After his confrontational announcement, there was no response from the enemy. At least, none that he’d hoped for. After a moment of stunned silence, the enemies broke out into laughter. Or at least that’s what he thought it was. The distance separating them and the gas masks they were wearing distorted the sound and all he heard was a dull roar coming from every direction. He could only take it as laughter from the body language of the group, some of them slapping their thighs, or bending over and holding up a hand as if he’d said something extremely funny.

Not what I expected, but I can work with this.

He activated the Human Seal on his forehead and in just a few moments the unextraordinary seeming man was replaced by a massive beast. Dark brown scales rippled with black and tan speckling and the massive bulk slid into a coiled form. The huge snake lifted its head a dozen feet into the air. Snap! A sharp sound, not unlike a sail suddenly catching the wind. The cobra’s hood unfurled with almost violent force and the lighter underbelly was revealed. The giant snake’s body started to change colors, getting darker and darker, blending in with the black backdrop of the night. At the same time, the hood turned a white so bright it was emitting light into the darkness. A thin black line crawled out onto that sea of white and slowly started to draw circles. Larger circles, then smaller circles, then bouncing back and forth between them. A large dark bead with a thin trail following in its path. The fluctuating circles seamlessly became a smooth swirling pattern.

The cobra didn’t have the familiar slitted vertical pupils of other serpents. Instead, it had a row of three pupils placed horizontally, side by side, in the middle of its eyes. Each of the three pupils had a thin red outline around them, an iris? Those who looked at them would find themselves fascinated by the way those dots seemed to move. They seemed completely still, but by staring at them it looked like they were shaking. Was the middle one bouncing up and down? Or were the two on the ends moving? Were they just going up and down or were they spinning like the ends of a jump rope? How could pupils spin inside the eyes?

The snake’s eyes had a dull golden glow coming from them and there was a dull roar or buzzing sound in the air. The cobra quickly swept it’s gaze in a full circle, matching eyes with each and every person in the crowd. Or at least, that was the intention. Over ninety percent of them were wearing gas masks with dark colored lenses hiding their eyes. Without a direct connection, it was much more difficult for Sage to influence them. The only ones not wearing masks were those with huge deformities and creepy vein covered bodies. People that had only the most simple of masks over their mouths or noses, and who seemed to embrace their mutations.

“Whoa!”

“Where did that come from?”

“What the hell is that thing!?”

There were various exclamations from the crowd as they noticed the sudden change. The group laughter had been enough of a distraction for Sage to transform and launch an unusual attack. Unfortunately, he’d only bought himself a few seconds. A loud and terrible voice seemed to come from every direction, booming with volume, “What are you waiting for!? Destroy that thing!”

With the order being given, the Flares around him quickly snapped out of their daze. Sage felt a massive power building. It was like he was on the beach staring at the face of a hundred foot tall wave. It was crashing towards him and there was nowhere he could go to escape.

A sea of psychic attacks fell upon him. Stone and scrap metal by the tons were hurled in his direction, both by telekinesis and bulging mutant muscle. Balls of fire, arcs of electricity, and bolts of light shot through the air. Waves of metaphysical energy aimed to incite his emotions, destabilize his bodily functions, and shatter his mind.

Weng!

A golden dome sprang up around the giant snake. It was covered in innumerable scales, and the sea of attacks smashed against it like a tide. The scales were torn away by the hundreds, and many of the attacks passed through the gaps that were formed. At the same time, there was a staccato of cracking sounds. Like a mob dancing on top of plates and crushing them to bits. The force of the attacks kicked up a storm of dust, and even with the glowing flares that were hovering in the air over them, they couldn’t see the result of the flurry of blows. Surely with the thousands of them attacking at the same time, there was no way for the snake to still be alive.

When the dust finally cleared, that magnificent golden dome made for a sorry sight. It looked more like an umbrella on its last legs, only a bent framework with tattered scales was remaining. Only a few patches here and there with others only barely attached by one corner. There were huge gaps that allowed them to see inside and what they saw was not the black snake from before, instead they saw a huge pile of silvery blue spikes.

“A porcupine?”

As questions arose over what they were seeing, the trunk of a tree sprouted from the pile of spikes. It rose up into the air and a canopy of branches and leaves sprung forth. It was like a time lapse, the tree growing from nothing and spreading into the sky. Vines fell from its branches and those vines hardened. More vines wrapping around them and twining around each other until another tree trunk was formed. In just a few seconds a dozen trees had sprung up around the pile of spikes. Then the ground rumbled and that ominous voice shouted again, “Stop staring, destroy everything!”

Thousands of Flares gathered their power to attack again, but it was at that moment that hundreds of them rebelled. They attacked their fellow comrades from behind, pushing them over or kicking them in their weakest places. The sudden ambush disrupted their attacks and started hundreds of small battles. People who hadn’t seen the sneak attacks rushed to defend their friends from the vicious counter attacks, and others went to break up the scuffles. Chaos descended among the army and before they could attack the pile of spikes, it started to shrink in front of them. A few hundred of them that remained quickly threw out attacks, but by the time they landed, the pile turned into a spike covered cone and then disappeared. Only at that point did they all realize it wasn’t shrinking, but going underground!

Where the snake had been there was now only a tree and pieces of metal on the ground, which looked like many discs or platters carved with gibberish, and a six foot wide hole that was already starting to collapse.

“Argh! Stop fighting each other you fools! That monster used some sort of mind control. Subdue the ones affected and go after him!”