The Remarkable Turned Bizarre

by ODST1

Knowing where you're going is preferable to being lost. After escaping the Mona Lisa, Sergeant Zhao Heng Lopez, and the Sangheili soldier called Henry, have crash-landed on a mysterious and strange planet. They must now survive this bizarre world, and each other, their worst enemy their only ally against the inhabitants. The war may be distant, but it weighs heavily on their minds.

3. Chapter 3

Lopez and Henry sat next to each other in the middle of a large dark chamber, shackled and missing their weapons and packs They still had most of their clothes and armor, Lopez could say that much about their captors, though her helmet was gone.

Around them were several Bucketheads, their swords out and maintaining a healthy distance from their captives. One idiot had tried poking at Henry's jaws, curious about the four mandibles. He was presumably in an infirmary somewhere about to suffer from gangrene on a now two-finger hand; these primitives didn't look like the type to clean anything.

They hadn't been interrogated yet, but it seemed they might have had bigger problems.

According to Lopez's TACPAD, there was a significant movement of troops from the valley to the destroyed temple, where more heat signatures were detected. Not human, but not Covenant either. They seemed to be coming from the portal itself.

Her guess was right on the money. The enemy was deploying soldiers through the portal.

And they were on their way here.

Lopez shifted slightly, her chains clinking and making the guards nervous.

"I'm just getting comfortable, you idiots," she growled, "can't a marine scratch an itch every once in awhile?"

Some of them looked at each other, "What did she say?"

"Some barbaric babble, I suppose," Another dismissed, "She looks like she's from the south. They're all savages and cannibals and apostates down there. I bet she hasn't even heard of the Maker!"

Her neural implant was still translating. She could understand them, but they still couldn't understand her. This would be a long day...

Distantly, there was the sound of a door opening. They had plenty of time to watch the six figures approaching them from the end of the rather long interrogation chamber.

Three were ahead of the others. Two, some typical guards, were carrying the third between them. He was one of the elves, and not exactly unique. He had a mullet-like hairstyle, and silver tattoos across his face in a vague tree shape. He a scar over his left eye, and wearing basic adventuring gear.

He was shackled like Henry and Lopez were, but he was limp and wasn't struggling.

The three behind them obviously weren't prisoners. One was a woman in her 30s, with jet-black hair, a hardened face, and wearing a scowl as she looked at the passed-out elf. She was dressed in purple heavy armor, a depiction of the sun with an eye in the center across her chest, and a sword hung at her side.

The second was also a woman. It was hard to see in the gloom and through her hood, but she seemed roughly the same age as the first, maybe a bit younger, and with a less harsh face. Not much to be said about her equipment. She seemed a scholarly bookworm type, reminding Lopez of Benti for some reason.

Surprisingly, the third was another elf. Instead of armor like the others, he was dressed in more plain clothing, a woolen sweater and a pair of leggings. For some bizarre reason he had no hat, no gloves...and-Lopez's jaw dropped-no shoes. Across his back was a staff or walking stick, the ones the local magicians used in their light shows. He had no hair at all, in fact the torchlight reflected off his head.

The passed-out elf was thrown in a pile beside Lopez, who shifted over as much as she could. Baldy looked at both her and Henry with a strange expression, before moving over to the other elf, propping him up.

He turned over the hand of the unconscious elf, and examined a strange glowing white line across his palm.

Before Lopez could see much more, the hardened woman, likely the soldier among them, stepped forward.

"Why?" she stated simply, beginning to pace around the prisoners, "Why launch such an attack? This was the only chance for peace you fools, for your people as well as mine. Why would you launch such an attack? A sloppy, uncoordinated attack, but an attack nonetheless."

"What attack?" Lopez inquired, knowing she couldn't be understood, "You mean that freaking slipspace rupture outside your fucking window? Wake up, you stupid bunch of luddite primitives!"

She tried to get to her feet, "Do you have any idea what kind of radiation we're soaking up? I mean I don't, but-"

One of the guards tried to reach up and force her back down, but couldn't get quite enough leverage to pull, so he just hit her at the knee joint with the pommel of his sword. She knelt back down.

The leader looked at Lopez, a little puzzled, then glanced around at her companions. "Does anyone know what she was saying?"

The scholar looked puzzled, "That's not any tongue I have ever heard of."

"I have not encountered it either." said Baldy.

The leader rolled her eyes, and crouched in front of Lopez, "Do you speak common? Comm-on?"

Lopez shook her head.

The leader tilted her head for a moment. She snarled and grabbed the sergeant by the collar, "I knew it, you lying apostate! What are you planning next? Who ordered this? Tell me!"

"She might just be shaking her head no to show that she doesn't understand…" the bookworm pointed out.

The leader shook her head, "No, she understands me, alright. And she will tell me what we need to know."

The leader raised a fist to strike Lopez, and for a moment, Lopez stared at the hand. Then the marine laughed.

That angered the leader even more, and she let the fist fly. Lopez winced, but looked back with a smirk, "Who taught you how to punch, your grandmother?" Another punch, "You'd better just fucking kill me. This is the best you can do you dumbass-" a third hit, "-primitives? I've seen better interrogation techniques on saturday morning cartoons!"

The UNSC knew the way to get information out of a prisoner was not physical abuse...or at least, that was what the Marines were taught. ONI went by their own rules, and judging by how stupid they'd been on the Mona Lisa, using barbaric and useless methods of interrogation seemed like something they'd do. They seemed to get their kicks from seeing how many war crimes they could commit in one sitting.

"I don't know if that is a very effective method of obtaining information," Baldy interrupted, "She is clearly trained for this sort of thing."

"How do you know, Solas?" the leader snarled, and hit Lopez again.

Lopez spat a bunch of blood onto the center of the eye on the leader's armor, "Maybe see if your daddy'll lend you a roll of nickels!"

Baldy-or Solas- crossed his arms, "I may not know what she is saying, but I can understand tone. She is clearly mocking you, and the fact that she keeps laughing...Really, what other conclusion can there be?"

The scholar nodded, "I believe he is onto something. She seems like the sort trained to resist interrogation."

Lopez looked at the scholar with an exaggerated expression, "Thank you, now we got someone with some fucking brains!"

"And now she is sounding exasperated. I hardly think she can tell us much anyway, she clearly doesn't speak common." Solas said.

"No, she understands it!" the leader insisted. "She simply refuses to speak it!"

"Understanding and speaking are not necessarily the same thing." Solas pointed out.

The leader angrily pushed Lopez back, "What of this one, then?" She kicked Henry's hoof, "Qunari. Do you speak Common?"

He looked up at her, scowling. He didn't actually need to tilt his head that much, only shifting his eyes up to glare. The elite remained silent.

"What the hell's a Qunari?" Lopez demanded, and felt a light impact on her shoulder pad, like a pat on the back.

Lopez turned back to see a dumbfounded guard, looking between her and his sword pommel. Had he hit her?

"How do you know she understands it?" the bookworm asked, "She might be shaking her head in response to your question, but might also be stating that she doesn't know what you're saying."

"Trust me, I can tell," the leader said, "Her responses have all been specific to what was asked. I have a man in the infirmary now, with severe damage to his valuables. According to witnesses, he was making some sort of lewd comment when she committed the act. Tell me, if you did not know what that guard had been saying, would you have done such a thing? No, one might have simply punched him. This was very specific. Clearly a response to an identified comment."

"No shit, Sherlock." Lopez rolled her eyes.

"I would guess that was a derisive comment." Solas observed.

"There, you see?" the leader barked, pointing, "A response to my words!"

"Even so, she clearly is unwilling to speak. What good will there be in continued interrogation?" the bookworm pointed out.

"It has a chance of improving my mood." the leader growled, and clocked Lopez again, who grinned through fire-engine red teeth.

"Cassandra, this can wait. We must tend to our defenses now. They can wait, the Breach cannot."

With one final punch, the leader, Cassandra, released the sergeant and stormed away.

Lopez fell back, spitting out blood and luckily no teeth. Noting the elf guy still unconscious, she subtly flipped open a panel on her armor, and withdrew her small tricorder. So named for an ancient medical device, the tricorder was a first aid kit for the average grunt, carrying an AED, any meds that weren't built into her armor, a scanner, bandages, the works.

Taking out the "saltshaker", the medical probe, she scanned the prone man's vitals, to make sure there wasn't a concussion or anything else threatening his life. Who knew? Maybe he knew how to escape.

The computer first did a quick rundown of his vitals. A cursory scan determined he was healthy, but in a sedated state. However, that was for normal humans. She didn't know how much these gene-modded guys deviated. In fact, this was the first time she could get a medical scan of one of these locals. He could be in a coma for all she knew.

"Wait a minute…"

The computer kept scanning deeper. The display read back several anomalies as it analyzed. Certain statistics didn't fit. There was an extra lobe here, a missing vein there, those ears...this went far beyond genetic modification. At least any sort detectable by the tricorder.

The alterations went far beyond simple gene mods, they went down extremely far.

On a hunch, Lopez put the salt shaker to his bare skin, giving the device a DNA sample.

The tricorder finally finished its analysis. She inhaled sharply.

The display printed, "UNKNOWN LIFEFORM DETECTED-REPORT TO UEG FIRST CONTACT DIVISION".

The elves weren't human. They were alien life forms.

Lopez instinctively scooched back, a quarter of a century of xenophobia running through her mind.

Yet at the same time, four centuries worth of a post-racial intolerance society hammered at those instincts.

The Covenant races, aside from being bipedal and having two eyes, typically did not look humanoid. It made killing them a little easier.

These guys on the other hand were very humanoid. And they didn't have energy weapons.

