Chapter 6
Zepheron woke up in the room Oryx had given him and looked over at his clock. In the pitch blackness, the clock was the only source of light and it read, 9:30am. Zeph got up and carefully made his way through the darkness to the lightswitch, which he flipped on. The lights came on instantly with blinding radiance, causing Zeph to flinch and cover his eyes. Zeph moved his hand away from his eyes and squinted against the light until his eyes adjusted. Zeph looked around at the dark brown bare walls and the untouched space in the room. The only things in the room were a nightstand with a black clock and a large king size bed which sat in the corner of the room. Zeph sighed in exasperation. Zeph picked his helmet up of the nightstand and placed it on his head. His armor sealed the helmet on with a hiss and a click. Zeph wiped the dirt off his armor and opened the small door that sat in the middle of one of the empty walls. Zeph slept in his armor every night now. After the first night, when he was attacked by a Thrall, he had decided that even though it is slightly uncomfortable, it was better than being dead.
"Guardian, report to Oryx's private study. He wishes to speak with you." A Hive Wizard informed him in her surprisingly nice and sing song sweet voice, as she floated past with a small cluster of Acolytes following her. Zeph smiled and waved at the Wizard and she smiled and waved back. Zeph walked out of his doorway and shut the door behind him and made his way towards Oryx's study. Zeph had been living in Oryx's palace for several months now and he found that the Hive he'd fought all those years before he was taken, were not the monsters he had thought they were. Well, besides the Thrall. They were monsters through and through. The Wizard that had passed him, her name was Zara. She was one of Oryx's daughters and the most lusted for by the Knights and Acolytes. Zara had no interest for them though, she had made it very clear through her actions that she was considerably interested in Zeph. Zeph wouldn't lie, something about Zara interested him too, but that wasn't important right then, Oryx wanted him.
Zeph walked into Oryx's study and found him standing in front of a large board, which was clearly the map of Earth's solar system. Oryx had marked out the areas on the map that each group controlled. The map was perfectly color coordinated. White for the Guardians, Green for the Hive and Taken, Blue for the Cabal, red for the Vex, and purple for the Fallen. Most of the map was covered in white, which seemed to be pissing Oryx off. Zeph shut the door and sat down in his normal chair.
"Do you know why we are trying to destroy the traveller and it's light?" Oryx snarled at Zeph without turning around.
"Because you feel like it? Maybe you want control of the universe? I don't know." Zeph yawned back.
"If only that were all. The Hive had hated the Traveller and it's light for hundreds of thousands of years. But, it wasn't always that way. We used to be friends with the Traveller. In fact, before we were enemies, There were Hive that were Guardians. Back in that time, we were not referred to as Hive. We were the Zanders. We were more like you than you think. For several hundred years, We protected the Traveller from its enemies, but one day, we managed to destroy the travellers enemies. That night, the apparently dying Traveller, disappeared, and our Guardians with it. We were worried, but we heard nothing. For a hundred years, we heard nothing. Then, one day, the Traveller returned. But it didn't return in the way we thought it would. Instead of coming back and bringing us out of the dark ages we'd fallen back into, it returned with an army and tried to wipe us out. Naturally, we ran. We hid in our caves and mines. We lived in the dark, hiding from the new Guardians. We lived in the darkness for hundreds of years, and we adapted. We changed, we had been a trading planet, but when we came back out of hiding, we had been changed by the darkness. We had welcomed it, embraced it, and now, we controlled it. We came out in force, and wiped out the Guardians on the surface, and the Traveller fled. We chased it across the universe for hundreds of thousands of years with the goal of destroying as many of it's Guardians as it killed of our people. After a while, most of the Hive, for that was what we were now, had forgotten the original goal, and just seeked to destroy everything they could. I am the only descendant of the original Zanders who remembers the original mission. But, I no longer care for the original. If we do not exterminate all of the other species, they will rise up against us and oppose us. By the time we are done, the Light that destroyed my son shall be extinguished." Oryx took a huge breath before continuing, "The Light, shall never burn again."
Zeph sat in his chair, riveted to the spot by Oryx's ferocity, when Oryx turned to Zeph, with a look of rage in his eyes.
