A Soldier of the Light

Chapter 11 – Evolution and Revelations

It was all black. Everything was just absolute… darkness.

It wasn't the kind of black that he often ventured into when he explored caves or other subterranean complexes – it was absolute, objective oblivion.

The last thing he remembered seeing was his Ghost shattering in his mind's eye before everything went totally black. Ferrum had come to his side. His Exo friend had told him that he was in safe hands and that they were returning to the Tower to get him some immediate medical attention.

He had been subjected to the indefiniteness of unconsciousness shortly afterwards.

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He awoke with a ringing in his ears, like a school bell signalling the end of the day. His head throbbed and his limbs felt oddly heavier than before. Other than that, though, there was little else, let alone the incredible pain he had felt after performing his space-jump. The ringing faded, and he felt as if he would brave the perception of the world.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he began to open his eyes.

His was lying on his back, but all of his limbs were in their proper position, unlike they had been after the… he didn't want to think about it. The cleanliness and all-round hygienic presence of the hospital ward surrounded him. White walls encompassed him, and a door was in front of his body. He was raised off the ground by a metal bed and there was a table to his immediate left with all manner of pumps, monitors and other hospital doo-dahs covering its surface. On his right was a rather bulky looking life-support machine and diagnostic mechanisms, all of which let out a steady, rhythmic beeping sound that probably showed his pulse and other necessary vital statistics.

His head swam, and, quite frankly, he felt as if were about to throw up. But he managed to keep himself dignified. His body ached all over, but he attempted to stand up anyway.

No sooner did he attempt to rise up, did he feel some restraining force acting on his limbs. Looking down, he noticed with alarm that his wrists and ankles were hand-cuffed to the sides of the bed-frame. Panicking, he began trying to thresh out of them, shaking his wrists maniacally, trying to unlatch their vice-like grip on his body. It was only after a few more moments of thrashing that he noticed that something was amiss – and very, very wrong with him. He didn't notice at first because of his impromptu prosthetic limb he had made for himself earlier when in Old Russia defending the Lair of the Shadows, but now he saw it. As clear as day, he saw… himself.

He was an Exo.

Thoughts were racing through his mind at a million miles an hour. How did this happen? Why was he an Exo? Who had done this to him? Where were his friends? If he was panicking before, he was having a heart-attack – luckily for him, Exo's didn't have hearts, so to speak, so he knew he wasn't going to drop dead from sudden cardiac arrest. After squirming and flailing for a good few minutes, he began to calm down, trying to piece together what had happened.

He was an Exo, so now he was – what, a robot? No, that's not the right word. He was still Josh. His mind was intact; his cognizance was still with him. It was the vessel, the body, which had suddenly changed. And it freaked him out, big time.

"Hey! Somebody, please, help me!" he shouted out, his own voice completely unrecognisable, even to himself. It was mechanical, and sounded a lot like Ferrum's.

Within a few moments, a group of six or so people came rushing in. Ferrum was in front, and rushed to his side, crouching next to him on the right-hand side of the bed frame. There was Erebus and Entity too, Erebus was limping badly, and used Entity to support her weight, but she was beaming an enormous, quite beautiful smile. He wouldn't dare say anything though, he knew that she was crazy for Entity; he wasn't an idiot that would try and tempt her away. He hadn't known Entity for long, but he could tell that the stoic Exo had feelings for her too. Both of them positioned themselves at the foot of his bed. All the other members of the group were an assortment of doctors and medical staff. One of which went straight over to the life-support machine that was close by.

"Hey, buddy, how're you doing?" Ferrum asked tentatively.

Josh, or whoever he was, looked down in sadness. He shrugged half-heartedly.

"I still feel like me, you know, up here." He said, attempting to raise his hand up to his temple, but the manacles stopped his efforts short. Ferrum saw the problem and looked over to the doctor standing over the life-support machine.

"Doctor Vinter, can we remove these shackles please?" Ferrum asked. It sounded more like a demand to Entity's ears, but he said nothing.

The doctor looked over to the Exo lying in the bed, thinking to himself. Eventually, he nodded. Proceeding to take out a small key and unlocking each of the restraints in turn.

"I'm sorry for the shackles. But you must understand, in the past, we have had cases that show that some minds are not strong enough to make the transfer. From time to time, others minds degrade to something beast-like. They would descend into a fit of madness; they would writhe and try to kill everything – regardless of race or allegiance to the Light," He said, totally unaware of how disturbing this was to the other members of the room, particularly the Exo on the bed, "Anyway we mustn't dwell on the past. You were a successful endeavour, my friend! Your mind is strong."

