The Orion Project (Rewrite) (indefinite hiatus)

Chapter 25

   Rose lit a small flame in the palm of her hand, it's light creating shadows that danced along the walls. Ancient glyphs were scattered all around them, some were sharp and angular while others were more organic. An eerie feeling made its way to the pit of her stomach and her uneasiness grew more and more as they descended further underground.

"Does anyone know what these glyphs are?" Lukas asked.

"Did we ever cover glyphs in our training?" Eune asked. "I don't think we did."

"We didn't, but I feel like we shouldn't be here." Devon quietly said.

"That makes two of us." Rose muttered.

The glyphs were becoming more apparent and numerous as they traversed deeper into the cave. Some were glowing a dim sky blue while other s were glowing a bright blood red. The glyphs is were leading them to the mouth of a cave at the end of the tunnel.

"This can't be good." Alyssa grumbled.

"Do you think this was left by the Anor?" Rose asked.

"I dunno, Did the Anor just leave their language in some random pit in the middle of nowhere?"

"Well, I mean, there were some instances but..."

"I was being sarcastic."

"Oh, okay."

"Eyes up, we don't know what else could be down here." Devon ordered as they exited the tunnel.

An ancient city sat in ruins before them. Large structures that were once towers reached up to the highest point of the cavern, a small amount of surface light made its way to illuminate the ruins. It was so high, they couldn't see where it came from.

The buildings were designed like leaves with organic curves and small banners fluttered from some kind of wind source. Larger buildings were shaped like trees while the main castle looked like it was carved straight out of wall. It had dozens of towers around it and it spiraled up to the ceiling.

"Should we...?" Eune asked.

"Well, if there are any more Chimera's, we should probably take care of them. These ruins aren't anything special." Lukas chirped.

"Let's take a closer look." Devon said.

Rose grabbed his shoulder. "I'm getting a bad feeling from this place. Maybe we should head back and call for backup."

"Aw c'mon Rose! It'll be fine!" Lukas boomed as he wrapped an arm around her. "Ya got me and everyone else here too! We'll be fine."

"Besides, we can't just leave based on a feeling, Rose." Alyssa sighed at his antics.

"We get this done, then we can go, deal?" Devon whispered softly to her.

"Fine, but, let's be careful."

     Devon nodded to her and continued forward. As they neared the front gates, they found tens of hundreds of corpses scattered around. It was hard to tell if they were human or Anor, as many of them were dismembered and missing limbs. Deep, massive claw marks dotted the walls and a breach was only a few hundred yards from the main gates.

"What...happened here?" Alyssa muttered.

"One hell of a fight it seems." Lukas replied, gazing up at claw marks.

    As they made their way deeper into the city, the bones of Chimeras became more and more frequent. It did not take long before they found what appeared to be an Alpha, then another, and another, until they counted up to twelve of them.

"This is insane." Eune said. "We're the Anor that much of a threat to the Chimeras?"

"I don't know, they seemed...organized, to a certain extent." Rose shined a light into a broken wall of an old home, a family was sprawled across the ground inside.

"This happened long before humans set up the Capital. Maybe we were forced to work with the Anor to fight them off?" Alyssa suggested.

"Ask Hannibal, he never covered anything on this scale." Devon kneeled down, picking up an old Anorian sword. The blade had broken off its hilt.

Alyssa turned to the sound of rocks clacking against each other, her rifle raised. Her light barely lit up the alleyway and she slowly entered it. She scanned the rooftops above and shown her light into the doorways of buildings. A growl snatched her attention and she looked behind her.

A humanoid creature stood behind her. It's body was covered in grey scales and shined liked armor. It's front claws were shaped like hands with long nails while it's hind legs were more muscular to support its weight. It was hunched over and she could see the drool dripping from its jaws. It's tail was wrapped around its waist like a belt and it's eyes glowed a sickening shade of yellow with sharp slits slicing through them.

"Guys!!!" She called out.

Before it could lunge at her, Lukas' armored hand latched onto the beast's tail, and he dragged it out into the street. It thrashed at Alyssa and she swatted its attacks away with her rifle. As soon as Lukas released his grip, it roared into the air, forcing them all to cover their ears through their helmets.

Lukas swung his axe in a wide arc, chopping its head off and silencing it for good. He kicked the head away like a quarterback and it flew into a nearby house. "Damn monster nearly ruptured my eardrums! Gah!" He groaned.

Eune shook his head and crouched down to the corpse. It twitched and writhed whenever he poked it. The tail slithered around its waist like a Winterion snake, shivering and jumping at every little touch.

"What is this thing?" He asked.

"Who cares what it is." Alyssa said. "We can take a chunk of it back with us and have the egg heads look at it. Then we'll know."

"Might as well take the whole corpse. They'd appreciate it! Haha!" Lukas chuckled.

"Let's search the rest of the place." Devon said. "If there are more, let's get rid of 'em."

"I'm down, I'd like a little revenge for this one nearly jumpin' me." Alyssa unsheathed one of her daggers from her hip.

"It kinda reminds me of a Chimera." Rose said.

"Chimera's ain't built that way 'rosebud'." Alyssa smirked behind her helmet.

"What I mean is, the way some of its body is built, it looks like a Chimera's."

"They'll be dead soon anyways. So don't worry too much, okay?"

"Rose has a point, Alyssa." Eune said. "Parts of it resemble a Chimera and others are...unnaturally familiar."

"Oh yeah? Who cares what it is?! If there are more, we'll just wipe them out! Simple as that." She retorted.

"If they are humanoid, then that means they've adapted to either humans or the Anor." Rose muttered. "This could get tricky if we go deeper into the city. Let's turn back and get help."

"We've already traveled this far down." Devon said. "If we start our ascent back up, we could get trapped in the caves above by however many are down here. It's either we stay and fight, or get caught with our pants down. It's not that hard of a decision."

"But..."

"Rose, we need to finish our mission. Regardless of what they've adapted to, we have to kill them all. It'll threaten the military above and the future settlement here."

She sighed. "I understand."

"Good, then press forward." Devon ordered as they made their way deeper into the ruins.