Prologue

The sight of body after body streaming down from hundreds of conveyor belts all over the country as they enter the processor, then flowing into and filling giant tubes of the centrifuge for organelle purification has been nothing less than a nightmare. As a distinguished O.R.E. inspector with the highest level of clearance unknown to the public, I’ve had to visit and become part of various projects on black sites all over the continent. The numbing and constant desensitization is the least disturbing aspect of my job. After we turn on the centrifuge, we separate pieces of the organelles into fragments; the purified remains are used as samples for genetic splicing- -for the elites- -while the rest is for the creation of clean chemical energy C.C.E., which is the crucial component to the public as organic renewable energy or so-called, O.R.E.

A little over 250 years ago, around the 2050s' the world was divided into 195 countries, and their leaders and policies governed each. At the time, there were world superpowers: The United States of America, located in North America, Russia, and China were both located in Asia; they were the top three countries with a formidable military, economy, international alliances, and political influence. Other honorable mentions, such as Germany and The United Kingdom, are still around today and continue to reside in Europe. As you know today, six continents with countries within their borders still exist, but after the last World War, not many countries had much of a choice; they had to align themselves with one of the five superpowers. Most countries chose to side with the United States or China, some sided with Russia, and the remainder either went neutral or found themselves part of Germany or The United Kingdom.

As of today, in 2301, only one world government controls the world. The UN disbanded, and then a year later, Russia and China cyberattacked the United States, knocking out the entire power grid. Washington D.C. was the first location to get its power back up and running, and then the tech giants in San Francisco managed to be the first city. The top tech companies rebuilt and fortified every military, bank, and government firewall nationwide. Working on powering and protecting New York City was crucial due to the Stock Market plummeting. Individuals and companies lost so much money, and those who didn’t have cash were hopeless. The banks had no control or access to facilitate any form of business. Credit and Debit cards held no value anymore, plastic mementos with random numbers that used to mean something.

By the time the Stock Market was fully functional, which took 33 days, almost 10 million people committed suicide after 14 days, then another 40 million by the 30th day; in total, a little over 50 million people took their own lives. In Chicago and Los Angeles, grocery stores were raided, mass shootings skyrocketed, and homes/apartments were burned to ashes after the cash, food, and weapons were stolen. Several citizens in the cities throughout the country followed suit, and almost 100 million people fell victim to heinous crimes; at least 70 million people were killed before the military became involved. The police did as much as they could, but with their reputation in the eyes of the public tarnished, the amount of respect and authority dwindled after a couple of weeks.

Almost half of the United States population was decimated before the terrorist attacks on American soil. The country was in shambles, cities were burning, and the streets were littered with debris and the bodies of innocent victims. Unfortunately for China and Russia, the Allies joined forces. The alliance, which was formed during World War II emerged once again, but this time, they came in to assist and save the United States. The previous allied countries, the United Kingdom and France came together with Germany and Japan, the former Axis powers. Germany and Japan replaced Russia and China in this War and vice versa. Japan had boots on the ground in China 54 days after the cyberattacks, taking over the island of Hainan and then destroying a significant amount of their navy in Zhanjiang. As the Japanese continued their strike, the French, British, and Israeli Air Forces flew into Belarus and bombed their military bases out of existence. This is where Germany would take their tanks, artillery, and infantry into Ukraine as they made their way to Moscow. The Ukrainian Army gave as much help as possible even after the war with Russia. At the same time, the Polish armed forces sent their troops into Belarus to prevent any aid or communications with the Russian Military.

Once Belarus was out of play, the German and Ukrainian Forces began their march into Moscow. As they fought and gained ground,  making their way into the Capital, The British and the French Air Force got more reinforcements, ammo, and fuel in Belarus. After Poland had taken control, they helped clear the way for the German and Ukrainian infantry. Moscow was under the control of the Allies within days. Japan was doing everything it could to keep control of both naval bases, but they were fighting a losing battle. As they were retreating to regroup, then sending in a second wave to finish the job, Tawaiin’s navy showed up, giving the Japanese forces a massive boost in morale to propel them to take control over both Hainan and Zhanjiang, crippling China’s Naval Forces.

