Destiny: Volume 1 (Completed)

Chapter Nine

          "Mind the cracks and crevices in the Moon. There is an army in their shadows." (Grimoire: The Hidden Swarm)

Many things are running through my mind currently. What are the hive planning? How big has their army grown? What disturbing things have been happening underneath the moons surface. It's a scary thing to think about while you're flying back home from your endeavors to the Moon. Me and Gold finally land back at the tower and we begin to make our way to the Vanguard but the Cryptarch stops Gold and I. "You boys just coming back from a trip?" He asked. "Yeah. Look, we don't really have a lot of time to talk. We have some important news that we need to get to the Vanguard." I said. "News....you wouldn't have happen to have be on the Moon recently, right?"
"Yeah. We just came back actually." Gold said. We updated the Cryptarch of our mission and what we discovered and what we possibly could have unleashed onto the surface of the Moon. "A dead Ghost? And it's memories?" He asked. Alex appeared. "The Ghost we salvaged had information of a growing Hive army lead by someone with emmense power. It's kinda scary. They have knowledge of the Traveler." Alex said to him. "Ah I see...if we are to gain more knowledge to better combat this foe then we must go to the Worlds Grave." Rahool said. Me and Gold looked at eachother a bit confused as to how Rahool, of all people, knew about the Hive. "I'm listening..." I said. He smiled and pulled out a book from behind his little stand, flipped through it, and handed it to us. Different transcriptions of Hive ruins were all throughout the pages and the image of what seemed to be a library was in the middle page. A giant cylinder like object with Thrall all around it on their knees. Worshiping it. "What is this?" I asked. Alex scanned the book to make a digital copy for himself and Rahool continued.
"This is the Worlds Grave. A place where all the knowledge of the Hive and their powers are kept. Guarded by Knights and Thrall, it holds some of the Hive's greatest secrets." He said. "All the more for us to exploit." Gold said. "Where do we look for this thing?"
"Deep beneath the Hive temple that you most likely discovered on the Moon. Head there, find the Worlds Grave, and take all you can." Rahool said. I looked at the book and handed it back to him. He smiled and told us to have a good day and Gold and I went to discuss what we just heard. "So....we can tell the Vanguard about what we just heard about or....we can just go to the Worlds Grave and then tell them." I said. "Well I'm down for going now." Gold said. Suddenly my stomach began to rumble. "Crap. I haven't eaten in what feels like days. The food here is kinda ok but I wanna eat elsewhere." I said. He laughed a little and we made our way into the city. Still in our armor. We stopped at a food truck and Gold ordered his food. He got it just as fast as he ordered it. "This is my favorite place to eat. It's heavenly. You should try something." He said.
"I would love to Gold but I can't. I'm broke." I said opening my pockets to reveal nothing but lint and dust. "You mean you don't have any Glimmer?"
"Glimmer? What's that, some form of currency?"
"Not just some form of currency. It IS currency. You see, money has been replaced so all those green paper bills that you used to have don't work anymore." He said. I thought about how things used to be and it drew me into a flash back. I saw the school again but I was trying to use my regular money and then I was given a cube In exchange. It was shiny and almost clear to see through. I snapped of if it and looked at the food truck. I walked over and ordered a Cheeseburger tray with fries and a drink. I looked over at Gold with a smile. "What? You want me to pay?" He asked. "Yes please." I said laughing slightly. He sighed and paid for my meal. We both sat down and ate under a nearby tent with chairs and people all around. "So. I have a plan. In order to find the Worlds Grave we should probably find a way to scan the area on the Moons surface so we can plan our route accordingly." I said as I started to dig in. Alex appeared. "I've been reading that book that Rahool showed us. It doesn't have much on the Hive but I do know my way around the different temples. The place we want to go is towards the entrance of the Temple of Crota."
"Crota? Who's that?" Gold asked him. "Crota is....well, the book doesn't say but it seems like he could be the Hive's leader." Alex said. "Then why don't we take him out then?" I asked with a face full of food. Gold laughed. "Parrish, swallow." He said. I stopped eating and did so with a loud burp followinf afterwards. I was full and refreshed. "Ah. That was amazing. I've never had something this tasty before. I mean I've eaten the food here on Earth but this is amazing. Anyways, what's going on again?" I asked. Gold sighed and Alex filled me in on what I should have been paying attention to.
"So we're gonna go back to the Moon, scan the Temple of Crota, go to The Worlds Grave, take all we can, and leave. Did I miss anything?" I asked. Gold shook his head and stood up. "Let's get a move on now before we miss an oppertunity." Alex said as he vanished. I got up and we went back to the Tower hanger to load up and take off to the Moon. "Gold, you ready to go?" I asked. "Yeah. I'm following you this time." He said. I started my ship and we took off back into space and to the Moon; arriving there within a matter of minutes. Once we landed on the Moons surface, Alex and I decided to try and map out the Tenple from above. "There are holes and giant cracks on the surface of the Moon that are a perfect spot to scan for a proper map. We can find the Worlds Grave from there." Alex said. I nodded and my HUD display in my helmet showed me where I needed to go. Gold and I hopped on our sparrows and took off. Gold found a spot to scan and so did I. Our ghosts came together and formed a rough map of what's under the surface. Seeing the huge length and extent of what was under us was insane. The Moon was hollowed out completely.
