Erec awoke to the pounding siren of an emergency. It was a noise that dug deep into your skull and wrenched you out of any rest or recovery; a loud, blazing sound that went on for far too long and rang in your ears, likely for days afterward. It was everywhere. Lording over the entire Academy in a veritable storm of noise.
Every thirty seconds, a voice of a female Knight interrupted the loud siren: "Attention initiates, emergency procedure. Please get your weapons and armor and proceed to the Academy’s main grounds for further instructions. This is not a drill. You have twenty minutes.”
Erec forced his way out of the bed for the second time; the voice shouted at him to get prepared. His brain was still barely working this early in the morning. The sun hadn’t even risen into the sky. Enide was next to him, eyes wide. “Erec, what is this?”
“Not sure, but whatever it is, it isn’t good.” Even though they had done emergency drills before, it’d never been like this. And the voice telling them it wasn’t a drill left the imagination free to speculate what exactly had happened to warrant this kind of response. Now that he was sitting up, he could see that there was the slightest glimmer of sunlight. Something had gone incredibly wrong.
He threw on a shirt and the pants he’d worn the day before, since they were the closest thing to him, and there wasn’t time to spare.
“Stay here—“ He stopped as he saw Enide’s eyes. Nope. She was not about to do that. “—Er… Maybe go back to your family and make sure they’re alright? I have to follow the orders and don’t know what’s happening.”
At this, Enide gave him a thumbs up and vanished from the bed, reappearing next to his desk where she stole her laser-rifle. “Go get ready. I’ll be out in a couple of minutes.” She said, checking over the gun swiftly and efficiently.
Erec left his room to see the other Initiates starting to do the same. Colin, Garin, and Olivia looked just about as out of it as he was; groggy and tired, questioning what was happening loudly. Colin hadn’t even left his room yet, only thrown open his door. Being the Knight he was, Erec strode forward, went to the Armor room, and put on his trusty steel plate.
[Morning, buckaroo. Appears something is going horribly wrong, and here we are at 6 a.m. dealing with it!]
“Morning, VAL,” he responded numbly as his servos whirred to life and the Armor disconnected from the rack it was suspended on. Next came his weapon, on the bench nearby—the silver axe felt good in his gauntleted hand like it belonged. Every step he took with the blaring siren left a further sinking feeling in his gut. Garin came in swiftly after, putting on his own Armor.Things were about to get bad.
Today was supposed to be his day in the tournament - the first day of the duels where they faced off against someone else and tested their power's limits. A day he’d long looked forward to since it would lead to a grand duel with Forrest and perhaps Sorren. Clearly, that had changed on a dime. It was like that sometimes when things you couldn't predict occurred, changing the landscape of reality. You just had to adapt.
With axe in hand, he stormed out of the room and waited in the common area, watching the rest of his friends filter by.
Enide was there, now dressed and with her gun strapped to her back as she stared at them enter their Armory. She snorted, "Still takes you guys some time to put that on, doesn't it? I wonder why you bother. Seems to me that some of you can go on without it. Look at him," she pointed at Erec. "I just heard that he smashed in another Knight's helmet the other day."
"Armor has its uses," Garin said as he stepped out next. "For one, it has increased mobility, and it provides defense, given you aren’t a freak of nature with too much strength. But you’ve seen how it fares in the tournament. A lot of people have issues dealing with our Armor.”
“Those same people can’t use guns they normally would like to use.” Enide pointed out. There'd been a good reason for it, as they didn't have the technology to make guns non-lethal, and the goal of the tournament wasn't to kill people. Though Erec saw no point in making that argument right now. Or ever really.
“Armor can stop bullets, too.” Garin yawned and waved to Colin as the Duke’s son left the Armory, fully adorned, ready to join them in the battle. They still have about fifteen minutes to go.
The conversation died after that, killed by the alarms blaring out. Olivia left the room, and with a nod, they were ready to head out and deal with the issue.
Enide looked at them and said, "You guys stay safe, okay? Make sure everyone's fine too.” She paused and stopped in front of Erec, shaking her head. “Stay out of trouble, hero. If you get yourself killed, I’ll hunt you down in the afterlife.”
With that, she left first, walking out into the hall at a quick pace.
They followed her out and rushed down the hallway. It was a flood of bodies as Knights scrambled out of the building toward the Academy grounds. All of them who'd made it this far had put on their armor but were bumping into each other, still not quite all the way awake after the abrupt and sudden start to their morning.
In a short time, they made it out of the dormitories and into the academy, making their way towards the grounds where they were gathered before a bunch of Knight Protectors and Knight Commanders.
Once the alarm counted all the way down to zero, Dame Juliana began to speak.
"There's an emergency," she concluded, looking at them all. "This is not a drill. The state of the caverns has become one of intense rebellion. Citizens are burning down houses. Anger is erupting as people are fighting one another. The military has already moved in to prevent it, and the knights we had down there doing their best to support everyone are needed; some of ours have switched sides and joined the chaos.” She paused, her voice dropping. "To sum it up, right now, the Church has begun a campaign of disinformation that has led to an eruption of tensions. Last night, things escalated as at least ten Knights were assaulted, if not killed, in the Caverns below.”
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The Knights stared at one another in shock, undoubtedly in disbelief at what they were hearing.
Dame Juliana’s voice cut through the confusion. "You are to subdue citizens if possible, with the least amount of force necessary. You are to escalate if your or others' lives are endangered. Order any bystanders to shelter in place, and to obey a curfew in the streets until this can be brought back under heel.”
A chill ran down Erec’s spine at those words and her tone. She meant that the Knights would put down countless citizens if they fought back—just how widespread was the rebellion down there, and how bad had it gotten to merit this kind of response?
