When Rhys and Fiona touched the glowing, neon purple box, they were confused on where they had been sent.
Both friends expected it to be inside the box they touched, but when they did, they were flashed away from the vault of the traveller to somewhere else in the universe.
With a thud, both partners dropped to the floor.
Fiona groaned in pain, her muscles aching from everything that had happened that day and called out, "Rhys?"
In response, she heard a man moan in pain too and she sighed exasperatedly at the person. He was so dramatic sometimes. "Get up Rhys, where the hell are we?"
She slowly opened her eyes to see herself on the rock floor and then pushed herself up, ignoring the slight pressure in her arms and tried to search for Rhys. She would check the area out in a second.
"Over here, princess," Rhys piped out from the opposite direction. She spun around and was about to send out a retort to the asshole until her eyes landed on the place around her. The same purple lights were infused within the rocks all around them, except the land they were on wasn't floating in the middle of nowhere and the place was much more vast. In every direction but one, rocks somehow levitated with purplish colours glowing through them. Above her, was an endless darkness and in the direction that was mostly plain was a staircase up.
"Hey, what's up Fi? I need some help here," he continued, breathing heavily. Fiona shook her head.
"Call me princess again and I'll make sure to feed you to the Skags," she shot back. There was no seriousness or malice, they both knew it was a joke—it's how they communicated—with sass and sarcasm.
She saw Rhys and he looked okay except for the fact he seemed to be aching all over. "C'mon Rhys, haul your ass up and let's find out where we are." She kneeled next to him and he wrapped one of his arms around her neck. Gradually, Rhys stood up with Fiona's help and was wobbly on both legs.
Fiona let go cautiously but he was about to fall, and so she quickly held him up again with an arm around her. She rolled her eyes at the situation.
"Are you that tired, you can't even stand up you little thing?" She mocked, becoming amused as he started to stutter out.
"Me? Tired? What a-are you…" Rhy let out a yawn and she laughed at the Hyperion who grumbled incessantly.
She began to move with Rhys holding her gently yet tightly, and his touch was oddly comforting.
"Hey," he caught her attention and she raised an eyebrow at him. "You look good without that hat on." He complimented her.
She rolled her eyes at him, trying to cover up the very light tint of pink on her cheeks. "Well, you might as well take a picture because this is the only time you'll ever see me like this," she remarked.
"That's how you respond to a compliment?" Rhys said with a smile. "Well then, let me get a cam—"
"Time's up Rhys," she bent down, careful not to drop him and plucked her hat up from next to a pile of rocks. She dusted it off her with her free right arm and placed it on her head. She smiled to herself, since her fedora was the most important thing to her right now, excluding Rhys. She heard him huff slightly.
"I thought that was it…" Rhys said to Fiona confused when they started moving again.
"Same here, that massive rock asshole almost cost me my sister and if we went through all of that for nothing…" She left her sentence hanging, showing how pissed she would be at all this vault mess.
"Let's just focus on now, it's not like we've ever been in a vault before?" He pointed out.
"You have a point there for once," she dryly replied.
"H-hey, I take offence to that. I've made so many pla...ns," he hurried but realised Fiona was only messing with him. "Anyway, we should find a way out of this place, and hope we can get something good for all this crap we went through."
"Hmm, great plan corporate scum," she teased and then pointed to the staircase. "That, looks like it leads somewhere."
Rhys nodded along and agreed, making his way over to the set of stairs up. "Y'know, what do you even want from this vault?"
"Something that'll make mine and Sasha's life flourish on Pandora. Maybe something to help with vault hunting like an upgrade for my gun?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Or anything that'll go for a lot so I can use that money on whatever," she replied like a typical Pandoran.
She raised her eyes towards him. "And what about you?"
"Stuff to help Atlas," he said vaguely to which Fiona raised her eyebrow at. "Fine… I want guns, technology—maybe things that go for a lot, so I can use the money to build up Atlas again and help Pandora," he said with determination.
She curled her lips up at that. "You're pretty confident you can help this shithole after what Jack did to it, aren't you?"
He turned to her. "Hell yeah, I am," he affirmed. "The people here aren't as bad as they look—most of them—and well, they deserve the chance for this planet to prosper."
She chuckled at him. They had now reached the bottom of the staircase. "Well, I believe you can do it. If any Hyperion—"
"Ex-Hyperion, actually," he interrupted.
"—can do it, it's you," she told him, seemingly ignoring the words he just said. "And can you walk by yourself now? You're really hurting my arm." She emphasised really and he pulled away, struggling to stay on his feet.
After a few seconds, Rhys could stand and walk like any other person. He looked at Fiona and then the staircase.
"Ladies first," he cheekily said. She rolled her eyes in response, and swiftly began her ascension up the stairs.
Rhys looked behind him at the empty room, scanning it for any signs of life or other ways out. When he was dissatisfied with his lack of finding, he turned around and followed Fiona.
"I hope this was all worth it," he mumbled to himself.
Despite his advanced technology, he was unable to notice the unconscious body under a pile of debris.
[Linebreak]
"This-this place is magnificent…" Fiona let out, gazing around in wonder for one of the only times in her life.
This room was fit for people the size of the alien that protected the vault. It was colossal, and the floor was made up of glassy marble—not even Helios had such floors. Fragments of different colour was all over the floor. The walls around her glowed with beautiful colours from blue to lime green then back to purple.
Tall pillars protruded out of the ground, made out of quartz and gold, piercing the sky. It wasn't supporting anything because if you looked up, you'd see the clear night sky, filled with stars.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" A voice resonated throughout the room. "Welcome, Rhys and Fiona."
