#destcember2020

19

The great hall before them appeared to be created of finely patterned black stone. If you stared at it for too long it almost looked like it was writhing like bricks of snakes but a quick scan for signs of life revealed it to be an optical illusion. The simulated wasteland behind them was motionless. The unfathomable hoard of vex they had been slaughtering a moment ago had vanished without a trace along with the scars of their battle.

“Welcome, and Congratulations.” the voice in their heads spoke again.

The trio looked around bewildered. “I... I don’t know that to do now.” The hunter admitted. “I never get this far in the dream.”

“Yeah I figured the simulation would end once we beat the army. This is weird.” the warlock stepped forward and instructed her ghost to perform a thorough scan of the tower hall they stood in. “No signs of life anywhere.” The tiny sprite concluded and faded back out of existence at the Warlock’s hand.

“Maybe we need to go up to the top? I don’t know...” The Hunter began cautiously approaching the large stairwell in the corner of the room that spiraled upward around the walls.

“Might as well.” Replied the Warlock. “You good to go, Titan?”

The armored human checked his guns for a moment before responding. “Sure. Lets see if it takes us out of here.”

After what felt like 10 minutes of ascension on the black marbled staircase the trio found themselves no closer to the top of the hall than they had began. “I don’t understand it.” The warlock declared. “We aren’t moving but neither are the stairs. It’s a goddamn anomaly if I’ve ever seen one. Hunter, do you have any ideas? Any feelings at all about what we are supposed to do?”

“Maybe if we go up the stairs backwards?” She replied.

“Worth a try.”

The hunter readied herself and began to step upward one leg at a time while facing the Warlock and Titan. She appeared to be making progress for a time. “How am I doing? Because to me you guys haven’t gone anywhere and I’ve been walking in place.”

“You’re further up than we are!” The warlock shouted up to her.

“Well that makes no sense at all - “

The sound of something hard hitting the top of the stairs caused all three to turn and look. An small orb was rolling down the stairs a few meters above them. Just as soon as they looked at the orb, they realized they were all standing together at the base of the stairs. No one had moved, no one felt any change.

“What in the world is going on” The warlock sighed as she spoke. After a moment of clanking down the steps, the orb was now just a few feet from them. “What in the world is this. I’m so confused by everything.”

“Let me try something” The titan raised a light machine gun and without warning emptied the entire drum into the ceiling of the hall with deafening effect. After the sparks had finished flying and the dust from bullet impacts settled, the warlock chortled “Smooth move pal.”

“It was worth a shot” the Titan gestured.

“Yeah I guess.” The Warlock conceded.

The Hunter reached down and grabbed the orb from the floor. The second her glove touched it, the voice returned.

“Where do you WANT to go.” it spoke clearly and with many voices. The Hunter looked deeply frightened and replied shakily “I want to get out of here”-

She vanished and the ball dropped from her hands to the floor with a dull clank.

“OKAY. WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED. NONE OF MY STUDIES EXPLAIN ANY OF THIS.” The Warlock shouted with terror. “WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE GO. HUNTER???!??”

The Titan lunged forward and hoisted the ball over his head while shouting “WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!”

The voices replied “She is with Us.”

“TAKE ME TO HER NOW!” The Titan commanded the ball. The moment the breath escaped his lungs to ask the question he was gone, leaving the Warlock flabbergasted and alone in the dark tower.

She spoke aloud to herself, “Okay. OKAY. No, this isn’t okay. Think. They asked the orb to go somewhere and it took them somewhere but I don’t know where. I don’t trust this thing but I have no reason to believe that it is lying. It’s a ball. It can’t lie. Logic. You’re okay, you can do this.” The warlock summoned an over-shield for herself with her light and steadied her nerve.

She cleared her throat and held the ball up to eye level: “Whoever you are, safely take me to my friends.”

The orb fell to the floor for a final time and the black tower hall was silent as its simulation slowly corrupted.

18

“You’re doing it again.” his Ghost bumped against his shoulder to no response. “Hey. HEY!”

The brooding titan snapped back “What.”

“I thought I lost you there for a second. You’ve been zoning out quite a lot more recently.”

