Guardian Down.
The lime green Hive Prince had cut the Warlock down.
Though its blade proper, had been broken long before this moment, the idea, or concept of "sword" seemed to still be bound to its being. However, unlike the extremely destructive blade that had been broken upon being forced to feed upon its dark brethren, the sword that Crota, Son of Oryx, wielded at this moment did not drain the light from a Guardian's being.
It just merely killed them at a single touch.
Or maybe it was because it was a twenty foot long sword being held by a fifty foot tall giant made of spiked flame and skeletal markings.
At this point, one can never tell which is the greater possibility.
His team, however, had known what to do. This was not the first time Crota had called forth the small emerald sun known as an 'Oversoul'. Somehow, their weapons were able to halt whatever unknown catastrophe the burning orb was to bring, if only barely. Their party had been diminished. Luna, another Warlock, had been almost completely obliterated at the bridge. It was Gabe who made the call for Syk to take his wife and run. To flee the moon for safety.
Luna was still too fresh a guardian, she had not faced what they had, in the Vault. She was not ready, it seemed. Pity, as she had potential.
The group of six had been reduced to four. Chaos, who had just been taken down by the Hive Godling. Gabe, brought as he was a steady Titan with the Gjallarhorn rocket launcher. KT, the hunter who had joined in the Vault, having obtained her own Gjallarhorn, and Cole, the curse spitting, fire tossing Warlock that Chaos had come to call 'Sister'.
It seemed hopeless.
They had hurt Crota. They had hurt him deep. He could only be damaged by stealing the sword off of a particular Ascended Knight. And even then, he could not be harmed as long as he kept his focus. For some reason, he maintained a very body close defensive field that the Sword could not penetrate.
But they had cut him. Or rather, Gabe and Chaos had cut him, for it had been Gabe that delivered the first damaging blows. Chaos, had taken over after he'd made the call that Gabe would be better off firing Heavy.
But now, the four were reduced to three.
"We need to leave. We can't do this."
"FAWK THAT NOISE!" Another miniature sun had caressed the air at her words.
"We're almost done. We almost have this fucker." Growled KT.
"Chaos is down KT! And Crota is standing right on bloody top of him! We need to leave while we can still transmat out!"
"DAMMIT BRO! y'just HAD to pick now to be a dumbass!" the low pitched barks of an Invective shotgun rung out.
"If we leave now, there's no telling that we'll be able to get back in here Gabe!" cracks of KT's sniper rifle, picking off the heads of Hive Knights with their Boomers, trying to bombard the three remaining Guardians to oblivion.
"Then what the hell do we-
Kill the swordbearer.
The three of them split looks. That was a shortwave message from Chaos' ghost.
It sounds like a longshot. But trust me. Kill the swordbearer.
"Fuck it, lets go!"
Damn these Lightbearers. To have not only come so far into his Throne, but to have previously somehow destroyed his sword, left behind to the Swarm Princes for safe-keeping while he recovered…
Crafty little grubs.
They had hurt him as well. Hurt him! Him! Crota! Son of Oryx, the Taken King! The Scourge of the Moon they called him! He who had cut down legions of their number, he who had personally Drank their Light and tithed it to his father, his King!
He was being pushed back. And there were only four of them.
But, despite his foolishness that had him sent to this pointless rock, he had learned.
They would die, but did not stay dead.
Their Light truly was an infection. A disease. He could cut one down, and all it took was one of the others to get close enough, and the one he killed would be returned! It was maddening! True, his family could do something similar, but that took ages! They could pull it off in seconds!
It was those strange orbs. The mechanical spheres that would appear and vanish in tiny glowing motes. Smaller than even the worms that lived within them. And yet capable of performing the same kind of Death Unmaking power that his sisters had devised! Only faster!
Anuk and Halak would be simultaneously infuriated as they would be intrigued to see such a phenomenon. Truly they would dismiss his claims as flights of fancy.
But he had cut one down. Again.
Only this time, he was staying near the orb. He could not, would not, make the mistake of taking his eyes off of the remaining three parasites, for they had proven they could indeed, harm him.
After all, he had been banished from his mortal form by their kind before. And now this entirely different group had chased him into his Throne.
When they halted the detonation of the Oversoul, a smaller version of the very power his father could perform, a sort of inverting of the Throne in a localized area; he just nodded to himself. They had done it before, and the surprise was what caused their first Cut upon him.
