"Hey, Cortana. I have a question."
"Yeah?" Her voice chimed in my head curiously.
"How did you find me in the first place? I mean, we're on the Tangled Shore, which is on the edge of the galaxy. That's a long way from Earth."
Cortana was silent as she seemed to think of her answer, "Well, a guardian at the Tower had apparently been going here, so I asked and they let me hitchhike."
"Just like that?" I asked in confusion, "It couldn't have been that easy, especially for someone who plans to go to the Tangled Shore, which is a hotbed of criminal activity."
"Well yeah, you'd be right. It's just..." Cortana trailed off as she spoke sheepishly, "I may or may not have hacked into that Guardians personal network, and may or may not have used the information I found there to blackmail her into bringing me with her"
"..."
"...what?"
"Seriously?"
"How about you step into my shoes? Don't you know how long I've been looking for my guardian? Forever! So don't blame me for being desperate!" Cortana raised her voice exasperatedly, "And then when I think I've found my guardian, whose skeleton was conveniently lying on top of a Fallen corpse, it ends up not being my guardian, and instead, the Fallen corpse is!"
"Yeah, well... wait did you just say I had a skeleton on top of me!?" I felt a shiver go up my spine as the image came to mind, "Y'know what, I'm not even gonna think about it. How close are we to our destination?"
"We're about ten minutes away."
"Finally..." After we had left the cave, Cortana told me that there was a small encampment of Fallen an hour away, which may have the equipment we needed. I had underestimated how long an hour could be, as it felt like instead of an hour, it had been half a day. So to hear that we were finally closing in on our goal was relieving.
"Any progress with your Light?" Cortana asked.
I shook my head as I raised an open palm, "Nope. I try to think about, or will myself to summon the light, but nothing seems to be working." I made another attempt as I focused only on my hand, but after a while, I let my hand drop by my side while I breathed a disappointed sigh.
"Don't worry Four. It'll come to you instinctually. You just have to be put in a situation where it will have to come out."
"Life or death?"
"Yeah, or just in the heat of battle," Cortana's tone took a serious shift, "Anyways let's stop the small talk. We approaching the encampment now. There a small ridge in front of you, so stay low and use it as cover so we can scope the place out."
I nodded as I transitioned into a crawling position. One of the things I had done to occupy my time in the past hour was seeing what this body could do. I remember how the Fallen in the game was able to crawl across the ground and up walls pretty quickly, and I had hoped that my body knew how to do this instinctually. A smile came to my face as I swiftly crawled across the ground with ease. Even though I had done this before, it was still pretty entertaining to me.
Once I reached the ridge, I peeked over it and spotted the Fallen encampment, which was situated in the shadow of a large cliff. The encampment itself was a mish-mash of brown cloth tents and buildings of Fallen architecture. Though I couldn't see much of what was inside the camp, as it was still a decent distance away, I was able to see what looked like a few dregs patrolling the vicinity of the camp.
"Cortana, can you see anything besides the Fallen patrolling outside the camp?"
Cortana appeared in front of me as she took a close look at the camp. It was silent for a few seconds as she took note of a few things, and I just watched the camp trying to perceive something that she couldn't.
"I can't see much either," Cortana finally spoke, "But I think I can see a captain somewhere in the middle of the camp. I suggest taking out one of the dregs patrolling on the outside of the camp, then use that opening in their defenses to sneak in and find a weapon to defend yourself"
A horrible thought snuck into my mind as Cortana finished speaking. It was that I would most likely have to kill these guys. I don't know why I haven't thought about this, as it seems like such a simple thing to understand, but maybe I've just been putting it off and not trying to think about it.
On the outset, killing a Fallen wouldn't seem like such a bad thing. After all, these guys kill as well, but it just isn't that simple. I don't know if these guys have the worst intentions. Maybe they are a small gang of Fallen just trying to get by, or they could be as monstrous as Fallen tend to be. The point is that I have never killed a living, self-thinking creature before, and the thought of doing that causes a pit to form in my stomach.
"Four?" Cortana's question pulled me out of my thoughts.
I shook my head as I cleared my mind. Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this, and it won't be as bad as I'm making it out to be, "Just psyching myself up," I lied, "After all, this will be the first battle since I was revived."
Cortana gave me what I think was an encouraging look, "You'll be fine! All you got to do is show what a Guardian is made of and they'll run away."
