AURA: Revive Edition

Chapter 4: Aura

"What do you mean 'good luck'?" Hollis the soldier asked through the communicator, but no one answered back. He approached the lifeless body and crouched beside it- his eyes were open and gray as his blood continued to pool around them, softening the mud and blending with it.

"He came alone, didn't he?" the second soldier, Erskine, said. "Our job here's finished! Shouldn't we go back? It's freezing here!"

The third soldier, Wetherby, jabbed the second soldier's shoulder. "Would you shut your trap? You already got all three of us in trouble! If the Guardian Vaan hears that, he'll surely execute you."

Erskine scoffed. "High and mighty all of a sudden, are we? You're just as much at fault here! See all these cameras?" He gestured at the four semi-hidden cameras around the clearing. "Vaan must be laughing at us now. It's no question you'll get executed too!"

As Erskine and Wetherby argued, Hollis observed the dead boy's body. He thought the execution to be a little bit overkill, but orders were orders. He and Erskine and Wetherby have disobeyed too many of them, and he thought this was a good way to make up for it. He leaned closed to the dead boy's chest and observed the many bullet holes- you could barely tell that he was wearing a white shirt. He leaned back and looked at the dead boy's face. Was his hair always been this jet black? He thought as he turned back to his companions.

"Oi!" Hollis shouted. "Could you two just stop yammering?! You'll get us into more trouble!"

Erskine and Wetherby shut their mouth with a grunt as Hollis checked on the dead boy's body again. "What?" he asked in disbelief as he looked at the dead boy's blue eyes. "Oi! This boy didn't have blue eyes before!"

"Shut up!" Wetherby shouted. "No one cares what that boy looks like, he's dead! What's it matter?"

Hollis removed his helmet and took a closer look- the dead boy's tanned skin was turning paler by the second. "What the hell is going on?" Hollis asked, now noticing the sword on the dead boy's back. He reached for it when the dead boy's dead hand grabbed his wrist. "What in the name of-" he shouted as he got up and backed away.

And immediately, the dead boy got up and drew Mirage, slashing at Hollis before he could even finish his sentence. Hollis managed to stay out of the swing arc, but he lost his footing and fell down to the mud.

Erskine backed away a few steps and Wetherby dropped his rifle as Hollis backed away slowly from this dead boy whose upper torso was shrouded in bright, emerald green Aura. The bullet holes in his chest shrank and disappeared within seconds as well as the bullet holes in his right hand and calf.

With shaking hands, Erskine took aim at the dead boy who was just standing there. But the dead boy noticed, and before Erskine could fire, the dead boy lunged at him. Erskine pulled the trigger and unloaded at least a dozen bullets on the dead boy, but he kept charging. Not a second later, Erskine found the dead boy, all bloody again in front of him and between them was his sword. The sword pierced through Erskine's breastplate like paper and he felt his lungs emptying as the sword went out his back.

The dead boy swiftly removed his sword from Erskine and he dropped dead. Wetherby screamed and decided to run uphill back to the base, but as soon as he turned around, the dead boy was behind him and swung his sword at his neck. Before Wetherby's head could hit the ground, the new bullet holes the dead boy got were already gone.

Hollis could only back away as the dead boy eyed him with his eerie blue eyes. "Please! Please leave me alone!" he shouted, almost incoherently as his fingers continue to dig though the mud, completely forgetting that he had an arsenal of weapons at his disposal. He saw the dead boy grab Wetherby's rifle and walk towards him, his shroud of Aura leaving a fleeting trail of emerald light. The last thing he saw was the dead boy aiming the rifle in front of his face and then pulling the trigger.