“Is that it?” I call Nyt on the roof.

“Probably not.” The Ir responds as the creature hops down the side of the building to land beside me. “Where’d you get that?” Nyt says with a motion to the kris on my belt.

“From a priest in my first door.”

“Door?”

“Ah. They’re the incursion points into our world.”

“I see...we’ll you’re fortunate. You killed the thing wielding that?”

“I did. Almost died as a result.”

I think I still have a few scars on my back from the knife wounds.

“Very fortunate indeed. There are only about a dozen of those in Efra.”

“Really?”

“Yes. The smith who made it went insane and bound his soul to the last one. It is said to burn hotter than any dragon’s flame when invoked.”

Damn, they do have dragons here.

“I couldn’t find anything about the traitor you have, but I did find out they’re working with an organization there. ‘The Cult,’ is all that the communiqué says.”

I wonder if that’s the people that ambushed the General.

“And found out why the White One is attacking your area in particular.”

“Why is that?”

“Your nation hosts the strongest military, correct?”

I nod.

“Well, your area is slated to become the primary agricultural zone once the invasion starts in earnest. If Roki can take over that area, it will severely cripple the strongest military in your world.”

That makes sense, I suppose. Why don’t they send more chosen to reinforce it, then? From what I know, we have ten, while other areas have tens, if not dozens of chosen working to clear them. I’ve read rumors about companies hiring chosen specifically to clear financial and market districts. Idiots. What good will paper do when you can’t get food?

“How can we throw a wrench in his plans...” I tap my foot.

“Well, you have been. You’ve killed at least one apostle, right? That apostle was charged with coming up from the underground and attacking your town with the main force. Killing him, and his forces set their plans back significantly. Same with your work in closing the gateway that he was ready to charge through with his army.”

“So just keep doing what I’m doing is the answer?”

“I suppose. It’ll hold him at bay for the time being, but I doubt it will do much to stop him.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Well, if he ever did invade Earth, I wonder how many 50 cals he could take before his body was ripped to shreds? I wonder how many AR shots he could take from the yokels on rooftops defending their homeland? Invading America would not be an easy task, even for a being of partial divinity. The only reason we weren’t using guns here, was because the gods and spirits of our world won’t let us; they take the guns as soon as you step into the blackness. But, if they had informants in our world, surely they would know this, right? They would have a general idea of our capabilities, wouldn’t they? So why even risk it, unless they have a way to deal with it.

As we speak, I mull over the thought of how exactly I gather the weapons discarded on the ground. Nyt hops off the roof and helps me by gathering the bows and pulling off the quivers from the ratmen.

The people there gather around the now empty barrel.

“We’re safe?” The man who defended the child says. “You killed them all already?”

“Not all. Just the ones that came after us.” I say.

“But...that thing next to you.” He points the spear toward Nyt.

“Is not an enemy.” I say, “Nyt helped defend you.”

I toss the weapons to the ground as I glance around the room at the emaciated figures.

“What are these for?” One of the men who had been shoveling the red berries in his mouth says. His stomach looks a little more full than before. He has a short red, patchy beard, and he squints his eyes as if he’s accustomed to glasses. I could tell by the lack of excess, sagging skin that hung off some of the others, that he had been thin before coming in here.

“To defend yourselves,” I say.

“Why should we do that when you’re here?”

“Why wouldn’t you want the opportunity to defend yourself, even if I am?”

“Why would I? You’re here.”

I roll my eyes.

“Doesn’t it make sense that those with power should be using it to defend those who don’t? That’s your responsibility.” The man spits on the pile of weapons.

“What’s the problem here? You don’t want to be able to defend yourself? Are you dumb?”

“Uh, I don’t have the power to defend myself. Clearly.” The man crosses his arms and rolls his eyes.

“This is unnecessary,” I say, still glancing around the room. Where was she? My father said she was down here, right? “You need it because I’m heading back out.”

“Uh, that's irresponsible of you.”

“My mother is somewhere in the town.” I point out the door. “I’m heading out the door.”

“You’re abandoning us?”

“For the time being, yes. I need to find her, bring her back here, and then I’ll start the next part of my plan.”

“Which is?”

“Eliminating the enemies and securing the outpost until reinforcements come.”

“But what about us? What if something comes through that door while you’re gone?”

“That’s why I’m giving you weapons, genius.”

“That’s so irresponsible.”

“Can you shut the hell up? Just pick up a spear and be quiet.” The man with the child says, “This man’s mother is out there, and you’re asking him to hole up in here with us?”

“Uh, yeah? It’s basic ethics. He’s risking all of our lives for one woman, even if it is his mother, ‘the good of the many outweighs the good of the few.’ If there were five people on a track with a train heading to them, and there was another track with one person, and you had the opportunity to divert the track to run over the single person, the moral thing would be to pull that lever, wouldn’t it?”

“If that one person was my mother, and the five were strangers I’d keep that lever in place every single time,” I say.

“That’s evil.” He hissed.

He crossed his thin arms over his chest and nearly snarled as if he were trying to threaten me to keep me there with his moral quandaries and feigned meekness. Like a sudden jolt of electricity through my body, clarity overwhelms me. I have no obligations to this man. Not by any law of man or god, did I have obligations to listen to his petulance. Why should I take the moral whinging of a man who would not take up arms to defend his own life as seriously as I would take the words of a man who put his body on the line to protect his own child from the blows of a malicious creature?

With that realization, I walk out the door, to the man’s kvetching. I hear him stomp up to the door, but before he could push it open, I shift into Shadow’s form and take to the rooftops. I need to find my mother.