"This is where destiny has led you," the Balance- Cerin- crowed. Each of his limbs locked into place, Mathias could do nothing on the pedestal but glower at him and the Nine.
"This trap is of their design," he continued, gesturing to it with a free hand. "It saps your light, keeps you from being affected by it- it's made to give Guardians their final death. Not even your Ghost will be able to bring you back."
He stepped near, placing his face rather close to the Hunter's. "Your corpse will rot here forever, your bones a warning to all who would doom us with the Light."
A crowd of sorts had gathered in the time it had taken to set this up- most of them were members of the Trinary Star, but some were inhabitants of the City who looked upon the spectacle with awe. This was just what he had wanted- for all to be witness to the death of the Light.
Reaching one hand into the air, all watched as a glowing sword materialized within it- first the handle, and then the blade, one which swirled and shimmered with white and dark wisps.
"Behold!" he cried out, beckoning for everyone to come closer, "The Last Hunter!"
Mathias said nothing- he simply looked into the eyes of Cerin's mask morosely, resigning himself to this fate.
"By my hand," Cerin continued, "our world will fall back into shadow- and we shall be safe forevermore."
A hush fell over the square as Cerin positioned himself before the Hunter, gripping the handle of his sword with both hands. He pulled back, preparing to strike forward and drive the blade into this man, this coward's heart-
… vrrmmmmmm …
A faint, distant hum caught his attention, and he stayed his hand for a moment. Evidently, others heard the noise too, as heads turned this way and that to locate the source. Most seemed to agree upon a direction that looked towards the wall some distance away, their necks craning upwards and towards the clouds in the grey sky.
"Sir!" called one of his enforcers, waving a hand to get his attention. "We're picking up a surge of transmat activity outside the wall!"
"Transmat activity?"
—X—
Three minutes had passed before Clara saw the first indication of any arrival.
Looking overhead, she saw flashes of light high above in the clouds, a display that was quickly followed by the hum of ship engines. Dipping below the clouds which hid them from sight, three-pointed ships of purple and blue coloration soared downward and over the plains below. On their side, Clara could see a familiar sigil of white and gold emblazoned on their sides- the symbol of the Reef.
As one flew dangerously close overhead, kicking up dirt and snow as it sped by, Clara heard the sound of a transmat phasing in behind her.
"Haven't missed the party, have we?"
She turned with a smile to see the Queen standing behind her. "You're right on time."
Talia had foregone her royal garments for more tactical garb. She wore padded armor on her shoulders, forearms, and legs, as well as a short purple poncho that fluttered ever so softly in the light breeze. Behind her was Amelia, still wrapped from head to toe in those shadowy robes.
The Awoken woman walked forward to close the gap, marveling at the sight of the wall before them. "I haven't been back here in centuries … honestly never thought I'd have a reason to be."
"That makes two of us."
She and Clara spun about to see a familiar Keeper approaching the Hunter. "I was born in the City- I left because I was hated for something I had no control over." Sive looked up at the wall as Tali had done. "Maybe today will change that."
"I thought this was a suicide mission?" she asked with a raised brow plate, echoing his earlier words.
"It is," he agreed, "but maybe dying for a cause like this isn't so bad a way to go."
Behind Sive came other Keepers, and not just ones from the Iron Temple- Clara looked back at the plains of snow to see a congregation of Keepers from all sorts of providences transmatting in- the brown armor of Felwinter peak, the sage of the EDZ, the cerulean of the Coast …
And it didn't stop there. Beside the Keepers and the Reef forces, she spotted reinforcements coming from all corners and peoples of the world- old and battered human ships joined the Reef's in the air, and many rode in on makeshift sparrows that sped through the lines of people that joined each other in the march on the last City.
Her lips parted in shock at the sight of it all, trying to keep track of so much movement all at once- the sky was alive with ships of all makes and models, the ground was a mass of bodies and excited rabble that rose from the ranks of all who had answered her call to fight- men and women of settlements everywhere, the Keepers, the Awoken of the Reef- all unified at last.
"I told you," Amelia said, coming up on Clara's right, "one word to describe you; hope."
"Took the words out of my mouth," muttered Sive, pulling an auto-rifle off his back and hefting it in his hands.
