Tuesday 9th February, 2016 CE. Calais

Horses are strangely abundant in the city; young men and women in white uniforms patrolling the streets near the city walls in pairs while more stand atop the thirty foot tall walls. As darkness descended, early as it always did at this time of year, braziers are lit both on top of the wall and out in the flattened ruins beyond the walls; knocked down a year and a half ago so that the Beasts could not hide in the abandoned housing.

More young soldiers in the bright uniforms stand at the only two gates of the port city and hurry a steady stream of people into the city proper, casting glances across the flattened terrain to ensure there were no dark smudges on the horizon; no tell tale black flood announcing that Twilight Beasts were heading their way. Making their way through the press is a small group of mounted soldiers who are clearly exhausted and travel-worn.

Fifteen minutes later the group arrives at the Officers' Mess and the lead staggers in, barely able to walk for her exhaustion. Barely a minute passes before officers, all as young as their men and in the same bright white uniforms, spill out from the building with weapons in the process of being fitted on in their rush.

---

Rhiannon walked into the Barracks Compound with her favoured weapon, a naginata, strapped into a custom made case on her back while she cradled a crossbow in her arms. Wall duty required every Guardian to wield a ranged weapon and since she had no skill with a normal bow, and regular firearms were ineffective against the Twilight Beasts, she chose the crossbow; not that it was expected for the Beasts to appear during the day. While it was not unusual they rarely attacked a fortified position at any time but under the cover of night.

As she entered the Armoury and returned the borrowed weapon to the Quartermaster the lights in the room flickered and then dimmed. Everyone in the room froze, staring up at the ceiling to see whether the lights returned to power or went out. Shouted orders from the Compound outside drew their attention just as the lights went out properly; candles and gas lamps being lit to provide dubious lighting inside the building.

Rhiannon exchanged a look with the Quartermaster before handing the weapon back to him.

"I'm a rubbish shot anyway, bach." She said with a wink before joining the growing ranks outside. Everyone was armed and ready. With the street lamps going out across the city and cars failing that meant only one thing: Twilight Beasts were nearby. And a lot of them.

Leo

Life is not always exciting even in international special operations units. There are things one has to do within the walls; organizing the locker, gear maintenance and exchanging dirty clothing to clean, that kind of stuff. Today was Leo's day for all that.

And then there were classes and meetings. The weekly Strategy and Communications Training for new recruits had just ended. Leo had been assigned to be the assisting instructor for now. He walked down the clean well lit corridors towards the locker room and crew quarters for his unit. Passing through the main entrance hall he sent a flirty nod to the Information PFC at the New Recruits desk. She had arrived to Calais about the same time as he. "This Friday", he thought, "this Friday".

Leo came to the locker room. "Liutenant, Sir!" The private on guard duty greeted him. Without stopping he nods as a sign of approval. As Leo passes the seemingly nervous soldier he pats the private on the shoulder. "At ease private", Leo says with his solid voice, "don't stress here. You won't hit anything with that crossbow if you are that tense."

The man sized aluminium lockers are in sharp rows. Leo finds his way to number 044. He turns the key in the lock and opens the door. He hangs his white office jacket. Rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt he feels alot more like himself. On the inner side of the door he has taped the weekly schedule. Next thing before the evening routines would be crossbow shooting. For a moment he almost can feel the dear G36 he used before the Beasts came.

The flickering lights bring him back from the sweet memories with his rifle. He waits for a moment if anything more happens. The moment he turns his attention away from the ceiling lights everything goes dark. The noise from outside sounds like he should be somewhere else than training crossbow.

Leo takes his gear. It is an interesting one. The sturdy belt carries a bigger almost machete sized knife behind his back alongside with simple first aid kit. In the front, by the hips he has four throwing knifes on each sides. Attached to the belt he has a thigh pocket wrapped around his left thigh and a smaller knife wrapped around the right thigh. Then he lifts straps that cross on the back side across his shouders. This brings five small five minute magnesium torches on his right breast. Finally he takes the gloves with singular plated knuckles and a hidden blame under the wrists. They allow good hard hit while giving the fingers space to move freely. Not forgetting the surprise of a blade.

