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Heretic Renegade
Sky L
Eighth Age of Doubt
Prologue

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Gala 'Gammamee placed a capitulated hand upon his mate, Lasha. The Elite's both turned from one another, realizing each other's sudden betrayal. Her glassy hazel eyes flared with abstruse tears, veering to face her mate, she bowed her head down and sobbed in her scaly palms.
"Lasha…listen to me. The Prophet's are false, open your eyes to the possibility that our once, great society is gone. The Brutes are succeeding some of our fleets and the Elite Councilors are suspecting treason among the Hierarchs."
The newfound Heretic rubbed a scabrous caress across his mate's skin. A tense, uptightness followed the smooth touch…

"No…The Covenant is everything we have built it. There is no treason, there is treachery, and amid the most consecrated Field Master!" She spat toward him, her aura glowed a symbolic toxic that defiled 'Gammamee's presence.
"Do what's in our child's best interest, stay with us. We will never speak of this day, this faithlessness again!"
The Heretic shifted tautly in his vermilion-colored armor, his labeling and steady judgement of beings scrutinized his mate more closely. She was the enemy…she was behind the disloyalty, the deceptions, and the countless deaths of thousands of innocent and pious creatures. The Prophet's have manipulated too far, and the denials of an indefinite amount of living things were the end to him.

"You can keep your Hierarchs close to you, when the day finally comes we will strike the Holy Covenant, and your lies will befoul the Forerunner." 'Gammamee gasped, feeling an unwanted anger enter his veins. His blood steeped a breaching point as he continued, gritting his mandibles together. "The Prophet's sanctimonious fault-lines end in my blood-drenched fists, I will feel the cynic's breath halt in my grasp…"
His sinister side ignited a fear inside Lasha, her eyes tensed in a frightened state and she flinched backward.

'Gammamee froze, he regretted his exhalation already. Unable to apologize he quickly sauntered out the padlocked door. The mauve plates beeped his dismissal, and he felt that familiar pang of remorse swim through his complexion.
Powerless to turn back and get his mate, to sway her to the right cause, he strode out through the corridors.
A solitary vision of his son, behind him hugging his mother floated through his mind. The vision of lost hope coursed through him and he sobbed his repentance and her unjust lifestyle.

* * *

The Heretic, 'Gammamee silently motioned forward to the Heretic Leader. His new bronze shielding glimmered in the Basis sunlight. The new armor gave him a new personal, a new bonding, a new purpose. He defined himself for a brief moment as a new Elite. The raw and very genuine flash of hope traced his smuggled armor and he strutted a hushed swagger.
"Gala 'Gammamee"
The gruff voice of the Heretic Leader confirmed his name and 'Gammamee bowed to his proximity.
"Yes, Leader" He responded, clipping his hand into a bolster onto his heart.
"Lookin' ceremonious…" The Heretic Leader chuckled slightly, breathing inside his rebreather.
'Gammamee nodded his head in slight 'thank you' and beckoned his mandibles into a pronged delight.
"How did your mate take your new conforming?" The Heretic Leader respired softly.
The Heretic foiled his expression into an uncertain lie. His face contorted into a mixture of anger and guilt. Without hesitation, or thoughts he quietly spoke.
"She…she has chose the path of despair"
'Gammamee looked up at his Leader, unsure of what to make of his declaration.
"I am so sorry to hear that, 'Gammamee." He stammered for the right words. "She will one day see the truth, and she will be willing when she does…"

'Gammamee merely nodded and bowed, hiding his sorrow in his intense black eyes. Taking in short, rounds of alien air through his rebreather, the Heretic staged upward, coming to the eye-level of the Heretic Leader. Pushing away the pain, he abruptly changed tact.
"What of our base, Leader. This makeshift camp will not make for shelter from the Covenant" 'Gammamee said, gesturing towards the sandy ruins of Burial Mounds.
The Heretics around him, Elites and Grunts alike marched through the sanded fire, some were conversing on the state of the 'Great Journey', some were discussing the concern of their loved ones becoming corrupt, and others were busy exchanging burnished plates of alloy onto their armor.

The Heretic Leader frowned suddenly, listening to the wind breach the provisional camp.
"The Oracle has informed me that there is a station orbiting the gas atmosphere of Threshold." He paused, pointing sternly to the red moon that whisked past the heavens and around the ruins of the Sacred Ring. "It is a colossus of a station, where the Forerunner's examined the Parasite-"
"-The Flood is on the station?" 'Gammamee interrupted, hastily concerned.
"Yes, but they are contained. The Oracle has educated me that modern procedures of him and his Sentinels are to keep the Parasites locked down."

'Gammamee cued his expression and made a look of pure loyalty on his face.
"We will be transferring there then?"
"Yes, as soon as possible. Our brothers have plundered a fair amount of Phantoms, Banshees and weapons to help us rebel against the Covenant…and they managed to steal this" He gestured towards a bare patch of debris in the center of the mounds. Above the rubble bridge was a Seraph fighter, floating into a placid hum.

The Heretic Leader formed out, and the Heretic followed. The peaceful reside of hope remained immobile inside 'Gammamee's heart, and he succeeded his Leader outside the base and into a magnificent yellow Basis nightfall.


Unidentified Covenant flagship of The Ravager
Ninth Age of Reclamation
Never more to go astray…this will be the end today

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Hydra, revolved to the Brute firing squad. The Elite's armor squeezed with the perpetual pressure of soaking red plasma, and he gasped weakly for air. His once dazzling crimson armor wore a battle-scarred displacement, his protruded clash spikes that rose out of his armlets embezzled a russet-color, his chestplates depicted that of a fiery war as well as his entire structure and appearance.
The war behind him and around him flashed a reality and he stayed in his consciousness.
"CEASE FIRE!" The harsh and blunt voice of The Ravager approached. The Elite sank his knees into the starry floor, reflecting the universe outside. The bestial Brute named The Ravager stalked his proximity.
The massive Brute was encased in solid black and white armor. The armor resembled Elite's sheathings and his wild and frenzied hair that was tangled and mussed inside the armor pronged outward in terrifying spikes.

"Do what you will to me…but I will stand my ground" Hydra muttered in soft sigh.
The Ravager chuckled slightly, fortifying his grip on a grisly looking Brute Shot.
"I wish you could have seen that pathetic Elite in combat against me, 'Gammamee." The Brute teased, juggling his Brute Shot blade up and down in a slashing motion. "The Repent Leader begged for his life…a likely coward…"

The blind animosity and fury that etched inside of Hydra released it's panic. His mandibles flooded in an incensed split, and he growled the restoration of his sanity.
"You will pay for that…"
The Brute's expression suddenly changed to a solemn manner.
"That's peculiar justice this is, 'Gammamee. I remember myself saying that you'd pay…"
Hydra's eyes widened in shock and he gazed upon the Brute.
"And you will suffer…" The Ravager grumbled as he parted his armor from his chest, revealing the Mark of Shame still burning in fiery furred-like embers.
"So it would seem…that we have something in common, after all, Elite" The marked Brute gnarled. "We both want vengeance…"

The two beings locked in a sparking lock, their eyes glinted with burning hate for the other and they broke off the glance.
The Ravager leaned backwards and sliced his Brute Shot blade upwards, Hydra leapt forward, adjusting his position and standing into an augmented durability. The Heretic grabbed the Brute blade and shoved forward, slanting all his ballast into the blow. The Ravager's Brute Shot propelled into the air as he tumbled downward. Hydra dived into the air, dodging the scarlet plasma that whipped past his face from the Brute Guards. He grabbed the Brute Shot by the handle and turned to the Brute Guards on the opposite side. Firing the four grenades into the 3 Guards, he quickly ducked while The Ravager took his footing.

"GET HIM!"

The roughing words echoed through the ebon chamber and Hydra soughed a solid grumble when the Brute Shot clicked a swallow of the new ammo. He slugged the grenades at the Guards and down they fell, leaving him and The Ravager alone in the deponed abysm.
Just then as the two spiteful beings locked another abhorred stare, a massive explosion ricocheted the abysm.
A slice of purple steel engulfed the chamber and Hydra could see outside. The plasma raid on the flagship took a slaving chunk of metal from the room, and the wind from the tropical Ravine could be felt from their position.

"Gala!"

The familiar and balmy voice of his brother, Alei 'Limoto rang into his presence. From above the outside, where a high and feared view of the Ravine was seen, floated a stagnant Pelican. The Elite warrior waved his entrusted sword in the crowded air. The ball-metal fire of debris clanged upon the Pelican's surfaces, and the turbines that supported it swallowed a breath of reduced slabs.
Hydra's Grunt assistant, Sayare clinked to the handle of the seat he hunkered in, breathing in the sight of 'Gammamee's and The Ravager's clashed battle scene.

"Come, my brother!" Alei shouted from the hold, leaping out to the chamber floor and taking Hydra's hand, pulling with his miraculous strength.
"I can take him!" Hydra protested, shoving his hand away, not needing the help from a friend.
Alei merely stood, gaping at the Heretic with rueful eyes, until a sudden disapproval flared inside the Elite.
"You cannot, 'Gammamee. Your strength is down…another fight, another war to win"
Leaving quickly as The Ravager breathed an introduction of berserking, they clambered from the battle, not retreating, not losing, healing, and that was what the Heretic intended on doing.

The close inferno of rage and love followed the pain of Gala 'Gammamee as he stared down the ship of The Ravager exalt away into distant space…

Pelican Identification: Rival 7
Ravine, Delta Halo
Ninth Age of Reclamation
Calm before the Storm

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-"Is anybody out there…anybody there?"

The instilling clicks from the radio transmission dipped in and out of Hydra's ears. The hum and echo of static was heard from the cockpit, as sounds of plasma churned past them in all-out war!
Gala 'Gammamee laid back, confessing his whispered sins and wraiths to his allegiant soul.

"This is Rival 7, requesting immediate assistance from any Heretic or UNSC forces…copy?" The human Sergeant, John Baxter banked his head into the terminal, sighing with petulant high hopes.
"We are alone in the dark, brother" Baxter frowned, gazing up at his Alien Brethren. "It's all I can do"
The Heretic tucked back into unconsciousness, clinging to the words from his allies gathered 'round him…

* * *

"How is he doin'? Baxter exhaled, switching through various frequencies for pulses from their friends.
Alei sighed softly, mixing a palpated powder into a metallic urn and carefully pouring it down Hydra's throat.
The Last Heretic coughed up purple gore from his trance-like sleep. The overwhelming pain had caused 'Gammamee to faint, and the perpetual pressure of anger and guilt from the past battle motivated him to blear out.
"From our last encounter with The Ravager…seemly decent." Alei confided, resting his Energy Sword hilt on the alloyed banister.

