Rhivera (Complete Novel)

~Chapter Thirty-Two- Melissa~

~Chapter Thirty Two- Melissa~

~Arturo~

         Unmasked, I walk around the new settlement that was built. For months, so many of the people that Miro's army protected were kept underground for safety, unable to see the sun. Ever since we captured the North, they've lived above ground, creating their own settlements. One of the settlements in Tolesta decided to make their place around cliffs overlooking the ocean. They enjoyed the sea air after all that time underground.

         Some likeminded people from neighboring cities provided their support with food, clothes or whatever resources they could spare. Though, there were just as many who despise us, insistent that the PCC is right.

         We would never harm them though. The moment he hurt or stole from civilians, we were no different than the RLA was. We had to stay above them. So we did our best to allow the civilians in the north to carry on life as usual, keeping them away from the battlefield.

         I've been in Tolesta for the last week, making preparations. I'm acting as Miro in the north, while Melissa is acting as Miro in the south. She always wanted the more difficult objectives. For good reason, she's far more capable than I'll ever be. She also wanted to handle her dad herself.

         Miro's followers come to accept that there are two calling themselves Miro. I've heard rumors going around between among the soldiers that there were three of four people acting as Miro. If Juaquin had joined us like we had hoped, he would've been the third Miro. But it was always just Melissa and I, with her being the one to come up with the idea. The whole revolution was her will.

         Last night was her assault of Sotra's base, a battle that she believed could be used to leverage the war in our favor, and would put us in control of more than half of the countries territory.

         We have a war meeting over radio today, where I'm sure she'll let us know the battle was a resounding success. Maybe she'll have captured Juaquin and Raul too. We won't have to worry about their livelihood anymore and can move forward uninhibited. After that we should be able to move on to capturing Rhy.

         It'd been over a month since I've seen her. We split off after we saw Juaquin at the Montoya Estate. I missed her. I go to a private place and turn my radio to the frequency Melissa and I use to communicate privately.

         "Melissa, are you there?" I ask. There's no response. I wait for a few minutes for her to potentially come on, but there's nothing. Which is fine, we'll be able to speak to each other at the war meeting. Although we'd both be speaking as Miro on the call.   

         I go to my own quarters, and equip myself in my own ebon Survival Suit and cloak, emerging as Miro. I head to our encampment near the border of Tolesta, with the region of Rhy in sight to the south. Mortars we had taken from the military are now aimed in that direction, deterring the military's approach.

         In that encampment Commanders Cecil and Andres look over things in Tolesta when I'm not present. I'm met graciously by them and communication is setup for all of our other encampments in the country. We enter the call and one by one the other Commanders join in. until everyone is accounted for except for our forces in Joldair. The ones led by Melissa.

         We wait for the Joldair forces to join in for quite some time, "Should we start without them?" One of my commanders positioned in Illesto asks.

         "No." I firmly say, "We need to know how the battle went."

         Some more time passes with us idling by waiting for our Joldair forces to join in. I wait for Melissa to join in. Finally, a voice comes through.