Something felt wrong. Where I laid, wasn't comfortable. Hard, pokey, and wet. Why? Had I fallen off my bed, and dropped my cup of water, along with my dog's toys?
I slowly opened one eye, completely shocked by my surroundings; green foliage everywhere, trees, low and high.
'Am I dreaming?'
I was still shocked, but managed to slowly get up, and off the ground.
'Most definitely dreaming.'
I still wore my outfit from Friday, the day before. A cozy over-sized letterman jacket, a matching navy blue pleated skirt, and a pair of sneakers. I noticed my headphones now hung around my neck, instead of on my head.
'Where the Hell am I?'
I heard a somewhat familiar voice speak. I stood still, and listened closely... It sounded like...
'Sargeant Johnson?'
"We're not leaving him here." His stern voice said.
'Wait, if Sargeant Johnson just said that, and this is supposed to be mission Sierra 117, doesn't that mean-'
"Yeah, you're not." A gruff voice agreed. My eyes widened, and I covered my mouth to prevent from gasping loudly.
"Crazy fool. Why do you always jump? One of these days, you're gonna land on something as stubborn as you are. And I don't do bits and pieces." I watched in awe at the opening scene play out in front of me. Chief still held onto Johnson's arm, the one with the hand holding Cortana's chip.
"Where is she Chief? Where is Cortana?" Johnson looked up at Chief, perhaps wondering why he stared at the chip. I knew at this part Chief remembers one of the last things she said to him: "Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it."
After a moment, Chief finally places the chip back inside his helmet, saying, "She stayed behind."
"Corporal? Make it quick." Johnson commanded, as a marine jumped to him. "Sorry sir. Your armor's still in partial lockdown." The marine apologized. After a quick test. Chief looks up, behind Johnson. He notices an invisible figure moving. Without wasting time, Chief grabs a magnum from Johnson, pushed his way past the marines, and held the weapon tightly against the Arbiter's jaw.
"Chief wait! The Arbiter is with us!" Johnson warned.
"Come on now. Got enough to worry about without you two trying kill each other." I giggled at his scolding of the super solider.
The Arbiter adjusts his mandibles. "Were it so easy." He said. Chief let go of his grip on him, irritated.
"We must go, the brutes have our scent."
"They must love the smell of badass." Johnson replied, handing Chief an assault rifle. Chief swipes it out of his grasp, causing me to giggle again. Unfortunately, I forgot to cover my mouth, so once I finished, everyone turned, and pointed their guns at my direction. I felt uneasy, slowly backing away.
"The Hell was that?" One marine asked.
"Are these jungles haunted?" Another questioned.
I backed up, as much as I could. I eventually hit a large boulder. I exhaled through my nose, disappointed with the dream.
'Great. I'm going to get shot and wake up.'
I slid down onto the ground, placing my forehead on my knees, arms wrapping around my legs.
'Any moment now.'
"Who are you?" The gruff voice I loved asked.
"I'm just a girl, about to wake up from her dream." I said.
"Where did you come from? Are you lost?" He asked.
"I'm from a different universe, I'm sure." I sighed, knowing Chief saw ordinary humans as a burden, those he cannot count on, seen as those he must protect.
I looked up at him, stretching out my legs. He seemed a bit puzzled, even if I couldn't see his face.
"We are on Earth. The year is 2552, and the humans are currently at war with the Covenant. Are you aware of that?"
I waved him off. "Yeah yeah. We're in Africa, you just crash landed after delivering an explosion, you have to get back to base, then Tsavo Highway, and that Storm mission." Chief was completely taken aback as he lowered his rifle, but didn't entirely let his guard down. He aimed at me again.
"How do you know all of this?" I blinked at him.
"Isn't this a dream?"
"No, kid. This is real."
"No way. I was on my bed, and fell asleep. I'll wake up any moment now." I had hoped. "Shoot me."
Chief never let his gaze go of me. "No. You're coming with us." For a moment, I contemplated this. I wanted nothing more than to prove myself this was nothing but a dream. I'll wake up to my dog sleeping with me. I glanced at the direction the Arbiter was heading, and made the quickest decision ever; I darted to the right, running from Master Chief. Foolish, but everything felt way too realistic than any other dream I've had. Running usually felt like I was stuck in place, my vision distorted, unable to see with an eye, or just plain blurred.
I heard the Chief call out for me, but I continued the familiar path. I ran through the large shallow pond, jumped up the rocks, pushing tall plants out of my face. I skidded to a stop once I arrived at the river, knowing this was where the brute commands his grunts to spread out and find them.
I braced myself, remembering this had to be a dream. Then, leapt forward. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as I landed on my knees in the water, looking up to the five-foot grunts. The brute screamed in the background. One of the grunts fumbled with his weapon, pointed straight at me, and I wondered why I felt so afraid, as if it would hurt me.
I closed my eyes shut, preparing to awake with a start. I wonder why nothing has happened, so I open my eyes, only to see that John is right in front of me, effortlessly killing the grunts one by one with single head shots, then kills their brute leader. He turns back to me, slinging his assault rifle onto his shoulder. He easily towered over me at seven feet and two inches.
