Chapter 7: Fural

Fural couldn't see. The only sound he could hear was of sand scraping against his helmet as it blew past him. His nostrils were clogged with the smell of smoke. He felt the footsteps approaching before he could hear them, and he forced his eyes open.

Fural instinctively reached for his energy sword, but it wasn't on his hip. The footsteps stopped.

"Good, you're alive," came the unmistakably gravelly voice of his brother.

"You weren't worried, were you?" Fural rasped, his strength returning to him as he spoke.

"I was worried that you died to a rock instead of an actual warrior," Dom joked, reaching a hand out.

Fural looked up and took Dom's hand, pulling himself back to his feet. The sand covering Fural's body was brushed off as he activated his harness's shields. If there were any humans still around they could have killed him, had they known he was still even alive in the first place.

"What if it was a warrior throwing rocks, hm?" Fural asked after a period of silence, continuing Dom's joke.

"Then I suppose it would be a worthy death," Dom snorted.

The storm that the battle had caused was, to Fural's surprise, dying down. He had expected that the human cruiser coming down would make things significantly worse. Maybe it had, maybe Fural had been out for a lot longer than he thought.

Now that he thought about it, Dom did see a little too relieved that Fural was awake. He really was worried that I was dead. It wasn't something that should have been surprising, but it was.

"I take it we won?" Fural asked, starting the conversation again.

"Indeed," Dom replied, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "The humans have fled, and their cruiser is now under our control. There may be some humans left out here, but they'll be dead soon."

The storm cleared more and more, eventually Fural could actually see the aftermath of the battle. The desert was covered with debris, bits and pieces of both human and Covenant vehicles were scattered around. Fuel leaks and fires stained the sand black, and red where human corpses were littered.

Humans weren't the only corpses Fural could see however. Dead Sangheili, Unggoy, and Kig-Yar were strewn across the Covenant's side of the battlefield, and some in piles with the dead humans as well. All different colours of blood stained the sand. It shouldn't have been a pretty sight, but to Fural it was something to take satisfaction in.

"Our Huragok are currently stripping the human cruiser to find anything we might be able to use," Dom explained as they walked.

"Humans usually leave little behind," Fural sighed, "if we do find anything, that would be surprising."

"Indeed," Dom agreed, "but we must always check. Not everything is constant even when it seems."

Eventually the dust storm had subsided completely. There was nothing new for Fural to see other than the human cruiser, which landed perfectly on the ground at the edge of a cliff in the distance. Fires raged within the wreck, covering the sky with smoke that almost blotted out the sun. Fural wondered what was in there. He had been aboard a human station as their fortress world of Reach burned, but never aboard a human ship.

"Are we going there?" Fural asked, pointing to the cruiser.

"Yes. Jors is on his way with a vehicle we can use to travel there."

"Great. I must rest for a moment."

"Rest?" Dom turned to Fural, a surprised look on his face, "you just woke up."

"Sleeping and being unconscious are two very different things," Fural sighed, taking a seat on a piece of a destroyed human Spectre. It wasn't comfortable, but there wasn't much else to sit on.

"I suppose," Dom sighed back, standing still in the sand, "was just getting a little head start."

"Not like it's worth much," Fural shrugged. Whatever vehicle Jors was bringing to them, it could probably make the trip from where they were to the human cruiser in less than a minute.

The two brothers sat in silence for a while. Jors insisted he was on his way, but he had to head all the way back up to the Supreme Crusader to fetch them a vehicle that was actually in working condition. They couldn't just take the Phantom because Jors was on a tight schedule, he needed to be halfway across the ring the second after dropping off the vehicle.

Dom eventually broke the silence by speaking.

"Do you remember our first sparring match?" Dom asked.

Fural's head shot up, the sudden noise somewhat startling him.

"Yes, I remember every match. And I remember losing every single one of them," he replied.

His sparring matches with Dom weren't something he liked to think about too much, but he didn't really have much of a choice. Most times when he looked at Dom all he could see was him standing over him with the blade of an energy sword up to his neck.

"You barely knew how to hold the sword," Dom continued, "and I will admit, during that last match you almost had me losing my guard."

Fural quietly snorted. Dom was just trying to make him feel good.

"You are improving," Dom said, his eyes hard on Fural, "you are getting much better with each fight. You will become a blademaster."

Becoming a blademaster was something Fural both wanted and didn't want. He did want to be able to duel any other Sangheili and win, he wanted to be known as a blademaster on the battlefield. But after years of fighting, he just couldn't win against Dom. Dom was his only hurdle, and he was closer to him than anything.

Dom moved closer to Fural, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Never forget the name we share," Dom said quietly.

The sound of Phantom engines broke up the moment. Fural stood up and the both of them turned towards the Undiminishing Conviction as it approached. The Phantom reared up as it stopped, there was a Revenant attached to its belly.

"About time you showed up," Dom said into his communicator.

"Hey, it's a long trip to space and back," Jors replied. Fural was on the same channel, listening.

The Revenant detached from the Phantom and splashed into the sand. The brothers approached it and got in, Fural as the driver and Dom in the passenger seat. Driving was another thing Fural was better than Dom at, but that was something Dom would never admit. There's actually a lot I'm better at than him, Fural thought, the only thing he's better at than me is wielding his blade.

"Appreciate the ride," Fural said as he turned on the Revenant's hover engines.

"Anytime. Gotta go," Jors responded.

The Phantom quickly turned and flew away, off to join some other fight elsewhere on the ring. Fural turned the Revenant towards the human cruiser and drove to it, using the vehicle's booster engines to quickly traverse the terrain.

"'Vadamee has no orders for us," Dom said as they drove through the aftermath of the battle, "we have some time to ourselves. Figured we could see what's inside the ship, maybe have some time to practise."

