CHAPTER 3
The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes was power, a raging inferno of flames surrounded me looking around to my left and right i noticed i was standing atop the ruined tower immediately i sensed the arrows coming at me i merely lifted my hands to either side of me, the arrows coming for me burst into flames before turning into ash and blowing away in the wind looking at the directions the arrows came from i spotted 5 of the Gatling crossbows hidden in various points in the forest breathing in and out and out of instinct i closed my eyes and focused on the Gatling crossbows feeling a rush of heat i opened my eyes and looked around me noticing that all the Gatling crossbows burst into flames and soon the flames disappeared leaving a smell of smoke in the air the flames surrounding me suddenly dissipated leaving me drained walking to the tree that's growing out of the towers top i sat down on a rather large root before leaning against the trunk and pinching the bridge of my nose.
'Wait where are my glasses?' I looked around since my glasses were no longer on my face. I spotted them right where I resurrected, split in two with the lenses cracked. Mentally sighing i reached for the my bag but stopped myself from opening it 'come to think of it i probably shouldn't exchange anything at the moment'
Sighing I looked to my ghost for some confirmation 'and I've got to assume that fire was the Sunsinger class right?' I thought to my ghost as I tried to pop my back a bit. hearing the pop of my back I then leaned back against the tree.
'you're right about the Sunsinger class Guardian' my ghost said as he appeared next to me while flying to the ruined Gatling crossbow and started to scan the destroyed mechanism.
"why would it activate though?" I questioned as I looked at my ghost scan the remains of the weapon with the blue scan light flashing occasionally. My ghost eventually flew back to me before stopping in front of me and showing a blue screen.
"My guess guardian is that Sunsinger was activated due to the situation with the key factors being you dead and me in a hostile area" i nodded to my ghost and looked at the screen he was displaying, on it was a schematic for those Gatling crossbows the weapon was built on a 360 degree swivel meaning that the bows could hit in every direction and from the looks of it it had limited vertical movement along with no horizontal movement but due to the swivel it could still hit pretty much everywhere except right on top of it. There was also a mechanism that reloaded bolts from a quiver that was attached behind the crossbow.
"None of this makes sense it seems to be way too advanced for middle earth i mean the dwarves could probably pull this off but then again the reloading function is still a bit of a stretch…and wait why can i read this?" Squinting at the screen I realized that I could actually read it, looking at my ghost with a raised eyebrow I left the unanswered question to him.
"My guess is that your vision was fixed when you were revived" my ghost then shut off the screen and flew to my left shoulder and hovered just above it. "although from what i could gather from your memories an elf with glasses is just plain idiotic".
"...well that's true but still I'd like to think it makes me...unique?" With a sideways glance at my ghost I could tell it was unimpressed "yeah nevermind it is a pretty stupid concept, at least I don't have to wear glasses anymore I suppose" and with that I stood up from the tree root and walked back to the staircase.
Standing at the top I looked back at the ruined weapon "the only way to figure out what this stuff is to go down the stairs and see if there's anything in the basement". Walking down the spiral staircase I eventually came down to the base floor. At this point the light from the moon was little so before I went down the stairs further my ghost lit his flashlight and with that I walked down into the basement.
The staircase descended for a while and after the 130th step the staircase finally ended, at the bottom of the staircase was a long hallway heavy with the scent of mold and rain. I started down the dark hallway, the only sounds were my feet hitting the stone floor after walking for a bit I came across a small square room with a large stone archway with 2 black colored doors that seemed to be made out of some kind of wood. Next to the doorway on its left was a stone pedestal that reached 4 feet off the ground but the most striking thing about the room was all the damage the floor was cracked in places there was also scorch marks all along the floor and the door and right near the door was a scorch mark in the shape of something humanoid.
"Ghost do you have any idea what this room is and why it's so damaged? "walking to the scorch mark in the shape of something bipedal i crouched down next to it and put my right finger in the long dried scorch mark and when my finger touched the soot my finger become numb, quickly retracting my hand and rubbing the soot on my clothes I asked my ghost "that is not soot".
Flying over and scanning the soot marks my ghost flew back to me "you're half right it is soot but the thing is it's...tainted".
