They Came From Between

The silver/blue of noctilucent clouds drift around me, jagged and sharp against the black void of space. Cold plasma lighting, deep bloody violet flickers across my vision. Crystals of ice form around my fingertips, glittering in bizarre colors with the alien light of radar and gamma waves.

I am fifty three miles up, floating in the mesosphere. It is the coldest place on earth, at negative one hundred and seventy degrees kalven. It is beautiful. Stark and harsh, the sky split between the blue of the earth and the black of space.

My eyes close and I focus on the warmth of cosmic rays, on the interplay of my electromagnetic field and earths. Magnetic north and south wash over me, along with.. other magnetic north and south? What!?

My eyes snap open in a nanosecond, scanning the sky for a second planet. Nothing. Whew, one bullet dodged. Now the sky for electrical nanites. Free and clear. The earth..

There. Germany, east Berlin. A portal to another realm is letting in the electromagnetic field of another planet. A ugly rend in reality, twisting the fabric of the universe. So unnatural it is hard for me too look at.

Figures pore forth, tall and thin, pale with cruel smiles and hard eyes. Laughing they sprint into the city with energy whips and nets. Making sport of the old, slow or feeble with jagged knives and poisoned shard rifles, and ensnaring the young and healthy.

Furry rises in me. Those are my people. MINE. From their collective minds I was born. And these outsiders think they can just steal them away, and kill them for sport?

Think again.

I tear down from the heavens at thirty thousand feet per second. The wave of pressure builds against my eyes as the sound barrier is shattered. Burning with the heat of re-entry, I laugh in excitement as my form is sheathed in blazing orange.

A Mach cone spreads behind me, blossoming out around the train of fire. The air begins to experience ionization and dissociation on the molecular level. The radar waves of air defense systems wash over me, but I am too fast and small to register.

Below me I witness sadism simply for the joy of it. Cruelty and torture, kidnapping and sadistic murders assail my eyes. Energy whips burn flesh and sends mortals into agonized convulsions. Tiny slivers poison those brave few who fight back, their flesh rotting and decaying in moments. Knives carve at the fearful, slicing, cutting and piercing innocents.

No one should have so little respect for those whose thoughts gave life to me. There concepts and ideas created me and they were not to be used as toys. They were not to be enslaved, or tortured. They were to build their own fate, their own way.

But also this place is my home, my realm. It is my Olympus, my Asgard, my divine palace. This planet is mine, and they are invaders killing my people for their sick games.

Anger rises within me, as hot as the nuclear fire that I was born in. Thermonuclear fury fills my heart.

I let it out though my eyes in the form of microwave lasers. My head twitches from side to side as invisible death pulses from my eyes. Fifty seven aliens roast inside their suits, boiled alive in a second. Their eyes burst, hair melting and running down their thin faces.

And then I am among them.

One raises a knife and leaps at me, her teeth bared in an insane grin, eyes wide with the madness of slaughter. I backhand her head off. Her decapitated corpse sails by me to flop across the ground.

Twitching forward, crossing a block inside an instant, to punch my fist though the skull of another invader, a second one slung into a building with enough force to pulp every bone in his body.

Filthy little scum, I slaughter them without mercy or regard. They burn to death; they are ripped apart like tissue paper, or smote into the dirt with enough force to upend a train. They have killed my people for their sport, and I will drown my wrath in their blood.

But there were so many, and I could see the electromagnetic waves of their communications summoning aid. Hundreds of alien heartbeats were converging on me, bizarre weapons in their hands and hate in their hearts. For once I had the advantage of surprise, but it was already gone and they were beginning to coordinate against me. Soon they would engage me with the full weight of their numbers.

Good. Despite their technology, skill and lust for murder I was still a Goddess. There was no fear in me for these little creatures, only contempt. The more that of them that came to attack me, the more of them I would kill.

There is a god here. The gravity of the divine pulls at my blood, and I feel the weight of inhuman power on my bones. Focusing on my hearing, the sounds of battle fill my ears. Screams and shouts of rage and pain. I go deeper, and hear the clatter of weapons, deeper still to hear the brush of limbs against garments. I listen deeper yet, to the groan of muscles drawing tight against bone, and the sound of heartbeats.

