Law of Shadows - Chapter 61

“Everyone has his own, little, problems.”

– A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Sely***

It has been a week since the fae decided on open warfare against us and the world is falling apart bit by ugly bit. Millions died in the first night and the casualties are piling up. It doesn’t matter that most humans had a sudden change of heart and are now working together with the supernaturals. The various clans are also lending a hand. In some cases, our people even took charge of the resistance, which was openly encouraged by our elders.

It won’t change the fact that the world will never be the same as it was when this is over. According to a rough estimation, the dead must number in the millions. Oh, I’ve no doubt that we can at least hold the fae back for a little while longer. Our people are very crafty when it comes to unorthodox warfare.

The average fae, at least a regular soldier, isn’t much more powerful than a human when it comes to magic. It seems like their breeding methods diminished the magical potential of their offspring with each generation. Maybe that’s the reason why they are so desperate.

Though their magic is weak, they are numerous, and quicker and stronger than the average human. They also have the advantage of healing faster than any human could ever hope to. In addition, they can resist most of the nasty stuff which is used in chemical warfare. Lastly, they are armed with modern weapons, which makes them superior to any human army.

Someone among the clans quickly realized that and devised an alteration to his Veil, giving it the ability to cast a focused area spell, which tries to ignite combustibles. It isn’t perfect and ignites only one of ten shells, but that’s enough. Cast it on an army which relies heavily on guns, and the effect is pretty devastating.

The spell is crude, hard to aim and very chaotic. But that’s the reason why it’s so good. What’s chaotic, is hard to counter.

Having one of ten shells explode doesn’t mean that the fae troops will be suddenly without their weapons. But it certainly gets all the magazines. And no matter how fast and strong the fae are, being reduced to rifles with only a single shot makes all the difference when your enemy has access to automatic weapons.

It’s also not very reassuring to carry a weapon which could fire at any moment without your consent. All the clans relished the idea and I am pretty sure that by now, all the Veils around the world have such a function. Together with a few more nasty surprises. I heard that one clan found a way to pressurize the city’s sewer system, pumping all the ugly stuff into the area with the fairytree, flooding it.

They are now waiting for its roots to rot. I hope it works and doesn’t just fertilize the damned thing.

But it doesn’t change the fact that the fae are a relentless wave, spilling forth from the large trees with sprouted in every capital. For every fae who gets killed, there are two more to take up his weapon. In some regions, they even bring heavy weapons like tanks and artillery to bear. Or they use the ones which they captured from the humans. I am not entirely sure of that.

What I am sure of, is that this is just the first step in a much larger campaign. So far, all they have been doing is to establish bridgeheads. At some point they will have to move out in order to conquer the rest of the world.

In some places, the situation is so dire that the remaining government officials authorized the use of dirty weapons. China and the USA even resorted to nuking their capitals. Magnus suggested that from the start, but he also doesn’t care much for human lives. As long as he can test the fae’s defences to rule out certain weapons, it’s all the same to him.

I have no illusions about my dear partner’s character.

Of course, the nukes failed. The fae found a way to create really strong shields, which they use to defend their portals. Admittedly, the nukes bought a little time by wiping out a large number of fae around the portals, but those were easily replaced by even more soldiers.

Now the human soldiers face the problem of radiation while the fae are fairly unconcerned by it. They inherited that trait and their long lifespans from us.

I sigh heavily while I listen to the hastily assembled war council of our territory. It consists of Eva, Paul and Adam. So far, they did a fairly good job in keeping the humans from panicking. I also admit that taking control of the local news transmitter had a lot to do with it. We censor everything that even hints at this territory being in danger. At first, Eva wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea of informational warfare, but she quickly admitted defeat when she saw how badly countries like France are dealing with the situation.

The huge amounts of refugees who try to flee from one war zone to another aren’t exactly helpful in keeping law and order. At this point, France is pretty much non-existent as a nation.

“Is there anything else we can do?” I ask the others. “We could try to close off the Veil completely. If you think that total isolation is a good choice. I am fairly certain that we won’t hear anything helpful from this country’s government. Their military pretty much abandoned this area when they were ordered to move against the capital.”

Not that this country had any mentionable forces to begin with. They will have a hard time holding the fae back. It’s just good that the clan which is holding Vienna is an old and large one. From what I heard, the town is a pile of rubbish by now, but I am sure that the Old Ones who own the territory won’t give up their home so easily.

Eva shakes her head and Adam doesn’t have more than a few reassuring words to add, “I ordered all the Krampus to uphold the law. We even conscripted some humans as assistants. They are more than enough to deal with their own kind.”

Paul nods and gurgles. The little man and his people are one of my hidden trump cards in our defence. “The lake is ready. We are ready to change the weather at any time. Should anyone decide to move against this territory, they will have to deal with rain, storm and drown in a flood of water.”

“Thank you. If there is nothing else, you should take care of your duties. I’ll talk to Fiacre about the Veil. She mentioned that she might be able to adapt some new changes. At the moment, the elders are making everything that could be helpful public knowledge.”

I am interrupted by the opening of the door to the conference room, which grants me sight of my little sister. Annia’s eyes are red and there are tears on her cheeks. For a short moment, I see her eyes flash with red light. But it’s gone in the blink of an eye, leaving me with the question of whether what I saw really happened, or if I imagined it.

Annia storms into the room and hugs me. “They did it! They really did it!”

Oh, by the gods. What did the fae do now? It must be horrible for Annia to be affected. I educated her to be a tough woman who can take care of herself. Nothing short of the end of the world should make her cry. “Shh, Honey. There is no need to cry. What happened? Tell me.”

“They took down the internet!”

Her sorrowful sobs are the only noise in the otherwise silent room. I try to understand Annia’s problem, but I fail to see the issue. “I am sorry? They took down the internet?” I turn her answer into a question, hoping for her to elaborate.

“Those bastards blew up the intercontinental data highways. I only have access to small parts of Europe! That’s all! How could anyone do something so horrible!? The internet is holy, a vast well of information and entertainment!”

I reply with a hug. There is nothing else I can do. Seriously? Annia is that affected by losing some technological gimmick? I lived a large part of my life without computers, and she gets a mental breakdown because she doesn’t have access to the net?

“I am sure that it can be repaired. We’ll-”

Annia pushes herself away from me and her eyes flash red. “They have to be punished! I’ll go down to the lab and help Hatlix and Magnus with whatever they are doing! We’ll wipe them out to the last cell!” Then she storms out of the room, the same way in which she entered.

“Well.” I clear my throat force myself to smile. Then I turn my attention back to my three supernatural attendants. “It’s hard when they reach puberty. All those unwanted emotions. The rage and frustration simply drives one crazy. My clan had to arrest me for a week before I stopped bashing in random heads. What’s better than a good round of genocide to focus all those emotions on something productive?”

All three of them look at me with pale faces. I can tell that they want to be somewhere else.