Gluttony the Voidwalker Part V


Toland roughly coughed to catch his breath, his entire body on fire. Besides the ringing in his ears, everything was quiet. Everything was dark. He looked to the door again. The only sounds were the Hive retreating. They had done what they had came to do.

He propped himself up on his hands and knees, "Eris?" he called, "Eris?!"

Toland was suddenly knocked several feet away by a jarring strike to the head, "YOU BASTARD!" Eris roared, kicking him again.

"Eris, fuck! Will you calm down?!"

"YOU LEFT HER! YOU LEFT THEM!" Eris continued, delivering a another brutal kick to the side of his head.

Toland shot to his feet, "I SAVED YOU!" He caught her hands as they hurtled towards him, hoping to restrain her, "I wasn't about to let both of you die!"

Eris pushed him off. She walked backwards as if in a daze, stumbled and fell against the wall, shaking, "They're gone. All of them. They're all gone."

It was obvious but he still hasn't admitted it to himself. He thought he had become numb from losing Vell. But when he thought of Omar's, Sai's and Eriana's screams of agony and rage. Vell's sacrifice. All for nothing. He remained silent, listening to Eris cry, unable to find the words to comfort her.

He stood and proceeded to look around. The chamber was large. That much was obvious. A single large green crystal hung from the ceiling, much like a chandelier. It provided very little light.

He looked back at Eris. She was still against the wall, folded up into a ball. She wasn't crying anymore. She was completely broken. Toland made up his mind. The mission was a failure. He needed to get her home. They both needed to go home.

"You're leaving? So soon?"

That voice.

"You?! You led us here!"

"Incorrect. I asked you to come. You came on your own accord. Don't pin your friends' deaths on me." It was as smooth and nonchalant as it always was.

Toland wondered if he appeared as enraged as he actually was, "We're leaving."

"If you want. I'm on my way either way."

Toland felt it. Something was coming. He had felt this the last time he was on the Moon. It was dark but it was also what he had been looking for a very long time. The voice was right. He couldn't leave. Not yet.

"Listen to me, Eris. Please." He reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out a large brown ring. He waved his hand over it and the ring blazed to life with strange fire. An emerald fire similar to…

"What the fuck is that, Toland?" Eris Morn backed away.

"Stay close to me! It's a bond. A Warlock bond I created." Toland opened the flaming ring and closed it over her arm. The flames licked her armor but otherwise did not burn. She shook her head, "Toland, what is going on?"

"Listen to me." He grabbed her helmet, forcing her to look at him, "I'm not leaving here. Not alive."

"What?! Toland-"

"No, please just listen." He stopped her. This was already difficult, "I created this bond in case I ever needed to come down here, It'll hide you from them. They'll believe you are one of their own. And that is the only way. The only way you'll live to go home. The only way you'll be able to keep our promise to Vell!"

She grabbed his arm, "You could stay with me! We could escape together!"

He softly pulled away, shaking his head and backing away. She reached for him again, "Toland…" He could hear the sob in her voice.

"No…"

"Please..." she begged.

The presence was getting closer, "Eris, run while you can!"

"TOLAND!"

"GO!" He roared so loudly, his entire body shook.

She stood for a second later before spinning in her heel and running in the opposite direction, kicking up dust behind her. She ran and ran, her figure becoming smaller and smaller until not even the emerald glow of the bond could be seen. He could still hear her ragged breathing, even as he felt their tether snap.

"Get home." He whispered. A single tear fell from his eyes as he thought of Vell's last words, "Tell them. Please."

He sighed. It was here. "I've been looking for you." Toland whispered after disabling his comms, "Ir Yût."

The abnormally large Hive Wizard simply floated above him. It wasn't who had been talking to him but it found him all the same. It opened its mouth and let out a low hum that shook the entire chamber. Toland could feel it inside of him. His head, his stomach, his heart.

The song suddenly spiked, ringing louder and louder inside of his head. He could not hear his own thoughts, his own breathing or his own heartbeat. He wasn't sure he was still even alive.

