Knights Among Light Finale Part III of III Chapter X: Guardian Down Gage’s comms were met with a burst of static and a faint voice, as he tried to hone in on the frequency it broadcasted on. “G---.... Gage? Hello?” Artemis’ familiar voice floated through his comms. Upon hearing the vaguely familiar voice of someone he once knew, Gage instantly responded. “Artemis?!” “Yeah, not the time for reunions. Concordat are kind of behind you, and are about to slaughter you. Have fun.” “Right…” The ship then stopped. The lights flashed off. The only light was the light of nuclear explosions. Then the ship shook. *ALERT: BEING BOARDED* flashed on the computer. Then the sound of footsteps. Total fear. Hopeless. Dark. Then the flash of void, from Lysander’s Dark Drinker… The sword lit up with void. SW -33P3R stared. “OPEN FIYA!” he yells. The other Guardians aboard seem to panic, paralyzed with fear. But they fire anyway, in an effort to survive. All but Gage. He wants to survive, but why would he fear Lysander? In moments, the screams of Guardians fill the ship. Death surrounds them. Corpses flying past and dead Ghosts shatter. Sweep fires his Doctrine of Passing into Lysander’s skull. No use. There’s no stopping the warlord. Upon viewing all of the death and destruction around him, Gage immediately felt both fury and sorrow surge through him, and he extended his arm, tendrils of blinding white light flowing along it. Within moments, a glistening sword of Light fabricated into his hand, and he slung it forwards in Lysander’s general direction, sending a stream of white light cutting through the air towards him. A wave of Lysander’s Dark Drinker and the light dies. It drinks light. Another slash, SW-33P3R is cut in half on the ground. Lysander shouts as he beheads a Guardian. “JOIN YOUR FAMILIES YOU SCUM! At their graves!” The Warlord walks forwards. Gage steps back into the cockpit. How did his power fail? Lysander then tears open the cockpit door. Gage raises his sword of shining white light and mentally prepares himself for what he was about to do. “DIE LIKE YOUR BROTHERS!” Lysander yells as he raises his blade. “You should have remained in the shadows after Bannerfall, Lysander.” Gage then lunges forwards and forces his blade against Lysander’s, the glowing blade of his sword starting to brighten immensely as it cuts against Lysander’s. He needed to get off the ship. There was but one possible way to ensure his survival and his escape: calling his ship in and boarding it whilst still in the air. Gage gritted his teeth and clenched his hands around the ethereal hilt of his sword. He suddenly remembered what the whirring of his left arm signified. He smirked behind his helmet as his left arm glowed blindingly bright as Light surged through it and empowered it. Gage took up his sword in his glowing white mechanical left arm, and he twirled it around within his mechanical fingers at a rate so fast that Lysander was stunned by the mere sight of it. Gage then stopped twirling the sword as it went into an upright position within his mechanical hand, and he forced the edge of his sword against the side of Lysander’s Dark Drinker. Gage’s smirk widened as light flooded the interior of the ship, and he felt his edge go straight through the side of the Dark Drinker’s blade. When the blinding light subsided, Lysander was holding a Dark Drinker with half of its blade missing. The amount of rage scorching within Lysander was enough to make his blood literally boil. He looked upon the half-broken blade of his Dark Drinker and then back at Gage. “I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU FEEL A PAIN WORSE THAN BEING SLOWLY MELTED BY A THOUSAND SUNS!!” Gage’s smirk widened further. “I’ll make you feel as weak and defeated as you did at Bannerfall.” Lysander grunted loudly and hurled his broken sword at the floor before he lunged forwards and threw a punch directly at Gage’s chest. In moments, Gage had switched his sword from his left hand to his right, and he caught Lysander’s fist as it neared his chest. Gage’s mechanical arm flared red for a moment before he literally twisted Lysander’s arm the wrong way, and the audible snapping of bone rang throughout the interior of the ship. Gage rushed past Lysander as he crumpled down onto one knee, clutching his oddly-bent arm and gritting his teeth to combat the pain. As he neared the back of the ship, Gage noticed a decent-sized hole in the ceiling, and he leaped up