READ THIS FIRST
Aright as promised here is my rewrite version of Contact: Alagaesia. Also my thanks to The Lobsters Claw for taking the time to inbox me his advice on how I should continue my story. He encouraged my OCs and gave me advice on what the UNSC should have and when the story should take place. This first chapter took longer than I originally thought and the next chapter probably won't be up until next month because of my HSC. Encouragement helps me write faster so if you are looking forward to the next chapter please leave your input after reading.
Again if have anyone has an idea for my story and want it in the story review or inbox me. Even if I don't use your idea I'll mention you and your idea in the next so also I don't own Inheritance Cycle or Halo (I can still wish I did).
Side Note: I'm thinking of doing a Harry Potter/Sonic the hedgehog crossover where it is the summer after Voldemort's return in the Goblet of Fire. Harry is sick with Dumbledore's insistence he stay inside and he trains himself to become an Animagus using books Sirius sent him. When he is attacked by the Denmentors Harry transforms into his animal form; a blue, hyperactive Hedgehog. Have any advice or ideas for me inbox and I might use them. If I don't use them in my story I'll still make sure you're mentioned.
This story is set twenty eight years after Halo Wars and a week before the Battle of the Burning Plains. Rated T for graphic violence, some swearing and adult themes (maybe).
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"Captain wake up. Something has happened."
Captain James Cutter heard the soft female voice as he began to start regaining feeling in his limbs. Following procedure, he tested his limbs by slowly wiggling them to make sure that they were properly working. He slowly attempted a single step and almost instantly regretted it as he fell from his cyro pod into the cold metal floor.
"Captain would you please move faster?"
Gritting his teeth Cutter tried again by using the empty doorframe of his open pod as leverage. Pushing his hands against the metal surface he managed to stay standing long enough to grab his clothes from a nearby locker and he began to dress in his navy dress uniform. Finally he finished up by attaching his M6 sidearm holster to his belt followed by the pistol itself. Cutter then noticed several other crew members had been thawed out of their pods and had just finished dressing a few seconds ahead of Cutter. Amongst them were four members of his bridge crew, Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Sergeant Alex Sanders and Professor Ellen Anders from the Office of Naval Intelligence.
"Professor," he acknowledged her presence with a small nod.
Anders gave a small smile in return. She finished tying her shiny, black hair in a small ponytail using a simple red rubber band. "Captain, I assume that there's a good reason that I've been woken." She wore a red sleeveless vest, cargo pants and combat boots that didn't seem to go with the rest of the professor's outfit.
"I'll make sure you're informed as soon as I know myself." Cutter promised, knowing that keeping Anders in the dark wasn't a wise idea. The woman was stubborn, determined, intelligent and never took no for an answer.
"Well then I'll be in my lab if anyone needs me." The woman informed Cutter before sweeping past him without a second glance. Cutter winced. The professor's voice held a steel edge that hadn't been there before and she had been unsocial enough before everyone went into their pods. He sighed, rubbing his aging face with his hands as he did so. Forge's death seemed to have hit her hard. It had struck a nerve in nearly everyone else as well, including Cutter himself.
Serina then decided that she was tired of waiting and made sure her displeasure in waiting was well known to the captain.
"Captain I need you on the bridge now so pick up the pace." Serena's voice which was producing from the room's wall mounted speakers were practically coated in dry sarcasm that Cutter swore was going to be the end of him. As she said this, more pods began to open, freezing white steam producing from the corners as the mounted doors retracted into the roof of the ceiling.
"Sir do you need us on station as well?" asked a young ensign who served on the bridge. Lowe was a young man in his twenties with a buzz style haircut with a pointed nose and thick eyebrows.
Cutter considered his question for a while before coming to a decision. "No thank you Son. You and everyone else get something to eat first. I'll need you on the bridge in a half hour."
Lowe smiled and nodded. "Of course sir."
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Five minutes later.
"Serina how long has it been?" asked Cutter as the metal automatic sliding door opened to grant him access to the observation deck of the Spirit of Fire's command bridge. Electricity hummed as the various consoles and work stations positioned were temporarily consumed in light as Serina booted them back up. A second later the blue and white lights hanging overhead from the ceiling exploded into life as Serina started them all back up in under a second.