They were almost admirable, for vermin.
The sounds of their weapons rang true once again.
Fools. Ahh…well perhaps not.
They had already proven that remaining so far from him kept him from accurately hitting them with his Arc blasts. Being that he was channeling the energy through his entire arm, rather than through a focus such as a Boomer, and that he was a knight morph not a Wizard, his aim was not as strong at long range.
But still. It had taken three of them to even break past his field and take advantage of his distraction before. One of them would have to pick up the fallen sword in order to-
TAKA
KUJAKU
CONDOR
What.
All three of his eyes were drawn to the sudden blinding light below him, having accompanied the three, seemingly roared words of gibberish. On the bone-scattered ground beneath the raised platform he stood upon, a burning orange flame rippled outward. In but moments, the flame coalesced into the shape of a person.
TAAAAAJAAAAADORRR
The Guardian had risen himself. His surprise only lasted a moment, but that moment was enough time for the now revived Chaos to begin dashing forward. Crota's left hand crackled, human-sized bolts of blue-white Arc energy ripping through the air. They flew wide as Chaos had surged into the air, flames ripping from his back like burning wings.
Crota swung wide, his right arm with sword in hand. The Warlock ducked backwards, weight being thrown, the transparent cleaver barely missing. Crota's swing had left him open, he winced as he felt a series of heavy impacts. The missiles launched by the other three Guardians had struck home. A burning sensation erupted upon his chest.
Cole had launched another Solar Grenade, right dead center of his ribcage. The damage was dealt but it wasn't enough.
He was still climbing. But they didn't do enough damage to knock Crota's field out. Cole and Gabe were frantically reloading, but it was KT that had tossed aside her launcher.
She was tired. She was hurting. She'd been covered in dirt, mud, blood, body parts, ashes, bone-dust, and under the helm was basically dripping with sweat.
She felt gross. She felt hungry. She. Felt. Pissed.
So when that anger, that fury burned white-hot, she pushed it through the core of her body into her right arm. The Light, did the rest.
A brilliant orange flare distracted Cole and Gabe from their frenzied grasping for fresh rockets, as KT's hand twitched, and fire became steel.
"FUCKING DIE YOU OVERGROWN PUKE-BLOODED BURNING PISSANT!"
Crota's left hand rose, claws crackling. A flare of orange could be seen out of the corner of his eyes. But he was focused on the burning figure rising before him. He took aim.
*ZOOOSH*
His arm was knocked aside by a flaming streak. Still, he pushed aside the mild pain and used the jerking motion of his hand being blown to the left to wield the force in reversing his blade's swing.
*ZOOOSH*
The sword swing was deflected by a second flaming streak. All three of his eyes widened as he felt the pain ripple through him. The sword, being entirely forged by his consciousness, was an extension of his will. It was as much a part of his 'body' as his arm was.
*ZOOOSH*
A third and final streak slammed right into his center eye. He roared in pain, stumbling backward, smashing his head against one of the curved pillars of his resurrection point, bouncing off and forward to one knee.
The field had been broken.
"IN THE NAME OF ERIS: LADY OF DISCORD! YOU WILL BE CUT!"
The voice of Chaos, the call of Zero, echoed resounded through the air.
"CHAOS BREAKER!"
For a moment.
Not that he would ever be able to confirm or deny what he witnessed.
Not that he would be able to even try to further question.
But for a single moment.
Vision distorted by pain and having a literal bolt of Solar Energy shoved in one of his eye-sockets.
For a single, brief moment.
Crota swore, he saw the Ascendant Blade, held by this…flame-winged Lightbearer…
Burn in the same fire that made his form.
Yet then, the blade came down, as if the hand of judgment itself.
And Crota, had just been found, unworthy.
It vibrates. Occasionally.
Not that she ever tells anyone.
But the stone encased within the burning orb, occasionally would shudder. As if responding to something far beyond her ken.
But this time, it did not merely vibrate. It sang.
And thus, Eris Morn, knew that something had just changed.
Once again, night had fallen upon the Tower. The stars twinkled in the midnight sky. The lights of the Last City below shone in the dark of the Sun's setting. Still she stood. Alone, as was her want and lot.
Four shimmering veils of light erupted into view, off to the side. The designated 'landing zone' for returning Guardians to the Tower. Three of them walked forward at a rapid clip. Perhaps they had something important to impart, as they headed for the conference hall that housed the Vanguard.
