Message from the authors: Eltyr: We know, we know, we're taking too long to update. Hopefully we'll manage to pick up steam soon. In the meantime, I had this awesome idea for the story that I would love to share with you guys, so I've prepared a sneak peek. BUT! I can't let just anyone have access. If you want the sneak peek, you must prove your intel-gathering skills as a Guardian and answer a quiz. I'll post the quiz and its rules at the end of this chapter with instructions on how to complete it. Good luck, and in the meantime enjoy the next chapter!
Ch12
"Hey Thane, Victor do Guardians ever get married?" Ocena asked out of the blue one day while hanging out with them on one of the upper levels. It was something she'd been wondering about.
Victor and Thane both opened their mouths to respond, then shut them without a word. Victor gained that expression that told Ocena that he was deep in thought, while Thane seemed… shy? Sad? Both? Ocena wasn't sure what to call the emotion she saw.
"Well, romantic interest between Guardians and civilians, and even between two Guardians, is not unheard of," Victor finally said. "But with the risks we Guardians take, it's hard to maintain these relationships, especially since it is uncertain whether or not we Guardians age…"
"So… marriage doesn't happen?" She asked softly.
Victor hesitated; he didn't seem sure that he wanted to answer.
"None that we've heard of," Thane finally said softly, neither his tone nor his expression betraying how he felt on the matter. However, Ocena thought she did see a hint of sadness in his eyes.
Ocena frowned and bit her lip. "Then… people can just do whatever without getting married huh?" She… didn't really like that her plan was to marry before doing anything but since she didn't have someone yet and it didn't sound like there was marriage now days… her mother would have had a fit!
"That is not quite accurate," Victor said with some hesitation. "I do know of a few Guardian couples, and…" he fidgeted awkwardly for a moment. "Well that is, er, based on my limited experience, what they seem to have appears to be more than the type of a relationship that ends in a… what is the expression? A 'one-night stand?' But…" He trailed off at a loss for words.
"I imagine we may be confusing you," Thane said. "It is difficult to put into words, but we are not exactly living in a time of hope. The grim reality is that we are at war, and have been for quite some time. Perhaps a Titan would be able to explain it better, but the simplest way I can think to put it is that a Guardian risks a certain degree of pain by allowing themselves to become romantically attached to someone." Thane's frown seemed to deepen a little as he stared off into the distance in thought.
"Then why not live every day like your last?" Ocena asked. "Why not take the risk and enjoy what you can? I would. You know there was a song I liked way back when, went like this; If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late could you say goodbye to yesterday? Would you live each moment like your last? Leave old pictures in the past, donate every dime you have? Would you call old friends you never see? Reminisce old memories, would you forgive your enemies? Would you find that one you're dreamin' of? Swear up and down to God above that you finally fall in love if today was your last day."
Thane closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "Were that it were that simple. Some of us do live our days as Guardians as if there was no guarantee of a tomorrow. Some of us put the needs of others ahead of our own need for answers and focus on the fight rather than recovering our memories. We're all doing the best we can," Thane finished with a sullen look in his eyes. "But the simple fact remains that we are at war, and for the past few centuries, we have been losing."
"Until you came along," Victor put in with a smile. "Now there's a spark in everyone's eyes that hasn't been there in a long time. If we can continue to win decisive battles in the Cosmodrome, we will be well on our way to re-taking earth, and perhaps from there we'll be able to turn our attention to the worlds beyond our sky."
Ocena thought that over a minute. "Well is there anything going on right now that I can handle doing?"
*"There are reports that the Fallen back at the Cosmodrome are keeping a pretty tight guard on the old Skywatch."* A few hours later Ocena, Thane, Victor and Atom were in their jumpships on the way back to the Cosmodrome. *"Could be one of their leaders, or it could be something valuable."* Luden went on. *"The Speaker's asking Guardians to look into it."*
Ocena dropped down lightly now used to transmitting. Luden popped up just as the others came down.
They came to an open area where a large building was it had likely help ships at one point. *"You know, this place must've been amazing before the Collapse."* Luden said as they looked around.
*"Thousands of humans boarding the colony ships, off to build cities beyond."*
Ocena smiled sadly. "I wish I could have seen that…"
They moved up a few more hills coming to an area full of ruined plans filled with Fallen.