"And by tainted you mea-" I was cut off however by a loud bang coming from inside the door followed by the sound of splintering wood looking over to the door I could see it starting to crack. "tell me later ghost i think whatever's coming through that door is probably not friendly" my ghost fizzled away and when he fully disappeared the door split from its hinges and what came out surprised me more than anything I've seen in the past few hours.
A taken from destiny but not just any taken, a taken Guardian. The taken had a massive black and white sword that resembled clouds sword from final fantasy piercing its chest. What was once a helmet was a single white eye that faded to grey then black the arms reached the floor even though the taken was barely hunched, with 5 black claw like fingers on each hand that were dragging across the stone floor. What was once a cloak was tattered and torn the same color as the rest of the taken Guardian.
"SCREEEEEECCCCCCCHHHHH" the taken let out an inhuman screech and lunged at me with its claws. Jumping to the side and dodging its claws i punched it with my right hand but since there was no light behind it, it was just a normal attack. "the hell" i said as the punch didn't produce any light, the taken wasn't even phased as it swiped at me. Leaning back from the claws I just barely managed to dodge.
'Guardian don't use your right arm the light won't be able to flow through it' my ghost warned me as i tried to hit the taken again.
"Now you tell me!" Dodging another swipe I channel the energy to my left fist, I felt the familiar crackle of arc energy as my fist connected to the takens face. The taken stumbled back from the hit as the electricity coursed through its body but it quickly bounced back and swiped at my chest. Causing me to stumble back thankfully it didn't cut too deep but it was still enough to make me bleed and to make my already blood stained clothes look even more ruined.
'Guardian try to remove the sword that's impaling the taken from what i can see it has the same energy as the soot from earlier meaning that the sword is most likely what corrupted the Guardian in the first place' sidestepping another swipe i tried a void jump. Pulling in the energy from my left hand to my body I felt the familiar chill and pressure but before I could reappear behind him the taken guardian reached its claw into the purple and black flames causing me to reappear in a random spot on the right of the room.
When my body reappeared i wasn't able to stand long because along with a taken limb that burst into white flames leaving a scorch mark my left arm was crippled due to the interference from the taken.
"Shhhhiiii-" i was cut off however when the taken ran up to me whilst slowly regenerating its arm. "ghost...can't...channel...my...light" i said through gasps the taken just kept coming at me. Left, right, up, down I just kept dodging it. My left arm was heavily bleeding and broken. I could even see the bone sticking out of it in at least three places.
'guardian breath you can't keep fighting for long I need to heal your arm, remember remove the sword' nodding my head i grit my teeth as i dodged another swipe this time stepping towards the taken. At this point the taken had completely regenerated its arm, the taken then swung both its clawed hands at me but i managed to roll underneath them and crouch jump around it i then flipped around on the balls of my feet while still in a crouch and lunged at the takens back. Using my one good right arm i grabbed the sword handle and pulled but what greeted me was the same numbing feeling that i had when i touched the soot earlier. The taken however when i touched the blade seemed to shriek even louder and tried to violently shake me off of it. My right hand still gripping the blade i jumped and put both my feet on the takens lower back and pushed off it trying to free the blade from the taken and the more i pulled the harder the taken resisted me. The blade was slipping from the taken but then it fully came out sending me crashing to the ground and with a final shriek the taken guardian collapsed onto the ground falling face first and in an explosion of white flame the taken died leaving a humanoid shaped scorch mark on the stone floor.
Panting heavily with the sword still in my grasp i then started to laugh which then turned into a hysterical laugh when i realized that i just somehow managed to kill a taken a taken guardian at that. Calming down a bit i then started to think of what i just saw and did but i couldn't think very much because the pain that was returning from the lack of adrenaline was quite something. That and now looking at my arms i realized just how bad my left arm was, then i took a look at my right arm which by now i had lost all the feeling from my forearm down and k realized just why i couldn't feel it my right arm was being corrupted and was turning into a taken arm the feeling and black color of my arm was slowly spreading.
"That's bad, really bad," I said while trying to move my arm and to release the blade from my grasp.
