A/N: So I gave Greenland a watch. Pleasantly surprised. Season of the Chosen, pretty good.
Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go cry after this.
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fanfiction. Destiny and all of its supplementary materials are owned by Bungie, including any liberties I take with the lore. I only own Fireteam Storm and other OCs. Please support the official release.
Saga 02: The Monster of Luna
Arc 03: The Will of Crota
Chapter 28: Left in the Dark
The Hellmouth
20 years ago…
The strangle death cry of Toland the Shattered echoed through the tunnel Eris Morn had found herself in. She watched on her helmet's visor as Toland's portrait blacked out. The only ones left were her and Eriana's static-covered face.
Wherever the Exo was, she was out of reach.
"We're on our own," Eris murmured, stopping to catch her breath. "Aren't we?"
Brya materialised beside her, hesitant to give the answer. Her silence was enough. Eris looked at the gravel covered ground beneath her feet. "Right then…" she said quietly.
"Eris?" Brya asked, tailing after her Guardian when she took off.
"Toland said there was a where out here, didn't he?" Eris replied. "We need to trust he was telling the truth."
"You don't think he was lying?" Brya countered, sceptical.
"I don't think he ever lied at all."
Something blinked on her visor. Eris frowned. "Brya, did you see that?"
Brya's shell twerked. Then it twerked again, Brya focusing. "That's…a Light signature...It matches…Omar!"
Eris took a step back. She could hardly believe it. "O-Omar's alive?"
"I didn't say alive," Brya started but Eris had already gone ahead. "Eris! Eris, wait!"
"I'm not waiting."
"What? Why? Eris, wait, wait, stop!"
"And do what?!" Eris snapped when Brya moved in front of her. "If there's a chance, the tiniest chance, to save him I'm taking it." She sniffed, fighting back tears. "I don't want to be alone down here, Brya…"
Brya hesitated but was brought out of her thoughts by an echoing scream. Eris cried out, covering her ears. "She's coming…" the Hunter managed. "I-Ir Yût."
"Further down this tunnel, quickly!" Brya ordered, Eris getting to her feet and running.
The screams echoed around her, her nose and eyes bleeding with each strained shriek from the encroaching Deathsinger. She heard something drag a while a behind. Then the sharp striking of metal on rock that clanged like the death knell of a bell. A sickening laughter erupted ahead of her.
In the dim gloom of the cavern, she say three eyes snap around an unseen corner, a silhouetted hand shifting as a large hulking Knight crashed his way through the cave wall. From the tone of the voice Eris could tell it was Sardon.
"You're a long way from home, little light," he sneered, each stomping footstep cracking the floor a little. "Only the shadows live down here."
Eris went to move back but the red of Ir Yût's eyes warned her off, leaving her for Sardon's cleaver.
"A little light came marching in, into the dark, into the dark," Sardon taunted. "A little light came marching in, and begged the Hive for mercy. Which will it be, Lightbearer? The sword, or the song?"
Eris felt the ground shift beneath her, emerald green light shining from the cracks. Eris unholstered Eriana's Vow and charged the Fist of Crota, prompting the Knight to laugh. With a might roar, Sardon lunged, striking the ground with his sword. Eris darted, the ground cracking again. She briefly looked up at Sardon, swallowing her fear and firing at the cavern floor, the combined force causing the floor to collapse from underneath them.
Sardon's cries echoed around her, the mighty Knight falling into the dark below. Eris jumped, grasping to for a foothold on the wall underneath. She scrambled, her gloves tearing as she slipped down the endless rock wall. She yelped, pulling out her knife and plunging it into the rock. The sickly scrape of metal against rock pierced her ears, the Guardian screaming until she came to a stop.
Something shook above her. Her head shot up to the sound, eyes widening at the sight of another landslide above her.
"No-!" she yelled, before the rocks forced her to let go sending her screaming into the dark.
(Necropolis- Destiny: Shadowkeep OST)
Eris woke up with a start. When she looked around the first thing Eris saw was the broken hand of Sardon caught under a pile of rubble. She shuffled back quickly, but the Knight didn't move. Eris sighed, feeling around her helmet. Its visor was smashed, leaving a bloodied gash in the middle of her forehead. She groaned, ripping the broken helmet off her. "B-Brya…" she gasped. "BRYA?!"
"I'm here," the Ghost said, quick and reassuring. "Don't worry. I'm here. I'm here."
Eris focused her breathing, calming herself before grabbing Eriana's Vow and standing, looking around her.
"Where…are we?" she asked.
