***Tirnanog, Second Continent: The Kingdom***

***Nikos Demi***

I power-walked after the nervous soldier who alerted the whole barracks while grumbling to myself. Was it truly possible that the strange group who appeared a few days earlier was becoming a regular occurrence? Had they really been from another colony on another continent?

The thought was too absurd. It was more likely that the scientists from Earth had found another way to mess with us.

On the other hand, it would explain the strange mutations those people had. Mutations nobody from the kingdom had ever seen.

I shook my head. There would be plenty of time to figure all of this out later.

We reached the arrival area, and I gestured for my honour guards to secure the zone. They filed into the walled-off arrival area in two neat rows, ready to lay down the law.

Only once all of them were past me, did I dare to enter. The last irregular group of exiles had been competent fighters.

What I found was quite a peculiar scene.

Several of my regular soldiers were keeping a pair of warriors in full plate armour at bay. Their leading officer was unconscious on the floor, totally out of it.

I narrowed my eyes, wondering how this could have happened to a category seven psychic.

The armour of the strangers looked medieval and futuristic at the same time. The design was aimed at functionality, but whoever came up with it also had an element of intimidation in mind. The material was dark, but had a greenish, reflective iridescence to it when the light hit just right, reminding me of an insect’s carapace.

My attention wandered for a moment to the strange orb which had appeared in my arrival zone, but it looked the same as it had with the last group. Unfortunately, we couldn’t figure out how to control it before it disappeared for no apparent reason.

My guards had formed a protective line between me and the newcomers, which was the correct decision. From the looks of these people, they had undergone some quite extreme mutations. For one, they stood more than a head taller than the people around them. Plus, their helmets had four eye-slits, making me wonder what kind of mutation would make such a thing necessary.

The warrior with the more feminine figure clasped her hands in front of her. “Finally, are you the one who is in charge of this installation?” She gestured at the surrounding walls. “We would like to have our friends back.”

I blinked, surprised by her uncaring demeanour. She didn’t sound like someone who was surrounded and outnumbered more than twenty to one.

“And who are you to demand such a thing?” I asked.

“My name is Astra Frost. This is my partner, Magnus Frost,” she introduced herself. “We are from Clan Aerie, a faction of the human colony on the first continent. We recently gained the technological power base to stop Earth from using us as research subjects. We also shut down Earth’s ability to open wormholes on the first continent.”

My eyes wandered to my unconscious officer. “And your reason for attacking my people?”

“He tried to use his mind-mumbojumbo on us,” the guy named Magnus spoke up and demonstratively smacked the broken spear-shaft into his open palm. “So I used my own mind-altering abilities on him.”

“We are deeply sorry,” the other one continued sweetly. “I am sure we can find a peaceful solution once we enter a productive dialogue. All this violence is entirely unnecessary. Aren’t all of us on the same side?”

“And which side would that be?” I narrowed my eyes. My imagination ran wild with different scenarios. What if they were speaking the truth?

“Well, the side of the people who have to survive and thrive in this world, of course. The side of Tirnanog,” the woman offered.

I scoffed and gestured for my guards to take action. “Seize them. We will figure everything out later.”

My men took a collective step forward, and the male warrior disappeared in a flash of sparks.

I blinked, scanning the walls to the left and the right, then the sky above. Where did he go?

Someone cleared his throat behind me, and I turned around quickly, raising an arm just in time for the broken spear-shaft to shatter into a myriad of splinters on my forearm. It wasn’t enough to break my reinforced bones, but it hurt a lot! I was a category thirteen human, one of the best the kingdom had to offer.

But I also hadn’t expected that I would have to fight today.

The warrior reached for me, and I took the offered chance. Even if his armour protected him, grappling was a definite path to victory.

His hand blurred, grabbing the wrist of my outstretched arm. Then my whole body seized up, and my heart skipped a few beats as sparks danced between us.

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A fist buried itself in my stomach, and I felt this morning’s breakfast rising in my throat.

Dropping to my knees, I tried to rise, but another burst of electricity made me lose my balance.

My guards charged, and a sword appeared in the man’s hand out of nowhere.

Then there were screams, blood, and bursts of light. A neatly severed head rolled through my field of vision. It felt like an eternity had passed, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds as the warrior walked forward, pulling my limp body with him.

Then, the fighting noise abruptly cut off. Only to be replaced by the wails of the injured.

“Magnus, what do we do?” The woman’s voice was distraught. “This is a catastrophe! Our first contact with another human colony… and… and…”

“Take a deep breath, Astra. It’s fine!” Magnus replied.

“No, it’s not!” Astra shouted back. “How are we supposed to get our people back?”

“How it has been done since the dawn of humanity. We have tried it the so-called ‘civilised’ way. Now they just have to learn their lesson.”

“Hah?” Astra sounded perplexed.

