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Before the last of the feathers had even managed to settle upon the floor, the collection of armed men and women moved past the smoldering corpses to the wailing infant.
“What’ll we do with this one, sir?” one of the women asked, raising her military fork and pinning the child to its crib by its throat.
“We always need an effective weapon to exploit in times of war,” Thorne replied with a faint smirk. “Let’s hope we never need it, though.”
“What should we do about Kerlock?”
“Colbert, do what you do best and tell his daughter what she needs to be told. Afterwards, have Theodore begin distilling all the necessary potions to handle this one…Malik Berazu. You should also begin considering the reason as to why and how he came into our possession. The rest of you, good work taking down the father before he transformed. Now, destroy this home and utterly destroy all traces of the bodies; we can’t reveal ourselves because of a sloppy cleanup.”
“Sir, shall we notify the other citadels of our success?” another soldier asked, peering out through the house’s window to ensure there were no onlookers.
“Yes, but only of the death of Inferdeus. Not of our spoils.”
“Dunno. The design looks kinda cool – like something from a horror flick – but what would it be doing here?” one of his friends replied.
“Yeah; they’re always outside, not in a parking garage. Hey, it’s even blocking some spaces,” another added.
The iron doors of the stone arch swung open, and out charged a multitude of creatures at least a foot shorter than any of the students with brownish-green skin. Each of them carried a rather primitive and crude looking copper weapon. Upon setting their sights on the three students, they let out a high-pitched shriek and attacked; butchering them mercilessly.
“What’s going on? The elevators aren’t working anymore.”
“Shut up!” one of them shouted, sliding a desk with the help of the others. “Just grab some furniture and block all the stairwells. Don’t let anyone in at all.”
“Why? What’s happening? Is someone going postal?”
“Make yourself useful!” the others shrieked at the same time, forcing the desk against the door just as something slammed into it.
There were many clattering noises as whatever was on the other side hacked away.
“Do you get it now? Move, move, move! We’ve got two more doors to cover!”
When those who weren’t keeping the moved desk in its place, went back for another one, they found a number of the little monsters clamoring about, already within the confines of the floor.
“Where the hell did these goblins come from?” the captain asked, returning with more bullets for the officers.
“I’m going to beat the shit out of every fantasy writer I see from now on,” an officer growled as he reloaded his gun. “Have you called for backup?”
“For whatever good it’ll do us. Other stations are either not responding or asking us for help. The military base is our best bet, but I heard a lot of gunfire in the background when I managed to get through.”
“Where’s the SWAT team?” someone shouted.
“The officers that were here when it happened are on the roof. There are so many out there, missing a target is impossible.”
“Damn it, chief, get us some better weapons if there are enough to go around!”
“Alright, alright,” the chief spat. “Just be glad these things die from a pistol.”
Before the chief was even able to enter the hall leading to the back rooms, a shout alerted him that the goblins had found another way in.
Turning to his computer, the headmaster double-clicked and icon and typed in a series of commands into the prompt, immediately setting off a beeping on his pager. “You know what to do, Vox.”
“Yes, headmaster,” Vox replied as she stopped the beeping on her pager before saluting and stepping out from the office.
Helicopters were made to carry as many soldiers as possible as to fire down upon the goblin ranks without fear of retaliation.
Jeeps were used by unarmed military personnel to maintain a supply of ammunition to the troops. Morale was high because, aside from the few who had been caught up in the initial surprise attack, not one casualty was reported. It was apparent that the humans would win the battle that day.
“Order the helicopters to find and survivors,” the lieutenant colonel ordered. “Armored troops will follow shortly. Over.”
Over the radio, the many corporals gave their confirmation of the orders and the helicopters headed off over the horizon.
“Sir,” one of the pilots responded over the radio, “there appear to be a handful of civilians approaching the army from the rear. Shall we…”
The transmission went silent.
“What is it? Respond immediately! Over.”
“Sir, there appear to be a handful of…people at the rear of the enemy. It looks as though they’re…using magic. I see lightning, fire, and the ground is moving. Over.”
“Are you certain? Over,” the lieutenant colonel asked in disbelief.
“As certain as this ain’t a dream. Awaiting orders. Over.”
“Civilians are more important. If you encounter any of those things on your mission, treat as potential threats, and capture if possible. Over.”
“It’s a shame I didn’t don’t have my weapon, but I think I can hold out until help arrives,” he though to himself as he cracked his knuckles.
“Calx somes servo mihi,” he uttered, making his skin turn grey.
The closest goblin lunged with his spear and found the tip only knocked the slightest chip out of the man’s form.
“Calx somes telum,” he added, his right hand turning into a spearhead. With reckless abandon, he charged his opponent and pierced its heart. “I’ll handle these. The rest of you, seal off the entrances. Help will come!”
Though some were as terrified of the man of stone as the goblins, they lady and a number of the others hastily grabbed whatever they could and moved to seal the doors. It didn’t matter who or what the man was; the fact remained that he was helping.
After finishing up with the gaggle of goblins that had threatened to kill those around him, he let the spells wear off and his skin turned back to flesh along with the restoration of his hand; every attack that had been landed upon him, and there had been many, was a small lesion that was letting out a trickle of blood. Nothing fatal, but bothersome nonetheless.
Moving from one stairwell to the next, he found that they had all been sealed off, though apparently after a bit of a fight.
The doors were damaged, and so he went about manipulating their structure to repair and reinforce them. At his limits, he slumped to the floor and waited.
Several minutes passed, and there was the shattering of glass from another room. A white-winged woman stepped into the corridor and looked around until she found the injured mage.
“You’ve done well. Drink this and await reinforcements,” the angel said, tossing him a small bottle of white liquid.
Quickly gulping down the concoction, his bleeding stopped and he struggled back to his feet. “I’ll do as you ask, commander Vox. Roughly how long shall they be?”
Be glad you’re stationed in Toronto; they’ll be here within the hour. A place like Moosonee, Chisasibi, or Windsor is guaranteed to disappear; providing they’re being attacked.”
“Good luck, I’ll keep as many alive as possible.”
The rest of the office workers were left dumbfounded as the angel bid her soldier farewell and exited by the window.
“S-sir…” he panted, “I’ve…stopped all—”
In a panic, the chief raised the shotgun and opened fire upon his subordinate. The blast punched a hole through the mage’s face, killing him instantly.
Taking a few moments to calm down, the chief assured himself that the pillars hadn’t been there before, and he saved himself from a monster other than a goblin. Duty bound, he hurried back to retrieve more equipment for his remaining officers.
Ah, a fresh start on my old story. I'm a bit more satisfied with this opening than the previous one. Just as a warning, this'll update very infrequently.
Rychon: Yup; it the story is 'to be continued'. More of the story is left to be written, where the old version 'ended' but before that part becomes known, there are going to be some rewrites. It's alright to disappear (by the way), I do it all the time.
MortyM: Kukuku. Sorry; you wanted what comes next. Well, I'll get there one day.