But one…began its approach in her direction.
She paid it no mind, as she had been positioned out of the way, but still on the path towards the Tower North. The location of both the Speaker, along with old Eva Lavante's shop, and that…boring man Executor Hideo of New Monarchy.
And yet, she looked up, as a pair of filth covered boots had stopped just before her. She fought to repress a disgusted sneer. At least they could have cleaned them off in one of the puddles nearby.
"Lady Eris."
Oh. It was him. The unusual Guardian that was one of the few who took time out of his day to stop and greet her, even in passing.
While Ikora Rey was the only one in a leading position that took her warnings about the threat of Crota and his ilk seriously, it was this Guardian that had done all of the legwork in her campaign against the Hive.
And in the process, he came to listen carefully to her, thanking her for her sacrifice against the Dark.
One of the…what…five people, Vanguard not included, Speaker ignored, that noted her losses.
Acknowledged, her pain.
Prior to enlisting his assistance, with Ikora's shining recommendation, she had done her own silent inquiries to his time.
Slew an Archon Priest on his first day as Guardian, with little control over the Light. Just a steady hand, a little luck, and hidden skill. Drove through a storm of Hive and Fallen to breech the Array which was what led to her being able to flee from her prison. Carved through the Hive on the Moon and not only destroyed a Shrine of Oryx but also set free a shard of the Traveler being used for one of their many Dark Rituals. Reclaimed the lost Archives of the Ishtar Academy, treated personally with the Queen of the Reef, killed a Vex Gate Lord, tore through the Cabal's Exclusion Zone on Mars, ripped open a pathway to something called the Black Garden, and erased its core.
All within less than a few months.
He was a prodigy, a wildcard.
She had even heard rumors that he had somehow countered the effects of a reality decreeing force in the depths of the Vault of Glass.
But as he approached she had a silent question.
…what was he holding?
"What is that?"
It felt…familiar. Disturbingly so. Like a taste well known but unable to be spoken of. A glowing lime green orb, humming with power and shimmering with a flame-like haze.
"A gift."
"I do not-
"A trophy, then. Proof of the end of your last Nightmare."
Hidden behind the darkened cloth, her eyes widened.
His words, cryptically delicious as they were, rang within her heart.
"…You…"
"The Prince, is dead. Miss Morn. He had no solid body, so I could not, unfortunately bring you back his head to mount, but this…the Core of his being, I believe, will suffice in substitute?"
She was shocked to the bone. Were she still truly capable of it, she would have found herself in tears. The demon was slain. The monster of the moon, no more. Her revenge had been taken.
All thanks to this man before her.
Gently, almost lovingly, she reached out and took hold of the sphere. The Crux of Crota, the coalescence of the Hive Prince's power. She stared at it in hand. And then unconsciously, but carefully, put it on the ground next to her.
She could shed no tears.
Her emotions had been ground down to being mostly hate, rage, sorrow, grief, and pain.
But she still had them.
And right now, they were surging.
Thus, slowly, haltingly, as if unfamiliar with the motions, she staggered forward, and wrapped her arms around the Warlock, in an awkward, but powerful hug.
Gently, the Warlock just smiled, and replied the same.
It only lasted for five seconds, before he could practically taste the normal mindset of the Lunar Survivor reassert itself, and calmly removed his arms from her figure.
She stepped back, mouth twitching as if struggling to decide whether or not to smile or frown at him.
"That…never happened. You will-
"Tell no one. I promise. Besides, even if I did, Cayde would have me taken off-duty and quarantined in fear I'd gone absolute batshit insane."
"Indeed." Eris nodded. Ahh, back to her old, stoic self.
"I should go meet the others, and report."
"That you should."
He nodded and turned.
"Guardian. …Chaos."
He stopped, tilting his head back.
"…thank you."
"The Night has not yet broken, the Morning still to come. But perhaps…it is my hope, Lady Eris, that this Star, bring a little more comforting Light, to your Sky."
Quietly, as he left her to her musings, she thought over his parting words. Gently, she knelt down, grasping hold the Crux once again. Staring into its glowing core.
"…comforting Starlight indeed…"
The war, was not yet over. Far from it.
But holding this Truth in hand.
For the first time since before she escaped.
Eris allowed hope to bloom within her, once again.