DESCEND FOR ASCENSION

Skolas looked around in his cell. He wondered if he was ever going to make it out alive before a Guardian decided that he should die. Just as his anxiety settled in, he felt something pull him into a dark nether, one that tried to lull him to sleep and away from reality. "You are Skolas," the calm voice began, "Once a Dreg, then a Baron, and now Kell of Kells. You have been Taken."

Skolas fought against the lulling urge. "WHO ARE YOU!?" he barked.

"Rest now, Skolas," continued the voice, "your fight is over. Yet because your arms were cut off and your Ether Mask is wrecked, you feel as if there is still a war. You thought that you could fight against the Guardians. But you have been usurped, and your Wolves have been scattered as a result, fleeing to Mars with their Prime Servator to regain their glory. In their eyes, you hold no power. In everyone's eyes, you are just another Dreg." Skolas then began to weep. The voice carried on, "What you need is power, a special power that cannot be usurped easily. I have made a special blade for you. It is called [powerful dictator]. Take it in hand and claim every house, every banner, and every planet. Let no one stand in your way!"

Skolas felt a knife cutting through his veins, opening his arteries, and dissecting his brain. He screamed as Darkness began to flow into every opening, transforming him into a Taken Warbeast. He felt a sense of awakening as his arms grew back and his face was repaired. Once his transformation is complete, he took his Scorch Cannon and shouldered it. The Kell of Kells was ready to kill again!

We returned to the Tower and approached Eris Morn. "Eris, how do we become an Ascendant Hive?" asked Shin.

Eris answered with, "Toland spoke of the tithing system: Thrall and Ogres to Acolytes, Acolytes to Knights and Wizards, Knights and Wizards to Ascendants, and Ascendants to the Hive Gods."

"Is there a shorter way?"

"No."

"But we aren't Hive!"

"Doesn't matter!" quipped Eris, "You would need the essence of lesser Hive on top of an Ascendant Soul!"

"And what about Crota?"

Eris hissed to herself, "It can be done!" She turned to us, "Take Toland's journal with you. Grab as much Hive marrow as you can. Once you enter the Chamber of Night, steal Crota's soulstone."

"Sounds good," I said, "One last thing," I pulled out 15 glowing icosahedrons and handed them to Eris, "What are these things, and can you translate their whispers?"

Eris took the icosahedrons and began listening. "I can't. These 'Calcified Fragments' are speaking a language that even I can't understand."

"But if you wanted to translate them?"

"Then I will need a point of reference."

"A new Rosetta Stone! We'll find it, Eris." We left the Tower for our ship and left for the Moon.

It began with Crota, but he was only a servant of his Father's will. His crusade against the Light ended with his death, which I thank you for. But in doing so, Oryx has pledged his revenge against us, ensuring that we are being torn apart bit by bit, and restitched in his image: The Taken. Even now, his Daughters are twisting our fate, bleeding the Darkness into the Light, slowly corrupting our will. To reach him, you need to walk in the dying footsteps of his son, tithing lesser Hive to your power. You must become Ascendant. -Eris Morn

Once we landed in the Circle of Bones, Shin, Cass, and I began killing Hive Acolytes and taking their marrow. Eris said, "Hold fast to Toland's Journal, it saw my time in the Dark." With that, we entered the World's Grave and ran into the Chamber of Night, collecting fresh Hive Marrow wherever we went. As soon as we entered, we began listening to Toland's scratchy voice, "The Throne Worlds, and whatever they can bleed through, shield the Hive from the Traveler's Light. If we were to pass through its deepest layers, then our Light would collapse like a dying star."

"I bet that Toland was banned from parties," said Shin.

Along the way, we found a few Thrall scattered among the hallway and feeding on old marrow. After stealing their essences, we arrived in the Chamber where Crota's soul was once held. "Alright!" I said, "Let's get the soulstone, tithe the marrow, and-" RAURGH! We heard the Orge as it came out of hiding. We scattered when it fired its eye beams, and then the ads started crawling out of the water. Shin threw her smoke and Voidwall grenade at the Thrall then fired her Thorn and Hawkmoon at the Ogre. Cass fired a rocket from her Gjallarhorn at the beast, and it retaliates with its eye beam. I fire my Mythoclast into its back, burning a few holes and enraging the beast. It charged towards me and slammed its fists down. I barreled out of the way, Shin fires her arrow into the Ogre's back, and Cass fired another rocket. At that moment, the same jet black robes which took the Colossus appeared and snatched the Ogre, pulling it into a nether. "It's gone!" remarked Jared, "Oryx just took an Ogre!"

