Fireflies (Story 1: Enter Earth)

Author Note: Heya! This is just a random concept that I came up with and wanted to explore. Call it free and random writing. The premise is that I’m trying to write somewhat of a scifi due to aliens and that’s about what makes it a scifi. The ‘aliens’ are more based on fantasy creatures, though, and there’s magic. It’s meant to be a dark scifi/fantasy work with many comedic elements and character development.

Without further ado, meet my fresh alien invaders. Hopefully Earth will manage to do well. I’m thinking it’ll be in segments of connected short stories.

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Earth had been invaded by beings from other galaxies before, but the various species hadn’t stuck around long enough for exploration. There hadn’t been civilization back then, and it wasn’t worth interrupting the flow of evolution. Now, however, Homo sapiens had established their place well upon the planet, despite nearly destroying it with their nasty machines and pollution. And the current year of 2020, of course. That was of no concern of the invaders, for now.

A pristine ship landed within a very large forest clearing. The plating was a deep onyx, reflecting the white of the moon upon its pristine shine. Not a sound was emitted as the ship had landed, and it was made up of obtuse angles with dark metals at various points, in the shape of an arrowhead. Long rods fastened into the dirt, securing the landing. A door slid open, allowing the invaders to take their first step out.

Two powerful humanoid siblings led this invasion force, intent on taking Earth for their own after a bit more research. Their army was more than enough for this, once they sent the signal, of course. This was phase one.

The first spoke in a deep, masculine voice, a grin playing on his lips. “Well well. We’ve landed, Skadi. The oxygen levels are here are ideal for our species. Apparently, these creatures are similar to us. Yet they do not know magic, not yet. What a pity. It will be a joy taking this place for ourselves. I almost feel that it will be too easy,” Fenrir growled, his pitch-black gaze fixing upon his sister.

Midnight hair that impossibly reflected the stars above, perhaps due to the magic woven within it, spilled down the sister’s russet-colored skin. She reached up, tapping a black claw upon her chin. All of her movements marked her as a dangerous predator; Skadi had well-defined musculature all over her body, showing off much of it to the world. She had no shame, it wasn’t a component of her species’ psyche or culture.

Her species, like humans, embraced clothing. Though nobody tended to wear anything on their upper half, as their home planet was rather warm. Therefore, her mammary structures, adipose tissue upon her chest meant for both pleasure and feeding her young (if she chose to have any), were out and on full display. Her lower half was covered by tight, leather-like material. It was very light weight and easy to move in.

Unlike her brother, Skadi had a deep amber gaze that absorbed light and reflected it right back with an eerie glow, especially in this forest. Her pointed ears were decorated with spiked piercings, along with some hoops (humans would call them snake bites) on her lips. Her eyes were decorated with a dark make-up that shimmered much like her hair.

With a smirk, she flashed a smile that revealed a mouth full of sharp, dangerous fangs that were a pearly white and well cared for. “They look so much like us, Fenrir. Afar research tells me that they have simple integument with little variation, though, in terms of thickness, fur, or scales. Thin hide. Easy to bleed. Anatomically similar to us, but omnivorous. So much more tasty than strict herbivores,” Skadi purred in response, running her blood-red tongue over her lips, which were painted black in a make-up similar to her eyes. “And smaller. We tower over them, apparently.” Indeed, as she was seven and a half feet tall, with her brother at roughly the same height. A whip-like prehensile tail flicked like that of a cat’s from behind her, thin and a few feet in length.

A happy sigh escaped the lips of Fenrir at this news. He did research as well, of course, but now they were here, and he loved reminders. The Fae had ripped through other planets with his family leading the charge. He and Skadi were a part of the next generation of invaders for their species. Fenrir was just glad to get away from their planet, Medea. As irony would have it, humans had some sort of mythology around that name that Fenrir had looked into as well. Perhaps some of their history leaked across the universe, hinting the humans a little bit on the true reality. The sheep had been protected from invaders for so long. Well, the wolves were arriving now.

The Fae’s muscles rippled as he wandered down the ships ramp, his musculature defined strongly, like his sister’s. Similar to Skadi, his skin was a shade of red, however slightly darker. His particular bloodline had sexual dimorphism not in size, but in various additional structures. From his forehead emerged two black horns. His skin had patches of varying reds and blacks without much rhyme or reason, patterning possibly for attracting mates long ago. Nowadays, like humans, the Fae had complex courting methods beyond just looks. Long black hair spilled down his back as well, though it did not shimmer like Skadi’s, rather seemed to swallow all light, like his eyes. His tail had thorn-like growths on it, unlike the smooth nature of his sister’s.

