Chapter 1: The Fires of Change
The last city burned. Smoke rose from the many fires that raged untamed across the skyline, their orange glow illuminating the ruins of the once proud city. The twisting maze of streets and alleyways were in chaos and the lumbering shades of Cabal ships hung in the sky, their forms obscured by the pall of smoke that covered the city. They circled like vultures and dropped Cabal reinforcements wherever an ounce of resistance sought to stand against them.
Their slow, lumbering movements as they cut across the mid-morning sky was in stark contrast to the numerous firefights occurring in the streets below. Small groups of citizens and light-less guardians fought under the gaze of their restrained god, its once pure white exterior covered by a black carapace. Even in its captured state it dominated the sky, even now providing a trickle of light to the beaten and worn Guardians on the ground. Those who received it doing their best to beat back waves of Cabal soldiers, the enemy that had killed so many of their brothers and sisters.
Despite the best efforts of the hunters, titans and warlocks on the ground only a single guardian, the strongest of them all and sole bearer of the light, made it aboard the flagship above. He was their best and last hope at defeating Ghaul, and returning the city back to what it once was.
Even though their guardians had fallen, thousands of ghost's flitted through the numerous engagements on the ground, giving all they had to heal their once invincible guardians. Many wounds the light-less guardians might have once shrugged off, killed them where they stood. Brutal in their efficiency, The Red Legion slowly made ground against the defenders of the city.
The Last Guardian gazed down to the city below and witnessed his home burn. He clearly saw the front-line of Guardians being pushed steadily back, towards the towering walls that ringed the city. Outgunned and outmatched they fought on, giving all they had to simply slow the Legions inexorable advance. He tore his eyes away from the battle and focused forward, towards the keystone of the battle and their only chance at victory. Moving toward his goal, he began obliterating all that stood in his way. Laying a path of blood to Ghaul.
On the ground below the front-line began to slow and steadily came to a halt. The Red Legion was stunned as the Guardians began fighting in unison, slowly breaking the uniform lines of Legionnaires and starting to make ground towards the center of the city, slowly crushing the enemy force against itself. A titan strode to the front and bellowed orders, his aura of courage reinvigorating the nearly broken lines of guardians and humans. He was a legend among legends, his name was Atlas, Slayer of Riksis. His battlefield awareness and tactical strategy converted the lone fire-teams of guardians into a more effective combined unit, that was making mincemeat of the Cabal offensive.
"Fight my brothers and sisters!" Gesturing to the guardians around him, "This is our city and I'll be damned if they take it from us!" He then pulled a sword of his back and swung it forward, its edge rippling with golden flames which deepened the shadows across his helm.
With a roar he charged forward, a simple battlecry leaving his lips "For the city!"
The massed lines of guardians answered in kind, and rushed forward as one, their combined footfalls obscuring the streets in a cloud of dust. Thousands of rounds were fired in seconds as guardians of all races and classes unleashed volleys of concentrated fire at the Legion in front of them. Even the rows of Phalanx shields could not hold against their combined efforts and the Cabal line slowly faltered, before shattering into a mass of individual units who quickly began retreating back to their dropships.
The guardian looked down from the cruiser and was stunned to see the Red Legion being pushed back. He stood for a moment, entranced by the bravery of his fellow Guardians, before returning his gaze forwards to the Dominus himself.
"They won't last long" His ghost whispered, shell drawing in tight against itself.
"I know" The guardian replied, his voice even and cold despite the chaos surrounding him, "we'll make it count".
After pushing through waves of Ghaul's elite the last guardian stood alone, facing down the usurper that stole the light. His resistance was the last obstacle in the way of Ghaul's ascension. The conquering Dominus himself stood upon his cruiser, bathed in the light he stole. It swirled around him in an untamed vortex, fueling his body and allowing him access to the powers of The Traveler. Immortality and power filled his being, as his grim visage split into a smile. Fighting in the streets dulled as the denizens of the city and the Cabal, watched with equal parts fear and awe as he harnessed the power of the light through sheer force of will and took it upon himself. The Last Guardian stood against him, a beacon to the light-less on the ground, and the only one who could still stop the Dominus before his completed his ascension.
"Ah, the light-bearer," Ghaul stepped out from the swirling vortex and gestured to The Guardian in front of him, "You have been quite the thorn in my side.. destroying the 'Almighty' was quite the accomplishment", he paused for a moment before turning to gaze at the Traveler, "However It was an effort in futility, you cannot hope to stop me now".
The Guardian looked down and sighed heavily, "Well, that never stopped me before"
Not waiting a moment longer he squared his shoulders and charged Ghaul, seeking to end the fight quickly as his own light reserves could not hope to last against Ghaul's almost incalculable stores. Ghaul answered the cry with a roar and charged right back, body literally glowing with a barely constrained power. The unkillable Dominus and the Last Guardian met with booming retort, which echoed across the battlefield below and broke the silence as the guardians on the ground resumed their pitched battle with the Red Legion
The duel above raged, Dominus against Legend, as flashes of void, arc and solar energy flashed across the sky, reflecting off the travelers covered form. The lights and sounds of the epic confrontation the only indication that any fight was happening at all.