Baxter nodded his head in a bobbing understanding, registering the best from the situation he tried the transmission link again as Alei walked over to the pair of Grunts sitting next to Hydra's torpid body.
"Leader is okay…he always okay and we always win the good fight." Sayare perked from his green-clapped armor.
Alei split his mandibles in a "Yes", and he clubbed his hoofs to the floor-tiles. The floor then vibrated in a lucid blast and the sound of fuel rods resided his ears.

The Tebo Brother's blares from the fuel rods emancipated from under the Pelican's belly. Their clad-armor clipped and melted into the metal. Alei dodged his head out of the opening, and saw an entire fleet of Banshees, Heretic and Covenant alike fighting for control on the Ravine.
"Where is the Effectual Chastity docked?" Alei asked the Sergeant, seeing if he knew the precise location of the Heretic's vessel.
"Scanning…" He said from the cockpit. "The Effectual Chastity is vectored 3.8 kilometers from here…"
"Punch it then"

The wind whistled through the turbines, the supersonic booms of the Longswords that flickered by, trailed in front of them, blasting the Pelican with shaky bangs and vibrations.
The clouds lashed around the great battle above the island, shook away, disappearing with the many sounds of fire from Covenant and Heretic forces.
The ocean thrilled by, the floral reefs from aloft looked like alien foliage underwater, and the Sacred Ring's atmosphere portrayed a solace of peace, even with the war raging on miles away…

The Effectual Chastity's bulkhead appeared on the bronze horizon. The extraordinary tear-shape manifested into a solid ship. And the frequency of the transmission forwarded a "friend or foe" greeting from within.
"I am Sergeant John Baxter we are here with your Ship Master…"
The Effectual Chastity's reply clicked a "readied" accept and the Pelican, Rival 7 docked into the muster bay.
The ship was surrounded by many others, all prepared for initial backup for the battle ahead.

Just then the Last Heretic started shaking very violently, his head perched with dark sweat and his mumbling sleep-talk turned into a rasping wheeze…
"What's happening to him?" Baxter hurried to the bedside of the Heretic.
Hydra then dived into the netherworld of a visionary…

* * *

…

A broad dusk on a brilliant Earth skyline, the vista was keyed with thousands of Covenant vessels, each were gaped over a spawning chasm…

…

A tremble…a whimper…a moan from the abyss…

…

An upheaval ensued, and the humming and screeching from Phantoms and Banshees followed…

…

There was a machine-like clang releasing from the abyss, an enormous structure, elevated in 13 spires. The chaotic storm fired on the machine from the Forerunner, and a bright flash incepted a series of painful jolts...

…

* * *

"ARRH!"

Hydra awakened, winded and puffing his breath.
"Hydra…? What's happening-?"
His companions all had a sudden pacified look, slapped across their faces. Hydra beaded into the eyes of his team and watched as they all scrutinized fear and excitement from the Last Heretic.

"I saw…I saw…"
Hydra stuttered to gather the right words, the majestic yet appalling structure rising from the shockwaves of the Earth's plains…
He got up, ignoring the prickles of pain stabbing his right arm and his entire head.
"I saw…the castle of the Forerunner, the start of the Great Journey, and the end of the world…"

'Gammamee whipped around, eyes battering with tears of an infrequent amount of emotions. He looked upon his companions and hardened each face with breathless scrutiny.
Sayare looked confused, his rebreather blocked most of his facial expression but he could still see the concerned bafflement in his eyes.
Alei registered a painful expression, looking as if his face was scrunched into a daunted fear as he ran over Hydra's words in his head.
Kaskut simply looked wildly at him, breathing stable gulps of fresh methane into his mouth.
And…Baxter, covered in a careful state, his expression bore a sense of distress.

"Don't you see?!?!" Hydra exclaimed, stretching his mandibles to its highest extent. "It ends at Earth!"
Baxter peaked his attention to the Elite even further. "What ends?"
The Last Heretic, turned to his ally with a grave face. "The world…"

* * *

"We are entering slipspace, Leader!"

Hydra overlooked his situation over the bridge; the Elites under his command waved their hands through the galactic data charts, brandishing diverse routes to Earth…
The nose of the Effectual Chastity dipped into a shimmering wave of drowning purple and white, the trimmers of circles encased the ship and swallowed it, releasing it on the other end of another galaxy…
The sudden jump ceased quickly, the stomp of the vault left everyone looking around in a dazed confusion.
Just then an explosion echoed the entire chassis of the ship, vibrating the Effectual Chastity with everlasting convulsions.
"Turn on the viewscreen…" The Ship Master stated in a somber tone.

The giant sheet of alloy that stripped in front of them gave a weak flicker and released a breathtaking scene.
Earth was on the verge of destruction; the Covenant fleet encompassed it, every now and then firing salvos of warm glass into the regions.
"My God…"
Hydra turned to see Baxter taking in the scene.
"We were just here…" The Sergeant said, a depressing note in his voice. "Hailey is down there…"
"Where is she located on Earth?" Hydra inquired bringing up the planetary module on his terminal.
"Chicago…there" He pointed on the holographic globe that encircled the room. He zoomed on the stationary stasis of the city, the Covenant were not striking the western hemisphere, but were focusing on the desert where Regret first laid battle against the UNSC.
"She is safe…" Hydra reassured him. "She has most likely taken refuge in a base, or is entering another colony world as we speak."
Baxter nodded his head, looking as if he were about to breakdown.
"John, I need you, Alei needs you…we're all brothers here, we're a family and I need to stop this from happening…for us, Baxter" Hydra sulked, silently. "Can you continue with me, brother?"

Alei entered the terminus, the violet strands of lights blinked away as the Alien Brethren walked through the doorway and into the discourse.
"I will, brother…" Baxter uttered, determined.
Gammamee, Alei, and Baxter stood on the threshold of chaos, the Earth before them stood on the brink of destruction, and the one light of hope that seeped inside each of them, seemed to slowly illuminate.

"Go to the desert central, we will take back the grip the Covenant have, and we will make our way through the outskirts plateaus and outside the Forerunner structure." Hydra rallied through his offensive strategy. "Any questions on the matter?"
"Yes." Alei said, waving his mandibles to his brother. "I think we should best devise our army of Heretics and Marines into two teams, me and Baxter will lead one team, and you will lead the other and we'll meet up by this hidden structure in the essence of the desert." He finished in one single, solitary breath, inclining his hands to his holsters.
"A well-conceived plan, Alei" Hydra shifted, smiling slightly. "We will do that then, a team of Heretics will fight with me through the desert. Alei and Baxter will lead a group of Marines into the metropolis' ruins and we will meet up slope-side, here" He pointed on the desert's geographical map on the projector's visor.
"Let's get to it, brothers…"

The ranks of Heretics and Marines that were united inside the Effectual Chastity all aligned themselves with their leaders. The Marines shouldered their UNSC standardized weaponry, marking their ammunition with incited passion and sorrow for their homeworld below…
The Heretics flooded into ranks, the Grunts were echoing yelps of encouragement to each other, and other Grunts were padding their tiny hooves to the feed nipples that ran along the expanded corridors.
The Elites fronted their shielded hands into armory crates, reaching for their preferred weapons. Plasma Rifles, Plasma Pistols, Covenant Carbines, Energy Swords, Needlers, Particle Beam Rifles, anything they can call upon to relinquish pay upon the Brutes and the Covenant.

Hydra reflected his mind on the past battle, his brother, his most righteous Heretic, the Repent Leader, Ralis' Rahanammee…
The epitaph radiating in the turmoil, the white tomb that perched upon the forgotten ring now set in all-out war.
The serenity of solace that rained over Hydra momentarily was forgotten now that the memory of his brother was replenished.

'This is for you, 'Rahanammee. Repent shall live on, and I will insure that…'
He thought rationally, bringing the remembrance of the Repent Leader back to mind.
"Get ready, Alei for pod release…" Hydra clicked in through the radio, as his brothers perched themselves inside the Elite-sized pods.
"Ready"
Alei's voice was followed by a literal wave of static.
"Unclip them, my brothers…" The pods rippled through the air down into the battle arena of war. "May the Forerunner be with you, Alei and Baxter" He said silently through the connection.
"And you, brother…"

Desert outside New Mombasa
Ninth Age of Reclamation
The Wanted Man

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"…"

'Silence fills the empty grave now that I have gone, but my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on. Now I will ask and you will answer'

"Shoot!"

The voice was angry and distraught, the sound of battle raged the warzone and the Elite behind Hydra shouted again.
"Hydra, shoot!"

'Gammamee reflected his palms to the Covenant Carbine he gripped in his hand and shot. The particles that fueled the carbine, revoked sparks into a nearby Brute's head.
The Covenant monster fell to his carbine and he bled slightly.

'That voice…that voice was being said at that moment on the other end of the universe…I can feel it'

Whoever's voice that was, it had a tad tone of anger to it, fury that mulled Hydra. The voice propelled notions of hate inside the Last Heretic, and he motioned his mind to forgo the antipathy in the voice for an even greater loathing and abhorrence for the Covenant and their lying cause.
Hydra crossed his hands and pulled the trigger, the Jackal's behind his crosshair slowly disintegrated in the thick air.

The battlefield was a dispersed desert outside the castle walls of the city. There were many plateaus and cliffs that intersected across the gulfs of the wasteland, creating an even greater catastrophe.
"Push forward!" He inclined his back and jogged to meet a Brute in hand-to-hand combat.
Hydra readied a blow into the Brute's stomach, punching his weight into the impact. The Brute faltered sideways, puffing a large wheeze to gather air.
"Rawr!" The Brute grunted, tackling the Elite into the sand. The abrasive grits eroded his armor as he slid across the desert dune. His carbine flew across the swell of desert, and he staggered the Brute off of him.
Hydra took his greatest swing at the Brute in the head, and the beast fell to his power.
"WORT WORT WORT!" He clamored in a gruff voice, throwing his arms in the air.

