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Chapter Text

Chapter 1

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The Sun Falls, A Guardian Rises

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Everyone in the church turned around to see two teenagers stand up in the middle of the sermon glare at one another. The pink haired delinquent pointed a nail bat at the boy orange jersey who tightly gripped a basketball in his hands. Fierce teal eyes locked with brown as the two circled one another between the pews.

"What the heck Aubrey! why did you steal Basil's photo album?!" Kel exclaimed angrily.

"That's none of your business Kel!" Aubrey spat back,

More of the churchgoers began to whisper amongst themselves. Some spoke ill of the two teens.

"We we're friends Aubrey! What happened to you?" Kel continued to argue.

Aubrey shook her head and took a step forward with a deep scowl. "Everyone left me. That's what happened! You left me to make new friends, Basil defiled the memories we had together. Hero is in college and Sunny..." she gave him a side glare. "...He locked himself in that house for four years, you all left me!" she shouted scornfully, pointing accusing finger at the black haired boy sitting silently in the back. Sunny gave no response and only stared back indifferently.

"But you didn't have to go out and bully Basil like that, Mari wouldn't have wanted this..." Kel said, his voice quiet, trying one last time to reason with his former best friend.

"Well Mari's dead! she can't say anything now."

...

Mari's dead?

...

Sunny's eyes widened and he looked down in dread, the information digging it's way into his consciousness. ("Mari's dead?") he thought to himself, it all suddenly coming back to him all at once, the recital...the argument...the incident...the stairs...his sister, pushed...dead because of him...Basil helping him hang her body.

...she was dead, and he killed her...his own sister.

He killed her.

It was his fault.

He pushed her.

She's dead.

It was his fault.

He was selfish.

It was his fault

He is a murderer.

It was HIS fault.

He should just die.

Die.

Die.

Die.

It was all too much...too, too much to handle...his fragile psyche cracked and shattered under the strain.

Without warning, Sunny turned around and ran out of the church, tears prickling his eyes as he ran from the building. Kel and Aubrey were far behind him now, both calling out his name, pleading him to come back. It didn't matter anymore...it was his fault, he wasn't strong enough...the voices of his two friends grew farther and farther away as he ran down the street to his house at the far end of the street and burst through the door, he made sure to lock it behind him this time so no one could follow,

he didn't want to be saved,

He didn't deserve to be saved...

Sunny breathed heavily as he grabbed a knife from the kitchen, it would do, a righteous punishment for a murderer.

ran up the stairs and to his room, burying himself under the covers in a attempt to hide from Something all around him, he loved her and he killed her...this was a bad dream, it was just a bad dream...

No, this was real, just as real as that day when he-

Sunny wept to himself in pure despair and screwed his eyes shut,

in his mind, he prayed on a silent wish that he could start over again,

in a world where his sister was never dead,

he leveled the knife up to his stomach and with a short sharp breath he-.

/.../"TRANSIENT NEAR EXTRASOLAR EVENT"/.../

Just outside the house, ominous shapes appeared in from sky and enveloped the small town below in their shadow, people pointed up in terror at the strange flying Pyramids that appeared out of nowhere, they blotted out the sun and sent a chill over the world with their mere presence. New's channels reported similar sightings of the massive ships all around the globe. menacing angular shapes that

...The world's powers sent the military to attack the Black Fleet but their weapons had no effect, many more attacks followed and were met with similar failure...Hope was quickly fading as people everywhere panicked and began to flee from their homes, the while world unfolded into utter chaos as doomsayers told of the end of the world, anarchy ruled the streets and the light was snuffed out by the indifferent tetrahedrons hovering above.

Many perished that day, as the Black Fleet engulfed humanity's Golden Age in Darkness...

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ruins of Faraway town, 2000 years after the Collapse

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A lone spark of light silently hovered through the empty streets of the ruined town. It passing by the ruins of a shopping plaza and an old ruined park, Only stopping briefly to scanned skeleton slumped against a old swing-set. It shook it's outer shell and moved on when it didn't find anything of value. It briefly moved under a flickering streetlight, revealing it to be a drone with an eight pointed white shell that rotated occasionally and a glowing blue iris in the center of a silvered core,

This was a Ghost, a sapient machine created by the Traveler in it's dying breath after it had warded off the Darkness from the worlds. In the event that it's ancient enemy should ever return, The Ghosts would travel far and wide to the far ends of the Sol system to find their chosen ones so that they would be brought back as Guardians; Immortals, risen from the dead, the Guardians protected humanity and The Last Safe City on Earth, wielders of the Traveler's gift of paracausal powers known as-the Light.

For a while...That's what this Ghost believed, that he'd find his Guardian eventually like everyone else.

...But after seven long years, he was beginning to doubt...

He wrapped up another scan and sighed in disappointment, another dud.

He wondered how many people lived in this town before the Collapse came?

Another scan, another discouraged sigh...

How many lives had been claimed by the Darkness?

A skeleton underneath a table showed no promise...

What kinds of memories were had here before those Pyramids came and took it all?

Something flickered in the distance and he hid under a discarded picnic basket as shadows skittered amongst in the trees. Bright blue eyes gleaming in the dark like tiny searchlights looking for lost lights to snuff out, he'd have to be more careful...

Then he felt it...a gentle brush on the surface of his light...

His chosen was near.

His Thoughts could be saved for another time he supposed, for now. He tracked his guardian's spark inside a lone house at the far end of the suburb street. With an unrestrained eagerness, He flew up the house and shined his light through every window he could find until he found one open on the second floor and entered through the broken window. The room itself was surprisingly well preserved, though it still in much disrepair the room was a treasure trove of Golden Age relics. Laying under the thin worn sheet of cloth of the lone bed was a skeleton grasping an old rusted knife to it's chest. He didn't question the implications before transmatting the blade away where it clattered to the floor and crumbled to dust.

The Ghost could practically feel the Light radiating off this body. His excitement peaked when scanned it. 'This was it'...he thought to himself, after countless years of fruitless searching on Earth and other planets, he had come back home on his way back to the Traveler to give up in the search. The faint spark in a old town it had passed by had drawn him here, he avoided the scant few Fallen patrols along the way as they picked through what little was left of the small town of Faraway...

Ghost opened his shell and shined a beam down on the skeleton, restoring flesh and muscle on the bone and fashioning armor from the material surrounding him. Once he finished his work he was left with a young malnourished looking boy with black hair no older than sixteen lay on the mattress unmoving as if peacefully resting. Ghost studied his soon to be Lightbearer in awe. He was positively excited, this was his Guardian, his very own. He'd joined with flocks of stray Ghosts before, watched them one by one, find their chosen until he was the last without a Guardian.

He was convinced he'd never find his partner. Never be

But today...luck smiles on him...

All that was left to do was to wake him up. The Ghost readied himself and cast aside any doubts, as it prepared to bring it's chosen back into the world of the living...

{}...{}

"Hey...Guardian?...Guardian."

Blink

how long had it been?

"Come on, Wake up!"

The Guardian opened his eyes and sat up from the stiff bed, blinking groggily as feeling returned to their limbs. He looked around until a blurry small white shape floated in front of his face and came into focus, blinding him with it's light. "Hey you're away! Thank the Traveler you're awake, eyes up Guardian." it chirped and flew closer.

The guardian blinked and stared in bewilderment at the tiny drone up in his face, he lightly shoved it aside before getting up on his feet. The drone tilted it's shell forward in and followed him out of the room and down the stairs. "Look, I know you must be confused about everything going on right now. But I brought you back for a reason. I'm a Ghost, well, your Ghost now." it affirmed, casting a beam of light over the guardian's body, trying to make sure he'd had mended everything. "We need to get to the last safe city from here." he explained.

The last thing he needed was for his new Guardian to tumble down those rickety steps and snap their neck because of an improperly mended leg...But then again, it wouldn't be a big deal, Guardians died all the time...From prolonged gunfights gone wrong to long falls from high places and or other various accidents like being thrown halfway across the martian dunes by a smack from a phalanx's shield or a Sparrow speeder bike hitting the ground just a little too hard on a jump. He could name many more...

Ghost flew close to his Guardian's shoulder to inspect his face. "I can speak with you telepathically and fix any wounds you get along the way-as long as you protect me-I'll fix you up when you need it."

But the guardian simply ignored the drone's pestering and walked into the living room area, gazing down at his hands; they and his whole body were fitted with some kind of skintight undersuit that covered everything on him, he didn't see any way to take it off. On top of that, was a light armor plate that shifted with his movements, it felt durable but at the same time light and flexible, looking at his back was a white cape billowing lightly in the calm wind blowing in from the outside.

Ghost took note of the apparel and nodded it's shell in approval. "You are a Hunter, fast, agile scouts who live for the perfect shot and are as sharp as the knives you wield." he said and added.  "I think it suits you personally."

Hunter? was that what he was called? why did he need knives? Why does he need to be wearing armor?

Ghost finished up his repairs and turned to look at his lightbearer. "You know, I think we should get you a name. You know, so I don't have to keep calling you 'guardian' all the time. What do you think?"

The guardian placed his hand to his chin and thought about it, he had a name already...but why couldn't he remember it, it was like it was taken from him? he glanced over at a adjacent room to the side and peered within, a old piano sat in the center, aged well beyond use but there was a barely visible single word engraved on the front of the worn wood that read...

'OMORI'

he hummed to himself in agreement, this name...it felt familiar and comforting for reasons he couldn't know, but also a feeling of sadness permeated this room. He guided the ghost to the word on the piano...The drone simply stared at the instrument then back at his guardian with an odd look. "That's a grand piano, a pre-golden instrument age for music. Nothing too special about this old piece, we have one of these fully restored in the City's art museum. What's got you interested about this one?" Ghost asked curiously and shined a light to see better. The guardian pressed a gloved finger under the name on the front of it, tracing out the word by each letter then pointing at the drone.

Ghost seemed to understand this, his eye lighting up a bit brighter. "You...want that to be my name? The piano brand?" Then more confused. "But what about you then?"

The guardian cleared his throat and looked at a old photograph he found earlier on a dresser, glancing at the one readable word he could make out on it. "Sunny..." he said quietly.

Ghost blinked his iris twice and readjusted his shell with a cheery acceptance. "Very well then. Sunny and his ghost Omori...I like it. Let's get you out of here!" he said excitedly and vanished in a flash of light.

Sunny said the name to himself in his head. Each time it sounded more and more agreeable to him. As he exited the house he gazed up at the hazy evening sky and wondered what happened to the world...

...

In the distance two guardians walked down the cracked street on patrol. The one striding ahead, the hunter, wore a tattered orange cape with a crude picture of a dog face on it and wore orange and white armor to match.

The other who stayed back a bit, the titan, was covered head to toe in smooth bulky pink and teal armor, her helmet was off to her side, revealing a rough yet feminine face with flowing pink hair running down her armored back.

"Are we there yet?" The hunter said in a bored tone, he held his arms behind his head as he slowed down next to his ally.

"No..." the titan huffed. A few seconds later the hunter leaned in next to her.

"How about now?" he asked again. The titan swatted at her comrade in annoyance.

"Shut up before I throw you into a wall again, Kel." the titan threatened and grabbed him by the collar of his vest.

Kel simply shrugged and hung there. "You know you love me too much to do that Aubrey~." he said in a sing song voice from under his helmet annoying Aubrey even more.

"You think I wouldn't?" Aubrey replied with a raised eyebrow and leveled her fist to the hunter's faceplate.

But Kel simply slipped out at the last moment and rolled backwards into a taunting position. "You gotta catch me first!" he mocked and made a face.

Aubrey crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, refusing to play along. "What are you five?" she scoffed.

Kel took a moment to remove his hood and take off his helmet, revealing a well tanned face underneath. He placed his finger and thumb under his chin and stuck his tongue out to the side. "Well kind of. I've been around for...eh...seven years longer than you. So. I'm actually older, look at that, heh." he chuckled and winked at her. "Who's the kinderguardian now?"

Aubrey was about to give the obnoxious hunter a piece of her mind when the boy glanced over to the side and pointed at a single figure walking down the street opposite of them.She stopped and squinted at the figure.

"Hey hold on a sec, who's that wandering around by themselves?" Aubrey asked aloud.

"I think that's a new light." Kel said, stating the obvious as the figure drew closer.

"Yeah, I can see that, idiot. Why don't you go over there and greet them."

Aubrey took the opportunity to shove Kel forward earning a hurt look. "Why me? are you too shy?" Kel teased in a babying voice and squished his face in a goofy manner,

The pink haired girl huffed. "N-no! I'm not good at talking to people..." she muttered and turned her face away.

Kel simply shrugged and shook his head calmly. "Okay don't get your mark in a twist, I'll talk to em." he said casually and strolled over to the other guardian.

"Hey there buddy What are you doing by yourself?" he cheerfully called over,

The other Guardian turned to face him but said nothing. Instead he staring at him with a deadpan expression.

His ghost came out to speak. "Oh hello! me and my new guardian were trying to find a ship to get out of here." he responded.

Kel placed his hands on his hips, examining the new light closely. The other guardian wore a black upper armor and had a pure white cape, their face looked soft and...somewhat familiar if that was the right word? This new guy was making him feel things and he had no idea why...

Kel snapped himself back to reality and sucked in some air through his teeth. "Ah well...We already scouted around this spot, and there's no guns or ships or anything that you guys could use, none at all, but the Fallen seem interested in this spot for some reason."

Fallen...the word unsettled him for an unfathomable reason. Sunny had no idea who or what a 'Fallen' was. He hoped it hadn't anything to do with the strange figures he'd seen lurking around the forest.

Ghost drooped his shell in disbelief  "So, no guns no ship no way to get home...We're just stuck here without any way to defend ourselves." Ghost said bleakly, his guardian shared the sentiment with his partner.

The orange hunter shook his head sadly. "Yeah, real bummer, but thankfully we're here to help!" he cozied himself next to the other hunter. "By the way new guy, the name's Kel and my shy friend in loud clanking armor over there is Aubrey. What's your name buddy?" he introduced, gesturing over to the pink titan watching from afar.

Ghost clicked his shell into place. "He hasn't said much since being revived...His name is Sunny, and I'm Omori." he says and glances at his Guardian who nods back.

The orange Hunter smirked, Such a funny and strange name...but he supposed other guardians he met before had much odder ones than this...

Kel's expression didn't change as he smiled. "Silent type huh? Well I'm cool with that, I have quiet friends too. Hey Sunny, we can get you back to the City, we'll take Aubrey's ship since mine is still being fixed, hehe..." Kel chuckled sheepishly and walked over to Aubrey, her back turned to them, her helmet was on.

"Hey guys? I hate to break it to you but my ghost is picking up several hostile signatures heading this way! The Fallen are onto us! Dammit Kel! I told you to leave that scavenging crew alone!"

"Stupid scavengers and their cool tech...Okay newbie! let's show you how it's done!" Kel yelled and pulled out a large revolver from his side. "Give them a gun first, Kel!" Aubrey barked back at him, the tittering sounds were getting louder now, several sets of eyes appeared in the shadows watching them.

Kel froze mid grenade toss it went sideways into the woods, "Oh yeah forgot about the whole defenseless thing..." He muttered and turned back to Sunny, he had his own ghost materialize a bull-pup rifle into the smaller hunter's arms. "Hey take this, Sorry if it's not your style, we can help you get some better stuff later." Kel apologized.

Sunny awkwardly cradled the oversized weapon in his hands and squinted at Kel.

 A hand me down? seriously? Wow thanks.

Kel grabbed the new light and dragged him behind cover as a bolt of blue zipped by and implanted into a wall. Soon, the air was filled with screeches and roars as strange figures began emerging from the shadows, four armed and armed with scrap made weapons emerged from the shadows point their weapons at the group, the biggest of them a hulking alien with an ornate pointed helmet pointed a sparking sword at the group, it barked orders in it's alien tongue as the scavengers charged.

Aubrey stood her ground and pounded her fists together, causing sparks of lightning to coursing off her armored gloves as she charged head first into the group of aliens, driving a fist into the nearest Fallen's face, completely vaporizing the creature in a blinding blue electric light. She followed up with a uppercut into the chest of another, and dodging out of the way of a shrapnel shot before slamming her head into the captain's face with a audible crack. the massive alien staggered back and clutched it's face-plate as white mist leaked from a loose tube, it let out a furious roar and swung it's sword at Aubrey which was met with her counter the blow with one of her pauldrons and charged into the captain with a shoulder charge, toppling the massive beast to the ground.

The other two guardians stood back while they watched her wrestle with the Fallen Captain. Kel had a sly grin on his face. He spoke to Sunny without looking away. "Well that's Aubrey for you, she prefers up close and personal over guns..." He shrugged. "Not my style honestly, but that's why we have these." he unsheathed a sleek dagger form his sleeve.

"Watch this."

Kel stepped forward, twirling the razor sharp throwing knife between his fingers. He carefully weighed it in his hand and winded back for a throw and hurled the blade swiftly through the air. The knife flew straight and true, and found it's mark in between the four eyes of the captain, cracking it's helmet in half, a loud hissing sound signifying it's death as the Fallen commander collapsed to the ground, dead.

Without their leader, the remaining dregs and vandals fled back into the darkness of the woods and ruins, leaving the group in the quiet once more. Aubrey turned towards the two hunters and glared. "What the hell?! I had that under control!" she shouted at Kel.

The orange hunter blew a raspberry and holstered his gun. "...And let you have all the fun? C'mon Aubs, I wanna have a turn every once in a while without you punching everything, my trigger finger's real itchy."

Aubrey snorted and pounded her fists together. "If you want. We can settle it in the Crucible, private match, one on one, loser has to clean the other's ship." she challenged, to which Kel smiled menacingly.

"Oh you're SO on, twenty glimmer you and me-"

A buzzing sound from Kel's ghost gave pause. He scooped up his helmet off the ground and placed it on head. The other guardians leaned in to listen.

"Kel? Aubrey? Come in this is Hero. Are you two fooling around again?" came the response, much louder than expected.

Kel jumped back in surprise and fumbled around with his helmet before responding. "Oh, hi Hero, no we didn't find the golden age relic yet, We actually were just about to-

"He had it and then dropped it." Aubrey interrupted, garnering a look of betrayal from the orange hunter.

Hero sighed loudly and could be heard facepalming over the comms. "By the Traveler...Kel! I've told you so many times; be careful with these items, they're a valuable part of our history and we  can't easily replace that!" he exclaimed. Kel dropped his shoulders and recalled back to the cooking set his brother had requested from this trip, it now sat in several pieces in the cargo bay of Aubrey's ship.

"I'm sorry about the relics bro. I promise I'll be more careful next time..." He apologized, then lit up. "We found a new light by the way, his name is Sunny! say hi Sunny!"

Kel leaned his head in close to the smaller hunter who only awkwardly waved back at the helmet, despite Hero not being able to see it. "What does that have to- Wait...a new light?" Hero hummed to himself. "Well that changes a lot of things..Well just come on back before dark, I'll see you three at the plaza." Hero cut his comms afterwards.

Kel took off the helmet and had it transmatted back to his ship. He pat Sunny on the back and chuckled. "That was my bro Henry, we just call him Hero though, he's a Warlock!" When Sunny gave him a odd look Aubrey stepped in to elaborate. "It means he can do cool space magic stuff like shoot lightning from his fingers, or summon fire and make some cool purple stuff..."

Kel sighed dreamily. "Man...my bro is so cool..."

"He's not your brother Kel, Guardians can't have blood siblings, it's not possible." The pink haired girl spoke.

Kel turned and made a disgruntled face at her. "You never know... You could have been my sister in a past life." Kel teased and elbowed her shoulder.

Aubrey rolled her eyes and instead turned and gestured for Sunny to follow her to a large ship hovering low over the trees, it deployed a boarding ramp on approach. "C'mon newbie, my ship's this way. The commander will want to see you asap."

"Bye Sunny! Come and find me when you get to the Tower!" Kel called behind them. "Tell Cayde I said hi!"

"Ugh, sometimes I can't stand being around that moron..." Aubrey grumbled as the other hunter's voice grew farther and farther. "But he's my best friend and he's saved my life more than once." She looked back at Sunny then forward again.

"Another Hunter huh? No shortage of you guys out there it seems..." Aubrey commented to herself.

