Chapter 5: Fural

Fural hadn't changed much through his years. Even as a little fledgeling he had always been picking fights with the other Sangheili his age at 'Nasam keep on Rahnelo. Sometimes he even tried to pick fights with his older brother, though he always knew Dom didn't want to fight. The deadliest fights are the ones where the fighters don't want to fight, Fural had begun to tell himself.

That was one of many truths of the Human-Covenant War. The War of Cleansing. Humanity didn't want to be cleansed, but it was the truth of the Prophets that they were an affront to the Forerunner's will. Humanity's unwillingness to fight made them all that more deadly on the field of battle. And that was something Fural enjoyed.

Dom didn't know how deep Fural's love of fighting was. He knew Dom would be disgusted if he found out. Dom didn't fight because he wanted to, he fought because he had to. That was the biggest thing that set them apart.

As Fural watched the human cruiser descend from the sky, he knew the fight that was coming was going to be deadly for both sides. But now matter the loss of life on both sides, the Covenant always won eventually. And he knew that he was going to enjoy the fight.

"No one still aboard that ship is going to survive that," Dom said, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the blazing cruiser as it entered the ring's atmosphere.

"They must all be aboard transports," Fural said. He used the digital scope of his carbine to watch the sky. "Yes, I see them."

"Banshees are already on an intercept course," Dom said. He still didn't take his eyes off the cruiser, no matter how blinding it was getting.

Fural zoomed out with his scope. One of the human transports, Pelicans they called them, caught fire and exploded midair as it was hit by a fuel rod from a Banshee. The fight had already begun, and it was in a place where Fural couldn't join it.

Dom seemed to sense Fural's disappointment, and he took his eyes away from the cruiser. Fural hadn't expressed any of his disappointment, but Dom knew him enough to know that he was disappointed.

"At the rate they're going, they'll be landing here before their ship does," Dom said.

More of the Phantoms hovering high in the sky began to descend, dropping vehicles and soldiers of all ranks onto the ground. The human Pelicans got closer and closer to the ground. Fural could tell a massive battle was about to begin.

"I don't think either blades or rifles will work here," Fural said. He could see the vehicles that the Pelicans were carrying. The more machines there were in a fight, the less fun it was. But killing humans was all that mattered at the end.

"Agreed," Dom nodded. He activated his communicator, speaking to one of the many Covenant soldiers in the area. "This is Dom 'Nasamai. I need a Spectre at my location with haste."

Fural could hear the low rumble of a Sangheili acknowledging. Soon they would have a ride.

"I'll let you gun," Dom said after the call ended, turning to his brother, "you're better at it than I am."

Fural tilted his head very slightly. Dom didn't often tell Fural that he was better at something, even when it was true.

Distant explosions rocked the air. It was an all too familiar sound, a series of pops and crashes like thunder that grew louder as the battle drew closer.

The whirring of anti-gravity drives drew closer as a Spectre approached. Fural could barely see the driver through the closed canopy, but he could make out the blue combat harness of a Minor ranked Sangheili.

"Hop aboard! The battle draws closer, let's meet it halfway," the driver called.

Fural moved around to the back of the Spectre and jumped onto the turret platform. He took hold of the turret's handles as Dom took a seat on the Spectre's side.

"Forward!" Dom shouted. The Spectre then began to move.

It was an odd feeling being on a vehicle that floated above the ground as it moved. It didn't feel like it was moving at all until it made turns, and the subtle change in elevation when it passed over hills or dunes was barely noticeable.

Explosions cracked in the distance as the Covenant vehicles approached the ones being dropped off by the Pelicans. Debris began to rain down from the battle in the air. A Revenant that Fural saw to his left was crushed by a piece of a Pelican that had gotten shot down.

Over the hills in the distance the UNSC forces came into view. Tanks and various other wheeled vehicles that Fural hadn't bothered to learn the names of, as well as foot soldiers taking positions behind deployable covers. The battle on the ground had already begun, but it was just about to get significantly more violent.

A human vehicle began coming close into Fural's view. It looked almost like a Spectre but with wheels. The gun on its back swung towards Fural's Spectre, but Fural squeezed the triggers of the turret before the human gunner could fire.

