The Ashen Surface
Chris Vennettilli

I had only read abot it in books. I have only seen it in movies.

I had never fully experienced it.

I told him to wait on the dropship. I told him I had to see this alone.

He couldn't bare to see me otherwise.

I stepped off the ship, onto the crackling ground.

For the first time, I strode across the ashen surface.

For the first time, I crossed the surface of what was once Reach.

My boots protect me from them, but I feel as if the glassy shards pierce my feet, making every step painful as I continue my lonely journey.

I had asked the pilot to drop me at this location. Most of the landcape was burnt, crisped, blackened by plasma all those long years ago. Here though, there was some semblance of former life.

There were buildings, broken, burned by "Cleansing Fire", vehicles, melted so that they seemed almost one with the landscape, and strange new plants that poked their heads through the glass crust to gain what meager amounts of snlight filtered through the clouds.

It made me smile.

My people thought that nature was the ultimate beauty. Time does heal all wonds. Some day, many thousands of years from now, Reach will once more be beautiful.

But now, it was Hell

It truly was a place from beyond reality. The sky was red with the remnents of ancient fire, lightning struck from beyond the mountain range some distance from me. The thunder sounded odd in the air.

I had to see what was in this villiage.

I didn't want to, but I needed to see what had caused these creatures so much pain.

The houses were hollow, the furiture long being burnt and disintigrated from age. The floor was glass, the ceiling had holes, spiders, mice, and strange squirrel-like creatures perched in niches along the wall.

I looked at the squirrel creature for a second.

It looked back at me, coked its head, and scampered away.

It was curious, yet scared at the same time.

Just like me.

It had been frightened by a newcomer that didn't belong in its home.

We once were similar.

When I turned to leave, the one thing that would be burned in my vision forever-more was laying on the floor.

It was a body, one that had been here for some time.

I gasped and jumped back, causing a crack in the ground behind me.

The bones were dusty, dry.

It was the body of a little girl.

I looked to the right to find her mother lying not three feet next to her.

Children. Oh God no, children

I fell to my knees, no longer feeling pain. I cried out with such force that I was frightened I had it in me.

THEY BURNED CHILDREN!

I don't know how long I knelt there, crying for every man, woman and child that had died that day so long ago.

I felt a new hatred burn in my heart for those who had allowed this to happen.

I was put in perspective. We were placed in a world of comfort while others had to fight for their existance.

I was ashamed of my people.

I stood up, turned on the spot, and left.

I looked at the villiage, making sure what I saw would stay with me until I died.

This was true evil.

This was undeserved.

This was a lie. That's all it was, a misundestanding even. The reason all these people had died was because someone wanted to save face and told a lie.

I was sick to my stomach.

So, I began my long jog back to the ship.

It was still there, waiting for me.

He noticed the redness in my eyes. "Are you alright?" he had asked.

"No." I simply said.

"You had to do it." He admitted. "I don't know what I felt when I saw a destroyed city in front of me. It shook me to my core. I wanted to kill every Sangheili I saw."

"What happened?" I asked.

"I realized something so important, something so great that it humbled me."

"What?" I asked.

"We were alive."

I realized it too. Humanity was alive. Humanity had won the war for their existance, where all had been lost, they won. I was proud to see it, and I realized, we too had won the war for our existance all those long years ago when the Gene Bombs were dropped.

We had won.

We were all alive.