The Day the Elves Came
by Tyler R. Lee
I remember the day the elves came. The day those bastards walked right
out of a twisted Tolkien novel and threw our world into chaos. I
remember the day everything fell apart. The beginning of the end of
humans dominating the planet. That day...four years ago.
It may sound cliche, but, honestly, it seemed like every other day. It
was late fall. I was in my junior year at university. It was late in
the semester, and my buddy Adam and I were talking about how much we
were looking forward to Christmas break, and how much we were looking
forward to our double date that night with my girlfriend, Jenny, and
his girl...April...yeah, I think that was her name. God, it seems like
a lifetime ago. It was a different life, for sure.
I remember it being a bit cold that day. Colder than usual in this part
of the country at that time of year. I remember the leaves getting
blown all over the yards and lots and through the streets as we walked
back to our apartment after our last class before the three week break,
surrounded by other college students doing the same, by citizens going
about their business, by cars passing us on the streets. Adam and I
were just chatting, joking, planning. Hell, it was just out of shear
luck that I happened to look over in the direction of the military base
a couple miles outside of our little college town and noticed the smoke
rising into the sky. Even then, we never saw it coming. We wrote it off
as some kind of military exercise or something. We didn’t know shit
about the military. He was studying business and graphic design, and I
was working towards a career in engineering. How could we have known it
had already begun?
It was mere heartbeats after noticing the smoke that our whole world
fell apart. Like something from the worst corners of science fiction,
they stepped out of dozens of swirling masses of blue and purple right
onto our small streets, into our neighborhoods, into our homes. They
were tall and lanky, with sallow looking skin tones that could have
resembled humans under less alien circumstances. Funny enough, for
quite a while, that was the conclusion most people came to: aliens. It
certainly seemed that way. They were lightly armored in white and blue,
with gauntlets, boots, breastplates, faulds, and a helmet that looked
to have two horns protruding from the sides. A weird mixture of a
medieval knight and a space marine. In there hands, gripped by their
wickedly long fingers were what looked like crossbows or long, metallic
staves that matched their armor..
I remember there being a brief moment or two of utter shock. It was
completely silent. I think the wind even stopped for those few
heartbeats. I mean, what were we all supposed to think? It didn’t
matter. There was nothing we could have done. Not with what they
brought, which we all saw and felt in the next moments. When time
started again, the ones with the staves held them out in front of them,
vertically, then pulled back with their free hand, like pulling the
string on a bow back where there was no string. However, when they
pulled back, a bolt of shimmering blue appeared, shaped like an arrow.
Then, dozens of blue shimmering bolts were loosed on the still shocked
groups of onlookers.
It only took a single volley for us all to panic and run for our lives.
We only had to see the ground errupt where the arrows hit to know they
were powerful. We only had to see the cars explode that were struck to
know that they were more than they seemed. We only had to look to the
unfortunate people who were struck, their dead eyes forever frozen in
terror, cauterized holes in their body or where pieces of their body
had once been to know that these invaders were out for our blood.
Honestly, I don’t remember much about what happened over the next few
minutes. It’s all a blur. That tends to happen in times of panic where
everything seems to be happening all at once. I remember explosions. I
remember dust, dirt, grass, and other debris getting thrown into the
air. I remember Adam and myself pushing each other to go, running as
fast as we could back to our apartment, watching people fall to those
deadly bolts of blue energy. People we knew, people we never would
know. It was so loud, with all the explosions and the screams. God, the
screams. I can still hear them in the dark, still dream about it almost
every night.
Anyway, Adam and I somehow made it back to our apartment. We nearly
tripped all the way up the stairs to our second floor home, panic
undoubtedly painted on our faces. We slammed the door, locked it, and
pushed one of our two couches up against it. Then, we both fell down,
breathing heavily, trying to talk to each other, but mostly just
muttering or sobbing incoherently. Things like, “what the hell was
that,” or “who the hell are they?” Adam was the first to ask, “where
those aliens?” I just shook my head. I didn’t know who or what they
hell they were, but from what I had seen, they fit that description.
