Destiny: Volume 1 (Completed)

Chapter Seven

         "The Cosmodrome was where humanity took to the stars -first in search of what lays beyond, and at the end, in hope of escape. Today, it is a graveyard, picked over by the Fallen House of Devils. But buried among the detritus of the Golden Age are the pieces we need to forge a new future." (Grimoire: Old Russia)

          I felt uneasy. After all of the events that had transpired in our last mission, I felt dizzy. Out of place. Lightheaded. I decided to head back home to rest and recover but throughout the entire ride back home I kept seeing images in my head and hearing voices. They wouldn't stop. It made my head hurt badly and it made me feel sick. "Guardian...maybe you should rest." Alex said as he drove the ship back home. "Yeah...I intend to." I said as I took my helmet off. I held my head and soon we arrived back at the Last City. Alex teleported me out of the ship and on the roof of the apartment. He planned on going back to the Tower and letting the Vanguard know what we found. Me on the other hand, I went inside and got in bed. Tossing my armor and clothes aside and just holding my head.
          "God...my head...it hurts so bad..." I said to myself. I curled up in my bed and eventually fell asleep. Trying to stay comfortable and deal with the pain. I fell into a dream. I saw Mara. We were in a school. The library to be exact. I was walking with her and carrying her books as she spoke to me about the test that she passed. And then I saw her short brown hair and bright smile. Then I woke up from my dream and saw that it was the next day. I slept for a total of about 14 hours. I sat up and held my head. "Jeez....how long was I out...?" I asked. Alex popped out in front of me. "You slept through the night Parrish. It seems you ended up in a bit of a hot state. You were sweating and at one point your Solar skills kicked in and well....I'll let you look around." Alex said. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed my glasses and saw that my room was scorched. Black spots everywhere and everything burned to a crisp. "Oh no....that's not good." I said. I grabbed what I could that was still worth taking which was nothing much but my street clothes and left the apartment without anyone noticing. Me and Alex went to the tower and I saw Gold again. He was standing with Ikora reading a book.
          "Guardian. Good to see you." Ikora said greeting me. "Hey Parrish." Gold said. I smiled to both of them and waved as I went over to Cayde. "Hey man. I have a question." I said to him. He took his attention away from his map and leaned against the table to talk. "Hey there Guardian. Nice to see you still up and running." He said. I laughed nervously. "Yeah...about that...my apartment room caught fire." I said. Zavala, Ikora, and Cayde all looked at me concerned and confused. "What do you mean...did you start a fire...?" Cayde asked. "No it's not that. I was learning about the Sunsinger or whatever it's called with Gold and then all my powers went out of line. They've been unstable since I've been exposed to it." I said. I saw Gold tip toeing slowly out of the room but Ikora stood in front of him. "Gold? Did you train him without permission?" Ikora asked him. "M-maybe...was that a bad thing...?" Gold asked nervously. Ikora pulled him aside to talk and I could tell it wasn't gonna be pleasant. Zavala spoke next. "Most Guardians master one of their specific abilities before moving on to the next. You're still new to this on both of your powers. Of course since this has happened both your Void and Solar will counteract each other until you can gain full control." He said. I sighed and looked down a bit upset and concerned.
           "Hey don't sweat it alright? I can get you set up with a new place." Cayde said as he patted my shoulder. "Really? Where and how?" I asked. "Don't worry. You'll stay right here in the tower. I have an old room that just got renovated recently so you can stay there." He said. I felt a smile grow on my face. "Thanks. That's a blessing Cayde." I said. He shook my hand and then Alex appeared. "Parrish. We have our next mission." He said. "What do we have to do? More hunting?" I asked. "Actually no. We need to help restore something that can be of great use to us. Hopefully." He said. I nodded and said my goodbyes and made my way out of the Vanguard Quarters and straight to Banshee. "Hey there Guardian...you need a new weapon?" He asked. His voice simulation an old age. "Yeah. Got anything different in stock?" I asked. He looked on the shelf behind him and pulled down a scout rifle. A semi-automatic with a blue color added to it. He handed it over to me along with a new sniper. "Here you go Guardian. It's on the house." He said. I picked up the weapons and it seemed lighter than the old assault rifle.
          "Thank you Banshee. I appreciate it." I said. I took my new weapons and started to walk away but then someone ended up stopping me. His face was blue and his eyes a golden flow. He wore a hood and robes. "Guardian. I sense you have some materials that would be of use to you.." He said. "What do you mean? I don't have anything." I said in response. Alex appeared. "But I have something that can be useful." He said. Alex materialized a bunch of blue gems on the ground. "What the...where did those come from?" I asked. The mysterious blue man picked up the gems and they started to glow and then poof! It turned into armor. "Woah....bright side I don't have to buy anything." I said. I took the armor and he turned the rest of the gems into armor and eventually I had a full set. "Who are you..?" I asked. He smiled. "I am Master Rahool. I am the Cryptarch here at the tower. Any of those engrams that you find out on the battlefield, bring them to me and i'll be sure to decode you something special." He said with a smile. "Alright then. I'll be sure to remember that then." I said with a smile. I took the armor and then Cayde came and showed me to my new place to stay. The room was so nice and spacious. A king size bed, an even better bathroom, and a kitchen combined into the living room. A small cut above the sink so I could watch the television in the living room from the kitchen whenever I was bored.
"Thank you again Cayde." I said. "Don't sweat it Guardian." He said. He walked away and I went inside. The door closing automatically behind me. I put on my new armor and gear and got my weapons at the ready. "Alex, what are we in for today?" I asked. "Well according to the Vanguard, there was a team of guardians who went dark near the Skywatch. They were running a mission for Dead Orbit; had hidden codes to unlock an Array that could link us to other systems in the galaxy. We are going to see if we can find those codes and restore the Array." He said. I loaded my weapons and placed them on my back. "Well what are we waiting for? To the Cosmodrome." I said. He vanished and I walked outside to the main area of the tower to see the ship being brought around. I was teleported into the drivers seat and we took off to the Cosmodrome. Once there, we landed close to the Terrestrial Complex. A shortcut towards Skywatch. We walked back inside the rusted and destroyed building. "We're heading back towards that Hive breeding ground. The Vanguard say that they're spilling onto the surface now. Keeping the Fallen busy." Alex said as he shined a light to help with our path. "Better them than us. I hate walking through here after what happened last time." I said. We walked back up the diseased steps and through the dark room and eventually back to the surface. Fallen and Hive were fighting agains each other for what seemed to be control over this one area. It was a bit calming knowing that they weren't after us but at the same time they all needed to go. I joined the fight and proceeded to take out each of the Hive and Fallen one by one; each trigger pull being another head that exploded. We need up running into another wizard but it wasn't anything serious of course. I decided to try and work with my Sunsinger abilities this time and channeled some Solar energy in my hands. I threw a well placed grenade and burned it's shields almost instantly.
"Well then that was easy." I said as i proceeded to take out the Wizard. Its body tuning to ash after defeat. I advanced forward to find more Fallen but they weren't an issue. That is until I saw a Captain. He teleported in front of me and startled me. I ran for cover but felt a hot piece of shrapnel cut through my leg. "Ow! Damn it." I said as I held my leg. It was bleeding pretty bad but then the wound began to heal. "Woah..." I said. I heard Alex's voice through my helmet. "It's ok. I can repair most battle scars. The bullet went through your legs so i'll handle it. Keep fighting." He said. I looked around from behind my cover area but there was no sign of the Captain. Suddenly he appeared behind me. I jumped and he swung at me to punch me. I grabbed his hand and hit him first. After my and made contact his body was covered in embers of flames. "Awesome. It's like what I can do with my Void abilities. Only instead of vanishing they burn." I said. I grabbed my gun and shot a few rounds into his head. Eventually killing it. I took a breath and gathered myself. "You ok?" Alex asked me. "Yeah. I'm fine. Where to now?" I asked. I got myself up and dusted myself off and we continued through the complex until we reached a clearing. Skywatch. I looked around as my eyes adjusted to the sunlight in the area. My ghost scanned the area. "I can sense the Ghosts who came with the Guardians. The Fallen have them." Alex said. I nodded and we kept moving forward. Whenever we found a Fallen enemy we made sure that after we killed it we checked the body. eventually we killed a Vandal and something dropped from its pocket. "What's that?" I asked. I picked it up and it was a destroyed Ghost shell. "Oh no...those Fallen are gonna pay." I said to myself. Alex appeared and scanned the dead Ghost. "The Ghost is dead...it doesn't have the codes. Lets keep hunting." He said. We continued to look throughout the open land of Skywatch. We dropped a few more Fallen enemies and eventually found another dead Ghost. "Heres another one." I said as i picked it up. Alex scanned it. "Nothing. Keep looking. Hopefully we can find another one." He said. As we walked around i suddenly became lightheaded and i stumbled a bit. My mind was having another spasm. I took cover and held my head as i saw more images. Robots walking around and gunfire.
