Chapter 4: The Seeker's Revelation vs. The Taken King

The trio knelt, exhausted from their days-long fight. It took nearly a week to transverse the massive dreadnaught into the throne room of Oryx. Now the three, nearly out of strength and Light, fought to maintain their advantage. Oryx himself seemed only slightly winded, taking only a moment to regain his power. His fist clenched as the space around him began to bend and vibrate while distorting the backdrop of Saturn’s rings until their visage was extinguished by the aura of the Taken King. The air crackled around the group of Guardians, giving warning to a new attack. Lintro, the Titan, lunged at his comrades allowing their escape from what would have been a devastating blow. Recovering quickly, Malinna the Warlock, looked to Lintro. “What’s next?” She asked with an anxious tone. Lintro analyzed the situation and observed his surroundings. The mix of metal and chitin pillars gave way throughout the room for decent cover and allowed the Guardians to quickly move without too much trouble from Oryx himself. However his legions of Taken forced the group to stick together to prevent any single one of them from being overwhelmed if they weren’t careful. The elevated area to the right from where they entered seemed to house a sort of portal while the further end opposite from the entrance gave a breathtaking view of Saturn and his rings. While noting these architectural details and layouts, Lintro devised a plan. “Zvika,” he communicated telepathically using their innate abilities as Neveans, “drop low and move around the back end of the higher part of the right section of the room. Malinna and I will move around towards the front returning fire, forcing Oryx to follow.” The Huntress gave a slight nod in acknowledgment. “Malinna,” she glanced back at the Titan with a trusting look, “move with me to draw fire away from Zvika. Once we are towards the back of the room, break away once I throw down heavy damage to force Oryx’s might on me, I’ll extend my shield while you two hit him with everything you have. The Warlock readied herself and awaited Lintro’s move while Zvika dropped down to power her active camouflage. The two visible Guardians directed their fire towards the Taken King and overtly moved past his front to serpentine between the chitin pillars while carefully avoiding any cannon fodder along the way. Zvika’s rout was more heavily manned, but she passed unseen while stealthily taking down a few marks of her own. The taken were powerless when it came to a trained assassin stalking in the shadows of the void. Oryx gave a ferocious roar as he perused the Titan and Warlock as they advanced past his reach. Drawing closer, Lintro gave the signal and sent out several blasts from his rocket launcher, making sure to follow through with a few quick bursts from his rifle. The strategic burst fire blended in with the orchestra of clustered explosions that resulted from the canister payload of the Titan’s heavy weapon while blurred traces of rounds planted themselves firmly in the Hive God’s chest. Oryx retaliated with a massive expenditure of unknown energy from his open palm. His sword hand tightened in anticipation to strike the Titan in his endless fever of revenge against the foes that killed his son. The Taken King rushed in to strike the Guardian with all his might. His flying form proved intimidating, but lacked bite behind its bark against the Titan’s stalwart might. The trap was set. Lintro concentrated his Light, focusing an immense amount of energy around his core and calling upon the very fabric of the universe to tug against the strings of reality. His shield of conjured Void Light burst from his body to absorb all and any damage, creating playful wisps of light as the enemies franticly blasted the aegis to no avail. From behind, Zvika rushed at the demonic King with an Arch infused knife while Malinna charged with a flurry of solar infused grenades as she called forth the song of the sun to re-energize her teammates for a last push on their foe. The attack would have been successful if not for Oryx’s last ditch effort. Right before the two hit, he unleashed a massive blast of energy and warped the party along with himself to a new arena. This final battlefield gave little advantage to the guardians. The trio regrouped at the center, unsure of how to tackle this new problem. Before anyone could speak, Oryx blasted down from above splitting the group and separating them from each other. As quickly as he came, the Taken King was gone, and a horde of taken spawned all around the three Guardians to complicate their situation. Thankfully, the