Hello everyone, as promised I present to you the first chapter of the new "War of the Hearts." Hope you enjoy, and it's good to be back.
He could see nothing within the pitch darkness, all except for the faint outline of a creature. He didn't know what it was, but pure yellow eyes stared back at him, devoid of any emotion, or even any sign of sapience. It was so unsettling, that he almost didn't see the thing raise its arm with claws outstretched as it swung down, striking him before he could even react.
Lord Marshal Logan Lasky snapped back to reality, finding himself back within the interior of the Pelican dropship, Marines undergoing final weapon checks and other preparations before hitting the surface. Episodes of turbulence had signaled atmospheric reentry, prompting him to get up from his seat once that was over, intent on getting a view of what awaited him.
With a nod of acknowledgement to the pilots, he could see the main Island chain Destiny Prime was known for in the distance, signs of combat apparent in every location he could see, yet aside from raging fires and flashes in the worlds sole urban complex, everything was silent. There wasn't even a sporadic attempt to contest the landing. However, the lack of communication from the Hell jumper vanguard concerned him. He turned towards one of the pilots. "Any luck on long range comms?"
"Negative sir, trying all available channels, but all I'm getting is static. Reckon it's a jammer?"
"Only possible explanation. How about short range?"
"A bit grainy, but otherwise ok."
A nod was given in response as the Commander opened a channel. "All call signs be advised, we're entering a dead zone. Once we land, we need to find whatever's causing this and take it out."
A chorus of affirmatives rang out in response. Though this calm would soon be replaced by chaos as two nearby pelicans suddenly burst into flames, courtesy of anti-air cannons that had previously went unnoticed. Seriously, how the hell did they miss those!? No matter, the Marshal could not dwell on this question for long, for the sky was suddenly filled with a variety of different entities, from swarms of multi-colored fliers that bore a resemblance to witches, to winged abominations and entities of a more mechanical nature. But each of them shared two similarities, the beady yellow eyes he saw in his vision, and a red-black heart emblem. The damn things had caught them unawares and were now unleashing near endless volleys of energy which melted through armor and engines, causing the transports to drop like flies despite the best efforts of the fighter escort.
But despite the chaos which now took place, they were getting closer to the surface, though as they did, the swarm began to grow in numbers, a desperate yet futile attempt to halt the landings. For every pelican that was sent crashing down, two more were able to land without issue. Unfortunately, the Marshals transport was among the former with a lucky fireball striking the port thruster. Sent into an uncontrollable spin, those onboard could do nothing but hold on for dear life and brace as they crashed into a stretch of beach. The impact sent Logan flying back into the passenger bay, the weight of the Mijolnir armor causing an indent in the floor, but otherwise he remained unharmed.
Despite the jostling and minor injuries sustained by the marines, no time was wasted as they disembarked from the wrecked Pelican. The battle on the beach proved just as chaotic as in the air, bolts of energy struck metal and flesh alike, with some troop complements being shot dead before they could even disembark. Other soldiers attempted to traverse the beach, returning fire with any weapon they could scrounge up. Some were successful, using the wreckage as cover to aid in their advance, others fell prey to shots of the enemy, while others still were blown to pieces by some kind of artillery fire, courtesy of what appeared to be sentient cannons.
Another of these cannon shots impacted 6 feet away from the Marshal, prompting him to start moving forward as well, using an acquired Battle Rifle to snipe some of the airborne entities as he made his way towards the tree line, encountering a stalemate fifty feet out. Marines, Army troopers, and even the odd ODST or two who managed to find there way here took a variety of firing positions, and unleashed a withering storm of bullets into an oncoming horde. Within its ranks were countless entities which took the appearance of armored suits of various sizes, supported by other variants such as large, surprisingly spherical beings which could shrug off all but the highest caliber gunfire, and cloud like entities that floated like their witch counterparts. They fortunately did not possess ranged capabilities outside of a handful of those walking cannons, but a single good look indicated that letting them get close would be a bad idea.
Logan took position next to one of the ODST's, who gave him a quick salute. "Glad to see you're alive sir!"
"Do you have a status on the other Hell jumpers!?"
"Negative sir, we got scattered all over the Islands during the drop thanks to these fuckers! If Captain Silver survived there could be a pocket of resistance still out there, but I can't promise anythi-!"
His report was interrupted by one of the cloud things making contact with the trooper, dissolving and... entering him? The ODST began to spasm uncontrollably for a few moments before freezing, then out of nowhere, he took his rifle and opened fire on the Marshal as if possessed. The armors shields flared under the sudden assault before a stray bolt pierced the troopers skull, forcing the possessor back out with no host to control, leaving it vulnerable to a retaliatory strike from the Marshal.
Though he and every other combatant within earshot of the event were wondering what the hell just happened, there was no time to speculate as more cannon shots struck their position, sending blood and body parts everywhere. "Shit, somebody get those cannons silenced, the rest of you, prime grenades!"
A trio of Marines armed with rockets quickly answered the order, taking aim at the offending entities and launching their payloads, supported by two newly arrived Scorpion tanks, which along with some Warthogs in support, were able to clear out most of the horde, allowing a brief respite as the Marshal moved to get a handle on the situation. "Alright people, the sooner we unfuck this situation the better! I need heavy weapons set up front, machine guns, rockets, anything we can scavenge! Scorpions are to take point when we move up the beach, in the meantime I need scouts to move on ahead and find out what we're up against! I don't know what the hell these things are, but I can guarantee there's more of them out there!"
Indeed, despite being caught off guard, this fight was too easy for an enemy that could cause a planet wide communications blackout, and the numbers they had faced so far were far too few for even an invasion. Hopefully whatever else was out there wasn't much worse... wait... what was that noise?
Without further warning, some of the trees were shoved to the side, falling to the ground as an entity that was larger than an UNSC Elephant vehicle revealed itself. It's body was humanoid in shape and made out of a pure black substance, in it's chest was a hole shaped like the same heart emblem, and it's face, it was the same thing Logan saw in his vision. But he was too busy cursing himself for jinxing things to care, for this fight just got harder.
Not much for a return from a two year dead period I'll admit, but I am back and here to stay. However, in the interest of not wearing out my brain, I'll be doing a monthly upload schedule. Let me know what you think in the reviews and I hope to see you next time.
Also while waiting, check out my YouTube channel "World Archivist" if you haven't already