“And here we see the space ships landing in the field. The national guard has cordoned off the area. A crowd has gathered to try and glimpse our first visitor from another world.”

  The new caster speaks to his camera crew. Tom Swenton, the man who delivered the daily news at 8 am. Not quite charismatic enough for the evening. They had climbed on top of their van's fronthood to provide a better angle to the rather boxy space crafts. Five of them

  Millions of these crafts descended on earth. Attempts to fire upon them resulted in an orbital bombardment from the various mother ships. Precise and crippling to earth defenses that learned the hard way how powerless they were. These five crafts landed in a field of a small town in Virginia. At least one local would say the main road had everything. Well now it had aliens.

  A girl with her family poked her dad. “I can't see.” Her father smiles at her as she stretches her hand at him in the universal language of your tall and should be my perch. He obliges which only causes her brother to pout. He looks to their mother.

  “Nuh uh, you're too big Jimmy. I was done carrying ya when I birthed ya.” She admonishes him to his frown.

  The central vehicle opens. Out walked a humanoid figure. They were shiny and metallic. A speech was heard from the alien. It wasn't English. Soon every device with a speaker started making noise, then a stilted speech. Some in English, others in languages the girl could not understand. The Hernandez over there are getting Spanish…probrably.

  “Virginians, your planet is once again about to be descended upon by a large flock led by the Calamity to breed and feast. It has been 66 million revolutions of your star since this has occurred.”

  Danny pokes his own dad, "That's when the dinosaurs went extinct.” He always was the first to bring up dinosaurs and how t-rex and stegosaurus never fought. The girl didn't like him and made it her mission to sit on the opposite side of the bus from him. Easier done by going on the bus after him. Didn't stop him from repositioning though.

  “The Astaros Collective in a conservation effort has passed the Save the Arth population, resolution S.B. 48289.” A bit of laughter met the mispronunciation, “The Red Deliverance company has been contracted to extract all those who don't wish to be eaten by the flock. You will be provided with basic needs while transferred to a new suitable world. This is all purely voluntary, but you have only one twenty-fourth revolution of this planet to decide.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “An hour? Fuck that.” A man exclaims.

  A screen pops up above the ship. It has the moon on the bottom and what appears to be a large mass of flapping shapes. A square pops up over one and zooms in. They resemble the cracked graphic on the girl t-shirt. Four scaled legs, massive wings, sloping neck and tail, a lizard's head with cat eyes.

  “Dragons…” The girl murmurs, enamored.

  The parents look at each other. They start to move forward with the crowd. The national guard is busy shouting at radios that aren't responding. They are tense but they seem paralyzed with indecision. The crowd passes them before they can decide to stop them. The four other crafts open with a falling thud. Their drawbridge-like openings beckoning the crowd.

  The alien speaks again, a delay and then, “Correction, the time table is moving to half the allotted time due to this portion of the planet facing the coming flock.”

  The crowd panics. The mother quickly scoops up the brother she had refused to carry earlier. They run towards the ships. The crowd separates the parents. They enter separate ships. The father hurried to a corner of the hold. He places his daughter down, standing in front of her to press back the crush. She hurrys to what she assumes is a glass window. Looking at the ship that holds her mother and bratty older brother.

  The number of people entering the ship trickles down. There was still a crowd out there who decided to stay. The drawbridge-like door begins to close. Once sealed the various ships begin to lift off. The crowd is looking up and begins to panic. They rush forward again as the national guard troopers start to fire at something in the air.

  Suddenly a dragon slams claws first into the craft with the girl's mother and her beloved brother. It crashes and dents. It's not lifting off anymore as it starts to get smaller. No… A thud can be heard from behind the girl.

  “April…Jimmy.” Her father murmurs. There is an unsteadiness to his voice. He is on his knees. He pulls his daughter into a hug.

  The craft pulls towards the ocean. In it a massive creature can be seen. It turns its head towards the various crafts. It has a blue whale in its jaws, the scale unimaginable. Why…why did you come here? I hate you. I hate you all.

  As if hearing the girl the dragon looks at the craft. At the girl. He sees her. She clutches her left eye.

  “Zelda!” The father exclaims.

  Welcome to the System

  You have been afflicted by dragon blight from the Calamity