Eris felt like the universe was playing a cruel joke on her.
She was stranded in the depths of the Hellmouth with no communicator, no ghost, no light, and now? No gun.
That hand cannon she dropped? That was her only remaining weapon with ammo. Her auto rifle was out, and so was her rocket launcher. She had briefly considered heading back there for it, but with it being so close to Crota's arena, she would probably die before she could even get near it.
She had been here for almost a year now and had completely used up her supplies almost four months in. Lacking the food that she needed to live now that her light was gone, she had been forced to make a choice. Eat the Hive she killed, or starve.
But, even she could say that the mission into the Hellmouth had reaped some benefits. The benefits were not in any way equal to the price paid to get them, but they were something. While she had lost her light, a small crystal she had stolen from a wizard afforded her some manner of regeneration, and she felt like she was starting to understand more about the magic the Hive used.
She didn't know why. Maybe it was her close proximity to the crystal she stole? But, she was starting to understand some of what the Hive were saying as they sat and prayed, or what guards were talking about as they watched over a doorway. It wasn't a proper language, more grunts and growls than true words, but she found herself able to listen and understand.
Currently, she was listening in on a pair of acolytes as they walked past her current hiding space. They were talking about someone called 'The Unthinking One' and how another room of thrall birthing pods had been burned by them. Was there someone else down here that was trying to fight the Hive?
Could it be Toland?
She would have to look into this further.
Izuku felt his Quirk activate as the Hive started another chant.
He didn't know how long he had been in these tunnels, his torch had died a long time ago, his food had run out after that. He had spent many hours scouring the tunnels for safe spaces and materials, and to be honest?
He was proud of what he had done.
He pushed the rock that hid the entrance to his haven into position and moved to the other end of the cavern. A single green torch illuminated the small space, some of the only light Izuku had found in his time here.
He had stolen the torch a long time ago, and it still hadn't gone out. Izuku would have assumed it was someone's Quirk, if not for some of his most recent discoveries. He had been panicked for a while upon his arrival in this dark place, scurrying to and fro, searching for food and safety, too busy with survival to focus on anything else.
But now that he had settled, and was relatively safe, it gave him time to turn his focus on other matters. Like the fact that he was starting to understand whatever language it was that the creatures spoke.
It was a few words at first, or at least, he thought they were words. The occasional "pray" or "good" or "spell" were all that he heard at first, but recently, after he had started trying to understand it more, the words and writings seemed to reveal their meanings to him.
During one of his searches, he had come across a room filled with what he assumed to be jewelry and each piece had glowing green runes etched into it. To his surprise, he was able to translate some of the runes, even if he didn't really like what he read.
Some of them spoke of turning the sounds of pain from other creatures into power, some about turning your anger into fire, or reversing injuries through sheer force of will.
That was when Izuku realized something. All the talk about spells, the runes, the chanting. He realized what they were doing. He grabbed as many amulets and necklaces and helmets as he could carry silently, and sprinted back to his haven.
These creatures were using Magic.
From the Journals of Izuku Midoriya: The Hive Species and How to Hunt Them #1
From what I have seen during my searches of the tunnels, there seem to be around six or seven different types of creatures that live down here, excluding the large one in the Orb Chamber.
First, there are the small, thin ones that don't wield any weapons. From what I can tell, these creatures are called 'Thralls', and they seem to be less intelligent than the other types. On their own, they are practically harmless when taken by surprise, but in a pack, they can be deadly.
Tips for hunting: Isolate the smallest and slowest, and attack from above. They have hunched spines, making it nearly impossible for them to look directly up.
From the Journals of Izuku Midoriya: The Hive Species and How to Hunt Them #1
Possibly the most common species of the Hive are the 'Acolytes'. More intelligent than the thrall, they seem to be able to take more hits than a thrall can, and are capable of wielding weapons.
They are also capable of casting some basic magic, usually in the form of fireballs or to fuel their weapons. Their weaponry usually ranges from blasters, which fire purple bolts of energy, to boomers which fire green explosive shots.
Tips for hunting: Similar to thralls, they have trouble looking upwards, so attacks from above are preferred. With their ranged capabilities, getting up close is very important.
With their magical capabilities, it's good to use ranged weapons on individual targets, and to avoid groups.
Eris froze as she heard it.
The sounds of gunfire, screaming Hive, lightning slamming into the ground, throwing sparks down the hallway, and the harrowing noise of unleashed Void energy, like static blocking out sound, heat, and light.
It was the first time since she had lost her light, almost seven years ago now, that she had heard the sounds of it being used, and she knew that if she could go to the guardians using it, she might be able to get out of these godforsaken tunnels.
As she moved towards the sounds, she got more and more anxious. She was getting closer and closer, but she knew where she was headed at this point.
She had avoided this room for months at this point, as the last time she came near here, she had almost lost her arm.
It was the Charmsmith's quarters. The room where the wizards and acolytes of the Hellmouth created their charms and runes for their magics.
And apparently there were guardians in there.
Arriving at the doorway, she saw an odd sight. Two guardians were on the ground unconscious, with one standing over both, firing into a crowd of thralls.
It was a losing battle, the last guardian ran out of ammo in their magazine. And was swarmed by the thrall, their grenade only buying them a few seconds.
And that was when her suspicions were confirmed.
Izuku didn't know how long he had spent in these tunnels, but he knew he was much older than when he was when he first got there.
He was heading towards gunfire, not recognizing the sounds as Hive weapons, meaning that it was probably someone else! Izuku hadn't seen anyone else in a while.
Dressed in clothes made from cobbled together scraps taken from the few wizards he had killed over the years, he pulled his favorite weapon out, a revolver he had found during his first few days in the tunnels.
Chanting in a language he had spent the last six years learning, pain spiked up his arm as green light filled the clip as bullets formed.
Firing off a few shots as he continued chanting, he watched as the thrall dissolved into green dust as the special bullets did their job.
He yelled out a word that clashed with the hearing of everything in the room, and the floor of the entire room in front of him burst into emerald spikes of energy, thralls collapsing into the ground as others were impaled.
Feeling the drain of such powerful magic on him, he turned to the trio of people he had just protected, noting the presence of another figure holding a green crystal, and fell to his knees.
He looked at the first humans he had seen in six years and gave them a small smile as he spoke.
"Greetings, Guardians! I'm gonna pass out now, can you get me somewhere safe please?"
AN: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm having a lot of fun brainstorming ideas for this fic, so keep an eye out for C3, it should be coming soon!