The Ceterian: Beginnings

Erik jolts awake upon the sound of the door slamming open, placing a hand to his chest as Clare steps in with the same motions she used last time. "Got another invention for you to test!"

"Oh god damn it..." Erik puts his face in his hands as he couldn't help but feel misery, before getting yanked up and dragged to the 'lab' as he called it. Upon entering, Clare nods to the simple suit resting on the table. "...Bullet proof armor?"

"Energy proof, but yeah."

"..." Erik raises his arms defensively. "I deny this attempt!"

Clare's jaw drops. "You can't deny it! You are my assistant and you Have to!"

"Denied!"

"No, you can't do the deny! Just put it on!"

"Nien!"

"Don't you dare use the germane language here!"

Before the two could continue with the argument, however, there was the sound of a loud explosion outside.

"What the...?" Erik looks up while Clare immediately grabs that shotgun from last time. "Wait, is the town under attack?"

"No shite Sherlock, you heard the explosion, didn't you?!"

"Right, dumb question." Erik grabs the revolver lying on the table, and grunts when he discovers it was the double cylinder revolver Clare mentioned way earlier. With a slight mumble, he loads up both cylinders regardless, and follows Clare up to the street, before stopping as they see the pony populace that didn't have combat experience fleeing, while a group of individuals in ESO Imperial Armor stormed through the streets carrying swords, shields, and what looked to be crossbows.

"Oh for buck's sake!" Clare aims the shotgun and unloads a round, which quite literally tore through the chest of two of them and disintegrated the third one. "Ya like that ya bloody shites?!"

Erik grunts as he raised the revolver and tried firing, earning a painful kick that forced him to bend his arm to repress the kick while watching a soldier's entire torso explode from the shot. "...WHAT THE HELL KIND OF SHIT IS IN YOUR GUNPOWDER?!" Erik yelled as he looked at Clare.

"Oh, you know, gunpowder, a small bit of C4, and some other useful explosives..."

"...YOU'RE INSANE!"

"I know, and I am proud of it!" She charges with her shotgun.

"Oh for the love of..." Erik runs after her since she's the only one who's been friendly to him so far.

Soon the two make it to the main street after taking out some other soldiers, and soon discovered the leader of the current invading forces, who was guarded by two large soldiers in armor that looked far tougher than the other's. "Ah, looks like we got a couple tough ones, and it seems one is a human too." Erik grunts as he grips the revolver, but blinks when the female leader gently pushes the guards out of her way and steps up to him, offering a hand as he stares in shock at her glowing orange eyes. "High Commanding General of the Imperial Legion, Lilith Monroe."

Erik stares for a moment, before looking at Clare. "What..."

"She's a Succubus, but she smells like a hybrid, be careful, not many are trustworthy..."

"Come now, your people first assume I'm here to fight, and now you're saying we're not trustworthy when we are simply defending ourselves?"

Clare blinks, and eyes the ship, before getting a blank expression.

"What?" Erik looks at her.

"There aren't any cannons on her ship... She's telling the truth... Bloody hell you paranoid bucks..."

Erik turns to the succubus, and gives an awkward look. "Well, I'm not exactly on any side right now..."

"Really?" Lilith rubs her chin, god damn she was hot... "Well, I have nothing against the ponies here, and if you're telling the truth, then you're not exactly on our to do list..."

Erik gives an awkward chuckle, while Clare had a deep frown towards the Succubus. "While he's not on anyponies side, I'd appreciate it if you didn't force him into a side."

"Oh of course not, dear mare." She places a hand on her chin. "That said, if you're ever in the need for some information..." She says with a slight bit of passion. "Don't hesitate to ask~"

Erik blinks as Clare's jaw drops at Lilith. "Have you no shame, Imperial?!" Clare yelled.

"Oh of course I do, but it's not every day you come across a human that stands out from the crowd..." She says smoothly. "There's an odd sense about him... Something that tells me he'd be of great importance in the future... Of course after he got the training and experience of course."

Erik gives a defeated look at he felt like an arrow was shot at him. "Talk about harsh..."

"You see that as harsh?" Lilith tilts her head, before shrugging. "Oh well." She turns to the ship. "We are simply an envoy ship regardless, so we'll be here for a while if you decide you need information, or of course want to join the fight for control."

Erik's eyes narrow cautiously. "Control of what?"

"Why, the pony homeland of course, if you hadn't noticed, all of the factions are getting ready for war over the land, as it's strategically in the center of the entire war, and has an immense amount of resources that would be of great benefit to any side. Not to mention the magic itself around here is unique to the magical presence anywhere else in the factions."

She waves her hand in a 'Ta-Ta' manner as she heads for the ship, causing Clare to grit her teeth in anger. Erik, on the other hand, was unsure what to feel, as it is hard to tell what a succubus is really after if all those stories and games about them are true, so what the hell did this one here want? Then again, he's not likely to figure out today, so with a weary sigh, he starts walking back to the house.

"H-Hey! Wait for me ya shite!" Clare runs after him as she yelled that out, annoyed he was leaving her behind like that.

As for the Succubus, she watched the two go as she folds her arms, giving a slight grin. "Quite the interesting one... Is he the one we want?"

The guard next to her shrugs. "I do not know, ma'am. He's... Different, but I wouldn't go so far as to assume right off the bat he's the target."

"Fair enough, you never know of those religious people are ever right or not." She turns. "Keep an eye on him, though, just in case. Last thing we need is to get on the bad side of one we'd want on our side."

"You're assuming again."

"If he's not, then we'll simply leave him be, meaning it's no loss on our end."

"Very well, ma'am."

...To Be Continued...