One Round passed - or eight segments, if you prefer - and I was a fully trained Gnome Rider. For the first time in my life I felt special - I felt powerful, I felt like I could make a difference in the world. In truth, I and my hundreds of identical counterparts were nigh worthless. We had cost one Earth quantum each to train - we were cheap fodder, and we were expected to pay quanta back to the leaders. One quanta per round. The commanders had been told that “Gnome Riders will generate one quanta per round” but they had no idea that the process was not automatic. Gathering and compressing dirt is hard, hard work, and it takes forever to produce a quantum. Enough to pay for another of me. I was nothing but a cheap investment in an inefficient military.
At this point in time, Earth was at war with Fire. I would be sent out to battle and not be welcomed back. This was my final destination, and now I look back on it so passively, like it was nothing. But at the time, it was hell.
The ground shook beneath our feet and a tumultuous crash echoed through the air - the terrifying sound that marked the beginning of a new Round.
“Second Round, First Segment!” the Warden called. “The enemy has erected two Burning Pillars thus far. We have no clue what their battle strategy is.”
“They’re using a Mark of Earth, sir.” one of the other Gnome Riders pointed out. “They could be fighting fire with fire… just Earth instead of fire, obviously.”
I stepped towards the exit of the commanding tent, and lifted the flap with my left hand. In the distance, two masses of red spikes protruded from the ground. From each, a tower of brightly-burning fire billowed into the air. The smoke seemed to extend upwards forever.
“What do you see, Rider?” the Warden yelled.
“Nothing, sir.” I replied. “Only the Pillars. Nothing new so far.”
“They must be waiting for us to move first.” the Warden deduced, as I lowered the flap to the tent. “What do we have so far?”
“Two Stone Pillars.”
“Can we get another?”
“Uh…” I checked outside again, this time in the opposite direction to the distant burning monstrosities. Our supply shipment was on its way. “I can’t see from this distance. But… stones. Lots of stones, I think. Enough to build a Pillar, hopefully.”
The Warden sighed. He took a step back, the iridium armour grating across itself. “Okay. When the good arrive, get three Neuts or creatures out there and build the goddamn pillar. I don’t care who does it, I just want it done. That’s all we can do for now. Then we just watch them.”
“I’ll help build the pillar.” I quickly volunteered, desperate for any excuse to stay away from the battlefield. “Sir, we have three quanta. Surely we should send a couple of Riders out?”
The Warden paused. “No. Not yet. But soon, soon. Soon as the moon.”
I nodded, and left the tent.
Supplied, as I had predicted, were mostly stones. Stone large enough that no Neut could carry them alone - but us Gnome Riders had an advantage.
Mounted upon my Beast, I approached the supply caravan. Two of my comrades followed.
Each of us took a stone from the wagon and let our Beasts arrange it vaguely comfortably on their backs. Then we made our way to the construction site.
It took us a quarter of a segment to reach it, meaning that we were roughly halfway through the first segment. Each Round has eight segments, and they pass disturbingly quickly. Every second counts. There are no breaks.
I was first to place my stone, and my partners stacked theirs roughly on top. We would go back a few more times, collect some more stones, and pack them together into a pillar with dirt from the ground. And somehow, that produced quanta. I had no idea how - I was only trained in what was strictly necessary for me to complete my job. Why waste time and money on education when you could be getting valuable military training?
By the time the pillar was constructed, it must have been close to the start of the sixth segment. Together, the three of us travelled back to the camp.
“Stone Pillar constructed, sir.” I announced as we approached. Nobody seemed to be listening, and all we facing towards the Burning Pillars.
“What are they all looking at?” my leftmost partner asked.
“No clue.” the other replied.
We rapidly drew closer on our Beasts, then dismounted an acceptable distance away. I ran straight for the Warden.
“Sir, what’s happening?”
“Some odd things happened while you were away, Rider. Here, take a look.”
Following his instruction, I cast my gaze across the battlefield towards the pillars of fire. Now, there were three - and one burned far brighter than the others. A Burning Tower. We were fighting a battle against a group whose training far excelled our own. Everything about them would be better, more powerful, more efficient. It was at that point that I knew we didn’t really stand a chance.
In the centre of the wasteland, alone, I could just make out a small red bird.
“What’s that bird?” I asked.
“A Phoenix.” someone replied. “But it’s a little small to be a phoenix. I’m sure they’re supposed to be bigger - I mean I’ve never actually seen one for real, but --”
The Phoenix exploded. A great wave of fire pulsed outwards from it across the battlefield.
“Murder me.” the Warden muttered. “Immolation.”
He turned away from the wasteland and towards us, and I knew that his iridium mask hid terror.
“New mission.” he said. “No longer do we aim to win. We aim only to cut our losses. Do whatever you can to ensure the survival of your comrades.”
I looked toward the battlefield again, and saw, in the distance, a Lava Golem marching toward us. That was the purpose of the Mark of Earth. There was nothing we could do.
Me and my team rode our Beasts back out to the Pillar. The stones used to make it were expensive, and if we could retrieve them and send them back prior to our surrender, that would be ideal.
We immediately began scrabbling at the now hard-baked dirt to expose the giant stones. As the one at the bottom of the stack was revealed, we all worked together to loosen it - but it was too weighted down by the stones above it. We move upwards, working on the next stone, and this one was loose enough to push with our combined strength. Together, the three Neuts and three Beasts pushed the stone and it fell to the floor, bringing with it an avalanche of dirt and dust and smaller stones.
Without a word between us, we each loaded up the largest stone we could carry. The yellow light of day turned to the red light of evening and we began -
Third Round, fourth segment. No way it was evening yet. That wasn’t until sixth, possibly seventh.
We looked up and saw what was causing the red light. Rain of Fire. A tool of mass destruction.
Within a few seconds, our peaceful air turned to burning heat. Globs of oil rocketed downwards, flung from far-off hostile catapults, each glob blazing like a torchbug in the dead of night. The oil splashed everywhere, and this wasn’t even the focal point - closer to the camp, the burning oil would have flooded everything. The whole platoon was probably dead. Here, closer to the pillars, we were safe. Ish. But not for long.
A great Explosion boomed from nearby, sending all six of us sprawling into the air. Chunks of rock twirled as if unburdened by gravity as we fell together in freefall.
I hit the ground hard, and didn’t wake for a while.