I sat up on a metal table covered by a white sheet. It really didn't do much to prevent the discomfort of laying on a hard machine. They should put in some kind of motion picture to keep our brain occupied for thirty minutes.

"Like we guess, you aren't human in the sense that your biological genes to your organs and their function are completely different." Dr. Hildred said with a straight face. "In place of your kidneys, you have this one organ that we currently can't tell the function of. No liver, appendix, reproduction system, gallbladder, small and large intestines.. you just built differently and I would love to take some samples to gain a better understanding but we can't even penetrate your skin with our current tech."

I felt like she thought it was a pity she could not dissect me more than the fact I just came in to see whether or not I was fertile.

"What is the bad news then doc?" I rolled on my ass cheeks to keep them sane.

"The good news is that I believe your 'mana' flows through the organs you do have. Which keeps you functioning on that superhuman level. That being said, your sperm might not be sperm but a blob of mana with coded sequence that carry your will to procreate. The bad news is that Izzy is human and her body doesn't have a functioning decoder." Dr. Hildred winces at the last bit.

I shrugged and threw on my bishop robes that made me look like a badass priest. "Okay, have you done this to the pack or any other females? In short, find me a female that can decode my sperm."

Dr. Hildred clasped her hands together. "This is really bad news. We have a huge database of nearly everybody in both compounds. Your best shot is actually Vrodarians."

The what??

"That is what they or worse yet, Her Majesty Vrodar is calling her Kingdom and her people." Dr. Hildred flexed her fingers over her knee. "Anyway, they might have the decoder you are looking for. As for the group of shifters, we haven't had a chance to do a check up."

I sighed. I bet her majesty would have someone that meets my needs. What a well made trap!

Leaving the hospital did not leave me feeling better but whenever do they make you feel the trip was worth it?

My next trip was to the R&D labs. Hopefully they had some positive and uplifting news to share.

Couple steps down the white path passed the perfectly cut bushes and artificial rivers, my phone rang. The caller was Demi and for some reason, I knew it was the bad news I was expecting.

Instead of answering, I flew there with the urgency of a ballistic missile. My feet cracked the concrete but I ignored it as I pushed through the double layered glass doors. It took me less than ten seconds to fly up the emergency stairwell and rush out on the sixth floor.

Demi's mouth hung open, her eyes still staring at an image, With the phone dangling off the tip of her fingers. She turned to me the moment I closed the door with a louder bang than I wanted.

"The satellite picked up exactly what you expected to see." Her words sounded like an accusation.

I moved her aside and stared at the three monitors. Many incoming black things were stretched out on the screen. They were the stars, black stars that replaced the shiny stars.

My ass planted in the chair and I tapped the arm of the chair. My body slightly leaned over the arm, my brain was calculating the odds of finding useful Information from the government.

"Can you estimate the arrival time as well as the ship's specs?" I questioned the A.I.

"The estimated time of arrival is in three days, six hours, and forty-three minutes. They are currently too far to get a proper estimate based on the trajectories but I have created a map of current landing zones." The A.I change the left screen to display a map of the state.

Demi looked like she wanted to pace and questioned me but I had only speculated based on the government's current response to the walker situation. The major three cities in our state alone have enough firepower to wipe out the offending party.

Electromagnetic cannons are sci-fi dreams but they have become reality. Ignoring the impressive barriers that have flickered in and out of existence or the fact that the only losses seem to be rogue military generals.

Let's not ignore the fact that power is still running, cell phone towers, and water treatment centers. It would be a lie to say that the walkers have considered those. Forgotten is a prime example of an ordinary man given power but not the insight to use it.

Even then, her majesty might very well be an outlier but even her base is less sophisticated than mine. Given the fact she built a castle and managed to achieve some level of societal returns. The satellite image put her far behind the local government in terms of technological advances.

The only answer is that the gov had forewarning or that they already saw something that gave them a fright.

Then again, my state has a top of the line Physics department in the state college. Where have all those fuckers gone? Why have the few I managed to stumble upon seem well okay? What about all the other big groups of scientists? The ones that were working on major projects? No word from them even though there are several privately run communities that are literally better than the public government controlled cities?

I tapped my chin and couldn't help but feel like… the politicians have once again made a smart move that was very well hidden. They did not do mass recruiting beforehand. Which meant no reporter was overly curious.