The desert engagement frenzied into complete chaos, there were Covenant ships streaming across the bloody sky, Banshees screamed their sirens from miles away, Ghosts wavered their lighted engines and they licked the frosty dust with the violet noses. Shadows fluttered wavy blanks of plasma through the dense air, Brute, Jackal, Drone, Elite, Grunt and Hunter bodies were littered across the wasteland.
The battle on Earth was not between the Covenant and Humans, but between the Heretics and the Covenant…

Hydra raised his Covenant Carbine and imbedded a death patch inside a Drone's skull. He switched his salvo on a nearby Shadow that was antagonizing a group of Grunts. He focused a zoom upon the gunner; a particularly bizarre-looking Brute with feral white hair was gunning down the Grunts fleeing from the gargantuan Covenant Shadow.
'Gammamee eased his grip on the trigger and pulled softly, letting the projectiles zoom through his tightened palms.
The passion of battle incited the fire inside Hydra; the subdued peace that once dazzled in aura was now completely extinguished. All that discharged inside of him was an empty void of pain, he was now the corrupted adept of suffering…
Hydra felt nothing, he was broken, and he would never be whole again…

'Lasha…'

'Gammamee wept silently in action, the frothing plasma from a close Jackal whizzed into his overlaid armor and he gasped for air.
"ARGH!" He screamed.
Hydra turned, eyes glaring with tears of rage sprinted towards the solitary Jackal that was perched upon a jutted boulder. The Jackal expelled over the rock, backing away as the furious Elite zipped for him.
"You…will…DIE!" Hydra fired at the Jackal, the Covenant monster hissed in fear, backing away from the Elite. 'Gammamee tackled the Jackal, the shield diffused in mist, rubbing into his eyes as they tore with tears.
Hydra found his fingers around the Jackal's throat, he hummed an infuriated growl to the beast as he tightened his grip on it. The Jackal hissed in fright, yelping in heated panic to the Elite pounding on his veins.
"You will pay…" Hydra sobbed, feeling the beading heart bray into cessation.

The crimson Elite dropped on his back, his heart beamed with a constant heartache, a perpetual exasperation that dripped into his very entity. He was poisoned with the ghosts of his past, he wanted nothing but to sink into the Earth and die.
He cried, leaking tears into his mandibles as he beat his fists on the desert ground.
"Why…?" He cried, ignoring the plasma echoing down his ears.
"Why is there no good in this universe…? Why must there be pain…suffering…and death…why?"
When all hope was diminished from his existence, a voice called out into him. It was like a gathering of angels that appeared above his head, and they sang to him a song of hope, compacting all sounds into a voice.
"Go bold, men!" The sound of a Human Marine trilled into his ears. The voice has a sense of eagerness and courage to it, a voice he did not understand.
He looked up to see the Human Captain handling a Battle Rifle; he was a tall, long-legged man with a vigorous torso. The mysterious human brushed a nearby Brute in the head with a melee attack, and he centered his zoom upon a Ghost that whizzed by.

The engine of the Ghost blew in a ribbon of cyan torches, and the Captain leapt from the slab he was standing on into the desert sand below. He seemed to be leading a very small platoon of Marines into combat with the Covenant, and they appeared to be taking higher ground above the polytheistic monsters.
"Captain Elihue they have taken the mount!" A nearby Marine cried, as he rocketed a Banshee down in mid-air. "We must take it back!" The Marine with the Rocket Launcher pointed to a valley ahead, there were ruins from a fallen space elevator, scattered across the lowland.

The debris formed crumbling walls and tunnels through the gorge and up into the mount, all the Covenant was parked upon the single mount, overlooking something on the other side.
"Hey…" The Captain Elihue approached Hydra. "You comin'?"
The Elite soaked his tears through his brawly heart and concentrated on the strong face that bore in front of him. He nodded, thinking nothing but vengeance upon the Covenant, and the hope for Earth. "Need a hand, buddy?" Elihue outstretched his open palm, verging his Battle Rifle on his shoulder. "Thank you"
Hydra took his palm and helped himself up, gripping his Covenant Carbine in his cold, iron fist.
The breaking of the Covenant tricked skyward up the mount; the air below was slowly thinning.
"I'm Brandon Elihue" He furthered his hand again, and furrowed the rifle that was poled on his shoulder.
"Gala 'Gammamee of the Heretics" He muttered humbly, taking his hand and motioning up and down, mimicking the Human's motions.
"Kinda awkward isn't it?" The Captain sighed. "All this tension of fighting you guys all this time, and now from a little exchange of partnership it all changes…"
"Yes, I guess it is" The Elite grinned, looking behind Elihue to see the mount crowd with Covenant soldiers.
"Onward?" Hydra pointed the nose of his carbine and gnarled.
"Onward" Elihue agreed, backing to his platoon behind him.
"WE TAKE THE MOUNT!"

The war cries and screams from the Marines winded into the Heretics and they all followed the collided battalions.
Hydra marked his scope onto a Drone, firing his passion into the insect. A warbling squeal from the Drone made him relieve stress on the carbine.
The pack of Drones circled the mount, firing superheated plasma and crystalline arrows into the Human's and Heretic's bodies. Some feel and died on impact but others persisted to take on the Drones.
"BR!" Elihue shouted in the air. The Marines that carried Battle Rifles sounded at the Drones, the 3-round bullets pelted their stringy bodies, and they all fell into the sandy abyss below.

'Gammamee followed their cause and emitted several danger shots into a Drone's oily hide. The alloy-colored insect dropped in front of the crimson Elite and he sprinted up on the dune-side.
He sniped a berserking Brute coming straight for him, the dying gasp from the beast satisfied a hunger inside Hydra. The whetting taste of anger consumed him, and he gave in to the power he possessed. The passion he wielded fired its thick green salvos into a Brute's skull, and that honing whisper of war called out into him.

Hydra marched through a ruined tunnel, shooting his viridian husks into the felts of the Covenant. A shuffle of Jackals flipped through the open tunnel, hissing into the opaque lighting as they spotted the crimson Elite spit a wave of fury at them.
"Aiih!" The Jackals sizzled together in forming unison. Hydra smacked one against the side of the head with his spiked wrist, observing the misty shield evolve into transparent haze. He forked the prong into the Jackal's torso, and the vulture-like creature wheezed a dying cough. The third Jackal was a major, orange shield pattering in the golden sun breeze. The brilliant Forerunner coding that was etched upon the Jackal's shield bore a tangible coldness into his soul. He leaned forward for a quick and easy strike, but faltered as he was blasted, face first into a shockwave of heated plasma.

"Gar!" Hydra gasped on impact, his face contorted his shielding and his masking ate away the underlay of his armor.
He dived behind a piece of shrapnel; the haggard and staggered breathing disabled him to check his shields. From what he was feeling he'd estimate his shielding were half-shattered. The grasping sparks licked his structure as he carefully withdrew from pain. The cuirass sputtered a final wave of sparks and he felt the instant "pang" that meant that his shields were back online.

He stumbled back a breath and leapt forward from the shrapnel, only to see a flash of bullets zip by his head into the Jackal's forehead-a perfect shot.
"Got him"
Captain Elihue lurched forward, meeting Hydra.
"Good kill, but he was mine" The Elite chuckled slightly, and they both returned to the task at hand…

The Ravager's flagship, Pride's Delegate
Ninth Age of Reclamation
Night is calling…

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"We found it…"

The Prophet's lips pursed to the words in a tight and excited manner, the crinkled and graceful neck rose to the lecture and he prodded his next declaration with a cautious tone.
"The Ark of the Forerunner has been utilized to Earth…" The Prophet of Truth bore a sudden look of disgust. "The Humans have interloped our affairs for the last time, the Demon is still out there assaulting our forces, and the…traitors have betrayed us and the Covenant!"
Truth tucked a hand in his robes, motioning for more allegations. "And the Covenant demands their blood!"
A clamor from the crowds all over the galaxy…

The channel of Truth's sermon switched off, the gazing static followed, appearing as immobile pieces of starlight.
"Hmph…the Covenant demands their blood, eh?" A Brute Honor Guard snorted from his rationing of the day. He spit a puff of shredded gist into his marble-specked bowl and he swallowed.
"What do you think, Chieftain?" The Brute looked up at a stern looking Brute across the silver console.
The Ravager looked hard into a diverted furbishes into the table, his concentration wondered onto the question.
"I will taste it…" He pounded his cold-hard fists into the console, making it shake.

The impulsive reflex from the hit made his pariah-like inscription sting with pain. The Ravager groaned slightly, gripping the Mark of Shame seared into his flesh.
"Retrayus…are you alright?" The Honor Guard questioned, seeing his Chieftain bearing pain.
"No…" He answered after a moment of silence. "But I will be…"

The Brute scooted out of his hovering dais and stepped up into the white lighting, the consolation he sought required a swell of anger and pain.
He found himself in a dark corridor; the purple flecks of Covenant technology shredded his frosted armor, sending poignant streaks of violet darkness bouncing off his shields.
"He will pay…he will pay…" The Ravager whispered softly, his eyes ignited in a seeping of heartless fury.

Retraynus' memory collapsed before him, and he drooped into the past, the night he received the mark…

* * *

"I will kill you, Heretic! I swear on my life that I will kill you!!!!!!!!"
Retraynus' threats carried on into the somber gallery, the two Elite Guards that gripped him tightly pushed him through the columns of the ship.

"I'll kill him…" He whispered, the painful gasps running through him. "I will…I will"
The Elites ignored him as he sighed desperately in suffering. Just then the Elites shoved him into the muster bay, a wave of Phantoms and forked Dropships took a place in their musters.
"You're free, scum!" They spat, dropping him in front of an open Banshee.

Retraynus quickly got to his feet, channeling all his agony into a stabbing blow.
One Elite fell in a shower of blood…
The next weakling turned as Retraynus quickly shattered his skull in a crushing headbutt.
"Ahh" He suspired, the stabbing wound of the mark was growing briskly.

