A Noble Age

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or Dragon Age in any way, shape, or form. They belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 1.

Vicious firestorms spread through Csongrad and slowly, but surely, made its way up the Highland Mountains turning the once majestic forests to cinders and melting through the rocks, an effect from the continues glassing that had caused widespread damage to the planets ecosystem, pretty much turning Reach, a world once referred to mankind's fortress among the stars, to a smouldering rock.

Black rain fell washing most of the snow away as Lieutenant Spartan-B312, otherwise known by his callsign Noble Six, made his way through the Highlands and headed in the direction of CASTLE Base to rendezvous with Jun and Doctor Halsey, assuming of course that they had made it there after they had gone their separate ways at SWORD Base; still, if anyone would be able to get her there it would be his fellow Headhunter.

It had been two weeks since the Pillar of Autumn had escaped Reach along with the package, and to say that he was exhausted would be the understatement of the century. It probably would have been simpler to go out in a blaze of glory, taking down as many Covenant as he could with him. However, something in the back of his mind told him to keep moving, and that was precisely what he did.

Grabbing Emile's dog tags, his pauldron and Kurki and connecting it to how own armour, his way of honouring his fallen brother and keeping his memory alive by killing as many Covenant as he could, he left the drydock and began his long trek across the arid and barren wasteland, eliminating a few passing patrols but nothing that would telegraph his presence, and eventually made his way towards the Highland Mountains.

Truth be told, this whole expedition might have been a waste of time. There was a chance that when he reached CASTLE Base that he would find it in ruins just like SWORD Base, but that was a chance he was willing to make. He owed it to Noble Team, to every man, woman, and child that had died on Reach to survive and finish the fight; and that's what he planned to do or die trying.

Coming to a stop, Six took a second to catch his breath. It had been a few days since he had last gotten any sleep due to Phantoms in the area, and it was beginning to take a toll. He was tired, he was hungry, and he finished the last of the water in his flask days ago. Under normal circumstances he would have refilled his water at one of the many water sources in the Highlands, most notably the Big Horn River and later purified it, but under normal circumstances he wouldn't have run out of water let alone even been there.

Looking over his shoulder, he sighed when he stared at the devastation behind him. The mountains and forests that had stood the test of time long before humans had arrived to colonize the planet were now in flames, glowing a crimson red that looked almost ominous in nature, embers falling. Lightning flashed across the blackened skies as a fierce storm raged above.

Staring at the devastation, he felt responsible for all of it. He had been there at the Visegrad when Noble Team had first encountered the Covenant and had initiated WINTER CONTINGENCY, had fought them on every front, and been there when the Covenant fleet had arrived, and finally watched as the UNSC abandoned planet after over a month of fighting the Covenant, desperately trying to push them back as they waited for the Home Fleet to arrive.

He should have fought harder.

It was a thought that lingered for a while now, and for good reason. It was true.

He should have fought harder. Yet, he did what he always did. Kept his mouth shut and simply followed his orders. He had never been a leader, never had a desire for it, but given the circumstances he should have left his comfort zone and taken command of the situation.

"I'd recommend moving, Noble Six." A synthetic voice suddenly spoke interrupting the Spartans train of thought, pulling him back to reality. "The longer we stay here the longer it'll be until we reach CASTLE Base."

"How far?" Six questioned Auntie Dot, the Dumb Artificial Intelligence that had been assigned to Noble Team, as he set off once again in the direction of Castle Base.

"Approximately 11.3 kilometres if we continue this path."

"Seven miles."

"7.02, to be exact." Dot informed him as he walked through the Highlands, splashing through the black sludge that a few weeks ago would have been thick, heavy white snow. It really put it in perspective the state of the planet. Although, there was a silver lining in all this. For some reason unbeknownst to him, the Covenant hadn't glassed this area, meaning one of two things.

One, they saw no point seeing as how the fire would take care of the job for them. Two, much like with the Zealots that Noble Team had encountered at the Visegrad Relay, they were looking for something. What exactly that was he couldn't say, but whatever it was had to be important. Then again, all this was nothing more than speculation on his part.