"Then there's you." Oryx snarled, "Telling me to my face that you are loyal, then plotting my downfall behind my back"
"How did you learn that?" Zeph asked surprised. Behind him, Zeph heard the doors to Oryx's study opened and Zeph turned to see Nissa prance into the room and sit down in the chair across from him.
"You need to be more careful who you trust, Zeph." Nissa purred as she adjusted herself in the chair. Zeph rolled his eyes, no longer surprised by Oryx's knowledge and sighed. Oryx chuckled and shut the doors.
"I must ask you Guardian, and answer truthfully, will you help me fight the Traveller, or will you help the light you have been severed from?" Oryx inquired, leaning back up against the wall. Zeph thought for several minutes until he made his decision.
"I shall aid you in your destruction of the Traveller." Zeph said, with his mind firmly made up, "Under one condition. No harm shall come to My mother."
"Who is your mother?" Oryx asked, confused.
"My mother is Queen of the Reef, Mara Sov." Zeph admitted.
"How is that possible, Guardians are revived from the dead." Nissa spluttered
"True, I was revived 3 weeks after my death. I was killed by Fallen while exploring Earth." Zeph said.
"Since I know this to be true, no harm shall fall upon Mara or her people, if they stay out of this. If they interfere, only Mara shall be spared." Oryx said. Zeph nodded in agreement and Oryx turned back to the map. Oryx tapped on Mars, and the map zoomed in to view only mars. Most of the map of Mars was Cabal controlled and Oryx growled. "Mars is our first target. The Cabal have taken control of much of mars, and the only parts free of Cabal control are controlled by Vex. The Vex are losing land though, thanks to our friend here," Oryx waved his hand at Zeph, who turned to see who Oryx was talking to and saw that the back wall had disappeared connecting Oryx's study to the war room where all of Oryx's generals stood and watched, "Who destroyed the heart of the Vex. Do not underestimate them though, the Vex are still formidable, and must be dealt with."
"What is the point in taking mars? We already have the moon. Why not invade them from their?" One of the generals snarled.
"If we attack Earth before we take Mars, what will keep the Cabal from coming to the Guardians aid? We know that they have managed to ally themselves with several Fallen Houses already. Two Guardians, known as Ana and Edward, have forged a secret alliance with the House of Devils, so once Mars is ours, we must then skip Earth, and take Venus. While we have the Guardians distracted, defending Mars and Venus, my Guardians shall Infiltrate the Tower and undermine it from the inside. The three Guardians in the Tower they will be gunning for are the three most hated of the Vanguard, Zavala the Titan, Ikora the Warlock, and Cayde the Hunter. They will be leaving in 1 hour. Are there any questions?"
"Can I go with him?" Zara asked from her position at the back of the group.
"How would you blend in?" Oryx snarled.
"I have learned to take on a Human form, and Zeph made me a pair of gloves that allow me to use a Guardian's powers. He said he got the idea from another Guardian." Zara muttered. Oryx turned to Zeph, who nodded in agreement, and sighed.
"I guess you can go. But if you are discovered, you will compromise the entire mission, and we will send in an army to extract you." Oryx growled. Zara nodded in understanding and shot out of the war room to ready herself.
An hour later, the three of them met up in the hangar by Zepheron's ship. Zeph was struck speechless when he say Zara approaching. Instead of being human, Zara had taken the form of an Awoken. Zara was about 5ft 6in, had a darker blue shade of skin which matched his perfectly, had brilliant blue eyes to match her skin, and wore dark purple armor with a skin tight battle suit that hugged her perfect hourglass figure. The one part of her Zeph couldn't keep his eyes off though, was her chest. Even in the thick armor, Zara's chest bounced as she made her way over to Zeph, swaying her hips as she went. Zara ran a hand through her pure white, shoulder length hair and looked away from Zeph's piercing stare. Nissa coughed and Zeph started guiltily and looked sheepishly over at Nissa. Nissa gave Zeph an evil look and then turned her back to him. Zeph turned his head and looked back at Zara, who was staring at Nissa, looking confused.
"I'll meet you at the cosmodrome." Nissa snarled before transmatting onto her ship.
"What's her problem?" Zara asked, looking offended.
"She's mad that you're more attractive than her, and you're not even a real Awoken." Zeph chuckled. Zara blushed and quickly put on her helmet to hide it.
