After yanking the beacon’s cable out of the teleportation panel, Dan followed Gregory to the scrying chamber. Stepping into the room, he waved at Jennifer to get her attention while she stood hunched over the scrying stone.
“Welcome back, Dan.” Jennfier spoke distractedly, her eyes glued to the disc of stone in front of her. “I managed to find a hotel in America. They’re just leaving a tv playing the nightly news on repeat. I figured it would probably be good for us to keep up-to-date.”
“Things were in a bit of flux when we left.” Dan walked up behind her and glanced at the stone over her shoulder. “I don’t actually recall taking a chance to follow up on the outside world since the ambush the day we touched down in the Amazon.”
Jennifer motioned vaguely at the scrying stone. “The battle is most of what’s on the news right now. “It sounds like pretty much every major news channel has correspondents out in the field, but still half of the coverage is just a bunch of officers sitting around and debating the trickle of information they’re actually getting from the front.”
“Have you tried finding the White House or the Pentagon?” Dan asked, eyes on the stone. “If all we’re getting is talking heads on the television, it might be useful for us to try and intercept a report from someone who actually knows what’s going on.”
“We tried.” Jennifer rolled her eyes. “Those are huge buildings, and from the inside, you’d have a hard time figuring out that we were at war. Everyone was talking about funding bills and who’d screwed who over on the last transportation infrastructure package, but there wasn’t a whole lot of talk about the actual fighting. The people who were talking about it were almost dismissive. There didn’t seem to be any question in their mind that our army would send a bunch of ‘primitive alien savages’ packing sooner rather than later.”
“No offense.” She raised a hand and nodded at one of the nearby techs.
“None taken,” the big man rumbled in reply. “It’s just a little strange for a group of uncivilized barbarians that are subject to a pacification mission to call the Tellask Empire ‘primitive alien savages.’ But, I suppose your people are winning the battle on your planet, and I’m a prisoner of war, so there may be something to what you’re saying.” He shrugged philosophically. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t get paid enough to know.”
“Actually, that brings up a good point.” The tech turned to the former imperial scribe who was scribbling down what was displayed on the scrying stone in a cramped shorthand. “Hey, Rebecca, are we even getting paid right now?”
“No.” The woman didn’t even look up. “In fact, our back pay and prize purse for this campaign will have been seized by the Empire as a penalty for being captured. Apparently, the Emperor didn’t want to ‘encourage’ surrender.”
“Anyway,” Jennifer cut them off. “What I was saying is that the news has been a more reliable source of information for us. Obviously, I don’t take anything they’re saying at face value, but at least I’m getting an idea as to what’s happening.”
The scrying stone was zoomed in on a fairly large TV screen. A panel of three people in suits, two men and one woman, spoke about the war. Behind them, a screen showed some looping footage of soldiers firing a tripod-mounted machine gun down a street in a strange Tellask city built up around the landing site. In the background, the hotel’s customers were going about their day-to-day life.
“Now listen, Karen,” one of the official-looking men in suits was speaking on the television. “I know the aliens surprised us with their cowardly night attack, but after the Jungle Massacre, the Coalition Forces have been running the show in the Amazon. We’ve all seen the footage, lines of people with shields of all things. If they’re just going to stand there waiting to get shot, it’s really only a matter of time before our troops come out on top.”
“Tom,” the woman interjected, her right hand chopping downward. “We keep going in circles on this. The aliens used a bioweapon on the night of the Jungle Massacre. Now, we seem to have the advantage at the moment due to the United States’ special forces placed in the jungle locating the alien base and disabling the defenses-”
Dan leaned over to Jennifer and whispered conspiratorially. “Did you hear that? We’ve been promoted to the special forces!”
“-if the aliens are willing to resort to such barbaric methods once again, are we prepared?” The female broadcaster kept speaking animatedly as Jennifer rolled her eyes at Dan. “What are they going to do when their backs are against the wall? Another bioweapon or some sort of magical monstrosity? We don’t even know what they’re capable of. Treating them like medieval savages is a great way to underestimate an Empire with thousands of years of history.”
