been more accustomed to the Harrier Ds that had been helping us fight back the tide of Crowns. Each of our instructors accompanied us and showed us how to get into our MUTTs.
	The Harriers were each kneeling on one knee, their front hatches open and waiting for their riders.
	“Climb up the ramp like this, be aware of your footing, sometimes the hatch can be slippery depending on the weather,” my instructor told me, and I followed him in, making sure to brace myself with both arms on the sides of the frame of the hatch door as I got inside. Inside the cockpit it looked like the seating was padded quite well, with plenty of space for maneuvering. Behind the seat was where the instructor sat in his own right over the left shoulder, ready to watch and relay information. He gestured for me to take the front seat and I obliged. There were two pedals at the bottom of the seat, two control sticks on either side on slide tracks, a radio on the right side with pretty simple controls and a switch that changed it from local channels to open channels, something I was already familiar with working when I was in Evoker, but that was where my familiarities ended.
	“The two sticks control the arms,” my instructor informed me, “While the pedals control the locomotion. There is a small thumbstick on either control that is used to turn and bend the waist. Now hit the button on your left by your elbow, that shuts the hatch.”
	I did as I was told and soon enough the hatch shut itself and was sealed.
	“How do I see out of this thing?” I asked, feeling stupid.
	“With this,” He handed me a bulky visor that I had to fit over my head and eyes. It took a moment but soon enough I could see a display that was fed through the visor that came from the camera outside as well as the two backup camera's on the bottom left and right corners. The heads-up display also had a view of the inside of my cockpit, showing what I was looking at in a smaller window on the top left. It was surprisingly simple to grasp, amazing what enchanted magic tech could achieve.
	“That’s your manascope. It's your best means of seeing out in the field. It's capable of zooming in as well as spotting residual mana coming from mana engines,” He elaborated, “That setting is on the left side, by your eye, just push the button. Give it a shot.”
	I pushed the button and the vision went blue, and I could see wisps of blue air currents coming from the jeep and truck across the training ground.
	“Alright, that's good. How does this thing work if the aether is activated?” I asked, turning my head in an attempt to look back at him. I stopped when I noticed that my view outside changed, the ‘eye’ of the MUTT must have been made to follow my movements, I figured.
	“It's enchanted, so it already has the mana it needs to function embedded in it. It's how we're able to run most of our equipment like that radio and some of our smaller vehicles, though if you get too close then mana engines go kaput. All the aether field really does is stop incoming mana from the air, like spellcasting, halts mana engine intake and disrupts divination. I'm told that MUTTs appear as big blurry blobs in the field that can obscure other forces,” He informed me, “Pretty scary stuff if you ask me, but it also works on the enemy.”
	“So they'll know MUTTs are coming but they won't know how many?” I inquired.
	“Exactly. Same goes for us. Although the aether field isn't very good if you're trying to sneak by, the enemy will have a vague idea of your position. It's not exact but it's enough to get you into trouble,” He warned, “And if they have a periscopic aether meter then you’re definitely going to get spotted, so be careful if you're out in the field and you're looking to lay low.”
	“Good advice,” I noted, “So how do I start this thing up?”
	I saw his arm come over my left shoulder, his finger pointing toward the front, “That button there on the front left of the console, the rightmost button.”
	I pushed it and the MUTT hummed to life, the aether engine activating. I checked my sides and noticed that no one else had yet activated theirs. My first steps were a little clumsy as I tried to adjust the angle of my approach to the training yard, but pretty soon I was able to get a feel for it and was moving along at a steady pace. It seemed like learning this stuff would be pretty easy and I felt myself smiling.

