Chapter 22: Fural

Rahg followed Fural closely with his group of Kig-Yar in tow. Most of them were civilians, and the few that could fight looked like they had never even held a gun in their lives. They had to be careful, they could all get wiped out by a single grenade.

The next area they entered was another plaza, one that Fural was unfamiliar with. He hadn't been in this part of the residential district in a long time. More shade turrets had been set up and were firing on Sangheili and fleeing civilians. Sangheili blades clashed with Jiralhanae hammers. Rahg ushered his people into another alleyway where they would be safe for a short amount of time.

"I'll take out those gunners," Rahg said as he made his way to another building.

"I'll take the Jiralhanae on up close," Fural said.

Fural rushed into the middle of the fighting with his plasma rifle in one hand, and his sword in the other. The shots from Rahg's beam rifle whizzed through the air, and punctured the skulls of the Unggoy gunners. A Jiralhanae Chieftain slammed its hammer into the ground as Fural approached it, causing him to stumble. He was able to quickly catch his balance, and cut the hammer in half before the Jiralhanae could bring it down again.

The Chieftain grabbed Fural by the shoulder, but he slammed his blades into the beast's side before it could actually hurt him. Fural twisted his sword, and the Chieftain fell. Hundreds of globs of plasma were suddenly flying at Fural, and he looked up to see a swarm of Yanme'e flying straight at him. Most of the huge insects' shots missed, but he could feel the heat from the ones that hit him burning into his shields.

Fural lifted his plasma rifle and fired back as he sprinted from cover. Half of the Yanme'e swarm broke off and engaged the other Sangheili in the plaza when they fired at them. Streams of light cut through the air as well, slicing a few of the Yanme'e apart as Rahg assisted in taking them out.

Fural watched a Sangheili Minor in the distance get melted apart after their shields were broken. A Major fell when his shields broke and he took a shot to the knee. The Yanme'e moved too fast for Fural to feasibly hit, but he shot up at them anyway. Two Yanme'e fell to the ground, then a third, and a fourth. Two more dropped from the sky as a shot from Rahg's beam rifle penetrated through both of them.

There were simply too many of them. Yanme'e were nearly useless in small numbers, but in swarms they could be deadlier than anything else. Fural sprinted back into the open and felt his shields fail as he was hit by the plasma shots. He ran up to one of the shade turrets and pushed the dead Unggoy gunner off before getting on it himself.

He squeezed the turret's triggers and blasted the pesky Yanme'e out of the sky, hitting nearly every shot. The energy shield mounted on the front of the shade turret helped block their shots as well. Soon the Yanme'e swarm was no more, but he realised he was the only one left in the plaza. All of the Jiralhanae there had been killed, and none of the Sangheili had made it either.

It took the small moment of quiet after the quick firefight for Fural to realise that he was receiving a call from Jors. He answered it as Rahg led his Kig-Yar to another safe spot where the Jiralhanae wouldn't find them.

"Fural! I'm in the city," Jors said. "Where are you?"

"What are you doing in the city!?" Fural shouted. "You need to be resting."

"I can't rest, not now," Jors responded. "Now where the hell are you?"

"We're still in the residential district," Fural explained. "The transport tube we took here got taken out, so we're finding our way to another one."

"I saw. I found a working one on the north side of the 'Lcmutee highway. If you can make your way here, it'll take us to the hangar bay where the Undiminishing Conviction is currently docked."

The Undiminishing Conviction was the name of Jors's Phantom, the one that had ferried Fural and his brother all across Alpha Halo during the battle there. Fural was surprised to hear that it was still there on High Charity, and that Jors still had access to it.

"Alright, we'll come to you," Fural said. "Stay put, and stay safe."

"Oh I'm safe over here alright," Jors said, there was an excitement in his voice. "Move quick."

"We will," Fural dropped the connection. He turned to Rahg to tell him of the new plan, but he seemed to be distracted by something else.

The human ship that had jumped into the station had crashed into one of the towers in the tower district, somewhere near the inner sanctum of the Hierarchs. Fural had no idea what the humans' plan was, but not many of them could have survived such a crash. That was why the sight of human transports flying over the city was more surprising. They seemed to be moving irregularly, like the humans piloting them had no idea what they were actually doing.

"Humans…" Rahg growled. "They chose a bad time to arrive."

