The Birth of the New World

B4. Chapter 7.3- A Tide of Flesh



The attacks continue to come all through the day, the Goblins trying out different strategies that all end with hundreds of the little green things getting blown away before they are called to retreat by the sounds of blowing horns. Flanking attacks, distractions, more suicidal rushes, some with different attempts at making shields, like they are testing how much is needed to stop a bullet. There was even an attempt to push a car full of Goblins like a siege tower towards us, but we blew it up the moment it came within range of the mortars, turning it into a smoldering wreck full of corpses.

Still with no sign of the Hobgoblins daring to show themselves, we get our next attack some hours after this had all started, when a tree of all things is suddenly hurtling through the air. Tumbling end other end, the tree soars across the airfield, arching through the air before crashing halfway towards reaching us, the tree left rolling on its side before coming to an eventual stop against the side of an old plane.

“Uhhm… What the hell was that?” I have to ask as everyone is standing around, gaping at the freaking pine tree that had just flew.

Seemingly to answer my question, another tree is suddenly sent flying, this time managing to clear more distance before crashing into the ground tip first and exploding into splinters and chunks of log. Another tree follows, and then another, each projectile following the last after just a minute’s delay. With each one that is fired, the sound of stone sliding over stone can be heard in the distance, ending with a loud ‘Duun!’ before the trees appear in the air.

Xander curses, “Did those little fuckers just invent catapults!? What the hell?!”

Another tree lands some distance away, notably closer now.

Frank speaks as he is looking at the airfield, “Looks like they are getting better with each shot, they’re slowly figuring it out… I’ll put in the call.”

Saying that, he starts speaking into his radio, but we are cut off as a large boulder is suddenly launched next. It clears much more distance than the pine trees did, but the accuracy is horrible. The boulder veers off course before it can even reach us, and ends up smashing into the side of a commercial aircraft that was left to rot, plowing straight through first-class before ending up wedged in the cockpit.

“Hm, Frank, make that call a quick one…”

More rocks and trees come our way, the vast majority of them landing nowhere near us as Frank talks through the radio with the LC. Eventually though, proving that they are getting better, one of the rocks does eventually manage to hit the airport, the large boulder smashing against the brick wall, blowing a hole into a gift shop.

Cheers and laughter from thousands of voices comes from the woods, celebrating their achievement at having managed to finally hit us. Emboldened by this success, the horns blow again, signaling the next attack. Something in the air feels different this time however, like the enemy has become fully resolved to the attack this time. This time, they won’t be retreating. Even if they have to sacrifice tens of thousands to do it, they will bring down this building. That is the resolve and confidence that is carried on the voices of over a hundred thousand war cries that billow out from the woods in response to the blowing horns.

My feeling is proven right almost immediately as thousands of figures come storming out of the brush simultaneously, screaming loudly and swinging around makeshift weapons as they run forward. Goblins with shields fill the vanguard and though they die all the same, even with their shields, they still serve to slowdown the coming death for those behind them, allowing their allies to gain slightly more ground. Further back, more cars full of Goblins are pushed forward, the bodies of the cars covered in layers of shields in a desperate bid to reinforce the things as well as they can, dozens of little Goblins pushing with everything they have to get the cars across the field of death.

In the air, large projectiles are sent flying towards us, the occasional rock managing to smack into the side of our building and either doing almost nothing as it hits metal, or breaking through as it smashes into brick or the few windows that weren’t already smashed.

“Keep them back and gun down the little fuckers!” A sergeant calls out as everyone is unloading on the literal tide of flesh that is flowing across the airfield of blood-soaked snow and corpses.

One of the several cars getting pushed towards us goes up in flames as it gets hit by a mortar, but instead of panicking, the Goblins simply start to use the burning corpse filled wreck as a barricade, like soldiers storming Normandy. The trees that are still getting launched towards us act as further barricades, giving the little invaders rest spots where they can gather their numbers before readying for the next charge, war cries going out as they break from cover and make a mad rush for the foot of our fortifications.

The machine guns don’t rest as they continue to spit out streams of death, tracer rounds filling the air with flashes of greens and reds as lines of fire are dragged across an ocean of flesh, vaporizing any little gobo that tries to get too close.

Howls cut through the cacophony of gunfire, making the hairs on the back of everyone’s necks raise as their instincts scream at them about the presence of a predator.

Cutting through the woods, dozens of mutated dogs come tearing out of the brush, rushing at an ungodly speed as their large frames cut through their own army, trampling over any of their own that aren’t quick enough to get out of the way in time.

