Destiny: Volume 1 (Completed)

Chapter Eleven

            "Your discovery is perhaps the greatest of our time. If the Hive were able to infect the Traveler through this long-lost shard of its battered shell, Ulan-Tan's theory may be true - all Light remains connected, across space and time. We cannot let our enemies use this power against us." (Grimoire: Chamber of Night)

          Me and Alex traveled down deeper into the Temple. Deeper than before. If this ritual was truly draining the Traveler of its light then I needed to move fast to stop it. I still wondered why I was fighting for this thing. Sure it basically brought me back to life but what else was there to it? The city? The Tower? The Guardians? I still had so many questions and little answers and the more I thought about it the less hope I had of finding answers. Maybe more would be revealed to me soon. "Alex, you gotta keep guiding me. Where am I going?" I asked. My map updated in my helmet and I followed the marker. Traversing deeper and deeper into the Hives den. Taking a little bit of time to admire some of the structures within he Temple. "This is crazy...they've made entire systems out of the Moon...you were right when you said that we wouldn't explore it all. Just imagine how long the Hive have been digging and building here." I said. I walked the rest of the way. Surprisingly not encountering any Hive. "It's too quiet. I don't like this." I said. I readied my weapons. "The Hive have been preparing the ritual. I can sense th dark energy from below. We're getting close." Alex said. I kept moving through what seemed like a maze of pathways until finally we reached the ritual room. A giant door blocking the path.
          "This must be it." I said. Alex appeared and began to decide the locks. "You'd think the Hive would wanna keep us away." Alex said. I sat down and waited. "Maybe Gold and the others are keeping them busy. It would be nice if we got this done on our own." I said. Alex let out a chuckle. "You think we could handle the Hive on our own?" He asked. I stood up as the locks disappeared. "Let's find out." I said. We made our way inside and the Hive wizards were surrounding a giant stone covered in black ooze. Me and Alex snuck around the room. There were three wizards in total along with a few Acolytes. "Wizards first." I said. Alex went silent as I pulled out my sniper. Pulling the trigger as the Wizard fell in one shot. "Woah. I broke its shield and killed it? How? I thought I couldn't before." I said. I took out the second one and the third Wizard ran behind cover. "You must have an elemental weapon. A solar sniper." Alex said. "Good to know I guess." I said. I pulled out my scout rifle and kept unloading rounds into the enemies. Eventually the Wizard appeared once more and I was ready for it. I threw a void grenade and stunned it and hit it once with the sniper. The Wizard fell quickly and turned to dust.
          "Alex, go and see what you can do to stop that ritual." I said. He appeared and floated over to a device behind giant rock and started to mess and tamper with it. "Buy me some time." Alex said. I stood nearby and took a good look of the room. There were two other entrances for enemies to come from. The door straight across from where I arrived opened first and a huge army of Thrall and Knights came running out towards me. I threw a grenade at my feet and made somewhat of a barrier so the Thrall wouldn't get too close. I fired a rocket into the huge crowd and wiped them out. "Next." I said confidently. The door to the right of where I came in opened and I heard a loud roar. "What was that? A giant Knight?" I asked a bit nervous. As the doors opened, a giant pulsating beast came through. It's arms in chains and a huge roar. No eyes or at least it seemed that way. "What the hell is that?!" I said in shock. He fired off a beam of void energy at me and I took cover. "That's an Ogre. A brutal monster of the Hive. It's eye beam is very dangerous and deadly with too much exposure." Alex said. I looked over at him.
          "How much longer?"
          "About as long as it'll take for you to kill that Ogre."
          "And if I one shot it?"
          "I doubt that."
          "No faith."
          "I have faith Parrish. Just not in your ability to one shot that Ogre."
          I laughed slightly and carefully aimed around the corner at the Ogre and shot it in its face. It staggered and stumbled backwards. "Well then. Don't like having your eye poked huh." I said to myself. The Ogre roared loudly and I kept firing at it. I heard Alex's voice in my helmet. "The Ogre is Telthor, Unborn. It's in the Hive journal that Rahool have." Alex said. "It has a name? Doesn't matter. Tell me where else I can shoot it." I said as I shot my last round of my sniper into the Ogre. "Crap. No more ammo. I got this." I ran close to it and fired off a Novabomb. It looked like it did some damage but suddenly I was knocked back by a shockwave and hit the nearby wall. "It didn't work?!" I said as I ran back to cover. "It's not weak enough. Just keep shooting it!" Alex said. I pulled out my scout rifle and kept pumping rounds into the beast. It eventually fell to its knees. "Finish it now!" Alex said. I pulled out my rocket and fired a shell into it; finally destroying the beast and watching it disappear in a ball of flames. It let lit a loud cry in pain as it dissolved into nothing. "Phew. That wasn't that bad." I said as I dusted myself off and caught my breath. I walked over to Alex and looked at the floating object in the center of the room.