“I have more than enough to think about these days.” The Titan turned back away from his companion and continued to look out over the frozen moon towards the monumental pyramid shape looming on the edge of the horizon.

The Ghost insisted “You know I’m here to talk about anything you may need -”

“ENOUGH.” The Titan growled back. “Allow me this peace. Let me think. Sleep or something I don’t care. I will wake you when you are needed.”

The Ghost stared into its own reflection on the guardian’s metal plating. He couldn’t exhibit real emotions, but the sight of his shell floating there in the cold seemed... foreign to him for a moment. “... Alright, Guardian. I’ll go away for a while. You know where to find me.”

The titan did not respond, so the small mechanical sprite fluttered out of visibility and then was gone. He sat alone on the ice.

The wind that day wasn’t particularly bad. By all accounts it was balmy for Europa. The solar light illuminated the ice to a near blinding shade of white but the Titan was unfazed. He continued staring at the pyramid in the distance in total silence. An occasional fellow guardian on mission would jet past below him atop their sparrow kicking up gentle waves of frozen crystals that glistened into iridescent clouds before settling back down. None of it phased him.

Hours passed before the Titan finally stirred. The sun had grown low in the sky and cast an orange hue across the tundra before him and his shadow stretched long and black down onto the ice below his perch. His radio crackled to life with unusually thick static. He stood and reached for the device to adjust the tuner to try and clean up the signal when the ice below his feet suddenly shifted. With no warning, the cliff he had spent the day observing the pyramid from collapsed with tremendous noise and sent him hurtling over 100 feet downward into his own shadow. The pain was immense as his body was tossed and ground against the churning blocks of ice, snow. The whole affair lasted no more than a few seconds before the Titan was completely and totally buried, unsure of whether or not he had survived, only that everything was dark and he was being crushed.

*ksrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrtttttttt* SAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLVVVV** KRSCHTSTTTTSSAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTIOOONNNN* *ksrhhhhhhhhhht*

The radio crackled through the rubble, muffled, loud, irritating, but functional. He hadn’t died - though he wasn’t too far from doing so. Using whatever light he had left, the Titan’s twisted body engulfed itself in Solar heat, softening the ice and snow that encased it and giving him just enough room to crawl.

~fuck that was close. How do I get out of here ~

He thought to himself. He wriggled around until he had melted enough of his icy tomb to have some form of cave space.

~I can’t keep this up I need my light to recharge. I need my Ghost back~

“No.” The Titan interrupted his own thoughts and spoke out loud to himself. “I don’t need Ghost. I can do this myself.”

The radio static was constant now and growing louder.

*ksrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrtttttttt* COOOMMMMEEEEEE** KRSCHTSTTTTTOOOOOOUSSSSSS* *ksrhhhhhhhhhht*

~where the fuck is that radio~

The Titan dug through the edges of his space in the pitch blackness guided by his ears. He thought he must be under a dozen feet of snow or more for it to be this dark.

*ksrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrtttttttt* 

~oh come on where the fuck is it~

*ksrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrtttttttt* 

“Where are you....”

*KSHRRRRTTTTTTTTTT*

“SHUT UP!!” The Titan screamed and slammed a punch into the black wall of his frozen semi-grave and used stasis to try and split the ice apart from within. The sound of creaking crystals of immobility groaned and shifted the snow around him causing his cavern to collapse slightly and leave him half buried again in total darkness.

He let out a primal roar and threw his frozen fists against the weak ceiling of the cavern and screamed as the radio fuzz grew impossibly loud. “GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!!!”

Suddenly, the radio silenced and the air around him began to vibrate. He could feel ripples of energy and movement pulse out of his fists and the snow around him began releasing its hold. The space that he had been encapsulated by was now roomy and the air buzzed long and low as the snow he had just slammed his fists into was no longer within reach. The room was.... expanding.

The titan continued screaming and channeling his rage into his fists which continued reverberating the atmosphere around his body. He took a tentative step forward without breaking focus and his boot sunk into the hard packed snow like it was in beach sand.