to it and grabbed onto the bent metal, pulling himself through the hole. He soon had pulled himself through the hole in the ship’s hull, and he peered around on top of the ship. Almost instantly, Gage’s ship materialized next to SW-33P3R’s blockade runner and his sword seemed to dissipate into tiny white particles of dust. Gage sprinted in the direction of his ship, and then leaped off of the hull of the blockade runner, and then all he saw was white light as his ship brought him aboard. Lysander tore open the cockpit of Sweep’s blockade runner with his good arm. He looked out at Gage’s ship as it disappeared into slipspace. The Supreme Leader then transmatted away, not to be seen again until the time was right. The time for the Concordat to return for good. --Tower Hangar, The Last City, Earth-- “Do ya think Cayde survived?” Amanda asked Artemis. The huntress turned to her. “One would hope.” Artemis said. She was genuinely concerned for Cayde. Shadowshot and Zavala looked out at the Last City. “You fought bravely, all of you.” Zavala said. “But we still can’t stand here and wait while they wipe us out like ants under a magnifier. The Consensus is now in session to authorize that the Dead Orbit fleet and Future War Cult will be our military. They are also pushing for New Monarchy to be the government if they and the Vanguard fall.” “Sounds fine to me.” Shadowshot said. His wounds were patched up. “Any word on Gage and SW-33P3R?” As if on cue, Gage’s ship materialized above them, and Gage himself soon appeared near them. Artemis ran over to him and hugged him weakly. “Did Strenu make it?” She asked. “Or Sweep? Or any of them?” Gage sighed underneath his helmet. “No one made it. Lysander...that bastard. He slaughtered them all. SW-33P3R and everyone else onboard that ship...I cut his Dark Drinker in half and snapped the bones in his arm before I got off of that ship.” Artemis began to cry. Quietly, she made no sound. Zavala walked over to Gage. “You fought Lysander?” The Titan Vanguard asked. “And you lived to tell the tale?” “One punch and you’re out.” Shadowshot said. “He got me that way. Captured me.” “I’ve been through much worse than one pissed off ‘faction leader’ seeking vengeance on literally everything. I’m sure Artemis remembers the Kell of the House of Kings…and if Night were here he’d probably start reciting nearly every battle I’ve partaken in.” “Sorry if I offended you. He slaughtered my friend at Bannerfall.” Saladin walked up behind Gage, he then walked farther upwards into the group. “You have all done well. Not Iron Lords, but you’re something close.” “Like what Knights?” Artemis said jokingly. “Knights among light?” “I like that name.” Shadowshot said. “Has a ring to it. Knights among Light.” “...certainly not the [i]first[/i] group of Guardians I will have been in…” Gage muttered. “Whether you call yourselves that or you call yourselves the New Iron Lords you have proven yourself worthy.” Saladin said. “Now rise, my Knights Among Light, and seek the next fight.” “Will do Saladbar!’’ Shadowshot said. He realized he had made a mistake. “Saladin, I mean.” “Great job.” Artemis said. “You really made him proud.” “I knew I would.” --Chernobyl-- Artemis, Shadowshot, and Gage stood quietly in the dead air. The graves were here. Hemera, ThunderBunker, hundreds of others, and now Strenu. Shadowshot looked down sadly. “Is this the only place we could bury their ashes without causing a radiation leak?” SS asked. “Yes.” Artemis responded staring blankly at the grave. “He was such a good friend.” “He will be avenged...someday.” Gage said. “Or we die trying.” Artemis said. She was so unlike herself today. A small flash of orange light illuminated the area around them in the darkness as Nightingale appeared on Gage’s outstretched arm. [i]’Well said.’[/i] Nightingale spoke into everyone’s mind. “Alright who said that?” Shadowshot asked. He was starting to think he had schizophrenia. [i]”I assume only Artemis knows of who I am then. I am Nightingale, the last Ahamkara. I’ll save the rest of my story for some other time, seeing as this is clearly not a fitting moment to be reciting my past during. Just do not try to kill me, or Gage will most likely put a bullet through your skull.”[/i] “That’s only if someone actually harms you, Night.” [i]”Noted.”[/i] “Goodbye brother.” Artemis said as she put her Clever Dragon on Strenu’s grave. “Goodnight Strenu. See you in another life.” Shadowshot said. -END-