Perspective: Elias Vardas

  Setting: Nexlify office break room, 8:45 PM PST – April 9, 2025

  Tension filled the break room. In the corner, Marcus's [Aether Forge], a 15-foot-wide workshop of blocky steel and glowing Mana vents, hummed softly. He’d been tinkering since Dallas hit the news yesterday, April 8th’s broadcast lighting a fire under us all, and churned out AK-47 knockoffs. Swapping regular ammunition for [Mana Dart]s which he developed after experimenting with a bullet TJ tossed him.

  Rifles and compact sidearms hung on racks, their barrels glinting blue. The rifles, longer and bulkier, spat 25-round bursts, while the compact sidearms held 10 before needing a [Mana] reload. TJ shoved a new [Mana Clip] into her rifle, her hands steady, checked the action, and let it fall into place on her tactical sling. Dennis holstered his pistol, his attention drawn to his prized [Mana Channeling Bat]. Marcus’s upgrade glowed faintly; the wood, reinforced with Mana veins, pulsed with power as he channeled [Mana] into it.

  We drilled in TJ’s gauntlet—overturned tables, duct-taped traps. Overhead, my three drones buzzed, their 1-kilometer range itching to stretch past this room. Level 3 since Dallas, they spat Mana-infused Darts (thanks to Marcus’s forge), shredding a chair’s flank as I tested angles. Dennis swung his bat, splintering a dummy. Coogy prowled beside him, lazier than ever, while Alicia patched a cracked table leg with a healer’s glow, her sidearm holstered tight. Sirens wailed downtown all day, but tonight they sharpened—close, relentless.

  “Hear that?” I said, drones freezing mid-orbit.

  TJ bolted to the window, peering out. “Fires—look.” Seattle’s skyline flickered, orange tongues licking high-rises, too many, too near.

  Marcus stepped up, a rifle slung over his shoulder, [Aether Forge]’s hum fading into the background. “That is not a drill. They’re here.”

  Alicia’s breath hitched, “Like Dallas?”

  “Let’s see.”, I said, flicking a command. One drone shot through the open window, my HUD flaring as I slipped into its feed, pushing it out over Seattle. Speaking as I observed, a technique TJ said they used in the marines, “I’ve got eyes. Passing over First Avenue cars are smashed, burning. Horns blaring, lots of smoke. Same thing on 2nd and 3rd. Gaining altitude, angling east, hunting the source.” I moved the drone further, looking for some indication of the creatures. Passing another block, I saw people running. Altering my flight path once more, I found a huge jagged black oval, spewing creatures onto Pine Street.

  “I found it.” I said, trying to stay calm.

  Dozens of six-foot praying mantises chittered like chainsaws, scythe-arms slashing. One ripped a bus door off, metal shrieking; another skewered a cyclist, splattering red on the asphalt. Screams tore through as people panicked and died, sprawled on the ground, blood pooling. A cop unloaded a shotgun—*blam!*—a mantis’s leg blew apart, but three swarmed him, claws shredding through Kevlar, his scream cut short. Two awakened fought back, one hurled ice spears, pinning a creature to a lamppost, another swung a glowing axe, lopping a scythe-arm. As they fought, the swarm thickened, their screeches deafening, relentless.

  “Three blocks,” I snapped out, the drone hovering at 40 feet, recording and waiting. “Mantises. Dallas redux. It’s a slaughter.”

  5 minutes later - 1 block from the portal

  Sirens clawed at my skull as we bolted from the office. Passing First Avenue, burning cars and bodies lay on the road and sidewalks reminding us of the violence ahead. Crossing over Second avenue, smoke from the fires thickened, our sprint slowed to a gagging jog as we approached the portal. Letting the team run ahead, I flicked a command to my overhead drone, commanding it to relay details to the team.

  “That is a direct match to the Portal we saw in Dallas. The creatures look the same too.” Marcus said into our ears. “Maintain formation B. Dennis, I need you to bottle them up at the entrance. Eli, Alicia and TJ, he is going to get shredded unless you can bring them down. Count to ten, then fall back. Rinse and repeat folks, let’s do this.”

  We practiced this formation a lot over the past 24 hours. Seeing how the creatures reacted when they were isolated gave us the inspiration to line them up as they chased after Dennis, opening their flanks to gun and drone fire. The office furniture never stood a chance, hopefully these bugs were no smarter.

  Dennis roared as he jumped into the group, directly in front of the portal. His [Mana Channeling Bat] glowing blue as he bashed and crushed any bug nearby. Coogy, jaws glowing silver and red, ripped bugs apart, dodging scythes and mandibles. TJ kneeled down and fired precise 3-round bursts as they exposed their soft underbellies, one more detail Marcus found while studying the Dallas footage. Alicia picked her shots, but faltered when fresh screams echoed among the skyscrapers.

  “Elias, there are civilians being killed. Task your drones to cover them.” Alicia barked.

