XxXxX

Every step felt like a mile. Every breath felt like he was breathing fire. His feet felt like there was concrete blocks tied to the bottom.

The pain was slowly becoming a problem.

The sun was steadily creeping towards the horizon as Naruto just finished yet another climb up a steep sand dune. It was endless, it seemed, as Naruto breathed in a deep refreshing gulp of air.

His shield had reached up to his thigh, and it was picking up the pace in which it traveled up his body.

But Naruto knew he had to trudge on. The timer was slowly ticking, and he knew that this was his only lead on how to destroy the Gravemind that didn't involve destroying all intelligent life throughout the galaxy.

The young forerunner began sliding down the sand dune before finally coming to a stop next to Rha, who was waiting patiently at the bottom.

"So, where did you learn to fight?" Rha asked suddenly, making Naruto cock his head to the side.

"Why do you ask?" Naruto replied as they began climbing up another rather large sand dune.

"When we began our dual you were barely holding your own, but then suddenly it was like you gained your footing." Rha began.

"Oh, that, something was distracting me, so that needed to be taken care of first."

"What was distracting you? You were in a room by yourself! How could you have been distracted?"

"I was imputing the data from the terminal into my… suit, and it required most of my attention. To be honest, I'm surprised that I was even able to dodge in that state." Naruto replied as he stopped their climb to take in a deep breath. Earning a raised eyebrow from Rha, but she didn't push the matter further. Naruto felt like she didn't need to know that it wasn't going to his suit, but his mind.

"Anyway, where did you learn that style of fighting? It's the most passive form of fighting I've ever seen." Rha said. Naruto didn't respond, so Rha continued. "I mean, you have to be aggressive at some point during a dual to win it. Countering everything your opponent does won't win you battles. Eventually you'll have to go on the offensive."

"I did, remember?" Naruto replied plainly.

"I thought we had this discussion." Rha said, clearly angered as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Naruto furrowed a brow at this. "That wasn't you, at least I don't think it was. You changed your fighting style so suddenly that any real fighter would know that something took control of you." 'Or you have a split personality…'

Naruto smiled slightly before beginning to climb once again. "I suppose you're right."

"Hey! You never answered my question!"

The young forerunner looked over his shoulder as he climbed and grinned. "I know."

Rha growled as she caught up to Naruto, who had made it to the top of the sand dune. "Why are keeping me in the dar-."

"Whoa…" Rha said in awe as she stopped next to Naruto.

In front of them sat a large pit. Dark sand lingered in the air inside, blocking everything from view. Only metal pillars could be seen jutting up from the haze of sand. Naruto looked in both directions for any possible way around, but it stretched on as far as the eye could see.

"What could be down there?" Rha asked to no one in particular. The young forerunner remained silent as his eyes narrowed at the prospect of entering the dark sand.

'Something's down there, I can feel it, but it looks like we don't have a choice.' Naruto thought.

"We are going to go through that, aren't we?" Rha asked.

"So it would seem." Naruto replied as he took one last glance down at his shield. At this point, it was the only thing telling him how much energy he had left. Most of his internal gages and systems in his suit had long since been cut off in favor of his shield and more essential systems. "Ready?"

Rha nodded as the forerunner took one last look up into the blue sky. 'Hopefully we can make it through this pit before nightfall.'

Naruto nodded to himself and pulled his legs forward. Each where aching for him to find the source of this discomfort and rid it from his body.

"Follow close behind me. I don't want either of us to get lost while we're down there." Naruto said.

"Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." Rha replied.

'Always the independent one.' With that the two began sliding down the sand dune and into the depths of the dark pit. It didn't take them long to reach what seemed to be the bottom. The ground was flat, and little light penetrated the thick sand that hovered in the air above. 'The sand in the air seems different than the sand on the ground. It's lighter and doesn't drain the energy in my suit like the sand on the ground does.' Vision was low, about ten meters if Naruto had to venture a guess, but getting lost would still not be difficult.