She bumped into Henry as she scooched back, who shoved at her. Lopez shoved back, and settled in between the two aliens.

A reminder of the aliens who were trying to wipe them out made the hatred fade somewhat.

The sergeant glanced at the man lying at her side. She was completely at a loss with how to deal with this situation. She'd made contact with a species that didn't want to wipe out humanity. She had no idea what his people were like. She had no idea who it was killing who out there.

Yet the locals didn't seem surprised at anything about this guy. The guards seemed disinterested, more fascinated with her and Henry. There was that one bald guy-Solas, that was his name- who stood with the other assholes, not feared and certainly not the boss. She'd seen the elves working side-by-side with the humans, civilians like any others. They lived alongside one another, they were neighbors! They were aliens, not genetically-modified humans, living alongside normal people!

To the point that this guy was in jail along with her, treated like any other prisoner.

Lopez slumped, looking between the two aliens. She rubbed her face, coming to a conclusion in her mind.

"Great, first aliens we find who aren't overly hostile and they're a bunch of primates."

Humanoids had to stick together, right?

Her tricorder abruptly flashed. His vitals just jumped. The medical system couldn't tell much about what this guy was like when he was perfectly healthy, but this was something it could tell for certain that shouldn't be there.

Lopez checked his pulse, his respiration, his temperature, everything seemed fine…

She took another look at the tricorder. The anomaly was located on his left hand.

Opening his palm, she found it was the cut that Solas guy had been observing. It was a jagged series of slashes, running diagonally the length of his palm. It didn't seem to be very deep, but that wasn't the problem.

She didn't exactly need a tricorder to tell her what the problem was. It was glowing bright green.

As the sergeant studied it, the cut suddenly flashed brightly. Henry twitched a little, and looked over with confusion.

"The hell…?!" Lopez muttered, her tricorder registered his vitals jumping again.

The scanner couldn't tell her what was wrong with him, only that something was wrong. There was something fishy going on, and she wasn't entirely sure it was her tricorder.

Suddenly it all made sense. He was one of the local wizards. This was probably one of the parlor tricks she'd seen. Yet what was making it?

There were no implants, no artificial mechanisms, no power source, nothing.

Not entirely impossible, she reasoned, and her heart sank. The luddites were behind this.

Some sort of biological mechanism her systems couldn't pick up could have been engineered into them, enabling them to seemingly create fire and ice from nothing.

As to the power source, that was actually rather simple. The generators for the Big Sticks, or Orbital Defense Platforms, that protected some of the major UNSC colonies transmitted power wirelessly from the ground, allowing the stations to be built more economically. Perhaps there was a massive generator somewhere below this planet's surface for a similar effect on the genes in these individuals, powering these mysterious mechanisms.

She cursed. The luddites, those hypocritical monsters. They had left UNSC space, and found an idyllic spot, so far away no one even knew about it. A strategic asset that could have saved humanity. That was bad enough, but the planet was already occupied. Before they threw their tech away, they started modifying their own people to scare the locals.

And they had modified the locals too. They played god with an innocent species who they could have made friends with.

It was the Mona Lisa all over again.

XXXXX

Solas emerged from the prison chambers to one of the adjoining corridors, looking for the closest armory. Prisoner belongings were kept in it, including those of the mysterious mercenaries.

That was who they were thought to be at least. Foreign mages hired by the rebel mages to help out the third captive. After all, they spoke in a language no one had even heard before, and their attire and equipment were highly unusual.

But Solas knew for certain that was not the case. At least, not entirely. The elf was a mage, certainly, but the others? They were about as far from mages as a human and whatever that other life form was could be. And few realized their equipment was beyond anything anyone could manufacture.

At least what no one could make now.

Where did they come from?

Nonchalantly, he stepped through the armor over to the shelf containing their equipment. Several backpacks, a helmet of unknown materials, several weapons, and two curious devices made of completely unknown materials.

They were reported to spew fire and death, and Solas could believe it. They were obviously weapons of some kind.

The craftsmanship was impeccable. Both had a long tube that ran down their center, spiral grooves running along the inside as far as he could see.

Solas lifted the largest weapon, obviously more deadly. He found it surprisingly light, but still having some heft to it. It was long, with a vertical grip on one end, with a guard like that of a sword's knuckle-bow protecting the trigger. He avoided touching that.

Just above the trigger was a small switch, labeled with letters that looked vaguely in the female mercenary's language.

Unusually, the knuckle-bow seemed to be part of the grip. A horizontal handle along the bottom of the other end, parallel with a second tube underneath the main hollow one. This one only had a cavity, it wasn't hollow. It was like a small silver bowl, with a tiny cone at the center.

On the end close to the trigger was a shoulder brace of some kind, perpendicular to which the dorsal side of the weapon ran. It stopped at a trapezoid shaped protrusion, just above the hollow tube.

He arched an eyebrow. There was a curious panel set at an angle into the short side of the trapezoid facing the operator. It was a soft firm material, with a black sheen to it darker than the rest of the weapon.

Above the trigger and switch, he found a small lever along the left side, set into a groove. He touched it,.

Solas considered leaving it be, but assumed that it would be least-likely to be involved with the weapon's lethal operations.

Even so, he turned the lethal end toward a wall, and then reached for the lever. He found it resistant, but not immobile. He pulled it back further, and a single bronze-colored cylinder went flying out.

Quickly catching it before it could hit the ground, Solas peered at the small object. It was conical, pointed at one end, with the last 1/3rd of the point segmented from the rest of the object. On the flat end there was a groove set just inward of the rim. The flat side itself was a torus, with the center made of a material different from the rest of the cylinder. He still couldn't identify it. Nor could Solas read the letters carved with incredible precision into the torus around the center.

He quickly placed the object in the mercenary's backpack.

The second weapon was short, though it was fairly tall. There was only one handle, and a more conventional knuckle-bow. The grip was a strange material, tough yet almost gelatinous, fitting to the user's hand. He quickly deduced it was of similar construction to it's larger fellow, though there were several curious differences. The tube was wider than that of the larger device, and the device's height was greater than that of the length.

They resembled descriptions of Qunari secret weapons, but were far greater in power and quality than anything those stories spoke of.

Along with the odd weapons were several recognizable ones, yet of a new design.

There was an odd extremely short sword, several knives, and a thick wooden bat.

Carefully, Solas picked up the short sword. It was very light, yet felt quite strong, extremely high-quality metal. Its handle was again made of that squishy material, with grooves set into the stuff to prevent slippage. The blade was flat on one edge, curved on one side, and was balanced to favor slashing, with a thrusting capability as well.

It appeared to be equally at home cutting foliage and flesh alike.

The knife was unconventional as well. The tip was clearly made for stabbing, but it could also slice with the edge of the front end, and there was a third section made for…he couldn't tell what, but they looked like nasty teeth.

Taking the bat down, he hefted it, and was again intrigued. The wood was strange, light and tough. It was some sort of willow, but there was something strange about it. Some sort of oil was soaked into the very fibers of the wood, and it was much lighter than it should have been. It was also still embedded in the visor of a Templar's helmet.

When he put the bat back, he picked up the helmet. Much lighter than anything he'd ever seen, but felt like it was packed tight full of something extremely powerful, physical protection...and something more.

It was a strange-looking helmet. The face was fully exposed except for a set of odd colored spectacles, leaving the wearer open to any attack by a sword. There was little neck protection, it was far too high up to provide the correct amount...from swords at least. Perhaps the soldier's collar provided the rest of the protection. It was strange, considering how thick and strong the helmet felt, why did it feel so strong but be neglecting in other very important areas?

Either the engineers were fools, or fought a very different kind of war entirely.

As he put the helmet back, he accidentally jostled one of the packs poorly placed on the edge of the shelf, and something fell out.

He caught the object before it hit the ground, and immediately opened the bag to put it back.

Solas hesitated for a moment, looking at the object. It looked like a stone tablet, but was incredibly thin and light, despite being made of metal. And he could have sworn when he touched it, that it vibrated.

Turning the grey plate over, he was surprised to see a reflection of himself staring back. It wasn't a proper mirror, and who would carry one of those around in their packs anyway? It was just a reflective black surface, as reflective as a diamond. It was far more reflective than the panel on the large black flame weapon...

As he peered at it, it did something akin to a blink!

Solas didn't drop it, but instead shifted his hold to both hands. It "blinked" again, before a white dot appeared in the center of the object.

With brief hesitation, he touched it. As his finger made contact with the surface, a small arrow appeared, aiming to the right. When Solas pulled his hand back, the arrow disappeared.

He touched the white dot again, and slid his finger across the plate to the arrow. An image like a lock appeared where the white dot had been, and went from a locked configuration to an unlocked one.

The blackness disappeared, to be replaced with a strange little set of shapes and squares. On the top half of the image was a series of symbols printed on ten rectangular blocks, and below were ten empty receptacles, with the same symbols as above in a different random arrangement.

Another arrow appeared, pointing from one of the symbols to the receptacle with the matching symbol, then disappeared.

Solas picked one of the blocks, and put it in the appropriate slot. There was a flash, and a green symbol appeared in a corner of the plate.

Moving another, the green symbol reappeared.

Curious, he selected one of the blocks, and deliberately put it in the wrong slot. A red symbol flashed this time, one that resembled two crossed sticks.

After completing the matching task, there were a variety of other tests that appeared involving symbol and more shape matching. There was one particular face that put a series of dots next to a symbol, and the number of dots kept increasing in a sequence. They were numbers, he soon realized. Symbols for numbers.

Solas glanced around at the guards, who didn't seem interested at all in the strange device he held. Tucking the metal tablet under one arm, he left the building, and moved to a tent that served as his living quarters.

