Chapter 8

2 Weeks later...

Ryan looked up from the work he was doing and watched as Ana walked into the hangar, limping a little. Ryan lowered his head and continued to make repairs on what used to be Eris's ship. Ryan reached into the engine and pulled out several fried pieces and sighed. He was surprised that this much of Eris's ship had survived after being hit by the dreadnaught when some stupid Guardian had gone on a mission to make it easier to board the dreadnaught. Ryan tossed the fried pieces of the engine into the pile of other stuff that was beyond repair and stepped back to see how it looked. Ryan had stripped the ship of all of its outer armor and outer frame, and at this point, the only thing that remained was the ship's main inner frame, the engine, and the damaged hyperdrive.

"What the hell happened?" Ana asked as she stopped a few feet behind Ryan. Ryan inwardly groaned, he had been hoping Ana wouldn't come over here.

"Cayde sent some idiot on a mission to the dreadnaught to get a transmat and patrol beacons down. For some damn reason, Eris's ship was outfitted with a stealth device and it failed, and then the drednaught fired it's weapon. Then this happened." Ryan sighed as he went back to work, tearing out more pieces that needed replaced.

"Shouldn't Amanda or Baris-7 be working on this?" Ana asked as she picked up a piece of the engine from the pile and turned it over in her hands.

"Look, I applied for a position here in the hangar, and I got approved. I was put on repair duty, which really sucks, and I'm trying to do my work. So could you stop touching things and leave me alone, I'm in a bad mood already." Ryan snapped at Ana. Ana put the piece down and walked off without saying another word. Ryan groaned out load, silently cursing himself for being such a jerk. After the attack on the city two weeks ago, he'd realized that if he hadn't deactivated those beacons, several of his fellow Guardians would still be alive, several thousand civilians would still be walking around the outer district, and there would BE an outer district. The number of civilian casualties wasn't solid, but the number was around 30,000. Injuries were around 100,000. Guardian casualties were iffy, there were around 30 missing Guardians, but only 18 dead Ghosts had been found in the sweep of the destroyed section of the city. Ryan heard clicking behind him and turned around to see Amanda walking towards him. Ryan mentally prepared himself for another session of bereavement and anger, and held his breath as Amanda surveyed his work.

"Holy fuck." Amanda breathed as she saw the true damage done to the ship. "I'm sorry for keeping you on this, from the look of it, there can't be anything salvageable from this. Also, sorry for being so rude to you. I was frustrated and angry and you were normally the closest living being." Ryan breathed a sigh of relief and cleared his throat.

"Well, I know it doesn't look like it, but there is a considerable amount that is still salvageable. The Nav systems and a couple engine parts are over there." Ryan said, pointing towards a pile of dirt and ash covered pieces, "They're a little dirty but they should work for the most part. The rest of this will probably need to be melted down and remade." Amanda went to touch a piece of the frame and Ryan grabbed her wrist on instinct. "Don't touch that, if you were to pull on that, The frame of that ship would crumble. My Ghost has almost completed the digital reconstruction of Eris's ship so we can rebuild it, but I need it to stay just like that." Amanda just nodded and started walking away. Ryan turned back to the ship and began working on taking the engine apart again. Ryan heard the beep on the tablet next to him which indicated the digital reconstruction was complete, and his ghost floated down to rest on his shoulder.

"What're we gonna tell Eris?" His Ghost sighed.

"Absolutely nothing. We're not going to tell Eris anything." Ryan chuckled, oblivious to the footsteps approaching him. "We'll tell Cayde and he'll tell Eris…"

"Tell me what?" Eris said as she stopped behind Ryan. Ryan cursed himself for not paying attention and turned to greet Eris.

"Well, nevermind I guess, we can tell her ourselves." Ryan muttered to his ghost. "There's nothing we can do. Your ship is totaled. It can't be repaired. We'll have to build you a new one." Eris sighed and glared at Ryan with her three glowing eyes. "You need something? I need to finish dismantling it." Ryan said as she continued staring at him.

"Actually, yes." Eris growled. "I have a job for you, if you're willing. If you do well, I can get you a permanent position. I can pay, but not in money. I can pay in parts and pieces than can be sold for around twice the pay you get per week, for each piece."

"Alright." Ryan said, putting down his tools. "I'm allowed to walk away from this job whenever I please, so I'm listening."

"I need to get into a Hive cavern, but I can't open the door alone. I need your help." Eris sighed, running her hand through her recently washed and brushed hair.

