Chapter 30: Fural
Fural should have realised that lying low was never an option, he at least thought they would have more time before the Jiralhanae would find them. All he wanted was more time to reflect on what had happened, but he had barely even gotten that. After the days it had been since High Charity fell, he still couldn't believe that any of this was real. He wouldn't for a long time.
He made his way to the medical bay on the Blade of Ages. Rahg lay in one bed with a brace around his body to help him heal, he was very lucky to be alive. Fural had never once heard of a Kig-Yar surviving a direct hit from a gravity hammer, so maybe he had just witnessed history being made once again. Kel 'Dauram lay on the other bed, still recovering from his stunt in the vacuum of space. Fural still didn't know how the strange Sangheili had come up with such a ridiculous plan, but he did pretty much just save them all.
"'Dauram?" Fural asked, checking to see if Kel was awake or not.
"Blademaster?" Kel rasped, opening his eyes.
"Just making sure you're still alive," Fural sat down next to Kel's bed.
"I will make it. You need not worry."
They didn't have much for medical supplies on the Blade of Ages, and the only ones with the knowledge to use them were Drift and a few of the Kig-Yar, but they had just enough to keep the two alive. They didn't deserve to die, so they weren't going to. Rahg had put in a lot of work to get them off High Charity, and they wouldn't have gotten off that planet without Kel 'Dauram's help. For that, they had both earned Fural's respect.
But Fural was still puzzled by Kel 'Dauram. A Sangheili minor who had stolen a general harness, and ran to a random far off uninhabited world to live in solitude. That story sounded like cowardice of the highest order, but a coward would not have done what Kel just did. He wanted to ask if there was more to the Sangheili that he didn't know, but he figured that he should let him rest.
"Blademaster," Kel said again. "We cannot rest. You must follow the Sacred Provenance's message."
"We will," Fural nodded. "Rest easy, 'Dauram."
In truth, he had completely forgotten about the message. The chaos of the fight with the Jiralhanae had taken a lot out of him. He left the medical bay and made his way to the control room. Jors sat at navigation, Zimling at weapons, and Endo by the tactical station. Kress had taken Rahg's spot at tactical before, and now with Kress dead and Rahg out of commission, it fell upon Endo to man the station. The minor very clearly didn't know what he was doing, but Fural couldn't be mad at him about it.
Endo had just lost his brother, and that was something Fural empathised with. Losing Dom had completely changed him, and he still couldn't tell if it was for better or for worse. He had felt like a hollow shell of his former self ever since that day, and he hoped the same feelings wouldn't plague Endo the way they plagued him. At the very least, Endo hadn't had to kill Kress.
"All systems nominal," Jors informed Fural as he entered.
Fural nodded in response, and made his way to the tactical station. He gestured for Endo to move, so Fural could search through the channels for the message from the Sacred Provenance. When nothing came up, he searched through the older lesser used channels. He knew that a Sangheili wouldn't be broadcasting all this information to the Covenant at large.
He found the message, and the tactical station provided a holographic projection of the speaker this time as well. His armour was black, and his helmet was very reminiscent of those worn by the Sangheili Ascetic order, though it had been stylised in a very unique way, almost like it had been combined with the helmet of a standard combat harness.
"Join me as we prepare our retaliation," the Sangheili said. "With our combined strength, we will show the Covenant why they should never have betrayed us!"
"This is the one from the message?" Jors asked, Fural hadn't noticed the pilot behind him.
"Yes," Fural nodded. "He looks… familiar."
"He does indeed, though I cannot say where I've seen him."
Fural closed his eyes and tried to think of where he'd seen this Sangheili before. The memory slowly came back to him. He was with his brother on Rahnelo, he remembered Dom telling him about the different groups of the Covenant that every SpecOps commando aspired to be like. The Silent Shadow, the Hidden Blades. Fural remembered Dom telling him that there were only two Hidden Blades in existence, and now Fural was staring at one of them.
"He's a Hidden Blade," Fural said. "This is either Raku 'Solee, or Sen 'Rolahee."
"Hm, I think I might have heard of them from Dom," Jors said. "Some time or another."
"He told me about them too. We need to meet up with him at once."
"I'll input the coordinates, though it will be a while before we reach him."
"No matter, all that matters is that we do reach him."
Fural sat back down in the command chair, and he let Endo take the station once more. Jors put in the coordinates embedded in the message, and they soon entered slipspace. Despite wanting to rest for so long, Fural couldn't help but throw him and his crew into another situation. He hoped that nothing would go wrong this time, but with their track record he really didn't believe that.
"I'll be in my quarters," Fural said before leaving the control room.
