After informing Isaac of the postponed expedition, Albert returned to the desolate hallway. Thunder crackled outside of the wall, making Albert flinch. However, the General quickly recovered himself and continued his march.
During this time, he thought about the E-mail Dante had sent him.
'Such a shame…'
It was a shame, really; Albert had been waiting for this expedition for a while. Not only because the destination was the Forbidden Continent but also because of the fact that it was the first expedition humanity had sent in the last two hundred years.
After the mysterious disappearance of over 200 adventurers and scientists, the EOC had deemed exploration beyond the Glades too dangerous and locked off the area.
Only once the three pillars of the Enforcers of Chaos – The Supreme Commanders – had gathered together was the restriction finally lifted.
Thus, a new team was formed and to ensure the expedition would return, the First Units of the AEOC and REOC had been selected to go as well as the mighty Supreme Commander of the REOC – Dante Deus Augustus.
However, now it seemed the tables had turned and the PEOC would go in the place of the REOC.
The General of the Great Eastern Wall sighed, scratching the back of his head.
"This is too much work… really this is too much, a regular job would have been better. Why did I want to become such a hero?"
He lamented at his own choice of serving at the Great Eastern Wall.
***
Eventually, he arrived at the cafeteria just in time for dinner.
He walked over to the serving line and picked up a plate. Then, following the line, he placed his meal on the porcelain disc with a pair of tongs.
After, he sat down at one of the tables and began digging into his meals.
Seconds later though, a few shadows landed on him. With a frown, he raised his head and looked at the soldiers standing beside him.
"What?"
The man smiled politely and asked:
"May we sit here?"
Albert shrugged.
"Sure, there's plenty of space."
The soldiers, dressed in a blue camouflage that blended in with the washed-out color of the wall, sat down.
"So, how did today's patrol go?" Albert inquired, striking up a conversation.
"Ah… just the usual. Benthos here and Benthos there." One soldier answered. "Although, I swear to Pangea I saw a deer somewhere in the sea."
The others along with Albert burst into laughter at the man's crude joke.
However, the Benthos weren't really a laughing matter at all.
It was just that these madmen had been serving in the wall for so long that they had begun to go a bit insane – like the rest.
Benthos referred to the murderous sea creatures that dwelled in the Gatekeeper's Sea.
Stratos University had described them as puppet-like creatures who had no actual intelligence of their own. Their desire came from another, unknown source that humanity couldn't trace. Their appetite consisted of soil, rock and minerals which to say the least doesn't sound all that tasty.
However, their appetite was what drove them to consume the land. That was also the reason humanity had built the Great Eastern Wall – to stop the Benthos from consuming the continent.
Albert sighed, finishing his meal.
"Well, I'll take my leave."
The soldiers watched him as he stood up.
"It was a pleasure to talk with you, General!" One of them shouted.
"My pleasure – my pleasure." Albert nodded, chuckling slightly as he turned away from the group.
Throwing his plate into a pile of other dirty plates, he tucked his hands in his pockets and left the cafeteria. He walked down the empty hallway for a few minutes. Bored, he glanced at the walls of the Great Eastern Wall and slid his gloved fingers across them.
Built with engineered quartz, that material was the only reason the Benthos hadn't chewed up the wall. The potency of the smell of the polymer resin within the engineered quartz had been amplified to trick the Benthos's senses into thinking the Wall was another material and not a mineral.
The General took his hand back and tucked it into his pocket. After sighing, he continued his march.
***
After a few more minutes, he arrived at one of the soldiers' quarters and stepped inside. The room was especially large, holding around twenty bunkbeds that were lined against the dark blue wall.
Soldiers surrounded these beds, changing into dry clothes after guarding their tower in the endless rain. As Albert passed, the soldiers glanced up and saluted him. Albert shrugged them off, heading towards his own bed at the very corner of the room.
He took off his coat and cap, hanging them beside his bed. Then, he took off his belt and loosened his pants. Turning around, he gripped a doorknob and opened one of the two doors at the very back of the room.
That door led him into the men's bathroom, which was already crowded. When he shut the door behind him, all the soldiers' gazes turned to him. Walking forward, the soldiers bent their bodies and avoided colliding with the General.
After washing his face, brushing his teeth and urinating, he stepped out of the bathroom. Throwing himself onto his bed, he stared blankly at the top bunk for a while. Seconds later, the head of a soldier poked out from the top and greeted Albert.
"Rough day, General…?"
Albert blinked and chuckled with a dark expression.
"Rough? Oh, no it was rough alright."
The soldier let out a small chuckle.
"Expected as much, Sir."
Albert sneered.
"What else do you expect in this hell? I haven't seen the news in months."
The soldier just nodded, a somber smile on his youthful face.
"Neither have I, Sir… I haven't even been able to talk to my family."
Albert didn't respond. The awkward silence between them grew as neither uttered another word. Then, the man flipped over and said:
"Good night, General."
Albert exhaled heavily and responded.
"Good night."
The next second, the room was drowned in darkness.