"On your word, Guardian," Talia said, withdrawing a pistol from a holster and looking towards the wall.
Behind her, a hush fell over the newly assembled army as tension mounted in the air. They all awaited Clara's command, looking to her to lead them into what could quite possibly be the dawn of a new age. She looked behind her one last time, then turned forward again and pointed at the wall.
"Bring it down."
—X—
No more than a minute or two had gone by when they all watched as a section of the wall erupted into flame and debris as explosions blossomed from the other side.
Several unknown ships flew by and looped back around after their initial pass, launching a second barrage of missiles that toppled what was left of the weak foundation, and sent it all crashing down.
As they heard the loud cracking of its crumbling off in the distance, Cerin pointed at the enforcers behind him. "Get our defenses online! Rally the Task Force, and put an end to whatever this is!"
"Yes, sir!"
As they scattered to follow his orders, the Nine watched without expression. The emissary in the center slowly turned to face him. "What of the Hunter?"
Despite how badly he wanted this, Cerin put his personal feelings aside. "Killing him now would only make him a martyr. Once the situation is contained, I will deal with him personally."
The emissary bowed its head, then disappeared in a flash of light. The other eight followed suit, vanishing out of existence without a trace.
Hurriedly, he opened a comms channel. "I need a Hawk at my position, now."
—X—
Clara watched the last burning chunks of the section of the wall they'd blown up fall to the ground with a mighty thunder. When it finally looked like the debris had settled, she brought her arm back and then snapped it forward.
"FOR THE LIGHT!"
A battle cry arose from the masses as everyone charged forward to cross the hundred meters or so to the wall's threshold. Those on sparrows sped ahead of those on foot, the bike-like speeders quickly overtaking the distance and moving in a surprisingly well-knit formation.
KER-CHUNK.
A loud noise of machinery atop the wall alerted Clara as she and everyone else followed behind the sparrows, giving her cause to look up. Two large turrets whirred to life on either side of the massive hole, their sights looking downward and focusing in on them.
"That's not good," Sive breathed next to her.
"SCATTER!" she yelled out urgently, but only a few heard her warning and managed to heed it before the turrets began to unload on their targets below.
Screams rang out as massive projectile rounds tore through their ranks and decimated them. Keepers and civilians alike fell to the onslaught of gunfire, and Clara was horrified to see a few limbs being tossed up without their owners. The attack had an unintended side effect, however, as each round's impact against the ground stirred up the snow and dirt and threw it up into the air, obscuring their sights.
Using it to their advantage, Clara waved the ones who could see her forward. "Come on!"
She forged ahead through the clouds of dust and ice, narrowly avoiding being hit by the turrets as they followed her movements, desperately trying to peer through the smoke and lock back onto her.
"Keepers, at the ready!" yelled out Sive from somewhere behind her. She looked back for a moment to see him and waves of other Keepers at his back all raising their arms and pulling them back. In each of their palms, a small but bright burning flame appeared.
"FIRE!"
In unison, they all threw their arms forward and launched their handfuls of fire. Dirk had once told her that the moderate attunement Keepers had with the light had helped him from time to time- and it certainly helped now. Though perhaps not much on their own, each ball of flame being cast simultaneously towards one target looked not unlike a storm of hellfire as they all came together, their tongues licking about each other and joining as one massive inferno that blasted the turret dead-on and left nothing but an enormous scorch mark behind.
The remaining turret turned its attention to the Keepers still standing, its barrels spinning up as it prepared to fire- but before it could resume its attack, a cluster of missiles exploded against its base and blew it up into the air, spinning rapidly as it fell down to the ground beneath. The Reef ships that destroyed it flew back up into the sky and began a new fight- one with the sudden arrival of Trinary Star and City Task Force ships that had begun to swarm the skies.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden eruption on the ground in front of her as something detonated and threw her, Talia, and Amelia backwards to the ground. Scrambling to her hands and knees, Clara looked up to see a Hawk dropship hovering in the middle of the gap in the wall, no more than twenty meters away from them now.
Rotating in mid-air, she watched as its back opened and revealed a familiar figure- though his robes were different, the antlers of his new helmet was unmistakable.
"The Stag," she growled, clenching her jaw.
