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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Today's #flashfiction #GeneralMerlinVI

“It's not easy being green.”
Bruce Banner* #quote


Today I went out to lunch with the parents and brother and his girlfriend and then later brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner along with grandmother. Much merriment was had throughout the day. Anyway onto the flash fiction!

General Merlin VI


      My bloodline to the famous wizard Merlin gave me the clout to get the position of General of Harrsun's Army. They would say: salute to Merlin VI; descendent of the great wizard! Harrsun was the most powerful magical world, at least in the multiverse that we were able to travel. I sat in my commanding chair in green military robes, a greedy look in my brown eyes. Greedy for glory and justice. I loved the glory, but I also enjoyed getting the justice, at least the justice I perceived, by fighting the enemies of our world. So I was not entirely selfish. Even though I used political clout to get into the position I was by no means a weak wizard. I thought it was appropriate that my skin matched the color of darkest coal dust used in some of the most powerful spells. I couldn't know though that if my skills as wizard translated to skills in leading troops. Are all intelligences equal? I've done wonderfully during all my simulations but this would be my first large battle.
       The reconnaissance on our enemy was strange. The enemy damaged a city and several civilians seemed to have been devoured by flying creatures the enemy was using. They were sucked into the mouths while light appeared. The creatures were round and flat. The recon ruled them out as a pack wild animals because the movement turned out to be organized to attack what defenses were at the city already. They could distinguish human defenses. Only a dragon could get close to doing that. I assume that there were riders using cloaking magic while riding on top of the beasts.
      These creatures were new and I didn't know how much of a larger army accompanied them. If they came from an unknown world they needed to be captured and their riders interrogated immediately. That's why I decided to bring a large force to confront them. I rode my personal dragon in the back. A gold dragon raised to be one of the smartest and strongest of its breed.
       I saw flying creatures approach us. They floated about one hundred feet off the ground. They spun while in the air and did not have any riders. They were colored like steel, no, they were made of steel. Was recon that stupid? They were golems! No golems couldn't do complex movement...nor devour things with light like recon said. It didn't matter I wasn't dumb enough to give them the first attack.
     “Cast barrier spells! Then offensive spells! Take into account their steel skin! See how they react to frontal assault then react with all you got! We only need one alive!” They had to be steel skinned creatures. Like those ancient turtles of the Southern Lands. Golems wouldn't make sense. “Back wizards cast spells to remove invisibility! Capture a rider if one reveals itself.”
     The battle begun. The creatures were resilient. Powerful. Some fell. Then they attacked back. Parts of their...shells? I could call it that, opened up, and large things shaped like vases came out and flew at us. The vases had wings at the side at one end had fire coming out the back. Was that how it flew? When they made contact with us or the ground huge explosions surged through my army. The losses were quick. What were the creatures spitting at us?
     “Where's that everything you got? Throw curses at them! Do anything!”
     “Sir! No curses are working! They don't appear to be alive! Unenchanting doesn't work either, they aren't golems either,” one of my wizards reported.
      “What!?”
      “That's because they are machines. The only thing alive in them are their pilots. And you aren't targeting them with your spells are you?” A voice asked from behind.
       I turned to see a man dressed in a foreign military outfit. I guessed that because he looked decorated with some medals of strange types and the clothes looked fancy in some regard. But I never saw him before. And I could tell...he wasn't a wizard. Not a single drop of magic in him. I could tell by looking into his mundane, dull green eyes. His white skin didn't have the flush of life a wizards did nor did his black hair.
      “Who are you?”
      “James Smith. From a different world without magic. Long story short we share a common enemy in the things that pilot those machines. Machines in worlds without magic have advanced far beyond clocks to things like that. Now your magic can bypass the outside of those machines and hit the pilot inside. It's just you didn't know they existed on the inside. The pilot isn't human. We call it an alien. And those are UFOs. These aliens have conquered many worlds. Let's work together and make sure that we do not fall to them as well.” He then handed me a picture of a strange creature with many eyes and tentacles that stood on four legs. “That is a picture of our enemy. You can project images into the minds of your soldiers with the right spells correct.”
      I wasn't quite sure about my new ally, but war is war, and victory is victory. So I followed his suggestion and gave my order. With the projected image my wizards were able to focus on the pilots enough, even without seeing them directly, to cast their curses. Several of them were terrified by the image I implanted in their head. But they fought for life. After the attack by the exploded vases, or “missiles” as my new ally explained, they did whatever they could to survive. The battle was won. It seems even these creatures were not immune to magic.
      The man bowed to me. “I am glad I came to you and decided not to try and fight these on my own. There will be more coming, my army will join us soon and we will continue to fight with both of our worlds together, and we will succeed.”



     Author Comment: Well, this is one of those premises of mine that could be expanded into a larger story n' stuff. But this was a good enough as this.

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