“The War Against The Universe”

[Ember The Fox!]

Prelude

No one would have believed, in the early years of the 22nd century, that our kind was being observed by intelligences vast, cruel, and unsympathetic. No one could have dreamed, that we were being scrutinized as a predator observes it’s prey. As humanity went to and fro between their many concerns, they were watching. Many man considered the possibility of life on other planets, but, not as cruel, aggressive, and unemotional as them. And yet, minds more vast than we could ever imagine, regarded this planet with the most envious eyes, and slowly, and surely, they made their plans against us.

Chapter 1: The Flash in the Sky
Date: 6/17/38

Today I had the most peculiar day, it started out as normal with me waking up, making some coffee, and watching the daily news. But while I was watching the news, an emergency broadcast played. There was something about some strange objects in space or something like that and how they were speeding towards earth. I was shocked at the news at first but then the astronomer said that they were shaped like huge cylinders, maybe about 40 – 50 yards in diameter and going at a speed of about 5,000 miles per hour and somehow were not harmful to huge populated areas. After that I was dumbfounded. How could something moving so fast and being so large not have a harmful effect on us humans? I immediately rushed outside and looked through my telescope to see for myself, and there they were!
Huge rounded cylinders with some sort of gas trailing them. But before I could get a closer look, a very bright yellow light flashed all around me as I heard a stupendous crash! I was temporarily blinded by this strange light and my ears hurt from the loud crash. I stumbled back into my house to see that my television was turned to static. I was suddenly very sleepy and passed out on the floor. When I woke up, I decided to write this so I wouldn’t forget about it.
That is all I wanted to tell you for today so goodnight.

Chapter 2: The Cylinder and the Mysterious Beam
Date: 6/18/38

Today was another peculiar day. I woke up, and decided to go to the common to relax and read my book. But when I got there, there was a huge bulk sticking out of the ground, glowing hot and steaming. There was a large crowd about it. It was shaped like a very large cylinder, about 40 – 50 yards around and a flat top with a seam shortly below it. At first glance, I didn’t know what it was… until it started rotating, or unscrewing as I learned later. And then, it clicked! The bright yellow flash from yesterday was the same shade of yellow that this cylinder was! Then I figured that this was some artificial object created by greater beings sent to us from far away to learn about us.
I was partially right. But as soon as I figured it out, the lid was swung back by a huge metal claw and a ramp slowly unfolded from the inside. Suddenly, a huge, three legged machine walked out onto the ramp. Everybody on the common backed away from the pit, I even heard a few shrieks. Then, a very large funnel unfolded from the bottom of the lid and started spraying a very bright, yellow beam which seemed to incinerate everything that it touched! People ran away in terror and shock, but the machines from earlier started picking up men and putting them in a compartment on their chassis. Then a large compartment opened on the side on the cylinder, with boxes stacked up on each other along with a huge searchlight unfolding from the top of the lid of the cylinder.
Some more machines crawled out from the pit and started picking up the boxes, but I couldn’t see what they were going to do with them because I had already started running.
At last I reached my house, and fainted onto my bed as I tried to make sense of all this madness.
And that brings us to now. I will write more in this soon but for now I need to get some rest so goodnight

Chapter 3: The Fighting Machines
6/20/38
Today was horri-
You know what? I’m not going to do that anymore, today was more horrific than I could even describe.
You know how that cylinder landed about two days ago and that….incident….happened? Well after I got home and wrote my previous entry, I passed out once again from all of the stress upon me. After I woke up again, I heard heavy explosions coming from outside my house. And my dumb self went out there to see what was going on, but when I got out, a huge explosion knocked me into the wall, disorienting me. I then looked down the street, only to see people horrified, screaming and running down the street. I looked up to see what they were running from, and I saw a huge three legged machine striding down the street wielding a large funnel on it’s chassis, and I realized with terror that this was no earthly machine, it was a Martian! After I realized that, the laser fired toward the horrified crowd, incinerating a large portion of them. The machine then released a black fog, blocking out the sun and making it extremely difficult to breathe or see. I then ran blindly until I reached an empty shop down the road. I then watched from the inside of the shop. As I watched, cylinders were raining down from the sky, and there were more machines farther away chasing larger crowds and killing them with their lasers. I then hid until the machine passed, but I have no doubt that it will retu-
Shoot I have to go, they’re comi-

Chapter 4: In the cellar

Date: 6/22/38

I have been in this cellar for…. God knows how long after the horrific acts of the Martians, and they have returned several times, each time a different kind of machines. Yes, you heard me correctly, there are more machines than the ones from that day, like flying machines, spider machines, and so many more. Each of the different machines have a specific purpose from what I have observed. For instance, the spider machines pick up men and put them in this mouth-like compartment on it’s front, and then the man’s bodily fluids spray everywhere from a nozzle on the machine’s abdomen which then the fluids are now in a thick, pudding-like substance which I have yet to find the purpose of. The spider machines also have menacing tentacles from what I have learned, as one used it to explore the shop I was once in, but I quickly dashed to the cellar, and hid. But the tentacle got through the door, and began feeling at stuff, books, boxes, bottles, until it grabbed my coat. I almost screamed, but then, with a snap, it gripped my shoe, and then slithered back into the dark. And ever since then, I have remained in the cellar where I haven’t heard or seen any Martians. But I still have no doubt that they will come back. I have seen some people though, and it sounds like they were heading to evacuation boats on the coast, and I think I will try and catch them before it’s too late. Hopefully, I will make it there in one piece so wish me luck and goodnight.

Chapter 6: HMS Ironheart

Date: 6/26/38

By the time I had reached the docks yesterday, the evacuation boats were on the verge of leaving, but I managed to catch one just by the skin of my teeth. But as I turned around, I spotted the hood of a fighting machine over the trees, another came, and another. Striding over houses and woods, almost effortlessly. They went far out in the waters, guarding the exit to the sea. However, they didn’t spot the large battleship slowly approaching their legs behind them. As the large ship emerged from the shadows, it’s identity was revealed. The ship was none other than the unstoppable ironclad, the HMS Ironheart, put back into commission after decades of disuse. Slowly she crept up behind the machines, and with the roar of it’s engine and a spray of steam, it swung about and rammed into the leg of a fighting machine, knocking over into the water. She then spun around and fired it’s cannons at the hood of another one, slaying the martian inside and leaving the machine to fall on it’s back. The other machines released black smoke and bellowed a loud roar, while attempting to grab the ship’s hull with their tentacles. The Ironheart swerved around and rammed it’s side into another machine, avoiding it’s tentacles. The machine fell over with it’s legs still up in the air. The machines fired their heat rays at the ship, but she dodged them and fired at another machine, killing it. However, when she fired, she let her guard down and the machines struck the ship with their heat rays, almost immediately causing an immense explosion and breaking the hull of the ship. Suddenly, some flying machines swooped in and struck it again with more heat rays, destroying the main part of the ship. She bellowed smoke and let out one last roar as it took down one final martian with it’s cannons, also killing it. The flying machines swooped in again and fired their heat rays one last time before a huge explosion consumed the ship. And by the time the smoke cleared, she was gone forever, sunken into the deep waters. All that was left was scraps of metal and the carcases of the machines she destroyed. As we stared at the rubble, the grey skies lit up with yellow flashes, cylinders raining down upon the planet. It was the beginning of the destruction of civilization, of the annihilation of the human race.

End of book 1.
-Ember The Fox

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