Sitting down on his bed roll, Solas took out a piece of parchment and a quill, and wrote down each of the symbols and their number values. He also wrote down the symbols that appeared to mean multiplication, equals, addition, and division. Touching the face again, another appeared, this time displaying a series of mathematical equations with empty spaces next to the equals sign.

A grid appeared on one side, with their symbols for 0 to 9 in each segment.

Completing the first equation, Solas pressed the single digit answer on the grid, and the green mark appeared once more.

As he rapidly completed the equations, they steadily became more complicated, moving into fractions and decimals. While not particularly strenuous, it was the best workout he'd had of this sort of thing in a long time.

There were some units of measurement as well, which he managed to figure out how to convert to something he could recognize.

From what he gathered, these inquiries seemed to be some sort of intelligence test. Why, he did not know, but the device seemed to approve of his answers.

When Solas had finally completed enough of them, the tablet face "blinked" again, and a sideways triangle within a circle appeared in the center.

With hesitation, he touched it, and nearly dropped the device when music began to play. A rousing gentle score, of violins and unrecognizable instruments, putting Solas in the mind of spring weather for some reason. A large seal appeared on the face. A looming profile of an eagle in a circle of stars, sheltering a group of humans of various ages and genders, who looked up hopefully at a group of what looked like long metal bricks of flying artwork.

Unfamiliar letters made up words along the border of the seal. It shifted to the side slightly, and a second one appeared. A gridded circle, and a pair of olive branches over three words. Still undecipherable. Some of the letters resembled the one on the human mercenary's armor.

The music faded out, and phrases began to emanate from the device. Words in dozens of different languages, Solas counted fifty-five exactly. One, a child's voice, sounded similar to the words the mercenary spoke with.

An image replaced the seals, of a large sphere against a black background. He realized it was of a planet, but not one he'd seen before, and definitely not the one he stood upon. Most of the side he could see was blue under all the clouds, except for a large land mass in the northern hemisphere. It was a variety of colors including tan, green, and brown. The planet began to rotate, revealing more ocean, and more continents, and more colors covering the land masses.

The planet shifted to the side slightly, allowing for two rotating images of a human male and a female to appear. He raised an eyebrow at the fact that their silhouettes wore nothing at all.

The image stayed on the humans a moment more, before the view shifted, moving faster and faster toward the planet. Like a bird or some other creature, the image soared through the clouds. It broke out of the grey surrounds, and a city came into view as the rousing music returned. The city was marvelous, filled with glimmering spires taller than anything he'd seen, technology he could scarcely recognize, and uncountable humans. Thousands, tens of thousands. Millions?

Many more images came by, of magnificent works; a massive pyramid, statues, temples, a huge lighthouse, gardens, a wall that stretched over hills far beyond which the eye could see. Beautiful landscapes, animals, plants, architecture, and long stretches of stone covered in strange metal contraptions. Long fields, with flying machines dotting the land and the sky. Images of humans, only humans, going about their daily lives, manipulating scenes and machinery both familiar and unfamiliar. School rooms, marketplaces, food, houses, books. Explorers reaching a frozen tundra. One of the last images was of a massive machine climbing into the sky atop a column of fire. The final picture showed a human(presumably, Solas couldn't be certain) clad in a strange white outfit covering them head to toe, tumbling through the sky high above the planet's surface.

The view of the planet appeared again, and showed off more of the flying bricks seen on the seal. They were machines, all different shapes and sizes, hovering high above the planet like the human had. The view focused in on one in particular, which twisted away from the planet and turned toward the blackness. The space in front of it seemed to ripple, almost tear, as a dim blue spiral appeared. The object looked as though it were being sucked inside, stretched beyond belief, before it snapped forward into the spiral, taking Solas' perspective with it.

They emerged above another planet, different from the first, but with perhaps even more contraptions above it. More magnificent cities and works of brilliance were shown, before the spiral reappeared to show him another world. The process repeated several times. Though all different, the planet had roughly the same environment and atmosphere. Curiously, there seemed to be even more of the flying bricks floating above each of them, and even greater variety.

The planets disappeared to be replaced with one of the flying bricks, a rotating representation of it. Extremely massive, if he read the symbols of size and had converted them correctly, the contraptions were approximately 2500 meters in length, and 800 meters in width. To his disbelief, based on following images depicting crew and passengers going about their work, it was a ship. A ship designed to sail between the stars.

Finally, there was an image of four humans, two males and two females, a child and adult of each gender. They waved at Solas. The image changed to a handshake, with a final phrase of text on display and what he guessed was that phrase stated aloud by the tablet. Some symbol of friendship, it seemed to be.

Solas put the metal tablet down, leaning back as he took in the information. He couldn't deny it. Humans built all that he'd seen. Humans! How was this possible? Humans were a bunch of savage and destructive fools. How could they even conceive of such majesty, such amazing works, let alone create them? How could they sail the stars? How could they unlock the secret of flight? How could they have made the very device he held in his hands?

Such serenity, such knowledge and power. And they wanted to expand, they wanted to offer friendship to anyone and anything beyond the stars.

Despite the pleasantness of the presentation, it struck Solas as a bit off. Why were there only humans? No Elves, or Dwarves, or Qunari, not even the strange creature locked up beside the mercenary. There were also few beasts in the images that he could recognize. What did that indicate?

He noticed that after the presentation ended, another test appeared. With inspection, he realized it was not a test, but some sort of game. Designed to teach the viewer the language of the tablet makers, matching sounds with symbols and meanings.

First letters, then words, and whole sentences. He wrote down as much as he could for reference.

As he poked around, Solas discovered how to manipulate the device to show the initial presentation once again, and show other images and moving pictures. Fascinating.

Varric Tethras stepped into the tent, carrying a bag full of equipment and sitting down on his own bedroll. "They finally gave me Bianca back," he said, pulling a cloth off his one-of-a-kind crossbow, "...but they couldn't leave the bolts alone, now could they? I counted. There are definitely four missing. Four guards were at the inventory, too. I wonder what happened..."

Solas didn't look up, continuing to write down words, their meanings, and sounds.

"What's making that noise?" Varric inquired, hearing some of the device's speech.

"It's a magic book belonging to one of the foreign mercenaries." Solas explained simply.

Varric stood up and moved to peer over Solas' shoulder. "Huh. Words? Some sort of magic-language-thing?"

"Yes."

"Huh." he repeated, not too interested now that he saw the language teacher, "Those two mercenaries are quite interesting. Never seen or heard about anything like 'em. And I'm pretty sure I've heard most of the stories about foreign cannibals. Usually they're in rags and short thin little creatures. They're not supposed to be the biggest and maybe strongest human I've ever seen, wearing armor better than the old elven stuff, and a qunari who got his head stuck in a meat grinder. Did you see his jaws? They split into four!"

"I passed the soldier who decided to make a closer inspection. I hope he was happy with the results." Solas deadpanned.

"They killed quite a few of the Seeker's men. Using the usual beatings of course, but also some sort of magical weapon, from what I've been told. Spewed thunder and light, killed nearly all of the people hit. There's a dozen Templars down in the infirmary, and three times as many rotting in the snow up the mountain. That's how they caught the Qunari. Their leader tried to get the human to surrender by threatening him, and she blew her hand away. I saw that squad leader's arm, there wasn't anything left of the forearm bones. Then a Templar managed to tackle her, knocking her weapon away and letting the others jump on, but she fought like an animal. Pulled out a razor-sharp knife and sliced off fingers and a nose before they finally got her."

Solas raised an eyebrow, "How unfortunate."

"I wonder where they're from. They don't make 'em like that around here, either of them. Andraste, the stories they could tell…"

"Good luck getting them to talk. Neither speaks common, though the woman can understand it."

Varric looked a little disappointed, "Well, if you find any more magic books of their stories, let me know."

Solas tapped the side of the tablet, "I believe this contains what you are looking for. It is not just a language device, it seems to be an encyclopedia, used to introduce newcomers to their society and people. I think you will find their true origin...quite unearthly."

XXXXX

Many hours after the opening of what would come to be known as "The Breach", The Dalish elven mage known as Gil-Galad awoke. He blinked rapidly, finding himself bearing a massive headache. Sitting up, he found himself shackled, in a large dark room, with half a dozen human guards surrounding him.

The Keeper told me I'd have days like this.

He couldn't remember what happened before he blacked out. Gil-Galad did remember the Temple of Sacred Ashes, the constant notes taken on the other representatives there…

A painful stinging sensation struck his right hand, and he turned it over to look in shock upon a bright green mark. It quietly thrummed with energy, pulsating and sending jolts through his whole arm.

He glared around at the humans watching him. There was the flash of returning memory, of similarly-clad soldiers attacking him just before waking up in this chamber. One departed, probably to inform their superiors that he'd awoken.

Gil-Galad glanced around, examining the room. There were two other captives with him, one very large human judging by the ears, and a massive dark silhouette whose size only matched a qunari. They were shackled as he was.

"What are you in here for?" he inquired, looking at the human. Their size and armor made it difficult to tell their gender.

They shrugged, lifting their shackled hands and extending their middle finger toward the guards. She, judging by her voice, garbled something in a language he didn't understand. But then she pointed to him, as if to say, what about you?

"I don't know how I got in here. I feel like that time I went drinking in...I don't even remember the city, all I remembered was waking up in a stable...and you have no idea what I'm saying, do you?"

She nodded, to his surprise. Pointed to her ears , she nodded, but pointed to her mouth and shook her head.

Gil-Galad simply stared at her, confused. The woman seemed frustrated by that, and beat her head against her shackles.