Silence once again lingered as the Spartan-III commando made his way through the Highlands and headed towards Castle Base. It wasn't until a good twenty, twenty-five minutes that said silence was shattered as he picked up a familiar noise. After a couple of seconds, the origin on the disturbance became apparent as a Phantom dropship broke through thick smoke and flew overhead.

As the Phantom began circling around, Six reached over his shoulder and grabbed the M392 Designated Marksmen Rifle from his back before jumping into the fray as the dropship pointed its heavy plasma cannon and opened fire. Evading most of the bolts, the ground was torn apart from the superheated plasma that melted through what remained of the snow and ripped the ground up as Grunt's, Jackals, and Elites were unloaded.

As plasma and debris splashed over him depleting his shields, he snapped his DMR up and eliminated a handful of Grunts with headshot as they leapt from the Phantom, culling their numbers. As the first few Grunts fell, he swiftly finished of the rest before they had a chance to return fire and watched as they dropped face-first into the sludge.

"Two Elites, Zealot-class, and five Jackals remaining." Dot pointed out highlighting the remaining Covenant troops for him as the two Elite charged down the incline and headed straight for him, both wielding Energy Swords and Plasma rifle, making a beeline past the Jackals that hid behind their shields and followed them.

With the Elites leading the attack, the Phantom stopped firing and instead pulled up and vacated the area making Six grit his teeth. There was no doubt in his mind that the area was about to become firing zone and they were off to collect more troops and report that they had discovered a Demon; assuming they hadn't already.

Ignoring that for the time being, Six focused on the Jackals as the Elites fired at him as they closed the gap between them. Aiming at the gap in the shield, he fired a single shot catching their arm, wounding them making them shriek and lower the arm. The second it did, he finished them off with a headshot. Taking out the second Jackal with the same method, he ducked at the Zealots reached him with the first trying to slice his head off.

Ducking the first energy blade, he fired a few rounds at the first Zealot, then ducked again as a second energy sword followed by slamming his elbow into them cracking their shields and making them stumble. As the second Elite stumbled back, he dodged the first sword again while simultaneously aiming at the first Zealot and took them down with a headshot, then grabbed the Kurki knife and stabbed up through the Elite's head killing them.

Ripping the Kurki out, he shoved it back into its sheath, not even bothering to flick the blood off, and pushed the Zealot away. His shields shimmered around him as bolts hammered into him. Picking up the Plasma blades and storing them on his hips, one on each side, he grabbed one of the Plasma rifles from the ground and stormed up the slope and opened fire on the remaining three Jackals.

Firing the plasma rifle, the shield turned a crimson red before shutting down allowing him to finish them off with the DMR. Dropping the first, Six darted forward and towards the final two Jackals as his own shields were slowly depleted. Nearing the first, he brought his leg up and slammed his boot into it breaking through the shield and crushing avian-like alien beneath, bone cracking and turning to paste from the force.

Kicking up the ground as he sprinted towards the final Jackal, Six rammed his knee into the base of the shield making it shut down and knocked them to the ground. As they scrambled to their feet dazed, rather than finishing them off with his weapons, he simply brought his leg up and the second that the Jackal looked up he stomped it's head in turning it to paste.

Placing both the DMR and Plasma rifle on his back, storing both weapons at an angle, he crouched down and ripped the Point Defence Gauntlet from the Jackal and placed it on his forearm and connected it to his armour. Activating it, the shield sprung to life, and he examined to briefly before shutting it down. The second that he did he picked up the sound Banshees.

Looking up, he spotted two Banshees emerge through the thick smoke. The moment that they saw him they opened fire and rained plasma down upon him. Grabbing the Plasma pistol from the dead Jackal, he made a beeline for the forest while also overcharging the sidearm as he sprinted through the forest, weaving in and out of the trees to make himself a harder target.

The trees turned to splinters as the Banshees unleashed a barrage of superheated plasma bolt through the forest that sliced through everything they touched as Six weaved in and out of the trees, cracking twigs and fallen branches as he stepped on them. Spotting an opening in greenery, he spun round and pointed his pistol and fired the overcharged bolt and watched as it struck one of the aircrafts, creating an EMP that shut it down.

