Mana Daemons - Chapter One

“So, Jay came by just before we left so I could do a code-review for him.  It broke immediately when I tried to run it, and I found, I kid you not, no less than three locations where it divided by zero.  His excuse,” Colin started, leaning closer to the campfire.

“Let me guess,” David said.  “‘It worked in my area.’”

“Yeah!” Colin said, laughing.  “Like that isn’t a dumb excuse for not properly checking the default values of your code.”

“No more shop talk,” Liz said, smacking her husband on the back of the head.  Aly cheered and grabbed David’s hand.  “We’re here in the mountains to get away from all that. Plus to have lots of s’mores guilt free.”  With that promise, she pulled out a bag of marshmallows and chocolate.  They were camping just off the trail to summit Mt. Antero, one of the 14ers in Colorado. 

David and his wife Aly were a study in opposites.  He was five feet, ten inches tall, with black hair and eyes. His mixed heritage gave him a dark complexion, while Aly was Irish through and through. Her bright red hair, pale skin covered with freckles, and brilliant green eyes were remarked on every time someone new met the couple. She only stood five feet tall, and was an unassuming, petite woman. At least until it was time to spar, where she would routinely bring down opponents who doubled her weight, or more. 

Colin and Liz both towered over their friends.  Colin was almost always the tallest person around at six feet nine inches. Other than his size, though, he was pretty average. Brown hair, brown eyes, average. At least, until you asked him a technical question, when he would reveal himself to be one of the smartest people around as well. While shorter than Colin, Liz was still taller than most at six feet one inch. Colin often tried to get her to model, as she was gorgeous with blonde hair and blue eyes complementing a heart-shaped face.  

After toasting marshmallows and chocolate, we joked about the last Krav Maga lesson, where another member accidentally tripped themselves. “Hey, look,” Liz said, pointing up into the sky towards Mt. Antero. Everyone else looked into the sky to see a shooting star falling their way.  “That’s moving way too slow to be a meteor,” she continued.

As we watched, bright flares shot off to either side, almost like pieces were falling off of it.  As it got closer, it flared brighter and visibly changed directions, crashing into a clearing up higher on the mountainside.  “That had to be an airplane or something,” David said.  “We should go see if anyone needs help.” 

Aly, Colin, and Liz all agreed and then Aly asked, “So what should we bring?”

“Uh,” Colin started, “we’ve got some first aid kits that’ll be helpful.”

“Also should bring sleeping bags, to keep anyone injured warm,” Liz said.  We packed quickly, aware that every second it took us was one where someone was injured without help.  We rushed up the slope, pushing through the trees faster than was completely safe but in as much control as we could. We breached the grove to see two trees ripped out of the ground and a gouge torn into the ground for at least a hundred meters. They had managed to land in a clearing. Well, mostly in a clearing. 

“Guys,” David said, “that isn’t an airplane.”  The craft that crashed was a shining silver, even with its recent fiery plunge. It was shaped like a Klingon Bird of Prey ship, though much smaller. It was about fifty meters long and ten high. One of the two nacelles was ripped off and missing, and there were holes in the hull that blew inward.  “It’s a spacecraft, and it was probably shot down,” he said, his tone hushed in awe. 

“Doesn’t change the fact that there are people there that are hurt,” Aly said before rushing towards the side of the ship. We quickly followed after her.  As we got closer, David started to feel a hum that grew in power until it felt like his insides were jiggling. At seven meters the hum abruptly cut off, and a door opened in the side near the front.  “Come on,” she said. 

“You’re still the fastest of us, Aly,” I shouted as she entered the ship about ten meters in front of us. “Hold on!”  David sprinted after her, with Colin and Liz on my heels. He entered the ship and found himself in a gleaming silver room, the door three meters in front of me open. The lighting was much bluer than I expected, making it a little hard to see. 

“Hello?” David heard Aly ask just before the hiss of hydraulics signified an opening door.  “Is anyone still alive? Not that you’d understand me.”

“I … understand you … quite well,” a raspy voice said, almost mechanical in its lack of an accent. David walked through the door to see a small hallway with four doors, two opposite of him, one to his left, and one to the right that was open.  Through the open door, he saw a room with several seats in front of a c-shaped console. On the floor were three aliens.

