October 22, 2022
I awoke to the smell of smoke and the sound of explosions off in the distance. Quickly pulling myself out of my olive sleeping bag, I open a flap to my tent and peek my head outside. I'm greeted with the sight of strange objects flying through the air and laying siege to my hometown, New Alexandria from my campsite located on a cliff edge overlooking the city. The objects were roughly shaped like a fighter jet but were clearly not made by any country I knew of. I saw them fighting fighter jets as general pandemonium occurred above the city with a flat grey overcast sky as the backdrop. I step out of my tent and see two other people stepping out of the other tent near me, A slim half-japanese woman and a tall man step out of the tent, looking similarly confused and like they got next to no sleep.
“Ugh, Eric what the fuck is going on?” The man says to me, squinting out at the town.
“I have no clue Mark. But my gut is telling me that we need to not be here so shake off that hangover you and Alice obviously have and help me take down this campsite.” I reply, starting to take down my tent. Mark and Alice quickly do the same, and we pack up our little campsite. As we finish up, I hear an explosion closer to us. I look up, and I see one of the odd objects hurtling towards us. “GUYS, MOVE!” I shout, grabbing the bag i packed my stuff into, and running into the forest near the cliffside. Mark and Alice notice, and quickly do the same. The object collides with the cliffside and skids across it, crashing into the forest, and finally coming to a halt in front of me as i am assaulted by the deafening cacophony from trees falling in the wake of the object. I carefully approach the object as quietly as i can, gingerly stepping on the debris thrown everywhere. I see what looks like the cockpit blow open and I see a person climb out of the object.
“Gah, this is why I told Zigrus I’m not cut out to pilot a interceptor. Getting shot down by these backward Terrans, you have got to be fucking kidding me.” He said, climbing out of the object. He looked to be roughly 6 feet tall, had moderately long blonde hair, and shockingly real looking pointed ears. I immediately hide when i hear a cracking noise from the other side of the object. I see the person aim his arm in the direction and fire a blast of yellow light in the direction of the noise. “Who’s there?” He asks, pulling what vaguely looked like a weapon from the wreckage of his ship. I stay motionless, barely even breathing. After a long period of silence, the person relaxes.
“Okay Medlith, calm yourself down man, the first rule of being on a hostile planet is to not panic. It was probably nothing. I guess I should go check in and see what they want me to do.” He says to himself, pulling a box out of the wreckage, kneels down to fiddle with it and walks towards the cliff. After he has gone a safe distance, I carefully walk to the other side of the wreckage to see that the person calling himself Medlith left his rifle lying on the ground. I carefully pick it up and find Mark and Alice.
“What the fuck was that?” Alice asks, looking rather shocked at the turn of events. “Did we just get invaded by aliens?”
“I doubt it. There is no way that there would be another species that looks almost identical to us out there. It’s probably just a hostile country or something.” Mark replies, putting his arm around Alice. “Eric, what do we do now? Its pretty obvious we can’t go home due to the shitstorm over in town, and we need to move before we get caught.”
“I say we go hole up at my Uncle’s cabin. Its roughly a day’s walk but I know these woods well enough to get us there.” Mark gives me a look of disapproval.
“And what happens if we run into another one of them? I don’t think a bunch of 15 year old kids like us can handle that.”
“Well, I got my hands on this.” I say showing the rifle I stole from Medlith’s crash site. As I look at it closer, it's a smooth, flat white rifle with a short barrel, a folding stock, and curiously, no obvious space for a magazine to be inserted,
“Do you even know how to use that thing? Or for that matter how to fire a gun?”
“Well, it has a muzzle, trigger, and sights. I can make do.” As I say this, I see Alice pull something out of her bag. It’s a sword with a small hand guard, and a thin, pointy blade.
“Worst comes to worst, I have this.” She says, brandishing her blade like an expert.
“Alice, Just because you are a world-class fencer doesn't mean that you can take on these guys. Both of you, these are actual soldiers we are talking about here, we don’t stand a chance.” I grit my teeth in frustration
“Well I don't see you making any suggestions, Mark.” I say, trying to avoid yelling.
“Well, I... Ah, fuck it. Let's go.” He says, finally deciding to go along with the plan. As we come to an agreement, I hear a shout of frustration from the direction of the crash site.
“WHERE THE FUCK IS MY RIFLE? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?” I hear Medlith scream as a blast of energy erupts from the direction of the crash site, throwing me along with Mark and Alice flying backwards and into trees.
“We should probably move.” I say, starting off in the direction of my Uncle’s.
