Angels With Newfound Hope

Book 1: The Drunken Chief

Malfunction

April 30th, 2019: 10:19PM

In the City of Onyx, Terra, deep underground in a secret bunker stood two humans. Alex Thompson - was a fair-skinned, brown-haired man of the young age of twenty three. The other was a friend of his. She was known only as Mongoose. The latter was working on the portal they'd discovered some months ago. Alex himself went through a complicated UI, inputting coordinates to use.

"I hope this thing doesn't go screwing up again." Alex spoke bluntly, recalling the month he spent in a completely different world. The portal finally flared to life, casting its ominous whitish glow on their faces.

"Doubt it. I've been tweaking the calibrations for this thing since you got back. It should spit you out more accurately now." Mongoose clacked away at her keyboard as her companion observed. He couldn't see the specifics, but understood what was going on. She was completing stabilization so nobody gets killed when they're halfway through. He previously heard that happened to a volunteer once in a private program.

"So I should be out in San Valencia if I enter the coordinates?" Alex finished inputting said coordinates. Mongoose hummed and nodded idly as she continued typing.

"Exactly. Make sure you have what you need, just in case. You got your bag?" Mongoose finished with her commands and spun to face the man, who patted a black and gray sling bag with a large, white UE logo on the main panel.

"Right here. So, what all did you pack in this? It feels heavier than before." Alex glazed over his bag. Its bright logo practically glowed in the semi-darkness.

"Just the usual; food and water, your rifle, a spare pistol clip, and a few other things. You'll find out when you open it." Mongoose listed off the bare-bones basics he survived on last time. Alex immediately felt a bad omen from the choice of equipment.

"Hopefully, I won't need it. So... is this it?" Alex faced his ally, who had a grim look painted on her features. It was usually a side effect of her working so hard at this night job. Tonight, though...

"It is. Contact me as soon as you're on the other side. And stay safe, Alex." Mongoose gave her ally a quick hug goodbye before he entered the portal...

Falling. The next thing Alex knew, he was falling through an endless void. Blue beams of light zipped past him toward... something. the familiar feeling of being torn apart and reassembled ravaged his entire body once more.

Just when he thought it wouldn't get any worse, whispers started filling his head. Multiple voices assaulted his ears with 'save them' and 'no escape'. They only got more and more maddening the longer Alex fell. Was this it for him? Was he going to die in this place? Only time would tell as he wrenched his eyes shut...

A lone person walked a dirt path to an empty hill. There, a portal three times taller than him stood dormant for just a moment as he observed. And in a blinding flash of light, it came to life. Someone appeared in the whitish void, falling to their hands and knees before the void closed.

Alex slowly stood as the portal closed behind him. He didn't expect a sudden wave of dizziness to hit him so hard. As soon as he had his bearings again, he tried to contact Mongoose...

"Damn. Looks like the worst." Utter silence. Of course there would be, the portal was shut. He slumped against it, breathing steadily.

A twig snapping nearby tore him from his thoughts. Getting up, he swiftly found himself in a vice grip. A knife held itself against his throat. Alex grabbed his attacker around their neck and threw them over his shoulder. They hit the grass with a soft 'thud' as he drew his pistol. The cloaked figure drew their own gun, a 19th century model revolver.

"I'd drop that if I were you." He growled, to which they aimed for his head. A single glowing projectile grazed the attacker's mask. He fired a warning shot, and he won't miss next time. They swept Alex's legs and made a beeline for the woods. The human fired off three more rounds as they disappeared.

"Not five fucking minutes and someone already wants me dead." Alex cursed. He lay his head against the soft grass for a bit before lumbering footsteps approached him. A quick glance up told him this visit would be worse than he thought.

"Are you- oh! In the name of my people, I bid you... welcome?" It was a dragon. Of course it was a dragon. This one wore a burgundy tie. His ears seemed a little malformed, as if the egg was born prematurely. His scales glistened like pearls in the pale moonlight. The dragon held a confused look as Alex pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, isn't this just peachy?! Not only am I lost again, but there are more dragons to boot. Thanks a lot!" Alex yelled at the sky. The dragon padded softly over to him. He caught it mid-step and sighed. "Let me guess. You want me thrown in jail." He grumbled. The dragon took on a look of shock. Never before had he heard someone imply such a thing.