"What's the catch?" Ryan said, sensing an unspoken but hidden in the sentence.

"To make the door work, you have to pass as Hive. The only I can get that to work, is if you are part Hive. Meaning if you take this job, I will be fusing Hive DNA into your body." Eris growled, knowing that he was going to turn it down, just like everyone else.

"Alright, as long as I don't actually look like a Hive when you're done, I'm in." Ryan said, putting up his tools. Eris was speechless, she had approached around 20 other guardians and they had all turned her down. But here was Ryan, he was always doing everything to piss her off, constantly turning her down and dismissing her. So him accepting scared her a little.

"Come with me." Eris said calmly before walking away. Ryan quickly sent a message to Amanda telling her that Eris had a job for him, and then hurried after Eris with his ghost trailing behind. Ryan followed Eris for a couple minutes until they reached a dead end hall with no doors. Ryan went to speak and then Eris placed her hand on the wall. Ryan lost his words as Eris's touch brought the wall to life and it moved out of the way, vanishing into the floor like it never existed and revealing a very Hive looking chamber. Eris pushed Ryan into the room and the wall slid back up behind him, locking them in.

"So, there is where you go when you disappear." Ryan said, surprised. Eris pushed Ryan out of her way and walked past him.

"I need you out of the armor and your outer clothing, they do not need to be destroyed." Eris said as she began messing with a bunch of stuff on a table. Ryan quickly removed his armor and clothing, then realized his ghost wasn't around. "Your Ghost cannot follow us here." Eris said, seeming to read his mind. "Now, sit." Eris growled pointing towards a strange chair. Ryan sat in the chair and laid his hands on the armrests. Suddenly, metal restraints closed over his wrists and ankles and held him in place. "Sorry, but I would like to keep myself from dying by your hands. This does get a bit painful." Eris chuckled, turning around with a needle in her hand that was filled with a strange blackish green liquid.

"Is that…" Ryan began hesitantly, now sweating with fear.

"The blood of a Hive Knight. I'm going to inject it into your body, and the Hive magic seeping from that chair will mix with the Hive Blood, and will alter your DNA. You will have full access to your light afterwards, but you'll be able to channel Hive magic as well. There shouldn't be much of a change, but you may gain a bit of muscle and physical stature, making you appear more as a Titan over the next few weeks. Don't try to struggle to much, please." Eris said, smirking as she approached Ryan with the needle. Eris bent over his arm and watched for a second before inserting the needle and injecting the blood into Ryan's veins. Eris pulled the needle out and then tipped the chair back. At first, there was nothing. Ryan looked down and saw that his veins were starting to become visible, then the pain started.

Eris watched, smirking, as the Hive magic began mutating Ryan's DNA. His visible veins began to turn a dark blackish green and his eyes turned a bright Hive Green and began to glow. At the same time, Ryan bucked against the restraints and gritted his teeth in pain. A few moments later, the wall behind her began to move, and Eris didn't even have to turn around to know it was Ana, since she was the only other person who could get in and out of here, for now. Eris turned to face Ana and was immediately concerned by the strained look of pain on her face.

"What's wrong Ana?" Eris said as she helped Ana into a normal reclining chair.

"I think, I think the baby's coming. Isn't this too soon?" Ana gasped, screwing up her face in pain.

"If what I said is right, it's actually a little late. Normal Hive 'pregnancy' or incubation lasts five months. Maybe the human genes extended it a little longer, but your Hive genes and the Baby's Hive genes have accelerated the growth, so it's probably time." Eris said, lifting Ana and placing her on one of the beds. "I have to finish dealing with this one, in the meantime, please call Edward and ask him to come to this hallway and knock on the wall, I'll let him in." Eris then turned back to the struggling Ryan and saw something she had been hoping she would see. Not only was Ryan compatible with the Hive blood, his body readily accepted it and the Hive magic, which allowed his Light and the Hive magic to mix and become one. The only downside was that Ryan was going to take on a few Hive aspects. She wasn't sure which, but they would show themselves over time.

After a few more painful minutes, Ryan felt the pain recede and he let himself relax.

"There, you should be good. I shall remove your restraints now." Eris said, as she released the restraints. Ryan heard a voice in his head command him to kill her, and without even thinking, obeyed. Ryan lept from the chair and went for Eris's throat, and was immediately slammed back down into the chair, knocking his head into the back of the chair and bringing him back to his senses. Ryan watched as the strange wave of energy that he could seepulsating through the room vanished, and his blurred vision returned to normal.

