Light: Exploits, Book II.

Part 18. Unknown Might.

Priest and Farah were fast to follow after Rei.
She's gonna get herself killed, Priest says with newfound seriousness.
Or worse, Farah said softly as they both touched ground at the bottom of the pit.
The walls down there were lined with more of the soft light stones they had seen all throughout the caves.
The pair walked quickly through the small cave, hearing small laughs coming from deeper down.
Soon, they saw light from a room bleed into the dark.
They saw Rei, standing completely still.
They could tell, by her stance, she was staring at something.
Something took her full attention.
They made it up to her just in time to hear a massive fiery explosion, and the lights cut out.
Then, all around them, roars and cries from Hive erupted from around them.
Rei was shaken from her stupor, and reached for her rifle on the floor.
Fire and gunshots rang out in the merciless, cold, dark.
The Hive clawed their way closer.
Their battle of attrition would end with dead Hive, or Light-stained swords.
* * *
I heard the dull sounds of roars below me.
I was pressed firmly against the floor, and tried to push myself up.
I was stopped promptly; as if something was forcing me down.
I growled and fought, determined to make it to my feet.
My fighting soon died, as I felt the wound from earlier.
The sword. The dark creature that wielded it.
I looked up, and met a familiar sight.
As familiar as I could define in the events that had come to pass.
I saw Toland. Again.
They are going to die. He said simply.
I shook my head, and balled my fists.
No... NO!! I scream.
He looked at me, and peeled my helmet from my face.
He brought up his hand, and pushed it against my nose.
It was shining with glimmering, off blue light.
You must release your fear, he said, and his hand began to crackle and pop.
The Light has been agitated within you... Set it free. He said simply.
I felt myself slip, and begin falling again.
After a moment, I heard gunshots.
Roars. Screams.
Cries of victory from Hiven.
Rei told me she learned to harness Solar Light. Something I had seen no Titan do.
I wondered if a Warlock could channel Light to be Arc Light, through sheer will alone.
I felt my Light take on a life of its own.
I began to shudder. Not in fear, or anticipation.
I felt like my veins pumped lightning.
Like my heart was a merciless thunderhead.
I fell like a storm, determined to destroy that which would raise its sword against my family.
I don't know for how long I fell, but I knew when I hit ground again.
I press my twitching hand against the smooth floor.
I focused on that more than the roars of Hive around me.
I stood, and slowly raised my hand.
It crackled with Lightning, and I felt my feet lift off the ground.
Streaks of electricity surged between my feet and the floor.
I put out my hand, and cracked a small smile.
*         *        *
For the second time on this journey, Priest was awed by a fellow Guardian.
First by Lady Rei, wielding the very power of fire, furious and strong.
And now, his eyes defied everything he believed was possible.
Dylan, his Warlock friend, whom he'd seen burn with Solar, and strike within the Void.
He had his hand outstretched, and lightning was cracking between him, and an unfortunate Knight, who was already disintegrating by the time it knew it was dead.
The Lightning filled the room with a soft, crackling blue light.
The Hive roared toward their new opponent, but were immediately washed away in blue Light by the time they were close enough to strike.
From large gates on either side of the room, Ogres began to lumber toward this new Guardian.
They roared, and their purple beams sizzled as they tore through the air.
Dylan put out his hands, and the lightning cut through the beams, striking the Ogre's feet.
They screamed as they, too, were awash in Arc Light.
After a few moments, when the Hive finally fell dead to ash, and the room began to wane its smell of the electricity, Priest looked upon Dylan with sheer shock.
His body was hovering just above the ground, feet dangling below him.
His hands were jagged, like lightning, and small streak of electricity course around his body.
There's a defined sizzling pop, as the Arc Light fades, and Dylan falls to the floor.
*           *          *
I was gasping as I lay on my hands and knees.
My eyes hurt, and I could feel my teeth throb.
I looked at my hands in disbelief.
I couldn't believe I'd actually done it.
I defied everything I thought I knew.
I wasn't a weapon anymore.
Instead, in that moment, I was a storm.
A torrent of righteous Light, determined to burn all that objected me.
I pushed myself to my feet, and look back to see Farah and Priest doing the same.
I look at them, until I notice something that made my heart sink.
Where's Rei? I ask simply.
She's right- Farah starts, but turns and sees nothing, like I did.
Well fuck, she grimaces.
I push myself up and scan the room. There's a door at the far end, leading into darkness.
There, she must be that way, I say, pointing.
