My name is Desmond Horton and I watch as some of my men throw up over the edge of the ships and into the water. My boys ain't suited for water, we like to stick to the hard ground, dirt, dust, mud, we like that, but water, hell no. But what can you do, I am just a tank commander and when you get direct orders from a source that is far stronger in rank than you, then you have to listen to it. But, despite the men throwing out their guts into the sea I must say something, standing on the deck of this LST and looking all around me, at all the ships that are escorting us, it feels moral boosting. Such massive beasts of pure steel and the convoy stretching on for a long line down, it is mesmerizing. Tanks are good and my girl Julia, our M4A3(76) W HVSS, or more shortly, the 76 Sherman, she is a good and sturdy girl. Never failed us, but even she can't comprehend to the sheer might of a battleship or battlecruiser, those hulking beasts that can rain down hellfire upon a location, they are something else. We have been sent here, on our countries most ambitious undertaking we have ever planned. To explore this sandy continent that we should be nearing quite soon, if their calculations and navigation is correct. The eggheads are not usually wrong but everything is to be taken into consideration. We are mainly here to collect oil from it and claim it as our as by the words of that goblin man, this continent should be mostly govern less. It will be definitely fun, with us we have our good pals Britanica ground forces, but also some Germanica along with our Americana divisions. It will definitely be interesting, maybe slow, mostly because the Brits have those heavily armored but god damn are they slow Churchills. But I get where they come from, they are meant to go with the infantry and protect them so speed is not important. 

I go down under into the hull of the ship where there is a hangar where our equipment is held and more importantly where Julia is. I see my boys are already playing cards next to her. John Dean, the gunner, a good man, accurate as hell. Assisting him in operating the gun is a young fellow Cody Stafford, at first a scaredy cat but now a full member of our crew, the driver, a cranky older man, quite short tempered, short fuse Alex Burton and next to him, in the hull, a assistant driver, Samson Cantrell, the most run of the mill, a little nerdy but quite handy. He also operates the hull machinegun and acts as an mechanic if it needs be. We have become like a family, a lot of missions we have done, killing off the monsters that would appear near our homes.

Desmond: Hello there assholes. 

Alex: Hello Desmond, wanna play a game?

Desmond: Nah, you knock yourself out, I'll just watch. So, how is she?

Samson: Julia? She is doing well, all good. Whilst I am in charge of her she won't even rust, let alone break down. 

Cody: Any news on how close we are? When we will be arriving? It is so damn boring being stuck on this damn ship all day for days.

Desmond: They said a couple days by their estimations and I feel you Cody. Honestly, I admire those sailors, I don't know how they don't get bored spending months out on the sea. 

Alex: I get bored being at the same place for a week, let along a month, it is a miracle I haven't tried to start a fight with any of the other crews. 

Desmond: That is the last thing we need. But I do want us to arrive there as soon as possible, I wanna touch solid ground again. Thank you nature for not giving me sea sickness.

John: Well said. I feel sorry for those poor bastard, I don't know if there is anything worse than sea sickness. I had it once and only once. The first half is you thinking you will die, the other half is you wishing that you are dead. 

Cody: Thankfully, I would often go fishing with my dad so I got used to it. But for those who haven't, it is the purest form of suffering. 

Alex: So, Desmond. Considering you are the only bastard who doesn't have a missus waiting for you at home, are you thinking of finding one out there. 

Desmond: Hell no! I just haven't found the right one, that is why I am still single.

John: Riiight. Totally. It sure isn't the fact that you can't speak with a woman without A, being drunk or B, when you are sober you are the most ungentlemanly thing out there. 

Desmond: Oh you'll do seventy pushups for that. I just don't want one now.

Samson: For fucks sake, you are in your late 30s, you will become a old man soon, your time is running short.

Desmond: Shit, already. Damn, time flies by.

Alex: It damn does, I remember when my boy was just a toddler like it was yesterday and here is he now, soon to finish school. 

Cody: What are yours guys thoughts on the Sirens and all of that stuff?

Desmond: Them becoming part of our society and even some guys having babies with them?

Cody: Yea. I mean, do you think we will have more of that kind of stuff?

Samson: Almost certainly, I mean, imagine elves and such, there is a high chance men and women will change after them like dogs in heat. 

Alex: I am a little excited what the future holds for us. I know I am a grumpy old man but I do have hopes for a bright future and if it means through wars then let it be.

Samson: I do wonder how the magic compares to our stuff? 

