“Okay, I don't know what's going on, but all of that was weird, right?” Jason, Corrine and Sam were in Jason’s room. After discovering what was in the garage and being caught by their parents, none of them could sleep. That, coupled with the appearance of the wolf creature, and the two boys, and Dye turning into an offshoot Mr. Hyde, there was a lot going on.

Once the fiasco died down, and their parent’s were back in their bedroom, Corrine and Sam snuck into Jason’s room. Sam was careful not to wake Dye, who had no issue getting back to sleep.

“It was definitely weird,” said Sam. “What’s going on here?”

Corrine was quiet. She was combing through all of the mess as efficiently as she could. Still, none of it made any sense. It was all happening too fast and the siblings felt as though they didn’t have much time to figure it out.

“That long hair dude said a whole army of those werewolves were coming for the sword. Why?”

“I think we’re missing the obvious question here,” said Sam.

“Which is?” Jason asked back.

Before Sam could answer, Corrine actually did it for him. “Why is that thing in the garage to begin with?”

“Exactly.”

Corrine was beginning to consider something as she pondered. Something that didn’t make any sense.

“When the binding broke I felt an intense amount of – something – coming off it.”

“Huh? What are you, a jedi or something?” asked Jason, trying to make a joke but it was ill timed. Corrine shot him a look that caused him to regret it.

“My gravity allows me to detect energy fields. That’s how I knew where to find that thing.”

“What do you mean by something?” Sam asked.

“I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it reminds me of Griflore.”

Sam looked at Jason. “I mean, that thing did look pretty Griflore-y to me.”

“Cut the jokes, this is serious,” said Sam.

“I know it’s serious. Werewolves, flying people, a dark sword but can we talk about the curly-haired, green-eyed elephant in the next room?”

“He wanted to kill that thing,” said Sam.

“Right, Dye has never been that aggressive before. He would’ve probably fought me had that thing not showed up.”

Corrine sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Guys, we are not going to figure all of this out now. I’m going to bed.”

“But, Corrine, this is important,” said Sam.

“Sure, but we don’t know what’s going on. Maybe asking Mom and Dad tomorrow about that thing can help us figure out what's happening.”

Jason yawned. He stretched and fell back on his doubled-up bed. “She’s right. I’m mentally drained and we have school tomorrow.”

Sam groaned. “Fine.”

Corrine left the room while Jason was nearing falling asleep. Sam was about to leave. He wanted to talk to Jason about Dye. He saw the look in Dye’s eye the moment he saw that blade.

Why at that though?

At that ghastly looking blade.

Why?

Was all of the things happening connected somehow?

Before long Sam heard the snoring of Jason. He had missed his opportunity. Perhaps if things didn’t worsen, then he could talk to Jason about what to do with Dye. Until then, he needed some sleep.

The morning came and no one was able to fall back asleep except Dye and Jason. Sam sat awake and stared at the ceiling of his room, listening to the soft sound of his brother sleeping. His body was exhausted but his mind kept him up. He wanted to get down to the bottom of what was going on, but he felt he didn’t have all the variables in place to come to a valid conclusion.

Corrine couldn’t get back to sleep either. She too was worried about what was happening and couldn’t fit all the pieces together. With everything that happened a few hours ago it was impossible to even close her eyes. So instead of wasting time she began studying. She flicked on the lamp at her desk, opened her book, and began working.

Jason was able to sleep for a little bit but soon he woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep. There had to be something that would help. He reached over to his phone and began scrolling through it. He opened the forum from which he got all of his weird and unexplained videos and that's when he remembered. There was footage of a blue werewolf, similar to the one they just saw, floating around. He quickly searched for it and when he found it he watched the brief video.

It was exactly the same creature, or at least it looked the same. He tried to see what else he could find and to his surprise he found a few more videos. Some of it was grainy and was hard to make out. Others were brief but were clear as day. Then he came across one that sparked his interest. US Military soldiers were seen investigating the corpse of one. Their limbs were removed and between glances Jason was able to see the dismembered body.

“What’s the military doing there?” he asked.

