A Soldier of the Light

by Reilly.216

From the very beginning, join Entity, the master sniper, and experience his triumphs and his defeats every step of the way. His victories and his losses. Battles that will mold the Hunter into a legend. After all, every legend has to start somewhere. (Set 17 years before 'In His Footsteps'/'O Brother Where Art Thou' and roughly a year before the events of 'His Own Path')

10. X - Helljumping

A Soldier of the Light

Chapter Ten - Helljumping

He didn't know what to say. Even if he did, he wouldn't know how to say it. After a few moments of grasping at straws, Entity decided that he didn't actually need to say anything – so he hugged Erebus tighter, not wanting to let her go for fear of losing her. After a little while, he slowly released the Human woman from his vice-like grip. He set her own lightly on the hard ground of the Fallen base, not wanting to cause her any unnecessary pain. She was already badly bruised; he didn't want to make it any worse.

"Are you going to be okay?" Entity asked tentatively, nothing but concern for her in his robotic voice.

Erebus nodded meekly, her deep brown eyes never leaving his own.

"I'll be fine," she said gently, "Thanks to you." She smiled that beautiful smile of hers, reassuring the Exo of her well-being. Entity nodded.

"Be that as it may, we're still going to take it nice and easy, okay?" Entity replied. Erebus nodded again and began to stand up.

Her body was aching all over, the dull throbbing of her heartbeat somehow managing to cause her more pain. She didn't know it at the time, but she had three broken ribs and hairline fractures decorating her left leg like some spider's web. Her face quickly turned into a grimace when she attempted to put pressure on her injured leg. She felt so helpless.

Entity saw her grim expression and hoisted her up to his shoulder, supporting the majority of her weight on his own self. Carefully, so as not to hurt the injured woman, he placed his right hand up to the ear-piece embedded into his helmet. He opened a channel to the two members of his fire-team that h could still establish contact with. He left out Erebus. Partly because she was right next to him, and so didn't require a comm-link to communicate. But also because she didn't have a helmet on.

"Vixera, Ferrum, how goes the defence of the Lair?" Entity asked the white noise and static of the comm-channel. A moment of tense silence went by before the reply came, Vixera being the one to respond to his question.

"Entity, it is good to hear your voice! Ferrum and I had just begun to start wagering on the likelihood of your return from your suicide mission." She laughed; a guttural, mechanical sound.

Entity couldn't help but 'smile' slightly at her response; she had the strangest sense of humour he had ever known anybody to have.

"I, for one, never doubted your safe return. As for the defence of my home," she paused for breath, probably taking a moment to kill another Vigil soldier, "My Kell has mobilised his walkers and we have pushed them back! These filthy mongrels have soiled themselves - they are retreating! News of the death of their Kell is just reaching their ears. I am surprised, Entity. How did you manage to defeat the Kell? I hear he is… was… a formidable opponent."

Entity looked over to the still-warm corpse of the Vigil Kell, twitching slightly and surrounded by its dead subordinates. He thought about how he had probably pierced one of his vital organs and then severed his spinal cord.

"Just lucky, I guess." He replied cautiously, not wanting to say something wrong, like how easy it had actually been to best the leader of such a formidable 'warrior'.

"Hmm, very well. Have you secured the woman, Erebus?" Vixera responded.

Entity looked at the beat-up woman next to him.

"Affirmative, but she's going to need medical attention. Ferrum, do you know any simple first-aid procedures?" Entity asked.

"Yeah. Not much, but enough to get her back to the Tower's infirmary in one piece." Ferrum replied begrudgingly, probably not wanting to reveal any of his flaws - of which there weren't many.

"It'll have to do. Have you heard anything from Josh?" the Exo asked, more seriousness coming into his voice.

"Not yet, I'm sure he's fine, though." Ferrum said with certainty. If there was one thing you could know about Josh, it was that he was a survivor – and he didn't go down easily.

