James stepped from the team's small office dressed in divine armor that looked like a modern plate carrier with a battle-worn combat helmet on his head. His evolved magical weapons were in place on straps and holsters across his body as he moved to catch up with Gymendor, who was walking faster than humanly possible towards one of the warehouses that James had identified the night before. Now dressed in the Green and Brown BDU of the French Foreign Legion with the Green Beret on his head, the Dryad had wanted to smash something since he had returned just a few minutes earlier.

  Jogging to get ahead of him, James turned and barred the way before the Dryad got too close to the guarded facility. The monster of a man stopped just inches from James, glaring down at him as his too-perfect teeth grated. James met his glare, taking a half step forward to make it clear that he wasn’t afraid of the mythical being as he spoke.

  “Either you’re denser than I thought possible for a sentient being, or you’re openly choosing to ignore Lugh’s orders. He told you that because you are in my world, you’re under my command. So which is it?”

  A soft growl escaped the Dryad’s lips in response, but when James leaned into it instead of backing down, he finally broke. Gymendor took a half step back and softened his gaze as he responded, his voice still filled with frustration.

  “My apologies, Lord O’Driscoll. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to take orders from anyone besides The Lamfada.”

  James relaxed his glare and turned to continue walking slowly as he continued the conversation.

  “Thank you for the apology. I understand your frustration with this. The big issue we have here is that my military is very strict about who can access what. If you show up without me to any of the secure locations around the base, you’ll be arrested on the spot. I can’t have either of you injuring any of my friends in an attempt to escape arrest. Oh, and don’t call me Lord. Call me Gunny, that is my rank, and I had to earn it by working for a living.”

  The Dryad relaxed a little more as the words sank in. James picked up his pace slightly so that he was walking slightly ahead of Gymendor. He kept his voice low as they began to close the last ten yards to the waiting door.

  “Let me do the talking, and if possible, don’t do anything besides hand him your ID when the guard holds out his hand. They know me, and the base commander should have sent out the orders that Lugh asked for yesterday. As long as we play this like we know what we’re doing, it won’t be a problem.”

  Gymenor grunted a confirmation as they came to a stop in front of the two armed guards who covered the only personnel door to the facility. James handed his ID to the senior guard, who stepped forward like James had trained the guard to do.

  “Good Afternoon, Stevens. Looks like you guys are doing a great job today. Did the Captain send out the revised orders about me and my team?”

  As he asked the last question, she gave a small nod of the head towards the Dryad that had taken the human form of a large, muscular soldier from South Africa. The guard relaxed at the mention of the orders, her training kicking in to make her not question it. She took the card that Gymendor offered to her and scanned it before letting them into the warehouse with a quick salute. Before James entered, he turned to the lead guard one more time.

  “Is there anyone in the warehouse at the moment? To do what we need to do, the warehouse will need to be empty.”

  The young Lance Corporal glanced over at his teammate who was still studying the IDs to confirm before responding.

  “As far as either of us is aware, no one is in there, Gunny. We only came on watch an hour ago, but the team we replaced didn’t mention anything.”

  James gave the marine a nod of approval before stepping past her and into the dimly lit cavern of a building. Walls of crates filled with spare parts and stacks of steel filled the spaces as far as he could see. When the door closed, James glanced over at his Dryad partner and closed his eyes to activate his fey senses.

  When he reopened his eyes, the dim world around him had shifted to a strange world with half of the room glowing with brilliant light while the other half was consumed by darkness. Small fey that glowed with a rainbow of color danced between the crates and stacks of steel, playing with plants made of pure light.

  Holding his hand out, James let two of the almost human-looking beings that were barely six inches tall land on his palm. When the two miniature women landed, they offered him a small curtsy, their short dresses looking to have been made of shimmering leaves. After he returned the greeting with a small bow, the neon green one spoke in a high, fluty voice.

  “Thank you, Lord! We appreciate you coming to rescue us from the darkness. Some of my people have journeyed too close to the dark lands and have fallen prey to those monsters. Please rescue them if you can.”

  After sketching another curtsy, the two fairies leapt into the air, buzzing off towards a sea of flowers of pure magic. For a brief moment, James stared after the two tiny beings, his mind struggling to wrap around the strange unreality of the moment. He slowly turned to look at Gymendor, who had shifted back to his Dryad form. With a shrug, the ancient warrior pressed forward into the crowded warehouse, drawing his pistol and axe as he did so.

  James raised his magical rifle and followed behind. As he advanced he watched every angle for the small tendrils of darkness that were trying to attack. The two warriors quickly wove through the corridors of crates so that they could stick close to the wall.

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  The massive Dryad moved at an unnatural pace, quickly pushing ahead of James with a blood lust that controlled his every move. James’ training kicked in as the wall of black mist rose to meet her in the unlit half of the building. Gymendor swept his golden glowing axe through the fog with a wide sweep.

  A sickening scream ripped from the fog that was darker than a stormy midnight as the golden blade ripped a tear through it. The enraged dryad spun with the grace of a dancer, cutting one after another as he moved deeper. With his rifle raised, James charged in after him, letting a few rounds loose at the shapes that fled from Gymendor's assault.

  One shot after another ripped through the fog, opening pin pricks of light that slowly burned and grew to let the lights above do their job. He bent to lean around a large crate, his weapon leading the way as he checked the first dark corner. Before he could react, a bony, clawed hand reached out and yanked the barrel, pulling him into the dark.

