《Folgore》


 Chapter 1: Normal job interview.

    This is the first draft, so don''t be too harsh, plz.


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    Berlin 23 August 2018


    Thicc clouds blotted out the sun from the sky, casting a dark grey color on the world. Adriano looked up to the sky and thought in his heart: "it''s true, there are no half-seasons anymore." he then nodded sagely like any other old man who spoke such words a million times. This image would have had nothing wrong if Adriano hadn''t been over 22.


    In his mind, bad weather in August could only be caused by global warming or other side effects of pollution and overpopulation. He looked around for encouragement. However, only skyscraper and swarms of people appeared. The sight of civilization which usually would fill him with pride for belonging to the same race, today just oppressed him.


    He missed the beaches of his hometown, his dear ones and the warmth of people entirely missing in a metropolis like Berlin. He stopped for a moment to buy a hot dog and continued walking being careful not to spill on his suit the mix of curry and ketchup that Germans used everywhere.


    After minutes more of walking down the busy streets of the city, he stopped in front of a giant building, he checked his watch once and then made his way in. A four people reception stood in the middle of the hall, a dozen leather couches stuck to the walls decorated with paintings.


    "Guten morgen, I have a job interview with Herr Schlagg." the receptionist shone a bright smile before typing in something on her terminal. "Very good, and you are Herr?" she asked in a formal tone. "Adriano Meis," he replied "I''m slightly early, hope it''s not a problem." Slight early was an understatement, feeling anxious about arriving late he had come with a 30 minutes advance.


    "No problem whatsoever, actually Herr. Schlagg can meet you now." her petite hand pointed to the elevator. "twelfth floor, good luck." the receptionist winked at him a last time before he made his way upstairs. For the whole trip until Herr. Schlagg''s door, he felt as if he was knowingly walking in a beast''s jaws.


    Inside the elevator, he looked at himself in the mirror. 1,90 meters of height, well built after many years of swim and martial arts, light brown short hair fashioned like a wave going to the left and lively green eyes. He considered himself to be above average regarding looks.


    Finally, he was there. The metal door of Herr. Schlagg''s office had a grey and dull color, giving it the septic feeling of an operating room. Steeling his nerves, he knocked on the door. Shortly after the door opened by itself, Herr. Schagg''s office looked exceedingly spartan, one simple wooden desk, two chairs on wheels (one currently occupied by Schlagg) and the window behind Herr. Schlagg.


    Even the word "Spartan" would be unable to describe the empty office, recovering from the shock of having his expectations broken, Adriano stepped in. "Guten Morgen Herr Schlagg, a pleasure to meet you," Adriano said offering his hand. "No need to be so courteous, take a seat Mr.Meis ."Herr. Schlagg politely shook his hand and waved for him to sit.


    He was a big man, over 2 meters in height and squared like a bunch of different sized bricks put together to build a man. His shiny head reflected the light coming from the window like a lamp, yet Adriano felt that if he were to stare too much, those icy azure eyes would smite him.


    "I''m both a busy and straightforward so let me ask you a few quick questions." Herr. Schlagg immediately cut the formalities and took a business stance with his hands cupped on the table. "First, do you have any combat experience?" Adriano looked a little taken aback.


    "Yes, I''ve been practicing mixed martial arts for eight years now, I''ve also participated in a few tournaments." This question was still within those that he had expected for the security officer position he was vying for. However, the next surprised him.


    "Do you enjoy fighting?" Herr. Schlagg''s icy gaze penetrated deep into his own, he felt that lying now would spell doom. "Yes sir, I do very much," Herr. Schlagg grunted in approval, Adriano could even see the corner of his mouth going up. The puzzlement kept increasing as the questions got even weirder.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "Can you survive in the wilderness alone?" "do you have any problem with scuba diving?" "have you ever used fire weapons?" "Are you confident in driving a vehicle you''ve never seen?" "From a scale of 1 to ten, how much would you rate your ability to find a solution out of the box creatively?" "Do you have talent in learning different languages?" "Is your sense of direction very developed?" "Do you believe in Aliens?"


    At some point, he just stopped being surprised and mechanically answered everything. At the end of the ordeal, Herr. Schlagg seemed very satisfied; his head bobbed up and down reviewing the notes he had taken. "Now for the last question, would you be able to say goodbye forever to everyone you know to get this job?"


