Chapter 1: Blood dawn part 2

Vladimir was really annoyed now, everyone saw from the way he was walking. Now the normally very calm and considerate man was now storming through the hall, running over anyone who refused to make way for him. When he entered his office he threw his jacket on the couch and then sat down in his chair. After resting a while he stood up again and walked to his cupboard. Carefully he removed some of his pistols from their holsters and placed them on the cupboard. While he was doing this a door opened behind his back.
“Thank you for keeping my tea warm, Benjamin.” he said without looking behind him.
“I didn't. I just made some new tea when you came back.”
“Whatever....”
Vladimir sat down again and accepted the cup offered by his youngest pupil. He watched the energetic young man walking back out of the room. After a few nips Benjamin came back with in his hand a large folder.
“Is that the 8 o'clock briefing?” Vladimir asked, pointing at the folder from behind his cup.
“Well it was. Are you still interested, my lord?”
For a second Benjamin feared that his teacher was going to strike him with lightning bolts coming from his eyes. His masters gaze was already piercing through his forehead, trying to soften up his brain for the horrible things to come. He was now slowly shrivelling away in his chair, trying his best to get a grip of something, anything. Suddenly his hand shook brusquely and he poured his tea in his lap. Screaming from pain, caused by the burning liquid, he jumped up from his chair.
“You gotta be more careful, I'd hate it when something would happen to you.” Vladimir said in his calm cool voice. Benjamin was nervously dipping up the tea with his handkerchief. Vladimir now reached for the folder. He picked it up and quietly looked through it.
“Everything is in here?” he asked without looking up.
“Ye... yes, my lord.” Benjamin stumbled.
“Good. Then you may now be dismissed. It's late for the both of us, I'll go through it myself. Thank you for your hard work preparing it.”
“Thank you, my lord.” said Benjamin surprised, making a tiny bow and leaving the room.
A very nice boy, Vladimir thought, but he still has a lot to learn.
He now started reading his report more thoroughly.

I) political and military situations

Asia
India is believed to be fully mobilised by now. It's troops have already reoccupied the Kashmir region and are standing by for an assault on Pakistan. Pakistan is only 40% mobilised but is threatening to use it's nuclear arsenal if India proceeds. Chinese troops in the border region with India have also been put on a higher state of alert. India has not yet officially responded to this potential new threat.
China has already taken control of large parts of Mongolia and is amassing troops for an invasion of Siberia. Russia has already started moving extra troops to the region but the fights with the separatist regions in the west is demanding a great part of their military forces. We do not believe that the Russian army will be capable of fending of a Chinese assault. The Japanese fleet is mainly in the harbours for maintenance. The active ships are operating in the Chinese sea, playing tag and hide and seek with the Chinese fleet.
In the middle east Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt are fully mobilised, yet no country has taken an initiative. Local diplomats are meeting in Ankara in an attempt to find a diplomatic solution.
Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan are still in a state of civil war after the withdrawal of the American and UN forces from the region.
Russia is still facing separatist movements in the Caucasus region and it looks like these rebel groups are slowly taking control of the region. Russian top army leaders have agreed on the use of chemical and biological weapons against the rebels and the local population who are supporting them.

Europe
The Balkan has now entered a full scale war. Today Romania, Bulgaria and Bosnia have officially declared war on Yugoslavia, Croatia and Slovenia, after Yugoslavia invaded Montenegro. Croatia and Slovenia supported this assault and stated that it was time again that the Balkan got united under one banner. Russia has already given it's full support to Yugoslavia on this matter and promised men and material. Considering their current status it seems very unlikely that they will be capable of actually aiding Yugoslavia. Since they also lost control of their harbours in the black sea and because Ukraine has already confirmed that they will not allow Russian transports through their nation it is highly unlikely that they would be able to move their forces to the needed regions anyway.
Germany and France are still in an impasse after 5 days. The heavy artillery siege of Strasbourg by Germany seems to have no impact other than the destruction of the city. France still controls the sky at night and uses this power to disrupt the German reinforcements. Other countries in the region have not yet taken an official position in this war............ Flemish commandos .................
Italy .............. Vatican gaining ...............

Africa
Central Africa in disarray ...............

II)economics and industry
................higher costs ................... loss of oil fields .......................

