Enlightened Empire-Chapter 424: Dreams

The sharp smell of gunpowder covered his nose, like a snowy blanket over his surroundings. A constant, steady noise filled his ears, like endless waves made by humans and machines. The brown mud of the trenches and the light gray of the insurmountable walls in the distance drew in his eyes, like an inescapable whirlpool. His entire being was enveloped by familiar senses.

Alcer was back on the battlefield.

Confused, he stared around, while his cold, wet, dirty hands clutched around his rifle's stock, the familiar weapon held close to his chest in vain comfort. Suddenly, a sense of danger erupted and made all the hairs on his body stand up at once. Somewhere in front of him, atop that cursed wall, he could feel a familiar, malicious gaze filled with evil intent, filled with thoughts of vengeance. He knew, at the end of the gaze was a black arrow, aimed straight at his heart.

Terrified, Alcer dropped down, back behind the protection of his trench. His heart pounded all the way through his chest and back. His spine transferred every single heartbeat into the cold earth it was pressed against. His fingers were shaking like leafs in the wind, from the cold, or from fear.

He couldn't shoot like this, his aim would be no good. So before anything else, he had to calm down. Like he had practiced so many times, he drew a deep breath of the cold, dirty air, to ease his heartbeat and his shaking fingers.

However, before he could come to a rest, he felt another gaze. Another arrow aimed straight at his heart, to his left.

There aren't even enemies there. Where did they come from?

Still, he had no time to think. Though his hands still shook, he ran through the trench and hid behind a corner, to escape the second gaze. Yet this time, he hadn't even sat down when he felt a third from the right, and then another from the back, even one from above. Thus he continued to run through the labyrinthian trenches of the battlefield, in search of protection. Yet no matter where he turned, he never felt safe. Wherever he went in his frantic escape, the eyes were watching him, arrows ready to shoot.

I can't keep running! he suddenly remembered. I have to save my comrades!

Yes, he was responsible for saving the entire army. The fortune of his life-and-death-companions on the front line depended on him alone. His mission came first, so the fear would have to wait.

Thus, despite the fear, he finally stood up straight and looked over the trenches. Immediately, he could feel dozens of gazes upon him, all accompanied by an arrow, all with intent to kill.

As best he could, he ignored the feeling and raised his rifle. This was a movement he had performed countless times, something he was intimately familiar with. The routine gave him comfort. All he had to do was search for an enemy officer, and then pull the trigger. An easy task, even in his poor state.

Thus, he ignored his beating heart and looked towards the front line. Up ahead, between the trench and the wall, his fellow men were fighting and dying, desperately trying to hold back the monsters they called warriors, as they ripped through their ranks.

Have to be quick, or it's too late!

With routine eyes, he scanned the lines of the beasts for targets. Almost immediately he could spot an officer, with armor expensive enough to buy Alcer's life, and the lives of another ten men like him. Somehow he knew: all he had to do was take him down and he would rob the charge of its momentum.

He ignored the jitter in his hands, breathed out, and fired, the same as always. However, this time, the target at the end of his shot did not go down like he expected.

Missed.

Still, Alcer had to remain calm. Again he took aim, this time with more care. Again he fired, yet again he missed. Shot after shot left his rifle, yet he couldn't hit the officer, not once. He changed targets, but the results were the same, his bullets simply sank into the enemy's lines like a pebble into the sea.

By now his fellow men had been completely overrun. At such close range, normal people had no chance against these monsters.

Desperately, they tried to fit their bayonets into the barrels of their rifles, yet one by one they failed. Some saw their bayonets crumble in their hands, or they wouldn't fit, or the men would get killed before they could finish the complex operation.

Soon, all Alcer could see was the red blood gushing from their bodies, and all he could do was stand there an watch, helpless. More and more the blood rose, until his entire vision was a sea of red, covering even the evil wall, and the sky beyond. Before he knew it, the red was above him, a giant tidal wave of blood that came crashing down onto his frail, mortal body. Before he could even scream, the wave broke, right over Alcer's head, and then everything went dark.

A scream awoke Alcer before he realized that it had been his own. His heart was racing, eager to jump out of his throat. Confused, he looked around the familiar room, the cheap wooden floorboards that creaked with every step, the tiny window without any window panes, and the hard bed with the itchy blankets which were in complete disorder after a night of tossing and turning. Finally, as he recognized more and more of his surroundings, the panic began to subside.

