(September 18th, 2017)

Justin

I woke up by the sound of explosions coming from everywhere around me all at once. I looked up at the sky to see airplanes flying around and fighting in the smoke-filled sky. Suddenly, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching me at high speeds. When I looked at who was causing the sounds, I saw a soldier with a swastika on his left arm, pointing a rifle towards me. I placed my hands in front of my face as a reflex move to protect myself, knowing full well that my hands could never stop a bullet to the head. But that was the moment when I realized that military camo sleeves covered my arms.

Suddenly, the soldier was shot in the head, and someone came from behind me, lifting me off my feet and getting me to go on my knees. He approached the soldier to make sure that he was dead before turning back to me and saying: "Are you okay, soldier? Any injuries?"

"No, I'm fine, sir!" I replied with a voice that was not mine. I realized as soon as I spoke that this might be another experience of someone's memories sent to me. Once again, my consciousness was merged with that of the person whose memories I am experiencing — thinking the same, acting the same, only difference being that I can still remember that I am only experiencing someone's memories.

I, or whoever I was at the moment, ran with the soldier after he handed me a rifle. When I examined the weapon, I noticed how it looked to be from the era of World War II. When I looked at it further, I saw that it was an M1 Garand. He and I both started running towards the battlefield, unaware of our squad's current location. We started getting attacked by waves of soldiers, but whoever I was controlling started firing the rifle and hitting his targets with impeccable aim. Whenever my weapon needed reloading, I was ready beforehand and immediately reloaded without too much effort and got back to killing enemy soldiers with ease.

"Who even are you, Michael?" The fellow soldier asked. "How can you handle entire squads on your own?!"

"You could say it's thanks to the fear of being killed," I replied.

We kept moving towards the last location our squad was located in. The closer we got, the more soldiers overwhelmed us. As we ran, my fellow solider got shot in the shoulder and fell on the ground, holding his wounded area in pain. I dragged him behind a rock and tried to stop the bleeding but was interrupted by a group of soldiers firing at us. I grabbed my rifle and left my friend to absorb all of the enemy's attention to protect him. After a couple of soldiers killed, another soldier struck me in the back of the head. I fell onto the ground holding my head because of the sharp pain. I was not severely injured by the hit because of the helmet I wore that saved me from a concussion, but the blow from the blunt object was strong enough to knock me down and render me vulnerable. Next to me was a shard of glass that, when I looked at it, I realized who I was.

'I am King Dionysius?! The father of King LeoDivinus?!' I asked myself. I knew who he was because I saw pictures of him and many drawings by talented artists. 'Was 'Michael' a codename? A nickname? '

The enemy soldier aimed his rifle at me and tried to shoot, but I quickly kicked his leg and made him lose his balance before grabbing my rifle and firing it, hitting his forehead. I quickly got to my feet and fired at other soldiers next to me, killing them with high accuracy once again. When my rifle got out of bullets, I looked around me for any ammunition but found myself completely drained of any. With quick reflexes, I pulled out my handgun sidearm and used it to shoot incoming soldiers. When there was one soldier left, he ran towards me and pushed me on the ground. I tried grabbing his weapon, but he kicked it away and grabbed a rock. He raised over his head, intending to strike me with it. Before he hit me with it, I woke up.

"AAH!" I shouted, startling everyone in the car. When I looked around me, I found myself in the backseat of my car, directly behind a startled Zack who was driving us in the middle of the night. Mia, who was sleeping on my shoulder, shot out of her sleeping position.

"Justin! Are you okay?" Alex asked, who was sitting in the front passenger seat and looking at me with a worried expression on his face.

I looked at my hands and realized that I was back to my own body and experiencing the present once again. I sighed and relaxed my body back at the seat, thinking of what I just experienced while my heart was still racing from all of the adrenaline and overwhelming experience I experienced in the nightmare. Mia held my hand and looked at me with concern evident in her eyes.

"It... It was another vision." I wiped my face with my hand and sighed again.

"Another one?" Zack asked.

The cyborg cleared his throat. "You were speaking in your sleep. I half-expected you to start aiming your crossbow in my direction!" Alex stated. "You were saying things like 'get down!' 'Regroup!' 'Over here!' 'Enemy spotted!' and other stuff."

