Well, this is the first chapter I’ve posted in lore. I’d like to apologize in advance because of how many posts I have to break this into, but don’t worry, my chapters are so long I wont be filling the forum with them very often. For those of you who never visited the Gallery before it was taken down, I’ve been writing in the forums ever since House of Wolves. Some of you may have seen my lore posts, and all of my fanfic and lore work can be found in my Archive: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0 I even have my own tags #DestinyLegendUntold and #FoxLore Currently, my characters are journeying through the Vault of Glass to defeat Atheon. My chapters may be long, but I’m only on 23 so it’ll be easy to knock it all out if any of u want to start up from the beginning. This story follows the actual events of the game Destiny, except from the perspective of someone performing his heroic acts behind the scenes. Wether you’re a new or old reader, I hope you enjoy! [i]Ch23, The Maze Part 1[/i] We stood before the open door a moment, staring into the depths of the Vault and all unsure wether or not it was safe to go through. But right now, I think everyone just wanted to get out of the Templar’s Well. It had been grueling to fight our way this far, and the dozens of Vex chassises laying broken on the ground behind us proved it. Guardian took a step towards the doorway, but as he did so the Aegis faded from his arm like dissipating smoke. Disappointment and exasperation hung heavy in the air. “Typical,” Sierra griped. “Welcome to my life,” Warlock complained as well. Recovering from the surprise, Guardian continued forward, and the rest of us followed wordlessly. For a guy who hardly spoke, he sure was good at leading the way. Sticking close together, we wandered down the ever-descending trail through the Vault, weaving around protruding stone and jumping down several shafts when the elevation changed more suddenly. It grew bleaker the further we went. The cold, dark stone of the tunnels felt as if it was squeezing us, and the atmosphere only grew fowler as we went deeper. After a short while I noticed Hunter stumble, doing a double take before continuing on, but he said nothing of what he had seen that made him trip. Drew began muttering to himself, and after I saw the others casting worried glances I spoke up. “Drew, what are you saying?” “Huh?” Drew looked at me quizzically, “I wasn’t talking.” “You were,” I told him. “I was?” Drew clearly grew confused and sank into deep thought, seeming as if he was trying to remember what he had said. Everyone left him be as we continued on. Finally, the tunnel ended and opened on a cliff, giving way to a cavern as vast as that of the Templar’s Well. But this time we could see that an expanse of stone waited below; ridges that rose and fell like great serpents and tunnels that branched in every direction like rabbit burrows. It was a labyrinth. Even now, unable to see much before stone walls and arching ceilings blocked our vision, it spoke to me of an endless nature. “The Gorgons’ Maze,” I gritted my teeth and steeled myself. This was the trial I had feared facing the most. This was where Kabr and Praedyth had met their ends. “What’s a Gorgon?” Hunter scoffed, unintimidated by the name. “A monster from ancient earth mythology,” I answered, staring down into the mess of sharp rocks and swirling mist below us, “The Vex that dwell in here are named after them, rather appropriately. They can kill you with a look.” “Did you just say ‘dwell’?” John snickered. I tried to shoot him a discouraging glance, but it failed when I realized he was still hidden within Sierra’s gear. “Once we’re down there nobody can make any noise or be seen, okay? They can hear us, and they’re always watching,” I warned. “Lighten up, Will, it’s creepy enough down here,” Rush shuddered. “Can’t we just put a couple bullets in their bellies and be on our merry way?” Hunter ridiculed, “They’re just Vex.” “They aren’t just Vex,” I shook my head, “Kabr said they were resilient, and he made the Aegis out of one of them. But he did say that they could be destroyed if they spotted you. We don’t want that happening, though, and we don’t know how many there are.” “Okay, so we’re not fighting these Gorbans?” Sierra checked. “Gorgons,” I corrected, “And no.” “Aww,” Drew whined. “Well, come on then,” Warlock urged. Before anyone else could move, she dove straight off the cliff, arms outstretched so she was like a bird sailing down through the air. I jumped next, wanting to get down there as quickly as possible to make sure nothing went wrong. The air hummed by my helmet and tugged at my cloak as I plummeted dozens of meters headfirst and arms tucked in for speed. The cliff wall moved further out towards the bottom, so that anyone who hadn’t jumped out far enough would have hit the slope and skidded down until they were flung far out at the base. As the ground surged closer, I leveled out and stretch my arms and legs to slow myself a tiny bit, then with a quick move slung my legs back underneath me and instantly stopped my descent with a burst of Light. I slowly glided down the last several feet, landing with barely a scuff on the stone floor. Warlock had walked forward a bit from where she had landed to make sure everything was clear, and only glanced back for a second as I arrived. Stepping away a bit to give the others room, I watched as Guardian landed the fall with natural ease, followed by Hunter and Sierra’s light and graceful touch downs. Then came Drew, falling heavily through the air like a dropped stone. As he grew near he slowed his decent with his Light, but only enough for the landing to not kill him. He hit the ground with a loud crack and slammed down onto one knee, using his hand to catch some of his weight, too. If we hadn’t been trying to be quiet, I might have been impressed by how epic it looked. “Drew,” I whispered harshly as he straightened up, “Don’t pull anything else like that while we’re down here.” “Sorry,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “Where do we go now?” Sierra asked. “Hush,” I put a finger over where my mouth was behind my helmet. Sierra sighed and made it clear she was rolling her eyes beneath her helmet, “Where to?” I looked around. With the cliff at our backs, there was nothing to our left and right aside from massive walls of stone. Ahead of us were two boulders with a trail between them, and beyond that the path forked and snaked around other boulders deeper into the cavern. “I don’t know…” I answered. Guardian stepped through a pool of clear water to the gap between the boulders and looked out into the dark. After a moment, he looked back and motioned for us to follow. There were no better ideas, so we followed wordlessly. Eerie silence hung over the massive cavern as we walked across the path to the shelter of another boulder. Now it was left or right. We all peaked around both sides and began whispering amongst ourselves about which way to go. Frustrated by how clueless we were, I left the huddle and peaked out the left side again. A flicker of movement caught the corner of my eye, but when I looked, whatever it was had already vanished behind one of the many mounds of stone. I snapped back out of sight, my heart racing. “Was that one of them?” Rush asked, sounding a little alarmed since he had clearly also seen when I looked. “What?” Sierra’s voice stopped me from answering, and I saw that the others had heard Rush’s question and stopped to look at me. “We go that way,” I pointed to the left side of the rock. It was only a hunch, but the Gorgons guarded the Vault. The more of them we saw, the closer we may be to the heart of this realm. A couple of the others exchanged confused glances, but no one questioned my decision. We spotted a cluster of rocks that looked like they would provide good cover, and Hunter volunteered to go ahead cloaked, to make sure it was safe. His near-invisible frame slinked across the path with us watching in silence. Nothing stirred aside from our comrade, and after reaching the rocks he uncloaked and waved to us. Forming a line with me at the back, we hurried over to his position. I checked our flanks, looking right and then left to make sure nothing was approaching. As we reached and everyone began filing into shelter with Hunter, I looked to the right again. It felt like my blood froze in my veins at that moment. A few meters away, in the middle of the path, a Hive Knight watched us. But it wasn’t a Knight. The shape matched, but it had only a single white eye, and its flesh and bone were a pitch black that somehow emitted a soft glow. Its head twitched violently just once. Ch22, The Well: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/249614422/0/0 Ch23 Pt2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/251014163/0/0 Table of Contents: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0