As soon as he left he realised that he didn't even have his own quarters. Since High Charity fell he hadn't made a new place to call home, so he searched through the ship in order to do just that. He found an empty room with a bed built into the wall on the crew deck, and he decided that's where he would live.
He didn't have much to call his own anymore, most of the things he had ever owned had been left behind on High Charity. He didn't even have robes to cover himself with if he wanted to get out of his armour anymore. So he left his harness on the floor, and buried his face in the bed as he lay down. He felt weeks worth of weight leaving his shoulders as he took the first time to genuinely rest since Jors was kidnapped by Sparatus.
When he eventually fell asleep, he didn't dream. He had been too overwhelmed by everything lately to actually dream about anything, but he was thankful for that. He didn't want to have another nightmare about killing Dom, or worse. He awoke alone, in a bed covered with sweat and grime. He hadn't had a proper shower in a while, so he left to take one.
The halls of the Blade of Ages were empty, and uncomfortably quiet. They were far from a full crew, but it still surprised Fural every time when the ship seemed empty. The other ships Fural had served on had been full of life, especially the larger ones like the Supreme Crusader. He couldn't go down a single corridor on that ship without running into someone else on that ship.
Fural found the showers and cleaned himself off. It felt like it had been years since the last shower he took. The steam soaking into his leathery skin was a nice feeling. He didn't know how long he was in there, but he knew he was clean when he left. The last week's worth of dirt and grime was gone, and that was enough for Fural to feel like a new person. Like he was back in his prime, as if he had left it at some point. He was familiar with the stories of the horrors of war causing warriors to age faster, but he never expected it to happen to him.
He went back to his quarters to retrieve his combat harness to cover himself, and then made his way to the medical bay to check in on the wounded. Rahg was asleep, he wouldn't be recovered from his wounds for a while, but Kel was on his feet. Fural didn't know how long he had slept, but he was surprised to see Kel back up so soon after his stunt. There weren't many stories of Sangheili jumping into the vacuum of space and surviving.
"Blademaster?" Kel asked as Fural entered.
It was still strange to hear others refer to him as 'Blademaster', despite it being a title that he had fought hard to earn. He had always figured that Rahg referred to him as 'Blademaster' just to mess with him, while Kel meant it as a genuine sign of respect. The only reason Jors called him by his actual name was because they were friends.
"There's something I want you to see," Fural said. "If you would come with me to the control room."
Kel stared at Fural with a questioning gaze, but he obliged. His movements were slow as he followed Fural through the ship, his skin still seemed to be sore from the jump he had made. He brought Kel into the control room, which was empty for the time being. Endo, Zimling, and Jors must have all found their own quarters as well. Fural brought up the message at the communications station again, and showed Kel the projection of the Sangheili who spoke.
"Do you recognise this Sangheili?" Fural asked, though the look in Kel's eyes already gave him the answer.
Something got caught in the strange Sangheili's throat, he seemed extremely hesitant to talk about it for whatever reason. All Kel was doing was making Fural think he was more strange. Kel gave up whatever mental battle he was having and sighed before actually telling Fural what was going on.
"Do you ever feel that the Gods are giving you visions?" Kel asked. "That they're showing you the future?"
Instead of assuming that Kel had gone mad, Fural considered the question. For all his life, Fural had been devoted to the Forerunners. Dom's death only brought Fural closer to the gospel of his Gods, but never once had Fural thought that they were showing him something, at least not in visions. He figured that Dom's death, and all of the hell afterward were simple tests of faith, but none of them had shown him anything.
"No," Fural said softly with a shake of his head. "I don't believe I've had any visions."
"Well I have seen this Sangheili before," Kel said, staring intently at the projection of the Hidden Blade. "Not in person, not in a feed… but in a vision. Just before you had arrived in the system, I saw this Sangheili speaking to me."
A younger Fural would have thought Kel was making things up, but now Fural was listening. Meeting Kel and being brought to the facility in the mountain had been enough of a sign from the Gods, it wouldn't be too outrageous to believe that Kel was being shown something by the Gods as well.
"What was in this vision?" Fural asked.
"We were on the Assembly," Kel explained. "Celebrating some kind of great victory. This Sangheili spoke directly to me, he told me that I had done well. I referred to him as 'Supreme Commander'. And… there was a fleet there, a fleet of Forerunner ships."
"Was I there?" Fural asked.
"I… I don't remember," Kel sighed. "There were a lot of other Sangheili there, but he was the only one I spoke to."
Fural couldn't help but be a little disappointed. If he wasn't there, then maybe he had no place in this future. Maybe he would end up dead before they could ever find this Assembly. But there was still a chance, he could still be a part of this future and get his revenge against the Covenant.
"And have you had any other visions?" Fural asked.