"I have been working on something for us Zeph. I need to see your ghost real quick though." Zara said. As if it had heard her(which it had) Zeph's ghost materialized and floated into Zara's hand. In the other hand, Zara summoned a ball of green energy which she then fused with Zeph's ghost. Instantly, all of Zeph's helmet alarms went off at once and his ghost fell to the ground and shook before lying still. As quickly as they'd turned on, his alarms shut off and his ghost floated back up.
"What did you do to my ghost?" Zeph asked, scared.
"I infused it with a considerable amount of Hive magic, and you should feel the effects of it at any moment, because that Hive magic will meld with you as well, meaning you'll become part Hive. My dad showed me how to do that years ago." Zara said proudly. Zeph shrugged and sent his ghost up into his ship. A few seconds later, Zeph's ghost transmatted Zeph and Zara onto the ship.
"Welcome to my little house." Zeph said as he slipped into the pilot's seat. Zara gagged and covered her mouth.
"Could you warn me before doing that? It's a little disorienting." Zara groaned. Zeph chuckled and Zara whispered something.
"What was that?" Zeph asked Zara.
"Nothing, just talking to my new friend." Zara said. Zeph's eyes widened in shock when another Ghost materialized in front of Zara. The Ghost was a dark green and Hive magic flowed from it. "My dad had it made for me, he said that he got someone named Rasputin to make it."
"Oh god. That's not a good thing." Zeph said, "Rasputin is an AI that lives under the cosmodrome that was built for war, and to protect the Guardians." Zara looked at her ghost and it sighed.
"I was built to monitor you, that is true, but the Hive Magic I was infused with fried the Monitoring systems, otherwise, they would have forced me to leave and rejoin Rasputin. Frankly, I don't much like Rasputin, he's kindof a dick head. My primary function, since my secondary function is impossible, is to function as your ghost and Revive and Serve you as any Ghost would. I am incapable of giving you the abilities of a true Guardian, but I believe you have that covered already." The Ghost informed them. Zeph nodded his okay, knowing that the Ghost spoke the truth, only because he had already scanned it. Zara looked around the small ship interior, the cockpit was up front with room for only 1 person, and there was the back area. There was a single cot in the wall and the room was about 4ft by 6ft with a low ceiling at about 6ft. In the Back was a door that opened up to a small 4ft by 4ft room that had a desk in it that had a large tub bolted to the wall next to it which had a ton of papers and random artifacts.
"Zara, come here." Zeph said from the cockpit. Zara turned and walked to the Cockpit, and noticed that there was room for one other person. It took Zara a second to realize that Zeph's seat had shifted forward and revealed a whole other seat and terminal with controls. "I don't normally need it, but I would appreciate a co-pilot this time. It's going to be a loooong journey to Earth." Zara slipped into the seat, and it moved forward some, essentially locking her into the seat. The panel lit up and a monitor raised up that showed her a radar. Zara started in surprise when the metal plating covering the glass above her to reveal what was outside. Zara watched as the magnet holding the ship moved and placed the ship by the launch gates. Zeph began hitting switches while mumbling incoherently to himself. Zara's panel lit up and she began activating the weapons, preparing them for use but not fully engaging them. Zara reached over and hit the switch that pulled up the co-pilot flying controls. Zeph looked in the small mirror he had next to him which allowed him to look at Zara, and she stared back. Zeph moved his hand over the launch button, and watched as Zara did the same. At the same time, Zara and Zeph hit the launch button and the engines flared up and the magnet released them. The ship shot out of the hangar and into space. Zeph looked back and stared at the dreadnaught for a second, before turning back around in his seat and engaging his hyperdrive.
"According to this, it should only take us a day or two to reach Earth from here." Zara said to Zeph. Zeph nodded and flipped another switch, which engaged his more powerful primary engines. The two of them were thrown back in their seats and held there by the sudden increase of speed for a few seconds before they adapted to it. Zara rechecked the travel time and was shocked by the change. With the increase in speed, they were expected to arrive in only a few hours now. 3 hours later, Zara yawned, then shook her head, and then jumped when she heard a strange grinding from the back of the ship. With blinding speed, Zeph disengaged primary and secondary engines and shut off the hyperdrive. Then, Zeph switched the ship to battle mode and activated the shields. Zara's flight control panel slid away and the weapons control panel pulled out in front of her. With practiced ease, Zara took the controls and her ghost took the weapons camera feed and put it on her Visor. Zara's heart skipped a beat when she saw what had pulled them from hyperspace, a fleet of Fallen ships had surrounded them and were charging up their weapons. Zara set the largest ship in her sights, and then noticed the House of Devils symbol on the side of the ship.
