Previous | Table of Contents | Next
Although violence was crass, Paula had to admit, it could be quite effective in the right circumstances. By indiscriminately ripping up the land and throwing the chunks at the ground, the blue avians successfully encountered one of Sam’s familiars: the master of the Anunaki. Unfortunately, it was much stronger than expected.
“Did I see that incorrectly?” a blue avian asked. “Did the master of the Anunaki revert time for a whole region?”
“You saw correctly,” another blue avian said. “Could it always do that?”
The blue avians turned their attentions onto Paula, and Paula hesitated before answering. “The last time it was dealt with, it used similar tricks, but it seems more powerful now,” Paula said. “The Anunaki must’ve exploded in population, or the calamity is receiving its strength from elsewhere.”
“Alright, then, how do we deal with it?”
“Every time it turns back time, it uses up a tremendous amount of energy,” Paula said inside of the minds of all the blue avians nearby. “We have to exhaust its stamina first, and when it can’t turn back time any longer, we deal its body a fatal blow.”
“And how are we going to exhaust it?” a blue avian asked, its question tinged with hints of a whine. “It might’ve turned back time for the ground and people on the ground, but its effects didn’t touch me. I’m pooped!”
“Same,” another blue avian said. “We did all that work, and now we have to do it again?”
“Again and again and again,” the first blue avian said, its voice even whinier than before. “Who knows how many times it can turn back events like that? Rather than us exhausting it, won’t we exhaust ourselves first?”
“We don’t know where it’s main body is either,” the second blue avian said. “What if it runs again after it can’t use its ability anymore?”
“Stop whining,” Paula said, their tone curt.
“We’re not whining,” the first blue avian said. “We’re asking valid questions. If something is going to be an effort in futility, shouldn’t we identify it to save ourselves the trouble? We should go about this a different way.”
“And what other way do you suggest?” Paula asked. “If all you’re going to do is criticize my suggestions without offering one of your own, then you’re just whining, which is not helpful in the slightest.”
“Paula’s right,” Mozart said, the blue avian floating over to Paula’s side. “They have the most experience dealing with calamities. Sometimes, dealing with them is hard and grueling work, and we’ll be exhausted, but at the end of the day, the work will be done, and we can go home and relax.”
“It might take more than a day,” Paula said, “but the sentiment remains.”
“More than a day?” Mozart asked.
“It has a lot of energy,” Paula said. “If we were able to eliminate Sam before the master of the Anunaki grew to this point, it would’ve been much easier. Now that it’s grown, it’s become troublesome to handle.”
“Well, let’s get this over with before the other calamities Sam summoned has time to grow as well,” Mozart said. The blue avian pointed its palm at the ground, and a chunk of earth was ripped upwards. “Is there anything we can do about the illusion in this area? I think we’ll get better results if it’s not blocking our senses.”
“If we could, then we would’ve done it earlier,” another blue avian said. “It’s not so easy to undo the work of a higher-dimensional being.”
“Reinforcements are on their way as well,” Paula said. “We can force the master of the Anunaki to use its ability a few more times, and when we’re tired, our reinforcements can step in for us while we take a break. We’ll work in shifts to prevent ourselves from becoming too exhausted.”
“Is it always this troublesome for you to eliminate a calamity?” a blue avian asked.
“Sometimes,” Paula said.
“And we let you do this all alone?”
Paula’s aura flickered. “That’s right.”
“Well, Paula enjoys hunting calamities,” another blue avian said. “You don’t have to beat yourself up about leaving Paula with all the work.”
Although Paula didn’t agree with that statement, they weren’t going to say anything, not when there was a calamity they had to deal with. “Enough chitchat,” Paula said and focused on the ground. Although the illusion prevented the blue avian from precisely targeting anything, indiscriminate bombardment didn’t require much accuracy. “We have work to do.”
The blue avians concentrated on the ground below, repeating their actions of grasping and throwing chunks of the ground. “We can’t chitchat while working?” a blue avian asked in a whisper. Since its voice could be heard directly in the minds of the other blue avians, the whispering didn’t do much in terms of not attracting attention. “It’s not like it takes that much energy.”
“It’s distracting,” Paula said. “If you wish to speak with someone, do it on a private frequency.”
Paula didn’t receive a reply, but that didn’t mean the blue avian wasn’t saying bad things about Paula behind their back to someone else. “Also,” Paula said, “no slacking off. Since they’re not fighting back, and they’re not running away, it means they’re delaying us. This is a race against time.”
