Chapter 3: Heart of the EDZ
The other members of the group soon woke up, only to see Monarch sitting on the ground, leaned against one of the nearest supply crates. The Exo had been up all night, keeping watch for them as they got the rest they actually needed. Luckily for him, he had been programmed not to feel pain or any kind of fatigue, which made him a near-perfect soldier. Lamnus and Nezarec didn't seem to see anything wrong with the picture, however, Nolma was the only one to thank him. She nodded to the man who returned it with a smile, at least the best he could muster at the time. Everyone stood and began to wake themselves up more, stretching and yawning as they were preparing for the day.
"So, I take it you have some kind of plan, Nezarec, correct? You do have a plausible strategy to get to the shard, I presume."
"The exact opposite, really. We can just run in there, gun down anything in our way, and use anything the shard gives us to get out. That's when we can get back at the Red Legion for taking our home." Nezarec responded, chuckling a bit as he adjusted the helmet on his head.
A the others joined in, except Lamus, he actually look worried, especially after soon lashing at Nezarec. "So, you plan to just waltz right in and expect to be fine?!"
"What part of, 'gun down anything in our way,' did I not make clear?"
"What if the Red Legion are there? Do you expect us to stand a chance against a patrol squadron when we can't even use the light to our advantage?!"
"Yes, because I know we're a small band of soldiers.." Nezarec said as he marched up to Lamus, staring him directly in the eyes as he spoke up again. "..Not a bunch of pansies. We fended off against the Fallen, twice, what makes you think the Cabal can be any different?"
The darker Warlock then got everyone's weapons and tossed them to each of the respected owners, everyone arming themselves for their next scouting mission. Lamus muttered something to himself as he was the first to begin walking down the path out of the farm. "Yeah.. Compare scavengers to a well-trained military.. That works."
Clearly, Lamus was going to remember that statement. Monarch, Nolma, and Nezarec soon followed behind, the Titan taking the front of the small pack while Nolma and Lamus were in the back. Nezarec stayed in the middle, still making sure his visor and the metallic horns of his helmet were as clean as possible. It was a habit of his. The group began their long trek out of the farm and towards the shard, where they would eventually come across the entrance to the Trostlands, where they entered the area from the West, marching in front of the Church as Monarch told them to stop, bringing the team to a halt. Each of them ducked a bit as they approached the nearest cover to their right, which looked like a broken cemetery just across from the Church. It seemed there was already a fight breaking out on the other side of it, Cabal and Fallen actually exchanging shots at one another. Each soldier of the hostile forces, coordinated with their teams for tactical advances or informing of positions of their enemies, especially the Cabal, who were making a significant push towards the Fallen as they retreated.
"Alright, so, we know that we have a common enemy. Should we try speaking to them?"
Nezarec said sarcastically as he looked to Lamus, who was just rolling his eyes behind his helmet, ready to open fire when given the chance. Monarch made the gesture to shut them up as he signalled with his hand for them to follow. The team of four began to sneak behind the Cabal forces, which was composed of a Gladiator, four Phalanxes, and two Legionaries. They were well-prepared, it was surprising the Fallen held them off for this long. The Exo continued to lead them before he gave the signal which caught both the Guardians and the Cabal off guard.
"Open fire!"
The Exo was the first to shoot, taking out the booster pack on one of the Phalanx's back, which erupted and killed the soldier. He would have fired another shot if the Gladiator hadn't rushed at the team and caused them to disperse. Monarch didn't care however, sending his fist into the side of the Cabal soldier's helmet, causing him to stumble to the side.
"Deal with the rest! This one's mine."
He called to the team as he strapped his weapon to his back, getting into a fighting position. The Gladiator did not seem to oblige, keeping the large blades with him as he rushed forward again. The Exo moved to meet the large soldier as the other three lightless Guardians began to open fire at the Cabal Phalanxes. They sought cover as quickly as possible occasionally exchanging shots with the massive aliens, which proved useless against their shields. Lamnus signalled over to Nolma, gesturing to the left of them.
"Flank around them and cause a distraction!"