"I'm sure you're right Ferrum, I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Entity out." Entity said with finality. He removed his fingers from his earpiece and turned his neck to look at the fragile form of Erebus 'standing' next to him. He gasped slightly when he saw that she had started to bleed profusely from her stomach, she looked as if she was about to faint. All the blood had drained from her face, and she looked to be on the brink of collapse. Entity shook her slightly to keep her awake.

"Hey, stay with me. I'm gonna get you out of this hell-hole, alright?" Entity spoke urgently, trying to keep her attention on him. Erebus nodded her head slightly.

But before he could start walking, Erebus held something in front of him; his Hand-Cannon. Entity 'smiled' slightly and took the fire-arm in his right hand to place in its holster on his right thigh. But before he could thank her for returning the gun to him, Erebus went limp in his arms, fainting completely.

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Ferrum looked out over the chaotic ranks of Vigil soldiers in front of him. Hundreds of Dregs, Vandals and even Captains were retreating from the killer force that the Shadow's walkers provided the soldiers of the House of Shadows with. He had noticed that the two Barons of Vigil were starting to regain control of their troops, rallying them behind their own walkers, preparing for a second assault on the Shadow Lair.

His mind was on other things, though. He was too busy scanning the battleground for any sign of his Titan friend. Ferrum remembered how they had promised each other that they would look out for one another – seeing as no-one else would. He balled his fists in frustration. He was sure that he was fine; it was just… well, he didn't know, he just felt like something had happened to his greatest friend. He gave up, and went back to the matter at hand – the enemy was regrouping.

"Vixera, do you think you can do anything about those Barons?" he asked the Fallen Captain next to him. She shook her head.

"Not from this distance. My wire-rifle would not be able to get them in range, let alone bring down their shields. I would have to get closer." Vixera assured him. He looked over to her, one 'eyebrow' raised.

"How close?" Ferrum asked quietly.

The female Captain smirked beneath her helmet as she removed her twin swords from their sheaths. Ferrum hummed his approval.

"I trust you to kill a Baron; I don't doubt your skills. But I doubt you'd be able to take two on at the same time, let alone with those Walkers guarding them - to say nothing of the hundreds of Vigil soldiers surrounding them." Ferrum pointed out. Vixera nodded, understanding the issue.

"The soldiers should not be a problem. Their leader has just been slain. The only thing keeping them in line is the fear that the Barons use to keep them under their command. We just have to scare them more."

"And just how do you propose we do that?" Ferrum asked.

"We have twice as many Walkers as they do, if that isn't scary, I don't know what is." Vixera said with finality. "But they are old and weathered and wouldn't stand much of a chance against the Vigil's Walkers."

"You're right. We need back-up." Ferrum replied. Vixera looked at him, confused.

"Back-up? We have no chance for reinforcements. Unless you can conjure up some of your fellow Guardians, those Walkers will be a significant problem.

"Chill out, sweetheart. If Josh can pull something out of the bag, we won't need to worry about them."

Vixera growled in annoyance at Ferrum calling her such a dainty thing. She spoke with no small amount of venom in her voice when she replied next.

"Josh? He is nowhere to be seen, he may even be dead for all we know! Nobody has hea-"

"He's alive, alright?! " Ferrum cut in, his voice brimming with anger, "Just you watch, he'll be here! Then it'll be a straight shot for the two Barons, and with it; victory. "

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Josh was standing in the air-lock on the side of his jump-ship, as it flew in stratosphere above the battlefield of the Shadow's Lair, unsure if what he was about to do was possible, never mind safe.

"Guardian, may I please reiterate how incredibly insane this action is?" Josh's Ghost chirped with no small amount of panic woven into his speech.

"Don't worry, I got this. I've done this a million times." Josh replied confidently. He didn't feel confident though, not in the slightest.

"Incorrect." His Ghost said, matter-of-factly, "You have, in fact, never done anything even remotely like this before. Neither has any Guardian."

Josh chuckled slightly.

"Well, you know what they say – there's a first for everything." Josh said as he pressed the button that would open the hatch of the air-lock. He held tighter to the metal bar with his new metal arm. It was the only thing stopping him from falling out of the aircraft. If he let go… well, it was gonna be a long way down.