"Are you saying...you can understand me, but not speak?"

The stranger stopped hitting her head, but gave a wavy gesture with her hand, and spoke in her language again. She gestured to herself, "Sergeant Zhao Lopez," she stated slowly, "Lopez." Then she pointed to Gil-Galad.

Assuming that was her name, he pointed to himself, "Gil-Galad, First to Lavellan's clan-keeper."

When she nodded, he turned to her companion, "What about you?"

The qunari, dressed in a white and orange winter outfit of some kind, looked at him, and through the gloom the elf realized that their skull was the wrong shape. It was far too short, and there didn't seem to be a forehead...then, his mouth fell open in four mandibles, and let out a hoot.

...That was no qunari.

Gil-Galad shifted away in fear from the array of intimidating teeth, but the human simply rolled her eyes, gesturing to him with her middle finger again. "Henry."

The mutilated qunari-like thing hissed at the gesture and pushed her. She kicked him. He smacked her on the side of the head.

The sound of a heavy metal door opening did little to stop their fighting. The guards pried the two apart before the approaching authority figures, reducing the drama of their entrance a bit. Gil-Galad recognized them by reputation, the right and left hands of the Divine. The Divine's spymaster, Leliana, was well known to the Dalish intelligence network, but it took him a longer time to recognize Cassandra, the Seeker who seemed to be the muscle for the Divine.

Cassandra walked up to the small group, and began pacing around them. She glared at Gil-Galad in particular.

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now."

Gil-Galad glared back, "Since when have Templars needed an excuse to kill elves, or mages? Just make one up after my execution, work that little mind of yours for once. If I am to die, I'm not going to give you the reason."

The Seeker ignored his words, "The Conclave is destroyed, all those who attended are dead. Except for you."

Gil-Galad fell silent, any anger fading away as the words setting in. The Conclave destroyed?

And if he was the only survivor…"You think I'm responsible!"

Cassandra seized Gil-Galad's arm, eliciting an angry bark from Lopez. "Explain this."

She gestured to the green mark, glowing again and making Gil-Galad groan with pain.

"I...I can't."

"What do you mean, 'you can't'?" Cassandra demanded.

"I don't know what that is, or how it got there!"

"You're lying!" the Seeker barked, hauling Gil-Galad up by the collar. Lopez barked again, and had to be forced back at swordpoint by the guards.

Leliana grabbed Cassandra's arm and pushed her back as well, "We need him, Cassandra!"

That got another inquiry from Lopez, of disbelief this time.

Cassandra stepped away, allowing Leliana to move forward with a bit less hostility. "Do you remember what happened? How this began?"

Gil-Galad sought his mind for the fragments of memories, catching ahold of some.

"I...remember running. Things were chasing me, and then...a woman?"

"A woman?"

"She reached out to me, but then…" Gil-Galad growled in frustration, and shook his head.

Cassandra shook her head, and pulled Leliana aside, "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take him to the rift."

"And his allies?" Leliana asked, pointing at Lopez and Henry.

Lopez growled, and nearly shrieked something, waving at Gil-Galad and leaning away.

"I don't know these people." Gil-Galad said, leaning away as well, "And I think she'll agree."

Lopez nodded rapidly, motioning with her thumb at him.

Cassandra rolled her eyes, "Of course, of course. An incredibly tall and strong foreign human mage with spells, armor and weapons more powerful than anything we've ever seen, and a qunari who used to be a dim-witted farmer by the looks of it, just happen to be in the vicinity of the biggest explosion in recent history. She just happened to be wearing your colors, hiding from our forces, observing them, and when confronted, kills nearly half the platoon sent to retrieve her. All a coincidence, obviously."

"Oh, of course, I forgot." Gil-Galad snarled, "Excuse me, this is all part of my dastardly plan to destroy all hope of stopping the war. I deliberately told my rescuers who I can't even understand to wait far, far away from where I was going to emerge from the Fade, then deliberately emerged from the portal at the center of the angry allies of the ones I wanted to destroy, allowing myself to easily be captured and killed. Such a masterstroke. I am such a genius. Fen'harel's teeth, do you even think before you speak?! What in the name of the lost Dales is wrong with all of you? My armor?! I've seen this gear all over Ferelden! Hers looks nothing like it, and is colored a completely different shade of green! If I had a spell that could destroy the Conclave and leave myself completely intact, why would I let you capture me? Why would I leave myself alive as the only suspect? Why wouldn't I just leave if I have such power?"

"Obviously, something went wrong with the spell…" Cassandra murmured. "You may not have intended it-"

"Well, then how am I not dead? If a spell backfires, it harms the user first, then everyone else. I broke my arm as a child learning that!" he paused, thinking, "What did happen, exactly?"

Cassandra grimaced, and nodded at the guards, "It will be easier to show you. Bring all three."

When they left the building, Gil-Galad was treated to a disturbing sight. A massive hole torn in the sky, green energy matching the scar on his hand, lifting stone into the sky through a loose connection to the ground.

"We call it The Breach," Cassandra said dramatically, staring up at it, "It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It's not the only such rift, just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave."

"An explosion can do that?" Gil-Galad inquired in disbelief, ignoring Lopez banging her head against Henry's shoulder, to his obvious irritation and discomfort.

"This one did." Cassandra confirmed, "Unless we act, the Breach will grow until it swallows the world."

To punctuate her words, the rift pulsated, growing a small amount as Gil-Galad's mark shot out energy. He cried out in pain, falling to his knees.

Lopez moved over, and withdrew what looked like a saltshaker from some compartment in her armor, concealing it in her palm.

She subtly waved it in his direction, and grimaced. She muttered something and hit something else she was concealing in her outfit a few times. She hissed, and something apologetic-sounding was uttered.

Cassandra stared for a moment at Lopez, before explaining, "Each time the Breach expands, your mark spreads...and it is killing you. It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn't much time."

Lopez gaped at Cassandra once again, then facepalmed.

"You say it may be the key. To doing what?" Gil-Galad asked.

"Closing the Breach. Whether that's possible is something we shall discover shortly. It is our only chance, however. And yours."

"You still think I did this, don't you? To myself?! Maybe with their help?"

"Not intentionally. Clearly something went wrong." Cassandra sighed.

Lopez exhaled frustratedly, and gestured with her middle fingers at Cassandra.

"And if I'm not responsible?"

"Someone is. And you are our only suspect. You wish to prove your innocence? This is the only way."

Gil-Galad sighed, looking at the mark on his hand. It throbbed again with pain. "I understand."

"Then…?"

"I'll do whatever I can."

Cassandra nodded, and began to pull Gil-Galad with her.

"Wait, what about them?" he inquired, gesturing to his cell-mates.

Cassandra looked at the elf, "I thought you said you didn't know them. They don't seem to know you either. And one of them is responsible for many deaths."

Gil-Galad replied, "I trust you as much as I'd trust the dread wolf. She's a fellow mage, and she might know a little more about magic than one who has dedicated her life to suppressing any understanding of it. And she defended me. For now, she and her bodyguard are the only allies I've got."

Lopez looked a little surprised at that, but shrugged, and nodded. He took that as an agreement.

Cassandra glared daggers at Lopez, before sighing. "Very well, bring them along."

Lopez dug her heels into the snow when they tried to push her, waving for them to stop.

"Get her moving." Cassandra ordered of Gil-Galad.

"She seems to understand what you're saying, you know. Why not bark at her?"

"Because you're the only one she seems to listen to. Now do it."

Gil-Galad shrugged, and moved over, "Is there a problem?"

Lopez seemed to think for a moment, then pointed to herself. She mimed pulling something down over her head, pulling something else over her shoulders, and brandishing something that requires the use of both hands.

He tried to decode the signals, "...hat. Helmet. Helmet? Backpack as well? And...staff?"

At that last one Lopez facepalmed, but shrugged and nodded anyway.

Gil-Galad realized what she was trying to say, "Seeker, we need our equipment. She was armed, I assume? Helmet, staff, and a pack?"

Cassandra shook her head, "Absolutely not."

Lopez's fists balled, and Gil-Galad spoke quickly, "We are going into a zone filled with demons. You need every available hand on the front lines, and we are a drain on resources if you need to protect us. At least give the woman back her helmet, what harm could that do?"

Cassandra considered it, before growling an order, "Soldiers, retrieve their equipment, but do not return it yet. You will get your staffs before long, magi, but not until we get out of Haven."

Henry perked up for the first time at the mention of equipment, and Lopez nodded in approval.

A few young humans emerged from the stockade before long, bearing an elven staff, Gil-Galad's pack, hat, and gloves, along with more of Lopez's strange equipment.

Their packs and clothing were handed over, their shackles released, but all their weapons were retained by the guards. Cassandra sent them on ahead somewhere.

Lopez eagerly pulled on her helmet, snapping the restraint together and adjusting some sort of extension along the side of her chin.

Hitting the side of it a few times, she spoke, "Test...test...is this working?"

Cassandra and Gil both looked at her in surprise, then glanced at each other.

"Did you-?"

"I thought-"

"Alright, it is working," Lopez said, "Hello. I am Sergeant Zhao Lopez of the United Nations Marine Corps. This is Henry. An Elite."

XXXXX

Thank god, Jesus and the stars themselves for the UNSC's bottomless paranoia and computer memory. Neural implants were designed so that soldiers from all across the colonies could talk to each other on the battlefield without requiring a language course. However, since they weren't exactly common outside the military, UNSC helmets were programmed with systems to allow them to anyone without the implants.

And whoever programmed the equipment seemed to have anticipated the possibility of a human language not in the databanks, and added a function that would adapt to the new dialect through in-depth analysis.

