The Red Sun Rises

Urth
1

0700
August 23, 2024
Birškelis, Zemeprievadai

It was a brisk morning, fog was rising from the sea and covered the streets of the bustling city. The residents of Birškelis were starting to begin their day. Coffee shops were opening, cars were honking on the roads, and people lined the sidewalks. Then came a loud roaring noise, stopping everyone in their tracks. Overhead a fighter jet soared through the air, and though the people could not see it, the symbol of a lily was plastered on the wing.

Moments after the jet was seen overhead, sirens blared, further interrupting the peaceful morning. In the blink of an eye, millions began rushing towards emergency shelters, chaos ruling people’s minds. The authorities attempted to calm down the crowds, but nothing could calm the terror in the masses.

Eventually, the streets of Birškelis lay empty, but the sound of the sirens remained, broadcasting to deaf ears. Cars lay empty on the streets, no one there to drive them, the hum of their engines absent. Lights in buildings remained on, even though there was no one there to give their light to. It remained this way until the sirens ended, leaving nothing but the sound of the breeze blowing past the buildings.

After a few hours, more jets flew overhead, the thunderous roar reaching the ears of those inside the emergency shelters. The sirens began to blare again, even though no one was outside of the shelters to hear it. The ringing of sirens seemed to never end, as everyone lay still in the shelters, believing the worst.

After another few hours, the sirens ended, and the people were let out of the shelters, but many were too shaken to restart their days. Most of the residents of Birškelis went home, leaving the streets once again barren. The city was quiet the rest of the day, many worried about the sirens turning on again and ruining the peace.

1300
August 23, 2024
Red Palace
Šiaulme, Zemeprievadai

Gustas IV sat on the throne inside the Red Palace, and in front of him stood the premier and chancellor of Zemeprievadai, Agota Juskaityte and Titas Nagrodskis. The silence in the room was deafening, the three staring at each other, waiting for one to begin the conversation. Eventually, the king spoke:

“What was the meaning of all the chaos in Birškelis this morning,” his voice echoed in the large chamber.

Agota stepped forward, “Multiple foreign jets were spotted over the city in our airspace, so the army raised the alarms.”

“Does that not seem like an overreaction to you, Premier?” The king said accusatorily.

After this question, Titas stepped forward and began, “My king, the jets were Korćettan in origin, and with Korćetta being overly hostile to us, it was cause for worry.”

Gustas froze for a second, leaning back on the throne. Many thoughts raced through his head, too many to decipher in the little time he was given, instead, he spoke once again “What do you suggest we do then?”.

Titas began to speak, but Agota put an arm in front of him and stepped forward herself. “We suggest building up forces on the border with Korćetta, showing them that we aren’t afraid.”

The king stared at Agota, contemplating the plan, if they built up forces, wouldn’t Korćetta do the same? And Korćetta had a much larger army than Zemeprievadai ever had. Gustas sighed, “Okay, we’ll put forces on the border, but be careful not to escalate tensions. You two are dismissed,”.

It seemed as if Titas wanted to say something else to the king, but Agota placed her hand on his shoulder, and they exited the palace. After the palace doors closed, Gustas leaned forward and held his head in his hands. After a few minutes, Gustas sat up and pulled out his phone, typing in a number.

Riiiiiing Riiiiiing Riiiiiing

“Hello? What is your business” the voice on the other end said.

“This is King Gustas, I need to speak to the prime minister, now,” Gustas said, running his hand through his hair.

“One moment please sir,” the voice said, before connecting Gustas to another caller.

“Is this something important? I have a very tight schedule” the voice said, sounding very annoyed.

“It’s very important, it’s…” Gustas whispered something into the phone.

“Okay, I understand, you and the premier can come over right away,” the voice said, now sounding very concerned.

“Thank you, we will depart immediately,” Gustas said, ending the call before getting up and heading towards the door exiting the palace.

1330
August 23, 2024
Red Palace
Šiaulme, Zemeprievadai

Agota and Titas climbed into a black SUV waiting outside of the Red Palace. Agota sighed as the car began driving back to the capital building. Titas began to flip through pages of reports he held in his trembling hands. Agota looked over and placed a hand on Titas’ shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said, attempting to comfort him, “Everything will be okay.”

Titas didn’t say a word, instead, he nodded and went back to flipping through the pages of his folder. Agota turned her attention away from her coworker and looked out the window. The skyline of Šiaulme passed by as they went further out of town.

Finally, the car reached its destination. Situated outside of the urban area of Šiaulme was a large, ornate building. The SUV stopped, and two men let Agota and Titas out of the car. The two walked towards the front door of the building as the car pulled away.

Before Agota’s hand could reach for the knob of the door, her phone rang, making her jump from the noise. After calming herself down, she answered the call, “Hello?”

