| 19: Restoration The fall of the Stellemort was all it took to turn the tide of war. The Underground Army, once on the brink of destruction, now mobilized in force. As arcane torpedoes rained upon the armies of Formicus' Empire, their numbers fell. The guerrilla tactics of the Underground met with less of a struggle. Factories were bombed, airfields ruined, and armories seized. Currently, there was a major struggle around the new factory ghetto of Matericstri. The 229th Armored Battalion swept in from the plains, attacking an Imperial supply depot with air cover provided by the Stellemort. This was crucial-it was the first time since the ascension of Formicus that the resistance could mount a conventional attack with ground forces. Without Stellemort in the skies (and the 116th flying cover to boot) it wouldn't be possible in the slightest, but the extra firepower from on high made the battle winnable. At least until the 229th was pushed back against the Trinity River, outflanked. Lady Protector Vanana Loe watched this tragic state of affairs from the deck of Stellemort, her hair and Chronos' flying out of place every time the torpedoes fired. "What are we going to do?" she asked. "Fire at their tanks on the ridge," Chronos instructed. "And... if you know any battle magic, use it." Chronos then called out a spell in Latin, flying out as fire fell from his hands upon the Imperial positions. Vanana, for her part, barked a command into a walkie-talkie and torpedoes blasted away both ridge and forces. She then joined Chronos in the battle magic, casting a slowness spell upon the Imperial army. Slowly, surely, the Imperial offensive was overturned and the 229th Armored managed to strike back, crawling its way forward, saved only by the magic of its leaders and a stolen skyship. *** Matericstri lay in ruins. The factories, the shantytowns-all were torched by the retreating Empire. For the first time ever, the Underground Army had a permanent hold on a part of the city of Columnia proper. True, it was now a wasted refugee city, but it was theirs, by the Four. As the 83rd Irregular patrolled the outskirts and the 165th flew cover, the 229th buried their dead. In the black skies, starlight glinted off the metallic surface of the Stellemort. Vanana and Chronos were in a tent in the ghetto, where food was being distributed. The Provisional Governments of Esperimentia and Proiectica had taken up a collection for victims of the Columnian Civil War to purchase food and medicine and other basic supplies. Vanana and Chronos were overseeing the operation, wanting to see the effects of the war firsthand. Outside the tents, long lines of people waited, many of them angry at Formicus for the war, many of them angry at Vanana for the destruction her "liberation" had brought about. They were powerless to change much, but they had power enough to cast blame-and blame they cast with all haste. The soldiers watching them, keeping the peace, were also exasperated. They had fought hard all day, were weary from the war, and desired so bad for it to end. Nonetheless, they had their duty. In the distance, the cries of the vigilantes could be heard. Collaborators with Formicus' regime were now being hunted down by the people they had once oppressed, and closer by there were a group of former community leaders who were now burning the Imperial flag and hoisting the banner of the old Theocracy on a makeshift flagpole. "You need to say something, Vanana," urged Chronos. "These people need a leader right now, someone who can tell them that it'll all be okay." "What do I say?" she asked. "These people now have nothing because of us-our torpedoes and their rearguard left this place a rubble heap. They're refugees because of us, and what can I possibly tell them that will make it all better?" "Two things," Chronos said. "Give them hope." "I understand that, but what will vague promises about the future do for them now, when they wait in line for enough bread to barely feed their children? What do I give them now?" "You give them hate," Chronos answered. Vanana blinked, taken aback. "I'm serious. They wouldn't be like this if we hadn't begun the liberation, but there would be no liberation necessary if it weren't for Formicus. Let them know whose fault it is for this mess-because they can do something about that." "What?" "They can kill the collaborators. It doesn't do us much good strategically, but it makes them feel better, and it consolidates our rear as firmly under our control." Vanana nodded, and then meditated for a minute on what to say. She then stepped out of the tent, and climbed up onto the ruined shell of an Imperial tank to address the entirety of the line. "Our domain, this kingdom come, are now godless lands whose ways are lost!" she cried out over the night air. The bread lines looked up at her, and she looked into their eyes, into their souls, her words echoing into their hearts as she spoke the heartfelt truth. "Without the strength to carry on, our values lost! our virtue none!" She then peered into the distance, at the smoke and the flame of the repentant collaboration. "Did you think that you'd be saved by burning flags to cleanse yourselves of shame?" They stopped, morbid as her magically-enhanced voice reached all the way from the front to the Trinity. "Or are you afraid-are you afraid?-as you stare back at my face? Are you ashamed, are you afraid, by destroying what your god proclaimed? Do you think that you'll be saved?" The bread lines then turned to see the collaborators in the distance, trying desperately to put out the fires and hide their flags, trying to save themselves from the wrath of the Underground. Vanana then turned to face the bread lines once more, which had turned into a crowd around her impromptu platform, gathered to hear her words. They were ashamed at their current lowly state, but her words seemed to fill them with a purpose. She looked at them and decided to give them a measure of hope. "And I believe that we'll conceive to make in hell for us a heaven," she declared. "A brave new world, a promised land-a fortitude of hearts and minds!" The crowd started smiling then, inspired by her visionary words. She herself was surprised at her inspiration, and noticed Chronos murmuring a spell in the doorway of the tent. Undoubtedly it was an inspiration spell, meant to give her the right words to say. She turned again to the crowd, building her rapport with them as she continued her speech. "Until I see Columnia's mine, I'll turn the darkness into light! I'll guide the blind, Four's will be done, until the day I see Columnia has been won!" She knew that the crowd didn't expect much out of her initially-apathetic to politics at best, they probably saw both sides as greedy for power. Instead of denying that frame of thought, she built on it-promising them the safety they desired so badly. However, she perceived a certain restlessness in the gathering, and feared the crowd would be turning into a mob. She decided to direct that energy in a fairer direction, namely towards the collaborators. "We are no more the servants of the weak," she promised, pointing towards the horizon, "devoid of thought or light to seek!" The mob looked spitefully at their frightened former leaders, many of which were running for their lives now. Vanana gestured at them, calling out imperiously "Go! Leave no walls, no stone unturned! Every turncoat must be razed unto the dust from which he came-none shall be spared, no remnant saved!" Then almost mockingly, to the delight of the crowd, she proclaimed judgment upon their former rulers. "Are you ashamed? Are you afraid? What of your god, your ruler for whom you have slaved? Do you think you'll be saved by your god, your ruler for whom you now crave?" Pleas for clemency came from the horizon as the first wave of the mob struck them. "NONE SHALL BE SAVED!" she commanded, repeating: "NONE SHALL BE SAVED!" The Underground Army and the population at large found some recompense for the blood of their comrades in the dying screams of the collaborators. |