After wandering through the forest for what felt like hours, I hear something out of the ordinary. I motion to Mark and Alice and they hide themselves. I find a good spot to hide, and carefully pull the rifle out of my bag. Gripping the rifle tightly, I see a group of 5 people moving in the distance towards us. I look closer and see that they were wearing what looked like combat armor. Holding my breath and being as quiet as possible, I drop my backpack and move closer to them, my rifle raised and ready to go. The five in front of us were wearing a uniform I have never seen before, and were armed to the teeth. All five were carrying the same rifle as I was, and the man in front looked to be the leader. The leader raises his hand and brings the group to a halt.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Okay men, fan out. Medlith was downed in this area, and there is a high probability that there are some terrans here taking shelter.” He says, giving orders.
“And if we find any Terrans, Captain Valesh?” One of the subordinates asks.
“Kill them.” The leader replies. The five spread out, and I break out in a cold sweat. As I grip my rifle, I notice that one of them is rather close to me. I watch the enemy walk by the tree I was hiding behind, when he notices my bag that i left on the ground. Before I even think twice about it, I line my sights up on him and pull the trigger. A deafening boom rocks the forest, as the round fired by my rifle rips through my target, throwing him against a tree and spraying blood everywhere. I fire again, making sure that he is dead. In response to my gunshots, I hear the rustling of more moving in my direction. I relocate to a nearby bush, and see the other three regular soldiers move towards their dead comrade. I take aim, exhale, and fire again, and again, and again, and again. Before I realize it, my rifle was empty and there were three more dead enemies in front of me.
“Huh, just like seven years ago.” I mutter to myself before trading my empty rifle for one of the four lying on the ground. I hear footsteps from behind me. I wheel around, raising my rifle to meet the other target. In front of me was the leader, who had a look of irritation on his face.
“A child?” He asks, looking completely dumbfounded. “My men were killed by a mere child?” I fire the rifle, and he disappears. I feel a terrible impact on my back, and I fall forward. Catching myself on the ground, I right myself and see the barrel of a massive rifle pointed at my face.
“Nothing personal, kid. You killed my men and embarrassed me. It's only fair I do the same.” He says, offhandedly. Out of the corner of my eye, i see a burst of yellow light. I roll to the side, dodging the bullet from the leader’s rifle, and kick upwards, knocking him off balance. I see a flash of yellow light streak towards me and stop between me and the leader. Where the light stopped, Alice appeared, her overcoat discarded to reveal a vest and long pants that fit her thin frame.
“Sorry, I’m your opponent.” She says, her arms lighting up with a brilliant yellow glow. The Leader gave her a look of disbelief.
“A mage? Impossible. What is your name little girl?” He replies, putting his rifle down and drawing what looked to be a handle from inside his combat armor.
“Alice Usagi, and it is extremely rude to ask somebody’s name around here without giving your own first.” She replies, a edge to her voice that stood out from her usually timid personality.
“The name’s Tyras Valesh, Captain of the Sentinal Suppression force.” He replies, flicking the handle, causing a blade roughly a foot and a half long to extend from it. “You picked the wrong person to fight, little girl.” He says, stepping towards her and attacking with a broad, sweeping swing of his blade. Alice counters by thrusting at Tyras’s blade at a rate, I couldn't even see her hand, let alone the blade, her arm glowing that magnificent yellow light. Alice puts all of her might into a thrust and breaks clean through Tyras’s blade, and a look of frustration spread across his face.
“Don't fucking call me a ‘little girl” you idiotic oaf.” Alice said, raising her blade, pointing it at Tyras’s throat. Tyras wheeled back and punched Alice in the gut faster than I could see, and Alice crumpled to the ground. Tyras stood over her when a device in his ear gave off a beep. His face turns to a mix of worry and happiness.
“I'd love to stay and finish this, but unfortunately for you guys, I've been ordered to withdraw.” He says, leaving in a direction that lead towards the crash site. I hear a rustling behind me as Mark rushes over to us.
“Are you two alright?” He asks, helping Alice to her feet. I give Alice a dumbfounded look.
“You... You’re a mage?” I ask, trying desperately to process what just happened. Alice rolls her eyes, a look of mild irritation on her face.
“Yeah, I’ve been keeping it a secret since I’m not exactly keen on compulsory military service.” She says, her typically quiet timid tone gaining an edge to it.
“I’m the only one who knows, although I’m not sure if we are going to need to keep it a secret much longer.” Mark says, motioning out towards the city which has only descended into greater chaos in the few hours we spent moving.
“Well, It's nice to know that we aren't completely helpless.” I say, trying to reacquire my bearings. As I look around, I see a familiar looking overgrown trail, with a small path beaten through it. “Hey guys, I found my Uncle’s cabin. It’s just this way.” I say, motioning towards the brown log cabin, unaware of what awaited us.