FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j2RedNDzDk track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1EX6ks2tc0

Chapter 6 - Parinama

The following morning they were awoken by Solitude, this time with much less hostility occurring; Evans had rested well enough, but awoke with an urgency to piss. He asked Solitude where the nearest bathroom was, Solitude informed him that none such things existed. He, however, did direct Evans to an Organic Waste Disposal Chute that was across the room, in the open; Evans did his business from behind a table he erected in front of him, and Ze'ev followed after. They packed up and continued their journey through the Generator Tunnel as they did before, until Solitude instructed them to ascend upwards.

Side-stepping a sealed off area permitted only to the drones, they were now heading towards a large hall, with five levels of balconies connected by hard light bridges. Evans looked over the architecture, though he noted the place looked impressively gothic due to the deterioration, and followed behind Solitude. In the center of the area was tower connecting the hard light bridges to a center location and reached up to the surface. The light could faintly be seen above, and Evans felt the icy wind glide over his body, and he shivered hard; they descended down a long ramp into the massive chamber.

"So this thing leads up to the surface?" Evans asked Solitude, "What is the place for?"

"Transportation; these convergence towers is where different sectors can meet, and converse during their breaks."

"Well it is huge enough," Evans replied, gazing over the colossal structure.

Ze'ev had been silent through most of the travel and listened in as the two discussed the environment, and he wondered how, or when, he might encounter Eyth 'Kha. He felt weary at the eyes from the lack of slumber, though his body was spryer than it had been, and the feeling of hunger was no more; but it did not seem life would make it any easier. Having now walked for over two hours, Solitude instructed them to begin ascending the tower, to the third floor where they would take a right, and continue towards the Index Chamber. Having yet to reach the Cartography building, it was still day's worth of walking ahead of them, and Ze'ev grew uncertain at the silence of Eyth 'Kha.

Evans noticed it, having thought over the same thing. "Hey Solitude, I have a question--can you detect movement on the surface of the ring?"

"I can yes, if directed to specify a target and or location!" Solitude replied cheerfully, "However the relay devices are worn from the storm and the wind disrupts the receptors that I use. I am sorry"

Evans nodded, stepping up the first long flight of stairs. "So if we wanted to track that guy--we'd have a problem."

"Eyth 'Kha decimated the location we were in; the nuclear device could have destroyed two miles or more of the region." Ze'ev reminded Evans, "Where would the nearest ingress to the ring's interior be?"

"Through the dispatch tunnels used to send Sentinels to the surface." Solitude answered, "If he managed to uncover them in the snow. The surface above has been in a blizzard for thousands of years; I doubt the possibility of it being uncovered easily, without having accessed the cartography building."

"Well, it sounds like we're set." Evans confidently stated. They stepped quickly across the bridge into another enclosed tunnel, "Who was he, exactly, Ze'ev? I have not yet been informed."

As they moved from the smaller tunnel into a massive maze of high, thick steel arched walls decorated by the pale blue light, Ze'ev realized Evans was quite ignorant of Eyth 'Kha. Solitude fluttered ahead to a huge steel door, and Evans persisted in wanting to know who the Sangheili was, stating that he did not like to be kept in the dark about anything.

"He originally worked as a Major in the Covenant, until his arrest five years ago."

"What happened?"

"He engaged in an argument with his then leader, General Esxa 'Fooree. Eyth 'Kha had a history of violence and alcoholism, I had read it in the report; at the time, I served as Field Master, or the equivalent of your Colonel. I was mentored by the great Xia'ji Das 'Udanee; he served above me as Field Master, until he defected to Servants of the Abiding Truth."

"I know about them," Evans stated quickly. "They're--an odd group."

"How so?" Ze'ev asked with curiosity, "Tell me your thoughts?"

"Well, from what I read, they consider using Forerunner technology blasphemous. They're still religious on a very high level, and are greatly against your Arbiter."

"Yes, this is accurate. I do not approve of the clan; when Xia'ji invited me, I declined."

"Why?" Evans asked simply.

"To all my brothers, spilling blood is an honor, and so is murder. I am not of them, of this epoch of bloodshed without end in sight. Whatever so will compel those to kill, I avoid; this is why, at a point in time, Eyth 'Kha came to view me as weak."

