The change begins with one.

April 14, 997 R.E.

The sky over Corsec city seemed to be an eternal dusk, as if the sun refused to fall any further while the battle went on. For the previous week no one could tell the time of day without aid of a clock. Thick cloud cover had formed in the heat, but the sky was still alight with red, the rings no longer serene blue but now emitting a fiery glow, as if it were an omen of the Alliance approach and desire for conquest. On their way north, they had successfully attacked and destroyed all Resistance strongholds in less than a month. They were now stationed at the southern border of Corsec, locked into a stalemate, as neither side seemed able to break through the other.

The Resistance showed no sign of weakness inside the giant red mounds of rock, and the Alliance seemed reluctant to try to make any advances, fanning their forces out instead to prevent the Resistance from inflicting any major damage to their units. General Ryan Daiyus moved around quickly inside a hidden command room deep under one of the red mounds in the south. Thirty thin but large display screens were placed all around the walls. They acted as his eyes on the zones of Corsec, from zones one and two in the north facing the continental land bridge, to the southern zones of ten through to fourteen where the Alliance forces were stationed. His staff worked tirelessly behind each, ensuring he had every possible piece of information he required to manoeuvre his troops, countering Alliance attacks and making strikes of his own as he saw fit.

Even with the added help of the people from Ceahlin and Waikor and the already superior force the Resistance possessed, the Alliance were proving almost unstoppable, and Ryan was beginning to feel they were fighting a losing battle. There was only so long they could hold on against such ferocity, but he had to remain strong, as much for the city as for the people who fought for him.

'What are they doing?' asked Yahtai, waving his hand past some of the display screens that showed the Alliance moving backward.

'They're retreating,' offered Lendon.

'That is as unlikely as us surrendering,' said Ryan, and then he turned to the operator next to him, a young man named Aaron. 'Aim the eighteenth and nineteenth sets between their lines, we'll try to separate them as much as we can. The thinner their lines the better.'

'Yes, sir,' said Aaron.

Outside, heavy Resistance artillery fired in quick succession, sending deadly rain down upon the Alliance lines as the battle continued. Tanks were left as smoking shells as they were hit, and several groups of Alliance soldiers hid the best they could in the dust as they moved forward. The Alliance rearguard responded with artillery of their own, as well as accurately placed missiles that slammed into the mounds and destroyed many of the Resistance defensive establishments. The groups of soldiers moving forward took cover in newly formed craters, barely able to see through the smoke and ash filling the air. Gunfire boomed incessantly around them as they deployed their weapons, using mortars to divert attention from themselves until they were able to achieve their mission.

They began placing rounded objects the size of a man's chest on the ground ahead of them, aiming them in directions where the ground was still mostly untouched. The objects looked almost like giant water droplets with their smooth casings, and as they were sent racing forward, the polished metal on top reflected the sky and ground alike, making them appear almost invisible. They remained mostly undetected by this stealth, and the soldiers that had sent them retreated to their lines with the others and waited patiently.

Several of the droplet-like things fell victim to Resistance fire, while others fell in craters, out of which they could not escape. By the time they had reached the Resistance lines at the mounds, only nine of the twenty that were sent were left. The Resistance instantly began to fire upon them when they were noticed, but for many it was too late. The droplet-like things proved to be bombs and exploded like missiles upon impact.

The Resistance troops panicked and retreated to higher ground as more of the droplet bombs were sent, but now most of the Resistance guns were trained on them, allowing only a few to get through.

The droplet bombs kept coming as the two sides traded devastating blows, with hundreds perishing in the blazes that lit the fields. The droplet bombs soon showed to be a distraction for the next attack. Alliance bombers swooped down through the smoke, crossing over the heads of Resistance soldiers before rising high into the air again and releasing the bombs they carried. The bombs exploded like no others, creating craters in the ground and holes in the mounds so large that dust began to fall even in the command rooms deep below.

'What was that?' asked Lendon, looking up as the already dull lights dimmed even further before coming back to full power.

'I don't know,' said Ryan. 'Bring it up on screen.'

Aaron's fingers moved at lightning speed on the keys in front of him. 'I can't,' he said after a moment. 'They've knocked out our surveillance.'

'Bring up the others,' ordered Ryan.

'Radar shows enemy aircraft moving back. We were bombed, sir.'

Ryan thought hard. 'That is not their old technology,' he said. 'Send warning to the other zones. If they spot an Alliance bomber, it is to be shot down immediately before other targets. We can't risk any more of those.'