Fural grunted in response. Another sparring match with Dom was not something he wanted right now.

The Revenant weaved through destroyed human vehicles, and over piles of bodies. As they got closer to the cruiser, Dom pointed towards an opening near the bottom of the ship.

"That's our entrance," he said, "let's get in there."

Fural nodded and turned the Revenant. Within seconds they were there. Fural tuned the Revenant off and hopped out. Standing outside was a Sangheili Minor and a Kig-Yar, they seemed to have been anticipating their arrival.

"Blademasters," the Sangheili bowed as they approached. Fural nearly winced at being called a Blademaster, but he showed no reaction.

"Is the inside secure?" Dom asked.

"As far as we know, yes," the Sangheili nodded, "in most areas there is no chance anyone survived the descent, but we have forces checking the places where someone could have survived."

"Good. Stay on guard, we may be long."

Sangheili bowed again, placing a fist on his chest as a salute. Dom glanced at Fural behind him before nodding his head towards the entrance. It was just a hole in the side of the ship's hull, roughly cut out probably by a Locust. Dom walked through the hole, and Fural followed.

"Not a chance anyone survived this," Fural said quietly as he moved through the dark halls. They wouldn't have had any idea where they were going if Dom wasn't using his energy sword to light up the corridors.

As far as Fural could see, the floor and walls were completely scorched. Even if there were bodies there, they would have been completely vaporised during the cruiser's atmospheric entry.

"Yeah… Maybe we should pull some of our crews and keep them outside," Dom said.

Each footstep the two Sangheili took caused the metal underneath them to bend. Those were the only sounds Fural could hear.

"I have studied some human ship designs," Dom said after silence started to grow, "I haven't seen much of this one before though. I believe it's the… Halcyon, yes, that's what they call it. Much of it is surely the same as their other ships, though. Every human may look different, but at the end they're all still human."

"Strange time to get philosophical," Fural said.

"Is it?"

"Right. You're always philosophical."

Dom responded with a low chuckle, and the two continued on their exploration of the Halcyon as Dom had called it.

Fural lost track of how long they were inside the cruiser. They had gone through hallway after hallway, room after room. Not in any of them were they able to see, the ship was completely without power, which was something that the Huragok were now working on.

Until the power was back on, Dom had decided on a place to train. A massive hangar in the starboard side of the ship. There were wrecked human vehicles all over the place, and a human fighter that was somehow still sitting on a landing pad as if nothing had ever happened.

Fural could barely see, the only light in the hangar spilled through its entrance, which the sun wasn't even shining through.

"Concentrate on my blade, not on me," Dom said, "it will be the only thing you can see. Use your awareness, be cautious of your surroundings."

"Alright," Fural responded.

"Stand still. We begin once you see my blade."

Dom began to back away from Fural, he could hear the heavy footsteps against the metal floor grow more and more distant. Fural figured Dom was going to use this moment to trick him. He would manoeuvre around Fural and activate his energy sword while behind him. Be cautious of your surroundings…

Fural closed his eyes, calmly resting a hand on the hilt of his energy sword. He took note of the silence in the hangar. Dom's footsteps were the only thing he could hear, and it sounded like he was circling him.

The footsteps stopped. The last one came from directly behind Fural. Without anymore time to think, the crack of an energy sword activating echoed throughout the hangar. Fural quickly drew his own sword and caught Dom's between its blades. Their blades whined and hissed as they slid against each other. A sound that was once annoying, but Fural had been getting used to it.

"See, you are learning," Dom said, his voice barely audible over the hissing of the blades.

Fural pulled his sword back and thrusted it forward towards Dom, being met with a quick parry and being knocked back. Fural raised his sword again and swung it down towards Dom. He could see his brother's sword shift as Dom avoided the blow, and just as he had dodged to the side, he thrust his sword forward.

Fural flicked his hand, ungracefully whacking Dom's sword away.

"Movement is everything. You cannot rely on your blade alone to protect you," Dom said as he pulled back.

Fural started to grow frustrated. He didn't take his words as advice, he only heard them as scrutiny for not being as good as him. He knew at the back of his mind that Dom was trying to help him, but at that moment he didn't want to listen to himself.

Dom deactivated his sword, the bright blade disappearing along with the reflection of it in his armour. Fural heard footsteps again. The one thing Dom had praised him for: carefully listening. Fural filled his mind with nothing but that praise, motivation to not give up on this fight.

Dom's sword ignited once more to Fural's left. He turned and parried Dom's blow at lightning speed. The sword deactivated again. Next, Dom attacked from his right. He was ready, he blasted the attack back as quickly as it happened. The sword disappeared. The next attack came from behind him, and he beat it back once again.

"Very good," Dom said after the last attack. He deactivated his sword, but this time he showed no intention to attack again. "Like I said, you are improving."

Fural sighed, deactivating his sword as well and attaching it back to his hip.

"You listen well, brother," Dom approached him, resting a hand on his shoulder, "and you have good reflexes. But you must learn how to use those reflexes. Though your blade is your weapon, you cannot use it for everything.

"Your body is your strongest weapon. Without it, your blade is useless. You must learn to move with your enemy. Sidestep their blows, and strike before they can even realise they missed you."

"I will try," Fural said. It was the only response he could think of, even though he didn't need to respond at all.

"You must do more than try, brother," Dom said, strengthening his grip on his shoulder, "you will never be a Blademaster if trying is the only thing you can do."

Fural nodded. He knew now was the best time to listen to his brother, now that the fight was actually over. Though he knew dom was going to suggest a rematch, to see if he was actually listening. But before any rematch could be held, Dom's communicator began to ring.

"Hm," Dom said, looking at the glowing purple display on the communicator, "looks like we've got our new orders."