"Because you're against constant genocide?" Evans began unsurely, "Well--I support your way of thinking. Military or not, war is not a way of life."

Ze'ev looked over with a surprise, but nodded to him. "Well, I took him under my wing, to try and break him of the violence. After the Separation began, I, Sesa, and many others led a revolt against the Covenant alliance, and its insidious, and duplicitous ways. Still, Eyth 'Kha was unreachable--he was vengeful, and eventually became murderous."

"What happened?" Evans asked again.

"He overthrew me." Ze'ev remarked under his breath, "That is all."

Evans nodded once, and decided it would be best to not press the issue. "Well--regardless, you defected from an empire; you have a lot of balls. And you seem to have a lot of love in you, even if not everyone sees it the way you do."

Ze'ev gave off a slight huff, "Thank you--it is not often to hear that."

"When you die--you just rot in the ground. There is no honor there, it only causes heartache." Evans muttered to him-self and gripped his fist slightly, "I know becaue--"

Evans was cut off by the blast of a Pulse Beam, which missed him by a hair as it passed his face; in that instance he had ducked, and thrown him-self to the right in a split second. He retracted the Type-52 from his hip, and spun around, firing back at the attacked, which he could see was an Enforcer, accompanied seven Aggressor Sentinels. They poured out into a brightly lit chamber hall and Evans watched the flood of them descend like mosquitoes above them.

"What in the hell!" Evans shouted at Solitude, "I thought you controlled the sentinels! What are you doing?"

"I do not understand--the AI is not responding to my commands!" Solitude called in alarm; he instructed the Sentinels to disengage, however it seemed communication between them was being disrupted.

Calmly Ze'ev commanded Evans to enter the room while he suppressed fired at them, and instructed him to follow behind the support pillars, to the second story platform.

Evans sucked in a breath and slammed his hands to the floor and propelled his feet hard against the ground, slamming his legs forward at full force to avoid contact with the pulse beams. He had not been in contact without his armor before, and he could feel the difference it made in his speed. He jumped behind a pillar as Ze'ev rushed in and took the northern wall; from the center of the room, more Sentinels arose from a shaft in the middle of the floor. Ze'ev could see that the command console was disengaged, and he had no idea how, or why, they attacked. Solitude hastily followed after them while Ze'ev preoccupied the enforcer, but he could not keep all of the Sentinels on his agro.

"When you reach the floor, keep moving!" Ze'ev ordered them from below, and returned fire on the Enforcer who shot another threatening blast at him.

Ze'ev grunted and ran to the right of the pillar along the far side of the room; from above Evans now fired at the back of the Enforcer. He saw a storm of fifteen, marching like ants from the hall behind them at Ze'ev, and without a second thought he ran off the balcony, and landed on top of the Enforcer, bringing his knee down hard at the topmost surface.

He fired back at the numerous sentinels who flooded into the large hall, and he rushed towards Evans, who was viciously fighting to stay on top the Enforcer. He grappled onto it with his arms and shouted out as he slammed his leg against the left pulse beam arm. Ze'ev fired instinctually on it, and when the arm dangled loosely from the body, Ze'ev ducked down below into the lower floor for a moment to reload, and rushed to arise from the opposite side, and resume fire against the right arm. Evans began to sweat hard and he felt his grip on the Enforcer slipping, and decided against a Rodeo and dropped from it, landing hard on his bare feet. Ze'ev rushed to him and grasped him under his arm and slid down beneath of the floor once more as the Sentinels neared. A rush of beams followed after, but they had safely made it below for a moment, enough time to catch their breath!

"We need to get out of here, there are just to fucking many! And we don't have shit to fight with!" Evans cussed, wiping his forehead and hair, "Dammit!"

"I've never met a warrior who attempted to wrestle down an Enforcer!" Ze'ev boasted his pride in Evans, "Impressive!"

"Well I am pissed off!" Evans laughed out proudly as he backed against the wall, and fired at another Sentinel who dropped below from the ramps.

