Chapter 1: The Second Battle of the Twilight Gap
There I stood. There WE stood. The tower received reports of an impending assault by the hive and called for any available guardians to make their way to the defense of the twilight gap. There was just a handful of guardians that were able to respond fast enough to take the full brunt of the hive assault. I stood on a ridge overlooking the twilight gap and the Cosmodrone that stretched as far as the eye could see. I looked down at the other guardians that were on the lower levels. There were about 20 of us. Some looked nervous, some looked tense, but everybody looked ready to lay down their lives for the defense of the city. I looked out to the Cosmodrome. Being a warlock, it was natural for me to ask myself how the hive are able to assault the tower. The hive would never try an all-out assault. Not unless they have performed some sort of ritual or something that would allow them to besiege the city, and win. Then my thoughts were interrupted as the sky burst open. Dozens of hive ships appeared from the sky and fired their cannons. A few guardians were hit, but they were revived by their ghost not long after. I ran for cover. I could hear gunshots going off and explosions across the twilight gap. A hive ship appeared above me and opened fire. Two purple balls of energy were seeking towards me. I slid behind a wall and I heard two near explosions. I looked around the wall and saw the ship unloading troops onto the ridge that I was on. The ship fired again and the two more balls of energy came towards me. I heard the ship take off and slip back to wherever it came from, and shortly after the two balls of energy fired at me exploded. I reached for my weapon, the feared thorn. It is a weapon of sorrow that was once wielded by the infamous Dredgen Yor. Rounds of fire from hive acolytes began hitting my cover. I could hear thralls running towards me, trying to force me out of my cover. I peeked out of the side of the wall and fired rounds into the charging mass of thralls, my bullets piercing through the group. Some thralls died with the damage from the bullet, others fell dead from my weapon devouring them. I was able to sway away the group of thralls, but hive knights and wizards fired on my position. I returned fire. Behind them I saw a gathering mass of dark energy and then a hive wizard emerged. This wizard was different. It had ceremonial robes and seemed to embody the dark that was so coveted by the hive. My ghost instantly came on my comms, " this whole area is now a darkness zone, I can't revive if you die. Oh, and it's also probably because of that wizard." "This is bad", I said out loud. I retreated back to the wall. A plan. I need a plan. I looked back to the other guardians and saw one getting shot down. The guardian's ghost could not revive him. We're losing numbers. I need to destroy the wizard in order to give us any sort of chance to win the battle. However, I would be killed before I even got close to it. There were too many hive protecting it. New ships were flying through the sky. They were guardian ships. New guardians were arriving at the twilight gap, two of them landed near me. It was a male titan and a female hunter. Reinforcements were showing up, but for every guardian that appeared, another was being killed. The recently arrived guardians opened fire on the hive who were protecting the wizard. This is good covering fire. I ran out of the safety of my cover and ran towards the hive position. Bullets whizzed by me, and a few rounds hit me, but I kept on running. I blinked into the air and then the world seemed as if it slowed down. I could feel the void energy rising up through my body and concentrating in my palm. I moved my right arm back and let the energy gather. I pushed my arm and palm forward and released all that energy into a nova bomb that was heading straight for the hive and the dreadful wizard. Then, unexpectedly the wizard launched a similar attack right back at me. My nova bomb went halfway to the hive position when it met the wizard's dark strike. There was a massive explosion of energy that blasted me right into the ground. My shields were gone, but all the hive that I intended to use the nova bomb on seemed to have died in the explosion. I relaxed a bit. I was in pain but at least the wizard is gone. We could still win the battle. I looked backed up at the smoke that covered the area. I looked closely and I saw a shape, and it seemed to be moving towards me. The wizard emerged from the smoke and floated right towards me. My arm was fractured and I couldn't lift the thorn to defend myself. I raised my left arm to unleash a devastating void melee attack but the wizard grabbed my arm. Its rigid hands were very cold and seemed to be just bone. It's dark beady eyes focused on my helmet. It seemed to be looking right at my eyes. With its free arm the wizard touched my helmet. I entered a vision. There I stood. On top of ash. I looked down and saw the lifeless bodies of guardians scattered throughout the scorched floor. I had an epiphany. I was standing on what remained of the Last City of Earth. Nothing remained but ash. Had I killed all these guardian? Had I destroyed the last city of Earth? I turned around and to my side were the hive. "You and I are not that different." The voice belonged to the wizard who was in my head. "We seek power, power that nobody else understands." I struggled... " No, I am a warrior of light! I will never betray the light!" The dark scrappy voice of the wizard once again spoke, "You are a dead thing made by a dead power. All you will ever do is kill." "No!" I yelled, "You seek to deceive me foul wizard, I will never betray the light." " You may never betray the light, but the light will betray you." Then the vision ended and the wizard took its hand away from my helmet. I returned to reality in a daze. Then, the sound of a sniper rifle rang throughout the air as the bullet pierced the head of the wizard. The wizard disintegrated before it even hit the ground. Then, the titan and the hunter came to my aid.