015 - Legion of Warriors

For the longest time, humanity only had to worry about themselves when it came to war. There wasn't any threat voiced by anyone else than other humans. That was perfect, considering how much they liked to fight among themselves.

One day, an observatory received an unknown signal. After a bit of study, it could be interpreted as a sound. And this sound could be described as… 'unearthly'. It was like nothing else on this planet. Not too low or too sharp, didn't sound like it belong to nature or any animal. It was truly extra-terrestrial. After days of intensive analysis, the group of scientists on this task eventually found something incredible. The signal wasn't a message, or at least it wasn't ONLY a message; it also came with its own decryption key. When the scientists discovered its existence, it was truly one of the most incredible human discoveries… except, ironically, it didn't come from humans. This key was a bijective process that could transform any signal into a signal of another nature. And that way, they managed to interpret the true nature of the signal, and made it known to the world.

"We are coming. Assemble the Legion of Warriors."

This message could have scared everyone… but it didn't. Not the slightest. After the release of this information to the public, there were only two kinds of reactions : laughing or ignoring. Frankly speaking, it had no impact whatsoever. But eventually, there was one man who fought to make people realize the importance of this message.

It was Dr.Malik Migs, one of the scientists who captured and decoded the signal. When even the rest of the team didn't believe it could be something worth exploring, he was the one who stood up and made this transmission the number one priority. Perhaps somewhere, he wanted that threat to be real. What if humanity was finally united to fight against a common, unknown enemy ?

For months, he focused on this task, and this task alone. Showing humanity that there was a real threat, something that needed to be seen and understood by all. Multiple times, he tried to organize press conferences, but from the second one, there wasn't any interest anymore, and he was basically called a crazy scientist. He tried to analyze the signal further. But whatever he tried, he couldn't find any proof that it didn't come from Earth, for the simple reason that it was captured by a device made my man, making an implicit transformation that would remove all foreign aspects. And this is how he got the idea that could finally prove it : make it possible to detect where the signal came from, while consdering outer space as a source.

Eventually, another weird signal came. Dr.Migs was immediately thrilled, and tried to use the upgraded device to determine the source. Before it was even decoded, he could pinpoint the location. And it came from… Earth. "That can't be right", he thought. Eventually, in a matter of minutes, the decryption was complete.

"Tomorrow, parts of Earth will be erased."

Dr.Migs was surprised, worried, but mostly confused. Unless his own detector had problems, this signal came from Earth, and not from space. How was that possible ? So, this was a prank after all ?

"Doctor, why are you so troubled ?"

This voice came from behind Dr.Migs, who turned back to see a man he had never seen before.

"Who are you ?"

"Simply a messenger."

"A… messenger ? Sent by who ?"

"Well, I thought you already knew by now ? By who you call the 'aliens'"

Dr.Migs frowned. "Did you come to make fun of me ?"

"Oh, not at all. I came to help you make things change. It will pay off in the end, don't worry."

"Wait, so did you send… ?"

"Of course. We couldn't send that kind of signal from where we live."

"But, you can send people ?"

"No. I am speaking through one of your own. I just wanted to congratulate you for the decryption of the message. But now I must leave you."

"Wait ! What did you mean by 'erased' ?"

"Oh, don't worry. You won't be in it."

Then suddenly, the man collapsed on the floor, and was completely motionless. Dr.Migs went to check on him. He actually expected him to be simply asleep, but he was completely dead.

When the police came, Dr.Migs explained everything that happened. He feared that moment, and he had a reason to do so. As he half-expected, after hearing his explanation, the police decided to arrest him. Countless times, he tried to resist, and scream that he had to inform people of the imminent catastrophe, but to the police, it was simply arresting another crazy person.

Sometime during the night, Dr.Migs was woken up by the noise of keys against his cell door. As he opened his eyes, he saw exactly what he expected to : someone unlocking his cell. The person who did it was a guard. He didn't understand at first, but then he looked at the guard. He was making a huge smile. Then he understood.

"You're… the 'messenger', right ?"

"Call me Obeona. It will be easier for the future. Now get out."

Dr.Migs didn't have to ask further questions, and simply got out of his cell. Obeona walked him outside, but strangely, everyone in the jail was asleep.

"Did you do that ?" asked Dr.Migs.

"Oh yeah, last time I think I killed that poor guy... I realized I can just shut them down temporarily. It's funny humans can do that."