"What was that? I heard a voice in my head." Ryan asked, slowly standing up and rubbing the back of his head.

"That was an echo of Crota's final command for the Hive. He ordered them to hunt me down and kill me." Eris said, turning back to Ana.

"Ana? Are you Ok? What are you doing here?" Ryan gasped as he quickly put his clothes back on and grabbed his armor off the floor. His only answer was a growl from both Ana and Eris. At that moment, there was a knock on the wall leading to the hallway they'd come in through and Ryan instinctually dashed back and faded into the shadows in the corner. Eris used her hive magic and the wall opened, and Edward entered. The moment Edward was in, Ryan used one of his abilities as a Nightstalker to turn temporarily invisible and dash past Edward into the hallway, right before the secret door closed.

"What did she do to you?" Ryan's ghost said worriedly as it floated down to him.

"Nothing that needs worried about." Ryan answered as he quickly donned his armor and set off to go to his private training room.

Je5u5(Jesus) groaned in pain as he stood up from the training mat and stared down Shannon.

"Really, Jesus, you are a Titan. You need to act like one. Don't just strike randomly, you have to have a rhythm to your fighting style. If you ever want to be like an asgardian barbarian, you have to hit harder, faster, and know when to strike and when to block." Shannon growled as she squared her shoulders and prepared for another training round. "Now, again!" Jesus immediately lashed out, aiming for her left, making the same feint he had every other time, and just as predictably, Shannon blocked it and was already in the motion of blocking his right hook, but it never came. Instead, he jumped up and kicked at her head, catching her by surprise and hitting her square in the nose, knocking her back. Jesus smiled, knowing that his previous pain was worth the surprised look on Shannon's face.

"Just because I'm a still a kid up here, doesn't mean I don't know how to pretend to be bad at something." Jesus chuckled, dropping into the fighting stance he had created himself. Jesus had had a lot of time to think about it, and had managed to come up with a fighting style that only he knew.

"You're not a kid, you're a little shithead." Shannon said, smiling. Jesus smiled back and prepared to put his technique into action. Shannon's communicator alarm beeped and she sighed. "Well, guess we're done with the fighting training. Now we actually have something to do. We need to report to Zavala immediately. Get your armor and weapons and let's go." Jesus quickly grabbed his armor, donning it quickly and set off after Shannon, who had managed to don her armor faster from experience with it. It only took them a few minutes to reach Zavala in the war room(the area where they normally are).

"Slight change of plans." Zavala growled. "Ryan has been given a secretive solo mission so you two will be operating alone. You two are being sent to Mars to investigate the disappearance of a 12 man fireteam stationed at Alpha Base 39. I want the two of you gone from here on your way to Mars in 10 minutes. Only bring what your ghost can carry, any heavier will hinder you. This is a stealth mission, do not get caught. I repeat, do NOT get caught. We're counting on you. Dismissed." Jesus and Shannon transmatted straight to their ships, anything they needed their ghosts already had, and they set off for Mars at full speed.

3 hours later…

Shannon peeked around the corner of her pillar at the base that the Fireteam had last been at and there wasn't a movement to be seen. From his position on top of a nearby tower, Jesus could see nothing. Jesus quickly peeked back through the scope of his sniper when he saw some movement but didn't see anything. Unbeknownst to the two Guardians, there were hundreds of Cabal, hidden in the sand around them, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Unknown to all of them, There were millions of Vex, sitting in there own little space time, watching for THEIR time to strike. Shannon motioned for Jesus to descend and he quickly slipped down from the tower and handed Shannon her extra sniper back. The two Guardians started walking out into the clearing, and just their luck, Jesus steps on one of the Cabal. Three seconds later, the Cabal come bursting from the sand and rush the Two Guardians. Jesus immediately activated his Hammer of Sol and began throwing some into the horde and just slamming some of the hammers into other Cabal. Shannon switched to Striker and did the first thing she could think of as a Centurion closed the distance between them. She activated her fists of Havoc and punched out, connecting with the Cabal and blowing it and the other cabal directly behind it to smithereens. Shannon then dashed out into the horde and began striking at any nearby Cabal with her fists of Havoc. With a sudden roar of portals opening and closing, the Vex began pouring out amid the Cabal and began taking down anything they came across, but avoiding the Guardians for some reason. Soon enough, with the help of the Vex, they had killed off the Cabal. Shannon turned to attack the Vex, but Jesus held out a hand to stop her as a Minotaur approached them.

"You." The Minotaur screeched out, pointing at Jesus. "I can sense you in the collective, yet you act on your own. How can this be?"

