Non-threaded

Forums » Creative Corner » Read Thread

Take part in collaborative works, share your short stories, poems, original artwork and more.

Gods and Aliens

4 years ago
Commended by mizal on 3/5/2020 3:07:37 PM

Hello, so a while back I came across a writing prompt I believe was from Tumblr. The prompt essetinally was " The earth has been invaded by aliens. Humanity is out numbered, out gunned and out of hope. Then one day the old Gods return to save us." For some reason this prompt stuck in my mind so this is my attempt to finally do something about this. Enjoy.

 

  John nervously looked over his gear one last time. Some would say with the alien outpost just over this last ridge it was too late for such things. Normally those naysayers would be correct, however it was more of a calming ritual rather than a tactical choice. John took a deep breath and tried to steady his hands that were shaking nearly uncontrollably. He was so nervous he thought he heard a sound like distant hail impacting metal. John quickly discarded this blaming his nerves for him hearing things.

'Damn it, I'm supposed to be a farmer not some kind of freedom fighter' John thought with a touch of bitterness. Everything had been fine until about three months ago when they had suddenly appeared. No one knew what they were called, or even how to to communicate with them. There were two things widely accepted about their visitors. The first was that they were far better at war then the humans. The other known thing was more terrifying, for some reason they wanted the humans to go the way of the dinosaurs. Collateral damage was strangely kept as low as possible, but even with that the causality rate was severe. Lastest estimates had over thirty percent of humanity already killed.

Taking another deep breath John thought back to his goal one last time. On paper it was simple, deceptively so. John needed to cause as much chaos as possible. This was all in an attempt to buy enough time for the resiestince to complete their retreat.

He had volunteered for this misson without hesitation. The best case in John's mind is that not only does he do a good deed, he soon gets to be reunited with his dear Samantha. Nearly ten years of being happily together was ruined by these enigmatic bastards.

Closing his eyes John saw the same thing he always did, that last look of pure pain and hopelessness on Samantha's face as she begged him to survive. Then the bolt of energy flying in and turning his beloveds head into a gory explosion. Quickly opening his eyes John prepared himself for the task ahead. Ensuring the safety was off on his hunting rifle he started to stand before he heard a soft, melodic voice.

" My child, rest easy the camp is destroyed. You no longer need to go through with this while noble, ultimately useless plan." 

In a rush of adrenaline, John spun towards the voice and had his finger resting on the trigger of his weapon. Through the sights he saw a woman, where just a moment before there had been none. The moment he saw her for some strange reason John was overwhelmed by a sense of safety and comfort. The woman spoke once again.

"Relax child, as they say the calvery has arrived." Taking one step forward she came closer to John, while extending her hand out to help him up. The woman continued to speak in a calming tone of voice.

"I have been called many things over the years, but you may know me as Mother Nature, but you can call me Nat." 

After taking a moment to readjust John realized something and spoke in a frenzied whisper.

"Lady there is a whole camp of those bastards no more than three hundred feet from here,  you need to get to safety right now." 

With a light a light chuckle Nat replied, "I thought I already told you that the situation is already taken care of. If you do not believe me just take a look." 

Something in the woman's voice convinced him to at least look. Peering over the final ridge John saw the camp. Or at least what remained of it. The site was now impaled by hundreds upon hundreds of razor sharp ice shards. The largest of these was easily twenty feet in length. What really made John nervous was the fact it was late July. It was much too hot for even an ice cube let alone an iceberg worth of frozen death. 

With panic dawning once again he slowly looked at the woman, who with that same calming smile began to speak again.

"As I said I am Mother Nature and we have came to help you humans out."

John caught something that piqued his interest, so despite his blooming fear he asked a simple question.

"You said 'we' what do you mean by that?"

In response John received a slight chuckle before Nat spoke again "While some are doing this simply to protect their territory, most of us old Gods are doing it to protect that which we hold dear. But I have a feeling showing is better that telling so here." 

With a wave of Nat's hand a small screen seemed to ripple into form in front of John. The scene showed a lone woman with long black hair holding a demonic looking spear with her back to the 'camera'. Over her shoulder John could see dozens of aliens weaving through a deep forest heading towards her.

The woman lifted the spear into a ready postion then roared out a challenge towards the incoming hoard.

"Rejoice for you now face the queen of the land of Shadows, I Scathach will be your opponent!" With this she launched herself towards the incoming threat becoming a whirlwind of death and destruction. One after another the invaders fell by her hand in a vicious one sided decimation. Soon she stood alone among a pile of vanquished foes and John could hear her speaking under her breath. "These fools dare threaten humanity? I will show them a real monster that has surpassed death itself."

As quickly as it had appeared the scene shifted to a stunning view of a valley where a single man in Spartan armor patiently waited as what appeared to be a large force of ground troops headed his way. 

After watching for a couple of moments the man shifted effortlessly into a well practiced combat stance. Before he could do anything a second voice cut in drawing his attention.

"Ares, leave this to me you are needed elsewhere." The now identified Ares looked like he wanted to agure but after a moment he gave an ever so slight nod before disappearing. The screen could now see a woman slowly walking forward. The only impression John could get from this woman was 'motherly.' 

The woman stopped, the enemy now arranged before her obviously outnumbering her several thousand to one.

Seemingly unfazed, she spoke in a tone that reminded John of when he used to get scolded by his mom.

"My name is Hestia, I have domain of hearth and home and you vile interlopers threaten both. My flame has burned for thousands of years, and while there may eventually come a day it fades today is not that day!" 

In the next moment there was a flash of light so bright John had to avert his eyes. When he looked the only thing that remained of the intimidating strike was as a smoking and chared field devoid of any life.

The screen faded fron existence before Nat spoke once again. "Scenes like this are happening all over, as me and my brethren show that us apex predators won't just lie down for an invasive species."

John felt tears welling up in his eyes as one more simple question rose to the front of his weary mind.

"Why now? Why not day one, what took the Gods so long to answer our prayers for salvation?"

John received a sympathetic look from Nat before she once again spoke.

"The veil between the divine and mortal realms have always been hard to traverse through, but in the last five hundred years or so it has become much harder as the mysteriousnes of the world around you humans have dwindled. Fortunately harder does not mean impossible, it took more time than many of us would like but we have arrived now. Since i am here now child, rest. You have earned it. Rest and let those who have watched over humanity since the beginning raise their spears in it's defense one more time."

As Nat finished she waved her hand towards John who immediately began to feel a wave of drowsiness.

With the last of his awarenes John had time for one final thought.

'Maybe just maybe im going to have to reschedule our meeting Samantha.' And with that John slipped into a peaceful sleep for the first time in what felt like ages.

Nat looked down on the sleeping form of John before she turned and started to walk off before she got too far however she stopped and spoke out loud to herself .

" While this has been a nice diverson there is work still left to be done." And with that she disappeared into a warm summer breeze leaving the broken camp and the man who would rebuild behind.

 

 

Gods and Aliens

4 years ago
Completely failed to notice this thread before. It's a good prompt and this would be an interesting thing to turn into a longer story. Although I'm not sure of the need for John as a POV character the way this is presented, he's not really required to do anything here. It might've been more interesting reading the various scenes of divine asskicking going on as direct action scenes without being filtered through another character just viewing it passively on a screen.

Gods and Aliens

4 years ago

I tried to use John to help make the scenes feel bigger. The thought was he's ready to die in vain then gets shown that the gods handle this easily. So in theory he was more for framing then productivity.