"Yeah... It was all part of the experience, I guess. I was in a battlezone in World War II," I informed. "I was in the middle of regrouping with my squad when a soldier and I got attacked by a group of enemy soldiers and got surrounded.

"Really?" Zack asked. "And who were you?"

"Your grandfather."

Alarmed, the current monarch nearly slammed the brakes. He managed to prevent himself from slamming them too hard and send me flying out of the backseat. "WHAT?!" Zack asked as he turned around and looked at me.

"Yeah, King Dionysius. I remember it all vividly. Didn't he join the military in secret and fight against Nazis in the war?"

"He did, yeah," Zack answered.

"I was experiencing his memories and saw through his eyes. I... I don't know what to say..."

Zack's eyes started to switch from staring at the road before him to looking at me through the rearview mirror. "That's odd. Why would you experience my grandfather's memories of all people?" He asked.

I swallowed and looked at my reflection through my watch, seeing my sweaty red face. "I'm not sure. But if anything, I still retain the muscle memory from that experience... And the mild trauma," I answered.

"That could be the reason," Alex stated. "Think about it. If you retained the muscle memory, that might be why. Maybe they wanted you to get good at something and learn a lesson."

"Who are 'They?'" I asked.

"Uh, I don't know. Whoever made you experience the memories, I guess?" Alex answered while shrugging his shoulders.

"Could it be that my grandfather wanted you to experience his memories?" Zack asked.

"That's not far fetched. I think that this might be the case," I replied. "Where are we now, anyway?"

"While you were asleep, I got a call from Ethan. He said that he and teams of soldiers are nearby and that we are approaching an imperial base and told us to stay away from it," Zack informed.

"And what are you doing right now?" I asked.

"Heading straight to it!" He floored the gas pedal and drove along the empty road towards the military base of the enemy invaders. Mia offered me her shoulder to sleep on, but I refused as the enemy base came into view. A large base with dropships coming in and out of it at a regular base. Other than that, there was nothing visible except for a few pointy pillar-like objects sticking out. We parked a few feet away from the base and proceeded on foot in the middle of the night. When we got close enough, I watched the imperial fleet carrying cargo into the base while dropships flew in and out of it, carrying supplies to the nearby battlefields.

"You know, this place was completely empty and had no buildings in it. Do you know what they did? They built all these walls and made it a fortress on their own in the span of two to three days," Zack stated.

"Whoa..." I trailed off. "That fast?"

"Yes. And they even built a road for us," He continued, laughing silently.

"Okay, Justin. How are we gonna do this?" Alex asked.

"Well, I don't want to charge headfirst, guns blazing. We'd certainly get the entire base on our heads pretty quickly," I stated. "Mia, can you go and survey the base from afar? Fly to the top of the walls and take out the lookouts, then take pictures of the base."

Mia nodded and proceeded to fly to the top of the base while staying as close as possible to the walls to avoid detection. The last I saw of her was her entering the walls. I contacted her on the earpiece, and she answered, confirming her entry and safety. Shortly after her entry, we started receiving photos of the base from corners and from above. Mia cleverly took additional pictures of guard positions and a weapon storage area. That did not seem to be as guarded as much as I expected it to be. The cargo kept getting loaded at a seemingly fast rate, suggesting that the empire experienced problems throughout the region.

"I have a strong feeling that they might have explosives inside that storage room," I said. "We don't have much time to infiltrate this base as we need to take advantage of the dark. If we indeed find explosives inside, then our mission is simple. We plant explosives, and then the facility goes boom."

"And then what?" Zack asked.

"We kill any and all remaining units and dispose of their forces. If we can draw attention away from Ethan and his teams, they can advance easier. He stated that they will be advancing all the way here, right? So if we trash this place, we'd be saving him the trouble, and the area would be cleared," I explained.

"But until we plant and detonate whatever explosives that may or may not be in there, we should avoid detection and not engage a single soldier, right?" Alex asked, to which I nodded my head. The cyborg chuckled to himself before saying: "Ah, mere simpletons are no match for my tactical genius."

"Guys, I think you should enter quickly before they notice that I took down some of their robots," Said Mia, who was still at the rooftop overlooking the base.