''In answer to your question Captain, the date is October the second 2559. You have been in status for twenty-eight years, four months and five days.'' Serina replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Cutter gasped in shock at Serina. ''Twenty-eight years'' he said aloud, hoping it was less and he had misunderstood her.
''I did say twenty-eight years captain. Would you like me to say it again,'' asked Serina, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
Cutter sat down at his station and typed his password into the touch keyboard. After he was granted access, he brought up the current condition of his vessel. A 3D dimensional diagram of the Spirit of Fire appeared on the display suspended half a foot above the table. Cutter spent the next several minutes flicking through important topics that required his attention such as weapons, damage and supplies. As soon as Cutter was finished he stood and strolled over to the observation window.
"Why did you wake me?" asked Cutter, staring out at the vast emptiness of space. He frowned. The fact they had been had not been found after being lost for twenty eight years was very concerning to him. He knew before going into cyro that it would be a while before they were found but still he wasn't expecting to still be lost twenty eight years later. All kinds of questions were screaming at his head. Was the war over? If so then who won? Was his wife Mary still alive? Did the Covenant destroy humanity? If so then it was possible that this ship along with himself, Serina and the crew where all that remained of humanity?
A 3D hologram of Serina's avatar appeared on top of the bridges main console. Her appearance was simple; a young tall slender human female with long black hair. Her clothing consisted of a pair of jeans, a white shirt and a research lab coat. All fourth generation 'smart' AIs such as Serina were allowed to chose their appearances, given the choice to choose their own clothing, gender, appearance, personality and even race (some AIs picked their appearances based on creatures that existed only in fiction such as gods of ancient myth).
"Well Captain I was watching the sensors when they picked up a planet. Upon taking a closer inspection I noticed how similar it is to Earth or perhaps even Reach. The planet's sun is at a safe distance away making sure that it doesn't get too cold or too hot in temperature. It has an atmosphere that is can be breathed by humans and a perfect environment to support life."
Serina removed the Spirit of Fire hologram and brought up a 3D hologram of the mysterious world for Cutter to examine. It was slightly smaller than Earth with features Cutter recognized as clouds, water and land. A single continent was the one thing Cutter noticed. It was HUGE. Cutter was no geologist but he guessed the single landmass was at least three times the size of Africa, taking up almost a fourth of the planet full ocean and many tiny islands surrounded the single continent from all sides. It reminded Cutter of a theory by scientists that the seven continents of Earth all used to be one before splitting apart.
Cutter then noticed a glowing source of light coming that seemed to be originating from . . . the planet's core? It was beaming white with a twinge of orange outlining it. It continued until it reached the planet's surface, diminishing in strength the closer it was to the surface. Cutter had never seen anything like it in his life. "What the hell is that?" he asked Serina, pointing at the planet's core.
Serina frowned. "I have honestly no idea Captain. It is some source of power that is originating from the core. The amount of it centered there is astonishing, although I am detecting much smaller amounts of it on the surface. Whatever it is its very similar to energy or even radiation. Also it's disturbing my sensors from getting a proper reading of it."
Cutter pondered over this information. "Serina is it dangerous?"
"I don't believe so Captain. I can detect wildlife down there so it is safe to assume that it interacts with the planet's fauna without any negative effects. I recommend navigating the Spirit of Fire towards it and sending a team to investigate. The ship needs repairs so if it is safe we could land and set up a base of operations to conduct repairs." Serina answered. Secretly she was curious in this strange anomaly. "Also I'm picking up a strange signal coming from the surface. I can't triangulate its position due to the interference but there is a ninety eight per cent chance it is from is the same as the one that was produced by that shield world."
Those last two words caused Cutter to shudder as he remembered the wonders and horrors that they had encountered on it. A hollow artificial world created by an ancient race of aliens that had possessed technology that put those of the UNSC and even the Covenant to shame. On the surface there was nothing but barren wastelands while in the centre many buildings and structures of alien design stood surrounded by a lush green environment. However a horrific new enemy had discovered; a contagious parasitic race whose only ambition was to consume all sentient life it could find that was known by the covenant as the 'parasite'.
