Adventures of John: New World Order
Chapter 10: Death in the Family
I was escorted inside the building while the others that came through the portal were apprehended, their weapons discarded. The Unlidary squad leader took me and my family to the living room, weapons pointed at all of our heads. "What are you?" the squad leader questioned. "How were you able to utilize such high levels of extanatural energy?"
"You mean magic?" I asked. "That's simple. I am John the Adventurer, the greatest hero of this universe, and one of the most powerful sorcerers in existence."
"What are you talking about?" my mother asked, half terrified, half confused.
"Mom," I told her, "I know this may be hard to believe, but we are having ray guns pointed at our heads by alien invaders, so your sphere of belief should have expanded by now. Mom, I have magic. Magic is not fake, nor is it the evil power of the Devil. That exists too, but it is completely different from magic. And no I'm not deluded," I added, cutting off her response. "Magic is very real. These losers are using it as a power source. There is a small army of magical creatures being detained outside. And those stories I write? They are all true."
"That is enough!" the squad leader declared. "There will be no more discussion. As soon as the shuttle arrives you will be taken and your extranatural energy siphoned."
"Sorry," I told him, "but I have no interest in letting that happen." The whole reason for the wall in my mind was because my magic was too much for my body to contain. I was basically a walking nuclear reactor, magically speaking. I couldn't let them get their hands on my magic.
"If you resist, you're familial unit will pay the price," the squad leader informed me. "You have no options."
That wasn't entirely true. My staff was in the hands of one of the guards, but I still possessed the power core of the giant robot. It was beginning to run a little low, but it still had more than enough juice to take out this lot. The problem was using it before one of them could hurt one of my family members. Unfortunately, I never got that chance. My headstrong little sister Annie, who despite not being able to remember our previous adventure, decided to try to play the hero. She grabbed the gun of the alien holding her, snatching it away in his shock at this action. She shot the alien holding her and then turned the gun to shoot another, only to be shot and disintegrated herself.
"No!" I shouted, tears running down my eyes. "No!" I clenched my fists, and all of the Unlidary soldiers turned their weapons towards me. Before any of them could fire, their guns were suddenly crushed by an invisible force. They were then lifted up into the air. My eyes began to glow with golden light, and they screamed in pain. Their eyes popped, then their chests caved in, and they were crushed to a tiny ball of flesh and blood and bone. I suddenly felt woozy and collapsed, the balls of alien flesh falling to the ground.
"I really need to stop doing that," I muttered, dragging myself back up off the ground.
"What did you do?!" my mother asked in shock, horrified.
"What I had to do," I answered through gritted teeth. "They weren't human. They were inhuman monstrosities, and they killed Annie."
"You killed them!" she screamed at me.
"They aren't human!" I shouted back before she could say any more. "They don't have souls! I can sense when someone has a soul, and they do not! Get this through your thick head! You know nothing about how the world really works! You have been wrong this whole time! Every time you told me that magic wasn't real, every time you thought to make me stop believing, you were wrong!"
"You do not talk to your mother like-" I flicked my wrist and her voice cut off as she froze where she stood.
"No," I told her. "I do not have time for this. You have never been able to see reason. No matter what the subject, once you have decided something you will let no amount of evidence or common sense change your mind. I do not have time for your stubbornness. I am going to go and make sure none of this ever happened. I will bring Annie back. You take care of the others. Soon enough none of this will have ever taken place." With that I turned, but before I could go I found a hand on my shoulder.
"You're mother has always been stubborn," my dad told me, turning me around. "And if it weren't for what I just saw, I wouldn't believe any of it either. But, do you really think you can change the past?"
I chuckled sadly. "I know I can," I answered. "This isn't the first time we've been in this situation. You just can't remember." I turned back around, only to see the door open before me.
It was one of the alien soldiers. "Sir, what is-" He froze as soon as he saw me. I called my staff to my hand and blasted him with magical energy, bursting out of the house into the street.
