CHAPTER 1
No Quiet Night
The night was unusually dark yet warm. The cries and calls of creatures echoed off into the distance and darkness of the tall forest. The fog rolled in down below the great city walls. Above the wind howled, screaming, over the fortified walkway between two large towers that stand guard over the large wooden entrance. Several train tracks leading out of the Kingdom, rusted and unused since the war between societies, disappeared under the thick canvas of trees. The old vine covered lamps no longer lighting its way almost serving as grave markers along its old tracks. Their solace and darkness gave the way into the forest an eerie look of desolation. The thick dark clouds overhead began to bleed its heavy cries upon the land. Beating against the stone walkway all around the sentry as he looked off into the dark forest.
"Marcus." Scott called out to him through the pouring rain.
Marcus, standing in the rain, wearing a dark grey hooded poncho, dark blue military fatigues and plated boots. His large rifle barrel jutted out as it hung to his right side. His skin slightly tan suggesting his ancestors were of Latino descent. Turned leaning against the stone wall. His hat peeking out just past his hood beaded off droplets of rain as he looked over the kingdoms many small towns and cities. The lamps and street lights winding their way up towards the Kingdom's center. Large lights and burning torches lined the walls. Small prattles of gun fire from the nearest town to their gates. It was a peaceful night Marcus thought.
"Marcus?" Scott called again.
Scott emerged from the darkness to join his partner out on the wall to stand watch. Marcus was smoking a cigarette lost in his own thoughts. He didn't hear the tall man's calls to him until a heavy hand placed onto his shoulder shook him from his mental prison.
"What are you doing out here all by your lonesome, weirdo?", the man asked looking at his illuminated watch. "We still had ten minutes before we needed to relieve those fucks."
The rain had stopped suddenly and the sky broke with rays of moonlight.
Scott was older than Marcus, yet strong and oddly intimidating. He, maybe half a foot taller than Marcus, stood clenching his semiautomatic shotgun in his left hand. He was dragging a smoke with his right. The glow from the cherry lit up his stern face. Thick dark eyebrows, thin dark eyes illuminated in the orange glow behind the cigarette. Scandinavian descendant due to his light skin and demeanor. He was wearing dark green pants, plated boots, a thick heavy gun belt lined with shell carriers, a thick blade at the small of his back, and a black waterproof hoodie to keep him dry.
"I don't know man. I felt like just getting out here early and have a moment to myself."
"You sure, I'll go check on the other tower and leave you to your thoughts if you want, brother."
Marcus smiled slightly and returned glaring out into the night. "No, you're fine."
"Alright, brother." Scott replied squinting at his young partner. He produced from his shoulder pockets two cigarettes handing one to Marcus. Marcus flicked its finished butt over the side. They both lit their smokes as they listened to the screams and roars of the night from the forest before them.
"You ever wondered what it was like before all, this?", Marcus broke the silence.
"You ever wonder what is coming after all, this?", Scott replied.
The two looked at each other and chuckled for a moment.
"I mean; they had completely different animals and the food chain was in the Humans favor. Now we can't walk out there without being heavily armed. A basilisk could come from nowhere and fucking eat you. Hell, we are fucked if a Chimera shows up ..."
Scott's glance cut through the night. Marcus caught himself immediately. "Sorry brother, I know you ran into one back during the War of Ascension."
Scott said nothing. He gazed out into the Jungle taking a long drag from his cigarette before flicking it over the side of the wall. "I'm going to check on the other tower. I'll be right back."
Scott walked with almost a sway in his step, feeling definitively older than he should as he made his way down the old brick and stone pathway on top of the great wall.
"Hey brother!", Marcus yelled to Scott.
He stopped and turned. "Yeah?"
"Wanna get drunk after this?"
"As we should, but ... aren't we already drunk?", Scott gestured, shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh yeah," Marcus laughed.
A subtle whining, as if a turbine was powering up, called both their attention. Marcus picked his rifle up under his poncho. Searching for the origin of the noise. It was coming from the forest. Scott picked his weapon up slightly as he peered over the wall into the forest.
"Boss, this is tower one, our thermals just went white, you see anything out there, over?"
"Tower one, we got some humming noise, tower two, status, over.", Scott replies.
"Tower two, yeah we have the same shit as one, thermals are white, whatever the hell it is, it's burning out our sights, night vis has nothing, motion sensors are picking up normal patterns of life. Want us to send some lume?"
Scott squinted trying as hard as he could to see into the forest. "Yeah, send one from you and tower one, base of the tree line. Light her up."
"This is tower one, roger."
"Tower two, roger."
Scott and Marcus waited as the towers prepared to fire. The massive multi-barreled cannons rotated with heavy clunks as they locked into position.
"Prepare for shot, over."
Scott, clearly irritated, called over the net.
"Just shoot the mother fuckers, and call up to Post and have a mobile crew on standby."
