For my previous Chapter use this link: http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Topics?tg=%23Destiny Tale of Two Strangers Chapter Two: Fates Intertwined [i]The sky was aglow with the colors of red, orange, and yellow, the soot in the air was so heavy that you could feel it just by rubbing your fingers together. There was also the subtle smell of cooked meat in the air. The crackling of various fires going on around me were the only sounds. Brief rounds of gunfire could be heard off in the distance along with a terrifying blood curdling screams, like death itself had descended down upon this poor town. As soon as they began they just as quickly stopped leaving only silences to remain. This display of destruction was the calling card of one race, the Fallen. When the Fallen hit they hit hard and fast leaving their prey almost no time to counter their vicious assault. What the Fallen couldn’t take with them they burned to the ground. People were no exception to this rule. Those who the Fallen deemed valuable were thrown into chains to be sold or bought for various other services. Those who were too old, sick, or young were not so lucky. They were gathered up into a group and ruthlessly mowed down by a wall of gunfire left to die where they fell. As if that wasn’t enough the Fallen were known to also set the very same groups on fire to make sure that no one survived, and to finish the act. As I walked down the empty streets I looked around taking in all the devastation going on. I saw buildings barely standing, bodies sprawled out all over the street. They had been running for their lives only to be cut down or shot to death, left to rot out in the open. I had seen this same scenario played out countless times before but you never really ever get used to seeing a sight like this. I continued onward walking and stepping over bodies, their eyes wide open devoid of life, their faces showing their last expressions. It varied from person to person, from pain to torment to shock. What I was doing here was viewed by many to be a despicable act; I was what you could call a scavenger. People had other names for people like me; they routinely called me a vulture, living off the recently dead. I only ever took what I needed to survive. I believe that if these people could talk they would say, “Go ahead and take what you need, it will do us no good where we are going, do what you can to save yourself.” At least that what I always thought they would tell me. Maybe I was dead wrong maybe they would spite me for doing what I was doing, for not coming to save them or their loved ones. As I continued on my way down the barren street looking for anything of value I passed a building, it was bigger than most in the area. There was a charred sign out in front of the build, it read “Orphanage”. Knowing from past experience that nothing of value ever was found in a building such as this I continued onwards towards more desirable buildings. I had made it halfway down the block before stopping. I couldn’t quite explain it but I just had this feeling like I needed to go back. Something was pulling me back towards the orphanage. Knowing it couldn’t hurt to just look around I decided to double back towards the Orphanage to talk a look. As I started up the huge lawn that lay out before the building I upholstered my pistol to make sure that it was clear of its holster in case the need for it came up. Mind you this was not your ordinary run of the mill pistol. This pistol has been in my family for countless generations. It was crafted during the peak of Golden Age, a rarity. Its given name was Loose Void. Besides being the only version of its kind it had one other key trait, it responded to none other than me, or those who were a direct link to my family. We believed that due to our constant presence around the gun for so many years it somehow had managed to recognize who held it. This made it completely useless to anyone else you tried to fire it. Before entering I took a deep breath to help calm my nerves and took my first steps into the crumbling building before me. It was dark inside the run down building. I couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of me, everything after that was shrouded in a darkness. I carefully walked through the halls opening every door and surveying the rooms’ contents inside. What I found did not surprise me, most were remarkable barren. Many only contained about half a dozens beds with a few drawers. I was just about to call it quits when it happened. I was thrown from my feet through a wall into the next room, tumbling along the floor slamming into the opposite wall. The force had caused me to hit my head hard, everything was a blur of shapes and colors. I tried my hardest to not pass out passing out now was as good as signing my own death wish. As I manage to stumble to my feet I focused on the hole in the wall I had made. Still dazed from the throw all I could make out was four hands grasping the sides of the hole and several eyes peering at me through the darkness on the other side. I was not as alone as I had thought; I slowly moved my hand toward my pistol not wanting to cause the creature to strike. If it was one of the lower level Fallen I would have a fighting chance to get out of this relatively unharmed. I was just about to draw my pistols when my heart skipped a beat and dropped into my stomach. The hulking figure stepped through the hole and now stood before me. The figure had to be a good eight feet tall and was covered head to toe in armor. The most striking feature of this Fallen though was not his armor or even the weapons he wielded. A blood red tattered cape gently flapped in a gust of wind, this was no lowly level Fallen I was standing face to face with a Captain. Captains were the alphas when it came to the Fallen. No one Fallen stood higher than them on the battlefield. Besides being overall stronger than the other Fallen they were several times smarter, making them that more deadly in combat. The Captain just stood there looking at me, watching, waiting. The Captain suddenly raised his head and let out a deafening yell of sort. The Captain with spend unimaginable for something that size race towards me gun and sword drawn. The Captain swung his sword in an arch like fashion over his head, the blades tip whistling as it traveled towards its target, me. I ducked out of the way of his blade barely making it. The Captains blade now firmly lodged into the window frame a good foot, the same spot I had been mere seconds ago. No sooner dodging the first incoming blow was I sent diving again this time dodging gunfire. I took this chance to dive through the hole in the wall I had made, racing down the hall away from the Captain. I hadn’t been in the hall for more than a few seconds and saw the Captain given chance over my shoulder. With no light source the halls were totally dark making it hard to see more than a few strides in front of me. The only source of light came from the exchanging gunfire between the Captain and I. I used those brief seconds of light to see where I was going. After rounding a few corners I was faced with another problem, I had run out of hall,a dead end awaited me. The Captain was quickly closing the distance all the while still shooting. I dove into one of the bedrooms, coming out of my dive, I took up position to shoot. The Captain came into view in the door frame, I had him. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, I had all the time in the world to line up my shot. When the Captain saw me there waiting he rushed at me in a full on blood rage not knowing he was running towards his death. The Captain jumped into the air, I had nothing to worry about he was as good as dead. I fired off two consecutive shots both landing squarely in his abdomen. The force caused the Captain to fall to the floor with a thud. He immediately got back up with a surprised look on his face as if the hits should've hurt more than it did. That is when my two shot finally took effect. Two holes simultaneously appeared in the Captains abdomen, you could briefly see the wall behind the Captain before the pressure caused his guts to fill the now empty space. Loosed Void has a rather unique ability; it causes whatever it hits to become massively dense. It pulls in objects around it into a central point, kind of like how a black hole works. The Fallen Captain fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes with a hard loud thump, blood pooling around the now dead body. I stood up and dusted myself off rather proud of myself for taking down a Fallen Captain with nothing more than a few bumps, scrapes, and bruises.[/i]