I may not upload a chapter for a while thanks to A-Level exams coming up. I will possibly get a small chapter out, nothing too serious though. Enjoy and have a good day.
Pablo signing off!
The sky lit up by the smallest amount as the Asmodian day began, huge squawking birds filled the garrison with noise as they sung their morning calls, Orion team sat around the fire. Richard looked up at the sky.
"So is it night or day?" he asked.
"Good morning," Kasamoni said as she walked towards them with her sword over her shoulder.
"And an early good morning to you too."
"What are you on about? It's way past sunrise."
"Really? It seems pretty dark to me."
"You're just not used to it yet."
"Enough chit chat," Paul ordered, "What are we doing next?"
"You guys are so serious all the time," Levano muttered.
"What would you expect with us being the soldiers who protect humanity and all?" Richard added.
"Not here you're not."
Richard stood up and looked Levano in the eyes, "You wouldn't stand a chance if our enemies showed up here."
"So brash and ready to fight as well. It's surprising you don't fight each other."
"And that's coming from a member of a nation that has been fighting for longer than it can remember!"
"Shut it both of you!" Paul snapped.
Richard walked off and put his helmet on, Levano walked off in the other direction. Kasamoni started following Levano for a moment before turning to speak, "Head down into the valley to the old ruins, we'll meet you there."
Paul nodded and addressed the others, "Richard that was the stupidest thing you have ever done, we're here to gain their trust not start fights! Get ready we're moving out in five minutes."
"You realise that as soon as the Elyos decide to do something we'll have to fight them," Richard noted.
"It's not like you to not want to fight. Are you becoming a pacifist now?"
"You know what I mean."
"I do, but we're soldiers, it's what we do. I don't like it either, but we're working with the Asmodians so it's inevitable that we will fight them."
Richard sighed and nodded in agreement, they all knew what it might take to get back home, be it Elyos or any other foes that got in their way that would be cut down. Paul knelt down beside Miku who was still fast asleep somehow, gently shaking her awake, she rubbed her eyes and sat up.
"Get up sleepy head, we're going soon," Paul said with a smile.
The Pelican touched down by the side of the lake, locals watched cautiously from a distance, the raiders from the nearby camp readied their weapons. Meilin jumped down and casually looked around as the rest of the girls disembarked, including Mala who carefully lowered herself down onto her good leg. Meilin sighed as she saw the soldiers with their hands on the hilts of their swords, looks like they still didn't trust them, even though Lasky puts his trust in them. The Pelican lifted off and flew away over the mountains.
"Cass, do your thing," Meilin ordered. Cassidy Wright was shorter than the others; she had brown hair which was slightly curly, hazelnut brown eyes and freckles on her cheeks. She had a large case with a shoulder strap fastened to it slung over her shoulder. Cassidy settled it on the ground and typed in the code to unlock it, inside was an assortment of experiments and bio-scanners for Fireteam Vixen to conduct their biological survey for Infinity Science, she took out a water sampler and waded into the water.
"Sergeant," Mala said, "Why did you bring me along in this state?"
"I thought it might do you some good to get out of that ward. That Kasamoni girl also said that this lake is said to accelerate the healing process."
"And you believed them?" scoffed Lovisa, her strong Swedish accent paired with a mocking tone made her sound unbelievably cold and mean spirited. She pulled off her helmet to reveal her pale skin, blue eyes and blonde hair like spun gold.
"Lovisa darling, this world is full of strange things, we aren't in the realm of technology and science anymore."
"I might as well try," Mala said.
"Not until I've finished my tests, no offense but you would contaminate the samples," Cassidy told her.
"Well tell me when you're done will you."
"Will do."
"I guess nothing gets in the way of a Pegasi graduate and their experiments," Lovisa joked, though it didn't come across as one.
Asmodians went about their duties as normal but kept well away from the squad, sat a distance away from the others to disassemble her battle rifle, Meilin took pictures for the archives and Cassidy carried on with her experiments whilst Mala relaxed in the shallow water of the lake. A shout came from the camp nearby, an Asmodian man was calling out to a group of children, the kids ignored him and carried on running around. They started running towards the team despite the protests of the man at the camp. Meilin stopped taking pictures as the kids stood around her.
"Hello," she said kneeling down, "do you want something?"
"What are you doing?" one of the boys asked.
"I'm just taking pictures for people back home."
"My father over there thinks you're an Elyos even though the council said you weren't."
"I can understand why he thinks that, we don't look like you guys."
"I don't care what you look like, even with your funny coloured head!" one girl announced.
"Funny coloured head? Oh that's just my helmet."
"Take it off!" another shouted. The others started chanting as well.
"Ok! I'll take it off."
Meilin detached the translator microphone and pulled off her helmet. Her dark purple hair shimmered in the slivers of sunlight. The kids stared at her for a moment before one of the girls smiled.
"You're pretty," she said.
"Thank you."
"How are you taking pictures? You don't even have a canvas?" one boy asked.
