K-day +972 Days  | 21st Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Recon battalion “Viboras” | Cratenia|

The cold wind, the gray skies, the brownish land and the ever present Craten mountain on the horizon. The city goes on as any other day people of all races shapes and sizes go on their way in the stone tiled streets, the market is bustling, the restaurants are filled, the library is receiving robed gray haired visitors and the merchants are trying to scam us away from our hard-earned money.

This is Cratenia, our jaguar’s friend, as in, they are technically our allies, but it’s more like they are using us as a mercenary force to keep them safe from the East and it’s monsters than actually trying to be our friends and allies, the nobles are always locked up in their mountain, sending edicts, diplomats, letters and gifts, but never showing themselves, but we do know they see themselves as superior and godlike, their wording in the edicts, laws and propaganda is very clear on that.
It’s tiresome, but it’s our job. It's also very peaceful compared to what’s happening in Brazil and the borders with the portals. Cratenia is an arterial vein in the trade lines here so it must be protected at all costs although sometimes it seems we are doing nothing but wasting fighting men and equipment here, being bled dry of our virility and money. 

We usually only deal with critters and hostile giants that wander too close to the border, easy and simple, just shoot at them, they have no means of knocking our vehicles out at distance, unless they ambush us at close quarters and tear the hatches off to reach us. We are invincible.

But today was different. I'm a Captain, and my company is supposed to take care of Cratenia’s metropolitan district. We are the closest to the nobles and merchants, the ones they peddle with their petty offers and their condescending questions and requests. 
Today was one of those days. I was called to the entrance of the mountain palace, a golden, silver and stone structure built onto the mountain, the gates that keep it closed resemble teeth and there I was given a daunting task by a royal messenger.

To the North lies a dragon and wizard, they kidnapped one of the noble princesses earlier this week, her parents are angry and are making a big deal out of this, something that usually doesn’t happen in Cratenia, in their desperation they sent this to us, asking outsiders for help is considered horribly humiliating in Cratenian upper class culture, so this is a big deal. We are to move North, towards the mountains, find their lair, kill the wizard and the dragon and rescue the princess.

I accepted the task,and moved back to the company headquarters alongside my bodyguards.
We leave at first light, I'll take my prized first platoon, my prodigal sons, we’ll take tank destroyers, APCs and everything else a knight would need to take down an evil wizard and dragon.

Early in the morning when the first smears of sunlight were hitting the Craten mountain, our wheels were running through on the brown dirt, to the north, clouds of dust kicked up as the powerful diesel engines filled the air and birds loitered in the skies as they usually do in the morning. 
It's around 7AM, six vehicles, Two Urutu APCs with 25mm singleman turrets, two Cascavels with 90mm low pressure cannons, and two Sucuri 105mm tank destroyers. We are fast, ripping through the land like a bird of prey, I am inside the command Sucuri.
I wear a black scarf, a black tankist helmet not unlike the classic soviet one, and aviator sunglasses, classic Cratenia theater loadout, it helps to deal with the heat and the sun.
Up in the distance I could see a chain of mountains. That's our destination. There is a small plateau in front of us, we’ll have to climb it before reaching the mountains. We'll climb it and form a perimeter around the mountains. We'll then draw the dragon out.
Clear azure morning skies above, you can still feel the cold of the night on your skin along with the rising dust.

We reached the plateau and began climbing up, we did it in line formation, the Sucuris easily climbed up, not losing much speed.
My vehicle tumbled forward settling onto the plateau, the mountains were clear in my vision, snow covered peaks and a subtle easy to miss stony path guiding towards a dark stony cave entrance, much like a mouth.

My awe-like fixation on the mountains was broken by a rough, loud battle cry. I heard it before and knew what I was up against instantly… Giants.

“CONTACT, GIANTS!” I yelled into the intercom.

To the left of my vehicle was a bronze armored giant human, much taller than my vehicle, much stronger than the rocks he was using as concealment, his armor was reminiscent of Spartan hoplites, through the brasures of his helmet I could see his angry bellicose expression.
The turret was aimed at our 12 o’clock, the giant was too close, I instinctively reached for the ‘85, we call it the woodpecker, a 15mm beast of a HMG, based on an old Krieghoff’s autocannon design, it’s large flat feeding tray similar to the one in the MK17. It was iconic and became a favorite in Brazilian propaganda posters during the war, although the troops preferred the 25mm Araponga cannon.
I desperately reached for the gun and held the spade grips while pulling the heavy gun in it’s pintle mount towards the charging armored giant, and then pushed the V trigger sending a hail of fire through his chest cavity, the brass hitting the Sucuri’s roof sounded like a wind chime.

