HEY EVERYONE!
I'm so sorry for making you all wait but my standards are ridiculous when it comes to the story, like how I think of games 'Graphics don't mean shit if the story is good'. I'll be posting the beta'ed version at a later date.
But anyway, in this chapter, Alaric escapes from the hive, accepting his heritage to an extant, gaining some more help and getting a firsthand look at to what the Primarch...but will he survive it's influence?
Also, in regards to the little contest I have posted, two spots are now taken. Teshy, whom I will give credit for his answer, and Dakkaman777, for correctly guessing the most obvious reference. three spots are left and if you correctly guess a reference, of which some in this chapter should be easy to guess, you will be included into the story for a rather kickass fight scene. I won't spoil it but lets just say it's an iconic scene from one of the alien films.
So, without further due, read away
Chapter 24- Titan
Alaric awoke from his coma, from the visions within his mind, with a loud gasp that echoed throughout the entire crypt as the blue flames in his eyes died out. He immediately and frantically shot up onto his knees, landing on one outstretched hand as he panted in rapid beats, cold sweat dripping from his face, his other hand on his heart. His cloak furled around him, catching his attention. Breathing hard and raggedly, he looked around with darting eyes and much to his relief he was right where he had passed out.
Back in the tomb.
Alaric patted himself, feeling his weapons on his person, sighing in relief that he was in one piece and back in the real world. His head still throbbed but not as badly as what he had just been through. He sat back down with a metallic thunk, wiping the cold sweat from his face, smudging off what was left of his face paint.
"My god!" Alaric sighed. "What a rush."
He held his head, trying to make sense of what he had seen as his eyes darted from side to side in thought. This was something that Alaric could not have comprehended. And what is more, he felt it deep inside him.
Right in his very soul.
"What does this mean?" he questioned himself. "Was my whole life... misguided? A lie?" he then thought of a missing link. "The missing page." he realised.
Did that missing fragment from the tome contain the truth?
Alaric at that point could hear the tapping of talons next to him. He looked to the source and he saw the hawk looking up at him. The hawk's silver plumage shone in the dark, with the scar on it's breast a fraction duller then the rest.
Alaric quickly realised that this hawk was the same as the one in the memories. And the same as mentioned in his tome.
"Aegis." Alaric said. "The Shield-Hawk."
He lowered his hands, reaching one over for the hawk. The hawk hopped over to him and jumped on his outstretched arm. Alaric looked to his right. Towards the body of Dionekes sat against the pillar. Alaric shifted over towards the dead spartan.
"I was right." Alaric said, kneeling next to Dionekes. "This is my ancestor."
"Your maternal ancestor." Gri'nyr's voice clarified.
Alaric looked up and sure enough, Gri'nyr's spirit was there, kneeling next to him. His mask was gone and Alaric could see his ruby red eyes shining on his misty apparition.
"Are you okay?" Gri'nyr asked.
Alaric lowered his arm as Aegis hopped onto his shoulder.
"I... felt it." Alaric answered.
"Then you truly are one of our bloodline." Gri'nyr praised, getting to his feet. "I understand that it will take time to come to terms with your past."
"Come to terms?" Alaric questioned, getting to his feet. "I don't think I'll ever get it out of my head."
"You won't." Gri'nyr clarified. "It'll be a part of you for eternity."
Alaric rubbed his face as Gri'nyr walked off further into the tomb.
"How long was I out?" he asked, bending down to pick up his helmet.
"Oh, only about a minute." Gri'nyr answered. "Nothing has changed much since you were... indisposed.". He held a hand to an ear. "For example, listen to the silence."
Gri'nyr was right. There was complete silence. There wasn't the sound of an entire hive of xenomorphs trying to claw their way through the stone doors. The only sounds to be heard was the sound of Alaric's footfalls as he shifted on his feet.
"They've gone?" Alaric said. "I find that hard to believe."
"Most likely they're waiting for you to open the door." Gri'nyr postulated. "Though they're in for a nasty surprise with your new armour and weapons."
Alaric scratched his ornamented hair, unused from having so much jewellery in it before a thought popped in his head.
"Why... why would your fellow yautja turn against you?" Alaric asked. "Even with those primarchs on the loose?"
"Many reasons." Gri'nyr sighed, walking up to the sarcophagus. "But perhaps the most prevalent is because we were very different. And many are afraid of anything different because they do not, or choose not to, understand. As shown in many races, if you are different, others will be fearful and try to drive you away or kill you." He turned to Alaric. "And Xel'khala were the worst, as you had just seen." he finished.
"Tell me about." Alaric said in agreement. "They make Nazis look like pacifists by comparison."
Gri'nyr raised a brow.
"Nat-zis?" he questioned, evidently perplexed by the name. "What are Nat-zis?"
"Originally German Master Race nuts from the 20th century." Alaric explained, with barely disguised disgust. "Led by a bastard with a stupid moustache who wasn't technically German and had none of the 'Master Race' traits to boot. Ended up shooting himself when things didn't go to plan."
Gri'nyr chuckled in irony.
"Always the way isn't it?" he mused before he got serious. "But, you have much to do now."
"Yeah, I gotta get back to colony." Alaric agreed.
"More then that. The Primarch has to be slain." Gri'nyr revealed. "The Ossians' mistake has to be eliminated before it can spread from this world."
Alaric rolled his eyes at the name.
"There you go again." he pointed out with barely disguised annoyance. "Who or what are these Ossians you so constantly bring up?"
Gri'nyr turned from Alaric.
"What does it matter?" he questioned. "They were in the distant past, destroyed by their own arrogance."
It was apparent that Gri'nyr was deliberately avoiding the question. Alaric was going to get his answer here and now.
"But WHO were they?" Alaric demanded. "Does it have to do with The Derelict on LV-426, thirty nine light years from Earth?"
Gri'nyr paused at the mention of the ship in question. It was apparent that Gri'nyr did know of the ship, though whether he knew first-hand or was informed after wasn't known. But as Alaric surmised from his reaction, Gri'nyr knew how the ship ended up on that desolate moon.