"Can't see anything down here with all this sand floating around." Rha said as she waved her hand in front of her face in the vain attempt to knock some of the sand away. "Do you even know which direction we'll be heading in?"

"You can faintly see the tip of the tower if you look closely enough." Naruto said as he pointed forwards. Rha followed the direction of his arm and soon saw the very top of the tower.

"I see… wait a minute! Wait for me!" Rha exclaimed as Naruto had already began walking in the direction of the tower.

XxXxX

"Can't see a thing in here. Power must be out or something." Malik said as he pointed the flashlight that was at the end of his weapon down the completely dark hallway.

"I don't think the power is out because the lights on the doors are still on. I think the overhead lights are just turned off. Let's try and find the light switch." Hyus responded as he glanced behind them and then forwards again. After entering the facility the two sangheili soldiers found themselves inside a room with several balcony's running up and down a hollow center. Looking in either direction revealed that there was two sets of balcony's, with at least six or so doors on each, below them before finally stopping at the ground floor. A single blue beam came from below and reached to the very top, past three more balcony's above them. Hyus identified that the beam was holding up an elevator, which was their ticket to the ground floor, but the panel that called for the elevator was shut off. Meaning that they had to find a way to turn it on before they could regroup with their comrades outside. Taking the only open door available to them, the two soldiers now found themselves walking past several locked doors in a dark hallway.

"Do you think that's it?" Malik asked as his flashlight hovered over a small panel on the wall next to a door.

"Worth a shot because we aren't getting anywhere by wondering around this hallway." Hyus replied as he approached the panel. Pressing a few buttons, the lights overhead flickered to life along with changing the light on the door next to it from red to green. "Looks like we found the light switch. Good catch."

"What's the call? Keep moving down the hallway, or enter the unlocked door?" Malik asked, keeping his weapon pointed down the hallway, which kept going into another section of the hallway that remained unlit.

"Let's check this door and see if it leads anywhere. If not then we'll keep going until we find another unlocked door." Hyus pointed his weapon at the door and approached it, making the green light blink a couple of times before sliding open. A short hallway emerged before them with a similar door at the end.

"Another hallway? Why is this even here?" Malik asked aloud as they entered into said passage. After the two were securely inside, the door behind them locked swiftly and the lights above turned red. "This can't be good." An unknown gas began spewing into the room, and with both the doors locked, Malik began to panic.

"Put on your mask!" Hyus shouted as he swiftly put on his own. Malik stumbled to put on his own mask, but finally did after dropping his weapon onto the ground. "Get a hold of yourself. Keep this up and you'll be dead before we rendezvous with the others."

Picking up his weapon, Malik sighed as the gas stopped pouring into the room and the door opened before them. The two Heretics entered the room and were surprised at what they saw.

"Are these test tubes?" Malik asked aloud. True to his words green glowing test tubes lined the walls of the room along with others making a maze in the center as well. The gas from before lingered on the floor, reaching up to their knees.

"Yeah… what are these things?" Hyus looked into one of the test tubes and a vomit green egg sack floated within the green liquid. Its veins had grown to connect to the glass that contained it, but if one looked closely something could be seen within the egg made of flesh. "I've never seen anything like this."

"Have they been contained here all this time?" Malik followed Hyus as they cautiously moved through the room. The entire room was filled the test tubes as far as the eye could see, and every single one of them had one of these… things… inside of them.

"Probably, but look at the top of the containers." Hyus pointed to the top of the closest test tube. "They have been broken. Meaning…"

"That these things entered them on their own free will." Malik finished. "If these things entered the tubes on their own, then that means they are just sleeping. If the only thing containing these things was the caved in rock above…"

"I think hibernating is a better word, but still don't make any noise. Lets avoid waking them up." Hyus continued to guide Malik through the maze of creatures when a pounding headache erupted within his head. His vision began to wobble and breathing began to grow tough. Falling to his knee, Hyus grabbed the side of his head as the pain intensified. 'W-what in the world?'

'Release me...' A voice, low and ancient, said inside Hyus's mind.

'Release… you?' Hyus thought as the pain began to subside.

