”Are you sure?” Kark asked Mettan

Mettan walked onto the island. The air was so thick with tension that he had to force his way through it. Every Elementalist was vying for control of the environment. If someone didn’t calm them down, someone was going to get hurt.

“You would have trouble projecting through the water coffin.” Mettan whispered to his cousin, “It was a dimensional pocket.”

“Can he get back?” Kark asked,

“You can only exit a dimensional pocket close to someone attuned to the pocket,” Feletis answered. He nodded to Kark, “He’s gone for now, but we must calm the troops.”

Mettan looked around. The tension was only getting worse. Someone had to do something and they needed to do it fast.

Kark looked at Andrew, “You’re the Triftion.” He nodded at the crowd around them.

Andrew blinked, “You want me to?”

Mettan pushed Andrew forward. The human had big shoes to fill. He might as well start now.

Andrew stumbled as he was moved in front of the group. He cleared his throat and looked out at the crowd. He turned around and dropped his voice, “They aren’t all English. Can they understand me?”

“Implants.” Kark tapped his jaw, “They’ll understand.”

“Ah.” Andrew turned back around. His hands were sweating. His shoulders trembled slightly as he took a deep breath.

“I don’t know any of you.” Andrew began, “But we have something in common.” He turned a circle so he could look at everyone, “Three days ago we were just humans. Elves, Dragons, and Magic were just things in fairy tales. Now we have seen all those and more.”

Andrew cleared his throat, his voice was getting stronger, and his stance was straighter, “We had our problems. There were wars, and our economies were bad. We had families, jobs, lives, and routines.” Sadness began to creep into his voice, “Our problems don’t seem so bad anymore. Our disagreements with each other don’t matter. We have a new problem.”

Andrew looked at Kark. He dropped his voice, “Can you?- “

“I’ll do it,” Feletis said, then he vanished.

Andrew turned back to the crowd, “We have stepped onto the Galactic level and we aren’t ready. We are coming to a game that the rest of the players have been playing for longer than any of us have been alive.

The Image of the Dark Legion Fleet appeared above them. Andrew gestured at the ships, “The Dark Legion has sent an army to conquer Earth and add it to their empire. They have more training. Better technology.” He scanned the crowd, “They think we are weak, that we don’t know how to use our powers.” He let out a cautious breath, “They would be right.”

Audible whispers darted through the crowd.

Andrew rose into the air. Fire bloomed out of his palms. The water in the reservoir began to swirl as the ground trembled. Silence choked the whispers, letting the only noise be the ones that Andrew’s powers were making.

“They think because we can’t use our powers as well as they can that we are weak!” Andrew's voice thundered, “They think that we are going to run from the fight.”

We will not run!” Andrew yelled

Cheers ran through the crowd

“We will stand by our brothers, our sisters, our fathers, our mothers, and our friends! And if we lose our freedom today, then it will be because these monsters pried it from our bloody hands!” Andrew sent fire through the image of the fleet. It flickered then vanished, “I can’t tell you to fight, but I choose to stand between this evil and all of those who are too young, too old, or not strong enough to defend themselves.” He scanned the crowd before bellowing, “Who is with me?!”

The crowd cheered. Fear was replaced with anticipation. Tension melted into unity. The crowd was no longer a powder keg waiting to explode. It was a beast ready to fight. A beast that had its prey in sight.

“The ships are breaking the atmosphere.” Kark’s voice was calm, but it silenced the crowd. “We will split you up into teams to cover the best area.”

“Where are we going?” Alex asked from Mettan’s side.

Mettan turned around. His apprentice had moved as silently as a cat to get that close to him, even with his attention on the speech.

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“Each Elder will take a group of Elementalists,” Mettan answered

“That’s only six groups.” Alex said, “Will that be enough?”

“No.” Mettan didn’t see a point in lying, “If we can beat the major drop points then we can at least slow down the invasion.”

Mettan nodded at the four Elders. Kark had moved each one to a side of the island and was divvying the Elves behind them. The human apprentices were falling behind their masters. Soon everyone was split up. His apprentices had moved onto the island behind him.

“Good luck!” Kark shouted as he waved at them.

Each of the four Elders closed their eyes. Mettan could feel the magic in the air that they were reaching for. It felt like cold static electricity was crawling over his skin. He had never been this close to this much magic being used at once.

“What are they doing?” Paige’s voice dared to escape through her lips.

“Watch,” Kark said in a low voice.

Mettan turned to watch. He was used to Zeus just popping up whenever Kark needed the old red Dragon. No other Mage had such fine control over summoning their Guardian. For the rest of them, it required focus.