She nodded and rushed from her cover, soon positioning herself outside the main entrance of the Church, firing with her Deathstalker-4AU at the backs of the Cabal soldiers. Two of them turned around, creating an impenetrable wall, firing at both sides at this point. Nolma instantly took cover while Lamnus and Nezarec continued to fire away, before the lighter Warlock noticed something on the shields. A weak spot. The Awoken man took aim at the center of the sheild and fired, the shield soon deactivating and collapsing. He hesitated a bit before finally putting a bullet into the skull of the Phalanx soldier, soon rallying this info to his allies.
"Aim for the center! Break their shields!"
"Leave it to me." Nezarec called to the other Warlock before peeking out of cover with his Scathelocke and emptying the magazine into the center of the Phalanx's shield. Once it went down, he held down the trigger even more, the bullets slamming into the chest of the one facing them and the backs of the two facing the Awoken Hunter. Once the soldiers were dead, the three rushed over to Monarch, who was still in an intense fist-to-blade fight with the Gladiator. As Nezarec took aim, the Exo held out his hand to stop him.
"No need. Watch this."
The Titan rushed forward, sliding underneath the rapidly-approaching blade of the Cabal soldier and standing back up, at the same time kicking the Gladiator's knee to send him down on one knee. Monarch then took one of the blades the hostile alien was using and took a swing with the large blade. There was an eruption of smoke, a gargled yell, and a hissing sound. The Titan had taken off the head of the Gladiator with his own weapon, soon dropping it as he kicked the body onto its back. He turned to the group, who just applauded for him.
"Way to go, Monarch!" Nolma cheered from behind the two Warlocks.
"Excellent display." Lamus said while clapping for the Exo.
"That's the definition of badass, man. Awesome work!" Nezarec said as he patted the Titan on the back.
The Exo just laughed and shook his head, gesturing for them to stop clapping, which of course they did. "Oh, it was nothing, just part of my programming. Now, let's get to that shard, shall we?"
The two Warlocks and the Hunter nodded to him, soon gathering all their weapons and reloading each of them. Nolma picked up the Titan's Good Bone Structure shotgun and handed it to him with a bright smile, the Exo returning the smile as he took the shotgun and thanked her. Once everything was done, they headed back on their journey deeper into the Trostlands. The group wandered down the broken city streets, talking to each other about the fight, seemingly more used to working with each other now, obvious by the way each of them were speaking.
"Again, that was one hell of a good takedown, Monarch. Where'd you learn to do that?" Lamnus started as they continued on their path.
"Self-taught, actually. I originally thought it would be something that would only work in theory, but not actually in practice." The Exo replied as he looked over to Nezarec. "I saw this guy gun down an entire squadron of Phalanxes back there. How come you're not taking any of the credit, Nez?"
"It was a team effort." The dark Warlock began. "If it wasn't for Lamnus figuring out that weak point in their shields, we would have run out of ammo."
He nudged the other Warlock, who just laughed and shrugged. "Hey, it's their fault they even made it glow orange in the center. Speaking of which, Nolma took that brave choice of flanking around them."
Nolma only giggled shyly, rubbing the back of her neck nervously as she looked at the others. "Come on guys, I didn't even get to kill anyone. It wasn't that big of a deal."
"Nonsense!" Nezarec said, turning to Nolma, chuckling a bit. "You really did help. It took a lot of pressure off of us so Lamus could find out how to take down the shields. Hell, I wouldn't have been able to do that."
The Warlock and the Hunter laughed together, spending plenty of time talking together as Lamnus continued to speak with Monarch, which they soon got into the topic of past training.
"I still remember my days as a human, especially as a soldier, serving in the ranks of the special forc-"
The Warlock stopped him right there, even stopping in his tracks since he was so surprised. "Wait, you were once human? What happened?"
Nolma and Nezarec kept going as Lamnus stopped Monarch, they just thought that the two were going to be trading some equipment. They soon stopped by an old, broken down car, sitting on the hood of it as the other two spoke. The Exo just sighed and continued walking, shaking his head to Lamnus as he joined the other two who were ahead.
"I'll be sure to explain everything later." He started. "But for now, don't worry about it. I'm even better like this."