"Oh, we have these things called cameras. Let me show you something. Stand together and give me a big smile."
The kids huddled together and smiled, Meilin pointed the camera at them, making some nervous.
"Don't worry. It won't hurt you, we use these all the time."
She pressed the button and a moment later the picture popped up on the screen. The kids ran over to see what she did. "And there's a picture of you all."
The kids gasped and asked for more pictures. A few minutes later the man came over, shouting at Meilin and ordering the kids to get away from her. Meilin stood up to her full height. The man hesitated for a moment before standing his ground, face to face with her.
"You Elyos witch!" he shouted at her, "What have you done to my child and his friends?"
"Nothing!" Meilin protested her innocence, "I was just showing them something from our world!"
"It was probably some Elyos propaganda wasn't it! Or some soul stealing magic!"
"Calm down! I'm not even related to the Elyos!"
The man brought his arm up to backhand her, Meilin caught the man by the wrist, holding his arm there with just one hand. Lovisa got up, slotting the rifle onto her back, and made her way to the arguing pair. "I said I'm not Elyos!"
"What is going on here sergeant?" Lovisa asked coldly.
"Another pink skin? We don't like your kind here!" the man snapped at her.
"Did you not hear my superior say we are not your enemies? We're not even from any part of Atreia. We don't even have any magical power."
"You look like them though!"
"That's like us saying you look like somebody who was lost on an ice world for fifty years so we should leave you to die. How pathetic."
The man tried to think of something to say. Lovisa gave him a cold stare. "Get out of here, you're wrong."
"Pipe down Spartan!" Meilin ordered, letting go of the guy's wrist. Lovisa crossed her arms and looked at Meilin sceptically. "I'll sort this out myself! Just keep an eye on Cass and Mala."
Lovisa tutted and walked away.
"I apologise for my squad-mate's actions, she was out of order," Meilin said to the man, who had slowly stepped away. "I'd like to discuss this matter with whoever is in charge here."
Kasamoni ripped the ghostly armour off the spirit, opening her storage cube she counted how many pieces she had acquired; the latest count put the number at eleven.
"Levano," she called out, "How many have you pieces of armour do you have?"
"Twelve! Do you think we have enough?" he shouted back.
The conversation went back and forth, Fireteam Orion stood back as the daevas went on and on about their work, the team had learnt that bullets couldn't stop the ancient Elyos spirits that wandered the ruins so they had elected to just sit back and relax whilst Kasamoni and Levano did their job.
"Are you guys just going to shout at each other when you're only about twenty metres away or are we done here?" Richard asked impatiently. Levano glared at him. "What?"
Kasamoni spoke before Levano could say anything, "We should be fine, the Shadow Court can be a little picky though. We'll head back now."
"We need to send a report back to the Infinity," Paul noted, "We'll join you in about half an hour."
"Sure, we'll get some lovely Ksellid meat roasting for you."
Kasamoni and Levano walked down the sandstone stairs, leaving Orion at the entrance to the ruins.
Keiran held the projector the palm of his hand. An image of Laura popped up on a holographic screen.
"Orion?" Laura addressed them, "Is it time for the report thing?"
She looked worn out.
"Uh… yes ma'am."
"Oh sorry. How unprofessional of me. I'm ready for your report."
Paul retold the events of the day in as much detail as he could, with some additions from the others and a few pointless ones from Richard's attempts at showing off. Twenty minutes went by as they carried on, soon after they finished and Laura signed it off as she saved it to the archives.
"Lieutenant?"
"What is it?"
"You alright? You seem a bit worn out."
"Palmer disappeared to do more important duties and put me in charge of approving reports from the other two teams and pilots who have been out as well."
"What are the others doing?" Chris asked.
"Vixen and Hecht? A bunch of errands. Vixen finished a bunch of biochemistry experiments in a place called Ishalgen or something. There was a bit of a row when Sergeant Qiuyue was approached by some kids, just some adult declaring the team to be Elysean. Qiuyue sorted it out though. Fireteam Hecht was tasked with documenting civilian life in Asmodae, Punky didn't enjoy it which created some problems but Sergeant Craft sorted it out and was able to get quite a few people to contribute."
"Any idea what they're doing now?"
"Craft said that somebody suggested a tavern they worked for, I think they're all heading there soon."
"Maybe we'll show up later," Paul said.
"Whatever, I'll get back to whatever it was I was doing. Lieutenant Smith out."
Keiran put the projector back into its pouch and the team started walking back to the garrison. As they walked up the winding path to the garrison they heard screams, war cries and a monstrous beastly roar. Orion grabbed their weapons and crept up the hill. A huge bird with gigantic black wings, a tattered grey tail and huge clawed feet was butchering its way through the garrison; daevas were trying to hold the beast back as mortals ran for their lives but even the mighty daevas were being cut down. Levano cast an impenetrable shield around himself as Kasamoni deflected a blow with her shield. Smaller versions of the thing seemed to appear out of nowhere, striking down people who let their guard down for a brief moment, Orion crept back a bit to formulate a plan.
