King Rising is finally back, and (Maybe?) better than before! I’ll try to improve on the quality this time, and this time we’ll finally here from a major player in Destiny that we haven’t seen for a while… the taken. Hope you enjoy. The horde of Hive kept marching through the cave system as Gryaor’s sorceress hovered next to him. “My King, the acolytes have found a new site ahead, about a few miles from here.” Gryaor continued his enormous strides and rumbled “Good, Syor. We can establish our home.” The caves were dark, perfect for the Hive, and their constant march. The cool, crisp air of early winter was colder down here, making the caves a chilling 1 degrees fahrenheit. It didn’t bother the Hive, of course - the moon where they had come from was far colder than this, as well as the fact that they could survive in space. Through the caverns, the hive continued to march, occasionally slipping on Ice or squabbling over a minor feud. Suddenly, Gryaor heard a piercing screech, the scream of a thrall in agony. He thundered past his fellow Hive with massive strides and saw a glow, a glow that oddly… shook. Suddenly, the outline of a creature came into focus as a strange beast attacked Gryaor’s leg. He roared in surprise and anger and stomped the ground, but the attacker teleported to the side before his foot could connect. The things could teleport? The massive ascendant hive snarled in frustration and grabbed the little thing before it could teleport again and squeezed. The thing let out a muffled croak before exploding into black and grey goo like a ripe tomato. The stuff instantly disappeared from Gryaor’s hand, as the rest of his hoard caught up to him. Gryaor turned his head to ask Syar what was going on, but before he could speak half a dozen of the same, strange creatures appeared from a huge black ball. They all let out garbled screams and quickly teleported towards him and up his body. The ascendant hive roared as the small creatures scrabbled and scratched at his skin, doing minimal damage. A large, dark figure bellowed at him and spewed fire onto his face, blinding him. One of the creatures slashed out one of his eyes through the fire, as he toppled over like a fallen tree. Syor shrieked a battle cry and commanded a horde of acolytes and thrall to deal with a threat, while a creaking squad of swordbearers charged towards a horde of the twisted creatures. Gryoar stopped struggling, as a small flame ignited within him. He would not be defeated. He would rise! For his horde! For his FAMILY! He let out an earthshaking roar, startling both sides of the battle and shaking the thrall off of him. He screamed and blasted the thrall with his Arc beam, destroying them instantly. He tore towards the knight and grabbed it with both hands. He bit down on it, hurting it badly, and bathed it in his arc beam like a deadly stream of water. It faded away as Gryaor rushed towards a twisting, cackling shape in the air and twisted it like a rope, killing it instantly, before it could summon another of it’s fiery minions, which were like shadows themselves. A shadowy thrall clawed at his leg, barely tickling him through his thick hide, so he ignored it and rushed onwards. He let out a rallying roar, and then stumbled back as he was tackled by one of the monsters. A large figure had slammed into him, the same black-white color as the other monsters.It cackled, sounding strange for something so large. Erupting in orange-white fire, it punched him in the face and said “You have no right to the throne!”, But Gryaor knew otherwise, and hit the beast with a savage blow that spiked down, making it tumble on the ground. It quickly teleported to Gryaor’s right and sprayed him with more fire from it’s one, glowing eye, which never seemed to run out. Gryaor screamed “I am of the covenant of the king - borne from Dark, borne from light! I AM THE TRUE ONE!” He ignored the searing pain of the beast and kicked it, but the beast teleported, and the kick never connected, causing Gryaor to stumble. The beast stabbed Gryaor through the eye with one of it’s claws and said “LIAR! NO KING CREATED YOU! YOU ARE A DISGRACE, AND AN ABOMINATION!” These words made Gryaor even angrier, and he bellowed “NO, I AM THE FUTURE!” he grabbed the imposter and put it over his head and said “AND I WILL BREAK YOU!” Gryaor crunched the monster’s back with all of this strength and turned his attention to another brutish dark knight, who rumbled and pounded Gryaor with his boomer, blinding him. It followed up by spraying him with fire, searing his face. The onslaught stopped as he heard a familiar scream, followed by “Stay away from the king!” Syar bombarded the knight with Arc explosions and burned it with poisonous gas, easily killing it, and she drifted over to her towering king. “Are you alright?” she said. “I’ve seen these beasts before - they were the King’s pets.” His eyes widened. That beast used to belong the the king - he thinks. Well, the old king, if everything goes as intended. He remembered something, and quickly turned back to where the beast had been after he threw it. The beast snarled at him and said “You will answer for your hideousness, abomination. We will meet again.” It gave a silent signal, and all at once the monsters disappeared. He looked at his hive. They were wounded, dazed, and basically defeated, even though the enemy had retreated themselves. Gryaor wondered if they should continue, when Syar came up to him, and practically read his thoughts. “Those twisted beasts almost destroyed us - we cannot risk another encounter with them.” This time, Gryaor looked straight at her, three eyes to two, and said “But that is cowardice - retreating from a battle, from an echo of ourselves. Those beasts - looked like Hive.” the sorceress cackled quietly and said “You are righteous and powerful indeed, my king, but you have much to learn. You didn’t let me finish.” the heir to the throne looked at her as she said “We can become better - make ourselves stronger - superior to their weak, shadowy facades. I know a way…” She stopped as the other sorceresses came from behind her. “... and it started with you. With our covenant.” The king thought for a moment, and gave her a nod. “Begin, then.” Ten hours later, Gryaor sat in their new home and watched a cluster of pulsating, bulbous growths. They moved, figures inside them twisting and squirming, as the sorceresses chanted and whispered dark, deathly words. The chrysalises churned, and the chant hit it’s final line, shrieked out by the witches, as the growths burst open. Gnarled, twisted creatures emerged from within - more powerful, larger, stronger than before. They roared and rumbled as their master looked on idly, thinking deeply. The imposter, the beast that he had fought had wielded an army of fearsome, twisted things. Terrible monsters, with incredible power. He bared his fangs as the twisted hive bowed to their master. But now, he had his own monsters. Alright, that is it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed the reveal (although no name yet) of the new antagonist of this series, a taken knight, who wishes to lead the hive and the taken by killing Gryaor and taking the tablets of Ruin (pun intended :) ) Hope you enjoyed the chapter as well, so feel free to leave criticism/feedback in the comments :D, see you!