From that point forward, all the Allies needed was time and patience after a couple of years of fighting against the Axis powers. They were overwhelmed, and eventually, the confiscation of nuclear weapons gave their leaders nothing to threaten the world with; a treaty between the Allies and Axis powers was agreed upon and signed with several conditions, which took over 30 days to finalize. It seemed like for a few years, the world held its breath, waiting for the same countries to revolt and abandon the terms and conditions of the treaty, but for the next century, everything stayed the same. The world will always need opposition if there is only peace and no war. We will be left with nothing if there is only war and no peace. A balance, one way or another, must be sought and protected at all costs.

As the years passed, A.I. had taken over the world completely, but not in the way we all thought. Some robots became sentient, while others were confined by the strict boundaries that lie within their coding. As a species, we thrived even more than anyone could have imagined. Many of us, possibly the entire human race, had their bets on AI destroying and siphoning our lives from us for their benefit or vindication. Don’t get me wrong, several years were stained by the blood of men, women, children, and the essence of sentient beings, but in the end, the AI and humans created a symbiotic relationship that saved Earth and everything that had life from within. As more time passed, our civilization grew to a point where the world needed one governing body, one with humans and AI as one, making everything under the sun, shine as bright as the stars above when it sets.

A century has passed, and with the evergrowing success of our world government, EROS, we’ve performed what people a few hundred years ago would call miracles. Our civilization has colonized the Moon and reached undiscovered planets near the edges of the Milky Way and distant planets we could only see through telescopes of the highest caliber. Advanced forms of energy do not take and destroy the life filling our ecosystems but provide them with the resistance to elements that once plagued them. The life expectancy of humans has risen to almost 150 years of age. Diseases come and go because cures and treatments are so advanced that the deadliest illnesses and pandemics haven’t existed since the late 21st century. Hunger, the starving of nations and their people has almost vanished entirely. Technology flourishes like a plant that has control over the sun and provides its own warmth, waters that feed the soil where it grows, and the earth where the roots dig into building a foundation strong enough never to perish.

Fifty years after the cataclysmic Second Jewel War, the Land of Spade has flourished under the legacy of Kaipo Kasumi, its once-fractured realms now united in an era of peace. But peace is a double-edged sword, for in the shadows of tranquility, a new and insidious evil stirs—one that threatens to unravel everything the heroes of old fought for. As dark forces emerge from the cracks of a fragile peace, the next generation of mages must rise to confront an adversary unlike any before. Will they uphold the legacy of their predecessors, or will the weight of history crush them? The fate of five universes rests in their hands, and their journey will test not only their power but the very essence of who they are.PS: If you haven't read previous series of The Land of Spade, it's totally fine! You don't have to be caught up and can read this as a totally new story, because that's what it is!Edit (01.30.2025) - Here are the current STORY ARCS!!!Chapters 1-24 -The Gathering Shadows ArcChapters 33-47 -The Shattered Council ArcChapters 55-72 -The War of Fort Vigilance ArcChapters 73-Current -The Sentient Arc

About Author:

Oskar Holtz, author of Letalis,is a student at the University of Reading studying War, Peace, and International Relations. He is a member of The Society of Authors and the Westminster Strategic Studies Group and was a former Lance Corporal in the British Army Cadet Force.

About the novel:

The warring states of the world are warming around the new fires of a calamitous war, freed from half a decade in shackles of so-called peace. The seven great lands and seas of humanity are all but controlled by one element. Eifer. They give birth to the wrath of our species and is a breeder of sin. With the ever growing threat of the prosperous Confederacy looming over the continent, the ailing alliance of Aelon lies on an endless path of futile resistance in the face of the vastest invasion since the Second Calamity. Of the billions who would suffer for it, Arminius Reichner, a seemingly commoner schoolboy, is trapped in the outbreak of war. There is but one exit. Into the fields where no man would dare tread if they knew the horrors that would befall them. Every sane person had dreamt of the praise and fame that they could earn from the people of their kingdoms through war, but none truly understood how such a childish dream has shattered even the most resolute of minds. Victory has become a forgotten word in a cruel world once called paradise. Hell sits not so far.