"Alright, then. Operation: Fortress Assault is a go." The group and I then proceeded to walk between the imperial tanks that were stationed outside the base and entered through the front gate. After I used my crossbow, alongside the newly-acquired aiming skills to quickly and silently take down the guard robots, Alex and Zack moved in to drag them away from the lights.

"Great job, you guys! Now there are many searchlights around you, so please avoid detection!" Mia spoke through the earpieces. "With that said, there are many areas around the facilities where you can silently sneak through without worrying about searchlights. Be quick!"

The two guys and I snuck behind a few containers that did not have any searchlights on them. We proceeded smoothly from one point to the next without encountering any guards or lights. That was the case until I found one robot inspecting the containers, startling me. I jumped atop one that was placed on top of another and jumped on him, striking him in the head with my daggers. As we continued creeping around the base, we spotted some bipedal robots that were turned off and stationary. When I took another look at the photos that Mia sent us, I realized that they were just around the corner from the storage room. I informed the group about this, and we proceeded silently towards the area.

"Has any of you noticed the big glowing red pillars that are spinning around in place?" Mia asked, sounding disgruntled at the fact that we did not take notice of the obvious. "Come on, you three! They're big enough for you to see from down there!"

I looked up to see that she was talking about the pillars that emanated energy from within them and contained parts that spun around while glowing with red energy. When we went around a gate that led us to the storage building, we noticed that many soldiers were stationed near two pillars, standing idly and not patrolling the premises. I asked Mia if she could spot any robots stationed near any other pillars to which she confirmed that, indeed, it was the case. I deduced that the pillars are remotely charging the soldiers or powering them up to increase their strength and performance. Alex tapped me on the shoulder and pointed towards the storage building. It had several guards around it that stood next to the door and others that walked back and forth in front of the doors, but nothing else. I was surprised that the empire would not place many units to guard their sacred weapons, but I would also be surprised if anyone else managed to sneak inside this heavily-guarded base.

"Can you speak through your mask?" I asked Alex, seeing as the mask that covered his mouth and nose aroused my curiosity.

"I can, but we're trying to sneak now, aren't we? Why would I speak?" He replied, his voice sounding slightly robotic. "And before you ask, yes. I made my voice sound robotic through the mask."

"There are windows on the roof, you guys," Mia informed. "If you could somehow pass through the soldiers undetected, you can easily enter through there."

"Justin. You can use the storm bringers to zoom past these soldiers, and get inside the storage facility," Zack stated.

"I can do that, but I think I'd be spotted by the searchlights," I replied. I spotted a nearby metal watchtower that was pointing its lights towards the entrance. I pointed towards it and slowly snuck to its stairs. Then I slowly began to creep to the top. Before I reached the top, a guard stood before me but was looking in the other direction. I took that as a chance and stabbed him in the back, sending my lightning through the daggers and frying his circuits. After that, I proceeded to the top of the watchtower, where I found three guards. One of them turned around and faced my direction only to get hit in the head with a dagger I threw at him and another soldier, electrocuting them both. Then I sliced the head off the third soldier.

It was at this time that the empire took notice of the trouble we were causing. Soldiers below me started to move towards the tower while readying their weapons for the engagement. Mia shouted at me through the headset to inform me about what I already know, making me force myself not to yell through the earpiece at the obnoxious devil in my ear. I jumped from the watchtower and used the daggers to dash to the roof of the building, where I entered from the roof windows. "Justin, are you inside?" Asked Zack through the comm earpiece. Before I answered him, I looked around me to see if any soldier was around. When I confirmed my solitude, I answered him.

"Great. Now look for explosives. C4, TNT, anything that has the word 'explosives' written on it," Zack spoke.

As soon as he mentioned the word 'explosives,' I remembered something crucial. "Doesn't Alex have the ability to fabricate bombs?" I asked.

"I do, but I can only make so many. I think I can only make three bombs for now. I must trigger them before I can make more, and even then, I need to replenish my energy," Alex informed.

"Just go with Zack and plant as many as you can around the base while I'm looking around, okay?" I suggested.

"Should we destroy the energy pillars?" Zack asked. "We'd plant one or two on them and wait for your signal."

"If you can find any with no soldiers around, go for it. Otherwise, stay away."

"I'll guide you two around," Mia said to the guys outside.