Was it possible that his clan was the reason why the Derelict ended up on that moon in the first place? It was a long debate about why the Derelict ended up on LV-426, with the most likely explanation was that the xenomorphs on that ship had got loose and brought the ship down. And now, Alaric learned that these Ossians were in fact their creators. But as for the ships intended purpose, that was never found out... yet.
"That rung a bell didn't it?" Alaric guessed. "You know, don't you?"
Gri'nyr turned back to Alaric, his eyes flickering in response to Alaric's conclusion.
"Trying to tell the truth of the Ossians will take too much time but I will give you a basic view." Gri'nyr relented, hopping onto the sarcophagus and sitting down.
Even as a ghost, so to speak, he acted like he was still alive.
"The Ossians were, and still are, a hyper-advanced race, one of the first elder races. Masters of bioengineering, predominately for their own ends." Gri'nyr explained. "They strove for eons to create the ultimate life form. The perfect slaves to cement their dominion over the entire galaxy. A lifeform that could adapt and thrive in any environment, with an unmatched will to survive and endure. But, as nature proves time and again, life cannot be controlled."
"Finally, some information." Alaric praised sardonically making a 'praise the heavens' gesture. "How could they create this perfect life form, billions of years ago?"
"They seeded worlds in their infancy, using their own DNA as a basis." Gri'nyr answered.
Alaric took that answer in and he was quickly puzzled from it. The Ossians seeded planets with their own DNA?
"Wait, you mean they... cloned themselves?" Alaric asked "In that case, why aren't they still here in this day?"
Gri'nyr shook his head.
"They didn't 'clone' themselves." Gri'nyr corrected. "Rather they seeded worlds with the first micro-organisms, created from their own DNA and adapted to that planet's ecosystem, and then proceeded from there, ushering the evolving life as they intend. Millions of years is but an eye blink to the Ossians." he sighed. "But that life has to come from somewhere. Usually, one Ossian is sacrificed, broken down molecule by molecule, to provide the push forward."
Alaric took that information in. Sacrificing one of their own to provide the genetic material to work with. That seemed to suggest that the Ossians believed that the ends justifies the means.
"Why their own DNA?" Alaric asked next. "What do they achieve from sacrificing one of their own?"
"This method was to ensure that the resulting organisms would feel an inherent... link with the Ossians. Something to make them easier to control, like a parent to a small child in a manner of speaking." Gri'nyr clarified. "And it was that which would prove to be their downfall."
Gri'nyr sighed as he remembered what he knew.
"After many failed experiments and extinction events to wipe the slates clean, the Primarchs were created, the progenitors of the creatures you now call xenomorphs." Gri'nyr revealed. "But, much like their previous creation, whom were to be purged by their successors, the Primarchs could not be controlled. Rather then being unpredictable, they were only feigning obedience, biding their time from when the Ossians were most vulnerable. By the time the Ossians realised their folly, their fate was already sealed. Their entire race were consumed and from their destruction, the Primarchs started to spread."
He then perked up in a manner to get things going again.
"Which brings us to the present." Gri;nyr concluded, hopping off the sarcophagus. "Now, can we please leave?"
Alaric wasn't convinced that Gri'nyr told him everything. There was something that he didn't explain.
"Wait a second, I haven't finished" Alaric pointed out, walking up to Gri'nyr.
"There is nothing more to talk about." Gri'nyr urged, walking past Alaric.
That wasn't going to stop Alaric.
"What does this mean about humans?" Alaric questioned bluntly. "That bastard said humans were a 'failed experiment'?"
Gri'nyr paused in mid-step, turning to Alaric.
"That is something best left for another time." Gri'nyr stated firmly, turning his back to Alaric to further his point. "This is hardly the place to go that far. I don't think you could handle the truth at this time."
"Oh come on, with all shit you just pushed in my head, what damage is that going to do?" Alaric playfully protested.
Gri'nyr at that point suddenly materialised right in front of Alaric, face to face with barely an inch between them. It was enough to make Alaric shut up and back off a step or two but Gri'nyr followed his movements.
"Trust me. You WON'T" Gri'nyr clarified firmly, his eyes flashing crimson.
His eyes then dimmed as he stepped backwards, looking around like he had just noticed something. Alaric regained his composure as Gri'nyr resumed his attentions to him.
"You must hurry now." Gri'nyr finally said. "The Primarch is close to escaping this prison."
Alaric put his helmet on, having decided not to press further for information aftar Gri'nyr's insistance, sealing it into place and the lenses glowed blue.
"How can you tell?" he asked, his voice synthesised by his helmet's audio systems.
"I can sense it's soul." Gri'nyr revealed. "Like a flame of darkness that burns away light. And in time you will be able to sense it."
Alaric looked around for anything out of the ordinary. Such as the stone structure shaking or any other weird things to give notion of the primarch escaping. There was nothing.
"I don't notice anything." he pointed out.
"You won't. Not at first, you need to be taught." Gri'nyr clarified. "And I advise you not to face the Primarch just yet. You need to be properly prepared for it." he then bowed to Alaric in farewell. "I must take my leave now. And you must make yours."
"Where will you be?" Alaric asked.
"I will always be wherever you needed guidance." Gri'nyr reminded. "In your dreams."
And with that, Gri'nyr vanished like mist in the morning sun, leaving no trace of himself behind. Alaric was now on his own.
Alaric sighed as he thought for a moment and then looked to Aegis.
"Aegis, it's time to go." Alaric declared.
Aegis flew up to Alaric and landed on his shoulder. Aegis reached for the dory on his hip, held it out and the dory armed, extending to it's full length and lightning surged around it before dimming. Alaric gave the body of Dionekes one last bow of the head in farewell, promising to avenge his death and those of his spartan brothers. Alaric strode up to the doors of the tomb, pausing when he reached them. Looking up at the doors, Alaric took a breath.
"Well, here goes nothing." Alaric said, holding the dory with his shield hand and pressing his free hand against the imprint.
The stone inlays around his hand glowed blue as the light spread throughout the stone doors as before. The stone split apart in the middle and the doors started to slowly grind open, revealing the glowing channels within. Alaric drew his hand back as braced his shield in front and hefted his spear forward, ready for any xenomorph to pounce at him. Aegis sat on his shoulder, feathers glowing as he prepared to sally forth on Alaric's command.
