“Incoming!” Summers shouted over the roar of the battle.

Dozens of creatures about as tall as Summers slammed into the wall beneath him. Summers angled his weapon down and unloaded it into the vaguely boar-like monster below. The locals had called them Brufs, but he was pretty sure whatever these things had been, they hadn’t had human eyes or arms on their spines.

More elves rushed to lay down fire beside Summers. Eventually all that remained of the boar-things was a growing pile of black, near liquid goo. Something about these creatures made them incredibly hard to put down, they needed to be obliterated almost entirely before they stopped moving. Summers double checked the area just to be sure.

“Think that’s all of them. . .”

Summers slumped onto the bags that lined the wall. He hadn’t managed to get much rest in before the samr had attacked again. And again. And yet again. In fact, the attack basically hadn’t stopped. Their explosives, mostly landmines that Pat and the others had lined the entrance to the base with, were all but spent. Probably a waste, given what Summers had heard, but the absolute decimation of their forces early on had given the samr pause enough that they’d been able to regroup. Still, Summers was sure the other shoe was bound to drop eventually.

That wasn’t to say it had been easy going, Pat had been forced to deal with everything from a frontal assault to a small flock of infected birds that tried to make their way into the base while Summers was away. They’d only noticed it in the first place because of the area’s lack of wildlife. Given any creature could turn them with a scratch, it had been both a clever, and terrifying precedent from the samr. Thankfully, few things were mobile enough to stand up to massed gunfire.

And while they had seen a few losses, their makeshift army was holding. All the same, he’d given Pat and, apparently Ayra the outline of a backup strategy.

Since he’d gotten back, Pat had been treating the woman as an equal. As it turned out, Ayra had helped Pat during the initial attack, moving and coordinating the various fireteams around the base, despite her injuries and mummy-like appearance. That had been a huge help and saved more than a few lives. Ranged weapons tended to use the same tactics when you were defending an area. At least at this range. It didn’t hurt that some of her former friends and subordinates were streaming in from the outside, the few that had escaped the samr’s attack at least. Having their presumed dead Commander of the guard alive and well did a lot to put the newcomers at ease.

Summers got to his feet and waved to the woman in question as gave him the all-clear from her side.

“Casualties?” Ayra called over. She moved towards Summers’ group.

“None,” Summers answered. “Can’t tell if they’re just throwing what they have at us or if this is building up to something bigger.”

He looked the woman over. There was no way she wasn’t in pain. Half her face was covered with gauze, but the parts he could see looked like one giant scab. Again, it was likely the only reason she wasn’t dead was because the hamr had a failsafe to protect its host. And yet she’d decided she needed to be here. Frankly, they needed all they help they could get.

“How are you feeling?” Summers asked.

“As though a thousand angry insects are having their way with my face.” She saw his reaction and flashed a smile, causing several of the others to cough and look away. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’m glad you were here.”

“About that, uh, Commander. I wasn’t intending to take command from-”

“Ayra,” Summers interrupted. “You are the most qualified person we found so far. I wasn’t kidding earlier. We need everyone we can get if we’re going to survive.” He gestured towards Pat. “He said you pulled your weight, and I’m smart enough to get out of the way of the people that know what they’re doing.”

After a moment of hesitation, she inclined her head to him.

“I’ll do what I can.”

He nodded in return, turning back towards Pat. Asle was beside him, probably only just returning from the obsidian world. As he approached, he noticed the bandage on her head had started to bleed through, probably due to be changed. Seemed like everyone was paying a price just to keep living.

Pat waved to get his attention.

“Commander, I have something you might want to see.”

Summers groaned inwardly but tried not to show it. Last thing they needed were more complications.

Pat held up a small banner, a sun over a black field.

“What’s this?” Summers asked.

“Our banner,” Pat said.

Summers paused.

“We need a banner?”

“We are an army, Commander.”

“I mean. . .” Summers stumbled over his words. Looking around, he saw a few of the soldiers looking his way, they were all from diverse groups, most had never met each other before they came here. But they were here together all the same. Looking at the banner again, it was surprisingly well done. “. . .What’s the sun for?”

“Asle said your name is the season of the sun, and since her power has kept us alive so long, we decided to honor that as well.”

Summers opened his mouth, then closed it. After a moment, he got a word out.

“Uh, I like it. Thanks.”

Pat nodded, and a few of the soldiers behind him bowed before leaving.

“You should get some rest. I can take over from here.”

Summers nodded. He was not going to argue the point.

