Hello my friends, it has been a year or two since I last updated this little story. I've always considered this my favorite creation. and I still do. So I hope you enjoy!
The silence surrounded me, the darkness consumed me, and I... was nowhere. I was in this... endless abyss, floating as my mind slowly faded. Helpless in nowhere. The only thing I can do is talk... to you... myself. I just hope that the voice never comes back. I did the one thing that should rid me of that horrid monster forever... I just hope it lasts. I shivered as a memory of that monster played slowly through my head, the dampness and noises associated with it making me want to scream.
"No no no no, don't remember don't remember," I said in panic to myself.
The non-existent eyes of that monster staring directly into my soul, its body starting to form in front of me. My eyes widened in horror and I tried my best to move away, only to stay still in the nothingness.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" I screamed at the monster, the creature forming growing larger and larger.
"HA HA HA HA... leave you, Alex, your mind is apart of mine now, the great, hivemind," the creature said in a sick and twisted tone.
I screamed as the tendrils slid slowly out of the darkness, inching their way closer and closer to me like a creeping snake. The tendrils slowly encircled me and reaching for my arms and legs. I screamed again and tried moving my arms and legs erratically so it couldn't grab hold... but that never works. The tendrils gently touched me and slowly began to wrap around them, keeping a firm hold on me.
"WHY?" I screamed once again at the creature, hoping I could get some answer.
I felt the creature began to tug me closer to it, my tears falling like a waterfall as its horrid mouth opened to reveal its horrible red flesh and jagged teeth.
"To keep you from stopping us... " it said deeply, the words echoing through my mind.
"We will be one," the creature said horribly before opening its endless mouth wide, the darkness inside him making an endless void behind me seem welcoming.
"NOOOOOOOO!" I screamed as I grew closer and closer to the creature's mouth.
I stared in horror and viciously thrashed around one last to escape from the appendages holding me, the slime from them sliding down my back. Its hold only tightened and painfully pulled my arms and legs further apart as it sapped the last of my strength from my body.
"Don't worry Alex, I'm here" a familiar voice suddenly said with concern, an invisible shockwave breaking through the darkness.
"WHAT!?" the horrible creature yelled.
"You will not leave me Alex" the voice said again, the amount of compassion in the voice made me smile.
Another shockwave rippled through the darkness and I laughed as I felt the tentacles holding me loosen.
"Noooo… " he said in quiet anger.
His nonexistent eyes shifted back to me and I recoiled slightly in fear, the tentacles slowly untangling from my limbs.
"you can't escape your fate Aleexxxx… You. Never. Will." he stated venomously.
I smiled again as the creature began to slowly fade into the darkness around me, the eyes slowly disappearing. I looked down at my left leg and saw the last tentacle wrapped around my ankle. I looked at it with confusion and tried to kick it off. The black fade began to crawl up the tentacle and it suddenly started to get… hotter?!
I screamed in pain as the tentacle around my ankle began to burn. I viciously thrashed my leg to try and get it off but it continued to grow hotter, its grip was unbreakable. I bent down to try and pull it off, it felt slimy and I couldn't get a good grip on it. I looked back down at the now mostly disappeared creature, struggling to keep my cries of pain to a minimum.
"You will be mine Aleeexxxx… when the mark burns the brightest, you will be minneeee… " it said before the tentacles disappeared completely.
_Exo_
"Get a toxicology report done on her NOW, I wanna know what THAT is," I said quickly as I watched a fungus all too familiar grow in a circle around her ankle.
Alex was thrashing in her bindings and was letting out suppressed screams. The fungus almost seemed to be burning her, if the orange light under the skin and fungus was any indication. I looked at Alex's face and saw more tears sliding down her face. I growled slightly and looked back down at the fungus.
"Damn abomination… " I stated angrily at the fungus.
"Sir, the fungus has many similarities to the flood strain, but as of yet, we haven't seen anything that would indicate that it can reproduce or infect the human's cells" a Jackal stated hesitantly as he looked over the makeup of the flood strain.
"Hand it to-"
"Chief medical officer Exo?" Someone asked inquisitively to my right.
"WHAT!?" I yelled before turning to the voice.
The orange armor and staff stood out immediately and it only meant one thing. I clenched my fists in anger and stood up from Alex's side. Why can't the prophets chose a different time, any other time to interrupt me.
"The prophets have summoned you" he stated calmly.
"Can't you see that I'm dealing with the human?" I said with a growl.
"They expect you immediately" he stated calmly once again.
"Well tell the prophets I'm dealing with a possible flood infection, and until I stabilize their prize I won't be able to come immediately" I borderline yelled at him before turning back around.
I grabbed the holopad from the jackal and started to observe the makeup of the strange infections ring that suddenly appearing on her ankle. It looked almost entirely similar and most of the usual markers of the flood strain were there, but as the Jackal said, there's no way for it to transmit its deadly strain.
"Get a tissue sample of the ring, and make sure to not aggravate it too much" I ordered as I looked to Alex.
