Chapter 21: CHAPTER 21: Ruins
A room of dry, cracked limestone stood solemnly in complete darkness, its cracked weathering displaying the stories of millennia past. For centuries it stood, its dignity and honor preserved long after its creators had moved on. Yet this honor gained and preserved throughout the long years was shattered in seconds by the hand of a destroyer who takes all they can without guilt. Light scattered through the room and the new-found winds blew up the dust that had sat dormant for lifetimes. Through the hole giving the ancient chamber new life, a tall woman with long blonde hair accented by three small braids intertwined with the straight hair stood. Annalise grunted, pulling what looked like a gruesome jaw trap off her shoulder and throwing it down with a deep-pitched clank that made the soft floor vibrate on impact. A satisfied and relieved smile crossed her face, holding the hint of a snarl.
"Finally! Thank god, I FOUND IT AT LAST!" Tears ran down her face as she gazed into the smokey darkness ahead of her. She felt a nudge by her foot, and looked down with narrow eyes at the half-dead guard who with her last few breaths reached for her tattered gun before being coldly impaled by the bayonet at the end of her rifle. Annalise then proceeded to smash the woman's skull with her foot, using her footing to extract the weapon from her neck. Disregarding the corpse to the side of her, she wandered into the darkness of the unknown chamber. The room was quite small, its only guard the thick outer wall of solid stone and the modern security Annalise had effortlessly torn through to arrive here. Annalise walked to the middle of the empty room, and in seconds was adjusted to the darkness. She observed the paintings on the walls, made with once vibrant colors now dulled by long-term oxidation. On those walls showed creatures and gods beyond scientific imagination. On the surface of the worn limestone, men with long, dagger-like fangs were shown feasting on fearful victims. Meanwhile, a godlike creature stood above them all in thin air, gazing down on the ensuing carnage. The whole picture looked like a twisted tricolor Galileo painting. The color of painted blood still ran flamboyant and fresh amongst all others. It shone vibrantly as a deathly warning and an omen, even after all these years. But this was no new news to the Plagues. They had been informed of a deep and dark history unknown to modern mankind. Wars and grudges, blood, tears, and technology. The ascension to the vast emptiness. They had been enlightened about the history before what was written and preserved by the outside world. She knew of these creatures labeled "aliens" and "vampires", and the truth behind their existence. But she was not here for that. A greater treasure lied beneath her feet. She kneeled down and looked at the dull condensed sediment her metal boots had scraped up. With a swing of her fist, the limestone shattered into large chunks. Heaving the cracked tiles up and flipping them over, from the dullness of rock came a glint of silvery gold. The intel was true! She grasped the glinting material, and without hesitation pulled the vein of metal from the debris. Though it was a small scrap of material merely the size of one's palm, it was infinitely valuable. A group of TA members entered the scene, awaiting confirmation.
"Begin the excavation. This is the real deal." She said while walking off prouder than ever. This one ingot was enough to turn Ethiopia into a hellscape beyond recognition, and had just brought the TA one more step towards the stars. Outside, there were a few scattered corpses being bagged and tossed into one of the many large helicopter-like vehicles scattered along the site. She boarded another one and strapped in, ready to enter the next combat zone within hours. Ruins such as these dotted the Asian and African continents, most of them already looted or excavated by the local government. But no one could make the best use of this precious material as much as the TA, with its vast knowledge that dumbfounded all nations worldwide. What was the secret to their power, their knowledge, their insight? How could they design such intricate technology that stood leagues above anything they could make in the present? Such questions enraged the nations, and they could do nothing about it. Assassins, mercenaries, anyone affiliated with the TA could walk in broad daylight and be safe and confident. But Annalise did not care about politics. She wanted to be there when Tangente, the Ringleader of this whole ordeal, finally achieved his goal. She, along with all of the other plagues aside from LeRoy, Chandler, and Alwin, want to join Tangente in his final wish, his final goal that had taken him a millennium to set up. He was still not complete, and though he was mostly finished, it would take the conquering of a few other countries to complete. This goal was a chance for Annalise to get what she desired, a perfect living environment. No, this goal was not to conquer the world, though conquering part of it was almost required at this point to progress further. Annalise nodded her head in tiredness. Damn this imperfect body. It could keep her youthful, yet still