Experiments
-STATIC-*
"Hello? Ikora?" He repeats, tapping the side of his helmet as the static fades.
"Yes? What is it? Have you reached her ship?" Ikora muffled voice says through com.
"I'm just approaching it. Have yet to encounter any attempt to prevent me from landing."
Her muffled voice hums in thought "If you land, be cautious. Nothing says trap like a defenseless ship."
"Alright, I'll be in touch." He says parking his ship beside the deck he jumps out, standing on the deck of a whiteish greenish ship shaped like a crescent moon. He feels a familiarity here.
"This doesn't feel right..." his ghost murmurs floating beside him.
"Well we aren't gonna find out why just standing out here." He says, pulling out his gun he steps toward a dark opening. Some scratching static plays in his ear with some muffled words coming through.
What...* *Stat-*
The loud static irritating his ear he turns off his comms.
"Is that wise?" His ghost asks.
"I'll turn it back on as we go further in." He says stepping beside the dark opening, he signals his ghost. The ghost turns on his flashlight, shining light upon the dark corridor. He steps in, lightly, his gun at the ready as he encounters a turn hiding behind the wall just before the turn.
The ghost flicks off it's light as it looks down the dark hallway.
"See anything?" He asks in a low tone.
"Nothing... I'm starting to wonder if this ship is actually abandoned." His ghost says flicking back on his flashlight lighting the dark hallway.
"But there were no sighs of any of that. No bodies, no supplies lying about, nothing." He says slowly stepping down the hallway.
"Then this is obviously a trap. Ikora had been trying to follow Savatun for a while now and this our chance to get a step ahead. We can't let her spring this trap. We should go back out to where we can contact her and inform her of the situation and await support." The ghost suggests urgently.
"We already told her there was nothing to stop us! And she told us to be cautious!" He shouts "This is my chance to get a better rank in the Vanguard! I won't let some Hive god get the better of me!" As he shouts cackling and quick steps are heard up ahead.
He growls rushing toward the darkness.
"We were suppose to be discrete!" His ghost retorts following behind him.
"If this is a trap they new we were here!" He shouts. The two rush out into a wide area. The ghosts light could only shine upon the nearby pillars. Small fast paced steps can heard from the darkness. He points his gun toward the dark, huffing "COME OUT YOU FUCKING PARASITES!" He screams toward the darkness.
"What happened to being Cautious!" His ghost questions irritated.
"Guardian have you found anything?" He hears Ikoras muffled voice from his helmet.
"Nothing yet..." he groans glaring at the dark "We have found nothing." He mutters turning to his ghost.
"What do you mean?! We heard noises!" His ghost says.
He stares at his ghost confused.
"I see. Keep searching, if the ship is abandoned we may be able to salvage something from it. Try to find anything that may help." Ikoras says almost hearing her voice clearly.
"On it. We'll try to bring anything back." He responds.
"Who are you talking to?" His ghost asks.
He sighs "Where you not listening? We have to find anything valuable!" He groans stepping toward the darkness he follows the pillars.
"Listening to what?" His ghost asks shining the way for him.
"Ikora! She said to find anything valuable that may help us find Savatun!" He shouts furiously, tightening his grip on his gun.
His ghost clicks curiously "Your comms were off. How could she contact you?"
He stares oddly at his ghost for a moment. Reaching his helmet he clicks on his comms hearing the same screeching static in his ear. He loosens his grip on his gun, anxiety builds in his chest as he begins to breath heavily "T-Then... w-what, or who was i-"
Loud stomps are heard from the darkness. The sound of bricks grinding against each other as cracks and growls echo. Fast footsteps heard all around them. The sounds of chuckling and hysterical laughter cause him to shake where he stood.
"The trap... we... when?" His ghost stutters shining his light in the dark he sees nothing within 10 feet of them. "An... illusion! Sounds to frighten us! Guardian, stand firm is just trickery."
He chuckles anxiously, holding tightly onto his gun his arm rattles. The small sounds of laughter causing his anxiety to build. He gulps glancing around the darkness, he can faintly see movement from the little light his ghost showed.
He stops. His mic turns on. His ghost turns to him.
-your gonna die-*
He freezes up. His com turned on without him touching. This soft feminine voice muttered those horrible words into his ear.
-your gonna die-*
He turns back to the darkness hearing a low snarl. He quickly points his gun the direction, his arms shaking replaying those words.
-your gonna die-*
"Don't be reckless..." his ghost murmurs "Let's just go back." His ghost says softly trying to calm him down.
He chuckles before hysterically laughing "YOU DONT GET IT! THEY KNOW! WE ARE DEAD!" He screams hysterically firing randomly toward the darkness.
-your gonna die-*
Flashes of gun fire light up the room instantaneously.
"Calm down! Let's just go!" His ghost says before staring out at the room as the bright flashes of his gun fire light it. As he yells his ghost sees a hoard of hive slowly approaching them as if stop motion.
"W-We..." his ghost turns around surveying the area seeing them surrounded by hive. Cackles and snarls heard all around as thrall and acolytes approach them slowly.
As he screams hysterically he stops seeing a bright void light shine past the hoard lighting up the dark room. A sense of relief, the light, here even in the dark. But his relief fades seeing himself surrounded by hive. A loud vocal scream echos, he turns to the void light, he falls to his knees staring out, hopelessly at the hive knight bearing void. "H-How..." he mutters. His hearing fades, hearing his ghost shout at him in muffled and scrambled words.
-your gonna die-*
-your gonna die-*
-your gonna die-*
-your gonna die-*
-your gonna die-*
-your gonna die-*
Is replayed over and over and over in his comms, laugher echoed faintly behind the woman's words. He blinks, seeing a void shield flying toward him before it smashes against his face shattering his helmet as he falls onto his back. He gasps, screaming in pain feeling blood gushing from his broken nose and front teeth, his face smashed in from a single attack. He covers his face kicking his legs out feeling she sheer pain.
"IT HURTS!" He gasps out feeling the blood gush onto his hands. He tries to get back on his knees mumbling and huffing as he tries to hold back his cries of agony. Turning back to the hive knight he sees another shield flying toward him as it smashes against his arm, shattering anything connected to his shoulder as it tears through his armor and flesh. He screams falling back onto his back, he sobs grabbing his shoulder he feels his ripped muscle fibers hanging out of the gashing cut on his shoulder, blood spilling out onto the ground.
His ghost stares on in horror. "A... hive with the light? I-Impossible..." his ghost mutters before being grabbed by a thrall and taken into the darkness.
He scream in the pitch black darkness feeling a burning pain run through his face and shoulder "HELP! HELP ME PLEASE!" He begs at the top his lungs. He hears the cackling louder, the screams of the hive echo hysterically throughout the pitch black darkness. Afraid and in pain he fires his rocket launcher toward the sky the explosion lighting the area.
He gasps staring upward he sees hive standing over him string down at him as they drool and hiss. He screams before the thrall laugh and growl as they rip and claw at his armor before tearing it off. He feels the thrall naw and chew off his finger tearing them off his palm. He feels the skin on his feet being ripped off by teeth and clawed at, feeling his skin being peeled off his flesh before that too gets gnawed at. Feeling a thrall slash at his throat he gasps and gurgles feeling blood flood his throat, drowning in his blood he sees them tug at his eye lids peeling them off his face along with the rest of his skin. His hair gets ripped off his head leaving bald spots or open flesh. His stomach getting smashed open as they beat and stomp on it, filling his inner organs gush with blood before they rip his stomach open, clawing and smashing his insides as he slowly fades feeling death approach him. It hot, the pain immeasurable as he dies on the floor, bloodied, his flesh scattered around the body as his blood pool around him. Blacking out.
His heart pumps. He feels himself waking. Coming back from death as he had before. It's warm, relaxing feeling the warmth of his body flood through ever limb.
He opens his eyes to nothing. Pitch black darkness. He turns trying to see anything. He tries to reach out but feels restrained. Groaning as he attempts to pull arms and legs free. He takes deep breaths trying to recall what happened he feels the cool air surround him, shivering he realizes he's naked. He struggles harder, feeling fear and anxiety swell in his chest "GHOST!" He calls out, panting as he gets more tried from struggling.
A soft laughter echos from the dark. A light ignited just above him, basking him. He looks around seeing himself restrained to a wall, unable to see the floor. He gulps looking around sparsely for anything.
"Finally awake?" He hears from the dark. A soothing feminine voice. It sounds familiar but he can't quite make it out.
"W-Who are you? And where am I?" He calls out, hoping to stall as he tries desperately to remember what happing before he had died.
"Oh? You don't know? Isn't that why you came here? To find... me?" The soft voice says.
He feels chills run down his spin, that soothing voice causing his anxiety to build. "R-Right... you..." he says playing along.
The voice hums "So you can't recall memories just before death? Interesting."
He feels a horrible uncomfortable feeling bubble in his gut, he begins to shudder, he feel pure darkness yet there's still light. He feels something coming up his throat, a sickly feeling plagues him.
"You look sick. Your turning pale. Perhaps my voice displeases you." She says with a faint chuckle.
Staring straight into the dark he sees 3 eyes faintly glimmering behind the dark causing him to vomit.
"So I suppose you feel fear. Immortal as you are you still feel such things. I suppose keeping your mortality is the curse of immortality itself."
He spits what's left in his mouth out. The horrible smell of some of his vomit on his chest nearly makes him vomit again.
"I suppose I should begin. I just have a few questions for you guardian before we begin the trials."
