Chapter Nineteen: Essence
General Urwel sat in his command bunker with what might be called a grin scribed across his slug-like face. His myriad of broken busted tusk-like teeth formed a sickly expression that encapsulated quite well all the emotions swirling in his slimy head. He handed an information drive to the nearest Combine soldier and simply nodded his head. The soldier stood silent for a moment as if the meaning of the nod was lost on him. The expression that came after was one of blood-lust and irate anger. The Overwatch soldier seemed to understand that message and was soon rushing down the corridor and out of the bunker.
"You're sure the temple is close?" Urwel asked in his stilted English.
"Would Nemico, or the assassin, have stopped here for any other reason?" a female voice answered from the shadows, "It is definitely there."
"I want you to go there personally," Urwel explained to the woman.
"You trust me in such close-proximity to the ultimate power?" The woman asked with a devious smile.
"I trust that you can beat the assassin there," General Urwel corrected.
"And Nemico as well." Vera thought aloud.
"It is clear that he has defied his programming," Urwel agreed, "It matters not, I'm sending a hundred Combine soldiers with you. Unlike the Templar I do not underestimate my enemies," the slug growled derisively, "Do not fail me."
"Don't worry," Vera cooed, "Soon the power of the gods will lie in your... hands."
Julian dropped down onto the moss covered stone of the Temple and let his sharp eyes scan the jungle around them. He was fairly certain that the Combine had no real presence in the area but a feeling of unnatural trepidation had accompanied the assassin for the last few miles of their journey. He had scouted ahead of the group for just that reason making sure to pick a path that was safe, at least as safe as a path through dense ancient jungle could be. Now, at last, they were here, the Starseed Temple, the mysterious structure haunting the hidden memories of both Allison and Theta Prime.
For so important a structure it certainly seemed unimpressive from where Julian currently stood. The temple walls were barely discernible beneath the heavy overgrowth of shrugs, mosses and even the occasional tree. It was as if the jungle had tried to swallow up the ancient building and had they arrived a moment later it might have succeeded.
Julian traced his way back to Allison, Theta, Alyx and Cheng. He found his four companions equally on guard especially Allison whose shockingly blue eyes darted to and fro as if trying to pick out movement amidst the jungle canopy. Julian too began to scan but even his sharp eyes could see nothing wrong, even if his sharp instinct seemed to feel something. He shrugged it off as he approached explaining the dimensions of the Temple and being quite satisfied that this was indeed the temple they were looking for.
Allison walked beside Julian with apprehension bleeding from her feet with every step. Every snap of a twig or call of a jungle bird sent her mind reeling. Initially she'd hoped to feel at home in the jungle, after all in the fragmented memories of Lieutenant Eisley she'd felt quite at home tracking through the jungle. Now though the trees and vines seemed of a malicious and dark portent. Despite having so many genetic memories wound into this place none of them reared their heads as they neared the Temple, no flashes of the past came to haunt her even as they rounded the final hill and the outline of the temple, almost buried beneath vegetation, came into view.
"This is it?" Julian asked hoping his suspicions had been correct, Theta looked at him and nodded sheepishly.
"The entrance will be on the Eastern Facing side," Theta announced pointing to the correct face, "In ancient times the sun would strike that face as it rose and cast the shadow of the temple on the village."
"Fascinating," Cheng mused not even bothering to question how Theta had come into those particular facts.
"Something isn't right," Allison reminded and Julian found his hands going to his gun.
"Maldragons perhaps," Theta theorized.
"Something is moving," Julian confirmed watching the swarming green shadows as they leaped from tree to tree. The assassin was quick into the trees as well and had his pistol drawn. He moved swiftly using his gauntlet blades to launch from one tree to another digging into the trunks with the blades before rushing to the next tree. He could not catch the blurred shapes however, they were too quick, they knew the jungle canopy far better than he did. He managed to corner one of them at last after trapping it behind a wall of thick vines, "Identify yourself," he found himself demanding although for all he knew this was an animal, perhaps a species of monkey, they were dealing with.
"The essence dwells within us," a voice shouted back and with it came a bolt of blue-green lightning that bridged the distance between the target and Julian so quickly that the assassin could not do anything but be hit by it dead on. The young assassin flew from the tree shaking and convulsing but somehow still more or less intact, "None must be allowed to taint the Temple."
