Here's the next chapter of Rise, as promised! Also a special thanks to to the Management, who helped me edit! [u]Prologue[/u]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/225042004 ________________________________________________________________________________________ Almost immediately after she shouted, she retched into the sand, spitting up tiny particles. She vaguely remembered falling into a sinkhole in the sands, then nothing. Glancing at her hands, pale and thin, with dark wisps of some unknown energy constantly wisping from them, a shard of memory came back. “T-tha- that’s rright.” Her vocal chords rasped, and she vomited up sand, the gritty substance mixed with a black bile. She tried again. “I’m Ta-taken.” She thought harder, and gradually her memory began to come back in bits and pieces. “My nam-” she coughed again, wiping her mouth with a grimace.“My name is Suzette? No, Susie? No… Suzanne?” The word sounded a bit familiar on her tongue, and suddenly, she remembered. “The Tower. Shit, how long have I been gone?” She remarked, brushing herself off and standing up, before collapsing again. “Why can’t I move…?” [i]Damn. How long was I out?[/i] She tried to stand up again, her legs wobbly and weak, and nearly fell over again, instead catching herself with her arms briefly before they gave in too. She lay there, weak and tired. [i]Glad I’m Taken. Would probably not even be alive if I wasn’t. But how..?[/i] She stared at the slaughtered cabal. “How did- how did I…?” She wondered out loud, before feeling a surge of energy and remembered another benefit of being Taken. [i]Teleportation.[/i] She concentrated, and a cold, icy feeling came over her, and with a barely audible ghost of wind, she found herself sitting… In a pile of rubble. Suzanne frowned, trying again. Same wisp of wind, same icy feel, but nothing changed. “Did I teleport wrong…?” She wondered, looking around. A flutter of fear raced through her. Then she saw the torn banner, confirming her nightmares. This was the tower all right. Or at least, where the tower [i]had[/i] been. Now it was a ruin, with the occasional torrent of gunfire piercing the eerie quiet. Her head swam, and she pitched forward, coughing weakly. She became aware of how hungry and thirsty she was, and she retched again. Suzanne crawled slowly over to a nearby tree, using the sturdy trunk to hoist herself up. “I saw a patrol of Cabal this way. Let’s hit em hard, then get away. Lightning fast.” A deep voice sounded, and there was the crunching of footsteps as a titan and two warlocks approached. [i]I’m saved![/i] She thought, staggering out from the tree. “H-help?” She rasped, and one of the warlocks turned in her direction. “Taken!” He shouted, and the trio raised their guns and began to fire; thankfully, she managed to duck behind a tree just in time. “I thought we exterminated all of them ages ago.” The titan grumbled sternly, firing occasionally to keep her from moving. “Well, it’s just a thrall, we can just punch it-” The warlock started as it jumped forwards where she had been. “It’s gone.” Suzanne peered out from behind a tree, sweat dripping down her face. [i]Ages? How long have I been gone? They’ll kill me if they find me.[/i] She sprinted away to in a vaguely familiar direction, and promptly tripped over something hard. “Shit!” She yelped, collapsing. Muffled voices shouted commands as the footsteps approached. She made for another tree, cursing and holding her foot when she saw what exactly she had tripped over. The stock of a gun. Eyes narrowed, she dashed as fast as she could for the mostly buried weapon, grabbed the stock, and pulled. “Come on, come on, come on…!” She muttered, the trio of guardians nearly on top of her. Finally, the weapon gave, and it seemed to fold easily into her hands, almost welcoming her back. She stared in absolute disbelief, before smiling grimly. “Long time no see, old pal.” She chuckled, aiming the bloodied, rusted barrel of the Red Death at the warlock who had just burst through the trees. The familiar [i]chuk chuk chuk[/i] of the weapon was music to her ears as the warlock dropped, 3 holes in his head. She hated to kill guardians, but at this rate, she didn’t have a choice. And he still had his ghost, so she wasn’t going to [i]absolutely[/i] kill him. Some of her strength returned, and gunning down the second warlock in two taps of the trigger, she almost felt like herself again. With a roar, the titan leapt out from behind her, his fist slamming directly into her temple and black dots filled her vision. But then red burned the black away, and a murderous rage came over her. “YOU BITCH.” She screamed, slamming the bayonet of her gun into his chestplate, and ripping it downwards. His insides fell out with a sickening [i]shlop[/i], and she panted, his ghost wearily floating away. She flipped it off, strapping the Red Death to her back and sprinting deep into the war torn forest. __________________________________________________________________ Suzanne had been running for… she thought it was around 10 hours now. Night had long since fallen, and the spike of energy she had gotten from killing the guardians had long since worn off, and now she was just running because, simply put, she didn’t know what else to do. A bump had formed on the side of her head from the titan’s punch, and her head was rocking with pain; branches whipped her face and arms and her deteriorated boots weren’t holding up against the many rocks and roots. Worse, dehydration and starvation were starting to kick in. Finally, she collapsed, her vision blurry. “So this is how I die.” She remarked, giving a light chuckle which quickly became a ragged cough, flecks of ethereal blood painting the grass. “Not in battle, but of starvation. Well, -blam!- you too, universe.” She said weakly as she slipped into unconsciousness. ________________________________________________________________________________________ [u]Master Post: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/225428746/0/0[/u] Chapter Two coming soon!