Destiny- Shimmering Sunby FrostTheWolfChapters01- Eyes up, Guardian02- Keep Moving On03- The Warmind04- The Dark Within05- The Last Array06- Rumble07- Strike: The Devil's Lair08- Sirens of the Night09- The Dark Beyond10- The World's Grave11- Chamber of Night12- The Stranger and The Awoken13- Eye of a Gate Lord15- The Black Garden16- The Prince's Fall17- The Hunt Begins18- Kell of Kells14- The Garden's Spire01- Eyes up, GuardianFor a long time, things all around me felt… cold. I felt as if I was coldly drifting aimlessly for… well, who knows how long. The only thing that I could be able to remember exactly was my name. And all I could see now though were… images of… places… people? Things? I don’t really know how to explain it… but for some reason, these things I were seeing were important somehow. Pictures of me with other people… enjoying each other’s company… but I could only remember brief pieces of these moments as everything was going by so quickly. I did not know what really to think of this. I mean… I was not sure how I found myself in this place. But I felt as if I wanted to get out of here. Escape. I did not know why or how, but I wanted to just get out of here… Wait a minute… Is that a light up ahead? Am I in some kind of tunnel? Could that be the way out? I could hear something on the other end speaking to me, but it… sounded different. “Is it possible?” Was… someone talking about me? Who was there? Someone, please answer me! I found myself running, almost as if I wanted to escape this place. As I ran, my body slowly began to heat up, burning through me as if I was on fire… But I didn’t care… I wanted to get out of here. I wanted to see daylight. I wanted to live. And then, I heard it again. As I found myself reaching the end and everything around me turned to white. “There you are.” When I opened my eyes… everything around me was barren and dry. The area around me was barren and cracked, broken and destroyed. There were rusty cars and broken trees everywhere, along with dust getting all over my-. Wait, what happened to my clothes? And why am I-? “Guardian.” Hunh? Who said that? “Guardian? Eyes up, guardian.” Instantly I looked up, only to find myself staring directly at a floating… metal… thing? And whatever it was, scared the living crap out of me. Especially when I realized that it was talking to me. “It worked. You’re alive! You don’t know how long I’ve been looking for you.” “Gah!! W-who are you?” I asked, sheerly out of panic. I mean, who wouldn’t panic if you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and woke up to finding a talking robot thingamajig talking to you? At first, it’s answer seemed simple. “Well, I’m a Ghost…” Then it became confusing. “Actually, I’m now your ghost.” And then if that wasn’t crazy enough, the next piece of news… Ghost shared felt like getting hit by a speeding freight train. “And you… well, you’ve been dead for a long time. So you’re going to see a lot of things you won’t understand.” “Wait, I’ve been dead-?!” Before I could ask anything as to how exactly did I end up dead… or for that matter, how in the world was I alive, I heard an ear piercing howl ring through the air as I shivered for a moment. “W-what was that?” “Oh no… this is bad,” I heard from this Ghost of mine as he turned back to me. “This is Fallen territory, we’re not safe out here. I need to get you back to the city… Hold still.” “Wait, wha-?” Before I could comprehend what he said, I saw Ghost… disappear right in front of me. Causing me to look around for a moment, before saying something. “Ghost? Where are you-?” Then, I felt some kind of electric buzz in my ear for a moment, before hearing a voice again. “Don’t worry, I’m still here. Right now though, we need to move and fast. Get inside the Wall. It’s just up ahead.” Before I could even ask, that’s when I saw what he was talking about. It looked like one of the biggest barricades that I had seen in… well, ever. How was something like this possible? More importantly though… How long have I exactly been dead for? That had to wait for another time though as I heard another one of those shrieks again, causing me to jump to my feet and run. Criss crossing through rusted and broken down cars. Despite the massive size of this wall I was running towards, there was a small opening to the left of what looked like a massive gateway. Leading me to wonder… was someone trying to keep something out… or keep something in. Upon entering the wall and going up a staircase, I took a right turn and came across an open pathway with broken windows illuminating the light from the sun. While I was moving though, that was when I heard Ghost speak again. “Okay, I’m going to need to find you a weapon before the fallen find us.” “Fallen-?” Before I could finish my sentence, that was when I heard the metal pylons shift and the sounds of something running against metal plates directly above us. “Quiet… They’re right above us…” He warned me, before we moved into the next room and up some more stairs as Ghost soon appeared next to me. This time though, he was shining like a flashlight as he illuminated the path forward for us, reaching a catwalk that looked out into what was the interior of the wall, before looking towards me. “Hang tight. Fallen thrive in the dark, we won’t. We need more light,” Well, that seemed kind of obvious. I mean, it’s almost pitch black in here. So some more light can definitely help. “I’ll see what I can do.” Wait, what did he mean by that? Around that time, Ghost just floated off to what looked like some kind of… contraption of sorts as he mumbled something to himself. I honestly did not pay much attention to that… but I immediately paid attention to him once the light came back on… and the shrieks from before were a LOT closer than when we were outside. “They’re coming for us!!” “What did you do?!” I shouted, personally panicking right now. “I don’t know, but what I do know is that without a weapon, you got nothing to defend yourself out here,” He told me, before proceeding to scan the contraption to some kind of gate as he got it open. Once it was open and I stepped through the gate, Ghost began hovering over… wait… is that a gun? And why are there a bunch of bones and a skull around it?! “Here, I found a rifle! Grab it!” Okay, at the time, my head was thinking about how the hell was I going to learn how to use something like this in such little time. But, going on instinct, I grabbed it and held onto it as I moved around another corner. My heart was beating extremely fast now as I was trying to make sense of what was going on and where I needed to go. Yet… what Ghost said next didn’t help me with concentrating. “I hope you know how to use that thing.” Which… lead to me saying something back at him. “I hope so too…” “Wait… You haven’t used something like this before-?” Ghost questioned, sounding surprised to hear that from me. But that was before we saw… something move ahead of us. “What was that?” “I… don’t know…” Right around now, with all the craziness that was happening, I was personally thinking that I was going insane… But it was then, as I was looking around, that I saw a wheel at the corner of my vision on the left hand side. “Ghost? What the heck is this… thing?” “Um… that’s the radar you have installed in your helmet… and I’m picking up some movement…” He told me, just as I was close to reaching the end of the straightaway for where I was at. However, it was then that I heard Ghost say something in particular as the center of my radar had a red dot in the center. “It’s… directly above us.” Oh no… I’ve got a bad feeling about this… “Guardian, look out!” Immediately, two creatures dropped down ahead of me. One being mere feet away from me. And their appearance alone told me that they weren’t human at all. The first one lunged at me with a knife in one of its arms and a pistol in the other. Trying to stab me with it’s knife while the other one shot at me with it’s own pistol. Right away, I could see the electrical energy radiating off of the blade, causing me to back up and try to get some distance away from it while I scramble to properly aim with this weapon I was holding. “Come on… come on…” I grit my teeth, trying to focus as I aimed back at these two alien freaks. One of them looked to be pulling out something and prepare to throw it at me. Quickly pulling the trigger, I opened fire at both of them, taking a couple of moments to try and catch my breath after doing so. Internally though, I felt sick. “Guardian, are you alright?” “No…” I spoke, looking back to him. “I… don’t feel alright. Even though they aren’t human… I… haven’t killed anything before…” “Guardian,” Ghost tried to talk to me. “I know that a lot is going through your head right now, but I need to make sure you understand something… The Fallen are responsible for killing many survivors they come across, and they will attempt to kill us too. Guardian, if we are to get out of this, we need to be able to work together… okay?” I thought this over for a moment, thinking everything so far and what Ghost told me, before finally replying back to him. “Okay… but don’t call me Guardian.” “But that is what you are. You are a Guardian-.” I sighed back, before looking at him once again. “It may be what I am, but it is not who I am… If we are to work together, then you need to know me by my name.” Ghost looked at me for a moment, before looking away… and then back to me. “And what is your name then?” I looked back to him, while also gripping onto the handle of my weapon as I told him my name. “Sunset. Sunset Shimmer… Now that you know my name, let’s go find a way out of here.” “Right away, Gua- I mean Sunset.” Ghost corrected himself, fading away again as I left the small corridor and began to enter another wide open catwalk. From the rafters above, three more of these creatures from before dropped down in front of me and began to fire their pistols at me. Forcing me to take cover behind a box and return fire back at them. However, right away, after taking out the first two, I could see that the third one of these creatures had four arms instead of two. And this one had a much more complex firearm that it was using to try and draw me out of cover. Rolling out from behind where I was hiding, I took aim and fired again, until I was beginning to hear a clicking sound from my weapon. “Here! Reload, quick!!” I heard Ghost speak to me as a clip similar to the one that was attached to my weapon formed in my hands. Leading me to reload my rifle as the four armed one charged at me. By the time the clip was in, the creature was so close that all I could do at the time was punch it to get some distance between us before I fired a shot at it’s head. Causing it to rupture and disperse into a white like glow. “Nice shot, keep it up.” Ghost told me as I ran across the bridge that was in front of me to get to the other side. “Ghost, how much farther until we get out of this place?” I asked once I finally reached the other side. “We still got a bit of a ways before we finally find a way out. The Fallen have cut a path through here, so it’s likely that they placed traps in here,” Well brilliant… what else is there about these guys that I don’t know about. “Although… it appears that they left one of their treasure troves out here… Let me crack it open for you.” Ghost soon emerged from out of nowhere again, scanning what looked like the lock on the cache we come across as the lid soon popped open. There was a blue glow for a brief moment, but from the sounds of things, Ghost seemed… pleased. “Well, that’s a relief… we found another weapon for you to use. Should come in handy when in tight quarters.” As he said that, I placed the Rifle I had on my back as Ghost materialized what he was talking about. A sawed off shotgun along with a few shells to load into it. A task I was beginning to do as we proceeded forward. Until… “Stop!! Don’t move!” “What?! Why-?” As I lifted my head up, I could see the exact reason why Ghost told me to stop. A red laser wire blocking the path ahead. “Oh… What… are these?” “Fallen Tripmines. Rigged to explosives,” He warned me as I looked at them carefully. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up when Ghost told me that these things were wired to bombs that could possibly kill me. “Whatever you do, don’t touch them.” I looked at them for a moment… and noticed that there were a second set of tripmines farther down the hall. “Ghost… is there a way to disable them? Because I feel that if we just sneak past them, one of those… things can pop up out of nowhere and knock us back into them.” “I… never thought of it that way, to be honest…” He admitted to me. “One likely possibility though is that you can try to shoot them from a distance so you don’t get hit by the blast when it detonates. Aim for the small connector on the top left column and on the pipe near the right. I’ll mark the targets now.” It was seconds after I heard him say those words that I saw what looked like two squares in front of me. Marking the specific points that they were at so I could be able to shoot them as I took aim and fired. “Nice shot.” “Thanks for the help…” I replied, before hearing what sounded like movement. “Ghost… these things are… what you call ‘Fallen’ right?” “Yes, that is what they are called.” “Right, so…” At this point, I began to carefully move through the halls, this time with the new weapon Ghost gave me at the ready. “If I were them… where would it be possible for them to attack me if they wanted to ambush me?” “That might be a complex question depending on what location we are talking about…” Oh come on, I didn’t mean it like that. This should be an easy question. “But… based on what I’m getting on my motion trackers, they are moving through the tunnels under us and in the air vents above us. Keep an eye out for any floor grates because they might use that for an ambush.” Well, that was a much better answer than I originally thought I was getting. And at least I now have an idea of where they might be coming from. And just after the first set of trip mines, that was when one of the fallen that Ghost was talking about dropped down from an air shaft in the ceiling while two more emerged from the floor grates right in front of me. Immediately, I fired one shell at the first one, before moving to the left and shooting the next one. The third one was farther back and not close enough for me to hit with my Shotgun, so I switched back to my rifle to attack him from range. Taking him down in a series of shots. “Nice work, but we got four more dregs at the end of this corridor.” Ghost notified me… yet, one thing about that did not make sense. “Um… this might be the wrong time to ask, but what’s a dreg?” I asked. Ghost seemed silent for a moment, before speaking back up again. “Out of all the fallen that we have encountered so far, Dregs are the ones that have two arms,” As he said that, I noticed what he was talking about as I took aim to not only take them down, but disable the second tripmine set that was blocking my path. “I would explain further, but right now, I think a short explanation is the more logical approach here.” “Fair point,” I sighed, reloading my rifle again while also taking the chance to reload my shotgun so I don’t run out of anything too soon. “What about the one we encountered that had four arms though?” “You mean Vandals?” He asked me. “They actually have six arms, but two sets of them take hold of the weapons they are using. In any case though, both Vandals and Dregs can be problematic if they try to outnumber you.” With that in mind, the two of us entered the end of the corridor and were greeted with a rather huge hall. The place looked to have seen better days, but the one thing that caught my attention was that there were a lot of these Fallen that Ghost had been talking about camping out here. And soon, all of them had their eyes on me. Just brilliant… “You got four Vandals and five Dregs. The vandals in the far back can hit you with their Wire Rifles while the others are dual wielding shock blades.” “Okay… so what exactly is the plan?” I asked now, trying to find someplace to take cover as they began to shoot at me. “First off, take out the Dregs. They might only have pistols and a shock knife, but they can also throw grenades,” He informs me as I peeked out from cover and shot down the first two Dregs I could see. “Second, the Vandals with the blades will likely try to get close to you so they can cut through your gear. Save your shotgun shells for when they get too close for comfort.” “What about the two in the back?” Peaking out, I took down the other Dregs. One that was preparing a grenade and had tossed it before I could take it down. Leading me to abandon the cover I was at so I wouldn’t get hit. The two vandals with the blades looked to have hidden themselves behind the concrete pillar that was close to where I was originally at as I switched weapons and took them down with two shotgun rounds. “Close the gap between you and them. They’re snipers, but they’ll be forced to try and reposition when you get too close.” Ghost advised me. Even though that plan almost seemed… personally crazy. Nevertheless, I didn’t really have a lot of options at this particular time, so all I could do was take his advice. So, I ran directly towards where they were at. To my surprise, Ghost was actually right about how they would try to react. One of them tried to take a swipe at me in order to push me backwards, leading me to duck out of the way and shooting him point blank with my shotgun. As for the other one, I switched to my rifle and shot the other vandal around the shoulder to offset it’s focus on me, before taking another shot and watching it’s body rupture in response. Finally though, after I had taken them all down, I was able to capture my breath at least. Ghost was able to materialize in front of me again, looking around at the hall all around us before turning his focus to me. “I knew that the fallen were crafty, but they had a much tighter hold on this place then I thought… We’re almost out of here though. Just a little bit further and then we’ll be in The Divide.” That… had me confused for a moment. “I’m sorry, the what now?” “Oh… Right,” Ghost said for a moment, before looking back at me. “The Divide is one of a few places here that’s stretched out across Old Stalliongrad… It’s a lot to explain, but there’s a reason why we’re going out this way.” Listening to him, I followed him through what looked like a broken down wind tunnel as the two of us reached the opening at the end. Immediately after coming out though, what I saw was… beyond my understanding. What looked to be buildings that would be stores were in ruins, numerous shipping containers of different colors were littered all over the place, concrete barriers were scattered everywhere and there were even some broken down tanks just as I was taking everything in. “This… used to be an old Cosmodrome. There’s gotta be some kind of ship we can use in order to get out of here.” “Ship? What kind of ship? Everything around here looks broken.” I asked, confused by what he was talking about. However… Ghost did not really have the time to explain what he meant to me as we looked up in the sky and saw a massive hole tear open. Whatever it was, it knocked over several of the huge towers that were standing and caused the ground to violently shake. Almost making me fall over. Wait… what the hell is that thing?! “Oh no… this is really bad,” Ghost told me, disappearing as I heard him speak in my helmet again. “Fallen ships… and this close to the surface! We need to move now!!” I was already moving before he even told me that. As they were offloading their troops, I was taking cover behind the massive shipping containers. Moving from one container to the next in order to get out of their line of sight. There was a hill of dirt that I ran up in order to get on the roof of one of the buildings that once looked to be some kind of store. But now, I was using it as a vantage point to fire down on them. Taking them out one by one until there was nothing left. The ships were already gone by the time the fight was over. But there was no way that I wanted to be here for when they were to come back. “Ghost… I don’t suppose you have some kind of plan as to how we’re going to get out of here?” “I do… Well, sort of…” “Sort of?” I asked, surprised to hear that. “About 12 percent, give or take,” He told me in response. “I’m picking up signs of an old jumpship not far from here, but I need to get closer to see if it’s of any use. Not to mention that the fallen could be scraping it clean for anything of value they can find.” “Lead the way then.” Shortly after saying those words, I saw another one of those markers that Ghost had used earlier when pointing out the trip mines. Following the marker lead me to having go through some tight and narrow corridors, which made me extremely cautious. Especially with the fact that some of these could be hiding beneath my feet and readying an ambush. However, we were not met with any surprises… mostly. The one thing that was different though were a bunch of what looked like floating metal machines. Ghost called them ‘Shanks’ and also explained to me that each one of them had a small plasma turret attached underneath. However, they weren’t really considered as much of a threat and could be easily taken down with a few accurate shots or a well placed shotgun round. Yet, it was as I eliminated this last group that I felt something… strange. Almost empowering if I were to be specific. “Ghost… Something just happened…” “What do you mean?” He asked me. “I don’t know… I just felt something… warm surge through my body. It feels… rejuvenating though.” I explained, looking at my hands for a moment to try and get an understanding of what was happening. “It must be the Travelers Light. I’ll explain it later, but you might be able to channel some of that power right now. Whether it be conjuring grenades or scorching anyone that come too close to you,” I heard him tell me. “You are a Warlock, after all.” “I’m a what-?” “It’s a specific kind of Guardian,” He explained as I slowly proceeded through the enclosed hallway, only to find broken down computers and machines. “Warlocks are those who studied the arcane energies of the Traveler and are able to harness its power in a physical form.” That… only made me think one thing in my mind as I felt something click inside my head. “You mean… like magic?” “In a sense… but not exactly in those terms,” Ghost replied back to me, all while I was trying to see how exactly could I be able to use this… ‘Light’ that he was talking about. “All guardians are powered by the light of the Traveler… Though, I think it may be best to save this conversation for later. You got company, dead ahead.” Looking up, I immediately noticed that we weren’t that far away from what appeared to look like some kind of hangar. However, the one thing that did immediately stand out was that there were a massive amount of fallen in here. Dregs, Vandals and Shanks. The icon that Ghost had for me was right above the ship that they looked to be trying to salvage. But their attention seemed to be less focused on that and more focused on me. As several of them were charging at me though, I felt a warm surge of power flow through my right hand, taking the form of what looked like a burning sphere. After a couple of seconds though, I soon threw it out towards the group of dregs and shanks that were slowly encroaching upon my current position. Watching it expand outward as it hit the ground and trapped several of them in the burning orb and allowing for me to shoot them with my rifle. Yet, I couldn’t exactly stay in one place. “Sunset, on your left!!” Turning, I immediately had to duck as a couple of Fallen that were armed with Shock Blades tried to charge at me from my blind spot. And if it weren’t for Ghost’s warning, they would’ve gotten to me. Grabbing my shotgun now, I had to fire off two rounds in order to get them away and attempted to try and throw another one of those orbs again… but nothing happened. “Ghost, what’s going on?” I asked him, trying it again before having to switch to my rifle after the second attempt failed. “I tried using that ‘Light’ like the first time around, but nothing happened!” “Sunset, stay calm… When using abilities powered by the light, you can’t just throw out grenades like that. You need to give your light time to recharge first,” Oh, so that’s the reason why. It… kind of makes sense, but it’s going to have to be something that I need to get used too. Taking a moment to find cover behind a metal pylon, I reloaded my shotgun and just kept my rifle on hand. Taking down some of the fallen that were coming at me before shooting at the Vandals in the far back of the room. It took a few minutes in order to clear out the room… but our troubles were not over yet. “Sunset, stay on guard. There’s still one more Fallen here.” “Seriously?” I asked. Personal note, just where are these guys coming from if they are able to move in here so quickly? Then, I turned around to notice a Fallen that was… well, different than the ones that we have encountered already. Not to mention that after shooting a few shots, this one teleported a short distance away. Whether it was to run away from me, get a better vantage point, or to try and shoot me at a closer distance, I couldn’t tell. But around the time he had teleported, I felt the same energy from before return to my left arm again… and that, soon gave me an idea. When I took a few more shots and forced this one to teleport again, I threw a grenade right at the point where he would materialize. Therefore, keeping him stuck in place and not able to move anywhere. “Well… Nice job taking that guy down. Now… let’s see if I can get us out of here,” With that, I felt my left hand come forward as Ghost materialized this time. Beginning to scan the jumpship that was held up by several cables that suspended it in place. “Well, I got some good news and bad news… Which do you want to hear first?” “Uh… Good, I guess?” I said, because I was unsure what exactly he meant by that. “Well, we’re lucky that the fallen haven’t picked this ship clean and it should be able to take us to The City,” He replied back to me. “Bad news though is that since this ship hasn’t made a jump in centuries, so we won’t be able to break orbit…” Okay, but that doesn’t answer the main question in my mind right now though. “Can it fly though?” Turning around, Ghost looked… rather confident. And… did he just nod to me? “I believe I can make it work. Just give me a second…” With that, he… faded into the ship. Almost the same way that he was able to do that so far with me. Though, it was only a few seconds later that I watched the entire ship just… roar to life right in front of me. Lights on the side of the ship were burning brightly, I could hear engines roaring and soon, the cables that originally suspended the ship in place broke off. And there I was, watching in awe as I saw it float in place… momentarily though. “Alright, we’re all ready to go…” Yet, the moment he said that was when my radar flashed red. Directly behind me. Turning around, I saw that a pair of fallen had just crawled out of a huge space in the wall… followed by one that was much bigger in size. And was glaring directly at me. Before they could be able to take aim though, I heard Ghost once more. “Okay, bringing you in!” I did not fully comprehend what he meant by that… until I felt myself being pulled inside the ship. Landing right in the cockpit as Ghost was handling the ship’s controls. I also felt the helmet that was originally on my head coming off, allowing for me to feel my hair again. “We can take care of those guys later. Right now, let’s get you back to the City.” “Um… Ghost?” I asked, a question forming in my head after he originally said that. “What city are we actually going to?” “Well… there’s a lot to fill you in on, but this city is referred to as the Last City… mostly because it literally is the last safe city on Earth,” He explained, guiding the ship through some snowy mountain peaks and through a bunch of clouds. Right now, I was both confused… and also in awe at what was going on. I never really experienced any form of flight like this before, so watching everything zip past me was… breathtaking in a sense. “And it is the last place on earth that’s under the protection of the Traveler.” That… had something click in my memory from earlier as I spoke up. “You mentioned that name before. What is this Traveler? Is it a person?” “Actually… No,” He replied back. “The Traveler is… much different. In fact, you should be able to see it right around… now.” That was when I saw exactly what he was talking about… and I was blown away by what I was seeing. This Traveler was not a person… but a giant white sphere that was in the sky, hanging over what looked like a city that was on the tower wall. Just… what was this thing? Before I could even ask Ghost, I felt myself fade out of my ship again and then land on my feet once more. Finding myself in a plaza like area as I took the chance to look all around me. There were many people here… including some that looked to be mechanical constructs as I was beginning to comprehend everything around me. “Welcome to the last safe city on Earth, Sunset,” I heard Ghost tell me as he floated along the left side of my body again. “This place once took centuries to build… Now we are counting everyday it stands.” Ghost soon floated behind me, causing me to turn around again as I looked all around me. “This though, is the Tower. And it’s the place that Guardians like yourself call home.” I… was pretty much speechless right now. Mostly because I was still trying to process a lot of things. But I did remember Ghost telling me that there were a lot of things that I might not understand, so I guess that makes sense. “So… What do we do now?” “Well currently, I sent the jumpship we got to the shipwright for the time being so she can make some repairs on it,” He told me, leading me down to what looked like a stairwell in the middle of the courtyard. “For now though, I think we should have you meet the Warlock Vanguard. She’s a good teacher, so perhaps she can help answer any questions you might have.” Internally, that made me let out a sigh of relief as I followed Ghost down to what he called the ‘Hall of Guardians’. Mostly because it served as the base of operations for the members of the Vanguard. Which, from what Ghost told me, consists of a lot of other guardians like myself. “There we are. The Warlock Vanguard should be just over here-” Though, before he could finish his sentence, we both heard a voice speak up from inside the hall. “Sunset? I-is that you?” When I turned my head to see who it was, my jaw dropped almost immediately. And I can only be able to say one thing in that moment. “T-twilight?” Author's Note "An ancient weapon, battered and worn - but it still fires true. Perhaps it's been waiting for you." -In Game Description, Khvostov 7G-02 And with that, the story of our guardian begins. -Frost 02- Keep Moving OnOut of all the things I expected to happen… this was not one of them. When Ghost told me that we were going to see the Warlock Vanguard, I thought it would be somebody that I have never met before, but were more experienced in everything going on so they could answer any questions that I still might have. After all, one of the definitions of a Vanguard was the leaders of a particular group. Whether or not they were a intellectual leader or a political leader, they were part of the movement and were on the front lines for it. Though, this was nothing like that. This wasn’t just a leader of some sorts. This was Twilight Sparkle. One of my friends that I remembered from… well, I think the right term would be ages since I didn’t recall when we last saw each other. However… something was different about her. Instead of the lavender skin I remembered from back then, her skin was almost a cold bluish gray. Like it had lost all of its color and became rather saturated. And her eyes… they were the same, but looked… like they were glowing. The only thing that still looked the same was the way she had tied up her hair. What… happened to her while I was gone? Instantly though, my attention was redirected back to her when I realized that she was walking towards me… followed by her pulling me in for a hug. “It’s… good to see you again…” She told me. I tried to say something… but with all the things going on right now inside my head, I found it personally impossible to formulate a thought in that moment. Only responding by trying to hug her back… before actually being able to say something. “Twilight… there are… way too many questions rolling around in my head right now,” I told her, before taking a deep breath as I looked back at her. “Ghost… told me you can help answer a few of them.” “Yes I can…” She replied back. “What would you like to ask?” “Well… what lead to… well… all of this?” I tried my best to explain to her, given the fact that it was hard to formulate the words in my head. “Because I… well…” “If I may…” Ghost soon interjected, floating next to me. “In my short time with my new guardian, she doesn’t seem to recall anything at all from the past. She didn't even know what the Traveler was and had asked me about it on our way here from the old Cosmodrome.” That… had Twilight’s eyes widen a little… before nodding her head in acknowledgement as she pressed a few buttons on the side of the table we were standing at. “That… was a long long time ago… Centuries, if we were to be exact,” She replied. Even though I knew part of this already based on some things Ghost told me briefly, it still was a bit of a shock to my system to hear that coming from her. “All the way back then, the historian called those centuries C.E. or Common Era. Now? The Cryptarchs of the tower called that P.G.A… as in before the Traveler was first discovered.” “Pre Golden Age.” I heard Ghost say to himself. “Right… During that time, Humanity always wanted to be able to explore other planets and stars…” Twilight replied back, surprising me for a moment when she made a holographic projection of the solar system emerge from the table we were at. “But it was on their first known expedition to Mars… that Humanity had first discovered the Traveler.” “Just… what is the Traveler though?” I asked. “That’s the part I’m having trouble understanding.” “Many people over the years has had different theories as to what it might be, but no one knows what it truly is,” As I heard that, I saw a white orb hover over what looked to be Mars on the star chart. But as Twilight continued to speak, the White Orb soon moved past Mars and a couple of the other planets before it reached Earth. “But what we do know is that in the years since it was first discovered, a time of miracles soon began. It was what we refer to as our Golden Age and with it, many of the things that humanity thought were impossible… became possible.” “Like what?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow for a moment. “Well, in the years since the Golden Age began, technology began to rapidly evolve by the day. The Traveler made it possible for us to fabricate and construct cities on other planets, such as Mars and Venus,” As Twilight said this, she revealed a few pictures to me of those exact cities that she was referring to. Along with pictures of jumpships like the one that we found out in the Cosmodrome flying in space. “Mercury was transformed into a garden world because of the Traveler. The lifespan of a normal human tripled and many of us saw it as our destiny to walk amongst the stars… Then… it happened.” That… left me puzzled as I looked back at Twilight, who had her head bend over and face the ground for a minute as all the pictures that she showed me before were now gone. “Uh… Twilight, what happened?” That question though… was not answered by her though. But by Ghost instead. “The Collapse…” Shortly after hearing those words, Twilight picked up her head again and looked back at me… Wait… did she look upset somehow? Why was that? “In all the centuries of our golden age, humanity did not know that the Traveler had an ancient enemy… A darkness. One that had endlessly pursued the Traveler throughout the far reaches of space. And when this darkness found the Traveler… it found us too. And it laid waste to everything… Those who tried to fight it fell in battle. Those who tried to flee were forever changed… But the worst part about all of this… involves you specifically, Sunset.” “Me? How?” I definitely did not like the sound of where this was going. Not at all. Memories were coming back now… and I was unsure about what exactly she was referring to, but the thought of it made me feel a little sick. “Do you remember the Mirror?” Oh no… please don’t tell me… “Some of us, more specifically, those who remembered you and where you came from… had to destroy it. It… was in order to prevent the Darkness from possibly reaching your home but… Sunset, I’m…” “Umm… Excuse me for interrupting here, but what ‘Mirror’ are you referring to?” Ghost asked. “It’s only something that myself, a couple of the other vanguard leaders, and some friends close to us know about, Ghost. There’s nothing on it in the archive database.” Twilight told him. As she was speaking, I now began to comprehend what this meant. The mirror all the way at Canterlot High was the portal between my home… the Land of Equestria… and this world. But with it destroyed… there was no way I could go back home. It was a LOT to take in, especially with how severe something like this was. The only thing stopping my train of thought though… was when I heard Twilight speak up again. “Sunset? A-are you okay?” Right around then… I had to do my best to keep myself composed. “Y-yeah, it’s just… well, it’s a lot to take in…” I told her… before remembering something. “How… was this darkness dealt with though? I mean… I’m thankful that it didn’t go through the mirror… but is it still lurking around?” “No actually… The Collapse was several centuries ago,” Wait, seriously?! Geez, how LONG has this been going on for? “For back then, the Traveler made a choice. It chose to sacrifice itself in order to save the last of humanity and prevent them from becoming extinct. It’s sacrifice also brought life to the ghosts, who then seek out those who can control the travelers light and use it to fight those who try to attempt to do humanity harm. Those are Guardians… like you and me.” “The last city and the Tower are under the Travelers protection too, given how close it is in proximity.” Ghost also added on to the conversation. “That’s also true…” I heard her tell me in response. “Sunset… is there anything else you would like to ask?” That… was tricky. Sure I had some questions to ask, but I personally didn’t want to make it sound too personal. “Well… um… the last time I remembered seeing you… you looked rather different than before. What… happened, exactly?” In response, Twilight sighed as she looked back at me and disabled the projections on the table. Having it return back to normal now. “Well… when the collapse happened, several of us tried to flee from it by taking our ships into the unknown sectors of space. But… something happened. And because of it, we were all forever changed. They call us… Awoken. Those who tried to flee from the Darkness or descendants of those same people.” Well, that answered one of the questions that was inside my head. But… I still had one more thing I needed to ask her-. Of course… neither of us expected for someone else to enter the hall at the same time. “Twilight, did the Research division ever follow up with you on-?” Wait… I knew that voice from somewhere… Oh don’t tell me. When I turned around, that was when I discovered that the person who was talking… was indeed who I was thinking it was. “F-flash? How-?” “You know Commander Sentry, Sunset?” Wait, Commander? When exactly did something like this happen while I was… you know what, nevermind. Twilight did mention that only a few of the other Vanguard leaders knew about the mirror to Equestria… though, I did not expect one of those leaders to actually be Flash Sentry. Flash though… looked rather shocked and surprised to see me at first. But, after Twilight briefly brought him up to speed on what we had been talking about, he seemed to have a better understand of what was going on… I think. “So… where were we on our conversation?” Twilight asked. “Well… I was going to ask about how I can be able to help out, now that I’m a part of this whole ‘Guardian’ thing…” I first told them, before looking back towards Flash now. “But, I’m now wondering something… What exactly is a Guardian? I mean, no one’s really… explained it to me outside of the general terms. And I’m going to guess that not every Guardian is the same?” That’s when Flash took a deep breath… and pressed something on the table, which soon lead to three crests hovering in the middle. “Well, Guardians are normally seen as three different classes. I’m already sure that you know what a Warlock is by now, but there are two other classes that you should at least be familiar with in case you are paired up with one,” In explaining the brief bit about the Warlock, one of the symbols soon disappeared afterwards. Leading to what looked like Flash bringing up what looked like a hexagon broken up into two triangles and two rhombus’ along with what looked like a guardian in full body armor instead of the robes that Twilight was wearing. “One of the other classes that I serve as for the Vanguard is the Titan. Those who were brave soldiers that were known for their strength, heroic deeds and sacrifice on the battlefield and brought back as guardians. They can be able to not only be a shield to defend their allies, but also be merciless against those that try to do harm to their fellow guardians.” With that, it only left one symbol, and with it, showed someone that was dressed in what made me think of some kind of bounty hunter. “Lastly, we have Hunters. Survivors that learned how to use the travelers light in order to survive out in the wild. They’re normally seen as important when it comes to scouting operations, but they have just as many tricks in order to bend the outcome of a situation in their favor… However, the vanguard for the Hunters right now is wandering around in the Tower and not exactly doing what she’s supposed to be doing.” Well, at least that made me a little bit familiar about this whole Guardian business. Now… only one question remained inside my head now. “So… what can I do to help?” As it turns out, the first thing that I needed to do in order to prepare myself was to get better equipment and armor. Twilight herself had a cache for new Warlocks that gave me some new garbs, while also giving me what she referred to as a ‘requisition pass’. However, since she had to discuss some important matters with Flash, she didn’t really get the chance to actually tell me what I was supposed to do with it. Leaving me to have to ask Ghost instead… and he directed me towards someone that was referred to as the ‘Gunsmith’ of the tower. When I got there though, she… seemed almost familiar. Despite the fact that she was an Exo. “Oh, hey! Never seen your face around here before,” She first introduced herself to me, setting down a weapon that she seemed to be doing maintenance on around the time that I arrived. “You a new Guardian?” “Yeah…” I said to her, looking around to see the numerous racks of different weapons stacked up along the back of this small area. Personally, I wasn’t really sure if this Exo I was talking to was actually the gunsmith I was looking for. “I was told that I could find the Gunsmith here-?” “Well, that would be me,” Oh so she is the gunsmith. Never would’ve thought… “I’m Vinyl-3, the Tower’s Gunsmith. Is there anything I can help you with today, Guardian? Maybe something you would like to purchase?” Well, now that she mentioned it… “Actually, I was given this by Twilight Sparkle, the Warlock Vanguard,” I told her, handing the requisition pass that was in my hands as she took a moment to look at it. “She told me to come take this to you and that you can help me out?” “Heck yeah, I can,” She told me, before setting the pass aside. “When any Vanguard gives a new guardian a requisition pass, they can trade it in for a new weapon, on the house! Let me get you some choices for you to choose from.” That definitely seemed good. Despite the fact that I was getting used to the weapons that I had, the rifle I had seemed so old and worn that it looked like it would break apart on me at any minute. After she went to her stock to get out the weapons, Vinyl presented me with four options and explained each one to me. The first was an Auto Rifle, which had been the type of weapon that I had already been using since Ghost found me and one that I was already familiar with. The second was what was called a Pulse Rifle and instead of rounds being shot on full auto like with the last choice, these were fired in a series of three round bursts and suitable at long range. The third was what was called a Scout Rifle, and unlike the last two, this one was a semi-automatic weapon. As Vinyl explained to me, even though you have to pull the trigger each time you want to fire it, these forms of weapons were built for precise aim and marksmanship. The final choice though was a hand cannon that could pack a serious punch… if you were willing to be patient and calm with it. More of a weapon for a sharpshooter than anything else. Despite the hand cannon seeming like a good choice, it would only work if an enemy had come too close to me. And I already had my Shotgun in case that were to happen. The scout rifle may seemed powerful, but it didn’t seem to be… well, something that could work out for me. Which only left me the choice of either the Auto Rifle or the Pulse Rifle. Personally though… based on what I had been using already, it felt right in order to try and pick a weapon type that I was more familiar with. “I’ll choose this one.” I told the Gunsmith, pointing at the Auto Rifle as she looked back at me. “The Marshal-A?” She asked me, picking up the weapon and handing it to me after I nodded my head. Confirming to her that this was the one I wanted. “Nice choice. It’s a good weapon for taking down massive groups of fallen that you might happen to cross paths with while on patrol. Just make sure to keep that thing in proper shape and it’ll do you wonders.” “Thanks for the advice.” I told her, before I began to walk away from her stand. Though, she told me one other thing while I was leaving. “See you around, Guardian. Be sure to stop by if you need anything!” The Exo replied, waving goodbye as I now had Ghost come on out so I can have this new auto rifle equipped. “Alright, that should do it… now, about the old one. Do you want to leave it in the vault or just dismantle it?” That… was something that puzzled me. Mostly because of what he said. “Ghost, what do you mean by vault?” I asked. “Think of it like a Guardian’s storage locker,” He told me in response, before motioning over to what looked like a nearby console. “Guardian’s use these consoles to drop off whatever equipment or items they don’t need and take items they would need depending on the situation. Ghosts only have a limited amount of inventory and this makes it convenient when it comes to carrying multiple things. Let’s put the rifle your using in there for right now.” Ghost then instructed me on how to use the console, and helped me make sure that the old auto rifle I was using before in there was stored away properly. Who knows? I might need it for something farther down the road. Though, when I was done, Ghost seemed to be distracted by something for a tidbit… before looking back at me. “Ghost, you alright?” I asked. “You kind of… fazed out for a moment.” “That’s because I was receiving a message from the shipwright.” Ah, well that explains it… I think. I’m still trying to get used to this whole Guardian business though. “She’s done making repairs on the vessel we got out of the Cosmodrome. All we need to do now is visit the hangar and pick it up from her.” Really? Repairs were done already? And I thought that the ship was missing a few key important parts before we could really be able to go anywhere. Well… that was mostly based on what he told me the first time around when we originally found the ship. Though, perhaps this was some kind of minor fix that was needed. “Alright, can you lead me to where the hangar is? It’s still my first time navigating this place, so it might be a bit for me in order to find my way around here.” Ghost nodded, placing another marker for me before speaking up. “Alright, let me mark the waypoint for you.” Oh so that’s what those things are called… ehh, I prefer calling them markers instead. Seems easier to me that way. Upon walking through the hallways and entering the hangar bay, I happened to notice a lot of activity going on. Mostly involving either citizens talking with one another, other guardians talking to either a robot behind a workbench or someone claiming that Earth was ‘dead’… and then there was who I was looking for. The shipwright. She was dressed like some kind of mechanic, but had a red bandana around her neck and a pair of goggles on too. Though… I think I have seen that skin tone and hair color somewhere before. Not to mention that she also had a stetson hat set off to the side of her workbench. “Excuse me, but would you happen to be the shipwright?” I asked, getting her attention as she put down a few tools she was cleaning once I caught her attention. “That would be me-” She replied, before saying something else. “Wait… no way. Sunset is that you?” Hold on. This girl remembers me? From where? That was when she turned around… and immediately when I saw her face, I recognized who she was. “A-applejack?” “Well, I’ll be damned… never thought ah’d get the chance to see you again, Sunset.” She greeted me, even setting down a wrench that she was cleaning. “Didn’t think you’d be a guardian either, but ah guess ah was wrong… So how can ah help ya, Sugarcube?” With the conversation redirected back at me, I didn’t even get the chance to process everything that she was saying, until I realized that it was my turn to speak. “Well uh… my ghost told me that he brought in a ship that we used to get out of the… Cosmodrome I think it was called?” “You have the Ghost that brought in the Arcadia class ship?” She asked, sounding rather surprised. “Those ships have been around since the Golden Age, but nowadays, you barely find any that are operational like the one that was brought in. Your ghost was lucky to find it mostly in one piece.” I… honestly did not know if that was supposed to sound good or not given the tone of her words. Then, I recalled something that Ghost told me before we took off from the Cosmodrome. “Um… My ghost told me that he wasn’t sure if the ship would be able to break orbit?” “Well, that’s not entirely true actually…” She told me in response. “Your ship can break orbit just fine because of the repairs and modifications ah put on it… however, you can’t travel off world or to other planets without a warp drive. You can try and find one… but that’s the one thing that the Fallen try to salvage immediately after they shoot down a Guardian’s ship or find one they haven’t taken apart yet. So you might want to talk to your ghost on that one… but ah can take you to your ship if you like.” I nodded my head, allowing Applejack to show me the way to my ship as I got the chance to see not only the new appearance of it… but also see that a lot of the parts that looked old and rusty were actually fixed up rather well. Best part about it was that Applejack didn’t need for us to pay for her services, so Ghost and I were able to jump in rather quickly and get ourselves situated as he appeared on my left hand side again. “So… what exactly is the plan, Ghost?” “Well… we’re lucky enough to have found this ship out in the Cosmodrome… but if we are ever going to be able to fight outside of earth, we need that warp drive that Applejack was talking about,” Ghost told me… but what he was saying almost sounded completely insane. “We’ve handled the fallen once… I bet we can do it again.” Oh dear Celestia, we’re actually doing this. Cosmodrome, Earth “So Ghost…… how exactly are we planning on doing this?” I asked him the moment that my feet touched the ground. He happened to emerge from my left hand side again, talking to me about what exactly he was thinking could possibly work for finding ourselves what we are looking for. And I wasn’t really sure if I was actually going to like what he was going to tell me. “Well, we’re lucky enough in order to find what we got out here just on it’s own… though, the fallen-” BOOM! Immediately, my head shot up as Ghost and I looked in the direction of the sound we just heard. While also hearing a loud crash. “W-what the hell was that?” Ghost didn’t say anything, but almost immediately came back inside my helmet before speaking up. “That was a guardian’s ship just now-. Hold on,” I heard him say for a moment, almost as if someone else was trying to get his attention. When I heard him speak up again, I soon found out that someone was trying to get his attention. More specifically though, our attention. “Incoming message from Commander Sentry at the Tower. He says it’s urgent.” Now what in the world could Flash seriously want around now? …… Well, I guess there’s only one way of finding out. “Patch him through.” “Already doing it. He should be coming in right about… now.” A few seconds after hearing that from my Ghost, I began to hear Flash speak to me in my helmet. Leading me to think that there was some kind of contraption in my helmet that made this kind of communication possible… but I rather not dwell on it. “Sunset… I don’t know what you’re doing back out in the Cosmodrome, but you’re the only guardian out there right now that I can count on,” I heard him say to me. Though, what he said to me sounded rather strange hearing it straight from him. “I’m going to assume that both you and your ghost saw a ship crash not far from where your at?” As I walked through the area we were in, I took the chance to clear my throat and speak up. “Yeah, we just heard a giant explosion right now before hearing a loud crash… Do you have any idea what that was?” “That’s the thing… I do know what it was… and it means that right now, a fellow guardian is in trouble,” That… definitely did not sound good at all. “The Fallen have been known for shooting ships while airborne if they linger too close to their territory. And right now, one of my best Titan Defenders just sent out a mayday, saying that his ship just got shot down. His last known position is not far from your current location.” “So… You want us to make sure that this Guardian is okay and also make sure that the Fallen haven’t gotten to him first?” Ghost asked. “Exactly… Not only that, but I want you to assist him with whatever he was doing out there. There’s strength in numbers and in the Cosmodrome, it’s too dangerous for a Guardian to be out there on their own.” “Got it…” I heard Ghost affirm for us that we were going to undertake this task. “Putting in that Guardian’s last known coordinates now and marking it.” And with that, I was off and running. Trying to hurry as fast as I could to the marker that was placed for me. Though, along the way… I decided to ask Ghost a particular question that just came up in my head right now because of what Flash said as I went up a ravine and onto a nearby plateau. “Hey Ghost… What did Flash mean just now by ‘Titan Defender’? I thought that Guardians could only be one of three things?” “They can… but within each class of Guardian, there are also subclasses based on three different forms of elemental energy that the travelers light could take on,” I heard him tell me. “When the commander says ‘Titan Defenders’, he means a Titan that can use Void Light in order to defend themselves and allies when in combat.” Void Light? That’s… a new one. Then again, I only learned to throw grenades that look like a mini sized sun a few hours ago. But… what exactly was the third one? Ehh, never mind. I gotta focus. Though, the sounds of gunshots and the sight of smoke in the air told us that we were not far from where this guardian could possibly be. When we did get close enough, we found the Titan boldly fighting off several fallen that have already swarmed the crash sight. However, instead of just shooting everything in sight with his Pulse Rifle, he actually took it a step further and was punching a few fallen directly in the face. Most of this person’s armor was bulky and colored a dark grey with a few strands of red. The only thing standing out though that was different from everything else was what looked like some kind of sash along his left leg, which was red and had the symbol of a green apple on it. And just as he was done taking down the fallen in front of him… I noticed that one other Vandal was trying to get behind him once they uncloaked. Which, gave me the chance to test my newest weapon as I fired a shot that took down the Vandal quickly. What I did though… soon happened to catch this titan’s attention… and not in a good way. “Who the hell are you?” I heard him snap, which… caused me to try and be cautious with him. “Woah, calm down for just a moment…” I told him at first, before clearing my throat as I placed my weapon on my back. “Commander Sentry told me that your ship just crashed and asked for me to come make sure you were okay and also help you out…” “That still doesn’t answer my question…” He told me in response as I noticed the grip on his weapon still has not loosened yet. “Ah asked for your name. Not why you are here…” Well… I guess trying to convince him to put down the weapon was out of the option. This must be the new way of ‘talking’ all the way out here. “My name is Sunset Shimmer. I-” However, before I could explain anything else though… that’s when I noticed him lowering his rifle and sounding less… well, threatening to put it lightly. “Y-you’re… AJ’s friend…” Wait, hold up… did he just say what I think I heard him just say? Then… he took off his helmet and that was when I could be able to see who it was. “Ah’m sorry for acting hostile just now… Name’s Big Macintosh, but everyone at the tower just calls me Mac.” Now I was beginning to remember who this guy was. I was beginning to recall the fact that Applejack personally told Twilight and I that she had a rather big family herself… and right now, her older brother was standing right in front of me. “Ah know that we just met and all, but can ah ask ya something?” “Sure,” I replied back, now that he wasn’t exactly being hostile to me. “What is it, Mac?” “Well… ah have a lot of questions if ah were to be honest with ya,” He told me in response, while also looking at his ship. “But ah think the best one to start with is what exactly are ya doing out here?” “Well, my Ghost and I were trying to find something important for my ship,” I explained, taking off my own helmet now, my ghost emerging right next to me. “But before we could get anywhere, Command told us about you getting shot down and we hurried over in order to make sure you weren’t in trouble. Of course, I shot a Vandal that was trying to backstab you after you basically sucker punched everything else.” In response to hearing that, all Mac did was lower his head and shake it before looking back at me. But before he could say anything, that was when we both noticed what looked to be a brown and white ghost emerge from his ship as it looked back at us. The thing was though… it sounded much different than mine. “Oh… sorry, was I interrupting something?” “Yer fine, Winona,” Mac assured his ghost, turning his attention away from us. “So… what the damage? Give it to me, straight…” “Well, when we were hit, it was with an EMP blast in order to try and mess with the systems. Thinking that the fall might kill you first… but, it turned out not to be the case. Other than that though, all major systems are fully operational.” She told him, shortly before noticing us. “Who are these two?” That was the moment where Mac and I both had to bring his ghost up to speed on everything. Once we were done though, he asked his ghost to have his ship head to orbit, but remain there so if he needed to get out of here for some reason, it could be ready. Then, that was when we saw the Titan get his weapon out again before looking at us. “So Sunset… ya told me that you were looking for something for your ship… could you clarify on what ya mean by that?” I sighed, but before I could say anything, my Ghost took that as a cue to answer for me. “Our ship is lacking a warp drive. We were going to try and track down where the fallen might be hiding one, but we got sidetracked when Command contacted us.” After hearing that, Mac looked back at his Ghost for a moment, before looking back to us. “If that’s the case, then ya should come with us,” He told us, which personally surprised me at first. Before he began to explain the reason why. “We were originally coming out here because Winona picked up some fallen chatter about them moving cargo for one of their houses. It’s likely possible that what you're looking for could be in there.” That… does sound promising, I have to admit. But there was one piece of what he just said that kind of confused me. “Hold on… houses? I thought the fallen are scavengers.” “They are,” My Ghost told me. “However, not all the Fallen are a part of the same group. They are organized into different ones. Think of a house of fallen like a pack of wolves. Each one being different from the other and run by different leaders.” Okay, now that starts to make sense… I think. “Right… and the cargo we’ve been tracking is being moved by members of the house of devils.” We now heard Winona speak up and take a turn to talk. “They’re the primary fallen house on Earth and are seen as the ‘Scourge of the City’. So if they are trying to move something as big as the cargo that we’ve been picking up, it clearly must be something important that they don’t want us finding out about.” And that gave me a reason in order to put my helmet back on as I looked back at Mac. “Well, that definitely seems like something we should look into. Lead the way.” Mac nodded as his Ghost disappeared, before he had us follow him. According to his Ghost, there was an information hub down underground that had a map we could use to give us an overview of everything that we can find in the Cosmodrome. Including the fallen cargo convoy we were going to be searching for. Though, we first had to clear out the fallen that were underground before going for the map. When we eventually did get the map though, that’s when things began to get a bit complicated. “Okay, we got the map… however, there’s no telling when the fallen will start moving again. Let’s get back out topside.” I heard Mac’s ghost tell both us as we both made our way for the stairs while also making sure that we don’t get attacked by any possible dregs that might’ve been hiding somewhere. By the time we reached the surface again, we heard my ghost speak now. “Alright. Now with the map, it’ll be easier for both Winona and I to locate what we’re looking for…… You’re fine with me calling you that, right?” “I don’t mind. Though, hearing that come from another Ghost kind of felt weird… at first.” Winona replied back. Which, left me rather surprised as Mac and I began to follow a new set of coordinates. “How exactly is that weird?” I asked, waiting for her to respond. “Well, Ghosts aren’t like humans where they were given names at birth. Plus, Mac’s kind of been the only one to have called me by that name until now.” I heard her tell me… and in a way, that kind of makes sense. “But enough about that. We should probably get going. I’m picking up traces of where the Fallen might be hiding the cargo they’re transporting.” It soon took a few seconds for my Ghost to pick up the same trace too, but when he did, there was something else he mentioned that seemed rather… concerning for him. “I’m picking it up too… But I’m not sure if they’re trying to hide it… or use it as bait.” “Hold up… Bait?” Mac asked. “What makes ya say that?” “Fallen Houses sometimes fight with each other over something if a certain house sees something as a major necessity. Whether it’s Ether Seed’s or spare parts… What I do know is that the House of Devils has had clashes with another house of earth. The House of Kings,” Ghost explained, to which, even made Winona sound like she didn’t like the sound of it. “The point is, we should tread with caution once we get closer.” That was something I could personally get behind. Because once we got closer to the building and we finally made our way inside, we learned firsthand that the place was crawling with fallen. Dregs, Vandals, Shanks. You named it, they shot at us. And this continued throughout the whole time until we reached what looked like a docking area with several of the Vandals standing guards. Immediately, Mac took the left side of the main room while I got the right. Through my earlier encounters with the fallen, I was able to acquire a new ability for when I had to hit a fallen in the face with one of my hands. Doing so would light them on fire, causing them to burn away and leaving them open to me shooting them. Which, was very handy considering the fact that most of the vandals with shock daggers were on my side of the room instead of Mac’s. That and I needed to find more ammunition for my shotgun, if we come across any. It took us a little bit to clear out the room and when we did, I personally thought that we could be able to catch a break. However, just as Winona was going to scan everything that we found to see what exactly was in it, that was when my Ghost said something. “Wait… My sensors are still picking up motion. I don’t think we’re in the clear yet.” “Where?” Mac asked, looking around for a moment as we tried to see where this one that Ghost was telling us could be hiding. “Ah don’t see anything.” “There’s no place in the ceiling they could hide and there’s no second floor either.” Winona added. But it was around then that I noticed something with the far back wall. There was a huge gaping hole in the back where some kind of banner used to be before the last time I was here with Ghost when we found our ship. Wait… could it be-? The sight of glowing red eyes and a set of hands gripping the edge of the walls soon alerted me, almost causing me to loosen the grip on my weapon because of how it startled me. And it was from this that my ghost soon noticed what I was seeing and called it out. “It’s in the walls!! Get back!” “What the-?!” Mac shouted, shocked by what we were seeing… and by how this fallen was much bigger than the other ones we’ve encountered already. “What the hell is that-!?” “T-that’s an Fallen Archon!!” Winona said in disbelief. “But what is an Archon doing here?!” “And what the hell is an Archon?” I asked, making sure that my rifle was primed and ready before Mac and I needed to defend ourselves. While we were scrambling to find cover from it’s huge weapon, Ghost told us that a Fallen Archon is seen as a very important figure in a fallen house. But he had to quickly summarize it to us given that the Archon was opening fire on both of us and that weapon could easily tear through our armor if it weren’t careful. “Archon’s are fallen priests that are seen as a Kell’s most trusted adversary. They are stronger than a fallen captain and also are sometimes seen as the link between a houses servitor, which is their machine god, and the Kell.” Yet, even though that was informative, the only thing that Ghost did not really explain was how exactly we were supposed to fight back. Plus, it was the one thing we needed to know in order to get out of here alive. Though… something about this Archon seemed different than the captain that I faced before. But, the only way I can actually test it was by conjuring a grenade and throwing it directly at the Archon. Something that made Mac think I was doing something crazy. “Sunset, what are ya-?!” “Hang on a minute!” I told him, waiting to see what would happen as my grenade exploded. Unlike with the captain from last time, where there was some kind of shield protecting it, this one did not have anything like that. “Mac, this thing doesn’t have a shield. We can still hurt it!” That… seemed to renew his determination as he looked back at the Archon and began to open fire. Even going as far as throwing out one of his own grenades to hurt the Archon as more of the fallen flooded the room to aide our opponent. Part of me focused my fire on the Archon since it was the one rallying the other fallen to attack us, but I still had shotgun ammo for when I needed to fire a round into the face of a dreg that would get rather too close for comfort. For Big Mac though… around this time was when I saw him switch to his secondary weapon. It looked… different from any of the others I had previously seen because it wasn’t anything like a shotgun or a standard rifle. I watched as it charged up for a moment, before unleashing a devastating bolt of energy that had a fallen dreg disintegrate on contact. Something that definitely helped clear out a lot of the fallen that were flooding into the room and allowing for us to focus on the Archon that was firing at us. It took me a few more shots to take down the archon’s reinforcements, but-. Wait, what in the world is Mac doing-? Why are you charging in there? That’s suicide!! “GIVE HER BACK-!!!” However, despite Mac fully charging at the Archon and weapon was primed up and ready to fire, one loud stomp sent the titan flying through a concrete support pillar and knocking the weapon out of his hand and sliding it right to where my feet were. Just as the fallen Archon was making its way towards Mac. “Ghost, I need to help Mac!” I told him, ditching my shotgun and picking up Mac’s weapon. “How do I use one of these?” “You just hold the trigger and release it on it’s own.” He told me at first, before realizing something. “Throw a grenade right in front of it. I got an idea!” Personally, I would want to ask what particular ‘idea’ he had in mind… but I decided to just go for it. Mac needed my help and I could not wait any longer. Charging at the pair, I tossed out a Solar grenade and upon impact, the light from it began to blind the Archon. “You got an opening! Take the shot!!” Immediately, I aimed at the archon’s head and held down the trigger. Firing a blast that not only hit the fallen right in the head, but had everything else disintegrate into cinders. But I wasn’t entirely focused on that though. Instead, I ran over to try and help Mac as he was slowly getting up. “Mac, you alright?” “Sort of…” He groaned, sounding… disappointed for a moment. Why would he sound like that though-? “Ah’m sorry fer letting ya down. Ah had mah emotions get the better of me.” “It’s alright… but why did you do that anyways?” Mac was silent for a moment, before asking for his weapon back as I looked at him. “My little sister… Apple Bloom… She’s still out here on her own. Ah’ve been trying to find her, but based on what we heard from fallen communications, it sounded like they got to her before we could get her out of here,” Oh, so that’s what he meant by that… “Ah thought that they would be keeping her here along with everything else but… ah don’t see any signs of her at all.” “They must’ve moved her first before they could move the rest of their haul,” We now heard Winona speak up as she emerged from Mac’s armor before turning to the titan. “We’ll make sure to find them again… and not let them get away next time.” “Thanks Winona… ah needed that.” Mac replied to her. Shortly before the both of us noticed my ghost scanning everything in the stash the fallen left behind. “We not only found the warp drive… but the two of you just took down an archon…” Ghost told us. “That’s… not really that much of a big deal now, is it?” I asked him. “It is…” I now heard Winona. “Taking down a Fallen Archon is a major deal and one that can cripple the fallen… We need to get back to the tower. Now.” “Hold on a moment… why do we need to go back so soon?” Mac now asked. Only this time though… both our ghosts answered his question simultaneously. “We need to see the Speaker.” Author's Note More allies are introduced, both in the Tower and on the frontline. I hope you enjoy what's in store. -Frost 03- The WarmindBy the time we’ve come back to the tower, both Ghost and Winona immediately had us go directly from the plaza over to the area called Tower North. I was still trying to get my head wrapped around the names for the particular areas in the Tower, but Ghost was trying to help simplify things for me. As we made our way over, he explained that where Twilight and the rest of the Vanguard were stationed was called the ‘Hall of Guardians’, Applejack was in the Tower Hangar (which was the easiest name to remember out of all four of them if I were to be honest), the main plaza where we first arrived was called ‘Tower Watch’ and finally, where we were going was called Tower North. Which was also hope to the person that we were going to meet. The Speaker… and from what Ghost told me, he seemed to be some kind of knowledgeable scholar. Almost like Clover the Clever back in Equestria. As Mac and I entered what looked like a huge personal study with a makeshift model of our current solar system, that was when we heard him speak for the first time. “There was a time… when we were much more powerful… but that was long ago,” We heard him say as both Mac and I turned around and watched him come down the staircase that was along the wall. “Until it wakes and finds its voice, I am the one who speaks for the traveler.” “You’re… the Speaker?” Mac asked, almost in disbelief. “That I am… and I presume that both of you have numerous questions to ask me,” He replied back. “I believe both of you know of the story with the Traveler already…” I nodded at that, recalling what Twilight told me before… but I still had one question that I was unsure about. “Yeah… but I’m confused on something… The enemy of the Traveler. I believed Twilight called it ‘The Darkness’. What is that?” The Speaker sighed for a moment, before turning and proceeding to walk towards one of the spheres that was in the room. “I could tell you about the battle that the Traveler had against its ancient enemy. I can tell you of the numerous tales that have been said to frighten children… Those tales have ceased… but the children are frightened anyway.” Turning back to us… he then told us something else. “But what I can say for sure is this… The Darkness is coming back. And we will not be able to survive it this time.” “Those Fallen are just the start,” Winona then appeared and began to speak. “That Archon you two took down is just the beginning.” From body language alone, it looked like the Speaker was surprised to hear what Winona said about us taking down the Archon. Which lead to me asking the Speaker something now. “What can we do to help?” “Both of you must be able to push back the Darkness any way you can,” He told us, now walking back towards the two of us. “Many guardians like you are fighting on Earth and beyond. So join them. Your Ghost’s will guide you while you are on your journey. I only hope that they chose wisely.” Afterwards, the Speaker just turned around and walked back up the stairs, leaving us to turn around and walk back towards Tower Watch. Though, on the way, that was when Winona said something that caught my attention. “I’m sure both of us made the right decision… Hey Ghost, since our guardians work rather well together in the field, why don’t we form a fireteam?” That… had me be a bit confused since that was the first time I’ve ever heard of that term before. While Mac looked like he was a bit surprised. “Ghost, what’s a fireteam?” I asked, just as he floated around to my right hand side and in between both Mac and I. “Fireteams are small squads that can consist of two to six guardians at a time, depending on the circumstances,” He informed me. “The Vanguard keeps track of these Fireteams and sends them into the field to take on tasks that no single guardian can be able to accomplish on their own. There much different from Clans though, which are large groups of Guardians that are big enough to take on multiple activities at once.” “Ah think that setting up a fireteam might work out,” Mac spoke up. “Ah mean… both of you saw how Sunset helped me out in a pinch with the Archon, so ah think we work well as a team.” That I can agree with. We did work extremely well as a team out there and we were able to take down more fallen out there together than on our own. Though, it was while hearing this that I also heard Mac deeply sigh for a moment before looking back at me. “I think it would be a great idea… Is something wrong Mac?” “Nah, ah just remembered that ah needed to go back to the hangar to see if my ship is fixed…” The Titan told me. “And ah think mah sister’s gonna chew me out for earlier.” Tower Hangar “What the hell were you thinking?!” Applejack snapped, almost hitting her brother with a wrench that she was using to repair his ship. “Ah told you that you shouldn’t go overboard with tasks for the vanguard, but just after ya promised me that ya wouldn’t, I overhear on comms that your ship got shot down and no one could reach ya!” The shipwright right now was… well, showing multiple different emotions right now. She may be relieved to see that he was okay, but she was definitely not happy with the fact that he made her worry about him. “For all ah knew, you could’ve been a goner!” “AJ, please. Ah’m okay…” The titan assured her. “Sunset was able to find me before anything bad happened.” “And the reason why she found you was because ah was the one who told Commander Sentry to contact any Guardians out in the area to go find you,” She deeply sighed, before looking at her. “You may be a Guardian, but you’re not invincible Mac. If the Fallen get their claws on Winona, you’re toast.” “Ah know… And it’s why I’m going to be in a team for any future operations,” he told her, shortly before looking to me. “After our last encounter with the Fallen earlier and talking to the Speaker, Winona suggested that Sunset and Ah should set up a Fireteam. That was we have each others backs for if the Vanguard need us for anything else.” Shortly after he finished, that was when Applejack looked back at me… before taking a deep breath and then smiling a bit. “Well, that makes me worry about ya a little bit less… but that still doesn’t mean your out of the woods for this,” She stated. “Ah had to work overtime in order to get your ship functioning again. And that was alongside installing the warp drive that Sunset’s Ghost happened to bring back.” Ah right, I almost forgot about that. “How did that go?” “It’s a thing of beauty alright. Works like a charm,” I heard her tell me while she was using a cloth to wipe what looked like some grease off of some of the tools she was cleaning, before looking at Mac. “As for you, you’re lucky that the damage to your ship was minimal. If it was totaled, ya wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, even if you are ah guardian.” Well, that at least told us that we were ready for whatever the Vanguard needed us to do next. Only question was… what were we going to do next? “Hey AJ, you got a sec-?” Wait… I know that voice. But why does it sound… synthetic? “Rainbow, what are ya doing here?” Applejack then spoke up, immediately catching my attention. “Commander Sentry’s gonna get on your case for slacking off right now. Aren’t ya supposed to be paying attention to Vanguard Scout Operations?” “I am… and because of something we found, I was told about a pair of guardians that could help.” That had me turn around and face the person that was speaking. She clearly sounded like Rainbow Dash, but when I actually saw her… what I saw definitely threw me off guard. For one thing, Rainbow wasn’t human. She was what Twilight called an Exo. Just like the Gunsmith in the tower. Her gear was mostly light blue and navy, while it was tailored far differently than that of a Warlock and Titan. But she had the three colored lightning bolt and cloud that I remembered her for on the side of her left shoulder pad. “Oh? Is this a new guardian?” Wait… she… doesn’t remember me? How in the world does she not remember who I am-? “Sunset here is one of the newer guardians at the tower Rainbow. She’s someone that Twilight and Flash remembered from before the Golden Age. Same with me,” Applejack spoke up, to which, had Rainbow look like she seemed a bit surprised… If Exo’s were somehow able to express emotion that is. “Oh… I get it now. Still, welcome to the Vanguard then. I do hope that Flash isn’t making things too difficult for you since you just started. He and Lord Thunderlane tend to do that with the new recruits a lot,” Wait, Lord who now? “Still… Flash wanted me to be able to meet you guys because the Vanguard’s scouting operation is picking up some… unusual fallen activity right now.” “Define ‘unusual’.” Mac stated, folding his arms and looking back at the Exo. All she did though was take out a circular pad and pressed a button on it… before a holographic projection of the Cosmodrome was shown. “The Fallen have been known for smashing and grabbing everything that they could find whether it’s tied down or not,” Rainbow told us, before taking an outstretched hand and moving to a particular location on her map as she zoomed in. “However, most recently, our scouts have been sending reports of the fallen tearing into all of the machines that are in the cosmodrome… specifically by the Forgotten Shore. And from the sounds of it, they’re not just looking it for kicks.” “You mean… they’re after something?” Ghost asked, now appearing next to me. “If that’s the case, then we should find whatever they’re after first before they do.” “Heh… I’m liking you two already,” Rainbow chuckled, before moving the map for a moment as she looked at Mac and I. “Now, the only catch is that the closest place you can be dropped off without getting shot down by the Fallen is in this area over here…” That though… caused Mac to look at Rainbow with a surprised expression. “Wait… The Steppes? That’s miles from the Forgotten Shore! How are we going to get there quick enough in order to find whatever the Fallen are looking for before they do.” “That is a very good question… and it just so happens that I might have a solution for you two.” Despite Rainbow not remembering who I am… I have known how she acts long enough to know where this is going. “Applejack, how’s your handiwork when it comes to Vehicle Grids?” “Is that a redundant question?” The shipwright asked. “All Guardians ships are equipped with the necessary functions that allow their ghost to sync their ship with one to bring out their Sparrows.” Wait, Sparrows? What the heck is that supposed to be, some kind of bird? “Well, what I think we can do is have them sync up their ships to a vehicle grid in The Steppes,” Rainbow told us as she motioned her hands a bit while she was speaking. “If we get the link set up, these two can get to the Forgotten Shore in no time flat.” Well, that sounded simple enough. “And don’t worry… Riding a Sparrow is just like riding a hoverbike.” Wait… we have hoverbikes? Some time later… “Encoding superposed states… Entangling key vectors… and there we go.” It took some time for both Mac and I to reach the grid we needed to go to before we could be able to get anywhere. But luckily, since Ghost and Winona were both working on the same thing together, we were able to get this done much faster than I originally predicted. And shortly after I heard Ghost tell us about the link, Winona was the next one to speak. “Alright. Now that you two are linked with the network, you can pull up a Sparrow and get over to the Forgotten Shore in seconds.” “And we can summon one… like how we summon ya?” Big Mac then asked. “The exact same way,” Ghost replied, before both him and Winona summoned one of the ‘Sparrows’ that they were talking about. And upon looking at it, it reminded me of two things. One, for some reason, it made me think of the time I was horseback riding back on Applejack’s farm. Secondly, the handles and setup to how I get on it reminded me of a motorcycle. Especially with the grips that my hands were on. “Now come on. The Fallen aren’t going to stop themselves now.” “She’s got a point.” Thanks for the reminder, Ghost. Now… which one is the brake-? WHOOSH!!! Okay, we’re DRIVING NOW!!! “Wow, you’re a natural at this…” Oh wow… Ghost is somehow being calm about this. And this is technically my first time actually driving this thing. Though, a few seconds, the mood all changed. “Alright, we’re approaching the Shore… Hey Winona, are you getting the same thing I’m getting right now?” “Yes I am,” She replied, before elaborating a bit on what they were talking about. “The Fallen are using a series of signal amplifiers to transmit something… It could be a message to the rest of their house. Let’s hurry over and intercept it first.” “How many are there?” Big Mac then asked as he slowed down and hopped off his Sparrow… shortly before I did the same thing just mere inches from hitting a broken down ship. “There seems to be two of them within the vicinity of the shore,” Winona then replied. “Hey Ghost? How about you and Sunset tap into the one closest to you two while we check out this other one over here?” That… made sense. Beforehand, I thought the two of us were going to be ‘sticking together’, but this can allow for us to cover more ground. And, according to Ghost, if it was possible that the signal amplifiers were somehow similar in nature… then the linked signals could lead us to where the original signal was coming from. So, on that note, I left Ghost to analyze the contraption while also paying close attention to any Fallen that could be within the vicinity. Of course, since the signal amplifier was on a wrecked boat, there were some fallen in the destroyed compartments that were trying to salvage what they could. But upon turning their attention to me, that was when I shot them before they could have a chance to call for backup. A few moments after I left Ghost to scan the amplifier though, he was done… but what he found was… well, something that he did not expect. “Hunh… this is some kind of distorted signal… but it’s not Fallen.” Wait… not Fallen? That… doesn’t sound reassuring. Who knows if that signal could be from another enemy entirely. “Is it a signal from the Vanguard?” “No. This signal is something that’s not like any Fallen or Vanguard one we have encountered… Winona, are you getting the same thing over there?” Ghost asked, just as I was making my way over to where Mac was. Just in case if he needed extra help. “Yes actually… but I think we got a location to investigate now that we scanned these amplifiers. It’s coming from the Skywatch up on the hill.” Winona informed us, causing me to turn around and look up on the hill that she was talking about. And at first glance, I was… really unsure about what could possibly be going on up there. The building that was there looked like an abandoned observatory… so what would the fallen want that’s in there? Whatever the reason is though… we needed to hurry before they accomplish whatever they were trying to do. And as I was thinking that though, Mac was already one step ahead and summoning his Sparrow. Waiting on me to do the same before both of us quickly darted over to the end of the road and what looked like the remains of an old underground parking garage for the facility. When we got there, both of us noticed that the Fallen had already set up shop with several dregs, shanks and vandals inside of the Skywatch alongside a captain giving them orders to shoot at us. Of course, we were ready for when they did attack us. Proceeding to take down the dregs and the vandals first before eliminating the shanks and the captain last. The captain was the trickier one to take down given his short range dash and also the arc shield that was equipped on it. But with them out of the picture, we could finally proceed through this… ‘terrestrial complex’, according to the map. However, just as we got into the heart of the building, our ghosts began to pick up something. “Over there!” Winona first spoke up. Shortly before Ghost followed suite. “The Fallen are tapped into something at the back of the room. Get me over there so I can figure out what it is!” Without even questioning why, I summoned Ghost and let him begin to inspect this… contraption that the Fallen are somehow using that’s attached to a rather big computer console. Which, to me, looks way too complex for me to even try and figure out how it works on my own… so I guess Ghost is the best option we got right now. That and someone needed to figure out what the Fallen were doing while we tried to crack into this thing. Leaving Mac and I having to protect him while Fallen were beginning to flood into the room. But it was as we were shooting them that the two of us could overhear a conversation between him and Winona. “The Fallen are trying to access these machines but… something is fighting them back…” “Wait… Something’s fighting back?” Winona asked, sounding surprised as I shot another two Dregs in the face while Big Mac shot a Vandal down with his Fusion rifle. “What is it?” “That’s what I’m trying to find out, but it’s going to take some time.” Ghost said to her. Which, to me, means holding off the Fallen for as long as we could until he was able to get what he needed-. Wait… what the hell is that floating sphere in the back-? “Move!!” When I heard that, it was when I felt Mac push me out of the way as that same floating sphere shot out an energy blast at both of us that scorched the ground. While also… wait… is that thing somehow-? “That’s a fallen Servitor! The longer they’re here, the more that they can strengthen the fallen here!” Okay, that was definitely bad news. But… there was one thing that I was confused about. “How do you take it out?” “Aim for the eye. That’s their weak point! Be careful though,” I heard Winona instruct me. “They’ll try to move out of the way and conceal their eye! So keep track of where they are and don’t lose sight of them!” Listening to what she told me, I redirected my focus to the servitor. Aiming directly at the Servitor’s eye and beginning to open fire. Mac himself threw out one of his grenades to defeat the fallen that the Servitor was trying to power up before joining me in attacking the Servitor itself. All that while we were having to move out of the way of it’s incoming eye blasts. Eventually though, we were able to take it down. However, it was when it blew up that more of the Fallen in the room were beginning to retaliate against us. Not to mention… Ghost had a progress update for us. “Okay. I got everything that the fallen managed to steal. We should destroy it while we have the chance.” “And how are we going to do something like that?” “The Fallen tap is embedded in this computer’s power core. Destroy the core, destroy the tap.” Okay… that actually made a lot of sense if I were to tell you the truth. But before I could say anything, that was when the top part of the computer began to move up and leave the power core visible for us to shoot. Since I wanted to spare my Auto Rifle rounds for if there were more fallen to shoot at, I decided to pull out my shotgun this time and fire a few rounds from that instead. Which… seemed to do the trick. And just as I was going to turn back around and ready myself to fight more Fallen… that was when we were seeing them retreat and scurry away. “Wow… that’s the first time ah’ve seen them run off in a hurry like that…” Mac replied, before turning to my Ghost as he was floating right next to me. “So… are we good now?” “Yes we are,” Ghost nodded in confirmation. “They didn’t get much though… Kept on hitting an active firewall.” Now though was when Big Mac brought out Winona and she began to ask Ghost something. “What kind of Firewall?” “Old Earth, Russian…” Even though that response seemed simple… it still took Winona by surprise. Especially with what we heard Ghost say next. “The legends are true… a Warmind did survive the collapse.” “A war-what?” I asked, a bit puzzled by what I was hearing. “A Warmind,” Big Mac told me. “Warminds were AI that were built during the Golden Age in order to fight against the Darkness… but there was only one specific one that was on Earth.” “That’s right,” I heard Ghost respond to him. “Rasputin. He was built to defend Earth and from what I can gather, he’s trying to protect something here in the Cosmodrome.” Not before long though, that was when he turned back to me. “We have to find a way to reach him somehow.” “Hold your horses there, Ghost,” I told him in response. “We should at least report back to command first before going off anywhere on our own-” That was when we heard what sounded like a… beeping sound from my helmet as I looked back at him. Wondering what was going on. “Incoming message from the Tower…” Ghost told me, before analyzing it and telling us what it was. “It’s from the Speaker.” That had Mac and I look back at one another with a confused expression on both of our faces as we wondered what exactly was going on. “The Speaker? What does it say?” “He’s… asking us to look into something that the Fallen in the Cosmodrome are keeping a pretty tight hold on from the sounds of it. And it’s on the other side of the Skywatch,” I heard him tell us. “It could be possible that it’s one of their leaders… or something of rare value to the fallen.” Looking back at Mac, all I did was take a deep sigh and look back at him. “Well… we aren’t exactly far from it. Let’s go take a look while we’re here.” Author's Note "I got a bad feeling about this." -Ghost, Destiny This one is where I finally introduce the last of the Vanguard members... and where I'll give you a full description for all three. -Twilight Sparkle, an Awoken who is a Mentor to Warlocks and is also in charge of the Vanguard Research Division. She knows a lot about the arcane wonders that Guardians come to possess, but believes that there are still secrets in the universe to be unraveled. -Flash Sentry, a human Titan with an iron will and a strong determination to succeed. He serves as a mentor for Titans and is in charge of Vanguard Tactical Operations, including Strikes. -Rainbow-6, an Exo who’s considered as a ‘Wild Card’ amongst others in the tower. She outfits and ‘advises’ hunters in the vanguard while also monitors Vanguard Scout Operations. She’s just as daring and risky as she is a procrastinator and lazy. There was also a tease for another character that will be further explained once we reach that part of the story, but I do hope you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for reading! -Frost 04- The Dark WithinIt took us another twenty minutes to relocate and find the front entrance to the Skywatch itself while also fighting off the fallen that were protecting the outside of the building. But unlike the fallen that we had to fight in the Terrestrial Complex of the Skywatch, these ones were more spread out and not in any condense spaces. Ghost told me that the Skywatch used to serve as a place where many people would board on ships to settle on other planets before the collapse. This also included the moon as well, since he had mentioned that there was a series of array stations that served as a supposed ‘link’ to the lunar colonies. Of course, the only other problem that we had at this moment besides the fallen… was a locked door that the fallen were guarding. And not just a simple door that you open when going inside a room. I mean something to that of a garage door or a door to a storage unit. Because that was how big this thing was. “Well, shoot,” Big Mac grumbled. “This looks like a dead end… Hey, Winona? Do you think you can get it open?” “Yeah, I can get it open,” She replied back as Mac brought her out to work on the controls that operated the door. “Gotta say though… The Fallen must’ve gone through a LOT of trouble in order to keep people out of this place. And just when you think they weren’t crafty enough.” But it was then that I heard Ghost now speak up this time. “Yeah… or maybe there was something in there that they were trying to keep in. Like they didn’t want to have get out in the first place,” He told her. “They were keeping a pretty tight guard on this place after all… and if it’s something worse than the fallen… well… I don’t want to think about what could possibly be worse then that right now.” “Me neither…” I added on as I looked at Mac and made sure that my weapons were loaded properly. Shortly afterwards though was when Winona gave us a good sign and got the door open. However… what was on the other side of the door soon began to really make me shiver. The interior walls were all covered up in what looked like dried sea crustaceans and clusters of green crystals were sprouting up in places like weeds. And if that wasn’t a creepy sign to begin with… there was no power in this part of the facility and nothing to possibly restore it right now. Ghost and Winona tried to assist up by coming out and providing some light as we went up a staircase that was hidden in a darkened hallway… but the further we got up, the more that Ghost was picking up something. “What is this…?” I heard him say to himself as we carefully reached the top of the stairs and into the next room. “Guys… I’m not liking this… I’m picking up a lot of motion ahead…” Motion? As in something’s actually here in this whole entire mess? Could it be the fallen? And why would they hide in a place like this? “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Mac…” Winona then spoke up. “The motion that we are picking up right now… It’s being drawn towards us. Like moths to a flame…” And just when things weren’t creepy enough… I was beginning to hear noises. They started off small… but they began to grow once we stepped into another room. That and the motion tracker was acting like crazy… But as I looked at what looked like a steel door, that was when we saw what was here. Several different creatures that had no eyes… but were coming at us like a swarm. “The Hive!!” Immediately, I took aim at the monsters charging at us, shooting down two of them as Mac took down a couple others. However, more of them began to flood the room as it forced me to move up and seek higher ground. Whatever they were, they came at us in a frenzy… and if the ones charging at us weren’t creepy enough, there were also some of these same ‘Hive’ that had weapons and were firing at us. Forcing Mac and I to have to try and find cover while also killing whatever tries to get it’s claws on us. “W-what the hell are those things?!” I asked, trying to wrap my mind around what’s going on. “That’s the Hive… But they haven’t been here in Centuries… Ever since the Collapse,” Ghost told me, looking back at Winona. “We need to keep moving. Staying here’s going to make us more of a target for them if we’re here too long.” “I agree,” I heard Winona say to us. “There needs to be someone or something leading this group here. If we don’t deal with this now, the City’s going to be in big trouble.” “Agreed,” Mac nodded, preparing his Fusion Rifle. “Let’s push through and find-” Before he could finish though, we had to take down a flurry of incoming Hive as the two of us fought farther into the Lunar Complex. But when we got to one particular point… That’s when we found a big problem. One Hive that was floating around in the air and ordering the others to come after us as it fired off energy volleys at us. “It’s a Wizard! You need to kill it, now!!” “Wha-? Why!?” I asked, just as that same floating Hive swung her arm forward and put a dark cloud in front of us. Immediately, things were beginning to sting all around me and I was finding it hard to breath. “That cloud is toxic and can kill you if you stay in it too long! Move!!” Ghost told me, prompting me to run to another ledge and beginning to open fire. But my shots weren’t doing anything to help me here. That was… until Mac got an idea as he and I hid behind cover as the Wizard continued to blast at us with energy bolts. “Sunset… ah got an idea, but ah need you to bear with me on this one,” He said, before looking to Winona. “Winona, do you still have that Gozen-C in my inventory?” “Yeah, why?” “Give it to Sunset,” He told her… which, made the ghost surprised at first, but she soon nodded her head and began to reconstruct what looked like a sniper rifle in my hands while I felt Ghost put my shotgun away. “Ah’m going to try and get the Wizards attention since it’s got a shield around it. Once that shield’s down, aim for it’s head and fire. It works on the fallen and ah think it can also work on the Hive as well.” “So wait…” I then spoke up, realizing what he meant. “You’re… going to use yourself as bait to get it’s attention?” “And when it doesn’t have any shield to protect itself, you are clear to open fire.” Mac then explained again. “It’s the only way this is going to work because it’s likely that when it’s shield depletes, it will try to run off. Just like what a Fallen Captain would do.” He had a valid point there, that I can agree with. But… I thought I would get a second opinion. “Ghost, what do you think of Mac’s plan?” “It’s worth a shot in the least,” He replied back to us. “We don’t exactly have a lot of options though because if we wait around too long, more of the hive are going to come swarming in any second.” Well, if that was something, then I guess we’re doing it. It was when I nodded my head to Mac that he took that as a cue to start running. Leaping out of his cover and beginning to circle around the Wizard while firing at it. As for me, I has to crouch myself down over to a crate in one corner of the room and get myself ready. Unlike the shotgun, I needed to aim down the sights with this weapon so that way I actually get an accurate shot off while also making sure that I had none of those other Hive Monsters trying to interrupt my focus. However… the one thing I didn’t think on was how much time it would take for Mac to put his plan into motion. Come on… I already got my sights on the target, how much longer do I need to wait for him to get that wizards shield down? Then, I heard a Fusion Rifle blast from where Mac was at right now… followed by a high pitched screech. “NOW!!” I was hesitant originally. A little unsure about if I would hit my target or I would accidentally hit Mac. But when I squeezed the trigger and let out a deep breath, the shot I fired hit the Hive Wizard directly in the head, reducing it to nothing but ashes as I let out a sigh of relief from that as I regrouped with Mac. It was only once we did meet back up that Ghost finally spoke. “If the Hive are here on Earth, than the Darkness might be a lot closer than we think… And that could be a big problem.” “Then let’s get back to the city and tell Twilight and the rest of the Vanguard,” I replied back. “This is probably not going to be the only time that we have seen them… and it’s likely that there’s someone at the Tower who knows more about the Hive than we do.” Tower “You two encountered the hive?” Rainbow-6 first spoke up upon our return to the hall of guardians as we were telling them what we encountered in the Skywatch just a few moments ago. However, Rainbow… seemed to be more confused than concerned with what we were telling them. “On Earth… Am I hearing this right?” “Yes you are, Rainbow,” I sighed a bit in response to her disbelief. “We encountered them while looking into something for the speaker at the Skywatch. Originally, we were lead to believe that it was one of the high ranking members of the fallen… but once we made our way inside, we found out that it was a lot worse than we originally imagined.” “If that is the case, then this is definitely going to be a problem for Guardians out in the Cosmodrome right now,” Twilight then spoke up from the other side of the table in the middle of the room. “The fallen are one thing, but having to handle the hive as well…” “If anything right now, we should focus less on being on offense and focus more on defense… and only have experienced guardians proceed with caution near the skywatch…” Flash then added in something to that… before turning to the warlock next to her. “Twilight, what current active missions are going on now within the vicinity of the Skywatch?” The Warlock herself was looking at a screen on a data pad and trying to piece together what to do, before realizing something. “Well… there’s only one right now but that team is unresponsive. They were running a mission for Dead Orbit, but we have not heard from them in the last few hours… Star Tracker fears that they’re dead-” Wait, Dead who now? “I’m sorry, what?” “Oh… right,” Twilight sighed, before using the table to bring up a series of holographic signs. There were five of them, but four were in a particular group. “There are a series of factions that call the Tower their home and base of Operations. The Vanguard is one of them, but there are four others that relate to the Crucible, overseen by Lord Thunderlane.” I blinked at that for a moment, before recalling something from earlier. “I heard that name before from Rainbow. Can you bring me up to speed on who he is?” “Well… let me put it to you like this…” Rainbow then began to speak, turning to face me now. “Lord Thunderlane is a Guardian like us, but he oversees the Crucible. Think of it like… guardian combat training for the Vanguard. Teams of Guardians are organized to compete against each other in a series of exercises and anytime they happen to die in the crucible, their ghost resurrects them a few seconds later.” “Experience in the Crucible can also be used very well in the field,” Flash added. “Though, in terms with the topic… Dead Orbit, whose representative is Star Tracker, is what’s seen as a Crucible Faction and there are three of them. The other two being New Monarchy, represented by Diamond Tiara, and Future War Cult, represented by the Exo named Noteworthy-2.” The Titan took a deep breath for a moment before continuing. “Though… Twilight, what exactly were the details of this mission that was being run?” “Well, according to what I have here,” She said, before scrolling through what was on the datapad with her finger. “They were running a mission and had codes to a hidden array that could be able to reconnect us with other colonies in the system… only problem was that they had to go directly through the Skywatch.” “And likely through the Hive too…” Mac added. “But wouldn’t it be possible that the Hive would keep the Fallen busy for the meantime?” “It’s possible… but it would not be best to bet on it.” Twilight replied back, before setting the datapad aside and looking at us directly. “Both of them are unpredictable and if they see you, they could stop shooting at each other and redirect their focus to you.” Even though that really did sound unlikely… Twilight’s tone on the subject told me that she wasn’t messing around. Of course, the real surprise came when we heard Winona suggest something. “Hey… Could it be possible that we can continue that mission by ourselves?” That single question surprised everyone… including Ghost. “What did you exactly have in mind, Winona?” “Think about it… If they had access to specific codes for the array, then the codes would be on that particular Guardian’s Ghost,” Mac’s ghost told us. “So, if we find their ghosts, we can be able to finish what they started. And we were able to overcome the hive the last time we were at the Skywatch.” “That may be true, but your guardians just returned from their last mission not too long ago,” Flash soon interjected as he looked at the Ghost. “Plus… before any other fights in combat, I think both of you need to gear up for any future confrontations.” It was after he told us that where he slid something across the table to us, which almost looked like the same thing I had to give Vinyl-3 when I was getting my Assault Rifle, while also looking at both Ghost and Winona. “Give the Gunsmith this so you two can be able to have access to Heavy Weapons… Also, did either of you happen to acquire any engrams while you were in the Cosmodrome?” I wasn’t sure what exactly he was talking about, but from how Ghost seemed to be nodding, I can only assume that I was soon going to find out for myself what they were in a minute. “We did happen to acquire a couple from the fallen during our last couple of missions, but we haven’t had the chance to visit the cryptarch yet.” “Then I recommend you do so,” Flash suggested to us. “For Guardians, having good weapons in a fight is only half the battle. The other half is having good armor to help protect yourself from enemy combatants.” “Oh, where have I heard this speech before…?” Seriously, Rainbow? Was that really necessary? “In any case…” The other warlock in the room spoke up as she looked towards us. “We would like for you to get yourself ready before we tackle that mission. The Cryptarch, Moondancer, should help you with those Engrams you have and Vinyl can get you your heavy weapons. When your done, come see me.” Well, that sounded simple at least. Especially since one of the people that we needed to visit was someone that I had already met before. Though, Ghost had to explain to me what exactly did Flash and Twilight mean by ‘Heavy Weapons’… and as it turns out, it was exactly along the lines of what I thought it would be. They were described as weapons that could be able to do a massive amount of damage in a short amount of time. Right now, there were only two weapons in this category, according to the Vanguard. Rocket Launchers, which would deal a massive amount of damage in a large radius, and Machine Guns, which had high rate of fire and a huge magazine capacity. The only catch with these weapons though was the fact that some of the weapons in these categories, even though they were rather fast to fire, were slow to reload. Leaving you in an uncomfortable situation if you run out of the magazine and you were in a corner with fallen coming at you from all sides. This was something that was also brought up as well when we were talking about it with the Gunsmith. In the end though, we both decided to have a different type of weapon. I chose the rocket launcher, since I already had my auto rifle on hand and didn’t need a machine gun for rapid fire at all. Mac went with the machine gun himself since his main weapons were different when it comes to rate of fire, or how fast we shoot. Lastly, we visited the Cryptarch… who had her equipment set up not so far away from where the vault was as we both went to see her. The Cryptarch, who’s name was Moondancer, was almost similar to Twilight in a sense… but with a few differences. For one thing, despite them both being Awoken, Moondancer kept her hair tied up at the top and seemed… rather surprised at first. Like she wasn’t expecting us. But, when we told her that Twilight told us that she could help us out with the engrams, she was more than happy to help us. “So how many engrams do you have for me to decrypt?” She asked. For that, I turned to Ghost and asked him the same thing. Afterwards, he brought them out for me as I handed them to her. “Well, looks like you got two coded engrams and an encrypted one… Hold on a second and I’ll be able to get out what’s in here.” “Wait…” I asked, sounding puzzled. “What do you mean by that?” “Well, Engrams are encoded physical objects that can be just about anything given the color or the rarity of the one that you happened to find,” Moondancer told me. “By bringing them to me, I can be able to decode them and turn them into equipment that you can use… just like that.” Within seconds, I watched as the multi-sided shapes that I had given her before was transformed into a new set of garments, gloves and a new shotgun that was better than the one I was originally holding onto. “Is there anything else I can help you with, Miss…” “Sunset,” I replied back to her. “And… Mac, did you have anything you needed to do?” “Just one,” he replied, bringing out what looked like a blue colored engram for her to decrypt as that turned out to be a new… I think Ghost called it a ‘Titan Mark’. Note to self, ask Twilight about that later. “And done. Thanks for the help, Ma’am.” “Always a pleasure,” She told us as we proceeded to go back to the Hall of Guardians. “Be safe out there.” Even though the Cryptarch meant that as just as a way to say farewell… I got a feeling that ‘safe’ would not exactly be the kind of word to describe our next mission. Let alone, the Cosmodrome for that matter. But at least we have a better chance of surviving out there now. Yet, as I equipping my new armor pieces, that was when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like another guardian, but a hood covered their head and she had goggles around her neck. Her appearance took on that of a hunter and she was fiddling around with a knife that was in her hands, but was glaring rather intently at me as I looked at her for a moment. Until… “Hey Sunset, you ready to go? What are you staring at?” I turned around, noticing Mac was headed towards the hangar. I was wanting to tell him about that guardian I saw, but by the time I glanced over at where I saw her, she was gone. Disappeared without a trace. Leaving me personally baffled as I turned back around to catch up with Big Mac. I had a feeling though… that I might be seeing her again real soon. And not in a good way. “Alright… we got everything we need… Let’s get going,” Ghost suggested to us. “That Array isn’t going to reconnect itself.” Author's Note Out of the fire and into the frying pan with this one. But it also gives you insight as to who else we will be seeing in future chapters. Enjoy! -Frost 05- The Last ArrayBy the time we touched down in the Cosmodrome again, Ghost was beginning to pick up the whereabouts of the ghosts that belonged to that team of guardians that we were tasked with going into the Skywatch. Even though that team was said to have gone dark, the mission was for us to try and locate the ghosts that belonged to them to find those array codes. But it also meant that we were heading back through that hive breeding ground that we uncovered the first time we were here. Something that I personally wasn’t a fan of… but there wasn’t really any way around it at this point. As we were riding on our sparrows back over there from the Mothyards, we soon began to see how quickly the hive had spread. Their forces were beginning to clash with the fallen as we had to not try and get ourselves caught up in the crossfire. Even though it was very likely that we were going to get pulled into the fighting the longer that we tried to avoid it. Especially when shots from both of them grazed our sparrows and also my armor around my right shoulder. “We’re getting close to the compound again…” I heard Ghost tell both of us as we were approaching the front of the lunar complex. “I’m picking up traces of that fireteam’s ghost on the other side of the complex… Winona, you getting any better readings?” “No, I’m seeing the same thing you are,” Winona stated as Mac and I hopped off our sparrows and had the speeding craft run over a fallen dreg that was by himself outside. “I think the only way that we are going to get a better read on those ghosts is that if we go through the complex… again. And just when I thought having to handle that place once was bad enough.” “Ah hear ya,” Mac groaned as he prepared his Burst Rifle and looked back at me. “But if we were able to handle them once, then we can do it again Winona. Just tell us when ya get a better reading on those Ghosts.” With that, I grabbed my Auto Rifle and readied it before the two of us began to venture through the complex once more. However… instead of being greeted by one particular side, we were both greeted to a turf war that was taking place inside the space that we found that wizard sometime earlier. The Fallen looked to have wanted to take whatever they could find from this place while the Hive were trying to push them out. Instinct kicked in and with it, I threw out a grenade that landed right in the middle between three dregs. Burning them with Solar light and also making them easy targets for Mac to take down with a few bursts from his pulse rifle. There were two vandals in the far back and a few of the Hive Acolytes up front, but I shot down one of the vandals with my Auto Rifle and Mac had the other disintegrate with a fusion rifle blast. As for the acolytes, I took them down using the new shotgun I was able to get from Moondancer. However… when I took down that Fallen just now with my Auto Rifle, it happened to drop something. It didn’t become clear at first… until I got a little bit closer and picked it up. “Guys… you’re not going to believe this… but one of those Fallen had a ghost.” That… had both of our ghosts look in disbelief and even startled Mac as Winona scanned it for a moment. “It’s… dead.” “Could you find out who it belonged to?” I asked, prompting my Ghost to scan it now before he turned to us. “It’s… from that fireteam…” He confirmed for us. “But this one doesn’t have the codes to the Array. It says here that it belonged to someone called ‘Sour Sweet’, a human warlock that was with two others… Hmm…” That lead to Ghost scanning it once more before looking back at us. However… that name… for some reason, it was ringing around inside my head. “Got it! I’m picking up traces of two other ghosts right now close to the exterior of the Skywatch. If we hurry, we can get to them before they end up in fallen hands.” “And like that, we can get the array codes… I’m liking the sound of this already,” Winona replied back before disappearing inside Mac’s equipment as my ghost disappeared too. They also marked where the traces of the ghosts we’re looking for are as we began to find a way out of this maze of a building, while we had to fight through more clashes between both the Fallen and the Hive. “Just a little bit more and then we’ll be out in the Skywatch.” Wait, out in the skywatch? I thought we were already there. “Hang on… what do you mean by that?” “The Skywatch is split between two buildings separated by a huge clearing,” I heard Ghost tell me as we were going through the doors that were torn open on one side of the building. “The signs of the Ghosts that we are getting are showing up in the clearing here, but I don’t know which fallen has them.” “So just fight them until one of them drops something?” I asked. “That’s the only likely thing we can do right now,” Mac then spoke up. This time though, I watched him bring out the Machine Gun that he had recently gotten from the Gunsmith. “At least it allows for us to test out the new Heavy Weapons.” That… definitely got me thinking now and it really tempted me in trying to bring out the rocket launcher I had, but I thought that if I did, it would end up damaging the Ghost’s we were trying to find. Mac though… did not entirely see a problem with that as I soon watched him race over to the largest group of Fallen he could find and begin to mow them down with Heavy Fire. However, that also happened to attract the attention of the Hive… Hunh, I guess I can try out the rocket launcher on them instead, just to be familiar with how to use it- “Found another one,” I heard Winona say again… shortly before adding something else. “Nope. No luck with that one either, even though it belonged to the second member of their fireteam… Well, at least it narrows it down a little. Let’s find that last one and keep going.” It was only a few moments after that though… and after blowing the living crap out of a swarm of hive with my rocket launcher that I saw something amiss. “Mac, behind you!!” I called out, switching to my Auto Rifle to attack a vandal and two dregs that were wanting to get the drop on Mac. The two dregs didn’t really drop anything that would be seen as important. But the last one did… causing a dead ghost to drop as I picked it up and looked back to Mac. “Hey Ghost, is this the one we’re looking for?” I asked him, holding it up so he could scan it properly. It only took him a few seconds in order to analyze it, shortly before giving the two of us some rather positive news. “This one’s got the codes we need to access the array! Let’s get to the other side of the clearing and quickly.” No need to tell us twice, because we were already darting for the other building once Ghost confirmed this was what we were looking for. The doors to the next building were already open and once we were inside, several more fallen began to descend on us from the rafters as we fought them off in an attempt to make it to the control station. According to both Ghost and Winona, it was at this control station in the Skywatch that we could be able to activate these codes and bring the array back online. As long as the Fallen haven’t sabotaged any of the technology in here. We had to shoot a few of them and take them out once we arrived and a few more after reaching the controls. But once we got there, we made sure to clear out the room so Ghost and Winona could be able to do their work. “Okay, running through the codes now…” We first heard Ghost speaking to us, followed by Winona stating their progress. “Shor-resist security lattice verified… Cryptosystem negotiating complete… It’s working!!” Both of us them heard a loud noise from outside as Mac and I ventured out to see what it was. To our surprise, we were beginning to watch the satellite array that Ghost and Winona just activated emerge from the ground and begin to activate. And seeing it, was rather… well, amazing. Because I had not seen anything that was like this before. What was not amazing though… was what came next. We heard something that sounded like a severe grinding noise as Mac and I were looking up to see what looked like a tear in the middle of the sky… before something began to emerge from it. And something… BIG. “Those are Hive Tombships cutting through! Both of you, fend them off! The array is still running through the activation sequence.” “If any of them interfere with the main controls, then that array shuts down!” Winona also told us, just as Mac and I both prepared our weapons and began to shoot at them. One thing I noticed while we were engaging the hive though was that we now could see what type of Hive enemies they were. Those that charged at us were known as Thrall, the ones who tried to shoot at us with the hives own weapons were called Acolytes, the floating ones were wizards and- Wait, since when did the Hive have swords-? “Hive Knight, incoming!!” That immediately had me look back at the hulking knight coming at us as I avoided a downward slash from the Knight’s blade, before trying to shoot it with my shotgun… however, despite firing two shells at him, it did little to harm them before they tried attacking me again. “Oh crap…” Backing up, I was forced to use a solar grenade to not just hurt it, but burn any other hive that came into contact as I raced over to Mac. “We need to kill that Knight quick! I tried shooting it with my shotgun, but I can’t make a dent in it’s armor.” “Alright, but ah don’t got a lot of heavy ammo on me right at the moment,” I heard the titan say to me. “Have you tried your rocket launcher?” I took a second to check my ammo amount… but when I looked at it, what I saw did not give me a lot of hope. “Only have two shots left. If I use both of them on that knight, then I would just be wasting my ammo and not have it when I really would need something.” “Well, mah only suggestion is that you use your primary for right now,” Mac told me as he fired a few rounds from his pulse rifle to kill a few incoming hive thralls and an acolyte as well. “Next time we’re at the tower, we need to grab some Ammo Synthesis.” Now that had me a bit confused… because I was unsure as to what exactly he was talking about. But I just thought that it would be easier for the both of us if I just add that to the ever growing list of things that I would ask Ghost about later. Right now, I needed to fight off these hive that were trying to close in on us and the best way to do that was to use my Auto Rifle. Turning them into ashes with each thrall and acolyte we shot down. Though, despite that, there were still a lot more of them as well as three wizards and two of those knights with the swords charging at us. “Mac… provide me some cover fire.” I told him, switching my Auto Rifle for my rocket launcher as I came out from behind a concrete pillar. The titan himself nodded, using his firepower to focus on the thrall that were trying to come after me so I could focus on the knights. Aiming my rocket launcher at them before firing as that single shot hit the knight directly in the face. One knight down… one more knight, three wizards and every other hive that was here attacking us to go… Wonderful. Let’s just hope that we have enough ammo for our weapons to deal with this horde because running out right now would really be problematic. Though, the more that I was fending them off and the more I kept eliminating each of the hive, some of them happened to drop what looked like colored bricks. Small white ones, medium sized green ones and big purple ones. “Ghost, what the heck are those bricks all over the ground?” It took a few seconds, but soon, Ghost had an answer for me… and what he said was something that let me breath out a sigh of relief. “Those must be ammo blocks. They normally drop from Fallen, but if the Hive are dropping them too, then that can help you two significantly since it can replenish a small amount of ammo for your weapons depending on which one you find. White is Primary, Green is Secondary and Purple is Heavy.” That had Mac and I both look at each other with a surprised look on our faces… before deciding to race out from behind cover and directly get ourselves involved in the fight. As we passed over the ammo blocks, they were transmated into our weapons and the rounds inside each block were added to our reserves. Providing more auto rifle rounds, shotgun shells, and even an extra rocket for my launcher and more firepower for Mac’s MG. Which was a big deal, because now we did not have to worry about running out of ammo while we were fighting off the hive. It even allowed for me to finish off the other Hive Knight with the extra ammunition I picked up and allowed for Mac to shoot down some of the wizards that were annoyingly floating around all over the damn place. We were finally beginning to take the fight back to them, throwing out grenades and pushing them back as we took down their forces one by one. Of course, there was one thing that surprised me when we were dealing the last of the Hive. They were unleashing a massive barrage of bolts at us, but instead of backing up, Mac urged for me in order to get behind him. Just as he threw his hands outward and encased us in a dome that was… well, it looked to have been created by Mac’s light. But… what was this? “Mac, what is this?” “You mean this?” He said, pointing at the dome as he was reloading his machine gun. “This is mah supercharged ability… or super for