"What the hell was that?" Alyx asked rushing up to help Julian.
Suddenly the answer to their question emerged from the jungle all around them. Arcs of electricity extended from their palms as they strolled out as calmly as can be and surrounded the five companions in a dome of energy. Caged like animals Julian and the others looked on with eyes wide at the identity of their attackers.
"You shall not pass," the lead Vortigaunt, one taller than any Julian had ever seen and bearing a white eye instead of a read eye, explained, "The temple must be protected!"
Emil couldn't be sure how long he was unconscious for and the thick canopy of trees over his head didn't help with determining the time of day. He glanced down at his wounds, the heavy rounds the jeep's mounted gun had pumped into him had done serious damage but after running a self-diagnostic there was nothing permanent about the damage that he could find. Still as he rose from the rocks and began moving once more Emil found himself in agonizing pain. Could it be that the suits supply of adrenaline and pain-killing performance enhancing drugs had run out? That possibility made Emil think twice about his own abilities, about his own arrogance.
The feelings of power that coursed through him when he wielded the Apple had left him believing himself more than a mortal. He believed himself a God, he could see with deified eyes that the difference between good and evil was merely a difference between powerful and weak. As he reached down and plugged a finger into one of his remaining wounds he began to wonder which he was, powerful or weak. Even with these enhancements, even with the Apple firmly in his grasp, he had still failed to kill Julian, he had still been defeated by the simplest deception.
Emil found the tracks of the stolen jeep quite easily and began following them. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice, he assured himself, this time he would attack only Julian and once the assassin was out of the way the rest of his group would be easy pickings. Perhaps, Emil mused lewdly, he would take one of them as a bride, a queen, a goddess even, to amuse him and please him when he took command of the Resistance.
One thing at a time though, Emil told himself as he came upon the obviously abandoned jeep. First the assassin and his friends had to fall so that his usurpation would be so much easier. The citizens had been eating out of his palm before, imagine how much easier his rise to power would be with the Apple at his disposal.
One thing at a time. First warrior, than savior, then god.
Julian sat in his cell wondering what would become of them, wondering if there was any way to fight or sneak his way out of the Vortigaunt camp. It was clear that these Vorts were no friends of the Combine, helmets of Combine soldiers, and even a the remains of a defeated Gunship, were displayed proudly like the trophies of a warrior tribe. Beyond their natural attachment to the Vortessence, which gave them access to powerful lightning attacks, these Vorts had fashioned crude armor and weapons out the tough carapaces and cutting claws of Antlions. The assassin could see no way out of this by fighting, at least not a way that left him alive and even if the option existed he had no quarrel with Vortigaunts especially ones who actively hunted the Combine.
The hours passed slowly for Julian and the others kept in separate make-shift cells only a few hundred feet from one another. Julian divided most of his time between worrying about Allison and wondering about a means of escape. They'd confiscated all of his weaponry however and although he did have a blade hidden in one of his shoes which they did not know about he was quite certain he'd be dead before more than a few of them could fall victim to it.
"No way out through fighting yes?" A voice called to him as if reading his thoughts, Julian turned to see a Vortigaunt imprisoned the way he was.
"This place is very well-guarded," Julian agreed.
"Aye," the Vort replied simply, "And what are you in for friend?"
"Name's Julian Miles," Julian answered managing a smile, "My friends and I seek the power of the Temple."
"Many have come for that purpose," the Vort explained, "Since the Nihilanth passed from the Vortessence my people have guarded the sacred Temple."
"Why are you in here?" Julian asked and the Vortigaunt's expression seemed perplexed.
"I was captured by the Combine," the Vort explained with sadness appearing in it's red eye, "They forced me to try to get into the Temple. I was captured and all the Combine were killed."
"What will they do with you?" Julian asked but his question was interrupted by the sound of the heavy steel door opening. Six Vortigaunts walked in including the leader they'd seen earlier, his white eye gravitated toward Julian and with one finger extended he pointed at the assassin.
Julian didn't resist as two of the Vorts pulled him from the cage and tossed him onto the stone on his knees before the lead Vortigaunt.