"Guardian whatever that sword is, it's corrupting your light and turning it into that of a takens darkness" my ghost said after appearing and taking a look at the sword that was slowly corrupting me. My ghost tried to get near it but it seemed that it was repelled by the blade. "Guardian you need to get rid of this blade before it completely takes over you and your light"
Nodding my head I moved my left arm but I seemed to forget just how bad of a shape that it was in. "care to heal this first '' I said to my ghost while trying to move my arm to it. My ghost immediately flew over and started to heal the arm, the arm slowly but surely was healed with the bones shifting into place followed by the skin stretching and pulling back into place. One great thing I found about the healing was that it also numbed the pain whilst it healed the wounded area. With my left hand completely healed i channeled light through it and tried to remove the sword but instead of removing the blade, the blade instead sheened in a black smoke and the corruption speeded up with my elbow now completely corrupted. Quickly retracting my left hand I looked to my ghost for help.
Noticing the look my ghost said "your going to have to try and amputate your arm because i can't get close to the blade and your light just seems to speed up the corruption" a little shocked at this answer I still nodded and stood up from the ground i was lying on. Looking at the hallway i quickly dismissed the idea of going back up as by the time i reached the top i would probably be half taken by then. My only real option was to hope that the door the taken came from had something I could use to amputate my arm. Running to the doorway with my arm and sword dragging behind me i went past the doorway and ran into what seemed to be an armory, thankful for the luck i went to look for something to chop off my arm and eventually i found a rack of swords but most of them were broken but there was still one that was long enough that could get the job done. Grabbing the blade I took a quick look at it, the blade handle was a white leather material, the blade itself was a deep red with streaks of silver running through it, the blade was broken at the end leaving the double sided blade with no end point. Gripping the blade handle with my left hand I took it to just below my shoulder as the corruption had reached there by now. Gritting my teeth i started to cut into my skin and strangely enough i didn't feel any pain so i just kept going and with one final saw motion the corrupted arm holding the sword fell off and fell to the floor with a clang the arm burst into white flames soon after leaving the black and white blade lying on the armory floor.
"Thanks ghost for numbing the pain" I said with a tired voice. I then took a look at my stump of an arm. "Any chance you could heal this?" Looking at my ghost with a hint of nervousness in my voice.
After a long pause my ghost responded. "under normal circumstances yes but I'm afraid that due to that limb being corrupted by darkness i can no longer regrow it '' looking down at my feet i stumbled a bit before walking to a wall that didn't hold weapons and slid down it. Silence soon found me and my ghost as we or in my ghosts case floated, sat still. After a few minutes of just sitting in silence I broke the silence.
"losing an arm is better than being turned into a taken at least" my ghost just looked at me before sighing and seemed to nod somehow. "although i would like to know how a taken from destiny is somehow in middle earth" as i finished saying that a bright blue flash of light happened and a guardian appeared in front of me although she was see through and judging by the cloak she was wearing my guess was that she was a hunter.
"I know not who has found there way into my tower whether they be a fellow guardian or a resident of middle earth, but what i do know is that you managed to get past the trials keeping my tower concealed and for that i say congratulations, however i must keep this short and get to the point, me and my raid team after slaying the taken king oryx were not able to escape one last trap that he set up a large portal ripped us away from oryx's throne room and placed on a planet that we would learn was called middle earth, at first it surprised us that there were humans here and that there technological level was that of far before the golden age, thinking that we were somehow thrown far into the past we decided to go into hiding waiting for the eventual arrival of the traveler but as time went on we realized that this world we were in was in fact not our earth and when we finally realized this we learned of a war with strange wraith like creatures. When me and my party got together to discuss this news we sent out a scout and when our scout returned our worst fears were realized, oryx the taken king was still alive and he was working to control middle earth along with a being of darkness called Sauron. Steeling our resolve to see oryx dead we sought out the forces of light, when we finally found the last alliance as they were called we were shocked to find beings of light who were on par with guardians. the lady Galadriel, Gandalf the grey, and Saruman the white were the most powerful out of those who wielded the light, joining the alliance explaining our goals and sharing our information about oryx we set out to the last battle one where