“Come on now,” Tom interrupted Karen, cutting her off on the television. “Henry Ibis announces all of this information supposedly about the aliens that just happens to reflect his games perfectly. Am I going to believe a crazy old man that makes children’s games, or am I going to believe my eyes? I’ve seen the footage. They’re using swords and shields against tanks! Of course they’re doomed! If their terrorism hadn’t killed thousands in the Jungle Massacre, I might feel bad for them.”
“What about the dinosaurs?” Karen threw her hands up in the air. Behind her, footage of a wyvern flying overhead played and then faded into a war lizard stomping toward the camera. “Fighting those with rifles seems almost as dumb as attacking a tank with a sword.”
The footage behind her shifted. Dan shifted in embarrassment as he caught sight of himself on the back of the war lizard, struggling to stab his sword into its skull. The camera footage was blurry and shaky, an artifact of the camera person sprinting for cover while doing their best to keep the lizard in the shot. When the monster reared up, Jennifer was visible as a whirlwind of magic and blood buried in the creature’s softer underbelly.
None of the broadcasters spoke as the footage played out. Eventually, the war lizard on screen slammed to the ground with Dan triumphant on its back. The as yet unidentified host let out a deep breath.
“Now I don’t know if the overall battle plan is a good or bad one.” The host spoke, excitement in her voice. “But I think we need to talk about the superpowers that are being caught on camera in the Amazon. I’m not sure exactly what those two people were doing when they killed that dinosaur, but it certainly didn’t look physically possible.”
“See, Karen!” Tom exclaimed with excitement. “Even if they do have some sort of strange secrets, it will never outmatch human ingenuity. Already, we have people who can use their own nefarious abilities back on them, and we’re beating them at their own game.”
“Graham,” Tom spoke to the other man on set with him. “Roll the Darkstryke footage. Let’s show the viewers that, even in the middle of a worldwide crisis, humanity is always ready to take the next step forward.”
“Tom,” Graham leaned forward, his voice insistent. “The producers haven’t had a chance to go through that footage yet. It’s fairly violent and worse, there could easily be some swearing in it. Think what the FCC would say.”
“Just give the viewers a disclaimer and run it.” Tom waved his hand dismissively. “If we have a scoop like this, it would be stupid of us to sit on it.”
“Fine,” Graham glanced down at the sheaf of papers on the table in front of him. “What you’re about to see is violent and uncensored. Expect adult situations and coarse language. That said, this is an exclusive video from an independent contractor fighting on the alien front.”
The screen went black. In the background, the sound of the hotel’s customers faded away. The TV had successfully grabbed everyone’s attention. Then color exploded on the screen. The cameraperson was crouched in a bush. Dan recognized two other Starshield Candidates, both holding rifles with shortswords at their side slowly moving toward a gigantic river.
“All right, Darkies,” Reggie whispered, much to Dan’s dismay. “This is all real as hell. I got kidnapped by some crazy guys and they taught me magic. That’s why I haven’t been in contact for a while, big apologies out to my sponsors. Lightning Strike energy drink, the fuel for a gamer on the go has been super great to me through this entire thing, and I’d like to encourage all of you to buy a couple bottles using promo code D-A-R-K-I-E-69.”
Dan winced. There was something about Reggie’s crass and unapologetic capitalism combined with the awful nickname for his fans that made him want to put his head through a wall.
“Lightning Strike’s got the energy to keep a serious pro gamer in the game, even if the game is a war against alien scum,” Reggie continued excitedly. “I’d also like to mention that GamerBriefs has been super chill about me disappearing as well. As chill as GamerBriefs will keep your junk. As we all know, professional gaming is a sweaty business. Unless you want your boys to start chafing, you’re gonna need to let them breathe with GamerBriefs. Remember, they’re extra absorbent for all of your extra-tough gamer juices.”
Dan reached up and massaged both of his temples with a free hand. Next to him, Jennifer started snickering uncontrollably. Amelia looked back and forth at both of them, confused, but still silent.