"We have come to an agreement that you are not Combine agents," the leader said, "You are of the Assassin Order of the humans?"
"That is accurate," Julian replied flatly, "I'm Julian Miles."
"You seek access to the Starseed Temple the Julian Miles?"
"We do," Julian nodded, "But only to use it against the Combine, to get to it before they do."
"The power contained inside that place is sacred to the Vortessence," the leader hummed almost as if chanting, "It must never belong to the Combine."
"Than we can take it?" Julian dared to ask.
"We will free the Julian Miles and his friends of their cages," the leader replied, "but they will stay with us at all times. We will see if the Combine truly come here, and if they do we will be ready."
Julian felt the weight lift off his shoulders. Sure they were still essentially prisoners in the village but at least they made a possible ally. Julian wasn't sure how long it would take for the Combine to find the Temple, after all they'd been looking for it for some time now already by scanning the memories of dozens if not hundreds. He ran to Allison's side as they released her from her cage and then headed off to get his weapons and other belongings. It wasn't quite the outcome he'd hoped for when he'd managed to take that Hunter-Chopper out of the air at Hunter's Fall but at least they were alive. Now all they had to do was wait.
Emil arrived at the top of the hill and took in the breath-taking sight of the valley below. To any ordinary observer in the immediate area the valley would have seemed an overgrown tangle of trees and vines relatively unremarkable amidst the massive jungle. Emil Nemico was no longer ordinary however. His eyes could see things that ordinary human eyes could not. He could just make out the outline of the ancient temple buried beneath decades of grasses, moss and trees.
Soon enough the former Templar stood at the base of the structure and glared up at the magnificently carved stone. His mind wandered imagining what the place must have looked like when it was brand-new. The Apple seemed to throb in his hand as he neared the top of the Temple, energy resonating from it's spherical surface shivered down Emil's synthetic arm and through every servo and remaining biological system in his body.
He noticed something then as he shifted into the infrared, heat marks, scorches really. The trees nearby were burnt and though the former Templar was no scientist he could tell that the burns were caused by a high-energy discharge, possibly a lightning strike. No storm had moved through the area recently and yet here was the tree with bark still smoldering.
Then Emil's synthetic eyes began to detect movement moving through thr trees. Instinctively he began to back away from the Temple. He drew his sword as he did although the real weapon he planned on using in the event of any attack was undoubtedly the Apple. The attack never came as Emil backed away several hundred meters from the base of the Temple and kept on watching the trees. He had the strangest suspicion that they were watching him back.
Shephard could hear the cackling laughter bouncing off the inner-walls of that hollow cell. The air was so empty and yet so full of thick unwavering hatred. For a moment he found himself wondering who it was who was laughing so maniacally, so desperately. The realization came to him after a few moments of silence after the sudden dissipation of the phantasmal laughter. Tears came to Adrian Shephard's eyes then, but they weren't tears of guilt, of anguish, or of sadness, they were tears of hatred.
How he hated the Combine now. Every action his enemies undertook was meant to break him, to douse the fire in his belly, but for Shephard, determined and ever resolved, the opposite effect was achieved. Hatred, burning brighter than the fiery fusion of the sun, was ignited by what the Combine had done to him.
The laughter that haunted him had been his own. It was getting worse, they were starting to get to him, his mind would start to fracture soon he knew.
The door opened and light flooded the darkness of Shephard's haunted mind. He gnashed his teeth and spat curses at the guards absent-mindedly. In truth Shephard didn't even know what he was saying, he didn't care, he just cried those tears of hate and let his abusive words fly. The worst they could do was take his life, he convinced himself, he would not let them take his mind.
As they led him toward the Animus chamber for another session he thought he saw someone he recognized in the hallway. Her face was so familiar to him, tough, gnarled, yet beautiful. He couldn't place that face. His mind searched for a name to give it or at least a memory to attach it to. Shephard remembered then, he remembered the battered bloodied face of one of his dearest friends. He remembered Amber Cartwright's expression locked forever on her face, her cold, dead, face.
Shephard heard that laughter again as they lay him down and strapped him in. He let that spectral laugh fill his soul with hate.