short. All Guardians have one and it’s charged through combat… As a Defender, mine is called ‘Ward of Dawn’. It’s an impenetrable barrier, but it only lasts for half a minute.” “By impenetrable, you mean?” “They can’t hit us while we’re in here, but we can’t hit them either… Ah say it’s a fair trade off though since it allows for us to ready our weapons again.” Mac told me… and leaving me with one other question. “Do I have something like that too?” “Ah think so, but it varies depending on what kind of guardian you are,” The titan told me as his heavy weapon was finally ready. “Now let’s worry less about that and focus more about taking down the last of these pests.” I couldn’t agree more on that notion as I readied by rocket launcher and also reloaded my auto rifle. As the Ward faded, we began to open fire on the last of the hive that were attacking us. Some trying to hide from behind old crates that the fallen once had here. But it did not suite so well for cover since we were able to either throw a grenade over it or just go around it. Eventually… we took them all down while only maintaining a bit of damage to our armor. But when we heard Ghost and Winona speak to us, it wasn’t to congratulate us at all… but more to show us something that happened after we fended off all of the Hive. “Guys… you are not going to believe what just happened.” “Um… we got an array online and we linked it to… other colonies?” I asked, vaguely trying my best to recall the details of the array itself. “That was what we were trying to do, yes…” Winona replied back. “But guess what… at the last moment, Rasputin took control of it. He’s not letting us in… but from what we can tell, he’s connecting to defense constructs all across the system. Meaning we might have a chance to stand against the darkness now.” “Well, I think Commander Sentry’s going to like the sound of that…” Mac stated as he looked back at me. “Let’s go back and tell them the good news.” Hall of Guardians When we finally got back to the tower, the two of us immediately walked down to where Flash and Twilight were at in order to report in on our progress. However, this time around, that’s when the two of us saw a completely new and different face. One that had a helmet with a broken horn and what looked like a fur mantle on the shoulders. However, unlike with Zavala, we could not exactly see this ones face. “Commander… I’m sorry, but did we come at the wrong time?” I asked, unsure whether or not we were intruding upon a conversation that was already taking progress. “No actually…” I heard Flash tell us in response. “I was telling Lord Thunderlane about your mission to get the array back online… were you successful?” “Well… we did get the array online,” Mac then spoke up before looking at them. “But according to what Winona told us, Rasputin has control over it now.” “Rasputin… and just when I thought all the warminds were destroyed during the collapse,” We now heard Lord Thunderlane speak. “But for the likes of you to stand against the malicious forces of the hive and prevail no less? That definitely shows that you two have talent.” That… made me a little confused. “Um… My apologies, Lord-” “Just call me Thunderlane. No need to be polite.” He insisted, before allowing me to continue speaking. “Sorry…” I said once again, before clearing my throat and beginning to speak. “I’m just confused about what you mean exactly about ‘you two have talent’.” “Well, you don’t fear vanguard operations. So, that same kind of skill can be demonstrated within the Crucible!” We heard him boast. “Tell me, what is your name Warlock?” “My name? It’s Sunset… Sunset Shimmer.” Of course, once I said that though, that was when I heard Thunderlane let out a deep sigh for a moment… Oh this is not going to end well, is it? “I see… One of the competitors in the crucible has been talking about someone like you…” That… had me confused, before looking back at him and asking a question. “Me? What do you mean?” That though, was when we began to hear someone new enter the room as they spoke up rather loudly. And when I turned around, that’s when I saw who it was. It was the same hunter from before… “Oh, I think you know pretty damn well what I’ve been saying… fake.” “Excuse you-?” “One of my friends was on the original mission that they were running for dead orbit, the same one that you happened to pick up on and then claim all the glory from it at the end,” She snarled at me, holding the same knife in her hands. “My friends and I have been guardians for two years… Two years and their light was extinguished by the hive. Do you think that this is some kind of joke to you?” “N-no! What are you even-?” “If you think that you can be seen as a guardian in my eyes after all of this, then you are wrong… You have no strength… you’re just lucky to be in the right place at the right time and you don’t care about the sacrifices other guardians made.” The huntress snapped at me, before she removed her hood. Her azure hair smoothed backwards as she glared directly at me now. I could only say one thing to her then though… whoever this person was. “You’re wrong… I can fight. It has gotten me this far and I am still alive because of it… I did not do anything to invoke such accusations from you… but if you will provide me the chance to prove it to you, then I surely will.” Yet… all that did was cause a rather menacing grin to form on the hunter’s face as she looked directly back at me. Bolts of electricity surging around her right hand and also around the blade she was carrying. “Hmph… Very well then. My name is Indigo Zapp… and I challenge you to prove yourself and your so called strength in the Crucible!!” Author's Note And with that, this chapter ends... and now, we introduce who that mysterious hunter is. Indigo Zapp. Unlike that of Sunset Shimmer and Big Mac, Indigo Zapp is a hunter of the BladeDancer subclass and before the incident with the Last Array, she was friends with another guardian named Sour Sweet. However, when Sour Sweet was killed as part of the fireteam that was originally going for the Array, she see's Mac and Sunset's accomplishments as not a sign of strength and triumph, but more of sheer luck. So, believing that she would not last in a fight against other Guardians that have proven their strength time and time again, Indigo challenges Sunset to a match in the Crucible to prove herself. Game Mode: Rumble Map: ??? "The enemy is everywhere... Prove your merit through pure combat. Kill everything, but watch your back." I hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to what else I have in store coming soon. -Frost 06- RumbleOkay… Back when I was alive, when some random person shouts at you and challenges you to a fight in public, there could only be two possible implications as to what was about to happen. One, you either pissed them off to a certain degree and they actually want to fight you… or two, it just ends up turning into a duel like the shows that were on tv about how disputes were solved through a children’s card game. Of course, that might have been a long time ago, but what was going on right now really made me recall those old memories. And not in a good way. Because Indigo right now… was asking me to fight her. Not here though… In the Crucible. Something that I didn’t even know about until a short while ago. Even still, the hunter really looked eager to fight me. However, the real implications began when Lord Thunderlane went on about how fighting in the Crucible builds character, and multiple battles would strengthen my resolve overall… but I was more focused on Indigo in that moment. “You want me to fight you? Surely, there’s more of a reason to it than just that.” “Well, I want to prove that you are nothing but a fake… because someone like you cannot seriously last in a full on battle in the crucible,” Indigo grinned. Putting her knife away as I noticed that she had a revolver on her left hip. “Unless of course… you aren’t up for the challenge?” “I never said that I was going to say no…” I told her, before folding my arms and asking her a question. “Well then… Let’s make things even more interesting,” Indigo told me. “You, me, four other guardians… Rumble. It will be an all out free for all where the goal is to see who comes out on top. I bet you that you will not last in that kind of contest. Because if you lose… well, I’ll make you look like the most pathetic guardian on the Vanguard roster.” I waited for a pause… before issuing my reply. “And what happens when you lose?” “Pfft… Like I’ll ever lose to a faker like you-.” “Ladies, ladies,” We both now heard Lord Thunderlane interject, preventing Indigo from trying to get directly in my face. “I know you two are eager to go at each other's throats, but save that energy for the Crucible. Take some time to prepare yourselves while I round up a few more guardians that will serve as your opponents. Once we have everyone, I will inform you when the match will begin.” Yet, all that did was have Indigo smirk at me with a devilish grin before walking off, leaving me with Mac, Twilight, Flash and Lord Thunderlane. Everything was silent for a few moments as I was still trying to process things. Only for that silence to be broken by Winona. “Well… that happened.” Mac, in response to his ghost, just groaned for a moment, before looking to me. “Sunset, are you sure that this is a good idea… I know that your strong, but-” “But what?” I asked, folding my arms as I looked back at him. “I’m not going to stand idly by and have Indigo try to undermine what I’m doing for the Vanguard, Mac.” “Ah get that, but the Crucible has a very different set of rules…” He then told her. “For one thing, if she wants you to compete in what I think she wants you too, then no one can be able to help ya out.” Hold up… what does he mean by that? I thought that the Crucible was something of a team based thing. “Maybe I should help clarify things since I will be overseeing the match later,” I now heard Lord Thunderlane interject, looking directly towards me in the process. “Indigo wants to face you in the Crucible during a free-for-all battle exercise called ‘Rumble’. It’s a free for all duel where the goal is to gain points by taking down as many opponents as possible, but also watch your back for those who want to take you down as well because any other guardian you encounter in a Rumble is your enemy.” “So wait… how exactly are you supposed to win then if everyone is gunning for you?” I asked, a bit puzzled. “Simple. Survive as much as you can and defeat other guardians. Each time you defeat one, you gain points and different ways of taking down guardians grants you more points,” The crucible handler clarified to me. “Whoever has the most points at the end of a ten minute match will be declared as the winner… yet, I’d advise you be careful when facing her… Bladedancers are really hard to defeat in the Crucible. Especially with the proper equipment.” Shortly afterwards, Lord Thunderlane excused himself so that he could be able to make the proper preparations while I noticed Mac talking with Flash Sentry at the other end of the hall, leaving me to talk with Twilight. I did want to make sure I got the chance to talk to her. After all, Mac did mention something on our last mission that I think would be essentially important for this. “Hey Twilight, can I ask you about something real quickly?” “If it’s about advice regarding the Crucible, then I can’t help you,” Twilight immediately told me straight out the gate. “Thunderlane doesn’t want Flash, Rainbow or I to be trying to give you any sort of help or items that would cause the match to be unfair to other guardians-” “Sure… but that was not what I was wanting to ask you,” I sighed, before placing my left arm on my hip and extending my right hand. Letting some of my light take form into a small flame before looking back at her. “On my last mission, Mac pulled off something that he called a ‘Super’ ability… and it was something that he said varies by class… Could it be possible for you to teach me how to use that?” “Oh that? That… might actually be simple,” She replied back, her tone changing now. “Sunsingers like yourself have the super ability called ‘Radiance’, which can serve a few purposes depending on how you use it and when you do… Do you remember all the way back to the friendship games? When you had to face… well…” Oh right… Midnight Sparkle… God, it’s been so long that I almost forgot about that. Though, I’m a little confused as to how that ties into this conversation right now. “Yeah, I still remember that… though, how does-” “Well, how you used your magic back then to face me is kind of similar to how a Sunsinger uses their Radiance,” She explained, before grabbing a datapad and pulling up what looked like a video of a Sunsinger fighting some fallen. But at one moment in the battle, the Sunsinger released a massive amount of its power as what looked like small wings of fire were seen behind it. “When a Sunsinger goes into this state, their grenades and other abilities are powered up and the cooldown time in order to use them is reduced. And there are more things that a super can do than just their super with the right training.” “Oh really? How so?” I asked for inquiry as Twilight changed what was on the data pad again. “For a guardian, there are four standard abilities that are seen in each subclass whether you are a Warlock, Titan or Hunter,” She explained, holding up four fingers and counting them off for me. “First, there’s your grenades. Second, there’s your movement skill, whether it’s gliding in the air for a warlock, lifting yourself up in place like a titan or just jumping more than once as a hunter. Third is your super… and the forth one is your melee. When someone gets too close for comfort and you don’t have time to use your grenades.” That was followed by Twilight projecting a demonstration on the screen. Three warlocks were shown and each one of them threw out what looked like a similar kind of grenade. Yet, each one of them did something different upon detonation. The first one created a small vortex upon detonation, the second one split off and scattered into smaller grenades that explode on contact, and the third one split into a pair of seeking bolts that blew up an opponent once they made contact. Of course, it was after seeing this did Twilight begin to explain what I was seeing. “But for each of those four abilities, there are three modifiers to them that you unlock through experience and by participating in more battles, whether it’s vanguard operations or through the Crucible.” That… was a bit confusing to understand at first, but I think I was able to understand everything. “So I… have all four of those abilities, but only the first modifier for them?” “Well, yes, but it’s more than just active abilities that a guardian has. Though, you probably only need to understand those four basic abilities for right now,” The warlock explained to me. “We can discuss about the others after your match.” Okay, so when I originally heard Lord Thunderlane excuse himself earlier to make preparations, I thought that the wait time would end up being a lot longer that what I thought it turned out to be. What I believed was to be a twenty minute wait… turned into a five minute one. And when I was informed about it, he even went as far as to make sure to choose an arena that was on Earth and not somewhere that was off world. Of course, it was as things were about ready for us to compete that I received a message on my Ghost from the crucible handler as he began to explain more about the rules of the exercise that was going on in the Crucible… as well as tell us where we were going. The rumble match I was going to participate in was in a section of the Cosmodrome called ‘The Rusted Lands’. Which looked like it had been once previously been inhabited by both the fallen and the hive. Not to mention that it also contained a short list of those who would be participating in the match. I couldn’t catch all the names, but to summarize, one was an awoken warlock who I previously bumped into at the tower on accident, another one was a titan who’s first name was ‘Copper’, there was a Hunter who was known as Emerald Edge and lastly, another titan that was known as Noble Arms. So in total, there were two Warlocks, Two hunters, and Two titans that were all taking part in this match. And five more things to watch out for to the point that I might drive myself insane with being overly cautious. Fantastic. “Arriving at the Rusted Lands…” Ghost told me, just as I was landing around what looked like the edge of the battlefield. “I’ll let Thunderlane take over from here.” “Wait, I thought he watches over the battles…” “He also commentates. Just… don’t worry about it.” That… is going to be tricky. Because concentration does not normally involve someone shouting in your ear through the course of ten minutes. “Okay… anything else I should know? Like how do they keep track of score?” I asked him. “Just pay attention to the bottom right corner of your helmet-” Ghost told me, just before his voice was blocked out by the sound of the crucible handler speaking up. “Rumble.” Was the first thing I heard, before I noticed the timer on the bottom right of my vision begin to tick down. “The enemy is everywhere… Leave none standing!” And like that, I was off to the races, making sure I was careful of my surroundings and checking my radar. My current loadout consisted of the Auto Rifle I was using, my shotgun for in case anyone got too close to me and my rocket launcher. Though, right now I was just holding onto my primary weapon and making sure that I wasn’t going to end up getting flanked by someone hiding in a corner. However, just a few seconds into the match, my bottom left corner pointed out that Indigo herself had already taken down one of the other guardians and was now leading. “They’ve taken the lead. You can turn this tide!” My mind was now focused on trying to get more of the points needed to catch up. Luckily, to my right, I could see two other guardians fighting each other. The titan named Copper and the Hunter, Emerald Edge. I wanted to try and find a way to take down both of them, but the Hunter already took down the titan by throwing what looked like a set of bouncing grenades. Causing me to back up so that I don’t get hit before opening fire to take her down. Indigo though… was still in the lead. And the more that I tried to find opponents to take down and gain points, the more that she was defeating other guardians and getting a higher lead. It was almost like that for the first minute or so of the match, where she had taken the lead and I was in second place. Though, as I was beginning to learn early on in the match… Scoring points is one thing, but how you defeat an opponent can add extra points to your score. It was possibly the reason why Indigo had jumped high enough on the scoreboard right-. FWOOSH!! Oh crap, something’s behind me! “There you are!!” Oh no… not now. As I turned around, I had seconds to react as Indigo tried to stab me with one of her knives. Barely missing me as I tried hitting her with a palm of solar energy to create some distance before opening fire. Yet, just as two of my shots hit her… she threw a grenade that bounced off the surface and sent lightning everywhere. Causing me to duck for cover. Of course, being reckless as she was, Indigo went charging after me. And it was just as I turned the corner that I switched to my shotgun. So, when she turned the corner, it was right in close range of my weapon and all I had to do was pull the trigger. “Son of a-!” BANG!! Upon shooting her and taking her down, my score got boosted up to where it was only a few points short of where Indigo was too. But it was also that I noticed something… after getting the points for taking her down, it also mentioned that I was on some kind of… streak? I remembered taking down another guardian earlier… so are they keeping track of my kill count-? Oww! Who just-? Nevermind that, I need to run. Now! This is the worst time to forget that there were four other Guardians trying to go after me right now-. BANG! Guardian Down… Respawning in 3… 2… 1… Only a few seconds after getting shot down, I felt myself land right back on my feet again. Back into the hectic fray that was the match as I found myself coming across another small firefight breaking out between another pair of guardians. Peeking through a hole in a brick wall to take aim at the warlock that just took down a titan. I fired a few rounds before he tried to fight back, leading me to jump out from behind cover and throw a grenade. One that had just recently been recharged as they exploded in a plume of flames. After that short clash though, my radar began to flare red of someone behind me and closing in fast. I turned around, just as a shot from a hand cannon grazed my helmet and looked directly at the second hunter that was in this fight Emerald Edge. I looked back at her, waiting for a chance to fire… and that happened when she found herself having to reload at the worst possible time. Providing me the chance to take her down. “Double Down. Gained the lead!” Wait, what? I’m leading now? How… Oh wait, now I see it. I’m two kills ahead of Indigo and… you know what, I’m going to focus less on the details and more on the match right now. Besides, we’re two minutes in and right now, we’re all going at each other's throats in order to see who will win. I need to not think about the small details and focus more on the battle right now. Especially since I could see on the scorecard that Indigo was trying to make a comeback. Running through the empty ruins and into a tunnel, I found an ammo box that was able to replenish some of the ammo I already used. Shortly before that Copper Titan tried to blast me with a fusion rifle around the same time I used my Auto Rifle to shoot him directly in the head. Taking him down before even getting a second shot off. But… despite this… “Lost the lead.” I looked back at the score tracker on the right hand side, seeing that Indigo had jumped back up and was ahead of me by one kill. But then, as it was now three minutes into the match, I heard something else. “Heavy Ammo Inbound.” With that, I now noticed a purple marker on my scanner and began to head towards it. There was also a timer on that marker as well, showing that something was coming to that location within ten seconds. And right away, I could tell that some of the other guardians were fighting over what was there. Hmm… this is something I can use to my advantage. Of course, everyone else was really overdoing themselves. The warlock from before unleashed some kind of huge void blast that took down one of the titans, but then Indigo charged into the fray. Lighting churning around her as she was slashing some other guardians to pieces… before turning her attention to me. “Payback time!!” Of course, around that time was when I got a notification on my visor. One that said ‘Supercharge ready’. In an instant, I activated it as my whole body became wrapped around a set of warm cleansing fire as I backed up from Indigo and threw one of my grenades. Something she did not see in her rush to get to me as her blade struck the grenade. Causing it to detonate and throw her into a wall. “Heavy Ammo available.” The crate for the heavy ammo soon arrived and thankfully, I was able to acquire it before any other guardians happened to show up. My ammo count for my Rocket Launcher was now at two shots, one in the magazine and one in reserve. But I decided to not use the ammunition immediately and instead wait for the right moment to use it effectively. One perfect opportunity came close to the six minute mark. Where there were three guardians in the same area as I was jumping off of a ledge from a building and floating over them. Bringing out my rocket launcher, I fired off a shot that took down two of the guardians in the vicinity and then ignited the third one into flames with my Scorch attack. “Yes! Three down! Gained the Lead!” Geez… and I thought that handlers of something like this were not supposed to pick favorites. Either that or he’s just really passionate. Still, we were nowhere close to being done and there was still time for Indigo to try and take my spot again. Meaning that this time, I had to do everything that I could to stay in the lead. Aiming my shots carefully and having to make sure that I don’t accidentally use up any of my abilities without having them hit anyone (Like throwing a grenade around a corner, only for no one to be there). Of course, one of the thing that did not make this easy was that both of the Hunters, Indigo and Emerald, were the ones using Sniper Rifles in their secondary slot. And Emerald was the one that shot me down the last time before I respawned. So now, I was being extra careful of those who can easily snipe me while hiding behind cover while fighting off those who attempted to get me at close range. “Five minutes remaining…” Alright. Halfway through… now to survive through the remaining amount of time left- BANG! Aw crap, not this again! Why is it when I am getting a chance to catch of breath that a sniper tries to pin me down. Thankfully, my shield took most of the hit, but if I take another one of those shots again, then we’re going to have problems. Yet… from my position, I was able to look at the cracked reflection on a window and see who was the sniper. And just as I thought, it was Indigo. She must’ve gotten up to a higher perch in order to have a clear line of sight over the field. But she must be looking for all other potential targets as well if she was wanting to get her score up. And just as it so happens… I still had one more rocket left. As for Indigo, her attention was turned less towards me and towards another guardian on a different point of the map. Allowing for me to get a clear shot at her before she realizes what I am doing. Now… if only I can just aim this correctly and- FWOOSH! BOOM!! “Fantastic work!” Was what I heard Thunderlane declare out loud as the rocket made impact with the hunter and sent her falling off of the pillar she was camping out at. Even though it felt good to not have her try to pick me off, the downside was that I did not have any rockets left. That and I still needed to make sure that no one else- SHANK! Guardian Down… Respawning in 3… 2… 1… Okay, who the hell just decides to throw a knife into the back of my head?! I mean… seriously?! Nevermind that… Come on, I need to refocus. Upon respawning again, I found a special ammo box and cracked it open. Restocking on my ammo again and making sure both of my weapons had enough ammo in each one. Because I had a feeling that the less time there was in the match, the fiercer that the battles were going to be. We only had like… closer to three minutes left I think. And another Heavy Ammo crate was on the way. Only question now though… was where can I find it? The marker for it was not showing up for it like the last one. Only leading me to think that I was nowhere near where the drop point would be for it. My mind was beginning to race. Especially since the thought of Indigo getting her hands on it was not something that I wanted to think of right now. And unfortunately… I was not able to get it this time. Instead, the Titan named Noble Arms got it for his machine gun and was beginning to tear through the other guardians like paper. Until a rocket came flying towards him and blew him up, leading me to turn around and had me look back at the one thing that I did not want to see. Indigo… with a rocket launcher aimed directly at me. And she just squeezed the trigger. “Got you now!” “Crap-!” I cursed, getting caught in the blast from the rocket launcher and being thrown back a few feet. Honestly, I was surprised that a rocket blast like that did not kill me. Though, I should probably be a bit more focused on Indigo- BANG! Without warning, Indigo was blindsided. Attacked by the other Warlock that was in this fight as my super was fully charged again. Using the scuffle between both of them to my advantage, I activated Radiance again and threw a grenade in between the two of them. Catching both of them in the explosion as the warlock fell down and was caught in my grenade. As for Indigo, I smacked her straight in the face with my Scorch ability and had her disintegrate. It was a close call, but I was glad for the timing there. “One minute remaining…” Alright. We’re in the endgame now. And I’m still in the lead… No time to slack off though. I’m just only ahead by a few points and Indigo could try to catch up at any moment. Watching my radar, I continued to move around and find a way to further increase my score, but also try to remain out of sight so I don’t get picked off by anyone else, whether it’s by a guardian with a scout rifle or one with a sniper rifle. Which seemed like a good plan in theory. "Thirty seconds!" That was, until I began to hear electricity crackle and watch as Indigo herself was going on a rampage while her Super was active. Making short work of both titans and the other Warlock… before turning her gaze to me. “I… will not… LOSE TO YOU!!!” “Ten seconds!!” Immediately, I jumped over to my left to dodge an incoming attack while trying to back up. Getting my shotgun out as I tried to blast her at close range. However, she was too quick and dodged my attacks with ease, getting to the point where her blade was just mere inches to my neck. But then… I heard something else as the time for the match ran out. “Hard fought victory, guardian. You deserve it.” Tower (Shortly afterwards…) “That… was amazing, Sunset!” I heard Twilight tell me as I came back to the Hall of Guardians shortly after my Crucible Match was over. Twilight, Flash and Mac were the only ones there waiting for me to return, but it was the voidwalker who took the chance to speak up and congratulate me on my success. “Are you sure that was supposed to be your first match? Because you looked like a veteran of the Crucible out there.” “I’m sure that was my first time, Twilight… and I felt like I was going crazy given how everyone else in that match was also trying to kill me.” I sighed. “That and when I was taken down… twice.” “Yeah, that did come from out of nowhere,” Twilight told me. “The first time around, the titan called Noble Arms used a scout rifle to take you down then. While the second time was when the Hunter named Emerald Edge threw a knife at you.” “They can actually do that?” I asked, a little puzzled by what she said. “If they are a Gunslinger, they can. If you’re a bladedancer like Indigo, you keep your blade next to you at all times because it’s part of your survival kit,” Ghost said, while turning to look towards the entrance to the hall, causing me to turn around too. “Speaking of which…” Right… the wager. I almost forgot about that. Because personally, I would’ve thought that Indigo would go out of her way to try and undermine my win. Especially since she specifically told me earlier that she wouldn’t lose to someone like me. But as I watched her enter the room, the hunter looked to have a rather… defiant look on her face. Something that makes it look like she thought of this as just a minor setback. In fact, she didn’t look to really be affected by what happened, even though losing seemed to be a bit of a big dent on her pride. But yet, there was still one thing that seemed to be on her mind as she let out a deep breath. “Well… I almost had you at the end… but a loss is a loss…” She groaned, holding her head down. Almost as if she was too embarrassed by her defeat. “Do what you want…” “Uh… excuse me?” I asked her, now confused by what she was telling me. “If this is part of the whole ‘prediction’ that you were making earlier… then you never exactly told me what would happen if you lost.” That… had Indigo a bit surprised, before facepalming herself. “It was supposed to go both ways… meaning that if I lost, you would do whatever you want to humiliate me.” All I could do was laugh for a moment before looking back at her. “Humiliate you? Why would I do something like that? Besides, isn’t me surviving in the Crucible enough proof that I can be seen as an actual guardian by you?” The bladedancer herself was silent as I looked back at her. The next thing that I said though… caught everyone’s attention. Including Mac, who was just entering the room after talking with Flash. “If anything… I would like for you to join our fireteam instead of embarrass you.” “What-?” “Sunset, are you serious?” Mac now spoke up, a little surprised by that. “Why not? I think from seeing her fight, those skills will prove rather useful in the field, especially with how unpredictable she can be,” I assured him, before looking back to Indigo. “So… what do you say?” It took Indigo a little bit in order to think it over, shortly before giving a response. “Eh… okay I guess. I mean, I like the Crucible… but with all the matches that I have been participating in, it’s been getting kind of repetitive.” “Repetitive!!?!” We all heard Thunderlane shout from the area closest to the hall of guardians as Twilight looked back at all of us. “That… probably isn’t quite the best choice of words to say around him…” The warlock told us. “Though, with the three of you being a full fireteam now, we need to give you a name. That way your team can be able to be deployed on Strike Missions.” “Strike missions?” I asked, shortly before Ghost soon appeared next to me. “They are assignments that are normally assigned to full fireteams and take on the most strongest of tasks that the city needs to do. For example, raiding a Fallen stronghold.” “Exactly. So, what would like to name it Sunset?” She asked, before looking to me. And then… only one possible name emerged in my head. “Harmony… We’ll be Fireteam Harmony.” It took Twilight a few minutes to move her finger on the datapad she was using, before she looked back at me after pressing a few buttons. Just as I noticed Flash enter the room. “Congratulations. Fireteam Harmony is on the roster now-” “And at the right possible time,” We all heard Flash speak up, before looking towards us. “I just got an unsettling report from some of Rainbow’s scouts about Fallen activity in the Cosmodrome. They’ve located the lair of the House of Devils, which is in the ruins of an old colony ship as well as the High Servitor that they call their god. What’s more unsettling though… is that they found the place because the fallen were transporting civilians that they have kidnapped from the city.” “Why would they kidnap civilians? That doesn’t sound like the fallen-” Indigo asked, before realizing something. “No… you don’t mean…” All Flash did was nod in that instance, causing me to look at our new fireteam member with a puzzled look on my face. “What? What’s wrong?” Indigo then turned back towards both Mac and I now as she continued to speak. “If they kidnapped civilians, that means that those fallen are going to try and sacrifice them to their machine god. Meaning… that if we are going to do this, then we need to hurry and stop them before any of those civilians become potential victims.” “Indigo’s right… and that’s why I think you three are the best for this,” Flash told us as he looked back at us. “Fireteam Harmony, your mission is simple… Infiltrate the Devil’s lair, find this machine god and send it screaming back to hell. Now get out there!” Author's Note "They can't win if they're dead!! Hahaha!" -Lord Shaxx, Destiny 2 The match is over... and Sunset is barely able to come out on top. But her strength in the crucible has now proved to others that she is a guardian... and with it, she now has a full fireteam. But the real question now... is if her team can be able to take on their first strike... with the stakes of this operation being severely high? And can they survive... The Devil's Lair? Thanks for the support so far. Two of these guardians in this are based off of some of the readers of this story, while Emerald Edge is based on the protagonist of the story known as Age of Kings. Noble Arms is a guardian I came up with based off an archtype of cards in Yu-Gi-Oh that work alongside Noble Knights (That are based on the knights of the round table) Hope you enjoyed this chapter so far and keep up the support! -Frost 07- Strike: The Devil's LairBy the time that we were briefed on the situation going on and the strike mission that Flash was having us undertake, we were already setting foot in the area outside of a place known as the Refinery. From what Ghost briefly told me, this used to be an old Cosmodrome mining facility that was now occupied by the Fallen. But upon touching down, the three of us could immediately tell that the Fallen were currently in a territorial turf war with the Hive that stretched out all the way to where the supposed entrance to the Devil’s Lair was. Meaning that our first task was to navigate and fight our way through this crossfire of a mess before we can be able to set one foot inside. Which, sounds easy at first… but when you are trying to go through a battlefield where both sides in a fight hate you more that hate each other? Well, it leads to them wanting to focus specifically on you first and hold off on killing each other right away. And that was something we were coming across right now. Indigo herself, was personally enjoying fighting through both the Fallen and the Hive. Wasting no time in trying to take them down. Aiming her hand cannon directly at anything that moved before firing a few shots and when she needed to reload, she switched to a sniper rifle instead. Waiting til things have settled down first before she took the chance to reload. Mac and I personally stuck with the weapon loadouts that we have been using for a while now in order to fight them as we continued to proceed and watch each other’s backs. Eventually though… we made it inside and up the stairwell as we found ourselves in some tight corridors with some more Fallen trying to hide behind broken crates and concrete pillars. Nothing that a grenade couldn’t solve though if you threw it in the right place… and in the case of Indigo, since her grenade could be able to bounce like a rubber ball, it was able to skip over some of the objects the fallen were using for cover before detonating and taking down the fallen that were there. That and upon originally touching down on the ground, it split up into five projectiles that began to seek out three of the dregs in the corridor and a vandal in the back corner. Yet, as we stepped out into an area that looked to have Fallen items everywhere aside from a tunnel that really looked to have belonged to the Hive, we soon realized that the way forward was blocked off by a laser gate that was set up by the Fallen. “Just great… now how are we going to get to those captives now?” Big Mac groaned, sounding rather frustrated by what was happening. “There’s a shield generator that the Fallen set up… perhaps it’s connected to the laser wires?” I heard Winona speak up now. But before any of us could do anything, we soon noticed Indigo… actually call out her ghost and look back at us. “If that’s the case, a ghost can probably disable it.” She said, before looking back at her Ghost. Who’s shell was white with some blue close to the middle and around the edges and was actually round like instead of my ghost or Winona. “Alright Sparky, it’s showtime.” Yet, when we expected to hear a voice from the ghost, we instead heard a few beeps and gestures from the ghost before it got to work on the shield generator. Which… surprised all of us. Especially me. “Um… Indigo? About your Ghost…” Of course, she personally took a deep breath before looking back at both of us. “If you were going to ask about my Ghost, the fact is that he can’t speak… upon my resurrection, a fallen dreg’s shock pistol hit him and damaged his vocal modulator. Meaning the only way he can speak to me is through gestures and messages he sends through my helmet. Right now though, he says that he can handle the door… but we should be prepared for a fight.” That had me look back at Mac and Winona, before my Ghost decided to speak up. “Why’s that?” “He says that the encryption is in layers… and once he starts, an alarm will trigger and cause the Fallen to swarm in on our location. Hope you two are ready for a fight because we need to cover him until he’s done.” The hunter told us as she had her revolver in her right hand and her knife in her left. For me, I turned to Mac as I made sure that my shotgun was locked and loaded before looking back towards Indigo. “We’re ready.” “Alright, get started Sparky.” We heard a confirmation beep from Indigo’s ghost as it began to try and hack the Fallen’s Shield Generator. Only a few moments after the Ghost started though was when we started to hear alarms. Prompting for multiple dregs, vandals and shanks to not only swarm in from in front of us, but also from behind in attempts to try and go after Indigo’s ghost directly. Leading me to step in and unloading a few shells into the dregs to prevent them from even landing a claw on the ghost. A few moments later though, we heard a few more beeps coming from Sparky as I turned back around. “Indigo, what is he saying?” That was when the Hunter turned around and… shot at a fallen that was right behind me first, before explaining what her Ghost said. “He’s got the first layer of the shield down, but the fallen are getting desperate. They’re sending in exploder shanks to try and stop us.” Now that was something I was unfamiliar with. “Exploder shanks?” “You know… Shanks strapped with explosives? The fallen send them in to have them try and get close to us before-” Indigo spoke up, before turning around and shooting a glowing shank that, upon being destroyed, also blew up two other normal shanks that were right behind. “-before that happens. Let’s just leave it at that.” Alright, point taken. And just as soon as she explained that to me, two more dregs soon tried to flank us from behind with an exploder shank not far behind them. Prompting me to throw out a grenade that landed on the shank, making it explode and incinerating the other two dregs in the process. As for Mac and Indigo, both to them were taking down the numerous fallen that were coming into the room. Most importantly, Indigo was focusing her efforts on the Fallen Vandals that were trying to pin us down while Mac was getting up close and personal with the fallen dregs and shanks that were charging at us. It only took a few more seconds until we heard some more beeps from Indigo’s ghost as we looked towards her and waited for her to translate what her Ghost was saying. “Sparky’s got the second layer down. But now we got both Fallen and Hive coming at us now. That and we got a Fallen Baron heading this way.” That… did not sound good. “A baron?! Those guys are higher in rank than fallen captains. Only second to Archons…” We now heard Winona speak up now. “I don’t think that would be trouble for us,” I heard Ghost speak as we continued to fight off both the Fallen and Hive that were pouring into the room. “We did kill an archon before-” “Woah woah woah… you two actually killed an Archon?” I heard a rather surprised Indigo ask us while we were still in the middle of the ongoing firefight. “Perhaps we should talk about that later…” Ghost advised us, just as I felt something big crash down behind me. “That Baron’s here… and he’s trying to flank us!” “Not on my watch, you won’t!” Indigo boldly declared. As soon as I turned to look at her, she had arc energy pulsing all around her as she held onto a knife firmly before dashing towards the baron. Depleting it’s shield with a single swing of the knife before proceeding to attack it with a flurry of slashes. It was the exact same thing that I saw her do in the crucible… so this lead for me to think that must’ve been what her Super Ability was. Mac himself, seeing how she was focused on that, activated his Ward of Dawn around the shield generator that we were defending and provide Indigo for a place to retreat to when her super ability had been depleted. “Thanks, big guy. I appreciate it,” She said, reloading her weapons while Mac still tried to maintain the dome for us as it was blocking incoming enemy fire. Now it was my turn to do something as I brought out my rocket launcher and stepped out of the barrier. Squeezing the trigger as I aimed my first blast towards the massive amount of hive and thrall that were all together in the same place. I still had two more, but I needed to think about where to place them. Because not only did the Hive have a pair of wizards trying to bombard us with energy volleys, but we still had that Baron that we needed to take out. Even though Indigo’s attacks earlier wounded it and took away a lot of its health, it did not kill it. “Mac, do you still have ammo for your heavy?” “Ya, ah do.” He replied back. “Alright. Can you focus your fire on taking out that wizard?” I asked him, hiding behind a concrete barrier as I began to reload my rocket launcher. I didn’t even need to explain to him why because after the ward was down, he began to offload a storm of machine gun rounds into the hive wizard that was there and also the thrall and dregs that were both trying to attack him at the same time. Which, allowed for Indigo and I to focus on the Baron. However, just as I was about to fire off another round from my rocket launcher, the Hunter spoke up and said something to me. “Save your rockets! There’s another way to take this guy down.” “There is?” I asked, shortly before noticing that the shield on the Baron was back up now. “My grenades can disable that shield in a heartbeat. Once it’s down, take your rifle and fire at it’s head. Baron’s are a lot like captains and because of that, they have similar weak points… Trust me, I’ve fought captains before and this guy’s no different.” She told me, switching her hand cannon for her sniper rifle as she tossed her grenade. Disabling the shield and causing the shield to stagger. “Now! Hit him with everything you got!” Doing what she said, I aimed at the Baron’s head and began to open fire with my auto rifle while Indigo fired off shots from her sniper rifle. After a bit, Mac himself soon joined in and used his machine gun to help wear down the baron and effectively take him down. But we weren’t exactly done yet because we needed to get rid of everything else in the room. Which really didn’t consist of much considering the fact that the only enemies that were left in here were a few of the hive Acolytes that were still around, even though we did finish off the rest of them. Though, around now was when we heard a few beeps from Indigo’s ghost again, shortly before disappearing. “Good news. Sparky got the shield down and we can move on.” “Great job,” I heard Winona compliment Sparky in response. “Now we can get going and try to reach those Devil’s before they try harming anyone else. Especially those captives from the city.” “Right…” I heard Big Mac say for a moment as he went off ahead without looking back… leaving Indigo to stop for a moment and look at me. “Um… not to sound rude, but what’s up with him?” Indigo then asked. “He’s been… well… acting different since we took on this mission.” “You’ve only been on one mission with us.” Ghost pointed out. “Yes, but I have seen him interact with you and the tower’s shipwright long enough to know that something doesn’t seem right,” She stated, before looking back to us now. “So, could you fill me in on what’s going on?” Well… given what she said, there was really no use of hiding it at this point. “Mac told me that sometime ago, his youngest sister, Applebloom, was kidnapped by the House of Devils and he’s been on an endless search to try and make sure she was rescued before they could do any harm to her. When we took down that Archon I mentioned earlier, he thought that his sister was among a series of goods that they were transporting. Unfortunately though, we were not able to find her.” That… had surprised the hunter, before looking at me. “So wait… if that’s the case… then what Commander Sentry said about the hostages from the city…” I nodded my head at that. “Yes… I don’t know the full story about his sister, but what I can say is that whatever the case is, it’s his motivation to stop them before anything bad can happen to him.” Shortly after I said that though, we turned to the end of the corridor to notice Mac trying to call out to us. Like he wanted for us to see something that he found. Then, Winona spoke up as both Indigo and I raced on over to catch up with him. “Guys… I got good news and bad news… which would you like to hear first?” “What’s the good news?” I asked, just as Winona came out to speak to us directly. “Well… the entrance to the Devil’s lair itself is on the other side of this Battlefield. The map’s calling it ‘The Blast’ and it’s crawling with Devils everywhere.” Okay… that sounded more like a mixture of both good and bad. But if that’s the case… “What’s the bad news then-?” BOOM!! “That’s the bad news…” Wait… is that a freaking spider tank?! How the hell are we suppose to destroy something like that!? “Oh brilliant… a Devil Walker. That’s the last thing I want to deal with before fighting a servitor,” Hold on… Indigo has fought them before? “And just when I think that having one pop up in the middle of the Cosmodrome while on patrol is painful enough.” “Have any advice for taking it down?” Big Mac asked. “It’s got heavy armor around its body, but its weak points are the legs,” She explained to us while pointing at them. “Enough firepower, whether it’s bullets or explosives, can cause the walker to be immobile if you rip the plating off of them. When it’s been damaged enough, the front hull of the walker exposes the core engine that’s under the head… My advice? When the engine is exposed, use rockets. Some of the rocket launchers that the vanguard and the gunsmith have been issuing out to guardians were made to counter them.” “What about the legs? Aren’t they considered vulnerable too?” I asked her. “Only while they still have the plating on. If you try to harm a leg that doesn’t have any plating on, it just does less damage to the walker. Plus, the only times that you can be able to stagger a walker is when you shoot the plating off.” The Hunter clarified for me, before looking at the two of us. “Any other questions?” “Yeah, what other things should we keep in mind, besides the cannon on the hull?” Big Mac pointed out now as we both looked at it. Once again, Indigo had another answer for us. “Well, now that you mention it, there are three things that come to mind,” She explained to us. “First, it can deploy shanks to attack us or draw us out from behind cover. Second, it can drop shock mines if we stay in one particular place for too long. And lastly, when it’s covering the core engine, it will emit a huge electrical pulse meant at pushing us backward… The one big flaw though is that it only has enough firepower to keep an eye on one guardian at a time.” That… soon gave one of us… or more specifically, one of our ghosts an idea. That ghost being mine. “So… in theory… if we have one guardian get the walkers attention… then the other two can focus their fire on the legs while it’s back is turned.” Indigo herself… looked rather surprised upon hearing that. “Wow… I never actually thought about it like that. But I’m liking the sounds of this plan… Though, who do we use as the decoy?” “Um… I think that’s kind of obvious,” Winona soon spoke up, looking back at both of us now before turning to her guardian. “Mac’s armor is a lot sturdier and can handle heavy fire. Let the two of us get its attention and then you guys can take out the legs. When the core’s exposed, let us know and we can all attack it together.” That definitely sounded like a good plan. And it looked like Indigo was on board with it too. “Alright. Looks like we got a plan. Let’s go take that thing down!” Immediately, Mac took off to the left, even charging through and smashing some dregs and shanks in order to grab the Walker’s attention while Indigo and I went the other direction. Going towards what looked like an abandoned building on the far end of the Blast as Indigo threw a grenade up there to take out the vandal that was perched up there while I began to focus my fire on the leg plates of the walker on it's left side. Most specifically, the leg in the middle, which was where Indigo also began to shoot at once there wasn’t any fallen that could try to interrupt us right now while Mac was still getting the walker’s attention. Fortunately… we were able to get somewhere. Because after using up two clips of ammunition from my auto rifle, the plate on the walker’s leg broke off. Staggering it as it fell forward and it revealed the walker’s weak point. “Core’s exposed! Hit it with everything you got!!” After hearing what Indigo said, I immediately glided into the air and got out my rocket launcher. Aiming directly at the core and pulling the trigger as the rocket made a direct hit. Mac and Indigo were also doing the same thing, but before we could finish it off, an electric pulse circulated around the walker as its hull closed back up. “Nice job guys, we almost got it!” Indigo told us as she switched back to her hand cannon. “What’s the plan now though?” Mac then shouted back. “Do we need to expose it’s core again to take it down?” “No. We damaged it enough already from the looks of it,” The bladedancer spoke up as she began to fire at it’s other legs now. “If we focus on the legs again, it won’t last much longer.” Shortly after hearing that, I began to shoot at one of the other legs with my auto rifle as Mac focused on another one of the walker’s legs with his pulse rifle. We moved out of the way of any mines that were dropped and also managed to redirect our attention to some of the shanks that the walker was calling on to help him so we could get them out of the way before they became a hassle. Eventually, after destroying some of the shanks that were trying to interfere with our objective and refocusing our attention on the walker, the three of us were able to take it down as the mechanical tank began to explode and break down. Sending pieces of it flying everywhere and also taking out a few more fallen in the process, while also opening up the path forward. It was likely that the fallen had blocked off the path to not let anyone else enter, but now that the walker was down and the metal plate that was protecting its head knocked the door down, we could now proceed further into the Devil’s Lair. “Great job guys… I have to admit, for your first time handling a walker, you two did rather well.” Hearing that from Indigo seemed… surprising. Especially since I never expected her to compliment me after acting like a bit of a sore loser when I won against her in the Crucible. “Well, we couldn’t have done it without you explaining to us how to fight it in the first place.” I replied back. “Thanks.” “No problem. Just helping out the fireteam.” She replied casually, walking over the walker’s cannon that was lying on the ground now and going around it’s dislodged head. Waiting for both Mac and I to catch up with her as we entered through the newly opened path inside. However, once we made inside… things began to look rather unsettling. For one thing, there were bones everywhere. At the bottom of the stairs, along the sides of the halls and even skulls put on top of metal pikes to make it resemble that of a trophy. All of which… made me nervous. Because if these were the remains of previous people that the fallen had sacrificed… then I was worried that we might not make it in time to save the prisoners the fallen devils held captive. Soon though, we reached a huge metal door that had Fallen Banners at the entrance as it began to open partially. But right away… I could tell something was off. There were many fallen within the vicinity and they looked to have been preparing for some kind of ritual of sorts- “H-hey! Get your claws off of me-!!” Immediately, I saw Big Mac bolt through the door before we could discuss some kind of plan. “W-winona! W-what-?” “That was Applebloom we just heard! The fallen must be preparing for a sacrifice,” Winona told both Indigo and I before noticing that the fallen were looking at us. “Focus on the Fallen right now! I’ll deal with Mac.” Both Indigo and I nodded at that and looked at the amount of fallen that were present, before the two of us split up. Indigo immediately took the left side of the concave and I covered the right, shooting several dregs while destroying some shanks and using a grenade to catch a vandal by surprise. Our primary focus was that we were seeing some streams of energy come from certain fallen as what looked to be the ‘servitor’ that Flash had told us about was floating by itself. So if they were providing energy for it to gain power, then the most ideal way of stopping it was to eliminate them. And after taking down what was left of the fallen on my side, I met back up with Indigo in the middle. “Everything clear?” “Yeah… any sign of the big guy at all?” Indigo then asked. “I mean… I know what he’s doing is important but…” That had me raise an eyebrow as I looked back at her. “But what?” “But I have a bad feeling about what will happen now that we took down all the fallen that were trying to provide this big servitor power in exchange for ether,” Wait, what were they trying to get now? “Ether to the fallen is like oxygen for us. They need it in order to breath and without it, they suffocate-” “Um… I hate to interrupt you…” I heard Ghost say to us, just as we heard a much louder noise echo throughout this concave. “But we got a big problem.” “H-how big-?” “Think Prime Servitor big…” Now was when we both looked in front of us to see exactly what Ghost was talking about. And that was the fact that the servitor that was previously floating in the center of the lair. It’s eye locked onto us now as it was beginning to glow. “It’s going to attack! Move!!” Both Indigo and I ducked for cover instantly as the eye blast from the Servitor decimated a crate that was originally where we were standing. “How in the world are we supposed to fight that!?” I asked, looking back at Indigo as she was hiding behind a steel beam that held up the platform we were standing on right now. “We need to hold that thing off until Mac gets back here!” “Okay, but how?!” I told her in response. “Have your ghost contact his! In the meantime, try to aim for that servitors eye in the center! It’s not just where they draw power for attacks, but it’s also their weak point!” The bladedancer explained, bringing out her sniper rifle to fire three shots at the servitor before needing to reload her weapon. My Ghost seemed to listen to what she said and immediately began to focus his efforts on contacting Winona, while I tried to aim my weapon at where his eye would be and fire accurately. However, it was while we were trying to do this that several other fallen began to try and come in to support this servitor, which was coming up on my visor as ‘Sepiks Prime’. And one of them did something that immediately caught my attention as they lobbed something towards my teammate. However, it was around this moment when I realized what exactly the Fallen threw at her as I looked towards her in fear. It was a shock grenade, and one that landed directly behind the bladedancer’s feet. “Indigo, get out of there! There’s a grenade behind you!!” Immediately after realizing that, the hunter jumped out of her hiding place to avoid getting hit by that. However, in doing so, it revealed her current position to the servitor as it fired off several blasts from its eye that exploded on contact. Powerful enough to cough up smoke as I couldn’t help but stare. W-was she okay? When the smoke began to clear, that was when I heard something. “Sorry ah’m late…” Next thing I know, I see Mac standing in front of Indigo with his Ward of Dawn active as he looked back at the two of us. “Winona told me you two were in trouble… but ah had something ah needed to take care of first.” Before I could ask him anything though, that was when I saw Sepiks charge up a stronger eye blast and fire it at Mac’s dome. At first, I thought that the dome would hold… but as it turned out, the blast was enough in order to break the barrier and force both Mac and Indigo to reposition themselves. “So what’s the plan?” Mac asked. “Shoot the eye, avoid it’s attacks-” Indigo told him just as we… Wait, where did it go? “Aw crap… Keep an eye on where it is! I think it can teleport!” It was a few seconds later that we saw Sepiks reappear much higher up now as it began to rain attacks from above us. Forcing us to seek shelter from under the catwalk that we were previously standing on so that way we can be able to shoot it and not have it hit us with its incoming eye blasts. From cover, I switched out my shotgun for the Gozen-C sniper rifle that I still had and began to fire at the servitor’s eye. Paying attention to when it fires it’s eye blasts so I could avoid them and then re-engage from a safer position. That was how the plan was for the most part. Shoot the eye, avoid the attacks, relocate when it teleports. Rinse and repeat. However, the longer that this continued, the more that we had to take into account how much ammo we had left. Because even though we were hurting him, we did not have a lot of spare ammunition left for if this firefight continued to draw out any longer. And that was something we realized when Indigo tried to fire off a round from her hand cannon, but it began to click as she looked around. “Aw crap… I’m out! Cover me, I need to find some ammo and quick!” At that moment, I nodded and used the chance to get up to the highest point on the catwalk above Big Mac and Indigo. Activating Radiance, I began to run around and throw numerous grenades that I can channel at Sepiks in an effort to keep its attention away from Indigo as she searched for any spare bullets she can find. Of course, I was only able to throw a few grenades at the servitor and also incinerate a few fallen that tried to attack me when I wasn’t paying attention, but the risk was worth it when I heard the sound of hand cannon shots going off as my super began to diminish. “Alright, I’m back in business!” “Geez, how much damage can this thing take? It’s really beginning to annoy me.” Mac grumbled as the titan came back up top alongside the bladedancer. Though, around the time that I mentioned that, I looked through the lense of my sniper rifle and began to notice something along the edges of the servitor’s eye. “Guys, I can see cracks along the outside of the eye… If we keep this up, that’s servitor’s going to break open any minute.” “Let’s make that happen sooner!” Indigo proclaimed, bringing out her Rocket Launcher and firing it directly at Sepiks. Causing the cracks along the eye to get bigger… and having me get out my rocket launcher as well. Sepiks fired off another eye blast at Indigo to try and prevent her from reloading, but Mac stepped in and took the hit for her. Shortly before firing off a heavy rain of bullets from his machine gun as they hit the servitor directly in the eye. Then, both Indigo and I fired off one last rocket from each of our weapons and upon impact, the servitor broke. Beginning to spin out of control before exploding into multiple pieces as the prime servitor was done for. “Alright! We did it.” “Great job, team!” I now heard Winona reply back. “Now let me contact Commander Sentry so we can tell them that the strike was successful.” Though… that made me think of something as I looked back at Mac. “Wait… didn’t they tell us that there were captives here? I don’t see any-.” That was when all three of us heard a… different voice. “H-hey! Is it safe to come out now? Everyone’s getting nervous in here!” That left Indigo and I looking at each other, puzzled for a moment because we were unsure about who that was. But for Mac… well, we saw him with an expression of relief on his face. “Yes, the coast is clear sis.” Upon hearing that, the doors to a separate room not far off from where we were opened up as several people began to come out. The one that got my attention though was a girl that looked to be almost just as tall as Applejack, but had her hair tied off in a bow. She looked to be carrying a shock pistol from one of the fallen dregs. But that was not the thing that shocked us the most. What shocked us the most… was that there was a Ghost over her shoulder. Well, it didn’t come as a shock to Mac… but to the rest of us, it did. “Winona… Is Mac’s sister…?” Winona, who was now floating by us now as Mac walked over to where his sister was, soon replied to my ghost’s question. “Yes… She’s a guardian too. However, unlike Mac, Applebloom did not entirely know how to fight or what kind of light she could wield. Mac wanted to teach her, but with the vanguard asking him to take on tasks, it did not give him time to be able to properly teach her how to fight.” “And that’s something ah’m gonna fix,” Mac soon told the two of us as he and his sister walked over. “Applebloom, these are my companions, Indigo and Sunset. They helped me come here so we could rescue you.” “Nice to meet you two!” She said cheerfully, holstering the pistol she was once holding onto as she shook both of our hands. “Though, ah wish ah could have done that in someplace other than the middle of a Fallen lair. Who knows if any of those devils can still be crawling around here.” “Ah think that can be arranged,” Mac now said as he looked up into the sky as what looked like a ship from the tower was coming in. A huge cargo one with plenty of room for everyone to come on board. “For now though, let’s go home.” After the strike on the Devil’s lair, Big Mac told Flash that he wanted to take a momentary break from the Vanguard. His reason? Well… with Applebloom being back home, Mac thought that if she were really serious about wanting to be a guardian, then she would need the proper training for it. And Flash agreed, going as far as to volunteer to assist Mac with the training too. It made sense because from what I could tell, Applebloom looked to be that of a titan herself. However, something told me that she was not going to be like other titans. Indigo herself decided that, even though working in a team was fun, that she needed to do something a bit more competitive. And with that in mind, she jumped right back into the Crucible. Leaving me with my Ghost as I was with Twilight, looking down on what was underneath the Traveler. The remnants of the last city. Though, it was during that moment that I decided to ask something. “Hey Twilight? Can I ask you something?” “You just did.” She said, giggling a little bit as I let out a deep breath. “No, I mean… I wanted to ask you a question. It’s about Ghosts…” I told her, while my Ghost just looked at me for a moment. “Well, more specifically their names. Do guardians pick the names of their ghosts?” Twilight, thought about it for a moment, before looking to me. “Sometimes… It’s a complicated subject. For you see, Ghosts can be either Male or Female and it’s the guardian who chooses the name for them. For example, one of the most well known heroes of the Tower back in the day was the Exo Titan named Martyr-14 and he referred to his ghost as female. There is… one other example that I can think of though.” When she said that, she stopped for a moment as I waited for her to say it. “One other example? Who?” That question though… had Twilight looking around for a moment, cautiously, before looking back to me. “My old mentor… and the former Warlock Vanguard before me. However, it’s not something that we can discuss openly. But I think you get the main point though, right?” Nodding my head, I looked back to my ghost and smiled. “Yeah I do… and I thought of a good name for mine now.” “Oh?” My ghost asked. “What did you decide on?” “Ray.” I simply replied back. “It’s the first thing that came into my head.” “Ray… Hunh, I actually kind of like that name,” He said. “Of course, it will take some time to get used too.” “Well, the two of you got some time to kill before we need you for another assignment,” Twilight told the two of us before heading back to the hall of guardians. “If you want to get some rest, go on ahead… Otherwise, there are tasks in the Cosmodrome you can do if you are on patrol.” After hearing that, I looked back towards Gho- I mean… Ray now as he looked back at me before asking something. “So, where to next?” Author's Note Sepiks Prime cast a great shadow over our City. With its destruction, the Fallen Devils will grow weaker. But we must stay vigilant. The Fallen are crafty. They'll find ways to survive. They always do. -Commander Zavala, Destiny And with that, the first strike is in the books. As for some of the characters that were mentioned, they will become important later on, whether it's with events that occur later on in the story or if they tie directly into the lore. For now though, we're done with the current missions on Earth... but not jumping ahead with the story just yet. You'll see what happens in the next chapter. -Frost 08- Sirens of the NightAuthor's Note So, this chapter is a bit different from my other ones... because this time around, I had my good friend BronyParasite help out. He suggested for a new guardian to be entered into the mix... one that has some history with Sunset. So I hope you enjoy what the two of us were able to do. Next Time: The Dark Beyond -Frost 08- Sirens of the Night After thinking on what to do to past the time while Mac was with his sisters and Indigo was still fighting in the Crucible, my ghost Ray soon had a suggestion for me. Near the back of the courtyard was what was known as a Bounty Board. Where Guardians can take up bounties and complete tasks to gain reputation and rewards with the city. For me, I just picked a simple one that focused on taking down as many fallen enemies as I could come across while in the cosmodrome. Which was currently where I was on patrol as I traveled through the cosmodrome with my Sparrow and found a particular place that could be used to hunt them down. There was what looked to be a pair of crashed airplanes in the middle of the Mothyards that served as something that looked like a campsite for several fallen. So, if I was reading the bounty correctly, I should be able to complete it once I eliminate both of the camps. Taking position, I had my sniper rifle at the ready as I aimed my rifle at one of the Vandals at the first camp. In the back of my mind, I wanted to consult Ray and see if I could actually make the shot from here… but instead, I just inhaled a deep breath and focused. Upon exhaling, I pulled the trigger and the shot destroyed the vandal’s helmet… while also alerting the others of my presence. Quickly, I aimed my next shot at one of the shanks and pulled the trigger. Turning the robot into scrap metal as I had one more shot left in the chamber. By now, the fallen were already racing towards my position and I only had enough time to fire the last round in the chamber, which struck one of the dregs in the arm as I switched weapons. Having my Auto Rifle out as I began to run towards the other fallen that were charging at me. My first move was to scorch one of two dregs that were there and throw a grenade at the other. When the grenade went off, it burned the second dreg to cinders as well as damage some of the shanks that were nearby. With my rifle at the ready, I began to open fire at them first so I could turn them into scrap metal. But of course, I was also missing someone. And that I realized when a shot from a fallen line rifle just barely grazed my helmet. “Ray, I need another clip.” I told him, switching back to my sniper rifle as the ghost digistructed some more ammunition into my hands as I prepared my rifle and aimed at the vandal. Quickly getting a shot off before it’s rifle could charge fully. “Well, that was quick…” I said, before placing my weapon away and having Ray emerge in my hand now. “How many does that put us at so far?” “Well, that camp… along with the fallen that you ran over with your sparrow on the way here, puts you at ten.” Ten? Seriously? I thought I had more than that. I needed to take down thirty of these guys before the bounty could be seen as complete, so having to track these guys down was going to be a bit of a pain. Though, before I could be able to say anything else, that was when I saw what looked like Ray trying to process something. “Hang on… I’m picking up something and it seems… urgent.” “How urgent are we talking here?” I asked him in response. It took him a little while in order to form his reply… but when he did, the details of it weren’t exactly good at all. “I’m picking up something from another Ghost… One who had just recently found their guardian not too long ago, but the fallen found them shortly afterwards” Ray replied back as he was continuing to process everything. “And from what I can tell, this is a distress call. It’s coming from the steppes.” The steppes? That wasn’t far from here at all. Plus, this is another guardian who’s potentially in danger. If I can get them back to the tower, then the vanguard can possibly help prepare them and teach them how to fight. “Ray, we’re making a detour. Put a marker on that signal. I’m heading there now.” Ray nodded, before disappearing back into my gear as he marked the signal on my visor as I summoned my sparrow and set off in that direction. And it only took me a few minutes to realize just how bad of a situation this was. Not only was there a Fallen captain there ordering the others, but there were a lot of other fallen that were chasing after one single guardian. And from the looks of it, they did not have any weapons or anything in order to protect themselves with. “Ray, is that the guardian we’re looking for?” “That’s the one,” I heard him tell me as I got closer to the group and prepared to dismount my sparrow. “The origin point of the ghost’s signal matches that of the guardian over there. And from the looks of it, it almost looks like she riled up a whole pack of devils in the process.” “Alright. Try to get the ship over here now and get us out of here,” I told him, dismounting and sending the speeding sparrow into a pair of dregs as I got out my auto rifle and began to shoot at two other Fallen. Before turning my attention to the Guardian that was still hiding behind a metal crate. “Hey, I just got the emergency signal from your ghost. Are you okay?” The guardian stepped out from behind the damaged crate, with her ghost hovering behind her. She was clearly a Warlock if her armored robes were anything to go by. She was covered in blood and looked shaken. She was not unscathed. “I’ve been better.” She said weakly, holding her bloodied arm. She definitely looked like she had been through hell. That and she was unarmed. Placing my auto rifle on my back, I took a moment to go through my inventory. I remembered that while going through the Devil’s lair with my fireteam, I picked up some other weapons that were a little better than the ones I had, but not as impressive. So, going through everything, I took out a hand cannon called the Duke MK 10 and handed it to her. “Have you used one of these before?” “I used to own a gun. Had a family to protect…” The warlock trailed off as she took it. “I can use it.” “Good,” I told her in response, just as I took the Auto Rifle I had off my back. “Because we need to hold our position here until my Ghost can bring my ship. Once he does, we can get out of here and get to the tower-” Before I could finish my sentence though, I noticed a group of shanks approach us and conjured a grenade to throw at them. Incinerating the small group as it turned them to ash. “Ray, how long until you got the ship?” “As soon as I can. Just hold your position.” I heard him tell me as I looked to the other guardian now. “I hope you’re ready for a fight.” “I don’t really have a choice.” The warlock’s head rolled like she was rolling her eyes. “I have a lot of questions for you afterwards.” “Trust me, I had a lot of questions when I first woke up too.” I told her, firing my auto rifle at more fallen that were trying to encroach upon our current position. I wanted to say more, but I thought that it would be better off saving those questions for when we were back at the tower and not where we were being openly shot at. Mainly though, I saved my Scorch for when any of the fallen happened to get too close for me and just had my Auto Rifle for when there were any Dregs or Vadals getting too close to our position. I also managed to bring out my sniper rifle to shoot at any Vandals that were trying to pin us down with sniper fire from their line rifles and make things easier for the two of us. I watched the other guardian take down a pair of dregs with the hand cannon I gave her, but not before she punched another one as I looked around and began to see if there were any more fallen that were coming for us. “Hang tight, I’m almost there.” I heard Ray tell me now as I get a notification on my visor about my bounty, but decided to ignore it. Because right now, my focus was making sure that I can get this guardian out of here and to someplace safe. “Your friend better get here quick, I don’t like being a sitting duck.” The guardian commented, and I could tell she was nervous. “Hang on, he’s almost here.” I told him, just as I decided to get out my rocket launcher and fire at a group of fallen in the distance. But before I could reload, that was when I heard the familiar sounds of my ship above the two of us as I let out a sigh of relief. “Speak of the devil, there he is.” “Alright, I see you,” I heard Ray speak now, shortly before looking back at the other guardian. “Bringing you two in now.” I turned to the other guardian and only said two words to her, just before Ray transmitted the both of us inside. “Hold still-” In mere seconds, we were whisked out of the Cosmodrome and into the confines of my ship as it immediately began to take off towards the Tower. Not to mention that the other guardian was right behind me in the passengers section of the ship. Speaking of which, I thought it would be best for me to go check on her. Placing the ship on auto pilot, I got out of my seat and walked towards the back. Where I found the guardian I just rescued alongside her Ghost. “How are you feeling?” “Well I’m not dead… again. There’s not really an elegant way of putting that, is there?” The new guardian groaned and flicked her ghost, causing it to wobble. “And my ‘ghost’ has been silent ever since you showed up.” “Have you tried talking to it?” I asked her. “It’s there to help you, so if you talk to it like you are talking to me, then it can respond…” “Whatever, it’ll talk eventually.” The guardian began scratching at her throat, most likely out of habit since she didn’t seem distressed or even annoyed. Force of habit, perhaps? “What were those… those things?” She crossed one leg over the other, then her arms rested together on her chest. “You mean what attacked us?” I asked, seeing a slight nod from the other guardian as I began to explain to her. “The Fallen are a species of pirates and mercenaries that aren’t from earth. But they go to other planets to try scavenging for anything that they would see as valuable. And they don’t really like guardians that much.” Then… a different question popped into my head. “I have a question for you now though… Who are you?” “Does it really matter now?” She asked dully, caressing her ghost like a cat. “I understand you and I died years ago. Probably hundreds of years if things look this different, but we were forgotten.” She leaned back. “Not exactly…” I told her, “Besides, I was just asking because I think you would get tired of people addressing you by ‘Guardian’ over and over. As for how long-” It was around then that Ray soon emerged nearby my shoulder as he was looking at us. “We’re approaching the tower now… Sunset, should I inform the Vanguard of your arrival-?” “Wait… Sunset? As in Sunset Shimmer!?” The guardian yelped, standing up abruptly. “Yeah-” Wait, this guardian knows who I am? How? At that moment, I took off my helmet as I looked back at her. “How do you know my name?” “Because…” The guardian took her helmet off. “You’re the cause of my death.” I blinked for a moment, before realizing who it was… and then letting out a deep sigh. “Adagio…” “Wait, you know this Guardian, Sunset?” My ghost asked me as I turned to face him for a moment. “She’s someone from my past… Long ago in my past…” I told him. “Oh, like that Pre-Golden Age thing that Twilight mentioned when you were taking with her?” He asked, leading me to simply nod in response. “Oh, lovely. I’m stuck in a world with two people I loath.” Adagio said, narrowing her violet eyes. “Actually… there’s more to it then that…” I told her as I had Ray focus on maintaining the ship. “Because this Twilight has never met you… You can say she’s like a parallel version of her.” Adagio’s face scrunched up in bitter anger. It was far more tame than her voice lead on. “Then how the blazes did Starswirl’s pet live so long? Well, it doesn’t really matter now, does it? I suppose the gateway to Equestria’s gone forever, as is our magic.” “Yes to both… but, we have something else now,” That was when I stuck out my hand and had some of my solar light emerge from it. “As a guardian, we are empowered with light. And we use that power to fight…” “Pardon the interruption,” My Ghost replied back. “But we’re now approaching the tower and are beginning to make our way to the City.” With that in mind, I had Adagio follow me to the front of the ship, where she could be able to not only see the Last City itself, but the Traveler that was overlooking it. “So I’m one of the ‘good guys’ now? Peachy…” Adagio grumbled in annoyance. “I almost wish you left me with the Fallen. You’re so casual with this it’s sickening...” “I’ve… only been alive again for only a few days…” I told her, as the ship was setting down in the docks. “Besides, there are still a few things that I am trying to wrap my head around. Just wait until you meet an awoken or an exo and you’ll see what I mean.” “Still, the last time we met you destroyed our magic.” Adagio said, looking at me with caution. “I know…” I replied back, just as the bay doors open. However, it was around then that I happened to notice a particular figure over where Applejack’s work station was. That being the Hunter Vanguard, Rainbow-6. “Rainbow, Ah thought that you had important business to attend to with the Vanguard,” Applejack glared at her accomplice, who was messing around with one of her tools as the Exo looked at her. “You know that Commander Sentry does not like it when you are slacking off on the job.” “I am doing something, mind you,” Rainbow told her, placing the wrench on the table. “I’m waiting. Some of my scouts have been surveying locations in the outer sectors of the solar system and I’m just waiting for them to come back and report.” “And you have to do it here. If Big Mac were here, he would shoo you away-” She said, before noticing me and turning to face me. “Ah, Sunset. Welcome back.” As for Rainbow though… she was more focused on Adagio than me. “Hunh… you got yourself another friend hunh, Guardian? She looks to be a tough one, that’s for sure.” “So she doesn’t remember? I suppose that’s a good thing.” Adagio commented. “And I’m new… Wish I stayed dead, but I guess we can’t have our way now can we?” Rainbow herself just took that as a joke, before deciding to go up the stairs nearby and wait up there. Shortly before AJ spoke up. “Exo’s have a good memory… but it depends on how many times that memory is wiped,” She replied back. “As for me… I still remember who you are… and I’m pretty surprised to see that you’re a Guardian now.” “Yeah, why? Seems they’re letting anyone join anyways.” Adagio said, smirking. “Technically… you don’t just join,” I said in response. “The Traveler sends out the Ghosts in order to find those who could use Light as a weapon… It’s a bit of a complex explanation, but I think once we meet Twilight, she can explain it better than I can.” “Lovely… well, I’ll let you know that my sisters didn’t return with me. I hope that eases your mind.” Adagio’s voice was layered with venom. “Or would you rather have more manpower? You look like a bunch of table scraps.” “Gee, thanks…” I sighed sarcastically while walking out of the hangar and heading back towards the main courtyard. There were many other guardians that were present and doing their own business as we were passing through. Some were having Moondancer decrypt their engrams, some were having their weapons inspected by Vinyl-3 and there were a few others that were discussing with Lord Thunderlane about the Crucible. However, I really don’t think that his occasional boasting would be something that Adagio was a fan of. Especially as we were approaching the hall of guardians. Of course… the only Vanguard member that seemed to be there at the time was Twilight herself. “Hello Sunset, welcome back,” The Awoken greeted me, before noticing Adagio right behind me. “Oh? Who’s your friend?” “Adagio Dazzle, the pleasure is yours.” Adagio said with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen. “Well, I’m Twilight Sparkle. Warlock Mentor and overseer of the Vanguard Research Division,” She replied back, offering a hand for her to shake. Adagio ignored Twilight’s offer, instead looking around the room. “Quaint place. I’d thought there’d be a bit more… advancement in the future. Wish I could’ve been here in its prime.” “Well, it’s not like we can go back in time to when we had the Golden Age,” Twilight replied back, before looking back at Sunset. “So, is there something I can help you out with?” “Yeah, Adagio has… a lot of questions,” I said to make things brief. “And I was thinking that you can help answer them for her. Like how you helped me out when I first woke up.” “Alright, that seems simple enough,” The Voidwalker told both of us as she pressed a button on the table and multiple holographic screens appeared. “Perhaps we should start with the same way I explained it to Sunset.” Shortly after I heard Twilight say that, I noticed Adagio roll her eyes for a moment as Twilight slowly began to try and explain things to her in… well, attempting to try to explain it to her in the most simplest way possible. Starting with when humanity discovered the Traveler and when the Golden Age began. What Adagio would refer to as ‘humanities prime’. Then came the collapse… the darkness… the traveler sacrificing itself to cast out the enemy that had hunted it for so long… and the damage that the collapse had caused. But, Twilight also mentioned how the Traveler’s sacrifice created the Ghosts… and how they search for those who have the ability to wield the traveler’s light as a weapon. Bringing them back as Guardians. Then, Twilight took the chance to clear her throat. “I know that this may be a lot to take in… but this is where we are at right now. Do you have any questions, Adagio?” “Why was I chosen to be a guardian? I’m not exactly the ‘hero’ type.” Adagio stated. I could tell that she was mostly uncomfortable around Twilight and I. Though… the question that she said did not… seem to resonate well with Twilight either. Which was odd, because I thought she would know at least something. “That is something that is unknown to us. Even the speaker himself doesn’t know the answer,” She explained, before saying something else. “Others have asked the same thing but… well, that question was one of the many questions the last Warlock Vanguard had which drove him to being banished from the City.” “And me being a Warlock was all my ghost told me. You’ll have to tell me about what that actually means later. I can see that the Guardians are pretty one note though…” Adagio’s voice was dry. “I don’t like this new world. I don’t see a future for myself in it.” “Give it time and you may be accustomed to it,” Twilight suggested. “Now… as for what your ghost told you, a Warlock is one of three different variations of guardians. In fact, Sunset and I are Warlocks.” Pausing for a moment, Twilight used the holographic table to pull up the three symbols that represented each class as she began to explain them to her. “Warlocks are like sages of the Travelers light. Those who wish to learn how to study it’s arcane energies. The other two classes, Hunters and Titans, have their own purposes too. Titans are the backbone of the City’s defenses while Hunter’s thrive out in the wilds. Though… there’s one thing that I’m curious about…” “What…?” Adagio asked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s the type of light that you can control,” The voidwalker explained. “There are three types of energies. Void, Solar and Arc. I myself control Void Light while Sunset controls Solar… but I’m unsure what kind of light you can possibly control.” That… was a rather valid question. Because when I was fighting alongside Adagio earlier, she didn’t seem to be using any form of abilities at all. So either they have not been fully awakened yet… or Adagio just needs to know how to harness it first. Then, I thought of something. “Hey… Twilight, is there some sort of way that we can be able to test what kind of light a guardian has?” “Well… normally a guardian’s light can be felt by their peers around them unless they carry something on their person that symbolizes who they are,” Twilight replied back. “But… there is a possibility that Adagio is a rare kind of warlock. Similar to how you woke up as a Sunsinger… she can be a warlock that can use Arc Light. A Stormcaller.” “Uh… fill me in whenever.” Adagio commented as she leaned against a wall. “To summarize, Arc is like electricity…” Twilight said, looking back at Adagio. “You may be able to channel the wrath of a storm through your fingertips if you know how to control your newfound power.” That… was surprising. Even to me. Because for a moment, I was unsure what kind of power that Adagio would be able to control now that she is a guardian. Of course though… just as we were thinking that things were going well, that was when Ray spoke up. “I’m sorry for having to interrupt, but Commander Flash wants to talk to Sunset,” My ghost informed us before looking back towards Twilight and I as it continued to speak. “Apparently, it’s with regards to Vanguard Operations.” “Vanguard?” “Think of it like a guardian command structure,” The Voidwalker simply explained to Adagio. “The Vanguard mentors new guardians, coordinate the last cities defenses, organizes missions to carry out in the field and so on. In fact, I’m the Warlock Mentor of the Vanguard.” While she was explaining that, I thought it would be best to try and talk to my Ghost for a moment on what he was getting from Commander Sentry. “Did Flash say what he wanted to talk about?” I asked Ray. Only leading to my ghost shaking his head as I let out a sigh. “Twilight, I think there’s no way that I’m getting out of this… If Flash really needs me, then it must be for something rather important.” “If that’s the case, I can take some time to help Adagio, answer any questions she has and get her some better equipment. Something that’s sturdy enough to handle the fallen and whatever else is out there,” Twilight then replied, before looking towards Adagio for a moment. “That is… if you are okay with it, of course.” “Not like I have a choice. One must adapt to their new surroundings, that much is a fact. I’ve already gone through the process once before, so it’ll be easy to take things as they come.” Adagio commented. I was a bit surprised by how relaxed she was being, but then I remind myself that she’s much older than I am, and she wasn’t even a pony so anything could potentially be normal for her, yet alien to me. “Alright. I’ll be back soon.” I told them, shortly before making my way over the hall of guardians, where Flash was waiting for me. He didn’t seem calm or relaxed like the last time around… but this time, he looked a bit distraught. As if something was on his mind. It took a few moments for him to realize I was there in the room given the reports that he was reading, but eventually, he soon looked up to face me. “Good to see you, Sunset,” He told me in response, closing the reports that he had open and looking up to face me. “I know that you were just out on patrol and such, but I need your help on something urgent.” “What seems to be the problem?” I asked him. “Well… with the recent resurgence of the hive on earth, one of our guardians went to investigate a hive fortress on their own, but we lost contact with them,” The titan replied back. “I want you to find them.” “Okay, but with all due respect commander,” Ray then decided to ask, materializing next to my shoulder now. “Where are we going? The hive don’t have any fortresses in the cosmodrome… or earth for that matter.” “That is because your mission is not on Earth,” Flash clarified… before saying something that I personally was caught off guard by. “Your mission is at the ocean of storms… on the Moon.” 09- The Dark BeyondAuthor's Note When a guardian goes missing on the moon, it's Sunset's task in order to track them down and bring them home. However, what she might find there could possibly be even more troubling than she originally thought. -Frost 09- The Dark Beyond “So Ray… What exactly can you tell me about the Moon?” That was the only particular question that I had on my mind as my ghost and I plotted a course for it on my ships navigation system. Back when I was alive, I only knew of the moon as two things. One, a giant celestial body in space… or two, back in Equestria, that thing that Princess Luna raises almost every night. I mean… when I first came here, trying to understand the fact that the earth orbits naturally around the sun was something I didn’t think was possible. But then again, I didn’t think I would be brought back from the dead either. Though, what I heard from Ray was… well, not what I anticipated. “Well… that can be a bit complex. Because during the Golden Age, the moon itself was once seen as a beacon of hope. It was a place where groundbreaking research was conducted, and it also served as an outpost for helping support humanity’s other colonies. The moon itself even had a colony once.” That last part though… not only puzzled me, but had me unsure about what he was going to say next. “Once?” “Again… all of this happened during the Golden Age,” Ray then clarified for me. “However, when the Collapse happened, that’s when humanity first encountered the hive. They swarmed the surface of the moon and even caused fissures that rocketed the moon itself… We gave up the moon a long time to keep the Hive away from Earth. And we thought that would be enough for them.” “But with what’s been going on recently in the cosmodrome?” “It would only mean that they’re planning something… something big…” Ray explained, just as the ship began to slow down and I could now see the surface. In all of my life… I never actually thought I would have the chance to see such a thing up close. But it was when we were approaching the surface that I could now also see the remnants of what was abandoned there too. And it was not a good sight to look at. “It may be the reason why that Guardian took off on their own without consulting the Vanguard.” That part… caught my attention though as we got closer to the surface. “Wait… what do you mean by that?” “Guardians had tried to reclaim the moon before, but the results were disastrous. After losing several fireteams, the Vanguard officially had the moon be labeled as a forbidden zone. Only accessible to the most experience guardians with authorization.” He told me. We approached a flat basin for me to land at as I felt myself leave the comfort of my ship and transmitting onto the surface of a place called Archer’s Line as I looked around. Seeing pieces of the moon’s crust float around as I began to take everything in. As I was making sure that I was on stable ground, that’s when I soon asked Ray something. “So… Where should we exactly start?” Ray now materialized back into my gear as I could now hear his voice through my helmet. “That… might be difficult. Almost any activity I’ve ever picked up here when I had looked at the moon here was hazy… like something was blocking it,” Okay, well that doesn’t help… do you have any other ideas- “But I think I can pick up on the trail of the Guardian that was here. Their last known coordinates are not far. I’ll place a marker for you right now.” The white marker I was used to seeing before appeared on my visor again as I looked up and proceeded to follow it. Finding what looked like some old building that was in ruins as I got closer. It… surprising still looked to be mostly in one piece, but there was still a considerable amount of damage around the area. When I got closer to the building… that’s when I heard Ray say something. “Hey Sunset… I just picked up on something you might want to hear. It’s with regards to the Guardian we’re looking for.” “What is it?” I asked, stopping for a moment so he could be able to tell me. “Well, they seemed to have left a report here, saying that they… captured this accelerator from… an unknown fallen house.” Oh brilliant… Fallen and the Hive here? This is just like back on Earth. “Why would he be here though if he was looking for something regarding the Hive?” I then asked him. “It’s possible that they were looking for coordinates that lead to an old colony base that was once used for research,” Ray told me. “The systems show recent activity in here, so it must be from their Ghost.” That… lead to me thinking of an idea as I looked back towards some of the systems in the room now. Taking in the sights for a moment as I looked to see various forms of writing on the wall in different languages. I think it was… Neighponese or something? I don’t know… I should really worry about that later. Though, the one thing that I could make out in the back of this ‘accelerator’ was what appeared to be some kind of computer terminal. And seeing how this seemed like the only major piece of technological equipment here, I’m guessing that this was what we were looking for. Letting my ghost materialize, he began to scan the computer. As he did, the screens in front of me began to turn on as well as all the other ones around us. Making it as if he was having something that was once buried in the past come alive… even though it was only for a brief few seconds. “Okay, I got the coordinates-” And shortly after saying that, I heard an all too familiar roar as I heard Ghost tell me something else. “And great… the Fallen are here too.” Given the fact that the fallen are known for always trying to scavenge all kinds of tech, what Ghost did right now was like trying to tell the Fallen to come here like moths to a flame… Now that I think of it, that’s actually an ironic, yet rather good metaphor right now given the circumstances. Firing off rounds from my Auto Rifle, I pushed forward. Taking down any fallen that tried to stop me as I began to make my way outside the building. After eliminating a few more and seeing that there weren’t anymore in the general area, I heard Ray told me something. “Alright, you’re in the clear. While you were fighting, I was able to link your sparrow so you can use it to travel around more quickly.” Well, at least that was better than running around on foot I suppose. Taking Ray’s advice, I summoned my Sparrow as he placed another waypoint marker for me. And based on what I can tell so far, where we were going was towards what was called the ‘Anchor of Light’. Speeding past some of the fallen as I kept on traveling a bit longer, finding myself at what was left of an old colony base as I got off my sparrow and began to have a look around. When I was looking around though, that was when Ray noticed something. “I’m getting recent activity signals on the equipment in this place… That guardian must’ve been camping out here. Let me look at the equipment, perhaps we can figure out what exactly he was doing out here.” Well, hey… if it was possible clues as to where we can be able to find this guardian, then I’m all for it. Holding out my hand to summon my ghost again, Ray began to scan and study some of the old colony equipment in here. And it did not take long for him to find something. “Hey… Sunset. Have a look at this. The Guardian we’re looking for left some of his notes here.” “What do they say?” I asked him. “It says something in here about a ‘Temple of Crota’. Personally, the name itself sounds a lot like a death trap,” Ray explained a bit more, before adding on to what he just said. “I placed a marker on the potential whereabouts, but if this place is what the notes described, then we need to be careful. It’s supposed to be some kind of structure dedicated to Crota, a hive prince that they worship as a god.” That… sent chills down my spine. And I wasn’t entirely sure as to why. Though, as we continued to travel towards where exactly this temple would be, I was beginning to see cracks in the moon’s surface and a green form of energy begin to form from underneath. Ray told me that it was because of the fact that the ground underneath us has been hollowed out for miles. Meaning that anything could be possibly be happening underneath our feet… and that was a thought that I did not want to think about. Because the last thing I would want right now is some kind of ambush out of nowhere. When we got out of a broken ravine within the surface of the moon… that was when we found what looked like a giant gate that blocked the path forward. One that looked to have belonged to the hive because of the huge runes that were on the front of the door. “I… think we found the temple.” Really now? What gave you that idea? “Up ahead, Guardian down!” That had me hop off my sparrow and race over to where Ray found the guardian. But upon looking closer… we realized that it was too late. There was nothing left. Not even his light was there, and his ghost was nowhere to be seen either. I began to look around, thinking that the ghost was somewhere not far from where we found the fallen guardian… only to realize that there was… someone watching us from the edge of a cliff that was behind us. But before I could tell Ray anything, there was a loud pitched noise as I turned to look at the door. The symbols on it… were beginning to light up and glow brightly. Backing up, I turned around again, only to realize that the person that was originally on the cliff was gone as I looked to Ray. “Ray, what is happening?” “This… is not good…” He said, materializing back into my helmet as we watched the symbols on the door disappear and watched as it began to split into three parts. Clinging onto my rifle, I heard Ray say one more thing. “Brace yourself! We’ve woken the hive!!” Immediately, the hive began to storm out of the door and towards us. Forcing me to throw a grenade in order to try and stop some of the thrall that were charging directly at me as I ran back in order to reposition myself. There was a stairwell to the right that lead up to a small overhang above the entire place, which looked like a place that I can use for reliable cover. It looked like an entire swarm of thrall were storming out of the door and were trying to overrun where I was at. But they also had a few acolytes on hand and what looked like a knight with some kind of hive arm cannon as it was firing heavy projectiles towards where I was at. Thankfully, the wall I was hiding behind took most of the shots that was fired as I switched to my sniper rifle. Aiming at the Knight’s head as I took a shot to eliminate it before any of its cannon blasts could hit me. But that still left me with the acolytes to handle alongside the rest of the thrall that were closing in. Getting an idea, I brought out my rocket launcher and jumped up into the air, aiming it at the massive swarm and firing as I began to descend back onto the ground. Luckily, it took out enough of the thrall in order for me to quickly focus on the remaining acolytes that were shooting at me. Changing to my Auto Rifle again, I swapped back over and began to fire at them. Causing each one to disintegrate and even having them burn to cinder when I catch one with a grenade and another one with a scorch. “Sunset, I’m picking up the dying light of a ghost. Get inside there! Hurry!” When I heard that, I first thought that Ray was being crazy. But nevertheless, I went in. Staying outside would leave me as a sitting duck out here and when I looked to the back of the room, I saw what looked like a ghost shackled to a hive structure… and a wizard standing guard over it alongside three acolytes. Thinking quickly, I shot down the first two with my auto rifle and meleed the third one since that was too close to me. Leaving me with having to fight the wizard as it began to fire off a series of energy bolts in my general direction. Going behind a pillar that was inside the room and using it as cover, I waited for a small bit until I felt the energy for my grenade finish recharging. Throwing it out there so I can try and negate the wizard’s protective barrier. But when I did, that’s when it did something… else. It threw out what looked like a smoky cloud as it began to swarm all around me while I was firing. “Sunset, get out of there! That’s poisonous!!” I heard Ray warn me as I forcefully held my breath and leaped out of there so I would not get caught in there. Getting out my sniper rifle, I began to aim at the wizard and fired off two shots. The first shot I was able to hit just fine… but somehow, it was able to move out of the way of my second one. Retaliating back as it fired more blasts at me as I scrambled to reload my sniper rifle and get out of the way. Once I finished reloading and began to aim again, I quickly fired off one more round in order to make sure that I hit it before it tried to run away or restore it’s shield. And this time, I was successful. The wizard screeched in pain loudly, before disintegrating like with the rest of the hive as the poison cloud began to fade away. Allowing for me to race over to where the ghost was in the back of the room and for Ray to look at it just in time. Because moments after Ray scanned it, the light from the ghost was gone… and it was nothing more than an empty shell. “Are… we too late?” I asked. “No, we aren’t,” Ray assured me. “The ghost may be dead, but I can still read some of it’s memories… Oh no… this is not good.” “What is it, Ray?” I asked, sounding concerned because of the sudden shift in the tone of his voice. “The Hive… they’re raising an army here on the moon… preparing to invade Earth,” He told me, just as the sheer thought of that sent a chill down my spine. “We need to stop them… Pick up the shell of the Ghost. We’re taking it to the speaker. He needs to know what we uncovered here.” Immediately after returning to the tower, we rushed to the Speaker to report our findings from our mission on the moon. He… seemed rather disturbed by what we had to tell him, but he was surprised to hear that we were able to overcome the hive while we were on the moon. He then told the two of us that there was a lot that needed to be done if we were to have other guardians combat the hive on the moon, and the first thing we needed to do was upgrade our equipment while he looked through the archives to see what sort of data he could find on the hive. After leaving him be, I went over to the gunsmith was in order to hand her the Speaker’s Writ that I was given. In exchange for it, Vinyl allowed for me to choose between three different options. A shotgun, sniper rifle or fusion rifle. Since I already had a good sniper rifle at the moment and had no need for a fusion rifle, I picked the Copperhead Mk 32 shotgun since it was an improvement compared to the one that I already have. Equipping it and dismantling my old one to get some extra glimmer out of it. The next thing that I was going to do was go check in on Twilight to see how she was doing with Adagio. But before I could enter her main study… that was when I began to hear them talking. Not about guardians, light or anything else… but instead something different. “So… Adagio, can I ask you something?” “You just did…” Adagio deadpanned, scowling venomously at Twilight as she leaned against a wall. “No I mean… I wanted to ask you about… well… Guardians don’t normally remember their pasts aside from a few exceptions… So, I wanted to ask about yours,” The voidwalker clarified for her. “If you are okay with it, of course.” Adagio rolled her eyes. “I’m not from Earth, and that’s about as much as you’d understand…” She closed her eyes, breathing in and out slowly before speaking up again. “Sunset and I knew one another.” “You did?” Twilight asked, a surprised look on her face as I watched the two of them converse. “Were you friends? Enemies? Frenemies?” “She killed my sisters and I…” Adagio snarked bitterly, opening her eyes to scowl coldly at Twilight. Whose eyes were wide open upon hearing her say that. I personally did not know exactly what she meant by that. In my mind, I thought it was the Battle of the Bands when we stopped them back then. I couldn’t think of anything else that could qualify for that. “Oh… I’m… sorry to hear that,” Twilight then replied back to her. “What were your sister’s names? I was going to check to see if they were on the city’s registry.” Adagio crossed her arms and thought for a moment, seeming hesitant. “Aria Blaze. Sonata Dusk.” Twilight was then seen running her hands along a datapad as she typed in the names, only to look surprised as she looked back at Adagio. “Sonata’s not on here… But Aria is,” Twilight replied back to her. “Her last known whereabouts were that she was with a team of Guardians that tried to reclaim the moon… but it’s unknown whether or not she’s still alive.” “How do I get there?” Adagio asked, and I heard more determination in her voice than I ever have from her. “H-hold on… The moon’s only a place where the Vanguard-” Now was when I decided to step in. “Twilight, forget what the Vanguard says… We need Guardians on the moon now… Both my Ghost and I have seen it ourselves.” “What do you mean-?” “The hive are raising an army on the moon to invade Earth,” Ray now spoke up. “And if we are ever going to stand a chance, we need as many guardians being able to help us…” That… had Twilight stare at us in shock for a moment, before she looked to Ray and I as well as Adagio. “I’ll run it by the rest of the Vanguard… but I have a question for you.” “Yes?” I asked. “If you are so sure about the Hive preparing an army, then how are we going to know what exactly they’re planning?” Twilight then responded. To which, my ghost then said something that even I did not know about. “There was a ghost that belonged to a fallen guardian that we found on the moon… and the ghost had found out about a hive library hidden in the Moon that’s called the World’s Grave,” Ray said as he looked towards Adagio and I. “If they have any information about past battles or what they are planning now… it’s got to be there.” “So… what is your plan?” I asked. “Well… if you and your friend there-” He said, before getting a scowling glare from Adagio as he corrected his statement. “I mean… if you two can be able to get me there, I can steal as much as I can.” Then, I looked to Adagio as she turned to face me. “So… are you up for it?” “A crash course isn’t my strong suit, but I want to get my sister.” Adagio stated, eyes narrowing. “I don’t like you very much, Shimmer… but family is all I have left, and if there’s even a chance Aria’s alive, I’ll take it.” All I could do was smile and nod my head as I looked back at the siren… no, Guardian now as I smiled and nodded my back. This… is going to get very interesting now. 10- The World's GraveAuthor's Note For this chapter, I decided to not entirely follow it by the book, but instead have some other things occur throughout this mission to have it feel more personalized when it came to character development. Besides, this is kind of the first time that I had these two work together and... well, there's a lot going on between them. As always, Thanks to BronyParasite for writing Adagio. If you like what you are seeing so far, feel free to leave a comment, fave and track... if that's okay with you of course. -Frost 10- The World's Grave In all of my life, and yes that does include my newfound life as a guardian, I had never thought that there would be a moment where I would have to actually team up with… let alone fight alongside a former enemy of mine from my past. Adagio and her sisters were once sirens, creatures that were banished from Equestria to this world by Starswirl the Bearded… my Starswirl the Bearded. They had magic, but it was through their voice. Songs of hypnosis to try and have others under their spell. Back in those days, we stopped them… and when they were defeated, the necklaces that they used as their source of power were broken. After that though, I had not seen them since. However, my mindset was not so much focused on the past as they were on the present. Ray told us about a place in the moon called The World’s Grave, which served as an archive for the hive. A library of knowledge which is said to contain everything that the hive know about earth. At least… that’s what Ray told us. He was relying on the memory of the Ghost we found last time we were here. Let’s just hope that it leads us in the right direction. “We’re approaching the landing point. Prepare for transmat.” That was the cue for me to make sure I had everything I needed as I looked towards Adagio. It looked as if Twilight had given her some better armor and equipment than what she woke up with, but still kept the revolver that I originally gave her. I wanted to ask if she was ready… but after thinking it through, that just seemed like a redundant question. We soon reached our destination as both Adagio and I landed on the moon’s surface at Archer’s Line. We were a bit of a ways from the terminal that Ray & I used in order to track down the missing guardian last time we were here. But that was not our focus right now. “Alright then… Now, according to that Ghost we found, the entrance to the World’s Grave is nearby, but an ancient Hive Knight is guarding the entrance. If we kill the knight, then I can get us inside.” I looked towards Adagio for a moment, before looking in front of me again as a new marker appeared on my helmet. Again, I was tempted to ask if she was ready. But I had to remind myself that she would see it as a redundant question and instead began to proceed towards the marker with Adagio right next to me. Like the last time I was here, Ray had both Adagio and I head towards the old colony base by the Anchor of Light. And just like last time, the Fallen were there. Opening fire at the two of us the moment that they saw us. Three dregs, two vandals and a shank overlooking them on a nearby ledge. Instinct kicked in as I conjured a solar grenade to throw at the dregs, burning them as I shot down each one with my Auto Rifle. I was going to shoot the vandals, but Adagio beat me to it first. Shooting her hand cannon, she blew off the heads of the two vandals and smashed the shank into pieces with a palm filled with lightning in a form that was much different than that of Indigo when we were at the Devil’s Lair. But I can worry about that later. Once we stepped foot through the base that the Fallen were in front of, the marker that Ray had placed was pointing towards what was a rather huge hole in the shelter and down the hill. From there, the two of us saw what I would think was the gateway towards where we needed to go. It was also in that moment when I realized that it was Adagio’s first time actually seeing the hive with her own eyes. And something told me that she was… rather disgusted by them. “What the devil is that…?” “Those… are the Hive,” I heard Ray speak. “Beings of the Darkness… They invaded our colonies on the moon and proceeded to crack it open…” “I think she meant that Hive specifically.” I let out a deep sigh. “Well, that’s the Knight that guards the entrance but… Hang on, I don’t think it’s alone.” When I looked back towards the front, I could see that there were two knights standing guard at the entrance. But it was in that moment that I noticed that one of them was looking towards us and aiming it’s weapon… but not at me. “Adagio, move-!” The Knight began to fire off what looked like several projectiles that exploded once they made contact with something. I ran over to find cover, looking back to see if Adagio got out of there or not. Adagio had beelined it opposite of me and ducked into a trench, glaring daggers at me. Or at least… it felt like that. I could not actually see her face because of the helmet that she had on, but it really did feel like that. “Ray, any particular advice on how to kill them!?” “They seem to be heavily armored all around, except for their face,” My Ghost told us. “But be careful. Knights can create temporary shields in front of them that can block your shots.” That… also made me think of something. Adagio didn’t seem to have a secondary weapon on her… something that would be rather important for her to keep on hand, especially in particular situations. “Ray, transmat my Gozen-C and give it to Adagio. She might need it more that I do right now.” At first, Ray seemed to question my thinking… but moments later, he did what I asked and transmitted the sniper rifle for Adagio to use as well as some ammunition. “I’ll try to draw their attention. Think you can get a clear shot?” “... Yes…” Adagio seemed to have heavily considered, but affirmed. After hearing that, I readied my auto rifle and jumped out of cover. Moving around both of the knights and opening fire so that way I can force the knights to activate their shields and fight me. Not even paying attention to Adagio or what she was about to do as I saw her aiming down the sights of the rifle I just gave her. A few seconds later, I heard the shot that she fired and watched it blow off the head of the first knight and had the lifeless hive turn into a pile of ash. “What’d I tell you, Shimmer~?” Adagio remarked, before reloading. “I’m keeping this.” “Go ahead,” I told her, moving out of the way of the second knight’s blasts. “I normally use a shotgun anyways.” Just as I said that, I began to fire off a couple of shells from the shotgun I had for my secondary so that way we could repeat the same procedure on how we defeated the last knight. Once it’s shield was down, Adagio fired again and annihilated the other knight as I looked back at her. “Holy crap, you are much better at being a sniper then I am.” I admitted, watching Adagio come down from where she was at and meet me at the entryway. Upon going inside, we began to descend down a spiral pathway and the farther we went in, the more that we began to see what it actually looked like under the moon’s surface. Instead of tunnels and pathways, everything underground was filled with open chambers and catacombs, with crystals that let out a small, yet chilling light around what we were seeing. “By the traveler… It’s a whole necropolis down here.” “Yeah, necropolis… What’s that?” Adagio asked, deadpanning. “A giant tomb…” I said. “One that’s the size of the entire moon…” “Alright… is that some kind of shock or is this common knowledge?” Adagio asked. “I think this came as a shock to all of us, myself included,” Ray then spoke. “No one really knew what was under the surface of the moon. We only know that there were small temples and shrines that the hive have created, but nothing on this big of a scale.” “What do they want with earth?” Adagio questioned, more to herself than to Ray. It was a question that I asked myself as well, but we did not have the time to really think of an answer for it right now. Especially since the Hive realized that we were here. This time around, there was only a single knight… but it was accompanied by three to four hive acolytes and a Hive Wizard in the far back of the current chamber we were in. I had to quickly explain to her how to defeat the Acolytes and the Wizard in the back of the room as they began to fire at us. When one of them got too close, I smacked them with a Scorching hand as they turned into smoke before focusing on some of the others. First things first, we had to take care of the acolytes while staying out of the way of the knight’s own attacks and the barrage of arcane bolts from the wizard. Next came the knight as we followed the same strategy that we did just a few minutes ago. Lastly came the wizard, which was the trickiest since not only did it blast us with arcane bolts and have a solar shield around itself, but it could easily fly out of the way of Adagio’s sniper and conjure up a cloud of poison if we got too close. Given how I had already used both my grenade and my Scorch attack already, I decided to do something else in order to take down the shield of the wizard. Which was executing my super. Conjuring up all the power I had, fire began to burn around me and what looked like solar wings began to form on my back as I used it to throw a few grenades at once in order to destroy the wizards shield and causing it to stagger. Allowing for Adagio to line up her next shot and firing at the wizard as it let out a deathly screech before becoming a pile of ash. After taking them down, my Radiance form did not last much longer as the flames I had all around me soon diminished a few seconds later. However, we did not have time to catch our breath as a hive tombship randomly appeared out of nowhere, dropping down more hive for us to fight as I tossed some extra ammo over to Adagio. However, it was as we were fighting that we saw what looked like a floating rock expand outward. An eye of void like energy staring directly at us. “Find cover! It’s a shrieker!!” “Wha-?” I barely had time to ask as missiles of void energy began to bombard our current location. However, unlike the attacks from a wizard, these ones followed us to the point where they exploded upon coming into contact with something. “Ray, what the hell is that!?” “Hive Shrieker… They’re sentries of hive void energy. If we’re seeing one now, then we must be getting close to what we’re looking for,” Oh right… the Knight that holds the key to the world’s grave. “The two of you need to defeat that shrieker from long range and behind cover.” “What the hell are we even supposed to shoot?!” I asked, more void blasts exploding in front of me as the shrieker kept on firing at us. “The eye in the center is its weak point. Any shots to its shell will just bounce off.” My ghost told the two of us as I tried to aim at it and open fire while behind cover. Drawing it’s attention so Adagio can pin it down with sniper fire. Even though the shrieker did draw it’s attention away from me to try and fire it’s blasts towards Adagio, the siren was behind some rather sturdy cover as I fired at the shrieker to get it’s attention again. However, before I could fire anymore, I heard a click and was forced to have to reload my weapon while the shrieker was unleashing another series of void blasts. But before I could be able to open fire, I heard one last shot from Adagio’s rifle as the shell of the shrieker began to drop to the ground. It’s core setting off a huge explosion before fading away and clearing the path for us. “Nice shot.” Adagio herself just ignored my comment, and just proceeded forward as I caught up with her. We moved out of the area in here that was called the ‘Hall of Wisdom’ and now began to step foot in another section of the Hive’s necropolis down here. One that had the unsettling name of ‘The Circle of Bones’. “Alright… I’m picking up traces of the knight not far off on the right hand side up ahead. Once we kill it, we can get the key and head straight to the grave,” Ray told us… before clarifying one small thing. “The world’s grave I mean, not ours.” Duly noted. After making sure that I had enough ammo for my weapons, I turned towards Adagio. “Are you running low on any ammunition or are you good for right now?” “I’m fine, Shimmer.” Adagio all but glowered. “I did grab my own ammunition before coming here. I’m not a fool.” “I understand that,” I told her, putting away some of the ammo I had taken out for her and saving it for later. “I just thought that you needed some more considering the amount of hive that we had already faced so far. I don’t think either of us want to get in a situation where we’re completely out.” All Adagio did was just let out a deep sigh as she walked past me and towards the location that Ray had marked for us. Unlike some of the area’s that we had been before where the hive were in an open space, the knight was in a part of the Circle of Bones which reminded me of a colosseum from ancient times. Upon finding the knight that we were looking for, the two of us realized that he wasn’t exactly by himself. A few acolytes were circling the path around where he was, leaving the two of us to have to take them out first before focusing on the knight that had our key. And this one had a name that appeared on my visor. Kranox, the Graven. It’s outer appearance didn’t exactly look as different as some of the other knights that Adagio and I have dealt with, but it was a bit taller than the others. Surely, for someone who’s supposed to be their ‘keeper of secrets’, it did not look that foreboding if I were completely honest with myself. The knight first focused it’s fire on Adagio as she tried to fire around the knight’s head with her hand cannon. Only for Kranox to activate it’s shield to deflect the bullets as it focused its attention on Adagio. “Why’s it so fixated on me!?” Adagio screamed as she backed away from the knight and looked for cover as she attempted to suppress the knight’s advanced with a blind barrage. “Hang on! I’ll try to get it’s attention!!” I told her, grabbing my shotgun as I threw out my grenade. The solar grenade I threw out stook to the knight’s armor before exploding as it began to turn itself around and look towards me. As it charged, I aimed my shotgun and fired off two shells, causing it to stagger and glare at me. Not even paying attention to Adagio now. “There! Now’s your chance-!” Before she had a chance to finish, Adagio fired a round from her sniper rifle as it went through the back of the Hive’s head. However, that didn’t exactly finish the job. Before I even let the knight think about turning back around to shoot at Adagio, I fired off another shell to get it’s attention again. Chipping away as some of the armor around its body as I had it chase me around the ring and backed me up close to a wall. Setting up another shot for my partner to make. And just as it’s open, Adagio took her shot, causing the knight to crumple under the force and damage. I let out a deep breath, personally relieved that the ordeal was over. But it was as the knight crumbled that a couple of things rolled towards Adagio’s feet. One looked like that of an uncommon engram, meaning that she had obtained some new equipment… but the other looked to be that of a green orb that was pulsing. “Ray, is that what we’re looking for?” “Based off of the readings… Yes, that’s the key! I know where we need to go now,” I picked up the orb and let Ray transmat it because it was highly possible that we were going to need it later. But we now also got what appeared to be a new set of coordinates too. Without taking a moment to stop what we were doing, both Adagio and I set off towards the next destination that we needed to reach. After facing off several Hive that tried to attack us on our route, there were a set of giant doors that blocked our path. But, the moment that Ray transmitted the key into my hand, the orb began to float on its own. Shoving itself into the door as it split apart for us and presented the way forward. Even though some of the tunnels were crawling with thrall no matter where we looked. Eventually, we found what we were looking for. Yet, there were several knights and acolytes that looked to have been… worshipping or something like that which we needed to take down first. “Ray, get out my launcher. We’re in a hurry and I don’t think we want to waste anymore time with these guys.” My ghost… actually seemed to agree with me on that as he transmitted my Rocket Launcher. Aiming at the space in between the first two knights, I pulled the trigger. Launching the rocket as the blast desecrated the knights that were in the room. Quickly, I got my Auto Rifle out afterwards in order to take the acolytes down and speed up the process as I sent out Ray to scan the Grave. “Let’s see… Oh wow… There’s a LOT of information here…” Ray replied back as we turned around. “Luckily, I don’t think the Hive know we’re here… I’ll take what I can, but there’s something else I’m picking up not far from here. It looks like… some kind of holo-journal.” “I don’t care unless it’s Aria’s.” Adagio voiced her frustration. “Sunset, could you go pick it up? If we take the journal back to your ship, we can be able to find what’s inside it.” For a moment, I was a bit puzzled since I thought that Ray could do that. Then I realized that he was still working on the present task at hand, leading me to let out a sigh as I went over to what he was talking about. It looked like a metal kind of recording device, a simple one… though, there was something that made this one stand out. It had the symbol of the red pendants. The same ones that Adagio and her sisters used back at the Battle of the Bands all those years ago. “Adagio… I think I found something. And I think it’s Aria’s.” Ocean of Storms, Orbit After getting what we came for and also finding something else that was rather important, Ray brought us back up to my ship in orbit. But we weren’t going back to the tower just yet. Instead, Ray was trying to see if there was a way to bypass the security protocols that were on the holo-journal that we found. If there was something from Aria that was inside that journal, then we were going to get it out so Adagio could hear it. While he was trying to figure that out though, I watched as Adagio had her ghost out… which got me to ask her something. “So Adagio… I’ve been meaning to ask… have you thought of a name for your ghost?” For a moment, Adagio paused with what she was doing… before looking back at me and just giving me a small shrug. “Why? It doesn’t speak and stays far away from… well, everything.” “Well, calling it Ghost is like calling a pet dog that you have ‘dog’. It’s generic and some guardians think that it… adds a bit of a personal touch to it,” I explained to her, looking at Ray for a short moment… before sighing as I looked back at Adagio. “I… named Ray after someone I miss back home. My-” “Oh boohoo, is the little Sunset homesick?” Adagio mocked, her annoyance apparent. “Save it. I don’t want a personal touch on a machine.” “-father.” I finally finished saying. “I’m not homesick… but since I named Ray after my father, Solar Ray, to me it means that I can still remember my home even though we can’t be there. My Ghost reminds me of my father… so that’s why I named it after him. And-” “I hate to interrupt…” We both heard Ray as we turned to see what was going on with him. “But I will need Adagio’s help… It appears that your sister put a password on the holo-journal. I’ve tried decrypting it a few times, but I haven’t had any progress. The only hint I’ve gotten though has been ‘the mother siren’.” Adagio narrowed her eyes. “Scylla Daze.” At first, I raised my eyebrow to that, curious as to what it meant… but a few seconds later. “... We’re in. It’s open now,” Ray told us. “There’s only one recording on here. Should I play it?” There was a small pause in the room… but after a bit, my ghost then said something else. “I’m going to just guess that the silence in the room is a yes then. Playing the recording…” Around the time I heard him beginning to play the recording, we both now heard a different voice. It sounded… like Aria. However, the pitch of her voice sounded more dreary than before. “For those who find this, take this as a warning… a sign of things to come. Like you, I was a guardian. Filled with as much power as my pride could bear. I was with several others on the day that I tried to reclaim this moon… but now, I’m alone. The humans that were once alive… the guardians I had to trust as my comrades are gone. We all thought that we could send the hive screaming back into the depths of the hellmouth. We thought that together, we were invincible Oh how wrong we were… For that was when we came face to face with what was true terror. The Hive Prince himself… Crota. He and his armies slaughtered my comrades one by one and when it came to me, I thought that he would have me face the same fate. However… what happened to me was far worse. That monster ripped all the power that I had out of my very being… and stole my sight. The same power that I swore to use to find my two sisters again was taken from me… and now, I don’t think I can be able to see them in person anymore. Years after this, I had been forced to survive in the tunnel deep below the moon… But as of now, I have an opportunity to get out of this forsaken place. And I must hurry… Crota and his armies have their sights set on earth. I must warn them of what it coming before it is too late. To the ones who were able to give me this chance… I want to give you my thanks. You are such a brave light… When we meet, I will help you prepare yourself for what comes next. And to my sisters… stay strong. If I can be able to see you again and to hear your voice… then it can help me feel some kind of joy amidst all this pain. This is Aria Blaze… and I hope you find me soon. Because until we find Crota, we’re all just water racing down the drain.” The message then ceased as I looked back to Adagio. She seemed… shocked by everything that she had just heard right now. However, the name that we heard… Crota. That sent shivers down my spine. If this prince was able to strip a guardian of their light… especially one such as Aria… I honestly couldn’t even think about how we’re suppose to beat a foe like that. However, I didn’t have time in order to comprehend what I just heard. Because a few seconds later, Ray got a message from Twilight at the tower telling us to come back immediately. When I asked why, Ray only had one answer for me. Twilight had found Aria. And she was at the tower. 