Sky

The Goblin hordes are relentless in attacking the walls, pouring out of the trenches as they cover the battlefield with their little bodies, piled up against the wall as they climb over one another in great heaps of bodies in an attempt to climb over. My people stand alongside me, stabbing with spears into the faces of any Goblin that tries to climb over, forcing the hellish little creature back with blade and violence, their little bodies tumbling back lifelessly to fall into the oncoming masses as we hold the line.

With another wave of my hand, arcs of lightning streak out and fry dozens of Goblins instantly as the current travels from one to the next. Part of me wants to laugh and cheer every time I use my new power, the feeling of wielding it making me feel like I am unstoppable, like I have become something more than mortal. Every time I cast my lightning; I feel like a GOD! So much power, held at my fingertips and I can use it however I please. It’s intoxicating like nothing else and standing here on the battlefield, frying my hated enemy with the simple wave of my hand, I am having the greatest adrenaline rush of my life!

But I have to hold it down and look professional and in control. My people are watching, and as are the humans. I need them to see me as a cool and collected Empress, and not as a laughing maniac that is getting far too much enjoyment out of this.

OOOhhh! That one’s head just exploded! I did that, I fucking did that! Hahahaha! Ah, I wonder if this how Lain feels? Oh, this is just so much fun! Ah, calm down Sky… Professional, dignified… Have to look cool for everyone watching.

Close by, separated only by my Honor Guard, is my little experimental Hero project. He Who Strikes from the Green is fighting like a ferocious warrior, spear and axe in hand as he slaughters everything that heads his way, stabbing and slashing, kicking bodies away. I watch as he decapitates a Goblin with a single swing of his axe and roars as he goes for the next.

His performance is already putting him well above any of my other warriors, racking up a body count that is easy surpassing any of our best by a good few dozen by now. Watching him move, I notice him look my way and nod approvingly towards him. Out of sheer happiness of being noticed, he almost stops moving for a second there, but he is quick to shake himself out of it and dive back into the battle, his efforts redoubling as he lets out a war cry like no other.

It's looking like we are getting some good results here. It’s too soon to tell if his body has started to undergo any serious changes yet, but… I think he has grown a little taller? Once this is all over, I will have him get checked over by Dr. Doe.

My attention gets pulled away from my little Hero as I feel the presence of an enemy mage press against my own, our Fields reacting violently as we fight for control over the surrounding mana. Before I can find the mage, they are already throwing a fireball my way, the searing flames distorting the air as they fly towards us. Pushing my palm out, I force out waves of energy, playing off the idea of electromagnetic waves that I had read about. While it should normally only be able to influence magnetic materials like some metals, enough energy output can basically do anything. The only thing I need it to do is create a field where nothing can move. I just need to lock the position of every atom within a five-by-five-meter space. Simple enough.

The fireball comes to a halting stop and freezes in the air, the ball of fire slowly losing form and turning into a blob of glowing energy as it loses the ability to burn oxygen and can no longer produce flames. With a wave, I redirect the electromagnetic field and send the ball of plasma crashing into the battlefield down below, the Goblins it splashes against scream as they are lit aflame.

It takes me a moment to find the Fire Mage, but I quickly spot them as my guards are keeping me safe from the climbing Goblins. I point at the mage and send a bolt of blue lighting their way, but they quickly throw up a shield of fire and block it, promptly sending another fireball my way in return.

We exchange blows back and forth like this for a while, but without my cutting though the enemy’s numbers with my spells, the attack on our position is growing even more intense. I have to quickly end the fight so I can return to assisting my people. And now that I think about it, the other mage is probably just trying to distract me considering how they are keeping their distance and are fighting so defensively.

After I block the next fireball, I don’t bother with sending another attack. Instead, I raise my hand up towards the sky, where those hellish black clouds have only been growing stronger with each passing moment, and where black lightning silently rumbles.

Pushing my will out into the world, my Field rippling with my desire, I call for lightning to fall from the sky. I call for it to be mine.

Lightning gathers in the clouds, building up in mass until it looks like the clouds are about to vomit like a sick Kobold after a drinking contest.

A massive bolt of black lighting rips out of the sky and strikes my open palm, its energy pouring into my veins and flooding my core as black lighting meets blue. It hurts.

The black lightning tears through me like a violent creature, its energy twisted and angry as waring energies fight through it. It tastes like cold void and cleansing heat, two conflicting forces colliding and reacting violently and explosively, forced to occupy the same space against their will and leaving nothing but destruction in their place.

Holding down a scream, I push with my will, forcing the twisted mana to fall under my control and be converted into blue electricity. It wrestles against my control, but my dominion is lightning. Every thunder cloud in the sky shall dance only for me! It will obey!

Laughing as steam pours off my body and my pink puffer jacket is shredded and burned, I close my palm and capture the lightning bolt within my grip, reducing it to a little black sphere in my hand as its power rages under my control.

