You forced me
"You sold us out?"
"Well, yes, but actually no. It wasn't my decision, but an order received from the higher-ups."
"Why? We are just-"
"Common men? I know, you already said that. And that is your sin: being a fucking nobody. If you were to be someone important, or someone strong, do you think that you would be in this situation?"
"You. You are crazy!"
"You are joking right? Have you gone senile?!"
"Fuck you Lucio!"
A cacophony of voices started to resound in the middle of the desert.
The miners present slowly started to back off, one step at a time. Tension was in the air, yet they knew that it was impossible to escape: the suns were still high in the sky, and they were tired with not enough water to quench their thirst.
Moreover, they were coming closer.
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP
People with a better sight than the others were already able to distinguish the features of those silhouettes: a jackal-headed, sickle-wielding human. Hundreds of them, walking in line on two legs. Their skin was light brown, to camouflage with the environment, and they were 180 centimetres tall.
In front of them, a cobra with wings was slithering on sand leaving a long trail. On top of his head was sitting, cross-legged and eyes closed, a human-shaped monster. His head was of an unidentified animal: for someone seemed a jackal, for others a fennec fox.
Unperturbed by the incoming waves of monsters, Lucio resumed his talk:
"You see, do you know what is the most prominent resource on Earth? A resource, if given time, that can grow unlimitedly: humans."
"What do you mean?"
The young man asked bewildered.
"You still don't understand? Even after seeing those monsters? You've been lied to! Inside Ruins, we always found signs of sentients beings of different dimensions! And with some, we had even established trade routes. And in this case, for that particular race, you are going to be our goods in exchange for Compto. Your death will bring prosperity to our nation."
Lucio opened both his arms wide when he said that while displaying his most beautiful smile.
"Lucio, we have been friends for years... last week we even dined together. You even played with my children!" A miner desperately cried out loud.
"You don't have to worry about that Demetrio. We are not some sort of beasts. All of you, the Govern will take care of your families. Your kids will grow up knowing that their fathers were heroes whose sacrifice shall never be forgotten."
"I'll kill you, bastard! If I can't survive, you don't have the right too!"
Demetrio this time didn't back off, instead, he started running like a madman toward Lucio determined to finish the man who ruined his life.
Lucio didn't even bother to move, he was there, watching with cold eyes the last struggle of a fool, and when Demetrio was almost onto him, he voiced:
" ~ Divinity of Peitho ~ [ Kneel ] "
Demetrio stopped.
The punch he was about to throw, froze in mid-air.
Slowly... he started to prostrate himself.
"What is happening to me?! I can't control my body!"
"I didn't want to get to this point, but you forced my hand. Now, stay there and accept your fate."
One knee, followed by the other one, touched the soil.
Demetrio was kneeling in front of Lucio, their eyes crossed: one had a fearful expression, whereas the other was delighted.
" [ Bow Down ] "
SBAM!
The face of Demetrio slammed down into the sand, sinking deeper and deeper until his head was all covered.
He wasn't even resisting: he was there, motionless, suffocating, until his body whey limp.
BLERGH
Some miners poked out watching that disturbing scene, others pissed themselves.
"You are the real monster! We...we need to run away! "
Nobody knew who talked first, but everyone was overcome by fear right now, and started running in all directions even though they knew it was all pointless. Only the young man was still there while eyeing Lucio intensely.
" Don't you want to escape? Maybe you are lucky." mocked Lucio.
"I'm fine here. I'm etching your face in my memory, so when I'll come back, it will be the day of your demise."
"As if.
Now then, let's go hunting."
----------
Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska.
The U.S. third naval fleet was patrolling the area as always: this time both the Supercarrier USS Carl Vinson and the Supercarrier USS Theodore Roosevelt were together, protected by Carrier Strike Group One and Carrier Strike Group Nine. These groups were composed of many Arleigh Burke-class destroyers: one of the best naval units ever created with impressive firepower combined with the Aegis Combat System.
Inside the bridge of the Carl Vinson, Admiral Nathan Maynard was listening to the press conference of the President, Jaxson York, directed to the Nation:
'Good morning, my dear citizens. Today, February 15th, 2022, a date which will live in history, the entire world was attacked by unidentified monsters coming through the Gates, who were considered safe and secure.
It is with great sadness to report that we, too, were assailed: Los Angeles, Miami, Denver, New York, Boston and many other cities are currently under siege. I have already deployed as fast as possible the army to help our fellow-countrymen, but losses are unavoidable. This new enemy is very different from what we have ever met before: we don't know his tactics, his characteristics or we don't even know why are they here. But of one thing I am sure: We shall prevail, as we have already demonstrated in the past.
The Congress has already approved a new law that conscripts every firstborn, be a man or woman, of every family that has more than one child. In the case of only one child or secondborns and so on, provided they are of legal age, they can join the army voluntarily. Until the very last I hoped this was only a nightmare, but the situation is such that we can't wait for a miracle to happen. We can only unite together and fight together! Hug your loved ones, make up with the persons you argued with and be ready.
May God bless America, Thank you. '
The deck inside the ship was silent, nobody was talking, they were all digesting these terrible pieces of information.
"Official Scott, grab this report: inside here is the full list of every single city that is currently being invaded. Pass it on every ship of this fleet: permission to call the loved ones is granted. Go"
"Yes, thank you, Admiral!" Official Scott dashed outside to communicate the order.
"Commander! The captain of the USS Destroyer Micheal Murphy wants to communicate."
"Mm? Weird. Give me the call."
"Commander Maynard, here is Captain Spencer Webb. I am currently ahead of every ship, scouting the perimeter, and we found this strange occurrence. Aegis is showing on the radar the presence of a massive island in the middle of the sea, 2 kilometres from us, and I too am staring at this island."
"And what is the problem?"
"There is no island on the maps. The images of the satellites from two hours ago don't show any island too. That means this territory appeared out of nowhere in less than two hours?"
"This is indeed very strange. Captain, stay where you are and wait for the entire fleet. Do not take rash decisions. In the meantime, send a squad of soldiers on that atoll to check the situation and let me know."
"Copy that."
After 10 minutes a boat departed from the destroyer with onboard four marines, and not too long after, they reached their target.
The four men disembarked and stepped on the land.
"What the hell is this? It's all sticky and slimy."
"Sanchez stop complaining and search for clues. We need to discover where this thing popped out."
They split in four different directions while testing the soil and taking some samples to study later.
"Head Squad, come here, I might have found something." A voice sounded on the radio.
"Copy, I'm coming."
The squad leader walked through what was supposed to be a forest. Only, the trees were devoid of any leaves or branches, as if existed only the trunk. There were no animals, no grass. Only a tacky mud that made walking complicated.
The only thing other than those weird trees was the only peak that was present there.
' Probably a volcano' he thought.
It was then.
The "island" opened his eyes.