The night sky over the Coldbreak Valley
The nights in North Kospean could be described as truly beautiful with such rugged untamed lands covering the majority of the country, the night skies sparkled with the endless worlds overhead and the milky way was always an impressive sight overhead. These descriptions were true especially in the southern part of the country which was a wilderness and least populated section of the nation. Tonight was a particularly splendid display of what lay beyond Earth and those on the ground might have stargazed for hours if what was about to occur wasn't on everyones mind.
Tonight was the start of Operation Song Sparrow, the ambitious plan to take back Coldbreak Valley and in the small town of Vixcloud a storm of North Kospean military personally were awaiting to be shuttled to combat. Combat that virtually none of the young soldiers had ever experienced and nerves ran high among the troops. Most joined to escape poverty that was all too common in mountainous republic and never dreamed of actual combat but nevertheless here they were about to fight a cult that would want them all dead. The commencing of Song Sparrow for the majority of soldiers would be in just one hour right as the time reached 0100 hours with the bombardment of Coldbreak Valley by a battery of MOD 56 howitzers and then a flood of troops would storm the first logging camp and secure the only reliable way out. This operation was intent on capturing every single Red Sky member, dead or alive. However, before this amassment could begin, the secret weapons of this operation would strike first, a coalition of special forces from around the globe were ready to strike and commence crippling blows to the cultist by the way of capturing Shaman Crushing Water while others softened up the numerous camps that dotted the valley.
This is where it begins to retake the valley....
Captain's Gap Logging Road
Under the cover of night the "Gray Bat" Squad of the North Kospean Special Operations Force (NKSOF) was slowly and carefully making its way down the overgrown dirt road that now looked to be just an animal path. The early spring weeds brushed upon the operatives as they looked into the valley, which seemed to be full of life. Faint glows of fires could be seen from their vantage point upon the ridge and distant chanting echoed through Coldbreak. While regular troops were worried about the upcoming battle the Gray Bats were an anomaly in the North Kospean Army. Refraining from showing nerves they were hellbent on one thing, to capture Crushing Water. Lead by Lt. Grivoel Tiyl a native to the Ghoul Mountains he and the rest of the men all recruited from the same area wanted peace to return to these lands and considered Crushing Water a blasphemous man of the lowest quality but regardless, they would do this mission right.
The Lt. lead the squad and an additional international special force spaced out behind them around 1km from where Crushing Water might be, which was the Red Sky Chapel, a monolith of a cabin that was easily spotted by the large bonfire in the front. It almost seemed too easy but anything could go wrong and as the night would progress things might go wrong....
Red Sky Chapel
Inside the crudely built cabin that had a large barren room in the middle and sprouted to right with bedrooms, was the man who started it all, Crushing Water. Now in his late fifties the man was tanned a dark bronze from years of rough living with a gray beard to sport the look of a mountain man. His hair was a dark black and reached beyond his shoulders without a single curl or twist in it while his eyes burned an amber brown. The Shaman or Great Shaman as his followers addressed him by was in the middle of barren room praying to the Gods like he always did to show him another sign that the Red Skies were coming. No one was allowed within the chapel during these hour long sessions as he yelped and danced like madman, clicking bones together to form crude beats. While the cultist had no idea the extent in which the North Kospean government was determined to destroy them, scouts had reported a buildup of troops in the area and like the Great Shaman always said, "He would talk to Gods about it and to be at peace with oneself." However, as the hours were approaching the start of Song Sparrow cultists in the far reaches of the valley were starting to worry, with the sound of convey approaching and just an overall sense of dread that something was coming.
One of these cultist that sensed an impending doom was the former Vlad Brumichin now known as Fire Grass, as all members were renamed by the Shaman. He was just 23 and recruited by the Great Shaman two years ago. The young man had an intense dislike for the government growing up in extreme poverty in the mountains, in his eyes the North Kospean government did nothing for him as his family died in an avalanche years ago while he was away chopping wood and now he sees the Red Sky as a new family. A family, the man did not want to be ripped apart by the government once again. Near his cabin along with a few other members the low but now noticeable noise of something happening in Vixcloud was too much to bare.
"I need to clear my mind... I'm going to Hermit Cave... sorry brothers I will be back soon." He said getting up from his fire.
"No need brother, we all need to pray. Just take this, bears have been spotted in the area." another cultist chimed in handing the man a TT-30 pistol.
With that he nodded and wished his brothers a farewell. The early spring was unusually warm with the night being a crispy 0 Celsius when the years before it would be well below that. However, it gave Fire Grass more of reason to go to his cave of peace... or so he thought...