Stepping off the ramp, he fell with his arms out to the ground below, bending his legs at the last second and absorbing the force of the impact on his right knee and outstretched hand to brace himself. Standing back up, he began to make his way towards her.
Others tried to attack him, likely not recognizing who he was or simply thinking they could slow him down. One keeper was sent flying backwards through the air with a simple thrust of his hand, crystalline void shards embedded in their chest. A villager charged him with nothing more than a staff with a sharpened point on one end, a staff which was quickly yanked out of their hands and stabbed into their stomach.
Reaching around behind her, she brought out Le Monarque, and nocked an arrow. Quite close to her now, he was able to give to give a sharp guffaw.
"I must confess- I underestimated you, Exo."
"The name's Clara," she shot back, "and you've made a habit of that." She kept the string at full draw, keeping her focus on the man in front of her even as she heard the sounds of waging war in the background.
"I assure you, it's a mistake I won't repeat," he sneered. "Though your persistence is impressive, you've become somewhat of a thorn in my side."
"I've got a knack for that," she said, then immediately released the arrow.
He ducked, leaving the arrow to whiz by and bite into the ground behind him. He dashed forward, working quickly to close the gap between them-
She moved sideways as he drew a glowing sword from seemingly nowhere and drove it downward. Twirling out of the way, she brought one of her legs up to where her boot collided with his face before she danced out of range once more.
Staggering from the blow, he lashed out with an angry grunt and hurled shards of void in her direction. She gasped as she felt two of them pierce through her armor, embedding themselves in her shoulder and upper chest- and then cried out in pain as they detonated a second later, small splinters of void particles only furthering the damage.
Clutching her shoulder tightly with her other hand, she noted the faint purple smoke trailing from her injuries, and looked back up to her adversary, currently relishing the sight of her on the ground.
"I am the Balance incarnate," he spoke triumphantly, stepping closer. "What chance did you have against me? What chance did any of you have?"
He waved his arm out at the battlefield, now littered with the bodies of her fallen comrades. "You've only succeeded in helping the Light die faster- honestly, I should really thank you for …"
He looked upward at the sky as something caught his attention. "For …?"
A noise began to manifest up in the clouds, a sharp metallic clinking like the wings of a thousand crystalline butterflies all fluttering in sync. The two of them made out a dark shape moving up above, darting down below beneath the skyline-
They both stared on in shock at what they saw. It wasn't an 'it' at all- it was a great many 'its', a swarm of thousands of Ghosts that descended upon the battlefield like an enormous creature pouncing on its prey- and then split apart in all directions as the Ghosts dispersed.
With horror, Cerin looked on as the Ghosts each selected a body from the hundreds that had died thus far, and began to glow with pulsing blue light. First one, then two, then fourteen, then seventy, and so forth- a sea of lights had overtaken the plains, glowing brighter with each passing second-
One by one, the dead began to rise again- resurrected to fight once more, the new risen sat up in confusion at first, looking at their hands and feet, their bodies which were now healed and whole again- and then seeing their Ghosts, and gaining an inherent understanding of what had just transpired. Looking to each other, and then to the City, they began their charge anew- and this time, they would not fall so easily.
"No …" whispered Cerin, his fear mounting exponentially. "No …"
"Guardians," Clara breathed, the corners of her lips tugging upwards. "A new generation of Guardians …"
The Ghosts that did not find a body instead flew off in search of active combatants- there, in the firefights that raged both outside and inside the boundary of the city wall, they bonded with those that would become their partners for life. Keepers, Exos, humans, even the Awoken who had joined the ground fight- all were reborn in the Light on this day.
Cerin looked at Clara with hatred, and the Hunter became aware of her predicament once more.
"You … You-!" he bellowed, leaping towards her, hands outstretched- and then he was tackled from the side by a blur of purple. Tumbling to the ground, he rolled back onto his feet with a shout- only to find himself face to face with his sister.
"Tali," he spoke softly, his voice taking on an unusually soft tone.
"Cerin," she said in kind. She held no malice in her voice, but her eyes were set against him. "You knew it'd come to this eventually."
With a deep sigh, he nodded his head. "Yes … yes, I suppose I did."
He drew the Last Word, and she answered by retrieving her pistol. Clara watched the two of them with bated breath before Talia addressed her.
"Go, Clara. Find Mathias. My brother and I need to have a talk."
