((Poster's note....Authors" Mods" Somebody's note. >=) For intense language in parts, a bit of the ol' ultra-violence, and later on in the series horror and gore, this is not for younger readers.))
It opens on a black screen, this chapter. Though soon snapping electronically to life a second later. In the frame of the screen, a much older man though he still towered over most in both height and size. A series of scars mar the side of his face over his eye, that has been replaced with a patch.
Standing in what seems to be thick in a forest lush and green, and even now the man's one good eye takes in his surroundings with a visible mixture of both awe and uncertainty. This easily read, contrary to his very soldier like stature.
The man is left to look, as the narrator's voice comes over the video.
"We have brought General Thorius Jo'Neas here for the first time in over one hundred years since he last jumped off of this planet. To this very spot. The spot of the harshest combat, in what historian's now call the most dangerous battle in all of the Chaos wars. It is the first time he has wished to give a briefing of that night, and therein is the only recorded version of this fight."
The old man looks back to the camera, though off to the side of the lens. Focusing on a person, rather then the object. Youth somehow still clinging to his form, at least in the smoothness of motion. Even when standing still.
Off screen came another voice, but focused out. Showing that it was most likely the interviewer, and the focus of the General's attention.
"Go ahead please, General."
With a small ruffle, the older man smoothed his hands down the black fabric of the dress uniform. Fitting nicely and showing the form underneath of a man in the prime of life, though the stark whiteness of his hair showed his true age. When he spoke, the tone was intensely deep.
"I am Thorius Jo'Neas. Son of Talnas Jo'Neas. I am a blooded member of my family's house, with honor surpassed only by my ancestors when it comes to the slaying of my enemy. I am, and have been acting General in the Wolfe Inc. Security Forces for seventy years. Before that I was colonel to the second army, infantry. Before that I was-"
Off screen the interviewer wisely cuts off the General's ritualistic call of honor. Which on a man his age, would take a bit of time.
"General, Please..."
Though this was met with of course, the sudden snarl and show of teeth over towards the interviewer by the older gentleman, which smoothly turned into a humored grin. A break in tradition of course, but the General did not seem to be a man to fully stand on such.
"-And it was here, that I had my first combat at the age of 17 in your years. My first pure taste of demonic blood was here, in the 'Pit'." The man made a light motion behind where the forest bloomed life behind him. As he turned to look, a slow laugh came out from him.
"It looked different, then." Still the same chuckle, deeply mirthful. And considering what he was discussing, was a light tell to the strength of his mind.
"And this is what you called this place then. 'The Pit'?" Off screen, the man spoke once again.
"Mmmm, yes. It was, at the beginning of all of it, a depression....at the end of everything with the firepower put down around here, and the stamping of feet and armor, it leveled out a bit. But I always will remember it as the Pit."
"This might seem to be very contrite General....But could you tell us what happened that night?"
"Mmmm, well....I guess you heard from the early reports what had happened. We jumped on this piece of shit planet with the intention of saving the lives of some remaining folk stuck here after the demons broke out. Last remnants of an entire planet. We got them out okay, but the beginning was brutal....very brutal. Just a taste of what was to come though."
A long inhale taken as memories began to flow back to the surface of the man's mind. Ones long deadened, opening up like fresh scars.
"Our deaths were the trigger, they say. Pushed this planet over the edge from something normal to a world....touched by demons."
"An infernal planet." Off screen the interviewer gives the more commonly known term to whatever audience this would be replayed to.
"Yeah, one of those. I don't know if you've ever fully seen one, with how things are now a days....but it's a horrendous place. The very earth rebels against you. The animals and corpses of the dead population become your enemy. Even the plants assault you. It was such then, and worse since it was so new, well back then we couldn't jump out while the planet was like that."
"Couldn't jump out?" The interviewer asks with a very definite disbelief.
"Hell no. We were stuck there....Happened a lot back then. People would jump in to the wrong fight, try to get out and be stranded. We were then. We lost over ten thousand men in little under four hours as the night came on. Whittling us down until the last nine hundred stragglers came to be gathered here. In the Pit."