I started to look around the building for any explosives that I could carry out of the building without getting spotted. Examining the room, I took notice of the spare robots and robot parts that were placed inside containers. Weapons of different sorts were also inside the building. They were mostly comprised of Swords, Axes, machine guns, grenades, and finally bombs. I examined the bombs to see if they possessed remote explosion capabilities and grabbed as many as I could. Examining them further led me to realize that the explosives are meant to detonate by a wireless trigger in a gauntlet that would be armed to each soldier and would detonate from a reasonably far distance. I grabbed one of those gauntlets and began connecting the bombs to it by simply holding each one with the gauntlet. I secured twenty-four bombs before exiting the facility and distributed them equally among all four of us. With each one of us carrying six bombs, we scattered around the base and began planting them on the energy pillars, under vehicles, in buildings, and on bipedal mechs.

With a total of twenty-seven bombs planted around the facility, we regrouped on top of the wall. Mia pulled out her phone and began recording a video. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and she looked at me with a wink while blowing me a kiss. I sighed at her frivolity and got ready to trigger the bombs.

"Time for some imperial fireworks, baby!" I said before triggering the explosion. We watched as the entire facility went ablaze, except for a few buildings that we intentionally left untouched for Ethan and the rest to salvage and use for research and development.

"What have we here?" Alex asked when he spotted the remaining forces inside the facility begin to exit. Zack conjured his sniper rifle and took a position. Alex jumped down to the ground level, where he smashed the ground with his fist and started aggressively fighting soldiers with his entire arsenal. Mia grabbed me and flew me high in the sky before dropping me in the center of the base where most of the troops were. I conjured my sword and slammed it into the ground, causing a shockwave of energy to hit all the imperials around.

Mia swept a few soldiers off the ground with her new scythe and used ice magic to freeze some of them with a single slash before slamming her new weapon to the ground and freezing her surroundings. "Am I too hot for you to handle? How about some ice to cool you guys down?" Mia said jokingly, only for me to shake my head. "What? It was a cool one-liner!"

I summoned my crossbow and began firing at the bipedal mechs while avoiding their fire. I started pointing towards targets that Mia could easily strike with any of her weapons, and she attacked them on my mark. With the aerial advantage that Mia gave me, taking down the imperial troops felt easier and went by quicker. I took a quick look at her and noticed the thrill and excitement on her face that was not present at any other time I've seen her fight. The way she quickly took care of any target I ordered her to kill shows her pure excitement.

"Someone is overly enjoying this," I stated.

"This is the first time you and I fought together!" She exclaimed while propelling soldiers into the air that I then shot with my crossbow.

"We fought together multiple times, though," I stated.

"But this is the first time we fought together alone!" She replied. "This time, you're not on Zack's bike, and we're not at the citadel with all the soldiers!"

"Oh, I get it." I smiled at her and failed to notice the assalitore troop behind me. When I saw a shadow of an ax being projected under my feet, I turned around to see Mia's polearm planted in its chest. She landed in front of me and picked up her weapon before wrapping her arms around me.

"I've always dreamed of this moment. Now that I've gotten to fight alongside you, I can't help but feel happy," She stated before a group of assalitore units overwhelmed us. I grabbed her and spun her around, watching as she kicked away the robots with her feet before throwing her to the sky. She summoned magic red orbs and discharged them towards our surrounding enemies.

"Alex? Alex! Where are you?" Asked Zack on the comms.

"WOOOOO!" Alex shouted. The sounds of his firearms coming from his location on the battlefield and through the earpiece.

As to be expected, more dropships arrived at the base and unloaded large numbers of troops on us. Alex did not hesitate to fire his rockets towards the dropships, destroying two at the same time. Mia and I rushed towards the recently deployed tin cans and began attacking them simultaneously while dodging their fire. My demon friend used her ice scythe to create a giant ice barrier that I melted instantaneously with the help of a fire blast. The water flooded the area of the base around us for a few seconds, taking care of most of the enemy troops and leaving us with just a few of them to deal with.

"I'm gonna need a nice way to get rid of all this adrenaline, and I want your help, Justin!" Mia spoke on the earpiece as the fighting has led us on separate paths.

"Let us find a place to spend the night first!" I replied.