*"Okay the Skywatch is just on the other side of the Steppes… and it's surrounded by Fallen. Well, I'm ready if you are."* He ended with a little forced cheer.
"Alright… this way guys." Ocena said leading the way. She had explored the area a little with Avi but hadn't been the way Luden was pointing her to.
*"Up the hill. The building with the radar. That's the Skywatch."*
"Got it."
Once up there Ocena spotted a Fallen Captain and a Vandal. Ocena threw a grenade at the two of them, she switched to her pulse rifle to finish off the Vandal.
"Ack!" The Captain hit her knocking her off her feet, but two more bursts from her pulse rifle took care of it.
"Ow…" Ocena sat up robbing her head and trying to get air back.
Atom gently patted her on the shoulder. "Walk it off, you'll get used to the bumps an' bruises."
"I hope so." Ocena said finally regaining air. "The Captains are always such a pain." She muttered as she entered the building. *"We're in. This was one of Skywatch' s old array stations - link to the lunar colonies."* Luden said softly.
The building had an odd feeling, the further in they went the further any warmth or light felt.
"Guys… do you feel that too?" She asked feeling a little worried. Then suddenly they entered a darkness zone. Ocena stopped. "I have a bad feeling."
"I feel it too," Victor nodded. "Switch off your helmet's external speakers and activate your comm system. We don't want whatever might be lurking ahead to overhear us." The fireteam's Ghosts immediately did as Victor had suggested and linked everyone's helmets up to a dedicated comm channel.
*"I'm adding a layer of encryption to the comm channel, just in case,"* Idea said as everyone checked that they could hear each other.
Ocena moved around the corner seeing old machines. "You know it really is sad seeing all this no longer in use." She commented.
"We'll take it back someday," Atom said confidently. "All of this was ours once before. We beat the Darkness, and it'll be ours again."
Ocena smiled at Atom from beneath her hood. Are all Titans this good at cheering people up? She wondered to herself. Maybe it's just one of Atom's talents. She walked up to the steel door having Luden float over to the controls.
*"Dead end. Fallen sealed this gate. I can get it open."*
"You can open just about anything huh?"
*"Well I can't pick a lock on an old safe."*
Ocena laughed softly at that.
Luden messed with the controls a bit before the gate started to open.
*"The Fallen really didn't want anybody getting in. Or out."*
That didn't sound good.
Ocena was about to walk forward but stopped, seeing the odd green spikes and how dark it was. She didn't like the dark but moved forward sticking close to her friends. Ocena was so very scared as they slowly moved through the dark passage. Their Ghosts were shining lights so that they could see, but it was so dark.
*"What is this? Lots of motion ahead. I've got a bad feeling about this."*
"Luden!" Ocena hissed. "You saying that isn't comforting!"
*"Sorry… Hey! You said the same thing earlier!"*
Ocena chuckled a little, but it was mostly nervous laughter. Luden was right, something here… was off.
Atom was in the lead with his shotgun at the ready, sweeping the area ahead of him and checking the corners. Victor covered the rear with his pulse rifle, his finger wrapped tightly around the trigger. Thane was next to her in the middle, a red hand cannon held with both hands as they moved slowly as a group. Ocena did her best to keep her breathing even like she had been taught and noted with some satisfaction that her pulse rifle was not shaking in her grip.
Suddenly Thane raised a hand and everyone stopped dead, checking for signs of movement while wondering what Thane had seen. "What is it, Thane?" Victor whispered over the comms. In response Thane slowly knelt and ran his hand over something on the floor. When Ocena looked down she saw these strange black things growing on the ground, like barnacles from the ocean or something. She shivered then: it felt as though something nearby in the dark was… eager for them to come. No, eager wasn't the right word: she had felt this sensation once before, when Thane had shown her…
"...They cannot be." She almost didn't hear Thane whisper over the comms.
"What cannot be?" Atom asked impatiently while remaining focused on the passage in front of them. "C'mon Thane, something in here's makin' my Light itch, this ain't the time for mysterious and suspenseful silences."
