Halo: More Than One

Where am I?

Twilight’s eyes fluttered open. Her vision was blurry, fading in and out from reality, and she could not make anything out clearly. Muffled sounds of many voices shouting surrounded her. She thought she could hear someone calling her name, but they sounded distant, as though she she were in a dream.

        “...you hear me? You need get up now!”

The voice was male, but Twilight could not put the voice to a name. It was definitely not anyone she knew, and she strained to hear what this person was saying, but all of her senses were wavering, and she could make sense of nothing.

What happened? she thought. Her head was throbbing in pain, and she lifted a hoof to touch her head.

        She stopped abruptly as she felt not her hoof, but five small points contact her head. All of her senses suddenly rushed to her, and what she saw shocked her to the core. Whatever she was using, it looked like the hands that spike had, but larger and without the claws. She also noticed it was covered in blood.

What?... why do I have hands?

She tried to take in her surroundings. All around her, loud noises erupted and many bipedal looking figures were running through some kind of metal hallway. They were all shouting things that Twilight struggled to make out amongst the loud noises.

“Cover fire! 11 o’clock!”

“Reloading!”

“Tangos breaking from cover!”

“Don’t let up!”

“Frag out!”

“Man down! I need a medic over here!”

“Take that bas-aaaargh! I’m hit!”

She looked down at herself and widened her eyes in even more shock. She still had four limbs, but only two legs that were sprawled outward on the floor, and two arms out to her sides. She saw instead of her lavender furry coat that she was covered in some kind of thick, heavy, green-grey clothing. It seemed to have what looked like armor plating attached to it on her chest, arms and knees. Not the golden armor she had seen on royal guards before, but a very light brown nonmetal material.

Why do I look like this? This isn’t me! Where am I?!

The beings around her was wearing material similar to hers, but they were holding a piece of carefully crafted metal that looked like it was spewing fire from the tip and making a loud, repetitive noise. Others were tossing small objects that she heard exploding behind her.

What are those? Some kind of weapons?! Who is attacking them? Why am I caught in the middle of it?!

She tried to plug her ears, but it made little difference to the loud explosions, yelling, and painful outcries of these strange creatures.

She heard the voice from earlier again. She turned to her right and saw one of the armored figures crouched down next to her and speaking to her in a hurried, loud voice. He had a serious expression on his tan-colored face and he was trying to get her on her feet.

“We gotta move Twyla! The last life pods are launching! Get up, come on!”

What did he call me? Thats not my name! Sure sounded close though...

The pain from the head wound she had felt bleeding earlier was fully hitting her now. An explosion went off and rocked the entire hallway, knocking some of the other battling creatures over. Twilight was frightened and could not bring herself to move. She could feel blood oozing out of her head, and she grabbed her head in pain.

What’s going on?! Where am I?! Why am I bleeding?! Why is this not my body?! WHERE AM I?!

Her eyes darted back and forth throughout the room, still trying to make sense of it all. She watched in horror as one of the creatures in the green and brown armor was suddenly struck by many small purple needles. She could see the blood beginning to ooze from the wounds, and the creature screamed in pain and fear as all of the needles suddenly exploded, shredding his torso and killing him instantly.

An even larger figure jumped in front of one of the creatures she had seen at first.She only caught a glimpse of the front of it, but looked long enough to see it was reptilian in appearance and wore a thick red armor and helmet and had a head that split into four terrifying mandibles with rows of sharp teeth at the mouth. It wielded a blue object that was spitting blue fire in short bursts at one of the light-brown armored soldiers.

The smaller soldier desperately tried to fight back, but whatever he was shooting out of his metal object glanced off of a blue aura of light that surrounded the giant red-armored figure. The smaller warrior fell quickly in a howl of anguish, the shots seeming to burn right through his clothing and armor. Suddenly the giant red figure groaned as the light arua flashed, and disappeared entirely. Twilight heard the sound of many small objects penetrating the horrible creature’s skin, and dark purple blood coated the floor as it fell to the ground.

What is happening here?!

She seized up completely in fear and the armored figure crouched next to her grunted in frustration. She felt herself get lifted up by him and her arm was placed around his neck.

Twilight could now see all around herself. Turning her head, she saw many other horrible looking creatures locked in some kind of battle with the smaller, green and brown armored soldiers.

“Come on Twyla! We’re not gonna make it if you don’t move it!”

She turned her head back forward and saw several figures motioning to them from a small room at the other end of the hall, and yelling at them to move. Twilight tried to make a move to the room and with the help of the male creature supporting her, she finally managed to limp forward, her arm still around his neck and shoulders.

When they were less than ten feet from the small room, the one carrying her screamed in pain and fell to the ground, holding his side in agony. She could smell the scent of burning flesh, and she fell as well and landed on her back, frozen in fear and shock again.

“Get them in here!” someone yelled. She felt as her arms were grabbed by two of the armored figures and she was dragged into the room. It was lit with a dim red light that glowed off of everything around her. She felt herself lifted up again and placed in a seat on the wall. Two metal bars came over her arms and one across her chest, securing her in place.

One of the strange creatures looked her in the eye and exclaimed, “Pull yourself together private!” He turned to someone at the end of  the small room and began shouting orders. “Close those doors! Pilot, get us the hell out’a here!”

“Aye sir, everyone hold on back there!”

Twilight heard a loud bang, and the entire room surged violently.

“Sergeant we are disengaged. Minimum safe distance achieved. Approaching ring atmosphere now.”

“Understood Lieutenant. Just get us down there in one piece.” said a voice from the back end of the now moving room.

The room shook violently, making Twilight want to vomit. She felt herself beginning to black out. She dropped her head down and saw a silver necklace hanging over her chest plate. Struggling to keep everything in focus, she read an inscription welded into two objects at the end of the necklace.

Spark, Twyla A. UNSC Marines

PFC O Positive

SN 103429-77234-TS

Spark?... Twyla? No... it can’t be... the spell wasn’t supposed to do this... The spell! I have to get out of here. I just need to use my magic and I will get out of here. Here goes...

She concentrated as hard as she could, and tried to conjure up magic from wherever it was held... but nothing happened.

No! this can’t be happening. I should be using my realbody’s magic! I shouldn’t be stuck in this body!

Full reality hit her hard and a single tear rolled down her cheek from all she had just witnessed, and the realization that none of her friends were there to help her.

I can’t get back... no.... I’m never going to see them again.

She surrendered herself to the fear and fatigue that had been grabbing at her ever since she arrived into this nightmare.

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