"Uhm, I'm not Vex, but I do have some Vex parts. I was stuck on Venus and my body was damaged, so I repaired it with Vex tech. That's probably why." Jesus said, staring at the minotaur.

"We no longer have a leader, and we can all hear and feel you, yet none of us can influence you. Meaning you must be the new leader chosen by the Creator before it was destroyed." The Minotaur screeched. As one, all the Vex around them went down to one knee and began making a buzzing sound.

"Holy shit, this is awesome." Jesus breathes, looking around at the Vex. "I can hear all of their thoughts in my head, but I can sort through them." Jesus stops before saying in a loud but stern voice, "Vex. Rise and Stand at Attention." As one, the Vex rise and stand at attention, holding the Vanguard salute. Shannon just stared at the Vex and then looked at Jesus.

"You know what, you stay here. I'm gonna go report this to Zavala." Shannon growled as she rolled her eyes behind her helmet. Jesus chuckled and Shannon transmatted back to her ship and shot off towards Earth and the Tower. Jesus shook his head and stared out at the Vex. He had a strange feeling, as if he could see and hear everything. It took him a moment to realize, that was exactly what was happening. He was staring through all the eyes of all the vex and gaining auditory input from all of them. This amount of information would drive any regular exo crazy, but the pure Vex tech he had implanted was capable of moderating the info, filtering it to only give him what was necessary. Jesus began sifting through all the Vex, watching them through their eyes till he found what he was looking for. The Vex on Venus, fighting some of his fellow Guardians. Jesus willed the Vex to stop and come to him, and they obeyed, vanishing from the area and appearing in the group in front of him. Jesus stood there, how long he did not know, but by the time Shannon returned, Zavala following her in his ship, Jesus had gathered every Vex he could find around him. There were billions of them, trillions even, covering every inch of available land in sight. Shannon and Zavala transmatted down, Zavala keeping his auto-rifle at the ready. Jesus opened his eyes and laughed at Zavala.

"What are you laughing at, recruit?" Zavala snarled.

"You. You look so tense. Don't worry. They won't attack you unless you attack them." Jesus chuckled.

"How are you doing this?" Zavala growled, staring at all the Vex.

"Well, Honestly, I don't know, but it's cool." Jesus said, laughing. Suddenly, all of the Vex began moving, and started vanishing quickly. "Hey, where are you going?" Jesus said, surprised.

"The Demons are attacking one of our bases on Venus. We are going to defend it." One of the Minotaurs screeched. After a few more seconds, all of the Vex were gone.

"Demons?" Jesus muttered, closing his eyes, tapping into the eyes of a few of the Vex. "Oh, the Taken. There are so few of them, almost like…" Jesus snapped his eyes open and started to run back towards his ship. "THE TAKEN AND HIVE ARE COMING HERE! THE ATTACK ON VENUS IS A DISTRACTION!" Only seconds after the words left Jesus's mouth, hundreds of Hive Tomb Ships appeared in the sky and Taken started spawning everywhere. Shannon and Zavala hopped on their sparrows and shot off after Jesus, and as Shannon passed him, she pulled him onto her sparrow and they kept going.

"GHOST! TRANSMAT TO MY SHIP, NOW!" Shannon yelled at her ghost, swerving around Taken and Hive, and hitting any she couldn't avoid.

"I'M TRYING!" Her Ghost shouted back in her helmet. "I CAN'T GET TO IT, I THINK THEY'RE JAMMING TRANSMAT SIGNALS!" Shannon growled and pressed down on the throttle more, increasing the speed and ramming anything that gets in her way. From behind her, Shannon heard a loud boom, an intense heat at her back, and then a Hammer of sol went flying in front of her, somehow faster than her sparrow, and exploded, killing a large group of Hive in front of her. Shannon smiled as Jesus threw another Hammer of Sol, wiping out another chunk of Hive and Taken. The Two of them kept going, Shannon driving and Jesus clearing the way, until Jesus ran out of solar energy. Immediately, Jesus pulled out his Patience and Time and laid it on Shannon's shoulder, and began firing at them, using his Hawkmoon to quickly take out any that got to close.

"Where are we going!?" Jesus shouted in Shannon's ear as she took a quick swerve around a corner, causing Jesus to drop his Patience and Time. "FUCK!" Just as quickly as it disappeared, Jesus's Sniper reappeared in his grasp.

"I don't know!" Shannon shouted back. Jesus went to fire another shot from his sniper, but all he heard was a click.