'Go into exile…never show my face to the Covenant ever again…'

Retraynus' thoughts of banishment anguished him, he wanted every Elite to suffer to their cause. He wanted the Prophet's to admire his prowess and intimidation for other creatures, he wanted them to hail his name, and…
He wanted to ravage every Heretic he came across, he needed to feel their blood seep through his fingers, he wanted carnage to battle carnage, everything that is dead and gone he wanted to fight…
He placed his hand inside the Banshee and felt the course stick, he motioned out into the night sky, residing his anger in the vespers above…

* * *

Retraynus' Banshee skidded into a defiant halt, the sparks flew from a long journey into the capital carrier designated as, The Twilight. He heard distant battle clanging in the distance, but made no motion to carry out into war.
He resided his arm to the Mark of Shame that he now possessed, he treaded weakly into the bridge, walking to see a shadowy tier of Honor Guards pass before him.

"Submission to the Prophet!"

The Brutes around him all gathered around a Prophet Councilor. The throne that hung in a stupor-like transit, beckoned the beasts to the Prophet's reasoning.
"Dear Brother…what did they do to you?" The Councilor wafted his nimble and weak fingers inside his white robes, urging the Retraynus forward.

The Brute stayed silent but glared into the Prophet's eyes, he removed his hand from his chest and revealed a scorching mark…
The Prophet panted, keeling in trauma from the mark embossing his hide. The fiery outline of the Mark of Shame traced the Brute's blood in a revolting fashion. There was no greater Heresy…
The Shameful Brute's brothers backed from the Brute in degradation, moving closer to the symbolic elements of the Forerunner, imprinting their great backs into the walls.
"Noble Prophet…It was the Heretic…the Heretic…that did this to me" Retraynus gulped in air, wheezing to the scorch that embedded his fur, he growled softly and stood.
"Give me the right to make him pay…my reprisal and the Covenant"
The Councilor's neck wiggled in perpetual thrust, coming to a frustrated state. He took a final stare into the heart of the Brute, what the Prophet saw inspired him, the anger, the hate that resided in him gave him a sensed satisfaction.
"This Heretic…this Hydra as he is referred as is a durable foe…the Elites…readied with knowledge of the Great Journey and our strategies are moving relentlessly to their captured brethren" The Prophet let his jowls twitch before speaking again, walking away to see the explosions echo in the distant.
"The Twilight will defeat the Effectual Chastity, but if the reports are correct of Regret's Unity of Repent Leader then the ship is in peril. Though we still have their Councilors…they will not activate the Charge until they have them, which won't be long…You have full permission to hunt down and kill the Heretic…but you" He said, pointing to the Shamed One. "Are meant for a greater fight…"

The Prophet Councilor and Retraynus walked steadily into the escape pods.
"Kill the Councilors…" He muttered to the Brute Guard outside the pod.
They both jettisoned outside the ship, leaving The Twilight in utter doom…
"Noble Councilor…" Retraynus panted, hiding the shame under his braying breath. "What fight am I meant for if not for this one…?"
The Councilor reamed balanced and vexed eyes into the Brute before talking in a hushed voice.
"I see a dormant passion inside of you, the passion to stop this growing threat from getting stronger…"
The Prophet reeled back into his thronged chair, his weak hands grazed his snout as he looked at Retraynus.
"Tartarus is dead, Retraynus…"
The shock of the Chieftain's death shocked dismay into Retraynus, his eyes grew angry and spiteful like liquid-hot coals like the fusion cores of vessels.
"How…? When…?" His fists quivering into the confided spacing.
"We just received tidings before you arrived…it seems the Arbiter has murdered him in the heart of the Control Room…"
The Prophet welcomed the darkening silence trailing over them both. The marveling creature that stood before him fired in cold-hearted fury…
"Noble Prophet, permit me the gratuity of Chieftain, Tartarus was a dignified Chieftain, his leadership prowess demanded vengeance in every battle, I can hold this oath to his memory…"

The Council Member sat back, rationing his thoughts on the Brute's proposal. He looked outside as their pod zipped past a flaming piece of Covenant debris, they were headed for the cultivation world of 'Impetus Altar', and a ruined orb of a planet located a parsec away from Delta Halo.
"Tartarus' courier to be Chieftain was a Brute named Betronus, whom was a companion to the rebel, Alei 'Limoto."
"Was, Exalted One?" Retraynus muttered, rage, once again seizing his onset tone.
"Yes, Alei 'Limoto killed him just before Tartarus was slain"
Retraynus' furor and fierceness made the Prophet cringe in awe. "You from here on out will be the Covenant's Brute Chieftain…"
The Prophet waited to see the Brute's expression, speculating the phenomenon before him through this beast. "…your task: Kill Ralis 'Rahanammee…and we shall see the identity of this Hydra…"

* * *

The Ravager leaned back into the walled corridor, his pale-white armor lighted in perpetual darkness. The rage and animosity that gagged inside of him warred on, the silent and personal battle between sanity and insanity took its chaotic course.
"He will pay…He will die…"
The extinguishing whispers of his voice shrouded an irony in his words. The task laid before him was still undone, the peril of Hydra will be completed…

Remnants of Old Mombasa outside New Mombasa
Ninth Age of Reclamation
"You want a war? You've got a war"

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Hydra and Elihue fought together to maintain constant hold on their footing. The Covenant was propelling massive mortar emplacements all around the desert and fortifications of the Earth City.
"Do you have a clear shot at the gunner?" Captain Elihue mumbled in a soundless manner, tucking his vizard face from behind a piece of debris.
"Yes, I'll take the Brute out" The Last Heretic followed his zoom into a scoped phase. His attention focused on a singular shot.

The Brute behind the mortar emplacement stood, firing diverse patterns from the kindling terminal. Other Brute's patrolled around the solitary mortar, plasma flicked across the desert platforms and were introduced as dooms to innocent beings while they were combusted into ashy cinder.
"I'm taking it"
'Gammamee treated his trigger in a rasping passion, biting down on the spur with his fingers, he fired away. The projectile slammed into the Brute's head, his skullcap flew off and Hydra tamed another shot. The gunner Brute fell under Hydra's fire, and collapsed, ending the everlasting plasma that rained down from the crimson horizon.

"Cover that drip, Soldier!" Elihue pointed at a Human Marine near a welling chasm in the ruins.
"What we do, Leader?!" Sayare tagged behind his back, his green-speckled armor grinning in the radiant brilliance.
Hydra marveled and scrutinized his surroundings, they were in a valley encrusted with fiery debris from the space elevator. Many Grunts and Elites stayed hidden in the pallid catacombs of the battlefield, the Marines under Elihue's hand revealed guns only to snipe random beings hanging Cliffside on the mount.
"We take that mount…" Hydra soughed deeply, residing his scaly arm inside his carbine. "For Heresy and the Truth…"
Elihue nodded his head to the idea, his masked face cueing his idea.
"ALL FOR TRUTH!"

All the beings from the valley filtered out of their hiding places, all were screaming sieves of warcries into the ruins. Hydra hummed his scope on a Brute, sniping the beast in the skull.
He wavered a flock of Drones down to the fluttering sand, his open arrows hurled into the insect's body and rained a dooming flame on all the Covenant that opposed the Truth and Humanity.
"Elihue! The Wraith!" Hydra bellowed over the crossfire between the two armies.
The odd teammates looked over the hill to see a gargantuan tank, mauve with pictorial steel edging it's way along the dune-line.
"Marine! Do you have any of the SPNKr left?" Elihue asked a young Marine, while shooting down a Jackal in bloody fumes.
"No, Sir. All out!"
"Damn…what's our plan then, Gala?" He asked turning to the Elite, hopping to avoid being hit by a wandering plasma bolt.

Hydra gestured back to all his strategies at destroying enemy transports, the possibility of hand-to-hand combat was the only solution here, clearly.
'Gammamee turned to see the stern Captain still looking at him, waiting for the tactic to immerse into a well-devised one.
"We need a distraction while I get on it…" He said, finally, tucking his arm inside his carbine's holster slot.
"And we can make one for you…we'll fire vainly at the tank until you get your window, Gala" Elihue decided, stocking a fresh clip into the abode of his Battle Rifle.
"Let's go…" Hydra crouched, climbing the side of the valley. He roughed his way around the edge, seeing a sweeping cataclysmic storm swing over the skies…the same one that was in his vision.

The wind whipped brutally at his tattered armor, the sand missiles pelted his skin like hard bullets and the gale sustained, growing ever more adverse and disastrous.
He saw the Brutes, Drones, and Jackals patrol all sides of the mount as he crept softly under a thicket of underbrush.
The Wraith was being controlled athwart the term of a swell in sand, straight ahead of him. The ire and peace inside of Hydra collided for a battle among selves, his lighter side came over him, kindling a wave of calm serenity over him, but the ire and passion that persisted inside fought to maintain standing of his footing.
"You want a war?" Hydra inhaled deeply, stamping his hooves in the whistling sand. "You've got a war"

'Gammamee bounded forward, his carbine raised and his stature glaring with boldness. The Heretic Hero leapt from the canyon side, and onto the dune below. He landed with a sudden "umph" but he kept the brisk stampede toward the dune.
He conveyed his trigger and impeded a projectile through a Jackal's heart.
The shield of the scout evaporated in the hot air, the Covenant surrounding him on the other side took no appeal to this snipe and they continued their patrolling, glancing back every so often at the ruins to see if their was any sign of movement.
He ran through the open gaping of the mound, crouching and rolling to see the Covenant's progress on the lookout.

"Go…"

The static click of his radio hummed a following tune, and the gruff voice of Elihue perked in. "We're starting our approach now, Gala"
Sure enough when Hydra turned he saw them re-filter out of the ruined valley. The Captain Elihue marked the Wraith with his Battle Rifle and he shot, ignoring the slugs of grenades being tossed at him from a Brute Shot.
The Last Heretic frilled backward, slanting his scope at the Brute and firing…

The Covenant surrounded around the Wraith, clamoring to the utter panic engulfing them. The Brutes fell one by one, Jackal after Jackal, and Drone before Drone…they all faltered under their charge.
The Wraith scattered blobs of plasma into the air, the inertial orbs of azure flipped around in air, crashing on the sand and sending waves of barrages everywhere.
Hydra doubled forward, his feet brought him the very basis of the Wraith. Without neither thinking nor hesitation, he vaulted forward and gripped the fringing of purple. He punched a hole inside the top of the Wraith. The hinged hatch of mauve ruffled out, exploding the slab of steel that was the hatchway.