The next few minutes went by really fast. After we finished muttering
and trying to figure out just what the hell was happening, we argued
about what we should do. Adam wanted to pack up and make a run for it.
“Gotta get out of town,” he had said. “We head into the city and tell
the authorities.” I was skeptical. I was sure that going anywhere out
in the open, especially after seeing what had just gone down, would end
with us having our heads roasted by their magical bows and arrows. We
wasted a good amount of time arguing before Adam headed to his room to
grab a few essentials before he headed out. I saw that I wasn’t going
to talk him out of going, so I decided we would be better as two than
out there or in here alone.
However, before we could stuff anything into a duffle bag, we heard the
banging on our front door. We both panicked, not having the faintest
idea of what to do. It was an apartment on the second floor. It wasn’t
like we had a back door or anything. We ran into the living room to try
and formulate a plan from our panic. You don’t have the clearest head
in those situations. We decided to push up against the couch, make it
harder for them to get in. It worked...for a moment.
From outside, in between the violent knocking, we heard them speaking,
yelling at us in some language we had never heard before. It was
melodic, almost pleasant, if not for the violent and hateful manner it
was being directed at us in. Whoever they were, it was clear that they
held no love for us. When we didn’t respond, they started trying to
break open the door. After a few attempts, the door actually pushed
open a bit from the impact. Adam and I quickly shoved the couch back
into the door, shutting it. But, again, they forced it open. We
continued to hold them out, pushing the couch with everything we had,
yelling at them to stop, to go away, yelling at each other to “just
keep pushing!” I don’t know about Adam, but everytime the door came
open a bit, and I saw a gauntleted hand come through and try to force
the door further open, my mind kept racing back to the slaughter we had
seen earlier. I saw the people falling, death etched on their face if
they hadn’t had their heads blown off. I was terrified that was going
to happen to us. So, I kept pushing. Through tear filled eyes, I kept
pushing. But, it wasn’t enough.
After what seemed like hours of holding them back, but what couldn’t
have been more than a minute or two, they finally worked their way in
between the door and the doorway, forcing it open as they cried out in
their alien language. I bolted away from the couch and grabbed Adam,
hoping he would come with me, but he just froze as they aggressively
pushed past the door and couch. I don’t really know where I thought I
was going, but I turned right and headed into the kitchen. I made for
the silverware drawer, hoping to grab a knife or two, but one of them
was already behind me, grabbing me and pulling me backwards. I anchored
myself to the nearest thing I could, the stove, and held on, but these
things were much stronger than they appeared, and he ripped me from it
as I pulled the stove from the wall and heard the gas line break as the
gas began whistling its way out.
My captor dragged me into the living room, where I saw three more of
them, one of which had Adam, who, like me, was looking terrified. Adam
tried begging. Why wouldn’t he? What else were we going to do in this
situation? They were armed, they were stronger and faster than us.
Hell, we didn’t even know what they were. They said something to Adam
in their tongue that must have been something along the lines of “shut
up,” because when he didn’t, one of them took their crossbow and belted
him across the face with it.
I can’t explain why I did what I did next. You know how some war
veterans will talk about doing crazy things when they see their buddies
or their team in danger. Well, I guess that can happen to anyone. When
I saw one of them hit Adam, and then kick him a few times while he was
on the ground, I forgot I was afraid. All I wanted to do was kick that
particular invader’s ass. I felt the one behind me step closer, urging
me forward, and I jumped at the opportunity. I threw my head back hard,
slamming into his. I felt an explosion on the back of my head as part
of it made contact with the helmet he was wearing, but he still fell
backwards, shocked and hurt at the same time, I assume. Then, I bolted
for the one hurting my friend. I tackled him to the ground with all the
force I could muster, and we tumbled through the sliding glass door
onto the balcony.