"Yeah." I gave Cortana what I thought was a determined stare, but in truth, I felt more anxious than anything else.
"Now stop standing... or rather 'crawling' around and let's get to work."
I nodded as I crawled around the camp, just on the outskirts and out of view of the Fallen. I circled around for a bit until I spotted a Fallen who was lazily leaning against a building, not really paying attention to its surroundings as it fiddled with its shock pistol in boredom.
It wasn't very hard sneaking up on the dreg, especially considering that it wasn't even paying attention to its surroundings. I used the shadows of the cliff the camp was under to my advantage as I got closer to the dreg. My heart was pumping as I made sure to pay attention to my surroundings so no other Fallen could surprise me. I swallowed anxiously and clenched the fingers of all my hands as I got closer, and closer, until...
I grabbed the dreg from behind and put it into a chokehold. Hopefully, this would actually work since it was meant to be used on humans, but it seemed to be working fine as the dreg let out a surprised yelp and then a choke as I strangled it. It clawed desperately at my hands, but it could do nothing against my Guardian enhanced strength.
It wasn't long until the dreg slumped in my arms and I slowly brought it down, and softly dropped it onto the floor. Considering the light breathing I heard as I brought it to the floor, it wasn't dead but unconscious, which caused me a slight reprieve. After putting it on the ground, I checked my surroundings as I hoped that none of the other camp inhabitants didn't hear the struggle. I waited a minute, staying silent so I could hear any noises come my way. There was none, and I let out a relieved sigh and put my attention back onto the dreg.
When I had grabbed him from behind, the dreg had dropped his shock pistol onto the ground. I grabbed it and noticed how comfortably it sat in my hand, but my eyes were drawn to the shock dagger and grenade clipped to a belt on the dregs waist. I grabbed the knife but realized that I didn't have any way to store it on my person.
"I can fix that," Cortana announced helpfully as she understood my plight. She appeared in front of the dregs body, and I noticed how pieces of his armor were transmitted off of him, "Just give me a second, and I'll scrabble together something for you."
Quite literally a second later, I had some simple armor governing my torso, a hood with a small cloak made of brown cloth, and a belt where I could holster my gear. Something I did immediately as I holstered my shock grenade. I held the shock pistol in my right hand, and the shock dagger in my left, which left my bottom two pairs of the arms open.
Before I was about to continue on I stopped as I looked down at the unconscious dreg. The weapons in my hand felt heavier as I realized that I probably should kill him. If he ends up regaining consciousness and sneaks up on me without noticing, I could be put in some serious danger. The logical part of my brain recognizes the danger the dreg represents, but...
"Y'know you should probably kill him," Cortana said crassly, mirroring my previous thoughts, "Less chance of him sneaking up on us later."
I waved her off, feigning disinterest as I looked towards the inner camp, "We'll be fine. We'll be in and out before he's even awake."
"If you say so," Cortana replied unconvinced.
While on the outside I kept up a focused facade, on the inside I felt relieved that the act of murdering was prolonged, even if it was inevitable. I slowly sneaked towards the center of the camp. Luckily there was not a lot of Fallen, so I easily sneaked past them. My target was the captain, who was somewhere in the center. I knew that he would most likely pose the biggest threat out of the rest.
I got sight of the captain, who was crouched in front of a small fire, most likely keeping warm from the slight chill of the Tangled Shore. As I observed him, I realized that incapacitating him won't work this time around. This guy most likely had an arc shield, which would seriously hamper my attempts to knock him out. I wouldn't be able to take out his shields without alerting the rest of the gang, either by the captain's sounds of alarm or by my own weapons.
Once again, my heart pounded in my chest as I hesitantly understood what I should do. I grabbed the shock grenade from my belt with the left hand of my bottom pair of arms and gripped my dagger tightly. I breathed in, then out and activated the grenade by pressing the button on the side, and tossed it straight at the captain. The Fallen jumped in surprise as it looked down at the source of the noise, and it widened its eyes as it realized where it was coming from. Before it could jump away, the grenade blew up in its face, releasing a wave of arc energy that destroyed its shields and tossed the captain on his back.