"Johnson and his scouts have left; you're my responsibility now." He said. I frowned.
"I'm your responsibility?"
He nodded. "Yes." I rolled my eyes, knowing there was a long trek ahead if us. "Can I at least have a weapon?" I attempted to persuade with meek smile.
"Do you have any experience with a weapon?" He asked.
"Kinda..?" I squinted my eyes at him. His reflective helmet couldn't prevent me from seeing his feeling of being unimpressed.
"I can't totally rely on you and your marines to protect me as you fight off the Covenant-" Chief threw me a magnum, and I was utterly amazed by the gun when I caught it. I stared at it, the functional Halo weapon in my hands. Chief simply walked away after this, and I heard the screams from grunts and jackels as his fire-team engaged.
The entire time, I had been less than helpful. Of course, I had little to no experience with any guns, as I've only ever shot with a BB gun, less an actual pistol or whatever. The recoil was much stronger than I could have expected, whenever I thought I was pointing straight an enemy, I tended to lose my footing once I shot, and land on the grass underneath me.
I had always fought in the perspective of a spartan, so killing the lesser enemies was child's play. But now, instead of killing grunts with two melees, I squeal and run away; the damned things were as tall as me!
This lead to me often taking cover behind Chief, the Arbiter, or the two marines. Honestly, I felt pathetic, and useless. I was the Master Chief, protecting my men, making sure every single one survived; now, I was making sure I'm alive.
This was insane. But, we have finally made it near the end of the mission, where Chief rescues Johnson and his men. I smiled once again, seeing the one-sided cut scenes play out before me. It was so magical, in a sense. Seeing my two favorite characters in front of me.
Obviously, when I went to go retrieve ammunition from the crashed pelican, Chief questioned me. I said I was grabbing ammo, and handed him a battle rifle, since I knew he was low by now. He was mystified when I told him I'd explain on the way back to base of how I seemed to know almost everything. But I still had trouble convincing him to allow me to use a sniper rifle. And Unfortunately, I didn't get my way. I was simply handed ammunition for my magnum, but I didn't fight it.
Chief had already jumped off the little cliff we had stood on, and suppressed fire. Everyone else jumped down too, except for me. Too many close encounters of getting shot in major parts of the body, so I was told to stay behind, where it was safe. Whatever. Totally don't care. At least this has given me the opportunity to watch Chief easily kill every single one of his enemies. Training from the age of six really did pay off, even if the price he payed was unbeknownst to him.
I heard the brute chieftain screaming, causing me to wince. I had always been afraid of them, one swing from that gravity would instantly kill me, as myself, and possibly the Chief, too. But it was nice seeming him entirely, instead of through his visor in first person mode. Also nice seeing he didn't cower in fear of the brute. At this point, it was starting to grow difficult to see Chief and his squad. Everyone around me was dead, so it seemed safe.
I carefully made my way down the rocks, and once I landed on cement, I heard a clacking noise. I looked down to investigate, and saw it had been my phone. Luckily, it was at full charge since I had rarely used it when playing Halo, and I turned off the wi-fi and sound to concentrate. I wondered if my parents noticed I was missing; I turned my phone on, only to see I didn't have any new messages or missed calls, my lock screen only revealing to me my pastel wallpaper. I had the urge to throw it into the water, but I opted for angrily stuffing it back in my pocket, and tightening my grip around the magnum.
I walked up the steps, looking inside the abandoned building. Ahead of me was Chief now walking away from the dead chieftain, and shooting the grunts in the other part of the area. I sighed, knowing I missed John being a total badass. I climbed up the ladder within the building anyways, my haven when I got up the ladder to kill the chieftain from above. I also had a habit of breaking the windows just because I felt like it. I stared out of the window, seeing John enter the small building where Johnson was kept. My eyes focused again on the glass window. In-game, I could break the window by meleeing it. How much of my actual strength would it take to break it down?
I bit my lip, breathed, and kicked the window as hard as I could. I was awarded with a dull thunk for my efforts.
"Oh, come on!" I complained. In my peripheral vision, I noticed small things move. I looked, realizing I had caught the attention of the brute captain that had just been dropped off. "Oh crap." I cursed, and ducked down just as plasma shots broke through the windows, glass raining on me. I didn't dare move, afraid to cut myself, and afraid to see if the brute was coming after me. I heard a beam rifle, and the sound of a brute gurgling as he died, soon followed by rapid fire of a carbine.
Once all of the commotion had ended, I opened my eyes, and carefully got to my feet. I heard the sound of a phantom still lingering in the air. I wondered why it had stayed there, instead of fleeing away like they usually did after dropping off aliens. I heard heavy footsteps below me, catching my attention. Another brute captain with a small army of grunts. The brute's power armor was shot off, and then fell down as blood splattered out of his forehead from a headshot. The grunts stood still for a moment, then began to run away. Their efforts of evasion were futile, though, because they were shot down too. Now, all that remained were the phantoms. I slid down the ladder, carefully taking cover as I took a peek at one of them.
