A message, flickering blue and gold, stood before his eyes.
Alert – Incursion registered – Rally to defend Earth.
You are receiving this message as one of the one hundred strongest individuals on Earth.
An uncontrollable Energy flux was seized by the Drakniks – enemies of all life forms – to open a rift to Earth.
While the incursion is small, if allowed to linger, the Drakniks will create a permanent foothold and eventually consume humanity.
You must rise to the occasion. A portal will open in five minutes to transport you to the incursion.
Ben Jackson, [Knight Protector], will coordinate the defense.
Humanity, heed this call or perish.
Three months ago, Ben would have been stunned into inaction by this message – assuming he would have believed it in the first place – not now.
He triggered his Band of Coordination and alerted his team. While he did so, he was interrupted by the unusually subdued voice of Mesa.
Ben, bring your team and more. This is going to be a challenge. But we believe you can rise to the occasion. You must eliminate all Drakniks and close the rift – no matter the cost.
Good luck!
Ben didn’t hesitate to use the new messaging system to shoot an alert to all citizens:
All Protectors, assemble on the plaza in 3 minutes. Militia to take over defense of the wall. No need to panic, but we have been called to defend our world. This is what we have been preparing for. Trust in yourself and trust in the Protectorate. We will not fail.
With that he quickly put on his armor, picked up his axe, and ran out of his apartment. His mother, still pulling on her armor, joined him.
“I also got the message. I think the whole team might be amongst the top 100.”
“That is a relief. We will need it.”
Outside was controlled chaos.
Protectors left their positions on the wall and came running out of their apartments, often only half dressed. Others streamed to the palisade to replace them or to the plaza to observe what was happening.
Despite this, people looked resolved – of course some worried – but no panic, no despair.
Quickly, 30, 40, 50 Protectors assembled on the plaza, most sporting bed-hair and half-fastened armor, but all ready.
Damien and his team, reunited after the episode in Simonston, had joined them.
Barry, proudly wearing his Protectorate armor, had joined them.
Ashley, their lead healer, had joined them.
Sarah came running to him. When he started to shake his head, she raised her hand, out of breath, and handed him an axe. “From… my mom… and Marcus. Was… surprise. Stay safe!”
Battle Axe of Spatial Sharpness. Energy-infused item. Tier 2. Uncommon – Advanced. Minor self-repair. Uses concept of spatial magic to create an edge that is sharper than Tier 2 materials alone could achieve. Enchantments need to be re-infused regularly.
Ben stared in open wonder at the first Tier 2 item he had ever seen. It was beautiful. A two-bladed battle axe with the dark color of True Iron, a vicious spike on top, and intricate etchings along the haft with a black leather grip. All of that was a display of wonderful craftsmanship but not too different. What truly set the axe apart were the edges on both sides: a glow, thinner than a hair, flowed along the edge in a blue so dark that it looked black. Ben did not want to test it with his thumb, being sure that it would not end well.
He forced himself to look away from the weapon, but time was running out.
He took his old axe and handed it to Sarah. “Hold this for me, please, and thank your mother and Marcus.
With his new axe in hand and surrounded by his team, he stood before the assembled Protectors.
“Friends. The systems have called upon us. Some of you might remember that on Arrival Day the systems warned us about potential invaders. The Drakniks. They have come. But we will push them back. And we won’t be alone. In a minute a portal will appear. Not just here, but for all of the strongest individuals on Earth. We have the responsibility to lead them, because we are the Protectorate. Have faith and let’s show those that want to take everything away from us that we will not yield and we will protect those who we love.”
Jamal led the assembled force in a deafening roar that accompanied the rise of a portal from the plaza ground.
The portal looked out over a small plateau overlooking an azure blue sea.
Ben cast one last look over the settlement and his people and strode through the portal.
He arrived in a volcanic landscape on a steep mountain. The sun was low but shining brightly. There was little vegetation; in the distance close to the sea was a small village. They were just a few hundred meters from the top of the mountain and smoke was rising from the caldera on top. Apart from a few goat trails, there was nothing but untouched stone around them.
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As his team and others stepped onto the plateau, other portals rose in a long line.
Dozens of men and women stepped out of the portals. Most in makeshift armor, some with biker gear, some with bulletproof vests, many with regular clothes. Some with bows, many with swords and spears, some with regular knives, one stood out with an intricate-looking staff.
In general, nobody came close to the level of equipment that the Protectorate had.
Most clearly were individuals, but a few appeared in groups. One was a group of four men wearing military uniforms – as far as Ben could tell they were Americans and they looked a bit like he imagined special forces, just with spears and bows instead of guns. Another group were Cass and Sebastian, the two they had helped in the defense of the orphanage. They waved to them as they spotted Ben and team.
Many portals remained empty.
About half of them had people join them, a total of about 60 people, which was the same as what the Protectorate had fielded for the defense of Earth.
Ben obviously didn’t know what kept the others from joining them, but it was a stark reminder that not everyone on Earth was pulling in the same direction.
The mass of people streaming out of Ben’s portal was the point of focus for almost everyone of the others stepping onto the plateau.
