Achilles, in His Tent

[Zephyranthes]

Northern Mountains, Planet Elgin, Inverness System
March 29th, 825 AS, Late night

When was the last time he had seen home?

It felt like ages since that fateful escape from the place beyond Kansas. In reality, it had only been a few years. In that time, William Foulke, formerly known as Norman O'Brien, had gone on enough adventures with Auxesia to last a lifetime. Fighting off Outcast attack ships in the depths of the Wendell Ice Field. Meeting the elusive leaders of groups like the Bundschuh and Hellfire Legion. Diving into the ancient tombs of Nauru. Communicating with Nomads in the outer reaches of the Omicrons. Young Norman would never have dreamed his future being this exciting.

But it felt exhausting to Will.

As the years went past in Auxesia, more and more of his newfound comrades began to pass away or disappear. And with the recent departure of Miranda from life, he was left all alone. He represented a dying breed within the Covenant. He represented that old breed of various defectors and rejects who banded together against the whole of Sirius for the sake of survival and finding an alternate way to better humanity. Now it felt like a religious cult centered around being better than the rest of humanity, rather than improve it. His absence from duty only further served to cut him off from everything. After his long medical leave had finished, he felt like an exile once more.

He looked up from the icy ground and extended his gaze to the horizon of Elgin. Darkness enveloped much of the land as tiny snowflakes descended from above. Some of these little tesselations of frozen water rested upon his armored suit's visor, sitting for a second before they were softly wiped away by sonic vibrations. The armor was one of the last reminders of Nesrin's existence that he still had with him.

"She's gone too..," he mumbled.

His armor began to chime as time passed. He was being called back to duty within Ismara, the spired capital of Auxesia. With a sigh, he turned away from the snowy wastes and began his hike back to colder places.