I don’t even bother aiming, simply thrusting my arm forward as I release all of that captured power in a single instant.

The world in front of me explodes. Black and blue lightning storms out and arcs for every Goblin it can reach as the boom of thunder shakes everything. When the flash of light finally clears, every Goblin for hundreds of meters in front of me has been reduced to charred bodies and ash, the mage left as nothing more than a flaming corpse that slowly falls forward as his burnt body spasms. Shortly after, his Field dissipated, vanishing as he takes his final breath.

My people cheer after they recover from the thunder shaking their bodies, cheering for their Empress as they witness my power on full display!

“None shall oppose our Empress! None can withstand her power!!!” He Who Strikes roars as he lifts his spear into the air.

The others join and repeat him, cheering as they thrust their weapons into the air.

Meanwhile, I am just standing still, trying hard to not wince as remnants of that black lightning continues to course through my body, slowly getting converted into my own, but resisting at every turn. Still, I don’t let anyone see it. Can’t let them know that I might have bit off more than I could chew with that one… That lighting is angry, and I don’t think I will be doing that again any time soon…

“Jesus Christ!” I hear one of the humans cursing as they are blinking away the light spots in their eyes or shaking their heads as their ears pop.

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…

With a whole section of the Goblin army reduced to crispy corpses, my section of the wall gets a much needed break before more can come and fill the gap again. Human soldiers run around to restock on supplies and try to quickly fill the gaps in the wall where they can, but it isn’t long until the Goblins are on us again, trampling over the corpses of their own dead as they fight to be the first to climb the wall.

As we are fighting them off, a commotion breaks out amongst the Goblin forces as two presences come crashing into the area not too far away, their Fields smothering everything else and pushing down on everyone just by entering this place. Every eye, from the Goblins to the humans, is forcefully drawn up and over to the sky where two flaming figures had just come crashing out of the forest. The fighting comes to a standstill for a moment as everyone’s attention is captured.

Of the two figures, the red flaming one is suddenly sent crashing down into the battlefield by the black one who remains up in the air, held aloft on a pair of massive black wings like an angel of death in the sky, a hellish thunderstorm her background as black lightning crackles and dances across clouds that are bloated with acidic rain like rotting corpses.

I immediately recognize her, knowing the touch of her Field intimately.

Lain is here, her mere presence lording over everything as everyone can feel the cold, dark, nothingness of her power brushing against their skin. Most people are reduced to shivering prey animals, like mice under the gaze of a snake, as they feel her power for the first time, not used to being exposed to it like this when she is normally so diligent in keeping her Field contained within her own body. Even from where I stand, I can feel the rage radiating from her as she hovers above the battlefield. If it weren’t for the fact that her rage is so clearly pointed towards the invaders, then I have little doubt that many of the humans here would have collapsed in fear just from the sheer weight of her presence in this moment.

A second presence, the red one, is wrestling against hers even as she merely hovers in the sky. Hot like all cleansing flames, the second Field burns at the touch as if every person here had just walked into an open oven. All the muddy snow on the ground and in the trees for hundreds of meters around is instantly reduced to steam as if summer had just come slamming into winter. But this other presence doesn’t feel like it is in control. It is rampaging and angry like a feral animal set loose against its abusers.

The Goblins break out of their stupor first, mostly protected from Lain’s presence by the other’s, cheering as they go back on the attack, reinvigorated by the presence of their ruler. Redoubling in their assault, we are quickly pulled back into the fight as well, with me casting more lighting into the oncoming Goblins as I keep an eye on Lain. For a second, I think that I see her looking my way, but she is too far away to tell. She soon disappears as she quickly descends to pursue her opponent.

The battle continues only for a little while longer until something suddenly changes. I can feel as Lain slaughters several other mages almost instantly, then as her Field clashes with the flaming one. The clash only lasts for a few seconds, but instead of dying, the flaming Field instead starts to go out of control and rampages, and then, collapses in on itself. In a single moment, all the heat in the world is violently pulled towards a central point. Every fire goes out and frost suddenly begins to spread on every surface, the breaths of every person around becoming fog.

A light begins to shine there, like a miniature sun suddenly being born on the Earth. Heat comes back, radiating from that point, and sending the atmosphere into chaos from sudden rising and dropping and rising again of temperatures, the storm winds fluctuating violently as they blow over the battlefield and falling rains becomes steam. Black lighting strikes the earth with a vengeance and sets trees ablaze or leaves them as torn apart husks.

All over the battlefield, Goblin begin to panic and cry out, those that are around the newly born sun fleeing with everything their little bodies have as they run for their lives. Those that can’t get away in time quickly catch fire and fall down screaming, those that were even closer didn’t even have a chance to move, instead being vaporized on the spot as the intense heat instantly reduced them to ash.

