On a table in one corner of the room, several bottles of spirits and small glasses were waiting for the occasional customer. I pulled a chair from the side, monopolizing the table, grabbed one of the bottles, and filled a glass while refusing the help of the waiter who had approached me with a wave of my hand.

This was Cala's doing. Neither Flo nor I tolerate much alcohol, but Cala, with her constitution, had no such problems. In reality, the glass was somewhat symbolic. I needed a reason to retreat to a corner to think, and Cala liked to play with a glass or mug when doing it. Her dreamland habits, where meetings used to be held in taverns.

I wanted a moment of solitude to be able to put my thoughts in order.

Most of the others ignored me, continuing to search for more streams, looking over and over at the existing ones and trying to make sense of what they were seeing.

Matt walked over to me, smiling at my makeshift desk's small cluster of liquor bottles.

"Wow, would you share something from your hoard with me?"

He grinned happily as he took the glass I offered him and sat next to me, having dragged another chair to this table. I shrugged, looking at my hoard. Oh, well, after the 'whiskey party' in the cabin, my reputation can only improve.

He looked at me and then asked me:

"What do you think?"

I gave him a sad look and sighed:

"I say we're screwed. How best to describe what we've seen? I thought that the army would have the upper hand with their guns, drones, robots, and missiles, but it doesn't look that way."

“What do you want to say? To be honest, I'm not quite clear on what's going on!?”

I stretched out my hand with the palm up:

“Mobile...”

I didn't need to spell it out. He rolled his eyes and handed me the cell phone without comment. I placed it in my inventory box from where it won't 'hear' anything and drew an isolating field around us. It wasn't visible, but we were suddenly enveloped in silence. His eyes went wide:

“You learned some tricks!” - He said

I shrugged, not wanting to detail him about myself: “I exercised.”

We now had something else to talk about: the defeat of the army. I sighed and began to explain:

“Do you remember our small experiment with my led toys? That's what happens with those drones and all the electronic devices that are out there. Our smart bombs, rockets, and drones go through that field and become dumb.

You've realized that there was a field there baring the view towards the enclave? That's a magic field. An empowered illusion that destroys all electronics. There must be a group of mages there that work continuously on that field. Or eventually, they have set up some tools powered by mana crystals if such a thing exists here.

The other thing that I saw were those expanding bubbles. Have you seen them? Those are some kind of mana bombs. Mostly harmless, but could cause nosebleeds or other such problems to low level... humans."

I almost said spawns. I sighed and continued:

“Their main purpose appears to be to detonate explosives in addition to destroying electronics. So we're up against someone who knows how to counter our technology... Imagine what happens if bullets detonate inside those guns before being fired? Or artillery shells in their shipping cases? The military does not seem to understand who or what they are fighting against."

I shrugged - "As I said, we are fucked. Ahm, screwed.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He shook his head:

"The army will adapt! They will find solutions..."

I shook my head at my turn:

"They don't even seem to understand who they're fighting against! You know Sun Tzu's: know your enemy!?"

It sounds pretentious that I, a schoolgirl, dare criticize the military and quote Sun Tzu, but this is such an elementary thing, and it is obvious that they are not up to the task.

He watched me, wondering:

“Who is our enemy? Whom are we fighting against?”

I guess that's what those poor soldiers ask themselves there on the field. Why does he think that I would know? I sighed.

“I don't know. I have my suspicions, but I am not sure.”

As he looked at me in disbelief, I scratched my scalp, trying to think of what to say. I hesitated about what I should or should not tell him. All I had were guesses and hunches, plus the things I overheard at that late-night police meeting. Could I possibly know more than the army? And yet it seemed so. I decided to tell him the truth:

“I did spy on a police meeting some time ago.”

He raised a brow. I continued: “It was after that party when I ran away from the warlock.”

He chuckled: “Do you use to do that? Spy on police meetings?”

I snorted disapprovingly.

“Gosh. It just happened because I... I did... I don't want to talk about that now, OK? I just happened to be there when they had their preparation meeting the first day after the Bounty County incursion. What I saw there convinced me that the incursion was done by people possessing magic. I told you that many things are somehow aligned with the Mephisto game. The spells and spell effects I saw there were aligned with the game. As if some creatures had come down from the game and attacked the county. As was the case now, the video streams were cut off. The same shit. Are we fighting Mephisto and his goons? I don't know, but it looks very much like that...”

He looked at me with a strained face: “I'm not sure I get it.”

I sighed.

“Me neither, but what I see is our army being destroyed by a bunch of wizards.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Because they can? Because they want to be the ones who decide their fate? Or our fate? Or maybe they are just crazy? Maybe their magic drove them crazy? I do not know. Have we heard anything about negotiations with the terrorist? What did they talk about? What were the requests?”

As somebody was approaching us, I had to dismiss the field.

"Well, you two lovebirds, what are you doing here in the corner?" - Cara asked as she approached us - "Can I stay with you for a moment? I guess I need a glass of something strong! May I?" - she added, pointing at the bottle I had captured.

I nodded and filled one glass for her. She took the glass and sat down next to us after dragging another chair to the table.

“You know what people say?” - she asked without further introductions.

“About what?” - I wondered

She rolled her eyes.

"About that madness!" - she said, nodding to the group that was still watching the streams.

“What do they say?” - Matt asked.

She answered with a broad grin: “It is world war three!”

“World war three?”

She nodded:

“Yes. It's another superpower that has invaded us. They've invented portal technology and have invaded the county. Think about it: who else could maul the army so bad? A bunch of idiots with their gardening tools? I just read that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of wounded. The hospitals are already full. All this done by a handful of crazies? Really? Tom said that those were thermobaric bombs. Who has such? Have our local idiots done those in their garages? No, there must be some big state army at work! The Chinese or the red army or something like that! They are here, and they dare us. People say they gave us an ultimatum. That's why we haven't heard anything about the negotiations except some blabbing nonsense.” - she emptied her glass in one go - “Do you think our guys are going to nuke the county?”

“Nuke the county?”

“Yeah!” – she shrugged and put her hand over the glass, not letting me refill it – “Oh, well,” – she stood up – “Thanks for the drink!”