There. One heart was larger than the rest, a deeper thud. It beat with the strength of a heart that powers a superhuman warrior. Not just a superhuman, one who is as much above a most supers as a super is above a mortal. This was the heart of a god, I was sure of it.

But I heard other things, things that required my attention now. The sounds of disciplined voices barking commands, and the quiet patter of the creature’s feet also fill my ears. They were organized now and coming for me. Seeking more information I looked though the buildings, every tiny particle in the electromagnetic spectrum feeding my eyes.

All the creatures in a couple blocks were dead for I had ripped the bloody heart from their attack. But now they were bringing re-enforcements from that horrible rend in reality.

I see a tall and thin woman, with a jagged pattern in war paint drawn across her face. She was followed by a group of shorter women with the same war paint. By the difference in her appearance and manner, as well as the way the others reacted to her I could tell she was some kind of leader, or elite warrior. And likely her group was deadly as well.

There were also several groups of males who were bearing strange and heavy rifles, their weapons shinning oddly in my eyes. Their cores burned with the strange radiation I sometimes saw around black holes, the faint light that surrounds the void.

They were clearly the heavy hitters. It was best to avoid the painted women and the heavy weapons for now. By this time they had a good idea of my location, and were attacking me in force. A fight on their terms is not what I wanted.

If a friend another divine figure would be of great aid to me, and if a foe a god was something I needed to deal with swiftly. Move to this god, with any luck he or she will be on my team. Together we should be able to deal with the invasion, and close the rift in reality. If against me an alien invasion is the least of my troubles.

Turning back toward the divine heartbeat I zoom though the streets filled with alien bodies. Looking ahead in all spectrums I could see the several parties of slavers. With their glowing energy nets they were capturing those who they deemed fit, and slaughtering the rest. Gritting my teeth, I snarl.

Not only were they killing and capturing more of my people, but now I was forced to decide between helping them and the tactically wise option.

If I took the time to fly to each group, kill the alien slavers and free the prisoners from the energy nets then the strange riflemen and painted warriors would have time to catch up with me before I found the god.

But if I went directly to the god, then more of my people would die. Not far away, separated by time and distance, but right here. I would hear their screams of pain, and their voices crying out for mercy. The silence after their heartbeats stopped. The wailing of fear and grief from the survivors..

No, sound tactics would have to take a backseat on this one. My people needed me. I couldn’t let them down.

Cape snapping and cracking in the wind I sail down the streets at speeds just under Mach one. My frustration rising, for the laws of physics were my enemy now.

The location kept me pinned under the speed of sound. A sonic boom here in a populated area would send millions of razor sharp shards of glass flying. It would collapse the lungs of those who were to close, or unlucky. There would be hundreds of concussions, and thousands of cases of minor brain damage. Some from heart attack.

In cities I had to always be careful with my own powers. Too many watts in my laser vision and the oxygen in the atmosphere would catch on fire. Smash though too many buildings and I would break gas lines (boom). Sonic screams would burst blood vessels, shatter glass, and cause heart attacks. My electromagnetic field could stop pacemakers, and burn out the equipment of emergency services.

Too much power and I would kill more than I would save.

It was frustrating; I could fly fast enough, fight hard enough and just save everyone. If only the rules of reality didn’t stop me. No one needed to die if Newton would just get out of the way. Sometimes I wanted to just WILL reality to change, but that was pointless. Some things were beyond even me.

Ahead an alien stood over a couple, a jagged blade rose over his head. Poisoned chemicals glinting on the blade like an evil rainbow. I took my frustrations out on him, crossing the block in the blink of an eye and grabbing his wrist. He turned to look at me and as I met his yellow eyes I ripped his arm from the socket.

It made a wet horrible pop, tendons tearing and flesh ripping. He started to scream like a child but I had no time to waste with him.

Dropping the arm to the street I clap my hands on his head. It explodes like a gore filled balloon.

The couple is holding onto each other and screaming. I understood. There was nothing about this kind of violence that was good, and if I had my way they would never have to see any of it.

In moments I was at the next slaver. He burned. His companion I left with a gaping hole where is heart should be. The next group I simply bashed to death as I flew between them, leaving their shatter skulls to leak fluids against the cold pavement.

Some managed to fire at me, but their tiny poisoned darts did nothing but bounce from my skin. The few who managed to turn a knife on me died before realizing their knives had broken.

