Story of the Guardian Elders: Part Three

Well, here it is! Sorry it took so long to get this part out, but I think the wait was worth it. Enjoy! Guardian Elders Log 3: Unbound We never should’ve accepted that mission. I remember it so vividly, no matter how much I try to forget. I remember flying through space, lit by thousands of stars, heading towards the moon. Seeing the moon like that, deformed and broken… it’s unsettling. Goddess’ ship was to my left, and Predakae’s to my right, and we were flying to a forgotten Hive stronghold on the dark side of the moon. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” My Ghost said to me. “You’ve always got a bad feeling.” I replied. “Not always. You do remember that the Hive were quarantined to the moon?” I shook my head. “Come on, they’ve grown weaker by now.” “I hope…” We eventually landed on the lunar surface, and mounted our Sparrows. I went ahead and took point, since I was leading the mission. I couldn’t help but hate the silence. I miss the sound of running water, of cool breezes and green grass. This place was just barren, devoid of life, even though the Traveler granted this place a thin atmosphere. A few hours passed before we started conversing with one another. “What exactly are we looking for?” I said, through our com channel. “We’re looking for a dark building, with ” Goddess replied. “I’m pretty sure that we would’ve found a dark building in a grey wasteland already.” I said. In case you haven’t noticed, Exo’s have better eyesight than humans which makes this a lot easier.” Goddess replied. “Damn right we do. And no, it doesn’t make this any easier.” Predakae replied. “Well…” I said, pointing towards our target in the distance. “It sort of helped. Come on, we‘re almost there.” We continued to ride our Sparrows to the compound, but quickly dismounted them and brandished our weapons. We quickly walked towards the entrance to the building, eyes on our radars and our surroundings only to see that the entrance to the structure was wide open. Predakae’s Ghost saw this, and materialized in order to set waypoints which lead us through the pitch black hallways. “Hmm… no bullet holes, no structural damage…” I commented. “And no Guardians.” Predakae finished. “Where did everyone go?” “No clue, but stay sharp.” Goddess ordered. Our Ghost’s pulled up waypoints in order to lead us towards a circular room. The room in turn, held faint life signs, which only emboldened our resolve. While walking to there we heard the faint sound of hissing, and metal clinking against metal. Our hopes were turned into fear and horror when we made it to the room. What we found there was terrifying. We found our Guardians alright, but all of them were dead and broken. We could sense that their light was missing, which unsettled us all. And right next to their corpses were Hive Thralls and Acolytes. “Oh no, no no no, how could this have happened? Their Ghost’s should have revived them!” Predakae urged. “You mean these Ghosts?” I replied, pointing to a pile of broken Ghosts in the corner. “Not even our Ghosts can revive these husks…” “W….wait…” All of us turned around to see a Warlock limping toward us. “Whoa there friend, take it easy.” Goddess calmly said. “You’re going to be alright.” “N-no I won’t…” He said. He fell to his hands and knees. I quickly rushed over to him, and crouched beside him. “What’s your name, and what happened to you, and the other Guardians?” I questioned. “Just… call me DCF…“ He cleared his throat. “We were ambushed… by the Hive… they tore us apart…” He responded. “But the Hive aren’t this strong, or smart enough, to destroy seven Ghosts and kill six Guardians while seriously injuring another.” I stated. “They’ve grown… stronger… “What? They can’t…” He grabbed my arm mid sentence. “We discovered something… they’re breeding… in the Hellmouth…” He coughed hard, causing him to grab his chest. “You have to stop them…” I looked into his eyes and nodded. “We will.” I said. I looked to Goddess and Predakae, and they nodded in kind. ‘The Hellmouth is to the east of this place… good… luck…“ And with those final words, DCF passed on. We laid him next to his fellow Guardians, took his bond, and latched it around my waist. “He will be remembered…” I looked to Goddess and Predakae. “We need to be careful. Very careful. If the Hive were able to take out several Guardians… I don’t need to tell you what could happen to the three of us. My Ghost materialized next to me. “And you said that we had nothing to worry about.” “Oh, shut up.” I replied while Goddess and Predakae moved towards the exit. Goddess then stated, “We know our mission. Let’s just hope that we can make it out alive.” And with that we left the way we came, mounted our Sparrows and drove east to the Hellmouth. I remember staring at the bleak terrain