All seemed lost until the echoes of battle finally disappeared into a crushing silence. It enveloped the city like a blanket and both sides waited for some sign of triumph. The city was completely silent for the first time in millennia, all waited with bated breath hoping that they would see their respective hero standing tall in victory. The suffocating silence was broken by the the defenders cries of victory. For standing above them was the small shadow of The Guardian outlined by the immensity of the Traveler behind him.
The celebrating guardians were stunned into silence however, when the guardian standing tall collapsed and fell from the sky, The moment of triumph turned to one of horror. When the lifeless body hit the ground. The unerring crash echoed across the city and was felt by every man, woman and child still present. The lumbering form of Ghaul moved up to where the guardian was standing just moments before. His immense form silhouetted by the traveler behind him.
A faint corona of light surrounded Ghaul amplifying his voice to reach the ears of all still in the last city
"Come my brothers and sisters, we have a galaxy to conquer.. Leave these light-less cowards to themselves, they are of no threat to us anymore"
The stomp of the Cabal's armored feet amplified and made louder by the streets of the city spread quickly, worming its way into the ears of all who bore witness. Their quick march back to their ships taking seconds, a contrast to the slow retreat just moments before.
Guardians and humans alike cried out in despair as their crippled god rose with the ships into orbit and sped off into the depths of space. The Traveler lost and their light gone many fell to the ash covered ground and wept, their loss echoed a thousand-fold by the ghosts who remained. After a moment those ghosts returned to their sorely wounded and began the slow process of healing the broken few who still remained.
Deep in the wilds of the EDZ a rickety bar existed to serve the few settlers that made a home so far from civilization. While it slowly crumbled many a person stopped to quench their thirst or drown their sorrow. In this backwater, a lone exo lay his head on his arms. His aging chassis bore the scars and scratches that afflicted all Guardians, none of them got off scot-free and he in particular had been dealing with the repercussions for quite some time. His once stately robes were in tatters, stained from excessive use and in dire need of repair. At this point they were more patches than original cloth, much like himself. The bond he once wore so proudly, a trophy from some long-forgotten battle on the lunar surface, was strangely absent from his bicep, the only remainder was a strip of unstained cloth on his robes, a reminder of his glory days.
He had been trekking through the wilderness trying to find someway to restore his light, following in the footsteps of 'The Guardian' when he stumbled upon this out of the way oasis. He had been relaxing, trying to recover some of his strength before continuing his search, when the call came through over his radio. The guardians were making a last ditch attempt to take down Ghaul before he finished the construction of the light trap that covered The Traveler, a foolhardy endeavour that would just get them killed. He had run thousands of simulations that all pointed to the same outcome. Ghaul would win, and they would lose. His ghost hovered nearby, clearly bothered by his guardians inaction.
"Ashton…" He sighed heavily, expanding his shell and raising his voice he tried again
"Ashton!" he yelled, finally gaining his attention, "would you listen to me for a second?"
Instead of answering, he simply nodded
"We need to go to the city, its our last chance to end this invasion and get our light back and you know just as well as I do that there won't be another chance like this"... Ghost hovered for a moment, letting his words sink in. Before he could continue he was interrupted by Ashton
"Go ahead" He mumbled, "Go ahead and die" his voice trailed off into silence.
"You know we can't afford to stay, this is the last hope we have of beating him" Ghost argued, trying to make his guardian see reason.
"No… we couldn't beat him before and we had the light, and the full strength of the city" The logic in his head preventing him from seeing the bigger picture, "Now he has control of the light and is on territory he controls" Ashton shook his head and turned his eyes back to the glass in front of him, "we've both run the simulations, it's an impossible fight"
"But we have to-" Ghost retorted before being cut-off by a now shouting Ashton
"We don't have to do anything!" He stood up and pointed a finger a Ghost, "All we will find at the city is our death's", he paused for a moment before returning to his seat, before turning his head towards Ghost, "And I'm not ready to go just yet"
His ghost looked down for a moment before returning his single glowing optic to Ashtons own lidded eyes.
"Please don't make me do this alone" Ghost pleaded, the barest hint of desperation rising in his voice
Hesitating for the briefest of moments Ashton paused, then turned back to his drink and took a deep drought before returning his head back to his arms.
"Fine" His ghost spoke with no trace of emotion, "Don't look for me". After waiting a moment longer to see if Ashton would change his mind, he sped off towards the city.
Ashton waved at the bartender who filled slowly walked over and filled his cup with an unknown beverage. Swiping at the drink he downed it in one go, closing his eyes as small tears ran down his cheeks. Slowly wiping them away he returned his head to his arms, and settled in for the long night.
Wow, first chapter up and I have to say I'm super excited about this story. Leave a review if you like it so far and as always constructive criticism is appreciated.
-The Beagle