“Anyway,” Reggie continued, unaware of the reactions to his shameless advertisement. “I’ve learned this sick optic camouflage spell so nothing can see me, and I’m packing a 12 -gauge. The aliens are called the Tellask, and they’ve put a bunch of super-cool monsters in the Amazon. NightScythe and _RadBrad420 are here with me and _RadBrad420 just spotted something in the river.”
“DarkStryke,” one of the other figures called out, pointing at the river. “There’s something big swimming around down there, over by the downed tree.”
“Just throw it up in the air with water magic so _RadBrad420 can shoot it!” Reggie scoffed at the speaker. “It’s not that hard, man. Now everyone, get a load of this.”
Reggie skulked closer to the river, the camera on his head making out some movement on the other end of the river. Then, a tentacle of water lifted an almost six-foot struggling brown form from the river. The pseudopod only held cohesion for two seconds, but that was long enough for the candidate Dan recognized as Bradley Phillips, aka _RadBrad420, to fire two three-round bursts from his M-16 into it. With a helpless bleating sound, the magic faded and the animal dropped into the waters of the Amazon. Quickly, blood began to fill the water near where it dropped.
“Shit.” The water mage paled. “Dark, I think that was just a river otter. Like, an ordinary animal.”
“C’mon, NightScythe,” Dan could practically hear Reggie rolling his eyes. “That thing was gigantic. Clearly it had mana of some sort infused into it.”
“Man,” NightScythe stepped toward the cameraman. “They’re called giant river otters. I think they only live around here. I’m pretty sure they’re endangered. You should probably cut the stream while we figure all of this shit out. I don’t want the feds kicking in my door once we get home.”
“Quit being a wuss,” Reggie replied dismissively. “That was clearly a monster, and in any second, we’re going to get the mana for defeating it. Nothing to worry about. We’re doing Uncle Sam a favor fighting for him down here anyway. They aren’t going to give a crap if you accidentally poach or something.”
Nothing happened on camera for a couple of seconds, other than the river continuing to flow and gurgle.
“I don’t feel any mana,” NightScythe spoke worriedly. “I’m pretty sure we killed it. If it was a monster, I think we would have felt something by now. I don’t think that it was a mo-”
His sentence was cut off by a gigantic otter rearing up out of the river. The portion of the monster sticking out of the river, really just its upper torso, was at least eight feet long. It let out a mournful, shrieking bellow as water slowly floated up from the river around it, congealing into a series of fist-sized balls that rapidly froze.
Reggie’s shotgun barked, but didn’t penetrate the otter’s thick fur given the distance. Nearby, an M-16 began to chatter. The globes of ice hurtled toward the cameraman, shattering as they blew massive divots into nearby trees. Given the limitations of the camera, it was hard to tell how fast the hailstones were moving, but it was safe to say that getting struck by one would probably be enough to take anyone without a spellshield out of the fight.
“Shit, it’s a caster!” Reggie shouted over the now constant gunfire. “Night, try to interrupt its magic. Brad, try and tag it with Blood Thorns. I’m going to hit it with a Flare to try and distract it.”
Brad threw something that looked like a hand grenade at the otter, which erupted into needle-covered vines that immediately began questing toward the oversized animal. A jet of water fired from the river toward the vines, only to erupt into a cloud of mist at the last second before it deflected them. Then, a strobe of life flashed in the middle of the river.
The otter mewled, pawing at its eyes. The rifle fire continued, most of the rounds deflecting off of the water, but with an occasional shot hitting the gigantic, but otherwise adorable creature.
The video cut out. The three-person panel was back on camera, Karen pale and holding a sheet of paper.
“We’re sorry to pull you away from that traumatizing footage,” her voice was shaky as she glanced down at the paper, “but there has been breaking news. The United States Department of Justice has announced an arrest warrant for Henry Ibis on the charge of treason. He is accused of hiring a government employee, Daniel Thrush, to steal government property. Both Ibis and Thrush have been charged as co-conspirators in charges of destruction of government property, espionage, and treason. What this means for the beloved game designer is unknown at this time. We are reaching out to Henry Ibis’ lawyers for comment right now.”
“Treason?” Dan glanced at Jennifer, frowning slightly. “That seems a bit harsh.”