As soon as the doors opened up a foot or so, Alaric nodded and Aegis soared through the gap, his pulamge shining brightly, to guide Alaric and to smite any xenomorphs in wait.
The stone doors soon opened enough for Alaric to step through and he cautiously stepped out, shield up and and spear ready. Looking in all directions with the helmet's enhanced vision, Alaric couldn't see any xenomorphs in hiding. But he wasn't going to let his guard down just yet. He quickly sealed the door back up, to preserve Dionekes' body from the encroaching hive.
Alaric continued to moved down the tunnel at a steady pace as the stone doors grind shut, circling around in case there were any coming from behind. He was able to reach the end of the tunnel quicker then he thought. In the vast hall there was nothing. No xenomorphs waiting to pounce on him here. But then Alaric wasn't going to rest until he checked every nook and cranny. Xenomorphs are notorious for adapting to their environment.
It was only after Alaric meticulously searched the entire hall that he lowered his spear. Aegis swooped back down to Alaric and landed on his shoulder.
"They're gone." Alaric praised before something more dire popped in his head. "The colony!"
That would be the only reason why the xenomorphs would leave him be. Going after a more exposed target not protected by massive stone doors. A target that would get them off this world to infest others And that meant that they had a head start.
Alaric looked to Aegis on his shoulder.
"Lead me to an exit." he ordered. "And make it snappy."
Aegis nodded, spread his wings and jumped off Alaric's shoulder as he retracted his dory and holstered it on his hip. Aegis' feathers flashed into life, providing the beacon for which to guide Alaric as he soared high into the air. Alaric briskly ran as Aegis flew down the high corridor, back into the temple complex.
Alaric could only rely on Aegis to lead the way. And along the way, he suddenly had a thought. And it had to do with the Stone.
The way that object killed, in a manner of speaking was something that Alaric had never imagined could exist or even thought to exist. A weapon that could tear a soul from it's body and empower the one who uses it. This was something that Alaric had only heard about in fantasy fiction he had read in rare times of R&R. Alaric had to wonder what other fantastical things could be actual truth.
Alaric had speak to Gri'nyr again and, if what he said was true, Gri'nyr was within the armour. Or his consciousness to be more precise.
"Gri'nyr." Alaric called as he zipped round a corner.
There was no answer. Alaric paused for a second before trying again.
"Gri'nyr, I know you can hear me." he said, darting down a flight of stairs. "There something that I need to ask you."
It was a moment before he got an answer.
"Yes?" Gri'nyr's voice asked within Alaric's helmet.
"Something is concerning me." Alaric revealed reaching the bottom of the stairs. "Considering the fact that you were a bona fide badass, why did you need such an... object like that stone?"
"It was the only thing that can kill a Primarch." Gri'nyr simply explained as Alaric followed Aegis down the hall and into another tunnel. "Another thing that the Ossians foolishly bestowed on the Primarchs was a variant of immortality. To make sure that their 'perfect' servants never expire."
Alaric skidded to a halt, crushing hive webbing under his feet with a loud continuous crunch. Aegis banked sharply when he heard Alaric stopping, pulling a tight curve and fluttering to a stop on a hanging hive tendril.
"Wait, you mean these primarchs can't be killed?" Alaric asked.
"They can be killed but it's making them stay dead that's the problem." Gri'nyr clarified. "They have to be killed properly."
Alaric slumped his shoulders as he sense another long bout of explanation coming.
"This is going to be long and informative, isn't it?" Alaric sighed.
"Depends if you want the long version." Gri'nyr quipped.
Alaric leant against the hive encroached wall, stabbing his spear butt-spike into the floor and it stayed up as he crossed his arm into his sheild.
"Well, why are the primarchs hard to kill?" Alaric asked, short and to the point.
"If a Primarch is slain, it's essence, it's very soul, would simply find a new form in one of it's kin, through the Hive-Mind that links them all." Gri'nyr explained, making his answer not so short but to the point. "In this capacity it is virtually immortal. Killing every single one of the Primarch's kin is the most bloody way to fight it as it would not have a vessel to channel to."
Gri'nyr paused for a moment to allow Alaric to process this information.
"But if it is slain by the Stone or the scythe, it's soul is simply... burnt out." Gri'nyr continued "The Stone was our best chance of containing it so it can be properly destroyed. The rest of it's kin would simply die off afterwards once it was killed."
"Why not the sycthe?" Alaric asked. "You were adept at using it."
Gri'nyr's apparition appeared in front of Alaric, maskless and leaning against the wall opposite Alaric with reluctance on his face.
"I... lacked the power." Gri'nyr admitted simply. "None has been able to destroy a soul with or without the scythe since our progenitor left."
"Lacked the power?"Alaric questioned with a hint of disbelief. "You made mincemeat out of anything in your path."
"Killing their physical forms, yes." Gri'nyr corrected. "But a soul cannot be harmed through physical means without the right training and knowledge."
"And if you don't have the power?" Alaric questioned.
"Then a sacrifice has to be made." Gri'nyr revealed, rather ominously.
It was enough to invoke the image of Xel'khalos burning out that spartan's soul, still lingering in the depths of his mind. What would it take to get such power, aside from the Stone? Alaric wasn't sure if he wanted to know but needs must. Especially if he had the misfortune of facing some like that.
"Which entails...?" Alaric hesitantly asked.
"To kill a soul, one must drive all compassion, all feelings from their own soul, literally." Gri'nyr revealed. " And such a massive change to one's self is permanent, becoming cold and unsympathetic towards all that you once held dear. Becoming soulless in a twist of irony. A trait that bastard took pride in."
Alaric remembered how Xel'khalos killed with no remorse. Did he sacrifice his compassion fro that power or maybe he simply lacked that emotion to begin with? He had put his money on the latter.
"But there is a difference in killing for the good of all and killing for one's own gratification." Gri'nyr clarified "We never make the decision to kill a soul lightly. A soul is something that cannot be replaced once destroyed."
Alaric went over that in his mind. Considering what he had seen in Gri'nyr's memories, he had to take this with consideration. Especially since this was starting to delve into a somewhat... occult state of mind.
