Será

"You have a what!?" screamed Será as she unloaded the last of her bullets into an approaching Pike. The vehicle ignited and blossomed into a huge explosion as she ducked behind the primitive mud wall of a demolished hut.

Ziarik's voice sounded small after the explosion, "… A survivor, a child, all alone." She could hear the discomfort in his voice and imagined the Hunter trying to figure out how to care for a child. The thought was amusing.

"If you ask 'Can we keep it?' my answer is no! Hang on a second"

She threaded a chain of bullets up through her blood red gun, Thumper. The black skull she had painted on the side of it grinned at her mockingly. She snapped the top of the LMG down and heard it hum as it prepared to superheat the freshly loaded slugs. Up she came from the low wall and down went the Fallen who were unlucky enough to be peeking out as she pulled the trigger. Bullets filled the air. Her teeth rattled as the machine gun tore through armor and flesh alike. She slowly advanced, pivoting to douse each new threat with bullets. Her teeth chattered with every round.

The last bullet fired and a silence filled the clearing. The trees seemed to be the silent spectators of this bloody battleground and their quiet applause was deafening. Then more Fallen burst forth from their cover to fire at her. She cursed and ducked behind the nearest tree, its large root giving her the perfect cover.

She responded over her coms as she popped off Thumper's cover, "We've got to stick to the plan Ziarik. Figure out what to do with him."

"I can't just leave him here, he won't stop crying! The Fallen will find him."

"Kids cry Ziarik. Try and calm him down then bring him with you to the rendezvous point. Kilia says that's where they've taken all of the prisoners."

"Why hasn't she responded yet?"

"Knowing her she is either ignoring us, or she is in some deep shit."

Kilia

Kilia lay on her back. She breathed slowly and quietly. Above her was a low table situated in a parlor of one of the larger homes in the West Village. No sooner had she confirmed that the West Village was cleared than a skiff had arrived with reinforcements. She had only just dashed inside and slid herself under the table before the Fallen vandals had entered the room, their stealth shields humming.

She slowed her breathing and opened up her mind. The sensors on her helmet pushed information directly to her brain. She could sense them all around her as they peered around corners and behind doors. She knew they would find her eventually, so she had to be ready when they did. She mustered together what light she had left, letting it flow from her core, to her shoulders and down to her arms and hands. Her fingers began to tingle as the void energy coursed through them.

In and out went her breath. The pulsing rhythm of the energy matched her breathing. Two of the vandals were beside her. She could feel their presence even though she could not see them. They paused, and began to stoop to see under her table. Out went her breath, and out went the energy with it. Void light coursed from her hand, launching the table up and over. It slammed down hard onto the two vandals, whose scattered limbs twitched effortlessly from beneath it.

She sensed the vandals with her mind and her body reacted. A grenade flew from her left hand, landing in a section of air. The air began to distort and ripple until the invisibility drive overloaded revealing a completely terrified vandal. Kilia quickly made a fist and the grenade exploded, revealing two other vandals in the blast. She rolled forward, coming out into a kick that landed square in the gut of one of the repulsive pirates. She sprang to her feet. Her hand flew up, releasing void energy into the face of the second vandal, who proceeded to disintegrate as the light took him.

The vandal she had kicked regained its breath and came at her again. She brought her hands up to block. Punches rained down on her from all directions as the four-armed creature relentlessly pushed her back. One of its hands pulled a large dagger from a hidden sheath and thrust it at her. She caught it easily and, using all of her might, flipped the vandal bodily over her and onto the ground. She stepped on its back and quickly pulled the arm she clutched, breaking the creature's spine.

She allowed herself a moment to breathe before cautiously making her way back into the street. The skiff had long since flown away. She walked slowly toward the center of town, checking for traps, and making sure there weren't any Fallen trying to track her down. She finally came to a ridge that looked over the Town Center. The center of the town was not much more than a clearing in the forest that had been converted into a market. It was the only conspicuous part of this village. Every other sector had been blended seamlessly with the trees that surrounded it. Here, the villagers had built their own testament to the Golden Age. A spire stood in the center of the clearing. It had been made with mud, like the rest of the buildings, but had been supplemented with smooth river stones. The result was a glistening tower that looked as though it was covered with a tree lizard's scales. She supposed it was the villager's way of telling the Darkness that it was not welcome here.

Fat lot of good it did them.

She saw the villagers sitting all around their monument as Fallen servitors hovered around them. Close by she saw several captains setting up and organizing their commands. A half an army stood between her and saving those people.

"Ziarik, are you close?" she whispered over her comms.

"There she is! Do you know how long I've been trying to reach you? No I'm not close, ran into a bit of a snag. What does the situation look like?"

"Three servitors, each with special markings, could be prime servitors. That would explain why there are so many captains here. They are amassing quite a force, and they have all of the prisoners too."

"What in Traveler's name do they want with these people?"

"They probably want slaves, or target practice. The House of Skulls has been known to provide other houses with trade. They tend to stay on the good side of all houses, so they are essentially the only way loot passes between them."

Kilia stretched her mind out, sensing the forest around her for hidden Fallen. It was a skill she had been trying to master for some time now, and each time she was able to get a little further, though it was draining to stretch a mind so far. Her sensors could only do so much work. Her mind was essentially straining to see something that, if she were using her eyes, would only be barely visible in a pair of binoculars. She touched on something unfamiliar, something big, and had to open her eyes to confirm what her mind was seeing.

"Ziarik, the spire at the center of town is alive."