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Fafnir Part Seven - A cryptic Message
Posted By: KnightmareWolf<KnightmareWolf@aol.com>
Date: 29 October 2002, 9:34 pm


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/Start File/
/Video Transmission Status - Sent.

/Encryption Code in Place...
Code Redirect: * * * *
From: CCS Tides of March> Onboard AI: 343 Guilty Spark.
To: Sol system, Grid 244, UNSC Sol-core 54th Fleet.


His eyes blazed hotter than any sun, a cold and senseless determination to bury the past and get on with the present, some all-encompassing force of subverted evil.
"The task must be completed."
His voice pierced the gloom, a reverberating crescendo of soothing music.
"You are aware that your judgement is flawed." This was calmly spoken, as if the creature bearing such a burden was quite ready to kill the newcomer without a second thought.

"I have treaded many nights to keep my presence hidden from those who would seek to stop me; kept myself well shrouded, and I know that even now my brethren dies for what I have done."
A hacking laugh spewed forth. "You are a failure!"
Instantly, through impenetrable darkness the rustling of magnificent robes could be heard, eternal shadow on the winds of winter falling, swift and easy motions.
"Be aware to you and your kin that you will not stop me; rejoice and know that the sixty-fifth shall come to be!"

The darkness subsided in a blinding flash of white light, giving way to an ever-pouring abyss, glimmers of hope. Upon a cobblestone floor of majestic colors, silver with pure white, stood the black-clad shadow, wraiths of enigmas untold.
His imposing, yet simple garments rippled as he was left to stand sentinel by his own will, flames trailing from him like snakes, weaving around him with the caressing, pleasured embrace of a lover.
At his feet rested a black creature.
In his hand rested the weapon, a fragile sword, this single Katana engraved with alien runes that hurt the eyes. Its blade was wrought of simple colors, silver, the writing- thin lines black in coloring.
It's point rested but millimeters above the floor, violet streaks of blood in a puddle beneath it.

The newcomer hadn't even broken a sweat, yet the creature, having never even made contact with the other's weapon, was in its death throes.
He dropped his hood.
The creature shrank back, gagging in horror.
His eyes were perfectly clear. So clear you could see right into his skull, see the nerves and organs therein, a pale match to his braided crown of hair, which ran to mid-back in monotone white and gray bases. His lips were thin and unforgiving; his ears were pointed as any sword.

"Take the blade, Feyrbrand, and my daughter will come to you, and collect the dragon who is sleeping and the loyalty that is resting, just as my sons and daughters would have done.
All through the second to the sixty-fourth who was called Solar-frost, and return back to me that which is my right, from the sixty-fifth to the first, the end and the beginning so that the rebirth may begin anew."
He let go of the blade, and in the air it floated, and came to rest on a pedestal.
"Guard the Aninshorn with your life, and the lives of your people, for it is the means to an end." This was rather empathetic.
Something had changed in the black creature, something profound.
"Very well, First Revancer; he who is and was later, Executor Alariel; I shall do as you ask. When she comes, your gift will be waiting."

He who was called Executor Alariel strode with humility from the chamber.
Rough whisper followed.
"At last, it is mine." Feyrbrand rasped.

>>Transmission Interrupted!
<Redirecting Binary Codes...>
>>Temporal Distortion Detected!
>>Invalid Timestamp!
Command Code: * * * *

/END FILE/


Redirect Transmission.
Source: Alpha Echo Sol, grid three, re-route code, Savior Class F/B-22 Strikecraft Relay to:

DDCI Burning Eternal

PROCESSING....
Task Complete.

Replay Transmission: Y/N
Y
Return>


His eyes blazed hotter than any sun, a cold and senseless...


She was still breathing.
"Ugly leather necked greenhorn!" Augustus Timber cried aloud.
Crack!
Down swung Bubba, unseated from his hellish throne, but Augustus Timber was unrelenting. The subtle cock of an M-90 Shotgun, that ever so swanlike flick of a wrist, a trigger-finger applying just the right amount of pressure.
Ka-boom!

