Warrior Games

Chapter Two

Devastation

Sh*t...Sh*t...Sh*t...

Kyle muttered curses as he hurriedly changed his clothes. How? When? Questions trickled with the speed of light into his brain with no hope of answers. Not that he needed those answers right now. What he needed was his body and mind in one piece. If he was correct, that spaceship was not the only one. Earth was likely encountering an alien invasion.

Whoa. Kyle stumbled dizzily as he suddenly felt like he was in one of those science fiction movies that he watched while growing up. He pinched himself and winced painfully. No, this was no dream at all. It was damn real. Aliens were invading Earth and he, Kyle Sorenson was still in his room, changing clothes while he enjoyed a real life view of a spaceship sitting in the sky. What else could he ask for?

He put on a leather jacket and placed a cap on his head. He had put all his savings into his pants pocket but he had a gnawing feeling that he wouldn't be needing those as he came outside from his apartment to take in the full extent of the devastation. Everywhere he looked, broken buildings and burning ruins stared sadly back at him. He found it hard to imagine that only yesterday, life was bubbling among simple but beautiful buildings.

His thoughts were suddenly pursued away by a loud explosion. Flinching, Kyle stood in absolute shock for a moment as the very ground beneath his feet shook violently, almost throwing him off his feet. Primal instinct mad him run first towards an outcrop of broken stone and throw himself behind it before finally sneaking a peek to know the source of the explosion though he had a suspicion on what it was.

The canons of the distant spaceship were still glowing fiercely and emitting smoke. Even from that distance Kyle could see the mushroom cloud that rose up from the far end of the island before seeing what came next.

At first, he could only see that, strangely, the ruined buildings farthest away were kind of falling as if some unknown hand was flattening them. Then it advanced towards the other buildings, flattening them also and coming closer to Kyle's position. Kyle was almost tempted to move closer and find out the cause when he suddenly stifled a shout of terror as he saw it — a terrifying shockwave of rolling wind, flattening down everything in its path and still ruthlessly charging forward with such force that it picked up huge stone blocks and trees in its embrace.

Kyle only had time to stumble into a shallow hole before he was forced to close his eyes and hold onto a protruding rod of bent iron, praying fervently that he was not ripped away by the furious, rolling mass overhead. A sound, so loud and powerful that Kyle believed his hearing would never be the same, assaulted him from all sides even as debris painfully peppered his face and arms. An overbearing force threatened to tear him away from his hold and he had to strain every muscle just to keep his hold, which was not much as he could already feel his hands slipping away under the ferocious pulling of the wind.

With a howl of fear and terror, Kyle suddenly felt the iron rod that served as his hold come off in his hands even as a feeling of weightlessness overcame him. The floor was already getting farther from him. His hands groped desperately for something, anything to prevent him from being sucked into the deadly depths of the ruthless wind and found success when they latched unto a short stone beam. His legs dangling furiously upwards, Kyle hugged his only possible means of survival and hoped that it would be enough. But the stone beam suddenly started leaning forward, its stone work cracking rapidly along with Kyle's hope.

Kyle could not help but think over all his life experiences. Why had he not focused more on enjoying life? Was this the end of his insignificant existence? A bitter smile found its way to his face. Well, he could only hope that the afterlife would be much better.

The intensity of the wind spiked up sharply and Kyle sighed in resignation. Was this how the end of the world sounded like? His body would probably never be found. He wasn't even sure it would remain in one piece. Another sigh left his lips and he found that he could hear it loud and clear. Was he perhaps. . . already dead?

He opened his eyes slowly, expecting to see a beautiful golden city with laughing people and angels but all he saw was a vast stretch of ruin. Maybe I'm in hell instead.

But then the maddening intense calm that blanketed everything made him think that he was in a place where time had ceased to exist.

But alas! His mind now clearer, Kyle saw that his journey to the afterlife was never to be. He was still in the same position and at the same place. Only that the rolling mass of chaos that had assaulted him was gone, leaving in its wake a deathly silence that told no whispers of the that had only happened a short time ago. A silence so intense that Kyle almost believed himself to be deaf, even going as far as speaking to himself to be sure.

