'Such a strange form….'
Two parties stood opposite each other, one in hand was a team of Medusae and on the other, a group of humans. There seems to be a stalemate, a situation that was dictated by the two figures in the center.
Alderic had one of his blade to the Medusae's neck and the other ready to strike while Vaku had the tip of his spear pointed directly beneath the humans jaw, ready to pierce through in a moments notice.
The air was tense, more so on the human side. Alderic and his team were outnumbered and their greatest tool, their guns, weren't working.
All they had were melee weapons, of which Faris wasn't even good at using, to defend themselves. Obviously, this puts them at a disadvantage seeing as these aliens also use melee tools but have been relying on them for possibly their whole lives.
"We aren't hostile." Alderic spoke first, trying to calm the situation as quickly as possible.
"Where is he?" Vaku asked instead.
Alderic furrowed his brows for only a moment before he realized that the alien was probably referring to the juvenile Medusae that warned him earlier.
Alderic glanced at Nerissa and the latter gestured towards a certain position amongst them. Alderic looked back at Vaku, his gaze saying all that needed to be said.
"Noemie…. Show yourself, I know you are here."
There was no response and a vein immediately popped on Vaku's head. He gritted his teeth before speaking again,
"Come out now or and maybe Ferelith doesn't have to hear about this."
There was still nothing for a while before a figure suddenly outlined himself. Alderic eyes narrowed at the short interaction and he immediately deduced something,
'Either that boy is special or they have a fatal flaw in their abilities.'
Alderic's thoughts weren't far from the truth, normally, for members of the same species, especially alien ones, even if they couldn't see him, they should at least have been able to tell where he was.
If they couldn't see each other when invisible, then such an ability wasn't practical.
Noemie was indeed special, after all, after Ferelith, he was the only other of his kind.
"I'm sorry…." The young alien spoke the moment he became visible. Vaku ignored him and instead gestured for one of the scouts to hold onto him even if he knew it was somewhat futile.
"If you aren't hostile, what do you want then?" Vaku asked.
Alderic glanced at the spear before looking back at Vaku, seeing that the alien had no intention of lowering its guard, he proceeded,
"We are stranded. This is a new dimension to us as I'm sure you could have guessed."
Alderic paused for a moment, trying to organise his words. He had never had to ask for help before, usually when he and his team storms into places, there were one of two reactions;
Either they were welcomed with open hands, or they beat everyone up and welcomed themselves. But such wasn't possible in this scenario.
Unlike what one might think, the reason wasn't because of the numbers, Alderic and his team had handled worse numbers and he was confident that Nerissa and Faris could handle this on their own.
But in the brief exchange between him and Vaku, Alderic came to a frightening realization: his blades were useless. The attack that made his hand numb wasn't repelled, it had landed.
Alderic knew that Vaku realised this too and he could afford to be lax but he was on the cautious side.
'Since our weapons are useless, we are nothing but sitting ducks. Might as well take the gamble.'
Nerissa and Faris could gauge Vaku's combat strength from the brief exchange. Although they couldn't see every detail, they could still assess that Alderic was stronger.
The fact that Alderic was speaking to the alien face to face instead of the latter being on the floor could only mean that something was wrong.
"All we need is a place to stay, we can pull our own weight." Alderic finally said.
If Vaku was any other person or alien, he might have mocked Alderic but he didn't, because in that brief exchange, he had also realised something: Alderic was dangerous.
'If he had better weapons, I'll probably be bleeding out on the ground right about now.'
The shock from getting hit in less than a few seconds was part of the reason Vaku was reluctant to let his guard down.
Vaku stared at the latter long and hard, the silence was deafening. There was a gentle humming in the air, what Alderic was assuming was the rustling of plants due to the gentle breeze that danced through the forest.
"You'll have to meet the queen, but to do that, you have to surrender everything."
"Commander!" Faris called out but a look from Alderic was enough to silence him. He nodded his head before slowly withdrawing his weapons and raising his hand for Vaku to see.
Vaku took back his spear, watching as Alderic and his team placed all their stuff into their backpacks before handing them to the Medusaes, leaving behind only their armour suits.
Faris gritted his teeth throughout the process while Nerissa retained a plain expression. As a close combat specialist, she was an expert at hiding her thoughts and emotions.
Once Vaku was sure that Alderic's team was properly disarmed, he finally introduced himself,
"Vaku, captain of this small group."
"Alderic, leader of the blue legion…. At least I was. This is all that is left of my team."
Alderic sighed, his sadness evident. Vaku frowned for a brief moment before it vanished. He could understand Alderic's feelings, after all, he was a leader with people under his care too.
"Well, you guys are lucky it's still daytime, that's why there are no beasts around." Vaku said as they all began to move with him and Alderic at the forefront.
"Most beasts on Xythris are nocturnal, you wouldn't have survived a second once night came."
Alderic blinked before glancing at Vaku,
"Actually, we encountered a beast." Normally, he would have kept quiet but as a military man, he knew to report strange things especially to someone with more knowledge than himself.
"We didn't see it but I could sense that it was following us. It just seemed a bit….. slow."
Vaku's steps paused as he immediately scanned the surroundings,
"What's wrong?" Alderic asked as the group halted their steps. Vaku remained silent for a moment longer before replying,
"There are no slow monsters in Xythris, at least not common ones. The monster you encountered is either an anomaly or it's a larva."
"How likely is an anomaly?"
"There are no anomalies in Xythris."
As if on cue, a piercing screech reverberated through the dense forests,
Creeechkkk~~
"Run!"