          "What is it...?" I asked. Soon the object began to glow and all of the black lines and colors surrounding it faded. Alex floated over to me. "It's a shard of the Traveler!" Alex said. I looked at it and felt the light radiate off of it. "They were using it against the Traveler. Devouring it's light." Alex said. I walked over to the edge of the platform and looked at the shard. I could feel something pulling me towards it. A weird force that I couldn't describe. I began to reach out to it and I heard voices. My voice along with someone else's. Mara. "Promise..."
          Suddenly the shard vanished and returned to the Traveler. Before it left I got a glimps of Venus and the location of the school. I snapped ot of my trance and stepped back. "Incredible...and the lady said that there are more enemies on Venus even stronger than this? Oh boy." Alex said. I turned around and heard a whisper as we left. "I promise you...."
          I stopped in my tracks. "Guardian? Are you alright?" Alex asked. "Yeah...let's go find Gold." I said. My map updated me on his location and I made my way to where he could be. He was at a different location in the Temple. Alex established a communication with him. "Gold, where are you? I stopped the ritual." I said making my way back to the surface of the Moon. "Parrish? Thank god! Come to my location immediately. All of my allies are down and I'm pinned by the Hive." Gold said. I could hear gunfire and soon a file appeared on my HUD. "I'm on my way Gold. Just hang on ok?" I said. I pulled it my sparrow and drove off from the Temple of Crota and towards the other entrance that was a few miles out from the main gates. I was heading back to where the sword was. Alex opened up the file and looked through it while I drove. "Alex, what are we looking at?" I asked. "It's some sort of machine. It must be where Gold is. There's an audio file here as well." He said. The file began to play as we arrived. I didn't bother getting off my sparrow since I had to hurry so I drove through everything. "Every end crawls from the same pit, rising from the schism to swallow matter, light, and life. It will not be stopped, but here it can be slowed. The Shrines of Oryx must be destroyed." The voice said. I looked at the audio of who was speaking. A man named Osiris. "Who's that?" I asked. "An old Warlock from the Golden Age." Alex said. I hopped off my sparrow once we reached a deep part of the Temple. "Let's go find Gold." I said.
          As we began to dwell deeper into the Hive Temple we began to notice more of what the Hive have created. Along the path we heard a loud roar that shook the platform I was standing on. "What was that?" I asked looking over the edge. "I do not wanna find out...The shrine is nearby. Let's get a move on." Alex said. I kept walking and as I heard gunfire I began to pick up the pace. Gold was in danger and I wasn't gonna let my only friend suffer to the hands of the Hive. I ran into the room to see the flood of Thrall and Acolytes converging on one location. "Crap." I said to myself. I ran and threw a Novabomb to clear out a majority of the enemies. "Gold!" I shouted. He got up and ran over to me and we fought off the remaining Hive. "So. Thought of a way to break this?" I asked him as I punched an Acolyte. "No. not really. Been busy with this huge crowd." He said shooting some of the Thrall. "Alex, can you weaken this thing?" I asked. He appeared and floated under the shrine to mess with it. "It will take a minute. You'll have to be patient." He said. Suddenly the ground began to shake. Two giant doors opened up and out came a huge Knight.
          "Son of a...Alex!" I shouted. He peeked out from under the shrine and looked the Knight. "Well then. That's new. He must be the protector of the shrine. Sardok, Eye of Oryx...? Who's that?" Alex asked. I launched a rocket at it and hit it. "Nevermind that. Gold, hit him hard!" I said as I fired off another rocket. Gold kept firing his weapon and we kept staggering the giant beast. The fight was too easy and soon he was destroyed. "Parrish, the shrine, destroy it!" Alex said. I turned around and opened fire. With enough damage the shrine began to implode. A bright light filled the room and soon the shrine had disappeared. "Alex? Alex!" I said calling out to him. He didn't appear for a second but then he floated out from cover. "Sorry. T-the blast m-must have short circuited my systems." He said. I looked at him and he began to spark slightly. "No one knows what the Hive have b-been doing with that thing...I picked up small communication signals. Could be to their King...o-or God."