Cody: Probably inferior, I mean, we are beginning to develop Nuclear Bombs which sounds so menacing. 

Desmond: I have read about those, the ability to level a entire city with a single drop is as scary as is exciting. 

But before we could continue there is commotion, men going up to the deck, a lot of them. We seems to have come across something and I hope it is land. The crew and me soon follow the rest up and are greeted by a strange sight. 

Alex: Now, I ain't a scientist but I know what a desert it and a desert doesn't have forests in it. 

John: The only sign of a desert is the sandy beach. Did we miss the coordinates? 

Desmond: Oi! Navigation boy, aren't we supposed to come across a desert, not a damn forest. Did we head down a wrong line?

Sailor: I don't think so. We continued to move in one direction, there hadn't been any deviations or anything. Let me check on with the others. 

He heads into the bridge and contacts the other ships, trying to confirm that we haven't gone down the wrong direction. If we did, I would personally commit murder on this damn ship. Soon though he comes back out, confused as ever.

Sailor: We haven't missed anything. We went down the correct path. We aren't the only ones that are confused, trust me.

Alex: What the hell do you think this is then?

Sailor: Either we were given the wrong description of this continent or from his last visit it had changed.

Alex: But a desert just doesn't disappear and a forest grows out of it. If it did change, something changed it, it didn't change by itself. 

Sailor: I don't know, but I did get a green light to land regardless. But if something does crop up I'll inform you.

The sailor heads inside once again and we all head downstairs, confused as hell. Each crew goes to their respected tank and post and shortly after we feel a jolt. We hit solid ground and only to confirm it, the massive doors slowly but surely open up and a ramp lowers down onto the beach. One by one, soldier by soldier step out, soon followed by the tanks. The entire beach is littered by LST's, each getting emptied out as everyone exits and steps out onto the beach. Soon the cargo ships send over everything we need in many waves, giving us enough time to look at what lays ahead of us. I climb up this large sand dune to get a better look out and all I see is a dense forest as far as the eye can see in the short distance. There is a small patch of desert between it and us, but it is at most, an hour of travel. Something doesn't seem right, something happened. Like Alex said, a forest of that magnitude doesn't grow quickly by itself, something must have helped it out. Maybe it is that magic, or some other force of power. It is magical though, large hills and in the way, way distance back there, mountains can be seen. This might be more interesting than I initially thought, who knows what mysteries and dangers those forests hold. But for now, we will have to wait for further instructions from our superiors. I might have been given a high rank in this mission but that is for my platoon that I will be assigned. There are a couple of us, each will be in charge of 5 to 10 tanks along with plenty of trucks and such for supply and fuel, I hope I get less. I make my way down and back to the group, we exchange words. Question what is ahead of us, what could be going on. Soon though, one of our higher ups steps in front of everyone, yelling out to get our attention. It is a older man, maybe same as Alex, a Brit, judging by his uniform and the way he speaks. He introduces himself as Eric MacKenzie.

Eric: Right, listen up people. We haven't gone of course or anything, what you see in front of yourself is the place we are supposed to be at. With that settled, our goal doesn't change. We are to split up and head out in different directions. 

There is a lot of murmuring and chatting. I can see on both sides of our gathering, down and up the beach there is more gathering just like ours, it seems they are having the same discussions. 

Eric: With that, your commanders have been informed beforehand on their tasks and that they will be taking a couple tanks under their hand and lead you. You are to listen to them and work together as we do not have a clue what lies ahead of us. Support each other and make sure no one gets hurt. Now, I will ask them to step up so I can give them a list of the tanks they will be taking under their wing.

A couple of us step forward, myself included, each being handed a list. Thankfully, mine only consists of 6 tanks, however they might be a pain in the ass to travel with. I will be taking a Matilda II, a Churchill, two Panzer IVs, one with a short barreled 75 and the other with the long 75 and, one Cromwell V which is a nice addition and a Tetrarch which will be a good scout. Certainly could have been worse, a little slow but that is ok. We were given colored patches so that we could differentiate the groups and once we had grouped up our group, got to know each other and then prepared to set of, we are followed up by a bunch of trucks carrying as much supplies they could carry. All the groups head out, we have been tasked with going into the now changed objective from deep into the desert, to deep into the forest. However, were told to take more precaution, as it won't be an open space but an enclosed land so visibility will be limited, however, were given orders and a clear to call in air support at any moment we find necessary. With that, we head on out, towards the forest. God knows what awaits us.