for hours until we came across that hole. I remember reaching a metal platform, dismounting our Sparrows and staring deep into it’s depths, which glowed a bright, sickly green glow. And just out of the corner of my eye I saw flash of violet, which caused me to jump backwards. Predakae brandished his sniper rifle and fired at some Hive Acolytes on a lower platform. “We might want to get inside.” Predakae advised. I pointed to an entrance on the other side of our platform, prompting us to move with haste. As soon as we made it inside, the doors sealed shut behind us. “Oh great,” Goddess remarked. “How are we going to get out?” “We’ll find a way later. Right now, we need to find the breeding ground.” I replied. “But how is the question…” Predakae pointed out. “Maybe we could follow where all those Hive are coming from” Goddess stated, and pointed. “Get ready Guardians…” I said, aiming my auto rifle at the horde of Hive Thralls. All of us opened fire, killing each Thrall with a few headshots, causing each of their corpses to disintegrate into flame. But the horde kept coming, with Hive Acolytes and Knights behind the endless wave of Thralls. When the Acolytes started to fire at us, Goddess and Predakae jumped into cover while I stayed and pulled out my heavy machine gun, silencing the clattering of Thralls. But a Knight began to charge at me, which urged Goddess to cloak and sneak up behind the Knight and destroy it with a burst of arc light. But they kept coming, and no matter how many bullets we wasted, no matter how far we advanced into the Hellmouth, the horde never stopped. Eventually we were overwhelmed and separated from one another. I had to hide behind the countless pillars that resided in that hell hole, evading Hive Acolytes and Thralls for hours in order to escape and find Predakae battered and in chains. “Steel!” Predakae exclaimed. “You have no idea what they did to us…” “Well, I’m getting you two out of here.” I said while punching his restraints off. “No, Steel… the Hive interrogated us… they made us tell them everything about Earth. Goddess was taken away from the Hellmouth, I don’t know where though.” I punched the next restraint off as hard as I could, denting the wall. “Damn Hive… we‘ll find Goddess. Later. Right now, we need to get out o-” I responded, but I was cut short when a shot from a Fallen rifle pierced my helmet and blew open the side of my helmet and metal skull. “STEEL!” Predakae exclaimed as he stumbled onto his feet and saw the Fallen invading the Hellmouth. He pulled my limp body to cover, and pulled off my helmet, revealing my lifeless eyes. “Oh no… no, no, no…” he said as his Ghost materialized next to him. “Will he make it?” Predakae said to his Ghost. “Predakae, Steel is already dead.” it answered. Predakae lowered his head, somberly, but was surprised to hear the sound of Guardian jumpships behind his cover. He peered over it, and saw Deeedz and Col fighting their way through the Fallen forces to their location. He waited until they cleared out the Fallen to signal their location over their com. “Predakae, what happened to Steel?” Col said as he examined our injuries. “He‘s dead…” Predakae exclaimed. “Oh crap….” Deeedz ordered. “We need to get you two out of here.” Deeedz quickly pulled Predakae over his shoulder while Col carried me the same way back to their jumpships. They flew us back to the Tower, where it apparently took the Tower’s medics a few weeks to patch up the damage caused to him, but it took longer for my Ghost, and the medics, to patch me up. Predakae woke up before me, and debriefed Deeedz on the mission, the interrogation, Goddess’ disappearance, and DCF. Deeedz was somber, since DCF was a former Elder, but still, he understood the importance of the information the Hive stole from us. I would wake up a few days later to confirm what Predakae had said, to Deeedz’s disappointment. I was ready to jump into action, to go out and find where the Hive took Goddess, but Deeedz refused. ‘You’re still recovering Steel. No matter how badly I want to send you out, you’re not ready.” He would say. I brushed him off though. But I was in my quarters one night, recovering when the Sergeant and Predakae walked in. “Hey guys,” I said. “What are you doing-” “Do you want to save Goddess?” Predakae interrupted. I looked at him, puzzled. “Of course I do. Why?” I asked. “We’re heading out. Tonight.” Sergeant finished I nodded, confused, but I grabbed my new helmet off my desk and ran with both of them out to the Hangar and jumped into my ship. Where we were going, I didn’t know. But what I did know was that we were going to save our friend and make sure the info the Hive squeezed out of Predakae and Goddess was destroyed. We were going to make those walking corpses pay. And this time, I didn’t plan on dying a second time.