“Agota, a helicopter will be at your location in 30 minutes,” the voice on the other end said, in a rushed tone.

“We just left the palace, what could have happened in the time that we have been gone?” Agota said, annoyed by the situation.

“I got a meeting with the prime minister of Auravas, and I need you to attend,” the voice said, urgency in their voice.

“I understand, me and Titas will be awaiting the helicopter,” Agota said, not awaiting an answer.

“Wait, you ca—" Agota ended the call before the caller could finish their final sentence. She then turned to Titas and told him about the new situation. He nodded silently and sat down on the steps of the building, clutching the folder to his chest.

Eventually, the helicopter arrived, with a deafening thwack thwack thwack noise. The two climbed onto the vehicle and situated themselves. Soon after, the helicopter took off towards Uravin, the capital of Auravas.

(This next section was directly transcribed from the black box of the Korćettan fighter.)

Utopia, you are way off track, get back into formation.

Negative sir.

What do you mean by “Negative”? May I remind you flying over foreign airspace without notice is a sign of aggression?

Negative sir.

You better say something else than “Negative sir” or I will forcibly ground you.

Sir, I am just performing a routine air maneuver.

Without proper orders, I should remind you.
You will be permanently grounded if you do not get back into formation soon.
Respond god damn it.
I’m sending planes to your current position, do not resist.

(No further interactions were recorded)

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1400
August 23rd, 2024
Prime Minister’s Residence
Uravin, Auravas

Piak Svel sat in his house, the fireplace crackling before him. Steam emanated from the mug of coffee he held in his hands. The warmth coming from the mug helped to soothe him from the stressors of life as Prime Minister. Rain poured outside, leaving a tapping sound as it hit the roof. Piak took a sip of the coffee, it was bitter, just how he liked it. As he drank his coffee he stared at the fire, mesmerized by it. When he finished his coffee and set his mug aside, Piak began to doze off as the rain lulled him to sleep.

…

Suddenly a few loud knocks rang out from the front door, causing a tired Piak to wake up. Groggily, he walked over to the door. As he rubbed his eyes, he began to wonder who could be at his house in this weather.

The knocks continued as he walked to the door, getting more aggressive each time.

“Don’t worry, I’m coming!” Piak yelled out, hoping to stop the knocking.

As Piak opened the door he was face to face with his Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Lias Arveti. Piak wore a puzzled look on his face, which must’ve been apparent to Lias, as he proceeded to say, “I know you’re confused, but this is a crucial matter.”

Lias let himself into Piak’s house without waiting for approval and laid out some paperwork on the kitchen table. Piak slowly made his way over to the kitchen, picking up his coffee cup along the way. As he filled his cup from the coffee machine Piak looked toward Lias, “What’s the matter?” he said, sipping his drink.

“I got a call from the King of Zemeprievadai, he needs to meet with you for a matter of grave importance,”

Piak set down his cup as he began going over to Lias. He stopped on the other side of the counter and looked at Lias. “It must be serious, the King never bothers to contact me,” Piak looked down at the documents on the counter, “May I see the transcript of the phone call?”

Lias nodded silently and rummaged through the manilla folder on the counter. He pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Piak. As Piak read through the paper his eyes grew wide and he began pacing back and forth in the kitchen. Once he was done reading through the paper he walked back over towards Lias. As he set down the paper, he spoke to Lias in a serious tone “I am going to go get dressed and we are going to leave immediately,” before walking off to his bedroom.

Lias stood there not knowing what to do. He had just shared a piece of very sensitive material that may have lasting impacts on the nation. Lias could hear his heart thumping in his ears as he waited for the Prime Minister. To distract himself from the thoughts racing through his head, Lias looked around at Piak’s home. It looked like any other house, something you would not be able to tell was housing one of the most influential people in the country. The coffee maker was a cheap model, the furniture was nothing to write home about, and the paint on the wall had many scratches and white splotches in it.

Eventually, Lias heard the sound of steps coming from the stairwell. Piak descended, dressed in a nice navy blue suit with a white undershirt and a red tie. The sound of his dress shoes clacked on his way down the stairs. Although he was now dressed, Piak’s hair was still a mess and there were bags under his eyes, showing his true self underneath the suit. “I’m ready to leave whenever you are,” Piak said as he grabbed his coffee mug from the kitchen.

Lias opened the door for Piak, revealing a black SUV parked on the road outside of the townhouse. The windows were black, a security feature that never really made sense to Piak. As they made their way to the car a loud thump thump thump noise could be heard overhead. As Piak gazed up, he saw a black helicopter in the sky, shrouded by the sun’s glare. “They’re right on time,” Lias said, gazing in the same direction as Piak, “If we hurry we can get to the Parliament Building before they do.”

