Grimoires and Gunsmoke

When the Special Forces Team entered the destroyed village, they couldn’t say they were surprised at what they saw.

The team kept their weapons up so they had full 360-degree cover, and the closer they got, the more apparent the devastation became. The attack on the village had been brutal and comprehensive, leaving nothing but smoldering ruins and the lingering smell of smoke and death in its wake.

It was evident that a scorched earth policy was being employed by the attacking forces. Buildings were burned to the ground, stores of food and water deliberately destroyed, and livestock slaughtered or driven off. The goal was to demoralize and uproot the community completely and deny any potential resources to their enemies.

As they moved further into the village, the horrors inflicted upon the villagers became painfully clear. The bodies of military-aged men lay scattered throughout, many of whom appeared to have been executed en masse. It was apparent that the occupying forces had dealt with any potential resistance quickly and without mercy.

But the fate of the women was perhaps the most harrowing. Even the young had been subjected to unspeakable acts of violence and cruelty as everyone was left bound to several carts with the look of fear and hopelessness in their eyes.

As they approached, the full extent of the tragedy was displayed in painful detail. Among the ruins, they finally came across piles of bodies belonging to both men and women.

A good number of them carried signs of torture or depraved abuse as they lay in the dirt lifelessly. It was clear that the attackers had not only sought to destroy the village but also decided to have their own sick brand of fun.

“Fucking animals.” Kwon sneered as his eyes glanced over a truly horrific scene that involved young girls. “Shoulda killed ‘em all.”

Lister couldn’t agree more. The usually stoic and composed operator was visibly shaken. He wouldn’t say he was immune to the horrors of war, but… this wasn’t something any soldier should or would ever do. To deliberately inflict such horridness upon the innocent struck a deep chord of anger and sorrow. "Christ..." he muttered a mix of rage and disbelief.

“Same shit, different world,” Elijah said almost indifferently as he and Bennett moved towards one thatch-roofed building that was still reasonably intact.

A few looks glanced the medic’s way. They all knew of his deployments in the Middle East and his part in eradicating ISIS. The militant group had shown him the darkest aspects of human cruelty, especially when he took part in missions that took him deep into the heart of the Islamic State.

In Syria and Iraq, Elijah would have encountered scenes of unimaginable horror. ISIS was notorious for its ruthlessness, which included public executions, torture, and the enslavement of women and children. Slave markets were a grim reality of ISIS-controlled areas, where women and girls, primarily from the Yazidi community, were bought and sold like cattle.

As Elijah and Bennett approached the entryway to the building, a tense silence enveloped them. But before he made his entry, Elijah took a moment to glance back at his team. "We’re in the wild lands now, so you guys better start getting used to this kinda stuff," he said stoically before turning his attention to the door.

Bennett positioned himself on the opposite side of the door with his weapon trained on it as Elijah readied his own weapon. While carefully managing the angle and space he exposed himself to, Elijah pushed the door open and began to cautiously and systematically clear the room.

To gain control of the room, Elijah moved his weapon in a smooth, sweeping motion. Bit by bit, he covered every potential hiding spot and corner of the doorway without fully exposing his body to reduce the risk and thwart anyone waiting to ambush him. As he shifted his position, Bennett mirrored his movements on the other side, from the corner of his eye. Both operators covered opposing angles the other couldn't, ensuring a thorough and coordinated sweep of the area.

As Bennett shifted his weight to get a better view into the interior, a sudden rustle of movement caught his attention. There he saw a brief glimpse of the same armor and colors that belonged to the soldiers they had decimated just outside of the village in the fields. Reacting instinctively, he squeezed the trigger, sending a few rounds into the room. The sharp retorts of gunfire were immediately followed by a surprised yelp and the sound of a body crashing into something inside.

“Yep, we got dickheads lingering around,” Bennett confirmed the presence of enemy forces hiding within the village.

The team snapped to attention as their focus narrowed and their weapons trained on different sectors. Everyone quickly mobilized in groups of two to start clearing the remaining structures of the village systematically, and luckily, there wasn’t much to clear. The village was small and comfortable but would still be a meticulous and time-consuming task to clear every half-standing structure and pile of rubble.

As the team broke off, Elijah peered into the darkness of his targeted building and saw the silhouettes of a handful of people lying on the floor. "Bang it," he suddenly ordered in a low and commanding tone.

Bennett reached into the pouch on his chest rig, pulled out a small, metallic object, and prepped for entry. He swiftly pulled the pin, and in a practiced move, he lobbed a flashbang through the doorway.

A disorienting flash and a deafening blast erupted inside the room just a few moments later, causing a few yelps of confusion from within. And the moment the explosion rocked everyone inside, the two operators stormed in.

Bennett veered left and Elijah right, each moving to establish control over the large room. They entered swiftly and efficiently, their movements honed by countless hours of training and real-world experience. The room was quickly sliced into sectors of fire by the two operators, and almost immediately, they caught sight of several armored figures.

They were disoriented and stumbling, seemingly caught entirely off guard by the flashbang's disorienting effects and the sudden intrusion. The armored men attempted to recover and let loose a spell or charge with whatever weapon they had, but it was too late. They were hopelessly outmatched and unprepared for the speed and violence of action executed by the Special Forces soldiers.

