ASCENSION: BOOK 3- APOCALYPSE.

Chapter 6: Invasion.

As the months rolled by I began to feel as though I'd found my home with Luna's Clan. I worked hard to provide food for our people and with her help, I had found my peace in meditation.
The people here had accepted my blood, some even calling me Skai Natblida. Through them I had also started to find an acceptance of the black blood that now flowed in my veins. It was another step closer to finding my equilibrium.
Slowly, the seasons began to change. The warmer temperatures of spring felt like a blessing after such a cold and tumultuous winter. I began to feel such prospect for the times ahead.
As I spent the afternoon outside teaching the children how to mend fishing nets, I noticed that one of them had become distracted. She'd wandered off over to the edge of the upper platform of the oil rig and stood staring out towards the horizon. I left the others to continue with their task and walked over to her.
"Astrid! What is it?" I asked with curiosity.
"Ships! In the distance. Look!" She pointed.
My eyes met the thing that had caught her attention. She was right. Sailing out of the misty horizon were about twenty vessels all heading towards our location. Panic filled my senses.
"Find Luna! Fast as you can!"
I knew they weren't from any of The Clans. They approached from open water, from distant lands. I had always wondered if others on this planet had survived Praimfaya, now that question had been answered.
It wasnt long before Luna rushed over accompanied by her guards. She looked out at the ships that sailed ever closer to our home, concern resting upon her face. Pulling an old  telescope from her belt she did her best to assess the situation.
"I count twenty five large vessels, all with sails and engine power. Where ever they came from they're moving fast," she observed.
"How many people will a fleet that size carry?" I asked.
Luna lowered the telescope, "Around forty  people per ship so at least a thousand."
I was shocked by the numbers, "How can we be sure of their intensions?"
Luna stared back out to the ocean, "You don't carry that amount of people to distant shores without a reason. This is not a journey of discovery, this is an invasion."

We could hardly believe this was happening. Luna was convinced the people aboard those ships had hostile intensions. We couldn't take any chances with the safety of our people.
At the rate their ships travelled towards us there would be no time to evacuate everyone off the rig, the access lift was too small and too slow. Luna ordered power to the lift to be shut down and any stair access on the lower levels to be blocked. If these unwanted visitors were indeed seeking a confrontation then they would have to scale the oil rig to fight us.
There was an armoury on the rig that was secured and guarded twenty-four seven, built and stocked with weapons for emergencies only. It seemed the day had arrived to once again take up arms much to our dismay.
Those who could fight were asked to do so. The elders took the children deep into the maze of the oil rig to keep them safe. Oil was washed around the metal edges of upper platform to create both a slippy and flammable barrier should any of these unwanted guests reach the top.
Warriors were positioned in key points of attack and defence as we watched the ships begin to slow their approach. I stood side by side with Luna, sword gripped tightly in my hand, looking to her for guidance.
"What are they doing? Why are they slowing down?" I asked, unfamiliar with nautical warfare.
"Their ships are too large to come any closer. If they wish to board the rig then they'll have to approach on smaller boats," Luna informed me.
She wasn't wrong. Within minutes of the ships haulting, smaller vessels were dispatched in our direction. Luna's eyes remained transfixed on the situation through the lense of her telescope. She broke her gaze when she saw what we all feared.
"They have weapons. Swords, arrows, axes, spears..." Luna paused mid sentence.
"What is is? What do you see?" I urged her to contiune.
Luna lowered the telescope. A look of dread  rested upon her face as she answered me.
"... Guns. They have guns."
My heart sank. There were no powerful  firearms on the oil rig only harpoons and the traditional weapons of The Grounder Clans. If these invaders made it onto our home, it would be the end of us all.

One by one they climbed, higher and higher towards us. With their weapons strapped tightly to their backs, they moved with determination and strength.
Our archers took their aim, firing their arrows down through the interwoven metal structure in an attempt to stop as many invaders as possible, but there were just too many of them.
As the first wave of them reached the upper platform Luna ordered the archers to set alight the oil. It immediately burst into flames, creating a barrier of fire, halting their access.
For a time we thought we had the upper hand, but we underestimate the resolve of the men and women that waited patiently for the flames to die down to continue their attack. As soon as the fire cooled they began to move, climbing onto the platform in droves.
We surrounded the edge, slicing at as many as possible as they clambered up. All it took was a few to make it through, before more and more followed. We were outnumbered and fighting a loosing battle.
Side by side with Luna I stood covered in the blood of my enemies, fighting them back until all I could see was the dead bodies of our fallen warriors. We were surrounded and defeated.
Eight of us stood back to back, our swords poised as the invaders circled us. Through the crowd a voice called out in a language we did not understand. A pathway was made through our attackers as a man made his way closer to us. He motioned for his warriors to lower their weapons and pointed at the access lift. One of his people approched it and began looking over the box that supplied power to it from the solar panels. Within seconds he'd reconnected the power and activated the lift.
No one spoke, only the sound of the ocean and the whirling of the lift, as it motioned closer, could be heard. We kept out weapons raised, unsure of what was to be our fate and of who or what would emerge from  that lift.
As it thudded to a halt, we waited nervously for the doors to open. My palms were sweating,  my heart pounded in my chest. It felt like this was it, the end of this new life that I had only just begun.