As it lost power it nosedived down towards the forest and slammed into the ground, exploding as it crashed into the ground blowing away everything in the blast radius and sending pieces of trees, rocks, and dirt in every direction.

Escaping the blast radius, Six continued sprinting through the forest as the other banshees remained hot on his trail and waited for the plasma pistol to vent. Leaping over a large tree trunk that had moss covering it, an indication that it had fallen a long time ago, he headed further into the forest. Pushing himself harder, moving at speeds that not even an Olympic athlete could keep up with, he felt the ground behind him shake and slid to a halt and ducked as trees were thrown through the air leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

Making a hard left, he headed further into the forest, cursing himself that he was now straying off the path to CASTLE Base. Jumping over a small gap, he landed in a large body of water that ran through the forest.

"Covenant battlenet is lighting up all across this sector, Noble Six." Dot informed him as he looked up as the Banshee spotted him. "They're on high alert and know that you're here."

Six didn't answer, not really seeing any point too, and looked up as purple broke through the green. Aiming the Plasma Pistol, he overcharged a bolt and fired at the Banshee, taking it out with an EMP and watched as it lost control and crashed into trees and smashed into the ground, tearing apart the ground before flipping upside down and landed on its roof.

The pilot struggled to pry the hatch open, but when they managed to, they rolled out and into the water to reveal an Elite Officer, their shields shimmering around them. Grabbing his M6G magnum from his hip, he unloaded a single round from the chamber and ended them with a headshot, their head hitting the ground and quickly turning the crystal-clear waters to a murky purple.

Before he could even entertain the idea of flipping the Banshee over to see if it was still operational, the entire forest lit up as bolts shot through trees in the direction that he had come from, a few even manging to hit him bringing up his shields. Seconds later a large force of Covenant emerged from the trees that mostly consisted of Elites, all various classes, and straggling behind them were a swarm of Grunts.

Overcharging a bolt, he took down a General's shield with an EMP, then finished them off with the magnum as he continued to back up as the Covenant swarmed his location. Venting the former, he unloaded a total of three rounds and took out three Grunts in the background. When his plasma pistol vented, he shot another overcharged bolt at an Elite taking down their shields then fired a bullet straight through the head.

With each one he killed two more took its place as more and more Covenant emerged from the forest. As he tried to vent the Plasma Pistol, an Elite ran at him. Deciding to improvise, he retaliated by lobbing said pistol at them that broke their shield as they staggered, clearly not expecting such a tactic. Taking advantage of their distraction, Six took them out with a headshot.

As the Elite hit the ground, an overcharged bolt struck him taking down his shields. Looking at the culprit, he spotted a Grunt with their pistol venting. Retaliating, he took them out with a single round to the head, then fired his last bullet to kill their buddy next to them.

The magnum now out of bullets, he stored it aback on his hip just as a Zealot lunched at him with an Energy Sword. Activating his shield gauntlet and deflected the otherwise killing blow by throwing his arm raising the sword above his head, then bashed them with the shield making them stumble back.

As they did, Six grabbed one of the Energy Swords and activated before lunging at the Zealot ramming the sword through their stomach and brought his arm up slicing the Elite in half, the two halves falling in opposite directions.

As the Zealot split in half, the Spartan brought up his shield as a barrage of plasma bolts came at him, defending himself. Looking through the transparent plasma, he saw another Elite charging at him firing a plasma rifle and holding an energy sword. A gold light shimmered around him as his armour's shields recharged just as the Zealot reached him.

Crouching as the Zealot tried to cut him in half, he used the shield and the Elites momentum to throw them over his shoulder. As they hit the ground, Six spun around and plunged his sword into the back of their head, killing them. His energy shields shimmered around him as more Covenant emerged from forest like locust.

" I recommend a tactical retreat." Dot advised as Six deactivated the energy sword and placed it back on his hip. Picking up the discarded plasma rifle, he returned fire at one of the Elites that was leading the attack. Firing small, controlled bursts to take down it's shields, he grabbed one of the plasma grenades from the dead Elite and lobbed it and stuck the charging Elite.

