A Dizzying Fall
4So what is death? Naught but a threshold, a gateway between this life and the next. 5To let the threat of what is ultimately inevitable, and the will of RBTR, dissuade you from serving Him is beyond ignorance- 6it is blatant defiance of His will. -The Writings of Yusa Undal, The First Zacharite (5th Collection, Chapter 23 Excerpt)
by Tamara
//OLYMPUS MONS (PRE-DESTRUCTION)
//13.30.1978 AV
//OUTER RING OF OLYMPUS Dakai was launched backward by the brute punching her square in the chest. She crashed into a rock wall. If it wasn't for her Emuna armor, she would be dead. She tried to get up. Stumbled. She felt bones shift in her body. The armor could only do so much. If her helmet was off, she would be dead. The perimeter was broken beyond repair. The Grailborn had dug through the earth beneath Olympus to rise up from the ground beneath them. There were certainly tunnels pre-existing in the Martian facility, but they had not expected the Grailborn to burrow in such a fashion. Damn them. A particularly large Grailknight crawled from a crevice. Despite the swarms of both Grailborn and Vodranti around them, this thing charged directly at her. She drew her sword and a firearm- the bullets did nothing but shatter against the chitinous pseudo-armor of the Grailknight, but it served ample distraction from the precise cutting power of her flyssa-sword. The Grailknight's organic plates tended to mimic the form of whatever poor bastard they were a clone of, and in this case, it was a Vodranti. The Emuna armor of the Vodranti Clans was tough, flexible, and adaptable. In this case, however, she exploited a weakness along the side of his torso. She parried the weapon of her opponent, a double-bladed Ngulu, and drove her sword into the side of the insectoid. She glanced momentarily at its face- it was assuredly a Vodranti, but the shape of its nose, the form of its chin, the hair all seemed eerily familiar. The Grail made clones of their victims, so it could be someone she recognized. Wait. Her eyes widened. "Oa...Oan?" A momentary pause- a second of weakness. The Grailknight punched her in the gut, and with a kick, sent her back so that he could swing his sword towards her head. She just barely dodged it, her reflexes slowed by the shock. It was Oan, her husband, her mate for those many years. He was dead, killed by the Grailborn who swarmed the Martian colony he was desperately trying to protect. "Dakai." No, no, this is a nightmare. An illusion. It cannot be. "Dakai. I have longed to see your face again." He continued striking, again and again, as if two separate processes controlled his speech and his battle instincts. "My treasured love, my jewel of Ceres." She could just barely hold back the assault. Her sword spat sparks at every parry. She had experienced psychological warfare before, but this was the work of the Antipath itself. Tears flowed freely- a sensation she had not felt since her husband's death. She swore herself to stoicism, but the umbral figure of her husband shook her to her very core, her own mind reeling at the revelation. She leaped backward, trying to maintain distance. She felt blood pooling inside her helmet and her suit, the cool air against cut-open portions of her Emuna. She screamed out in denial."Demon! Demon! You- you are not him! You are a shade, a figment of his soul taken by this thing!" The creature was unmoved and continued his approach. Vodranti fought and died around her. Explosions rang out. Gunfire. Screams. Death-throes of battle. It became this violent miasma of combat. Dakai's mind, already riddled with trauma, was on the brink of breaking. The psyche is a fragile thing. His monotone voice came from his black mouth, "My light. My love. Let me take your flesh, let me destroy your body. I want to drink the sweet waters of your fresh blood." He jumped towards her, sword first- she was not fast enough. She was able to drive the ngulu away from her and into the ground, but her own sword was pressed flat against her chest by the insectoid clone of Oan Yurr who lingered over her on the ground. His other hand ran along Dakai's blood that was now collected on the ground, and he brought it to his lips. She was frozen in place- no way out. "Ah-h-h, even such a small thing can produce all of you in time. The Grail can work miracles, my love. But it would be little more than a frame. The Grail desires you, Dakai, your mind, your intellect, oh, that endearing intellect." She wept. Images of their former life together flashed before her eyes. "You resist out of selfishness. Out of the honor you hold for your false Empress. But it is not real. It is an illusion, intangible. Our love is real. It is felt- and you can feel it now too. Do you not remember my tender embrace? Do you not remember my kind words in the morning?" Dakai closed her eyes, shook her head. She prayed desperately. Oan's hand grasped her helmet and began to crush it. The glass cracked. His lower jaw split in twain, insectoid mandibles chittering together, sharp teeth within dripping with black fluid. A voice within her screamed. Rise. With the opening provided by his outstretched hand, Dakai swiftly rose her knee directly into the chest of the knight, and swung her sword across it, splitting the faux-armor in twain. Black blood flowed freely from the wound. She scurried away, before rising to her feet. The clone was taken aback for but a moment, and quickly rushed towards her. She ducked, and switching the sword to her right hand, drove it through the beast's head from below, the tip of it emanating from the top of the thing's skull, cerebral matter spilling out. The insect squirmed still, and so Dakai took her gun and forced the barrel into the animal's gut, pulling onto the trigger and not letting go until the creature's convulsing ceased and the chambers were empty. Dakai roared in anger throughout. She dropped the gun and her sword, the clone remaining upright for but a moment before it collapsed onto the ground, and in a few moments, so did Dakai. She faded in and out of consciousness, barely holding onto life. She felt her form lifted and carried onto a stretcher of sorts, which then was taken to an atmospheric lander. The window outside showed Mars growing distant, and her radio uttered chatter. "The bombs must be detonated now. There is no choice- we have already lost one to the Grailborn. The men knew the sacrifices required of us. Do it." And the light was blinding.
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