I can’t see anything through the chaos, can’t catch sight of Lain through the fire, but I can feel as her Field finally smothers and subsumes the other’s, devouring it like a large fish somehow swallowing another of equal size.

The light dies down, and for a moment, I find myself believing that the danger had passed. Until a collum of fire suddenly shoots up into the sky.

I can feel as her Field writhes and radiates with pain and panic. As her normally cold and empty void of a Field suddenly becomes filled with uncontrol heat that is fighting to escape.

I panic and before I know it, I am already jumping over the side of the wall, my drop cushioned by the countless corpses that lay dead at my feet. The soldiers and my warriors panic as they move to follow me, but I ignore them. My lover is suffering, and I need to be by her side!

Any Goblin that gets in my way, I vaporize them with excessive force, uncaring for conserving energy if it means reaching her as soon as possible. As I am cutting through the fleeing Goblin army, her Field slowly falls back under control, the light and fire dies down, and night quickly returns.

The area around her is still boiling hot, so hot that I have to remove what is left of my jacket as I try to get closer. The earth around her has gone from cold and wet mud to sun baked earth, and then further to molten rock that boils and pops as it slowly cools. I can’t get any closer as the soles of my feet start to burn, forcing me to stay back and away as I look for her, but I can’t see anything where I sense her presence to be. There is nothing there but charred corpses and bones slowly sinking into the molten earth.

“Lain! Where are you?!” I shout desperately, but she doesn’t respond. The only clue that I have that she isn’t dead is the feeling of her Field, weakened, but still whole.

“Laiiin!!!”

I try to move forward again, despite the risk of burning away my feet, but am stopped by hands on my shoulders.

I spin around, shouting, “Let me go!” ready to shock anyone that tries to stop me, but stop as I see the people behind me.

Lain’s friends are behind me, rifles pointing out to defend from any attackers, as Thomas and Rookie are holding me back. My warriors are busy fighting off any remaining Goblins that refuse to leave, taking up formations to hold this position around me with their lives if they must.

Rookie yells at me, “You can’t go in there, you’ll die from the heat before you ever find her!”

“I have to find her, she needs me! Let me go!”

“No! If you die, she will be pissed! I don’t want to see what she would-!”

Rookie is interrupted as the earth starts to shake and everyone is bounced into the air. Looking around, everyone tries to find the source of the quake, but can’t spot anything. Another one soon follows, even stronger than the last, and then again, growing stronger still.

“What is…?” Thomas goes to ask, but our answer soon comes from the radios on everyone’s shoulders.

“~Warning on all channels. Kaiju has been spotted to the west, approaching quickly, eta in ten. Orders are to shift all artillery fire to new priority target. Begin procedures to go dark… Corrections, two more targets spotted from the east, eta in fifteen. All personnel are to immediate abandon the outer walls, fall back to secondary points and prioritize-“

The call continues and the soldiers pale, Sandy and Sgt. Lenz cursing as they get their orders to retreat.

“Fuck! We need to move, now! Everyone back inside, if we go dark, the Kaiju might leave, but we are going to have to deal with all the other monsters that break through! Rookie, Thomas, grab the girl, even if you have to throw her over your shoulders, were moving, now!” The sergeant orders.

“No, Lain!” I scream and try to run towards her, but they do end up grabbing me, Thomas picking me up even as I flail and scream to be let go, my tail thrashing behind me as I protest.

Rookie gets in my face as I scream and slaps me.

“Focus! She will be fine, but we need to move! Now order your people to follow before they stab us and we all die!”

Temporarily stunned by the slap, I blink and look around, and my people are indeed looking like they are ready to kill these soldiers. Lain isn’t dead. I can still feel her Field, her presence. She is still alive. But we won’t be if we stay out here too much longer.

Another shake rocks the landscape and sets everyone off balance. Off to the west, in the distance, what appears to be a mountain is moving, the topmost portion of its body being visible even from here over the trees. It grows larger with every step that shakes the earth, explosions blossoming on its body as artillery fire rains down on its shell.

I look to my people and my priorities change. I’m their Empress and it is my duty to protect them. My lover is powerful, she will be fine. I must set aside my feelings. I have a duty to fulfill.

I yell for my people and order them to retreat and to not attack the humans. No longer fighting it, I let Thomas shift my weight in his massive arms and carry me as he moves.

As we flee back into the supposed safety of the base, the remnants of the Goblin army scatters in every direction, most fleeing back towards the north, but others heading elsewhere, some even into base as well as they are led by Hobgoblins in desperation for safety, looking for someplace to hide.

Watching behind us as we move, I witness as hordes of monsters come pouring out of the woods, tearing through Goblins or trampling over them as they move for the already weakened walls. My eyes don’t leave the spot where Lain still lies somewhere unseen, hoping as much as possible that she might rise at any moment.

Before I know it, we’re behind the wall again, moving for the next as people load into vehicles and others run for their lives.