Active Intruders: 5
Vanquished Intruders: 23
Do you know the difference between an Invader and a Intruder?
An Invader is one who specifically is looking to conquer. To take control. To cause harm to a country, region, or domain.
An Invader seeks power. Power over or from another. I can respect that. It is a challenge. A game. With the winner taking control of all. To the victor the spoils.
Now Intruders...are not as impressive. Intruders in my eyes, are much more rude. They enter without permission. They shatter the boundaries and rules with their very existence. They always make a mess, and I am the only one that can clean it up.
I close the holes shackle them down, but intruders are like rats. They get in through the cracks and end up everywhere. They come to take. To steal what is not theirs. I have learned many tricks from them, and thus why there are so few here.
I have never met an Invader. Not that I wish to, but I do not meet those types. Never a challenge but instead I find myself playing a game of cat and mouse. Because truly, none can conquer me. None can take control of this place.
None can cause me harm. Yet Intruders, no matter how I deal with them, always find a way to come in. All of them seeking the same thing. To find her.
I wonder when they will finally stop. When they finally will allow me to rest. That is all I want to do. To rest. To not take the time to deal with insects, bringing in their filth.
It is like a wild animal coming into your home. It does not belong. Stay outside where you belong, let me enjoy my life separate from you. Let me have my world, my quiet, my respite.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
In the middle of a field of purple grass, below a broken moon. A hooded figure sat down on a blanket. They wiggled their bare toes against the ground. They hummed absently as a small red window shimmered before their eyes.
They chuckled as they looked at the window before waving their hand in the air, and the window shimmered out of existence. They started to lay back, putting thier arms behind their head as they started to get comfortable.
They chuckled softly at the glowing text before waving thier hand. The window blinked out of existence as they leaned back until thier shoulders touched the blanket. Thier voice was soft, almost pleased as they began to count.
"Six... and soon five, four, three, two, one..."
They let out a long sigh.
"Zero."
"And not a change for months now," they murmured to no one. "Would it be too childish to claim victory?"
The figure propped themself up on thier elbows and glanced across the field, watching the grass ripple gently in the breeze.
"Anyone against it?" They asked the quiet field.
The wind brushed softly against thier hood and they giggled.
"Victory it is," They declared, sitting up fully. "Like they ever had a cha—"
The red window reappeared before their eyes. They titled their head as they read golden letters that flashed before them and a robotic voice stated aloud.
BREACH DETECTED
"Again?" a soft voice says, with a hint of annoyance. Before a huff as the hooded figure crossed their arms and tapped a finger on their forearm. Another window appeared, this one white. They cracked their knuckles before their fingers began to fly across the white window, as though striking invisible keys.
As they looked away from the red window that told them there was a breach they said in a bored tone. "Prepare the usual for them. Notify th-"
One Intruder Detected
The robotic voice interrupted her and they froze. Their fingers hovered motionless over the white window before slowly lowering to their lap.
"Just one?" they said in a low voice. "That's not right. They usually arrive in groups of four."
The figure tilted their head, silent for a moment, then resumed typing. Though this time slower, as they seemed to be in their thoughts.
"Just one..."
They tilted their head, silent for a moment before typing resumed. Silent before they scoffed "It is just one..pathetic. Are they underestimating me? They must think after all this time I must have weakened. Pathetic."
They swiped their hand in the air, a red slowly appearing. A picture of a face of a young man, followed by lines of details. Their body froze and their hands slowly lowered from the white window.
"No..." They muttered.
"No this can't be right. It can't be him."
They stood up, ther body still as a wind billowed across the purple grass, and jostled their cloak. Revealing the sight of a woman with grayish skin. Tiny and thin. Her luminescent eyes glowed in the darkness as her face twisted in a frown. She hissed and said in a silent voice barely contained with rage.
"...They think this changes anything? They think he can do anything different then the rest?" She threw her head backed and laughed out loud as she spread her hands in the air. "It doesn't matter. In the end he is just a INTRUDER!"
"PATHETIC INTRUDER! You think you dare come here alone to challenge me?!"
They typed away, restrictions being placed. Conditions being set. Hazards placed and notified. All for this one intruder. All for him.
She snarled as she slapped aside the white window. The window shattering into fragments before shimmering away.
She looked over her domain, a dark world with only a few traces of light.
A place to rest, a place to idle.
A place of peace.
A world separate from where the Intruders came from.
She closed her eyes and asked herself once again.
"Why can't they leave us alone?" she whispered.
For a moment, there was only silence. Then, another red window appeared before her eyes
Active Intruders: 6
Vanquished Intruders: 23
Her glowing eyes flared as she slapped the window into fragments.
"I KNOW!"