11- Chamber of NightBefore I could even ask for any form of clarification regarding what Twilight told me just now regarding Aria being at the tower, Ray had received an urgent transmission that went out on all channels. To be honest, if it were from Flash or someone else in the Tower, I would have Ray cut the transmission to try and get ahold of Twilight again. However, this was a different case. Because the transmission did not just come from anybody that was at the tower or anyone in the Vanguard. It instead came straight from the one who was the Voice of the Traveler. It came directly from the Speaker. The message itself was brief… but it was enough to make me realize the reason why he was releasing this transmission and the gravity of what it meant. “As of this moment, nothing is more important now. We believe that the Hive are engaged in a ritual on the moon that is draining the Traveler of it’s Light. To all guardians who are listening, whatever power the Hive wield in order to attempt this feat must be understood… and destroyed.” This… put me in a bit of an awkward situation. For my duty as a guardian was to protect the City and the last of humanity… but I also promised Adagio that I would help her find her sister and see it through. If I choose to help Adagio in this moment, my choice could be seen as an act of defiance by the Vanguard. Yet, if I go back to the surface of the moon… Adagio might see it as if I’m going back on my word. I can’t choose to do both given the repercussions, but even choosing one of them is rather difficult right now… and even Ray could tell that I was having trouble choosing. Then, someone unexpected reached out to me out of the blue. And when I had Ray sync the transmission, I was honestly surprised to hear back from her again. “Hey, Shimmy! Did you get ahold of that transmission just now?” “Yes I did, Indigo-” I paused for a moment, before looking back at the transmission as I spoke up. “Hold on… Shimmy?” “Yeah, that’s what my ghost called you when I asked for him to reach out to you. And normally, he doesn’t give nicknames.,” I heard the Hunter respond back. “So… since I’m taking a break from the Crucible and Mac is still helping out his sister, you wanna go investigate what the Speaker was talking about?” Oh great… talk about being rushed to make one of those ‘in the moment’ decisions. Now how am I supposed to explain this? “Indigo… I’m kind of tied up with something at the moment and I just finished a mission for the Vanguard like… half an hour ago.” Personally, I’m not a fan of saying only half truths… because it seems less like your trying to answer the question that they ask you and more like your trying to dodge the question altogether. But when Indigo heard what I said, she was… actually rather calm about it. “Oh, I get it… Last mission left you low on supplies? Well, go back and get the stuff that you need and just let Sparky and I handle all the prep work.” I looked back at my ghost for a brief moment, before following it up with another question for the Hunter. “Prep work?” “Well, you can’t exactly disrupt a hive ritual when you don’t know where it is,” Indigo replied back to me. “Sparky and I are going to scan some of the cracks on the moon’s surface and see if we can trace it back to wherever this ritual is being held at. Once we find out where it leads, I’ll contact you so we can disrupt this thing.” That… definitely sounded like a pretty good plan. I did need to take care of a couple of things while I was at the tower anyways so that would work out well. “Alright, I’ll be back in a few moments.” On my way back to the tower, I had to explain to Adagio that I couldn’t exactly be there for when she would reunite with her sister Aria and tried to explain everything to her… but before I could, she stopped me for speaking. Saying that I had already done enough for her and that she needed to do this on her own. Her cold expression reinforced those words as the two of us parted ways, but part of me felt that this was for the better. That we would be able to fight alongside each other again in time, but now was not the right time for such a thing. Before I was to go back out to reunite with Indigo, I had to do two things. First, I needed to see the gunsmith. According to Ray, Vinyl sold items called Ammo Synthesis, which could be used to refill the ammunition for a weapon that you would happen to run out of while in the field. Considering the fact that my Shotgun and my Rocket Launcher had not a lot of ammo to begin with, I thought that buying a few of these with the glimmer that I had obtained from the Cosmodrome bounties I was finishing would be a good first step. Secondly, there was the Cryptarch, Moondancer. It turns out that Ray had picked up a pair of engrams that had dropped when we were in the World’s Grave, so he recommended me to decrypt them because there ‘might’ be a chance that I could get some equipment that was better than what I already had. Though… he was half right. One of the things I did get was better, but it was only a better piece of chest armor called the Tengu Operant VI, which had the nifty traits of increased defense and extra ammunition when I have a pulse rifle. The other engram gave me a machine gun, which at first I thought was okay… but when I compared it to my rocket launcher, the machine gun had high damage output at the cost of reload speed. Something that I saw as crucially important to survival. After dismantling the machine gun and getting back some weapon parts and glimmer, I had Ray take us back to orbit and go straight for where Indigo was on the moon as I sent her a message that we were on our way. Upon touching down on the moon in a place that was called ‘The Hellmouth’, Ray directed me to where Indigo was located at while I was focused on taking down a few Hive that tried attacking me en route. Once we caught up with the bladedancer, she was relieved to see the two of us. “Glad you can make it. I was worried that you were going to miss out on all the fun,” As she said that, the hunter fired her hand cannon at a hive acolyte in the distance. The shot puncturing the acolyte’s head as they disintegrated into green flames and a pile of ash and dust. “I’ve been having Sparky scan the energy from the cracks in the hellmouth so we can try to find out where it’s coming from.” “And?” My ghost asked. “Easy now, I’m getting there,” The hunter responded. “Good news is that he got the data… bad news is that it’s farther inside a Hive Temple.” After a couple of seconds, Indigo had her ghost transfer some of the data that it acquired over to Ray for him to analyze and make sense of everything. And almost instantly, he knew where exactly we were headed off too. “This is…” He said at first, before letting out what almost sounded like a small sigh as he looked back at me. “I know where we’re headed, but we’re going to have to go deeper into the Temple of Crota.” Oh joy… that place again? The last time we were there, the welcoming committee was a tidal wave of hive whose claws were trying to slash at my throat. Not to mention some mysterious person watching me while I fought for my life… hopefully this time around, things will be different. Again, hopefully… given the kind of ritual that the Hive were performing, it was likely that there were more of the Hive inside of the temple instead of outside. But nevermind that, we can’t just stand around and let them do this while I was processing all of this. So, shortly after I told Ray to put on a marker for the location we needed to go to, he pointed us in the right direction and marked it for us as Indigo and I both got on our sparrows. But as we were accelerating across the surface of the moon, Ray began to pick up something. It sounded like radio static and right away, Ray thought that the Speaker was trying to reach out to us. But he couldn’t tell because of how there was so much distortion on the comline. However, the voice that did manage to get through… was not who we thought it would be. “You’re an interesting one… not entirely interesting, but you do have potential.” Immediately, I turned around to look at the same cliffside from before. But unlike last time, no one was there. “Who is that?” “Who is what?” Indigo then asked. “I don’t hear anyone else on this line.” That had me stop for a moment… if Indigo couldn’t hear them, then… why was… whoever this person is… why are they reaching out to me? “Ray-?” “Sunset, I don’t know who or what it is, but I’m losing their signal…” “Guardian… I know what you are about to do,” I heard the voice of this stranger that was speaking to me again. “It’s brave… but know that there are foes out here in the solar system that you would not believe.” “Out where-?” I tried to ask, only to get cut off by the strange voice again. Hearing one last line before the transmission was abruptly cut. “Descend and face the hive… And if you survive… then come find me.” “Sunset? Earth to Sunset, are you there?!” That loud outburst from the bladedancer had both Ray and I snap back to reality as we looked back at her. “Geez, for a moment, you had me concerned.” “You… didn’t hear that?” I blinked for a moment, shaking my head as I looked back at her. Maybe this whole Guardian business was slowly driving me insane somehow. Well, at least Ray heard that… right? “You heard that, right?” “Yeah I did,” He told me, causing me to let out a sigh of relief. “Signal was dropped, but I got some broken coordinates out of it. Venus… Northern Hemisphere… Ishtar region.” “Ehh, sounds like something that someone who wants to keep a low profile back at the tower would do so the Vanguard wouldn’t trace the origin point of the signal,” The hunter shrugged it off as she made sure that her hand cannon had a full set of rounds in the chamber. Despite what Indigo said though… I highly doubt that what I just heard was someone who wanted to try and trick me. But I can worry about all of that later. “Get your rifle ready, Sunset. We got only way to go from here.” “And that is?” Ray asked. Though… I kind of knew what the answer to that one was off the top of my head when we heard the sound of… something roaring from deep within the entrance of the temple itself. “We go down.” Upon rushing through the entryway to the temple, Indigo and I found the room filled with several Hive Acolytes and a massive one in the center that my helmet defined as a Ogre. And upon them noticing our presence, both of us had to split up in opposite directions because of the blasts that were coming out of the Ogre’s eye. The hunters first move was to throw down one of her own grenades that split apart upon touching the ground as it took down several of the acolytes before firing at the others with her hand cannon. As for me, the Ogre was trying to aim for me, so in an effort to disrupt it’s attacks, I threw out my solar grenade towards it’s eye to see if that could help me. Turns out, it did. Because the moment that grenade made contact with the Ogre, it flinched in pain and staggered. Allowing for an opportunity for me to open fire with my auto rifle and take it down as Indigo finished off the last of the acolytes. Though, one thing that was different from last time was now there was a pathway that extended under the right side of the platform that Ray and I originally found the ghost of the guardian that was held here. An open passageway for us to descend deeper into the heart of the temple as it curved like a downward spiral. At first, the way down did not seem too hard given that the only thing that blocked our path at first was a few thralls. But as we continued to go deeper, more tougher foes began to emerge. At one point, a hive Wizard and a knight were bombarding us while several hive acolytes tried to force us out of our cover and a swarm of thrall tried to rush us. Though, all this did was have Indigo’s light crackle all around her as she conjured a blade with her arc light. Using it to slice through the husks of the thrall as if she was cutting through paper. Within the time she had it active, the whole room of hive had almost been decimated as she used the last of the Light she was using to destroy the knight. Leaving me to take down the wizard by using a grenade to destroy it’s shield and then finishing the rest with my auto rifle. “Nicely done.” I complimented her. “Thanks… I could’ve used my super later on, but since we are trying to not waste time, I thought now would be more appropriate.” She replied, tilting her head towards the end of the hall as the both of us began to charge forward. In the next room, we didn’t find any hive roaming around on patrol. But we did find something that really did not look good at first glance. “Is that…?” “Hive Seeder…” Ray responded, answering Indigo’s question almost instantly. “Just like the ones invading the Cosmodrome… If we don’t end this now, then more of these would be hitting home.” All that did was just compel us to push forward even more. Taking down every Hive that we came across along the way as we re-entered the World’s Grave. This was only briefly considering the fact that it was what connected the pathway that we just came through to where Ray and Sparky were detecting the energy surge back on the surface. And when we reached the back of the room, the doors to the next room parted open as we cautiously stepped inside. In what was now coming up as the Chamber of Night, we saw three Hive Wizards that my helmet defined as ‘Siphon Witches’ and they looked to have been performing some kind of ritual on an object that was floating in the middle of the room. It was covered in black shadows as the witches began to drain something from it. If what they’re doing was what the Speaker was worried about… then we needed to put an end to this, now. “Indigo… you have a rocket launcher on you?” “Always. It’s one of the most important survival tools I have other than my knife.” She replied, pulling out her rocket launcher before asking me a question. “What’s the plan?” Around that time, I got my rocket launcher out and looked back at her. “Use the launcher to take down the first two witches and then we focus our fire on the last one. I have a feeling that these three aren’t alone, so if more come in afterwards, we dispose of them before trying to find out what exactly this thing is and why the Hive are so interested in it,” As I said that, I noticed something nearby that looked to be a terminal or something. “Sound like a plan to you?” All Indigo did was nod her head, shortly before moving to the right as I went to the left. Aiming our launchers at the two witches and opening fire as the rockets destroyed them on impact. I switched back to my auto rifle afterwards and threw out my grenade after to take down the shield on the last one before using my shotgun to take it down. But, we weren’t exactly out of this yet… because by killing them, several other chamber doors began to open as the Hive began to pour out and charge straight at us. I fired off three more rounds from my shotgun at the first few incoming hive before hearing the clicking sound of an empty magazine as I switched to my Auto Rifle, scorching another thrall to buy myself some time as Indigo was firing her Hand Cannon at the Acolytes and knights that were coming in. There were a couple times where some Cursed Thralls that I had encountered with Adagio tried to approach the hunter from her blindspot, but I was able to shoot at them before they could even get the chance to detonate. After that first set though, we soon had a lot of Hive Knights swarm in. Some with their own weapons while others had giant swords that looked to be big enough to cleave me in half. Given that two of my weapons needed to reload, I saw this as the chance for me to activate Radiance. Recharging my grenade and scorch before I began to throw several grenades at the swarm while Indigo continued to shoot them. As each one fell though, I noticed something else drop alongside the ammunition blocks that fell to the floor as I went to go grab it. Turns out… what I found was a weapon. One that was colored in camo and looked rather different than the auto rifle I was using. “Oh hey, you got a pulse rifle,” Indigo pointed out. “It looks brand new. What are the modifiers-?” She stopped partway near the end of her question to shoot a hive thrall that tried to leap up into her face as I had Ray inspect the weapon. Shortly before I saw a complete breakdown on my helmet. Weapon: SUROS JPS-32 Type: Pulse Rifle Manufacturer: SUROS Slot: Primary Modifiers: -QuickDraw IS: Agile sight. Lightning fast handling -Red Dot-OAS: Snapshot sight. Enhanced target acquisition. -Grenadier: Kills with this weapon reduce the cooldown of your grenade. -Upgrade Damage: Increases Attack Power, allowing this weapon to cause more damage. That… definitely looked like something I could use. Not to mention the fact that my new robes gave me extra pulse rifle ammo reserves. “Ray, put my Auto Rifle away. I’m going to give this weapon a shot.” “You got it.” Was the only response I got as he transmatted an ammo clip for the new weapon I was holding. If I recalled correctly from what Vinyl-3 told me when she first explained the weapon types to me, instead of this weapon being in full auto, Pulse Rifles fired their shots in bursts of three. My clip right now had about thirty six shots, so I needed to do what I could to make sure that all of them counted. As the clip I had locked into place, the third wave of hive began to storm the chamber. This time, there were no acolytes or wizards, but a massive amount of Hive Knights with a few cursed thrall hiding right behind them. Aiming my newfound rifle, I fired off several shots that were aimed specifically at the thrall while trying to strafe out of the way of the Knight’s own blasts. In my mind, since I knew that these ones could explode upon death, killing them could make the knights weaker and vulnerable to our attacks. And after the first couple of shots and two of the thralls detonating nearby their allies, it caused the knights that were originally shooting at us to stagger. Allowing for us to focus on them as I felt my grenade finish recharging. As we were fighting the knights though, I was personally still trying to adjust to the mechanics behind the newfound weapon that I was currently using. Unlike with the Auto Rifle I had, where I would just aim and hold down the trigger as I fired it, this one required for me to keep tapping the trigger after each round was fired. Which… was different, but considering the fact that the fire rate on the weapon was rather quick, it didn’t seem like much of a change. After Indigo and I took down the last of the Knights that swarmed the chamber, we got a brief moment in order to reload our weapons. But it was in this brief moment that Indigo… actually asked me a question. “Hey, how’s it going with that new weapon of yours? Still trying to get adjusted to it?” “Yeah, I haven’t really used Pulse Rifles before,” I replied back. “I’ve mostly used Auto Rifles up until this point, so it’s taking a bit in order to adjust to the weapon and how it works.” “Did you get the full-auto modifier?” That… was a question that I did not anticipate as I looked back at Indigo. A bit confused by what exactly she was talking about. “On the weapon. What modifier did you get?” “I got something that would help recharge my grenade faster.” I replied to her. “Why?” “That’s good… but Sunset, there’s something I think I should make sure to let you know when it comes to modifiers,” She replied back to me. “No two weapons or armor pieces have the same modifiers. Everything you get, whether it’s a scout rifle or a rocket launcher will have a random different set of modifiers each time. Not everything’s the same-” Before she could go any further on the explanation though, that was when both of us heard an ear piercing roar that shook the very chamber as I looked back at her. Indigo herself cursed for a moment as she looked back at me. “Let’s worry about that later. We need to deal with whatever that was if we want to try and figure out what the hell is this thing.” The final door began to split in two as both sides parted ways. Now there was an ogre storming into the room alongside a wave of hive thralls. But on my radar, this ogre actually had a name. Telthor, Unborn. And once it’s eye saw us, it unleashed a fury of blasts in our direction while we were trying to fight off the Hive. Indigo herself had the thralls chase her before jumping into the air and firing off a rocket from her launcher, but when she aimed at the Ogre, all she heard was a clicking sound. “Crap! Out of rockets!” She cursed, before switching weapons. “How many do you have, Sunset?” “I only got one!” I hastily responded, scorching one of the thralls that lunged at me before taking out two more with my shotgun. Of course, it was then that I realized something. “Ray… get me out a heavy ammo synthesis!” “For you-?” “No… Give it to Indigo,” I told him, channeling my light and activating Radiance as solar light began to surge around me. “I’m going to buy her some time.” Before Ray could even question what I was saying, I began to channel my power into throwing several solar grenades at the ogre. The flames from them burning away at the Ogre’s overly huge body as I focused each one of my throws to hit it in the eye. My plan though wasn’t necessarily to kill it, but weaken it enough so that Indigo could be able to take it down with one well placed shot of her rocket launcher. And it was around the last few seconds that I had Radiance active that I was then told something. “Alright, I’m all set. Get clear!!” Immediately, I got as far back away from the ogre as I possibly could. Turning to Indigo as she leaped into the air and fired off one last rocket. As the rocket exploded, the hulking ogre let out one last deathly howl as it disintegrated into a pile of ash and smoke. Leaving nothing behind as the hunter was able to let out a sigh of relief. Glad that it was done as she looked back to me. “Well, that’s one less hive we need to worry about… Now let's go inspect this thing and get out of here before more of them show up.” After further inspection, both of us found out that the object in question that we uncovered from within the Chamber of Night was actually from the Traveler itself. A shard of the Traveler that the Hive were using against the Traveler in an attempt to try and weaken it. Ray had it sent back to the tower shortly before we returned back to orbit and Indigo had already taken off for the tower so that she could report to the Speaker about our success. Yet, for me… something really didn’t feel right. And by now, I think Ray was noticing me being stuck in thought for the last ten minutes. “Sunset… are you okay?” I turned to my ghost, a bit surprised that he was actually showing concern for me as I let out a sigh. “Sorry I just… I can’t stop thinking about earlier…” “You mean in the Chamber?” He asked, leading me to shake my head. “No… before we even entered the temple,” I responded back to him, before looking back at the navigation console on my ship. “Even though we both don’t know who that stranger that was trying to contact us was, she went through the trouble of leaving coordinates for us… And then there was what she said.” “I remember… and I’m still trying to make sense of everything myself.” He replied. Just around the time that I was finally able to finish my thought. Around then was when I was finally able to finish thinking through what was in my head and now began to speak. “I just… think that this is something that we shouldn’t ignore,” As I was speaking, I sat back down at the helm of my ship and began to look at the interface of my vessel. “If this threat she speaks of is even more dangerous than the hive, then we need to learn what it is so the Vanguard can know. Do you still have those coordinates?” Ray nodded, scanning the navigation system of the ship as a holographic projection of Venus was now presented in front of me. “There we go.” As I punched in the coordinates and began to have my ship accelerate, I asked one more thing to Ray. “So… what should I know about Venus before we touch down?” “It was once considered as a jungle paradise during the golden age and during that time, humanity set up a scientific research colony that was built by a group called the Ishtar Collective so they can study the ruins here. Some that are supposedly older than humanity itself.” Well… this will be interesting then. Author's Note For this chapter, I had to work things around a little so that way everything would fit nicely. I was told that it would seem too early for Sunset in order to meet Aria, so with that in mind, I decided to have Sunset continue her adventure on her own and let Adagio stay at the tower. Don't worry though, she'll be back much later... she just needs a break for the moment. Also, I did kind of stretch one thing in this story so that way it would fit that I would like to clarify. I know that Destiny doesn't have an item sharing system, but I think that I don't have to strictly go by the book for this one in particular. Just to let you know. Next Chapter: A Stranger's Call Hope you guys like this one and enjoy what else I have in store. -Frost P.S. Fun question... what are your guys' favorite weapons in game, whether it be from D1 or D2? For me, since Forsaken came out, I've been having a lot of fun with the Bygones Pulse Rifle from Gambit. 12- The Stranger and The AwokenBy the time that my ship broke out of orbit and descended down towards the surface of Venus, I was a bit caught off guard by what I was seeing. In all honesty, I was expecting a rich jungle environment and vegetation based on what Ray had told me, but upon setting foot on the surface, a lot of what I found was jagged slopes of rock, burned out trees and a ocean that was the color of rust. Massive clouds lingered all around the atmosphere as I watched lightning crackle from inside those clouds. Further scans from my ship identified the chemical composite of those clouds to consist primarily of sulfuric gas that was being released from the surface of the planet into the atmosphere, with the main source being one of the mountains that had a huge glowing crack split down the middle. Which is the reason why the skyline was now a sulfuric yellow that only allowed in small amounts of sunlight to peak through the clouds as we flew over the ruins of what was once a civilization that lived on the planet's surface. And to think that such a planet was once called a ‘paradise’ for humanity and seen as the holy grail of golden age research. I wonder how Twilight would react if she found out I was here? Once I landed on my feet, Ray soon emerged out of my equipment and began to speak. “And just when I thought that everything here that was built by the Ishtar Collective was all lost during the collapse… Yet, everything here still looks as if it's seen better days.” “Ray… could you remind me what exactly was this Ishtar Collective supposed to be? I believe you only mentioned it briefly on the way here.” I asked him, holding onto my pulse rifle as I surveyed my surroundings. Looking to see if there was anything that could be seen as out of the ordinary. “We’re they like some kind of special group or something?” “You… can say that,” He replied back, before going back inside my helmet. “The Ishtar Collective was a organization during the golden age that dedicated themselves to pursuing scientific advancements and research. A school was even built here called the Ishtar Academy. We’ll probably be going through it if we’re to reach the coordinates this new ‘friend’ of ours gave us. But…” “But?” I asked, now raising an eyebrow at my ghost. “But I think you and I both can agree that we don’t like getting dragged out here and not get a lay of the land first,” That… was indeed a valid point. One in which Ray emphasized on when he continued his statement. “My sensors are picking up what was once a guardian outpost not far from where we’re at right now. Let’s go there first to see what they have on this place as well as see if we can get your sparrow linked up too.” Well, at least it beats running around on foot all the time. That's for sure. Following the main path though, I focused my efforts on making sure to get to the outpost while also keeping my guard up in case something was watching us. The amount of time that I have been out in the cosmodrome taught me that the fallen would always be the kind to scavenge ruins like the ones that we flew over, so I kept my guard up in case if they were actually here. Which was helpful because not a few moments after I began to walk through the ruins along what was now coming up as ‘The Shattered Coast’, several fallen scavengers that were hiding behind rusted and broken down cars now had their sights on me. Forcing me to quickly act as I fired several rounds into the first couple of dregs I saw before fighting against the shanks and the lone vandal that was with them. However, seeing the presence of the fallen here was kind of unsettling considering that getting to the outpost wasn’t quite as easy as I thought it would be… and the likelihood of it being trashed by the fallen was another concern. A concern that was greatly elevated when around the time that I had dispatched of the patrol I encountered and got closer to the outpost, a fallen ketch just happened to appear out of normal and bring more of them for me to face. Man, I really do not have time for this right now. So before they could even try to fire at me, I jumped up and equipped my rocket launcher. Firing off a rocket in the middle of the fallen pack as the explosion took them down in a matter of seconds. By then, their ketch had already left and since I did not see anymore of them, I believe that we’re in the clear. “That was very quick…” “We don’t have time to be held back just because a few fallen want to kill me and loot my corpse,” I told my ghost, reaching what appeared to be the outpost because of the collapsable terminal that was there. Having Ray appear in my left hand now, he took the moment to scan the console here as I kept an eye out for more fallen. Just in case if what I did earlier happened to attract more attention. And after about a minute, that was when I felt him return to me. “So, did you find anything?” “I did and a whole lot more,” he told me, just as I saw something flash on my visor. It was the same thing I saw on the moon when Ray established the link with my sparrow, which was a sign of relief. Of course, the sparrow link was not the only thing that he found. “Aside from linking your sparrow, the last Guardian here has a lot of information here about something than the fallen.” “Other than the fallen?” I asked, my tone giving the impression that I need further clarification on the matter. “Yes. There’s a lot in here about a series of … war machines, I think,” You think? Ray, I don’t need you to think right now, I need you to know- “They’re called the Vex and judging from the notes here, they are indestructible, relentless, super intelligent… and they can teleport. Well, that’s just great.” “Okay, is there some form of good news that you can tell me from that?” I asked, bringing out my sparrow as I began to take a seat and grab the handles. “Why yes actually. According to this, guardians that once came here used a series of sensors to track them. They’re currently offline right now, but I am picking up their locations. Let’s get them back online first.” A new marker appeared on my map as I went straight towards it. Avoiding the broken fissures of rock in the ground and looking back towards where the marker was. Getting off my sparrow once I got close enough and taking a moment to reload my weapons before stepping inside. The sensor that the two of us had to find was inside the second floor of what looked like the main lobby for an office building. And the only real way I can tell that was that despite everything else inside the room being destroyed, the front desk was still sturdy and looked to have not really taken any damage. Before I could have Ray bring the sensor online though, I needed to clear out the room of… you guessed it, more fallen. This time with a servitor backing them up and attempting to make them invulnerable to my attacks. Of course, one servitor and a room full of Fallen weren’t a problem when I still had my grenade and weapons to quickly dispatch of them. The solar grenade I threw at the ground not far from where I was at to keep the fallen dregs off my back as I aimed my pulse rifle at the vandals. Taking them down quickly with a few burst rounds to their heads before focusing on the servitor. The servitor itself was trying to blast me with energy that it was firing from its eye, but by moving around the complex, those same blasts were able to get blocked by the concrete pillars that held the room in place. Which, to me, seemed like a perfect plan of attack. Use the pillars to block the servitors attack, before firing back and taking advantage of the servitors own weak point. Once things were a bit cleaned up, that was when I had the chance to get Ray to visit the console on the top floor as I had the chance to look around the building some more. Though… there was something that almost caught me off guard. It looked a little bit worn and torn, but under some rubble, there looked to be what was some kind of postcard along the back wall. Man, now I was beginning to feel bad for whoever did come here to live just before the collapse. “This is so extensive…” I heard my ghost say, taking a bit longer than normal before returning back to me. “Alright, I should be able to track them now. Let’s go to the coordinates and see what this new ‘friend’ of ours wants for us to see.” I nodded in response, bringing out my sparrow again and setting off towards where we were going. Though, it only lasted a short while as the two of us reached the entrance to an underground passageway that was too narrow to have my sparrow squeeze through. Going through the tunnel though lead to us ending up inside of another building. However, this place looked to be much different. I found myself walking through the hallways of what looked like the inside of an old facility. But it was around this time that I heard Ray say something else to me. “We are definitely in the Ishtar Academy now.” “How can you tell?” I then asked, going down a set of stairs to where there was a broken statue in the center of a room. The statue itself looked almost like the one that was on the postcard that I saw. Just with a few cracks along the body and the wings of the statue were already broken off and crumbled. That was before coming out into a small clearing that was in between this building and the next one over. “You see that symbol on the next building over? Near the top?” I looked up now, noticing what looked to be a circle with a series of lines extending from the center. Four of them going in a different direction diagonally with two coming out from the left and right as Ray continued to explain. “That’s the emblem of the Ishtar Collective and the emblem that represents its archives. I saw it once on the walls in the tunnel that we just passed and two other times when in that last building.” “I’ll just… take your word for it then,” I replied back as a new marker came up. Directing me towards the second building. A few fallen were inside, but I made short work of them as I pushed through. Going up the stairs of the main plaza and following the marker. As we got closer though… that was when Ray and I found something that was… out of the ordinary to say the least. It was a pillar of white light, but it had numerous other lines moving along the outside of it. Twinkling as if it was a structure made out of glass. “Ray… what is that?” “I have no idea… but the coordinates lead us to this exact spot,” So this stranger went through all of this trouble to get our attention in order to see… a pillar? To take a page from Rainbow, that just sounds anticlimactic. “Let me take a closer look. There’s probably more to this than we might think.” At first, I thought that the idea of something that we clearly have no idea what it was sounded downright insane. Then again, we’ve kind of already did a lot of things that would also fit in that same exact category. Stepping closer, I held him out so he could examine the strange structure… and after a few seconds, he seemed to be picking up something. “Hunh… this is fascinating. Streams of non-baryonic particles are going through this conflux, but where-. Oh no...” The sound of lightning began to crack through the room as I looked up to see what appeared to be a massive grey cloud. Crackling with lightning and jagged square like lines as I backed up from the conflux. “Ray, what’s going on?!” “No no no no no!! This is bad!!” He said, just before returning to me. “It’s the Vex! They’ve found us. Find cover, now!” From the cloud, several mechanical forms began to emerge. All of them moving autonomously… moving together… towards us. My visor began to pick up two different types of these Vex. The first one, the goblin, had several of them spawn not too far from where I was at. Their right arms were a designated weapon that was aimed directly at me as they fired red bolts of energy passed my head. The second one, the hobgoblin, had what looked like horns coming out of its head and sported a tail as they were perched near the back of the library we were in. Each of them had a glowing white core that was around their stomach. However, there was one other thing about these guys that I only realized after the fact. Shooting their head off doesn’t exactly kill them… it just really pissed them off. Something that I found out firsthand when two of the goblins I thought I killed began to charge me while also firing their weapons. Forcing me to switch to my shotgun in an effort to get them to back off as I scrambled to give myself some distance. And just after taking care of those guys was a problem, more of them came in just a few seconds later. Only this time, there was one of these machines that towered over the others. It came up on my radar as a Minotaur and the blasts that it fired from its weapon were enough to rip holes through the ground and blast through the floors of the balcony looking over the room. Reducing the amount of options for me to retreat to for cover. I couldn’t even be able to get far enough away from it because a few seconds after I gained some distance, it emerges out of nowhere right in front of me and slams its fist into the ground. Now, I’m beginning to feel just as pissed of at them… as they are at me for shooting them. “Ray, activate a heavy ammo synthesis.” “Already on it. You’re clear.” the amount of rockets I had just reached max capacity as I got out my launcher, aiming directly at the minotaur and squeezing the trigger. Seconds after being fired and breaking the shield that was around it, I wasted no time loading the next one in and preparing the launcher to fire again. Turning the minotaur into scrap metal alongside the other vex that swarmed around it. The hobgoblins that were present immediately activated a solar shield to protect them from the rockets, but they couldn’t be able to protect themselves after I switched back to my pulse rifle to take them down. Now… no more of those machines came for us. And we found ourselves standing in this pit of dead robots. But now that the dust had settled… that was when Ray spoke up. “What exactly are these things? Do you see any intact that I can analyze?” Looking around, there was one goblin that still looked intact. Holding out Ray, I bent over the Vex and had him scan it. Seeing if he could find anything- “Well fought.” I stood up and turned around. Behind me was a figure. An exo who had dark leather garments all over her body that would match the appearance of a hunter as well as a hood. But it had no mask on and I could be able to see its face. It’s cold metallic eyes staring directly at me. “You’re actually here…” I replied, a bit surprised. I was going to add more, but before I could say anything, the stranger cut me off. “I am… but not for long. We haven’t gotten much time.” Okay, but could you at least answer a couple of simple questions for us? I mean, you had us come all the way out here and the least you could do is answer them. “Who are you?” “And why have you been watching us-?” “Look. I don’t have the time to explain why I don’t have the time to explain,” the stranger retorted, before looking away as I heard a faint buzzing in her ear. Almost as if there was someone else talking to her. “I got it. I will. I know.” “Got what?” Ray asked. “I wasn’t talking to you, little light.” Little light? I… have to admit, that sounded like a good nickname for Ray all things considered. “I’m a Ghost, actually-” “I think she already knows that.” I told him, just before the stranger picked up where she left off. “Many guardians fell trying to come here. Strong ones too. But you made it here in one piece-” Again, she turned away, talking to whoever was on the other end of her com line. Ray however, became a bit too curious about her. Floating around the exo’s head and beginning to speak to himself. “Who is she talking too?” That stray comment had the exo lift up her head and upon noticing Ray, pushed him aside before turning her attention back towards me. “Guardian, you need my help.” “Is that why you brought us out here?” I then asked, just as I noticed the goblin that Ray and I were looking at begin to twitch all over the ground. Catching the attention of the stranger as she moved over to it. “They brought us here,” She corrected me, before bending down to see the goblin, struggling in pain. “The Vex… They are constantly simulating. Constantly learning. Evil so dark that it despises other evil.” That… was when Ray said something that… definitely threw me off guard. I didn’t realize it at first when we originally met her. But based on how she was acting, I now could see what it was. “You’re… You’re not a guardian. Are you?” At first, the exo just stood there and remained silent. But then she turned her head back towards us. “No. I was not blessed by your traveler… Nor was I forged in light,” Looking back down at the Vex, she moved her right arm behind her to her utility belt and unhooked something that was hidden under her cloak. “But, I believe that when our paths cross, Ground…” The very next moment, I watched as she whipped out a knife and drove it into the center of the Vex. The white like core rupturing as whatever was inside splattered all over the ground like blood. The goblin itself let out a screech as it died. “... could break.” Pulling out the blade, she put the knife away before turning back to us. Asking a question that I… didn’t exactly have the answer too. “Do you know of the Black Garden?” “We’ve heard of the legends.” Hold up. We? What do you mean by ‘we’, Ray? Are you trying to put words in my mouth or something? “The greatest threat to us all lies where these machines are born. Where they are brought into this world,” The Stranger retorted while also saying something else. “Find the Black Garden… and once you do… rip out its heart. Only then will your Traveler’s wounds will begin to heal.” That sounded alright. However, there was something that I needed to know. “Can you help us find where it is?” The exo shook her head, its eyes closing for a short moment as it spoke. “My path is my own. I can’t come along with you.” Well, I guess that rules out that option then. And we don’t quite have any alternatives that can serve as a plan b. Well, more like I don’t have any alternatives. Though, it seemed like Ray was pondering something as he turned back towards me. Hopefully, he had some kind of fallback plan as to what we had to do next. “If we’re going to need to find the black garden, then we will need to see the Awoken out in the Reef.” Wait… the Reef? “Ah yes, the Awoken,” The Stranger retorted, “Out there, wavering between the light and the dark. A side should be taken… even if it is the wrong si-” However, before she could finish, that was when something on her com line went ablaze. Because the moment she turned around, she quickly armed herself with the weapon that was on her back and was already walking away. A blue-light silhouette forming around her. “Too late? Returning now. How many are there? … Stay right where you are, kill the engines, and whatever you do, don’t let them find you!” And just as quick as she was here, the stranger was gone in the blink of an eye. Leaving just the two of us among the broken disassembled bodies of Vex. “So… Ray… Could you explain to me what this Reef is? And more importantly, what in the world is the Black Garden?” “Stories from the old warlock named Mistmane say that it was a place that was created because of the Traveler’s actions on Mars. But that’s all that they are… Stories,” Ray replied back. “The only ones who could possibly know about it are the Awoken that live in the Reef. It’s out on the edge of the darkness and its seen as the last place that the light has ever touched.” Pausing for a moment, my ghost looked back at the whole mess that was in front of us, before asking what I thought was a bit of a rhetorical question. “Can’t we just stay here with all the murderous robots?” Looking back at him, I only had one answer for him as I placed my pulse rifle on my back. “No… Little Light.” “Please, don’t do that.” By the time that we arrived back to my ship and began to get settled in, we were now orbiting the planet of Venus, Ray was already beginning to set up the ship’s navigation system so that we could head directly towards the Reef. The place at the edge of the system where the Awoken reside. In my mind, I was trying to think about how to think everything through so that I don’t end up saying anything I would regret later. Unfortunately, before I could go anywhere… That was when something was coming through on my navigation unit and Ray materialized right next to me. “Incoming transmission from the tower. I believe the Vanguard is trying to get ahold of us.” And just before I could say anything, that was when I began to pick up the voice of who exactly was trying to contact me. And right away, I could tell that this wasn’t good. “Sunset? Sunset, where in the world have you been?!” I heard the voice of Twilight shout at me, before she began to calm herself down. “After your mission on the moon, no one’s been able to get a hold of you for the last two hours. And just what in the world are you doing by Venus anyways?” “That… is a lot to explain.” I told her. “I got time…” “Well, I don’t exactly have that.” I said at first, before taking a deep breath. “When on the moon, we got a transmission from someone. Someone who left us a series of coordinates to Venus. When we went to investigate, we were attacked by a group of enemies that are called the Vex. And when we met this stranger, she told us something important.” “Wait… How important? I mean, I partially know of the Vex because of the research that the tower has from some of the members of the Ishtar Collective after the collapse but…” Things went silent for a moment, but then I got an idea. “Ray, do you have audio from our conversation earlier?” All my ghost did was nod his head, before I spoke up. “Play back the clip from when she told us what we need to do in concern with the traveler.” At first, Ray was a bit puzzled as to why… but after a moment, he complied as he went over to my ship's computer and scanned it. Before a segment of our conversation began to play. “Do you know of the Black Garden?” “We’ve heard of the legends.” “The greatest threat to us all lies where these machines are born. Where they are brought into this world. Find the Black Garden… and once you do… rip out its heart. Only then will your Traveler’s wounds will begin to heal.” The audio clip soon ended and with it, Twilight gasped. Almost like she had heard an omen of some sorts. But it was then that she had a different question for us. “Did this… person offer their help?” “She said that she couldn’t, but Ray has an idea of where we can start looking for the Black Garden,” I responded back, pressing a few buttons as Ray interacted with the ships navigation system. “He said that the best place for us to start looking is to go to the Reef and visit the Awoken.” For a moment, I heard Twilight gasp. Almost as if what I told her just happened to scare the living out of her. But after a couple of moments and as my ship began to head out of orbit and towards our destination, that’s when she cleared her throat and began to speak again. “Sunset, I… know that what you are doing is important. Just… please be careful. The Awoken out in the Reef are not as friendly like those in the tower. In fact, if you ask for their help, they would always want something in exchange. And they will see it through to the end… I have to go, Flash is calling a meeting. I’ll try to look at any information here in the archives on the garden, just-” Then, the transmission was abruptly cut. Our ship began to slow down, approaching what looked like a cosmic void. Pieces of what used to be ships were scattered all over the place as I slowly moved forward. “Ray… what is all of this?” “Every ship that tried to flee Earth during the collapse… This is as far as they made it out here, but… I think they died out here.” He told me, as we passed through two huge plates of what looked to be some kind of passenger ship. “This… place is a graveyard…” I gasped, looking around while trying to stay on course. “But if this is true… how did the Awoken survive?” “No one knows how-” He said, before stopping and looking to my navigation unit. “Sunset, stop the ship now.” “What-?” I looked toward my ships radar, only to find that two red markers had just appeared behind me. For a moment, I felt that I needed to turn around and see them, but that was before a new voice was blasting on my comline. “Intruder bearing one-seven-two, you have crossed into the realm of the Awoken. Either state your business now or be fired on by the order of the Queen.” I immediately looked towards Ray, almost as if I wanted for him to demand an explanation. But when was short for words, I had to get to the comline to respond. “We are here from Earth. We wish to seek the counsel of the Awoken.” Shortly after I said that, both of the ships that were originally behind me began to circle back around… before they responded back to me. “Conform to my trajectory. Any deviation from my course will be taken as an act of aggression.” Now both ships moved to the front and began to lead the way as I took over the controls of the ship. Carefully following them as I looked back to Ray. “Well, I think both of us found the right place.” “Yeah, but why is the ‘right place’ always have to look so terrifying?” He asked me as we began to continue following the two ships as we went into the loading bay that was here. Before leaving though, I made sure that I left my weapons behind. If I were to show that I was here for counsel, then I should do all that I can to not provoke any ‘acts of aggression’ with my appearance as I followed the guards that came out of their own vessels. By the Traveler, I think I’m beginning to sound like Rarity. I mean… acts of aggression based on my appearance? Really? “So… these are the trespassers that are demanding an audience?” My attention was soon directed towards the one who was in front of me. An awoken, whose appearance and light armor made me think that he was some kind of hunter. But I did not feel any light from him. Nor did I see anything that would be a ghost. Aside from the armor, he had the grey/white like skin that comes with being an awoken, washed orange eyes and his hair was a dark faded purple as he sat on the steps of what appeared to be an empty throne. “We did not mean to trespass-.” I told him in response while Ray was floating right beside my head. “The Queen is the one who judges those who wish to enter her realm. Seeing if they are or aren’t worthy,” The figure spoke, getting up off the floor as he slowly approached us. “If it were me though… I honestly see no reason for her to to be available to those who wash up upon the shores of The Reef. And yet, here we are.” “We’ve come seeking your help-” I told him in response, noticing something move behind the throne. As this… person that I was talking to turned around, that was when I saw something that caught me by surprise. But not as much as it caught Ray off guard. “Fallen-!” “Ray, wait!” I said, stopping him from doing anything. It looked like in that moment, he was going to transmat one of the weapons I kept on the ship. There were indeed fallen in the vicinity. But something was different about the two that we were seeing. Normally, Fallen would immediately attack us on sight if they see someone like us. But these ones just stood by the throne, as if they were guarding it. “Something’s… different. They’re not attacking us, so the last thing we should do is attack them.” “Well now, aren’t you an interesting one,” We both now heard a second voice, turning our attention to the throne as another awoken stepped out from behind it. Her eyes were a fading blue and her hair was similar to the color of that for the first Awoken we saw. A fading light purple, which was similar to that of the color of her skin. “Others like you would immediately succumb to fear and let it provoke their actions. But this one… this one is different.” As I say that, both of the vandals standing behind her stood at attention. Their spears standing up as if they were elite guards to the queen. I was still trying to process how this Awoken could have Fallen serve under her, but that was not important right now. “Tell me… are you one of the nameless… or are you not like the others you fight alongside?” Now it was time for me to speak. “My name is Sunset Shimmer… I am a guardian from Earth.” I told her in response. “So it does have a name,” She responded, amused by my response. “Well then, I am Novo Sov. Queen of the Reef and of my people. Now… what could someone like you possibly want from my people?” “We’ve come to ask for assistance. My ghost and I… We are searching for the Black Garden.” There was a brief pause. Some whispers from the guards as the male awoken approached us. Moving closer as he asked us a question. “And why are you searching for it?” “We seek to destroy the darkness at its heart.” Ray now replied as I nodded my head in response. “So you wish to turn it into a battleground,” He asked, shaking his head in response as if what we said to him was disappointing. “How tedious.” And now I get the feeling that this guy is holding something back from us. Like he knows something about the garden and is trying to keep it a secret. “Do you know where it is?” “Everyone knows where it is,” He spoke again. “The hard part though is getting inside.” “Can you help us?” That question had him now glare daggers directly at Ray and I. Almost as if he wanted nothing to do with us. His tone sounding much more agitated with each word he spoke. “And just why… would we… do that?” “The queen wishes to seek counsel with her brother-in-law,” We both heard Novo speak up. There was a brief pause, but when the other awoken did not move, that was when she spoke again. “Stratus…” The other awoken, nodded his head in response. “At once, your grace,” He replied back, before walking over and kneeling before her. Both awoken began to converse amongst themselves, making Ray and I look at each other and wonder what exactly they were discussing. But after a couple of moments… the tone from Stratus abruptly began to revert back to when we first met him. “Yes… that’s good. That’s definitely good,” He said, turning around to face us again. “Why not? We’ll help craft you a key for you to go inside… How’s that? There’s just one thing that we need in order to build it.” “And what would that be?” I asked. “The head of a Vex Gate lord.” “Uh… A Gate lord?” Ray asked, now sounding nervous at the mention of that. “May I ask why do you need the head of a Vex?” I then asked. “Oh we don’t… And I doubt we’ll get one. But what’s inside that head is your only way of getting into the garden.” Wow… out of all the people I’ve met so far after coming back to life, this guy is the one who’s a straight up asshole. Putting that aside though, all I did was nod my head. “We will bring you what you asked for.” But before we left, we heard one last cheery remark from Stratus. “… Or die on Venus, either way.” Author's Note This time around, I did a 2-for-1 special. Since I really felt that doing the ‘Awoken’ as its own chapter was too short and out of place, I thought it would be better to include it here than drag it on a bit longer. So with the bigger threat now out in the open, Sunset has to do whatever she can to seek the Black Garden and put an end to whatever’s going on inside. Only then will the Traveler truly begin to heal. -Frost Fun fact... When Novo asks about if Sunset Shimmer is ‘nameless’, its referred to the fact that when most guardians are first brought to life, they don’t remember anything from their past. Sunset and a few others in this story are the only exceptions. 13- Eye of a Gate LordAuthor's Note Alright. For this chapter, I decided that instead of dragging through the mission that would take place before this one, I would cut ahead to where the most important pieces take place in terms of the story. I'm doing this same thing in regards to Strikes, because how I choose what chapters to do and which ones not to do will be based on what's mostly important to the overall story. For now though, we find Fireteam Harmony following through on getting the head of the Gate Lord that's needed so Novo can forge them the Key to the Black Garden... and end up messing around with things that should've been left alone in the first place. Until next time! -Frost 13- Eye of a Gate Lord After our meeting with the Awoken and their queen, I needed to fill in Twilight on what exactly happened while I was in the Reef. As we were talking, the warlock vanguard also informed me on a few things that she did while I was gone. First, she happened to inform the other two members of my fireteam about my encounter with the Vex on Venus and my meeting with the Stranger. Of course, they both really weren’t sure whether or not to believe the claims that the Stranger made, but they were more than up for taking on the Vex. Before we could fight a gate lord though, we needed to find it… as well as find out how to summon it. Which, lead to our fireteam doing what may be called the Vex equivalent of brain surgery. Ray, Winona and also Sparky all collectively told us that in order for us to find out how exactly these things operated, we needed to crack open the biggest one we could find, take its brain and plug it into the research station on Venus called Campus 9. Which, on the surface, sounded crazy… but after finding a Vex Cyclops on the Shattered Coast and actually going through with it, we not only found out what to do now… but we also possibly why the Stranger was so worried about them. From what we were able to gather, the Vex terraformed the garden world of Mercury. Transforming it into a living machine in only a matter of days after the Collapse and if it weren’t for the Traveler, they would’ve quickly spread to every planet in our solar system. And all of the vex share a single a single mind across millions of their own units, which was the reason why they were able to react so quickly and warp across star systems in an instant. Though, there was one thing that we can do in order to lure out the Gate Lord we needed to kill. Since each vex is part of a giant network that courses throughout the whole planet, all we needed to do was find a way to break into their network intentionally. That way, we can draw out the Gate Lord and get what we needed for the key. Upon touching down on the surface of the Headlands again, Ray voluntarily placed a marker for us in the direction we were headed. Which prompted Indigo to get on her sparrow and take off first with Mac and I chasing after her. But while en-route, we had to stop for a moment to fight off a camp of fallen that was set up, before ditching our sparrows all together and just beginning to run on foot. Once we approached what appeared to be a huge Vex construct that appeared on our directory as ‘The Citadel’, that was when Indigo broke the silence and asked something. “So, Ray… what were you, Sparky and Winona able to uncover on these ‘Gate Lords’? I want to have some kind of idea as to what exactly we are up against before running in recklessly.” I agree with her on that. Though, it was rather strange to hear that from Indigo of all people. If anything, based on what I saw her do in the crucible, she’s the one who normally runs in head first recklessly. Bzzt. Beep Beep. “Well, Sparky was the one who found out the information out of everything we’ve uncovered, so let me say what we have,” Ray then spoke up shortly after hearing Sparky beep a few times. “They are a special class of Vex minotaurs. Over three stories tall. Their primary function… No, no, that can’t be right… can it?” “What can’t be right?” Mac now asked, sounding puzzled. “It says here that the Gate Lords protect the realms that… the vex keep locked out of time.” Hold on… time? As in time travel? That… just sounds way too complex to understand. “Let’s not focus on that right now… I’m picking up a heavy vex conflux not far from here. Get one of us to it and we can be able to access their network.” “Ah got it,” I looked over to see that Mac was the closest to the conflux, bringing out Winona so she could infiltrate the network that the conflux was connected to. We waited for a few moments, but then, we saw her return back to the defender before speaking up. “And ah thought you had the hard job… Okay, ah got some good news and some bad news. Good news is that ah know where we need to go in order to drag out that Gate Lord. We’re looking for a place called the ‘Endless Steppes’,” She told us, before letting out… whatever sound is made when a ghost sighs as she gave us the bad news. “However, bad news is that in order for me to find it, I had to fiddle around with their entire transfer gate network.” “Meaning…?” Indigo impatiently asked. “The closer we get there, the more that yer going to have your hands full.” Well… this will be fun then. And not in a good way. Even Indigo could tell that things were going to get rough for us and Mac was not exactly happy about the news either. But we don’t really have a choice now, do we? Though, making our way out of the Citadel and towards Campus 9 was actually simpler than I thought, because along the path we were taking, we always found small puddles and rivers of rust colored water. Of course, normally seeing water like that back when I was alive meant something different entirely, but right now, the rivers were pointing in the direction of the marker that our ghosts had already established. So, using this, we followed the river out of the citadel, into a settlement called the ‘Waking Ruins’, where we found ourselves another river to follow as it guided us right to the outer edge of our first destination. Of course, our troubles first began upon reaching the research station in Campus 9. When we were originally here to grab all the information we could off of a Vex Mind, we had to deal with the Fallen that were trying to scavenge what was left of the place for parts. Now, the only enemies that we were picking up on our radar were from what looked like an active vex… portal of sorts that was to the left of the station. Several goblins, a hobgoblin and a few harpies had already spawned and just as we got closer, all of them picked up on where we were. “Ray, what’s the plan here?” I asked, before the three of us split off in order to find cover. The goblins and harpies were already beginning to fire at us, while the hobgoblin fired a shot that barely grazed the edge of Mac’s helmet. Gripping onto my Pulse Rifle and beginning to fire back at the Vex, a pair of goblins crumbled down to the floor, but were replaced when three more emerged from that gate. “The gates are waking! More of the Vex are going to keep on spawning here if we don’t shut down the gates,” I heard him say, before marking the gate that we were not far away from. “We’ll mark each one of the active gates that we find. Just focus on making sure they’re shut down for good!” “Hey, Mac! Sunset! I got an idea,” I heard Indigo speak up. Turning around, I saw her bringing out her rocket launcher and loading a round in the barrel chamber as she asked the titan and I a question. “Try to get those scrap heaps to focus on you guys. If they focus on you two and Mac activates his super, then I can fire off one of my rockets to destroy that gate without them even paying attention to me-.” “That ain’t gonna work,” Mac responded, shaking his head as he looked back at both of us. “Ah can’t activate mah Ward of Dawn yet since it isn’t fully charged-” “Then use your grenades, your machine gun, use anything that you got on hand in order to keep them off my back. It doesn’t have to be specific,” The hunter interjected, before looking back towards the Vex that were spawning briefly. She then turned back towards us, but more specifically, to me “Those rust buckets are gonna catch on if we stand around here and drag it out too long. What’s the plan, Shimmy?” Now it was my turn to say something as I reloaded my rifle. “Mac, you’re with me. Indigo, we’ll try to buy you as much time as possible. Just make sure you tear down that gate.” “Got it!” Once we heard those two words from Indigo, Mac and I immediately got to work on drawing the attention of the Vex. I was mainly using my rifle while also using my solar grenade for when a group of goblins began to close in on my locations, while Mac was using his fusion rifle to vaporize each one that came too close to him and punched anything else. As we took them down, we heard the sound of a rocket being launched as an explosion went off. Destroying the gate as Indigo raced back over to join us. “One down, where’s the next one?” “To your left and up on the ledge,” Ray then answered my question. “Careful though, you got two minotaurs inbound.” Luckily, Mac still had his Magnetic Grenade on hand for this one both Minotaurs began to make their way towards us. Throwing it at them, the titan’s grenade stuck onto the first Minotaur, but exploded twice. Taking down both of their shields and making them vulnerable to our weapons. But they didn’t really quite take it well because they ended up charging at us once the shields were down. Forcing me to switch to my shotgun and fire a few rounds into their metallic chests to try and get them to back off. It worked on the first one… though, it didn’t really work so much on the second one as I felt the Minotaur strike me across my left shoulder. Throwing me back a few feet as I felt a surge of pain through my body. “Sunset, find cover. I can heal your injuries, but I can’t do it while you’re out in the open!” “Hang in there, we’ll cover for ya!” I heard Mac shout now as he switched weapons. I half expected for the weapon he was using to be a pulse rifle, since that was what I saw him use last time. However, the weapon that he was holding was much different than before. It was a faded dark green scout rifle that he was using to aim at the weak points of the Vex. Taking each one down with a couple of explosive precision shots, which I found surprising given that he was able to do it so quickly… with a scout rifle no less. Well, since I wasn’t really doing much considering my current position, I decided to take a look at the weapon that Mac had and see what kind of modifiers it had. Weapon: Gladius 77 Type: Scout Rifle Manufacturer: Unknown Slot: Primary Modifiers: -SureShot IS: Snapshot sight. Excellent handling. Superb target acquisition. -Red Dot ORS1: Precision sight. Highest zoom in class. Enhanced range. -Ranged Lens RLS3: Mid-range scope. Good effective range and recoil control. Heavy and slow. -Rangefinder: Aiming this weapon increases its effective range. -Fitted Stock: Increases weapon stability. -Explosive Rounds: Volatile payload explodes on impact, dealing a portion of the weapon's damage in an area I blinked for a moment. Just… how did he have that much perks on a single weapon? Sure, some of them can only be active at a time, but the thought of a weapon having that much customization just baffles me. But now was not the time to be thinking of that. Because I was beginning to feel the last of the pain go away as I looked back at my fireteam. Jumping back into the firefight as I began to aim at the Vex. The second gate was already out of commission, but we needed to clear out everything here before going to the next gate. “Geez, just how many of these things did you screw around with Winona?” I heard Indigo ask as the three of us went around the backside of the second gate, only to come across a third gate shortly afterwards as more Harpies were closing in on us. “Everywhere we go, the Vex just seem to show up out of nowhere!” “I can’t really say how many but-” For a moment, the ghost was interrupted as we heard the sounds of beeps coming from Sparky. Which immediately had Winona correct herself shortly afterwards. “Wait… how many? And you’re sure about this? … Well, alright. Sparky says that he’s detecting four other gates. Some within close proximity of one another, but with a lot of Vex around them.” Of course there would be a lot of them. You did kick up a robotic hornets nest after all, Winona. So thanks… thanks a lot. Back to the task at hand, we applied the same plan that we had done with the first two gates to each of the other ones that we had to take down. The only difference being that Indigo and I would trade off when it came to taking down the gates with our rocket launchers while Mac himself continued to have the Vex focus on him. Whether it would be through throwing grenades, punching their metallic heads off or using his weapons to turn them into nothing but spare parts. The plan was working, but around the time that we reached the sixth gate, that was when we came across a Vex that was different than the others. This one was much bigger, floating in place and had weapons on the sides of its metal chassis. But the thing that made it stand apart from every other Vex was that it had some kind of rotating shield around the body. And when we tried to fire our weapons at it, the shots were blocked. It was a shield that we couldn’t break on our own, alongside a metal body that was much durable than others. This one also had a different name. It was called a Hydra. It took us a while in order to defeat it, but even after its body was destroyed, that was when we realized how lethal it was. At first, Indigo was walking past it as the outer body was beginning to glow bright red. Prompting Mac to run and push her out of the way before his body was tossed like a ragdoll as the Hydra exploded. Which left Indigo and I staring at one another as we saw Winona floating there. “Did… he just…?” “Yeah yeah yeah, he died saving your butt just now. Can ya hurry up and revive Mac already? We don’t got all day.” Winona impatiently snapped. Oh, so that’s what happens when you do die as a guardian. Something tells me that Ray forgot to mention this… or anything regarding the subject. Extending my hand forward, I felt my light began to channel around my outstretched palm and around Winona, before Mac began to re-materialize and take form right in front of us. His armor looked a bit charred, but the smoke and dust began to fade away as he looked back at Indigo. “Next time, please be careful around anything like that okay?” “Yeah, yeah… I think I learned my lesson now,” The hunter just grumbled, emptying the rounds in her hand cannon before going through an opening between two of the walls in the ruins as she began to scout ahead. For a moment, we thought she decided to walk off without us out of frustration… that was, until she said something that caught our attention. “Uh guys… You might want to come take a look at this.” Upon hearing that, Mac and I looked back at each other as I shrugged for a moment, walking towards where Indigo was standing at. However, neither of us honestly expected to see what was waiting for us at the end. It was a vex gate, but unlike all the other gates, this one was three times as big. And the fact that we could see the gate being active was not a good sign either. “Ray, I thought Winona said that there were six active gates.” “There were… And this is the Endless steps. That’s the gate we need to bring out the gate lord,” He told us, sending a shiver down my spine. “And we have a small army of Vex between us and that gate. Just brilliant.” “So yeah, no pressure or anything.” Really Winona, was now the right time in order to try to say that? After Mac just threw himself in front of Indigo only a few minutes ago? By the Traveler, you’re bad at timing. Once more, we had to fight more of the vex troops that we found earlier. Luckily, there were no Minotaurs or Hydras in this group. Just a mixture of Goblins and Harpies with a few Hobgoblins stationed around the platforms as if they were on lookout for intruders. Which was simple enough, but we still had to keep our guard up just in case something did happen to surprise us once we got closer to this gate. Though, even after taking out the surrounding Vex, it didn’t really seem like anything was happening. The only thing that stood out was this red ring of light that was on the ground in front of the gate. “So… what exactly is supposed to happen now?” “I… think we’ll need to stand on that plate to summon it.” Well… we did come this far, so there’s no point in trying to back out now. Following Ray’s advice, I stepped forward into the circle. The red ring from before began to lower and change as a new ring of white light began to take form and slowly rise. Seeing this, Mac and Indigo joined me as the ring of light began to rise. Once the ring was around our waists, that was when it began to lower back down and when the energy within the gate began to churn and activate. Watching as mounds of energy from the gate began to materialize and take form. First; it was the chassis, then the arms and legs began to materialize and the head was last. It’s darkened metal body towering over the three of us as it landed on the ground and stared us down with the only eye that was on its head. This gate lord was much taller than the minotaurs that we had been fighting so far as now we could see its name appear on my visor. Zydron, Gate Lord. “Well, here we go.” The moment when I heard Ray say that, the Gate Lord immediately began to attack us. Without warning, it began to fire off a series of blasts from the weapon that it was holding. What was referred to as a ‘Torch Hammer’ because of how deadly its shots were and how easily it can tear away at our shields. This pre-emptive attack by the gate lord forced us to immediately scramble and find cover, while trying to avoid getting hit by its attacks. “What’s the plan here, Sunset?!” I heard Indigo yell from behind a stone column. Just a few meters from where I was at. “We need to return fire and fast,” I responded, before deciding to ask a question to my ghost. “Ray, can you tell if it has any weak points?” “Based on its appearance, the white core that’s in its chassis is the likely best scenario. However, we need to keep in mind that it has most of the standard functions of a Vex Minotaur, but it does not have a shield protecting it. Likely because of how highly durable it is.” Wait, it doesn’t? Turning my head, I peaked out of cover and looked at the Gate Lord. Before aiming my pulse rifle and firing three bursts. Those shots hit their target, while also getting the Gate Lord’s attention as I went back to cover. “Alright, no shield, highly durable… We can work with that,” Looking back at Indigo, I now finally could say something. “Both of you do whatever you can to weaken it, but make sure you keep your distance and don’t let it get close to you!” “You got it!” Now hearing this, Indigo jumped out from behind cover. Readying her hand cannon as she fired off several rounds at the Gate Lord, all while she was movie out of the way to try and avoid the blasts that were being fired at her. Mac and I were also doing the same thing, while trying to back up away from the gate lord to avoid getting crushed by it if we got too close. At one point though when we were fighting, that was when the Gate Lord emitted a loud shriek… and with it, I heard the cracking of static and electricity. “Guys, stay alert! I think it’s calling for help!!” Moments later, I hear the sound of Vex goblins and Vex harpies spawning in and the bolts from their weapons flying past my head. Forcing me to take my eyes off the Gate Lord to deal with them first as I conjured my solar grenade and tossed it towards them. The flames burning away at their metal husks as I quickly shot a burst of ammo into their chests to take them down quickly. Once they were out of the way, I turned my attention back to the Gate Lord. Reloading my weapon first before engaging it once more. Several more vex began to spawn, including a few hobgoblins on the blocks that were not far from us as they tried taking aim and pinning us down with suppressing fire. This time, Big Mac switched weapons to his fusion rifle to make short work of the hobgoblins and threw his Magnetic Grenade at the other Vex that were trying to close in on our position. Indigo herself also lent a hand by throwing out her skip grenade towards some of the Vex that were trying to shoot from my blindspot as I activated Radiance, using the power of my super to conjure several grenades as I began throwing them outward and having them land at the feet of the gate lord as the solar orbs that lingered there burned away at its body. We continued to trade off who would focus on the extra Vex troops that would spawn in the area with who would focus on the gate lord, with Mac even going as far as to activate his Ward of Dawn in case we needed to find extra cover for just a brief moment. But after a few more intense firefights with the rest of the Vex and firing off almost all of the heavy ammunition that we had, something happened. The gate lord’s body began to explode and crumble apart as the energy from the gate began to go haywire. Sucking everything in, including the battered body of the giant Vex minotaur we just killed as we watched its head be severed off and fall on the ground. Which… had Ray let out a sigh of relief now that this battle was finally over. “Great job everyone. We’re all still alive, the activity from the Vex Gates have ceased for now and we have the head of the gate lord. Nice work.” “Let’s hope that this head will be worth almost getting killed over,” Indigo grumbled. “Because it would be a real dick move if we bring this and then this queen says that she didn’t need it in the first place.” “Indigo, trust me,” I let out a sigh as I looked back at her and placed my rifle on my back. “If the stakes weren’t as high as they are right now, I wouldn’t even have considered going this far in the first place. Plus… the only way that we’re going to get into the Black Garden is that if the queen makes the key we need. Let’s just hope that she keeps her promise.” “Speaking of which,” Big Mac now spoke up as he looked back at me. “Is there anything we should know about this queen before we meet her?” That had me look back at both of them for a moment, before nodding my head. “A few things… I’ll tell you on the way.” The Reef “She’s alive,” Were the first words that we heard as we walked through the hall of Queen Novo’s throne room. Unarmed like before, we approached the queen, who still had the two fallen vandals standing guard next to her as well as her advisor, Stratus. “And still has her ball. Not to mention some others alongside her.” As Stratus turned around, I saw that his eyes were looking towards my hands. Almost as if he was expecting for me to be holding onto the head myself as he smirked and looked back at us. “There is no shame in running, Guardian. It is an excellent strategy if you ignore your cowardice and the failure of it-” Now it was time for me to do the talking. “What leads you to think that we ran away?” Both Novo and Stratus paused for a moment, exchanging puzzling looks before the queen asked a question. “You don’t think they slayed a gate lord, Stratus?” “Oh, we definitely did,” Indigo now spoke up. “In fact, we have proof.” The sound of that had a small smile of amusement emerge on Novo’s face, looking at the bladedancer before turning her attention to me. Leading me to speak next. “Ray. If you please…” My ghost nodded, before glowing for a brief moment as he teleported the head that we acquired right at the base of Novo’s throne. As it crashed, all of us could see the stunned expressions of Novo, Stratus and her fallen guards. “We need to find the black garden.” After I re-emphasized my point, Stratus just looked back at us now, before grinning a small bit. “Hunh… They don’t even know where it is-” “Then let us tell them,” Novo interjected as Stratus looked back towards the Awoken Queen. “Search the Gate Lord for where they may gain entrance.” Now Stratus turned to face the queen, his voice sounding irritated and annoyed as he glared at Novo. “Why?! If you want to wish them certain death, then just kill them here where they stand-” “Often, when we guess and assume the motives of others, we unintentionally reveal our own.” The single statement was followed by an intense glare from Novo as he began to kneel. Which made me think it was a sign of sincerity, since his next reply was much calmer than before. “Loyalty is my only motivation. To a people, to a queen, to you…” “Then please,” Novo spoke as she looked back at the advisor kneeling before. “Take what is required.” For a moment, it seemed like Stratus was questioning whether or not to follow through with what Novo was saying. But afterwards, he got up and approached the Gate lord head that was on the floor. Knife in hand as it was plunged deep into the head, cutting through the insides of what was in there as he pulled out its eye. Which glowed red while it was on the floor, but upon holding it up, soon went dark. “Dead… unfortunately,” He said with a smirk on his face. “Your efforts were in vain, I’m afraid.” Before either Mac or Indigo could act, that was when Novo spoke again as she looked back at her advisor. “Perhaps, but with them going this far to get it, it proves that they are resourceful,” She replied as Stratus turned his head towards her again. “In sympathy for their traveler, we shall gift it to them.” Once again, Stratus looked distraught. But it was only briefly, for then we finally got an answer that could get us somewhere. “Mars. Eighty-four north, thirty-two east. Meridian Bay.” He tossed the eye directly at us, which Big Mac caught with one hand as the queen stood up from her throne. Looking at the three of us with a pair of serious eyes. “Through this act of generosity, I have shown you benevolence. And in return, should the Awoken ever need an ally, I will call on you three and expect an answer.” Big Mac nodded his head and Indigo did the same. Even though Stratus had something else to say in that moment, I kind of already knew what it meant. Through this, we are in debt to Novo and her people. And the only way that it can be repaid is that if we answer her summons. “I understand. Thank you, your grace.” I bow in response for a moment, before the three of us begin to turn around and leave, with Ray following right behind me. I could hear Stratus trying to wish us good luck as we left, but something told me that after the exchange that we saw between him and Novo, he still was not found of us. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he kept something to himself about where we needed to go next. 15- The Black GardenMoments after Ray and I initially arrived in this place, it took both of us some time to try and figure out exactly where we were. The first thing that we attempted to do was try and make contact with the rest of my fireteam to let them know I was okay. We tried reaching out to Mac, Indigo and even tried getting in contact with Twilight and the vanguard, but each one of our attempts were unsuccessful. Ray tried recommending for us to get to a better vantage point to see if we could try contacting them again, but in my mind, doing that right now wouldn’t exactly help us right now if we kept trying all over again. Yet, aside from the communication issues, the fact that we ended up in a place like this after jumping through a Vex Gate that only a gate lord could access led to me coming to one solid conclusion. This was the Black Garden. The very thing that the Stranger had told us about. To me, I saw this as a relief. Because it meant that all of the trouble that my fireteam and I had to go through on Venus, Mars and also making a deal with Queen Novo had paid off. Yet, for Ray, his thoughts on the matter were somewhat different from mine. “This is beyond what I was expecting.” “Something the matter, Ray?” I asked, holding out my left hand as he began to materialize over my palm. “No, no. It’s just… I can’t seem to get a grasp as to where we are right now,” He explained to me. If a Ghost can feel uncertain about something, then right now, he was definitely showing that to me. “If this really is the Black Garden, then it’s not recorded on any map known to Space and Time. It’s, in a sense, it’s own reality. It’s something that I’m having trouble making sense of.” All I could do in that moment was let out a brief sigh, taking a look around for a moment before turning my attention back to Ray. “Since when have the Vex made any sense?” Ray just narrowed his gaze and looked away for a couple of seconds, possibly to try and come up with some kind of retort. But after a bit of thinking, his gave me an answer. “Fair point.” “Besides, if this is the Black Garden, then its heart has got to be around here somewhere,” I reasoned with him, while taking a look back at the pulse rifle that was in my other hand. “How many ammo synthesizers do we have right now?” “Five for primary, four for special, though we only have two for heavy ammo and we’re currently low on rockets right now.” “Let’s save that for later,” My response was followed by Ray returning back to my equipment as I tightly gripped my pulse rifle. “Right now, we need to keep moving. Watch my back, alright? I rather not walk into any traps that might be in this place.” “Got it. I’ll do what I can. We are dealing with the Vex after all.” With that in mind, I began to proceed under a circular archway and continue forward. The surrounding architecture was almost identical to the Vex structures that we had seen before on Venus, yet there was one key difference that stood out immediately. Moss and plant life had taken root throughout this place. Growing up the walls and hanging off the edge of some rectangular shaped blocks that were stretched out from some of the structures that were in each of the particular rooks. Turning to the left, I cautiously proceeded into the next room. For a moment, I stepped back and had my weapon aimed forward at the sight of what looked like a few Vex goblins. However… something was off about these ones. Normally, if a Vex saw me or any other guardian, they wouldn’t hesitate to try and kill us on sight. But these ones weren’t moving at all. They just stood there like eerie statues in different places across the room, and the moss that covered their bodies did not help any. “Ray, what’s going on?” “I think… they’re in some kind of stasis,” My Ghost told me. “Nothing’s coming up on the radar at all. It’s like they’re empty husks. Bodies without souls. Tread lightly though. I don’t think they’ll be like that for long once they realize that we’re here.” Hearing that was enough of a reason for me to switch to my shotgun. If these robotic freaks were to awaken while my back was turned, I needed to have something that could help me defend myself. It would be better than having the burning feeling of getting shot in the back by Vex weaponry of all things-. “Sunset, we got movement.” And speak of the devil. “Where?” “Four of them a few meters ahead. Goblins,” As he was speaking, I looked up to see only what appeared to be a row of the Vex that were in stasis. Yet, the radar had a red indication that something was nearby. “They’re hiding among the goblins that are in stasis. If you get too close, they’ll break position and open fire.” A part of me felt that this seemed a little bit too clever for them to do, but then again, this is the Vex we’re dealing with. Fortunately, I still had my solar grenade. Conjuring it in my hands, I tossed the grenade forward as it landed in between where the four Vex were hiding. The burning flames forcing the goblins to leave that position as I stepped forward with my shotgun at the ready. Firing two slugs into the core of the two goblins that were the closest to me while my grenade turned the remaining Vex to nothing more than ash. “Well, if that did not get their attention, something else will.” I muttered, loading two more shells back into my shotgun and readying it as Ray and I continued to press on. A minotaur and a swarm of Vex harpies arrived shortly afterwards as I had to engage them in a constricted hallway between rooms. The shotgun was enough to handle the harpies, but I had to switch to my rocket launcher to break the shield around the minotaur. Using one out of three remaining rockets that I had left at the moment before taking it down with my pulse rifle. Now though, it hit me. If this was going to be how difficult it would be for me to continue moving forward without having to use my rockets, I needed to make a change. “Ray, do I have anything I can switch with my shotgun? I don’t think it would be ideal for me to be charging in if a minotaur is going to try and flatten me.” “Actually, you do. You have a sniper rifle. I think we picked it up as a drop from one of the Cabal legionaries on Mars.” “Switch it out and use a special ammo synth,” I instructed him, reloading my rifle and holding it at the ready. “If what we’re experiencing now is going to get even more difficult the closer we are to the heart, I’ll need to keep my distance.” As I continued forth, Ray followed through on my instructions. The shotgun icon that was originally on my helmet’s interface was switched out with the sniper rifle and the special ammo synth replenished its magazine to max capacity. I took a moment to switch to the sniper rifle, just so I can get a feel of what it was that I was going to be using before changing it back. It might not have been the best kind of sniper rifle, but given the kind of situation that Ray and I were in, it will have to do for now. Going up the stairs and heading to the right lead us into another room with multiple different pillars and stone ledges cast around the place. Though, we couldn’t really take in the scenery for too long because right away, more Vex began to swarm the room. Like before, it was a group of harpies and a minotaur. Yet, by now, my grenade had finally recharged and I was able to throw it out at the group of harpies before using my sniper rifle to make quick work of the minotaur. Taking it down in three shots before I had to reload and switch to my pulse rifle to get rid of some of the harpies that my grenade did not burn to cinders. Luckily, the fallen Vex had dropped a couple of ammo blocks that Ray was able to transmit and add to my weapons magazine. Refilling it as if I never fired anything. Which came in handy because as we took a left turn and went to leave, we encountered some goblins. They didn’t put up much of a fight, but at least I did not have to reload while they were shooting at me. “How are we looking, Ray-?” I now asked him as I moved past the metal bodies of the broken Vex that were on the floor. “Careful, you got a hobgoblin around the corner,” He said, just as I noticed it and readied my sniper rifle. One of the shots from the hobgoblin grazed past my head and landed in the block behind me, before I fired a shot at its exposed core and it collapsed to the ground. “Now, as for your question, there’s an exit not that far. Yet, there are a few goblins and another minotaur blocking your path.” “They won’t be there for long.” “You know, the more that you stay stuff like that, the more that you sound like Rainbow-6. For my sake and yours, please don’t get cocky.” Duly noted. As we continued forward and kept on taking down the numerous different Vex that were coming after us as well as taking down another minotaur with sniper fire, I was able to see the exit that Ray was telling me about. But as we stepped outside, I began to feel something. An overwhelming sense of dread and despair. And I was not the only one. “Sunset, not to alarm you… but I’m detecting something massive beneath us. Like an overwhelming mass of darkness.” “You think it's-” “No doubt about it,” He interjected before I could finish. “That’s the Black Garden’s heart.” I wasn’t sure why, but just hearing that sent a shiver down my spine. However, I knew that I couldn’t just sit around out here any longer. Considering that the next section of the garden we were in had a lot more open space than the corridors we had just gone through, it was more than likely that Vex were going to try and pin us down from every possible angle. Fortunately, there were also a few ledges that I can be able to utilize to get a better view of the area. Not to mention get a better understanding of what enemies we had to take out before proceeding. A few goblins scattered the area along with some harpies and two hobgoblins looked to have been guarding a ledge with a circular structure behind it. Similar to that of the Vex gates we had to destroy back at Campus 9. Immediately, I focused my attention on the hobgoblins first. Aiming for the core in the center, I fired off one shot to take down the first one. Yet, when I aimed at the other one, my next shot bounced off its chassis as a solar barrier formed around it. Which was a problem. Because not only did I alert that hobgoblin of where I was, but I also gave away my position to the rest of the Vex in the area. Thinking quickly, I aimed my sniper rifle again at the hobgoblin. Pulling the trigger as my next shot actually hit the hobgoblins’ core. From there, I brought my pulse rifle back out and tossed my recently recharged solar grenade towards the group of harpies. As they were burning, I fired off several bursts of ammunition at the goblins that were inching closer to my position, using up half of my clip to take them down. The other half of my clip was fired at the harpies to make quick work of them. Yet, as I was reloading, something new happened. “Sunset, we got an unknown Vex signature incoming.” Unknown? Just how many different types of these things are there that we don’t know about? As I looked around again, I began to see what Ray was talking about. It was indeed a different kind of Vex. It did not have any legs or have any movement capabilities from what I could tell since it was held down by a metal ring, but when its gaze was locked onto me, I had to move immediately. My helmet visor now labeled this Vex as a ‘cyclops’ as its eye was firing off void blasts at my location with as much destructive power as a rocket. But it was not just its artillery that was the problem. “Sunset, take that down quickly! It’s summoning more Vex!” Crap! That was the last thing that I wanted right now. As another Vex cloud began to take form by the cyclops, I did the only thing I could really do in that moment. Switching to my rocket launcher, I took one of the remaining rockets that was left and aimed at the cyclops's eye. Squeezing the trigger, the rocket propelled forward, exploding upon contact. Unfortunately though, it did not entirely destroy the cyclops. What the blast did though was… well, the best way to describe it was that it seemed disorientated. Because it was firing off more void blasts than usual, but they were landing all over the place. Hitting some of the goblins that it had just summoned mere moments ago. As the last of the goblins were turned to scrap metal by their own ally, I was now using this chance to finish off the cyclops as I focused my fire on its core. Getting it to drop to the ground within a matter of seconds. Letting out a deep sigh, I was relieved that I could be able to catch my breath in that moment. “Hey Ray… I think now would be the best time to use one of our heavy synths.” “Alright, using it now,” Seconds after saying that, I now found my rocket launchers ammo count at max capacity, shortly before he continued to speak. “Also, I’m picking something up in the next room that the Vex have a large barrier put in place in the next room to try and slow us down.” “Any idea how to disable it?” I asked, entering the hallway that lead to where my marker was directing me to go. “There’s a Vex Mind in the next room that is directly powering it and they got a squadron of goblins with them. Take it out and the barrier will be taken down.” Sounds simple enough. Though, in reality, with everything that we have learned about the Vex up until this point, nothing ever really seems simple. Right as I was sprinting to the end of the connecting corridor, I saw the goblin squad as they immediately began to fire at my position. Forcing myself to back up and hide behind a nearby wall for a second and wait until they stopped before returning fire. As a few of them dropped to the ground and I was working on finishing off the remaining goblins, I was now able to see the Vex Mind that Ray was talking about. When I originally thought of a Vex Mind, I thought it would be some kind of minotaur. Yet, this one turned out to be rather different. The ‘Divisive Mind’ as it was called was a hydra. The same kind of hydra that we had to face on Venus. Only this time, this mind was firing multiple shots from the weapons mounted on its chassis in quick succession. Engaging the mind out in the open would be suicidal. So my only option was to try and find a new position where I can be able to land my attacks from while also being able to hide behind cover. “Ray, I need some new cover! Any ideas?” “There’s an upward path to your right with a column and a makeshift wall. Go!” Without even giving it a second thought, I was on my feet. Moving up the small as fast as I could before sliding behind the pillar. Seconds after making it, my solar grenade was no longer on cooldown as I peeked behind cover and threw it at the hydra. Landing at the tail end of the Mind, but it was not doing a lot to harm it. Switching to my sniper rifle again, I took a second to peek out and fire off all four rounds from my current magazine, the first three hitting the Hydra in its singular eye while the fourth was blocked by the Mind’s barrier. The third shot seemed to stagger it for a brief second, but not enough in order to stop its assault as it continued to fire. Now though, the only thought in my mind that I had to get out of this was to activate Radiance. Surrounding myself in solar light, my grenade began to quickly recharge itself as I threw several of them at the hydra once the barrier was no longer in front of it. Two grenades were on the floor, a third one hit the middle of its centipede like chassis while a fourth hit its head. Before I could conjure a fifth though, the Mind began to attack once more, forcing me to seek newfound cover as the Radiance wore off. After finding new cover, I changed weapons to my pulse rifle. Focusing all of my shots on the Mind’s eye while also maintaining my position behind a stone wall. Thankfully, my choice to activate Radiance had paid off, for my grenades had burned away at its chassis long enough to the point where there was now a delay between volleys of void blasts. Exposing an opportunity that I was planning to utilize to the fullest. Two minutes into the fight, one last burst-fire shot from my pulse rifle was enough to have the Mind crumple to the ground before exploding. The barrier behind it falling seconds later as we kept on going. Who dares set forth in this place?! I stopped immediately. I can feel my heartbeat race as I began to look around me. Trying to find where that voice might be coming from. What… what the hell was that? “Ray, did you hear that?” “Hear what?” Oh great. Please tell me that I’m not hallucinating now. The last thing I want to have right now is two voices in my head. Traversing through the downward path, we were beginning to encounter more Vex as they tried to block our approach to the garden. At the end of the path, a swarm of harpies and a minotaur emerged to stall our progress, but a few rounds of gunfire and punching a harpy or two was able to help me push through once they were all turned to scrap metal as we kept going down. Going left, I moved farther in and into another section, encountering more goblins and hobgoblins that appeared to be on standby. Having to return fire and make quick work of them and go forward. At one point though, as we approached a section that looked like a huge gate was in the distance, Ray did not exactly share the best of news with me. “Sunset, we got a problem.” “Define ‘problem’.” I asked. “Vex blocked the way forward. The heart is just beyond there, but the way forward is a dead end.” “So? Is there a way around it?” I now proceeded to ask. “We have not gotten this far into the garden, just for us to get blocked by a stupid wall.” “Hmm… now that you mention it,” I heard him speak as if he was pondering something, just before coming up with a plan. “This entire place… it’s just one big machine. Sunset, I’m picking up a set of Vex Clusters nearby. I need you to get me to them.” “What’s your plan with them?” “Well… it’s less of a plan and more of a theory… but if the theory works, then it becomes a plan.” Well, at least he’s being honest about it. The idea of blindly following my ghost towards the unknown in hopes to get something to work was not what I would really consider as the best course of action. Yet, right now, the amount of options that we had were very limited. Two markers soon came up on my map of the cluster locations that Ray wanted me to look at that were close to what looked to be half dome shaped doorways. Yet, just to get to the closest one on my left, I had to fight through more of the Vex that we had already encountered so far. Most of them being harpies with a couple of goblins and hobgoblins at certain locations and a minotaur directly blocking the cluster. Once it was cleared, I deployed Ray to scan the cluster that he marked. Which was the right time for me to make sure that the magazines on each of my guns were full in case I had to defend him. Not a moment too soon though did Ray return though. “Alright, perfect. Now we got ourselves a plan.” “Care to share with me what that plan is?” I now asked. “Well, after scanning it, I learned that I can be able to manipulate this cluster. I just need to break the manifold encryption that they have set up and… I’m in.” Ray informed me. Seconds later though, I began to feel the ground shift under my feet as I turned around. Finding a column of white light emerging on a plateau nearby. “Ray? Is this… part of your plan?” “Actually, yes… based on what I’m seeing here, if we can get that other cluster to activate, we can get a spire to form like the one on Mars.” He explained to me while I was already moving over there. As I was engaging more of the Vex that continued to try and stop me, everything was piecing itself together rather slowly. And once we got the second one, the tower of light was quickly replaced by a spire. A new marker emerged moments later, highlighting a conflux that was just outside the wall that was considered a dead end. “Now there’s one last piece,” He told me as I deployed him to scan the conflux now. “All that’s left is permission to enter… as a gate lord.” Mere seconds afterwards, the conflux soon began to disappear. Shortly before something else began to take form. A rectangular tablet that was a navy blue, with an eye like shape near the top. It rose up into the air above us, the eye separating itself from the rest as everything else shattered to pieces. As the eye flipped itself around, a beam of light was released from the spire and hit the eye, before reflecting onto each and every piece that was broken off as all the beams of light began to converge at the center of the door. When the door began to open, the overwhelming feeling of dread that I felt from before returned. The teal colored environment that we have been seeing so far immediately changed, turning into an abysmal dark brown. The plant life from the garden looked like it had been sapped of all life and dried up as looked past the opened door. Immediately after going through the door, I laid eyes upon what we were looking for. A massive mass of black was beating at the center of the altar. Pulsing with electricity as statues of what looked to be three minotaurs stood below it. Just behind that, many goblins and hobgoblins knelt before the altar. Their arms stretched out to the sides. As I stepped inside though, the goblins themselves began to move. Coming to life and turning around to have their gaze be focused on me. But for me, my attention was mostly focused on the heart. Because for a moment… I thought I saw a pair of white eyes gazing at me. “So um… this might not be the right time to ask this… but do you think you can kill a god?” All I could do was turn to Ray, who was floating around my shoulder, and give him an honest answer. “I don’t really think I have a choice.” A lightbringer is here in this sacred place!?! Rise, my soldiers!! Make the light from this bearer flicker out and die!! I couldn’t even contemplate what was happening as I heard that. Before I could even catch a breath, all the goblins in the middle began to attack. As I brought out my rocket launcher and fired off a round, most of the Vex were killed by the blast. But seconds later, something new happened. A powerful black pulse was released from the heart as it hit one of the statues on the left, cracks forming in the stone and growing. Yet… something about that pulse… felt familiar- “Sunset, move!! The heart’s bringing the statue to life!!” Arise, my Sol Progeny! Finish what the others cannot!! Before I could even finish thinking, the statue shattered. A minotaur the size of a gate lord broke through moments later, draped in shadows as it pulled the torch hammer off of its back and turned to me. Immediately, I ran for cover as massive blasts of void energy were crashing into the ground. I tried to aim and shoot at the minotaur, which now came up as ‘The Eschaton Mind’, but any attempt to try and give myself some space was met by it coming directly at me. At one point, I channeled my solar grenade to throw it at the Mind’s feet. Even though it did hurt it, it did little to slow it down as I had to hide under a ramp that overlooked a section of the altar. Looking through a crack in the stone wall and waiting for the mind to turn its back as I fired off a full clip from my sniper rifle. As it turned around to face me again, I switched weapons again to my heavy and fired a rocket at its feet. The explosion hurting the mind, but not fully destroying it. “You have got to be kidding me…” I groaned. Clearly my weapons weren’t doing anything against this guy. So I needed to try something different. My grenade was still on recharge, but my super had finally come back after using it against the divisive mind. I needed something to turn the tide against this thing. Immediately, I activated Radiance without a second thought. The fiery warmth of solar light revitalizing me as my power coursed throughout my body. As soon as my grenade was restored, I began throwing it at the minotaur again. Not just once, but multiple times in quick succession. The flames burning through the drifting shadows on the Mind’s body as I continued to open fire and fight it. Even firing another rocket at the minotaur to stagger it and give me the chance to aim at its core again. All it took was another full clip of special ammo to take the Mind down, its body disintegrating into ash as if it never existed in the first place. Yet, just as I told Ray to activate another ammo synth, I began to hear that other voice from before. No… You can’t be! This isn’t just the light of the traveler! You’re… You’re from the other side!!! How is this possible?! Hold up… did that just-? I will not let a being such as you end my existence now!!! Soldiers!! Kill this harmonious filth!!! “We got move Vex incoming! Keep it up!!” Ray’s words had me snap back to what was going on as I turned around to see another squadron of goblins arriving at the altar. Running towards them, I scorched the first one that came into contact with me before blasting out the cores of several others. Two more were on a ledge and attempted to snipe from afar as one shot grazed my left shoulder. Fortunately, I was able to switch to my sniper rifle in time in order to destroy them before they could be able to land a shot on me a second time. When the platform was cleared though, another pulse was released from the heart as the next statue began to come to life. Limbo was not enough to contain me!! Only in the farthest depths was I able to emerge from the deep!! Watching. Waiting for the day where I will come forth again. I will not let you interfere!!! Okay, how the hell does it know about Limbo? Just what was this thing!? “Sunset, look out!!” When I snapped back to reality, I found a second gate lord sized minotaur, known now as The Imminent Mind, looming over me as it attempted to slam its mechanical fist into the ground. I was lucky enough to move out of the way in time, but if anything from the last fight taught anything, this minotaur was going to give chase. That and it was going to take more than just my weapons to bring it down. “Ray, are my synths on cooldown?” “No, they’re all ready! Which one do you need?” “Special synth, quick!” What I told Ray was soon followed by hearing the synth activate and the ammo count in my sniper rifle fill back up. Taking down the Vex that I have been fighting so far can easily help me with replenishing ammo for my pulse rifle. However, with how much I have been relying on my sniper rifle and how little that kind of ammo drops from everything I’ve been fighting, it’s better to be safe than sorry right around now. Fighting against this Mind required for me to rinse and repeat most of what I had to do during the last fight. Unlike the last fight though, I needed to keep moving and make sure that it did not catch up to me and strike me within close range. If the Eschaton Mind was attempting to try and kill me from range, the Imminent Mind was going to try and stomp on me like a bug. There’s no way in hell that I was going to let that happen. I’ve come too far just to be killed by a giant over sized robot while the voice of somebody other than my ghost is screaming in the back of my head. Gliding up to high ground, I threw my grenade at the Mind as it ignited around where the minotaur’s head would be. Taking the opportunity, I unloaded a clip of sniper ammo into the core of the Mind and then re-positioned myself again, taking cover behind a broken pillar. As it turned around and began to fire off its Torch Hammer, I waited for a pause in their attack before firing another full clip of ammunition. The last of my shots seemed to have staggered it, yet it was not enough to finish it off as I switched back to my pulse rifle to conserve ammunition. Part of me wanted to use my rocket launcher right now, yet, I only had four shots left and it was likely that my synths were still on cooldown after using my special synth most recently. So I was having to aim and time my shots with my pulse rifle carefully while subsequently hiding from incoming fire. “Ray, tell me when to move. I need a better position.” Just as soon as I asked him, we noticed that the Mind had stopped firing and Ray told me what to do next. “It’s stopped firing. Get to the ledge on your left, go!” Not missing a beat, I jumped up and use a broken pillar as a way to get myself up in the air and on a ledge that was overlooking the Mind. By now, I now my grenade had finally recharged and I was quick to activate it as it exploded around the Mind’s legs before opening fire. By the time that I went through two clips of ammo from my pulse rifle, the second Mind was down for the count. Turning to ash once more. Yet, there was no way in hell that the fight was over just yet. I have waited for so long for the chance to finally take revenge against those who banished me to this plane!! Against the elements!! Against the pillars!! ALL OF THEM!! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU END MY EXISTENCE SO EASILY!!! Before I even had the chance to think or process what I heard, the heart released another wave of darkness as it struck the last remaining statue by the altar. It’s power forming cracks in the statue as the last of these Sol Progeny’s, the Primeval Mind, emerged from the statue. Yet, it was not the only thing that I was up against. “Sunset, more Vex are coming in to fight with this mind!” “Which ones?” “Goblins, hobgoblins, even a pair of minotaur's! The heart’s throwing everything that it has at you!! Be careful!!” Oh hell, this is going to be brutal. Immediately, the first instinct that came to mind was for me to get rid of the extra Vex that were now setting foot in this place. Switching to my rocket launcher, I got in the air and fired off a rocket where a cluster of vex goblins and a hobgoblin were gathered before sliding behind a stone wall. With three rockets left, I reloaded my weapon and emerged from cover, aiming at the two minotaurs that were closer to the altar and firing again. As the rocket collided, I switched to my sniper rifle just as a bolt from a hobgoblin’s rifle flew past my head. Prompting me to turn around and fire a single shot at its core as its metal body crumpled to the floor. “Ray, I really do hope we have a plan for this. I’ve got two rockets and one heavy synth left, yet these Vex just keep coming.” Right on cue, a few more spawned in, this time being a swarm of harpies as I got out my pulse rifle and shot them square in the eye. “They’re more than likely following the orders given to them by that Mind,” I heard him tell me. “Focus your fire on it! If you take it down, they’ll probably stop fighting.” “What gives you that idea!?” My response was followed by throwing a grenade at the harpies, quickly getting rid of them before seeking higher ground to avoid incoming fire from the mind. “Remember what we found at the Ishtar Collective? A Vex Mind is shared across a million units. They’re the commanders giving the orders,” I heard him explain even further. “So in theory, taking down the mind will leave them without any orders or directives to follow.” Okay… part of me sees how that would kind of make sense. Though right now, I was a little more focused on other things. Mainly, not dying. Still, what Ray told me at least gave me some kind of idea as to what I should be doing now. Getting out my rocket launcher again, I fired off the last two rockets that I had on hand. One towards the vex that were attempting to give the Primeval Mind back up and then one at the Mind itself. Without missing a beat, Ray activated the last of the heavy synths that we had on hand. Restocking my heavy ammo supply while I was switching weapons back to my sniper rifle. When it came to minotaurs, especially gate lords, they generally had two weak points. The head and the core in the center of their chassis. Now, instinct would have you try to aim for their head. Yet, if you did not know a thing or two about the Vex, aiming for the head would be a fool’s mistake. Destroying a minotaur's head would cause them to go into a berserk state, where they endlessly unleash a torrent of blasts in your direction and charge at you like a raging bull the size of a two story building. I did not know if the same thing would apply to that of a Mind… but honestly, given my situation, I did not want to take any chances. I maintained my position behind cover while firing off several sniper rounds at the core of the Primeval Mind. Damaging it, but only barely as I had to hide behind cover once again when it's blasts were coming back towards my position. Pieces of it breaking off and scattering behind where I was. I had to keep moving, this time to the section underneath where I was on the ground level of the altar. The moment that my grenade finished recharging, I threw it forward as an orb of solar fire took form around the Mind’s chassis. Burning at the dark shroud that was covering it as I fired off another rocket before switching to my pulse rifle and opening fire. It took mere moments for it to lock back on to my position and return fire, but by then, I was already moving. In my mind, I was going to get killed if I stayed in one spot and just fired from there. There wasn’t going to be any kind of ledge that would just so happen to keep me out of their attacks range and if I was not aware of everything around me, something will throw me off guard and make everything vulnerable. Once again, I fired off two rounds from my rocket launcher, bringing my remaining count to just three as the rockets exploded upon contact with the Mind’s chassis. Switching to my sniper rifle, I began to open fire at the core again. This time using every shot that I had before changing back to my pulse rifle. Come on, how much longer am I going to have to put up with this before it would just die already?! “It’s almost done for! Finish it!!” Without any hesitation, I continued to fire at the Mind. With the final burst round of my clip finally piercing through its core as the Primeval Mind fell onto its knees and disintegrating. Yet, there was still one other thing to face. “I-i don’t get it… The heart should be done for! I felt it dying when you killed the minds,” The sounds of concern in his voice now echoing in my head. “Then why-?” Do you think that I will be STOPPED SO EASILY!?! RRRRRRRAGH!!!! “Sunset, shield your eyes!!” And like that, everything went white. When my eyes opened up once more, I did not find myself in the black garden… or for that matter, on Mars. Instead, I was in a place that was a white void. One that looked to go on for miles. “Ray? Ray, are you getting this?” However, I heard no response. All I could hear was silence. Something that made my heart race. What’s going on? What happened to me? Am I dead... again? Your little light cannot be able to help you here. That voice… it was the same one from the heart. As I turned around, my eyes widened. A being that was as black as night stood before me. It was in the form of what looked to be a massive beast. It had eyes of white, a slick black body and wings where the feathers looked to be as sharp as blades. Pure shadows dripping all over the ground underneath him like black ink on a white canvas. “What… the hell… are you?” It looked to me, before grinning as the shadows around it began to rapidly spread everywhere. I am from the place where you came from, yet banished and separated from the one that created me. A student of a master… much like yourself, Sunset Shimmer. “How the hell do you know my name?!” I know everything now… In this plane, I’ve seen your memories. I’ve seen all the things you’ve done before. Even to the point where you had met your end. And even with the amount of times that you had been wronged by humanity before, the amount of times that you have been stabbed in the back by them, you stand here and fight for them. The shadows were now all around me, hands emerging from the ground to try and grab hold. Dragging me down into the unknown EVERYPONY THAT YOU CARED FOR, ALL OF YOUR SO CALLED ‘FRIENDS’ NOW ARE NOT THE SAME AS YOU REMEMBER THEM TO BE!! THEY DON’T SEE YOU THE SAME WAY EITHER AND OTHERS BLAME YOU FOR THEIR OWN TRAGEDIES!!! SO WHAT MAKES YOU SO SURE THAT ALL THE PAIN, SUFFERING AND REGRET THAT YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH IN THE PAST WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN!!?! In that moment, I didn’t say anything. Instead, I was trying to fight back as I was being pulled in. I couldn’t give up now… There were too many people counting on me now. It pulled me down waist deep. I began to think of everyone. Everyone I knew. Not just everyone at the tower… but everypony back home. My friends… my family… my friends here… everyone at the tower… My fireteam. My mentor. Ignite your spark!! As I opened my eyes, a surge of light filled every fiber of my being. The flames from my hands pushing the shadows away as I looked back to this being. This vessel of darkness. A blade of pure fire forming in my right hand as I channeled my power into it and swung forward. Cutting through the beast as my light began to burn it. As I aimed the newfound blade at its head. I only had one response as I shoved it through its body. “Because my past is not today.” And once more, everything faded to white. “Sunset? Sunset, wake up!! Sunset!!!” The voice of my ghost echoed through my head as I began to slowly rise back to my feet. As my vision began to return to me, I found myself lying on the ground in front of where the altar for the black gardens heart was. Now though, there was some notable differences. The lighting in the garden was back to the way it was and the heart itself was gone. “Sunset! Oh, thank the Traveler!” I heard Ray speak, the ghost flying right by where my head was. “I thought I lost you for a moment.” “W-what happened?” I asked him. “When the Black Gardens heart was destroyed, the shock-wave from it had you flying back into a wall,” He told me. “You’ve been unconscious for the last half hour. H-how do you feel?” “Sore,” I mumbled, finding my pulse rifle on the ground and picking it up. “Please tell me that something good came out of this.” “Well, for one thing, I was able to establish contact with not just the Vanguard, but the rest of your fireteam. Secondly, with the heart gone, the lights coming back to the traveler. It’s healing again,” Well, at least that’s a good thing. “Let’s go back to the Tower. The Speaker’s calling us home.” I just let out a sigh as I looked back at him. “Personally, I think it’s going to be more than the Speaker we’ll be talking too.” The Tower and its people looked as if they were in celebration. Many of the people, whether they were guardians or just regular civilians that lived there were gathered in the main plaza. The Speaker looked over the crowd and began to address those who were present. Saying that we once were those who hid and cowered behind a broken god, but not anymore. Yet, while I could hear him speak, I was not actually there. Instead, I was in the shipwright docks with Ray right next to me and wearing a newfound set of robes that I received from Twilight. Walking over to the end of the dock as I noticed someone familiar. It was the Stranger from before. Almost as if she was waiting for me. “So you did it,” She first states. My only response back being a simple nod. The exo turns around, facing me directly as she took something off of her back. A rifle that was yellow in color, but the same one I saw her hold onto before. “Today might be a day for pretty speeches, medals and recognitions of honor, but we know where the real fight takes place. What you did is only the start of something greater.” Then she did something that I did not anticipate at all. She handed the rifle over to me. “Take this… A symbol of my thanks.” “Wouldn’t you need it though?” Ray then asked her. Her only response being shaking her head. “No… and I don’t plan to die so easily,” Was her only response. “Know this. There are horrific things born out in the Darkness. Every waking moment brings them closer. Our fight is far from over… so prepare for whenever that day may come.” As she walked away, the stranger disappeared in the same blue-white energy that we had seen before. Fading away as if she was never there to begin with. As for me, I placed the weapon on my back, looking back to Ray as he had a new question for me. “So, what do you want to do now?” I let out a breath. “Honestly, part of me wants to get back out there… yet, after everything we’ve been through just now, I think I need to do a few things in the Tower first. Maybe even get something to drink?” “I understand,” He replied. “Though, afterwards, we need to talk to Twilight. She said that there’s something that we need to handle once we’re well rested.” All I could really do was nod my head. Yet, one thing to me was clear. Whatever was out there, I’ll be ready. Meanwhile... “Are you sure that this is a good decision, Twilight? Such an operation like this?” “Flash, we need to do this,” The voice of the warlock vanguard could be heard as she was talking to the titan vanguard across the table. “Ever since Twilight and her fireteam have been going after the Black Garden, multiple reports from Rainbow’s scouts have shown increased Hive activity. Adagio has been helping us push them back and after discussing it further, we learned that the Hive are attempting to resurrect one of their gods.” “Yes, but such an operation like this would require two fireteams-” “That’s not what the issue is at all and I know it, Flash. You’re against this not because we don’t have the reason or the resources, but because of who has been helping with this, isn’t it? You don't trust her.” “We have tried to reclaim the moon before and failed. Each time has led to the deaths of all the guardians who have tried-” Flash was cut off when Twilight slammed her hand on the table, shaking everything that was on it as the warlock glared at her. “Flash, that’s enough. This is a chance that we only get once in a lifetime. We may never have another opportunity like this. We can finally push back against them,” The warlock told her. “I don’t care if you had problems with her in the past or whatever is the reason for you not trusting her, but she has more knowledge on the hive than anyone in the tower. Even more than the Speaker.” The titan paused for a moment, before looking back to the warlock as he let out a sigh. “Fine… just explain something to me. What is the overall goal of preparing a group to raid the depths of the Hellmouth? What do you… No… what does Aria plan for them to do?” “Something that should have been done long ago…” A new voice spoke, one that was deep and somber voice echoed throughout the chamber. Both vanguards looked to the opening as the new figure entered the room. Pieces of her armor and regalia looked to resemble the chitin and appearance of the Hive as her hands grasped onto a green orb that flickered like fire. The figures face had a wrap around their eyes as three green circles glowed from them. “Slay the Eater of Hope that stole my light. The Hive Prince, Crota.” Author's Note The heart might be ripped out and the traveler may be healing... Yet, there's more out there that plan and scheme in the Dark Below. So... we now have our Eris. Allow for me to explain something first. Due to the fact that I personally think you would prefer to see more of chapters that can be seen as the 'most important' parts to the story, this is how its set up. But to do that, I need to explain more about our newcomer, Aria Blaze. After finding her opportunity to escape from the Hellmouth on the moon, Aria Blaze was able to reach the Last City. However, she is NOT the same Aria that Sunset... or for that matter, Adagio remembers. No records have been shown as to what her personality was like upon being resurrected as a guardian, but after having her light stripped from her by the Hive Prince named Crota and seeing her comrades being slaughtered by him, Aria has become someone who is somber, bitter, hardened, dark and most importantly... Vengeful. She cares not for revenge or for taking over the world anymore like she once wanted too. Instead though, she is driven by her obsessive determination to obtain vengeance for the ones that she called her comrades and in turn, take down the Hive as a whole. Now as one of the Hidden, a group that serves as the unofficial intelligence network for the Vanguard that's run by Twilight Sparkle, Aria keeps watch on activities of the darkness and is one of the foremost experts that the Last City has on the Hive. While Fireteam Harmony was focused on the incursions of the Vex and the Black Garden, Aria uncovered the Hive's encroachment in the Cosmodrome and subsequently warned the Warlock Vanguard. Unfortunately, since she was not able to reach out and contact Sunset's fireteam, Twilight had to ask for the assistance of another warlock, Adagio Dazzle. Both Adagio and Aria uncovered that Hive agents of Crota were already on Earth and planning to resurrect him so he can lead an invasion on Earth. After slaying the Fist of Crota and silencing the screams of Omnigul, Adagio ventured to the Worlds Grave to stop the wakening ritual and banish Crota's Soul. But that is only the beginning. To truly kill the Son of Oryx... you must venture down into the hellmouth and into his own realm. Only then will Crota meet his end. New Equipment (Sunset): -The Stranger's Rifle (Weapon, Legendary, Pulse Rifle) -Starfire Protocol (Armor, Exotic, Chest) The next chapter for this story will focus solely on Crota's End and depending on how long it is, I might split that into two parts. From there, everything will go like normal with House of Wolves (And maybe Prison of Elders, though probably just for Skolas), Taken King and Kings Fall, then Rise of Iron and Wrath of the Machine. I do hope that you like this chapter and look forward to what else I might have in store. Feel free to comment on what you think of this chapter as well as ask me any questions you might have. I'll be happy to answer them the best I can. -Frost P.S. I hid a sneaky little reference to another game series during the final battle in the Black Garden. Good luck trying to find it. 16- The Prince's FallAuthor's Note So, where do I begin with this... Writing this chapter was hard as hell, especially since I had to do my own narrative takes and interpretations on the Crota's End raid. Plus, given the challenges that you need to overcome in the raid, I had to incorporate scenes where Sunset Shimmer and her raid team need to figure out a plan first before proceeding with the chapter. Like with the chapter, there's four main encounters to go through in the raid that are incorporated here and they go as follows: -The Abyss -The Bridge -The Deathsinger -The Prince With that in mind, I wanted to make sure that each part was covered with enough detail and make sure that I did not leave out anything important (I consider the hallway in between Bridge and Deathsinger as somewhat in the middle, but that's just me) As for the loot, since this is set in Year one, I decided for simplicity's sake to combine the loot pools from both the normal and hard mode versions of the raid into this, because I believed that doing so would make things easier (that and some of the weapons I wanted for some of them to find were varied between both difficulties) After this chapter, there will be an interlude that leads into the next story arc that is to be covered (and my second favorite story from D1 after Taken King), the House of Wolves. I will need to take my time on this, but I do hope that you like the end result. Also, before I go, have a happy nightmare night/halloween/festival of the lost next week! (Wanted to make sure I got my bases covered) See you around, Starside -Frost P.S. This is kind of my first time writing Adagio by myself, but I'm not sure if I sticked the landing with her. If needed, I will go back and fix it to have her be more like she was in the previous chapters that featured her. Tell me what you think. I would like some feedback 16- The Prince's Fall It had almost been two days since I had ventured into the black garden and ripped out its heart and personally, I thought that an act such as killing something that was deemed as a ‘god’ would at least grant me the chance to rest. But, much as I hate to admit it, a guardian’s work is never truly done. Shortly after returning to Twilight, she informed me that while I was away having to deal with the Black Garden, a Hive incursion had started taking place on Earth. One that was lead by a hive wizard named Omnigul and loyal to a hive prince whose name I’ve already heard of once before. Crota. The one who stripped Aria Blaze of her light and left her to rot in the Hellmouth. Even though Crota’s soul was banished and Omnigul was destroyed at the hands of Adagio, there was still one other thing that had to be taken care of. Which leads us to where I was right now. At this present moment, I was not only with my fireteam but with Adagio and two other guardians on the plateau that was just above the hellmouth itself on the moon. The first one was a titan that I recognized from my Rumble match back when I had to fight against Indigo, named Noble Arms. A titan that was a defender like Big Mac. The second was another hunter, who looked like someone that Indigo happened to know, despite the fact that he was someone that Rainbow added to the team to fill out the roster. His name was Eagle-3 and instead of a Bladedancer, he was a gunslinger and wielded solar light instead of arc. Now that we were all here, there was another question that had to be tended to. One that Indigo impatiently asked while we were standing here, “So, is someone going to explain what the hell we’re doing about this ominous pit?” “Good, it seems that all of you made it safely,” we now heard the voice of Commander Sentry speak to us, “Now, I know you might have some questions, but I will keep this brief. All six of you are called here as a single fireteam for a crucial raid operation that the Vanguard needs you to undertake. As most of you are aware, the Vanguard has seen a resurgence of Hive Activity in the Cosmodrome and on the Moon. Our efforts have pushed them back, but in order to truly quell this incursion, we need to take the fight to the one commanding their forces.” Wait, is Flash saying what I think he was suggesting? “Your goal in this operation is to go deep into enemy territory and assassinate Crota, the hive prince who commands this incursion. Removing him from the picture will severely weaken the hive incursion in the Cosmodrome and on the Moon,” the titan continued, “I will let Aria Blaze take over from here. Good luck.” As soon as he stepped away, we all now heard the somewhat familiar voice of Aria take over in Flash’s place, “Thank you. Now… in order to truly end the threat of Crota once and for all, you must take the fight to him in his own realm. The prince thinks he’s invincible on the Oversoul Throne, but his own power can be turned against him.” I looked back towards everyone on my fire team, including Adagio before trying to say the first thing that came to my mind as we found ourselves in an open clearing around the edge of the Hellmouth, “So how do we get started?” “To truly begin, you need to step forth and form the bridge. From there, you need to enter the abyss of the Hellmouth itself,” we heard Aria explain to us, “Be careful though, once in the abyss, the darkness will try to weigh you down and crush your light.” So, wait… the only way that we’re going to be able to get inside is by going into the giant pit of death and suffering? How exactly does that work? I did not have the chance in order to voice my question though, because when we walked over this circular plate that was on the ground, it began to immediately glow all around us. Whatever we did had plates of hive architecture immediately materialize and form together out of nowhere, forming the bridge that would have us above the center of the pit. “Guess there’s no turning back now,” I said, priming the rifle that I had received from the Stranger as I looked at everyone else. “Everyone ready?” Mac and Indigo were the first two to give confirmation, followed by Noble and Eagle. The only one left was Adagio, who only just let out a deep sigh before arming the hand cannon she had on her. “Fine… don’t forget though, I’m only doing this to make that bastard pay for what he did to Aria.” That’s all I needed to hear. After informing Aria that we were about to go in, we immediately began to cross over to the other side of the bridge before jumping through the ring that was at the end of the bridge. Feeling ourselves being pulled down into the depths of the pit that awaited us below. As we fell, everything around us became pitch black and I could not see my team. When we were able to see something, it was a dim glow of light that was around a platform at the bottom of the pit. Illuminating the piles of bones all around us as I had to use my glide to slow my rapid descent. Adagio and I landed first, followed by Mac, Indigo and Eagle. Noble was the last one to land, but did not do anything to slow his descent as he took the full force of the fall. Landing on one knee as he grimaced in pain. “Really?” Indigo asked him, “You do realize that landing is hard on the knees, right?” “Yeah yeah, whatever,” Noble shrugged it off. If I could see his face, I would bet that he would be rolling his eyes right now. Now was not the time to comment on that as I looked around, before placing a hand to my helmet, “Aria, we made it into the pit. What now?” “Look for the faint glimmer of light. Only the lanterns can guide your way, but do not linger near them for too long. Their glow doesn’t last forever-” Shortly after hearing that, I began to hear a familiar screeching and clicking noise as I began to look at my team, “Go forth to the Ascendant Realm, quickly. The Hive already know that you’re here.” “Would that happen to be what she’s talking about?” We heard Eagle now ask, pointing to what appeared to be a faint silver glow that was right in front of us. “Maybe. Though, Aria said lanterns,” Mac now spoke up as he looked at the hunter, “We should keep an eye out for more. Cause ah think that’s the only way we’re going to get out of here otherwise.” “So, let me see if I understand this correctly,” Indigo now took a turn to speak, “We go to the first lantern, find the next one, immediately head to that and then repeat the process until we find a way out?” “All while destroying any hive that might be chasing us along the way?” I now added. “Exactly,” he nodded his head, “Noble and ah should lead while the rest of ya follow. If the hive are going to come for us, then they’ll immediately attack the first thing that they see. If anyone sees a lantern, call it out so we can go to it immediately.” Each one of our team members, Adagio included, agreed to the plan as we looked towards the first lantern in front of us, before we began to sprint. As we moved towards the pillar, I could feel the darkness weighing down on my body as the hive began to emerge from the walls and the ground beneath our feet. Once we reached the lantern, the construct pulsed with light, illuminating the thrall that were coming for us as we fought them off. Aiming for the heads as several of them disintegrated in green fire. “I see the next one! Everyone on me,” Noble shouted, before the defender went around the first beacon and started heading towards the second one that was on the left hand side. I could see a few cursed thralls mixed in with the ones that were mindlessly charging at our team as Indigo made short work of them with a few hand cannon rounds to their heads. Sticking to the stone path, despite the fact that several sections in the path were giant holes in the ground. At the second lantern, I was already looking around for the next one while Eagle threw out his grenade. Upon hitting the ground, it turned into a swarm of smaller grenades that immediately darted towards any thralls within proximity. Indigo joined in as well, tossing her skip grenade as it split up upon touching the floor while Noble and Mac were attacking any thrall that got too close with their melee strikes. As for me, I was on my guard and looking out for the thrall, but as I turned to my right, I found something else instead. “Mac, found the next one. On my right!” The defender that was facing me turned to his left, before calling out to the rest of our team “You heard her. Let’s move!” Traversing through this dark abyss to me was something that collectively tested our wits, and for some of our team, their patience. We were forced to keep moving every so often to find the next lantern that kept us alive, trying to navigate a pitch black labyrinth while the hive were breathing down our necks. What made things worse was that after several minutes of running to and from ten different lanterns, we soon ran out of places to run too. The last lantern that we reached was nearby what looked to be a large endless pit, with no way of possibly getting across. “Guys, we can’t stay here! Have you found anything!?” Eagle shouted, firing a few shots from what looked to be a scout rifle before throwing a knife right at a thrall’s head. “Nope! No sign of anything else,” Mac grunted. As I was looking around, I spotted something that caught my attention. A circular plate, one that looked exactly like the one that we activated to draw the bridge over the Hellmouth. But what was something like this doing here-. “If you fools aren’t going to do anything, then I guess I’ll have too.” “Wha-?” Immediately, I turned to see Adagio ran away from the lantern, just as it was glowing red. A white outline began to form in the circle as she threw out a lightning grenade at several thralls that were charging at her. However, seeing this soon had something click in my head. “Guys, I think Adagio’s onto something!” I told her, before taking off to join her. The weight of the shadows from before returning to the point that it felt like there were shackles that were chained to my legs. But it did not stop me from reaching over there. “Shimmer, what are you-!?” “If you think I’m going to just let you do this on your own, then think again,” I immediately said, before switching to my shotgun and firing off rounds at two thralls that were within striking distance of Adagio, “We’re a team, so we do this together. Whether we like it or not.” “Grr, fine!” she snapped, firing off several hand cannon rounds as the rest of the team began to join us. We could not be able to move from our current spot, but all of us were doing everything that we can in order to fend off the hive as the circle we stood on shined brighter. Markings of Hive symbols began to light up around the ring “Guys, whatever this is doing, it needs to be done faster! We got Knights coming at us!” Eagle alerted us, before the gunslinger’s body was coated in a glowing fire as a revolver of solar light formed in his hands. Firing off three shots of solar light that disintegrated another pair of thrall and hit one of the knights that was coming towards us. In the distance, I could also see something float around in the air, before realizing that it was something that was a much bigger problem that was immediately making its way towards us. “Heads up!! We got an Ogre!!” “Crap! Everyone, stay where you are!” Noble cursed, before channeling his light as a Ward of Dawn formed around us as the eye blasts from the Ogre collided with the barrier. The hive were coming at us from all possible angles now and we were struggling to maintain our position right now. My shotgun ammo was already running low and I’ve already used up over half of the ammo that I can carry for my Pulse Rifle. Yet, as we were being pushed to our limits and Noble’s Ward was near its breaking point, we heard a loud crack from the other side and a bright light began to shine. The weight on my legs was not going away though. The path forward is clear “We got the bridge up! Everyone run!!!” “No need to tell me twice!!” Immediately, we turned around and made a break for it, ignoring the hive that were behind us and the thrall that were crawling up the sides of the bridge as we tried to make it across. If anything, we were just trying to hurry over the bridge as fast as possible to the bright light on the other side. That was our only way out of this wretched pit and our only opportunity to make it over. We couldn’t pass up on a chance like this. Once we were off the bridge, the weight that was placed on us before was immediately thrown off, allowing for us to sprint and run past everything else that was coming for us. Closing my eyes, I jumped towards the light at the end of the hall, not knowing what was waiting for us on the other side. ??? When I began to open my eyes again, I found myself in a place that was definitely not like the moon at all. There were no stars in the pitch black sky. Nothing but what looked like a giant broken moon that glowed an ominous emerald green. The surrounding area definitely looked like the hive structures on the moon, but there were two giant pillars in the area with another plate in the middle and what looked like a burning red fire that was over an endless pit as I saw the rest of my team come through the same way I did. Adagio was first, followed by Mac and Noble, with both Indigo and Eagle rounding out our team. “O-ow, m-my head,” I heard Indigo speak, scratching the back of her head as she slowly began to pick herself up off the ground, “U-uh… Where the hell are we?” “Not the moon, that’s for certain,” Mac added, before looking back at the rest of the team to make sure they were okay, “Have ya tried contacting the tower?” Immediately after hearing him say that, I tried to have Ray establish a connection, but all I got was a loud buzzing noise as I looked back to the titan. “Dammit, I can’t get ahold of them. All I’m getting is static. We’re on our own out here.” “Aside from our ghosts you mean,” Eagle added. “Still not exactly good,” I told him. If we’re cut off from the tower, it also meant that we’re cut off from Aria. She was the one who was guiding us through the abyssal hellhole that we just escaped, but now that we were cut off, we couldn’t be able to get her help from here onward. “Hang on a moment,” we now heard Noble speak up, “Before we jumped in the Hellmouth, didn’t we hear Aria tell us something?” That had all of us, including Adagio, look back at one another before Indigo folded her arms. “You’re going to have to be more specific.” “In order to truly end the threat of Crota once and for all, you must take the fight to him in his own realm.” Immediately, everyone stared to me, just as I extended my hand and my ghost began to materialize in front of me. “What was that, Ray?” “What Aria said,” he told me, “In order to truly end the threat of Crota once and for all, you must take the fight to him in his own realm. Which would mean…” “This is his domain,” Adagio said, venom seeping from her words. “Exactly. In that pit we escaped, Aria also said ‘Go forth to the Ascendant Realm’. Something tells me that we’re here in that realm.” “And what exactly would make you think that?” Mac now asked, which resulted in Ray turning around and facing a new direction. Prompting me to look out in the distance and see what my ghost was looking at, before he materialized back into my helmet. Letting me speak now. “Well, I’m not positive,” I told them, before pointing out towards the burning ashes that resembled a pathway and what exactly I could see in the distance, “But I think Ray’s got a couple of theories. Mainly relating to that over there.” “Oh, bloody hell,” Noble cursed upon first seeing the hive construct that was in the distance, “I’m already getting a chill down my spine by just looking at that thing.” “Well, it’s the only other thing that’s here and we don’t exactly have any other options,” Eagle added, before reloading his weapons, “Only question now is how in the name of the traveler are we going to get across?” “Let’s look around first and see if there’s anything that we can find,” Mac then suggested to us, “Given the fact that the red… burning embers over there extend all the way to the other side, maybe it’s connected to some kind of mechanism?” “So, another bridge?” Indigo bluntly put it, before looking back to Eagle and a couple of others, “What is up with this place and bridges? How many has there been so far that we’ve seen and had to cross?” “Three,” Adagio bluntly said. “Exactly,” the bladedancer replied back, “We’re just doing the same thing over and over again. If this Crota guy is somehow testing us in some way, the only thing he’s testing is my patience.” I felt the same way, but honestly, we’re too far in to start turning back now. If what Mac said was true, then we needed to find a way to activate it. “Everyone, we got movement. Hide!” Before any of us had the chance to properly react, we found ourselves splitting up. Myself, Adagio and Mac hid behind a broken column on the far left since while Indigo, Eagle and Noble did the same on the right. From a door that was behind us, we watched as two acolytes and a knight walked out. Each of the Acolytes stood by a pillar that was on either side and the knight stood in the center, raising the sword that he was holding as a new overpass was formed. As the knight was crossing though, the path was starting to crumble and wither after it had reached the halfway point as both of the acolytes that were with it fell to their deaths, before meeting a second knight on the other side. One that glowed the same color as the cursed thralls as it allowed for the knight to pass before returning to its post. “I… think we just found our way across,” I spoke up now. “Really? What’s your newest ‘theory’ then?” Eagle asked. I assumed that he was saying that jokingly, but it did sound like he was coming off like a bit of a jerk. “We have part of the team stick by both of those pillars while one of us stands in the center, kill the knight bearing the sword and use it to form that link and cross over. Whoever crosses kills that gatekeeper knight on the other side with the blade and holds position over there while we repeat the process with everyone else. It’s the only feasible way that we could be able to get over without plummeting to our deaths.” I know that wasn’t exactly what some would consider as the best strategy, but it was the only one that we had. Especially since we couldn’t be able to contact Aria right now. “I’m all for it,” I heard Indigo say as the Bladedancer got out from behind the broken column on her side. “Question is, who’s going to cross over first?” “We got two titans, two hunters and two warlocks on this team. We should have one each make it over first before everyone else follows suit,” Noble suggested, before looking to me, “But for who specifically should go-” “I’ll do it.” We all looked back at Adagio, some of us being surprised that she was taking matters into her own hands now. “The more that we banter on, the more that we’re wasting time. The sooner we get this over with, the better.” “Can’t really say no to that,” Mac added, “We’ll cover the left. Indigo?” “I hear you, we got the right side,” she nodded as her, Eagle and Noble got into position while Mac and I stood by ours. “Adagio, whenever you’re ready.” The stormcaller grunted, before holstering her hand cannon. Arming herself with a weapon that I could only assume was a fusion rifle. One that have markings and the exterior appearance of a hive weapon as she turned a switch, the gun illuminating a cyan pulse from the outside. Only hearing her say one thing before she stepped on the plate. “For my sister.” The energy from the platform immediately came to light upon her stepping forth as we heard the sounds of the Hive encroaching upon our position. They were coming out of cracks in the ground and climbing up the sides of the walls behind us as we engaged the threat. Doing everything that we could in order to fend off the impending swarm while the platform Adagio stood on was charging. It took a few moments of fending off the Hive and even having to tell Ray to use an Ammo Synthesis to restore my pulse rifle magazine. Luckily though, it was starting to pay off. “We got a swordbearer! Focus your fire!” Noble himself immediately took the chance to get out a rocket launcher that had a wolf head on the front as he fired two rockets that followed the swordbearer. Exploding on contact and having a swarm of cluster rockets swarm around the knight like it was one of Eagle’s grenades. It was enough to stagger the knight and provide myself a chance to land a few shots at its head before Adagio fired a blast from her rifle to take it down as it dropped its sword. Prompting her to grab it as the overpass materialized and she took off. “Alright, she’s on her way! Someone else needs to take over.” “I got you covered. Just focus on keeping these hive bastards at bay!” Eagle said, before racing over to the center platform. I wanted to look and see if Adagio had taken down the gatekeeper, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off the situation that was going on right now as I went back to fighting off the Hive. Unloading shotgun rounds into the thrall that came too close to Mac and I. “Okay, Gatekeeper’s dead! Now what!?” “Stay where you are and fend off any hive that come after you,” I quickly answered to Adagio’s response just now, before seeing another Hive Knight that was armed with a sword coming for the center plate, “We got another Swordbearer coming. Eagle will be coming over to back you up.” “Well, make it quick! We don’t have any time to waste!” Fighting off the second knight was a little bit more challenging since we did not have Noble firing his rocket launcher this time around. Instead, Eagle brought out a machine gun and used the ammunition from it to stagger the knight as I threw out my solar grenade and let the flames from it burn away at the knight’s protective chitin. While this was happening, Indigo brought out her sniper rifle to fire off three shots at the Swordbearer’s head, with the third shot being the killing blow as it dropped its sword and Eagle picked it up. “Got the sword, coming over!” “Make it quick! I don’t know how, but my blade disappeared shortly after killing the gatekeeper!” That was news to me. Specifically because it meant that the swords were holding had some kind of limit as to how long they could be around for. Making it a race against time. “Mac, cover the center!” “Already on it, Sunset!” the defender told me, leaving his post right next to me before moving to the middle. Like with Adagio, I wasn’t able to look to see if Eagle killed his gatekeeper or not, but I hoped that he would be able to follow through. As for us, our objective did not change. We needed to fend off the Hive and defeat the Swordbearers that came our way so that each member of our fireteam could make it over. After Mac took his turn, Indigo was the next one to make it over and slay her gatekeeper. Follow that with Noble doing the same thing as I stayed behind to fend off the hive. Yet, during this, there was one thing that I did not anticipate. The bridge is fully formed “Sunset, hurry up! The bridge is solid!!” Wait, what? “How-?” “I don’t know, but after Noble killed his gatekeeper, the bridge didn’t disappear and six swords just showed up out of nowhere,” Indigo shouted back, “Get over here, quickly!” Well, that was a change in plans that I did not expect. Falling back, I threw my grenade at the base of the bridge so the Hive couldn’t come after me before racing over to the other side to join with the rest of my team. Like what Indigo said, six swords appeared in front of us, floating in place as if they were expecting us to grab them. “Well, we’re here… now what?” I heard the gunslinger standing by Indigo ask us. “There’s six of us and six blades. Let’s take one each and see what happens,” I suggested, slowly setting my rifle on my back as I went to grab the blade in front of me. Holding it with both of my hands as the rest of our team grabbed hold of the other swords. The moment that we armed ourselves with these blades, the hive came out in full force as we had to fend off thralls, cursed thralls, acolytes and even two ogres. Not only that, but there were other gatekeepers that appeared as well. Forcing us to be aware of their attacks before we could be able to attack them ourselves. Which was already hard to do considering how many Hive were already trying to get ahold of us with their claws. Over the course of the battle, we had to face five gatekeepers and two ogres along with all the other hive that swarmed us. But once they were defeated, the barricade that was not far now opened up, showing us the way forward. “Guys, hold on just a second.” When we turned to Indigo, all of us were rather confused. “Why, what’s wrong?” “My ghost just, I don’t know, picked something up just now after we completed that fight. Not an engram, but an actual piece of equipment,” she explained, her armor looking a bit different as she was now wearing a new harness that had fangs and teeth around her neck along with a new cloak that looked like the chitin of a hive, “Check with your ghosts and see if you happened to get anything too.” Curious, I brought out Ray and began to look at the items I happened to have. As it turns out, I did get a few things. Two pieces of armor and a new weapon. The pieces of armor were referred to only by the title ‘Deathsinger’ as the first piece was a pair of gauntlets and the second was a new robe that had shoulder guards and a chestplate that looked as if they were ripped off of a hive wizard and sewn into a garment. Lastly, there was the weapon. To my surprise, it was a pulse rifle. One that happened to have some similar traits to the rifle that the stranger gave me. Taking a moment, I had my ghost inspect the weapon. Name- Oversoul Edict Weapon Type- Pulse Rifle Manufacturer- Unknown Slot- Primary The light of the will of Crota shines down like a vast and inverse sun. Modifiers: -Arc Damage: This weapon causes Arc Damage -Red Dot OAS: Snapshot Sight. Enhanced target acquisition. -Red Dot ORES: Flexible Sight. Enhanced handling, range and recoil control. -Full Auto: This weapon can be fired in Full Auto Mode. -Snapshot: Aiming this weapon is incredibly fast. -Field Scout: Increased carried Ammo Capacity -Dark Breaker: Projectiles will overpenetrate through Hive Knight Wall of Darkness. -Hive Disruptor: Increase damage to Hive Majors. Holy… shit. I remembered when I was asking myself about how many different perks could a particular weapon have when I looked at Mac’s scout rifle when searching for the Gate Lord, but this was much more than I was anticipating. But this could be particularly useful. Especially if you consider what we can use this for as well as our current situation. “Ray, equip the new armor and switch out my Pulse Rifle. I think I’ll need it going forward.” “Give me a second and I’ll have it ready.” he told me, shortly before my equipment and gear changed. As I looked up, some of the other equipment that the rest of my team had was also different as well. New armor along with some of them carrying new weapons. The only one that didn’t have any new weapons was Adagio, who still had her hand cannon and fusion rifle as I looked around for a moment at the rest of my team. “Everyone all set?” “Yeah, if you consider that this new stuff makes us look like the same monsters that we’re trying to kill,” Eagle replied, “But if it’s better than the equipment that we had when starting this mission, then I’ll use it.” “Same here,” Mac added, “Let’s be careful moving forward. We don’t know what to expect going forward.” The next hall that we had to traverse was a full on gauntlet of chaos for we had to not only kill Thralls and Shriekers that were scattered throughout a hallway, but also had to make it past a door in the distance that was slowly closing as we were fighting off the Hive. Several of us found it easier to defeat them now that we had equipment that gave us a small advantage against them, but we did not want to get too cocky. For we still did not know what was waiting for us in store the farther in we went. Once at the end of the hall, we found ourselves in a strange room. There were hive on both sides, but when Indigo cloaked herself to get a better look at what we were dealing with, what she found was… not what I was thinking originally. “So, both sides look to have some wizard that’s hiding and a shrieker that’s asleep. On top of that, there’s another chamber that’s directly above us, but it looks to be sealed.” “Sealed?” I asked. “Yeah. There doesn’t seem to be anyway inside because any possible entry was blocked by a wall with hive markings,” the bladedancer replied, “I’m not sure what it means, but just from the amount of enemies that are here, it would be better if we split up.” “Like in two teams of three?” Noble asked. “Yeah. I can take one side with Sunset and Mac while you guys get the other. If anything out of the ordinary happens, we’ll regroup,” Indigo explained further, “What do you guys think?” “I say that works.” “Agreed.” “Whatever…” “Then I guess we have a plan. Let’s draw those wizards out of hiding,” I said, following Indigo and Mac as we took our positions. The area that we stormed had the giant broken moon that was up in the sky, along with several different Hive all around us on the ground level and up above on the walls that surrounded us. Almost as if we were walking into a caged off pit. If that wasn’t bad enough, seconds after the first shots were fired, all of us heard a bone chilling shriek echo everywhere. The Deathsinger prepares her song That… definitely did not sound good at all. If anything, my heart started to race because of that alone. When fighting against the hive right now, it felt as if there was a creeping sense of dread that was slowly making its way up my body, forcing the hairs on my neck to stand upright. Whatever we were up against wanted for our deaths to not be swift, but agonizing and painful. I was not going to let that happen. Turning around, I now saw the sealed chamber Indigo was referring to before noticing the wizard that was hiding. I threw my solar grenade in an effort to destroy it’s protections, before Mac peltered the wizard with machine gun fire as the wizards was torn to shreds. At the corner of my eye, I noticed that on the barrier to the sealed chamber that there were four hive runes similar to when Ray and I found the Temple of Crota. When the wizard was killed, one of the runes faded away, leaving three more remaining. “Shrieker, on your flank!” Indigo called out, before rushing over and shooting at it to get its attention so Mac could turn around in time. I also contributed in attacking the wizard as I aimed my rifle at the Shrieker’s eye, being careful to avoid any blasts that come directly towards us. After Mac fired another clip of Scout Rifle ammunition, the shrieker was destroyed. I watched as another rune went down before getting on coms, “Noble, I think I figured out how to get inside that chamber Indigo was talking about.” “Well, you’ve been right the last time you suggested a plan. What is it this time?” “When we killed the wizard and the shrieker on our side, two runes on a hive barrier disappeared. There were originally four of them on there.” “So,” Eagle added, “What you’re saying is that if we kill the wizard and shrieker on our end…” “It should open the chamber-” As I said that, a Hive Knight came out from behind a wall and began to shoot at me, prompting me to back off before firing a rocket. Allowing me the chance to seek cover. “We need to hurry though. I got a bad feeling that if we take too long, it’ll end up horribly for all of us.” “That is already obvious, Shimmer.” Well, that was… unexpected. I don’t remember there being any time at all where Adagio and I actually agreed on… well pretty much anything really. Though, now was definitely not the time to focus on that. Wasting anymore time would only lead to us getting killed, so we had to act now and stop whoever or whatever this ‘Deathsinger’ was. The rest of the team did not waste any time trying to kill the wizard and shrieker on their end. Because a few seconds after I told them what I was thinking of, the last two runes on the door disappeared. Opening the chambers as our entire team regrouped on our side before storming in. Finding acolytes, knights and one wizard that was floating in the middle next to a giant crystal. Ir Yût, the Deathsinger “Everyone, focus your fire on that wizard!” I called out, before bringing out my rocket launcher and firing two shots at the wizard. The first one made contact, but the wizard moved out of the way of the second shot before it could even hit them. “That’s easier said than done, Sunset! There’s too many knights in here!” Noble’s comment just lead to me focusing on trying to combat the hive knights that were making things difficult for him. Throwing out a solar grenade first before unloading several shotgun rounds into the two knights, killing one and leaving one damaged enough for me to incinerate with a scorch attack. I heard Machine Gun fire echo behind me and turned to find Mac taking down two more knights on his own and Adagio disintegrating another with her fusion rifle. “Knight’s are down. Go!” All of us wasted no time getting back to attacking Ir Yût, using every trick that we had to avoid her energy bolts and to avoid any other attacks that she had. However, the problem that we were having was that every so often, she would just float away from any attacks that we would try to hit. Which, in itself, was annoying. There was a point where the wizard did stop moving. Yet, that in itself did not feel good. The sense of dread that I had before was now crawling up my neck as I heard another screech from Ir Yût. Ir Yût shrieks in fear. The deathsinger begins her liturgy. Immediately, the edges of my helmet began to start going dark as if I was losing consciousness. “We need to hurry!! Focus your fire!!!” “If that isn’t obvious enough!!” Adagio snapped, firing off multiple blasts from her fusion rifle at the wizard as it stood in place. I immediately had Ray use a heavy synthesis and began firing off my rockets at the Deathsinger along with Indigo and Noble while Mac was firing off machine gun rounds at the wizard. Eagle himself was firing a machine gun too, but it first started off slow… before rapidly spinning up as the rounds were fired off as quick as lightning. Seconds continued to pass, my vision began to darken with each passing second as a yellow flame was seen burning around the Deathsinger. Their song was slowly beginning to kill us and I felt my soul being torn from my body. Only to hear the vile scream of a dying wizard as the deathsinger’s body turned to ashes. A final blast from Adagio finishing off Ir Yût and the deathsinger was no more. “D-Did we… win?” “Well, we’re not dead obviously,” the stormcaller let out a deep breath as I tried to regain my bearings. “Don’t tell me that you felt like giving up, Shimmer.” “As if,” I coughed, “Whatever that wizard was doing, it felt as if my soul was being ripped out of my body. I’m just glad that it’s over.” “Amen to that,” Indigo then added on as I noticed that she was wearing a new pair of gauntlets on her wrist, “Sparky said that we got some more equipment out of that encounter too-” “Sparky? What, is that a nickname for me now-?” Adagio glared at the bladedancer. “Uh, Sparky’s the name of my ghost?” Indigo told her, trying to explain that it wasn’t some kind of childish nickname for her, only for Adagio to look rather puzzled, “We give names to our ghosts so that we have a name that’s specific for them. Do you… have one for yours?” “… No.” “Well, just take it under consideration then. No need to do it now,” Indigo replied, before switching her weapons and loading what looked to be a sniper rifle with hive platings all over the end of the barrel and the front near the scope, “Yeah, I’m definitely keeping this one.” We took a few moments to rearrange our equipment and gear as well as take some time to prepare for whatever was going to come for us next. Grabbing whatever ammo we needed for our weapons that dropped outside before returning back to the chamber where we killed Ir Yût. We did not know exactly what we needed to do next, but something gave me the impression that it had something to do with the giant crystal in the center. At first, it did not seem to react at all when I tried taking a closer look. But when the others also stepped forth, the chamber was sealed off with an invisible barrier. Acolytes and Knights began to spawn everywhere outside, waiting for the moment that the barriers that kept them at bay to disappear as the edges of what looked like a throne began to glow like fire. Then, he arrived. A giant spectral being that grew in size and spawned across from the crystal chamber. A giant phantasm of the monster we came this far to kill as its body glowed the same color as the shattered rock in the sky, staring at us with three eyes before taking form and grabbing hold of a blade that it had as its weapon of choice. Crota, the Son of Oryx had arrived. Crota’s Presence stops Health Recovery Oh, that’s not good- “Everyone, get ready!!” Immediately after Noble said that, the acolytes began to open fire at us as we focused our efforts into fending off the swarm that were eager to kill us in the presence of their prince. I fired off several bursts at three different acolytes to kill them, before running outside, with Mac following not that far behind me as we tried to get to a better position. Preferably one where the hive weren’t crawling up the walls to try and kill us. Of course, there was no way that we could last in this fight the way it is now. We needed a plan, but it was very hard to come up with one given all the chaos going on right now. I killed two more acolytes, but one of their shots hit me in the arm. The injury admitted a glow to it and I was not able to feel anything be restored. “Okay, what the hell is going on?! I’m getting shot at and my injuries aren’t mending!” Indigo snapped. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, we need a plan!” I can agree with Eagle on that point, but coming up with a plan was not exactly simple. Though, amidst all the fighting going on and the shots being fired at us, I did see something at the center of the room. A glowing light in the center. I don’t know if it was instinct or something else, but I had a feeling that it was important. Running out of cover, I hurried towards the glow. Only to realize that it was something I could be able to pick up and carry. The warmth of the glow healing my injuries. Sunset Shimmer picked up the Chalice of Light “Indigo, where are you at?!” “Over here!” I heard her shout, followed by the sound of a skip grenade. I raced over to the bladedancer, before killing an acolyte that wasn’t far away. “The hell? Why are you glowing-?” “Just take it!” I said, before pushing it her to take off of me. Indigo Zapp has picked up the Chalice of Light “W-whoa! Did it just-” “Whatever this thing is, its healing injuries. But we need to use it carefully-” I said, before turning around and killing another acolyte. “Now that that’s out of the way, does anyone notice anything that can help?” “Everyone, I’m seeing signs of hive knights. Swordbearers like the ones at the bridge,” Eagle informed us, “We also tried shooting at Crota, but he has some kind of protection around him that can quickly return to him.” “Wait a second… Didn’t Aria tell us when we started this that Crota’s own power can be turned against him?” Mac now asked. “She did-” I said, before something began to click in my head, “The swords! Aria was referring to the swords,” as soon as I realized that, I had a new question to ask, “How many Swordbearers are there?” “Only one. Who’s going to get it?” That made me stop, before thinking for a moment as I looked around as an idea came to my mind. “Adagio. She should do it,” I reasoned, before arming myself with my new pulse rifle as I aimed at the Swordbearer knight, “Okay, I got a plan. First, everyone needs to attack the Swordbearer!” Both Indigo and I took a chance at taking down the Swordbearer as I saw Mac bring up a Ward of Dawn at his position, allowing for us to relocate before attacking. After the Swordbearer was destroyed, we saw Adagio grab the sword as I switched to my rocket launcher. “Okay, whoever has rockets need to open fire on Crota now! Adagio’s only going to be able to actually hurt him if those protections are gone!!” Seconds later, I squeezed the trigger and began to fire off rockets at Crota. Noble and Indigo joined in too as the rockets quickly tore through his shield, forcing the Prince onto one knee. “His shield’s broken! Adagio, go!!” I did not hear Adagio snap back at me or snarl, but instead I saw her charge. Striking Crota and driving his sword down on the prince. However, it wasn’t until five seconds afterwards that he was back up and his shield was intact. “Rockets, again!!” I called out as my team fired another volley at Crota for support to destroy the shield and allow Adagio to strike again. As she swung her blade, I had Ray activate another heavy ammo synthesis to replenish my rockets before watching as Crota rose back up on his feet again. By this time, the sword that she was holding was gone as the Stormcaller backed away. Yet, the prince was furious. Raising his sword in the air, a green aura began to surge forth around Crota. The giant rock in the background began to burn brightly as he let out a roar Crota summons his Oversoul “What the hell is that!?” Mac asked. “Who cares?! If he brought it here, then it’s not for a good reason. Shoot it!!” After Eagle said that, the exo brought out his machine gun again before rapidly firing off lighting rounds at … whatever it was. I soon joined in with him and the rest of my team as we focused our efforts on destroying whatever it was that he summoned. Two full ammo clips and another rocket later, it was gone as we watched Crota move locations. Moving from his position in the center over to the right as more hive began to spawn. This time, there were a pair of knights that were firing at us, but no sign of Swordbearers yet. Nearby Sniper fire was the next thing I heard as I looked to see Indigo and Eagle engaging the two knights in the middle, avoiding any incoming blasts before Indigo had Eagle grab something she was holding. Eagle-3 has picked up the Chalice of Light “Thanks, I needed that,” he said, before reloading and firing two more shots at one knight as Indigo killed the other while I focused on the thrall and the acolytes around me, throwing a grenade out to intercept some of them, noticing Crota returning back towards the center where he started, “Everyone, heads up! Swordbearer’s back in the middle! Get ready!!” All of us focused our fire on the Swordbearer once again, repeating the same tactics that we did before to kill the knight and let Adagio take its sword, before focusing on Crota himself. Opening fire on him to destroy the shield that protected him before the stormcaller proceeded to attack and harm the Prince as he was down on one knee. Once he rose up again, our team repeated the same process before Crota got back up. Forcing Adagio to retreat as the sword dissipated. “Okay, what happens now-” then, we heard the roar of something that I honestly wished that I didn’t want to hear as I looked back at everyone, “Oh hell… everyone, get inside the lower chambers! We got freaking Ogres incoming!!” We all began to run like hell immediately. Going inside the original chamber that we were in before fighting Ir Yût, seeing the hulking masses of the Hallowed Ogres walk towards where we are as they prepared to fire off eye blasts at us. We first focused our shots on the Ogre that was to the left, taking the chance to make sure it goes down before doing the same with the one on the right. We didn’t come out immediately though, because we could still hear the sounds of Crota’s steps above us. Only when we found him coming back to the center that we got back out and in position as we proceeded to follow through on the same strategy as before. Attacking Crota to bring down his shield before letting Adagio attack as the prince got back up- ENRAGED “Oh shit, he’s pissed! Adagio, get out of there!!!” Adagio immediately backed off as Crota slammed the ground, green aura surging around the Prince as he lifted his sword in the air to summon his Oversoul. “Kill what he summoned, then focus on Crota!! Hurry!!” Wasting no time, I opened fire at the Oversoul with Indigo and Mac, causing it to disperse before firing whatever heavy ammo I had to destroy Crota’s shields. After running out, I used my pulse rifle and continued to fire until we got him back on one knee. “Adagio, NOW!!” “This is for my sister, you bastard!!!” With one final strike, the ascendant Hive Prince was destroyed. Disintegrating as nothing, not even his sword was left behind. The rest of the Hive also vanished upon his defeat as Adagio almost fell to her knees. I wanted to come over to see if she was okay, but couldn’t compel myself to do so. We just killed a being that the hive would consider as a god. One that ripped the souls out of many victims and the light out of Aria herself. This was a victory, yes… but why do I have the feeling that this is just the beginning of something much worse? ??? There was silence in the festering halls of his domain, one that was broken by the howls of anger and rage. Two of his own servants came to tend to the king, but he forced them away. His anger and fury rising as he slammed his sword into the pedestal he stood on. “Prepare the Dreadnought,” his voice boomed, the pedestal underneath him glowing, “We are going to the Solar System.” The one who stood was the king who learned of how his son was struck down. How his son was defeated by Guardians who broke into the ascendant realm and killed him with his own sword. Now… he planned to finish what he started. He will take everything away from them, as they took away his son. He will have his Vengeance. “What Crota began, I complete… My will CONQUERS ALL!!!” 17- The Hunt BeginsChaos. That single word was enough to describe the current state that the Awoken of the Vestian Outpost were left in. Multiple corsairs were either gravely injured or worse, and much of the reef was left in disarray. Though, to the Queen of the Awoken, she was furious. Furious to the point that she wanted to know two things. Who did this… and why? As she watched from her balcony above the outpost alongside the company of her brother-in-law and advisor, Novo soon heard the sound of footsteps echo towards her position and turned around as she watched one corsair approach her. Yet, this one was different than the others. Her face wasn’t concealed by that of the standard corsair attire and her teal hair drifted off to the side of her head. For this one was special. She was the emissary of the Queen and the commander of the Royal Awoken Guard. But most importantly… she was the Queen’s Wrath. “My queen,” the emissary addressed her, kneeling at the presence of her ruler as Novo and Stratus approached her, “We’ve received a message from the warden of the Prison of Elders and the corsairs that were stationed at the border of the reef…” “And?” the queen spoke, waiting for the emissary to finish her sentence. “Both of them have confirmed the identity of the assailants who attacked the Vestian Outpost,” the awoken continued as she lifted her head and looked towards her queen directly, “They were the Eliksni from the House of Wolves, and the attack was orchestrated by the Kell that leads their house, Skolas.” At first, those words caught Novo by surprise. Yet, as the gravity of the situation began to set in, her anger began to rise. When her people originally found those stragglers, they were quick to make a deal. Saving their lives in exchange for their servitude. But this… this was more than just a mere act of defiance. It was an act of rebellion. No… It was an act of Betrayal. “My queen, what are your orders?” At first, the only response to the emissary’s question was silence. Silence that lingered with each passing second as the emissary rose from her kneeling position on the floor and stood at attention. Watching as the queen looked over the carnage that happened in her outpost as she gathered her thoughts. “After everything that we’ve done for them… this is how they choose to repay my generosity,” the words were brimming with rage as Novo turned back to look towards her emissary and her advisor, “There is only one thing that we can do. They will know what it's like to feel my wrath.” “Your grace,” Stratus soon interjected, “Are you sure you want to reach out to… them? This is none of their concern-” “Them?” the emissary then asked, “Stratus, with all due respect, who are you referring too?” The advisor turned towards the queen, who just briefly nodded her head. A sign for Stratus to continue speaking and to answer the emissary’s question, “Some time ago, a group of Guardians came to the Reef and asked for our help in finding the Black Garden. Surprisingly, they didn’t back away and run. They accomplished the task that we assigned them and in exchange, we asked for them to answer our call if our people need aid.” “So they owe us a favor?” the emissary’s question was answered with a simple nod of the head from the advisor, before she asked another one, “Then why are you hesitant?” Before Stratus had a chance to speak, Novo beat him to it, “Your uncle has a strong distaste towards lightbearers,” the queen explained, before looking to the emissary, “But… even so, our people are in need. Not only that, we need to make the wolves know what happens when you invoke my wrath… Skystar.” “Yes my queen,” the emissary immediately responded to her queen, “What are your orders?” At first, Novo was quiet… yet, when she spoke, each one of her words were fueled by her anger and rage towards the House of Wolves. “Open the Reef to the Guardians and send a message to the one named Sunset Shimmer. Offer the riches of our realm as bounty for these traitors… Let the hunt begin.” Elsewhere… “And that’s one Cabal commander we no longer need to worry about anymore!” I watched Indigo proclaim triumphantly as Mac and I regrouped with the Bladedancer. It had been more than a week or so since the raid where we killed Crota and since then, we’ve been busier than ever. Not just with completing bounties, harvesting resources and competing in the Crucible (much to Thunderlane’s enjoyment), but also being assigned on strike operations that Commander Sentry assigned to us. Such as the case for what we were finishing up on Mars. According to Commander Sentry, because of our actions in our pursuit for the Black Garden, we stepped into a war with the Cabal on Mars. So, we needed to make sure that the odds were in our favor. This led to our fireteam having to charge straight into a massive land tank and take out the Commander in charge. Even though killing the commander was in itself a challenge, Indigo didn’t exactly think of it that way, “Man, for being their commander, I thought they would be more of a challenge,” she sighed, before looking back to us, “I mean, what did Flash say was his name again?” “Valus Ta’aurc,” I answered as I let out a sigh and placed my Oversoul Edict on my back, “And if anything, he was a challenge Indigo. Hell, he was pelting us with rocket fire for several minutes and for some time, we couldn’t even make a dent in his armor while Mac and I were forced to stick behind cover.” “Ehh, honestly, he was nothing more than a pushover. I mean, who else would have their own troops do the work for you?” “Um, every commanding leader,” Mac deadpanned, “Did ya forget the fallen that we had to fight in the Devils Lair when we had to kill Sepiks Prime?” “… Fair point.” Before I had the chance to interject, that was when I heard Ray speak up, “Sunset, not to disturb you or anything, but you got a transmission on your ship that needs to be heard.” When I first heard that, I originally thought it was a message from someone that was at the Tower, like Commander Sentry, Twilight or Rainbow-6, but I couldn’t entirely be too sure because none of them were they type to spontaneously contact us out of the blue… well, Rainbow was a maybe, but I don’t quite think it was her. “Ray, where is the transmission coming from?” “I’m double checking and tracing the location of the message right now-” for a minute, Ray stopped speaking. It was something that was a bit unexpected, because my Ghost wasn’t one for interrupting himself while he was speaking. Yet, this silence did not last long as he soon picked up right where he left off. Going as far as to materialize right in front of me, “We need to get back to our ship. Right… now.” “Hold up. Why exactly do we need to do that?” Mac then asked. “I traced the origin of the message… It’s from the Reef.” In the moments after getting word from Ray about the message we received, all of us immediately returned to our ships as we were in Orbit over Mars. If this message was from the Reef, then it could possibly mean only one thing. Since the Awoken helped us with finding the Black Garden on Mars, it only meant that it was time to return the favor. “Ray, play the message.” My ghost nodded, disappearing into the navigation console of the ship as he began to play the new audio transmission that was waiting for us. Guardian, or should I say, Sunset Shimmer. This is Skystar; Emissary of Queen Novo and Commander of the Queen’s Wrath. We have an urgent matter that needs to be discussed and the Queen believes that you and your Fireteam are capable for such a task. Earlier today, we were betrayed by a foe that our queen originally showed mercy too. The Eliksni House of Wolves. Many of our corsairs and other personnel were killed in their act of rebellion and now, Queen Novo wants them to pay for their traitorous actions. In light of these events, we are now opening the Reef to all visitors. I will be providing the coordinates to the Vestian Outpost with this message. If you can assist us with hunting these traitors, my queen will reward you with the riches of our realm as bounty. Let the Hunt Begin. After the message ended, there was a brief pause, followed by a notification on my navigation system about a new location being added. Vestian Outpost, The Reef. There wasn’t anything in particular that I heard from Indigo or Mac. So instead, I took the initiative. “Well, I guess it's time to repay that favor.” “Hold on a second,” I heard Indigo speak, “We’re actually going to help them? It sounds like their own damn fault for trusting the Fallen.” “Indigo, don’t you remember what Novo originally said?” I now asked her, “We are to come when her people are in need of aid. I say this qualifies as that.” “Ah agree,” we heard Mac speak up now, “She expects an answer from us, Indigo. We willingly agreed to this. Going back on this is going back on our word and Guardians are always supposed to help those in need.” “The ‘last’ guardian that told me she would come when I would need aid left me on my own to fend for myself in the Cosmodrome to fend for myself,” the Bladedancer grit her teeth, “I’ve only been getting used to helping others after you had me join your fireteam.” That… was a bit to take in. Especially with how sudden and unexpected that was. It wasn’t like Indigo to go into personal details, so hearing this caught me off guard. Still though, we had a duty to fulfill. Not just as Guardians, but as representatives of the city. “I… am sorry to hear about that, Indigo. But like Mac said, Novo expects us to respond. We need to show her that we will not ignore her or her people when they’re needing our help,” shortly afterwards, I turned towards the navigation console of my ship and began to speak to Ray. “Set course for the Vestian Outpost.” “Right away, Sunset,” he said, shortly before all of our ships began to accelerate into space. Upon approaching the Reef, we began to see the carnage that was left behind. Pieces of Awoken vessels, the same ones that once escorted us into the reef, were now torn to shreds and floating throughout the reef. The supplies that were on those ships were also scattered everywhere, along with the bodies of Awoken corsairs that had yet to be retrieved as we were getting closer to the hangar bay of the Outpost. The outpost itself looked to have taken a lot of damage to its interior as well as its exterior. Though, upon transmatting in, we could still see a few other things that immediately stood out. There frames like the ones in the tower that handled the mail and the bounty board, an awoken that has the same clothes as Moondancer from the Tower and a strange human that wore a set of robes that obscured its face, but the robes and the imagery in the background reminded me of the pictures I’ve seen of Starswirl the Bearded back in Equestria. But, they were not the only ones who caught our attention. Instead, it was someone else entirely, “Well now, you must be the Guardians the queen told me about. Got to say, I didn’t think you would respond to our summons so quickly.” The voice belonged to another Awoken and matched the one we heard on the transmission. Yet, this one was much different than the others. Most Awoken corsairs that were standing guard wore black garments and kept their faces hidden. But this particular Awoken wore dark violet clothes that were similar to the corsairs and actually showed her face. Her teal colored hair was drifted off to the left side of her face as her right eye focused on us. Yes, I said eye as singular, because her left eye was covered by a patch. “Would you happen to be Skystar by chance?” The Awoken responded at first with a nod of her head, before she began tossing around the knife she had on hand. “Indeed I am. You must be Sunset Shimmer,” she paused for a moment, before looking behind me at where Indigo and Mac were standing, “I apologize, but I don’t think I quite got your names.” “To be fair, the queen never asked for our names when we saw her,” the titan retorted, “Ah’m Big Macintosh, but everyone ah know just calls me Mac.” “And I’m Indigo Zap,” The hunter now spoke up as she folded her arms and looked back at Skystar, “So, what do you need for us to do exactly?” “Itching to get into the field now, are we?” the emissary asked as she let out a small chuckle, “I know the feeling. But before we do that, we should brief you on the situation. As well as introduce you to someone who will be helping us.” That part got me a bit curious as I look back at Skystar. But before I could say anything, the three of us turned around at the sound of a new voice. Yet, none of us expected for the person that was to help us to not be an Awoken. In fact, given the circumstances, it was honestly the last thing we thought would be helping us. A Fallen. “Well now… You must be the Guardians… that will hunt down… the wolves, yes?” At first, none of us said anything, but that only lasted for a few moments as Indigo turned towards Skystar, “Hold on, I thought your message said that the Fallen were the ones who attacked you? What’s this one doing here?” The eyes of the fallen moved towards Indigo, glaring at her as it spoke again. “I am not… with the Wolves. I am… Variks, the Loyal… of House Judgement. Warden… of the Prison… of Elders.” “Variks remains loyal to my queen and to us as well,” Skystar assured us, “He is an essential ally to assist us with our hunt, and he watches over the Prison of Elders, where the Awoken keep the most dangerous criminals in the system locked up.” That… was new. In the last few months of being a guardian, I have fought against four different alien species, traveled to several planets, ripped out the black garden’s heart and killed the son of a hive god. But this is honestly the first time that I have heard of what would be considered as a space prison. Around then though was when my ghost materialized in front of me, before looking towards Skystar, “I’m sorry for abruptly interrupting, but I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask.” Skystar herself turned towards Ray, looking rather surprised, “Well, I was wondering when one of your ghosts would introduce themselves,” the emissary replied, “What would you like to ask?” “Well, first and foremost, what are these ‘wolves’ I hear Variks speak of?” Ray asked, before looking to me, “And Second, what is the Prison of Elders? I’m only vaguely familiar with the name, but not its purpose.” Skystar was quick to respond as she looked back at an awoken terminal. One that looked to have a map of the solar system projecting from it. “The Wolves are an abbreviated way of referring to the Fallen House of Wolves. Thanks to Variks, we know of numerous other houses with different names, so we are referring to these particular fallen by the name of their house.” With a quick swipe of her fingers, the projection changed as we looked at a giant spire that was floating in the reef. We were also looking at areas that appeared to be inside the prison that seemed to be holding… wait… are those Cabal? Fallen? Hive and Vex? What the hell are they all doing there? “This is the Prison of Elders,” we heard Skystar begin to explain, “It’s a maximum security facility where we imprison the most dangerous criminals in the solar system that have committed crimes against the Awoken. Variks is the warden, as he has already informed you, but now is not the time to be discussing about that.” Ah right. The Wolves. “Since you will be helping us, the Royal Awoken Guard will provide the tools and supplies that you will need to hunt down the wolves. We will also be issuing out a message to the Tower as well as provide bounties on key Fallen Targets, where removing them from the picture will cripple their forces,” Skystar told us, before turning towards Variks as he walked over right next to her, “But first, before you arrived, Variks had a breakthrough in searching for the Wolves current location.” “Indeed…” We now heard the Warden speak, his voice echoing like a low-pitched cackle, “Wolves on Venus… Kell with them too.” “Excellent,” Skystar smiled, “Provide us the coordinates for where you found them. It’s time for the hunt to begin.” It was not the words that she said that caught my attention though, but her tone of voice. Almost as if she was eagerly anticipating the chance to get started. “You seem pretty excited,” Indigo remarked. “You have no idea,” Skystar remarked, shortly before the three of us transmatted onto our ships as the coordinates for Venus began to show up on our navigation console. As we prepared to leave the Reef, we heard Skystar patch in to our comline. “Guardians, I can’t wait to work with your fireteam. Personally, it’s been a long time since I was last in the field, so it feels great to be back,” we heard her speak, “Even if it's just on coms.” “We’re glad to have you,” I replied, “Now, is there anything you can tell us before we touch down? That way we have some kind of idea as to what we’re getting into?” “Certainly,” she replied back, “The House of Wolves are led by Skolas, the last of their kells. Based on the information that Variks has provided, it appears that Skolas wants to take control of the Fallen House on Venus, the House of Winter. By killing their leaders, he’ll be able to take control of their troops and add them to his ranks… But with your help, we’ll stop them cold.” Author's Note Time to go hunt some Wolves. After all... we love field work 18- Kell of KellsAuthor's Note A short chapter to get ourselves introduced with the House of Wolves arc. I've been trying to find more time to write, but now that I'm back at work, it's going to be some time before another update. I do hope you enjoy it and feel free to let me know what you guys think. Until next time -Frost 18- Kell of Kells Once our ships broke through Venus’ atmosphere and we touched down on the ground, we found ourselves in a place called the Ash Coves. The whole area looked as if it was burned to cinders, but there were signs of fallen equipment scattered throughout the area. As we began to look around, Ray began to receive transmissions from Skystar as we heard the head of the Queen’s wrath begin to speak. “Fireteam Harmony, come in. Were you able to arrive there safely?” “We just touched down,” I answered back, “We’re in a camp that looked to have some fallen equipment here, but-” “Say no more,” she interjected before I could finish what I was saying, “Your ghost is right now feeding me telemetry on where your fireteam is. Meaning that I can see what he sees. This does look deserted, but it does seem that they left in quite a hurry. They even left some of their heavy pikes behind. Why don’t you take them for a spin?” “Well, they might not be as fast as a Sparrow, but they do have weapons,” Mac replied as he got on board one of pikes and saddled himself in, “Could be quite useful.” “Yeah, but there’s only two here and I don’t think they’re equipped to take passengers.” “Don’t worry, I got an idea,” Indigo told us, “I’ll go scout ahead and see what enemies are waiting for us and then you two follow me. I can keep myself cloaked and out of sight from them, so I can get an idea as to what lies ahead.” “That definitely would give you a tactical advantage for sure. Catch them by surprise before they have the chance to act,” Skystar added while I got seated in the second heavy pike that was there and Indigo went off to go see what was in store for us, “Now, if I remember correctly, those particular pikes come equipped with shock mines. However, I’m not quite sure how exactly you would activate them.” Well, that would be helpful, but that’s not important. Right now, we have to find where the wolves are first as Mac and I were getting used to the controls of the pikes. They weren’t exactly like a sparrow, but there was definitely a bit of a learning curve to it. “Guys,” we now heard Indigo speak up as Mac and I made our way over, “We got some dregs up ahead… and I think I can hear a fallen walker arriving in the clearing up ahead.” “A Walker? That’s… definitely not good,” the queen’s wrath now spoke up, “If they have a walker, that means that the Wolves have taken control of the House of Winter’s artillery! If you don’t take it out now, we’ll lose our opportunity to find their kell!!” That was all we needed to hear. Once we had reached the clearing, I saw Indigo decloak on top of a ledge and pin down the dregs around the walker with sniper fire. As she did that, Mac and I tried to focus on the Walker. It took a bit to try and familiarize with the control scheme since everything that was on the dashboard seemed to be written in whatever language the fallen would speak in, but with some help from Ray, I was able to figure out how the weapons on the heavy dreg worked and began to open fire on the walker as the slow firing shots from the Heavy Pike made contact with the panels on the legs. If this was anything like the walkers we were already familiar with, then destroying this particular Walker would be simple. Of course, there was also the fact that many of the fallen in the area were already rushing towards where we were to try and stop us, with many of them focusing their fire on me. “Grenade, incoming!” I looked up to see what a couple of dregs were throwing towards me as I immediately jerked the controls to the right to move out of the way. Yet, the sudden change in direction released some kind of electric orb that bounced towards the fallen and detonated upon contact. My best guess was that those were the shock mines that Skystar was mentioning earlier, but right now my fireteam had more important things to focus on as I got back to targeting the walker. Then, we heard an explosion and pieces of metal crashing onto the ground as the walker was crippled, “We got it down! Focus your fire!!” “I’m already on it!” Indigo told Mac as she redirected her focus to the walker and switched to her hand cannon to quickly make work of some of the dregs and throw her skip grenade at the exposed compartments of the Walker. As for me, my Heavy Pike has sustained too much damage from enemy fire, so I had to abandon it before it could explode and began to fire at it with my weapons. Mac himself stuck to the Pike and fired at any other incoming fallen that could disrupt our focus. Eventually, our efforts paid off as the walker exploded and pieces of the vessel were flown everywhere. Yet, none seemed more excited than Skystar herself when this happened. “Excellent work! Just to think that only last week I was delivering out court messages. Today, we’re delivering explosions! This is why I love fieldwork,” she proudly told us, “Get after them, Guardian! We can’t let them get away!” At that point, we chose to continue forward on foot since we were running out of room for us to drive our sparrows. It was as we kept going that I decided to ask a question, “Hey Skystar? What can you tell us about Skolas? We know that he’s in charge of the Wolves, but is there anything else we should know aside from that?” “Well… Variks says that the other fallen houses; the house of winter, devils and kings, hate Skolas with a dying passion. They thoroughly believe that Skolas betrayed the fallen during the battle at Duskfall Gap.” Around that point, Ray brought up a codex entry to fill in the gaps before I could ask about what Duskfall Gap was. Based on the entry, it was a battle where thousands of guardians fell in order to hold the front line against the combined might of the three Fallen Houses that Skystar had just mentioned. The battle would’ve been lost if it weren’t for Lord Thunderlane leading a counterattack with other guardians, the city would’ve been lost. In the days after, Lord Thunderlane created the Crucible to prepare guardians for if another battle like Duskfall Gap were to happen again. Though, before I could ask anything else, Skystar spoke up as we approached a door at the end of the pathway, “Hold up… it looks like your ghost is detecting traces left behind from a stasis field. Skolas was kept in a Stasis Pod for years, it must be him!” Each one of us took the chance to reload our weapons before we cautiously went through the door. As we went through the door, we found a legion of fallen spread out, with what looked to be a kell standing over them triumphantly. It then turned to us with it’s weapon in hand, prompting me to fire at it. Yet, my shots only grazed their armor before they disappeared. But not without a proclamation. “Gie Lovos drada kee! Drass, gue, Drageh!!” Immediately, Skystar picked up on the other end as the other fallen began to attack us and forced our fireteam to spread out, “Variks, get on the comms! What did he say!?” “Yes, yes,” we now heard the warden of the prison of elders speak, “In your tongue he said, ‘The Wolves stand strong. Cover before the Kell of Kells!” “Kell of Kells?” Skystar asked, puzzled with what Variks told her, “What, did he give himself a promotion?” “A fallen legend,” Variks corrected her as we took down the last of the group that was here, “He sees himself as a prophet. A great unifier, perhaps. Or… he has gone quite mad.” “Personally, with what we’ve been seeing, I would think it’s the latter,” Indigo now added as she began to walk farther up a nearby ledge. “I would agree with you, but do watch your step,” the queen’s wrath told us, “The Wolves are known to be quite resourceful and crafty with what’s at their disposal. They most likely have set up traps to stall you so Skolas can get away.” “Any particular idea besides the usual fallen traps we’ve seen before?” I asked. “Well, Variks has told me that some of the wolves have been known to force high caliber weaponry and explosives on shanks. Also, based on the traces that I’m picking up from Sunset’s ghost-” “Ray,” I corrected, which had Mac look back at me for a moment. Probably with a look of ‘What are you doing?’ underneath his helmet, “What? If you’re going to use my Ghost to help, then you should address him by his name.” For a moment, there was some silence… before a deep sigh as Skystar continued, “Well, based on what I’m picking up from Ray, some of the traces from Skolas’ pod are in the ground in front of you. Best guess? Some of the Wolves repurposed Skolas’ Stasis Pod and turned them into mines. So watch your step.” So… landmines then… just when I thought this couldn’t get anymore troublesome. As we began to cross the upper ravine and chase after the wolves, the three of us soon came across the modified shanks Skystar was talking about. Some were strapped with glowing explosives that were on the front of its metal body while the others had special weapons that fired the same kind of weapons that the Fallen Vandals would use as they tried to pick us off from further up the ravine. To us though, it just meant that we needed to quickly dispose of the exploding shanks first before targeting the tracers to make short work of them. Furthermore, if we came across any mines, a couple of gunshots from our weapons was enough to destroy it before it could set off. When we were getting closer though, I was beginning to think my radar was going haywire. It was picking up movement and signs of enemies all around me, but I couldn’t actually see anything at first. Though, it was as I began firing at some of them that I began to realize the problem. One of the Fallen Captains that was out here leading the charge could cloak themselves, much like that of Indigo or other Bladedancers. Also, there wasn’t a way to just ‘ignore’ them either. The way forward was blocked off by laser trip mines, so the only way that we were going to get after Skolas was to go straight through the fallen that were standing in their way. Refocusing my attention, I tossed out my solar grenade on the ground as the flames burned any dregs that came across it. The fires from my grenade flickered against the shield of the captain that we were fighting as the rest of my fireteam now had an open target to focus their fire on as we did what we could to fight against an enemy that we couldn’t see. The different kinds of shanks that we saw earlier on the way up here were beginning to show up as well. More than likely as an attempt to slow down our progress even more. This was even more apparent when we saw a servitor emerge as well. One that was different from the others. Skystar told us that it was one of the Servitors from the House of Wolves itself, which the wolves use to not only command troops, but to disrupt communications. If we didn’t take it and the captain out quickly, not only would we lose contact with the Reef, but we would be overwhelmed by sheer force. With that in mind, our first focus was to take down the servitor, all while staying aware of our surroundings and keeping an eye out for the cloaked captain that was fighting us. Once the servitor was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal, we reshifted our focus back to the captain and the dregs that kept on coming in. Though, once Indigo activated her super and started cutting apart everything with her Arc Blade, we began to make some progress and the captain was beginning to weaken significantly. Eventually, a few more shots from my Pulse Rifle and our combined firepower were enough to stop the captain and disable the laser gate that blocked the way forward. As we proceeded, we entered a tight cavern that had broken tech everywhere. While we were making our way through, that was when we finally got word from Skystar again, “F-Fireteam Harmony, do you copy? Fireteam Harmony?” “We read you, Skystar,” I answered. “Thank goodness. When the radio comms went silent, I feared the worst of you and your team,” she replied back, “On a more positive note, the cryo-trace in there is getting stronger. You’re getting closer to Skolas. Hopefully, you can catch him by surprise before he tries to get away.” Honestly, I was hoping for the same thing. Any other day, fighting off fallen would be a piece of cake. Yet, we were beginning to realize that the Wolves were not like other fallen they had. They were resourceful and always seemed to have tricks up their sleeves when you think to have caught them off guard. It was more than likely that they still had traps like this already set and Skolas was waiting for them to spring it. Once we reached a massive reinforced door, Indigo had Sparky see if they could find a way to disarm it while the rest of us prepared to breach. Everyone took the chance to make sure all their weapons were properly loaded, second before the door opened and we stormed in. Immediately, I spotted the Kell that we were hunting by the controls of a terminal and began to fire off three consecutive bursts of ammunition at him. The first burst hit one of his arms, the second deflected off of the fallen’s shoulder pad and the last one didn’t even connect. Before it could even hit him, he vanished and disappeared. “Dammit!!” I cursed, “Skystar-” “He’s gone,” she bluntly told us, a frustrated groan echoing across the comm feed, “His skiff had just broken orbit... Not to worry, there’s still a lot of wolves in that den though. Clear them out first and then we’ll see if we can find any clues as to where they might be going.” Well, our entrance already kicked up a hornet's nest of Fallen. Only thing we can do right now is clear them out before things get worse. All three of us spread out in order to start clearing out any fallen that we happened to encounter in the cave. Some of them even dropped their own weapons, which Variks called a ‘Scorch Cannon’. It functioned like a rocket launcher, but it also had the properties of sticking shots to targets and charging it to have the damage of the blast increased. Which was helpful given the amount of wolves that we were up against. Every moment that we were fighting the Wolves felt like we were facing off against an endless horde. Anytime we killed one, two more would crawl out of the walls to take their place as we continued to fight. Not much ammo dropped either and we had to have our ghosts use ammo synthesizers to replenish what we have in the magazine before we could keep on fighting them off. Indigo activated her super to quickly trim down their numbers, but that just had the remaining Fallen focus on her as I threw a grenade to stop two dregs from attacking her flank. After what felt like forever though, the remaining Wolves that were in the cave vanished. Not like they activated some cloak to hide themselves, but more if they were transported somewhere. “Skystar, the rest of the Wolves just vanished from here,” I reported to her, “Are you picking up anything from your end?” “Yes I am, though-” she paused for a brief moment, before finishing where she left off, “According to this, it appears that readings from Vex Tech went off all around the site.” That… definitely did not sound good. Handling a house of fallen hell bent on conquest was one thing, but they were finding a way to use Vex Tech? That was definitely troubling. “So, what’s the plan now?” Indigo then asked, “There’s nothing else around here.” “Actually… that’s where you’re wrong,” Skystar corrected her, “I’m picking up readings of a Fallen Datapad nearby. Perhaps Skolas was in the middle of preparing a new set of orders by the time you kicked the door down.” “Or it’s a clue,” Mac then spoke, “Something that can tell us where the Wolves might be targeting next.” “Exactly what I was thinking,” the queen’s wrath replied, “Have one of your ghosts transmat that datapad and I can get Variks to translate what’s on there. If we’re lucky, we can be able to find out what Skolas is planning and stop him before he has the chance to follow through on it.” The titan nodded, before going up to the ledge where Skystar was picking up the datapad. Shortly after we received it, the three of us were clear to return to orbit as we transmatted back to our ships. One I had returned back to my ship, it didn’t take long for our encounter with the Wolves to surface on our communication channels. The Queen’s Wrath were in contact with some members of the Vanguard and they were doing everything that they could to help with the hunt. It was something that we soon realized when, out of nowhere, we got an unexpected transmission from someone I didn't think would want to check in on us. “Hey, Fireteam Harmony. Heard you guys got into a bit of a scuffle on Venus. Are you all doing okay? Still in one piece?” Yes, out of everyone we expected to reach out to us, we ended up having Rainbow reaching out to us. It was… unexpected, though this was Rainbow we were talking about. “We hear you, Rainbow,” I answered her, “Though, could you explain why you’re trying to contact us?” “Well, word around the City is that you kicked up a massive shank’s nest on Venus. I was checking to see if you’re doing alright.” After hearing that, I just let out a small breath. Something told me that Rainbow had no idea what we were actually doing, so we were going to have to bring her up to speed. “We’re doing fine. Right now, we’re trying to help the Queen’s Wrath hunt down a fallen house that betrayed the Awoken. They were on Venus, but their kell got away before we had the chance to harm them.” “You’re helping the Queen’s Wrath?” the hunter vanguard asked, “I heard that the Awoken in charge of that is a rather tough one. She comes off as warm and welcoming, but she’s-.” “Fireteam Harmony, I have an update for you-” we heard Skystar speak up now, which was something that caught me by surprise, “Huh, that’s strange… it appears that your fireteam aren’t the only ones on this frequency.” “Oh, uh, hello there,” Rainbow now awkwardly spoke up, her voice sounding… well, whatever an exo would call embarrassed before she continued, “I don’t believe we've met before. I’m Rainbow-6, Hunter Vanguard of the City.” “Hunter Vanguard you say?” Skystar asked now, “I’ve only heard of that position once before. Tell me… do you know of anyone named Anvil Cast?” I don’t know what it was, but when Rainbow heard that name, it sounded like she hesitated. She wasn’t so quick to respond like when she was talking to us, but after a couple of moments, the hunter finally had an answer. One that was hard for her to say, “He… was the Hunter Vanguard before me and my mentor. I ended up gaining his title after he lost the Vanguard Dare.” Vanguard… Dare? That’s a new one. Though, now isn’t the right time to ask about that. “I see. Well, since you are on our com line, I think you can help us out for a moment,” Skystar replied back, “After Fireteam Harmony’s mission on Venus, one of their ghosts found a datapad containing orders from their Kell to his assassins, but it’s hard to make out the location of where the Silent Fang are headed. All it says that it’s in the Cosmodrome.” “The Cosmodrome, you say?” Rainbow asked, “Funny you should say that. Some of my scouts are reporting an increase in Fallen activity along the Breach. Something’s got the House of Devils up in a twist and it looks like they’re fighting against other Fallen.” “That… works out splendidly,” I heard Skystar speak, before a set of coordinates appeared on my ship's navigation unit. “Fireteam Harmony, get to the Cosmodrome. If what we have here is correct, then Skolas is sending his assassins to take out the leadership of the House of Devils. If you get there in time, you can cut them off before Skolas can take control of another Fallen House.” 14- The Garden's SpireAuthor's Note To simplify things further, this chapter covers two of the first main story missions that are covered on Mars, while also providing more context and lore to the setting, the new enemies that Sunset and her fireteam have to face and have Sunset step forth into the breach. Hope you like it. -Frost 14- The Garden's Spire After returning from our meeting with the Queen of the Awoken, Ray inputted the coordinates to our next destination into the navigation console on board my ship as my fireteam and I began to make our way out of the Reef. We didn’t have any matters that we needed to take care of while we were in the tower, so we decided that it would be best to head straight towards the destination that Stratus provided for us. Though, personally, I did not know much about where exactly we were going. Don’t get me wrong, I know what Mars is along with some of the other planets, but that was all before Humanity here met the traveler. So the trip over seemed like the best time for me to know what exactly happened in the time I was gone. “Hey guys… this might sound like a bit of a weird question to ask, but I wanted to know about where we’re headed. Do you guys happen to know anything about this Meridian Bay?” I asked. Not just to my ghost, but through the communication relay in my ship so the question could be heard by the rest of my fireteam. “Well, that depends,” Winona was the first one to speak up. “Do you mean around the time of the Golden Age or afterwards?” “Wait, I thought ghosts didn’t come until after the golden age.” I then countered, surprised from her statement. “How-?” “Archives from the Vanguard,” Alright, now that part makes sense. “As for your question, the oldest records in the Archives say that Mars was the first planet to have been terraformed by the traveler before it settled over earth right now. In fact, one of the biggest human settlements during the golden age outside of Earth was the city of Freehold.” “Which at the time was seen as the most impressive city and was also the home to Clover Belle,” We both heard Indigo interject. “Of course, ever since the collapse happened, the former grand metropolis is now referred to as ‘The Lost Gem of Mars’ since the dunes on the planet’s surface have almost buried everything.” That definitely was a lot to take in, but there was one piece in that conversation that I was puzzled by. And I decided to ask for more clarification. “Clover Belle? Was that a person who lived during the golden age.” “You can say that, but that’s just only one piece of it,” I now heard Ray speak up and take his turn in the conversation. “Clover Belle was a corporation that was founded by Clover Belle the first during the time of the golden age. He and his company were responsible for a vast number of cutting edge scientific and technological breakthroughs during the time, which was how he got himself the nickname ‘Clover the Clever’.” That… I did not anticipate at all. The last time I remember hearing that name, it was back when I read about the Seven Trials of Clover the Clever back in Equestria. I just did not anticipate that someone who is seen as a legend back in Equestria would be seen here as an innovative genius… but then again, that’s just me. I continued to listen to them speak for a little while longer, but as Big Mac was gonna ask something, that’s when the three of us felt our ships vastly approaching the red planet. But something… didn’t feel right. Or at least, that’s what Indigo’s ghost was trying to say as I heard it speak in sparks and noises. “Guys… We might have a bit of a problem,” I heard the Bladedancer now speak up. “We got a read on the gate for the Black Garden, but we’re getting interference. He says that something called ‘The Cabal’ have got a lock on our orbital communication and we breached some kind of ‘Exclusion Zone’.” I now looked to Ray for a moment before looking back at the console. Thinking of a response to ask. “Meaning?” “Meaning that if we don’t find a place to land within the next thirty seconds, they’ll lock on to us with their weapons and begin to open fire,” Indigo’s clarification did not settle well with any of us. It’s one thing to know that we were coming, but it’s another thing to try and shoot us out of orbit before we could even get the chance to land. “Sparky’s got an alternate place for us to land at that’s out of this zone, but there’s a downside.” “What kind of downside specifically?” “It puts us miles away from the gate. Meaning that if we plan to reach the Black Garden, we would have to go through the Cabal. And I know that the longer we wait, the worse things get,” The hunter specifically told the titan as I heard her let out a small sigh. “Shimmy, what’s the plan here?” “I don’t really think we have any other options right now,” I told her, “Have Sparky take us down. I would take having to go a few miles on a Sparrow instead of having our ship getting blown out of orbit.” “You heard her, Sparky. Take us down!” If landing along the edge of the martian wastes called ‘The Barrens’ was one thing, then that would’ve been fine. However, as soon as we touched the ground, things didn’t exactly begin to improve. Because of the Exclusion Zone, we were cut off from our communication networks with the Vanguard back at the tower and we had no links for our sparrows yet. And the only remedy to try and fix this predicament was to break into one of the bunkers that the Cabal had stationed not that far from here. Not to mention that the information that Ray briefed us on regarding the Cabal was not quite exactly encouraging. “Here’s what I have on the Cabal. They’re a highly militarized species; unlike that of the Fallen, Hive or Vex, and they seem to exhibit a fondness for conquering and military might.” “So what? They’re just tryin’ to be in control of other planets?” Big Mac asked as we began to make our way down the slope and along the hillside of rock and sand that was on our right. “Well, there hasn’t seem to be any records indicating why they came to the Solar System, but it says here that some of their weapons have enough firepower to blow up entire planets and moons. Just for getting in their way,” That made all of us go quiet, just as the realization kicked in that the weapons that were originally locked onto us might’ve been the same ones that Ray was describing. “Just so… well… we know what we’re dealing with.” Dully noted. Fortunately, it was only a few seconds later that they began to pick up something. One of the bunkers that the Cabal have stationed up within the side of the hill here. The main passage was blocked, but there was a second door with an electronic that Big Mac had Winona disable. Surprisingly enough, doing so didn’t set off any kind of security systems, but we had to stay on guard nonetheless. Once inside, we found that this entire facility was completely empty. Which, in my mind, meant a couple of things. It was possible that this site was abandoned or they left it like this, but they planned on returning it. The second one of the two seemed more likely because if they did abandon it, a militaristic species like them would not have left their equipment lying around and still functioning. “Hang on just a second,” I turned my head towards Mac, who looked to be standing by some kind of terminal that happened to be on. “I’ll see what I can find.” “Mac, what is Winona doing?” Indigo asked as the Titan turned back around. “She thinks that she can be able to re-link our sparrows so we can transmat them here,” The Titan explained. “I told her to be cautious and to not try and mess things up like she did with the Vex at Campus 9, but Winona also thinks that if she can poke around in their systems, than she can find out more about the Cabal and what are they doing here.” Well, as long as we don’t draw unnecessary attention to ourselves, then that would be fine by me. Though, Indigo thought that Winona was just going a little too far and that the whole thing would be a repeat of Campus 9. “Look… if Winona really things that she can do this, that’s fine. I just got one piece of advice.” “And that is?” He then asked. “Don’t screw up.” That just had Mac let out a deep breath as he looked back at her. Trying to think of a proper response in order to assure the hunter that everything was going to be fine. However, that’s when Winona said something that began to contradict with what he was saying to us. “Access key? The heck’s that? I don’t need no stupid access key!” Oh no… please no! Don’t tell me-. Before any of us could say anything, red lights began to go off all around us and the sounds of alarms began ringing everywhere as the huge metal doors that were behind the terminal began to open. “Did you screw up!?” “I think I might’ve screwed up, yes,” Winona then admitted as some kind of dropship was offloading what looked to be a detachment of Cabal soldiers outside. “If you can hold them off, I’ll find a way to disable the alarm!” “Oh no, you’re not doing that alone,” I heard Ray now speak. “If anything, you’re going to need some extra help. Sunset, I’m going to try and help Winona out so we can get out of here quicker. Cover us in the meantime!” He didn’t need to tell us twice, because the three of us were already in the process of trying to buy them time. The cabal that were dropped off and now shooting at us were seen as two different types. The first being legionaries, who were just shooting at us with standard weapons; while the second one came up as Phalanxes, who had the same weapons, but were carrying what I could assume was oversized shields in order to block any shots we fired at them. It took a bit for us to try to think of a workaround, but we soon came up with a plan to take them down. Mac and I would focus our fire on the legionaries, while also catching the attention of the Phalanxes and having them focus on us. All the while, Indigo would attack from behind, where they were exposed. And if they did turn around to try and attack her, then Mac and I can be able to gun them down before they can do so. It was a plan that would have to do, considering that we had to come up with it on the spot. Luckily, after two different detachments of Cabal attempted to take us down, we finally heard the alarms around us being silenced and my helmet gave me the notification that my sparrow was re-linked. “Alright, we shut off the alarm and now you can access your sparrows,” Winona let out a sigh of relief. “Sorry… again.” “It’s fine, just… tread lightly next time you see something unfamiliar.” Mac advised his ghost before getting out his sparrow. “I also happened to get a couple of things on the Cabal that could help us out here,” Ray then spoke up. “If you would like, I can explain it on the way to the gate we need to reach.” “Given the fact that we barely know anything about the Cabal right now and the fact that we have a LONG way to go before we can even reach the Vex Gate we need, I say go for it.” The reason why I said that was because in my mind, it would be better for us to know exactly what we are dealing with before we jump forward into the fray. Ray himself proceeded to go a little more in-depth on telling us about the Cabal as we passed through what was called the Scablands. Deciding to ignore what was a skirmish between the Vex and Cabal for now so we can try and head to our destination. From what my ghost was able to find out, the Cabal that were here were just what was considered a few legions of a vast empire. With different ones in control of different sections of Mars. Secondly, my ghost also found the original reason why the Cabal were here in the first place. According to some records he acquired, their original orders were to harvest any resources that they would find on the planet as well as investigate any human technology they would happen to come across. Of course, that all change with the discovery of the Vex… and the stunt we just pulled right now. Just great… we can’t catch a break today, can we? “Guys… I might not be in the best position to speak after what just happened,” We now heard Winona nervously reply as we began to cross what looked to be a rocky underpass and into a place called Giant’s Pass. “But I’m picking up what looks to be a Cabal Outpost. If we-” That immediately lead to Indigo attempting to interject in what she was going to say. “If you’re going to suggest hacking it-” “-Kill whoever is in charge there and take their access key. Then we can use the key to find out what the Cabal know about the Vex.” All three of us immediately stopped our sparrows and then just stared blankly at one another. Caught off guard by what Winona just told us. For a moment, I thought she was going to say something that would lead to an exact repeat of what happened a few moments ago, but now it seems like she’s beginning to learn that’s not a good idea. “That… actually sounds much better.” Indigo just faintly muttered to herself, before looking ahead and pointing out something to both Mac and I. “Oh hey look, literally anything else!” “Must be the outpost then,” Mac replied back as he grabbed his weapons. “Alright, how will we determine who’s in charge?” “Look for a cabal with a specific title, like Bracus,” I heard Ray then speak up. “Not sure what most of the titles mean, but from the looks of it, its some kind of hierarchy system.” “And a Bracus is like?” I now asked. “Remember how the Fallen have captains? Think of a Bracus as a Cabal captain.” Well, now that makes much more sense at least. “Hey, not to interrupt you two, but we got another one of those cabal transports dropping off more troops-” Indigo pointed out, just as a few shots from the weapons that they were carrying blast past us and hit one of the sparrows that had not dematerialized yet. “Hey!! That was my sparrow! What the hell!?!” “Forget that! We got hostiles incoming!” Mac warned us as we looked ahead. From where we were, the pathway split into two parts. One that went up a small ravine to the left while the other was low and to the ground. Either way you went though, the cabal were everywhere. Not just in the amount of troops that were at this outpost, but also because of the metal barricades that were set up along the path forward. A lot of their equipment was seen lying around the basin as we pushed forward. Encountering more legionaries, phalanxes and what looked like another form of troops in the cabal ranks that came up as psions. Though, as we pushed forward, there were no signs of any cabal with a ‘Bracus’ title. We’ve already been cutting through a lot of the cabal here, but there was no signs of the one who was in charge. And in turn, had the access key we needed. There had to be some way in order to really get their attention. Around then, that was when I noticed something that looked like a terminal, before looking back to where Mac was. “Hey Winona, remember that one thing Mac said earlier?” “You mean about treading lightly if you see something unfamiliar? Yeah, why?” “Well, forget that,” What I said drew the attention of Mac himself as he looked back at me with what I could only assume was confusion since I couldn’t really see. “We’re fighting through these guys and we’re not attracting any attention from any of the cabal that are in charge. Maybe if we do some real damage, then we can be able to lure them out.” “Now you’re sounding more like Rainbow-6 like that,” Indigo replied, just as she locked the chamber of her hand cannon back into place. “I like your way of thinking though.” “That coming from the guardian who seemed very strict in telling me not to screw up ten minutes ago,” Winona commented in response to the bladedancer. “Though, even though you guys are fine with it, ah want to hear from Mac. He’s my guardian, so he should have the final say.” I nodded my head in agreement, turning back to the titan and waiting for a response from him. At first, Mac was silent. Which, in my mind, meant that he was either detesting what I told him or pondering the idea of it. But after a short while, all he did was let out something that came off as an annoyed groan as he began to speak again. “Just this once… But just we’re clear, ah do not want to have this be a repeat occurrence, alright?” Immediately, Winona gave off what we could only describe as a ghost’s cheer of glee as she emerged from the titan and immediately went over to the Cabal terminal to mess around with. And once she started to tap into the system, another cabal dropship soon approached the surface. It’s first move was to fire rockets at us while deploying more forces, but that only prompted us to split up. Mac and I were by Winona and covering her work station while Indigo would pick off any enemies from a position that she found on the other side of the pass. Most of what we had to fight consist of the legionaries, phalanxes and psions that we have already been facing before, but after we dealt with the harvester offloading two different detachments of cabal, something else caught my attention. That something being a Cabal soldier that stood out from the others. And not just in the sense that its armor and appearance were slightly different. This one also had a name and a title. Bracus Tho’ourg. “Indigo, there’s a cabal approaching your position right now that you need to take out,” We heard Winona speak up. “That’s the Cabal Bracus we’re looking for. He had the access key that we need!” “Already on it!” The crack of electricity began to sizzle around Indigo as we heard her activate her Arc Blade. Her light pulsing around her blade as she began to dash around the Bracus and tear apart at it while the rest of us focused on the other legionaries that could disrupt Indigo. Using whatever we had at our disposal so the bladedancer can tear apart her opponent. Even throwing out a solar grenade behind that of the Bracus she was facing so that way it can take damage while Indigo was darting out of the way of its own attacks. After a few more strikes, the Bracus fell down to the ground. It’s black blood soaking the dunes as Mac and I finished off the last of the other troops. A few seconds later, we saw the hunter’s super disappear as she took the access key off of the Bracus’ corpse. Around the same time that Winona returned to Mac and when a new marker appeared on my visor. “So Ray, any idea where we can use this access key? Because I’m not picking up any terminals nearby that could use this.” “I’m picking up a facility where it was last used at not far from here. If we can find it, then we can determine what to do from there.” My ghost responded back to Winona as the three of us began to run to the direction of where we needed to go. Part of me wanted to have us go by sparrow, but after Indigo’s almost got shot to pieces, I thought it would be better if our rides happened to stay in one piece. Everyone else seemed to agree with me on that one too. After going down through another ravine, we found ourselves infiltrating and fighting through what was another Cabal base. This time, one that was not far from the game that was to supposedly take us to the black garden and one that the Cabal were using for… research. Which surprised me, because honestly, judging from what we have seen so far in the last fifteen to twenty minutes, their troops didn’t really look too interested in scientific research. But after some more digging, we found out that wasn’t really the case. Turns out, the Cabal were actually very interested in trying to understand the Vex. According to logs from the research facility, the Cabal were able to actually break through the cognitive mesh that the Vex use to secure their most important structures and even tried to force open the gate to the Black Garden. But all tests, including one that we tried ourselves, haven’t worked. The gate would start up, but fizzle out seconds later. Though, according to Ray, there was one thing that the Cabal have not even realized. Something that could help us. “Alright… everyone, I think I figured out how we’re getting that gate to the Black Garden open.” At first, I just looked at Ray as he floated over a Cabal terminal. Just as confused as Mac and Indigo. “Ray, what exactly are we going to do? The Cabal have everything under lock and key.” “Yes, but there’s something that even the Cabal don’t know about that’s deep in their own Warbase,” Ray began to explain. “They’re sitting on top of a Vex Spire that’s directly connected to the Black Garden’s gate. And it’s a spire that can charge the Gate Lord’s eye that we have already.” At this point, I was having a bit of trouble processing what he was saying. Luckily though, Indigo was able to understand it much faster. “Wait… are you suggesting that we free this spire, so we can charge the eye. That’s in the heart of the Cabal base!” “I know, but it’s our only shot… We need to do this now, so I hope you three are prepared for war,” Ray replied, returning back to me as another indicator appeared back on my map. Oddly enough, as we followed the marker, we began to realize that where we needed to go was back at the same place where the Vex and the Cabal were fighting each other. So with them distracted, it was easier for us to just rush on in without having to worry about them finding us. Or… so I thought at first. As we entered the structure the cabal called ‘Firebase Rubicon’, we found out firsthand that they prepared extra defensive measures in case of a breach in security. More troops and defensive structures as we began to fight and traverse through the wastes that were behind it. The first thing we had to do though was reach an observation tower that was on the way. According to Winona and Ray, the observation tower was used as a security measure to make sure that the Cabal knew where their troops and companies were at all times. So if the Cabal were going to and from the spire to conduct their research, then it would help us point out where we were going next. Luckily, it wasn’t our hacking that tipped off the Cabal after we got the information we needed from the terminal. A passing patrol of Cabal soldiers noticed us as we exited the observation tower, causing them to open fire and attack us on sight. We attempted to fight them off, but as more troops began to surge onto our location, that was when something out of the ordinary happened. Indigo herself had thought that if we could be able to get to a door that was on the other side of the wastes and hack it open, it would allow us to slip inside before reinforcements would show up. But before she could even get to the terminal, the giant door just opened up. We took the chance to go inside, but after the door closed behind us, we did not entirely feel confident about what was happening. “This… feels too easy,” Indigo told us as she reloaded a new cylinder clip into her hand cannon. “Doors don’t normally open up for us without having any hostiles behind them. This really feels like a trap.” “It does feel… ominous,” Ray now spoke up. “The most likely plan they’ll try is to try to contain us to a confined area in hopes that they could pick us off that way.” That just made me stop, before shaking my head for a moment. “And how do you know that, Ray?” “Remember the information we obtained at the research base? Some of that information included some of their plans for military tactics.” Well, that seems reasonable. “Let’s take into account everything around us. Some of the barricades that they might have set up could be a good source of cover.” Mac then added on as we reached the end of the tunnel that we were going through and found ourselves in an enclosed open space. In only a matter of seconds, alarms soon began to echo all around us as Cabal Legionaries began to close in on our position. Forcing us to fend them off and open fire as we looked for a way to get us out of this mess. Eventually, Ray came up with a plan that involved cracking into the Cabal network to pry open a door that would allow us to head straight to the spire without any further detours. All while we had to kill any Cabal that would try to stop us in the process. Which was becoming harder because not only were we facing off against Legionaries, Phalanxes and Psions, but now we were seeing two new enemy types for the Cabal. The first one were called Centurions and they carried weapons that fired off rapid bursts of missiles at us while we were scrambling to maintain position. Even Mac was forced to use his Ward of Dawn to buy us a chance to reload our weapons before we can get back into the fight. The second one was the Colossus. And it kind of spoke for itself. It was armed with a minigun that fired rounds faster than any of us could see, and if that wasn’t problematic enough, they also could fire off missiles at us. In order to deal with any that we came across, Indigo had to rely on her sniper rifle to take them out from behind cover to not get barraged by the storm of bullets that they could unleash. Eventually though, by the time that Ray was able to open the door, the Cabal that we were fighting began to retreat… no, retreat doesn’t seem like the best words to describe it. If I had to take a guess, I would have to call it more like a tactical withdrawal. This is their own stronghold and I highly doubt that they are going to just give it up so easily to three guardians that only touched foot on the planet recently. Even with the heavy losses that they had already sustained, the Cabal seemed like a race that just doesn’t know when to quit. Case in point, just a few moments after stepping out through the legions keep and beginning to cross a bridge that would lead us to their research compound, Cabal dropships begin to fire off missiles at us while deploying more troops to block us off from crossing to the other side. Once again, we had to take cover and fight our way through by eliminating their forces one by one. Taking down the legionaries and psions first, before all of us focused our fire on the colossus at the end of the bridge that was trying to tear us to shreds. But it wasn’t just the cabal that were on the bridge that were trying to disrupt our progress. As we got further in, more of their soldiers emerged from a nearby bunker Prompting me to toss out my solar grenade and let the flames burn them while we had to run up the sandy dunes that lead to the area that Ray had marked for us. “Here we are… Though, I’m picking a few Cabal up on my sensors. If you can get rid of them, then we can work on the eye.” Following what he said, all three of us got to work. I now brought out my rocket launcher and fire off a rocket at a group of Cabal that were standing next to the conduit that Ray marked for us. Indigo followed suit and fired off one of her own rockets towards the group as well as the blast sent a trio of cabal corpses falling off the edge and landing face down in the sand. Now was the moment of truth. With Ray transmatting the eye into my right hand, I carefully placed it into the center of the conduit while my ghost connected it into place. From what it looked like, the conduit looked to be part of some vex like structure that was in the middle of the cabal platform here. They had hooked up the whole thing with tubes and wires, probably to run tests on it to understand vex technology. However, that all began to change rather quickly. “Would now be the right time to say that… I have no idea what’s about to happen?” Ray… this is the worst possible time to say that. But before I could say anything, a beam of light shot from the conduit into the spire and moments later, the top half of it began to break free of the cables that were placed on it. Expanding outward, the top half began to split apart and divide into numerous pieces that began to float around in the air, with one rectangular piece beginning to glow in the center. Each one of the pieces began to disintegrate and turn to dust, while the rectangular one began to emit a white light and disappear as well. “Did… we do it?” Mac now asked, sounding just as confused as the rest of us. “Ah think so… Only way we’ll know for sure will be-” Winona stopped in the middle of what she was saying, before immediately sounding much more serious. “We got company!! Turns out the light show just now brought out whoever was in charge of this place.” I heard a clicking sound behind me, turning to see Indigo reloading the magazine of her sniper rifle before stepping back. “And they don’t seem too thrilled about what we’re doing. Let’s get rid of them and get that eye back to where we need it. This guy’s the one thing between us and opening up the Black Garden.” “I’ll focus on getting the eye out so the Cabal don’t damage it.” Ray responded before getting to work on the eye. I now got a look at the Cabal Centurion that Winona was referring too. This one was different from the others though. Not just because of the ridiculous looking headdress that was its armor, but because this particular had a title and a name. Primus Sha’aull. The Primus had allies with them too, but my fireteam and I were able to make short work of them for the meantime so we could take the Primus down. The most important thing we had to do while engaging Sha’aull was keeping our distance. If we tried attacking a Cabal at close range, it was likely that a blow from them would be the painful equivalent of getting run over by a sparrow. So my shotgun would be useless here. Instead, all of us focused on using long range weaponry first, such as Mac’s scout rifle, Indigo’s sniper rifle and my pulse rifle. Once the Primus attempted to propel itself to another location, we got the heavy weapons and proceeded to open fire. Pelting him with rockets and machine gun rounds until the primus was nothing more than another cabal lying face down in the sand. “Great work,” Ray told us. “I got the eye and it’s fully charged. How is everyone?” “I’m still kicking,” Indigo replied, looking to the titan that stood next to her. “How about you, Mac?” “Same here.” My reply was just a simple nod of the head as he looked back at us. “Alright. Let’s get back to that station. It’s time to enter the Black Garden and finish this.” It took almost two hours for us to get back to where we once were. Not just on foot, but by Sparrow as well. But eventually, we made it back to the Valley of the Kings. However, the sight in front of us was now much different than before. The Vex and Cabal were clashing with each other in all out war. The Vex wanting to defend the gate while the Cabal saw their actions as encroachment upon their territory. Several Minotaur and a Hydra were guarding the gate alongside numerous other types of Vex. But it was as we were taking them down and approaching the gate that the eye we had began to glow and the gate roared to life. However, there was no time to spare. “Guys, come on! This is our chance!” I told them, but as I turned around, I found both of them hiding behind cover. Caught in a firefight with the Cabal. “Go! We can’t let them go after you!” We heard Winona told us as Mac fired off two rounds at a pair of psions that were closing in on Indigo’s position. “What are you saying!? The gate will close if we go in! We’re the ones keeping it open!” Ray shot back. “And if you don’t act now, the Cabal will kill you before you even make it inside or that gate’s going to close!” Indigo now shouted. “Just get in or I will throw you in there myself!!” “You heard her, Sunset,” I heard Mac tell me. “Go. We’ll cover you from out here.” Seconds afterwards, a Cabal dropship began to fire off rounds of missiles at our position as Mac activated his Ward of Dawn. The only thing I could do though… was run. Part of me felt guilty for leaving my teammates, the ones who I call my friends behind. But this was the only chance I had. I leaped through the gate without a second thought. The white light blinding my vision before I felt myself landing on solid ground. But it was much different from before. The ground looked to be made of metal and… there was life here. Grass was coming out of the ground as I began to get back on my feet. As I looked up though… I now had a good look of where exactly I was. “Ray… I don’t think we’re on Mars anymore.”
