Breaking Through the Glass (Destiny/YouTubers AU) [Book One in the DestinyTube Series]

I - The Lone Titan

LOCATION: Valley of the Kings, Meridian Bay, Mars
TIME: 6:15 PM

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The rusty red sand hissed as the breeze whisked it into the evening air, flying up for a short amount of time before settling on the half-buried structures dotted across the landscape. The sun beat down upon all who walked the arid planet, refusing to relent until nightfall. Even then, however, Mars' climate would shift from one extreme to the other, trading the scorching heat for freezing temperatures in a heartbeat.

The Valley of the Kings looked like a dormant turf war; on one side was a high-tech military base, which overlooked the gateway to a dimension tucked away where not even the fabric of space and time could find it on the other. Neither were human-made; the Cabal, a race of 800-pound alien warriors built solely for war, claimed the base as their territory, while the Vex, a partially organic species of ancient robots sharing one mind across millions of units, guarded the gate with their almost-artificial lives.

The Cabal and the Vex were only two of the alien races plaguing Mars and its neighboring planets. Accompanied by the Fallen and the Hive, they are collectively known as the Darkness, enemies of the Traveler's Light and the ones responsible for the Collapse. After they arrived towards the end of the Golden Age, mankind and its allied races, the Awoken and the Exos, barely survived their crippling attacks and were forced to hide within the walls of the City, the last remnants of civilization that the Traveler could still protect.

In its dying breaths, the spheric celestial body created Ghosts, small floating robots born from the Traveler's Light to resurrect the dead and bring them into Earth's last stand against the impending Darkness. These warriors were dubbed as Guardians, split into three classes: the Hunters, ex-outlaws who were quick with a trigger and deadly with a blade, so much so that they'd earned a fearful reputation; the Titans, tanks of soldiers who could fiercely wield any weapon and protect any friend; and the Warlocks, scholars who spent years studying and understanding the Traveler and honing its arcane power. The Guardians worked together to fight back the aliens that had taken over their worlds, refusing to give up until they defeated the Darkness - or until the Darkness defeated them.

The Valley was awfully quiet for this time of day; usually, the Cabal would be patrolling the outskirts of their base for any unsuspecting passerby, or the Vex would be crawling out of the giant gate they guarded so well to send reinforcements for the troop already stationed there, but today, not a single soul walked the stretch of land (if the creatures of the Darkness even had souls, that is...).

All that stood in the area was a single Guardian, a lone male Titan donned in black, pink, and gray armor with a small pink mustache printed on his right shoulderpad. He sat upon a pillar overlooking the Vex's portal, staring out at the sunset through his helmet. The Valley was silent when he first got there, so he assumed that a passing fireteam had cleared out the area during their patrol. Not that he minded; he actually liked being able to stop and take in the planet's scenery without having to shoot a bunch of bloodthirsty aliens first. They'd be returning soon, so he might as well jump at the chance while he still had it.

After a few quiet minutes, a Ghost materialized next to the Titan, blipping curiously as he floated around his Guardian's head. This snapped the Titan out of his daze, as he blinked a few times before turning his head to face his robotic companion."It's really nice, isn't it?" the Titan remarked. His voice was deep, but slightly hoarse from being silent for so long. He quietly cleared his throat after he finished his sentence.

The Ghost's voice was the exact opposite of his Guardian's. "What is, Mark?" he asked in a raspy, high-pitched voice. His center core shifted upward to point his eye lens toward the sun, the top part of his frame moving a bit to shield his eye from the blinding UV rays.