we would end oryx's rain. After a long hard fought battle we eventually came across oryx in his throne room, after a long battle we managed to kill him but we couldn't end his soul, we tried to go into his ascendant realm to finish him off but we were stopped by his lieutenants killing all but 1 of them, but at this point oryx had sealed the door to his realm, so instead of going after him to end him we sealed him inside with 5 keys so that he could never escape. Destroying the keys however would mean letting oryx loose so the other 5 of my team took the keys and they then went into hiding leaving me as the fail safe knowing their locations just in case they were discovered. My team and i learned that Sauron was slain so we told them what happened on our end and our plan, the elves helped with choosing locations for my team and the dwarves helped build weapons and towers to protect them the wizards helped erect illusions to hide us and when the final member of my team was safely hidden i too hid, sadly however the last lieutenant of oryx found me i killed him but with his final breath he pierced his sword through me, the blade slowly corrupted me so i made this recording and three trials to try and find a successor...guardian, elf, dwarf, human i no not who you are but i ask you to remember that should oryx escape this world will fall"
A long silence came upon me as the recording of the guardian faded out leaving me and my ghost in silence. I looked at the blade lying on the ground then I realized the taken guardian I killed earlier was the one who made the recording."...this is bad"
"You're right about that," my ghost said as he flew over to scan the place the recording happened as I looked at the armory now that I had time to take in the details. The room was a long rectangle with weapons lining each side of the room. I was facing the busted down doors of the room that was just barely hanging on by its hinges. I was against a stone wall with a wooden door to my left that was slightly swinging inward to what I assumed was another room. My ghost returned a few moments later, "here's what i found about the recording its old at least 50 years and after it played it was destroyed, the recording came from ghost shell"
"I'm assuming that was her ghost" my ghost looked me in the eye before confirming my assumption. Standing back up and looking at the ruined weapons scattered across the room i looked to the door on my left walking to it i put my right arm out to open it but since i didn't have that anymore all i did was move my shoulder a bit. "I'm gonna have to get used to that...at least I'm left handed" using my left arm I pushed open the room and inside it was a bedroom with a ruined queen sized bed. There were also two guns framed above the bed that were slightly askew in their frame. When I stepped through the door frame a black piece of paper appeared in front of me.
"I see you have found out the history of this world and knowing your confusion yes this is an alternative universe, I'm going to have to cash one of the favors you owe me you see i may have accidentally created this world when i placed another person in the world of destiny they got powerful very quickly and in an effort to power escalate the universe created a stronger oryx this lead to the person being killed when they killed oryx's son, Oryx eventually learned dimensional travel and when a raid team killed him he activated a fail safe and well you know the rest so your payment for the bag is to kill oryx so with that this'll probably be my last letter at least for a little while so see ya try not to get killed oh and oryx won't be freed till around the time of lord of the rings so yeah have fun while ya still can bye" and with that the letter disintegrated. With a blank face I walked to the ruined bed and sat down on it and I closed my eyes trying to process all that I learned in the last hour. I didn't even realize I fell asleep.
I eventually woke up feeling incredibly rested and with a much clearer mind. I looked to find my ghost but I couldn't find him. "ghost?" I said as I used my left arm to push me up and off the ruined bed. A crackle of pale blue electricity greeted me along with my ghost appearing in said electricity.
"I'm here guardian and i must say I'm glad you actually got some sleep for once" said my ghost as he flew over to me and looked me over. "yes quite glad"
I hadn't even realized how tired I must have been for my ghost to feel worried. "Thanks for worrying me how long I was out?"
"Nearly 3 days" I did a double take at that then realization struck me. I missed the company by three days now. "and i must ask guardian what are your plans for that letter"
"I was planning on fighting oryx as soon as i found out he was here and i don't like owing favors to a god of any sort let alone one drunk with power" i said walking over to the guns that were displayed over the bed. There were two hand cannons that were crossing to form an x shape. The two guns were instantly recognizable to me, hawkmoon was on the left and ace of spades was on the right.
"I don't know why she had ace of spades or hawkmoon for that matter but I won't complain". Reaching up and grabbing the two hand cannons from the display, I put them both on the bed before I realized a slight problem. For one thing they were on display most likely due to lack of ammo and I didn't have a way to carry them.