Unfortunately, basic phrases was just about all it could do. If a soldier had to live with a group that didn't speak their language for an extended period of time, they would still have to learn at least some words. The program would integrate the spoken word with its own information, however, filling in the blanks to reduce the load and let the soldier learn faster.

Judging by their expressions, the locals didn't expect it. The Seeker(whatever rank that was), Cassandra, snarled, "You lying bastard!" and advanced with intent.

Lopez shifted, bringing her knee up with foot outward, and pushed when Cassandra reached her, knocking the Templar on her rear.

"I don't speak your-" the sergeant's words cut out, slipping back into the English, and she hit the side of her helmet. The system was still processing. The indicator in her vision winked green again, and she started back up into the local language, "Helmet is magic, does the talking for me." she explained in the helmet's very simple vocabulary, "That's why I need it."

Gil-Galad, the elf guy, helped Cassandra to her feet, and rubbed his face, "Interesting. That's the least-strange thing I've heard all day. Shall we move on, if we're going to?"

Now that she could see him standing up, Lopez noted he was shorter than most of the other normal humans around him, though most of them were a few centimeters shorter than herself. Her diet and modern medicines presumably made a difference.

Cassandra glared at Lopez for a moment longer, before sighing, "Yes, we must. Come."

They passed through the middle of avalanche-town, with many angry people yelling and throwing things. According to Cassandra, they seemed to have latched onto the group as the source of their troubles. Someone named Justinia, with the title of "divine", was killed in the blast. She was important for some reason, head of this thing called "the Chantry". That could have been anything from the government to their state religion.

Whatever she was, she'd apparently been the key to stopping the war between the wizards and the bucketheads. But with her and the leaders who'd been meeting killed, that would likely make the war escalate.

Cassandra seemed more worried about the Breach, which was pretty understandable. Lopez didn't really care about the little spat at the moment either, the giant hole in the sky pumping out alien invaders took precedence.

They'd have to deal with it eventually, though. Cassandra promised "a trial, no more".

Lopez kept an eye on Henry. He hadn't been speaking much lately, barely making eye contact. She wondered why he hadn't tried escaping at all, or tried killing himself when captured. The briefings said that was what Elites would try to do.

She assumed he was some sort of special ops, more valuable and thus supposed to make every effort to escape rather than just die, explaining his behavior aboard the Mona Lisa. It was still strange to see, stranger still to see that he didn't kill her or anyone else now that they'd found humans.

Not that I'm complaining. Least I have someone on my side.

They moved out of the town, and up the slopes toward the slipspace rupture. They passed primitive fortifications, stone walls and destroyed houses, as well as many body bags. It seemed the locals were putting up a defense. Fires and destroyed wagons were strewn across the footpath they walked up.

They reached a mountain pass(more like a hill pass to be honest), with a much clearer view of the giant hole in the sky. The beam of energy leading from it passing below a ridge and out of sight. They still couldn't see the bottom of the elevator.

All of a sudden, the portal pulsed again, bolts of energy and lightning arcing out. The anomaly on Gil-Galad's hand did the same. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees.

Lopez scanned him with her tricorder again. It still couldn't tell what was wrong with him, only that he wasn't doing well.

Cassandra helped him to his feet, "The pulses are coming faster now. The larger the Breach gets, the more rifts appear, the more demons we face."

Lopez looked at her, "Rifts? What rifts?" she assumed the demons meant whatever unknown aliens were coming through.

Matter-of-factly, but grim, Cassandra explained, "Rifts have been appearing all over the landscape. Our troops are spread thin."

"No, I mean, what are rifts?"

The Seeker looked at her in surprise, "They're doorways to the world of demons." she turned to Gil-Galad, "They say you emerged from one, in fact, then fell unconscious."

Cassandra paused, and looked uncomfortable, "...And that there was a woman behind you before it collapsed. No one knows who she was."

"Well," Gil-Galad murmured, "That's some shred of evidence on my side at least."

"Hooray for you." Lopez grunted, "There's about two dozen body bags of evidence against me."

Henry worted, somewhat indignantly.

"And him too." She swore he could understand more than he seemed to, he just chose to be an ass about it and pretend not to.

They reached a stone bridge across a frozen river, where a dozen guards were running about, readying themselves for battle. At the other end, they spotted the soldiers sent ahead with their weapons. Cassandra hadn't trusted the prisoners with their gear so close to civilians, apparently.

Suddenly, Lopez's HUD warbled and flashed with a red arrow, pointing upward. Artillery incoming.

"Incoming!" she cried, diving onto Gil-Galad, covering his neck, exhaling, and opening her mouth. Henry landed beside her with a whump, performing a similar procedure.

A blast of green energy slammed into the bridge seconds later. One whole end was destroyed, sending a ripple through the rest of the stone that shattered the entire structure.

Everyone on or next to the bridge tumbled to the ground, landing painfully on the ice below. No one seemed hurt.

Lopez's HUD chirped and pointed upward again. This time they could see it, a larger green object coming from the direction of the portal. It smashed through a small hill, before careening into the lake ice ahead of them. The melted water sizzled with the intense heat, a green flame burning atop the ice around it.

Several creatures clawed their way out of the breaks in the ice, releasing flashes of green light into the sky. Green crystals seemed to grow around their exit points. Probably just the ice.

So the troops had emerged at last, likely in some sort of assault boat. They sure as hell weren't Covenant, but they luckily weren't the Flood.

They were grotesque, like giant slugs with arms and no eyes. Yet to To Lopez's confusion, they didn't carry any weapons of any kind. How was that any kind of way to invade a planet as primitive as this?

Clouds of sparking green and black spread out further from the impact point, more and more creatures emerging from the unbroken ice. There was no sign of breakage when they emerged, probably melting it or something.

Neat trick.

The surviving local soldiers regained their senses, and, led by Cassandra, threw themselves at the enemy.

Making eye contact with Henry, Lopez nodded at him. He acknowledged. Together they set upon the two still-stunned soldiers who carried their arms.

Henry grabbed his hatchet and easily removed the bat from the Templar helmet it was lodged in. Retrieving her MA5B, Lopez rammed a magazine inside, racked the bolt and shouldered it.

It seemed the guards weren't any front line soldiers. All had run, fallen back a short distance, or died aside from the Seeker, and inflicted exactly two casualties upon the enemy. All in the time Lopez had turned her back.

"Get down!" the sergeant roared. Cassandra looked back. Her eyes widened and she dove to the side.

Lopez sprayed the monsters with lead, tearing through their unarmored hides with ease and killing most of them. A few single shots finished off the ones still standing.

Ignoring the looks of shock from the others, Lopez reloaded, and jogged up to one of the creatures. It was splayed out with green blood oozing from several neat holes, but continued to gasp for breath. Sounded like it's lung had been punctured.

"What the hell are you?" Lopez whispered, "No uniform, no tags, no weapons, no nothing. What on earth are you?"

It offered no answers, merely clawing at her boot before expiring. Then…"What the hell?"

The body began to shimmer, the air around it distorting, before it vanished. Into thin air.

At Henry's confused wort, the sergeant realized she wasn't seeing things. Looking foolish, she stepped into the spot where it had been, waving her hands around trying to find it.

"What's going on?!" the other bodies had vanished too.

"Is there a problem?" Cassandra asked, walking up and dusting snow off her armor.

Lopez glared at her, "Hell yeah, there's a problem! Where did the bodies go?!"

"They're demons, they do that."

"You've fought these guys before?" Lopez demanded, "How many times does a-" her helmet slipped back into English when she said slipspace rupture, and she tried again, "...A Breach appear a day?"

"This has never happened before! We've never seen anything like it before! Are you telling me that you have?"

"Are you telling me these creatures invade a lot?" Lopez countered.

"Of course. Never to this scale, however. Haven't you seen demons before?"

"Different kind. Mostly monsters like him," she gestured with her thumb at Henry, "and a whole lot of other critters, but nothing like these things."

Cassandra peered at her, confused, "...He is your enemy? Why are you with him?"

"Honestly, I ask myself the same question every day." Deciding to ponder mysteries later, Lopez strapped her rifle to the magnetic strip on her back, and walked back to the guards.

"...What are you?" one shocked guard whispered, not resistant to Lopez snatching her remaining gear from his limp hands.

"Just a marine sergeant, kid. All in a day's work."

The other guard murmured, "you have Andraste's fire...Where are you from? Who are you?"

Lopez smirked a little. She knew a greenhorn when she saw one, "Sergeant Lopez of the UNSC Marine Corps. Now, unless you want to get eaten, I suggest you two fall back."

"Who are you to give out orders?" Cassandra asked, "they're my men."

Lopez flipped her off, "Great quality soldiers. Do you teach them to piss themselves, too? I'm sure those dead assholes over there had the demons shaking in their boots with those squeals of terror. At least these two had the good sense to give us our weapons back and stay down. And look at who killed more than any of you all did!"

"Quite impressive," said Gil-Galad, stepping up as he examined his liberated staff, wiping blood off in the snow, "is that some sort of attack wand?"

"No, it's some sort of magic crossbow," Cassandra said dismissively.

"Despite the fact, you moron, it doesn't have a crosspiece, strings, shoots bullets, and is just in every way not a crossbow?"

"Then what is it?"

"Something that's none of your business, you-" her speech cut back into English again, not translating her insult, "It makes loud noises and kills things. Now shut up and get us back on the path."

Cassandra growled, and stormed off in the direction of the Breach.

"How does it work? Not typical magic, I'd say," Gil-Galad observed, "What's that smell?"

"I'd tell you, but UNSC rules...well, they don't let us tell you guys much info."