"So killing souls is basically the end? That's it, no second chances, no reincarnation?" Alaric concluded.
"Unless a fragment is stored some place else, yes it is the end." Gri'nyr confirmed. "Which is why primarchs are so hard to kill. Each of it's kin is a potential vessel for a shard of it's soul. Much in the same way that we bear a shard of our progenitor." Gri'nyr added, before gesturing onwards to where Aegis was leading Alaric. "But enough of this informative banter, onward you go."
And with that, Gri'nyr promptly faded from sight as swiftly as he had appeared. Alaric muttered under his breath as he turned back to Aegis.
"Well, where were we?" he asked, reaching for his spear and yanking it out of the webbed floor.
Aegis flapped his wings and flew off down the corridoor with Alaric in pursuit.
After several more minutes of running through the hive, and not seeing one xenomorph pop out to challenge him, Alaric suddenly skidded to a halt in a small chamber, causing Aegis to veer sharply back to him. Alaric took a few steps backwards and looked to his left as Aegis landed on his shoulder.
"Hold up, I thought I saw something in there." he said, pointing with his spear.
Leaning forward a bit, Alaric saw it again. A glint of light shining from within a narrow tunnel. He had almost missed it in his haste to leave. Alaric now need to ascertain what kind of glint it was. And it didn't take him long to determine the source.
"Wait a second." Alaric said. "Is that what I think it is?"
The glint in question was metallic. And that meant one thing: potential salvage.
Alaric turned to Aegis.
"Wait here a minute." Alaric ordered. "I think i found something useful."
Aegis hopped of his shoulder and perched on a tendril next to the tunnel, keeping watch. Alaric retracted his spear and holstered it as he walked up to the tunnel. Upon closer inspection, the tunnel invoke the mindset of a maintenance tunnel, considering he would have to crouch low in order to enter.
Alaric crouched as low as he could and carefully made his way down the tunnel, shield up to act as a mobile wall between him and anything hostile. A lesson he learned the hard way on many a mission involving xenomorphs. He drew the kopis out of it's scabbard and held it blade forward, ready to stab anything that would come at him.
However as he got closer, and as his helmet adjusted to the dark, Alaric soon found that there was no threat as he reached the source of the glint at the far end of the tunnel
Alaric had, much to his surprise, found a dwarf. Or what was left of one, sitting against the stone wall and subsisded in hive webbing. Alaric would have missed it werer it not for the visor reflecting what light there was in the hive above him as the tunnel ended with a vertical shaft.
Alaric shifted towards the dead dwarf, sheathing his kopis and kneeling in front of the body to get a better look at it. He reached out and plucked webbing from the body to determine cause of death. He was soon answered by the disturbingly clean hole in the dwarf's chest. A disruptor wound. And the more webbing Alaric peeled away, the more damage Alaric found. The dwarf's armour was battered and rended, be it from claws, beatings or impacts from projectiles. But in the manner of degradation, be it corrosion or from the extreme cold, there was virtually none.
It looked as if the dwarf had been mortally wounded during the battle but had somehow had managed to escape to find a refuge and inevitably died from his wounds. A more merciful fate then what his fellows had suffered.
And he still had his weapons. A gauss rifle was across his lap and on his belt was a long bladed hand axe that looked like it could attach to the gauss rifle as a bayonet. Other things included octagonal grenades, spare magazines and a gauss pistol.
Alaric, out of curiosity, lifted the visor and he was surprised by what he saw. Expecting to see a mummified corpse, he was looking at what would possibly be a statue. The dwarf, eyes shut like he was sleeping, was made of stone. And gentle tapping on the dwarfs face confirmed his suspicion when he heard a dense rapping. Even the beard had turned to stone, creating what look liked very fine forest of stalactites. Alaric refrained from touching the stone beard, guessing that it would be very fragile. Not to mention desecrating to the dwarf.
"No wonder they called them Stone-Kin." Alaric said. "Completely fossilised."
He had to wonder if this was how Dwarves really died? Or did they fight a Gorgon by chance?
Considering what he saw in the memories, cyclopses and manticores especially, Alaric took that possibility into account. He would have to see one for himself though.
Alaric looked down to the gauss rifle on the dwarf's lap, seeing that the dwarfs hand were resting on it. Removing the weapon was going to be a problem on account that he couldn't move the dwarf's hands if it had indeed turned to stone.
Grasping the weapon firmly by it's carry handle running along the top, Alaric carefully wiggled it around to ascertain how much leeway it had. He was pleased when he found that the dwarf had died in a way that his weapons able to be retrieved. Even so, he was considerate to be careful and not potentially damage the dead. The rifle slid out with some scraping and Alaric held it in his hands.
The gauss rifle, aside from some faint scratches on it's casing and marks from the hive webbing, was in pristene condition with very little corrosion or other degredation. Alaric grasped it on the pistol grip and firmly held it to his shoulder, getting the feel of it. And he was surprised at how familier it felt.
"Feels just like a pulse rifle." Alaric said in amazement, looking down the iron sights. "Handles like a pulse rifle. And looks a bit like a pulse rifle too."
He had to think that the similer design was a coincedence.
Alaric found what looked like the safety catch, where his thumb could manipulate it. He flicked it with his thumb and in an instant, the weapon hummed into life. Cuiruitry glowed and he could hear it charge up, ready to fire.
"And it still works!" Alaric said in amazement, looking at the stock.
It appeared that the gauss rifle was a bullpup configuration as he saw what looked lke the bottom of a magazine of ammunition at the bottom. Alaric extracted the box magazine, located completely within the stock, and looked at it. He found that the amunnition, still in pristine condition, was arranged very much like conventional bullets in a stacked manner. The rounds themselves were comparible in size to 7.62mm ammunition used in marine corps battle rifles. They were about an inch long and were inscribed with a myriad network of runic patterns.
Alaric slammed the magazine back and after some more examination, he found the cocking handle located on top of the rifle above the trigger, again like a pulse rifle. He pulled it back firmly, heard the round enter the breech, and let go. The breech snapped shut and the round was now locked and loaded in the chamber with a buzz of power. And it was there, much to his surprise, he saw an ammunition counter located at the base of the rear sight. The numbers were depicted in dwarven runic script but Alaric quickly saw that the ammo count was reading in the hundreds. Considering that there was no need for a casing with propellant, the number of rounds in a magazine could be increased exponentially.
