Cool drips of water rolled in between the cracks of the rock in the next part of the cave network they were transported to. The Trial of Shadows. In a sudden rush of white, swirling, dizziness, Bree, Brayden and their team of Vandals, came to appear on a large circular plate at the top landing of a large staircase that led downward. The immensity of the cave was overwhelming. Bree stood a little unsteadily as she felt a wave of vertigo pass over her, she looked at her brother, who was looking unsteady himself. The light that somehow managed to find its way in, lit up the room enough to give it a faint glow of daybreak. Bree’s two Fatebringers were cocked and locked, Brayden had his indistinguishable scout rifle in his hands. “You know what we are doing, right?” Brayden snapped at his sister. Completely ignoring him, she spoke to her helmet, “Flower, give me a layout of the cavern.” The Ghost inside of her helmet pulled up an image of the ruins. The stairs led down to a smooth landing where another metal sync pad formed. The pad lit up white on her HUD, as she got a step-by-step walkthrough of what they were supposed to do in order to advance. After the sync pad, there were more stairs that led down, the exception being they forked into two different sets of stairs. One set led down to the right, while the other led down to the left and sitting at the bottom of the crumbling stones, rested two teleportation gates. “It’s pretty straightforward. Once we all assemble on the sync pad right there, those two gates at the bottom of the other stairs should open. Three of us have to stay here and hold this sync pad in order to keep the gates open, while the other three will fight their way through one of the gates and transport to the other side.” Bree was the first one to descend down the stairs. “Wonderful. So what are we suppose to do once we go through the gates?” Brayden asked in a concise tone. “I don’t know. Flower won’t put me that far ahead. We’ll just have to get there first.” “You two,” Brayden pointed to the Vandals closest to him, “We are going through the gates once we get them open, Bree, and the others will stay behind and keep this plate active. R,” he spoke to his Ghost that was integrated into his helmet, “Translate that to these creatures and let’s get this going.” Brayden’s cursory attitude was starting to concern Bree. One false move in these caves, one hasty, careless decision… “Who put you in charge? I’m the one with the f*cking instructions on how to complete this.” Bree’s bitterness easily shone through her words. Brayden didn’t even respond, which only fueled the fury within her. Bree gritted her teeth as her hands squeezed the grips of her hand cannons. [i]I swear...I’ll kill him myself…[/i] Her blood was boiling to the point where she started to shake. “Fine. Run through the gates, see if I give a shit. But don’t come crying for help when you get stuck over there with no clue what to do next.” Bree’s feet hit the sync pad first, Brayden second, then the four Vandals. They waited for what seemed like days, then, the pad activated and glowed white. The gates at the bottom of the steps came to life with a pulsating heartbeat of white, purple, and gray. The colors seethed together in a bubbling mix of bright hues and tints, and despite being deep within the caves; the sight was breathtaking. Then, the black clouds formed and manifested the robotic bodies of the Vex. Arc energy surged and popped, and as soon as the clouds dissipated, hordes of Goblins lined the stairs and platforms just below the ragtag fireteam. The bright orange muzzle flashes of Bree’s hand cannons reflected off of her helmet in a flurry of fire. The reticle on her HUD locked onto the glowing, white soft spots of the Goblins. She didn’t even have to aim, it was done for her. The recoil was minimized and she was able to squeeze the triggers fast enough that one would have thought her guns were fully automatic. Brayden sat on his bent left knee so that the Vandals behind him had a clear line of sight. The quick double-tap of his rifle dropped each Vex he hit with a precision that was unlike any other. The barrage of bullets hit the Goblin hordes with a ferocious devastating effect; it was almost unfair. “Keep firing! We are starting to thin them out!” Brayden called out over the helmet comm. More clouds of electrified energy sizzled, crackled and appeared in front of the gates. Luck proved to be on their side as the only Vex that came with the death clouds, were Goblins. “Concentrate your fire on the left stairwell. They are starting to thin out and we should be able to make a run for the gate,” Brayden ordered. He turned and pointed to the two Vandals, waving at them to come forward. “Let’s move!” Brayden stepped off of the pad, the Vandals close behind, they hurriedly moved left, cutting down whatever Goblins stood in their path. “Right stairwell, Goblins moving up! Take them down!” Bree barked at the remaining two Vandals that were on the sync pad with her, keeping the gates open. Shards of metal and broken remnants of the Vex littered the stairs. But they kept coming and the three on the platform kept firing. Brayden and his escorts warped through the gate and appeared in an area of the cave that looked identical to the part they just left. Only now, they were standing at the bottom of the forked staircases that led up to another sync pad on the landing at the top. “Like I wouldn’t be able to figure this out, it’s not Intergalactic Space Science,” Brayden grunted as he took two stairs at a time until he reached the sync plate. The Vandals were right on his heels and stood on either side of him when they reached the top. “Can you hurry up? I’m running out of ammo!” Bree’s voice cut in over Brayden’s helmet comm. He checked his own supply, reloaded his rifle and then stepped on the pad to activate it. The same white glow, the same black clouds, the same Goblins. “Ok! We are on the pad. Move when you can, but watch out, more Vex over here. We’ll try to clear them out as much as we can, but you’ll have to fight your way through.” Brayden called to Bree, the two Vandals stepped off of the pad, Brayden held it himself. Each Vandal took a staircase; one on the left and the other on the right. Bree and her team moved fast. There were too many enemies for them to wipe out and the longer they had their team of six split, the worse off they would be. She motioned to the Vandals, and they followed. Bree followed the same path that, Brayden, took down the left. She holstered her guns, ducked her head low, drew her knife and took off in a mad dash down the rocky steps. Bobbing in and out of Vex, running her blade through any Goblins that got close, she made it to the gate and ran straight through. Bree appeared at the bottom of the steps, her Vandals right in step with her, but the way ahead was crowded with Goblins and without a second thought, she tossed an Arcbolt grenade halfway up the stairs. She crouched down against a stone pillar, as the Arcbolt popped off with strands of lightning bolts that slammed into any nearby Vex. Bits of bolts and steel fell like raindrops as the explosion obliterated whatever was in their way. Brayden stepped away from the sync plate and the gates behind Bree closed, the Vex teleportation clouds vanished and with the exception of a few stragglers, all the Goblins were demolished. Bree climbed the remained steps with a degree of exhaustion. “Now what?” Brayden questioned as Bree finally reached him. “What do you mean? Now what? Are you blind? Turn around and look behind you.” As the brother and sister stood side-by-side, they looked up the final staircase to a rather large Vex door, much like the one their fellow Guardians used to enter the Vault of Glass. Each Vandal reloaded their own weapons, as did Bree and Brayden, and thankfully, no one was injured. They looked at the door that loomed ahead and as if it were speaking to them, calling them, inviting them to come in; it slowly creeped open. [i]There are 3 parts to this chapter. A lot going on here and it was crazy to write, so I really hope everyone likes it! Feel free to leave me any comments or any feedback! Thanks![/i] [i]Trials of a Guardian: The Trial of Shadows (Chapter 6: Part II)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/112242716 [i]Trials of a Guardian: ALL Chapters[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/105589170/0/0