Here's another piece of fan fiction, once again including another clan member and the telling of the events that happened on the Moon when a great host of Guardians were assembled to reclaim it from the Hive from the perspective of a construction/survey team member. Thanks to dapper for allowing me to mention their clan, Twilight Imperium, as well. Let me know what you guys think. Enjoy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grimoire Card: LunarWraith (fan fiction) There are many things I wish to forget, sure. Maybe that means I am drinking for my health after all, right? Everyone that’s worked forward planetary construction and survey have seen their fair share of horrors. And me, I’ve been to every sector in this corner of known space that you can count. Some two, three, even four tours at some, give or take. I’ve seen it all, stranger. I could- Of course… nothing like that day. It’s been years since anyone’s come from the Tower and asked me about that. It’s not a story I like to repeat. Sure, I’ll tell it, but you owe me a round at the end. Deal? Deal. We were a crew of about thirty, assigned to an old relay station on the Moon, not far from Mare Imbrium. Our job was to repair the station, which would assist in landing navigation and comms for the inbound Guardians dropping in from orbit. They were forming beachheads throughout the sector for the large scale assault against the Hive to reclaim the moon. I tell you, to see such a, well, army is the best word that comes to mind, of Guardians gathered in such numbers was… breath taking to say the least. It was awe inspiring to see such a massive gathering of the Light’s great warriors, banners of every faction flown high and united. It was impossible to have any misgivings. All anyone could have, being there on the ground to witness such a movement, was hope. Shame. Perhaps that was our first mistake. One of many with everything that came after. Hurts the heart a bit to speak of this again. Sorry, yes… The work was tough, repairing the station, but bless the Light, we finished. Even as more starships made their landing, the army of Guardians began their assault. We were miles out from the nearest Hive fortress, I had seen it as we broke orbit upon landing. A black, metallic structure, like a twisted thorn, breaking through the rock surface and reaching towards the stars. Imposing and deadly in its appearance, even from a small passenger window hundreds of miles above. Despite our distance, I could hear the thunder of our artillery, the rally of our Guardians and a storm of crackling gun fire. It became a chorus of power following the image we had held just hours prior of the great army of heroes. To hear it, it sounded like overwhelming, unstoppable victory. It was beautiful. So, when in an instant, all at once, the thunderous roar of explosions and gunfire ceased, and an eerie silence set in, I knew immediately something was wrong. It seemed we all did. I can remember a cold chill shaking me, even in my spacesuit, with that silence. I felt choked by it. The crew kept looking to one another, wanting to ask the same questions we all had in mind but none could muster to do so out loud. What’s happened? Why the quiet? The Guardians that were our security detachment, a group hailing the clan banner of the Twilight Imperium, fanned out then in a defensive posture, scanning the area with their rifles. A few had their ears to their ghosts, trying to raise comms with members of the host army. As they got more frantic in their calls, I realized they weren’t getting any answers either. It was Kalah, one of our new crew members, who shrieked then, motioning towards the sky that broke the silence. It was terrible, that sound, but no worse than what I saw above. The sky! Oh, that -blam!-ing terrible sky. It was on fire. A green fire, miles and miles, in every direction, snuffing out the stars and roaring above us. To speak of it is one thing, but to have actually been there… I still see the damn thing sometimes in my sleep. It’s difficult to remember much from that point and reaching the evacuation zone. Seeing the sky burn like that- I think we all cracked. All of us were running. Our crew, other crews in the area, Guardians- everyone. Chaos. I remember the surface opening around us and grey shapes erupting from them like angry ants, tearing people apart or dragging them, screaming, back down below. Even over the explosions and gunfire as the Guardians fought desperately around us, I could still hear the screams. Screams of our people, screams from the monsters, of Guardians- it was a living nightmare. I just kept running. At the evacuation zone, it was only a few of us left and a single Guardian. The others were either fighting elsewhere or… well. As much as everything was a blur on the run, I remember clearly strapping into my seat and watching through the port window the lone Guardian, instead of boarding the ship, turning and walking away. Someone on the ship yelled, the words I can’t recall, but it didn’t halt the Guardians steady walk towards what looked like a wave of those grey monsters coming towards us. Hundreds, it seemed. A sea of teeth, claws, and shrieks. They were coming and fast. The ship rumbled and jerked, but didn’t lift. More yelling that I couldn’t make out came from the cockpit, something about one of the engines. I didn’t pay attention to it though. Couldn’t, even. I remained glued to the sight outside, watching the Guardian. Crazy, I remember thinking, looking at him. He didn’t even have a gun anymore, probably lost or ran dry in the chaos reaching the ship. Even if he did, it would be hopeless against the horde bearing down on us. But there he stood, between us and them, waiting, underneath a green, burning sky. Mind you, I’ve seen combat many times before my time on the Moon. Of course, not myself fighting, but of Guardians. Fallen, dropped from skiffs in ambush, and the damned bronze Vex appearing out of thin air on Venus had been some of the worse. I’ve seen what even a single Guardian can do and it’s always amazed me. But this was different. This Guardian was different. His round helmet was a smooth, pitch black, yet his robe and armor from the neck down looked as white as polished bone. It wasn’t unlike in appearance as to the monsters themselves, which howled as they caught sight of the Guardian, the waves converging towards him. As the first pack of creatures reached him, one leaping forward with an outstretched claw- the Guardian instantly vanished from where he stood. The monsters tumbled, confused, as was I, until a purple glow pulled my eyes upward to see the Guardian floating in the air. That glow seemed to radiate from around his body and coalesce to his right hand, which he out stretched towards the pack below… I’d never seen anything like it. Dark beams of light streamed forth from his hand, colliding with the pack of monsters with an explosive force. They simply evaporated. Nothing, gone, destroyed. More of the monsters clamored and leaped for him, each time, in a blink of an eye, he would appear and disappear from the ground to the sky, and send more of the dark beams into the host, causing them to explode into sparkling particles and then nothing. Wave after wave, they died, disintegrating into ash at his feet. More monsters, more alien than the last, started to rise from the cracks and charge, some giant and carrying swords. Still, he kept going. It seemed as if his power was limitless. When we finally gained lift, cheers roared on our small ship along with the engines. Still, I watched the Guardian do his dance, a light show of dark light and screams of protest from the Hive that couldn’t catch him. As we lifted higher, to my despair, I saw the Hive swarming the surface now, where only hours ago a great host of Guardians had stood. I watched until they became nothing more than small dots below, faint purple light splashing against the contrast of white and grey. I tried to be hopeful, despite everything, that perhaps elsewhere the other gatherings of Guardians, in other sectors of the Moon, had fared better. That maybe elsewhere they were pushing back the Hive and finding only victory. Now, today, of course we know that wasn’t true. One of the greatest travesty’s since the Collapse. I wish… well, I wish a lot of things. That I hadn’t been there. That I could forget the things I saw. The stuff I can’t stop seeing when I try to sleep. And I have to keep coming here to just… Still, I like to think, that that Guardian survived, ya know? The Guardian that saved what was left of my crew. The one that moved like a wraith along the lunar surface, cleaving the Darkness with his Light. ... How about that drink now?