01- Eyes up, GuardianFor a long time, things all around me felt… cold. I felt as if I was coldly drifting aimlessly for… well, who knows how long. The only thing that I could be able to remember exactly was my name. And all I could see now though were… images of… places… people? Things? I don’t really know how to explain it… but for some reason, these things I were seeing were important somehow. Pictures of me with other people… enjoying each other’s company… but I could only remember brief pieces of these moments as everything was going by so quickly. I did not know what really to think of this. I mean… I was not sure how I found myself in this place. But I felt as if I wanted to get out of here. Escape. I did not know why or how, but I wanted to just get out of here… Wait a minute… Is that a light up ahead? Am I in some kind of tunnel? Could that be the way out? I could hear something on the other end speaking to me, but it… sounded different. “Is it possible?” Was… someone talking about me? Who was there? Someone, please answer me! I found myself running, almost as if I wanted to escape this place. As I ran, my body slowly began to heat up, burning through me as if I was on fire… But I didn’t care… I wanted to get out of here. I wanted to see daylight. I wanted to live. And then, I heard it again. As I found myself reaching the end and everything around me turned to white. “There you are.” When I opened my eyes… everything around me was barren and dry. The area around me was barren and cracked, broken and destroyed. There were rusty cars and broken trees everywhere, along with dust getting all over my-. Wait, what happened to my clothes? And why am I-? “Guardian.” Hunh? Who said that? “Guardian? Eyes up, guardian.” Instantly I looked up, only to find myself staring directly at a floating… metal… thing? And whatever it was, scared the living crap out of me. Especially when I realized that it was talking to me. “It worked. You’re alive! You don’t know how long I’ve been looking for you.” “Gah!! W-who are you?” I asked, sheerly out of panic. I mean, who wouldn’t panic if you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and woke up to finding a talking robot thingamajig talking to you? At first, it’s answer seemed simple. “Well, I’m a Ghost…” Then it became confusing. “Actually, I’m now your ghost.” And then if that wasn’t crazy enough, the next piece of news… Ghost shared felt like getting hit by a speeding freight train. “And you… well, you’ve been dead for a long time. So you’re going to see a lot of things you won’t understand.” “Wait, I’ve been dead-?!” Before I could ask anything as to how exactly did I end up dead… or for that matter, how in the world was I alive, I heard an ear piercing howl ring through the air as I shivered for a moment. “W-what was that?” “Oh no… this is bad,” I heard from this Ghost of mine as he turned back to me. “This is Fallen territory, we’re not safe out here. I need to get you back to the city… Hold still.” “Wait, wha-?” Before I could comprehend what he said, I saw Ghost… disappear right in front of me. Causing me to look around for a moment, before saying something. “Ghost? Where are you-?” Then, I felt some kind of electric buzz in my ear for a moment, before hearing a voice again. “Don’t worry, I’m still here. Right now though, we need to move and fast. Get inside the Wall. It’s just up ahead.” Before I could even ask, that’s when I saw what he was talking about. It looked like one of the biggest barricades that I had seen in… well, ever. How was something like this possible? More importantly though… How long have I exactly been dead for? That had to wait for another time though as I heard another one of those shrieks again, causing me to jump to my feet and run. Criss crossing through rusted and broken down cars. Despite the massive size of this wall I was running towards, there was a small opening to the left of what looked like a massive gateway. Leading me to wonder… was someone trying to keep something out… or keep something in. Upon entering the wall and going up a staircase, I took a right turn and came across an open pathway with broken windows illuminating the light from the sun. While I was moving though, that was when I heard Ghost speak again. “Okay, I’m going to need to find you a weapon before the fallen find us.” “Fallen-?” Before I could finish my sentence, that was when I heard the metal pylons shift and the sounds of something running against metal plates directly above us. “Quiet… They’re right above us…” He warned me, before we moved into the next room and up some more stairs as Ghost soon appeared next to me. This time though, he was shining like a flashlight as he illuminated the path forward for us, reaching a catwalk that looked out into what was the interior of the wall, before looking towards me. “Hang tight. Fallen thrive in the dark, we won’t. We need more light,” Well, that seemed kind of obvious. I mean, it’s almost pitch black in here. So some more light can definitely help. “I’ll see what I can do.” Wait, what did he mean by that? Around that time, Ghost just floated off to what looked like some kind of… contraption of sorts as he mumbled something to himself. I honestly did not pay much attention to that… but I immediately paid attention to him once the light came back on… and the shrieks from before were a LOT closer than when we were outside. “They’re coming for us!!” “What did you do?!” I shouted, personally panicking right now. “I don’t know, but what I do know is that without a weapon, you got nothing to defend yourself out here,” He told me, before proceeding to scan the contraption to some kind of gate as he got it open. Once it was open and I stepped through the gate, Ghost began hovering over… wait… is that a gun? And why are there a bunch of bones and a skull around it?! “Here, I found a rifle! Grab it!” Okay, at the time, my head was thinking about how the hell was I going to learn how to use something like this in such little time. But, going on instinct, I grabbed it and held onto it as I moved around another corner. My heart was beating extremely fast now as I was trying to make sense of what was going on and where I needed to go. Yet… what Ghost said next didn’t help me with concentrating. “I hope you know how to use that thing.” Which… lead to me saying something back at him. “I hope so too…” “Wait… You haven’t used something like this before-?” Ghost questioned, sounding surprised to hear that from me. But that was before we saw… something move ahead of us. “What was that?” “I… don’t know…” Right around now, with all the craziness that was happening, I was personally thinking that I was going insane… But it was then, as I was looking around, that I saw a wheel at the corner of my vision on the left hand side. “Ghost? What the heck is this… thing?” “Um… that’s the radar you have installed in your helmet… and I’m picking up some movement…” He told me, just as I was close to reaching the end of the straightaway for where I was at. However, it was then that I heard Ghost say something in particular as the center of my radar had a red dot in the center. “It’s… directly above us.” Oh no… I’ve got a bad feeling about this… “Guardian, look out!” Immediately, two creatures dropped down ahead of me. One being mere feet away from me. And their appearance alone told me that they weren’t human at all. The first one lunged at me with a knife in one of its arms and a pistol in the other. Trying to stab me with it’s knife while the other one shot at me with it’s own pistol. Right away, I could see the electrical energy radiating off of the blade, causing me to back up and try to get some distance away from it while I scramble to properly aim with this weapon I was holding. “Come on… come on…” I grit my teeth, trying to focus as I aimed back at these two alien freaks. One of them looked to be pulling out something and prepare to throw it at me. Quickly pulling the trigger, I opened fire at both of them, taking a couple of moments to try and catch my breath after doing so. Internally though, I felt sick. “Guardian, are you alright?” “No…” I spoke, looking back to him. “I… don’t feel alright. Even though they aren’t human… I… haven’t killed anything before…” “Guardian,” Ghost tried to talk to me. “I know that a lot is going through your head right now, but I need to make sure you understand something… The Fallen are responsible for killing many survivors they come across, and they will attempt to kill us too. Guardian, if we are to get out of this, we need to be able to work together… okay?” I thought this over for a moment, thinking everything so far and what Ghost told me, before finally replying back to him. “Okay… but don’t call me Guardian.” “But that is what you are. You are a Guardian-.” I sighed back, before looking at him once again. “It may be what I am, but it is not who I am… If we are to work together, then you need to know me by my name.” Ghost looked at me for a moment, before looking away… and then back to me. “And what is your name then?” I looked back to him, while also gripping onto the handle of my weapon as I told him my name. “Sunset. Sunset Shimmer… Now that you know my name, let’s go find a way out of here.” “Right away, Gua- I mean Sunset.” Ghost corrected himself, fading away again as I left the small corridor and began to enter another wide open catwalk. From the rafters above, three more of these creatures from before dropped down in front of me and began to fire their pistols at me. Forcing me to take cover behind a box and return fire back at them. However, right away, after taking out the first two, I could see that the third one of these creatures had four arms instead of two. And this one had a much more complex firearm that it was using to try and draw me out of cover. Rolling out from behind where I was hiding, I took aim and fired again, until I was beginning to hear a clicking sound from my weapon. “Here! Reload, quick!!” I heard Ghost speak to me as a clip similar to the one that was attached to my weapon formed in my hands. Leading me to reload my rifle as the four armed one charged at me. By the time the clip was in, the creature was so close that all I could do at the time was punch it to get some distance between us before I fired a shot at it’s head. Causing it to rupture and disperse into a white like glow. “Nice shot, keep it up.” Ghost told me as I ran across the bridge that was in front of me to get to the other side. “Ghost, how much farther until we get out of this place?” I asked once I finally reached the other side. “We still got a bit of a ways before we finally find a way out. The Fallen have cut a path through here, so it’s likely that they placed traps in here,” Well brilliant… what else is there about these guys that I don’t know about. “Although… it appears that they left one of their treasure troves out here… Let me crack it open for you.” Ghost soon emerged from out of nowhere again, scanning what looked like the lock on the cache we come across as the lid soon popped open. There was a blue glow for a brief moment, but from the sounds of things, Ghost seemed… pleased. “Well, that’s a relief… we found another weapon for you to use. Should come in handy when in tight quarters.” As he said that, I placed the Rifle I had on my back as Ghost materialized what he was talking about. A sawed off shotgun along with a few shells to load into it. A task I was beginning to do as we proceeded forward. Until… “Stop!! Don’t move!” “What?! Why-?” As I lifted my head up, I could see the exact reason why Ghost told me to stop. A red laser wire blocking the path ahead. “Oh… What… are these?” “Fallen Tripmines. Rigged to explosives,” He warned me as I looked at them carefully. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up when Ghost told me that these things were wired to bombs that could possibly kill me. “Whatever you do, don’t touch them.” I looked at them for a moment… and noticed that there were a second set of tripmines farther down the hall. “Ghost… is there a way to disable them? Because I feel that if we just sneak past them, one of those… things can pop up out of nowhere and knock us back into them.” “I… never thought of it that way, to be honest…” He admitted to me. “One likely possibility though is that you can try to shoot them from a distance so you don’t get hit by the blast when it detonates. Aim for the small connector on the top left column and on the pipe near the right. I’ll mark the targets now.” It was seconds after I heard him say those words that I saw what looked like two squares in front of me. Marking the specific points that they were at so I could be able to shoot them as I took aim and fired. “Nice shot.” “Thanks for the help…” I replied, before hearing what sounded like movement. “Ghost… these things are… what you call ‘Fallen’ right?” “Yes, that is what they are called.” “Right, so…” At this point, I began to carefully move through the halls, this time with the new weapon Ghost gave me at the ready. “If I were them… where would it be possible for them to attack me if they wanted to ambush me?” “That might be a complex question depending on what location we are talking about…” Oh come on, I didn’t mean it like that. This should be an easy question. “But… based on what I’m getting on my motion trackers, they are moving through the tunnels under us and in the air vents above us. Keep an eye out for any floor grates because they might use that for an ambush.” Well, that was a much better answer than I originally thought I was getting. And at least I now have an idea of where they might be coming from. And just after the first set of trip mines, that was when one of the fallen that Ghost was talking about dropped down from an air shaft in the ceiling while two more emerged from the floor grates right in front of me. Immediately, I fired one shell at the first one, before moving to the left and shooting the next one. The third one was farther back and not close enough for me to hit with my Shotgun, so I switched back to my rifle to attack him from range. Taking him down in a series of shots. “Nice work, but we got four more dregs at the end of this corridor.” Ghost notified me… yet, one thing about that did not make sense. “Um… this might be the wrong time to ask, but what’s a dreg?” I asked. Ghost seemed silent for a moment, before speaking back up again. “Out of all the fallen that we have encountered so far, Dregs are the ones that have two arms,” As he said that, I noticed what he was talking about as I took aim to not only take them down, but disable the second tripmine set that was blocking my path. “I would explain further, but right now, I think a short explanation is the more logical approach here.” “Fair point,” I sighed, reloading my rifle again while also taking the chance to reload my shotgun so I don’t run out of anything too soon. “What about the one we encountered that had four arms though?” “You mean Vandals?” He asked me. “They actually have six arms, but two sets of them take hold of the weapons they are using. In any case though, both Vandals and Dregs can be problematic if they try to outnumber you.” With that in mind, the two of us entered the end of the corridor and were greeted with a rather huge hall. The place looked to have seen better days, but the one thing that caught my attention was that there were a lot of these Fallen that Ghost had been talking about camping out here. And soon, all of them had their eyes on me. Just brilliant… “You got four Vandals and five Dregs. The vandals in the far back can hit you with their Wire Rifles while the others are dual wielding shock blades.” “Okay… so what exactly is the plan?” I asked now, trying to find someplace to take cover as they began to shoot at me. “First off, take out the Dregs. They might only have pistols and a shock knife, but they can also throw grenades,” He informs me as I peeked out from cover and shot down the first two Dregs I could see. “Second, the Vandals with the blades will likely try to get close to you so they can cut through your gear. Save your shotgun shells for when they get too close for comfort.” “What about the two in the back?” Peaking out, I took down the other Dregs. One that was preparing a grenade and had tossed it before I could take it down. Leading me to abandon the cover I was at so I wouldn’t get hit. The two vandals with the blades looked to have hidden themselves behind the concrete pillar that was close to where I was originally at as I switched weapons and took them down with two shotgun rounds. “Close the gap between you and them. They’re snipers, but they’ll be forced to try and reposition when you get too close.” Ghost advised me. Even though that plan almost seemed… personally crazy. Nevertheless, I didn’t really have a lot of options at this particular time, so all I could do was take his advice. So, I ran directly towards where they were at. To my surprise, Ghost was actually right about how they would try to react. One of them tried to take a swipe at me in order to push me backwards, leading me to duck out of the way and shooting him point blank with my shotgun. As for the other one, I switched to my rifle and shot the other vandal around the shoulder to offset it’s focus on me, before taking another shot and watching it’s body rupture in response. Finally though, after I had taken them all down, I was able to capture my breath at least. Ghost was able to materialize in front of me again, looking around at the hall all around us before turning his focus to me. “I knew that the fallen were crafty, but they had a much tighter hold on this place then I thought… We’re almost out of here though. Just a little bit further and then we’ll be in The Divide.” That… had me confused for a moment. “I’m sorry, the what now?” “Oh… Right,” Ghost said for a moment, before looking back at me. “The Divide is one of a few places here that’s stretched out across Old Stalliongrad… It’s a lot to explain, but there’s a reason why we’re going out this way.” Listening to him, I followed him through what looked like a broken down wind tunnel as the two of us reached the opening at the end. Immediately after coming out though, what I saw was… beyond my understanding. What looked to be buildings that would be stores were in ruins, numerous shipping containers of different colors were littered all over the place, concrete barriers were scattered everywhere and there were even some broken down tanks just as I was taking everything in. “This… used to be an old Cosmodrome. There’s gotta be some kind of ship we can use in order to get out of here.” “Ship? What kind of ship? Everything around here looks broken.” I asked, confused by what he was talking about. However… Ghost did not really have the time to explain what he meant to me as we looked up in the sky and saw a massive hole tear open. Whatever it was, it knocked over several of the huge towers that were standing and caused the ground to violently shake. Almost making me fall over. Wait… what the hell is that thing?! “Oh no… this is really bad,” Ghost told me, disappearing as I heard him speak in my helmet again. “Fallen ships… and this close to the surface! We need to move now!!” I was already moving before he even told me that. As they were offloading their troops, I was taking cover behind the massive shipping containers. Moving from one container to the next in order to get out of their line of sight. There was a hill of dirt that I ran up in order to get on the roof of one of the buildings that once looked to be some kind of store. But now, I was using it as a vantage point to fire down on them. Taking them out one by one until there was nothing left. The ships were already gone by the time the fight was over. But there was no way that I wanted to be here for when they were to come back. “Ghost… I don’t suppose you have some kind of plan as to how we’re going to get out of here?” “I do… Well, sort of…” “Sort of?” I asked, surprised to hear that. “About 12 percent, give or take,” He told me in response. “I’m picking up signs of an old jumpship not far from here, but I need to get closer to see if it’s of any use. Not to mention that the fallen could be scraping it clean for anything of value they can find.” “Lead the way then.” Shortly after saying those words, I saw another one of those markers that Ghost had used earlier when pointing out the trip mines. Following the marker lead me to having go through some tight and narrow corridors, which made me extremely cautious. Especially with the fact that some of these could be hiding beneath my feet and readying an ambush. However, we were not met with any surprises… mostly. The one thing that was different though were a bunch of what looked like floating metal machines. Ghost called them ‘Shanks’ and also explained to me that each one of them had a small plasma turret attached underneath. However, they weren’t really considered as much of a threat and could be easily taken down with a few accurate shots or a well placed shotgun round. Yet, it was as I eliminated this last group that I felt something… strange. Almost empowering if I were to be specific. “Ghost… Something just happened…” “What do you mean?” He asked me. “I don’t know… I just felt something… warm surge through my body. It feels… rejuvenating though.” I explained, looking at my hands for a moment to try and get an understanding of what was happening. “It must be the Travelers Light. I’ll explain it later, but you might be able to channel some of that power right now. Whether it be conjuring grenades or scorching anyone that come too close to you,” I heard him tell me. “You are a Warlock, after all.” “I’m a what-?” “It’s a specific kind of Guardian,” He explained as I slowly proceeded through the enclosed hallway, only to find broken down computers and machines. “Warlocks are those who studied the arcane energies of the Traveler and are able to harness its power in a physical form.” That… only made me think one thing in my mind as I felt something click inside my head. “You mean… like magic?” “In a sense… but not exactly in those terms,” Ghost replied back to me, all while I was trying to see how exactly could I be able to use this… ‘Light’ that he was talking about. “All guardians are powered by the light of the Traveler… Though, I think it may be best to save this conversation for later. You got company, dead ahead.” Looking up, I immediately noticed that we weren’t that far away from what appeared to look like some kind of hangar. However, the one thing that did immediately stand out was that there were a massive amount of fallen in here. Dregs, Vandals and Shanks. The icon that Ghost had for me was right above the ship that they looked to be trying to salvage. But their attention seemed to be less focused on that and more focused on me. As several of them were charging at me though, I felt a warm surge of power flow through my right hand, taking the form of what looked like a burning sphere. After a couple of seconds though, I soon threw it out towards the group of dregs and shanks that were slowly encroaching upon my current position. Watching it expand outward as it hit the ground and trapped several of them in the burning orb and allowing for me to shoot them with my rifle. Yet, I couldn’t exactly stay in one place. “Sunset, on your left!!” Turning, I immediately had to duck as a couple of Fallen that were armed with Shock Blades tried to charge at me from my blind spot. And if it weren’t for Ghost’s warning, they would’ve gotten to me. Grabbing my shotgun now, I had to fire off two rounds in order to get them away and attempted to try and throw another one of those orbs again… but nothing happened. “Ghost, what’s going on?” I asked him, trying it again before having to switch to my rifle after the second attempt failed. “I tried using that ‘Light’ like the first time around, but nothing happened!” “Sunset, stay calm… When using abilities powered by the light, you can’t just throw out grenades like that. You need to give your light time to recharge first,” Oh, so that’s the reason why. It… kind of makes sense, but it’s going to have to be something that I need to get used too. Taking a moment to find cover behind a metal pylon, I reloaded my shotgun and just kept my rifle on hand. Taking down some of the fallen that were coming at me before shooting at the Vandals in the far back of the room. It took a few minutes in order to clear out the room… but our troubles were not over yet. “Sunset, stay on guard. There’s still one more Fallen here.” “Seriously?” I asked. Personal note, just where are these guys coming from if they are able to move in here so quickly? Then, I turned around to notice a Fallen that was… well, different than the ones that we have encountered already. Not to mention that after shooting a few shots, this one teleported a short distance away. Whether it was to run away from me, get a better vantage point, or to try and shoot me at a closer distance, I couldn’t tell. But around the time he had teleported, I felt the same energy from before return to my left arm again… and that, soon gave me an idea. When I took a few more shots and forced this one to teleport again, I threw a grenade right at the point where he would materialize. Therefore, keeping him stuck in place and not able to move anywhere. “Well… Nice job taking that guy down. Now… let’s see if I can get us out of here,” With that, I felt my left hand come forward as Ghost materialized this time. Beginning to scan the jumpship that was held up by several cables that suspended it in place. “Well, I got some good news and bad news… Which do you want to hear first?” “Uh… Good, I guess?” I said, because I was unsure what exactly he meant by that. “Well, we’re lucky that the fallen haven’t picked this ship clean and it should be able to take us to The City,” He replied back to me. “Bad news though is that since this ship hasn’t made a jump in centuries, so we won’t be able to break orbit…” Okay, but that doesn’t answer the main question in my mind right now though. “Can it fly though?” Turning around, Ghost looked… rather confident. And… did he just nod to me? “I believe I can make it work. Just give me a second…” With that, he… faded into the ship. Almost the same way that he was able to do that so far with me. Though, it was only a few seconds later that I watched the entire ship just… roar to life right in front of me. Lights on the side of the ship were burning brightly, I could hear engines roaring and soon, the cables that originally suspended the ship in place broke off. And there I was, watching in awe as I saw it float in place… momentarily though. “Alright, we’re all ready to go…” Yet, the moment he said that was when my radar flashed red. Directly behind me. Turning around, I saw that a pair of fallen had just crawled out of a huge space in the wall… followed by one that was much bigger in size. And was glaring directly at me. Before they could be able to take aim though, I heard Ghost once more. “Okay, bringing you in!” I did not fully comprehend what he meant by that… until I felt myself being pulled inside the ship. Landing right in the cockpit as Ghost was handling the ship’s controls. I also felt the helmet that was originally on my head coming off, allowing for me to feel my hair again. “We can take care of those guys later. Right now, let’s get you back to the City.” “Um… Ghost?” I asked, a question forming in my head after he originally said that. “What city are we actually going to?” “Well… there’s a lot to fill you in on, but this city is referred to as the Last City… mostly because it literally is the last safe city on Earth,” He explained, guiding the ship through some snowy mountain peaks and through a bunch of clouds. Right now, I was both confused… and also in awe at what was going on. I never really experienced any form of flight like this before, so watching everything zip past me was… breathtaking in a sense. “And it is the last place on earth that’s under the protection of the Traveler.” That… had something click in my memory from earlier as I spoke up. “You mentioned that name before. What is this Traveler? Is it a person?” “Actually… No,” He replied back. “The Traveler is… much different. In fact, you should be able to see it right around… now.” That was when I saw exactly what he was talking about… and I was blown away by what I was seeing. This Traveler was not a person… but a giant white sphere that was in the sky, hanging over what looked like a city that was on the tower wall. Just… what was this thing? Before I could even ask Ghost, I felt myself fade out of my ship again and then land on my feet once more. Finding myself in a plaza like area as I took the chance to look all around me. There were many people here… including some that looked to be mechanical constructs as I was beginning to comprehend everything around me. “Welcome to the last safe city on Earth, Sunset,” I heard Ghost tell me as he floated along the left side of my body again. “This place once took centuries to build… Now we are counting everyday it stands.” Ghost soon floated behind me, causing me to turn around again as I looked all around me. “This though, is the Tower. And it’s the place that Guardians like yourself call home.” I… was pretty much speechless right now. Mostly because I was still trying to process a lot of things. But I did remember Ghost telling me that there were a lot of things that I might not understand, so I guess that makes sense. “So… What do we do now?” “Well currently, I sent the jumpship we got to the shipwright for the time being so she can make some repairs on it,” He told me, leading me down to what looked like a stairwell in the middle of the courtyard. “For now though, I think we should have you meet the Warlock Vanguard. She’s a good teacher, so perhaps she can help answer any questions you might have.” Internally, that made me let out a sigh of relief as I followed Ghost down to what he called the ‘Hall of Guardians’. Mostly because it served as the base of operations for the members of the Vanguard. Which, from what Ghost told me, consists of a lot of other guardians like myself. “There we are. The Warlock Vanguard should be just over here-” Though, before he could finish his sentence, we both heard a voice speak up from inside the hall. “Sunset? I-is that you?” When I turned my head to see who it was, my jaw dropped almost immediately. And I can only be able to say one thing in that moment. “T-twilight?” Author's Note "An ancient weapon, battered and worn - but it still fires true. Perhaps it's been waiting for you." -In Game Description, Khvostov 7G-02 And with that, the story of our guardian begins. -Frost
02- Keep Moving OnOut of all the things I expected to happen… this was not one of them. When Ghost told me that we were going to see the Warlock Vanguard, I thought it would be somebody that I have never met before, but were more experienced in everything going on so they could answer any questions that I still might have. After all, one of the definitions of a Vanguard was the leaders of a particular group. Whether or not they were a intellectual leader or a political leader, they were part of the movement and were on the front lines for it. Though, this was nothing like that. This wasn’t just a leader of some sorts. This was Twilight Sparkle. One of my friends that I remembered from… well, I think the right term would be ages since I didn’t recall when we last saw each other. However… something was different about her. Instead of the lavender skin I remembered from back then, her skin was almost a cold bluish gray. Like it had lost all of its color and became rather saturated. And her eyes… they were the same, but looked… like they were glowing. The only thing that still looked the same was the way she had tied up her hair. What… happened to her while I was gone? Instantly though, my attention was redirected back to her when I realized that she was walking towards me… followed by her pulling me in for a hug. “It’s… good to see you again…” She told me. I tried to say something… but with all the things going on right now inside my head, I found it personally impossible to formulate a thought in that moment. Only responding by trying to hug her back… before actually being able to say something. “Twilight… there are… way too many questions rolling around in my head right now,” I told her, before taking a deep breath as I looked back at her. “Ghost… told me you can help answer a few of them.” “Yes I can…” She replied back. “What would you like to ask?” “Well… what lead to… well… all of this?” I tried my best to explain to her, given the fact that it was hard to formulate the words in my head. “Because I… well…” “If I may…” Ghost soon interjected, floating next to me. “In my short time with my new guardian, she doesn’t seem to recall anything at all from the past. She didn't even know what the Traveler was and had asked me about it on our way here from the old Cosmodrome.” That… had Twilight’s eyes widen a little… before nodding her head in acknowledgement as she pressed a few buttons on the side of the table we were standing at. “That… was a long long time ago… Centuries, if we were to be exact,” She replied. Even though I knew part of this already based on some things Ghost told me briefly, it still was a bit of a shock to my system to hear that coming from her. “All the way back then, the historian called those centuries C.E. or Common Era. Now? The Cryptarchs of the tower called that P.G.A… as in before the Traveler was first discovered.” “Pre Golden Age.” I heard Ghost say to himself. “Right… During that time, Humanity always wanted to be able to explore other planets and stars…” Twilight replied back, surprising me for a moment when she made a holographic projection of the solar system emerge from the table we were at. “But it was on their first known expedition to Mars… that Humanity had first discovered the Traveler.” “Just… what is the Traveler though?” I asked. “That’s the part I’m having trouble understanding.” “Many people over the years has had different theories as to what it might be, but no one knows what it truly is,” As I heard that, I saw a white orb hover over what looked to be Mars on the star chart. But as Twilight continued to speak, the White Orb soon moved past Mars and a couple of the other planets before it reached Earth. “But what we do know is that in the years since it was first discovered, a time of miracles soon began. It was what we refer to as our Golden Age and with it, many of the things that humanity thought were impossible… became possible.” “Like what?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow for a moment. “Well, in the years since the Golden Age began, technology began to rapidly evolve by the day. The Traveler made it possible for us to fabricate and construct cities on other planets, such as Mars and Venus,” As Twilight said this, she revealed a few pictures to me of those exact cities that she was referring to. Along with pictures of jumpships like the one that we found out in the Cosmodrome flying in space. “Mercury was transformed into a garden world because of the Traveler. The lifespan of a normal human tripled and many of us saw it as our destiny to walk amongst the stars… Then… it happened.” That… left me puzzled as I looked back at Twilight, who had her head bend over and face the ground for a minute as all the pictures that she showed me before were now gone. “Uh… Twilight, what happened?” That question though… was not answered by her though. But by Ghost instead. “The Collapse…” Shortly after hearing those words, Twilight picked up her head again and looked back at me… Wait… did she look upset somehow? Why was that? “In all the centuries of our golden age, humanity did not know that the Traveler had an ancient enemy… A darkness. One that had endlessly pursued the Traveler throughout the far reaches of space. And when this darkness found the Traveler… it found us too. And it laid waste to everything… Those who tried to fight it fell in battle. Those who tried to flee were forever changed… But the worst part about all of this… involves you specifically, Sunset.” “Me? How?” I definitely did not like the sound of where this was going. Not at all. Memories were coming back now… and I was unsure about what exactly she was referring to, but the thought of it made me feel a little sick. “Do you remember the Mirror?” Oh no… please don’t tell me… “Some of us, more specifically, those who remembered you and where you came from… had to destroy it. It… was in order to prevent the Darkness from possibly reaching your home but… Sunset, I’m…” “Umm… Excuse me for interrupting here, but what ‘Mirror’ are you referring to?” Ghost asked. “It’s only something that myself, a couple of the other vanguard leaders, and some friends close to us know about, Ghost. There’s nothing on it in the archive database.” Twilight told him. As she was speaking, I now began to comprehend what this meant. The mirror all the way at Canterlot High was the portal between my home… the Land of Equestria… and this world. But with it destroyed… there was no way I could go back home. It was a LOT to take in, especially with how severe something like this was. The only thing stopping my train of thought though… was when I heard Twilight speak up again. “Sunset? A-are you okay?” Right around then… I had to do my best to keep myself composed. “Y-yeah, it’s just… well, it’s a lot to take in…” I told her… before remembering something. “How… was this darkness dealt with though? I mean… I’m thankful that it didn’t go through the mirror… but is it still lurking around?” “No actually… The Collapse was several centuries ago,” Wait, seriously?! Geez, how LONG has this been going on for? “For back then, the Traveler made a choice. It chose to sacrifice itself in order to save the last of humanity and prevent them from becoming extinct. It’s sacrifice also brought life to the ghosts, who then seek out those who can control the travelers light and use it to fight those who try to attempt to do humanity harm. Those are Guardians… like you and me.” “The last city and the Tower are under the Travelers protection too, given how close it is in proximity.” Ghost also added on to the conversation. “That’s also true…” I heard her tell me in response. “Sunset… is there anything else you would like to ask?” That… was tricky. Sure I had some questions to ask, but I personally didn’t want to make it sound too personal. “Well… um… the last time I remembered seeing you… you looked rather different than before. What… happened, exactly?” In response, Twilight sighed as she looked back at me and disabled the projections on the table. Having it return back to normal now. “Well… when the collapse happened, several of us tried to flee from it by taking our ships into the unknown sectors of space. But… something happened. And because of it, we were all forever changed. They call us… Awoken. Those who tried to flee from the Darkness or descendants of those same people.” Well, that answered one of the questions that was inside my head. But… I still had one more thing I needed to ask her-. Of course… neither of us expected for someone else to enter the hall at the same time. “Twilight, did the Research division ever follow up with you on-?” Wait… I knew that voice from somewhere… Oh don’t tell me. When I turned around, that was when I discovered that the person who was talking… was indeed who I was thinking it was. “F-flash? How-?” “You know Commander Sentry, Sunset?” Wait, Commander? When exactly did something like this happen while I was… you know what, nevermind. Twilight did mention that only a few of the other Vanguard leaders knew about the mirror to Equestria… though, I did not expect one of those leaders to actually be Flash Sentry. Flash though… looked rather shocked and surprised to see me at first. But, after Twilight briefly brought him up to speed on what we had been talking about, he seemed to have a better understand of what was going on… I think. “So… where were we on our conversation?” Twilight asked. “Well… I was going to ask about how I can be able to help out, now that I’m a part of this whole ‘Guardian’ thing…” I first told them, before looking back towards Flash now. “But, I’m now wondering something… What exactly is a Guardian? I mean, no one’s really… explained it to me outside of the general terms. And I’m going to guess that not every Guardian is the same?” That’s when Flash took a deep breath… and pressed something on the table, which soon lead to three crests hovering in the middle. “Well, Guardians are normally seen as three different classes. I’m already sure that you know what a Warlock is by now, but there are two other classes that you should at least be familiar with in case you are paired up with one,” In explaining the brief bit about the Warlock, one of the symbols soon disappeared afterwards. Leading to what looked like Flash bringing up what looked like a hexagon broken up into two triangles and two rhombus’ along with what looked like a guardian in full body armor instead of the robes that Twilight was wearing. “One of the other classes that I serve as for the Vanguard is the Titan. Those who were brave soldiers that were known for their strength, heroic deeds and sacrifice on the battlefield and brought back as guardians. They can be able to not only be a shield to defend their allies, but also be merciless against those that try to do harm to their fellow guardians.” With that, it only left one symbol, and with it, showed someone that was dressed in what made me think of some kind of bounty hunter. “Lastly, we have Hunters. Survivors that learned how to use the travelers light in order to survive out in the wild. They’re normally seen as important when it comes to scouting operations, but they have just as many tricks in order to bend the outcome of a situation in their favor… However, the vanguard for the Hunters right now is wandering around in the Tower and not exactly doing what she’s supposed to be doing.” Well, at least that made me a little bit familiar about this whole Guardian business. Now… only one question remained inside my head now. “So… what can I do to help?” As it turns out, the first thing that I needed to do in order to prepare myself was to get better equipment and armor. Twilight herself had a cache for new Warlocks that gave me some new garbs, while also giving me what she referred to as a ‘requisition pass’. However, since she had to discuss some important matters with Flash, she didn’t really get the chance to actually tell me what I was supposed to do with it. Leaving me to have to ask Ghost instead… and he directed me towards someone that was referred to as the ‘Gunsmith’ of the tower. When I got there though, she… seemed almost familiar. Despite the fact that she was an Exo. “Oh, hey! Never seen your face around here before,” She first introduced herself to me, setting down a weapon that she seemed to be doing maintenance on around the time that I arrived. “You a new Guardian?” “Yeah…” I said to her, looking around to see the numerous racks of different weapons stacked up along the back of this small area. Personally, I wasn’t really sure if this Exo I was talking to was actually the gunsmith I was looking for. “I was told that I could find the Gunsmith here-?” “Well, that would be me,” Oh so she is the gunsmith. Never would’ve thought… “I’m Vinyl-3, the Tower’s Gunsmith. Is there anything I can help you with today, Guardian? Maybe something you would like to purchase?” Well, now that she mentioned it… “Actually, I was given this by Twilight Sparkle, the Warlock Vanguard,” I told her, handing the requisition pass that was in my hands as she took a moment to look at it. “She told me to come take this to you and that you can help me out?” “Heck yeah, I can,” She told me, before setting the pass aside. “When any Vanguard gives a new guardian a requisition pass, they can trade it in for a new weapon, on the house! Let me get you some choices for you to choose from.” That definitely seemed good. Despite the fact that I was getting used to the weapons that I had, the rifle I had seemed so old and worn that it looked like it would break apart on me at any minute. After she went to her stock to get out the weapons, Vinyl presented me with four options and explained each one to me. The first was an Auto Rifle, which had been the type of weapon that I had already been using since Ghost found me and one that I was already familiar with. The second was what was called a Pulse Rifle and instead of rounds being shot on full auto like with the last choice, these were fired in a series of three round bursts and suitable at long range. The third was what was called a Scout Rifle, and unlike the last two, this one was a semi-automatic weapon. As Vinyl explained to me, even though you have to pull the trigger each time you want to fire it, these forms of weapons were built for precise aim and marksmanship. The final choice though was a hand cannon that could pack a serious punch… if you were willing to be patient and calm with it. More of a weapon for a sharpshooter than anything else. Despite the hand cannon seeming like a good choice, it would only work if an enemy had come too close to me. And I already had my Shotgun in case that were to happen. The scout rifle may seemed powerful, but it didn’t seem to be… well, something that could work out for me. Which only left me the choice of either the Auto Rifle or the Pulse Rifle. Personally though… based on what I had been using already, it felt right in order to try and pick a weapon type that I was more familiar with. “I’ll choose this one.” I told the Gunsmith, pointing at the Auto Rifle as she looked back at me. “The Marshal-A?” She asked me, picking up the weapon and handing it to me after I nodded my head. Confirming to her that this was the one I wanted. “Nice choice. It’s a good weapon for taking down massive groups of fallen that you might happen to cross paths with while on patrol. Just make sure to keep that thing in proper shape and it’ll do you wonders.” “Thanks for the advice.” I told her, before I began to walk away from her stand. Though, she told me one other thing while I was leaving. “See you around, Guardian. Be sure to stop by if you need anything!” The Exo replied, waving goodbye as I now had Ghost come on out so I can have this new auto rifle equipped. “Alright, that should do it… now, about the old one. Do you want to leave it in the vault or just dismantle it?” That… was something that puzzled me. Mostly because of what he said. “Ghost, what do you mean by vault?” I asked. “Think of it like a Guardian’s storage locker,” He told me in response, before motioning over to what looked like a nearby console. “Guardian’s use these consoles to drop off whatever equipment or items they don’t need and take items they would need depending on the situation. Ghosts only have a limited amount of inventory and this makes it convenient when it comes to carrying multiple things. Let’s put the rifle your using in there for right now.” Ghost then instructed me on how to use the console, and helped me make sure that the old auto rifle I was using before in there was stored away properly. Who knows? I might need it for something farther down the road. Though, when I was done, Ghost seemed to be distracted by something for a tidbit… before looking back at me. “Ghost, you alright?” I asked. “You kind of… fazed out for a moment.” “That’s because I was receiving a message from the shipwright.” Ah, well that explains it… I think. I’m still trying to get used to this whole Guardian business though. “She’s done making repairs on the vessel we got out of the Cosmodrome. All we need to do now is visit the hangar and pick it up from her.” Really? Repairs were done already? And I thought that the ship was missing a few key important parts before we could really be able to go anywhere. Well… that was mostly based on what he told me the first time around when we originally found the ship. Though, perhaps this was some kind of minor fix that was needed. “Alright, can you lead me to where the hangar is? It’s still my first time navigating this place, so it might be a bit for me in order to find my way around here.” Ghost nodded, placing another marker for me before speaking up. “Alright, let me mark the waypoint for you.” Oh so that’s what those things are called… ehh, I prefer calling them markers instead. Seems easier to me that way. Upon walking through the hallways and entering the hangar bay, I happened to notice a lot of activity going on. Mostly involving either citizens talking with one another, other guardians talking to either a robot behind a workbench or someone claiming that Earth was ‘dead’… and then there was who I was looking for. The shipwright. She was dressed like some kind of mechanic, but had a red bandana around her neck and a pair of goggles on too. Though… I think I have seen that skin tone and hair color somewhere before. Not to mention that she also had a stetson hat set off to the side of her workbench. “Excuse me, but would you happen to be the shipwright?” I asked, getting her attention as she put down a few tools she was cleaning once I caught her attention. “That would be me-” She replied, before saying something else. “Wait… no way. Sunset is that you?” Hold on. This girl remembers me? From where? That was when she turned around… and immediately when I saw her face, I recognized who she was. “A-applejack?” “Well, I’ll be damned… never thought ah’d get the chance to see you again, Sunset.” She greeted me, even setting down a wrench that she was cleaning. “Didn’t think you’d be a guardian either, but ah guess ah was wrong… So how can ah help ya, Sugarcube?” With the conversation redirected back at me, I didn’t even get the chance to process everything that she was saying, until I realized that it was my turn to speak. “Well uh… my ghost told me that he brought in a ship that we used to get out of the… Cosmodrome I think it was called?” “You have the Ghost that brought in the Arcadia class ship?” She asked, sounding rather surprised. “Those ships have been around since the Golden Age, but nowadays, you barely find any that are operational like the one that was brought in. Your ghost was lucky to find it mostly in one piece.” I… honestly did not know if that was supposed to sound good or not given the tone of her words. Then, I recalled something that Ghost told me before we took off from the Cosmodrome. “Um… My ghost told me that he wasn’t sure if the ship would be able to break orbit?” “Well, that’s not entirely true actually…” She told me in response. “Your ship can break orbit just fine because of the repairs and modifications ah put on it… however, you can’t travel off world or to other planets without a warp drive. You can try and find one… but that’s the one thing that the Fallen try to salvage immediately after they shoot down a Guardian’s ship or find one they haven’t taken apart yet. So you might want to talk to your ghost on that one… but ah can take you to your ship if you like.” I nodded my head, allowing Applejack to show me the way to my ship as I got the chance to see not only the new appearance of it… but also see that a lot of the parts that looked old and rusty were actually fixed up rather well. Best part about it was that Applejack didn’t need for us to pay for her services, so Ghost and I were able to jump in rather quickly and get ourselves situated as he appeared on my left hand side again. “So… what exactly is the plan, Ghost?” “Well… we’re lucky enough to have found this ship out in the Cosmodrome… but if we are ever going to be able to fight outside of earth, we need that warp drive that Applejack was talking about,” Ghost told me… but what he was saying almost sounded completely insane. “We’ve handled the fallen once… I bet we can do it again.” Oh dear Celestia, we’re actually doing this. Cosmodrome, Earth “So Ghost…… how exactly are we planning on doing this?” I asked him the moment that my feet touched the ground. He happened to emerge from my left hand side again, talking to me about what exactly he was thinking could possibly work for finding ourselves what we are looking for. And I wasn’t really sure if I was actually going to like what he was going to tell me. “Well, we’re lucky enough in order to find what we got out here just on it’s own… though, the fallen-” BOOM! Immediately, my head shot up as Ghost and I looked in the direction of the sound we just heard. While also hearing a loud crash. “W-what the hell was that?” Ghost didn’t say anything, but almost immediately came back inside my helmet before speaking up. “That was a guardian’s ship just now-. Hold on,” I heard him say for a moment, almost as if someone else was trying to get his attention. When I heard him speak up again, I soon found out that someone was trying to get his attention. More specifically though, our attention. “Incoming message from Commander Sentry at the Tower. He says it’s urgent.” Now what in the world could Flash seriously want around now? …… Well, I guess there’s only one way of finding out. “Patch him through.” “Already doing it. He should be coming in right about… now.” A few seconds after hearing that from my Ghost, I began to hear Flash speak to me in my helmet. Leading me to think that there was some kind of contraption in my helmet that made this kind of communication possible… but I rather not dwell on it. “Sunset… I don’t know what you’re doing back out in the Cosmodrome, but you’re the only guardian out there right now that I can count on,” I heard him say to me. Though, what he said to me sounded rather strange hearing it straight from him. “I’m going to assume that both you and your ghost saw a ship crash not far from where your at?” As I walked through the area we were in, I took the chance to clear my throat and speak up. “Yeah, we just heard a giant explosion right now before hearing a loud crash… Do you have any idea what that was?” “That’s the thing… I do know what it was… and it means that right now, a fellow guardian is in trouble,” That… definitely did not sound good at all. “The Fallen have been known for shooting ships while airborne if they linger too close to their territory. And right now, one of my best Titan Defenders just sent out a mayday, saying that his ship just got shot down. His last known position is not far from your current location.” “So… You want us to make sure that this Guardian is okay and also make sure that the Fallen haven’t gotten to him first?” Ghost asked. “Exactly… Not only that, but I want you to assist him with whatever he was doing out there. There’s strength in numbers and in the Cosmodrome, it’s too dangerous for a Guardian to be out there on their own.” “Got it…” I heard Ghost affirm for us that we were going to undertake this task. “Putting in that Guardian’s last known coordinates now and marking it.” And with that, I was off and running. Trying to hurry as fast as I could to the marker that was placed for me. Though, along the way… I decided to ask Ghost a particular question that just came up in my head right now because of what Flash said as I went up a ravine and onto a nearby plateau. “Hey Ghost… What did Flash mean just now by ‘Titan Defender’? I thought that Guardians could only be one of three things?” “They can… but within each class of Guardian, there are also subclasses based on three different forms of elemental energy that the travelers light could take on,” I heard him tell me. “When the commander says ‘Titan Defenders’, he means a Titan that can use Void Light in order to defend themselves and allies when in combat.” Void Light? That’s… a new one. Then again, I only learned to throw grenades that look like a mini sized sun a few hours ago. But… what exactly was the third one? Ehh, never mind. I gotta focus. Though, the sounds of gunshots and the sight of smoke in the air told us that we were not far from where this guardian could possibly be. When we did get close enough, we found the Titan boldly fighting off several fallen that have already swarmed the crash sight. However, instead of just shooting everything in sight with his Pulse Rifle, he actually took it a step further and was punching a few fallen directly in the face. Most of this person’s armor was bulky and colored a dark grey with a few strands of red. The only thing standing out though that was different from everything else was what looked like some kind of sash along his left leg, which was red and had the symbol of a green apple on it. And just as he was done taking down the fallen in front of him… I noticed that one other Vandal was trying to get behind him once they uncloaked. Which, gave me the chance to test my newest weapon as I fired a shot that took down the Vandal quickly. What I did though… soon happened to catch this titan’s attention… and not in a good way. “Who the hell are you?” I heard him snap, which… caused me to try and be cautious with him. “Woah, calm down for just a moment…” I told him at first, before clearing my throat as I placed my weapon on my back. “Commander Sentry told me that your ship just crashed and asked for me to come make sure you were okay and also help you out…” “That still doesn’t answer my question…” He told me in response as I noticed the grip on his weapon still has not loosened yet. “Ah asked for your name. Not why you are here…” Well… I guess trying to convince him to put down the weapon was out of the option. This must be the new way of ‘talking’ all the way out here. “My name is Sunset Shimmer. I-” However, before I could explain anything else though… that’s when I noticed him lowering his rifle and sounding less… well, threatening to put it lightly. “Y-you’re… AJ’s friend…” Wait, hold up… did he just say what I think I heard him just say? Then… he took off his helmet and that was when I could be able to see who it was. “Ah’m sorry for acting hostile just now… Name’s Big Macintosh, but everyone at the tower just calls me Mac.” Now I was beginning to remember who this guy was. I was beginning to recall the fact that Applejack personally told Twilight and I that she had a rather big family herself… and right now, her older brother was standing right in front of me. “Ah know that we just met and all, but can ah ask ya something?” “Sure,” I replied back, now that he wasn’t exactly being hostile to me. “What is it, Mac?” “Well… ah have a lot of questions if ah were to be honest with ya,” He told me in response, while also looking at his ship. “But ah think the best one to start with is what exactly are ya doing out here?” “Well, my Ghost and I were trying to find something important for my ship,” I explained, taking off my own helmet now, my ghost emerging right next to me. “But before we could get anywhere, Command told us about you getting shot down and we hurried over in order to make sure you weren’t in trouble. Of course, I shot a Vandal that was trying to backstab you after you basically sucker punched everything else.” In response to hearing that, all Mac did was lower his head and shake it before looking back at me. But before he could say anything, that was when we both noticed what looked to be a brown and white ghost emerge from his ship as it looked back at us. The thing was though… it sounded much different than mine. “Oh… sorry, was I interrupting something?” “Yer fine, Winona,” Mac assured his ghost, turning his attention away from us. “So… what the damage? Give it to me, straight…” “Well, when we were hit, it was with an EMP blast in order to try and mess with the systems. Thinking that the fall might kill you first… but, it turned out not to be the case. Other than that though, all major systems are fully operational.” She told him, shortly before noticing us. “Who are these two?” That was the moment where Mac and I both had to bring his ghost up to speed on everything. Once we were done though, he asked his ghost to have his ship head to orbit, but remain there so if he needed to get out of here for some reason, it could be ready. Then, that was when we saw the Titan get his weapon out again before looking at us. “So Sunset… ya told me that you were looking for something for your ship… could you clarify on what ya mean by that?” I sighed, but before I could say anything, my Ghost took that as a cue to answer for me. “Our ship is lacking a warp drive. We were going to try and track down where the fallen might be hiding one, but we got sidetracked when Command contacted us.” After hearing that, Mac looked back at his Ghost for a moment, before looking back to us. “If that’s the case, then ya should come with us,” He told us, which personally surprised me at first. Before he began to explain the reason why. “We were originally coming out here because Winona picked up some fallen chatter about them moving cargo for one of their houses. It’s likely possible that what you're looking for could be in there.” That… does sound promising, I have to admit. But there was one piece of what he just said that kind of confused me. “Hold on… houses? I thought the fallen are scavengers.” “They are,” My Ghost told me. “However, not all the Fallen are a part of the same group. They are organized into different ones. Think of a house of fallen like a pack of wolves. Each one being different from the other and run by different leaders.” Okay, now that starts to make sense… I think. “Right… and the cargo we’ve been tracking is being moved by members of the house of devils.” We now heard Winona speak up and take a turn to talk. “They’re the primary fallen house on Earth and are seen as the ‘Scourge of the City’. So if they are trying to move something as big as the cargo that we’ve been picking up, it clearly must be something important that they don’t want us finding out about.” And that gave me a reason in order to put my helmet back on as I looked back at Mac. “Well, that definitely seems like something we should look into. Lead the way.” Mac nodded as his Ghost disappeared, before he had us follow him. According to his Ghost, there was an information hub down underground that had a map we could use to give us an overview of everything that we can find in the Cosmodrome. Including the fallen cargo convoy we were going to be searching for. Though, we first had to clear out the fallen that were underground before going for the map. When we eventually did get the map though, that’s when things began to get a bit complicated. “Okay, we got the map… however, there’s no telling when the fallen will start moving again. Let’s get back out topside.” I heard Mac’s ghost tell both us as we both made our way for the stairs while also making sure that we don’t get attacked by any possible dregs that might’ve been hiding somewhere. By the time we reached the surface again, we heard my ghost speak now. “Alright. Now with the map, it’ll be easier for both Winona and I to locate what we’re looking for…… You’re fine with me calling you that, right?” “I don’t mind. Though, hearing that come from another Ghost kind of felt weird… at first.” Winona replied back. Which, left me rather surprised as Mac and I began to follow a new set of coordinates. “How exactly is that weird?” I asked, waiting for her to respond. “Well, Ghosts aren’t like humans where they were given names at birth. Plus, Mac’s kind of been the only one to have called me by that name until now.” I heard her tell me… and in a way, that kind of makes sense. “But enough about that. We should probably get going. I’m picking up traces of where the Fallen might be hiding the cargo they’re transporting.” It soon took a few seconds for my Ghost to pick up the same trace too, but when he did, there was something else he mentioned that seemed rather… concerning for him. “I’m picking it up too… But I’m not sure if they’re trying to hide it… or use it as bait.” “Hold up… Bait?” Mac asked. “What makes ya say that?” “Fallen Houses sometimes fight with each other over something if a certain house sees something as a major necessity. Whether it’s Ether Seed’s or spare parts… What I do know is that the House of Devils has had clashes with another house of earth. The House of Kings,” Ghost explained, to which, even made Winona sound like she didn’t like the sound of it. “The point is, we should tread with caution once we get closer.” That was something I could personally get behind. Because once we got closer to the building and we finally made our way inside, we learned firsthand that the place was crawling with fallen. Dregs, Vandals, Shanks. You named it, they shot at us. And this continued throughout the whole time until we reached what looked like a docking area with several of the Vandals standing guards. Immediately, Mac took the left side of the main room while I got the right. Through my earlier encounters with the fallen, I was able to acquire a new ability for when I had to hit a fallen in the face with one of my hands. Doing so would light them on fire, causing them to burn away and leaving them open to me shooting them. Which, was very handy considering the fact that most of the vandals with shock daggers were on my side of the room instead of Mac’s. That and I needed to find more ammunition for my shotgun, if we come across any. It took us a little bit to clear out the room and when we did, I personally thought that we could be able to catch a break. However, just as Winona was going to scan everything that we found to see what exactly was in it, that was when my Ghost said something. “Wait… My sensors are still picking up motion. I don’t think we’re in the clear yet.” “Where?” Mac asked, looking around for a moment as we tried to see where this one that Ghost was telling us could be hiding. “Ah don’t see anything.” “There’s no place in the ceiling they could hide and there’s no second floor either.” Winona added. But it was around then that I noticed something with the far back wall. There was a huge gaping hole in the back where some kind of banner used to be before the last time I was here with Ghost when we found our ship. Wait… could it be-? The sight of glowing red eyes and a set of hands gripping the edge of the walls soon alerted me, almost causing me to loosen the grip on my weapon because of how it startled me. And it was from this that my ghost soon noticed what I was seeing and called it out. “It’s in the walls!! Get back!” “What the-?!” Mac shouted, shocked by what we were seeing… and by how this fallen was much bigger than the other ones we’ve encountered already. “What the hell is that-!?” “T-that’s an Fallen Archon!!” Winona said in disbelief. “But what is an Archon doing here?!” “And what the hell is an Archon?” I asked, making sure that my rifle was primed and ready before Mac and I needed to defend ourselves. While we were scrambling to find cover from it’s huge weapon, Ghost told us that a Fallen Archon is seen as a very important figure in a fallen house. But he had to quickly summarize it to us given that the Archon was opening fire on both of us and that weapon could easily tear through our armor if it weren’t careful. “Archon’s are fallen priests that are seen as a Kell’s most trusted adversary. They are stronger than a fallen captain and also are sometimes seen as the link between a houses servitor, which is their machine god, and the Kell.” Yet, even though that was informative, the only thing that Ghost did not really explain was how exactly we were supposed to fight back. Plus, it was the one thing we needed to know in order to get out of here alive. Though… something about this Archon seemed different than the captain that I faced before. But, the only way I can actually test it was by conjuring a grenade and throwing it directly at the Archon. Something that made Mac think I was doing something crazy. “Sunset, what are ya-?!” “Hang on a minute!” I told him, waiting to see what would happen as my grenade exploded. Unlike with the captain from last time, where there was some kind of shield protecting it, this one did not have anything like that. “Mac, this thing doesn’t have a shield. We can still hurt it!” That… seemed to renew his determination as he looked back at the Archon and began to open fire. Even going as far as throwing out one of his own grenades to hurt the Archon as more of the fallen flooded the room to aide our opponent. Part of me focused my fire on the Archon since it was the one rallying the other fallen to attack us, but I still had shotgun ammo for when I needed to fire a round into the face of a dreg that would get rather too close for comfort. For Big Mac though… around this time was when I saw him switch to his secondary weapon. It looked… different from any of the others I had previously seen because it wasn’t anything like a shotgun or a standard rifle. I watched as it charged up for a moment, before unleashing a devastating bolt of energy that had a fallen dreg disintegrate on contact. Something that definitely helped clear out a lot of the fallen that were flooding into the room and allowing for us to focus on the Archon that was firing at us. It took me a few more shots to take down the archon’s reinforcements, but-. Wait, what in the world is Mac doing-? Why are you charging in there? That’s suicide!! “GIVE HER BACK-!!!” However, despite Mac fully charging at the Archon and weapon was primed up and ready to fire, one loud stomp sent the titan flying through a concrete support pillar and knocking the weapon out of his hand and sliding it right to where my feet were. Just as the fallen Archon was making its way towards Mac. “Ghost, I need to help Mac!” I told him, ditching my shotgun and picking up Mac’s weapon. “How do I use one of these?” “You just hold the trigger and release it on it’s own.” He told me at first, before realizing something. “Throw a grenade right in front of it. I got an idea!” Personally, I would want to ask what particular ‘idea’ he had in mind… but I decided to just go for it. Mac needed my help and I could not wait any longer. Charging at the pair, I tossed out a Solar grenade and upon impact, the light from it began to blind the Archon. “You got an opening! Take the shot!!” Immediately, I aimed at the archon’s head and held down the trigger. Firing a blast that not only hit the fallen right in the head, but had everything else disintegrate into cinders. But I wasn’t entirely focused on that though. Instead, I ran over to try and help Mac as he was slowly getting up. “Mac, you alright?” “Sort of…” He groaned, sounding… disappointed for a moment. Why would he sound like that though-? “Ah’m sorry fer letting ya down. Ah had mah emotions get the better of me.” “It’s alright… but why did you do that anyways?” Mac was silent for a moment, before asking for his weapon back as I looked at him. “My little sister… Apple Bloom… She’s still out here on her own. Ah’ve been trying to find her, but based on what we heard from fallen communications, it sounded like they got to her before we could get her out of here,” Oh, so that’s what he meant by that… “Ah thought that they would be keeping her here along with everything else but… ah don’t see any signs of her at all.” “They must’ve moved her first before they could move the rest of their haul,” We now heard Winona speak up as she emerged from Mac’s armor before turning to the titan. “We’ll make sure to find them again… and not let them get away next time.” “Thanks Winona… ah needed that.” Mac replied to her. Shortly before the both of us noticed my ghost scanning everything in the stash the fallen left behind. “We not only found the warp drive… but the two of you just took down an archon…” Ghost told us. “That’s… not really that much of a big deal now, is it?” I asked him. “It is…” I now heard Winona. “Taking down a Fallen Archon is a major deal and one that can cripple the fallen… We need to get back to the tower. Now.” “Hold on a moment… why do we need to go back so soon?” Mac now asked. Only this time though… both our ghosts answered his question simultaneously. “We need to see the Speaker.” Author's Note More allies are introduced, both in the Tower and on the frontline. I hope you enjoy what's in store. -Frost
03- The WarmindBy the time we’ve come back to the tower, both Ghost and Winona immediately had us go directly from the plaza over to the area called Tower North. I was still trying to get my head wrapped around the names for the particular areas in the Tower, but Ghost was trying to help simplify things for me. As we made our way over, he explained that where Twilight and the rest of the Vanguard were stationed was called the ‘Hall of Guardians’, Applejack was in the Tower Hangar (which was the easiest name to remember out of all four of them if I were to be honest), the main plaza where we first arrived was called ‘Tower Watch’ and finally, where we were going was called Tower North. Which was also hope to the person that we were going to meet. The Speaker… and from what Ghost told me, he seemed to be some kind of knowledgeable scholar. Almost like Clover the Clever back in Equestria. As Mac and I entered what looked like a huge personal study with a makeshift model of our current solar system, that was when we heard him speak for the first time. “There was a time… when we were much more powerful… but that was long ago,” We heard him say as both Mac and I turned around and watched him come down the staircase that was along the wall. “Until it wakes and finds its voice, I am the one who speaks for the traveler.” “You’re… the Speaker?” Mac asked, almost in disbelief. “That I am… and I presume that both of you have numerous questions to ask me,” He replied back. “I believe both of you know of the story with the Traveler already…” I nodded at that, recalling what Twilight told me before… but I still had one question that I was unsure about. “Yeah… but I’m confused on something… The enemy of the Traveler. I believed Twilight called it ‘The Darkness’. What is that?” The Speaker sighed for a moment, before turning and proceeding to walk towards one of the spheres that was in the room. “I could tell you about the battle that the Traveler had against its ancient enemy. I can tell you of the numerous tales that have been said to frighten children… Those tales have ceased… but the children are frightened anyway.” Turning back to us… he then told us something else. “But what I can say for sure is this… The Darkness is coming back. And we will not be able to survive it this time.” “Those Fallen are just the start,” Winona then appeared and began to speak. “That Archon you two took down is just the beginning.” From body language alone, it looked like the Speaker was surprised to hear what Winona said about us taking down the Archon. Which lead to me asking the Speaker something now. “What can we do to help?” “Both of you must be able to push back the Darkness any way you can,” He told us, now walking back towards the two of us. “Many guardians like you are fighting on Earth and beyond. So join them. Your Ghost’s will guide you while you are on your journey. I only hope that they chose wisely.” Afterwards, the Speaker just turned around and walked back up the stairs, leaving us to turn around and walk back towards Tower Watch. Though, on the way, that was when Winona said something that caught my attention. “I’m sure both of us made the right decision… Hey Ghost, since our guardians work rather well together in the field, why don’t we form a fireteam?” That… had me be a bit confused since that was the first time I’ve ever heard of that term before. While Mac looked like he was a bit surprised. “Ghost, what’s a fireteam?” I asked, just as he floated around to my right hand side and in between both Mac and I. “Fireteams are small squads that can consist of two to six guardians at a time, depending on the circumstances,” He informed me. “The Vanguard keeps track of these Fireteams and sends them into the field to take on tasks that no single guardian can be able to accomplish on their own. There much different from Clans though, which are large groups of Guardians that are big enough to take on multiple activities at once.” “Ah think that setting up a fireteam might work out,” Mac spoke up. “Ah mean… both of you saw how Sunset helped me out in a pinch with the Archon, so ah think we work well as a team.” That I can agree with. We did work extremely well as a team out there and we were able to take down more fallen out there together than on our own. Though, it was while hearing this that I also heard Mac deeply sigh for a moment before looking back at me. “I think it would be a great idea… Is something wrong Mac?” “Nah, ah just remembered that ah needed to go back to the hangar to see if my ship is fixed…” The Titan told me. “And ah think mah sister’s gonna chew me out for earlier.” Tower Hangar “What the hell were you thinking?!” Applejack snapped, almost hitting her brother with a wrench that she was using to repair his ship. “Ah told you that you shouldn’t go overboard with tasks for the vanguard, but just after ya promised me that ya wouldn’t, I overhear on comms that your ship got shot down and no one could reach ya!” The shipwright right now was… well, showing multiple different emotions right now. She may be relieved to see that he was okay, but she was definitely not happy with the fact that he made her worry about him. “For all ah knew, you could’ve been a goner!” “AJ, please. Ah’m okay…” The titan assured her. “Sunset was able to find me before anything bad happened.” “And the reason why she found you was because ah was the one who told Commander Sentry to contact any Guardians out in the area to go find you,” She deeply sighed, before looking at her. “You may be a Guardian, but you’re not invincible Mac. If the Fallen get their claws on Winona, you’re toast.” “Ah know… And it’s why I’m going to be in a team for any future operations,” he told her, shortly before looking to me. “After our last encounter with the Fallen earlier and talking to the Speaker, Winona suggested that Sunset and Ah should set up a Fireteam. That was we have each others backs for if the Vanguard need us for anything else.” Shortly after he finished, that was when Applejack looked back at me… before taking a deep breath and then smiling a bit. “Well, that makes me worry about ya a little bit less… but that still doesn’t mean your out of the woods for this,” She stated. “Ah had to work overtime in order to get your ship functioning again. And that was alongside installing the warp drive that Sunset’s Ghost happened to bring back.” Ah right, I almost forgot about that. “How did that go?” “It’s a thing of beauty alright. Works like a charm,” I heard her tell me while she was using a cloth to wipe what looked like some grease off of some of the tools she was cleaning, before looking at Mac. “As for you, you’re lucky that the damage to your ship was minimal. If it was totaled, ya wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, even if you are ah guardian.” Well, that at least told us that we were ready for whatever the Vanguard needed us to do next. Only question was… what were we going to do next? “Hey AJ, you got a sec-?” Wait… I know that voice. But why does it sound… synthetic? “Rainbow, what are ya doing here?” Applejack then spoke up, immediately catching my attention. “Commander Sentry’s gonna get on your case for slacking off right now. Aren’t ya supposed to be paying attention to Vanguard Scout Operations?” “I am… and because of something we found, I was told about a pair of guardians that could help.” That had me turn around and face the person that was speaking. She clearly sounded like Rainbow Dash, but when I actually saw her… what I saw definitely threw me off guard. For one thing, Rainbow wasn’t human. She was what Twilight called an Exo. Just like the Gunsmith in the tower. Her gear was mostly light blue and navy, while it was tailored far differently than that of a Warlock and Titan. But she had the three colored lightning bolt and cloud that I remembered her for on the side of her left shoulder pad. “Oh? Is this a new guardian?” Wait… she… doesn’t remember me? How in the world does she not remember who I am-? “Sunset here is one of the newer guardians at the tower Rainbow. She’s someone that Twilight and Flash remembered from before the Golden Age. Same with me,” Applejack spoke up, to which, had Rainbow look like she seemed a bit surprised… If Exo’s were somehow able to express emotion that is. “Oh… I get it now. Still, welcome to the Vanguard then. I do hope that Flash isn’t making things too difficult for you since you just started. He and Lord Thunderlane tend to do that with the new recruits a lot,” Wait, Lord who now? “Still… Flash wanted me to be able to meet you guys because the Vanguard’s scouting operation is picking up some… unusual fallen activity right now.” “Define ‘unusual’.” Mac stated, folding his arms and looking back at the Exo. All she did though was take out a circular pad and pressed a button on it… before a holographic projection of the Cosmodrome was shown. “The Fallen have been known for smashing and grabbing everything that they could find whether it’s tied down or not,” Rainbow told us, before taking an outstretched hand and moving to a particular location on her map as she zoomed in. “However, most recently, our scouts have been sending reports of the fallen tearing into all of the machines that are in the cosmodrome… specifically by the Forgotten Shore. And from the sounds of it, they’re not just looking it for kicks.” “You mean… they’re after something?” Ghost asked, now appearing next to me. “If that’s the case, then we should find whatever they’re after first before they do.” “Heh… I’m liking you two already,” Rainbow chuckled, before moving the map for a moment as she looked at Mac and I. “Now, the only catch is that the closest place you can be dropped off without getting shot down by the Fallen is in this area over here…” That though… caused Mac to look at Rainbow with a surprised expression. “Wait… The Steppes? That’s miles from the Forgotten Shore! How are we going to get there quick enough in order to find whatever the Fallen are looking for before they do.” “That is a very good question… and it just so happens that I might have a solution for you two.” Despite Rainbow not remembering who I am… I have known how she acts long enough to know where this is going. “Applejack, how’s your handiwork when it comes to Vehicle Grids?” “Is that a redundant question?” The shipwright asked. “All Guardians ships are equipped with the necessary functions that allow their ghost to sync their ship with one to bring out their Sparrows.” Wait, Sparrows? What the heck is that supposed to be, some kind of bird? “Well, what I think we can do is have them sync up their ships to a vehicle grid in The Steppes,” Rainbow told us as she motioned her hands a bit while she was speaking. “If we get the link set up, these two can get to the Forgotten Shore in no time flat.” Well, that sounded simple enough. “And don’t worry… Riding a Sparrow is just like riding a hoverbike.” Wait… we have hoverbikes? Some time later… “Encoding superposed states… Entangling key vectors… and there we go.” It took some time for both Mac and I to reach the grid we needed to go to before we could be able to get anywhere. But luckily, since Ghost and Winona were both working on the same thing together, we were able to get this done much faster than I originally predicted. And shortly after I heard Ghost tell us about the link, Winona was the next one to speak. “Alright. Now that you two are linked with the network, you can pull up a Sparrow and get over to the Forgotten Shore in seconds.” “And we can summon one… like how we summon ya?” Big Mac then asked. “The exact same way,” Ghost replied, before both him and Winona summoned one of the ‘Sparrows’ that they were talking about. And upon looking at it, it reminded me of two things. One, for some reason, it made me think of the time I was horseback riding back on Applejack’s farm. Secondly, the handles and setup to how I get on it reminded me of a motorcycle. Especially with the grips that my hands were on. “Now come on. The Fallen aren’t going to stop themselves now.” “She’s got a point.” Thanks for the reminder, Ghost. Now… which one is the brake-? WHOOSH!!! Okay, we’re DRIVING NOW!!! “Wow, you’re a natural at this…” Oh wow… Ghost is somehow being calm about this. And this is technically my first time actually driving this thing. Though, a few seconds, the mood all changed. “Alright, we’re approaching the Shore… Hey Winona, are you getting the same thing I’m getting right now?” “Yes I am,” She replied, before elaborating a bit on what they were talking about. “The Fallen are using a series of signal amplifiers to transmit something… It could be a message to the rest of their house. Let’s hurry over and intercept it first.” “How many are there?” Big Mac then asked as he slowed down and hopped off his Sparrow… shortly before I did the same thing just mere inches from hitting a broken down ship. “There seems to be two of them within the vicinity of the shore,” Winona then replied. “Hey Ghost? How about you and Sunset tap into the one closest to you two while we check out this other one over here?” That… made sense. Beforehand, I thought the two of us were going to be ‘sticking together’, but this can allow for us to cover more ground. And, according to Ghost, if it was possible that the signal amplifiers were somehow similar in nature… then the linked signals could lead us to where the original signal was coming from. So, on that note, I left Ghost to analyze the contraption while also paying close attention to any Fallen that could be within the vicinity. Of course, since the signal amplifier was on a wrecked boat, there were some fallen in the destroyed compartments that were trying to salvage what they could. But upon turning their attention to me, that was when I shot them before they could have a chance to call for backup. A few moments after I left Ghost to scan the amplifier though, he was done… but what he found was… well, something that he did not expect. “Hunh… this is some kind of distorted signal… but it’s not Fallen.” Wait… not Fallen? That… doesn’t sound reassuring. Who knows if that signal could be from another enemy entirely. “Is it a signal from the Vanguard?” “No. This signal is something that’s not like any Fallen or Vanguard one we have encountered… Winona, are you getting the same thing over there?” Ghost asked, just as I was making my way over to where Mac was. Just in case if he needed extra help. “Yes actually… but I think we got a location to investigate now that we scanned these amplifiers. It’s coming from the Skywatch up on the hill.” Winona informed us, causing me to turn around and look up on the hill that she was talking about. And at first glance, I was… really unsure about what could possibly be going on up there. The building that was there looked like an abandoned observatory… so what would the fallen want that’s in there? Whatever the reason is though… we needed to hurry before they accomplish whatever they were trying to do. And as I was thinking that though, Mac was already one step ahead and summoning his Sparrow. Waiting on me to do the same before both of us quickly darted over to the end of the road and what looked like the remains of an old underground parking garage for the facility. When we got there, both of us noticed that the Fallen had already set up shop with several dregs, shanks and vandals inside of the Skywatch alongside a captain giving them orders to shoot at us. Of course, we were ready for when they did attack us. Proceeding to take down the dregs and the vandals first before eliminating the shanks and the captain last. The captain was the trickier one to take down given his short range dash and also the arc shield that was equipped on it. But with them out of the picture, we could finally proceed through this… ‘terrestrial complex’, according to the map. However, just as we got into the heart of the building, our ghosts began to pick up something. “Over there!” Winona first spoke up. Shortly before Ghost followed suite. “The Fallen are tapped into something at the back of the room. Get me over there so I can figure out what it is!” Without even questioning why, I summoned Ghost and let him begin to inspect this… contraption that the Fallen are somehow using that’s attached to a rather big computer console. Which, to me, looks way too complex for me to even try and figure out how it works on my own… so I guess Ghost is the best option we got right now. That and someone needed to figure out what the Fallen were doing while we tried to crack into this thing. Leaving Mac and I having to protect him while Fallen were beginning to flood into the room. But it was as we were shooting them that the two of us could overhear a conversation between him and Winona. “The Fallen are trying to access these machines but… something is fighting them back…” “Wait… Something’s fighting back?” Winona asked, sounding surprised as I shot another two Dregs in the face while Big Mac shot a Vandal down with his Fusion rifle. “What is it?” “That’s what I’m trying to find out, but it’s going to take some time.” Ghost said to her. Which, to me, means holding off the Fallen for as long as we could until he was able to get what he needed-. Wait… what the hell is that floating sphere in the back-? “Move!!” When I heard that, it was when I felt Mac push me out of the way as that same floating sphere shot out an energy blast at both of us that scorched the ground. While also… wait… is that thing somehow-? “That’s a fallen Servitor! The longer they’re here, the more that they can strengthen the fallen here!” Okay, that was definitely bad news. But… there was one thing that I was confused about. “How do you take it out?” “Aim for the eye. That’s their weak point! Be careful though,” I heard Winona instruct me. “They’ll try to move out of the way and conceal their eye! So keep track of where they are and don’t lose sight of them!” Listening to what she told me, I redirected my focus to the servitor. Aiming directly at the Servitor’s eye and beginning to open fire. Mac himself threw out one of his grenades to defeat the fallen that the Servitor was trying to power up before joining me in attacking the Servitor itself. All that while we were having to move out of the way of it’s incoming eye blasts. Eventually though, we were able to take it down. However, it was when it blew up that more of the Fallen in the room were beginning to retaliate against us. Not to mention… Ghost had a progress update for us. “Okay. I got everything that the fallen managed to steal. We should destroy it while we have the chance.” “And how are we going to do something like that?” “The Fallen tap is embedded in this computer’s power core. Destroy the core, destroy the tap.” Okay… that actually made a lot of sense if I were to tell you the truth. But before I could say anything, that was when the top part of the computer began to move up and leave the power core visible for us to shoot. Since I wanted to spare my Auto Rifle rounds for if there were more fallen to shoot at, I decided to pull out my shotgun this time and fire a few rounds from that instead. Which… seemed to do the trick. And just as I was going to turn back around and ready myself to fight more Fallen… that was when we were seeing them retreat and scurry away. “Wow… that’s the first time ah’ve seen them run off in a hurry like that…” Mac replied, before turning to my Ghost as he was floating right next to me. “So… are we good now?” “Yes we are,” Ghost nodded in confirmation. “They didn’t get much though… Kept on hitting an active firewall.” Now though was when Big Mac brought out Winona and she began to ask Ghost something. “What kind of Firewall?” “Old Earth, Russian…” Even though that response seemed simple… it still took Winona by surprise. Especially with what we heard Ghost say next. “The legends are true… a Warmind did survive the collapse.” “A war-what?” I asked, a bit puzzled by what I was hearing. “A Warmind,” Big Mac told me. “Warminds were AI that were built during the Golden Age in order to fight against the Darkness… but there was only one specific one that was on Earth.” “That’s right,” I heard Ghost respond to him. “Rasputin. He was built to defend Earth and from what I can gather, he’s trying to protect something here in the Cosmodrome.” Not before long though, that was when he turned back to me. “We have to find a way to reach him somehow.” “Hold your horses there, Ghost,” I told him in response. “We should at least report back to command first before going off anywhere on our own-” That was when we heard what sounded like a… beeping sound from my helmet as I looked back at him. Wondering what was going on. “Incoming message from the Tower…” Ghost told me, before analyzing it and telling us what it was. “It’s from the Speaker.” That had Mac and I look back at one another with a confused expression on both of our faces as we wondered what exactly was going on. “The Speaker? What does it say?” “He’s… asking us to look into something that the Fallen in the Cosmodrome are keeping a pretty tight hold on from the sounds of it. And it’s on the other side of the Skywatch,” I heard him tell us. “It could be possible that it’s one of their leaders… or something of rare value to the fallen.” Looking back at Mac, all I did was take a deep sigh and look back at him. “Well… we aren’t exactly far from it. Let’s go take a look while we’re here.” Author's Note "I got a bad feeling about this." -Ghost, Destiny This one is where I finally introduce the last of the Vanguard members... and where I'll give you a full description for all three. -Twilight Sparkle, an Awoken who is a Mentor to Warlocks and is also in charge of the Vanguard Research Division. She knows a lot about the arcane wonders that Guardians come to possess, but believes that there are still secrets in the universe to be unraveled. -Flash Sentry, a human Titan with an iron will and a strong determination to succeed. He serves as a mentor for Titans and is in charge of Vanguard Tactical Operations, including Strikes. -Rainbow-6, an Exo who’s considered as a ‘Wild Card’ amongst others in the tower. She outfits and ‘advises’ hunters in the vanguard while also monitors Vanguard Scout Operations. She’s just as daring and risky as she is a procrastinator and lazy. There was also a tease for another character that will be further explained once we reach that part of the story, but I do hope you're enjoying it so far. Thanks for reading! -Frost
04- The Dark WithinIt took us another twenty minutes to relocate and find the front entrance to the Skywatch itself while also fighting off the fallen that were protecting the outside of the building. But unlike the fallen that we had to fight in the Terrestrial Complex of the Skywatch, these ones were more spread out and not in any condense spaces. Ghost told me that the Skywatch used to serve as a place where many people would board on ships to settle on other planets before the collapse. This also included the moon as well, since he had mentioned that there was a series of array stations that served as a supposed ‘link’ to the lunar colonies. Of course, the only other problem that we had at this moment besides the fallen… was a locked door that the fallen were guarding. And not just a simple door that you open when going inside a room. I mean something to that of a garage door or a door to a storage unit. Because that was how big this thing was. “Well, shoot,” Big Mac grumbled. “This looks like a dead end… Hey, Winona? Do you think you can get it open?” “Yeah, I can get it open,” She replied back as Mac brought her out to work on the controls that operated the door. “Gotta say though… The Fallen must’ve gone through a LOT of trouble in order to keep people out of this place. And just when you think they weren’t crafty enough.” But it was then that I heard Ghost now speak up this time. “Yeah… or maybe there was something in there that they were trying to keep in. Like they didn’t want to have get out in the first place,” He told her. “They were keeping a pretty tight guard on this place after all… and if it’s something worse than the fallen… well… I don’t want to think about what could possibly be worse then that right now.” “Me neither…” I added on as I looked at Mac and made sure that my weapons were loaded properly. Shortly afterwards though was when Winona gave us a good sign and got the door open. However… what was on the other side of the door soon began to really make me shiver. The interior walls were all covered up in what looked like dried sea crustaceans and clusters of green crystals were sprouting up in places like weeds. And if that wasn’t a creepy sign to begin with… there was no power in this part of the facility and nothing to possibly restore it right now. Ghost and Winona tried to assist up by coming out and providing some light as we went up a staircase that was hidden in a darkened hallway… but the further we got up, the more that Ghost was picking up something. “What is this…?” I heard him say to himself as we carefully reached the top of the stairs and into the next room. “Guys… I’m not liking this… I’m picking up a lot of motion ahead…” Motion? As in something’s actually here in this whole entire mess? Could it be the fallen? And why would they hide in a place like this? “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Mac…” Winona then spoke up. “The motion that we are picking up right now… It’s being drawn towards us. Like moths to a flame…” And just when things weren’t creepy enough… I was beginning to hear noises. They started off small… but they began to grow once we stepped into another room. That and the motion tracker was acting like crazy… But as I looked at what looked like a steel door, that was when we saw what was here. Several different creatures that had no eyes… but were coming at us like a swarm. “The Hive!!” Immediately, I took aim at the monsters charging at us, shooting down two of them as Mac took down a couple others. However, more of them began to flood the room as it forced me to move up and seek higher ground. Whatever they were, they came at us in a frenzy… and if the ones charging at us weren’t creepy enough, there were also some of these same ‘Hive’ that had weapons and were firing at us. Forcing Mac and I to have to try and find cover while also killing whatever tries to get it’s claws on us. “W-what the hell are those things?!” I asked, trying to wrap my mind around what’s going on. “That’s the Hive… But they haven’t been here in Centuries… Ever since the Collapse,” Ghost told me, looking back at Winona. “We need to keep moving. Staying here’s going to make us more of a target for them if we’re here too long.” “I agree,” I heard Winona say to us. “There needs to be someone or something leading this group here. If we don’t deal with this now, the City’s going to be in big trouble.” “Agreed,” Mac nodded, preparing his Fusion Rifle. “Let’s push through and find-” Before he could finish though, we had to take down a flurry of incoming Hive as the two of us fought farther into the Lunar Complex. But when we got to one particular point… That’s when we found a big problem. One Hive that was floating around in the air and ordering the others to come after us as it fired off energy volleys at us. “It’s a Wizard! You need to kill it, now!!” “Wha-? Why!?” I asked, just as that same floating Hive swung her arm forward and put a dark cloud in front of us. Immediately, things were beginning to sting all around me and I was finding it hard to breath. “That cloud is toxic and can kill you if you stay in it too long! Move!!” Ghost told me, prompting me to run to another ledge and beginning to open fire. But my shots weren’t doing anything to help me here. That was… until Mac got an idea as he and I hid behind cover as the Wizard continued to blast at us with energy bolts. “Sunset… ah got an idea, but ah need you to bear with me on this one,” He said, before looking to Winona. “Winona, do you still have that Gozen-C in my inventory?” “Yeah, why?” “Give it to Sunset,” He told her… which, made the ghost surprised at first, but she soon nodded her head and began to reconstruct what looked like a sniper rifle in my hands while I felt Ghost put my shotgun away. “Ah’m going to try and get the Wizards attention since it’s got a shield around it. Once that shield’s down, aim for it’s head and fire. It works on the fallen and ah think it can also work on the Hive as well.” “So wait…” I then spoke up, realizing what he meant. “You’re… going to use yourself as bait to get it’s attention?” “And when it doesn’t have any shield to protect itself, you are clear to open fire.” Mac then explained again. “It’s the only way this is going to work because it’s likely that when it’s shield depletes, it will try to run off. Just like what a Fallen Captain would do.” He had a valid point there, that I can agree with. But… I thought I would get a second opinion. “Ghost, what do you think of Mac’s plan?” “It’s worth a shot in the least,” He replied back to us. “We don’t exactly have a lot of options though because if we wait around too long, more of the hive are going to come swarming in any second.” Well, if that was something, then I guess we’re doing it. It was when I nodded my head to Mac that he took that as a cue to start running. Leaping out of his cover and beginning to circle around the Wizard while firing at it. As for me, I has to crouch myself down over to a crate in one corner of the room and get myself ready. Unlike the shotgun, I needed to aim down the sights with this weapon so that way I actually get an accurate shot off while also making sure that I had none of those other Hive Monsters trying to interrupt my focus. However… the one thing I didn’t think on was how much time it would take for Mac to put his plan into motion. Come on… I already got my sights on the target, how much longer do I need to wait for him to get that wizards shield down? Then, I heard a Fusion Rifle blast from where Mac was at right now… followed by a high pitched screech. “NOW!!” I was hesitant originally. A little unsure about if I would hit my target or I would accidentally hit Mac. But when I squeezed the trigger and let out a deep breath, the shot I fired hit the Hive Wizard directly in the head, reducing it to nothing but ashes as I let out a sigh of relief from that as I regrouped with Mac. It was only once we did meet back up that Ghost finally spoke. “If the Hive are here on Earth, than the Darkness might be a lot closer than we think… And that could be a big problem.” “Then let’s get back to the city and tell Twilight and the rest of the Vanguard,” I replied back. “This is probably not going to be the only time that we have seen them… and it’s likely that there’s someone at the Tower who knows more about the Hive than we do.” Tower “You two encountered the hive?” Rainbow-6 first spoke up upon our return to the hall of guardians as we were telling them what we encountered in the Skywatch just a few moments ago. However, Rainbow… seemed to be more confused than concerned with what we were telling them. “On Earth… Am I hearing this right?” “Yes you are, Rainbow,” I sighed a bit in response to her disbelief. “We encountered them while looking into something for the speaker at the Skywatch. Originally, we were lead to believe that it was one of the high ranking members of the fallen… but once we made our way inside, we found out that it was a lot worse than we originally imagined.” “If that is the case, then this is definitely going to be a problem for Guardians out in the Cosmodrome right now,” Twilight then spoke up from the other side of the table in the middle of the room. “The fallen are one thing, but having to handle the hive as well…” “If anything right now, we should focus less on being on offense and focus more on defense… and only have experienced guardians proceed with caution near the skywatch…” Flash then added in something to that… before turning to the warlock next to her. “Twilight, what current active missions are going on now within the vicinity of the Skywatch?” The Warlock herself was looking at a screen on a data pad and trying to piece together what to do, before realizing something. “Well… there’s only one right now but that team is unresponsive. They were running a mission for Dead Orbit, but we have not heard from them in the last few hours… Star Tracker fears that they’re dead-” Wait, Dead who now? “I’m sorry, what?” “Oh… right,” Twilight sighed, before using the table to bring up a series of holographic signs. There were five of them, but four were in a particular group. “There are a series of factions that call the Tower their home and base of Operations. The Vanguard is one of them, but there are four others that relate to the Crucible, overseen by Lord Thunderlane.” I blinked at that for a moment, before recalling something from earlier. “I heard that name before from Rainbow. Can you bring me up to speed on who he is?” “Well… let me put it to you like this…” Rainbow then began to speak, turning to face me now. “Lord Thunderlane is a Guardian like us, but he oversees the Crucible. Think of it like… guardian combat training for the Vanguard. Teams of Guardians are organized to compete against each other in a series of exercises and anytime they happen to die in the crucible, their ghost resurrects them a few seconds later.” “Experience in the Crucible can also be used very well in the field,” Flash added. “Though, in terms with the topic… Dead Orbit, whose representative is Star Tracker, is what’s seen as a Crucible Faction and there are three of them. The other two being New Monarchy, represented by Diamond Tiara, and Future War Cult, represented by the Exo named Noteworthy-2.” The Titan took a deep breath for a moment before continuing. “Though… Twilight, what exactly were the details of this mission that was being run?” “Well, according to what I have here,” She said, before scrolling through what was on the datapad with her finger. “They were running a mission and had codes to a hidden array that could be able to reconnect us with other colonies in the system… only problem was that they had to go directly through the Skywatch.” “And likely through the Hive too…” Mac added. “But wouldn’t it be possible that the Hive would keep the Fallen busy for the meantime?” “It’s possible… but it would not be best to bet on it.” Twilight replied back, before setting the datapad aside and looking at us directly. “Both of them are unpredictable and if they see you, they could stop shooting at each other and redirect their focus to you.” Even though that really did sound unlikely… Twilight’s tone on the subject told me that she wasn’t messing around. Of course, the real surprise came when we heard Winona suggest something. “Hey… Could it be possible that we can continue that mission by ourselves?” That single question surprised everyone… including Ghost. “What did you exactly have in mind, Winona?” “Think about it… If they had access to specific codes for the array, then the codes would be on that particular Guardian’s Ghost,” Mac’s ghost told us. “So, if we find their ghosts, we can be able to finish what they started. And we were able to overcome the hive the last time we were at the Skywatch.” “That may be true, but your guardians just returned from their last mission not too long ago,” Flash soon interjected as he looked at the Ghost. “Plus… before any other fights in combat, I think both of you need to gear up for any future confrontations.” It was after he told us that where he slid something across the table to us, which almost looked like the same thing I had to give Vinyl-3 when I was getting my Assault Rifle, while also looking at both Ghost and Winona. “Give the Gunsmith this so you two can be able to have access to Heavy Weapons… Also, did either of you happen to acquire any engrams while you were in the Cosmodrome?” I wasn’t sure what exactly he was talking about, but from how Ghost seemed to be nodding, I can only assume that I was soon going to find out for myself what they were in a minute. “We did happen to acquire a couple from the fallen during our last couple of missions, but we haven’t had the chance to visit the cryptarch yet.” “Then I recommend you do so,” Flash suggested to us. “For Guardians, having good weapons in a fight is only half the battle. The other half is having good armor to help protect yourself from enemy combatants.” “Oh, where have I heard this speech before…?” Seriously, Rainbow? Was that really necessary? “In any case…” The other warlock in the room spoke up as she looked towards us. “We would like for you to get yourself ready before we tackle that mission. The Cryptarch, Moondancer, should help you with those Engrams you have and Vinyl can get you your heavy weapons. When your done, come see me.” Well, that sounded simple at least. Especially since one of the people that we needed to visit was someone that I had already met before. Though, Ghost had to explain to me what exactly did Flash and Twilight mean by ‘Heavy Weapons’… and as it turns out, it was exactly along the lines of what I thought it would be. They were described as weapons that could be able to do a massive amount of damage in a short amount of time. Right now, there were only two weapons in this category, according to the Vanguard. Rocket Launchers, which would deal a massive amount of damage in a large radius, and Machine Guns, which had high rate of fire and a huge magazine capacity. The only catch with these weapons though was the fact that some of the weapons in these categories, even though they were rather fast to fire, were slow to reload. Leaving you in an uncomfortable situation if you run out of the magazine and you were in a corner with fallen coming at you from all sides. This was something that was also brought up as well when we were talking about it with the Gunsmith. In the end though, we both decided to have a different type of weapon. I chose the rocket launcher, since I already had my auto rifle on hand and didn’t need a machine gun for rapid fire at all. Mac went with the machine gun himself since his main weapons were different when it comes to rate of fire, or how fast we shoot. Lastly, we visited the Cryptarch… who had her equipment set up not so far away from where the vault was as we both went to see her. The Cryptarch, who’s name was Moondancer, was almost similar to Twilight in a sense… but with a few differences. For one thing, despite them both being Awoken, Moondancer kept her hair tied up at the top and seemed… rather surprised at first. Like she wasn’t expecting us. But, when we told her that Twilight told us that she could help us out with the engrams, she was more than happy to help us. “So how many engrams do you have for me to decrypt?” She asked. For that, I turned to Ghost and asked him the same thing. Afterwards, he brought them out for me as I handed them to her. “Well, looks like you got two coded engrams and an encrypted one… Hold on a second and I’ll be able to get out what’s in here.” “Wait…” I asked, sounding puzzled. “What do you mean by that?” “Well, Engrams are encoded physical objects that can be just about anything given the color or the rarity of the one that you happened to find,” Moondancer told me. “By bringing them to me, I can be able to decode them and turn them into equipment that you can use… just like that.” Within seconds, I watched as the multi-sided shapes that I had given her before was transformed into a new set of garments, gloves and a new shotgun that was better than the one I was originally holding onto. “Is there anything else I can help you with, Miss…” “Sunset,” I replied back to her. “And… Mac, did you have anything you needed to do?” “Just one,” he replied, bringing out what looked like a blue colored engram for her to decrypt as that turned out to be a new… I think Ghost called it a ‘Titan Mark’. Note to self, ask Twilight about that later. “And done. Thanks for the help, Ma’am.” “Always a pleasure,” She told us as we proceeded to go back to the Hall of Guardians. “Be safe out there.” Even though the Cryptarch meant that as just as a way to say farewell… I got a feeling that ‘safe’ would not exactly be the kind of word to describe our next mission. Let alone, the Cosmodrome for that matter. But at least we have a better chance of surviving out there now. Yet, as I equipping my new armor pieces, that was when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like another guardian, but a hood covered their head and she had goggles around her neck. Her appearance took on that of a hunter and she was fiddling around with a knife that was in her hands, but was glaring rather intently at me as I looked at her for a moment. Until… “Hey Sunset, you ready to go? What are you staring at?” I turned around, noticing Mac was headed towards the hangar. I was wanting to tell him about that guardian I saw, but by the time I glanced over at where I saw her, she was gone. Disappeared without a trace. Leaving me personally baffled as I turned back around to catch up with Big Mac. I had a feeling though… that I might be seeing her again real soon. And not in a good way. “Alright… we got everything we need… Let’s get going,” Ghost suggested to us. “That Array isn’t going to reconnect itself.” Author's Note Out of the fire and into the frying pan with this one. But it also gives you insight as to who else we will be seeing in future chapters. Enjoy! -Frost
05- The Last ArrayBy the time we touched down in the Cosmodrome again, Ghost was beginning to pick up the whereabouts of the ghosts that belonged to that team of guardians that we were tasked with going into the Skywatch. Even though that team was said to have gone dark, the mission was for us to try and locate the ghosts that belonged to them to find those array codes. But it also meant that we were heading back through that hive breeding ground that we uncovered the first time we were here. Something that I personally wasn’t a fan of… but there wasn’t really any way around it at this point. As we were riding on our sparrows back over there from the Mothyards, we soon began to see how quickly the hive had spread. Their forces were beginning to clash with the fallen as we had to not try and get ourselves caught up in the crossfire. Even though it was very likely that we were going to get pulled into the fighting the longer that we tried to avoid it. Especially when shots from both of them grazed our sparrows and also my armor around my right shoulder. “We’re getting close to the compound again…” I heard Ghost tell both of us as we were approaching the front of the lunar complex. “I’m picking up traces of that fireteam’s ghost on the other side of the complex… Winona, you getting any better readings?” “No, I’m seeing the same thing you are,” Winona stated as Mac and I hopped off our sparrows and had the speeding craft run over a fallen dreg that was by himself outside. “I think the only way that we are going to get a better read on those ghosts is that if we go through the complex… again. And just when I thought having to handle that place once was bad enough.” “Ah hear ya,” Mac groaned as he prepared his Burst Rifle and looked back at me. “But if we were able to handle them once, then we can do it again Winona. Just tell us when ya get a better reading on those Ghosts.” With that, I grabbed my Auto Rifle and readied it before the two of us began to venture through the complex once more. However… instead of being greeted by one particular side, we were both greeted to a turf war that was taking place inside the space that we found that wizard sometime earlier. The Fallen looked to have wanted to take whatever they could find from this place while the Hive were trying to push them out. Instinct kicked in and with it, I threw out a grenade that landed right in the middle between three dregs. Burning them with Solar light and also making them easy targets for Mac to take down with a few bursts from his pulse rifle. There were two vandals in the far back and a few of the Hive Acolytes up front, but I shot down one of the vandals with my Auto Rifle and Mac had the other disintegrate with a fusion rifle blast. As for the acolytes, I took them down using the new shotgun I was able to get from Moondancer. However… when I took down that Fallen just now with my Auto Rifle, it happened to drop something. It didn’t become clear at first… until I got a little bit closer and picked it up. “Guys… you’re not going to believe this… but one of those Fallen had a ghost.” That… had both of our ghosts look in disbelief and even startled Mac as Winona scanned it for a moment. “It’s… dead.” “Could you find out who it belonged to?” I asked, prompting my Ghost to scan it now before he turned to us. “It’s… from that fireteam…” He confirmed for us. “But this one doesn’t have the codes to the Array. It says here that it belonged to someone called ‘Sour Sweet’, a human warlock that was with two others… Hmm…” That lead to Ghost scanning it once more before looking back at us. However… that name… for some reason, it was ringing around inside my head. “Got it! I’m picking up traces of two other ghosts right now close to the exterior of the Skywatch. If we hurry, we can get to them before they end up in fallen hands.” “And like that, we can get the array codes… I’m liking the sound of this already,” Winona replied back before disappearing inside Mac’s equipment as my ghost disappeared too. They also marked where the traces of the ghosts we’re looking for are as we began to find a way out of this maze of a building, while we had to fight through more clashes between both the Fallen and the Hive. “Just a little bit more and then we’ll be out in the Skywatch.” Wait, out in the skywatch? I thought we were already there. “Hang on… what do you mean by that?” “The Skywatch is split between two buildings separated by a huge clearing,” I heard Ghost tell me as we were going through the doors that were torn open on one side of the building. “The signs of the Ghosts that we are getting are showing up in the clearing here, but I don’t know which fallen has them.” “So just fight them until one of them drops something?” I asked. “That’s the only likely thing we can do right now,” Mac then spoke up. This time though, I watched him bring out the Machine Gun that he had recently gotten from the Gunsmith. “At least it allows for us to test out the new Heavy Weapons.” That… definitely got me thinking now and it really tempted me in trying to bring out the rocket launcher I had, but I thought that if I did, it would end up damaging the Ghost’s we were trying to find. Mac though… did not entirely see a problem with that as I soon watched him race over to the largest group of Fallen he could find and begin to mow them down with Heavy Fire. However, that also happened to attract the attention of the Hive… Hunh, I guess I can try out the rocket launcher on them instead, just to be familiar with how to use it- “Found another one,” I heard Winona say again… shortly before adding something else. “Nope. No luck with that one either, even though it belonged to the second member of their fireteam… Well, at least it narrows it down a little. Let’s find that last one and keep going.” It was only a few moments after that though… and after blowing the living crap out of a swarm of hive with my rocket launcher that I saw something amiss. “Mac, behind you!!” I called out, switching to my Auto Rifle to attack a vandal and two dregs that were wanting to get the drop on Mac. The two dregs didn’t really drop anything that would be seen as important. But the last one did… causing a dead ghost to drop as I picked it up and looked back to Mac. “Hey Ghost, is this the one we’re looking for?” I asked him, holding it up so he could scan it properly. It only took him a few seconds in order to analyze it, shortly before giving the two of us some rather positive news. “This one’s got the codes we need to access the array! Let’s get to the other side of the clearing and quickly.” No need to tell us twice, because we were already darting for the other building once Ghost confirmed this was what we were looking for. The doors to the next building were already open and once we were inside, several more fallen began to descend on us from the rafters as we fought them off in an attempt to make it to the control station. According to both Ghost and Winona, it was at this control station in the Skywatch that we could be able to activate these codes and bring the array back online. As long as the Fallen haven’t sabotaged any of the technology in here. We had to shoot a few of them and take them out once we arrived and a few more after reaching the controls. But once we got there, we made sure to clear out the room so Ghost and Winona could be able to do their work. “Okay, running through the codes now…” We first heard Ghost speaking to us, followed by Winona stating their progress. “Shor-resist security lattice verified… Cryptosystem negotiating complete… It’s working!!” Both of us them heard a loud noise from outside as Mac and I ventured out to see what it was. To our surprise, we were beginning to watch the satellite array that Ghost and Winona just activated emerge from the ground and begin to activate. And seeing it, was rather… well, amazing. Because I had not seen anything that was like this before. What was not amazing though… was what came next. We heard something that sounded like a severe grinding noise as Mac and I were looking up to see what looked like a tear in the middle of the sky… before something began to emerge from it. And something… BIG. “Those are Hive Tombships cutting through! Both of you, fend them off! The array is still running through the activation sequence.” “If any of them interfere with the main controls, then that array shuts down!” Winona also told us, just as Mac and I both prepared our weapons and began to shoot at them. One thing I noticed while we were engaging the hive though was that we now could see what type of Hive enemies they were. Those that charged at us were known as Thrall, the ones who tried to shoot at us with the hives own weapons were called Acolytes, the floating ones were wizards and- Wait, since when did the Hive have swords-? “Hive Knight, incoming!!” That immediately had me look back at the hulking knight coming at us as I avoided a downward slash from the Knight’s blade, before trying to shoot it with my shotgun… however, despite firing two shells at him, it did little to harm them before they tried attacking me again. “Oh crap…” Backing up, I was forced to use a solar grenade to not just hurt it, but burn any other hive that came into contact as I raced over to Mac. “We need to kill that Knight quick! I tried shooting it with my shotgun, but I can’t make a dent in it’s armor.” “Alright, but ah don’t got a lot of heavy ammo on me right at the moment,” I heard the titan say to me. “Have you tried your rocket launcher?” I took a second to check my ammo amount… but when I looked at it, what I saw did not give me a lot of hope. “Only have two shots left. If I use both of them on that knight, then I would just be wasting my ammo and not have it when I really would need something.” “Well, mah only suggestion is that you use your primary for right now,” Mac told me as he fired a few rounds from his pulse rifle to kill a few incoming hive thralls and an acolyte as well. “Next time we’re at the tower, we need to grab some Ammo Synthesis.” Now that had me a bit confused… because I was unsure as to what exactly he was talking about. But I just thought that it would be easier for the both of us if I just add that to the ever growing list of things that I would ask Ghost about later. Right now, I needed to fight off these hive that were trying to close in on us and the best way to do that was to use my Auto Rifle. Turning them into ashes with each thrall and acolyte we shot down. Though, despite that, there were still a lot more of them as well as three wizards and two of those knights with the swords charging at us. “Mac… provide me some cover fire.” I told him, switching my Auto Rifle for my rocket launcher as I came out from behind a concrete pillar. The titan himself nodded, using his firepower to focus on the thrall that were trying to come after me so I could focus on the knights. Aiming my rocket launcher at them before firing as that single shot hit the knight directly in the face. One knight down… one more knight, three wizards and every other hive that was here attacking us to go… Wonderful. Let’s just hope that we have enough ammo for our weapons to deal with this horde because running out right now would really be problematic. Though, the more that I was fending them off and the more I kept eliminating each of the hive, some of them happened to drop what looked like colored bricks. Small white ones, medium sized green ones and big purple ones. “Ghost, what the heck are those bricks all over the ground?” It took a few seconds, but soon, Ghost had an answer for me… and what he said was something that let me breath out a sigh of relief. “Those must be ammo blocks. They normally drop from Fallen, but if the Hive are dropping them too, then that can help you two significantly since it can replenish a small amount of ammo for your weapons depending on which one you find. White is Primary, Green is Secondary and Purple is Heavy.” That had Mac and I both look at each other with a surprised look on our faces… before deciding to race out from behind cover and directly get ourselves involved in the fight. As we passed over the ammo blocks, they were transmated into our weapons and the rounds inside each block were added to our reserves. Providing more auto rifle rounds, shotgun shells, and even an extra rocket for my launcher and more firepower for Mac’s MG. Which was a big deal, because now we did not have to worry about running out of ammo while we were fighting off the hive. It even allowed for me to finish off the other Hive Knight with the extra ammunition I picked up and allowed for Mac to shoot down some of the wizards that were annoyingly floating around all over the damn place. We were finally beginning to take the fight back to them, throwing out grenades and pushing them back as we took down their forces one by one. Of course, there was one thing that surprised me when we were dealing the last of the Hive. They were unleashing a massive barrage of bolts at us, but instead of backing up, Mac urged for me in order to get behind him. Just as he threw his hands outward and encased us in a dome that was… well, it looked to have been created by Mac’s light. But… what was this? “Mac, what is this?” “You mean this?” He said, pointing at the dome as he was reloading his machine gun. “This is mah supercharged ability… or super for short. All Guardians have one and it’s charged through combat… As a Defender, mine is called ‘Ward of Dawn’. It’s an impenetrable barrier, but it only lasts for half a minute.” “By impenetrable, you mean?” “They can’t hit us while we’re in here, but we can’t hit them either… Ah say it’s a fair trade off though since it allows for us to ready our weapons again.” Mac told me… and leaving me with one other question. “Do I have something like that too?” “Ah think so, but it varies depending on what kind of guardian you are,” The titan told me as his heavy weapon was finally ready. “Now let’s worry less about that and focus more about taking down the last of these pests.” I couldn’t agree more on that notion as I readied by rocket launcher and also reloaded my auto rifle. As the Ward faded, we began to open fire on the last of the hive that were attacking us. Some trying to hide from behind old crates that the fallen once had here. But it did not suite so well for cover since we were able to either throw a grenade over it or just go around it. Eventually… we took them all down while only maintaining a bit of damage to our armor. But when we heard Ghost and Winona speak to us, it wasn’t to congratulate us at all… but more to show us something that happened after we fended off all of the Hive. “Guys… you are not going to believe what just happened.” “Um… we got an array online and we linked it to… other colonies?” I asked, vaguely trying my best to recall the details of the array itself. “That was what we were trying to do, yes…” Winona replied back. “But guess what… at the last moment, Rasputin took control of it. He’s not letting us in… but from what we can tell, he’s connecting to defense constructs all across the system. Meaning we might have a chance to stand against the darkness now.” “Well, I think Commander Sentry’s going to like the sound of that…” Mac stated as he looked back at me. “Let’s go back and tell them the good news.” Hall of Guardians When we finally got back to the tower, the two of us immediately walked down to where Flash and Twilight were at in order to report in on our progress. However, this time around, that’s when the two of us saw a completely new and different face. One that had a helmet with a broken horn and what looked like a fur mantle on the shoulders. However, unlike with Zavala, we could not exactly see this ones face. “Commander… I’m sorry, but did we come at the wrong time?” I asked, unsure whether or not we were intruding upon a conversation that was already taking progress. “No actually…” I heard Flash tell us in response. “I was telling Lord Thunderlane about your mission to get the array back online… were you successful?” “Well… we did get the array online,” Mac then spoke up before looking at them. “But according to what Winona told us, Rasputin has control over it now.” “Rasputin… and just when I thought all the warminds were destroyed during the collapse,” We now heard Lord Thunderlane speak. “But for the likes of you to stand against the malicious forces of the hive and prevail no less? That definitely shows that you two have talent.” That… made me a little confused. “Um… My apologies, Lord-” “Just call me Thunderlane. No need to be polite.” He insisted, before allowing me to continue speaking. “Sorry…” I said once again, before clearing my throat and beginning to speak. “I’m just confused about what you mean exactly about ‘you two have talent’.” “Well, you don’t fear vanguard operations. So, that same kind of skill can be demonstrated within the Crucible!” We heard him boast. “Tell me, what is your name Warlock?” “My name? It’s Sunset… Sunset Shimmer.” Of course, once I said that though, that was when I heard Thunderlane let out a deep sigh for a moment… Oh this is not going to end well, is it? “I see… One of the competitors in the crucible has been talking about someone like you…” That… had me confused, before looking back at him and asking a question. “Me? What do you mean?” That though, was when we began to hear someone new enter the room as they spoke up rather loudly. And when I turned around, that’s when I saw who it was. It was the same hunter from before… “Oh, I think you know pretty damn well what I’ve been saying… fake.” “Excuse you-?” “One of my friends was on the original mission that they were running for dead orbit, the same one that you happened to pick up on and then claim all the glory from it at the end,” She snarled at me, holding the same knife in her hands. “My friends and I have been guardians for two years… Two years and their light was extinguished by the hive. Do you think that this is some kind of joke to you?” “N-no! What are you even-?” “If you think that you can be seen as a guardian in my eyes after all of this, then you are wrong… You have no strength… you’re just lucky to be in the right place at the right time and you don’t care about the sacrifices other guardians made.” The huntress snapped at me, before she removed her hood. Her azure hair smoothed backwards as she glared directly at me now. I could only say one thing to her then though… whoever this person was. “You’re wrong… I can fight. It has gotten me this far and I am still alive because of it… I did not do anything to invoke such accusations from you… but if you will provide me the chance to prove it to you, then I surely will.” Yet… all that did was cause a rather menacing grin to form on the hunter’s face as she looked directly back at me. Bolts of electricity surging around her right hand and also around the blade she was carrying. “Hmph… Very well then. My name is Indigo Zapp… and I challenge you to prove yourself and your so called strength in the Crucible!!” Author's Note And with that, this chapter ends... and now, we introduce who that mysterious hunter is. Indigo Zapp. Unlike that of Sunset Shimmer and Big Mac, Indigo Zapp is a hunter of the BladeDancer subclass and before the incident with the Last Array, she was friends with another guardian named Sour Sweet. However, when Sour Sweet was killed as part of the fireteam that was originally going for the Array, she see's Mac and Sunset's accomplishments as not a sign of strength and triumph, but more of sheer luck. So, believing that she would not last in a fight against other Guardians that have proven their strength time and time again, Indigo challenges Sunset to a match in the Crucible to prove herself. Game Mode: Rumble Map: ??? "The enemy is everywhere... Prove your merit through pure combat. Kill everything, but watch your back." I hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to what else I have in store coming soon. -Frost