Finally deeming it fit to stand up, he took a look around. Where his home had stood only before, a pile of rubble lay desolately, taking a part of his life away. Kyle willed his eyes from the desolate rubble that had been his home and took in the ruinous landscape that lay before him. If the goal of the invaders was destruction, they sure achieved their goal.There was no intact structure in sight at all. Only ruins. Everywhere he looked — ruins.

Kyle shuddered. A feeling of loneliness washed over him. He seemed like the only surviving person in the world. The people on the island had never been particularly good to him, but knowing that everyone he had ever known could very well already be dead left a cold feeling in his heart. Realizing that he had to get moving if he wanted to survive, Kyle chose a random direction and began his journey through the hellscape of ruins. With any luck, he would come across a group of people and tag along.

****

Above Earth, an elegant spaceship dominated the atmosphere, drifting silently and majestically.

Aboard the spaceship were warriors, each if them an elite that could singlehandedly rain terror on any planet. Their intimidating presence spoke volumes of the power they wielded. Yet, these powerful beings were all gathered solely under one person, an even more powerful being.

The violet eyes of Uliana gazed coldly at a display showing the various events that were playing out across the Earth. Her lofty presence seemed to ignore the cries if terror and anguish by the people on Earth. In her eyes, anyone that couldn't even survive just this stage were trash. Weaklings. And she did not need any of that. Her father did not need any of that. They needed only the strong, the fittest. And that was the sole purpose of this stage. To weed out the weak. Only the strong could survive what was surely going to come next.

From behind came the voice of one of her men that were gathered. It was the voice of a middle-aged man with a ruthless look about him. "My Lady, it seems phase one is almost complete." His cold voice could make any human shudder.

Uliana, her gaze still on the huge display in front of her seemed not to have heard him, her look still a visage of cold indifference. But a brooding glint nested in her eyes. Minutes passed with no one daring to make a sound, until her voice, sweet and enchanting, cut through the silence.

"Are your men ready?"

"All ready, My Lady," came the man's response.

Her voice seemed to contain barely controlled excitement. "Alright then. Bring our guests in."

As if already waiting for the exact words, the middle-aged man turned abruptly on his feet, heading out of the control room to carry out the orders of his mistress.

To begin phase two.

****

The once beautiful appearance of Earth had undergoed a massive change. Gone were the lush green forests and huge breathtaking mountain vistas. What remained was only blackened earth and ugly deformed landscapes courtesy of the numerous spaceships that littered the once blue skies of Earth. The blue and white of Earth had swapped colours with an ominous colour of orange-red, plunging the whole Earth in a bath of dusk-like darkness. Even the sun just hung listlessly in the sky. A huge ball of red.

The ruins of a sky scraper lay scattered and hopelessly broken. All around it were blackened corpses of men and women alike, their gnarled hands still clinging unto equally deformed briefcases. Some of the corpses were even nigh impossible to discern as they lay horribly twisted, only their paradoxically grinning skulls evidence of a human corpse. All of it was like a scene straight from hell.

Bodies of soldiers who had fought bravely for their home lay here and there with a few missing part of their bodies. Some if the heavily wounded that were still alive were ending their misery and pain, stabbing themselves in the heart just to be free from the torture. Some if the soldiers who had no means to even commit suicide were begging those who could for death, shouting and cursing loudly. It made a person think that there was no more hope left again in the world.

Humans who had survived the catastrophe shut themselves in their respective basements, all in fear if their lives. For many of them, the day had begun like any other day. They had woken up from their sweet dreams — and nightmares — to have a bath and brush their teeth or take breakfast with plans of the day already formulating in their heads when the world as they knew it was suddenly and abruptly ended by a series of devastating explosions and the sight of those menacing vessels of war that had turned their home to hell. Some of them had even been sleeping before they were rudely awakened, shocked to find a world that they had only left the night before changed beyond recognition.

Now they all lay huddled, locked away in fear. Fathers taking on a protective look as they watched over their families, single parents tightly hugging their children, youths and teenagers regretfully thinking that they had not even enjoyed life to the fullest, clergymen and religious leaders praying to their God, or gods, for protection and mercy upon their souls, while some of the unlucky ones were corpses mangled by the stone blocks of their destroyed basement.

But if any human were looking out now, all harboured hopes would have evaporated. Battalions of soldiers scoured the area, highly equipped, each with a murderous aura overflowing from them. They would have bested even the best soldiers on Earth.