Reecheep stood in the spitter’s nest hanging from bottom of the lowest level platform of her town. She had leaned her weapon against the wooden wall in the eternal quest to find relief for her aching shoulder. The thin cylinder of wood and iron was much too heavy to carry for any extended period of time as orders had dictated.

The higher ups had no idea of the practicalities of the new weapon, after all. And who was going to listen to a lowly Town Guard.

Fortunately, her direct superior was a practical sort and had turned a blind eye to the breach of protocol.

The spire loomed out of the circular clearing straight into the sky, well beyond the heights of the tallest structures in River Town.

A ring of fire pits surrounded the otherworldly edifice. More Town Guards gathered around each flame. The nights on the plains were cold. The great Sandereek River flowed fast. Its depths were such that the frigid deep waters were constantly pulled to the surface by the strong winds that blew across the expansive plain that the town’s founders had decided to build on a very long time ago.

Reecheep never quite understood why they had decided to build around the spire.

Hadn’t they known that the spires only brought death and destruction?

Terrible monsters and invaders from other worlds.

Fools, as far as she was concerned.

The thoughts brought a shudder that ruffled the crest of bright feathers that framed her head like the dawning sun. The smaller, finer feathers on the backs of her arms suddenly stood straight.

Another shiver ran through her.

She vainly tried to smooth her arm feathers.

Reecheep’s large, round eyes shot up to the dark night sky.

The clouds obscured the stars. Not that she was likely to see them from this close to the ground. There were too many torches and light orbs dotting the town’s hundreds of feet of structures.

A warning warble from one of the guards near the spire had her fumbling for her ironspitter. She raised the stock to her shoulder and sighted along the long cylinder down to the ground.

What she saw had her feathers fanning out in all directions.

The space in front of the spire rippled.

A distortion in the air.

She had never seen anything like it.

None of the other guards had either.

They only knew of it from stories and all of those agreed that if something was emerging from a spire a wise Kinarian ran in the opposite direction as if the shadow of Death’s wings had fallen over them.

More warbling.

Orders from the sergeant guard in charge.

No words.

Reecheep tasted blood. Her small, sharp teeth were chattering and caught a bit of her tongue. She let out an involuntary chirp, then clamped her mouth shut.

Hopefully, no one else had heard.

This was serious.

Had she fallen asleep?

Was she now in a nightmare?

Nothing ever happened in River Town.

The tall, stout wooden walls were enough to keep the rare monster attack at bay while soldiers and guards fought them off from relative safety.

Foolishly, they hadn’t considered an attack coming from within.

The ripple in front of the spire stabilized for a moment right before a strange-looking figure appeared.

Tall, imperious, the outworld invader was unlike anything she had seen before.

It, he, bore a passing resemblance to some of the inhabitants of the secretive nation that bordered Kinar lands to the west.

A head, two arms, two legs, just like a Kinar, but instead of a crest of feathers on his head the invader had long, flowing hair the color of straw. Instead of four taloned fingers, he had five soft-looking ones. His feet were covered.

“Hmmm, bird people…” the outworld invader’s voice resonated deeply in Reecheep’s auditory canals and vibrated through her hollow bones. The rumble coursed through her entire body. “Greetings. I am The Zombie Master.”

Reecheep heard the Class designation, even if she didn’t understand what it meant.

“Master of what?” the sergeant guard said from behind a rank of guards, their ironspitters leveled at the invader.

“Interesting, I’ve always wondered what experiencing the universal translation system would be like on another world. It worked perfectly with all the different languages back home, but then again we had a similar technology before the spires had appeared, so I never found it that impressive. Now, however…” the invader shrugged as he looked around the clearing, “buildings resemble trees,” he mused, “fitting for bird people. What do you call yourselves? Avians? Garudas?”

“You are on Kinar land. State your purpose,” the sergeant guard’s hand was on the small ironspitter holstered in his shoulder harness.

“Kinar? Interesting. As to your question,” the invader smiled and Reecheep quailed back, just like the guards down on ground level. “Experimentation and… conquest. Be the first to join me and you’ll find that I’m a rewarding master.”

As one the guards pulled the levers back on their ironspitters. The sergeant guard drew his weapon and aimed it at the invader.

“Or not,” the invader sighed. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll all serve me one way or another. I thought I’d be nice and let you get in on the ground floor, rather than the… alternative.”

“Focus Fire: Single Target!” the sergeant guard barked.

“Enhanced Mage Shield,” the invader replied.

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As one, the rank of guards’ weapons spat iron balls at the invader.

A black, translucent dome enclosed the invader. The balls shattered against it without leaving any marks. Not even a small crack.

“Quick Reload!” the sergeant guard’s voice warbled into a higher octave. Nevertheless he aimed his small ironspitter at the invader. “Piercing Shot!”

This time a small crack appeared on the magic shield.

The invader grinned.

Reecheep thought she saw the faint outline of a grinning skull as the magic shield dissipated.

“If I remember correctly, muskets back in my world’s ancient history took about ten seconds to reload. With that skill, I’d guess you could cut it down to five. Too bad for you.” The invader thrust out his hands. “Death Missiles.”

Black orbs the size and shape of skulls appeared at his fingertips and streaked across the fire-lit night. They trailed dark wisps of evil-looking smoke as they curved in irregular arcs on their way to the rank of guards.

Each one found a home as one by one the guards crumpled to the ground. The lights in their eyes extinguished. Empty sockets smoked with the same evil.