Piak gave Lias a smirk as he climbed into the back seat of the SUV. Lias smiled to himself, it was nice to know that the Prime Minister thought well of him. Lias shook himself from his daydream as he climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV. The SUV sped off, leaving the townhouse behind them. As they drove, Piak began to dose off again with the motion of the car, finally taking the nap that he promised himself earlier.

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1600
August 23rd, 2024
The Assembly Building
Uravin, Auravas

The black SUV pulled up to the building that houses The Assembly, the legislature of Auravas. Piak jolted in his seat as the SUV came to a sudden stop, the seatbelt caught him, but there would be a bruise the next day. He unbuckled his seatbelt and waited for Lias to come over and open his door, the advisor always gets pissy when Piak opens his door, it was endearing though, in a weird way. He heard Lias step up to the door and then the door opened, showing the bright winter sun, temporarily blinding Piak. As he stepped out of the door the cold air filled his lungs and made him cough. Spring was close, but could not come quickly enough. Piak reached the building doors, which were held open for him by his private security.

The inside of The Assembly was ordained with framed paintings of the time of old. It documented the founding of Auravas and the rise of democracy. These were some of the oldest paintings in Auravas, and they were proudly displayed here. He had already seen this hall many times, but it would be surreal to be here for the first time and see the architecture and paintings. He could see the ornate doors at the end of the hallway, beyond that was where all 315 people who ruled the legislature were located, but he would not be going in there yet.

Before Piak reached the end of the hall, his escort made a right turn into a side room. He was nervous, for he knew what would be waiting for him in there. He sighed and motioned for his security to open the door, and he walked in…

1530
August 23rd, 2024
The Assembly Building
Uravin, Auravas

The helicopter containing the Zemeprievadai officials finally touched down in Auravas on the roof of The Assembly. The blades eventually came to a halt and the loud noise of the engine subsided. The three officials exited the helicopter, King Gustas, Agota, and Titas. All of them were dressed in fancy clothes, with Titas carrying a briefcase full of documents relevant to the meeting.

The three of them were led down a set of stairs to the room where they would be meeting Piak. The room contained a round table with chairs situated all around it, taxidermy lined the walls, it was disturbing to Agota, she did not like seeing dead animals displayed like that. The three figures sat down at the table, with Agota situated in the middle.

Around thirty minutes after the three arrived, Piak entered the room, flanked by two security agents and his advisor Lias. Piak and Lias sat down on the opposite side of the table before Piak motioned for his security to leave the room. Once the door closed, Agota began to speak. “I assume that you’ve been told why we have called for you here today,” she said, her hands clasped together on the table.

Piak nodded before responding, “I do, I see that this is a threat to national security, but I am curious about what you have come to me for, what am I able to offer Zemeprievadai?”

Titas opened up his briefcase and passed a document over to Agota, she slid it over the table towards Piak, “We are requesting you to send forces to the Zemeprievadai border with Korćetta to assist our troops.”

Piak began to look over the document, it was a copy of the defense agreement between the two countries, stating that the two would defend each other in their time of need. He looked up from the paper as he slid it back toward the other three, “Has Mr. Niezgoda been shown to be an active threat?”

“Flying planes in our airspace is a direct sign of aggression,” Agota said, sternness in her eyes and her voice, staring directly into Piak’s eyes.

“Well I cannot deny you there, I just believe that building up troops on their border may cause an unwanted escalation of this conflict,” Piak said looking back into Agota’s eyes, slightly scared of what lay beneath that expression.

Agota slammed her fist on the table, making Piak and the others jump, “Damn it Piak, we don’t have time to squabble over this, they could be planning an invasion as we speak!” she scoured at Piak, thinking about how soft he was.

“Okay, I will send a small force of Auravasi troops to assist Zemeprievadai, but if this turns out to be nothing more than a misunderstanding, we are immediately pulling out,” Piak said, trying to match the sternness of Agota, making sure she knew that there would be no mass movement of troops to Zemeprievadai.

The two stared at each other for what felt like forever until Agota eventually folded under the pressure. “Okay, that will do for now, but we also request that we set up a temporary war room where we will always be within calling distance of each other.” she said tapping her fingers on the table, “that way we can plan accordingly if anything else happens”

Piak sighed, “Okay, we agree, now if you don’t mind, I have to discuss this with The Assembly,” he said as he stood up and knocked twice on the door behind him, “Send me details about this temporary base and I shall be there promptly. Good day to you.”

Agota nodded and watched as Piak left the room, once the doors closed behind him she let out a sigh. She looked to the Gustas and he smiled at her, he believed that she had done a good job standing up for her country. The three stood up from the table and began to make their way back to the helicopter accompanied by three agents. As they got back into the helicopter, the engine whirred to life and the blades began to spin. The group was now off to Burškelis, where everything would begin and where everything would eventually end.