'Release me!' The voice shouted before the headache completely disappeared, and the voice along with it.

"Hyus? Are you okay?" Malik asked in a hushed tone that was full of panic.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine, just a headache is all." Hyus said as he began to stand.

"Good, because we may have a problem." Looking up Hyus's eyes widened at what he saw. The creatures within the test tubes had begun to stir.

"Shit! Follow me!" Hyus shouted as he quickly rose and dashed forwards as fast as he could. All around them the creatures began to squirm within their test tubes, some even cracking the glass that contained them, but what really frightened Hyus was that the eggs within began to rupture.

"Where are we going?! Isn't the exit the other way?" Malik shouted as the sound of glass breaking was heard somewhere beyond their line of sight.

"The way we came in is locked, remember?! We need to find another way out!" A glass tube in front of them was destroyed, the egg sac landing onto the ground in front of them. The two soldiers pointed their carbines at the sac of flesh in anticipation as one could see movement within. Slowly, a leg protruded from the egg and the egg itself was being digested by whatever was inside. "Fire! Don't let it fully form!"

The two sangheili began blasting rounds into the creature, barraging it until it was filled with holes. Three more tubes behind them burst open, revealing three massive creatures the size of a Hunter. The two began firing at the creatures, but this seemed to only make them angry. "Sir…?!"

"Run!" Hyus ordered before turning and running away, followed quickly by Malik. "We need to find another way out!" Looking over his shoulder, Hyus saw that the creatures were on their tails. 'They're fast!' Pulling out a plasma grenade, Hyus activated it and threw it behind them. The glowing blue ball stuck to the lead creature before exploding, sending it back into its friends and buying some valuable time, but with the sound of more test tubes breaking Hyus knew that it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.

"Over there!" Malik shouted as he pointed towards a door, its green light keeping Hyus's hope of escape alive. Just as they began to break away from the lines of test tubes an arm smashed into Hyus's side, sending him flying down another walkway. "Hyus!"

"Get through that door and lock it! I'll find another way out!" Hyus ordered.

"But-!"

"GO!" Hyus shouted as he turned and ran as the hunter like creature that hit him gave chase. More sounds of breaking glass was heard all around him as Hyus continued to fire rounds over his shoulder at the creature that gave chase, but there was now four of them and the commander of the Burning Legion knew that more were coming. Rounding a corner, one of the creatures charged past him and into a couple of the test tubes, breaking the glass and smashing the creatures within. As it rose from its destruction, two burning blue balls lay at its feet.

The sound of explosions reached Hyus's ears, but he knew that even if his little trap killed it then the others would still be coming. Looking to his right, the sangheili saw another creature through the glass of the test tubes to his right. Acting on instinct, he ducked just as the monster burst through the glass tubes and sending its arm towards his head. Sliding across the wet metal ground, Hyus quickly fired a volley of carbine rounds into the creatures' armpit, hoping to hit something vital. While it did screech in anger at being hit, it seemed to only make it even angrier than it already was. Its second strike landed squarely on Hyus's face, breaking his mask and sending him flying across the walkway. Dazed, Hyus began to stand, but was shoved back into the ground when the creature smashed its arm into Hyus's chest, breaking his shield and taking his breath from his lungs.

'Is this it? Is this the end?' Hyus thought as he looked up at the head of the thing that was about to end his life. It was faceless and only had a gaping mouth, with a tentacle protruding from said mouth. Bringing up its arm, the monster prepared to finish the job and end Hyus's life. 'Done in before I could even find the Creator, and learn the truth behind the prophets lies.'

Just as the creature was about to smash in Hyus's head, the arm abruptly stopped inches away from his head. It sat still for a moment, just staring at Hyus as if he had grown a second head.

'Creator… you know of the Creator?' The voice from before asked, the headache returning in full force.

'I've seen him before, yes. Finding him and learning the truth has been my mission for a long time.' Hyus responded.