"And then?" Another quick question by the interviewer, eager to keep the story going as it was now on the cusp of information never before revealed.
Though this was met by a sudden, sharp laugh from the older man. Hands slipping into the pockets of his dress slacks casually.
"And then. And then man I waited to die. Waited to be torn limb from limb by screaming horrors and nightmares. And this was when we had mark two armor. We were just flesh and bones underneath all that fancy technology. So what was there to do' Pitch black, nothing to do there but sit and wait. My first combat was going to be my last."
The man stopped for a second, rolling his tongue around in his mouth in a tell. Calming himself down a bit before continuing.
"Now we couldn't jump out, but people....people could jump in. But who the hell would jump into this hellish land for nine hundred soldiers, who knew the risks" No one would. Not a single soul in all the forces were willing to come in, and I don't blame them. Not one bit. People started falling off....Nine hundred became eight fifty. Eight twenty. Eight hundred. And then, then he came."
"Who came?"
"The General." The word holding a much higher press then the old man's own rank, even when he spoke it.
"Well, he was a Major back then. But we all knew him. Major Dillon Jones jumped into the planet, right over there." Even through the forest, the man points. And the camera panned then to show the peak off into the horizon. The camera panned back, and smoothly and right on time the General went on.
"Right through the black like a blade. Falling to earth. Bright as a star. It illuminated everything. And the demons, they saw it....and they went to it. And when he landed on the peak, he landed on the horns of a demon that he slew."
"And....then?" The interviewer manages to speak up, in a bit more silence then normal.
"And then..." Another sudden, sharp laugh in recollection. "And then the demon below that mother fucker reached up, grabbed the Major's legs, and tore the man in half."
The sudden silence all around was thick as ever, the drop of information a revelation.
"But you, were all in mark two armor....So the General..." The interviewer weakly replied. But the older man nodded.
"Torn in half, blood and glory all. They tossed him around a bit, devouring him piece by piece. And he died." The sudden purse of the man's lips, words coming out but not felt until they were out in the air.
"You have to understand, this was before we even knew about some of the medical technology being tested out. So all we saw, was our Major coming down and giving his entire life, to just give us....the tiniest sliver of hope. And suddenly, we were not children playing in an adult's game. We were beasts. Beasts darker then anything out there."
The sudden bloom of a smile came over the man's lips, then.
"We dropped more ordinance in an hour in this area then was dropped in the whole of Terra's world war 2. When the Company, and everyone heard about what the Major did....they were happy to provide it. It was a constant metal rain. If the plants wanted to annoy us, fine, then we would eliminate the plants. If the animals, and risen corpses wanted to fight us....Fine, we would fight them. If the demons wanted to hunt us, this was not fine. We would hunt them."
The smile grows wider, until it shows the more....feral nature of the man. Still quite human, but nothing decent smiled like that.
"And hunt we did. And we died, but more came. And on the second day of pure combat the dead of our enemies piled among our own. But now people poured in. What was once horror, now became a race of endurance. Our blood for theirs. Our lives, for theirs. For no reason because we could."
"And....then?" Even quieter off screen, meek in the light of the man's smile as he discussed the killing of demons in wholesale.
"And then he came. Again." A slow chuckle, as the smile faded into something more, warm.
"What?"
"Our Major returned to us. Came in a jump in full armor. And as he killed the first demon of many, he proclaimed to us over the net these simple words....'Not even death can stop me from my duty'."
"That's....Impossible. General, he couldn't of jumped back out. He was torn to pieces, and eaten by demons. There wouldn't be anything of him left to pull out of here, anyhow. It's just plain, impossible."
"Then you are missing the point from a seventeen year old soldier on the ground that had been fighting in a frenzy for two days straight. He did the impossible. And in that instant, so could we."
"I hear they found what they needed. With our fighting, they could pull it out in the confusion. It was a finger. In the stomach of a demon. He came back to us, from a single finger. The Company, healed him, from a single finger..."
"Wanna know the best part of all of this. The one that made even the Major laugh, after the planet was finally clean?"
"Please..." A sudden needy gasp for the information.
"It was his middle fucking finger....How fucking funny is that?"
The screen is left with the old soldier grinning into the lens now, humor rolling off of him thickly.
1.
It opens on a black screen, this chapter. Though soon snapping electronically to life a second later. In the frame of the screen, a much older man though he still towered over most in both height and size. A series of scars mar the side of his face over his eye, that has been replaced with a patch.
Standing in what seems to be thick in a forest lush and green, and even now the man's one good eye takes in his surroundings with a visible mixture of both awe and uncertainty. This easily read, contrary to his very soldier like stature.
The man is left to look, as the narrator's voice comes over the video.
"We have brought General Thorius Jo'Neas here for the first time in over one hundred years since he last jumped off of this planet. To this very spot. The spot of the harshest combat, in what historian's now call the most dangerous battle in all of the Chaos wars. It is the first time he has wished to give a briefing of that night, and therein is the only recorded version of this fight."
The old man looks back to the camera, though off to the side of the lens. Focusing on a person, rather then the object. Youth somehow still clinging to his form, at least in the smoothness of motion. Even when standing still.
Off screen came another voice, but focused out. Showing that it was most likely the interviewer, and the focus of the General's attention.
"Go ahead please, General."
With a small ruffle, the older man smoothed his hands down the black fabric of the dress uniform. Fitting nicely and showing the form underneath of a man in the prime of life, though the stark whiteness of his hair showed his true age. When he spoke, the tone was intensely deep.
"I am Thorius Jo'Neas. Son of Talnas Jo'Neas. I am a blooded member of my family's house, with honor surpassed only by my ancestors when it comes to the slaying of my enemy. I am, and have been acting General in the Wolfe Inc. Security Forces for seventy years. Before that I was colonel to the second army, infantry. Before that I was-"
Off screen the interviewer wisely cuts off the General's ritualistic call of honor. Which on a man his age, would take a bit of time.
"General, Please..."
Though this was met with of course, the sudden snarl and show of teeth over towards the interviewer by the older gentleman, which smoothly turned into a humored grin. A break in tradition of course, but the General did not seem to be a man to fully stand on such.
"-And it was here, that I had my first combat at the age of 17 in your years. My first pure taste of demonic blood was here, in the 'Pit'." The man made a light motion behind where the forest bloomed life behind him. As he turned to look, a slow laugh came out from him.
"It looked different, then." Still the same chuckle, deeply mirthful. And considering what he was discussing, was a light tell to the strength of his mind.
"And this is what you called this place then. 'The Pit'?" Off screen, the man spoke once again.
"Mmmm, yes. It was, at the beginning of all of it, a depression....at the end of everything with the firepower put down around here, and the stamping of feet and armor, it leveled out a bit. But I always will remember it as the Pit."
"This might seem to be very contrite General....But could you tell us what happened that night?"
"Mmmm, well....I guess you heard from the early reports what had happened. We jumped on this piece of shit planet with the intention of saving the lives of some remaining folk stuck here after the demons broke out. Last remnants of an entire planet. We got them out okay, but the beginning was brutal....very brutal. Just a taste of what was to come though."
A long inhale taken as memories began to flow back to the surface of the man's mind. Ones long deadened, opening up like fresh scars.
"Our deaths were the trigger, they say. Pushed this planet over the edge from something normal to a world....touched by demons."
"An infernal planet." Off screen the interviewer gives the more commonly known term to whatever audience this would be replayed to.
"Yeah, one of those. I don't know if you've ever fully seen one, with how things are now a days....but it's a horrendous place. The very earth rebels against you. The animals and corpses of the dead population become your enemy. Even the plants assault you. It was such then, and worse since it was so new, well back then we couldn't jump out while the planet was like that."
"Couldn't jump out?" The interviewer asks with a very definite disbelief.
"Hell no. We were stuck there....Happened a lot back then. People would jump in to the wrong fight, try to get out and be stranded. We were then. We lost over ten thousand men in little under four hours as the night came on. Whittling us down until the last nine hundred stragglers came to be gathered here. In the Pit."
"And then?" Another quick question by the interviewer, eager to keep the story going as it was now on the cusp of information never before revealed.