Grabbing the white leather jacket Leo has for field operations he locks the locker door and bashes out.

Another meeting, one of the few things to not have changed along with the world. this time it had been a usual meeting, detailing shift rotations, the maintenance of the international force, and what reports they had gotten in over the radio detailing the situation of the various other fronts. It had been long, somewhat boring, and now it was time to get to the actual work.

Roche exited the meeting room, tugging at his jacket as he moved into the streets of Calais. So much different, yet there was still that sameness that had been present when he last visited the city, before the invasion, before the world was cast to the brink of darkness. So much missing from the skyline, including the Cathedral of Notre Dame, which had been demolished when it was realized that these things were coming from religious buildings, as if it's destruction would prevent whatever had happened. Still, it seemed to have worked in that regard, though if there'd been anyone around to attend mass was not his place to say. He himself had abandoned the faith, preferring to place his trust in the ingenuity and resources of humanity to weather this night. God had abandoned them, so they only had each other to draw on. the people went about their business, and it was only the overbearing presence of swords and bows that would hint you as to the war raging across the globe.

It was the dying of the lights that changed things, and when they did not come back it sent the passerbyers and himself into a frenzy of motion, people moving to get to secure locations while he headed for the armory to get his gear and then link up with his squad. The Beats were coming then, time for another fight. He quickly made his way to his locker, changing the leather jacket for the official white that got a slightly disapproving look from him before it put it on. Oh, the symbolism was all well and fine, but it was a pain in the ass to keep the dang thing clean. Which was why he much preferred his old uniform, it hid the stains better.

Properly dressed, he grabbed his weapons. A combat knife first, well taken care of for when you had no other choice, then a hand-and-a-half sword, for the various methods of fighting, for the power of a two handed chop, but could be used with a single hand as well. Well taken care of, and sharp as nails at that. Then the med kit, and the other things he needed, and he was good to go. After making sure he had everything, he headed out to the marshaling ground, to meet up with his squad and get ready to fight some hell beasts.

Standing on a small dais prepared for such a gathering were the key officers still present within the city and not out on an expedition with the 1st Division. These included the Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions and their accompanying aides and officers. Lieutenants stood with their men arrayed behind them and Rhiannon managed to slip into position with her squad, winking at the sergeant nearest. The man nodded, acknowledging her presence and the completion of their unit.

"There's a large force of Twilight Beasts approaching Calais as we speak. They'll be within artillery range in the next twenty minutes and bow range in twenty five. The satellites are telling us they'll strike across the full front of the southern wall before overlapping onto the east and west." Murmurs sounded through the assembled soldiers. This was not a small force at all. "Scouts have also reported the presence of Titan-class Beasts, numbering half a dozen, while the makeup of their force is largely of Soldier-class. Now, to the walls!" The colonel stepped down from the dais and the sergeants spread throughout the crowd yelled to their platoons, deployment arrangements already cemented in every Guardian's mind.

Rhiannon followed her sergeant to the southernmost gatehouse where they ascended to watch the dark tide of Twilight Beasts flood towards the city. Out from the mass stood six massive Beasts, seething figures of darkness easily as tall as the massive walls which surrounded the city.

"Looks like we'll have a few breaches on our hands." The sergeant muttered grimly.

"One of those being here, apparently." Rhiannon agreed as one of the Titan-class Beasts headed straight towards their post.

---

Battle was properly commenced as the Twilight Beasts began to scrabble up the face of the walls, their appendages changing into pincer-like shapes capable of wedging into the weaker mortar between bricks or into tiny cracks so that they could scuttle up the vertical face like an army of spiders.

"Weapons free, fire at will!" The strange order, more apt for modern warfare, rang across the walls and the hitherto organised volleys switched into the frantic firing of weapons down the wall face. The gatehouses, being shorter than the walls, were the first to be invaded by the Beasts and so Rhiannon's platoon were soon called to the fore as the archers fell back to the walls where their expertise was best at use.

