LORE
101st Tenebris Crux
The First Landing
The mist in the air was aweful. Not the moisture itself, that was a welcome but slight comfort in this hell, though it probably added to the humidity. No, the taste, like rotten eggs and oysters mixed with burnt flesh is what was slowing us down. I was no more than a fresh recruit back then, plucked fresh from my mothers tit. Lifting my heavy feet only to slam them back down into the slush that was under us; I would wish to be back home with every step.
I remember that damned jungle as though it was yesterday. It was my first trip outside of the United Kingdom, hell if not for visiting relatives this would be my first trip outside of London. I never really was able to travel back then, that's one reason I wanted to become someone, not just anyone though, no, I wanted to be a Templar. After my entire neighborhood being saved from, from those, things back in thirty four I knew exactly what I wanted to be.
Now here I am, a fairly decent bank account statement, a fiance back in London, and damn-near knee deep in some sort of undead watery shit. If I had known I would be this lucky, I would have stayed home and worked at the family grocery store after mom took it over. We keep having to stop due to some of the others vomiting. The Major says he doesn't want anyone spooking the inhabitants so we slow down when more than one person has to vomit. We're slowing down or stopping close to every eight minutes now and it's only getting worse the deeper we go.
I'm starting to wonder if there's something in this mist. I told the Major that I saw something to our left, but he dismissed it and said we didn't have time to stop and hunt down my imaginary shadows. If I really was just seeing things, then is it the mist? Or maybe local vegetation putting off an auroma? Either way, I swear the putrid smell in the area isn't nearly as bad as it was a ways back. I wonder if Jonas fell back, I don't see him anymore, though it is really dark.
I still can't believe someone thinks there is anything here, much less anything paranormal or supernatural. We're in the Congo, a few clicks away from Akana, in a weird sludge that seems to be getting thinner. As if it wasn't already dark from it being one A.M., the trees and vines are so thick the Moon's light can't seem to touch us.
'Hey Rob. Rob?' What the hell, first Jonas, now I can't see Rob. That's it.
'Major, hey Major!' 'Oh fuck. Oh fuck. I'm going to die. No, get ahold of yourself Daniels, you can do this. Forget what you saw, forget what you heard, push through this damn muck!' My little pep talk wasn't really helping much. Holy mother Mary what WAS that thing?! One minute we were all walking along, then some huge tentacle covered in slush come flying out of nowhere and impales the Major through his stomach. Major never stood a chance the way that thing slung him around into the trees. While the Major was losing limbs and splattering into the local fauna, we were all paralyzed in fear.
If it wasn't for that tentacle I would probably be dead already. Knocking me down while popping L.T.'s head off his shoulders is the only reason I snapped out of it and ran. Is it still behind me? Is it coming for me? I dare not stop to find out. I knew this was a bad idea. Going to another country, stepping into uncharter territory, beign here without government or local approval. This was bound to turn into a fiasco, but who knew we'd all end up like this? Wait, what was that I heard?
'Oh God no! Please Lord-' 'Put another slug in that bitch McCollins, and someone get this damned light-weight out of my fucking battlefield.' those were the words I heard right after the moment I should have died. I had been lucky to run as far as I had already, but to be alive after the tentacle grabbed my leg and snatched me into the air? Now that, was a miracle. As the tentacle went to pull me back, a blast flew by my head and into the oozing arm that held me by my ankle. Then another, and another.
As someone unfamiliar helped me stand, the man referred to as McCollins continued firing some sort of shotgun ammunition into the tentacle. They were slugs that fired off tiny shrapnel when launched at the enemy. Said slugs were also glowing an odd blue color. As a young woman helped me to my feet, I saw what they were after. A very large creature that appeared to be made of pure sludge itself. This thing had to have been close to twenty feet tall, weighed thousands of pounds, and looked like an abomination if I ever saw one.
As the monster drew closer to our position, multiple new people started attacking it. They were wearing Templar colors, yet I had never seen such uniforms. They were all in hoods with masks on, colored in only red and white, the red of which I was assured later was from the blood of the Lord's enemies. Some were jumping and running at lightning fast speeds which I could barely see. Shoving special grenades into the monsters body, slicing at it's eyes with swords, and backing away from it all within the blink of an eye.
They were so calm, this couldn't have been their first rodeo. The really crazy stuff came from their back line, throwing lightning bolts, plucking the sludge creature apart piece by piece, and shielding the area so it couldn't escape.I'm trying to run away from one of this things tentacles, yet these people are as calm as they can be and want to keep it near them. Their leader was steadily walking around asking for updates and giving out order. This had to be the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen. Their leader was the worst, handing out as many precise and well thought orders as he was curse words. This guy could make sailors blush.
That said, he was getting the job done, and getting it done well. Around this time the barriers started to come down and the young woman assisting me said we could leave. While we began to walk away, I caught one last glimpse of their leader. He pulled a sword from his side, and ahnilated every creature that came after him thinking he was weak. With multiple devistating swings, the sword genrated enough force to blast entire sections of the monster away into nothing.
'Clean this place up, and make it snappy, we're needed in that shithole they call North Korea. Niidine, didn't I say to get this fucking yuppie out of here? We don't have time to waste babysitting.' their leader was harsh and demanding. I can't say he was wrong though. Niidine helped me to a tree nearby and said the place was safe now, so that I should wait at this spot for evac. I figured I'd take a nap, either I'd wake up to an evac, or not at all. Either way I win. As I started to doze off through space and time to another dream world, I did hear one last thing.
'That's it men. We came, we killed, we looked fucking great doing it. Now let's get over to Korea and do the Lord's work. One Hundred and First, move out!' Those were the last words I would hear from the man leading this army of superhumans. The One Hundred and First, the Vatican's very own elite special forces, who would have thought they were more than just a rumor...