'Sir,' said Aaron before he issued the warning. 'There are twenty incoming bomber aircraft on radar.'

'Twenty?' asked Ryan in shock. 'Call for air support, now!'

'Request sent,' said Aaron.

At that moment, all screens focused on the southern zones went black, displaying in bold red lettering "System Failure".

'What happened?' asked Ryan.

'The sensors, sir, they're no longer functioning. We're blind.'

As if by instinct, Ryan quickly grabbed a radio headset and ran out of the command room. He needed to get out into the open for the best reception.

'You can't!' shouted Lendon after him. 'It's too dangerous!'

Ryan ignored all calls for his return as he made his way up through the mound to a balcony high above the field. The wind blew his hair around erratically, making it harder to see through the dust and smoke ahead. The battlefield was miles long, with little to be seen, but he could not risk being completely sightless inside the command room. From here, he called out his commands and ordered soldiers to take positions further forward on the field. He wanted to keep the Alliance as far back as possible until aid arrived.

He called for his troops to return as eleven Resistance fighter jets crossed over his head. Lendon joined him on the balcony, pleading with him to come back down for his own safety as both were forced to take cover behind the pillars. Bullets hit all around them, and Ryan simply waved his hand over what was before them in answer to Lendon, as if it were all he needed to make his point. Reports of success came back from the Resistance jets through the radio, the strikes on the incoming Alliance aircraft had brought down their targets.

Ryan had turned to Lendon with a smile when the Kayde of Ceahlin called out, 'Incoming!'

Both jumped back toward the opening of the balcony, but a missile was taking a deadly course directly toward them. At the last second a figure dressed in white jumped past them and stood in front of it, igniting a white energy shield to absorb and deflect as much of the explosion as possible. Fire moved inward and then curved out and away from the balcony, only its heat reaching Ryan and Lendon as they lay on the floor. When the heat had disappeared, both painfully got up, somewhat dazed.

'Who are you?' asked Ryan as the man faced them.

'Quian Adarzun,' said the Daijuarn sentinel.

'He's from Waikor,' added Lendon, recognising the right hand of Multias Waidusk. 'Welcome to the fight, I did not think you were still alive.'

'I don't understand,' said Ryan.

Lendon nodded to Quian. 'He was one of the Daijuar that remained at Waikor to allow us safe passage here. I had assumed they were sacrificing their lives for us. Apparently not so.'

Quian smiled but said nothing.

'How many others are here?' asked Ryan.

'Five in the south, five in the north,' said Quian.

'Will you protect us?'

'Not here,' said Quian, glancing behind him. 'This area is lost. We will cover your retreat.'

'I can't make that call,' protested Ryan.

'Then we will not offer you any protection. Look for yourself, General, your people are dying.'

Quian brought Ryan closer to the edge of the balcony. Through the clutter in the air, he was able to glimpse the bodies of soldiers lying everywhere, as well as machinery overturned and burned out. After the attacks of the bombers, the battle had turned in the favour of the Alliance.

'There are more coming this way,' explained Quian. 'Call for the retreat now while you still can.'

After a reluctant moment of disbelief, Ryan nodded and quickly raced back down to the command room with Lendon and Quian following closely behind. When he arrived, he called for an overriding radio set to an exclusive Resistance frequency, so that all in Corsec would hear him.

'Allies of Corsec,' he said grimly, 'this is General Ryan Daiyus. I speak to you now as we face the greatest threat to this city and the Resistance in years. I want to remind you that you are not alone out there, and we are doing all we can for you.

'The Alliance has taken the outer zones. I urge you all to pull back now-this is a retreat, but do not abandon hope. I know many of you by now have lost the will to fight and I thank you for being here, even as those around you lose their lives. This is the ugliness of war that we must endure. You might ask why you should risk your lives for this city. I understand. Like many of you, I was not born here, and there is little reason to personally remain when such a threat exists. But my place of birth is no more, because of this very force. I have lost my family, as I know many of you have, and for this we are bound with few other places to go.

'In my village, it was taught that to love your home was to love your way of life. It was a mark of freedom, to be able to live as you wished. In this sense, home is wherever you find this freedom, and so even as our places of birth range across continents, we can call Corsec our home. Whether you have been here for years or days, this city has become our refuge, and one of the last places that can offer protection against the Alliance. Do not let them take this from you. They have shown you no mercy in their attacks, so you must show them none in your defence.

'Allies, when you sight your enemy this day, I want you to remember what you have lost in these wars. I want you to think of what it means to have your freedom and home taken from you. This is what you fight for. Will you run and give these things away, or will you stand your ground and refuse to have them taken from you again?