The Exo on the bed nodded, and sat up into a more comfortable position. He was 'naked' in Exo terms. But to any who looked at him, he just appeared to be wearing some kind of armour or metal wet-suit.

"There are a few things that you should consider before you walk out of this hospital." Doctor Vinter continued, "Firstly, you should know that it will take a few days for your mind to recalibrate itself to its new body. Therefore I am discharging you from this Hospital, but I'm afraid that you'll be unable to leave the Tower for one week – sorry."

Ferrum looked saddened by this news, but refrained from protesting. He knew that the doctor was right. Safe to say, Josh was pretty bummed out too.

"Now, you should also note that this Exo chassis in particular is a newer model, one that does not require the assistance of a Ghost to aid and assist in combat scenarios. It is also true that it has a self-repairing and reconstruction function, aided by hundreds of nanites and nano-bots that are powered by the Light of the Traveller. It basically just means that you won't need a Ghost to revive yourself, though it will take slightly longer."

This was good news, seeing as his Ghost had been shattered upon impact of the Fist of Havoc back in Old Russia. Josh nodded in thought, thinking about how such a revolutionary device hadn't been used in other scenarios.

"Lastly," the doctor continued, "Before his death, this Exo was a fully-fledged Guardian by the name of Cybele. Now you have a choice here. You can keep your old name that was acquainted to the old you, or you can have Cybele. Don't worry; you can pick a different name if you want."

Josh thought for a moment, deciding on what to do. Then, he remembered a name that had sprung up in a book that he was reading once. Ferrum had been gleaning information from the Tower's extensive library, and he Josh had gotten bored and picked up a book regarding the ancient mythology of the Golden Age. From it, a name had grabbed his attention, a name that he could relate to. A name that suddenly came to mind.

"Perses, or the guy that was described as the Titan god of destruction in ancient Greek Mythology." He said, his mind made up.

The doctor - and the rest of Fenrir - gave him an odd look, Ferrum the most so.

"Very well, then… Perses, it is." Doctor Vinter replied, "Seems a fitting name, given the circumstances."

Perses 'smiled', a new concept he would have to get used to, now that he was an Exo. He was sure that it would come with many other things that he'd have to get used to. Nodding his thanks to Vinter, and supported by Ferrum, Perses got out of the bed and made his way to his quarters, Entity and Erebus following behind them.

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They were about halfway to Perses' room when Erebus stopped in her tracks, allowing the pair of Exo's ahead to proceed alone. Entity wouldn't leave her side, and she was glad for that. He leaned her gently against a wall of the corridor they were in. He looked at her affectionately with a worried expression written on his usually emotionless metal features.

"Is something wrong? Are you okay?" Entity said in an anxious tone. Erebus sighed.

"We need to talk." She said in a simple tone. This made Entity's eyebrows furrow.

"What about?" He asked.

"Listen, what I said, back in Old Russia when you rescued me from those Vigil? You have to understand, I was so scared. I wasn't thinking straight." She spoke in a low tone, obviously serious.

"So, you didn't mean it. Is that what you're saying?" Entity asked, the coldness and distance he had when they first met returning to his voice.

"Yes. No. I mean… I don't know, Entity." Erebus answered, getting wound up and confused at her own feelings. Entity sighed and looked at her in a way that made her uncomfortable.

"Listen, Erebus, it's okay. You're a human. Your feelings are all mixed up in that head of yours. I get it, all right? You were scared of those Fallen, and I showed up to save you, I succeeded. You were obviously so distracted by the events that happened you didn't have any knowledge of what you were saying before you said it. That's fine." Entity began to get more frustrated, anger creeping into his voice, "I know that it is probably really difficult for you to tell someone that you love them. But you know what? I'm an Exo; I have never known what a feeling is! I don't get to have emotion, or happiness or hate or love – especially love! Even if what you said was real, I wouldn't be able to say it back, not with meaning, because I don't feel anything, Erebus! I don't get to love because I wasn't made that way!" Entity almost shouted, he was fuming, unable to control his anger.

Erebus didn't know what to say, she just stood there, gob-smacked. Honestly, she did love him; she just couldn't say it in the right way.

"Entity…" she started, but was cut short by the Exo walking about ten metres in the direction of Perses' dorm then stopped, with his back still turned on the Human Warlock. Slowly, he reached his hand up to his face and just held it over his mouth, unable to comprehend the outburst he had just unleashed on Erebus. He sighed heavily.

He felt terrible, she didn't deserve to be shouted at – it wasn't her fault. She had told him that she loved him, and this was how he reacted? He felt for Erebus, he really did. He held her in the highest regard, but he didn't love her. It wasn't because he didn't feel the same way, it was the fact that he physically couldn't, he wasn't programmed to love or cherish. He enjoyed her company, sure, but he didn't know what it felt like to love someone with all his 'heart'. If he could have some say in who he loved, if he were able to, he definitely would've chosen Erebus to be the one to express his feelings towards – but that was wishful thinking.

It just wasn't possible.

He turned to make his apologies for such an outburst, but before he could tell her how sorry he was for his behaviour, she had gone.

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He was leaning on a wall in a large, darkened room with only one source of light. Directly above a chair that held the bruised, bloody and beaten image of a Vandal, allied to the House of Cavaliers.

Rumour had it that the Knights had been divided long before Sorric had gone on his mission to assassinate the three Captains holding the information on the weapons-cache. Roughly half had stayed loyal to the Kell of the House, whilst the other half had splintered off from the main group and had followed the Archon Priest instead, creating a new House with a new name; the Cavaliers.

A bounty had been placed on the Archon Priest, now the Kell, of the Cavaliers for some reason or another. The only problem was that nobody knew where they operated. Such a problem created an issue for Sorric, who was targeting the Archon. He had needed information, and he had known exactly how to get it.

It had taken three days, but eventually he had come across a patrol of Cavalier Vandals, their bright blue 'Knight' mark being replaced with a new orange version. It still had the image of the Raven in it though, and it was how Sorric could tell who they were. He had been a blur, a tornado of fists. None of them had even stood a chance. It had taken about ten seconds to knock out all of the Cavaliers. He had had them picked up by a local Venom Skiff to be taken to the lonely cave he called home.

Now, he was here interrogating them one by one, in different ways, waiting for one of them to break and give him the location of their new Lair. He had been creative in his torture for the most part, and he had to admit, these Cavaliers were resilient and didn't give up the location easily. He'd been at it for days now.

There were five Vandals in total now, there had been six, but… well - one of them wasn't quite strong enough to endure and had taken his secret to the grave. Sorric hoped that the others weren't as withheld.

One of the Vandals was sitting in the chair Sorric was standing next to, beaten to within an inch of his life. It was good tactic, refined by time and tradition. Sorric had punched him almost continuously for the first day, but it hadn't had much effect on him. He had then resorted to cutting the skin of the vandal with surgical precision. The cuts were tiny, but numerous. The pain would be excruciating, and Sorric didn't know what would come first; the begging for the sweet release of death, or the location. It was only a matter of time.

Another Vandal had been locked behind a steel door in a part of the cave that Sorric liked to call 'Sensory Deprivation'. It was simple, but very effective. The room itself was tiny, lit only by a solitary light on the sealing. It had no windows or anything that would betray the time of day to the prisoner. Sorric would keep watch on the prisoner using a one-way window in the door – he could see through it, but the Vandal couldn't. Whenever the prisoner went to sleep, Sorric would wake him up after a few minutes and tell him that he'd been sleeping for hours, or vice versa. It was gruelling for the prisoner, and he'd go insane if not for the sounds of water dripping from the stalagmites above him. Sorric fed him only tiny supplements of Ether, once a day at varying times so the Vandal wouldn't know what time it was. He'd break at some point or another. Again, it was only a matter of time.

Another two prisoners were suspended on the remains of a forklift that Sorric had found nearby. One hung from each prong, their lower pair of hands bound in front of them by rope. The top set were similarly bound behind their back, only this was what hung them from the forklift prong. Their feet were half a metre from the ground. Their position resulted in dislocation, then permanent ligament damage and finally, complete lack of control over the arms, but it was a slow and agonising process. It was probably horrible for them, and Sorric didn't care for that – he just wanted his information, by any means neccasary. Huffing, he walked away and entered a small room, a lot like the one that was housing one of the Cavalier Vandals.

