The Master of the Sands
Chapter 1: Why Do They Kneel?
Good Evening/Afternoon/Morning/Day everyone. I am SonofForossa, and I just read the talented RC927's In His Footsteps, as well as eagerly awaiting the next chapter of the sequel, Enemy of my Enemy. But you didn't click to read this to hear me gush about a good story, you came to read my story.
Let's go.
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It was over. Valus Ta'aurc was dead, and Erik was his killer. The leader of the Cabal, the rulers of Mars, was slain. Of course, Erik was now surrounded by Cabal, but he was ready to go down fighting. His life for the Light, if need be.
What was he saying? He would live, he always lived. It was one of the perks of being a Guardian. You never stayed dead.
Erik was torn from his musings by a loud clanking. He refocused on the horde of Cabal in front of him, and noted they hadn't opened fire yet. Why was that? He saw them lower their weapons. Why?
Then they did something that really freaked him out. Even as more of them poured in through side doors, they formed one massive rectangle. There were two columns of Phalanxes forming the flanks, with twenty odd columns of Legionaries in between them.
Each column was one man wide and twenty deep, and thanks to Erik's incredible math skills, he knew that equated about two-hundred-eighty-eight soldiers. That wasn't even counting the twenty Colossi forming another to rows in the back (due to their being twice as big as the regular Cabal) and the fifty-odd Psion's forming two masses of about twenty-five on each side of the rectangle of soldiers.
Now that he had figured out their numbers, he had a new question; Why the hell weren't they shooting at him?
Then every Legionary placed their rifle on their hip, and slammed their right hand to their chestpiece. The Phalanxes mimicked this action, as the Colossi placed their massive Heavy-Slug-Guns on their backs and slammed both hands into their chests, crossing them at the forearm. The Psions placed their weapons on their hips as well, but they instead placed both hands together behind their backs.
"Umm…" Erik's Ghost, nicknamed Churchill after the famous leader, said. "That's a Cabal salute reserved for their leaders."
"Wait… they're saluting me?" Erik asked.
"Yes. They seem to be recognizing you as their leader." Churchill said.
Suddenly, the quiet that had come over the formation of Cabal was broken as three Centurions stepped out from the ranks, each bearing a different standard on their back. One bore a red and black sun, one was marked with a green and tan image of fanged mouth, and the Centurion in the centre wore a banner marked with a yellow and purple snake.
"What is your name?" The Cabal in the center asked, in surprisingly good English. His voice was different from the deep, gruff tone typical of the Cabal, sounding almost Baritone.
"I am Erik." Erik replied.
"Arth Hadden Eric Ta'aurc, Lideren Dun Cabal!" The Cabal roared.
He was replied to with a universal cry of "Hadden Dun Ta'aurc Erik!" from the arrayed Cabal warriors, as they punched their right fist towards the roof. "Hadden Dun Marchall"
"What are they saying?" Erik asked.
"Using my limited understanding of the Cabals chosen dialect, they seem to be saying 'Hail The Leader Erik, Hail The General." Churchill responded. "It would seem they think you are in command of them now."
"Indeed we do, Phandok." The lead Cabal spoke again. "Erik Ta'aurc has defeated our former leader in honourable battle, overcoming the odds against him despite his being outnumbered. He is now Marchall, or general in your tongue."
"You know I am called a Ghost?" Churchill asked, tilting slightly in the air, which Erik knew meant he was confused.
"We know many things about you Guardians, Phandok. We have been studying your kind for years. To know not your enemy is suicide." The Cabal replied, the last line sounding like a quote from a book.
"So… I'm in charge of the forces here?" Erik asked, butting into the conversation.
"Yes, Ta'aurc. Not just the forces arrayed here, but all Cabal in this system." The Cabal bearing the green and tan banner replied. "That is how it has been for centuries."
"How what has been done for centuries?"
"The selection of our Marchall. He who defeats the previous Marchall in honourable combat takes the position of Ta'aurc, and becomes our new leader. This is the first time we have been led by a human, but it was not entirely unexpected for a different race to take the helm."
Erik was practically speechless. He, through the act of killing a single target, had just taken command of the entirety of the Cabal on Mars. His heart raced and his mind went into overdrive as he tried to comprehend this rush of new information. Him, leading the Cabal. Leading an army of the Darkness. The possibilities this presented! But this would be tough, definitely. This would be very tough.