Sunny said nothing, he simply glanced back at the desolate town one last time before stepping aboard and feeling the ship take off into space...

"So Sunny, how long have you been awake?" Aubrey asked from her seat.

Sunny sat in the back of the ship's meager cargo bay pondering the question in his head before looking to his ghost, Omori. "He has been alive for about two hours already since you asked. If you two hadn't come in to help, he would have been killed by the Fallen,

Omori's voice darkened. "Or worse. The Hive would have gotten to us."

Sunny shuddered, he didn't like the sound of the Hive at all...or the fact that there was something much worse than the giant bug aliens from earlier.

Aubrey noticed his discomfort and her expression softened. "Jeez, well it looks like you two really dodged a bullet there, make yourselves comfortable." she assured before giving them a moment to settle. "I never properly introduced myself back there, my name is Aubrey, Kel told you that much. Looks like you're a hunter too, just like him. I mean don't get me wrong, I have nothing against them other than that orange doofus sometimes. But I just wished it wasn't just me and Basil on the team..." she trailed off as her eyes briefly wandered to a small flower pot next to her.

"What are you then?" Sunny quietly asked

Aubrey looked back to Sunny with the corner of her lip curling into a small grin. "Me?...I'm a Titan, we're the protectors who solve problems with our fists and tank damage on the front lines like I just demonstrated by squashing those bugs." she said proudly and puffed out her chest.

Sunny studied the heavily armored woman with curious interest. He remembered watching her tear through the yellow clad aliens with brute force and nothing but her fists, her lightning clad fists, it was breathtaking, if not a bit terrifying. There was something else as well. The way she tore through them that strange light from her body that empowered her whole body when she charged the big alien. What was that? could he do that too?

He peered down at his hands...possibilities of what he was capable of were nearly as endless as his thoughts...

She continued. "Basil is new as well, he came to the tower last week and I've been assigned to mentor him until he gets better, he's been doing okay but he has a ways to go."

Aubrey realized she was rambling and cleared her throat. "Speaking of mentors, when you get to the Tower, head down and speak to the guy in the cape, Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard, real charmer that guy. He's the one you'll want to see for assignments." Aubrey adjusted the course of her ship causing it to shudder a bit. A light blinked on her monitor.

"Actually, we might be coming up on the Tower right now." she turned her head to the side. "Bun-Bun, contact Holliday and tell her that we got a new light coming." Afterwards, her attention shifted back to the monochrome Hunter. "I'd brace myself for your Ghost's transmat if I were you. It could get a bit of getting used to first time, so don't barf until you're out of my ship." Aubrey warned and then let her tone soften.

Omori shuddered. "If you could please not throw up at all when I transmat us, that would be nice..."

"Oh and one more thing too rookie; our fireteam group has one last open slot for another member. If you feel like you want to make some more friends than today...Well Kel already gave you an invitation, but I'm just throwing it out there."

Sunny barely had time to react before he felt himself become lightheaded and his vision turned white...Soon, Sunny found himself standing on a balcony overlooking a vast bustling city below and in the sky sat a massive pale white sphere floating silently overhead...

Welcome to the Last Safe City on earth

This is your new home...

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

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The Tower

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Sunny walked through the Tower's Plaza, taking in all the sights of various and diverse Guardians going about their lives, some were like him and wore capes while others wore more armor like his pink haired friend who had dropped him off. Each of them heavily armed and all clad in a variety of impressive looking gear. Some showed off guns they had retrieved in the field, others stood around a blue man in a yellow and brown garb, handing him various blue green and occasionally some purple objects for him to magically turn into more equipment, most of which got dismantled on the spot and left many discouraged customers storming off. Wasn't it what they wanted? Sunny was confused.

A group of three ran by Sunny to fool around with a large purple ball while others danced on top a railing over the staircase leading down to the lower levels, an impressive (and dangerous) feat of balance on it's own. When he saw one of them slip and fall down onto the stairs below only to get up moments later and rejoin the others back on the railing made him wonder how how a bunch of full grown men and women goofing off on daily basis were supposed to protect humanity.

His Ghost, Omori popped into existence in his face which startled him a bit. The ghost tilted it's shell forward apologetically. "Sorry about that Sunny, forgot to tell you about the whole 'bonded forever' thing. I'll try to let you know next time I appear." He apologized and gazed down the hallway. "We're looking for Cayde-6, The Hunter Vanguard. You should also get to know Ikora Rey and Commander Zavala, the leaders of the Warlocks and Titans respectively. They're at the far end of the hall around that big table over there. Follow me."

Sunny nodded and let Omori take the lead down the stairs. On the way, he passed by a strange woman clutching an eerie glowing orb in her hand. She lifted her head up to look at him, revealing a blindfold three glowing green eyes bleeding through her mask. The woman gave him a pensive stare until Sunny decided to look away and continue onward.

...

"FIGHT FOREVER GUARDIAN!!!"

A loud voice boomed, nearly deafening Sunny. An absolute giant of a man stood nearby, A Titan, he wore heavy armor plate similar to Aubrey's but his white and orange armor was much more imposing, the furs and one horned helmet giving him an intimidating aura, only watered down by his ecstatic . Currently the Titan was providing very charged commendatory into a microphone as a large screen showed a group of Guardians getting atomized by a large purple exploding orb thrown by a robed figure.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing! Phenomenal!"

Omori floated beside his guardian and gave him a reassuring nudge. "That's Lord Shaxx. He's the handler of The Crucible, our Guardian training program and recreation sport used to hone ourselves through combat and hardship into the stuff of legends you see today. Maybe you'll be counted among the greats someday."

Sunny, looked at the big screen, the Warlock was doing an odd dancing routine over the ghosts of the vaporized guardians, he rapidly shook his head, he didn't want to be part of that. Omori seemed to understand his reluctance. "Shaxx can be loud when he's hosting matches. But he's a really nice guy once you get to know him outside of the arena...and when he's not shouting, of course..." Ghost said sympathetically, trying to put the Crucible handler in a much better light for his Guardian. "Did you know he goes out to play dodgeball with the children down in the City?"

At this, the monochrome hunter nodded and moved on as Shaxx cheered at the top of his lungs when a rocket obliterated a group of three Guardians at once in the live feed.

"I bet they weren't expecting that!"

Sunny finally reached the command center, standing around the table were the three prestigious figures his Ghost had described; a human woman wearing a brightly colored robe pink and magenta robe. Across from her was a stoic looking blue man in heavy red and silver armor, and in the middle was who he assumed to be...

"The roguishly and objectively handsome, Cayde-6. Hunter Vanguard at your service. You the new guy my scout told me about?"

Sunny blinked in bewilderment when he saw the Hunter Vanguard turn to face him, he was a robot man under that hood, bright blue eyes gazed back at him as he leaned forward. "What's with the weird look bud? Is there something on my face?" Sunny pointed at the exo's metal visage as Cayde's expression soured. "It's the face, it's it? it's really rude to point you know?" Cayde scoffed, raising a metal eyebrow at the recruit, seeming offended.

Sunny nervously raised his hands in defense to apologize before Omori flew in and clicked his side bits together. "I forgot to tell you that Cayde is something called an Exo, they're...humans who placed their minds into robot bodies, you can read it up later." he informed and turned to the Vanguard Hunter. "I'm sorry about my Guardian's reaction, Cayde, he's brand new and has never seen  most of this stuff

The Hunter Vanguard however just started chuckling to himself and causally relaxed his posture over the table. He smiled at Sunny and pointed finger guns. "Hey, relax I'm just kidding! No offense taken. I get rookies who have that same reaction all the time, even other Exos like me, never fails to be funny with how often that happens." Cayde smirked to himself and continued. His expression turned serious. "But first before I let you go, I gotta give you a round about inspection. It's, uh, standard protocol for everyone...Just hold for a sec will ya?"

Cayde-6 stepped away from his spot and circled around Sunny, carefully looking over his scrappy armor and borrowed equipment with a pensive expression and checking the set of reports from one his scouts, Kel, his handwriting could use improvement though...

"Hmm...uh huh...Little frail around the arms...kinda short, quiet type. Nice cape though..."

Sunny could only stand still with his arms at his side while the inspection continued. He watched as the Exo hunter inspected the white cape, rubbing the material between his fingers before dropping it to check another part of his armor. "You sure you ain't just one of those 'cosplayers' pretending to be a Hunter?" he asked,

"Cayde, what are you doing?" Ikora spoke up from her side of the table, giving the exo a perplexed look.

Cayde just shrugged and continued his examination. "Just doing my job Ikora, just like you and Zavala." he replied with a wink.

The Warlock Vanguard let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head as she went back to checking reports from strike teams.

When Cayde was finished he reached into a side drawer full of messily arranged notes and reports and fished around inside. "I think you just need one more thing before you go, I have just the thing for you, somewhere... Lemme see...no...that's expired...eh, not that one...Ah ha! here you go."

He produced a small slip of paper and handed it over to Sunny. "Take this, it's a special little permission slip for the Gunsmith on the upper plaza. Banshee should have a gun perfect for you. Just give this slip to him, he'll know it's from me, and don't worry about costs it's on the house." he grinned and leaned coolly against the table.

Sunny held the paper in his hand and nodded before turning to leave. The Hunter Vanguard gave him a wave as he departed and called out. "I like you kid, you have some serious potential to have what it takes. Stay alive out there and prove me right, alright?"

When Sunny and Omori had gone, Zavala and Ikora gave Cayde a disapproving look. "Did you just give that new guardian an expired exotic requisition, again?" The Commander inquired calmly but with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah you always tell me...'Cayde you should clean out your desk, it's a mess!'  Or here's my favorite. 'Cayde, why can't you be like me and have absolutely zero sense of humor?'" Cayde hunched over the table and put on a stoic face, doing his best 'Commander Zavala' impression.

"Pulling petty pranks on new guardians is disingenuous and harms our relation with them."

"Exactly, it's just a prank, no one's gonna get that upset over a little fun. You should try it sometime." The Exo smiled smugly and got back to his reports.

Zavala was about to argue when a strike team request from Mars popped up and he decided that mission briefing was more important than having a stern talk with his fellow Vanguard about questionable boredom antics for the third time this week...

Zavala heaved a heavy sigh and instead briefed the fireteam on the mission like he had recited it thousands of times before...

"Whether we wanted it or not...we've stepped into a war with the Cabal on Mars."

Sunny made it up the steps back into the plaza and followed Omori towards where the Gunsmith was located. Omori hovered beside Sunny's shoulder as they walked and examined the voucher. "I didn't think anyone had any of those anymore. You must have made a pretty good impression with Cayde that he'd let you have one of these."

Sunny squinted at the image of the gun the voucher was for, He read out the name below the image;

Ice Breaker

It was a cool name for a chainsaw...if that's what it even was supposed to be.

He walked up to the busy gunsmith and pressed the ticket on the table in front of him. Banshee 44 paused from his work to stare at the voucher then he looked at Sunny with an unamused knowing glance. "Did Cayde set you up for this?" he asked.

Sunny shared a puzzled look with both the gunsmith and his ghost and shrugged. "Cayde gave us this to pick up an Ice Breaker from you. the ghost spoke. "We were just told and that you would have one for us."

The Gunsmith glanced down at the expired voucher again. This was one of the Hunter Vanguard's many office boredom pranks. One he'd seen before. This one was where he would give a new light an expired voucher for an exotic and Banshee would have no choice but to give the guardian an ordinary weapon instead.  More times than not, the new Guardian-not knowing any better-would take the weapon and run around with a common or uncommon gun thinking it was a 'Gjallarhorn' or a 'Last Word', it was one of the oldest tricks in his book.

Harmless but still...it was irritating...

Banshee looked over at Sunny who stared back at him expectantly waiting for his gun.

Seemed like a nice enough kid...

Banshee's eyes darted over to a box with the crude letters reading...'special project, do not sell, do not give to Kel.'

...An idea came to mind...Maybe Cayde wouldn't mind if this went missing for a while, maybe it stop him from sending new lights with fake tickets up to him...

...

He simply reached behind the counter and brought out the oddest looking weapon Sunny had ever seen, it was supposedly a long range sniper rifle like the note had said it was, but to him it looked more like a chainsaw more than anything.

Banshee inspected the rifle, checking all of the optics and safeties and tested the trigger and grip. (These weapons were known to be extremely volatile if not properly maintained or damaged.)

He hummed in approval. "Well Guardian, today might be your lucky day to get one of these." Banshee set down the massive sniper rifle and shoved it over to the hunter, who made sure handle it carefully as his ghost instructed. It was surprisingly light in Sunny's hands despite it's size.

"Careful, don't break it kid." Banshee added with a nod.

"Thanks Banshee, we'll thank Cayde later after our tour." Omori chirped and transmatted the rifle away into storage before following his guardian to their next spot in the hanger. "See? I told you Cayde thought you were cool."

"Hmm, yep, he sure is..." the exo chuckled to himself and got back to work, glad to have had another satisfied customer...

"Okay Basil, again, just like we practiced." Aubrey instructed, shaking the arc energy off her shoulders.

All around them in the training room, several test dummy were blown to smoldering pieces. The other shorter Titan in green and brown armor readied himself and focused on the lone target in front of him. Basil readied himself and charged at the test dummy and slammed his shoulder into it as hard as he could. It creaked back a few inches before it swung back, knocking the small Titan to the ground with a grunt. He rubbed his head and sniffled a bit.

"Ow..."

Aubrey ran her hand down her face and walked over to Basil, helping him up to his feet. "You hit like a girl, you need to try harder." she reprimanded softly and set the dummies up again for the next round of training. "

The timid boy had been training under her watch for a few months after she had brought him back with her after she had found him huddled under a broken car surrounded by a swarm of scarlet colored Hive, Too scared to move or listen to his ghost to pick up a gun and fight back. The pink Titan came in just in time to sever the head of a Hive knight with it's own sword before it could cut down the new light.

Afterwards, Basil followed her around the Tower and trained his solar light abilities when they could. Currently, Basil was not sanctioned for Tower leave just yet until his training was complete.

"I don't t-think I'm cut out for this..." Basil murmured and stared down at the ground sadly.

Aubrey paused and sat down next to him to give a reassuring pat on the back. "We're titans Basil. Some of the city's greatest heroes were Titans, Vell Tarlowe, Thalor, Rezyl Azzir, and the most revered of all Titans, Saint 14 himself..."

Aubrey gazed out a window at the City. "I never met him aside from hearing the legends of his exploits before he vanished. Big guy was my role model when I was still green like you. He even inspired me enough to make my own headbutt technique after his legendary victory blow against the Fallen Devil's Kell." She said softly and gave Basil an encouraging smile. "I believe you have what it takes to be strong, press on hard enough and you'll break through that wall in your way. Let's give it another go."

...

Their go at another training session was put on hold when the doors to the training room opened and a black and white hunter cautiously strode in. Aubrey placed her hands on her hips and smiled upon seeing another familiar face. "Sunny, nice of you to drop by, I was just helping Basil here get better at fighting and using his class abilities."

Behind her Basil shyly waved over at Sunny, they locked eyes and an odd feeling stirred in the both of them.

Something familiar...but so very far...

"Once he gets the hang of those, we'll be moving on to supers." Aubrey emphasized this by clenched her fist as arc energy sparked between her fingertips. She turned to her new light student and pointed a thumb at the newcomer. "Hey Basil, remember the new guy I told you we found today? This is Suuny, the newbie I was telling you about."

"Hello...m-my is Basil, good to meet you Sunny..." The Flower Titan greeted politely and held out his hand for a shake. Sunny returned the greeting and simply nodded back at him. Something was oddly familiar...

It was until Aubrey checked in with her ghost for messages that she silently cursed under her breath.

"Hey buddy? Take a break or keep training without me, I'm late for a meet with my other fireteam, I'll be back soon, maybe you can get to know Sunny better while your at it, he could be our newest fireteam member..." Aubrey said in a rushed tone and briskly rushed out of the training room leaving the two alone.

Omori materialized next to his Guardian and hovered a bit above his shoulder and greeted the young Titan. "Hello Basil, I'm Sunny's Ghost, Omori. I speak for him most of the time since he doesn't talk much. How are you doing since I last saw you?" Basil adjusted a loose armor plate and tightened a strap, he smiled sheepishly at the ghost and replied.

"Aubrey says I'm getting better, I can throw grenades straight ahead now." he said meekly and used his light to conjure an orange glowing canister in his plated hand; a Solar thermite grenade.

"Ah, that's good! No more accidentally throwing them at an angle or dropping them?" Omori bobbed curiously around the grenade before it fizzed out. "It's also really ingenious of you to use your Solar light to take care of your plants, I had no idea anyone could use their Light for something other than fighting..."

The Flower boy chuckled for the first time, a pleasant sound to Sunny's ears.

"Heh, yeah I'm glad no one gets hurt, at least not because of me anymore..." His expression softened. "I remember setting Kel's cloak on fire by accident the first time we met, I've never seen Aubrey laugh so hard when he stopped dropped and rolled off the side of a cliff." he says then sighs.

"But still...I've got a long way before I can get used my powers. The best I can do right now is make grenades and lift myself into the air."

Sunny's ghost made a whirring noise and nudged his guardian's shoulder. "Hmm, hey Sunny, I was wondering. Can you channel your Light yet? All guardians should be able to do so when they're first raised." The ghost floated to the front of the two and continued. "As most hunters are usually attuned to arc or solar light, you'll probably be a Gunslinger or a Bladedancer."

Gunslinger? Bladedancer? Sunny looked at his hands, imagining himself holding a flaming pistol of molten gold, or an electrified knife sparking with a thousand volts...But nothing happened...

He shook his head and sighed sadly, prompting a sympathetic look from the titan. "Hey, I can teach you how to summon your Light, or at least to the extent of what Aubrey taught me to get it right." Basil said and moved next to Sunny and gently placed his hands on Sunny's own.

"...We'll start with a grenade since I actually know how to do that." Basil offered gently, standing behind the hunter and positioning his arm into an outstretched position.

"First off, you have to focus on what you want the Light to make for you." He gently positioned Sunny's fingers into a cupping shape. "Imagine the shape of a grenade in your hand, and by the time you blink it will be there, just don't hold it to long, it'll still explode." Basil advised and further said. "Don't about losing a hand or an arm if it blows up early, Your ghost can fix you. Traveler knows how many times that's happened to me..." he said sheepishly.

Sunny hummed in agreement, closed his eyes and took a deep breath to focus, he imagined a spark of lightning, a open fire, something that he could conjure...but instead he got...

[Sunny Cast Shadowshot]

"S-sunny?! your h-hand..." Basil squeaked in surprise and slowly pointed downward.

Sunny blinked and looked down at his hand eyes widened at what he saw. Sitting comfortable in his grip was a violet colored ethereal bow, it felt very light and perfectly balanced in his hands almost like it wasn't there. Several arrows shimmered into existence between his fingers as he notched one of them into the bow.

Omori's eye widened when he saw the super manifest in his guardian's hands. "Incredible...Sunny, you're...you're a Nightstalker!" he exclaimed exitedly and did a small flip. "...Do you even know what that means?" his ghost asked with wonder and awe in his voice.

Sunny shook his head in disbelief, had he just used the Light for the first time?

He stared intently at the void bow and the handful of purple arrows in his other hand. He drew back the arrow as it instantly burst into intense amethyst flames. Despite this, he calmly took aim at one of the dummies and steadied his breathing, lining up the shot before letting go. The void arrow whistled through the air at incredible speeds while subtly altering it's flight path to hit it's target dead on and instantly consumed it in a flash of null.

Basil watched wide eyed as the whole scene played out. his ghost, Rowan materialized next to him and spoke. "Well, ain't that kid special? It's pretty rare for a hunter to be gifted with natural void alignment." he remarked and turned to Omori. "Hey, where did you say you found your Guardian again?"

"I found him in some old house with a knife in his chest..."

"Huh..."

Sunny watched the bow dissipate into nothingness and vanish without a trace like it had never been there. He was stunned, what was that? did he just do that? He understood fire and lightning but the unknown purple energy left him a bit unsettled, he could feel something gnawing at him when he summoned the Shadowshot.

a hunger...a want to consume...

a way to fill the empty void inside him...