Bathed in a hazy light that didn't seem to be produced by anything was a large, echoing temple of some sort, almost like a lost sunken ruin with pillars that crept high into the chasm above Eris and her Ghost. The path ahead seemed to be some kind of foyer, like a grand hall, to…something and a little further beyond was a sea of emerald green doors. Despite the brightness, Eris felt her Light smother in the crushing Dark that surrounded her. Her Light waned, and the traces of Omar's had weakened considerably.
"There," Brya said. "He's through one of those."
Eris nodded and stepped forward, following a decrepit bridge over a chasm to the wall of doors. With her footing firmly in one of the doorways Eris let Brya scan around. The Ghost muttered to herself as she checked the doors immediately around them.
"Booby-traps," Brya said. "All of these are fake."
Eris shouted up. "There's got to be a real one somewhere!" adding with a wary eye to the rubble hiding Sardon. "I don't want to stay here longer than we need to."
Brya focused on a small patch of Light, mixed with the deep red of human blood, Eris watching her float upwards before she stopped three stories above and a little to the left. "We have a winner!" she announced in her best attempt at a bingo caller.
Eris shook her head and began to clamber up, swinging up from ledge to ledge until she joined Brya.
"This is where it's strongest," Byra said. "But it's fading." She paused, looking away. "Eris, I don't even know if this'll work."
Eris didn't respond. The look on her face said enough. With a similarly resigned glance Brya dematerialised while Eris walked into the dark. She didn't know how long she'd been wandering the tunnels before she called Brya again.
"What is it?" the small drone asked.
"Have I…Have I ever told you what I wanted?" Eris asked back.
Brya stared, confused. "You never needed to?"
Eris chuckled. "I thought…when you rezzed me the first time. That I wouldn't be fighting forever. That would beat the crap out of the strongest creatures and humanity would be saved." She laughed, barely able to contain her bitterness. "Remember Venus? All those bizarre, wonderful monsters we fought…"
"You and I remember Venus very differently," Brya replied dryly.
"I thought when that hunt was over, that was it," Eris sighed. "We'd win. And I could have a normal life. I'd have a house, and a garden and…just…" She paused. "I envy the Lightless sometimes. The have one life and they can do so much without. The amount of times you and I have fought and died and fought again…it feels like they do so much more with one life than I've done in…Light knows how many…"
There was a pause, then Eris levelled a sad glance at Brya. "Where Guardians go when we die?"
AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
The scream echoed down the halls, shaking Eris to her core. "O-Omar…!" Eris gasped, taking off towards the agonising cries.
The screams led Eris to a large multi-levelled chamber, littered with strange contraptions that appeared to be crude, brutal mockeries of human devices. In the centre of the room, among a sea of cocooncs, conducting the chorus of screams and the snarls of a hungry horde of Thrall was a Wizard dressed like a withered nun, holding the terrified Omar in a vice of bone and pain as she stripped the very Light from his flesh. Eris took a spot in the shadow of a boulder.
"Vizneh…" Eris growled, readying her bow. "We need to get him out."
"Eris," Brya said quietly. "You'll only get one shot if we do this. I…I don't have enough power to revive you. Crota's presence is…"
"Hey," Eris said, cradling Brya reassuringly. "We'll do this."
Eris scuttled around the rocks that littered the room, skulking around the shadows like and Acolyte. Every scream, every laugh, every demonic Hive shriek made her skin crawl. Vizneh's dark cackle cut over the baying horde.
"I don't know whether to commend your bravery or mock your stupidity," she laughed. "But then, they're the same thing for your lot, aren't they?"
Omar, face bloodied to a pulp, strained in the vice to look at his captor. "Please…end it…"
"No!" Vizneh yelled, dashing to Omar with frightening speed. "You don't decide that…"
Omar spat in her face. Vizneh respond with a hateful glare before roughly grabbing his lower jaw. "Beg for me."
Omar tried to turn away but Vizneh's grip forced him to look at her. Vizneh looked him over, staring down her nose at him. "Alright, we'll get the other one. Domak?"
Eris felt the ground shake. There was a roar and, before she could react, Eris was flung across the hall, landing by Omar's feet.
"E-Eris…" he gasped, his one open eye wide in horror. It darted between her and Vizneh. "N-No, you can't…"
Eris stood, aiming Eriana's Vow at Vizneh. The Wizard smirked, moving towards her. "Go on then," she said casually. "Do it. Pull the trigger."
Eris stepped back, hands shaking. She yelped one Vizneh grabbed her wrist, holding Eris's hands in place while pressing her own forehead to the barrel of the gun. "What are you waiting for?!" Vizneh snarled. "DO IT!"
Vizneh glared at Eris, pressing the barrel against her head more. Then she let go, instead moving to a nearby table.
'Dammit' Eris thought to herself. 'Why can't I move? Why can't I shoot?'