Alaric placed the rifle down on the ground and he delicately retrieved the dwarf's other weaponry. He pulled out the pistol and, much to his surprise, saw that it was reminiscent of a magnum revolver. Albeit a very advanced and intimidating one. Whether or not this was a standard dwarf pistol or if it was this dwarf's personal preference, Alaric didn't know. Alaric then recovered the hand grenades, which from their patterned surface were most likely fragmentation grenades. And Alaric surmised that they would inflict a rather nasty amount of damage if one gets caught in the blast. And lastly he retrieved the bayonet axe, that looked somewhat reminiscent of a Viking bearded axe, only the beard pointed upwards rather then down.
Concluding he had salvaged all he could, Alaric bundled them in his arm and then shifted his way out of the tunnel. Upon getting out, laid out what he had found on the dwarf. His first assumption was to test fire them to see if they were still capable of firing. He decided to only fire the gauss rifle seeing that had more then enough ammunition to warrant a test fire. But before he did so, he locked the bayonet axe underneath where he thought the grenade launcher was, locking it into place.
Hefting the rifle up, Alaric looked for a suitable target to test the rifle on. He soon noticed a patch of webbing on a pillar a few metres from from, a large circular patch that screamed 'TARGET!'. In fact, it even had the rings to prove it.
Alaric aimed the rifle at pillar, tight under his arm. His helmet's HUD, upon sensing that Alaric was using a projectile weapon, projected a cross-hair that followed the movement of Alaric's eyes and an indicator of where the rifle was pointing. After lining up the shot, Alaric fired. A loud static crack and blue muzzle flash filled the darkness and immediately, faster then Alaric could even think to blink, a large chunk of the hive encroached pillar, along with the target webbing, was blown off in a shower of dust, gravel and shreds of webbing.
Alaric's eye were wide behind his visor as he looked at the gauss rifle, making sure he did squeeze the right trigger. He had indeed fired a standard round, not a grenade.
Suffice to say, seeing it firsthand, the gauss rifle made the small projectiles hit with the force of a .50 calibre heavy machinegun round, possibly even higher. The recoil was only like that of conventional rifles, maybe even less. And the fact that it had spent the last two millennia without maintenance made it even more amazing. Alaric was wondering what other weapons the dwarves had created.
The pistol would be very much like Razeal, firing a high calibre magnum round. Though he had to wonder, considering what the gauss rifle did, how much damage that pistol could inflict. But, he didn't waste to waste any more ammo to find out.
As soon as the amazement subsided, Alaric had another more pressing matter in his mind.
The Primarch.
He had to know what he was up against.
Alaric found that the dwarven weapons just attached themselves magnetically to his armour, which he did so in easy to reach places. He retracted his dory and holstered it so he could brandish the gauss rifle instead. He placed the revolver on his chest opposite Razeal and placed the grenades on his belt
Alaric hefted the gauss rifle onto his shoulder and looked to Aegis.
"Aegis, there is one thing I have to do before we leave." he told the hawk.
Aegis looked up to him, wondering what on earth Alaric needed to do when escape is his priority, which had been so urgently mentioned many times.
"I need to know what this Primarch looks like." Alaric revealed. "Can you lead me to where it is?"
Aegis stood straight on his perch in a manner that spoke of reluctance and almost fear. Alaric could tell that he was thinking 'Are you crazy?!'.
"I'd rather see what I'm up against while it's still trapped... somewhat." Alaric reasoned. "Better do it now rather then wait for it to escape."
Aegis looked down the corridor, no doubt the way to the exit he was leading Alaric to. He then looked into space in thought before, considering Alaric's logic, he nodded reluctantly. Aegis flapped his wings and hovered for a moment before flying back into the hive with Alaric following closely.
"Well, fat chance of shutting the doors." Alaric shrugged, pointing a finger at said doors.
Aegis had led Alaric into a vast hall, lined with hive encroached statues, and at the end of this hall was a massve set of open stone doors. And the doors were completey clogged up with hive webbing and an intricate system of tendrils that acted as anchors to keep the door from sealing.
It would appear that the xenomorphs were making sure that the primarch couldn't be imprisoned once more.
And beyond the doors was darkness. Darkness from which no light seemed to illmuninate. Darkness that was the heart of the infestation on this planet.
Alaric looked around, remembering what he had seen in Gri'nyr's memory. He could make out the ledge from where Xel'khalos revealed himself. And where Gri'nyr and his brothers stood as the severed heads of his sons were thrown back to their father. In fact, when Alaric scraped the webbing from the floor with his boot, he could make out the faint bloodstains from there the heads landed.
Alaric could feel it in his soul what happened here millennia ago.
Alaric turned back to Aegis who was perched on a tendril by the door. He was looking uneasy from being this close to the primarch's cell.
"It's in there, isn't it?" Alaric guessed, pointing the gauss rifle towards the void in the chamber.
Aegis nodded from his perch. Alaric took a breath as he formulated his next course of action.
"Right." Alaric said, kneeling down to the hawk. "Aegis, stay out here and keep an eye out. I won't be long."
He then unlatched the shield from his arm, the armband retracting and the socket unlatching from his gauntlet. He then propped it next to Aegis and let go of the grip. He then held the gauss rifle to shoulder in true marine fashion. He figured, from the amount of webbing that was spreading from the chamber that his shield would be more of a hindrance.
Aegis shuffled closer to Alaric. Alaric looked down to the hawk and he could see that Aegis was very fearful with him going into the chamber.
"I'll be fine." Alaric assured. "Just a quick peek and then I'll be right out."
Alaric looked to the darkness of the chamber, Aegis watching him descend into the dark.
"Okay." Alaric said, marching forth into the darkness. "Time to see what all the fuss is about."
He was immediately answered by a large tendril to the head with a loud crunch. Alaric backed off the moment he felt it crack against his armoured brow, expecting a praetorian xenomorph to pounce on him.