"Well then… Churchill, can you use my helmet to translate my speech to the Cabals language?" He asked, looking at the floating white machine.
"Of course. Give me moment… there!" Churchill had faded back into his armour systems.
"Here goes nothing…" Erik muttered, before speaking in a much louder tone. "Cabal! Today, I have defeated Valus Ta'aurc! I have taken command of the mighty Cabal Legions, and all will obey me. I have no doubts some of you are unhappy with this turn of events, that you do not think a human can lead you!" A few Cabal seemed to shuffle and murmur at that, no doubt being the ones who thought such a thing was true.
"However, I assure you; my victory here was no mistake! I have won through strength, and intelligence! I will lead you into a new age! An age of prosperity, an age of victory! After years of suffering defeat at the hands of the Vex, after years of being forced to further entrench ourselves into the red Martian sands, we will break free!"
"We will retake Mars, make it ours again! We will drive them from their home on Venus, and destroy the Hive present on the moon!" Erik paused to let his words sink in. Thankfully, all of the assembled Cabal seemed to be enraptured by his speech.
"But we will not do this alone!" This was met with gasps of shock and murmurs of disgruntled soldiers. "We will ally ourselves with the protectors of Earth, with the Awoken Queen of the Reef! We will make our alliances and strike the presence of the Hive and Vex, possibly even the Fallen from this system! Mars will be ours, Earth and its moon will belong to humanity and their Exo allies, to avoid needless bloodshed. The Cabal will be strong once more!" He roared, and the voices of over three-hundred Cabal answered his roar with one of their own.
He grinned beneath his helmet. He had them. Now he had to keep them.
One of the Phalanxes had begun a chant of "Fer Dun Cabal! Fer Victa!" and it spread with rapid speed throughout the ranks.
"Fer Dun Cabal! Fer Victa!" He roared along with them, and miles away, the Vex forces marshaled around the entrance to the Black Garden heard the noise. And had they been able to, they would have trembled in fear.
Erik kept grinning the whole time. A new age was coming, and it would be GLORIOUS.
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"So, will it still move?"
Erik was currently sitting in his new command throne, formerly belonging to one Valus Ta'aurc, who was now dead. The throne was obviously built for someone a lot bigger, and he felt small in it. But it was a symbol of his leadership, and further cemented his new position amidst the Cabal.
"It will, Marchall. Your new fortress will move. I simply do not understand why it must." The replier was one Kallus Ta'aurc, one of the three Centurions Erik had promoted to the position of lieutenant after he had been forced to kill the previous four.
It had been one week since his commandeering of the Cabal, and most of that had been spent alerting units of the changes in leadership.
"This location has been compromised, and more of my kind will arrive soon. I want to avoid any additional casualties for as long as possible." Erik replied. "We will move into the Scablands, and fortify there."
"Of course, Marchall. Do you still wish to contact our orbital fleet?" Kallus asked.
"Yes. I want them to allow Guardians through the blockade, but no one else." Erik said. "No more shooting down ships unless they open fire first."
"Yes, sir. We will alert Admirallen Kornick immediately." Kallus said, saluting. "Will that be all?"
"Not quite. I want you to tell the Admiral to prepare a frigate and a small escort for flight to Earth. The sooner we begin negotiations with the Last City, the better." Erik added. "Tell him to have them ready by the end of the cycle. We will set out tomorrow."
"Marchall!" One of the Legionaries manning the primary comms called. "We have reports of a unit under attack by Guardian forces!"
"Damn it! Kallus, prepare a dropship and a squad of Legionaries." Erik said, rising from his throne. "I'm going to deal with this personally."
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So, that's it for Chapter 1. Hope you people liked it, and now be ready as I engage in one of the most popular elements of Destiny Fanfiction (or so it seems), OC applications! Basically, I can come up with good characters. But I bet you people can too. And I do like diversifying my cast. So, here's the template;
Name:
Age:
Race:
Class and Subclass (Bladedancer, Voidwalker, etc.):
Appearance: (Skin/chassis colour, eye colour, hair colour, scars, ets.):
Quick Bio: (At least three sentences):
Personality: (At least three sentences, and detailed ones at that. No; so and so likes fish. He hates rabbits. He loves guns.):
Now go forth, and create something worth a damn that I can use to make the story better. Or make a joke character. They won't be used, but I may drop a reference to them or something like that.
Have a lovely day/night!