Seventeen years ago, a girl was sent to another world by a glowing goddess named Aris. Blessed with powerful magical attributes—but curiously, no holy power.

And now the girl has become Mira d'Ark. She lives a peaceful life in the sun-kissed fishing town of Mermaid’s Cove.

She doesn’t fight monsters.She doesn’t wear holy robes.And she certainly doesn’t consider herself a saintess.

But the townsfolk think otherwise.

From healing wounds and calling rain, to helping lost adventurers and tending the soil, Mira's magic has touched everyone in town.

But as her seventeenth birthday dawns and cake is served at the Adventurer's Guild, a new arrival at the edge of town will gently begin to shift the tides of Mira’s peaceful world.

Because sometimes, even a girl who doesn’t believe she’s a saintess... is exactly what the world needs.

“A Flicker in the Dark”was born from a simple question: What happens to the soldier who survives when everyone else is gone? Set in a world decimated by alien invasion and held together by the fraying threads of human defiance, this story follows one such survivor—James “Hawk” Everard, a sniper hardened by grief with a spirit forged in tremendous loss.

Seven years ago, he watched his mentor fall under the blade of a nightmarish alien horror. Since then, he’s carried the weight of memory like a loaded rifle—quiet, precise, and always ready to fire. Now, buried in the crumbling guts of a ruined city, the resistance prepares for a desperate assault. But the aliens aren’t just evolving—they’re planning.

This is a story about ghosts.The ones we bury, the ones that haunt us, and the ones we become.

Beware readers, you will enter a world where every shot counts, every loss lingers, and every night might be the last. Inside the hollow bones of Earth, a war wages not just for survival—but for the soul of what remains.

A work inspired by the song "Army Dreamers" by Kate Bush.

This is an original story with some Star Wars elements. Set on Earth in the year 2016, it has been 18 years since the U.S. declared a war on drugs in response to the invasion of El Paso conducted by the Grand Cartel Syndicate led by narco-terrorist, Alejandro DeSantos. A military task force called The Counter-Terrorism Task Force was created and are now locked in a war with them. On the frontlines, Counter-Terrorism Task Force 105, leads the fight against the DeSantos cartel. They're considered the best of the best in military efficiency and training, the fate of the world as we see it lies in their hands.

Kumiko and Alena are two orphans living through a gruelling war. There is grinding poverty, constant bombings, and looming soldiers. Kumiko wants to keep his younger sister safe from the war around them. But will he sacrifice his sister's heart in order to do so?

Synopsis: "

You undo me, completely, utterly, and maddeningly." ​​​​​​​

17-year-old  Nazira nearly escaped the attack on the mortal villages she was sworn to be shielded from, losing her mother and sister in the wreckage; she vows to find the people who killed her family. Driven by revenge she finds herself training with the fae as a mortal, determined to avenge her people and kill anyone in her way But as her world crumbles to ash beneath the weight of war she never was supposed to see she finds herself only drawn closer to a world of lies and even closer to the people she's sworn to kill

The Second Coalition War (80-98 EH) was fought 265 years after the conclusion of the First Coalition War.

Due to the the unification of Upper Empyrea into the Umbracresti-Estrinite-Glacian-Narcissian Archregion (UEGNA) under Archcountess-Khatun Vega Calliope Ego by marriage, inheritance and alliances, the other regions dissolved UEGNA seats on CEDA and formed the Cerulean-Vorantine-Aqulio-Pheasantine Union (CVAPU) in response.

After Vega abdicated in 78 EH, her twenty year son is crowned Archcount-Khagan Urlic IV & I Ego-Estrin-Romanakov of Umbracrest, Estrin, Glacier and Narciss. Urlic is more aggressive than his mother and the other regions declare war on the Archregion....

The Grand Army requires some understanding for this book to make any sense to you (the Grand Fleet is simply 308 Airships / Aeronautical Craft divided into 7 Fleets of 44.)

