Vault of Glass Part VII

Wrath, Time's Conflux


"This must be a joke."

"If so, it's a funny one."

"No, it's not."

"It will be when I push you. I thought you were the one with the sense of humor."

"No, it won't! And no, you won't! And yes, I am!"

Kayla and Erek continued back and forth; Kayla threatening to kick a tired Erek off the edge and him all but threatening back. It came mostly as mumbling to Aro, too occupied with the sight before them to focus on the bickering.

Below their feet was an abyss in every possible sense of the word. Massive and unfathomable, Aro couldn't even hear the soft whirring of machinery that he had been hearing since they entered the Vault. There was nothing there.

On the other side was the wall of what seemed like a giant tower, rising unendingly into the sky. Aro hadn't the slightest idea where it might lead them but he figured that it didn't matter; it was forward so it was their destination.

It was how to get forward that had the two talking. Crona had been at the front, as Aro had ordered. A long walk through a narrow tunnel ended with an opening to the abyss. Then some sort of floating platform had appeared right before her, startling her enough into shooting it. Just as it had appeared, the platform faded away. Below it and further down into the abyss, another appeared and then disappeared seconds later. Further down, towards a particularly better lit spot on the opposite wall, the same thing was occurring over and over again.

Those platforms were their only way forward and it relied entirely on guesswork. So Aro could understand Erek's frustrations; this must've been a joke.

But it was kind of funny.

"It's obvious that we need to use them to cross." Daniel's voice drew Aro's attention away from the abyss. The Titan had his arms crossed and he looked deep in thought behind his helmet, "But…is anyone else seeing a pattern here? Because I'm not."

"Neither do I," Caesar chirped into their ears. "If we had a better view maybe but for now nothing. I did notice one thing though."

Aro squat down near the edge, peering over. "We're listening."

"There's nothing in this area obstructing our ability to resurrect you or even transmat you," Daniel's Ghost explained, "If you fall, we can just bring oh back to safety."

"Can't you teleport us to the other side then?" Erek asked, pointing at the far wall.

"That's why I specified 'this area'. There's something over there. Transmat is blocked and resurrection is restricted. Something Dark."

"I'm surprised you all can't feel it. Especially the Warlocks." Kain said. Aro stilled himself, closed his eyes and focused. He didn't need to focus long; the feeling hit him like a truck. The Darkness, that familiar thumb on the back of his neck or a weight attached to his feet and dragging him down so far into an imaginary body of water, he had to remind himself to breath. It came out as a shudder, "That's…"

"Wow," Kayla murmured.

"What she said. It's like some kind of wall or a field of the Darkness." Aro rose up, "I'll be honest I haven't thought much about the Darkness since we got in the Vault. Too busy worrying about the monsters in here to concern myself with the big metaphysical one outside. This is the first I've sensed it."

"And there's only really one capable of producing it," Kayla finished. The answer didn't need to be said.

Erek sighed. "So...crossing it. How?"

Aro rose up, ignoring the tightness in his legs. He opened his mouth to answer when Crona's hand suddenly came up to his shoulder. "First," she said, "I want to try something."

"Yes?"

"This abyss, this entire place isn't just some unending hole. The dimensions are constantly shifting." she stepped slightly closer to the edge and leaned over to look down, "If we do fall, how far could we get before we're not….you know...here anymore?"

"You want to find out, I'm guessing. How exactly?"

Crona turned her gaze from the abyss to him. Aro's eyebrows shot up. "You're joking."

"Care to let us in on it?" Erek called from behind them, having moved further from the edge than the rest of them.

"She wants to jump and see if she ends up in a completely different reality."

"Ah….that's not funny either."

"But she has a point." Crona brought her wrist up when Ghost started to speak. "Your Ghosts should be able to detect the approaching shift in reality before you enter it and bring you back here." The little drone had been speaking less and less the closer they got to their destination. Aro guessed she had known they were approaching the end of their journey. It's where the last strands of the connection between her and her Guardian had finally been severed. It was where she had felt him die. It was where she would see him again it was where she'd have to help kill him or be killed by him.

"I'll do it then," Aro said, already stepping forward. He felt Daniel's hand wrap tightly around his bicep before loosening almost immediately, telling Aro that it was only out of instinct. It remained in place, however.

Crona stepped towards him, "Aro, I can do it. Really, it's no-"

Aro cut her off, "You've got Ghost. I'd rather we do nothing to risk her."