"Hey Sunny? can you...c-can you teach me how you did that?" Basil's voice snapped him out of his trance and he looked up at the flower boy. "I can't even get my super out yet, I don't even know what it is. So...can you help me, please?" he said in a hopeful tone.

Sunny responded with a thumbs up. As the two practiced summoning their light abilities, their Ghosts floated on the sidelines watching them as they improved themselves together.

"You really are something special aren't you?" Omori whispered to himself.

"What was that?" Rowan glanced to his side.

"Nothing..."

[][][][][][][[[[][][][][[][]

Last City Library

[][][][][[][][][][][][][][]

A loud knocking made Hero look up from his studies. The Warlock and glanced over at the frame standing nearby, gesturing for it to open the door for a caped figure. Kel, covered in dirt and soot and grinning ear to ear, strode into the library, oblivious to the muddy trail he was leaving behind on the clean floors and leaned against a book shelf next to Hero.

"Hey bro what's up?" he said in a cheery tone.

Hero continued to look down at a ancient text before him labeled, 'A Study into Hive Cultures and Religion', a pensive look plastered on his face as he narrowed his eyes on an unfamiliar symbol.

He shook his head. "You're late Kel, the Cryptarchs looking for the relics were here an hour ago." he spoke without looking up from his book.

"What relic?"

"The one you were supposed to bring back with you from your patrol, intact. Remember?"

Kel frowned and shrugged nonchalantly, he never liked Cryptarchs, especially after Master Rahool had turned a legendary engram he had into a pair of uncommon boots. They didn't like him either, the amounts of broken or useless junk he brought to them had soured his relations with the group. The orange Hunter wanted nothing to do with them. But Hero had insisted that it would be good for him to get out into the field more, However, Kel knew it was only so his 'brother' could study in peace...

"Oh...They were here for that? Aw shoot, I got caught up with knife practice again, I guess they'll have to wait until next time." he said, faking the disappointment in his voice.

Hero closed the book he was reading and shifted in his seat to look at Kel. "So, I heard you found a newly risen guardian out there, is that true?" he asks while he adjusts a slight bend in the brim of his tidy blue and white robes.

"Yeah, in that old town just a ways from Old Boston, Faraway?"

The Warlock recalled far back to a chase he made after a high value target, an elusive and obnoxious Hive Wizard that had evaded him for days. It had fled into the ruined town's park area somewhere deep in the woods and during his search for it, Hero had accidentally come across and witnessed a Ghost resurrecting Kel in the middle of an abandoned basketball court. Feeling bad for the confused new light, he introduced himself and guided him all the way back to the Last City.

Since then, the newly reborn hunter had immediately taken a liking to the veteran Warlock. And in turn, Kel become his new light apprentice until he was old enough to start going off on his own. During their mentorship, Hero and Kel had developed an almost brotherly bond with one another. The two deeply cared for each other despite their differences, between Hero's orderly, clean and focused nature in contrast to Kel's more chaotic, messy and laid back demeanor, they were brothers in each other's eyes.

Hero rests his head on his hand. "Yeah...didn't I find you there a few years ago? I think Aubrey said she came from there too, same place..." Hero trailed off, rubbing the scruff his chin. "It's strange, everyone in our group has come from that little town in the middle of nowhere. You, Basil, Aubrey..." He gazes out the window with a wistful look. "I can't help but feel like I probably came from there too. I know I'm not, I was in some sort of institutional building when Cook found me. The coincidence is just to big to ignore, what if we -"

...

Hero realized he'd been rambling on when Kel's impatient tapping on his shoulder drew him back to the present. "Earth to Hero, hello? Not trying to be rude and cut you off bro, but I didn't come here for a theory session."

Hero sighed and apologized. "Sorry, I know we aren't allowed to research our past but... "

"Vanguard policy, yada yada, Guardians aren't allowed to remember who they were, blah blah blah, makes us a liability...and all that stuff...I know bro, I know." Kel interupted, rolling his eyes, his expression softened gave Hero a look of concern. "Look, just keep the theory crafting to yourself. I don't want to see you end up like Osiris and get kicked out of the City. I need you man."

The Warlock paused for a moment before placing a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. He chuckled softly. "Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the one to tell you to be careful, not the other way around." he teased and ruffled Kel's hair.

The hunter protested playfully and soon and the two were laughing together in the empty library.The Hunter took a seat across from the warlock and kicked back in the seat, causally flipping a knife.

"So, did you hear the BIG news recently?" Kel spoke in a suddenly ominous tone, changing the subject.

"What news? I've been studying all day." Hero replied, genuinely curious of the hunter's sudden shift in tone.

"The Taken King is dead..."

Hero froze and looked Kel in the eyes. "...What?"

Kel let his knife fall and stick into the wooden table as he leaned in towards his brother and mentor. "Oryx is dead, done, gone. That chosen Guardian everyone talks about just killed him for good this time, everyone's talking about it."

Hero almost fell out of his seat he stood up so fast. "w-wait, she did it? she actually did it?!" he asked.

"Yea Man yes she did. I wish I could have been there to see the end of the Taken King himself."

Hero stood in silence for a moment, letting all the information sink into his head. Surly this would be a cause for celebration for vanquishing such a mighty foe. He'd been there during the Vanguard effort to liberate the Moon from the Hive...only to watch hundreds of his friends get slaughtered by their champion, Crota, Son of Oryx. Hero was there when the colossal Hive prince, was finally slain, avenging the many lost during The Great Disaster. When the Guardians were summoned to the Reef to assist the Awoken Queen cull the Fallen Wolf rebellion, he was right beside Aubrey when she took on Skolas, The so called 'Kell of Kells' on Venus and captured him. Hero was there when the first Taken had appeared on Earth, Venus, Mars, and assisted his fellow Guardians to quell the corruption...

...And now, Oryx, the Taken King, one of the three major gods of the Hive was dead by Guardian hands...

...By her hands...

"I don't believe it...We've just killed another Hive God..." He murmured. "I-I didn't think it was possible, not since Crota was slain." he muttered in wonder.

Kel smiled and flexed his arms a bit. "Cause we're amazing, That's why we're going out celebrating later."  

His gaze shifted over to the book Hero had been reading. "Watchya readin by the way?" he pressed a finger on a image of a strange symbol on the open book.

Hero opened the book and fingered through the contents back to his original spot. "A tome Eris pointed me to detailing the Hive's god pantheon. This one in particular that I'm looking into is called, Savathûn." Hero grimaced when he laid eyes on the sketch of the insidious Witch Queen's symbol...or a sketch of what it could look like, no one had ever seen the Hive God of Trickery in person to know what she truly looked like.

"Sava-who the what?" Kel tilted his head in confusion at the unfamiliar name.

Hero tapped a bold text with his finger to emphasize. "Savathûn, the Hive god of Trickery and one of Oryx's sisters. According to what little I can find about her, she's a master of lies and deception, the mere act of tricking someone gives her more power."

Hero frowned at the photographed image of a Knight bearing a glowing green symbol on it's chitin. "Which is why trying to discern the lies and truths is difficult, everything in this section could be completely wrong and we could just be giving her more strength just by talking about this."

A moment of silence passed between the two. The only sounds heard were ships flying in and out of the hanger and the chatter of other Guardians outside. A lone Ghost flew in from an open window and vanished into the many shelves of the library. Worker frames swept up dirt from the floors, the light clicks and whirs of their joints echoed through the study.

"Jeez, sounds like bad news, why would you study that of all things?" Kel finally spoke, breaking the uncomfortable tension.

"Because if we are to keep the Darkness back, we need to know our enemies, Fallen, Vex, Cabal and especially the Hive and Taken." Hero answered. "The Darkness is all around us, and we need to be ready for anything." Hero said firmly and tightly grasped the table's edge...

"I'm not losing anyone else to those monsters."

The orange Hunter thinned his lips, Hero told him he had lost many friends to the Hive in the past before they met, it was understandable for him to want to protect Kel from the horrors of the night. "I...Hey Hero? I have to say this now, but we're kinda worried about you. Lately you've been spending nearly all day and all night in this dusty old library and we never get to see you around anymore." The hunter said sadly and continued. "I'm here because Ikora asked me to check in on you and make sure you don't burn yourself out..."

Kel let his eyes drop to the floor.

"...And because It's no fun to do stuff alone anymore...I miss you..."

Hero felt a pang of guilt when he saw how lonely his little brother was. "Oh...I'm sorry Kel, I didn't mean to make you upset If I had known sooner, I would have dropped everything to hang out with you."

Hero looked up at the Hunter. "I heard you're going to the Crucible for some practice later." He gave Kel a wink. "And certain blonde haired titan told me there was at least one more slot open."

He flashed a grin.

"You ready to see what your big bro's space magic can do?"

Kel let out a loud gasp as his eyes lit up and he did a little jump of joy almost knocking over a chair in the process. "Oh you know I am! I was rezzed ready! I'll even bring Sunny and Aubrey along. I heard the Crucible Champ is back in town!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Hero smiled as he put the dusty tome away into his bag, a few moths flew out and disappeared into the shelves. "She is? You want to send her an invite?"

Kel gives him a knowing look.

"Oh yeah, I already did, she's on her way right now and looking forward to seeing you..."

"You ready for this?" Aubrey asked the others who were huddled around her while they waited for to the enemy team across from them to finish.

"Oh yeah I absolutely am!" Kel yelled loudly.

Aubrey shoved a finger to the orange hunter's faceplate. "Quiet Kel! we're supposed to be whispering our game plan." Aubrey whisper yelled.

"Okay sorry..." He lowered his voice. "What's the game plan?"

Aubrey facepalmed...they were going to lose...badly...

Sunny let his two teammates continue bickering while he glanced over at the newcomer amongst two familiar faces; a purple robed warlock whom the others referred to as...

'The Guardian'

'The Crucible Champ'

'Destroyer of the Black Heart'

'Crota's End'

'Wolves Bane'

And now, 'Kingslayer'

...A mystery in on itself...but from the sound of it, she...or he was a very important figure in the City's history, a legend who had slain numerous gods and champions of the Dark as well other threats against humanity. They radiated an air of perfection and grace that was unmatched by the guardians he'd seen today. What a legendary god-slayer like this was doing here was beyond him. The warlock glanced over their shoulder and spotted the monochrome hunter staring.

They waved over at him. He swore could make out a friendly smile from under the helmet they wore. Sunny quickly looked away, not wanting to attract attention from his opponent, he would try to avoid them the whole match if he could...

"Hey Sunny you ready? we're transmatting into the match." Aubrey spoke from behind him as she and Kel suddenly vanished.

Sunny was soon affected with same fate as the rest of his team. He felt his body come apart on a molecular level, each bet of him being taken apart and put back together in an instant, a process he swore he'd never fully get used to...

Once he'd recovered from the wave of nausea, he was greeted to a breathtaking view of a massive sun beaming down on them amongst strange angular mixed stone and metal architecture. The map chosen for a private match of 3v3 Control was called the Burning Shrine on Mercury, a mysterious Vex installation. Aubrey, Kel and Sunny were placed on Bravo team while Alpha consisted of Hero, Basil and the other warlock.

A loud gasp from the side suddenly snapped Sunny out of his stupor as he caught Kel gawking at the new weapon in his hands.

"Woah! is that...an Ice Breaker?! Lucky! how come you get to have one?" Kel whined, getting a amused snicker from Aubrey from the side.

"Cause you blew all your glimmer on that stupid piece of Warmind tech on Rahool's market. Does that thing even work? it looks busted..." she snorted and gestured to the energy weapon in Kel's hands. He scoffed at her. "Don't badmouth my Pocket Infinity! I worked hard to get it! and it was on sale for 30 percent off." he said and placed his arms around it protectively like it was a newborn child. 

Sunny and the other unknown warlock locked eyes. "Nice sniper, new guy.~" The champ called over to Sunny. "You do know how to use that thing right?"

The black and white hunter furrowed his brow underneath his helmet, unsure of whether that was an insult or a genuine question...

Soon Shaxx's voice boomed on the comms signifying the start of the match. "Capture the zones Guardian. They are your life."

No sooner had both teams spawned in, Kel had already sprinted into a gunfight with the other team, while Aubrey was charging off to the side to flank. This leaving Sunny standing awkwardly in the open before a bolt of lightning from above fried Sunny on the spot before he could react.

...The hunter sat up and shook off his recent death, Omori circled around him and nodded before vanishing. Without another word he went out to join his team.

"I got one coming on the right, I'll take care of it." Kel said on the comms channel.

"Sunny, you go to B, I've got C locked down." Aubrey shouted over the sound of gunfire in the background.

Sunny looked around spotting Hero floating overhead raining gunfire down on Aubrey's position while she returned fire. Meanwhile poor Basil was cowering behind a bit of cover before a rocket from Kel blew him to smithereens, leaving his ghost to sigh and clean up the mess...

The black and white hunter decided to use his previous training to become invisible to slip by while Aubrey watched her attacker get incinerated by a wild spray of solar energy from Kel's Pocket Infinity, the two got into a bickering match long enough for a purple blur to loom above them and take them both out with a Vortex grenade. The other Guardian soared through the air towards Sunny. He opened fire with his pulse rifle but the warlock weaved, dipped and spun gracefully like a dancer through the air, readying a palm of void towards the Hunter's face as they descended.

Not wanting to end up like either of his teammates, Sunny picked up some sand off the ground and tossed it into the enemy's face, giving him enough time to flee towards the center objective. He pulled out his Ice Breaker and gazed down the sights and spotted the enemy team respawning at C, he carefully took aim at Hero's head...

A bullet to the shoulder made Sunny flinch, causing the shot to go awry and alert Hero to drag Basil into cover. Sunny glared upward and saw the purple clad warlock aiming a scout rifle at him from a distance and closing the gap fast.

"Ten seconds, it's all or nothing!" Shaxx goaded.

Sunny panicked and went to reload his rifle only to realize that there was no place to reload anywhere. He silently cursed himself for being stupid and not inspecting his equipment before hand.

The Champ was high above him now, a swirling violet vortex forming in her hands as she prepared to drop a grenade on top of the point he was currently on. The black and white hunter looked around him, his teammates were too far away to help and the only thing he had ready was his smoke bomb. Thinking quickly he tossed the bomb upward and stuck the enemy directly with it. The sticky bomb detonated in a poof of black smoke causing the warlock to fall out of the sky and stumble to the ground coughing. As they stood there, trying to clear the smoke from their vision, Sunny rushed forward, this was it! this was the opening he needed! The hunter summoned his Shadowshot bow and took aim just like in the training area, he focused his breathing and focused on the warlock in front of him...This was the last kill of the match, they were both tied and this would be a win or lose for one of them...Sunny was about to loose the arrow when.

...When he suddenly choked mid-breath and tripped forward, the bow fizzled out of existence and left his hands, leaving him completely defenseless and stumbling at the feet of the now recovered enemy...

The last thing he saw was a flash of purple and the receiving end of a shotgun to the face...

"Bravo team wins, defeat comes for us all..." Came the end announcement, the match was over...

"Don't get too worked up about it Sunny, everyone loses." Basil reassured him.

The black and white Hunter could only stare dejectedly into his drink despite Basil's best attempts to comfort him.

After the match, everyone had gone down to the hanger's lounge area to unwind and relax. While Aubrey and Hero sat together at the bar, having a friendly conversation about the match. Sunny, Kel and Basil were at a side table, because they were not of age they were denied alcoholic beverages, even if they were Guardians. Kel had ordered an orange soda while Basil and Sunny settled for water. Sunny felt gloomy, He had her right in range of his super and he missed, one shot to win the match and he blew it...

"Hey Sunny, you feeling down from the match?" Omori asked via telepathic link. "There's no need to get worked up over a loss."

Sunny didn't answer, he just sullenly nodded and placed his head down on the table trying to let the sting of defeat go down faster. Last thing he needed was to be reminded of his big screw up.

"Hey there." a soft voice called over to him.

The black and white hunter sullenly turned his head towards the source. It was the Guardian from the match standing next to him, they were dressed in a more casual robe instead of the battle garments from before, showing off her more slender features. But despite the attire, the Warlock kept her helmet on to hide her face.

"I couldn't help but notice you were using void light in that match." she continued and gestured to the empty stool beside him. "Mind if I take a seat with you three?"

He nodded and scooted aside letting her plop down next to him and Kel and ordered a drink from the bartender frame. While they waited, Sunny studied her with an unreadable face, he was confused why she would take an interest in him out of all the people here. Why this revered celebrity would be so fascinated with him specifically when he had just been risen today.He was a nobody.

He wasn't worthy of her attention...

The Guardian looked over at Kel who was already on his sixth glass of soda and ordering his seventh. "What's up Kel? Great match back there! You guys have gotten so much better since last time!" she complimented. The Guardian pulled off her helmet and set it aside, allowing long flowing black hair to tumble out at shoulder length while partially covering a gentle face that seemed unfitting compared to her ornate battle robes.

Kel grinned and chuckled at bit. "Hey thanks Mari! I almost didn't recognize you with the helmet on. Man, you were awesome back there. You sure kicked our butts real good! you were like, pew! pew!~ and I was like, oh crap! bwoosh~!" Kel exclaimed and waved his empty glass around like a airplane. "It's good to see you back."

 Mari giggled and waved a hand at him "Hehe, oh stop it, you know I don't like to brag...that much. I always try to spend time with you guys and help you all get better." she turned to everyone else and tapped the table to get their attention. She raised her cup. "I'm so proud of you all..." Mari beamed with pride and glanced over at Sunny who was staring at her with wide eyes. "Even you new guy. I didn't think any Hunter could be naturally raised as a Nightstalker."

Kel slapped him on the shoulder and smirked. "This is Sunny! he was just recently brought back today, and he's already using his supers and abilities, I was shocked too when he pulled out that bow." she spoke proudly as Hero and Aubrey came over to join them.

Mari put her hands together as she leaned down to Sunny's eye level. "That's incredible! I remember the first time I used the Light...By the way, my real name is Mari, though everyone just calls me the 'Crucible Champ' or 'The Guardian' or 'Godslayer' and too many other things." she chuckled.

The Warlock smiled sweetly at him. "I hope we get to be good friends someday...Maybe like a little brother even, everyone in our little group is as close as family." she said and warmly held out her hand to him.

Sunny didn't respond, he couldn't for some reason. Something was wrong, seeing her face was causing his vision was becoming more and more fuzzy by the second as the whole room spun and his heart rate skyrocketed. Mari frowned and slightly retracted her hand. "Sunny? what's wrong?"

He collapsed and instantly blacked out on the spot, much to everyone's alarm...

"What's going on? Is Sunny alright?"

"Hold on, everything's going to be-"

"Guardian? Guardian! wake up!"

The Hunter's conscious was consumed by Darkness...

To be continued...

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

--=--=-=-

Strike Operations

==-=-=-=-==---

"Wake up..."

Sunny awoke to an endless darkness. He cautiously and slowly sat himself up and took a shallow breath in...letting the stale air fill his lungs. Every direction he looked was a swirling empty void, it was cold, dry, a faint mist permeated the atmosphere in this desolate plane. The Hunter attempted to contact his Ghost but found he couldn't. His connection with Omori had been severed here...

He was alone...

Not wanting to immediately panic, he backtracked his thoughts to previous events leading up to the moment he had blacked out;

He was invited to a Crucible match by Kel -who quite literally dragged him and Basil along- where he, Aubrey and his fellow Hunter, had been pitted against Hero, Basil and another Warlock he didn't recognize. The match had come incredibly close, with only one kill away from victory for both sides. Sunny had found himself against the unknown Warlock and had used his super on her, only to choke at the last second and get killed by her...again...

He never managed to kill anyone once that entire match...

Afterwards at the Tower lounge, He had been approached by the The Guardian who took off her helmet and introduced her actual name as Mari. That was when details started to get fuzzy. After he saw her face, he passed out. But why? What was it about her that was enough to make him conk out on the spot?

Questions for another time that he hoped he would get answers to if he could escape this strange place and get back to the City.

Sunny was about to go out and explore when-

A presence made itself known that he was NOT alone...

"Lightbearer, Dreamer...I've been watching you since you arrived in that City. I have been wanting to speak with you for a long while since... And now that you are here, you have my undivided attention." Kel's voice suddenly called out to him from the dark, the hunter whirled around but saw nothing.