The grenade went off blowing the Elite apart and taking out a handful of other Elites and Grunts that got caught in the blast radius. As the explosion rocked the forest, Six decided to follow Dot's advice and made a tactical retreat and quickly vacated the area.

Racing through the forest and following the river that ran through the heart, his motion scanner went off the scale as Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and even Brutes came from every direction and opened fire. His energy shields flickered around him as bolts ripped through the trees lighting up the forest. Grabbing the plasma rifle that was on his back, he returned the favour and fired the twin rifles cutting down any that crossed his path.

The world became a haze of green, brown, grey, and blue as he raced through the forest eliminating numerous Covenant. Hearing a familiar hum, he glanced up to see several Phantoms above gunning for him. Quickly looking over his shoulder, he saw an army of Covenant hot on his tail; seems he really had kicked the hornets' nest. Looking straight ahead, his eyes widened when he saw the end of the path ahead.

Stopping himself, he came to a sliding stop inches away from the top of the waterfall that poured into a massive lake. Turning around, he came face to face with the army that had chased him through the forest. Gritting his teeth behind his visor knowing that he had foolishly gotten himself cornered, he pointed the plasma rifles at the Covenant and opened fire.

Holding down the triggers, he made short work of the Grunts that quickly fell, then focused on the Elites and managed to take down their shields before his rifles overheated. Throwing the weapons to the side, Six slung his arm over his shoulder and grabbed his DMR just as one of the Phantoms circled around and opened the side hatch revealing a Brute Chieftain holding an Gravity Hammer.

Pointing the DMR at one of the Elites who's shield he had taken down, he finished them off with a headshot, then did the same to another just as the Brute leapt from the Phantom and landed on the ground, crushing the unfortunate Grunt that had been underneath them at the time. In typical fashion, the Brute showed no regard for the death of one of its own and simply shook its leg to remove it from its foot.

With the Grunt removed, the Brute gripped the shaft of the gravity hammer and bared their teeth and it leered savagely at the Spartan before darting at him.

Glancing at the digital ammo counter, he sighed when he saw that he only had two bullets left. It wouldn't even be enough to crack a Minors shields let along a Chieftain, who's shields were naturally much stronger due to their rank, still that didn't mean that he was just going to stand there and take it.

Firing the final two bullets, a blue light flickered around the Chieftain as it neared him. As it did, it leapt into the air and swung the hammer at him. Bringing up his arm and activating his shield gauntlet, a loud bang reverberated across the forest as the hammer connected with the shield and Six was thrown back violently over the waterfall and down into the lake.

Hitting into the water like a ton of bricks, the weight of his Mjolnir pulled him under and down to the bottom of the lake. As he continued to sink further and further, he realized just how deep the lake was as he gripped onto his DMR as if it was a lifeline, even though he currently had no more bullets left.

"Noble Six, are you okay?" Dot inquired as the Spartan-III commando continued to sink to the bottom.

"I'm fine." Six responded, hiding the fact that his arm felt like it had just been ripped from its socket. Still, that was better than the alterative, he supposed. If not for the shield gauntlet that he had borrowed from the Jackal, he knew for a fact that he would have been dead...didn't mean that it didn't hurt though.

Sinking deeper into the lake, he saw old row boats that had moss and algae growing over them floating aimlessly through the water, several species of fish, both that were native, and that humanity had brought from Earth centuries ago to preserve them, swimming passed him unaware of the hell that was above them. Finally reaching the bottom, he straightened himself up and landed on his feet.

"I would highly recommend looking for a way out of this lake, Lieutenant." Dot advised the Spartan as he looked around. "While the Covenant have yet to glass this area, that will quickly change now they know you're here." She added as Six pulled his DMR and connected it onto his back, the magnetic plate still working fine while submerged.

Nodding, more to himself than anything, boiling alive was not the way he wanted to go out. Taking the first step, he pushed himself through the water and looked for a way-out without alerting the Covenant to his presence. As he moved along the bottom of the lake he kicked up years, perhaps centuries, worth of grim turning the water somewhat murky.