Though this was met by a sudden, sharp laugh from the older man. Hands slipping into the pockets of his dress slacks casually.
"And then. And then man I waited to die. Waited to be torn limb from limb by screaming horrors and nightmares. And this was when we had mark two armor. We were just flesh and bones underneath all that fancy technology. So what was there to do' Pitch black, nothing to do there but sit and wait. My first combat was going to be my last."
The man stopped for a second, rolling his tongue around in his mouth in a tell. Calming himself down a bit before continuing.
"Now we couldn't jump out, but people....people could jump in. But who the hell would jump into this hellish land for nine hundred soldiers, who knew the risks" No one would. Not a single soul in all the forces were willing to come in, and I don't blame them. Not one bit. People started falling off....Nine hundred became eight fifty. Eight twenty. Eight hundred. And then, then he came."
"Who came?"
"The General." The word holding a much higher press then the old man's own rank, even when he spoke it.
"Well, he was a Major back then. But we all knew him. Major Dillon Jones jumped into the planet, right over there." Even through the forest, the man points. And the camera panned then to show the peak off into the horizon. The camera panned back, and smoothly and right on time the General went on.
"Right through the black like a blade. Falling to earth. Bright as a star. It illuminated everything. And the demons, they saw it....and they went to it. And when he landed on the peak, he landed on the horns of a demon that he slew."
"And....then?" The interviewer manages to speak up, in a bit more silence then normal.
"And then..." Another sudden, sharp laugh in recollection. "And then the demon below that mother fucker reached up, grabbed the Major's legs, and tore the man in half."
The sudden silence all around was thick as ever, the drop of information a revelation.
"But you, were all in mark two armor....So the General..." The interviewer weakly replied. But the older man nodded.
"Torn in half, blood and glory all. They tossed him around a bit, devouring him piece by piece. And he died." The sudden purse of the man's lips, words coming out but not felt until they were out in the air.
"You have to understand, this was before we even knew about some of the medical technology being tested out. So all we saw, was our Major coming down and giving his entire life, to just give us....the tiniest sliver of hope. And suddenly, we were not children playing in an adult's game. We were beasts. Beasts darker then anything out there."
The sudden bloom of a smile came over the man's lips, then.
"We dropped more ordinance in an hour in this area then was dropped in the whole of Terra's world war 2. When the Company, and everyone heard about what the Major did....they were happy to provide it. It was a constant metal rain. If the plants wanted to annoy us, fine, then we would eliminate the plants. If the animals, and risen corpses wanted to fight us....Fine, we would fight them. If the demons wanted to hunt us, this was not fine. We would hunt them."
The smile grows wider, until it shows the more....feral nature of the man. Still quite human, but nothing decent smiled like that.
"And hunt we did. And we died, but more came. And on the second day of pure combat the dead of our enemies piled among our own. But now people poured in. What was once horror, now became a race of endurance. Our blood for theirs. Our lives, for theirs. For no reason because we could."
"And....then?" Even quieter off screen, meek in the light of the man's smile as he discussed the killing of demons in wholesale.
"And then he came. Again." A slow chuckle, as the smile faded into something more, warm.
"What?"
"Our Major returned to us. Came in a jump in full armor. And as he killed the first demon of many, he proclaimed to us over the net these simple words....'Not even death can stop me from my duty'."
"That's....Impossible. General, he couldn't of jumped back out. He was torn to pieces, and eaten by demons. There wouldn't be anything of him left to pull out of here, anyhow. It's just plain, impossible."
"Then you are missing the point from a seventeen year old soldier on the ground that had been fighting in a frenzy for two days straight. He did the impossible. And in that instant, so could we."
"I hear they found what they needed. With our fighting, they could pull it out in the confusion. It was a finger. In the stomach of a demon. He came back to us, from a single finger. The Company, healed him, from a single finger..."
"Wanna know the best part of all of this. The one that made even the Major laugh, after the planet was finally clean?"
"Please..." A sudden needy gasp for the information.
"It was his middle fucking finger....How fucking funny is that?"
The screen is left with the old soldier grinning into the lens now, humor rolling off of him thickly.
1.