Part 1

A rumble so loud, it shook the very stone beneath them. An endless wave of aliens flowed over the ground piling up against the massive walls of Xer’s border. Each soldier audibly gulped in fear and anticipation. Hundreds of arrows flew overhead and down below into the mass of dark creatures. The sun slowly fell giving them light for another hour before darkness took over the lands.

There was an eerie silence that fell over the city of Unari, no one spoke, no one moved but the archers knocking and releasing arrows constantly. Lite taps of metal clanged against stone, shifting feet scuffed the ground, Yvlana looked down at the rows of brave men on either side of her.

“The humans are surprisingly silent,” Yvlana spoke to Lamir hundreds of feet away. A split-second pause and Lamir’s com-link blinked green notifying her he had received her voice chat.

“I can’t help but admire their bravery,” Lamir responded. “They are so frail and live such short lives, yet they will lay down their lives for the greater good.”

“Look at them climbing.” Yvlana changed the subject. “Crawling over each like ants.”

“They’re building a pyramid out of themselves.” Yvlana saw Lamir bent over the side, gazing intently at the Thrak piles slowly building up.

“I count three,” Yvlana said.

“They’ll attack us from three points then.” Lamir shrugged. “I can focus on one and you the other but the third will have to be handled by the humans.”

“Do you think they can handle it?” Yvlana asked.

“Do you think we can?” Lamir shrugged again. “If the humans focus on one and give us minimal support then I believe we can.”

“Spearmen behind us?” Yvlana guessed.

“And archers from the towers. We can hold them.” Lamir sounded confident. “It will be a tough fight but we can hold them.”

“What about them?” Yvlana pointed down.

Hundreds of female Thrak started lining up in rows preparing to fire. Their hind legs pushed upward and flattened their faces to the ground. Yvlana instinctively brought her left arm up and activated her shield, which unfolded from her forearm and extended over half of her body. Lamir however stood his ground watching closely.

“Get under cover will you?” Yvlana shouted.

“No need.” he paused, then pointed. “Look.”

Unequipping her shield, she looked down at the females, unmoving and poised to fire.

“What are they waiting for?” she asked.

“Not sure.” Lamir once again shrugged.

“Should we give the order?” Yvlana questioned her brother.

“The males are still shielding most of them. We need a better shot before using our weapons.” Lamir explained. “Once the guns are depleted, it's back to arrows for ten to fifteen minutes. We need a good enough opening to take out as many females as possible.”

“Good point,” Yvlana admitted, though she itched to blast every last Thrak out of existence.

From the armory in Riqun, Lamir had gathered all their small arms weapons, which included tech shields. Shotguns, pistols, and a few rifles. Unfortunately, to bring along something with a heavier kick, they would have had to go much deeper into the bunker to retrieve them. Inwardly, Yvlana groaned at the loss of their more powerful weapons. Everything happened so fast in Riqun that they had little time to grab anything worthwhile. They would have to make do with what they had, she just hoped it would be enough.

Through Lamir’s helmet, Yvlana heard someone talking to her brother. It was the human who had taken charge of Unari during the siege. Out of all the humans, she liked him the best. He was tall, strong and a good leader, even if he was a human, she had to admit his skills as a fighter and commander. To add, he listened to her brother, which was wise because he had an abundant amount of experience fighting the Thrak and took their advice seriously and often.

Yvlana had never spoken to him yet but she avoided humans whenever she could. She assumed he picked up on that point when he tried talking to her at an earlier point. Only grunting in response to him and referring to her brother as the one to talk to, he quickly caught on. “Don’t talk to Yvlana.”

“Commander, Kyburn.” Lamir addressed him. “The battle is about to begin. What is so urgent?”

“There are three… pyramids of Thrak forming at the walls, as I’m sure you are aware of.” Kyburn started. “I would ask you and your sister to cover one of those together. My men will cover the other two. The archers from the towers will support all three points and when you give the signal, they will rain down hell on those females.”

“I’m glad you mentioned that,” Lamir said. “My sister and I were just discussing strategy. I suggested I take one and my sister takes the other.”

