She felt like she was flying, or was it floating? Moving aimlessly around the void, nothing but darkness, no signs of life nor light. Is this just an empty dream, or a nightmare that is about to occur? Should she try to force herself awake? Her hands push forward in an attempt to get a hold of something or someone, again, nothing. It seems this will be an eventless and boring night, she just relax, close her eyes and let herself float like a cloud carelessly floating high in the calm sky.
Without warning, a thunderous sound of boom is heard, she panicked, expecting to be awakened by the startling noise but didn't, still in the endless void, another boom shocked her, if this were to happen in the real world her ears would've burst and bleed, bracing herself for the next deafening noise to which it came but much louder, is she dreaming of a large thunderstorm? No, she find it unlikely, this sound is far different from a sound of a thunder.
Then came the warcry and shouting of a thousand men, a battle, but she did not heard the recognizable sound of steel clashing with another steel, instead she heard an unfamiliar sound, it's almost like a brief and loud cracking though it is going off in a thousand, accompanied by the same booming and some repeating bang, hearing closely to the voices she notice that is cries for help, moaning pain and horrified screams, she hears the words: "Run", "Retreat", "Save yourselves" and "All hope is lost".
She suddenly felt the cold ground on her feet, feeling the wet muddy soil on her sole and between her toes, she also felt something warm and wet, no doubt its blood, when she touched the ground a harsh odor of blood and smoke entered her nose, it is putrid, and rancid. What on earth is happening around her?
The answer came when she finally open her eyes, what she saw littered on the ground are hundreds of corpse, the dead and the dying, some looks like their limbs were blown off, some have holes in their armor and bodies that are the size of fist or grape, and other are burnt. Looking away from the ground and gaze around her, all she see are chaos and confusion, men fleeing the field of battle, men dying in terrible ways, some had his head blown off, another man was blown into small fragments when a large explosion landing near him, many small hole bursting on a man's chest, a men holding his severed arm, horror and gore of war, and while these men suffers she heard the same strange sounds, lights speeding pass her and whizzing sound can be heard all around, at the distance she can see where the source of the light and sound is coming from, many individuals of various shape and sizes, she couldn't see much, nothing but the victors ominous dark figures.
She closed her eyes, wishing herself awake, hoping to put an end to the violent nightmare, but when she opens then again she knew she's still dreaming, the scene she saw is a castle in flames, walls breached, towers destroyed, and battlements damaged. Another loud boom startled her again, but in a heartbeat the gate is blown to pieces leaving it wide open to be stormed by an invading soldiers. Turning to the source she saw the strangest thing of all, right in front of her is a giant metallic beast with a long snout like those of an elephant but longer, straight and perfect cylindrical shape, suddenly the snout retracted violently, a flashing light followed by that same thunderous boom, swiftly looking back at the castle she witnessed one of the intact tower explodes, obliterated by the creature's strange power, staring back at the beast she saw it going away, the way it moves is somewhat in a way similar to a cart only without a horse.
She blinks thinking that would be the end of it, but instead she's in a new place, the ground is hard and flat, looking around her new surroundings gazing at some strange structures, she don't know why but her inner intuition tells that this is a military base, she saw a flag pole and quickly tried to memorize the banner, then a loud roar is heard overhead, she looks around for the anything strange, what caught her attention is another strange beast, upon closer look it appears to be capable of flight, she doesn't understand anatomy of this creature, it looks like a broad arrowhead, metallic skin with a glass case on top and wheels for feet, then it moves, gaining haste at every second until its speed can outmatch the swiftest horse and bird, then flew with astonishing speed, a flash of light causes her to blink and the next thing she knew is she's flying next to the creature as if she's accompanying it, it just flew at heights that no living animal can hope to achieve, then it fired a fast projectile from its wings. Blinking again she's high above overlooking a massive army, upon close observation it consist of every demi-human and beast-men of the Southern Continent, orcs, minotaurs, werewolves, centaurs, and many other races, and out from the sky is the very same projectile that the flying beast casts, she thought the damage would be minimal until it landed, an absurdly large explosion has taken place decimating thousands of warriors, such devastation with just a small object and in just a mere second, gazing up at the sky she saw more of those projectiles coming down to rain death on the army, such an amazing and frightening weapon.
She prepares herself as she blinks again, this time bringing her at the seas, there she saw one of the most largest ship she'd ever seen, what's even amazing that it appears to be made entirely out of metal, there is no sails besides a tower and a wide flat deck that with more of those flying metal beasts, she observe the ship closely, taking in as much details as she could. Then looking ahead she saw more metal ships that varies in sizes, she took note of one huge ship with three large cylinders similar to the earlier metal beast that just destroy a castle gate with ease, hovering above these are dozens of more flying metallic creatures that act like bees protecting a hive, then this massive fleet made a move hundreds of flying beasts goes forward along with many small ships that carries troops. She looks at the horizon wondering where they're going and saw a large landmass up ahead, now it is clear that this armada is massive invasion force, but the question is: who are these people, what is their goal, where did they come from, her only clue is that one unique banner at the base and on some of the ships.