Rhys jumped, looking around and Fiona stared at the being upon a massive throne, smiling at her.
The alien on it was partially made of rocks like the vault protector but also had a human resemblance. It had a normal sky blue eye in its right socket, and a normal left arm made of flesh and blood. The parts made of rock however looked sturdier and darker. More menacing to be simple.
"Who the hell are you?" Fiona shouted to the being who only seemed to grin wider.
"I am the Guardian of this Vault," he put it simply and bluntly at the same time.
Rhys's eyes widened at that. Fiona just narrowed her eyes at the freakish guy. "Then who was that asshole we fought with Gortys outside this vault?" She crossed her arms.
"He was… say, a pet. He did not talk, did he? All he was made for was to protect this vault as the treasures of this are not made for you petty humans," he stated without a care. "No one could ever take the beast down yet here you are, unscathed against the beast. Well done to you young ladies."
"I take offence to that, you piece of shit!" Rhys yelled in frustration. He was about to say something else stupid but Fiona blocked him with her arm, her eyes warning him to let her speak for now. Rhys relented and gave her a silent nod, and she turned back to the being.
"You say petty humans, but it's not like you're half human yourself?" She retorted, stepping forward.
The creature's chuckles echoed around the throne room.
"You're a clever one, I have to admit," he sarcastically replied. "You're right, I am half human or at least part human. You want to know why I'm like this?"
"Not particularly!" Rhys retorted and Fiona wanted to punch the Hyperion in the gut right then and there.
"Well, you'll hear it anyway!" The guardian roared. The room shook to the power of his voice. "I was once human like you… a vault hunter too. I had a family and friends, a decent life to be honest in this shithole. And we went out to find this—the Vault of the Travellers—it was known to have immeasurable treasures. And our greed brought us to it while it phased into existence for those few minutes."
Fiona knew what it was like—Pandora wasn't the nicest of places but it was her home and she would always like it here. Their want for money, for the items in the vault brought them to this point but she had made many friends and lost some along the way; so many lessons learnt and new things discovered—she wouldn't have it any other way. She twisted her head to Rhys and smiled at him as he idly dazed off into space, pretending to ignore the Guardian.
"We were fighting it, day and night for almost three days—this beast I am," he curled his fingers. "Killed so many of my friends. It's only aim was to eradicate all life around the vault and it was doing so without a sweat. We tried everything to escape, to get rid of it and push it back to the vault but we never could. Our lust for this brought us here and we had to face it."
"We had nothing left, everything being torn to bits until we had one last plan. Get inside the damn thing and infuse yourself with it, banishing that person to the job of the Guardian for the entirety of existence," he remembered.
"And I volunteered," he continued. "I chose to become the very monster we were trying to kill and I went in and I became it. Since I was mostly in control, I left Pandora and went back to the Vault. When I saw what I was really protecting, I understood why the alien inside of me was so defensive of it. The power within these weapons and objects was much for a human, and if anyone got their hands on it, they would become almost be a god in human terms if they could assemble the pieces together. I couldn't stand to kill vault hunters—as I once fought by their side—so I created the rock Guardian, to do the job and all I did was sit back and wait for anyone who passed him and today is the day where someone did."
"Thanks for the recap of your life, it was soo fun," Rhys sarcastically added. "But could we have the loot we came here for?"
Fiona groaned, knowing another lecture was coming because of her stupid partner.
"Don't you get it?" The monster roared. "This greed, this lust, is why you will never get it. I won't let you get past me because this technology was never made for humanity, it was made for the Guardians. Why? Because our race is pathetic—our want is what fuels us and it makes us do the most horrible of things—betray, hurt and kill."
"We do what we need to to survive," Fiona said with her arms crossed.
"I was once a good man, called Barry, but this is what caused my downfall," he looked at his fist and clenched it, rocks clattering down to the ground. "The human race deserves to be extinct and is disgusting—we are savages, who do anything we have to to live which is not right in any way!" His raging voice tore through the room once again. He took a deep breath, starting to continue his rant.
"So you will—"
"Hey, hey, hey, can you shut the fuck up please!" Another voice entered the room. "I've been hearing you drone on about the human race for the past ten minutes and honestly, it was as boring as shit. We're not even that bad."
Fiona and Rhys looked at each other and swivelled around, wary on who the new intruder was.
"Who are you?" Barry thundered angrily, getting off of his seat. He was already agitated with two sassy humans but this one was too much.
"You're doom," the guy relied ominously who now arrived at the top of the staircase. "Nah, just kidding, not really, but-wait-woah, where the Hades am I?"
He was patting his clothes when he looked up and looked in awe at the grand room, stumbling over his own words. Fiona and Rhys took a good look at him and saw he had untameable jet black hair, with sea green eyes alight. A sea green T-Shirt was on him, along with oceanic blue jeans and black trainers. He had a small stubble showing and if the way he had a fit physique and few scars on him were anything to go by, he looked around their age.
"Can someone explain where the Hades I am right now? I was in the middle of a forest killing some monsters and then this massive portal of shit appears and I'm pushed into it," the guy yelled annoyed. Then he looked around and spotted two people who looked his age—from what he could make out from his analysis.
He was walking towards the pair of humans with a raised eyebrow, face asking for some answers.
[End of the chapter]
Thanks for the feedback people, I appreciate it and I have a clearer view of where this story is heading.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and honestly, I don't care if this is false but this is what I imagine happening when they discover the vault. If it seems unrealistic, go ahead and say so. If I make any mistakes about anything related to any Borderlands game then point it out because I may screw up some details. Any suggestions are helpful.
Please favourite, review and follow and enjoy your day readers.
Peace out.