4

1200
August 24th, 2024
Capital Building
Dobrogost, Korćetta

Aleksy Niezgoda arrived at the capital building at noon sharp, as per his schedule. He walked through the white marble halls to his office, where he would be spending most of his day. His black dress shoes made tapping sounds on the floor, tap tap tap. As he walked he was flanked by his Vice President, Kayn Ojant. “Damn, you scared me Kayn,” Aleksy said, slightly jumping from the sudden appearance of the VP, “Is something the matter?”

“Yes, there is something of grave importance that we must discuss…” Kayn said, looking around at the others in the room. When we get to your office, it’s a private matter. I would not want to cause any fear or worry in the others here.”

This caused Aleksy to raise an eyebrow. If this issue could not even be discussed in the presence of others, it must have been a major security issue, something that could not be delayed any longer. “Okay, let’s pick up the pace then. I want to hear this,” Aleksy said, side-eyeing Kayn for a second before focusing back on the sound of his shoes tapping on the floor.

When they reached his office he swung open the large wooden doors. In front of them was a square room with a desk near the back of the room, and two large windows sat on the west and east walls. Aleksy closed the door behind him and walked over to his desk, motioning for Kayn to sit in one of the chairs on the other side. The chairs were large, plush rolling chairs, made more for comfort than looks, good for someone who has to sit down all day long. Aleksy sat in his chair and put his elbows on the desk, “So what happened? It seems like it’s very important if you could only say it in private.”

Kayn sat down across from Aleksy and sat her briefcase on her lap, “Well, we have reports of Zemeprievadai building up troops on our border, it also seems as if there may be some Auravasi troops amongst them.”

Kayn shifted in her seat as she said this, visibly uncomfortable with the situation. Aleksy relaxed a little bit and leaned back in his chair, he didn’t want to make Kayn uncomfortable, but this was a very serious situation. “Do you believe that they may be planning an invasion, Kayn?” Aleksy said, raising an eyebrow with his question.

“I believe that this is a security threat and we need to retaliate immediately,” Kayn said, trying not to show her fear of the situation.

Aleksy nodded, picked up the receiver of the phone on his desk, and typed something onto it. Ring ring ring click. “Hello? We believe that there is a security threat with the Zemeprievadains. I’m requesting you send a small number of troops to the border to survey the situation. Bye,” Aleksy finished the call and hung up the receiver staring down at the phone for a few moments. Aleksy looked back up at Kayn and locked his hands on the desk, “We are sending troops to the border currently, does that solve the issue you had?”

Kayn nodded and stood up to leave, clutching her briefcase to her chest. As she neared the door, Aleksy called out to her, “I can tell you’re nervous, don’t be, we’ve got things handled”. She turned her head around to see Aleksy and smiled before opening the door and leaving the room. As soon as Kayn left the room, Aleksy dropped his smile, picked up the phone again, and spoke, “Send as many troops as we can afford, we need to show the Zemeprievadains that we are not scared of them,” before hanging up once again. Aleksy then sat at his desk and opened up the folder on his desk to begin his day.

0900
August 25th, 2024
Secure Bunker
Burškelis, Zemeprievadai

The sound of water dripping from the ceiling echoed throughout the dank room. The only other noise was the sound of Agota tapping her fingers on the table in front of her, almost mimicking the sound of the water. She had been thinking about a lot since the day previous, but now there was something else on her mind. The king of Zemeprievadai sat at the head of the table, with Titas sitting across from her. The three were waiting for their security team to retrieve Piak and return to the bunker. Suddenly the door lurched open and Piak entered, flanked by security.

“What happened? Your security wouldn’t explain anything to me when they woke me up,” Piak said rubbing his eyes. He was still in his pajamas, not prepared for this meeting.

“We received word that Korćetta has begun a massive buildup of troops on our border, which could easily defeat our armies given the chance,” Agota said, sternly looking into Piak’s eyes.

Piak suddenly seemed shocked awake by this news as he sat down at the table. He clasped his hands and placed them in front of his mouth, thinking. After a while, he looked up at the three at the other end of the table and spoke, “What should we do about this?”

King Gustas IV cleared his throat before speaking, “We would like to invoke clause 12 of the Treaty of Purkatar.”

This caught Piak off guard, he staggered for a second before speaking again, “That is uncalled for, no one has ever invoked that clause, you must rethink this decision!”

“There is no rethinking this, the laws of both our nations say you must abide by this treaty,” Gustas IV said with a stern look on his face, his voice monotone.

Piak stood up and spoke, “Fine, if this is how it has to be I will need to be leaving to make some preparations.”

Piak walked out of the room, flanked by the two security guards. The next day Auravas and Zemeprievadai held emergency referendums. Clause 12 of the Treaty of Purkatar stated that at any time, either nation could call for a referendum to unite the two governments under one flag. Both referendums ended up passing, the results of which will soon be felt.

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