Just a dream.

He was home, and he had been home for quite some time now. It had been two months since he had left the battlefield, yet the battlefield had never left him.

Even so, he couldn't get hung up on these things. From what he had heard, others had suffered far worse than him after their return from the war. Compared to them, who were still part of the army reserves, he would never have to return to the battlefield again. Of that, he would make sure.

As his hazy memories drove off the horrors of last night, he recalled that today was a big day for him. Finally, he would be able to move one step closer to his dream: His own business, and enough money to live a comfortable life and start a family.

For the past several years, he had dedicated his life, and risked his body, for his king and his country, one dangerous battle at a time. He had fought in northern Medala, in the south, and even on the distant Verdant Isles with its inscrutable jungles. In the process, he had achieved many great things, and the little dock hand Alcer had turned into a ensign and hero. Over the past months, he had made good use of the rewards he had received for his achievements. Today was the day all of his sacrifices would finally pay off, the day he was determined to turn his fortune around.

As he thought of his plans for the day, he swiftly washed his face and body in a basin of cold water next to his bed. Briefly, the cold, wet cloth reminded him of his uniform during the worst parts of the war, but he pushed the thought aside. Instead, he quickly wore his best clothes — the ones without holes in them — packed a stack of rolled-up documents as well as an unusual bayonet into his old blanket, and made his way out of his house.

I've dreamed of bayonets again, Alcer realized during his preparations. Better get this over with quickly. All this worry is only making the dreams worse.

With a much calmer heart and a tinge of hope, he stepped out into the rainy courtyard. With the blanket still under his left, he pulled his collar closed with his right and stepped out of his little yard. Luckily, he didn't need a third hand to open the door, since his yard was always open, just like most yards in this neighborhood.

"Good morning, Ensign Alcer," he heard as soon as he stepped outside. From across the street, a man with gray hair along his temples and a permanent smile on his face waved at him from within his own yard, his own door open as well, of course.

"Good morning, Chief Machao," Alcer shouted back. "I am not a ensign anymore. I quit, remember?"

"Haha, to us, you will always be the ensign. You are the hero of the neighborhood!"

From the chief who represented the neighborhood, those were big words. After all, their chief even had the right to send complaints and proposals to the royal offices directly. In this regard, all neighborhoods of Saniya were unique. Some chiefs were elected by all neighbors, others simply filled the position with the patriarch of the largest family in the block. There were as many different regulations as there were communities. Though in this case, Hakumuy neighborhood had picked Machao to represent them. In fact, Machao had left the community shortly after the miracle king had taken his throne, presumably to do some secretive work for him. What kind of secret work a potter could do for a king Alcer didn't know, but it was a fact that Machao had lived on Saniya's three islands for a while, and had only returned a year ago.

Thus, the high praise from the respectable old man with connections to Rapra Castle made Alcer uncomfortable, so he awkwardly changed topics.

"Quite the weather we're having today, huh?"

"Yes, though I heard it might rain later today."

For a resident of Saniya, the current drizzle could hardly be described as rain. Though Alcer laughed at the lame joke, he realized that he had run out of things to say again. Before things could get too awkward, the neighborhood chief proved his savvy again, and picked up another topic.

"So what are you doing today? Off to the patent office again?" Machao asked.

Alcer showed a genuine smile. He knew that the chief cared about the success of all the residents here. Together with his cautious nature, it was the main reason he had been voted chief. "No, they finally sent their reply yesterday. Today, I am off to start my business."

Alcer had been more surprised than anyone at how quickly his application had made it through Saniya's patent office. His idea had been fast tracked through the process. As a result, he had been able to present his invention in person two weeks ago already. Even approval had come swiftly, and without any trouble. Since yesterday, he was already the proud owner of a registered patent in the royal patent office.

Though of course, he didn't know how far he would have made it without help from the veteran's office. The veteran's office was a new institution in the kingdom. It had been established after the war, apparently to help decommissioned veterans smoothly return to society. For the most part, it would act as an intermediary to help find work for those soldiers who hadn't learned a trade before the war, and didn't have a place to return.

However, the office had also helped Alcer in his quest for his own business. In fact, their help had been invaluable so far, and in the future, they would help even further.

With their support, he was now only two steps away from his dream. First, he needed the means to mass-produce his patent, and then the money to start the business in the first place. Yesterday, he had begun work on the latter step. Today, with some luck, he would completely take care of the former.