Dumas was the first one to complete his summoning portal. The ground in front of him flickered. A white disk ten feet wide spread in front of him, then a huge red paw shot out of the pool.

The humans, even the Elf Soldiers backed away as a ten-foot-tall; one-ton red bear crawled out of the pool. Liquid fire drooled off of his lips as he looked around. His roar rippled gooseflesh up Mettan’s arms. Hellbears were illegal to summon to become Guardians. Somehow Dumas had found one that had been summoned and had convinced the Elders to let him bond with it as his graduation trial.

Mettan tilted his head in salute to Dumas’ strength. The aged Elder returned the salute, then his group was gone in a flash of light.

Xannah finished her portal next, except there was no portal. The temperature in the air dropped drastically as a Unicorn looking creature materialized out of a flurry of snow that swirled around her.

The majestic creature arced on its back legs as it let out a bone-chilling roar. The Guardian was over a thousand years old, an age that was only attainable because it had been the Guardian to many Mages before Xannah had picked it.

Xannah must have noticed that he was looking at her. She turned up her nose and vanished with her group.

The twins summoned their Guardians at the same time. In front of the male twin, the pool looked like water. The Kharm leaped out of the portal and landed in front of his charge. It had silver skin covering its smooth shark features. Kharm were bipeds, but their shark features were unmistakable. Their faces were elongated and rows of teeth lined their mouth. Yellow cat’s eyes in his skull darted around the scenery. A dorsal fin started at the base of his skull and ran down his spine. Gills lined his neck, but they remained shut since he was on land. His muscles bulged as his webbed feet dug into the soft dirt of the garden.

The other twin’s portal spit out a ball of light the size of a VW bug. It clicked and whirred like a hummingbird, dancing around her head. Mettan had never seen anything like that before. It was probably something from Faire territory. A place where non-Fae never went. Their systems were surrounded by asteroid belts. Only the strongest pilots dared to go in or out of that death trap.

Both of the twins snapped their fingers and then they were gone.

“Ready?” Kark asked,

“We don’t get backup?” Alex asked,

“You have me and the Triftion.” Feletis purred from behind the group, “We don’t need backup.”

Mettan watched as the humans all flinched. It was normal for a mage to sneak up on someone. It was coded in their DNA. They enjoyed creeping people with all of their tricks.

Mettan nodded towards Kark. “Do you know where we are going?”

“They are at the White House in North America.” Feletis answered

Mettan turned to the older Vita, “Are you sure?”

“I scried while at the tower.” Feletis growled, “You don’t trust me?”

“Hey!” Paige waved her hands

They all turned to look at the young blonde. She blushed under the attention.

“Yes?” Kark asked

“Um.” Paige bit her lip, “Who is ‘they’?”

“Stilas and Demetrius.” Feletis pulled his staff out of the arm of his robe. “We have to kill them.”

Paige nodded slowly then melted back to stand under Caleb’s sheltering form.

“You don’t expect us to kill them?” Caleb stepped forward.

Feletis turned to the human mage. “The Dark Legion has been after Atlantis for centuries. Those two have just handed Earth to the Dark Legion.” His glare forced Caleb to take a step back. “I will not let them live to hand those power-hungry beasts our home as well.”

“What about our home!” Alex shouted. He pushed his way up to Feletis, “You’re going to sacrifice our homes to save yours!? I thought the Dark Legion were the monsters.”

Feletis turned around and froze Alex in his tracks. Mettan thought about stepping in but decided against it. It wasn’t smart to cross the old mage. Plus Alex could use the lecture he was about to get.

Rage bubbled out of Feletis, “Sacrifice?!?” His voice threatened anyone to intervene, “SACRIFICE?!? What do you know of sacrifice?”

Feletis poked Alex in the chest, “I was born on Earth. I watched as the Elders banished all of us from our homes because you humans were too weak to say no to the darkness.” He jabbed his finger again, “I’ve lost my home, my family, and my people. I’ve spent more years than you will live attending the funerals.” Tears filled his eyes, “Don’t talk to me about sacrifices.”

“I didn’t know.” Alex whispered

“Feletis wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, “Atlantis must stand. We are going to lose Earth today. We can take it back, but only if we hold Atlantis.” He looked at Mettan, “Demetrius has to die.”

Mettan nodded. He was ready for the fight this time.

Feletis looked at the group, “Are you ready?”

All the humans nodded. Feletis turned to Kark, “Lead the way.”