Cuotl Special-Forces

oh and by the way, the strange lines and dots used in this for numbers at some parts are actually the same used by mayans (quick google search =) ) where a "_" means 5 and a "." means 1, except in this they are shown vertically rather than horizontally

Loyalty to the High ones
Duty above all
Sacrifice for their needs
Defense of their people

Loyalty
Duty
Sacrifice
Defense

The four columns that held the foundation of our empire, the four columns that held us against the tides of the world, the four columns of the Cuotl, columns that would eventually fall.

The night crept silently in its march, time went on its journey of eternity, death seeped into the darkness. There was not one scream, not one cry of shock, not one wail of agony, there were no crying children or quivering elders, yet in one night, in under an hour, an entire village had been slaughtered.

I waited unflinching as I saw premonition of the events that would come to pass, fifteen of us had been chosen - though that may give the impression of a privilege – to wipe out a settlement of the fallen. We had been told nothing of them save for their location, we knew not if they were citizens or warriors, not if they were men or woman, not if they were madmen or truth-seekers. Silent as ghosts we moved through the camp, though we all wore the same armor and were indiscernible from one another, I recognized the head of our group as he raised a hand. Fifteen men were under his command, a hundred or so were to be sent to their deaths at his command, underneath his gleaming jade-colored visor, I saw him sweating, it was not a particularly hot night, yet I imagined it was one of the most nerve-frying he had faced in a while.

The hand shot down as if he had to force it to do so and we breathed a sigh of lost hope, and began our dark mission. The first tent I came to had an old man, snoring like what could only be described as – the sound of the Great Smith, but now was not the time to explain such things to myself. I grabbed the shade staff with both hands, aiming at the man’s neck, I was sweating too now but I willed myself to do what must be done. There was a slight ‘vhuuum’ sound as it charged up, I released the button before the shadow orb became too large and it shot through the man’s neck, a hole penetrated his neck and a slightly curved ground was filled with ashes behind it, he opened his eyes and tried speaking only to find his throat gone and vile and blood bubbling through his windpipe. It lasted a mere few seconds but to me it was an eternity. I hastily exited the tent and saw through the visor, the enhanced vision of the dark, small flashes of light, only barely visible even with the visor as the fifteen members of our squad ended more lives.

I tried shaking myself away, to try and run away but it could not be done so, I thought of the man’s neck and realized, I have to sleep some time, the Cuotl don’t. As I entered the tent I was petrified, two small babies and a woman lay asleep, huddled around one another. I was horrified, there was no way I could take a whole night of this, slaughtering a village of my own people without mercy.

There was a shout, followed by a gurgling noise. The woman in front of me rose and screamed out, the children woke up crying. Another shout rose from the next tent. I cursed and ran out of the cloth mass. The rest of the squad were doing the same, from one of the tents a big man came out holding a carcass wearing our armor. Then he unfurled a huge axe that followed him out of the tent. He called to us, challenging us and threw the misshapen body on the ground. I looked at the others from our group and saw one tapping away at his wrist. I watched in horror as I realized what he was doing. It was both a relief and a regret for the village was now doomed but we would not be the ones to do the task. We fled being chased by angry men, out of the clearing and into the jungle. As I ran through, clutching onto my staff lest I drop it, shapes appeared on my visor. Jaguars, no doubt about it, Xil’s servants had heard the call and were coming, first one, then two, then five, then twenty. I pitied the the people behind us once more and then cleared the thought from my mind, no pity, no mercy, no restraint, no forgiveness, no morals, only duty.

A Fane was waiting for us, we climbed in one man short and lifted off, it was only when we took off our helmets did we realize who it was that was missing, to you it may not seem much more than another corpse, but to us, to have grown beside him, to have learnt with him, to have fought alongside him it was another story. He was our friend, our comrade and our brother, it felt as though we had lost an arm, or a leg, or the one thing that kept us together, we sat silent under the rumbling noise of the Fane’s sky-walk mode.

We stood to attention, helmets on, visors down on the high temple of Death. We could not understand easily the words of the reaper himself without our minds being crippled, hence the ‘gifted’ High Priests spoke on his behalf. His eyes were blank, upturned as though asleep and his body was thin and paling, he seemed as though he was a ghost speaking from beyond the grave, as though he was not really in control of his body. There was a slight ‘vhirring’ sound and his pointed helmet lit up with power-lines. Left to right we stood fourteen men, I was standing fourth from the left.

“You are the elite, the chosen, the rare few to be given such a grasp of our technology and the rare few to be given such a chance for our cause, and yet you fail us still.” The monotonous voice rang across the row of ears, the clean-shaven faces and short hair matched each other as did the armor, it was like the Priest was speaking to a wall of statues rather than warriors of Czin. “Xil personally demanded an apology… from Czin..” I could sense this wasn’t going well, we would be killed, or sacrificed if there was any difference. I thought of the ways I could escape, not by jumping, we were at least five floors atop the military district of Kudo-Gulgan. Neither was blasting our way through, the snakes would get us, or perhaps more of the loyal commandos like ourselves. “… and so it has fallen upon us to find a method of – punishment, by which we could perhaps re-convince you to follow your goals without hesitation.”

I was still standing straight, as were the others, but my eyes had noticed the Priest had moved to one end of our fourteen man column, the right end. He went in front of the first of us, “say a number, if it is the same as what I am thinking… then you may live.” I twitched slightly, “between . and |||:” he added this as though a side-thought, seventeen numbers, each of us had a one in seventeen chance of surviving this day.

He faced the first and allowed him to speak, “uh… |:?”
He smirked, “seven is correct”
He breathed a sigh of relief.
“But hesitation is not” from a crystal embedded in his ritualistic hat a beam emerged, it smoked the man’s flesh and left him screaming. I turned my eyes away but that did not stop me from seeing his shadow droop and his voice hollow until his soul departed.

The priest went to the next one, “||.”
He died slower than the last.

By the time he had reached me, six had died horrible deaths and four were breathing softly as relief dawned on them.

“number?”
I knew there should be no hesitation, no audible gasp or anything, yet when it was my turn the part of me that was telling me to stand still and smart fled and I almost trembled. I realized he was waiting for my answer and time slowed, I felt I had waited too long, death was certain, but then reality switched back and I realized barely a second had passed. I took my chance and blurted out the first number that came to my mind: “|.” The priest looked at me sullenly before moving on. My body ached with joy and relished its life, but the cynical side of me told me what life was it that I led?

Nearly a month after the events of that fateful day we were issued a new command, a war was rising in the Moon lands, where the Wolf Lord reigned, Fallen were gathering up in armies trying to overthrow him and rumors of some force that was wrecking havoc through the northern desert were disturbing to say the least. Our numbers had been replenished, a new captain installed at our head and new weapons put at our sides. The mission was not a direct one, we were to land inside the Wolf’s lands and search for a mysterious object, an ‘artifact’ of the chariot itself apparently. We had been told that this terror from the north carried it and that it was not to be used, merely put inside the Fane and bring it to Czin at his capital. This was surprising as no one but the High priests and – on rare occasions – the celestial guard were permitted to see Czin, to have mere soldiers of war do such was a sign of troubled times, or a change in the empire.

The Fane rose up and began its flight to the edge of Cuotl lands. We all had our helmets on with visors up, but just by looking into each others eyes we knew what was to happen.

Those who met or saw Czin who were not of the Chariot either died horribly or lost their souls like the High Priests. If we were to return…

…we would not live for long.

hope you guys like it =D

[This message has been edited by storm legion (edited 06-16-2006 @ 11:41 AM).]