~~~Alejandro~~~

"I just have to..." Lee said, then trailed off as his eyes glazed over.

It was a look that Alejandro was growing accustomed to, as it happened whenever his new brother started focusing on mana instead of using his eyes. Alejandro was still watching a moment later when Lee's face tensed up and his eyes widened.

"Inside!"

Lee took off running, and Alejandro followed close behind, pulling his sword and regretting that he hadn't taken one of the other shields since his own was a twisted lump of metal.

He didn't see whatever had spooked Lee, but he trusted that something serious was happening. Then Lee slid to a stop while spinning around.

Alejandro spun and saw a horrifying... his head shot through with a dull pain, and... there was nothing. My allies are overreacting. They must be tired.

A thunderclap of noise and light slammed into him, and Alejandro blinked at the sudden change in his surroundings.

-1 All Base Attributes

Debuff Removed: [Dream Drain]

You have discovered a Hidden Invasion. Contributions Earned. Defeat the Invaders to Receive your Rewards.

"Ahhh!" Something fell away from his face, and Alejandro looked up at the towering nightmare looming above him. A four fingered… hand, or claw, with what looked like a mouth in the palm, reached for his face again. Hundreds of tiny, squirming tentacles surrounded the maw, tentacles that ended in barbed hooks, hooks that glistened with small drops of blood. His blood!

Shield Slam

Alejandro activated one of his skills with a thought, and his crumpled mess of a shield lit up even as he drove it against the reaching horror coming at his face.

His sword swung out, reaching for another nightmare hand that came behind the first. "Lee!" Before he could intercept the attack or risk a glance at Lee, something slammed into the side of his head.

Alejandro stumbled and looked around. He was sitting up in his bed. What a strange nightmare. He must be exhausted to have such a strange dream... but it was already fading.

I am safe here. I should sleep while I can. But that dream… It was only a nightmare. Everything is fine here. He looked around the room again. The only window was small, and it was dark outside. Nothing can get in. The door was secure. Everything was as it should be. No... Something was missing... I am just tired. I should sleep now; I'll feel better in the morning.

Something was missing! Something important! I am just... No! Two small faces flashed into his mind. Who are... I am tired. WHO!? His head was pounding. A deep throbbing pain. Where are they? The room was getting darker. He was so tired.

"NO!"

-1 All Base Attributes

Debuff Partially Resisted: [Dream Drain]

Light burst around him, and Alejandro looked up once again at the looming monster. Small dog-like creatures were climbing over it, stabbing and biting at anything they could reach.

"Trak!" He saw the anubi drive a dagger into the monster's...

Pain throbbed through his head, and Alejandro looked down at the soft and inviting bed. He should sleep; his head would... No! I will not forget!

The two small faces burned brighter than ever inside his mind, a woman's face hovering behind them. I Will Not! Instincts that he couldn't remember activated...

Unyielding Guardian

Debuff Removed: [Dream Drain]

Alejandro screamed as something ripped away from his face, and the sounds of howling crashed into his ears. He tried to swing his blade at the monster, but couldn't move.

A glance revealed another of the 'hands', holding his arm at the wrist in an iron grip. His hand holding the sword looked and felt terrible. Shriveled and almost mummified.

Last Stand

Energy burst through him, spreading out from his core and revitalizing his hand. On a timer now.

Another of the monster's hands held onto his shield in a similarly unshakeable grip, while another was still trying to get past his skill and grab onto his head. How many hands does it have?

Shield Slam

Power surged through his arm and into the shield, breaking the hold and driving it forward into the creature. The monster's body barely moved under his blow, and instead, it forced Alejandro back a step.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to break his sword arm free, and he staggered as the grip on his arm dragged him to a stop. But as he fell back and away, Alejandro finally got a look at what was happening and what exactly he was fighting.

The monster stood over ten feet tall. Two thin legs and six equally thin and much longer arms that ended in the same tentacle mouth hands. It was almost humanoid in its shape, and atop the torso was an oblong head that had no facial features other than two large black eyes on the gray skin. "Dios mio!"