"Wha-?" The head of a Brute looked up to see a revealed Hydra prying into the tank. The Last Heretic sprung his arm back and jabbed down with all his fiery might. The Brute died in a single blow; he lay immobile as Hydra stood on the slab of metal.
"WORT WORT WORT!" 'Gammamee howled, hoping that somewhere in the city Alei 'Limoto heard the cry of victory…
The UNSC Marines and the Heretics all gave cries of hope and victory on the sandy battlefield. Captain Elihue rose his Battle Rifle in the air and fired, the shrouds of bullets shattering into the air gave Hydra a fulfilling satisfaction…he did his role on the skirmish…

The Earth gave a whimper right then and there as the Covenant Armageddon rolled into a welcoming manner…

Ravine, Delta Halo
Not too distant past, Ninth Age of Reclamation
Drop a Heart and Break a Name…

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'Ralis 'Rahanammee…'

The name lurched inside of Retraynus like a personal vendetta, his brutal fury soared ever higher and he gripped his Brute Shot with more strength and rage. The designated Elite frothed a spitting spleen inside of Retraynus.
The Brute studied the noise and confusion of battle before him, the darkening bluffs of the island Ravine, clouded a harbored trauma in him.

"Hydra…is break-…through…" The static-like voice of a Brute soldier burned through Retraynus, his anxiety to kill that being made his blood boil with choleric haste.
'He will pay…' His thoughts supported the shamed mark he would carry forever.
The Brute cupped his armor, peeking to see the inflamed Mark of Shame emulating with his blackening gore.

"Do you have a sight on Alei and the others?" Retraynus dropped the idle click on his transmission, feeling the need to smash an Elite's skull within.
"Yes, Chieftain. They are inside of the slag complex." The reply sounded…
"And Hydra and the Repent Leader…?"
"Yes, they are very stealthy, but several of our scouts reported seeing them before they…"
Retraynus crackled off the speaker, he knew what the word was before he clicked it off, and he was nowhere near interested in hearing it, for the sake of his temper.
"Tek?"
Retraynus' Jackal guard hissed in, the gleaming orange buckler misted in the Chieftain's peripherals. The hiss translated into a scratching "Yes, Leader?" and he continued on.
"We will go through the Ravine jungle, gather your best Jackals and I'll gather my best Brutes…we'll take them by force…"

* * *

Retraynus tore into an Elite's armor, plunging his steeled fist into the heart of the traitor. The beating pulse of the Elite halted, but the pulsing rage beat on inside of Retraynus.
"Nice ravage, Chieftain" A lower Brute growled, slashing through a Grunt with his Brute Shot blade.
"The Ravager…" Another Brute chuckled, tearing his arms inside of his carbine and reloaded.
Retraynus faked a chortle and moved on to the ridging of the valley full of magma.
"Tek, do you see anything?" The topical Ravager asked, gripping his Brute Shot with vaunted confidence and bloodlust.
The Jackal disabled his shield, buckling the misty buffer inside his armlet. Tek scanned the jungle horizon, bowing his lifeless yellow eyes back and forth, combing the steaming valley and the gorge over it.
Tek hissed in alarm…
"We have defectors and cowards on the other side!" He snorted with authority. "Make-ready for ambush!"
"Drones! Forward!"

The swishing seethes of the insects soared over the foliage, the buzzing panic of battle rained over the invisible enemies and cyan plasma splashed across their bodies.
"ARGH!" Only the voices of surprised Elites sounded.
Plasma fire soaked through the leaves, carnage dripped into the soil and shrill cries were issued from the Drones…
Silence followed…
"Tek, what happened…?"
The Jackal leashed his eyes, combing his blinks into the jungle. He turned, gnarling razor-sharp teeth at the Ravager, revealing an empty simper. Tek clutched his Particle Beam Rifle, discarding it to his holstered weapon, a Plasma Rifle. The Jackal ignited his shield; orange planed the murky flavor of gore in the air.
Retraynus snarled…
"We go on! To the slag complex!"
The company moved quickly through the underbrush, scrutinizing every aspect of the outlining with hazy eyes of alertness.

They erected forward, scaling the valley when they heard the racket of aerial battle overhead. There was a violet Heretic vessel impending towards the Ravine, blazing it's beaming shells into several carriers, taking them down by one hit.
"That's his ship, Chieftain" A nearby Brute grumbled. "The one that got victory over The Twilight, the Effectual Chastity…"
The Brute's gaped at the battle-scene, their guns held high as if enemies would pour out of any corner at any given moment.
"Go on! Stop your gawkin'!" The Ravager commanded, smacking the back of a close Brute's head with his arm, lurching him forward. "Rise and we will cast down the Elites!"

They all jumped into action, poised for the worst. Retraynus rallied his alliance, walking through the gated padlock of the slag complex.
"They were here, Chieftain…" A guard muttered, peering over his comrades body which held carbine scoring. "Hydra killed our brother, here"
His anger was fueled and driven, he held his chest. The Mark of Shame held in, he conducted a rub across his marked self, wondering how he would kill the Elite…how he would make him pay…

'Killing the Repent Leader…that will hurt him'

The Ravager's thoughts tripped over another, his cold sins washed over him like the betrayal of the Elites. He tasted that revenge, now what he wanted, what he needed to persist was to feel the Heretic Hero's blood stop in his fervid fingers.
As he walked the dripping edge of that vision peered over him…

'A dark chamber…'

'A weak being huddled before him, blanking expressions of loathing across his face…'

'Himself shadowing over the body, looking upon the face that marked him for exile and shame forever…'

'A gratifying lash…'

'…Yes…that is how it will end…'

The Ravager crossed his concentration onto the battle ahead, there were quick balms of fire that etched the metallic plates of the slag complex.
Just then a voice crippled the static of the transmission, a voice of encouragement and power: "These usurpers have passed far enough…eliminate the Heretic and the Traitor and we shall see whose journey is the greatest!"
The destined on battle that was suggested by the Prophet, fitted their angry souls entirely…

* * *

"PUSH THEM BACK!"

The Ravager barked into the air, his Brute Shot raised for turmoil. They were standing on a broad skyline, a blood-red prairie on the island frontier. United Nations Space Command Pelicans skimmed the skies, Heretic Phantoms dropped important troops onto the fiery fields and the Covenant pushed back.
"BRING SERAPH FIGHTERS TO WIPE THEM OUT!" Retraynus ordered, firing his Brute Shot at a Grunt attempting a kill with a Fuel Rod Cannon.
The Grunt's azure blood splashed across Retraynus' new bleached armor, he ignored it and fought on.
He looked up to see a wave of Seraphs launch over the mountainside, they fired twin cannons into the underlets of the Phantoms and Pelicans, all were exploding and doomed as they made fervid contact with each other.

It was apparent that the Covenant would take victory on this field, so Retraynus lurched forward, grabbing a distracted Elite by neck and twisting. The Ravager felt the familiar yet fulfilling emotion of death into the Elite, and he moved on.
Retraynus filled his Brute Shot, bombarding a Heretic Ghost with his solid barrages, ravaging the Ghost within. The Elite driver fell out, clutching his blue-clapped armor with agony, he slid into the grassy ridge and stayed.

The Brute Chieftain made forward, diving his fist down onto the Elite and impelling his heart in contentment and angry bliss. The Elite's slow breaths of doom resided, straining a blast of vehemence inside the Brute Leader.
The Ravager scanned the battle; the Heretics and Humans were being repelled back to the tree line, just then he noticed a marveling scene unfold before him.

The Repent Leader himself was standing ground in front of the tree line…
No doubt he was separated from Hydra and Alei, they must have all split up to take this battle.
'A futile endeavor…' He thought, breathing deeply in ire animosity.
Ralis 'Rahanammee shouldered the traditional Energy Sword, his black and white crested armor fermented with Brute's gore, and he slashed the life of a Brute frenzying after him.

The Repent Leader seemed to be leading the tree line back into the prairie, his shrill voice growling from across the field, commenting orders from the struggling.
A shower of plasma and bullet fire wavered from the trees, an overwhelming loom of breaching points emerged into the scene.
The power of the comeback persisted onward, sending a ripple of force forward, through the bodies of the Covenant.
"Tek, do what you can to repulse these traitors from battle…this is my fight alone…"

Ravine, Delta Halo
The Past, Ninth Age of Reclamation
Showdown

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The Ravager marched into the arena, facing all his differences into the face of a single Elite. He stared down the Repent Leader, with a brisk and patient stride all of the Elite's worst fears were being realized.
The Brute Chieftain marveled at the weaving complex of battle…
The Heretic and UNSC air units pushed back at the Covenant, firing blanks of plasma mortars into the air, colliding all firepower into the skirmish.
The Drones that buzzed overhead issued plasma and purple crystallites into the bodies of Humans Marines, Elites, Grunts, and Hunters…
The insect's corpses rained down on them, dropping alloyed-shelled bodies in the air by ripples of sparks and plasma.
Jackals scrimmaged forward, crossing plasma into cleft points in the Repent Leader's battle formation, some fell and others persisted to the greater cause.
Brutes backed to find some room to shoot, besting their superiority over the scuffle with the Elites.

The Repent Leader was guiding them altogether, threatening a Brute with his sword and smashing inside, killing the Brute instantly. 'Rahanammee sidestepped to avoid a swell of plasma bolt from another Jackal, he slapped the bolt behind his back, dissolving the green burst through his branded energy.

The Elite bent over, calming his strike into a solitary blow through the Jackal's flesh, in one glorious swipe of his Energy Sword, the Jackal dropped, dead before it hit the ground.
The Ravager advanced onward, stridden to confrontation with the Repent Leader…
"Ralis 'Rahanammee!" The Brute Chieftain called. "You end here…"

The Repent Leader crossed a glare into the Brute's eyes, studying the anger seething out of Retraynus. He took a final glance, connecting his arms into the hilt of the sword and focusing, channeling the rage for the Covenant, his rage for the Brutes.
"We will see…" 'Rahanammee growled, hiking forward to meet The Ravager in battle, hand-to-hand combat engaged.
Retraynus met his fist into an uncrated belt, however the Elite stepped backward suspecting the first move from the Chieftain.
Hungry for the cessation of the Elite's heart, The Ravager hunted forward attempting a tackle at the traitor.
"UMP!" 'Rahanammee toppled back, tripping under the weight of the Brute. His sword flew in the air, landing on the blood-drenched soil so far away…
"Your nothing without your petty Unity…" The Ravager taunted, cupping his arm for a blow.