Either way, he had never felt more alive. The Death Song. It was everything he had hoped it was. He could feel himself ripping in half as the song became impossibly loud.

Toland dropped to the ground with a morbid smile beneath his cracking helmet, the world falling away from him. The song reached its peak…

And everything went silent.


Toland's eyes shot open. He quickly looked around him, breathing hard.

He was still in the same place. The Hive chamber on the Moon. The memories started coming back to him. Eris running. The Wizard. The song.

He grabbed at his throbbing head and froze at what he felt. Hair. His helmet was gone. But he was breathing. At least it felt like he was.

"Good. You're awake."

Toland spun towards the voice so quickly, he fell down and scrambled backwards before freezing in place.

The voice spoke again, "So you recognize me?"

"You?! Where are you?!" Toland roared. He touched his mouth, "How am I talking? How can I hear you? How…how am I alive?"

"Because of me." The voice answered in a nonchalant tone, "You don't need to breathe anymore. But your body doesn't realize it yet. It probably never will. Mine has but then again, I've been at this for a while."

Toland squinted and drew closer to the voice. In the pitch black, he could just barely make out a figure sitting cross legged atop a ledge in the wall, looking down at him. He appeared human. Or at least humanoid. But there was a pressure coming from him. Not the pressure that made his stomach crawl like Darkness Zones usually did. This one made it difficult to breathe, if he needed to. As if there was a boot on top of him, slowly pushing to his knees.

He was hooded. Toland was unsure if he was covered in all black or if it was the lack of light.

The man's finer details could not be seen. But one thing stood out from under his hood. A single red eye, shining through the nothingness.

Toland stepped backwards and bumped into what felt like a human wall. With a surprised yelp, He swung his arm back only to have it caught midway to the creature's face.

It was an Exo. A very tall and broad one with similar red eyes. Aside from the red eyes, the Exo seemed very familiar.

"Kabr? You're Kabr, aren't you?"

He let go of Toland's arm but otherwise did not speak.

"That's not his name. Not anymore."

Toland struggled to clear his head, so he could think clearly for a second, "What do you mean, "not anymore"? What is his name?"

"I like to call him Wrath. You should've seen him in the Vault." The hooded man laughed, "The name fit perfectly."

"Wrath? So you were Kabr? You died in the Vault?"

"Just like you died here." The hooded man said.

Wrath still didn't speak. He simply nodded.

"But then you were dead. You and Pahanin went in the Vault-" Toland was unable to finish his sentence. Kabr's or Wrath's massive arm came up and clamped around his throat. Toland instinctively gasped for air he no longer needed, clawing at Wrath's hand. Wrath's red eyes were glowing and a white mist lifted from his mouth.

"He's still touchy about that." A voice chuckled dryly. It wasn't the hooded man,"Makes him madder when you forget to mention the third member of his team."

"Wrath. Let him go." The hooded man commanded. Wrath obeyed without question or hesitation.

Toland wanted to inquire further about this "third" but decided to leave it alone. Toland looked around for the second voice. Only then did he notice two more pairs of red eyes staring down at him from behind the hooded man. One pair flashed him a toothy grin that seemed anything but friendly. The other simply watched him. Both were disturbingly familiar.

"Why are you here?" Toland asked, "What do you want with me?"

"I've been watching you. For a long time now. You're useful to my purposes. So I brought you back."

Toland was growing wary, "What purpose would that be?"

A set of bright white teeth appeared under the hood, "Many, many things." His tone told Toland he wouldn't be elaborating.

"And if I disagree?"

"You would've never come here in the first place. You would've died with the others or would be running like your Hunter friend. I promised you knowledge. Power. And you accepted. Without even inquiring the price."

Toland's head lowered.

"Tell me. Her song. What was it like?"

"It was…everything I thought it was. It's like the song bonded to the essence of my life and when it ended…so did I."

"You listened a Deathsinger's song and here you are. Still alive. Imagine being able to listen to it anytime you want."

"So what, I can't die now?"