"How did you know?" Demi finally asked. "I mean, what made you figure this out? There was literally no sign of anything and plenty of news reports blaming black ops labs."

I rolled my eyes. "The President has not made a statement since the day this went down. The ignorant would believe that he likely failed but why hasn't any other government officials at that level responded?"

I snapped a few pictures and sent them to her majesty. Right now, the opposition was unknown but had obvious superior tech. To survive, I will need superior firepower. The strongest person I ever felt was Her majesty. It was not something that could be placed on the scale of within the human domain of possibility.

"But that can't be the whole thing, right? You had me purposely taking over satellites and scouring the government open servers looking for something. There had to be something solid that tipped you off.. oh, the mutation." Demi started pacing.

I had to admire her rear asset in that skirt. Clothes really brought out her appeal, who knew?

The map.. led me to believe that a mothership of unbelievable portions was stationed somewhere in space. Why? The landing locations were not within populated areas. They were all areas abandoned and easy to amass numbers, create a supply point or even build a defensive zone for more possible support.

Fuck, I'm hungry.

"Well, good job finding this. Now how about working on that application for the mining equipment?" I stood up and checked my watch.

Demi just stared at me and I left her to figure out the shock on her own. Maybe after a decent meal, I can go see what the R&D came up with before I go visit Her Majesty.

*****

I pulled up just as Izzy did but the smell coming from her car had me on edge. It wasn't that someone could take me but that they smelled like they had been fighting death for weeks on end. They had that type of walker hatred that really churn your stomach.

I sat in the car waiting for them to get out first. If they were foolish enough to hold Izzy hostage then maybe I would freak out. Yet, she got out smiling and laughing like nothing ever could go wrong. Along with her two friends who were basically looking like the retard team.

The third person who got out had a really bad scar on her jaw. She was like a muscular man but looked a little decent with a smile on her lips. However, I was dog shit amazed by the fact that Cassandra was still alive.

When I stepped out of the car, both women froze. They reached for what might have been weapons if they still had them but what they grasped was air.

Izzy smirked at me and wrapped her arms around my tiny waist. Totally unaware of the fact she brought fools to our home.

"I thought you were going to leave today?" Izzy said.

Ignoring the glare from the two T1's, I pecked Izzy's forehead. "I got hungry plus I found out some gruesome news."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, aliens are on the way to enslave us." I chuckled but Izzy, who knew I was serious, looked like questionly at me.

"Is it that serious? Can we defend ourselves? I remember you saying how fat the government looks behind their barriers but what about us?" Izzy did a silly bounce while trying to walk me back to the door.

"Not enough information to understand the threat but if we speculate… which is all we can do then the aliens sent down something that deposited the virus which mutated us as some kind of preparation. Could be that they are those types of hunters who look forward to stronger prey. Or that they need the type of air and the virus as we know it, is just a different atmosphere." I reached behind me and opened the door.

"So-o.. they are either here to enslave us or kill us for sport but can we defend ourselves?"

I just nodded while we duck walked backwards. My hips bump the back of a chair, I picked Izzy up, and carried her to the kitchen where the smell of food was loud.

"By the way, I didn't know you knew Cassandra?"

Izzy eyes flickered with confusion. "I don't but apparently, they came in with some refugees. Anna's cousin is the one with the scar. I invited back for food, since I was also hungry and it was polite."

Oh, we are in a situation where we can be polite now?

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I sat Izzy into a chair and drooled over the fat burgers Mary was cooking.

Mary glanced at us. "I'm almost done with the tofu patties."

"I didn't expect you to be doing so well after we split." Cassandra took a seat with her arm resting on the counter.

The big scarred girl stood behind her like a loyal guard.

"I'm sure you thought I would probably die to the titan when your crew locked the door right? I'm kind of amused that you would walk into my city with the goal of scouting us out." I snuck a French fry off a big bowl full of them.

"We didn't come to scout you out. We heard about the possible war between the factions and our community decided to come join yours." Cassandra reached for a fry but Mary smacked her hand. "He.."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Am I supposed to tell him what he can and can't do in his own house?"

Cassandra frowned but didn't refute Mary.

Mary turned to me. "Wash your paws!"

I blinked and scratched my head. "My paws are clean. I only touched Izzy."

"Who has been playing with hair and all kinds of chemicals." Izzy betrayed me in an instant.