"'You guys'?" He inquired, "you mean elves?"

"No, I mean all of you." she gestured to him, the guards, and Cassandra, "All of you."

"You mean people of Ferelden?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Is that what you call your planet?" Lopez asked.

"No, that's just the name of this land. Do you even know where you are?" he asked, a little sarcastically.

The sergeant opened her mouth to reply, but decided against it. She would have to stop talking about a lot of things, she realized.

Lopez made sure her sidearm was loaded, her bolo shortsword still intact, and Henry's bat not cracked. Not that it would, being made of oak from Sigma Octanus IV. Best oak in the galaxy.

Unable to reach the road(well, Lopez could, but everyone else lacked grappling equipment), they fought their way through the frozen river bed, Gil-Galad and Lopez leaving Henry and Cassandra with very little to do. His "spells" weren't plasma or laser, more like throwing around lightning, liquid nitrogen, and napalm, but it was ranged and it worked.

Reaching a set of stairs set into the mountainside that led back up to the road, fighting was heard from higher up.

"We need to help them!" Cassandra said, eliciting eye rolls from the rest of the party.

"Thank you, captain obvious." Lopez muttered, checking her rifle, "using the royal 'we' there, are ya?"

Walking onto a bluff, they oversaw a battle taking place among the ruins of some building. A handful of demons fighting two distinct figures. The bald elf from the interrogation chamber, Solas, and a dwarf with a crossbow. He didn't wear a hat, and his coat was open. In negative-twenty degrees celsius weather.

Above them hovered a strange sight; a big ball of energy like the Breach, but covered in shifting crystal.

Lopez ignored it, and targeted each of the demons. Four shots, and they fell. Didn't even know what hit them.

The party jogged up, and Solas dashed forward. "Quickly!" he grabbed Gil-Galad's hand, "Before more come through!"

He held Gil-Galad's hand up to the arcing ball of energy. After a moment's delay, energy began to pour out between the two, the crystal shifting faster and glowing more and more. Within seconds, there was a blast of light, and the energy was gone with a snap.

"What did you do?" Gil-Galad demanded in disbelief, cradling his hand.

"I did nothing. The credit is yours."

Lopez held her TACPAD up to the space where the hole had once been. There was radiation sufficient with a recent slipspace rupture. A very tiny and unstable one, that would have collapsed had any tried to come through, but a tiny portal all the same.

"I did that?" Gil-Galad asked, looking at his palm.

"Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand. I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach's wake-and it seems I was correct."

"How the hell do these two things connect?" Lopez demanded, "A flesh wound and a freaking-" her voice cut out again, the computer still unable to determine a good word for "slipspace".

"I am uncertain of their origin, but their magic is connected in some way. Perhaps what caused the Breach also caused the mark." Solas replied, unfazed by Lopez's appearance, or manner.

"Meaning it could also close the Breach itself." Cassandra concluded.

"Possibly." Solas replied, "It seems you hold the key to our salvation."

Lopez snorted with ironic amusement, "Okay, what I just saw was weird. But that portal was unstable anyway. You-" primitive screwheads didn't translate again, "think his little-" radiation didn't translate either, "will close that thing?" she gestured to the portal in the sky,

"Why wouldn't it? Do you have a better plan?" Cassandra inquired, looking at the sergeant with a glare.

Lopez flipped her mike up so she could speak in English, "My god, I'm surrounded by idiots."

Solas chuckled a bit, "I have had similar feelings in the past. It is best not to advertise them."

Lopez did a double take. Pointedly not flipping her mike back down, she inquired slowly, "You can understand me?"

Solas shrugged, and answered in English, "A little bit. I suppose you will want this back."

He reached into a satchel at his side, and withdrew a grey Colonial Administration Authority(CAA)-issue tablet. Checking her own pack, Lopez realized that one of her two tablets was missing. The one she'd retrieved from the escape pod, with a round CAA logo on its back.

She snatched the tablet back, pushing her mike back down, "How'd you get this?"

"It fell out of your pack. I was merely holding onto it for safekeeping."

"It's battery was drained 50%." Lopez retorted, checking the device's history, "And you were accessing the first contact systems like crazy!"

"So I borrowed it, then."

"How did you even figure it out?"

"Experimentation."

Lopez rubbed her face with anger, doing her best not to punch the guy. She was glad the tablet could at least recharge.

The dwarf walked up, "Well, glad we won't be ass-deep in demons forever."

He introduced himself, "Varric Tethras; rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tag-along."

He winked at Cassandra, who bared her teeth and huffed at him.

For once, we agree. Lopez thought, noting Henry was glaring at the dwarf as well. She had no clue what it was, but there was something about Varric's voice that set her blood pumping.

"Pleased to meet you," Gil-Galad said, a little awkwardly, "That's...a nice crossbow you have."

"Aw, isn't she?" Varric looked over his shoulder at the butt of the weapon, "Bianca and I have been through alot together."

"You named your crossbow Bianca?" Gil-Galad inquired.

"Of course."

"Lots of people do that. I know guys who named their tanks." Lopez added.

Varric looked up at Lopez, "Hello there. Who might you be?"

"Sergeant Lopez, UNSC Marine Corps."

"That's it?" He smirked. "It sounds so much better if you draw your introduction out," he explained, "It's more impressive."

"That's not what I do-" the word moron didn't translate, "Being a marine is impressive enough."

"Alright then, no need to make a scene." he stepped over to Henry, "And you? You've already made quite an impression in the infirmary for eating Templar hands."

Henry made a blarg sound, glaring at him.

"How about I just call you tall, dark and teeth?" the dwarf grinned up at the seven-foot Elite, unfazed by the cricket bat hovering dangerously nearby.

"He's called Henry, you numbskull." Lopez growled, "Or hinge-head, or split-face, split-lip, shark, alligator, genocidal monster from hell, dino...we've got plenty of nicknames."

Most of those didn't translate, but Varric seemed particularly interested in the word referring to him, "What'd you call me?"

"Some sort of insult, referring to your skull." Solas explained.

Lopez had a more honest definition. "Idiot. You. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot."

Varric shrugged, "I've heard worse. Now, shall we go?"

Cassandra shook her head, "Absolutely not. Your help is appreciated Varric, but-"

"Have you seen the valley recently, Seeker? Your soldiers aren't in control there anymore. You need me."

They held a glare and a grin respectively for several seconds, before Cassandra broke off with a disgusted growl.

Solas turned to Gil-Galad and Lopez, "I am Solas, if there are introductions to be made. I am pleased to see you still live." he said to Gil-Galad.

"He means, 'I kept that mark from killing you while you slept'." Varric interjected.

"Thank you." Gil-Galad replied to Solas, "I suppose I am in your debt."

"Thank me if we manage to close the Breach without killing you in the process."

Solas looked at Cassandra, "Cassandra, you should know: the magic involved here is unlike any I have seen." he pointed to Gil-Galad, "I find it difficult to imagine any mage having such power."

"I've seen it before," Lopez said, "I know what it is, though I can't exactly say for certain whether or not I can close it."

"Really?" Cassandra said, doubtfully, "You've seen something like the Breach before?"

"Lots of times. So has hinge-head over there," she jerked her head at Henry, "Just haven't seen many in-atmosphere. That's usually very dangerous."

"In-atmosphere?" Cassandra questioned. The computer was getting better at figuring out the local vocabulary, "What does that mean?"

"In atmosphere, in close proximity to a planet's surface in the air that covers it."

Cassandra shook her head, clearly not understanding, and started walking along the road again.

Lopez shrugged, and followed.

Solas fell into step alongside her, "How is it that you can understand us perfectly, but you couldn't speak until recently? And have trouble getting across basic insults?"

"Implant in my head helps me understand. No magic helmet means I can't talk to you. And the...magic that runs my helmet has trouble speaking your language."

"Interesting. Is this the same magic used in your tablet?"

"Yes. That one was kind of a 'baby's first tablet', so it was designed to be intuitive...but I'm surprised you were able to learn some English in only three days."

Solas shrugged, "I am a quick study."

They continued marching toward the forward camp, led by Cassandra. It wasn't long before Varric struck up a conversation, "So, are you three innocent?"

"I don't remember what happened." Gil-Galad explained, "These two were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Been there. Both of those will get you every time. You should've spun a story."

"That's what you would have done." Cassandra said icily.

"It's more believable, and less prone to result in premature execution."

Lopez joined in, "You try telling a story to a bunch of angry bucketheads, jackass. See where that gets you."

"Bucketheads-? Oh, that's a good name for them! Never heard them described as such. Usually they're described with a certain amount of fear or dread."

The sergeant laughed, "Trust me, those buffoons aren't anywhere near what it would take to be scary. Someone who looks a lot like hinge-head over there," she gestured to Henry, who flipped her off once again, "Killed my team and gouged out my eye when I was a rookie. Scorpion cut him apart before he could cut off anything else."

Varric looked at her, "Wow. That's gruesome." He noted the eye with the scar over it. It was a very good false one, he couldn't even tell it was fake.

"Ya think?"

"So you've had combat experience." he concluded.

"Try twenty years in a war you could scarcely fathom." Lopez rolled her eyes at the understatement.

"Twenty years-? Where on earth are you from?"

"Not this rock."

Varric furrowed his brow, "And by rock, you mean…?"

"Planet. Planetoid. World. Globe. Big hunk of rock hurtling around a sun."

He glanced at Solas, who simply stared back without expression, "So, that metal tablet of yours was telling the truth."

"Yup."

"Who were you fighting?" Varric asked.

Lopez and Henry looked at each other, with no small amount of hostility, "Still fighting his people. And several other races."

