Milla'iin watched the map of the world they managed to obtain from the thing humans called the internet.
One of the M'arrillians commented, "This is one of the weirdest things. It's a hivemind."
"It gets worse the deeper we go into it," another one agreed.
The Chieftain grunted loudly. Milla'iin got their attention once again, "Thanks to this map," he showed the map of the world, "We know the Cothica is an extremely large world," he made one of the humans zoom in, "And they have many cities. Many," he still couldn't believe how much humans thrive on the Cothica. And that included how many wars they had fought against each other. That war thing among the same tribe was something he didn't want to understand. He showed the river, "We will follow the rivers and conquer the towns on the way," he pointed north, "And we find a way to create a supply line to assure we have the resources to charge forward."
The soldiers nodded as they prepared to move forward.
The only one who remained uncertain was the Coralsmith. He knew he had to make his decision soon. They were going to ruin the Cothica and he knew it. He clenched his hand and his pincer. He had little time to decide. He sighed. That wasn't right. It wasn't the right thinking. He knew where his loyalty should be. He just needed the gut to actually follow it through.
Chapter 112: M'arrillians Advance
Tom and his friends were eating together in the morning. Tom still hadn't recovered from the teasing Sarah and Peyton gave him about his time at the ballet camp. It was a day, but he knew it would take more days before they stopped. He always blushed when they mentioned that and his loud reaction probably pushed them to keep on it.
"Enough!" He said loudly with his red face.
That wasn't enough, "Come on Tom," Sarah let out a small teasing smirk, "We all did something like that."
Kaz asked, "What did you do?"
The teenage girl turned to the side, "A-As if I have to tell you," she pouted quietly.
That was usually how they made her stop with the teasing.
"It's okay bro. Pretty sure I would have done it," Peyton admitted.
For Peyton, it was more difficult as he was unpredictable. There might even be a chance he tried that.
Intress and Arias watched them quietly. Arias grumbled, "How can a boy with such potential as a warrior do something like feminine dance?"
The female Overworlder shook her head, "That's not important. They aren't strong like us, but they have a lot of courage. Maybe that's why he ended up doing that."
"Courage? I say it's a lack of wisdom," he replied. He huffed, "Like when he went to talk with Aval'par."
"He sure hit the M'arrillian hard with his questions," she gazed down, "Still, having nothing else, but conquering Perim."
"Their tribe has fallen hard," Arias admitted. He flexed his muscles., "I will still crush them without hesitation."
"What's going on here?" Someone asked joyfully.
Tom recognized his father, "Dad.. N-nothing," he looked aside and chuckled nervously.
The man laughed, "I can guess what you were talking about. Before the serious stuff," George turned towards the creatures, "I have to thank you again for protecting my family from those M'arrillians."
The eight creatures nodded or replied something like, 'It was nothing,' or boosted their ego.
Agitos asked, "Has anything happened with the M'arrillians? I've heard nothing about their movement, but you seem a little tense."
The man nodded, "I have to admit I am. Nothing has happened for a while and when the enemies are inactive, it means that something big will strike sooner or later. The later, the worse it is."
Intress thought about it, "They must have gathered some intel."
"We know little of the world," Ghatup admitted. He scratched his mane, "We… probably should have done that."
"We can explain a little about the Earth, but it will quickly get very complicated," George replied seriously.
The four teenagers gazed at each other. Tom asked, "What about Aval'par? Did he say anything?"
"Nothing. You are the only one who got the most out of him and it was nothing. He seems busy in his mind right now," his father replied.
"Maybe he is feeling like his brain like…" Peyton put his hands on his forehead, "Reflecting stuff. I mean, the stuff he is in is really boring."
Sarah sighed, "Don't think he would do that. He was ready to capture us," she crossed her arms.
A soldier came into the room, "Sergeant! We have a situation."
"What is it soldier?" George asked.
"The M'arrillians are on the move? Most of them left Summer Vale and went north," he explained.
"They've begun their offensive," the man replied. He gazed at his son, "We have a situation. I'll be back later," he left the room.
The creatures stood up. Rothar grinned, "Finally something is going on," he rushed and left the room with the others.
The four friends decided to follow the creature's example. They had to know what was going on.
Once they were outside, the atmosphere was different. The soldiers were on the move and seemed to be ready to deploy at any moment. The chances of them actually doing it were low, but they still did it.
The four went to the command room. It was a large room with many high-ranking officers and the general. There was a computer with many screens. Some of them showed a map from a space view, another the country and a third one showed a close-up vision of their sector. They could see Summer Vale and a few towns surrounding it. They were signs of movement following the river and going north.
"We already ordered the evacuation of the city. The people are obeying the commands," a higher officer told George and the others, "Still. The M'arrillians will reach the city in half an hour."
Ario asked, "Evacuation? Can they leave that quickly?"
"There are some procedures already planned. The students left school already, according to reports we obtained from the mayor. We also noticed many cars and other vehicles leaving town. With that video, they probably panicked and thought it was the M'arrillians. There are enough Chaotic Players in town to convince them," George explained.
"The town evacuation advances quickly, according to the reports," one of the soldiers said.
"I don't think everyone will leave in time. If the people panic too much, the situation will get worse," Ghatup commented.
