The Orion Project (Rewrite) (indefinite hiatus)

Chapter 54

Devon landed at the remnants of a once thriving village. The walls were in tatters and the streets were in ruin. Corpses littered the roads and some looked half eaten. He also spotted a few Chimera corpses as well. A waypoint appeared on his HUD and he made his way deeper into the village.

"Youngling...something is not right here."

Even though something made him bite his tongue, he agreed. Chimeras never used their hunting grounds as a nesting place. They would have moved back to the mountains or deep into the forest to roost. There was also the distinct sense of familiarity with the village.

"While I want nothing more than to return to Orion and find out what is wrong with you, we must stamp out the infestation from this place. It is only right that we do so."

Devon nodded and continued on towards the center of the village. He saw what was once a school and he saw himself and Rose running out of their school as children. He recognized the building...it was their school. He turned to his right and glanced down the street. He spotted the village bakery where he and Rose would get a treat with their parents.

He deviated from his objective and started wondering down the road. He observed his surroundings, recognizing places and memories would come to mind. He chuckled as he passed by the remains of a play area in a small park. He stopped in front of a house and he realized where he was.

"Youngling?" His bond gently prodded.

"This place...it's Serenity. This is where I was born. My home. Never knew what happened after the raid that night."

"My condolences for your loss."

"Nah, it's alright. I was six when it happened, can't really say much about it. Seraph did say we all lost our families to some kind of accident. Guess this is mine." He sighed.

"Why did he keep this detail from you in the assignment report?"

"To keep me focused maybe? I dunno, he's weird like that." He shrugged.

"We can deal with that later. We had best keep moving."

Devon nodded and pressed on towards the center of the village. More and more corpses were littered across the ground and, while it was obvious that the village had been abandoned for years, but the blood that stained the pavement looked as fresh as the day it was spilled. Devon guessed it was from recent kills but he couldn't be sure.

"Youngling....I sense something, familiar here. Be on guard."

Devon pulled his rifle off his back and raised it as he entered the village town hall. The building had been completely torn apart from the inside out. Decayed plants and roots were wrapping their spindly fingers around the wreckage, and he swore he saw bones amongst them.

The thing that made him nearly heave was not the smell of decaying flesh, but the sight of hundreds of bodies piled in the remnants of the building. Untouched by nothing but the passing of time.

He forced himself to speak even as the pain in his chest felt like someone was forcing molten metal down his throat.

"The Chimeras would have eaten them on the spot..."

"Youngling, we must move on."

"Agh...right."

As he made his way deeper into the building, he almost fell down a massive sinkhole. It looked like something had dug a massive hole beneath the village itself.

"We must investigate. That familiar stench comes from down there."

He flipped on a light on the underside of the barrel of his rifle and shined it down the hole. It was so deep that the light could barely reach a quarter of the way down. He steeled himself as he leaped into the hole. The air around him turned stale and he could feel his senses dull slightly.

He reached out his hand and forced the air to slow his descent. He felt the air hit solid ground and he gently lowered himself to the ground. He immediately raised his rifle and scanned his surroundings. He followed the tunnel in front of, noting how clean the cuts through the rock was.

"A Chimera brood did this?" He quietly said. "This looks like a machine carved out this cave."

"A high ranked Chimera might be responsible. Under no circumstance drop your guard."

A single ray of light shined down into a massive cavern as he exited the tunnel. Thousands of Chimera eggs lined the walls, sticking to them as though someone had glued them there. Their almond shape was contrasted by their sickly burgundy color.

"Youngling!" She motioned him to a a clearing far below him.

The light beamed onto what looked like a crude altar. Three sharp, pointed rocks were awkwardly carved to look like teeth. Two held up a corpse hung with some kind of webbing, while the last had a longsword impaled through it.

Even at the distance they were, Devon recognized the symbol carved on the body's shoulder armor. The distinct design of a sword cutting through a flag was hard not to remember.

"Dad." He gasped.

His focus was broken as four figures lumbered out of the shadows. Each was a humanoid Chimera, just like the one he and his team faced back during their first Chimera nest assignment. They all glared at him with their piercing, yellow eyes. They unwrapped their tails from their waists and crouched low like they were getting ready to pounce.

"On your left!"

Devon turned with his rifle raised, only to be met with the bloodthirsty stare of an Omega. It towered over him and was swinging its tail side to side in anticipation. Drool fell from its mouth like rain, as though it had been starved.

"Well, shit."