39. Season of War

The war had begun, and now it had spread to Earth itself. From Titan, Ganymede and the other outposts, Northerners had advanced to bring themselves to a very favourable position. It was a different position at Earth though, as the balance was maintained, and none of the alliances made any big advancement. The status at Moon and Mars were not clear though, as the situation kept changing – it was sure to be the biggest war ever fought in the history of mankind.

The newly formed command centre underground was not really a happy place to be, for the Northerners. The original command centre was hit by one missile which brought it down, as the interceptors of the Northerners were damaged in an unexpected intrusion by the combined forces of the enemies. The new centre used to be prisons for super-soldiers, but it is now used as the special area, as Zeus himself had moved there to make sure that there will no more attacks from the air threatening his own life.

“There have been significant territory changes on Earth, but the territory that we have conquered here remains the same as they have control over some of our territories too. The battles at Mars and the Moon have been complicated too; we have lost some of our best lands there even though we did capture some other territories. This is going to go on for very long” said the commander.

“We will unleash our friends from the other world. They are really in need on Earth. The enemies of the Northerns will run away like there is no other way. There will be no mercy, and there can be no escape for them though” declared Zeus.

“We have already unleashed those friends…or fiends. The whole battalion here is talking about the same” said the commander.

“Yes, but not on Earth; we couldn’t take them to Mars or the Moon either as the enemy space watch has been strong and these assets are just too valuable. They are needed here more than anywhere else; this is where the final results of this war will be declared. Earth has always been the key and the centre of everything – the rest are just outposts which depend on Earth for something or the other” said Zeus.

“So, you are saying that we should unleash the secret weapon right now without having a discussion about it?” asked the commander.

“Yes, they already know something about it, and so I don’t see why we should delay it – it is not really that much of a secret weapon. As most of the information from the other outposts couldn’t be linked to Earth, they haven’t been able to spread the news. Our friends are more than what they might have thought about, and so unleashing them will take our enemies back in surprise. We will take over their lands in no time” said Zeus.

“Do you think that they are ready for this full assault?” asked the commander.

“Yes, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be. They are well-trained, and they are brutal” Zeus was confident about it.

“They are brutal and a lot cruel, that much I know” added the commander.

“Brutality is a much needed trait in war. I am surprised that you don’t find it as the amazing thing that it is” Zeus was surely not happy.

“They have the kind of bruality which will make them uncontrollable, I fear. After all, they are not human; and they are not even animals or birds. They might not answer to us at all – unleashing might be the only thing which we will do and I am worried about the rest which will follow” said the worried commander.

“Control is just an illusion; you are never really there with it – we rarely had the same completely despite trying. But I am so close to it that they can make me a role-model. Don’t worry about these friends though. We have a pact with their leader, and they will have to honour it because they will require us to honour it on this side. I also have my backup plans” said a confident Zeus.

“So, you trust them enough, or just your own plans?” asked the commander.

“Well, trust is not the exact word there; I feel these things, and as I am born to be a leader, it comes naturally to me. You will know if you remember some of those quotes from my dear father – they have always been so popular, and they apply to me” Zeus declared with even more confidence.

“If you believe so, my lord. It is your will which shall be done, and it is your final decision that matters for us” said the commander.

“Well, take some time to think, and you will know that I am right. We are not doing badly at any front, and it gives you a few days to believe what I actually said. Maybe it won’t be needed at all with us winning more. So, keep thinking about it and let me know when you are ready” Zeus said while leaving the room.

Zeus remembered his revenge, but he had that in control. It came to him very often, but his thirst for power was above all at that moment. He just wanted to win by any means possible, because that was what he thought he was born for. His soldiers had their doubts, but above everything else, what they possessed was loyalty, something which was part of them ever since they first volunteered. Well, the Seventh World War had begun, and there was no chance of going back from there – a victory for one side and the defeat for the other seemed to be the ony option left; the end of the world was still possible though. He wanted to rule over the other rulers, like Zeus, the king of Gods, and he still believed that he was named for the one simple reason – to be the emperor of them all.