    "What?" His faked composture finally crumbled.


    "Accepting this job means cutting all ties with anyone or anything you know. It''s only fair to let you know straight away, years ago I was faced with the same choice, and I can assure you it was all worth it." A hint of anger rose inside Adriano''s heart.


    "I''m starting to think you might have lied about what kind of job you are offering here." Accused Adriano, the displeasure he felt clear in his voice.


    "I cannot tell you anything about it, except you''ll be able to save a lot of innocents and you will never worry about money anymore. This is what we are offering you, a purpose."


    Countless calculations went through Adriano''s head. Should he or not? The proposal was as enticing as it was mysterious, however, was it worth paying such a steep price?


    "I''m sorry, I can''t say goodbye to my family without even knowing what I''m trading it for." Adriano in the end refused, if his father were here, he would be mad at him yelling something like: "You are an idiot! One day you''ll have to let us go anyway!" and then he would hug him anyway because, in the end, that''s family.


    "I''m very sorry to hear that, I would have gladly accepted you as my subordinate. If you ever change your mind..." Herr. Schlagg took a metal card out of his breast pocket and offered it to Adriano. "Just call me." Adriano accepted and took the card.


    On his way out Adriano thought about all those weird questions, if he were to take a guess, the job he was being offered was something akin to the one of a secret agent. "Was this how spies were recruited, in a public interview by sketchy individuals?"


    His mind kept wandering around, imagining scene straight out famous spy flicks with his as the protagonist, "I''m Meis, Adriano Meis.".


    In his mindlessness, he didn''t notice he had missed the elevators and gotten lost in the maze of the offices, after a few more minutes of walking around he timidly entered an office looking for directions. However, it was empty.


    What piqued his curiosity was that the layout was the same as Herr. Schlagg''s office, one desk, and two chairs.


    "Hey you!" he suddenly turned around, a man in business attire was calling him. "Did you just finish your interview?" he asked in an aggressive tone. "Yes, I-" before he could ask for directions he was grabbed by the hand, "come then, the others are waiting at the elevator."


    Shrugging mentally Adriano followed his savior to the elevators, a group of people was waiting impatiently in front of the elevator. The first to see him asked in an angry tone "What the hell took you so long?", Adriano could only scratch his head, "Sorry, I had gotten lost." he replied chuckling in embarrassment. At a second glance, he noticed that all of the presents were well built and with a dangerous air around them.


    ''wait, were they waiting for me, why?'' he thought.


    "How did you even get accepted with such a sense of direction?" another guy asked. He tried to refute "well, I wasn''t-" however, he was interrupted. "You guys will have time to lollygag later, " the guy who had dragged Adriano to the elevator handed everyone an odd metallic object. "Take it and don''t let go no matter what, they are waiting for you guys."


    After handing Adriano one of the objects, he then was shoved in the elevator, impressive enough it could fit all 16 of them. As the doors closed Adriano saw the guide giving a military salute to the people in the elevator. "thank you for your sacrifice." he said before the doors were shut entirely.


    A horrible doubt suddenly appeared in Adriano''s heart, he turned around and looked at the other people happily chatting. "Have all of you been hired?" he asked, in response, the people looked at him as if he was retarded. "of course, what else do you think we are doing here? all the rejected left five minutes earlier."


    ''oh ******! I need to get out as soon as I can!" as he tried to press the button to open the doors, the elevator went for a free fall.


    Gravity started working in reverse for a second and Adriano felt the lightest he had ever been, then his head hit the ceiling. Instinctively clenching his hands around the metal object Adriano Hoped everything was just a nightmare and that he wasn''t really going to die in an elevator full of wannabe spies.


    He closed his eyes and waited for death. One second, two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds, twenty seconds. ''How long is this elevator taking?'' he thought, then slightly opened his eyes.


    He was not in the elevator anymore; he was laying on a bed, his suit replaced by some kind of black overall with a lightning bolt symbol on his shoulder.


    Looking around her wondered whether he had died he found no answers. The room he was in seemed very simple, the bed, a desk with chair and what looked like a big glass case. There were no windows and only a metallic door in front of the bed.