The voice chuckled, speaking this time in Hero's voice. "Do not be alarmed, I am...a friend, I only want to [help] you, Sunny...if you wish for it..." The voice assured softly, now coming from directly in front of him.

Sunny went to call upon his Light to defend himself, but nothing happened. The voice continued on. "I can give you something you cherished in your past [life], in return, you must only wish for it." it offered.

The Hunter swore he saw something move directly above him...

...something frighteningly massive and powerful...

The black and white hunter gulped and looked up.

"Who or what are you?" Sunny spoke slowly to the creature.

The response was a overwhelming symphony of laughter that made his ears ring. Once the thousands of voices had died down only one spoke...one that was undoubtedly familiar to him somewhat. The shape on the ceiling shifted it's massive body downwards on a pillar until was on the ground level with Sunny. The Hunter was face to face with a colossal lizard-like creature staring directly down at him. He could feel the chilling cold breath leak from the cracks from the frontal bone plating that adorned it's face.

"I...am only but a humble granter of [wishes] Guardian. I can give you anything you could ever want and have wanted. Power...glory....weapons...peace of mind...something simple even..." It paused to let the hunter mentally digest it's words. It smiled when he saw the consideration of the proposed bargain in Sunny's eyes.

"Would you turn down the opportunity of a lifetime?" Mari's voice spoke to him, a subtle hint of intent lingering in her kind and gentle demeanor.

Sunny took a deep breath and calmed down, it wasn't as scary as he thought, it's not like he was face to face with a dragon that could eat him right now if it wanted to. He couldn't fight it, he had no way to outrun it if he tried to flee. It wasn't real, he was dreaming, how else could he be here?

Sunny resisted the temptation and stood his ground. "No...this is a dream...y-you can't hurt me. You're not real." Sunny refused in a wavering tone.

"Are you sure about that, O Dreamer mine?~" The dragon cooed and tilted it's head at him. Sunny could already feel his confidence collapsing as the beast took one giant step forward, the tremors from it's footfall blew him back a few feet and onto the ground.

The Hunter quickly shook himself off as he scrambled to his feet. The dragon hummed thoughtfully to itself. "[Take] as much time as needed to consider my humble offer. Then speak true and I shall give you your desire." Aubrey's voice poured from it's concealed mouth like silk. "But be brief with your wish." it warned, it's feigned voice lowering to barely above a cautious whisper.

"The Queen of lies could be listening..."

Sunny shuddered at the vague mention, the way the dragon had spoken of this mysterious person, whoever this 'Queen of lies' was, in such a fearful voice... If it frightened this massive monster that much. Then he did not want to find out who, SHE was...

He set the fearful aside the thoughts to ponder the wish he'd make...

He had friends; he'd already had seven, including the Hunter Vanguard.

He had powers enough; one's he'd master with enough time...

His weapons were already adequate; his arsenal would grow with each day.

Glory was not something he wanted at all...

Sunny was content where he was in life until it hit him...

Peace of Mind...

The Hunter finally looked up at the colossal creature and cleared his throat to speak his wish. Making sure his intent was clear as instructed.

"I wish, I had a place I can call mine and mine alone, a space of my own where I can find peace." he spoke clearly enough to hear his own voice echoing in the desolate plane around him.

A low warbling sound and breath of freezing cold air passed behind him with what he could assume was the creature's own silent laughter. The dragon shifted slightly as it rose to full height. "Very well I shall grant your [desire]..."

A chill went up Sunny's spine when he heard it speak those words. The world shifting ever so slightly in lieu to this creature's will.

"Take this gift, as a token of our newfound friendship, Guardian..." It spoke.

Sunny saw something shiny drop from the creature's mouth and into his open hand. It was a tooth of some kind sitting in his palm, no bigger than his ring finger. A strange whispering could be heard from it.The bone felt warm to the touch, even through his gloves.

He leaned closer in to listen. "It is a bone carved from my own physical being...a means of communication between planes from me to you." The voice spoke through it loud and clear.

"If you desire to [barter] with me again, you must only make a [wish] to the bone, and I shall listen." The bone spoke in a woman's voice he did not recognize.

He gazed at the bone a bit longer before pocketing it and glanced around his surroundings. A feeling of weariness washed over his body again before he fell into unconsciousness. The siren's whispers were fading fast as he slipped from one conscious plane to the next.

"Most of those who [Bargain] with me do not win, but we shall see each other in due time, O listener mine...~"

"Guys! Sunny's awake!" Kel called over to the others.

Sunny blinked awake and looked upon a sea of worried and relieved expressions. He found himself in a bed in an orange blanketed bed in a different room somewhere, his armor had been stripped and replaced with a simple t-shirt and shorts. Hero placed a hand on Sunny's head to feel his temperature and looked him over. "Sunny, are you feeling alright?" he asked.

When the hunter gave him a nod he relaxed. "Oh thank the Light! You've been unconscious for three whole hours! Your Ghost and I have been trying everything to wake you, but nothing was working, so dragged you over to our house in the Botza district, we were getting really worried you'd never wake up..."

Omori hovered next to Hero and scanned over his Guardian one more time then looked to The blue Warlock. "I've checked his vitals a dozen times over and he's fine, there's no reason he should have fainted like that." Omori muttered and blinked his eye.

Kel nodded and leaned over to Sunny. "Man you must have been super exhausted from the match. I've never seen Mari get so upset before."

"Kel give him some space, he's still recovering."

Sunny watched his friends talk amongst themselves, he reached into the pocket of his new clothes and gripped the tooth Riven had given him...

he blinked,

Riven,

Riven of a Thousand Voices,

When and how did he know that name?

As far as he recalled, the massive creature in his dream never told him what her name was. It just popped into his head as soon as he touched the bone.

He let go of the bone and returned his attention to the rest of the room. Kel and Hero were speaking in hushed tones in one corner while Aubrey and Basil kept an eye on Sunny from afar.

"Where did Mari go?" Basil wondered and looked around the room for the veteran warlock.

"She was summoned by The Speaker an hour ago." Aubrey responded.

Basil blinked at the mention of the City's respected leader, he had seen the masked man only a few times since his resurrection and had spoken with him at least once as per Guardian requirement. But since then, the young Titan had been too intimidated to talk to him again, despite the man's pleasant demeanor. "The Speaker?" you mean the most important man in the City and the only one who can communicate with the Traveler? that Speaker?" he asked.

"She was summoned while we were getting Sunny down here. An important message concerning her successor."

Basil let his lips curl downwards. Mari was one of the Speaker's chosen guardians, personal Lightbearers who had the Speaker's personal blessing and were assigned to carry out the will of their silent god in the sky. It was an role that many considered to be the highest honor a Guardian could achieve since only one could be chosen at a time unless a one was to be selected as a protege for the current.

But a scarce few had ever been chosen since the last, Saint 14, had vanished on Mercury searching for the Warlock Osiris and was presumed dead. There hadn't been a new Chosen in over a hundred years since Mari had been inducted...and it was almost her time to pass on the torch.

...though no one was stepping up to take her place.

Kel suddenly butted in to the conversation, earning a disgruntled look from Aubrey. "Mari's gone again to see the Speaker? Real bummer...She's always so busy all the time and we never see her for months." he frowned. "Who knows how long she'll be gone this time? I wish she didn't have to be the Speaker's right hand so we could hang out more."

In Sunny's pocket, the bone shifted ever so slightly, though no one noticed...

Hero walked up from behind and rubbed his brother's back. "She can't ignore her duty as Speaker's chosen. Remember, she's doing this to keep us all safe. She was the one who destroyed the Black Garden's Heart and was in the fireteam who slew Crota and stopped the House of Wolves."

Kel slumped his shoulders and swung his arms a bit, but nodded and smiled in understanding. "Okay so you're right, Mari's got this all under control..."

He sighed, but quickly perked back up. "Hey, by the way, I just got word that Zavala has sanctioned all six of us for strike operations." He said excitedly. "Wanna come with me to the bounty board and pick one?"

Aubrey's eyes lit up at the mention of strikes. "About time! I'm tired of just doing boring patrols and Crucible, what do we got?" she exclaimed.

...

After Sunny was let out of Hero and Kel's house, the gang gathered at the bounty board in the tower plaza, a large board showing the available missions and strikes for Guardians to choose from. Currently, only four were available to take. The orange hunter ran a finger down the list of remaining strikes and hummed a catchy tune to himself. "We have one on Venus, probably something to do with the Vex again...then there's a disturbance in the Cosmodrome with a bunker? One on the moon, no thank you, and...The Dreadnought?"

He open the description for the Strike labeled 'The Shield Brothers'

"The Cabal Skyburners legion lead by their remaining commanders, the Shield Brothers are planning to blow the ship's reactor core...Okay why is that so bad? They blow up the ship they get blown up too, a bunch of dead Cabal and no more hive doomship to threaten us, problem solved."

Kel causally shrugged and was about to pick up the Cosmodrome strike 'S.A.B.E.R. II' instead when Hero spoke up.

"Kel, the sheer size of the Dreadnought detonating would engulf half of the solar system, which is beyond bad if we let them do that. And knowing the Cabal, they're probably already going through with that plan." he said in a serious tone.

Kel took a moment to process what that meant before deciding to choose the Dreadnought strike. "When you put it like that, yeah that's-that's pretty bad, let's do it."

Aubrey also picked out the Shield Brothers strike, leaving Sunny and Basil as the last two Guardians to pick between the 'Blighted Chalice and 'The Nexus Revisited'.

"Sunny and Basil should probably pick the Venus mission, it should be a nice straightforward op for the both of them, If I last recall, the Vex Nexus Mind was destroyed years ago." Omori advised.

Hero gave Basil a light nudge on the shoulder."Hey Basil, you might even get to bring back an exotic plant or two for your garden."

Basil's eyes lit up at the mention of botany and seemed a bit more interested. While most titans preferred to train their skills in combat or go on patrols in their free time, the young titan had developed his own personal garden in a secluded spot within the hanger, away from the curious and prying eyes and hands of other Guardians who were prone of jumping on things.

"Well, I am curious about Venus's plantlife...especially about the crystal flowers growing all around the academy and the Ishtar sink." The flower boy admitted sheepishly.

"Pfft, nerd..." Aubrey teased.

Hero clasped his hands together. "Then it's settled, Aubrey, Kel and I will go after those Cabal on the Dreadnaught. While Sunny, Basil and Mari will go investigate the rumors of the Nexus Mind being restored."

"Wait, Mari? didn't she just say she was busy?" Kel asked.

"She told the Speaker she was going to chaperone Sunny and Basil on their first mission, it's better than getting paired up with some stranger who doesn't have the patience she has." Aubrey responded. "She should be joining as soon as you two land at the rendezvous point."

"Well in that case, you two have nothing to worry about with her at your side, this strike should be cake!" Kel assured the two new lights and set off towards the hanger.

As the two groups of Guardians walked to the hanger bay to their ships. Basil turned to look at Sunny. "Hey Sunny? are you nervous? It's my first time off-planet too..." he asked anxiously.

Sunny looked up to the sky with a sense of wonder...What kind of adventure awaited him amongst the stars?

Meanwhile at the Gunsmith

...

"Hey Banshee, my man, my friend, my amigo, my good buddy, my home slice, my fellow exo, my-

"What do you want Cayde?"

"Okay I'll keep it short and simple; Where's my Ice Breaker? I gave it to you for repairs after I...uh...

Nevermind what happened where is it? Just wondering? I heard it's not here, so you gotta know what happened..."

"Gave it to that nice kid you sent to me, had a voucher for the thing and all."

"..."

"You didn't...you didn't give it to Kel right?"

"Nope."

"Oh thank the Light...But seriously...who did you pawn it off to then?"

Hmmm, some Hunter in black and white who came her a few hours ago."

"That guy? The quiet Sunshine kid?"

"That's him, had a slip with your signature on it and all, seemed legit."

"Are you...are you sure? You positively certain that this isn't some practical joke that I'm not getting here? I get Kel, but...that new guy?!"

"Yes Cayde, I gave that Sunny kid your Ice Breaker."

"But that's my Ice Breaker! you can't just give it away! I put my name on it and all. It was an expired voucher from three years ago!"

"...Maybe you should have told him that before you sent him off with your junk, you were the one who never came to pick it up after you broke it."

"Well I...I was...busy. With paperwork. and then Ikora told me about that stuff going on at the Iron Temple and..."

"Cayde..."

"Okay actually yeah I totally forgot, my bad. But it's fine, completely a-okay, I'm happy for the kid, really!"

"Mm hmm..."

"Don't give me that look, you want me to apologize for trying to prank him? I'll go find him after his strike mission and treat him out at my favorite bar in town, I'll even pay the whole tab."

"Hmm..."

"AND...I'll let him keep the thing...it's not like I was using it for anything like you just said."

"Uh huh...sure thing..."

"Alright...alright fine, fine, I promise I'll stop giving newbies my desk scraps. And I'll clean out my desk too so Ikora and Zavala can get off my back about it, you happy now?"

"...Yeah, that'll do..."

"(*Sigh*) Hey by any chance...You didn't also give away my...personal project did you? y'know the one with the spades and the aces?"

"Let me check...yep, your Ace of Spades is still here."

"Oh thank goodness, is it at least ready yet?"

"Same answer as when you asked me an hour ago...No."

[][][][[][][][][][][[

The Nexus, Venus

Outside the Ishtar Academy

[][][][][][][][][][][

Gazing out from the view-port in Mari's jumpship. Sunny and Basil were in awe of their destination as they flew into Venus's atmosphere.

The both of them expected the planet to be a desolate empty landscape full of sulfuric rain, not lush overgrown jungles and the ruins of an abandoned civilization to boot. Sunny took in all the sights around him as they flew by, to the Ishtar Academy signs and human architecture to the massive sprawling alien citadel towering above them.

Mari had told him the bizarre structure belonged to the Vex, a race of time traveling robots who converted entire planets into machines and prediction engines for unknown purposes.

The team set down in a large plaza area just outside the area leading to the target and got into position and were greeted by a swarm of strange figures materializing out of nowhere.

"What are those things?" Basil wondered aloud, pointing at the strange monochrome creatures milling about outside the entrance of the Academy.

"The Taken, even after Oryx's death they still find ways to make trouble." Mari muttered, and loaded her hand cannon. She turned to Sunny and gestured for him to move ahead.

"Sunny, think you can pick off a few of those Taken with that Ice Breaker of yours?" she asked.

The Hunter nodded and took aim at a Taken Vex Goblin standing in the center of the crowd, it's erratic twitches and spasms creeped him out, but it's cone-like head made it much easier to lock on.

One breath in through his helmet, making sure the other strange monochrome specters were just close enough to his target for the full effect...

One breath out and he took the shot...

...

The Goblin erupted in a flash of solar energy that destroyed, all the other Taken around it. The remaining Taken all simultaneously turned towards their position and opened fire upon them. Basil squeaked in surprise as Sunny dragged him down into cover, Mari picked off Taken off one by one with her hand cannon from a distance, each shot sending another corrupted monstrosity screaming back to the Ascendant plane from whence they came. Behind her, Sunny and Basil provided backup support with fire from their own weapons as the Taken unerringly marched on their position, unfazed by the losses they were sustaining.

"Basil! Taken Minotaur on your right!" MARI shouted.

However, her warning came too late as she reached out just as the corrupted Minotaur uncloaked in front of the titan. It backhanded Basil to the ground and stomped on his chest plate, he screamed as the blighted creature pressed it's foot down on his smaller body, piercing white light where it's eye should have been fixed on it's victim. It took half of her and Sunny's ammunition before the Minotaur fell, with a distorted mechanical screech as it faded away.

She holstered her weapon and rushed over to the titan's side, his ribs had been crushed inward but thankfully he was still barely breathing thanks to his ghost's healing.

"Oh Light, are you alright Basil?" she spoke in a worried tone and offered her hand to him.

The titan steadily sat up with her and Sunnu's help and coughed a little as his chest slowly healed up and the dent in his chest plate was mended.

"I-I'm a little shaken. But I think I'll be okay." he stuttered and took her grip, wincing a bit when he moved wrong.

Mari frowned deeply and gently pulled Basil into a hug. "It's okay buddy, if this becomes too much for you, you can go home, just let me know okay?" the Warlock whispered into his ear.

Basil shook his head. "Thank you Mari...But I'll be okay...I just need a moment." the titan nodded quickly and began awkwardly fiddling with his auto rifle, a nervous habit he'd had to calm himself down.

Mari smiled, Basil was nothing like his most of his Guardian class. The many Titans she had run before with were usually so rigid and uniform, or they were loud and boisterous. But Basil was just a young kid in bulky armor who never really fit in with other Titans, his shy nature and gentle personality when it came to combat set him apart from the usual 'run in and punch everything' Titans she was accustomed to working with. Other Titans often looked down at Basil, calling him weak or poking fun at him. Usually, Aubrey or one of her other friends would step in and stand up for the young Titan.

 Mari herself could appreciate him being different, it was a breath of fresh air. Even if he was inexperienced now, she had full faith he would one day he'd become more. Same could be said for Sunny...a Hunter who had a strange first meeting with her, Something in the quiet boy's eye seemed unerringly familiar...Like they had known one another in a past life...

But she recalled none of that and she didn't want to...

The past wasn't important anymore, and it never will be.

...Whatever the case, she turned to him and lightly tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Sunny, I know this is your first mission on the field, but I need you to keep a close eye on Basil. He's our friend, not just a teammate. If you watched each other's backs I'd appreciate it, alright?"

Sunny nodded quietly and gave her a thumbs up. He walked over to Basil and reached down to the nervous Titan's hand, grasping it firmly in his own as they followed behind their fireteam leader. Basil felt himself blushing deeply as he felt the hunter wrap his fingers around his own. He looked up at Sunny to object but the words refused to leave his throat. He wasn't uncomfortable, in fact it felt...nice, a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest.

The fireteam fought through the remaining Taken forces fighting outside and pressed further into the Academy's ruined halls. To their surprise however they were met with Fallen forces scavenging the area. These Fallen however wore grey and blue colors, very much different from the yellow and white ones Sunny had seen back on Earth. According to his Ghost, Omori had told him that the Fallen were divided into 'Houses', several minor sub-factions of the same race that bore different colors and had different mannerisms, currently there were a recorded total of five houses that Guardians had encountered. He wondered if there a purple Fallen faction somewhere...

"The House of Winter have been in shambles without leadership..." Basil's Ghost says. "I thought that killing their Kel, Draxis and that Archon priest they stole would be enough for them to knock it off, seems they just keep coming back for more."

Mari pulled out a red white and blue machine gun, The Super Good Advice and got to work right away mowing down a gathering of Dregs. The group would battle through the Fallen scavenging party, hunting down and destroying the Servitors maintaining a barrier in order to press on deeper into the Ishtar building. More than once Sunny and or Basil would be shot down, requiring Mari to come to their rescue, though she never died once during the long arduous push through Taken, Vex and Fallen on the way to the Nexus chamber.

Once they arrived, they learned that the Taken had already gotten to the reformed Sekrion and subjugated it into a powerful Taken Hydra that summoned blights all around them. Thankfully with Mari with them she made quick work of the blights and led the attack on the corrupted Vex mind...

[]

{]...SEKRION SUBVERTED MIND...[}

[]

The Subverted Mind relentlessly pelted Sunny's position with it's twin Torch Hammers, slowly blasting away at the rock. Basil circled around the back of the Hydra, taking potshots in between it's rotating shield. When it turned around, Sunny took the opportunity to change cover to a more advantageous location to snipe more of the Taken converging on their Warlock Mari however seemed to be having no issues with the spectral entities, she gracefully spun and swirled through the air while blasting them with Void grenades and raining down death on her enemies with a sense of style.

Sunny could swear he could see her smiling under her helmet...

A volley of void shots from the Hydra annihilated the hunter on the spot while he was distracted by Mari's acrobatics, leaving him as a smoldering corpse for his Ghost to pick up. Basil rushed over to help his friend up, he leapt into the air as his body suddenly ignited.

[Basil cast Hammer of Sol]

The surrounding Taken were consumed by an explosion of Solar Light as The Titan charged down towards the lone Ghost, his Light shielding him from the incoming fire. He reached a hand out towards the Ghost and his fingers made contact with the blue aura just as his Super ran out, instantly giving Sunny's Ghost the energy he needed to revive his Guardian. 