Burning plasma shot out of the Spectre's turret at high speeds, slamming into the human vehicle's turret as they drove past each other. Fural made a lucky shot, hitting the human's ammunition box with a bolt of plasma. The gun exploded, and the human fell off the back covered in shrapnel and blood.

The human vehicle began driving off course, the driver obviously stunned by what happened. Fural turned the turret towards them and fired again, burning holes into the vehicle's armour and into the driver. The Spectre slowed down as it approached the wounded human gunner. Fural took his plasma rifle from his hip and fired three bolts of plasma into the human, finishing it off and making sure it was dead.

More human vehicles started to drive past. A group of more human Spectres exploded in a massive blue blaze of fire, taken out by the plasma mortar of a Wraith. A human tank exploded soon after in the same manner.

A storm of dust began to settle around the battle, all of the activity disrupting the desert. It started getting harder and harder to see, Fural had to use the flashes of weapons firing in order to pick out where his allies and the enemies were.

"Set us down here!" Dom shouted over the noise of the battle.

The Spectre's driver obliged, and the vehicle stopped moving. Dom hopped off his seat, and Fural followed. He was slightly disappointed he didn't get to use the gun more, but he knew the battle was far from over. At least he would still be able to fight.

"Fural," Dom said, getting close enough to be heard over the battle without having to shout. "I want you to use your blade. Just for this fight, can you do that?"

Fural squinted, his disappointment wasn't as easily visible as normal through the dust, but he knew Dom could see it.

"Just for this battle. I won't ask you again if you don't want to after this. Please," Dom continued.

"Fine," Fural sighed. Without realising it, he already had his carbine in his hands. He reluctantly placed it on his back, and grabbed the hilt of his energy blade from his hip.

"Remember how I taught you," Dom said, gripping the hilt of his own blade. "Move unseen."

Dom touched a device on his wrist and he completely vanished from Fural's view. The only way he could tell Dom was still there was by the dust bouncing off his now invisible armour. Even to Fural it would be an intimidating sight to watch the dust part in front of him, he couldn't imagine how a tiny human would feel as it saw that before its death.

Fural looked at the vambrace on his right arm. He was very adept at using active camouflage, even if he didn't always use his sword along with it. He activated his armour's camo module, and he too disappeared from sight.

As more and more vehicles were destroyed, the battle slowly transitioned to one between footsoldiers. Fural walked past a burning human Spectre towards a group of human soldiers taking cover behind it. He glanced to his left as he heard the sound of an energy sword igniting. Through the fog and dust he could see the white two-pronged blade cut through something, he assumed it was a human. He turned his attention back to the cowering humans who were struggling to load their guns.

Fural's shape must have given him away. He realised the humans were reloading to shoot at him, and he was looking forward to it. The muzzles of the human rifles flashed as bullets slammed and pinged off his shields, the blue flares of his shielding lighting up the sand underneath him.

He ignited his blade. A blinding white flash lit up the destroyed human vehicle, and briefly the faces of the human soldiers. Fural wasn't that great at reading human expressions, but he believed what he saw to be horror. Horror that their lives were about to end.

They're not warriors, they don't deserve the deaths of one, Fural told himself, a warrior can fight another warrior in battle. These humans don't know the first thing about fighting.

Though they did not deserve warrior's deaths, Fural would make their ends quick. He wasn't a monster, not to himself or the Covenant anyway.

He swung with his blade, the bright edge cutting clean through the chest of one human, leaning a burning laceration across them. He swung again, cutting the top half of the next human's head away from the rest of their body, it wasn't exactly clean. The third human tried to run, but Fural was faster. The gravity of the ring was significantly less than that of Rahnelo, and so he could move with ease. He thrusted his arm forward, the blade stabbing straight through the human's torso, and he twisted the blade. The human fell as he pulled back.

Fural hoped Dom could see him, but he was probably focused on another fight of his own. A low rumbling that Fural hadn't realised he had been hearing throughout the battle gradually grew louder, and the whole ground started to shake. The thrill of the fight made him forget all about the human cruiser descending towards them.

Fural stumbled as it crashed into the ring. The dust storm created by the battle became significantly worse as the ship threw up everything that was around it. Fural hadn't realised that he was falling over until his head slammed into a rock.