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Chapter 1 - Starry night3,415 words
Chapter 2 - Wait, what?3,540 words
Chapter 3 - Newspapers, blackboards and holograms8,682 words
Chapter 4 - Scientific Research5,528 words
Chapter 5 - In space, everyone can hear you talk7,889 words
Chapter 6 - Another day at the beach8,411 words
Chapter 7 - First contact, engage!14,827 words
Chapter 8 - Time of investigation8,346 words
Chapter 9 - Giggle at the Ghostie5,471 words
Chapter 10 - Memories - Part 14,891 words
Chapter 11 - Revelations13,540 words
Chapter 12 - Warning: Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Convicts8,377 words
Chapter 13 - Hic sunt leones5,491 words
Chapter 14 - When the elephants fight it is the grass that suffers11,416 words
Chapter 15 - Subject: Macto cognatus14,044 words
Chapter 16 - Close encounters of the first and fifth kind11,036 words
Chapter 17 - Game of shadows3,503 words
Chapter 18 - Memories - Part 24,673 words
Chapter 19 - Playing with fire3,960 words

Chapter 19 - Playing with fire

Chapter 19 - Playing with fire

After her brief introduction, which the alien didn’t even deigned of a reply, Princess Phasmidia watched with interest her captive testing the strength of his restraints. After being stationed in this god forsaken outpost for what felt like an eternity, being in the same room with the Sangheili was a thrilling experience. The alien warrior was truly an interesting creature, a deadly combination of brutality and cold intelligence like she had never seen before, and while he glared at her with his intense amber eyes she had no doubt that he was also studying the best way to kill her. A commendable mental exercise, yet completely useless, given his situation.

“Spare your energy,” she half-heartedly said. “Those restraints are made with the finest Changeling secretion and they’re strong enough to hold back a full grown minotaur, so there’s no way you can break them.” Just to be safe, however, she made sure to keep a few meters of distance between herself and the alien. “So, are you going to talk or what?” she asked with an irreverent smirk. “I mean, you can talk, right? I can’t really see a tongue in your mouth…”

As much as Zhar would have liked to remove that stupid smile from her face, along with her jaw and eyes, he managed to keep his anger under check.
“Where am I?” he demanded, quickly yet attentively studying his cell. The only source of light in the room came from what seemed to be big glowing fungi growing on the bare rock walls, while the room itself was completely bare of any detail, aside for a sturdy looking door made of wood and metal, likely guarded on the other side.

“Not even an introduction? How rude,” the Changeling commented annoyed, only to receive another nasty glare. “Fine,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “You’re in a underground facility in the middle of the Everfree Forest, surrounded by over a hundred armed Changelings, miles away from civilization or any hope of help. There, are you happy now?”

The Sangheili’s only response came in the form of an hostile growl.

“Hmm, I’ll take it as a no. How strange. I wonder why you’re so upset,” she said, feigning ignorance. “I mean, if it wasn’t for my scouts you would still be unconscious somewhere in the forest instead of having this pleasant conversation with me.”

The Sangheili closed his eyes, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Alright, let’s make a deal,” he calmly began. “Let me go before I really get angry, and I’ll grant you a quick death.”

Phasmidia raised a brow. “Wow, you really know how to speak to a lady,” she deadpanned, unfazed by the threat. “You know, there’s no reason to be so hostile with me.”

“Ignoring the fact that I’m currently your prisoner, your kind attacked my team the moment we set foot on this planet.”

Phasmidia wave a hand dismissively. “Details. Blame that moron of my sister for that mess. Despite these, uh, precautions,” she said with a vague gesture at his restrains, “I’m not your enemy. I just want to know more about you and you people, nothing more. However,” she added with a darker tone, “if you don’t cooperate, then I’m afraid that things will start to get rather… unpleasant for you.” As to prove her point, her horn and hands briefly crackled with green energy.

“Oh, I’m so scared,” Zhar flatly replied, unimpressed by her display of power.