"Wait here," Ze'ev ordered as he rushed to the site of one and grasped at its beam rifle, snatching it from the body and then tossed it to Evans, instructing him to fire at the right arm of the enforcer. They moved to opposite sides, and Evans initiated with a round of fire at the Sentinels who floated above, and then ducked when they returned fire.

Ze'ev returned fire as he rushed out to the top floor as Evan's distracted them momentarily. The Sangheili rushed around and up the flight of stairs to the second floor and, as Evans had done, lunged from the balcony; Evans watched for a moment as Ze'ev brought down his fists with a smash onto the ocular port at the front of the Enforcer. It was crushed and then Ze'ev retracted his sword and slide off the other arm. From below Evans shouted as he rushed to grasp another beam rifle and deliver the final damage to the exterior, with Ze'ev lunging before it could erupt from under his feat. As the mammoth crashed below, the Sangheili flung him-self up onto the second floor, avoiding the radius of the blast while Evans had ducked below.

After the explosion, the Sentinels did not cease their invasion, and Evans was forced to retreat to Ze'ev, who guided him out of the room with Solitude into the next tunnel, with the door slamming behind them. They panted and sighed out, with Evans laughing loudly, clapping his hands together, "Hoooly shit--now that was a rush! Fuck, I haven't fought without my Mjolnir before--damn!"

Ze'ev chuckled, "You did well, Evans; if you were one of my own, I'd honor you as my Second in Command."

Evans smirked and flashed a proud smile, "Thanks, Commander."

Ze'ev smiled back and then turned his attention to Solitude who, even without a facial expression, they could tell was embarrassed and frustrated.

"I do not understand." Solitude said slowly, "They were unresponsive drones! I could not deter them from you attacking you." Solitude buzzed loudly in frustration as the green light switched to a threatening yellow and it seemed frantic, and Ze'ev argued for it to relax, asking him if it is has ever occurred.

"No, it is impossible to occur!" Solitude snapped back at the Sangheili!

"Well we'll need to find out later," Evans began slowly, "Because I doubt that we're done with them."

"Right, let us keep moving; Solitude, lead." Ze'ev commanded, with more vigor in his voice than before, and a sense of thrill.

Solitude spun around, leading them quickly through the snaking tunnel, and they remained on guard. Ze'ev reloaded his weapon and handed Evans another magazine for his plasma gun, and he noted the human was impressively agile with his armor. He complimented him on his naked combat, which Evans stated he was not happy with, but thanked him anyways. They jogged through the tunnel and came to an open spaced, dark steel conduit decorated with portions of snow, and ice. Evans hissed as the bottom of his feet were beginning to grow numb, and he tried to find the least stinging metal to step on, cussing under his breath.

"This is fucking unbelievable--Solitude, why the hell couldn't you have just left my armor alone!"

"If I hadn't, it would have shut down, and you wouldn't have been able to power it without a new fusion core. Do you want to carry it around instead?"

"Oh that is fine--I'll deal. Just hope I don't get frostbite."

After a few minutes his toes had begun to grow numb and he was dealing with it to the best of his ability as they ascended through the corridor. When they reached the top part of it, Evans was distraught to see that the hard light bridge was not active. Solitude reactivated it, and the multi-colored beam shot out from where Solitude stood and connected to the other side; Ze'ev moved to cross it, but a sudden blast from behind them alarmed them both as the Sentinels began to scale the precipitous incline.

"Fuck," Evans muttered under his breath. "They're persistent!"

The bridge ahead of them began to fade in color from a bright blue, to an almost white, icy color before retracting back into the wall. Solitude floated forwards and activated it again, but as it reached halfway, it retracted, and The Monitor struggled to keep it sustained at a half-way mark.

Solitude urged, "The system is attempting to override me, you must cross now!"

Ze'ev motioned for Evans to go, but Evans stated there was not enough space to gain the momentum. "It is over twenty feet in distance, and I don't have even half of that to run--"

Another blast from behind them stunned Evans shouted in pain as he fell forward as he felt the pulse beam connect with his left arm, and he screamed out as the nerves went haywire. It felt like shattered glass was injected through the connecters at his shoulder, part of the body suit had been burned off almost instantly. A sparkling silver appendage could now be seen from underneath and Evans ripped off the left sleeve.