Inside was the last Vandal, tied to a pole that was lodged in the floor. All of his hands were tied behind his back and his head was tied so tight that he couldn't move it or swivel it in any way. His eyelids were held apart by tiny hooks that stopped him from shutting his eyes as he watched the multiple screens at the other end of the room. It was psychological torture more than anything, a lot like the Sensory Deprivation torment. It was mind over matter, pretty much the opposite of what the other three Vandals were going through. On the seven screens present were various and explicit images of all manner of heinous acts. The screens kept cycling on a loop that showed all kinds of things gruesome and grotesque – violent murder, explicit forms of suicide, viscous rats eating dead people and all other manner of other disgusting things besides.

Sorric chuckled quietly and malevolently to himself. It was only a matter of time until one of them broke, and when it happened he could put them out of their misery – or maybe he wouldn't…

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Entity found her, twenty minutes later, in her room.

The automatic door rapidly hissed open, when he went through; he saw something he would never intentionally want to cause.

Erebus was lying face-down on her bed, crying into her pillow. Her shoulders rose and fell in synchronisation with her quiet, racking sobs. Entity wasn't sure if she had heard him come in. Even if she did, Erebus didn't respond to his entrance. Entity went over to her, and sat down on the bed next to the crying form of Erebus. He placed one of his metal hands on her shoulder, running his hand up and down it slowly. She flinched ever so slightly, but her sobbing continued, although it was somewhat softer.

"Listen, Erebus… back there? I didn't mean what I said. It's just… I don't know, I guess it's just been something that I wasn't ready for. But I'm ready now, if you want to try this again, that is." He said in a warm tone, trying to sound reassuring and comforting.

Slowly, Erebus stopped crying and sat up to face him. Her eyes were puffy, and red-raw from weeping.

Jesus, I didn't want to hurt her this much; Entity thought to himself. He took a deep breath.

"Erebus," he said quietly, so no-one else would hear, "I love you." Erebus looked at him with a saddened expression.

"N-no, you're… you're just saying that because you pity me…" she replied, obviously still distraught.

"No," Entity spoke firmly, but still keeping his warm tone, "I mean it. You should have seen me, when I heard about what had happened to you in Old Russia, all I could think about was saving you." He chuckled half-heartedly, "I wasn't sure what I would do without you, I just left the Lair, not even caring if it was over-run in my absence – all I could think about, and all that I could focus on – was you."

This time, Erebus realised that Entity really was actually really trying to apologise for his actions, and maybe, just maybe he meant what he said. Instead of replying, she just nodded to him. She smiled in a way that would have made Entity's heart flutter - if he had one. The in one smooth motion, Erebus leant forward towards his face…

…and kissed him on his metal 'lips'.

The sensory neuro-machinery transmitters in Entity's face ignited, giving him the sensation of kissing. It wasn't the real feeling, but it was as close as he was going to get. He returned the gesture and applied a small amount of force in return. But it was only a brief moment, and it didn't last longer than two seconds.

When Erebus pulled away, she seemed much happier.

"I love you too." she said, smirking in an adorable way. Entity placed his forehead on hers, closing his eyes and just enjoying the moment.

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It was a few days before they were contacted by the Speaker regarding the treaty they had so valiantly defended. Once they were informed that it would go ahead, they were also informed of its terms. Vixera had come to the Tower as an envoy for her Kell, as he was the one who ultimately decided what the terms were on the part of the House of Shadows. And it was the Vanguard, in conjunction with the Speaker that decided the terms for the City and the Guardians. The terms were as follows;

No one, on either side of the agreement, was to fire upon the other in an unprovoked manner.

The House of Shadows would grant the Guardians safe passage through their territory.

The City and the House of Shadows were to support each other when the other needed help from the other party, be it in cases of warfare, resource deprivation or otherwise.

Both parties would assume to reconcile, and neither would hold any grudges or disputes regarding any past actions that may have been committed before the agreement of this treaty.

There were other points and agreements too, but Fenrir wasn't too bothered about the finer details or the small-print, they were just happy that an accordance had been reached at last, after all the years of pointless fighting and battling between each other.

They celebrated the treaty in the only way they knew how, by going out on Patrol and shooting anything stupid enough to try and kill them. Perses was still adjusting to his new body, but he didn't seem to be having too much trouble, and he seemed to be handling himself just as well as he did before his transfer. The five of them – Erebus, Entity, Ferrum, Perses and Vixera – enjoyed the relaxation and calm that shooting things they didn't like brought on. Entity was getting ever better with his sniper, and had a contest with Vixera to see who could kill the most things in a minute.

