Mars was looking at the endless sand dunes

"yeah me too..."

he was looking out the window of the sky carriage at the scenery, it had been 4 days since they had left Mirefield in a sky carriage almost identical to the one that crashed and 2 days since the scenery changed from wild forests to what Mars was looking at now, sand and more sand

'well there are some rock formations here and there but that's it'

Mars gave a sigh and looked away form the window and at the others in the sky carriage, as usual Chloe was sitting next to him, she was also looking out the window at the unchanging scenery, next to her was Lily and across from Lily was Lee and Karen, the sky carriage felt a lot more empty now that it wasn't filled to the brim and looking at the 2 empty seats still gave Mars a feeling of guilt

'if only I formed the s.h.i.+eld a little quicker... well no use in thinking about the past'

Mars gave a sigh and looked over at Lee that was looking a little restless

"what's wrong Lee?"

"um... the odd feels strange"

"the odd?"

Mars felt for a moment and sure enough the was something wrong, it felt almost restless

"weird... well it's probably nothing Lee"

"okay..."

just as Mars finished rea.s.suring Lee he felt a change in the sky carriage and looked out the window

'we slowing down... I think we're there'

soon his guess proved correct as the sky carriage slowed down even more and began to lower it's att.i.tude, Mars still looked out the window as a small town of tents came into view for some reason Mars found it slightly nostalgic, when he saw a group of soldiers doing push-ups the sense deepened. The sky carriage touched down a little away from the camp and the group got off along with their luggage, as they stepped out of the sky carriage the group felt the temperature of the desert and began to losses their clothes, Chloe also began to fan herself with her hand

'what now..?'

just as Mars was thinking about what to do the sky carriage lifted off and speed off to the distance, seeming like it was fleeing from this place

"what do we do now?"

Mars looked over at Karen that had raised the question they all was thinking about and gave a light sigh as he picked up his backpack

"we head to that camp and explain why we're here"

"...why we're here..? oh right I had almost forgotten"

Karen gave a sigh right before Chloe chimed in

"what about me and dad?"

"well... just tag along for now..?"

Chloe sent Mars a glare

"don't look at me like that, I don't know either"

"Mars, Mars"

Mars felt someone tug in his sweater and looked down and saw Lee looking up at him with his red eyes

"what is it Lee?"

"soldiers are coming"

"hmm... oh, they sure are"

Mars saw a group of soldiers closing in on them, they were dressed in matching brown desert camouflaged armored uniforms and carrying spears, it also looked like there was a small number of mages in the back that separated themselves from the other soldiers with the staffs tipped with crystals that glinted in the sunlight they were carrying. the group of soldiers spread themselves out in a fan formation with spears pointed towards Mars and the rest of his group before one of the soldiers stepped forwards and shouted

"identify yourselves!"

Mars took a brief glance at the others before he spoke up acting as the leader of the group

"we are tactical mages form Destra, sent here to reinforce"

the soldier that had spoken first paused and exchanged some words with a soldier besides him before he signaled for the other soldiers to lower their spears and walked forwards to Mars

"you were expected nearly a week ago"

"...our sky carriage was shot down 4 days south of here, we lost 2 of our people in the crash including our teacher"

"I see... my condolence but still you are a welcome sight, follow me the general will want to meet you"

the soldiers were all smiles and helped the group with their luggage as they walked into the tent town and soon reached the big middle tent and gestured for the group to walk inside, Mars took a deep breath and walked in followed by the rest of the group. Inside the tent stood a wolf beastman, he was nearly 2 meters and 20 centimeters tall, he had gray hair and his build was as if chiseled in marble by the G.o.ds themselves, his slightly fluffy ears twitched when the group walked into the tent but he didn't react more then that as he stared at the map on the table with a slight frown on his face, Mars narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the wolf beastman

'this mortal sure is something...'

only after the group waited for almost a minute did the wolf beastman look up form the table and looked at them for a moment before gave a frown and asked

"where's Moira?"

Mars was at a loss for what to say but simple said

"she's dead"

the frown on the beastman deepened as he walked over and stood in front of Mars, the pressure he was letting out caused the others form the group except Adam and Mars to take a step back

"her killer?"

"dead, body torn to pieces and scattered in a forest 4 days by sky carriage south of here"

"tell me what happened"

Mars reflexively spread his legs so they were lined up with his shoulders, straightened his back and put his hands behind his back before he spoke

"our sky carriage was shot down by bandits, 3 people died in the crash: the driver, a student named Chris and Moira our teacher"

"...continue"

"yes after killing the bandits that shot us down we headed back to Mirefield to confront the mastermind behind our crash, as well as the cousin of one of the bandits, the local lord"

the frown on the wolf beastman deepened slightly before he mumbled

"d.a.m.n kingdoms and their greedy lords... continue"

"we, or rather I and the 2 elvers stormed the mansion and killed the lord, afterwards we acquired transport with another sky carriage and arrived here after 4 days of travel"

the wolf beastman gave a sigh, various emotions flashed through his eyes for a moment before he spoke

"my name is George I'm in charge of the 3rd active mana armed army that is currently tasked to hold down the southern front against the golems, what is your name young man?"

"Mars"

"have you served in Destra's army?"

"no, but i have served a lifetime ago in another armed force"

"I see, who else of you have military experience?"

Karen took a step forwards

"I have served in Destra's army for a time"

"I see, anyone else..?"

no one else spoke up

"okay then.... rest for today, I will have plenty of work for you tomorrow... dismissed"

George walked back to the table with the map meanwhile the group left the tent and stepped outside were the soldier that had showed them the way waited

"follow me I'll guide you all to your tents"

on the way the soldier spoke about the camp

"we are 15 squads of active mana armor soldiers and they support staff, while we might have the least about of soldiers of the 4 fronts we have under general George's leaders.h.i.+p had low losses so far as we hold down the front line against the golems"

"can you tell us more about the golems"

"sure... we have separated them into a cla.s.s system with cla.s.s 1 golems being undead golems, basically dead people with mana stones stuck somewhere in their bodies, while they are no threat on their own they often show up in numbers that make them a threat. Cla.s.s 2 golems are people sized and shaped moving rocks, they are a little tougher than the cla.s.s 1's but not much of a threat as they often show up on their own. Cla.s.s 3 golems are basically bigger and tougher cla.s.s 2 golems, theses are a problem because when they show up they bring cla.s.s 1 and cla.s.s 2 golems with them in large numbers"

Mars along with the rest of the group nodded along as the soldier spoke

"as for cla.s.s 4 golems... well let's just say we hope not to meet one of those, as they can use tactical cla.s.s magic on their own... well anyway theses tents are going to be you home for now, meals are morning midday and evening, someone will be here to fetch you guys when it's time to eat"

as the soldier walked away Mars inspected his tent, it was 3 meters tall and 5 meters wide, but since it was in a pyramid shape it was likely smaller on the inside, Mars took a breath and opened the tent door and stepped inside the tent

'hot... should make it a habit to keep the door open during the day or else this happens...'

Mars endured the furnace like heat inside the tent and put down his luggage and looked around, other than a field bed in the middle of the tent it was empty

"well I don't know what I expected in the first place..."

Mars gave a sigh and walked back out of the tent