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A/N: 10000 views! Honestly you guys are so amazing and I'm so appreciative of you all for taking your time to read what I write.
I feel like I need to do something special for you guys with this milestone, honestly. I'll think of something, and am open to suggestions.
Also, I am becoming increasingly aware and self conscious of my writing style. I feel like I could be doing so much better and at points I've even been tempted to start over, but I don't want to do that. Can I please ask you guys for some feedback on my writing, on the story as a whole?
Anyways, on with this chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
Location: The Tower, The City, Earth
Date: 25th June 3246
I woke up to the sound of my alarm blaring. As usual I stuck my hand out of the warm and cosy comfort of my bed and into the harsh cold of my room, slapping tiredly at my alarm to get it to stop. It did. I groaned and pushed myself up to be leaning on my backrest.
"Morning," Spark greeted me as I sat up. I stared at him, bleary eyed. He let out a brief synthesised Ghost-laugh. "Get up, the Prince will kill you if you're late again."
I did so, swinging my grey legs round until they were dangling over the side of the bed, and moved into a sitting position on the edge of the bed. "I'll skip breakfast," I grunted. Yes, I'll probably be doing a lot of running today but I need to make sure I'm there to get into my Corsair uniform and then fly out to the Gulch to meet the Prince. City-brand cereal bars can wait.
Instead of donning my jackknife armor I opened my wardrobe and pulled out a dark green top and grey jeans. I put my clothes and shoes on, and grabbed my comb. I ran it through my brown hair, to tame it slightly from the bedhead it was to the mop it usually is. I then jogged to the bathroom and brushed my teeth as quietly as I could as to not wake up Dreske or Ellena.
"You ready?" Spark asked me as I stepped out the bathroom.
"Yeah," I grunted.
We transmatted up into my ship. I shivered in the cold air of the cockpit, and strapped myself in. I piloted my ship out of the wide hangar and out into the skies of Earth. I paused briefly to watch as the red outline of the sun started to poke up from the curvature of the Earth. The ground was bathed in a pink-tinted glow. A beautiful sunrise bringing forth a beautiful day. It was a shame to be off-planet and miss it.
I flew up and broke the atmosphere. Out into Space, past long-dead satellites and wreckage of ancient space-stations. I lined up my ship to the hyperspace jump-path to the Reef and pushed the joystick of my ship down, entering hyperspace.
The familiar blues, greens, and oranges swirled past as we flew, lighting the inside of my cockpit up in psychedelic flashes of colour. My ship was on autopilot so I lent back in my chair and relaxed.
"Three minutes to the Reef," Spark informed me, "making it to be 5:00 when we arrive, giving you an hour to prepare before you meet the Prince at the Gulch."
"Thanks for the update," I replied. I stretched my legs, enjoying the brief feeling of tension running down my muscles. "Good to know I can afford to wake up a bit earlier next time."
We made the rest of the trip in silence. There was some obvious issues between Spark and I about what I was doing. He'd voiced his discontent before, sure, these awkward thick silences we now have are worse. He is the thing that brought me back to life. That saved me from death countless times. I wish we could come to some sort of agreement where we were both happy.
My ship juddered and exited hyperspace, on the edge of the Asteroid Belt. From here I took it upon myself to navigate my way to the Vestian Outpost. I twisted and served round asteroids, purple light spilling into my cockpit and bathing everything in a majestic glow. Two Reef made ships detached themselves from the wreckages and flanked me.
"Identify yourself." I was greeted by the familiar voice of the stony and aggressive Guards who protected the entrance to the Outpost.
"Lukas, a Hunter from the City," I announced. "I'm here under order from the Prince and the Queen's Wrath."
"I see." The Guard paused, "Yes, it would seem so. Continue, Hunter."
I continued on towards the Outpost. The sheer sight of it will never cease to amaze me.
At first all you can see if an immense wreck of a Golden Age colony ship. Nothing unique apart from the two Awoken ships trailing you. Next you see a small hole in the side of the ship, it seems like nothing major at first. A mere blast in the middle of a wreck. But as you continue forward the hole widens to a large opening. Soft light reveals the Outpost in all its fullness. Ships coming and going. The Osiris cultists, the Cryptarchy, Varik's station. It all comes into view as you approach.
Then, if you're a Guardian as I am, you materialise down onto the platform and let your Ghost pilot your ship to the docking area. I did so.