My hands were drenched in blood, covered in gore to my elbows. Sometimes I wondered what other kinds of life were like. This wasn’t strange to me; going to the movies was strange. Standing in line was strange. Credit cards and traffic laws were strange. Slaughtering threats to my people was normal.

But I was almost done here just a few more stragglers ahead, and then I could seek out the divine heart to put this invasion to rest.

A family cornered by a trio of the sadistic creatures, their rifles readied. Pushing myself up close to the speed of sound I race to them. Just a few dozen little yards and they were safe.

Something hit me from the left, something bright and painful. It wrapped around me, sending spikes of pure agony though me. Slamming into the ground and digging a trench several feet long in the pavement, screaming in pain. Their energy net had me.

An ambush, but I had no time for that.

Projectiles flew from the rifles, poisoned darts that I had to stop. The pain as bright as the sun rushed though me, scalding every nerve in my body. Too bad girl, deal with it or people die. Gritting my teeth my eyes focused, little laser pulses flying from my eyes to incinerate the poisoned ammo. One hundred, two hundred almo-

An energy whip wrapped around my neck and made the pain of the net feel like a cool summer breeze. My focus lost, I was in so much pain I could not even scream. White hot, blinding agony that made my belly clench and bile rise in my throat.

The family died. Struck by dozens of the needles, flesh turning black and rotting, faces twisted into agonized expressions as the meat sloshed from their bones.

Now I screamed. It was a roar of pure, unfiltered rage. A shockwave slapped the aliens away from me like the invisible hand of god, and I ripped the net and whip from me.

They would all die.

Terrible wrath filled me. It burned like molten lava inside my veins. The air against my eyes burned away into golden plasma as that nuclear fire boiled within them. The sound of my heartbeat was audible, a low and dark thud-thud-thud. I was a horrible and vengeful goddess, and only blood could sate me.

The gunmen died swiftly, brain stems burned to ash before they even knew I was free. Of the ambushers all were burned to death before they could rise from the ground.

Only one was left, the woman who led them. I recognized her as one from the portal, one of the reinforcements. She was tall, with the cruel glowing whip in her right hand, and bright energy net in her left. The deaths of her allies didn’t faze her; she laughed and advanced toward me. She was confident and graceful. Reaching me she smirked, and quick as a viper flicked the whip toward me.

I wanted to punish her, to make her pay the price for everything that she had done. But.. would it even matter now? The dead were dead and no amount of violence could bring them back. They would be dead no matter what I did to this alien woman.

Would it lower me? Would I become more like them if I partook in their brand of cruelty? Wrath was no excuse for anything; a crime was a crime regardless of one’s mental state.

At the same time perhaps it would be good to make an example. I would use her as a demonstration, a display of why my people were not to be used for sport. There were consequences for every action and she could serve as a reminder.

Plus the dead needed justice. They need retribution. They needed revenge. Yes. An example, and revenge for the fallen.

That bright whip of pain was inches away now, coming toward me at close to the speed of sound. Might as well have been a snail for all the ease I moved around it.

I drive my fingers though the woman’s cruel smirk, her teeth shattering and, locking my hand down around her jaw. My thumb punched though the underside of her mouth to touch my fingers. I ripped her jaw off. Her tongue flopped out of her throat, and upper teeth gleamed obscenely in the light. Bright blood begins to spurt in what seemed slow motion to me.

I was gone before the pain touched her.

While justice might not have been served, vengeance was. It would have to do I had other things to deal with now. Hearing her gurgling wail in my wake I feel a touch of satisfaction.

Zipping through the streets I seek the heartbeat. There it is, surrounded by nearly three hundred alien hearts.

There setting on the steps of a fire escape.

A woman and she was beautiful and tall. In fact she was very tall, almost a head taller than me had she been standing. Dressed in the leather, metal and furs of a barbarian. She holds a massive hammer with the ease a mortal might wield a pencil. This woman was a warrior, a fighter. Perhaps she was a goddess from an older time.

Standing so close now I can feel the focusing of metaphysical gravity that always comes in the presence of other gods. Our power weighs at reality, twists and warps it.

She bore scars and tattoos, and had a calm wisdom in her eyes. I liked her instinctively, she was uncomplicated yet intelligent. A woman who was strong as well as lovely, proud without being arrogant. It was a gravity that drew me in, a magnetism that attracted rather than repelled.

