I was surrounded by a swarm of black snake like looking things, or better yet known as death scythe wyrms. I groaned and curse at my squadmates who should have lured these ugly shit away.

Our squad's medic, Raul along with the tail scout, Stacy, were supposed to be guarding the perimeter while I configure our bomb to setup here.

Seeing no other choice, I sped up the configuration as my fingers tapped furiously against my wrist gears panel.

I tap the side of my gear and chimed in our communications link. We almost never used this since we operate covertly and in radio silence.

"Yo guys, what the fuck happened with covering my back?"

"Hey Will, uh, we're in a fix right now since the distractions that Richard and James setup didn't attract the queen."

"Raul's currently running overdrive on berserk to round them up. You should see him riding his kite upside down."

"This isnt a joke guys, there's a swarm here."

"Shut it, Stacy. We're doing our best here, Will. Please hang on."

"I'm sure you can handle it, Will"

My squad consists of the worst kind of badasses mankind has to offer.

In this team, being a badass consists of just two things: cowardice and shamelessness. You might think that being a coward is being pathetic, but that's only true if you're stupid as well. My team mates are smart cowards, we do every filthy-quick kill to accomplish our objective. This world is unfair, we're just playing by its rules. And what I meant by shamelessness, is running when things get impossible. We've encountered death so many times that it becomes standard procedure. After civilization collapsed, mankind struggled in the dark with little technology. It has been up to our corps to protect Sanctuary, the last bastion of mankind in this decrepit world.

There are no easy missions. The only kind left for those willing to leave the walled habitat are the insane missions. That is why we're called the Hell Marines, we go to hell and back to get our folks bits of hope and security. This is also the reason why we're in this continent working on wiping out these creatures ugly as shit. These are one of the thousands of scourges of humanity. These dark creatures survive in all types of environment and preys on all living things. It will not be long before it runs out of food here and come to sanctuary.

I barely finished setting up the megabomb that would wipe out the hive of these wyrms, when my comlink buzzed with Raul's message.

"Hey, we just killed the queen. We're getting back in position."

"Never mind, I'm just about to finish this anyway. Where's James and Riley?"

"They still haven't finished disposing the other Queens"

"Did you just say Queens??"

"Yeah, it turns out we're at the intersection of three colonies. The info we had was wrong."

"Damn. Alright, I'm gonna clean up these insects."

The first of the wyrms rushed in to attack just as I finished activating the bomb autoactivation lock. I whipped out two guns with barrels twice the size of my arms. Six wyrm heads explode at that instant. I love this weapon. It's called cannon magnum. It's energy efficient unlike the plasma and beam weapons. I modified it to lessen its terrible recoil, on the other hand it produces its own ammunition, by feeding it with a few grams of soil. The bullet it creates is made of a carbon vacuum. It implodes upon impact, super compressing any mass within a radius of 1 meter to a small pea-sized ball. The only catch here is the fire rate. The weapon isn't automatic, and it takes only 12 shots to consume a magazine full of soil. Just as I finished off my ammo, a second wave of wyrms dived in from the trees. I dropped my guns, and whipped out a second set of guns from my second arm holster to wipe out the second wave. The dropped guns stuck to my leg guards, where they magnetically slide back to my hip. I got eight of these guns, and four belt holsters. Two belts slung from my shoulder to hip with four guns on my torso, which tragically looks like suspenders. With the guns attached to it, it looks badass though. Another, connected with my backpack, two guns reachable when I pretend to raise my arms to surrender. And of course, one on my hip, two guns on each side, like a cowboy. I'd be called a real gunslinger, if not for the exoskeleton and the headgear that makes me look more like a cyborg than a cowboy.

After clearing the rest of the attacking wyrms, I took out my photon blade and fell down several nearby trees to hide the bomb. I messaged the team via comlink.

"Bomb planted."

"Good job, Will. We're establishing the dropship point over here too. We've only finished off one of the queens, while the other one serves as the distraction for the other wyrm tribe."

James, our squad leader, finally confirmed their status via comlink.

"Location for the dropship?"

"It should be 60 degrees from your location at 5000 elevation. You know the plan."

"Affirmative."

I searched for a few souvenirs from the carcasses of the wyrms and managed to picked up a few shining implosion balls. Despite how they look, they're actually quite heavy, I put them in a tube containing antigrav fluid. I'll decompress some of these later to give to our science guys as samples.

While I was looking for some more balls, I saw something shiny in the dirt, and dug it out. Analysis reveals it to be made of wood and nothing else. It seems like junk from this world's pre-existing civilization or something another marine carved up due to plain boredom, but it looks good enough to me to keep as a souvenir..

A short while later, James messaged us that they're finished.

"Team, dropship's on the way. Be here in two minutes."

"I haven't finished picking souvenirs yet!!" Stacy protested.

"Just take a random eyeball or claw."

"I'm not like you, Riley! I'm looking for a fruit or a flower."