■ Combatant Command = 10 Million troops under the Marshal of the Grand Army.□ Army Group = 2.5 Million troops under a Grand-General.● Field Army = 625,000 troops under a Lieutenant General.○ Corps = 156,250 troops under a Grand Warlord.▪︎ Division = 31,250 troops under a Warlord.• Brigade = 6,250 troops under a War Brigadier.° Company = 1,250 troops under a Captain.Platoon = 125 troops under an Ego Lieutenant.Troop = 25 troops under a Lord Sergeant-Major or Colour Sergeant.Squad = 5 Troops under a Lance Corporal.

■ Combatant Command (Marshal Blücher):□ Western Army Group (Grand- General Augereau):● 1st Western Field Army (Lt. Gen Ridge):○ I Corps ○ II Corps○ III Corps○ IV Corps● 2nd Western Field Army (Lt. Gen Kirova):○ V Corps○ VI Corps○ VII Corps○ VIII Corps● 3rd Western Field Army (Lt. Gen Hossian):○ IX Corps○ X Corps○ XI Corps○ XII Corps● 4th Western Field Army (Lt. Gen Zhao):○ XIII Corps○ XIV Corps○ XV Corps○ XVI Corps□ Northwestern Army Group (Grand-General Massaena):● 1st Northwestern Field Army (Lt. Gen Tatè):○ I Corps○ II Corps○ III Corps○ IV Corps● 2nd Northwestern Field Army (Lt. Gen Montgo):○ V Corps○ VI Corps○ VII Corps○ VIII Corps● 3rd Northwestern Field Army (Lt. Gen Duvè):○ IX Corps○ X Corps○ XI Corps○ XII Corps● 4th Northwestern Field Army (Lt. Gen Redd):○ XIII Corps○ XIV Corps○ XV Corps○ XVI Corps□ Northern Army Group (Grand-General Carrier):● 1st Northern Field Army (Lt. Gen Tanknori):○ I Corps○ II Corps○ III Corps○ IV Corps● 2nd Northern Field Army (Lt. Gen Ghost):○ V Corps○ VI Corps○ VII Corps○ VIII Corps● 3rd Northern Field Army (Lt. Gen Fenic):○ IX Corps○ X Corps○ XI Corps○ XII Corps● 4th Northern Field Army (Lt. Gen Devo):○ XlII Corps○ XIV Corps○ XV Corps○ XVI Corps□ Northeastern Army Group (Grand-General Grosso):● 1st Northeastern Field Army (Lt. Gen Navarro):○ I Corps○ II Corps○ III Corps○ IV Corps● 2nd Northeastern Field Army (Lt. Gen Harrison):○ V Corps○ VI Corps○ VII Corps○ VIII Corps● 3rd Northeastern Field Army (Lt. Gen Hawk):○ IX Corps○ X Corps○ XI Corps○ XII Corps● 4th Northeastern Field Army (Lt. Gen Petrov):○ XIII Corps○ XIV Corps○ XV Corps○ XVI Corps

With that out of the way, you can expect: politics, battles, strategy, death, marriage, destruction and many other things.

A little bit of Geography now:

UEGNA Regions:

The West - Umbracresti Commisarate

The Northwest (Archipelago) - Estrin Dominion

The North - Glacier Electorate

The Northeast - Earldom of Narciss (Capital region)

CVAPU:

The East - Second Pheasantine Republic

The Southeast - Meritocracy of Aquiloria

The South - Technocracy of Vorantis

The Southwest - Theocratic Confederacy of Cerulea

The first two chapters are set slightly before the Second Coalition War started.

Enjoy!

- Doc

“Life is the essence of existence, while Xhu is the essence of creation itself.”

In a world where Xhu is believed to be very core of all matter and the force that governs the universe, this is the story of a sinner who named Pegwalsge escapes from depths of hell, striving to rise as a divine being.

When the plague hits San Francisco's LGBTQ community, it is up to Lt Col Oliver Talbot to stop it. Unbeknown to him, his brother--formerly known as Ivan Talbot--has already succumbed to the rapidly spreading disease. With his team of experts, Oliver must penetrate into the Middle Eastern hideout of a fanatic who is on path to destroy not only the LGBTQ community but the entire Western Civilization.