three grew use to disposing of the King’s fodder, and they quickly cleared the arena of any threats so they could redouble. Malinna’s song still coursed through their bodies, giving a second wind to the exhausted. Oryx laughed evilly. “Do you think you can kill me?” He asked rhetorically, taunting the Guardians. “I have seen your past and present. I know your fates. Your futures are set!” The three stood guard, not flinching once under the Kings heavy words. Pointing his blade, Oryx took aim at each one of the three to prove his point. “You!” He declared towards Zvikara, “The one who will be tormented by loss of home and love until the darkness completes you.” He took aim at Litnro. “Titan! The one who will be lost and forgotten in the dark corners of time.” Finally he set his eyes on the Warlock, Malinna. “And you…” He chuckled deeply. “The one who will be left alone in the end, lost without hope, desperate to be whole again.” Oryx rushed towards the group expecting to catch them off guard, however, Lintro and Malinna faced him with equal footing. As for Zvika, the Taken King struck her heart with his dark prophecy. Ever since she was reborn by her Ghost, memories of her past in Neveah, and what could be beyond haunted her. Her nights educed terrors and her day dreams promised a sweet reality beyond this life back to the place she once called home. Back to the place where her lover may still be alive. Hesitating, the Huntress was knocked back hard and thrown to the force field surrounding the group and knocking the wind out of her. Malinna acted quick and rushed to her friend’s aid while the Titan drew fire away from his injured sister. Lintro was tough enough to keep equal ground with the Hive King, trading blow for blow with a barrage of melees and quick auto fire all while dodging Oryx’s massive blade or taking it head on and absorbing the blow. Malinna, the most medically experienced member of the group, expertly checked the Huntress’s vitals for signs of major injury. “Hey, you okay.” She asked quickly. “Can you speak?” Zvika replied dimly. “Yeah I’m fine.” Malinna brought the huntress back to her feet. “What was that? You’re the fastest of us. You should have been able to easily get away.” Zvika hesitated once more with her answer. “I… I got distracted was all. I’m fine, really.” Concerned, and not quite buying her reasoning, Malinna focused her attention back to the matter at hand. “Well keep up, No reason to stop your streak of stealing the last blow from your dear brother right?” And with a quick smirk, the Warlock was off to assist her lover. Brash and bold, Zvika rushed out in front of her friend with blistering speed to cut ahead. She was right, there was no way she’d let her brother have the satisfaction of scoring the last hit on this mark. Meanwhile, Lintro furiously hacked away at his opponent’s health. Each blow traded was another inch gained by the Titan. Oryx did not have the stamina to keep up with the guardian. Just as Lintro gathered strength for a final blow, he saw nothing but a blur as the Huntress dove in front of her brother, sniper ready. A single round was all it took to stagger the King to his knees. The Guardians re-grouped center of the arena as the mist dispersed around them to reveal the original location they arrived at. Oryx, using his sword as a crutch, struggled to get back on his feet. Breathing heavily, he reached out to his weapon and called fourth his final strategy. Mystic swirls of what looked like empty light circled around his chest spiraling into a singular point. The Taken King laughed with spite as he took himself into the last safe place he could run too. The heavy burden around the trio seemed to have lifted with the absence of their foe. And as the Warlock’s song wore off of the three, Malinna fell to the floor with a sigh of relief. Lintro gave a solid glare at his sister before his knees began to buckle from exhaustion. Zvika timidly glanced at her brother. “What?” she asked indifferently. Unbeknown to the other two, she was the only one still standing. “Seriously?!” Lintro demanded, keeping his hard stare fixated on the Huntress. Malinna laughed as she fell to her back and enjoyed the customary banter of the two siblings. The delight of victory soon settled over the three’s heavy hearts as they picked each other up and called for transmit back to their ship. As their day ended, Oryx’s words lingered in the back of their minds. Zvika returned to her room, and locked herself away while staring into an old photo of her deceased partner. Tears trickled from her cheeks as she lingered on her dark thoughts. What if? She wondered.