To be continued…

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31. For the War

At the top of the Lightning Twin Towers in the Southern Bloc, the representatives of the four power blocs joined to discuss the big terror which was above their head, as war was very close with Zeus declaring his objectives. The official declaration of war was rather quick and no incident directly followed it, as people actually wondered if there was actually anything going on. But the leaders and their representatives knew that the danger was there. There was the sale of weapons going on in the black market and the mercenaries were training by participating in the underworld fights. The scientists were getting special aid in developing weapons of destruction from some unknown forces. There were huge transfers of money going on between the blocs, and the business people were increasing the cost of their products. The atheist fundamentalists had started the propaganda that there is no God and death is coming in the form of humans while the religions had gone silent. The blocs had to make a stand as different groups and guilds had got a clue that the end is near with this World War.

“The North has declared the war officially. There are letters sent to every outpost” said the representative of the Southern Bloc.

“The battles had already started. The West and the Central Blocs are already on the battle with the Northerns on Titan and the atmosphere of Ganymede” added the Eastern representative.

“But the news about armed conflicts is not out yet. As of now, the Earth as well as the Moon are not part of the war. Neither are the colonies at Mars. None have joined the combat” said the Western representative.

“What do you have to say about it? You are better skilled to deal with the war related activities, right?” the Southern asked the Central Bloc representative who was present there as a hologram.

“Well, I have graduated in War Diplomacy and my elective was History of War. If you ask me, I don’t think that Zeus will go on a direct battle with all of us. It is too much of a risk. The result will be large scale destruction of his territories too. He should be planning an alliance” said the Central representative.

“What kind of alliance? We are the remaining three blocs here. The rest is just him and him only. He is going to create an alliance with himself?” asked the Western.

“There is this story, about the Northern Bloc contact with alien life-forms and their experiments related to super-soldiers. The earlier devastation and the economic problems is said to be a result of an experimentation related to a force unknown to mankind”.

“We would like to believe that it was just a story made to scare the others. If there was any alien life-form, we would have been in contact with them. We are not that far behind in development of technology. This should be part of that psychological warfare and nothing else” said the Southern.

“Is this a big risk that we are takng?” asked the Eastern.

“The only one taking the big risk is Zeus. He has gone mad, and is going at everyone other than that, declaring each and every known non-Northern as an enemy. It won’t do him any good anywhere and at any moment” said the Southern.

“We consider him mad, but even the sane dictators have created such big effect on the society that they are remembered forever. May be he wants something like that too. May be wants to destroy the world, and create that chaos which will be remembered by his name – he will be known as the man who changed the world, no matter for what” said the Eastern.

“Well, he is smart. So don’t think that he is underestimating any of us. He is a lot better than all the dictators, including his own father who could create more chaos than anyone else before him. He was the master of all evil, and everything that Zeus owns come from there. Yes, it was a long time ago. But the man was too much of an evil genius and has left enough for his son even with all the problems that he faced. You might think that he was defeated in the end, and his aim didn’t materialize. But that is a misconception. He did create the path to go there, and Zeus only has to follow that. It is us who are underestimating him. There is more to the Northern Bloc and Zeus than what meets the eye. Even his own people might think that he is mad, but I assure you that he is not” added the Central representative.

“Are you just just praising our enemy for no reason and making us concerned? Why would you do that?” asked the Southern.

“No, I am not praising anyone. I am just talking about the possibilities. The spies did inform that he is planning something big, like nobody has managed before, and that much is for sure. He didn’t just become the leader after his father died, for he did plan his way to the top. I will be very happy if it is nothing, but if it is something of gigantic terror, we have to be prepared. It is all I am talking about” added the Central rep.

“In that case, better be prepared than lose the war early” said the Southern.

“Let us be safe” said the Eastern.

“Lets take this to our respective blocs” agreed the Western.