The Hunter hesitated only a second longer before heeding the Queen's command and running towards the hole in the wall. Talia watched her retreating back, then returned her focus to Cerin.
"You're only delaying the inevitable," he said darkly, beginning to walk around her. She mirrored his gait, walking steadily and lithely in a controlled pace, each of them circling the other.
"You've always dealt with things in black and white." She watched his movements carefully, awaiting some strike from him when she least expected it. "Nothing is ever certain."
The two of them stopped, and stood at an impasse. Neither truly wanted to go forth with this duel … but each knew the other would not hesitate to end the other if given the opportunity.
"For what it's worth, Tali," he said, gripping the Last Word tighter in his grasp, "I always looked up to you when we were kids. Even now, knowing where we stand … I admire you. Your altruism, your care towards others … it's inspiring, if not misguided."
"Likewise, little brother," she replied, swallowing hard. "I know you're doing this because you think it's right … everyone's the hero of their own story."
"It doesn't have to be this way," he tried one last time, hand steady on his weapon.
"Yes, it does." She fixed him with a steely glare. "You made it this way."
And yet, neither of them moved. They stood as statues, staring each other down even as hell itself raged around them.
—X—
"Hey, Guardian!"
Clara turned around briefly to see Sive following her, and her eyes drifted to the new addition hovering over his shoulder. "'Hey Guardian', yourself."
"This is Cassiopeia," he explained, "or so she calls herself. I know what you said about being a Guardian back at the Temple, but … I never thought I'd actually have the chance to be one."
"And I never thought I'd get the chance to have one!" the Ghost responded in an unexpectedly chirpy voice. "Believe me, I was looking for one for a long time-"
"That's great," Clara cut her off. "How's the fight going?"
"It's turning in our favor outside and inside the wall," Sive answered. "With the Ghosts on our side, the Task Force is having a hard time making us stay down."
"That's good," she said with a nod of her head. "Hopefully they'll stay distracted a while longer."
"Why? What are you doing?"
"I need to find the Hunter-"
As if she'd heard Clara's request herself, a Ghost suddenly materialized in front of the two of them, then looked at the Hunter with elation.
"Clara! You're alive!"
"Seraph!" she responded in kind, her heart racing. "Where's Mathias?"
"Below the Traveler, in Messenger's Fall," the Ghost answered. "He's being watched by a unit of Trinary Star enforcers- I can't go anywhere near, the Nine might find me-"
"The Nine?" Clara yelped. "They're here?"
"They were, but they disappeared at the start of the battle," Seraph explained. "I don't know where they went- but if they kill me, then Mathias is dead forever. He's in a set of restraints they created, some kind of trap that drained his light. Until he's free, I can't do anything to help him!"
The odd group became quiet for a moment as Clara thought carefully on what to do. If they saw her approaching, the enforcers might just shoot Mathias simply to keep her from freeing him. So the question was, how did she get there without coming across as a threat?
She looked at Sive as an idea came to her- one that she wasn't too thrilled about, but that she was reasonably sure would work.
"Seraph, stay out of sight- but watch us closely and get to Mathias as soon as he's free," she ordered. The Ghost bobbed in confirmation, then zipped off to hide and await their progress.
"How exactly are we going to free him, though?" the Keeper asked confusedly. She sighed, and withdrew her knife from her belt. He eyed it warily. "What are you planning to do with that?"
"Ghost, stand by for resurrection," she ordered. He materialized, and gave her the stink-eye.
"Oh, I do not like this plan."
"It'll be fine," she reassured him, then turned back to Sive. "First rule of being a Guardian."
She held the knife's blade to her own throat.
"Guardians die. A lot."
—X—
One of the enforcers surrounding the Hunter saw a bit of movement roughly a hundred meters away, and quickly gestured to the others. They all hefted their weapons at the unknown figure cautiously, unsure if friend or foe. Their sudden activity drew the attention of Mathias, and he squinted at the form of the person approaching to get a better view.
"Don't shoot!" they called. "I'm not one of them!"
It was a Keeper, frantically waving one arm above his head in surrender. The enforcers remained hesitant and kept their weapons trained on him, but didn't fire just yet. The Keeper seemed to be dragging something behind him …
"Not all of us want what she wanted," he explained, reaching the outer circle of soldiers. His cargo was revealed to be a body, an Exo whose throat had been sliced open and whose blood stained the snow in a thick line of blue that stretched back the entire length of how far he'd dragged her.