"It feels like the Hive," Victor muttered. "I recognize this from the time I went into the catacombs beneath the moon, this atmosphere of wrongness that sets a Guardian's Light on edge. But how could they be here on earth? We've fought so hard to keep their Seeders from landing here."
"I guess we'll ask 'em when we find 'em," Atom said with determination. "Let's keep movin', keep it nice and tight now."
"The… the Hive?" Ocena asked feeling more fear coming. She tried to focus past it as she looked into the open room. Her tracker showed many red spots… this room was filled wasn't it?
As soon as they walked further in the room there was shrieking and roaring that made Ocena jump.
*"The Hive!"* Luden cried moving to hover above Ocena's shoulder. He'd been hoping Thane was wrong but he knew it wasn't likely that the man was.
Ocena had made a rather poor mistake in freezing up when a large group of Thralls came after her. Avi had told her about them, one or two wasn't bad, but when they attacked in large groups- which was often- they could do some serious damage and be rather annoying. Avi had said she mostly stabbed them to take them out faster or just mowed them down with her gun. Ocena did just that, meleeing them and quickly backing away while firing at them.
Ocena's heart was pounding as more of the Thralls rushed at her en masse, each of them shrieking and snarling. She felt herself start to panic as she aimed her pulse rifle and remembered something Atom told her during training:
"Don't think 'I don't want to die,' think 'I won't die.' Don't think 'I hope I don't miss,' think 'I will hit them.' Don't think 'I'm not afraid,' think 'I'm afraid, but I'm not letting that stop me.'"
Ocena squeezed the trigger and aimed for the heads of the Thralls, cutting them down by the dozens as she fired in short bursts. Behind her Victor paused after shooting a group with his pulse rifle and created a ball of flame in his free hand, which he then hurled over Ocena's shoulder at a group of Hive armed with energy weapons: Acolytes. The fireball hit the ground and went off with a wave of heat and light, sending out white-hot lances of flame that immediately struck any nearby Hive like bolts of lightning and burnt them to ash. Atom's shotgun barked thunderously as he aimed with stiff precision and brought down large groups of Hive with every shot. For several tense seconds the air was full of the sound of gunfire and shrieks as the Guardians battled the Hive in the dark. Then a series of shots seemed to rise above all other sounds. Every shot was somehow solemn, as if they carried a great weight, and each was followed by a brief silence as the gunman chose the next target. Ocena realized she had lost sight of Thane, and quickly glanced around to find him.
Her eyes widened: there he was crouched in the middle of the room, his body still as he took aim at a large Hive warrior that held some sort of sword as it bellowed at him and charged fearlessly. And in Thane's hands… was Thorn. Ocena watched as Thane pulled the trigger once: the round struck the Hive warrior squarely in the head, and it screeched in pain as its body dissolved into ash; Thane didn't seem to take any notice of its demise as he was already aiming at a new target and firing. He never missed a shot, and every shot resulted in another Hive creature being reduced to ash. Sometimes his shots would end up killing two or more warriors at once, the rounds drilling through their targets and going on to strike whatever was behind them. Anything that wasn't fortunate enough to be killed by the round soon found emerald fire wrapped around its body, slowly destroying it with biting flames. Ocena found that she couldn't take her eyes off of Thane: she couldn't see his face behind his breather mask, but she knew that his green eyes were blazing with anger.
Finally the Hive warriors had all been killed, and everyone took the time to catch their breath and reload their weapons. Ocena watched Thane as he looked down at Thorn in his hands, completely silent as he contemplated the cursed weapon.
"Th-that was the Hi-Hive? I thought they only h-had the moon?" Ocena found herself angry. "I guess our moon just wasn't good enough for the Zlaya temnaya zhiteli!" She hissed.
Thane's voice was colder than ice. "Perhaps they have realized that they cannot have it. Yet they believe that they can have our earth instead?" Thane stood and glared off into the darkness. "No. This Cosmodrome is as far as they will get, and even then they will not stay here long. Not while there is Light within me."
Atom and Victor were both watching Thane silently, their gaze on the weapon held in his grasp.
"...Thane?" Victor began slowly. "Do you realize what you are holding?"
Thane turned to face Victor, who took a step back at feeling the intensity of the glare Thane shot him behind his breather mask. Then Thane seemed to calm down and he slowly looked down at Thorn. "I… am tired of being afraid," he said at last.
