Only On Paper

5 - A Shattering Force

It's loud, and it hurts.

The first round punches me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. When it explodes, my helmet is blaring warnings that my buffer shields have been blasted away. The second round gouges into my kneecap, folding my leg from underneath me.

As I begin to fall, the round that would have hit my shoulder ends up in my mouth and detonates with a vengeance. The initial shrapnel pieces of my broken helmet is painful in and of itself, but then I felt my teeth shattering. I could feel my jawbones unhinging. I feel my flesh incinerating, my eyes bursting, and my skull splintering. Whatever is left of my pasty brain can barely make out that my body is now reeling backward into the ladder shaft.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I am a little scared. My Ghost is so involved with what is happening in the battle between the Vex and the Cabal, will it have time to reach me and save my Light before I am forever lost? Would my Light truly disappear? Am I going to end up just like Jorun and Lannin, with nobody to remember me?

Suddenly, whatever this is that passes for my consciousness is filled with a burning Light so bright that I wouldn't doubt you could see it from orbit, had I been outside. I'm flexing my fingers, moving my arms and legs, and a fire burns in my lungs. I'm aware now that I'm back on my feet and staring down that Cabal Phalanx. His shield had been partially melted and it appears he tossed it aside.

The walls around me had also been seared and melted, some existing beams welded to each other or fused to the floor. Everything around me glowed with a fierce radiance. The Phalanx was stammering backwards, looking for an exit. I don't think he realized what he beheld. Hell, I don't quite understand what's happening, I just know that this isn't the time to stop and ponder.

I sprint at the retreating Cabal. As I close in on him, I throw an open palm into his chest. I continue running as I feel the brilliant heat behind me as his mass explodes. There's a constant flame burning behind my back, I know this because my shadow is consistently in front of me... and it's sporting two shining wings. The corridor I'm running down leads directly to one of the main drive-shafts for this moving fortress.

As soon as I see it I wrench forth the Light burning within me, sculpting explosive mass into my hands. I lob three, four, five different trajectories down into the spinning machinery. The explosions are fierce, rocking the entire room. There is a shriek of stressed metal, the shuddering of the room increases, and alarms begin to blare with an urgency. The entire structure is moaning and it feels as though this tank is grinding to a sudden halt.

Multiple voices scream orders over the PA system, there's the clanking of running footsteps from areas beyond where I stand.

I need to get out of here.

With the last of the radiant flames inside my lungs, my feet dance accross the catwalks, occasionally broken by the sweet sense of gliding upwards to a new walkway. I run into a few more Cabal soldiers on my way out, each of which I ignite with my fingertips. As I round a bend and see the final hatch to my freedom, I hear an incredible roar from my left.

I throw one final grenade and my fiery wings disappear, the hatch blasts open. I look over my left shoulder to see who can only be Valus Ta'aurc. His massive hands on his massive launcher, sporting a massive rocket assembly on his massive back. He's looking right at me, too. He opens fire just as I slip outside the now stationary Land Tank, explosions and shrieks now shrinking behind me.

I notice as I hit the outside atmosphere that the feeling of smothering static has come back in full force. I barely stop to muse on it, as I'm well aware of the Harvesters above, firing rockets at me. My rear helmet cameras show a mass of Cabal troops charging in a long column, some mounting up on their Interceptors to give chase. That's a problem.

I glide up the nearest cliff face, rocks bursting around me as the Cabal forces struggle to hit me with their unwieldy cannons. As I put some real Martian stone between me and the rest of the Cabal army, I only need to worry about those damn Harvesters making sweeping runs.

In the corner of my HUD my Ghost is still broadcasting the raging fight going on between the Vex and my prime aggressors. It seems to be coming to a head, the heavy weaponry is starting to come out. Masses of Praetorians, thousands of Goblins and Hobgoblins alike. The Cabal are sporting all their rockets and explosives, throwing Goliath tanks at the machine forces.

I'm suddenly aware that the Harvesters on my back are pulling away with hasty resolve. The overpowering static on my skin and in the air almost seems to crackle. I don't know how to describe it, but it does seem to be a far more powerful kind of ancient Golden Age might.

And it's watching.

"It's been a long time since I've seen Him," That soft voice comes from my back. I would ask 'who', but I know the gun won't answer me.

From here I can observe the carnage I just left to the east, and the slaughter going on the the west. It's already a surreal picture, only to be made far stranger as the clouds part and a lance of thunder and fire crashes down upon the tidal war below me.

The sound is deafening, the light is brilliant, the fire is scorching. Screams of beast and machine alike are drowned out by the guttural bellow of sheer power. The landscape below is cratered out, and powerful sonic ripples continue the tear apart red sand dunes. The static in the air seems to dissipate with the massive destruction.

Now I realize I'm not alone up here. I snap my fusion rifle to my shoulder as I take aim, finger pressuring the trigger.

The Guardian Huntress seems just as shocked to see me, as her scout rifle is pressed firmly into her shoulder. We both realize our mishap, and point our barrels in a more friendly direction.

"You did that?" She gestures to the east, and the smoking Land Tank, scrambling Cabal forces, and overall chaos of the valley.

I shrug. "I'm guessing you didn't do that," pointing to the terrible destruction in the west, thunder still roiling across the hills.

"Rasputin." The Huntress says. She lingers for a moment longer, surveying the writhing scene below. She then sighs, then gives me a friendly nod and TransMats her sparrow. "You've helped my hunt greatly. I will not forget this, Warlock." And she speeds off to the southeast, leaving me here to contemplate what it is I've just experienced.