Sunny gasped and stood up, being dead and then being spontaneously brought back was something he was still getting used to. He sat up and watched as what was left of Basil get ripped by a horde of quivering monochromatic Thralls before the ally turned their gaze onto him.

He didn't have time to pull out his pulse rifle before he was joined with his friend in death by numerous rending claws...

The last thing he glimpsed was a violet glowing-

[Mari cast Nova Bomb]

-hurling through the air towards Sekrion, the Subverted Mind, shattering and sending the blighted Hydra's twisted remains into a swirling Taken vortex, leaving the rest of the Taken to be cleaned up with ease.

[}...{]

After Mari had revived Basil and Sunny, they made short work of the remaining hostiles. All that was left was to gather round for the most important part of the mission;

Loot

sweet, precious, loot...as one would call it.

Mari casually sifted through some of the leftover Vex remains with her foot until she uncovered a glint of silver underneath a burnished bronze Hobgoblin chassis. She picked out a shiny hand cannon and smiled, giving the barrel a spin and noting how smooth the Imago Loop felt in her grip.

Meanwhile, Sunny only received a handful of glimmer and a pair of rare gloves, he let out a dejected sigh and put them on. Mari let her good mood dampen when she saw how dissatisfied Sunny was and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Aw Sunny, don't feel too upset about it, you'll get some better loot next time..." she assured him, put on a look of sympathy for him.

Sunny only felt worse from this, especially as she promptly test fired her new gun into a lone Taken, it's head combusting in a Solar explosion and increasing her reload to a ridiculous level.

Basil stood over a filthy looking uncommon titan mark still sitting on the ground, the sight of this pitiful reward made him feel dejected as he continued to just stare at it. Sunny couldn't help but notice how unhappy the flower boy seemed. His thoughts subtly shifted to the wish dragon bone in his pocket, he brought out the bone, feeling it pulsing lightly between his fingers.

The hunter carefully made sure neither of his teammates were looking before putting it close to his mouth and spoke.

"I wish Basil would get some better loot." Sunny whispered into the bone, once again feeling a freezing chill go down his back as the wish was heard and granted...

Basil happened to look down again and he blinked in surprise. The previously uncommon titan mark laying before him had morphed something more impressive when he wasn't looking. He knelt down and picked up the shiny metal belt. It was a Titan class item made from the alloys of various Vex components fused together into something wearable, he hummed happily to himself as he put it on, pleased that it was a perfect fit.

Mari took notice of the young Titan's new accessory and placed her hands together. "Oh wow Basil! Your first piece of loot! And it's legendary too. Not bad for your first mission, I'm proud of you for holding out for Sunny!" she cheered, Basil let a happy smile spread across his lips.

"Oh and good job Sunny, you were fantastic as well, keep it up and you'll be just as strong as the best, I believe in you!"

Sunny found himself smiling as he placed the bone back in his pocket. At least he wasn't completely worthless if he could use these wishes to make someone happy...

Then what was the harm?

[][][][[][][[][[][][][]

Shield Brothers

Dantalon Exodus IV

[][[][][][[][][][][][][

A storm grenade from above obliterated a group of Cabal entering from a doorway across from their makeshift cover. While Hero's teammates had gone about massacring the Cabal in the next room over, it unfortunately left him alone against the rest of the angry lumbering space rhinos to focus on the lone Guardian and pelt his position with gunfire. Hero gasped out when a slug round tore through his shoulder. His Ghost was quick to mend the wound.

If only he had come kind of ability to heal himself quickly...like a rift of some kind...

Aubrey meanwhile was busy pummeling a Phalanx's shield inwards with her fists, each strike making a bigger and bigger dent in it's otherwise indestructible plating. Just as she shattered the shield with a final punch, Kel slide in from underneath it's legs and peppered the Cabal's chest with machine gun fire, killing it and earning an annoyed snarl from Aubrey while he smiled at her. "You kill-stealing motherfu-

A loud klaxon alarm shut the both of them up. Hero rushed in from the other room panting and wheezing, his robe torn and riddled with holes.

"Guys, this isn't the time to start arguing again, they just brought a TANK, indoors!"

The massive hanger doors behind them opened up revealing a Goliath tank, a fearsome weapon in the Cabal arsenal. As it charged it's main cannon, Aubrey and Hero took cover behind a barricade. Kel however wasn't so lucky and was hit directly by the tank blast, his ghost, Hector hovered out in the open hastily reassembling his guardian's remains. Hero winced as turret fire pelted their cover.

"Kel's down! and they've got us pinned, Baker, how many do we have around us?" He brought out his ghost who had a light blue and white stripped pattern on it's shell.

"Twelve Cabal Legionaries, four Phalanxes, three Psions, a Colossus, and the Goliath Tank are surrounding our current position, survival chances are currently at 21 percent." His Ghost calculated.

"Twenty-one? I can work with that." Aubrey smirked to herself and cracked her knuckles. Hero did a double take and gave her a flabbergasted look as she rose up to her feet. 

"Aubrey you can't, there's too many of them out there they'll rip you apart!"

The Titan turned and grinned as Bun-Bun transmatted a large cylindrical rocket launcher with several exhaust tubes coming from it's sides and a shark pattern painted at the front. "Not when I have this thing." she declared, hefting the heavy weapon, smoke and fire billowing from it's front.

"These Skyburners showed us that they have a ton of firepower to throw around, lets see if they can handle ours."

Aubrey aimed her Dragon's Breath rocket launcher above the cover and fired at the ceiling. The canister inside the rocket detached from the main payload out and broke on contact with the ground, incinerating the unfortunate Legionaries and Psions caught in the roaring hellfire. Only a single Phalanx survived by raising it's shield upward to block the napalm spray from melting it's allies, but this left it open for the Titan leap from cover and tackle the massive space rhino warrior and have the shield knocked from it's grasp and killed with a powerful headbutt to the skull.

Aubrey grunted as she hefted the colossal metal shield on her back and gestured over for Hero to give her support fire while she went over and revived Kel under the gunfire her mobile cover was taking.

"Took you long enough..."

The hunter grumbled before a smack on the back of the head from Aubrey almost knocked him over.

"Shut up dweeb, you're lucky I even got the chance to save your ass." Aubrey scoffed and pulled him close behind her as she returned to Hero's side.

It took all they had but eventually the Goliath tank was destroyed and the remaining Skyburners were either killed or they fell back further into the ship to regroup for another attack. The rest of the journey through the Dantalon Exodus IV was mostly uneventful for the gang, some Taken had invaded and were battling with the remaining ship's crew meaning the friends could slip by mostly unnoticed. The group finally reached their destination, the ship's reactor core.

Kel's Ghost was quick to disable the explosives around them before a loud war cry permeated the room. A massive red armored Cabal with a burning blade on it's wrist lumbered out of a doorway followed by a platoon of legionaries behind him. The commander barked out something in it's alien tongue and charged at the Guardians...

[]

{}...VALUS MAU'AUL AND VALUS TLU'URN...{}

[]

Kel slipped out of the way of Mua'aul's massive blade as it attempted to crush him. The Cabal roared and tried again only to miss and subsequently get shot in the face with Pocket Infinity. Aubrey shoulder charged the Valus from behind, knocking him forward.

The commander staggered to his feet and sneered at the two Guardians, he activated a shield in his armor and retreated back into the doorway. Moments later, the second shield brother, Valus Tlu'urn, clad in blue strode out into the arena and began firing artillery rounds from his back mounted cannon. Aubrey and Kel moved to a safe distance from the rain of Arc projectiles but Hero was partially caught in the fire and was launched. He landed on his neck at an awkward angle and lay still, his Ghost emerged, waiting for a revive.

Aubrey fired a few rounds at the massive Cabal from behind some cover before she was shot from behind by a firing squad of psions, leaving her dead as well. Soon Kel was surrounded by a wall of shields closing in around him while three arc shells careened towards him from above. He began to panic.

"What do we do Hector?!" Kel asked his Ghost

The Ghost processed for a moment. "Uh...um...do you have your super?"

"The flaming pistol thing? It's ready."

Okay, and you have that helmet that looks like a bird?"

"Yeah? how does it work?"

"Put that on and use your Super on the big guy, you'll see."

[Kel cast Golden Gun]

The orange hunter leapt into the air and used one of the Phalanx's helmets as a step to get another jump up before the squadron was obliterated by Arc energy, Kel's entire body was enveloped in golden light as he aimed the flaming revolver in slow motion and took aim at Tlu'urn's head.

A single shot rang from the Light pistol, finding it's mark straight and true...and through...the Cabal Commander as he crumpled to his knees and collapsed with a new smoldering hole in his helmet...

Kel wasted no time in picking up his friends before the other commander returned, he was absolutely giddy about the crazy shot he had made. The remaining Cabal Valus emerged and upon seeing his fallen brother flew into a rage, barreling towards the Guardians with reckless abandon while bellowing out a war cry. The Warlock rose into the air.

[Hero cast Stormtrance]

Hero's Landfall washed over the Skyburner forces below him, eviscerating the Cabal like they were bugs to a live wire. He ionic blinked through multiple Legionaries and Phalanxes, shocking them with waves of Arc energy until he made contact with Mau'aul. While he was occupied with Hero's Stormtrance, Aubrey charged forth and delivered a powerful kneel blow to the Shield Brother while Kel shot rockets into him.

The sheer overwhelming force of the three guardians working in tandem was finally enough to topple the beast, putting an effective end to the Skyburner's operation to blow up the Dreadnaught.

[}...{]

Both the Shield Brothers lay dead in a heap on top of one another as Aubrey climbed atop the red one and ripped the mauler off his arm while leaning over and pulling a shoulder piece off the blue one. She grinned excitedly like she had just gotten a new Dawning gift as she fitted her new trophy over her gauntlet.

"Sick, can't wait to see what this thing can do." Aubrey grinned menacingly as she jabbed at the air with the large heated metal plate; the Mau'aul's Mauler's.

Kel found out a red colored scout rifle in the chest and frowned when he went over it's traits. "Field prep and crowd control again? ugh, this roll sucks...pass..." he scoffed and tossed the gun back into the container.

Hero was already reporting the team's success to the Vanguard and when he finished, he turned to the group. "Well that takes care of the Shield Brothers and the Dreadnought reactor is still intact."

"Let's get back home, Mari just told me that The Speaker has summoned to Sunny personally meet with him in private, I wonder what it could be?"

Sunny and Omori soon arrived at the Speaker's chamber via transmat. It was a large chamber with an open view of the City below and the Traveler above all, set in the center of the room was a large contraption that served an unknown purpose as it spun and shifted on it's track. On an observation platform to the left was a desk laden with books and various scrolls among other oddities and trinkets. lastly, was the man in a clean white robe pondering over a shelf with his back to them.

"Speaker sir, we came as soon as we got the summons. We're sorry we couldn't come sooner." the ghost spoke up.

The Speaker turned around from his studies and placed his hands behind his back, his mask hiding any sort of facial expression.

"There is no need for an apology, Ghost. You are here and that is what matters." He spoke in a calm voice and turned to Sunny. "Approach Guardian."

Sunny obeyed and respectfully took a step forward, he stared at the strange masked man in contemplative silence. As did The Speaker, who looked thoughtfully over the Hunter, his presence radiated an aura of calm.

"...What is your name young one?" he finally asked.

"His name is Sunny, he doesn't talk much. But he did name me though, Omori."

The Speaker nodded along slowly, the mask he wore made it difficult for the Hunter to tell what emotion he was feeling. "I see, named after an ancient pre-Golden age Piano brand if the Cryptarchy's records are accurate." He mused. "Very interesting..."

He looked to the Hunter "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Sunny." he said and lightly bowed his head. Sunny nodded back to the Speaker in return.

With the greeting finished, the masked man turned to the large orrery in the center of the library which had finally come to a rest. When he next spoke it was in a voice full of deep reverence.

"I have spoken to the Traveler..." He stated, gesturing to the massive pale sphere resting in the sky. "It granted me a vision about you specifically and the many great things you would do for humanity..." He pauses.

"Such a thing has not happened in a centuries...This is why I had urgently called for you to see me. You have been chosen."

The Guardian and ghost exchanged surprised looks with one another. Omori slowly turns back to the Speaker

"Does that mean my Guardian is...Is he?"

The Speaker nodded in affirmation."Yes, Sunny has been selected to become the next Traveler's Will."

Omori turned to his guardian and got in close until the Hunter gently pushed him back, the excitement in his Ghost's voice was apparent. "Guardian, you don't know how high of an honor this is to be the Traveler's Will. Only certain Guardians are ever allowed to become the Speaker's personal apprentice."

The Speaker continued his speech. "You will be working alongside my other apprentice, Mari. She has told me how you've already made a few allies and stood with them, she speaks very highly of you. That is good, she see's greatness in you, a bright guiding light that when the Darkness returns, we would look to when we face it together."

Sunny found himself not quite understanding what the Speaker was talking about, Chosen by the Traveler? Was that giant orb the Traveler? Why chose him for such a prestigious role?

Doubt filled his heart He just got here. He wasn't that important, maybe Mari was talking about some other Guardian.

"There is no mistake." The Speaker affirmed, as if reading the Hunter's thoughts. "You are the one The Traveler spoke of, though young as you are, you are capable of many great things and have much to accomplish. Do not let doubt trouble you."

He paused to open a drawer in his study. He carefully handed Sunny a bundle of soft silky cloth. The fabric felt light as a feather and there were outlines in the cloth in the shape of a pistol and a shape similar to Omori underneath. Sunny peeled away the layer to find a brand new blue and white sidearm and an shiny ghost shell within.

"Mari handed these off to me to give to you personally, a custom sidearm reserved for Vanguard officials only, a new shell for your Ghost she made herself. And a special cloak, tailored for yoy by our resident outfitter, Eva Levante to suit your new duties. All of these were not easy for her to put together."

Sunny further examined the bundle he received from the Speaker and checked inside; the cloth itself was a long white and black cloak. He tested the firearm in his grip and nodded at how good it felt in his hands. The long flowing cloak felt perfectly balanced on his shoulders and head, it didn't trip him up or flap in his face like his old cloak did and extremely light for something so over the top. Although it made the rest of his armor feel lacking in comparison...

Sunny was stunned that someone like Mari would do something like this for him, someone she had just met a while ago.

His ghost moved his shell pieces around, it was a white shell with black stripes going down the sides along with a golden trim lining the tips of his top and bottom segments. The black parts of the shell emitted a slight prismatic purple sheen upon moving into the light.

When they leaving, Sunny could hear the Speaker chuckle lightly as he walked back up the steps to his communion with the Traveler.

"Wear these with pride, Hunter...and may you always walk boldly in the Light."

...

"Speaker's chosen...Wow...Only a day old and you've already moved up the ranks! And Cayde just invited us to hang out with him at his favorite bar, he say's he's paying the tab." Omori chirped cheerfully and flitted around. The Ghost flitted his shell pieces, proudly showing them off to passerbys while Sunny kept his new cloak more hidden. The Ghost eventually settled inside Sunny's hood.

"So much has happened today, I think we should get some well deserved rest don't you think?"

Sunny nodded along, relieved to finally have a break.

"I'm glad that you're my Guardian..."

"And I'm glad you're my Ghost, Omori." Sunny spoke.

Omori sighed happily and snuggled further into the hood. "Would you like me to transmat us to the City?"

"No thanks...I'll walk."

Sunny walked towards the plaza as the moon began to rise overhead...Tomorrow was a new day, and his journey to Become Legend had just begun...

"Hey Basil, come on hurry up in there!" Aubrey shouted.

Everyone was packing beach equipment into the back of the car and were all waiting for Basil to get out of his bedroom.

"I'm coming! hold on!" he called back and packed his swim shorts into a duffel bag. He smiled to himself as he thought about the memories he would be having on the beach today, the sun shown brightly out the window, the sky was clear, nothing could ruin this...

He pushed the door open and strolled out into...a dark corridor? that wasn't right, was it nighttime already? And when did his hallway become this long? Basil peered down into the darkness, unsettled by how deep it seemed to go on for."Guys? where are you? is this some kind of prank? if it is this isn't funny-"

He stopped in his tracks when he heard the laugh behind him. An ominous malicious sound that sent chills down his spine.

"What do we have here? A child with the Light? How very interesting..." A sinister voice cut through the darkness, accompanied by the sounds of screams and despaired cries coming from behind. Basil gasped and turned around, he was suddenly in his Titan armor again, the pleasant dream suddenly shifting into a waking nightmare. Behind him, his shadow cast by the light outside the window shifted and morphed into something else, it rose up and reached a clawed hand towards the Titan. Basil whirled on his heel but the shade remained out of his sight. He could feel it's claws lightly brushing against his shoulders.

"What do you want from me? w-who are you?" Basil stammered and tried to focus his breathing. The darkness all around him seemed to be creeping closer and closer.

"I want your pain..." The shadow answered, it's voice dripping with malice.

"Give it to me, young one..."

Basil looked up, he shouldn't have looked into that horrid visage...

"GIVE ME YOUR SCREAMS!" 

The figure in the dark howled maniacally and ran a clawed hand across the wall, making a horrible screeching sound like nails on a chalkboard. The Titan covered his ears and stumbled over something in his attempt to back away, when he looked down he choked on his own breath. All around him were the mutilated and bloodied corpses of his friends all of them bore fixed looks of absolute terror on their faces. This time, the entity did not hide itself, instead it showed itself as a hulking mass shrouded in shadows. The Nightmare took to the ground with a thunderous impact and began to walk, each step it took towards him shook the very foundations they were in. The suffocating Darkness that came from it threatened to consume everything around them.

"Don't come any closer...I'm w-warning you!" Basil stammered, summoning a fiery hammer of Sol in his grip and threw it at the encroaching shadows with all his might.

The flaming hammer soared through the air casting a radiant light that pushed back the dark briefly before fizzled out inches away from the monster's face. The being stared at Basil for a moment, amused by the Titan's attempt to harm it, laughing menacingly at his pitiful attempt to attack and continued it's terrifying approach.

"Your paltry Light means nothing. Your pathetic weak attempts to harm me here mean nothing..." it glowered and stepped out from behind the veil of shadows.

Standing before Basil was a towering being straight out of a horror story, a hulking red and black monster dragging a wicked scythe-like weapon across the floor, sparks flew from the razor sharp edge. It's terrible twin horned headpiece adorned with a ring of multicolored eyes that gazed upon him as he tried to back away. The entity had no visible facial expressions but he could FEEL the malice and hatred coming from it, imagining it smiling with barely contained excitement to slowly rip him apart.

This monster...it didn't want to kill him...

It wanted to take pleasure in making him suffer first...

"I WILL haunt you in your dreams. I WILL RELISH Every. Waking. Moment. Of your suffering and terror, every second of your pathetic existence as I tear and carve into you what it is to FEAR the Dark..." The nightmare decreed, reaching out with lightning speed to grasped Basil by the chest in one massive hand and reaching towards his face with the other, dragging his clawed fingers down the Titan's face and cheeks. Basil felt like his whole body was on fire, the pain was so unbearable, he tried to scream, but the only thing he could manage was a loud choking sound as he cried instead, loudly wailing with uncontrollable terror in his heart.

The sadistic monster raised the scythe above it's head and pointed the tip at the boy's exposed neck. The only thing Basil could make out through the excruciating pain and his tears were the ring of seven malice filled eyes gleefully staring down at him. Basil attempted to struggle but his strength was quickly leaving him. He called out for help, desperate for anyone to come, but there was no escape from-

Nezarec, The Final God Of Pain

This heart stopped and he froze.

That name...

Nezarec twisted the tip of his scythe on the soft skin below, drawing some blood.

"Let my name strike terror and despair into your heart until the day of your final death..." he declared. moving closer until his face was almost touching Basil's. The Titan's

"And that when you are utterly broken... You will be mine...Forever."

The scream that erupted from Basil's mouth came to an abrupt end when the Night Terror was fully brought down on his-

Basil shot up from his bed screaming and held his chest and cheek, there was no bloody gash on his face, no crushing pain in his ribs, he never noticed how bad he was hyperventilating, until Rowan appeared by his side to calm him down from his panic attack.