'Your mission. Hmm…' Its voice drawled out, as if it was thinking over what Hyus had said. After a few seconds of tense silence the creature that pinned him to the group began to release its grip over Hyus's torso, but just as it was about to fully remove its massive hand from the sangheili's body it brought its other fist down upon Hyus.

XxXxX

"Naruto?" Rha said in a rather hushed tone.

"Yes?"

"Something feels… off."

"Yeah, something is out here. It has been watching us ever since we came down here."

"So you've noticed since then, huh?"

"Yeah, I didn't know if it posed a threat or not so I remained silent about it."

"And now?"

"…" Naruto wasn't sure if whatever was out there wanted to hurt them or not, but if it was watching them for this long then he assumed the worst. Like any hunter it took its time stalking its prey. Looking for weaknesses and exploiting them where need be.

Rha knew from his lack of response that whatever was out there was dangerous, which only confirmed her feeling of unease. A cold shiver ran up her spine at the thought that the thing had been stalking them ever since they came down here.

The young forerunner held up his hand, making the sangheili stop in her tracks. He was looking around slowly, surveying the area within the limited field of view that he had.

"Ready your weapon." Rha quickly did so, thankful that the sand had not managed to get into the inner workings of her rifle.

"Is it coming?"

"Yes." Just as these words left his mouth the sand beneath them began to rise up. Using some of the precious energy he had left, Naruto's hand began to glow a bright purple. Pointing his purple hand at Rha, the sangheili was sent flying in the opposite direction of himself as he quickly ran to the edge of the rising sand. Naruto had just managed to jump off the now ten meter tall torrent of sand as it burst up into the air, sending the heavier sand in every direction. Sliding across the ground, Naruto stopped and looked up at the titanic beast that continued to remove itself from the ground.

Massive in scope, a large metal worm shot out of the sand. Green lights could be seen shining through the cracks in the links that held it together. When about one hundred meters of the creature was outside of the ground it looked down at Naruto with its massive mouth. It had no face, only a mouth with grinding teeth leading into the depths of its glowing green stomach. Five massive spikes ringed the outer edge, making it even more ominous than it already was.

'B-but how? Shouldn't the sand drain its energy like it's doing to me?'

A staring contest ensued between the two, its endless rows of teeth rotating every which way, creating sparks that either fell from its mouth or back into its bowels.

'It looks like it's made from the same material as a Forerunner sentinel, but I don't ever remember seeing this within the archives.' The massive worm seemed to move in closer to the blonde, but then violently swung up its body as a violent screech was emitted, making Naruto flinch.

Gunshots came to Naruto's ears as tiny green bolts could be seen slamming into the side of the creature.

"Rha stop!" Naruto shouted, but she was too far away to hear. The tiny green lines continued to hit the creature, but the metal worm seemed to not even notice and if it did then it was ignoring the minor annoyance. Its focus was set completely on Naruto, which in his eyes was a good thing. Is it a friend, or a foe? This was the first thing Naruto needed to learn before moving forward as it wasn't moving at all, which led the blonde to think that the worm was analyzing him.

"What are you?!" Naruto asked, but needed to shout his question in order for it to hear him. Rha had stopped shooting at the creature, much to Naruto's relief. He didn't much feel like talking over her gunshots.

Silence was his answer. The creature only stared back at Naruto, as if waiting for something. Rha came into the blonde's view, the lingering sand being dispersed somewhat by the worm's initial arrival, but then more bulges in the sand could be seen forming around her. "Watch out!"

Just as the words left his mouth four smaller metal worms erupted from the ground around Rha. As Naruto moved to help his companion, the massive one hundred meter worm screeched and dove towards him.

Naruto's eyes widened, its speed surprised him, especially for its size. Taking a quick glance over at Rha, Naruto pulled even more energy into his hands and slammed them into the ground. The force of the blast sent Naruto flying into the air, above the colossal creature, but the worm rotated its body. Aligning one of the spikes with the now hovering forerunner. Not able to dodge the blade, the blonde lifted his arms just as the attack smashed into the remnants of his shield. The worm pressed his attack, dragging Naruto along with it.

