Chapter 1: Black days

1940, France has just fallen.

Himmler has given his direct order to a Trusted Battalion

Somewhere amongst the rustling forests and steep mountains of southern France lies a secret site little knew except for OKW's high command and carefully selected personnel, Amongst them was rather well-mannered Wolfgang, a recently promoted Brigadier general in charge of reserved mechanized forces.

His staff car, alongside various military vehicles, arrived before a large hangar door surrounded by rather old architecture from the French Bourbon period. The general was confused, as the only thing he received on the reassignment papers was the location and time. As the doors opened and the convoy headed in, they were greeted by the sight of a cavern inhabited by workers and tents with generators powering lamps pointing towards one of the strangest structures ever known.

A massive 1700s French gate inside of a cavern with some of the finest detail implanted on it's structure and ornamentation beyond belief, Wolfgang was taken aback: why go to such lengths to build one of the world's greatest wonders only to bury it in a cave?

Getting out of his car, questions only mounted, as he walked towards the SS officer he was meant to meet.

"Guten tag Wolfgang, don't worry about all this, It'll make sense soon," said the SS commander in a reassuring tone as he helped him out of the car.

"Danke.. your name?" Asked Wolfgang

"Hansel, Hansel Schineder of the 1st Sekundäre Welt Expeditionsstreitkräfte.. SWE"

Wolfgang nodded as he looked towards the gate with suspicion, That question lingered in his mind as he walked over to it; its height was probably around 23 meters, and the width of the opening was probably 15 meters..

"So you want to know more about this very gate?"

"J-ja! I would.. very much so"

"We don't know much ourselves, but.."

Hansel then walked over to a long, secure case and opened it. Inside was King Louie XVI's sword, and it was almost perfectly pristine. The SS officer put on his gloves, took it out of the box and carefully inspected every inch before walking over to a pedestal.

Just like the gate before, the pedestal had the most beautiful decor and the most amount of care and love put into it by men long gone since, and the most important part was a small thin hole in the top.

Hansel breathed in slightly as he carefully slotted the sword into the chamber of the pedestal, fitting it up to the hilt.

Not long after, things start to shake and rumble. The sounds of the doors of the gate echoed as everyone watched in awe, the doors slowly opened with an azure angellic like glow quickly forcing the crowd to look away or suffer being blinded.

Soon the light slowly faded, revealing an almost mirror like appearance of the cave they're in with the only difference of almost nothing else aside from the gate and a version of the ruins surrounding it on the other side.

The cave fell silent soon after the doors fully opened, Wolfgang was stunned at what he saw as Hansel began to speak.

"Mein gott, so it did work.. digging our way here was worth it" Hansel said under his breath.

"Kamarades! Our conquests have brought us here, It's time we reap the seeds we sowed! I want some volunteers to be the first to step through that gate!"

And so begins a new war.

[on the other side, two hours later]

a small convoy packed with Gallian villagers is heading towards their old village grounds called Sainte. They had brought some guards along but most of the trucks were pilled with either civilians or supplies meant to rebuild their old lives.

The people of Sainte carried the memories of the years prior when the Neuroi came, the devastation and horror that was inflicted on everyone that day. Now they seem to have a chance to relive a happier time and perhaps find a wonderful opportunity.

Among the guards followed someone special, a witch. The witches were revered as saviours, often seen with familiars out and soaring through the sky, leaving Neuroi shattered in their wakes. This witch however was merely there to help, her short brunette hair with a garrison cap on swung a little in the breeze as she sat in the rear of a truck, her name was Viktoria Bauer.

"How many more minutes till we arrive?" she asked the driver.

"Around.. 5 more minutes" He replied.

Bauer was part of the 29th "The Legion Noire", a reserve penal unit of delinquents stationed in Gallia overseeing it's reconstruction. Led by the cautious Marceline, their actions were limited as they engaged the Neuroi only a few times.

Their main goal was after all was focused and restoring Gallia and that's what Bauer is doing today.

The truck slammed to a halt as the convoy infront had stopped, there was a commotion outside as people headed to the front. Bauer jumped down and followed along with a curious look in her eyes, what could've been in the way?.

She came over to a scene of the crowd surrounding what seems to be a few Opel trucks, commonly used by the Karlsland whermacht. It's rather unusual the soldiers wore a leafy spring like camoflauge uniform with a red armband, even stranger is how they supposedly set up a blockade in the area letting no one through.

Bauer walked up to one of them, he looked around 40 with a tired look. He gave Bauer a stern look as she began to question the soldier.

"Excuse Kamrade, Why are you blocking us?"

"Ma'am, this area is locked off.. Besides, how'd a madchen get a uniform?"

