The Smothered Flames
The sun started to set as I continued traveling through the forest. The dwindling sun was shimmering on a creek nearby. "As good as a spot as any", I said to myself as I started to set up camp for the night. "How far away from the city are we?" I asked my ghost. My ghost came into view from around my back. "We are 67 miles south of the city." Wow. 67 miles. Not too shabby I thought to myself. We had been traveling for about a week now. Our mission was to scout for fallen strongholds that could threaten the city. "You're getting this on your map right ghost?" "Of course guardian." I better get some rest. Who knows, we might find a stronghold tomorrow. I sat down next to a sizable rock and rested myself against it. I shut my eyes as the final ray of sunlight faded away into darkness.
I awoke to the sound of a loud bang. The sun was barely rising. I stood up quickly and put my hand on top of my hand cannon. I listened to see if anything was near me. I whispered, "Ghost, anything on the radar?" "I've got nothing". A few seconds passed. Another bang, but this time I heard screams of people. I took off running towards the sound of the blast. The bangs were getting closer. Wild animals scurried away as I ran past. "I'm picking up a lot of heat signatures now" said my ghost. Through the thicket of trees I could barely make out the glow of fire. The screams were getting louder. I emerged from the trees to find a clearing in the forest. There was a village here. Fires were raging everywhere. In the sky I could see the ships of the fallen. "Well that's one way to start off your day" I said as I rushed into the village.
As I entered the village I could see people running and hiding. These people really had something good going for them and these fallen are just going to tear it all down. Not on my watch. I turned a corner and three fallen dregs stood with their backs towards me. They were about to enter what looked to be a home. I raised my weapon and took a shot at the dreg in the middle. It fell to the ground. The two dregs next to it looked completely surprised. They turned around. I gave a little shrug and before they could level their weapons at me my hand cannon cut them down. I looked inside the house and found a father. Behind him were his young daughter and his wife. "Stay here, find someplace better to hide." I ran off again. Some people were trying to put up a fight. The flames were getting worse though. Time was against me. Have to work fast. As i ran down a small little alley a vandal was holding a man by the throat and slammed him against the wall. The vandal was about to stab the poor fella. I raised my gun and made quick work of the vandal before he killed the man. The man dropped to his knees. "Find someplace to hide and see what you could to about the fire." I continued running. What to do? If i find the fallen captain I could end this raid. To my right I saw fallen had broken into a barn. I ran towards the barn and targeted every fallen that was in there. There were 10 fallen in there. 7 dregs and 3 vandals. I fired my weapon in quick succession. I didn't miss a shot. As I was aiming for the last two fallen in the barn my weapon went dry. I ran up to the last dreg and the last vandal. I stabbed my knife in the dreg as he shot me. My shield held up though. I took another shot from the vandal and quickly turned around and threw my knife right into the head of the vandal. I looked around quickly but I couldn't find anyone. Then I heard a little cheer. I looked behind some hay stacks and found a group of people. "You're one of the guardians! We are saved!" said one of the villagers. "Stay here, make sure the fire doesn't get you. Have you seen a fallen with four arms and probably two swords?" I asked. " In the city center I saw a tall monster" said one of the younger ones. "Thank you!" I started running out of the barn. It suddenly came to me that I have no idea where the city center is. I ran back into the barn. "Where is the city center?" One of the women said "it is to the east of here. You cant miss it! There are some swings and it sort of looks like a park." "Thanks again!" I ran off. Im pretty sure I passed it on the to the barn. As I turned I ran right into a vandal. We both fell on the floor. "Well this is awkward." I shot the vandal before he could even get up. I got back up on my feet and continued.