Eventually, both reached the outside, and walked a bit together.

"Why are you doing this ?" asked the doctor.

"Because of you."

"Of me ?"

"When the sun rises, humanity will be in a major crisis. Let's see if you were right."

And like last time, the guard collapsed on the ground. This time, sleeping, thankfully. But it will hurt when he wakes up…

One his way home, Dr.Migs saw a huge flash, that lasted for maybe half a second. It was so intense, he had no idea where it was coming from. But he saw it. And sure enough, everybody saw it. When he got back home, and turned on his TV, it was the main topic on every channel. But the topic was not the flash itself, it was something much more terrible. During the time of the flash, entire cities… disappeared. All around the world, many flashes were seen, all at the same time, and there was nothing left on the cities that were targeted. Just a massive, cylindrical shaped hole. And there began, the 'major crisis' that Obeona warned him about.

…

Nicholas always wanted to help the people. To everyone around him, it was something obvious, like encoded in his genes : a strong will to be a hero. He tried to be of use in any way he could, and that's why he was a volunteer firefighter, among other things. But it wasn't enough. And then, just as many other people, his life changed during the 'Flash of Terror' incident that stroke the Earth 6 months before.

The day it happened, and also the day that followed, people were in front of their TV or computers almost 24/7. They just could not miss any development. In the end, the incident made around 20 million victims, officially missing, presumably dead. The doctor who found out about this before anyone suddenly became a major figure, but that wasn't the interesting part for Nicholas. Because as a result of this, the UN hastily created a new organization to be put in charge of the situation, and called it the 'World Defense Committee' or WDC. And this committee eventually voted to bring out an urgent project to life : the Legion of Warriors.

Truth to be told, no one knew what the Legion of Warriors was for. But following that incident, it is as if all form of reality and rationality was discarded in order to combat this unknown threat. And so, the Legion of Warriors was created, as adviced by Dr.Malik Migs, who was an honorary member of the committee.

Nicholas was simply thrilled by the idea of the Legion of Warriors. It was not only the perfect opportunity to participate in something huge, but also the goal couldn't be any better, as it was literally to save the Earth. The final recruitment phase was planned for 6 months later, so from the time of the announcement, Nicholas trained like he never did before. He HAD to be ready.

His journey was not without trouble. More often than not, he pushed himself too hard, because time was against him and he tried to make the best use of it. In addition to making his body as strong as possible, he trained in stamina, speed, agility, strategy and even use of firearms.

During one of his sessions, he met another man named Charlie. It turned out that, even though Charlie's motivation wasn't as intense as him, they had the same objective. So, during the 2 last months before the recruitment, they trained together. Charlie had a very different story. He was one of the 'miracles'. This is the name that people gave to those who barely escaped the 'Flash of Terror'. His hometown suddenly disappeared while he was coming home, and barely a few meters away from the entrance of the city, which made him stop just in front of the newly formed crater. Not only he lost a lot to this event, including his family and many friends, but he also realized that this kind of luck could be nothing less than a sign. And that is why his resolve made him relate to Nicholas.

The day before the recruitment began, Nicholas went to say farewell to his family. There were tears, but they always knew it would end like this, with him departing to save the world one way or another. Charlie was also there, but he had no family to go back to one last time. Finally, the two of them travelled to the meeting, in order to get recruited.

When they arrived, Nicholas was thrilled to be part of the Legion of Warriors. But soon, his dream ended up broken in pieces. Not because he was refused, quite the opposite : because he was accepted way too easily. The Legion of Warriors wasn't actually a group made with the strongest, it was simply a group composed by 'crazy people who don't value their own life', as stated by some members of the committee. Because since the event, the more time passed, the less the WDC cared about the threat. Everyone simply acknowledged the terrible events that occured 6 months ago. And, well, that was about it. No other attacks. In fact, the whole world stopped caring. "What if it will never happen again, and we should just happy to be part of the survivors ?"

Nicholas was absolutely disgusted. The Legion of Warriors, as it appeared before him, was nothing but a shell of its former intentions. Now, it was simply a joke.

"Pitiful, right ?"

A voice came from behind Nicholas and Charlie, who turned their heads.

"What ?" asked Charlie.

"This event. Nobody actually believes in the Legion of Warriors."

And before the two had time to comment… the man collapsed on the floor. Immediately after, someone starting speaking in the microphone, so the two turned their heads back.