Rhiannon swung her naginata at will, her teammates well aware that they should stay clear of the weapon's fatal reach, her face feral in delight as she ripped apart the creatures that had taken her home from her. Barely was she aware of the Titan-class's approach until its presence blotted out the starred sky and even the light of the moon. Dispatching one more enemy she darted back from the mass to get a look. Turning to the sergeant she saw that he was stunned, staring up at was almost certainly inevitable death as one black arm was raised, ready to crash down onto them all.

"Fall back!" Rhiannon yelled, overriding her sergeant's authority, before dashing towards the nearest entrance to the wall. Those guarding the doorway had already vanished onto the stairwell and to safety but other Guardians blocked the path as they all rushed to get free. A glance over her shoulder showed Rhiannon that the Titan-class's arm was crashing down towards them so she leapt towards the wall, ignoring the doorway, and stabbed the blade of weapon into the mortar between two large stone slabs just as the ground beneath her gave way with the collapse of the gatehouse.

Looking down she saw the breach extended into the city itself now and already Twilight Beasts were surging forwards to exploit the gap. Ballistae and catapults were swivelled round to dispatch the Titan-class at the gatehouse before it could enter the city proper while reserve forces rushed to plug the breach leaving Rhiannon hanging onto the wall face with over a metre of empty air between her and the doorway.

"Give us a hand here, will you!" She yelled, hoping someone would hear her over the clamour of battle.

Brieana dodged and swerved around the twilight beasts,finding nooks and crannies in their armored bodies to stab her daggers through. Her archers didn't have much time before the beasts arrived to take down, and she ordered them to keep distance and fire at will as she ran into the masses. Each time she saw a human soldier fall it was all she could do to not see her brothers bodies falling instead of these new strangers. Her eyes gleamed with rage as she saw them keep piling into the city. Launching herself forward she climbed the wall, avoiding bodies falling and focusing on the Titan class beast looming in front of the wall.

As she reached the top she saw more clearly the chaos of the battle surging ahead and behind her, and cursed loudly. "Give us a hand here, will you!" Brieana faintly heard over the roars. She swiveled to find the source of the plea, then looked down the side of the wall. There she saw a red headed girl on the wall.

"Shit," Bri muttered, searching for something, anything, that would help the hanging soldier. To her luck there was a chain long enough to reach the girl just a few meters away. "Hang in there, Red!" she called out, not bothering to see if the girl heard her or not. Running over and dumping a few bodies over the edge on top of other Beasts in the process to try and slow them down a little bit, Bri grunted as she tried to detach one end from the wall. After a few harsh tugs it finally came loose and she lugged it over to above the girl again.

"Grab hold of the chain!" she yelled as she lowered it down.

"I can't be doing much else, can I?" Rhiannon yelled up to her soon-to-be savior, eyeing the secureness of her temporary position. Her naginata blade was wedged firmly in the brick mortar but there was no telling when that might give way. Luckily a chain clanged onto the wall beside. Looking up Rhiannon could see the other woman holding the end of the chain, waiting for Rhiannon to grab it.

"Hold tight!" She yelled up, grabbing the chain with her stronger hand and yanking on the naginata with her other until it came free. Then she used the chain as support and walked across the wall to the doorway a bare few metres to her right. Once safely on firm ground again she pounded her way up the staircase to the wall top which was a mess of struggling Guardians and a never ending mass of Twilight Beasts. Fighting her way through them, using the naginata both for cutting and bludgeoning off the wall, she found the woman who had saved her.

"Ta very much. I'd have been stuffed without you!" She called cheerfully as she pushed another Beast off the wall. "I'm joining whoever's left of my group down below. Survive this and I'll owe you a pint. Name's Rhiannon Jones!" Yelling the last over her shoulder, Rhiannon disappeared back into the fray, searching for whoever was left of her platoon.