I could see the city center. I took cover behind a building and looked out towards the center. A fallen ship had just barely drooped off a squad of fallen. The captain came out of a building and began to give orders to his subordinates. There were about 15 of them including the captain. Alright, let's end this. "Wait!" said my ghost right before I stepped out of cover. "The darkness is heavy in this area. I won't be able to help you." "No choice. I have to do it." I stepped out of cover and slowly walked forward. I leveled my hand cannon and one by one the fallen were hitting the floor. Then a fallen ship came out of nowhere and began raining explosions onto me. "not good" I said to myself. The rest of the fallen began shooting me as well. "very not good" I added. I threw my scatter grenade to try and get a small group of them and continued firing. I had to start strafing and rolling so the ship wouldn't hit me with its massive cannons. I raised my gun into the air and focused my light into it. My weapon set ablaze. Bang, bang. I took out two fallen. The captain started rushing at me with his swords. One of the fallen shot me straight center and it knocked down my shields. My shields are down but I can't afford to miss this shot. This is my last shot. I need to make it count. I stopped dodging and trained my gun right at the head of the charging captain. Right before it swung its massive swords at me I pulled the trigger. I hit him dead on. The captain dropped his swords and my gun returned to its normal state. Suddenly a massive explosion hit me straight on. I flew sideways and into a building. I broke through the outside wall and crashed hard on the inside wall. My body slammed against the wall with terrible force. A tremendous shock of pain jolted through my body. I dropped my gun and fell to the ground.
I couldn't breathe. The pain was too much. My blood started seeping through my armor. My vision began to get blurry. Through the hole that I crashed through entered three fallen that were with the captain before I killed him. They were infuriated. I looked for my gun. I tried to reach it but it was out of reach and I couldn't move. Beyond my gun was the family I had encountered earlier. One of the vandals noticed me look at them and slowly walked towards them. The father stretched his arms to protect his wife and his daughter. I could see the eyes of the daughter. She looked terrified. Her eyes were filled with horror and terror. The vandal that was walking towards them grabbed the father by the throat and slammed him to the ground. One of the other vandals grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up against the wall. They were telling me something but I didn't understand what they were saying. "No" I said weakly. "Leave them alone." The vandal grabbed my head and made me look at the father. The third vandal gave the other vandal that threw down the father a sword. Presumably one of the ones that belonged to the captain. The vandal stepped on the father, lifted the sword and impaled the father. "Nooooooooo!" screamed the mother. She began to sob loudly. The pain started to become too much for me. I was blacking out. I fought to stay awake. The vandal then grabbed the mother and threw her down as well. "Baby," said the mother to her daughter "I love you no matter what ok?" The mother was saying these words through sobs. "and me and daddy will always be there for you. I love y-" the vandal impaled the mother with the last of the captains swords. The little girl screamed and cried. The vandal approached her. Before the vandal could get to her the little girl ran towards me. She grabbed my gun and tried handing it to me. The vandal was now sprinting towards the little girl, the other vandal was aiming up his gun, and the vandal that was holding me tried to reach for the girl with his other arm. The little girl looked at me right in the eyes. She must have been about 5 years old. Her eyes were swollen with tears and as those tears rolled down her pale cheeks she said to me "please help me". My heart sank. I was too hurt to move. No. I am a hunter. I am a guardian. I must protect these people. It is what I am here for. I pushed through the pain and grabbed the gun.
I shot the vandal holding me. It let me go and stumbled backwards. I shot it again and it fell to the floor. Right before the vandal reached the little girl I shot a bullet right at the vandals head. The last vandal retreated and fled to their ships. I could see the rest of the fallen retreating on their ships. I fell to one knee. I looked at my weapon. My blood was coming down my arm and dripping off the barrel of the gun. The little girl weeped besides her parents. She shook their bodies. "Mommy, daddy, please wake up." She put her head on her mothers body and cried. I couldn't get to her. "You are seriously hurt. You need to find some help right now!" said my ghost. I sat against the wall. My arms dropped besides me. "Guardian! Eyes up guardian! Guardian!" "Call me Alec my ghost." I said weakly. The villagers rushed out and began to try and put out the flames and help other people. I could feel the light draining away. "Alec stay awake! Alec stay with me!" The voice from my ghost faded away. The villagers rushed out and began to try and put out the flames and help other people. I closed my eyes and let the darkness consume me.