Theta paced like an animal in a cage despite the fact that all five of them now walked freely amongst the Vortigaunt Resistance members. Although being in a quite remote part of the jungle Julian found that the Kor'Lal, as the tribe liked to call themselves, were actually affiliated with the Asian branch of the Resistance. That branch had been largely unknown even to Alyx. Theta didn't like any of this but above all she detested the waiting. She suspected the Temple contained clues to help explain her past, or, at the very least, the past of one of her ancestors. Even more tempting was the possibility that the crystals she'd seen in her visions might have powerful properties that could be used to fight the Combine.
Now here they were, so close and yet so far and crippled into inaction by the intimidation of a group of aliens. Vortigaunts weren't even from Earth and although the Resistance had enjoyed their friendship for more than a decade Earth was hardly their homeworld. How could these aliens claim to have any knowledge of an Earth temple? How could they demand that natives of the planet Earth steer-clear of an area of their own world? The injustice of the situation ate at her innards with gnawing and persistent frustration.
Alyx lie in bed doing her best to coax Theta over but it simply wasn't working. With a shrug and a sigh Alyx stood and walked over to her lover placing a comforting hand firmly on Theta's shoulder. To Alyx's shock Theta reacted violently punching her fist against the nearest stone wall with kunckle cracking force and in the process shrugging away Alyx's offered hand.
"Goddamn it!" Theta shouted collapsing onto the bed like a pouting child, "So close."
"We've got time," Alyx reminded, "It's not like they've forbidden us from every visiting the temple."
"Waiting for the Combine to show up could take months, years eve-"
"Pardon, but our enemies stir in the jungle," a Vortigaunt whispered as he entered their room, "Chief of the Kor'Lal requests that the Alyx Vance and the Theta Prime ready themselves for battle."
"You were saying?" Alyx joked, Theta cracked a smile and smacked Alyx on the behind playfully.
As they moved through the jungle Julian noted just how effortlessly the Vorts had learned to use the trees as a method of invisible movement. Even with his considerable assassin training he couldn't come close to the level of stealth these warriors had somehow honed in their time out here in the jungles of Laos. Because of this added bonus of surprise Julian kept himself at the back of the Vort pack just barely keeping up with their speed. He kept an eye on Allison, Theta and Alyx who were moving along at a steady but far from stealthy pace thanks to Cheng's presence.
They came to the temple in a little over an hour and Julian watched as the Vort scouts slipped into the trees before coming back with their information. They spoke in their native tongue to each other, a form of Xenian that Julian could not understand. He'd heard the language before of course as many Vortigaunts spoke it amongst themselves but it was a tongue that was nearly impossible to decipher even for the sharpest mind with years of linguistic study. Julian could gather the basic meaning this time for the Vortigaunt gestured in ways more common to the assassin and clearly indicated that the Combine force was far larger than those normally faced by this tribe.
"Nearly a hundred accounted for," the chief the Kor'Lal explained to Julian a few moments later, "Overwatch, fifteen or so Elites."
"They don't know we're here do they?" Julian asked and the Vort's expressions confirmed that the answer was yes, "Now that the Combine knows we're here we must get into the temple to get the power before they do."
"It is not a power the humans were ever meant to possess," The chief argued.
"It is a power intended only for gods," Julian agreed with a nod, "but mortals can wield it all the same. Would you prefer they wield it against us? You create a distraction, attack with surprise on your side, my friends will sneak into the temple."
"Where will the Julian Miles be?" the chief asked.
"I'll remain to fight with the Kor'Lal as long as I can," Julian answered, "No promises though."
"No promises," the chief echoed, "Let the Vortessence guide us to a powerful victory."
Julian watched the Vortigaunts move into position around the Combine solders. The soldiers seemed spread out all around the base of the temple with no main camp. The reason for this soon became obvious when Julian caught sight of a lone figure scaling the Eastern face of the temple structure – a woman. Were all these soldiers serving as nothing but guards? The assassin sped up toward the edges of the Vort line and waited for the moment to strike. He looked back to Allison and the others hoping that they would be able to get into the temple safely amidst the confusion that was about to ensue.
