A large showing of Naga military stood atop a large hill, offering them a high vantage of the lands before them. Those lands being Na Miqo, as the small platoon was stationed near the border to Vas Naga. This force was showy, perhaps beyond what was needed, but that was partly on purpose. They had to have a large show of force here because of what was currently happening.

Across the field, and over some foothills, the distant sounds of battle could be heard, as the elves began their march from the already conquered Pal Miqo. Though the force there couldn't see any of the conflict, the sounds could be heard echoing across the hills. The sound of magical artillery, and magical armors marching across the lands and firing their weapons, along with the subsequent sounds of destruction.

It was tense among the Naga. They were there only to hold their own border, and keep any Miqo or Elf from trying to cross it, and they had the ability to do that.

Thanks to recent innovations from the magical armor procured by Rosewood and Aldyn, this Naga force was the first to have their own magical armor, which currently stood proudly at the front of the formation. They definitely weren't as advanced as what the elves probably had, but for the purposes of discouraging any parties from attempting to cross into the border they fulfilled their purpose well. They were bipedal machines, with the operator forming what would be the head if it were a living thing and it was strapped with weapons where the arms would be. Sitting in one of these magical armors was Queen Tialla, who was anxiously scanning the skyline toward Na Miqo and seemingly ignoring the sounds of the battle taking place.

"It should be soon, right?" she asked General Aldyn who was standing next to her magical armor.

"Should be," Aldyn said scanning the same part of the horizon.

"You don't think they ..." Tialla let the thought lie.

"They shouldn't have run into any trouble, from the elves at least. Remember we have diplomatic immunity," Aldyn reminded.

"Should is the operative word there," Tialla said. "The way things are you never know," Aldyn huffed and suddenly he found himself nervous.

"They have been a while," Aldyn said voicing his concern. "Anything?" Aldyn shouted an order to a solider looking in the same direction with a spy glass.

"I don't see anything sir," the soldier answered nervously.

"Perhaps you should return now my queen," Aldyn spoke to Tialla. "This is a bit of a dangerous place for you to be you know," the sound of an explosion in the distance punctuated that thought. Tialla looked back to Aldyn and contemplated the request. He wasn't wrong, this was technically an active warzone, even if their position should be safe due to the pacts they had made.

"A little bit longer," Tialla conceded, "Then I'll head back." Aldyn nodded accepting the agreement.

"10 o'clock sir!" a soldier shouted. On que the squad turned in that direction, the same direction Tialla and Aldyn were looking in earlier, with their weapons ready. Even Tialla was carefully aiming the weapons on her magical armor.

"Hold steady," Aldyn cautioned.

A distinct whirring could be heard over a small tree line. The sound of a magical engine running, and rapidly approaching. The group of soldiers stood nervous. They weren't sure if the sound that was approaching was friendly or not. Then, suddenly, the sound hit a crescendo and three rudimentary airships flew over the group and into Naga territory, eliciting a cheer from the soldiers and a sigh of relief from Tialla.

"Safe to say our air ship design was a success," Tialla smiled at Aldyn. "Though the initial design definitely needs some work." She glanced back at the air ships moving away from the group. The term air ship was apt as they were repurposed sailing vessels with magical engines and a heavy balloon strapped onto them, but this was enough to extract the team of Naga soldiers that were still in Pal Miqo: The initial support group that stayed behind and had recently been forced into a tense state of noncombatants as the elves started their invasion.

"It was good enough," Aldyn smiled with relief.

"I leave the rest to you," Tialla said as she started to struggled to turn the magical armor around. "Ugh. These need some work too. It's such a pain in the ass to turn around."

"I hear the folks in the lab were thinking about putting wheels in the feet," Aldyn answered.

"Not a bad idea," Tialla mused. "There finally," Tialla said in relief after getting the heavy vehicle successfully turned around. "I'll see you back home soon, don't do anything stupid while I'm not here."

"It won't be me doing anything stupid," Aldyn gestured to the sounds of the elve's invasion.

"Well, if someone else is stupid, do what you gotta do." Aldyn nodded.

"Royal guard!" Aldyn spoke in a commanding tone. "You're moving out!" A small group out of the larger group of soldiers stood at attention and gave a salute, before falling in formation around Tialla's magical armor. The group then started moving back into Vas Naga in unison.

When Tialla was gone Aldyn's expression hardened and he looked on toward the site of the battle. He motioned to be given the spyglass and a solider quickly handed it over. With this spy glass and looked out toward the conflict.

Aldyn caught sight of a massive piece of magical machinery. Something that looked to be the size of a smaller Miqo canton or Naga Pyramid. It was like a giant turtle, walking slowly on four large feet, and its back was loaded with heaps of weapons and magical artillery, all firing and presumably destroying anything in its wake. Aldyn suddenly felt small, their recent advancements in magical armor was noting compared to the giant mech currently stomping across the land, and the doubts in his mind were suddenly increased.

"Stay steady!" he commanded the soldiers. Word of the machine was being whispered throughout the group and the nerves of the common soldier were shot even more than Aldyn's were. Aldyn's order did seem to keep them at the ready for the most part, but the sense of dread couldn't be helped. If they weren't in a treaty with the elves, how would they ever be able to contend with that? How will the Biscotti deal with that? Questions that they would just have to wait to get the answers to.

AUTHORS NOTE: Here's the epilouge, and with that the ending to the official run of Prisoner Of Progress. As I've said before, I'm going to be making several bonus chapters for this one, and you can start reading those bonus chapters right now. Subscribe to me on subscribe star https://subscribestar.adult/bigred0603 or on ream at reamstories.com/bigred0603 and you can see all my other links on like tree https://linktr.ee/bigred0603 I hope you've enjoyed this story and find it in your heart to subscribe and that you stick around for more stories to come.