"What happened? was it the nightmare again?" The Ghost asked gently and ran a beam of light over his Lightbearer's chest, slowing down the boy's heartbeat to normal levels.

Basil tearfully nodded and huddled his legs closer to his chest as he took deep breaths. "The same one. Over and over again..."

"The Nezarec one?"

Basil nodded.

The Ghost tilted the front of it's black shell over it's eye, to imitate a furrowed brow. "To be honest with you, I always thought that Nezarec was a pre-Golden age myth made to scare children, a fiend that according to stories-would terrorize his victims and feed upon the fear he instilled in them to grow strong enough to enter our reality."

Basil seemed to tense up in fear until the ghost gently bumped against his cheek. "But don't worry about it kid, that's just a scary story. You're stronger than you think you are. Remember, you have your fireteam and the whole City at your back. Real or not, no nightmare monster is going to hurt my Guardian." he announced then added softly.

"We can go visit the Gardens tomorrow if you want."

The Titan sniffled and gently brought his Ghost to his chest for a hug. "Thanks Rowan, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Rowan rested on his Guardian's shoulder as he lay back down in his bed and snuggled into his neck. "No problem kid, you're the kindest and most gentle Titan I know, and that's why I picked you."

Basil smiled, the image of the horned demon already fading from his imagination...

"Now get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow...How do you feel about mountain climbing? I hear it's therapeutic."

To be continued

coming up...

RISE OF IRON

Chapter Text

The climb up to Felwinter Peak had been anything but uneventful.

For the fireteam of three; consisting of Sunny, Basil and Hero, a true fireteam. Upon approach, they were immediately beset upon by the attacking Fallen House of Devils the moment they set foot on the mountain, to the tram car they had taken to the top being blown apart by a walker to the countless snipers hiding around them, it was nothing but constant stress and combat. For the young titan of the team, nothing was more stressful than the sinister voice of the Final God of Pain constantly whispering in his head. Basil squealed when a shrapnel rifle nearly took off his head, he whirled around and punched recklessly at the offending enemy behind him, killing a dreg and turning its body to solar dust. The voice chuckled darkly.

"These ambitious scavengers...Oh how their hopeless desperation to reclaim their lost grace makes me oh so giddy...and the way you take that hope from them is exhilarating..."

Meanwhile ahead of them, Sunny and Hero were dealing with the heavy reinforcements closer to their destination; an old temple built into the side of the mountain face just beyond the observatory tower, Lord Saladin, who had been keeping with them on their comms, had told them it was the Iron Temple, a place where the ancient Iron Lords of the Dark Age used to reside.

The ancient building was visible just beyond the closed observatory gates and across an old bridge...

The small army of angry Fallen that stood in the way would be problematic...

A wire rifle shot from a jury-rigged sniper shank bolted into the wall in front of the two guardians, Hero stood up and crawled off to the side of the cover and reloaded his 1000 Yard stare sniper rifle, he looked towards his teammate. "Sunny, can you cover me? I'm going around to try and flank them for a Stormtrance."

Sunny gave him a thumbs up, Hero leaped into the air and glided away towards the back of the tram station leaving the hunter by himself against the Fallen.

"Well, guess we got it handled…” Sunny’s Ghost, Omori said and added. “Let's see what Basil's doing… Basil, what's your status?"

"I-I'm holding up...y-you?" the nervous voice responded meekly.

Basil’s own Ghost suddenly butted in over the comms. "Kid's under serious fire from more Fallen on the other side and we’re running low on ammo.” There was an explosion in the background. “One of them, a real big one, different from the rest…my identification is picking it up as- Basil! get out of here! It’s-"

The communications suddenly cut off by deafening static feedback that caused the ghost to jolt back a bit and temporarily disconnect. "Basil? Rowan?! come in! What’s going on?" the ghost called out, nothing but radio silence on the young titan's channel. Now more worried, Omori swapped the comms to try and contact their warlock, they were met with more static interference.

"Sunny, we need to get a move on."

With a acknowledging nod, Sunny made a small leap out of cover, cloaking himself in a shroud of invisibility to slip by the Fallen forces to make his way over towards his teammate's last known position.

Basil helplessly fell to the ground as he scrambled away from the hulking orange-red armored Fallen menacingly striding towards him. It cruelly jeered something in it's indecipherable language and swiftly moved forward to kick him into some rocks. Basil yelled in pain as he felt something break in his body and he crumpled to his knees, he weakly reached for his rifle only for it to be crushed to pieces under an armored foot. He was lifted off the ground by the neck and a large flaming scorch cannon was pointed directly at the young whimpering titan’s chest. Basil stared down into numerous glowing yellow eyes. The Fallen laughed as it squeezed his throat tighter making Basil scream out.

Suddenly a wayward solar sniper shot whizzed past the Fallen’s head, the red armored monster paused and dropped his prey to whirl around in the direction of the shooter. A few feet away hidden behind some rocks, Sunny sat there holding his a sniper at an awkward angle. For a moment, no one moved.

"Uh, do you think he saw us?" Sunny whispered into his scope.

A loud roar and several solar blasts answered his question.

"He saw us! he absolutely saw us!" Omori shouted.

The Fallen took it's many eyes off of Basil and charged at the opposing guardian, picking up speed as it bounded towards the hunter at alarming speeds. Sunny panicked and tried to fire his Ice Breaker again but it's battery was depleted and needed recharge. Reaching for his sidearm he pointed it just as a massive fist connected with his chest, he could feel several ribs shatter under his chestplate upon making impact with the wall and stumbling to the ground. The muffled screams from Basil brought him out of his daze long enough to dodge another blow from the monster and roll out of the way. He fumbled in his pouches until his fingers brushed against something warm.

"I-I wish the monster would disappear!" Sunny incanted again and again through choked breaths, calling upon his wish dragon bone again.

One moment the hulking Fallen beast was upon him with its fists raised to strike. Another, it vanished in flash of negative light.

The hunter laid curled up in the snow exhausted as Omori materialized and scanned the surrounding area before returning to heal his guardian’s wounds. "He's…gone...I'm not detecting any transmat signatures, just a faint trace of...sterile neutrinos..." He looked at his guardian with a sudden realization.

"Sunny...what did you do? What is that?!" Basil pointed at the object in his friend's hand. Omori flew over his shoulder and snared the wish bone out of his guardian's hands despite his protests, placing it into his internal storage.

The ghost turned on his guardian, lowering his upper shell over his eye to imitate a concerned expression. "Where did you get that bone?" he spoke in a tense voice. “Who gave that to you?”

Sunny shuffled uncomfortably in his seated position. "I had, I had a dream...after that Crucible match when I passed out. This dragon in my dreams…it gave me that bone as a gift." He explained.

Omori's eye shrunk down to a pinprick. "...You made a bargain to an Ahamkara?" he whispered in a tone that barely hid his disbelief.

"A what?!"

"A wish dragon!"

"She said she wanted me to help her..."

"We need to get rid of that thing right now! do you know how dangerous Wish magic is used wrong?!" his ghost chided in a more serious tone. “I don’t know how you even got a hold of one of those bones without me knowing, but it stops now. We have to destroy it.”

"I need this bone, Riv- She said it would help me get better!" Sunny argued back. “It saved us just now!”

”But what will it cost you?!”

Basil sat there watching the two argue while his own ghost healed his wounds, his slowly expression becoming more and more stressed by the second. Noting his guardian’s distress, Rowan snarled and went right up into Sunny's face, his red eye reflecting against the hunter's helmet as he spoke. "Listen pal. That ‘thing’ is not your friend! It’s taking advantage of you. Do you know how many guardians and innocent’s lives those monsters have destroyed when they were around? Too many.”

Sunny blinked under his helmet, silent. Rowan turned on Omori next. “Get rid of that thing before he or someone else ends up dead cause of it."

The black and white Ghost nods slowly. Rowan backed off and floated back to Basil’s shoulder, flashing the both of them with a glare. ”...You better watch your ass if you don’t want the Praxic order kicking down your doors."

The ghost de-materialized back to the young titan's backpack. Basil stood there with a uncertain look before wordlessly moving on, but not before glancing back one last time. Omori stared at his guardian with silent concern. "I...I hope you know, no matter what anyone thinks. I’m with you, no matter what you decide to do next." he murmured uneasily.

Taniks found himself suddenly falling.

He grasped at the air where his claws were but inches away from ripping apart that pitiful lightbearer when a portal whisked him away to thousands of feet in the sky above earth. Now he was flailing around helplessly as the wind tore at his cloak and his armor rattled loudly. His scorch cannon was lost a few hundred feet above him. It would only be a short time before he’d come crashing down and become a smear on the ground.

‘What a humiliating way to go…’ he grumbled to himself.

The splicers of the fractured house Devils that had called upon him to assist in taking the human stronghold, his promised pay was now certainly forfeit because of this incident. Another cheap trick by the cowardly machine spawn.

Ahamkara bones? Well...no matter, Taniks was immortal. He’d always found a way back to the world of the living when so many others had failed to slay him...like the foolish human, Brask, who had thought he had won until the he’d come back to prove him wrong...and slew him in turn, final death. He would return like always, and when he did again, he would find the guardian who humiliated him and turn it and it's ghost into a new set of trophies for his vast collection. Death could never keep the famed mercenary for long...And this would be no different…

The aspect of revenge dulled the sudden shock of his impact…

"Basil, Sunny! come in! Where are you two? I-“  A shock grenade was thrown behind the cover Hero was hiding behind and he barely dodged before it detonated. The warlock moved to another piece of cover. “I'm pinned down by the Fallen and in need of some serious cover fire!" He poked out from cover to take aim with his sniper only for his sights to be covered by a red buzzing swarm.

~consume enhance replicate~

"C'mon, Sunny! we have to hurry!" Basil exclaimed and picked up the pace. The two guardians gunned down most dregs and shanks they came across along the path towards the observatory until they rounded a corner and came into a opening where a gathering of fallen were worshiping a giant Servitor hovering over the body of Hero, his ghost hovering over his body in a blue sphere of protective light, attempting to shield himself and his downed guardian against the looming machine above him.

Sunny had seen plenty of Fallen up to this point, he’d encountered a number of their servitors in his last strike. But this massive one was different. Like the giant Fallen captain from earlier it glowed a bright sickly red, unlike it however, it was riddled in clusters of black triangular growths and red wires that were growing out of it’s chassis. He could make out what appeared be tiny specks flying around it, like angry buzzing insects. He winced, the radio interference coming from that machine was deafening now. He quickly chucked a void grenade out at the surrounding fallen, eliminating them easily. Upon spotting the two, the servitor teleported away in a flash of red miasma allowing the team to revive Hero.

Once he’d shaken off the his recent death he turned to the two. "Where were you? I've been trying to get a hold of you guys. Sunny, what happened?”

"Basil got into some trouble...I had to help him first." Sunny answered, giving the titan a glance which he quietly returned; Hero didn’t need to know about the Ahamkara bone.

Hero blinked for a moment and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh...well in that case I'm glad you two are looking out for one another, it's kind of sweet seeing you two getting along already."

"What was that massive orb just now?" Basil questioned.

"Well I don't believe it either, but Sepiks Prime is somehow back."

”Sepiks?” Sunny asked, confused.

”That big servitor that got away.” Hero explained. “Sepiks Prime was the house of Devil’s former machine god, a fireteam destroyed him a few years ago.”

”Then…what was that supposed to be?” Basil interjects.

Hero shakes his head. “I don’t know, there's something different about the fallen further in, they're glowing with some kind of energy my Ghost can't pick up on."

the warlock sighed and lowered his arm. "But...could you two maybe please be more mindful of your teammates? it's important that we stick together here."

The fireteam crossed the rickety old bridge leading to the Iron Temple where the servitor from earlier was pummeling the doors with it's eye blast, a jumpship suddenly descended from the atmosphere and deposited an armored titan wielding a golden machine gun which he unloaded into the fallen machine. the resurrected Sepiks buckled under the extreme firepower and teleported away. The three rushed to the Iron Lord's side at the foot of the temple.

"Lord Saladin! we just made it! what was that with Sepiks Prime?" Hero took a deep winded breath, bending over on his knees to catch his breath.

Saladin grimaced and walked up to the large doors. "Something I hoped would stay buried." He looks off to his side. "Shiro, what's your status?"

"Site's secure, be with you in a sec..."

The Iron Lord nodded over the comms and turned his attention to the guardians. "Henry...why have you brought new lights here?" he gestured towards Sunny and Basil standing there with indifferent and confused expressions respectively, clearly not recognizing the significance of the figure before them.

"Mari is out with the others...I'm taking care of our team's new recruits Sunny and Basil, they're still learning, but they've gotten along pretty well so far." Hero responded and smiled over at the two, gesturing for them to step forward.

Saladin looked the two new lights up and down as they bowed respectfully. The titan was awfully skittish for his class, his face was soft and had a nervous expression in his blue eyes, something felt off about him...something behind him...

The hunter however was a mystery altogether that not even his trained eyes could spot easily in that cliff-faced expression...but he showed potential... Saladin stood at full height and opened the front doors to the Iron Temple.

He hummed to himself. "Hmm, I see...come inside, I'll tell you more about the threat upon us..."

"Fireteam, I'm picking up a large Hive presence in the area. They appear to be traveling across the surface region." Shiro 4 called to the Fireteam of Aubrey, Kel and Mari as they exited from the Wall.

They had just dropped off into the snowy tundra of the Cosmodrome in search of the downed senor grid. Normally, the place was much warmer than this, with plants and grass growing all around the post apocalyptic shipyards of old Russia, but a freak cold front caused the entire area to experience a massive blizzard. Now the area was a treacherous plague land completely overtaken by the fallen as they scrapped various parts of the environment and the wall for unknown purposes.

"That's strange...The Hive don't usually come up to the surface..." Mari pondered aloud, kicking a bit of snow off an ancient skeleton.

"Maybe it has to do with the Devil's increased territory grabbing activities lately?" Kel suggested with a shrug. "They could be driving the Hive out into the open with...whatever it is they're doing." 

Aubrey cracked her knuckles and gazed over the white horizon. "Whatever the case, we should keep an eye out for any we see-"

Aubrey's words were cut off by screeches and chattering, along with a strange obnoxious sounding laugh coming from the far building soon followed by the familiar silhouettes of a Hive warband emerging from an old building. the pink haired titan set her sniper sights on the monsters but blinked when she got a better look at them. The Hive Wizard in question looked like the most absurd thing she'd ever seen, with it's red chitin armor being a more burnt pinkish color and an oddly shaped headdress it wore on it's head that made it look like it was wearing a red bow. The pink wizard floated out in the open followed by a small band of acolytes and thralls that milled around the surrounding area picking through the snow covered debris. Mari brought out a scout rifle and took aim at the wizard at the front...until she saw a orange blur passing in front of her sight line. She silently cursed and put away her gun to go after her friend before it was too late...

The pink wizard swiveled it's head towards the lone figure charging right at it and began firing off blasts of arc from it's hands. The Acolytes took cover while thralls screeched and recklessly charged at the athletic hunter, stumbling over one another, eager to tear apart the foolish guardian with their claws. Mari and Aubrey soon dove out of cover, firing at the screaming horde. Meanwhile the Hive wizard, hovered around the battlefield, effortlessly dodging and weaving through wild fusion rifle bolts, keeping just out of reach of Kel as he attempted to land a hit on the wizard taunting him with it's eerie laughter.

"Ohohohoho!~"

"Come on! Stop moving!" Kel snarled and fumbled around with his Pocket Infinity's battery. The wizard floated a ways before slowing down a bit until the hunter began pursuing it again.

"Kel! don't follow that wizard too far! It's trying to separate us from each other!" Mari warned as she blasted an acolyte with her shotgun. Kel was about to respond when he caught in the corner of his eye a knight's bone cleaver swinging at him from around a sharp corner. Without thinking he placed the thing in his hands up to block the attack...unfortunately, that thing being his fusion rifle, the weapon was nearly cleaved in half by the jagged blade belonging to a massive hive knight that towered over the hunter.

"Nooooooooo! My cool gun!" Kel cried out as the knight scrapped the broken weapon off it's blade and took another swing at the hunter...

"Kel!" the two screamed as the deadly blade came down upon their friend...until a blinding flash of light made the knight stagger back, when the light subsided, Kel was standing upright glowing a fiery orange and holding a blazing hand cannon in his grip.

[Kel casts GOLDEN GUN]

"Eat my sunlight gun, you ugly zombies!" Kel yelled in rage and fired his Golden Gun into the knight, the fiery streak of blinding solar light tore through the hive's armor and turned it into a pile of ashes. Next he turned his flaming pistol on the wizard who shrieked as another golden burst narrowly took off it's head. The wizard, hissed in annoyance as it noticed that half of it's 'bow' was singed off entirely. Before Kel could fire another shot the wizard had used her magic to flee deeper into the Plaguelands.

"Dang, she got away..." Kel huffed and extinguished his super, the other Hive forces were either gunned down or scattered back to the dark leaving the confused guardians alone in the quiet wastes...

 Aubrey pulled up her ghost. "Bun Bun, can you track where that wizard was going?"

"It went into the rocketyards off to the north, Of note, that wizard that we encountered was identified as Swëta' Horot, Spawn of Malok, a high ranking Hidden Swarm commander that showed up on Earth recently, she's responsible for not just bringing about the final deaths of several fireteams...The Vanguard has placed a significant bounty on her."

Aubrey stormed over to Kel and jabbed him in the arm. "Idiot! you almost got yourself killed again!" she yelled at him.

Kel pulls away. "But I'm not dead, okay?! I used my light and vaporized those Hive!"

Aubrey threw up her arms at him in frustration. "Why didn't you use it earlier?! Then you wouldn't have gotten that stupid, buggy gun of yours broken!"

Kel gasped, pointing an accusing finger at the titan. "Don't you talk about my Pocket Infinity like that!"

Mari quickly stepped in between the two before they could start a fight. "Hey...hey don't fight you two...if you want to settle it, do it in the Crucible, not here."

Aubrey and Kel eye each other before the titan relents. "Okay Mari...I'm sorry Kel..."

"Sorry for running ahead like that, I'll try and stay back with you guys." Kel apologized back, glancing over at the remains of his beloved exotic weapon...

With the area cleared, the team made it to the rocketyard, the surrounding area was starting to show signs of an unfamiliar growths that neither guardian nor ghost recognized.

"What is this stuff? it's moving..." Kel reached over to touch a cluster of red and black diamonds before Aubrey pulled him away.

"Don't touch that! we don't know if it's dangerous!" she scolds.

Mari's ghost tracked the signal into a recently made hole in the wall, the burnt edges from the Fallen's welding work still fresh. The Fallen were here all right but that didn't explain the strange red and black material growing all around them...Shiro 4's voice came over the comms.

"Okay that looks like the grid up ahead, but it doesn't look like there's much to fix, try and extract the logs and see what we can get, see what the fallen were up to." Mari's ghost went to work on gathering the data while Aubrey and Kel stood outside keeping watch for any signs of that strange Hive wizard or any Fallen. Once the relay was repaired and the fireteam exited the breach to call in their jumpships to travel to the Iron Temple where Hero and the others were waiting...

"The threat you encountered earlier in the Cosmodrome was called SIVA..." Saladin revealed to the gathered fireteam of six seated around the temple's center. Hero had brought a thermos of of hot soup to share with everyone during the stay at Felwinter Peak. With just the small ember of flame in the central firepit, the chamber made in tribute to the revered Dark Age heroes felt more like a tomb.

"SIVA? what's that? I don't recall anything in the city archives about anything like that at all." Hero frowned, tapping a finger against his cup.

Saladin shook his head. "It wasn't, SIVA was a well guarded secret that I've made sure that no one outside of the Iron Lords knew of it's existence."

"Was it really that bad?" Kel asked and flipped a knife into the air, it spun through the air and clattered to the stone floor next to him.

Saladin grimaced and began his story...his ghost opening up to reveal hidden images all around the room with her light.

...

"Back in the Dark Ages, the Iron Lords came together to search for a solution to mankind's struggles, we found SIVA instead...back then when the ghosts chose us, we were blessed with power, but not wisdom. We dreamt of using it for building starships, colonies and rebuilding the Golden Age of humanity. Timur went out to seek out SIVA which had been lost to time...and when we found it deep in the Cosmodrome, we believed our quest was over..."

