The Order

Chapter 2

"Galen!" the young paladin shouted.

A soldier with long wounds strewn on his body stood up on a pile of debris just a few meters from Jak. The rookie ran up to him and chuckled. "I thought you were dead." Galen sighed and chuckled back. "I was forced to leave my Neptune."

After several minutes, the remaining paladins of the squadron showed up. And many of which were either severely wounded and can barely fight anymore, or dead. An officer walked up to Jak and lead him to a private place.

"Where was that beacon you were talking about?" he said. "It took our precious time to find it."

The young rookie points to an opening between two structures that are falling apart. "When I said two towers, I meant those buildings."

The whole squad, or what was left of it, burned every piece of evidence. And while burning some of the bodies, Galen notices that one of them were not as dead as they thought. He walked toward it and saw that it was still breathing.

He removes the body that was on top of it, and he realized that it was another rebel. He places his hands on both sides of the rebel and proceeds to choke him. The rebel started speaking, even though he was running out of air.

He coughs. "The Red Hand might die." his voice started to get weak due to him being choked to death. "But the idea will live on. A new era will rise."

The rebel releases his final breath before finally dying. Galen furrowed his eyebrow. "A new era will rise?" he inquired.

He grabs his auto burner from his pocket and dumps it on the dead corpse. The burner started to spread quickly, before finally engulfing the body. Galen leaves the remaining ashes in place and returns to the leaving party.

He joins Jak and talks about the events that happened earlier.

"So, how'd you end up in a reaper pen anyway?" he asked.

"Don't know." he replied. "I was running into every direction that caught my eye." he shook his head sideways and grinned. "I never even knew what a reaper pen is." he added.

"A reaper pen's a place where the Red Hands farm reapers for weaponization." Galen explained.

The walk back to the base took only at least thirty minutes. Not much encounters happened during the return.

Tactical Shock Paladin Unit F.O.B

7:58 PM

"So, back at the fields." the young rookie grabbed new ammunition and reloaded his weapons. "What happened?" he asked.

The voice of the rebel lingered in Galen's head. A new era will rise. He tried to push it away, only to make more worse. He ignored the words. "Nothing actually." he replied.

"Nothing," Jak inquired. "What do you mean by nothing?" he puts a great emphasis on nothing.

"It's nothing okay?!" Galen shouted.

Two light knocks came from their door. "I'll get it." the young paladin suggested. 

He went to the door and turned the door knob. Once the door fully opened, an ashy blonde female stood in front of Jak. The woman proceeds to raise her right hand, gesturing for a hand shake. "I'm Jeneva Barret." the woman smiled sincerely at the young paladin. 

Jak grabs the hand and returns the gesture. "Private Jak Edhan, at your service ma'am."

The young female greeted him back with a nod. "Welcome to the Order Mr. Edhan."