"Indeed," Fural said. "But they will be dealt with, the same as the Jiralhanae. Now let's move while we have the chance."

Rahg nodded, and they moved across the plaza and through the buildings. They entered the city streets once more, and Fural was able to see the highway in the distance where Jors told him to meet him. It was named after Jeht 'Lcmutee, an old Sangheili Arbiter that was responsible for bringing the Lekgolo into the Covenant, the worm-like creatures that served many different functions throughout the Covenant. It curved through the buildings at the heart of the Holy City, and it was once teeming with life. Now it was a warzone, the same as the rest of the station.

Fural and Rahg came into contact with a Jiralhanae roadblock that cut them off from reaching the highway. Several Jiralhanae paced around behind the defensive barriers they had placed down, and two shade turrets faced the street as they were ready to gun down any approaching attackers. It was possible to go around it, but that would take too long. Fural found a group of Sangheili and Unggoy huddled behind a building nearby, they seemed to be planning to take the roadblock on.

Among the Sangheili were two Zealots, who seemed eased by the presence of the Blademaster. The others seemed uneasy at the sight of the Kig-Yar. It was evident that most of the Kig-Yar had sided with the Prophets and the Jiralhanae, thankfully Rahg was turning out to not be like other Kig-Yar.

"Glad you could join us, Brother," said one of the Zealots.

"We need to get past that roadblock," Fural said as he crouched with the other Sangheili.

"That's what we're planning to do," the other Zealot said. "An assault from the front will not do, we have to find a way around it."

"I can climb these buildings," Rahg suggested. "Take them out from the high ground and allow you to move in."

"Sounds like a good idea," one of the Zealots said. "Prioritise the gunners, we can take those walls down."

Rahg nodded, and immediately began climbing the nearest building to get into position. Most of what Rahg had been doing so far was taking out the gunners in shade turrets, but Fural was thankful for that. Not even he would be able to charge a shade turret and survive long enough to take it out on his own.

"Here," the Zealot said as he held out a pair of plasma grenades. "You will need these."

"Thank you, Brother," Fural said as he took them and attached them to his belt.

"In position," Rahg said quietly over comms.

Fural nodded to the others to let them know it was time to begin the attack. They formed up at the corner of the building, and listened as Rahg fired on the gunners. One Jiralhanae fell out of its seat with a hole in its head, and the others turned their guns to the top of the building where Rahg stood. While they were distracted, Fural and the Zealots lobbed their grenades at the walls, which fell apart with the ensuing explosions.

The remaining Jiralhanae gathered themselves as the attack force ran out into the street. The Unggoy went first, and they fired at the first Jiralhanae they saw. The brute was able to take a surprising amount of hits before it went down, and it even managed to get a few shots out from its spike rifle before it died, though the shots missed. The second Jiralhanae fired a stream of red hot plasma from its plasma rifle, which quickly took down one of the Unggoy.

Fural and the Zealots returned fire on the Jiralhanae, taking it down before it could kill anyone else. They moved up to the destroyed walls together. Two more Jiralhanae attempted to fire on them, but they were dropped by Rahg with shots to their heads. With that, they had taken out the roadblock much more easily than they were expecting.

"Appreciate the assist, Brother," one of the Zealots said.

"We couldn't have done it without that sniper," the other Zealot said.

"No we could not," Fural said. "We must be on our way now, we have our own task. I wish you well with the uprising."

"And we wish you well on your mission," the Zealot said.

The group of Sangheili and Unggoy continued down the street, and Rahg led his people through the debris of the roadblock. From there they were able to take the side streets to get closer to the highway. When Fural squinted he could see a pair of Shadows moving across it, though he couldn't tell if they were Sangheili or Jiralhanae owned.

The side streets were empty, but were littered with bodies, debris, and weapons. Fural approached a Sangheili that had seemed to suffer a very violent death, as they lay in an incredibly large pool of their own blood. He crouched next to them, and picked up the carbine at their side. Half of it was covered in blood, but it was still usable. It was his kind of weapon, he'd escaped Alpha Halo with one.

Fural searched the dead Sangheili's body for more ammo cartridges, and he attached them onto his own belt. He didn't like scavenging from the dead, but he knew they didn't need it anymore. If Fural died, he wouldn't mind another Sangheili taking his things as long as it helped them.