06- RumbleOkay… Back when I was alive, when some random person shouts at you and challenges you to a fight in public, there could only be two possible implications as to what was about to happen. One, you either pissed them off to a certain degree and they actually want to fight you… or two, it just ends up turning into a duel like the shows that were on tv about how disputes were solved through a children’s card game. Of course, that might have been a long time ago, but what was going on right now really made me recall those old memories. And not in a good way. Because Indigo right now… was asking me to fight her. Not here though… In the Crucible. Something that I didn’t even know about until a short while ago. Even still, the hunter really looked eager to fight me. However, the real implications began when Lord Thunderlane went on about how fighting in the Crucible builds character, and multiple battles would strengthen my resolve overall… but I was more focused on Indigo in that moment. “You want me to fight you? Surely, there’s more of a reason to it than just that.” “Well, I want to prove that you are nothing but a fake… because someone like you cannot seriously last in a full on battle in the crucible,” Indigo grinned. Putting her knife away as I noticed that she had a revolver on her left hip. “Unless of course… you aren’t up for the challenge?” “I never said that I was going to say no…” I told her, before folding my arms and asking her a question. “Well then… Let’s make things even more interesting,” Indigo told me. “You, me, four other guardians… Rumble. It will be an all out free for all where the goal is to see who comes out on top. I bet you that you will not last in that kind of contest. Because if you lose… well, I’ll make you look like the most pathetic guardian on the Vanguard roster.” I waited for a pause… before issuing my reply. “And what happens when you lose?” “Pfft… Like I’ll ever lose to a faker like you-.” “Ladies, ladies,” We both now heard Lord Thunderlane interject, preventing Indigo from trying to get directly in my face. “I know you two are eager to go at each other's throats, but save that energy for the Crucible. Take some time to prepare yourselves while I round up a few more guardians that will serve as your opponents. Once we have everyone, I will inform you when the match will begin.” Yet, all that did was have Indigo smirk at me with a devilish grin before walking off, leaving me with Mac, Twilight, Flash and Lord Thunderlane. Everything was silent for a few moments as I was still trying to process things. Only for that silence to be broken by Winona. “Well… that happened.” Mac, in response to his ghost, just groaned for a moment, before looking to me. “Sunset, are you sure that this is a good idea… I know that your strong, but-” “But what?” I asked, folding my arms as I looked back at him. “I’m not going to stand idly by and have Indigo try to undermine what I’m doing for the Vanguard, Mac.” “Ah get that, but the Crucible has a very different set of rules…” He then told her. “For one thing, if she wants you to compete in what I think she wants you too, then no one can be able to help ya out.” Hold up… what does he mean by that? I thought that the Crucible was something of a team based thing. “Maybe I should help clarify things since I will be overseeing the match later,” I now heard Lord Thunderlane interject, looking directly towards me in the process. “Indigo wants to face you in the Crucible during a free-for-all battle exercise called ‘Rumble’. It’s a free for all duel where the goal is to gain points by taking down as many opponents as possible, but also watch your back for those who want to take you down as well because any other guardian you encounter in a Rumble is your enemy.” “So wait… how exactly are you supposed to win then if everyone is gunning for you?” I asked, a bit puzzled. “Simple. Survive as much as you can and defeat other guardians. Each time you defeat one, you gain points and different ways of taking down guardians grants you more points,” The crucible handler clarified to me. “Whoever has the most points at the end of a ten minute match will be declared as the winner… yet, I’d advise you be careful when facing her… Bladedancers are really hard to defeat in the Crucible. Especially with the proper equipment.” Shortly afterwards, Lord Thunderlane excused himself so that he could be able to make the proper preparations while I noticed Mac talking with Flash Sentry at the other end of the hall, leaving me to talk with Twilight. I did want to make sure I got the chance to talk to her. After all, Mac did mention something on our last mission that I think would be essentially important for this. “Hey Twilight, can I ask you about something real quickly?” “If it’s about advice regarding the Crucible, then I can’t help you,” Twilight immediately told me straight out the gate. “Thunderlane doesn’t want Flash, Rainbow or I to be trying to give you any sort of help or items that would cause the match to be unfair to other guardians-” “Sure… but that was not what I was wanting to ask you,” I sighed, before placing my left arm on my hip and extending my right hand. Letting some of my light take form into a small flame before looking back at her. “On my last mission, Mac pulled off something that he called a ‘Super’ ability… and it was something that he said varies by class… Could it be possible for you to teach me how to use that?” “Oh that? That… might actually be simple,” She replied back, her tone changing now. “Sunsingers like yourself have the super ability called ‘Radiance’, which can serve a few purposes depending on how you use it and when you do… Do you remember all the way back to the friendship games? When you had to face… well…” Oh right… Midnight Sparkle… God, it’s been so long that I almost forgot about that. Though, I’m a little confused as to how that ties into this conversation right now. “Yeah, I still remember that… though, how does-” “Well, how you used your magic back then to face me is kind of similar to how a Sunsinger uses their Radiance,” She explained, before grabbing a datapad and pulling up what looked like a video of a Sunsinger fighting some fallen. But at one moment in the battle, the Sunsinger released a massive amount of its power as what looked like small wings of fire were seen behind it. “When a Sunsinger goes into this state, their grenades and other abilities are powered up and the cooldown time in order to use them is reduced. And there are more things that a super can do than just their super with the right training.” “Oh really? How so?” I asked for inquiry as Twilight changed what was on the data pad again. “For a guardian, there are four standard abilities that are seen in each subclass whether you are a Warlock, Titan or Hunter,” She explained, holding up four fingers and counting them off for me. “First, there’s your grenades. Second, there’s your movement skill, whether it’s gliding in the air for a warlock, lifting yourself up in place like a titan or just jumping more than once as a hunter. Third is your super… and the forth one is your melee. When someone gets too close for comfort and you don’t have time to use your grenades.” That was followed by Twilight projecting a demonstration on the screen. Three warlocks were shown and each one of them threw out what looked like a similar kind of grenade. Yet, each one of them did something different upon detonation. The first one created a small vortex upon detonation, the second one split off and scattered into smaller grenades that explode on contact, and the third one split into a pair of seeking bolts that blew up an opponent once they made contact. Of course, it was after seeing this did Twilight begin to explain what I was seeing. “But for each of those four abilities, there are three modifiers to them that you unlock through experience and by participating in more battles, whether it’s vanguard operations or through the Crucible.” That… was a bit confusing to understand at first, but I think I was able to understand everything. “So I… have all four of those abilities, but only the first modifier for them?” “Well, yes, but it’s more than just active abilities that a guardian has. Though, you probably only need to understand those four basic abilities for right now,” The warlock explained to me. “We can discuss about the others after your match.” Okay, so when I originally heard Lord Thunderlane excuse himself earlier to make preparations, I thought that the wait time would end up being a lot longer that what I thought it turned out to be. What I believed was to be a twenty minute wait… turned into a five minute one. And when I was informed about it, he even went as far as to make sure to choose an arena that was on Earth and not somewhere that was off world. Of course, it was as things were about ready for us to compete that I received a message on my Ghost from the crucible handler as he began to explain more about the rules of the exercise that was going on in the Crucible… as well as tell us where we were going. The rumble match I was going to participate in was in a section of the Cosmodrome called ‘The Rusted Lands’. Which looked like it had been once previously been inhabited by both the fallen and the hive. Not to mention that it also contained a short list of those who would be participating in the match. I couldn’t catch all the names, but to summarize, one was an awoken warlock who I previously bumped into at the tower on accident, another one was a titan who’s first name was ‘Copper’, there was a Hunter who was known as Emerald Edge and lastly, another titan that was known as Noble Arms. So in total, there were two Warlocks, Two hunters, and Two titans that were all taking part in this match. And five more things to watch out for to the point that I might drive myself insane with being overly cautious. Fantastic. “Arriving at the Rusted Lands…” Ghost told me, just as I was landing around what looked like the edge of the battlefield. “I’ll let Thunderlane take over from here.” “Wait, I thought he watches over the battles…” “He also commentates. Just… don’t worry about it.” That… is going to be tricky. Because concentration does not normally involve someone shouting in your ear through the course of ten minutes. “Okay… anything else I should know? Like how do they keep track of score?” I asked him. “Just pay attention to the bottom right corner of your helmet-” Ghost told me, just before his voice was blocked out by the sound of the crucible handler speaking up. “Rumble.” Was the first thing I heard, before I noticed the timer on the bottom right of my vision begin to tick down. “The enemy is everywhere… Leave none standing!” And like that, I was off to the races, making sure I was careful of my surroundings and checking my radar. My current loadout consisted of the Auto Rifle I was using, my shotgun for in case anyone got too close to me and my rocket launcher. Though, right now I was just holding onto my primary weapon and making sure that I wasn’t going to end up getting flanked by someone hiding in a corner. However, just a few seconds into the match, my bottom left corner pointed out that Indigo herself had already taken down one of the other guardians and was now leading. “They’ve taken the lead. You can turn this tide!” My mind was now focused on trying to get more of the points needed to catch up. Luckily, to my right, I could see two other guardians fighting each other. The titan named Copper and the Hunter, Emerald Edge. I wanted to try and find a way to take down both of them, but the Hunter already took down the titan by throwing what looked like a set of bouncing grenades. Causing me to back up so that I don’t get hit before opening fire to take her down. Indigo though… was still in the lead. And the more that I tried to find opponents to take down and gain points, the more that she was defeating other guardians and getting a higher lead. It was almost like that for the first minute or so of the match, where she had taken the lead and I was in second place. Though, as I was beginning to learn early on in the match… Scoring points is one thing, but how you defeat an opponent can add extra points to your score. It was possibly the reason why Indigo had jumped high enough on the scoreboard right-. FWOOSH!! Oh crap, something’s behind me! “There you are!!” Oh no… not now. As I turned around, I had seconds to react as Indigo tried to stab me with one of her knives. Barely missing me as I tried hitting her with a palm of solar energy to create some distance before opening fire. Yet, just as two of my shots hit her… she threw a grenade that bounced off the surface and sent lightning everywhere. Causing me to duck for cover. Of course, being reckless as she was, Indigo went charging after me. And it was just as I turned the corner that I switched to my shotgun. So, when she turned the corner, it was right in close range of my weapon and all I had to do was pull the trigger. “Son of a-!” BANG!! Upon shooting her and taking her down, my score got boosted up to where it was only a few points short of where Indigo was too. But it was also that I noticed something… after getting the points for taking her down, it also mentioned that I was on some kind of… streak? I remembered taking down another guardian earlier… so are they keeping track of my kill count-? Oww! Who just-? Nevermind that, I need to run. Now! This is the worst time to forget that there were four other Guardians trying to go after me right now-. BANG! Guardian Down… Respawning in 3… 2… 1… Only a few seconds after getting shot down, I felt myself land right back on my feet again. Back into the hectic fray that was the match as I found myself coming across another small firefight breaking out between another pair of guardians. Peeking through a hole in a brick wall to take aim at the warlock that just took down a titan. I fired a few rounds before he tried to fight back, leading me to jump out from behind cover and throw a grenade. One that had just recently been recharged as they exploded in a plume of flames. After that short clash though, my radar began to flare red of someone behind me and closing in fast. I turned around, just as a shot from a hand cannon grazed my helmet and looked directly at the second hunter that was in this fight Emerald Edge. I looked back at her, waiting for a chance to fire… and that happened when she found herself having to reload at the worst possible time. Providing me the chance to take her down. “Double Down. Gained the lead!” Wait, what? I’m leading now? How… Oh wait, now I see it. I’m two kills ahead of Indigo and… you know what, I’m going to focus less on the details and more on the match right now. Besides, we’re two minutes in and right now, we’re all going at each other's throats in order to see who will win. I need to not think about the small details and focus more on the battle right now. Especially since I could see on the scorecard that Indigo was trying to make a comeback. Running through the empty ruins and into a tunnel, I found an ammo box that was able to replenish some of the ammo I already used. Shortly before that Copper Titan tried to blast me with a fusion rifle around the same time I used my Auto Rifle to shoot him directly in the head. Taking him down before even getting a second shot off. But… despite this… “Lost the lead.” I looked back at the score tracker on the right hand side, seeing that Indigo had jumped back up and was ahead of me by one kill. But then, as it was now three minutes into the match, I heard something else. “Heavy Ammo Inbound.” With that, I now noticed a purple marker on my scanner and began to head towards it. There was also a timer on that marker as well, showing that something was coming to that location within ten seconds. And right away, I could tell that some of the other guardians were fighting over what was there. Hmm… this is something I can use to my advantage. Of course, everyone else was really overdoing themselves. The warlock from before unleashed some kind of huge void blast that took down one of the titans, but then Indigo charged into the fray. Lighting churning around her as she was slashing some other guardians to pieces… before turning her attention to me. “Payback time!!” Of course, around that time was when I got a notification on my visor. One that said ‘Supercharge ready’. In an instant, I activated it as my whole body became wrapped around a set of warm cleansing fire as I backed up from Indigo and threw one of my grenades. Something she did not see in her rush to get to me as her blade struck the grenade. Causing it to detonate and throw her into a wall. “Heavy Ammo available.” The crate for the heavy ammo soon arrived and thankfully, I was able to acquire it before any other guardians happened to show up. My ammo count for my Rocket Launcher was now at two shots, one in the magazine and one in reserve. But I decided to not use the ammunition immediately and instead wait for the right moment to use it effectively. One perfect opportunity came close to the six minute mark. Where there were three guardians in the same area as I was jumping off of a ledge from a building and floating over them. Bringing out my rocket launcher, I fired off a shot that took down two of the guardians in the vicinity and then ignited the third one into flames with my Scorch attack. “Yes! Three down! Gained the Lead!” Geez… and I thought that handlers of something like this were not supposed to pick favorites. Either that or he’s just really passionate. Still, we were nowhere close to being done and there was still time for Indigo to try and take my spot again. Meaning that this time, I had to do everything that I could to stay in the lead. Aiming my shots carefully and having to make sure that I don’t accidentally use up any of my abilities without having them hit anyone (Like throwing a grenade around a corner, only for no one to be there). Of course, one of the thing that did not make this easy was that both of the Hunters, Indigo and Emerald, were the ones using Sniper Rifles in their secondary slot. And Emerald was the one that shot me down the last time before I respawned. So now, I was being extra careful of those who can easily snipe me while hiding behind cover while fighting off those who attempted to get me at close range. “Five minutes remaining…” Alright. Halfway through… now to survive through the remaining amount of time left- BANG! Aw crap, not this again! Why is it when I am getting a chance to catch of breath that a sniper tries to pin me down. Thankfully, my shield took most of the hit, but if I take another one of those shots again, then we’re going to have problems. Yet… from my position, I was able to look at the cracked reflection on a window and see who was the sniper. And just as I thought, it was Indigo. She must’ve gotten up to a higher perch in order to have a clear line of sight over the field. But she must be looking for all other potential targets as well if she was wanting to get her score up. And just as it so happens… I still had one more rocket left. As for Indigo, her attention was turned less towards me and towards another guardian on a different point of the map. Allowing for me to get a clear shot at her before she realizes what I am doing. Now… if only I can just aim this correctly and- FWOOSH! BOOM!! “Fantastic work!” Was what I heard Thunderlane declare out loud as the rocket made impact with the hunter and sent her falling off of the pillar she was camping out at. Even though it felt good to not have her try to pick me off, the downside was that I did not have any rockets left. That and I still needed to make sure that no one else- SHANK! Guardian Down… Respawning in 3… 2… 1… Okay, who the hell just decides to throw a knife into the back of my head?! I mean… seriously?! Nevermind that… Come on, I need to refocus. Upon respawning again, I found a special ammo box and cracked it open. Restocking on my ammo again and making sure both of my weapons had enough ammo in each one. Because I had a feeling that the less time there was in the match, the fiercer that the battles were going to be. We only had like… closer to three minutes left I think. And another Heavy Ammo crate was on the way. Only question now though… was where can I find it? The marker for it was not showing up for it like the last one. Only leading me to think that I was nowhere near where the drop point would be for it. My mind was beginning to race. Especially since the thought of Indigo getting her hands on it was not something that I wanted to think of right now. And unfortunately… I was not able to get it this time. Instead, the Titan named Noble Arms got it for his machine gun and was beginning to tear through the other guardians like paper. Until a rocket came flying towards him and blew him up, leading me to turn around and had me look back at the one thing that I did not want to see. Indigo… with a rocket launcher aimed directly at me. And she just squeezed the trigger. “Got you now!” “Crap-!” I cursed, getting caught in the blast from the rocket launcher and being thrown back a few feet. Honestly, I was surprised that a rocket blast like that did not kill me. Though, I should probably be a bit more focused on Indigo- BANG! Without warning, Indigo was blindsided. Attacked by the other Warlock that was in this fight as my super was fully charged again. Using the scuffle between both of them to my advantage, I activated Radiance again and threw a grenade in between the two of them. Catching both of them in the explosion as the warlock fell down and was caught in my grenade. As for Indigo, I smacked her straight in the face with my Scorch ability and had her disintegrate. It was a close call, but I was glad for the timing there. “One minute remaining…” Alright. We’re in the endgame now. And I’m still in the lead… No time to slack off though. I’m just only ahead by a few points and Indigo could try to catch up at any moment. Watching my radar, I continued to move around and find a way to further increase my score, but also try to remain out of sight so I don’t get picked off by anyone else, whether it’s by a guardian with a scout rifle or one with a sniper rifle. Which seemed like a good plan in theory. "Thirty seconds!" That was, until I began to hear electricity crackle and watch as Indigo herself was going on a rampage while her Super was active. Making short work of both titans and the other Warlock… before turning her gaze to me. “I… will not… LOSE TO YOU!!!” “Ten seconds!!” Immediately, I jumped over to my left to dodge an incoming attack while trying to back up. Getting my shotgun out as I tried to blast her at close range. However, she was too quick and dodged my attacks with ease, getting to the point where her blade was just mere inches to my neck. But then… I heard something else as the time for the match ran out. “Hard fought victory, guardian. You deserve it.” Tower (Shortly afterwards…) “That… was amazing, Sunset!” I heard Twilight tell me as I came back to the Hall of Guardians shortly after my Crucible Match was over. Twilight, Flash and Mac were the only ones there waiting for me to return, but it was the voidwalker who took the chance to speak up and congratulate me on my success. “Are you sure that was supposed to be your first match? Because you looked like a veteran of the Crucible out there.” “I’m sure that was my first time, Twilight… and I felt like I was going crazy given how everyone else in that match was also trying to kill me.” I sighed. “That and when I was taken down… twice.” “Yeah, that did come from out of nowhere,” Twilight told me. “The first time around, the titan called Noble Arms used a scout rifle to take you down then. While the second time was when the Hunter named Emerald Edge threw a knife at you.” “They can actually do that?” I asked, a little puzzled by what she said. “If they are a Gunslinger, they can. If you’re a bladedancer like Indigo, you keep your blade next to you at all times because it’s part of your survival kit,” Ghost said, while turning to look towards the entrance to the hall, causing me to turn around too. “Speaking of which…” Right… the wager. I almost forgot about that. Because personally, I would’ve thought that Indigo would go out of her way to try and undermine my win. Especially since she specifically told me earlier that she wouldn’t lose to someone like me. But as I watched her enter the room, the hunter looked to have a rather… defiant look on her face. Something that makes it look like she thought of this as just a minor setback. In fact, she didn’t look to really be affected by what happened, even though losing seemed to be a bit of a big dent on her pride. But yet, there was still one thing that seemed to be on her mind as she let out a deep breath. “Well… I almost had you at the end… but a loss is a loss…” She groaned, holding her head down. Almost as if she was too embarrassed by her defeat. “Do what you want…” “Uh… excuse me?” I asked her, now confused by what she was telling me. “If this is part of the whole ‘prediction’ that you were making earlier… then you never exactly told me what would happen if you lost.” That… had Indigo a bit surprised, before facepalming herself. “It was supposed to go both ways… meaning that if I lost, you would do whatever you want to humiliate me.” All I could do was laugh for a moment before looking back at her. “Humiliate you? Why would I do something like that? Besides, isn’t me surviving in the Crucible enough proof that I can be seen as an actual guardian by you?” The bladedancer herself was silent as I looked back at her. The next thing that I said though… caught everyone’s attention. Including Mac, who was just entering the room after talking with Flash. “If anything… I would like for you to join our fireteam instead of embarrass you.” “What-?” “Sunset, are you serious?” Mac now spoke up, a little surprised by that. “Why not? I think from seeing her fight, those skills will prove rather useful in the field, especially with how unpredictable she can be,” I assured him, before looking back to Indigo. “So… what do you say?” It took Indigo a little bit in order to think it over, shortly before giving a response. “Eh… okay I guess. I mean, I like the Crucible… but with all the matches that I have been participating in, it’s been getting kind of repetitive.” “Repetitive!!?!” We all heard Thunderlane shout from the area closest to the hall of guardians as Twilight looked back at all of us. “That… probably isn’t quite the best choice of words to say around him…” The warlock told us. “Though, with the three of you being a full fireteam now, we need to give you a name. That way your team can be able to be deployed on Strike Missions.” “Strike missions?” I asked, shortly before Ghost soon appeared next to me. “They are assignments that are normally assigned to full fireteams and take on the most strongest of tasks that the city needs to do. For example, raiding a Fallen stronghold.” “Exactly. So, what would like to name it Sunset?” She asked, before looking to me. And then… only one possible name emerged in my head. “Harmony… We’ll be Fireteam Harmony.” It took Twilight a few minutes to move her finger on the datapad she was using, before she looked back at me after pressing a few buttons. Just as I noticed Flash enter the room. “Congratulations. Fireteam Harmony is on the roster now-” “And at the right possible time,” We all heard Flash speak up, before looking towards us. “I just got an unsettling report from some of Rainbow’s scouts about Fallen activity in the Cosmodrome. They’ve located the lair of the House of Devils, which is in the ruins of an old colony ship as well as the High Servitor that they call their god. What’s more unsettling though… is that they found the place because the fallen were transporting civilians that they have kidnapped from the city.” “Why would they kidnap civilians? That doesn’t sound like the fallen-” Indigo asked, before realizing something. “No… you don’t mean…” All Flash did was nod in that instance, causing me to look at our new fireteam member with a puzzled look on my face. “What? What’s wrong?” Indigo then turned back towards both Mac and I now as she continued to speak. “If they kidnapped civilians, that means that those fallen are going to try and sacrifice them to their machine god. Meaning… that if we are going to do this, then we need to hurry and stop them before any of those civilians become potential victims.” “Indigo’s right… and that’s why I think you three are the best for this,” Flash told us as he looked back at us. “Fireteam Harmony, your mission is simple… Infiltrate the Devil’s lair, find this machine god and send it screaming back to hell. Now get out there!” Author's Note "They can't win if they're dead!! Hahaha!" -Lord Shaxx, Destiny 2 The match is over... and Sunset is barely able to come out on top. But her strength in the crucible has now proved to others that she is a guardian... and with it, she now has a full fireteam. But the real question now... is if her team can be able to take on their first strike... with the stakes of this operation being severely high? And can they survive... The Devil's Lair? Thanks for the support so far. Two of these guardians in this are based off of some of the readers of this story, while Emerald Edge is based on the protagonist of the story known as Age of Kings. Noble Arms is a guardian I came up with based off an archtype of cards in Yu-Gi-Oh that work alongside Noble Knights (That are based on the knights of the round table) Hope you enjoyed this chapter so far and keep up the support! -Frost
07- Strike: The Devil's LairBy the time that we were briefed on the situation going on and the strike mission that Flash was having us undertake, we were already setting foot in the area outside of a place known as the Refinery. From what Ghost briefly told me, this used to be an old Cosmodrome mining facility that was now occupied by the Fallen. But upon touching down, the three of us could immediately tell that the Fallen were currently in a territorial turf war with the Hive that stretched out all the way to where the supposed entrance to the Devil’s Lair was. Meaning that our first task was to navigate and fight our way through this crossfire of a mess before we can be able to set one foot inside. Which, sounds easy at first… but when you are trying to go through a battlefield where both sides in a fight hate you more that hate each other? Well, it leads to them wanting to focus specifically on you first and hold off on killing each other right away. And that was something we were coming across right now. Indigo herself, was personally enjoying fighting through both the Fallen and the Hive. Wasting no time in trying to take them down. Aiming her hand cannon directly at anything that moved before firing a few shots and when she needed to reload, she switched to a sniper rifle instead. Waiting til things have settled down first before she took the chance to reload. Mac and I personally stuck with the weapon loadouts that we have been using for a while now in order to fight them as we continued to proceed and watch each other’s backs. Eventually though… we made it inside and up the stairwell as we found ourselves in some tight corridors with some more Fallen trying to hide behind broken crates and concrete pillars. Nothing that a grenade couldn’t solve though if you threw it in the right place… and in the case of Indigo, since her grenade could be able to bounce like a rubber ball, it was able to skip over some of the objects the fallen were using for cover before detonating and taking down the fallen that were there. That and upon originally touching down on the ground, it split up into five projectiles that began to seek out three of the dregs in the corridor and a vandal in the back corner. Yet, as we stepped out into an area that looked to have Fallen items everywhere aside from a tunnel that really looked to have belonged to the Hive, we soon realized that the way forward was blocked off by a laser gate that was set up by the Fallen. “Just great… now how are we going to get to those captives now?” Big Mac groaned, sounding rather frustrated by what was happening. “There’s a shield generator that the Fallen set up… perhaps it’s connected to the laser wires?” I heard Winona speak up now. But before any of us could do anything, we soon noticed Indigo… actually call out her ghost and look back at us. “If that’s the case, a ghost can probably disable it.” She said, before looking back at her Ghost. Who’s shell was white with some blue close to the middle and around the edges and was actually round like instead of my ghost or Winona. “Alright Sparky, it’s showtime.” Yet, when we expected to hear a voice from the ghost, we instead heard a few beeps and gestures from the ghost before it got to work on the shield generator. Which… surprised all of us. Especially me. “Um… Indigo? About your Ghost…” Of course, she personally took a deep breath before looking back at both of us. “If you were going to ask about my Ghost, the fact is that he can’t speak… upon my resurrection, a fallen dreg’s shock pistol hit him and damaged his vocal modulator. Meaning the only way he can speak to me is through gestures and messages he sends through my helmet. Right now though, he says that he can handle the door… but we should be prepared for a fight.” That had me look back at Mac and Winona, before my Ghost decided to speak up. “Why’s that?” “He says that the encryption is in layers… and once he starts, an alarm will trigger and cause the Fallen to swarm in on our location. Hope you two are ready for a fight because we need to cover him until he’s done.” The hunter told us as she had her revolver in her right hand and her knife in her left. For me, I turned to Mac as I made sure that my shotgun was locked and loaded before looking back towards Indigo. “We’re ready.” “Alright, get started Sparky.” We heard a confirmation beep from Indigo’s ghost as it began to try and hack the Fallen’s Shield Generator. Only a few moments after the Ghost started though was when we started to hear alarms. Prompting for multiple dregs, vandals and shanks to not only swarm in from in front of us, but also from behind in attempts to try and go after Indigo’s ghost directly. Leading me to step in and unloading a few shells into the dregs to prevent them from even landing a claw on the ghost. A few moments later though, we heard a few more beeps coming from Sparky as I turned back around. “Indigo, what is he saying?” That was when the Hunter turned around and… shot at a fallen that was right behind me first, before explaining what her Ghost said. “He’s got the first layer of the shield down, but the fallen are getting desperate. They’re sending in exploder shanks to try and stop us.” Now that was something I was unfamiliar with. “Exploder shanks?” “You know… Shanks strapped with explosives? The fallen send them in to have them try and get close to us before-” Indigo spoke up, before turning around and shooting a glowing shank that, upon being destroyed, also blew up two other normal shanks that were right behind. “-before that happens. Let’s just leave it at that.” Alright, point taken. And just as soon as she explained that to me, two more dregs soon tried to flank us from behind with an exploder shank not far behind them. Prompting me to throw out a grenade that landed on the shank, making it explode and incinerating the other two dregs in the process. As for Mac and Indigo, both to them were taking down the numerous fallen that were coming into the room. Most importantly, Indigo was focusing her efforts on the Fallen Vandals that were trying to pin us down while Mac was getting up close and personal with the fallen dregs and shanks that were charging at us. It only took a few more seconds until we heard some more beeps from Indigo’s ghost as we looked towards her and waited for her to translate what her Ghost was saying. “Sparky’s got the second layer down. But now we got both Fallen and Hive coming at us now. That and we got a Fallen Baron heading this way.” That… did not sound good. “A baron?! Those guys are higher in rank than fallen captains. Only second to Archons…” We now heard Winona speak up now. “I don’t think that would be trouble for us,” I heard Ghost speak as we continued to fight off both the Fallen and Hive that were pouring into the room. “We did kill an archon before-” “Woah woah woah… you two actually killed an Archon?” I heard a rather surprised Indigo ask us while we were still in the middle of the ongoing firefight. “Perhaps we should talk about that later…” Ghost advised us, just as I felt something big crash down behind me. “That Baron’s here… and he’s trying to flank us!” “Not on my watch, you won’t!” Indigo boldly declared. As soon as I turned to look at her, she had arc energy pulsing all around her as she held onto a knife firmly before dashing towards the baron. Depleting it’s shield with a single swing of the knife before proceeding to attack it with a flurry of slashes. It was the exact same thing that I saw her do in the crucible… so this lead for me to think that must’ve been what her Super Ability was. Mac himself, seeing how she was focused on that, activated his Ward of Dawn around the shield generator that we were defending and provide Indigo for a place to retreat to when her super ability had been depleted. “Thanks, big guy. I appreciate it,” She said, reloading her weapons while Mac still tried to maintain the dome for us as it was blocking incoming enemy fire. Now it was my turn to do something as I brought out my rocket launcher and stepped out of the barrier. Squeezing the trigger as I aimed my first blast towards the massive amount of hive and thrall that were all together in the same place. I still had two more, but I needed to think about where to place them. Because not only did the Hive have a pair of wizards trying to bombard us with energy volleys, but we still had that Baron that we needed to take out. Even though Indigo’s attacks earlier wounded it and took away a lot of its health, it did not kill it. “Mac, do you still have ammo for your heavy?” “Ya, ah do.” He replied back. “Alright. Can you focus your fire on taking out that wizard?” I asked him, hiding behind a concrete barrier as I began to reload my rocket launcher. I didn’t even need to explain to him why because after the ward was down, he began to offload a storm of machine gun rounds into the hive wizard that was there and also the thrall and dregs that were both trying to attack him at the same time. Which, allowed for Indigo and I to focus on the Baron. However, just as I was about to fire off another round from my rocket launcher, the Hunter spoke up and said something to me. “Save your rockets! There’s another way to take this guy down.” “There is?” I asked, shortly before noticing that the shield on the Baron was back up now. “My grenades can disable that shield in a heartbeat. Once it’s down, take your rifle and fire at it’s head. Baron’s are a lot like captains and because of that, they have similar weak points… Trust me, I’ve fought captains before and this guy’s no different.” She told me, switching her hand cannon for her sniper rifle as she tossed her grenade. Disabling the shield and causing the shield to stagger. “Now! Hit him with everything you got!” Doing what she said, I aimed at the Baron’s head and began to open fire with my auto rifle while Indigo fired off shots from her sniper rifle. After a bit, Mac himself soon joined in and used his machine gun to help wear down the baron and effectively take him down. But we weren’t exactly done yet because we needed to get rid of everything else in the room. Which really didn’t consist of much considering the fact that the only enemies that were left in here were a few of the hive Acolytes that were still around, even though we did finish off the rest of them. Though, around now was when we heard a few beeps from Indigo’s ghost again, shortly before disappearing. “Good news. Sparky got the shield down and we can move on.” “Great job,” I heard Winona compliment Sparky in response. “Now we can get going and try to reach those Devil’s before they try harming anyone else. Especially those captives from the city.” “Right…” I heard Big Mac say for a moment as he went off ahead without looking back… leaving Indigo to stop for a moment and look at me. “Um… not to sound rude, but what’s up with him?” Indigo then asked. “He’s been… well… acting different since we took on this mission.” “You’ve only been on one mission with us.” Ghost pointed out. “Yes, but I have seen him interact with you and the tower’s shipwright long enough to know that something doesn’t seem right,” She stated, before looking back to us now. “So, could you fill me in on what’s going on?” Well… given what she said, there was really no use of hiding it at this point. “Mac told me that sometime ago, his youngest sister, Applebloom, was kidnapped by the House of Devils and he’s been on an endless search to try and make sure she was rescued before they could do any harm to her. When we took down that Archon I mentioned earlier, he thought that his sister was among a series of goods that they were transporting. Unfortunately though, we were not able to find her.” That… had surprised the hunter, before looking at me. “So wait… if that’s the case… then what Commander Sentry said about the hostages from the city…” I nodded my head at that. “Yes… I don’t know the full story about his sister, but what I can say is that whatever the case is, it’s his motivation to stop them before anything bad can happen to him.” Shortly after I said that though, we turned to the end of the corridor to notice Mac trying to call out to us. Like he wanted for us to see something that he found. Then, Winona spoke up as both Indigo and I raced on over to catch up with him. “Guys… I got good news and bad news… which would you like to hear first?” “What’s the good news?” I asked, just as Winona came out to speak to us directly. “Well… the entrance to the Devil’s lair itself is on the other side of this Battlefield. The map’s calling it ‘The Blast’ and it’s crawling with Devils everywhere.” Okay… that sounded more like a mixture of both good and bad. But if that’s the case… “What’s the bad news then-?” BOOM!! “That’s the bad news…” Wait… is that a freaking spider tank?! How the hell are we suppose to destroy something like that!? “Oh brilliant… a Devil Walker. That’s the last thing I want to deal with before fighting a servitor,” Hold on… Indigo has fought them before? “And just when I think that having one pop up in the middle of the Cosmodrome while on patrol is painful enough.” “Have any advice for taking it down?” Big Mac asked. “It’s got heavy armor around its body, but its weak points are the legs,” She explained to us while pointing at them. “Enough firepower, whether it’s bullets or explosives, can cause the walker to be immobile if you rip the plating off of them. When it’s been damaged enough, the front hull of the walker exposes the core engine that’s under the head… My advice? When the engine is exposed, use rockets. Some of the rocket launchers that the vanguard and the gunsmith have been issuing out to guardians were made to counter them.” “What about the legs? Aren’t they considered vulnerable too?” I asked her. “Only while they still have the plating on. If you try to harm a leg that doesn’t have any plating on, it just does less damage to the walker. Plus, the only times that you can be able to stagger a walker is when you shoot the plating off.” The Hunter clarified for me, before looking at the two of us. “Any other questions?” “Yeah, what other things should we keep in mind, besides the cannon on the hull?” Big Mac pointed out now as we both looked at it. Once again, Indigo had another answer for us. “Well, now that you mention it, there are three things that come to mind,” She explained to us. “First, it can deploy shanks to attack us or draw us out from behind cover. Second, it can drop shock mines if we stay in one particular place for too long. And lastly, when it’s covering the core engine, it will emit a huge electrical pulse meant at pushing us backward… The one big flaw though is that it only has enough firepower to keep an eye on one guardian at a time.” That… soon gave one of us… or more specifically, one of our ghosts an idea. That ghost being mine. “So… in theory… if we have one guardian get the walkers attention… then the other two can focus their fire on the legs while it’s back is turned.” Indigo herself… looked rather surprised upon hearing that. “Wow… I never actually thought about it like that. But I’m liking the sounds of this plan… Though, who do we use as the decoy?” “Um… I think that’s kind of obvious,” Winona soon spoke up, looking back at both of us now before turning to her guardian. “Mac’s armor is a lot sturdier and can handle heavy fire. Let the two of us get its attention and then you guys can take out the legs. When the core’s exposed, let us know and we can all attack it together.” That definitely sounded like a good plan. And it looked like Indigo was on board with it too. “Alright. Looks like we got a plan. Let’s go take that thing down!” Immediately, Mac took off to the left, even charging through and smashing some dregs and shanks in order to grab the Walker’s attention while Indigo and I went the other direction. Going towards what looked like an abandoned building on the far end of the Blast as Indigo threw a grenade up there to take out the vandal that was perched up there while I began to focus my fire on the leg plates of the walker on it's left side. Most specifically, the leg in the middle, which was where Indigo also began to shoot at once there wasn’t any fallen that could try to interrupt us right now while Mac was still getting the walker’s attention. Fortunately… we were able to get somewhere. Because after using up two clips of ammunition from my auto rifle, the plate on the walker’s leg broke off. Staggering it as it fell forward and it revealed the walker’s weak point. “Core’s exposed! Hit it with everything you got!!” After hearing what Indigo said, I immediately glided into the air and got out my rocket launcher. Aiming directly at the core and pulling the trigger as the rocket made a direct hit. Mac and Indigo were also doing the same thing, but before we could finish it off, an electric pulse circulated around the walker as its hull closed back up. “Nice job guys, we almost got it!” Indigo told us as she switched back to her hand cannon. “What’s the plan now though?” Mac then shouted back. “Do we need to expose it’s core again to take it down?” “No. We damaged it enough already from the looks of it,” The bladedancer spoke up as she began to fire at it’s other legs now. “If we focus on the legs again, it won’t last much longer.” Shortly after hearing that, I began to shoot at one of the other legs with my auto rifle as Mac focused on another one of the walker’s legs with his pulse rifle. We moved out of the way of any mines that were dropped and also managed to redirect our attention to some of the shanks that the walker was calling on to help him so we could get them out of the way before they became a hassle. Eventually, after destroying some of the shanks that were trying to interfere with our objective and refocusing our attention on the walker, the three of us were able to take it down as the mechanical tank began to explode and break down. Sending pieces of it flying everywhere and also taking out a few more fallen in the process, while also opening up the path forward. It was likely that the fallen had blocked off the path to not let anyone else enter, but now that the walker was down and the metal plate that was protecting its head knocked the door down, we could now proceed further into the Devil’s Lair. “Great job guys… I have to admit, for your first time handling a walker, you two did rather well.” Hearing that from Indigo seemed… surprising. Especially since I never expected her to compliment me after acting like a bit of a sore loser when I won against her in the Crucible. “Well, we couldn’t have done it without you explaining to us how to fight it in the first place.” I replied back. “Thanks.” “No problem. Just helping out the fireteam.” She replied casually, walking over the walker’s cannon that was lying on the ground now and going around it’s dislodged head. Waiting for both Mac and I to catch up with her as we entered through the newly opened path inside. However, once we made inside… things began to look rather unsettling. For one thing, there were bones everywhere. At the bottom of the stairs, along the sides of the halls and even skulls put on top of metal pikes to make it resemble that of a trophy. All of which… made me nervous. Because if these were the remains of previous people that the fallen had sacrificed… then I was worried that we might not make it in time to save the prisoners the fallen devils held captive. Soon though, we reached a huge metal door that had Fallen Banners at the entrance as it began to open partially. But right away… I could tell something was off. There were many fallen within the vicinity and they looked to have been preparing for some kind of ritual of sorts- “H-hey! Get your claws off of me-!!” Immediately, I saw Big Mac bolt through the door before we could discuss some kind of plan. “W-winona! W-what-?” “That was Applebloom we just heard! The fallen must be preparing for a sacrifice,” Winona told both Indigo and I before noticing that the fallen were looking at us. “Focus on the Fallen right now! I’ll deal with Mac.” Both Indigo and I nodded at that and looked at the amount of fallen that were present, before the two of us split up. Indigo immediately took the left side of the concave and I covered the right, shooting several dregs while destroying some shanks and using a grenade to catch a vandal by surprise. Our primary focus was that we were seeing some streams of energy come from certain fallen as what looked to be the ‘servitor’ that Flash had told us about was floating by itself. So if they were providing energy for it to gain power, then the most ideal way of stopping it was to eliminate them. And after taking down what was left of the fallen on my side, I met back up with Indigo in the middle. “Everything clear?” “Yeah… any sign of the big guy at all?” Indigo then asked. “I mean… I know what he’s doing is important but…” That had me raise an eyebrow as I looked back at her. “But what?” “But I have a bad feeling about what will happen now that we took down all the fallen that were trying to provide this big servitor power in exchange for ether,” Wait, what were they trying to get now? “Ether to the fallen is like oxygen for us. They need it in order to breath and without it, they suffocate-” “Um… I hate to interrupt you…” I heard Ghost say to us, just as we heard a much louder noise echo throughout this concave. “But we got a big problem.” “H-how big-?” “Think Prime Servitor big…” Now was when we both looked in front of us to see exactly what Ghost was talking about. And that was the fact that the servitor that was previously floating in the center of the lair. It’s eye locked onto us now as it was beginning to glow. “It’s going to attack! Move!!” Both Indigo and I ducked for cover instantly as the eye blast from the Servitor decimated a crate that was originally where we were standing. “How in the world are we supposed to fight that!?” I asked, looking back at Indigo as she was hiding behind a steel beam that held up the platform we were standing on right now. “We need to hold that thing off until Mac gets back here!” “Okay, but how?!” I told her in response. “Have your ghost contact his! In the meantime, try to aim for that servitors eye in the center! It’s not just where they draw power for attacks, but it’s also their weak point!” The bladedancer explained, bringing out her sniper rifle to fire three shots at the servitor before needing to reload her weapon. My Ghost seemed to listen to what she said and immediately began to focus his efforts on contacting Winona, while I tried to aim my weapon at where his eye would be and fire accurately. However, it was while we were trying to do this that several other fallen began to try and come in to support this servitor, which was coming up on my visor as ‘Sepiks Prime’. And one of them did something that immediately caught my attention as they lobbed something towards my teammate. However, it was around this moment when I realized what exactly the Fallen threw at her as I looked towards her in fear. It was a shock grenade, and one that landed directly behind the bladedancer’s feet. “Indigo, get out of there! There’s a grenade behind you!!” Immediately after realizing that, the hunter jumped out of her hiding place to avoid getting hit by that. However, in doing so, it revealed her current position to the servitor as it fired off several blasts from its eye that exploded on contact. Powerful enough to cough up smoke as I couldn’t help but stare. W-was she okay? When the smoke began to clear, that was when I heard something. “Sorry ah’m late…” Next thing I know, I see Mac standing in front of Indigo with his Ward of Dawn active as he looked back at the two of us. “Winona told me you two were in trouble… but ah had something ah needed to take care of first.” Before I could ask him anything though, that was when I saw Sepiks charge up a stronger eye blast and fire it at Mac’s dome. At first, I thought that the dome would hold… but as it turned out, the blast was enough in order to break the barrier and force both Mac and Indigo to reposition themselves. “So what’s the plan?” Mac asked. “Shoot the eye, avoid it’s attacks-” Indigo told him just as we… Wait, where did it go? “Aw crap… Keep an eye on where it is! I think it can teleport!” It was a few seconds later that we saw Sepiks reappear much higher up now as it began to rain attacks from above us. Forcing us to seek shelter from under the catwalk that we were previously standing on so that way we can be able to shoot it and not have it hit us with its incoming eye blasts. From cover, I switched out my shotgun for the Gozen-C sniper rifle that I still had and began to fire at the servitor’s eye. Paying attention to when it fires it’s eye blasts so I could avoid them and then re-engage from a safer position. That was how the plan was for the most part. Shoot the eye, avoid the attacks, relocate when it teleports. Rinse and repeat. However, the longer that this continued, the more that we had to take into account how much ammo we had left. Because even though we were hurting him, we did not have a lot of spare ammunition left for if this firefight continued to draw out any longer. And that was something we realized when Indigo tried to fire off a round from her hand cannon, but it began to click as she looked around. “Aw crap… I’m out! Cover me, I need to find some ammo and quick!” At that moment, I nodded and used the chance to get up to the highest point on the catwalk above Big Mac and Indigo. Activating Radiance, I began to run around and throw numerous grenades that I can channel at Sepiks in an effort to keep its attention away from Indigo as she searched for any spare bullets she can find. Of course, I was only able to throw a few grenades at the servitor and also incinerate a few fallen that tried to attack me when I wasn’t paying attention, but the risk was worth it when I heard the sound of hand cannon shots going off as my super began to diminish. “Alright, I’m back in business!” “Geez, how much damage can this thing take? It’s really beginning to annoy me.” Mac grumbled as the titan came back up top alongside the bladedancer. Though, around the time that I mentioned that, I looked through the lense of my sniper rifle and began to notice something along the edges of the servitor’s eye. “Guys, I can see cracks along the outside of the eye… If we keep this up, that’s servitor’s going to break open any minute.” “Let’s make that happen sooner!” Indigo proclaimed, bringing out her Rocket Launcher and firing it directly at Sepiks. Causing the cracks along the eye to get bigger… and having me get out my rocket launcher as well. Sepiks fired off another eye blast at Indigo to try and prevent her from reloading, but Mac stepped in and took the hit for her. Shortly before firing off a heavy rain of bullets from his machine gun as they hit the servitor directly in the eye. Then, both Indigo and I fired off one last rocket from each of our weapons and upon impact, the servitor broke. Beginning to spin out of control before exploding into multiple pieces as the prime servitor was done for. “Alright! We did it.” “Great job, team!” I now heard Winona reply back. “Now let me contact Commander Sentry so we can tell them that the strike was successful.” Though… that made me think of something as I looked back at Mac. “Wait… didn’t they tell us that there were captives here? I don’t see any-.” That was when all three of us heard a… different voice. “H-hey! Is it safe to come out now? Everyone’s getting nervous in here!” That left Indigo and I looking at each other, puzzled for a moment because we were unsure about who that was. But for Mac… well, we saw him with an expression of relief on his face. “Yes, the coast is clear sis.” Upon hearing that, the doors to a separate room not far off from where we were opened up as several people began to come out. The one that got my attention though was a girl that looked to be almost just as tall as Applejack, but had her hair tied off in a bow. She looked to be carrying a shock pistol from one of the fallen dregs. But that was not the thing that shocked us the most. What shocked us the most… was that there was a Ghost over her shoulder. Well, it didn’t come as a shock to Mac… but to the rest of us, it did. “Winona… Is Mac’s sister…?” Winona, who was now floating by us now as Mac walked over to where his sister was, soon replied to my ghost’s question. “Yes… She’s a guardian too. However, unlike Mac, Applebloom did not entirely know how to fight or what kind of light she could wield. Mac wanted to teach her, but with the vanguard asking him to take on tasks, it did not give him time to be able to properly teach her how to fight.” “And that’s something ah’m gonna fix,” Mac soon told the two of us as he and his sister walked over. “Applebloom, these are my companions, Indigo and Sunset. They helped me come here so we could rescue you.” “Nice to meet you two!” She said cheerfully, holstering the pistol she was once holding onto as she shook both of our hands. “Though, ah wish ah could have done that in someplace other than the middle of a Fallen lair. Who knows if any of those devils can still be crawling around here.” “Ah think that can be arranged,” Mac now said as he looked up into the sky as what looked like a ship from the tower was coming in. A huge cargo one with plenty of room for everyone to come on board. “For now though, let’s go home.” After the strike on the Devil’s lair, Big Mac told Flash that he wanted to take a momentary break from the Vanguard. His reason? Well… with Applebloom being back home, Mac thought that if she were really serious about wanting to be a guardian, then she would need the proper training for it. And Flash agreed, going as far as to volunteer to assist Mac with the training too. It made sense because from what I could tell, Applebloom looked to be that of a titan herself. However, something told me that she was not going to be like other titans. Indigo herself decided that, even though working in a team was fun, that she needed to do something a bit more competitive. And with that in mind, she jumped right back into the Crucible. Leaving me with my Ghost as I was with Twilight, looking down on what was underneath the Traveler. The remnants of the last city. Though, it was during that moment that I decided to ask something. “Hey Twilight? Can I ask you something?” “You just did.” She said, giggling a little bit as I let out a deep breath. “No, I mean… I wanted to ask you a question. It’s about Ghosts…” I told her, while my Ghost just looked at me for a moment. “Well, more specifically their names. Do guardians pick the names of their ghosts?” Twilight, thought about it for a moment, before looking to me. “Sometimes… It’s a complicated subject. For you see, Ghosts can be either Male or Female and it’s the guardian who chooses the name for them. For example, one of the most well known heroes of the Tower back in the day was the Exo Titan named Martyr-14 and he referred to his ghost as female. There is… one other example that I can think of though.” When she said that, she stopped for a moment as I waited for her to say it. “One other example? Who?” That question though… had Twilight looking around for a moment, cautiously, before looking back to me. “My old mentor… and the former Warlock Vanguard before me. However, it’s not something that we can discuss openly. But I think you get the main point though, right?” Nodding my head, I looked back to my ghost and smiled. “Yeah I do… and I thought of a good name for mine now.” “Oh?” My ghost asked. “What did you decide on?” “Ray.” I simply replied back. “It’s the first thing that came into my head.” “Ray… Hunh, I actually kind of like that name,” He said. “Of course, it will take some time to get used too.” “Well, the two of you got some time to kill before we need you for another assignment,” Twilight told the two of us before heading back to the hall of guardians. “If you want to get some rest, go on ahead… Otherwise, there are tasks in the Cosmodrome you can do if you are on patrol.” After hearing that, I looked back towards Gho- I mean… Ray now as he looked back at me before asking something. “So, where to next?” Author's Note Sepiks Prime cast a great shadow over our City. With its destruction, the Fallen Devils will grow weaker. But we must stay vigilant. The Fallen are crafty. They'll find ways to survive. They always do. -Commander Zavala, Destiny And with that, the first strike is in the books. As for some of the characters that were mentioned, they will become important later on, whether it's with events that occur later on in the story or if they tie directly into the lore. For now though, we're done with the current missions on Earth... but not jumping ahead with the story just yet. You'll see what happens in the next chapter. -Frost
08- Sirens of the NightAuthor's Note So, this chapter is a bit different from my other ones... because this time around, I had my good friend BronyParasite help out. He suggested for a new guardian to be entered into the mix... one that has some history with Sunset. So I hope you enjoy what the two of us were able to do. Next Time: The Dark Beyond -Frost 08- Sirens of the Night After thinking on what to do to past the time while Mac was with his sisters and Indigo was still fighting in the Crucible, my ghost Ray soon had a suggestion for me. Near the back of the courtyard was what was known as a Bounty Board. Where Guardians can take up bounties and complete tasks to gain reputation and rewards with the city. For me, I just picked a simple one that focused on taking down as many fallen enemies as I could come across while in the cosmodrome. Which was currently where I was on patrol as I traveled through the cosmodrome with my Sparrow and found a particular place that could be used to hunt them down. There was what looked to be a pair of crashed airplanes in the middle of the Mothyards that served as something that looked like a campsite for several fallen. So, if I was reading the bounty correctly, I should be able to complete it once I eliminate both of the camps. Taking position, I had my sniper rifle at the ready as I aimed my rifle at one of the Vandals at the first camp. In the back of my mind, I wanted to consult Ray and see if I could actually make the shot from here… but instead, I just inhaled a deep breath and focused. Upon exhaling, I pulled the trigger and the shot destroyed the vandal’s helmet… while also alerting the others of my presence. Quickly, I aimed my next shot at one of the shanks and pulled the trigger. Turning the robot into scrap metal as I had one more shot left in the chamber. By now, the fallen were already racing towards my position and I only had enough time to fire the last round in the chamber, which struck one of the dregs in the arm as I switched weapons. Having my Auto Rifle out as I began to run towards the other fallen that were charging at me. My first move was to scorch one of two dregs that were there and throw a grenade at the other. When the grenade went off, it burned the second dreg to cinders as well as damage some of the shanks that were nearby. With my rifle at the ready, I began to open fire at them first so I could turn them into scrap metal. But of course, I was also missing someone. And that I realized when a shot from a fallen line rifle just barely grazed my helmet. “Ray, I need another clip.” I told him, switching back to my sniper rifle as the ghost digistructed some more ammunition into my hands as I prepared my rifle and aimed at the vandal. Quickly getting a shot off before it’s rifle could charge fully. “Well, that was quick…” I said, before placing my weapon away and having Ray emerge in my hand now. “How many does that put us at so far?” “Well, that camp… along with the fallen that you ran over with your sparrow on the way here, puts you at ten.” Ten? Seriously? I thought I had more than that. I needed to take down thirty of these guys before the bounty could be seen as complete, so having to track these guys down was going to be a bit of a pain. Though, before I could be able to say anything else, that was when I saw what looked like Ray trying to process something. “Hang on… I’m picking up something and it seems… urgent.” “How urgent are we talking here?” I asked him in response. It took him a little while in order to form his reply… but when he did, the details of it weren’t exactly good at all. “I’m picking up something from another Ghost… One who had just recently found their guardian not too long ago, but the fallen found them shortly afterwards” Ray replied back as he was continuing to process everything. “And from what I can tell, this is a distress call. It’s coming from the steppes.” The steppes? That wasn’t far from here at all. Plus, this is another guardian who’s potentially in danger. If I can get them back to the tower, then the vanguard can possibly help prepare them and teach them how to fight. “Ray, we’re making a detour. Put a marker on that signal. I’m heading there now.” Ray nodded, before disappearing back into my gear as he marked the signal on my visor as I summoned my sparrow and set off in that direction. And it only took me a few minutes to realize just how bad of a situation this was. Not only was there a Fallen captain there ordering the others, but there were a lot of other fallen that were chasing after one single guardian. And from the looks of it, they did not have any weapons or anything in order to protect themselves with. “Ray, is that the guardian we’re looking for?” “That’s the one,” I heard him tell me as I got closer to the group and prepared to dismount my sparrow. “The origin point of the ghost’s signal matches that of the guardian over there. And from the looks of it, it almost looks like she riled up a whole pack of devils in the process.” “Alright. Try to get the ship over here now and get us out of here,” I told him, dismounting and sending the speeding sparrow into a pair of dregs as I got out my auto rifle and began to shoot at two other Fallen. Before turning my attention to the Guardian that was still hiding behind a metal crate. “Hey, I just got the emergency signal from your ghost. Are you okay?” The guardian stepped out from behind the damaged crate, with her ghost hovering behind her. She was clearly a Warlock if her armored robes were anything to go by. She was covered in blood and looked shaken. She was not unscathed. “I’ve been better.” She said weakly, holding her bloodied arm. She definitely looked like she had been through hell. That and she was unarmed. Placing my auto rifle on my back, I took a moment to go through my inventory. I remembered that while going through the Devil’s lair with my fireteam, I picked up some other weapons that were a little better than the ones I had, but not as impressive. So, going through everything, I took out a hand cannon called the Duke MK 10 and handed it to her. “Have you used one of these before?” “I used to own a gun. Had a family to protect…” The warlock trailed off as she took it. “I can use it.” “Good,” I told her in response, just as I took the Auto Rifle I had off my back. “Because we need to hold our position here until my Ghost can bring my ship. Once he does, we can get out of here and get to the tower-” Before I could finish my sentence though, I noticed a group of shanks approach us and conjured a grenade to throw at them. Incinerating the small group as it turned them to ash. “Ray, how long until you got the ship?” “As soon as I can. Just hold your position.” I heard him tell me as I looked to the other guardian now. “I hope you’re ready for a fight.” “I don’t really have a choice.” The warlock’s head rolled like she was rolling her eyes. “I have a lot of questions for you afterwards.” “Trust me, I had a lot of questions when I first woke up too.” I told her, firing my auto rifle at more fallen that were trying to encroach upon our current position. I wanted to say more, but I thought that it would be better off saving those questions for when we were back at the tower and not where we were being openly shot at. Mainly though, I saved my Scorch for when any of the fallen happened to get too close for me and just had my Auto Rifle for when there were any Dregs or Vadals getting too close to our position. I also managed to bring out my sniper rifle to shoot at any Vandals that were trying to pin us down with sniper fire from their line rifles and make things easier for the two of us. I watched the other guardian take down a pair of dregs with the hand cannon I gave her, but not before she punched another one as I looked around and began to see if there were any more fallen that were coming for us. “Hang tight, I’m almost there.” I heard Ray tell me now as I get a notification on my visor about my bounty, but decided to ignore it. Because right now, my focus was making sure that I can get this guardian out of here and to someplace safe. “Your friend better get here quick, I don’t like being a sitting duck.” The guardian commented, and I could tell she was nervous. “Hang on, he’s almost here.” I told him, just as I decided to get out my rocket launcher and fire at a group of fallen in the distance. But before I could reload, that was when I heard the familiar sounds of my ship above the two of us as I let out a sigh of relief. “Speak of the devil, there he is.” “Alright, I see you,” I heard Ray speak now, shortly before looking back at the other guardian. “Bringing you two in now.” I turned to the other guardian and only said two words to her, just before Ray transmitted the both of us inside. “Hold still-” In mere seconds, we were whisked out of the Cosmodrome and into the confines of my ship as it immediately began to take off towards the Tower. Not to mention that the other guardian was right behind me in the passengers section of the ship. Speaking of which, I thought it would be best for me to go check on her. Placing the ship on auto pilot, I got out of my seat and walked towards the back. Where I found the guardian I just rescued alongside her Ghost. “How are you feeling?” “Well I’m not dead… again. There’s not really an elegant way of putting that, is there?” The new guardian groaned and flicked her ghost, causing it to wobble. “And my ‘ghost’ has been silent ever since you showed up.” “Have you tried talking to it?” I asked her. “It’s there to help you, so if you talk to it like you are talking to me, then it can respond…” “Whatever, it’ll talk eventually.” The guardian began scratching at her throat, most likely out of habit since she didn’t seem distressed or even annoyed. Force of habit, perhaps? “What were those… those things?” She crossed one leg over the other, then her arms rested together on her chest. “You mean what attacked us?” I asked, seeing a slight nod from the other guardian as I began to explain to her. “The Fallen are a species of pirates and mercenaries that aren’t from earth. But they go to other planets to try scavenging for anything that they would see as valuable. And they don’t really like guardians that much.” Then… a different question popped into my head. “I have a question for you now though… Who are you?” “Does it really matter now?” She asked dully, caressing her ghost like a cat. “I understand you and I died years ago. Probably hundreds of years if things look this different, but we were forgotten.” She leaned back. “Not exactly…” I told her, “Besides, I was just asking because I think you would get tired of people addressing you by ‘Guardian’ over and over. As for how long-” It was around then that Ray soon emerged nearby my shoulder as he was looking at us. “We’re approaching the tower now… Sunset, should I inform the Vanguard of your arrival-?” “Wait… Sunset? As in Sunset Shimmer!?” The guardian yelped, standing up abruptly. “Yeah-” Wait, this guardian knows who I am? How? At that moment, I took off my helmet as I looked back at her. “How do you know my name?” “Because…” The guardian took her helmet off. “You’re the cause of my death.” I blinked for a moment, before realizing who it was… and then letting out a deep sigh. “Adagio…” “Wait, you know this Guardian, Sunset?” My ghost asked me as I turned to face him for a moment. “She’s someone from my past… Long ago in my past…” I told him. “Oh, like that Pre-Golden Age thing that Twilight mentioned when you were taking with her?” He asked, leading me to simply nod in response. “Oh, lovely. I’m stuck in a world with two people I loath.” Adagio said, narrowing her violet eyes. “Actually… there’s more to it then that…” I told her as I had Ray focus on maintaining the ship. “Because this Twilight has never met you… You can say she’s like a parallel version of her.” Adagio’s face scrunched up in bitter anger. It was far more tame than her voice lead on. “Then how the blazes did Starswirl’s pet live so long? Well, it doesn’t really matter now, does it? I suppose the gateway to Equestria’s gone forever, as is our magic.” “Yes to both… but, we have something else now,” That was when I stuck out my hand and had some of my solar light emerge from it. “As a guardian, we are empowered with light. And we use that power to fight…” “Pardon the interruption,” My Ghost replied back. “But we’re now approaching the tower and are beginning to make our way to the City.” With that in mind, I had Adagio follow me to the front of the ship, where she could be able to not only see the Last City itself, but the Traveler that was overlooking it. “So I’m one of the ‘good guys’ now? Peachy…” Adagio grumbled in annoyance. “I almost wish you left me with the Fallen. You’re so casual with this it’s sickening...” “I’ve… only been alive again for only a few days…” I told her, as the ship was setting down in the docks. “Besides, there are still a few things that I am trying to wrap my head around. Just wait until you meet an awoken or an exo and you’ll see what I mean.” “Still, the last time we met you destroyed our magic.” Adagio said, looking at me with caution. “I know…” I replied back, just as the bay doors open. However, it was around then that I happened to notice a particular figure over where Applejack’s work station was. That being the Hunter Vanguard, Rainbow-6. “Rainbow, Ah thought that you had important business to attend to with the Vanguard,” Applejack glared at her accomplice, who was messing around with one of her tools as the Exo looked at her. “You know that Commander Sentry does not like it when you are slacking off on the job.” “I am doing something, mind you,” Rainbow told her, placing the wrench on the table. “I’m waiting. Some of my scouts have been surveying locations in the outer sectors of the solar system and I’m just waiting for them to come back and report.” “And you have to do it here. If Big Mac were here, he would shoo you away-” She said, before noticing me and turning to face me. “Ah, Sunset. Welcome back.” As for Rainbow though… she was more focused on Adagio than me. “Hunh… you got yourself another friend hunh, Guardian? She looks to be a tough one, that’s for sure.” “So she doesn’t remember? I suppose that’s a good thing.” Adagio commented. “And I’m new… Wish I stayed dead, but I guess we can’t have our way now can we?” Rainbow herself just took that as a joke, before deciding to go up the stairs nearby and wait up there. Shortly before AJ spoke up. “Exo’s have a good memory… but it depends on how many times that memory is wiped,” She replied back. “As for me… I still remember who you are… and I’m pretty surprised to see that you’re a Guardian now.” “Yeah, why? Seems they’re letting anyone join anyways.” Adagio said, smirking. “Technically… you don’t just join,” I said in response. “The Traveler sends out the Ghosts in order to find those who could use Light as a weapon… It’s a bit of a complex explanation, but I think once we meet Twilight, she can explain it better than I can.” “Lovely… well, I’ll let you know that my sisters didn’t return with me. I hope that eases your mind.” Adagio’s voice was layered with venom. “Or would you rather have more manpower? You look like a bunch of table scraps.” “Gee, thanks…” I sighed sarcastically while walking out of the hangar and heading back towards the main courtyard. There were many other guardians that were present and doing their own business as we were passing through. Some were having Moondancer decrypt their engrams, some were having their weapons inspected by Vinyl-3 and there were a few others that were discussing with Lord Thunderlane about the Crucible. However, I really don’t think that his occasional boasting would be something that Adagio was a fan of. Especially as we were approaching the hall of guardians. Of course… the only Vanguard member that seemed to be there at the time was Twilight herself. “Hello Sunset, welcome back,” The Awoken greeted me, before noticing Adagio right behind me. “Oh? Who’s your friend?” “Adagio Dazzle, the pleasure is yours.” Adagio said with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen. “Well, I’m Twilight Sparkle. Warlock Mentor and overseer of the Vanguard Research Division,” She replied back, offering a hand for her to shake. Adagio ignored Twilight’s offer, instead looking around the room. “Quaint place. I’d thought there’d be a bit more… advancement in the future. Wish I could’ve been here in its prime.” “Well, it’s not like we can go back in time to when we had the Golden Age,” Twilight replied back, before looking back at Sunset. “So, is there something I can help you out with?” “Yeah, Adagio has… a lot of questions,” I said to make things brief. “And I was thinking that you can help answer them for her. Like how you helped me out when I first woke up.” “Alright, that seems simple enough,” The Voidwalker told both of us as she pressed a button on the table and multiple holographic screens appeared. “Perhaps we should start with the same way I explained it to Sunset.” Shortly after I heard Twilight say that, I noticed Adagio roll her eyes for a moment as Twilight slowly began to try and explain things to her in… well, attempting to try to explain it to her in the most simplest way possible. Starting with when humanity discovered the Traveler and when the Golden Age began. What Adagio would refer to as ‘humanities prime’. Then came the collapse… the darkness… the traveler sacrificing itself to cast out the enemy that had hunted it for so long… and the damage that the collapse had caused. But, Twilight also mentioned how the Traveler’s sacrifice created the Ghosts… and how they search for those who have the ability to wield the traveler’s light as a weapon. Bringing them back as Guardians. Then, Twilight took the chance to clear her throat. “I know that this may be a lot to take in… but this is where we are at right now. Do you have any questions, Adagio?” “Why was I chosen to be a guardian? I’m not exactly the ‘hero’ type.” Adagio stated. I could tell that she was mostly uncomfortable around Twilight and I. Though… the question that she said did not… seem to resonate well with Twilight either. Which was odd, because I thought she would know at least something. “That is something that is unknown to us. Even the speaker himself doesn’t know the answer,” She explained, before saying something else. “Others have asked the same thing but… well, that question was one of the many questions the last Warlock Vanguard had which drove him to being banished from the City.” “And me being a Warlock was all my ghost told me. You’ll have to tell me about what that actually means later. I can see that the Guardians are pretty one note though…” Adagio’s voice was dry. “I don’t like this new world. I don’t see a future for myself in it.” “Give it time and you may be accustomed to it,” Twilight suggested. “Now… as for what your ghost told you, a Warlock is one of three different variations of guardians. In fact, Sunset and I are Warlocks.” Pausing for a moment, Twilight used the holographic table to pull up the three symbols that represented each class as she began to explain them to her. “Warlocks are like sages of the Travelers light. Those who wish to learn how to study it’s arcane energies. The other two classes, Hunters and Titans, have their own purposes too. Titans are the backbone of the City’s defenses while Hunter’s thrive out in the wilds. Though… there’s one thing that I’m curious about…” “What…?” Adagio asked, raising an eyebrow. “It’s the type of light that you can control,” The voidwalker explained. “There are three types of energies. Void, Solar and Arc. I myself control Void Light while Sunset controls Solar… but I’m unsure what kind of light you can possibly control.” That… was a rather valid question. Because when I was fighting alongside Adagio earlier, she didn’t seem to be using any form of abilities at all. So either they have not been fully awakened yet… or Adagio just needs to know how to harness it first. Then, I thought of something. “Hey… Twilight, is there some sort of way that we can be able to test what kind of light a guardian has?” “Well… normally a guardian’s light can be felt by their peers around them unless they carry something on their person that symbolizes who they are,” Twilight replied back. “But… there is a possibility that Adagio is a rare kind of warlock. Similar to how you woke up as a Sunsinger… she can be a warlock that can use Arc Light. A Stormcaller.” “Uh… fill me in whenever.” Adagio commented as she leaned against a wall. “To summarize, Arc is like electricity…” Twilight said, looking back at Adagio. “You may be able to channel the wrath of a storm through your fingertips if you know how to control your newfound power.” That… was surprising. Even to me. Because for a moment, I was unsure what kind of power that Adagio would be able to control now that she is a guardian. Of course though… just as we were thinking that things were going well, that was when Ray spoke up. “I’m sorry for having to interrupt, but Commander Flash wants to talk to Sunset,” My ghost informed us before looking back towards Twilight and I as it continued to speak. “Apparently, it’s with regards to Vanguard Operations.” “Vanguard?” “Think of it like a guardian command structure,” The Voidwalker simply explained to Adagio. “The Vanguard mentors new guardians, coordinate the last cities defenses, organizes missions to carry out in the field and so on. In fact, I’m the Warlock Mentor of the Vanguard.” While she was explaining that, I thought it would be best to try and talk to my Ghost for a moment on what he was getting from Commander Sentry. “Did Flash say what he wanted to talk about?” I asked Ray. Only leading to my ghost shaking his head as I let out a sigh. “Twilight, I think there’s no way that I’m getting out of this… If Flash really needs me, then it must be for something rather important.” “If that’s the case, I can take some time to help Adagio, answer any questions she has and get her some better equipment. Something that’s sturdy enough to handle the fallen and whatever else is out there,” Twilight then replied, before looking towards Adagio for a moment. “That is… if you are okay with it, of course.” “Not like I have a choice. One must adapt to their new surroundings, that much is a fact. I’ve already gone through the process once before, so it’ll be easy to take things as they come.” Adagio commented. I was a bit surprised by how relaxed she was being, but then I remind myself that she’s much older than I am, and she wasn’t even a pony so anything could potentially be normal for her, yet alien to me. “Alright. I’ll be back soon.” I told them, shortly before making my way over the hall of guardians, where Flash was waiting for me. He didn’t seem calm or relaxed like the last time around… but this time, he looked a bit distraught. As if something was on his mind. It took a few moments for him to realize I was there in the room given the reports that he was reading, but eventually, he soon looked up to face me. “Good to see you, Sunset,” He told me in response, closing the reports that he had open and looking up to face me. “I know that you were just out on patrol and such, but I need your help on something urgent.” “What seems to be the problem?” I asked him. “Well… with the recent resurgence of the hive on earth, one of our guardians went to investigate a hive fortress on their own, but we lost contact with them,” The titan replied back. “I want you to find them.” “Okay, but with all due respect commander,” Ray then decided to ask, materializing next to my shoulder now. “Where are we going? The hive don’t have any fortresses in the cosmodrome… or earth for that matter.” “That is because your mission is not on Earth,” Flash clarified… before saying something that I personally was caught off guard by. “Your mission is at the ocean of storms… on the Moon.”
09- The Dark BeyondAuthor's Note When a guardian goes missing on the moon, it's Sunset's task in order to track them down and bring them home. However, what she might find there could possibly be even more troubling than she originally thought. -Frost 09- The Dark Beyond “So Ray… What exactly can you tell me about the Moon?” That was the only particular question that I had on my mind as my ghost and I plotted a course for it on my ships navigation system. Back when I was alive, I only knew of the moon as two things. One, a giant celestial body in space… or two, back in Equestria, that thing that Princess Luna raises almost every night. I mean… when I first came here, trying to understand the fact that the earth orbits naturally around the sun was something I didn’t think was possible. But then again, I didn’t think I would be brought back from the dead either. Though, what I heard from Ray was… well, not what I anticipated. “Well… that can be a bit complex. Because during the Golden Age, the moon itself was once seen as a beacon of hope. It was a place where groundbreaking research was conducted, and it also served as an outpost for helping support humanity’s other colonies. The moon itself even had a colony once.” That last part though… not only puzzled me, but had me unsure about what he was going to say next. “Once?” “Again… all of this happened during the Golden Age,” Ray then clarified for me. “However, when the Collapse happened, that’s when humanity first encountered the hive. They swarmed the surface of the moon and even caused fissures that rocketed the moon itself… We gave up the moon a long time to keep the Hive away from Earth. And we thought that would be enough for them.” “But with what’s been going on recently in the cosmodrome?” “It would only mean that they’re planning something… something big…” Ray explained, just as the ship began to slow down and I could now see the surface. In all of my life… I never actually thought I would have the chance to see such a thing up close. But it was when we were approaching the surface that I could now also see the remnants of what was abandoned there too. And it was not a good sight to look at. “It may be the reason why that Guardian took off on their own without consulting the Vanguard.” That part… caught my attention though as we got closer to the surface. “Wait… what do you mean by that?” “Guardians had tried to reclaim the moon before, but the results were disastrous. After losing several fireteams, the Vanguard officially had the moon be labeled as a forbidden zone. Only accessible to the most experience guardians with authorization.” He told me. We approached a flat basin for me to land at as I felt myself leave the comfort of my ship and transmitting onto the surface of a place called Archer’s Line as I looked around. Seeing pieces of the moon’s crust float around as I began to take everything in. As I was making sure that I was on stable ground, that’s when I soon asked Ray something. “So… Where should we exactly start?” Ray now materialized back into my gear as I could now hear his voice through my helmet. “That… might be difficult. Almost any activity I’ve ever picked up here when I had looked at the moon here was hazy… like something was blocking it,” Okay, well that doesn’t help… do you have any other ideas- “But I think I can pick up on the trail of the Guardian that was here. Their last known coordinates are not far. I’ll place a marker for you right now.” The white marker I was used to seeing before appeared on my visor again as I looked up and proceeded to follow it. Finding what looked like some old building that was in ruins as I got closer. It… surprising still looked to be mostly in one piece, but there was still a considerable amount of damage around the area. When I got closer to the building… that’s when I heard Ray say something. “Hey Sunset… I just picked up on something you might want to hear. It’s with regards to the Guardian we’re looking for.” “What is it?” I asked, stopping for a moment so he could be able to tell me. “Well, they seemed to have left a report here, saying that they… captured this accelerator from… an unknown fallen house.” Oh brilliant… Fallen and the Hive here? This is just like back on Earth. “Why would he be here though if he was looking for something regarding the Hive?” I then asked him. “It’s possible that they were looking for coordinates that lead to an old colony base that was once used for research,” Ray told me. “The systems show recent activity in here, so it must be from their Ghost.” That… lead to me thinking of an idea as I looked back towards some of the systems in the room now. Taking in the sights for a moment as I looked to see various forms of writing on the wall in different languages. I think it was… Neighponese or something? I don’t know… I should really worry about that later. Though, the one thing that I could make out in the back of this ‘accelerator’ was what appeared to be some kind of computer terminal. And seeing how this seemed like the only major piece of technological equipment here, I’m guessing that this was what we were looking for. Letting my ghost materialize, he began to scan the computer. As he did, the screens in front of me began to turn on as well as all the other ones around us. Making it as if he was having something that was once buried in the past come alive… even though it was only for a brief few seconds. “Okay, I got the coordinates-” And shortly after saying that, I heard an all too familiar roar as I heard Ghost tell me something else. “And great… the Fallen are here too.” Given the fact that the fallen are known for always trying to scavenge all kinds of tech, what Ghost did right now was like trying to tell the Fallen to come here like moths to a flame… Now that I think of it, that’s actually an ironic, yet rather good metaphor right now given the circumstances. Firing off rounds from my Auto Rifle, I pushed forward. Taking down any fallen that tried to stop me as I began to make my way outside the building. After eliminating a few more and seeing that there weren’t anymore in the general area, I heard Ray told me something. “Alright, you’re in the clear. While you were fighting, I was able to link your sparrow so you can use it to travel around more quickly.” Well, at least that was better than running around on foot I suppose. Taking Ray’s advice, I summoned my Sparrow as he placed another waypoint marker for me. And based on what I can tell so far, where we were going was towards what was called the ‘Anchor of Light’. Speeding past some of the fallen as I kept on traveling a bit longer, finding myself at what was left of an old colony base as I got off my sparrow and began to have a look around. When I was looking around though, that was when Ray noticed something. “I’m getting recent activity signals on the equipment in this place… That guardian must’ve been camping out here. Let me look at the equipment, perhaps we can figure out what exactly he was doing out here.” Well, hey… if it was possible clues as to where we can be able to find this guardian, then I’m all for it. Holding out my hand to summon my ghost again, Ray began to scan and study some of the old colony equipment in here. And it did not take long for him to find something. “Hey… Sunset. Have a look at this. The Guardian we’re looking for left some of his notes here.” “What do they say?” I asked him. “It says something in here about a ‘Temple of Crota’. Personally, the name itself sounds a lot like a death trap,” Ray explained a bit more, before adding on to what he just said. “I placed a marker on the potential whereabouts, but if this place is what the notes described, then we need to be careful. It’s supposed to be some kind of structure dedicated to Crota, a hive prince that they worship as a god.” That… sent chills down my spine. And I wasn’t entirely sure as to why. Though, as we continued to travel towards where exactly this temple would be, I was beginning to see cracks in the moon’s surface and a green form of energy begin to form from underneath. Ray told me that it was because of the fact that the ground underneath us has been hollowed out for miles. Meaning that anything could be possibly be happening underneath our feet… and that was a thought that I did not want to think about. Because the last thing I would want right now is some kind of ambush out of nowhere. When we got out of a broken ravine within the surface of the moon… that was when we found what looked like a giant gate that blocked the path forward. One that looked to have belonged to the hive because of the huge runes that were on the front of the door. “I… think we found the temple.” Really now? What gave you that idea? “Up ahead, Guardian down!” That had me hop off my sparrow and race over to where Ray found the guardian. But upon looking closer… we realized that it was too late. There was nothing left. Not even his light was there, and his ghost was nowhere to be seen either. I began to look around, thinking that the ghost was somewhere not far from where we found the fallen guardian… only to realize that there was… someone watching us from the edge of a cliff that was behind us. But before I could tell Ray anything, there was a loud pitched noise as I turned to look at the door. The symbols on it… were beginning to light up and glow brightly. Backing up, I turned around again, only to realize that the person that was originally on the cliff was gone as I looked to Ray. “Ray, what is happening?” “This… is not good…” He said, materializing back into my helmet as we watched the symbols on the door disappear and watched as it began to split into three parts. Clinging onto my rifle, I heard Ray say one more thing. “Brace yourself! We’ve woken the hive!!” Immediately, the hive began to storm out of the door and towards us. Forcing me to throw a grenade in order to try and stop some of the thrall that were charging directly at me as I ran back in order to reposition myself. There was a stairwell to the right that lead up to a small overhang above the entire place, which looked like a place that I can use for reliable cover. It looked like an entire swarm of thrall were storming out of the door and were trying to overrun where I was at. But they also had a few acolytes on hand and what looked like a knight with some kind of hive arm cannon as it was firing heavy projectiles towards where I was at. Thankfully, the wall I was hiding behind took most of the shots that was fired as I switched to my sniper rifle. Aiming at the Knight’s head as I took a shot to eliminate it before any of its cannon blasts could hit me. But that still left me with the acolytes to handle alongside the rest of the thrall that were closing in. Getting an idea, I brought out my rocket launcher and jumped up into the air, aiming it at the massive swarm and firing as I began to descend back onto the ground. Luckily, it took out enough of the thrall in order for me to quickly focus on the remaining acolytes that were shooting at me. Changing to my Auto Rifle again, I swapped back over and began to fire at them. Causing each one to disintegrate and even having them burn to cinder when I catch one with a grenade and another one with a scorch. “Sunset, I’m picking up the dying light of a ghost. Get inside there! Hurry!” When I heard that, I first thought that Ray was being crazy. But nevertheless, I went in. Staying outside would leave me as a sitting duck out here and when I looked to the back of the room, I saw what looked like a ghost shackled to a hive structure… and a wizard standing guard over it alongside three acolytes. Thinking quickly, I shot down the first two with my auto rifle and meleed the third one since that was too close to me. Leaving me with having to fight the wizard as it began to fire off a series of energy bolts in my general direction. Going behind a pillar that was inside the room and using it as cover, I waited for a small bit until I felt the energy for my grenade finish recharging. Throwing it out there so I can try and negate the wizard’s protective barrier. But when I did, that’s when it did something… else. It threw out what looked like a smoky cloud as it began to swarm all around me while I was firing. “Sunset, get out of there! That’s poisonous!!” I heard Ray warn me as I forcefully held my breath and leaped out of there so I would not get caught in there. Getting out my sniper rifle, I began to aim at the wizard and fired off two shots. The first shot I was able to hit just fine… but somehow, it was able to move out of the way of my second one. Retaliating back as it fired more blasts at me as I scrambled to reload my sniper rifle and get out of the way. Once I finished reloading and began to aim again, I quickly fired off one more round in order to make sure that I hit it before it tried to run away or restore it’s shield. And this time, I was successful. The wizard screeched in pain loudly, before disintegrating like with the rest of the hive as the poison cloud began to fade away. Allowing for me to race over to where the ghost was in the back of the room and for Ray to look at it just in time. Because moments after Ray scanned it, the light from the ghost was gone… and it was nothing more than an empty shell. “Are… we too late?” I asked. “No, we aren’t,” Ray assured me. “The ghost may be dead, but I can still read some of it’s memories… Oh no… this is not good.” “What is it, Ray?” I asked, sounding concerned because of the sudden shift in the tone of his voice. “The Hive… they’re raising an army here on the moon… preparing to invade Earth,” He told me, just as the sheer thought of that sent a chill down my spine. “We need to stop them… Pick up the shell of the Ghost. We’re taking it to the speaker. He needs to know what we uncovered here.” Immediately after returning to the tower, we rushed to the Speaker to report our findings from our mission on the moon. He… seemed rather disturbed by what we had to tell him, but he was surprised to hear that we were able to overcome the hive while we were on the moon. He then told the two of us that there was a lot that needed to be done if we were to have other guardians combat the hive on the moon, and the first thing we needed to do was upgrade our equipment while he looked through the archives to see what sort of data he could find on the hive. After leaving him be, I went over to the gunsmith was in order to hand her the Speaker’s Writ that I was given. In exchange for it, Vinyl allowed for me to choose between three different options. A shotgun, sniper rifle or fusion rifle. Since I already had a good sniper rifle at the moment and had no need for a fusion rifle, I picked the Copperhead Mk 32 shotgun since it was an improvement compared to the one that I already have. Equipping it and dismantling my old one to get some extra glimmer out of it. The next thing that I was going to do was go check in on Twilight to see how she was doing with Adagio. But before I could enter her main study… that was when I began to hear them talking. Not about guardians, light or anything else… but instead something different. “So… Adagio, can I ask you something?” “You just did…” Adagio deadpanned, scowling venomously at Twilight as she leaned against a wall. “No I mean… I wanted to ask you about… well… Guardians don’t normally remember their pasts aside from a few exceptions… So, I wanted to ask about yours,” The voidwalker clarified for her. “If you are okay with it, of course.” Adagio rolled her eyes. “I’m not from Earth, and that’s about as much as you’d understand…” She closed her eyes, breathing in and out slowly before speaking up again. “Sunset and I knew one another.” “You did?” Twilight asked, a surprised look on her face as I watched the two of them converse. “Were you friends? Enemies? Frenemies?” “She killed my sisters and I…” Adagio snarked bitterly, opening her eyes to scowl coldly at Twilight. Whose eyes were wide open upon hearing her say that. I personally did not know exactly what she meant by that. In my mind, I thought it was the Battle of the Bands when we stopped them back then. I couldn’t think of anything else that could qualify for that. “Oh… I’m… sorry to hear that,” Twilight then replied back to her. “What were your sister’s names? I was going to check to see if they were on the city’s registry.” Adagio crossed her arms and thought for a moment, seeming hesitant. “Aria Blaze. Sonata Dusk.” Twilight was then seen running her hands along a datapad as she typed in the names, only to look surprised as she looked back at Adagio. “Sonata’s not on here… But Aria is,” Twilight replied back to her. “Her last known whereabouts were that she was with a team of Guardians that tried to reclaim the moon… but it’s unknown whether or not she’s still alive.” “How do I get there?” Adagio asked, and I heard more determination in her voice than I ever have from her. “H-hold on… The moon’s only a place where the Vanguard-” Now was when I decided to step in. “Twilight, forget what the Vanguard says… We need Guardians on the moon now… Both my Ghost and I have seen it ourselves.” “What do you mean-?” “The hive are raising an army on the moon to invade Earth,” Ray now spoke up. “And if we are ever going to stand a chance, we need as many guardians being able to help us…” That… had Twilight stare at us in shock for a moment, before she looked to Ray and I as well as Adagio. “I’ll run it by the rest of the Vanguard… but I have a question for you.” “Yes?” I asked. “If you are so sure about the Hive preparing an army, then how are we going to know what exactly they’re planning?” Twilight then responded. To which, my ghost then said something that even I did not know about. “There was a ghost that belonged to a fallen guardian that we found on the moon… and the ghost had found out about a hive library hidden in the Moon that’s called the World’s Grave,” Ray said as he looked towards Adagio and I. “If they have any information about past battles or what they are planning now… it’s got to be there.” “So… what is your plan?” I asked. “Well… if you and your friend there-” He said, before getting a scowling glare from Adagio as he corrected his statement. “I mean… if you two can be able to get me there, I can steal as much as I can.” Then, I looked to Adagio as she turned to face me. “So… are you up for it?” “A crash course isn’t my strong suit, but I want to get my sister.” Adagio stated, eyes narrowing. “I don’t like you very much, Shimmer… but family is all I have left, and if there’s even a chance Aria’s alive, I’ll take it.” All I could do was smile and nod my head as I looked back at the siren… no, Guardian now as I smiled and nodded my back. This… is going to get very interesting now.
10- The World's GraveAuthor's Note For this chapter, I decided to not entirely follow it by the book, but instead have some other things occur throughout this mission to have it feel more personalized when it came to character development. Besides, this is kind of the first time that I had these two work together and... well, there's a lot going on between them. As always, Thanks to BronyParasite for writing Adagio. If you like what you are seeing so far, feel free to leave a comment, fave and track... if that's okay with you of course. -Frost 10- The World's Grave In all of my life, and yes that does include my newfound life as a guardian, I had never thought that there would be a moment where I would have to actually team up with… let alone fight alongside a former enemy of mine from my past. Adagio and her sisters were once sirens, creatures that were banished from Equestria to this world by Starswirl the Bearded… my Starswirl the Bearded. They had magic, but it was through their voice. Songs of hypnosis to try and have others under their spell. Back in those days, we stopped them… and when they were defeated, the necklaces that they used as their source of power were broken. After that though, I had not seen them since. However, my mindset was not so much focused on the past as they were on the present. Ray told us about a place in the moon called The World’s Grave, which served as an archive for the hive. A library of knowledge which is said to contain everything that the hive know about earth. At least… that’s what Ray told us. He was relying on the memory of the Ghost we found last time we were here. Let’s just hope that it leads us in the right direction. “We’re approaching the landing point. Prepare for transmat.” That was the cue for me to make sure I had everything I needed as I looked towards Adagio. It looked as if Twilight had given her some better armor and equipment than what she woke up with, but still kept the revolver that I originally gave her. I wanted to ask if she was ready… but after thinking it through, that just seemed like a redundant question. We soon reached our destination as both Adagio and I landed on the moon’s surface at Archer’s Line. We were a bit of a ways from the terminal that Ray & I used in order to track down the missing guardian last time we were here. But that was not our focus right now. “Alright then… Now, according to that Ghost we found, the entrance to the World’s Grave is nearby, but an ancient Hive Knight is guarding the entrance. If we kill the knight, then I can get us inside.” I looked towards Adagio for a moment, before looking in front of me again as a new marker appeared on my helmet. Again, I was tempted to ask if she was ready. But I had to remind myself that she would see it as a redundant question and instead began to proceed towards the marker with Adagio right next to me. Like the last time I was here, Ray had both Adagio and I head towards the old colony base by the Anchor of Light. And just like last time, the Fallen were there. Opening fire at the two of us the moment that they saw us. Three dregs, two vandals and a shank overlooking them on a nearby ledge. Instinct kicked in as I conjured a solar grenade to throw at the dregs, burning them as I shot down each one with my Auto Rifle. I was going to shoot the vandals, but Adagio beat me to it first. Shooting her hand cannon, she blew off the heads of the two vandals and smashed the shank into pieces with a palm filled with lightning in a form that was much different than that of Indigo when we were at the Devil’s Lair. But I can worry about that later. Once we stepped foot through the base that the Fallen were in front of, the marker that Ray had placed was pointing towards what was a rather huge hole in the shelter and down the hill. From there, the two of us saw what I would think was the gateway towards where we needed to go. It was also in that moment when I realized that it was Adagio’s first time actually seeing the hive with her own eyes. And something told me that she was… rather disgusted by them. “What the devil is that…?” “Those… are the Hive,” I heard Ray speak. “Beings of the Darkness… They invaded our colonies on the moon and proceeded to crack it open…” “I think she meant that Hive specifically.” I let out a deep sigh. “Well, that’s the Knight that guards the entrance but… Hang on, I don’t think it’s alone.” When I looked back towards the front, I could see that there were two knights standing guard at the entrance. But it was in that moment that I noticed that one of them was looking towards us and aiming it’s weapon… but not at me. “Adagio, move-!” The Knight began to fire off what looked like several projectiles that exploded once they made contact with something. I ran over to find cover, looking back to see if Adagio got out of there or not. Adagio had beelined it opposite of me and ducked into a trench, glaring daggers at me. Or at least… it felt like that. I could not actually see her face because of the helmet that she had on, but it really did feel like that. “Ray, any particular advice on how to kill them!?” “They seem to be heavily armored all around, except for their face,” My Ghost told us. “But be careful. Knights can create temporary shields in front of them that can block your shots.” That… also made me think of something. Adagio didn’t seem to have a secondary weapon on her… something that would be rather important for her to keep on hand, especially in particular situations. “Ray, transmat my Gozen-C and give it to Adagio. She might need it more that I do right now.” At first, Ray seemed to question my thinking… but moments later, he did what I asked and transmitted the sniper rifle for Adagio to use as well as some ammunition. “I’ll try to draw their attention. Think you can get a clear shot?” “... Yes…” Adagio seemed to have heavily considered, but affirmed. After hearing that, I readied my auto rifle and jumped out of cover. Moving around both of the knights and opening fire so that way I can force the knights to activate their shields and fight me. Not even paying attention to Adagio or what she was about to do as I saw her aiming down the sights of the rifle I just gave her. A few seconds later, I heard the shot that she fired and watched it blow off the head of the first knight and had the lifeless hive turn into a pile of ash. “What’d I tell you, Shimmer~?” Adagio remarked, before reloading. “I’m keeping this.” “Go ahead,” I told her, moving out of the way of the second knight’s blasts. “I normally use a shotgun anyways.” Just as I said that, I began to fire off a couple of shells from the shotgun I had for my secondary so that way we could repeat the same procedure on how we defeated the last knight. Once it’s shield was down, Adagio fired again and annihilated the other knight as I looked back at her. “Holy crap, you are much better at being a sniper then I am.” I admitted, watching Adagio come down from where she was at and meet me at the entryway. Upon going inside, we began to descend down a spiral pathway and the farther we went in, the more that we began to see what it actually looked like under the moon’s surface. Instead of tunnels and pathways, everything underground was filled with open chambers and catacombs, with crystals that let out a small, yet chilling light around what we were seeing. “By the traveler… It’s a whole necropolis down here.” “Yeah, necropolis… What’s that?” Adagio asked, deadpanning. “A giant tomb…” I said. “One that’s the size of the entire moon…” “Alright… is that some kind of shock or is this common knowledge?” Adagio asked. “I think this came as a shock to all of us, myself included,” Ray then spoke. “No one really knew what was under the surface of the moon. We only know that there were small temples and shrines that the hive have created, but nothing on this big of a scale.” “What do they want with earth?” Adagio questioned, more to herself than to Ray. It was a question that I asked myself as well, but we did not have the time to really think of an answer for it right now. Especially since the Hive realized that we were here. This time around, there was only a single knight… but it was accompanied by three to four hive acolytes and a Hive Wizard in the far back of the current chamber we were in. I had to quickly explain to her how to defeat the Acolytes and the Wizard in the back of the room as they began to fire at us. When one of them got too close, I smacked them with a Scorching hand as they turned into smoke before focusing on some of the others. First things first, we had to take care of the acolytes while staying out of the way of the knight’s own attacks and the barrage of arcane bolts from the wizard. Next came the knight as we followed the same strategy that we did just a few minutes ago. Lastly came the wizard, which was the trickiest since not only did it blast us with arcane bolts and have a solar shield around itself, but it could easily fly out of the way of Adagio’s sniper and conjure up a cloud of poison if we got too close. Given how I had already used both my grenade and my Scorch attack already, I decided to do something else in order to take down the shield of the wizard. Which was executing my super. Conjuring up all the power I had, fire began to burn around me and what looked like solar wings began to form on my back as I used it to throw a few grenades at once in order to destroy the wizards shield and causing it to stagger. Allowing for Adagio to line up her next shot and firing at the wizard as it let out a deathly screech before becoming a pile of ash. After taking them down, my Radiance form did not last much longer as the flames I had all around me soon diminished a few seconds later. However, we did not have time to catch our breath as a hive tombship randomly appeared out of nowhere, dropping down more hive for us to fight as I tossed some extra ammo over to Adagio. However, it was as we were fighting that we saw what looked like a floating rock expand outward. An eye of void like energy staring directly at us. “Find cover! It’s a shrieker!!” “Wha-?” I barely had time to ask as missiles of void energy began to bombard our current location. However, unlike the attacks from a wizard, these ones followed us to the point where they exploded upon coming into contact with something. “Ray, what the hell is that!?” “Hive Shrieker… They’re sentries of hive void energy. If we’re seeing one now, then we must be getting close to what we’re looking for,” Oh right… the Knight that holds the key to the world’s grave. “The two of you need to defeat that shrieker from long range and behind cover.” “What the hell are we even supposed to shoot?!” I asked, more void blasts exploding in front of me as the shrieker kept on firing at us. “The eye in the center is its weak point. Any shots to its shell will just bounce off.” My ghost told the two of us as I tried to aim at it and open fire while behind cover. Drawing it’s attention so Adagio can pin it down with sniper fire. Even though the shrieker did draw it’s attention away from me to try and fire it’s blasts towards Adagio, the siren was behind some rather sturdy cover as I fired at the shrieker to get it’s attention again. However, before I could fire anymore, I heard a click and was forced to have to reload my weapon while the shrieker was unleashing another series of void blasts. But before I could be able to open fire, I heard one last shot from Adagio’s rifle as the shell of the shrieker began to drop to the ground. It’s core setting off a huge explosion before fading away and clearing the path for us. “Nice shot.” Adagio herself just ignored my comment, and just proceeded forward as I caught up with her. We moved out of the area in here that was called the ‘Hall of Wisdom’ and now began to step foot in another section of the Hive’s necropolis down here. One that had the unsettling name of ‘The Circle of Bones’. “Alright… I’m picking up traces of the knight not far off on the right hand side up ahead. Once we kill it, we can get the key and head straight to the grave,” Ray told us… before clarifying one small thing. “The world’s grave I mean, not ours.” Duly noted. After making sure that I had enough ammo for my weapons, I turned towards Adagio. “Are you running low on any ammunition or are you good for right now?” “I’m fine, Shimmer.” Adagio all but glowered. “I did grab my own ammunition before coming here. I’m not a fool.” “I understand that,” I told her, putting away some of the ammo I had taken out for her and saving it for later. “I just thought that you needed some more considering the amount of hive that we had already faced so far. I don’t think either of us want to get in a situation where we’re completely out.” All Adagio did was just let out a deep sigh as she walked past me and towards the location that Ray had marked for us. Unlike some of the area’s that we had been before where the hive were in an open space, the knight was in a part of the Circle of Bones which reminded me of a colosseum from ancient times. Upon finding the knight that we were looking for, the two of us realized that he wasn’t exactly by himself. A few acolytes were circling the path around where he was, leaving the two of us to have to take them out first before focusing on the knight that had our key. And this one had a name that appeared on my visor. Kranox, the Graven. It’s outer appearance didn’t exactly look as different as some of the other knights that Adagio and I have dealt with, but it was a bit taller than the others. Surely, for someone who’s supposed to be their ‘keeper of secrets’, it did not look that foreboding if I were completely honest with myself. The knight first focused it’s fire on Adagio as she tried to fire around the knight’s head with her hand cannon. Only for Kranox to activate it’s shield to deflect the bullets as it focused its attention on Adagio. “Why’s it so fixated on me!?” Adagio screamed as she backed away from the knight and looked for cover as she attempted to suppress the knight’s advanced with a blind barrage. “Hang on! I’ll try to get it’s attention!!” I told her, grabbing my shotgun as I threw out my grenade. The solar grenade I threw out stook to the knight’s armor before exploding as it began to turn itself around and look towards me. As it charged, I aimed my shotgun and fired off two shells, causing it to stagger and glare at me. Not even paying attention to Adagio now. “There! Now’s your chance-!” Before she had a chance to finish, Adagio fired a round from her sniper rifle as it went through the back of the Hive’s head. However, that didn’t exactly finish the job. Before I even let the knight think about turning back around to shoot at Adagio, I fired off another shell to get it’s attention again. Chipping away as some of the armor around its body as I had it chase me around the ring and backed me up close to a wall. Setting up another shot for my partner to make. And just as it’s open, Adagio took her shot, causing the knight to crumple under the force and damage. I let out a deep breath, personally relieved that the ordeal was over. But it was as the knight crumbled that a couple of things rolled towards Adagio’s feet. One looked like that of an uncommon engram, meaning that she had obtained some new equipment… but the other looked to be that of a green orb that was pulsing. “Ray, is that what we’re looking for?” “Based off of the readings… Yes, that’s the key! I know where we need to go now,” I picked up the orb and let Ray transmat it because it was highly possible that we were going to need it later. But we now also got what appeared to be a new set of coordinates too. Without taking a moment to stop what we were doing, both Adagio and I set off towards the next destination that we needed to reach. After facing off several Hive that tried to attack us on our route, there were a set of giant doors that blocked our path. But, the moment that Ray transmitted the key into my hand, the orb began to float on its own. Shoving itself into the door as it split apart for us and presented the way forward. Even though some of the tunnels were crawling with thrall no matter where we looked. Eventually, we found what we were looking for. Yet, there were several knights and acolytes that looked to have been… worshipping or something like that which we needed to take down first. “Ray, get out my launcher. We’re in a hurry and I don’t think we want to waste anymore time with these guys.” My ghost… actually seemed to agree with me on that as he transmitted my Rocket Launcher. Aiming at the space in between the first two knights, I pulled the trigger. Launching the rocket as the blast desecrated the knights that were in the room. Quickly, I got my Auto Rifle out afterwards in order to take the acolytes down and speed up the process as I sent out Ray to scan the Grave. “Let’s see… Oh wow… There’s a LOT of information here…” Ray replied back as we turned around. “Luckily, I don’t think the Hive know we’re here… I’ll take what I can, but there’s something else I’m picking up not far from here. It looks like… some kind of holo-journal.” “I don’t care unless it’s Aria’s.” Adagio voiced her frustration. “Sunset, could you go pick it up? If we take the journal back to your ship, we can be able to find what’s inside it.” For a moment, I was a bit puzzled since I thought that Ray could do that. Then I realized that he was still working on the present task at hand, leading me to let out a sigh as I went over to what he was talking about. It looked like a metal kind of recording device, a simple one… though, there was something that made this one stand out. It had the symbol of the red pendants. The same ones that Adagio and her sisters used back at the Battle of the Bands all those years ago. “Adagio… I think I found something. And I think it’s Aria’s.” Ocean of Storms, Orbit After getting what we came for and also finding something else that was rather important, Ray brought us back up to my ship in orbit. But we weren’t going back to the tower just yet. Instead, Ray was trying to see if there was a way to bypass the security protocols that were on the holo-journal that we found. If there was something from Aria that was inside that journal, then we were going to get it out so Adagio could hear it. While he was trying to figure that out though, I watched as Adagio had her ghost out… which got me to ask her something. “So Adagio… I’ve been meaning to ask… have you thought of a name for your ghost?” For a moment, Adagio paused with what she was doing… before looking back at me and just giving me a small shrug. “Why? It doesn’t speak and stays far away from… well, everything.” “Well, calling it Ghost is like calling a pet dog that you have ‘dog’. It’s generic and some guardians think that it… adds a bit of a personal touch to it,” I explained to her, looking at Ray for a short moment… before sighing as I looked back at Adagio. “I… named Ray after someone I miss back home. My-” “Oh boohoo, is the little Sunset homesick?” Adagio mocked, her annoyance apparent. “Save it. I don’t want a personal touch on a machine.” “-father.” I finally finished saying. “I’m not homesick… but since I named Ray after my father, Solar Ray, to me it means that I can still remember my home even though we can’t be there. My Ghost reminds me of my father… so that’s why I named it after him. And-” “I hate to interrupt…” We both heard Ray as we turned to see what was going on with him. “But I will need Adagio’s help… It appears that your sister put a password on the holo-journal. I’ve tried decrypting it a few times, but I haven’t had any progress. The only hint I’ve gotten though has been ‘the mother siren’.” Adagio narrowed her eyes. “Scylla Daze.” At first, I raised my eyebrow to that, curious as to what it meant… but a few seconds later. “... We’re in. It’s open now,” Ray told us. “There’s only one recording on here. Should I play it?” There was a small pause in the room… but after a bit, my ghost then said something else. “I’m going to just guess that the silence in the room is a yes then. Playing the recording…” Around the time I heard him beginning to play the recording, we both now heard a different voice. It sounded… like Aria. However, the pitch of her voice sounded more dreary than before. “For those who find this, take this as a warning… a sign of things to come. Like you, I was a guardian. Filled with as much power as my pride could bear. I was with several others on the day that I tried to reclaim this moon… but now, I’m alone. The humans that were once alive… the guardians I had to trust as my comrades are gone. We all thought that we could send the hive screaming back into the depths of the hellmouth. We thought that together, we were invincible Oh how wrong we were… For that was when we came face to face with what was true terror. The Hive Prince himself… Crota. He and his armies slaughtered my comrades one by one and when it came to me, I thought that he would have me face the same fate. However… what happened to me was far worse. That monster ripped all the power that I had out of my very being… and stole my sight. The same power that I swore to use to find my two sisters again was taken from me… and now, I don’t think I can be able to see them in person anymore. Years after this, I had been forced to survive in the tunnel deep below the moon… But as of now, I have an opportunity to get out of this forsaken place. And I must hurry… Crota and his armies have their sights set on earth. I must warn them of what it coming before it is too late. To the ones who were able to give me this chance… I want to give you my thanks. You are such a brave light… When we meet, I will help you prepare yourself for what comes next. And to my sisters… stay strong. If I can be able to see you again and to hear your voice… then it can help me feel some kind of joy amidst all this pain. This is Aria Blaze… and I hope you find me soon. Because until we find Crota, we’re all just water racing down the drain.” The message then ceased as I looked back to Adagio. She seemed… shocked by everything that she had just heard right now. However, the name that we heard… Crota. That sent shivers down my spine. If this prince was able to strip a guardian of their light… especially one such as Aria… I honestly couldn’t even think about how we’re suppose to beat a foe like that. However, I didn’t have time in order to comprehend what I just heard. Because a few seconds later, Ray got a message from Twilight at the tower telling us to come back immediately. When I asked why, Ray only had one answer for me. Twilight had found Aria. And she was at the tower.