He clicked into the comment section and began reading. He scrolled through the obvious troll comments until he came to a few that sparked his interest.

“The US military is responsible for the release of these things. That’s why they’re trying to cover it up.”

“Sorry, bro, but that aint it.” said Jason, as he scrolled to the next one.

“What the military isn’t telling you is that along with these creatures alien space pods have been discovered all over the world. These are alien werewolves and the military is trying to hush it all up.”

“Right, alien werewolves,” Jason said with disbelief.

He spent the next few hours going through all he could find. He even tried to find anything he could on the dark sword that was in his garage. He wasn’t able to find anything though.

His alarm went off and now it was time to start getting ready for school.

Everyone was up and moving about as they usually did. Sam and Dye headed downstairs for breakfast while Corrine was already in the kitchen enjoying a cup of coffee. Mrs. Haven sat with her, though it was awkward, considering each of them had questions for the other but was too afraid to ask them, while Mr. Haven entered with the day’s paper. Sam and Dye entered the kitchen with Jason not too far behind.

When they were all together, everything went silent. Jason grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table. Corrine sipped her coffer. Mr. Haven read his paper. Dye peeled a banana while Sam stirred his oatmeal. The tension in the family kitchen was unbearable. Jason looked at each of them and waited to see if anyone would talk.

No one did.

“Okay! We just gonna sit around and pretend there’s not a blade of satan in our garage?” Jason said abruptly.

“You weren't supposed to see that,” Mrs. Haven replied calmly, drinking her coffee.

“What is it?” asked Sam.

“We don’t know,” Mr. Haven replied, casually reading his paper. “What were you doing outside at three in the morning anyway?”

When the question was flipped on them, the kids were silent. They couldn’t actually tell them what they did and saw, or what happened, or how they knew the blade was there.

“Like your mother said, you weren’t supposed to see that thing.” Mr. Haven said, responding to their silence.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Mrs. Haven set her coffee cup on the table. She wasn’t a fan of keeping secrets from her kids or husband. She understood, however, if lying was the only thing that could be used as a means to keep them safe then she would stomach the burden.

“That thing was given to me by my father.” Mrs. Haven said. Her husband shot her a look.

“You really want to go there?” he asked.

“It’s not right keeping this from them.” she replied.

“Fine!” He folded his paper.

“Your Grandfather passed it down to me when he died. As you know, he was an archaeologist of sorts, dabbling in the mystical and sometimes the ancient occult to learn the mysteries of life.” Mrs. Haven spoke of her father as though it was unbearable. Sam and Jason listened intently, while Dye, who listened intermittently, didn’t really know their grandfather as well as they knew their father’s father. That was probably due to the fact that he was on excursions around the world.

As she spoke, Corrine caught the distasteful tone in her voice. She knew her mother wasn’t really a fan of her dad.

“When he died, he gave that thing to me and gave me explicit instructions to never give it away. In fact, he told me to hide it and to pretend that it wasn't there.”

“Why would he tell you to do that?” asked Corrine.

“Listen, my father was delusional. He was insistent that someone or something was after it. He constantly watched over that thing like a hawk and the more he did, the more obsessed he became with it. I think that’s what finally killed him.”

“So did he find that thing in the temple of doom or something?” asked Jason. “I sincerely doubt he just dug that thing up.”

Mrs. Haven sighed. “Actually, he never told us where he got it.”

Sam exchanged looks with Corrine and Jason. When he looked at Dye he noticed he wasn’t even paying attention.

“So what happens now?” asked Sam, peeling his eyes away from Dye and returning them to his mom.

“I called your uncle. He’s going to take the thing for now, just at least until the sightings of these blue wolves die down.”

“Wait, why is Uncle Bobby taking it?” Jason asked almost immediately as he heard it. “Isn’t he just a paper pusher at the pentagon or something?”

“No, your uncle handles much, much more than you think,” Mr. Haven replied. “He’s fully equipped to ensure that the object is safe.”

