[u]ERRANDS[/u] The gate was fully open now, and at the end of a tunnel a bright light shone, almost blinding the Guardians. Echo wondered if this was some kind of metaphor, but then shrugged it off, and the two started walking towards it. They didn't wait for Validus, who had told them via radio that he was being held up by some fanatic Cabal, who refused to lay down weapons. When they had reached the gateway at the end of the long hallway, and their visors started to adapt to the blinding light, the first thing they saw where a few Cabal officers where laying down on the ground, scorch marks scattered across their armor. They were probably killed by the mutineers, Echo thought. Then, the Vex building entered his vision, and he could only look in awe and marvel at it's sight. This was no ordinary Conflux, this was a Citadel-sized monolith, hidden by the Blind Legion under an enormous dome. The Vex structure reflected the light from large spots that were aimed at it, and was surrounded by all kinds of Cabal machinery and monitors. Long white beams of light, quietly humming, travelled between floating blocks, which were defying gravity in a way only the Vex could craft. It was probably thousands of years old, Echo realized, and he suddenly felt like a tiny ant next to this... this monument of time. And yet, there were no Vex around to stop him from approaching, so Echo clipped his weapon on his back. Validus could be seen watching from a large window, that was postioned at the place where the normal wall became a dome. He started walking towards the Conflux (could it still be called a Conflux?), eager to touch it, feel the power that it emitted. He was standing next to the structure, about to touch it with his stretched out arm, when he was stopped by the voice of Alzer. "That's far enough, Echo" Echo spinned around, only to see the other Warlock standing in the back of the room, aiming a Hive-ish looking hand cannon at him. After Alzer had shut all blast doors, he slowly started walking towards Echo. "You realized that is Thorn, right? Dredgen Yor's weapon?", Echo said, as he made a subtle grab for his gun. Alzer chuckled. "I would stop with that, Echo. Drop those weapons, unless you want to have a big hole in your forehead. And I won't forget your Ghost" The two Guardians were standing about two meters from each other now. "And yes, I know what weapon this is. I'm perfectly fine with it" There was a silence for a few seconds, whilst Echo unholstered his weapons and dropped them to the ground. "Why do you do this? We've got a job to do!" "You simply don't get it, do you?", Alzer growled, as he picked up Echo's gun. "My callsign wasn't Ghost. I am Phantom! Remember me?" Suddenly Echo realized who the other Guardian was. "I should have recognized you. You used to be a member of the Syndicate, but w-" Alzer interrupted him. "Yes, 'I used to be a member'. Before you kicked me out!", Alzer spat. "The first rule of the Syndicate is to NOT let the Darkness use you! You were trying to become a Dredgen! If you would abandon that dream, we cou-" Again, the other Warlock interrupted him. "Oh, I won't stop, now that I'm so close to my goal. I am Dredgen Alzer, and you will be my first kill. You should feel honored!" Suddenly, Echo looked up, towards Validus, who was watching the scene below him, angry because he couldn't do anything. Alzer had used a manual emergency stop, and that couldn't be reverted from the room he was in. Then Echo saw, in the corner of his eye, that Alzer also looked up, curious to know what Echo was doing. Echo sprinted away, towards a couple of boxes. The Dredgen cursed, and started firing at Echo. Heavy projectiles whizzed past Echo's head, but then he reached cover and was safe for a couple of seconds. He blindly threw a grenade, making Alzer flinch. He continued to run from Alzer, grabbed a monitor on the way, turned around just in time to stop a couple of shots from the other Guardian. The impact of the heavy Thorn rounds made him stumble backwards a little bit. He leaped towards the Conflux, to try and hide behind it. Suddenly, the base intercom could be heard. [i][Self destruction sequence will activate in one minute. Repeat: self destruction sequence will activ-][/i] This was the Primus' doing, Echo realized, as he grabbed a pipe, from which oil was spilling. He held the pipe closed off with his