“You said that about the big bug,” a blue avian said.
“My words were as true then as they are now,” Paula said.
“It’s no wonder why no one ever volunteers to exterminate calamities. It’s a tedious and thankless task. How about we throw a party after we’re done? It’ll give us something to look forward to.”
Paula’s voice echoed through the blue avians’ heads. “I said cut the chitchat.”
“With the way you’re acting, you won’t be invited to the party,” Mozart said. “You’ve done so much work, so you deserve to take a break. “Wait, you’re not upset we never threw a party for you upon eliminating a calamity, are you?”
“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” the blue avian, who had suggested the party, said. “I’d be upset too if I were in Paula’s position. They were going through such tough and tedious encounters by themself, and we didn’t even acknowledge their accomplishments.”
“That’s not true,” another blue avian said. “I’ve told Paula, ‘Good work,’ a few times after they came back.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“We should create a Paula Appreciation Day, where we all get together, party, have fun, and thank Paula for all they’ve done for us.”
“I can bring my special pie! I’ve been working on my baking skills.”
Paula ignored the chatter going on in their head. Although it would’ve been nice if the blue avians had listened to Paula’s suggestion of keeping quiet, the blue avian was used to their words being ignored by the collective; after all, there was no true leader amongst the blue avians. Everyone was allowed to have their own opinions and ideas—which Paula thought wasn’t the greatest idea since some of their peers were … questionable, but who was Paula to try to change blue avian society?
The next few hours were uneventful as the blue avians repeatedly bombarded the land with pieces of itself. The blue avians were bored out of their minds with only gossip and chatter keeping them sane as they whittled down the calamity’s stamina whilst exhausting themselves.
However, to the humans living in the capital, they were experiencing an unending nightmare. Large chunks of the ground surged upwards unpredictably, high enough to the point falling off would lead to death. Even if one kept their balance and remained on the floating island, they’d die once the island was inevitably thrown back down. If they managed to avoid rising upwards in the first place, then they had to dodge the land when it came back down. With how quickly the blue avians lifted and tossed the land, human deaths were inevitable. Hiding in buildings and shelters didn’t protect them, not when the buildings and shelters were lifted into the air as well.
“What in the world is happening?” someone asked as they fell over backwards and took a seat on the ground. They stared up at the sky, watching as a large chunk of earth fell to the ground with a bang, debris and dust scattering in every direction from the impact point. The man turned his head to the side, looking at the spot where he was sure he had fallen to his death. “Am I dreaming?”
“If this is a dream, then it’s a nightmare,” someone said from not too far away. “Are we in heaven? We both died, but here we are, talking to each other as if we’re alive and well.”
“I don’t think we’re in heaven,” the first man said. “I’ve died twice now. Although it wasn’t painful because I think I died instantly upon impact; it was still terrifying. If anything, we’re in hell, not heaven.”
“So, we’re doomed to die again and again?” the second person asked. “In that case, why are we struggling to survive?” He took a seat beside the first person and looked up at the sky as well. A floating island was falling in their direction, but they remained seated.
“Well,” the first peson said. “What if we’re not brought back to life the next time we die? That’d be one reason to struggle, no?”
“I suppose,” the second person said and nodded as he and his buddy were covered by a large shadow. “Are you praying to any of the deities?”
“Yeah,” the first man said. “Maybe that’s why I’m coming back to life after”—
The man’s words were cut off with a bang as he and the other fellow were crushed by the projectile. A few minutes later, the impact craters within the capital vanished as time flowed in reverse. Debris and shards of metal, wood, and stone clumped together, reforming into cohesive plots of land, and surged into the sky. Then, they floated back to the ground, filling the holes that had been left behind. The splattered bits of flesh and bone shards were sucked together as if a vortex were pulling on them, and the two people were reformed. They glanced at each other as their bodies were pulled away from one another, returning to their previous positions before the ground decided to rebel and kill everyone.
The second man jogged over to the first one. “Maybe we’re stuck in a time loop,” he said and flinched as the ground cracked not too far away. The earth shook as a piece of land rose into the air. “What if we’re stuck in this loop forever? We have to find a way out.”
“I think you might be right,” the first person said and nodded his head. “We keep our memories despite time turning backwards. There must be a way to stop it.”
