Dragons' Destiny: Chapter 1

What is this?

He couldn't see anything in the pitch black dark. In fact, he couldn't feel anything. His body was either there and wasn't responding... or it simply wasn't there. He tried to look around, but it was all the same.

Where am I?

Not knowing what to do, he let his mind wander. Was he in some sort of realm? His own subconscious, perhaps? Maybe all this is is a dream.

If so, then what was I dreaming about?

He tried to remember. It was hazy, but it was getting clearer. He saw.. a village. People and dragons in joy. He was on one, a sleek black reptile with bat-like wings and... acid green eyes. He recognized those eyes, he knew he did.

Toothless.

That got him worried. Where was the dragon that been with as far as he could remember? The last he really saw him, he was at his side. He was in his bed, gently stroking the dragon's spade-shaped head with an arm. He heard his voice speak, "I'll see you in the sky, bud." Then he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Am I... dead? Wait. Who am I?

"Come on, Guardian."

Who was that? He searched around to no avail. But he felt a numb pain growing.

"Wake up."

A breath, followed by the tensing and relaxing of various muscles. Then a heartbeat with a slow exhale. A light formed in the dark, and it grew larger when he opened his eyes. It blinded him and shut them tight in response. He opened them back up...

...and saw the sky. White clouds pockmarked the blue expanse.

"Ugh. Wha-"

"Oh good. You're awake."

The quartet of ships raced through the atmosphere. In the lead was a repainted white-and-red BKR, the dragon head painted on the sides and top shining. Ceres Galliot weaved in behind it and a nearby Regulus painted in digital camo. A green Phaeton suspiciously lagged behind.

"Comm check."

"Copy."

"Loud and clear over here."

"Affirmative."

In his BKR, Dmitri had his hands steady. Cerberus floated nearby, checking readouts and displays. His short, brown beard went down to a sharp tip, and a recent scar ran from his right cheek to his left eye. "Alright, everyone. Listen up. Vanguard lost contact with two new Ghosts north of the European Deadzone. We're coming in along their recorded path."

"Is this search-and-rescue?" A robotic voice asked.

"Possibly."

"Great," one of the Fireteam members groaned.

"At least it ain't Mars. I'm getting a bit tired of that place." The only Awoken member of the team moved his ship closer to the Dragon's Focus.

"Can it. Eyes front, everyone."

Fireteam Dragon was one of the best teams the Vanguard had. Originally based on Mars, they were a major help to the City with keeping the Cabal occupied. Heck, they even planned and carried out a raid on Firebase Epsilon, a Siege Dancer fortress outside Meridian Bay. With the help of most of Fireteam Death, they broke through the near-impenetrable defenses and eliminated the base commander, Bracus Ta'aan... or so they thought at first.

Death's leader and resident Warlock, Triton-1, was considered a possible threat to the City several times for his delving into the Darkness. Fearing another Yor and Toland incident, the Exo was placed under constant surveillance frequently. Each time, he had caught no visible side effects, except for a defeatist tone every now and then.

The last straw was several months after Skolas' demise. To start off his self-imposed exile from the Tower, Triton and Dmitri's teams took down a rising Vex mind that had already recently claimed another Fireteam. Medusa attacked psychologically, paralyzing who it caught with their worst fears.

Triton was one of the few that gotten marked by an Eye.

He said he saw Xyor reborn as she usually was in the Summoning Pits. But she was also different. It looked as though she was wrapped up in the cosmos, a body of space and faraway stars. Then the apparition morphed into someone close to him and his brothers. Before the ghost was shot away by Hurricane, he saw the face. Samson was staring at him, a bright glow making his eyes impossible to see.

His weapon, Bad Juju, leaped at Triton's face. Whatever happened must have terrified him since he kept muttering about the end of war as we knew it. A memory wipe partially solved the problem; he was no longer talking... at all, and held his accepted opinions behind his dimmed eyes.

The last thing he did on the Tower was disassemble Bad Juju and pushed the now freed Darkness towards the Traveler. "Search the dark, not just the light," he said when a minuscule dot formed on the body's surface.

No one in the Vanguard had seen him since. Every now and then, someone would run into Lucks and Firewing in the City or the Reef, but they never talked about their brother.

That's when the message came.

"Guardians of the Last City, Eliksni, Cabal, everyone. We are approaching a war larger than what we are in now. I have seen it, him. They're coming. The Light cannot take on this threat without aid. Twilight has risen. We will be that aid. We will fight this King with both Light and Dark. To my fellow Risen, I say come to where cold is closest to heat. To my fellow soldiers, I say come to where the sand is drowned. To my fellow Guardians, I say come and accept our aid. He is coming, and He must be stopped."

Reports came afterwards of Cabal and Fallen working side-by-side throughout the system. Hunters said they defended themselves against whoever attacked them and moved as though they were searching for something. What concerned the Vanguard the most was the black color associated with Fireteam Death and the Light they wielded.

These Cabal, Fallen, and Psions behaved as though they were Guardians themselves. Fallen cut with the grace of a Bladedancer, Psions blew away swarms of Hive with the power of a Voidwalker, and the Cabal stormed areas with the unstoppable might of a Striker. The source for these new players was in front of them: the Traveler.

Since then, the Twilight House was found, lead by Triton and a council of various species. Triton agreed to an alliance, provided the men and women under his care be treated as fellow Guardians. Protests were overruled, and a treaty was made. He was allowed back into the Tower as his House's representative in exchange for using one of his ships as an outpost.

Now, they were preparing for the future war.

"Approaching the last known coordinates."