'I can't keep this up forever!' Naruto thought as he looked over his shoulder to see where the creature was bringing them, but Naruto couldn't see far due to the density of the lingering sand. 'I need to find a weak spot if I'm ever to beat this thing.' Frantically looking over the creature, Naruto took note of the rotating teeth, the somewhat glowing green energy radiating off the blades, and its endless glowing pit that was its mouth. But then something stood out. A red crystal was embedded into the side of its mouth, just before the bright green glow of its bowels took over. The crystal itself gave off its own soft radiance, but this feeling was not unknown to the young forerunner.

On a gut instinct, Naruto pulled energy into his hand and took aim at the red crystal, but aiming was proving difficult. To the best of his ability, Naruto fired a blue beam at the crystal, but only skimmed it. Melting a portion of the rock.

Screeching, the metal worm slung Naruto away in a desperate attempt to stop the pain. The blonde was sent bouncing across the sand, before finally sliding to a stop. Naruto just lay there, the burning in his chest becoming all too apparent. His shield has reached his lower ribcage and the burning in his lungs and heart was excruciating. Even a throbbing pain in the back of skull was beginning to appear.

Naruto looked over at the worm from his prone position and saw the beast thrashing about in a fit of agony and rage. Compared to the others, this one seemed to be the alpha of the group, which meant that it's used to being on top. Desperately standing up, Naruto was now breathing heavily in a fain attempt to relinquish the burning pain. 'I've found its weak spot. Now I just need to-.'

A new found pain burst forth from inside of Naruto's chest, making him fall down to his hands and knees. It was like someone was sticking a searing hot spear through the center of his heart. 'Wh-what is going on?! This pain! What's causing it?!'

The ground began to rumble and the young forerunner knew what was causing it. Peering up at the once rampaging worm from underneath his hood, the metal creature was quickly making its way towards him. Pulling energy into his hand, it began to glow blue before said blue energy burst away from his hand.

'I-I can't form anymore attacks… I can't even move!' The worm was coming ever closer to Naruto, but just before it was about to swallow him whole, a loud bellow echoed across the sands. Deep and ancient, the noise vibrated the ground and shifted it violently, making the worm stop just before the injured blonde. Looking around, the worm almost looked concerned by the arrival of this new sound, but after a second shout from the deep call, the worm swiftly turned around and jumped back into the sands below.

Naruto stared at the hole the worm created in complete confusion. Why would it leave so abruptly when it could have easily killed him?

"Naruto?! Naruto where are you?!" The voice of Rha could be heard faintly in the background. The blonde began to call out to the sangheili, but stopped when something wrapped around his waist.

"Forerunner… you are so young." A feminine voice said from all around him. It sounded like it was bouncing off the still sand that blinded him. "Yet you carry such a massive responsibility upon your shoulders."

"Who… are you?" Naruto's breath was becoming ever more staggered with each passing moment. The burning was becoming too much to bare.

"Come. We have much to discuss." Looking down Naruto noticed that a metal tentacle had wrapped itself around his waist and that very tentacle was now pulling him away.

"I can't leave Rha here. If I'm going to talk to you then Rha comes as well." Naruto stated as the tugging was becoming stronger, but the blonde could tell that it was being gentle as well.

"I will guide her to safety. You need not worry." The forerunner relaxed underneath the pressure of the tentacle as it fully wrapped itself around his torso. Even if Naruto didn't want to go with the voice, his body only wanted to sleep and drift off into a blessed unconsciousness. As Naruto began closing his eyes he saw the image of Rha walking through the sand just as he was pulled away.

XxXxX

"Naruto!" Rha shouted as said forerunner was quickly pulled into the dense sand beyond, a metal tentacle being the source of the pulling. "NO!" Rha ran as far as her legs would carry her in the direction that Naruto was taken, even climbing up a steep sand dune until finally breaking out of the hell hole they had been stuck in. Finally, fatigue got the best of her, and she was forced to stop and breath. "Damn it!" Slamming her fist into the sands below, then she threw another punch, then another. After another three punches Rha finally stopped and just panted as she looked at the ground beneath her. She was so confused, so lost, what was she to do now?

