GREATLANDS|FOREST|{HOLY LAND}
There has been a disturbance in the greatlands.
The investigators came back with unbelievable stories.
Humans.
Humans are here in the greatlands.
How is this possible? Fragile humans in the greatlands?
Preposterous.
They must be dealt with accordingly.
—
WILDERNESS|FOREST|RECON TEAM
After a uneventful night save for the occasional animal cry, the recon team cleans up camp and prepare to hit the road again.
At 0830, A VTOL plane landed with fuel and supplies to replenish the jeeps, before taking off and returning to the staging point.
Making sure that everything was tied down and all camp fires were put out, Olive gave the order to continue the journey with the goal of reaching point three.
As the jeeps rumble through the forest, the feeling of being watched was non existent.
"Maybe we scared them off last night." Olive muttered to himself as he scanned the passing environment.
Looking up, he caught a glimpse of rage team flying above, providing air support should the need arise.
Soon, it hit midday and the recon team reached another massive natural highway. This time, they could follow the highway all the way down to point three.
It was at this time that Olive realized that the feeling of being watched has returned, at a higher intensity than before.
"All units prepare for combat." After a moment of thinking, Olive sent out this command to the rest of the team.
In one unified moment, the sound of chambering a round drowned out the rumbling engines, causing the atmosphere to become tense and somber.
"Eyes up!" Olive ordered, "Keep current speed, change formation to columns."
The back half of the formation speed up to match position with the front half, creating a 2 by 5 formation of jeeps, with all weapons pointed outwards.
"Rage team, Olive hailing Rage team, please respond."
"Rage 2-1, go ahead Olive."
"Requesting scan around our location, break, getting the feeling that we are not alone, over."
"Roger, conducting scan."
Tanker brings his jet lower to conduct a scan around the recon team, only to end up with the same scans as before.
"Olive, Rage 2-1. Negative contact, just got you and your boys on instruments. Over."
"Received Rage 2-1, advise, how far till we reach point three? Over."
"One moment..." Tanker then radioed to Striker, asking how far the recon team was.
"They're about three hours out at current speed, what's up?"
"Gotcha, Olive says that he feels like there's something out there stalking them, but nothing is showing up on scans."
"Weird." Striker pauses for a moment to think. "Maybe we are dealing with something related to magic?"
"Maybe, I'm going to stay down here to provide faster CAS should the need arise."
"Gotcha, pay attention to fuel alright."
Acknowledging the warning, Tanker redirects his radio to Olive.
"Three hours at current speed. Be advised, you could be dealing with supernatural elements, will stay at low altitude to provide support when needed. Over."
"Thank you Rage team, will be cautious. Over and out."
Olive puts away the long range radio(LR) and reissues his previous orders.
"Keep your eyes peeled, high possibility we are dealing with supernatural elements. ETA to point three is three hours."
"Wilco!" * 9
—
GREATLANDS|FOREST|OUTSKIRTS
How?
How are the humans here?
How are they not falling apart?
How are they still sane?
Do they not hear mothers song?
Blasphemy...
Blasphemy.
BLASPHEMY!
HOW DARE THEY NOT APPRECIATE MOTHERS SONG!
THEY MUST BE PUNISHED!
But how are they so fast?
It's taking our fastest trackers to keep up with them.
Our mounts are not able to keep up, they are getting tired.
How are the humans not getting tired?
What is that strange bird above?
How is it ignoring the decree of sacred skies?
Blasphemous...
Blasphemous.
BLASPHEMOUS!
THEY MUST BE PUNISHED!
We must wait before we can act.
The roar of the bird scares our mounts.
They are scared.
We can only wait until the humans are tired.
They are only humans.
They will get tired.
That is when we shall strike.
This road?!?
Why are they following this road?!?!
They are headed to the great ones home!
The great ones shall deal with them!
Rejoice!
Rejoice!
Rejoice!
—
WILDERNESS|POINT THREE|RECON TEAM
The sun is beginning to set when the recon team reached point three.
Point three was situated at the base of a super large tree.
It was first observed by Rage team. A large clearing formed around the tree, creating a natural open field to see if anything approached them.
As the recon team set up camp, the same rotation as last night was established.
Some watching the open field, the others watching above them at the branches. Seemingly thick enough to hold a civilization above them.
As the night passes, only the sound of creaking wood swaying in the wind could be heard. No animal sounds could be heard, causing the entire teams hair to stand on edge.
Morning light breaks the darkness, the rumbling sounds of VTOL planes wake the recon team.
A few soldiers shoot up flares to direct a landing zone for two of the VTOLs.
As the recon team proceeds further and further towards the black zone, the more difficult it was to refuel them due to the range of the VTOLs.
Point Five was the final point the recon team could use the jeeps. Past that point would cause the VTOLs to be on a one way journey. With no fuel to make the trip back to the staging grounds.
It was also the second 'staging ground' for the recon team. The road to point six and onward would be on foot.
The good thing was that point six was the entrance into the cloud pillar. The final point was inside the pillar itself. At first, they would go in and out, to determine if there was a supernatural force that would hinder them. If there was nothing hindering them, they would make a short trip inside.
Should the case be that there was a force stopping them, they would use alternative means to enter. If nothing works, they would fall back and create an observation post between point five and six, investigate the pillar.
The recon teams journey to point four was met with absolute silence, with nothing but the sound of wind and flora. Whatever was watching them earlier has vanished, as if they had never existed in the first place.
This only put them on a sharper edge, as this looming silence only meant bad news in their books.
They reached point five ahead of time, this caused Olive to give the recon team a 12 hour break as he and a small team investigated their surroundings.
To their surprise. There was plenty of life to be found, small animals of all sorts of shapes and sizes could be found. All of which ran at first sight of them, save for a couple who gave them no regards.
But no signs of predators could be found. A weird sign since there was an absence of large prey animals.
After the team finished their small investigation around point five, they returned to the makeshift camp to rest and prepare for their trek to point six in the coming days.
"This world get stranger and stranger the longer we are here." Olive commented in a radio diary, "But that's something that I am looking forwards to. None of that stifling 'peace' in our old world."
"A breath of fresh air in my books. I'm sure that is a sentiment shared by plenty of others at the carrier. Here's to a brand new world!"