The game did no justice to the shiny purple gleam of the alien spacecraft; it was beautiful, in the way shiny alien ships were. But I heard a strange familiar sound, my eyes widening when I realized it was the sound a phantom made when it was about to explode, then took cover in the ledge of the wall where I hid. I heard a loud explosion, and felt the force of it as the old building shook. The other phanom soon combusted as well. The pelican hovered near the bridge for everyone to get on. I felt timid, for the millionth time today. I knew I was an unexpected passenger for the ship, and the whole mission in general.
Everyone hopped on, Chief waiting for me to get on, as well. I swallowed nervously. I struggled to climb on for a bit, but I managed. Chief followed after me. The ship gained elevation, and flew off. I held tightly to the bars above the seats, afraid of falling out. I felt as if I was being watched, turning my head to the right. Chief stood there, making me nervous.
"Talk." Was all he said. I looked back to the scenery, only to see the back was now closed. I sat down, and began.
"First of all, I'm not even from this era, if you couldn't tell from my outfit. I was born in the year 2000, living in the ending of the year 2017. I was home alone, playing video games. Halo, to be specific." John was intrigued the moment I said Halo.
"You were playing video games called Halo?" He asked.
"Yes, and they are named Halo after the Halo Rings the Forerunners created." John now got on one knee, eye contact now leveled.
"What are the Halo games about, exactly?"
After explaining every title of every Halo game (with the exception of Halo 3, and the games that are chronologically after them), we landed at the Crow's Nest. John jumped out, and so did I. I looked to my left, to see the marine who alerted his friend that a spartan had arrived. Miranda walked down the stairs, Johnson saluting her.
"Where did you find him?" She asked.
"Napping, out back."
"Hmm, I'll bet." She replied with a grin. She stuck her hand out in front of her, and Chief shook it.
"Good to see you Chief." She stated.
"Likewise, Ma'am."
She opened up her mouth to speak, but as she turned to walk away, her eyes spotted me. She turned back, with a confused expression.
"And who is this?" She wondered. I attempted to reply, but was unable to find my voice.
"We found her near Chief's crash site." Johnson answered. "She isn't even from our time, but she knows about Halo. Even more than we do." Miranda cocked a brow.
"Really? Can you help us?"
"I'll do the best I can." She nodded, and continued what she meant to do in the first place.
"The Prophet of Truth's ships breached the lunar perimeter, smashed what was left of the Home Fleet." She began to tell Chief. Two marines were walking, and made way for us, saluting. Once the humans passed, they dropped their hands, and gawked at the Arbiter. I laughed to myself. "Terrestrial casualties from the subsequent bombardment were..." she trailed off as medics rushed a guy through the hallway.
"Extreme. Truth could have landed anywhere, but he committed all his forces here: East Africa, the ruins of New Mombasa. Then, they started digging." She continued walking.
"What about Halo?" Chief asked.
"We stopped it, but only temporarily. Now, the Prophet of Truth is looking for something called 'The Ark', where he'll be able to fire all the Halo Rings. If he succeeds, humanity, the Covenant, every sentient being in the Galaxy..."
"The rings will kill us all." Chief concluded.
"Hopefully our new friend here can help us." She looked to me.
"Ma'am, I have Lord Hood." Someone said, catching our attention.
"Patch him through." Miranda affirmed.
Lord Hood immediately appeared on the largest screen. "Good news, Captain Keyes?"
"As good as it gets, sir."
"So I see." He acknowledged, noting Master Chief.
"What's your status, son?"
"Green, sir."
"Glad to hear it. The Commander's come up with a good plan. Without you, I wasn't sure if we could pull it off." Hood admitted.
"Truth's ships are clustered above the excavation site, and his infantry has deployed anti-aircraft batteries around the perimeter. But, if we neutralize one of the batteries, punch a hole in Truth's defenses," She said confidently.
Hood removed his hand off his chin. "I'll initiate a low-level strike. Hit 'em right where it hurts." He paused momentarily. "I only have a handful of ships, Master Chief. It's a big risk, but I'm confident-" the power cuts him off.
"Hell, not again." a young man's voice complained.
"Emergency generators, now." Miranda urged.
"Shielding failed, they're down and charging." Someone answered.
"As soon as they're up, re-establish contact with Lord Hood. Let him know-"
"You are," The Prophet of Truth interrupted, the screen giving light to the room. "All of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt, thinking what, I wonder. That you might escape the coming fire? No, your world will burn, until the surface is but glass." I noticed the Arbiter walked closer, now standing next to Chief. "And not even your demon will live to creep, blackened from its hole to mar the reflection of our passage. The culmination of our journey, for your destruction, is the will of the Gods." He said aggressively. "And I? I am their instrument." He made a fist as he said that. The screen faded to black, and the power resumed.
"Cocky bastard, just loves to run his mouth." Johnson said fluently, with a cigar in his mouth.
"Does he usually mention me?" Chief asked.
Miranda continued giving orders, while I tried to shake off how freaked out I felt from seeing Truth's message. Despite the number of times I've seen it in-game, the real thing can never compare. When I finally cleared my head, I heard a guy to my right notify Miranda, "Ma'am, squad leaders are requesting a rally point. Where should they go?"
I saw Miranda walking up the steps, pauses, pulling the slide of her magnum, and respond, "To war."