Phasmidia pursed her lips in annoyance. ‘As expected, he’s not easily intimidated. Well, it was still worth a try.’ The Changeling princess tapped her chin, trying to think about a different tactic. While entertaining to watch, physical torture had never been her forte, and beside, it wasn’t always an effective method to obtain informations. depending on the subject it could take time to bear results. Her speciality was mental interrogation, but while theoretically faster and more effective, she had no idea if her powers worked with an alien mind. Of course, the best solution would have been if he simply cooperated, but how?

‘Maybe a little charm will do,’ Phasmidia though a few moments later, her lips forming a seductive smile. “How about we make things more interesting?” the princess offered with a suggestive smirk. Strutting a pose like a model, she pushed out her chest to emphasize her breasts while casually playing with a lock of her long purple hair. “If you tell me what I want to know… then I will let you know me better, if you get what I mean.”

Even without a disguise, the high-caste females of her species were considered extremely attractive thanks to their exotic appearance combined with the special pheromones their bodies emitted when they wanted to lure a victim. Given her countless positive experiences, she had no doubt that he wouldn’t be able to resist her offer, just like many other idiots before.

Or maybe not.

“If you think that the promise of a sexual intercourse with you will make me more cooperative, than you are sorely mistaken,” Zhar bluntly said, taking her completely aback. “You’re not physically attractive by the standards of my species, your pheromones are just an olfactive nuisance at best, and to be completely honest I find the mere concept of lowering myself to mate with a creature like you simply disgusting.”

Phasmidia’s eyes and jaws widened to an almost comical degree as she stared at the Sangheili like he had just slapped her face. Her bewilderment however quickly turned into anger as her horn and eyes lit up with a angry green glow. It was now Zhar’s turn to widen his eyes as his entire body was suddenly invested by a painful surge of energy. His muscles spasmed violently, his eyes burned, and his nerves felt like they were on fire, and yet, the Sangheili clenched shut his jaws and eyelids as he silently endured the pain, unwilling to give his captor the satisfaction of hearing him scream. After almost a minute of pure agony, just when he felt he was about to reach his limit, the Changeling finally severed her spell. Zhar’s body went limp, the only thing that kept him from collapsing on the ground being the restraints around his arms.

In any other circumstances Phasmidia would have been impressed by such high pain tolerance, but right now she was just too angry to care. “Watch your tongue when you speak with me, beast,” she hissed to the Sangheili, any form of joviality completely gone from her voice. “I don’t care if you’re some kind of big badass warrior on your world, but here you’re just a freak that stumbled upon something far bigger than himself; I’m the one who calls the shots here and you’re going to answer my questions.”

“Why... don’t you try… and make me,” the Commando growled weakly, looking in defiance at the Changeling princess.

Phasmidia grit her sharp teeth. “As you wish.” Her eyes and horn glowed once again and Zhar suddenly felt a new form of pain, something that he could only describe as a presence trying to creep into his mind.

The Sangheili had already felt something similar during his confrontation with Lamia in the power plant, but while back then his opponent had just brushed his consciousness, this time it was a full scale attack. Putting aside the revelation that the inhabitants of the planet had telepathic powers, he focused on his breath and brought back all he knew about meditation to concentrate and isolate his mind.

“Hmm, your mental discipline is impressive,” Phasmidia commented out loud after probing the surface of his mind for a couple of minutes. For a creature without prior experience in dealing against mental attacks, he was faring far better than most of the prisoners she had interrogated during her life. “It also seems like Lamia wasn’t kidding when she said that your bodies have a high resistance to magic. Which means I can’t use any conventional spell to force you into submission.” This made things more complicated than planned, but after spending so much time without a real activity, the Changeling welcomed eagerly the new challenge. “Oh, I’m soooo going to enjoy this!” she exclaimed excitedly before doubling her efforts. His thoughts may be hidden, but even his mental barriers were unable to hide completely his emotions.

“So much anger…” Phasmidia muttered with a frown of concentration. “And hate… and pain… and loss… You have suffered quite a lot… But you’ve also caused a lot of suffering.”

‘You have no idea,’ Zhar thought, unknowingly lowering his guard. It lasted just a couple of seconds, but it was exactly what Phasmidia needed.

