James sat back in his desk chair, staring at the computer screen where a still mostly blank after-action report sat open. According to the clock in the bottom corner of his screen, 30 minutes had only accounted for the date and his name being placed on the report. He’d written a few words and deleted them over and over again.

  Despite multiple tours of duty in the Middle East and hundreds of reports like these, this one was different. The sounds and chaos of the fighting had been heard by the guards, so he had to report something. He'd even watched the camera footage to try and figure out a way to explain it, but the strange mix of what was visible in the mortal realm and his actions would make a wild explanation when this was done.

  He massaged his temples at the verbal gymnastics that would be needed to make this report acceptable. As he was about to try again with another idea that could at least be acceptable to the brass, he heard the soft pop of Lugh using his strange mushroom portal to return to their headquarters. Taking a deep breath, he tried to focus on the report despite the conversation that now rang through the empty corridor.

  The soft rumble of a chair rolling towards him broke his concentration as Lugh slid up beside him. James glanced away from the still mostly blank report to look at the god of war that was still in his form as an older human admiral. When Lugh moved up beside James, he looked over the blank report before speaking quietly despite the empty room.

  “The first one is always the worst. Trying to figure out how to explain a fight that takes place in the realm between realms is hard. Don't worry about hiding things, though. We have people in the chain of command who are like you. They'll worry about redacting the information to keep the mission safe.”

  Somehow both surprised and not, James gave the god a small nod of understanding before beginning to write. As the words finally began to flow, he passed on the information that he'd been holding on to.

  “Gymendor is still at the warehouse. We found a bunch of beings that were held in a dark cell for some reason. They didn't react too well to me, but they were better with him. He's working with the other residents of the warehouse to aid them. I ordered the building locked down from the outside, and only members of our team are allowed in for now.”

  The god's casual, relaxed demeanor shifted as the reality of what we'd walked into settled in. For several moments, he sat silently as James kept working on the report. When he reached the part about the hatch that something had escaped through, Lugh stood and made his way over to the door. His voice came loudly as he half glanced back over his shoulder.

  “Grab your kit. We'll need to head back over to take care of a few things right now. Oh, and if you can, please grab the base commander. There are details that we'll need to brief her on, and I think it will get things cleared up without too much juggling or blame being thrown around.”

  Throwing his plate carrier back over his shoulders and synching it down, he quickly began gathering his things to run after the god. With his report already forgotten, he caught up to Lugh as he clipped his rifle into its sling and picked up his helmet. As he caught up, Lugh, in his old admiral form, was already talking to the base commander who’d come to speak with the guards at the warehouse.

  James saluted as he approached, stopping in front of the pair of admirals who broke off their heated conversation. In order to not create an even bigger awkward silence, he addressed his former commanding officer in the normal formal greeting as he saluted.

  “Good Afternoon, Admiral. Is there anything I can help with, or may I return to my current assignment?”

  A wave of emotions crossed the older admiral's face before she returned the salute.

  “Afternoon, Gunny. Admiral Lamfada was just filling me in on what happened. Thank you for doing your duty, but I’ll be looking forward to a full report on the situation when you're finished. If I have security breaches that we aren't aware of, we'll need to get those resolved immediately.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  James returned the serious look and gave the Admiral a nod of agreement. He gave the two senior officers a quick thanks before turning back to the warehouse. At the door, he passed the two guards at the doors and moved in to join the Dryad and the Elf.

  As the door closed with a clang, James lifted his hands to his temples and activated his fey vision. The dark, empty warehouse shifted into a world of etheric light and life. Pixies and Gnomes darted between the crates that formed streets and alleys. Despite the lack of shadows, the far corner remained lifeless with all of the sentient beings actively avoiding the cement that had been marked by the ritual.

  He deactivated his vision and studied the roughly scratched markings that were carved in the physical realm as well. Below the crate where the cage had sat atop the strange crate at the center of the room, a glaring eye stared up at the roof while the crates around it were marked with similar eyes. A ring of carved thorn branches surrounded the area, creating a magical wall against the world of light.

  Gymendor paced the edge of the ring, prowling like a caged wolf as he searched for a break. James approached the tree-like being, his voice just loud enough to get Gymendor attention.

  “What’s the problem? You need to shift back to human form so that we can let the humans in. Lugh can only keep them out for so long.”

  The dryad growled in response as Alyndra stepped out from behind a wall of crates, her elfin form dwarfed by the massive man.

  “Thistle walls can be crossed by Fey beings, but it hurts if we stay there for more than a few seconds. I’m told that it feels like rolling around in a bunch of rose bushes. It’s millions of little pricks all over our bodies, and we can’t break them on our own. That sensation is also why he’s not able to transform back.”

  James moved closer to his new teammates and glanced over at the carvings. An unnatural feeling crept up his spine as he took in the dark magic that still lingered. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d pulled out one of the magical combat knives from his belt and moved over to the outer ring, making multiple slashes through the carved thorn branches.

  “So what you’re telling me is that I’m the only one who can break these spells since I’m in the physical world? How about you tell me what needs to be done so that we can get this cleared, and the commanders can come in here. We don’t have long to get this resolved.”

  With each slash, Gymendor relaxed, the tension bleeding from him slowly but visibly. James walked the rings of thorns, slicing them up to break the symbols. As he approached the center, Alyndra moved up beside him and pointed to the eye symbols.

  “The eyes aren’t as easy to take care of. You’ll need to stab them directly in the center of the pupil, then slash down to the earth. Once you’ve taken out the smaller ones, we can destroy the center eye and finish this.”

  He moved over to the first crate and stabbed the eye, slicing down until he passed outside it. A gasp of pain echoed around him before a wisp of black smoke broke from the surface and dissipated in the light. James repeated this action with eleven of the smaller eyes until he stood over the large center eye with the elf beside him.

  Following Alyndra’s instruction, he switched out the knife for his sword, driving the blade into the concrete and pulling it in a spiral around the pupil that was the size of a manhole. The blade somehow cut smoothly through steel and stone to be burned away in the daylight. As the spiral crossed out of the pupil and then out of the eye itself, an animalistic scream echoed from the walls before the symbols disappeared with a flash of light.

  The door behind them flew open as Lugh and the Admiral came in, looking frantically around for what had made the scream. James took a half step to keep himself out of the line of sight and sheathed his sword before raising his rifle and stepping out to act like he was surprised by the sound as well. He joined Alyndra at the access hatch that led to the sea for repairs that had let something escape during the earlier fight.

  When the real admiral and the fake one reached them, James spoke loud enough to be heard by Gymendor, who had managed to hide somewhere.

  “We had another one of the punks that was doing some ritual in here escape down this hatch. Gy went down the hatch after her, and I think she must have gone into the drink. We’re still checking the other hatches, but we think that was the last one in the building.”

  The base's commanding officer swore under her breath before pulling a radio from her belt. She barked orders to her sailors and marines and sent them to active status before sending several to look to the water for a swimmer. Lugh stepped over to James as chaos erupted and spoke softly.

  “Good work on the Evil Eyes. That purge will weaken their hold on this base. We’ll have to clean the area, but I think we’re on the right track.”

  James nodded soundly at the compliment and implied dismissal. He stepped back and joined the disguised elf as the hatch below them opened and Gymendor climbed, his fake clothes soaked. The three moved out of the building to their next target.