"E-Eris…" Omar croaked. "Run…"
Eris looked at him, the words caught in her throat. Omar let out a pained chuckle. "You need to run…Get…out…Forget about us…"
"N'awwww," Vizneh said mockingly, holding a large chainsaw to her chest. "So sweet."
"N-No…" Eris whispered, firing at Vizneh.
The Wizard took the shots, holding the chainsaw low as she revved it up. Omar wriggled, struggling as he tried desperately to escape. "W-Wait! Wait! No!"
Vizneh leaned in close. "Beg."
Omar screamed, frantically trying to lash out at Vizneh as the teeth of the chainsaw burrowed into his flesh. Blood flew everywhere, splattering on the floor as the Hunter's body convulsed from the shock. Omar's eyes rolled back, bleeding, the chainsaw screaming with delight as it made its way through his torso.
He was dead before his legs had hit the ground.
(Megan Clarke- Little Hope OST)
Vizneh turned to Eris, emotionless. The Guardian's eyes were fixated on Omar's body. Then she looked at the Wizard.
"Run," Vizneh ordered. "RUN!"
Eris backed off, taking one last sorrowful look at Omar, then bolted. Instantly the swarm of Thrall lunged for her, hungry. Adrenaline kicked in, Eris grabbing her now blunted knife and slashing her way through them in a panic-fuelled haze.
Vizneh's laughter cut through the chaos again. "DOMAK!"
A familiar roar shook the room, a line of Thrall ahead of Eris cut down by a flurry of laser fire. She glanced to the side briefly, seeing an Ogre wrapped in chains barrelling towards her with frightening speed.
"O-Oh by the Light…" Eris whispered, ducking under the eye beams.
She felt something grab her, pulling her to the ground. It was a Thrall, followed by several others that tried to dig their way into her spine. Eris cried out, screaming. A sharp pain shot through her side as Domak kicked her, and the Thrall, to the side. The Thrall shrieked in protest, but they too were smacked into a nearby wall.
Domak hovered over Eris, raising his foot. It was met with a blast of Arc Light, Eris screaming in fury as she cut the Ogre down. Domak howled in pain, stumbling before he toppled over.
"W-What have I done?" Eris gasped.
"No time!" Brya said, briefly materialising beside her. "Run!"
Eris shook her head, fighting back tears as she abandoned Omar. Vizneh laughed triumphantly, sending the swarm after her. Eris ran as fast as her legs could carry her, slipping down a small tunnel. She tripped, rolling on her back before the cavern spat her out into another large chamber filled with more Hive cocoons.
The ceiling shook, boundless Thrall falling out of the tunnel above like a swarm of bees. The snarled, lunging for the Guardian like a feral dog. Eris activated her Super cutting them down, but she knew it was hopeless. She yelled in frustration, knocking a Thrall into one of the cocoons. It cracked, several more hungry Thrall falling out.
More cocoons cracked, the chamber filling with a cacophony of starved screeches. Eris closed her eyes, backing through one of the entrances into a large tunnel. The Thrall screamed, thunderous footsteps chasing after her.
Eris panted, rounding a corner. A deformed but familiar Knight was waiting.
"Ah, you're here," Sardon growled. "Where were we?"
The Knight leaped across, slamming down with his sword. Eris took the hit, rolling to her feet and entering a smaller cavern that Sardon couldn't fit through. Inside were more Thrall, cut down with ease, but with each attack it felt like what was left of Eris's Light was draining to keep her going.
From outside she could hear Vizneh spiteful voice. "Sardon, keep to that one!" she ordered. "Suvox has the far left. She will not leave this chamber of suffering."
Eris kept moving, sliding out of the cavern walls into another large tunnel where Vizneh waited. The Heart of Crota revved her weapon menacingly, Eris backing off down the tunnel. Vizneh growled, snarling in Hive curses.
In her left ear she could hear the stampede of the Hive led by Sardon in the other tunnel. A strange skittering could be heard on her right. The Bladedancer soon found herself at a dead end that branched out into the three tunnels.
"Ah, Lightbearers," came the cackle of a shadowy Acolyte.
Eris shot it down, but another one appeared in its wake. It spoke with the same voice. "I don't think we've actually met yet."
Eris felt something crawl up her throat. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she found herself screaming.
The Acolyte titled its head. "I'm sorry, were you talking to me?"
"Or to me?" another Acolyte asked, rising from the pool like a living shadow.
To Eris's horror it was followed by dozens more. "Or to us?" the whole said in unison.
"Up," Brya whispered. "Go up!"
Eris threw down a skip grenade to cover her tracks before scrambling up the wall. Her feet ached with every push, or tired back screaming with every stretch as she hauled herself up the sheer cliff face. Below the Hive pooled up, crawling over each other as they scrambled up the wall to follow her.
