Alex got frightened. A new species was at his doorstep, ready for war. He

knew nothing of them or their abilities but realized that war was inevitable. This is

what he was waiting for. This is what he was searching for, he thought. Then he

began giving orders. “Clive, get airborne now! The battle is starting,” he said with a

loud voice and turned toward his people at Argos “Everyone! This is it! We will not

avoid war. Hold your weapons tight and prepare! Listen to your commanders and

follow their instructions.”

He then turned to Bara. “Get the Cerberus firing. Do not target the leaders.”

Bara saw Alex’s sudden change in attitude as a sign of alert. But we were

supposed to wait for them to charge, he thought. Before he had the chance to order

the Cerberus firing, Habo let out one last roar and led his people into battle. The Orcs

started charging, and the Cerberus began shooting. Humans on top of the walls

would experience a few seconds of awe before terror began getting its claws in their

minds. The Orcs were the enemy, the Naga were too; their suffering, however, left

none unaffected. The 30-mm bullets, which sounded like an explosion when fired,

began to fall like rain. They were accompanied by small missiles, targeting the

highest concentration of Orcs and their war machines. Slow but terrifying, the

Cerberus would also fire less-frequent plasma shots that, until dimming a few meters

deep in soil, would penetrate anything. The Cerberus was programed for maximum

efficiency, which meant it fired the plasma shots horizontally to maximize its damage

output. While firing, it was making tremendous mechanical sounds to intimidate the

opponents.

Just a few seconds after the battle started, the Orcs were devastated. From

the other side of the battle however, the Naga reached the walls. Spears thrown

toward the wall stations found a few humans. All the strength of the nanobots meant

nothing. The spears weighed a lot, and their speed was such that it went through the

bodies of men and women like they were made of leaves. After the first few fell, the

rest went into a frenzy. Terror was replaced by madness. Adrenaline began to fuel a

reaction that looked more like insanity than anything else. They began firing their

weapons like mad. Not for everyone, however. Some began running to the bunkers,

while others jumped the wall and ran to the forest from the other side of the city. The

screaming and the yelling, together with the cries of agony and pain of enemies and

allies alike, brought forward tremendous change in the characters of the people. The

weapons were not easy to handle, and when the untrained humans fired, they would

miss most of their shots. The humans’ only defense was the machinery they brought

and the few soldiers who followed Bara’s commands properly. The rest proved to be

more of a liability.

From the other side, Habo was encouraging his people to spread apart from

one another and storm the walls. The Cerberus would not fire toward humans, and

he figured that out by seeing that it would show priority to the ones closer to the walls

but stop firing at them if the wall was at risk of damage.

Clive’s Eagle was nowhere to be found yet. It took him a few minutes to land

and get Steve on board to fix the problem. He finally took off while the Naga and the

Orcs had climbed walls from all sides, and many of them were in hand-to-hand

combat. Upon his attack, the enemies faced complete annihilation on all sides. The

Eagle had an overwhelming advantage. The Naga were being decimated. The small

missile blasts that the stationary defenses were firing added to the unreal sight of the

battlefield. The Naga began to slow their advance, while the orcs were fighting an

impossible enemy. Their spears and axes could not even dent the Cerberus armor.

Stolen story; please report.

Alex saw that they were winning, so he decided on minimizing the losses. He

ordered all civilians into the bunker. One by one they started entering their hatches

and locking them up behind them. Some entered without waiting for the others and

left them out. Others died before reaching the hatches, leaving them open to the

enemy. Luckily, the Orcs and the Naga were too big to fit and fight in the narrow

passages. While the battle raged on outside, Alex and the rest of the leaders could

see everything from the drones flying around the battlefield. The Orcs and the Naga

were clearly being defeated.

Habo yelled for retreat, but his words froze on his lips. From all around the

battlefield, an army of Goblins was now blocking the path of the retreat of both

species.

“Stop firing!” said Alex. “Anais! How did you not see that huge army passing

by you?”

“What huge army? Nothing moved here. Just few scouts are going around,”

answered Anais.

Alex’s eyes opened wide. “They know you are there, and they snuck around!

Anais, they know where you are. Be very careful. Go hide.”

Clive’s Eagle and the Cerberus stopped firing. The Orcs and the Naga began

trying to hide with their backs on the human wall. Some tried climbing them in an

effort to avoid the spears that were flying toward them from the Goblins, who lost no

time before attacking. The Goblins, who were laughing in their advance. Goblins who

were finally capable of defeating three of their enemies at once with minimal losses.

Seeing the events unfolding, Alex decided to make an appearance. With a huge

sound blast from both the Cerberus and the Eagle, Alex’s voice began to speak as

he ascended from the top of the bunker. Half the sound was in Goblin, and half was

in Orc language, so both could understand him.

“Enough,” he said. “It’s time to stop this nonsense. Habo, take the leader of

your allies and come meet me at our gates. Ags, you too.”

The languages of all those species were very similar, as if they had all

branched out of one language. They had different accents and intonations, but they

all spoke each other’s language.

Ags spoke first from outside in Orcish. “You are not in control here, Alex of

the humans!” he yelled through a primitive loudspeaker. “This is our world! This is our

land. With your help, the Goblins will now be rid of our biggest enemies. And to think,

you did not want to help us kill them.” He laughed, causing his people to cheer and

feel empowered.

“You do not want us as your enemies, Ags. Put down your weapons and

come here so we can talk.”

Habo was looking shocked with the turn of events.

“We have nothing to talk about, Alex! If you think you are forgiven of the death

of my wife, you’re mistaken! You all think you are so smart, but it took very little to

make you fight each other while we organized.”

Both the Cerberus and the Eagle now turned, facing the Goblins.

“Ags, you are about to make a huge mistake. You cannot defeat us!” repeated

Alex. “We are not exhausted. We have barely begun using our technology.”

“Lies!” he yelled and then prompted his people to resume attacking. “For our

people!”

With this, the charge of the Goblins began. Waves of thousands of Goblins

began storming Argos. The Naga and the Orcs still out of the walls formed the first

unintentional line of defense. The Cerberus and Clive began emptying their weapons

on the new enemy. A few large ballista-like weapons fired simultaneously toward the

Eagle in an effort of pinning it down. Long chains wrapped around it, and Clive’s

Eagle crash landed. The Goblins quickly started filling every hole of the Eagle with

soil, sticks, and more, thus rendering it unable to take off again. They surely came

more prepared than expected.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked Clive and Steve through their communicators.

“We are fine. The Eagle is out, though. It will not take off.”

“Stay inside.” Then he switched to Bara, who was orchestrating the defenses

“What are the ammo levels of the Cerberus?”

“More than enough for the battle to end,” replied Bara. “Those Goblins,

however, are not Orcs; they are tiny and move fast. The effect is not the same.”

A few seconds later, Bara’s voice became troubled. “They are climbing on the

Cerberus, blocking everything with soil, branches, and ropes. The Cerberus will be

offline in a few seconds.”