“The president is coming!” a reporter whispered to his camera man. “Turn on the feed!”

A secret service agent in a full black suit came to the front of the podium. “President Ted E. Baer will give a public statement. Please reserve all questions until the end, or we will escort you out of the premises.” Then, the agent faded away.

To the left, a man entered surrounded by a formation of politicians. He was Caucasian, had brown hair, and even his most adoring fans would call him plump. The cloth of his suit stretched tight around his waist and shoulders.

The President waddled up to the podium. “Eh-hem,” he coughed into the microphone.

“Our nation is in a time of great peril, one where each of us must make grave sacrifices for the greater good.” President Baer glanced at a notecard in his hand.

“It is with all seriousness that I confirm the existence of three alien races present on our home planet, which we have taken to calling the specters, the mold colonies, and the goblins.” A flurry of flashes came from an amateur reporter that was promptly shown the exit.

“Both the specters and the mold colonies have demonstrated the ability of mind control, which turns everything our nation assumed about the autonomy of the individual on its head. Now, individuals can no longer be trusted, as they themselves may not be the actual entity making decisions. Every civilian can be possessed and turned against our great nation,” he continued.

“As such, I am greatly saddened to say that under the authority granted to The President of the United States under Martial Law, I hereby declare that all civilian private firearms are to be confiscated.”

A huge uproar surged as the reporters desperately shouted questions, ignoring the secret service’s attempts to maintain quiet. “How can you ignore the second amendment? Do you not fear impeachment by congress?” and similar concerns were raised.

The President raised his hand, quieting the crowd. “I am well aware that what I am doing is grounds for impeachment. However, it is necessary for the safety of our nation. I accept any personal consequences, as long as our nation is kept safe.”

There was a flare of determination in the chubby man’s eyes that shocked the watchers.

“Our country is IN DANGER, on an unprecedented scale. World War II was nothing compared to the deaths occurring nationwide. We are in the midst of a third world war, except it is all of humanity against these alien races, and the cost of losing is extinction. As such, I, with the authority granted to me as President of the United States, instate mandatory conscription for all healthy adults. And don’t expect for excuses to get you out of war this time- we don’t have the leeway we did before.”

Halfway across the country, the wealthiest man in the world clenched his fist, shattering his wine glass and spilling its contents over his suit.

“Conscripts will be given basic ki training, with knowledge provided directly from our leading expert in ki. Civilians will not be given access to supernatural forces, to prevent possessed civilians from causing widespread mayhem.”

Someone cried, “Tyrant!” from across the room. President Baer continued unabashed.

“Mages will be expected to cooperate with the military. If international mage guilds continue to pursue their own private interests in this time of worldwide danger, the United States will be forced to take action to enforce conscription.”

“I trust in the capability of humanity to adapt to this threat. We must come together as one, but if we do, no alien race can stop us. My secretary of state will take questions.”

The fire left the man’s eyes, and he waddled off the stage.

***

A meeting was called to order in a conference room. At one side of the table sat Arthur, his second-in-command David, Erica, and Sarah. On the other side of the table sat Oliver Wildrow, leader of the Order of Virtue, and an unknown mage.

They went around the table one by one, introducing themselves. Finally, it was the unknown mage’s turn. He was even older than Oliver, with pure white hair, and a long beard that snaked down to his waist. A wizardly cone hat sat atop his head, and he clenched a gnarled staff in his left hand.

“You may call me Gandalf,” he declared regally. “I am the leader of the Elemental Guild, the leading international mage guild.”

Sarah leaned to Erica and whispered in her ear, “Is he serious?” Erica winced.

“Sadly, yes. He believes himself the reincarnation of the wizard Gandalf,” she whispered back.

Arthur called for attention. “As you may know, the main purpose of this military base is to defend against the mold colony between here and the gulf of Mexico. We have been delaying as long as we can to give our scientists as long as possible, but the colony has been rapidly growing by having zombies spread its spores in the form of green slime. This meeting is to discuss a possible attack on the colony. If successful, it would be the first recorded takedown of a mold colony.”

He turned to his second-in-command. “David, if you would.” The Hispanic man nodded, stood up, and started to read from a folder.

“Our mathematicians have analyzed the growth region of the colony and predict it to reach this location within one week. Scientists of the International Union for the Analysis of Aliens (IUAA), of which our nation’s CDC is a member of, have declared the normal zombies of the mold colonies to be a lost cause. Their identities are already destroyed, and the zombies should be killed on sight.”

“Multiple witness reports,” he motioned to Sarah, “have proven the existence of a second class of zombies, which have been named ki-zombies. These brainwashed zombies have most of their memories preserved, which the colony uses to fight enemies intelligently. These targets should be subdued and rescued if at all possible.”

“A third class of zombies, named mold monsters, are theorized to be ki zombies that have been upgraded by the colony. It is unknown how many of these zombies there are.” David closed the folder and sat back down.

Immediately, Oliver slammed his hands on the table. “So you have no idea how many enemies there are, and you want us to risk our mages, that are the only lifeline for humanity? Do you even know what tier ki intents the zombies use?”

David looked confused. Sarah spoke up for him. “Ki and mana intents can be combined to form higher tiered intents, which are more powerful.” She looked Oliver in the eyes. “From my own experience, ki zombies have access to first tier and second tier ki intents, and a lot of them. It is only natural to assume mold monsters have third tier intents.”

Oliver cursed. “Third tier? Are you trying to kill us? The most powerful mages in the world only have second tier intents.”