Seeing the expression on the Repent Leader's face, he backpedaled his fist, he struck a nerve…
The Elite curved his legs and vaulted skyward, motioning for a kick at Retraynus. The Brute held the legged spring in his hands as he poised for the worst.
Retraynus and 'Rahanammee collided in a spark of fire, their fears shattered in a stormy passion.

The shadows of doubt and truths battled evermore and ever greater, the Ravager ducked behind a punch from 'Rahanammee, he lanced his fist underneath the duck and grappled, bringing the Elite to the ground.
He restrained the Elite to the grass, taking his Brute Shot blade and holding it to the Elite's neck.
In the delivering slash the Repent Leader died his tolling body whisked in the breeze creating an even greater war and chaos.

"Leader we have Hydra in our possession…" The stagnant and rigid voice of the Brute guard purred.
Taking one final glance at the armored body on the ground, he responded: "I'm comin'…"

The vengeance of The Ravager was still undone…

Remnants of Old Mombasa, base before New Mombasa
Ninth Age of Reclamation
The Best Boys

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Hydra grunted softly as he sat down at the sprawling bench before him. The ruined city of Old Mombasa was bore before him, everything that was once referred to as civilization was now a torching sand hole.
A limpid palm tree flung itself over the crimson Elite, offering a dense amount of shade. The tree confessed an ashy pool of faith at the base of the bench where 'Gammamee sat.

'Rahanammee…'

His daydreaming nightmares brawled throughout his memories, he remembered the Repent Leader in his arms, dead and placid in peace. Ralis 'Rahanammee's twilight spiraled a toll, expressing a sadness and fear inside of Hydra…

'Lasha…'

Her remembrance rattled a blast inside of Hydra, nearly snapping with shared madness, and he fixed himself into a right state. In truth, she didn't see what he saw, and what he saw he still sees…he looked into what he saw, what he believed, what he lived…he saw hope. The hope that sieved inside of him trailed into a hasty glitter of sunlight. The beam of light that grilled into him made a tranquil settlement of reconciliation, and he breathed his first breath of renewal…

"Hydra…?" A utterance interrupted. "You alright?"

Hydra opened his eyes to see Captain Elihue standing over him. The Marine Leader sank his weight into the bench and sat, wondering the expression of the Elite's scrutinized facial demeanor.

"Yes…" The Heretic Hero answered, swerving his expression into a beckoning welcome. "Yes…I'm alright"
"Shall we move out?" Elihue asked, pocketing a glance at the Elite.
Hydra took a final breath before igniting his feet to move, he hit the ground with his hooves, feeling the course rubble graze under his scales.
"Let's go…"

Captain Elihue and Ship Master, Gala 'Gammamee walked out into the capacious yet dazzling sweep of desert. Sweat trickled from Elihue's studied face as he cleaned his Battle Rifle for the work needed to be done ahead on another battle, another war.
Rain fell from the skies, the cataclysm storm drizzled on, lightning lacerated from the heavens, lashing holes into the ruined buildings.
"Go Go Go!" The Marine Captain's voice lingered on to see the light of the burned city.
A thunderclap caved the sky, creating a cloud of dark in the core of the world.

Hydra moved forward, walking alongside of Sayare the Grunt, his assistant clicking his Plasma Pistol back and forth in a frightened poise.
"What going to happen, Leader?" Sayare stuttered quietly as the troops walked into the raining girdle.
"We're going to save the world, Sayare…"
They walked along the sidewalks, seeing dusty remains of Covenant bodies. Hydra also saw a pair of Hunters clasped under a brace of two massive slabs of doors, buckling to their alloyed armored skin. The Hunters bore bullet holes in their orange underskin…
"Yeah, sorry about that…" Elihue frowned slightly. "That was work of the Master Chief before he disappeared on that godforsaken ring…"
"Captain, he didn't disappear didn't you hear that he was riding this fleet in? Lord Hood reported it himself"
They conversed more, but Hydra didn't cling around to hear. He focused on the here and the now where his thoughts belonged.

'Gammamee patrolled the side of the sidewalk, until his Elite senses picked a hysteria from the drowning conversations and blowing dust in the wind.
"We have company…" He reported, drawing his violet carbine.
Hydra grabbed his armlet and buried it inside his Covenant Carbine; he focused his eyes on a drawing threat growing ever nearer.
"From where, Gala?" Elihue asked, also lifting his Battle Rifle to the silence.
"There…from that park" He pointed to a pitting dustbowl covered in tan ruins. It was sown with a panic around it, an ensuing border of anger beaded from the bowl, and he heard individual hisses.

"Make ready for contact, Marines" Elihue muttered in a gruff saying, his patch of confidence inspired Hydra and they moved onward to look inside the dusted arena.
Inside the bowl there was a ruined battlefield; hampered inside were Phantom Dropships, Pelican Dropships, Banshees, Longswords, and smearing bodies of any kind.

"There is nothing to see here, except death…we move on" Elihue ordered, downing his head to the bodies clouded in fumes of plasma scoring, he walked on, unable to show a flare of compassion and grief from an unreadable face.
"Wait, Elihue…" Hydra cuffed his breath, motioning to the debris littered below. "I believe there is still hope…and I feel I need to rejoice it"
Elihue merely stood looking bewildered at the alien. He scrutinized Hydra's expression, squinting his eyes to extract signs of guilt or pain but returned his gaze to find tenderness and mercy.
"Very well…" He sighed, now turning below to see the bodies below, incapable of anything more than a blink into the storm.

Rain leaked down from the heavens as lightning flickered skyward, the flashing bulbs of thunderclaps licked the dark skies, the Elite ignored this, centering himself on the smite of battle within the park.
"We came to Earth, this Earth to help our lost allies fend this threat from the planet…I was once a part of this threat, me of all entities have been a role in this Covenant…they ravage your skies and intrude on your cities, killing at will…now I-we will not stand idly by and see that old fool, Truth get his passage here, into the Ark…I won't have it" 'Gammamee finished filing a cupped hand onto his heart and sighing a moment's silence.

There was that moment of silence that beckoned light into each and every one of the beings that second...

* * *

"FIGHT! FIGHT TO THE LAST BREATH YOU HAVE!" Hydra consumed his laments and gasps, gaping at the despairing and horrible battle before them.

'It was disturbing and horrifying to behold…'

Hydra paced back and forth from the construed line that was his Heretic army, behind him legions of Grunts, Hunters, and Elites held their ground, solid and fearless.
Elihue steadied a pace beside him, ensuing encouragement to his now, scared-to-death troops.
Hydra took a second to behold an unrecoverable fight…
There were shadows of Covenant vessels that scraped the bloody sky; they flicked their ship's shields to the Marines and Heretics below, they all seemed to be drifting toward a "eye" in the storm that focused just over the horizon.
Before the horizon a indisputable and material Covenant army marched, war cries from Brutes, hisses from Jackals, buzzes from Drones…all were united in a breath under the Prophet of Truth…

'Alei should be here by now…' He thought, as his brother was nowhere to be seen. 'I am ready…for the Truth…and nothing else…'

The Ship Master, Gala 'Gammamee and the Captain Elihue shouldered the army in that sweeping breath that was known only as a 'sigh'…soughing his rage, his faith, his love, his concern, his compassion, his hindering strength, he channeled all those emotions into an unbreakable barrier.

'I stand for good against this evil…'

Signaling and gesturing the ultimate battle of their time before them…the best of the best sojourned in this army, good intentions and good hearts were welcomed as they gripped nerves for the war ahead…

'…The lingering fear is subsided…'

Covenant Flagship of The Ravager, Pride's Delegate
Present Day, Ninth Age of Reclamation
"Break those chains that bind you"

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The Brute Chieftain glossed his unshorn hands across the vitreous terminal of the Bridge. His Bridge assembly before him, commanded his every word, he enameled his Brutes under him and the authority he was built upon…
"Chieftain…?"
The Ravager turned to see a Brute Honor Guard clutching a portable spark of a device in his fingers, pinching to hold the device he handed it to the Chieftain. "It's an encrypted message from the Prophet of Truth, he informed us that it was for your eyes only, Chieftain"
Retraynus took the message, sliding it into the coaster inside the terminal.
"Very well…" He growled, ushering the Honor Guard out in a gnarled roar.

The Prophet of Truth bared before him, the creature had sparkling crimson robes on as Truth reached to tighten his jowls ere to saying word at the Brute.
"The Brute's have rose from the Covenant, we are all creatures who have seen heaven ablaze in our eyes…but the paradise of the Great Journey requires the ultimate sacrifice, Retraynus. The Prophet's have paved the way to salvation, dazed to see betrayals in our holy Covenant." Truth cringed and smirked while speaking on…
"The Elites have failed to protect the Prophets and in so doing have put all our lives in jeopardy…it is your responsibility to ensure that this salvation is made, Tartarus has already failed, what will you do, Chieftain?"

The flicker of sparks swallowed his terminal, and the Prophet of Truth was engulfed in darkness. The Brute was left pondering his next course of action…
"I will kill…" The Ravager muttered softly, his bloodthirsty action was plotted as Pride's Delegate raged to Earth's desert, right behind the excavation wave.

* * *

"We will go in together…Tek and I will meet up with the army here" The Ravager pointed on the geographical chart of the Earthy desert. "The Ark, we think" He hesitated. "Is located beyond this gulf, and there is a regiment of Humans and Heretics meeting us on all four's before it…our orders are clear and simple from the noble Prophet of Truth himself…we kill every being resisting"
His warriors baring the Great Journey nodded their angered minds to his cause, The Ravager motioned for them to head for the Gravlift and they followed, seeing the Great Battle before them…

* * *

"Make ready!" Retraynus barked, making certain that every warrior was employed onto the orb of mauve before them. The Ravager held his newly forged hammer, The Fist of A'Gla. He marveled at the Chieftain's mallet, it was silver with cyan lining embedded inside the steel. The Fist of A'Gla chalked a stalk of power, he held it and twirled the handle in his cold fists as he thought…

'This hammer will kill Hydra…' Retraynus connected an image.
'A blood-drenched Hydra laying on the ground of battle, plasma zipping overhead, The Ravager stood over his body, a broad smile emerged on his imagined expression. He pulled back on the Fist of A'Gla and felt the heart of the Heretic boil to a halted stop…'

His world rallied back together when the emitter on the Gravlift hummed to life, a bright light…and his troops glided down into the battle…

* * *

"Look at that, Hydra"

Captain Elihue was staring at a Covenant ship in the distance; there were gleaming specks of creatures that leaked from the ship and onto the battlefield. Specks of threats leaning to the lies and deceit of the entire Covenant.
"I see it…" Hydra sighed, piecing his familiar rage together. 'Gammamee had not forgotten 'Rahanammee's murderer, The Ravager. The very assassin sent to kill them all…
Surprisingly, Hydra unclenched his fists.

