When the ships appeared out of the still sky on a lonely august morning,  the world reeled in shock,  not only was alien life confirmed but here it was irrefutable in its ovoid shaped glory.

What wonders would this new era bring… Better to ask what horrors,  for as world leaders and corporations struggled to both make sense of it while avoiding mass panic, this technological marvel, on this historic day, opened fire.   Their numbers and firepower left cities a smoldering ruin,  along with ankor wat, the sphinx and several tibetan temples.  In those beginning hours it seemed inevitable,  the extinction of the human race was underway, though other species were not exempt from attention.  Pods of whales and dolphins were destroyed.  Wholesale slaughter of the great apes.  Then,  in the still,  chill of night a beam of sickly green shot out of a Tennessee swamp,  striking the side of one of the ships.  For a brief moment,  nothing,  then a vast deafening ripping sound filed the air and the ship was rent in two.   The counterstrike had begun.  While the military struggled to put together a meaningful attack plan others had dusted off old contingency plans and acted.  Some singly,  and others in concerted groups.  Who were these saviors,  you ask. Perhaps delta force or a secret darpa project?  No.  The man who brought down the first ship was an ex mental patient,  someone the world was convinced was crazy.  After all,  only a crazy person would claim he was the reincarnation of an old shaman who could do real magic.  In Jerusalem the Knights of the temple came out from bunkers deep beneath the city wielding complicated and disturbing technological horrors.  Oh,  the ships fell under their onslaught but many who saw those weapons in action were driven irrevocably mad.  In Wales,  a great oak tree said to have been standing for a thousand years split in twain, and out stepped a wizened old man who looked mightily disturbed at those who had interrupted his nap.  All over the world secret societies and ancient guardians woke up.