required sleep? Why should Tangente, Arewara, and the originals get to enjoy their lives in near-complete perfection? It wasn't fair! She did what she was told, killed who she needed, eventually killed whoever she wanted, and now was doing retrieval missions like some sort of damned dog. She better get a bonus for this after this long, agonizing mission was over. How many temples would she have to go through to find another real and undisturbed temple to sift through. She was better off searching for these ugly silvered chunks by tracking meteor debris or government facilities! Though they were more unpredictable and would cause a fuss, they were more fun to do than digging in these ancient dust shacks. Who cares if people wastefully die anyway? It's not going to matter in the close yet distant future. Annalise's thoughts were scrambled by a jolt that flung her collar bone against her seat belt. She assumed it was just another attack by some ragtag militia of this small country. They had nothing that could significantly harm this ship. However, Anna felt her stomach drop when she saw the red emergency flash on. This was no human enemy. Scrambling to get her safety belt off, she leaned and slid the aircraft doors open and hung from the side rails to see the chaos of smoke and an unidentified tank. She felt the acceleration of the copter as it plummeted to the ground. She would have to jump. She tossed herself off, hoping to roll on the ground. After a few seconds of sickening freefall, the collision on the ground was still indeed brutal, only allowing a half-roll before she flattened out and took the rest of the force head-on. Even though it distributed across her entire back the bare impact was enough to make her armor(which was infused with technology) restart the systems sending information to her contacts granting Anna her visual display. She was paralyzed with bodily pains and a huge headache before scrambling up while wobbling and falling down again. The world was spinning and she felt more confused and sick than ever. However, her body adjusted within seconds and she stood to her feet again, ready to see the attackers. She heard a voice, a raspy one that sounded all too familiar.
"I know you… you were that newbie that stood there to the side during my last meeting with Tangente." A light caramel-colored man said before doing a quick chuckle "You should know why I'm doing this then. That dangerous bastard..." Though it was subtle, fangs could be seen from the corner of his mouth as he talked. Unlike the much more integrated canines that all GMH's had in their mouths that were only slightly sharpened and spread across multiple sets of teeth around where the human canines would lie, this man had four grotesquely long, blade-like fangs on both the top and bottom of his mouth, yielding eight in total. She now saw why they loved to use their jaws as weapons.
"I have no time to be halted by some of Tangente's and Arewara's failed creations. Now steer clear of me, if you want to make it home with all your buddies." Anna said.
"Too many of my family have already been sacrificed for me to turn back now. You're done, BITCH." He said with a sinful grin lusting for suffering. He was genuinely elated to see so many ships fall and men go into battle only to die at his hand. Noises broke out as the other crafts in the air dodged unknown anti-aircraft weaponry and the occasional tank round once the pilots lost control. Though she had landed in a somewhat open meadow, the weapons were concealed in the dense overgrowth to the side that also consumed some of the TA's aircraft. Smoke rose, but not from the fallen aircraft, as TA vehicles did not combust when destroyed like traditional vehicles occasionally do. Annalise questioned this. What was the smoke coming from? What purpose did these "thirty-sevens" have for setting off smoke? To signal? Even more panic set into Anna's chest when she realized why. They were directing their own aircraft, but couldn't use any radio or any other EM waves that the TA wouldn't pick up on. She turned her head towards the sky, gaping as a large aircraft emerged from a smoky gray cloud that covered half the sky. How was it not picked up on the radar? Had they mastered sonar-deceiving technologies already? But they were just one stand-alone group! How could they have even gotten the opportunity to make something of this complexity and proportion? Annalise's fair face wrinkled with a snarl as her eyes glinted with rage. She could not surrender and let this vein of ore get into any hands other than Tangente's. She would have to fight till she was near-dead to leave this place, but she had no other alternative.
"Do you think I am afraid of death? None of us here are. As our motto holds, 'through hell we've wandered, our fate still far, but tread past we must, to be who we are'" She said as a metallic mask wrapped itself around her head like a flower folding itself back into a bud. Three reflective golden dots marked the front of the smooth, slender headpiece, with one on the back. Annalise Worston was ready to fight, and fall, if need be. She would secure herself paradise, no matter the cost.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone