Proving Ground 0 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Definitely Not Dio

Based on “Interactive World Empowered COYA” by PixelGMS and Soundbyte

Also, free chappy.

Proving Ground
Prologue (Chapter 0)

-VB-

When I came down from the mountain, the city was alive with activity.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked favorite shopkeeper.

“Ah, Alan!” the portly vegetable merchant greeted me with sweat running down the side of his face.

“T-The Kaiser is coming.”

“... The who?”

“The Kaiser! The Krauts! They’re coming to kill us!” he hissed as he began closing his shop. “You need to pack up, too!”

I frowned.

Shit, had time passed so much already?

“Alright. But can I buy some of your cabbages before you close up? I’m sure you’ll need some more money while on the move.”

He paused and nodded quickly. “How much do you want? The price … the price is the same. For you.”

I smiled and thanked the man. Just to help him better clean out his wares, I bought twelve cabbages for six dinars. He took it and left quickly after that while I dumped my new cabbages onto my wheelbarrow.

I needed to move quickly if I wanted to get my usual wares!

I ran down the street.

People began to leave the city, guided by a few soldiers, but no one stopped me from paying for and then taking the milks, papers, and other necessities of life. The soldiers wanted to stop me, but each time, the townspeople hurriedly stopped them, either by asking politely and hurriedly or by directing them to other issues elsewhere but close by.

The soldiers didn’t know but the townspeople knew who I was.

My wheelbarrow filled up within the hour, and I was making my way out and towards my mountain west of the town.

My legs thumped on the cobblestone road and then on paved dirt road and finally onto a dirt path brought to existence by my constant weight training up and down the mountain.

I wove and dove, keeping my grocery as stable as I could within the wheelbarrow, and then came skidding to a stop in front of my house.

I could hear gunshots already.

“I really hope no one uses my house as a fortification!” I grunted as I dumped the wheelbarrow in the kitchen and then ran off towards the gunshots.

-VB-

Major Miomir Ajacdar, the aid to General Radomir Putnik, frowned as he stared at the people of Sabac. None of them seemed as apprehensive as others who had fled the border villages and towns.

“Why are the townspeople so … optimistic?” he asked.

The nearby soldier who heard him saluted. “Major. It seems that the townspeople are under the assumption that the ghost of the misty mountain will come and protect them.”

Major Ajacdar frowned. “They’re putting their faith on a superstition instead of the Royal Army who’ve come to rescue them from the clutches of the murderous Krauts?” he asked incredulously.

The soldier didn’t say anything, probably because he had nothing to say.

“Return to your duties, corporal,” he sighed.

The man saluted and left, continuing to assist the townspeople in their evacuation.

Now a little frustrated by the absurdity of the townspeople, the major turned around on his clacking boots and left the town. On the edge of the town, he walked into a house where the generals had set up their command tent.

“... There’s more of them than we expected,” General Putnik hummed while they stared down at the messages from the scouts and the map of the local area. “But they’re moving towards Mount Cer. They probably hope to use it as outposts, since the other areas are unsuitable for troop movement.”

General Sturm grunted in agreement. “Then we must take the mountain before they do.”

“What about the town?”

“We’ll need to -. Oh, major! Good, you’re back. How goes the evacuation?” General Putnik asked calmly.

“Smoothly, sir. But …”

“Yes?”

“The townspeople do not believe in our success.”

General Putnik scoffed. “They know little about war. It is natural. We are smaller than the Austro-Hungarians on paper.”

“They believe in a local superstition to come and save them.”

“That is normal,” Strum huffed.

“It’s-”

There was a clamour outside.

The major excused himself and went back outside to see what was going on.

But then he saw what the other soldiers were looking at and he froze.

“...the ghost of the misty mountain will come and protect them,” he quietly repeated the words of the soldier helping the townspeople.

Because despite the cloud-less clear blue skies and the shining sunlight bearing down upon God’s green earth, the mountain and the surrounding forests stood out like a sore thumb.

Surrounded by a heavy mist that defied common sense.

“Maybe it’s not a superstition,” he muttered to himself as he went right back inside the commandeered house to report what he just saw.

Something was wrong here.

… Hopefully, it’ll be worse for the Krauts than to them, the locals of the land.

-VB-

A/N:

Choices!

o22s,f99p,abao,t11z,pxin,sduk,dmkc,pkj3,q8ym,dbmw,ov9g,qkk2,ltuc,rd88,c3f1,tpnq,nk4a,4y17,rn80,m26x,bnoy,usau,d2bb,9v80,dg21,0izu,rexq,m4ks,27nu,d9k4,6xy9,7h31,ttgy,snfv,j95j,jhh4,hrq9,5tzq,5obt,nmlw,076i,cxf7,0z05,gke8,rwyl,jtxz/ON#1,7ll4/ON#1,f1ih,bs9m,cmsi,gpfm,9uet,0asl/ON#3,vq8r,w3xj,od1u,mqoe,8r4w,s7na,6cp1,5dgz,ylfx,h35z,c28d,sa6k,sy5k,vv4y,fmei

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Conscious (mild) Geas: ****