The forest came to life around us, as if the shadows themselves were monsters slowly waking from a slumber. Noises could be heard in the distance, terrible shrieks and wails moaning in the dusk, sounding as if we were standing at the gates of Hell itself. I instinctively drew my pistol, worried about its efficacy in the face of such pandemonium, but the cold steel was comforting none the less. A similar response could be seen among my companions.

“Is it normally this bad here?” I tentatively asked Liah. She seems the most knowledgeable about this strange other world, so she would be the one to ask.

“I’ve never actually properly been here before…. but no, I don’t think so. Not unless something was going that could upset the balance here. But I mentioned earlier, something like that did happen.”

“What?”

“We are here, and something caused that. So with such a major shock, I’m sure all the ghouls and goblins out there are especially on-edge, with all the ‘otherworldy’ energy flowing in from our world. It’s a veritable feast for them.” She concluded.

I was just about to respond when an explosion sounded out, the low, chest shaking thump you get from a tennis-balls worth of high-explosive packed in a metal sphere. It was unmistakably a grenade, something easily identifiable to anyone who’s ever used one. Everyone was here though, and I didn’t see anyone chucking any grenades, so...

“Something just set off one of the tripwires.” John said. “They’re coming.”

“Get to your positions.” Jeff said. “Keep your radios on.”

Everyone went their separate ways, Doc, Liah and I heading to the central location of the campfire. John had outright disappeared, in a manner both unsettling and worrying, considering we’d probably be firing into the woods. I hope he doesn’t get hit.

Remembering something actually rather important, I tossed something to Liah. She caught it, surprised.

“What’s this?” She asked.

“Ear-pro. I’m assuming you’re going to want to be able to hear after tonight, right?”

Nodding, and looking over at the foxhole where Gabe was going over the staging of his spare barrel, she hurriedly put them in. I did the same, cursing my general habit of shunning the latest and greatest in tacti-cool gear. While I do like how my blue-tooth-compatible earbuds double as hearing protection, a set of ear-pro that actually would be compatible with a radio would have been really fucking nice right now. Oh well, lessons learned. Next time I’m shunted to another world with a cut-rate D&D adventuring party I’ll be sure to pick up a set of COMTACS first.

And it wasn’t a moment too soon that I had them in. From...wherever Jeff had hidden himself, the report of a .50 bmg rang out, followed by the shriek of some creature.

“It’s good to know regular lead works on these things. Gabe, there’s a big group coming up along the main approach at 8 o’clock.” Came Jeff’s voice over the radio.

“On it.” Gabe responded. Short, controlled bursts followed, about three seconds in length. If it was going to be as long of a night as it sounded like it would be, we needed to avoid getting caught with our pants down from a barrel overheating at an inopportune time. Not that I was an expert, I was as POG as they come.

“Amy, you’re up next, we got a large group of what looks like misshapen foxes coming in at 12, 400 meters out. Could you try that magic thing?”

“Aye, I’ll see what I can do.” I responded.

Liah said it should be easier to do magic here. Holstering my pistol, I pointed my arm to the north, closing my eyes to get the mental image. Explosions, shrapnel, shock-waves...that’s what I needed to imagine happening. Digging deep, I felt myself connect with the energy of the world around me, bringing it in and making it a part of me. Blocking out the noise of Gabes machine gun, the occasional crack of Jeff’s Hekate, the worried hammer-pairs of Dave's AR, I formed the image of what I willed to happen on the world. And, I sent that thought out, forcing my image into reality.

“Holy shit, that was awesome! Like a mortar strike, minus the whistling noise!” Jeff shouted out over the radio. I guess this really wasn’t the kind of night for proper radio etiquette. Not like we needed to worry about foxhunting HAM boomers out here anyways

That was something I was certain would never be possible in my home world. If detailed thoughts like that were enough to trigger magic that powerful the Beltway would be strewn with the detritus of bad drivers.

“It’s the direction of energy, not just the image.” Liah said, interrupting my thoughts. “And I know you aren’t actually that violent, though I do wish you would stop cursing people who cut you off in traffic.”