Cutter quickly realized that he had been silent for almost a minute and snapped out of his thoughts.
"Serina plot a course there. Wake up all hands and make sure they're at their stations by the time we reach the planet's surface. Also prep a Pelican and make sure Red Team and the Professor are on-board. I want a full scouting of this area in preparation for it to be cleared for a firebase." Cutter highlighted a small plain sitting next to a gigantic river that ran through the mainland for several miles on the 3D representation of the mysterious world. "I also need a list of everything we have; supplies, resources, weapons, vehicles, fuel, manpower the works."
"Of course Captain."
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Two hours later.
Pelican Alpha 917
The Pelican's metal wings whined in protest as the winds pushed against the UNSC aircraft. The dropships pilot skilfully navigated her craft through the thick clouds and began to descend towards the ground. At eight thousand feet above the ground the dropship 77-Troop Carrier, abbreviated D77-TC, or more commonly known as the Pelican, was an extremely versatile aircraft used by the United Nations Space Command. Normally this range of dropships only carried at best the pilot, co-pilot and ten passengers. Not in this case as Cutter had made sure that the expedition team on board was as large as possible without causing the Pelican to crash from sheer overweight.
Excluding the two pilots in the cockpit, there were a total of thirteen other people sitting or standing in the Pelican's passenger bay. On the team was Professor Ellen Anders herself and three other scientist personal who had their own respective doctorates that had gotten them a ticket on-board (as one marine had grumbled under his breath). Their equipment lay at their feet or on their laps with their hands holding them like their lives depended on it, except for Anders who was too lost in her own thoughts. Also coming with them were a six man UNSC marine fireteam whose purpose was to provide protection for the science team as well as to conduct some scouting besides.
Their uniforms involved grey fatigues, with shiny-brown armour covering most of the body. Almost all of the marines in the squad also wore matching protection helmets and polarized tactical glasses. As for weapons they all carried standard issue MA5B assault rifles in their arms with the weapon's tip pointed safely at the floor. In addition to their primary weapons each soldier carried their own M6 pistols as well as a pair of fragmentation and flash bang grenades.
However the team's main protection in this case weren't the presence of the squad of marines . . . . . it was the mere existence of three Spartan-II super soldiers. Callsign Red Team. Ander's knew with the Spartans on-board her team and herself would be more then safe from any possible threats.
The SPARTAN-II Program, originally known as the ORION Project Generation II, was part of the SPARTAN Program, an effort to produce elite soldiers through mechanical and biological augmentation. The SPARTAN-II program was the first in the series to meld advanced exoskeleton technology with the soldiers' superior physiques.
Just imagine giant seven foot tall soldiers dressed in green armour and helmets with golden visors that hides their faces with enough speed and reflexes to put any human athlete to shame ten times over and enough strength to lift over three tones, five if they pushed themselves.
It was rumoured had been other similar attempts to create super soldiers after the mixed results of the Spartan-IIs. Ideas flying around of improved ODST armour and drugs that made a man stronger, faster and more intelligent. However, they were all just rumours as best as Anders knew.
When it came to ONI, no one knew what to believe anyway.
Spartan Red team was a three man team; two male and one female. Jerome was the official leader of the team while Alice and Douglas brought up the rear with their ability to work together as a team. Each Spartan carried the same primary assault rifle as their marine counterparts, but this didn't bother the Spartans. There was a weapon's locker in the back of the Pelican containing special weapons that had been brought alone especially for Red Team.
"How much longer pilot?" questioned Jerome. Spartans were experts at keeping their emotions hidden for which he was grateful. He was honestly looking forward to making contact with solid ground after being stuck in cyro for almost three decades.
"Five minutes sir. "flight officer James Stanza answered. Two minutes later the dropship had dropped to roughly one hundred feet and was descending towards the large river that was mostly hidden from their bird's eye view due to the mass of tree positioned on the East side except for the large hill/plain that Cutter wanted to use to set up a firebase. Stanza pulled a leaver and the Pelican's back door opened, depressurising the aircraft and allowing the passengers to get their first view of this new world.