The giant died, his last cries of pain weren’t heard in the middle of the burst of fire.

I looked to the right, heard something furiously stepping forth towards us, there was another bronze armored offending giant, preparing to launch a Pilla, he was hit straight by a low pressure 90mm round, he was turned into gory crimson pieces, his chest was opened like a blasted safe, his head was disfigured, one of his arms was amputated, he was launched a few meters away by the blast.

“HALT!” I yelled into my mouth piece while holding my right fist up.
The idling of the engines dominated the environment, there should be more giants here, hidden and waiting for their moment to strike.

“Sergeants! deploy your squads, i want a clean sweep of the path ahead, don’t miss anything i want everyone here to get back intact.” I ordered over the radio while looking back at the APCs that were climbing the sandy steps to the plateau, they stopped while pointing themselves to the sides of the formation and their rear and side doors were opened, the yelling of orders was heard alongside the sound of boots hitting the dirt.

The infantry moved forward to the vehicles, the Sergeants gestured making sure their squads kept combat formation and tactical spacing, their rifles had bayonets fixed.
I pointed my arms to the sides in a plain form, like a crucified pose, this was the signal to enter a line formation.

“Low speed, let the infantry take point!” I yelled on the radio.

The infantry kept going, slowly, some big rocks were in the way, the sergeant would divide his squad into two and send each part to a side of the rock, a pincer maneuver to make sure whatever was on the other side would have to deal with two targets.

We kept moving like this, until we reached a road carved into the side of the mountains, it went up towards the helm of the mountains, enough space for our vehicles and infantry to pass easily, but the chances of an ambush were high.
The Vehicles would stay, with a skeleton crew while the infantry went up. I couldn’t let my sons go up without me, so I called for a squad leader, a short brown skinned guy with the standard issue equipment and a large smile.

“All units be advised, i’ll dismount and go with the infantry, i want the APCs eying the skies and the cascies and Sucuris ready to give us supporting fire, beware the fragments a HE shot here will be twice as lethal.” I said over the radio, then disconnected the cable from my helmet and moved out of the hatch.

“What’s your name sargento?” I motioned to the young sergeant in front of me.
“Gustavo, sir, they call me Belisco” He said.
“Got it Gustavo, you’re in the third squad so you should have a radioman in your squad, get him to me, he’ll be my shadow.” I said as I climbed out of the Sucuri and onto the ground. 

In Cratenia looks and reputation are everything, us officers learned very quickly to dress apart, a green and yellow rope was attached along my chest, i wore black gloves and black jackboots with silver spurs, a officer cap was attached to my belt a 28 gauge Taurus Raging Judge revolver shotgun in a shoulder holster, the revolver had a black grip with a embedded laser sight into it, the steel was silverish in color, a red line traveled horizontally in the back of the grip, i had some speedloaders ready in my belt, color coded too, Blue for Magnum, Red for 28 gauge shells.

“Captain, you forgot this!” My gunner, Roberto, appeared on the commander’s hatch and threw me a Brazilian infantry saber.
I grabbed it mid air and saluted him amicably, he returned inside the tank destroyer and closed the hatch.
I attached the saber to the left side of my belt, Belisco brought me his radioman, a tall lanky red faced youngster with an almost hunched back. too much time under the sun must have turned him apple faced.
“You my radio?” I questioned him
“YES SIR, Corporal Santos, sir!” He responded enthusiastically/
“Good Santos, today we’ll be killing a dragon, so let’s go, I'll lead the way.” I said and started trotting my way forward towards the path.

The mountains brought with them a whispering cold air, we walked the brown stony way up. slowly We made our way up the steep stony road, our eyes open for ambushes, some soldiers had rifle grenades attached to their rifles, machine gunners had long belts of black tipped bullets hanging out of their guns and were holding it by the carry handles, ready to hip fire away.

We took a turn on the path up, towards the mouth of the cave. The cracking sound of heavy stones being pushed was heard, I motioned my palm up ordering the column to stop, they quickly adopted combat positions, aiming up towards the mountain or forward towards the path. 

The cracking sound became louder and then I saw some enormous boulders moving down towards us, at least two of them, still not close enough to warrant panic, but that would soon change unless something was done, the two of them didn’t leave much space for us to dodge it.
I saw a ramp like protrusion around 5 meters in front of us. I deduced it was tall enough to act as a trench, and ramp the boulders above us, a gamble worth doing, I thought.
My heart was beating quite quickly, it’s been long since I felt this alive, I could feel the warm blood coursing quickly through my body.

