In the morning when we had just finished breakfast, I suddenly felt an incredibly strong call inside me. A call that could only come from one, Bac! I immediately got up from my chair, Yibo did the same, our eyes met, he came to me, took my hand and together we ran outside leaving the others confused.
We ran as fast as we could to the gate and out and then we saw him. At the head of an incredible sight, an unbelievably large army of many different creatures that we had never seen before, our King Bac! We ran towards him and he towards us. When we reached him, he wrapped his arms around us and hugged us tightly. Like a father seeing his sons again after a very long time.
It was a very emotional reunion. After this heartfelt embrace, Bac first stroked my face and head, then Yibo, and finally he turned his gaze to our parents, who had also come out of the house in the meantime. Still a bit shy they stood there and obviously didn't know how to act, except Yibo's dad.
Yibo's dad came to us and asked, "How do you greet the king? I would like to introduce myself and thank him."
Bac laughed loudly, reached his hand to my father-in-law and shook it vigorously. "Hello." Said Bac in his deep voice.
"Hi. It's nice to finally meet you. Zhan and Yibo have talked so much about you, I was quite eager to meet you in person. I also wanted to thank you for helping my son and son-in-law, saving them and even making them stronger." Said Yibo's father with a smile.
"Yibo is friend. I like to help friend very much." Replied Bac. Meanwhile, the others also came closer.
My parents approached Bac together and both grabbed his hands. "Thank you very, very much for everything." Said my mom.
My dad nodded and said, "Thanks to you, our sons are still alive. Thank you." At that moment, Bac tilted his head and sniffed my dad. He even touched my dad's cheek with his nose, who in turn looked at us in confusion,
"You have blood of Amore in you." Said Bac. Well, now I guess it's clear which part of the family I got that from. My dad didn't know how to react, so he just nodded and shrugged his shoulders at the same time. That looked pretty funny.
Yibo's mom put her hands on Bac's hand and Bac smiled. "You have blood from Demoids." He said without really having to sniff her. And before she could say anything or react in a similarly hilarious way to my dad, two Demoids stepped out from the ranks of the army and terrified us all. "Don't worry, they friends." Said Bac. But it didn't really reassure us.
The Demoids approached Yibo's mom, took a long sniff at her and Yibo, and one of the Demoids handed Yibo's mom a stone that began to glow when she held it. "Blood of a king!" Said the Demoid and got down on his knees in front of Yibo and his mom. The other Demoid did the same.
Bac waved a couple of his warriors over, pulling a wooden cart behind them with freshly killed animals on top. "For you! You need meat." Said Bac and had the cart parked in front of Jing, who was still keeping his distance.
Jing looked at the dead animals and suddenly hugged one of the Amores. "Thank you. Thank you." He said and rubbed his eyes. Yibo and I knew they hadn't eaten meat in a long time, but we didn't realize how much they had obviously suffered from it until that moment.
Bac's wife was also there, holding the little prince in her arms. The little one had grown quite a bit, but was still a baby. My mom saw the baby prince and walked up to Bac's wife. She asked, "Can I touch him?" And the queen squeezed her son into my mom's arms, who held him proudly and showed him to my dad. "This little one is so cute." She said with a grin and stroked his cheek.
"He has such beautiful eyes. And look at those little hands." Wondered Yibo's mom, whose attention was now also on the little prince. The little prince seemed to like that a lot.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Asked Yibo's dad, addressing Bac. Since Bac still doesn't speak our language very well, Yibo and I translated for him.
Which was basically this. Bac has allied himself with many clans of his world and formed a huge army to fight the creatures that threaten our world. He wants to help the humans and asks us to persuade the humans to join his army and fight together with them.
Since Yibo and I once explained to Bac how people communicated with each other over long distances, he asked us to do it again. He found a radio station that we can put back into operation and hopefully reach the whole world. He showed us a point on a map where he had found the radio station. Jing approached and explained that this was a military base and he could even help us because he used to be a radio operator in the army.
Jing explained, "I was in the military for 20 years and worked there as a radio operator. There is also a base near here that is even better. Because there are generators there that we can use to get power back on the equipment. And with the equipment there, we can reach every country in the world. Or at least everyone who still has a radio." Then he showed us on the map where the base was and yes, it was much closer.