11- Chamber of NightBefore I could even ask for any form of clarification regarding what Twilight told me just now regarding Aria being at the tower, Ray had received an urgent transmission that went out on all channels. To be honest, if it were from Flash or someone else in the Tower, I would have Ray cut the transmission to try and get ahold of Twilight again. However, this was a different case. Because the transmission did not just come from anybody that was at the tower or anyone in the Vanguard. It instead came straight from the one who was the Voice of the Traveler. It came directly from the Speaker. The message itself was brief… but it was enough to make me realize the reason why he was releasing this transmission and the gravity of what it meant. “As of this moment, nothing is more important now. We believe that the Hive are engaged in a ritual on the moon that is draining the Traveler of it’s Light. To all guardians who are listening, whatever power the Hive wield in order to attempt this feat must be understood… and destroyed.” This… put me in a bit of an awkward situation. For my duty as a guardian was to protect the City and the last of humanity… but I also promised Adagio that I would help her find her sister and see it through. If I choose to help Adagio in this moment, my choice could be seen as an act of defiance by the Vanguard. Yet, if I go back to the surface of the moon… Adagio might see it as if I’m going back on my word. I can’t choose to do both given the repercussions, but even choosing one of them is rather difficult right now… and even Ray could tell that I was having trouble choosing. Then, someone unexpected reached out to me out of the blue. And when I had Ray sync the transmission, I was honestly surprised to hear back from her again. “Hey, Shimmy! Did you get ahold of that transmission just now?” “Yes I did, Indigo-” I paused for a moment, before looking back at the transmission as I spoke up. “Hold on… Shimmy?” “Yeah, that’s what my ghost called you when I asked for him to reach out to you. And normally, he doesn’t give nicknames.,” I heard the Hunter respond back. “So… since I’m taking a break from the Crucible and Mac is still helping out his sister, you wanna go investigate what the Speaker was talking about?” Oh great… talk about being rushed to make one of those ‘in the moment’ decisions. Now how am I supposed to explain this? “Indigo… I’m kind of tied up with something at the moment and I just finished a mission for the Vanguard like… half an hour ago.” Personally, I’m not a fan of saying only half truths… because it seems less like your trying to answer the question that they ask you and more like your trying to dodge the question altogether. But when Indigo heard what I said, she was… actually rather calm about it. “Oh, I get it… Last mission left you low on supplies? Well, go back and get the stuff that you need and just let Sparky and I handle all the prep work.” I looked back at my ghost for a brief moment, before following it up with another question for the Hunter. “Prep work?” “Well, you can’t exactly disrupt a hive ritual when you don’t know where it is,” Indigo replied back to me. “Sparky and I are going to scan some of the cracks on the moon’s surface and see if we can trace it back to wherever this ritual is being held at. Once we find out where it leads, I’ll contact you so we can disrupt this thing.” That… definitely sounded like a pretty good plan. I did need to take care of a couple of things while I was at the tower anyways so that would work out well. “Alright, I’ll be back in a few moments.” On my way back to the tower, I had to explain to Adagio that I couldn’t exactly be there for when she would reunite with her sister Aria and tried to explain everything to her… but before I could, she stopped me for speaking. Saying that I had already done enough for her and that she needed to do this on her own. Her cold expression reinforced those words as the two of us parted ways, but part of me felt that this was for the better. That we would be able to fight alongside each other again in time, but now was not the right time for such a thing. Before I was to go back out to reunite with Indigo, I had to do two things. First, I needed to see the gunsmith. According to Ray, Vinyl sold items called Ammo Synthesis, which could be used to refill the ammunition for a weapon that you would happen to run out of while in the field. Considering the fact that my Shotgun and my Rocket Launcher had not a lot of ammo to begin with, I thought that buying a few of these with the glimmer that I had obtained from the Cosmodrome bounties I was finishing would be a good first step. Secondly, there was the Cryptarch, Moondancer. It turns out that Ray had picked up a pair of engrams that had dropped when we were in the World’s Grave, so he recommended me to decrypt them because there ‘might’ be a chance that I could get some equipment that was better than what I already had. Though… he was half right. One of the things I did get was better, but it was only a better piece of chest armor called the Tengu Operant VI, which had the nifty traits of increased defense and extra ammunition when I have a pulse rifle. The other engram gave me a machine gun, which at first I thought was okay… but when I compared it to my rocket launcher, the machine gun had high damage output at the cost of reload speed. Something that I saw as crucially important to survival. After dismantling the machine gun and getting back some weapon parts and glimmer, I had Ray take us back to orbit and go straight for where Indigo was on the moon as I sent her a message that we were on our way. Upon touching down on the moon in a place that was called ‘The Hellmouth’, Ray directed me to where Indigo was located at while I was focused on taking down a few Hive that tried attacking me en route. Once we caught up with the bladedancer, she was relieved to see the two of us. “Glad you can make it. I was worried that you were going to miss out on all the fun,” As she said that, the hunter fired her hand cannon at a hive acolyte in the distance. The shot puncturing the acolyte’s head as they disintegrated into green flames and a pile of ash and dust. “I’ve been having Sparky scan the energy from the cracks in the hellmouth so we can try to find out where it’s coming from.” “And?” My ghost asked. “Easy now, I’m getting there,” The hunter responded. “Good news is that he got the data… bad news is that it’s farther inside a Hive Temple.” After a couple of seconds, Indigo had her ghost transfer some of the data that it acquired over to Ray for him to analyze and make sense of everything. And almost instantly, he knew where exactly we were headed off too. “This is…” He said at first, before letting out what almost sounded like a small sigh as he looked back at me. “I know where we’re headed, but we’re going to have to go deeper into the Temple of Crota.” Oh joy… that place again? The last time we were there, the welcoming committee was a tidal wave of hive whose claws were trying to slash at my throat. Not to mention some mysterious person watching me while I fought for my life… hopefully this time around, things will be different. Again, hopefully… given the kind of ritual that the Hive were performing, it was likely that there were more of the Hive inside of the temple instead of outside. But nevermind that, we can’t just stand around and let them do this while I was processing all of this. So, shortly after I told Ray to put on a marker for the location we needed to go to, he pointed us in the right direction and marked it for us as Indigo and I both got on our sparrows. But as we were accelerating across the surface of the moon, Ray began to pick up something. It sounded like radio static and right away, Ray thought that the Speaker was trying to reach out to us. But he couldn’t tell because of how there was so much distortion on the comline. However, the voice that did manage to get through… was not who we thought it would be. “You’re an interesting one… not entirely interesting, but you do have potential.” Immediately, I turned around to look at the same cliffside from before. But unlike last time, no one was there. “Who is that?” “Who is what?” Indigo then asked. “I don’t hear anyone else on this line.” That had me stop for a moment… if Indigo couldn’t hear them, then… why was… whoever this person is… why are they reaching out to me? “Ray-?” “Sunset, I don’t know who or what it is, but I’m losing their signal…” “Guardian… I know what you are about to do,” I heard the voice of this stranger that was speaking to me again. “It’s brave… but know that there are foes out here in the solar system that you would not believe.” “Out where-?” I tried to ask, only to get cut off by the strange voice again. Hearing one last line before the transmission was abruptly cut. “Descend and face the hive… And if you survive… then come find me.” “Sunset? Earth to Sunset, are you there?!” That loud outburst from the bladedancer had both Ray and I snap back to reality as we looked back at her. “Geez, for a moment, you had me concerned.” “You… didn’t hear that?” I blinked for a moment, shaking my head as I looked back at her. Maybe this whole Guardian business was slowly driving me insane somehow. Well, at least Ray heard that… right? “You heard that, right?” “Yeah I did,” He told me, causing me to let out a sigh of relief. “Signal was dropped, but I got some broken coordinates out of it. Venus… Northern Hemisphere… Ishtar region.” “Ehh, sounds like something that someone who wants to keep a low profile back at the tower would do so the Vanguard wouldn’t trace the origin point of the signal,” The hunter shrugged it off as she made sure that her hand cannon had a full set of rounds in the chamber. Despite what Indigo said though… I highly doubt that what I just heard was someone who wanted to try and trick me. But I can worry about all of that later. “Get your rifle ready, Sunset. We got only way to go from here.” “And that is?” Ray asked. Though… I kind of knew what the answer to that one was off the top of my head when we heard the sound of… something roaring from deep within the entrance of the temple itself. “We go down.” Upon rushing through the entryway to the temple, Indigo and I found the room filled with several Hive Acolytes and a massive one in the center that my helmet defined as a Ogre. And upon them noticing our presence, both of us had to split up in opposite directions because of the blasts that were coming out of the Ogre’s eye. The hunters first move was to throw down one of her own grenades that split apart upon touching the ground as it took down several of the acolytes before firing at the others with her hand cannon. As for me, the Ogre was trying to aim for me, so in an effort to disrupt it’s attacks, I threw out my solar grenade towards it’s eye to see if that could help me. Turns out, it did. Because the moment that grenade made contact with the Ogre, it flinched in pain and staggered. Allowing for an opportunity for me to open fire with my auto rifle and take it down as Indigo finished off the last of the acolytes. Though, one thing that was different from last time was now there was a pathway that extended under the right side of the platform that Ray and I originally found the ghost of the guardian that was held here. An open passageway for us to descend deeper into the heart of the temple as it curved like a downward spiral. At first, the way down did not seem too hard given that the only thing that blocked our path at first was a few thralls. But as we continued to go deeper, more tougher foes began to emerge. At one point, a hive Wizard and a knight were bombarding us while several hive acolytes tried to force us out of our cover and a swarm of thrall tried to rush us. Though, all this did was have Indigo’s light crackle all around her as she conjured a blade with her arc light. Using it to slice through the husks of the thrall as if she was cutting through paper. Within the time she had it active, the whole room of hive had almost been decimated as she used the last of the Light she was using to destroy the knight. Leaving me to take down the wizard by using a grenade to destroy it’s shield and then finishing the rest with my auto rifle. “Nicely done.” I complimented her. “Thanks… I could’ve used my super later on, but since we are trying to not waste time, I thought now would be more appropriate.” She replied, tilting her head towards the end of the hall as the both of us began to charge forward. In the next room, we didn’t find any hive roaming around on patrol. But we did find something that really did not look good at first glance. “Is that…?” “Hive Seeder…” Ray responded, answering Indigo’s question almost instantly. “Just like the ones invading the Cosmodrome… If we don’t end this now, then more of these would be hitting home.” All that did was just compel us to push forward even more. Taking down every Hive that we came across along the way as we re-entered the World’s Grave. This was only briefly considering the fact that it was what connected the pathway that we just came through to where Ray and Sparky were detecting the energy surge back on the surface. And when we reached the back of the room, the doors to the next room parted open as we cautiously stepped inside. In what was now coming up as the Chamber of Night, we saw three Hive Wizards that my helmet defined as ‘Siphon Witches’ and they looked to have been performing some kind of ritual on an object that was floating in the middle of the room. It was covered in black shadows as the witches began to drain something from it. If what they’re doing was what the Speaker was worried about… then we needed to put an end to this, now. “Indigo… you have a rocket launcher on you?” “Always. It’s one of the most important survival tools I have other than my knife.” She replied, pulling out her rocket launcher before asking me a question. “What’s the plan?” Around that time, I got my rocket launcher out and looked back at her. “Use the launcher to take down the first two witches and then we focus our fire on the last one. I have a feeling that these three aren’t alone, so if more come in afterwards, we dispose of them before trying to find out what exactly this thing is and why the Hive are so interested in it,” As I said that, I noticed something nearby that looked to be a terminal or something. “Sound like a plan to you?” All Indigo did was nod her head, shortly before moving to the right as I went to the left. Aiming our launchers at the two witches and opening fire as the rockets destroyed them on impact. I switched back to my auto rifle afterwards and threw out my grenade after to take down the shield on the last one before using my shotgun to take it down. But, we weren’t exactly out of this yet… because by killing them, several other chamber doors began to open as the Hive began to pour out and charge straight at us. I fired off three more rounds from my shotgun at the first few incoming hive before hearing the clicking sound of an empty magazine as I switched to my Auto Rifle, scorching another thrall to buy myself some time as Indigo was firing her Hand Cannon at the Acolytes and knights that were coming in. There were a couple times where some Cursed Thralls that I had encountered with Adagio tried to approach the hunter from her blindspot, but I was able to shoot at them before they could even get the chance to detonate. After that first set though, we soon had a lot of Hive Knights swarm in. Some with their own weapons while others had giant swords that looked to be big enough to cleave me in half. Given that two of my weapons needed to reload, I saw this as the chance for me to activate Radiance. Recharging my grenade and scorch before I began to throw several grenades at the swarm while Indigo continued to shoot them. As each one fell though, I noticed something else drop alongside the ammunition blocks that fell to the floor as I went to go grab it. Turns out… what I found was a weapon. One that was colored in camo and looked rather different than the auto rifle I was using. “Oh hey, you got a pulse rifle,” Indigo pointed out. “It looks brand new. What are the modifiers-?” She stopped partway near the end of her question to shoot a hive thrall that tried to leap up into her face as I had Ray inspect the weapon. Shortly before I saw a complete breakdown on my helmet. Weapon: SUROS JPS-32 Type: Pulse Rifle Manufacturer: SUROS Slot: Primary Modifiers: -QuickDraw IS: Agile sight. Lightning fast handling -Red Dot-OAS: Snapshot sight. Enhanced target acquisition. -Grenadier: Kills with this weapon reduce the cooldown of your grenade. -Upgrade Damage: Increases Attack Power, allowing this weapon to cause more damage. That… definitely looked like something I could use. Not to mention the fact that my new robes gave me extra pulse rifle ammo reserves. “Ray, put my Auto Rifle away. I’m going to give this weapon a shot.” “You got it.” Was the only response I got as he transmatted an ammo clip for the new weapon I was holding. If I recalled correctly from what Vinyl-3 told me when she first explained the weapon types to me, instead of this weapon being in full auto, Pulse Rifles fired their shots in bursts of three. My clip right now had about thirty six shots, so I needed to do what I could to make sure that all of them counted. As the clip I had locked into place, the third wave of hive began to storm the chamber. This time, there were no acolytes or wizards, but a massive amount of Hive Knights with a few cursed thrall hiding right behind them. Aiming my newfound rifle, I fired off several shots that were aimed specifically at the thrall while trying to strafe out of the way of the Knight’s own blasts. In my mind, since I knew that these ones could explode upon death, killing them could make the knights weaker and vulnerable to our attacks. And after the first couple of shots and two of the thralls detonating nearby their allies, it caused the knights that were originally shooting at us to stagger. Allowing for us to focus on them as I felt my grenade finish recharging. As we were fighting the knights though, I was personally still trying to adjust to the mechanics behind the newfound weapon that I was currently using. Unlike with the Auto Rifle I had, where I would just aim and hold down the trigger as I fired it, this one required for me to keep tapping the trigger after each round was fired. Which… was different, but considering the fact that the fire rate on the weapon was rather quick, it didn’t seem like much of a change. After Indigo and I took down the last of the Knights that swarmed the chamber, we got a brief moment in order to reload our weapons. But it was in this brief moment that Indigo… actually asked me a question. “Hey, how’s it going with that new weapon of yours? Still trying to get adjusted to it?” “Yeah, I haven’t really used Pulse Rifles before,” I replied back. “I’ve mostly used Auto Rifles up until this point, so it’s taking a bit in order to adjust to the weapon and how it works.” “Did you get the full-auto modifier?” That… was a question that I did not anticipate as I looked back at Indigo. A bit confused by what exactly she was talking about. “On the weapon. What modifier did you get?” “I got something that would help recharge my grenade faster.” I replied to her. “Why?” “That’s good… but Sunset, there’s something I think I should make sure to let you know when it comes to modifiers,” She replied back to me. “No two weapons or armor pieces have the same modifiers. Everything you get, whether it’s a scout rifle or a rocket launcher will have a random different set of modifiers each time. Not everything’s the same-” Before she could go any further on the explanation though, that was when both of us heard an ear piercing roar that shook the very chamber as I looked back at her. Indigo herself cursed for a moment as she looked back at me. “Let’s worry about that later. We need to deal with whatever that was if we want to try and figure out what the hell is this thing.” The final door began to split in two as both sides parted ways. Now there was an ogre storming into the room alongside a wave of hive thralls. But on my radar, this ogre actually had a name. Telthor, Unborn. And once it’s eye saw us, it unleashed a fury of blasts in our direction while we were trying to fight off the Hive. Indigo herself had the thralls chase her before jumping into the air and firing off a rocket from her launcher, but when she aimed at the Ogre, all she heard was a clicking sound. “Crap! Out of rockets!” She cursed, before switching weapons. “How many do you have, Sunset?” “I only got one!” I hastily responded, scorching one of the thralls that lunged at me before taking out two more with my shotgun. Of course, it was then that I realized something. “Ray… get me out a heavy ammo synthesis!” “For you-?” “No… Give it to Indigo,” I told him, channeling my light and activating Radiance as solar light began to surge around me. “I’m going to buy her some time.” Before Ray could even question what I was saying, I began to channel my power into throwing several solar grenades at the ogre. The flames from them burning away at the Ogre’s overly huge body as I focused each one of my throws to hit it in the eye. My plan though wasn’t necessarily to kill it, but weaken it enough so that Indigo could be able to take it down with one well placed shot of her rocket launcher. And it was around the last few seconds that I had Radiance active that I was then told something. “Alright, I’m all set. Get clear!!” Immediately, I got as far back away from the ogre as I possibly could. Turning to Indigo as she leaped into the air and fired off one last rocket. As the rocket exploded, the hulking ogre let out one last deathly howl as it disintegrated into a pile of ash and smoke. Leaving nothing behind as the hunter was able to let out a sigh of relief. Glad that it was done as she looked back to me. “Well, that’s one less hive we need to worry about… Now let's go inspect this thing and get out of here before more of them show up.” After further inspection, both of us found out that the object in question that we uncovered from within the Chamber of Night was actually from the Traveler itself. A shard of the Traveler that the Hive were using against the Traveler in an attempt to try and weaken it. Ray had it sent back to the tower shortly before we returned back to orbit and Indigo had already taken off for the tower so that she could report to the Speaker about our success. Yet, for me… something really didn’t feel right. And by now, I think Ray was noticing me being stuck in thought for the last ten minutes. “Sunset… are you okay?” I turned to my ghost, a bit surprised that he was actually showing concern for me as I let out a sigh. “Sorry I just… I can’t stop thinking about earlier…” “You mean in the Chamber?” He asked, leading me to shake my head. “No… before we even entered the temple,” I responded back to him, before looking back at the navigation console on my ship. “Even though we both don’t know who that stranger that was trying to contact us was, she went through the trouble of leaving coordinates for us… And then there was what she said.” “I remember… and I’m still trying to make sense of everything myself.” He replied. Just around the time that I was finally able to finish my thought. Around then was when I was finally able to finish thinking through what was in my head and now began to speak. “I just… think that this is something that we shouldn’t ignore,” As I was speaking, I sat back down at the helm of my ship and began to look at the interface of my vessel. “If this threat she speaks of is even more dangerous than the hive, then we need to learn what it is so the Vanguard can know. Do you still have those coordinates?” Ray nodded, scanning the navigation system of the ship as a holographic projection of Venus was now presented in front of me. “There we go.” As I punched in the coordinates and began to have my ship accelerate, I asked one more thing to Ray. “So… what should I know about Venus before we touch down?” “It was once considered as a jungle paradise during the golden age and during that time, humanity set up a scientific research colony that was built by a group called the Ishtar Collective so they can study the ruins here. Some that are supposedly older than humanity itself.” Well… this will be interesting then. Author's Note For this chapter, I had to work things around a little so that way everything would fit nicely. I was told that it would seem too early for Sunset in order to meet Aria, so with that in mind, I decided to have Sunset continue her adventure on her own and let Adagio stay at the tower. Don't worry though, she'll be back much later... she just needs a break for the moment. Also, I did kind of stretch one thing in this story so that way it would fit that I would like to clarify. I know that Destiny doesn't have an item sharing system, but I think that I don't have to strictly go by the book for this one in particular. Just to let you know. Next Chapter: A Stranger's Call Hope you guys like this one and enjoy what else I have in store. -Frost P.S. Fun question... what are your guys' favorite weapons in game, whether it be from D1 or D2? For me, since Forsaken came out, I've been having a lot of fun with the Bygones Pulse Rifle from Gambit.
12- The Stranger and The AwokenBy the time that my ship broke out of orbit and descended down towards the surface of Venus, I was a bit caught off guard by what I was seeing. In all honesty, I was expecting a rich jungle environment and vegetation based on what Ray had told me, but upon setting foot on the surface, a lot of what I found was jagged slopes of rock, burned out trees and a ocean that was the color of rust. Massive clouds lingered all around the atmosphere as I watched lightning crackle from inside those clouds. Further scans from my ship identified the chemical composite of those clouds to consist primarily of sulfuric gas that was being released from the surface of the planet into the atmosphere, with the main source being one of the mountains that had a huge glowing crack split down the middle. Which is the reason why the skyline was now a sulfuric yellow that only allowed in small amounts of sunlight to peak through the clouds as we flew over the ruins of what was once a civilization that lived on the planet's surface. And to think that such a planet was once called a ‘paradise’ for humanity and seen as the holy grail of golden age research. I wonder how Twilight would react if she found out I was here? Once I landed on my feet, Ray soon emerged out of my equipment and began to speak. “And just when I thought that everything here that was built by the Ishtar Collective was all lost during the collapse… Yet, everything here still looks as if it's seen better days.” “Ray… could you remind me what exactly was this Ishtar Collective supposed to be? I believe you only mentioned it briefly on the way here.” I asked him, holding onto my pulse rifle as I surveyed my surroundings. Looking to see if there was anything that could be seen as out of the ordinary. “We’re they like some kind of special group or something?” “You… can say that,” He replied back, before going back inside my helmet. “The Ishtar Collective was a organization during the golden age that dedicated themselves to pursuing scientific advancements and research. A school was even built here called the Ishtar Academy. We’ll probably be going through it if we’re to reach the coordinates this new ‘friend’ of ours gave us. But…” “But?” I asked, now raising an eyebrow at my ghost. “But I think you and I both can agree that we don’t like getting dragged out here and not get a lay of the land first,” That… was indeed a valid point. One in which Ray emphasized on when he continued his statement. “My sensors are picking up what was once a guardian outpost not far from where we’re at right now. Let’s go there first to see what they have on this place as well as see if we can get your sparrow linked up too.” Well, at least it beats running around on foot all the time. That's for sure. Following the main path though, I focused my efforts on making sure to get to the outpost while also keeping my guard up in case something was watching us. The amount of time that I have been out in the cosmodrome taught me that the fallen would always be the kind to scavenge ruins like the ones that we flew over, so I kept my guard up in case if they were actually here. Which was helpful because not a few moments after I began to walk through the ruins along what was now coming up as ‘The Shattered Coast’, several fallen scavengers that were hiding behind rusted and broken down cars now had their sights on me. Forcing me to quickly act as I fired several rounds into the first couple of dregs I saw before fighting against the shanks and the lone vandal that was with them. However, seeing the presence of the fallen here was kind of unsettling considering that getting to the outpost wasn’t quite as easy as I thought it would be… and the likelihood of it being trashed by the fallen was another concern. A concern that was greatly elevated when around the time that I had dispatched of the patrol I encountered and got closer to the outpost, a fallen ketch just happened to appear out of normal and bring more of them for me to face. Man, I really do not have time for this right now. So before they could even try to fire at me, I jumped up and equipped my rocket launcher. Firing off a rocket in the middle of the fallen pack as the explosion took them down in a matter of seconds. By then, their ketch had already left and since I did not see anymore of them, I believe that we’re in the clear. “That was very quick…” “We don’t have time to be held back just because a few fallen want to kill me and loot my corpse,” I told my ghost, reaching what appeared to be the outpost because of the collapsable terminal that was there. Having Ray appear in my left hand now, he took the moment to scan the console here as I kept an eye out for more fallen. Just in case if what I did earlier happened to attract more attention. And after about a minute, that was when I felt him return to me. “So, did you find anything?” “I did and a whole lot more,” he told me, just as I saw something flash on my visor. It was the same thing I saw on the moon when Ray established the link with my sparrow, which was a sign of relief. Of course, the sparrow link was not the only thing that he found. “Aside from linking your sparrow, the last Guardian here has a lot of information here about something than the fallen.” “Other than the fallen?” I asked, my tone giving the impression that I need further clarification on the matter. “Yes. There’s a lot in here about a series of … war machines, I think,” You think? Ray, I don’t need you to think right now, I need you to know- “They’re called the Vex and judging from the notes here, they are indestructible, relentless, super intelligent… and they can teleport. Well, that’s just great.” “Okay, is there some form of good news that you can tell me from that?” I asked, bringing out my sparrow as I began to take a seat and grab the handles. “Why yes actually. According to this, guardians that once came here used a series of sensors to track them. They’re currently offline right now, but I am picking up their locations. Let’s get them back online first.” A new marker appeared on my map as I went straight towards it. Avoiding the broken fissures of rock in the ground and looking back towards where the marker was. Getting off my sparrow once I got close enough and taking a moment to reload my weapons before stepping inside. The sensor that the two of us had to find was inside the second floor of what looked like the main lobby for an office building. And the only real way I can tell that was that despite everything else inside the room being destroyed, the front desk was still sturdy and looked to have not really taken any damage. Before I could have Ray bring the sensor online though, I needed to clear out the room of… you guessed it, more fallen. This time with a servitor backing them up and attempting to make them invulnerable to my attacks. Of course, one servitor and a room full of Fallen weren’t a problem when I still had my grenade and weapons to quickly dispatch of them. The solar grenade I threw at the ground not far from where I was at to keep the fallen dregs off my back as I aimed my pulse rifle at the vandals. Taking them down quickly with a few burst rounds to their heads before focusing on the servitor. The servitor itself was trying to blast me with energy that it was firing from its eye, but by moving around the complex, those same blasts were able to get blocked by the concrete pillars that held the room in place. Which, to me, seemed like a perfect plan of attack. Use the pillars to block the servitors attack, before firing back and taking advantage of the servitors own weak point. Once things were a bit cleaned up, that was when I had the chance to get Ray to visit the console on the top floor as I had the chance to look around the building some more. Though… there was something that almost caught me off guard. It looked a little bit worn and torn, but under some rubble, there looked to be what was some kind of postcard along the back wall. Man, now I was beginning to feel bad for whoever did come here to live just before the collapse. “This is so extensive…” I heard my ghost say, taking a bit longer than normal before returning back to me. “Alright, I should be able to track them now. Let’s go to the coordinates and see what this new ‘friend’ of ours wants for us to see.” I nodded in response, bringing out my sparrow again and setting off towards where we were going. Though, it only lasted a short while as the two of us reached the entrance to an underground passageway that was too narrow to have my sparrow squeeze through. Going through the tunnel though lead to us ending up inside of another building. However, this place looked to be much different. I found myself walking through the hallways of what looked like the inside of an old facility. But it was around this time that I heard Ray say something else to me. “We are definitely in the Ishtar Academy now.” “How can you tell?” I then asked, going down a set of stairs to where there was a broken statue in the center of a room. The statue itself looked almost like the one that was on the postcard that I saw. Just with a few cracks along the body and the wings of the statue were already broken off and crumbled. That was before coming out into a small clearing that was in between this building and the next one over. “You see that symbol on the next building over? Near the top?” I looked up now, noticing what looked to be a circle with a series of lines extending from the center. Four of them going in a different direction diagonally with two coming out from the left and right as Ray continued to explain. “That’s the emblem of the Ishtar Collective and the emblem that represents its archives. I saw it once on the walls in the tunnel that we just passed and two other times when in that last building.” “I’ll just… take your word for it then,” I replied back as a new marker came up. Directing me towards the second building. A few fallen were inside, but I made short work of them as I pushed through. Going up the stairs of the main plaza and following the marker. As we got closer though… that was when Ray and I found something that was… out of the ordinary to say the least. It was a pillar of white light, but it had numerous other lines moving along the outside of it. Twinkling as if it was a structure made out of glass. “Ray… what is that?” “I have no idea… but the coordinates lead us to this exact spot,” So this stranger went through all of this trouble to get our attention in order to see… a pillar? To take a page from Rainbow, that just sounds anticlimactic. “Let me take a closer look. There’s probably more to this than we might think.” At first, I thought that the idea of something that we clearly have no idea what it was sounded downright insane. Then again, we’ve kind of already did a lot of things that would also fit in that same exact category. Stepping closer, I held him out so he could examine the strange structure… and after a few seconds, he seemed to be picking up something. “Hunh… this is fascinating. Streams of non-baryonic particles are going through this conflux, but where-. Oh no...” The sound of lightning began to crack through the room as I looked up to see what appeared to be a massive grey cloud. Crackling with lightning and jagged square like lines as I backed up from the conflux. “Ray, what’s going on?!” “No no no no no!! This is bad!!” He said, just before returning to me. “It’s the Vex! They’ve found us. Find cover, now!” From the cloud, several mechanical forms began to emerge. All of them moving autonomously… moving together… towards us. My visor began to pick up two different types of these Vex. The first one, the goblin, had several of them spawn not too far from where I was at. Their right arms were a designated weapon that was aimed directly at me as they fired red bolts of energy passed my head. The second one, the hobgoblin, had what looked like horns coming out of its head and sported a tail as they were perched near the back of the library we were in. Each of them had a glowing white core that was around their stomach. However, there was one other thing about these guys that I only realized after the fact. Shooting their head off doesn’t exactly kill them… it just really pissed them off. Something that I found out firsthand when two of the goblins I thought I killed began to charge me while also firing their weapons. Forcing me to switch to my shotgun in an effort to get them to back off as I scrambled to give myself some distance. And just after taking care of those guys was a problem, more of them came in just a few seconds later. Only this time, there was one of these machines that towered over the others. It came up on my radar as a Minotaur and the blasts that it fired from its weapon were enough to rip holes through the ground and blast through the floors of the balcony looking over the room. Reducing the amount of options for me to retreat to for cover. I couldn’t even be able to get far enough away from it because a few seconds after I gained some distance, it emerges out of nowhere right in front of me and slams its fist into the ground. Now, I’m beginning to feel just as pissed of at them… as they are at me for shooting them. “Ray, activate a heavy ammo synthesis.” “Already on it. You’re clear.” the amount of rockets I had just reached max capacity as I got out my launcher, aiming directly at the minotaur and squeezing the trigger. Seconds after being fired and breaking the shield that was around it, I wasted no time loading the next one in and preparing the launcher to fire again. Turning the minotaur into scrap metal alongside the other vex that swarmed around it. The hobgoblins that were present immediately activated a solar shield to protect them from the rockets, but they couldn’t be able to protect themselves after I switched back to my pulse rifle to take them down. Now… no more of those machines came for us. And we found ourselves standing in this pit of dead robots. But now that the dust had settled… that was when Ray spoke up. “What exactly are these things? Do you see any intact that I can analyze?” Looking around, there was one goblin that still looked intact. Holding out Ray, I bent over the Vex and had him scan it. Seeing if he could find anything- “Well fought.” I stood up and turned around. Behind me was a figure. An exo who had dark leather garments all over her body that would match the appearance of a hunter as well as a hood. But it had no mask on and I could be able to see its face. It’s cold metallic eyes staring directly at me. “You’re actually here…” I replied, a bit surprised. I was going to add more, but before I could say anything, the stranger cut me off. “I am… but not for long. We haven’t gotten much time.” Okay, but could you at least answer a couple of simple questions for us? I mean, you had us come all the way out here and the least you could do is answer them. “Who are you?” “And why have you been watching us-?” “Look. I don’t have the time to explain why I don’t have the time to explain,” the stranger retorted, before looking away as I heard a faint buzzing in her ear. Almost as if there was someone else talking to her. “I got it. I will. I know.” “Got what?” Ray asked. “I wasn’t talking to you, little light.” Little light? I… have to admit, that sounded like a good nickname for Ray all things considered. “I’m a Ghost, actually-” “I think she already knows that.” I told him, just before the stranger picked up where she left off. “Many guardians fell trying to come here. Strong ones too. But you made it here in one piece-” Again, she turned away, talking to whoever was on the other end of her com line. Ray however, became a bit too curious about her. Floating around the exo’s head and beginning to speak to himself. “Who is she talking too?” That stray comment had the exo lift up her head and upon noticing Ray, pushed him aside before turning her attention back towards me. “Guardian, you need my help.” “Is that why you brought us out here?” I then asked, just as I noticed the goblin that Ray and I were looking at begin to twitch all over the ground. Catching the attention of the stranger as she moved over to it. “They brought us here,” She corrected me, before bending down to see the goblin, struggling in pain. “The Vex… They are constantly simulating. Constantly learning. Evil so dark that it despises other evil.” That… was when Ray said something that… definitely threw me off guard. I didn’t realize it at first when we originally met her. But based on how she was acting, I now could see what it was. “You’re… You’re not a guardian. Are you?” At first, the exo just stood there and remained silent. But then she turned her head back towards us. “No. I was not blessed by your traveler… Nor was I forged in light,” Looking back down at the Vex, she moved her right arm behind her to her utility belt and unhooked something that was hidden under her cloak. “But, I believe that when our paths cross, Ground…” The very next moment, I watched as she whipped out a knife and drove it into the center of the Vex. The white like core rupturing as whatever was inside splattered all over the ground like blood. The goblin itself let out a screech as it died. “... could break.” Pulling out the blade, she put the knife away before turning back to us. Asking a question that I… didn’t exactly have the answer too. “Do you know of the Black Garden?” “We’ve heard of the legends.” Hold up. We? What do you mean by ‘we’, Ray? Are you trying to put words in my mouth or something? “The greatest threat to us all lies where these machines are born. Where they are brought into this world,” The Stranger retorted while also saying something else. “Find the Black Garden… and once you do… rip out its heart. Only then will your Traveler’s wounds will begin to heal.” That sounded alright. However, there was something that I needed to know. “Can you help us find where it is?” The exo shook her head, its eyes closing for a short moment as it spoke. “My path is my own. I can’t come along with you.” Well, I guess that rules out that option then. And we don’t quite have any alternatives that can serve as a plan b. Well, more like I don’t have any alternatives. Though, it seemed like Ray was pondering something as he turned back towards me. Hopefully, he had some kind of fallback plan as to what we had to do next. “If we’re going to need to find the black garden, then we will need to see the Awoken out in the Reef.” Wait… the Reef? “Ah yes, the Awoken,” The Stranger retorted, “Out there, wavering between the light and the dark. A side should be taken… even if it is the wrong si-” However, before she could finish, that was when something on her com line went ablaze. Because the moment she turned around, she quickly armed herself with the weapon that was on her back and was already walking away. A blue-light silhouette forming around her. “Too late? Returning now. How many are there? … Stay right where you are, kill the engines, and whatever you do, don’t let them find you!” And just as quick as she was here, the stranger was gone in the blink of an eye. Leaving just the two of us among the broken disassembled bodies of Vex. “So… Ray… Could you explain to me what this Reef is? And more importantly, what in the world is the Black Garden?” “Stories from the old warlock named Mistmane say that it was a place that was created because of the Traveler’s actions on Mars. But that’s all that they are… Stories,” Ray replied back. “The only ones who could possibly know about it are the Awoken that live in the Reef. It’s out on the edge of the darkness and its seen as the last place that the light has ever touched.” Pausing for a moment, my ghost looked back at the whole mess that was in front of us, before asking what I thought was a bit of a rhetorical question. “Can’t we just stay here with all the murderous robots?” Looking back at him, I only had one answer for him as I placed my pulse rifle on my back. “No… Little Light.” “Please, don’t do that.” By the time that we arrived back to my ship and began to get settled in, we were now orbiting the planet of Venus, Ray was already beginning to set up the ship’s navigation system so that we could head directly towards the Reef. The place at the edge of the system where the Awoken reside. In my mind, I was trying to think about how to think everything through so that I don’t end up saying anything I would regret later. Unfortunately, before I could go anywhere… That was when something was coming through on my navigation unit and Ray materialized right next to me. “Incoming transmission from the tower. I believe the Vanguard is trying to get ahold of us.” And just before I could say anything, that was when I began to pick up the voice of who exactly was trying to contact me. And right away, I could tell that this wasn’t good. “Sunset? Sunset, where in the world have you been?!” I heard the voice of Twilight shout at me, before she began to calm herself down. “After your mission on the moon, no one’s been able to get a hold of you for the last two hours. And just what in the world are you doing by Venus anyways?” “That… is a lot to explain.” I told her. “I got time…” “Well, I don’t exactly have that.” I said at first, before taking a deep breath. “When on the moon, we got a transmission from someone. Someone who left us a series of coordinates to Venus. When we went to investigate, we were attacked by a group of enemies that are called the Vex. And when we met this stranger, she told us something important.” “Wait… How important? I mean, I partially know of the Vex because of the research that the tower has from some of the members of the Ishtar Collective after the collapse but…” Things went silent for a moment, but then I got an idea. “Ray, do you have audio from our conversation earlier?” All my ghost did was nod his head, before I spoke up. “Play back the clip from when she told us what we need to do in concern with the traveler.” At first, Ray was a bit puzzled as to why… but after a moment, he complied as he went over to my ship's computer and scanned it. Before a segment of our conversation began to play. “Do you know of the Black Garden?” “We’ve heard of the legends.” “The greatest threat to us all lies where these machines are born. Where they are brought into this world. Find the Black Garden… and once you do… rip out its heart. Only then will your Traveler’s wounds will begin to heal.” The audio clip soon ended and with it, Twilight gasped. Almost like she had heard an omen of some sorts. But it was then that she had a different question for us. “Did this… person offer their help?” “She said that she couldn’t, but Ray has an idea of where we can start looking for the Black Garden,” I responded back, pressing a few buttons as Ray interacted with the ships navigation system. “He said that the best place for us to start looking is to go to the Reef and visit the Awoken.” For a moment, I heard Twilight gasp. Almost as if what I told her just happened to scare the living out of her. But after a couple of moments and as my ship began to head out of orbit and towards our destination, that’s when she cleared her throat and began to speak again. “Sunset, I… know that what you are doing is important. Just… please be careful. The Awoken out in the Reef are not as friendly like those in the tower. In fact, if you ask for their help, they would always want something in exchange. And they will see it through to the end… I have to go, Flash is calling a meeting. I’ll try to look at any information here in the archives on the garden, just-” Then, the transmission was abruptly cut. Our ship began to slow down, approaching what looked like a cosmic void. Pieces of what used to be ships were scattered all over the place as I slowly moved forward. “Ray… what is all of this?” “Every ship that tried to flee Earth during the collapse… This is as far as they made it out here, but… I think they died out here.” He told me, as we passed through two huge plates of what looked to be some kind of passenger ship. “This… place is a graveyard…” I gasped, looking around while trying to stay on course. “But if this is true… how did the Awoken survive?” “No one knows how-” He said, before stopping and looking to my navigation unit. “Sunset, stop the ship now.” “What-?” I looked toward my ships radar, only to find that two red markers had just appeared behind me. For a moment, I felt that I needed to turn around and see them, but that was before a new voice was blasting on my comline. “Intruder bearing one-seven-two, you have crossed into the realm of the Awoken. Either state your business now or be fired on by the order of the Queen.” I immediately looked towards Ray, almost as if I wanted for him to demand an explanation. But when was short for words, I had to get to the comline to respond. “We are here from Earth. We wish to seek the counsel of the Awoken.” Shortly after I said that, both of the ships that were originally behind me began to circle back around… before they responded back to me. “Conform to my trajectory. Any deviation from my course will be taken as an act of aggression.” Now both ships moved to the front and began to lead the way as I took over the controls of the ship. Carefully following them as I looked back to Ray. “Well, I think both of us found the right place.” “Yeah, but why is the ‘right place’ always have to look so terrifying?” He asked me as we began to continue following the two ships as we went into the loading bay that was here. Before leaving though, I made sure that I left my weapons behind. If I were to show that I was here for counsel, then I should do all that I can to not provoke any ‘acts of aggression’ with my appearance as I followed the guards that came out of their own vessels. By the Traveler, I think I’m beginning to sound like Rarity. I mean… acts of aggression based on my appearance? Really? “So… these are the trespassers that are demanding an audience?” My attention was soon directed towards the one who was in front of me. An awoken, whose appearance and light armor made me think that he was some kind of hunter. But I did not feel any light from him. Nor did I see anything that would be a ghost. Aside from the armor, he had the grey/white like skin that comes with being an awoken, washed orange eyes and his hair was a dark faded purple as he sat on the steps of what appeared to be an empty throne. “We did not mean to trespass-.” I told him in response while Ray was floating right beside my head. “The Queen is the one who judges those who wish to enter her realm. Seeing if they are or aren’t worthy,” The figure spoke, getting up off the floor as he slowly approached us. “If it were me though… I honestly see no reason for her to to be available to those who wash up upon the shores of The Reef. And yet, here we are.” “We’ve come seeking your help-” I told him in response, noticing something move behind the throne. As this… person that I was talking to turned around, that was when I saw something that caught me by surprise. But not as much as it caught Ray off guard. “Fallen-!” “Ray, wait!” I said, stopping him from doing anything. It looked like in that moment, he was going to transmat one of the weapons I kept on the ship. There were indeed fallen in the vicinity. But something was different about the two that we were seeing. Normally, Fallen would immediately attack us on sight if they see someone like us. But these ones just stood by the throne, as if they were guarding it. “Something’s… different. They’re not attacking us, so the last thing we should do is attack them.” “Well now, aren’t you an interesting one,” We both now heard a second voice, turning our attention to the throne as another awoken stepped out from behind it. Her eyes were a fading blue and her hair was similar to the color of that for the first Awoken we saw. A fading light purple, which was similar to that of the color of her skin. “Others like you would immediately succumb to fear and let it provoke their actions. But this one… this one is different.” As I say that, both of the vandals standing behind her stood at attention. Their spears standing up as if they were elite guards to the queen. I was still trying to process how this Awoken could have Fallen serve under her, but that was not important right now. “Tell me… are you one of the nameless… or are you not like the others you fight alongside?” Now it was time for me to speak. “My name is Sunset Shimmer… I am a guardian from Earth.” I told her in response. “So it does have a name,” She responded, amused by my response. “Well then, I am Novo Sov. Queen of the Reef and of my people. Now… what could someone like you possibly want from my people?” “We’ve come to ask for assistance. My ghost and I… We are searching for the Black Garden.” There was a brief pause. Some whispers from the guards as the male awoken approached us. Moving closer as he asked us a question. “And why are you searching for it?” “We seek to destroy the darkness at its heart.” Ray now replied as I nodded my head in response. “So you wish to turn it into a battleground,” He asked, shaking his head in response as if what we said to him was disappointing. “How tedious.” And now I get the feeling that this guy is holding something back from us. Like he knows something about the garden and is trying to keep it a secret. “Do you know where it is?” “Everyone knows where it is,” He spoke again. “The hard part though is getting inside.” “Can you help us?” That question had him now glare daggers directly at Ray and I. Almost as if he wanted nothing to do with us. His tone sounding much more agitated with each word he spoke. “And just why… would we… do that?” “The queen wishes to seek counsel with her brother-in-law,” We both heard Novo speak up. There was a brief pause, but when the other awoken did not move, that was when she spoke again. “Stratus…” The other awoken, nodded his head in response. “At once, your grace,” He replied back, before walking over and kneeling before her. Both awoken began to converse amongst themselves, making Ray and I look at each other and wonder what exactly they were discussing. But after a couple of moments… the tone from Stratus abruptly began to revert back to when we first met him. “Yes… that’s good. That’s definitely good,” He said, turning around to face us again. “Why not? We’ll help craft you a key for you to go inside… How’s that? There’s just one thing that we need in order to build it.” “And what would that be?” I asked. “The head of a Vex Gate lord.” “Uh… A Gate lord?” Ray asked, now sounding nervous at the mention of that. “May I ask why do you need the head of a Vex?” I then asked. “Oh we don’t… And I doubt we’ll get one. But what’s inside that head is your only way of getting into the garden.” Wow… out of all the people I’ve met so far after coming back to life, this guy is the one who’s a straight up asshole. Putting that aside though, all I did was nod my head. “We will bring you what you asked for.” But before we left, we heard one last cheery remark from Stratus. “… Or die on Venus, either way.” Author's Note This time around, I did a 2-for-1 special. Since I really felt that doing the ‘Awoken’ as its own chapter was too short and out of place, I thought it would be better to include it here than drag it on a bit longer. So with the bigger threat now out in the open, Sunset has to do whatever she can to seek the Black Garden and put an end to whatever’s going on inside. Only then will the Traveler truly begin to heal. -Frost Fun fact... When Novo asks about if Sunset Shimmer is ‘nameless’, its referred to the fact that when most guardians are first brought to life, they don’t remember anything from their past. Sunset and a few others in this story are the only exceptions.
13- Eye of a Gate LordAuthor's Note Alright. For this chapter, I decided that instead of dragging through the mission that would take place before this one, I would cut ahead to where the most important pieces take place in terms of the story. I'm doing this same thing in regards to Strikes, because how I choose what chapters to do and which ones not to do will be based on what's mostly important to the overall story. For now though, we find Fireteam Harmony following through on getting the head of the Gate Lord that's needed so Novo can forge them the Key to the Black Garden... and end up messing around with things that should've been left alone in the first place. Until next time! -Frost 13- Eye of a Gate Lord After our meeting with the Awoken and their queen, I needed to fill in Twilight on what exactly happened while I was in the Reef. As we were talking, the warlock vanguard also informed me on a few things that she did while I was gone. First, she happened to inform the other two members of my fireteam about my encounter with the Vex on Venus and my meeting with the Stranger. Of course, they both really weren’t sure whether or not to believe the claims that the Stranger made, but they were more than up for taking on the Vex. Before we could fight a gate lord though, we needed to find it… as well as find out how to summon it. Which, lead to our fireteam doing what may be called the Vex equivalent of brain surgery. Ray, Winona and also Sparky all collectively told us that in order for us to find out how exactly these things operated, we needed to crack open the biggest one we could find, take its brain and plug it into the research station on Venus called Campus 9. Which, on the surface, sounded crazy… but after finding a Vex Cyclops on the Shattered Coast and actually going through with it, we not only found out what to do now… but we also possibly why the Stranger was so worried about them. From what we were able to gather, the Vex terraformed the garden world of Mercury. Transforming it into a living machine in only a matter of days after the Collapse and if it weren’t for the Traveler, they would’ve quickly spread to every planet in our solar system. And all of the vex share a single a single mind across millions of their own units, which was the reason why they were able to react so quickly and warp across star systems in an instant. Though, there was one thing that we can do in order to lure out the Gate Lord we needed to kill. Since each vex is part of a giant network that courses throughout the whole planet, all we needed to do was find a way to break into their network intentionally. That way, we can draw out the Gate Lord and get what we needed for the key. Upon touching down on the surface of the Headlands again, Ray voluntarily placed a marker for us in the direction we were headed. Which prompted Indigo to get on her sparrow and take off first with Mac and I chasing after her. But while en-route, we had to stop for a moment to fight off a camp of fallen that was set up, before ditching our sparrows all together and just beginning to run on foot. Once we approached what appeared to be a huge Vex construct that appeared on our directory as ‘The Citadel’, that was when Indigo broke the silence and asked something. “So, Ray… what were you, Sparky and Winona able to uncover on these ‘Gate Lords’? I want to have some kind of idea as to what exactly we are up against before running in recklessly.” I agree with her on that. Though, it was rather strange to hear that from Indigo of all people. If anything, based on what I saw her do in the crucible, she’s the one who normally runs in head first recklessly. Bzzt. Beep Beep. “Well, Sparky was the one who found out the information out of everything we’ve uncovered, so let me say what we have,” Ray then spoke up shortly after hearing Sparky beep a few times. “They are a special class of Vex minotaurs. Over three stories tall. Their primary function… No, no, that can’t be right… can it?” “What can’t be right?” Mac now asked, sounding puzzled. “It says here that the Gate Lords protect the realms that… the vex keep locked out of time.” Hold on… time? As in time travel? That… just sounds way too complex to understand. “Let’s not focus on that right now… I’m picking up a heavy vex conflux not far from here. Get one of us to it and we can be able to access their network.” “Ah got it,” I looked over to see that Mac was the closest to the conflux, bringing out Winona so she could infiltrate the network that the conflux was connected to. We waited for a few moments, but then, we saw her return back to the defender before speaking up. “And ah thought you had the hard job… Okay, ah got some good news and some bad news. Good news is that ah know where we need to go in order to drag out that Gate Lord. We’re looking for a place called the ‘Endless Steppes’,” She told us, before letting out… whatever sound is made when a ghost sighs as she gave us the bad news. “However, bad news is that in order for me to find it, I had to fiddle around with their entire transfer gate network.” “Meaning…?” Indigo impatiently asked. “The closer we get there, the more that yer going to have your hands full.” Well… this will be fun then. And not in a good way. Even Indigo could tell that things were going to get rough for us and Mac was not exactly happy about the news either. But we don’t really have a choice now, do we? Though, making our way out of the Citadel and towards Campus 9 was actually simpler than I thought, because along the path we were taking, we always found small puddles and rivers of rust colored water. Of course, normally seeing water like that back when I was alive meant something different entirely, but right now, the rivers were pointing in the direction of the marker that our ghosts had already established. So, using this, we followed the river out of the citadel, into a settlement called the ‘Waking Ruins’, where we found ourselves another river to follow as it guided us right to the outer edge of our first destination. Of course, our troubles first began upon reaching the research station in Campus 9. When we were originally here to grab all the information we could off of a Vex Mind, we had to deal with the Fallen that were trying to scavenge what was left of the place for parts. Now, the only enemies that we were picking up on our radar were from what looked like an active vex… portal of sorts that was to the left of the station. Several goblins, a hobgoblin and a few harpies had already spawned and just as we got closer, all of them picked up on where we were. “Ray, what’s the plan here?” I asked, before the three of us split off in order to find cover. The goblins and harpies were already beginning to fire at us, while the hobgoblin fired a shot that barely grazed the edge of Mac’s helmet. Gripping onto my Pulse Rifle and beginning to fire back at the Vex, a pair of goblins crumbled down to the floor, but were replaced when three more emerged from that gate. “The gates are waking! More of the Vex are going to keep on spawning here if we don’t shut down the gates,” I heard him say, before marking the gate that we were not far away from. “We’ll mark each one of the active gates that we find. Just focus on making sure they’re shut down for good!” “Hey, Mac! Sunset! I got an idea,” I heard Indigo speak up. Turning around, I saw her bringing out her rocket launcher and loading a round in the barrel chamber as she asked the titan and I a question. “Try to get those scrap heaps to focus on you guys. If they focus on you two and Mac activates his super, then I can fire off one of my rockets to destroy that gate without them even paying attention to me-.” “That ain’t gonna work,” Mac responded, shaking his head as he looked back at both of us. “Ah can’t activate mah Ward of Dawn yet since it isn’t fully charged-” “Then use your grenades, your machine gun, use anything that you got on hand in order to keep them off my back. It doesn’t have to be specific,” The hunter interjected, before looking back towards the Vex that were spawning briefly. She then turned back towards us, but more specifically, to me “Those rust buckets are gonna catch on if we stand around here and drag it out too long. What’s the plan, Shimmy?” Now it was my turn to say something as I reloaded my rifle. “Mac, you’re with me. Indigo, we’ll try to buy you as much time as possible. Just make sure you tear down that gate.” “Got it!” Once we heard those two words from Indigo, Mac and I immediately got to work on drawing the attention of the Vex. I was mainly using my rifle while also using my solar grenade for when a group of goblins began to close in on my locations, while Mac was using his fusion rifle to vaporize each one that came too close to him and punched anything else. As we took them down, we heard the sound of a rocket being launched as an explosion went off. Destroying the gate as Indigo raced back over to join us. “One down, where’s the next one?” “To your left and up on the ledge,” Ray then answered my question. “Careful though, you got two minotaurs inbound.” Luckily, Mac still had his Magnetic Grenade on hand for this one both Minotaurs began to make their way towards us. Throwing it at them, the titan’s grenade stuck onto the first Minotaur, but exploded twice. Taking down both of their shields and making them vulnerable to our weapons. But they didn’t really quite take it well because they ended up charging at us once the shields were down. Forcing me to switch to my shotgun and fire a few rounds into their metallic chests to try and get them to back off. It worked on the first one… though, it didn’t really work so much on the second one as I felt the Minotaur strike me across my left shoulder. Throwing me back a few feet as I felt a surge of pain through my body. “Sunset, find cover. I can heal your injuries, but I can’t do it while you’re out in the open!” “Hang in there, we’ll cover for ya!” I heard Mac shout now as he switched weapons. I half expected for the weapon he was using to be a pulse rifle, since that was what I saw him use last time. However, the weapon that he was holding was much different than before. It was a faded dark green scout rifle that he was using to aim at the weak points of the Vex. Taking each one down with a couple of explosive precision shots, which I found surprising given that he was able to do it so quickly… with a scout rifle no less. Well, since I wasn’t really doing much considering my current position, I decided to take a look at the weapon that Mac had and see what kind of modifiers it had. Weapon: Gladius 77 Type: Scout Rifle Manufacturer: Unknown Slot: Primary Modifiers: -SureShot IS: Snapshot sight. Excellent handling. Superb target acquisition. -Red Dot ORS1: Precision sight. Highest zoom in class. Enhanced range. -Ranged Lens RLS3: Mid-range scope. Good effective range and recoil control. Heavy and slow. -Rangefinder: Aiming this weapon increases its effective range. -Fitted Stock: Increases weapon stability. -Explosive Rounds: Volatile payload explodes on impact, dealing a portion of the weapon's damage in an area I blinked for a moment. Just… how did he have that much perks on a single weapon? Sure, some of them can only be active at a time, but the thought of a weapon having that much customization just baffles me. But now was not the time to be thinking of that. Because I was beginning to feel the last of the pain go away as I looked back at my fireteam. Jumping back into the firefight as I began to aim at the Vex. The second gate was already out of commission, but we needed to clear out everything here before going to the next gate. “Geez, just how many of these things did you screw around with Winona?” I heard Indigo ask as the three of us went around the backside of the second gate, only to come across a third gate shortly afterwards as more Harpies were closing in on us. “Everywhere we go, the Vex just seem to show up out of nowhere!” “I can’t really say how many but-” For a moment, the ghost was interrupted as we heard the sounds of beeps coming from Sparky. Which immediately had Winona correct herself shortly afterwards. “Wait… how many? And you’re sure about this? … Well, alright. Sparky says that he’s detecting four other gates. Some within close proximity of one another, but with a lot of Vex around them.” Of course there would be a lot of them. You did kick up a robotic hornets nest after all, Winona. So thanks… thanks a lot. Back to the task at hand, we applied the same plan that we had done with the first two gates to each of the other ones that we had to take down. The only difference being that Indigo and I would trade off when it came to taking down the gates with our rocket launchers while Mac himself continued to have the Vex focus on him. Whether it would be through throwing grenades, punching their metallic heads off or using his weapons to turn them into nothing but spare parts. The plan was working, but around the time that we reached the sixth gate, that was when we came across a Vex that was different than the others. This one was much bigger, floating in place and had weapons on the sides of its metal chassis. But the thing that made it stand apart from every other Vex was that it had some kind of rotating shield around the body. And when we tried to fire our weapons at it, the shots were blocked. It was a shield that we couldn’t break on our own, alongside a metal body that was much durable than others. This one also had a different name. It was called a Hydra. It took us a while in order to defeat it, but even after its body was destroyed, that was when we realized how lethal it was. At first, Indigo was walking past it as the outer body was beginning to glow bright red. Prompting Mac to run and push her out of the way before his body was tossed like a ragdoll as the Hydra exploded. Which left Indigo and I staring at one another as we saw Winona floating there. “Did… he just…?” “Yeah yeah yeah, he died saving your butt just now. Can ya hurry up and revive Mac already? We don’t got all day.” Winona impatiently snapped. Oh, so that’s what happens when you do die as a guardian. Something tells me that Ray forgot to mention this… or anything regarding the subject. Extending my hand forward, I felt my light began to channel around my outstretched palm and around Winona, before Mac began to re-materialize and take form right in front of us. His armor looked a bit charred, but the smoke and dust began to fade away as he looked back at Indigo. “Next time, please be careful around anything like that okay?” “Yeah, yeah… I think I learned my lesson now,” The hunter just grumbled, emptying the rounds in her hand cannon before going through an opening between two of the walls in the ruins as she began to scout ahead. For a moment, we thought she decided to walk off without us out of frustration… that was, until she said something that caught our attention. “Uh guys… You might want to come take a look at this.” Upon hearing that, Mac and I looked back at each other as I shrugged for a moment, walking towards where Indigo was standing at. However, neither of us honestly expected to see what was waiting for us at the end. It was a vex gate, but unlike all the other gates, this one was three times as big. And the fact that we could see the gate being active was not a good sign either. “Ray, I thought Winona said that there were six active gates.” “There were… And this is the Endless steps. That’s the gate we need to bring out the gate lord,” He told us, sending a shiver down my spine. “And we have a small army of Vex between us and that gate. Just brilliant.” “So yeah, no pressure or anything.” Really Winona, was now the right time in order to try to say that? After Mac just threw himself in front of Indigo only a few minutes ago? By the Traveler, you’re bad at timing. Once more, we had to fight more of the vex troops that we found earlier. Luckily, there were no Minotaurs or Hydras in this group. Just a mixture of Goblins and Harpies with a few Hobgoblins stationed around the platforms as if they were on lookout for intruders. Which was simple enough, but we still had to keep our guard up just in case something did happen to surprise us once we got closer to this gate. Though, even after taking out the surrounding Vex, it didn’t really seem like anything was happening. The only thing that stood out was this red ring of light that was on the ground in front of the gate. “So… what exactly is supposed to happen now?” “I… think we’ll need to stand on that plate to summon it.” Well… we did come this far, so there’s no point in trying to back out now. Following Ray’s advice, I stepped forward into the circle. The red ring from before began to lower and change as a new ring of white light began to take form and slowly rise. Seeing this, Mac and Indigo joined me as the ring of light began to rise. Once the ring was around our waists, that was when it began to lower back down and when the energy within the gate began to churn and activate. Watching as mounds of energy from the gate began to materialize and take form. First; it was the chassis, then the arms and legs began to materialize and the head was last. It’s darkened metal body towering over the three of us as it landed on the ground and stared us down with the only eye that was on its head. This gate lord was much taller than the minotaurs that we had been fighting so far as now we could see its name appear on my visor. Zydron, Gate Lord. “Well, here we go.” The moment when I heard Ray say that, the Gate Lord immediately began to attack us. Without warning, it began to fire off a series of blasts from the weapon that it was holding. What was referred to as a ‘Torch Hammer’ because of how deadly its shots were and how easily it can tear away at our shields. This pre-emptive attack by the gate lord forced us to immediately scramble and find cover, while trying to avoid getting hit by its attacks. “What’s the plan here, Sunset?!” I heard Indigo yell from behind a stone column. Just a few meters from where I was at. “We need to return fire and fast,” I responded, before deciding to ask a question to my ghost. “Ray, can you tell if it has any weak points?” “Based on its appearance, the white core that’s in its chassis is the likely best scenario. However, we need to keep in mind that it has most of the standard functions of a Vex Minotaur, but it does not have a shield protecting it. Likely because of how highly durable it is.” Wait, it doesn’t? Turning my head, I peaked out of cover and looked at the Gate Lord. Before aiming my pulse rifle and firing three bursts. Those shots hit their target, while also getting the Gate Lord’s attention as I went back to cover. “Alright, no shield, highly durable… We can work with that,” Looking back at Indigo, I now finally could say something. “Both of you do whatever you can to weaken it, but make sure you keep your distance and don’t let it get close to you!” “You got it!” Now hearing this, Indigo jumped out from behind cover. Readying her hand cannon as she fired off several rounds at the Gate Lord, all while she was movie out of the way to try and avoid the blasts that were being fired at her. Mac and I were also doing the same thing, while trying to back up away from the gate lord to avoid getting crushed by it if we got too close. At one point though when we were fighting, that was when the Gate Lord emitted a loud shriek… and with it, I heard the cracking of static and electricity. “Guys, stay alert! I think it’s calling for help!!” Moments later, I hear the sound of Vex goblins and Vex harpies spawning in and the bolts from their weapons flying past my head. Forcing me to take my eyes off the Gate Lord to deal with them first as I conjured my solar grenade and tossed it towards them. The flames burning away at their metal husks as I quickly shot a burst of ammo into their chests to take them down quickly. Once they were out of the way, I turned my attention back to the Gate Lord. Reloading my weapon first before engaging it once more. Several more vex began to spawn, including a few hobgoblins on the blocks that were not far from us as they tried taking aim and pinning us down with suppressing fire. This time, Big Mac switched weapons to his fusion rifle to make short work of the hobgoblins and threw his Magnetic Grenade at the other Vex that were trying to close in on our position. Indigo herself also lent a hand by throwing out her skip grenade towards some of the Vex that were trying to shoot from my blindspot as I activated Radiance, using the power of my super to conjure several grenades as I began throwing them outward and having them land at the feet of the gate lord as the solar orbs that lingered there burned away at its body. We continued to trade off who would focus on the extra Vex troops that would spawn in the area with who would focus on the gate lord, with Mac even going as far as to activate his Ward of Dawn in case we needed to find extra cover for just a brief moment. But after a few more intense firefights with the rest of the Vex and firing off almost all of the heavy ammunition that we had, something happened. The gate lord’s body began to explode and crumble apart as the energy from the gate began to go haywire. Sucking everything in, including the battered body of the giant Vex minotaur we just killed as we watched its head be severed off and fall on the ground. Which… had Ray let out a sigh of relief now that this battle was finally over. “Great job everyone. We’re all still alive, the activity from the Vex Gates have ceased for now and we have the head of the gate lord. Nice work.” “Let’s hope that this head will be worth almost getting killed over,” Indigo grumbled. “Because it would be a real dick move if we bring this and then this queen says that she didn’t need it in the first place.” “Indigo, trust me,” I let out a sigh as I looked back at her and placed my rifle on my back. “If the stakes weren’t as high as they are right now, I wouldn’t even have considered going this far in the first place. Plus… the only way that we’re going to get into the Black Garden is that if the queen makes the key we need. Let’s just hope that she keeps her promise.” “Speaking of which,” Big Mac now spoke up as he looked back at me. “Is there anything we should know about this queen before we meet her?” That had me look back at both of them for a moment, before nodding my head. “A few things… I’ll tell you on the way.” The Reef “She’s alive,” Were the first words that we heard as we walked through the hall of Queen Novo’s throne room. Unarmed like before, we approached the queen, who still had the two fallen vandals standing guard next to her as well as her advisor, Stratus. “And still has her ball. Not to mention some others alongside her.” As Stratus turned around, I saw that his eyes were looking towards my hands. Almost as if he was expecting for me to be holding onto the head myself as he smirked and looked back at us. “There is no shame in running, Guardian. It is an excellent strategy if you ignore your cowardice and the failure of it-” Now it was time for me to do the talking. “What leads you to think that we ran away?” Both Novo and Stratus paused for a moment, exchanging puzzling looks before the queen asked a question. “You don’t think they slayed a gate lord, Stratus?” “Oh, we definitely did,” Indigo now spoke up. “In fact, we have proof.” The sound of that had a small smile of amusement emerge on Novo’s face, looking at the bladedancer before turning her attention to me. Leading me to speak next. “Ray. If you please…” My ghost nodded, before glowing for a brief moment as he teleported the head that we acquired right at the base of Novo’s throne. As it crashed, all of us could see the stunned expressions of Novo, Stratus and her fallen guards. “We need to find the black garden.” After I re-emphasized my point, Stratus just looked back at us now, before grinning a small bit. “Hunh… They don’t even know where it is-” “Then let us tell them,” Novo interjected as Stratus looked back towards the Awoken Queen. “Search the Gate Lord for where they may gain entrance.” Now Stratus turned to face the queen, his voice sounding irritated and annoyed as he glared at Novo. “Why?! If you want to wish them certain death, then just kill them here where they stand-” “Often, when we guess and assume the motives of others, we unintentionally reveal our own.” The single statement was followed by an intense glare from Novo as he began to kneel. Which made me think it was a sign of sincerity, since his next reply was much calmer than before. “Loyalty is my only motivation. To a people, to a queen, to you…” “Then please,” Novo spoke as she looked back at the advisor kneeling before. “Take what is required.” For a moment, it seemed like Stratus was questioning whether or not to follow through with what Novo was saying. But afterwards, he got up and approached the Gate lord head that was on the floor. Knife in hand as it was plunged deep into the head, cutting through the insides of what was in there as he pulled out its eye. Which glowed red while it was on the floor, but upon holding it up, soon went dark. “Dead… unfortunately,” He said with a smirk on his face. “Your efforts were in vain, I’m afraid.” Before either Mac or Indigo could act, that was when Novo spoke again as she looked back at her advisor. “Perhaps, but with them going this far to get it, it proves that they are resourceful,” She replied as Stratus turned his head towards her again. “In sympathy for their traveler, we shall gift it to them.” Once again, Stratus looked distraught. But it was only briefly, for then we finally got an answer that could get us somewhere. “Mars. Eighty-four north, thirty-two east. Meridian Bay.” He tossed the eye directly at us, which Big Mac caught with one hand as the queen stood up from her throne. Looking at the three of us with a pair of serious eyes. “Through this act of generosity, I have shown you benevolence. And in return, should the Awoken ever need an ally, I will call on you three and expect an answer.” Big Mac nodded his head and Indigo did the same. Even though Stratus had something else to say in that moment, I kind of already knew what it meant. Through this, we are in debt to Novo and her people. And the only way that it can be repaid is that if we answer her summons. “I understand. Thank you, your grace.” I bow in response for a moment, before the three of us begin to turn around and leave, with Ray following right behind me. I could hear Stratus trying to wish us good luck as we left, but something told me that after the exchange that we saw between him and Novo, he still was not found of us. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he kept something to himself about where we needed to go next.
15- The Black GardenMoments after Ray and I initially arrived in this place, it took both of us some time to try and figure out exactly where we were. The first thing that we attempted to do was try and make contact with the rest of my fireteam to let them know I was okay. We tried reaching out to Mac, Indigo and even tried getting in contact with Twilight and the vanguard, but each one of our attempts were unsuccessful. Ray tried recommending for us to get to a better vantage point to see if we could try contacting them again, but in my mind, doing that right now wouldn’t exactly help us right now if we kept trying all over again. Yet, aside from the communication issues, the fact that we ended up in a place like this after jumping through a Vex Gate that only a gate lord could access led to me coming to one solid conclusion. This was the Black Garden. The very thing that the Stranger had told us about. To me, I saw this as a relief. Because it meant that all of the trouble that my fireteam and I had to go through on Venus, Mars and also making a deal with Queen Novo had paid off. Yet, for Ray, his thoughts on the matter were somewhat different from mine. “This is beyond what I was expecting.” “Something the matter, Ray?” I asked, holding out my left hand as he began to materialize over my palm. “No, no. It’s just… I can’t seem to get a grasp as to where we are right now,” He explained to me. If a Ghost can feel uncertain about something, then right now, he was definitely showing that to me. “If this really is the Black Garden, then it’s not recorded on any map known to Space and Time. It’s, in a sense, it’s own reality. It’s something that I’m having trouble making sense of.” All I could do in that moment was let out a brief sigh, taking a look around for a moment before turning my attention back to Ray. “Since when have the Vex made any sense?” Ray just narrowed his gaze and looked away for a couple of seconds, possibly to try and come up with some kind of retort. But after a bit of thinking, his gave me an answer. “Fair point.” “Besides, if this is the Black Garden, then its heart has got to be around here somewhere,” I reasoned with him, while taking a look back at the pulse rifle that was in my other hand. “How many ammo synthesizers do we have right now?” “Five for primary, four for special, though we only have two for heavy ammo and we’re currently low on rockets right now.” “Let’s save that for later,” My response was followed by Ray returning back to my equipment as I tightly gripped my pulse rifle. “Right now, we need to keep moving. Watch my back, alright? I rather not walk into any traps that might be in this place.” “Got it. I’ll do what I can. We are dealing with the Vex after all.” With that in mind, I began to proceed under a circular archway and continue forward. The surrounding architecture was almost identical to the Vex structures that we had seen before on Venus, yet there was one key difference that stood out immediately. Moss and plant life had taken root throughout this place. Growing up the walls and hanging off the edge of some rectangular shaped blocks that were stretched out from some of the structures that were in each of the particular rooks. Turning to the left, I cautiously proceeded into the next room. For a moment, I stepped back and had my weapon aimed forward at the sight of what looked like a few Vex goblins. However… something was off about these ones. Normally, if a Vex saw me or any other guardian, they wouldn’t hesitate to try and kill us on sight. But these ones weren’t moving at all. They just stood there like eerie statues in different places across the room, and the moss that covered their bodies did not help any. “Ray, what’s going on?” “I think… they’re in some kind of stasis,” My Ghost told me. “Nothing’s coming up on the radar at all. It’s like they’re empty husks. Bodies without souls. Tread lightly though. I don’t think they’ll be like that for long once they realize that we’re here.” Hearing that was enough of a reason for me to switch to my shotgun. If these robotic freaks were to awaken while my back was turned, I needed to have something that could help me defend myself. It would be better than having the burning feeling of getting shot in the back by Vex weaponry of all things-. “Sunset, we got movement.” And speak of the devil. “Where?” “Four of them a few meters ahead. Goblins,” As he was speaking, I looked up to see only what appeared to be a row of the Vex that were in stasis. Yet, the radar had a red indication that something was nearby. “They’re hiding among the goblins that are in stasis. If you get too close, they’ll break position and open fire.” A part of me felt that this seemed a little bit too clever for them to do, but then again, this is the Vex we’re dealing with. Fortunately, I still had my solar grenade. Conjuring it in my hands, I tossed the grenade forward as it landed in between where the four Vex were hiding. The burning flames forcing the goblins to leave that position as I stepped forward with my shotgun at the ready. Firing two slugs into the core of the two goblins that were the closest to me while my grenade turned the remaining Vex to nothing more than ash. “Well, if that did not get their attention, something else will.” I muttered, loading two more shells back into my shotgun and readying it as Ray and I continued to press on. A minotaur and a swarm of Vex harpies arrived shortly afterwards as I had to engage them in a constricted hallway between rooms. The shotgun was enough to handle the harpies, but I had to switch to my rocket launcher to break the shield around the minotaur. Using one out of three remaining rockets that I had left at the moment before taking it down with my pulse rifle. Now though, it hit me. If this was going to be how difficult it would be for me to continue moving forward without having to use my rockets, I needed to make a change. “Ray, do I have anything I can switch with my shotgun? I don’t think it would be ideal for me to be charging in if a minotaur is going to try and flatten me.” “Actually, you do. You have a sniper rifle. I think we picked it up as a drop from one of the Cabal legionaries on Mars.” “Switch it out and use a special ammo synth,” I instructed him, reloading my rifle and holding it at the ready. “If what we’re experiencing now is going to get even more difficult the closer we are to the heart, I’ll need to keep my distance.” As I continued forth, Ray followed through on my instructions. The shotgun icon that was originally on my helmet’s interface was switched out with the sniper rifle and the special ammo synth replenished its magazine to max capacity. I took a moment to switch to the sniper rifle, just so I can get a feel of what it was that I was going to be using before changing it back. It might not have been the best kind of sniper rifle, but given the kind of situation that Ray and I were in, it will have to do for now. Going up the stairs and heading to the right lead us into another room with multiple different pillars and stone ledges cast around the place. Though, we couldn’t really take in the scenery for too long because right away, more Vex began to swarm the room. Like before, it was a group of harpies and a minotaur. Yet, by now, my grenade had finally recharged and I was able to throw it out at the group of harpies before using my sniper rifle to make quick work of the minotaur. Taking it down in three shots before I had to reload and switch to my pulse rifle to get rid of some of the harpies that my grenade did not burn to cinders. Luckily, the fallen Vex had dropped a couple of ammo blocks that Ray was able to transmit and add to my weapons magazine. Refilling it as if I never fired anything. Which came in handy because as we took a left turn and went to leave, we encountered some goblins. They didn’t put up much of a fight, but at least I did not have to reload while they were shooting at me. “How are we looking, Ray-?” I now asked him as I moved past the metal bodies of the broken Vex that were on the floor. “Careful, you got a hobgoblin around the corner,” He said, just as I noticed it and readied my sniper rifle. One of the shots from the hobgoblin grazed past my head and landed in the block behind me, before I fired a shot at its exposed core and it collapsed to the ground. “Now, as for your question, there’s an exit not that far. Yet, there are a few goblins and another minotaur blocking your path.” “They won’t be there for long.” “You know, the more that you stay stuff like that, the more that you sound like Rainbow-6. For my sake and yours, please don’t get cocky.” Duly noted. As we continued forward and kept on taking down the numerous different Vex that were coming after us as well as taking down another minotaur with sniper fire, I was able to see the exit that Ray was telling me about. But as we stepped outside, I began to feel something. An overwhelming sense of dread and despair. And I was not the only one. “Sunset, not to alarm you… but I’m detecting something massive beneath us. Like an overwhelming mass of darkness.” “You think it's-” “No doubt about it,” He interjected before I could finish. “That’s the Black Garden’s heart.” I wasn’t sure why, but just hearing that sent a shiver down my spine. However, I knew that I couldn’t just sit around out here any longer. Considering that the next section of the garden we were in had a lot more open space than the corridors we had just gone through, it was more than likely that Vex were going to try and pin us down from every possible angle. Fortunately, there were also a few ledges that I can be able to utilize to get a better view of the area. Not to mention get a better understanding of what enemies we had to take out before proceeding. A few goblins scattered the area along with some harpies and two hobgoblins looked to have been guarding a ledge with a circular structure behind it. Similar to that of the Vex gates we had to destroy back at Campus 9. Immediately, I focused my attention on the hobgoblins first. Aiming for the core in the center, I fired off one shot to take down the first one. Yet, when I aimed at the other one, my next shot bounced off its chassis as a solar barrier formed around it. Which was a problem. Because not only did I alert that hobgoblin of where I was, but I also gave away my position to the rest of the Vex in the area. Thinking quickly, I aimed my sniper rifle again at the hobgoblin. Pulling the trigger as my next shot actually hit the hobgoblins’ core. From there, I brought my pulse rifle back out and tossed my recently recharged solar grenade towards the group of harpies. As they were burning, I fired off several bursts of ammunition at the goblins that were inching closer to my position, using up half of my clip to take them down. The other half of my clip was fired at the harpies to make quick work of them. Yet, as I was reloading, something new happened. “Sunset, we got an unknown Vex signature incoming.” Unknown? Just how many different types of these things are there that we don’t know about? As I looked around again, I began to see what Ray was talking about. It was indeed a different kind of Vex. It did not have any legs or have any movement capabilities from what I could tell since it was held down by a metal ring, but when its gaze was locked onto me, I had to move immediately. My helmet visor now labeled this Vex as a ‘cyclops’ as its eye was firing off void blasts at my location with as much destructive power as a rocket. But it was not just its artillery that was the problem. “Sunset, take that down quickly! It’s summoning more Vex!” Crap! That was the last thing that I wanted right now. As another Vex cloud began to take form by the cyclops, I did the only thing I could really do in that moment. Switching to my rocket launcher, I took one of the remaining rockets that was left and aimed at the cyclops's eye. Squeezing the trigger, the rocket propelled forward, exploding upon contact. Unfortunately though, it did not entirely destroy the cyclops. What the blast did though was… well, the best way to describe it was that it seemed disorientated. Because it was firing off more void blasts than usual, but they were landing all over the place. Hitting some of the goblins that it had just summoned mere moments ago. As the last of the goblins were turned to scrap metal by their own ally, I was now using this chance to finish off the cyclops as I focused my fire on its core. Getting it to drop to the ground within a matter of seconds. Letting out a deep sigh, I was relieved that I could be able to catch my breath in that moment. “Hey Ray… I think now would be the best time to use one of our heavy synths.” “Alright, using it now,” Seconds after saying that, I now found my rocket launchers ammo count at max capacity, shortly before he continued to speak. “Also, I’m picking something up in the next room that the Vex have a large barrier put in place in the next room to try and slow us down.” “Any idea how to disable it?” I asked, entering the hallway that lead to where my marker was directing me to go. “There’s a Vex Mind in the next room that is directly powering it and they got a squadron of goblins with them. Take it out and the barrier will be taken down.” Sounds simple enough. Though, in reality, with everything that we have learned about the Vex up until this point, nothing ever really seems simple. Right as I was sprinting to the end of the connecting corridor, I saw the goblin squad as they immediately began to fire at my position. Forcing myself to back up and hide behind a nearby wall for a second and wait until they stopped before returning fire. As a few of them dropped to the ground and I was working on finishing off the remaining goblins, I was now able to see the Vex Mind that Ray was talking about. When I originally thought of a Vex Mind, I thought it would be some kind of minotaur. Yet, this one turned out to be rather different. The ‘Divisive Mind’ as it was called was a hydra. The same kind of hydra that we had to face on Venus. Only this time, this mind was firing multiple shots from the weapons mounted on its chassis in quick succession. Engaging the mind out in the open would be suicidal. So my only option was to try and find a new position where I can be able to land my attacks from while also being able to hide behind cover. “Ray, I need some new cover! Any ideas?” “There’s an upward path to your right with a column and a makeshift wall. Go!” Without even giving it a second thought, I was on my feet. Moving up the small as fast as I could before sliding behind the pillar. Seconds after making it, my solar grenade was no longer on cooldown as I peeked behind cover and threw it at the hydra. Landing at the tail end of the Mind, but it was not doing a lot to harm it. Switching to my sniper rifle again, I took a second to peek out and fire off all four rounds from my current magazine, the first three hitting the Hydra in its singular eye while the fourth was blocked by the Mind’s barrier. The third shot seemed to stagger it for a brief second, but not enough in order to stop its assault as it continued to fire. Now though, the only thought in my mind that I had to get out of this was to activate Radiance. Surrounding myself in solar light, my grenade began to quickly recharge itself as I threw several of them at the hydra once the barrier was no longer in front of it. Two grenades were on the floor, a third one hit the middle of its centipede like chassis while a fourth hit its head. Before I could conjure a fifth though, the Mind began to attack once more, forcing me to seek newfound cover as the Radiance wore off. After finding new cover, I changed weapons to my pulse rifle. Focusing all of my shots on the Mind’s eye while also maintaining my position behind a stone wall. Thankfully, my choice to activate Radiance had paid off, for my grenades had burned away at its chassis long enough to the point where there was now a delay between volleys of void blasts. Exposing an opportunity that I was planning to utilize to the fullest. Two minutes into the fight, one last burst-fire shot from my pulse rifle was enough to have the Mind crumple to the ground before exploding. The barrier behind it falling seconds later as we kept on going. Who dares set forth in this place?! I stopped immediately. I can feel my heartbeat race as I began to look around me. Trying to find where that voice might be coming from. What… what the hell was that? “Ray, did you hear that?” “Hear what?” Oh great. Please tell me that I’m not hallucinating now. The last thing I want to have right now is two voices in my head. Traversing through the downward path, we were beginning to encounter more Vex as they tried to block our approach to the garden. At the end of the path, a swarm of harpies and a minotaur emerged to stall our progress, but a few rounds of gunfire and punching a harpy or two was able to help me push through once they were all turned to scrap metal as we kept going down. Going left, I moved farther in and into another section, encountering more goblins and hobgoblins that appeared to be on standby. Having to return fire and make quick work of them and go forward. At one point though, as we approached a section that looked like a huge gate was in the distance, Ray did not exactly share the best of news with me. “Sunset, we got a problem.” “Define ‘problem’.” I asked. “Vex blocked the way forward. The heart is just beyond there, but the way forward is a dead end.” “So? Is there a way around it?” I now proceeded to ask. “We have not gotten this far into the garden, just for us to get blocked by a stupid wall.” “Hmm… now that you mention it,” I heard him speak as if he was pondering something, just before coming up with a plan. “This entire place… it’s just one big machine. Sunset, I’m picking up a set of Vex Clusters nearby. I need you to get me to them.” “What’s your plan with them?” “Well… it’s less of a plan and more of a theory… but if the theory works, then it becomes a plan.” Well, at least he’s being honest about it. The idea of blindly following my ghost towards the unknown in hopes to get something to work was not what I would really consider as the best course of action. Yet, right now, the amount of options that we had were very limited. Two markers soon came up on my map of the cluster locations that Ray wanted me to look at that were close to what looked to be half dome shaped doorways. Yet, just to get to the closest one on my left, I had to fight through more of the Vex that we had already encountered so far. Most of them being harpies with a couple of goblins and hobgoblins at certain locations and a minotaur directly blocking the cluster. Once it was cleared, I deployed Ray to scan the cluster that he marked. Which was the right time for me to make sure that the magazines on each of my guns were full in case I had to defend him. Not a moment too soon though did Ray return though. “Alright, perfect. Now we got ourselves a plan.” “Care to share with me what that plan is?” I now asked. “Well, after scanning it, I learned that I can be able to manipulate this cluster. I just need to break the manifold encryption that they have set up and… I’m in.” Ray informed me. Seconds later though, I began to feel the ground shift under my feet as I turned around. Finding a column of white light emerging on a plateau nearby. “Ray? Is this… part of your plan?” “Actually, yes… based on what I’m seeing here, if we can get that other cluster to activate, we can get a spire to form like the one on Mars.” He explained to me while I was already moving over there. As I was engaging more of the Vex that continued to try and stop me, everything was piecing itself together rather slowly. And once we got the second one, the tower of light was quickly replaced by a spire. A new marker emerged moments later, highlighting a conflux that was just outside the wall that was considered a dead end. “Now there’s one last piece,” He told me as I deployed him to scan the conflux now. “All that’s left is permission to enter… as a gate lord.” Mere seconds afterwards, the conflux soon began to disappear. Shortly before something else began to take form. A rectangular tablet that was a navy blue, with an eye like shape near the top. It rose up into the air above us, the eye separating itself from the rest as everything else shattered to pieces. As the eye flipped itself around, a beam of light was released from the spire and hit the eye, before reflecting onto each and every piece that was broken off as all the beams of light began to converge at the center of the door. When the door began to open, the overwhelming feeling of dread that I felt from before returned. The teal colored environment that we have been seeing so far immediately changed, turning into an abysmal dark brown. The plant life from the garden looked like it had been sapped of all life and dried up as looked past the opened door. Immediately after going through the door, I laid eyes upon what we were looking for. A massive mass of black was beating at the center of the altar. Pulsing with electricity as statues of what looked to be three minotaurs stood below it. Just behind that, many goblins and hobgoblins knelt before the altar. Their arms stretched out to the sides. As I stepped inside though, the goblins themselves began to move. Coming to life and turning around to have their gaze be focused on me. But for me, my attention was mostly focused on the heart. Because for a moment… I thought I saw a pair of white eyes gazing at me. “So um… this might not be the right time to ask this… but do you think you can kill a god?” All I could do was turn to Ray, who was floating around my shoulder, and give him an honest answer. “I don’t really think I have a choice.” A lightbringer is here in this sacred place!?! Rise, my soldiers!! Make the light from this bearer flicker out and die!! I couldn’t even contemplate what was happening as I heard that. Before I could even catch a breath, all the goblins in the middle began to attack. As I brought out my rocket launcher and fired off a round, most of the Vex were killed by the blast. But seconds later, something new happened. A powerful black pulse was released from the heart as it hit one of the statues on the left, cracks forming in the stone and growing. Yet… something about that pulse… felt familiar- “Sunset, move!! The heart’s bringing the statue to life!!” Arise, my Sol Progeny! Finish what the others cannot!! Before I could even finish thinking, the statue shattered. A minotaur the size of a gate lord broke through moments later, draped in shadows as it pulled the torch hammer off of its back and turned to me. Immediately, I ran for cover as massive blasts of void energy were crashing into the ground. I tried to aim and shoot at the minotaur, which now came up as ‘The Eschaton Mind’, but any attempt to try and give myself some space was met by it coming directly at me. At one point, I channeled my solar grenade to throw it at the Mind’s feet. Even though it did hurt it, it did little to slow it down as I had to hide under a ramp that overlooked a section of the altar. Looking through a crack in the stone wall and waiting for the mind to turn its back as I fired off a full clip from my sniper rifle. As it turned around to face me again, I switched weapons again to my heavy and fired a rocket at its feet. The explosion hurting the mind, but not fully destroying it. “You have got to be kidding me…” I groaned. Clearly my weapons weren’t doing anything against this guy. So I needed to try something different. My grenade was still on recharge, but my super had finally come back after using it against the divisive mind. I needed something to turn the tide against this thing. Immediately, I activated Radiance without a second thought. The fiery warmth of solar light revitalizing me as my power coursed throughout my body. As soon as my grenade was restored, I began throwing it at the minotaur again. Not just once, but multiple times in quick succession. The flames burning through the drifting shadows on the Mind’s body as I continued to open fire and fight it. Even firing another rocket at the minotaur to stagger it and give me the chance to aim at its core again. All it took was another full clip of special ammo to take the Mind down, its body disintegrating into ash as if it never existed in the first place. Yet, just as I told Ray to activate another ammo synth, I began to hear that other voice from before. No… You can’t be! This isn’t just the light of the traveler! You’re… You’re from the other side!!! How is this possible?! Hold up… did that just-? I will not let a being such as you end my existence now!!! Soldiers!! Kill this harmonious filth!!! “We got move Vex incoming! Keep it up!!” Ray’s words had me snap back to what was going on as I turned around to see another squadron of goblins arriving at the altar. Running towards them, I scorched the first one that came into contact with me before blasting out the cores of several others. Two more were on a ledge and attempted to snipe from afar as one shot grazed my left shoulder. Fortunately, I was able to switch to my sniper rifle in time in order to destroy them before they could be able to land a shot on me a second time. When the platform was cleared though, another pulse was released from the heart as the next statue began to come to life. Limbo was not enough to contain me!! Only in the farthest depths was I able to emerge from the deep!! Watching. Waiting for the day where I will come forth again. I will not let you interfere!!! Okay, how the hell does it know about Limbo? Just what was this thing!? “Sunset, look out!!” When I snapped back to reality, I found a second gate lord sized minotaur, known now as The Imminent Mind, looming over me as it attempted to slam its mechanical fist into the ground. I was lucky enough to move out of the way in time, but if anything from the last fight taught anything, this minotaur was going to give chase. That and it was going to take more than just my weapons to bring it down. “Ray, are my synths on cooldown?” “No, they’re all ready! Which one do you need?” “Special synth, quick!” What I told Ray was soon followed by hearing the synth activate and the ammo count in my sniper rifle fill back up. Taking down the Vex that I have been fighting so far can easily help me with replenishing ammo for my pulse rifle. However, with how much I have been relying on my sniper rifle and how little that kind of ammo drops from everything I’ve been fighting, it’s better to be safe than sorry right around now. Fighting against this Mind required for me to rinse and repeat most of what I had to do during the last fight. Unlike the last fight though, I needed to keep moving and make sure that it did not catch up to me and strike me within close range. If the Eschaton Mind was attempting to try and kill me from range, the Imminent Mind was going to try and stomp on me like a bug. There’s no way in hell that I was going to let that happen. I’ve come too far just to be killed by a giant over sized robot while the voice of somebody other than my ghost is screaming in the back of my head. Gliding up to high ground, I threw my grenade at the Mind as it ignited around where the minotaur’s head would be. Taking the opportunity, I unloaded a clip of sniper ammo into the core of the Mind and then re-positioned myself again, taking cover behind a broken pillar. As it turned around and began to fire off its Torch Hammer, I waited for a pause in their attack before firing another full clip of ammunition. The last of my shots seemed to have staggered it, yet it was not enough to finish it off as I switched back to my pulse rifle to conserve ammunition. Part of me wanted to use my rocket launcher right now, yet, I only had four shots left and it was likely that my synths were still on cooldown after using my special synth most recently. So I was having to aim and time my shots with my pulse rifle carefully while subsequently hiding from incoming fire. “Ray, tell me when to move. I need a better position.” Just as soon as I asked him, we noticed that the Mind had stopped firing and Ray told me what to do next. “It’s stopped firing. Get to the ledge on your left, go!” Not missing a beat, I jumped up and use a broken pillar as a way to get myself up in the air and on a ledge that was overlooking the Mind. By now, I now my grenade had finally recharged and I was quick to activate it as it exploded around the Mind’s legs before opening fire. By the time that I went through two clips of ammo from my pulse rifle, the second Mind was down for the count. Turning to ash once more. Yet, there was no way in hell that the fight was over just yet. I have waited for so long for the chance to finally take revenge against those who banished me to this plane!! Against the elements!! Against the pillars!! ALL OF THEM!! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU END MY EXISTENCE SO EASILY!!! Before I even had the chance to think or process what I heard, the heart released another wave of darkness as it struck the last remaining statue by the altar. It’s power forming cracks in the statue as the last of these Sol Progeny’s, the Primeval Mind, emerged from the statue. Yet, it was not the only thing that I was up against. “Sunset, more Vex are coming in to fight with this mind!” “Which ones?” “Goblins, hobgoblins, even a pair of minotaur's! The heart’s throwing everything that it has at you!! Be careful!!” Oh hell, this is going to be brutal. Immediately, the first instinct that came to mind was for me to get rid of the extra Vex that were now setting foot in this place. Switching to my rocket launcher, I got in the air and fired off a rocket where a cluster of vex goblins and a hobgoblin were gathered before sliding behind a stone wall. With three rockets left, I reloaded my weapon and emerged from cover, aiming at the two minotaurs that were closer to the altar and firing again. As the rocket collided, I switched to my sniper rifle just as a bolt from a hobgoblin’s rifle flew past my head. Prompting me to turn around and fire a single shot at its core as its metal body crumpled to the floor. “Ray, I really do hope we have a plan for this. I’ve got two rockets and one heavy synth left, yet these Vex just keep coming.” Right on cue, a few more spawned in, this time being a swarm of harpies as I got out my pulse rifle and shot them square in the eye. “They’re more than likely following the orders given to them by that Mind,” I heard him tell me. “Focus your fire on it! If you take it down, they’ll probably stop fighting.” “What gives you that idea!?” My response was followed by throwing a grenade at the harpies, quickly getting rid of them before seeking higher ground to avoid incoming fire from the mind. “Remember what we found at the Ishtar Collective? A Vex Mind is shared across a million units. They’re the commanders giving the orders,” I heard him explain even further. “So in theory, taking down the mind will leave them without any orders or directives to follow.” Okay… part of me sees how that would kind of make sense. Though right now, I was a little more focused on other things. Mainly, not dying. Still, what Ray told me at least gave me some kind of idea as to what I should be doing now. Getting out my rocket launcher again, I fired off the last two rockets that I had on hand. One towards the vex that were attempting to give the Primeval Mind back up and then one at the Mind itself. Without missing a beat, Ray activated the last of the heavy synths that we had on hand. Restocking my heavy ammo supply while I was switching weapons back to my sniper rifle. When it came to minotaurs, especially gate lords, they generally had two weak points. The head and the core in the center of their chassis. Now, instinct would have you try to aim for their head. Yet, if you did not know a thing or two about the Vex, aiming for the head would be a fool’s mistake. Destroying a minotaur's head would cause them to go into a berserk state, where they endlessly unleash a torrent of blasts in your direction and charge at you like a raging bull the size of a two story building. I did not know if the same thing would apply to that of a Mind… but honestly, given my situation, I did not want to take any chances. I maintained my position behind cover while firing off several sniper rounds at the core of the Primeval Mind. Damaging it, but only barely as I had to hide behind cover once again when it's blasts were coming back towards my position. Pieces of it breaking off and scattering behind where I was. I had to keep moving, this time to the section underneath where I was on the ground level of the altar. The moment that my grenade finished recharging, I threw it forward as an orb of solar fire took form around the Mind’s chassis. Burning at the dark shroud that was covering it as I fired off another rocket before switching to my pulse rifle and opening fire. It took mere moments for it to lock back on to my position and return fire, but by then, I was already moving. In my mind, I was going to get killed if I stayed in one spot and just fired from there. There wasn’t going to be any kind of ledge that would just so happen to keep me out of their attacks range and if I was not aware of everything around me, something will throw me off guard and make everything vulnerable. Once again, I fired off two rounds from my rocket launcher, bringing my remaining count to just three as the rockets exploded upon contact with the Mind’s chassis. Switching to my sniper rifle, I began to open fire at the core again. This time using every shot that I had before changing back to my pulse rifle. Come on, how much longer am I going to have to put up with this before it would just die already?! “It’s almost done for! Finish it!!” Without any hesitation, I continued to fire at the Mind. With the final burst round of my clip finally piercing through its core as the Primeval Mind fell onto its knees and disintegrating. Yet, there was still one other thing to face. “I-i don’t get it… The heart should be done for! I felt it dying when you killed the minds,” The sounds of concern in his voice now echoing in my head. “Then why-?” Do you think that I will be STOPPED SO EASILY!?! RRRRRRRAGH!!!! “Sunset, shield your eyes!!” And like that, everything went white. When my eyes opened up once more, I did not find myself in the black garden… or for that matter, on Mars. Instead, I was in a place that was a white void. One that looked to go on for miles. “Ray? Ray, are you getting this?” However, I heard no response. All I could hear was silence. Something that made my heart race. What’s going on? What happened to me? Am I dead... again? Your little light cannot be able to help you here. That voice… it was the same one from the heart. As I turned around, my eyes widened. A being that was as black as night stood before me. It was in the form of what looked to be a massive beast. It had eyes of white, a slick black body and wings where the feathers looked to be as sharp as blades. Pure shadows dripping all over the ground underneath him like black ink on a white canvas. “What… the hell… are you?” It looked to me, before grinning as the shadows around it began to rapidly spread everywhere. I am from the place where you came from, yet banished and separated from the one that created me. A student of a master… much like yourself, Sunset Shimmer. “How the hell do you know my name?!” I know everything now… In this plane, I’ve seen your memories. I’ve seen all the things you’ve done before. Even to the point where you had met your end. And even with the amount of times that you had been wronged by humanity before, the amount of times that you have been stabbed in the back by them, you stand here and fight for them. The shadows were now all around me, hands emerging from the ground to try and grab hold. Dragging me down into the unknown EVERYPONY THAT YOU CARED FOR, ALL OF YOUR SO CALLED ‘FRIENDS’ NOW ARE NOT THE SAME AS YOU REMEMBER THEM TO BE!! THEY DON’T SEE YOU THE SAME WAY EITHER AND OTHERS BLAME YOU FOR THEIR OWN TRAGEDIES!!! SO WHAT MAKES YOU SO SURE THAT ALL THE PAIN, SUFFERING AND REGRET THAT YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH IN THE PAST WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN!!?! In that moment, I didn’t say anything. Instead, I was trying to fight back as I was being pulled in. I couldn’t give up now… There were too many people counting on me now. It pulled me down waist deep. I began to think of everyone. Everyone I knew. Not just everyone at the tower… but everypony back home. My friends… my family… my friends here… everyone at the tower… My fireteam. My mentor. Ignite your spark!! As I opened my eyes, a surge of light filled every fiber of my being. The flames from my hands pushing the shadows away as I looked back to this being. This vessel of darkness. A blade of pure fire forming in my right hand as I channeled my power into it and swung forward. Cutting through the beast as my light began to burn it. As I aimed the newfound blade at its head. I only had one response as I shoved it through its body. “Because my past is not today.” And once more, everything faded to white. “Sunset? Sunset, wake up!! Sunset!!!” The voice of my ghost echoed through my head as I began to slowly rise back to my feet. As my vision began to return to me, I found myself lying on the ground in front of where the altar for the black gardens heart was. Now though, there was some notable differences. The lighting in the garden was back to the way it was and the heart itself was gone. “Sunset! Oh, thank the Traveler!” I heard Ray speak, the ghost flying right by where my head was. “I thought I lost you for a moment.” “W-what happened?” I asked him. “When the Black Gardens heart was destroyed, the shock-wave from it had you flying back into a wall,” He told me. “You’ve been unconscious for the last half hour. H-how do you feel?” “Sore,” I mumbled, finding my pulse rifle on the ground and picking it up. “Please tell me that something good came out of this.” “Well, for one thing, I was able to establish contact with not just the Vanguard, but the rest of your fireteam. Secondly, with the heart gone, the lights coming back to the traveler. It’s healing again,” Well, at least that’s a good thing. “Let’s go back to the Tower. The Speaker’s calling us home.” I just let out a sigh as I looked back at him. “Personally, I think it’s going to be more than the Speaker we’ll be talking too.” The Tower and its people looked as if they were in celebration. Many of the people, whether they were guardians or just regular civilians that lived there were gathered in the main plaza. The Speaker looked over the crowd and began to address those who were present. Saying that we once were those who hid and cowered behind a broken god, but not anymore. Yet, while I could hear him speak, I was not actually there. Instead, I was in the shipwright docks with Ray right next to me and wearing a newfound set of robes that I received from Twilight. Walking over to the end of the dock as I noticed someone familiar. It was the Stranger from before. Almost as if she was waiting for me. “So you did it,” She first states. My only response back being a simple nod. The exo turns around, facing me directly as she took something off of her back. A rifle that was yellow in color, but the same one I saw her hold onto before. “Today might be a day for pretty speeches, medals and recognitions of honor, but we know where the real fight takes place. What you did is only the start of something greater.” Then she did something that I did not anticipate at all. She handed the rifle over to me. “Take this… A symbol of my thanks.” “Wouldn’t you need it though?” Ray then asked her. Her only response being shaking her head. “No… and I don’t plan to die so easily,” Was her only response. “Know this. There are horrific things born out in the Darkness. Every waking moment brings them closer. Our fight is far from over… so prepare for whenever that day may come.” As she walked away, the stranger disappeared in the same blue-white energy that we had seen before. Fading away as if she was never there to begin with. As for me, I placed the weapon on my back, looking back to Ray as he had a new question for me. “So, what do you want to do now?” I let out a breath. “Honestly, part of me wants to get back out there… yet, after everything we’ve been through just now, I think I need to do a few things in the Tower first. Maybe even get something to drink?” “I understand,” He replied. “Though, afterwards, we need to talk to Twilight. She said that there’s something that we need to handle once we’re well rested.” All I could really do was nod my head. Yet, one thing to me was clear. Whatever was out there, I’ll be ready. Meanwhile... “Are you sure that this is a good decision, Twilight? Such an operation like this?” “Flash, we need to do this,” The voice of the warlock vanguard could be heard as she was talking to the titan vanguard across the table. “Ever since Twilight and her fireteam have been going after the Black Garden, multiple reports from Rainbow’s scouts have shown increased Hive activity. Adagio has been helping us push them back and after discussing it further, we learned that the Hive are attempting to resurrect one of their gods.” “Yes, but such an operation like this would require two fireteams-” “That’s not what the issue is at all and I know it, Flash. You’re against this not because we don’t have the reason or the resources, but because of who has been helping with this, isn’t it? You don't trust her.” “We have tried to reclaim the moon before and failed. Each time has led to the deaths of all the guardians who have tried-” Flash was cut off when Twilight slammed her hand on the table, shaking everything that was on it as the warlock glared at her. “Flash, that’s enough. This is a chance that we only get once in a lifetime. We may never have another opportunity like this. We can finally push back against them,” The warlock told her. “I don’t care if you had problems with her in the past or whatever is the reason for you not trusting her, but she has more knowledge on the hive than anyone in the tower. Even more than the Speaker.” The titan paused for a moment, before looking back to the warlock as he let out a sigh. “Fine… just explain something to me. What is the overall goal of preparing a group to raid the depths of the Hellmouth? What do you… No… what does Aria plan for them to do?” “Something that should have been done long ago…” A new voice spoke, one that was deep and somber voice echoed throughout the chamber. Both vanguards looked to the opening as the new figure entered the room. Pieces of her armor and regalia looked to resemble the chitin and appearance of the Hive as her hands grasped onto a green orb that flickered like fire. The figures face had a wrap around their eyes as three green circles glowed from them. “Slay the Eater of Hope that stole my light. The Hive Prince, Crota.” Author's Note The heart might be ripped out and the traveler may be healing... Yet, there's more out there that plan and scheme in the Dark Below. So... we now have our Eris. Allow for me to explain something first. Due to the fact that I personally think you would prefer to see more of chapters that can be seen as the 'most important' parts to the story, this is how its set up. But to do that, I need to explain more about our newcomer, Aria Blaze. After finding her opportunity to escape from the Hellmouth on the moon, Aria Blaze was able to reach the Last City. However, she is NOT the same Aria that Sunset... or for that matter, Adagio remembers. No records have been shown as to what her personality was like upon being resurrected as a guardian, but after having her light stripped from her by the Hive Prince named Crota and seeing her comrades being slaughtered by him, Aria has become someone who is somber, bitter, hardened, dark and most importantly... Vengeful. She cares not for revenge or for taking over the world anymore like she once wanted too. Instead though, she is driven by her obsessive determination to obtain vengeance for the ones that she called her comrades and in turn, take down the Hive as a whole. Now as one of the Hidden, a group that serves as the unofficial intelligence network for the Vanguard that's run by Twilight Sparkle, Aria keeps watch on activities of the darkness and is one of the foremost experts that the Last City has on the Hive. While Fireteam Harmony was focused on the incursions of the Vex and the Black Garden, Aria uncovered the Hive's encroachment in the Cosmodrome and subsequently warned the Warlock Vanguard. Unfortunately, since she was not able to reach out and contact Sunset's fireteam, Twilight had to ask for the assistance of another warlock, Adagio Dazzle. Both Adagio and Aria uncovered that Hive agents of Crota were already on Earth and planning to resurrect him so he can lead an invasion on Earth. After slaying the Fist of Crota and silencing the screams of Omnigul, Adagio ventured to the Worlds Grave to stop the wakening ritual and banish Crota's Soul. But that is only the beginning. To truly kill the Son of Oryx... you must venture down into the hellmouth and into his own realm. Only then will Crota meet his end. New Equipment (Sunset): -The Stranger's Rifle (Weapon, Legendary, Pulse Rifle) -Starfire Protocol (Armor, Exotic, Chest) The next chapter for this story will focus solely on Crota's End and depending on how long it is, I might split that into two parts. From there, everything will go like normal with House of Wolves (And maybe Prison of Elders, though probably just for Skolas), Taken King and Kings Fall, then Rise of Iron and Wrath of the Machine. I do hope that you like this chapter and look forward to what else I might have in store. Feel free to comment on what you think of this chapter as well as ask me any questions you might have. I'll be happy to answer them the best I can. -Frost P.S. I hid a sneaky little reference to another game series during the final battle in the Black Garden. Good luck trying to find it.
