“The Hellmouth.” Toland’s voice spoke over the recording, “Oryx is going to the Moon’s summoning pits to gather the Hive. If you catch him off guard… well, I’d say it’s your chance to kill him, but you had a hard enough time with his youngest son… Have fun.” I hate that guy. He’s a narcissistic, conceited, arrogant son of- “Let’s get going.” Sierra cut off my thought, through the comm, “No time to waste.” Stay on task, I thought, deal with him later. We made our way into the Hellmouth slowly and silently. We snuck past the few Hive we encountered so we wouldn’t tip off Oryx. Eventually we made it to the gates of the summoning pits. Three knights stood in front of the door, all wielding swords. The knight in the middle stood straighter and taller than the other two. His armor was a dark shade of red, as if it had been stained with blood long ago and two of his three eyes were covered by the mask of bone. His sword significantly longer than the others, and curved like a sabre, and it bore a jagged, serrated almost, edge. Sierra and I hid around the corner of the doorway, observing the immobile juggernauts. I turned to face her and held up three fingers, two, one. Together we sprang from our hiding place. I tossed a deluge grenade before any of the three realized we were here. The two knights exploded in arc energy, the giant third however, didn’t so much as stagger. It drew it’s long bone blade that slowly caught fire, and looked down at us. It stomped the ground and roared, sending a wave of flames in our direction. We both dove back to the cover from which we came. I stood on one side of the doorway, Sierra on the other. The knight roared again, but did not follow us, instead remaining in front of the gate which he guarded. “Bind it to the wall,” I called to Sierra, “I’ll draw it’s attention, you try to hit its eye.” “Sync.” She responded. “Sync.” Sierra leapt out from her cover, and fired a shadow shot past the knight. It struck the wall behind it, and tendrils of light exploded forth, grabbing hold of the beast. It roared and unleashed fire again, unphased by the snare at first, but quickly realising as it pulled harder and harder. I glided above the wall of flame, and fired a shot from my fusion rifle at the juggernaut. The bolts of void energy burst forward and slammed into the knight’s armor, sending it reeling. In its moment of weakness, Sierra took her shot. A single sniper rifle round, a streak of golden solar flame, drilled through the knight’s single exposed eye, and smashed into its skull. It cried out in agony, a low bellow of pain. Sierra ran forward, and jumped onto the creature’s back, knife drawn. She drove the eight inch blade deep into the neck of the giant. The blinded knight reached back and grabbed her by the arm. It tossed her off like she weighed nothing. She hit the ground and rolled back up to her feet, unscathed. For a moment, I watched the goliath stumble, trying to find its balance and a world it could not see. I charged my right arm with arc light, forming a short blade of lethal energy and rushed the knight. I thrust my hand towards the knight’s chest, only to have the blade deflect off of the giant’s thick armor. I leapt through the air as the knight swung its own massive, flaming sword. I felt the heat of the blade narrowly miss me as I turned sideways in the air to avoid being filleted by the blinded creature. I hit the wall behind it and kicked off with all the strength I could muster. I slammed my blade into the knight’s back, knocking the juggernaut to the floor. I stood atop the creature’s body, raised my fist and stabbed the blade of energy into the joint of armor on its neck. The monstrous knight roared one final time, vaporising into dust as its bony armor, and smoldering sword fell to the ground where the giant once lay. I stepped over the smoking, dark red husk, and approached the massive gate in front of us. The huge metal doors were laid deep in the thick stone walls. In the center of the gate, there was a large, oval shaped hole. It did not pass all the way through the door, instead, only black could be seen inside. It appeared as if it went on forever, and however impossible that was, it was in some way mesmerising. It was as if the dark, empty void pulled at your mind, challenging you to look past what you couldn’t see. I tore my eyes away from the hole in the door, and looked to Sierra who was taking her turn examining the gate. “A lock.” I explained, “It’s some kind of lock.” She reached forward and gently touched the circle of metal that surrounded the lock. She laid her hand on it for a moment, then quickly pulled it away. “What happened?” I asked, moving towards her, “What does it feel like?” “Cold.” She replied. I stopped in my tracks, turned around, and picked up the knight’s sword. The key. I hefted the massive blade, and slid it into the lock. I let go and left it for a moment. The door groaned and creaked, but didn’t move an inch. I felt the lock, still icy cold. I grabbed the hilt of the sword with both hands, and closed my eyes. I focused on the blade in my hands, filling it with solar light. My hands began to warm as flames grew around them. I opened my eyes to see the blade glowing, and my hands engulfed in fire. The door groaned again. I focused harder, channeling more and more of my strength into the blade. My hands burned, the searing pain grew as the blade began to ignite. Welcome the pain, let the fire make you stronger. Ikora had told me that long ago, when I first started training in the Tower. The lock began to glow red hot, a heat that spread along the seams of the door as the flaming blade in my hands crumbled to ash. I let the fire in my palms die out, and I almost forgot the pain as the door slowly opened, revealing the summoning pits beyond. A moment before the gate opened wide enough to enter, there was a flash of light, and I was knocked to the ground on my back. I looked up to see the Stranger standing above us in the doorway. “Toland lied.” Was all she could say before a bolt of arc energy ripped through her chest. As if in slow motion, she fell, blue exo blood spilling on the floor. She hit the ground, motionless. A horde of Taken began to spill through the door, roaring and firing blindly. Sierra and I both scrambled to our feet and ran back through the gatehouse. “Your light…” a deep, sinister voice called through the Hellmouth, “Surrender it to me…” We turned right, to the tunnel we had come from, but more Taken, knights, phalanxes, and thralls, came running at us. We jumped down from the ledge, and I hit the ground in a roll. Immediately back on my feet, two thralls jumped in front of me. I lashed out with a wave of arc light, both of them crackling into nothing. Shots scorched the ground behind me and flew past my head. The murderous cries of these twisted creatures echoed through the Hive catacombs. We ran, Taken breathing down our necks and clawing at our heels, until we made our way to a platform that stretched out over the massive pit. Cornered and trapped, Taken coming at us from all sides, Sierra called, “Trust me.” I didn’t even have time to register what she had said before she jumped from the platform. Trust, I told myself, and took the leap of faith over the edge. In the air, I looked down and saw Sierra’s ship, hovering just below the platform. I hit the top and my feet gave out. I began to slide down the wing of the ship, but I caught hold of a vent as my feet slid off. I hung there as the ship rose up above the platform and opened fire on the mass of Taken. The ships guns tore through the horde, turning the tables on whatever we had been lead into. Several thralls dove off the edge, hurling themselves at the spacecraft, but they only succeeded in bouncing off and falling to their deaths. I pulled myself part way up, determined not to join those thralls for an untimely demise at the bottom of the pit. I let go with one hand to find another hold, and found Sierra’s hand reaching out to pull me up to safety. I joined her on top of the ship, and we opened the upper hatch to climb inside, as several knights began to fire off shots at the ships kinetic barriers. We climbed down into the ships hold, and both slumped to the ground, exhausted, as the ship made for orbit, shaking slightly as the shields absorbed fire from the Taken we had left behind. Scarlet floated in from the cockpit and asked, “Where to?” “The Tower.” Sierra said, making no attempt to hide her burning anger. “We have some business to deal with.” I added, a familiar anger once again building inside me. Whatever had been here, one thing was for sure. Toland, was not on our side. Prologue/directory [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139146382/0/0[/url]