The assassin took up a position near the Eastern face wall and waited for the Vort attack. It struck without warning, bolts of blue and green digging deep into the Combine soldiers. The Overwatch actually outnumbered the Vortigaunts two to one but it made little difference in those initial moments of chaos and lightning. At least a dozen Combine soldiers fell dead from the bolts while still two dozen others collapsed or fell to their knees clutching their tensing and nervous muscles as electricity rolled through them. Julian hopped down now making for the nearest Overwatch soldiers on the Eastern face of the temple. He managed to pick off the first two before the final four even knew what was happening but that left him with an empty silenced USP and four very angry Overwatch.
Julian dodged their MP7 bullets and hid behind a nearby tree while reloading his gun. This was his final magazine of rounds for his USP and he had to make them count. He slipped from cover using the sound of their incoming fire to plot the course of each bullet. One soldier cried out in agony and collapsed into another while Julian dove into a roll to land behind a boulder with runes etched into its surface. Bullets chipped off the stone of the boulder as the assassin steadied himself to put down the last three soldiers.
His attention was drawn away then toward an enemy that had since then eluded him. The Elite fired his AR2 at the assassin. Julian had to spring immediately in the direction of the Overwatch putting himself in danger of their bullets in order to avoid the line-of-fire of his new-found enemy. He swept the feet from the nearest Overwatch and felt a bullet graze his right knee. The pain burned through him like a wildfire but he set it aside in his mind as he disarmed the Overwatch in mid-fall and came up to his feet firing the MP7's grenade launcher round at the Elite. The round wasn't on target however the resounding explosion kept the Elite suppressed.
With the Elite temporarily out of commission Julian unsheathed his dual Xenian blades and cut down the remaining Combine Overwatch like they were made of paper. The assassin's attention was once again drawn away, this time by something moving in the trees at the base of the temple. This was far faster than any ordinary Combine yet it was most certainly not a Kor'Lal Vortigaunt. Julian flipped himself over the boulder and landed atop the Combine Elite who had only just got his AR2 up to begin firing again. Dark Xenian steel stained his white armor with blood.
Julian realized then what he was looking, the figure moving toward him making incredible time up the steep slope of the temple. Julian kept his blades drawn and retreated into the shadows of a nearby cluster of trees. He wanted to face this opponent alone, he needed to if he hoped to survive.
The walls of the temple seemed so much older than they had in her visions and yet when Allison touched them they seemed to resonate with the same bright power. Already the blue etchings in the stone shone with such luminescence that Alyx and Cheng had to shield their eyes. Allison and Theta seemed unaffected, even enticed, by the enchanted walls of this mysterious temple. Following faded memories locked within their genetic codes Allison and Theta led the others down each winding path, through each corridor, and down deeper into the bowels of the Starseed Temple.
It had been almost too easy to get inside in the confusion of the battle. The only opposition they'd faced was a measly two Combine soldiers. Alyx had taken both out with her Kris blade. Now that they were inside however it wasn't as if victory was somehow assured. Even going on the memories of Lieutenant Eisley there was no guarantee they could find the crystals.
"What do these runes mean I wonder," Cheng mused aloud as they pressed deeper into the labyrinthine depths.
"Some tell stories," Theta said, "Others are warnings."
"Stories of what?"
"Of the First Ones," Allison replied before Theta could answer, "Those that were here before, those first visitors who shaped us."
"I'm not sure I understand," Cheng replied sheepishly.
"Neither am I," Allison admitted, her pale cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.
"Hush now," Theta said as they stepped into a lower chamber and found there a large door with many etchings all brilliantly blinding blue, "We're getting close."
Julian stepped out to meet the Synthetic assassin with both swords drawn. Julian knew that he could have easily defeated the old Emil Nemico but now, with both the barrel of an AR2 and the tip of a sword staring him down he wasn't so sure he was ready for this fight. The Combine were getting better at creating killers and he knew it wasn't long before the Combine could create something truly superior to man in every way. They had tried once with the Omega Project and Emil Nemico's ressurecction only served to prove Julian's suspicions that they were still at it.
Julian dodged the first speedy swings of that deadly-sharp sword and managed to block the next few with his Xenian steel. Emil was fast, almost too fast for Julian to stay ahead of his attacks. Luckily for the young assassin Emil Nemico was hardly an excellent strategist when it came to sword play. In fact the Templar's attacks were almost always highly predictable. Julian managed to stay a step ahead of the Synth for those first few minutes of battle.