An entire volley of suppressed gunfire barked out sharply in the confined space as each of the operators riddled the armored figures with bullets. Elijah's weapon quickly put down one individual near the entrance, the muffled shots hitting the armored figure multiple times in the head and causing him to drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Without hesitation, Elijah’s gaze and weapon snapped to another armored figure deeper within the room.

He unleashed a fusillade of bullets.

Round after round slammed into the target, causing them to scream and flinch away before falling to the floor. Still alive and full of adrenaline, the armored man tried to escape and scrambled away desperately. However, Elijah was relentless; he kept firing, perforating the man as he tried to stand, but he ultimately succumbed to the barrage and landed face-first on the floor.

At the same time, another series of suppressed barks echoed on the other side of the room as Bennett neutralized someone else. With the immediate threats eliminated, the two operators swiftly transitioned to a comprehensive search of the room.

Unimaginably bright lights shone from their rifles as they methodically worked their way through the peasant house. The interior was as expected of a rural homestead—minimal and functional.

Elijah approached an aged wooden cabinet, its doors hanging slightly ajar. He flung the doors open with a firm hand and immediately stepped back, readying his rifle just in case someone was inside. But the cabinet turned out to be bare save for a few articles of clothes, a bow, and a few poorly made arrows leaning against the back of the cabinet, and his gaze lingered there; something about the depth didn't seem quite right. The back panel looked shallower than it rightfully should have been.

As he contemplated investigating further, the distant sounds of weapon fire elsewhere in the village reached his ears. It seemed there were a lot more of these rats lingering about than expected.

"Oh damn," Bennett's voice suddenly cut through his focus, carrying a hint of triumph. "Check this out!"

Turning around, Elijah saw that Bennett was standing over the upturned remains of a makeshift mattress that the engineer had overturned. Bennett had a small leather pouch in his hand that rattled with the unmistakable sound of metal coins when he tossed it up in the hair.

A look of interest covered Elijah's face as he arched his eyebrow. He started his approach, but the sound of laborious breathing caught his attention, dragging his eyes back to the figure he had shot. The armored man was barely clinging to life, each breath a wet and gurgling struggle against the inevitable.

However, Elijah’s gaze then turned to the middle of the room where he saw 3 other naked bodies. A woman and what looked like her daughters were lying face up, staring lifelessly at the ceiling, covered in blood.

Scowling in disgust, Elijah promptly pointed his weapon at the head of the still breathing man and pulled the trigger. The armored figure violently stiffened as his muscles tensed one last time, before finally going limp.

After a moment's pause, Elijah shook off the grim atmosphere and stepped over the now lifeless figure. He then walked over and took the pouch from Bennett's hand, feeling the weight of the coins.

He shook the bag and heard the jingle coins jingle inside, then tossed it up and caught it with a deft hand. Elijah’s eyes met Bennett’s, the shared look acknowledging that he was actually impressed. "Not bad," Elijah commented with a nod of approval. "Not bad at all. I don’t know anything about the local currency, but it must have been hell saving this much as a peasant, serf, or whatever these people are."

As Bennet’s fingers rummaged through the contents of the pouch, he only saw of a bunch of dirty copper coins and a scant few made of silver. But when he jostled the bag, something caught his eye—a single brilliant gold coin that glowed faintly amidst the mundane. He carefully extracted it, holding it up for the two to get a closer look.

"Huh, why's it all glowy?" Elijah asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion as he leaned in for a better look. The coin, indeed, had an unusual luminescence that wasn’t standard in any other kind of gold coin he had seen, at least not in his world.

"I dunno," Bennett shrugged, turning the coin over in his fingers. "Maybe Yana can see if it's magic or something. Where is she, anyway?"

Elijah gestured vaguely over his shoulder, his attention still partly on the coin. "Outside, fucking around with our new elf and the dead," he said with a slight edge of exasperation. "Something, something, pain, suffering, and hatred in the air. You know, fairy stuff."

Bennett did not, in fact, know.

The engineer stared blankly at Elijah before shaking his head. “Right.” He replied, furrowing his brow. It astounded him just how quickly Elijah was able not only to adapt but… somehow understand that little demon. It was as if they were on the same frequency or something.

The whole situation with Yana and her peculiar bond with Elijah was far beyond his understanding. It was clear that there was more to their dynamic than met the eye, but he wasn't going to delve into it right now.

"Anyways, let's get the hell out of here. This place is depressing," Bennett said, spinning around to leave.

However, Elijah grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hold on," he interjected, shifting his focus to the cabinet he had been inspecting earlier. "Help me check this cabinet real quick. Something's up with it."

Bennett raised an eyebrow but followed Elijah's lead. “Ya sure, why not.” He said as they approached the cabinet while shouldering his weapon and shining his light into it. “Let’s see what kind of surprise we get.”

Elijah eyed the back of the cabinet intently, his suspicions growing. The space seemed large enough to hide a full-sized person, albeit uncomfortably. He began pulling out the items from the cabinet, creating a clearer view of the back panel.