"Guardian, we are currently twenty-one-point-one miles above the surface of the Earth, do you fully grasp the concept of what you are about to do?" Ghost asked, its tone of voice revealing how adamant it was about what its Guardian was about to do.

"Ghost, if I did understand, I wouldn't be doing this. Now, shut it, or you'll make me doubt myself – then we'll both die." Josh said angrily. His Ghost kept quiet after that.

Taking a deep breath, and praying to the Traveller for success, Josh let go of the bar.

Instantly, Josh shot out of the hatch like a speeding bullet, straight towards the surface of the Earth. For a moment, all he could do was panic, realising what he was about was actually unfathomably insane. Then, he regained his composure and took a deep breath, focusing his mind. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the land below him for his objective. When he saw it, he positioned his body in such a way that would grant him the greatest 'aerodynamic-ness'. His two feet side-by-side, pointing towards the vast abyss of space and his head pointed towards his target. Faster and faster he went, darting towards his mark like a bullet. The quiet of space was deafening, the silence felt unbreakable. Josh's breathing was the only thing to focus on. Suddenly, Josh began to feel hot. The feeling spread across his body like an inferno, scorching the armour on Josh's upper-half. It was unbearable; it was as if he was being branded by hellfire itself.

"Don't worry; it will only last for a few moments. We're entering Earth's atmosphere – it's all downhill from here." His Ghost reminded him. Josh grimaced in effort, he'd never felt pain like this before.

Then, as quickly as it had come on; it vanished. And he could hear the wind rushing past his body. He looked down at the battlefield below him, scanning for any sign of his target. He saw it and realised that the ground was actually much closer than he thought it had been. White wisps of rain surrounded him, coating his visor in droplets of water, only to be pushed off his visor again due to the speed at which he was going.

"Ghost, how long until I hit the ground?" Josh asked urgently, unsure of how long he had. He had to time this just right, or else it would end up in him going 'splat'.

"Estimating…" his Ghost said, calculating the ever changing distance from Josh to the ground, "You have: 6.74 miles to go, and: 1:17 seconds until you hit the ground."

"Understood. Re-calculate for how long I have until I need to activate the… thing." Josh demanded.

"Re-calculating, please wait…" Ghost said, as he recalibrated his sensors to work out when his Guardian should enact the next stage in his idiotic plan. "You have: 3.43 miles to go, and: 34 seconds until activation is required."

"Okay, then, give me a countdown please, Ghost."

"Understood. Twenty-nine… twenty-eight… twenty-seven… twenty-six…" Ghost droned on in a neutral tone. The timer drew closer and closer to his mark, and Josh watched in concentration as the timer displayed in his HUD showed how much time he had left. He was also somewhat aware of the ground that was rushing up to meet him, but he was more focused on concentrating on Ghost's speech and the timer in his HUD to care about such trivial things as the ground.

"Six… five… four…-" Ghost whined on.

Josh took in a deep breath, readying himself for the final stage in his plan.

"-… three… two… one…. Please activate, now."

Josh summoned the power of the Light within him and channelled it into his fists, pooling it into the decimating power of lightning and strength. Josh roared as his Fist of Havoc activated and he gained a burst of speed, propelling him ever faster towards the surface of Old Russia.

"Guardian, at these speeds, you will impact the ground in: fourteen seconds. Good luck." Ghost said before staying quiet for the rest of the journey.

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The falling object slammed into the ground with a blue-white glow surrounding it. Or a moment, everything was deadly silent – nothing could be heard. Everything seemed peaceful. But it didn't last longer than a moment, and then the peace was shattered, and in its place, death reigned again.

The impact alone created a crater at the centre of the Vigil forces, not to mention the bodies and shrapnel that occupied the crater. Instantly, hundreds of Vigil Fallen were obliterated and turned into dust – completely disintegrated. The only thing that marked the mass grave were small pieces of cloth bearing the Vigil emblem across it fluttering in the light breeze that was also destroyed by the force of the impact. Luckily for Josh, the Vigil Walkers had all been bunched together in a tight formation, allowing him to annihilate all three of them in an instant. The soldiers surrounding them had suffered the same fate. In the end, there was only one survivor. Apart from that, there was only death – death and destruction.