After some more small talk, the chief finally let Alcer go.

"Then I will not keep you. Good luck in your endeavors, Ensign," he said. "Don't forget your neighbors once you are rich and successful."

"I would never dare, or old Anka would chase me across the city with her broom. Please let me invite you to a drink tonight, then I can tell you how it all went."

After a wave, he excused himself and made his way through their neighborhood. This was a place he had lived in for a long time, ever since before the rule of the miracle king. However, back then, 'neighborhood' hadn't been an official term yet, though that had changed with Saniya's full reconstruction.

One of the king's first measures in the face of Saniya's growing population had been to tear down the city defenses. Every seven hundred meters or so, the wall had been broken through to make way for wide and smooth roads, which the citizens now called promenades. These promenades led either along the Mayura River, or towards it, and in the process had eroded away more and more of Saniya's former protection. Only several shorter sections still stood witness to the city's old outer wall, making way for the new face of the city.

These wide roads divided the city into many, equally sized square areas. Each square had been decreed as one neighborhood by the king's order. While every neighborhood would have to adhere to the laws and regulations of the city as a whole, they still had considerable freedom within the borders of their own little community. For example, the layout of buildings, and what sort of businesses to allow within their borders, were all an internal matter of the neighborhoods. Thus, no two neighborhoods looked exactly alike, all constructed by the will of its inhabitants.

All in all, the neighborhoods operated with similar autonomy to villages in the countryside. Of course, Alcer didn't understand any of the political considerations for such action from the king.

For him, this place simply made him feel at home. He had been living on this block for many years. The people here knew him, and he knew the people. Their Hakumuy neighborhood, with its towering poplar trees and picturesque, one-story houses with the arced layout, was always a calming sight to him.

The support from his neighbors had also helped him immensely after his return from the war. He couldn't even imagine how some of the others were handling their return without such support. Still, he wouldn't linger here for long, since he had arranged a meeting for today. He had to hurry or he would be late.

Once Alcer had left his neighborhood, he turned north onto one of Saniya's many new promenades. These roads were all unreasonably wide, with plenty of greenery along the paths, so much so that they felt like a piece of nature in the middle of the city.

According to some higher-ups in the army, these wide roads were mostly there to guarantee smooth troop movements throughout the city in case of war or rebellion, though he had also heard some business people complain about the waste of space. Even so, these very same businessmen made good use of what space was available.

The sides of these roads were often lined with their shops and businesses. Alcer himself had often walked down these roads and dreamed of a day when he would also have his own little space there. To him, a walk down the promenades had always lifted his spirits. Now, however, things were a bit different.

Ever since the end of the war, the face of the city had transformed considerably. A large number of people were about on the promenades, far more than before. Worst off, they didn't seem in a hurry to leave.

Some were eyeing passers-bye, clearly with evil intent, while others simply sat there and begged for the coin in his pocket. The destruction of Kapra and Antila had brought with them a massive influx of people, both good and bad. Apparently, the city was really aching under all the additional load. Alcer could tell that they were foreigners, since they were all huddled together under trees and overhangs to escape the iconic Saniya drizzle.

From a friend, Alcer had heard that violent crime within the city was up considerably. Now that he thought of him, it was already time for Alcer to meet up with this friend of his. Luckily, their meeting place was coming up immediately.

At the end of his journey, Alcer reached Saniya's Lightning Bridge, the only bridge leading onto the island of Sillu. It was the westernmost in the chain of three islands within the delta of the Mayura River.

Normally, these islands were off limits to ordinary citizens. Only inhabitants could enter this place, and those were an exclusive group. Only officials working in the castle, the workers of the king's most valuable manufactories placed within the islands, and the royal family of the miracle king himself were allowed on the bridge most days. Now that he thought about it, this exclusivity made the unassuming Chief Machao seem even more impressive. Someone ordinary like Alcer couldn't compare at all.

Luckily, today would be an exception. Today, Alcer would cross this bridge for the first time since the chaos of last year's winter solstice. In fact, the one who would make all this possible was already waiting for him. Leaned against the post of the road to put the weight off his bum leg was his old friend and greatest critic, who looked in Alcer's direction with that never-ending scowl on his face. Since his friend had come early, Alcer decided to greet him early to prevent the expected complaints.

"Killari!" he shouted halfway on his way to the policeman. "How good to see you!"