"My dear citizens of Earth. This is the most ridiculous display I have ever seen. Truly, I expected more of you. It looks like you won't take it more seriously unless I go on you harder, so… we'll do it harder."

After a few seconds, the man speaking fell down on the ground, then came something that anyone could recognize everywhere. A huge, blinding flash, merely half a second long. Nicholas and Charlie looked around him, and they saw it. The military buildings were nowhere to be seen. Those were the buildings where all the committee officials were gathered, and, secretly, laughing about the idea of a Legion of Warriors.

The crowd became extremely panicked and disoriented, then Charlie had an idea. He pulled out of his phone, and started monitoring news feeds, soon joined by Nicholas and many other volunteers in the area. It was the same horror all over again. Cities vaporized. Millions dead. After hearing this news, many volunteers started to scatter, probably to go back to their home.

Nicholas was furious. He trained relentlessly, made so many sacrifices, and came all the way just to see humanity getting ridiculed ? He wasn't going to let that go. He ran to the microphone and started speaking.

"Everyone, stay here, please !"

The crowd went silent, and started listening to Nicholas for a moment.

"What did you come here for ? The humanity is in great danger, and it is our responsibility to protect it !"

"But this was a fake ! It's just useless !" replied someone in the audience.

"No, this is not useless ! Sure, this time the committee believed that this was just a stupid project, but we can bring it back to life ! We need it more than ever ! We need the Legion of Warriors to protect the Earth from the danger !"

Nicholas didn't convince everybody. But he never stopped talking, until he ran out of things to say. In the end, about ten people, including Charlie, remained around the rally point. All of them were motivated by the same idea.

After some months of training, a new Legion of Warriors was formed. Nicholas was officially recognized as the leader of the Legion, though he insisted that he wasn't good enough for it. Charlie eventually became the vice-leader, and he mostly helped the discussion between the Legion and the committee, who eventually started to make better decisions.

At some point, the Legion had more than a hundred warriors. Not all of them were aware of Nicholas's first speech, but they were definitely here for the same reason. And soon after, 'they' arrived. The aliens. Through the signals decrypted by scientists around the world, they could pinpoint the landing point of the aliens, so that the Legion could go there and eliminate the intruders in a fight to the death. And this happened regularly.

The general public never knew what the aliens looked like, but the Legion of Warriors was constantly on the move. Eventually, all the nations formed alliances to protect the Earth. Many collaborated to bring up armament, protections, and other methods of relief, notably to help broken families and reconstruct the destroyed cities. After years of the Legion existing, you could say that humanity was in World War III. But this was another kind of World War. It was the whole World, against everyone else.

…

In a remote observatory, the famous Dr.Migs was working on a new device, that could supposedly absorb the beams that were attacking the Earth. This was still a prototype, but he was always hard at work.

"You never stop working." said a man behind him.

It was the janitor. Oh well, he wasn't fooling anybody. It was Obeona.

"Well, you're sending us stronger stuff, so we have to fight back. I can't let you guys win, you know ?"

Obeona laughed. "Oh, Doctor. You really don't understand yet ?"

Dr.Migs froze for a second, and looked behind him.

"What do you mean, don't understand ?"

"Do you have any idea how ridiculously tiny and weak the Earth is ?"

"What's your point ?"

"There's no 'us', Doctor. There's just me."

"Just… you ?"

"I'm simply helping you because you believed that a common enemy could resolve humanity's problems. I could have made Earth disappear long ago."

Dr.Migs had never taken the time to consider what kind of enemy the world was facing. But as he looked up and saw Obeona's wide smile, he understood the real threat in front of him.

"So none of the 'aliens' are real ? It's just a game to you ?"

"Call it what you want. I'm just fooling around. Everyone in my race could wipe off your solar system in seconds."

"Then why didn't you…"

"Because humans are interesting, Doctor. Sure, they are weak and selfish, but unlike us, they are curious. They have dreams. Ideas. They try new things. And sometimes, they even collaborate."

"And you don't ?"

"Power isn't everything, Doctor. You humans may have a lot of problems, but you're a race worth saving. You taught me that."

For the years that came, the 'aliens' never stopped attacking the Earth. But the Legion of Warriors was always growing. Nicholas, the brave warrior who became leader, was a living legend. Truly, belonging in the Legion alone was considered a symbol of heroism, and the world worked together in this noble cause.

And through war, humanity finally knew peace.