The journey took the best part of five hours. It should have taken closer to two. It took a while getting out of London with all the traffic jamming up the roads and even once we were out of the city proper and the worst of the jams were over, there were just too many cars on the road. Maybe they were looking for shelter outside of the city. Maybe they were looking for transport off of the island and heading for the ports. It was a slow crawl along the motorway.

  After three or so hours of the journey, we stopped at a service station. Not that any of the shops or restaurants had opened, but we didn’t let a small thing like that stop us. A small bit of wanton vandalism later – Tom and Mary joining in this time – and we’d used the toilets, grabbed some snacks, refilled the petrol and whilst Smith was relieving himself, I gathered the others around me and set a new reset point. A precaution, just in case. Not one that I wanted to use.

  We were at the services for all of fifteen minutes before we were on the move again. Two hours later, we were coming to the end of the M275 motorway and took an exit that was taking us right to the base. We’d avoided much of the main city, but we saw little of the same devastation that had occurred in London. Perhaps because there were armed forces nearby, easily deployed to take care of any monster attacks.

  The naval base itself was walled off to the public, except for one gate where visitors were allowed to pass through and make their way to the office to be received. And not public visitors at that.

  The docks of the base were a hive of activity, armed marines overlooking navy sailors getting the various ships ready. I couldn’t tell a frigate from a destroyer, but I could certainly tell what an aircraft carrier looked like. There was a single one, dwarfing all the other ships in the vicinity, though I could only see a couple of helicopters on the deck as sailors swarmed over the ship, orders being barked as to what needs to go where.

  Once we got to the office, Private Smith made it clear who I was, and when some armed personnel approached our car, I showed the gem as proof of identity. It was obvious they had been expecting us. After a few minutes, a jeep pulled up, with four Royal Marines inside and we followed them as they drove us back the way we came from, but on a road to the side leading to Whale Island, a tiny island where the main Royal Navy headquarters were.

  We eventually arrived at a five-storey building, two thirds of which was painted grey, with the other third in red. The Royal Marines waited for us to get out of the cars and made sure we left all our weapons behind, patting us down to ensure we didn’t have any surprises.

  Kaelyn was a bit annoyed at leaving her knife behind, her face clearly displaying displeasure, but she followed our lead, with a warning to the soldiers that if the knife was missing when she got back, they would regret it. The soldiers smirked, in that cocky manner that some do when they think they’re superior to others. In this case, these soldiers thought Kaelyn was just a young civilian. An attractive young woman with more bark than bite.

  We were taken to the top floor of the building and made to sit outside a large set of polished wooden doors with large brass handles. One of the soldiers went inside and re-emerged a few minutes later.

  “You,” he pointed over to me. “Come with me. The rest of you can wait out here.”

  “She comes with me,” I said, pointing at Kaelyn. She showed no surprise – she was a trained assassin. She knew why I wanted her in there with me. The soldier gave me a look, then looked at Kaelyn, then sighed. He went back inside and came back out a minute later.

  “Fine, your girlfriend can come with you.” Carmen was stood next to me, and I gave her a look, making it clear that now was not the time to stamp her claim on me. Her eyes burned, but she understood. The soldier led Kaelyn and I inside.

  It was a large conference room, floor-to-ceiling windows opposite the entrance letting in the light from the midday sun. The windows overlooked the harbour and the twenty or so navy ships out there, with other smaller ships darting about, and hundreds of marines and sailors getting ready to deploy.

  The room was dominated by a large oval, wooden table that could seat over twenty people but only seven of the seats were occupied. To my right, one man sat at the head of the table, three people to either side of him. The soldier that brought us inside saluted, and left the room again, though there were two other soldiers in the corners behind the seated occupants.

  “Take a seat,” the man in the middle said. He was older – in his fifties at least – with short-cropped grey hair, a slim angular face with strong cheeks and a prominent nose. The others surrounding him – one woman amongst them – were similarly aged, the skin on their faces slightly haggard and wrinkled, bags under their eyes, the shine lost from their hair. None of them wore uniforms, and they looked more like the C-Suite of the firm I worked for than hardened soldiers. Although, I guess it would have been a while since they’d seen active combat.

  Kaelyn and I sat down at the opposite end of the table. No need to be too close to them. I whispered into Kaelyn’s ear, “Stay alert. I’ve got the one on the right.” She gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head, but her eyes scanned the two soldiers in the corners. I tagged the one on the right, channelling mana towards the anchor point and placed [Gravity Circle] at the entrance, just in case.

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  “And who would you all be?” I asked.

  The man in the middle leaned forwards, arms on the table with his hands clasped together. “I’m Fleet Commander Andrews,” he said. “These are my subordinates, except for the two on the end here.” He swept his hand towards the man and the woman sat at the end to his left. The man was slightly on the plump side, wearing rounded spectacles. The woman had dull blonde hair worn up in a bun. “Professor Harris,” he indicated the man, “is a senior professor of Physics at the University of Portsmouth. Professor Dawn is a senior professor of Biomedical Engineering.”