"Zeph, they are Devils. I'm going to hail them and let them know who we are." Zara said as she powered down weapons and sent a hail request to them. A Fallen Archon answered, sending video straight to her visor, and Zara was surprised to see that the Archon wore a Guardian's sigil on his Chestplate.
"Who are you, and why do you attempt to infiltrate our protected area?" The Archon growled in it's deep scratchy voice.
"Whose sigil is that?" Zara countered with her own question.
"It is the sigil of the Guardian Edward. Now answer my question." The Archon snarled.
"We are friends of the Guardian's Edward and Ana, we go now to meet up with them." Zara answered.
"Why do we detect Hive and Taken presence on your ship?" The Archon growled.
"The Guardian Zepheron wa infected with Taken power, but was not fully Taken, and I have learned to harness Hive magic." Zara answered. The Archon stared at her for a few seconds before it huffed and shouted at the other Fallen in their language and disengaged comms. Zara's visor cleared and she watched as the Fallen's weapons disengaged and they opened a hole in the force field that Zeph had almost run into. Slowly, Zeph maneuvered through the gate and after a few minutes of flying, they entered Earth's atmosphere. Zeph switched the controls to autopilot and released his seat restraint, which also released Zara. Zeph and Zara stumbled out of their seats and stretched to loosen their muscles, and Zeph groaned when someone hailed his ship's comm link. Zeph's ghost answered the hail, and sent the call straight to his helmet. Zeph silently thanked fate when he saw that it was an audio only hail.
"This is Commander Zavala of the Vanguard. State your business or be gone." Zavala snarled.
"I vow to be of no harm and wish to speak with my mentor, Ikora." Zeph answered back. Zeph heard Zavala growl before he heard the familiar static telling him that he had been transferred. Zeph slipped back into his seat and disengaged autopilot and stopped the ship and let it hover around half a mile from the Tower.
"This is Ikora of the Vanguard, you are interrupting my work so this better be good." Ikora growled.
"This is Alpha Warlock Zepheron of Fireteam Arc, with me I have a new Guardian, she is Initiate Warlock Zara. She was revived around 3 years ago and has been living on a Hive controlled planet. Her light has been tainted with Hive darkness, but she has mastered both. My light has been tainted with Taken magic, but I have learned to control it. Do I have permission to land?" Zeph said clearly and calmly, sticking to Guardian landing procedure in case they still held any issues with him because of the past, incident.
"Alpha Warlock Zepheron and Initiate Warlock Zara, you have full permission to land. The usual will greet you and I expect you to report to my office the second you get the chance." Ikora answered, her tone stern but not as threatening as it was before. Zeph piloted his ship into the landing bay of the hangar and released controls when he felt the magnetic equipment in the hangar secure his ship. Zara transmitted off the ship immediately and Zeph followed a few minutes after. Zeph stood in place for several minutes before going to move.
"HEY YOU!" someone shouted behind Zeph. Zeph turned and saw a sword descending for him. With near impossible speed, Zeph snapped out his Bolt Caster and blocked the Dark Drinker that was swinging for his head. Zeph glared at the Guardian that had swung the blade at him, and growled at him. Ryan jumped back and swung the Dark Drinker at Zeph's head again, and before Zeph could move Zara cast a bolt of lightning into Ryan's chest, throwing him backwards and knocking the Dark Drinker from his grasp. Zeph quickly deactivated his Bolt Caster when he saw Holliday storming towards them with the most murderous look ever on her face. As she passed Ryan, she kicked him in the ribs, right where the bolt of lightning had struck him, which pulled a groan from Ryan, and snatched up his Dark Drinker, which she then deactivated.
