Journey to Destiny

Chapter 3: Meeting of Destiny

 I could see what I assumed to be the 'base' I was supposed to go to in the distance. I was walking towards it, on high alert in case any Fallen pop out from behind a rock or bush.

"You know you don't have to walk," Ori said from behind me. I stopped and turned around to face him.

"What do you mean?" I said. I watched as a motorcycle like a vehicle appeared before me, hovering off the ground.

"This is your sparrow," the ghost explained. "Well, at least for now," I assumed that this was my vehicle of choice in my previous life. I mounted the sparrow and pressed my foot on the pedal to start it. The sparrow started moving faster than I anticipated and I began speeding uncontrollably down the vast terrain of Old Russia.

"How do I stop this thing!" I shouted, just barely able to hang on to the handlebars.

"There should be a brake pedal right next to the accelerate," Ori said in a calm voice, as if nothing bad was even happening. I quickly found the brake pedal and slowed to a stop. I struggled to catch my breath, and even more so to understand how I could have possibly braked while hovering in mid-air. As I looked up, I saw the Fallen Old Russia base before me.

"Well, look at that," Ori said. "Were already here," Now all that was needed to be done was walk in.

I kept my gun close to me, as I have done before as I walked towards the entrance of the base.

"This place will be swarming with Fallen, so keep your guard up," Ori suggested, which I gladly agreed to. Finally, I was there, and just as quickly, one of the Fallen appeared. I quickly shot it down but soon another appeared. Eventually, there was a whole swarm of Fallen and I ran through the halls of the building, shooting down Fallen as I went. Just get in, get the data, and get out before I'm killed. I thought to myself as I ran. There was no getting rid of these guys. More and more as I ran deeper and deeper into the base.

The Fallen wasn't exactly amazing shots, I haven't gotten hit yet, until finally, bang. I got hit in the arm with something hard. My armor was protective enough, but what I got hit with was unlike anything I had felt so far. I used my free hand to cover the wound when all the sudden, bang. Another critical hit, this time in the leg. I popped up to one foot and was forced to take cover. I sat down behind a metal plate in the building, hoping no one would be able to spot me from where I was. I began to imagine what sort of weapon hit me. Perhaps a giant gun with missile-like bullets for ammo. I had never heard of a Fallen wielding such a weapon, though that's not saying much.

As I waited, the wounds continued to grow more and more agonizing. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I thought about what might happen if I died here today. Not that it mattered. All that would happen is that I would eventually get brought back to life and probably get, sent on the same mission, and die again, over and over.

As I thought about this, I stared up at the ceiling, waiting, when suddenly, I saw movement, like someone was up there, clinging to the support beams. At first, I thought the blood loss was causing me to hallucinate, so I started to relax again, until I saw it again. I stood up straight and strained to see who was up there. Not one of the Fallen, but a person, shooting down the Fallen as I sat there and watched. The figure acted like he had done this a million times before, killing one Fallen after the next with ease, and the Fallen themselves didn't even seem to notice.

Eventually, every Fallen in the area must have been taken out, because there was silence. Either that or I had finally lost hearing in my ears. I saw the figure jump down from the ceiling right in front of me. He had black hair, with black eyes to match, a gruff face, muscular body and a 6-o'clock shadow with old torn up clothes. He strapped his rifle on to his back and stared at me, with alert yet curious eyes. My wounds were so bad, I could hardly move. All I could do was watch. The man picked me up and slung me over his shoulder and began to walk away, leaving me to stare at the ground, and eventually, pass out.

* * *

I woke up, having been sat up against a tree. I looked up and saw a campfire alight in front of me. I was still dazed from the blood loss, but the wounds themselves wear feeling a lot better. I looked down at my injured arm and saw was look like leaves and a paste of sorts covering it. The same went for my leg. I looked around to see the man who had saved me sitting by the fire, cooking what looked like a rabbit leg attached to the stick he was holding on to. He looked up at me and said,

"You awake yet?" I stared at him, wide-eyed but remained speechless. The man put his attention back onto his meal. Soon, he lifted up the stick, pulled the leg off and took a large chunk out of the meat. I soon remembered how long it's been since I've eaten, which would be, not as far as I could remember. I stared at the leg as the man helped himself to it. Eventually, he looked back up at me again. He must have noticed where my eyes wear and asked, "You hungry?" without waiting for an answer, he ripped off a chunk of the meat and tossed it towards me. I caught the food in mid-air, using reflexes I didn't know I had. I quickly ate the piece of meat, feeling satisfied afterwards.

"You should try to get back to sleep," the man suggested. "You've had a big day," before I could even think to protest, the man put out the fire with a bucket of water that had been sitting near him and walked into the tent, which had been pitched up right behind him. I soon felt exhaust overcome me, and with it, sleep.