[spoiler]Link to part 1: [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/90804723/0/0[/url] Link to part 2: [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/91291963/0/0[/url] Link to part 3: [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/91545244/0/0[/url] Link to part 4: [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/92099147[/url] Link to part 5: [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/92647421/0/0[/url] Link to part 6: [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/93325635/0/0[/url] Link to part 7: [url]http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/94072362/0/0[/url] Link to part 8: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/95076160/0/0[/url] Link to part 9: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/96073339/0/0[/url] Link to part 10: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/98492778/0/0[/url] Link to part 11: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/99054428/0/0[/url][/spoiler] Just a heads up for all of you: The next few parts will be posted in the Destiny topic itself! [u][b]Part 12: The Xiphos[/b][/u] “What do you mean?” Saliks whispered, so the group of Dregs wouldn’t hear them. “It all makes sense. Our stealth drives going down, only having Dregs to support us, they planned for us to die.” Matthew whispered back, things in his mind coming together like a jigsaw puzzle. “But the house of Winter has been interested in the Citadel for years, surely they wouldn’t just send us here for no reason…” [i]“Of course they would! They consider all of us weak or threats, so the Kell must have sent us all to die!”[/i] Matthew shouted, but instead of going to his native language, he shouted it in the Fallens’. The Dregs’ eyes widened. Then they panicked. [i]“We’re all going to die!”[/i] one shouted. [i]“We have been betrayed!”[/i] said another. Matthew stared at the uproar he caused, until he frowned and shouted in the Fallen language, “Calm yourselves! We have made it this far, so feel free to either jump off the edge here now,” Matthew gestured to the edge to the abyss behind him, “Or you can follow me.” To both his and Saliks’ surprise, the Dregs had been able to pull themselves together with Matthew’s leadership. Saliks nodded to Matthew and they continued on. As the kept going through the seemingly endless landscape, they encountered multiple patrol groups of Vex, though only about three to five at a time. Two of the twelve remaining died in the fights against the Vex, unable to go on any longer, Ether and the white liquid of the Vex’s cores staining the stone landscape where fierce battles raged. After a long-needed rest in a small cave-like formation, Matthew spotted something in the distance. A pillar of light being shot up into the sky. Matthew gestured for Saliks to come take a look, and at the sight of the pillar his eyes widened. “That must be what the Kell sent us for, or at least what he supposedly did.” Saliks said, eyes locked still locked onto the endless beam of light. Matthew nodded in agreement. “Must be.” Saliks and Matthew returned to the group, telling them where they will be heading. Some of the Fallen had visible fear in their eyes, but none of them objected, so they continued on. As they got closer and closer to the pillar, they hid behind a large boulder-like structure, and Matthew began to make out the details on the area around it. Only five Vex were protecting what looked like a shrine, but the number of them wasn’t what worried Matthew. It was what they were. Two slim Vex units with horns, Hobgoblins, two of the large, burly Vex Matthew had heard been called Minotaurs, but the last one worried him the most. A big, floating Vex, torch hammers branching from its sides, some sort of shield revolving around it, and its five watchful eyes scanning the shrine for any signs of life. A Hydra. Though he had never seen or heard of this kind of Vex before, his attention was elsewhere. His eyes were more focused on what was inside of the pillar of light. It seemed to be made out of the shiny Vex metal parts of the shrine was made out of, with also being made out of a crystal-like material similar to glass, along with three shining orbs embedded into the glass blade, which stretched to just below three feet long. It was a sword. Matthew stared in awe at the blade until Saliks snapped him out of it by grabbing his head and pulling him back behind cover just as a Minotaur turned its head to look in their direction. They then began to make a plan, Matthew’s and Saliks’ combined minds thinking up a strategy for obtaining the artifact that they needed to acquire to complete their suicide mission, then they put it into action. Saliks and Matthew were able to rewire some of the Dregs’ stealth drives, which they used to sneak around the sides to hide behind stone columns towards the sides of the shrine, just as their stealth flickered out. Matthew sighed with relief. Matthew clutched his arc rifle as he made the countdown. Once he reached one finger, Matthew, Saliks, and four of their Fallen comrades charged from the front, drawing the hobgoblins’ and the Minotaurs’ attention. The four other Dregs then came from their hiding places behind the columns and flanked them, two of them slicing straight into the Hobgoblins’ cores with charged shock daggers, able to allow the white liquid to pour out, while two of the others began to lunge at the Minotaurs. Then things became hectic. Just as one of the Dregs had jumped at a Minotaur, it turned at lightning fast speed, punching the Dreg and sending him sprawling to the cold stone ground; a lifeless corpse. Meanwhile the other Dreg attacking a Minotaur jumped onto its back, hacking away at its middle eye, but it then backed up into one of the stone columns, crushing him behind it. The Dreg slumped to the floor and watched in horror as the living machine began to smash his head in, just as two Dregs saved his life, from Matthew’s attacking group. Both Dregs slammed into the backs of the Minotaur’s knees, and began stabbing and shooting away at its eyes until the red glow faded from them. Two of the other Dregs were attacking the other Minotaur, keeping their distance and ducking in an out of cover, while Matthew and Saliks provided supporting fire. It was just then when Saliks realized the barrage of Torch Hammer shells heading straight his way.