    He slowly got up and cautiously approached the door. when he opened it and saw what was on the other side, he couldn''t help but mutter: "I''m definitely not in Kansas anymore."

 Chapter 2: Its A New Dawn

    In front of him stood a massive metal and glass structure. Its white color was giving it a neat and clean look as it stretched towards the sky like a falling cloud. Its oval shape reminding Adriano of the Burj al Arab in Dubai, on one side of the building a minimalist blue lightning pattern stood out like a scar against the unblemished white walls.


    Between Adriano and the structure stretched a giant green field crowded by hundreds of people. What actually made Adriano''s eyes pop out beside the fact that everyone wore the same outfit he did, (black skin suit from neck to feet.) was that amongst all the people, there were freacking mecha!


    Around 4 meters tall and giving off an elegant yet murderous air, even from afar Adriano could see a small diamond like fissure in the front where the cockpit was located. The arms on the right side was a standard four fingered cybernetic hand while the one on the left was a weapon. Each mecha had different weapon implants, some of them were the standard barrel like cannon implants, others reminded him of Tesla coils, and one even had a chainsaw.


    "BU!" suddenly a shrill sound exploded inside his head.


    "What the!" Startled, Adriano leaped forward and started looking around, however, no matter how he twisted and turned, no one was in his vicinity. "Heyo me, enjoying the scenery?" the voice appeared again, this time at an acceptable volume yet still unsettling coming from nowhere.


    "Who are you?" he asked still looking around.


    "I''m your conscience, I just passed by to tell you I''m very disappointed in your taste of porn." the voice took a severe and disappointed tone for a second.


    "Seriously, who are you and where are you speaking from?" Adriano uncomfortably replied.


    "I''m God; you died in an elevator crash, so I sent you to a different world to kill demons and fuck bitches." The voice sounded solemn, and yet Adriano could feel the bullshit leaking out of it.


    "Did you also give me cheat abilities?" he asked annoyed.


    "Of course, try punching that wall." the voice sounded sure of itself.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Why the heck would I punch a wall?"


    "That''s the way to activate your special powers." the voice replied in a stating-the-obvious attitude.


    "You gave me a special power that activated by punching walls? Am I the kool-aid man or wreck it Ralph? Just call me a bitch and pay me to fuck off." Adriano sighed and turned to watch the mecha again trying to ignore the voice.


    "Nah, enough bullshit. I''m state of the art AI living inside a computer built in your brain, denomination Yankee oscar uniform." the voice became robotic and cold all of a sudden.


    "Why does this sound like another bullshit?" The previous interactions with the voice made Adriano feel skeptical.


    "Hey, not kidding anymore, a hundred percent serious this time." the voice dropped the robotic voice and acted offended.


    "Let''s pretend I believe you, where does such an advanced AI come from and what the heck are you doing in my brain?" Adriano felt it was better just to ignore the voice, however, he was thirsty for answers.


    "You remember when you were in the elevator, and they dropped us? Well, the metal thingy you had in your hand was called a mental transponder, it copied the contents of your brain and shipped it to this base, then they built you a new body with a chip implanted in your brain, and loaded your mind. Also, I know this is a lot to take in all at once. However, I''m actually a copy of your mind digitalized and transformed in your friendly neighbor AI. Questions?" the voice became soft and asked in a gentle tone.


    "have I gone mad?" Adriano asked holding his head, not sure if he was talking to himself or the other himself living in his brain.


    "Not more than you... We already were."


    "Well, shove a pole in my ass and call me lollipop, but I actually believe you. What is wrong with me... us?" Adriano asked in a composed tone.


    "I might have been releasing certain chemicals in your brain to help you accept the situation." replied the AI with candor, as if there was nothing wrong with it.


    "So you have been drugging me?" Adriano felt exhausted after talking for himself; now he understood why people usually avoided him.


    "Yep."


    "When you admit it so candidly I don''t even know how to complain; besides, if you are me, you already know every argument I might use. Now I have three questions: first, how should I call you; second, where the heck are we; third, what happened to the original us." Adriano asked, his gaze lost in the distance.


