Again, another tidbit that could, possibly, be a teaser for The Frontier, Chapter Two: Light Among Darkness. The Word of Our Lord, Kirax, The Forsaken. A Most Reliable telling of the events transpiring when Oryx, the Taker of Wills, cast out our Lord in fear of His Power. It was a boring place on Oryx, the Taker of Wills’ dreadknaught. Every now and then, the Hive would be allowed to stretch their legs and slaughter some civilizations, but mostly it was just long, dull lengths of space travel. Oryx’s lieutenants and champions disliked this. Oryx was a good king, but he was quite distant, often consulting the Deep, the Worms, or doing things to the Taken that none of them could understand. The one who hated this most of all was Kirax, the Dual Bladed One. He loved Oryx as his King, but he did not like the way that Oryx did things. Who did he think could do them better? Himself, of course. The thing was, Kirax was one of Oryx’s greatest and most powerful champions, being more powerful than the Warpriest and nearly rivaling Crota. He had an enormous amount of followers at his command, including his mate, the Witch Syor. Kirax pondered what he would do, until he realized that with all his power, he could start a great war amongst the Hive, overthrow Oryx, and lead the Hive into a new age of slaughter. And so he decided to go to war with Oryx, most powerful of the Hive. ——————————————————————– Kirax materialized from the Ascendant Realm. His two cleavers flashed and shone with hallowed green light, and he cut down countless members of Oryx’s army with them as fast as they charged him. His followers arrived behind him, and they distracted/engaged Oryx’s Hive and Taken so that Kirax could reach the throne room. Oryx was waiting for him, and gave a sigh. “Kirax, are you really trying to overthrow me?” The King said, almost irritably. “The Hive need more slaughter! Since we battled those machines that YOUR son let in and crushed that Traveler-dependent species, we have not done any killing! And we hunger, oh king… and I will feed them.” The One of Double Blades roared and sprang at Oryx, Taker of Wills, both of his cleavers gleaming with green, ascendant light. Oryx easily clashed with him, and hammered at him with impossibly powerful blows, happening every second. Kirax kept up gamely. He stabbed and blocked and roared and slashed, but the King did not have to try very hard to match him. Kirax managed to cut Oryx, and then retreated quickly. As Kirax fought, the energy from the deaths his swords had caused flowed into his body, giving him strength. Kirax fought like a demon, until Oryx decided to end the fight. “Enough!” Oryx shouted. “We should not fight amongst ourselves!” He summoned a massive bolt of Taken energy that crushed Kirax against the ground and cracked the rock underneath him. “Your revolution is over before it has even begun, Kirax. Surrender.” Oryx said, quieter now. Kirax bowed his head, knowing that he could not defeat Oryx in strength, and pretended to be humbled. “Yes, my king.” He said meekly. Oryx held Willbreaker to slice, and lopped off Kirax’s head with it. The Taken King faced the followers of Kirax. “Your leader is destroyed, sent screaming back to the Sword Realm. He has been a good champion to me before, however, so instead of Taking all of you, I will allow you an ultimatum: stay here, or leave and never return. The choice is yours.” Oryx said. Kirax’ hordes left to contemplate their decision. Syor was the one that spoke first. “If we leave, we can form our own Kingdom, bring back Kirax from the ascendant Realm and enter a new age of slaughter.” She hissed. “We do not need Oryx.” The horde hissed and screamed their assent, and so the followers of Kirax left Oryx’s Fleet. A dozen years later, the followers of Syor and disciples of Kirax, now Kirax, the Forsaken, wandered the galaxy. The Slaughter that Kirax had promised was delivered to them, as they set down on a world that was being converted by the Vex to do just that. Syor led the Hive on a rampage across the planet, destroying thousands of Vex, until the only stronghold of the Vex on the planet was the Nexus mind within. With a score of enormous armored knights, hundreds of lesser hive and half a dozen Reborn Ogres, Syor brought down the Vex mind within the planet, and toppled the command of the Vex there. After a hundred years of slaughter, the Forsaken Hive conquered the planet, and developed upon it. Syor had done an act of conquering, and with this Kirax arose from his Throne World. “Finally.” The Ascendant Hive rumbled. “Excellent work, my beloved.” Kirax’ followers had grown stronger from their Slaughter, and overtime, they began to develop into a separate breed of Hive. Thrall grew bulkier, and more agile, Acolytes developed small horns upon their heads and began to develop the ability to use the same clouds of gas that the Wizards could use on a smaller scale. The knights went from large and powerful, to hideous and terrible. The bony armor their skin hardened into grew long, horny spikes over time, and their “helmets” became broader and more armored, with their heads more protected. Wizard’s fingers became long and sharp, like claws, and their heads became domed and rounded, with small ridges of spikes, all except for Syor, who had a set of horns that almost resembled antlers. Ogres became nastier, smarter, and faster, their claws becoming thicker and sharper, becoming more monstrous than they were before. Now, at the head of a massive army of his new, powerful breed of Hive, and itching to do some killing, Kirax’s small fleet eventually ran into the outskirts of the solar system containing the traveler. Kirax could see fleets of Fallen, grouping like sharks in a feeding frenzy, zooming through a group of asteroids, Kirax, the Forsaken, laughed. He gripped the blade of his battle, and with a wild glee in his heart, he began his takeover of our solar system. And that was a teaser for Kirax, the new villain for the next chapter of The Frontier, and his army of abominations. I hope you enjoyed this.