As I fired my crossbow at the enemies, Zack began shooting them from afar with his sniper rifle and helped me clear out a large section of them. When I was faced with a bipedal mech, Zack spoke to me on the earpiece, saying: "Justin, look! I have this new trick! If I charged my mana energy through the sniper rifle, I can fire a charged bullet, and then guess what?" After he said that, a blast of energy struck the center of the bipedal mech, getting it to drop on the floor. I rushed towards it and began slicing it with my storm bringers.

"A royal laserbeam of destruction!" I exclaimed.

When I finished, I took a moment to wipe my clothes and take a tiny break, but I was astounded by the sight of Mia carrying Alex, who was firing his rocket launcher in every direction. I leaned back against some debris and took my phone out to see that I have gotten multiple texts from Ethan, asking where I was and what am I doing. I replied to him by stating that I was lending a hand. He immediately responded by telling me to stay away from the base. I sent him the video that Mia took and then sent him another from my current position before saying: "What base? You mean.. This?"

Mia arrived soon after all by herself, having dropped Alex to fight on his lonesome once again. "Wanna ride?" She asked enthusiastically. I giggled at the fact that her statement had multiple meanings.

"No, thanks. I'm kinda taking a break right here," I replied. She leaned on the wall next to me and rested her head on my shoulder to watch what I was doing on my phone. She quickly noticed that I was texting Ethan and watched as I texted him not to worry about us and that he owes us a favor with a few smiley faces attached to the text.

"He's really worried about you, you know," She stated.

"I know. I just don't want to let him do all the work. Besides, we've already taken care of this best in no time, so do with that as you will. But what's more important is that he knows that we can take care of ourselves," I explained.

"I think he knows that. You've fought through hundreds of imperial soldiers at this point, right?" She asked.

"Yes."

"He just worries about you because that's his brotherly/fatherly instinct. He's your legal caretaker, after all. Try to understand that, okay?" She kissed me on the cheek and flew away to help defeat the remaining forces. But before we realized it, a dozen dropships arrived at the premises and dropped so many troops and mechs at us that I quickly lost count. I placed my phone away and ran towards the area with the most troops.

When I arrived, I saw Mia getting cornered by too many soldiers and was left unable to fly due to the danger of being shot from every direction. I conjured my crossbow and began firing bolts at them, taking down large sections of them and leaving my demon girlfriend with enough of an opening to fly to safety. After catching her breath, she returned to help me fight off the soldiers. After fighting for more than twenty minutes, more and more soldiers arrived at the scene and cornered us.

"Did they withdraw from the battlefield?!" Mia asked.

"This may be the case! That's why Ethan was able to message me while fighting wherever he was," I replied.

"Do you think he was trying to warn us?" She asked.

"I don't think so. He wasn't aware of our location until I told him!" I replied.

"Then they must have arrived here as reinforcements," Zack stated through the earpiece.

When taking a look at the massive number of dropships over our heads, I spotted five humanoid silhouettes approaching us thanks to my enhanced vision. I watched in disbelief as missiles that came from the sky struck the dropships, and bullets sprayed the entire base, destroying most enemy forces. When the flying bodies came into view, I was shocked to find out that they were humanoid mechs. They landed all over the base, finishing off what remained of the enemy forces. The giant robots were slightly taller than the walls, their heads peeking over them with ease.

"Justin? I can't reach Alex!" Mia stated while running towards me from a distance.

"Then, let's go look for him," I replied.

When we arrived at Alex's location, we found the white and gold mech suit with its 'face' opened, revealing a seat. Then we found Alex lying on the floor and staring with a dumbfounded expression at a girl with long white hair and a fantastic body that offered her hand to help him stand up. Zack soon arrived a second or two after us and stood next to me while watching the scene unfold.

"Are you okay?" The girl asked with a warm and reserved voice, not showing any emotion at all except for some concern.

"I... I-I'm fine, thanks," He answered before she pulled him back to his feet.

"Oh. You must be the friends of that knight," She said when she noticed us, her voice calm, warm, and soothing, but aloof and toneless at the same time. "Ethan was his name. I remember him well after saving him from that fight with the roman general." When I looked at her, the feeling I feel towards the Astralis family rushed instantly to me. Her blue eyes alone immediately reminded me of commander Astralis. She had a breathtaking face and a pretty feminine body to boot.

Zack inched closer to me and whispered: "Justin, look at her left middle finger."