"That doesn't prove you did anything here, Stacy. Are you a tourist?" I remarked.

"I'm not like you psychopaths with your trophies!"

"Hahaha - Shut it, guys!" James laughed, caught himself in time, and scolded us, just to show he's "serious".

I took out my kite, or technically speaking, light weight flight assistance device. It uses antigrav for propulsion, but it serves as a glider as well. As I soared toward the rendezvous location, something large and dark streaked towards me.

It was a spectre dragon. It was a fierce territorial creature, but it's quite rare to see one defending its territory since it's also incredibly lazy and nocturnal. The ruckus made by the wyrms must have pissed the dragon residing in the nearby marshes.

My squadmates seem to have seen it before me while they glided around the dropship location. The comlink chatter resounded all at once.

"Will, get the fuck down! A dragon's after you! Lose it!"

"Riley get your antimatter rifle loaded"

"No time, sir. It take a while to unpack it. Let's strafe it with photon guns"

I saw the team that looks like specks in the distance dash towards me, and a shining dot in the sky that was our dropship. It was then that I made my decision.

"Don't strafe it! Fall back!"

"What are you saying, Will!?"

"The bomb will take care of it. I'll be bait!"

"But it will get you in a moment!!!"

I pulled a flashbang and a smoke grenade. The dragon stopped and roared.

"Solved! Dont attract it anymore. Mission comes first. I'll dig in that ravine and survive the blast."

I sent out the map location of the ravine. The chatter stopped for a few seconds in our comlinks.

"We will return to retrieve you in 48 hours, Will. Be sure to survive." James finally decided.

Thinking that I have enough water and ration bars here, I confirmed.

"Yes,sir. "

As I hear the beating wings of the dragon again, I retracted my kite and adjusted into free fall towards the narrow ravine. The ravine looks like the cracks of a broken plate, a tectonic shift gone awry I suppose. My sensors indicate that it isn't deep enough to reach the magma veins, so it should be safe. I streaked downwards in a headstrong dive, I can hear the sounds of the dragon become distant. I confirmed in my wrist panel that the dragon has given up on me.

As I descended down a few kilometers toward the ravine, my comlink buzzed.

"We've boarded the dropship." James said.

"We'll be out of the bomb range in 30 minutes. Hide before then." Riley added

"I'll have you pick a souvenir for me when we return" Stacey chimed in.

"Give her ashes bro. haha- OUCH!" Raul added

"See you in 48 hrs" I finally signed off.

After entering the ground level, I deployed my kite once more. As I glide into the ravine, it became too dark to see any ledges to land. Switching to night vision, I can see several spire like mountains jutting out from down below. If I had to, I can drill a hole in one of them. But I finally spotted what appears to be a cave in one of the spires, and decided to land there to bide my time until the blast cleans up the surface.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

After some time passed. I felt the earth trembling. I activated my thermal suit, a heat absorbing nanobot layer provided by my exoskeleton. An hour later, the trembling stopped and the walls near the top of the ravine burned into orange smoldering rock.

Even the sky was burning til late into the night. After a few hours, rain started falling. This lasted until dawn, and until noon the next day, when a fierce howling wind blew across the land.

After noticing that the thick dark smoke was flowing into this ravine with the river of rainwater. I immediately flew out despite the possibility of a storm brewing, knowing that the worst is already over. It would also be too hard to navigate out of the ravine once visibility is gone due to the smoke. After breaking out of the ravine and struggling against the fierce winds, what I saw shocked me. Although I could no longer be surprised by scorched land, due to the number of similar missions we've had in the past, what surprised me was that there was another layer beneath the land that was now peeking through the earth.

There was a white circular crystal sparkling beneath the soil, which can only be seen from the height I was gliding from. Looking down from above, the great swamp and jungle of the death scythe worms are all gone. With their eradication, they would no longer be able to threaten this world.

I continued looking down below, speculating that the circular crystalline structure might be an ancient spaceship or city. It seems quite a coincidence that the center of the blast was also the center of this strange rock. Noticing something strange down there, I glided lower and zoomed in on the ground.

There was a groove that looks like a pedestal on the surface. Unlike the rest of the land which was still glowering hot from heat, this part seems to have already cooled down. I was able to confirm this through thermal vision. In the center, there seems to be a hole in the shape of something that looks strangely familiar. Curious, I landed on the pedestal. As I approached it, something in my pocket suddenly began vibrating. It was the artifact I picked up yesterday. As soon as I opened my pocket, it flew towards the hole amd fitted it perfectly. I was stunned. I braced myself, thinking that I must have activated an alien spaceship or something similar. I was slightly disconcerted when nothing happens after a few minutes. In relief, I exclaimed to myself, "Well, that startled me."

A sudden chime sounded inside my head and a voice started talking.