"Then why are you with him?" Gil-Galad inquired, joining the conversation, "Why ally with a sworn enemy?"

Lopez rubbed her face, "When we first landed, with my bad leg I couldn't do as much physical work. Needed him to move stuff. No idea why he hasn't killed me yet."

Henry uttered something in their mix of languages. She caught "I", "need" with some additional sound on the end, "you", "human", and "survival equipment".

"Apparently something to do with the gear I started out with."

Solas looked quizzical, "What do you mean when you say 'hinge-head'? You keep calling him various things like that."

"Because that's what he is." Lopez grunted.

"Is that the name of his species? Or at least what you call them?" his tone remained neutral, but something about him became off.

"Well, the official nickname is 'Elite', but split-lip, split-face, dino, shark, hinge-head, crocodile, all those work too. I think his species is...something that starts with an 'S'."

Henry barked a single word angrily. He didn't look happy at each of the words Lopez called him, Solas noted.

"Sangheili, that's it. Still, any of them work."

"I see…" Solas frowned, and fell silent.

They made their way to the forward camp, encountering more demons and dispatching them with ease.

The camp seemed to be little more than a barricade along one of the bridges crossing the river that led up to the Breach, and a handful of soldiers readying themselves for battle.

Near a tent, there was some sort of command post judging by the maps and documents scattered across the tables.

A human wearing the bizarre robes of the Templar leadership with that golden forehead ornament, was standing near one of the tables. He was chatting with Leliana and several officers, of varying factions and units judging by their dress. Some Bucketheads, some light infantry, and a few wearing hoods and carried bows who acted as scouts.

He looked up as they approached. "What is this? Seeker, what are you doing? I order you to take these prisoners back into custody immediately!"

Lopez flipped the safety off her MA5B, but Cassandra snorted in a humourless manner and stalked up to golden-forehead, "order me? You're a glorified clerk!"

"Justinia is dead, Seeker. Someone must take charge." The man said, trying and failing to keep the rage out of his voice.

"And you thought it would be you?"

Lopez rolled her eyes, and interrupted, "look you...People, figure out your power struggle later. Just get the next person in line, it's simple. Right now there's a big slipspace portal in the sky that needs to be closed. Now, I don't have a nuke handy which is what I would recommend, so unfortunately that means our best bet is Gil here, and we gotta cast some magic fairy dust or something, because we don't have any other answers. Is that clear you fucking morons?!"

Everyone present just stared for a while. Even Henry was a little shocked at the outburst. "They can kill us." He managed to say. Almost a complete sentence.

"I'm sorry, sharky," she said, rubbing her face, "but by this point, I am just done with their blaming of us, and their stupid little power struggle."

"She has a point," Gil-Galad said, turning to the others, "Are you this concerned with who's your religious leader right now? All you need is someone to take command of what forces you have left, correct whatever damage has been done later. This is a threat to all of Thedas."

"I agree. The hole in the fabric of space takes precedence over who is the new Divine." Said Solas.

Cassandra interjected, "We are trying to find out who can take command, but with all the casualties-"

"Get. The highest ranking person. You morons. Is it a jurisdiction issue or something? This is a really simple fix."

"Yes, it is. And I am the remaining official." golden-head said, "Therefore, in order to preserve our forces, I order an immediate withdrawal."

Cassandra slammed her fists down on the table, "This is our only chance to stop the Breach, you fool! And you are no military commander. As I said, you're a clerk. You cannot properly judge our chances of fighting, and to be frank, pulling out now will destroy any chance of controlling the situation."

Lopez clapped her hands together, "Okay, good! Seeker-lady, you the senior military officer here?"

"I-"

"Good, you take command! You're in charge, now! Let's go!"

Golden-forehead stuttered, "Now see here, you-you foreign witch apostate! You are in no position to do or say anything! You're going to be on your way to Val Royeaux! Leave the fighting to the professionals!"

Lopez stalked over, and grabbed the guy by his collar, "Listen here, you shrimp dick fuck," judging by his face, that translated. The computer was learning all the time. "I am more professional than you can possibly fathom! Meanwhile you are the farthest thing from! At least Little Miss Tightass over there has some training, and more knowledge of the capabilities of your wannabe-Roman legionnaires. So shut up, and let her do her thing. Capiche?!"

She threw the guy against the table, and rested her hand against her sidearm, "Anyone else want a piece?! Huh? If so, line up over there, otherwise, follow her orders!"

Lopez glared around for one more minute. "Alright then. Looks like everyone is with us."

She pulled out a rolled-up piece of what looked like paper, swept the shitty maps off the table, and laid it out.

The smart paper wirelessly linked to her tablet, and the white surface disappeared to display a real-time map of the area from her drone.

"Witchcraft!" Someone whispered.

"Yeah, no shit." Lopez growled, "Miss tight ass? Plan?"

Cassandra stepped forward, unfazed by the fantastic device. She didn't like it, but she was frankly the only person left who could do this job competently. "It would be best for us to continue holding the line, as we've been doing." She studied the map, and pointed at several Chantry flags that hovered over groups of yellow icons, "what are those?"

"Those are your troops. The computer grouped them together into units." Lopez explained. A little of the hostility faded between them, as they settled into familiar roles. Cassandra reminded Lopez of a handful of officers she'd known, the ones who were flown in as replacements and actually listened to the non-coms under their command updating them on the situation.

"They must be following Roderick's orders…" Cassandra growled, her eyes following the slowly-shifting icons as they moved away from the Breach.

"As they should!" Roderick tried to interject from behind the wall of soldiers around the war table.

"Hey, numbskull," It took Varric a moment to realize Lopez was talking to him, "can you do something about him?"

Varric looked around, furrowing his brow, "What are you asking me for? You think I have any control over what he does?"

Lopez shrugged, "I don't know, I thought you could just push him away or something...you're just standing there with nothing to do, and I figured you had nothing better to do!"

"Did you think because I'm a dwarf, that I'd revel in the chance to show off physical-"

"Oh, forget I even asked! Henry, be a dear?"

Henry advanced on Roderick, who moved back rapidly, "Guards! Stop him!"

The guards all looked at each other, then to Cassandra. She let out a burst of air, "Sergeant, call him off. Soldiers, hold your ground."

Henry tightened his grip on his cricket bat, but did as Lopez asked him.

"Thank you Seeker. Vicious beast…" Roderick grunted, before Henry was standing over him again.

"I don't think he likes that very much." Solas observed.

Gil-Galad smirked, "It might be wise to avoid provoking him."

Lopez whistled to get everyone's attention, "C'mon people. Twenty-four troops just died as we were talking. Let's get going!"

"Someone get word to those units, tell them to get back on the line!" Cassandra barked.

"And tell them if they don't, I'll shoot them myself!" Lopez added.

A messenger dashed off.

"We need to get to the Breach," Gil-Galad stated, moving over to the magic paper, "What's the quickest route?"

"Through the mountains, if we use our troops as a distraction." Leliana said, "But we lost contact with an entire squad up there. It might be wiser to move with our forces instead."

Lopez hit a control on her TACPAD. Those around the table sprang back as a 3-D topographical model of the surrounding area rose up out of the paper.

"Yes, magic. Moving on, found them. Right here." she pointed to a group of blue icons along a mountain path, "Doesn't look good for them. How many in a squad?"

"Twelve."

"Well, they've lost a few. We could rescue them if we took that path, because I imagine you need every soldier you can get on the front lines instead of looking for a missing LRRP. And if we take the quickest route, that means fewer soldiers lost as a whole."

"Yes, but it puts Gil-Galad more at risk." Leliana countered, "and what's a…'lurp'?"

Henry let out a blarg, seeming to agree with Leliana on what direction to take.

"Listen to me! Seeker, abandon this now," Roderick begged, "Before more lives are lost."

"Go back to pushing pencils, dirtbag." Lopez said, not even looking up. "You don't want to see what an unarmed hinge-head can do to an arrogant asshole. Trust me, it's not pretty."

At that moment, the rift rippled again. Energy coursed painfully though Gil-Galad's hand, as all eyes fell on him.

"How do you think we should proceed?" Cassandra inquired.

"Now you're asking me what I think?" Gil-Galad demanded, confused.

"You have the mark." Solas pointed out.

"And you are the one we must keep alive." Cassandra finished, "Your opinion matters a great deal here. Since we cannot agree on our own…"

Gil-Galad thought, studying the map. "If it reduces the casualties, we should take the mountain pass."

Lopez nodded, "Good idea. Need an escort?"

XXXXX

They fought their way up the mountain pass toward the temple, through a mining complex and rescuing the lost unit along the way.

The group found themselves at the remains of the temple, where they met Leliana and the troops with her. The area was quite shocking to the locals, the clouds of ash that hovered over the crater, the hunks of earth that formed and pointed skyward, some turned to glass...and the bodies. Hundreds of skeletons littered the ground, buried, but it was the mostly-intact bodies that were truly horrifying.

Lopez and Henry didn't think much of them. Lopez had seen pictures of Pompeii, or a more recent frame of reference, the aftermath of a limited glassing. The latter she assumed Henry was familiar with.

The bodies stood in the positions where they had been at the time of the explosion. Cowering, praying, embracing, fleeing, there were dozens standing about in their death poses.

The sergeant was mildly surprised her fellows were able to keep their lunches down. It was rare to see the statue-like bodies without volcanoes or WMDs involved, and she guessed it must've said something about their society that they were able to keep such a handle on it. I'm not paid to think. Leave it to the damn anthropologists.

They reached a vantage point above the deepest part of the crater. At the bottom, they could see the point where the green strand of energy from the Breach was connected to. Lopez had expected some sort of space elevator, but supposed the thread could have been made of energy instead of wire. The Covenant used gravity lifts after all.

