Chapter 5- The Two Horsemen

Weeks had passed since the tower fell and everything went to shit. The Red Legion had been crusading around the solar system hunting the powerless guardians and returning them to their eternal slumber. Many gave up hope without their light and lost the will to fight or even live. Others continued the fight even without their light adjusting and pushing through the dark times and standing together. In our clan things were no different. Most of the clan decided to walk away and live out their lives as normal people. They had people that they loved and wanted to be with and I understood that, our lives as soldiers kept us from all the things we ever wanted. Those that left along with the survivors of the tower's fall fled and settled in on Eris, a dwarf planet on the outer region of the system. To my knowledge the Legion did not even know that that planet existed, let alone if it was habitable; they'd be safe there for the time being. With so many people gone the clan was now a three person operation: Joe, Clinton and Myself. Still at our main base on Earth we were having issues figuring out what the next move should be. We had been helping a small band of survivors who stayed at a place called the farm led by Suraya, a hot headed woman with a penchant for danger. But who was I to talk, I was just as reckless. Just recently I single handedly interrupted a hive ritual and barely made it out alive. Something Joe would not let go for the last few weeks. "I get it! I almost died, it's not a big deal." I said exasperated. Joe was on another of his big brother rants about me being rash. "If you get it, why do you keep making impulsive decisions? You almost die every other day!" he snapped back. I softly chuckled "Well they say death is an adventure, I'm just making sure I enjoy the ride. Besides I love a good fight, gives my life meaning." He blew out a sigh and face palmed. Once again I was annoying Joe with my recklessness, though Joe shouldn't be so surprised. Hunters were just like that. Impulsive and reckless, always thrill seeking. I mean just look at Cayde. "Guys enough, we should get back to the problem at hand here." Clinton said.

Joe let out another sigh, "Fine. I'm assuming you are referring to the missing people correct?" he nodded. "Three more people went missing in the dark forest and that place is swarming with fallen. Suraya wants someone to go investigate. Should we go?" My face light up and I began jumping up and down. "Oh, Oh, Oh! I'll go!" I volunteered eagerly. They both just shook their heads and sighed in unison. Honestly, they should have seen this coming. I lived for danger even before all of this happened. "Well this isn't something we can ignore can it? I mean people are missing, so we need to find them." I said quickly trying to hide the excitement in my voice. Joe Scoffed "Don't even pretend, you're doing it to help find the missing people. You just want to go off on another of your reckless adventures." He stood up and headed for the door "If you want to go on this suicide mission then that's your call but I'm staying out of it. I'll let Suraya know that you'll look for the missing." Then he left. Ghost appeared besides me "He may have a point. We've been rash lately." I simply waved him off. I wanted this, no I needed this. I've been dead before and let me tell you it sucked. No afterlife, no white lights, not even eternal torment. Just cold empty darkness. Compared to take risking my life everyday wasn't so bad. The danger just reaffirmed that I was alive again, yeah it was stupid rationalization but that's just who I am. Clinton patted me on the shoulder "Well if you're going to go do you want backup?" he asked cheerfully. I shook my head and smiled. "That's ok, it's just a recon mission so it should be ok. Thanks though. Besides, don't you have a date with the hot chef?" I asked. He gave me another pat on the back and headed for the door "Just be careful and this time don't almost die" I gave him a small salute "No Promises."

~Later That Day~

I made it to the dark forest before night fall, it had been a fairly easy trip which in my experience was a bad thing. Meant trouble was ahead. I unholstered my sidearm as I approached the forest entrance and did a quick survey of my surroundings. I took note of the footprints within the ground. Three sets and all relatively fresh. I reached down and touched them lightly with my hand. The footprints didn't show signs of struggle which was a good thing. "Ghost do a quick scan see if you pick up any heat signatures" I saw still examining the area. Ghost materialized and began a scan of the area. "Hm, it seems that there are multiple heat signatures deep within the forest. Mostly fallen but there are what appears to be humans as well. How many, I couldn't say for sure. I'm also picking up something else." I raised an eyebrow "Something else? Explain" Ghost gave a quick shake "I'm not certain, I just picked up on an unrecognizable energy signature." Then he dematerialized. I told myself it was probably nothing and proceeded inside the forest via the trees, didn't want anyone following me. I just from tree to tree making sure not to make too much noise with my landing and looking out for any sign of life, that's when I saw them. A group a fallen protecting what looked to be a cage. I landed on the branch of a great oak tree and surveyed the area. Five enemies guarding that cage, and after looking closer I saw that the cage had people inside it. Three to be exact, what in the world was going on? I pulled a smoke grenade from my pack and send it into the fire they had built. Once it went off I moved quickly and quietly dispatching the fallen soldiers with my knife, then I smothered the fire with dirt before too much smoke was expelled. I dispersed the remnants of the smoke bomb buy using a special water bomb I created, though it was basically a more powered water balloon. I picked the lock to the cage and had ghost light up so that we could see. "Are you guys alright? Can you move?" I asked them. They answered yes and climbed their way out of the cage slowly. "We are sorry to have you come all this way for us." The oldest one said. "We came here after hearing a rumor about special herbs that we could use to heal the sick quickly. Needless to say, they appeared to be false and we were ambushed and captured. There was another captive here, a former guardian but they took him away deeper in the forest." I handed each of them a pistol. "Head north quickly and quietly and you'll make your way out of the forest. Once you do send word to a titan named Joe and a warlock named Clinton that they need to get here ASAP. Understood?" They nodded and took off, I was three pistols down but I still had my rifle and my knife.

I figured I should take care of the fallen that I killed so I threw their bodies on the fire pit and set it aflame again. Let's call it a calling card. I heard leaves ruffling on the ground behind me and I immediately pulled my knife and swung, catching a fallen soldier in the neck. I pulled the knife from his neck and leapt into the trees as he fell. The other fallen would be back soon and even I'm not dumb enough to fight in such an open area without a plan. I had to keep them busy here, or they'd go after the freed captives. So what should I do? I heard movement in the forest drawing closer to the camp and quickly decided my next course of action. I sat my rifle on the branch against the trunk of the tree and hid my knife underneath my armor after cutting my stomach enough to bleed out. The cut was minor enough where I wouldn't die and I knew Ghost would heal me if I became critical. "Ghost. You're to follow in stealth mode and if it looks like this is going south, intervene." I said. "Ghost Materialized and bobbed "I know what you're about to do and it is very stupid." He said. I shrugged, what else could I do at this point? I needed to find the missing guardian and it was easier to do it this way. I allowed myself to fall from the tree and lay motionless on the ground in pain. This had to look convincing. The footsteps grew closer and five fallen soldiers came into the came with guns drawn. They surveyed the scene and turned all their weapons to me. This was a gamble and I was willing to bet my life it would work. They began speaking to each other, but I didn't speak fallen so I could only guess what they were saying. They were deciding whether to keep me alive or kill me. From the looks of it I assumed that they thought I was a captive who was left behind due to injury. I moved my hand to the wounds and put a little pressure on it. The cut was deeper than I thought it was and the blood had started pouring out a bit faster. A small smile graced my lips, this was a bit fun for me as twisted as it sounds. The fallen stopped speaking and two of them hoisted me to my feet and began to walk in the direction that they came from. So it looks like this plan was going work. They would lead me to the captive, ghost would heal me and then I'd take them out. They dragged me along for about 10 minutes and the deeper we got into the forest the more I began to feel strange. Like something broken inside of me was becoming whole, and I could actually feel my wound closing slowly and strength returning to my body. Was ghost healing me? No couldn't be, the sensation was different.

We came into a clearing and the smell of blood filled the air. I looked around and saw the crumpled body of the missing guardian. They were breathing but barely. The fallen threw me forward onto the ground and I looked up into the eyes of a Red Legion soldier. "So there's just this one? What happened to the other captives?" he asked voice full of venom. The fallen said nothing. "Imbeciles! You promised us more people!" He sent a swift kick to my stomach region that knocked the wind out of me. "You fallen scum! How dare you fail in such a simple task? I should kill you where you stand!" He stomped off and I lay there trying to catch my breath. Then I felt that sensation again, what was going on? The fallen began chattering again and followed after the Red Legion Soldier. I struggled to my feet and stumbled over to the guardian. "Ghost, Heal Him" I said fingers pressed against his neck checking his pulse. "I'll do what I can but I can't promise much. Ghost said materializing. He moved closer to the guardian and began to heal him. "Just get him out of the danger zone, and stabilize him. I'm not expecting miracles." I said. I took a deep breath and put my hand to my wound, it was almost completely healed. No time to think about that. I took a quick survey of the area. It looked like they were excavating, searching for something. There were small tents set up and a small weapons cache near the closest tent. I walked over and took two rifles and four pistols and went to check on ghost. "How's he doing?" I asked. "I-I'm fine, and 'He' is called Rayne" the guardian replied weakly. He struggled to sit up, so I gave him a hand. "My ghost is offline, disabled by the red legion so I couldn't heal." He said. I placed a rifle and two pistols next to him. "This is about to get wild, so I hope you know how to handle a gun." I said with a smile. He stretched out a hand "Help me up and I'll show you how good I can handle a gun." I helped him to his feet and picked up his weapons. "Ghost will continue to heal you" I said. "You're sure you're good to go?" I asked. He checked his ammo clip and re-inserted it into the rifle. "I've been in worse situations and came out alive. That's why they call me 'Death the Vanguard'." He said and I smiled. I've heard about the man they Called "Death". It was a Vanguard Legend. Four Vanguard members known As the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. "Death", "War", "Pestilence" and "Famine", however from what I could tell the horsemen didn't know each other. I knew this to be fact, because I was War.