ARES:Gods of War

Prologue:Drop

The rumbling thunder of a nuclear detonation was followed up by the blinding white light of the tactical warhead going off. Around the detonation, the vehicle crumbled and groaned, though the blast had deafened the initiator of the detonation. The man in charge of the weapon that had destroyed the Mantle's Approach wondered for but a moment where fate would lead them. Death was a known and familiar concept to SPARTANs, after all.

It was so familiar, sadly, because they'd lost a great deal of their own to it. Be it by the hand of fate, wherein some had augmentation complications, or by the hand of the enemy, where the Covenant, the ruthless foe that had terrorized mankind for a little over a quarter of a century, had struck continuously against their planets, causing their numbers to dwindle ever more with each destroyed world and each SPARTAN placed on the list of those 'Missing In Action'.

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 had been avoided by Death up until this point. Whether it had been the spectral Grim Reaper with a scythe and black hood from the tales and depictions centuries old, or just an unseen, undeniable force, it had chosen to avoid him, to deny him a 'peace' of sorts after he had Finished the Fight against the Covenant and ensured mankind's survival. Only six years later, most of which were spent in Cryosleep aboard the ill-fated aft of the Forward Unto Dawn, the Chief would find himself facing death again, against Covenant Remnants and, now, the Prometheans and their master.

The Didact had been a tough foe, an enemy worth mentioning, worth keeping in the back of Chief's mind, even as he went out of his way to kill the treacherous Forerunner and stop him from enacting his plans. It had all culminated here, in the Maw of the Composer aboard the Forerunner capital ship belonging to this strange alien foe. He had won, but at the cost of his life and the artificial life of his comrade in arms, Cortana.

Hence, one would assume the SPARTAN would receive that peace and quiet that Death would give, whatever it was. Chief was never much for the intricacies of death. He just knew it as a constant in human life, so he never really bothered to worry about it, even in his final moments. Most of his friends, himself included, were 'atheist', meaning they didn't believe in gods or the Afterlife. Still, he had expected to see something waiting for him. Maybe the faces of the dead, maybe memories.

No. Instead, the Chief found himself laying on his back, his ears ringing as the blur and bright pallor of his vision faded to reveal a grey sky. Around him, dozens of tall buildings, overrun by nature, stood tall, their windows broken, graffiti faded or hidden behind layers of greenery and neon signs long blown-out. The weight of his armor was there, as was the familiar, intensely quiet whir of the suit's microfusion reactor.

One thing that was noticeable was that one of his senses hadn't properly returned:His hearing. He was still listening to a tinnitus-fueled ringing that irrationally grated him. Night impossible to withstand for any normal human, for a SPARTAN it was close to a massive nuisance that he could just ignore. Even so, he had other pressing matters to attend to aside from a little ringin'. He flexed his fingers, then curled them. Toes and hands, both. He felt the armor move with him. He curled his bicep, lifting his forearms, then nodded, before curling his legs and stretching them. There was little to no sign of armor lock and he could feel the armor's inner gel layer shifting to re-accommodate him.

He pushed himself into a seated position and felt his back. His fingers wrapped around a thumbhole and a grip, his index gently caressing a curved piece of meta. Pulling the weapon off his back, the man soon realized it was his MA5B assault rifle. Quickly giving it a once-over as the ringing began to fade, he thumbed the button to activate the ammo counter and saw a small crack across its glass as it powered on. Racking the bolt, the SPARTAN stood to his feet, wobbling a little due to the nauseating tinnitus.