Eris looked around, spying a loose boulder above her. Pouring all the Light she could muster into her broken knife, she hurled an overcharged Arc blade into the rock triggering a landslide that crushed the Hive below.
The Hunter hurled herself over the top, still running until she came to a chasm. She looked up, finding herself in a crack at the sea of doors. She backed up slightly, leaping across the chasm and grabbed hold of the rocks above. As she climbed, a horrible chant dug its way into her ear.
"Eir…Ur…Xol…Yul…"
"The song!" Brya gasped, spotting Ir Yût's shadow staring down above them. "Eris, don't listen! Think of something else!"
"I can't!" Eris sobbed, eyes bleeding as she clung to the rocks.
"Think of Sai Mota!"
"Sai, I'm so sorry…" Eris wept.
"Eir…Ur…Xol…Yul…"
"T-Think of Omar Agah!" Brya shouted desperately.
"Oh, Omar…"
"Think about Vell!"
"Vell…" Eris grunted, straining up the sheer cliff face.
"Think about Eriana!"
"ERIANA!"
"Sai, Omar, Vell-"
"Sai…" Eris groaned, clambering up.
"Eir…Ur…Xol…Yul…"
"Eriana, Sai, Omar-" Brya shouted, trying to drown out Ir Yût's voice.
"Omar…" Eris mumbled, still climbing.
"Vell, Eriana, Omar, Sai-"
"Vell…"
Ir Yût continued, angrier. "Eir…Ur…Xol…Yul…"
"Sai, Omar, Vell, Eriana-" Brya shouted frantically.
"Eriana…" Eris said forcefully, looking up at the Deathsinger.
"Sai, Omar-"
"Vell, Eriana…" Eris screamed through the tears, scrambling up. "Sai, Omar, Vell, Eriana! SAI, OMAR, VELL, ERIANA!"
Eris grabbed Ir Yût's cloak, breaking the Deathsinger out of her chanting. The Darkness that smothered her lungs lifted, Eris yelling like a banshee as she dragged Ir Yût down. The Deathsinger screamed, flaying the skin from Eris's forehead in the process. Eris gripped the rocks tight, chanting out the names of her fallen friends as she used the Deathsinger to crawl over the top, pulling the Deathsinger to the floor. Ir Yût tried to crawl away, Eris grabbing a rock and angrily smashing it into the Deathsinger's face.
Ir Yût grabbed it, howling in pain. Eris took the chance, dragging Ir Yût to the edge before kicking off into the chasm below. Eris stood, head throbbing, ears burning and eyes bleeding. Her heart wanted to give up. In the distance she could see an exit- one that had been blocked by the buried Sardon earlier.
Eris laughed, running towards it only to come face to face with a sheer drop that disappeared into the echoing gloom below.
"Gotcha," snickered a dark voice from behind her.
She turned, finding herself face to face with another Suvox. The Acolyte spared no time, angry slashing her across the eyes. Eris lost her balance and felt herself slip. She said nothing as she plummeted into the dark below.
Suvox closed his eyes, communing with the other disciples. "It's done."
"How do you know?" Sardon responded.
"She fell from the Necropolis," Suvox replied, staring down into the abyss. "No Guardian could survive that fall. Not in the state she was in."
There was a moment's silence before Sardon spoke again. "The last one has entered the Oversoul. Lord Crota wants us there."
(End 'Megan Clarke')
The Hellmouth
Catacombs…
"Here…Rest here, Eris."
"Brya, it hurts…" Eris sobbed, fumbling against a wall before sliding down. "I-I don't know where you are…"
"I'm right here, I'm…" Brya said quietly, nudging Eris's mangled face. "I'm…I wish I could do more."
Eris couldn't bring herself to touch where her eyes used to be. Instead, she held Brya close to her chest. "T-There's nothing we could have done…"
The pair stayed there, sat in silence as distant Hive screams echoed in the distance. Brya shuffled free from Eris's grip, putting the Guardian on edge. "W-What are you doing?"
"I'm…I'm gonna scout ahead," Brya said sadly. "M-Maybe I can get us out of here, maybe…maybe…"
"Brya, wait…" Eris wheezed, feeling along the wall as she tried to stand.
"I'll be right back, I promise."
"No, don't…don't go!" Eris said, stumbling to the ground, her pained yelp covering a nearby Hive scream. Eris lay there, body aching. She wanted to move, wanted to do something.
Unable to do anything else, she clung to the small bone that hung around her neck, clutching its warmth. "Brya, please don't go. I don't know where you are…"
A/N: There is one last story to tell, down in the dark. The tragedy of Fireteam Noble is almost complete. Chapter 2-29: There'll Be Another Time