"I'm taking custody of this and will be handing it over to Cayde, and I'll let him decide whether you deserve it." Holliday snapped before spinning on her heel and walking away. Zeph walked over and pulled Ryan to his feet. Ryan looked past Zeph at Zara, who was staring daggers at Ryan. Ryan pulled away from Zeph and stormed out of the hangar. Zeph shook his head and walked out of the hangar with Zara following him. Zeph led Zara to Ikora's office, which was hidden in a small alley off to the side that no one ever noticed, and knocked on her door. The door opened itself, as usual, and Zeph and Zara made their way inside, shutting the door behind them.
"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Ikora snarled as she stormed out of the back room. "You nearly got six guardians killed, took four of them, sent them back, and now you have the nerve to show back up with a new guardian that has been corrupted? What is wrong with you?"
"What can I say, I had an agenda and I didn't want anyone to know." Zeph said calmly.
"Oh, and to top it off, you stole some of Eris's…" Ikora continued.
"Oh hell no, that wasn't me." Zeph said, interrupting Ikora, "That was that hunter, Nissa."
"Okay, well I'll let Eris deal with that, but you will NOT go around advertising that you have been corrupted, so lose the desolate armor and get your act together." Ikora snapped, "Also, you will be in charge of that new Warlock. I don't want to deal with her."
"Okay." Zeph said. Zeph closed his eyes and concentrated for a few seconds before reciting a quick incantation. The taken energy seething from Zeph's armor began to waver, and then simply faded away, returning his armor to normal. Zeph opened his eyes and found that Ikora was staring at him and he smiled at her, then remembered he was wearing his helmet still. Zeph took Zara by the wrist and led her out of Ikora's office before letting go of her and instinctively moving for his old dorm. Zeph reached the door to his dorm and pulled out his key. With practiced ease, Zeph fit the key into the lock and unlocked the door, then swung it open. Zeph walked in and waved for Zara to follow. Zara walked in and Zeph shut the door behind her.
"So, this is your dorm. It smells like death in here. Can I have my own dorm?" Zara asked, gagging a little on the smell.
"Nope. Since I'm in charge of you, Guardian code says we must share a room. I'd suggest you close your direct air vent and switch to the filters. I haven't been here in a few months now, so this place is definitely gonna need some cleaning. I'll go clean up the kitchen, which is most definitely the source of the smell, and you can clean up the bedroom. I only have one, so if you want the room I can sleep out here." Zeph said as he flared up his Solar abilities and walked into the kitchen. Zara shook her head and left the completely empty living room and walked into the bedroom. Zara was surprised to see that it was pretty well organized, for the most part. The bedroom was about 20ft by 10ft and had a large midnight blue king size bed in the left corner by the window. Directly across from the bed, in the other corner of the room by the other window, was a large circular desk with papers and random pieces of technology and half built/disassembled weapons strewn all over it. Zara shook her head and continued her inspection of the room. To the left of the doorway sat a large desk with a large flatscreen TV on top and a massive computer tower underneath, yet there was still room to sit under the desk, if there weren't all the cables and random controllers and unopened bags of chips and random bottles of soda. In the middle of the room sat an overturned rolling chair that had a few bullet holes in it and burn marks on it. Zara looked at the walls and realised that the black spots on the otherwise light blue walls were actually burn marks, not paint. Zara began moving around, inspecting things, and realised that someone had had a firefight in this very room, there were paintings and posters covering bullet holes and she moved the bed a little to find blood stains on the wall. Zara looked over at the closet and took a deep breath before opening it. Inside the closet was something straight out of a horror film. A dead creature (she had no clue what but guessed that it was Hive by the three eye sockets) was pinned to the wall by a knife that had been driven through it's neck and it's eyes had clearly been gouged out. By the state of decay that it was in, the creature had been pinned there for at least 6 months or more. It was still mostly in one piece, but it was covered in green puss and it's stomach was torn open, allowing it's guts to spill out and onto the floor. The walls and floor of the closet were splattered with Hive and Human blood, and there were several bullet holes in the floor walls and ceiling. Zara gagged and stumbled away from the closet in utter horror and disgust.