Location: Vestian Outpost, The Reef, Asteroid Belt
I kept my head down and walked towards the back of the Outpost. I looked around a few times, but no Guardians were around. Just the usual collection of guards, Variks, the Cryptarch, and the Osiris cultist. I snuck through the back door with nobody really noticing and I entered the hallway in which my room was in.
I reached my room, and as I opened the door to my room the door to the right of mine opened. I froze like a lone Dreg at gunpoint and tried to remember who's quarters Petra said that was.
"Lukas!" A male voice exclaimed in shock.
Byld.
"In here," I whispered and gestured inside my room. I entered and he followed, much like my previous encounter with Rael a few days back.
"Hello, Byld," I greeted him as I turned from the door to face him.
"What are you doing here, you fool?" He asked me. Venom on his tongue. Fool? What?
"I- I don't understand. I'm a bit lost-" I tried to bullshit my way out of it.
"That's not going to work on me, Lukas." Byld rolled his eyes at my pitiful attempt to lie, "you got Andla and Wildyn killed with your idiocy. Now what are you doing here?!"
"Byld-"
"Quiet! Why are you here?" He asked of me again, he looked furious with me. His eyes showed visible disgust. More so than the Prince's.
"I- I'm receiving Corsair training, okay?" I tried to explain and calm the mood, "it was offered to me by the Queen after the Hunt."
"Yeah, as if the Queen would allow a Guardian to train as a Corsair," he snorted, "especially to one who got good people killed. Give me a break, Lukas."
"Byld, I know you're upset about their deaths. I am too. It haunts me every night. If I could go back and save them both, I would. But I can't and nobody can." I desperately tried to defuse the situation, "they were good people, like you said. Please, they wouldn't want you to be acting like this."
Byld looked me over through teary eyes. I saw him swallow back a sob and heard him clear his throat. He then rubbed his eyes to clear away the tears, and spoke up.
"I'm going to go inform the Queen's Wrath," he decided, his voice coming out much more rationally than before, "and you're going to stay there. Don't try anything." Byld backed out, and then shut the door. I sat down on my bed and waited for him to return. Petra would explain to him.
He blamed me for Wildyn and Andla's deaths. Wildyn's to the blades of Beltrik, and Andla's to the shock knives of Weksis. Wildyn, the patient sniper. The one who tried to keep everyone cheerful as we waited for news on the Wolf positions. The one who stood by the information given to us when we all wanted to give up. He had showed such promise. I can think of so many Guardians that pale in comparison to what he could've been one day.
Andla. The quiet one. Close friend to Uleah and silent supporter of everyone. When we had problems, we took them to Andla. She listened, she understood, she helped everyone make amends. When Reyden and Byld broke out into a huge fight over something petty, she was the one who brought them back together.
And now they're gone because of my leadership, as Byld sees it.
I was jolted out of my thoughts by my door swinging open. I looked to the side to be greeted by Petra, who's face bore an amused grin, and Byld.
"Good morning, Lukas," Petra greeted me.
"Good morning, ma'am." I replied. She chuckled.
"Good to see you here on time. Take my advice, and get to the Prince early today. You'll need to prove you're putting in effort in order to impress him." She advised, "and don't worry about this one." She gestured towards Byld, "he's under strict orders to tell nobody of your presence. Does anybody else know?"
"Rael does," I admitted, "she discovered it a few days ago."
"I shall have words with her," Petra mused. "Anyway, I won't keep you, Lukas. I'll see you later." She gave me a nod of respect, which I returned. She left, leaving Byld where he was.
"I'm sorry for this, and earlier" he apologised, "I know you didn't mean for them to die. I just- I saw you and memories of them came flooding back. I'll try to quell them, since we're neighbours and all." He swiftly left, shutting the door behind him. I guess he's feeling rather embarrassed about this whole ordeal. I breathed a sigh of relief in the knowledge that he no longer blames me for their deaths.
I stood up and walked to my wardrobe. I removed my clothes, minus my boxers, and pulled on the greaves of the armor. Spark appeared next to me and materialised the rest of the armor onto my body.
"Thanks," I said. He flitted around me as I removed the helmet of the armor.
I took the time I had spare to engage in some introspection. I shut my eyes and breathed slower, deeper breaths. My shoulders dropped as held tension in them released, a wave of relaxation washing over my body. With my eyes closed, concentrating on my thoughts was a lot easier.