"Anything from CASTLE?" Six questioned the A.I, which he guessed was technically his A.I after collecting her from one of the ONI bases, which sadly had no ship that had a working slipspace drive but did download everything that was on the servers. If it had he would have hightailed off Reach weeks ago to warn Earth about the impending threat; alas, here he was galivanting underneath a lake looking for a way out of this cesspit.

It was times like this that he wondered exactly what it was that he done to piss Lady Luck off. His entire life had been nothing more than a string of misfortunes, and his current predicament was just the icing on the cake.

Damn his bad luck.

"Negative." Dot responded in her typical cold, articulated manner. "However, the base was constructed by the Office of Naval Intelligence and situated two kilometres beneath Malachite Mountain. It is possible that it acts like a faraday cage, preventing any electrical signatures from coming in or out."

The Spartan didn't comment further knowing that she was probably right. ONI were many things; paranoid was definitely one of them. Although, what did that say about him considering that he had been working for them now for the last eight years? Shaking his head knowing that now was not the time to be distracted, especially not when he could be moments away from being boiled alive, he pressed on.

"There, Lieutenant." Dot suddenly announced pulling him from his thoughts to see her highlighting an opening in the side of the rock and set a waypoint for him. "There is a chance that there is an air pocket has formed inside." She explained to the super soldier. "While your Mjolnir is capable of supplying you oxygen for an hour, you have been under the lake now for five ten minutes."

"Noted." Six replied as he headed in the direction of the cave opening. The cave was spacious, and dark like the rest of the lake. Thankfully, his augmentations had given him a form of night vision meaning that he could see perfectly without a source of light. Lifting his head up, his bad luck seemed to be finally turning around as he saw the water rippling above him; as well as what looked to be a small island in the middle of the cave.

Walking over to the cave wall, he placed his fingers on the rocks and testing that it could handle the weight of his Mjolnir, he began carefully pulling himself up from the ground and up towards the surface. When he neared the top, he glanced over his shoulder to look at the small path that connected to the round island in the middle of the cave before kicking himself away from the wall and over to island.

Emerging from the water, he grabbed onto the path and pulled himself up. Getting back to his feet he was surprised, as well as confused, when he saw what was in front of him. Flowers and grass ran along the path, however that wasn't what confused him, rather it was the large arch-like mirror that sat in the middle of the island that, unless he was mistaken, seemed to be humming with power and emitting a blue light that filled the room.

Cautiously stepping towards the mirror, he stopped in front of it and stared into the strange artefact that was before him. Oddly enough there was no reflection, pretty much defeating the object of it being a mirror. Still, something about it was calling out to him, leaving him feeling uneasy. Looking around the cave there was nothing else of significant; so why on earth, or Reach to be precise, would someone build a mirror in some deserted cave?

"What's it doing here?"

"Unknown." Dot told the Spartan. "I am however detecting unidentified energy signature coming from the mirror which is neither Human or Covenant in design."

"Like the ship?" Six asked referring to the ancient vessel that ONI had discovered underneath SWORD Base, one that had probably been destroyed when the base had been destroyed.

"Negative. The architecture is fundamentally different, as is the signal that both the ship and the mirror are emitting." Dot explained to him. "Further examination is needed. And seeing as how I can not see a way out of this cave, I believe now would be a good a time as any." She added.

Seeing that she had a point, Six walked around the mirror examining it from every angle. Upon closer inspection he came to realize that it was nothing more than some old mirror that had been left there. It was a mirror, something to suit somebodies' vanity, nothing more, nothing less.

"Perhaps it has a holographic interface?" Dot offered as Six stood back in front of the mirror. "If the species that created it were as advanced as the Covenant or the ones that built the ship buried beneath SWORD Base, it would not be out of the question."

Pausing for a second to consider her words, the super soldier nodded and stepped up to the mirror. Bringing up his hand, he waited for some sort of holographic interface to pop up...only to find himself waiting. Sighing to himself, wondering why he stupidly thought that he finally caught a break, he pressed his hand against the glass-like material to wipe away whatever was covering it.