"You are princess of the Hive, you see things more disturbing than this everyday." Zara said to herself in an attempt to calm down, but it didn't work. She expected to see things like this in a Hive cavern, not in a Guardian's closet. Zeph quietly came in the room and saw Zara gagging with the closet door open and he sighed.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, I forgot it was there. The last inhabitant of this dorm before me seemed to be a bit of a, collector. I tried to cover it up so I couldn't see it, but it didn't help. I was always to scared to open the closet." Zeph said, his voice full of pain and regret. Zara waved her hand and opened a Hive portal, and several Thralls came running out of it, and into the closet. Zara turned away as the Thrall began devouring the corpse and in mere moments, the corpse, and all the blood and disgusting things in the closet, were gone. The Thrall ran back through the portal and Zara shut it.
"How's the kitchen?" Zara asked, bringing herself back under control.
"There was just a bunch of rotten food and the dishes needed washed. The dishes are in the dishwasher and I incinerated all the rotten food, which was all the food in the kitchen. It'll smell like burnt stuff for awhile but that's it." Zeph responded before walking away. Zara straightened back up and began organizing his things. She started out by organizing the papers and objects on the desk, then she took the broken chair and used her new solar capabilities to destroy it. Zara walked out into the living room about 30 minutes after Zeph had left the bedroom and found a note on the front door which read, 'Out shopping, went to get food and some stuff for you.' Zara sighed and went back into the bedroom. Zara stripped off her armor and flopped onto the bed with a sigh. Zara closed her eyes and a few minutes later she was asleep.
As Zeph wandered through the city, looking for the grocery store, he had and sneaking suspicion that he was being followed, but he thought he was just being paranoid, so he never noticed Ryan, silently and swiftly jumping from rooftop to rooftop, following Zeph. Zeph turned off into an alley to use as a shortcut and Ryan took that moment to strike. Ryan Jumped down towards Zeph and brought his Dark-Drinker up and swung it down for Zeph's head. Zeph heard a noise and by instinct only, snapped out his Bolt Caster and blocked Ryan's Dark Drinker. Ryan hit the ground and jumped backwards to glare at Zeph. Zeph narrowed his eyes and Ryan charged at Zeph swinging the sword for his throat. AT the last second, Zeph jumped to the side and kicked Ryan in his back as he went past, sending him sprawling. Ryan sprang back to his feet and turned around to face Zeph. Ryan charged Zeph again, this time swinging for his shoulder instead of his head. Zeph jumped straight up over Ryan's head and flipped around mid-air to fire a Shadowshot bolt into Ryan's back. Unphased by the restrained Shadowshot, Ryan spun and charged Zeph again, sword held straight out in front of him. Zeph brought his blade down to intercept Ryan's, driving both of their blade points into the ground, and Zeph headbutted Ryan, knocking him back. Zeph growled and yanked his sword up out of the ground and charged Ryan, who still clung to his own blade. Ryan barely blocked the first strike before Zeph hammered him with a flurry of blows. Miraculously, Ryan managed to block all of the blows, but was caught by the final blow, which was Zeph knocking Ryan's sword hand to far away to block and kicking him in the chest. The force of Zeph's kick threw Ryan out of the alley and into a shop stand, which shattered under the force. The people in the streets freaked out and began running away from Ryan, just as Zeph came out of the alley with blinding speed and charged Ryan. Ryan leaped up to his feet and jumped up onto a two-story building, and Zeph was forced to change momentum and leap as well, stealing away most of the force behind his swing, which glanced off Ryan's armor, but still shocked him pretty good. Ryan headbutted Zeph and sheathed his Dark Drinker in one movement. Ryan then pulled out his Dreg's promise and fired three shots into Zeph's chest, knocking him off the roof but not harming him any. Zeph landed on his feet and jumped back up onto the roof and slammed the pommel of his sword into Ryan's chest, knocking him backwards and causing him to lean forward a little to gasp for air. Zeph pressed his advantage and dashed forward, and swung a strong uppercut, hitting Ryan in the chest and knocking him about 10ft straight up in the air. Now supremely pissed off, Ryan activated Bladedancer and used his arc energy to launch himself down towards Zeph. Ryan slammed into Zeph and caused a massive shockwave, which caused them to smash through the roof and bring the whole building down on top of them. Ryan jumped out of the hole before the building went down and watched as the two-story building came down on top of Zeph. Ryan smiled and went to holster his weapon, when the Taken alarm on his helmet began to go off. With a thunderous roar and a blast of taken energy, the rubble of the building was thrown up and away from where it had been, destroying several surrounding buildings, and eliciting screams from onlookers. Standing in the middle of the remaining rubble, was Zeph. His armor had gone full Desolate, and a significant amount of Taken energy flowed from him. Zeph had wings made from the Taken energy, and they were constantly seething energy and flowing as if reshaping themselves. Zeph had 6 inch claws of taken energy on each finger and his helmet had three glowing white dots where a Hive would have it's eyes. Ryan's eyes widened in fear as Zeph opened his mouth, Ryan saw that what he thought was Zeph's helmet, was actually his real head. A tail curled out from behind Zeph and he growled. Zeph threw back his head and let out a deafening roar before flying up into the air, and charging Ryan. Ryan made a split second decision and turned and began running as quickly as he could, and Zeph gleefully gave chase with a roar.
