Chapter 6:

“What about the other one?”

“It remains uncertain of who he was aligned with.”

“He attacked us, General. It's pretty obvious he wasn't on our side.”

“True.”

“What I want to know is, did we get him?”

Much to the relief of Granger, the train was fairly ordinary on the inside. It had wood paneling, comfortable lounge seats that faced inwards, and a bar area at one end. All of the shades were drawn over the windows, and Discord advised to keep them that way unless the two men wanted to test their sanity.

Currently the two men were sitting in chairs next to each other while Discord reclined on a couch across from them.

“Alright Discord. This is a nice train ride, but where are we going?” Clifton asked.

“To a point approximately two hundred miles off of the coast of Oregon.” Discord said. “Anyone care for refreshments.”

Blank stares answered him. “Hmph!” He snapped his talons and a glass of something red appeared in his lion paw. “Well don't expect me to offer it again.”

“What's off the coast of Oregon?” Granger asked aggressively.

“Nothing as of yet.” Discord sipped the liquid from the glass. “And there would continue to be nothing if I wasn't breaking the barrier between Earth and the Void.”

“WHAT?” Clifton shouted and stood up.

Discord was unconcerned with the outburst. “At ease, Captain, I believe you have overreacted a small amount.”

Clifton looked sheepishly at Granger and sat back down. Granger merely shrugged. “What's the Void?” He asked.

“The Void is what we're currently in.” Discord explained. “It is my home, where I spend most of my time away from the chaotic mess of the world.”

“Chaos? Isn't that your whole thing?” Granger sneered.

“Please, that calamity you call humanity is far more than I can handle.” Discord shot right back. “But as I was saying, the Void is a realm of abnormality from the world. Up can be down, or up, or sideways. A dog may be cat, a road may be a person, a dream replacing reality. In short, it is whatever Earth is not.”

“Kind of like what you did to those cities.” Granger surmised.

Discord nodded. “Yes, except multiply that by a hundred, throw it in a blender, light the blender on fire, and then pour it in a vat of toxic waste.”

Granger nodded as well. “So, why are you doing this? And why would we help you do it?”

“In order for me to answer those two questions, I must explain when this whole mess started. Thousands of years ago, while man was just beginning to understand that he was alive and capable of thought, spirits ruled the earth. There were hundreds of us, I was the Spirit of Chaos, Macab was the Spirit of War, so many of us.”

Discord leaned back and sighed. “One of us, Tirek, sought to guide humanity. He took on a human to train him, Sombra. Sombra was smart for a human, perhaps too smart. Simply being Tirek's puppet would not satisfy his lust for power, and he wanted more. Tirek and Sombra began to create an army with which to enslave humanity. This, of course, caused a bit of a rift between the spirits, and soon we were divided. Some who wanted to curb humanity before it could grow too powerful, and some who wanted to let humanity advance on its own.”

“Which side were you on?” Granger asked.

Discord shrugged. “It didn't matter. The two sides soon went to war, one that shook the entire world. Just as Tirek and Celestia, she was the leader of the spirits who wanted to keep humanity free, were at their breaking point, Sombra struck. He had hijacked Tirek's army of creations and laid waste to both armies. Tirek, Celestia, I and a few others managed to hold Sombra back before banishing him and his army to a dead realm.”

“Dead realm?” Clifton interrupted.

“A realm of nothing. That is the simplest explanation of it.” Discord explained. “The war was finished. Only a fraction of our number remained, one that has dwindled as the years progress. Tirek went into hiding for a few thousand years, but then he attacked again. Somehow, he had found a way to drain the life force of other spirits. Tirek thought he was unstoppable, draining and then killing every spirit he came across. Then he came after me.”

Discord scowled, his tone darkened. “The fool tried to get me to join him, and when I refused, he tried to drain my power too. Unfortunately for him, I am far more powerful than most would imagine. I thought it was poetic justice when I threw his limp body into the same dead realm that we had thrown Sombra into so many years before. I see now that it was instead a cruel irony that would come back to haunt me.”

“That's it.” Granger said quietly. “That's why you need our help. Tirek drained Sombra and now he's coming back.”

Discord smiled. “Close, but not quite. Tirek I could handle; Sombra, if he has drained Tirek of power, than he is a force that is more than capable of defeating me.”

Granger frowned. “I thought Sombra was just a human.”

“He was. But his interaction with Tirek has turned him into something much more powerful and much darker than any spirit I have ever seen. His army is made of creatures that have a strength capable of crushing metal and yet the agility of a panther. I banished Tirek almost two thousand years ago, and two hundred years ago, my mistake began to break free.”

The two men and Spirit of Chaos remained silent. “So,” Clifton began, “what's your plan?”

Discord finished his drink and the glass vanished. “Sombra is planning a large scale invasion, but he's no fool. My guess is that he's planning on taking over the Void first.”

A picture of earth appeared in the middle of the train car, surrounded by a thin cloud.

“The Void is undefended for the most part apart from a few monsters, but those could be dispatched easily. From the Void, Sombra could observe and test the defenses of earth. You must forgive this presentation for being a bit dated, I created it in the Eighties for President Reagan.”

Granger started. “You knew Reagan?”

Discord nodded. “Yes, I was a personal adviser to him. Reagan and I were working on the Star Wars project as a way to possibly contain the Void and destroy Sombra's army before it ever breached, but the project failed and Reagan was shot. His health began to fail, so I erased any knowledge of Sombra from his mind and left him to recuperate.”