'If I am meant to fight The Ravager then I am meant to fight him…if I am meant to fight and win…'

The coveted screams from the Heretics ensued the war cries of the Marines. Approaching by flying from the stormy-central of the Covenant army were Drone scouts. Buzzing their shrill cries in the air, launching waves of crystallites and plasma down onto them…
"BRING THEM DOWN! BRING THEM DOWN!" Elihue screamed.
From a westbound plateau a Warthog ate the sand, flying inertial across the skies.
The man inside the Warthog scraped the turret into the insect's bodies, screaming as the other Marine drove him.
Elihue chuckled softly to himself as the Warthog crashed back down to Earth, along with the rest of the Drones.
"Who is that?" Hydra gibed, nodding his head to the man on the turret.
"That crazy bad ass is Lieutenant K. Woodword…" Elihue replied, still coughing a chortle as Woodword met up with them. "I was there the day he ripped the guts outta that Hunter"
"Haha - I remember that too" Woodword smiled, feeling his gargantuan Rocket Launcher, while readjusting the SPNKr to his fitting. "Who's this?"
"Oh this is Gala 'Gammamee" Elihue introduced the Elite, feeling the sudden tension from the killings his species had on each other.
"Hydra…" The Last Heretic corrected, extending his palm to the Lieutenant and shaking it.
"Well…we have more of you guy's everyday…I just met Alei 'Limoto, you know em?"
'Gammamee focused on his brother's last meeting, intending to see a great entrance like Woodword here.
"Yes…" Hydra suspired softly, gripping his Covenant Carbine in his front. "Yes, I know him"
"Yeah…" Baxter continued, bobbing his eyes occasionally to see the armies of the Covenant march ever closer. "Hangs with Sergeant John Baxter…hell of a guy, bit of a temper, but you'll learn to love his style…"
"Make ready, boys…" Elihue murmured, shaking his Battle Rifle to the clump of creatures ahead of him…

In the midst of the shorted conversation a flying mortar of plasma showered the starred clouds, lightning stripped the black horizon creating a shocking bowl of sparkles and brands.

'The battle has started…'

* * *

Leading the army of the Covenant into a single march made The Ravager glow with pride, he flashed his gauntly silvering of his hammer into the sky, seeing the Heretics and the Humans assemble under his arm.
He zoomed his eyes on the particles of beings hiking nearer and nearer, appearing now as larger spectacles of light.
"RISE MY BROTHERS! LEAVE NONE ALIVE!" The Ravager bellowed, belting his armlet and creating the whiting energy shield, making his vision fog in a haze of protection. "Break those chains that bind you…"

The creatures of the Covenant cinched war cries and sprinted ahead. These was not a battle of machines, vehicles, or weapons…this was true blood-lust and betrayal…

As the Covenant pursued the charge an erupting shake issued, from the cliffs a metallic machine appeared…
A Scarab crawled over the plateaus and grasslands; the shakier appeared creating massive tremblers of earthquakes and shockwaves as it stomped over the grassy plains.

'Whose side are they on…?' The Ravager thought, gawking at the war-machine that stopped in the middle of the desert…in the very core of the two factions…

His question was answered as the digger turned toward The Ravager…
"HERETICS! SHOOT IT DOWN!" He ordered in a blaring roar, trumpeting his channels in his radio to order a patch of Seraphs to bomb it down.
His army turned to shoot obsolete green wings of plasma at the Scarab, one Brute focused a Fuel Rod projectile onto the nose of the beast, managing to blow a crater inside the muzzle. The Scarab drooped its flaps and charged a ray of splashing energy through its snout.
"HOLD!"
The plasma collided, sending the Covenant flying from their employments, The Ravager held ground, jumping from a drool of plasma spit just where he was seconds before…

* * *

"Is that who I think it is?" Woodword hemmed his voice in liveliness, placing a grin on his face.
"Yeah it is…" The static-voice of John Baxter cut into their radio chatter. "Did you miss us?"
Also smiling Hydra and the others watched as the Scarab ahead of them ravaged half of the Covenant army.
Suddenly an alarm rang from the skies, Seraph bombers were discarded from a local carrier and they circled the Scarab.
"ALEI! BAXTER! ESCAPE! GET OUT THEY HAVE SERAPHS OVER YOU!"
The Seraph waved a trickle of purple steel around and enveloped the digger, it then released a pod of plasma into the balcony of the Scarab, crippling it completely in smoke and dust…
"Wha-" The static click of the Sergeant buzzed away, the Scarab fallen over, destroyed…
"Kaskut?" Sayare muttered softly, whining his Plasma Pistol ahead.
Hydra's senses wavered a thunderbolt from the heavens, and his anger foiled his once great seep of peace…
His face fired with rage and sadness in one daring movement, foolish and quick he tilted his hooves and sprinted headfirst toward the dust.

"TO WAR!!!"

Following him were tiers and tiers of Marines, Hunters, Grunts, and Elites, they rallied an arrow that shot into the heart of the Covenant like fire…
Hydra, leading the campaign saw a shroud of clearing from the smoke, seeing the hint of crimson flare against the sky.

"THEY'RE ALIVE!"

Baxter, Alei, Kaskut and the Tebo Brothers appeared unscathed. The rebel, Alei glazed the fire with his armed Energy Sword, hacking smoggy vapor to clear the crash.
Sighing a breath of life and peace, Hydra nearly tackled the Elite in a bearing embrace.
"Hello Gala…I missed you too" The sarcastic tone of Alei's voice trailed on, making Hydra laugh slightly.
"Shall we, brothers?" Hydra enclosed, breathing to feel his Carbine and the cold steel in his scales.
"TO WAR!!!" Alei screamed, climbing over the Scarab's ridging and launching fist-first into battle.
"The blazes with stayin' here" He spat, backing his modified S2 AM Sniper Rifle into his palms, encouraging Hydra to lurch forward on top of the spire-like crater of the Scarab.
"WORT WORT WORT!" He howled as Elihue, Kaskut, Sayare, the Tebo Brothers, and Woodword followed, raging screams of howls into the breach of the storm.

'The breath of battle was finally drawn…'

Desert Battleground before unknown Forerunner structure
Ninth Age of Reclamation
Final Plunge

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The Ravager tamped the Fist of A'Gla into a Grunt, smashing his bodily innards outside of his body. He reacted to a spin, clobbering his hammer into a body of a Elite standing seconds earlier to the deathblow.
His assistant Jackal, Tek sat perched on a jutted piece of debris, sniping the head of a Marine…
The hiss of the vulture-like creature made Retraynus' heart purr with carnage, he arched his fingers back as an Elite approached the Chieftain, trying to make a fistful blast of futile plasma soak through his shields. The Ravager aimed a casualty-strike and hit, completely thundering the skull of the weakling down.

The lashed violet ray from Tek's Particle Beam Rifle rang into a skull of a Hunter's orange skin, crashing it down into the fighting.
The massacre and bloodshed raged onward, spiking plasma blobs and splashes into the air with Gauss blanks.
Retraynus stepped into the bloody-soaked combat, already breaching the life of a Hunter, slugging his hammer into Hunter's armored flesh.

* * *

Hydra slashed his Carbine's stub into the head of a Brute's skull. He felt the ebon gore pass through his fingers, but felt entirely peaceful with shedding blood. The crimes from the Brute's have tolled too far, they have betrayed and massacred innocent beings of the Covenant, it was him, Gala 'Gammamee that was going to make them pay.

He shouldered a thrust into a Jackal, swiping the creature's neck and wringing it of life, feeling the dead pulse in his angered hands…
Hydra marveled his brothers, watching Baxter, Alei, the Tebo Brothers, Woodword, Elihue, and pair of Grunts, Kaskut and Sayare fight on into the early wrath of the battle.

* * *

Alei gashed a tense hole of doom inside a Drone, snapping the insect's wings from their holstered faults. The rebel, Alei marched a wave, intimidating a trio of shielded Jackals as he moved to sever his Energy Sword at them.

Mist sprayed in air, they all collided, seeing Alei jump out of the shield smog, unscratched…

* * *

Baxter abided, dwelling on the bunker of the Scarab. Hidden by the cerements and coverings that were fumes he zoomed his S2 on a Jackal kneeling on a protruded piece of debris…
"Gotcha" He breathed, scoping the Jackal with his scope, just as he pulled the trigger the Jackal's senses jerked, also pulling the trigger from inside the Particle Beam Rifle.
"ARGH!" The Sergeant cried as the particle zipped past and met him in the shoulder, barely making an impact.
He snapped back into sensation and turned, adjusting his S2 again on the Jackal Sniper…
"Your mine…" Baxter exhaled in gritted teeth, feeling the head of the Jackal pop in death…

* * *

"TEK!!!"

The body of the Jackal crashed downward, into the arms of Retraynus…
The Ravager's body hazed in difficult blasts of rage, anger, and grief. Hearing that one final hiss from his Jackal Assistant he clutched his Mark of Shame and staggered back into war.

Retraynus pounded his hammer on the ground, releasing a shockwave that devastated the life of a local Marine. The Human kicked up dirt as he scurried to his feet, seeing the monstrous Brute rage toward him. The Marine lifted his SMG, and shot specks of bullets across the Brute's pelt.
"UH!" Retraynus gasped as the bullets milled his hide, the blood from his overshield speckled back, cooling to release the white glow encompassing him. Ignoring the bullets he raged forward, attacking the Human.