"Not even Oryx can control an Ogre," then Eris realized, "unless it's Taken!"

"Noted," said my Ghost.

"Alright, alright. Enough of the discussions!" shouted an annoyed Cass, and she cut off a piece of the stone using her Ghost.

Shin took it and said, "Alright, Eris. What now?" There was a deafening silence on the comms. "Eris!?" All of us changed radio channels and we still couldn't get a signal, not even a cheesy song. "Our comms are broken..."

"...And so is the ship link!" shouted Cass

A deafening screech! We fell down as the Image of Oryx said, "YOU AGAIN!? KILLING MY ECHOES IS ONE THING, BUT VANDALISING MY SON'S SOULSTONE!?"

I begged, "Well, we were just...respecting our enemies. I-I-I mean everyone has to, right? Just because we didn't agree with Crota doesn't mean that we can't show a little dignity, right?"

"ENOUGH! YOUR LIGHT IS AN INFECTION, AND I WILL CURE IT HERE!" Taken spawned on the stone's remains, with the Ogre and the Colossus.

"RUN!" I shouted, and we did. We ran past the Taken Wizards, Knights, Acolyte, Captains, Vandals, Psions, and Phalanxes in the halls. We ran all the way to the entrance to the Chamber of Night and tested our comms again. Surprise, surprise, nothing happened. "Great," I said, "our ship link is still blocked, and the doors are locked! We're trapped!"

"If we don't find a Tomb Husk," said Jared.

"What?"

He played a recording from Toland's journal, "The bindings that the Hive create can be splintered by releasing the energy within a Tomb Husk. Not even the strongest locks can withstand that. But first, you need to find a Tomb Husk." Jared paused the audiobook and Shin began searching for a Husk. "Found one!" she shouted. The recording continued with, "Next, you need to glue it to the lock. Anything from Elmer's to Gorilla Glue helps! It's amazing how antiques from The Before can help out the Guardians of today!"

"And we don't we any glue!" shouted Cass. We heard a low growl from the hallways behind us. Shin jumped up to the lock, held the Husk in one hand, charged her Arc Blade in the other, stabbed the Husk into the lock, and blasted it with her Golden Gun, all in midair.

We heard a low growl from the hallways behind us. Shin jumped up to the lock, held the Husk in one hand, charged her Arc Blade in the other, stabbed the Husk into the lock, and blasted it with her Golden Gun, all in midair. Jared said, "Remind me to make copies of this journal!" The door opened, and Shin used her last two Golden bullets to melt the two Taken Knights waiting on the other side. We rushed in a U-turn to the Temple of Crota, until we were blocked by another door just before the hallway. This time, there were two locks that were guarded by two Taken Wizards. Cass ran toward the door, clearing it of enemies, while Shin handled the Husk on the top of a platform, and I grabbed the Husk from a mini cellar. The Taken Ogre and Centurion were getting closer to us, and we repeated the same process again on the two locks. They were just mere decimeters away from us. I shouted, "RUN, GUYS! RUN!"

We ran through the Temple of Crota, passing the Taken Vandals and Captains to the other side of the room, Ogre and Centurion still in pursuit. At that moment we heard a different voice, "Guardian," said Variks through the white noise, "Ketch out of Fallen hands, watch your back!"

"What Ketch?" I asked.

"The Traitor's Ketch. Follow me!" answered Shin. We arrived at a leveled crater floor with a teleportation lift to the Traitor's Ketch. After taking the lift up to the engine room, Shin stopped and said, "This is where we killed Taniks." We climbed an angled flight of stairs to a hallway, which led us to the first large room. "This room was a cakewalk!" Instantly, Taken began to spawn everywhere, exuding their Blight throughout the room. I melted a Blight with my Mythoclast and cleared the left side with a Storm Grenade. Shin threw a Vortex Grenade at the Blight on the right side and choked the Taken with her Smoke. She remarked, "And it still is!" We moved to the next room, which held the ruined remains of a Fallen Walker towards the door to the bridge and a tunnel to either side of the huge room. "That walker was devastating, it almost took two hours to kill it!" The room began to fill with Blight. "Taken incoming!" she shouted. We ran all over the room, repeating what we did in the first. The second wave of Blight and Taken covered the room, but Shin cleaned up the room using her Hawkmoon and Thorn. Afterwards, we ran through a winding hall to the final room. All of us froze before the sight of Skolas, the Mouth of Oryx.