Pouting, I walked over to the sink and washed my hands. "How's the shop?"

Izzy shrugged and bumped me aside as she washed her hands. "Fine. A lot of people apparently have the money to get their hair done but most of them come after noon. I get a few walks in like those two but the conversation is always good."

Anna snorted. "These four old women sat by the door to talk about the old days and get free drinks. They always have something to compare things to or they are just really good at making shit up."

"Like the barber shop?" I fixed up a juicy fat burger with the crispy lettuce in the bowl.

"The movie? Something like that but most of the time it's between offensive and downright stupid." Anna took over the sink.

Izzy took a huge bite out of my sandwich and my eyes widened in horror. There were only eight tofu burgers made! She even had the nerve to licked the homemade sauce off the corners of her lips and look like she was ready for a third bite.

I picked up my plate and raised it above her head.

"Wow.. what a lousy husband. Can't even fix his wife's plate first." Izzy eyed my plate while making her own.

"I thought you were on a diet?" I took a shot at her gut.

"Who said I was on a diet? If you want to call me fat, be a man and say it outright." Her eyes had that fire that dared me to say it.

I turned away and nibbled on my sandwich.

Cassandra's eyes looked between us as she washed her hands. "What happened to Riley?"

Mary wiped her brow. "She's over at the gym."

Cassandra's eyes widened. "You guys broke up?"

I didn't bother to answer her as the food was more important with Izzy trying to take my fries.

"You missed a lot when you decided to betray us. Doesn't look like you had a good time about it though. Guess God does have a way of punishing evil." Mary sipped on lemonade while acting as the good Christian.

"We didn't betray anybody. I had no idea one of my girls locked the door. I was at the front of the group, trying to get weapons to defend us." Cassandra snapped.

Mary shrugged. "You say that but facts are facts."

"He didn't seem to be locked out when he led the retreat." The scarred lady added in.

Mary flipped another patty. "You expected him to die when you were running too? Now I know why you have that scar."

The big one took a step forward but Cassandra grabbed her arm while giving me the cautious but angry look.

"If you don't want us here. We can leave."

Izzy elbowed me and I sighed.

"Okay, stop with the nonsense. Let's eat because unlike you guys. I loved good cooking." I emphasize my point by taking a bite of my third sandwich.

I mean, it was all I had left with Izzy stealing my fries.

I sat down on the couch, a little stuff and more than happy. Izzy left which meant silence but that left Mary and the beat up Riley that showed up later.

Riley dropped beside me with her plate. She looked like she had something to say. A lot of stuff but didn't know how to say it.

Me, I was just going to ignore and watch this very compelling movie. Which reminded me to see about creating some kind of movie camera or something. Let the amateur actors come out to give me new content.

The moment she opened her mouth, I leaned forward and picked up my phone. Bringing it to my ear while walking off. Did I want to have a dramatic moment? The answer was no. There was no way I was going to give her another chance. I don't care if she grew up but I was content.. no, I was better than content with my relationship. There was very little jealousy, very little family drama even though her mom often looked at me weird when she was over.

I went upstairs and took off my robe. Had the thought to take a nap because there was nothing more I could do to prepare for the end of the world. My army had better teachers than myself. We had an ammunition factory, imports of metal and our own mines. Plenty of fresh meat coming from the wilds.. food not a problem.

My knee depressed the bed when I realized I was hovering over a woman that could kill me with the slightest breath. She had an amused grin but the beads of sweat that appeared on my forehead was anything but happy.

"I got your message and went to confirm the situation." Her majesty sat up in bed after scaring the shit out of me. "It doesn't look like you are that worried but you should be. They have three motherships and all of them have someone of my level on them. Sadly, I was a model with a little taekwondo training. I was forced to flee and my backup had his arm torn from the socket."

Two people only? They had a one vs one fight? The aliens are that confident.

"Are you going to say something useful?" She patted my face.

I shrugged. "How many are at my level?"

Her majesty gave me an odd look. "There were a bunch. I didn't count because I was occupied with not dying."

They have better skills which aren't surprising. Guess, I should force my people to work on the application part of their abilities. Sustainability in war is different from short fights we have been in. I doubt guns are going to be enough.

Her majesty knocked on my forehead. "Speak out loud. What plans do you think we need to beat these guys?"