"FUCK!" Jesus quickly attached his sniper to his back and went to fire his Hawkmoon, but once again, all he got was a click. "Shannon, I'm out of ammo!" Jesus yelled against the roaring wind. Right as he said that, Shannon's sparrow sputtered and died, but kept going just enough to launch them off a cliff. The two of them quickly ditched the Sparrow, and let themselves fall. About 50 feet or so from the ground, the two of them activated their glide, slowing them down quickly, but not fast enough. The two of them slammed into the ground, and Jesus heard his leg crunch, and he lost feeling of it. He didn't register much, as his head hit the ground next and he was out.

Shannon climbed to her feet, sore from hitting the ground so hard, and looked around for Jesus. He was lying about 20 feet away, on the ground unconscious. Shannon stumbled over to him and groaned when she saw the state of his leg. He had clearly landed all of his weight on that leg, because it was crumpled. The metal had been bent out of shape and there were wires and stuff sticking out where there shouldn't be. Shannon looked up and saw that the Hive were trying to find a way down, and if they didn't get away, they'd be sitting ducks. Shannon lifted Jesus and got him onto her back and began jogging away, at a reasonable pace. For anyone else, the task would be impossible, but Shannon was a Titan. Not just any Titan, the only Titan so far to beat Zavala in hand-to-hand combat. Shannon jogged for a while, how long she did not know, but when they had crashed, it'd been about mid-day, and now the sun was setting, so she'd been going for awhile. As she went, she kept her eyes down, making sure not to trip. Soon enough, the sun had set and darkness covered the land. Shannon saw a cave in the little light her Ghost was supplying, and she made her way towards it, tired and in need of a rest. Shannon trudged to the back of the cave and laid Jesus on the floor and went to sit, leaning against the wall. In only a few minutes, Shannon was asleep.

Zeph snapped awake, unsure of where he was, and then he remembered. He was in his bed in the tower, so what was this warmth? Zeph turned his head slightly and saw Zara curled up next to him, fully dressed, and he remembered everything. The two of them had gone for a drink, and then they'd had a few too many, and they'd somehow ended up back here. Thanks to his Guardian and Awoken regenerative abilities he wasn't going to suffer from a hangover, but he knew not about Zara. As quickly and carefully as he could, Zeph slipped out from under Zara's arm and off the bed and went to check his computer. Zeph quickly put in his password and froze when he saw what his first notification was. He had received an message from a comm unit that was supposed to be gone. Zeph cautiously opened the message, expecting a virus of some kind, but all there was was a single picture with a two words underneath. Zeph felt his rage building as he stared at the picture of his daughter, gagged and bound to a metal chair. The words read simply, You Lose. Zeph's anger boiled over and he slammed his fist into the table, letting out a shockwave of arc energy and frying the computer and scorching the table. At that moment, there was a knock on his front door and he snarled and stormed over to it and flung it open. Standing in the hallway was a Guardian that Zeph had believed dead for a long time. Zeph's anger vanished, and he backed up VERY quickly in fear.

"Hello Zeph. Have you kept my room in order while I've been gone? You didn't go in my closet again, did you?" He said menacingly from within his helmet. The Guardian was a titan, wearing all Spektar gear with a dark black and red shader. Zara stumbled out into the living room and froze when she saw the Guardian in the doorway. The Titan shoved his way past Zeph and walked up to Zara and looked down at her. Zara was around 5ft 4in, and this Titan was 7ft 9in, and was built like a truck. Zara felt her heart skip a few beats in terror as she stared up at the menacing Titan. "Who is this little Gem?" He growled. For the first time in her life, Zara was glad she'd taken a bath to wash the scent of Hive off of her.

"M-m-my n-n-names Z-Z-Z-Zara. N-n-nice to m-m-meet you." Zara stuttered, terrified of the Titan.

"How polite. My name is Naref Zaltosh. What are you doing here with my… apprentice?" The titan growled, clearly amused by Zara's fear.

"He's my t-t-teacher. I'm a n-n-new G-G-Guardian" Zara stuttered, taking an involuntary step back. "I h-h-hope you d-d-don't m-m-mind, but I c-c-cleaned out the c-c-closet."

"Oh? You did?" He snarled. The lights in the room seemed to dim for a second and then went back to normal. "Hmm. I guess it's for the best. I didn't lose much." He shoves Zara out of the way and storms off into the bedroom. Zara runs over and clutches onto Zeph, nearly crying in terror.