Kel became hesitant to speak again. Fural could see the dread in his eyes, whatever other visions he'd had weren't good. But Kel had only spoken the truth so far, that much was certain. Fural was already beginning to trust him to tell him anything.
"The only other visions I've had are about the Assembly being destroyed," Kel said. "It's hard to tell which one is real, or maybe they're both real… I don't know. But from what I remember, it looked like the world had been dead for a while."
"I guess there's only one way to find out which one is real," Fural said. "As soon as we reach the Sacred Provenance, we will convince him."
"Thank you, Blademaster," Kel said. "From what I've been shown, I know it's my destiny to reach the Assembly. The Gods will it."
"And reach the Assembly we will," Fural turned off the projector. "Continue resting. There's still a war to fight."
Kel bowed, and left the control room. Fural stopped by the navigation station to see how close they were, and they were still a couple days away. Fural's anticipation only grew the closer they got, and the more he learned. It was possible that this strange Sangheili was a messenger of the Gods, the Prophet that the San'shyuum claimed to be, and Fural made sure he would give his life to make sure he got where he needed to go.
Fural didn't know where he was, all he knew was that it was dark, and that he was having a dream. He'd always had the sense to know whether or not he was dreaming, but that didn't make the nightmares any less terrifying. He prayed to the Gods that this wasn't another nightmare, but he knew it would probably end up being that anyway.
He was in his combat harness, but its systems were offline. He didn't have any weapons either, so if something attacked him then he was as good as dead. When he moved he felt the familiar feeling of his feet sinking into the ground, and the mud clinging to his boots. He was back in the swamp on Alpha Halo, as he had been in every other nightmare he'd had. They'd all been the same, reliving the moment when he had to kill his brother. But this time was different, this time he didn't have anything to fight with.
The sound of footsteps came from all around Fural, though they moved slowly. They were lighter than a Sangheili's, they almost sounded like they came from a Kig-Yar or even a human. Fural couldn't see them in the darkness, so he couldn't exactly tell.
"We don't have to be enemies," said a voice in the darkness. It didn't sound like any Covenant species. "You know that, right?"
Fural instinctively reached for his sword, despite knowing that it wasn't there. The voice was human, but it spoke in perfect Sangheili. No matter what it claimed, it was the enemy. And Fural killed his enemies. He clenched his fists and raised them in anticipation for an attack.
"We weren't enemies, in fact. For a time at least," the human said. "Don't you remember?"
"Come out so I may kill you," Fural said. "I don't need a sword to end your life."
"Now why would you want to do that?" the human asked. "Don't you know who I am?"
"Oh I know what you are," Fural growled. "An affront to the Gods, an infection that must be cleansed."
"Then why didn't you end me when you had the chance?"
The human stepped out of the darkness, into a light that Fural didn't know was above him. They weren't in the swamp anymore, but now they were in the Forerunner containment facility where the Flood had been released. Fural didn't expect to recognise the human, but he did. It was the only human he would ever recognise, the one that had helped him escape the containment facility on Alpha Halo. For some reason Fural could read the nametag on the human's chestplate. It was written in the human language, but somehow Fural could read it now. Svenson.
"Why didn't you?" Svenson asked. "I was an affront to your Gods back then, the same as I am now."
Fural lowered his hands, though he had never expected to relax in front of a human at any point. Even then at the time, Fural hadn't trusted the human, but something in his mind told him to trust it now.
"Because we needed to get out of there," Fural said. "There was a bigger threat to both of us."
"So you admit that you couldn't have done it without me?" Svenson. "You're saying that if I wasn't there you would have ended up like your brother."
"How do you know about my brother?" Fural asked, angry now that the human dare mention him.
"I was there, remember? And now I'm inside your head, I can see everything you're thinking of."
Fural clenched his fists again and attempted to punch the human, but he couldn't. Every time he tried his arms locked up, and he couldn't move them at all. Svenson looked up at Fural with a smile across his face that seemed sinister, though it wasn't like he could tell human smiles apart.
"I know why you truly want the Assembly," Svenson said. "It's not to get back at the Covenant, or to stop the Flood. It's to end humanity once and for all. You want to be the one to cleanse us from the face of the galaxy."
"Wow," Fural sighed, giving up and dropping his hands to his sides again. "I must be so easy to read."
"All I want to know is why," Svenson said.
The human sat down on the floor, and gestured with his hand for Fural to sit across from him. Fural didn't want to, but he felt himself doing it anyway. Losing control of his own actions was only mildly annoying when he remembered that he was dreaming, and that it would be over soon.
"Why do you want to end humanity?" Svenson asked. "After everything we've gone through. When we first met you chose not to shoot me, and you even let me go after we got out of that facility. You showed me mercy, yet you want to kill everyone else. Why?"