The Warlock hesitated a minute before jogging to catch up to the others, calling out for them to wait as he walked with them once more. Hours of walking had passed before the team had finally arrived at what seemed to be a factory of sorts, approaching it from a ruined highway. Monarch was the first to begin exploring it, not seeing any enemies in sight. Lamnus and Nolma followed him, but Nezarec was stuck looking behind them at what seemed like a cave. Monarch noticed the Warlock staring at the empty area and approached him, raising an eyebrow, at least the Exo equivalent of one, speaking up.
"Did you find something? You're looking at that thing like it's-"
"The shard is in there. It's tiny, but there's enough light for all of us to use." Nezarec said, this definitely caught the attention of both Lamnus and Nolma as well. Each of the Guardians stood next to the Warlock, just staring at the entrance to this strange canyon. The darker Warlock was the first to approach the entrance, slowly drawing the Scathelocke off his back as he began taking his steps forward. The others joined him, making sure to stay close, this time Monarch in the back with Lamnus and Nolma paired with Nezarec up front. They soon came across what looked like a rift, a portal, not to mention the incredibly high concentration of Taken energy.
"I'm pretty sure whatever that thing is.. It is not the traveller's light." Lamnus remarked as he and Monarch took aim at the portal. Nolma approached it, trying to see if she could see anything while Nezarec just stood there, watching. He soon stood in front of the portal as well, gesturing for the lighter Warlock and the Titan to join them.
"So, who's up for a little portal jumping? Anyone?" Nezarec sarcastically remarked to the group.
"I suppose I can study where this takes us." Lamus replied.
"I'll be sure to keep everyone alive. It's my job." Monarch responded as he racked his shotgun, loading a shell into the chamber.
"If we end up dying, at least it will be together, right?" Nolma asked as Nezarec shrugged to her.
"One way to find out." He said right before entering the portal, everyone else following closely behind. Going through the rift was unbelievably loud and transported them deep into the forest, the group falling down a foot and crashing to the ground, everyone but Monarch hitting the ground hard. The Exo stuck the landing perfectly, everyone else, however, stumbled over upon landing. Nezarec luckily stopped himself from hitting the floor too hard, being the second to get to his feet. Nolma was the third, being agile enough to go into a combat roll and then to her feet and, of course, Lamnus being the last. He was unlucky enough to have an uneven surface of loose rocks when he landed.
"Of all the damn places?!" The light Warlock called out to the forest, his voice echoing through the area, Nezarec and Nolma seemed to chuckle a bit at the sight and sound of it.
"Hey, at least we're all okay, right?" Nolma asked as she dusted off her uniform, Monarch laughing and nodding.
"Couldn't be better. How about you guys?" He asked, Nezarec being the first to respond.
"Glad I didn't land on anyone."
"I just wish I didn't land on the f-" Lamnus started before he was shushed by Nolma, who was the first to move forwards through the forest.
It was like a variety of constellations directly in front of them. Each one depicting a different person. These ranged from famous Hunters to Titans, all of which had been lost to the world. The group of course visited each one, being visited by a voice that explained who it was, and told a short tale on how this Guardian came to be. Nolma was so focussed on the story of a Hunter who had made his way through multiple raids on the creatures of the darkness, only to end up being lost in time when a portal closed on him when assisting his team. Lamnus and Nezarec were told about a Warlock who had spent her time studying and used her vast knowledge of Warlock powers to defeat armies that came her way, only to be killed by a rouge Hunter. Monarch was enthralled by the tale of a Titan who had based and mauled his way through the center of the moon, no ammunition required before he had fallen to Crota's blade from overconfidence. Each of the Guardians had exciting stories behind them, but something interrupted this peaceful moment, the sound of a summoning. The ground shook as something roared in the distance, the lightless Guardians grouping together as they prepared for any combat.
"I'm guessing I wasn't the only one to hear that." Monarch said to the group.
"We definitely heard it." Nezarec responded, gesturing for everyone to stay close and move up. Something else was there with them. The small band of soldiers pushed forward, determined to find what was there and make sure it was not hostile. And surely enough, what waited for them beyond their view was another portal, this one surrounded by Taken who sought the traveller's light as well.