“She does that?” Doc asked.

“Her favorite is cursing them with incontinence while stuck in traffic jams. An absolutely brutal spell.”

“Yikes, I probably shouldn’t get on her bad side then.” Doc looked askance at me. Given the constant gunfire around us, I really don’t think the time is right for airing dirty laundry...oof, poor choice of words.

Several more times Jeff called out over the radio, and several more times I repeated my spell. I had been joking when I described myself as the magical mortar previously but when Jeff started giving me corrections like he was guiding in artillery it really started to ring true. It was empowering in a way. No longer was a merely a pencil pusher. No longer was a merely a witch lurking in shadows, casting petty spells. I had been upgraded; I was Queen of the Battlefield.

“You are such a dork.” Liah interrupted me. “And stop your cackling, you’re weirding out Doc.”

I hadn’t even realized I had begun to cackle. That’s a tad embarrassing, but the night’s all sorts of crazy, so can you blame me? Something just felt right about forcing my will upon the fabric of the world in such a way. Like I was born to do so, to work my spells to make reality do my bidding in a calling of.

“You’re turning into one of those chuunibyou types from those anime you like, stop it.” Liah said, exasperated.

Maybe I was getting too into it. It’s a full-on firefight at this point, with the staccato of Gabe’s M240 echoing constantly in the gloom. He, Jeff, and presumably Smith had already switched over to night-vision, a luxury I was beginning to wish I had splurged on. Except, I didn’t seem to need it. I was externally aware that it was as dark of a night as there would ever be, but I could somehow see just fine. Liah didn’t seem any worse for wear, but the glow of her eyes when caught in the glint of the fire suggested her ancestry had as much to do with her lack of trouble with the gloom as anything else did.

“Something big’s coming.” Jeff’s voice cracked on the radio. “I can’t make it out clearly, but whatever it is, it’s fast.”

“I think I might be able to stop it.” Came the whispered reply from Smith. “If I can just...Fuck.” The thwump of a claymore went off, followed by a loud curse in the distance. “Jesus fuck that bastard is… Doc, I’m heading over there now.”

The shadows seemed to shift, as an ethereal form seemed to dance and flit from shadow to shadow, rapidly zig-zagging towards the fire. Liah, jumped in front of me snarling at the shadow, and it recoiled as it saw her. Then, it changed.

The shadows seemed to take form, stealing darkness and twisting it to give it form. It was dark, still, but it was solid in a way, with a red glow for eyes that glinted hungrily as they looked into mine.

“Witch...” It uttered with a hiss. “Your familiar can’t hold me forever. The souls of those such as you are forfeit to me and my kind, and once my master-”

My hand darted to my belt, six-gun clearing leather in my practiced manner even as my thumb drew back the hammer. Before my brain could register what was happening a shot rang out as a silver bullet, fairly ripped, tore its way through the apparitions head. With a wail that would have been ear-shattering, had we not already been wearing ear plugs, the creature went up in flames such as those used to torture sinners in the works of Dante or John Edwards. The whole event took less than a second, my years of LARPing as a cowboy paying dividends as the cloud of gun-smoke rose from the barrel of my pistol.

“What was his deal?” I asked, already habitually reloading.

“I think he was some sort of demon...” Liah explained.

“Yeah, but is he stupid? Everyone who’s done any study of the occult knows demons can be hurt by swords, to say nothing of silver bullets.”

“Maybe he doesn’t know about guns?”

“Fair enough. Oh, and I probably should...” I trailed off, reaching down to key my radio. “Uh, hey, Jeff? That shadow demon thingy just talked to me. If what it was saying it true, something reeeally big might be coming our way soon. Something presumably demonic.”

“ Thanks for the heads up. And Doc, you’re gonna need to grab a splint, It’s not an open fracture, but Smith’s arm is looking a bit off. He should be there shortly.”?

“Aye. On it.”

As Doc reached into her bag, I saw Smith approaching. One person injured already, and the Monster’s Manual of things attacking us switching from normal to Infernal. This was going to suck.