He drunkenly looks up, his fuzzy thoughts becoming clear as he sees a large figure step out of the dark. He freezes in fear, her immense pressure and statue is immense. Flashes of her words echo in his head.
-your gonna die-*
He feels his heart quicken. Thumbing in his chest as he shudders at her voice. Flashes of his torture at the hands of thrall shake him to his core. He wets himself.
"It appears fear has consumed your thoughts at the moment. Perhaps you'd prefer a more suitable look."
He watches as the hive goddess changes to Ikora. He watches as she floats before him.
"Do guardians feel pain?" She asks in Ikoras voice "Well now that I think about it you wouldn't be this afraid if you didn't."
He groans "I-I'm not... I'm not afraid..." he mumbles, his voice raspy and filled with doubt in himself.
She smiles "Of course. Which Subclass is the most proficient in termination?"
He gulps, muttering "Stormcaller..."
She hums "Is that right... other studies showed Void... I suppose that's what the tests are for." She floats closer grinning "Final question before we begin."
He watches her hold out her hand, he stares terrified as his ghost manifests in her palm, seemingly lifeless.
"If you ghost lives and flees. And comes back years later, can it revive you?"
He gulps, feeling hopelessness swell In his body. His arms and legs go limp, accepting his fate. "It can..." he murmurs defeated.
She hums floating away she changes back to her original form startling him. "Let's begin the tests. Before we begin this does not just test subclass but also what your ghost can do."
He shudders, his limbs shake as he watches the tall hive goddess conjure void in the palm of her hand.
"Void. Devours everything. With the power of the light it can be harnessed. But raw void?" She holds the void to his arm.
He groans, gritting his teeth as he feels the void rip off the skin from his arm sucking it all in like spaghetti. He screams feeling her move it up his arm to his shoulder, tearing flesh from bone and devouring the blood.
She pulls her hand away dissipating the void. "You scream a lot for a guardian. So it eats constantly." Touching his flesh eaten arm she feel the bone "Even the bones been hardly eaten by the void. So it devours everything..."
He seethes, feeling immense pain in his arm as muscle sags and his bones revealed, clean of blood.
"Ghost~ heal your guardian~" she says.
The ghost awakes, freaking out it tries to break free from her grasp but fails "W-Wait... it's you!"
She nods "Yes it is. But I want to find out if you can heal your guardian." She turns the ghost, showing it his guardian, naked, defeated, crying as the flesh from his arm is gone.
She moves the ghost closer. The ghost quickly puts his arm together "Why are you doing this?! And how did you steal the light!" The ghost shouts finishing his arm.
She giggles "All in due time~ it's time for the next experiment. Stormcaller you said?" Holding up her hand he jolts hearing lighting crackle between her fingers as flashes of blue contrast the yellow light above him. Holding her hand to his face she smiles "Dont die~"
He gulps seeing Lightning sparkle in her hand, placing her palm on his face she shocks him. He grunts and growls feeling lighting flash and burn his face. Increasing the voltage he feels his hairs burning off and his skin bubbling from the heat. He screams feeling his eyes burst from the intense shocks, he gags and sobs unable to see and feeling blush gush and squirt from his eyes as she pulls her hand away.
"Ghost~" she sings holding the ghost to his face as he shudders and cries making noises of pain.
The ghost heals his lost eyes and burnt face, slowly putting it back together he can't help but feel pity for his guardian.
He grumbles and whimpers, still feeling the pain and the blood.
"One more test. The last one is Solar correct?" She says as fire bursts from her hand. She steps toward him, pressing her hand against his stomach she chuckles.
He feels his insides begin to burn, heating up he groans. Before feeling his insides begin to bubbles he screams in agony, feeling his organs sizzle and burst inside him, acids and blood gushing as they pool in his stomach. He feels his skin bubble and burn before it's so burnt it tears itself apart dumping all the molten fluids that built up in his belly.
"How curious..." she murmurs. Holding the ghost to his stomach.
As the ghost begins to heal him it groans "This is too much... let it end..."
She chuckles "That was the last test. But I don't feel content with just killing you both off. After all you've done for me..."
-STATIC-*
"Guardian? We had lost contact, what happened?" Ikora asks from the other side.
"Sorry we were unable to find Savathuns ship nearby." He says through the comms.
She sighs "False lead then. Return to the tower Guardian."
"Will do he responds." Turning off his comms he sighs flying his ship to the tower. "Damn, if only we found it."
His ghost stares blankly into space "R-Right..." remembering everything.
My first take on a horror? It was horror at the beginning but then just turned gory. My first Horror and Destiny story. After finishing the Witch Queen campaign I feel in love her character. She's just the best. And I wanted a story with her, a bit more grounded in reality with the gore and all. I really wish we got more of Savathun, and I hope she returns. Let me know your thoughts.
