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

Chapter 8. 2 A poisoned mind pt. 2

The remaining Kull backed off when they saw him brandishing the sword that even they had to train to carry.

Arya walked up towards him and flung him a furious look. "If you touch me again, I will hurt you. Rider or not."

He risked looking back at her. Her eyes were still calm, but the tranquil fury was rather obvious. If she was capable of hurting him, she would be free to do so. He had just attempted to murder her, even though she did not know it. "Deal," He replied and looked back at the now rapidly approaching urgals while ignoring the puzzled look that the elf threw at him.

'Maine!' Aeraleth angrily shouted at his mind. 'Did you just try to kill Arya?'

'No,' He replied, feeling a small sense of guilt for what he had almost done in his blind aggression. Even though his dragon was close enough to his mind to ease his aggression, he had still been unable to control himself. The lack of discipline disgusted him. 'I saved her.'

'Do not presume to be able to lie to me, who is bonded to your mind and heart. I feel what lies in your soul and I am not pleased!'

The situation was morbid, serious and aggravating –and he couldn't help but feel amused at Aeraleth's choice of words.

But a second later he felt even more disgusted by his feelings. Had he lost touch with his surroundings to such a degree that even the idea of harming allies was funny now?

'No,' He thought and assumed a martial stance in front of the approaching monstrosities, 'I don't take humor. Ever.'

The Spartan knew what was wrong with him: the only thing that could shake him out of his aggression-induced rage was violence and death. As such, only killing would grant his mind peace from the burning throbbing that it was imprisoned in.

But it would cease now.

'After this is over, you and I shall discuss this to greater lengths.'

'After this is over you can do anything you want.'

He took in a deep breath and then charged forwards to meet the enemy army head-on. He couldn't allow himself in indulge in useless things like emotions and moral problems. What had been done had been done and he couldn't change it. He was here to fight and these urgals were precisely what he would be fighting against; tough, primitively-armed and simple-minded hostiles.

His companion landed somewhere else on the battlefield just as Eragon and Saphira returned to the Spartan's position. Aeraleth's wings were bloody and punctured, but he hadn't felt her pain seeping through their mental link. When had that happened?

"Get on!" Eragon yelled at Arya and the elf took his hand without hesitation, swinging herself onto the blue dragon again.

He ignored Eragon's strange behavior and focused on what was the most important to him: Aeraleth.

'You were wounded?' He asked her as he impacted on the first urgal, crushing its sternum with two rapid punches and finishing it off with a bone-crushing uppercut.

'Nothing serious,' The dragon replied as she battered a few horned enemies into the ground, breaking their spines as easily as if she was attacking a bunch of twigs.

'Can you fly with holes in your wings?' He asked, killing another two Kull by quickly shattering their skulls with direct punches to the forehead.

'I can still fly. Magic assists me in taking flight and my muscles are strong still,' the dragon replied.

'Good,' He replied as he lashed out with his armoured leg, ramming his boot straight into the face of a nearby urgal and crushing it skull. Then he immediately jumped back to place his balance to his hind leg and parried a wicked spear-thrust with his still outspread leg. The wooden shaft splintered as his armoured appendage bashed it to the side and the urgal got knocked off his feet when he tried to keep a hold on the spear. 'Take off and spot our target.'