Liana opened her eyes and straightened up. The first thing she noticed was that she had her feelings and senses back, which was a very strange sensation after missing them. Immediately after that, her attention turned to the dark atmosphere that still hung around this whole area, like a black miasma that not only hung in the air but permeated everything and everyone, the people of both worlds. But she had other things to focus on now.
Her connection to the matter of her body was a little more vague at times, she still seemed to be half in two worlds and everything around her flickered at times. Once she even thought she glimpsed the multidimensional space she had emerged from for a split second. Of course she was not allowed to go back there, she had to stand in matter now, stay in her body. Be grounded in her own world as a human. She pinched her leg, and the twinge of pain drew herself back into her body, and she involuntarily thanked both the Flying Spaghetti Monster and Al-Elyehdinn.
Fortunately, the effect of not being completely in her body diminished quickly, and she quickly felt more stable again, and more conscious. She looked around. Izabel, who had defended her body in her absence, was still sitting beside her with the shield. She looked at her questioningly and with relief and they hugged each other.
Liana couldn't say much at the moment, so she kept quiet for now. She hated that her world was always so different from most people's, and that she would need endless conversations to explain what had happened if people were to believe that everything she was experiencing was real. And there was no time for that now in the midst of this battle. Fortunately, with a hug, friendship and gratitude were very easy to communicate without using a single word. The rest was for later. There were more pressing things now.
Now she turned her attention to the rest of the world around her, and it was one of pure chaos. It hadn't looked pretty from a multidimensional distance, but now that she was back in it with her body and all her senses, the reality of this fight was a lot worse than she'd expected. She caught her breath when she saw the victims, and against her better judgement she hoped that the fallen bodies scattered about were only wounded, or stunned, or as they themselves had gone for a while but would return. She couldn't think about the fact that she was still alive but that other people from both worlds were really dead now.
What was clear was that things weren't looking good for either side now: Only a few of the Americans remained here, but even fewer Nummerfa. Liana didn't see a Drotniril standing up anymore, not around her at least. Whoever takes up arms, will fall through arms, she thought bitterly. And the Nuanderrans apparently had known no other way of solving the situation than fighting as humans once they realised how the situation had been set up against them, and how lowly they had been betrayed. Actually, the different types of nawa did not differ so much as they thought. People were so unoriginal, she thought bitterly, and right now she included the Nummerfa and Drotnira as much as the Americans who seemed to be winning at the moment, despite their huge losses.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Not that far away from her a triumphant John had his gun pointed at the last two Nummerfa who were standing still around Andira's motionless body. One of them was Marah herself. She too was holding a shield like hers. But John had victory in his eyes, and wanted to signal to his remaining bodyguards to mow everyone away. Liana involuntarily grabbed Izabel's hand, forgetting she wasn't a Nummerfil who could disappear into the side dimension herself. But that didn't matter in this terrifying moment.
The return of her feelings that belonged to her body was a penetrating sensation that regularly overshadowed her rational thinking. But suddenly she remembered Andira's latest plan. As far as she knew this was still the plan that was been carried out now. Marah had apparently become convinced after all, and in her absence she had placed the unknown weapon within reach of Andira. Maybe there was still hope after all, if the weapon indeed did what Andira had hinted at.
“Everything is mine again now, folks.” shouted John, standing alone in front of Marah with his bodyguards. She was only holding her shield, and Indeed, it looked as if he had recaptured his factory. Suddenly, Liana noticed something Marah had forgotten: no one from the STC here was wearing the side dimension glasses she'd once been caught with when she had been invisible with Inaya.
“Side dimension now!” she sent to Marah who responded immediately.
She and the shield disappeared and John swore, and only then did he realise too that there were no side dimension glasses around.
John shot wildly in the direction Marah had been standing, and then sat down on the nearest chair. He was still triumphant, but less certain now. Liana didn't need glasses to see what Marah was doing. She saw her move at lightning speed, dodging all the shots. Then she disappeared into a completely different corner of the room, looking for a weapon for herself. In the visible world, only John and his two bodyguards were still standing. He looked around, wanting to turn his attention to Liana and Izabel when the unexpected happened: Andira straightened back up, facing the triumphant John, who promptly pointed at her the strange weapon he'd previously fired at Liana.
"You're all dead women walking."
But Andira took the bag, and reached into it with a grin. The American hesitated, a questioning look in his eyes. It was clear that he wanted to know what his opponent could do now. She laughed like a witch from an old Disney movie, holding up a tiny object. All eyes that could still see in the room, visible and invisible, were on her now.
“No, you don't know this thing. But it's also an invention of the ancient monsters of Kavanderra, and you'll soon notice what it does. Your empire is over NOW!”
John fired, as did his bodyguards, but the brief hesitation they'd had out of curiosity had been enough for Andira. In one fluid motion, she flipped a switch and threw it into the air and vanished from the visible world and let herself fall on the ground to evade the beams and rays. High above her head the mystery object seemed to pulverise and a soundless shock wave passed through the area. The world seemed to stand still for a moment, and then everything went dark.