Rather than become frustrated however Emil Nemico seemed all the more resolved to kill the assassin once and for all. Julian's once easy task of predicting the machine-man's attacks was becoming harder, nearly impossible. It was as if the synth were learning, gaining skills that he hadn't possessed in his previous incarnation. Of course! Julian nearly slapped himself in the face for not realizing it. Emil Nemico was only an average swordsman but with his computerized mind came knowledge of nearly everything.
Julian somehow slipped away from a series of devastating attacks that sent sparks singing from his swords. Emil swung around and around in rapid and quick succession but Julian dodged under, then over, then under again barely avoiding the razor tip of those blades. Julian leaped blindly, daringly, reaching under the next series of attacks to score a hit on the synth's stomach. Black blood slipped from the wound as Julian moved to block the next few attacks.
"Even in this form you're weak!" Julian spat hoping to taunt the revenge seeker into doing something stupid.
The ruse didn't work however and the former Templar simply continued his exploration of different techniques. Julian, through footwork and blocking, managed to keep the synth's blades at bay and managed to keep himself at a distance. The assassin was running out of options and so he decided to keep that distance as high as he possibly could. Using his wits and his fast feet Julian slipped into the jungle's shadows. He knew evading the synth would be difficult, nigh impossible, but he had to try.
Emil chased after him but lost the trail a few moments later. With eyes scanning for heat Emil found himself growing angry and tired. His body was still somewhat sore and new pain was emerging from his stomach where the assassin had hit him. Had he still been an ordinary man the fight might have ended with that wound, his life might have ended. Emil thought he had followed the heat signature correctly but as he swung himself around the tree his blades impacted a Vortigaunt rebel instead of a human assassin. A jolt of electricity shocked his systems momentarily before he could once again search for the assassin.
"Come out you dog!" Emil shouted, "You can't have them, they are my people! I will be their savior, I will be their king!"
"King?" Julian shouted back, "You can't even kill one stinking assassin!"
Emil smiled wickedly and took out the apple. He knew Julian might be able to resist its affects but the forest around him could not. He grasped the tree that the assassin was hiding behind and forced it to splinter and break apart. The assassin dashed away just in time managing to escape the tumbling tree with only a few scratches caused by falling branches.
"I will take the power for myself!" Emil shouted tearing aside another tree and several boulders only to find the assassin already gone from behind them, "Come out and fight coward!"
"Fair enough," Julian replied stepping out from the shadows, suddenly four lightning bolts struck out toward Emil Nemico and sent shivers of energy coursing through his body. Even with all the drugs, all the power, it was still agonizingly painful. Emil lifted the Apple in anger but he was too weak to use it. Julian walked up and grabbed the Apple from Emil's hand.
"No," Emil mumbled standing up and reaching for his gun but a bolt of Vort lightning put him down low.
"I showed you mercy before," Julian sighed, "But no more."
Julian lifted the templar up with the power of the Apple and drew one of his swords. The assassin cut the throat of Emil Nemico and watched as not five, not ten, but fifteen Vortigaunt lightning bolts reached out to scorch his body. Emil Nemico fell to the stone of the Starseed Temple shaking, bleeding, dying.
The Earth beneath Julian's feet began to quake, the birds of the jungle took to the air and the assassin turned his eyes to the top of the temple as bright blue light shot out of an orifice at the top. With things seemingly taken care of on the outside Julian found himself wondering what was causing all the turmoil inside.
"By the gods," she exclaimed as the room opened up before her.
The chamber was larger than she'd imagined from the outside. It had at least three exits and a magnificent throne of glowing gleaming metal seemed centrally located. Above that throne was an altar bearing four rods and at the top of each rod was a crystal. Vera Novosa had waited for this moment for a long time. For centuries the Templars had theorized that the Pieces of Eden were not an end unto themselves but were instead the means to a greater power. Now that greater power was in her sights, the illuminated crystals that topped each scepter of power.
Even as she approached the crystals their resonance, their harmonic growling, began to become stronger and stronger. At first Vera assumed her own presence was doing this but soon the stone door behind her shot open and four companions walked in.