"W-why does he s-scare me so m-much?" Zara asked, on the verge of crying.

"He has that effect on everyone but Zavala. You need to go. Now." Zeph whispered quickly. Without any arguments or questions, Zara fled from the room and Zeph shut the door and went into the bedroom where Naref was sitting on the bed, going through a folder and talking to his ghost.

"So, Zeph. You miss me?" Naref said, shutting the folder and setting it aside.

"You know I didn't miss you, Naref. I can't stand you and never have been able to. You're a pretentious asshole who is SUPPOSED to be dead. The Cabal nuked you. Twice. Your ship was destroyed and we lost all contact with you for 5 years. Now you just show back up with no warning. What is wrong with you?" Zeph snarled at him, feeling his rage building again.

"Well. Looks like the little spark has finally grown to a full blaze. Surviving being nuked isn't hard. Just hid my ghost and after they nuked me and left, my ghost revived me. Easy peasy. I sorta had to steal a Cabal ship and it didn't have a functioning warp drive, so I sorta chilled in there for a few years in one of their stasis things. You know what is wrong with me. Now, have you happened to recieve anything about your daughter? I lost contact with her guards a few days ago." Naref said casually, reaching up to remove his helmet. With no warning, Zeph roars and launches a bolt of lightning at Naref's head, which Naref proceeds to block. "I'll take that as a bad sign. Do we need to contact your mother?" Naref asked, yawning.

"We will tell no one. I will deal with this myself." Zeph snapped before storming from the room and leaving the dorm.

2hrs later...

Ryan stood in the middle of the training room, no armor and no shirt, drenched in sweat. Laying around him where several destroyed punching bags, and countless dummies. Ryan looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers, watching the muscles loosen and tighten. Ryan closed his fists tight and watched as the 2 inch spikes in each knuckle slid out. Ryan smiled and released his hands and let the spikes slide back in. Ryan stepped over the dummies and went to stare at himself in the mirror. In such a short amount of time, his body had changed so much. His eyes were a bright green and his skin had darkened and hardened slightly, his black veins stood out against his caramel skin, and he had already noticed a change in his physical endurance, strength, and speed. Ryan ran a hand through his jet black hair and moved closer to look at his new teeth. His previous set had straight up fallen out and a new set of razor sharp serrated teeth had replaced them. Ryan shook his head when he heard the voice again, whispering in the back of his head, commanding him to kill. Ryan quickly donned his armor and left the training room, making sure to put the bookshelf back to cover the entrance. Ryan quickly made his way to Eris's room and knocked on the door, a little hesitantly. No answer came, so he made his way to out to the yard to relax. Ryan shook his head, a strange female voice getting louder the closer he got to the yard. Ryan stepped out into the yard and saw that only that newbie Guardian, Zara, was out at the moment, sitting in a chair. Ryan walked up behind her, the whispering and hissing getting louder the closer he got to her, until he could hear the voice clearly, but couldn't understand the language, and it was definitely Zara's voice.

"Why can I hear your voice in my head?" Ryan snarled in her ear, making Zara jump in fear. Zara scrambled out of the chair and stared at Ryan, wide eyed.

"You. You're… Hive. How?" Zara gasped, staring at him.

"That's not important. Why can I hear you in my head?" Ryan snarled, moving around the chair and grabbing her arm in a vice-like grip, making her squeak in pain.

"It's because… I am part Hive… like you. Hive have… a mental… connection to… each other. Please… Let me go." Zara said slightly panicked and trying to pull away from Ryan. Ryan let her go and watched as she bolted away, disappearing into the halls. Ryan heard the same whispers from before and shook his head to clear it again, then sat down to wait for Eris.

Oryx sat back in his throne and laughed. Without even knowing it, Eris had handed him a new pawn for this deadly game they were playing. One of the Traveller's own Guardians was now infected with Hive magic, and Oryx knew he could use this Guardian to end the Traveller's reign of terror, if only the Guardian would stop resisting him like the one he'd taken still was. Oryx was sobered a little by a new thought. He'd been told that Zeph and Zara had never made it to Earth, yet there she had been, right in the tower. If that was the case, had she betrayed him? Was that Taken Guardian turning his own daughter against him? Oryx growled in anger. He would not know what was going on until the day of the attack, and if his suspicions proved to be true, then he was done for and his empire would fall.

I apologize for taking so long with this chapter, I've had a lot of school work piling up on me. I finally got it done, and all the shenanigans are starting to come together. Everything has a place, everything has a time, and that time will come, soon enough.