Odu-Bathax raised his arms, "We have to fight them and show them to think twice before fighting us!"
The humans gazed at him. The silent answer to his foolish idea or desire. The Danian was also aware of this.
The creatures wanted to fight the M'arrillian and protect the Cothica, but they were only eight creatures against an army. They also did not have enough battlegear to protect the minds of the soldiers of the Cothica.
They watched the M'arrillians progress on towards the next city. They waited to hear if the evacuation was a success or not.
Ario tail tapped the ground nervously as he watched this. He had a little thought on the impressive technology the humans possessed. They could watch the entire world with little problem. They could watch the world from far away in the sky, as if there was a spy near the enemies.
During that half-hour, the tension was great. The small blue dots representing the M'arrillians approached the city. The creatures followed the river.
They heard little reports on the evacuation. They waited.
The blue dots reached the city. Still no report.
The general of the base called the mayor of the city, "I want a report right now!"
Meanwhile, the M'arrillians reached the city. They were ready to begin their invasions. They already imagined the humans running away in fear, just like in Summer Vale. They left the river and struck at the heart of the city.
They stopped. The city was mostly deserted. They saw a car driving away quickly.
"W-what?" The creatures grumbled quietly.
"What is going on?" Rath'tab grunted as he flew higher in the air. He noticed many cars drove away from the city. Too quickly for them to catch up.
The humans escaped. They somehow knew of their plan.
Milla'iin joined Rath'tab in the air. Once he realized what the humans had done, he yelled, "Spies! They have spies in Summer Vale! They knew we were going to strike the town!"
"You think one of us-" the other creature by his side asked.
"No! We didn't get all the humans! One of them or the only one of them eavesdropped on our plan. That human acted like he was under our control!" He grunted his frustration.
"We would have noticed it," Rath'tab countered. It made little sense a human would try such a thing.
"It can't be one of us. We left the traitors behind. There are only those who are loyal to Aa'une great vision of our future. It can only be a spy from them."
The other M'arrillian couldn't disagree. He asked, "What do we do now? Do we attack the next city or do we search for the spy?"
"We turn back and we find that spy. The next town surely evacuated too," Milla'iin grunted at his failed plan, "But before we leave. Destroy this town! The spy will learn what it means to be in our way!" (Soldiers! Destroy this town!)
The M'arrillians obeyed the order.
The general nodded after he received the report. Meanwhile, the others watched the map. The M'arrillians were in the city and didn't leave. They also noticed a few dots that left north-east from the city. They were going away from the river.
The general hanged up, "The evacuation was a success. Everyone left town and the M'arrillians didn't get any of them."
The soldiers let out a victory cry. The four teenagers were relieved nothing bad happened. After Summer Vale, they dreaded that more humans would be under the M'arrillians control.
The eight creatures let out a small smile. If the humans could protect the civilians, they might have more time to prepare a devastating counter-attack against the invaders.
Intress asked, "What are they doing now?" she pointed at the map. The M'arrillians didn't leave and some black stuff began to appear.
The soldiers looked closer.
George grunted, "They are destroying the town. That's what they are doing."
"We have to stop them… somehow," Ario grumbled.
The general nodded negatively, "We cannot just send a few missiles at the town. It will cause a massive panic. We aren't sure if they all evacuated. We need the authorization to do something drastic."
"Missiles?" Rothar asked.
"It can destroy a town in a few minutes. A big town," Sarah commented.
"Or just one to blow up many cities," Kaz thought of the nuclear missile.
"You have something that devastating?" Arias asked.
George sighed. It was true they had extremely dangerous weapons, "Yes. Those who give quick deaths of course."
The implication was horrible for both the teenagers and the creatures.
"Anyway, we have to let them destroy the city," the general ended up that discussion, "We can quickly rebuild everything later. We accomplished the most important thing, saving the citizens."
"We still need to find a way to stop all of this. They might destroy everything in their tracks," Tom realized. He put his hand on his head and wondered if he could try something with Aval'par.
"Whatever you are thinking bro. Might be a bad idea," Peyton warned him.
"We have to do something. We can't just keep watching this going on. I mean, we might have lost everything already," the black-haired boy mentioned, "Maybe I can ask something from Aval'par."
"Tom," Sarah frowned at him.
Kaz gulped, just at the thought of his friend doing something like that again.
"No," Intress replied. She approached the boy, "It's not your duty to take risks like that. He might try something this time."
"He might get your guide to the Cothica," Agitos commented.
"We can protect him," Gathup replied.
Ario growled, "If we can get something. Something more."
George sighed, "General?"
"I authorize. You are the only one who managed to get something out of him," he replied.
The father of the boy saluted his general. He couldn't disobey, even if he wanted to.
Tom thanked him and left the place to visit Aval'par. The two mipedians turned invisible and followed him.
The others didn't let Tom go on his own and followed him. They wouldn't get into the prison, but they would watch from outside.
The soldiers continued to watch the destruction of the city. They all felt anger culminating inside of them. Each of them wanted to do more. Alas, they knew it would only cause more problems if they did.
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next: The Talk.
Tom went to the jail and talked with Aval'par. This time, the conversation was different than before.