King of the Sands
Chapter Ten: Confessions
Well, this is it. Chapter Ten. Not the last chapter, but we're getting there. I'm aiming for two more chapters after this, most likely one for the Black Garden battle (That'll be a long chapter) and a sort of epilogue to shamelessly tease a sequel. After all, there's still Vault of Glass, Crota's End and the upcoming House of Wolves to play around with, not to mention the fifteen-billion other DLC's planned.
In the other news, happy 18th birthday to me!
Let's go!
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The blade was death and destruction incarnate, turning Erik into the avatar of death. Up and down the bone-like blade went, spilling the blood of Fallen Vandal's, Dregs and Hive Acolyte's indiscriminately. Nothing could stand before him, and when he felt its ultimate fully powered, he didn't hesitate to use it, sending a wave of pure force out of the blade to tear apart anything that got in the way.
He could remember little of the fight, only flashes of pure, unadulterated violence. Purple Hive blood sparkling in the sunlight, grey Fallen blood glistening like drops of liquid silver. Corpses spinning away from him, leaving contrails of gore behind until the sickening SLAP sound they made when they struck the ground. The feeling of breaking bones jarring his bones, and the sounds of screams of pain and anger.
According to Alice, he had been terrifying.
Especially when he nearly attacked her.
Erik broke out of his murder trance with the blade held over her as he grasped her throat and pinned her to the ground with his knee on her sternum and his boot on her arm. He recoiled, throwing away the sword and jumping backwards, off of her, landing several feet away, before staring at the sword, terror in his eyes.
"Geez Erik, are you okay?" Alice asked, stepping towards him. Erik's response was to step backwards, hands outstretched.
"D-don't come any closer!" He said, stuttering.
"Why? What's wrong?" Alice said, taking another step.
"I… I… I nearly killed you!" Erik said. "I almost stabbed you! With that sword!"
"So? You didn't." Alice said, hands held up in a placating gesture. "It's fine! You lost control for a minute, you're a Striker! It's your job."
But… I almost killed-"
"You didn't. Don't worry, I get it. You lost control, went a little nuts. You were just in a fight-or-die situation." Alice said, quickly stepping forwards and gently taking his arm in her hand. "I get it."
Erik stared at her, swallowing. "I… I…" He sighed. "I am never touching one of those again. Killing is one thing, but when I lose control like that…"
"Erik, stop blaming yourself." Erik looked up at that, to see Alice without her helmet.
"For what, nearly killing you?" Erik said.
"No, for my death." Alice said, as she transformed into the armour she had worn when she died. "It wasn't your fault."
"If I had been stronger-"
"If you had been stronger, you wouldn't have wasted almost a year of your life in mourning and self-hate!" Alice said, grabbing Erik's head in her hands, one on each cheek.
"But I-" He was cut off by Alice kissing him. Her lips tasted like strawberries, he noted. He slowly let himself fall limp, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer.
After nearly a minute, Alice pulled away. "That make you feel better?" She asked, looking at him with those ice-blue eyes that he had loved so much.
"Definitely." Erik said. "I… how are you doing this?"
"When I died, you took some of my light into you, absorbed it, and thus, my consciousness. I've been living in your head for the past year and a half." Alice explained. "I can only talk to you when you're asleep, though."
"Why didn't you do this before? When I was drinking, that is? Erik asked.
"I… Erik, before you make assumptions, watching you drink and sink into that depression was one of the hardest things I've done, and I used to punch monsters for a living." Alice said. "You needed to get over that yourself. And it looks like you did, being the leader of the Cabal and all that."
"I… can we do this again?" Erik asked, looking at her hopefully. Alice laughed.
"It's your head, Erik. You can do whatever you want." She said, before her face switched from a smile to a frown. "But you have to wake up now."
"Bu-" Before Erik could protest, he was sucked into the real world, and away from his beloved.
()()()()()()
"So… Why am I doing this again?" Mark asked, his auto rifle held loosely in one hand while the other drummed out a steady rhythm on his left thigh-plate.
"Because you signed up, presumably." That was Dominion-13, Crucible champion and supposedly one of the deadliest Guardians alive today. In his hands were the recently discovered legendary dual hand-cannons Romulus and Remus, plated with steel and both bearing an old Roman Aquila mark. "I'm here because Shaxx won't let the team leave without at least one person who knows what they're doing on this op."
"Yeah, but I didn't think we would actually, you know… attack the Black Garden." Mark said, continuing his drumming.
"That's what the briefing said, why else would you sign up?" Allesandra, the Awoken Warlock, asked, glowing solar energy floating in an aura around her hand.
"Bragging rights, mostly." Mark said. "That and the opportunity to uppercut some Vex motherfuckers."
"You really do hate them, don't you?" Dominion asked.
"Yeah. Assholes killed my family, destroyed most of Venus… yeah, I hate them." Mark replied, ceasing his drumming when Allesandra shot him a dirty look.
Two more figures entered, the slim form of the Bladedancer Larana easily identifiable, but the next figure was clad in his full armour, so no one could figure out who they were. Mark winked at Larana, who gave him a slight smile before sitting beside him.