Meanwhile on the Dreadnaught...
Oryx leaned forward in his throne stared at his clairvoyance mirror with excitement. Oryx began to laugh quietly as he watched Zeph finally lose control and fully embrace the Taken power. Oryx knew that at this point, Zepheron was far beyond his control, and was probably much more powerful than him, but if he didn't learn to control it, he would just go feral like he was now. Oryx sat back in his throne and waved his hand at the mirror, banishing the image from it's surface and returning it to a normal mirror. Oryx stood and went to speak to his only other son, the one he'd been hiding for such a long time. Oryx had a plan for Zepheron, and he needed his son for it.
Back on Earth...
Ryan jumped down from the building he was running across and dashed around a corner into an alley. Ryan heard a loud crashing sound behind him which told him that the creature that was once Zeph smashed into a building as it tried to turn and failed. Ryan looked up at the tower, the transmat elevator up was so close. Ryan looked back down and picked up speed when he saw that the end of the alley was near. Only seconds before Ryan reached the end,the creature landed at the end of the alley and swiped one clawed hand for Ryan's head. The moment the creature landed, Ryan dropped into a slide and slid underneath it and popped back up to his feet and continued running for his life. Ryan heard someone yelling in front of him and then he heard clear as day, "AD VICTORIAM!" Out of nowhere, another Guardian seemed to fall out of the sky onto Zeph's back. The Guardian somehow got tangled in Zeph's wings and they tumbled to the ground. Zeph unsummoned his wings and rolled around to kick the Guardian in the chest the second the Guardian had to their feet. When he saw the Guardian's face he froze and stayed curled up, ready to kick out but unsure of whether to or not. Ryan peaked out from the alley and saw that the Guardian was a blonde Awoken female, with red tattoos on one side of her neck. Ever so slowly, Zeph uncurled and climbed to his feet. The Female guardian sighed and reached out to touch Zeph. The second her hand touched Zeph's face, all of his taken energy drained away and he returned to normal, still without his helmet. Zeph's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed, but the female guardian caught him before he hit the ground. From behind him, Ryan heard footsteps and turned around just in time to catch Shannon's fist with his jaw, knocking his helmet off his head. Ryan fell backwards out of the alley and Shannon stormed up to him and stomped a boot down on his chest, pinning him to the ground.
"Good job Ryan, you managed to single handedly piss of Zavala, Ikora, and Cayde." Shannon sighed. "I won't say I'm mad at you for trying to kill Zepheron, but couldn't you have just sniped him or something?" Shannon sighed and moved her foot from Ryan's chest and pulled him to his feet before hugging him tightly. "I'm just glad you're not dead. I don't think I could live without." Shannon whispered in Ryan's ear, her voice cracking in fear and relief. "Please be more careful next time, I don't want to bury my only family." Ryan nodded and they walked over to the transmat terminal after Ryan retrieved his helmet. Ryan looked at the communicator on his wrist and saw that The Vanguard wanted to see him at noon tomorrow. Ryan and Shannon transmatted straight from the city to their dorm. Ryan and Shannon stripped out of their armor and Shannon tossed Ryan up onto the bed and she seated herself on top of him. Shannon whispered something into Ryan's ear before kissing him once more and letting out a moan.
Zeph awoke in a large room, surrounded by medical equipment and strange smells. Zeph tried to move and groaned in agony as his body screamed in pain underneath him.
