The drive heading north was filled with apprehension. Soldiers watched the roads for any sign of movement. There was little idle chatter as the forests flew by. Windows were cracked, allowing their weapons to peak out from the top. As Eric drove, he too said little. He was thinking about their next course of action when he saw a break in the mountains. They had been driving for six hours now, and he saw the mountains gradually taper off to become hills. The break was still a long ways away, but each soldier seemed to collectively release a sigh of relief.

Eric stopped the vehicle and radioed the other two vehicles. "We will stop here for lunch. Eat in shifts. Captain Stryer and I will scout ahead."

"Roger."

Eric turned to Justin. "You take charge again. Make sure the soldiers don't do that bartering shit with the MRE's. We don't have time to waste about who gets the Chili Mac or Asian Beef Stew."

Justin nodded, and Michael left with Eric. The two leaders could hear groans behind them, but they ignored the complaints and trudged towards the crest of a hill.

"What do you think, Mike?"

Michael took a sip from his Camelpak. "I think that taking this route is better than driving six hours south, stopping, then driving another six hours. I can tell the soldiers are getting tired of being in the vehicles. Morale will get worse if we make the decision to backtrack."

Eric looked towards the peak of the mountains to their south, then the hills to their North. "I think you're right. These hills seem to stretch on as far as the eye can see. There's no telling where they might lead, and I don't want to go into potential hostile territory looking for a way around them. Let's go up and through these hills."

Michael crouched down and looked to his right, his eyes narrowed. "Eric. I see smoke. Lots of it."

Eric walked over and looked in the direction that Michael was. His gaze darkened. "They've made it to the border already." He grumbled as he grabbed the handheld radio. "Justin, get the soldiers in the vehicles and get over here. Weapons hot. We have hostiles engaging with friendly's." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Eric grabbed his weapon and mana surged around him. Michael did the same, without the mana. He grumbled as he saw the purple hue shimmer around the Master Sergeant. "Lucky bastard thinks he's the main character of a harem."

"Mia woud kill me. Now focus. We want to save anyone we can."

The two soldiers advanced on the village that was in sight. A group of Cartharic soldiers was making their way towards the village square down below them. Screams of panic and the dying gasps of fighting men rose high into the air.

Eric took the first shot.

Michael followed, taking down a Cartharic soldier that was attempting to enter a house in the middle of the village. The two men entered the village from the south side as the Humvees pulled up. Justin issued out orders. "Team Alpha, you go with me and clear the western houses. Team bravo, go with Jessica and clear the houses to the east. meet in the middle. Charlie, go with Staff Sergeant Heyt. Gather the wounded."

The soldiers worked cleanly and efficiently through the village. Occasional gunfire echoed from the walls of houses in the village streets. When the soldiers met each other in the middle of the village square, they had captured six Cartharic soldiers, and had put down ten more. Eric stood in front of the leader, his arms crossed as he glared down at the man.

"Were you acting alone? Why are you so far out from Cartharic?"

The leader glared back up at Eric. "Fuck you, that's why."

"Hey Mike, it looks like these guys don't wanna talk. The sun down here in the south is real hot. Maybe if we let em cook they change their mind."

Michael walked over, his own interrogation had been fruitless as well. "I think you're right, Eric. Hey, Alpha, take these guys out of the village and put em by the vehicles. Let em cook for a bit."

After the men were dragged away, Eric turned to the village chief. His eyes widened as he realized who it was. 6-8 had done some business with a village to the south of Freedom Town. It was a village of raccoon people. There had been many incidents with the soldiers, causing Eric to visit there himself and apologize to the village elder in person. Ever since then, Eric and Mia had been taking regular visits to the village. "Gieth? Why the fuck are you here?"

The village elder sighed and rested against the wall of a house. His arm had been cut, so he held the bandages as he looked up at Eric. His tail swished side to side as he looked around. "Eric, we know little ourselves. One day, we suddenly woke up and found ourselves wherever this is, with those mountains you see as our neighbors. Men speaking in your language approached us a few days ago. Neither us nor them could converse, so the men went on their way. Tell me Eric, are we in your world now? The air here, it feels different, more volatile and the mana feel like it is angry."

Eric sighed and sat down. "My friend, your world and mine combined. Do you remember all those crazy earthquakes we were having? And how something new or crazy would cross over every time? Well... This is that, but instead of it being a small, local event, it was the entirety of my world."

Gieth looked up, his eyes heavy with worry. "And what of our world?"

"Everything is the same, just bigger. If I am right, Riemskin should be just over those mountains."

Eric's eyes widened as he thought about it.

"Michael! Try to contact HQ now. We might be close enough."

Michael ran back to the vehicles. He passed the prisoners of war, they were beginning to sweat profusely, but were still refusing to talk.

"We'll see how long that lasts." Michael said while hopping into the truck. He keyed the radio and called out. "Any station on net, Any station on net, this is Chaos one, do you read me?"