"Parrish, snap out of it."
"W-what? What happened...?"
"Your vitals shot through the roof. Are you ok?"
I sat up straight and rested my head against the wall. "Yeah...I'll be alright. Just more images and vision in my head." I said. I looked around and about a few yards away I could see another Fallen Vandal with a Ghost on its belt. I pulled out my sniper and aimed in on the Fallen enemy and pulled the trigger. Taking its head clean off. The other Fallen around it scattered and moved into cover. I tried to form another Solar Grenade but it wouldn't work. "Oh come on. Not again." I said. I sighed and tried Void instead and it worked. I threw it near some of the Fallen enemies and it brought them out of cover and I picked them off one by one until the area was clear. I walked over to the Ghost and picked it up. "Alex. What about this one?" I asked. He appeared and scanned it. "This ghost still holds the codes. Quick, lets go find the Array!" He said. I put the ghost in my pocket and we moved further through Skywatch until we reached this open area with a sealed dome out in the distance. We walked along the pathway and reached a command center. Computers were there but they were dusty and didn't look functional. Alex appeared and started tampering with the controls. "It seems that...yes. These codes are gonna work...bypassing encrypting processes...accessing standard protocols...Its working!" He said as the machines cut on and noises began to sound. "These systems are ancient. How do they still work?" I asked. "All systems here aren't gone. Just asleep. But with the right tech you can reactivate anything. Outside, the Array should be opening." He said. I went back outside and watched as the dome in the distance opened up and out of it came a giant Array tower. "Wow...its huge." I said. Suddenly a few black holes opened up in the sky and ships coming out of them. Black and a deep green outline. Shaped like a coffin in a way. "Hive Tombships! Parrish, fall back!" Alex said. I ran back inside towards him and dug in and got ready for a fight. The Tombships dropped off waves of Thrall as they all rushed in on me. I pulled out my weapons and opened fire on anything that moved. Once they were down to a few numbers they scattered. "They only attack in groups...Interesting." I said to myself. I let the rest of the Hive advance until I saw two Wizards. "Crap. Two?!" I said. I tried to throw a Solar Grenade but it turned out to be a Void one. It damaged them enough for me to take them out but it was so much easier as a Solar. Wave after wave of Hive enemies came after me and I took them out one by one until something big came to fight. A big brute of the Hive with a blade. Charging right at me. "Come on. Just a little closer." I said. I built up a surge of energy in my body and moved it to my hand. I leaped out of cover and threw a Novabomb and watched as the Hive enemy and others around it disappeared into the Void. The Tombships disappeared and all was silent.
"Its done! You might wanna come look at this too." Alex said. I walked over to him and looked at the computer monitors. Different displays of the Moon, Mars, and Venus appeared on each one. "Woah. What does this have to do with anything though?" I asked. "This Array is controlled by the last Warmind on Earth. Rasputin. These codes and this Array can help us communicate with other colonies across the galaxy and help reach out to others for help...this could be our key in stopping the Darkness." Alex said. I looked out and back at the Array and then I felt the Ghost in my pocket vibrate once or twice. I pulled it out the Ghost and its core blinked a bit. "H...hive....Dark....ness...." It said before finally disappearing in a ball of blue light. Alex floated over to me.
"What was that?" He asked.
"The Ghost spoke to me." I said.