Chapter 2 A - GROUND ZERO

Heather groaned as she regained consciousness, the first thing she felt was the intense heat of the air around her. Looking down at herself, her Striker Unit was in tatter and she gingerly exited it. Looking around, Heather saw that the once blue sky was now tainted in a darkish purple cloud. All around her, the buildings were all in tatters, with all their windows shattered. Some had already collapsed and the debris and dust mixed with the dark cloud already hanging in the air.

To her left, the Liberion heard the gasping breath of the Ostmark witch who lay on the ground desperately gasping for air, with severe burns on her face. She had crawled from underneath the body of the Marine who had been carrying her and when they both fell. The witch struggled for a few more seconds before she expired. Hearing movement, the Liberion witch then noticed one of the Marines staggering away from her. Wanting to call out, Heather didn’t have the strength to muster her voice as she could barely breathe herself. In the end, it didn’t matter as the Marine buckled to his knees and collapsed face first onto the ground. Slowly getting to her feet, Heather winced as she limped forward hoping to find her others who were still alive. Realizing that the fall had likely broken her right leg since she could barely put any weight on it, Heather stumbled around hoping against hope that someone else was out there. 

Spotting Emma lying on the ground with her distinctive fuel tank on her back, Heather turned her friend over only to see the blank stare of her blue eyes staring back at her with a frozen expression of fear on her face. For Heather, the memory of when she first met the rookie flooded back, the two didn’t initially hit it off well, but Emma had proved herself and showed lots of promise to have a really bright future. Now that was all gone.

Continuing her search for a few steps, she was met by another heart wrenching sight, her only other compatriot that she had fought for over four years lay in the middle of a rubble pile crushed between large slabs of rock with only her distinct red hair and part of her bloody face visible. Next to the rubble, the body of another Marine lay with his right hand grasping some of the rocks. Evidently, in his last moments, he had made a futile attempt to free the trapped witch. Making her way over, Heather touched Doris’ hair that was still being blown by the wind. For a few seconds, Heather forgot her pain as some tears ran down her dusty face and she had just had one single thought for her entire squad. 

“I’m sorry, it wasn’t supposed to end this way.”

Continuing to walk away, Heather could feel it getting more difficult to breathe and her whole body screamed in pain like never before but for the defeated witch, that wasn’t on her mind.

Her entire unit, gone in the blink of an eye to some explosion of unimaginable power. For the Liberion, in this wasteland that once was a city, she never felt more alone. Once the last of her strength was sapped, Heather collapsed to the ground, looking to the sky, she watched as the dark mushroom cloud continued to hang in the air as she closed her eyes for the last time.

20,000 Marines, soldiers, airmen, and witches entered Brno that day, 15,000 never came back alive. General MacArthur, upon realizing the magnitude of his defeat resigned from command but his reputation was forever tarnished by this disaster. For the rest of the world, the news that so many people could be killed by a Neuroi weapon in one blow was shocking. Some called for a stop to the war as they feared more such disasters. Others called for the development of such weapons of mass destruction to retaliate. However, once it was determined that this was a one-off weapon and seeing the impact such a weapon had on soldiers and witches, the Allies decided against the pursuit of such a weapon. Allied forces would stick to using conventional weapons and moved in with a vengeance and hatred for the Neuroi never seen before. For Brno, once the fallout had subsided, it was decided to rebuild the city and in the central plaza, a memorial to all those lost was erected. On the monument was etched, “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we will not repeat the evil.”