Crona silently nodded and stepped back. Little by little, Daniel's hand loosened until it finally slipped away. Aro took one tentative step towards the edge and stared down into the cloudy, unending nothing.

"Kain?"

"Ready when you are."

Aro tipped forward.

At first, Aro could easily tell he was falling. He saw the tiny amount of light that illuminated the area fall away. He had heard an almost imperceptible rush of wind. His stomach had decided it would stay behind with the others where it was safe.

But after a certain point, he began to question. Even though he knew he was falling further and further, the world around him was so static and unchanging.

But when he ignored the twisting in his stomach and focused on the fall, on the freedom and weightlessness of it, exhilaration brought itself to the surface. He smiled and a small laugh escaped him as he twisted his body round and round. He almost wished he could take off his helmet, hear the wind and feel it whipping past his face.

When had he last felt like this? When had he ever? Before he died? Before he ruined the world and caused...everything?

The thought shot through his chest like a bullet. "Kain. Take us back."

The abyss disappeared. In the span of a blink, solid ground was under his feet again.

"Aro? Aro!" He jumped slightly at his name and twisted around to see the others staring. "Sorry, I'm sorry."

Kayla extended an arm and helped him stand. "How long were you falling?" She asked.

"A…" Aro searched his memory but all that came forward was the feeling of the fall. He started to laugh, "A while. A-goddamn-while."

"About twenty seconds," Kain chimed in, "We were nowhere near any change in scenery."

"Yeah." Aro let out a long breath, "We're good, Crona."

"Are you?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"I will be." He squeezed the back of his neck and twisted his head, trying and failing to relax. "Let's get started."


With a yell, Daniel jumped off the platform, straining as much as he could to lift himself through the air and towards the ledge on the wall where the others were.

Right before he could position himself over their heads, he felt the lift give out and the gravity or whatever force anchoring them to solid ground retake it's hold. By the sound of it, Daniel could hear the platform behind him shimmer out of existence, leaving nothing between him and the abyss under him. He plummeted, falling past the ledge with a yell. His armored fingers scrambling for purchase on the stone and failing to acquire it. In the span of that half second, a thin arm grabbed onto his wrist. Erek groaned at the strain of his weight. Having literally thrown himself over the edge, he had one hand gripping the ledge and the other on Daniel, dangling above the abyss.

"We're not doing this again," The Hunter laughed through the strain, making light of the fact that this was the third time Daniel has had to make the cross. Daniel let out a small snort of amusement. Amusement that quickly disappeared when Erek groaned again and flecks of stone and dust bounced off Daniel's helmet. "Any time now!" Erek groaned loudly.

Crona appeared on the ledge and wrapped both hands around Erek's wrist. She heaved, Kayla's and Aro's hands on her shoulders and waist and pulling on her as well. When they had gotten high enough, Kayla let go of Crona to grab under Daniel's arms, finally bringing him onto the ledge.

The ledge projecting from the wall was wide enough to walk long to the opening comfortably but narrow enough so that the edge and the abyss past it remained in their minds, like the Vault was taunting them. One by one and in single file, they walked the path. They could all feel the Darkness pressing down on them now and it felt like eyes on the back of their necks. Aro could tell Crona, Erek and Daniel were having trouble blocking it out, having not been trained in doing so as he and Kayla had been. Erek had his knife squeezed tightly in his free hand, Crona kept rolling her shoulders and shaking her arms out and Daniel was making little sounds on the radio, small grunts of discomfort. They would adjust eventually. They needed to.

The walk between the opening and their destination was short and did not prepare them for what they saw. The room looked like nearly any other in the Vault, platforms floating in the nothingness, an all encompassing abyss surrounding them.

What set it this area apart and gave it it's feeling of finality, were the enormous shimmering crystal spires in the back. Two sets, converging together to form a glass pyramid.

Aro loosened his grip on his gun and just stared. More amazing than the sight was that it meant. They had made it; the end of the Vault. Everything they had been through, everything they had suffered would be worth it soon.

A vice grip suddenly latched onto Aro's bicep, causing him to grunt out with surprise and slight pain.

Crona's hand just got tighter. When he turned to look at her, she never moved to look back.

Aro followed her entranced gaze. Hawkmoon nearly slipped from his fingers.