‘Really? Let me see,’ she eagerly replied, surprising Zhar when he realized that her voice was actually coming from inside his mind. Before he could focus again, she slipped a mental tendril inside his mind, reaching out for the first memory she could find.

Phasmidia blinked, taken aback by the scene in front of her. She was standing in the middle of a rocky desert, surrounded by the ancient ruins of some kind of temple. A few dry tussocks grew in the cracks between the stones, their dry blades ruffled by the gentle breeze blowing across the plain, while the call of some unknown animal echoed in the distance. The scene was oddly peaceful and almost reminded her of one of the abandoned settlements built in the Badlands before the region became too inhospitable for ponies, were it not for the two setting suns in the red-orange sky.

She was on another planet. Well, technically speaking her body had never moved from Asgard and she was just experiencing all the various sensory feelings that the Sangheili associated to this memory, but it still felt like she was actually there. It was a strange experience to say the least. The air felt different, the warmth of the sunrays felt different, even the gravity was not what she was used to. It was the first time she experienced something like this and for a brief moment she felt overwhelmed by the multitude of new stimuli reaching her brain. However, just as she was starting to get used to these feelings, the memory around her suddenly dissolved like a fog bank blown away by a powerful wind, leaving in its place only a dark empty void. In the silence of this limbo between their minds she could see globes of light floating in the distance like bioluminescent jellyfishes in the depth of the sea, each one representing a different memory of the Sangheili.

‘Did he actually just push me back?’ Rather than feeling annoyance and irritation, she was actually thrilled by the revelation. ‘I love when they fight back,’ she thought, eagerly diving deeper into his mind. It had been a while since she had a good challenge.

While she fought against the consciousness of the Sangheili, she saw glimpses of his memories flash all around her: night skies filled with unknown constellations, worlds covered by unfamiliar land masses, vast forests full of strange animals and exotic plants, odd curved debris orbiting around a giant orange planet, a strange metal structure built on the steep side of a snowy mountain, a highly advanced city built under a colossal dome with a huge metal structure that vaguely resembled the Crystal Empire Castle …

As countless memories flashed and vanished in front of her, too fast to really appreciate any detail, her attention was suddenly caught by one in particular due to the particularly intense emotions associated to it. Focusing her power, she followed the trail until it lead her to a cluster of memories. The moment she reached out with her consciousness for one of them, a new image blinked to reality in front of her. It was an alien world seen from space, a place that according from the snippets of memories she could read was called Tribute.

She had barely the time to take in the beauty of the scene in front of her, when the surface of the planet suddenly changed. For a moment, she thought she was looking at a completely different world, but she quickly realized with shock that the shape of the continents was exactly the same. Aside for that detail, the previously lush world was now completely unrecognizable. Vast portions of the planet were now covered by a desolate wasteland of scorched ground crossed by dark lines that resembled huge scars. Immense fires were still burning in the areas previously occupied by cities and forests, filling the atmosphere with huge clouds of dark smoke, while the previously blue oceans were now brown and grey.

The level of destruction she was witnessing was simply astonishing and Phasmidia couldn’t help but wonder what could have caused it. A catastrophic natural event, like a massive volcanic eruption or an asteroid, were the most likely causes, and yet the more she observed the planet’s surface, the more she noticed how the destruction seemed to be far too precise for a natural phenomenon, which didn’t make any sense. After all, no weapon could cause such level of destruction. Right?

Driven by a sense of dark curiosity, she gathered as much power as she could and pushed deeper, aiming for the source of all his negative emotions.

As soon as she reached out for the new memory, a new scene blinked to existence around her. The Changeling was now standing in the middle of a square in a city, surrounded by more futuristic versions of the skyscrapers she would find in a city like Manehattan. The place had obviously been the theater for some kind of conflict, as shown by the bombed out buildings and the ground all her littered with rubbles, trash, and the burned wrecks of cars.

Turning her gaze on her left she saw what appeared to be a subway entrance just a few meters from her, with the staircase leading underground topped by a futuristic rain shelter made of metal and glass. Fancy, but hardly something that would have caught her attention… at least until she noticed the growing sense unease coming from the Sangheili. Intrigued, she slowly walked toward the metro entrance until she was standing on top of the stairway. The Changeling stared down at the pitch black void at the end of the stairs, quickly realizing that it wasn’t just the result of a lack of illumination, but a mental projection of the alien’s emotions associated with this place: anger, hatred, self-loathe, disgust, regret, … and fear. That last one quickly caught her interest.