“I appreciate it. Really.” Summers coughed to clear his throat; it was hard to maintain a straight face around the elves sometimes. “Is our prisoner still holding up?”

Elias hadn’t said much of anything after they’d returned. He hadn’t even resisted, Summers had instructed a few of the elves to keep him under with the few sedatives they still had. Most of them were competent enough now to find a vein and keeping him asleep wouldn’t be an issue if they had the supplies. Say what you want about people, but with enough motivation, they adapted.

“No issues, Commander. In fact, Synel found him in your armies’ documents. She suspects he might be willing to cooperate if we can. . . cure him.”

“Really?”

He was worried he might have to kill the guy to keep him from eating up resources, since the deal he’d tried to make earlier was now worthless. He’d been hauling him around with the hope he’d be useful as a bargaining chip as well, but the attack in the cave had destroyed that hope. Whatever the samr’s command structure was like, it wasn’t overly protective of its leaders. On top of that, the liability of keeping someone that could potentially report to the samr or try and influence Asle was worrisome. He had already tried to kill the girl once, after all. If he even thought there was a risk to her. . .

Pat inclined his head.

“Yes, once we have the resources to spare, that is.

According to Asle, he was one of those that went after Wendel shortly after his. . . rebellion. I suspect he would have simply left with the man if he was on Wendel’s side.”

“Let’s not get our hopes up, guy seemed a little insane. Then again, could just be what happens when you’re sharing your brain with someone else.”

“I very much do not want to find out. Although he was surprisingly cooperative.”

“Right. . .”

Summers recalled the man’s reaction, and subsequent timidity in the obsidian world. It was odd. Like he knew something.

Summers caught Asle staring out into the distance, distracted.

He put a hand on her shoulder.

“Come on, let’s get some rest.”

“I can still help,” Asle protested.

Summers squeezed a little tighter.

“Asle, rest is just as important. Come on.”

She hesitated for a moment but nodded before following him to the center of camp. They’d all made a habit of moving into the obsidian world for sleep by now. Despite the danger of being stranded, the risk of being blown to bits by some missile was more pressing, and slightly more likely.

He cleaned up and got ready to turn in, but as he was about to settle down, he felt and heard something beside him.

He turned to find Asle creating a portal, then closing it. Then remaking it and closing it again. At this point several of the elves were also staring.

“Again, with this?” Summers asked. “How do you still have energy?”

She paused, thinking.

“I think I can hear someone.”

Summers sat up, his mind on alert.

“Okay. . . Someone how?”

“People talking, in my head. Like when that woman tried to control me. But only when the portal’s opened.”

Summers stared at her a long moment.

“Then why are you opening it?”

She glared at him.

“I can sort of feel which direction it’s coming from, so. . .”

Summers paused. If she could do that, then they might find the location of one of the other leaders. There was a good chance she was hearing their orders.

As he watched her make a portal, only to unmake it, something occurred to him. It was odd how Asle’s portals worked, like it picked and chose what existed within its sphere of influence. Or rather, more like Asle chose what pieces from the world were there. They’d move into the portal seeing the obsidian world at its center, only to look back and see the reddish sand of the other world behind them. Summers recalled something about quantum superposition that might explain it, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t his own brain. Besides that, thinking about it, or even looking to closely at those portals made Summers’ head hurt.

After a few more moments, Asle stopped.

“You figure it out?”

Asle opened one more portal and pointed to a nearby mesa.

“There.”

Summers had sent word to Pat to let him know what they’d found before he and Asle had gotten a healthy, four-hour nap in. In that time, Pat had sent scouts of his own to double check what Asle had suspected. And she was right.

“According to those we sent, there was a large mass of troops nearby,” Pat confirmed. “Far more than we expected.”

“Do we know how many leaders there are?”

“No, they weren’t able to get close.”

Asle raised her hand.

“I can hear five or six voices, I think.”

“Okay then.” Summers said. “Useful but hearing voices is still a little disturbing. You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m okay.”

She looked a little annoyed by the question but didn’t wave off his concern. She was smart enough to understand what was at stake here.

“Five or six could mean a large force, perhaps even their main army,” Pat said.

“So, question is what we do with this.” Summers looked around at the people near him. Pat, the twins and Ayra had moved off from their station on the walls to listen to the news, these were essentially his subcommanders at this point. “I’ll be honest, if we sit back, I don’t know that we’ll be able to last. Even if we win there’s no guarantee our enemy won’t just go replenish their numbers and come back.”

“I suggest an attack.” Pat said. “We’d be leaving the base undermanned, and in fact, we should move our more valuable equipment to Asle’s world, however it’s worth the risk.”