"The assassin's friends," Vera recognized with an uninterested tone as she reached out and touched one of the crystals.
"Don't," Allison warned, "These are the Four Starseeds of Balance!"
"What are you on about?" Vera asked feeling the power coursing from the Starseed crystal into her body.
"Without them this place cannot exist on this plane!" Allison shouted and the ground seemed to shake in response, "Only one can remove them."
"My thought's exactly," Vera agreed reaching out for the next crystal. The woman found, however, that neither would budge no matter how tightly she wrapped her fingers around them.
"Only one of special blood," Allison replied kneeling before the throne as the pieces of the ceiling began to chip off in the quake, "There are others, deeper down in a lower chamber, you cannot take these!"
"ALLISON!" A voice shouted, a voice that seemed to call to her from far away, familiar, warm, loving.
"I don't have time for this!" Vera shouted pulling with all her might. At last one of the crystals jostled free of its perch on the staff. A brilliant light shot through the room and the sound of the quaking ground was replaced by the sound of screams as Vera's body withered and died before their very eyes.
"Allison!" The voice cried out again and this time Allison responded.
"Julian!"
The assassin rushed into the chamber pushing his beloved out of the way as a massive chunk of stone broke from the ceiling and threatened to crush her.
"Take the crystals," Allison said in a daze as if not fully aware of who or where she was.
"We need to get out of here!" Julian exclaimed.
"It is too late to put them back," Allison sighed.
Julian wasn't sure what was happening but his eyes were drawn instinctively to those four bright blue crystals. He stretched out his hands and grabbed them one at a time. They pulled loose easily one after another and seemed to hang in the air in front of him. Julian was perplexed even mesmerized as they all four seemed to dance around him in an orbit before finally coming to rest one at his front, the other his rear and the two others his sides. He grabbed them then stowing them in his assassin's robes and lifting Allison off the still shaking ground.
"Now can we please get the hell out of here!" Julian demanded.
"Research is over," Cheng agreed turning back to head the way they came.
Somehow, with stones and roots narrowly missing them, they managed to find their way back out of the temple. The entire jungle seemed alive, seemed to be growling, screaming out with constant reverberations. As the five of them raced down the face of the temple they expected the Kor'Lal to follow them and flee. Instead the Vortigaunts took up positions at the base of the now sinking temple as it vanished into the jungle. The Vortigaunts began to chant then, their rhythmic repetition seemed to ease the Earth's incessant quaking and seemed to slow the collapse of the massive and ancient stone structure. Blocks broke apart like crisp leaves as the jungle literally devoured the Starseed Temple.
A shock-wave shook the jungle a few seconds later leaving Julian and the others standing on flat barren ground beside a crater.
Later that night Julian sat by the fire with Allison, Alyx, Theta, Cheng and at least twenty Kor'Lal. The Vortigaunts had asked them to stay behind to help rebuild the temple but Julian had made a more tempting offer, he had offered them a chance to join the real Resistance and to take the fight to the Combine for a change. After all the temple was gone leaving no evidence that it ever existed save a barren wasteland of shattered stone and fallen trees. There was no sacred secret left here to protect, the secret was now safe in the hands of Julian Miles.
"You're sure this friend of yours knows what to do with these sorts of crystals?" Julian asked stirring Alyx out of her thoughts.
"If anyone can figure it out it's Izzy," Alyx nodded, "Just get us to Dark Haven and he'll take care of the rest."
Shephard watched the guards carefully as they carried him back to his cell. He'd been paying closer attention lately looking for any loop-holes in their security. He knew that on the way to the Animus room one of the rooms they passed was an armory, an armory filled with far better weaponry than mere stun batons he knew.
Storing up hatred could only take a man so far and a man pushed to the edge of madness could only be taken so far before breaking. Luckily for Adrian Shephard there was an outlet for all the agony and darkness he'd been storing up, there was a potential victim worthy of his vitriol and rage. Actually, he chuckled as they threw him into his cell and locked the door, there were two of them... and more were that came from.
With dreams of Combine soldiers drowning in their own blood as his only comfort Shephard found himself in search of sleep and in preparation of freedom.