As Granger stewed over the fact that Reagan and Discord were friends, Discord continued his presentation. “As I was saying, Sombra could easily observe and test the defenses of earth without any retaliation. When he is certain of what he is capable of, he will undoubtedly begin his attack on major metropolitan areas where he can perform the most damage. With humanity's limited knowledge of the Void, Sombra would be able strike at any civilian or military target and retreat to Void before any counterattack could be launched.”

The picture of the planet focused in on what looked like Camp Pendleton in California, with old equipment. The sky above the camp opened up and giant creatures dropped down like bombs. They were four legged canine like beasts that were as easily as large as a tank.

Most of the base was destroyed before the Marines even had a chance to get to their weapons, and those that did were too few and far between to make a successful stand against the creatures. However, before the battle could turn for the better, the creatures began to vanish into wormholes. By the time the planes had arrived, the enemy was nowhere to be seen, and the base was completely decimated.

“As you can see, Sombra would be able to attack and vanish without a trace.” Discord said as the image vanished. “I estimate that he could easily take over half of the world before the remaining forces were able to mount a successful defense.”

Both Granger and Clifton swore, their faces paling at the implications of such an enemy.

Discord smiled. “However, that's if he can take over the Void.”

Recognition dawned on Clifton's face. “That's why your breaking open the Void.”

“Precisely!” Discord exclaimed. “I intend to breach the Void in the exact same location that Sombra will enter, giving the Navy a straight shot at him.”

The train slammed to a stop, sending both men to the floor. Discord stood, unconcerned. “Really gentlemen, I would think members of the United States Military would be more coordinated in their movements.”

Granger tried to call Discord a few choice names, but he had already left the train car. Granger stood and walked to the door, his hand fingering his pistol, while Clifton followed closely behind. Granger stepped out the door to suddenly fall forward before gravity reversed itself and flipped him onto his back. He let out a groan and slowly sat up, observing that the train was now upside down.

Clifton, in an amazing display of dexterity, grabbed the door jam with both arms and held his body out horizontal to the ground before easing himself down dropping to his feet. Discord held up a white card reading '9.5' in one set of arms while another set appeared and clapped. Clifton made a bow and then offered his hand to Granger, who took it and allowed himself to be pulled up.

On his feet once more, Granger looked around. To the rear of the upside down train was a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes that seemed to all be moving and shifting. To the front of the engine was a mat gray wall that extended into a twilight sky that blended with a half sun. The ground around the wall was dry and felt like any life that had been there was sucked out.

Discord beckoned to a section of the wall that he pushed aside. Granger stepped into the wall and was amazed by the sight. Above him, the sky looked to have been cracked in a thousand places, some of the cracks flexed and bent with power while others looked to have been there for a century. The ground was as equally cracked, except it failed to flow with the power that the sky did, yet the cracks themselves looked to be more recent.

“Gentlemen!” Discord raised his arms, his Navy uniform gone and his size was twice that of a human being. “Below you lies the Pacific ocean, above lies the army of Sombra. We-”

“Discord!” A small, tinny voice called out interrupting him. “Where have you been, I needed those powercells yesterday!”

A tiny figure stepped out from underneath a large machine that contained an arm with a crystal at the end. Clifton knelt down to get a better look. “Ain't you the cutest little thing?” The tiny figure flashed in energy and was suddenly six foot tall, causing Clifton to fall backwards in surprise.

Now that it was full size, Granger could see that the figure was in fact a she with dark brown skin and long, curly black hair drawn up in a ponytail. She wore a baggy blue jumpsuit, but instead of hands emerging from the sleeves, she had a screwdriver and crescent wrench.

“Granger, Clifton, meet Necessity.” Discord said with a flourish.

Necessity raised an eyebrow. “Necessity?” She asked flatly.

Discord giggled like a schoolboy. “Because you're the mother of invention!” He burst out laughing at his own joke.

The woman shook her head, then her tools flashed and in their place were a set of normal human hands, one of which he held out to Granger. He took it and she smiled at him. “Name's Machina, Spirit of Invention.” She looked at Clifton. “And you ever call me cute again, I'll pull the brakes on your car and jam your accelerator.”

Clifton held his hands up defensively. “Sorry.”

“Well, now that introductions have been made, we can continue.” Discord clasped his claw and paw together.

Granger nodded. “First things first, when is Sombra arriving?”

Machina looked at a clipboard that appeared from thin air. “Two weeks from Thursday.”

“Two WEEKS?”

Machina nodded. “If the decomposition of the rift continues at its current pace, then Sombra will be here in two weeks. That gives me one week to finish up here and another to spend in Vegas before the world ends.”

“Not much time to prepare for an invasion.” Clifton said quietly.

Discord nodded. “Yes, well, originally, he wasn't scheduled to breach for another twelve years, but do you see that large crack that runs the length of the rift?”

Granger looked and saw a fissure that stretched from one side of the broken sky to the other.

“Well, that happened about six months ago, forcing me into a very precarious position.” Discord explained.

“That's why you launched the attack?” Clifton asked.

“Yes. Not only did it move my schedule forward several years, but it also gave me a bit of information that, well, I wish I hadn't known.”

“What?” Granger asked.

Discord sighed. “For Sombra to be able to rip that much of the rift, he is very powerful, more powerful than I ever thought possible.”

There was silence for a moment before Granger broke it. “So, what does that mean for us?”

“It means,” Machina chimed in, “that the only weapon that will even touch Sombra is humanity's most feared possession. We're going to need nukes.”