Standing up, Rha looked around and saw the tower looming before her. As if it was calling to her, wanting her to come and maybe, just maybe, her companion would be there.

'If you're still alive then that's where you'll be.' And with that final thought Rha began the trek to the tower.

XxXxX

"Damn it!" Malik slammed his fist against the now locked door in anger. He had just abandoned his commanding officer to the flood of enemies beyond, but even if it hurt him, Hyus was right. He needed to warn the others of what was going on and hopefully get some help. Turning around, Malik noticed that the room he was currently in had a single terminal sitting on the far end with other, server like, constructs lining the walls. Another locked door was placed next to the terminal, hopefully leading to the main area. Approaching it, the recruit pressed the only visible button available to him. The projected keypad became larger with more keys that he didn't understand appeared. Several orbs of differentiating sizes and colors appeared before him. "Umm…" Malik looked over the keypad in confusion. Which one was he supposed to press? A red orb stood out from the rest as a similar colored line extended out to the edge of the keypad and towards the servers, as if it was pointing towards them. With no other lead, Malik pressed his hand into the orb, and to his delight the server like machines around him turned on with a silent hum. The red lights turned green and the locked door became unlocked.

An explosion from beyond the door behind him reminded Malik that he needed to get moving. Rushing to the door, the scout found himself back in another hallway similar to the one they had been in before. Quickly running down the hallway, Malik ran through another door that led him to the place Hyus and himself had entered, only this time the button to call for the disk like elevator was there. Pressing the button, and impatiently waiting for the metal pad to make its way down to him, Malik was soon on his way down to the ground floor.

"Okay, now where?" Malik said to himself as he stepped off the elevator. The room was massive with at least eight hallways he could venture down, but two clearly stood out beyond the rest. One was wide with an enormous door sitting at the end, while the other was equally as massive with several pairs of pillars running down the side. "Well the door the squad was waiting at wasn't as big as that one." Deciding to take the path with the pillars, Malik began running as fast as he could, but stopped when flashlights blinded his eyesight.

"Malik? Is that you?" It was Soha and the rest of his squad. "Where's Hyus?"

"He's in trouble and we need help, now!" Malik exclaimed, this gained their immediate attention.

"Trouble? What's going on?" Bresse asked.

"There are these things in here. I don't know, but they separated us on the third floor. We need to help him!" Malik said as he ran into the center room, only to see that the elevator was gone. The others followed him into the room as well. "Where did the elevator go?"

"Looks like we need to call for it." Soha said as he went to press the button next to the hole in the floor, but before he could the elevator began moving itself. Everyone looked up, but readied their weapons when the sound of gunfire could be heard. "Ready your weapons boys. Looks like we're in for a fight." As the elevator passed the cusp of the second floor, Hyus jumped out from the edge and landed with a combat roll.

"Hyus? How did you-?" Malik went to ask.

"I'll tell you later, but we need to get the hell out of here. More of those things are coming and if we don't seal this place then the entire station could be lost." Hyus said as he aimed his weapon up at the top of the hole in the ceiling.

"What are you talking about Hyus? We only just-." Soha said, but then saw a green like creature walk to the edge of the railings on the third floor, which was very quickly followed by many others. "Oh…"

"Run!" Hyus shouted as he turned and ran for the entrance, who was very shortly followed by everyone else. Loud thuds could be heard behind them as the monsters had begun dropping to the same floor as them. Sprinting as fast as they could, the scouting party quickly found themselves running across the bridge they had originally entered on. Looking over his shoulder, Bresse saw the green creatures swarming out of the front door and towards them. Finally making it to the end of the bridge Soha turned to face the green monsters.

"You five, fire at will! Give some covering fire to the boys climbing!" The last five soldiers turned and began firing at the seemingly endless sea of monsters. The soldiers that were furthest up on the cliff turned and began firing as well. "Now get going! Keep rotating fire until we make it out!"