She was still spazzing greatly but the auto tightening restraints kept it down slightly and her face looked pained still. The veins on her head were protruding from her skin slightly while the rest of the visible ones seemed normal. I stepped forward and leaned down towards her head, examining her head, a sudden and almost unnatural looking pulse making me flinch slightly.
"I'll shall inform them of your reluctance Medical Officer Zeno" the honor guard stated with a slight growl.
"Go right ahead," I said with a small growl of my own.
_Prophets_
The three Prophets waited in silence as they waited for their honor guard to retrieve Zeno. Truth looked patient but the other two looked less so. Darks face was contorted in irritation while White was obviously angry, both of their fidgeting predictable to Truth.
"How much longer will Zeno take?" Light stated, his aggravation clear in his voice.
"I want this done quickly," Dark said with a frown.
"This is the future of our Covenant Dark, you and he will understand that - even if takes all week to do so," Truth said with irritation.
Both Light and Dark scowled at Truths words. The simple thought of their next action blinding them both with enough anger to the point that they're both agreeing with one another. Truth sighed and shook his head at their childish actions, but sadly, he couldn't blame them. Their short-sighted actions are based on decades of war and propaganda, a war that marked humans as a race that desecrated the gods and stood in the way of our once Great Journey.
Even with our knowledge of how humans were the only known race that could truly interface with Forerunner technology.
So in the back of Truth's mind, he almost regrets the disastrous war, but he'll never say it out loud.
"Holy hierarchs, Medical Officer Exo is refusing to come as requested" the Honor Guard stated suddenly as his hologram appeared before them, unknowingly interrupting Truth's train of thought.
Both Dark and Light looked surprised by his words, but rage soon encompassed them.
"And why is that?" Dark asked with outrage..
"He said he was dealing with the human, something to do with that damned infection. You'll have to ask him for more details" he said respectfully with his head down
"The Flood? I thought we dealt with that abomination here?!" Light yelled with fury.
"I as well holy prophet," the honor guard said quietly in response.
Dark moved to speak again but Truth cut him off, a stern glare doing the trick.
"Thank you honor guard, but we shall deal with this. Stay there and monitor the situation, we shall contact you soon" Truth said with a sigh.
"As you wish holy hierarch," he said with the bow of his head.
Silence followed, the anger of Light and Dark was still there, but with a new sense of urgency in their eyes that betrayed their anger. This new information surprised them all, the resurgence of the infection meant that their holy city was not secure and that somehow, the infection has infiltrated the cities security. Leaving them vulnerable and under threat of a new outbreak that suspiciously only decided to infect our last human.
"It seems we have a new problem gentleman" Truth started with concern, breaking the ice.
"A new hivemind?" Dark asked with concern.
"Impossible, we destroyed it on the holy ring!" Light said while slamming his fist down on his chair, his anger more evident.
"The universe is boundless Light, and besides, we can't rule out the possibility," Truth said with a frown, uneasy with what he was implying.
"Then how could it have gotten into the city? We have modified our sensors to pick up even the smallest Flood spore?" Light asked with outrage.
"It could have been carried in by one of the member races? Masked as something harmless?" Dark hypothesized.
Light almost growled in response.
"Then it seems Exo will be… preoccupied, for some time" Truth said with a sigh.
"Then I will find the source of this damn infection in our holy city!" Light declared loudly, slamming his fist on the arm of his chair, not wasting a moment
Truth nodded "I'll have Exo send you the makeup of this new flood strain, if it got past the sensors, then it will be difficult to locate it," Truth said thoughtfully.
Light nodding in approval.
"Have him send it to me as well, I'll begin my search in our colonies and fleets" Dark said with a nod of his own.
"Good… but I assume I have your support on-"
"Deal with the human Truth, I do not oppose you... but I don't have the stomach for such an action" Light interrupted with a scowl, turning his chair around and floating away not a second later.
Truth sighed at Lights rude actions; he would have normally scolded him, but today has no shortage of stress, and he didn't support his plan that much to begin with.
"I must begin my investigation Truth, I leave this to you," Dark said calmly.
Dark soon left as well, leaving only Truth to deal with Exo and Alex, just as he originally preferred. Meaning that he could move forward with little resistance and without question as to his plans with the human, making this all the easier for him.
Truth didn't waste a second before typing in something into his control pad, opening up a secure channel with the honor guard once again.
It took a second before the Sangheili showed his usual sign of respect as he bowed his head down in the hologram.
"Prepare for my arrival, and make sure Exo is working with haste. If the human dies it will be on his head" I ordered sternly, the Sangheili nodding in confirmation.
"We await your arrival Holy Hierarch," he said deeply before the communication was ended.
Truth smiled triumphantly and rotated his chair around, thinking about his plan several times over as he began to float towards the exit. If the other prophets were in the room or had the meeting with Exo have gone as planned, they would have been quick to question him. But they were not, and he couldn't help but smile.
"Humanity isn't finished yet Alex," he said with a smile, a chuckle flowing out of him.
Hello, again my friends! I hope you enjoyed it in some way. Leave a review if you feel it deserves it and I hope you'll come back around next time I update this little story, which will be soon hopefully.