I felt light-headed, I was about to pass out. My grandma was the main reason I am the man I am today. She showed me what a real family is like, and she is in the middle of a horde. I don't even know if she survived the earthquake. I calmed myself down and took ten deep breaths. Everyone looked at me with concerned expressions and asked if I was okay.
Amari: "Youngin'? What's the matter?"
Angelica: "Did you forget something important at your apartment?"
Henry: "Nah, it looks more serious than that; I know that look."
Nana was busy flirting with Amari. I stayed silent for a minute and decided to come up with a plan. First, I would call my grandma to confirm if she was alive. Then, I would go back and talk to the lieutenant to see how long it would take before the city was nuked.
Finally, I would unlock the full potential of the beast by activating the most advanced artificial intelligence to date, code name Socrates. It would help me come up with a plan regarding the monsters and rescue my grandma, Nizhoni. My mind was all over the place, my head far from clear, and I needed every form of help available. Good thing I decided to buy a military-grade armored truck designed for war as a precaution.
I told Amari to wait, and I proceeded to break the news to the crew. Long story short, everyone was not happy, especially Angelica.
Angelica: "Love, I understand how much grandma Nizhoni means to you, but I don't understand how it's possible for us to rescue her. We would have to cross paths with that old psycho, and if what Mister Amari said is true, the streets are swarming with monsters—way more than before. Please think this through one more time."
Henry: "Sorry, bro, but I have to agree with Angelica. Plus, we have too many unknown variables. When will the monster get summoned? When will the city get bombed? Will the military even allow you to cross the border? This is suicide."
Amari: "Youngin', just know I agree with everything that was said, but I want you to know I will go along with whatever you're planning. I will have your back no matter what."
I took a deep breath and digested everyone's opinions. Even if it pained me to say it, no lies had been told. But they hadn't listened to what I had to say yet; I couldn't wait to see their faces.
???: "Thank you, everyone; your insights were really helpful. First thing's first, I will call Nizhoni. If she's alive, then I will proceed with the plan."
Angelica got pretty frustrated with me, and so did Henry.
Angelica: "What even is the plan?! There's no way you will survive what's out there! If something happens to you, I will never forgive you."
She said with a high-pitched voice that was on the verge of breaking into tears.
Henry: "With all due respect, bro, if your plan didn't seem safe and reckless, I would personally stop you from going."
Henry was a skinny ginger nerd; he didn't have a single muscle in his body. He stopped going to the gym with me because he shat his pants while attempting to break his PR on the bench, and it was 50 pounds. His threat didn't mean anything to me at all, but it just showed how much he cared about me, and I was grateful for that.
I proceeded to call my grandma, praying that she answered back and was somehow safe. To my surprise, she answered back almost instantly.
Nizhoni: "Ya'at'eeh, who is this? I'm busy."
???: "YOU ARE ALIVE?"
Nizhoni: "Neito? (translation: grandson) Where are you? Are you okay, baby?"
???: "I'm more than fine. Where are you, and how are you talking to me?"
Nizhoni: "After the earthquake and the warning about the invasion, I went to the Marriot Marquis hotel. Where are you right now?"
???: "Can you get on the rooftops?"
Nizhoni: "I don't know, neito. I'm hiding in the kitchen storage. The building was full of people, but it got swarmed with all kinds of monsters."
So it's not possible for Amari to pick her up with the chopper? Shit.
???: "Wait for a little bit, Grandma. I will call you again when I'm near you."
Nizhoni: "Neito, I swear if you come near me, I will clobber you…"
I closed the call in the middle of her threat, and my mind became clear. She sounded awfully relaxed about her predicament, and hopefully wasn't injured.
I turned around and broke the news. Everyone was feeling rather conflicted about the situation; they were relieved for her safety, but that also meant I had to go get her. I knew what they were going to say next. They wanted to help me, obviously, but I couldn't allow that. My plan depended heavily on me alone and my AVX29.
???: "Amari, I want you to take Henry, Angie, and Nana Kelly as far away from here as possible and come back to me in two hours. I will call your number and tell you where you should pick me up later."
Amari: "Sounds like you have a plan, youngin'. Sure thing."
Henry, Angie, and Nana Kelly were shocked; they tried to protest.
Angelica: "And we don't have a say in this?! I will help you whether you like it or not."
I could see the veins under her skin popping; she was not happy at all. Henry unbuckled his seatbelt and was ready to fight me. I stopped both of them and said in a very serious tone.
???: "Listen, I don't have time to tell you the whole plan, but I want you to please trust me. I am NOT planning on dying just yet. My plan can only work if I go alone, so please, trust me. You should worry about yourselves. If anything goes wrong with my plan, I promise to put myself first."
Seeing my determination, they had no choice but to trust me, whether they liked it or not. We said our goodbyes, and before I exited the rooftop, everyone called me one last time.
Henry: "You better not die, bro. Good luck."
Angelica: "..."
Nana Kelly was flirting with Amari again. Angelica was silent. Amari gave me a nod of approval and said, "I will be waiting for your call." I waved them goodbye as they flew towards the evacuation point in New Jersey.
After they were far enough, I sprinted to the nearest lift and started recalling my plan in my head as I went down. The plan was pretty simple but dangerous at the same time. Doradoran and the sorcerer both knew each other, and both of them had said the same thing. They wanted me to join their empire; this was a huge advantage for me. I went to my AVX29 and refilled it with a special type of fuel called wonder fuel.
It's a fuel that was made to last a really long time, and is pretty recyclable. AVX29 can handle three cans of it, but most of the time, I only fill it with one can, and it usually lasts me 2,150 miles of driving per can. But this time, I wanted to unlock the full capabilities of this beast, which included Socrates artificial intelligence, an energy barrier that can deflect projectiles, an engine that can easily pull a whole tree, and finally, the most important one for this plan, adaptive camouflage.
I turned on the car and said, "Code name Socrates." It responded to me, "How can I help you, sir?" I spent ten minutes revising a plan, and at the same time, Socrates kept advising me on my approach. Finally, we came up with a sensible plan.
I opened the emergency safe in my truck and pulled out a single seven-pound gold bar just in case. I went to the lieutenant's room and asked him about when the bomb is going to be dropped, and for a permission to cross the border, here's how it went.
Lieutenant Dan: "Son, are you out of your mind? Do you honestly believe you could just get in and—" hands him a gold bar "You have my permission."
Thankfully, the scouts predicted the summoned monster will take about 8 hours, and the higher ups are planning to nuke the city along with him, seeing that the invaders stopped attacking and gathered in their camps, 2 birds with one stone as they say.
They were not sure if bombing the city before the monster is summoned is the right plan because magic is unpredictable, and surely, a monster summoned by primitive humans has no way of surviving a nuclear weapon.
I went across the border, and as expected, the streets were packed with all types of monsters. Some of them were hairy, some were tall, some were quadrupeds, and some were slitherers.
I asked Socrates to activate adaptive camouflage and try to guide us as safely as possible to the invader's camp. None of the monsters were aware of us, sometimes, we inevitably bumped into some of them, but they were too stupid to realize what happened.
After a painfully slow ride, I saw the camp. It was maybe a ten-minute walk away from the sorcerer. There were three commanders there, one of them was a human, another resembled a bipedal tiger, and the last one was a human with really long ears. Perhaps he was Doradoran's brother? I hoped not.
prologue finale next chapter