Hey Guardians! This is Dreams of the Traveler Part 5: The Wall. If you would like to catch up, [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/206828756?sort=0&page=0] there's Part 4: Hunter![/url] Keep reading and I'll keep writing! For the Light, Guardians. -Gio --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was a different air surrounding us as we approached the Wall. Fear had settled into our bones. In the stillness of the wastes the only sounds that could be heard were our boots rhythmically pounding the earth and the echoing war cries of our predators. The sun illuminated the small door that led inside the Wall; the right side of the steps were twisted rusted blades, eroded from exposure and heavy use at one point in time. I glanced at the broken keypad next to the door and for the briefest of moments I pondered what code was once used to grant entry to weary travelers. Once inside, we were forced into a single file line as we slowed our pace and ascended a set of stairs. Emergency lights illuminated the corridor with an ominous red aura foreshadowing our impending demise at the hands of— [i]“Ok…I need to find you a weapon before the Fallen find us,”[/i] my Ghost said from within my helmet. It interrupted the waves of anxiety that were crashing in on me in this sea of Darkness. I was scared. We all were. At the conclusion of Ghost’s suggestion, a small hologram appeared on the interior of my helmet’s interface marking a spot down the increasingly dark passage. “Do these helmets have lights—or maybe Perry? Do you have, like, flashlight eyes?” I asked, not realizing I had offended Mrs. P. The machinery around her eye scrunched together angrily and her back half began spinning as if she was winding up to attack me…verbally, I’m sure. [i]“What makes you think that MY Perry has—“[/i] [i]“Quiet. They’re right above us,” [/i]my Ghost whispered sharply. His words sent all of our eyes upward, darting quickly from side to side as we heard the dull thudding of our hunters’ heavy footsteps. They were slowing down. I counted three—no, four stalkers. Our Ghosts had become flashlights; their rays were luminous swords that slashed through the nearly tangible Darkness. Awoken eyes scanned the room fervently, ready to relay a Fight or Flight signal to sün Su’ul’s brain. A slight panic was noticeable in the timbre of Sul’leth’s voice, “Ghost, how much further are the weapons?” After an uncomfortable silence, he whispered again, “Ghost!” There was no response; there was only moving forward, toward another stairway. There were panels missing in a few places on the Wall, leaving the support structures visible. Sully had opened his mouth to address the Ghost again when a loud clang ripped the words from his verbal queue. The demon disappeared from eyesight as quickly as it had come. We were being hunted. We followed the waypoint up another two sets of stairs that leveled off in a pitch black room. Each time our metal connected with the floor, I thought of the Green Eyed Bastard. I thought of facing my own mortality. My Ghost left my helmet and I felt the rage bubbling in my spirit. It was nigh uncontrollable but our predicament required I kept my cool. My Ghost momentarily dissolved the blackness of the room by what looked to me like a controlled explosion of Light. His mechanical parts orbited around his core; this core was the smallest sun and his parts were the planets that made up this increasingly interesting Solar System. His Light exposed pieces of the room attempting to remain hidden in the shadows. [i]“Hang tight. Fallen thrive in the dark, we won’t. We need more light. I’ll see what I can do,”[/i] my Ghost said as I watched the Light trail behind him as he floated further into the room, hovering up and down scanning different areas looking for answers in the Dark. Still whispering, still afraid, I asked, “There probably isn’t just a light switch, is there?” I could hear Sul’leth cease being nervous long enough to scoff mockingly at the question. [i]“Another one of these hardened military systems…And a few centuries of entropy working against me—“[/i] My Ghost continued as if he were an old man pouring over ancient texts searching for the answers to life’s greatest riddles. The Light he emitted continued to reveal what the stagnant darkness was hiding. My heart was already trying to escape through my chest plate with aggressive force. The rage was growing. The fear was insurmountable. Further up into rafters and around pillars he flew, and Perry began taking steps backwards. “Zoë, Sully, Ghosts…they aren’t hunting us anymore.” The lights on a bridge in the middle of the room flickered twice and then filled the room with sight. And what a sight it was! Dozens of Fallen were clinging to the now visible pillars that spanned the room. They began moving like predatory spiders, some dropping to the bridge and others climbing further up the pillars to disappear from our line of sight. Two mechanical hover turrets descended from the ceiling, using their jets to stop them from falling to the bridge below. They were only a few feet behind my Ghost as he retreated to rejoin us. The turrets stopped their approach when they saw us and flew to a new position to cut us off. My Ghost exclaimed, [i]“They’re coming for us!”[/i] as his Light trail burned brighter with the threat of death so close on his trail. [i]“Here! I found a rifle! Grab it.”[/i] Sully yelled, “Finally!” and took off after my Ghost down the nearest hallway. Leaning up against an open crate was a military grade rifle and inside were two more just like it. When I picked it up, my Ghost teleported back into my helmet and an icon appeared next to my right eye with a picture of the gun and its name: Khostov 7G-02. I gripped it tightly and felt my finger start to caress the trigger. “Perry!” There was a thunder in my voice that I didn’t command, it simply was. “You good?!” His response was in the affirmative, punctuated by quickly nodding after forcefully reattaching the magazine back into position. “Sul—“ “I’m ready!” “Then let’s go!” And for the first time, the fear was good. I could almost feel it dripping from my pores inside my suit. I could still hear whispers playing with the small hairs on my spine, making them stand on end. The drumbeat of my heart was calling for war; and if there was one thing to understand this day, it was war. [i] “I sure hope you know how to use that thing—“[/i]