In darkness, there is the sound of something flying through the air and then an explosion from impact. “These noises, why are they haunting me?” The darkness erupts into a scene of a battlefield. A hooded figure wielding a huge glowing sword stands on a ledge looking over a rocken field. Armored orcs, followed by weaponized robots, charged towards an oncoming army made up of countless different species. The orc force was greatly outnumbered, as they were fighting multiple armies at once. A giant robotic dragon burst through the ranks. It was about 150 feet long, white with black markings, and had glowing purple eyes. It let out a shrieking roar before emitting blasts of lasers from its mouth, eyes, and a large gun on its head, tearing apart the troops. A large armored orc approached the hooded figure. “My lord, what shall we do?” he asked. The figure, not moving, replied in two voices, one human and one not so human, much to deep, raspy, and powerful. “Recall all troops, send the Combiner unit to cover them from the dragon.” “Right away my lord,” and the orc let out a powerful roar of his own. From the higher ground above the orc troops, a group of heavily armed and armored robots jumped off the ledge, and combined into a 100 foot robot, which throws aside and crushes a few opposing troops in front of him while charging towards the dragon. The dragon blasted a beam of lasers at the combiner, but it sidestepped and fired back with a gun on one of its arms, landing a shot on the dragon. “Lets go, gather the rest of the commandos and meet me in the throne room of the castle,” said the cloaked man, turning around. The man’s face was wisps of darkness, but would shape into a humanoid face, one that looked oddly familiar.
An alarm clock started going off, and Malgrum gasped awake. He looked around the room, dazed. It was a sunny morning, with not a cloud in the sky. The room was vacant, as everyone else was up in the house, and a commotion from downstairs suggested everyone was in the living room and kitchen. Malgrum left the room and walked towards the stairs, but as he took the first step, he heard a voice, a voice that sounded like the one in the dream. “This world was never meant to be,” it said. “Our mission is to purge it to its original state.” “What the hell was that,” Malgrum thought to himself. “I swear it’s in my head, but it fills the room, it completely surrounds me.” He walked down the stairs and approached Bitoku and Mia, who were sitting at a bar in the kitchen. “Good morning Malgrum,” said Bitoku. Malgrum nodded in reply, and after a few seconds replied. “Did any of you hear a voice, like one that wasn’t from any of us and loud as hell?” Mia and Bitoku looked at each other, “no, we haven’t, do you think it was one of your visions again?” “Actually, I did have a dream, but I don’t think it has anything to do with my past.” Malgrum explained his dream to Bitoku, who looked at him questionably. “So you heard the same voice in your dream as you were walking down the stairs,” Bitoku asked. “Yes,” replied Malgrum.” “Hmm, that is odd. The events of the dream can’t be real, it just can’t exist, and a dream can just be a dream. The voice while you were awake, however, is what’s getting me, cause that is one hundred percent something, especially if it is connected to the dream. Maybe the voice is someone you know, and your dream is an interpretation of that” “I don’t know, but the figure kind of looked like me,” said Malgrum. “Maybe it’s just your imagination, none of this makes sense.” said Bitoku. Malgrum sat confused for a moment, and then decided to go outside to get the mail. “None of this makes any sense, oh hey Vik,” said malgrum as he passed his neighbor, who was out barbequing. Vik waved his spatula in the air, and the grill burst into flames, Vik waving his apron over it frantically to try and put it out. Malgrum walked up to the mailbox and grabbed the mail. “I could have just handed it to you for fuck sake, why is your timing ass,” said a voice behind Malgrum, as he was heading back towards the house. “Nice to see you Bob,” replied Malgrum to the large mailman.
As Malgrum began walking back to the house, the sky suddenly darkened. “Now what, I thought it was clear skies today, WAIT WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SHIT!” A giant ship had appeared in the sky. It was black, with gray highlights and circular green windows. It was heading towards the city of Tokyo, but was launching smaller ships on the way. There was a giant crash as a ship landed a few blocks down, and from it sprang a group of armed robots. They were humanoid, some with the same colors as the ship, and having a green bubble as a face, while others had purple highlights with a purple sharp purple visor. They were all armed with a jagged gun with an energy stripe down the center, and they started shooting at onlooking people, as well as houses.
Malgrum, Bob, and Vik all ran back to Bitoku’s house. They entered the house, and described what was going on to Bitoku and the others. Alarmed, they turned on the news and gathered around the couch to watch the tv. The news described it as a full scale robot invasion of Tokyo and neighboring cities. It was an army of alien robots, who had no purpose or intent other than destruction. Their main target was the city, due to its vast population, but other areas around it were being affected as well, as the robots seemed to plan on expanding the invasion and destroying the world.
Bitoku believes the best way to survive the invasion is to face it. He says that staying in place at the house is too obvious, and they would be attacked with nowhere to go, as well as running out of food and resources. He decides the best course of action to survive would be to go into the city, as there are more resources, more places to hide that robots would struggle to find them in, and a better chance for them to escape. The group packed some necessities, and left the house. Bitoku, who had a sword on display, grabbed it to use as a weapon. The group made their way through the neighborhood stealthily on foot, and approached two robots from behind. Bitoku took them both out with his sword, but another appeared out of his reach, and shot a bolt at him. Malgrum jumped and front and all of a sudden, in the blink of an eye, a blue energized shield shot into his arm and blocked the bolt, while in his other hand a gun appeared and he returned a shot at the robot, destroying it. Malgrum had no idea what happened, and reacted on instinct, however the weapon and shield appeared from the orbs on the side of his belt. The group picked up the weapons from the fallen robots and continued into the city.
The story is interesting, combining aspects of both reality and fiction. The transition from dream to reality creates a mysterious atmosphere. Excitement rises with the reveal of the robot invasion. The responses from the characters seem authentic. However, in order to increase the reader’s interest, a few parts may benefit from deeper explanations. Overall , it’s a good beginning, and I’m interested to see how the story will progress. – Novak