His cybernetic arm came into view, and he gripped his fist as he growled out, "Fuck! Fuck--that hurts so god damn much!"

"Evans!" Ze'ev rushed down to assist him off the ground onto his feet, and Evans grit his teeth and shuddered as he gripped the carbon-tube muscles of his arm.

He tried to grip his fist but his fingers would not move, and it tightened up more as he tried to shift it, grasping at his neck.

"We have to go, now!" Ze'ev urged him, "Get up, now!"

"How the fuck are we even crossing!" Evans cussed, "There is no way I can make it!"

Ze'ev rubbed his face in frustration and he looked at the human, and then to the chasm. He grasped the pack from behind him, throwing it with all his might across the chasm, seeing it safely land against the wall. Evans looked at him unsurely, but he knew what the Elite wanted to do, but he looked fearful of it.

"No way--are you sure you can make that jump?" Evans asked, but Ze'ev did not reply.

He reached to grab Evans and hesitated, his hands halting as he almost touched the human, but instead told Evans to climb onto his back and Evans did so, piggybacking onto the massive Elite, who then grabbed him by the legs and held him tightly. Evans grasped onto his chest for dear life and locked his hands together as Ze'ev then charged forward, bringing his feet down as hard as he could. Ze'ev slammed his legs forward as he neared the end of the hard light bridge, and roared out as he lunged into the air with all of his might. He and Evans remained in the air for almost four seconds, and Ze'ev landed hard against the floor and stumbled, slamming into the wall and stopped him-self with his arm. Solitude rushed them out of the room as the Sentinels fired off numerous pulse beams, and they thankfully had missed them.

"Phew!" Evans sighed out, his heart racing from the rush of being air born, and he slipped off of the Elite, patting him on the arm, "Damn man! Shit, that was unreal!"

Ze'ev was quiet about it now as Evans patted him with his right arm, touching the Elite's black skin on his left arm for a moment and Ze'ev flinched, not wanting his unclean flesh touch Evans. Evans did not seem to notice and wiped his face, resting his hands on his hips as he looks over to Ze'ev, who did not seem as excited.

"You ok, big guy?" Evans asked unsurely.

"I--yes, I am fine." Ze'ev lied, "I apologize--"

"For what?" Evans cocked his eyebrow, and he could see Ze'ev suddenly looked very upset, and grabbed him by the shoulder firmly.

The elite looked uncomfortable at the physical contact so Evans released him, and Ze'ev sighed quietly under his breath, stood up, continuing his journey with the human. Solitude could not understand how his authority in the system was being overridden, never in the tens of thousands of years had it occurred! He could not fathom the reason, nor detect the cause; furthermore he became increasingly frustrated and hostile about it, and the two avoided any discussion.

Evans was perplexed why his friend seemed suddenly so bothered, he figured it must have been the adrenaline, but he was not entirely sure on that. He prodded for a response, but Ze'ev was silent about it which annoyed Evans when he was given evasive answers or nothing entirely. The sentinels did not appear for another two hours or more, as they traveled in the darkness and grew to relaxing again. It had become less cold, but Evans could feel the never ending sting on his soles, and he asked Ze'ev how he dealt with it.

"A much thicker epidermis." Ze'ev responded shortly.

Evans huffed out, "Dude, what is wrong with you?"

Ze'ev said nothing, thinking but only of the words that had been used to describe him for so long and his skin. Evans began to look pissed off, thinking he might have done something, and demanded to know if Ze'ev was upset at having to help him!

"No, I am not." Ze'ev gave another lackadaisical reply, "I assure you."

"Then what the hell has you looking so down?"

"I am not down--" Ze'ev answered immediately.

Evans riposte with a demand to know what had his friend so upset, and Ze'ev finally stopped mid step and spun to face the human and he looked almost angry.

"I said it is nothing!"

Evans frowned and huffed, but he abided by the request for the moment and dropped the subject. Behind them the Drones had thankfully not persisted past the door, though Evans sword he could hear them bumping against it, and wondered just what had occurred. He momentarily did not trust Solitude, and kept it to him-self.