While Bac, our fathers and Jing discussed the route, Yibo and I looked at this motley army. We were really amazed at how small the valley seemed now that all these creatures were there. As far as the eye could see, there were creatures and monsters that wanted to join us in battle.
A few of these creatures looked amphibious. Others looked like reptiles. And some looked like arachnids. Big and small creatures. Small or very broad. Two legs or more. Just everything was represented. Even winged creatures flying their laps over this huge army again and again. So that's what Bac had been doing all along when he disappeared. He was looking for help.
Not wanting to waste any time, Bac asked that we slowly make our way. Jing and our fathers would accompany and, in exchange, the queen with the little prince and some of Bac's men would stay at the house and watch over our mothers and the others. Saying goodbye to our mothers was quite quick, as we had already used the evening before to do so a bit.
We lined up next to Bac, our dads and Jing walked behind us and between a couple of Amores and we were off. One last turn, wave and then we made our way with Bac to the front of the army to the other side.
After a little over an hour and a half, we reached the valley exit and made our way to the former base of Jing. We reached this after about two more hours through the deserted streets and the city. On the way there, we had stopped only once briefly to get a few canisters of diesel.
Arriving at the base, Jing immediately started to put the generators back into operation. You could really see that he knew exactly what he was doing. With a loud bang, one of the generators woke up and then hummed to itself as Jing switched on the other two generators.
The first thing that happened was that the lights came back on and Jing immediately shut down all non-relevant electrical equipment so as not to use up all the diesel immediately. He then led us to the command center where he explained the radio system. Then he set everything up and told us we could start right away, after Bac explained a few more things about our allies that we had to tell everyone who could hear us.
Yibo took the microphone in front of him, pressed speak and spoke in English, "Hello. My name is Wang Yibo and I live in China. Today I am addressing all the surviving people who can hear me and I ask you all to spread what I have to say to you. To all the brave people who have had enough of hiding, being afraid or running away, help us fight back against the creatures! We have allied creatures who have raised a huge army and sent it all over the world to help us humans! They want to fight together with us all those cruel creatures that made our lives hell for almost a year and a half. Already in a few days the warriors who want to help us will appear everywhere in the world. Visible to all of you, they wear blue ribbons on their arms or heads! Do not fight them, because they come to help you. Join them and help take back our world. We will not give up! We will fight and we will win! And once we are victorious, the allied creatures will go back to their world. They only want to help us! So please, don't fight them and join them!"
Just a short moment after Yibo's radio message, our radio crackled and we received a reply from a US general. "We're in! We have about 1000 soldiers here eager to finally kick some ass with the creatures! I'm sending men out immediately to spread your message."
More radio messages reached us in which people told us they would fight and do whatever it takes to eradicate the creatures from our world. Over several hours, we kept receiving radio messages from individuals, small groups or large groups. And they all assured us they would join the army and FIGHT!
When Jing took over the radioing, he spoke in several different languages and received even more responses. Responses came from all over the world and so it continued for three more days. Three days spent at the base and joined by several individuals and groups.
Men and women, experienced in fighting or not, armed or unarmed, they all came and said they want to fight and liberate our country. It was just unbelievable.
Yibo and I talked to the people, brought them together with the creatures and showed them that there was no danger from the creatures. And soon we were the most diverse bunch of fighters that had never existed before and probably never will again.
After our last night at the base, Bac addressed everyone present. Through a loudspeaker that Jing gave him, he spoke to everyone. Yibo and I translated for him for the people. "Today is the first day we will fight back together as one! Together we will fight and defeat those creatures that are a threat to the people and this world! Simultaneously with all the other people of this world, we will strike back and we will be victorious!" The crowd cheered so loudly that it could probably be heard for miles.
Jing, our fathers, and some warriors from Bac stayed at the base to maintain contact with everyone else in the world. We set off with Bac and all the other warriors.
Yibo took my hand, smiled and said, "We are going to get our lives back now. We are going to fight now so we can finally live the life we both dream of. I love you."
"I love you too Bo. Yes, let's fight for our future together." I replied and we stepped up to Bac's side and led the way with him.