As it turned slightly with the force of his shield slam, Alejandro saw Trak was still attacking it, now clinging to its back and driving a small knife repeatedly into it while howling. "Die! Die! Die!" Alejandro could barely hear the translation over the screaming noise, which sounded like it was going directly into his brain. Another of the anubi was stabbing its way up the creature's legs.

Shield Slam

This time, he attacked the limb holding his sword-hand. He thought he heard a crack, and then his sword was free. Alejandro swung, and the monster lurched back a step to avoid the blade. He took the small moment of breathing room to risk a look around and saw two more of the Anubi dragging Lee towards the ramp leading down into the garage on his right. What happened to him?

A huge, gaping hole ran through the perimeter wall behind the monster. A wide swath where it was just... gone. That noise! The torn edges of the gap were glowing, and molten stone ran in rivulets down towards the ground.

Another anubi was on the ground to his left side; this one shriveled up like his hand had been. It wasn't moving.

The monster took advantage of his momentary distraction to bend two long arms behind its back in a disturbingly unnatural way and finally caught Trak in one hand, then snared the one on its leg with another.

The second anubi snarled while biting and stabbing at the hand holding him, then shuddered and went limp. Trak sank his small knife deep into the hand holding him, and the limb snapped out, launching him away and into the wall behind Alejandro with a crunch and a yelp.

"No!" Alejandro shouted and lunged with his blade, reaching out for its flesh.

One alien arm swung down and batted his sword aside, but not without damage. It screamed again as blue blood sprayed from the stump. He wondered for a second how it could scream with no mouth, and then remembered the hands.

The stump of an arm stopped bleeding far too quickly, right as Trak charged back in, now limping. Meanwhile, the anubi still clutched in the monster's hand shriveled further.

The drain... Alejandro realized too late that it was healing itself by sucking the life out of them.

Trak howled and threw himself at the hand holding his pack mate, or maybe family member…

Alejandro charged in himself and was smacked back once again by two of its arms that landed on his shield and armor with punishing force. Two other hands latched onto Trak, one catching the small body and pinning the arms while the other closed over his head. Trak went limp, and Alejandro remembered that strange dream-like attack it had used on him. "No!"

He took one step, and then something plummeted out of the sky above the monster.

It must have seen or sensed something, because it lurched to one side as a flash of red light streaked past.

One of the thin arms dropped free in a spray of blue blood from the stump, and his beautiful wife landed on her feet under the spray.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The glowing red blade in her hand lashed out in a lightning quick slash, forcing the monster back another step. It screamed even as Maria ducked under another flailing arm and stood up with a limp anubi body in her free hand.

Alejandro saw the light of her healing flash repeatedly over the small form in her hand, even as she spun around another blow and threw the anubi into the air, towards the garage.

Alejandro was running towards her, trying to activate his skill as three more arms closed around his wife. Then she vanished in a blur, and Alejandro saw her appear next to the anubi that she had just thrown towards the building.

She caught the dog-like body and set him down on top of Lee, who was being dragged down the ramp now.

"Mi Amor!" She truly was amazing.

Alejandro had a moment to see her touch Lee and her healing light pulse, and then his attention was forced back onto the monster in front of him. He blocked one hand with his shield and forced a second back with the threat of his runed blade separating the limb. The third caught him in the gut and lifted him from his feet, while the fourth just missed his head.

The fifth arm was holding Trak by his head, and Alejandro saw the stump of its severed arm had stopped bleeding and even looked as if it were regrowing. I need to get Trak free! He had an idea and gave it a shot.

Get Behind Me

More power drained from his core, and Alejandro's body moved in a blur into the space between the monster and Trak. His sword, held out in preparation for the move, sank deep into the monster's torso, and Alejandro hauled it sideways with all his strength, dragging the weapon through its flesh before it could retreat.

Blows rained down on his back and head as the screaming intensified, but if there was one thing Alejandro had only gotten better at, it was taking a hit. He endured and kept cutting even as the alien limbs wrapped tighter around him.

Trak and his small family of Anubi had charged in to fight this monstrosity, to save him and Lee. One of them might have already died to save them... Alejandro would not let the monster have anymore. He roared his defiance and ripped the sword sideways in a spray of blue blood.

