She slowly turned her head in my direction—red eyes wide and unseeing as she stared at me for a long minute—then she slowly turned her head back forward.
I made a mental note to unfriend her immediately.
“Don’t you dare wake her up,” Cobra mouthed next to her.
I rolled my eyes.
Blah, blah, blah. I’d rather be at Elite Academy, drowning in the black sea, than sit through another of Dick’s sanctimonious explanations on battle strategy.
But here I was.
Time plodded forward.
When I was three seconds away from a self-induced coma, Dick said, “Please close your binders.”
Thank the sun god.
I unrolled my hunched spine and patted the already closed binder on my lap. I hadn’t bothered to flip through the summarized list of policies and strategies, because I’d memorized it the first time he’d covered it:
Don’t eat any food from Planet 003FX.
Don’t make loud noises.
The objective is to eliminate the ungodly quietly and efficiently before they realize they are under attack.
The civilization indigenous to Planet 003FX is unknown because of the treacherous nature of the realm’s terrain. Their new name: the infected.
Recent intelligence indicates the civilization is composed of remote city-states called compounds that are located in mountainous valleys.
The planet has a twenty-four-hour day and night cycle, like most realms with life.
Experts theorize it will take days for information to spread among the settlements. Since not all the portals in the realm have been located, the ungodly must be eliminated before they can flee.
Only wear your standard-issue battle gear. It is camouflage to the terrain.
Keep your hair pulled back from your face.
No smoking, drugs, or alcohol use during the war.
Always keep track of your weapons.
Use your weapons, holsters, and straps.
Enchanted bullets do not work against the ungodly. Rely on other weapons.
Treat other soldiers with courtesy.
Study the ranking officer chart and always listen to your commanders.
Leadership chart in descending rank: champions, generals, spies, assassins, foot soldiers.
Champions and generals have access to the strategy room for planning and will give the rest of the war camp their assignments.
The champions have the ultimate say.
The current theory is the ungodly infect their prey by forcing them to swallow their eggs. Do not swallow any eggs. It is theorized the warm temperature of the planet has allowed them to infect and spread at an abnormal rate.
I’d crossed out the drug policy because I didn’t follow bad laws.
My new life motto: stand for something or fall for everything. Yes, I was standing for drug use.
Someone had to.
And the next person who reminded me not to eat food from the realm was getting stabbed in the throat. I was tempted to eat a leaf off a tree just for fun, bonus points if it killed me.
Also, whoever had written the last bullet point deserved to be institutionalized.
Who the fuck would voluntarily eat the eggs of a parasitic monster with pincers?
Controversial take—that person deserved to be infected.
“Write what I’m about to say down.” Dick pointed to the pens attached to our binders.
I unclicked the pen and doodled a dying stick figure shooting a rifle at another dying stick figure.
Art imitated life.
Dick frowned. “This information is crucial.”
Apparently, he was incapable of getting to the freaking point.
Sadie snored softly.
Dick’s posture was rigid as he said, “You’re probably wondering why we’ve had so many meetings.”
“No one cares!” I shouted and made an obscene hand gesture…in my head.
“Your role”—Dick’s ruddy complexion flushed as he glared at each of us—“is more important than you know.”
No one blinked.
Where Lothaire would yell and smack a baton, Dick spoke with zero inflection, which was somehow ten times more terrifying.
There was a strange intensity around the High Court leader that no one, not even the kings, dared to challenge. With his wings retracted, I’d never have guessed that Dick was an angel. He didn’t have the poise and aura of arrogance they all seemed to possess.
He looked too ordinary.
Although…I’d never thought I was an angel, and now I was one that couldn’t fly.
Current life plan: throw myself off a cliff as soon as possible.
If I flew, I flew.
If I didn’t—slay （in the slaughter sense）。
Dick lowered his head and said, “What I’m about to say will change everything you thought you knew about this war.”