“I WANT OUT NOW!” He stepped forward again, this time the darkness split as he spoke. Just a crack in his vision like a pulse through a vein, weakly at first and then other cracks began to appear. He stepped forward a second time, his boot met the snow but it felt like solid stone.

The cracks in the darkness grew with each step forward and the snow beneath his feet no longer felt like snow. It felt rigid. He began to run forward and with each step the air hummed louder and he felt more powerful. As the cracks around him grew wide enough to see more light through, the Titan let out a final deep cry and forced his fists out away from him, sending the entire collapsed hillside exploding outward from him.

He now stood on the tundra once again, the destroyed hill he had once perched on lay in ruins behind him and the path he had walked upon had turned to black patterned stone. The Titan took a moment to inspect his armor - not a scratch. Come to think of it, not even an injury. He had.. healed himself... somehow.

*ksrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrtttttttt* The radio crackled back to life from his hip. It had never fallen off of him.

*We... would like....... to speak..... with you ****** Lightbearer*

*ksrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrtttttttt* *POP*

The radio sparked and fizzled then caught fire. The Titan reached down to the broken device and cast it aside.

“Ghost” He commanded to the evening air.

A moment passed before his companion transmatted into view in front of him. “I’m here Guardia - WHAT HAPPENED” His shell rapidly expanded as he began scanning the shattered hillside. “What Happened?!? I’m detecting darkness energy everywhere are you alright?!?”

“I think we owe this pyramid a visit.“ The titan looked down at his shadow as he spoke. It swirled and writhed on the snow before him.

“What are you talking about what is going on?!?” Ghost whirred with obvious concern.

The Titan materialized his Sparrow and mounted it in one motion. With a twist of the throttle, he speed off towards the distant pyramid without answering.

17

Thoughts on Ephemeral Attachments by Octavia-5, philosopher of the Thanatonautic Order

Have you ever heard the myth of Cupid? Of course you have. We all have. Two people, unbeknownst to one another or unbetroth unto the other, fated by the cherub’s golden tipped arrow to become one. Inseparable. Bound by love and desire.

This is forbidden to guardians. Attachment to persons who are not immortal will only leave the wound the golden arrow pierces. And as we all know, the arrow must WOUND you. Love always, always hurts you. It is through this shared, mutual pain that we become beholden to one another. Free yourself of that attachment. Through loss, through death, we find our answers and our strength. We will rid ourselves of the tethers of un-knowing through our death and resurrection and love has no place in the Thanatonaut’s rites.

There are lessons to be learned here still from the ancient story of the winged creature. Often we are told of his golden arrows but many forget that Cupid carried not one but two arrows. An arrow tipped with lead. A heavy, poisoning, and dull metal that upon infliction caused the victim to flee, to run and feel deep revulsion towards the other. No one speaks of this second arrow because it damages the preconceived notion of what a being of “pure” attachment is conceived of. Much in the same that very few speak of who Cupid’s father was. It’s mother was the so-called goddess of love within their pantheon of religion but it’s father… oh yes the father… was one of two different beings.

The god of Fire. Vulcan, of flame and the earth’s burning core.

Or…

The god of War. Ares. Mars of battle and triumph and glorious death.

My fellow Thanatonauts, we must abandon attachment. Accept THIS half of the duality of existence and seek truth through the unfinal illumination of our infinite death and with each resurrection we will understand more…and…more. Seek the lessons of the father of attachment’s lead arrows, not the mother of affection’s golden shackles. The mysteries of the universe and the energies therein can be contained, re-used, and expand the mind.

Until such a time as enlightenment is achieved, our order must continue. We are what binds the guardians together in understanding, WE ARE WHAT BINDS-

----

The titan closed the book without finishing the page. “Thanatonauts sound insane.” He murmured to himself. Other guardians were milling about the shops and stands that dotted the plaza. A couple other new lights were sat opposite him looking simultaneously fascinated and repulsed by their own copies of the book.

“Why must I read this again?” The titan looked to his ghost with desperation. “It is the definition of insanity. There are guardians who purposefully kill themselves over and over?”

“You have to read it to understand all of the facets and fringes of what it means to be a guardian. The Thanatonauts … uhh.. handle their newly found immortality through the traveler… well..” Ghost whirred and fluttered about in front of his guardian, “Differently than most.”