'I have chosen to stand and fight. I hope that you choose the same. I will leave you now with a wish of good fortune, and a request that you have faith in your commanders. Although we have need to retreat now, we will soon be chasing them away.'

Ryan disengaged the radio and then looked to all in the command room. 'We move now!' he said, and as all began to leave, he found Aaron and held him to his chair, keeping him from going with the others. When all had left, he spoke. 'Charge the fields.'

Aaron was puzzled for a moment, but then slowly nodded and turned to his keyboard.

'Set them on a timer.'

'How long?' asked Aaron.

Ryan thought for a moment. 'Two hours,' he said, and when it was set, both ran to catch up with the others.

Outside, as Quian had said, five shields including his own were erected between the red mounds as the Resistance troops escaped. The shields backed the sound of gunfire and explosions with a low noise of constant vibration, screaming only with intense areas of energy where the shields were struck by Alliance fire. They were half the height of the mounds and left all behind them open to fire, but with the help of the Resistance air force keeping the skies clear above, the soldiers of the Resistance were able to flee with little fear. But the Alliance began to fire over the tops, blindly hoping to get a target on the other side of the shields. The Resistance suffered casualties from this, and many took to underground routes of escape.

When one hour had passed, the Daijuarn shields died away, showing the Daijuar to have disappeared. There was an eerie silence over the battlefield as the Alliance ceased fire, realising that there were no Resistance or Daijuar in sight. They moved cautiously forward, sending scouting teams at first, who declared it safe. Half the Alliance military from the southern side of Corsec, a good twenty thousand strong, was then moved forward. They spotted Resistance troops far ahead in the distance running away, and concluded that the Resistance had indeed retreated.

They slowed their approach when some hidden units opened fire upon them from within the red mounds, and Resistance aircraft sped toward their location. The Alliance defended themselves against the hidden units, exposing three and disposing of them easily, but there was little they were able to do against the aircraft. Each bomb sent soldiers racing for shelter and caused the outer lines to move inward. The Resistance were attacking the sides of the oncoming military force, funnelling them toward the central opening in the red mounds ahead. But the Alliance moved no further until their own aircraft had come to rid them of the threat in the sky.

Fifteen Alliance Koda fighter jets were soon locked in combat with the eleven Resistance jets, bringing down four in the first few minutes of battle to cheers from the Alliance soldiers below. Their cheers were silenced as two of the most skilled Resistance pilots managed to shoot down three enemy craft each. Another Koda fighter fell shortly after, leaving eight against the seven Resistance fighters. The Resistance then pulled up and took the battle to new heights, managing to outmanoeuvre the Alliance and bring down three more. After twenty minutes, there were four Koda fighters against the two most skilled pilots of the Resistance. All others had ejected to safety as their jets were brought down in fiery heaps.

The two Resistance pilots led the Koda fighters through the heart of Corsec, giving Resistance guns a chance to hit the low flying crafts. Two of the Alliance jets fell victim to missile attacks, while the other two enjoyed immunity, as the Resistance would not risk inflicting damage on their own while they flew at such close range. As they flew even lower across the city of red mounds, no shot was fired, and the Resistance jets began to weave through and around anything that they could, hoping that the following jets would lose control and crash. But the tailing Alliance pilots were their match, and managed to follow each move and stay close behind.

All four jets then went out to sea, over the northern cliff face as the Resistance jets pulled up into a steep climb. The Alliance pilots waited until they were above the clouds before launching their missiles, causing the Resistance jets to dive as steeply as they had risen, directly toward the ocean below. The missiles followed them closely behind along with the Koda fighters. The Resistance descent seemed too steep, and it appeared they had chosen a grave of water over fire. But at the last moment, they pulled up again, spraying the water out to both sides as they raced over it. The missiles fell straight into the water behind them, and the Koda fighters continued to tail. Over the many battleships of the Diadon navy, the Resistance pilots tried everything to lose the Koda fighters. But the Diadon navy did not seem to possess the same code of war as the Resistance troops above them, as they fired upon all jets, bringing down one Resistance craft and forcing its pilot to eject into the water. The Alliance craft that had been tailing it was soon brought down seconds later, leaving only two aircraft still in flight.