Jason was hit with so many questions. What was Uncle Bobby into? His mind was going through all the theories and conspiracies that he believed his uncle could finally confirm or deny, or possibly both.

“You’re uncle saved our asses a few years ago. Which we can’t discuss with you due to military clearance and protocol and all that. But just know, he’s much more than a paper pusher.”

Jason’s mouth was dropped. “That’s so cool…”

There was a knock at the door. “That must be him now.” Mr. Haven said, getting up.

The rest of the family arose from their seats. The boys grabbed their bags while Corrine gathered the dishes.

When Mr. Haven opened the door, Uncle Bobby was standing on the porch, flanked by two soldiers.

“Mornin’ Russell,” he said.

The boys left the house and headed for the truck. They pretended that they didn’t just hear what they were told. In front of their house were two Humvees with six soldiers total waiting patiently inside them for further orders. Mr. Haven walked his brother and his flanked soldiers over to the garage.

As Jason, and Sam began getting into the truck, Dye, who was preoccupied on his phone, lost his focus. He looked up to see his father handing his uncle the object, wrapped in its cloth. The hilt of the object became exposed as the cloth wasn’t properly tied.

The faint ringing in Dye’s ears returned.

He began walking.

Jason and Sam closed the door to the truck, unaware that Dye wasn’t even in the vehicle. It didn’t occur to them where he was until they saw him steadily approaching Uncle Bobby.

“What’s he doing?” asked Jason.

It didn’t take long for Sam to recall what happened last night.

“He’s going after that thing again,” said Sam.

“What’s with him?” Jason opened the door and so did Sam. They both jumped out of the truck and tried to get Dye’s attention.

But it was worthless. Dye just moseyed on over to the weapon just as Uncle Bobby made small talk with his brother. Both unaware of the approaching teen. It was as though Dye was being drawn to the object. He was under a trance that wasn’t easily broken.

Sam and Jason rushed towards Dye, not sure why he wasn’t hearing them, and concerned with why he wanted that weapon so bad. Before they could reach him, a single finger touched the hilt and to Dye, it was like ecstasy. A rush of fulfillment enveloped his very soul. It was as though the object was his, and his very essence was complete.

Then, as though on command, the eye in the center of the blade flew open. It had a slit for a pupil and the eerie red glow it gave off gave everyone chills. Along with its hideous appearance, a high pitched frequency erupted everywhere. Sam and Jason, Uncle Bobby and Mr. Haven and all the soldiers covered their ears. Windows shattered, both on homes and on cars.

But Dye didn’t seem to notice.

To him, none of this was happening. He was unaware and unconcerned with anything that didn’t have to do with the object.

It fell and the cloth covering it was blown off like the actual noise it was producing just blew it off. Dye smirked fiendishly as he marched towards it. As he did, the eye in the center looked as though it was staring right back at him, enticing him to pick it up. The red eye glowed more as Dye got closer.

One of his eyes looked as though it had no white in it. It could’ve been due to the early morning and lack of light, but the side of his face where his eye was blackened, his face looked to be discolored as well. He looked almost two faced in the literal sense and as he knelt down to obtain the object, something else happened.

Loud booming noises erupted in the sky. One after the other they continued until cigar shaped vessels melted into view, as though they had always been there, just invisible.

The eye on the blade closed up and the frequency ceased. Dye was brought back to his senses. His face had returned to normal but he couldn’t remember why he was so enticed with the object. As he was regaining himself, he looked up and noticed the otherworldly ships in the sky.

“What’s happening?” he asked, looking up.

Jason and Sam looked up only to see nothing but black steel ships blocking out the light of the sun.

Uncle Bobby and Mr. Haven saw the ships as well. Uncle Bobby wasn’t at all surprised at the appearance of the vessels. Mr. Haven, on the other hand, couldn’t look away. That’s when he caught the sight of his wife on the porch staring up at the ships. Her face wasn’t of utter shock or concern. It was more like ‘expecting.’

“Whoa, Dude,” said Jason. “Are we being invaded right now?”

Tiny black swarms seem to escape all of the ships. They whizzed around in the sky and then at a moment's notice they redirected and headed straight for the Haven house.