    "You can call me Mew; I got it from uniting me and new. The second question will require a little bit to explain so let''s skip to the third. According to what the system tells me, the elevator crashed, and everybody died, our old body has already received a funeral. No one is waiting for us back home." The last part came out almost like a whisper, Adriano felt his eyes get watery. Then suddenly he felt a warm sensation spread in his body.


    "Are you drugging me again?" he sniffled. "Yes, should I stop?" asked Mew in a worried tone. "... No."

 Chapter 3: Its A New Day

    Minutes flew by as Adriano quietly stood still with his back against a wall. His mind replayed flashes of his childhood like a broken player; one moment he was a kid on his father''s shoulders petting a horse, the next he was already learning how to drive from his mother. He felt as if someone had robbed him of a piece of himself.


    The only thing holding back his tears or an angry reaction was the AI in his mind continually bartending chemical mixes for his brain. This too felt like he was being robbed of the rightful emotions he should have felt. However, he was scared of being unable to face the full brunt of his loss.


    Finally, in an attempt to sound composed, he asked Mew. "Why? why have I been kidnapped from my life and transferred in a new body with an IA in my brain?" His voice flatly stated his question, to another person he would sound calm and composed, however, Mew knew of the hatred festering quietly behind his voice. And how could he not? They were the same person!


    "Well, sit tight. here I start." After clearing his non-existent throat, Mew started narrating. "Once upon a time a group of enlighted scientists from earth managed to advance their knowledge and make space travel feasible. Mind you; this is literally the information I''ve, and it sounds like half-truths and bullshits as well.


    Leaving the earth behind they spread around the universe in peace and harmony, creating the E.T, Exterran technocracy or Exterranische Techokratie. Apparently, the official languages are English and German. Then yada yada yada, everyone was happy and had everything they wanted until the fire nation attacked, and with fire nation I mean aliens.


    Then, it says that even with more advanced technology the people were just too used to peace and thus unable to fight back. Billions died, dozens of planets burned, blablabla. So they looked back on their home planet filled with ''glorious heroes'', nice attempt at lip service, and well, you can guess the rest. They have been ''hiring'', which sounds to me more like borderline kidnapping, soldiers to defend humanity from the alien threat.


    The E.T has been at war with over thirteen alien empires for the past twenty-nine years. Somehow the influx of experienced soldiers has stabilized the situation of the conflict. Right now you are on the space station Mount Olympus, one of the nine pillars of human defense against the Alien threat.


    Mount Olympus is managed by one of the biggest armies of the entire E.T, the Folgore, represented by the lightning bolt on your shoulder and on the Mission center in front of you." Mew finally went silent leaving Adriano enough time to reflect.


    "Mew, so what you are saying is that I''m a soldier defending humanity from aliens?" Adriano said with an uncertain tone.


    "A little brief, but overall correct," replied Mew.


    "I see... How do I go back home?" Asked Adriano while getting up and dusting off his butt with a few pats.


    "Well, you can''t-" suddenly Mew got interrupted, after a moment his voice returned with a hint of worry. "You are not gonna like this. We have our first mission, and if we are not at the mission center in ten minutes, we can say bye bye to our head."


    Adriano took a horrified expression, "What do you mean we are going to lose our heads!?" he demanded in an angry tone. "speak now!"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "you know the computer in your brain where I reside?" Mew fidgeted his virtual hands while answering. "Well, there might be a bomb ready to execute both of us in case of betrayal."


    Adriano opened his jaw in shock, a motion he repeated so many times in the past hours. "You-" suddenly a bolt of electricity went through his spine interrupting his sentence.


    "Stop," Mew said in a forceful tone. "we have to go, now!" On the ground front of Adriano appeared a red path heading towards the mission control, hovering above it two holographic lines of text:


    Mission Control


    ETA: 00:04:32


    After another nudge by Mew, who threatened Adriano with impotence, he sprinted following the line. As he ran, he saw up close the other members of Folgore, the majority was white, but Asians, blacks and different kinds of people appeared too although less frequently. Everybody was running like him, and some of them were inhumanly fast. "Oh my god, Usain Bolt can only take off his hat to that Korean boy," said Adriano staring at an Asian looking boy running at three times the speed of the other people.