"This....this is crazy....the entire Moon is a temple with a huge crater in the middle that leads to....nothing." Alex said. I looked at him confused. "What do you mean 'nothing'. As in there's no bottom nothing or does the fall not end?" I asked. "I don't know....whatever it is, there is definitely dark energy down there. Let's not fall down." Alex said. He disappeared and Gold and I made our way into the Temple. Finding various runes and passage ways. "These tunnels go on for miles. We'll never be able to explore them all." Alex said. "Maybe not on foot." Gold replied. Alex shined a light as we made our way towards a special room. "Hold on guys. It's seems like we're getting closer to the grave." Alex said. Me and Gold stopped and looked at him. "The Worlds Grave. Not ours." Alex said. I rolled my eyes and we kept moving forward. Eventually walking into a room where we got to see a machine in the center of a semi-circle area with a few doors nearby. "Well. This doesn't look dangerous at all." Gold said sarcastically. I jumped down from the platform we were on and walked towards the machine. Alex appeared and began to extract data from the device. "Wow...it's....like a super computer. There's so much information on the Hive here. I'm not sure if I could process it all." Alex said. I stood nearby and we could hear the clicking of the Thrall as I pulled out my weapons.
"Alex...take what you can and hurry. We got company." I said. Gold readied himself and we hid behind the machine. The army of the Hive began to pour out of the various doors. Acolytes began to pour out with their weapons firing, Thrall began to rush us with their sharp and jagged claws, Knights began to attack from a distance with their handheld cannons. We fought and fought as hard as we could until we saw a Knight with a sword. "Gold run!" I shouted. He took off as the beast chased him around the room. I pulled out my sniper and took aim; waiting for the right time to strike. Gold was trapped in a corner but that gave me the perfect oppertunity to strike. I did so right as the Knight lifted his sword. Putting a sniper round into his head. His body collapsed and turned to dust and Gold gave me a thumbs up. "Ok. I got all I can hold. Let's get out of here and bring this to the Vanguard." Alex said. He vanished back into my suit and Gold and I made our way back to the surface. After the Knight was defeated we didn't run into many more of their soldiers. We kept moving until we made it back to our ships.
"So Alex. What all did you find?" I asked. "The Hive have a very extensive library. It's got more information that even I didn't know of. It's incredible how they were able to store so much technology into one system for the Hive army to read and decipher." Alex said. "Anything on that Crota guy?" Gold asked. "Not much but it seems like he's the leader to the Hive army. Someone we probably don't wanna face anytime soon." Alex said. We got into our ships and the conversations continued. "So what now? We tell the Vanguard what we found and then try and stop the Hive?" I asked. Gold chimed in on the speakers in my ship. "We need a strategy. I'm sure the Hive can wait since they're only on the Moon. It shouldn't be too hard." He said. "Yeah but I'm worried that there might be more things to do here that need to be taken care of as well. We'll never know until the Vanguard tell us. Of course." I said.
"Very true. Where to next?" Gold asked.
"The Vanguard. We need to tell them what we found and as soon as possible." I said. We flew back to Earth and went straight to the Vanguard Quarters. They stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards us. "Guardians. Did you find the missing Guardian on the Moon?" Ikora asked. "The Guardian is dead but his Ghost was alive for a moment. We gained its memories and found out about some information that could be useful to us..."
I began to fill them in on the events of what happened on my journey. Their facial expressions changed drastically and soon Zavala spoke. "Guardian. If the information you found is true, then this is a matter that must not go unattended. You both need to assess the situation on the Moon and you need to get out there and stop whatever the Hive are doing. Immediately." He said. Me and Gold nodded and then Gold's ghost appeared. "The speaker needs to see us." It said to him. "Alright. Parrish, you go on ahead and see what you can do on the Moon. I'll meet you there later on or tomorrow. I'm gonna rest up before I go back out again." He said. "Ok. See you later on then." I said. Everyone saw me off and I went back to my room. I took off my armor and lied down on the bed. Relaxing. Alex appeared. "I've been reading this book for a while now and I believe something is on the Moon that could be useful or dangerous." He said. I sat up and put on my glasses as he displayed a hologram of a jagged sword in front of me. "Isn't that one of the blades that the Knights were holding?" I asked. "Yes. It's the Sword of Crota. One of the Hives most powerful weapons. With the ability to tear through light and space itself. Only the Knights can wield this kind of power but of course the leader is wielding one of his own. Maybe....this is his sword. If we can find it and destroy it, then maybe we could put a damper on their plans." Alex said. "This sword...does it even exist?" I asked. Alex showed the map of the Moon and the specific spot as to where it resides. "It's here and heavily guarded. We need to take out the generals of the blade and hopefully we can dispose of it properly." He said. I took a good look at the sword and, despite it being a hologram, I could feel the dark energy feeding off of it.
          "When do we start?"
          "Whenever you're ready Guardian."
          "Once I wake up, we can get this started. But for now I'm going to rest." I said as I lied down on the bed. "Alright. Goodnight Parrish." Alex said as he vanished. I stared at the ceiling for a little bit. Wondering what was locked away in my mind that I have yet to discover. All I've been able to gather so far was the fact of the school I went to, the battle that could have killed me, robots, and Mara. "What am I missing...what haven't I discovered...who am I...?" I asked myself. I got up and changed for bed and once I was under the covers I immediately fell asleep.

          "Promise...?"
          "I promise you..."