Shield Slam

Alejandro once again used the scraps of his shield to strike the monster in the arm that was holding Trak. Something crunched, and Trak fell to the ground, free of its hand and life drain.

The monster didn't like that, and giant hands grabbed and struck at him from all sides, trying to latch on and drain his life instead.

Buff Gained. [Improved Regeneration]x3

The monster screamed as Maria returned and dropped a few of her heals on him. A red light flashed, and Alejandro felt the encircling arms spasm and let up slightly.

Shield Slam

The blow forced him and the monster apart, and he saw it was missing another arm, and Trak was gone. Alejandro started backing towards the garage. His Last Stand was fading, and he was feeling each hit drain more of his energy.

His hand on the sword was also going numb as the monster took one large step, and four arms came at him from all sides. Then Maria was back, appearing next to him in a flash of red light as her knife removed a hand that was grasping for his face.

Another scream echoed in his head, and Alejandro was forced to step back again, hiding behind his lump of a shield while his sword threatened to slip from his steadily weakening right arm.

"¡Entra en el edificio!" Maria yelled and hauled him back.

Alejandro blocked two attacks, and Maria spun around him to remove the third incoming hand at the wrist. She visibly slowed after the flash of red light, and Alejandro yelled back over the screaming. "You get inside!"

His wife could fight better than most, but he knew she was pushing hard and couldn't keep up this pace.

Maria glared at him as she jumped away from the monster, but continued backing away. Together they retreated, and Alejandro watched in sick horror as the monster plucked up one of its severed hands and stuck it back onto the stump. It held the hand in place for a second, then let go and lifted the apparently healed limb and the other two remaining hands towards them.

"Not good!" It could still heal without an active drain! Even the hole he'd left in its guts was almost gone.

A banana sailed over Alejandro's head and smacked the thing in the face… It splattered and splashed against the thing's face as if it were rotten, and then it sizzled as smoke started drifting up from where it had landed.

The screaming intensified, and one of the monster's hands reached out to wipe away the banana that was melting its face, while the other two reached for Alejandro and Maria.

It started running at them in huge ground eating strides.

"Run!" Alejandro planted his feet and braced himself to meet the charge. It would not get... Something yanked on his armor and dragged him backwards in a dizzying whirl until he crashed to a stop on his back inside the garage. He scrambled to his feet as his mana refilled and saw the monster sprint into the building, slightly stooped to avoid hitting its head on the low ceiling at the entrance.

It took a few more steps towards them before the building shuddered around them and an old fire sprinkler pipe on the ceiling suddenly sprang to life.

The pipe lashed out and wrapped around the monster's neck, dragging it to a halt. The monster reached for the pipe, and loud cracking sounds shook the air as rebar burst from the cement above and below it. The metal bars stabbed into and through the creature, pinning its feet to the floor and snaring all but one arm before sinking into the thing's head.

Somehow, the monster still didn't die and kept grasping at the metal.

Then the building ripped it into pieces... and it finally died.

Right as three more of the nightmare creatures appeared from nowhere, sprinting toward Lee...

More pipes and rebar lashed out before they got anywhere near him, stabbing, tearing, and trapping the monsters in place.

Alejandro didn't waste the opportunity and charged back in. He caught the one remaining free arm that reached for his head with his shield and, with a yell, cut it clean off. The runes on his sword dimmed as he chopped the monsters apart with the building's help. One after another died until, with a final blow against another arm, the runes winked out and the blade sank only halfway through before catching on the bone. Assuming they had bones...

May stepped up beside him with a shining steel blade and brought it down like an axe against one of the creature's legs. The leg parted under the blow, and blue blood sprayed on the cement as the blacksmith methodically went to work. The sword rose and fell in hammer-like blows against the monster, and when she stopped, the thing was in a dozen pieces and no longer moving.

A few heartbeats later, a glowing core fell into the pool of gore beneath the monster that was still dangling in fragments from the pipes and rebar.

Alejandro grinned at May and turned to check on the others. He saw Maria leaning over Lee. Trak was awake and also there, holding up a small bottle to Lee's lips.