Some looked with wonder, others with trepidation, some, like the special forces, impassively and undeterred from scanning the environment as well.
As the last of the Protectors had joined them, the portals sank into the Earth. This was new. So far during missions the portals had always stayed open and in place.
It seemed like there was no way back before they had eliminated the threat to Earth.
Ben noticed the heat that was coming from the top of the volcano, he noticed Cass and Sebastian coming over to them, he noticed the birds circling. The one thing he tried very hard not to notice was the expectations from the people around him to take over.
He silently scolded himself, took a deep breath, and stepped forward, just as his mother greeted the only two people they knew around.
“Everybody,” he employed the voice he had used so many times by now to talk to everyone assembled on the plaza back home. “My name is Ben Jackson. While it seems that not everyone could make it, I brought some friends,” waving behind him, “and I am sure that together we can overcome whatever it is that we need to do.”
“Who made you the boss?” shouted one young man who was equipped with a bow, a rather traditional model, not one of the modern ones that Cass was using.
Before Ben could respond, one of the special forces guys shouted, “The systems have. Chain of command is clear.”
The archer was clearly taken aback by the forcefulness of the statement and, given that there was nobody else who spoke up right away, he settled down, pretending none of it had happened.
Ben nodded to the soldier – marine? sailor? he wasn’t sure – in thanks and continued. “Let’s quickly group up. If you are a frontliner, go there; archer, mage, scout, healer…” He pointed to Jamal, Nils, his mother, Michael, and Ashley respectively.
To his relief, people moved. Despite having a range of weapons and looking like they could tank any attack, the special forces team went collectively to join Michael.
Just as people had found their groups, a new message appeared.
Twenty Drakniks passed through the initial rift. Eliminate all before they can reestablish the rift. The ritual is being conducted on the mountain top, but first elements have already spread out.
Estimated time to ritual completion: 2 hours.
While Ben processed the latest update, the groups had formed. They had three healers. Almost two thirds of their forces were frontliners, a dozen archers, a bit more than 20 mages, and the rest were scouts
He walked to the special forces team leader and reached out to shake hands. “Thanks for your help earlier. Do you have any recommendations?”
The man shook his hand and nodded. “Name’s Joe, Navy SEALs. See, there is a reason why the systems chose you, beyond the little army you have brought,” he nodded to the Protectors. “The smart officers always ask for advice. Now, given that time is short and we need to achieve two objectives, stopping the ritual and eliminating all opposition, we need to send scouts quickly to the top and surrounding areas to understand the environment and what we are dealing with. Without information taking smart decisions is difficult.”
Ben nodded. “I understand and agree, however, as I understand it, only the objective to stop the ritual is time sensitive. Should we focus on that first and clean up the rest later?”
The man hesitated. “Possible, but we don’t know how easy the enemy can leave the island once they have passed us by.”
“You are right, containment is key. I am hesitant to split our forces, but needs must, etc. Does your team need to stay together or can it be split?”
“Thank you for asking. I would prefer if we stay together. Our teamwork is our greatest strength.”
“Understood, please take Michael with you and head towards the—”
Ben was interrupted by a massive explosion at the volcano’s peak, with lava bombs shooting into the landscape, fortunately for now not in their direction.
“Well, that complicates things. Anyway, please explore the top as far as you can and report back in 15 minutes.”
Joe quickly looked at Michael, then nodded. “On it!”
Ben nodded to Michael to follow the men which he did without a word.
He addressed the remaining scouts. “The SEALs will scout the top. Can you,” he divided the group with a gesture into two parts, “go left, and you right. Spread out, try to remain unseen, and report back in no more than 15 minutes. We need to understand what we are fighting against, and we need to prevent breakouts.”
The men and women – Ben noticed they were, on average, younger than the rest – nodded and moved out.
He now turned to the majority of the group that still stood in their four groups.
“We should have this area as our fallback position. The healers should stay here so that they are easy to find. Barry,” he pointed to his friend and teacher, “please form a group of seven frontliners and protect the healers, hold this place, and coordinate once things escalate.”
Barry nodded, but he did not look happy being left behind.
Ben had chosen Barry not to protect his friend but because he genuinely believed that he needed someone he could trust in this place. He did not know what to expect, but he was sure that the systems would not go to these lengths if the upcoming fight was easy. They would need their healers.
“Ok, obviously frontliners will lead, archers in the back, mages in the middle. We will form three groups. I will lead group one which will comprise 50% of our forces. We will be focused on the peak. Group two and three will eliminate the roaming enemy elements.”
He pointed to Cass and Sebastian. “You will lead group two.” The pair exchanged a startled glance, then nodded.
Ben’s eyes roamed the rest of the people standing before him. He pointed towards the young man who had challenged him initially. “You will lead group three.”
Surprise and satisfaction flickered across the young man’s face. He nodded proudly.
Ben hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.
“We will split 50% of the Protectorate forces to join group one, the rest will be split across groups. The same true for everyone else.” He pointed to his mother. “Allison will direct you into the groups.”
He thought that it was probably not wise to introduce Allison as his mother right now, but she knew the Protectorate forces best and had an eye for talent and would create balanced teams – as good as possible in the few minutes they had left.