"Thanks, Cerberus." Dmitri refocused his attention outside. There was nothing but clear sky and ocean in his vision. "Get ready, everyone."

It was all calm until they passed the coordinates. Everything went haywire. Sparks shot from panels and circuitry and the ship lost power. Cerberus quickly rebooted the system, thrusters preventing the BKR from falling any further.

"Holy..."

"What the crap was that?!"

"I don't know. Cerberus?" The Dragon looked towards his Ghost. It hung in midair, as though the construct was sleeping. "Cer?"

"What? Oh, I'm... fine. I just feel... different. Wait. Wha- How is this possible?!"

"Cerberus?"

"Guardian, look outside," he replied, gesturing to the viewport and panels.

Dmitri did so and was dumbfounded. Where half a minute ago was empty sea was now an island-rich archipelago. He flipped the comm channel back on. "You guys seeing this?"

"Seeing, still working on believing," Krayt answered.

"I've a got a lead on our two missing Ghosts. Uploading flight path."

The four ships fired their engines and set off to the destination. It was a dense cluster of mountainous islands, the hills, plains, and forests sitting on top of high cliffs. The Dragon's Shield whistled at the sight. "Can't deny the view."

"Got a large multilevel clearing on the west side. We could land there."

"If you say so, 20. 'Cane, anything on your scanners?"

"Nope, nothing hostile."

"Alright, set them down, everyone. We can find our Ghosts on foot." Dmitri got set for transmat.

The BKR hovered above the ground, and the fireteam leader felt the familiar sensation of being pulled apart and put back together. His feet landed on the ground with a THUD, his heavy armor causing an indent. 20/20 and Krayt joined him.

"I started at the bottom of the cliffs. Making my way up."

"Roger. Spread out and let's see if we can find out where we are."

20 relayed his observations. "There was a settlement here, long time ago." He aimed his sniper scope at the large mountain overlooking the site. "Nordic symbols and art. Must be at least 2500 years old."

Dmitri brought Cerberus out. "Anything?"

"There is something. When we went past the coordinates, I felt stronger. The Light here is very powerful, almost as much as the Traveler."

"Hostiles?"

"None. I'm not reading any Fallen signals or traces of the Hive. In fact, I can't even raise the Tower."

"What? Can anyone confirm this?"

"Yup. No contact with the Vanguard," Hurricane said.

"We should be able to just turn around and head back out," Krayt suggested.

"That's right. The only reason the Ghosts haven't come out is because they haven't found their Guardians yet," Scale added.

"Or they can't their Guardians out of here." The white-and-red Titan walked up a set of stone stairs, the steps damaged from millenniums of disregard.

"Got something. Could be our quarry!"

"Dragons, form up at my location. Which way?"

"Other side of the bay, in the forest." The others appeared after Cerberus finished. Surprisingly, the Hunter beat everyone else. The Awoken, however, was nearly run over by a Sparrow, the dark green Titan driver jumping off. 20 got there in time to see Krayt land face-first in the grass.

"Enough, you two. Stay close. Hurricane, you're on point. Krayt, cover our rear."

"Can do that just by walking," the man joked, smacking the Phalanx shield on his back.

Hurricane growled. "Let's go, already." He led the way into the forest, the others behind him.

Hiccup had been in the cove for a while now. Not that he didn't mind staying, of course. This place would always serve as a reminder of that fateful day. It would always hold the memory of when he and Toothless had changed not only the Barbaric Archipelago, but also the entire world around them. It gave him peace and calmed him, which was desperately needed earlier.

He sat on the shore, gazing at his reflection. His face was hidden behind a gray-white helmet, his neck covered with a white scarf. His clothing seemed to have little armor, the plates covering only vital areas. "So, you said that I'm a Hunter?"

"Yes. Hunters are the masters of the wilderness. They excel at range and melee, and can be independent for days or weeks." The Ghost popped into existence, his orange shell glimmering in the sunlight. "There are three different kinds; Gunslingers, Bladedancers, and Nightstalkers."

"So I can be any one of those?" He asked, thoughts still on Toothless.

"Of course. All Hunters can switch between the different sub-classes at will, as can Titans and Warlocks." Fireball noticed his Guardian's face, even underneath the helmet.

"I had a friend that I was very close to. He definitely was able to live much longer than me. I remember his face as the last thing I actually saw before you brought me back... I don't know if he's still alive."

"I'm sure we'll find him," Fireball comforted. Suddenly, he perked up and looked around the top of the cove. "Something's here."

Hiccup got to his feet, both of them. When the young man remembered his injury, he grabbed his left leg and examined it. Turns out, the lower third was still gone... at least, the flesh and bone part. Where his prosthetic would have been was a mechanical limb, a dull metal gray covered by his boot and pant leg. Fireball explained that it was the best he could do until they got back to the "Tower," wherever that was.

Hiccup unsheathed his knife, not that would do much good at range. While he was an expert at throwing knives, he had only the one with him. He kept completely still, letting the sound of his heart drift away to be replaced by the silence. He checked his HUD's radar: nothing.

There. The faint crush of leaves under a foot. Hiccup twisted and threw the knife at a speed near-impossible to avoid. He heard the CHINK of metal against metal and saw the glint shoot past him. Near his feet was his knife, with another blade running through its own, making an X-shape.

Weaponless, Hiccup looked up to see someone in ocean blue armor covered with knife sheathes, most of them full. The man, he assumed, was dressed similarly to him, except more armor covered the torso, knees, and forearms, and his long, blue cloak went down to behind his knees.

"Who are you?" he asked.