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The onlookers of the House of Shadows could only watch in awe-struck fascination as the blast created a shockwave that carried straight over them, knocking many of them off of their feet. When the dust settled, there was much confusion as to what had happened. Vixera had ordered all able-bodied warriors to proceed to the site of the incident, some two-hundred metres off. Any non-injured personnel were to stay behind and tend to the wounded and await further orders.

Ferrum had mounted his Sparrow, and Vixera had commandeered a Pike. Together, they proceeded towards the impact's initial location, hoping to find something to answer their confusion.

They found only death.

"What could have done this?" Vixera asked Ferrum over the comm-link they shared.

"I've no idea." Came his reply. He was at a loss for words. Even if he had the words, he wouldn't be able to know what to say except for one thing; was there anyone left?

They came to the crater's deepest point. In it, there was almost nothing of interest. Shrapnel and shards of metal were strewn about carelessly. There were no Fallen bodies, they had all been reduced to the ash that now carpeted the area around the pair.

Then, Ferrum's radar blinked slightly, reading a faint sign of life. The blip was situated at the centre of the crater and displayed the weak heartbeat of a life. As soon as he saw what the blip had originated from, Ferrum wished that he had not seen anything and he wanted to wipe his memory banks of anything to do with this crater.

Josh lay at the centre of the crater. What was more - is that he was dying.

Ferrum could only look at his best friend in utter horror as Josh raggedly drew in breath to a no-doubt punctured pair of lungs. Dropping his Pulse-rifle in the dust, Ferrum sprinted over to his friend and crouched by his side, propping him up so that he could breathe more easily. His visor had shattered; the glass had impaled most places on his face, including his eyes. Blood was coming out of the right side of his mouth, as well as both of his tear ducts. His armour was utterly shredded; and burned and cracked skin was visible beneath its broken remains. Arms and legs were bent at perplexingly odd angles, and his breath came in raspy sighs. Sometimes, when he exhaled, small amounts of blood poured out of his mouth.

"Josh, what happened, buddy?" Ferrum asked plainly. He was an Exo and so he was completely unable to show emotion. It was a blessing, as people were unable to see misery and pain etched onto his features - but it also a curse, because he couldn't show happiness, or sadness or compassion. For fuck's sake, he couldn't even smile correctly! And now, all he could do was watch, looking completely unfazed by the death of his greatest friend.

"I'm… s-so cold, F-Ferrum…" Josh said, his voice quiet like a whisper, "H-Help… me, p-please…. I'm s-so scared… I don't want to d-die…"

"You'll be okay, I promise." Ferrum said, in his infuriatingly neutral voice.

"I… c-can't see. I can't… s-see anything. W-Why?" Josh asked.

"It doesn't matter, because you're going to be absolutely fine. I'm gonna get you to the Tower, and you'll get better, okay?"

Josh stayed quiet, unable to speak anymore. He focused on breathing, on staying alive. His Ghost had been destroyed in the blast, now he was unable to be revived. If Ferrum didn't get him some help right now, he would die – forever. And he wasn't about to let that happen. He turned slightly to face Vixera, who had been watching the scene unfold with utter shock written over her features.

"Vixera, tell Entity that we've gone to the Tower to seek medical attention. I'm sorry, but the victory party is going to have to wait." Ferrum said, and with that he trans-matted into his ship without another word. Both he and Josh phased into thin-air.

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Entity had felt the explosion rock the inside of the Fallen base, and when he finally emerged from the ramshackle building, he saw the full extent of the damage that had been done to the coast-line. He had no idea what had happened, but he was concerned as to what had happened to his fire-team. He opened up a comm-link to Vixera and Ferrum, but the connection to Ferrum's device could not be established due to distance. He pondered this for a moment whilst the comm-channel established a secure line to Vixera.