The armoured figure chose to stand, and the room went silent in anticipation as the next set of members of their team, Fireteam Owl, entered the room, the trio of Hunters looking around before sitting in the far left corner of the room.
The last people in were the Hunter-Warlock combo team known as Fireteam Wasp, mostly due to their choice of garish yellow and black colouring for their armour. Alexander, the Gunman of Venus, took a look around at the assembled Guardians before taking a seat at one of the several tables. He was joined by Thalia and Aria, the twin Voidwalker Warlocks who made up the bulk of Wasp.
Last to enter was Erik Volden Tau'arc, Marchall of the Cabal and leader of this operation. He was trailed by another Guardian, unidentifiable beneath their heavy cloak, and three Cabal Psions, who looked nervous to say the least. The team was finally gathered in its entirety. At least, the Guardians were.
"Guardians." Erik said, drawing the gathered warriors attention. "I'm not going to bother with bullshit; we're here to kill a god."
"And we all know how great that went for Morn and her team." Mark said, only to receive another scowl from Allesandra. "Too soon? Okay."
"Anyhow, we're going to kill this god the way Guardians kill everything; shoot the ever-living Shieth out of it, before running up and beating its face in with our fists. Hunters and Warlocks exempt from the second part, of course." Erik said, earning a few giggles from the group. "Presumably you'll be hiding behind us Titans and yelling encouragement."
"If encouragement means a throwing knife in the ass, you've already earned it." Alexander called, earning even more giggling.
"That better not have been a euphemism for something inappropriate, or I would have some very serious questions."Erik said straight faced, causing the whole room to burst into riotous laughter.
After about half a minute, the laughter died down and Erik continued his briefing. "Anyhow, as I was saying, we're going after the Black Garden. Here's our basic force composition." Erik waved his hand at the wall and his Ghost, Churchill, popped into existence and projected some words and numbers onto the wall. "Fireteams Owl, Wasp and Whisper, as well as Larana, Edge," The armoured guardian in the corner gave a little wave at that. "Dominion and Smoke."
The cloaked figure in the back flipped off his cloaks cowl, revealing the infamous black-plated face of the Exo assassin. "Evening everyone." He said, his ever present dogtags now dangling in site. "Lovely day for a war meeting."
"The Guardian forces will be led by Dominion, as he is the most senior Guardian. I, on the other hand, will be leading my Cabal." Erik said, as the slide on the wall changed. "Two teams of three Psions, my Phalanx bodyguards Akanda and Tarkus, and a unit of three Colossi led by Obriok, the Colossus Grandmaster."
"Why're there gonna be more Guardians than Cabal?" Mark asked.
"Because we're also bringing along three squads of eight Legionaries, three more three-man Psion teams and four more Colossi, but they'll be protecting the gate. Thanks to some testing, we've figured out any sizable force sent into the Black Garden will be destroyed by a far larger Vex force. We'll need a smaller team to slip by unnoticed." Erik reasoned, but now it was Alexanders turn to ask a question.
"Why bring twenty-five troops then?" He asked, gesturing at the group of Guardians. "Surely we don't need this many people to kill a few Vex."
"You underestimate the Vex, Alexander." Erik said. "We needed a team of both sides best, and I assembled them here. Anything more and we can't slip past the Vex, anything less and we get destroyed."
"That makes a bit more sense." Alexander agreed.
"Well, that's basically it for today's little meeting. All of you, get some sleep." Erik ordered. "You'll need it."
"What are you, my mother?" Mark muttered, leaving the room.
"Mark, actually, hold back a minute. I need to talk to you." Erik said, and the Titan stopped and entered the room. The pair waited a minute for everyone to leave the room, before Erik started.
"First off, I wanted to give you this." And with that he handed the rather young Guardian a rifle. Mark took the weapon, feeling the balance in his hand, until he realized what he was holding a few seconds later.
"This… this is Payback SOS!" The Titan said excitedly looking at the Vanguard symbol marking the left side of the main body of the gun.
"It is. Fully upgraded, too. It… it belonged to a friend of mine, but sh-they're dead, and they wouldn't have wanted me letting it go to waste." Erik said. "It's hooked up to extract kinetic force from your gauntlets. Punching enemies will increase reload time, and it's also hooked up to sense kills. Each kill will increase the velocity and impact of rounds, giving you a damage boost."
"Something like this… this is way better than my Galahad... why me, though?" Mark asked, looking up at the taller Titan.
"Because you, of all the people going on this mission, I know I can trust." Erik answered mysteriously, before walking away, leaving Mark to admire his new weapon.
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Well, that's another Chappy out of the way! OC credit goes to:
Fireteam Wasp (Alexander, Thalia, Aria): The Archivist of Eternity
Fireteam Owl (Korman, Europa-73, Kayla): SonofBerenike
Psion Pathfinders (Errerin, Korrodin, Serethren): SonofAstora
Larana: DaughterofCatarina
Smoke: Reilly.216
Mark: Someguy
Dominion-13: RicheytheKing 13
Everyone Else: Me!