Before long, he saw the dimly lit platform. He looked down to see his active camo fading. There were Hive ahead. He quickly dove behind a rock, and deactivated his camo, allowing it a moment to recharge. As he waited, poised to attack, he could hear the feet of the Thralls shuffling towards his location. Just a few more seconds dammit. If worse came to worse, he prepared his helmet to give the other three a red light, the code for a snag in the mission.
*
“Its been about twenty minutes. I say we go after him.” Said Dylan-10, rising to his feet.
“Don’t be brash. I imagine it takes longer to get past all those thralls.” Responded Raj. He sat down, resting his chin on his knees, watching Skyler pop shots off on Thralls who ventured too close to the well lit area. They found out that the creatures were far too accustomed to darkness, and that light actually hurt them.
“I just hope everything goes according to his plan…” He said, more to himself than anyone else.
He got up and walked a few steps into the darkness. A Thrall came sprinting towards him. Calmly, he raised his hand and waited another second. As soon as the Thrall was about to strike, he blasted the wretched creature with blinding fire, instantly turning it into ash.
“Oh, are we having a contest now? Watch this. Who needs to melt your enemies when you can break their spines?” He laughed.
Dylan-10 took place right where Rajan was a few seconds ago. A trio of Thralls rushed him, clawing and biting. He just sat there, laughing. They didn’t even scratch his armor. One was attempting to chomp at his ankle. He lifted his leg, and brought it down, with ground shattering force. The creature went limp. As for the other two, he grabbed one by the face, his and threw it towards a nearby rock. It impacted, with a loud crack. The creature hit the ground and twitched for a few minutes after. The last one, he grasped too, by the neck with his left hand, and wound back his right. Just as he was about to end it, he noticed a knife embedded in the creatures collarbone. He hadn’t noticed it before due to the fact that it was constantly moving. Lifting it up, he took the knife by its exposed handle and ripped it out. Calmly, he slipped it in his belt. Then looking back up, he brought his fist back and drove it into the creature’s head. Needless to say, the Thrall ceased to exist as its body disintegrated.
*
The Thralls were nearly upon him, but his HUD read that his shield batteries were fully charged. He pressed the button on his gauntlet, and vanished from sight once again. The second the reflective panels in his armor adjusted to his surroundings, the Thralls walked past the rock. Another second and he would have been compromised.
He slipped past the Thralls and carried on, knife in hand. Sprinting towards the platform would reveal his location. Nice and slow. He thought to himself. A few seconds later, he reached the platform. He only had a few seconds to get to his spot now. The bridge area shook slightly, and it started forming. He turned to see a battalion of Knights with swords emerge from their ambush spots. But he was ready. He snuck away from the site, and past the Knights, who inspected the area, confused. Just a few more seconds. As he backed up, he bumped into a Thrall.
The creature let out a shrill scream, and started clawing at the air. Clay-19 quickly looked over to see the Knights turn to look at the creature. He jumped up once, then twice, and landed high above them on a rock outcropping. Looking past the sea of Hive, he spotted not one, but two Ogres, towering above the rest of the Hive. Clay-19 quickly sheathed his knife and hefted his Gjallarhorn, and aimed down the sights. The scope acquired the target, and let out rapid beeping noises as it locked onto the behemoth. The second it did, he pulled the trigger twice, unleashing two rockets. One impacted an Ogre directly in the face, and released a swarm of wolfpack rounds, which made short work of the creature. The second rocket sailed over the fallen Ogre and hit the other dead center in the chest. This rocket too released wolfpack rounds, which scattered out and targeted some of the nearby surviving Hive. He reloaded as quickly as he could, ready to fire another barrage of rockets as they slowly started to walk towards him, but then the bridge finally formed. From the end of the bridge, the tunnel towards the next area shot out a brilliant white light. The Hive waiting at the other end were instantly vaporized. It took but a few seconds for his optics to focus, but once they did, he felt relief. The ones that were nearly upon him had fallen over, dead, from the mysterious light. He looked over and saw the trail lit up with the same brilliant light.
*
The ground shook, and brought Rajan, Skyler and Dylan-10 to their feet. They raised their weapons, expecting Ogres. Instead, they were greeted with a blinding light, then a second later, the path before them light up with the same light. Any Thralls that were on the path burned to death. All that were remotely near were now gone, undoubtedly scurrying back into their holes. A second later, a green light appeared in their HUDs, indicating they were safe to proceed.
After a few minutes of trekking, they climbed the last hill and found Clay-19 resting atop a rock next to the bridge.
“Shall we proceed?” He asked, jumping off the rock. Dylan-10 stopped him before he could walk on. “This one of yours?” He asked as he pulled out the knife he found earlier.
Clay-19 did a double take as he recognized the piece. Dylan held it out, and he took it, inspecting it.
“How’d you get it? I must have thrown a dozen or more knives down here.”
“Found it on a pissed off Thrall. You’re welcome.” He said, turning towards the bridge.
Clay-19 slipped the knife into his belt and too, proceeded to walk down the bridge. They all followed suit, walking into the blinding light at the end of the bridge.
The Dark Below
Start from the beginning