Zeus was half-mad and still a better evil genius than anyone had imagined him to be. But there was still one thing which made him lose his focus, and it was his thirst for revenge. It was something unknown to the rest, which meant that he could continue to hope and strive for the revenge even during the war without giving others the idea of that weakness which he had. He had many heroes, and all of them had lost in their lives, and was all prepared to do better than them.

To be continued…

22. Lost Shields

There was silence in the military camp, even as there was a huge presence of soldiers, more than ever in the last few years. But there was the need for the same to be broken, and after one of the ravens did the job from the window, there was a lot to follow as what came close enough to a discussion.

“This is a battle which we shall lose, and this the war which shall end us” said the commander.

“But there is nothing we can do” said one of his legionaries.

“Yes, when Zeus decides something, it has to happen” added another.

“His aim is to inflict pain rather than to win, so why would he bother?” asked the soldier in white.

“He is directly from hell, he is a minion of Lucifer or may be his real name is Mephistopheles, Leviathan or Beelzebub” said the more religious one.

“Keep those ideas with you, and you religious boy, watch your tongue; the only religion we allow here is the lack of it, and we shall do whatever we can to protect it – keep your heresy to yourself unless you wish to be far far away from humanity” warned the commander “we need all the soldiers that we can have, which might save you for now, but not for too long”.

“But can’t his advisers warn him against his war for pain and pain for war?” asked the man in white again.

“No, this is not about the nation, as there is more to this than it meets the eye. This is his personal war, and it has risen from his indoctrination against not only religion but also humanity by his parents. This is a bad medical condition if we look at it that way, but he is now the leader and there is no chance to deny him his thirst for blood right now”.

“So we go for war and most probably each and every soldier among us shall die?” they asked together.

“That is more than just a certainty. The other option is to come up with a military takeover for which we are currently not capable of, as most of our army are stationed outside Earth, and the lack of unity between our stations is huge. Even if Zeus had lead us to a certain victory, with this lack of co-operation, we might have still lost a lot of men and resources. We are a losing side, my soldiers, in each and every way. unless something of a miracle happens; but we don’t believe in miracles…such a shame”.

“Can I add something special to that talk about miracles?” the religious one raised his hands as much as he could.

“No you can’t. It is not miracles that we are looking for; we look for results, and there is actually no such thing as a miracle. We need some other intervention, not of divine nature which doesn’t exist”.

“Repentance and penance are still applicable, right?”

“Not at all. We do not believe in such things, as we are better and highly advanced people. The science has proved it, and we are coming up with more scientific evidences for the same. We have created a lot of the same in the past to support our holocausts. We don’t believe that God created us as equals, as we don’t believe in such an entity unless scientists decide to add Him to their discoveries. If we did, how could we have enjoyed all those torment of the others which we have been doing for such a long time? Just check those instances from history where irreligious people wearing the mask of people killed a lot of the fellow humans, and now we are doing it without any visage of such things, and we are more successful than all of them. You know how many threats we have neutralized? How much our empire had risen, even as we are having slight setbacks right now”.

“Every empire; every thriving civilization falls, like Assyria, Babylon, Sumeria, Persia, Greece, Rome, Ottoman…”

“Stop that, will you? The Northern Bloc is not comparable to any such little things. We are better than all of them together. They were plagued by religion, but we are not. We are self-sufficient without God. We are so superior that it troubles me; we might lose this battle, but with our superior intellect, we might still be able to come up with something to win the war or at least not lose it. I am doubtful about this war, bout not about the Northern Bloc as the powerful entity that it is, and we shall survive at any cost”.

“Ever heard about the Tower of Babel and what happened to that structure?”

“I shall know no towers other than the Northern skyscrapers which shall continue to rise above the clouds. We are the future. Why do you come up with a random story of the past about a failure which has never troubled us Northerns? We are not anybody else, for we are the superior ones”.

It was a common practice that the superiors never agreed to most of the things the lower class soldiers said. What Zeus had said was going to go out through his commander even if in a different tone. There was always blind obedience there for the taking, and the commander had passed over the baton to his fellow soldiers, or may be most of his fellow soldiers, as there was always going to be exceptions. The direction of wind was already changing in the Northern Bloc along with the shift in power which was going on throughout the world.

