April 10, 2018
Appalachian Mountains
The Bloody Fists were this world's solutions to political problems. I served them with pride. And yet the world called us terrorists. World leaders thought the world would be better off without us. They thought we were causing problems rather than solving them.
We'll prove them wrong.
We were an army that could rival even the most powerful forces in the world. We even had a secret weapon among us. I had heard of it in rumors, but I never came even close to guessing what it might be. I thought our secret weapon would be a massive robot, a laser-equipped satellite that could destroy an entire country (had it been given the chance) or maybe even spies that could infiltrate governments from within. But the truth… that was something I couldn't believe to this day.
I remember seeing those things for the first time. My jet squadron was flying through the Appalachian Mountains for safe passages through. A red fist symbol lay on the sides of my black fighter jet. I weaved through rock cliffs like I was in an air show. Griffin One, our squad leader, had decided to make one more pass through the mountains before returning to the hidden base in Chicago. That was when we found something.
Something unimaginable.
Something dangerous.
Something that wasn't even supposed to exist.
My scanner beeped, indicating something to the northeast. I checked the area around me, but there was nothing. Maybe because of the night sky. My radio buzzed as a friendly jet appeared to my right. "Griffin Three, you're picking something up on your scanner." Griffin One reported. "Copy. But visual imaging is giving me nothing." Griffin Three responded. "Griffin Two, you got anything?" "Negative," I replied. "But there's something out there." "Wait," Griffin Three said. "Scanner's picking something up. It's getting close, high speed." I switched to audio scan, and I heard an eerie noise. It resembled a high whistle, its sound frequency rising by the second. Then, the sky lit up purple. When I saw what the purple flash was, it was already too late.
"Griffin Three, bank left! Bank left!" I yelled. Suddenly, there was an explosion and Griffin Three was spiraling to the ground ablaze. Shortly after the jet slammed into a mountainside, a black shape zoomed over me. "All fighters, break formation! Repeat, break formation!" Griffin One ordered. I steered my jet to the left and activated night vision. Griffin Four then came into my view. "What the hell is that thing?!" That black shape came again. "Engage, engage!" Using night vision, I chased down that shape, my thumbs resting on the triggers. When I saw the shape, my eyes widened beneath my visor.
The night vision showed the shape perfectly. It had a slim, sleek black body, four legs, a tail and two bat-like wings that were almost equal to a jet's wingspan. I had questions. What was this thing? Was this its home? Are we intruders to it? Putting the questions to the black of my mind, I squeezed down on the triggers. The sound of my fighter's guns alerts the creature, and it dodges the bullets. I chased it down, weaving through rock formations as I went. When my targeting computer acquired a lock, I fired a missile at it. In response, the creature shot another of those purple projectiles, destroying my missile. Then it shot up into the sky as I ascended my jet.
"Where is it? I can't see the damn thing!" Griffin Four shouted. Before anyone could look for the beast, it lunged at Griffin Four. It roared as it tore through the fuselage and ripped off the right wing. The cockpit flew open and I saw the pilot eject. Apparently, so did the creature. I watched as the pilot deployed his parachute, and two seconds later the creature snatched him from the night sky. I gritted my teeth as I unloaded on the beast again. I could hear it howl in pain as it took off, indicating that I hit it. The creature fired back, and I swerved the jet to avoid the purple projectile.
Our confrontation with that unidentified creature was intense. Griffin Five was blown to bits when the creature fired at him. It almost took out Griffin One, but I fired another missile at it.
This time, my shot didn't miss.
When the missile connected with the beast, it screeched as it plummeted to the ground as smoke billowed from where the missile hit it. I breathed a sigh of relief. But that relief vanished when my radio buzzed again.
"Griffin Squad, this is base. What the hell happened out there?" My heart stopped. How could we possibly explain this? "Base, this is Griffin One. We encountered an… unidentified creature in the area. It took out Griffin Three, Four and Five. Griffin Two brought it down with a missile. It's probably dead, sir." "Griffin One, give me a description of the creature." "Yes sir. It was black, fired purple projectiles from its mouth, had a sleek body, and… it had wings, sir." There was a pause. "Griffin Squad, you are instructed to return to base immediately for a proper explanation, over." "Copy that, Base. Griffin One out."
After that attack, I finally learned back at base what our "secret weapon" was. They were winged, fire-breathing creatures. They were monsters from folk tales and mythological stories.
Dragons. Real dragons.
Crazy, right? I kept trying to tell myself that this was a dream, but it's all too real. I was still trying to piece it all together when we intercepted a transmission from a group called the "Order of the Wing". We all listened closely.
"There," a man's voice said. "It's finished." "What is?" a woman spoke up. "The M.E.D. Or, Memory Exploration Device, if you please. It allows users to live their ancestors' lives via their genetic bloodlines." "Good. With it finished, we can conduct a proper test, then we can find them." "Ah, yes, we need to make sure the M.E.D actually works before we locate the Riders' descendants. It needs to be flawless for them. But I should warn you, Dr. Brinnings, users may experience some unfortunate… side effects." "Such as?" "Well, we've detected only one. Hallucinations." "I'm sure that won't be a problem, Matthew. Now, I'll need you to check the Riders' bloodlines to narrow our search. Make sure they are accurate." "Yes, ma'am."
I had heard of these "Riders" just before our last mission. I didn't know much about them, but our leader, the founder of our great army, told every soldier in the Bloody Fists that the Riders were horrible, terrible people, and that they must never rise again. So, I guess that my squad's next task is to hunt down these descendants. Justice will be served to the world…