"We need to get that things attention," Paul said, Miku disappeared into his helmet.
Richard raised his hand, "I'll do it. You guys get down onto the plains where we can fight this guy."
The others looked at him in shock.
"Did you seriously just say that?" Keiran asked.
"Yeah. What's so amazing about that?"
"Just wasn't expecting it."
"Well seeing as Richard sorted out our plan all by himself we'll start heading down to the plains," Paul said, "Good luck Rich."
The three of them ran back down the path, leaving Richard to formulate his own little plan for distracting the beast. After a moment he jumped up and ran into the garrison. He whistled, the beast turned to look at him, as well as all the Asmodians.
"I need you guys to stop attacking it! I wanna have a nice little chat with the thing."
The bird spread its wings out before him, it was almost four times as tall as him, Richard gestured helplessly to try and calm the bird down.
"Right, easy boy, I'm just going to lead you away now if that's okay."
The bird came closer.
"Whoa slow down there!"
The bird didn't stop.
"I hate myself!"
He ran back down the hill, the bird chased him, its beak snapping right behind him. Paul, Keiran and Chris were waiting for him at the bottom of the hill.
"You can shoot it now guys!"
Paul and Chris fired with their battle rifles, Keiran with his assault rifle, the thing staggered back as bullets peppered its huge body, Richard turned and fired his DMR as well. Tiny birds flew towards them, the team shot them down and dodged the survivors with ease, the giant was suddenly amongst them. Paul was sent flying as the thing hit him with the side of its head, Chris ducked underneath and fired into its belly, Keiran dived to the ground and Richard jumped back out of the way.
"Guys! Try and hold its head still!" Keiran shouted.
"You realise how ridiculous that sounds don't you?" Richard asked.
"Just do it!"
Richard and Chris surrounded the beast. Paul leapt at it and planted his elbow between its eyes. The bird stumbled back, Richard and Chris took their chance and grabbed it by the small horns above its head, Keiran keyed in the code on his Spartan laser to access the overcharge mode.
"Whatever you're gonna do! Do it quickly!" Chris shouted.
Keiran lined up the shot, he held down the trigger, a whirring noise signalled the charging of the laser. An intense red glow grew until the laser discharged, throwing Keiran backwards, Richard and Chris jumped out the way. The overcharged laser tore right through the creature's body and carried on going, its head was destroyed and a small part of a nearby sand dune was sent into the air. Keiran threw the red hot laser away, it landed in a small drift of sand and exploded from the heat, Keiran picked himself up and dusted the sand away.
Richard got up and observed their handiwork, "I don't see what the big deal was? He wasn't that tough."
"Shut up!" Chris jeered, "You were still broadcasting earlier! What was it? I hate myself?"
Richard gave Chris a soft punch in the arm, "Whatever, at least we got the thing away from the garrison right sarge?"
"Don't call me that. But you're right. We might even be called heroes!" Paul joked.
"They might be a bit pissed off that we took the glory like that though," Miku noted from within the helmet, "They seem like those sort of people."
"That's no way to talk about our friends."
"He's right, that's cold coming from you," Keiran said. Miku said nothing.
"Probably a bit grumpy from the early wake-up call," Paul whispered. The others nodded.
"I'm in this helmet with you, I can hear what you are saying," Miku said coldly.
The team slowly walked back up to the garrison. Daeva and mortals alike were tending to their wounds, the Soul Healer was busy curing resurrected daevas of their soul sickness, which happened when they resurrected causing them to be slow and weak for a few minutes. Kasamoni tied the bandage around her right leg and helped Levano wrap a bandage round his abdomen. Orion casually walked into the camp and were greeted by claps and cheers. Kasamoni helped Levano up and they began to clap. The guys didn't seem tired at all, the only sign of damage was bare metal showing on Paul's torso armour from where the thing had hit him. Kasamoni limped over to them, Levano right behind her.
"Did you guys really kill the King?" she asked in astonishment.
"The King? Did we do something wrong?" Paul asked.
"No it's great! One appears every few years. It was a King Consierd, kind of like a leader for a large flock of Gryphus that nest up near the tops of the mountains. Somebody brought it here when they tried to get away from it."
"At least everybody is alright," Richard said.
"Only daevas were taken down, luckily most of us were bound to the obelisk here but we still suffered from soul sickness."
"Still, nobody actually died."
"I take back what I said before," Levano said suddenly, "You guys truly are powerful warriors."
"That looks like it stings a bit," Keiran pointed at the blood stained bandage Levano was wearing.
"Ah it's nothing, my power is all in the mind, a bit of a cut across my stomach won't do anything."
"You guys rest," Paul said, "We're heading to a tavern in Pandemonium to meet up with the other Spartans, we'll see you later."
"Have a good night," Kasamoni nodded to them, "You have earned it."