	“The right frontmost panels are your weapons systems, gauges, and aether levels. You can control each of them from in here, even your weapons will connect to the controls here via a circuit connection between the weapon and your MUTT's hand.”
	I hoped that I could remember all of this, or this was going to be a long ride in the trainer.
	“That slide on the far right of the panel controls the aether engine output, that can really throw up a smokescreen against diviners, but you run the risk of burning out your engine, so I don't recommend it.”
	“What if I burn out the engine, then what?” I asked as I made another lap around the training area, feeling pretty good about the movement so far.
	He laughed, “Besides being shit out of luck? See that switch there under the glass?”
	“Yeah.”
	“That's an emergency eject for the engine. You hit that and your MUTT will dump the engine out the back like a shit out of a cannon. The console on your left side has the controls to a mana generator if that happens, but it won't last longer than half an hour before you're really in for it. Don't let it get to that point.”
	I nodded, “Got it. So now what?”
	“Do another lap while the other instructors get the dummy set up for us.”

	After a few more laps around the training area, my instructor tapped my shoulder to get my attention and pointed to the control sticks, “There's a second trigger on your controls that will allow you to swing the arms of this MUTT along the rails of your console. They're pretty sensitive analog controls, so if you want to throw a punch you better throw it fast. If you wanna pick someone up you gotta be as gentle as you can be, but that's advanced stuff. Today we're just learning the basics.”
	“Got it,” I simply replied, making my last lap around the training area. Just as I was finishing up, an even bigger MUTT made its way in. This one was a Mule, one of those mobile artillery pieces that I'd seen once or twice in the field. Normally they would have a fifty-pounder cannon on their back, but this one had been converted into some kind of recovery vehicle with a crane winch. Right now it was towing several busted up Harriers with it, two hanging off either side of it like saddlebags.
	“Oh good, there's our dummies, now!” My instructor said, elated that they had arrived just in time. The Mule lumbered over toward us, and I gave it a wide berth, not wanting to end up crushed underneath. From here it looked at least twice the height of my training Harrier, but it was hard to tell. As it reached the center of the training area, it let the cables loose on the so-called dummies, letting them drop down onto the ground in a heap.
	“So what, are we gonna really shoot them here?” I asked with a heavy helping of cynicism.
	“God, no! We have an outdoor range for that shit!” He exclaimed, “They're here for you to learn how to maneuver and hit the enemy. On your left control is a button by the thumb, hit it.”
	I did as instructed and saw that on my left arm a blade had been extended.
	“That’s your bayonet. They're supercharged with aetheric energy the moment you release it.” He pointed out, “Take a look.”
	I saw the blade begin to glow orange, then yellow, the heat visible as it cooked the air around it.
	“Give one of those dummies a punch,” He told me, sitting back in his chair and bracing himself.
	“Won't they explode?” I asked, second guessing his order.
	“Now why would we leave an active aether engine in a couple of rust buckets like that? Slug ‘em already!” He barked.
	I did as I was told, getting close to the nearest dummy, rearing back on my left control and thrusting it forward. I felt the weight of the MUTT shift as it leaned into the punch. That explained why he was holding onto the handlebars on his seat. The bayonet found purchase in the cockpit of the derelict MUTT, a loud screech followed by the hissing of metal was my reward as I caved it in.
	“Great! Now you know how to open a tin can! Don't say I never taught ya anything!” He laughed at his own joke.
	“Right,” I chuckled, watching as a few of the others were getting used to the balancing. One in particular was already walking up to speed, moving like they had been doing this for years.
	“Who's in that one?” I asked.
	“Switch to open channels and find out,” My instructor replied. I hit the switch and looked at the number marked on the chassis of the MUTT.
	“Trainer MUTT number 5, who's the rider?” I said on the mic. It took a few moments, and the trainer MUTT stopped to look at me as if he had been instructed to.
	“Oh, hey, Lieutenant, is that you?” It was Dylan. I rolled my eyes, of course it was.
	“Yeah, it's me. You're doin’ fine work, keep it up.”
	“Aye, aye, sir,” he said jovially, and went back to marching.
	“How'd he get so good?” My instructor asked.
	“Used to live on a farm up in Queensland in a little town called Bright Arbor before the war. He kept saying how he used to ride one of those big farm MUTTs every day,” I explained. “Guess he wasn't lying after all.”

Next Chapter