RikaHara here to say that I HAVE RETURNED! After a busy year full of life crap and forgotten passwords, I've finally been able to get back onto my account! and to commemorate this occasion, here's another chapter! Im sorry, I'm kinda rusty. Please tell me what you think. thank you! :)

Kat didn't like was she was seeing. Craning her neck, she glared distastefully at the monolithic stone door that rose before them. They had come out of the dusty tunnels into a large cavern, and the door was the only things blocking their path. It was huge, large enough for several pelicans to go through at once. She felt like a tiny insignificant spec next to this behemoth, and the feeling displeased her.

Next to her, Jun whistled. "I've never seen anything quite like that before. Do you think the colonists built it?" He shined his helmet light into the shadows, trying to catch a glimpse of the ceiling. His attempts were in vain.

"More like discovered it," she replied, walking along side it, examining the crude carvings that decorated its stone surface. "Look how the tunnel breaks into the cavern, it's likely that they just stumbled upon it by accident. Besides, the work on this door is too rough for laser tools. It looks almost hand carved."

"So, what does that mean, exactly?" Carter kicked at the door curiously.

"It means that this door has been around longer than fifty years." The female Spartan frowned underneath her helmet.

Jun found a nearby rock and sat on it, placing his sniper rifle on his lap as he stared up at the primordial wonder in awe. "Well, if the colonists didn't carve that thing out of the cavern wall, then who did?"

"I don't care," Carter cut in, "I just want to know if it can actually open."

"You really want to do that, Boss man?"

"Any other way out we found was collapsed by rubble. This might be our only way out, you have any objections?"

'No….just strange premonitions."

'Shake it off, Jun, superstition has no place in a spartan's head. Kat, can you get that door open?"

"Look at it," she replied curtly. "No control panel or working mechanism. Not even a basic hinge. This door isn't going to open. " Scowling, she ran her hand over one of the carvings, an odd looking swirl with runes all around it.

Suddenly, the door gave an ominous rumble. The cavern walls shook as dirt clods showered from the ceiling. Carter grabbed Kat's arm and pulled her away, instinctively taking out his sidearm. Jun jumped up, the three Spartans tightening into a protective circled.

"Kat, what did you do?" Carter tensed up, a strange feeling creeping up his spine. The air suddenly grew cold as a loud scraping sound could be heard from behind the door, echoing through the cavern and down the tunnel. Something big was coming.

Jun sighed, raising his rifle. "Didn't think I'd ever say this, but at times like these I really miss Emile."

TOBECONTINUED