Hyus stopped and looked over the cave with a frown. At this rate they weren't going to make it, until an idea came to mind. Taking aim, Hyus began firing to the side of the cave. His target? The gray blob from before. Screeching in anger, the gray blob came to life once more, but instead of looking at the retreating sangheili, its sights were set on the green creatures swarming out of the building. Rushing over to the bridge, the blob began eating and fighting against what it thought was an enemy invading its home.

"That should buy us some time so we can get out! One last push boys, come on!" Soha shouted as he grabbed onto the arm of a soldier that was lagging behind. After a few minutes of climbing, the twenty odd scouts, along with Hyus and Bresse, finally made it to the entrance of the cave. Everyone made it through the hole before Hyus ran over to a crate that was holding nothing but plasma grenades.

"Help me out over here!" Hyus shouted as he began dragging the box over to the hole. Two soldiers quickly ran over and assisted in moving the crate while two others were firing as fast as they could reload their carbines at the green creatures. Once the crate was in place, Hyus patted the two soldiers firing into the cave on the back, signaling it was time to move. Before they left, Hyus activated a plasma grenade and dropped it into the crate. "Fire in the hole!"

Three seconds later, a massive eruption shook the ground. Making the rocks fall from the ceiling and splitting the ground. Smoke mixed with steam as a blue fire rushed towards them, but stopped just shy of Hyus as he fell to the ground from the shaking.

And then, everything became still. The twenty two Heretics staring at where they had just come from in a mix of fear and confusion. If those creatures had managed to make it to the hole, then the entire station would have been lost for sure.

"We made it…" Bresse said softly, but everyone could hear it. "We made it!"

Everyone then cheered as the realization set in. They made it out alive without being killed by those things. The scouts began hugging one another in celebration when the workers in the area ran over to see what was going on.

"I'm going to Commander Vel. We need to have a chat now." Hyus said as he stood up and began making his way towards the elevator. "Until then, Soha. Make sure nobody digs in this area."

"Don't worry. Nobody will dig here while I'm alive." Soha responded as Malik's eyes followed the Burning Legion commander in confusion. Hyus had been trapped in that room with those creatures. How did he…?

Once on the elevator, Hyus leaned against its cold walls and sighed. Bresse looked over at him with a mix of concern and curiosity. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. One thing's for sure though, we aren't staying here for too much longer." Hyus replied.

"What's the plan?"

"Same as before. Find the Creator." Hyus replied as he removed himself from the side of the elevator.

"But how are we going to find him without any leads?"

"While I was in there I managed to get a little information from one of the terminals before those things attacked us. Coordinates to another facility that has yet to be uncovered by the Heretics or the Covenant." Hyus explained.

"And you want to go there before the others learn of it?"

"Exactly."

"Sounds like a plan. Ready whenever you are commander." Bresse said as the door to the elevator opened.

"Perfect. Lets find ourselves a Creator…" Hyus said as he exited the elevator, a hint of green appearing in his eyes as he left.

XxXxX

A/N: So, it's certainly been a while since I've updated this story. As many of you know the creation of Ancient Blood was before many of the now cannon Forerunners came into existence. Back then the only images we had of the ancient race was from the glimpses in Halo Legends back in 2010. This was all I had to work with back then and I tried to make a viable story from what little we had available. So much time has passed since then and so much more has been created that I think this story would need to be reworked to include all the new content that 343 Studios has created if were to continue it.

For now I'll leave things here, and I'll release a chapter stating when I begin working on this story again. Worry not, the characters that you've come to know will still be there, but the time period and the technology will be updated to suit the new world of the Halo series.

I won't lie to you, it will be a while before I can work on this story again for various reasons. The main one being that I've been backpacking across Europe for the past two months and I plan to backpack across Japan very soon. After that I'll be traversing North America and then who knows.

I love every one of you and hope that you can understand the position I'm in. Between work, travel, and my other stories there is so little time to work on Ancient Blood. I hope that I can surprise you with regular updates to this story sooner than expected, but for now…

See you next time! :D