I didn't give the Fallen time to get up as I rushed at his prone body. The captain saw me and raised its shrapnel launcher at me, but its wounds from the grenade hindered it, and it wasn't able to fire in time. I jumped onto the captain's body and stabbed it right in its throat. The captain's eyes widened in panic as he tries to throw me off, however, it could do nothing against my Guardian enhanced strength. Slowly the light of its eyes faded away as it glared at me hatefully, and I could only wait there and bear the full brunt of the captain's hatred.
The light finally faded from the Fallen's eyes, but I didn't have time to relax as the sound of Fallen weaponry firing made me jump into action. With instincts, I didn't know I have, I holstered my weapons, grabbed the shrapnel launcher, and dashed to the nearest place of cover, which was a crate. The roars and growls of the captain's fellow Eliksni echoed from behind the cover, and I leaned out and shot a few times, catching a dreg right in the face. They were advancing on my position, and I ran out of cover, taking potshots on the way, to reposition myself.
A dreg intercepted me, but I grabbed my knife and threw it at the dreg, which found its mark right on its forehead. I jumped over the body, before firing my shrapnel launcher once again, and talking out a vandal. I observed that there were only three more dregs and two more vandals left. I switched my direction and ran straight at the group of dregs, who looked panicked at my surprise rush. I fire at them multiple times, killing two of the dregs before the weapon clicked empty. In response, I threw the launcher at the remaining dreg, which caused it to fall back from the hit.
I quickly pulled out my shock pistol and shot at the dreg, killing it and I grabbed its shock pistol to duel wield the two weapons. I turned to the remaining vandals, who ran for cover, and suppressed them with fire as I also ran for cover. One of the vandals shot a wire rifle at me, which hit me directly in my chest. I expected to feel pain, but instead, I felt down as a translucent force field flashed for a few seconds before disappearing. I didn't let it distract me as I fired my pistols at the vandal which killed it.
I hadn't been paying full attention, as the last vandal had snuck up on me and tried to stab me with its shock blade. I barely dodged the strike and tried to fire at it, but my weapons were knocked out of my hand as the vandal struck his sword on my arms. I was left weaponless and I pulled back to increase the distance between us, but the vandal was relentless, and just like I had done he aggressively rushed me. Just as it was going to impale me with its blade, I finally reached my destination and noticed the dreg with my knife still in its head. Swiftly, I grabbed the knife and threw it at the vandal, who was surprised at the sudden attack and couldn't put up a defense before the knife cut into his head.
I watched as the vandal dropped to the ground, and I looked around for enemies more Fallen to attack. When no one came out, I let out a sigh of relief as the adrenaline pumping in my veins kept going. Cortana appeared as she looked around at the Fallen bodies that laid around me.
"That was pretty awesome Four," She complimented, "It probably went so good since you had the element of surprise, doubly so. They most likely didn't expect a vandal to be moving as fast as a Guardian could. Either way, you got the job done, and now I can do my part of the job, and make you some better armor. A helmet too, so I don't have to manually tell you where to go anymore."
"Yeah..." I responded as she flew away to use the Fallen's armor to make my armor. My mind however was on the corpse on the floor, which he caused. After the whole ordeal, he only had one question in mind.
How the hell did he do this!?
Seriously, this was some next level of badassery, something which I didn't have in his previous life. In the past, I was just some faceless nobody who had recently graduated high school. I had rarely if ever fought in the entirety of my life, and I was built like a twig. I really shouldn't be able to do this, but I was. Was this part of this body's instincts, just like how I knew to speak Eliksni or use my arms?
Ultimately, how I did this doesn't matter, because the more I looked at the bodies, the sicker to my stomach I felt. The ease at which I had killed these Fallen left me a little stunned. It also made me feel horrible. Was I always capable of this much destruction? As a Guardian, would I have to do more of this in the future just to ensure my survival, or maybe even the survival of others? I didn't know, and to be honest, I didn't want to know. Luckily, Cortana approaching pulled me out of my thoughts, and I quickly hid my inner turmoil, which was surely showing on my face, and turned it into a stone-faced stare.
"Ok! I got all the armor I could, and it'll only take me a few seconds to make you some," Cortana said casually, almost as if the bodies around didn't phase her, "You should also take only a few weapons. We don't have a ship to store them, nor do we have a vault account set up, so you'll have to travel light."
"Ok," I responded simply as I looked around at the weapons lying on the floor. I ended up grabbing the wire rifle, for a long-range weapon, the knife, and a shock pistol, for backup, and a shock rifle for general use. After finishing up, I turned towards Cortana who was floating next to me, "So what now?"