"No, not at all! I was just going to ask if you were the person Reza asked for." It was Alex's turn to be shocked. Did this dragon mean the same one...?

"Reza Izquierdo?" The dragon nodded. "Oh now I have to figure this out. I take it, he's asleep, though." Alex checked his watch's time. It read close to midnight. He sighed in relief at its working condition.

"I'm afraid so. We have some accommodations for you if you'd like them." Alex was stunned yet again. These dragons can't have been related to his kind.

"You're offering me a place to stay? You've got to be joking." Alex chuckled. The dragon only shook his head.

"I'd never. You two may stay as long as you need. I'm Remy by the way." The dragon, now Remy, held his hand... paw out for a shake. The human took it hesitantly before they both started walking.

"Alex Thompson. It's good to meet you. So, two questions." He requested. Remy motioned for him to go ahead. "How did you find out about us humans? And where are we going?" Remy cocked a brow.

"I thought you knew everything already. Well, if you've had sudden memory loss, we'll have to catch you up another time. There's just a bit too much ground to cover in such a short walk." The pair reached the edge of a quaint looking village. What looked to be cute, tudor style houses dotted the roads they walked through. He just wished he could see better now.

"I'm starting to wish I had my nightshades on me. I can barely see where I'm going." Alex groaned. Remy looked back apologetically.

"I'm sorry about this, but there's a good reason your arrival is this late. We didn't want you to be ambushed by a crowd like Reza was. So we scheduled you for late in the night and kept the details secret to everyone." Remy explained sheepishly. Alex only nodded, taking what few details he could in as he listened.

"I take it humans are celebrities of a sort here. It would make sense to a degree. It would be a similar case if a friendly dragon suddenly appeared." He commented passively. His eyes darted to a cluster of trees they'd just passed, his hand closing around his trusty Five seveN.

"That's quite the understatement. Some people here are rather superstitious. They might regard you, or any human, as kind of... divine." The dragon replied in an unfortunate tone.

"Divine? How so?" Alex 's stormy gray eyes focused everywhere that could be a hiding spot. That attack made him far too paranoid. And yet, he still listened.

"Well, we have certain myths that involve humans, and as such- oh, that was much shorter than I expected. Here we are." They had arrived at a smaller apartment building that looked to have about four or so units. Remy led him to the right-most bottom unit and opened the door for them. His paw pressing to a pad next to it was admittedly a little strange to Alex. Then again, he used one to get into his 'den'.

With the flick of a switch, the human was blinded by the lights. The pain wouldn't even subside with his eyes shut tight. He felt around for a bit, placing his hand on something firm and scaly.

"Make yourself at home. You'll find the place is fully stocked as- ah!" Remy jumped at the sudden touch. "What are you doing, Alex?" He then noticed the human rubbing his eyes.

"Just stay still for a moment. I'm blind right now." Alex explained with his palm still resting on Remy's hide. The dragon carefully led him over to a sofa and sat him down.

"There. At least now your eyes can adjust without you worrying about getting hurt." Remy sat next to him and waited until he could open his eyes without them stinging. It took a solid minute, but eventually, he could see again.

"Okay... I think I'm good now. Thanks for that." Alex rasped. Exhaustion set in as much as comfort, and he found himself inadvertently yawning.

"It's getting late now, so I'd best be going. The place is fully stocked and you'll find numbers for any service you'll need on the table in front of you. Feel free to call me too if you feel like it. I'll let you get some rest now. Goodnight, Alex." With that, Remy shut the door behind him.

"Guess I'm playing ambassador now. I wonder... how the hell Reza got here. He must've taken part of that thing, but I didn't think... Maybe I should just take inventory and go to sleep." Alex contemplated aloud. Some footsteps outside startled him until he remembered who just exited. That damned paranoia was going to kill him if he didn't calm down.

Alex went to remove his bag and... nothing! He immediately ran for the door and checked all the way up to the portal. That sling bag had all of his weapons inside! He suspected the mysterious person who attacked him before stole it. They did bolt after he shot at them. Maybe that was why. Either way, he wasn't getting that back anytime soon. He made his way back to the apartment and passed out on the sofa, defeated...