Bubba was no more, several 3cm tungsten coated titanium darts in his chest cavity. Augustus' own personal blend o' mayhem.
"Get up little girl!" A firm hand heaved Laura out of unconsciousness just before she'd have collapsed, sending her away to safety.
He turned.

"Augustus Timber!" Laughed Halsey.
"Come and get it you stupid bitch!"
They charged.
Knights of light and dark clashed, their weapons used as ancient weapons once were, staffs built to be solid oak had long since passed into titanium, one among many metals used to create firearms in this new age.
"You're getting old."
"And you're not?"
Blocks and counter-attacks were traded like wildfire, solar coronas crackling from the sun.
Augustus arced right with a front snap kick, landing his blow off the vampire's left hip. How did he know? Quite simply... The woman should've been long dead.
Halsey grimaced and returned in kind, backhanding the unfortunate man and following in to slam her knee straight into his gut.

"Ugh!"

Augustus Timber retaliated as if he was a wolf, rearing back and striking his nemesis with forces equal to hitting someone with a sledgehammer at high speeds.

Formerly injured...
She merely stepped back.
"You were never the one." Halsey nodded, let slip her weapon, and shot him to death.
Only Augustus didn't want to die.

* * * *

Laura heard that shot rather keenly, on the run and flooded with adrenaline, gimping alongside Alec.
Despite this, she grimaced when it came.
"August- aaaaahhh...."
"He's dead." Alec nodded to ease her mind, whether or not this could be seen through all the blood spurting out through several wounds-
Remained to be seen.

They trudged along the 'pit', a series of ramps leading downward toward the Airbase. Smooth, relatively colorless titanium surfaces greeted them dully, Laura was unsure whether she should start talking to all those little faces she kept seeing, or not.
"Only..."
She jolted, inhaling a small speck of dust.
"Three more..."


Alec looked to his left and right, skyward, as if attempting to ascertain whether something was about to jump out and eat them.
"Miles..."

If someone were to look up, simply up, they'd see shooting stars flying east to west as if they were schools of fish, ever watchful and silent walkers of the depths. In truth, they were, since they were among few beings that could actually survive in hard vacuum.
Not alone in such plights, but survivors nonetheless.
Strange thing was... Every single comet... a blue fireball.
Blue... fireball...

"Duck!"
Alec shoved his superior over, rolling downward seconds after. Laura, being in no position to resist, moaned and complied.
"What..."
He swiveled his head, looking again.
All meteors passed by.
Feeling rather stupid Alec groaned, heaving his Captain into a standing position and dragging them both along again.
Close one. Alec's mind snickered.

*Tthzzzzzzzzzzzzzzmmmmnnn........ *

Laura's eyes widened, causing her to make a leap of faith over a considerable height towards some inane refuse below.

*Crash! *

"Get the fu -

KABOOM!

The ramp just behind exploded in water-like fury, singular plasma mortar detonating where she had been standing only moments before.
Screaming over well-depleted lungs for only seconds as the air was sucked away with brutal efficiency, suddenly boiling to extreme temperatures.
She felt her ear cauterize, rather painfully at that; followed by sudden numbness in her broken hand. 'Least it didn't hurt anymore.

"Ugh1?"

The Captain hit the ground rolling, coming to a stop slightly winded, but otherwise unhurt. Tall stack of marine bodies indeed.

Come on, get up, you have much Prophecy to unravel, my dear.

"What?"

The Dragon craves Blood.

"Who's there!"

The First and the Last there will be.

"I don't have time for this!"

Keep in mind, my lady. They are coming. The Dragon craves blood. You will either be the Prelude, or the Footnote. Make your choice.

Great, a delusional captain, what a fix this is. Laura's mind was spinning funny colors, her eyes were blurry, and for some reason she was short of breath...
What just happened?
One minute... The party, the next, barreling full speed out of a plasma mortar's blast radius and almost killing self. Note to self... Remind self to check self's hazard pay.

She smiled, seemingly calm and composed. An ironic situation really. From all hell breaks loose to skizo, to super-Laura to...

