As they walked through the forest they looked over the weapon they held. Turning it over a few times revealed little about it other than one simple four lettered word, 'UNSC'. Trying to think of what the word meant, they suddenly groaned in pain, reaching a hand to their head as a splitting headache hit them.
Giving up after a few tries and a few short lived headaches, they started looking left and right periodically, before stopping for a second, hearing the sound of rushing water. Looking to their left they spot the source of the noise, a flowing stream. They would smile slightly, only now realizing their thirst, as they walked to the stream.
As they arrived to the stream they realized something as they crouched down, their reflection showed them in a full suit of odd armor. Taking a close look at the armor, they felt a sense of familiarity, but as they tried to think on it, they groaned in pain, another headache, 'odd' they thought. Reaching up they grabbed onto the helmet, lifting the helmet from their head with ease, 'i guess it wasn't attached to anything' they thought as they took a look at their face. What stared back at them was a face that looked... broken, to put lightly.
They didn't recognize the face string back at them at all, from the sunken in green eyes, to the long brown hair. The one thing that stood out to them about their face though, was the scar running from the top of their eyebrow, across the nose, and down to their cheek. Gently reaching to their face, their brain finally processes that this is what they look like. They put their helmet down as they stared into the water for a minute, before scooping up a handful of water, and drinking it.
Upon repeating their process a few times, they finally stop, having drunk their fill. Grabbing the helmet, they decide to look it over, it's design was familiar, yet alien.
Flipping the helmet back to face them, they stared at it. As they stared into the visor of the helmet, their ears started ringing, and their vision blurred. As the ringing subsided it was quickly replaced by loud popping noises, followed by shouting. As they raised their head, they took a sharp inhale.
Instead of a peaceful lake, with fresh pine all around, they saw the rubble of buildings, fires that reached higher than the skies raging from inside a few of them. As they listened closer the distinct crackling of a fire nearby was just faintly audible.
Releasing the breath they were holding, they turned their head back to the ground in front of themself, seeing someone clad in the same armor as them. As they stared into the visor of the person, something warm touched their hand. Looking to their hand, they noticed a red liquid touching it, quickly pulling their hand back they looked at it.
a voice rang out in their ear, but they didn't listen, couldn't listen. Then the smell hit them, deep and metallic... blood. Knowing what that meant, they reached for the person, shaking them to try and get them to speak, but to no avail.
Shakily, they reached up to the persons helmet. Grabbing onto it, they tried to remove it from them, finding it slipping off easily. Upon removal, They dropped the helmet quickly and backed up, the helmet hitting the ground with a dull thud. Their heart beat a mile a minute as their eyes widened to the size of saucers. Under the helmet, where their head should've been, there was nothing.
Their ears started ringing once more as they started hyperventilating as the world around them came to a still. As they sat there a gloved hand reached down, grabbing onto their chin, lifting their head to look up. A hooded figure stood where there was nothing, the only noteworthy thing of them, was a sharp hood, and a golden skull where their face should have been.
As they stared at the being, they noticed a distinct lack of eyes, only a dark abyss lay where their eyes should have been. "At any price" their voice rang out, calm and clear as they turned around, walking calmly through the war torn building. "Mors Vigilat... exspiravit" the figures voice rang out, echoing through their mind as their eyes unfocused once more. Upon blinking a few times, they noticed that there was no longer a ringing in their ears, nor was there the sound of a crackling fire. Looking up they noticed that they were back at the lake.
Letting out a shuddering breath, they sighed in relief. They tried not to think about what they just witnessed, as they looked back at the helmet, their heart skipped a beat. On the chin, just under the visor, was a golden handprint, in the palm of the print, a silver symbol flashed, 'V'. releasing a breath, they tried to think about what that meant, their mind grasping only one fact, 'that wasn't a dream, was it'.
They shook their head, trying to rid the thought from their mind, but only finding it digging deeper, almost like a cancer. This being obviously had something to deal with them, but what did they mean by 'at any cost?'. Finding a headache worse than the rest pop up at their attempts to think, they stopped, flipping the helmet around they slipped it on.
As the helmet came to a stop, a sound akin to a computer starting up rang out. As images flashed on the screen, followed by lines of words, speeding past, before disappearing. A line would flash into view of the screen, before moving and coming to a rest at the top of it, followed by an image of the current weapon he was holding, this time it moved to the bottom right.
A final screen popped up, circular in shape, but an error message popped up [ERROR, motion tracker offline] followed by the circle completely disappearing. 'Motion tracker?' They thought for a second before shrugging it off. Standing up, they turned away from the lake, deciding to head in the opposite direction from it, hoping it might lead them out of the woods.
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Hey guys, seth here, sorry for the long wait, but I've been having some issues irl, but not to worry, I've worked through it, the chapters should be comin out quicker, but i will see y'all in the next one, and remember 'Si vis pacem, Parabellum'
YOU ARE READING
Sing for the Moment
Action"Don't fear the reaper... Exspiravit" the cloaked figure's voice rang out, like a bell tolling it's last in a church slated for demolition