“You can hold them off on your own?” Kyburn asked skeptically.

“No. I also suggested that we have spearmen at our sides to funnel them toward us and kill any stragglers as they breach the wall.” Lamir explained. “With the help of the spearmen and the archers we are confident we can hold two of the three points. The third will be up to you.”

“That…” Kyburn smirked. “Is a good idea. I like it. Very well. We will do it your way.”

“As for the females.” Lamir pointed again. “Once the males have moved, it will give us a much clearer shot at them, at which point we will exhaust our weapons then wait for them to recharge and repeat the process until the females are destroyed. Once they are dealt with, the males will be vulnerable to retreat.”

“Then we will hold until then,” Kyburn promised. “The archers are on standby for your signal.”

“Excellent,” Lamir said.

Yvlana saw Kyburn stick out his hand, a human gesture of respect. Lamir took it in his large hands and returned the gesture.

“Good luck, Emarine.” Kyburn glanced over at her.

Standing taller than all the humans, it was easy to catch her gaze as she was already watching the exchange. Yvlana wondered if he knew she was listening to their conversation. He grinned at her, letting her know he was.

Yvlana couldn’t help but smirk back behind her helmet. “He’s a smart one,” she said to Lamir.

“I like him.” Lamir chuckled.

Yvlana and Lamir started moving to two of the three points, whereas most of the humans moved to the point in which Kyburn was defending. Two dozen spearmen followed Yvlana as the orders had been passed down already.

The instant she moved into position, her heart nearly leapt out of her chest as a grey Thrak lunged straight for her. Its skin blending into the stone almost making it transparent, apart from the bright red eyes and shimmering skin. Years of training, her reflexes kicked in immediately and she whipped her sword out and lopped off two outstretched arms.

It fell to the ground next to her, flailing around helplessly as she plunged her sword through the back of its head. Shouting from afar drew her attention to Lamir.

Soldiers stabbed and shoved three more Thrak from the wall and Lamir kicked one clean off, sending it plunging over the side.

“They camouflage themselves,” Lamir shouted to her through his com-link.

“I noticed.” Yvlana scowled.

“That’s why the females weren’t firing.” Lamir cursed under his breath. “I should have seen this coming.”

“Forget it,” Yvlana said. “It happened. Let’s just keep them off the walls. The men in the towers didn’t see them either.”

“Let's blast them off the walls first,” Lamir said. “The guns can recharge while the rest climb.”

Raising his arm, Lamir threw a powder bag over, near the edge of the wall making a stream of red dust. As if on cue, large blasts of blue lasers shot from the towers as the humans shot the L.E.C pistols and rifles. The L.E.C shotguns were reserved for the men on the walls, for close-quarters combat.

Realizing their sneak attack had failed, the females opened fire with their long spear-like bones. Immediately the archers stopped firing to duck down behind the stone walls, halting almost all shooting.

With the humans pinned down, the males rushed forward with new vigor, relentlessly shoving their way up the walls, a few leapt up, digging their claws into the stone just enough to give them leverage to jump again. This gave them the height to reach the top now and hundreds more started doing so. In their mad rush forward, the males left the females exposed as they climbed up the wall.

Thrak began to pour onto the wall’s edge, forcing the guards to attack with spears, swords, axes, and even their own shields, shoving them off or cutting them until they fell.

Yvlana brought up her own shield to block the incoming volley of spikes and started slashing down at the Thrak, crawling up the wall. A dozen human soldiers were struck and flung off the wall and into the city below. Howls of pain and fear came from both Thrak and humans as they died.

Causing one to fall, often made another dozen fall as well as they plummeted onto their companions and crumbled the slowly stacking pyramids. It did not stop the overall climb, however, as the Thrak pushed onward, giving no ground, only those clinging to the wall itself without the support of the Thrak mass were easily dislodged.

The spearmen behind her poked and jabbed at any out of her reach, which made her bless Lamir for the idea. As weak as humans were, they were resourceful and reliable. For now, they held the wall with ease. It was once the pyramid reached the top, that concerned her and it was nearly upon them.

