___________________________________________ _________________Part 1____________________ [Recording begins] This is Hunter Dredgen Yor. I believe that, as a human, these are my last words. [laughs] Ironic isn’t it. I miss those two words… It has been so long since my Thorn has been a rose. Even now, I can blame no one but myself. I record this message in a rare moment of clarity. I can feel my Thorn feeding on my feeble Light. It whispers to me… [silence]. It wants me to give in to it. And I believe that this time, I may listen to it. I have been more Dark than Light for some time now, and I weaken. I have fought this thing for years, to little effect. I have fed Thorn with Light and blood aplenty, and in return it has given me nothing but sorrow and ruin. Even now my only blood relative hunts me. I deserve it. Choices are crossroads of destiny, and I myself chose the wrong roads. The first wrong turn began beneath the surface of the moon, back when my rose was still in full bloom. Back when I still thought my name was Jaren. Deep below the Moon’s surface, I was exploring with my partner, Padan Yur. She was a warlock, and she was just as beautiful as she was deadly. She was all that I had, and I loved her. We ran into the midst of a Hive ritual in which Wizards enchanting a Knight who lay in a pool of darkness. They turned on us and attacked. We killed them all, but in the fight Padan was injured. [sob][silence] [deep breaths] Padan died In the dark, covered in her own blood and Hive ichor. It. Broke. Me. I make no excuses, and I own my choice. As I wept and held Padan, who had grown cold in my arms, I began to hear a whispering. It spoke to me comfortingly. This was not the fault of the Hive, it said. This was my fault, it told me. It said I was to blame because I was not strong enough to protect her. [silence] And then it said that it could make me stronger. It would make me strong enough that this would never happen again. Think of all the good I could do, it said. And, half crazy with grief, I listened. That day I dipped Last Word into the pool of Darkness that the dead Knight lay in. On that day my lovely rose began to wilt… [End of recording] ___________________________________________ _________________Part 2____________________ There is a man who treads a line, sharper than sharp. On one side there is the Light, and on the other there is Darkness. Ah, but the Thorn he bears pulls him towards one side. It whispers, soothes, and burrows itself into him to weaken his balance. The man watches the children of Crota. In place of the revulsion he once felt, he now feels a kind of kinship. It is strange to him, but he cannot question it. The Thorn does not allow it. The man walks the Earth, feeding the Thorn blood, Darkness, and Light. In exchange he is given power. The man stands over a dreg, and it begs for its life. He hears his Thorn whisper to him, and offers its blessing. He takes it. He stares the dreg in the eyes, and wills it to die. For a moment, nothing happens, and then the dreg slumps as the light fades from its eyes. The man looks down to the Thorn in his hands as it pulses a blackish-green light, and sees chitin spreading from his gun-hand. The man continues to bind himself more tightly to the Thorn. Or so he thinks. He keeps himself on the outskirts of the underground lair of the Hive. He realizes that he can understand them now. He often finds himself wondering why he travels alone. The Hive is all and one is nothing, he thinks. Once he fled from those thoughts. No more. He is too weary to fight anymore. The Thorn has nearly bled him dry. The man is out hunting for food one day. The remains of civilization lie all around him. From these ruins, four squads of Fallen rise up and attack him. They know he is deadly. The Thorn is out and drawing blood before the creatures can even say a word. Though the man fights well, he cannot fight the numbers alone. They overcome him, though all but two dregs and four Vandals died in the attempt. They take him alive, and they take his Thorn. As he is carried away, the Thorn whispers to him. I can make you even more powerful, it says. You could kill them all, it whispers. The man’s only thought is “What do you want?” It is a ploy. He knows that he will give anything. His Thorn replies simply, “everything.” With one last bitter laugh, the man accepts. The Thorn flies from the hand of the Vandal carrying it, to float above the head of Dredgen. It explodes into a conflagration of black, green, and white light. All of the light converges onto the body of the man and he screams in sweet agony. The pain and light and darkness attempt to consume him, and he opens himself to them. In one final rush of orgasmic torment he is complete. All around him lay the corpses of the Fallen, charred black and disgustingly warped. The thing that was once a man rises, chitin creaking wetly as it stands. As it reaches its full height it lifts off of the ground slowly. Murky green eyes open, shining with a hellish light. It takes a deep breath. And in blood, ash, and Darkness Xyor the Unwed was born. He turned to the nearest hive, and began his first journey. Amidst the ruin that lay in Xyor’s wake, a single rose grew out of the ground, like a beacon of life amidst a sea of tarry Darkness. Beneath that rose lay another, drained of the darkness that tainted it. It cried out for a new master, and it was heard. Ran out of space and had to start new thread, but here's pt. 3: [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/76752079/0/0][/url] -------------- EDIT: I know now that wizards are female. I did not know when this was written. Bump to share :) Thanks for reading! Comment if you want to be notified for future parts. Let me know what you think. Check out my other story if you want more Facebook page containing all stories https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tales-of-the-Grimoure/487218358086507 Tale of Kabr https://www.Bungie.net/en/Forum/post/75332648/0/0 Toland's Legacy: The Forging https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/78149101/0/0 Heroes of the Twilight Gap https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/81128446 Short story I wrote (not Destiny related) http://www.wattpad.com/story/17685659-troubled-travels Coming Soon: TBD