As he placed his hand on the glass ripples formed around his hand and he felt it being sucked in. Snatching his hand back, he stared at the mirror somewhat uneasily, wondering if he was losing his mind or if that happened.

"Intriguing." Dot commented upon seeing what had happened. "It would appear that there is more to this mirror than meets the eye." She added stating the obvious as Six cautiously reached forward and pressed his hand on the glass for a second time and watched as ripples formed around his hand like raindrops in a lake.

Steeling himself, he probed further and pushed his hand into the mirror and watched as his hand, followed by his entire arm, disappeared before his very eyes. Deciding not to fight it, he stepped into a mirror and with a flash of white both the Spartan and A.I disappeared from Reach without a trace.

Appearing in a flash of light, Six stepped out of the mirror and was taken aback when instead of the interior of the cave he found himself standing in what appeared to be a courtyard, one that had been ravaged by the passage of time and shrouded in fog and mist that covered the area as far as the eye could see.

"It would appear that it was a teleportation system of some sorts." Dot said sounding intrigued, or as intrigued as a Dumb A.I was capable of. "Unfortunately, I can not pinpoint our exact location. However, seeing as how there is no smoke, ash, or a Covenant ship in sight, it would seem that we're no longer on Reach."

"Teleportation?" Naturally the Spartan was sceptical. The closest thing they had to teleportation was their slipspace drives and that was to transport them to a dimension subdomain that consisted of eleven non-visible infinitesimal dimensions used for faster-than-light travel, which ultimately allowed humanity to colonize their home system then beyond.

But certainly nothing that transported an individual to another planet in the blink of an eye...assuming of course that Dot was correct; and from what he was seeing with his own two he knew she was correct.

"Do you have any other explanation?"

"No." Six concurred as he began looking around. Taking a step forward, his footsteps echoed, reverberating in every direction. Throughout the courtyard were large tree-like statues in every direction, ancient towers in the distance, not unlike the old architecture of Earth from the Middle Ages, and a myriad of mirrors similar to the one that he had stepped through Unlike the one he had walked through, the mirrors that were in the courtyard were nothing more than old relics that had been forgotten and ravaged by the passage of time.

His train of thought was interrupted when he heard footsteps that were not his own up ahead. Snapping in the direction that it came from, he saw a silhouette through the fog, one that was distinctly humanoid, walking off in the opposite direction.

Weighing both the pros and the cons, Six went in favour of the former and followed after the figure deeper into the fog, but kept his distance. He didn't want to risk telegraphing his presence on the off chance that the person was hostile. Under normal circumstance he would not have been so cautious about following a figure, but after walking through a magic mirror, something he was still having a hard time believing, he wasn't leaving nothing to chance.

As he headed through the courtyard, he lost sight of the figure confusing him how he could lost track of somebody so quickly. In addition, the deeper he headed through the courtyard the more mirrors he found erected. While he couldn't say for sure...at least not without further investigation, the mirrors acted gateways that had once connected to hundreds of other worlds, the one on Reach being one of many.

It was shamed that the UNSC had never discovered the gateway on Reach. If they had they could've drilled through to the cave from above and evacuated thousands of people when the Covenant invaded Reach. Furthermore, he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't the slight bit curious as to whom had built them.

The Spartan was pulled from his thoughts as a bright blue light bled through the fog getting his attention. Following the light, Six came across yet another mirror that was emitting a blue light and resonating with power.

"It would appear whomever it was has to ability to activate these mirrors on command." Dot remarked as Six stood stared at the mirror for any signs of foul play. Paranoid? Perhaps, but considering where he was could you blame him? "I would recommend using it to leave this place, Lieutenant. Either that or return to the one that connects to Reach and take your chances against the Covenant. Assuming of course you can find an alternative way out of the lake."

Knowing that she was right, Six placed his hand on the glass and just like the last time disappeared in a flash of light and vanished from the courtyard.

Exactly like the first time, Six emerged from the mirror and walked onto a stone platform that was situated in the middle of a massive chamber. It was dark with only the light from the mirror filling the room, along with a few stone pillar that held the room up, most of which were crumbling for poor maintenance and ravaged by the passage of time. Along the walls and on the chandeliers that ran throughout the room were thick cobwebs.