"You were convenient to me at the time," Fural said. "Had we met under any other circumstances, you would be dead. Your kind is an affront to all we hold sacred, and it is the will of the Gods to destroy you before we can begin the Great Journey."
"And who told you that?" Svenson asked. "It certainly wasn't the Gods speaking to you."
Fural looked away, and actually began to contemplate the human's words. It was the Prophets who had deemed the humans to be the enemies of the Forerunners, and for the thousands of years that the Covenant had been around the Sangheili had taken the Prophets' words without question.
"The Prophets betrayed you," Svenson said. "Yet you still listen to their lies. You and the other Sangheili. You're so blinded by the faith you were raised with that you haven't questioned anything, not even after your race was cast out from the very empire you built."
Fural felt a rage rising in his chest. How dare you question my faith!? How dare you make ME question my faith!? Fural wanted to shout. But when he thought about it, maybe the human was right. Maybe the Prophets were indeed lying, and maybe they were lying even since the beginning, since the foundation of the Covenant. Was everything we've done based on a lie?
"The Forerunners may still be your Gods, but is it really their will to have us all killed?" Svenson asked.
"You speak blasphemy," Fural said weakly.
"You don't believe that."
Fural moved to slam his fist into the human's face, but everything disappeared. He was back in his bed on the Blade of Ages, throwing himself out of it and onto the floor with a grunt. He slowly got back onto his feet, feeling sore for no reason. He was angry, but he couldn't tell what he was actually angry at. He couldn't be mad at Svenson because that was all a dream, and he couldn't be mad at humanity because maybe Svenson was right.
"Attention crew of the Blade of Ages, we are exiting slipspace," came the voice of Jors 'Cinat over the ship's intercom.
Jors was the only one that Fural could trust in talking about something as blasphemous as their faith being built on lies; he wasn't sure if he could talk to Kel about it as he was a literal messenger of the Gods. Either way, he didn't want to bring it up yet, not when they were so close to reaching the Assembly. With how the future looked, there might not be a good moment to talk about it for a long time.
Fural slowly climbed into his harness and made his way to the control room. Endo, Zimling, and Jors were already at their stations. Fural sat down in the chair and stared at the screen in front of him. He didn't see any ships, only empty space. There was no sign of anything that could be the Sacred Provenance that the Hidden Blade spoke of.
"You look well rested," Jors commented as Fural sat down.
"Where is the Sacred Provenance?" Fural asked.
"Nothing on sensors," said Endo. "At all. Only empty space."
"Could the message have been a Covenant trap?" Fural asked, feeling a sudden dread building up in his stomach.
"Jiralhanae are not that smart," Jors said. "Even if they were, we're in a stealth ship. At this distance they have no chance of seeing us even without active camo."
Fural couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The message could have been a trap, or maybe they just missed the Sacred Provenance. Fural thought that maybe they had entered the wrong coordinates, but he knew Jors would never make that kind of mistake. Whatever the answer was, they were alone.
"Wait a moment," Endo said. "Picking up something on sensors."
Fural looked over at the sensor station and saw the warning it displayed. High velocity stream approaching. A lot of ships were about to exit slipspace in front of them. One Makar-pattern corvette appeared in the distance, followed by two more. Then a Ket-pattern battlecruiser followed by a Ruma-pattern carrier and several other smaller ships.
"Unidentified corvette," the voice of a Sangheili said as they were being hailed. "This is the Sacred Provenance."
"This is the Blade of Ages," Fural responded immediately. "We followed the message of a Hidden Blade to this location."
"Then welcome to the Fleet of the Perilous Dawn. Proceed to dock with the Sacred Provenance, we look forward to meeting you."
Fural let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and relaxed in his seat. He gestured for Jors to take them in. Though Fural liked his smaller crew, he knew it was going to be nice to be with a larger group. Maybe the Blade of Ages wouldn't be so lonely for much longer.
He got up from his chair and made his way to the medical bay, where he found Kel. Rather than looking for his own quarters, Kel had decided to stay in the medical bay. He didn't know why other than maybe to give Rahg some company, but he didn't exactly think Kel was that fond of the Kig-Yar.
"We've arrived," Fural said. "If you would like to come to the docking bay."
"I would," Kel said, standing up from the bed. He found his General harness in the corner of the room and began getting into it. "We mustn't waste time."
"Then I will wait for you there," Fural said.
He left Kel to finish getting dressed, and made his way to the docking bay with haste. He wasn't sure how easy it would be to convince the Hidden Blade to take them to the Assembly, he wasn't even sure about convincing himself anymore. The main reason Fural wanted to get his hands on the Forerunner fleets in the first place was to use them against humanity, not just against the Covenant and the Flood. But was humanity still their enemy? If there was an answer to that question, he wasn't going to find out any time soon.
