Lustrous. His mark gleamed with pride and honor.
Dawned. His Greaves, stained in mud and blood, carried him onward.
Burning. His chest was a furnace and behind it beat a heart burning with a will of fire.
Broad. His Shoulders were great walls the enemy could not penetrate. His Gauntlets were bastions that punctured the enemy's defenses.
Revered. His helmet kept his focus sharp, his mind steady and his gaze unwavering.
He was a Titan of the first Shadow, one of its founders, and damn proud of what he is, where he came from and the path he traveled on. With the Heavy frame Greatsword Crown-Splitter adorning his back and an acute mastery of both the ways of the Sunbreakers and the Sentinels, he was the kind to hit first and ask questions, never.
His name was Ryan-7, the Illustrious Lion of the First Shadow.
Ryan stood there, Crown-splitter pointed forward, its Heavy blade resting on his wrist as he made a crossed stance, crouched down and aimed towards his opponent was Hades, the Clan's only Warlock.
Hades took a stance with his Zephyr, both hands clasped on its grip. He kept his adaptive frame sword pointed outward and away from his body, towards the Exo. Legs apart and planted, Arms firm, his stance was perfect. For Hades, it was just as important to keep his blade as sharp as his mind. For Ryan, this was simply a warm up. Never a stranger to close quarters combat, Titans were built for it and CQC was where this Titan excelled.
First there was calm, neither side moving…then calm erupted into action. Hades made the first move, dashing back and forth, moving like a Cobra lunging slithering after its prey. The Exo waited until the Warlock was mid-strike, and could no longer change his attack direction, before he quickly brought his own sword over head and down, intending to follow through on the Sword's namesake and Split Hades down middle.
Seeing the incoming attack, but too committed to change attack direction, Hades instead swung early. Bringing the blade up to meet Ryan's full force. They clashed. Hades' knees buckled under the weight of Ryan's sword and strength. He struggles and strains, and with the help of Warlock arcane energies, Hades force palms his own sword and repels Ryan's upwards. Sparks of solar and Arc energy splinter off of their blades and into the air as the two move to their next position of attack.
Hades dodges to the side, Ryan angles his sword to the side and swings it around. Hades brings his blade up and blocks the strike, placing a hand over its back end and absorbing most of the recoil. Using both hands, he angles the blade up, knocks Ryan's Crown-splitter to the side and dashes in, aiming for Ryan's head. Ryan turns Crown-splitter's Cross guard sideways and blocks Zephyr's blade. He twists it, locking both Blades together and pulls in, yanking both Zephyr and Hades forward so Ryan can turn the pommel of his own sword toward Hades and jut it forward full force, shattering Hades' helmet in one powerful hit.
"Gah!" The Warlock is stunned by Ryan's strike and left wide open. Ryan moves to take advantage.
The Exo flips the sword forward and brings it down, Hades shifts and deflects the Titan's attack ever so barely, stumbling back a bit as the recoil sets in. Ryan capitalizes on this and pushes forward, bringing both hands to the grip of his blade as he swings again and again. The Warlock Blocks and deflects each of Ryan's strikes but Ryan just doesn't let the guy catch a break. Through the shattered visage of his helmet, Ryan can see the panic and struggle on the Warlock's partially exposed face; he failed to retain any semblance of composure as Ryan just kept on the offensive.
The Titan struck down hard, the Warlock deflects, getting knocked onto one knee. Ryan puts Crown-Splitter to the side, then thrusts forward. Hades dodges slightly, using his shoulder armor to hitch Crown-splitter, much to Ryan's surprise. With one great heave, the Warlock drags the Titan back towards him and tears Zephyr out of its entanglement with Crown-splitter and goes in to bash Ryan with its pommel, mirroring Ryan's early move in a petty attempt to return the favor. Unfortunately, his petty gamble does not pay off.
Ryan moves his shoulder to the left, blocking the pommel strike, then back hand's the Warlock, leaving him open again. Having finally had enough, Ryan goes in for the kill. He swings, Hades blocks but gets knocked off balance, giving Ryan the opportunity to bring Crown-splitter to his side and thrust it forward, burying it deep in Hades' chest.
