Chapter 28: Real Men Don’t Cry

Date: November 11, 3007
Time: 15:30
Location: El Nath Region

There was a bright white light at the end of the long, black, and narrow tunnel. Captain Felix Shadeswalker clambered forwards, his sides scraping up against the walls and ceiling of the tunnel in his hurry. The radiance ahead was brilliant blinding, as if the very gates of heaven lay on the other side. But this was not heaven. He had seen death, he had dealt out death. He would not see heaven anytime soon.

Felix fell out of the tunnel into yet another cavern. However, as he scanned the walls and roof of the cave with his flashlight mounted beneath his S-16 Scarab Assault Rifle, he realized he was in some sort of natural hallway, extending far into the blackness of the underground. The air was close and compacted in the black corridor, welcoming claustrophobia with open arms.

Looking again at his compass, he was dismayed again by the sight of the needle spinning haywire, as if plugged into a magnetic field. Behind him, the rest of his platoon clattered out of the tunnel, all blackened and dirty from the dust of the underground. As they straightened themselves up, brushing soot off of their uniforms, Felix walked forwards, deeper into the gigantic hallway. His beam of light fell upon an odd mark on one of the sides. It looked like a triangle with a cross in the middle…

“Guys,” Repty’s voice reverberated and echoed intensely along the walls of the cave, magnified tenfold, “Where are we?” Felix backed away from the symbol carved into the black wall, wondering inside his head the very same question. But he had seen the symbol before, but from where?

Suddenly, a strange grating noise echoed throughout the chamber, crescendoing as it reached the platoon’s ears. Something shuffled through the cave up ahead, something large and hard. Felix advanced, his rifle trained in front of him, ready to kill anything that moved. It moved again, this time a little closer, but nothing fell in the flashlight’s beam. The platoon’s footsteps rebounded off of the far wall, coming back as a muffled disturbance in the still, black air. But then, the ground trembled slightly, a distant thud registering in Felix’s ears.

He raised his fist and instantly, the din of the footsteps ceased. Felix swung his flashlight slowly from left to right, trying to distinguish what was ahead of them. Another thump shook the ground, slightly heavier this time.

“What is that?” Aaru’s hushed voice whispered into the dark. Felix motioned her to pipe down and took another step deeper into the hallway. Another thump.

Felix’s flashlight’s white beam suddenly fell upon something white and broken on the ground. He moved the light slowly upwards and suppressed a swear as it revealed the remains of a dead man. Another thump. Behind him, Felix could hear the others groan, their stomachs dropping to the ground. Stepping forwards, he examined the body closer, and saw its chest had been torn open from the outside. What a hell of a way to go.

Another thump, but this one was different; there was something inanimate about it, as if boulders were sequentially being dropped onto the blackened floor. Felix straightened himself up again and looked at the direction of the mysterious noise. It resounded again, closer and louder than ever.

All of a sudden, a low moan rumbled through the cavern, shaking the halls and disturbing the loose black sand on the ground. The platoon snapped into attention, training all of their weapons in front of them; their flashlights shining brightly, trying to pierce the thick unknown.

And then Felix saw it drop; a massive boulder the size of a car hit the ground, shaking the natural hallway. Slowly, he moved his flashlight upwards to reveal more of the thing’s torso. It stood on two blocks of crumbling black stone attached to a body of what seemed like hewed rock. Two great arms stuck out of the thing’s sides, ending in humongous rock fingers. The head was propped up on a non existential neck. One red eye glowed menacingly at the platoon’s flashlights, abhorring the bright rays disturbing its abode. Then, it roared again, deep and monotonous, and charged forwards, swinging its lethal stone arms.

Felix dove aside as one of the Dark Stone Golem’s arms smashed into the ground, bringing an absurd amount of dirt into the air. His platoon opened fire, their bullets smashing into rock, taking out chunks of the body out, bits and pieces at a time. Roaring in rage, it stormed forwards with no sense of stopping. Felix rolled over onto his back and clambered out of the way just as one of its legs slammed down on where he was a millisecond ago.

His fingers squeezed the trigger, sending high velocity projectiles into the Golem’s face. It moaned in what seemed to be pain, but Felix continued his abuse, wanting nothing more than for this massive monster to fall. Suddenly, Felix was knocked over by a single swing of the Golem’s arms. He flew through the air, impacting the black obsidian wall. Something in his chest crunched and he coughed up blood. It stormed towards him, preparing to finish him off.

Without warning, a bright fiery blast ignited the air, exploding on impact with the Golem’s head. With a groan, Felix watched as its entire right arm was disintegrated by one of Zanna’s fragmentation grenades. The Golem reared back like a phased drunkard, stepping around clumsily. In the light of the fireball, Felix saw Zanna’s grin of delight as she lobbed another grenade at the Golem.

With a low moan and a crash, the rest of the colossus crashed into the ground, its body splintering from the impact of the grenade as well as the force from hitting the ground. Then, it was quite once more, dreadfully silent like a grave. The platoon gathered around the fallen stone warrior which was nothing more now, than fragments of dust and stones.

Felix turned his back and ambled down the hall again, not speaking a word to the others. In the silence, he ejected his empty clip and slammed home a new one. He felt a surge of pride overcome him, for their platoon had just defeated a foe many times greater than they themselves. “Come on, you slugs,” he called back to them as he continued forwards, taking no time to look behind him. Time was not important right now, but at the moment, he felt as if he did not have any. Time was a luxury he wished for, but could never get.