Starting to smile, to express my inner warmth and pleasure at meeting her something catches my eye. Aliens, that band I heard around her. There were still here and they were not attacking her. In fact they seemed to be with her.

What was this? Had I been so distracted by her appearance that I failed to notice these aliens seemed to be her allies? With growing horror I realized she must have been the one who opened the portal. These aliens must be her allies.

I feel betrayed. Disappointed and wounded beyond reason. This woman I liked intuitively and I have always trusted instincts. It felt almost like I was losing a friend. Perhaps I was, for I felt a connection with this woman but how could I ever be close with someone who enjoys such sport?

But I also felt dread. She had to be stopped, for the sake of everyone in this city. While I had no fear of her I knew that to battle here would destroy the city. Thousands if not tens of thousands would die every hour. Everyone I had saved here would be killed in the collateral damage of our clash.

And what if she opened more portals? Then even more would die while I fought her. It would be an horrific bloodbath.

There was only once chance to spare the city that destruction and it was to knock her out of orbit quickly. In vacuum I would not have to hold back, and we would be far and away from populated areas. It was my best chance to save lives, and besides space was my home turf.

I clenched my fist. The blow would have to come at .11c, and be hard enough to shatter a continent. Hundreds if not thousands would die in the shockwave but it was the only way.

A deep sadness filled me. Such hopes I held that I might have met a peer, a friend. Besides all the deaths our clash would cause I was sad for me. It’s a selfish thing I knew; after all I would not be dying in the shockwave of beings I couldn’t even understand. I felt guilty for even having such thoughts, but the truth was I was lonely for a friendship with the other gods. None of them had visited me as a child, or ever sought me out as an adult and I always wished to meet one on good terms.

I would give this woman one chance. Prove my logic wrong, and my instincts right. Please.

‘I am Lady Liberty. Why have you opened these portals and summoned these creatures?’

Standing in silence listening to the mighty and beautiful woman’s words I realize I have not taken all the facts into account. I had leaped to judgment before taking the time to fully examine the situation. The heat of battle and my anger had blinded me.

The green orb floats before my eyes and I take a moment to observe it. The strange radiations of magical energies at work emit from it, but it also has physical properties that would allow it to bind itself to a nervous system. Very interesting. Magic was rarely just magic; it was often combined with technology in my experience.

No matter how advanced or primitive. Excalibur was magical, but it was also a sword. It was the same with this woman’s hammer. Clearly it was magical, but it was also a hammer. Perhaps people did not think of such things as technology but there was a time they were the peak of humanities metal working and weaponry. They were once the greatest weapons of their age. This fog was probably the same blend of physical properties and magical effects.

I should have considered mind control. Now that I think back their body language did not display the same ruthless lust for sadism I had witnessed in the others. Had I paid more attention I would have seen the energy of this green fog inside their bodies. It was a foolish mistake and one that could have easily cost lives.

Relief rushes though me, so thick I can feel it in my blood. Thousands of lives were just saved; we will not be forced to battle in this place. Human deaths weigh upon me; they are repulsive to my being. When I can spare them I do so.

But I also feel embarrassed. This was a foolish mistake and it could have cost the world dearly. I mentally berate myself. Stupid girl, focus harder next time. People can’t afford a mistake from you, the stakes are to high. You were too slow and not efficient enough and that entire family died for your failure. FOCUS.

Flicking my eyes back to this Brynhyld I take a second look. Again her height and beauty strike me, as does the contrast between her clearly primitive dress and the sharp glint of intelligence in her eyes. There is a rare calm strength, and plain nobility about her. Her body is both muscled and lovely, managing to contrast and compliment simultaneously.

The hammer is also interesting to me, and I wonder if this is the same woman Impero had told me of. Her name shares the Germanic feel of an Asguardian, and her appearance is that of one who dwelled in the world before Roman civilization had spread across Europe.

The tall auburn haired woman sets aside her hammer and offers me her hand. With a warm smile I accept, meeting her eyes respectfully. The hope that this is the beginning of a friendship rises in me.

‘Brynhyld Troll-Breaker, daughter of Odin I have misjudged you in haste. I apologize to you, and hope you’ll forgive me.’