54Hello again everyone!
I'm going to try to keep up the update schedule of once every week; let's see how that goes!
In any case, here's the next chapter; just another battle scene!
And now, we return to our feature presentation...
R'vek stared in terror as he saw the flames rising from the encampment and the sounds of gunfire reached his ears. The other guardians looked back towards the encampment, startled by the percussive sounds of combat that echoed through the dense jungle. R'vek's pace accelerated as he thought of Tira; she was still in there. Without warning, the Guardian of Remorse bolted off into the brush, ignoring the shouts of protest from the others, crashing through branches and leaves and leaping over fallen logs, allowing nothing to stop him in his single minded dash towards the makeshift base. As he reached the base, he was met with utter chaos. Tents were up in flames, and Jiralhanae, Sangheili, and human soldiers milled madly about the clearing. R'vek's heart nearly stopped as he saw his tent, Tira's tent, engulfed in fire, nearly nothing but ashes left. R'vek glanced about the encampment madly, and suddenly he heard a scream, one that sounded like the voice of the Sangheili girl he had found on the destroyed Forerunner vessel. Turning to look, R'vek saw a heavily armored Jiralhanae standing in front of a bunker, some sort of strange hammer in his hand; this must be the leader. Ignoring the other soldiers, R'vek charged the massive Jiralhanae, igniting both of his energy swords as he ran, their purple blades flickering silently to life, leaving violet trails of energy behind them. The Sangheili warrior leapt through the air at the Jiralhanae soldier… only to be met by a harsh blow of the hammer to his gut. The massive force smashed through his shields and knocked the breath out of him, sending R'vek flying through the air, and crashing to the ground some feet away. Staggered, the downed warrior rose shakily to his feet, looking up as the Jiralhanae warrior approached him. Two black, energized blades sprung from the sides of the hammer, transforming the blunt weapon in to a keen axe as they cracked to life, and he was dressed in ebon and gold battle armor. On his faceplate was blasted a hole to reveal an empty eye socket, and as he approached R'vek's hearts nearly stopped; he knew this soldier.
Mortis slid open his visor, retracting the metal into his helm and revealing his twisted, smiling face.
"Miss me?"
R'tas Vadum ran down the corridor of his vessel, energy blade in one hand, a plasma rifle in the other, firing down the corridor at the Jiralhanae Loyalists who pursued him. Much to his surprise, he had seen a few members of the Kig-Yar race among them as well; apparently not all of the stinking Jackals had known what was best for them after the war was over. The battered Sangheili warrior ran towards the end of the corridor, firing a few last shots through the door as he ran through and the door sealed. Most of the crew was either separated or dead, and as he activated the cooling system on his rifle, R'tas realized that he was entirely alone. Suddenly, he heard something coming from the pipes in the engine room. The Sangheili glanced about nervously, pointing his weapon at every spot the clicks issued from. Suddenly, one of the pipes burst, and a dead Kig-Yar fell from the pipe, her body chewed and mangled, but recognizable; she was one of the Shipmistresses who helped to command the fleet. R'tas stepped back in disgust; the Kig-Yar were bad enough alive, but in death they stank even worse. Suddenly, the dead female moved, her elbow popping unnaturally as her deformed corpse rose to its feet, shambling forward, brown pustules forming on her skin. Startled and revolted, R'tas fired five shots into the body's head, dropping it once more to the ground. The Shipmistress' head burst, splattering red fluids everywhere… and hundreds of insect-like flood poured from her shattered body. R'tas cried out in battle rage as he relentlessly opened fire on the horde, but even he was eventually overwhelmed, and the Sangheili warrior disappeared screaming under a wave of Flood.
Jyn lay on her belly on a hillside distanced from the camp, peering through the scope of her beam rifle. Things weren't looking good in the encampment; troops from both sides milled about in battle, with the Jiralhanae slowly pushing back the Sangheili and human defenders, slowly making their way towards the edges of the camp. The activity made it difficult for her to line up a good shot on her scope, and Jyn cursed under her breath; these Jiralhanae had new, tough armor; she would need a perfect shot to take one down.
Jyn steadied herself, and, holding her breath, centered the crosshair of her scope on the forehead of a Jiralhanae warrior in combat with a Guardian. Normally, the aqua armored guardian wouldn't have much trouble dealing with a Jiralhanae like this, but he had already sustained some serious damage fending off the superior numbers of the enemy, and had a slight limp in his left leg. Jyn pulled the trigger. A beam of pink energy lanced out from the nozzle of the rifle, speeding towards its target faster than Jyn could whisper "gotcha." The Jiralhanae's head burst as the beam lanced through his eye, splattering his brains in a thick line behind him. The Brute collapsed to the ground, dead, and Jyn grinned as the Guardian moved back to take a defensive position. Steadying her sights, Jyn fired off more shots, each one dropping a Jiralhanae to the ground. The Brutes began to glance about the encampment looking for their assailant, and as Jyn looked for her next target, she saw a massive, armored Jiralhanae beating the life out of a purple-armored Guardian: R'vek. Jyn lined up her shot, aiming directly for the hole in his helmet over an empty eye socket; this shot had to count. Jyn tightened her finger on the trigger… and felt a massive blow to her side shatter three of her ribs. Jym cried out in pain and surprise as the massive force propelled her through the air, sending her crashing down on her back two feet from her rifle. Clutching her side, the Kig-Yar desperately crawled towards her weapon. An immense metal foot came out of nowhere and slammed down on her arm, shattering the delicate bones like twigs. Jyn screamed in agony as the cold steel crushed her arm against the ground, staining the grass with her blood. A shimmer flickered through the air as the owner of the foot dropped its cloaking device and revealed itself. It was an enormous machine, moss and branches hanging from its body and huge metal claws present at the end of two long, dexterous arms. Its body resembled a sort of harness, and in the center, a small metal sphere bearing a single eye sat in the center. The monstrosity lifted its leg and placed its foot squarely on Jyn's chest, and the Kig-Yar gasped for breath as the machine crushed the air out of her lungs. The robot leaned over Jyn's face as she grappled desperately against its foot, trying futilely to lift the crushing weight on her chest, the machine's single eye peering into her face.