Mathias' felt like a rock had suddenly manifested in his stomach as he recognized the white and silver plating of the body.
Clara.
Her blue eyes no longer shone with that contagious hope that had become so signature of her personality- instead, they remained dead to the world as her arteries continued to pump the blue ichor that made her function, much of it spilling out through the wide gash in her neck's tubing and onto the snow where it was beginning to pool.
"I just wanted to bring her to you," the Keeper continued, "to show you it's over. They've lost."
His words seemed to have the intended effect on the enforcers, and they finally lowered their weapons. One of them inspected the body, turning her head this way and that as well as checking her vitals.
"She's dead, alright. Inform the Balance."
Another nodded, and held a hand up to his helmet as a third moved forward to grab Clara's corpse by the ankles, and drag her over in front of Mathias.
"I just want things to go back to the way they were," the Keeper said in conversation to the enforcer in front. "She was dangerous- she had to be put down."
The Hunter tuned out the noise, everything around him but the sight of his apprentice dead at his feet. He felt stinging pinpricks in the corners of his eyes, his vision becoming blurry as his eyes welled up with tears- he'd lost her a second time, and he hadn't even known it.
I'm sorry, Clara. You deserved so much better.
His mourning distracted him from noticing a certain Ghost making his way around the encampment, flitting between rocks and the legs of enforcers unseen. The other enforces were likewise too preoccupied conversing with the Keeper to notice him as he darted over to Clara's body, expanded his shell around a glowing blue aura, and then flashed in a burst of Light.
By the time the enforcers had turned to look at the source of the flash, it was too late. Clara was leaping into the air, her body lighting itself aflame as she summoned fiery knives and cast them out over the entire area. Their blades sought out the hearts of the Trinary Star members, and as soon as each found its mark, they exploded in a burst of orange light.
Landing limberly on the ground, she stood up casually and looked over the scene of her handiwork. All of the enforcers were nothing more than scorch marks now, their bodies incinerated by the heat. Sive, despite being totally untouched, held his hands up over his face as though that would have protected him in the first place. Slowly, he lowered them again.
"Okay- is it over? Everybody dead?"
"It's over," she confirmed, and turned to look up into the astonished face of her mentor. She smiled warmly. "You look comfortable."
Finally, he found his voice. "Don't you ever- ever- scare me like that again."
"No promises." Again, her body began to glow orange with solar energy. "Hold still."
More flaming knives appeared in her hands- but this time, instead of casting them out wildly over a large area, she controlled their paths with total precision.
SHINK.
With one calculated throw, each of her four knives flew into a different restraint and destroyed them. Mathias' wrists and legs came free all at once, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Seraph!" Clara called, and no more than a second had gone by before the Ghost appeared and flew up next to the Hunter. Bathing him in a blue glow, she began to restore his Light.
"Matt? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine now," he said, rising to his feet and setting a hand on Clara's shoulder. She was surprised to see streaks of wetness running down his cheeks. "You all seem to be putting up one hell of a fight out there."
"Got that right," Sive agreed. "Did well with that one- gave us all a right kick in the ass when we needed it."
"Yeah, well, she's been known to do that from time to time," Mathias chuckled. He stopped when he looked down to see Clara's hand outstretched, the Hawkmoon sitting squarely in her grip.
"I believe this belongs to you," she said softly. Gingerly, he reached out and took it in his own hand. He inspected it carefully like a treasured friend, then turned back to her.
"Thank you."
"As touching as this reunion is," Ghost said suddenly, breaking them out of their celebratory haze, "we're still in a lot of danger. We need to leave before-"
"You can't leave yet."
Back on guard, the three Guardians entered a combat stance as a sudden voice taunted them. Turning to look for the source, Clara tensed as her eyes found their mark- Cerin, standing a little ways away from them, his new robes singed and ripped, and one of his helmet's antlers broken off halfway up. A crack ran through its eye, giving him somewhat of a depraved appearance.
Reaching his hand up, he summoned that glowing sword of his again, and held its point out towards them.
"The fun's only just begun."