‘Oh? Is the big bad alien too afraid to face his inner demons?’ Phasmidia thought tauntingly, just as she felt the conscience of the Sangheili trying to pull her out of the memory. ‘I’ll take it as a yes.’ Whatever had happened in the subway, his increasing level of distress imade quite obvious that the Sangheili had no desire to relive those moments, which only encouraged her to push deeper in order to investigate. The more she learned about his past actions and fears, the more easily she could manipulate him and break his will. ‘Let’s see what are you hiding, big guy.’

What happened next however took Phasmidia completely unprepared. Just as she was about to push deeper inside his consciousness, a powerful force slammed against her, throwing her away from the entrance to the subway station.

‘GET OUT OF MY MIND!’ the voice of the Commando roared as the world around her collapsed in a violent whirlwind of light and darkness.

Phasmidia snapped open her eyes with a startled gasp as the mental link was abruptly cut down. The high-caste Changeling briefly staggered on her hooves and was forced to lean against a nearby wall, but after a few moments the sense of vertigo vanished and she regained her balance.

Phasmidia stared at the Sangheili in surprise and emitted a low whistle. “Well, color me impressed. That was quite a singular experience. Sure, the ride was a bit bumpy, but I can’t wait to do it again.” She still felt a bit lightheaded, but she managed to keep a cocky relaxed facade. “I expected you to slow me down at best, but to be able to break the mental link through sheer willpower? That’s something I’ve rarely seen.”

Zhar ignored her comment and kept staring silently at the floor.

“Aww, what’s wrong big guy?” Phasmidia asked with a sickly sweet tone, feigning concern. “Did I hurt your feelings? Do you feel violated and vulnerable? I hope so.”

The Commando finally reacted. He slowly lifted his head and glared intensely at her with his slit eyes. “I’ve changed my mind,” he coldly declared. “When I get out of here, I’ll rip you apart while you’re still alive.”

It took Phasmidia a couple of heartbeats to realized she had unconsciously backed off a few steps. Realizing her little display of weakness, she quickly recomposed herself and scowled at the Sangheili. “We’ll see if you’ll still be so confident once I’m done with you,” she said with newfound confidence. “Soon your mind will be mine.”

“Then I hope you’re ready for a lifetime supply of nightmare material. That is, if you don’t die of brain hemorrhage first.”

The Changeling blinked in confusion, wondering what he meant, when she noticed that something wet and warm was dripping down from one of her nostrils. Curious, she brought a hand to her muzzle, only to stare in shock at the green blood on her fingers.

Phasmidia silently cursed and glared at the alien staring blankly at her. His impassive gaze proved to be far more irritating than an amused one, almost like she was below him and not even worth a laugh. She was very tempted to put him back in place, but a sudden wave of nausea made her change idea. There would be plenty of time for making him pay and restore her wounded pride. Right now she needed to take care of her growing headache with a healing potion.

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t go anywhere,” she mockingly said before leaving the room with haste, slamming the door behind her.

Zhar growled in disdain, grateful that the obnoxious overgrown bug was finally gone. Now that he was alone, he could collect his thoughts and plan his next move. He had no idea how the situation had evolved after the colossal failure that was their attempt to infiltrate the castle, but he had no doubt that his presence was needed, either to justify his actions to the locals or to assist his comrades in battle if the crisis had degenerated in a full scale conflict. And, as if they had not enough problems, they still needed to complete their original mission if they wanted to leave this backwater ball of mud and return home.

‘There’s much to do, but as the Yermo (1) proverb said, the velithra (2) can only walk the path one at a time (3).’ First, he had to escape from this glorified bug nest. Unfortunately, the Changelings had somehow managed to disable his armor while he was unconscious and with his arms tied up he was unable to reach the manual command to reboot the systems and use his wrist-blades to free himself.

