The Fall

42. Ocean

2.23.21

Benji's POV

After enjoying my breakfast in peace, I retreated to my office. I have a lot of work to do and not a long time to do it. As soon as my butt hit the chair, I began to draw what I thought the human's fortress looked like. It was surrounded by forest on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. Considering I don't have any boats, we would have to go in through the woodlands. Unless...

I grabbed my phone off of its stand before dialing a number on it. I'm surprised that the people who ran this building still have one from the early 2000s. That felt like forever ago when I was a kid, so it's definitely outdated now. Whatever, it's useful for times like these. I don't have to get my cell phone from my jacket pocket that's halfway across the room. I dialed the number 759-820-1548 and listened to the tone playing into my ear. God, that noise is so annoying; I hate every second of it. However, on the 5th ring exactly, my call went through.

"Who is this," a gruff voice commanded from the other line. The man spoke demonish, so I knew that I had gotten to the right place. Well, I wasn't sure if it was the right supernatural location yet, but I knew it was one of them.

"My name is Benjamin Evans, and I ask your leader's assistance," I replied, fluent in the language. I have to make sure that I don't sound like a prank call. I don't want the man on the other end to hang up. That would be a massive failure, and I would have to try again at some point. It's been a long time since any land dweller reached the number that wasn't turned away. I'm hoping to be the first.

"I've heard your name before. You guys are trying to get rid of the humans, aren't you?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I'm guessing that you want our help with something."

"Why else would I be calling."

"At least you're honest. Fine, I'll put you through. Just don't say anything that will get me fired."

A quiet crack came through before some kind of tacky music played, and I continued to plan while I waited. I'm working on the forest side while hoping my pleas will bring us help. The humans would assume that building on the sea would automatically make their fort safer, but I have different ideas.

It took almost twenty minutes before someone spoke through the device again, and I immediately stopped what I was doing. This is the moment I've been waiting for!

"Hello?" A female questioned, and I took only a second to get into my diplomatic mood before responding cheerily.

"Hi, this is Benjamin Evans. I wanted to ask your help with something."

"Yes, my worker told me. What do you need? You should know by now that we don't meddle in land affairs. I got tired of bailing all of you out and just stopped trying to communicate. Now, tell me again, what do you want from me."

"I know that you typically aren't willing to help out, but this is important for both you and me. You're aware of what's been going on for the past month, correct?"

"I have a vague idea. I think that all of you are suicidal for thinking that this would work against so many humans, and if you're asking for troops, it's a solid no. My group has always been in the sea, and we always will."

"That's part of it but not fully. There's a human settlement right next to the sea that I would like help with. I could do it on my own, but I think that collaborating would bring more rewards for both sides."

"What makes you say that?"

"It would help me because there would be fewer needless casualties. Tell me, do you like death?"

"Of course I don't, but it's much better than sending my own people out to get themselves killed. You probably don't even know what you're going to do with them yet. I'd bet that you just called me as soon as you thought of using me without even thinking through what you needed me for all of the ways, is that right?"

"Alright, fine, you caught me. I wasn't going to draft an entire plan and then be turned down. I have a vague one, though."

"Tell me what that plan is, and I might think about helping you."

"Well, because of the way the fortress is sat, without a navy, we wouldn't have a chance. The humans would always have an escape from our land invasion if they thought it wasn't good. I know that it may not sound very significant to you, but it can destroy a lot. We would have done everything for nothing. I'm thinking that if we have some of your people to block off that exit, it would be ten times better."

"Elaborate on why that is."

"Well, if you can hold them up for a little bit, we would be able to catch up by foot. With that, our numbers would overwhelm them, and they would surrender to us. It would be less dangerous for you this way because there's no certainty they would try to escape. I just want to tie up that loose end. Also, there would only be a short time they would be focusing on you alone. We would take most of the hit. The bay isn't that long, so we would reach you within a mere four minutes."

"Anything else you want to say before I make my decision."

"By helping us eliminate the humans, you're helping with the health of your ocean. It's no secret that even though they've gotten better at not polluting, they still do a lot of it. It's killing your ecosystem."

"What's to say that you guys wouldn't do that as well."

"We don't have any reason for transportation like the humans did. I mean, all it takes is a bit of magic, and we can go wherever we need to in the world."

"That doesn't apply for the ones that don't have magic."

"Someone will probably invent a transporter when we're allowed to use that power again."

"I don't like the odds of probably."

"The amount of pollution will go down; that's all I can tell you."

"Fine then. My decision is no."

"What!? Why?"

"You haven't done a proper job of showing me the risk is worth the reward. I'm not going to get involved in all of your dumb antics, so just leave me alone. If you contact me one more time without the proper information prepared, I'm going to have my secretary block your number."

"Alright... Just understand that in some way, you will regret this. I don't know how yet, but I just have a feeling. Don't come calling me for help." I slammed the phone down before realizing what had just come spewing from my mouth. Good going Benji, you've probably put her off of caring about your cause forever. I just hope that she doesn't write me off the next time I call her. I still have a bad feeling about this, though...