The Resistance pilot narrowly dodged being hit, by both Alliance and Diadon missiles, as it pulled up to ascend Corsec's northern cliff face. The missiles exploded into the cliff as they struck it, and then over the cliff's defences, the Resistance craft rose, free of harm. The remaining Alliance Koda fighter was just behind it, but as it rose into vision, smoke and flames had engulfed it, and it managed only to clear the top of the cliff before it began to lose altitude, falling backward and onto the defence systems underneath. Soldiers fled from their positions to escape the falling craft, but a second before it had hit, a flash of white light came and a shield of orange energy met with it. The craft disintegrated upon contact with the shield, and all below were kept safe from the falling debris as the Daijuarn sentinel held it in place.

From the next command room beneath another mound, Ryan continued watching the display of power.

'The Daijuar are protecting us in the north and south,' he announced over the radio. 'But do not rely on their charity. They cannot protect us all. All zones from nine to fourteen must now be clear. Prepare for countdown,' he finished, and all focused on the timer at the front of the room, where three-foot-high red numbers counted backward from five minutes.

The Alliance military force in the south had moved past the outer zones and were now well inside zones nine and ten.

'They're almost here,' said Aaron. 'We need to detonate now, sir.'

'Wait,' said Ryan, 'let them come.'

'It will be too late,' argued Aaron. 'Sir,' he pleaded.

Ryan smiled. 'Two minutes to go.'

All teeth were clenched as the next minute dragged by, with reports of Alliance fire now hitting the mound that they were in. But Ryan refused to end the countdown early, as if it were a matter of pride in his estimation. In the final minute, the Resistance forces were preparing to leave once again, dust beginning to fall in the command room with the heavy fire from the approaching Alliance force. But as the last seconds ticked away, all took their seats.

Then there came a rumble so loud that it could be heard clearly even in the command room deep below. A deafening booming followed the rumble, the loudest in the battle yet, as two entire zones were engulfed in flames with enormous explosions. Black smoke and dirt were thrown high and the shockwaves from the thousands of detonating mines was felt miles away, even in the most northern reaches of the city, and the Alliance troops perished instantly as the ground beneath their feet exploded. The rumble continued as if a volcano had just sprung up in the middle of the zones, and millions of pieces of super-heated metal began to rain from the sky.

The men and women of the Resistance let cheers of triumph ring out, and Ryan turned to Aaron who had visibly relaxed.

'How's that for timing?' asked Ryan, and Aaron laughed nervously, shaking his head as he continued monitoring the screen in front of him.

When most of the smoke and dust had cleared, Ryan called for an assessment of the damage. The field was no longer recognisable, with holes throughout it and debris scattered everywhere. Ryan was congratulated by all in the command room, but he waved them away saying that it wasn't over yet.

But it almost was.

The blasts had killed over half of the Alliance force. There would now be fewer than ten thousand of their troops left in the south, a relatively easy task for Resistance troops by comparison to what they had faced before.

'Attack now,' said Ryan. 'Send all units available to zones nine and ten. Chase and eradicate the Alliance threat.'

The Resistance military awoke once again, missiles being launched as tanks and other vehicles raced through the bumpy craters to get to the Alliance on the other side of the zones.

Ryan's good mood soon faded as Aaron called for his attention.

'There are enemy craft coming this way from the north west, sir.'

'How many?' asked Ryan.

Aaron made a quick count. 'Around forty.'

'Send all we have,' he said. 'I want no aircraft on the ground while they're near.'

'Yes, sir,' said Aaron, relaying the orders. 'Wait,' he continued after a few moments. 'They're not coming toward the city.'

Ryan laughed. 'They know they have lost,' he said.

'Maybe,' said Aaron. 'Or maybe not.' He paused to listen to his headset. 'I'm getting reports that they have struck a ridge in front of Mount Tibain.'

'Mount Tibain?' asked Ryan. 'What's there?'

'Nothing, sir,' said Aaron.

A woman from across the room stood up. 'Ex Seven Fighter Unit reports sighting of a secondary Alliance force,' she announced loudly.

'Where?' asked Ryan, walking to her.

'At Mount Tibain, sir, zone three. Immediate reinforcements recommended.'

'How large a force?'

'Twenty thousand or more,' said the woman, pointing to the screen in front of her where there was a map of the area. 'They're coming from a tunnel behind the ridge here.'

'There's nothing on scanners,' observed Ryan.

'Ex Thirteen Fighter Unit reports the same, sir,' said the man next to the woman.

Ryan's eyes flared as he remembered the Alliance had been able to disable the sensors somehow in the southern zones, and he quickly called out to all in the room. 'Sensors are down! Get remaining forces to zone three, now!'

'What about the southern Alliance retreat, sir?' asked an operator.

'Leave them. They're a diversion!'