    "Of course he is," explained Mew patiently. "under that pretty jumpsuit he is either hiding an exoskeleton, genetic engineering or straight up cybernetic implants." then with a hint of yearning he added. "if we do a good job, then we will also be able to buy such things."


    "My dream of rocket punching people in the heart!" for a while, Adriano''s eyes sparkled in excitement, then they dimmed again. "But to get that I would have to obey some crazy American slash Nazi totalitarianism!" As he discussed with Mew about what was right, he eventually arrived at mission control.


    There was no visible door to the building, however stepping closer to the wall would cause the aforementioned to split open. The whole process amazed Adriano; the surface seemed made of tiny grains of sand possessing their own will. After Adriano stepped inside, another amazing scene presented to his eyes. The entire building was empty in the middle, balconies and balustrades spiraled around the walls towards the top. And for those too lazy to walk, hoovering platforms would dive down for those who needed them and work as elevators.


    "Ok, I received the briefing," spoke Mew unamazed by the building. "time to arm ourselves." Before Adriano could ask, a drone, summoned by Mew, whizzed by landing at their feet and then taking off the next moment leaving behind a case.


    Adriano touched the silver case, and it opened automatically. "Mew, what is this?" asked Adriano looking at the various objects inside the case.


    Using his AI powers, Mew highlighted in red a small canister. "this is biogel, spray it inside an injury to fix it until we get back to the base." Then the highlight shifted to an odd looking knife. "this is a progressive blade, imagine it like a miniature chainsaw, it should be able to stab and slice anything, almost better than chef tony''s series Z miracle blade."


    Adriano rolled his eyes and took the only familiar item he saw, a very ordinary looking machine gun. "that''s an m4 from the American army slightly modified to shoot high-density tungsten bullets." introduced Mew, "I know what you are going to ask, why use old earth''s weapons? Well, according to my information, producing highly advanced weapons cost exotic materials which are not readily available enough to be given to soldiers who haven''t proven themselves."


    Adriano felt like retorting, but he had no desire to start another battle which he could not win against himself. "now what?" he asked reluctantly.


    Suddenly a horn echoed in the building followed by a loud cheer. On the walls around him, shining blue circular portals opened, on the other side, he could hear the faint sound of screams and explosions coming from ruined buildings. A mecha suit he had seen before opened its front plates revealing a bald African American man standing up with his fist clenched and shouting: "For human Honor and Eart''s safety, TO WAR!"


    Raising his voice for the last two words, he riled up the people next to him that cheered him on. Then the mecha suit closed and sprinted in the closest portal, followed by thousand others.


    Mew''s voice appeared immediately after. "look, I don''t like this whole thing either, but if the pieces of information I have are half-true, then those aliens will undoubtedly target eart one day if not stopped, we might have lost everything on earth, but that doesn''t mean we can just let those fuckers burn down our planet.


    Adriano clenched his m4 and sighed. "guess you are right, let''s go give those ETs an encounter of the sixth kind."

 Chapter 4: Its A New Life

    Entering the portal, Adriano felt as if he the world under him had shifted, a retch climbed his throat unable to escape outside. After stabilizing he looked around and found himself in a different world altogether.


    The sky had turned entirely purple with billowing thick black smoke belching from the burning buildings and vehicles strewn across his view like toys of a capricious god. The air itself had turned fowl with a mixture of burning fat and charcoal assaulting his nose. He had already smelt something similar once, when a bully had used a lighter to burn off his mustache.


    The retch resurfaced and got free as Adriano realized the cause for that smell. In the plaza next to the portal dozens of people had turned to smoldering black statues still reaching towards him with their arms, as if they knew their salvation had just been at hand''s reach. In particular one of the corpses belonged to a thin figure shielding a smaller one in her arms, both of them disfigured beyond recognition. However, a small peluche still held in the little one''s hand survived the attack, many different emotions mixed within his heart seeing the little teddy bear hanging from its dead owner. The main one being wrath.


    The other members of Folgore barely stopped one moment, offering their respects to the dead before continuing. One guy beside him even slapped his shoulder, "Move!".


    He wanted to retort. However he understood why everybody was in a rush, the more they spent here, the more people would end the same. Reluctantly he looked away and followed his comrades towards the danger. As they ran, Adriano noticed many pale faces leering at them from the shadows of hollowed buildings.


