Y:7 D:28

  A field, seven kilometers from Argos

  With precise timing, the Eagle dropped from the sky in front of the marching army. At

  a distance of only one hundred meters, a loud artificial metallic roar made the

  descent of the Eagle seem like a dragon landing. The army froze, waiting for their

  leader to speak, but he too was stunned.

  The Eagle landed, and Konoya came out holding hands with Bikz. The

  moment Bikz saw his father, he started running toward him. Ags, his father, looked at

  his son running away from his captors with extreme fear in his eyes. He thought that

  he would see his son die. Before Bikz had the chance to reach them, Ags raised his

  weapon and screamed in anger and frustration his war cry, “For our people!” Then he

  stormed toward his son.

  Watching the sprinting army approaching them, Alex immediately initiated

  plan B” He stepped out of the Eagle, and in clear view, shot an explosive into the air.

  Between them and above Bikz, about twenty meters in the sky, a tremendous

  explosion took place, followed by a screeching from the Eagle. The shockwave

  knocked Bikz and the first few lines of the attackers onto the ground. When he stood

  up, his father was there holding him. The army had stopped. Fear and panic started

  to spread among the Goblins.

  “I am Alex. We are here to make peace, not war. What happened before was

  a regrettable accident.” His voice was coming out of speakers loud for everyone to

  hear.

  Shocked to hear his own language, Ags looked at Alex. “Here to make

  peace? You took the life of the mother of my child!”

  “There is nothing I can say that will bring her back. Your son is unharmed. We

  needed him because he is the bravest of all of you. He is the one to first approach us

  when we tried to make contact. He is the one who taught us your language.”

  “You will pay for what you did,” replied Ags while his army looked confused

  and stressed.

  “You can’t defeat us. We come from the stars! We have what it takes to

  destroy this world. But we come in peace. Let us talk, and then make your decisions.”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “We know you came from the stars. We thought you would come in peace.

  But we see now you are not here for good. Are you not fighting together with the

  Orcs?”

  “We are not fighting for or with anyone.”

  Ags was approaching Alex slowly while his army moved slowly behind him.

  “We have many legends of our people coming and going to the stars. None

  have them killing us,” said Ags while moving closer to Alex.

  Alex realized that he might be approaching for an attack. His son was now

  behind his army, and it felt like Ags was not as scared as his soldiers. “We would

  love to hear of your legends. We would be happy to tell you some of ours too. Now,

  however, is the time for you to stop and turn back. Come again to talk whenever you

  see fit.”

  Ags saw that Alex changed the way he was looking at him, so he stopped

  moving toward him. He also noted that there was another inside the flying contraption

  who was more aggressive looking than the others.

  “I will visit you soon,” were his last words before he made a signal to his army

  to begin marching back.

  “That was well done,” said Konoya while they were flying back.

  “That was close,” said Bara.

  “You saw what he was going for, didn’t you?” asked Alex.

  “I saw. I was hoping he would stop. A few more steps, and I would step out

  with weapons in hand.”

  “Now we have to prepare for them. And for the worst-case scenario that they

  simply went back to gather information from Bikz.”

  “Yes, but we got information from them too now,” said Konoya, trying to boost

  morale.

  Back at Argos, a sense of relief was felt, but not by everyone. Sadly, the number of

  humans looking forward for the battle was not negligible. Perhaps the need for

  something new, the need for adventure, the need for adrenaline was what caused

  that. Konoya believed that there was something deeper. The excitement of being in a

  new world should be enough to fill the need for adventure and excitement. Why is it

  that in the face of war, a new feeling developed which was, if not welcomed, then

  mostly neutral instead of negative? For now, the battle was averted, and the chance

  of forming an alliance was gained. It was the time for changes. A large amount of

  work was placed into creating A-Concrete, as they called it, with similar

  characteristics as the one used on Gaia a long time ago. The mining of materials and

  the reconstruction of the city became the primary job of everyone. The city began to

  be built like a fortress. New houses started to look like bunkers with an underground

  tunneling system connecting them all.

  Storage rooms for food and tanks for water made the city able to withstand a

  lockdown for years. The once-beautiful city of Argos was slowly looking like a military

  fortress. The parks were becoming smaller, and the nonlethal weapons that everyone

  was carrying started to be accompanied by plasma pistols. The recreational

  expeditions and hunt for exploration were halted for a while. In the process of all this,

  the Goblins made multiple visits. Although they were not showing any signs of

  aggression, Alex chose to not let them see the construction of the city. He did not

  want them knowing of the preparations for war or the underground passages and

  storage areas.