"Vixera, sit-rep. What the hell happened here?" He asked her when the connection eventually got put through.

"Josh happened." Vixera replied to him, almost at a loss for words.

"What do you mean 'Josh happened', what are you on about?" He asked, confused.

"I am unsure as to exactly what happened, but Josh did something that managed to wipe out the entire Vigil army. Apparently, the action caused him a great deal of damage and Ferrum and I found him in the crater that he made." She hesitated.

"Go on, Vixera." Entity pried.

"He is dying, Entity."

The Exo recoiled from the shock of the news she had just told him. How could Josh be dying? Guardians couldn't die, unless….

"What happened to his Ghost?" Entity asked quietly, the answer already tugging at his sub-conscious.

"It was destroyed in the blast." Vixera stated.

"Oh, this is bad. Vixera, this is really, really bad. We have to get back to the Tower now." Entity commanded, his mind distracted on the hope that his friend was okay.

"No, Entity. I must stay here to tell my Kell of the situation, and discuss with him why you are unable to return to discuss the terms of the treaty."

"I understand. Good luck, Vixera."

"Farewell, Entity. Return soon, so we may begin the journey to peace between our races."

Entity nodded to himself. Erebus was still out cold; Entity would have to get her to the medical wing of the Tower soon.

"See you soon, Vixera." Entity said, as he trans-matted into his own ship, already invoking the director to take him back to the Tower.

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As soon as he touched down on the main court-yard, Entity set off at a jog toward the medical area of the Tower. There, he talked to one of the frames in charge of handling the induction of Guardians into the hospital. As soon as he had ensured that Erebus was in good hands, he made his over to the Emergency Situation Wing of the hospital, only to find his Warlock Exo friend worriedly talking to one of the nurses urgently. As Entity came closer, he could make out what was being said.

"...am sorry, Guardian, but you must wait out here whilst the doctor gives his diagnosis. Once he's done, you'll be the first to hear of the treatment he'll be receiving." She said to him, trying to reassure him of the care that Josh had been taken into. She was an Awoken woman, and rather easy on the eyes too.

"I understand, thank you. Please, do anything you can." Ferrum said pleadingly as she turned to go.

Entity approached warily, unsure of what to say. Ferrum turned to him, his response reading the other Exo's mind.

"You don't need to say anything, Entity. I know what's probably going to happen, but that doesn't mean that you can just waltz in here and tell me that it's all gonna be dandy. I assume Vixera told you everything?" Ferrum said. Entity could tell that he was angry; he didn't need to be a shrink to understand why. It was traumatic to lose your best friend, even for an Exo.

"As much as she could."

"Well, I'll fill you, it looks like we're gonna be here a while anyway…"

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30 minutes later…

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The doctor emerged from the diagnosis room, and the pair of Exo's ran over to meet him. His face was grim and looked rather serious.

"I'm afraid that your friend has suffered severe injuries. Under usual circumstances, I'd order his death and then organise a controlled revival. But unfortunately, that isn't an option. Sadly, we have been unable to devise a way to resurrect him without his Ghost. I'm afraid it just isn't possible." The doctor said in a tired, raspy voice.

"And the good news?" Entity asked hopefully. The doctor sighed heavily.

"We have been able to figure out a way for him to live on. But-"

"Anything. Please, Doc, we'll give you anything. Just save him." Ferrum cut in.

"Hold on, Guardian, you'll want to hear this. Our technicians here in the Tower have been able to build a sub-conscious brain and morality transfer device capable of transferring your friends mind from his body into another."

Entity could hardly believe what he was hearing - a device capable of transferring a person's mind into another body? Surely it was impossible.

"We have been able to secure an Exo chassis that will enable your friend to live on, but he will not be the same person you remember. He will still be the same in terms of personality and memories, but…" he hesitated.

"Go on." Entity urged the man.

"In the past, we have had cases that say that such consciousness transfers result in memory loss, dementia, schizophrenia, insanity and in the worst-case scenarios; even death."

Entity looked at Ferrum, pondering on what to do.

He came to a conclusion.

"Do it." He said.

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