It certainly was amazing. The trained soldiers onboard guessed from the positioning of the sun that it was around five PM. On the horizon, the bright orange sun was close to dropping down and casting the world into darkness. For now a powerful glow of brilliant light from the sun's rays covered every inch of exposed area to its glow. The passengers (even Anders) allowed themselves a moment to enjoy the warmth they could feel on their skin. Red Team simply could not feel it due to their armour and allowed themselves to enjoy the view. The trees remained the viewers of the massive pine forests that existed on Earth in America and Canada, ranging in height from forty to sixty feet. They were well spread out from each other, allowing each tree at least five meters of space. Overall they if they didn't know otherwise they would have sworn they were on some other human world.
Anders had been checking her sidearm when mutterings of "what the hell?" could be heard coming from the cockpit. "Sir you might want to take a look at this. I'm picking up heaps of activity on the radar coming around three klicks ahead of us. Around five dozen contacts."
Red Team's behaviour quickly changed. They stood up straighter and they began to check their weapons. Jerome stood from his seat and made his way into the cockpit. Anders followed on his heels.
"Pilot can you get closer?" demanded Anders. If something was going on she wanted to know.
Stanza however knew that the Spartan was in command of the mission so he ignored the professor's question. "Have they detected us?" asked Jerome. Unlike Ander's demanding attitude, he kept his voice calm and void of emotion.
"I'm not sure sir. They haven't made any move to suggest otherwise. They seem to be establishing a perimeter. Want to take a closer look?"
"Negative. Deviate from the flight plan and switch to thermal." Jerome ordered. He had to know if these contacts posed a threat to them. Besides guarding the science team, Red Team had come to make sure that the area was deprived of any intelligent species. If so Cutter had ordered them to follow first contact protocol and only to resort to violence if anything they came across proved to be hostile (not that it had helped them with the Covenant).
The co-pilot Welland followed out the order and flicked a series of switches on the dashboard. The small screen that Jerome and Anders were standing beside flickered to life, displaying the thermal vision of the ground below. As Stanza had claimed, the Spartan counted five dozen life forms. Eight of them were four legged with large bodies and hooves. Perhaps some kind of horse? The remaining fifty two red dots were two legged with two arms as well. Most of them were setting up tents while ten were guarding key positions in pairs on the outskirts of the camp with what seemed to be primitive bladed weapons which appeared as shadows. Their size and posture was so similar to humans that Jerome would have sworn he was looking at humans.
Anders seemed to have come to the same conclusion and was staring at the red dots in wonder. "They look so much like . . . . . people."
Jerome didn't respond and relayed new orders. "Fly us around and set this bird down two klicks away. Make sure they don't spot us. Send these images to the Captain."
As the two pilots navigated the Pelican away Jerome tapped into his COM system and established a link with Cutter on-board the Spirit of Fire. Cutter's voice soon filled the Spartan's ears. "Spartan report."
"Captain we've detected over fifty contacts on the ground right on top of where you wanted that firebase. There's some kind of activity going on. Images should be coming to you now."
The line went silent. Jerome had a mental image in his mind of Cutter going over the images on the bridge, rubbing his face as he processed them and deciding what to make of them.
Cutter finally came to a decision after thirty seconds and relayed his orders to the Spartan. "Soldier have you established contact yet?"
"No sir."
"Then do it. Make sure Anders and her team are well protected. Support will be on station if you need it. Cutter out."
"Well this should be very interesting. Maybe they these aliens won't try to kill us for once."
Jerome ignored Serina' remark and returned to the passenger compartment and relayed the new orders to everyone else. A minute later, the Pelican came down and made contact with solid ground. The second metal met grass, Red Team jumped from down and ran to secure the area followed closely behind by the marines The nine soldiers quickly secured the area, their MA5B rifles covering every inch of space.
Anders and the other members of her team soon followed carrying their equipment. After the area was finished, Douglas radioed the pilots who shut down the dropship's engines. The rotors whined as they began shut down, stopping the powerful winds that were buffering against the grass.