Ocena's eyes went wide: Thane was afraid? He'd never, ever given any sign that he felt any fear at all, just some sort of regret. Whatever it was he meant, Atom and Victor seemed to understand as they both gave Thane a nod and didn't say anything more: Atom began to brush ash from the Hive off of his auto rifle to keep the mechanisms from clogging, while Victor turned to Ocena and asked "Are you alright?"
"Yes… do they all feel so..?" She couldn't think of the word she wanted to use. The whole place made her want to scream… was this what Seth felt before they found him?
"Fear is a powerful weapon," Thane muttered as he carefully holstered Thorn. "But it cuts both the victim and the one who wields it. I am finished fearing the Hive's sorcery: it is time that I turned their weapon back on them." He looked over at the others. "I appreciate having the rest of you here with me, if only to reassure myself that there will be someone to pick me up should I fall."
Ocena smiled at Thane and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you were there for me when I needed it: fair's fair, right?"
"Thane," Victor said carefully, "may I have a look at Thorn? Something about it seems… different since the last time I saw it."
Thane hesitated for a few moments, then he drew Thorn and held it out to Victor. Victor carefully approached Thane and leaned in a little to look at Thorn, Idea hovering closer to shine a light on it. "I was right. If I were to sum Thorn up with a single word, it'd be…"
"Hungry," Ocena whispered, remembering the feeling it had given off when she first saw it. Victor glanced over at Ocena and nodded.
"Exactly. And while it certainly still feels hungry, I think that it has subsided somewhat. Thorn still seems to be eager to… consume, but it seems calmer now. I think… I think it has accepted you as its master Thane, and while I can feel it calling out for more victims to devour, I think that it is content to wait for you to draw it and use it of your own free will. I've been wrong before, but I don't think we need to worry about it trying to corrupt you."
They all heard a series of shrieks up ahead. "More Hive," Thane observed crisply. He turned to Victor and added, "Shall we test your theory by feeding Thorn more of its former masters?"
"Only if you save some for me," Atom interjected as he flexed his gauntleted fists.
"Uh… that doesn't sound like a Thrall-" Ocena fell forward when she got hit from behind her head spinning. She found she couldn't get back up or see… what just happened?
Ocena felt a rush of air behind her and suddenly Thane teleported into place, his knife stabbed into the center eye of an Acolyte that had dropped down from the ceiling to land behind her. The acolyte shrieked in agony and burst into ash as Thane grabbed Ocena and pulled her out of the way of a volley of shots from its comrades. Ocena steadied herself with Thane's help and nodded at him gratefully before they both re-joined the fight.
"Up ahead," Victor called out over the comms as they fought their way out of the dark. "I think I hear a fight in progress."
"Are other Guardians here fighting the Hive?" Ocena wondered as she took out a group of Hive with her void grenade.
"We were the first to crack that door back there," Atom pointed out as he threw a violet grenade that stuck to a Hive warrior and let out an ominous beeping before exploding spectacularly. "My money's on a group of Fallen. Tryin' to keep the Hive from takin' their scavenging territory."
Ocena frowned. "Well how about we go spoil their party? Teach em this is ours."
Atom turned to grin at Ocena beneath his helmet. "Now you're gettin' it. Let's clean house."
The other creatures, Acolytes went down a little easier than the Thralls had, which made moving forward faster. They proceeded up a short staircase and turned a corner.
*"There's a Wizard here. You have to kill it!"* Luden said suddenly.
Ocena knew a bit about Wizards, Avi said they were annoying. "Uh guys, what does a Wizard do?" Ocena liked having information before doing somethings.
"Fly around and pelt you with arc blasts," Victor informed her as they all paused to reload or get out their heavy weapons. "They usually have a personal shield like a Fallen Captain, typically a solar shield. They're no good in hand-to-hand combat, but if you get too close they can create toxic clouds that sap your strength away."
"Thorn's flames seem similar to solar damage," Thane observed. "When we find the Wizard I will try to take down its shield quickly. After that, if we all use our grenades on it we should be able to take it down. The trick is that Wizards are usually accompanied by an entourage of lesser Hive."