Before anyone could reply, a red beam of intense heat fired out of the darkness of the forest. The thin light drew a line across the base of the second tower into the first tower. The beam was gone just as quickly as it appeared, Scott and Marcus looked down, and radio chatter begin to come over their net. The wooden gate caught fire, the stone started to grow brighter and brighter as it turned into a bubbling molten form. Scott reached for Marcus, the gate and towers exploded from the line from the red beam. The towers folded forward and fell. The door blew inward. Marcus and Scott were sent through the air only to slam into the wet grass as debris fell around them.
Scott picked himself up from the heavy indent he just made with his face, back, and whatever else decided to hit the ground as he landed. The sound of engines, turbine in nature, sophisticated and clean running quietly, hummed over the noise of hardening molten rock and the blaze of fire from the tall wooden gate that lay in pieces for several hundred meters. Alarms sounded all over the Kingdom. Scott could hear them over each other faintly.
"This is not a test, multiple attacks on fortified walls, Dragonares, Old Guard, Boltiers, Gun Walzer territories have been affected. War posture now in effect. War Posture now in effect ..." The message continued with breaks in between sentences as the air raid sirens screamed out into the rapidly illuminating cities and towns.
"What in the fuck?", Scott grunted.
He was covered in mud, angrily wiping his hood back, checking his shotgun. He turned to see the damage caused by the beam. The towers lay in rubble towards the forest, like arms reaching out to embrace mother once again. The fires upon the remains of the door, looked like stars scattered across the sky. Scott drew in the air, and a grin split his face as he tossed both pieces of his broken weapon into the mud. Marcus grunted and moaned over exaggeratedly as he gets up to a knee leaning on his rifle.
"What the fuck was that?", Marcus groaned out.
"I have a feeling we are about to find out real soon", Scott said as he stood ready, searching with his eyes.
From the glow of the fire, silhouettes of almost mirages appeared bending the dull dancing light around them.
"Impossible ...", Marcus whispered.
Scott said nothing, his head leaned forward as he widened his stance.
The rain began to pick up.
"You good?", Scott said jokingly with a grin on his face.
Marcus shifted his gaze to Scott.
"I'll survive."
"Then get up, you lazy fuck."
Marcus got onto his feet.
The mirages before them seemed to short out as the rain fell harder. Their images now clear as they walked towards Scott and Marcus. Seven of them, the smallest one in the middle facing Scott, two to his right and two to Marcus's left.
The hexagonal pattern flashes of images out of place from the forest behind them. The rain was affecting their ability to cloak. They all have sophisticated weaponry, long since forgotten. Side arms, heavy battle belts with a wench style system, a small cylinder possessing the power source for the cloaking suits they are all wearing.
"These defenses are amateur. A child could have gotten through here without a problem." The woman, as her voice suggested, said to the others.
"Your orders? We don't have much time, we'll have to feed again if we want to continue, your highness." Another female replied.
Before the leader could answer another, male from the tone of his growling deep voice.
"How can we be sure? They are the same species. Regardless of what uniform they wear, we cannot leave them alive ... Or we should take them with us, they could be useful in many other ways."
The small one in the middle answered "Ha." She spouted. "Kill them both now. What we came here for is in the north."
Before any of the hooded figures could pick their weapons up Scott and Marcus fired. Razor sharp accuracy and blinding fire rates, they were empty in a second. Violently sliding to a wet stop only to realize that not one of their rounds had found their target. Their rounds had shattered in midair. Slamming into something unseen, the area around each of the individuals standing before Marcus and Scott had blurred ever so slightly.
"Infucking possible", Scott spouted as he reloaded both of his under barreled revolvers.
Marcus fired again, moving faster than humanly possible sliding to a stop behind ruble.
Scott walked out in front of the group.
"My Lady, these men are not normal, they are much more formidable than the last species we encountered", one of them stated.
"Take them with us, these are Gun Walzers, they could be useful after all." The leader ordered with the sound of astonishment in her voice.
Before any of them could move, Marcus opened fire, his magazine dropping to the ground. He was already reloading his third. The shells flipped and tumbled away as he dumped magazine after magazine of accurate blinding fire into each of the hooded figures.
Scott appeared right in front of the leader. One of the figures stepped into Scott's way. The world seemed slow down as all of the group attempted to react, but they were far too slow. Scott head butted the male that attempted to block him. The figure buckled, slamming into the ruble and sending small pieces of stone in all directions. Unconscious from the force of the blow, Scott's under barrel revolver was pressed against the hooded figure's head. His second revolver, without looking, was out trained on the closest one to his left. His dark eyes slid up, making contact with hers. And once they had met, he saw two beautiful glowing orange eyes, wide slits for pupils dilated to see in the dark.
