" I told you! I don't know! None of us do! We came here as a response to a Garuda atta—" the captain makes a choking sound as the figure's hold grows tighter.
"What do the kids say again? Liar, liar..." he brings the captain to an open flame. "Pants on fire" he dips the Captain's legs in the fire, burning at the shoes, cloth, and skin. The captain screams brutally, his pain palpable.
"C-Captain Alvey..." John's grip on his sidearm tightens.
"John! No! We don't know what that is, you can't just go out there!" the engineer tried talking sense to him, but to no avail.
John rolls out, pointing a pistol at the armored figure. "Put him down!" he yells, his arm shaking as he points.
The figure turns to him, removing the captain from the fire as he tilts his head. "Ah, looks like we have a hero, captain! He's come to save you!" he brings the captain closer to his face before laughing hysterically.
"Oh that's precious....that's actually so precious..." the laughing continues, as he points his index finger at the gun the private is holding.
"But I have to wrap up, so play nice now" he keeps pointing.
"Break"
It was uttered like a command.
The handgun on John's hand explodes, wounding his arm and blowing him back as he slams into a wall, and falls down to the shattered bridge floor. He's disoriented. The pain in his arm incapacitats him, the sirens, the fog, the red lights...
"How did he..." John tried to get up, processing the events as he falls back down, his arm injured.
"He uttered it like a command, even Sigils shouldn't have power like that... it doesn't make sense..." a realization hits him like a truck.
"...it doesn't make sense"
Then it dawns on him.
This man, figure, creature...wasn't a Marked soldier, or a Sigil.
He's one of the most terrifying creatures to ever walk this hurt. The inheritor of a power so great, it breaks the world.
The strongest peak any human could ever attain.
He wasn't looking at a strong marked soldier, or a prodigious Sigil. He was looking at something far worse.
Private John Neheim was looking at the bearer of an Insignia.
"Time's up Captain. I really was trying to be reasonable" he points his finger at the Captain's head.
"No! No no no no please..." John tried to plead with the Insignia.
"I'm sorry, young man, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you..." the Captain closes his eyes, as the Insignia utters another command
"Decapitate"
Outside, as Greywolf and the troops rally back to the Sylverstein, all they could hear was a terrifying, painful scream.
When Greywolf came back, he was too late. There lays their Captain Alvey Arandroso, headless, cradled on John's lap.
"John! What the hell happened?!" Greywolf rushed to his side. Greywolf got a good look at the kid. His eyes are dark. Gone was the shy, innocent private who had called him out of his quarters, all Greywolf sees now is a boy drenched in despair.
"I couldn't...save him...it was...a monster...in-in...." John's lip quivered, his voice trembled as he looks at Greywolf in the eyes. Tears prickled and threatened to fall as he finally steadies his voice.
"Insignia..."
The Order of Garuda forces have left the scene, leaving Wellspring forest a wounded battlefield. Felled trees, burning leaves, and the smell of blood wafts through the air like a grim reminder of the battle that had just passed.
"Clarissa" Greywolf calls to the engineer, speaking to her by name. Clarissa straightens up, her blonde hair seeming a shade darker in the hangar bay consumed by darkness. "Y-yes, Sarge?" she blurts out nervously.
"Get me a fresh pair of Captain Alvey's uniform, I'll...change him, before we cremate him, it's only right" Greywolf had draped a cloth over the Captain's lifeless, headless body, as his head lies under a cloth as well.
Clarissa stands up. With all her might, she salutes to Greywolf. "Yes, Sergeant" she moves with haste, retrieving a new, shiny, red and white Sol Lucen military uniform set. Greywolf dresses the captain, places his head in his arms, as he fells a tree, making a makeshift coffin. The men salute him as he walks down a row of soldiers outside, holding the Captain's deceased body, as he places it on the wooden coffin.
"So long, old timer" he pours him a vial of whiskey as he signals a marked soldier behind him, but he stops....eyeing private John.
"John" he calls to him. John walks forward, looking up at Greywolf with the eyes of a man who's lost, a man who's seen death. "Yes, sir?" he asked, his voice shaken.
"Do the honors, private" Greywolf hands him a Sol Lucen pistol, with a fire gem inside. A single, miserable tear rolls down John's cheek before holding the pistol, and saluting to him. "With utmost honor, sir!" he turns to his kind captain in the makeshift casket...as he fires.
Clarissa sits with John in the forest that night. "You know...I think Captain Alvey would be proud of you" she chuckled. John brushes it off, "I couldn't save him...why would he be proud?" his hair was messy now, black bangs drooping to his eyes. Clarissa smacks him with her empty mug on the cheek. "It's not about that, you idiot" she forces a weak smile out. "You...stood up to an Insignia, I mean...besides the monsters and demons we deal with...they're the scariest things around...maybe even scarier than Hydras and Wyverns" she shrugged. "And you charged him with a bolt pistol" she began to giggle.
"W-well, I had no choice..." John blushed, his cheeks tinged with a rosy hue. "Most men would've ran, what you did was...pretty cool" she looks down at her knees. "...you think so?" John looks up at her. "Yeah..." she smiles, petting his head.
"Good work, private"
Behind them, a blue glow startles them both. "W-what the hell was that?!" Clarissa eyes John as they both jump back, hands flying to their pistols. "I'll...check it out" John steps forward as he whispers. "John! Get back here!" Clarissa tries to warn him, worried that it might be more Order of Garuda forces coming back. John tracks the source of the glowing, and finds nothing but a peculiar patch of grass.
"That's weird, there's nothing here—" the ground collapses from under him, sliding him down the ground as he yells from his lungs in fear.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he bellows as he slides down later after layer of dirt before finalling falling into a cave, face first. "Oomf!" he hits the ground, groaning in pain as he rolls on his back. "Ow ow ow ow..." he steadies himself, and his vision, looking forward to see the source of the light.
In front of him was something he's never seen before... It was a large, blue crystal...containing a person?! He warily walks closer, inspecting it, pistol at the ready. Inside the crystal was a young boy with pale skin, white hair, and a beautiful, delicate face. His eyes were closed, his body and limbs seem to be frozen in place. His clothing was unusual. A white and gold thin,long sleeved, ankle length, loose fitting shirt with scriptures on the lapels and sleeves. John....didn't know what he was seeing.
He taps the communications earpiece. "Clarissa? Sergeant Greywolf? I have... a situation..."