The aliens were humanoid, with two arms, two legs, and a head.  They were tall, at least two meters, but lithe. Their limbs were much longer in relation to their torso than a humans, giving them a lanky look.  The largest difference, however, was their skin and face.  They are covered in red scales that shimmered in the light, and they had a small snout like an iguana.  

David entered the room to see Aly kneeling next to another of the aliens, who was propped up against a chair in the middle of the c-shaped bridge. He was nearly broken in half. How is he talking? David wondered in his head.  In fact, how is he still alive!  The being kept speaking, saying, “I’m sorry. We were supposed to arrive much earlier, and whole. A traitor in our ranks stopped us.  The Mana Wave is coming, and your world is doomed.”

“What do you mean? Mana wave, is that translating right?” David asked. 

“Our universe is being invaded by creatures from beyond it. You would call them Daemons, as they desire to corrupt this universe to produce more of them. They released mana into our universe, changing it fundamentally.  The mana has been expanding for thousands of years and will reach your world shortly.  Our world was one of the first, and we have fought them for a thousand years. We managed to co-opt the wave and impose order upon it. My force was to bring warning and guidance, as the Daemons use the mana wave to open portals to their universe in order to invade worlds. They crave destruction and death, as that gives them power. They adapt to the worlds they invade, but need life to absorb the mana and act as anchors for their portals. This limits the number of worlds that they can invade.”

“If that’s true, why wouldn’t you just bombard a planet from orbit to kill all life and prevent them from invading?” Colin asked, crowding into the room.

“We …” he started before coughing out a blue green spurt of blood, “need help. By ourselves we will not be able to stop the Daemons forever, and every attempt to stop the mana wave has failed. Even sustained bombardment from orbit isn’t guaranteed to kill all life, and any multicellular life can act as an anchor. There are now a number of Daemon worlds in our universe that started as destroyed worlds.”

“Do they have spacecraft too?” Liz asked.

“Yes,” it said, “but we have not seen any evidence they have faster than light travel. They have fleets flying through space, and probably have one headed here, but it will be hundreds of years before it arrives. Portals are their most reliable method of invasion.”

“How do we defend against that?” David asked. “A nearly infinite enemy would roll over us pretty quickly.”

“Their initial wave will be large, as the front of the mana wave is highly compressed, but the mana density will drop quickly and limits how many can arrive at a time.  My goal was to help you survive the first wave and then move to another world. But I failed,” it trailed off and slumped over.

“What can we do?” Aly asked, holding the first aid kit uselessly. 

“I can gift you a weapon and armor in one.  It was to go to champions of your world.  I had enough for two hundred suits, but they are tied to the ship. I can concentrate the nanobots to make the suit level two, but any higher would hurt you more than help. Help me sit, please,” it said, gesturing to the chair behind it.  David and Colin gently lifted it, but it still hissed in pain. 

The captain typed on a keypad embedded in one arm, and a panel at the back of the room opened with a hiss. Inset into the panel was a sheen of silvery light, wavering back and forth in a hypnotic and disturbing way. Something in the back of our brains freaked out at the sight.  “Put your hands into the nanostructure and it will envelop you and empower you.  That…” it trailed off, “that is the best I can do. I’m sorry.” 

David stepped up to the alcove and visibly steeled himself, I can do this. Just put my hand in the grey goo and hope it doesn’t eat me. With a deep breath that he held, he plunged his hand into it.  It was cold and slippery, but not wet. “So weird,” he said, then stiffened.  The cold squeezed through his skin into his veins and shot through his body.  It felt wrong, but it didn’t hurt. “Gah, uh,” David stammered, not really coherent.

“Dave, are you okay?” Aly yelled, moving up to him.  

“Don’t touch him yet, it will take only a few more moments,” the alien whispered. After filling his circulatory system, the cold wrongness changed.  It started to feel warm, and gradually the wrong feeling shifted to a feeling of strength.  It then shot out through his veins and arteries to completely envelop every part of him, before solidifying over his skin as a thin layer of blue and white metal.

“Woah, that, uh. Just woah,” David said before flexing. “I feel amazing now, but that was weird. This, I’m stronger.  I can,” he started, before twirling around then jumping into a backflip.  This is awesome!”

“Dude,” Colin said, “how much Saturday morning tv did you watch as a kid?”

“Uh, a bit, why?” David asked, as Aly and Liz snickered.  