“I suppose theory and education is just as important as combat training and honing our light.” The Titan sighed. He’d been reading for weeks and was itching for a new challenge in combat.

“Yes, it is.” Ghost beamed. “But I get the feeling you need a break.”

“Ideally.”

The Ghost spun on its Y axis for a moment before announcing to his titan “Very well then. Let’s see if we can find a shooting range nearby.”

The Titan smiled and stood up immediately. “I think that is an excellent idea for a break. Where is the nearest range in this part of the city?”

“A kilometer south. But promise me you’ll continue studying afterwards.” Ghost purred

The Titan gave a deliberate wink and replied, “Of course, my friend.”

16

Every guardian has heard about Ikora Rey’s personal library but only the highest order of warlocks was typically welcome to it. Today her library laid host to a single titan, his helmet, which he was carrying under his arm, was damaged on the left-hand side and one of his horns were snapped halfway up. He stood in the entryway with his ghost drifting through the air above his shoulder. Both in awe of the volumes of knowledge surrounding them and the priceless collection of artifacts in glass cases that dotted the room.

“Ms. Rey will be with you shortly. Please wait here and make yourselves comfortable.” A docent frame in a simple robe instructed the duo.

“Uhmm… thank you.” The titan stammered uncomfortably. He stepped forward and took a seat in a velvet high backed chair that could well have been hundreds of years old. His ghost quickly scanned the room as his titan tried his best not to damage the chair.

“There are thousands of years of history and books in here. It’s.. it’s incredible. I wonder if Ikora has read them all.”

“I have.” A voice announced from the spiral stairwell on the far side of the room. Ikora stepped through a sudden portal of void light from the top of the stairs and began descending them gracefully. Two books gently floated around her torso, their pages slowly turned through the air as if invisible readers were eagerly devouring their words. “Several times in fact.”

The duo was starstruck. They’d met Ikora before, but not like this. Not on her turf. Out on the wall with the vanguard she was a commander. In here, she was a god.

The titan stood at attention and spoke rigidly “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Rey and thank you for agreeing to meet with us in person.”

“I’m pleased to finally meet you as well, Titan. Please, sit. Continue to make yourself at ease.” Ikora gestured to the ancient chair the titan had just stood from. Sheepishly, he lowered back down onto it. It was comfortable at least. Ikora walked over to an adjacent chair about 5 feet away from his. A small ornate end table rested between the two of them and had what the titan assumed was a tea kettle, though not like any he had ever seen before. It was made of white stone and bore blue stylized ideograms of winged snake-like creatures he did not immediately recognize and rows of symbols that looked like very intricate hive runes.

“It’s from the Yuan Dynasty. A pre-golden age ancient civilization.” Ikora explained with a knowing look. “It’s a tea kettle. It’s Oolong. Would you like some?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

The two sat in pregnant silence with their tea for a few minutes until Ghost cautiously broke into the looming conversation. “So Ikora, have you ever heard of … uhh.. mirror, or... uhm... evil Guardians?”

The statuesque warlock did not blink as she sipped her tea. Her gaze was sharp but compassionate. “An evil mirror guardian. Can’t say I have. Why do you ask?”

Ghost proceeded to recount the previous week’s event in the garden and the creature that spoke with a grinding metallic voice and resembled his guardian with terrifying detail.

“…and as soon the redjacks showed up everything was back to normal.” The ghost finished. “We sent you the request for a meeting the next morning and now here we are.”

Ikora set her tea down on the table and replied simply. “I see.”

She took a long slow breath and followed up with “My first reaction is that this was a hallucination, but you wouldn’t have come to me and asked for a private meeting if that were so.”

The titan responded, “Ms Rey, I am aware of how strange it sounds but I swear on my life that this felt real.”

“That is concerning then.” The warlock stood and approached a window overlooking the mountains as she spoke. “There are stories of dark guardians. Legends of guardians being corrupted and turned into something of the darkness, severed irreparably from the Traveler. We all know the tale of Dredgen Yor. But this… this is something else. No hive magic, no taken corruption. It almost sounds like a dark reflection of you.” Her eyes met her own faded reflection in the glass of the window. “Did it say or do anything else? Did anything else stand out to you?”