"Wait what.. excuse me? I'm a karlsland witch, I didn't know Karlsland troops were stationed here.. Why is that?"

"karls.. Karlsland.. witches? Hexen?"

Bauer was suspcious of the soldier, he looked a little baffled at the name and oddly doesn't know a thing about witches.

"... We are Karlslanders.. There was.. Partisan activity, we're clearing it out.. witches are too vunerable here"

"I was never informed of this..what are these partisans? Are these Monarchists? Bandits?..Insurgents?"

".. Secret operation ma'am, go home"

"Atleast tell me who your commander is!"

The soldier stared at her again and repeated the line in a more hostile tone.

"This is our operation area, you have no permission to know or ask.. stay in your lane"

Bauer stared back intensely as if she was going to tear the soldier a new one, the Gallian commander on the other hand quickly grabbed her as he tried to calm her down, prompting her to try and break free.

"No no, Let's not get too heated here"

"Are you kidding me? the man's being an ass!"

"Let's go back, there must be a good reason at least"

The Karlsland witch scowled as she stopped struggling before looking back at the soldier, he gave off a rather smug look.

"Yeah, Run on home hexen.. leave the Partisans to the real soldiers!"

Once more, the Gallian commander held back the now pissed off Karslander in his arms, pulling her away from the soldiers.

The people were disgruntled as they got back into the convoy and headed back home, Bauer and the Gallians would have to figure out what is going on.

[2 hours later]

The base in Sedan was going around it's usual affairs, Engineers and mechanics fixing up striker units for the next assignment as the witches were all inside their main building over something urgent. Geena Preddy, the Commanding officer of B unit is heading towards the meeting, she had been doing crosswords as she was about to enjoy a cup of nice coffee until Carla had bursted in to tell her the news.

She sat next to Carla, as usual the room had Kunika being oblivious, Heinrike looking grumpy and her own B unit standing by. Carla herself was sipping cola as she turned to talk to her boss.

"Boss, Rosalie said she'll be here in 5 minutes, I wonder what could be happening"

"Must be serious, you said she was urgent"

Rosalie finally entered the room, talking to a karlsland witch that followed alongside her. The blonde witch sounded irritated about something, Geena listened carefully to try to understand her complaint.

"They were so f- damn secretive! I'm out of line? When the hell did the kasier choose grumpy old asses like him?!"

"Easy now, There's a good chance they're actually Karlsland soldiers"

Geena stood up as she began to speak to the Karlsland witch curiously.

"First, I'd like to know your name and whatever it is that your angry about, I want to hear the very beginning of it"

".. Viktoria Bauer, I was assigned to guard a convoy of civilians heading to their old village, sainte.. I Encountered what I think is Karlsland forces. Their supposed reason was to clear out insurgents, Do you guys know anything about this? Are there monarchists down there?! Those bastards are telling me nothing about it and they're rude about it!"

The rest of the room was just stunned, Kunika stood up quickly.

"THERE'S MORE OF THEM!?" Kunika blurted out, Heinrike sighed as she spoke up aswell.

"What do you mean!? We haven't even heard of Sainte nor of these troops!"

Jennifier was just confused, "We arrested them all! Did we miss any?"

Grunne gestured her hand to silence the room as she addressed the room.

"Bauer did mention something about the soldiers having a look of surprise when she told them she's a Karlsland witch"

"Yeah, there was a confused look in his eyes..".

Geena and Carla came over to Bauer's side, the pair now suspecting something was off.

"I'd say we start questioning that cunt again" Growled Carla before sipping cola to cool off.

"Hm, Agreed.. Those soldiers might be part of the terrorists.. Bauer, come along"

Viktoria was stunned for a moment as she looked to Rosalie with surprise, the wing commander nodded along as she gestured once more for Bauer to tag along with the Liberions. The Karlslander then followed Geena as they headed outside towards the parking lot, Meanwhile the remaining 506th members started to discuss their plan.

"Miss Grunne, when should we investigate?" Questioned jennifier, Marian was a bit more insistant however.

"Listen here, We have to take a look at what's going on now! Those bastards could be planning something!"

Kunika now perked up with a question "Will high command give us a bonus if we clear them out?"

"Do you think Karlsland is hiding things?" Isabelle wondered, Heinrike was a little offended as she protested "HEY! Would the Kasier hide something like this?"

"Everyone, calm down.. Jennifer we won't be able to investigate without approval, give it a day or so. Heinrike, Issac, I want you to start asking Karlsland about this situation, we'll prepare ourselves while waiting for approval".

As the planning went on, Geena and Carla brought Bauer into a car and started to drive off, They were headed to the Gallian La Sante prison complex.

To Be Continued