16- The Prince's FallAuthor's Note So, where do I begin with this... Writing this chapter was hard as hell, especially since I had to do my own narrative takes and interpretations on the Crota's End raid. Plus, given the challenges that you need to overcome in the raid, I had to incorporate scenes where Sunset Shimmer and her raid team need to figure out a plan first before proceeding with the chapter. Like with the chapter, there's four main encounters to go through in the raid that are incorporated here and they go as follows: -The Abyss -The Bridge -The Deathsinger -The Prince With that in mind, I wanted to make sure that each part was covered with enough detail and make sure that I did not leave out anything important (I consider the hallway in between Bridge and Deathsinger as somewhat in the middle, but that's just me) As for the loot, since this is set in Year one, I decided for simplicity's sake to combine the loot pools from both the normal and hard mode versions of the raid into this, because I believed that doing so would make things easier (that and some of the weapons I wanted for some of them to find were varied between both difficulties) After this chapter, there will be an interlude that leads into the next story arc that is to be covered (and my second favorite story from D1 after Taken King), the House of Wolves. I will need to take my time on this, but I do hope that you like the end result. Also, before I go, have a happy nightmare night/halloween/festival of the lost next week! (Wanted to make sure I got my bases covered) See you around, Starside -Frost P.S. This is kind of my first time writing Adagio by myself, but I'm not sure if I sticked the landing with her. If needed, I will go back and fix it to have her be more like she was in the previous chapters that featured her. Tell me what you think. I would like some feedback 16- The Prince's Fall It had almost been two days since I had ventured into the black garden and ripped out its heart and personally, I thought that an act such as killing something that was deemed as a ‘god’ would at least grant me the chance to rest. But, much as I hate to admit it, a guardian’s work is never truly done. Shortly after returning to Twilight, she informed me that while I was away having to deal with the Black Garden, a Hive incursion had started taking place on Earth. One that was lead by a hive wizard named Omnigul and loyal to a hive prince whose name I’ve already heard of once before. Crota. The one who stripped Aria Blaze of her light and left her to rot in the Hellmouth. Even though Crota’s soul was banished and Omnigul was destroyed at the hands of Adagio, there was still one other thing that had to be taken care of. Which leads us to where I was right now. At this present moment, I was not only with my fireteam but with Adagio and two other guardians on the plateau that was just above the hellmouth itself on the moon. The first one was a titan that I recognized from my Rumble match back when I had to fight against Indigo, named Noble Arms. A titan that was a defender like Big Mac. The second was another hunter, who looked like someone that Indigo happened to know, despite the fact that he was someone that Rainbow added to the team to fill out the roster. His name was Eagle-3 and instead of a Bladedancer, he was a gunslinger and wielded solar light instead of arc. Now that we were all here, there was another question that had to be tended to. One that Indigo impatiently asked while we were standing here, “So, is someone going to explain what the hell we’re doing about this ominous pit?” “Good, it seems that all of you made it safely,” we now heard the voice of Commander Sentry speak to us, “Now, I know you might have some questions, but I will keep this brief. All six of you are called here as a single fireteam for a crucial raid operation that the Vanguard needs you to undertake. As most of you are aware, the Vanguard has seen a resurgence of Hive Activity in the Cosmodrome and on the Moon. Our efforts have pushed them back, but in order to truly quell this incursion, we need to take the fight to the one commanding their forces.” Wait, is Flash saying what I think he was suggesting? “Your goal in this operation is to go deep into enemy territory and assassinate Crota, the hive prince who commands this incursion. Removing him from the picture will severely weaken the hive incursion in the Cosmodrome and on the Moon,” the titan continued, “I will let Aria Blaze take over from here. Good luck.” As soon as he stepped away, we all now heard the somewhat familiar voice of Aria take over in Flash’s place, “Thank you. Now… in order to truly end the threat of Crota once and for all, you must take the fight to him in his own realm. The prince thinks he’s invincible on the Oversoul Throne, but his own power can be turned against him.” I looked back towards everyone on my fire team, including Adagio before trying to say the first thing that came to my mind as we found ourselves in an open clearing around the edge of the Hellmouth, “So how do we get started?” “To truly begin, you need to step forth and form the bridge. From there, you need to enter the abyss of the Hellmouth itself,” we heard Aria explain to us, “Be careful though, once in the abyss, the darkness will try to weigh you down and crush your light.” So, wait… the only way that we’re going to be able to get inside is by going into the giant pit of death and suffering? How exactly does that work? I did not have the chance in order to voice my question though, because when we walked over this circular plate that was on the ground, it began to immediately glow all around us. Whatever we did had plates of hive architecture immediately materialize and form together out of nowhere, forming the bridge that would have us above the center of the pit. “Guess there’s no turning back now,” I said, priming the rifle that I had received from the Stranger as I looked at everyone else. “Everyone ready?” Mac and Indigo were the first two to give confirmation, followed by Noble and Eagle. The only one left was Adagio, who only just let out a deep sigh before arming the hand cannon she had on her. “Fine… don’t forget though, I’m only doing this to make that bastard pay for what he did to Aria.” That’s all I needed to hear. After informing Aria that we were about to go in, we immediately began to cross over to the other side of the bridge before jumping through the ring that was at the end of the bridge. Feeling ourselves being pulled down into the depths of the pit that awaited us below. As we fell, everything around us became pitch black and I could not see my team. When we were able to see something, it was a dim glow of light that was around a platform at the bottom of the pit. Illuminating the piles of bones all around us as I had to use my glide to slow my rapid descent. Adagio and I landed first, followed by Mac, Indigo and Eagle. Noble was the last one to land, but did not do anything to slow his descent as he took the full force of the fall. Landing on one knee as he grimaced in pain. “Really?” Indigo asked him, “You do realize that landing is hard on the knees, right?” “Yeah yeah, whatever,” Noble shrugged it off. If I could see his face, I would bet that he would be rolling his eyes right now. Now was not the time to comment on that as I looked around, before placing a hand to my helmet, “Aria, we made it into the pit. What now?” “Look for the faint glimmer of light. Only the lanterns can guide your way, but do not linger near them for too long. Their glow doesn’t last forever-” Shortly after hearing that, I began to hear a familiar screeching and clicking noise as I began to look at my team, “Go forth to the Ascendant Realm, quickly. The Hive already know that you’re here.” “Would that happen to be what she’s talking about?” We heard Eagle now ask, pointing to what appeared to be a faint silver glow that was right in front of us. “Maybe. Though, Aria said lanterns,” Mac now spoke up as he looked at the hunter, “We should keep an eye out for more. Cause ah think that’s the only way we’re going to get out of here otherwise.” “So, let me see if I understand this correctly,” Indigo now took a turn to speak, “We go to the first lantern, find the next one, immediately head to that and then repeat the process until we find a way out?” “All while destroying any hive that might be chasing us along the way?” I now added. “Exactly,” he nodded his head, “Noble and ah should lead while the rest of ya follow. If the hive are going to come for us, then they’ll immediately attack the first thing that they see. If anyone sees a lantern, call it out so we can go to it immediately.” Each one of our team members, Adagio included, agreed to the plan as we looked towards the first lantern in front of us, before we began to sprint. As we moved towards the pillar, I could feel the darkness weighing down on my body as the hive began to emerge from the walls and the ground beneath our feet. Once we reached the lantern, the construct pulsed with light, illuminating the thrall that were coming for us as we fought them off. Aiming for the heads as several of them disintegrated in green fire. “I see the next one! Everyone on me,” Noble shouted, before the defender went around the first beacon and started heading towards the second one that was on the left hand side. I could see a few cursed thralls mixed in with the ones that were mindlessly charging at our team as Indigo made short work of them with a few hand cannon rounds to their heads. Sticking to the stone path, despite the fact that several sections in the path were giant holes in the ground. At the second lantern, I was already looking around for the next one while Eagle threw out his grenade. Upon hitting the ground, it turned into a swarm of smaller grenades that immediately darted towards any thralls within proximity. Indigo joined in as well, tossing her skip grenade as it split up upon touching the floor while Noble and Mac were attacking any thrall that got too close with their melee strikes. As for me, I was on my guard and looking out for the thrall, but as I turned to my right, I found something else instead. “Mac, found the next one. On my right!” The defender that was facing me turned to his left, before calling out to the rest of our team “You heard her. Let’s move!” Traversing through this dark abyss to me was something that collectively tested our wits, and for some of our team, their patience. We were forced to keep moving every so often to find the next lantern that kept us alive, trying to navigate a pitch black labyrinth while the hive were breathing down our necks. What made things worse was that after several minutes of running to and from ten different lanterns, we soon ran out of places to run too. The last lantern that we reached was nearby what looked to be a large endless pit, with no way of possibly getting across. “Guys, we can’t stay here! Have you found anything!?” Eagle shouted, firing a few shots from what looked to be a scout rifle before throwing a knife right at a thrall’s head. “Nope! No sign of anything else,” Mac grunted. As I was looking around, I spotted something that caught my attention. A circular plate, one that looked exactly like the one that we activated to draw the bridge over the Hellmouth. But what was something like this doing here-. “If you fools aren’t going to do anything, then I guess I’ll have too.” “Wha-?” Immediately, I turned to see Adagio ran away from the lantern, just as it was glowing red. A white outline began to form in the circle as she threw out a lightning grenade at several thralls that were charging at her. However, seeing this soon had something click in my head. “Guys, I think Adagio’s onto something!” I told her, before taking off to join her. The weight of the shadows from before returning to the point that it felt like there were shackles that were chained to my legs. But it did not stop me from reaching over there. “Shimmer, what are you-!?” “If you think I’m going to just let you do this on your own, then think again,” I immediately said, before switching to my shotgun and firing off rounds at two thralls that were within striking distance of Adagio, “We’re a team, so we do this together. Whether we like it or not.” “Grr, fine!” she snapped, firing off several hand cannon rounds as the rest of the team began to join us. We could not be able to move from our current spot, but all of us were doing everything that we can in order to fend off the hive as the circle we stood on shined brighter. Markings of Hive symbols began to light up around the ring “Guys, whatever this is doing, it needs to be done faster! We got Knights coming at us!” Eagle alerted us, before the gunslinger’s body was coated in a glowing fire as a revolver of solar light formed in his hands. Firing off three shots of solar light that disintegrated another pair of thrall and hit one of the knights that was coming towards us. In the distance, I could also see something float around in the air, before realizing that it was something that was a much bigger problem that was immediately making its way towards us. “Heads up!! We got an Ogre!!” “Crap! Everyone, stay where you are!” Noble cursed, before channeling his light as a Ward of Dawn formed around us as the eye blasts from the Ogre collided with the barrier. The hive were coming at us from all possible angles now and we were struggling to maintain our position right now. My shotgun ammo was already running low and I’ve already used up over half of the ammo that I can carry for my Pulse Rifle. Yet, as we were being pushed to our limits and Noble’s Ward was near its breaking point, we heard a loud crack from the other side and a bright light began to shine. The weight on my legs was not going away though. The path forward is clear “We got the bridge up! Everyone run!!!” “No need to tell me twice!!” Immediately, we turned around and made a break for it, ignoring the hive that were behind us and the thrall that were crawling up the sides of the bridge as we tried to make it across. If anything, we were just trying to hurry over the bridge as fast as possible to the bright light on the other side. That was our only way out of this wretched pit and our only opportunity to make it over. We couldn’t pass up on a chance like this. Once we were off the bridge, the weight that was placed on us before was immediately thrown off, allowing for us to sprint and run past everything else that was coming for us. Closing my eyes, I jumped towards the light at the end of the hall, not knowing what was waiting for us on the other side. ??? When I began to open my eyes again, I found myself in a place that was definitely not like the moon at all. There were no stars in the pitch black sky. Nothing but what looked like a giant broken moon that glowed an ominous emerald green. The surrounding area definitely looked like the hive structures on the moon, but there were two giant pillars in the area with another plate in the middle and what looked like a burning red fire that was over an endless pit as I saw the rest of my team come through the same way I did. Adagio was first, followed by Mac and Noble, with both Indigo and Eagle rounding out our team. “O-ow, m-my head,” I heard Indigo speak, scratching the back of her head as she slowly began to pick herself up off the ground, “U-uh… Where the hell are we?” “Not the moon, that’s for certain,” Mac added, before looking back at the rest of the team to make sure they were okay, “Have ya tried contacting the tower?” Immediately after hearing him say that, I tried to have Ray establish a connection, but all I got was a loud buzzing noise as I looked back to the titan. “Dammit, I can’t get ahold of them. All I’m getting is static. We’re on our own out here.” “Aside from our ghosts you mean,” Eagle added. “Still not exactly good,” I told him. If we’re cut off from the tower, it also meant that we’re cut off from Aria. She was the one who was guiding us through the abyssal hellhole that we just escaped, but now that we were cut off, we couldn’t be able to get her help from here onward. “Hang on a moment,” we now heard Noble speak up, “Before we jumped in the Hellmouth, didn’t we hear Aria tell us something?” That had all of us, including Adagio, look back at one another before Indigo folded her arms. “You’re going to have to be more specific.” “In order to truly end the threat of Crota once and for all, you must take the fight to him in his own realm.” Immediately, everyone stared to me, just as I extended my hand and my ghost began to materialize in front of me. “What was that, Ray?” “What Aria said,” he told me, “In order to truly end the threat of Crota once and for all, you must take the fight to him in his own realm. Which would mean…” “This is his domain,” Adagio said, venom seeping from her words. “Exactly. In that pit we escaped, Aria also said ‘Go forth to the Ascendant Realm’. Something tells me that we’re here in that realm.” “And what exactly would make you think that?” Mac now asked, which resulted in Ray turning around and facing a new direction. Prompting me to look out in the distance and see what my ghost was looking at, before he materialized back into my helmet. Letting me speak now. “Well, I’m not positive,” I told them, before pointing out towards the burning ashes that resembled a pathway and what exactly I could see in the distance, “But I think Ray’s got a couple of theories. Mainly relating to that over there.” “Oh, bloody hell,” Noble cursed upon first seeing the hive construct that was in the distance, “I’m already getting a chill down my spine by just looking at that thing.” “Well, it’s the only other thing that’s here and we don’t exactly have any other options,” Eagle added, before reloading his weapons, “Only question now is how in the name of the traveler are we going to get across?” “Let’s look around first and see if there’s anything that we can find,” Mac then suggested to us, “Given the fact that the red… burning embers over there extend all the way to the other side, maybe it’s connected to some kind of mechanism?” “So, another bridge?” Indigo bluntly put it, before looking back to Eagle and a couple of others, “What is up with this place and bridges? How many has there been so far that we’ve seen and had to cross?” “Three,” Adagio bluntly said. “Exactly,” the bladedancer replied back, “We’re just doing the same thing over and over again. If this Crota guy is somehow testing us in some way, the only thing he’s testing is my patience.” I felt the same way, but honestly, we’re too far in to start turning back now. If what Mac said was true, then we needed to find a way to activate it. “Everyone, we got movement. Hide!” Before any of us had the chance to properly react, we found ourselves splitting up. Myself, Adagio and Mac hid behind a broken column on the far left since while Indigo, Eagle and Noble did the same on the right. From a door that was behind us, we watched as two acolytes and a knight walked out. Each of the Acolytes stood by a pillar that was on either side and the knight stood in the center, raising the sword that he was holding as a new overpass was formed. As the knight was crossing though, the path was starting to crumble and wither after it had reached the halfway point as both of the acolytes that were with it fell to their deaths, before meeting a second knight on the other side. One that glowed the same color as the cursed thralls as it allowed for the knight to pass before returning to its post. “I… think we just found our way across,” I spoke up now. “Really? What’s your newest ‘theory’ then?” Eagle asked. I assumed that he was saying that jokingly, but it did sound like he was coming off like a bit of a jerk. “We have part of the team stick by both of those pillars while one of us stands in the center, kill the knight bearing the sword and use it to form that link and cross over. Whoever crosses kills that gatekeeper knight on the other side with the blade and holds position over there while we repeat the process with everyone else. It’s the only feasible way that we could be able to get over without plummeting to our deaths.” I know that wasn’t exactly what some would consider as the best strategy, but it was the only one that we had. Especially since we couldn’t be able to contact Aria right now. “I’m all for it,” I heard Indigo say as the Bladedancer got out from behind the broken column on her side. “Question is, who’s going to cross over first?” “We got two titans, two hunters and two warlocks on this team. We should have one each make it over first before everyone else follows suit,” Noble suggested, before looking to me, “But for who specifically should go-” “I’ll do it.” We all looked back at Adagio, some of us being surprised that she was taking matters into her own hands now. “The more that we banter on, the more that we’re wasting time. The sooner we get this over with, the better.” “Can’t really say no to that,” Mac added, “We’ll cover the left. Indigo?” “I hear you, we got the right side,” she nodded as her, Eagle and Noble got into position while Mac and I stood by ours. “Adagio, whenever you’re ready.” The stormcaller grunted, before holstering her hand cannon. Arming herself with a weapon that I could only assume was a fusion rifle. One that have markings and the exterior appearance of a hive weapon as she turned a switch, the gun illuminating a cyan pulse from the outside. Only hearing her say one thing before she stepped on the plate. “For my sister.” The energy from the platform immediately came to light upon her stepping forth as we heard the sounds of the Hive encroaching upon our position. They were coming out of cracks in the ground and climbing up the sides of the walls behind us as we engaged the threat. Doing everything that we could in order to fend off the impending swarm while the platform Adagio stood on was charging. It took a few moments of fending off the Hive and even having to tell Ray to use an Ammo Synthesis to restore my pulse rifle magazine. Luckily though, it was starting to pay off. “We got a swordbearer! Focus your fire!” Noble himself immediately took the chance to get out a rocket launcher that had a wolf head on the front as he fired two rockets that followed the swordbearer. Exploding on contact and having a swarm of cluster rockets swarm around the knight like it was one of Eagle’s grenades. It was enough to stagger the knight and provide myself a chance to land a few shots at its head before Adagio fired a blast from her rifle to take it down as it dropped its sword. Prompting her to grab it as the overpass materialized and she took off. “Alright, she’s on her way! Someone else needs to take over.” “I got you covered. Just focus on keeping these hive bastards at bay!” Eagle said, before racing over to the center platform. I wanted to look and see if Adagio had taken down the gatekeeper, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off the situation that was going on right now as I went back to fighting off the Hive. Unloading shotgun rounds into the thrall that came too close to Mac and I. “Okay, Gatekeeper’s dead! Now what!?” “Stay where you are and fend off any hive that come after you,” I quickly answered to Adagio’s response just now, before seeing another Hive Knight that was armed with a sword coming for the center plate, “We got another Swordbearer coming. Eagle will be coming over to back you up.” “Well, make it quick! We don’t have any time to waste!” Fighting off the second knight was a little bit more challenging since we did not have Noble firing his rocket launcher this time around. Instead, Eagle brought out a machine gun and used the ammunition from it to stagger the knight as I threw out my solar grenade and let the flames from it burn away at the knight’s protective chitin. While this was happening, Indigo brought out her sniper rifle to fire off three shots at the Swordbearer’s head, with the third shot being the killing blow as it dropped its sword and Eagle picked it up. “Got the sword, coming over!” “Make it quick! I don’t know how, but my blade disappeared shortly after killing the gatekeeper!” That was news to me. Specifically because it meant that the swords were holding had some kind of limit as to how long they could be around for. Making it a race against time. “Mac, cover the center!” “Already on it, Sunset!” the defender told me, leaving his post right next to me before moving to the middle. Like with Adagio, I wasn’t able to look to see if Eagle killed his gatekeeper or not, but I hoped that he would be able to follow through. As for us, our objective did not change. We needed to fend off the Hive and defeat the Swordbearers that came our way so that each member of our fireteam could make it over. After Mac took his turn, Indigo was the next one to make it over and slay her gatekeeper. Follow that with Noble doing the same thing as I stayed behind to fend off the hive. Yet, during this, there was one thing that I did not anticipate. The bridge is fully formed “Sunset, hurry up! The bridge is solid!!” Wait, what? “How-?” “I don’t know, but after Noble killed his gatekeeper, the bridge didn’t disappear and six swords just showed up out of nowhere,” Indigo shouted back, “Get over here, quickly!” Well, that was a change in plans that I did not expect. Falling back, I threw my grenade at the base of the bridge so the Hive couldn’t come after me before racing over to the other side to join with the rest of my team. Like what Indigo said, six swords appeared in front of us, floating in place as if they were expecting us to grab them. “Well, we’re here… now what?” I heard the gunslinger standing by Indigo ask us. “There’s six of us and six blades. Let’s take one each and see what happens,” I suggested, slowly setting my rifle on my back as I went to grab the blade in front of me. Holding it with both of my hands as the rest of our team grabbed hold of the other swords. The moment that we armed ourselves with these blades, the hive came out in full force as we had to fend off thralls, cursed thralls, acolytes and even two ogres. Not only that, but there were other gatekeepers that appeared as well. Forcing us to be aware of their attacks before we could be able to attack them ourselves. Which was already hard to do considering how many Hive were already trying to get ahold of us with their claws. Over the course of the battle, we had to face five gatekeepers and two ogres along with all the other hive that swarmed us. But once they were defeated, the barricade that was not far now opened up, showing us the way forward. “Guys, hold on just a second.” When we turned to Indigo, all of us were rather confused. “Why, what’s wrong?” “My ghost just, I don’t know, picked something up just now after we completed that fight. Not an engram, but an actual piece of equipment,” she explained, her armor looking a bit different as she was now wearing a new harness that had fangs and teeth around her neck along with a new cloak that looked like the chitin of a hive, “Check with your ghosts and see if you happened to get anything too.” Curious, I brought out Ray and began to look at the items I happened to have. As it turns out, I did get a few things. Two pieces of armor and a new weapon. The pieces of armor were referred to only by the title ‘Deathsinger’ as the first piece was a pair of gauntlets and the second was a new robe that had shoulder guards and a chestplate that looked as if they were ripped off of a hive wizard and sewn into a garment. Lastly, there was the weapon. To my surprise, it was a pulse rifle. One that happened to have some similar traits to the rifle that the stranger gave me. Taking a moment, I had my ghost inspect the weapon. Name- Oversoul Edict Weapon Type- Pulse Rifle Manufacturer- Unknown Slot- Primary The light of the will of Crota shines down like a vast and inverse sun. Modifiers: -Arc Damage: This weapon causes Arc Damage -Red Dot OAS: Snapshot Sight. Enhanced target acquisition. -Red Dot ORES: Flexible Sight. Enhanced handling, range and recoil control. -Full Auto: This weapon can be fired in Full Auto Mode. -Snapshot: Aiming this weapon is incredibly fast. -Field Scout: Increased carried Ammo Capacity -Dark Breaker: Projectiles will overpenetrate through Hive Knight Wall of Darkness. -Hive Disruptor: Increase damage to Hive Majors. Holy… shit. I remembered when I was asking myself about how many different perks could a particular weapon have when I looked at Mac’s scout rifle when searching for the Gate Lord, but this was much more than I was anticipating. But this could be particularly useful. Especially if you consider what we can use this for as well as our current situation. “Ray, equip the new armor and switch out my Pulse Rifle. I think I’ll need it going forward.” “Give me a second and I’ll have it ready.” he told me, shortly before my equipment and gear changed. As I looked up, some of the other equipment that the rest of my team had was also different as well. New armor along with some of them carrying new weapons. The only one that didn’t have any new weapons was Adagio, who still had her hand cannon and fusion rifle as I looked around for a moment at the rest of my team. “Everyone all set?” “Yeah, if you consider that this new stuff makes us look like the same monsters that we’re trying to kill,” Eagle replied, “But if it’s better than the equipment that we had when starting this mission, then I’ll use it.” “Same here,” Mac added, “Let’s be careful moving forward. We don’t know what to expect going forward.” The next hall that we had to traverse was a full on gauntlet of chaos for we had to not only kill Thralls and Shriekers that were scattered throughout a hallway, but also had to make it past a door in the distance that was slowly closing as we were fighting off the Hive. Several of us found it easier to defeat them now that we had equipment that gave us a small advantage against them, but we did not want to get too cocky. For we still did not know what was waiting for us in store the farther in we went. Once at the end of the hall, we found ourselves in a strange room. There were hive on both sides, but when Indigo cloaked herself to get a better look at what we were dealing with, what she found was… not what I was thinking originally. “So, both sides look to have some wizard that’s hiding and a shrieker that’s asleep. On top of that, there’s another chamber that’s directly above us, but it looks to be sealed.” “Sealed?” I asked. “Yeah. There doesn’t seem to be anyway inside because any possible entry was blocked by a wall with hive markings,” the bladedancer replied, “I’m not sure what it means, but just from the amount of enemies that are here, it would be better if we split up.” “Like in two teams of three?” Noble asked. “Yeah. I can take one side with Sunset and Mac while you guys get the other. If anything out of the ordinary happens, we’ll regroup,” Indigo explained further, “What do you guys think?” “I say that works.” “Agreed.” “Whatever…” “Then I guess we have a plan. Let’s draw those wizards out of hiding,” I said, following Indigo and Mac as we took our positions. The area that we stormed had the giant broken moon that was up in the sky, along with several different Hive all around us on the ground level and up above on the walls that surrounded us. Almost as if we were walking into a caged off pit. If that wasn’t bad enough, seconds after the first shots were fired, all of us heard a bone chilling shriek echo everywhere. The Deathsinger prepares her song That… definitely did not sound good at all. If anything, my heart started to race because of that alone. When fighting against the hive right now, it felt as if there was a creeping sense of dread that was slowly making its way up my body, forcing the hairs on my neck to stand upright. Whatever we were up against wanted for our deaths to not be swift, but agonizing and painful. I was not going to let that happen. Turning around, I now saw the sealed chamber Indigo was referring to before noticing the wizard that was hiding. I threw my solar grenade in an effort to destroy it’s protections, before Mac peltered the wizard with machine gun fire as the wizards was torn to shreds. At the corner of my eye, I noticed that on the barrier to the sealed chamber that there were four hive runes similar to when Ray and I found the Temple of Crota. When the wizard was killed, one of the runes faded away, leaving three more remaining. “Shrieker, on your flank!” Indigo called out, before rushing over and shooting at it to get its attention so Mac could turn around in time. I also contributed in attacking the wizard as I aimed my rifle at the Shrieker’s eye, being careful to avoid any blasts that come directly towards us. After Mac fired another clip of Scout Rifle ammunition, the shrieker was destroyed. I watched as another rune went down before getting on coms, “Noble, I think I figured out how to get inside that chamber Indigo was talking about.” “Well, you’ve been right the last time you suggested a plan. What is it this time?” “When we killed the wizard and the shrieker on our side, two runes on a hive barrier disappeared. There were originally four of them on there.” “So,” Eagle added, “What you’re saying is that if we kill the wizard and shrieker on our end…” “It should open the chamber-” As I said that, a Hive Knight came out from behind a wall and began to shoot at me, prompting me to back off before firing a rocket. Allowing me the chance to seek cover. “We need to hurry though. I got a bad feeling that if we take too long, it’ll end up horribly for all of us.” “That is already obvious, Shimmer.” Well, that was… unexpected. I don’t remember there being any time at all where Adagio and I actually agreed on… well pretty much anything really. Though, now was definitely not the time to focus on that. Wasting anymore time would only lead to us getting killed, so we had to act now and stop whoever or whatever this ‘Deathsinger’ was. The rest of the team did not waste any time trying to kill the wizard and shrieker on their end. Because a few seconds after I told them what I was thinking of, the last two runes on the door disappeared. Opening the chambers as our entire team regrouped on our side before storming in. Finding acolytes, knights and one wizard that was floating in the middle next to a giant crystal. Ir Yût, the Deathsinger “Everyone, focus your fire on that wizard!” I called out, before bringing out my rocket launcher and firing two shots at the wizard. The first one made contact, but the wizard moved out of the way of the second shot before it could even hit them. “That’s easier said than done, Sunset! There’s too many knights in here!” Noble’s comment just lead to me focusing on trying to combat the hive knights that were making things difficult for him. Throwing out a solar grenade first before unloading several shotgun rounds into the two knights, killing one and leaving one damaged enough for me to incinerate with a scorch attack. I heard Machine Gun fire echo behind me and turned to find Mac taking down two more knights on his own and Adagio disintegrating another with her fusion rifle. “Knight’s are down. Go!” All of us wasted no time getting back to attacking Ir Yût, using every trick that we had to avoid her energy bolts and to avoid any other attacks that she had. However, the problem that we were having was that every so often, she would just float away from any attacks that we would try to hit. Which, in itself, was annoying. There was a point where the wizard did stop moving. Yet, that in itself did not feel good. The sense of dread that I had before was now crawling up my neck as I heard another screech from Ir Yût. Ir Yût shrieks in fear. The deathsinger begins her liturgy. Immediately, the edges of my helmet began to start going dark as if I was losing consciousness. “We need to hurry!! Focus your fire!!!” “If that isn’t obvious enough!!” Adagio snapped, firing off multiple blasts from her fusion rifle at the wizard as it stood in place. I immediately had Ray use a heavy synthesis and began firing off my rockets at the Deathsinger along with Indigo and Noble while Mac was firing off machine gun rounds at the wizard. Eagle himself was firing a machine gun too, but it first started off slow… before rapidly spinning up as the rounds were fired off as quick as lightning. Seconds continued to pass, my vision began to darken with each passing second as a yellow flame was seen burning around the Deathsinger. Their song was slowly beginning to kill us and I felt my soul being torn from my body. Only to hear the vile scream of a dying wizard as the deathsinger’s body turned to ashes. A final blast from Adagio finishing off Ir Yût and the deathsinger was no more. “D-Did we… win?” “Well, we’re not dead obviously,” the stormcaller let out a deep breath as I tried to regain my bearings. “Don’t tell me that you felt like giving up, Shimmer.” “As if,” I coughed, “Whatever that wizard was doing, it felt as if my soul was being ripped out of my body. I’m just glad that it’s over.” “Amen to that,” Indigo then added on as I noticed that she was wearing a new pair of gauntlets on her wrist, “Sparky said that we got some more equipment out of that encounter too-” “Sparky? What, is that a nickname for me now-?” Adagio glared at the bladedancer. “Uh, Sparky’s the name of my ghost?” Indigo told her, trying to explain that it wasn’t some kind of childish nickname for her, only for Adagio to look rather puzzled, “We give names to our ghosts so that we have a name that’s specific for them. Do you… have one for yours?” “… No.” “Well, just take it under consideration then. No need to do it now,” Indigo replied, before switching her weapons and loading what looked to be a sniper rifle with hive platings all over the end of the barrel and the front near the scope, “Yeah, I’m definitely keeping this one.” We took a few moments to rearrange our equipment and gear as well as take some time to prepare for whatever was going to come for us next. Grabbing whatever ammo we needed for our weapons that dropped outside before returning back to the chamber where we killed Ir Yût. We did not know exactly what we needed to do next, but something gave me the impression that it had something to do with the giant crystal in the center. At first, it did not seem to react at all when I tried taking a closer look. But when the others also stepped forth, the chamber was sealed off with an invisible barrier. Acolytes and Knights began to spawn everywhere outside, waiting for the moment that the barriers that kept them at bay to disappear as the edges of what looked like a throne began to glow like fire. Then, he arrived. A giant spectral being that grew in size and spawned across from the crystal chamber. A giant phantasm of the monster we came this far to kill as its body glowed the same color as the shattered rock in the sky, staring at us with three eyes before taking form and grabbing hold of a blade that it had as its weapon of choice. Crota, the Son of Oryx had arrived. Crota’s Presence stops Health Recovery Oh, that’s not good- “Everyone, get ready!!” Immediately after Noble said that, the acolytes began to open fire at us as we focused our efforts into fending off the swarm that were eager to kill us in the presence of their prince. I fired off several bursts at three different acolytes to kill them, before running outside, with Mac following not that far behind me as we tried to get to a better position. Preferably one where the hive weren’t crawling up the walls to try and kill us. Of course, there was no way that we could last in this fight the way it is now. We needed a plan, but it was very hard to come up with one given all the chaos going on right now. I killed two more acolytes, but one of their shots hit me in the arm. The injury admitted a glow to it and I was not able to feel anything be restored. “Okay, what the hell is going on?! I’m getting shot at and my injuries aren’t mending!” Indigo snapped. “I don’t know, but whatever it is, we need a plan!” I can agree with Eagle on that point, but coming up with a plan was not exactly simple. Though, amidst all the fighting going on and the shots being fired at us, I did see something at the center of the room. A glowing light in the center. I don’t know if it was instinct or something else, but I had a feeling that it was important. Running out of cover, I hurried towards the glow. Only to realize that it was something I could be able to pick up and carry. The warmth of the glow healing my injuries. Sunset Shimmer picked up the Chalice of Light “Indigo, where are you at?!” “Over here!” I heard her shout, followed by the sound of a skip grenade. I raced over to the bladedancer, before killing an acolyte that wasn’t far away. “The hell? Why are you glowing-?” “Just take it!” I said, before pushing it her to take off of me. Indigo Zapp has picked up the Chalice of Light “W-whoa! Did it just-” “Whatever this thing is, its healing injuries. But we need to use it carefully-” I said, before turning around and killing another acolyte. “Now that that’s out of the way, does anyone notice anything that can help?” “Everyone, I’m seeing signs of hive knights. Swordbearers like the ones at the bridge,” Eagle informed us, “We also tried shooting at Crota, but he has some kind of protection around him that can quickly return to him.” “Wait a second… Didn’t Aria tell us when we started this that Crota’s own power can be turned against him?” Mac now asked. “She did-” I said, before something began to click in my head, “The swords! Aria was referring to the swords,” as soon as I realized that, I had a new question to ask, “How many Swordbearers are there?” “Only one. Who’s going to get it?” That made me stop, before thinking for a moment as I looked around as an idea came to my mind. “Adagio. She should do it,” I reasoned, before arming myself with my new pulse rifle as I aimed at the Swordbearer knight, “Okay, I got a plan. First, everyone needs to attack the Swordbearer!” Both Indigo and I took a chance at taking down the Swordbearer as I saw Mac bring up a Ward of Dawn at his position, allowing for us to relocate before attacking. After the Swordbearer was destroyed, we saw Adagio grab the sword as I switched to my rocket launcher. “Okay, whoever has rockets need to open fire on Crota now! Adagio’s only going to be able to actually hurt him if those protections are gone!!” Seconds later, I squeezed the trigger and began to fire off rockets at Crota. Noble and Indigo joined in too as the rockets quickly tore through his shield, forcing the Prince onto one knee. “His shield’s broken! Adagio, go!!” I did not hear Adagio snap back at me or snarl, but instead I saw her charge. Striking Crota and driving his sword down on the prince. However, it wasn’t until five seconds afterwards that he was back up and his shield was intact. “Rockets, again!!” I called out as my team fired another volley at Crota for support to destroy the shield and allow Adagio to strike again. As she swung her blade, I had Ray activate another heavy ammo synthesis to replenish my rockets before watching as Crota rose back up on his feet again. By this time, the sword that she was holding was gone as the Stormcaller backed away. Yet, the prince was furious. Raising his sword in the air, a green aura began to surge forth around Crota. The giant rock in the background began to burn brightly as he let out a roar Crota summons his Oversoul “What the hell is that!?” Mac asked. “Who cares?! If he brought it here, then it’s not for a good reason. Shoot it!!” After Eagle said that, the exo brought out his machine gun again before rapidly firing off lighting rounds at … whatever it was. I soon joined in with him and the rest of my team as we focused our efforts on destroying whatever it was that he summoned. Two full ammo clips and another rocket later, it was gone as we watched Crota move locations. Moving from his position in the center over to the right as more hive began to spawn. This time, there were a pair of knights that were firing at us, but no sign of Swordbearers yet. Nearby Sniper fire was the next thing I heard as I looked to see Indigo and Eagle engaging the two knights in the middle, avoiding any incoming blasts before Indigo had Eagle grab something she was holding. Eagle-3 has picked up the Chalice of Light “Thanks, I needed that,” he said, before reloading and firing two more shots at one knight as Indigo killed the other while I focused on the thrall and the acolytes around me, throwing a grenade out to intercept some of them, noticing Crota returning back towards the center where he started, “Everyone, heads up! Swordbearer’s back in the middle! Get ready!!” All of us focused our fire on the Swordbearer once again, repeating the same tactics that we did before to kill the knight and let Adagio take its sword, before focusing on Crota himself. Opening fire on him to destroy the shield that protected him before the stormcaller proceeded to attack and harm the Prince as he was down on one knee. Once he rose up again, our team repeated the same process before Crota got back up. Forcing Adagio to retreat as the sword dissipated. “Okay, what happens now-” then, we heard the roar of something that I honestly wished that I didn’t want to hear as I looked back at everyone, “Oh hell… everyone, get inside the lower chambers! We got freaking Ogres incoming!!” We all began to run like hell immediately. Going inside the original chamber that we were in before fighting Ir Yût, seeing the hulking masses of the Hallowed Ogres walk towards where we are as they prepared to fire off eye blasts at us. We first focused our shots on the Ogre that was to the left, taking the chance to make sure it goes down before doing the same with the one on the right. We didn’t come out immediately though, because we could still hear the sounds of Crota’s steps above us. Only when we found him coming back to the center that we got back out and in position as we proceeded to follow through on the same strategy as before. Attacking Crota to bring down his shield before letting Adagio attack as the prince got back up- ENRAGED “Oh shit, he’s pissed! Adagio, get out of there!!!” Adagio immediately backed off as Crota slammed the ground, green aura surging around the Prince as he lifted his sword in the air to summon his Oversoul. “Kill what he summoned, then focus on Crota!! Hurry!!” Wasting no time, I opened fire at the Oversoul with Indigo and Mac, causing it to disperse before firing whatever heavy ammo I had to destroy Crota’s shields. After running out, I used my pulse rifle and continued to fire until we got him back on one knee. “Adagio, NOW!!” “This is for my sister, you bastard!!!” With one final strike, the ascendant Hive Prince was destroyed. Disintegrating as nothing, not even his sword was left behind. The rest of the Hive also vanished upon his defeat as Adagio almost fell to her knees. I wanted to come over to see if she was okay, but couldn’t compel myself to do so. We just killed a being that the hive would consider as a god. One that ripped the souls out of many victims and the light out of Aria herself. This was a victory, yes… but why do I have the feeling that this is just the beginning of something much worse? ??? There was silence in the festering halls of his domain, one that was broken by the howls of anger and rage. Two of his own servants came to tend to the king, but he forced them away. His anger and fury rising as he slammed his sword into the pedestal he stood on. “Prepare the Dreadnought,” his voice boomed, the pedestal underneath him glowing, “We are going to the Solar System.” The one who stood was the king who learned of how his son was struck down. How his son was defeated by Guardians who broke into the ascendant realm and killed him with his own sword. Now… he planned to finish what he started. He will take everything away from them, as they took away his son. He will have his Vengeance. “What Crota began, I complete… My will CONQUERS ALL!!!”
17- The Hunt BeginsChaos. That single word was enough to describe the current state that the Awoken of the Vestian Outpost were left in. Multiple corsairs were either gravely injured or worse, and much of the reef was left in disarray. Though, to the Queen of the Awoken, she was furious. Furious to the point that she wanted to know two things. Who did this… and why? As she watched from her balcony above the outpost alongside the company of her brother-in-law and advisor, Novo soon heard the sound of footsteps echo towards her position and turned around as she watched one corsair approach her. Yet, this one was different than the others. Her face wasn’t concealed by that of the standard corsair attire and her teal hair drifted off to the side of her head. For this one was special. She was the emissary of the Queen and the commander of the Royal Awoken Guard. But most importantly… she was the Queen’s Wrath. “My queen,” the emissary addressed her, kneeling at the presence of her ruler as Novo and Stratus approached her, “We’ve received a message from the warden of the Prison of Elders and the corsairs that were stationed at the border of the reef…” “And?” the queen spoke, waiting for the emissary to finish her sentence. “Both of them have confirmed the identity of the assailants who attacked the Vestian Outpost,” the awoken continued as she lifted her head and looked towards her queen directly, “They were the Eliksni from the House of Wolves, and the attack was orchestrated by the Kell that leads their house, Skolas.” At first, those words caught Novo by surprise. Yet, as the gravity of the situation began to set in, her anger began to rise. When her people originally found those stragglers, they were quick to make a deal. Saving their lives in exchange for their servitude. But this… this was more than just a mere act of defiance. It was an act of rebellion. No… It was an act of Betrayal. “My queen, what are your orders?” At first, the only response to the emissary’s question was silence. Silence that lingered with each passing second as the emissary rose from her kneeling position on the floor and stood at attention. Watching as the queen looked over the carnage that happened in her outpost as she gathered her thoughts. “After everything that we’ve done for them… this is how they choose to repay my generosity,” the words were brimming with rage as Novo turned back to look towards her emissary and her advisor, “There is only one thing that we can do. They will know what it's like to feel my wrath.” “Your grace,” Stratus soon interjected, “Are you sure you want to reach out to… them? This is none of their concern-” “Them?” the emissary then asked, “Stratus, with all due respect, who are you referring too?” The advisor turned towards the queen, who just briefly nodded her head. A sign for Stratus to continue speaking and to answer the emissary’s question, “Some time ago, a group of Guardians came to the Reef and asked for our help in finding the Black Garden. Surprisingly, they didn’t back away and run. They accomplished the task that we assigned them and in exchange, we asked for them to answer our call if our people need aid.” “So they owe us a favor?” the emissary’s question was answered with a simple nod of the head from the advisor, before she asked another one, “Then why are you hesitant?” Before Stratus had a chance to speak, Novo beat him to it, “Your uncle has a strong distaste towards lightbearers,” the queen explained, before looking to the emissary, “But… even so, our people are in need. Not only that, we need to make the wolves know what happens when you invoke my wrath… Skystar.” “Yes my queen,” the emissary immediately responded to her queen, “What are your orders?” At first, Novo was quiet… yet, when she spoke, each one of her words were fueled by her anger and rage towards the House of Wolves. “Open the Reef to the Guardians and send a message to the one named Sunset Shimmer. Offer the riches of our realm as bounty for these traitors… Let the hunt begin.” Elsewhere… “And that’s one Cabal commander we no longer need to worry about anymore!” I watched Indigo proclaim triumphantly as Mac and I regrouped with the Bladedancer. It had been more than a week or so since the raid where we killed Crota and since then, we’ve been busier than ever. Not just with completing bounties, harvesting resources and competing in the Crucible (much to Thunderlane’s enjoyment), but also being assigned on strike operations that Commander Sentry assigned to us. Such as the case for what we were finishing up on Mars. According to Commander Sentry, because of our actions in our pursuit for the Black Garden, we stepped into a war with the Cabal on Mars. So, we needed to make sure that the odds were in our favor. This led to our fireteam having to charge straight into a massive land tank and take out the Commander in charge. Even though killing the commander was in itself a challenge, Indigo didn’t exactly think of it that way, “Man, for being their commander, I thought they would be more of a challenge,” she sighed, before looking back to us, “I mean, what did Flash say was his name again?” “Valus Ta’aurc,” I answered as I let out a sigh and placed my Oversoul Edict on my back, “And if anything, he was a challenge Indigo. Hell, he was pelting us with rocket fire for several minutes and for some time, we couldn’t even make a dent in his armor while Mac and I were forced to stick behind cover.” “Ehh, honestly, he was nothing more than a pushover. I mean, who else would have their own troops do the work for you?” “Um, every commanding leader,” Mac deadpanned, “Did ya forget the fallen that we had to fight in the Devils Lair when we had to kill Sepiks Prime?” “… Fair point.” Before I had the chance to interject, that was when I heard Ray speak up, “Sunset, not to disturb you or anything, but you got a transmission on your ship that needs to be heard.” When I first heard that, I originally thought it was a message from someone that was at the Tower, like Commander Sentry, Twilight or Rainbow-6, but I couldn’t entirely be too sure because none of them were they type to spontaneously contact us out of the blue… well, Rainbow was a maybe, but I don’t quite think it was her. “Ray, where is the transmission coming from?” “I’m double checking and tracing the location of the message right now-” for a minute, Ray stopped speaking. It was something that was a bit unexpected, because my Ghost wasn’t one for interrupting himself while he was speaking. Yet, this silence did not last long as he soon picked up right where he left off. Going as far as to materialize right in front of me, “We need to get back to our ship. Right… now.” “Hold up. Why exactly do we need to do that?” Mac then asked. “I traced the origin of the message… It’s from the Reef.” In the moments after getting word from Ray about the message we received, all of us immediately returned to our ships as we were in Orbit over Mars. If this message was from the Reef, then it could possibly mean only one thing. Since the Awoken helped us with finding the Black Garden on Mars, it only meant that it was time to return the favor. “Ray, play the message.” My ghost nodded, disappearing into the navigation console of the ship as he began to play the new audio transmission that was waiting for us. Guardian, or should I say, Sunset Shimmer. This is Skystar; Emissary of Queen Novo and Commander of the Queen’s Wrath. We have an urgent matter that needs to be discussed and the Queen believes that you and your Fireteam are capable for such a task. Earlier today, we were betrayed by a foe that our queen originally showed mercy too. The Eliksni House of Wolves. Many of our corsairs and other personnel were killed in their act of rebellion and now, Queen Novo wants them to pay for their traitorous actions. In light of these events, we are now opening the Reef to all visitors. I will be providing the coordinates to the Vestian Outpost with this message. If you can assist us with hunting these traitors, my queen will reward you with the riches of our realm as bounty. Let the Hunt Begin. After the message ended, there was a brief pause, followed by a notification on my navigation system about a new location being added. Vestian Outpost, The Reef. There wasn’t anything in particular that I heard from Indigo or Mac. So instead, I took the initiative. “Well, I guess it's time to repay that favor.” “Hold on a second,” I heard Indigo speak, “We’re actually going to help them? It sounds like their own damn fault for trusting the Fallen.” “Indigo, don’t you remember what Novo originally said?” I now asked her, “We are to come when her people are in need of aid. I say this qualifies as that.” “Ah agree,” we heard Mac speak up now, “She expects an answer from us, Indigo. We willingly agreed to this. Going back on this is going back on our word and Guardians are always supposed to help those in need.” “The ‘last’ guardian that told me she would come when I would need aid left me on my own to fend for myself in the Cosmodrome to fend for myself,” the Bladedancer grit her teeth, “I’ve only been getting used to helping others after you had me join your fireteam.” That… was a bit to take in. Especially with how sudden and unexpected that was. It wasn’t like Indigo to go into personal details, so hearing this caught me off guard. Still though, we had a duty to fulfill. Not just as Guardians, but as representatives of the city. “I… am sorry to hear about that, Indigo. But like Mac said, Novo expects us to respond. We need to show her that we will not ignore her or her people when they’re needing our help,” shortly afterwards, I turned towards the navigation console of my ship and began to speak to Ray. “Set course for the Vestian Outpost.” “Right away, Sunset,” he said, shortly before all of our ships began to accelerate into space. Upon approaching the Reef, we began to see the carnage that was left behind. Pieces of Awoken vessels, the same ones that once escorted us into the reef, were now torn to shreds and floating throughout the reef. The supplies that were on those ships were also scattered everywhere, along with the bodies of Awoken corsairs that had yet to be retrieved as we were getting closer to the hangar bay of the Outpost. The outpost itself looked to have taken a lot of damage to its interior as well as its exterior. Though, upon transmatting in, we could still see a few other things that immediately stood out. There frames like the ones in the tower that handled the mail and the bounty board, an awoken that has the same clothes as Moondancer from the Tower and a strange human that wore a set of robes that obscured its face, but the robes and the imagery in the background reminded me of the pictures I’ve seen of Starswirl the Bearded back in Equestria. But, they were not the only ones who caught our attention. Instead, it was someone else entirely, “Well now, you must be the Guardians the queen told me about. Got to say, I didn’t think you would respond to our summons so quickly.” The voice belonged to another Awoken and matched the one we heard on the transmission. Yet, this one was much different than the others. Most Awoken corsairs that were standing guard wore black garments and kept their faces hidden. But this particular Awoken wore dark violet clothes that were similar to the corsairs and actually showed her face. Her teal colored hair was drifted off to the left side of her face as her right eye focused on us. Yes, I said eye as singular, because her left eye was covered by a patch. “Would you happen to be Skystar by chance?” The Awoken responded at first with a nod of her head, before she began tossing around the knife she had on hand. “Indeed I am. You must be Sunset Shimmer,” she paused for a moment, before looking behind me at where Indigo and Mac were standing, “I apologize, but I don’t think I quite got your names.” “To be fair, the queen never asked for our names when we saw her,” the titan retorted, “Ah’m Big Macintosh, but everyone ah know just calls me Mac.” “And I’m Indigo Zap,” The hunter now spoke up as she folded her arms and looked back at Skystar, “So, what do you need for us to do exactly?” “Itching to get into the field now, are we?” the emissary asked as she let out a small chuckle, “I know the feeling. But before we do that, we should brief you on the situation. As well as introduce you to someone who will be helping us.” That part got me a bit curious as I look back at Skystar. But before I could say anything, the three of us turned around at the sound of a new voice. Yet, none of us expected for the person that was to help us to not be an Awoken. In fact, given the circumstances, it was honestly the last thing we thought would be helping us. A Fallen. “Well now… You must be the Guardians… that will hunt down… the wolves, yes?” At first, none of us said anything, but that only lasted for a few moments as Indigo turned towards Skystar, “Hold on, I thought your message said that the Fallen were the ones who attacked you? What’s this one doing here?” The eyes of the fallen moved towards Indigo, glaring at her as it spoke again. “I am not… with the Wolves. I am… Variks, the Loyal… of House Judgement. Warden… of the Prison… of Elders.” “Variks remains loyal to my queen and to us as well,” Skystar assured us, “He is an essential ally to assist us with our hunt, and he watches over the Prison of Elders, where the Awoken keep the most dangerous criminals in the system locked up.” That… was new. In the last few months of being a guardian, I have fought against four different alien species, traveled to several planets, ripped out the black garden’s heart and killed the son of a hive god. But this is honestly the first time that I have heard of what would be considered as a space prison. Around then though was when my ghost materialized in front of me, before looking towards Skystar, “I’m sorry for abruptly interrupting, but I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask.” Skystar herself turned towards Ray, looking rather surprised, “Well, I was wondering when one of your ghosts would introduce themselves,” the emissary replied, “What would you like to ask?” “Well, first and foremost, what are these ‘wolves’ I hear Variks speak of?” Ray asked, before looking to me, “And Second, what is the Prison of Elders? I’m only vaguely familiar with the name, but not its purpose.” Skystar was quick to respond as she looked back at an awoken terminal. One that looked to have a map of the solar system projecting from it. “The Wolves are an abbreviated way of referring to the Fallen House of Wolves. Thanks to Variks, we know of numerous other houses with different names, so we are referring to these particular fallen by the name of their house.” With a quick swipe of her fingers, the projection changed as we looked at a giant spire that was floating in the reef. We were also looking at areas that appeared to be inside the prison that seemed to be holding… wait… are those Cabal? Fallen? Hive and Vex? What the hell are they all doing there? “This is the Prison of Elders,” we heard Skystar begin to explain, “It’s a maximum security facility where we imprison the most dangerous criminals in the solar system that have committed crimes against the Awoken. Variks is the warden, as he has already informed you, but now is not the time to be discussing about that.” Ah right. The Wolves. “Since you will be helping us, the Royal Awoken Guard will provide the tools and supplies that you will need to hunt down the wolves. We will also be issuing out a message to the Tower as well as provide bounties on key Fallen Targets, where removing them from the picture will cripple their forces,” Skystar told us, before turning towards Variks as he walked over right next to her, “But first, before you arrived, Variks had a breakthrough in searching for the Wolves current location.” “Indeed…” We now heard the Warden speak, his voice echoing like a low-pitched cackle, “Wolves on Venus… Kell with them too.” “Excellent,” Skystar smiled, “Provide us the coordinates for where you found them. It’s time for the hunt to begin.” It was not the words that she said that caught my attention though, but her tone of voice. Almost as if she was eagerly anticipating the chance to get started. “You seem pretty excited,” Indigo remarked. “You have no idea,” Skystar remarked, shortly before the three of us transmatted onto our ships as the coordinates for Venus began to show up on our navigation console. As we prepared to leave the Reef, we heard Skystar patch in to our comline. “Guardians, I can’t wait to work with your fireteam. Personally, it’s been a long time since I was last in the field, so it feels great to be back,” we heard her speak, “Even if it's just on coms.” “We’re glad to have you,” I replied, “Now, is there anything you can tell us before we touch down? That way we have some kind of idea as to what we’re getting into?” “Certainly,” she replied back, “The House of Wolves are led by Skolas, the last of their kells. Based on the information that Variks has provided, it appears that Skolas wants to take control of the Fallen House on Venus, the House of Winter. By killing their leaders, he’ll be able to take control of their troops and add them to his ranks… But with your help, we’ll stop them cold.” Author's Note Time to go hunt some Wolves. After all... we love field work
18- Kell of KellsAuthor's Note A short chapter to get ourselves introduced with the House of Wolves arc. I've been trying to find more time to write, but now that I'm back at work, it's going to be some time before another update. I do hope you enjoy it and feel free to let me know what you guys think. Until next time -Frost 18- Kell of Kells Once our ships broke through Venus’ atmosphere and we touched down on the ground, we found ourselves in a place called the Ash Coves. The whole area looked as if it was burned to cinders, but there were signs of fallen equipment scattered throughout the area. As we began to look around, Ray began to receive transmissions from Skystar as we heard the head of the Queen’s wrath begin to speak. “Fireteam Harmony, come in. Were you able to arrive there safely?” “We just touched down,” I answered back, “We’re in a camp that looked to have some fallen equipment here, but-” “Say no more,” she interjected before I could finish what I was saying, “Your ghost is right now feeding me telemetry on where your fireteam is. Meaning that I can see what he sees. This does look deserted, but it does seem that they left in quite a hurry. They even left some of their heavy pikes behind. Why don’t you take them for a spin?” “Well, they might not be as fast as a Sparrow, but they do have weapons,” Mac replied as he got on board one of pikes and saddled himself in, “Could be quite useful.” “Yeah, but there’s only two here and I don’t think they’re equipped to take passengers.” “Don’t worry, I got an idea,” Indigo told us, “I’ll go scout ahead and see what enemies are waiting for us and then you two follow me. I can keep myself cloaked and out of sight from them, so I can get an idea as to what lies ahead.” “That definitely would give you a tactical advantage for sure. Catch them by surprise before they have the chance to act,” Skystar added while I got seated in the second heavy pike that was there and Indigo went off to go see what was in store for us, “Now, if I remember correctly, those particular pikes come equipped with shock mines. However, I’m not quite sure how exactly you would activate them.” Well, that would be helpful, but that’s not important. Right now, we have to find where the wolves are first as Mac and I were getting used to the controls of the pikes. They weren’t exactly like a sparrow, but there was definitely a bit of a learning curve to it. “Guys,” we now heard Indigo speak up as Mac and I made our way over, “We got some dregs up ahead… and I think I can hear a fallen walker arriving in the clearing up ahead.” “A Walker? That’s… definitely not good,” the queen’s wrath now spoke up, “If they have a walker, that means that the Wolves have taken control of the House of Winter’s artillery! If you don’t take it out now, we’ll lose our opportunity to find their kell!!” That was all we needed to hear. Once we had reached the clearing, I saw Indigo decloak on top of a ledge and pin down the dregs around the walker with sniper fire. As she did that, Mac and I tried to focus on the Walker. It took a bit to try and familiarize with the control scheme since everything that was on the dashboard seemed to be written in whatever language the fallen would speak in, but with some help from Ray, I was able to figure out how the weapons on the heavy dreg worked and began to open fire on the walker as the slow firing shots from the Heavy Pike made contact with the panels on the legs. If this was anything like the walkers we were already familiar with, then destroying this particular Walker would be simple. Of course, there was also the fact that many of the fallen in the area were already rushing towards where we were to try and stop us, with many of them focusing their fire on me. “Grenade, incoming!” I looked up to see what a couple of dregs were throwing towards me as I immediately jerked the controls to the right to move out of the way. Yet, the sudden change in direction released some kind of electric orb that bounced towards the fallen and detonated upon contact. My best guess was that those were the shock mines that Skystar was mentioning earlier, but right now my fireteam had more important things to focus on as I got back to targeting the walker. Then, we heard an explosion and pieces of metal crashing onto the ground as the walker was crippled, “We got it down! Focus your fire!!” “I’m already on it!” Indigo told Mac as she redirected her focus to the walker and switched to her hand cannon to quickly make work of some of the dregs and throw her skip grenade at the exposed compartments of the Walker. As for me, my Heavy Pike has sustained too much damage from enemy fire, so I had to abandon it before it could explode and began to fire at it with my weapons. Mac himself stuck to the Pike and fired at any other incoming fallen that could disrupt our focus. Eventually, our efforts paid off as the walker exploded and pieces of the vessel were flown everywhere. Yet, none seemed more excited than Skystar herself when this happened. “Excellent work! Just to think that only last week I was delivering out court messages. Today, we’re delivering explosions! This is why I love fieldwork,” she proudly told us, “Get after them, Guardian! We can’t let them get away!” At that point, we chose to continue forward on foot since we were running out of room for us to drive our sparrows. It was as we kept going that I decided to ask a question, “Hey Skystar? What can you tell us about Skolas? We know that he’s in charge of the Wolves, but is there anything else we should know aside from that?” “Well… Variks says that the other fallen houses; the house of winter, devils and kings, hate Skolas with a dying passion. They thoroughly believe that Skolas betrayed the fallen during the battle at Duskfall Gap.” Around that point, Ray brought up a codex entry to fill in the gaps before I could ask about what Duskfall Gap was. Based on the entry, it was a battle where thousands of guardians fell in order to hold the front line against the combined might of the three Fallen Houses that Skystar had just mentioned. The battle would’ve been lost if it weren’t for Lord Thunderlane leading a counterattack with other guardians, the city would’ve been lost. In the days after, Lord Thunderlane created the Crucible to prepare guardians for if another battle like Duskfall Gap were to happen again. Though, before I could ask anything else, Skystar spoke up as we approached a door at the end of the pathway, “Hold up… it looks like your ghost is detecting traces left behind from a stasis field. Skolas was kept in a Stasis Pod for years, it must be him!” Each one of us took the chance to reload our weapons before we cautiously went through the door. As we went through the door, we found a legion of fallen spread out, with what looked to be a kell standing over them triumphantly. It then turned to us with it’s weapon in hand, prompting me to fire at it. Yet, my shots only grazed their armor before they disappeared. But not without a proclamation. “Gie Lovos drada kee! Drass, gue, Drageh!!” Immediately, Skystar picked up on the other end as the other fallen began to attack us and forced our fireteam to spread out, “Variks, get on the comms! What did he say!?” “Yes, yes,” we now heard the warden of the prison of elders speak, “In your tongue he said, ‘The Wolves stand strong. Cover before the Kell of Kells!” “Kell of Kells?” Skystar asked, puzzled with what Variks told her, “What, did he give himself a promotion?” “A fallen legend,” Variks corrected her as we took down the last of the group that was here, “He sees himself as a prophet. A great unifier, perhaps. Or… he has gone quite mad.” “Personally, with what we’ve been seeing, I would think it’s the latter,” Indigo now added as she began to walk farther up a nearby ledge. “I would agree with you, but do watch your step,” the queen’s wrath told us, “The Wolves are known to be quite resourceful and crafty with what’s at their disposal. They most likely have set up traps to stall you so Skolas can get away.” “Any particular idea besides the usual fallen traps we’ve seen before?” I asked. “Well, Variks has told me that some of the wolves have been known to force high caliber weaponry and explosives on shanks. Also, based on the traces that I’m picking up from Sunset’s ghost-” “Ray,” I corrected, which had Mac look back at me for a moment. Probably with a look of ‘What are you doing?’ underneath his helmet, “What? If you’re going to use my Ghost to help, then you should address him by his name.” For a moment, there was some silence… before a deep sigh as Skystar continued, “Well, based on what I’m picking up from Ray, some of the traces from Skolas’ pod are in the ground in front of you. Best guess? Some of the Wolves repurposed Skolas’ Stasis Pod and turned them into mines. So watch your step.” So… landmines then… just when I thought this couldn’t get anymore troublesome. As we began to cross the upper ravine and chase after the wolves, the three of us soon came across the modified shanks Skystar was talking about. Some were strapped with glowing explosives that were on the front of its metal body while the others had special weapons that fired the same kind of weapons that the Fallen Vandals would use as they tried to pick us off from further up the ravine. To us though, it just meant that we needed to quickly dispose of the exploding shanks first before targeting the tracers to make short work of them. Furthermore, if we came across any mines, a couple of gunshots from our weapons was enough to destroy it before it could set off. When we were getting closer though, I was beginning to think my radar was going haywire. It was picking up movement and signs of enemies all around me, but I couldn’t actually see anything at first. Though, it was as I began firing at some of them that I began to realize the problem. One of the Fallen Captains that was out here leading the charge could cloak themselves, much like that of Indigo or other Bladedancers. Also, there wasn’t a way to just ‘ignore’ them either. The way forward was blocked off by laser trip mines, so the only way that we were going to get after Skolas was to go straight through the fallen that were standing in their way. Refocusing my attention, I tossed out my solar grenade on the ground as the flames burned any dregs that came across it. The fires from my grenade flickered against the shield of the captain that we were fighting as the rest of my fireteam now had an open target to focus their fire on as we did what we could to fight against an enemy that we couldn’t see. The different kinds of shanks that we saw earlier on the way up here were beginning to show up as well. More than likely as an attempt to slow down our progress even more. This was even more apparent when we saw a servitor emerge as well. One that was different from the others. Skystar told us that it was one of the Servitors from the House of Wolves itself, which the wolves use to not only command troops, but to disrupt communications. If we didn’t take it and the captain out quickly, not only would we lose contact with the Reef, but we would be overwhelmed by sheer force. With that in mind, our first focus was to take down the servitor, all while staying aware of our surroundings and keeping an eye out for the cloaked captain that was fighting us. Once the servitor was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal, we reshifted our focus back to the captain and the dregs that kept on coming in. Though, once Indigo activated her super and started cutting apart everything with her Arc Blade, we began to make some progress and the captain was beginning to weaken significantly. Eventually, a few more shots from my Pulse Rifle and our combined firepower were enough to stop the captain and disable the laser gate that blocked the way forward. As we proceeded, we entered a tight cavern that had broken tech everywhere. While we were making our way through, that was when we finally got word from Skystar again, “F-Fireteam Harmony, do you copy? Fireteam Harmony?” “We read you, Skystar,” I answered. “Thank goodness. When the radio comms went silent, I feared the worst of you and your team,” she replied back, “On a more positive note, the cryo-trace in there is getting stronger. You’re getting closer to Skolas. Hopefully, you can catch him by surprise before he tries to get away.” Honestly, I was hoping for the same thing. Any other day, fighting off fallen would be a piece of cake. Yet, we were beginning to realize that the Wolves were not like other fallen they had. They were resourceful and always seemed to have tricks up their sleeves when you think to have caught them off guard. It was more than likely that they still had traps like this already set and Skolas was waiting for them to spring it. Once we reached a massive reinforced door, Indigo had Sparky see if they could find a way to disarm it while the rest of us prepared to breach. Everyone took the chance to make sure all their weapons were properly loaded, second before the door opened and we stormed in. Immediately, I spotted the Kell that we were hunting by the controls of a terminal and began to fire off three consecutive bursts of ammunition at him. The first burst hit one of his arms, the second deflected off of the fallen’s shoulder pad and the last one didn’t even connect. Before it could even hit him, he vanished and disappeared. “Dammit!!” I cursed, “Skystar-” “He’s gone,” she bluntly told us, a frustrated groan echoing across the comm feed, “His skiff had just broken orbit... Not to worry, there’s still a lot of wolves in that den though. Clear them out first and then we’ll see if we can find any clues as to where they might be going.” Well, our entrance already kicked up a hornet's nest of Fallen. Only thing we can do right now is clear them out before things get worse. All three of us spread out in order to start clearing out any fallen that we happened to encounter in the cave. Some of them even dropped their own weapons, which Variks called a ‘Scorch Cannon’. It functioned like a rocket launcher, but it also had the properties of sticking shots to targets and charging it to have the damage of the blast increased. Which was helpful given the amount of wolves that we were up against. Every moment that we were fighting the Wolves felt like we were facing off against an endless horde. Anytime we killed one, two more would crawl out of the walls to take their place as we continued to fight. Not much ammo dropped either and we had to have our ghosts use ammo synthesizers to replenish what we have in the magazine before we could keep on fighting them off. Indigo activated her super to quickly trim down their numbers, but that just had the remaining Fallen focus on her as I threw a grenade to stop two dregs from attacking her flank. After what felt like forever though, the remaining Wolves that were in the cave vanished. Not like they activated some cloak to hide themselves, but more if they were transported somewhere. “Skystar, the rest of the Wolves just vanished from here,” I reported to her, “Are you picking up anything from your end?” “Yes I am, though-” she paused for a brief moment, before finishing where she left off, “According to this, it appears that readings from Vex Tech went off all around the site.” That… definitely did not sound good. Handling a house of fallen hell bent on conquest was one thing, but they were finding a way to use Vex Tech? That was definitely troubling. “So, what’s the plan now?” Indigo then asked, “There’s nothing else around here.” “Actually… that’s where you’re wrong,” Skystar corrected her, “I’m picking up readings of a Fallen Datapad nearby. Perhaps Skolas was in the middle of preparing a new set of orders by the time you kicked the door down.” “Or it’s a clue,” Mac then spoke, “Something that can tell us where the Wolves might be targeting next.” “Exactly what I was thinking,” the queen’s wrath replied, “Have one of your ghosts transmat that datapad and I can get Variks to translate what’s on there. If we’re lucky, we can be able to find out what Skolas is planning and stop him before he has the chance to follow through on it.” The titan nodded, before going up to the ledge where Skystar was picking up the datapad. Shortly after we received it, the three of us were clear to return to orbit as we transmatted back to our ships. One I had returned back to my ship, it didn’t take long for our encounter with the Wolves to surface on our communication channels. The Queen’s Wrath were in contact with some members of the Vanguard and they were doing everything that they could to help with the hunt. It was something that we soon realized when, out of nowhere, we got an unexpected transmission from someone I didn't think would want to check in on us. “Hey, Fireteam Harmony. Heard you guys got into a bit of a scuffle on Venus. Are you all doing okay? Still in one piece?” Yes, out of everyone we expected to reach out to us, we ended up having Rainbow reaching out to us. It was… unexpected, though this was Rainbow we were talking about. “We hear you, Rainbow,” I answered her, “Though, could you explain why you’re trying to contact us?” “Well, word around the City is that you kicked up a massive shank’s nest on Venus. I was checking to see if you’re doing alright.” After hearing that, I just let out a small breath. Something told me that Rainbow had no idea what we were actually doing, so we were going to have to bring her up to speed. “We’re doing fine. Right now, we’re trying to help the Queen’s Wrath hunt down a fallen house that betrayed the Awoken. They were on Venus, but their kell got away before we had the chance to harm them.” “You’re helping the Queen’s Wrath?” the hunter vanguard asked, “I heard that the Awoken in charge of that is a rather tough one. She comes off as warm and welcoming, but she’s-.” “Fireteam Harmony, I have an update for you-” we heard Skystar speak up now, which was something that caught me by surprise, “Huh, that’s strange… it appears that your fireteam aren’t the only ones on this frequency.” “Oh, uh, hello there,” Rainbow now awkwardly spoke up, her voice sounding… well, whatever an exo would call embarrassed before she continued, “I don’t believe we've met before. I’m Rainbow-6, Hunter Vanguard of the City.” “Hunter Vanguard you say?” Skystar asked now, “I’ve only heard of that position once before. Tell me… do you know of anyone named Anvil Cast?” I don’t know what it was, but when Rainbow heard that name, it sounded like she hesitated. She wasn’t so quick to respond like when she was talking to us, but after a couple of moments, the hunter finally had an answer. One that was hard for her to say, “He… was the Hunter Vanguard before me and my mentor. I ended up gaining his title after he lost the Vanguard Dare.” Vanguard… Dare? That’s a new one. Though, now isn’t the right time to ask about that. “I see. Well, since you are on our com line, I think you can help us out for a moment,” Skystar replied back, “After Fireteam Harmony’s mission on Venus, one of their ghosts found a datapad containing orders from their Kell to his assassins, but it’s hard to make out the location of where the Silent Fang are headed. All it says that it’s in the Cosmodrome.” “The Cosmodrome, you say?” Rainbow asked, “Funny you should say that. Some of my scouts are reporting an increase in Fallen activity along the Breach. Something’s got the House of Devils up in a twist and it looks like they’re fighting against other Fallen.” “That… works out splendidly,” I heard Skystar speak, before a set of coordinates appeared on my ship's navigation unit. “Fireteam Harmony, get to the Cosmodrome. If what we have here is correct, then Skolas is sending his assassins to take out the leadership of the House of Devils. If you get there in time, you can cut them off before Skolas can take control of another Fallen House.”
14- The Garden's SpireAuthor's Note To simplify things further, this chapter covers two of the first main story missions that are covered on Mars, while also providing more context and lore to the setting, the new enemies that Sunset and her fireteam have to face and have Sunset step forth into the breach. Hope you like it. -Frost 14- The Garden's Spire After returning from our meeting with the Queen of the Awoken, Ray inputted the coordinates to our next destination into the navigation console on board my ship as my fireteam and I began to make our way out of the Reef. We didn’t have any matters that we needed to take care of while we were in the tower, so we decided that it would be best to head straight towards the destination that Stratus provided for us. Though, personally, I did not know much about where exactly we were going. Don’t get me wrong, I know what Mars is along with some of the other planets, but that was all before Humanity here met the traveler. So the trip over seemed like the best time for me to know what exactly happened in the time I was gone. “Hey guys… this might sound like a bit of a weird question to ask, but I wanted to know about where we’re headed. Do you guys happen to know anything about this Meridian Bay?” I asked. Not just to my ghost, but through the communication relay in my ship so the question could be heard by the rest of my fireteam. “Well, that depends,” Winona was the first one to speak up. “Do you mean around the time of the Golden Age or afterwards?” “Wait, I thought ghosts didn’t come until after the golden age.” I then countered, surprised from her statement. “How-?” “Archives from the Vanguard,” Alright, now that part makes sense. “As for your question, the oldest records in the Archives say that Mars was the first planet to have been terraformed by the traveler before it settled over earth right now. In fact, one of the biggest human settlements during the golden age outside of Earth was the city of Freehold.” “Which at the time was seen as the most impressive city and was also the home to Clover Belle,” We both heard Indigo interject. “Of course, ever since the collapse happened, the former grand metropolis is now referred to as ‘The Lost Gem of Mars’ since the dunes on the planet’s surface have almost buried everything.” That definitely was a lot to take in, but there was one piece in that conversation that I was puzzled by. And I decided to ask for more clarification. “Clover Belle? Was that a person who lived during the golden age.” “You can say that, but that’s just only one piece of it,” I now heard Ray speak up and take his turn in the conversation. “Clover Belle was a corporation that was founded by Clover Belle the first during the time of the golden age. He and his company were responsible for a vast number of cutting edge scientific and technological breakthroughs during the time, which was how he got himself the nickname ‘Clover the Clever’.” That… I did not anticipate at all. The last time I remember hearing that name, it was back when I read about the Seven Trials of Clover the Clever back in Equestria. I just did not anticipate that someone who is seen as a legend back in Equestria would be seen here as an innovative genius… but then again, that’s just me. I continued to listen to them speak for a little while longer, but as Big Mac was gonna ask something, that’s when the three of us felt our ships vastly approaching the red planet. But something… didn’t feel right. Or at least, that’s what Indigo’s ghost was trying to say as I heard it speak in sparks and noises. “Guys… We might have a bit of a problem,” I heard the Bladedancer now speak up. “We got a read on the gate for the Black Garden, but we’re getting interference. He says that something called ‘The Cabal’ have got a lock on our orbital communication and we breached some kind of ‘Exclusion Zone’.” I now looked to Ray for a moment before looking back at the console. Thinking of a response to ask. “Meaning?” “Meaning that if we don’t find a place to land within the next thirty seconds, they’ll lock on to us with their weapons and begin to open fire,” Indigo’s clarification did not settle well with any of us. It’s one thing to know that we were coming, but it’s another thing to try and shoot us out of orbit before we could even get the chance to land. “Sparky’s got an alternate place for us to land at that’s out of this zone, but there’s a downside.” “What kind of downside specifically?” “It puts us miles away from the gate. Meaning that if we plan to reach the Black Garden, we would have to go through the Cabal. And I know that the longer we wait, the worse things get,” The hunter specifically told the titan as I heard her let out a small sigh. “Shimmy, what’s the plan here?” “I don’t really think we have any other options right now,” I told her, “Have Sparky take us down. I would take having to go a few miles on a Sparrow instead of having our ship getting blown out of orbit.” “You heard her, Sparky. Take us down!” If landing along the edge of the martian wastes called ‘The Barrens’ was one thing, then that would’ve been fine. However, as soon as we touched the ground, things didn’t exactly begin to improve. Because of the Exclusion Zone, we were cut off from our communication networks with the Vanguard back at the tower and we had no links for our sparrows yet. And the only remedy to try and fix this predicament was to break into one of the bunkers that the Cabal had stationed not that far from here. Not to mention that the information that Ray briefed us on regarding the Cabal was not quite exactly encouraging. “Here’s what I have on the Cabal. They’re a highly militarized species; unlike that of the Fallen, Hive or Vex, and they seem to exhibit a fondness for conquering and military might.” “So what? They’re just tryin’ to be in control of other planets?” Big Mac asked as we began to make our way down the slope and along the hillside of rock and sand that was on our right. “Well, there hasn’t seem to be any records indicating why they came to the Solar System, but it says here that some of their weapons have enough firepower to blow up entire planets and moons. Just for getting in their way,” That made all of us go quiet, just as the realization kicked in that the weapons that were originally locked onto us might’ve been the same ones that Ray was describing. “Just so… well… we know what we’re dealing with.” Dully noted. Fortunately, it was only a few seconds later that they began to pick up something. One of the bunkers that the Cabal have stationed up within the side of the hill here. The main passage was blocked, but there was a second door with an electronic that Big Mac had Winona disable. Surprisingly enough, doing so didn’t set off any kind of security systems, but we had to stay on guard nonetheless. Once inside, we found that this entire facility was completely empty. Which, in my mind, meant a couple of things. It was possible that this site was abandoned or they left it like this, but they planned on returning it. The second one of the two seemed more likely because if they did abandon it, a militaristic species like them would not have left their equipment lying around and still functioning. “Hang on just a second,” I turned my head towards Mac, who looked to be standing by some kind of terminal that happened to be on. “I’ll see what I can find.” “Mac, what is Winona doing?” Indigo asked as the Titan turned back around. “She thinks that she can be able to re-link our sparrows so we can transmat them here,” The Titan explained. “I told her to be cautious and to not try and mess things up like she did with the Vex at Campus 9, but Winona also thinks that if she can poke around in their systems, than she can find out more about the Cabal and what are they doing here.” Well, as long as we don’t draw unnecessary attention to ourselves, then that would be fine by me. Though, Indigo thought that Winona was just going a little too far and that the whole thing would be a repeat of Campus 9. “Look… if Winona really things that she can do this, that’s fine. I just got one piece of advice.” “And that is?” He then asked. “Don’t screw up.” That just had Mac let out a deep breath as he looked back at her. Trying to think of a proper response in order to assure the hunter that everything was going to be fine. However, that’s when Winona said something that began to contradict with what he was saying to us. “Access key? The heck’s that? I don’t need no stupid access key!” Oh no… please no! Don’t tell me-. Before any of us could say anything, red lights began to go off all around us and the sounds of alarms began ringing everywhere as the huge metal doors that were behind the terminal began to open. “Did you screw up!?” “I think I might’ve screwed up, yes,” Winona then admitted as some kind of dropship was offloading what looked to be a detachment of Cabal soldiers outside. “If you can hold them off, I’ll find a way to disable the alarm!” “Oh no, you’re not doing that alone,” I heard Ray now speak. “If anything, you’re going to need some extra help. Sunset, I’m going to try and help Winona out so we can get out of here quicker. Cover us in the meantime!” He didn’t need to tell us twice, because the three of us were already in the process of trying to buy them time. The cabal that were dropped off and now shooting at us were seen as two different types. The first being legionaries, who were just shooting at us with standard weapons; while the second one came up as Phalanxes, who had the same weapons, but were carrying what I could assume was oversized shields in order to block any shots we fired at them. It took a bit for us to try to think of a workaround, but we soon came up with a plan to take them down. Mac and I would focus our fire on the legionaries, while also catching the attention of the Phalanxes and having them focus on us. All the while, Indigo would attack from behind, where they were exposed. And if they did turn around to try and attack her, then Mac and I can be able to gun them down before they can do so. It was a plan that would have to do, considering that we had to come up with it on the spot. Luckily, after two different detachments of Cabal attempted to take us down, we finally heard the alarms around us being silenced and my helmet gave me the notification that my sparrow was re-linked. “Alright, we shut off the alarm and now you can access your sparrows,” Winona let out a sigh of relief. “Sorry… again.” “It’s fine, just… tread lightly next time you see something unfamiliar.” Mac advised his ghost before getting out his sparrow. “I also happened to get a couple of things on the Cabal that could help us out here,” Ray then spoke up. “If you would like, I can explain it on the way to the gate we need to reach.” “Given the fact that we barely know anything about the Cabal right now and the fact that we have a LONG way to go before we can even reach the Vex Gate we need, I say go for it.” The reason why I said that was because in my mind, it would be better for us to know exactly what we are dealing with before we jump forward into the fray. Ray himself proceeded to go a little more in-depth on telling us about the Cabal as we passed through what was called the Scablands. Deciding to ignore what was a skirmish between the Vex and Cabal for now so we can try and head to our destination. From what my ghost was able to find out, the Cabal that were here were just what was considered a few legions of a vast empire. With different ones in control of different sections of Mars. Secondly, my ghost also found the original reason why the Cabal were here in the first place. According to some records he acquired, their original orders were to harvest any resources that they would find on the planet as well as investigate any human technology they would happen to come across. Of course, that all change with the discovery of the Vex… and the stunt we just pulled right now. Just great… we can’t catch a break today, can we? “Guys… I might not be in the best position to speak after what just happened,” We now heard Winona nervously reply as we began to cross what looked to be a rocky underpass and into a place called Giant’s Pass. “But I’m picking up what looks to be a Cabal Outpost. If we-” That immediately lead to Indigo attempting to interject in what she was going to say. “If you’re going to suggest hacking it-” “-Kill whoever is in charge there and take their access key. Then we can use the key to find out what the Cabal know about the Vex.” All three of us immediately stopped our sparrows and then just stared blankly at one another. Caught off guard by what Winona just told us. For a moment, I thought she was going to say something that would lead to an exact repeat of what happened a few moments ago, but now it seems like she’s beginning to learn that’s not a good idea. “That… actually sounds much better.” Indigo just faintly muttered to herself, before looking ahead and pointing out something to both Mac and I. “Oh hey look, literally anything else!” “Must be the outpost then,” Mac replied back as he grabbed his weapons. “Alright, how will we determine who’s in charge?” “Look for a cabal with a specific title, like Bracus,” I heard Ray then speak up. “Not sure what most of the titles mean, but from the looks of it, its some kind of hierarchy system.” “And a Bracus is like?” I now asked. “Remember how the Fallen have captains? Think of a Bracus as a Cabal captain.” Well, now that makes much more sense at least. “Hey, not to interrupt you two, but we got another one of those cabal transports dropping off more troops-” Indigo pointed out, just as a few shots from the weapons that they were carrying blast past us and hit one of the sparrows that had not dematerialized yet. “Hey!! That was my sparrow! What the hell!?!” “Forget that! We got hostiles incoming!” Mac warned us as we looked ahead. From where we were, the pathway split into two parts. One that went up a small ravine to the left while the other was low and to the ground. Either way you went though, the cabal were everywhere. Not just in the amount of troops that were at this outpost, but also because of the metal barricades that were set up along the path forward. A lot of their equipment was seen lying around the basin as we pushed forward. Encountering more legionaries, phalanxes and what looked like another form of troops in the cabal ranks that came up as psions. Though, as we pushed forward, there were no signs of any cabal with a ‘Bracus’ title. We’ve already been cutting through a lot of the cabal here, but there was no signs of the one who was in charge. And in turn, had the access key we needed. There had to be some way in order to really get their attention. Around then, that was when I noticed something that looked like a terminal, before looking back to where Mac was. “Hey Winona, remember that one thing Mac said earlier?” “You mean about treading lightly if you see something unfamiliar? Yeah, why?” “Well, forget that,” What I said drew the attention of Mac himself as he looked back at me with what I could only assume was confusion since I couldn’t really see. “We’re fighting through these guys and we’re not attracting any attention from any of the cabal that are in charge. Maybe if we do some real damage, then we can be able to lure them out.” “Now you’re sounding more like Rainbow-6 like that,” Indigo replied, just as she locked the chamber of her hand cannon back into place. “I like your way of thinking though.” “That coming from the guardian who seemed very strict in telling me not to screw up ten minutes ago,” Winona commented in response to the bladedancer. “Though, even though you guys are fine with it, ah want to hear from Mac. He’s my guardian, so he should have the final say.” I nodded my head in agreement, turning back to the titan and waiting for a response from him. At first, Mac was silent. Which, in my mind, meant that he was either detesting what I told him or pondering the idea of it. But after a short while, all he did was let out something that came off as an annoyed groan as he began to speak again. “Just this once… But just we’re clear, ah do not want to have this be a repeat occurrence, alright?” Immediately, Winona gave off what we could only describe as a ghost’s cheer of glee as she emerged from the titan and immediately went over to the Cabal terminal to mess around with. And once she started to tap into the system, another cabal dropship soon approached the surface. It’s first move was to fire rockets at us while deploying more forces, but that only prompted us to split up. Mac and I were by Winona and covering her work station while Indigo would pick off any enemies from a position that she found on the other side of the pass. Most of what we had to fight consist of the legionaries, phalanxes and psions that we have already been facing before, but after we dealt with the harvester offloading two different detachments of cabal, something else caught my attention. That something being a Cabal soldier that stood out from the others. And not just in the sense that its armor and appearance were slightly different. This one also had a name and a title. Bracus Tho’ourg. “Indigo, there’s a cabal approaching your position right now that you need to take out,” We heard Winona speak up. “That’s the Cabal Bracus we’re looking for. He had the access key that we need!” “Already on it!” The crack of electricity began to sizzle around Indigo as we heard her activate her Arc Blade. Her light pulsing around her blade as she began to dash around the Bracus and tear apart at it while the rest of us focused on the other legionaries that could disrupt Indigo. Using whatever we had at our disposal so the bladedancer can tear apart her opponent. Even throwing out a solar grenade behind that of the Bracus she was facing so that way it can take damage while Indigo was darting out of the way of its own attacks. After a few more strikes, the Bracus fell down to the ground. It’s black blood soaking the dunes as Mac and I finished off the last of the other troops. A few seconds later, we saw the hunter’s super disappear as she took the access key off of the Bracus’ corpse. Around the same time that Winona returned to Mac and when a new marker appeared on my visor. “So Ray, any idea where we can use this access key? Because I’m not picking up any terminals nearby that could use this.” “I’m picking up a facility where it was last used at not far from here. If we can find it, then we can determine what to do from there.” My ghost responded back to Winona as the three of us began to run to the direction of where we needed to go. Part of me wanted to have us go by sparrow, but after Indigo’s almost got shot to pieces, I thought it would be better if our rides happened to stay in one piece. Everyone else seemed to agree with me on that one too. After going down through another ravine, we found ourselves infiltrating and fighting through what was another Cabal base. This time, one that was not far from the game that was to supposedly take us to the black garden and one that the Cabal were using for… research. Which surprised me, because honestly, judging from what we have seen so far in the last fifteen to twenty minutes, their troops didn’t really look too interested in scientific research. But after some more digging, we found out that wasn’t really the case. Turns out, the Cabal were actually very interested in trying to understand the Vex. According to logs from the research facility, the Cabal were able to actually break through the cognitive mesh that the Vex use to secure their most important structures and even tried to force open the gate to the Black Garden. But all tests, including one that we tried ourselves, haven’t worked. The gate would start up, but fizzle out seconds later. Though, according to Ray, there was one thing that the Cabal have not even realized. Something that could help us. “Alright… everyone, I think I figured out how we’re getting that gate to the Black Garden open.” At first, I just looked at Ray as he floated over a Cabal terminal. Just as confused as Mac and Indigo. “Ray, what exactly are we going to do? The Cabal have everything under lock and key.” “Yes, but there’s something that even the Cabal don’t know about that’s deep in their own Warbase,” Ray began to explain. “They’re sitting on top of a Vex Spire that’s directly connected to the Black Garden’s gate. And it’s a spire that can charge the Gate Lord’s eye that we have already.” At this point, I was having a bit of trouble processing what he was saying. Luckily though, Indigo was able to understand it much faster. “Wait… are you suggesting that we free this spire, so we can charge the eye. That’s in the heart of the Cabal base!” “I know, but it’s our only shot… We need to do this now, so I hope you three are prepared for war,” Ray replied, returning back to me as another indicator appeared back on my map. Oddly enough, as we followed the marker, we began to realize that where we needed to go was back at the same place where the Vex and the Cabal were fighting each other. So with them distracted, it was easier for us to just rush on in without having to worry about them finding us. Or… so I thought at first. As we entered the structure the cabal called ‘Firebase Rubicon’, we found out firsthand that they prepared extra defensive measures in case of a breach in security. More troops and defensive structures as we began to fight and traverse through the wastes that were behind it. The first thing we had to do though was reach an observation tower that was on the way. According to Winona and Ray, the observation tower was used as a security measure to make sure that the Cabal knew where their troops and companies were at all times. So if the Cabal were going to and from the spire to conduct their research, then it would help us point out where we were going next. Luckily, it wasn’t our hacking that tipped off the Cabal after we got the information we needed from the terminal. A passing patrol of Cabal soldiers noticed us as we exited the observation tower, causing them to open fire and attack us on sight. We attempted to fight them off, but as more troops began to surge onto our location, that was when something out of the ordinary happened. Indigo herself had thought that if we could be able to get to a door that was on the other side of the wastes and hack it open, it would allow us to slip inside before reinforcements would show up. But before she could even get to the terminal, the giant door just opened up. We took the chance to go inside, but after the door closed behind us, we did not entirely feel confident about what was happening. “This… feels too easy,” Indigo told us as she reloaded a new cylinder clip into her hand cannon. “Doors don’t normally open up for us without having any hostiles behind them. This really feels like a trap.” “It does feel… ominous,” Ray now spoke up. “The most likely plan they’ll try is to try to contain us to a confined area in hopes that they could pick us off that way.” That just made me stop, before shaking my head for a moment. “And how do you know that, Ray?” “Remember the information we obtained at the research base? Some of that information included some of their plans for military tactics.” Well, that seems reasonable. “Let’s take into account everything around us. Some of the barricades that they might have set up could be a good source of cover.” Mac then added on as we reached the end of the tunnel that we were going through and found ourselves in an enclosed open space. In only a matter of seconds, alarms soon began to echo all around us as Cabal Legionaries began to close in on our position. Forcing us to fend them off and open fire as we looked for a way to get us out of this mess. Eventually, Ray came up with a plan that involved cracking into the Cabal network to pry open a door that would allow us to head straight to the spire without any further detours. All while we had to kill any Cabal that would try to stop us in the process. Which was becoming harder because not only were we facing off against Legionaries, Phalanxes and Psions, but now we were seeing two new enemy types for the Cabal. The first one were called Centurions and they carried weapons that fired off rapid bursts of missiles at us while we were scrambling to maintain position. Even Mac was forced to use his Ward of Dawn to buy us a chance to reload our weapons before we can get back into the fight. The second one was the Colossus. And it kind of spoke for itself. It was armed with a minigun that fired rounds faster than any of us could see, and if that wasn’t problematic enough, they also could fire off missiles at us. In order to deal with any that we came across, Indigo had to rely on her sniper rifle to take them out from behind cover to not get barraged by the storm of bullets that they could unleash. Eventually though, by the time that Ray was able to open the door, the Cabal that we were fighting began to retreat… no, retreat doesn’t seem like the best words to describe it. If I had to take a guess, I would have to call it more like a tactical withdrawal. This is their own stronghold and I highly doubt that they are going to just give it up so easily to three guardians that only touched foot on the planet recently. Even with the heavy losses that they had already sustained, the Cabal seemed like a race that just doesn’t know when to quit. Case in point, just a few moments after stepping out through the legions keep and beginning to cross a bridge that would lead us to their research compound, Cabal dropships begin to fire off missiles at us while deploying more troops to block us off from crossing to the other side. Once again, we had to take cover and fight our way through by eliminating their forces one by one. Taking down the legionaries and psions first, before all of us focused our fire on the colossus at the end of the bridge that was trying to tear us to shreds. But it wasn’t just the cabal that were on the bridge that were trying to disrupt our progress. As we got further in, more of their soldiers emerged from a nearby bunker Prompting me to toss out my solar grenade and let the flames burn them while we had to run up the sandy dunes that lead to the area that Ray had marked for us. “Here we are… Though, I’m picking a few Cabal up on my sensors. If you can get rid of them, then we can work on the eye.” Following what he said, all three of us got to work. I now brought out my rocket launcher and fire off a rocket at a group of Cabal that were standing next to the conduit that Ray marked for us. Indigo followed suit and fired off one of her own rockets towards the group as well as the blast sent a trio of cabal corpses falling off the edge and landing face down in the sand. Now was the moment of truth. With Ray transmatting the eye into my right hand, I carefully placed it into the center of the conduit while my ghost connected it into place. From what it looked like, the conduit looked to be part of some vex like structure that was in the middle of the cabal platform here. They had hooked up the whole thing with tubes and wires, probably to run tests on it to understand vex technology. However, that all began to change rather quickly. “Would now be the right time to say that… I have no idea what’s about to happen?” Ray… this is the worst possible time to say that. But before I could say anything, a beam of light shot from the conduit into the spire and moments later, the top half of it began to break free of the cables that were placed on it. Expanding outward, the top half began to split apart and divide into numerous pieces that began to float around in the air, with one rectangular piece beginning to glow in the center. Each one of the pieces began to disintegrate and turn to dust, while the rectangular one began to emit a white light and disappear as well. “Did… we do it?” Mac now asked, sounding just as confused as the rest of us. “Ah think so… Only way we’ll know for sure will be-” Winona stopped in the middle of what she was saying, before immediately sounding much more serious. “We got company!! Turns out the light show just now brought out whoever was in charge of this place.” I heard a clicking sound behind me, turning to see Indigo reloading the magazine of her sniper rifle before stepping back. “And they don’t seem too thrilled about what we’re doing. Let’s get rid of them and get that eye back to where we need it. This guy’s the one thing between us and opening up the Black Garden.” “I’ll focus on getting the eye out so the Cabal don’t damage it.” Ray responded before getting to work on the eye. I now got a look at the Cabal Centurion that Winona was referring too. This one was different from the others though. Not just because of the ridiculous looking headdress that was its armor, but because this particular had a title and a name. Primus Sha’aull. The Primus had allies with them too, but my fireteam and I were able to make short work of them for the meantime so we could take the Primus down. The most important thing we had to do while engaging Sha’aull was keeping our distance. If we tried attacking a Cabal at close range, it was likely that a blow from them would be the painful equivalent of getting run over by a sparrow. So my shotgun would be useless here. Instead, all of us focused on using long range weaponry first, such as Mac’s scout rifle, Indigo’s sniper rifle and my pulse rifle. Once the Primus attempted to propel itself to another location, we got the heavy weapons and proceeded to open fire. Pelting him with rockets and machine gun rounds until the primus was nothing more than another cabal lying face down in the sand. “Great work,” Ray told us. “I got the eye and it’s fully charged. How is everyone?” “I’m still kicking,” Indigo replied, looking to the titan that stood next to her. “How about you, Mac?” “Same here.” My reply was just a simple nod of the head as he looked back at us. “Alright. Let’s get back to that station. It’s time to enter the Black Garden and finish this.” It took almost two hours for us to get back to where we once were. Not just on foot, but by Sparrow as well. But eventually, we made it back to the Valley of the Kings. However, the sight in front of us was now much different than before. The Vex and Cabal were clashing with each other in all out war. The Vex wanting to defend the gate while the Cabal saw their actions as encroachment upon their territory. Several Minotaur and a Hydra were guarding the gate alongside numerous other types of Vex. But it was as we were taking them down and approaching the gate that the eye we had began to glow and the gate roared to life. However, there was no time to spare. “Guys, come on! This is our chance!” I told them, but as I turned around, I found both of them hiding behind cover. Caught in a firefight with the Cabal. “Go! We can’t let them go after you!” We heard Winona told us as Mac fired off two rounds at a pair of psions that were closing in on Indigo’s position. “What are you saying!? The gate will close if we go in! We’re the ones keeping it open!” Ray shot back. “And if you don’t act now, the Cabal will kill you before you even make it inside or that gate’s going to close!” Indigo now shouted. “Just get in or I will throw you in there myself!!” “You heard her, Sunset,” I heard Mac tell me. “Go. We’ll cover you from out here.” Seconds afterwards, a Cabal dropship began to fire off rounds of missiles at our position as Mac activated his Ward of Dawn. The only thing I could do though… was run. Part of me felt guilty for leaving my teammates, the ones who I call my friends behind. But this was the only chance I had. I leaped through the gate without a second thought. The white light blinding my vision before I felt myself landing on solid ground. But it was much different from before. The ground looked to be made of metal and… there was life here. Grass was coming out of the ground as I began to get back on my feet. As I looked up though… I now had a good look of where exactly I was. “Ray… I don’t think we’re on Mars anymore.”
