83 Clash (1/2)

Althea stepped up, “Yeah we are. I’m ready for something good to eat and somewhere nice too sleep. I never thought I would miss the tent so much.”

I glimpsed at her, “You and me both.” I shouted at the Eltari, “Are all of you ready?”

Hod raised a wing ending in his three talons, “Village ready.”

The village gave a roar after Hod finished speaking. The overseer stepped into his own dimensional rift. A violet strip appeared in the middle of the air. It ripped open before a blue sentinel walked out. Wielding the violet tipped spear and blue armor, the new sentinel sliced through dimensions, opening another portal towards the mountain top.

On the other side of the portal, the overseer fiddled with his status screen. As he did, the mountain reformed back into a normal dungeon entrance. Within seconds, he finished the task before opening another rip in reality. He stepped through the portal, disappearing from sight.

Not wanting to waste any time, Althea and I stepped through the portal. The sight of Springfield spread out before us. The dilapidated buildings and blood streaks didn’t paint the prettiest scene though. I opened my status menu before sending a message to Torix about the Eltari coming. He might have everything ready for them when we arrived back.

That was the goal at least. Glancing around, sand no longer covered the mountain top. It was back to normal, with a forest taking the sand’s place. The view around the mountain refreshed my memory of the place too. The giant gray cloud looming over Springfield’s center, the growing forests colored a sickly yellow, even the surrounding suburbs, it all came together to make the town what it was.

Which was pretty much a shit show at this point, but it wouldn’t stay that way forever. Armed with that knowledge, Althea and I herded the Eltari out of the dimensional rift. As they came to Earth, they showed no signs of displeasure. In fact, they all glowed with a brightness I could hardly understand. Some of them whispered among themselves,

“This place is so big.”

“I thought it would be hotter. Why is it so cool?”

“What are those giant, puffy balls of white?”

Althea chimed, “Those are clouds. They’re like water that’s waiting to fall out of the sky.”

One of the younger members of the Eltari kept the chain of questions coming,

“Water falls from the sky?”

I grinned, “Yeah. It’s called rain.”

“That sounds…wonderful.”

I spread my arms, missing basic stuff like that, “Yeah…yeah it is.”

Once the Eltari filed out, we had an enormous throng of winged bird people. They chattered about trees, grass, dirt, all kinds of stuff I never imagined people would chatter about. At least not with such excitement. Before they got caught up in the newness of the experience, I used my Words of Strength skill,

“Now Eltari, follow Althea and I. We will take you to your new home.”

Hod raised a wing, “To new home.”

Many of the Eltari raised their arms while shouting, “To new home.”

Any of the anxiety that was in the Eltari before leaving melted as Earth mesmerized them. The buildings mesmerized them. The temperature mesmerized them. The wind mesmerized them. Shit, I think even the smell of real dirt mesmerized them. Compared with their bleak, abysmal planet, Earth had it pretty good. I couldn’t blame them for their eyes glazing over.

Still, we had a mission to complete. Staying out in the open like this was a recipe for disaster, even with a blanket of trees as cover. We walked down the mountain and towards a nearby sewer entrance. Althea and I crushed any zombies coming nearby, each of us decimating them with ease. Hod helped some as well before we funneled the Eltari into the sewers.

Many of the Eltari looked at the journey like a group of tourists. The sights, the smells, the sounds, everything was new to them. They soaked in the change in atmosphere like kids going to a zoo. Althea, Hod, and I kept them moving as the giant line of Eltari moved through the labyrinth of tunnels. Most of them handled the process with ease. Their own home had been a series of tunnels after all. This wasn’t so different.

After about three hours of walking, we finally reached underneath the steel legion’s encampment. The Eltari’s anticipation of seeing their new homes saturated the tight tunnel. With each passing moment, they looked at each other while wondering what would happen. Before letting them out, I shouted down the tunnel,

“You all will wait up here while I let the others know that you’re coming. I don’t want someone firing at you guys for no reason.”

The message echoed down the tunnel Before I left with Hod. He would be their ambassador of sorts. Not the best pick, but he was the best they had for now. Althea stayed behind, making sure the crowd didn’t do something insane.

Once we were above the surface, Hod and I walked up. Stationed a few blocks down was a group of steel legion troops. Between an old candy shop and a bookstore, they looked out of place. Safety cones were dispersed around them, leading the way back to the base. They stood in a formation for handling the inflow of Eltari. At their head was corporal Briggs, the current puppet that Torix used as their leader.

I paced up with Hod. Several of the soldiers gasped before one of them raised their rifle. I reached out my hand and jerked the rifle out of his hand with telekinesis. Lifting it, I bonked his head with the rifle as I shouted,

“Don’t fire at me you dumbass.”

I tossed his rifle aside before the other steel legion troops calmed down. They whispered as I approached,