The Twistedia Chronicles Episode 1: A New War
The Twistedia Chronicles
Episode 1: A New War
by: Eddie Lawson
My name is Kataan. I was once a distinguished member of the Prepan Empire. I was the commander of the Prepan army. Our mighty empire was forged for centuries through conquest and our army was the finest in Twistedia. Then our economy went bankrupt. We were torn by poverty and civil war. We needed help. Then Elarus rose to power. He became dictator of our empire. He was responsible for starting the largest war in our planet’s history. This is the beginning of that war. This is Episode 1 in the series The Twistedia Chronicles.
When Elarus came to power he made many changes. A week after he became dictator he gave a speech that would change the Prepan Empire forever. I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was April 1, 4940.
“The time has come to bring our empire to greatness once again,” he said. “We are a master race. We must eradicate the other nations of Twistedia. They are limiting what we can accomplish. Today we go to WAR!”
With those words Elarus plunged our empire into a war we could not win. Some of us suspected he was insane, most were blinded by the promise of a new beginning. I knew in the back of my mind we could not win, but I wouldn’t let myself realize it. I just wanted our empire to be strong again.
The war officially started on April 10 that year. We started by invading the Barbaran Lands. They fought as several separate tribes, and their smoothbore muskets were no match for our energy weapons. They built wooden forts that were mere speed bumps for our adamantium-armored tanks. We slaughtered any resistance they put up. They would build defenses and we would knock them down. The whole campaign lasted 20 days. On April 30 all opposition had been destroyed. Barbaran casualties were 1 million dead while ours were 50 wounded.
After this victory I was appointed commander of the First Corps, and promoted to the rank of Major General. The First Corps was a large force consisting of 10 million troops, which was divided into 2 armored divisions and 2 infantry divisions.
The next target was the kingdom of Tarana. I would bring my corps from the Barbaran lands and attack from the south, and Lieutenant General Dalak (who was in command of the operation) would bring the Second and Third Corps and attack the east. We would meet in the capitol city of Endar. Dalak entered the briefing room and sat down at the head of the table.
“General Kataan, how is your corps?” He asked.
“My troops morale is soaring, sir. They are in position ready to go,” I replied/
“As you know, the Cadian Republic has issued a statement to us. Their leader says if we attack Tarana he will send his army to their aid, but Elarus believes we can win. Here are the papers you will need to conduct the operation. Good luck.”
“Thank you, sir. We begin the attack at damn.”
The next morning I reorganized my corps into columns and marched them to our first target, the city of Kalanda. I sent an infantry division of 2.5 million men to attack the city. There were 1 million Taranans defending. On June 2, 1 month later, the siege ended, and we took the city. My division suffered 100,000 casualties. 90% of the Taranans were killed and the rest were taken prisoner, along with millions of tons in supplies. We rested in the city for 2 days, then reformed and set out for the next target.
I received word from my scouts that a force of 2 million Taranans were camping south of our position. I sent an armored division of 2.5 million tanks to take care of them. When they found the Taranans they were still camped. My troops attacked and annihilated them, killing 99% and taking 10,000 prisoners. We didn’t suffer any casualties. We reformed into columns and resumed our march to Karlan.
We arrived at the next city, Karlan, 2 days later. Again, we besieged the city and in another week it was taken. We rested for a week and reorganized for the final march to Endar where we would meet Dalak. We arrived 1 later and I found what was left of Dalak’s command. After more searching I found Dalak in a makeshift command tent.
“General, what happened to your army?” I asked.
“We were attacked by a large force of Cadians. We were exhausted from the march and still in columns. We lost 3 of 4 divisions. The division that was not lost took heavy casualties. Of my original 40 million troops I am down to 5 million,” he replied.
“Do you wish me to continue the attack?”
“Kataan, as you can see I have been wounded. You are to take command.”
“Yes, sir, we will attack.”
I saluted and returned to my own troops. We were to attack a city defended by 5 million Taranans and 15 million Cadians. The odds were against us, but I was determined.
I devised the best strategy I could but we would need a miracle to win. That miracle came. On June 8, the next day, we attacked. We fought for 2 days, and won. Of the 14.9 million troops I commanded 10.9 million were lost. The defenders lost 19 of 20 million. Again my troops performed remarkably, but there were only 4 million left. They were ehausted and supplies were low. I sent word of the victory to our capitol, and Elarus was amazed. A weel later we received badly needed reinforcements and again we were off.
We roamed for another month taking cities. Millions of Taranans prisoners were taken. The end was near.
The next battle we fought was the last of the invasion, and the last of the Taranan defense. They were tired of fighting. I used 10 million of my newly reinforced army to attack the last 3 million of the Taranan army. They were slaughtered. No prisoners were taken because they either ran away or were killed. Tarana was occupied, but the war was just starting.
To be continued....
<FONT size="6">Text</FONT s><FONT size="3">Text</FONT s><FONT size="6">The Twistedia Chronicles</FONT s>Text
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