The Horde

The journey to the Empire was rough. Felix and Velvet had spent several days hiking through the forested mountains and still were yet to arrive. The encoded directions provided by Suzie were simple but clear and they hadn’t run into any trouble so far.

While the wilderness was dangerous, mutants were the real threat. It was one of the reasons why the Republic had so much trouble with the Empire. The mutant creatures served as a natural defense. Thankfully, they had not yet encountered any.

“Well, the Empire should be right through here.” Felix looked up at a deep gorge cutting through mountains.

Velvet looked upon it skeptically. It was dark, the walls were jagged, and the rocks and dirt seemed insecure. “Hm…”

“Don’t worry. It’s pretty safe according to Suzie’s direction. Going around takes a couple days, so it’ll be better to just go through.”

With the same look of concern on her face, Velvet agreed, “Very well.”

The two walked into the gorge. It was narrow and the walls were steep. Shadows cloaked the area and cover was non-existent. It was a perfect choke point. Any man or army that passed through here would be decimated if ambushed.

Velvet wondered what waited for them in the Empire. Curious, she asked, “Felix, what else do you know about this Empire?”

“Not too much. They’re effectively rebels, former Republican citizens who left and now fight against them. Most of their population is made up of alchemists and dolls.”

“Yes, Suzie stressed their pro-doll agenda.”

“Yeah, but that isn’t the extent of their politics. The Empire is very strange. It’s all based on…” He stopped to think of the right words. “Individual rights, maybe? From what I hear they don’t really have a government or legal system, so that also means no taxes. And everybody’s pretty much self-employed.They don’t even have money either, it’s all bartering.”

“That is strange.”

“It gets results, though. There’s a reason why so many alchemists have defected. Keeping what you earn, freedom for your doll, no intrusive government. Although it’s not all sunshine, a lot of their resources come from raids.”

“Raids?”

“They are rebels after all. They mostly attack Republican military outposts and supply caches. Usually, they take weapons, but sometimes also food and other essentials. They’ve even been known to free dolls on occasion too.”

“Hm. They seem dangerous. We’d best stay on guard.”

“Yea—” but before Felix could finish, he heard the slightest rustling. He whipped around only to see what looked like a squirrel. He breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought we were in trouble there for a second…”

However, this squirrel…wasn’t normal… It was small, but still twice as big as any squirrel should be. It took slow, heavy steps towards them. As it got closer, Felix slowly realized how wrong the creature really was. Its eyes were completely red, and as it opened its mouth, its teeth were like rows and rows of razor blades. With a deathly shriek, it lunged at him. Felix pulled out his gun, but he was too late, the squirrel hit him dead-on, sending him falling to the ground. The beast sunk its teeth deep into Felix’s shoulder.

“Aahh!” Felix cried out in pain and shock as he desperately tried to pry the monster from his body.

“Let go of it!” Velvet ordered.

Without thinking, Felix listened, moving his hands away, and as he did that, Velvet’s rapier pierced the squirrel’s head, skewering it like a kebab and killing it instantly.

Between heavy breaths, Felix showed his gratitude, “Thank you…”

“You’re welcome.” Velvet crouched down and examined his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine…” The wound was rough, but not too deep. Felix slowly got to his feet, still shaking a bit. “That was like a squirrel from hell. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“And hopefully we won’t see anything like it again.”

But as those words left Velvet’s mouth, they heard what almost sounded like rumbling, they looked out into the distance where they had come from, only to see what seemed to be a massive brown wave.

What is that? It looks like dirt, but… Oh no… Felix’s confusion turned to horror as he realized what was approaching. It was a horde of thousands upon thousands of those squirrels.

“Let’s get out of here!” Felix immediately turned around and started running as fast as he possibly could.

Velvet followed, hovering beside him. As they fled, she turned around and started floating backwards in order to fire a volley of spells at the horde. However, while each magic blast hit the horde, exploding and sending dozens of squirrels flying, it had no effect, not even slowing them down.

Their desperate escape continued, but the squirrels were steadily gaining ground. Felix’s mind raced, thinking of any way to get out of this, but he had nothing.

“Felix, jump in there!” Velvet pointed to a hole in the ground.

“Got it!”

Felix jumped in and crouched down. Velvet followed, but stayed at the top, and as the squirrel horde was just about to be right on top of them, she summoned Aegis, creating a barrier. The squirrels piled onto the barrier, quickly covering it completely, leaving Felix and Velvet in total darkness.

Felix thanked Velvet in his head, but this ploy, while smart and resourceful, could only last so long. Mana was finite and Felix was injured. Still, Velvet held fast, keeping up the barrier, protecting her and Felix from the monsters.

Felix racked his brain, but he had nothing. What could he possibly do to counter such a foe?

But then the horde started thinning out, they all scurried off, disappearing, and as light was let back into the hole, they could see a massive fire pillar.

Even as it looked like the squirrel horde had cleared out, Velvet kept up the barrier. The fire soon disappeared as well and a living doll then entered their vision above them.

“Hello there! Doing all right?” Her hair was wild and a fiery red, but she had a pure, genuine smile, happy to have saved their lives.

Cancelling the barrier, Velvet jumped up out of the hole. “Yes, we’re fine. Thank you.”

“Those squirrels are a lot of trouble, huh?”

“That’s an understatement.” Felix said as climbed up out of the hole.

The doll laughed. “Yeah, but a little fire scares them off, so they’re not so bad.”

“They’re scared of fire? So I assume you’re the one who summoned that fire and saved us?” Velvet asked, already knowing the answer.

“That’s right! The name’s Fyra! Nice to meetcha!” She closed her eyes and smiled ear to ear.

“My name’s Velvet. Thank you for the help.” She slightly bowed.

“And I’m Felix.” He brushed the dirt off of him.

“I’m glad you’re both okay.” A young man entered the scene. “I’m Nathan. I assume you’re refugees fleeing the Republic, right? Please, follow us. We’ll escort you.”

The young man named Nathan started walking off. Fyra grabbed her new friend’s hand and dragged her along, much to Velvet’s chagrin. Felix still had his suspicions, but followed along, preparing himself for whatever awaited them in the Empire.