"Hey, you stupid aliens!" I shouted, drawing everyone's attention. "Take a look at this!" A burst of light exploded from my staff as I squeezed my eyes shut. The light blinded everyone who looked, and as the light faded I opened my eyes, incinerating those few Unlidary that hadn't been watching the light, blasting them with a beam of pure heat. "Come on then!" I shouted. "Get your weapons folks! Show these aliens that real magic is unstoppable!" My magical allies struck out at the alien soldiers as both groups regained their vision. The battle quickly became a blur, but I saw glimpses of various bloody scenes.
For one moment I glimpsed the old troll holding an Unlidary soldier in both hands, bashing their faces into the street. Another moment I spotted the rag-covered vampire ripping out the throat of one of the aliens, stabbing another with his umbrella, which had suddenly sprouted a blade. For a second I watched as a Redcap gleefully dipped his hat in a puddle of blue alien blood. Would that make him a Bluecap, or did the mix of the two types of blood make him a Purplecap? I also heard the shrill screams as several of the Unlidary faced the jaws of the Skin walkers in their monstrous wolf forms.
The scary evil monsters weren't the only ones doing the fighting. The squad of pixies also spun around, creating illusions, leading the alien soldiers to fire upon each other. The dryads strengthened the little vegetation there was, sending out roots to entangle their foes, strangling them. The two children of Coyote ran around in their coyote forms, nipping at the heels of the Unlidary soldiers and tag-teaming them until the aliens fell down and got their faces eaten by the children of the Native American trickster spirit. My friends were fighting too, wielding the weapons I had given them like professionals. Then again that wasn't surprising, as that was a part of the weapons' enchantment, but it was still pretty awesome to see my usually ordinary friends kick alien butt like that.
Just when we thought the battle was won, dust began to fly up around us, and looking up we saw an alien ship coming towards us, guns ready. They immediately alighted on me, blasting at me with blue energy, which I caught on my staff before sending it back at them. The ship's armor was strong, and all my returned attack managed to do was break the glass protecting the pilot while draining me of energy. The ship was about to let loose another blast when a shot rang out and the ship suddenly listed to the side, the pilot unmoving in his seat. Turning toward the direction the shot had come from, I saw my Robotics teacher on a nearby balcony with a sniper rifle, and I could swear he smiled and saluted me before vanishing inside the building. The ship crashed into the street, leaving my army and I alone amid piles of alien corpses.
We were not without our own loses. Two of the Redcaps had perished, as had one of the Coyote children. The male, now in human form, wept over the corpse of his sister while the remaining Redcap just looked down at his dead brothers and gave a non-committal shrug. One of the pixies was also injured, one of her wings blasted off, rendering her unable to fly. The dryads and other pixies were unable to heal it, and drained as I was, neither could I. We ended up leaving her behind with one of her sisters to care for her.
"We have to go," I told them. "Follow me to the basement. It's time we set this plan into motion." My bruised and bloodied army marched into my house, passing the shocked faces of my family. When I reached the basement I drew the last of the energy from the power core and reached into the earth, drawing energy from the convergence of ley lines beneath me. I felt a massive amount of power surge through me, so much that I could barely control it. Shaking with the effort I directed the energy into warping space, forming a portal to the other side of the world. With the deed finally done I slumped to the ground, all of my energy gone.
"What do you think you are doing?" I questioned as the head scientist, followed by his two chosen cronies, began to head towards the portal. Somehow they had managed to steer clear of the fighting entirely, watching as others fought and died. "You really think the most power of the convergences won't be guarded?" I asked them. "The fighters go first. That way you idiot scientists can survive long enough to do your part of the job." The backed down, and my army gathered their strength before charging through the portal. I could just barely make them out on the other side, heading toward the mysterious ancient structure known by most as Stonehenge. When it was at last my turn to go through I paused for a moment, staring into the portal. "I will bring you back Annie," I whispered. "I will make this all right."