"Where do you want to go?" asked the guardian next to me. His tone was very human, yet had a mechanical ring in the backing of it.
"Ah, I dunno'. I'm thinking Imbrium," I replied.
His arc-filled, blue eyes lit up some and he laughed, mouthpiece moving like a slide on his blue face..
"That's a problem, because—well—I was planning on going there," he told.
I rolled my eyes, though my helmet covered that.
"Here, let's rock-paper-scissors for it. Winner gets to go to Imbrium. Deal?"
"All right, deal," I replied, moving my hand from my hip and holding it out ahead of myself.
We played our hands, and I came out with a rock, while he brought paper. I groaned and slunked in posture.
"And that, friend, means you're going to Cognitum. Bet there's going to be a lot of Hive there, too," he said, nodding.
My head rolled into the direction of the canyon—towards Mare Cognitum. I nodded a look to him, before setting my eyes back forward.
"Okay . . . so see you in half an hour?" he shortly asked.
"Mhm. Be right here in a half, Cayde."
"No promises."
"We'll take it to the Crucible this time, if you really want to try that again."
He laughed, before bringing up his sparrow and speeding off.
And so I brought up my own, powering off into the canyon. Just like the rest of the moon, all that I really saw were rocks and dirt. There were still little colonies set up everywhere, and of course, there were Fallen scattered about. They tried shooting at me, but their guns were too slow. It was in about five (minutes) that I reached the structure, which looked entirely abandoned. It was wide open, and void of any activity, but it had the symbols that a Hive structure would. So I started looking at the surroundings of it before I'd go in.
It wasn't until I heard a fusion charge of some weapon coiling up in the distance, before I jumped from my spot to the side. Right through where I was standing, a wire of arc energy zapped the ground. I looked back and there was a Fallen standing right on top of the canyon head.
Without a second's notice, it fired again. I sprint over to cover—faced to the big temple structure. It fired one more shot nearby where I sat, before it began to fire into the temple's open door. A good five or six rounds went in, which was way off from where I was. I questioned what the sniper was doing, until a good twenty or so thrall came running out of there.
I whipped out the Last Word and took a couple of them out before reloading. I threw a knife over, took out another bunch with my next rotation, before knifing the last one right there. My foot kicked into the ground and I heaved him in front of myself as arc energy cracked onto the creature's tough skin.
This Fallen was definitely a changeup from the norm.
Too far away to nip it with my cannon, I fell back into the structure and stood by the opening. Just as quickly as I was in there, however, a shock grenade tumbled right by my feet.
I dove off the ledge I stood on, thumping against the stone-hard flooring a good twenty feet below. My body hefted while I caught my breath, leaning onto my knees. But just my luck, I was knocked in the side against a wall.
A Hive knight loomed over me, slowly bringing its sword overhead. It crashed down, my time taken in rolling to the side. Violent and angry, it swung its weapon overhead once more. But just as soon as it had tried to kill me, its head burst into electricity. I stood myself up, hand against the wall. Right up where I had been, that fallen had firmly stood, wire rifle charging again.
I was its prey, and its prey alone.
I ducked and the last of its wire rifle rounds ricocheted around me. I began running back for some kind of cover, catching a glimpse of it tossing the rifle to the side.
I slid into a nice and wide spot, though I was stuck on my knees. Whoever this Fallen was, they were a big mix up from the rest.
Footsteps sounded in front of where my cover, causing me to move out cannon-first and take aim. But to my surprise, the area was empty. Rustling to the side brought my attention to up against the wall, where several bolts of arc energy fired off towards me. I shuffled out of the way, following up with a round to where the Fallen hunter was.
My bullet missed.
Surprising me, it had jumped down right in front of me. With the four of its arms—and a pistol held by each one—it unloaded right in my direction. I barreled back against cover as a few skimmed my armor, punching a couple burn marks into my cloak. I cycled my weapon, before peaking and placing a shot. This one also failed to hit, the Fallen circling around in front of me.
