Friday Flash Fiction - War in forgotten places

There are quiet places, forgotten places, even in the middle of the busiest cities. They're like eddies in a river current. You just have to know how to look for them - a narrow alley here, a sheltered doorway there. Places beside the malls and parking lots where nobody seems to go. It is there that you will find the things normal people are blind to, for better or worse. In the shadows of our world, in the places we don't care to look, a bitter war rages between tiny viking robots and teddy bear vampires. It has been fought for centuries, anywhere the humans do not remember or bother to explore. Nobody remembers why there must be war, only that one or the other side must claim the shadows for their own. The world of forgotten places is too small for two strange races as theirs.

Teddy Fang and Fuzzy Wuzzy Blooddrinker survey the dark, disused alley, looking for the tell-tale sparks of their near-vanquished foe. He escaped briefly, but the teddy bear vampire sense of smell is not easy to outrun. A baked bean can topples over and the horns of the damaged viking robot, designated "V1-KG-8024", appear quickly scuttling for more cover. His face would register fear, were such a thing possible for either a robot or a viking.

The teddies bear their tiny, sharp fangs, clutch their spears made from sharpened chopsticks and begin the chase anew, all but silent on their padded feet. The viking escapes through a wall between some dislodged bricks and wedges his energy shield in the gap behind him. It is just enough to stand in the teddy bears' way. Though they prod in rage with their spears, the shield holds, and its battery will last quite long enough for the half-broken robot to escape and be repaired. The battle is done for today, but tomorrow there will be another alley, another fight or another hunt. The war is never over.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I like the idea of a world hidden by our own inattention.
PPS - It's a bit like an SEP field, really.