The Battle for Gamdon VI Part I: Death at Dusk
Posted By: Mech
Date: 17 August 2006, 6:27 pm
Read/Post Comments
|
The Battle for Gamdon VI Part 1: Death at Dusk
Sunlight conceals the true horrors of the day. It soothes you, tells you
that everything will be fine. But then Darkness comes and tells you
everything is not, and never will be. Darkness is the truth-bringer, and it
never lies. It never has to, for Darkness only shows you the fear in your
heart has been there the whole time.
Sunlight does not show the insectoid-shaped ship lurking in the corners of
the horizon. It does not show the desperate battle of the ships trying to
save your life. It does not show you the chance that any second now, a stray
shot could kill you and everyone you love.
Darkness shows this horror. Darkness makes everything terrifyingly clear. It
is the one thing that makes everything clear in an instant. And yet, you
fear the Darkness. The truth-bringer.
When Darkness comes, you finally see these things. At first, you don't
understand. Little toy ships no bigger than your fist, flying in the sky.
Explosions that look like the lighting of a match. Laser beams that seem to
you like needles of light. Exhaust fumes from Archer missiles that are like
the smoke from a Safe-Cig. And finally, the ships themselves. One group
looks like metal rectangles with points of light at the end. The other, like
Beasts from Hell. All of these things, dancing through the stars in some
elaborate ballet. Then you realize the truth.
The Covenant has found your home.
Panic sets in. But only for a moment. You relax, remembering the UNSC
propaganda films you watch on the vids. Countless videos of the heroes
everyone knows about. Captain Keyes, the valiant but fallen Hero of Halo.
Sergeant Johnson, who calls himself the Toughest Son of a Bitch Alive. And
the Master Chief, the man who went through Hell to destroy a whole Covenant
armada single-handedly.
But darkness whispers words of death in your ear. They can't help you here.
They are gone, and will never come to your aid. Everyone you know and love
is going to die along with you. Even the people you saw only ten minutes
ago.
And for a moment, you listen to that dark voice. You start to sob. But then
you look up, and your heart rises with your eyes.
The Covenant is being driven back! You think. We have won! The UNSC have
kept me safe!
But then darkness again crushes your hopes.
Wait. You think. What is that glowing light drifting toward you? It's not the
fireflies. This light is getting bigger by the moment.
Before you can decode this information in your brain, the light slams into
the ground twenty feet away from you. Steam vents from the light, which you
can now see is a pod, roughly human shaped. You tentatively step toward it.
Then the front explodes outwards, almost hitting you. It clips you leg, and
you hear, rather than feel, you bones snap to the greenstick fractures. Any
farther and you would have been at the mercy of the creature pushing itself
out from the pod.
The creature seems unfamiliar for a moment. Then you take in the long,
elongated head, the four wiggling jaws sprouting from it chin. The muscular
limbs, and the fluorescently colored armor.
An Elite. The shock troops of the Covenant. And then your fear begins to
feed itself, showing you vids and pictures of bodies that had been maimed by
Elites. And then your terror escalates as you see what the Elite has in its
hand. It seems innocent enough, only a device that looks like an intricately
carved handlebar. Until it lets loose a sword-shaped shaft of star-hot
plasma.
The Elite glances at you for a moment, and you can almost swear it smiles at
you. That is all it takes for your survival instincts to take over. You turn
and flee, the cursed darkness still whispering death into your ear. The
Elite gives chase, glorifying in the thought of being the first of his
brethren to score a kill. And so he follows, waiting for his chance. You do
not think of any of this, only thinking of survival in the falling darkness.
But then you thoughts turn to the sky, and you hopes are raised once more.
For a brief moment, you look into the sky, hoping that the human ships have
somehow sensed the danger groundside, and have headed down. But it is not to
be.
The human ships are still fading into Oblivion as the Covenant ships
continue to fire their needles of Death at them. Now you are alone. Now you
know the truth.
Death has come to Gamdon VI, and he is fulfilling his quota.
|