"Guhh!" Hades exhaled as Ryan looked him dead in the eye, before tearing the sword out, a trail of crimson blood spurting across the floor. Hades holds his chest. He drops his sword to the ground, falls on his knees.
Ryan stands tall, wringing his blade out, sending Hades' blood flying from its edges.
"Better luck next time." He smirks under his mask as the life fades from Hades' eyes and he falls to the floor, dead.
Moments pass before Ronin appeared in a flash of light and expanded his shell, carrying blue light between the shell flaps. Ronin's shell spun a moment before pulsing the blue light over Hade's body. The Warlock's armor was renewed, his wounds were heald and his lungs again filled with air. With a gasp, the Warlock was returned to life.
"Hmm…" Hades pondered, a hint of concern on the periphery of his mind. A hint that flies right over Ryan's head. "You certainly did well." Hades admitted.
"Well, you know. I gotta keep consistent in something." Ryan said as his helmet dematerialized, revealing his slate black Exo head with piercing, royal purple optics. "If this were a hand cannon duel, I'm sure I would have been dead to rights before I even drew."
"Maybe…but I'm getting closer, don't you think? Normally, you'd have had me dead in 3 moves. We've never sparred for that long. "You alright?"
Ryan's bravado fell away. "Oh, sure, why do you ask?"
"You can tell a lot by the way someone fights. Plus, I think it's my job to know how you're doing." Hades picked up Zephyr off the floor and placed it back in its Mag Clamp scabbard on his back.
Ryan looked down to the floor and off to the side.
"It's fieldwork." He started out, struggling to find the words. "Zavala's ordered patrols out on the walls for the past month."
"And?"
"And…no one's picking them up. When word got out about Zavala not giving us the green light to hunt Uldren, a lot of us lost respect for him. Titan's especially. So, that leaves a lot of Guardian's reluctant to patrol the walls. Can't say I blame 'em of course, it's a boring as shit job. Sure, there's like, 4 or 5 other Hunters doing work too. But, that's not cutting it. The hours are long and tedious…'guess I'm just bored as all."
Now Hades could see the issue loud and clear. Ryan was overworking himself. Despite not trusting Zavala, he kept up the duty because that's what was needed of an ever weakening City and, though he was an immortal warrior of the light and thus could never permanently tire or grow weary, it still put strain on the mind to work against one's desires."
"How bout this." Hades put an arm on the Titan's shoulder. "How about you go on a little…vacation? Take yourself, your ghost, and our Hunters on a little get away, they need to party up with us more often anyhow. Go do some strikes, or wreck in the crucible. Or Do that Gambit thing the Drifter's been spoutin' on about. I'll take on your patrol job for the night. That sound ok?"
Ryan was touched. "You'd do that?
"Of course! What're Clanmates for?" Hades shrugged. "Besides, I got this new Sparrow the other day, the Shipwright rigged it up with Bracus Zahn tech. Been dying to see what it could do."
"Hmm…" Ryan Pondered. "I have been wanting to check out the moon lately."
"Yeah, see? There you go! You go hang on the moon for a bi-…wha?" Hades stopped right in his tracks. "Why the moon? I mean, don't get me wrong, Luna's a looker, but there are so many other…let's say…relevant places to hit right now. Why would you want to go there?"
"I dunno. Just haven't been up there very often. Or at all really…I went up there once a few years ago, and I've never been back."
Hades was a little dumb founded. "Hmm…well, alright. So long as you are out doing what you wanna do, I'm game. How's a month sound?"
"A month's too long don't you think?"
"That's how long you've been doing it." Hades revealed, despite Ryan not giving him that information…
"Yeah, but you're a Warlock, you're not as strong as me. Wouldn't want Ronin to get tired of reviving you." Ryan said, the shit talk practically spewing from his mouth.
Hades rolled his eyes. "Says the guy who suddenly cowers in fear everytime I turn purple…Go, get the Hunters. I'll clean my blood off the floor."
Hades floated over to a waiting mop closet and pulled a wet mop out as Ryan left the sparring room for the Hunters.
The Hunters brought up no protest as Ryan took them and their Ghosts to the moon for a much needed change of scenery, where their light would soon be put to the test…
End of Chapter 1