"This will make him sleep!" he barked. "I can't heal the mana burn, but he must rest!"

Maria nodded and stood up while the anubi poured the potion into Lee's clenched teeth. Alejandro saw the old man's wide eyes flutter and then close as his whole body visibly relaxed.

"Is Ratch..." Trak was looking up at Maria when he started to ask something, but she shook her head. Trak nodded and looked down, a keening whine coming from him and the other anubi.

They lost one of their family members. How long did they fight while I just stood there? He had been leery of the anubi, wondering about their loyalties and whether they were trustworthy. But now...

Maria walked back up to him, and Alejandro noticed that one of her arms looked off. She was holding it tight to her body with the other hand. She dragged me inside with her skill. It’s probably dislocated.

Maria drove her shoulder into his chest and grimaced as her arm popped back into the socket. Alejandro put his arms around her and held her close. "Mi Amor..."

Something flickered in his peripheral vision, and two more of the monsters appeared, charging down the ramp while a blood-curdling scream echoed from somewhere outside.

Alejandro let Maria go and hefted his sword with a weary arm.

It was unnecessary.

The building once again snared the monsters, this time starting with the feet and toppling the charging creatures. As soon as it mostly pinned them down, May was there, chopping pieces of them off.

Anubi descended on the other one a heartbeat later. A howling storm of knives, teeth, and claws.

"There are more out there." Alejandro looked into his wife's eyes and saw that she understood what he needed to do. "I have to go."

"Eat this first." Dennis held out a banana for him.

Alejandro was slightly dubious after seeing the face-melting banana from before, but he trusted the man and quickly chowed down.

Buff Gained: [Second Wind Banana]

Energy rushed into him with each bite, his fatigue fading noticeably. "Thank you!"

The man was visibly glowing with lines of light beneath his skin as another banana formed in his hands. He looked a lot like Lee in that moment...

May stepped up next to her husband and held out the shiny sword that she had been using. "Upgrade."

Alejandro took it and gave the blade a few practice swings. It was a simple straight sword with no embellishments, and after seeing it in action, it was definitely an upgrade over the old ones.

"Thanks, I..." He cocked his head and looked outside through the metal bars that lined the garage. "It's too quiet out there... Is no one fighting?"

"We didn't see the message until we actually saw the monsters," May said, and Alejandro saw Maria nodding in agreement as she accepted the new banana from Dennis.

Alejandro remembered something from when Lee promoted him to general; he'd had no need of it until now.

Emergency Quest Issued by Alejandro Morales(General): [Defend the Fort]

We are under attack! Invisible monsters are inside the walls! Barricade inside, if possible. Building 3 is a safe place to go if you are outside!

Everyone flinched slightly when he issued the quest.

You have successfully alerted the entire fort to a Hidden Invasion. Contributions Earned.

"We go," Maria said, quickly finishing the banana as she headed for the ramp outside.

"But..." Alejandro started, and she glanced back at him with a look that dared him to say something. "The children," he whispered.

"Others guard upstairs," Maria said. "Martin with them."

Alejandro struggled to think of a way to keep his wife safely inside, but with Martin standing guard...

"I'm coming too." May had grabbed another of the new swords from somewhere, and she stopped to give Dennis a quick hug. The man was sweating and shaking, with faint lines of light still under his skin.

"We need to spread out and watch each other," May said after the hug. "That thing had you helpless while it fought the others."

Alejandro remembered the dream-like state. "Yes..." That was a good point.

[Emergency Quest Update] Move in groups! Monsters can get in your head and kill you if you are alone!

Alejandro glanced at Lee, lying on the floor.

"We'll take care of him," Dennis said. "I'm mostly useless without the mana in here, but I can look after him while you fight."

"We will protect him with our lives if necessary!" Trak barked, and the other anubi brandished small knives in some kind of salute, all of them encircling the unconscious man.

"Let's get him upstairs and avoid that," Dennis said, and he started moving with a few others to carry the old man to the stairwell.

Alejandro and the two women with him all moved up the ramp at a jog, weapons ready.