          "Christ...let's get you home." I said. Gold followed me back to the surface and we got on our ships. "Say Parrish. What did you find down there?" Gold asked through the speakers in the ship. "The Hive were using a piece of the Traveler to drain its light for their own." I said. "A whole shard? How is that possible?" He asked. "I don't know. However they got it, it's not good. But I don't think it'll happen again." I said. I took off my helmet and relaxed. Letting Alex fly the ship back home.
          Once we got to the Tower, Gold went home while I went to see the Vanguard. "Alex, you go and get yourself fixed. I'm sure the Speaker will have something that could help you." I said. He floated off to the Speaker and I went to the Vanguard hall. "Guardian?! Where have you been??" Ikora demanded. "Sorry I didn't report in but there were too many important things going on that needed my attention. Scratch that; it needed everyone's attention. I did three things today. I stopped the ritual, destroyed the Sword of Crota, and I destroyed the Shrine of what's his face." I said. "You destroyed the Shrine of Oryx?" Zavala asked. "Yes! The Hive have been very active recently. The ritual? They had a complete shard of the Traveler. That's why the light has been fading. That shrine? Communication to probably the Hive leaders or God. That sword? Killed thousands of Guardians across the solar system. And then Venus--"
          "Venus? What did you hear about that?" Cayde asked me. "The Ishtar Region is being disturbed by something bad. Someone communicated to me while I was going to stop the ritual. Told me to come to Venus if I were to survive." I said. "Let me tell ya something Guardian. Venus is nothing but Fallen territory. They own that planet. If something is going on there then we would know." He said. I sighed. "Has no one been listening? I'm telling you that there's something bad going on on Venus!" I said. "Stand down Guardian. This is not of your concern. If what you say is true then we will send a field scout there to search the area and relay any information found. You need to be here until we assign you to do something." Zalava said. "I'm not a child."
          "You aren't a Guardian either. Dismissed." Zalava said. I clenched my fist by my side. I was angry that the Vanguard wasn't doing anything to correct this issue or even send me out there to see what is going on. I sighed and sucked up my anger. "Yes sir..." I said. I turned around and walked away and back to my room. "Ugh! What's the point of being in the war when you can't even support or go on the front lines!" I said as I hit the wall. Alex appeared good as new. "Parrish...take a minute to gather yourself." He said. I sat on the bed and took off my armor. "I heard about what happened." Alex said. I looked at him. "You said you picked the right one to be a Guardian...are you sure?" I asked him. "Do you doubt me Guardian?"
          "No. Not at all."
          "Then why ask that question?"
          "It's just...I feel like the Vanguard are underestimating me. I mean, look at all I've done here on Earth and the Moon. Took out two of some of the strongest Hive warriors, re-established communication with the Warminds, stopped an ancient ritual that could have very well drained and destroyed the Travelers light, got rid of a frikin sword, I mean, cmon! I'm more than capable of doing everything they need me to do....now I can't go to Venus all because of me not being ready." I said sitting on my bed. "Sometimes actions can be above you. That lady said that there are worse enemies on Venus than anywhere else probably. Maybe we should take caution." Alex said. I sat there in silence for a moment. Thinking about the fragments of my memories. "Venus...maybe if I go there I can discover who I was...who Mara is..." I said. I stood up and started to grab my stuff. "What are you doing?" Alex asked. "I'm going to Venus." I said. I loaded my weapons and once I stepped out of my room it was night time. The perfect time to go. "I'm going to at least see what it's like. We can go to those coordinates and find out both who that strange Exo is and who I am." I said. I walked out of my room and wondered over to the shipyard; Alex close behind me trying to talk me out of it. "Parrish, this is ridiculous. The Vanguard will be furious with our actions." Alex said. I got on my ship and started it's engines. "There's no stopping you, is there Guardian." Alex said. "Nope. Don't even try to. I'm going to figure out who I am." I said. The ship took off and soon we broke orbit hoping that we wouldn't be seen by anyone.
          "Want me to look up the coordinates?" Alex said. "You're going to help me?" I asked confused. "Well, I'm following you Parrish so...lead the way." He said. I smiled and brought up the coordinates and soon we were on the path to Venus to finally discover some answers.