    Mew''s voice chirped in his ears. "by the way. You wanna hear your briefing or not?" before waiting for a reply Mew simply started reading. "Experience your first battlefield and survive. Any civilian survivor safely brought back to a teleportal will add to your rewards." Adriano grimaced at the words chosen, "survive" as if living on was already at the limit of his capabilities. Looking around for civilians to save, a burning building caught his attention. Following with his eyes its plume of smoke, Adriano saw a tear-shaped purple aircraft heading straight to his little group.


    Apparently, somebody had noticed where he was looking, because suddenly a loud cry exploded next to him. "Wail!" someone pointed in the direction of the oddly shaped aircraft issuing an order. "Take cover!" Like ants being showered, almost everyone scampered off taking refuge inside the surrounding buildings. Some braver people aimed their weapons at the enemy letting off a storm of bullets, while others set up portable shields.


    Suddenly from the bottom of the wail, little-eggshaped objects appeared seemingly growing out of the metal before detaching and heading towards the ground at a dangerous speed. When the first egg touched the ground, it exploded with a powerful sonic blast. Any window or glassware which had survived until then suddenly vibrated before transforming in shrapnel bombs. The closest to the explosion even fell to the ground clenching their ears in pain and foam out of their mouths.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The aforementioned portable shields formed a 2-meter tall wall of pure blue light. Every deployed shield linked to the other quickly forming a line of defense. When the vibrations impacted the shelter, they created ripples on its perfect surface before disappearing. As the bullets didn''t manage to bring the wail down, one of the bulkiest soldiers started assembling a series of tubes he had been carrying on his back.


    As Adriano observed the man''s actions from the false safety of a devastated window a few meters back, he couldn''t identify the weapon in his hands, however, as the man was about to fire, the wail exploded in a purple inferno. Whizzing through the scraps, a way more human-like jet made its glorious appearance.


    "A longsword!" erupting in a cheer the soldiers waved their hands at the aircraft, unbeknownst to them, even the pilot was waving at them. The fire group from before started taking apart their little makeshift fortification as people came out of hiding.


    "Advance!" With another shout, the people obediently continued forward. Some smaller groups detached looking for achievements.


    "Achievements and honors are part of the reason why everybody is risking their life," explained Mew. "Any completed mission, order successfully carried out, and even enemy elimination will earn you honors, think of them as a currency. Instead, achievements are for great actions like taking down a wail only using a knife or saving a VIP, the more achievement you have, the higher your rank will be and the more items you''ll be authorized to buy with honors. As an example, the longsword you just saw require one to be a colonel, roughly equivalent to ninety achievements and to use up to a hundred thousand honors to buy."


    Adriano suddenly felt like following those detached groups, that was before realizing that great rewards require sacrifices. He wasn''t going to risk his life until he had a certain degree of confidence in not dying at the first danger. Suddenly the group halted, looking at the people in the front he noticed they were looking forward in horror, however, he couldn''t see anything.


    "Oh shit," Mew''s voice once again appeared startling Adriano. "The other AIs sent me a single line. Run, it''s an ambush." Adriano froze like the others, the surroundings dark windows and empty doors suddenly became ten times scarier. The situation of stasis lasted only for a moment more, then the bulky man carrying the tubes on his back exploded in a red mist, hit by something too fast to even register in Adriano''s eyes.


    Everybody broke off in a mad run while mysterious lights and bullets reaped their lives in various ways, from being nailed to the ground with giant crystal spikes to melting like ice cream left under the sun. Again, some tried to return fire, and while it was impossible to know whether they had managed to hit anything, it was sure that their defiance hadn''t passed unnoticed to the attackers, as they quickly became the focus of the fire.


    Using the chance bought by his comrades in blood, Adriano ran to a side alley disappearing in the shadows. His heart loudly beating in his chest like African drums. "What sort of nightmare have I landed in?!"

 Chapter 5: And im feeling...

    Sprinting for close to two miles, Adriano felt his lungs on fire, his body demanded him to rest, however, whenever he slowed down he felt as if someone was close to reaching him. Finally, his sprint abruptly ended as he stepped in a pothole, tripping and almost face-hugging the floor.