  I flicked new commands to my drones, their attacks halting as they rotated and flew into the scattered roaming bug groups. Feeling my drones rise up and begin strafing the mantises from the skies, sent a thrill spiraling up my spine. I flew them erratically, diving low to fire, then rising quickly to safety. Screeching in frustration, civilian meals forgotten, the bugs focused on my drones. I shredded bug after bug, ripping their abdomens apart, tearing limbs and decorating the area with blackened and broken bodies. A savage joy surged through me, and I began to growl and howl as more of the invaders fell.

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  “Rotating out, cover me.” Dennis yelled, beginning to pull back from the portal. Just as he did, a hulking figure with a massive battle-axe jumped back into the fray, his weapon cutting mantis shells like paper.

  “Fish in a barrel!!” Ice-lance chick roared as she poured 6 foot long ice spears into the creatures, freezing them on the spot. The invaders faltered and fell away from the onslaught, more now dying than coming through. Within moments, the area calmed as the last of the roaming bugs were killed and the entrance became a shooting gallery, each bug dying from withering fire. Closing the formation, concentrating fire as we did, a ping lit up my HUD, my gasp mirrored by the team.

  ??????????????????????????????????????????????????“Hell yeah, quest!” Ice-lance chick whooped. “Have you guys done one of these yet?” She asked Elias and Alicia nearby.

  “No, this is our first time out. Have you?” Elias answered.

  “No, but I saw one close a couple of hours ago. The people fighting the bugs jumped in and after a while, came out fast while it closed behind them. It looks like a blast!” Ice-lance chick was definitely crazy, no doubt.

  Her name was Lisa, and she was shorter than Elias with a pretty round face, blonde hair and long legs. Other than that, he could not tell much more, except that she threw massive ice spears that cut through the bug’s abdomens with ease.

  Axe-guy, Micheal, was just huge. Well over six feet tall and carrying a massive dual bladed battle axe glowing with a reddish hue. Each swing of that axe cut through the bugs as easily as Lisa’s spears, but his added strength made each far more violent. Bug parts littered the area around him, his own blood mixed with black ichor, giving him a demonic visage that sent shivers of fear up Elias’s spine.

  Alicia quickly laid her hands on his outstretched arm, her tiny hands resembling a child’s. A yellow-green glow suffused the man as she poured mana into [Healing Surge], his wounds visibly closing and his back straightening from the relief.

  “Thank you,” he breathed out, relief softening his sharp features. He was an older guy and had a slightly silvered look so prevalent to those in their late 40s. His eyes were brown and his beard, more silvered than his hair, grew a few inches past his chin. “We need to get inside that portal now. The queen will keep spawning these things until we take her down.”

  “What about the portal entrance? We can’t fight off the bugs and the queen while they keep squirting out and killing people.” Alicia complained.

  ”When we enter the portal, it locks them inside,” Michael said.

  ”Yeah,” Lisa added, “the group we saw close their portal told us how they did it. We headed here when we saw the fires break out.”

  Marcus broke in at that moment, “Don’t go in yet. I have some toys for you guys. Also, Seattle PD is almost there. We could ask them to guard the entrance while you guys clear it.”

  As he spoke, the air began buzzing as larger versions of Elias’s drones lowered themselves around the portal. One drone carried something that looked like a dog, but with a gun mounted on its back. The other was a squat turret, four barrels rotating on a circular disk. The last drone carried a box and some cabling, dropping them near Elias’s feet and rising up into the air, heading back to the office building.

  ”The drones are dropping off my [Mana Dart Turret], [Sentry Drone] and [Relay Station]. The [Mana Dart Turret] goes in with the group, providing close support. The [Sentry Drone] will give a little more punch and guard the turret. You need to connect the cabling from the [Relay Station] to the turret so we can stay in contact after you breach the portal.” Marcus told the group as the drones dropped off their cargo.

  ”When did you have time to make these, Marcus?” Dennis asked incredulously.

  ”I’ve been working on these for a while, the last steps were just assembly, which I completed while you guys cleared the area.”

  “How far will the sentry operate inside the portal?” I asked, considering how I could use [Drone Link] with the [Relay Station]. If I had that relay, I could piggyback drone commands to groups that can act autonomously. A ping on my HUD broke my thoughts as the System sent a new message.

  “Whoa,” I said, “Marcus, I just got an upgrade. Let me take control of the sentry. I can slave my monitor drone to the [Relay Switch], providing overwatch and guarding the turret.

  “Congratulations man! You have to tell me how you did that. That should be fine, I will fly out a few drones from here to provide area security and fast support if needed.” Marcus replied, already tasking drones over the area using his [Aether Forge].

  As we finished organizing, the police officers Marcus observed came screeching up, yelling at us and drawing weapons. “Down, down. Get down!” They yelled, voices barking over each other in their panic.

  ”The gate is secured, you guys need to guard this side, we are going in.” Dennis yelled, tossing an [Aether Rifle] at the one and his [Aether Pistol] at the other. TJ walked up and spoke softly to them, their expressions switching between anger, fear and confusion. She handed them 2 [Mana Clip]s each, showing them how to reload the weapons.

  A few minutes later, the group stood before the portal, weapons ready and filled with fear. “Here we go.” Dennis said and stepped quickly through the opening. Wasting no time, the rest of us followed, anxious over what awaited us on the other side.