Many humans would consider these siblings to be attractive, but that is strictly based on preference, of course. They were certainly a sight to see, and aside from their size, could have been mistaken for cosplayers at some sort of convention. But, looming at seven and a half feet tall and having full control of their tails… it’d be hard to excuse as a ‘disguise’.

Fenrir was about to begin briefing his sister when she gasped, her head turning in another direction. “Stars. They have stars on the ground here,” she muttered. With eerily enhanced speed did she dart into the grouping of trees, toward some sort of magic in the distance. Lights, darting this way and that, had captured her attention. Upon coming closer, she blinked several times. “Documentaries. I saw them… these are fireflies. In the flesh.”

Her brother followed closely behind, staring the darting bugs down before looking about the forest. Large pine trees loomed over them, though not in an unwelcoming manner. He observed his sister watching the fireflies with a soft smile on his face. There was a long pause before he breathed, “Alright…alright. They are beautiful. We can capture some for observation if you’d like.” He reached out, grinning happily as one landed upon his finger. “…This place is already so different from Medea, isn’t it? Less… rocks. A lot less.”

“Grand Canyon is apparently closest to what ours looks like,” Skadi grunted, encapsulated still by the lightning bugs. A predatory humanoid reduced to the equivalent of a kitten in a matter of seconds. To be fair, Fenrir was acting the same way, with a childish wonder glinting in his eyes.

“Yes,” he replied. “I remember. We–“

“Hey, bugs for brains!” came a gritty voice, causing the siblings to turn.

Ah, the Fae, unlike humans, had quite a bit of variation. Therefore, a fellow invader approached, looking quite a bit different from the siblings. For one thing, they had grey, gleaming scales covering their entire body. Their head had the skull shape of an Earth species known as a monitor lizard. Sharp black spines ran down their back, and their crimson eyes were deeply reptilian as well, with slits for pupils. A serpentine tail lashed behind them, and when they spoke, bits of saliva fell off of some wicked fangs that lined their jaw. Yet, they were bipedal, quite like the other Fae.

They also wore leathery pants, covering their lower half. They had regular fingers ending in black claws, but their toe-claws were arced and much larger, like that of a raptor’s. A snake-like tongue slide out as they spoke. Despite their reptilian appearance, they were the same species as the siblings, merely a different variant of the Fae. Their ecosystem selected for scaly skin.

This Fae, known as Komx, stared the siblings down with disbelief. “We have invading to do, and you’re chasing lightning bugs? They don’t even look tasty! What are you, insectivores now?”

“Life isn’t just about good eats, Komx,” Skadi sighed, glaring at her companion. “Look, we just got here, we can explore a bit more.”

Komx snorted. “I need a bloody bite to eat. Fenrir, buddy, you’re more reasonable than your silly distracted sister, back me up.”

Skadi gasped, stomping over to them. “WHY I OUTTA,” she began, and so, the back and forth started. This banter, of course, was typical, but not malicious by any means. Komx might as well be a third sibling to the duo.

Fenrir rolled his eyes despite this and grumbled, “Well, I am somewhat hungry. Komx, when you’re finished snapping at Skadi, can you please scout the area? You ran a scan of a few-mile-radius, right?”

Komx bared their fangs at Skadi for one moment longer before giving a nod. “Uh-huh. I did. There’s Homo sapiens camping out here just a mile away. We can run ’em down and snatch them up. They’ll be so confused as to why we speak their tongue.” They grinned. “My sis told me a story once of her group’s invading forces–she said their victims had the most bewildered look on their faces as the invaders spoke their language. Magic’s a funny thing, isn’t it? Bet we’ll see the same reaction.”

“Good. I love the scent of fear,” Fenrir purred, licking his fangs. “And we will not be killing them. Understand? We have much to learn, and our potions will heal the flesh and blood we consume of them.”

Komx nodded, giving a grunt and blinking. “Yea, I get it. This is my first planet too, you know. Your family might be the lead invaders, but our lot has done it as well, even if less.”

Skadi grumbled, “I want to observe these bugs all night, but I suppose we should get some work done. Alright, alright. Let’s go find those yummy humans.”

With that, the three invaders began their journey toward some unfortunate campers…