To be continued…

14. Tale of Pain

“The war has been declared. Every male member between the age of sixteen and sixty should enroll in the army and every female between the age of seventeen and fourty should enroll in the female division of the army, with those between fourty and sixty being part of the medical units. There will be no exceptions, as long as you can walk and hold a gun in your hands. There were a few people who tried to hide themselves in their houses, and you know what happened to those traitors. For the women who wished to keep away from battle due to fear of losing their beauty, your beauty shall be carved out of you publicly. For the men who are too lazy, there shall be life for you to be lazy any more. We make it clear – do not make the public shame come to you and your family which will pass over to generations. The new volunteers who has just reached the age of eighteen have to report to the medical evaluation camp. Nothing personal should be taken; come as you were born, and we shall provide you with clothing and food. You shall belong to the government and will wear only our uniform and will eat what we give you to eat. The children between the age of thirteen and sixteen are supposed to end their studies until further notice, and help with the arms and amunitions department and the related industries. The citizens are advised not to use televisions and keep the radios supplied by the government and keep the frequency to only one area. The slaves are to be sent to the basement of every factory in chains. Remember, we are the new age Sparta, and we need all your power and energy so that we can continue to provide you with all the luxuries that you deserve” said the announcement in the streets.

Zeus looked at the piece of iron which was shaped like a head with two horns which were bigger than the head. There was no face on the head with the exception of fangs which stretched further down the wooden table as if to fix the head on it. He could remember what was the story behind that head which has featured in the coat of arms as well as the flag of the Northern Bloc for such a long time. It was related to a demonic invasion or an alien takeover, which is referred to by many names.

As far as he could know from all that he had collected from different people, the most significant one from his father itself, it was story of a failed space expedition, or rather a successful weapon expedition. It was the ship Scavenger which had used a newly found technology of bending space and time in order to travel through a newly created black hole which could lead to instant teleportation. But there was one problem, and it was that the object sent will go missing for a few hours before it comes back visible at a space specified, no matter how much is the distance. This was a completely Northern invention.

After the first few tests were made on automobiles and later space ships without people, Scavenger was the first to feature crew in it. The test was successful and the crew had come back. The energy for using this to send people to all planets in all the solar system were being accumulated when something strange had happened with the crew who visited a prison. They came up against a prisoner who was being interrogated, and they had tortured him to death. They were remorselesss, and taken to a hospital; on thorough examination, alien lifeforms were found to exist on them. Measures were taken to quarantine them, and the alien lifeform was kept in the laboratory for further research.

It was a conspiracy to replicate the alien virus, and spread them among the citizens in a mild dose so that they could co-operate with the new policies of the government which needed the support of its citizens on taking some stern measures. It actually worked perfectly. The media later managed to leak a lot of information, but the people were content with whatever they had received. But when the remaining alien life-force combined to form a demon-like creature, it had to be quarantined, not before causing mass destruction and taking hundreds of lives. Now the citizens of the Northern Bloc needs regular injections to keep the demonic elements from spreading.

The space program based on bending space and time has been cancelled ever since. There has been rise in violent crimes and the number of torture victims in the past which points to people not getting the vaccines or them not using the same. The most popular explanation for the phenomenon has been that the ship had gone to another dimension, to a place similar to hell. The army of demons had attached themselves to the ship by the orders of Lucifer himself. But the scientists had denied the theory and has stuck to the alien theory. It lead to a large number of groups of believers in religion, chosen only from the most intellectual thinkers who didn’t reveal their identities and met only at night in places which were least observed.

Zeus never supported both of these theories. He believed that it was his destiny and it was imposed upon him, which he should fulfill. If he was the master of torment and a torture-dealer, it was not a gift, but in his blood. He despised the feeling of being under control. He had to decide everything by himself, and even someone affecting his thinking process was not entertained.

To be continued…

11. Fate of Zeus

Asgard, the capital of Northern Bloc. In the year of our Lord: 2110.