Stepping away from the mirror, he went to investigate the room and see where it was that he had been transported too only to spin around as the gateway to the courtyard shut down leaving the Spartan standing alone in the darkness.

Switching his helmets lights on, he shined the light around the room and returned to what he and planned to do before the gateway shut down leaving him and Dot stranded there with no way back to the courtyard or Reach for that matter.

Reaching down and grabbing one of the Energy Swords from his hip, he silently prayed that it wouldn't blow up in his hand after being submerged in the water before activating it. Thankfully, it did nothing of the sorts as the plasma blade hissed to life, the light filling the room with an eery glow. Glad that he had at least one weapon working, he wandered over to the edge of the platform and was shocked at what he found.

Running along the entirety of the room were stacks of gold, silver, and jewels that glimmered as the light touched them. A treasure trove of wealth, and if he had cared about that sort of thing he probably would have been frothing at the mouth. Pointing his light across the room, gold and silver veins sparked along the walls; even the room was a prize in itself.

"With the portal closed, the only way out would be to press ahead." Dot advised her partner who begrudgingly nodded, inwardly berating himself for allowing himself to get trapped.

Moving down the stone steps, B312 followed the path that led through the heart of the chamber. His footsteps echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls, as he walked along the path before finally reaching the end of the room where he saw two large stone doors; however, the centrepiece had to be the massive golden statue of a bearded man that was short in stature and holding a double-headed hammer.

"It would appear who ever this statue is modelled after suffered from dwarfism." Auntie Dot pointed out as Six stared up at the golden statue of the bearded man.

Shaking his head knowing that now was not the time to get distracted, especially since he was permanently cut off from the UNSC after stepping through the gateway, he tried to pry the stone doors open, but to no avail frustrating him. Switching the energy sword off and placing it back on his hip, he turned around and headed back the way he came.

Stopping when he felt that he had gotten enough distance between himself and the door, Six narrowed his eyes before racing back towards the doors. Reaching them within a few seconds, he slammed his shoulder into them breaking the doors down sending dust and debris in every direction as the stone fell apart.

Once the dust settled, he found himself staring at a massive city of gold and silver that glimmered as the light hit it, which while impressive was not what gave him pause. Rather it was the horde that occupied the city that consisted of creatures from the stuff of nightmares that came in all shapes and sizes. Rotting grey skin, soulless eyes, sharp serrated teeth, and all staring hungrily at him, salivating at the mouth, and wielding rusted swords, daggers, and hammers.

The entire city fell silent as the creatures stared at him. The silence was quickly broken as a bestial roar cracked through the city like thunder which acted like a domino effect as the rest of the creatures followed suit and charged at him making the ground quake as they charged at him, coming out of every crack and crevice like a locust, swarming his location

Without a word, the Spartan grabbed the second energy sword and activated it as the horde besieged him. As the blade hissed to life, he gripped the handles and jumped into the fray. He had no idea what these things were, nor did he care to be honest. If fate decreed that he was going to die here then so be it, that didn't mean that he was going to make it easy for them.

After all...Spartans didn't go quietly.

And cut! Well, here is the first chapter of A Noble Age. I hoped you all enjoyed it. Not gonna lie I've been going back and forth with how I should start the first chapter. One option was where Six was going to die on Reach then mysteriously transported to Thedas. Another was that Duncan would meet Six when he crash-lands in the Hinterlands. And another was where Six was already on Thedas and acting like a vigilante.

Hopefully the first chapter looks decent enough.

If I haven't made it clear, Six and Dot are currently in the Deep Roads and are going to have to fight their way out through the Darkspawn that have occupied one of the lost Thaig's. Bonus points if you can guess which one.

This also starts just before the Fifth Blight allowing Six and Dot to settle into their new surroundings, and come to terms with the fact that Elves, Dwarves, and Magic exist on this world, the latter which the two will have a hard time accepting since they were raised on the principle of science.

Not much else to say other than let me know what you all thought.