"Now, for your armor," And with that more armor appeared on my body, and they were much more durable than my previous armor, "Hold out your hand," Cortana asked and I complied as a helmet appeared.
It looked much like the helmets that Fallen usually wore, with a mouth cover and horn-like crests coming off the sides, but this time it had a black visor covering the eyes. I put it on and noticed the HUD elements that would usually be there, like an ammo display and motion tracking sensor. Overall, the armor was light and easy to move in.
"There we go!" Cortana said, "I didn't cover some parts because Fallen already have natural armor, so I thought it'd be redundant. Anyways let's get to Spider's Palace, and this time all I have to do is set a marker."
As she said that a diamond-shaped marker appeared in my vision, just like how it looked in the game. I checked myself over and looked over my weapons. My shock pistol and knife were holstered on my hip, while the wire rifle was strapped on my back. I readjusted my grip on the shock rifle, before facing out of the camp and into the rocky deserts of the Tangled Shore. I nodded to myself before walking out, hoping that I would be prepared for whatever comes next.
Raviks watched as the vandal, or whatever it was, walked away from the carnage it caused.
It had been previously knocked unconscious by him, but even as a dreg, Fallen were more resilient than most, so the effects of being knocked out were lessened for him. Though now that he thinks about it, he wished that he had stayed unconscious. He had arrived with a slight headache at what seemed the end of this skirmish. His crew looked like they barely put up a fight, and could do nothing as the beast slaughtered them.
Who was this vandal? Why did he attack them? Did they previously steal from him, and he was seeking to get revenge? If so, why leave him alive, why spare him? Many questions lingered in Ravik's mind, but only one thing was certain.
Raviks was enraged.
You see, Raviks was an exile. He was once a part of a House and he had contributed greatly to the technical side of things. Many other Eliksni had complimented him for a lot, like for example his own strategic mind, but more importantly, he had a back for tech and machines like no other dreg. They called him a prodigy, and some of those higher in the hierarchy expected great things from him. He was even supposed to get a promotion and become a vandal. Instead, disaster struck.
Raviks wasn't the only dreg set up to become something greater, as another dreg was right behind him. He was a fierce one, dangerous on the battlefield, and was aggressive in tactics. However his House had valued Raviks technical mind over the dregs aggressive one, therefore they were going to elevate him first. That dreg didn't like that, and so he set up a plan to get me out of the way.
Raviks was oblivious to it, as he had never interacted with this other dreg, but was aware of him. One day, he had been heading to fix one of the servitors when suddenly a dreg attacked him. Obviously, he had defended himself and ended up killing the attacking dreg. After it was over, Raviks originally intended to report this, however out of nowhere, the aggressive dreg showed up, proclaiming he had killed another dreg in cold blood. His yelling had brought the attention of some vandals, and even a captain.
Raviks tried to explain that he hadn't murdered the dreg, and was only trying to defend himself, but unfortunately, the vandals and captains didn't listen. They said they don't care what a bunch of dregs got up to, and despite his contributions to the House, they exiled him right then and there just to get it over with. Raviks was appalled, but he soon understood what may have happened. The aggressive dreg had most likely paid off the vandals and captain, and they were there to assist. He wanted to protest, to denounce the aggressive dreg, but in truth, he could do nothing but accept his fate. Hierarchy matter to the Fallen, and whatever those above you say, you follow it no matter what.
And like that, Raviks became an exile and he wandered the Tangled Shore, stealing as many scraps and supplies as possible just to get by. It had seemed like a hopeless situation, but Raviks only saw it as a chance to become stronger. To prove his old House that exiling him had been a terrible idea. Then, he met Thosis, the captain of his now-deceased crew.
Thosis was a dreamer, he always thought big, and acted bigger. Raviks had first met Thosis after he had stolen from a pirate gang. He had taken some shank parts and had used those parts to create a heavy shank so he could protect himself. Thosis appeared not long after when Raviks had settled for the night after setting up a campfire. Thosis had appeared from the dark, which surprised Raviks and almost caused the heavy shank to fire. Thosis raised his four hands in surrender and said:
"I only approached because I was curious about that heavy shank you have."
Raviks narrowed his eyes suspiciously but eventually relented. However, he kept the heavy shanks guns on Thosis, "What's it to you?"
