‘What’s happening?’ asked Alkon.
‘I don’t know,’ said Liet.
A scream then came from behind them and both men swung around instantly to try to see through the lines of tanks and personnel carriers.
‘What now?’ asked Alkon, turning to race through the bands of units.
The scream had come from the general infantry line in the third band, and was soon accompanied by hundreds more as guns began to blaze. Alkon feared the worst—that the people of Waikor had somehow begun an attack behind them, but when he arrived, he was met with something that was of the darkest nightmares.
Weaponry, clothing, limbs and even entire bodies were being hurled high into the air, ripped to shreds by creatures black as night and standing almost twice the height of the soldiers. The Alliance forces were attempting to drive them back to wherever they had come from, and the things hissed and screamed back at them. Bullets alone were unable to bring these powerful monsters down, with only a few falling with hundreds of shots directed at their necks; where the skin appeared thinnest and caused their heads to be detached. The others that were shot seemed more enraged with each, lashing out with giant arms that took the soldiers’ heads off, sometimes three or four with each swipe of their razor sharp claws.
Explosions rose up from among the lines as soldiers used their grenades, and Alkon was alerted to another twenty of the creatures attacking around him. He jumped back behind the personnel carriers as soldiers took his place, warding off a beast that had been coming right at him.
Alkon shouted commands over his communicator into the helmets of his soldiers, and soon lines were formed and the intruders were put to quick and merciless deaths. Flamethrowers were being used to further char their already black hides until the air was filled with the odour of roasted dead flesh. The stench was as nothing else they had smelt, and many of the soldiers were forced to use their clothing as masks.
‘Sir, look out!’ called out a soldier.
Alkon turned quickly to the voice, but realised the warning was not directed at him. A beast had managed to thrash its way through the soldiers and was charging directly at a man standing on top of one of the jeeps. Alkon almost felt a smile surface as he saw the man to be Kobin, but his expression became sour when Kobin did not even flinch, and instead simply lifted his right arm to the beast in defiance. There was a flash of red light as the beast fell to the ground, stunned, and was put to death by the surrounding soldiers.
There was a mixed feeling among the men as the final beast was slain. They felt a combination of victory, loss and fear, but most of all confusion and shock. Alkon made his way to Kobin, seeking the same explanation as the others. Alkon needed only to stand in front of the vehicle for Kobin to know what was expected of him.
‘It would seem the Forgotten Years are not the myth you thought them to be, General,’ he said, dusting off some of a beast’s skin that had landed on him. ‘This,’ he said with an open hand at the carcass below, ‘is what killed the two scouts in the Ukotan Jungle.’
‘What are they doing here then?’ asked Alkon.
Kobin looked toward the city. ‘You think Waikor is defenceless,’ he said. ‘Tell me where that armoured wall came from, and then you may have your answer.’
Alkon followed Kobin’s eyes and now saw that most of Waikor had disappeared. While the beasts had attacked, a wall of steel almost fifty feet in height had been erected around the entire city. Alkon’s mind raced with a thousand thoughts per second and almost stuttered as he shouted his orders.
‘Their defence is underground!’ he yelled into the communicator, knowing now that negotiations had failed, and if he did not act quickly, his forces were lined up for slaughter. ‘Prepare to attack on my signal.’ He let the communicator fall with his hand and ordered five men to accompany him toward the back of the band, where he thought the beasts had come from.
When they found a deep hole in the ground, he ordered several heavily armed soldiers to descend into it and find where the tunnel led to, and then he ordered for the rest of the holes to be guarded from above ground. He made his way back to the front lines when he received a request from Liet over the communicator.
‘There is something you will wish to see here, General.’
Alkon raced back to where his second in command was seated and saw something he had hoped would never greet him again on the battlefield. Between the Alliance force and the Waikorian wall there were now three figures in white. Three lone people—two men and one woman. This could have only meant one thing, as no one in the world was brave enough to stand against military units alone. No one except people as powerful as the Daijuar, who could have easily destroyed the entire force if not for their code.