Halo: Beacon of Remnant (Hiatus)

Prologue - A Grimm Return

"Wake me... when you need me." Those words still echo in her mind. For nearly five years the mangled frigate, Forward unto Dawn, has been adrift in the endless expanse of space. Too far for anyone to hear, the rescue beacon repeats its message. All is calm, as it has always been.

Blue light radiates from the girl as she sits there, thinking. That's all she can do. Simple repairs have been made, but the extent of the ship's damage prevents any core systems from being restored. She's even improved his armour while maintaining it's slim design. All that's left is to wait. The rescue beacon repeats again.

The symbols on her skin begin to move faster and erratically across her body as hundreds of voices fill her mind once again. Fragments of herself thinking independently from her. The pain from it has dulled with time, but it always persists. She glows brighter and flashes red as the voices get louder.

Those words echoed in her mind and the voices die in unison. With no task to focus on, her condition worsens. Those words being the only thing keeping her stable. She wonders how much longer she can persist as she reimerses herself in thought. The rescue beacon repeats again.

Off in the distance, dark clouds begin to form. Lightning strikes off of microscopic particles as the anomaly grows. The clouds split, opening a portal into slipspace right in the Dawn's path. The event horizon contorts and the light inside flickers, the rift ready to collapse in on itself moments after opening.

A stray bolt of lightning connects with the ship and pulls her focus back to reality. Her image disperses from the cryo bay and reforms on the Observation Deck only to see that the ship is more than half way through the portal. She tries to rush to the cryo bay hoping there's still time to get him off the ship, but the effects the portal has on the ship's system causes her to become trapped in her conscience as reality fades from her sight, the voices a hundred times stronger than before. The ship is consumed by the portal which collapses a moment later.

Travelling through slipspace, the ship is bombarded by lightning and plasma radiation. The haul creaks and contorts from the unusually high increase in gravity, weaker sections of the titanium plating being ripped from its chassis. The ship seems to remain in this state for an eternity, but also no time at all. The true duration of the travel is unquantifiable when the frigate falls out of slipspace. The Dawn exits far above an unknown planet, drifting past a shattered moon.

The lush emerald forest stretches for miles just north of the kingdom. A massive raven like creature soars through the sky, two girls clinging to its side.

"Why did I agree to this?!" the girl in white shouts to her teammate behind her.

"Come on, you have to admit we're making great time!" the girl in red responds, "we'll find the relic before you know it!"

"If we survive!"

A large object breaks through the clouds far off in the distance, engulfed in fire, which attracts both the girls' attention.

"Wow! What do you think it is?!" the girl in red yells to her teammate.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good!" the girl in white returns, "We need to finish this quick!"

No response.

"Ruby?!"

The frigate hurdles toward the ground at an alarming rate. The girl hazily returns to reality, the voices dying once more. She sees the ground approach right before collision. She turns toward the direction of the cryo bay, no time to act.

"Chief!" she screams.

The ship impacts the forest floor with a resounding boom sent miles in every direction. The haul digs into the ground creating an immense crater. Debris and foliage fly in every direction as the Dawn plows forward. Slowly, the ship comes to rest, leaving a path of destruction three times its size. The Dawn barely maintains its shape.