Leading from the front, a tall Hobgoblin of muscular build and long flowing blond hair, adorned in leather armor and wearing a horned animal skull as a helmet, leads the charge from atop the lead dog, his spear held high in the air with a blood soaked cloth adorning the top of its shaft like a flag, the bloody fabric flapping in the air as his mount carries him forward, leading the cavalry charge of bloodthirst mutant mutts with all the honor and pride of a knight in shiny armor. The dog riding Hobgoblin blows in his horn, boosting the courage and resolve of all the Goblins who hear it. Those that are gathered behind makeshift barricades of broken trees and boulders, the wrecks of cars and planes, cheer for their charging calvary, calling out a single name over and other again like a chant from their hearts.

““Ragathorn! Ragathorn! Ragathorn! Ragathorn! Ragathorn! Ragathorn! Ragathorn! Ragathorn!””

The Hobgoblin, ridding atop the back of what appears to have once been a Doberman before mutating, makes it further than any of the others have, clearing two thirds of the airfield. The Goblins cheer as they watch, but their cheers are quickly cut short.

A loud crack splits the air, clearly audible even over the noise of machine guns endlessly spitting lead down range.

The Hobgoblin, Ragathorn, I’m guessing, his head pops like a water balloon as one of our snipers puts a 50. Caliber round through his head. The horned skull had done nothing to stop the round and was reduced to shards of flying bone along with the rest of his head. His mount continues to move, charging forward even after its rider has died, but without him to control the beast, it simply continues to run straight forward, the corpse of its rider managing to stay on for a couple more yards before sliding off the side and falling lifelessly to the floor, left to be trampled underfoot by the following dogs.

The Goblins mourn and scream, some of them even laughing and jeering at the fallen Hobgoblin, but they don’t stop in their attack, following behind in the wake of the calvary charge as they continue to desperately gain ground.

Mortar and machine gun fire tear through the dogs, whittling down their numbers before they can reach the building, but their large bodies only serve to add more places for where the much smaller Goblins can hunker down and hide, taking whatever chances they can get to move forward and claim more ground.

Through it all, pine trees and boulders continue to rain down like artillery. Some manage to strike and damage the building, even some manage to reach the roof, forcing our men to remain on their toes to avoid falling debris. But the vast majority of the flying projectiles land in the field, often times crushing their own, but also adding more cover for the little creatures to use.

Calls come in, requesting more forces on the east side as that flank is getting hit hard. Soldiers move and adjust as ordered, shifting as the need arises.

“If it keeps up like this, we won’t be able to hold them back for much longer!” I shout as I reload and feed the belt of a fresh magazine into my LMG. The number of box mags in the supply crate next to me is starting to get low. “Burning through ammo too. Won’t be long before we start running out!”

Franks yells over the gunfire, “Command knows! We just need to hold them back as long as we can!”

Another calvary charge of dogs comes tearing out of the woods, another two shortly following after as dozens of monstrous dogs break off and move to attack in different directions. Whoever is leading this section of the Goblin army, they have already learned to not keep their calvary so close together, probably trying to keep us from whipping them out with our mortar fire like the last one.

After the dogs, a figure emerges from the trees, standing tall over the rest of them with a sword and shield in hand, their body wrapped in metal armor like a knight of old, only the armor is far more crude and thrown together. They come riding out on a dog of their own, this one dressed in its own metal armor, a unicorn horn of metal pointing forward from its own makeshift helm.

The crack of a sniper rifle rings out, but surprisingly, the target doesn’t fall. Instead, they hold up their hand and the bullet simply stops in midair. From across the airfield, I can feel as the Field of a mage brushes up against my senses. It tastes like a nickel on your tongue and feels like steel nails hammered through your flesh.

“Mage!” I call out in a hurry.

Frank is quick to make the call in the radio and we are promptly given the order to move out.

Sam throws aside her blanket that had been covering her back and laughs, ecstatic at finally getting to move around and fight again. Lifting her grenade launcher, she hollers, “Fuck yes! Let’s fuck some bitches! I’m gonna put a grenade straight up their ass!”

Laughing maniacally, she vaults over our cover and jumps down to the earth below.

“Frank calls after her as he moves to follow, “No fucking the Goblins, Sam!” Which just has her laughing as she leaves a crater in the concrete, already taking off to get in range of the enemy.

Xander and I are right behind them, jumping down from the roof and immediately taking off the moment we hit the ground, the immense weight of our giant bodies destroying the floor beneath our feet as we shrug off a fall that would have killed most humans or at least broken their legs.

The tide of Goblins reacts to our presence with surprise and anger as we charge to meet the oncoming hordes of little green men. Swinging their weapons around, they scream at us, sprinting with a renewed bloodlust in their eyes now that they finally have an enemy of flesh and blood right before them.

Before we reach them, Sam pulls the trigger on her grenade launcher three times, the revolving tubes turning with each shot as the grenades fly out with an audible ‘thoonk, thoonk, thoonk.’ The vanguard of the screaming Goblins is turned into blossoming flowers of fire and gore, dozens of the little Goblins getting eradicated with each explosion, Sam’s howling laughter filling the air as she lets the world feel her psychotic joy.