Glancing over to Lamir, she saw him cutting through dozens of Thrak as the pyramid had already reached the top. Any effort to topple the Thrak had failed. Each spearman raised their shields and rushed forward, thrusting their spears into the oncoming wave of monsters. Barely containing the onslaught, the humans, along with Lamir narrowed their path to funnel them into Lamir’s deadly sword.

Refocusing, Yvlana kicked an alien square in the face, her boot shattering its teeth as it plunged to its death. Another three lunged for her but to her surprise, the humans stopped two by catching them in the throats, whereas she slashed her own sword down upon the third, cutting it's head open. Spears and shields grouped around her, protecting her sides as more Thrak climbed upward.

Daring a glance, Yvlana saw Kyburn and his men holding fast against their own defense point. They were throwing large stones down upon their heads, either killing them or stunning them long enough to cause them to topple over. Two soldiers brought a giant bowl of black liquid, which took her a moment to realize what it was. They were pouring boiling oil down the sides of the wall, directly above the pyramid of Thrak. As they did so, fire arrows streaked across the sky and landed on the thick black liquid.

An enormous burst of fire exploded downward like a waterfall of flames. Screeching and ear-piercing howls bellowed through the ranks of men, causing some humans to protect their ears. The pyramid of Thrak quickly crumbled as those below scrambled to safety from the blistering heat.

Enraged, the females intensified their fire, along with dozens more arriving. The army of Thrak was lessening, however. Before you could not see the end to them, but now, their numbers looked to be dwindling. However, Yvlana still put them over ten thousand strong.

The sun was setting now, the top half of the star already disappearing. Soon, the light would be gone and make the fight for survival that much harder. She hated to admit it but she was glad the soldiers by her side were there to help her.

Her shield clanged loudly as spikes peppered the side of the wall and nearly hitting her. The spearmen ducked and lifted their shields as shards of rock and bone splintered everywhere. It was a nightmare without something to protect you. One landed a blow directly, hitting a man and flinging him off the wall, sending him tumbling over the side screaming.

Exchanges of horrified looks passed through the soldiers as they saw their fellow man fall to his death.

“Stay focused,” Yvlana yelled to them. “If we don’t hold them off here, every man woman, and child in Xer will be slaughtered by these animals. You want to keep your families safe don’t you?” she asked.

Determined looks gave her her answer, “Help me then. And don’t give up!” trying to encourage them.

“Yvlana!” Lamir said to her in her com-link. “We have a problem.”

Looking over to him, she saw the… problem he was talking about. The Thrak that had been set on fire were now in flames but continued to climb nevertheless. Their bodies shimmered and flaked like snake skins. The oil sliding off and onto the next Thrak causing the fires to go out but the oil remained somehow.

Dozens more fire arrows ignited the oil once again but the same process continued, killing only a dozen or so each time then the rest would shed their skin, replacing it with a tougher and harder frame. They looked more boney and skeleton-like.

“They’re adapting faster than I imagined,” Lamir whispered as he toppled more Thrak.

“I can’t help them. And if you leave your spot then they will overrun the humans there.” Yvlana said. “They have to deal with it themselves. Use the L.E.C. shotguns.”

Before Lamir signaled to use the shotguns, Kyburn’s defenses began to collapse, leaving them all vulnerable for further attack. The humans weren’t stupid however, they didn’t wait for his signal and started using the guns, blasting them into pieces and pushing them back over the edge.

The archers in the towers had a red flag up, indicating their guns were still recharging. Green would mean they were fully charged and ready for use. They would have to hold on without them until then.

The shotguns proved to be more than effective as they blasted Thrak to bits, giving them the lost ground and pushing back against the edge of the wall. Kyburn could be seen in the middle of the fray, fighting like a mad dog, his sword looked as if it were a blurred silver. His sword skills were excellent and the Thrak paid a hefty price if confronted by him.

Another volley of spikes jetted toward the walls. Yvlana ducked down an instant before the impact and was able to pull down one human below the ledge. Others weren’t as fortunate as they were distracted by the males on the verge of pouring over the walls and were struck by the bones shot by the females below.