Date: August 16, 2997
Time: 06:00
Location: Orbis

Felix had let go of the woman’s hand for the final time. He did not want to see her again, did not want to remember the events that unfolded just six hours ago. But it felt like days, weeks, months since the rogue Balrog Ship collided with his own. Everything was in disarray, the people in places in Felix’s lives torn apart in an instant. Now he was in the pearly city of Orbis, sitting on a street bench, watching the mellow sun rise from its dreams.

The bustling city’s nightlife faded back into the shadows of the alleys, giving way to the busy streets of day. But right now, it was quiet, for the citizens were just awakening from their slumbers. It was like watching a play, and Felix was sitting through the humdrum intermission. Front row and center, he wished he was never born, for nothing was left for him.

No tears came to Felix’s eyes. He was conditioned not to cry under any circumstances. Besides, real men don’t cry. The sun’s rays reached the skyline of the city now, lighting Felix’s stone cold face up in a bright yellow hue. Squinting at the blinding sun, he stood up and shuffled down the street, hands in his ragged pockets.

A distant mechanical voice floated down the street into his ears. Felix looked up and saw an advertisement board on the side of the street, flashing a corny catchphrase in bright red lights, “Join the Army. Serve your country.” What a good idea. It was almost as smart as shooting himself with a gun. The army was no place for Felix. He had no experience with combat, and suspected that he would die the first moment he saw action.

But then, a tiny voice popped into his head, rooting him to the spot. The neon lights reflected off of Felix’s dull black eyes as he continued to stare blankly at the advertisement, millions of thoughts rushing through his head.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed hold of his shoulder. Felix spun around to face a man with unusual but stunning red eyes. “Gonna join up pal?” he asked, pointing to the sign. Felix looked awkwardly at the stranger, suppressing the urge to lash out at him for disturbing his peace. Yea right… peace…

He shook his head and chuckled under his breath, “Not in a million years.” The man clapped him on the back and laughed heartily, “Good man!” He walked away nonchalantly, seemingly without a care in the world. Felix looked after him in awe, wishing against everything that he didn’t have anything to worry about. He had enough worries for more than one lifetime.

Finally tearing his gaze away from the billboard, footsteps suddenly registered in his ears. Turning his head, he saw a man jogging up the street towards him with a worried look on his eyes. When he got closer however, Felix thought he was having a hallucination. The man was identical to the first, only this one had a maroon shade of eyes. Talk about déjà vu…

“Have you seen my brother?” the man gasped in exhaustion as he came to a stop in front of the bewildered Felix.

“If you mean your other self, then yes. He walked that way,” Felix pointed north up the road. The stranger gave a nod of courtesy and ran up the street after his doppelganger, leaving Felix confused in the dust.

Date: November 11, 3007
Time: 16:00
Location: El Nath Region

And yet, he was here in flesh and blood, a captain in the Dominion’s army. Felix chuckled to himself at the irony of time. Funny how things can change so drastically…

“Captain, look,” a sudden voice broke the silence of the great hall. Felix’s head jerked up at the sound of Annikabelle’s voice, and immediately, his flashlight’s beam fell upon a wall of rocks and boulders blocking the way. A cave in.

Swearing under his breath, he gaped at the sheer size of the rockslide. It had to be at least three stories tall, and judging by the slope of the wall, ten or twenty meters in length. Felix sauntered forwards and kicked a boulder on the ground. A sharp pang of agony shot through his foot and he grimaced in pain, holding his foot and jumping up and down on one leg. Swearing profusely, he unslung his rifle and blew the rock apart into millions of shards and pieces. Behind him, his platoon gave him a quizzical look. What the hell is wrong with me…

“Um, Captain maybe we could dig out way through?” Repty’s voice echoed out. Felix rolled his eyes in the dark and turned back to his Private, “If you want to waste your time moving a hundred tons of rock by hand, be my guest.” Repty scowled at Felix’s unusually blunt reply. He was sarcastic, but not this sarcastic. Perhaps the close air was getting to him?

Then, the air exploded. An enormous fireball shattered the rockslide into infinitesimally small fragments. A concussion rivaling that of a small tactical nuclear missile reverberated throughout the great hallway, cracking the obsidian walls and caving in some of the ceiling. But with the fireball, came a brilliant source of light. Real light, from the sun.

Felix was blown back by the sheer force of the explosion. Rocks, boulders, bodies were falling left and right. The muffled voices of his platoon added to the increasing din echoing off of the black walls around him. Felix felt something warm on the back of his head. Reaching behind him, he cringed as his blood seeped out of the back of his head, staining the rocks around him. This surely was death’s best work.

As the ground stopped quaking and the dust settled, Felix could see a faint image of a man standing in the entrance of the tunnel. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision, but the world was all blurry around him. The noises in his head were muffled as if he was underwater. Everything was moving in slow motion, everything eerily quiet and slowed.

Felix dug himself out of a thin layer of rocks and stones, and saw the man at the entrance had moved forwards into the cave. He was shouting something, but Felix’s ears could not register the words. The man was closer now, climbing over the rubble, apparently searching for something. Felix shined his flashlight onto the man’s face. His dull red eyes sparkled back, glinting with the fires of hell. But through the devilish façade, Felix could see tears streaming down the man’s face, as his red eyes dilated in shock and surprise. He was reaching for something in the darkness. But real men don’t cry.