Thosis either ignored or didn't care about his suspicion, "I just find it odd that a dreg would be here all by himself with only a heavy shank to accompany him. Not just that, but that shank very well put together for something that looks like it was made of scraps."
Thosis talked a lot, Raviks thought at the time, "Yeah, well. If I had better materials, I could make something better."
Thosis just stared at Raviks, as he seemed to think things over and eventually he looked like he came to a conclusion. What that conclusion was, Raviks didn't know, and to be honest he didn't want to know.
"You're an interesting dreg," Thosis finally said, "Wanna join my crew?"
Raviks raised an eyebrow unconvinced, "What, do you want my technical knowledge? If so, no because-"
"Nah you just seem like a funny dreg to talk to," Thosis said bluntly, "Though the techy stuff is just a plus. You seem like someone who'd be fun to have around."
Raviks shut up at that. He was completely dumbfounded. This captain shows up out of the blue, showing up only to question him about his shank, just to eventually ask him to join his crew because he "seemed like a funny dreg to talk to". To be honest, Raviks was intrigued, but more in a morbid curiosity type of way. He was curious to see how this would end up.
"What are you even trying to do?" It was a simple question, as I was just trying to ascertain his goals.
Instead, Thosis gave him a cheeky look, before he went on a whole tirade on how he planned to create the most feared and dangerous Fallen pirate crew in the entire galaxy. It was a simple goal. So simple that Raviks was sure the majority of pirate crews wanted it. However, the way Thosis portrayed himself and his goals were in such a... inspiring way. Like he knew that he would reach his goals and that it wasn't some dream off in the stars.
"So, you gonna join or what?" Thosis said after finishing his speech. He held out an open three-fingered hand, and Raviks stared at it in contemplation. Raviks thought before shaking his head and grabbing Thosis's hand.
"I don't know where this will lead," Raviks started, "But I'm curious to see where it will go."
"Nice to have you onboard," Thosis said casually, "The name's Thosis."
"Raviks."
"Well Raviks, time to meet the crew."
Raviks didn't know it then, but meeting Thosis was the greatest thing to happen to him. After their first meeting, Raviks met Thosis's crew, and while they were cautious they were definitely welcoming. It wasn't long until they went from a crew of pirates to a band of friends and comrades searching for glory and wealth. In the next six months, they had only grown a bit, however, each new member only strengthened their bond. Raviks thought that they would be able to reach Thosis's goal.
Now though, that thought was unlikely.
Thosis, his friends were killed by that strange vandal. Now he was left with only anger and sadness. He only wanted one thing: to find out who that vandal was and rip his head off and put it on a pike for the galaxy to see. Unlike the thoughtless rage of others, Raviks' rage was focused, it motivated him to do what he needed to do.
However, Raviks wasn't dumb. He saw the strength and speed the vandal displayed, and at the end of the skirmish, he saw the truth. Somehow that vandal had acquired a ghost, and it had become a light bearer. Raviks didn't know how, as light-bearers were usually human, awoken, or exo. He's never heard of a Fallen light bearer. The how doesn't matter, it just means he'll need to adjust his plans.
Raviks needs to become stronger, so he'll need ether. Luckily, his crew had recently stolen a broken servitor from one of the Houses. It was a huge feat for them, and it would've helped grow the crew's strength. Now they were gone, but if one good thing came out of this, it was that he could use all the ether from the servitor and become stronger. First, he just needs to fix it.
He can hash out the rest of the plan later, but for now, he'll get to work on fixing the servitor. Raviks stopped himself as he looked out to the bodies of the crew. He needs to bury them first. As he did so, Raviks looked out to the direction the light bearer vandal left. Anger bubbled in his gut, but he didn't let it consume him.
I promise you. When I find you...
I will kill you.
A/N: Ah, you gotta love the butterfly effect.
Four's actions here have changed a lot without him noticing, but it will take a while for it to become apparent to him. Raviks is a character I came up with rather recently but is someone who will play a central part in this story in the future. This won't be the last you'll see him as I'll most likely write interludes to give the readers a heads up on what he's doing.
Anyways, what did you guys think about the fight? I'm not very confident in writing them, but I still at least try to so I could improve. Other than that, I hope y'all have a nice day, and comments and criticisms are welcome.