"Well, they won't necessarily attack us right away. So we have time to gather up and fortify one position. As for how to fight them, I would have to see when they land."

Her majesty vanished and I grabbed the remote. Nap time.

****

I woke up hungry. Kind of weird as I ate before I slept but I still got up. Amanda and Sophie were standing around with spaghetti. My eyes kept switching between both of them trying to figure out which one was releasing hormones.

"What's the plan for the invasion?" Sophie spun her fork in the red noodles.

I ignored the question with the sole focus on stabbing a fork into her plate and stealing her food.

Sophie's expression looked as if she wanted to stab me. Instead she turned her plate away from me.

I slurped up the noodles. "We have a plan? Why don't I know?" I looked into the pot on the stove to determine how big of a bowl I needed.

Amanda stepped away from me while guarding her plate. "So no plan?"

The big bowl in my hand looked happy to take all the noodles and the sauce. I even broke some of the tofu patties into it.

"No plan."

"Then we should at least start recruiting more awakeners." Sophie said.

"And stop accepting all these useless people into the compound. The available job market is shrinking and that is with us opening up more options." Amanda stared at me with a mixture of awe and disgust.

It was hard slurping up noodles when you had to pinch the fork. Paws weren't made to be dexterous.

"Okay, turn them away." I continue working on clearing the bowl.

"Are you at all worried?" Sophie pestered.

"I'm eating and trying to figure out which one of you is horny."

"Just like a man." Amanda said.

I shrugged. "If you are complaining, then we can do combat training."

Sophie's eyes widened. "I'm not complaining. I was just considering whether we need to break off from exporting and importing."

"We have three days. Try to get as much as you can then stop. We can rearrange things as needed after they land." I paused to talk then resumed my progress.

"The Rune Society has developed a method to turn T1's into Rune Mages as they call themselves." Sophie began washing her plate. "I talked with them to discuss seeing their notes on the transformation and the conditions were a little overboard."

I paused and put down the bowl. It took me a second to summon my phone and call up the leader of this Rune Society.

"My lord? What can I do for you?" The guy sounded a little smooth.

"Just learned about your success. Give me a price."

"I want at least ten acres, ten percent discount on materials, and lower tax for five months on goods we choose to sell."

"Done. Also, send me the coliseum runes, I asked for last time. Plus I will need one of your guys to coordinate with the Architects on my house. Let me know if you guys need a sample of the material." I started laying out the order and finding a spot that wasn't in the way of my future development.

"Done." The man hung up right after.

Sophie crossed her arms. "Do you need me to handle the land agreement?"

I shook my head. "No, I already had the foresight to plan for this when I set up the walls and watchtowers. What I do need from you.." I raked my eyes over her body.

Sophie snorted. "I'm on my period."

So it was Amanda who was trying to ignore my obvious stare.

"I just sent a copy of the RuneMaster to you. Read it and give me an opinion." I ordered it while reading it myself.

There were silences from all three of us until the front door opened and chatter from the other resident livened the place up. Anna gave me that look that said she was interested in what I had but I didn't really need what she had.

"Is this like a dress code for your harem?" Chloe pointed at the Tshirt and panties that both Amanda and Sophie wore.

Amanda began washing her plate. "No, it is just comfortable when you are around a walking heater. Plus when we come home, it's to eat and sleep."

Chloe and Anna looked skeptical.

Amanda shrugged. "If you don't believe me then that's on you." She went back to reading her phone.

"What are you guys doing?" Izzy asked. She grabbed a cold ale glass out the fridge and fixed a glass of ale from the spigot thing.

"Studying." Amanda replied because me and Sophie were enthralled by Devan genius.

I didn't ignore the science of meditation. By science, I mean the fact that fiction loves the idea of meditation, potions, and old fashioned practices to increase reserves. However, from our current research, our abilities were mental and came from some interposed area in our cranium. In short, mental powers that exist in another dimension within our brains.

"I understand where this is coming from and I'm surprised that he was able to use your application of condensation to condense a core that spread out meridians superimposed on nerves. That sounds painful and time consuming." Sophie shifted from one foot to the other while looking for a different opinion.

"For a mortal, this is really dangerous. Before my powers were safely guided through a medium that manifested as an orb and lines. Now, my body generates that very mana." I said.