"Wait, I somehow keep forgetting I have a magic bag." I reached for my bag that somehow didn't receive any damage or stain for that matter with my left hand and flipped it open revealing the swirling void inside it. But before I reached my hand inside it I stopped remembering the cost of creating something from it without something to exchange. Closing the bag back up I walked into the Amory and looked for something to exchange, picking up a few broken swords and shoving them in the bag. I stopped when I figured I had put in enough. Now putting my hand in the bag I thought of a holster for the two guns and when I felt something I pulled out two holsters that connected to a belt. The holsters were a shiny grey color with the belt being a dark brown leather. Putting the two belts on with a holster on either side of my legs I realized just how long it took to put these on with one arm.
"I'm going to have to get used to this" i mumbled under my breath as i headed back to the bedroom where i laid the two guns, putting hawk moon in my left holster and ace of spades in my right i then walked back into the armory looking for something else i might need when i left the tower to try and find the company. After a few minutes of not finding anything i caught sight of the taken sword lying in the middle of the room, i then got an idea as to how to get rid of the blade walking up to the massive blade i laid the bag and flipped it open laying it at the swords handle and i gently moved the watching it slowly consume it as i moved it to further take the sword. When the bag had finally swallowed the sword I picked up the bag and wrapped it around my shoulder, having it land on my left thigh. When I looked at the void in the bag I was surprised to see it changed its color to a bright gold.
"That's new" curious i reached my hand into the bag and i was able to feel a handle and when my fingers wrapped around it i felt a surge of warmth flow through me pulling the handle out i saw a hilt followed by a sheath that was about as thick as my hand, fully pulling the blade out the bag the void went back to its normal purple and black color. I looked at the sheath and handle of the blade. The sheath was a light blue leather with a grey metal handle. The sheath was a long square that almost reached my entire height and being 6 3 meant it's quite something. Putting the sheath in my right armpit i pulled the blade out of its sheath i first saw a crystal that went from light blue to dark blue at the edges, pulling out the blade further i saw the crystal connected to a long silver blade that had an outline going to the bottom of the sheath with a few pieces of metal connecting the outline in a regular pattern every few inches.
"Bolt-caster" the blade was one of three exotics swords from destiny 1."a sword of darkness for a sword of light…a fitting exchange" with i smile i sheathed the bolt-caster and walked to the bedroom with it in a tight grip.
Not even thinking I reached into my bag and pulled out something that I could attach bolt-caster to and I pulled it out, feeling dizzy when I pulled out the strap I sat down on the ruined bed and just breathed. After a few minutes and cursing myself for being so stupid i stood back up and headed for the staircase but before i even left the room i realized i hadn't seen my ghost.
"Ghost where are you "I called to the empty rooms and a few seconds later my ghost appeared from underneath the bed.
"Sorry about that but i managed to find a secret path underneath the bed, ah and i seen you've been busy finding new equipment" nodding my head at my ghost. I lolled at the bed and pushed it aside revealing a trap door that had fallen down due to wood rot.
"Huh neat, looks like there's still more to explore here" i said while moving to just above the trap door and looking into the dark tunnel.
"Actually when you were out these past few days i explored the tunnel and found that it connects to an exit just above a cave system and judging from the mild and moss growing in the tunnel i assumed that it lead to the outside world, a hidden passage of escape if you will" looking at my ghost and smiling i kicked in the remains of the trap door and jumped inside the tunnel i had to crouch down if i wanted to get through the tunnel. My ghost flew ahead of me before I started down the tunnel lighting its flashlight so that I could see it.
After a few minutes i had to eventually army crawl along the tunnel due to it being very small at this point i had yet to put my sword on its belt and I was glad i did because even the holsters on my sides were being squished from the tightness of the tunnel. And after a half hour of crawling I came upon a light at the end of the tunnel that was overgrown with leaves but that's not the only thing i could sense, i could hear someone talking just below the tunnel exit, crawling to just before the tunnel exit i could hear the tail end of a conversation.
"True courage is not knowing when to take a life but when to spare one" with the largest smile since i came to middle earth i pushed aside the leaves and crawled out the exit, falling flat on my face with bolt-caster clanging to the ground next me when i did so. I could see a group of dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard all staring at me. And surprisingly enough I saw the actor's who played them but instead the proper heights of their respective races.
"Well nice to meet you all I suppose" looking around at the company I smiled and stood up although I quickly regretted it when a few of the younger looking dwarves pulled out their weapons.
"Ah right". 'I'm an elf'