The chill running down his spine was replaced with a simmering fire as something caught in his gut. Erec pictured all the people below, some of whom were in his cavern and who would be suffering now due to this unrest caused by the church. They’d made this problem, and the civilians would suffer for it. All at the behest of a false Goddess whom they were tricked into thinking they were worshiping. Anger roiled in him as he tried to focus on Dame Juliana while she explained the logistics.
She formed several groups, splitting command off to the different Orders. Verdant Oak was separated by Knight Protectors—Commanders—even a couple of Knight Masters who would take charge, and then groups were allocated resources. Knight Initiates were included, but they were still a valuable set of hands in an emergency like this.
It was efficient. With fifteen minutes, Erec had been assigned to a group with his friends. Though he didn’t spot Bedwyr as they were waiting in line, he could only hope for the best.
As for their leader? They had Dame Juliana herself. From there, things moved fast. The leaders had their orders already and took their troops as one into the city on the surface, where they could reach the elevators that led into the chaos below.
The surface city itself was not doing fine. Buildings were still under fire, with military personnel and Knights putting them out. People were herded about, crying from children as their homes burned and blood colored the streets. They’d long quelled any sort of fighting up here, had captured and secured it for the Kingdom. This meant that although there were traces of battles, they had a straight march to the elevator itself.
Juliana’s group was one of the first to take the elevator, having her orders for her contingent to make its way down to the third layer as soon as possible.
They loaded up with Knights and Military members, then descended the long shaft connecting the surface to the caverns. The elevator rattled under the weight of so much Armor and men. When they arrived at the first cavern, Erec saw a checkpoint. A contingent of Knights and military standing guard. Reinforcements spilled out, and in the distance, he made out that the noble houses here had been barricaded, with signs of some fighting.
After whoever needed to get off left, they kept going. Seeing a similar scene in the second layer.
It was only at the third that Dame Juliana commanded them off, and the rest of the remaining Knights left too.
Any further down was dangerous. They did not yet have control over the fourth layer, and the status of the even deeper layers was still a mystery. It stunned Erec to think that things had gotten so dangerous so quickly
"How long has this been going on for?" Erec asked, as his group split off. The knights on the elevator were breaking in different directions at the orders of their superior knights. Running off to fulfill their assignments.
Dame Juliana must have heard him, since she spoke with a casual air as she led their small collective of 15 units. "It began at 11 p.m.," she said. "The Silver Flames was conducting an operation on behalf of the king. It culminated in the investigation into several churches. When they did so, they were met with resistance. Five contingents of Silver Flames knights were wiped out."
There was a whistle from one of the Knight Errants in their number, who then spoke,""There's no way they got wiped out by a bunch of priests. They just don't have that kind of firepower."
Dame Juliana shook her head. "There's been infighting amongst the Silver Flames ever since the first event. Different groups break off, go rogue, and join the priests. It's possible that they were betrayed. Or we have to consider the other possibility that the priests are harboring a power we don’t know." Her voice grew stern. "One thing to remember, Knight, is you should never underestimate your opponent. We must assume we’ve underestimated their full capabilities or what they're willing to unleash upon us. Especially when we're caught by surprise."
With this, she returned to her grim, stoic demeanor, striding forward in her Armor and quickly making pace to bring them through the third layer. They cut through the city and routed their way to the nearest stairs to take them to the fourth layer. Along the way, they met a small group of military men and women treating wounds at the top of the stairs. Several had burns on their faces, and all wore the severe expression of someone who had seen too much.
Their leader, a man with a hat, saluted Dame Juliana with a fist pressed to his chest. “Ma’am. It’s been silent down there for the last fifteen minutes. It should be fine to descend.”
Their small squad of Knights looked to Dame Juliana, who nodded and then began to descend down the stairway connecting the third and fourth layers. There were many areas like this, which were connected to different floors without using the main elevator, just as there were a few smaller elevators between the floors.
It felt odd to be descending 15 strong into what was now an active war zone in the Caverns.
A warzone in his home.
Erec shook his head, trying to keep his focus and minimize how that fury was rising. It wouldn't do him any good to lose his head right now before they'd even stepped into conflict. Now was the time to order, take orders, maneuver, and think about things carefully and logically.
"Our mission is to go and secure the elevator shaft on this floor. We are to cut through any resistance and make our way there, secure it, and allow us to proceed down to the fourth cavern uninterrupted." She said as they stepped downward, leading them from the front. "From our reports, there is currently a station of priests and nobles working with the priests holding it down. Along with whoever defected from our military, I do not expect these to compare to our knights. Securing the fourth layer is a vital and important mission. Each layer that we have an active route to take the main elevator down is a layer that rapidly secures everyone’s safety.”
Erec's mind went to the seventh cavern, layers down, wondering just how his people were doing. He couldn't go there now, fulfilling his orders as a Knight, and securing the safety of these people. But he understood the importance. The sooner they secured layer four, the sooner the next layer could also be secured.
He only imagined the stress of the people in the lowest layers.
They reached the bottom of the steps.
This layer was worse than any before—even from his limited viewpoint, Erec saw burning buildings and heard crying. The top of the cavern was flooded with smog, which strained the air-filtering units to their maximum. He saw a pool of blood not that far away, accompanied by a severed arm.
Hell on earth. In the distance, they could hear people fighting and screaming. Nearby, he heard a glass shatter, but Dame Juliana held them still, waiting for all of her Knights to reach the exit before fording their way into the layer proper. Erec clutched at his axe and braced himself, feeling the heat rising within. There was one group responsible for this, and he would see to it that they paid dearly for bringing war to his home.