hand, letting pressure build up, and waited for Alzer to come around the corner. This happened a few seconds later, and Echo released the oil right in the Dredgen's face, making him fall on his back. Echo immediately jumped on Alzer, making sure he couldn't escape. He unleashed a long series of punches on Alzer's head, but then was headbutted by the Dredgen, making his helmet break. He rolled away from his enemy, but suddenly felt a stinging pain in his left leg. As he felt poison spreading, he saw a Thorn projectile, sticking out from his leg. With a grunt he pulled it out, and then looked up. Half blinded by the light (his helmet was partially gone), he saw Alzer floating in the air, lining up a shot whilst still trying to get away from Echo. Although he was weakened by the devouring effect from the Thorn, Echo managed to Blink into the air, and launch a Nova Bomb towards the other Warlock. He barely missed, and instead hit the dome wall behind Alzer, making it collapse, hitting the two Guardians as it fell. Power shut off, and emergency lighting came in. Echo was the first to stand up, and he walked towards Alzer. He took the Thorn from Alzer's hand, and aimed it at the man's head, and said: "You can still surrender, Alzer. I-" Alzer grabbed Echo's leg and pulled it, making him fall. Alzer then grabbed the Necrochasm, whose flames were burning brighter than ever before. "Killing you with the Thorn would have been better, but this will suffice", Alzer said, before unleashing a hailstorm of bullets upon Echo, shredding the Warlock's armor. Somehow, Echo managed to fire off Thorn, which hit Alzer in the side, staggering the Dredgen. Echo stood up again, firing another shot at Alzer, making a weird feeling spread through his body. Another projectile left the Thorn's barrel, and Echo had a certain feeling of satisfaction, but also pain. He couldn't decide if he liked it or not. As he pulled the trigger one final time, firing into the lifeless corpse of Alzer. Alzer's Ghost appeared, and although everything in his body screamed not to, he shot the Ghost as well. He felt a certain feeling of joy, but quickly shook his head. He shouldn't be feeling that way. This was bad. Very bad. He looked down, and saw that his armor was completely ruined, having a strange green glow on some places. Then he noticed the timer on the ceiling, which had been counting down the self destruction before the base intercom even mentioned it. [i][00:03][/i] Echo saw Validus casting a Ward of Dawn, trying to save himself from the incoming explosion. [i][00:02][/i] Thorn slipped from his hand, but he didn't notice. [i][00:01][/i] The hellish gun fell down, and hit the ground with a metallic sound. [i][00:00][/i] A long series of explosions could be heard, rapidly nearing Echo's location. The last thing he saw was Validus' window getting blown up, before Echo got engulfed by the flaming tide as well, making the Warlock fall into a bottomless pit. Sooner than expected, Echo opened his eyes again, and the first thing he saw was a blurry red shape, floating close to him, which he recognized as Caesar. That little Ghost, his trustworthy friend in times of need. "Are you okay?", Caesar asked, when he saw that Echo didn't stand up immediately, like he usually did when he was resurrected. "We need to get moving! There's a Guardian ship that got through the atmosphere!" Echo still didn't say anything, as he looked next to him, clearly searching for something. Caesar, who knew what Echo was looking for, said: "I already transferred your weapons to that ship before the explosion" Echo nodded in approval, and got up, only to immediately fall down again, grabbing his left leg. Caesar materialized again. "I couldn't use my Light to heal your leg. I can't really explain, but it seems that it isn't a physical wound, and-" The Ghost suddenly got hit in the side by a projectile from a Line Rifle, and the Ghost fell down a few meters further. The smell of ozon filled the air, making Echo feel sick. He crawled towards where he thought Caesar had fallen, but was suddenly hit by an explosion, throwing him through the air. CONTINUED IN COMMENTS (https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229427378/0/0/1) [spoiler]More stories will be added onto the main page, which I will link here. https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/226647634?sort=0[/spoiler]