"Oh, for god sake!" Alaric quietly cursed, ducking under the tendril and being confronted by more tendrils. "Are there enough tendrils here!?"
Alaric cautiously navigated his way through the pitch black labyrinth of tendrils, negotiating his way as quietly as he could. It was a smart decision to leave the shield back with Aegis as it's size would have made it cumbersome in such tight quarters. He kept the gauss rifle pointed ahead of him, both to cut the looser tendrils away with the bayonet and to blast any xenomorph ready to pounce on him.
Alaric noticed that as soon as he made a dozen meters or so, the floor was starting to slope downwards. This was causing more problems for Alaric as he had to manoeuvre through the ever increasing amount of tendrils, the webbing on the floor affecting his footing and now he had a sloping elevation to contend with.
"No downward slope is gonna get the drop on me." Alaric vowed in determination.
Cue the ironic twist of fate.
When Alaric made another few metres, his footing suddenly dropped over a sudden edge and he slipped on the webbing covered floor. He landed with an loud crunch on his back before his forward momentum pulled him over the edge. He lashed out with his free hand and grabbed a hold of a hanging tendril. His body swung hard out into the darkness and Alaric feared that the tendril wouldn't hold. Luckily, he swung back into the stone ledge with a loud crunch of armour against webbed stone and he immediately threw his other arm over the edge, the gauss rifle's bayonet digging into the webbed stone, acting as a makeshift anchor point. Alaric dug his feet into the stonework wall and heaved himself up, tearing up the webbing as he pulled. He didn't stop scrabbling until he had gotten several feet away from the edge and skidded to his knees.
"Christ, someone can get killed in here!" Alaric exclaimed in a hushed tone.
He looked at the gauss rifle that had been caked in webbing before brushing it clean. He then cautiously edged his way back to where he had slipped for a more careful look, keeping his centre of gravity low. And he soon saw what it was he had nearly fell down.
Alaric had almost slipped down into a massive sunken area, not unlike the ancient Colosseum of Rome. An area from which the darkness was the most strongest. It was... unnatural. And above all else, he could definitely hear something down here, alive in the dark.
A low deep rumbling of breath.
Can't see a bloody thing, Alaric thought before he remembered something. Let's see what my helmet can see.
Alaric subconsciously willed the Corinthian helmet to cycle through any spectrum available. And it did, cycling in through multiple spectrums rapidly, ranging from the traditional infra-red, night-vision to other spectrums that Alaric never seen before.
What Alaric saw in the darkness, as soon as his helmet's visions cycled to the correct wavelength, was a giant monolithic shape hidden in the hive webbing. A shape that was definitely xenomorph in shape.
"By my ancestors." Alaric gasped in a faint whisper, his hands tightening on the gauss rifle and shuffling an inch or two backwards.
It was the Primarch.
From what he could make out, this xenomorph was far bigger then any xenomorph he had seen. He had even seen a queen mother up close, fighting it of course, but this primarch made them look feeble by comparison. If you were to place a queen mother next to this primarch, she would like a lowly drone in comparison. Alaric had surmised that this primarch must have been roughly a hundred feet in height. But then again, Alaric could make out that this primarch was in a crouched position so it could be potentially larger.
Features that he could made out showed how ancient this xenomorph was, is what looked like a set of truly gigantic chitinous wings, curled on its back. Another was the fact that some kind of energy seemed to pulsate within it, casting eerie eldritch glows of green and purple to the immediate hive surroundings. One could only imaging what power was coursing within this primarch. And given how these xenomorphs reproduced, transforming their victims, Alaric was inclined to think anything was possible.
If xenomorphs were created to be the ultimate life form, there was no telling what this primarch, one of the xenomorphs' progenitors, was capable of.
And, even from looking at this gargantuan creature from a time long past, Alaric was being filed with an unnerving feeling of dread. A feeling that seemed to be bleeding right into own soul. Almost like it was sapping out his sanity from the mere sight. His head started to throb but he fought against it, resisting what was trying to encroach on his mind.
I don't like this, Alaric thought as the throbbing was getting more intense by the second.
And sure enough he was starting to hear faint whispers in his mind. Whispers that were completely alien to him. And the whispers were slowly getting louder, trying to find purchase in his mind and robbing his ability to think straight. And this was enough to make Alaric... fearful.
Where these the whispers that the miner spoke of?
Alaric quickly decided at that point to vacate the area before it caught notice of him, the whispers growing louder and louder. He swiftly and nimbly paced through the hive webbing back toward the gate, retracing his steps as best as he could. Eventually however, the whispers where getting so loud and intrusive, not to mention painful, that Alaric broke into a sprint, smashing his way through the tendrils with frenzied swipes from his gauss rifle. He didn't care if it attracted any praetorians, he wanted to get away from those whispers quickly before they drove him mad. In fact, he was starting to physically feel it tugging his head, causing warm tears to form in his eyes in response.
Get out of my head! Alaric strained in his mind, pile-driving through a thick tendril.
Alaric, much to his relief, could feel his head getting clearer, the whispers dying down to nothingness as he exited the void of the chamber, trailing webbing and tendrils behind him. He skidded next to Aegis who had not moved from his perch and was surprised and concerned to see Alaric covered in shreds of webbing. Alaric sat himself down next to the hawk, dumped the gauss rifle by his feet and it was there he could finally let it out.
"Good god!" Alaric finally gasped, holding his head in shock. "That was so stupid!"
He frantically removed his helmet, the seal hissing and he hefted it off, clattering to the floor and revealing a sweating face and wide eyes, from which, to Aegis' deep concern, blood seeped out of like tears. Alaric looked like he was bearing on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"What the fuck was that thing doing to my mind?!" Alaric questioned, wiping his eyes and face.
Alaric was a bit shocked when he found he was wiping bloody tears from his eyes. It would seem that tearing into his mind was literally true. He wouldn't be surprised if he blew bits of his brain out if he sneezed. In fact, he resisted the urge that suddenly cropped up, actually clamping his nose shut and holding the sneeze in. He then sniffed and sure enough, he could taste the metallic tang of blood in his mouth.
