(A collaboration between me and NewSun) [b]Research Base Jìnzhan, Main Building[/b] A trio of men in white lab coats frantically brisked through the dimly lite corridors, deep in the bowls of the Central Structure, as the very walls themselves trembled, the facility now under attack from artillery strikes, the lights flickering on and off from the repeating tremors. "Goddamnit all!" The lead man exclaimed in great frustration, his face red from rage. "Just one more day...we could've relocated it just in a day and this happens!" The trio proceeded to a secuirty check point with a pair of Marines awaiting them. They quickly displayed their Identification cards and entered without delay. Before them was a wall of glass, with various consoles and other machinery surrounding it, dozens of scientists going about in a panic as they gather what they can, Data, personal items, etc. The angered scientist walked forward to a sliding door in the center of the Glass Wall, placing his hand on a scanning device. "Welcome Dr. Hoffman." The machine said as the doors opened. "Hoffman! Is this wise? Moving the artifact like may be dangerous." One of them said, a much younger man. "We run a risk of getting caught in the crossfire, or worse, contamination." Hoffman remained silent in the brief trip as they entered the end of the hall, standing before them was a large machine, specifically a suspension generator. Within the center, floating, was a oddly shaped metallic [url=http://www.halopedia.org/images/thumb/5/5f/H4-JanusKey-ScanRender.png/175px-H4-JanusKey-ScanRender.png]object[/url]. It was found a few years ago by miners, and it was soon discovered to be nearly ten thousand years old. It was quite the disocvery, that a far older civilization had settled on Dacyira, the wonders this planet held were now tenfold. "We must move the artifact at all costs. I can't afford to wait. He approached the Generator, pressing down a few keys as a small glas container rose from the bottom of the artifact, and a top over it. Hoffman quickly grabbed the container. "Let's get the hell out. I have a car and a few men waiting in the garage. ------ Many minutes pass as a Canton Milita Scout Car comes barging out from the back of the central building, pushing past through the carnage and chaos of the battle, dodging artillery strikes, missles from AVA Gunships and most shockingly of all, falling pieces of starship debris. Before long the car ade out of the Facility's perimeter and the battle itself, ad escaped deep into the forests. ------ The world blurred and stretched, twisted and faded. A small breeze roused UreReode from his unconsciousness. A myriad of small flames continued to burn the area around him, but it was not what he remembered. When the sky had fallen upon him there was jungle on all sides, lush and vibrant, even when obscured by the storm... ...But now? Ash. Ash and broken land and fire and dust. The fires obliterated everything save for him. There was so little. The land was desolate and barren; this was not the Dacyira that he had known. For a moment he wandered what his companions would make of such a travesty. The thought struck him. What about his companions? His comrades? The ones he brought along with him in an attempt to find resolution in this conflict? He threw himself upwards, launching off a layer of singed ash from his body and spinning himself in a full circle. He looked to find the Dacyirii that he had travelled with. But there was nothing. Nothing but a collection of four skeletons, all once belonging to his companions. Once living, breathing creatures of the world; now just charred bone. Nothing but lifeless mineral. Dead. Gone. Broken. Murdered. Killed without a second of remorse. They did this. They knew no boundaries. Nothing existed to stop these animals from their mindless slaughter. These monsters... They had laid waste to everything in their path. They needed something to oppose them; unity was not an option. The only thing that would stop these humans would be terror. A fear so intense and vivid that they would destroy themselves. Dacyira needed a symbol through which these aliens could be repelled, and UreReode was more than willing to offer himself as an avatar of resistance. He roared to the ashen sky a war cry which he never thought he would hear himself cry. Hatred was in his voice. It was no longer about just staying alive; he wanted to see these Humans bleed. The women and the children would die first, he would make their warriors watch as he did to them what they did to him. Nothing would survive his onslaught. This reign of terror had gone on long enough. In the distance, a low rumble signalled the approach of a group of Humans... UreReode retreated into the burned foliage, concealing himself partially, hoping that the skeletons of his comrades would act as a distraction. Hoffman's group had traveled hours on end, luckily for them, they had stocked up on fuel, but were soon running out. Worse, they were lost in this hellish, ash-filled landscape, no life in sight. Probably the doing of the falling starship debris. They continued to move on aimlessly in what seems to be a hopelss situation. The driver then took notice of large foot prints in the ash. "A survivor." He said. "A Daciyrii..." Hoffman said grimly. "I'm not comfortable with the idea for spoting for one of those savages." "Doctor, we might as well. No good giving them more reasons to hate our guts. A small gesture of goodwill wouldn't hurt." ".....Fine. driver, follw the tracks." The car diverted it's course as it followed the footprints, the detour did not last too long as the car stopped as the tracks ended, leading to a pile of Daciyrii bones. Two militamen stepped out of the car first, followed by the three scientists as they approached the bone pile. In his years of fighting these savage creatures, UreReode had learned a few words of their alien tongue. Their strange, guttural calls and remarks. They made no sense to him, but still their meanings were easy to decipher with enough thought. He had no means to understand their strange conversations from his distant observation, but the knowledge could be used for intmidation. He watched still with intent as they crawled closer and closer in their strange metal creature. He scooped a clawful of ash from the charred ground, and smothered it across his exposed scales, staining them a ghostly