Stanza and Welland disembarked from their aircraft began doing regular check-up of their Pelican while the marines checked their weapons and ammo. Alice went back inside and grabbed their heavy weapons and returned with them for her fellow Spartans. Alice gave Jerome the Weapon/Anti-vehicle model 6 Grindell/Galilean nonlinear rifle commonly known as the Spartan Laser. Alice then handed Douglas a M41 SSR MAV/AW rocket launcher who accepted with without a pause. Slung over Alice's shoulder was an AIE-486H heavy machine gun, the massive turret was an instrument of death in itself.
"Is everyone ready?" asked Jerome, shouldering his rifle in favour for his Spartan Laser. The leading marine sergeant Miller spoke on behalf of his team "we're already to go Spartan." Anders and her team replied the same, eager to meet a new species. His fellow Spartans just nodded.
On Miller's orders two of his soldiers stayed behind to guard the dropship. The man and woman accepted his orders without protest. Jerome knew that leaving a security element in place just in case of possible hostiles was something that needed to be done so he had had Miller leave a third of his team behind.
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Twenty minutes later.
The group comprised of the three Spartans, four marines and four scientists slowly made their way through the pine trees. By now the sun had almost done down, leaving the team covered in an almost pitch colour of darkness. The seven soldiers had activated built in flashlights on their rifles to help navigate their way. Not that Red Team needed it as their augmentations ensured their eyes could see in the dark as well as any night predator. However the marines and the science team were almost blind in the dark so Jerome had not denied the use of flashlights.
The scientists despite their protests weren't allowed stop and examine any of the local wildlife. So far they had encountered several reindeer, common birds and a curious black bear that had followed them for a minute before leaving after apparently losing interest in the group. This fact had startled them and Anders had taken several photos to examine later once they got back to the Spirit of Fire. The chance of finding wildlife that were so similar to those back on Earth on a different planet was so low it wasn't considered possible.
Jerome, Alice and Douglas weren't very interested in this despite their early surprise at this fact. Their only interest was ensuring that the mission was carried out and that their VIPs were protected. The marines simply used their training to ignore the animals even though they were also interested in them.
As the group began climbing uphill Alice's enhanced hearing suddenly picked up a noise that she almost missed. She signalled 'stop' to the rest of the group who froze.
Alice strained to listen and then picked it up again; the sound of voices. Roughly one hundred feet ahead. Alice pointed ahead and Jerome understood. Red Team and Miller's squad extinguished their lights, leaving them in darkness.
Anders and her team understood and shut up. Using hand signals Jerome signalled to Douglas and two of Miller's men who stepped forward.
"The three of you stay here with Professor Anders and her team. Alice. Miller and you," pointing to the remaining marine, a young women under thirty. "Come with me. Hand gestures only."
Ander looked furious at being left behind but gave in when Douglas glared at her. It was hard to win an argument against a Spartan with a gun. The other researchers frowned but relented without Ander's attitude.
Leaving the seven group members at the bottom, the four soldiers advanced onwards. Almost at once Jerome could see the distant glare of at least three camp fires. The smell of cooked meat reached him. They soon reached the top of the hill and got their first look at these creatures. They got the shock of their lives.
They were human!
XXXXX
Jerome, Alice and the two marines lay on their stomachs as they observed this discovery.
Like the radar had said, there were fifty two humans and eight horses that had been tied to several nearby trees. Jerome counted nine red tents that had been set up with wooden stakes and nails that had been forced into the earth. Except for one man with a trimmed white beard dressed in a leather vest and a white robe, all of them wore armour. Each armoured man was roughly between the age of eighteen and forty, wearing dark medieval style armour that clashed horribly with their bright red cloaks. They also possessed metal helmets that left their faces exposed along with leather boots and belts that were coloured a dark brown.
Then there were their weapons to address . . . .
All of the men the group had dubbed soldiers owned a medium sized double edge sword each as well as a short dagger and a oval shaped black leather shield. There were also eight men with bows and another ten who possessed black two metre long spears. The old man didn't possess any visible weapons on him but Jerome knew that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't a threat. The robed man was currently standing at the centre of the camp with his eyes closed, muttering under his breath. The medieval soldiers were closed to him seemed to regard him with something close to dislike or maybe even fear.