“Agreed,” Ayra chimed in. “The samr might know our little girl’s trick by now but they won’t be able to do a whole lot as long as we’re careful.”

Summers nodded.

“There’s a good chance this isn’t all of their leadership, the samr seem to operate differently than a normal army. That means once they notice our people aren’t defending, they might attack the base here.” He looked at Ayra. “Since you’re still injured Pat’s the only good choice I have to handle people in the field. Think you can coordinate our defense here?”

“Either I will, or you’ll find me dead in the dirt. Happy to try either way.”

“Good, I think.” Summers took a breath. “Asle, how about you?”

He looked at the girl, the unspoken question obvious enough. She’d been hurt, badly. For any normal person it would be understandable, even expected that they wouldn’t want to jump right back into danger. But he couldn’t protect her from the reality of what was happening, and this plan would likely hinge on her in some way. Still, he wouldn’t force her to help if she didn’t think she could handle it.

“I can do it.”

Summers gave her a smile, then turned to the others.

“So, now we just need a plan.”

Summers took a breath. He was sitting on top of a Humvee they’d managed to drive into the obsidian world, watching the literal army arrayed before him. It was most of their force, around three hundred strong. Some were from the city, some the towns surrounding the area, and even more were refugees from the surrounding areas the samr had already sacked. Word of the base had spread quickly in the small holdouts, in no small part due to their efforts to scout, and now they were all united under a single, literal banner.

Summers glanced up to the banner of a sun over a black earth before he gave the order.

“Asle, when you’re ready.”

The girl nodded.

The soldiers stirred, psyching themselves up for what was about to come. Some of them were battle-tested, others, he was just happy they were pointing the gun in the right direction. This wasn’t an ideal situation for any of them. And from the expressions on a few of the elves’ faces, or the fact he could see expressions at all, they agreed. Their usual strategy of opening a portal and shooting anything on the other side wouldn’t work here, they’d apparently found the command center for the samr. And it was huge. Complete with sentries lining the perimeter, and more than one of the massive abominations, like the one Summers had fought in the city. Killing them by inches wouldn’t work with the numbers here, they’d only get overwhelmed. Which meant they’d had to rethink things a little.

Pat was handling the squads, one led by Helfden. The man was battle-hardened and had taken to using a gun surprisingly quickly in the last few engagements. While he was far from an expert, Summers had given him a few lessons personally, and he was at least confident the man wouldn’t shoot him in the back. While his injuries might slow him down, they couldn’t be too picky. A few months ago, most of these people were farmers, merchants, or guards. Not anyone that knew what a real fight was.

Pat had even mentioned they had what he understood was a florist in their ranks, he only knew that because the woman had distinguished herself in the first battle. He watched as Pat moved around through their soldiers, the guy had come a long way. More than Summers might have given him credit for. The others looked to him for instruction, and he wasn’t shying down from the job.

Summers gestured to Pat, and the man checked his wrist. They’d set their people up with a few digital watches with alarms on them. He’d worked on setting them up beforehand, since they’d be key in this fight. The fact it had taken an hour to explain how to do so was frustrating, but ultimately needed. The elves were smart, but he couldn’t fault them for not picking up everything right away.

Pat gave him a thumbs up.

“When the hell did I teach him that?” Summers mumbled.

“Ready,” Asle said.

Summers tensed, and after a moment, a portal opened in front of him.

“Go!” Summers gestured, and twenty of the elves moved forward.

Almost immediately the sound of gunfire drowned out everything else. The portal closed, and another opened in the distance, allowing another group of elves in. They were essentially, surrounding the base on all sides. The process repeated until Summers’ watch let out a short beep.

He slapped the roof of the Humvee.

“Our turn. Shock and awe.”

Bard ducked into the driver’s seat while Asle stayed as far back as she could while still opening portals. They weren’t taking chances with her. A window opened to the other world, an almost perfect sphere of otherness that Bard drove through without hesitation. When they were through, Summers saw what he’d been expecting.

The place was in chaos. Their enemy was trying to lay down fire from behind cement barriers and buildings, however they’d set up on nearly every side. More importantly, there were three massive black monstrosities moving towards his people. Those squads were already pulling back at Pat’s instruction, and one had already taken losses. Those elves had a mad look in their eyes, some of their limbs missing as their fellows put them down for good.

Summers winced, and Pat called out on the radio.

“Squads three and five, support four!”