"My ear is missing..." Captain Trenton remarked dully. "MY EAR IS MISSING!!!"
She sprinted for the closest building.
Naturally, it was the Airbase medical facility.

He watched in amazement, clearly baffled. This was proceeding rather quickly. How she could move like that after what she'd endured... impossible. That was just it. All of it was impossible!
Alec slithered away from the flames on the upper level, his glowing eyes like golden stars, tiny pinpricks.
His form landed in her previous place moments later.
Simple jump, Alec thought. Only about twenty feet...

Before him waddled a Grunt, bedecked in eccentric forest-green armor.
Up the ramp and right next to him.
Come out of what very few enfolding shadows actually left, it canted it's head toward it's obvious superior, beady eyes kaleidoscopic and fruity colored.
"Agarix!" He croaked.

"Get your people on that ship Jamma Kayo, it's captain, I will lead to you. Remember, the only reason you made it here alive, with humanity unawares is because of our intervention... Don't mess this; or I may start to accidentally make your voyage one hell of a bad vacation." The vampire replied.

Kayo gestured, causing several glowing circumferences to slide out into the light. Fourteen-plasma pistol wielding Jackals with no shields, and an elite with a bad attitude.
"Alright Kerdel, let's get moving." Kayo instructed.

Alec watched them go, straight towards the SCS Fafnir.
Security wouldn't stop them. He'd seen to that. Besides, there were other things to attend to.

* * * *

"You wanna' Play little girl?" Augustus strained behind parched vocal cords.
He struck Halsey across the face with a sound backhand, yanking back on his foot, which was already behind her ankle.
She dropped to the floor, spreading fresh blood coating onto unto a formerly liquid blood pool; and rolled away, performing a slight flip upward, onto her feet, to be pushed back down again as Augustus booted her twice in the rib cage.
The 'Doctor' yelped in perfect accord, each blow biting deeply.

He gripped her rather vulnerable throat, lifting her high much as Bubba had done earlier, only he didn't have quite the same grip. Naturally, Halsey exploited this.
She snapped her hands off in some rather bored gesture, flipped cleanly around and nailed him in the jaw with either foot before detracting and landing like a cat, surging forward and literally shoving him into the wall.
"Pathetic." The Vampire remarked.

Augustus tensed, and shook himself free, pieces of rubble scattering around his muscled, bloody figure.
Calmly, he cracked the muscles in his wrists and neck, slowly easing several pain nerves.
"Ah..."
Breathe in; breathe out.
"Come, human. After so many years... This is all you have?"
He craned his neck.
"We're just getting started."

* * * *

Laura was looking at a mirror.
Her ear... Was perfectly fine. No blood, not even the slightest hint of her body ever being-
What? Her 'Skull Scar' was gone too.

Instantly she slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes widening, Laura slowly retracted it and opened her mouth. No fangs, that had to be good.
What in all possible scenarios...

* * * *

He knew what had come to pass. An uncertain future he gander, weaving his magic web in steady majesty.
So uncertain, yet so predictable, quite sad if you thought about it. Their future looked bleak indeed, and needless to say, more than one would be dead in the end.

Executor let his transparent eyes fall on his own hands.
Two hands, ten fingers. Ten curved- six-inch Black claws.
His own magic was beginning to subvert him. He was turning into the very thing he hated most.
Of course he knew this to be inevitable, but he also knew that it meant he had less time to complete his task. Right now, the ensured survival of the Sixty-fifth must be made well in hand.
Doing this one thing would require a very exhausting effort.
"Reaver Kandras, prepare the regents. We shall begin the Planar Ritual shortly."
Executor did not turn to survey the dark corners of his... 'Home away from home.'

There were many enemies to be had, and they would be alerted, had he done so. They were watching. All of them- all those too numerous to name. Covenant, the damned 'gods', even.
Dark times ahead.
He however, would succeed. For the Revancers of Aginas did not fail.


( 8- )-|--<8 ----

<XXXX|::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-


Now what on earth is happening here?
Confused?
You should be.
The Past comes back to haunt you.

Thaydo Utas,

-K
nightmare Wolf





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