Jerome's training kicked in and he observed the perimeter. Still there were ten soldiers organised in pairs guarding several metres ahead of the edge of the camp. Most were showing signs of boredom or weariness or both. Jerome snorted at this. Their sentries were just plain sloppy. . .
"Vardan spies. Kill them!"
The Spartan swung his rifle towards the source of the cry when suddenly a blinding orb of pure, white light appeared out thin air less five meters above them. The four soldiers all jumped to their feet and aimed their rifles at the source, firing. Rounds flew towards the orb and to the group's amazement they continued through without any effect.
The soldiers saw them and charged towards them, banishing swords and shields.
The female marine saw the approaching men and hesitated. The fact that these were people like her stopped her from aiming at them. She tried to defuse the situation by raising her hands and shouting. The robed man's eyes zoomed onto her and his eyes narrowed.
"Stop! We don't mean any harm! Stop! Please we don't want to hurt any of . . . argh!"
A ruby light sprung from the old man's raised hand. The bolt of energy raced over the head of the soldiers and struck the marine in the stomach. It punched a hole through her chest, splattering the ground with her blood. The woman's knees buckled and she fell to the ground, dead.
The moment the bolt appeared and killed the marine, Jerome opened fire with his MA5B. A three round burst struck one of the medieval soldiers head and his head blew apart. Following the Spartan's lead, Miller also opened fire with his rifle which was quickly drowned over the roar of Alice's heavy machine gun. Four more of their new enemies were simply shredded to pieces, bullets piercing their armour and flesh like a knife though a cloth.
"Contact!" shouted Jerome. "Miller fall back and call for support."
Trusting Miller to follow his instructions, Jerome held his ground and continued to fire short concentrated into the enemy force. Despite their numbers, the soldiers found themselves at the receiving end of death as the two Spartan's firepower tore a hole in their ranks as they struggled uphill to reach their opponents. Some soldiers make the mistake of trying to block these strange loud weapons on their shields, only for the swarm of bullets to rip many holes through them after their shields were torn to useless pieces of wood and leather.
After twenty seconds into the engagement the first of the soldiers reached the two Spartans, only for the leader scream as one of the green giants reached out, grabbed his head and twisted it backwards. One soldier rushed past towards the opponent with the larger weapon and swung his sword at its head.
However luck wasn't on the man's side as seemly at the last possible second, the giant twisted, ducking under the blow with amazing speed so graceful it looked practiced. Not letting up, the giant soldier dropped its weapon, disarmed the soldier with a casual blow from a fist and stabbed the soldier through his gut with his own weapon.
Alice grabbed the still alive soldier and shoved him backwards into his fellows, knocking them back. Three soldiers made their way past their comrades and challenged the Spartan with spears. Alice stepped backwards to give herself the space she needed and drew and her titanium combat knife. She intercepted the first spear and sliced it in half, quickly followed by the man's head. Then in the space of several seconds she got in close to the other two before they had time to react and slit their throats.
Alice turned to face another group of soldiers who were eyeing her nervously. Alice didn't hesitate for a second and attacked.
Jerome finished off the magazine in his MA5B and dropped his rifle as five soldiers approached him. The Spartan slew them all using his fists, feet, knees and elbows in less than ten seconds. Just as he punched a hole through the last man's chest, Jerome felt his reflexes scream at him to move a second before a ruby red beam smashed into his armoured chest and forced him back several steps The whine inside his helmet informed the Spartan that his the strength of his shields had dangerously low. His ears bearly registered a man speaking in a language he couldn't understand.
Jerome stayed calm despite this and spotted the robed man standing before him looking at him with a mixture of hatred and curiosity. The Spartan gasped he felt something not unlike a needle stab into his mind. He felt like his head was being split in two! He rose to his feet, encountering resistance like his entire body was submerged i dried mud. His suit suddenly seemed to weight a lot more than beforehand.