“ON ME! FOLLOW ME!” I screamed out of the top of my lungs and pointed towards the ramp, and moved towards it, throwing myself down to it, pulling my legs towards it so i would hug this ramp as close as I could.
I felt a wave of boots moving towards my position, the men threw themselves down, lifting small clouds of dust as they did. We all huddled ourselves tight and prayed silently, holding onto our helmets and closing our eyes as the sound of the heavy boulders became closer and closer to our ears.

“Hail mary, full of grace…” 

The boulders got closer, just two seconds more and we will see if this ramp will save us or kill us.

“The lord is with thee…”

The boulders hit the ramp, they were propelled up and jumped above us.

“Blessed art thou amongst women” 

The sound of cracking bone and hammered meat was heard from behind me, the loud screams of pain of a panicked young man echoed throughout the mountains.

I got up “Santos! get me the damn radio” I yelled out.
“Ready sir!” Santos responded in a similar tone, standing into attention.
I disconnected the cable from the radio’s microphone and connected it to my helmet.

“Pardal Negro to Sucuri, Did you find the culprit behind those boulders? we got casualties, send one of the APCs close to the start of the pathway.” I said, holding the embedded microphone closer.

I looked back and could see two dead and one wounded, the dead men were in the back of the formation and got hammered down by the boulders, their chest bones could be seen as if they were self impaled, their heads were blown open like watermelons.
The wounded man was gripping his foot, it was disfigured and locked into a position that can only be described as horribly erroneous blood was being pumped out and a leg bone could be seen sticking out of his boot.

“Sucuri to Pardal Negro, negative, they came out of the cave we tried to get a shot at them to hopefully stop them but we weren’t able to.” The man on the other side had a sad tone to his voice.
“That’s ok son, you tried your best, get ready to support us, load HEAT and pre range your machineguns” I responded.
“Yes sir, the APC is on the way to get the wounded” He added
“Pardal Negro, out.” I finished.

“Everyone get up, second squad!” I motioned to the second squad’s sergeant, he was helping the platoon medic deal with the wounded screaming man. “Get one of your groups to help the medic evacuate the wounded.”  I ordered him.

“The rest, on me, let’s finish this!” I disconnected the cable off my helmet then I unsheathed my saber and pointed it up towards the path ahead and the cave.
As we began to advance forth almost in a charge like 

The sound of something thumping forward reverberated out of the cave.

The sound of rapid fire was heard, the shots impacted above the cave entrance, the crews were sighting their machine guns, using them to measure distances, not all Cascavels had laser rangefinders so it was usually needed to do this kind of thing.

The thumping got louder, I motioned my men to stop again, and yelled for them to get the rifle grenades up to the front.
I took my revolver out of the holster and turned the laser sight on, keeping it aimed towards the cave entrance, ready to shoot at will come out.

A mighty roar echoed out of the cave, the soldiers instinctively crouched and some covered their ears, shielding themselves from the sonorous assault.

A saber in one hand, a revolver in the other I thanked for the fact my helmet had built in  ear protection.

A towering four legged winged red scaled reptilian emerged from the dark cave, it strode forth with great power like an earthquake given majestic form.
Setting itself at the edge, it looked around, setting its eyes on us and opening its wings. Its reptilian eyes observed us with curiosity, it’s curiosity was broken by the impact of a 105mm HEAT shell, it missed the dragon, hitting the mountain behind it.

The dragon flapped its wings, the sound was akin to an explosion, it’s towering form was propelled up into the sky.

“FIRE AT WILL!” I commanded, pointing my saber to the flying beast, my ears were ringing loudly thanks to the winged reptilian.
The roar of automatic fire imposed itself on the environment, the metalling ping sound of grenades being launched from rifle’s barrels was impacting, but not as much as the thunder of the autocannons seasoned with the heavier 90 and 105s, the line formation was a mistake, i watched while crewmen hurried to close their hatches and turn their turrets towards the gliding monster right before it let loose a hail of chemical fire onto their vehicles.
Submerging them in a fiery carpet, the APCs escaped such reckoning thanks to their position in the formation, I could see the Sucuris and Cascavels burning inside the flames.

The APCs and the burning Sucuris pursued the Dragon with fire, shooting everything they had at the beast. I couldn’t see if they managed to hit it or not but after some time the Dragon escaped, away towards the East.
One of the Cascavels exploded, leaving a carbonized teared open husk, the other cascavel moved away from the formation, getting as much speed as it could in a effort to kill the flames using the wind, the Sucuris remained, their armor and design fared better against the flames. Soon enough the crew would be able to exit the vehicle and use the fire extinguishers to kill any remaining fires..