The Brute Chieftain grabbed the Marine by the torso and threw upwards, sending the coward flying in a scatter of broken bones…
He grabbed the Fist of A'Gla and hammered on, spotting the Scarab outpost of the Heretics and marching toward it…

* * *

Woodword tottered to keep his footing straight, he was almost pushed over by a wave of ceaseless wind that knocked from the storm above. He limited his distance between a Brute Honor Guard and shot, his Rocket Launcher slamming into the ground before the Brute, killing it on the first smoking.
"OOH-RAH!"
The Lieutenant grabbed his smoldering M90 Shotgun, shooting an 8-guage cartridge in the butt, he spiraled back, kneeling and seeing a Jackal in a closed circa…
He walloped the Jackal in the back of the head with his Shotgun, feeling his pride and joy of battle kick in. His instincts sang and he felt the chaos unfold beneath him. Whilst the Heretic Hero and Alien Brethren were consuming the fight…

* * *

Captain Elihue cupped his arm around his BR55 Battle Rifle, waived a fresh clip of 9.5 ammunition inside of the Rifle. He bent the clip back and heard the satisfying click that meant his BR was ready for battle…
Reclining back on his standing he focused his action onto the Covenant, shooting the head of every being that moved, Brute, Jackals, Drones…everything that his triode bullets touched, it fell…

* * *

The Grunt's Kaskut and Sayare screamed around two blasting creatures, towering over them. The Tebo Brothers were providing the protection needed for the Grunts to blight plasma and crystallites onto a frenzying Brute coming near them.
"Nice one, brother!" Sayare perked, clapping a hand on Kaskut and continuing the fight…

* * *

Hydra dwelled into the combat stance, twirling his arms back to reveal a rafter of anger and peace. His mystic and obliging side clashed, making a fiery war of sorts. He soughed a cough of excellence as he marked a Brute for death, smoking the viridian projectile through his fingers.

'The end of the war was near…'

Desert Battleground before unknown Forerunner structure
Ninth Age of Reclamation
Finish the Fight

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The contention and struggle for the upper-hand clashed onward, Brutes fell under cannons and strafes of bullets, Elites gave footing under a stampede of blinding plasma mires, Grunts enveloped the battle, yelping as clouds of barrages swallowed them, causing blood to spill, Hunters groaned, straining their orange underskin to see the fight convey before them, they were snapped in anthropoids while a Brute rush devoured them in light blood, and the Marines gave their fights for glory, siding their faith, their world in each other…

The shards of broken bullets seized the scene, killing the Covenant. The splashing plasma stuck vital gore from the Heretics and Marines, killing them…
It was a battle of epic proportions…

"Gala! Look!" Alei 'Limoto screamed, killing a frenzied Brute while he observed the battle.
Hydra looked up to the skies, seeing an armada of Banshees closing in. All bore the Covenant marker of dark violet alloy. They were scouring the tide of the Covenant, side-swiping Fuel Rod Cannons down onto the unprepared Heresy.
A twin laser streaked down to Earth, coming straight for Hydra…
He dived, seeing the plasma melt the grass where he once stood, from the sky the Banshee flipped. The Pilot noticing that he missed his target aimed a better shot at Hydra from the aircraft.
"ARGH!" Hydra gasped feeling the plasma ridge into his shoulder, melting his armored shoulderblade. He felt his skin through the melted skim of plasma and he fastened back into battle stance.

The Banshee double-flipped, scamming the reticule over the crimson Heretic, he had seconds to move but plotted the best course of action as the Banshee underestimated Gala 'Gammamee.
"Oh I don't think so…"
Hydra focused an air pocket in the wind and bent back on it, feeling the breeze of change. The pain, the decoy of his move made the Pilot shoot a panicked bomb of alarm at the ground. The Last Heretic then bounded skyward, taking a Plasma Grenade from his scabbard and fizzing it at the Banshee's nose.

Hydra vaulted back down onto the ground, behind him a firework of a Banshee rained upon them. The other Banshees bombarded the captive wave of Heretics and UNSC, seeing the threat Lieutenant Woodword pulled out his slatted SPNKr and firing, sending ramparts and ribbons of flesh and steel flying in air.

'Gammamee watched his companions fight alongside other Heretics and Marines, falling back from the Scarab's crash site because of the overwhelming Covenant that pushed them back…
The Last Heretic withdrew from his pensiveness, realizing the battle-at-hand and coming to it…
He returned from the deep thinking and fought on, standing on his two legs to see the misty blood rise from the overpowering army.
Then he heard a fell whisper in the air…

"Shield and sword, Hydra…"

The dead voice of a familiar ally chimed into the Heretic's ears…he froze with fear…

"I am you, your past, your future…"

…

"'RALIS!"

The voice was a vesper of a rustling, whispering to the extent of a murmur…
Hydra's heart beat with unsteady intakes, trembling hie took the message at heart and listened to his inner voice…

'This is not 'Rahanammee haunting me' He thought, appalling his ears to the whispered voices. 'This is me, fighting for that peace…'
Hydra bore his hand to his heart…shedding the last tear he could ever suffer to shed…
'Well, 'Rahanammee…this is for you…'

At the disclosure of his thoughts a shadowed figure emerged over the horizon…
The drowning darkness of The Ravager appeared in his teary eyes, and he felt his peace extinguish before his heart…

'For my peace…'

Letting the breathtaking anger drown him, he picked up his Carbine and walked forward to a duel of the fates…
Seeing the towering Brute break before him, made 'Gammamee cringe with dismay, but he paced himself, letting the fury blaze it's way inside of him…

"Hydra…"

The grueling face of evil appeared, speaking before him with utter ire and animosity…

"Ravager…"

The two beings reamed grisly and fiery eyes at each other…
The Ravager broke contact, gripping the Fist of A'Gla in his knuckles, he swayed the hammer sideways attempting to kill the Elite in one slash…
Hydra bent posterior to the Brute, gliding his Carbine from behind his hands and shooting, back flipping from combat. The projectiles ladled the hide of the Brute, removing a half-spark of the white shielding.
"GAH!" The Ravager wheezed. The Brute Chieftain cut his pain and removed the agony; he mangled his hammer back and shot an invisible metallic draft at the Elite.
Hydra flipped backward in the air, his shields were disabled and he flew back, landing in a pile of rubble…

'Gammamee riffed up, springing to his feet and looking around-The Ravager was nowhere to be seen. He let his shields recharge, patiently he leapt forward and back into the heat of the moment…
Strong, he carried the burden of the hero…
The Heretic Hero would save them all…

The Ravager breathed an faltering wind, jumping back into clash with Hydra.
This time, the Heretic didn't back down…
'Gammamee lent his Carbine and pulled back, shooting The Ravager with the remaining 7 projectiles he had.
The Brute's shield was now completely torn, and he staggered back, stepping from Hydra.
But the Elite persisted…

Throwing his Carbine aside he tackled The Ravager, punching his jaw with his scaled blow. The Last Heretic modeled a vicious head-shot with his fist and pushed, seeing the black gore emerge from the Brute's confrontation…
Just then the Brute growled angrily, his Mark of Shame beating a readied strike and he rammed upward, hurling the Elite skyward…

"ARGH!"

The Elite double-took in the air and slammed his feet into the ground, feeling his shields splinter beneath him. The Ravager then from a sudden impulse, slugged his hammer into the Heretic…
The darkness engulfed him…but for a split second Hydra debated the agony with the support of his peace…
'WORT WORT WORT'
The war cry echoed inside of him, breaching his blood and seeping through his ridging armor…

"WORT WORT WORT!!!" He cried, bellowing to see The Ravager in shock, standing over his body.
He twirled his legs and snapped, cracking his feet together and kicking the Brute in the face…
The Ravager blinked, underestimating the kick made at his face, he riffed back and landed on his back, breathing his own blood. Hydra grabbed a nearby Energy Sword, realizing where he stood.
The Fist of A'Gla was left useless to The Ravager's sided torso, as Hydra lit the Energy Sword, hearing the clash of battle swallow his mind.
'Gammamee slanted a pronged tip of the Sword, relaxing his elbows and striking down, feeling the anger build outside…
Retraynus reacted, smirking as he grabbed the Elite's head from the close-stick and pulled down with all his might, propelling the Heretic over his shoulder.
'Gammamee slipped back, butting his head to a crack and feeling that satisfying click of status, the Elite sloped forward and front-flipped toward the Brute, never backing down a single blow…

Desert Battleground before unknown Forerunner structure
Ninth Age of Reclamation
Lucky Stars

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Hydra's nemesis staggered toward him, attempting a death-tackle but failing as 'Gammamee strafed to his right, coming back to the duel, the Brute turned, his face contorted in utter rage…
"Your faulty tricks will not outmatch me!" The Ravager roared, grasping a hug to his Fist of A'Gla and frenzied forth, swiping the hammer all over the ground, creating massive generations of shockwaves.

'Gammamee hopped, avoiding the blinding earthquakes that shook the grounds…as he jumped he dove abroad the Chieftain, shooting his Energy Sword into the Brute, completely obliterating the shields.
The Energy Sword stuck in Hydra's hand, he pulled back, leaning a slosh and raged forward, slashing Hell at Retraynus…
"FOR…" He tightened his grip on the hilt. "THE…" He watched as the Brute saw flying stars, bobbing his head to the beat of his vanquished heart. "TRUTH!" With one final channel of passion, rage, peace, desire, murder, and love Hydra thrashed a dooming slash onto The Ravager…feeling, knowing, hearing the heart of the beast die beneath him…

Hydra's had prevailed…

'The truth…is free at last…'

At the sudden murder of The Ravager the great battle died down, and the plasma that was ceaseless now stopped, gliding a peace into each and every victor…
"Alei…" Hydra sighed, unfiring his Energy Sword and beckoning the Elite closer. "We have done it, brother"
Alei's expression was lucid in fright and content at the same time…
"What is it?"
Alei walked over to a tired group of Marines and Heretics, seeing his assistant Sayare, seeing Alei's assistant, Kaskut, seeing the Tebo Brothers, seeing Elihue, seeing Woodword, and seeing Baxter all were looking out onto a breathtaking scene…

The monumental structure of the Forerunner was releasing before them, the storm picked up and they sat emotionless on the cliff side…
"Anybody up for a fight?" Baxter asked, holding his S2 with a gratification.
There was a momentous pause before Hydra muttered.

"Absolutely"

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