  “What’s a Fleet Commander?” I asked. I had no idea about army or navy ranks. The professors made sense to me though. I was a maths and physics graduate after all. I’m sure there were multiple science professors who had suddenly found themselves as wanted as I was. The people at the top needed to try and understand the strange phenomena from the EMP-like attack that began all this to the strange, oversized animals appearing across the world. Not to mention the – well, magic. I wondered how the scientists would go about explaining it.

  “I have operational control of the UK’s Navy. I tell the ships where to go. Now, at the request of the government, my duty is to get you somewhere safe and protect you from the other side. You are to leave the flag with us so that you can’t be tracked. We’re getting a team of some of our best to protect you. You’ll be leaving on a small ship for Morocco with them and a small team of scientists. Your friends and family too, of course.”

  The man was important, that much was obvious, but a life commanding soldiers made him think I would keel over at his authoritative speech. The plan itself wasn’t entirely bad, and not one I was against in theory. But also not one I wanted to go along with.

  “How’s the war going?”

  Andrews raised an eyebrow and glanced at the people surrounding him, before turning back to me. “It’s not going well at the moment. The enemy has taken the north and the east. Most of Scotland is under their control. We’re moving our fleet from Faslane. The enemy haven’t made it that far west yet.”

  “Why did they attack where they did?”

  “There were strategic locations there. Army bases, Air stations, Ports. The North is also less defended than the South. We’re managing to hold them back for now from moving further south, but the enemy are just as strong in their military capabilities. Where we have fighter planes, they have tough, large flying creatures that are no less agile or manoeuvrable. Where we have tanks, they have large creatures, two or three times as big as elephants, able to take tank shells. Not to mention the soldiers. Each one as tough as four or five of our men, though we have the numbers for now.

  “But the truth is, although we will fight, the speed and strength of their attack will eventually wear us down. Global supply lines have been crippled. Our satellites have been requisitioned by the System.”

  “And America? China? Russia?”

  “Doing slightly better than us due to sheer man and firepower. But that doesn’t mean they’re doing good.”

  “What about nukes?”

  “They’re on the table, as a last resort. If the world was to use all its nukes, we’d make the countries they’re dropped on, nigh-on impossible to live in. Perhaps the world itself. It would be a hollow victory. And that’s if we could win.”

  “So, what’s the plan? Keel over and wait for the inevitable? That’s what the great military minds of our lifetime have come up with?”

  All the military minds on the opposite end of the table narrowed their eyes at me. The scientists too. I ploughed on regardless.

  “I’m guessing you have the scientists here to try and figure out how the System works? Or what all those enhancements and abilities do? How to create the perfect soldier? I’m sure that’s what you guys are thinking, right?

  “Then what? Those guys you’re sending with me aren’t there so much to protect me as they are to make sure I don’t escape? And the team of scientists are there to study the artifact, I’m guessing? Maybe see if they can replicate it…or, remove it?”

  “Our only duty is to keep you safe,” Andrews lied. He was good at it. But I knew it was a lie and laughed.

  “Come on now. You’re at the behest of the government and the government isn’t in the business of keeping people safe. Tell me the truth.”

  “The truth is…we need to keep you safe. Whatever else is happening out there, if you die, we all lose. That’s the truth.”

  “Ms Dawn. Mr Harris,” I said, turning to the two scientists. “Tell me the truth. What’s your roles here. What are the team of scientists for?”

  “Enough,” Andrews said. “I’ve humoured you only because of your current status, but don’t push it. You will do as I say.”

  The man looked at with an intensity in his eyes as if he was going to compel me to follow his command. Unfortunately for him, I just wasn’t the kind of guy that took commands well. If there was one thing I hated in this world, it was the feeling of being controlled. Maybe a legacy from my upbringing and the father I no longer had.

  “I think you have it wrong, Fleet Commander Andrews. You’re not the ones in charge here. You see this,” I pointed at the artifact in my forehead. “This little gem has made me the most wanted man in the universe. And there’s a reason for that. It’s because I’m the most powerful person on this planet. And if there’s one thing I know about governments, they do love to try and control power. If you think, for one second, that I’m your lackey – well, you’re in for a rude awakening.

  “Let’s get it straight. I’m the Champion of Earth. I’m the one in control of my destiny. Now, you might be used to listening to the suits, hidden away in their bunkers, ready to send young men to their deaths if it means they can make a million or two. These are men and women who haven’t even been in a fight in school, let alone actual combat. That’s why they have no idea what it actually takes to fight for what matters. They’ve never had to.

  “But that’s not what I’m about. This isn’t a matter of survival. This is the future of this planet. And for that future, frankly, the old ways won’t work. Taking orders from men and women who run from the front lines and hide.

  “It’s time for a new way of doing things.”