It was an unfortunate setback, but it didn’t really matter. Patience was the key. His captors would eventually make a mistake and when it happened, he would seize the opportunity and show them the real meaning of fear.

The young Changeling queen opened violently the door to her quarters and marched toward a large ornate desk covered in parchments and alchemical equipment.

Grabbing a small bottle filled with an unappealing blue potion, she uncorked it and downed the fluid in a single gulp, grimacing at the bitter taste. “Urgh, I hate this crap,” she lamented, wishing she could just heal herself with the lifeforce of a pony. Unfortunately it had been weeks since they had captured a traveller wandering too deep in the forest, and despite the recent harvest, her base wasn’t deemed important enough to deserve a shipment of prisoners. Putting those depressing thought aside, she slumped heavily in the large armchair located in front of the fireplace and brought a hand to her face, massaging the bridge of her muzzle. Just as she started to feel the potion alleviating the pain coming from her head, the communication disk located in the middle of the room started to hum and glow intermittently. Forgetting about her headache, Phasmidia jumped back on her hooves and hurriedly performed the spell to activate the device. As soon as she finished, she was greeted by the annoyed scowl of Queen Chrysalis.

“M-mother!” she nervously stuttered. “I didn’t expect your call so-”

“Stop wasting my time and give me a report,” the older queen brusquely ordered with the tone of someone having something better to do.

Keeping a straight face, Phasmidia discreetly clenched her fists at Chrysalis’ words. A waste of time. That’s what she was in the eyes of her mother since their failed invasion, all because a stupid single mistake, the same reason why she was now struck in this stupid outpost in the middle of of a forest.

“The prisoner has just recently awoken, mother, thus I have just started interrogating him. He has a strong willpower with a mind completely different from anything we’ve met before and as Lamia said, his kind is almost completely immune to magic.”

“Can you do what you’ve been tasked to do?” Chrysalis curtly demanded.

Phasmidia shifted nervously under the intense gaze of her mother, even if it was just a magical projection. “It will take time mother, but-”

“Time is something we don’t have, Phasmidia. With each moment we waste, our enemies may come closer to interfere with my plans, so I highly suggest you to give me some concrete result within tomorrow or I won’t be as generous with you as I was the last time you failed me. Am I clear?”

“Yes, mother. I won’t delude you again,” Phasmidia fearfully replied.

“We’ll see about that. I’m sending one of your sisters to help you.”

Anger began to grow inside Phasmidia, but she managed to keep it hidden, although barely. “Who?” She asked, trying to sound as natural as possible.

“Mirage. She’ll arrive at midnight at the dry well clearing with the group of drones tasked to help our rebel allies. ”

“I see. I’ll make sure to greet her once she arrives,” Phasmidia neutrally said despite her desire to yell in outrage at the obvious lack of trust from her mother.

“Whatever. I don’t care who breaks the freak’s mind, just give me results,” Chrysalis dismissively said before she abruptly broke the contact.

As soon as the image of her mother disappeared, Phasmidia broke her facade and released a loud scream of frustration before firing several blasts of magic in random directions, one beam hitting her alchemy set, shattering several pieces of lab glassware and spilling their different contents on the desk.

Alarmed by the noises, the two drones guarding the room from the outside peered through the open door. “Mistress, is everything alright?” one of her drones cautiously asked.

Faster than a snake, Phasmidia reached inside her leather vest and pulled out a dagger, throwing it at the drone’s chest with a snarl. The lowly creature could only emit a pathetic whine as the blade penetrated all the way to the handle before collapsing on the ground.

“Clean this mess,” she ordered to the remaining drone as she stormed out of the room toward the cell block, ignoring the corpse lying in a pool of its own green blood.

Author's Note:

(1) Yermo, region of Sanghelios, the homeworld of the Sangheili.
(2) Velithra, large beast of burden native of the region of Yermo.
(3) Ancient Sangheili saying based on the seasonal migration of the Velithra to the mountain pastures after the rains: just like these animals are forced to move slowly and one at the time in order to avoid falling off the side of a mountain, the Sangheili think that you should take care of your current priority before worrying about the future (Halo: Hunters in the Dark)

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