“Or it’s some kind of Oterran anomaly,” the second man said and frowned. “Maybe this just happens sometimes.”
“Either way,” the first person said, “we should figure out a way to escape.” He took a look around and scratched his head. “Should we try running as far as we can from this region?”
“I tried that earlier,” the second person said. “I didn’t get very far.” He gestured towards the land rising into the sky. “It’s like this everywhere in the capital.”
“Well, we have to try at least, right?” the first person asked. “Dying doesn’t hurt since it’s instant, but it’s still traumatic.”
The second person shuddered as he recalled the sensation of plummeting to his death. It was much scarier than being crushed because it took a few seconds to hit the ground. Then again, watching a large object falling towards him was pretty scary in itself. He had a feeling, if he managed to get out of this time loop, he’d have recurring nightmares of the experience. “You’re right,” he said. “Let’s try to make some sense of this, so we can get out safely.”
“I highly doubt regular forms of transportation will work with the ground being as it is,” the first man said. “How’s your stamina? Does your talent involve running quickly?”
“No,” the second man said and shook his head. “My talent is just average. I can exert a little more strength than a regular person, but that’s about all.”
The first man nodded. “We’re in the same boat,” he said. “I’m not exceptional either.” He looked up at the sky. “Maybe we could end the time loop if we get rid of whatever’s ripping up the ground.”
“For now, let’s try to get out of here first,” the second man said. The two men made their way out of the capital, sprinting for their lives when necessary to avoid being pulled into the air and to avoid being squished like bugs. On the way, they met other people who had the same idea as them: escape from the capital to leave behind whatever hell the city had become. As they got closer to the border of the city, the frequency of attacks increased. Several individuals passed away, but that didn’t stop the group from continuing forward, and when they finally made it outside, they were greeted by dozens of blue avians hovering in the air.
The blue avians communicated with one another telepathically, the group of humans below unable to hear the blue avians conversing. “It doesn’t look like Sam is amongst them,” Paula said.
“But we know how powerful the illusions accompanying him are,” Mozart said and grasped at the ground. He lifted a chunk of earth large enough to squish the whole group of humans, and that’s what he did. With a squelching sound, the escapees were reduced to a layer of paste between the surface of Oterra and a large mass of earth.
Luckily for the escapees, Birdbrained was kind enough to reverse time once more, bringing the group of humans back to life, their bodies reforming and moving backwards as they returned to the places they were located before the blue avians had begun their bombardment.
The first man sighed as he looked up at the sky once more. Although they had discovered who the aggressors attacking the capital were, that didn’t mean they could do anything about it. With their ability to lift and throw such massive chunks of earth, how was he supposed to defeat the blue avians as basically a regular dude with a little bit of extra strength? It was simple, he couldn’t.
“We have to get everyone in the city,” the second man said after jogging over to the first man. “If we work together, maybe we can defeat the blue avians.”
“Forget it,” the first man said. “Like that calamity that attacked us before, only Sam can handle it. If anything, we have to gather everyone and pray. You heard what the angels were saying during the last loop while we were escaping, right? If we believe in the deities, they’ll save us.”
“Shouldn’t they have saved us by now if that were the case?” the second man asked.
The first man shrugged. “Well, we aren’t dead even after dying, right?” he asked. “I thought I heard a voice saying it was Birdbrained who was bringing us back to life, but I’m not certain. Maybe you’re right, and more people need to believe, so the rest of the deities can take action.”
“Let’s round up the people on the outskirts and inform them,” the second man said. “All of us have to head to the temples to pray.”
“Alright,” the first man said. “But first, do you want to break into a few buildings with me?”
“What?” the second man asked. “What in the world are you talking about?”
The first man shrugged. “I’m a curious individual,” he said. “I like knowing things. When there are signs that tell me to keep out, they make me want to enter even more. Since time is going to revert, if we break in and explore a few places, it’ll be like we were never there at all because all our traces will vanish.”
The second man fell silent. “I have been wanting to murder my neighbor for a while now,” he said. “Do you think I’ll get in trouble if I do?”
“I don’t think that’s normal, man,” the first person said.
“You only think that because you haven’t met my neighbor,” the second man said. “Alright, you do what you want to do, and I’ll do what I want to do, and the next time things loop back to this point, we’ll work on convincing people to pray, yeah?”
“Sounds like a plan.”