Saladin lowered his head, his tone lowering to a much darker tone.

"...Rasputin...he turned his arsenal on us, frames, warsats and other horrors. Over a hundred Iron Lords marched on the Plaguelands, nine made it to the replication chamber. But we were chosen by the Traveler, our cause was just...we believed our immortality would bring us day...but we were wrong...SIVA...it took control of our weapons and armor, puppeting us against one another. In the end, Jolder sealed the entrance to the chamber, trapping SIVA and the remaining lords inside.

The battle was won, and our mistake stayed here..."

...

When The Iron Lord finished his story, the group had various expressions of fear and worry. Saladin looked over the ragtag team of guardians with a contemplative look in his eyes, most of these young guardians were new lights with only a few notable veterans among them. But in these dangerous times, help could not be turned away.

"Saladin...how do we stop SIVA?" Mari spoke up with a determined vigor in her voice.

"I'm not sure, I know how, or if we can..." Saladin replies in a doubtful tone. "But our Cryptrach Tyra Karn, might have information on a where to start looking..."

Sunny, Kel and Hero touched down on the landing pad to the Clovis Bray facility on Mars. No sooner had they landed, they were greeted with a squad of Cabal soldiers ambushing them in a surprise attack, only to be made quick work of by Hero's lightning and Kel's knives, Sunny stood in the back while taking aim with his rifle but most of the enemies had already been defeated, leaving the new light hunter feeling mostly useless.

Kel walked over and placed a hand on his fellow hunter's shoulder. "Stay close to us Sunny, don't want you getting shot apart on us."

Sunny nods, but doesn't look him in the eye.

The Dust Palace was under heavy patrol from Siege Dancer and Ice Reaper Cabal units deep inside. Thanks to Sunny's invisibility, the team was able to slip by most of them and eliminate the ones they couldn't. The fireteam crept down an open elevator shaft into a secret Bray research facility below, the bodies of recently dead Fallen littering around the lab suggesting that they were in the right place.

"Sweet! now let's get that data!" Kel pumped a fist and ran ahead of the group. "Hey Hero! can Hector scan this one?" he asked eagerly.

Hero simply shrugged and stepped aside. "Um, sure go ahead..."

Kel deployed his ghost, the small drone flitted through the air and zipped into a small crack into a server mainframe. "Alright little buddy, do your thing!" he encouraged the little rainbow checker patterned ghost as it attempted to hack the research terminal. Alarms suddenly blared through the facility.

"Kel! You triggered the lockdown!" Hero exclaimed in a panic.

Kel looked over at the terminal screen then back at the others with a puzzled expression. "Uh...oops, sorry..." he sheepish then whispered over to his ghost as it came back. "It's okay Hector, you tried your best..."

Hero rubbed a palm down his helmet before coming up with a solution, he brought out his ghost. "It's fine, we'll just transmat out of here and-" the warlock frowned and tried again. Nothing.

"Hero? what's the hold up?" Kel said impatiently, hopping up and down in place.

The warlock let out a frustrated groan. "Something's jamming our transmat signal, I can't get a lock on our ships."

Kel tapped into the comms. "Saladin, Shiro, come in. We're kinda in trouble here..."

Silence...

"Uh, hello?"

From high above, a large object careened through the martian air, picking up speed and burning up as it collided through the Dust Palace's windows and through the floors, crashing through several layers of ancient metal until the massive metal sphere tore through the ceiling and impacted the ground, melting away revealing several cabal soldiers from a legion they had never seen before. They wore heavy red and grey armor and wielded giant superheated cleavers, a dozen huge gladiators thundered down the stairs towards the guardians, slashing their weapons wildly at anything in the way.

"We've got company, hold on to your butts!" Kel shouted and brought out his golden gun while the others called upon their own supers to defend themselves...

[Kel casts GOLDEN GUN]

The largest gladiator at the front, a hulk with golden accents shrugged off the first solar super shot to the shoulder, the second shot hit and disintegrated a Cabal behind it, the third never went off as the last thing Kel saw was the a superheated blade edge swung at his torso. Hero urged Sunny to stick behind him as he readied a rocket launcher at the Cabal. The leading gladiator wiped the orange hunter's remains off it's severus blade when a rocket hit it from behind. When the smoke settled, the monstrous beast stood unfazed, it turned towards it's next challengers, it  and barked something in it's native tongue; a challenge to duel.

Hero used his glide to escape the reach of the smaller gladiators while Sunny hopped to higher ground.

[Hero casts STORMTRANCE]

A mighty bolt of arc lightning landfall came down upon the cabal below, instantly vaporizing them. Hero landed to the ground, only hovering slightly above through his light. He was fully enveloped in crackling lightning, wherever he pointed his hands, the enemy would be zapped into oblivion. Now all that was left was the commander, the two circled one another in the room's center, the gladiator sharpened his blades on one another while the warlock studied his foe with steely focus. The standoff would last a second longer before they were upon one another. The smaller more nimble Hero would expertly duck and weave past giant blades while blasting his opponent with waves of arc. 

And before long, the fight was over...the cabal commander, with singed, smoking armor and a broken blade, would buckle and fall to a knee. Hero's Super had ended at the same time, he touched down, grasping his leg where a large gash was. He watched as his opponent would attempt to heft himself up only to finally collapse face down on the ground, dark cabal armor fluids leaked from it's helmet. Sunny revived Kel and checked on the terminal, the download was ready, but it would be a matter of time before the cabal patrols would be attracted by the commotion. They needed to leave, now...

...

The fireteam barely escaped the Dust Palace just before it was bombarded from orbit. With a retrieved copy of the SIVA prototype archive in hand, it was immediately sent over to the Iron Temple for research into combating the SIVA threat. Once the group was in space heading back to Earth, Kel decided to speak up.

"Hey guys? did any of you recognize what legion those Cabal came from?" he says.

"No, but their armor and equipment was far more advanced than what we've seen so far." Hero replies. "My ghost couldn't identify where they came from, must be some kind of spec ops unit...but still, couldn't help but think..."

Hero's line of thought trailed off and shook his head. "...Do you remember that mission me and Mari did a little while back? the one on that Cabal cruiser stranded the Dreadnaught? The Skyburners legion was sending a distress signal out far beyond the solar system to their emperor."

Kel and Sunny remained silent, letting Hero continue. "The only thing I was able to get out of the signal before we shut it down was a header for a request to send reinforcements, I've just got a bad feeling about this..." he muttered, staring at an image of a bright red downward arched symbol on a captured screenshot from the Skyburner manifold...

Mari dove out of the way of a bomb rigged shank as it detonated and unloaded her machine gun into a hoard of splicer dregs rushing at her. Aubrey and Basil were standing back to back, throwing punches and flaming hammers as the small army of SIVA augmented fallen came crawling out of the doors of the Archon's Forge. They slowly made the push through, caves and tunnels turning into metal corridors and angular hallways that took the fireteam down into the depths of an elevator shaft, the source of the corruption up ahead. The fireteam crossed a twisted gnarled bridge

"These wires get into everything don't they? Just like the strands of hair from a hung corpse, left to rot..." Nezarec's voice jeered from the back of Basil's mind, his voice felt like a grating pain behind the boy's eyes. 

"N-No...I-I don't know what your talking about..." Basil whimpered and tried to steady his breathing through his helmet.

Nezarec chuckled darkly in response. "You say you don't know, but I can sense your fear deep inside your weak heart. I know what you did all those years ago. The one who everyone loved, don't deny it little Basil...this is what you were destined for..." His tone dropped to a new terrifying low. "This new life is your personal hell. You and that Sunny deserve this constant and endless suffering, all without end."

"S-shut up..." Basil blurted a bit too loudly.

In front of him, Aubrey looks taken aback like she'd just been offended.

He attempted to apologize. "N-no, Aubrey I'm sorry I-"

"Well, jeez, I'm sorry I asked." she huffed and marched off. 

The young titan reached out, but she'd already stormed ahead. Basil let out a defeated sigh and grit his teeth. Mari steps up beside him. "Did you say something Basil?"

The young titan shook his head, the voice of the demon was silent, but his presence was still felt.

"It's nothing...I-I'm fine..." Basil lied and kept his head down.

The chamber to the replication complex held a horrifying sight...long dead rotting corpses, wrapped and twisted by the red nanomachine wires held from wires like puppets, the defiled remains of the old Iron Lords left out in full display for the team to see. Aubrey fought back the urge to wretch in her helmet as she turned away from the sickening sight.

"By the Traveler..."

Mari stepped forward, trying not to look at the cadavers hanging limp from the strands of still pulsing SIVA and entered the self-destruct codes into the main terminal.

Basil suddenly gasped as one of the bodies suddenly began glowing and violently rose into the ceiling, dropping an ancient weapon from it's grasp. Aubrey went over and retrieved the Battleaxe from the ground, it faintly pulsed heat in her hands as she hefted the weapon up, it's head giving off a faint glow that illuminated the surrounding area as an uncomfortable silence overtook the facility. The next instant, an enormous monster lands down from above, the body from before had been fully reanimated, veins of SIVA writhing under long decayed skin and muscle as the corpse staggered upright, towering over the the guardians with a machine gun fused to one hand and a giant spike in the other. The fireteam opened fire on the abomination, bullets and solar light tore off chunks of wiring and armor only for it to instantly grow back, The Remnant fired a rocket out of the ugly jutting protrusion in it's shoulder blasting Mari away to the far door of the room, killing her on impact. Aubrey growled in rage and rushed towards the SIVA reanimated horror.

"Aubrey! don't!" Basil warned and reached out for his friend, but the pink haired titan had already punched into the torso of the monster, her fist slowly began to sink into the mass of red wires being absorbed into it like quicksand. Aubrey let out a terrified scream as she struggled to free herself, she attempted to strike with the axe but it was torn out of her grasp and thrown aside, the weapon clattered to the ground at Basil's feet. The flower titan shakily picked up the Iron Battleaxe. He was the last guardian standing, his friend's ghosts were unable to revive in the darkness zone and his hands trembled as he narrowed his eyes on the monster and with the mightiest warcry he could muster, he sprinted at the SIVA mutated Iron Lord, the head of the weapon engulfed in a radiant blaze of solar light.

The remnant unloaded it's arm fused machine gun in an attempt to gun Basil down but he dodged behind a pillar and waited until the reanimated corpse's weapon clicked dry before coming out to swing the axe full strength. The axe cut the SIVA infused monster from it's bottom left abdomen up it's right shoulder, cleaving through nanomachine and ancient plating in a single blow, returning the iron lord to rest. Basil's victory was short lived, the two remaining corpses began to glow and were retracted into the ceiling, returning as twisted puppets. Both the corrupted cadavers converged on him and attacked, knocking the axe from his hands, the weapon slipped through the stairs and lodged themselves. Basil backpedaled away and circled to the far end of the room. Devil Splicer reinforcements came down and attacked the titan.

[Basil casts HAMMER OF SOL]

A flaming hammer soared through the air and exploded on a corrupted vandal, disintegrating it and the dregs around it. Basil slid beneath the legs of a dreg as it slashed at him, he used his remaining super energy to blast a servitor apart to reach for the lodged axe. He pulled it free and slammed it downwards, a fiery whirlwind burst forth and melted through the fallen until it collided with one of the iron lord mutants, it let out a half-gargled, half-digitized shriek as the SIVA in it's body burned away faster than it could replicate, the empty husk crashed to the ground and disintegrated into solar ashes.

The young titan and the last of the mutants charged one another, the young titan prepared to lunge into the air, the blazing axe high above his head as he brought it down to-

pain...

there was only...pain...

Basil gasps and his eyes go wide, piercing through his abdomen out through his stomach to the other side, a large black spike had impaled him. He let the axe drop from his grasp to the ground, blood wells in his mouth in overwhelming amounts and he chokes. The revenant, unfeeling lifts Basil off the ground, the nanites in it's body swarm out and infest the young titan like a swarm of insects. Basil's mind shifted between panic and thoughts that weren't his own.

~consume enhance replicate~

He could feel them in his blood, like fire in his veins, SIVA coursing under his skin, entering his body through every orifice it could get into.

~consume enhance replicate~

It hurt immensely, it was eating his body from the inside out, threatening to burst from him while he was still alive.

~consume enhancereplicate~

He thought about his friends, Aubrey and Mari were still down, they too would likely perish in here. This place would become their tomb as well.

~consumeenhancereplicate

It was all his fault, he never should have come here, he never should have tried to fight those things by himself, he should have run like the coward he was.

consume enhance repli-

He'd be-better-off...

consume-

enha-

rep-

...

...

...

...

...

"Going out so soon?"

"What a pity, to make it to the end, just to fail at the last hurdle...Poor, poor, pathetic Basil...."

"Though, for the sake of our little game, let's make this a bit more...interesting..."

"In my name, of he who is hated. He is that which is end. That which covets sin. The final god of pain—the purest light, the darkest hour. He who shall rise again."

"Accept my gift."

"Rise in pain and terror as I shall again."

"Take your new shape."

[Basil casts NEZAREC'S HATRED]

A wave of resonance energy bursts forth from Basil's body, cleansing him of the SIVA and blasting the undead Iron Lord back a short distance. Basil falls to the floor, he coughs up more blood as he looks up to face the monster, it lumbers towards him again, firing off rounds from it's ranged weapon, but the bullets are stopped by an invisible psychic force and deflect off course. Basil puts a hand to his face, his vision swirled with darkness, his muscles rippled with a new strength he'd never felt before. He looks back at the monster, slowly lifting his hand in front of him, beyond his vision, an incorporeal clawed arm reaches out at the same time. Basil lifts a single finger and points it at the SIVA abomination, then in a quick motion, flicks it upwards, and the invisible hand mimics the motion. Before his eyes, the mutant stopped moving, it split apart into several perfectly slices before falling.

The strength left Basil as abruptly as it came, leaving him in the chamber by himself, once again. He looked away from the gruesome scene and gathered himself up and picked up a helm from the ground, it was an old titan helmet with a hole through it's visor. Deciding to keep it, he quickly revived Aubrey and Mari, entered the self destruct codes for the replicator and escaped. Basil would briefly looked back at the facility, in the darkest corner, the seven eyes of the Final God of Pain watched him go before the doors sealed shut and there was a rumbling explosion that shook the cavern...

And after the silence had fallen, there still, was the long cold whisper...

The team stood in a row before the statues of the previous Iron Lords, Sunny, Mari, Kel, Hero and Aubrey watched on as the second youngest of their fireteam approached the old iron lord. "The SIVA replicator is destroyed, we...found this." Basil gently held out a old and dented helmet to Saladin. "We thought you should have it back."

"Lady Jolder..." Saladin said in a uncharacteristically soft tone, he reverently placed the lost helmet on it's spot under the corresponding statue. Saladin turns back to the group with a light smile. "She would be honored, she would have liked you to be honest."

Saladin then picked up a large broadsword from a stand, holding it in both hands, he glances at Basil and nods. "Guardian, approach." he says sternly but not as a command. The flower titan timidly steps forward, the silent encouragement from his friends giving him the strength to keep going. Once he stands at the foot of the last Iron Lord he is handed the sword. It takes a bit for him to adjust to it's weight but he soon grips it tightly in his hands, Rowan runs a beam over the new weapon, silently appreciating the craftsmanship of it.

"These weapons were once only carried by Iron Lords." The old iron lord spoke reverently. "We have many like this one in our armory, but...this one is new, freshly forged for a Young Wolf...and now it is yours."

Basil lifts the sword above his head while his friends gaze on in awe. Saladin turns to the rest of the gathered Guardians and Ghosts. "Rise Lord Basil. Rise all. Take your places as the first of a new generation of Iron Lords and Young Wolves." he proclaims proudly.

The fires of the temple burning brightly on a new dawn.

Up Next, Tower Shenanigans

Chapter Text

’Guardian…’

...

..

'Guardian.'

...

...

...

"Wake up."

Sunny’s eyes fluttered open to an unfamiliar voice, sitting up so quickly that he felt that he’d fall over again. Once he’d recovered his bearings, he carefully sat himself up and reached for his gun...

Nothing…

It took a few seconds for him to realize that he was not in his bunk room anymore. He stood upright and shook the sleep from his joints; He remembered he had taken his armor off when he’d gotten into bed last night and was currently wearing a dark blue t-shirt and soft cotton pants, clothing he’d bought in the city markets.

Sunny held out his hand to call for his ghost. "Omori? where are we?" Sunny mentally called out.

Nothing…

He tried again, extending his palm fully, this time he was able to hear a faint voice then the little drone materialized fully next to him. "Guardian? Oh thank the light, what’s happening? What is this place?" Omori said n a startled tone, flying closer to brush up Sunny’s cheek. “Are you hurt?”

Sunny gently took his ghost in hand. “I’m okay ghost, just glad you’re here.” He affirmed.

"That's good, but where in the Traveler are we?" Omori asks.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Sunny replied.

Omori glanced around and ran a beam over a patch of flowers. "My scans aren't picking up anything kind of Vex signatures or Hive magic, so it's not a simulation, or ascendant plane. No Light or Darkness. Whatever brought us to wherever we are...I can't contact anyone or transmat any of your gear."

Sunny summoned his shadow shot bow in his hands. “That’s okay, as long as I have the Light. I can defend us if needed.”

...

The ghost and guardian explored this strange forest. Everything was bright, too bright, pastel shaded green grass that felt like cloth under his bare feet, a violet hued sky filled night sky shining above them, stars twinkling and forming shapes in the sky. There were no other signs of life anywhere to be found around them. With no armor, no weapons, no way to defend himself besides his Light, it was just Sunny and his ghost in some strange  dream realm…Normally, dreams were a harmless thing, but the last time he’d thought that, a magic space dragon had gotten into his head and made a deal with him.  This strange world of soft colors was unfamiliar to the hunter and ghost, and yet...

Exhausted after an hour of walking around, the hunter took a seat in the grass while Omori sat on his shoulder, both were deep in thought. Omori clicked his shell parts together. Nothing about it made any sense, this place… it didn’t match anywhere he knew of...not an ascendant plane, a Vex simulation or even any planets in the system or beyond. Even old records of Golden Age Mercury or the Black Garden didn’t match anything like this. But there had to be an answer to why they were here.

”It’s so vibrant…” The hunter says. “…But also so empty and lifeless…It can’t just be us here.”

"Because you aren’t looking hard enough, O dearest brother mine."

Sunny turned immediately and was face to face with Mari calmly sitting on a picnic blanket that had appeared suddenly behind them. She look drastically different than when he recalled seeing her. Her robes had been replaced with a more casual purple dress uniform, Mari's hair was a vibrant purple hue that sparkled in the light above them. This version of Mari, however off putting, seemed had an air of familiarity about her, but one he just couldn't put his finger on...

Sunny took a step towards her and reached out. Mari invited for him to sit on the blanket. Cautiously he sat himself across from her while keeping himself on guard. Once everyone was comfortable, the hunter felt he could finally ask what was on his mind. "Mari? Where are we? How did we get here?" Sunny asked her.

'Mari' simply chuckled and let a thin smile forming on the corner of her pastel colored lips. "This is your safe space, little brother." 'Mari' answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “You wished for it, remember?”

Then it dawned on him, the wish, the bone, the shape in the dark that spoke to him. Basil's ghost's warnings about dangerous bargains with wish dragons, what were they called...

"Ahamkara...” Sunny said with a grave tone. “You...y-you're called an Ahamkara.”

Mari’s eyes seemed to become more serpent-like at this and her sly grin growing a bit wider. “My, my, how observant, I'm surprised how little time it took for you to finally figure out what I am exactly…O savior mine~”

Omori flew out to float between his guardian and the dragon impersonating one of their friends. ”You stay away from him. There’s a reason kind was hunted to extinction!"

 'Mari’ feigned an offended look and placed a hand to her chest but her wiry smile stayed the same. "Not quite extinct yet, little light. It is true that your people did wipe out my kin out of self righteous fears. But it only means that I get to have you to myself..."

She straightened herself upright and puffed out her chest. "I am known as Riven, of a Thousand Voices, I already told you that." she introduced herself. 