“On me! into this cave, men!” I commanded while I moved towards the entrance to the cave.


The cave was dark, my eyes were accustomed to the bright scenery outside so I could only see a pitch black expanse. My laser sight was my sole way of measuring distances here.
The soldiers entered the cave, few had flashlights. Fortunately for us the cave wasn’t big or deep, the princess and the wizard should be here.
“Spread out!” I ordered my men while I stepped forth into the dark, my voice echoed along with the sound of boots, the sound of my spurs in particular punctuated my every step.

The sound of a heavy step was heard, it couldn’t be one of ours. Our boots don’t make that noise, my heart accelerated, my vision became clearer. I turned towards the sound and aimed my revolver.
A giant stepped forth out of the dark, my laser illuminated part of his armored face as he was about to crush one of my men with a war-hammer, i was too late he was already in the middle of the attack, the soldier reacted much later than i, as he turned towards his killer he only managed to see the giant’s torso and feel a great hammer falling on top of his head destroying his cranium and folding his body under the immense pressure, the thwack sound of the blow echoed on the dark cave.

“AMBUSH” One of the men screamed, of course it’s an ambush. How could I fall for such a thing now we’re in the eye of the storm.
The same giant then advanced forth swinging his hammer and hitting more of my men, another giant emerged from the shadows, this one with a spear, he proceeded to impale one of the machine gunners right through while the man was in the middle of firing a burst into the other giant.
I unloaded 5 shots into the hammer giant, each shot penetrated his bronze armor and sparks surged as the 28 gauge solid shots coursed through the heavy carapace, blood started dripping and he eventually slowed his approach enough to be greeted with a barrage of automatic fire.

The spear wielding giant charged towards me, spear ready to impale, I pressed the cylinder release button and swung my revolver open, using my saber hand to pop the shells out.
To say the giant was tall would be an understatement, the beast of a man was a bit taller than our Sucuris, and he was coming towards me in a furious hateful charge.
I don’t have time to reload and I don't have the strength to parry it, dodging is my only option.
My heart was beating at a tremendously fast rate as I stared at the giant while he rushed closer and closer towards me. I counted his steps and when he was close enough I threw myself to the side letting my saber drop and quickly grabbing a blue speedloader from my belt. As my back impacted the cold stone floor, I could feel a foreign object penetrate the skin of my back. I didn't feel the pain, I simply felt the cold steel of my revolver and the polymer grip as I did my best to stick the speedloader into its place.
Not quick enough, the giant turned towards me and aimed his spear to my cranium. I gritted my teeth and closed the now loaded cylinder in a motion of pure stubbornness.

In what would be my final moments in this life, a bloop sound echoed throughout the cave and into my ringing ears. In the few milliseconds i had to react i couldn’t help but smile as a 40 mm was shot, it’s many nails penetrated the cruel brute’s back. It screamed and stopped as the flechettes penetrated through his back and into many nerve endings, veins and bones. Its pain gave me an opportunity to unload my revolver into his neck, turn the tables on my destiny and seal the giant’s fate.
My laser dot illuminated the giant’s armor with every shot, the red dot on his chest was replaced by a bloody hole filled by magnum rounds as fresh crimson blood dripped out of the holes in the chest armor. 
He used his spear as support in a final dying motion, I rolled to the side and his body tumbled down.
As I stood up a strident pain hit my back, as if a knife was driven into me, I took my hand towards it and noticed a sharp stone had penetrated my flesh, blood was pouring out of it, I took it out striking an even stronger pain into me i couldn’t help but grunt and scream as I took the sharp rock out of my back. 

“Captain!” Santos called out to me as I tried to stop the bleeding on my back.
“Help me here, Santos, THE REST OF YOU, FIND THE WIZARD AND THE PRINCESS!” I yelled, as Santos came closer and inspected my open wound.

We lost two men here, they lie dead on the cold floor, luckily their families can’t see their current state, we got wounded too, some are still clinging to their rifles and trying to stand, others are being taken outside on the shoulders of their friends.

Santos did his best at stopping the bleeding and bandaging my shoulder, i stood up, reloaded my revolver and took my saber in hands.
“Be careful captain, that wound will need stitches until then try not to start the bleeding again, you know the deal.” Santos warned me as I began to move deeper into the cave.
“We gotta finish this quickly then” I amended.

The walls of the caves were illuminated by muzzle blasts; the thundering sound of 762 Tupi echoed throughout the cave walls, it seems my men found the wizard.

I rushed towards the source of the firing, deeper inside the cave as the roar of the guns invaded my ears.