I heard the glass shatter as we went through, heard the others start
yelling in their language as I attempted to roll onto my opponent and
pummel him with my fists. It worked for a couple of hits, but then he
used his superior fighting skills to roll me off of him. We both stood
at the same time, and I saw the others go for their crossbows. Thinking
faster than I ever had, I grabbed the one I had tackled by the armor
and jerked him around in front of me so as not to take a shimmering
bolt to the gut or head.
I don’t remember much about what happened next, but I’ll do my best
with what I do. Apparently, the gas linking from when the stove was
pulled from the wall ended up going unnoticed by these guys. Maybe they
don’t use gas. Maybe they had no idea that when they fired their bolts,
the energy, or magic, or whatever lightsaber tech was running through
would ignite the gas and cause an explosion throughout the apartment.
But, that’s exactly what it did. The only thing I remember next was
seeing flames, then the guy I was holding in front of me slamming into
me with what I imagine was the force of a semi truck cruising down the
highway.
The next thing I remember was opening my eyes and seeing smoke mixing
with the blue sky above me. There was a loud ringing in my ears, so I
couldn’t hear a thing, and my body ached with sharp pains when I tried
to move. After I don’t know how long, I willed myself to turn my head,
and I saw flames raging from what I assumed was our apartment, as well
as the one next to ours, and the one below. I still couldn’t hear the
flames, but I let my eyes fall to the ground where I saw five scorched
bodies littering the ground around me, flames dancing from the bodies
to the grass. The four things that had busted in to our apartment, and
Adam. I layed back down on the grass, still in pain, still not hearing,
and felt tears fall down the sides of my face. I didn’t need to go over
to him to know that Adam’s charred and mangled body had no life left in
it. I tried to take solace in the fact that the other four bastards
were dead as well, but it didn’t help.
I think I blacked out again. I’m not sure for how long, but when I woke
up, I was still on the ground outside the burning apartment. The
ringing had stopped, but my body still ached. As I looked up, I saw
that a few more of those creatures had found me. They were examining
the bodies of their falling comrades, looking from them, to me, then
back to them. When they saw I was awake, they didn’t pay me any mind. I
assumed from the looks of me, they knew I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Well, aren’t you lucky?” I heard a voice say. It was melodic and
pleasant, like the voices of the creatures, but it spoke English. I
jerked my head in the direction of the voice, and had to cringe to keep
from crying out in pain. The explosion, the fall, had really done a
number on me.
“Oh, you may want to take it easy for a bit,” the voice said in a
clearly mocking tone. “We don’t want you to die of your injuries before
we can ask you questions, put you to work and what not.”
“Who are you?” I asked through gritted teeth, partially from pain,
partially from rage. “Who are all of you? Why are you doing this?”
“Who are we?” he mocked. I didn’t have to look at him to know he was
smiling. “Why, you know who we are. You’ve no doubt read about us. In
your fantasy books, your stories, your fairytales.” As he said this, he
walked over to me and crouched down so I could plainly see him. Then,
still grinning, he said, “However, we should have been in your history
books.”
“What?” was all I could stutter out from confusion and pain shooting
through my body as the shock started to wear off.
Then, as he said his next phrase, he removed his helmet, and I saw what
he meant. I did recognize him. Not because I knew him, but I had,
indeed, read about his kind, saw them depicted in movies. His eyes were
a bright green that seemed to almost glow. Long, dirty blond air fell
down upon his shoulders. But, most striking of all were his ears. The
horn like protrusions on the helmets were not horns, they were for
their ears. Their pointed ears that stuck up a good inch or two above
their head.
“We are the Aelfran. Better known to your filthy humans as Elves.”
I sat their, mouth hanging open, not sure what to say. Then, he added
the phrase that answered my question of why they were here.
“And we have come to take back our home.”
THE END
© 2018 Tyler R. Lee
Bio: Tyler R. Lee (born 1989) a short story author and novelist
from Wetumka, OK living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. He has a
published fantasy novel titled An Unlikely Company, hosts a
storytelling podcast named Tales from the Fireside found here, and does some voice work on the
side.
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