Scott said nothing. She had anger and almost fear in her eyes. Marcus ran out of magazines and drew his two 1911 frame pistols and begin firing rapidly. The leader stepped forward and kicked Scott square in the chest sending him up several meters into the air. He fired rapidly as he rocketed away. The rounds bounced off the blurring sphere. He landed digging into the wet grass with his heavy boots. She met him with a heavy right hook. He took it as if it were nothing. Before she knew it, his strong left hand was gripping her throat.
The rest of the group of hooded figures rushed to her aid. Two broke away from the group firing machine guns at Marcus's position, pinning him down. Marcus tossed a grenade, landing perfectly to where the two were headed. The grenade exploded as their shields blocked the blast without issue.
"What the fuck are these assholes", Marcus spouted as he ran to another position.
Scott backhanded one of the attackers, the body flipped once, twice, and finally bounced off the ground rolling to a stop in the mud. The next met Scott's heavy boot in the chest; sending the attacker violently across the field. Scott blocked a wild haymaker from another flanking him, the leader broke free of his grip. His hands seemed to have disappeared, flickering into several body shots and finally a palm strike to the chest of another attacker. The figure launched from Scott's heavy attack, catching the corner of a jutting piece of stone and flipping over the remains of the wall. The screams fell silent as the figure hit the ground on the other side.
The leader now, the only one still left standing circled Scott like a predator. Scott pulled his blade from the large leather sheath belted to the small of his back. Its D-guard handle protecting his knuckles, its long cleaver style blade made him look like a butcher. She charged thrusting, his hands blurred, striking but once, shattering his blade into pieces. She leapt back several meters, he looked at his blade with disgust written on his face. A thud between his legs catches his attention. He looked. A grenade more than likely, but a design he did not recognize. He kicked it away. The grenade exploded in midair several meters away.
He continued moving towards her. She signaled one of the others, but Scott payed no mind. She is his target. She drew her pistol firing rapidly to no avail. Scott weaved in and out of every shot almost fading from her sight. Before she knew it Scott backhanded the weapon from her grip. She grabbed him by the hood and rolled back kicking upwards tossing him like a rag doll. He landed hard on his back rolling onto his stomach. He was on his feet ripping the ground up from his movements. Sliding as he cocked back for a heavy palm strike to the chest. She blocked with both her arms. The sound of heavy meat hitting bone smacked as she was sent tumbling across the field into a pile of rubble.
Scott landed over her pinning her down looking into her gorgeous eyes. His teeth grinding as she fought with all her might to push him off. Her skin was of green scales and brilliant blue markings. Her teeth sharp but white as could be. A barrel pressed to the top of his head. Heavy panting as the shaking weapon called his attention.
"Let's see you dodge this, you vile beast." The hooded figure with heavy breaths angrily proclaimed. She fired. Scott flickered and his image was gone, he was gone. He was seen sliding backwards like a dog digging into the ground with all fours. The hooded figure picked up their leader and they began to run.
Marcus fired again, his rounds sparking off the invisible shield. Scott took off, mud and patches of wet grass kicked up from his quick steps. The two chasing Marcus spotted him, one pulled a small cylindrical tube open and took aim. They fired, the rocket screamed for Marcus landing just on the other side of his cover right in front of him. The explosion sent him flying into the rubble. He bounced off and landed hard in front of Scott. Scott stopped. The group as now placed something in the rubble. Its blue lights counted down rapidly. Scott quickly moved to Marcus kicking him in the stomach sending him skipping across the wet grass like a stone across water. Marcus rolled to a stop still unconscious several hundred meters away.
She looked back, as their eyes met. She disappeared, the rain stopped, and the device went off . The blast sent a shockwave in all directions, Scott took the brunt of it. He hit the ground hard unconscious as he tumbled and rolled finally slamming into a large piece of the stone remains. He was out. The hooded figures have escaped. Dawn was breaking. And vehicles roaring engines grew louder.
An hour or so later.
"Hey ..."
"Hey ..." Her voice was familiar to Marcus.
"Wake the fuck up!" A loud slap.
Marcus shot up grunting. Eyes thin with pain from the sun. "I'm up, I'm up."
The medic was still slapping him just for enjoyment. He blocked with no help of his senses. The young medic was laughing, still trying to smack him playfully.
Another petite medic with short hair was sitting next to Scott. She was smoking a cigarette perched on a large stone piece of debris from the wall. Scott opened his eyes and with much pain got to his feet. With squinted eyes, he looked around leaning against the large stone. She handed him a cigarette and a rather large vial with an almost glowing green liquid in it. She lit his cigarette.
"You guys got fucked up last night."
He glared at her. "I've never seen anything with eyes like that. I swore I saw scales too. Whatever she was, she was not human. Not even like any Chimeras we've seen before, not a known species to me anyway."
As he took a pull from the vial she replied. "They beat you, so they are something we can't take lightly. In fact, The Kings Guard are here." She pointed.
