Hey all. Chapter 14 is up. Enjoy!

Commander Arkwright was having a very bad week. The alien machines that were invading his home were relentlessly throwing themselves at the shield they had set up around the city, never tiring and never stopping. He tried many times to get a signal out to call for help, but it proved futile. The invaders had erected a jamming field and were sending regular reports to the rest of the Realms that all was normal.

He looked around the command room he and his troops had set up in the town hall. It was filled with many soldiers and civilians completing various tasks given to them. Most of them were coordinating with the other cities to take stock of supplies and personnel while the rest were trying, and failing, to break through the aliens' jamming to contact anyone and spread word about the invasion.

He sighed tiredly as he tried to drown out the sounds of the constant bombardment, wishing that it was just all a bad dream and he'd wake up in his home with his wife next to him. Why? Why did this have to happen, he thought in depression. He had seen many be killed in the first wave of the attack. Four of the original seven cities were completely vaporized by their bombs. The last three were just lucky they were able to put up a strong enough shield to survive, barely. Even then, they had only gotten lucky so far, and luck runs out sooner or later.

"Commander," shouted a female civilian tech, "I just got something weird on my screens."

"Weird how," he demanded as he walked over to her station. "It can't be any weirder than what happened in the past w-…" His words died in his throat at the sight of the tech's screen. It showed energy signatures that were similar to the invaders', but they were different. There were four of them and the number was increasing, just like how the aliens' did when they built their army. "What is this?"

"I don't know, sir, but if I had to guess, I'd say enemy reinforcements."

"I don't think so," stated the tech next to them. "These signatures are similar, but way too different to be the invaders."

Arkwright hummed in thought as he stared at the screen, "Keep an eye on it. Let me know if it changes." This day is getting interesting.

POV Change

In the city of New Dawn, a ten year old girl with curly brown hair and blue eyes was sitting on a park bench. She was dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, red short sleeved shirt, and had a pair of sunglasses atop her head. This girl was Malinda Carrin, and she was recently made an orphan.

During the opening assault of the invaders, she and her family were in one of the smaller, outlying towns. Very few made it out when they attacked, and her family wasn't amongst them. She would have gone to live with her relatives in the other cities, but they too were killed. The only one she had left was her mysterious friend she made several months before the invasion.

Her name was Winnawa. They had met in her hometown of Charity and had gotten along very well. Winnawa had always worn a cloak when they met, but never said why. Malinda had assumed it wasn't her business and let it be. They had many of the same interests, but some things Winnawa said really confused her. She said she was a soldier, but not one any in the Realms were familiar with. She even said she wasn't of a high rank, yet she commanded armies. Malinda even became more confused when she saw her friend stare off into space and just mutter to herself about "stopping it" and "won't let it happen." Then the invasion happened and her friend mysteriously disappeared.

At first, Malinda thought she was dead, but then, just two days after her family's demise, she got a message from Winnawa. She said that she was at a location to the north of New Dawn, close to the invaders. It was then and there that Malinda demanded to know what was going on. She called her friend out on everything: why she wore the cloak, why she kept muttering, why she was near the invaders, everything. Winnawa only said that she would explain in person and only after certain people arrived to help.

Malinda never found out what her friend meant, but little did she know that she would soon find out.

POV Change

Bloom and her team had set down on Paradise and immediately began to build up. With the abundance of mass sights nearby, they all had a very sizable force at their disposal. The two Cybran commanders would focus on the coastal cities and the two Seraphim there, while she and Rhiza concentrated on the more inland city.

Their radar and scouts had detected multiple Seraphim signatures near their city, but some of them were acting weird. They weren't attacking the city, at least not with the normal ferocity. Their scanners showed that the shield surrounding it could take a much greater pounding, to their surprise, but the Seraphim assaulting it wasn't putting any effort into breaking. Since their arrival, the two speculated on the reason for this, but could come up with anything, and it was bothering them to no end.

Bloom soon heard a beeping and turned to find that she had a call on a secured channel, and it was coming from the Seraphim. With slight hesitation, she pressed it and answered.

POV Change

Five minutes earlier

Winnawa Issni was in distress. She was having many conflicting emotions, many of them involving her opinion of her orders, her duty, and the beliefs taught to her by a friend. Her orders were to destroy the city, but her belief in the Way contradicted it. She was duty bound to follow her orders, with disobeying meaning certain death, and the values that a young native had taught her when they met. In other words, she was having major problems with her priorities: follow her orders or her beliefs.

Many of the Seraphim soldiers would follow their orders without hesitation, but she wasn't like the other Seraphim troops. The Seraphim were an empathic race by nature who expressed their emotions and were deeply tied into the "Way," their religion and way of life. When a Seraphim becomes a soldier, they cut themselves off from all emotion and the "Way." The result is an emotionless killing machine.

However, Winnawa wasn't one of those. Her family secretly taught that one could still be a warrior and be connected to the "Way." Many others also shared this view, but were exiled for making it vocal. Her family, and several others, remained hidden from the exodus and blended into society, practicing their beliefs in secret. It would be many years before they learned the fate of their fellows, having been killed by xenophobic Humans on the planet of Seraphim II.

They are the only ones left that practiced this belief, and now Winnawa had a choice to make: follow orders, her beliefs. The storm continued in her head for many hours, before she made the decision to follow her orders to a degree. Her plan would require a lot of luck, but she was confident it would succeed. She, and every other Seraphim, knew that the Coalition had pursued them and she knew that they had also discovered the Realms because one of the Seraphim scouting units went missing while they were on reconnaissance. The commander of that unit had information on what was to be the first planet of the invasion. All she could do was hope and pray that the Coalition got the coordinates from him, and that they would listen before blowing her up.

The flashing light on her console soon gave her hope. Her scanners were detecting several quantum signatures not of Seraphim origin. She nearly jumped for joy at her luck, before calming herself, and setting up a secure connection with one of the units. All she could do now was hope and pray. With her mind set, she pressed the button.

How's that for a twist. Like it or hate it, IT STAYS! This is something I hope you like. Please review and tell me what you think, as long as it's constructive. Just trashing it will be ignored and deleted. See ya soon!