Thinking that would be the end she blinks and expects to awake see the morning light, it never happened, instead she's taken to another place, looking at her new surroundings she's in a room with few humans in well-dressed uniforms, the walls have various odd devices and gadgets, moving pictures and numbers, these men are flipping and tapping some of these oddities, no doubt she's inside in one of those ships, this time she gets listen in the conversation of these men in hopes to find out who they are.
"HQ, we have arrived at the destination, coordinates have been set, target is acquired, they are oblivious of our whereabouts, package is ready to go, and we're waiting for your green light, over."
"Copy, Fletcher zero one, green light is lit, deliver the package." A voice said that seemingly came out of nowhere.
The two seated men at the desk took out two key and inserted in them in the devices. "Understood, we are turning the keys in three, two, one," a box opened up and one of them pushed the button. Suddenly there is a flashing red light and a beeping sound coming from somewhere.
"HQ, package had been launched and in the air, estimated time until impact is ten minutes."
She have no idea what was that all about, she barely understand what was going in this room nor the meaning of their conversation, what's so important about this package? Blinking one last time and now she's in a different place at a different time, she's on top of a hill half a mile from a coastal city, it was nighttime, it is calm until she saw that something is coming straight at this city, a weapon similar to the one the flying metal beast used, however before the projectile reached the city an intensely bright flash occurred, so bright that she have to shield her eyes lest she'll blind despite being aware that this is a dream, when the light died down she looks back at the city, but what she saw will haunt her for the rest of her life, in the weapon's place is a massive fireball that almost form in a shape of a mushroom, at its root is large wave of fiery devastation destroying everything in its path, like a cleansing flame sent by the Gods to burn away the filthy sinners, she tried to move but she's remained rooted in her place, the fire heading towards the hills, before she could mutter a single word the flames engulfed her, the burning is everywhere, she can feel it, her hands roasted to brown then to charcoal black, the smell of burnt flesh forcing its way up her nose, it feels real, far too real to be a dream, she screams in agony praying for this to end.
She sat up from her bed screaming, when she stops she realize that she's in her soft bed in her personal chamber, her heart is beating fast, cold sweat all over her body, breathing heavily, before she knows it the doors burst open and to armored guard came in.
"My Lady, are you alright? We heard screaming." Said the guard on the right, concern and battle ready.
With the nightmare over she took a deep breath and then sigh a relief, looking down she saw her naked breasts hanging in full view for the guards, she grabs the blanket and covers herself. "Do not worry, it's nothing but a terrifying nightmare. You may return to your post." With that the guards calmed down, bows and leave the room. "Before you go, kindly fetch my handmaiden, I need some refreshments."
The guards nodded and said "Understood" before exiting the room leaving her alone to contemplating on her unusual and strangest dream. Rising from her bed and putting on her sleeping robes she watch herself in the mirror, long silky blond hair, fair skin, soft purple eyes. Her name is Claudia Nualla Venutius, First Princess of Silvarinne and one of the High Priestess of Gaia.
She splashes some water from a basin to her face to wash away the sweat then wipe it dry with a towel. Sitting at the side of her bed she picks up a parchment paper on the right table, she looks at the quill, ink, and a long thin piece of charcoal, she's going to need more than one color.
Her handmaiden, Mae, walks in with a tray of fruits and a pitcher of water, her brown hair is bushy and unkempt, no doubt she is in a hurry to serve. "Here's some refreshments, Lady Claudia." She bowed then goes and stand next to her mistress, presenting it to her.
"Just put it on the table here." Claudia pointed at the table next to the bed, the girl nodded and puts the tray there, and she then assumes her position near the wall awaiting any request or order. "One more thing that I request of you, kindly bring me a white canvas along with a stand, and some paint and brush."
"Any specific colors?"
"Just blue and red, after that you may return to your quarters and sleep for the night." The handmaiden bowed and said "As you wish" before leaving her chamber.
She may not be a great artist like her younger sister but she's decent enough in sketching, and so with the charcoal between her fingers and some precision she draws on the parchment, the image of those strange metallic beasts is still fresh in her mind, after making a few more strokes she looks at the result, a rough sketch of the giant flying arrowhead beasts, satisfied she laid it down on the table. She grabs a cup of water and channeling a bit of mana into it to make it cold, a long refreshing drink then a bite of some grapes to ease her mind.
Once she's done eating her handmaiden return with the items she requested, Mae simply set it up for her putting all the tools in place then she asks. "You want me to refill the tray?"
"No need, I have everything I need."
After Mae bows and leaves with the tray of leftovers, she began to paint, first is a long red line at the top, after the fourth red stripes the next three is much longer, it is a simple work, when she's done with red she goes for blue on the top left she splatters paint on that side, but she leaves some white spot in the blue. Now she's done, a complete replicated image of the flag she saw, seven red stripes with six white stripes and fifty stars on a blue field.
She smiles with satisfaction but frowns, despite such overwhelming sight in her dreams there's still a lot of question left unanswered: despite knowing the banner she doesn't know the name of this nation, are those metallic beasts even animals? How could one nation can manage to build a fleet made entirely of metal and make stay afloat? How did they achieve to create a weapon with the power of the Gods? Just who are these people?