Five spearmen were impaled and flung backward off the wall. Most were able to pull their shields up in time to deflect the projectiles. In a fit of frustration, Yvlana jumped back up and slashed at the Thrak scaling the wall, cutting through three more with one blow.

Through her com-link, Yvlana heard Lamir yell, “Fire!” as he threw another powder bag near the females, indicating to focus fire on them.

Dozens of laser blasts burst from the archer towers and filled the ground below in dust and explosive energy. Continuous fire depleted their charges, leaving them empty and in need of another ten minutes before firing again.

Before the dust could settle, long spikes shot out from the dust, giving them no time to react. The females were still alive and fighting back.

Yvlana was struck in the chest and arm by two bones, shattering on impact and spraying the ground around her with bits of the spikes. The force launched her off her feet and sent her over the edge, along with four other humans who had been hit, leaving the wall defenseless in that area.

“Yvlana!” Lamir shouted.

She was breathing heavily but remained calm as she fell, the height giving her nearly five seconds of air time before landing. Crashing through a room, Yvlana smashed feet first and landed on stone, cracking the rock beneath her feet but the instant she hit the ground she leapt up again, clearing the building she had slammed through.

As she regained her sight of the surroundings, she saw one of the three men still falling, which gave her a split second to react. Already pulling her pistol out before landing, Yvlana had charged up the shot and blasted herself in the opposite direction in which she aimed, sending her toward the falling human. A split second before hitting the ground, she reached him on the roof of a house. He fell past her plummeting for the road below. Reaching out her arm, Yvlana snatched his breastplate and held it tight, bending the metal with her grip.

His momentum caused him to slam into the side of the house and she heard a bone snap but looking down she saw he was alive. He groaned in pain as she heaved him onto the roof.

“I have to get back up there! You’ll have to get yourself down from her,” she said as she launched herself off the roof and onto the steps that lead to the top.

The clay roof beneath her buckled from the pressure which caused her to come short but she still managed to land on the steps, only further down than she had planned. Taking the stairs six at a time, Yvlana sprinted up the wall, making a mad rush to defend the point in which the pyramid of Thrak by now was overwhelming the humans.

Yvlana made it to the top in time to see every spearman dead or dying as Thrak pressed their advantage and spread out. Unwilling to give more ground, Yvlana leapt in front of the entrance to the towers, protecting the archers above as they still rained down arrows.

Two swordsmen approached her from behind but hesitated as she cut through the demon-like creatures.

“Stay behind me,” she ordered.

To her dismay and annoyance, the males not only attacked the men on the wall but also jumped straight over and into the city. Some died from the fall but others got up and rampaged through the city. Luckily, every citizen was cleared and on their way to the capital of Xer. Any soldiers in the city had little hope of fighting them off now as they continued to pour over the wall.

Yvlana guessed at least a hundred Thrak had gotten past her when she glanced down at the females, still firing their projectiles but focusing on Lamir and Kyburn’s forces.

Her heart stopped as she recognized a figure. He ran straight for the females and started cutting through them like butter, killing a dozen in the span of ten seconds.

It was Kaladin.

Part 2

Kaladin rolled over a Thrak’s back, slicing his sword through its belly as he did so. Taking a momentary pause, Kaladin whipped out his E.E. grenade and threw it in the middle of the first pyramid of Thrak.

Several males lunged at him as they caught on to his plan but were too late, Kal dodged to the side, slicing off heads and limps then pulled his shield up an instant before the E.E. grenade exploded in a ball of blue fire.

Hundreds of Thrak tumbled to the ground, crushing any that survived the blast and felling the pyramid of creatures. The E.E grenade, killing over a hundred, Kal refocused on the females still firing up at Lamir.

“Where is Yvlana?” he whispered.

He had lost sight of her when she was struck by the spikes, sending her over the other side. Swallowing his fears, Kaladin continued the fight, knowing she would be alright. If she was knocked unconscious her F.S.A.P. suit would absorb the fall.