Eight uninjured soldiers approached him, running as fast as their legs could carry them. Jerome cursed. He couldn't be captured. He had to break free. He began to struggle even more and he observed the old man as a vein appeared on his forehead and his facial expression was twisted into a sinister snarl.
The old man's head exploded in a shower of gore and bone.
Jerome attempted to move one more time and discovered to his surprise that he could. The Spartan jumped to his feet while his hand reached for his belt as the eight soldiers rushed him at once.
His hand grabbed a grenade.
Jerome pulled the pin, dodged several swords and shoved his hand down the nearest soldier's throat.
His hand withdrew minus the grenade.
He spun on his heel and kicked the jawless soldier into his fellows. Jerome backpedalled as he tried to gain as much distance as possible. . .
The screaming man's upper chest simply exploded, the blast tearing the man apart in a disgusting shower of gore. Several nearby soldiers also suffered the effects, their bodies briefly dancing as the grenade's shrapnel tore into their flesh.
And all was silent.
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"By the gods what manner of creatures are these?"
Concealed behind several trees was a man. He was dressed in a leather vest and wore a set of chainmail over it. Covering his lower regions were a pair of leather boots and battered pants. He carried a bag over his shoulder and a blade in his hand. His bread was overgrown and shaggy.
The man observed as the more of the strangers bearing those weapons appeared. One was as tall as the other two while the rest were human although their clothing was strange and didn't look like anything he had seen before. Did that mean the green giants were human as well? If not then could they be elves? It would explain their amazing strength and reflexes.
But still that didn't make up for their weapons that coughed fire and slew the group of soldiers plus one of the Empire's spellcasters less time than it took to get dressed in a suit of armour. How they worked was a mystery to the man. Should he reveal himself? They are obviously enemies of the empire now. The man's fist tightened in anger as he remembered the magician ruthlessly strike down the woman even though she had tried to resolve it peacefully. They were unwilling to commit violence unless they had to but were capable of carrying it out with disturbing ease that merited many years of practice.
No he would report this to his superiors. They needed to know that a new fraction existed that were clearly not allies with the empire. They could be convinced to become allies if he . . . .
A loud noise interrupted his thoughts. The man could feel wind pushing against the back of his neck, sending a chill down his spine. He couldn't really describe the sound, like the air itself had awoken and started to scream. The wind his hiding spot and for a second he feared he was exposed. The strangers were gathering all in a single area. Their facial expressions were calm and collected. They were expecting this.
He looked up . . .
His jaw dropped.
Hovering above him was a large metal creature that could only be described as a dragon with four wings. Its outside was a dark green while its belly was a dull grey. The man tried to count its size and realised that it fell short of blue dragon Saphira. It landed on the ground and the strangers clambered aboard. 'Not a dragon', the man realised. 'A ship. A ship made out of metal that flies on air! How was that possible?'
As the last boarded their ship, the man spotted two dead bodies in the possession of the strangers. One was the robed magic user while he recognised the other as the woman he had killed with magic. The man was treated like a sack of rubbish (dragged in and left lying in the corner in a heap) while the woman was treated with the upmost respect, carefully she was set down on the floor of the ship. One man in matching set of armour leaned over and closed her eyes before removing a small chain and tag from around her neck.
The metal door closed, preventing the lone man from gaining another look at them. The ship whined as it took to the sky again and disappeared amongst the stars. The man cursed and ran from his hiding place and ran in the direction that the ship had gone before coming to a halt as he realised that he would never catch up.
The man was not sure how long he stood there and simply stared up. By the time he came to his senses it was still now fully night time and it was only because of the soldier's camp fires that he could still see. He quickly ran over one of the horses and calmed it down by stroking its face. He mounted the saddle and quickly made off back towards the Varden. He briefly felt bad for stealing but quickly crushed the feeling.
Besides, it wasn't like the soldiers needed their horses anymore.
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Stay tuned for chapter two of this story. Remember reviews and comments help me write faster and to give your advice for my Sonic/Harry Potter story. If you are not interested in this then pass the message alone to another Fanfic writer who might like to give their advice. Again I'll make sure you're mentioned even if I don't use your idea.
I Am The Bird Of Hermes signing off.