“Because you are definitely the Blue Power Ranger right now,” Colin answered before breaking down into laughter. 

“Really,” David said, looking down.  “Awesome! Maybe we can summon the Mechazords or whatever they were called.  That’d make this a snap! Come on, y’all need this too.  If Daemons really are coming, I’d feel much better if y’all had this armor too.” 

Aly went next and when her suit appeared it was yellow and white.  Colin looked between us and said, “Nope, no way are we the Power Rangers.  Not no way, not no how.” Aly looked down and shook her head. After a second, it shifted to a solid white color instead.  

“Just concentrate on changing the color and it works.  I feel like I could make it change shape too, but I didn’t try,” she said.  “Wait, what happened to my clothes?” she asked, turning to the alien.  

“They were subsumed.  You should be able to retract the suit into your skin and your clothes would return,” it answered. “If you concentrate, you should be able to make a blade out of mana from the suit. That is the weapon portion of the armor. This will let you damage the Daemons more than non-mana based weapons.” Just after it spoke, an alert began to sound. “You must hurry.  The traitor survived and is on his way here.”

Colin immediately put his hand in, while Aly said, “Can we move you somewhere?”

“No,” it said. “I’m going to die anyway.  Too many internal injuries.  I’m only sustaining myself with mana and my own suit, but it will fail soon.  I will lure the traitor in here and destroy my ship and his. Otherwise he will destroy your world.  He gloated that the Daemons would reward him with this world as his own after his betrayal. You must run.”

Liz stuck her hand in and accepted her suit.  David looked down and his suit changed to a swirl of white, grey, and black.  “Snow camouflage,” he said.  Everyone followed suite, changing their suits colors to be a camouflage pattern.  

“Are you sure we cannot help you?” Aly asked one last time.  

“Yes, go.  You must hurry!” It shouted before falling into a coughing fit again.  

“What is your name?” David asked.  “We would remember and honor you,” he said. 

“I am Regent Al’ict’alieas’k,” it said. “Thank you, and may you stand tall.” The regent bowed lightly from his seat before straightening with a grimace.  David bowed back, before turning and running out of the ship.  Everyone else followed him, and they ran faster than they ever had before.  When they reached the trees, David turned around and ducked behind a large fir. 

“I have to watch,” he said.  Aly came over and crouched next to him.  As they watched, another ship, nearly as damaged as the first, slammed into the ground near Al’ict’alieas’k’s ship and a minute later another alien came out and started yelling. We weren't able to understand what it said, but the anger in it transcended language and species barriers. After it entered the ship, a humming started and the door slammed shut.  

As we watched, the humming grew louder until the snow around the ships started collapsing. The door suddenly dented outward, and a scream of rage from the traitor erupted, loud enough we could hear it more than a football field away and through the hull of the ship. A series of bangs blasted from the door, as it was attacked from inside.  Just before the door would have broken open, the humming stopped.  

A moment of silence covered the snow, before the ship disintegrated in a massive explosion. The shockwave smashed apart the traitor’s ship, sending pieces flying all around us.  When the shockwave reached us, it blew the trees we were hiding behind over and knocked us sprawling. The armor deflected some of the damage, leaving us bruised but conscious. “Wow,” Colin said, sitting up carefully.  

“Godspeed, Al,” David said, bowing his head.  After a moment of silence, they got to their feet. “DId he say how long we have until the mana wave reaches us?” he asked.

“No,” Aly said. “Well, only that it will be here soon.  How should we prepare?”

“Well, if we have time, we should head back home and buy as much food and water as we can. Warn others to do the same, I guess, and load up on weapons and ammo,” Liz said.  “Find the Zombie Survival Guide and Worst-Case Scenario Survival Guides and see what they say. Show our cool new armor to the military and warn them about what is coming, maybe?”

“Probably best to warn the government and put it out on the Internet,” David said. “Everyone all over the world will need to be ready, so let’s hurry.  Pack up our campsite and head back to the car.”  The group rushed through the remains of the forest back to their campsite.  There they packed up all their gear and buried the fire pit. 

As we hiked up the trail, though, the sight of the sky brought our hopes of preparing to a crashing halt.

Below is the link to a Google Docs document location with commenter access!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A21Ai2pY80DmldFSlCceltxOLaadubPuOME4z-fwI4Y/edit?usp=sharing