She hadn't expected to see a massive rift at the bottom of the strand, just like the unstable portals Gil-Galad had been closing with his fairy dust. What was going on? Teleporter, must be.

Ignoring the locals explanations, Lopez began flipping through her radio frequencies. Whoever was powerful enough to create something like this must've had some sort of communication system…

Nothing. Her scanners revealed no electronic signals of any kind from the other side.

Henry looked over her shoulder at her TACPAD, and the marine shrugged, "What do you think? Teleporter?"

The Elite shook his head, and gave a shrug of his own.

Lopez cursed, "Guess we're stuck with the fairy dust."

As they moved down into the crater, a red material was noticeable in among the ruins. It gave off a strange sense of uneasiness when the sergeant went near it. The others made sure to stay away from it; from their expressions they were experiencing similar feelings.

"You know this stuff is red lyrium, Seeker." Varric said to Cassandra.

"I can see it." Cassandra replied through gritted teeth.

"But what's it doing here?" Varric pressed.

Solas answered, "Magic could have drawn on lyrium beneath the temple, corrupted it…"

Lopez wasn't listening. She stopped near a vein to study it, "What is this crap?"

"Don't touch it!" Varric barked, snatching her outstretched hand away, "The stuff's evil!"

Lopez waved a concerned Henry off, "What?"

"It's red lyrium!" Varric repeated.

"'Evil'? I've seen pure evil, and it's not some red mercury knockoff." He probably meant 'poisonous,' but she didn't have a lot of patience for people who decided on superstition before common sense. She tapped a control on her TACPAD, and scanned the vein.

"UNKNOWN ELEMENT DETECTED-REPORT TO UEG GEOLOGICAL SURVEY".

Lopez huffed in frustration, and brushed past Varric to continue deeper into the crater.

Cassandra ordered her troops to deploy around the rift. As they moved in, distant echoing voices began to filter in.

Henry held his bat aloft, and Lopez shouldered her rifle, "We've got company." where the hell is it? Nothing on motion trackers, and I didn't see anything coming in…

When they reached the massive rip in space and time, the voices became more clear. Deep and threatening, one said, "Now is the hour of our victory. Bring forth the sacrifice."

Henry snorted at the air, and looked around with a confused wort. Lopez checked her motion tracker again and again, smacking the side of her helmet, but nothing appeared.."

"What the hell is going on?"

"It is only the echoes of the Fade." Solas dismissed, when the others expressed similar, yet less surprised-sounding sentiments.

"What exactly are we hearing, then?" asked Cassandra.

"At a guess, whoever created the Breach."

"Fade?" Lopez inquired, still scanning for targets, "What?"

"The Fade." Varric said as if it was obvious.

"Whatever. What is it?"

Solas, Gil-Galad, Cassandra, and Varric stopped, looking at her.

"Do you not know of the Fade?" Cassandra demanded, "How can you not?"

"Because I'm not from around here. Sharky, you heard of this thing?"

Henry shrugged, looking at the humans as if they were crazy.

"Everyone knows of the Fade. Even dwarves." Varric stated.

"Can we get over this?! Someone tell me what it is!"

"It is the world of demons and dreams." Cassandra said.

"World of demons? I've seen those. World of dreams? I believe that's something the kids are calling imagination." her sarcasm dripped through the translator, not buying it at all.

Gil-Galad was at a loss for words, "How does one not know of the Fade? It is the land of the gods, for humans and elves!"

"Gil, I only know of one land of the gods, and it certainly has nothing to do with dreams or demons. What does this mumbo-jumbo have to do with freaky-ass voices coming out of the freakin' ether?!"

"The Fade remembers past history. Where the Veil is thin or damaged, the memories might bleed through." Solas explained. He watched Lopez with an unsettling level of fascination, his gray eyes piercing.

She glared at him, and he looked steadily back at her. There was something distinctly odd about him, even without the magic and the pointy ears. The fact that he was the only one to work out her technology did not escape her, and that bothered her, but she hadn't the time to work out why at the moment.

The marine kept getting a familiar annoying feeling around him, the same type she'd get around ONI spooks, or the Red Horse's AI Rebecca. Those who knew more than they let on, but were willing to sacrifice anything, even people's lives to keep their secrets. He appeared to be harmless at first glance, but all spooks did, like Major Smith. Her leg let out a twinge of pain upon recollection of what the truth had been.

More voices could be heard, suddenly growing louder. The group turned to look at the rip, and there was a flash.

Ghostly forms took shape, of a woman in priestly garb held aloft several meters above the ground, red energy holding her arms out to either side. It must have been this "Divine" the locals were so worked up about.

Towering over her was a figure, a truly massive creature. Its exact form was unrecognizable, except for its bright red eyes.

Another figure approached, this one as clear as the woman was. It was Gil-Galad!

"What's going on here?" he demanded, fear in his voice, but challenging.

"Run while you can! Warn them!" the priest cried out.

"We have an intruder." the massive figure spoke, "Slay the elf."

There was another flash, and suddenly the figures were gone, everything was back to normal.

Lopez leveled her rifle at the spot the towering figure had once occupied. Henry was glancing around, scanning for targets and finding none.

"What the hell was that?!"

Cassandra stalked up to Gil-Galad, grabbing him by the shoulders, "You were there! Who attacked? What happened? The Divine, is she…? What was that?"

"I don't know, I can't remember!" Gil-Galad cried, his eyes wide with shock and confusion.

"I repeat, what the hell was that?!" Lopez demanded, "That should not happen!"

She glanced at Henry, "You saw that too, right? Please, I need someone who's not crazy!"

He took a moment to run through what she said, but nodded, "Recording. Hologram."

"Right!" she hit the side of her helmet in relief and embarrassment at her own foolishness, "Obviously. The projector must be hidden from electromagnetic signatures. But why is it here?"

Henry grunted something that she guessed translated to "god knows". Or "gods", given the Covenant religion.

Solas raised his voice, "I hate to interrupt, but the rift is not sealed. It is closed for now, however. Temporarily."

He pointed to Gil-Galad's hand, which was glowing and emitting sparks, "I believe with the mark, the rift can be opened and then sealed properly and safely. However, opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side."

Cassandra released Gil-Galad, "That means demons. Stand ready!"

The smattering of soldiers, from various factions remaining in the valley, readied their weapons. Lopez yanked the firing bolt of her MA5B back, checked the magazine, and shoved it back in.

She looked at Henry, "How ya doing, split-lip?"

He growled at her, "Crazy."

"Which? Me? Them? Or everything?"

He shrugged, "You pick."

"Had a feeling that would be your answer."

Gil-Galad approached the rift, and held up his hand. Instantly, a channel of green energy shot out as with the other rifts. Crystal began shifting and growing around the portal, as the enemy began to emerge from the other side.

The big fiery slug-with-arm types came through, but along with them came something that was actually a threat.

A massive creature, perhaps ten meters high, emerged from the rift.

"Pride demon!" someone yelled.

Lopez began searching around the pockets on her armor, "Now there's something you don't see every day. Ugly motherfucker, eh Henry?"

He let out a short laugh, "Almost bad as human."

"Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

The pride demon roared, and swatted a handful of soldiers aside, their screams only encouraging it. Arrows and spells impacted upon its hide, doing damage but clearly not enough. It attacked several more soldiers before it spotted Gil-Galad. He was vulnerable, defenseless, unable to cast any spells while sealing the Breach. Terror filled his mind as the beast approached, but he maintained his station. If he was to die, at least he might die saving the world.

The demon lumbered toward its target, but stopped suddenly, and its eyes falling upon a small round green object bouncing in its direction. The object came to a stop at its feet.

The demon crouched slightly to look at the object, wondering at the small red blinking light. Then the device exploded.

The explosion sent shrapnel into its eyes and vulnerable parts of skin, making it howl with pain as the concussion knocked it on its back.

The demon had enough vision left to see a rather tall human wearing green armor stroll up, and place a metal device to its head.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The blasts rang out sharply and deafening through the small valley. The pride demon twitched slightly, then lay still. Lopez stepped away, blowing away some smoke billowing from the device she held. She pulled a metal stick out of the weapon, placed it in a pocket, and slid a new one in. It was a smaller version of her large not-crossbow, but potentially even more powerful.

"More demons!" someone yelled, and the strange soldier's actions were momentarily forgotten as more spells, arrows, and swords were used to effect on several emerging rage demons.

Lopez stepped atop the pride demon's corpse, and took another spherical object from her pocket. Sliding a small protective tab open, she pressed a button, flicked off a spring-loaded lever, and a light began flashing on the device. The sergeant lobbed it into the demons' ranks.

The weapon flew through the air, bounced once, and detonated. Their close proximity to one another made them extremely vulnerable, the blast killing nearly half of them and threw more through the air.

Gore and body parts were scattered all over the place, the demons shrieking with pain even as they continued their attack.

Lopez, with determined yet calm expression, put her long black weapon to her shoulder. She exhaled, and squeezed the trigger.

The harsh barking of the assault rifle swept across the surviving demons, killing most of the survivors outright and crippling the handful remaining.

Jogging forward, and flicking a control on the side, she squeezed the trigger again repeatedly, shooting the remaining the demons neatly in the head.

The echoes of the firearm's reports rolled distantly across the landscape. Everyone stared at the sergeant, who calmly drew another metal stick out of a pocket and exchanged it with the one in her weapon.

Gil-Galad's attention was diverted elsewhere; the heat and energy charge he felt flowing from his hand suddenly increased tenfold, and the green beam connected to the breach suddenly snapped back. His world went black.