Vladimir had now switched to superficially looking over the documents. They didn't contain much news anyways. Or unexpected news that was. All was going according to plan, except for the costs that were about 3 times higher than expected. Luckily he foresaw this and he had freed up 10 times more money for his plan than his generals calculated. The American government could learn something from this, he grinned. He was about to call it a day when an unusual article drew his attention.
The Vatican has sent 2 commandos of the section 13 to the United states on a special assignment. Sources indicate ....
Vladimir stood up, and stormed to the control room.
“Who got this intell?!?” he yelled, showing the paper to his intelligence coordination officer.
“I will look it up sir,” the officer said, shaking in fear, “one minute please sir.”
“You got 5 seconds!!!” Vladimir shouted at the man, who in response almost completely vanished under his desk.
4 seconds later he found the intelligence his master was asking for.
“The report was submitted by Laika, our number one intelligence source in the Vatican. In his 15 years of service he has never once made a single error in any report. I think we can rely upon his information. The departure was confirmed by 2 sources on the airport...”
“Okay, good enough,” Vladimir interrupted him, “contact Davy Jones. Order him to have these 2 commandos followed and tell him that if he loses them, there will be promotions in our American division. Also get my jet ready by tomorrow noon to fly to America. Besides my normal guards Benjamin will be joining me on this flight, make sure he is fully informed and ready by tomorrow noon. You got all that?”
“Sir, yes Sir!” shouted his intelligence officer.
“Alan?!?” shouted Vladimir now.
“yes, my liege?” was the answer from his supreme commander.
“Mobilise the black guard immediately. I want ...”
“No can do sir,” Alan interrupted him, “ the majority of the guard is currently undergoing maintenance and ...”
That was as far as Alan got. Before he could say anything else a bullet punctured his skull and threw half his brains on the person who was so unlucky to be standing right behind him.
“How many times have I already told you that you should A, listen to what I'm saying, and B, think logically?!? I told you that we could need the black guard at stand by! We're at war! How could you even think of calling in our troops to have them dismantled to see whether they are broken or not! If you disassemble them they'll be broken for sure! Never heard of small routine check-ups!?!”
“Uhm sir? Sorry to interrupt you, but he's already dead.”
“I know that you idiot, and if you don't shut your face you'll soon be too.”
Vladimir went quiet for a minute and took a few deep breaths.
“Okay, Marshal Edwards, are you here?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Congratulations on your promotion. By when can you have the black guard mobilised?”
“I think we could get it up to 50% of it's full strength in 1 week and get the rest up and running the week after.”
Vladimir glared at his new supreme commander.
“But if we do some overwork, we will surely manage to get up to 60% of our strength in 5 days and get up to 90% in 10 days.” Edwards corrected himself.
“So everyone got his orders now. Are there any last questions?” Vladimir asked. He looked around but nobody moved or spoke. “Okay then,” he proceeded, “get to it. No more slacking, I don't want any more surprises tomorrow. Goodnight all.”
Vladimir turned around and walked through the door, slamming it shut with such force that it would have surely broken, were it not that it was armoured with high quality titanium.

Come what may...