A click from each firearm sent arc energy right at me, which I tumbled under in a roll to avoid. Before I found myself able to get back to a stand, its form towered over my own. Each gun pointed toward me, before its attention was sidetracked by a thrall—which leapt onto it. The two creatures fell into a scuffle on the floor.
Able to regain posture, I stood myself upright and pointed my gun at the Fallen's head. It didn't notice me, too busy with the single thrall attacking it. I stared, watching them. My finger was resisting. I had some mind not to kill it.
And thus, a round went off, followed by another. The muzzle of my cannon was escaped by smoke, my attention set forward.
The thrall fell off, limp, before the Fallen creature quickly stood itself up, gleaming those gross, blue eyes right in my direction.
Though hesitant, it snapped all four of its pistols right toward me. It was followed by nothing, however, intensely staring at me.
For the five second silence that was there, it felt odd. It had missed the beat on trying to kill me. Maybe a grace period sorta' thing? I still don't know.
Snaps of its arc pistols went off, however, down the staircase that descended further into the building. I had lost half my senses as screams of thralls echoed in my ringing ears.
The Last Word was then aimed down at the thralls, my spare hand fanning its hammer after each cycle, removing the numbers of thrall. A rain of arc bullets did much more than I had, however, burning holes into each Hive and following to the next. In a tense set of seconds, a hefty pile of thralls covered the descending stairs. What I imagined to be an infinite flow of mindless zombies had been reduced to nothing.
I huffed, easily exhausted.
Just as soon as I had relaxed, however, the Fallen let its pistols clunk to the ground. I looked to it, before it withdrew a pair of blades—lit with arc energy. I was somewhat optimistic to believe it might quit.
It charged me with a thrusting stab, which I moved out of the way for. It swept up, but I ducked under this all the same. As it moved for another swipe, I slid my gun into its holster, before taking hold of the Fallen's wrist. I twisted it downward, slipping my hand into the grip of its sword and throwing it far off to the side.
Its weird, lit-up eyes were locked onto me—unchanging. Another slash was thrown, which I moved out of the way for. A stab came down onto me, allowing me to lock an arm around its own and use my hand to rip the weapon from its grip. The blade clanked against the floor as my wrist twisted and my cannon was drawn right back up.
I muzzled the Fallen's face, taking a stance. It stared at me fiercely, but patiently. There, what felt like a standoff kept for a moment.
"I'd stick to sniping than close-quarters if I were you," I told, condescending with a joking tone.
"Jusst do it."
It spoke English.
Its voice had a hoarse sandpaper texture to it . . . but it actually spoke understandably. Better than the Vandal in the Reef. On top of it all, her voice was feminine. Rare for a female Fallen, if I could imagine.
". . . You actually know how to speak?" I asked.
"Don't wasste my time," it continued, commanding.
I lowered my gaze, finger firmly held to the trigger of my gun. I kept it trailed, and it—well, I guess it was a she—kept just as still. Accepting.
A twist of my arm and the pull of a trigger, I let the cylinder cycle once, before I locked the magazine out to the size and put a new one in. In the same moment, there was a cry from the creature, before it fell to the ground.
Just behind the Fallen now lied a dead thrall. I stepped back from the Vandal, eyeing her over some, just to follow in holstering my weapon. Maybe naive, but there wasn't much that she could do besides pick up those swords again. I didn't think she would, though.
Thus, I was behind schedule. Must've been an hour, as I began walking away from the Vandal with my back turned. I walked up the stairs and around, about to leave. Before I was about to leave, though, her voice beckoned me from behind.
"I have killed many guardianss," she shouted, causing me to stop and grip my side. I looked over the ledge and eyed a bit, staring.
"What is your name?" she asked.
I had half the mind to dome her right now. My stance held firm.
". . . Shin Malphur."
I walked away after that.