The first sign of the war coming to Earth was the destruction of the Pyramids of Giza. The great monuments exploded outward, sending huge pieces of debris flying into Cairo. A black cavern opened up beneath where the tombs had stood, and all the beasts that had been sleeping for aeons under the sand poured out. And at the head of their advance was the Smiling Man.

The human inhabitants of the city were caught unprepared. Those in the streets were chased down, and those indoors were dragged outside to their deaths. The Smiling Man skipped through the carnage, picking out its favorite victims and giving each one special attention.

Fleeing the destruction of the Empty City, the Black Dog arrived in Cairo. Within moments of appearing, the horde tried attacking it. But the Dog’s claws cleaved a path through them, all the way to the Smiling Man. The Dog pounced at the Smiling Man, and bit its torso off. Flower petals ripped out of the Dog’s mouth, tearing apart its jaw, and then came back together in the shape of the Smiling Man. The Black Dog’s wounds quickly closed, and the two Fears squared off against each other.

The Black Dog prepared to pounce again, but was swatted aside by a huge yellow paw. The Great Sphinx stepped between the Fears, and roared. It leapt on top of the Dog, and the two rolled through the streets, biting and clawing at each other’s throats.

And as the chaos in Cairo seemed as though it was reaching its peak, the sky began to fall away. In the emptiness behind the collapsed sky was a monstrous god, taller than even the great pyramids. It looked like a floating giant larva, with sickly white flesh, tentacles covering its underside, and a pair of black horns atop it. Beneath it was an army of black creatures, each with a body made of tentacles and mouths atop six goat legs. Another Outer God had joined the revolution: Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods, and her Thousand Young.

Shub-Niggurath’s spawn stormed into the city, killing any living thing they came across, human and beast alike. The arrival of a military response did not even slow them, as they charged through the gunfire and overwhelmed the soldiers.

This was the setting that I-330 found when she arrived in Cairo. The city in flames, its citizens dead, the stench of corpses filling the air, and its buildings destroyed. Shub-Niggurather floated over the outskirts, watching her children tear apart the works of man. And the only Fear who could have fought back was still occupied, struggling against the Great Sphinx.

The Young quickly turned their attention on I-330. She had just a few moments to take in the carnage before her before she was forced to wildly swing her sword, trying to hold off the onslaught. She cut down one of the Young, and standing behind it was the Smiling Man. I-330 looked down to avoid its eyes and swung at it. It dissolved into petals, and then reformed behind I-330. She spun around to attack, but again it dissolved away. The cloud of petals suddenly shot forward, cutting through I-330’s body. She tried to scream, but the only sound that came was a short gasp. Her legs started to buckle underneath her, and when she looked down all she saw was blood covering her entire torso. More blood began to seep out of the bandages made by the Wooden Girl, only adding to the red puddle at her feet.

The Smiling Man appeared again, but I-330’s vision was spinning too much to focus on it. She wanted to lift her sword and attack, but all her strength was going into just holding onto the hilt. A single petal went through both her legs, and I-330 fell. The Smiling Man stood over her, watching, as if enjoying her agony, while a rainbow of petals danced between its fingers. Desperately drawing on whatever willpower she could gather, I-330 grabbed onto time and warped away from the Smiling Man, to the edge of the city. Shub-Niggurath was less than a mile from her new position, but at the time the god seemed content to stay back and watch her spawn run amok.

Those spawn quickly targeted I-330’s new position. Using a wall for support, she managed to pull herself up, leaving a trail of blood that ran to the ground. A voice in her head told her that there was no way she should be able to stand, or even breath with these wounds. But a new voice was rising from even deeper within herself, one which cared nothing for the limitations of a frail human shell, and it screamed at her to stand and destroy all who dared oppose her. She spat blood out of her mouth, and roared at the Young approaching. One tried rushing her, and was cut down. The sword felt heavy and her whole body burned with pain, but she kept her back pressed against the wall and fought on.

A burst of light filled Cairo, and when it faded a portal had appeared in the city. Through it was the Tower of steel and clockwork, menacing over the landscape. Millions of birds flew out of the portal, their numbers so large that the sky turned black. On the ground, the roar of motorcycle engines came over the city as waves of riders with the symbol of the twin triangles on their jackets rode in.

One of the riders slammed into the group of Young attacking I-330, and started firing a shotgun into the crowd. I-330 took a look at the biker, and her eyes lit up in recognition. She took a few moments to steady herself, then said, “Makhno?”

A grin spread across the old man’s scarred face. “Well, small world, ain’t it! I figured you’d be in a place like this.”

“The hell are you doing here?”

“The boss let us know that there was a fight coming, so we got all the Timberwolves together to join in.”

“But why Cairo?”

“Not many other places to fight right now! North America’s gone; we barely managed to hitch a ride with the Manufactured Newborn and Convocation before it was too late. South American’s not much better: that whole continent’s on fire.”

“Well, thanks for the assist.” Another group of the Young was running toward them, shrieking from their many mouths. I-330 spat out another gobful of blood, and lifted her sword. “Wanna go murder some monsters?”

Meanwhile, in another part of Cairo, the fight between the Black Dog and the Sphinx continued. Neither could gain an edge: every wound inflicted on the Black Dog healed within moments, and the Sphinx seemed unfazed by the tears and gashes across its body.