When I looked at her left hand, I was left in surprise at the sight of the item around the middle finger. One look at the ring and I instantly recognized her. Aurora Astralis.

"My name is Alpha-One, I am the captain of a squad that belongs to Astralis International," She stated. When she looked at me, her face changed from a neutral expression to one of confusion. "Do... Do I know you?"

"Captain!" An android said after he got out of his mech and approached his leader.

"Yes, Alpha-Four. Anything wrong?" She asked.

"I wanted to ask you the same thing, captain. You've been acting strangely for the past couple of days ever since the Sol Drakion battle." When I heard that, I instantly began to think about the 'awakening' that everyone felt after I unleashed my inner power and fought the mothership. It was news to me that other people felt a rush of power after I unleashed my armor for the first time. Ethan, along with many other soldiers that were present, all felt it. It was what allowed Ethan to defeat the evil general.

Aurora looked away, giving me the impression that she was hiding something from her teammates. "It's nothing, Alpha-Four."

"Have you done your maintenance check recently? I will report this to command," A4 stated.

I felt annoyed by the way the obnoxious android spoke to the girl. "Why do you talk to her like that?" I jumped to Aurora's defense.

"And you are?" A4 asked, looking at me with a stare of contempt.

"A concerned individual," I replied.

"Concerned individuals are not authorized to tell us how we talk to one another," A4 stated. The other teammates arrived with their mechs and got out of them as well.

"Still, that's not how you treat your teammates," I replied.

A4 approached me threateningly, but Zack stood between him and me. A4 then said: "I do not like to repeat myself. Concerned individuals are not authorized to tell us how we talk to one another, understand?"

"Back off, A4!" Aurora snapped at her teammate. "It's okay."

Aurora moved closer to me, with Zack promptly moving to the side when A4 backed away from us. "I feel like I know you somehow. Have we met before?" Aurora asked. The sense of familiarity between us was mutual. However, I did not intend to reveal that.

"No, this is the first time we've met," I replied and offered my hand for her to shake. "Justin. The redhead is Mia, the cyborg is Alex, and this is Zack."

"Auro-... Alpha-One. You can call me A1." Hearing her nearly say her real name was very shocking. I shook her hand and said: "Nice to meet you."

"Captain, this is the second time you've acted on your impulses," An android with the name Alpha-Three spoke. "The first time was when you saved the knight who was falling to the ocean. I am not claiming that what you did was wrong, however, what I am trying to say is that your behavior then and now is surprising, to say the least. We were not given any orders to save that knight or aid this group with their fortress attack."

"I understand. But need I remind you that when something is wrong with me, the first people I'd tell are my own team? And yes, A4. I've done my maintenance check one day before the operation," Aurora exclaimed at her teammates with a slight tone of anger in her voice. "I believe you of all people would have known about that."

"I agree with the captain," A female android with the codename Alpha-Two spoke. "Not to mention that the knight was very thankful for our aid and has shared valuable intel with the commander. He has also proven himself a capable fighter.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Justin. But I'm afraid we'll have to leave now," Aurora said before leaping high enough to enter her mech without any assistance. When she activated her mech, the face area where the pilot would be located closed on her, and she spoke from the inside, saying: "Hope we could fight together someday. I would love to know how you took down this entire base all on your own."

Aurora and her team flew away after that, leaving us four to wonder even more about the enigmatic bloodline that is the Astralis family. I watched as the sun rose and looked at the time to see that it was 6:35 AM. I then looked at the rest of the group to see that they were still looking at the sky and watching Aurora and her team leave. Zack then looked at me and said: "Who knew we'd get to meet her so soon?"

"That was very strange if you ask me," Mia stated.

"Yes, she nearly told me her actual name that she supposedly does not know. Very peculiar," I replied.

"Everything I gathered and shared with you guys stated that she is emotionless and does not care about collateral damage if it does not affect her mission in the slightest. But everything that she did right now points to the opposite!" Zack asserted.

"I agree. She went out of her way to help Alex when he was down. And let us not forget that she was the one to save Ethan," I stated.

"She... She's beautiful..." Alex trailed off, turning the attention of the three of us towards the cyborg crusader.

"Haha, what?" I asked in shock.

"Guys... I think I like her."