Halo: The Dunes of 2560

Chapter 7: Part 2: Das Thema ist Angekommen

Lights flickered on, lighting up a stage, with red curtains and golden pillars on each side. Out walks a Spartan, he walks up to the front of the stage where a microphone stood, the Spartan was in the standard green MK IV armor, he holds his fist up to his face like he's clearing his throat. He speaks into the microphone, "You have been following along, as we know well, our heroes extracted information from 'Pasren, Dexel 'Pasren. They are now tasked with traveling to the Moon Io, in the Sol System, where John-117 and Thel 'Vadam now reside. But we have taken a detour to backtracking into Vixon aka Osa 'Drazam's backstory, why you may ask?" The Spartan looked around, yet, there are no seats. He continued, "The individual known as Osa 'Drazam is a unique individual in this world, his narrative matters significantly. You're probably wondering why you're seeing this, I can't answer that for you. Only you can answer that, but I can give you a hint." The Spartan removes his helmet, underneath the helmet is a Sangheili, who stares directly at you. "Das Thema ist Angekommen." Vixon jumps awake, breathing heavily, eyes darting around in the darkness. He falls out of bed and crawls to a rectangle of light where the door is, he finds the light switch and flicks it. He's in a bedroom on the Vessel, as they travel to Io. "What the fuck..." His legs feel shaky, he closes his eyes trying to remember the dream, but he can't.

Osa 'Drazam and Fredrick Heismeir took a bus to the Quezon Track, where the annual race would take place. Osa received some nasty looks on the bus as they sat in the back, Fredrick took out a flask and sipped it, and spoke to Osa quietly, "Things will change someday soon." He looked up at Fredrick and was very confused. They got off the bus at the Quezon Track, where there seemed to be a massive congregation of people, and Sangheili too. Fredrick looks around at the scene, "Seems like there might be a lot of Sangheili fans of the race. Maybe you'll make some new friends?" He looked at the Sangheili, they were older, no young Sangheili to be seen. He didn't care, so they just walked by and made their way inside.

They sit close to the giant plastic barrier, the race is on a dirt track with ramps, mud pits, and random things set aflame. The vehicles they use are heavily modified Warthogs, all of them are outfitted with armor, spikes, big wheels, and rocket launchers, which is standard for the race. There are five warthogs, each with a large team of 40 individuals, the 40 all specialize in different aspects of the vehicle, for example, 5 are mechanics, 5 are a pit crew that replace wheels, 5 replace plates of armor, 5 do refueling, etc. Osa sees the Sangheili Warthog was outfitted with armor plates from a Wraith, a Covenant Combat Vehicle. The crowd is roaring, he wants to ask Fredrick something, but he can barely hear his own thoughts. The race starts, the engines from the 5 Warthogs drowns out all the thousands of people screaming and cheering, Osa covers his ears, so does Fredrick who is thinking, how are these things so damned loud? Osa gets used to it after they pass their section several times, he lets go of holding his ears and can hear the whistle of the engines, the revving is so high pitched and loud, it causes a vibration to reverberate through his chest, Osa holds his chest tight feeling a little overwhelmed. Fredrick is feeling a little sick, and decides to get up, he starts for the center pathway to get out of the arena. Osa had his eyes closed and didn't noticed Fredrick left him, the dust and dirt kicked up by the tires makes him cough. The sound of crackling and popping from the exhausts, and the thunderous claps of the Warthogs colliding with the massive plastic barrier, and each other, keeps Osa from hearing his own coughing. The cloud of dust and dirt keeps anyone from seeing anything, all you experience is deafening sounds of suped up engines, metal, and exhaust pops. (Check video for an example of what Osa is experiencing.) He gets up and tries to walk out, someone grabs his hand, he thinks it's Fredrick but he cannot see, he doesn't know it's someone else. He thinks they are going inside the Arena, but he's taken to a small door at the bottom of the seatings, where it's dark, he is able to see and hear at least. "Where are we Fredrick?" The individual releases his hand, but it's so dark, he can't see who the individual is.