There he was. Slim and lean, cloak nearly trailing along the ground and standing on a ledge above them, close to the pyramid.

Hood off and down around his shoulders, giving them a complete view of his face and his horrible red eyes.

"I told you not to follow me." Wrath(A)'s voice boomed into the surrounding nothingness. Aro opened his mouth but nothing came. He wanted to say something, anything. But he couldn't. "I told you to leave me alone." He let out a sound reminiscent of a choke gasp, "Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

His shoulders started to raise and lower rapidly. His hands balled into fists, opened and closed again.

The Exo looked so...unhinged. Distraught. As if he was the victim here. As if he wasn't the cause of their pain and suffering.

"Did you really think we would listen?" Four heads spun in his direction. Even Aro was surprised at the abject anger and malice in his voice. He could not bring himself to care. Wrath(A)'s eyes narrowed; such a hateful look and such a loved face, Aro didn't want to care.

He wanted to kill.

"Did you really think we wouldn't track you down?" Aro asked, taking a few steps forward. "Did you really think you could just run off after what you did?! ANSWER ME!"

Aro's roar rang out in the nothingness. Wrath(A)'s narrowed eyes widened in disbelief at his tone.

"This game of cat and mouse ends now, Wrath," Aro spat his name like poison. He pointed his weapon directly at him. "You will surrender. You will hand control of Asura's body back to him and you will come with us or I swear by the Traveler, I will make you!"

Wrath(A) had a knife in his hand before anyone realized what had happened. With a scream, he launched himself of his rise and at Aro.

His blade hit Crona's Aegis, having moved between the two in the last half second. She threw her arm and the glittering shield outward, parrying Wrath(A)'s knife away. Before Wrath(A) could recover. Then she dropped to one knee and from behind her, Aro force pushed him away.

The blast sent him rolling far. He sprung off the ground and back into standing to find the barrels of five guns pointing directly at him. A red dot appeared on his forehead, emanating from Aro's silver hand cannon. "I won't tell you again. Stand down." Aro could hear the metallic grind of the Exo's squeezing, shaking hands.

A deep, rumbling voice froze everyone in their tracks. "Such tone. I thought you were raised better than such rudeness." Wrath(K) walked forward out of the pyramid, each echoing footstep a thunderclap. He stopped at the edge of the rise but did not step off, remaining high over their heads.

Aro turned his weapon on him, "We're leaving with him, Wrath."

He shrugged those mountains he called shoulders. "If Wrath wants to leave with you, he's fully welcome to. Ah, but therein lies the problem, doesn't it? Wrath does not want to go with you. He does not want to be a prisoner in his own body as he had been since he woke up. Will you make him?"

"And Asura?" Crona demanded, "What of him?"

"Your friend will be dealt with." Wrath(K) waved away her question, turned and started walking back towards the center of the pyramid.

Aro readjusted his grip, "What are you saying?"

"Exactly what I mean," Wrath(K) wasn't even looking at them now, making his lack of interest in their presence or impression with their deeds known. He's always known they were coming and everything they did, he did first and he did it alone. "Asura and Spirit are both holding him back. He's decided he wants to work with Pride, just as I had. And he made that decision for himself."

"Pride wants to destroy the world," Daniel said, "How can you work with him?"

"I know things aren't great for people like us but, Wrath," Kayla said the name and it was both of them that turned to her, "This isn't the way."

Wrath(K)'s eyes narrowed, the first sign of emotion they had seen from him since Venus. "Do not concern yourselves with what I believe in or my motivations. Worry more about yourselves."

The Titan started to walk back towards them again. "Time and time again, we have warned you. Keep out of our affairs," he said, "Time and time again you have ignored us. And for what? You can't stop Pride. You can't stop what is coming. No one ever has."

One of the platforms floating behind them suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a new one, the same except for the empty Vex gate at its center. It slowly floated closer until it was resting on their own platform. It burst to life with a loud bang, drawing all five of their eyes away towards it.

Wrath(K) charged. The wake of his lift off left a crack where his feet had previously been. Aro spun around just in time to see him slam into the ground before their feet. The Guardians went flying, Erek and Kayla going the farthest, skidding dangerously close to the edge.

Aro had just started to process what had happened when he heard the heavy footsteps. He sprung up and threw his heated palm out blindly. Quicker than the eye could see, Wrath(K) knocked his arm away hard enough to knock the bone in his shoulder from its socket.