Fural heard the sound of an approaching ship behind him, and he turned to see a human transport flying dangerously close to the buildings around them. He instinctively ducked as it crashed into the row of buildings across the street, and he quickly ran out of the alleys to see where it had crashed. The transport hadn't seemed to be damaged, at least not externally. Rahg ushered his people back as Fural approached.

He raised his carbine, gripping it tight as he prepared to blast the humans that came out of it. But no humans did. The door at the back of the transport opened, and a Sangheili slowly slithered out. It was covered in fleshy growths and tentacles, sharp bony tendrils extended out from its forearms, and its skin was a sickly rotted shade that it shouldn't have been.

Fural's hearts raced in his chest. His breath left him as if he had just been punched in the stomach. The ship that appeared and crashed into the tower wasn't a human ship at all, it had been sent there by the Flood. The Flood was here, and it was taking advantage of the Great Schism to spread. Fural squeezed the trigger of the carbine as the Flood-infected Sangheili approached him. He expected to be in some kind of nightmare, and for the carbine not to fire.

The combat form's shields flared as it took the hit, shrugging the shot off before it could do any damage. He fired again and again, each shot bouncing off the thing's shields. It moved faster, and leaped at Fural as it let out a bone chilling shriek. A shot from Rahg's beam rifle struck the thing in its abdomen before it could hit Fural, causing it to fall to the ground. But it was still alive, it still climbed back to his feet. Fural turned to the crashed human transport, and more Flood forms were climbing their way out.

"What the hell is that?" Rahg shouted as the thing climbed back to its feet.

"The chest!" Fural shouted. "Shoot it in the chest!"

The next shot from Rahg cut straight through the tendrils, and stuck the creature inside the combat form's chest, causing it to explode. The combat form fell to the floor, but there were more coming. They leaped over the buildings with the intent of infecting Rahg and his people, but Fural wasn't going to let that happen. He slid the carbine onto his back, and drew his blades. The Kig-Yar in Rahg's group that had weapons fired on the approaching combat forms, tearing them apart with their plasma pistols and needlers.

Fural cut through the ones that leaped at him, slicing them apart with ease. Another launched itself at Rahg, but Fural cut it in half at its waist before it could get at him. He noticed that some of the combat forms had been humans, they weren't all Sangheili. He wondered what the hell happened down on that ring, how the Flood were even able to take control of the human ship and bring it to High Charity.

Fural and Rahg took down three more combat forms, one of which was able to scratch one of the defenceless Kig-Yar as they panicked. The attacking combat forms were all dead now, but the threat was as far from over as it could ever be. The Kig-Yar was infected, they didn't know it yet. Even the smallest scratch from a Flood combat form was enough to turn someone into one.

"Rahg," Fural said slowly as Rahg went to help the wounded Kig-Yar back to their feet. "They're infected."

"What do you mean they're infected?" Rahg shouted. "Blademaster, what are these things?"

"They're the Flood," Fural said breathlessly. "Take a look at them. These used to be Sangheili, and humans."

Rahg crouched next to one of the Sangheili combat forms and looked closely at it. Fural could see the realisation in the Kig-Yar's eyes as it set in. If any one of his people took even the smallest of scrapes, they would be done for.

"He… He will make it, he has to," Rahg said.

Fural lowered his voice, doing his best to not let the others hear. "He won't make it. He is going to turn into one of those things and try to infect us all. You cannot save him, you have to put him down."

"If he is going to turn into one of those things, then I'll put him down after it happens," Rahg growled. "Not a moment before."

"Fine," Fural said. "But just know you're putting all of your people at risk."

The sound of snapping bones and infernal screeching caused Fural to turn around. When he turned, he saw that the first combat form they had killed was slowly rising back up to its feet. Another infection form had taken the body over, and was using it to try and kill them again. Fural raised his weapon and was about to take the creature down once more, but before he could pull the trigger a voice came from its body.

The tendrils from the infection form in its chest twitched as words seemed to come from nowhere on its body in particular. But the thing spoke in perfect Sangheili, its voice gruesome and nightmarish beyond belief. Fural never expected to be afraid of a voice until he heard it there.

"This time… There is no escape," the combat form growled. "You cannot run from your salvation."

Fural fired his carbine as fast as he could, blasting the thing until it fell on the ground once more. He walked up to it and stomped on its corpse over and over, leaving nothing but pulpy remains. His hearts raced so fast that he expected them to give up and stop, he continued tearing the thing's body apart until there was nothing left that could conceivably be brought back.