"Leave that to me," Atom grunted as he readied his rocket launcher. Ocena noted that the weapon had an interesting paint job: the end that fired rockets looked like it had a snarling mouth painted on.
Ocena nodded at the others. "Okay guys lets go."
As soon as the group came a foot into the room Thralls rushed them while Acolytes took aim and fired at them. Atom steadily leveled his launcher at the biggest group and fired. The blast was enormous and left behind two miniature fireballs that continued to burn anything nearby for a few seconds, preventing the Hive from charging them!
The plan was followed very well until it came to killing the Wizard. Ocena sadly misjudged her aim sometimes when throwing a grenade so to avoid missing she tended to get close, Avi said that wasn't always a good idea and seeing that the Wizard could send up toxic clouds it really wasn't a good idea. Yet she got close anyway.
The Wizard went down as planned, but Ocena was caught in a toxic cloud at the last minute.
"Gah! Hel-" Ocena didn't finish the cry; something was around her she couldn't see.
You took my pet…
Ocena jolted and tried to move but was unable; she couldn't breathe let alone talk. No, no she needed to get away! Ocena managed a strangled noise of distress before something smacked into her chest making her fall back and off the risen platform. Ocena faintly heard Luden calling out to the others, *"Help, help! I don't know what happened! She isn't getting up! Ocena!"*
She still couldn't move or breath. She struggled to stand up hearing her friends coming over to her to help. Ocena had never felt the Light within her so strongly before: but this wasn't good.
Shock.
Fear.
Disgust.
Oh the disgust was the strongest. Ocena bolted up and pushed her helmet off finally able to breath which she did slowly to keep from getting sick.
Luden looked from Ocena to her friends helplessly, he didn't know what had happened or what to do. Victor and Thane both crouched down to Ocena's level and helped to steady her as she tried to overcome her nausea. "Easy Ocena," Victor said soothingly. "Just breathe." What in the Traveler's name happened? He wondered. Her hood's internal filters should have kept her from breathing in the worst of the toxins, so why does it look like somethings trying to… strangle her Light?
Atom stopped sweeping the area for hostiles as Ocena continued to splutter and cough, worry and concern causing him to frown at the sight of the young Warlock's distress. Not quite knowing what to do but wanting to do something, Atom walked over to the others and used his Super to erect a Ward of Dawn. The bubble of Light infused void energy seemed to do the trick, sweeping away whatever dark presence had come over Ocena and soothing her Light.
Ocena finally managed to get her breathing under control and felt a lot better. "Thanks Atom," she said weakly.
"Anytime," the Titan said reassuringly. "There's probably more Hive skulkin' around here somewhere, but we've already hurt em' plenty and we need to get back to the City and warn em' that the Hive are here."
"Agreed," Thane said with a nod. "We must alert the Vanguard at once. Ocena, do you think you can stand?"
"I think so…" Ocena felt her Light calming down, but she still didn't feel too great. She'd go see the Speaker, maybe he could help.
Quiz
Eltyr: Okay Guardians, here's how this works. I'm going to ask seven questions. Send me your answers in the form of private messages, and I'll respond back to tell you if you're right or not. If you can answer at least four out of seven correctly, I'll private message you with the sneak peek about an exciting arc of the story that I have planned. If you fail, I'll at least drop a subtle hint as to what the peek is about as a door prize. But if you can go above and beyond and answer all seven correctly, I'll give you an extended sneak peek. Up for the challenge Guardians? Send your answers in before June 15th, and I'll respond to you as soon as I can. Now without any further ado, here is your challenge:
Commander Zavala and Lord Shaxx both fought together in what pivotal battle?
What is the name of the mysterious merchant who sometimes visits the Tower?
In armor modification and repair, Titans prefer to use Plasteel Plating, while Warlocks prefer Hardonic Essence. What do Hunters use?
The Fallen are divided into different houses. There are presently at least seven known houses; can you name three of them?
The Awoken are the descendants of humans who fled to space during the Collapse. What is the name of their settlement in the solar system's asteroid belt?
Name one piece of Exotic gear and one Exotic weapon, and tell me what it's unique ability is.
Name the three city factions.
It doesn't matter how you get the information, just that it's correct. Good luck!