The titan pondered for a moment and then replied, “Yes I think so. At the end, when I was most afraid and threatening it, it seemed to almost, straighten up? And its speech seemed to be at its clearest just before it vanished. Almost like-“

“Like the less control you had, the more control it had… that is.. very, very interesting.” Ikora’s brow had furrowed completely by now. Zavala’s voice interrupted through her coms but she cut it off almost immediately. She approached the titan and said with a frightful tone, “I think I need to discuss this with the rest of vanguard command in private and you have given me lot of research to do on this subject. Thank you, Titan, for bringing this to my attention. Is there anything else I can help you with before you head on your way?”

The Ghost spoke for his guardian, “No we are okay. Thank you for your time and please let us know if you’d like to meet again.”

“I will certainly do that. Be well, Guardian.”

The duo began to head for the door when a thought struck the titan. “Oh Ms. Rey, on a side note, Mars seemed dim that night. I’m unsure if that’s related at all but I just remembered and thought I should let you know.”

Ikora’s face grew pale for a moment before she quietly returned with the statement, “I know.. There will be an announcement about what’s happened to Mars, Mercury, and Io tomorrow.”

15

The colossal Knight overturned a boulder with the same level of ease and disdain as a horse swatting a fly. He could have easily been four meters tall. Possibly more. In his right hand he clutched a wretched blade gnarled with veins and scuffed chitin plating. The blade was not sharp, but the sheer force behind it and the indomitable will of its wielder made it more than capable of cleaving a scorpion tank in two.

He was searching for them. He overturned a second boulder, then a third. His patience was wearing thin and his breath ragged with blind rage. After a fourth unfruitful excavation attempt, the knight howled in frustration and thrust his living blade into the earth as a green aura began to charge around him. They had only a moment before the whole ravine was likely to explode in a blast of soulfire.

“Now” her comms crackled through static.

Emerging from active camouflage, the Hunter closed the gap on the meditating knight with her slug shotgun in hand. In two strides and a jump she was on him and slammed the barrel of her shotgun against the knight’s skull plating.

The knight’s head turned slightly.

Click

BANG

The hunter was thrown from the knight as it turned. From her vantage point laying on the ground, she could see that half of its head was now a pulpy mess of flesh and fibers. It wasn’t a lethal blow like she had hoped, but it was clearly barely alive. It staggered a few steps and snarled as a distant click and the sound of a rocket launching caught its attention.

The next 5 seconds were blinding and deafening. The hunter felt the life burn from her body as the explosion engulfed her. She was too close to the knight as the rocket struck it.

---------

“Shit.” The Titan pulled his eye away from his rocket launcher’s viewfinder. “SHIT! She was too close.. I think I killed her”

“She can come back. The knight can’t though. She did her job, she knew the risks.” The warlock had been casting an empowering rift around the two of them, unable to see the impact from their position.

“That does not make me feel better for killing her.” The titan growled back. “Still probably hurt worse than hell.

“Definitely. But the knight is dead, yes?” The warlock’s rift faded.

The titan put his eye back to the viewfinder. Bits of chitin and hive flesh littered the steaming crater. The Hunter’s charred corpse lay a few meters away. “Yes it’s very dead.” The Titan sighed.

“Let’s go revive her then.”

 --------

The site of the rocket impact had cooled slightly but some scattered embers still illuminated the canyon where the Hive Knight once patrolled. A ghost emerged from the ether and expanded, shining its light on the burned body that lay on the edge of the crater.

The Hunter gasped and sat upright. Armor charred but otherwise unharmed. A heavily plated gauntlet extended into her refocusing vision and a slightly muffled voice said “Sorry about that”

She blinked a few times before turning and realizing it was her companions kneeling next to her. “You owe me. SO MUCH. Asshole. That fucking hurt. I DIED!” The hunter grabbed the titan’s hand and was helped to her feet as the warlock laughed.

“Yeah but you blew his damn head off. That was amazing. Shame he turned at the last second. You would have had him and we wouldn’t have needed the backup plan.” the warlock chided. “That’s one less patrol. Good job team.”