? ? ?

As they traveled, Evans had not pressed the issue any further with Ze'ev; he felt annoyed, and originally did not talk to him for fifteen minutes. After feeling guilty, Ze'ev began to ease into conversation with him. He eventually relaxed into speaking with the human, and explained to him that the reason the music had earlier affected him so much, was it made him feel Yugen. He half-expected the human to meet the explanation with dismissal, but Evans showed a great deal of interest; he asked Ze'ev if he knew what Taoism, an ancient human religion. Ze'ev answered he only had heard small tales of human history that he learned from Forerunner archives of famous speakers, and some catalogued, ancient books. He was intrigued however, and Evans proceeded to explain to him all that he knew, and Ze'ev plus Solitude listened with great intent.

"Yin and yang--it basically the concept that opposites like darkness and light, or life and death are complimentary, and one cannot exist with the other. They harmonize in the world to create a balance--a kind of acceptance, you know? In training, we review human history's finer points. What do you think?"

"It sounds intriguing--tell me more, please." Ze'ev asked him, "What else is there?"

Evans smiled and continued with the didact of Taoism, explaining the three treasures which dealt with essence and spirit. He forgot a few things about it, but wu-wei was something he was very well versed on. The explanation provided was that the universe will harmonize with it-self if left to its own devices, and overly asserting one-self can cause a disruption. He pointed to the Forerunners, and Ze'ev nodded in agreement, becoming ever more prying about it. Evans continued to expel all that he knew about it, with some points about Zen and Buddhism; when they touched on Haikus, which was when Ze'ev opened up.

Ze'ev displayed a brighter personality even as they day was drawing nearer, and spoke with a less stilted decorum. Solitude said it was thrilling to document amity between the two species and he recorded their conversations. Evans came to learn more about Ze'ev's interests, which were poetry, philosophy, and shared several of them he had created. Some were from sadness, which Evans admired but didn't like to dwell on, and then there were some he made based off the music he was introduced to. Ze'ev seemed riddled with a lot of sadness Evans noticed, as with before, he was plagued with a lot of grief that he seemed to keep bottled up. Evans was bothered by it, but as Ze'ev told him his haikus, he began to smile more, and his aura brightened.

"In sunset oceans, I drifted with singing stars, and awoke to dreams." Ze'ev smoothly spoke it as they walked, "Do you like this one, Evans?"

"I do! What about the one song with the flutes we heard earlier, it is my favorite. I usually listen to it in battle, to steady my nerves."

Ze'ev nodded and smiled more, "Yes, I do recall several. The rain became night, but mystery was the song that the sun had sung."

"Man--Z, You need to write a book!" Evans demanded excitedly, "You're a living anachronism of Japanese culture! Tao Te would be really great for you to embody; to be on the path the universe has laid out for you, and so on."

Ze'ev laughed a little, "The universe has not been kind thus far."

Evans nodded a little, "Well--the universe is not done with you or me yet. Besides--if I went against it I'd probably be dead, and you'd be here alone."

Ze'ev looked up and pondered for a moment, accepting that the point made was true; Evans had gone by instinct, and lived. Ze'ev had done the same, and it seemed to have brought them together--in some way it was like destiny.

"Like leaves on water, we float not to and not from, but along our path."

Solitude chirped as it had been silently listening to them for some time, and they both forgot it was accompanying them.

"This is quite an interesting concept; thoughts expressed by a specific and simple meter. It is challenging, I should perhaps make my own!"

"If you are able to." Ze'ev began, and then smiled, "Do not let anything stop you, if it is your choice, simply do it."

"Hehe, see, you get it. Try using the phrase go with the flow." Evans smiled at him with more delight, "Glad I got to make a new friend from all of this, Commander."

Ze'ev smiled more and he felt humbled by the human's kindness. "You are full of surprises; I am sorry for how I behaved, earlier. The subject that you touched on is very--sensitive, something I cannot openly discuss. It has haunted me for decades, and I must accept this was the universe's creed."

"How old are you, Ze'ev?" Evans asked slowly, "Just out of curiosity."