He looked like his former glory, except he was consumed by Darkness, devoured by greed, and twisted by Oryx to be his servant. "SHIN MALPHUR!" he bellowed, "I'VE BEEN WAITING A LONG TIME FOR THIS!" He fired his Shadow Cannon at us, right around the time when Taken began to spawn.

We ran for cover. "Alright," said Shin, "We need a plan to kill this guy once and for all!"

"Agreed!" we said. Another cannon shot fired into our barrier. I said, "Shin, focus everything you have on Skolas, I will take care of the ads, and Cass, the Blights." Both of them nodded, and all of us went to our jobs. Shin fired an arrow at Skolas, tethering him to the ground, and proceeded to snipe his head. Cass threw her Hammer at the Blights, then tackled Skolas, crushing his rib cage. I fell into my Stormtrance, killed the ads, then directed everything I had at the Taken Kell.

He launched us back. "RISE, TAKEN! PREPARE THESE GUARDIANS FOR THEIR NEW MASTER!"

We ran back to cover, reloaded our weapons, and swapped tasks. Cass took care of the minions, Shin focused on the Blights, and I handled Skolas. Every shot that was fired from his Shadow Cannon was a close call. Once again, we focused on the boss once everything else was cleared out. I melted one of his arms and part of his face with the Mythoclast, and he retaliated with a blinding shot. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU! WOLVES! KILL THEM ALL!" The final round of Taken was full of Vandals and Captains, all of whom were ripped out of the Prison of Elders.

As I went to clean the Blights, a Captain threw a blinder at me, and I ducked back to cover. Shin shouted, "How are we going to get past this, Max?"

"I have no idea, Shin!" I shouted back.

"Well, we need a plan!" shouted Cass. We looked around, then we noticed how our cover had two notches. "I've got it!" she said, "Shin, sit here and snipe Skolas. Max, watch her back. I'll take care of the Blights and ads." She ran around, Atheon's Epilogue and Found Verdict in hand, saving her Gjallarhorn for last. Shin fired at Skolas's head using her Praedyth's Revenge, not paying attention to anything else. As I watched her back, I was also cleaning up the ads. In the process, I was blinded 4 times and had to deal with the Vandals that kept shielding themselves, but thankfully, Cass was there to help.

Skolas became irritated. He jumped in front of Cass. She lifted herself backwards and fired her Gjallarhorn rockets at the war beast. He fired from his cannon and sent Cass sprawling backward. "CASS!" we shouted in shock. She groaned. I lashed out against the 'Kell of Kells'. Shin did the same. She unleashed her full fury on Skolas, raising her Golden Gun and charging her Arc Blade. Using my Mythoclast, I melted his Shadow Cannon and 2 of his other arms, and Shin sliced and diced into his armor and face, cutting off his last arm and both of his legs. As his body began to fall, Shin fired another arrow at the limb-less Skolas and threw her Blade into the Kell.

He spat, "YOU'LL NEVER AVOID HIM! HE HAS HIS EYE FIXED ON YOU! YOU WILL KNEEL BEFORE-"

VOOM! Shin fired her last shot at the Kell's head, disintegrating Skolas for good. His ashes immediately floated to Shin's sniper, covering it in Taken residue. She dropped it immediately. "Alex?" she asked.

"Yes, Shin?"

"Keep this weapon under lock and key."

"Huh?"

"Just keep it safe. We need to know more about it."

The Traitor's Ketch began to explode around us. I looked around for an escape route, and my Ghost still couldn't find our ship. As soon as the floor was skewed, Shin found a stolen jumpship and said, "OVER HERE, MAX!" I ran back to pick up Cass, only to learn that Titans are too heavy to carry. "LEAVE HER!"

Cass whispered, "Go," *cough* "be strong," *wheeze* "and remember," *cough cough* "just ask Shin for help," *huff wheeze* she would ask you to do the sa-" and she passed out. I placed her Gjallarhorn on her chest, folded her hands over the weapon, and closed her eyes. I ran back to the ship and we took off as soon as there was an opening.