 Sunny jerked his body away from her, shaking his head. "We can't trust you...you're dangerous to us."

'Mari' tilted her head. "What's the harm in just having a talk with my favorite guardian? It's not like I could do anything to you in my current state, I am Taken after all."

This information caught the two off guard. The Taken, as they were called were creatures that had been torn from the world by a higher will, subjugated by darkness, and returned as something new. Empty shells

"Taken? But, Oryx is dead, there shouldn't be any more new Taken." Omori said with a slight tilt of his front shell.

Riven let out a humorless laugh. “Oops, guess I wasn’t supposed to give that info away so soon, oh well." she shrugged. "The Taken King claimed me long before he was killed in his own throne world, the ability to Shape others belongs to another now.”

”Who?” Sunny inquired.

Riven shifted her weight slightly and warily glanced over her shoulder. "I could say more... but, oh, 'you-know-who' could be listening."

For a moment, the hunter thought he saw something moving in the woods for a second, a flutter of insect wings and a shadow that looked unsettlingly unhuman. He decided to drop the subject. "Well back to the question; what exactly is this place?"

The Ahamkara blew air from her face put her Mari facade back on. "In your head silly." she answered plainly. "This is your HEADSPACE. I’ll be frank with you, it was surprising to find it had already been there when you made your wish to me. It’s so much like a Throne World, wouldn’t you think? It's almost like...a home waiting for it's owner to come back...Waiting for you.” Riven paused to let him soak in the information. "For you, it’s your safe space where we can spend as much time as you need until you wake up. For me, O Dreamer Mine."

'Mari' let out a laugh and ran a hand through Sunny's hair sending a shiver down his spine, they were cold and rough. "Me? I suppose it’s my little vacation home for now." 

Sunny blinked. HEADSPACE? Throne World? Already there? No...that shouldn't be possible at all according to what his Omori had taught him. Guardians shouldn't be able remember anything about their past lives...The Vanguard had insinuated a law prohibiting guardians from searching for evidence from their past lives, drastic things that others before had committed before. Some guardians had even go insane and abandon humanity...

One he heard became a notorious Guardian killer, his rose twisted into a jagged thorn…

Sunny did not want to find out what would happen if they found out about his dealings with a wish dragon.

The monochrome hunter gazed up at the violet hued sky above. "Riven can you take back this place? if it's dangerous then I wish to give you back"

Riven sighed deeply. "I'm afraid-for all my power-That is one thing I cannot do. I just gave you back the keys to this place. I can’t return something that wasn’t lost in the first place.”

"Then, how do I get back at least?”

Riven smirked. “Easy.”

[Sunny found 'Liminal Striders']

Just like the bone from earlier, Sunny felt something fall into his lap. Sitting there- appearing from seemingly thin air-was a pair of boots. They were the same vibrant purple like the sky above, layered armor plates were woven around the shins, curling up into a spiral-like shape that evoked a fancy, exotic feeling. He eyed the boots with suspicion before 'Mari' shimmed up next to him. "Why be rid of your HEADSPACE so soon? You wanted this, remember? What's the harm in indulging yourself in some good old-fashioned fun?” She says. “Plus, unlike me, you can leave whenever you want. After all..."

She leaned up to his ear. A wide grin spread on her lips as she whispered. "...Paradise is a prison when you cannot leave...isn't it, O Savior Mine?"

The hunter relented and  thought about her words. Yes it was true he had just gotten here and he did want a safe space. Basil's ghost's dire warnings about the dangers of Ahamkara wish magic echoed in his mind, the way Riven could easily be manipulating him into doing something he might regret later, by tempting him with gifts so that he might make more wishes. But this place was his, right? It wasn't made by the dragon, it was already here in his mind. So if he wanted, he could find a way to take back control, like how he had learned that powerful Hive have their own realms, this HEADSPACE might work like one too.

So if he could, he could beat Riven at her own game and kick her out of his head...

Sunny made himself look like he was considering her offer. "Well, I guess I could-"

"Sunny...we aren't alone..." Riven suddenly warned, licking the air with a forked tongue, an odd sight when the wish dragon was currently taking the form of a human girl. She stayed like this for a brief period before whirling around and pointing towards the treeline. "An intruder is among us...there!"

The guardian and ghost scanned the trees for the danger until they spotted the target; an unfamiliar humanoid armed with a rather large weapon spying them from behind a tree. Upon being spotted, it pointed it's sniper that emitted a tracer beam onto Sunny's forehead. The hunter dodged just in time as a large slug whizzed past and embedded itself into the picnic blanket behind them, destroying it.

The intruder chattered something in a foreign alien language and made a run for it in the opposite direction. Sunny got his bearings together and pursued the attacker. He instinctively reached into his side, but remembered he still had no weapons. The strange creature despite being nearly twice his size was surprisingly agile and had a jet thruster that helped it evade all his attempts to slow it down. But bit by bit, he was closing in on the intruder, he threw a smoke bomb out, It flew past the target and landed in it's path. The enemy unwittingly passed over the bomb and it exploded, blinding and disorienting it.

Sunny pinned the attacker to the ground by its  arms to prevent it from escaping. It also got him a better look at the strange alien being under him, it’s singular exposed cycloptic eye gazing up at him.

Before he could figure out what to do with his opponent, his sense of balance suddenly went sideways and backwards at once and his vision went all pinks, greens and oranges before it shuttered to black...

Sunny scrambled awake and tumbled out of bed, grabbing his Traveler's Chosen sidearm off his bedside table, took aim at the shadowy figure standing in his front window and emptied the magazine. The shots shattered the glass, taking the entity by surprise as it let out a shriek followed by it collapsing out of sight.

The monochrome hunter took a moment to catch his breath as he stared up at the broken window, his ghost scanned around outside for more possible enemies. Carefully, the two pushed open the door and spotted a dead body, clearly not human by any means, it had only four fingers and wore an advanced red and grey armor he wasn't familiar with except for one other occasion, the most striking feature being the open faced helmet revealing a single lifeless eye staring back at them leaking black fluids. The creature looked strikingly like the saboteur in his HEADSPACE.

"What is that thing? Why was it in my head?" Sunny looked down at the alien.

His ghost casts a light over the body. "That was a psion.” Omori answered. “They're a client race serving under the Cabal empire. They have psychic abilities that they can use in battle and can be dangerous to fight if you're not physically and mentally prepared."

"That's...impressive, and scary.” Sunny remarked. “But how did one of these get into the Tower?"

"That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” His ghost replied. “I can't say I know, or why this one chose to probe your mind out of all the people it could have chosen. But it's a good thing we got this guy before he did some serious damage, psions have been known to be masters of subterfuge and infiltration."

Omori shined his light down on the corpse for a better look, nothing out of the unusual except for a downward facing arch symbol on it's punctured chest plate. Sunny squatted down and pointed at a small reddish-orange icon on its shoulder pad.

"Wait, I recognize that symbol. It's the same one those Cabal soldiers had when Hero, Kel and I fought them in the Dust Palace."

His Ghost scans the Psion and compares footage from earlier. "Same unknown Cabal legion...We should transmat the body to the Cryptarchs, they'll be able to figure out what legion this psion assassin belonged to and how it got through Tower security."

Sunny stood up and glanced out at the City n the distance, the sun was almost about to come up over the horizon. "Good plan, hey let's get back to bed. I don't want to stay awake to explain to security about us breaking the live fire rule at five in the morning."

Omori transmatted the corpse of the psion into a more secure area where it would be found by security patrols and followed his guardian inside as he flopped down on his bed and drifted back to sleep as best he could, his dreams were thankfully normal for the rest of the remaining night.

He did not see Riven again that night nor did he find himself in the dream world…

Bright morning light poured through the window an hour later as a loud knocking disturbed Sunny’s peace and quiet. The hunter begrudgingly dragged himself out of bed and checked out his window, it was Kel and Aubrey waiting outside for him to open the door.

Kel was busy padding a large white sphere in his hands while Aubrey had her back turned to him, arms crossed, both of them were out of armor and dressed in casual street-wear. Sunny paused and checked inside of his drawers for more appropriate clothes.

"You know he's not going like that." Aubrey spoke and calmly dodged a snowy projectile.

"Aw come on Aubs, it's not a real Dawning celebration without snowballs!" Kel shot back excitedly and tossed another ball at her, it missed and nearly whapped Sunny in the face as he opened the door.

"First of all, don't call me that." Aubrey shoots back with her own snowball. "Second, he doesn't know what that is Kel!"

Sunny let himself relax, it was just his friends, not some psychic alien in his head or a dragon illusion. Sunny stepped out of the front door and out into the streets with Kel and Aubrey following behind him. A sudden yell from made him turn around to the sight of a very angry looking snow covered Aubrey hoisting Kel up by the collar of his shirt. "You dolt! you got snow all over my favorite favorite sweater!" she snarled.

"Hey, chill out Aubs! What was I supposed to do with the snowball?" Kel retorted, suddenly kicking himself off of Aubrey's chest, leaving dirty footprints stains on the front of her already soiled sweater. Furious, Aubrey was about to charge forward when a towering figure rounded the corner and stood between them. Kel and Aubrey both stopped and froze as a pair of broad armored shoulders and a horned helmet lowered in between them to meet their gazes. "Are you two squabbling with each other, again?" the figure boomed.

The smaller titan and orange hunter looked to one another before both lowered their heads.

The larger titan tiredly shook his head. "Aubergine...Kelsey...How many times do I have to tell you two; if you have an argument you need settled, settle it in the Crucible, not out here in the Tower."

"I-I'm Sorry Shaxx, I promise I won't get into any more public fights with Aubrey..." Kel pleads, adding. "Please don't tell Hero about this."

"And I promise to only bash Kel's head in, under your supervision." Aubrey sighs.

"Good, hopefully I'll see you two later."

The Crucible Handler nods his helmet at the two and turns to Sunny. The hunter gazes up stares up at the largest titan he'd had ever seen, a good two feet taller than the three of them and clad in his signature white and orange armor, The Crucible's Handler loomed at full height over the two.

"You're the titan who runs that Crucible..." he murmurs.

"I. AM. THE. CRUCIBLE!!" The titan states proudly and let out a short jolly laugh before extending his hand out, saying in a quieter voice. "Lord Shaxx. It's an honor to meet the Chosen's protege in person."

"Sunny...I'm Sunny." Sunny quietly replies and takes Lord Shaxx's massive hand his own, feeling the much larger man's firm but surprisingly gentle grip.

"I've heard much of your deeds since you arrived only a few days ago, Sunny..." Shaxx remarked. "You're the next in line for Speaker's chosen. Mari told me all about you as her apprentice and all the great things you could achieve for the City under her and The Speaker's guidance." 

Sunny was at a loss for words for a moment. "I...wow. She said that, about me? All I've done was a few strikes, I'm not that special. I'm just normal."

"And yet, the conqueror of The Vault of Glass, Destroyer of the Black Garden's Heart and Slayer of Crota and Oryx, has taken an instant liking to you..."

Shaxx turns and beckons the three of them towards the view of the City as snow starts to fall around them. Next he spoke, his tone was solemn and respectful. "I've trained many new lights over the years, the brave warriors you've seen so far started out just like you at first...Sunny, your potential, your Light, is far brighter than you allow yourself to think. I can see it. I know it."

He points a finger out towards the expanse and places his other hand down on the hunter's back. "Those people down there? those hundreds upon hundreds of lightless humans, awoken and exo living down there, you see them all? They look up to us, to you and your friends, to protect them from the forces of Darkness all around. We are the beacon of light in the night that keeps alive the dream of the Last Safe City someday becoming the First City..."

Sunny quietly stared out at the City for some time. Shaxx's assuring words staying in his mind. Kel and Aubrey looked thoughtful as well. The weight in his shoulder suddenly left as the titan turned to leave. Shaxx stopped and glanced back at the others, Sunny couldn't tell due to the helmet, but he could imagine Shaxx smiling at them.

"Take care Guardians and Happy Dawning."

The three of them watched the Titan go, all feeling a bit more inspired than before...

And here it is! this is where Hero and I live! or where I live, Hero kinda lives in the city library, hehe."

The room inside was a comfy space,

"You wanna see my room?"

"Sure..."

"Okay! prepare yourselves, I don't just show my room to just anyone, except Hero but only because we share the same room together."

Ta da! eh? eh? whadya think? pretty neat ain't it?" Kel said,

Kel's side of the bedroom was painted in all orange, from the walls to the floor, to the large poster on the wall and a messy looking glass cabinet full of weapons and ammo. Meanwhile Hero's side was much cleaner albeit a thin layer of dust that coated many of his shelves.

"This place looks like a headless Goblin went on the fritz in here." Aubrey commented.

"I think it's cool..." Sunny spoke up.

"See? the new guy gets it, us hunters have a unique taste

The black and white Hunter rubbed the back of his head, truthfully, his own room wasn't that much cleaner.

Aubrey rolled her eyes and took a seat on the bed when she felt a crunch underneath the covers. She slowly sat up and pulled away the sheets to reveal a small action figure partially crushed from her presumably sitting on it. she looked off to the side where luckily for her, Kel was too busy talking to Sunny to notice, she discarded the toy before he could notice.

"What is...that?" Aubrey said holding up a small canister by two .

"Oh that's a...um...I dunno what that is, I might have 'borrowed' something from the Cryptarch vault in the Tower. I wanted to give it as a gift for a friend of mine"

"You what?! why?! how?! when?! why do you do this?! you know what this is right? it's an ether canister! and look at the symbol at the side." the titan pointed at a small white symbol painted on the side of the metal canister depicting what looked like a picture of a large spider of some sort along with some writing in a alien language neither of them understood.

"What's ether?" Sunny inquired, his eyes fixed on the curious language canister.

"Ether is the stuff the Fallen need to live and grow, most Kells use it as a incentive to keep lesser members of their house in line and alive, and take it away if they feel like it." the titan explained.

"Do I look like a Fallen leader to you?" The athletic hunter complained only to receive a sharp hit in the shoulder from Aubrey's fist in response.

"Not you Kel, a fallen Kell with two Ls..." she snapped and regained her composure.

"So anyways, I know a friend who asked me to help her track down a escapee from the Prison of Elders, she can read the writing on the container and tell us who it belongs to."

"You got a friend who can read fallenese? that's cool!" he exclaimed "Who is she?"

"I'm not telling you Kel

The three ships flew thorough

"This is Awoken space out here, thankfully we're clear to pass through. What we're looking for is a..." Aubrey's ship radar picked up a signal up ahead. 'Aha! there it is..."

As the group passed through the scrap heap on the way to the Spider's lair.

’Did you hear?’ One whispered.

’What is it?’

’Rumor has that Taniks is dead. Slain by a newly risen machine-spawn.'

'Where was this?'

'Job for Devils on Earth.’

’The Spider will be most interested in this information...forward it as soon as possible.’

Aubrey frowned, whoever put Taniks into the ground again must be tough. Tough enough for this to reach all the way to the Tangled Shore.

"Well, well, well...What do we have here?" The Spider muses. "Three little lost guardians wandered right into my web."

"We want to buy something from you." Kel spoke up.

"Do I look like a shopkeeper to you? look elsewhere kid."

At this, Spider's eyes lit up. "Hmm, on the other hand, I believe I do recall having some, merchandise."

"We heard you have a ship for sale."

"I have many ships." Spider emphasizes. "

"'The Hildian Seeker'...A one-of-a-kind, Reef-made ship, they don’t make ‘em anymore since that battle on Saturn business." The Fallen mob boss presents. "And it could be yours, for a fair price."

"Fine how much glimmer is it?"

"Glimmer?" Spider gawks, seemingly offended. "You'd think I'd part with this valuable and irreplaceable ship, for just Glimmer?" He shakes his head and leans back into his throne.

"No, no, no...You don't understand friend, if you want to pay for something like this, then it ought to be something..."

His four eyes hungrily gaze upon Kel's Ghost. "...of equal value."

"Hector is NOT for sale!" Kel barked, pulling the ghost closer to him.

Spider shrugs. "That's fine then, there are other ways you can earn this...There’s no shortage of things to do here on the Shore.”

"Like working for you?"

"Work for me to earn your prize? heh, that's not a bad idea..."

“So it’s settled; you do some errands for me and I’ll give you what you want. Quid pro quo as you humans say.”

"Now get to work."

Kel grumbled to himself as he kicked a piece of Hive chitin off of an edge into deep space, he and the others had drawn straws to see who’d go where on the Shore. If they split up, they would be able to complete Spider’s tasks to be able to buy the ship from him. Sunny stayed in the main area while Aubrey had gone to a different sector.

Kel had gotten an area called the ‘Jetsam of Saturn’, the worst one on the map. It was a crashed Hive warship from the battle of Saturn that had made it’s way here and had become part of the Tangled Shore a few years back. And of course, it was still infested with Hive.

A distant screeching made the orange hunter turn to see a swarm of Thrall come pouring out of an opening into the open where upon spotting Kel, rushed towards him. He sighed and opened fire until something in the distance caught his eye: amongst the swarm was a single pinkish-red Hive Wizard floating away into a side entrance.

Swe-Horota, that one wizard from the Cosmodrome was here, why? Kel had to find out now.

After clearing out the Hive he quickly summoned his sparrow and entered the area known as ‘Hellrise Canyon’

A heavy weight from behind knocked the black and white hunter to the ground, he scrambled on his back and pointed Ice Breaker at the dark. But before he could take a shot, something pinned him down on the ground. The attacker’s ghastly visage suddenly in his face.

Sunny frantically struggled with the eyeless horror on top of him, it screeched in his face and tried to tear at him with it’s claws until he punched it across it’s bony face. The thrall staggered backwards before readjusting itself and charging full sprint, it took two shots with his new hand cannon to finally put it down.

Nearly out of breath, Sunny looked down at the new scratches on his breastplate, they weren’t deep but it had come close to puncturing his shield. And worse, he could already hear more of those things coming.

Without thinking, Sunny bolted in a random direction just as a feral horde came into view, their green glowing eyes illuminated the dark. The hunter took a grenade and tossed it behind him, the void wall grenade lit up and made a blockade from the swarm. What he saw though horrified him: dozens and dozens of aliens all coming out of the walls, the floor, gnashing teeth and dozens of jade eyes all focused on him.

Aubrey punched through a some odd gunk blocking a fallen door, allowing it to open. The area-according to Spider-was called ’Wolfship Turbine’ a fallen ketch, or part of one, that had been wrecked and buried under  long time ago. She had been tasked to salvage anything she could of the ship’s computer systems to be sold to a buyer.

As Aubrey beat her arc-charged fists into the flesh of an Ogre’s eye, she couldn’t help but feel inner disgust. Not just at the infestation she’d just fought through. She didn’t want to go spelunking into a hive infested ship, she didn’t want to do the dirty work of some fallen crime boss, she didn’t want to be in the Reef at all…

But she was here because of her friends wishes to get a Dawning present and she’d do that for them, even if she’d give Kel a piece of her mind later…

“You ready to go back in the dirt, flower boy.” Immaru sneered from over his guardian’s shoulder.

Basil clenched his teeth as the stinging pain in his shoulder intenfied

”More…”

”More pain…more suffering. Give it all to me.”

He grasped his head, the voice of Nezarec growing louder and louder.

The tower exploded into a burst of flame as a fleet of ugly looking red Cabal ships flew over the walls spewing trials of smoke behind them as they went.

Chapter Text

Currently, this story is no longer being worked on...It has been canceled until further notice...

...So instead, it will be re-released in a later expansion as a craftable exotic heavy submachine gun with new perks traits in it's third and fourth column with popular options like kill clip, and rampage, archer's tempo and rapid hit, explosive payload and dragonfly and kinetic tremors. It can be obtained within a hidden timed exotic mission through a vex portal on Nessus called 'The Recital' where you must do sick parkour through Faraway Town to stop Taniks the Scarred from pushing Mari down the stairs and stealing all of the Orange Joe. and kill him for the bajillionth time. (Maybe he'll die for real this time)

Oh and it will a catalyst that will let it go in the primary slot and fire steak knives and raw streak at people...It will be called the 'It's always Sunny in Philadelphia'

(But no really I'm just re-writting this story it's not gone...)

FROM THE ASHES ROSE THE PHOENIX [ADEPT]