    "Ohh, floor-san, why must you hurt me this way?" he whispered slowly sitting up against a wall beside him. The pursuers he kept imagining failed to show up, and he was left all alone. Above him, a humongous Alien warship had appeared blotting out the sky. From its side, it churned smaller vessels one after one in swarms ready to pounce on the city.


    "That''s it, huh?" Adriano asked to himself, "It will be over like this? dying twice in less than twelve hours, and ultimately achieving nothing." If he had a cigarette, he would be smoking it right now, even though he had never smoked before in his life. But he doubted whether he would have any other chance in the future.


    He then stood silently listening to the mortal orchestra playing in the background: explosions for percussions, gunshots for trumpets and screams as choir. He imagined God as an invisible conductor enjoying the carnage while adjusting the trajectory of projectiles.


    However, a voice too close for his enjoyment ruined that cruel cacophonic show. An acute scream, coming from maybe two doors away, cried for help in desperation.


    Adriano seriously considered whether he should go, his legs hurt, the lungs were on fire, his eyes unfocused and every time he closed them, pictures of madness appeared in the darkness. He finally relaxed knowing it would be over soon. Nevertheless, the owner of the voice kept screaming her lungs out. Finally with a last "Mom!" she went quiet.


    But something else awakened.


    A single image replaced the pictures in Adriano''s eyes, a teddy bear dangling from a charred infant''s body held in its mother last embrace.


    Crashing through the door, Adriano saw a tentacled monstrosity holding a little girl by the neck, its flexible limb tightly coiled around her neck as her face turned shades of blue. Adriano reached for his rifle before remembering he had ditched it while running. Cursing himself, he took the progressive knife out of its sheath and charged at the white alien octopus.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    A red holographic dot appeared on its body, and Mew''s voice echoed in his ears, "That''s his central brain, pierce deep!" knowing the enemy weakness was an advantage he would not waste.


    The blade pierced right in the highlighted spots easily burrowing in the hard and springy flesh. "Die you fucking hentai monster, go fuck some 2-D loli to whence you came!" A shrill cry escaped its beak-like mouth as its body convulsed changing colors like a crazy chameleon. Throwing the little girl away, it turned around, the blade still embedded in his back, staring at Adriano with its only tennis ball sized eye releasing evident hate.


    Its tentacles wobbled weakly in the air, on the tip of each a metal bracelet which suddenly sprung in action revealing serrated rows of blades.


    "Shit." Adriano rolled back like a certain Dark soul character barely avoiding a lightning fast whip attack wooshing above his head. Missing Adriano''s neck the tentacle crashed in a wall where it left deep gashes, seeing the danger of those small blades Adriano gulped down in anxiety.


    With a roar like gurgling water, the squid charged forward spinning like a Beyblade, its eight tentacles slicing and dicing everything on their path. Adriano had two choices, flee right now and leave the girl to her destiny. Or fist-fight a deadly sharp fidget spinner.


    "Oh for fuck sake, I already died once today!" Adriano said before grabbing a near wooden chair and charging in the bladestorm. The first tentacle sliced in the chair making it explode in a shower of splinters. The second hit Adriano''s cheekbone slicing upwards and taking his right eye with it.


    "AAAARGHHHH" With a bloodcurdling scream, he ignored the pain and leaped forward, less than a meter away. The third tentacle, with a funny orbit, sliced his left leg at the knee. However it was too late, Adriano stabbed the splintered remains of the chair in the best chest, and then hugged its back.


    What seemed like a daring suicide move, actually hid Adriano''s strategy to reach for the progressive blade still in the beast and push it further deep inside. The alien didn''t stay idle either; it gently hugged back Adriano burrowing a few knives in his back.


    The result of the mortal hug resided on whether Adriano could reach his weapon before dying of blood loss. However he wasn''t scared anymore, he embraced his fear like an old friend. "Hey, squid..." Adriano said with a sweet tone. "You know I can see the future?" he asked with his fingertips brushed up against the progressive blade''s hilt. "and you know what I see?" he asked again feeling the hilt in his palm.


    "I see fried calamari for dinner!" He yelled like a madman reactivating the blade and pulling towards him.