Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

Standing on the deck of the ship, allowing the cool night air to brush past her, Christina stared out over the calm waters of the Lorren, seemingly lost in thought.

It was only after 2 full hours that Elly had finally released her grip on her and allowed Christina to slip out of the room. She wasn’t exactly eager to leave the little girl, who was still very much in need of comforting, but Christina really needed some time to herself to think and the process everything that had just happened.

After ordering one of the older women from her Squad to keep an eye on Elly, Christina had wandered aimlessly through the hold until she eventually found herself standing here.

Today had been... an experience, and not a good one.

Christina had always possessed a righteous mentality, one which drove her to help the weak and punish the wicked, but today was the first time she had truly seen what those ’wicked’ people were capable of, and it had chilled her to her core.

The only thing stopping her from shivering at the mere thought of it, was the flames of anger now burning furiously in her soul.

"Hungry?" A voice suddenly called out from behind, jolting Christina out of her daze.

Turning around to find the familiar face of her friend, Christina saluted properly, "Greetings, Captain Gage."

Saluting back, Lana handed over a sandwich she was holding and walked to stand beside the young girl, leaning against the port-side mid-ship railing as she half-encouraged, half-ordered, "Eat. You need to keep your strength up."

Frowning slightly, Christina wanted to say she really didn’t feel like eating didn’t, but she knew that Lana was right. If she didn’t feed herself properly when she had the opportunity, she wouldn’t have the energy she needed to perform her duties when the time came.

Biting into the sandwich, Christina chewed methodically before swallowing, not really able to taste anything. Whether that was because the food was bland, or she was just too distracted, she couldn’t tell.

For a short time, the two women just stood there next to the railing, the only sounds coming from the slight creaking of the boat as it rocked back and forth in the flowing river water, the light evening breeze blowing through the furled sails, and the occasional chewing noises.

Polishing off the sandwich, Christina actually felt her stomach settle a bit and turned to her commanding officer, "Thank you, Battalion Captain."

"You should thank Old Uri, he’s the one who made it," Lana waved her hand lightly, a small smile forming on her face, "And you can speak casually here, Christina, we’re off-duty and it’s just us."

Pursing her lips, Christina nodded, then turned back to the waters.

"So, how is she?" Lana Gage asked after a minute or two of silence.

Thinking back to the condition she had left Elly in, Christina could only shake her head, "I don’t know, but not well."

"En," Lana nodded, "This won’t be easy for her."

After a brief pause, Lana continued, "Did you manage to learn anything from her about what happened?"

Lana certainly didn’t want to come off as callous or uncaring, but she was still a military officer in the Raging River Legion with a job to do.

Someone was launching brutal assaults on civilians up and down the border of her kingdom, and Elly was currently the only living eye-witness to those attacks, which made what the little girl saw, and what she knew, potentially invaluable.

Christina understood this in her head, but it still caused her some discomfort in her heart thinking about how they would need to make that crying little girl re-live that trauma again and again just for the off-chance they might be able to pull some useful intelligence from her.

That being said, for the moment, Christina’s answer was simple, "No, she hasn’t said anything about... about the incident, yet."

Lana wasn’t surprised by this response. She had noted that quite a number of the soldiers under her command had also been walking around in something of a daze, and they were all veterans who had seen live combat against both humans and beasts before.

Expecting a 7-year-old girl to suddenly be able to deal with this situation calmly and rationally when fully grown soldiers who hadn’t even been there to witness the tragedy first-hand were having difficulty doing just that was more than unreasonable.

"Is..." Christina started, then hesitated, not quite sure how to express herself.

"You want to do something for her, yes? Something to help ease her pain and suffering," Lana, who seemed to know exactly what Christina was thinking, asked.

All Christina could do in response was nod.

Unfortunately, the answer Lana gave her was less than satisfactory, "You can be there for her and offer her support, but nothing much else. In the end, it will be up to her to overcome this and grow stronger from it... or not."

"But!" Christina tried to insist, or perhaps object, but seeing the solemn look on her older friend’s face, she quickly held her tongue.

Whether Lana was speaking from personal experience, or from learned experience, Christina didn’t know, but it was obvious she wasn’t just offering her hollow advice.

Besides, Christina wasn’t foolish, she knew this would be the answer right from the start, she had simply been praying it wasn’t.

Slumping slightly, Christina stood there together with her commanding officer for a while longer before Lana stood up from where she was leaning, patted her young friend on the shoulder, and left without another word.

Much like Elly, this was something Christina would have to learn to deal with both as a soldier and as a leader, for if she thought that what she had seen today was the most horrific tragedy that the world, or rather that humans were capable of inflicting on others, she was badly mistaken.

The levels of malevolence and depravity that people could sink to in pursuit of wealth, power, or even simply ’entertainment’, were deeper and darker than anything the young girl was, as of right now, capable of imagining.

Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing for Christina, only time would tell.

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