Concepts flashed by my mind. Ellena. Dreske. Byld. Like earlier; Wildyn and Andla. The Queen and her goals. The threat she mentioned was coming. All worth a good solid ponder when I can get the chance.
That time is not right now, however, as Spark was ever so happy to inform me. Time to go to the Gulch and wait for the insufferable Prince for training.
I walked out, hearing voices coming from Rael's room. I chose to ignore them and continued out into the main hangar of the Vestian Dynasty.
As was becoming the norm, I was ignored as I made my brisk walk. Spark flew my ship to the entrance of the Outpost and I transmatted inside.
"To the Gulch?" He asked me.
"To the Gulch." I confirmed.
The flight was quick and uneventful. Upon arriving at the shore, I noticed that the Prince was absent, and I smiled to myself. 'Can't accuse me of being late now, Prince,' I thought to myself smugly as I landed in the usual spot, transmitting down onto the main asteroid.
Location: Four Horn Gulch, The Reef, Asteroid Belt
"The time is 5:45," Spark told me.
"Well, at least we're early this time." I replied and sat down by my ship. I looked up to around the Gulch and the surrounding area. In the distance I caught sight of a massive out-of-place watchtower with a strange architecture that doesn't seem to fit any known species in the System. I watched around it for air traffic, but none came close to it.
"That's The Watchtower, Corsair," The Prince's voice spoke up from behind me. I must have gotten so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't even hear him land. "Don't bother with it, you'll never be important enough to be allowed to enter."
Ah. I see someone is his typical self.
"Yes, sir," I replied trying to hide the annoyed tone in my voice and turned to face him.
"It's good you're here early for a change," he continued, "Now we can make up the missed time from the last times you were late. Now as before I want you to complete fifty laps of the Gulch. If you stop, or fall, you start from the beginning. And you will not be allowed to move onto Petra's session until you do so. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir," I confirmed.
I start off slowly, more of a jog than a run. It's going to be easiest to do this on the first go, and if I can pace myself then I should be able to do it fairly easily.
"Faster!" The Prince yelled at me. I slightly picked up the pace, but not too much. It must've been satisfactory for him, however, as no response came from the insufferable black haired royal.
The first lap went by mindlessly. I kept my breathing in check. In through the nose, out through the mouth. 'Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Keep jogging. Past the cave, halfway round, don't speed up. Good, ignore the bastard. Lap three, only forty seven left.' I thought to myself as I went.
Surprisingly, the Prince did not intervene as minutes slowly passed by until an hour had passed. He merely watched from the shadow of his ship as I went round and round. It was at this point, lap thirty five, when he switched things up slightly. By drawing his sidearm.
I turned the bend nearest to his ship breathing well but sweat pouring down my back and legs burning. I ignored it and kept going. 'Left, right, left, right left, right, lef- OW! MOTHERFUCKER! FUCKING SHIT!' I thought as electricity wracked down my body and my legs gave out from under me, causing me to collapse at The Prince's feet.
"You fell." He bluntly pointed out. I merely let out a groan as Spark appeared next to me and began to heal any damage the shock did. I looked up to see his sidearm smoking slightly from the barrel and the dial on it set to stun.
"You shot me!" I growled as I stood, my legs aching in protest.
"Watch your tone, Lightbearer." He warned me, "I did shoot you. As will your enemies. Do you think as this is a training exercise that you would not be put under harsh conditions?"
I didn't respond, not falling for his play to make me angry. He continued anyway. "All Corsairs can survive a simple stun from a Vestian Dynasty and complete their laps. And they don't have precious light," those last two words were drawn out in a mocking tone, "in order to do so. You're pathetic."
I tried to ignore him as I walked back to the edge of the asteroid and restarted my jog.
"Pathetic!" He called after me, repeating himself. I growled and sped up. I'll show that son of a bitch who's pathetic. I'm the fucking slayer of Kells, not some Queen's lapdog like he is. He can be damn well sure that I can make this run on the second try even with him shooting at me.
"You'll never make it, Lightbearer. You Guardians have forgotten how to survive, and take your immortality for granted. You have all that but you still couldn't even complete a simple run. Just give up!" He taunted and shot at me. The arc bolts flew wide. My face fell into a determined scowl at his comments.
'Left, right, left, right, left, right. Keep going. Ignore the pain. Ignore that lapdog of a Prince.' My thoughts repeated as I ran. More arc shots flew behind and in front of me.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Left. Right. Right. Up through nose. Out through mouth. Ignore the burn. Watch for shots. Inhale. Exhale. Left. Right.