Vixera won - just.

But only because she had an adjusted coolant system in her Wire-Rifle that allowed for faster shots, it was also true that she didn't have to reload like Entity did, but he wasn't a sore loser and didn't mind being beaten by his Fallen friend.

Eventually though, they had to go their separate ways. Vixera returned to her home on the Forgotten Shore, and the rest of Fenrir travelled back to the Tower. When they got back, Entity and Ferrum proceeded to Master Rahool to decrypt their respective Engrams. Entity was treated with a Fusion Rifle – Purifier VII, whilst Ferrum was granted a Sniper Rifle, and Entity raised his 'eye-brows' when he sighed with something that seemed to resemble disgust. He had obtained an Epitaph 2261. Ferrum and Entity had walked away, chuckling. They hastily agreed to trade their recently attained weapons, so they'd be made better use of. Entity's smile dropped, he knew what he needed to do, Erebus and he had talked about it with each other over the past couple of days, and he supposed now was probably the best time to tell Ferrum.

"Ferrum," Entity asked, the Exo humming in response to confirm that he was paying attention, "Me and Erebus… well, we've stared… seeing each other." He said, not really sure how Ferrum would react to such news.

Safe to say, it wasn't what he expected, as Ferrum only started laughing. Entity was bemused and raised an eye-brow to put across such feelings to the Exo.

"Well, it's about time!" He said, after his giggling had died down, "You and Erebus, a match made in Heaven, so to speak. I'm surprised it took you so long to do it!" Ferrum said, beginning to laugh again. This time Entity joined in. After a few seconds of celebration, their laughter died down.

"So, where do you want to go with it?" Ferrum asked, the question hanging in the air.

Entity wasn't sure how to reply, because he didn't know how to answer the question.

"I guess… as far as it can go, no matter which direction it goes in." He stated after a moment of thought. Ferrum nodded his understanding.

Just then, one of the Speaker's personal Frames approached the pair of Exo's.

"Guardians Ferrum and Entity, my master has bid that you go to him, he has a special bounty that he would like you to take on." It said in a mono-tonal, lifeless voice.

The two Exo's nodded their appreciation to the Frame, who then led them to the Speaker's Hall, where Perses and Erebus were already waiting. Ferrum looked over to Erebus and smiled knowingly. Erebus picked up on his gesture and acknowledged its meaning.

"I've told Perses here about it too, don't worry, it's common knowledge now. Do you know what this is about? We were told it was about some bounty or something." Erebus told them as the pair of Exo's approached, led by the Frame. Entity told her that he also didn't know, but was keen to find out.

The Frame then turned and addressed the group as a whole.

"My master is waiting for you at the top of the staircase, don't worry, all will be explained." It said in its flat voice. Entity thanked the Traveller that he was an Exo, and not one of these guys, it must have been pretty boring to be them.

They ascended the steps and were greeted by the soft tones of the Speaker's wise voice welcoming them.

"Ah, Guardians, I'm glad you are all here. The Kell for the Shadows has contacted us about an Archon that has caught wind of our treaty and seeks to end such an agreement. Through interrogating one of the Houses members, we've been able to get a location of their base. It is a Ketch, just east of Old Moscow. I would like you to go there and eliminate this Archon by any means necessary." The Speaker said, as if the mission was the easiest thing in the world.

What does he expect us to say?; Entity thought to himself, 'Yeah, sure, we'd love to go and storm a heavily fortified floating stronghold, probably stocked with hundreds of infantry guarding their leader. I've done easier things on the toilet!'.

In the end, it was wrong to refuse such a prestigious task, given out by the Speaker himself. Obviously he must have had faith in them to carry out such a difficult mission. The rest of Fenrir looked to him for guidance on what to do. Entity nodded his acceptance of the task.

"Sure thing," he said, "Just tell us where to go."

The Speaker thanked Entity for accepting such an important assignment.

"As I said, the target is a self-proclaimed Kell who goes by the name of Ra'ghul. He leads a splinter faction of the House of Knights, now named the 'Cavaliers'. You are to board their Ketch and kill this 'Kell', whatever way you please. Great rewards await you upon your return. Now go, Guardians, and destroy the enemy that would wish to sour the fruits of your labour."

Entity nodded, and descended the stairs with his fire-team in close pursuit. He didn't know it, but around about the same time, Sorric obtained this information too.

The hunt had begun.

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