  A canine face lashed out at him with a snarl as he struggled to regain his balance. The grizzled teeth bit down, grinding against his armored left shoulder, forcing him to release the rifle to hang from it’s sling and draw his pistol. A single shot ended the fight with a werewolf crumpled at his feet.

  He kicked the werewolf to confirm that it was down before switching back to his rifle. Black streaks swept back and forth through the air above him, drawing shots from him, hitting a few of them, and dropping the large beetle-sized dark fey to the cement below. Stepping over to the side of the fallen targets, he began to advance towards the soft glow of Gymendor's axe that was barely visible over the wall of crates.

  At the next corner, he was forced to stop as another wave of diving dark fey swept down the aisle like a river of gnashing teeth and slashing claws. Taking a deep breath, James pulled one of the spell canisters that had been turned into a grenade from his belt. After a three-count, he pulled the pin on the magic bomb and tossed it into the swirling storm of magical beings.

  A flash of blue light filled the tight space between the crates, and the explosion of the faux grenade met the mass of fey creatures. James's eyes showed only spots from the afterglow of the explosion for a few moments. As his vision began to clear, the only sound he could hear was the sound of icicles falling to hit the cement floor. Shaking his head to clear the spots, he charged forward with his rifle leading the way as the small manifestations of darkness crunched under his feet.

  At the next junction, he caught sight of Gymendor as she pushed through a swarm of fey that buzzed about him like a wall of mosquitoes on a swampy day. He swung his twin-headed axe like a fly swatter, using the flat of the blades to knock as many of the dark fey out of the air as he could. Growing frustrated as several of the fey scratched and bit him, the Dryad let loose with the vines that made up a large portion of his body to slap at his assailants.

  James shifted his focus back to the fight before him, looking for anything that might help him end this fight quickly. Near the far wall, an even blacker section of the mist gave him a direction. With his rifle raised, he advanced, letting his training lead him as he eliminated any threat that showed itself.

  As he pivoted around the last corner, bolts of darkness lashed out. Out of instinct he quickly threw himself against a crate as the attack passed. He pointed in the direction of the attack and returned fire towards the black figures that were silhouetted by the even deeper darkness behind them.

  Two fell to the light barbs that stuck from them, while others scrambled for cover. James advanced under his fire, shooting in the general direction of the black orb. His bolts hit, sending ripples over the liquid surface of the strange formation.

  Before he could get close enough to discover what real damage his attacks were doing, Gymendor emerged from the mist to his right with his axe, dropping to bite deep into the darkness. For a moment, time seemed to hang, frozen as the blade of light bit into the flexible shell of the orb.

  A deep glow broke from the darkness, filling the room as if spotlights were aimed down every aisle. In a burst of light, the darkness burned away with a scream that seemed to pull at the air of the room. James dropped to a knee with his back to one of the shipping crates, bracing himself against the magical wind that pushed against him like a raging river in early spring.

  Pure light expanded like a slow-motion explosion, filling the cavernous warehouse. As the wave front of light passed over him, he rose to his feet and began to advance slowly toward the center of the open space that was filled with a crate of trapped Fey. A single door remained sealed with a look that was as dark as the night before dawn.

  James moved carefully, checking each corner until he reached the cage. Putting the muzzle of his rifle against the side of the lock. He fired into it, shattering the mystical cage into a dozen pieces. As the chunks thumped to the floor, he pulled the door open to reveal the dozens of fey crouching in the far corner, while a few Gnomes hid in one of the closer corners.

  Stepping back from the door, he motioned for the trapped beings to exit the cage while he held the door open. Instead of moving quickly out of the cage, all of them remained cowering in place. He turned to look over his shoulder at the hulking Dryad who was still hacking away at a few remaining headless dark beings that were still trying to fight towards a hatch that led below the warehouse.

  He let his rifle loose on the dark, knife-wielding beings that hugged the few shadows that remained. Several dropped from the bolts that stuck in their cloaks of flowing darkness, while others were pinned in place long enough to fall from a swing of Gymendor's axe. When the last of the enemy had fallen, the dryad stepped over to the cage.

  Gymendor knelt near the open door so that he was at the same level as the Gnomes that still cowered in the corner, along with a few dozen fey.

  “I know that your time here must have been terrible, but my Lord Lugh has sent the Tuatha De Danann to save you. He's even called a champion from this city to better defend it. Lord O'Driscoll is here to help and will be working with us to purify this city, one bit at a time.”

  Before James could say anything in response, he heard the soft clunk of one of the hatches settling back into place. He spun towards the sound, weapon scanning the area around the hatch as he advanced. When nothing living became visible around the hatch, he pulled another light grenade from his belt and dropped it through the hatch before closing the lid.

  A puff of light lifted the steel cover slightly before letting it drop back into place. Glancing back over to the Dryad that had taken up a defensive position in front of the freed prisoners, James finally spoke.

  “It looks like they will trust you a lot more than they will me. I'm going to do another sweep of the building and make sure we don't have any other enemies hiding in corners. Will you please get them back to the people who will be able to help them and get any information from them that you can?”

  The last of the shadows melted away until the warehouse was filled with light like it was out in the noonday sun. With his weapon raised, he moved away to let Gymendor do his work with the stunned prisoners. He still didn't understand why prisoners were being held, but he did know that the creatures of the darkness had killed Vic and tried to kill him. With a deep breath, he went to check any place big enough to hold a single dark fey.