As before, time melted away as I fell into a rhythm. I barely noticed the passage of time as I ran the circuit over and over. Lap after lap. Minutes after tens of minutes.
As I passed lap thirty five again, I braced for the incoming volley of arc bolts. I kept going as they coursed over my body, wracking my bones and tearing at my muscles. I let out a maniacal grin and sped up, fuelled on by the knowledge that the Prince could not hurt me.
Thirty six. Thirty seven. Thirty eight. Thirty nine. Forty. Inhale. Exhale. Left. Right. Work through the pain. Ignore the Prince. Forty one.
The second volley of arc bolts hit me as I passed a few metres in front of the Prince. I stumbled.
"No no no no no no!" I desperately repeated as I scrambled to regain my footing and continue. I'm lucky that the Prince had to reload because no doubt if he'd got me when I was stumbling I'd have gone right back down again. My legs, nearly at the point of being completely numb, flared up in pain in protest of me doing everything I could to keep going.
Forty two. Inhale. Exhale. Left. Right.
The shooting became more constant. Every time I passed him, he would take shots at me. Every time I thought it would be easier to withstand the shock. Every time I was wrong.
But I continued on. I had to. I couldn't stop this close away from beating his stupid run.
Forty three. Shock. Inhale. Left. Exhale. Right. Repeat.
The last minutes of the run from hell dragged on for what felt like an eternity. I couldn't get enough air into my lungs to fulfil what my body was demanding. An ache had developed in my side and now felt like there was a dagger stabbed into my ribcage. My poor legs had stopped even feeling anything as they carried me forward. My grey skin was red in the places electricity had coursed over it. My eyes had bags under them and my dark brown hair was dripping wet with sweat under my helmet.
Forty nine. Arc shots. Run through the pain. Inhale. Exhale. Left. Right. Left. Right.
"Congratulations Lightbearer," The Prince said to me, before pointing his sidearm at my head and unloading the rest of his magazine into me.
Spark brought me back to life in front of him. I didn't bring up the fact that he had just pretty much executed me as the rebirth had wiped out the thudding aches that had developed in my side and legs.
"We'll do this again tomorrow," he stated, "and again and again until you can do it without breaking a sweat. Then you'll be to the standard that Corsairs are trained to be at."
My shoulders sagged at his words, and the high from my success left my body instantly.
"Wh-what?" I weakly asked.
"You heard me, Lightbearer." He simply replied. I stared into his orange eyes to see he was deadly serious.
What the fuck have I signed myself up to?
"The time is currently 8:45 RCT." He revealed. I had been running for over two and three quarters of an hour straight. I've never run that much in all my lives before. In the field anything more than a five minute jog and the Sparrow is deployed. "We still have plenty of time before Petra wants you. Four hours and a quarter, by my time." He announced then mused for a second. "get in your ship." He decided, "it's time you fought in a proper dogfight."
A/N:
Shoutout to TheGreatUxo13 for editing these chapters! Unfortunately this is the last chapter they are able to edit. So I want to give them one final shoutout for all the hard work they have put in to helping me making this fic more enjoyable for all of you.
Back to training for this one. Originally I was going to have the whole Uldren-Petra training day shebang but this chapter became longer and longer so I cut it off there. Dogfighting, Petra, the advancement of the 'Who Really Is Lukas?' Subplot next update.
Overall this arc will span over the course of an in-universe year. I think I've mentioned that before but I'll confirm it here. I'll try to balance training chapters like this one with some wholesome ones like the previous chapter: Ice Cream and Happiness. I've said it before but I really don't want to be repetitive and boring.
I will also be advancing the 'Who Really Is Lukas?' subplot, as well as developing Lukas and Petra's romance. Bear in mind I'm not great at writing relationships but this fic is my practice and I can only get better.
Please leave a follow as updates may not have a regular schedule although I will try to get at least one out every two weeks in schooltime. Holidays will have sporadic updates as I cannot predict in advance as to when I will and will not be doing something. Leave a review if you want, tell me if you're enjoying this fic or leave some criticism to help me improve.
I'll also be down to play Destiny or Destiny 2 with you guys. I play on Xbone. Pm me if you want my gamertag. Maybe if enough people would be up for it I'll create a clan for the fans of this fic. Discord server is nearing completion.
All you guys are amazing! Thank you so much for the support!
Have a good day/night
MrLongSurname