300: Stratego

A Story by Abishai100

Brother Maximus and sister Maxine play Stratego into the night and have a dream about being transported into an ancient war with the evil Kahn.

I wanted to offer a special nod to the strategic war-film 300: Rise of an Empire and its home-game complement(!) for weekend entertainment, Stratego , a nice prayer really for our modern quarantine experience in America. God bless (and thanks so much for reading),

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A brother and sister were playing the war-rank strategic alignment board-game Stratego on a Friday night in the USA for so many hours that when they went to sleep, they had a strange and lucid shared dream they're both transported inside an actual ancient-world of mega-warfare involving two mighty war-ranked armies! The brother, Maximus, and his sister, Maxine, both lived happily and peacefully in Prague and Berlin but were now in the fabled lands of Ancient Germania. The war condition in Germania reminded them of their Stratego board-game, which they played quite well, so they're rather trained and fit for this war-imaginary experience!

Maxine took up the bow-and-arrow and colored it by tipping it with flames. She's to be one of the two commanders of the Prada army in Germania, tackling the evil army of the mysterious foreign warlord simply and only known as Kahn. Maxine and her brother Maximus only know that Khan is a warlord who intends to burn all settlements and villages in Germania as a stand against the virtue of the holy family and community, a anti-social strike against the heart of human humility. Maxine therefore prepares to command soldiers who'll shoot arrows tipped with fire at the walled city of the evil warlord Kahn. To Maxine, this evil stand by Kahn represents death of the human soul, so she'll feel rather valiant in this war-dream.

MAXIMUS: I know this army of Kahn is rugged and relentless, and they use tactics that I need to anticipate, for my sister.

Prior to the march of the Prada army led by brother-sister Maximus-Maxine, the two engage in a some-time discussion with their army soldiers about the value of anticipating the enemy's venoms. They discuss how Kahn might ue his terrible legions to create surrounding flanks designed to unnerve the Prada army's sense of teamwork and choreography!

KAHN: I detest all this human spiritualism towards simply family happiness and will cut down all the villages of Germania!

MAXINE: Kahn is evil as hell!

MAXIMUS: He has weaknesses like any other commander.

MAXINE: Yeah, he's just like Genghis Khan.

When the Prada army of Maximus and Maxine arrive at the city of Kahn, they're greeted by Kahns furious legion of masked minions and gargoyles. Maxine orders her soldiers to begin climbing the walls of the city while she and her frontline comrades shoot arrows tipped with fire above the wall of the city to start burning it down. Kahn's masked goons meanwhile prepare to rush at the field troops running towards them, led by Maxine's brother Maximus! These masked minions of Kahn represent the darkness of war consciousness itself.

MAXINE: We have to win this fight, lest warlords create stakes on the glory of destroying helpless families in Germania.

KAHN: I detest this valiant warrior-woman Maxine and she's been underestimated in terms of her will for greatness!

Maximus' field troops begin rushing towards the masked minions of Kahn. The final engagement involves much swordplay and evasion of thrown axes and spears. This has been a fight to the death, and so far, Maximus' special and daring brand of strike-first swordplay is rather challenging to Kahn's masked minions who aren't expecting such vehement field drama!

MAXINE: I'll just keep shooting my arrows tipped with fireballs.

Maximus delivers some rather incredible decapitation and body-strike blows with his perfect sword at the dark host of Kahn's multitude. This is to Maximus a way to celebrate the honor of defending villages and meek homes while upholding the glory of fighting for simple values in the ancient world and on the battlefield, and he fights with a great reckoning to ensure his sister's safety as well as the timeless posterity of the threatened families of Germania.

MAXINE: We've won the day; so let's return to our ships in great valor, fellow Prada soldiers (and Maximus)!

Kahn lays on the battlefield dead, decapitated by the axe of one of Maximus' soldiers who's stolen the golden-axe from one of Kahn's own evil masked minions.