The charging Goblins around us even stop for a moment, scared stiff as they witness Sam’s personal madness, reeling back away from her as if they had just run face first into a smiling predator that takes far too much joy in the slaughter of its prey.

I’m glad that it’s Lain she has a crush on, and not me. My dad always told me, don’t stick your dick in crazy. I just hope that she can handle her…

My thoughts about my crazy squad mate aside, we quickly end up colliding headfirst into the Goblins. We tear through them like a spear through flesh, trampling their little bodies underfoot and quite literally crushing some of them as we sprint forward, not dropping in speed at the slightest as we cut through their numbers. Many of them try to jump on us as we move past, but most that try end up getting smashed aside like they just tried to jump in front of a speeding vehicle. Some manage to latch onto us, but we just grab them and rip them off ourselves before crushing them in our hands, ripping them apart, or twisting and breaking them, tossing their broken bodies aside like trash.

As we move, one of the calvary charges quickly changes direction and veers towards us, the dogs howling and slobbering hungrily as they eye us with blood starved looks, their yellow dagger-like teeth dripping with drool as they sprint towards us, the rider of the lead dog shouting like a mad man as he whoops and hollers.

Xander moves forward with his sword drawn, meeting the monstrous dogs that would make wolves look cute and cuddly with the edge of his sword. Moving through them like he is dancing, his sword flashes out and strikes the dogs as they move past, their attempts to bite him just barely dodged by a hair’s breadth as he weaves through them.

The lead dog and its rider fall dead after a couple more steps, the head of the massive beast falling to the ground as the now bisected rider falls from its back in two pieces. Legs and heads of more beasts follow as Xander moves through them, many of the dogs howling in pain as they fall to the ground, still alive, but now disabled and unable to move, only able to howl and whimper in pain on the ground as they slowly bleed out into the snow. Those that don’t go for Xander come for the rest of us, the giant dogs jumping at us with their massive drool filled maws ready to snap down on us.

We slap and punch them aside as we keep moving. Frank doesn’t even stop as one of the beasts latches onto his leg, getting carried along as he keeps running like a quarterback running for a touchdown with another player desperately trying to stop him. We don’t stop, not even as the Goblins have us surrounded on every side, the woods coming up ahead of us quickly.

In a matter of moments, we are diving deep into the Field of the mage, the feeling of metal filling the air as the mage’s presence surrounds us, trying to bear down on us like so much gravity.

The mage stands tall among the rest of them and moves forward to meet us, shield and sword raised and held at the ready. We unload on the knight like Hobgoblin as we move forward, but they raise their shield and all of our bullets stop in midair, the metal projectiles stopping like they had been caught by a magnet.

“Metal Mage! Bullets are useless!” Frank calls out and we quickly stow our guns away, ready to go in with fists raised. Xander darts ahead of us and slashes at the knight, but his blade is stopped before it can reach the shield. The dog lashes out and tries to bite him, but he sends a kick into its snout, snapping its massive head back with a snap.

Frank yells as we keep moving, “Xander, you handle this one. Command wants us to take out the enemy artillery!”

“Got it, I have this one covered!” Xander shouts as the Hobgoblin screams in rage at the death of their dog. They jump from its corpse to swing their sword at Xander’s head as their mount falls over dead.

I keep watching as we move away, the two of them clashing blades as the Hobgoblin, standing half Xanders height, darts around at surprising speed and is somehow able to withstand his blows. Seemingly at the orders of the Hobgoblin knight, the surrounding Goblins continue to move around them, not getting in the way of their fight as they continue to clash with clang of steel on steel.

The fighting pair vanishes from view as we enter the woods, up above us, more projectiles soar overhead. We move to follow their trajectory back to their origin, the sound of stone sliding on stone growing louder as we draw near.

Breaking through into a clearing where all the trees had been felled and the earth has been torn up, we enter the Fields of three Earth Mages, their presences overlapping as they work together to operate machines made of stone and earth. Teams of Goblins work together to push felled trees and dug up boulder towards the back of the devices, the Earth Mages moving the earth itself to load the projectiles onto an angled platform that is cupped to keep the round from rolling out. With the projectiles loaded, the mages punch the air, their magic moving with force and causing a piston of stone to shoot out of the ground, slamming into the projectiles and launching them like they had been shot from a cannon.

The Goblins scream as we come tearing into the clearing, more Hobgoblins moving to block us as we charge for the earthen catapults like bloodhounds let loose.

Amongst the guarding Hobgoblins, one is a mage, his Field feeling dark like a shadow moving in the corner of your vision. He raises his hand and manifests several floating spears of darkness, throwing his arm down as he sends them flying towards us.

I slap one of the spears out of the air and find something inside of me growing angry, potentially even pissed.

Is that it? You call that shadow magic!? You dare use the same gift as our Queen and have the audacity to be so WEAK!?