“Behind you,” Felkuru warned him.

Ducking under an attack from behind, Kal brought his fist into the ribcage of the Thrak, shattering its bones and crushing its body.

Felkuru and his daughters raced to meet him and begin their attack on the Thrak horde. There were fewer Thrak than he had anticipated but there were still several thousand left. Averting his attention for a moment, Kaladin saw the archers begin to fire their arrows upon the Vog, unaware they were there to aid them in the fight.

Thankfully, the weak metal tips bounced off their thick scally hides, leaving only scratches or bruises. Lamir looked to be waving and shouting but Kaladin couldn’t hear him from the fighting and the distance but a moment after, the arrows refocused on the Thrak.

Lamir, it seemed, knew the Vog weren’t the enemy before the humans did and redirected their fire on the second pyramid.

Kaladin’s eyes focused on the third, in which Thrak were pouring over unhindered now that Yvlana was out of the picture. He hoped she was unharmed and safe but kept his mind on the task at hand.

Making his way slowly over to the third pyramid as the Vog focused on the second, Kaladin cut through the females, distracting them and causing them to shoot at him, rather than Lamir, the Vog, or the humans.

This proved to be a challenge due to their evolved states. The females were much bigger and stronger, and to add, their spikes had become as long as an arm and hit like a laser blast.

Flipping into the air and twisting his body, Kaladin expertly dodged a dozen spikes hurtling toward him, not one landed a hit.

This gave him a few moments before they could regrow their bones. Taking the opportunity, Kal sprinted forward, using his L.E.C. pistol on the one far away and his sword to cut those before him to pieces. Coming into range, Kaladin pulled out another E.E. grenade and chucked it into the fray of the second pyramid of Thrak.

Unpausing, Kal continued forward, cutting through a dozen more females as the explosion rang with a loud bang and the ground shook beneath them. In the middle of cutting another Thrak in half, Kaladin noticed too late as three more females aimed at him.

Pulling his left arm up, Kal activated his shield in time to block three shots but two more landed, hitting his shoulder and hip. Flying backward, Kal was knocked into a pile of Thrak near the wall. Instantly he was pounced on and his shields kicked in, blocking bites and slashes.

The weight of dozens of Thrak was overwhelming but gave them little room to do much damage to him. Pulling his L.E.C. pistol out, Kal began to blast his way out, killing several before he had room to move properly. Unfortunately, the moment he blasted a pathway out of the pass of bodies, more took their place and closed him off to escape.

A slight panic crept down his spine as he saw his shields lower to 60%. Heaving with all his might, Kaladin shoved his way out with sheer willpower and determination. His strength, continuously renewed by the F.S.A.P. suit.

The moment he broke free of the males, more females opened fire on him. Unable to block or dodge, the spikes landed scarcely on his chest, shoulders, helmet, and stomach. The force was so strong, it sent him flying once again but this time he crashed into the wall itself. His body crashed into the stone, sinking a foot into the rock itself.

Pieces of stone shattered everywhere and the wall cracked into a million pieces around him. In a daze and barely conscious, Kaladin couldn’t defend himself as the males continued their attack.

His shields were down to 3% and his suit began to take damage. Suddenly, two forms appeared before him, along with dozens more a moment later.

It was Lamir and Yvlana, ripping away the aliens and the Vog taking out the females firing at them. His vision was blurry but he felt the touch of arms yanking him from the wall and lifting him to his feet. Another loud explosion told him she had taken one of his E.E. grenades to take out the last pyramid.

She pushed him down and covered his body with her own, as bits of stone, bodies, and dust blasted upward and fell back down upon them.

Barely able to stand, Kaladin saw her face for the first time in twenty years. Yvlana gazed at him, her helmet down, and smiled stupidly.

Kaladin removed his own helmet, trusting the danger was gone, and looked at her with his own two eyes. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her deep blue eyes pierced his own.

“Yvlana,” he whispered.

“Kaladin,” she said back.

Pulling him close, Yvlana kissed him deeply and he returned the kiss, embracing her tightly.