“Sir, the world is staring at the Seventh World War. We have been a strong force in the Third, Fourth, Fifth and the Sixth World Wars, or I would rather say that we started them. But then, we were ready, not this time. This would be a war of the equals, and considering the alliances which have sprung up, we are the comparatively weaker alliance. I suggest we keep out of it” begged the army commander.

“I have been named Zeus for one reason only – to rule over the other gods. I shall be the ruler of this extended world of Mount Olympus. The Northern Bloc has never retreated from any battle without gaining something. We are the new Sparta; and I am the great warrior king of this legendary phalanx”.

“But a warrior king would lead from the front. From what you are doing, it is pure massacre of your own people. You are making the same mistake as Dion made for the Southern Bloc which benefited us. The only difference is that they did it for others and you do it for yourself. You think you can continue in power for long if you order this invasion? Or do you feel that this is your last chance on glory? Whatever be the thoughts, this is one of the worst decisions the Northern Bloc might ever witness. You shall be recorded in history as the most incompetent and terrible leader who lost everything which has been built by your predecessors on the sweat and blood of millions of our citizens and captured slaves alike. It is not that we are historically against war, for it has been a part of our life for long. But this is suicide, and for certain, this is madness of the highest degree to which any leader of a nation can commit to”.

“Well, unfortunately for you, this is not going to work. I don’t think that you can ever realize this, that I am a God King, a legend in the making. I am the new Constantine, who shall defeat the forces of the enemy despite being outnumbered, and shall be given the title, the great”.

“Constantine had his visions and the symbol of Chi-Rho. What do you have? Are you considering going back to religion at this point of time? Can you defy the Northern policy of irreligion till death and make that Constantinean shift in religion?”

“Religion? Why should I follow a religion or a God? I am the divine power for I own the most advanced scientific inventions, and I am the Lord of this world. To be honest, there is no omnipotent force looking after this world punishing the evil and rewarding the good. I shall do that instead, but I shall punish the ones who fail to bow down to me, and reward the ones who make me happy. Look at the world map. See how much land I own, and how much worshippers I have. This is not really the Northern Bloc. It is the land of Zeus, and I shall rename it once we win this battle. I will keep most of our enemies alive, and make an example out of them. They shall live a life in chains from which they shall beg for a rescue which can only be death and that is one thing that I won’t give them. They shall be dishonoured, humiliated, and tormented to the extremes. They shall know who the greatest of all humans is, and once they realize that, I shall provide them with their ultimate reward, which is death by decapitation”.

“We shall follow the orders, sir. But the result of this aggression is completely upon you, and nobody else”.

“Let it fall on me, the master tactician and your king of wisdom. Trust me or not, do as you are ordered. Mobilize the troops not only from Earth, but also from our other colonies and be prepared for a night attack on our neighbours. Lets start with them and make an example out of them. A day attack might be too predictable, and it would not be easy to murder civilians and collect them as slaves when there is too much light”.

“As you wish, sir” the commander exited after a salute.

“I should have been Genghis Khan” he murmured. “Constantine was too much of a hero. I am the hero only to myself, and for others, I shall be the villain; there shall be mass destruction and chaos shall rain upon everyone outside Northern Bloc. We need no allies; I take them all for myself. I shall improve on what small achievement we had during the Third World War. The concept of super-soldiers are still with me. The key to all of these might be in Titan. I need to send an army of special forces there, and I shall find one lady and her daughter and bring them to Earth. They shall suffer for what dishonour that lady brought upon my father. I have waited for so long and I am now very close to achieving that. We shall win the war for sure, and in the mean time, this is a battle which I shall personally win for my family. Her daughter shall head our army of super-soldiers, not as a girl, but as the thing. As for her mother, I have bigger plans. In her broadcast to the other blocs, she had come up with a big speech about suffering. She talks about pain, agony, dishonour, humiliation all that like she is the walking encyclopedia of all of them. May be she has suffered, and may be like most of the other humans have not yet, but she has not yet suffered in my hands, and she has no idea what fate awaits her.

To be continued…