"I am sixty two." Ze'ev replied nonchalantly.

Evans widened his eyes, "Fuck man, how long do you guys live for? I am only twenty four, and I feel old."

"Hmm--if we are not killed, we die around one hundred and twenty years, or so. You humans live to be seventy or so, yes?"

"Yeah, haha, sometimes!" Evans answered, rubbing his stomach. "I am hungry again--that food you keep giving me is ridiculously good."

"You humans have more respect for your food, with the descriptions provided. I would like to try it, one day." Ze'ev began with craving to taste this thing called steak, which Evans described as the thrill of being in battle, but with a lot of salt and sauce.

"Well when we get out of here--we will." Evans promised him, trailing off for a second. He sighed, "It is kind of scary, realizing we're stuck here."

"Yes--but I am less concerned. Stopping Eyth 'Kha is all that matters to me--after that, I am not sure what to do with my life.

Evans nodded, "Well writing a book is the first step. How much closer until we're at the Cryogenics Facility?"

"Over two hundred miles." Solitude answered. "We will reach it by tomorrow evening; afterwards, it will be another two days until we are at the Index Chamber!"

Solitude led them through the hall, taking a right, then two lefts and a final right and they entered a chamber that was partially made of stone. A massive floor, at least a hundred feet before them, was suspended over blackness, with drifts of snow entered in from the open surface above. The stone walls were covered in ice and as they walked they heard their steps disappear off into the distance. The two were very hesitant to step over the hard light bridges, holding their breath until they reached the safer, steel platforms that led them to the ground floor.

"The hypethral above was created to allow light into this chamber."

"What is this chamber for?" Ze'ev inquired, "It seems--ceremonial."

"Quite! This Installation is equipped with a one of a kind room that they used for Celebrations!" Solitude buzzed over the massive floor, as snow from above would be carried off to the side by a draft, "Here, they commemorated one another for their achievements. They were very family oriented!"

"That sounds pretty nice," Evans mentioned, "Never had a family, or anything similar."

"You have no family?" Ze'ev began unsurely, "I am sorry--Xia'ji was the closest thing I had to a father, until his defection."

"Nah, don't be. I've done well on my own, even with this thing," Evans motioned for his arm, "Been a pain to me, cut me out from the possibility of becoming a Spartan-II!"

"Well you are a fine warrior regardless, and I will not have that disputed!" Ze'ev said with a charismatic tone, "But come, we must find an enclosed room to sleep for the night. You can see the stars, out there. It is quite late."

Evans laughed at the Sangheili's compliment, and he abided by it, once again calling him his Commander. Ze'ev could not deny how great that it felt to be addressed in such a respectful way, something he had not felt; but more than anything, this friendship was promising, and it realized him a great glee.

They moved up the tall stairwell, past steel monuments that bore a familiar Sigil associated with the Forerunners, and Evans began asking Ze'ev about the weather of his planet. Ze'ev explained that snow was quite common, but he preferred the hot climate, high humidity, and lots of foliage; when asked why he was on the Ring, he explained it was a location no one would suspect, so far away. Evans remarked it was a great idea but horrible at the same time, due to the fact they were in an ice age; he made a sly comment about hunting mammoths, which Ze'ev did not understand.

SLAM!

"Holy shit!" Evans was startled and spun around at the source of a loud noise! The sound of an echoing crashing behind them scared them both to the point they had jumped in their place, but withdrew their weapons and prepared to fire! They saw no enemies, and a quick scan showed only a dark, black object on the floor with a thick sheet of snow that followed afterwards

"Fuck--looks like a rock." Evans began. "Let's go see."

"If you insist," Ze'ev began with less enthusiasm than his curious friend.

They jogged down the stairs and to the snow covered object, and Evans brushed it away with his hand, gasping as he was startled by the site of a burned body. It was hard to ascertain who it was--but the anatomy was human, female; parts of the armor had been disintegrated, with the flesh almost dissolved.

He backed away, wide eyed, "How--how the fuck! What the fuck dude!"