A green glow emitted from one of the cave’s chambers, the same where the shots ringed from, I moved in along with Santos, towards it with a steeled resolve.
Screams joined the thundering cacophony inside along with an unnatural droning whirring sound. As we got close that awful droning became louder until it was discharged with a great electrical roar.
I turned the corner and saw half a squad of my men being struck by a green lightning that divided itself and pierced into each of them, they screamed and contorted for a few moments while their bodies were destroyed, reduced to a putrid unliving mess of burned flesh, gun and uniform.

I locked eyes with the elderly mage, his clothes were intricate, his staff had a green orb of cackling energy on it and his long beard seemed to cackle along with it.
His eyes, his eyes were fearful yet resolute.
Santos stepped forth along with another wave of men as they spread forth into the cave the mage moved forward, closer to us.

“You know not what you do, stop now! before they too dishonor your name and destroy everything you hold dear. I warn you, soldiers!” He proclaimed with great energy and emotion before his speech. 
I gripped my Taurus and my saber with renewed strength as I prepared myself to give the final order.

“Open fire!” I yelled out, my voice echoing in the cave as the rifles began firing towards the mage. The bullets did not pass, they were stopped midway through, some ricocheting but most losing all energy and falling to the floor harmless upon getting close to the mage.

“You’re as stubborn as the night…” He lifted his staff up and placed it in front of him, fixing it onto the ground as if it was a standard. “soldiers are all the same no matter their roots, always stubborn, always eager to serve their masters, disgusting mutt dogs that you are!“ 
The staff began to cackle with energy, filling the walls with it’s awe inspiring reflections, the men began reloading their weapons, slapping new magazines in place and firing against the man.
I rushed towards the mage with my saber ready, bridging the gap between us in a few swift steps as my heart began to beat harder and harder.

“YOU, WILL, LEARN, YOUR, LESSON!” He lifted his wand, as if he wielded the power of thunder with it.

He looked into my eyes as I approached in a thrusting movement towards his gut. I penetrated his robes, skin and entrails with my saber. 
He was incredule as fear began to cloud his eyes, and the strength in his arms began to leave. I removed my saber from his gut, coating the floor of the cave with his blood.
I then lifted my revolver up meeting his chin with the barrel and pulled the trigger. Ending his life.
The battle was over, his body was now over a pile of his own blood, his staff lying harmless by his side.

“Check every… every place, find the princess and get this over with.” I ordered as I took a moment to breathe.
They moved forth with apprehension, they looked at me with worried faces, my once pristine uniform is now smeared in fresh blood. This is not the first time of course but I don't think I'll forget about this so soon.

“Sir, we found her!” One of my men said after inspecting a crevice in the wall.
"Finally, Santos contact the vehicles, tell them we’re going home, objective secured.” I ordered as I approached the crevice.
The diminutive princess was leaving the hole as I closed in, her elegant clothes were stained with dirt.

“You disgusting monkeys took too long” She shot out as she straightened her long dress.

I had no words to say, I was simply surprised at her demeanor. She looked around, seeing the blood and the dead and I could see nothing but scorn in her eyes.

Santos relayed my message while the men slinged their rifles and carried the bodies and wounded out. I motioned for her to move.

“Yes, moron, I'm not an idiot, I know the way.” She scorned while moving along with the men.

I began to move too, and as I did I felt a sharp disorientating pain in my shoulder as blood began to spill out onto my jacket out of my wound.
Santos saw it and quickly rushed to my side, helping me stop the bleeding and keeping me standing.

“No time to waste, let’s go, the vehicles are waiting, Captain.” He said as he helped me walk out of the cave.

The princess looked back at me as we approached the exit of the cave, scorn and disgust stamped in her face.

We moved down the hill, slowly but surely we tread down the same rough path we took up, the bodies of the giants and the blood of our men adorning the way.
Until, exhausted, we finally reached the base of the hill. The sun was in mid-dusk it’s orange radiance greeting the wide sandy plains in front of us. The rumble of the engines filled the air as we boarded the APCs, the soldiers that weren’t wounded had to sit on top as the internal compartment was taken up by the wounded.

We lost a cascavel to the flames, the other managed to survive with some burnt scars all around it’s hull.

Me and the princess ended up in the same APC, a wounded man with multiple broken bones was trying to survive laying on one of the troop seats while a medic tended to him.

She was visibly uncomfortable, the smell of blood and the groans of pain was all I could feel while the vehicles traveled back to Cratenia.

It’s finally over, now we must lick our wounds and bury our dead while we wait for the next thankless mission and the next wasteful sacrifice.