He looked to Aegis who was watching him with more concern. Alaric blinked more blood from his eyes and blew his nose of bloody phlegm, much to the hawk's disgust.
"That fucking thing will give even Cthulhu a run for his money!" Alaric said, wiping the cold blood off his face with a cloak edge.
Aegis cocked his head at the name. Alaric muttered under his breath as he cleaned his face.
"Never mind, I'll tell you later." Alaric said, reaching for his helmet and waving his free hand.
He quickly composed himself, literally slapping some composure into his head, before planting his helmet back on. After he had secured it, he reached over to his shield, linking his arm in the socket. The shield's armbands encircled his arm and locked into place before he hefted it up.
"Right, back to the exit." Alaric urgently decided, picking up the gauss rifle before looking back to Aegis. "I've seen all I needed to see."
Aegis nodded in agreement and jumped off the tendril, spreading his wings and soaring off with Alaric in hot pursuit.
It took some time for Aegis to navigate their way through the temple on account of the hive blocking off some routes and in some places where the temple had collapsed from either the hive or the battle that once raged here thousands of years ago. Now, Alaric found himself climbing up a narrow flight of hive encroached stairs.
Aegis was hopping along, nimbly navigating his way up, using his smaller size to his advantage. Alaric however was resorting to shoving his way through the webbing, using one of his hand axes to hack a path. He had his shield slung over his back for added room to move, magnetically attached just like the others.
And the passage upwards was getting tighter and tighter.
"When I said lead me to an exit, I meant one that I could get through!" Alaric fumed, shoving his way through a dense patch with a loud crunch.
He could hear his shield scraping against the stone walls as he moved, making a cringing metallic screech cry out whenever it made contact with stone.. He was concerned that he would have to ditch it before he got stuck. And sure enough he did get caught in a particularly dense patch of webbing.
"Bastard!" Alaric cursed, butting himself against it to try and loosen the webbing.
The webbing crunched loudly against his onslaught and after a few bashes, Alaric smashed through the hole he made in a shower of webbing strands. The tight confines now made using his axe useless so he holstered it before looking for Aegis. But, not to his surprise, the hawk was nowhere to be seen.
"Where have you gone?" Alaric called before he came up against another blockage "This better be the last plug!"
Alaric punched out one arm through the barrier with a loud crunch, surprised that it was not that thick, and scrambled for a hold. His hand soon caught a firm grip on what felt like some stone protrusions. Oddly, they felt like banisters.
And that spelt one thing: the end of the staircase.
Alaric, spurred on by this sudden realisation, heaved himself up through the hive webbing with loud frozen cracks and crunches, trailing it behind him like an insect leaving it's cocoon, and he was greeted by a thick mist and the firm wafting of wind. Looking around he could see that he finally reached the end on his bogged down ascent. And he was now on the highest most position of the temple prison, at the base of the spire that usually tops a yautja temple.
"Freedom!" Alaric praised before hauling himself, dragging his hive encroached body up and out.
He got on his knees panting from the exertion, turned around and then stuck his head back into the hole.
"In your face, Hive!" he shouted in triumph, his voice echoing in the webbed confines.
He then got to his feet as Aegis hopped over. Alaric took note of him before resuming the next phase of his strategy.
"Okay, we're out of the hive." Alaric said before looking around. "Now, to get back to the colony."
He looked around the cavern to get his bearings and to ascertain how to proceed.
"But 'how' is the question." he finished.
In the distance right ahead of him, Alaric could make out the collapsed tunnel that he had rigged to blow. And it was completely blocked with several tonnes of rubble and ice. And around the tunnel entrance, the snow had been blasted away and melted in an irregular pattern, revealing the stonework beneath.
"Okay, there's the tunnel." Alaric said, looking around now he had a direction marker. "Now, where do I go next?""
Alaric could hear the movements of claws against stone and ice. And it was coming from high above as indicated by his HUD. Alaric looked up, turning in place to get a better sight of where the clawing was.
His helmet adjusted it's vision to compensate for the light above and sure enough Alaric found the source. Alaric could see as his helmet magnified his view the xenomorphs scaling the cavern walls and going up the great shaft over the temple, on their way to the colony.
"There they are!" Alaric exclaimed, surprised that they were not as far as he thought.
Alaric quickly looked around the entire cavern to see if there was an other, more accessibly route. There was none. The cavern wall had no ledges or anything that could be used to get to the shaft.
Curse the xenomorphs and their climbing abilities.
"That's the only way out." Alaric concluded. "How the hell am I going to get up there?"
Aegis jumped onto his shoulder and spread his wings, indicating Alaric to go up.
"That's easy for you to say." Alaric pointed out. "You can fly."
It was there that he got his answer.
"I suggest you jump." Gri'nyr's voice suggested. "You're wearing my armour after all."
Alaric slumped his shoulders at the notion. Gri'nyr was telling him to jump all the way up there?
"Are you serious?" Alaric asked. "I only just put this armour on, I don't know how to jump like that."
"It's not that difficult. Concentrate." Gri'nyr advised, undeterred by Alaric's scepticism. "Its easy, focus your mind and jump."
Alaric shrugged his shoulders and looked up. He focused on a specific spot on the shaft and tried to jump to it. He only made a foot off the ground before landing on his feet. Aegis shook his head at the attempt.
"That was underwhelming." Alaric muttered.
"You're one of our progenitor's blood." Gri'nyr clarified. "You must feel it."
Alaric breathed deeply before thinking harder and trying again with some more force. While he did managed to gain a few inches, he slipped on landing and crashed into a heap on the webbed stone. Alaric cursed under his breath as he picked himself up with Aegis making a face-palm gesture with his wing.
"Well, that worked." Alaric muttered, tidying his cloak. "Am I missing something, here?"
"You are letting scepticism interfere." Gri'nyr pointed. "You have to believe."
Alaric then pointed out an previous point.
"You may have forgotten but I am still not over what you have been shoving in my mind." Alaric reminded. "I don't know what to believe any more."
Gri'nyr was undeterred by Alaric's comment.
"The armour is an extension of yourself. It is you. You have to stop thinking of it as a separate layer." Gri'nyr urged before he sighed. "Here, let me nudge you in the right direction."