“Violence, dear. Raw, overwhelming power and the will to use it. It is the only thing that counts at the end of the day when you are dealing with people like these. It is the way of the world. The ones with the power are the ones in charge, provided they are willing to use it. They decided to use their power against us, and now they shouldn’t be surprised if power is used against them in return.”

“What?” Astra still didn’t understand.

“Everyone who can still stand, come here. Right beneath the sphere. Take the injured with you. Leave nobody behind and don’t even dare to think of running. You have all seen how fast we can move.”

I was being dragged a few steps further, but I was slowly regaining control over my body.

“What are you doing, Magnus?” Astra asked.

“We are taking them prisoner, Astra. It’s that easy. They took some of ours, so we take some of theirs. If they become reasonable, we exchange their people for ours. It’s not that hard to figure out. At least this one seems to be someone of importance. We leave his friends a nice message. Maybe we can carve it into that wall over there. Then we give them and ourselves a day or two to sleep over our attitude towards each other.”

Growling, I tried to rise, but another burst of electricity shook my body and then… the lights went out.

Someone slapped my face, and I blinked, uncertain of what was going on.

“I think he is going to be fine,” someone said. “Just keep Magnus away from him for a day or two. Repeated electrocutions are used as therapy in certain cases, but I wouldn’t recommend the practice for healthy people.”

Then I remembered what had happened.

The certain someone pulled my eyelids apart and blinded me with a bright light. A flashlight like the ones doctors use.

I slapped the hand away. “What is wrong with you people?”

Sitting up, I tried to get my bearings, but two large armoured warriors grabbed me by the arms and pulled me off a sickbed, away from a woman in white robes, which reminded me of a doctor's outfit.

“What is going on?” I asked as we stepped out onto a bright corridor.

“Just a prisoner’s transfer,” the warrior to my left replied. “We don’t have the capacity up here to hold people.”

“Up here?” I asked.

The other one cleared his throat. “We shouldn’t be talking to the prisoner.”

“Aw, come on, Henry! He was put through the wringer by a juggernaut. Have some empathy,” the other of my captors replied.

“What the hell is a juggernaut?” I asked as we stepped through another door.

“That’s what we call the people we should stay away from,” the gruff one answered. “The ones with enough mutations to make you cry.”

As we entered the new room, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I saw what could only be called a miniature wormhole device! People were coming through it three rows at a time, forcing my captors to wait for a moment before they hauled me up a short ramp and through it.

We found ourselves in another arrival room, but there was no time to process what was going on around me. There were lots of people being managed back and forth, giving me the impression that I had ended up at a miniature airport.

I was dragged through another set of corridors. The thought of fleeing didn’t even enter my mind, as this was quite obviously a military installation. Aside from my guards, there were lots of heavily armoured people around. From the looks of it, they also had quite an extreme spectrum of mutations.

Once, I thought I caught a glimpse of the outside through a windowed glass front, but all I saw was an enormous underground cavern with a gigantic pillar at its centre.

A few minutes later, I found myself alone at a table inside a Spartan room, still trying to process what had happened to me.

I was just the commander of one of the kingdom's arrival centres. It was supposed to be a chill job. I had done my service in the defence force and proven my dedication to the kingdom. It should have been smooth sailing from then on till I earned enough to buy myself a place in one of the protected zones.

And who were these people? They had fucking teleporters and wormholes, and the way they handled their mutations was just fucked up. Only a scarce few of the kingdom’s upper echelon would risk taking on so many mutations.

Before I could come up with an explanation that made sense, the door opened and a girl entered the room. She couldn’t be more than thirteen or fourteen.

She was being followed by two grim-looking women who positioned themselves to her left and to her right as she traipsed up to the seat across from me.

The girl smiled and pulled out a small tablet from beneath her flowing robes before she sat down. She tapped at her temple while looking at the tablet before she turned her attention to me.

“Hello, I am Matriarch Vanya,” she introduced herself. “What’s your name?”

I looked between the girl and the two women who were quite obviously guarding her. “Is that a joke?”

The girl shook her head. “I am afraid not, Mister. This is utterly, totally serious.”

I started laughing, unable to contain myself any longer. This whole situation was just too bizarre.

Vanya looked at the guard to her left. “Did Magnus hit him on the head? Should we start with one of the other prisoners?”

“If so, Astra didn’t mention it,” the guard replied. “Though it isn’t out of the question.”

It took me a few seconds, but I managed to regain control over my faculties. “No, no. My name is Nikos Demi. Please, go on. Whatever this is supposed to be.”

The girl raised an eyebrow and looked at her tablet. “Well, then, I want to apologise as the first order of business. Things may have gotten out of hand, but from what I heard, you people were quite uncooperative.”

The other guard filled a glass with water and put it on the table in front of me.

Vanya looked at me, and I suddenly felt a lot smaller than I should. “Please, tell me everything about this kingdom of yours. I am sure we can be great friends if we give it a try!”

I felt myself relax, and then I started talking. For some reason, I felt no qualms about spilling my life’s story to these people.