"Mine is similar. So it is puzzling how he was able to condense it. This doesn't say but what if you condense it for us? I think that maybe that is how he achieved it as the original runemaster, he condensed runes which formed a core. But you should be able to do the same with your power as it is you." Sophie added.

My eyes brightened and I put out a message for a test subject.

Izzy raised her hand as her and her friends sat around listening to pioneers. "Want his power to conflict with yours? I mean, he is a cat with scales. His main focus is light and fire. While you are sex bot.. that is like comparing the sun to mosquito."

Sophie's lips twitched. "Thank you for the insulting comments but the ideal is to create more people with a specific power type. Not to make my particular powerset stronger."

Amanda raised her hand. "How about we start with me while.."

There was a heavy knock at the door and Amanda's face fell. Sophie rushed off to get them.

I tilted my head and placed a paw on Amanda's head. My mana tendrils sunk through her pores.

She was a T1 that had no definite power. Just an enhanced human but if I copied the Rune Master.. then I should be able to build a core within them.

According to his guide, he began from a mental landscape which existed on another plane within the human landscape. In other words, her body was the physical landscape.

What the guide didn't say was how he entered the mental landscape or Spirit realm.

While I was pondering the most important aspect, I let the tendrils trace her nerves. With my other hand, I summon light in its pure form and practice the rune ideology that the Rune Master discovered.

"Do you think it is feasible?" Sophie's voice interrupted me.

"Yes and no. I don't know how to enter her mental landscape. I don't think I even have one myself." I removed my paw from Amanda's head. "The meridians will be easy as well as the core creation. It's just that she will be using runes to cast things like the Rune Master instead of my integrated way."

Nick raised his hand. "Maybe we should ask a walker for their opinion of a similar physical body to you."

I waved my hand in dismissal. "I'm not that close to them physically. Dragon-lion.. They are just dead transformed humans. Their bodies still have the same organs as yourself, just a few extra for mana distribution and generation."

Izzy raised her hand. "Can't you see souls though? That is a different plane or landscape as you are calling it."

I blinked and so did a few others. Fucking izzy with the save. I grabbed Amanda's head with both paws and directly connected with her soul. From there, I blended her soul emissions with runes made from light. From there, I followed the traces of my mana aura in her body to create meridians more based on light energy than her soul emissions. I had to reinforce them several times.

When I tried to back away, it was like her soul didn't acknowledge the system. It slowly dissipated if I didn't add layers to it which was tedious overall.

"Try moving the mana if you can feel it?" I ordered while maintaining the maintenance.

I felt Amanda's core twitching under her very gruesome mental commands. Which rounded up another issue, the core was empty. It was not generating energy..

"I feel the core but it's like... it's not mine." Amanda sounded frustrated.

Tilting my head, I grabbed a tendril of her soul and weaved it into the core wall. As I integrated her soul, I lost control of the core. Which was hopefully a good sign?

"Fuck! Are you trying to kill me?!" Amanda shook under my paws.

I'm sure if I hadn't lifted her scrawny ass off the ground. She would be trying to run away.

The good news is that the core didn't dissipate into mist nor the meridians. They sort of took on a solidified Gold color.

When I finished because the core wasn't taking anymore of her soul energy. Her core was actually generating this golden mist. Just a very small amount that took a bit to become noticeable.

I backed away from her soul and noticed that she was shaking. Her eyes were pulsing with red veins, face flushed, nostrils flaring, and she was hella sweaty.

Grinning, I passed her off to Sophie who coddled her.

"I think that was a success. Who the fuck is next?" I rubbed my pals together.

All seven burly men looked at each other before Nick spoke up for the T1's.

"Shouldn't we wait to confirm if it works and to what extent?" Nick's eyes never left the shivering Amanda.

I scratched my head. "We should strike while the iron is hot. I might forget the feeling of success after a bit of wait which means more fooling around. Which means more pain."

Two smart guys rushed forward. Laughing, I grabbed one and dove right in. It was interesting playing mad scientist but it began to get taxing mentally after the fourth guy. Which meant my limit was five people.

The good news is that my first guy man up and tested his new ability after fifteen minutes of crying. He was not able to condense a weapon but could bring the light to his flesh. When he punched my paw without the light and with the light enhancement, the difference was startling.

It was also healing his old injuries which is probably why he wasn't having much difference. But success!