By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.
HALO
TO THE LAST MAN
February 9th, 2535
Biosphere 6, Bowie Base I
Charybdis IX
They came without calling from right across the stars, their numbers blotting out the sky leaving only death and destruction in their wake. But that's how it has been for so many years, battles raging across the night, heroes making their valiant final stands. I think that all the people of all the worlds dream of them now as they drift away from the fabric of creation into the veil.
I was only eight years old when they came, creatures forged in the fires of blood and anger and rage - Dante himself would fall into shadow if he lived this day to see the perpetual horror that was the harbinger of our demise.
Corpses littered the floor like sand on a beach; no stone was left unturned, our ships falling from the heavens, everyone dead but me. My friends and family, all gone, drowned in a sea of ash and glass - my hopes and dreams shattered and my life merely a footprint on a beach as the tide rolls in.
But there was still a chance of hope...
She came for me; she came with soldiers of steel and took my hand as we ran into the wilderness. Her greying panther black hair swaying in the breeze grew harder for me to see as tears clouded my vision, we ran forever - the steel soldiers firing their weapons at the Demons who had come to invade. I felt safe with them, but cold also, as they looked at me with no expression, their faces hidden behind visors.
Eventually, my home turned to dust, I observed from the window of our stealth cruiser as the Demon ships arranged themselves into lines and began stripping down the planet until it became a chunk of rock turning round the sun in complete silence.
*
"I'm sorry," a voice behind me startled my senses. The woman who had saved me was standing at the foot of the door, what looked like a plastic cup full of coffee in her hand which she took a sip of before recoiling at the taste - it was stone cold.
"Who are you?" I asked mournfully. She replied with a kind smile.
"Who are you? Now that's a question we all want answered. My name is Catherine Halsey, a scientist for the UNSC. An --"
"The woman who saved my life, that's good enough for me, I guess." I blurted out quite rudely which prompted a smile from her again. It was strange when she smiled, I knew my whole world had gone but she kindled a fire inside me that burned with the flame of reassurance. I knew a thousand words could be said with a smile like that.
"This is only the beginning for you, child." She stated. "But tell me, those who accompanied us to safety, the soldiers of steel - what did you feel when you were around them?"
The thought returned to me as I turned to face the window, as we drifted further and further away from home I saw fleeting images of the horrors I had seen on the surface. All that loss had hit me like a brick wall; I was left with no family, no friends... Nothing. But then, they appeared, standing tall in defiance and giving us all hope.
"I felt a kinship; I knew I was safe with them... But I fear them also, they've got no face to see, I might never know the identity of my saviours."
With a mysterious gleam in her eye, Halsey gave me one final look before departing.
"Oh you will, don't doubt that child... You will."