The noise of knuckles rapping on wood interrupted him. Everyone looked to Gandalf, who was rolling his knuckles while pondering. He stroked his beard. “Do not lose faith so quickly. Humanity has cards up its sleeves. Moreover, the people of the world need hope. It is of paramount importance that one of these alien colonies is defeated. The Elemental Guild offers the full support of its members in this endeavor.”

The Guild had five hundred mages, all recruited from minor specter attacks all over the world, but only fifty had managed to imbue intent into mana. Still, fifty mages was a huge number.

Oliver’s face darkened. He clapped his hands. “Very well. If the Elemental Guild is feeling pressured from The Order’s recent infusion of new blood, then it is welcome to make dumb decisions. The Order will not participate in this farce.”

Arthur slammed his hands on the table in a mimicry of Oliver’s previous actions. “President Baer has declared that all mage organizations must cooperate with the military, or else mages will be forcefully conscripted!”

The green-robed mage stood up and walked to the door. Just before he exited, he said, “The Order is on the side of humanity. If the President wants to cripple our race by attacking us because we didn’t want to commit suicide, then we need a new President.” The room stayed silent for a minute.

“Well,” Gandalf cheered. “Let’s get on with the planning!”

***

The lineup for the raid was intimidating. Soldiers scurried about decked in equipment, tanks left tracks in the dirt, and high in the air buzzed numerous flying drones. There were nine squads of ten to eleven people each forming the elite main task force.

Apparently there were thousands of soldiers sourced from all nearby military bases encircling the mold colony at the moment, to help clear out the normal zombies, and protect the scientists spraying acid specially-designed to kill the mold growths. Sarah wouldn’t see those soldiers, however.

The almost one hundred group of elites consisted of mages and soldiers who demonstrated particular skill in ki. There were four groups with second tier mages, and five groups with first tier ki practitioners, Sarah included. All groups had five first tier mages.

Sarah distinctly felt the relative weakness of the force’s ki practitioners to its mages. It made sense; The Elemental Guild drew its members from all across the world, while the soldiers were only from local bases. Moreover, specter hosts turned up much earlier than mold colony hosts, leading to present mages having had more time to develop. Sarah knew she had been first in the U.S. to escape alive from a mold colony, although she didn’t know if the same was true worldwide.

Even if we’re not as strong, we’re more numerous, she thought. Ki practitioners will have more impact overall. It was a bit silly of her to be competitive with mages when she was technically also a mage, but Sarah didn’t care.

As Sarah had formed a ki intent, she was placed in a squad without a second tier mage. She was placed with five air mages, whose magic Arthur had thought would complement her own abilities and let her squad have high mobility. The Colonel had thought it wise for most groups to specialize, except for his own squad, which had one of every mage type and would play the role of versatile emergency relief.

Yes, Arthur had formed a ki intent. No, Sarah didn’t know what it was.

As if sensing her attention, the Colonel shouted, “The drones have located the colony nexus and unloaded explosive payloads. The area has been cleared of a majority of the normal zombies. Now, we move out.”

Sarah’s squad jumped in a military truck, which looked just like the one she rode to downtown Houston. It carried them down a bumpy dirt road for an hour before the vehicle came to a halt, and the squads left the road to enter untamed forest.

Leafy canopy slowly occluded the sky, seeping the light and color from their surroundings. As Sarah’s boots crunched plant debris, memories resurfaced. She tripped over exposed roots, her body not used to roaming the forest without being directed like a marionette.

Shadows hid beneath branches, and wind rustled leaves in the background.

Sarah questioned why she agreed to return to the site of her imprisonment. What was going through my mind? What felt like hours passed as her nerves tensed like steel coil.

Finally, she caught a blur of motion in her peripheral vision. Sarah surged with velocity ki and whipped her pistol out of its holster with inhuman speed. Her first bullet caught the goblin zombie in its chest. The second hit its torso and the third burst its skull.

“Hah, hah,” she panted, frantically scanning around her.

“Sarah, calm down. It was just a scout,” Peter whispered. “You shouldn’t be calm, but you can’t let your nerves cloud your judgement.”

The squad waited for her to settle. Sergeant Kim, the squad leader, spoke up. “Nice reaction, but don’t use more than one bullet per zombie. We need to conserve ammunition.” She nodded and they resumed stalking forward.

This isn’t the same. I’m stronger now, and with allies. Quitting would just put more people in danger.

The next series of encounters went smoothly. Sarah killed the first handful of goblins in record cowboy time, until she missed a shot and Sergeant Kim politely told her that the normal soldiers could take care of normal shooting. She should reserve hers for ‘special circumstances’, whatever that meant.

Sarah listened to him. The mages, on the other hand, didn’t. The mages had already proven themselves uncooperative with the military, wearing blue and white robes instead of camouflage, and talking instead of staying quiet.

This time was no different. Instead of staying in the center of the squad, where they would be protected, one of the mages had strayed to the side for an unknown reason, perhaps to smell the non-existent roses. Unsurprisingly, when he was jumped by a goblin-zombie hiding in the bushes, he panicked.

The skinny teenager lashed out with blasts of distorted air that bent branches and created a horrible groan. The short goblin scampered past the magic and tackled the mage to the ground.

The soldiers present all had their guns trained on the goblin, but couldn’t fire for fear of friendly fire. Sarah lunged forward and snatched the goblin by the scruff of its neck before it could tear out the mage’s throat. She pulled out a knife and finished it off.

“Stick to the center of the squad, so you don’t panic and blast your allies,” she snarled. The air mage nodded meekly.

Civilians, she sighed mentally. I hope I don’t come off that way to the team.