"Blademaster!" Rahg shouted. Fural forced himself to calm down and step back. "What was that thing talking about?"

"I… I don't know," Fural breathed. "I didn't know they could talk."

Even though the thing was dead, Fural heard it speak again. This time the voice came from everywhere at once, he realised that it was actually cutting into the broadcasts that Truth had been making throughout the battle. The voice was as horrifying then as it was when it came from the combat form, but this time he couldn't do anything to shut it up.

"Whosoever is gripped by fear, take heed," said Truth in his broadcast, "I am the Prophet of Truth... And I am not afraid. Noble Mercy is here at my side. His wise counsel ever in my ears."

"We exist together now," the voice said. It was the voice of the Flood, as if every single being who was infected was speaking at once. "Two corpses, in one grave."

Fural couldn't believe any of this was happening. He had to have been in some kind of nightmare, he tried so desperately to wake up from it, but he couldn't no matter how hard he tried. This was real, and it was so much worse than what happened on Alpha Halo. Nothing stood in the Flood's way of infecting the entirety of High Charity, everyone was powerless to stop it. And if they had High Charity, they could take it anywhere. The Flood now had free access to the entire galaxy.

"We need to reach Jors," Rahg said. "We need to get out of here right now."

"Then… Then let's go," Fural said, still catching his breath.

Fural walked back out to the street, and looked up to the highway. It wasn't far now, but the journey would feel much longer than it was. When he was in the containment facility on Alpha Halo, he felt like he'd been down there for an entire lifetime. But he had been alone then. Well, other than the human that had helped him escape.

More Flood combat forms jumped over the tops of the buildings, each one letting out a shriek as they did. They landed in the street and slowly approached Fural and his group. He hadn't realised they were armed until they opened fire. The Kig-Yar were able to block the first few shots with their defence gauntlets, but two of the defenceless Kig-Yar were taken down by the streams of plasma.

Fural shot two of the combat forms in their chests with his carbine, killing them instantly. Another of the Sangheili combat forms still had a shield generator, and his bullets bounced off it like they were nothing. Rahg assisted Fural, a single shot from his beam rifle was able to cut through the thing's shields and kill it.

The armed Kig-Yar returned fire as well. They were able to stick enough needles into one of the combat forms to cause it to explode, and the shots from their plasma pistols melted into the combat forms' rotting bodies, leaving them in piles of melted flesh and organs. One of the combat forms held a carbine in its hand, and it was able to shoot one of the unarmed Kig-Yar through the shoulder. Fural took it down before it could shoot anyone else.

The group began to move as they fought through the approaching Flood. They had managed to not lose a single one of Rahg's people until the Flood had arrived, but Fural was at least glad they hadn't all gotten infected yet. With the amount of Flood they had already faced, High Charity had little time. Anybody who was still on the station would soon be infected.

"This crisis will not be the end of us," the Prophet of Truth said in his broadcast. "It is but one last hurdle before the Journey, and salvation!"

Truth's voice was uncomfortably calm, Fural was taken aback every time he heard one of his broadcasts. How could anyone be calm in the midst of this? The Covenant that has stood for thousands of years was shattering in an instant. The holy city that had taken generations to build was becoming a wretched hive of parasites. It was almost like Truth had meant for all of this to happen.

"Now is the time of our unworlding," Truth said again. "In a moment we shall all become… As Gods!"

A horde of infection forms slithered down the side of a building, and they began to spread through the streets ahead. Fural and the others with weapons opened fire, popping infectors with each shot. They targeted the defenceless Kig-Yar as if they were capable of coordinating, but nobody who held a gun planned on letting them get infected. Each one was destroyed before it could even get close to the Kig-Yar.

The group passed through an archway that led into a large plaza underneath the highway. There was no sign of any Jiralhanae, not any living Jiralhanae anyway. Sangheili of all different ranks were scattered around as they battled the approaching Flood. Massive hulking forms that Fural hadn't seen before marched around the area, infection forms clung to their bodies like insects.

Sangheili controlled Phantoms flew through the air and performed attack runs on the Flood forms that were making their way across the highway. Huge projections of the Prophet of Truth were scattered all over the plaza, who continued to give speeches as the station fell apart around him. Underneath the bridge and on the pillars holding it up were huge fleshy growths of biomass.