Ryu and Tayana walked back through the hall in utter silence. Ryu was too down to really feel like talking and somehow he didn't think his guide would want to talk anyway. His first impression of her made him think she didn't really want to show him around, and he couldn't shake the thought that she also regretted hauling him from his sandy grave in the desert. Well, what should have been his grave. So he walked, keeping up with the grumpy sylvan female, his eyes still looking around the unnaturally smooth wooden hallway. As he stepped in the waiting "elevator" the sylvan girl - Ryu *thought* it was just a girl, not a fullgrown woman - started talking.
"Well since I bloody well seem to be stuck with you, I'll just show you around and get this kor'vach over with."
Ryu only arched his eyebrow and didn't even mention the exotic, and probably foul, word that was used. She seemed to slightly nod before continuing.
"Maybe you already know this tiny bit much, but the Nexus is the very center of Tyrana. It is sculped in a nearly thousand year old Holy Sey'in Tree and is doing service as the center of the local community. Around it is built our city, a large part of it like you hu'mans on the earth, but another is crafted higher up in the branches that sprout from this tree and the bigger ones next to it. That part is mostly homes and living quarters, but also lookout posts and light workshops. Downstairs is the majority of the productivity: the hospital, the various warrior and mage clans' training grounds, the library, the smithies, the main community hall and bar, the warehouses, the forest hot springs, several heavy workshops and finally the Sa'araath pens. Deeper in the forest is also a small altar and the graveyard. "
By the time she finished explaining about the main walkways inside the nexus (which were ordered according to the 4 cardinal directions) they reached the ground-level and walked towards a set of ornated open doors. "As any child here knows, Tyrana's buildings, not including the Nexus, are divided in 3 groups all situated around the Nexus: Xih, the magical group, on the west, consists of the mage clans' training grounds, the library and the hot springs. Moh'r is the mundane group, located on the east, and it contains the warrior clans' training grounds, the smithies and the workshops. All the rest is located to the north and south, at equal distance from the 2 main groups. North is the main hall and bar, and the warehouses. The pens and the hospital are located to the south."
Suddenly she turned around and pointed towards another set of doors. "In case you didn't notice, you came from there, south." Then she turned on her toes and strode of through the opens doors, leaving Ryu to looks around in astonishment before catching up quickly.
They walked through even more corridors before reaching a serene courtyard with a magically eerie but beautiful fountain in the middle. The area was rife with blue and pruple orchids and large tulip-like flowers, and the style and colour of the surrounding woodwork has changed from a more earthen green and brown to a more mystical deep blue and shining dark purple. It all added to the magical feeling this area breathed. Following a silver-grey stone walkway they soon came upon a large flat building in the distance with walls made of purple wood and green creeper vines. The door seemed to be made almost entirely of darker green vines and odd-shaped leaves. There was even a tiny dust layer on the top of the doorway.
"That's the library, where the mages keep their knowlegde and where Tyrana's history is being kept. It's a nice enough place...if you like the silence and the dust around you." Ryu saw several persons dressed in robes or baggy shirts and pants go in and out the dust-covered building. Some were carrying books, others had their heads down in reading, and one was hurrying his way between them, but still Ryu couldn't seem to shake the feeling of calm and serenity from those people. Shaking his head softly and turning to Tayana he asked "Hmm, can't we go take a look over there? It seems interesting enough really..." As soon as the question left Ryu's mouth, Tayana whirled around furiously to face Ryu with a sneer on her face. "Look here hu'man. I just want to get this bloody over with, so you can just go look by your worthless self after i'm done leading you around like a puppy, y'understand me?" Arching a frowned eyebrow Ryu looked her squarely in the face and barely suppressed the need to raise his voice and his right middle finger at her. Gritting his teeth, he still let fly a snide comment "Oh right, miss bitchy, I'm sure you still have a lot of other toddlers to terrorize for a living after you're done with me." Ryu thought she might pop a vein by the way her face contorted at the pun. Well it wasn't a very succesful, nor powerful taunt - normally - but it surely seemed to have effect this time. If looks could kill he'd been have annihilated into utter destruction a hundred times over now. Instead of the suspected outburst, Tayana furiously turned around again and strode onward, her fists tightly balled and arms crossed, probably for keeping herself from hitting him, Ryu thought. He sighed softly and started follwing her again, careful to leave some space this time, you might never know... After having walked for a while - Ryu suspected in a circle, because some of the bushes started to look familiar - they took a different styled road and came upon what happened to be an enclosure made of green and purplish bamboo. With still a lot of sting in her voice, Tayana continued her explanations.
"These, *human*, are the hot springs. Good place for relaxation and soaking out the stress. I might consider going here later, so don't be there when I am."
Ryu sniggered softly. "What, shared spaces for both sexes? Afraid I might see you naked?". Tanaya's face quickly coloured a bright red, before looking away. "E-exactly, so *don't*". Giving a short shrug, Ryu nonetheless saw a flash of a bathing elf girl in his mind before shaking his head vigorously to get the thought out. "Yeah, lets just...Next!"
They both walked on past the enclosure, following a path lined with the same kind of lamps that he has seen in the Nexus' hallways. He also started noticing an increase in glow in the air, increasing the feel of mystery in the surroundings. Ryu couldn't contain his curiousity and tried to ask some questions, with the hope that his guide wasn't all to angry or agressive anymore.
"Say, this...ehm, glow... What is it actually? It feels almost tingly to the skin. Is this magic or so?" Looking over her shoulder Tanaya nodded curtly. "Well yes, the mages' training and studying grounds emant a lot of energies due to the activities there. If you ask me, it just gives me the creeps..."
"I agree..." Ryu grabbed at the air, trying to see if he could scoop up something, but logically to no avail. Tanaya threw her head back and gave a barking laugh. "That's the first time we agree, human. Lets hope it happens more."
As the path grew broader and darker, Ryu and Tanaya started walking closer beside, uncomfortable with the proximity to eachother, but more so with the surroundings, although both unwilling to admit it. When not talking they avoided looking at eachother, scanning the trees and plants around, and Ryu even started to whistle a silly tune to lighten the mood.
Suddenly Tanaya pointed ahead at what appeared to be a small arena-like building, decorated with lots of symbols and multi-coloured lamps. The doors around the building seemed to be sturdily constructed and were lined with an elegant flowing script. Ryu could here all kinds of noise coming from the inside, from chanting and speach, to dull explosions and even the guttural growl of some probably weird creature. He decided to wisely ignore them and started to inspect some of the script.
"It's sylvan writing, mostly wordings of wards and chants of power, all symbolic in this case really." As Ryu reached out to open the nearest door Tanaya called out to stop him. "That's the entrance to the holding pens, you idiot. Follow me".
"Hey, how was I supposed to know?" Walking around the building they entered a door on the north - Ryu thought is was north - and came upon a large room with tapestries on the walls, showing all kinds of banners and symbols, each one next to a door. "These are the mage clans symbols. They represent one clan each whose main quarters can be reached by going through the doors. Except the center one, the one with the purple and green tree symbol next to it. That's the main hall. But we're going back for now. Your "appointment" with the mages is not for today. The Oracle wouldn't like it, they're famous for studying their subjects, and I guess you are quite the interesting one for them. Humans here are rare."
Ryu felt a knot form in his stomache and tried to supress it by turning away "Right, thanks I guess, lets go then..."