The Demon inside of me screams out with rage and I can tell that the others are pissed as well. Sam, in a change from how she normally acts, isn’t laughing or screaming. She is deathly quiet, her gaze burning a hole into the Shadow Mage with a seething rage.

Before I can stop myself, I am exploding forward, the earth detonating behind me with the explosive force of my simply moving forward. The mage screams in fright, back pedaling as he hurls more spears my way, but each one that hits me only further adds to my rage. They are weak. SO FUCKING WEAK! His spears can’t even do more than lightly pierce my skin, the spears stopping useless against my body and only able to draw a bit of blood. If Lain had been the one to do it, her magic would have easily torn a hole straight through my body. My every instinct is screaming out in rage at the absurd weakness that is being thrown my way. Each spear that strikes my body is a spit at the greatness that is our Queen’s power.

This person’s continued existence is a slight! There can only be death for this insult!!!

With my inner Demon screaming in my soul, the voice that Lain had locked away rising up in a rage, I find myself surprisingly agreeing with it. Agreeing that this insult can’t be allowed to continue. My pride won’t allow this to stand. He. Must. Be. Crushed!

Plowing through all of his desperate attacks, the Hobgoblin with black skin and grey hair trips as he turns and tries to run away from me, screaming in fright when he looks over his shoulder and suddenly finds me looming over him.

Desperately, the mage tries to shroud himself in shadows, his presence slightly dissipating and his body fading from view. In my mind, he slowly vanishes from my attention, something like a hand in my mind trying to make me turn my eyes away as if there is nothing to be found here.

The Demon in my soul scoffs at this feeble attempt to sway me and slaps aside the fog like presence in my mind, clearing my thoughts and allowing me to clearly see the Hobgoblin that is trying to crawl away on all fours.

WEAK! He tries to trick us because he is WEAK! He is a slight on our Queens greatness!!!

Yes, I can’t let this stand. I won’t let this stand.

I reach forward and grab the man by his foot. He screams in fright, clawing at the ground as he tries to desperately get away. His shadows lash out at me, hitting my body, but the blows are as weak as a toddler’s slap. He rambles out a mess of words in Goblin, probably begging for his life, but his words fall on deaf ears as I lift him into the air by his ankle, crushing it in my grip.

When his eyes meet mine, dangling upside down in the air, he pales in fright, his eyes filled with fear like a rabbit that had just been caught by a lion.

Kill him! Kill him! My Demon screams in my soul. Kill the imposter! Remove this stain!

He kicks and screams, wriggling in my grip as I reach out and grab his other leg.

KILL IT!

“Rrraaaaaahhh!” I roar as I violently pull my arms in both directions. He screams, his voice filled with pain as I rip him in half from groin to neck, his two halves dangling in my grip with entrails spilling out onto the floor in a sickening mess of steaming filth. His face is locked in a look of abject terror and pain, forever trapped in his final moment.

Ending my roar of rage, I hold the bloodied corpse for all to see, showing it to the world as a reminder for all that would slight our Queen.

And then, slowly… my sense of self comes back to me, the rage dying down now that the Shadow Mage is dead…

Breathing heavily, my heart pounding in my chest like a drum, I look around and take in my surroundings. The clearing is deathly silent. Every Hobgoblin and Goblin is currently looking at me like I am some hellish monster that just crawled out of their nightmares. They don’t move. They don’t speak. Every single one of them is frozen stiff in fright as they shiver. Even the three Earth Mages can do nothing more than gawk in horror at the sight of me…

I drop the two halves of the corpse in my hands, shaking as everything comes to my mind and realization hits me.

I just lost control of myself. Just like Lain warned us. I wasn’t in control…

Frank and the others are watching me. They had been pissed as well, but they didn’t react anywhere nearly as bad as I had. But still, I can see it in how they look at me. They understand what just happened. Sam especially does, and I can see something like pity in her gaze. For some reason, that pity makes me mad, but it’s not enough to make me react.

Sam goes to ask me something, probably to ask if I am ok, but I stop her and say, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it…”

Frank stops her from pushing the subject further, telling her to focus on the mission at hand.

We all turn toward the remaining Hobgoblins, our attention primarily on the Earth Mages. They are the only threat here. When we walk towards them, the mages back pedal, their gazes refusing to leave me.

When we move to attack them, Sam bringing up her grenade launcher, and Frank and I charging towards them. The Earth Mages look at each other, the woman in the middle shaking her head no as the other two look towards her for direction. They quickly turn and flee, the earth raising up at their feet like a wave to carry them away into the woods as quickly as they can. The left behind Hobgoblins scream in protest at their fleeing backs, but their shouts are quickly silenced as they are taken out by the detonations of Sam’s grenades, the surrounding Goblins freaking out as their leaders are quickly taken out with overwhelming violence.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.