"You have slept for centuries, with no purpose or calling to wake you."
The voice resounded in his head. He tries to move, but finds his body too heavy for him to do so.
He could see a group of people closing onto him. Despite his blurry sight, he could see that they are heavily armed. A sense of threat and emergence covers him, prompting him to continue his futile efforts to move.
"But now, a mighty empire threatens the system, and their dastardly grip has now closed in on you." The sound, a warm female voice, continues to speak.
The people aside now stand in front of his chamber. He could make out that they are well built and of tall stature.
"It is now your duty to protect not only the system, but also yourself."
He manages to move his limbs as the people passes through the door.
"Awaken, Tenno Excalibur."
Tenno Excalibur open his eyes only to see the armed people looking at him. As he drops onto his knees, a gruff voice speaks.
"I see the Lotus has awaken you." It comes from a man with a devilish white complexion. He is built much like the other armed people, but is much leaner. His face also looks different from the others.
'But it is too late." The man walks close to Excalibur and is soon at his side. As Excalibur struggles to move his sluggish body, the man places something on his ankle.
"You will come to my Queens eventually, by your own volition."
The man then walks away. Excalibur stares in horror as the other armed men raise their guns. He forces himself to stand up, but stares in fear knowing he will not be able to move away soon enough.
"No!" The man's command halted the armed men. "Bring him in alive!" He then leaves, leaving the others, presumably his subordinates, behind.
The other gunmen shifted their aim. As they were about to open fire, Excalibur gathered his energy and released a blinding white light.
The armed men's bullets flew past Excalibur as he stood there. A few managed to hit him. Excalibur withstood the pain, preparing himself to finish the armed men off.
Excalibur lowered himself and placed his hands at his left hip. He visualised a sword. As the gunmen recovered, Excalibur forced himself to calm down.
The gunmen shouted in a unknown tongue and took their aim. As they were about to open fire, Excalibur felt a scorching sensation on his hands and hip. WIthout hesitation, Excalibur moved forward and swung his sword.
Two torsos fell on the floor, and their lower halves followed. The gunmen stared in fear, and so did Excalibur. He stared at his hands, which were scorched black by the sword he held. He then looked to the chopped us corpses of the gunmen which he killed. A great disgust overwhelmed Excalibur, and he started puking.
As the others aimed their gun, they started shouting. The next thing Excalibur knew, they dropped their guns. They stared at each other, seemingly uncertain what to do.
One of them suddenly shouted, a hole suddenly opening up on his chest. The other two shouted, and Excalibur took this chance and punched one of them. As the first gunmen collapsed, the other took out his knife and tried to stab Excalibur with it.
Excalibur blocked with his forearm, resulting in a stinging pain. The gunman pushed down on his knife. As it got close to Excalibur, he shot out something from his hand in desperation.
It pierced his opponent, sending him flying across the room.
Staring at the corpse penetrated by a spear, Excalibur found himself deep in thought. He took a deep breath, and conjured a sword of light,
As the other gunmen swung his knife, his torso fell on the floor, with his lower half following suit.
Excalibur stared at the corpses, with dread filling his heart.
"I am sorry to force you to do this, Tenno Excalibur." The female voice spoke. "The ones you have killed brought this onto themselves."
Excalibur stared at the corpse with a hole in his chest. It was then he realized something
He pointed at it and attempted to speak, but only sounds came out.
"It seems your speaking functions have yet to recover. Nonetheless, it seems you are fit to move on. If so, I suggest that you hurry. As for the corpse, you will learn about it at another time."
Excalibur found himself full of questions. He tried to speak, to voice those questions.
"I will explain on the way. For now, I suggest that you get out of here. Coordinates have been marked on your minimap"
A minimap seemingly appeared out of nowhere. On it, Excalibur could see a point that has been marked. Deciding that he could just follow the voice's instructions and get some answers later, Excalibur started moving towards the point.
After he exited the gold and white painted room, he found himself in a forest, filled with high trees and other plants
"You are a Tenno, and Excalibur is your title. The Tenno were a revered group of warriors. You were all put to sleep about five hundred years ago. Now, I awaken you because the Grinner, a group of dangerous individuals hellbent on conquering the universe, has found you, and they seek to harm you for their own sake."
Excalibur found himself with more questions. Tenno? Grinner?
"No time to explain, Tenno. A Grinner detachment is heading your way."
Excalibur quickly hid in the trees. Soon, he saw a group of Grinners appeared. They all spoke in a foreign language. Excalibur waited, not eager to engage in combat.
The group spread out while Excalibur remained hidden.
As one of them got closer, Excalibur slowly materialized his sword. He could feel sweat dripped from his forehead as he held his breath.
The Grinner walked at Excalibur's side. As he turns his head, Excalibur stabbed him through his face, killing him before he was even noticed.
As the other Grinner started talking, Excalibur moved towards them. He gathered his energy and let out a blinding light. As the Grinner were stunned, he shot out two spears from his empty hand, piercing two of them and impaling them on the trees. He dashed towards the other two, slicing them in half one after another.
Ignoring his guilt, Excalibur moved towards the location marked.
"The Grinner are a savage group who has no qualms with hurting other people. They have no issue with even brutalizing their own kind. I understand that you will feel guilt killing them, but I hope you can suppress your emotions when coming face to face with an enemy. Hesitation will get you killed, and allow your enemies to go out and hurt even more people."
Swallowing his burning grief, Excalibur moved on.
"Understand." He murmured, much to his surprise.
"More Grinner ahead." The voice warned Excalibur.
Excalibur quickly found a place to hide. Quietly, Excalibur sneaked up to his enemies. As he got closer, Excalibur materialized a few spears. He ran out of the grass, throwing his spears and impaling the enemies' vitals, killing them. As he got close, Excalibur materialized his sword and chopped whoever stood in his way in two.
Excalibur soon found himself approaching a cavern.
"There will be a location up ahead which you can escape. Proceed." The voice spoke.
As Excalibur took a step forward, a pain from his ankles forced him to his knees.
"Shit!" Excalibur shouted in pain as he stumbled.
"The Ascaris, the device that Vor planted in you, is inhibiting your functions." The voice said.
"Impressive, Tenno!" The gruff voice spoke again.
"That is Vor, a Grinner General." The voice spoke as Excalibur continued to move forward.
As Excalibur struggled, he could feel Grinner started moving onto him.
"Incoming fire, Tenno!" Excalibur forced himself to move aside, a metal ball passing through his side as he moved. Slowly, Excalibur continued to move.
As the Grinner closed in, they were suddenly flung back by something. As Excalibur was about to stumble, somebody else gripped him and help him move.
"It's okay, Excalibur, we got you." A female voice came from the figure holding Excalibur. He turned towards it. The woman looked robotic, with its head, or helmet, making her look like she has short hair. She is covered by pink and black colors.
"Grinner…" Excalibur struggled.
:It's fine, the others got it." The woman said. "I am Mag, by the way."
As Excalibur looked behind, he could see that Vor is locked in combat with a muscular robot-like figure. The Grinner gunmen were falling over one by one, while others were being electrocuted by shots fired by a yellow robot-like figure.
"Let's get moving, Excalibur!" Mag said. They moved towards an empty platform, with a huge opening present. A small spaceship shaped like a fish and colored like Mag came in from the opening. Mag and Excalibur escaped by boarding the ship.