Ze'ev looked up and he held out his arm and pushed Evans back as three more bodies seemed to tumble from the dark sky, and crashed down with the sickening snapping of bones and ripping of flesh. He forcefully pulled Evans away from the irradiated bodies, but Evans fought against the Sangheili, demanding to know where they were coming from! Ze'ev did not know but he ordered Solitude to ascend, and discern what was causing this, not rushing to make any kind of conjecture! Solitude climbed up the hundred foot distance to the top, and they could see a red light scan the surrounded area and then he quickly descended back down to them.

"There appear to be a group of thirty bodies. I can barely detect them--" Solitude began, "They seem to be almost hidden. You should move away from your location, unless you wish to be crushed!"

Evans jaw dropped as he was told, and Ze'ev forcefully pushed him away from the site and they moved up the stairs to the doors leading out of the room. Several slams followed as the bodies thudded, and he could hear something that followed--low moans and groans. Ze'ev feared that Eyth 'Kha was upon them and quickly demanded the door to be sealed shut, as he and Evans ran from the location!

"What in the hell! How did they get here!" Evans demanded to know, running alongside Ze'ev, "What was that!"

"Eyth 'Kha reanimated a body once before, you saw it!" Ze'ev called back to him as they charged through the hall, led by Solitude. "He--performed it again! I do not know how, do not ask me how accomplishes it!"

As they continued to move, the slams that occurred faded, and they had managed to move into the outskirts of the Cryogenics Lab. Long blue coils of light decorated through the cold frame plates on the floor, and the top of the tunnel held long, black pipes. Ze'ev slowed down beside of Evans and caught his breath, the cold signing his throat, while Solitude waited patiently for them.

"What--huff, the fuck!" Evans panted as he held his knees. He closed his eyes and saw the bright red, burned skin--the missing eyes and open mouth. He heard a scraping sound far away--it was faint, but the noise was persistent, and he did not need long to figure it out. He knew what he heard, and he almost dropped to his knees, had it not been for Ze'ev rushing to grab him, worriedly watching the human incase he broke down.

"Wow--haha--wow! Woooow!" Evans laughed almost out of the anxiety, "Zombies--mother fucking zombies! And we fucking made jokes about them--oh--my--god!"

As Evans laughed Ze'ev feared he must have had a mental break down and asked him to relax, for his behavior was unnerving. Evans apologized and cleaned his face off of the sweat, still laughing out of anxiety, but tried to explain to the Sangheili the conversation that they had previously.

"We made jokes about zombies--you know the undead. We saw grave sites covered in bars, and someone said the Sangheili were scared of their dead rising back from the grave!" Evans shook his head and laughed again, walking almost in a circle and looking up at the roof, "Wooo--never expected this shit! Nope!"

Ze'ev looked at him unsurely and put his hands together, speaking low and calmly. "Do you need a sedative--Evans?"

Evans looked over and sighed, pausing and apologizing. "No--I have some miracle grass. I'll be fine, when we're in a safe place."

"Miracle grass?" Ze'ev began with a head tilt that was almost cute, "Is this a form of alchemy?"

"No, weed." Evans replied point blank.

Ze'ev was still ignorant of this, and Evans reached into a pocked stored in a compartment on his left arm. He reached underneath of the shoulder plate and retrieved a bag that held long white sticks. Ze'ev could smell the pungent smell of them, it was not fowl but was like dried leaves, and Evans told him he'd share later, when they were somewhere safe. Solitude led them through the halls and into the outer laboratory, where they transported, and stored their experiments. Evans took his mind off what he witnessed by counting the numbers, and Ze'ev came to a grave realization that--if Eyth 'Kha had managed this then he would have an army of the undead coming after them before long. It was a sickening twist of reality--shedding blood out of battle was beyond dishonoring, but this was a mutilation of life, of the essence of living!

He has violated the flow of the universe--truly I must not stop him for my own vengeance, but for the sake of all! That should be my true objection.

Dreams seem to bode fear

I strive under darkled stars;

And yet you stand here.

Strange human, my friend

You brought me from my nadir,

And dreams without fear.

Like flowers in rain,

I will grow past the maelstrom

To touch the gold sky;

Then you and I will

see Eternity's Sunrise;

Just my friend, and I.