Spark of Glory Ch. 4: Crystal Caves

[i][b]This is just a note. I will be MOSTLY INACTIVE from August 2nd to about August 9th as I will be in Canada. I plan to bring my laptop, but I will likely be unable to write and post stories. ALSO. I would have posted a story about a week earlier, but I was in Indiana without my laptop. I’ll rush myself and see if I can get Chapters 5, 6, and maybe 7 done by the time I’m back from Canada to make up for the amount of time I’ve wasted not writing for SoG. Sorry. I’ll pump out faster though, I promise! ALSO ALSO!!! I AM writing for the DFP Writing Contest! Look forward to my entry soon![/b][/i] After leaving the planet, we went to look for other planets that may either have the Great Machine or be habitable enough for us to live and send search parties for the Great Machine. However, most of them either had the machines or something climate-related made it uninhabitable. It went on like this for about 6 systems. But on the 7th system we saw a planet without the machines. It had three major land masses (not counting the poles and ice caps) with a mixture of forests, plains, jungles, and a large mountain chain that appeared to start on the largest landmass, temporarily go through the ocean and underwater, and then “reappear” on the next landmass, the smallest one. “That planet looks good. Let us head there,” I said. Agreeing, we went down to orbit and deployed a few skiffs, landing on the planet and near the mountains - me included. We divided into groups of about 10, me as the leader of mine. We would have had less, but after the machine incident - who we would later identify has the Vex when we arrived in the solar system we preside in today - I said it would be best to travel in groups of 10 so attacks could be fended off quickly. We then headed out. As I walked, I noticed that there were caves, and sometimes there were green crystals and what we assumed were piles of rocks. We ignored them, but then we noticed there was next to no wildlife. We would need to go into the caves. I wish we never went in there. It still haunts me to this day. When my group entered, I immediately said, “This will not be good… I don’t like this place.” As we walked, we noticed more of the green crystals. Then, a few minutes after we entered, I suddenly heard one in my group cry out in a sort of startled or shocked way. I saw Bravik looking down at a pile of rocks. “What troubles you, Brav...ik...,” I said, realizing the rocks [i]weren’t[/i] rocks. They were bones. The bones of all sorts of animals - wing bones of birds, femurs, even skulls. Whatever placed them here cleary had extremely bad intentions, and it was best if we stopped them - or at least halted them - before they could attack a civilization that could hold the Great Machine, and destroy it. “Have your weapons ready!” I commanded. I had a feeling we might encounter... something. We continued on, although much more cautiously. It was completely silent for a few more minutes, minus our footsteps and the crunching of bones. Then we heard something. It was like a cry, a shriek, a scream. “Be alert, watch out for movement,” I silently ordered. It got louder as we continued. Soon we came across a large chamber, and we saw… Where do I begin? I guess the… creatures, if you could even call them that. They were bony, a light grey shade. There were no eyes on them and they had a brown-ish scalp. There was roughly 20 of them. There were also creatures which wore a red armor and had three eyes, and carried what appeared to be some type of rock weapon. Perhaps near 10 of those? Some of those ones wore more, carrying either a rock weapon or sword. There were about 5 of them. There were bones everywhere, all sorts of remains and it essentially reeked of death. There was so much dust and it was extremely chalky. Then I noticed in the center there were three flying creatures wearing robes. I couldn’t make out any eyes, so they might have been covering them. They were in a three-part circle shape, with a light green circle of what I assumed was some type of magic or witchcraft. I heard chanting - they were attempting a ritual. But in the back was what shocked me the most. There was some type of portal - a light green energy being framed by two pillars. And from it was what disturbed me. I heard roars and felt rumbles - they were summoning something dark, strong, and [i]powerful[/i]. We quickly moved back and away from sight and likely earshot. I immediately activated my comm. “This is Koriks, we’ve found something and we need reinforcements. 2 groups will do, but more is appreciated.” I waited, wondering if I would even get a response. I started thinking they didn’t get it when my comm crackled and someone said, “We hear you. My group and another are headed your way. Another group may be on it’s way. Hold on.” We waited for what felt like an eternity, listening to the shrieks of the creatures. You could drive someone insane by forcing them to listen to the shrieks for a long time… Eventually the groups came - the two mentioned, along with one extra. That gave us a number count of around 35 or so - some of the men had been lost to the same beings after two of the groups entered the caves. I briefed them on what we saw - the creatures, the ritual, the portal. After that, I said, “Here’s our plan. We need to focus on the ritual so they don’t summon something… bad, as they may not just reside here. Their portals may be able to transport something dangerous to a civilization that they are to attack. They may be trying to send it to a civilization with the Great Machine. It’s best if we take the ritual out now. After that, we need to take out the armored individuals before taking the grey ones and cleaning up.” We lined up behind cover, making sure they couldn’t hear or see us. “On three,” I said. I made a [i]1, 2, 3[/i] gesture with my hand. [i]Here we go… This may be the end of us,[/i] I thought. Then, the battle begun, and all heck broke loose.