Aro fell back with a cry. Wrath(K) continued to stalk towards him and despite his earlier defiance, Aro felt afraid. He had never seen the Exo up close before and the height and width of him was something to either behold or cower before.

Wrath(K)'s hand wrapped almost completely around Aro's neck. He hauled him up with one arm and Aro choked as his feet dangled off the ground.

Wrath(K) brought his close, red eyes blinding him. "You cannot stop us. You could've stayed on Earth. Enjoyed yourselves before the inevitable," he said. He turned his head to look at the others, who were still struggling to get their bearings. "Now they have to die here and you won't be able to go home to tell their families what happened." He turned back to Aro and brought his face closer, "Lucky you."

Aro brought his hands up and attacked Wrath(K)'s face and head, superheated fists, slamming against the bronze.. Wrath(K) shrugged off his attempts and started to walk him back towards the portal. With every step, Aro's vision dimmed and his attempts to free himself grew more and more frantic.

The Titan held him out towards the portal and Aro could feel the pull of it on his back. "You'll wait here until I finish. Then I'll come and get you."

He tried to call the full extent of his Light forward, just like he had with Gluttony and the Overmind Minotaur and the Gorgons. His blurring sight tinged orange as he beckoned it forward. But Wrath(K) viciously headbutted him with a resounding crack. Through the pain and dizziness, felt the Herald's grip loosen.

Time slowed as Aro felt himself fall backwards. Every nerve on his back lit up as he touched the portal, the shock jarring enough to snap him out of his daze and latch onto the solid sides of the portal. Now he was feeling the entire pull on his body. The portal was trying to pull him in and it was all he could do to not be consumed.

Crona was the first of the others to get to her feet. She leapt high above Wrath(K)'s head and dropped downward with a yell. She hit empty ground, the impact almost shaking Aro's grip on the portal's metal edge loose. Wrath(K) tucked and rolled out of her way, leaping back up to his former platform.

"Crona!" Aro yelled. She turned her attention away from Wrath(K), grabbed his arm and strained to pull him out, half way inside the portal already. She moved one foot back, then another and another.

Three loud bangs filled the cavern. Gunshots. Aro recognized it instantly, squeezing his eyes shut on instinct.

Crona didn't move. She let out a shaky breath and noticed...there was no pain.

Kayla screamed Daniel's name.

The man toppled, jostling Crona. Paralyzed, Aro watched as Daniel fell backwards, three smoking bullet holes in his helmet.

Daniel's back hit the light of the portal and he disappeared though. Aro frantically reached out in time to grab him, causing Crona to lose her grip and him to fall further inside, too far to pull out now.

Crona scrambled for him, reaching for his fingers still barely holding on to the edges of the gate. Just before she could reach, Aro let go of the edge and threw his palm out, letting out a force push that sent her flying onto her back away from the gate.

His head went under and his arm disappeared too. The portal snapped close and a sharp, ringing silence filled the void. Crona's chest heaved with barely restrained horror and panic.

"If the theatrics are finished," Wrath(K) said coldly, "I'd like to get started." His body glowed a bright white and pillar of light suddenly shot up form under his feet into the sky above. A pulse wave of light knocked Crona forward onto her knees, too stunned by what had just occurred to stop herself.

"Daniel's interference was unexpected. But no matter." Wrath(K) yelled over the deafening roar of the energy surrounding him, "I'll handle all of you, first. Then I'll bring him back and finish him off and while Aro sits and watches."

Another pulsewave rang out. Then another. Then Wrath(K)'s pillar of light exploded.

Crona turned her head towards him. She felt her jaw go slack.

Wrath(K) was...bigger. The Exo had transformed to resemble a Vex Minotaur but larger than any she had ever seen in her life. His body looked as if it had been broken down and remade from pieces of the crystal spires that formed the pyramid. Crona could do nothing but look on in terror as the Herald's encroaching footsteps shook the entire Vault.

This was it. This was where it all ended.

Crona rose shakily to her feet, heart pounding against the walls of her chest and hot tears streaming down her eyes. Wrath(K) threw his metal head back and let out an ear splitting, world shaking roar before he raised his massive Torch Hammer at her paralyzed frame and fired.


I promise the whole "transform into a giant monster" won't be a thing with all seven. Anyway thanks for reading and I hope I got this down right.