The hunter cracked her back and let out a halfhearted “yaaaaay..”

This time the Titan chuckled at the sarcasm. “Alright, whats next.”

The warlock pulled out her holomap of Luna. Dozens of other markers appeared all over the surface of the planet. “The next one seems to be about 20 km north east. Shall we?” She summoned her sparrow and deactivated the holomap in one graceful motion.

The titan and the hunter shared a tired look before the hunter replied “yeahh alright. Let’s go. The sooner we squash these patrols the sooner I can get my apology beers. That’s twice now, T. I’m keeping count.” Her sparrow materialized before them as she walked towards the warlock, already mounted up.

Read it on AO3 here.

They raise their eyes and ask me, is there a life after this life?

Read it on AO3 here.

The universe is so much smaller now, with his ever-present eyes disjoined and stranded to rust on distant planets he can no longer see. He feels blinded.

November 01, 2874

TYPE: Transcript. DESCRIPTION: Conversation. PARTIES: Two [2]. One [1] Guardian-type, Class Titan, designate Shaxx [s]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Hunter, designate Azra Jax [aj] ASSOCIATIONS: the Crucible; Jax, Azra; Lord Shaxx, Osiris; Redjacks //AUDIO UNAVAILABLE// //TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS.../

[s:01]: I am disappointed I did not see your name on the Crucible signups, Azra.

[aj:01]: Just because I do some scouting for your Redjacks, it doesn’t mean I’m interested in…

[Silence]

[aj:02]: Uh, lemme rephrase that.

[s:02]: You have made your opinions on the Crucible known.  Though I cannot help but think there is a misunderstanding.

[aj:03]: I just don’t see the point is all.  Sure, for the Kinderguardians?  Let ‘em wet their feet where their Ghosts aren’t in danger.  But I’m practically drowning in fieldwork already.

[s:03]: There is always something to learn.  Every time the phoenix rises from the ashes, it rises stronger.

[aj:04]: Does it have to be a phoenix, though?

[s:04]: Not a fan of Osiris?

[aj:05]: That is an incredible understatement.  Egotistical jerk.

[s:05]: Though he is not the… friendliest of allies, I often look back on his actions and realize that he had a point.

[aj:06]: Not all the time.

[s:06]: Nobody is perfect.  But we are all on the same side, here.  Time and again he has proven his worth to Humanity.  I encourage you to look upon his decisions with a kinder eye.  The City might not have stood without him.

[aj:07]: I can’t do that.  I just… can’t.  For my own sake.

[s:07]: I understand you have some history.

[aj:08]: He was the first person to… to make me question if I was right.  Not just my opinions, but me.  For years, he had me thinking I was wrong for existing.  Though I know better now, it hurt.

[s:08]: I see.

[aj:09]: He has this really bad tendency to immediately see the worst possible outcome of any situation and gun for preventing that.  No matter how improbable it is, no matter how much he screws everything else up in the process.

[s:09]: As I said, though, he often has a point.

[aj:10]: It’s easy to look back and say that, but I have to wonder just how much further along we could be if he hadn’t done some of the things he’s done.  How many roads to paradise has he destroyed, trying to shut the door on catastrophe?

[aj:11]: And he’s never suffered the consequences for that.  It’s the rest of us that do.

[s:10]: Perhaps it is less that he has never suffered and more that he refuses to.  But he will, one day.  There is a price to be paid for misheld confidence, and it is always collected eventually.

[aj:12]: On that day, maybe I’ll think of him a little more fondly.  If he manages to find some humility.  Until then, I’ll not parley with his ego.

[s:11]: Ego is why I wanted to speak with you, incidentally.

[aj:13]: Hm?

[s:12]: The Crucible exists so that people may learn, but that cannot be done without teachers.  There are lessons to impart on the newer generation.

[s:13]: We have spoken of pride.  I wanted to inform you, I have some recruits who think they will never again be bested in melee.  They have the notion that strength is all it takes to win a fistfight.

[aj:14]: You want me to show them my Staff?

[s:14]: I want you to show them… consequences.