"Looks like there could be a space back there," Elijah muttered as he felt around, looking the interior up and down. "Big enough to hide someone, maybe."

He glanced at Bennett, who was watching him curiously. "You ready?" Elijah asked, his hand tightening around his rifle.

Bennett nodded as he pointed his rifle at the cabinet. "Yep."

As soon as the words left Bennett’s mouth. Elijah stepped back, and with a swift motion, he slammed the butt of his rifle into the back panel. The wood splintered and cracked under the force, revealing a hidden space behind it. A pained gasp erupted from the concealed area as a figure flailed and tumbled out onto the floor.

Elijah instinctively hopped back before shouldering his rifle and aiming it at the figure. Bennett also had his weapon trained on the sudden emergence, but they held their fire when they realized it was a young girl.

The girl was visibly terrified, clutching her stomach as she tried to crawl away from them, holding her hand in front of her face to block out the blinding light. Her eyes squinted in pain, and her breaths came in short, panicked gasps as she felt fear consume her. She looked no more than a teenager, and her appearance suggested she had been hiding there for quite some time.

"No, no, please no!" The young girl, screamed with a voice filled with fear and desperation. In her frantic attempt to stand up, she stumbled over something on the floor, crashing back down with a thud. ‘

As she scrambled to get up again she turned her head and saw the dead bodies in the center of the room. For a brief moment, she froze. A look of utter horror crossed her face when she recognized the lifeless, naked bodies.

A heart-wrenching scream tore from the girl's throat when she recognized the violated and brutalized forms of her family. Her bid to escape became even more desperate as she clawed away at the ground, only to find herself in the corner of the room. Realizing she had nowhere to go, with the two men approaching, she curled into a ball, covered her face with her arms and started weeping and pleading.

The two Special Forces soldiers instinctively lowered their weapons, exchanging a brief, uncertain look, unsure how to proceed with this sudden, intense display of grief and terror.

"Ya, no.” Bennett, a bit lost for words, finally spoke up, “You're the people person, you deal with this shit."

Elijah shot Bennett a strange and frustrated look. "What the fuck? I'm not good at the whole empathy thing unless I'm faking it," he retorted with a voice tinged with annoyance and helplessness.

Bennett gestured towards the girl with both hands in a graceful manner. "Then fake it," he replied firmly yet sarcastically.

“Oh god…” Elijah softly groaned as his hand came up and rubbed his eye. “Alright…”

The medic then allowed his weapon to dangle from his chest as he raised his hand and started to approach the girl cautiously. Kneeling down a safe distance away to appear less intimidating, "Hey, hey… it's okay. We're not going to hurt you. We're here to help," Elijah spoke softly, trying to project a sense of calm and safety.”

But the girl seemed lost in her own world of pain and fear as her cries drowned out his words. Elijah looked back at Bennett helplessly, silently communicating this was utterly out of his realm of expertise, but the engineer just urged him to continue with his hand.

Elijah took a deep breath, trying to gather his thoughts on how to approach this delicate situation. He was pretty good at persuasion and playing mind games, but genuine sympathy was not his forte. The man needed to find a way to connect with the girl, to somehow break through her wall of despair.

He hesitated momentarily, then spoke again with a softer tone this time around. "We... we took care of the bad guys who hurt your family," he said, gesturing toward the corpses of the armored figures that slumped against the wall and lay dead on the floor. "They won't be hurting anyone else."

As he spoke, Elijah rummaged through his pockets, looking for something, anything that might serve as a small gesture of kindness. His fingers closed around something unexpected—a half-eaten cookie. He pulled it out and gave it a strange look, remembering Yana munching on it earlier. Glancing back at Bennett, he saw the engineer's judgmental gaze fixed on him.

Turning back to the girl, Elijah cautiously extended the cookie towards her. "Here," he said gently. "I know it's not much, but... maybe it'll help a little."

The girl, still rocking back and forth with her face buried in her arms, didn't seem to notice the offered treat as her sobs continued. Elijah felt a twinge of helplessness, a rare feeling for someone usually so in control of his surroundings.

"Please," he continued, his voice barely above a whisper, "You're safe now. We took out all the uhh… bandits that were attacking your village." He said softly, with an uncomfortable look plastered on his face. “You don’t look hurt, so come outside and help the rest of your um… Friends? Villagemates?”

Elijah stayed in that position with his hand extended, still offering the cookies as a symbol of peace. The simple act of kindness felt strangely foreign to Elijah, yet it was the most human thing he could think of.

Miraculously, the girl gradually ceased her rocking, and the intensity of her sobs lessened as she slowly lifted her head. Her eyes were bloodshot and held the look of fear, but it seemed the juxtaposition of a stranger offering a half-eaten cookie amongst horror in the room perplexed her. She still shivered uncontrollably, her gaze flickering between Elijah's face and the cookie in his hand.

The room was filled with a palpable tension, the kind that precedes a pivotal moment. Elijah held his breath as the cookie that still extended in a gesture of goodwill, was accepted after what felt like an eternity. The girl hesitantly reached out with a trembling hand and took the treat.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe that fucking worked.” Bennett suddenly spoke up in the background.