Summers didn’t feel the need to chime in, Pat had this in hand and he’d just cause more confusion trying to micromanage. Their enemy was reacting faster than they’d expected, but now that the enemies’ heavy hitters were distracted, it was his group’s turn.

Bard and Viggo had made a point to teach a few of the recruits how to drive, based on his original instructions. Thankfully, these Humvees were as effective as a tank with a big target, and the heaviest hitters the base had.

Their five Humvees drove out to flank their enemy. Summers aimed the turret at one of the monsters lumbering towards a group of his men and fired. A deafening WHUMP resounded through him as the Humvees beside him did the same. In just a moment the entire camp was lit up in a blaze of fire, and destruction. When he could see again, he found a massive shape barreling towards him.

“Crap, back up!” Summers called over.

They’d only just cleared the distance as a pile of black. . . meat slammed into the ground in front of them. One of those monsters had thrown a chunk of itself at them, as big as the Humvee itself. He stared at it, confused, when the chunk lunged at them.

“Oh, fucks sake.” Summers angled the gun down as they reversed and fired. The chunk, as well as most of the ground disappeared in an explosion that had his ears ringing. Then the engine died.

“Crap. Bard!”

This was an issue they had experience with, something about the cannon screwed with the engine. Bard tried to turn it over several times as another chunk landed near one of their squads. Summers watched as the group ran, tossing grenades behind them before diving for cover. They’d mostly missed, but the resulting explosions dumped the meat. . . thing into the valley below.

Explosions and gunfire reigned for the next few minutes. They weren’t holding anything back. Grenades flew into the base with little to no regard. His people were making up for what they lacked in training with enthusiasm and ordinance, this could very well be the battle that turned the tide, and every squad had been ordered to cause as much chaos as possible.

They were delivering on that.

Squads ducked into a portal on a schedule, only reappear in a new location, adding to the effect. Summers watched as one of the monstrous behemoths fell to a series of explosions near its neck. Bard cheered as their engine kicked back in and Summers steadied himself as they lurched back.

“Nice-” Summers faltered as he saw the monster that had been hurling chunks of itself sprinting at them, far faster than a creature that size should rightfully be able to. Summers slapped the Humvee a few times in quick succession.

“Faster Bard, faster!”

“I know!” Bard yelled.

The Humvee lurched just as an arm cracked the ground in front of them, only to swerve as another landed beside it. Bard was surprisingly good at this. The creature, unlike the one from the city, was clearly once something that was already extremely large, its body almost humanoid. And thankfully, it had just presented them with its head.

Summers fired, an explosion of gore and black blood followed. The creature swayed for a moment, before falling into the center of the camp, taking a few more of the samr’s soldiers with it. Parts of it still wriggled, though that was quickly being addressed by the squad nearest to it. Pat’s voice rang out over the radio, and grenades rained down on the crippled monster at his instruction, wounding it even further. Summers wished they could have used some of Roan’s blood here, but they’d reserved their ‘big guns’ for the base.

The battle continued like that for what seemed like forever, until their enemy was held up at the center of their camp, either out of range or entrenched in various bunkers near the center. This might have been an outpost for the army once, that’s the only way Summers could explain this kind of infrastructure. Either way, it was exactly what they were hoping for.

When another alarm went off on Bard’s watch, they angled towards their extraction point. A tear in the world opened, and the group of Humvees drove through, back into the obsidian world.

The portal closed, and Summers could see more of their people streaming in from the battle.

A few of their soldiers on standby, their fresh, if less reliable troops, moved to set up where the team leaders indicated. Summers grinned as they fell back on to their usual strategy. Grenades went into the portals Asle created, and their fight was finished.

As Pat worked on clean up duty, Summers hopped out of the Humvee, smiling at an almost exhausted Asle.

“We’re almost done.”

Asle nodded, opening a portal in front of Summers. He stepped inside, finding the fight well in hand. His solders had been put into the most advantageous positions they could manage to mop up the last of the samr’s holdouts. Some, even inside the bunkers themselves.

The rest was a forgone conclusion, and from the looks of it, their losses had been minimal. If their luck held -

His radio crackled, Viggo’s voice coming through.

“Commander, there are thousands — some giant --"

BOOM!

There was an explosion in the distance, one Summers could feel in his very core. Apparently, he’d been right, this attack hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“We need help!” Viggo’s voice finally came through. After a few more seconds of silence, the SOS signal Summers had set up switched on. Meaning either the radios were down, or Viggo couldn’t man it.

Summers switched channels, addressing his people.

“Everyone, finish up what you’re doing, we need to get back, now.”