Then, the Convocation flew above, with so many birds massed together it resembled storm clouds. Electricity started to crackle between the wingtips of each bird, which came together into a bolt of lightning that flew down and struck the Sphinx. Before the great beast could recover, another bolt struck it, then another. The Sphinx staggered back, and the Dog used that opportunity to strike, grabbing the Sphinx’s throat with its jaw. And with a crunch, the Black Dog tore off the Sphinx’s head.

Scant seconds had passed before a storm of petals tore through the cloud of birds and hit the Black Dog. The Dog struggled to stand against them, but was quickly thrown aside. The Smiling Man appeared amongst the petals, dancing to a tune only it could hear. Lightning from the Convocation came down toward it, but the Smiling Man melted away into the petals and reappeared further down the street. The Black Dog charged, but was cut in two before it could reach the Smiling Man.

The street lights around the Smiling Man began to flicker. The Tower seemed to loom closer, as if moving forward. Copper wires came from it and flew towards the Smiling Man. Car alarms went off, and the engines burst out of the cars, shifting into forms that grabbed the Smiling Man and prevented it from fleeing, no matter how hard it struggled. The wires reached the Smiling Man, wrapped around its limbs, and began to disassemble it. Piece by piece, it was taken apart, until not even its smile remained. Then the wires brought those pieces back to the Tower, and incorporated them into the construction. The storm of petals that had been flying through the Cairo streets fell to the ground, and slowly withered away.

The Timberwolves were still fighting alongside the Convocation to drive the Young back through the city. Roy Makhno rode at their head, with I-330 warping to keep up, leaving a trail of dead monsters behind them. Lightning from the Convocation hit the ground, killing dozens with each strike. The Young began to flee to the safety of their mother, while the Timberwolves kept close pursuit. But as its children reached her, Shub-Niggurath finally started to move. A low pitched whine came from its body, and several of the bikers fell of their bikes, screaming and clutching their bleeding ears. Those who kept driving forward were thrown aside by a sweep of her tentacles. I-330 warped away to dodge a tentacle, but it struck Makhno, knocking him off his bike. Another came for I-330, and she cut it off with her sword. Shub-Niggurath’s blood spurted out of severed appendage, burning the ground that it landed on. Some fell on I-330’s back, burning through her coat and then her skin. The pain caused her to stumble, and she was unprepared to dodge when another tentacle came at her. It knocked her into the air, and she hit the ground hard. The whole world seemed to be spinning around her, and she felt blood dripping down the back of her head.

The Timberwolves’ weapons were useless against Shub-Niggurath. They could do nothing against her but run and die. The Convocation’s lightning struck her repeatedly, but she didn’t seem to even notice the attacks. Wires from the Tower came at Shub-Niggurath, but she swatted them aside easily. Her tentacles reached through the portal and wrapped around the Tower, and started to pull at it, trying to bring it down.

I-330 could hear the sound of Shub-Niggurath’s young approaching, and got up onto a knee. She managed to slash one away before it could reach her, but another’s tentacle wrapped around her arm and dragged her back down. She cut that one down, when a third lunged and bit into her side. I-330 stabbed that one down, and tried to stand to fight the others, but fell. The last of her energy had been spent. Her breath was coming in rapid gasps, and the pool of blood around her was growing larger by the second.

But that voice had not stopped screaming. And something was still waking up inside her. More Young ran toward I-330, but stopped several feet away as her shadow started to lengthen and change into something distinctly not human. Her breathing calmed down, and she stood back up. A few more drops of blood fell from her, then the bleeding stopped. She looked at the hesitating Young, and smiled.

I-330 vanished, and then reappeared amongst the Young. Her sword moved so fast it became a blue blur, cutting through the beasts without any resistance. I-330 flowed through the monsters with a dance like grace, wielding her sword with a skill drawn from inhuman instinct. Nothing could even touch her as she slaughtered her way toward Shub-Niggurath.

She heard a howl from behind, and looked back. The Black Dog was barreling through the Young, and riding on top of it was Roy Makhno.
“You like my new ride?” The biker shouted. “Hop on!”

I-330 warped onto the Dog’s back, riding it with Makhno. They fought through the horde, the Dog ripping the ones in front apart with its teeth, Makhno firing off with his shotgun, and I-330 cutting down the remainders with her sword. A building by Shub-Niggurath began to fall over, and the Dog ran up the inclined side of it like a ramp. At the top, the Dog jumped off, toward Shub-Niggurath.

While they were in the air, several of the god’s tentacles struck toward them. One impaled Makhno and threw him off. Before I-330 could react to the sudden death, another one struck the Dog. I-330 jumped off the Dog before it could be thrown aside, wordlessly shouting as she fell toward Shub-Niggurath, sword ready. She cut into the god’s flesh, leaving a tear of nothing across its skin. The tear spread quickly, eating away at Shub-Niggurath. An unearthly scream fell over Cairo, and the Outer God crumbled away. Her children echoed her scream, and they too dissolved into nothing.

I-330 warped back to the ground and breathed in relief. Calm fell over the ruins of Cairo, broken only by the screams of the dying. With Shub-Niggurath’s presence gone, I-330 could sense the growing chaos around the world. Hundreds of massive distortions of time were appearing as more gods and monsters returned to the Earth.

“One down….”