"You very well can. It just take a lot more to kill you now. Being able to dissect it, find out why it works the way it does, find out why she can sing it and walk away unharmed while leaving behind a field of corpses." He slid off the ledge and land hard on the ground, "Do you still remember when your Ghost first resurrected you?"

"Yes. I do."

"You gave it a name. And in return, it gave you one." The man raised his arms, "Think of me as your new Ghost. You were dead. I brought you back. And now I get to name you."

"Name me? What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said."

"I have a name."

"Toland died. Right where you are standing." Just like whoever you were before, died right where your Ghost found you. You've accepted the deal. I give you what you've been craving for a long time now, you work for me." He brought up a gloved hand, "Now I'm finalizing it. Do we have a deal?"

Toland stared at the large outstretched hand. What price was he supposed to pay? And given everything he just experienced, would the rewards be worth it? Complete understanding of the Hive and all the powers at their disposal. Finally realizing the true nature of the Darkness. And maybe, just maybe, seeing Vell again. One way or another.

He was still waiting, arm patiently outstretched, never wavering. Toland was done thinking. He raised his own hand and clasped it into the black gloved one, grasping tightly.

Nothing could've prepared him for what came next. He fell and dropped to the ground, thrashing and screaming until he was spewing up pure blood; blood that froze once it touched the cold Lunar ground.

His entire being was on fire. Wisps of Light began lifting out of his body. The ethereal strands lifted up as if they would leave but suddenly became a dark greenish black before forcing its way back into him, only adding to his agony.

He grabbed his head again, the pain becoming more and more unbearable. He could feel his body contorting in impossible ways. He screams were more reminiscent of a monster; it didn't even sound like him anymore. Black sparks of lightning arched off of him, lighting up the cavern.

And then, everything went quiet. Toland was curled into a ball on the ground, shaking. A gloved hand appeared above him. He slowly lifted his heavy arm reached out for it.

He screamed at what he saw.

His arm. It didn't belong to him. It couldn't have. The appendage was a rotting gray, with a mix of brown and dark purple, his five fingers twisted into three long sharp claws.

The hooded man reached out and grabbed him anyway. With just one arm, he threw the panicking Warlock against a boulder. The rock lit up a dull white the second he touched it and Toland watched in shock as his mutated arm changed back to normal.

"Your…previous experiments are catching up to you. There are more to the voices in your head than you originally thought." The man kneeled in front of him. Wrath and the other two simply watched them.

The man pointed above Toland's head, "This is a shard of the Traveler. Fell off during the Collapse. Right now, it's the only thing keeping you from losing control. So I'll watch over it until you regain some control but then it'll be your responsibility. It seems you are more monster than man now."

The man opened his hand, a white ball of energy manifesting, and pushed it closer to Toland's face. Toland shied back slightly but looked closer. It was him. His face at least. Nothing had changed. Anything that had been warped was back to normal.

The only thing different were his eyes. Now as red and cold as the one looking back at him.

"Open your hand. Create a flame for me."

He obeyed. But nothing occurred. He tried again. Same result.

"Try to form a contained void. Keep it small."

Toland placed one hand over the other and concentrated again. The familiar purple sphere sparked and grew slowly inside his hand.

"That's what I expected." The man rose to his full height; taller than Toland, "Gluttony. That'll be your name. Gluttony the Voidwalker. The man or should I say, the beast, with a hunger to match the Void itself. How appropriate." He snapped his fingers. The shard suddenly lifted off the ground. Toland gaped at the two Hive Knights carrying it away. Was he commanding them?

"You'll learn to do that very soon. For now, let's move."

Toland stood as the hooded figure walked towards the wall. "What's your name?" Toland's throat was raw and his voice hoarse, "What do I call you?"

The smirk was evident in the person's voice, he waved his hand, beckoning all the others to follow, "Later. We've got one more person to pick up while we're here."


Gluttony's eyes sprang open. He regretted trying to sleep. After all this time, he still struggled to accept his new nature. He really would never get used to this.

Greed wasn't around to distract him and he did not want to be alone with his own thoughts.

Because they were talking again. And they were telling him something was very wrong.


Nearing the end. I've been itching to move on to Book 3.