“You should’ve joined me. Your soldiers would still be alive.”

The sergeant guard said nothing. He calmly reloaded his small ironspitter.

The weapon in Reecheep’s hands shook. Her heart thrummed in her chest, sending vibrations through her body.

Should she fire?

The invader wasn’t looking at her.

Why weren’t the other nested guards firing?

Of course, she cursed her stupidity, the order hadn’t been given.

Why was the sergeant guard not giving the order?

She had her answer as a multitude of shadows dashed past her and leapt down to the ground, twenty feet below.

More guards.

No.

True Soldiers.

Fifty.

An entire troop.

The town always had one ready to go at all hours in the event of monster attack.

The troop quickly formed ranks, one line, two deep, in a shallow curve around the invader.

The sergeant guard quickly fell back until he was behind the ranks.

Fifty ironspitters were trained on the invader, but all he did was smile.

“Adding more muskets won’t make that much of a difference,” the invader said. “Still, I did pay for their services, so might as well make them earn it.”

As he spoke more distortions formed around the spire.

More invaders.

Reecheep’s grip on her weapon suddenly grew slick and she frantically wiped one hand on her trousers, followed by the other. A vain effort.

More outworld invaders appeared out of nothing. One moment there were distortions around the spire. In the next there were twenty additional invaders.

They wore armor similar to the Zombie Master. Dark helmets concealed their faces. Black and shiny, but the material didn’t look like metal to Reecheep. They reminded her of monster carapaces.

“Volley Fire!”

The soldiers fired as one with the sergeant guard’s voice.

The Zombie Master merely covered his exposed head with armored arms.

The iron balls struck the invaders and bounced off their strange armor.

“You couldn’t have put up a shield?” one of the other invaders turned to the Zombie Master.

“They’re using muskets. Your gear is hundreds of years ahead,” the Zombie Master said flatly.

“Right, guess it’s time to get paid.” The other invader pulled a compact weapon from his back. He held it in two hands and pointed it at the soldiers.

Reecheep let out a soft keening wail. She instinctively realized that the strange weapon was like their ironspitters. The Kinarian soldiers only had padded cloth, mail and a steel breastplate for protection. She had seen the demonstrations. So, she turned her head from what was about to happen on the plain.

“Remember, we’re shooting to wound! Weapons free!”

The outworld invaders fired as one.

There was no loud bang, just soft hums as their weapons spat death.

It was over in two heartbeats.

Curiously, only a few soldiers were dead.

The rest were covered in red, as if paint had been splattered on them by careless artists. Covered with small holes in their armor, clothes and flesh, but still alive.

“Quickly, before they bleed out! Give them purpose,” the Zombie Master’s voice was eager.

Reecheep could see the hunger in the invader’s eyes reflected in the fire light.

“You heard the client!” the other invader barked.

The other invaders rushed to the large chest that Reecheep had just noticed was near the spire. They each pulled out small bottles of a dark, glowing liquid. One by one they rushed to the dying Kinarians and forced them to drink the liquid.

What were they doing?

A series of loud bangs shattered the eerie quiet.

She flinched.

The other guards in their nests finally fired. They never got the order, but what did it matter when the sergeant guard was dead.

She aimed down the cylinder, but couldn’t squeeze the trigger. Her eyes were drawn to what was happening to the Kinarian soldiers.

They thrashed on the grassy ground. Bodies bending and twisting to the edge of breaking bone and tearing muscles and tendons. The screeches that escaped their mouths brought tears to Reecheep’s eyes.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

Her hands shook, her aim was unsteady, but she sighted and squeezed.

The crack was followed by the Zombie Master’s head flinching to one side.

A thin red line appeared on his cheek, a wet curtain spread down to his jaw and neck.

“Take them out,” the other invader said.

The Zombie Master raised a hand. “Wait.” He closed his eyes. The Kinarian soldiers suddenly stopped thrashing. They sat up as one, then stood. They moved as if they didn’t have large, open wounds all over their bodies.

Reecheep saw their eyes. There was nothing, yet the soldiers turned their gazes up at her and the other guards.

“Go, spread purpose,” the Zombie Master said.

The soldiers screeched and shambled toward Reecheep’s and the others’ perches.

They didn’t move with Kinarian quickness, nor grace.

Reecheep dropped her ironspitter as the horror dawned on her.

The soldiers were dead, but moving.

How?

Why?

“Alright, boss. We’ve fulfilled the contract. Once you give us the rest of the payment we’ll be on our way,” the other invader said.

“Of course,” the Zombie Master began chanting.

The magic in the words made Reecheep’s feathers shake even as she frantically climbed up the rope ladder out of her nest.

The soldiers had reached the base of the structure and were beginning to climb.

“What are you doing?” the other invader said as he casually pointed his weapon at the Zombie Master’s feet.

“Finishing the spell I started earlier.”

The other invaders cried out in pain as they too began to thrash around like the Kinarian soldiers had.

“Every ruler needs an elite guard. Your men and women will serve me in that capacity. The purpose was created with the human body in mind. Although, I’ve only managed to create a poor copy, I believe that combined with my class abilities and magic I will be able to turn you into something… better. These Kinarians are an unknown. Even now I can tell that their bodies are substandard. More experimentation will be needed.”

Reecheep didn’t hear or see the rest of what the horrid invader did to his own. She fled up the ladder into the town, screeching in alarm the entire way.

The dead soldiers followed.