Alaric relented. Like he had any other choice.
"All right." Alaric said, loosening himself in preparation like he was preparing for a marathon sprint. "Better not be wasting any more of my time."
He waited for Gri'nyr's commands.
"Slow your breathing." Gri'nyr commanded. "Let your mind be free. Clear your thoughts."
Alaric concentrated harder this time, slowing his breathing and emptying his mind. Alaric now tried to sync himself with the armour, Gri'nyr reminding him before that the armour is an extension of himself.
"That's it." Gri'nyr instructed "Now, focus. But don't strain yourself"
"What am I focusing for." Alaric asked.
"The strength of your ancestors and of our Progenitor." Gri'nyr revealed "Feel it within yourself."
Alaric focused his mind, focusing on the ancestors and those who came before, trying to feel for that fire in his blood and sure enough, after a few moments, Alaric could faintly feel something that he hadn't felt before.
"That's it." Grinyr said with slight praise. "Focus that feeling. Don't let go of it."
The thing that Alaric now was sensing was like a small flame that was slowly growing within his mind. Not like the usual fire that runs in his blood whenever he was in Rage, but a more subtle and pure flame that was in control. Alaric had never felt he fire like that before. The flame was slowly filling him up and the more he focussed on that flame the brighter it seemed to burn. It was as if it was fuelled by his thoughts and concentration.
"Concentrate. Open your mind." Gri'nyr urged. "Feel the power of our Progenitor, and all those who came before you, flow within you. Focus that power into being."
Alaric at that point could feel the armour react to his thoughts. The ornamentation on it was glowing and the mist surround him started to swill around him like a whirlpool. His cloak billowed in the sudden drift of wind. Aegis shuffled on his feet in anticipation. Alaric concentrated more and he could now feel the warm sensation slowly concentrate itself towards his right hand. Curiosity winning over him, he lifted his hand up to take a look. And what Alaric saw was a complete surprise. He could just make out what looked like a faint glowing ember, small and dim but enduring, hovering over his palm.
"What the..." Alaric whispered, as he watched the ember ebb and glow.
"Focus." Gri'nyr urged, sensing that Alaric was losing concentration. "Don't let up now."
Alaric quickly resumed his concentration, never taking his eyes off of the ember, willing it to stay in his hand. The ember seemed to dim at first but then it slowly got brighter As Alaric willed it into being. Smaller embers then started appear around it, orbiting around it like planets around a sun in varying arcs.
"All power comes from the Soul. The stronger the Soul, the brighter it burns." Gri'nyr recited.
Slowly, the ember grew, sprouting new flames as it did. And it grew brighter into a fiery white glow with a bluish tinge. Alaric continued to focus, not throwing his state of mind off for anything. Eventually the flame grew to fill his entire hand, casting light onto himself and the surround area.
"Focus." Gri'nyr repeated with firm urgency. "You're almost there."
Alaric could feel his mind strain from the exertion not to lose the flame he had conjured in his hand. He was sure that his nose was starting to bleed from the exertion. Though he might just be sweating. And it was at that point the flame burst into life with an almighty flash of power that could have illuminated the entire cavern.
Alaric flinched as the light blinded him.
When the light subsided, Alaric was sure that he had just lost it by flinching. But after blinking his sight back, Alaric was amazed as to what he had just done. Hovering in his hand was a white, blue tinged flame burning brightly.
"That's it." Gri'nyr praised. "You've opened the way."
Alaric watched the flame swirl in his hand. It flame looked as if it was flowing from an invisible crystal. That what it looked like to him.
"What... what is this?" Alaric asked, in awe to the flame in hand.
"A shard of our progenitor." Gri'nyr revealed with pride. "Your shard."
Alaric watched as the flame in his hand spread over his hand and then his his entire body erupting into a fiery white/blue aura. Alaric could now definitely feel what Gri'nyr was telling him. It was like how he felt when he was fighting Qul'dan back at the refinery. Only this time it more... complete.
He looked up to the shaft as the aura started to fade within the armour, causing the ornamentation to glow brighter still.
"Now jump!" Gri'nyr commanded.
Alaric took a deep breath, pushed his legs with all his might and was he in for a surprise. The wing ornamentations on his greaves glowed and with a ripple in the air, Alaric was propelled high into the air, parting the mist from his slipstream. And he was going much faster then he first anticipated.
"Oh shit!" Alaric cursed when he saw the shaft coming towards him fast.
He landed onto the shaft wall hard with a notable rock smashing crash, scrambling for a foothold the moment he made contact with the now fractured stone. He managed to grab a flat protruding slab through the shower of chipped ice and rock and he quickly hauled himself up, grabbing further handholds until he was standing a few feet from where he had landed. He panted hard as he took in what he just did.
He had just jumped hundreds of feet into the air wearing ancient armour, just like a comic book character.
Alaric looked back down at the temple prison, seeing the arc he had cut through the mist before it was enveloped once again. He then looked down to his greaves and much to his surprise, they had now gained a literal set of metalling wings that glowed with power. He watched as the wings flexed in anticipation for the next jump.
"Wow!" Alaric panted but it soon devolved into a laugh.
Aegis flew up to him before landing on his shoulder, illuminating the shaft with his light.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this." Alaric said to the hawk. "I did feel it."
"Congratulations, you have taken your first steps towards your birthright." Gri'nyr congratulated. "Now, if you want to save your friends, I suggest you jump to it."
"Always with the wit." Alaric mused.
"It's one of the few things I've got left." Gri'nyr joked in reply.
Looking up, Alaric could see the xenomorphs high up the shaft, continuing their warpath towards the colony. And from the look of it, they had just reached the end of their summit. Alaric had a lot of ground to cover. But now, he had the means to even up the fight.
"Hang on, Kra'vyx." Alaric prayed, bracing himself as Aegis jumped off his shoulder and flew upwards. "I'm coming!"
Alaric heaved himself up, the armour flashing to life as he jumped high and fast, grappling his way up the shaft walls with nimble and sure footing that grew much bolder with each jump. Aegis gave a loud call of celebration that echoed through the shaft and into the cavern, filling up the darkness with the first ray of hope for thousands of years.