When Destiny Burns, Ep. 1: A Halo and Inheritance Cycle Crossover

Chapter 4. 2 Operator pt. 1

The Spartan crept forwards silently, carefully placing his feet on the feeble hills of sand as to not cause a sudden shift in their structures. One misplaced step in his current area could create an avalanche of sand, allowing the creatures he was stalking to find out that he was there.

He had been following the convoy of fifty-plus contacts for more than twenty minutes at that point, moving at a slower pace than he would have liked, but still faster than a squad of ODST's could march. The creatures that he was stalking were not human, that much he knew.

They had grey skin, large and prominent horns and really bad placement of body-armour. Some individuals in their ranks stood taller than eight feet, making them as large –if not larger- than a brute. Even though they were obviously nonhuman, they could still be some aboriginal subspecies of native human presence.

The Spartan finally reached the top of a particularly high dune and lowered his body, staying hidden from the walking monstrosities as well as keeping a close eye on them. His dragon was nowhere near his levels of stealth and had to work a lot harder to remain hidden from the group of humanoids.

Speaking of which, where was the not-so-small reptile now? He hadn't seen it since he had started tracking these creatures.

He looked to his right and instantly felt a fit of annoyance creeping up on him. The grey-skinned creatures were moving towards the outlines of the Beor Mountains, where the Varden was supposed to be positioned. On their right flank lay a series of smaller, more unstable sandbanks. The only thing that had to happen for the group to completely oversee that flank was for one of them to turn their heads a bit to the right.

And his dragon was currently positioned on top of said sandbank, overlooking those creatures from what was very obviously NOT a good position for cover.

Why?!

And as if it was meant to be, one of those creatures just happened to look to its right at the very moment that the Spartan tried to contact the dragon with his mind.

'Get out of there!' He told the animal and leaped over his own dune, landing on the sandy plains a good ten meters away from the convoy of monsters.

One of the horned humanoids bellowed loudly and pointed at the dragon with a thick finger, a war-axe brandished in its other hand.

The dragon roared in defiance and attempted to take off and fly to safety, but the sand was too unstable and the entire sandbank collapsed when it did, sending the black beast plummeting towards the ground.

One of the largest creatures stepped forwards and growled at the reptile, lowering its head and bringing its large horns to bear. One of its hands reached for an oversized knife and the dragon hissed at the humanoid creature in return, preparing to pounce at its eight-foot-tall mass in retaliation.

But the Spartan hadn't been sitting still either. As soon as the horned abomination had shown open hostility to the reptile, the super-soldier had leaped into action.

Half a ton of MJOLNIR and Spartan slammed into the musclebound creature, sending it crashing to the ground several feet away. No sooner had its grey bulk hit the sandy plans or the Spartan had jumped after it, killing it by jamming a large knife into its neck with such ferocity that he nearly tore its head clean off.

'Take cover,' He told the dragon as he rose to his feet, facing the group four dozen remaining hostiles. They all reached for their weapons, growling and communicating with each other while doing so.

Zero-zero-seven felt his blood burn in his veins, a warm, fuzzy feeling spreading through his stomach. His spine itched and his hands started to quiver ever so slightly. An uncontrollable desire to maim flashed through his mind, nearly overtaking his rationality.