“EVERYONE! GET INSIDE!” cried Mr. Haven, who began running towards the house. He saw his wife retreat inside almost instantly.

Shots rained down from above stopping him from reaching the house. He turned around and that’s when Uncle Bobby snatched him and retreated inside the garage.

“This is General Robert Michael Haven. I need air support at this location –” As Uncle Bobby gave his location, Dye, Jason and Sam retreated behind their truck. The remaining soldiers took up arms and readied their weapons. The pods swooped through the residential area and blue furred wolves leaped off and started rampaging through the neighborhood. Dye saw the creatures breaking into houses, his neighbors being chased from their homes by the unending army of menacing aliens.

One of them landed on the truck, startling the three boys. One of the soldiers shot it immediately, killing it. Unfortunately that soldier was taken by another beast almost instantly just as the remaining soldiers emptied their magazines.

“Shit! We gotta do something!” said Jason.

“We can’t armor up. Dad and Uncle Bobby will see us.” said Sam.

“Who cares!” said Dye, covering his head. “We’re being invaded by alien werewolves. What the hell are we supposed to do?”

Sam contemplated.

The Xenton were needed right at this very second.

“Forget it! I’ll do it myself!” said Dye.

He saw a Coalt heading towards the object lying on the ground. Dye got to his feet and was about to use his speed to get to it first, but then the fabric in space tore open. Its bright white light caught the attention of everyone and everything present. The Coalts descended on the disturbance like moths to a flame, growling and barking at the portal.

Stepping through was a person in black armor with a massive stature and intimidating presence. When the portal closed, he cracked his knuckles, released the knots in his neck, and balled his fist.

“I don’t believe it,” said Sam, happy to see his brother.

Mack looked at his brothers and then at his uncle and father.

“You!” he said to Uncle Bobby. “I need you to get that thing out of here!” He pointed at the object. “I’ll make a path for you. When I say go, you go!”

Uncle Bobby understood, so did Mr. Haven

He turned back to his brothers, as though he wanted to tell them something, but instead he looked towards the army of foul-mouthed monsters staring him down.

“ALRIGHT! WE’RE READY!” Mack shouted as loud as he could.

For a moment, His brothers believed him to be initiating the fight. Instead, something else happened.

A bronze blur tore through the streets, plowing through the beasts that littered the residential neighborhood. The blur circled around and did it again, removing more of the blue-furred obstacles.

“NOW!”

Uncle Bobby and Mr. Haven got up, grabbed the object, being sure to grab it by the cloth, and got into one of the humvees.

“GET IN THE HOUSE AND STAY THERE!” Mr. Haven ordered his kids.

“What? What about you?” Questioned Dye.

“PROTECT YOUR MOTHER AND SISTER! DO YOU HEAR ME?”

The remaining soldiers followed their superior officer, started the engines and burnt rubber to get away. The Coalts got to their feet, saw the two vehicles take off and didn’t hesitate to pursue, leaving the resident street in ruin.

“Mack, how did you know what was happening?”

“Arayan,” he replied. “Also, we have help.”

The blur returned but this time it stopped. Standing in their driveaway was another Xenton. Jason, Sam and Dye had looks of utter surprise all over their faces.

“Who is that?” asked Jason, not taking his eyes away.

The Xenton stood with a female posture. Though armored, the boys could tell they were a girl. Upon her face was the Quailocian symbol for fire but unlike Dye who wore golden armor, hers was bronze and came with a design that was unlike his. Sleek, form fitting, and more agile looking than his ensemble.

“Yo, big Mack Attack, any idea where they’re going?” she asked.

“Not a clue! But we need to make sure those things don’t get their hands on that sword,” Mack replied.

“How do you know ab—” Sam was cut off by his brother.

“Talk later! Right now armor up and let’s get to work!” he said.

The new Xenton blurred away while Mack broke a huge chunk of earth out of the ground. He boarded it like a platform and made it levitate.

“What about Corrine?” asked Dye.

“She’ll catch up!” said Mack, taking off down the street.