"Classification… Classification…" A robotic voice issued from the machine, a small rotary turret drawing a dot on Jyn's forehead with a laser pointer. Jyn's vision began to fade from lack of oxygen, and the machine turned blurry. Suddenly, the foot lifted slightly, removing most of its weight from Jyn's chest. Jyn gasped sharply, flooding her lungs with air, her vision returning to its natural razor-sharp clarity. Although she could breathe, the weight of the foot was still too much for her to move or to speak. "Classification… Species identified. Kig-Yar; sentient, primate mammal base with some avian and reptilian features; present upon the destruction of other installations including installation 00. Data… Data… Data lacking. Retrieving specimen for further study." Without warning, the turret shifted, the pointer lining up with Jyn's neck, and a small dart fired from its nozzle as the weight of the mechanical leg was lifted completely from her body. Jyn cried out in surprise, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head as the sedative poured into her veins and her vision darkened to black.
Mortis laughed as R'vek tumbled across the dusty ground, his axe hanging casually at his side, his booted foot slick with indigo blood. R'vek shakily dragged himself to his knees, blood issuing from his mouth as he clutched his battered stomach in pain.
"How – urgh!" shouted R'vek as Mortis drove his boot into his stomach, sending the half dead Sangheili rolling across the ground.
"What's the matter, R'vek?" laughed Mortis, activating his war axe. "No fight left in the great Sangheili Guardian?" Mortis walked over to R'vek, brutally driving his foot into the Sangheili's stomach as the downed warrior coughed up blood. "Too… weak… to… protect… Tira?" Mortis laughed brutally in between the blows, toying with his enemy before finishing him off. Suddenly, Mortis felt a hand tightly clasping his ankle, and heard the ignition of an energy sword. R'vek yanked hard on Mortis' leg, propelling himself up at an angle and driving the blade underneath Mortis' ribs and out his back. The seared flesh around the Jiralhanae's empty eye socket widened in shock, and R'vek stared at grimly at his faceplate.
"You…" panted R'vek, ignoring his shattered ribcage, "you have no right to speak of her!" For a moment, all was still. Then R'vek heard a deep, rumbling chuckle. The Sangheili took a step back, confused, before the chuckle exploded into a deep, guttural laugh and Mortis smashed him across the face with huge force, cracking one of R'vek's mandibles as he sent the Sangheili flying. R'vek lay on the ground, unmoving, breathing heavily, his eyes staring hatefully, defiantly, pleadingly at Mortis. The Jiralhanae walked towards R'vek, the violet energy sword still embedded in his chest, and grabbed R'vek by the arm, lifting him up into the air by his forearm so as to look the warrior in the eye. Retracting his faceplate, Mortis grinned as he squeezed his hand shut, shattering the bone in R'vek's arm, relishing in his victim's gurgled howl. Mortis tossed R'vek to the ground, and the defeated Sangheili slumped onto his knees, the fight knocked completely out of him. Mortis brought his axe to bear, raising it high above his head.
"And now, R'vek…" Mortis paused, his twisted face stretching into a contorted smile, "you die".
Time seemed to slow down. R'vek lowered his head in resignation, preparing his broken body for the blow, tears running freely from his eyes. The axe, glowing with black energy seemed to move through the air as if it were moving through thick jelly, the massive blade slowly getting closer to bisecting R'vek from head to groin. Suddenly, a massive explosion sounded from behind Mortis, and the Jiralhanae howled and stumbled forward, his axe smashing into the ground an inch from R'vek's body. The world resumed its normal pace, and the sounds of the battle flooded R'vek's ears, as well as a second explosion. R'vek looked at Mortis' back, and saw two scorch marks blasted into his armor, as well as a pink crystalline dagger embedded into the armor. The third and final dagger exploded, and with a quivering shudder, Mortis' shields dissolved completely. The Brute stood, angrily wielding his axe, and spun around. Behind him, a Kig-Yar soldier stood in a combat stance, a fine crystalline blade in each hand, clad in a tight fitting combat vest and pants.
Mortis lunged angrily at the jackal, swinging his axe wide as the agile Kig-Yar jumped out of the way, blades crossed defensively in front of his torso. Mortis was about to lunge again as a beam of pink energy streaked past his unshielded head, nearly splattering his brains all over the ground. Mortis ducked to the ground, watching for sniper fire, before he stood, spat at R'vek, and sprinted off towards his troops.
R'vek tried to stand, but his legs, weakened from blood loss, collapsed underneath him. His vision began to go cloud over, and as his eyes slowly slid shut, he saw the Kig-Yar approaching him, shouting words he could not hear. Finally, R'vek toppled over onto the dusty ground, slipping into the black void.
First canon character death :)
So, I'm leaving off here, with the fates of almost everybody left hanging in the balance!
Find out what happens in the next thrilling installment of... The Ring!
The winds of time blow on, shifting the sands of reality into ever changing patterns.
- Baeowulf