"Start confirmed"

I was alarmed. Did I just activated something through a shitty voice command?? I suddenly whip out my wrist panel and check my radar and physiological monitor. Aside from sudden rise in heart beat and brain activity, nothing else seem to be spiking. Okay, nothing to worry about. No alien force invading my body. I immediately try cancelling whatever process it is.

"Cancel! Abort! Close! Disable! Commence self-destruc--"

Wait a second. Nothing seems to be working. I jumped off the pedestal, or at least tried to, when an unknown force, knocked me back. I looked at my wrist panel, and identified the field preventing me from escaping as a gravitational field of unknown origin. I took out my photon gun and shield and shot the invisible wall, but they all pass through. I stumbled down and saw my feet being disintegrated little by little, like paper on flame.

It felt painless but I know fully well the shit has hit the fan. I might as well sign off.

Taking out my comlink, I decided to log what happens to me now, faced with possible death or danger in the next few minutes. My voice trembling, I whispered into my comlink,

"Lieutenant W-William Cooper, encountered, no, accidentally activated alien artifact and started unknown process that slowly disintegrates his body. At 2214 hours on the 613th light year of 4432 AD. Estimated completion - at fiv-four minutes." I paused and saw that the consuming light has reached my knees.

"Trapped and faced with imminent death with no other recourse or survival possible, I hereby signoff and bequeath my remaining assets to my brothers in the service."

I paused. My eyes felt heavy, I pressed the back of my hand against it and felt something hot rolling down my cheek. The corner of my lips felt heavy, I did my best to smile in defeat. Unlike the dangers faced in battle, it seems a lot sadder knowing you're about to die and there's nothing you can do about it. I held my comlink one last time and said my final message.

"Team, sorry I fucked up. Thanks for looking out for me these past twenty years."

I swallowed hard the pain in my chest and steeled my heart for what's about to come.

I took off the rest of my gear and threw them out of the pedestal so that the corps can retrieve them. At least, this seems like a painless death. I closed my eyes as the disintegration reached my nose and I couldn't feel my face anymore. I heard the voice one last time, before I lost consciousness.

"Commencing planar travel. Please stand by."

-----------------------------------------

Silence filled the battle room in the Sanctuary Marines headquarters. The contents of Lt. Cooper's blackbox were displayed in the big screen on the wall. The blackbox records the visual and audio data directly retrieved from the brain. Due to numerous and strange encounters of those who leave sanctuary, this has been the protocol for all citizens. This greatly helped the habitat identify threats and opportunities the past centuries. However, only the top rank officials knew of the existence of this blackbox.

A cough came from the oldest officer convened around a square table. There were only six of them. The man who coughed was the president. The others were his staff generals. The president looked at a balding gentleman opposite him who removed the near invisible spherical object from the wires of the screen.

"So, we can assume that Cooper discovered a waygate?" The president asked.

"We can only speculate, sir. The only clue we had was the auditory data. Even the message log he recorded was all static. Furthermore, except for testimonies from his team, and our personnel here. All recorded evidence of Cooper has mysteriously vanished. We believed that this might be connected to his disappearance. "

"Wait, back up" A young looking general wearing wireframe glasses, gestured towards the balding gentleman. "We were able to retrieve data from the blackbox but we lost data right here in the base?"

The balding gentleman looked at the only female staff general inquisitively. The woman nodded.

"Indeed, that seems to be the case. Perhaps it has something to do with the blackbox as a living entity. Although it's a non biological life form, it has great memory storage and recall that could simply not compare with other methods of record keeping. Furthermore, it has top notch survival abilities."

"Oh. I didn't know that. Is that why it's only discovered twenty miles outside Cooper's portal?" The president asked pressingly

"Yes, sir" The woman answered tersely.

"Moving on, the blackbox data is the only surviving account of Lt. Cooper. Although we've tried reconstructing some of his records, the same phenomenon happens."

"Describe it exactly."

"The paper disintegrates, the digital files get truncated, even visual and audio transcripts become just white noise a few hours after Cooper's narrative is completed."

"So the only memory we have of Cooper is this blackbox?"

"Indeed, sir."

"Then, let's commemorate him with this in the institute. Decommission this blackbox, allow it to live in a habitat dedicated to Cooper in the Heroes hall."

"Heroes hall, sir? Isn't that too much? We can't even write his name permanently."

"Yes, Heroes hall. There, his record of 3124 missions and other battle statistics fit."

"I doubt it will work sir. But we'll try numbers or cryptography. It will somehow work out if we refer to Cooper as a John Doe."

"That's it then. We'll hold an unrecorded ceremony for him as a John Doe and commemorate the hall two weeks from now. Meeting adjourned."

The president and the staff stood up. The youngest general whistled and said in a low voice, "3000 missions? I hope that place is ready for him"

"You're taking the Hell Marines too lightly." The president remarked, looking at him in disbelief and amusement. He unconsciously rubbed his Hell Marines tattoo in his left arm. The ex-hell-marine now turned president sighed and mused to himself, "Cooper was barely thirty and he already past my record? I hope he returns."