white. Unlike anything seen in the Dacyirii naturally; it would have been a terrifying sight to see: a Daciyrii ghost striking from the shadows. UreReode eyed up the first two humans who stepped from the metal creature. They were well armed but unawares. But they approached the remains of his group, likely with intent to desecrate. It was all that these creatures were capable of doing, anyway. "You!" He screamed in the Human Tongue as he lashed from the shrubbery faster than the eye could follow "Monsters!". He had re-armed himself with his sword before he had retreated into the bushes. He now utilised it with deadly efficiency. He darted forwards and dragged it through the flesh of the first warrior before he even had a chance to react. A trail of ash exploded from his body as he moved, releasing a cloud of ethereal white with every action. He didn't stop to even acknowledge the painful death of the first warrior before leaping on to the second, bringing his full weight to bear on the compartively fragile body of his adversary. Several bones snapped and shattered under the force as they tumbled to the ground, the action concluding with UreReode forcing his clawed hand through the skull of the fallen Human with a sickening crunch and an even more sickening splatter of blood. He raised himself. The threats had been neutralised. He could now have his way with the unarmed humans with impunity. He stood to his full height, many feet taller than the quivering men, roaring at them with such ferocity that the very ground shook and shuddered. His body was still coated in a thick, ghostly white, though now accented by flecks of deep crimson from his kills. "You... Monsters!" The group panicked as their guards were easily dispatched by the furious beast. Hoffman fleeing for the car, leaving behind the other two who remained stunned to what they witnessed. Their fear kept them planted to the very ground they stood as they lived their last moments in sheer terror. "Goodwill...." one of them thought, the one who suggected they help these beasts, an ironic end it seemed. Without missing a beat, UreReode lowered himself to all fours, and broke into a sprint. Totally bypassing the frozen scientists for a moment, and wheeling himself around to intercept the flight of the coward. His body curved and swirved, moving inbetween him and the car, before once again rising to his full height. "You. No chance. No run. You feel what Dacyirii feel," he spat, struggling with Human words, but making every last one count. "You will go. You will tell leaders. You will tell all Human. You will tell all Human that their days... numbered. The world is not Human ally. The Dacyirii rise." He grabbed Hoffman by the neck, wrapping his claws around his flesh and raising him into the air with such ease it was as if the man were made of silk. He brought him close to his toothed snout, and roared once more with incredble force before flinging Hoffman backwards and into the body of the car. It caused a mighty crash, and would have certainly hurt, but it was not a fatal strike. That one would serve as his communication to the Humans. He stepped over Hoffman's temporarily senseless body and reached into the storage of the car, pulling free a peculiar metallic object within a transparent case. UreReode felt a strange connection to the object, and so resolved to make it his own. He dropped the container to the ground as he approached the remaining scientists. Those poor men... Hoffman would not have been able to drive fast enough to outrun the screams of his collegues. Hoffman regained his senses and quickly hopped over to the front seat, grabbing the keys and turning the ignition. He stepped as hard as he could on the pedal and and just drove. Far from that monster. However, he failed to notice the theft of the artifact, and drove away unaware of it's absence. ---- UreReode had finished with the scinetists several minutes after the dissapearance of Hoffman, leaving their corpses mangled and disfigured. The beasts were all the same. They deserved no better. He had also taken a few moments to flay their skin from the bones, sever their arms and legs from their bodies and fashion for himself a set of macabre apparel. Teeth threaded through string around his neck; skulls dangling loosely from his waist, blood dragged in cruse patterns over his whitened scales. He had made himself into a living effigy of terror. A reminder that the Humans were animals and nothing more. Animals to be hunted. His attention shifted. He shot his head to the side and remembered the strange metallic object he had taken from the transport before Hoffman escaped. The more he gazed into it, the more the strange glowing colours seemed to call to him. Not just physically, but they played a siren song to his very soul. He approached slowly, taking hold of the container the moment he was in range. Without any hesitation, he threw the container to the ground, shattering it into hundreds of tiny shards of glass; leaving the object unharmed. He reached down to touch it, despite his efforts to stop himself from doing so... and... The object's glow grew more intense as his fingers drew closer and closer, until two green beams of light shot out from the object and into UreReode's eyes, leaving him paralyzed like a statue for who knows how long, it may have been hours, or minutes, he could no longer tell as his forced gaze into the object continued on still it suddenly came to an end as the beams evaporated. "Binding Complete" A disembodied voice spoke."Servitor of the Masters, activated." "I. Am. Your Vessel," UreReode seemed to reply to no apaprent presence. "Mother..." His arms, though covered in ashen white, seemed to glow with an energy that was more than he. A dusty light seemed to glow under his scales. He was more than he once was. And yet, he did not know why. Despite everything, he felt a pull. He felt a need to travel on; to where mystery overcame all. A place where no Dacyirii had ever been... Pandcyira. He would need to travel to Ishkaar, but he had no control over his choice. He set off on a long journey by foot, for a reason he did not understand, to a place he did not know, because of an object he did not trust. ...But any Humans he found along the way would be folly. They still needed to pay for everything they had done. The head of the serpent would be severed, or he would die in his attempt.