Tyranny of Steel

Berengar loaded a stripper clip into his G25 Bolt-Action Carbine before slamming the bolt home. All five rounds of his 7.92x57mm ammunition were effortlessly loaded into the internal magazine. After doing so, he flipped the safety before slinging the weapon on his back.

He was dressed in an arid pattern uniform, with a khaki blouse that had its sleeves rolled up, a pair of khaki shorts, and a pair of brown leather ankle boots that had a canvas ankle support. His load bearing equipment was made of a mixture of canvas and brown leather, and housed his ammunition pouches, canteen, bayonet, and entrenching tool. Adorning his head was a khaki pith helmet in the style that would have been used by the German Afrika Korps during his past life.

He was not the only one dressed in such fashion, the soldiers of his Imperial Guard who were selected to accompany him on this journey were also dressed in this uniform. As was Honoria, who skillfully adorned her pith helmet over her chocolate colored hair with a cutesy smile on her face. She struck a fashionable pose before asking her husband for his opinion of her appearance.

“How do I look?”

Berengar smiled as he gazed upon the beauty of his Byzantine Princess and nodded his head thrice before making a joke he had heard on an old cartoon from his past life.

“Like a cheap French harlot…”

Honoria’s smile immediately soured as she gazed at her man with fury in her mint green eyes. Berengar was forced to calm the woman’s wrath as he assured her he was only joking.

“I’m only kidding… In truth, you look like a beautiful war goddess!”

Despite the man’s shameless actions, his woman was pleased after hearing his true thoughts and latched onto his arm with the same smile she previously wore on her pretty face. Berengar was forced to shrug her off, as his soldiers were glaring at him. Why was it they couldn’t bring along a pretty girl to accompany them in their tents during campaigns? Such were the thoughts on their minds as they gazed in envy at their emperor.

After shaking Honoria off of him, Berengar made sure their supplies were properly packed. Unlike Berengar, Honoria favored the Trench gun. She had packed several powerful slugs in case they came across some particularly large game that needed putting down. It wasn’t a 700 Nitro Express, but if she slam fired her entire tube’s worth of slugs into a rampaging elephant’s skull, Berengar doubted it would endure.

After ensuring that he and his troops were properly prepared, Berengar mounted his steed and snapped the reins, propelling him out of the encampment and into the South African plains. He did not have the slightest idea how he would find a leopard cub, or how he would snatch it from his mother’s protection, but he was determined to do so.

Thus, a company of soldiers and two squads worth of female privateers rode off into the prairie with no support from the forward operating base that had been established along the coastline. As they rode through the plains, they noticed all sorts of wildlife that was completely alien to the German soldiers.

The sight of Giraffes astounded Honoria in particular. She did not know how the animals had grown such long necks. Berengar simply smiled when he saw the splendor of the young woman’s face. Despite travelling all over the world, and seeing many sights, the woman could still admire the beauty of nature when she saw it.

Many of the more hostile creatures, such as African Wild Dogs and Hyenas, maintained their distance from the large group of humans. Perhaps they were fearful of the strange creatures these humans rode upon, or perhaps they simply knew they were no match for the humans, but they generally sprinted when they saw the German host trod by.

That is, aside from one particular pack of hyenas who appeared to be stalking the German host throughout their journey. Perhaps it was because he watched too much Lion King when he was still a child in his past life, but Berengar was not particularly fond of hyenas.

Thus, as he witnessed the mutts stalking him and his party, he decided to take a few potshots at the beasts through his scope. The crackle of gunfire, and the whizzing of the bullets as they passed over the creature’s heads was enough to spook them off. Honoria frowned at Berengar when she saw him deliberately intimidating the local wildlife and chastised him for his behavior.

“Why would you do that?”

Berengar could not openly admit that he always hated hyenas, as his soldiers might overhear and jump to conclusions, thus, he simply scoffed before making an excuse.

“Something about the way those beasts look pisses me off.”

Honoria could already guess that it had something to do with his past life, and didn’t question him any further about his hostile actions. Thus, the party continued on their journey, searching for any sign of a leopard. Unfortunately, they ended up travelling aimlessly into unexplored territory. After several hours of getting lost in the wilds, Berengar decided to give the horses a rest and establish a camp.

The group of German soldiers ended up camping on a plateau within the mountains. Berengar deployed two squads of men to act as sentries and to maintain a perimeter while the rest of them set up their tents and prepared the meals that they would eat. While the German soldiers dined upon their meals in the darkness, a pair of blue eyes flickered on the rock cropping above.

The beast who it belonged to carefully observed the foreigners who had trespassed into its lands, with a hint of intelligence in its eyes that a wild animal such as it should not normally possess. It could accurately pinpoint who was the leader among them, and could sense a special aura about him. Luckily, the darkness was enough to conceal its spotted hide as it slowly prowled about, keeping a watchful eye on its target.

There was something about the one eyed man it found to be distasteful. Though it could not understand the language he spoke, it could comprehend the human body language, and could sense that Berengar had come to this mountain range with a purpose in mind. One thing was certain, this human wore the mark of a foreign deity, and this cat could smell it from a mile away.

Why the gods of a foreign land would interfere in the mortal plain, the beast did not know. It was not his place to question the higher beings. However, there was no mistaking that Berengar’s presence in these lands was clearly an act of hostility, and thus, after observing Berengar and his party’s actions for several hours in silence, the cat slithered off into the night to report back to its master.

Roughly five kilometers away from Berengar’s camp, the leopard ascended to the highest peak of the mountain, where clouds had gathered at its spire. Above these clouds was a round hut made of rainbow arches. Upon reaching this structure, the leopard roared, signalling to its master it had returned. The moment this sound echoed in the air, another leopard exited from the hut where it gazed upon the familiar beast before shape-shifting into a busty African beauty.

This woman had long, braided hair and skin as black as night. She looked curiously at the leopard before questioning its sudden return. It was not often that her familiar visited her, as the beast had a bit of an icy persona.

“Azisa, why have you returned so soon?”

The beast named Azisa growled and roared for several minutes. By the expression on the woman’s face, she could clearly understand the creature as if it were speaking the same language she was accustomed to. Her brow raised as she heard this, before repeating what the leopard had said, as if she was questioning what she was hearing.

“You say a one eyed man with golden hair, white skin, and blue eyes has entered these lands in search of something, and that he carries with him the boon of a foreign deity? What bastard has sent his toy into my domain? I will get to the bottom of this at once!”

After saying this, the woman transformed back into the form of a leopard, where she spoke in the human tongue, giving her familiar a command.

“Lead me to these intruders. I will see for myself why they have decided to disturb me!”

The male leopard who acted as this the familiar of this goddess felt its spine tingle as he heard that the woman wanted to personally investigate this matter. However, a command was a command, and the orders of the goddess were absolute. Thus, he could only sigh before leading the way to Berengar’s camp, where the man currently lay asleep in his tent.

Berengar did not know when he set off on this journey that he would intrude on a hostile deity’s territory, or that he would attract her fury. However, one thing was certain, this goddess would not be pleased that Berengar had invaded South Africa with the intent to forcefully remove her people, who had not yet even begun to enter the stage of development they were destined to achieve.