The Flood had already started to convert the area for whatever their needs were. Despite being one of the few that had fought the Flood before, Fural still didn't have the slightest clue as to how they worked. They were intelligent enough to use weapons and vehicles, and they were even capable of speech. They had to be more than just mindless parasites.

Fural spotted Jors on the other side of the plaza, who was fighting off approaching Flood forms with a pair of other Sangheili at his side. The pilot held a plasma rifle in each hand and fought gracefully, which caused Fural to wonder why he had restricted himself to the cockpit of a Phantom this whole time.

"I see Jors!" Rahg shouted.

"Make your way to him," Fural said. "I'll try to keep these monsters off your back."

"Appreciated, Blademaster."

Rahg barked at his people, and they sprinted across the plaza. Fural ran ahead of them, joining the other Sangheili in their fight. One of the hulking tank forms raised its massive claws and brought them down on the ground, causing Fural to stumble before he could get close enough to cut it apart. A SpecOps Sangheili blasted the form with enough needles to cause it to explode, but that only stunned it for a brief moment. Fural moved in, and finished it off with a few swings of his sword. The massive form fell apart, and landed on the ground.

Fural wasn't sure if this one would get back up again. It wasn't like the others, it didn't seem to be any kind of infected being. But it still had the tendrils coming out of it that infection and combat forms had. Fural tried to stomp on it to break its body apart, but its skin was too thick. His foot didn't do anything to it.

A roar came from behind Fural, and he turned to see the SpecOps Elite attempting to throw an infection form off of him. Fural quickly reached for his carbine to try and shoot it off, but it managed to burrow its way into the Sangheili's chest before he could pull the trigger. The Sangheili let out an agonising scream as the creature repurposed his insides, and Fural chose to cut him apart with his sword to end the pain.

Every infected Sangheili that Fural killed hurt a little more than the last. He had never killed a Sangheili before he had to kill his brother on Alpha Halo. Even if these things weren't Sangheili anymore, they still used to be. They used to be his brothers, his people that he would die for. Fural turned away from the dead Sangheili, and was faced with another combat form.

As if the Flood could read his mind, he faced three more infected Sangheili. Two of them ran past as Fural thrust his sword into the closest one. With a single motion, he cut the thing in half and let it drop to the floor. He managed to catch another one in its hip with his sword while the third was taken down by a Minor wielding a carbine.

Rahg and his people were able to get through the fighting as Fural and the other Sangheili kept the Flood distracted. Fural leapt towards another combat form, one that seemed to have previously been a Jiralhanae. He sliced the creature's arm off, and cut its chest open when it turned to face him.

An impact against Fural's back sent him flying across the plaza, and he felt his breath leave him once he hit the ground. Everything else had kept him so caught up that he hadn't noticed the approaching Flood form until it hit him. He turned onto his back to try and get onto his feet, but the hulking creature caught up to him, and pinned him to the ground underneath its massive foot.

Fural heard the crack of his shields as they broke, which seemed to somehow manage to stun the creature for a short second. He attempted to lift his hand, but the creature's foot kept it pinned to the ground. The thing recollected itself and raised its claws to finish him. This wasn't how Fural wanted to die, but he could at least die feeling accomplished if Jors was able to get Rahg's people off of the station.

A bright green beam of plasma suddenly hit the front of the creature, and burned a hole straight through it. The thing went limp and fell backwards, freeing Fural from its grasp. He was able to get back onto his feet, and he turned to see who had helped him.

"Did you think I would let you die, brother?" Jors shouted.

At the pilot's sides were two Mgalekgolo, the massive armoured colonies of worms that made up the strongest of the Covenant's foot soldiers. They were more akin to walking tanks than anything. The two Mgalekgolo roared and fired their beams into the hordes of Flood while Jors gestured for Fural to come with him.

"Thank you," Fural breathed.

"Thank me when we get out of here," Jors said. "Come, the Conviction is not far."

Fural turned back before following Jors. High Charity fell apart rapidly, Fural and the others have only survived thus far because of luck. With the rate they seemed to be spreading, the Flood would have complete control of the station in a matter of hours, and there was no stopping them.

The Blademaster looked upon the cityscape for what he assumed would be the last time. Once he was out of there, there was no way he was coming back. First the Flood had taken his brother, and now they were taking his home. He couldn't imagine how his life could possibly get worse.