"Morning babe. How come you never came by?" a very female sing-song voice said from his right. Zeph turned his head to see a dark purple skinned Awoken female with long pure white hair and dark red red eyes staring at him. Zeph's vision seemed to zoom out and he realised that she was wearing beat up black armor with a red lightning bolt on the side.
"Arya?" Zeph asked slowly, his voice coming out as nothing more than a whisper.
"The one and only." Arya answered, brushing her long flowing hair back from her face with one hand. Arya had been apart of Fireteam Arc, well at least until they were hit by an ambush from the Taken and Arya's sister was torn to shreds before their eyes.
"Where am I? What happened?" Zeph asked, his voice getting a little stronger.
"Well, what's the last thing you remember?" Arya asked.
"Well, I was walking through the city to get food for my dorm, I took a shortcut through an alley, and someone attacked me. We fought a bit, and we fought on the roof of the building. He hit me with bladedancer, we went through the roof, and then he was gone and the building came down atop me. The next thing I remember is a feeling of hunger and rage, and then there was your face, confusion, and blackness. Then I was here. That's all I got." Zeph said groaning as he tried to move, sending spears of pain through his body.
"Alrighty then." Arya sighed before continuing, "The guardian that attacked you, his name is Ryan, Blaze, Draker. He is a Hunter." Ana pulled out a tablet and pulled up a picture of the creature Zeph had become and showed it to him.
"What the hell is that?" Zeph said, his eyes widening.
"That, is you." Arya said, staring at Zeph. "This is where those feelings of hunger and rage came from. You chased Ryan to the tower, and you sort of just, let go and calmed down when you saw me." Arya's communicator beeped and she glanced at it before getting up and moving to the door of the bare white room. "We'll talk more later, just be good." Arya then walked out of the door and left him alone. Zeph leaned back, then froze when he heard a slight noise to his left where the window was. Zeph heard a rustle behind his bed, which was about 2 feet from the wall, and then he felt the chill of cold steel being pressed up against his throat.
"Well well well. What do we have here?" A strange deep scratchy voice said from behind him. "A false Guardian, or an untrue one. Either way, I'll take you and your little whores down. No response, well I'll let you in on a little secret that you don't know I know." The man with knife at Zeph's throat leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "I know where your daughter is, and she'll die much more painfully than you will." The would be assassin laughed and something in Zeph began trying to push it's way out. Zeph had felt this during his fight with Ryan, and had rejected it then, but now, he was to pissed to try that, so he embraced the feeling of pure rage coursing through him.
Arya was walking down the stairs to leave the hospital when she heard a loud explosion from upstairs, near Zeph's room. Arya turned and sprinted up the stairs, filled with dread and reached Zeph's floor. Where the door to Zeph's room had been, now there was just a gaping hole, and across from the hole was a dent in the wall that a man in silver armor fell out of. Zeph came walking out of the hospital room, wreathed in the taken energy like he had been when he'd lost control, but he seemed much calmer. Zeph walked over and lifted the man off the ground and tore his helmet off his head. The man had silver hair and half his face was burned. Zeph growled at him and then spoke.
"You shall NEVER lay a hand on my daughter. If I find that you even thought of touching her, I shall tie you down and let my Thrall tear you apart." Zeph snarled. Then as calmly as could be, Zeph let go of the man and turned towards Arya. "I apologize for breaking the wall, I had something to take care of." Then, the Taken energy around Zeph vanished and he began moving down the stairs. "I need to go check on my new roommate and trainee, Zara." Zeph said before disappearing from sight.
"May the Apocalypse, begin." The man in the hallway said, like a sports announcer before bursting into insane laughter. Arya went to ask him what he meant, but before she could, he lifted his pistol, placed it on the side of his head, and blew his brains all over the wall.
Next Chapter will focus mainly on Shannon, since Ryan is now on house arrest and can't leave his dorm. It took me much longer than I thought it would to write this Chapter, I got a little sidetracked by school essays(which are going to be fairly common for me this year). I need a group of 3 more Guardians, specifically, a rival fireteam for Fireteam Arc. I need names, race, appearance, armor, weapons, class, preferred subclass, and any odd quirks for personality you'd like to see in them.