I creep close to the door, shrugging off the aftershocks of what had just happened.
Ghost and I would speak with Ikora when we returned home.
But I knew I could do it. And, I say in full confidence, I knew I could do it again if I needed.
The darkness behind the veil of the door was nearly mailable.
I dared raise my hand, to touch it.
My hand passed through it, and from beyond, I heard a... A small, nearly  indiscernible sound.
I brought my head closer to the dark, and felt Priest and Farah shuffle closer to me to hear also.
There was silence for a moment, but soon there was a soft, hushing whisper of wind.
And just under the whistle, I heard a laugh.
A distant, emotionless, merely present laugh.
I reared back, feeling my heels brace as my entire body tightened. My muscles stood on end, and I could feel my eyes and ears strain.
I swallowed all my fear, and palmed a handful of Light.
I tossed it carelessly on the Darkness.
As the ball of Light touches the shadow, it illuminates farther down the corridor.
In an instant of light, I see a most dreadful sight.
I see a massive Hiven King. Nearly 15 feet tall. With wings slicing away behind him. He floats above the floor, holding a massive, curved, Darkness-dripping, Light-hungry sword in one hand.
And Rei's squirming body in the other.
Before the light dissipates, I see this monster lunge and bury his sword in Rei's shuddering body.
I scream and tear through the Darkness toward him.
I hear him roar a laugh as he follows farther down the corridor, taunting me with Rei's screams and her smell of blood.
I feared for her Ghost.
I feared for her, if her Ghost was dead...
Priest was thundering behind me, right on my heels. His hands cackled with Arc Light.
He was no Defender, as I had almost become accustom to.
Now was his time to Strike. He would show me, like he did on Venus. His power is great, and faith in the Traveller strong.
Farah was burning, her hands orange and ready to draw her Golden Gun.
Our strength overflowed, creating light, pulsing in the suffocating darkness.
After what felt like eternity running, we were all stopped fiercely by a demanding, deafening roar.
Slowly, the dark crept away from floor up, allowing the forms of Knights and Acolytes to melt into view.
They snarled and roared, scythes and swords sharp, and Boomers sizzling and Shredders humming.
They waited until we could see clearly.
That Hiven King floated before us.
In front of him, with her back to me, Rei floated limp and lifeless in the air.
The Hiven King looked upon us, Guardians.
Defiant creatures that so boldly strode to his place of great conquest.
He looked at us like he was about to show  us the error of our steps against him.
Take them all!!!!!!! He screamed and and disappeared in ethereal, inverse fire.
Rei was struck with something, and screamed like her life was being torn out her throat.
That scream signaled the Hive to attack.
Wizards crested and swayed through the room as Priest and Farah drew guns, with fingers all to fast on the triggers.
The Hive stormed past me as I stood and stared, captivated by Rei.
She was writhing and twitching, screaming and roaring like nothing I'd heard before.
I saw her take her Ghost from her side; it was frozen by some dark force.
She crushed it effortlessly. Sparks, Light and what remains of its mind plinking against the merciless floor. Rei screamed again, as she slowly floated down to the floor.
Rei... I tremble as she touches down, Darkness staining where her feet and hands planted.
She raises her head, and through the screams, I hear her terrified, forlorn cry.
Dylan... You have to... She struggles as she stands.
Kill me... Do it...
I ball my fists, hoping it's all a dream. Hoping I can will it all away.
Hoping I could save her.
She brandished a sword. The same sword, that we saw hovering above the pit that lead us down here.
She reared back, and before I knew it, she thrust herself forward.
Her feet sounded like claps of thunder.
Her voice sounded like nothing even a nightmare could fathom.
I dodged her sword and took her wrists.
I threw my head back, smashing the back of it against her helm and face.
I tear the sword from her hands, and feel it say but a simple phrase to me.
Raise the Sword by necessity; not by choice.
I felt the world slow down, like a feeling of rapture.
I turned sharply on my heels, and stuck the sword up through Rei's stomach and chest.
Light bled from the sword, filling her, and making her dark form writhe and shudder.
I felt the Void Light bloom from within me. It filled the sword, and encased Rei in a cocoon of Void.
Before my eyes, she melted away. First her dark form.
Then her face. She wasn't scared, or angry.
She seemed to be thankful.
Taking comfort. That she wouldn't live as what she despises.
I dropped the sword and fell to my knees.
I felt my whole body go numb, and wash over cold.
I knew I couldn't complete whatever mission I was here for.
Not now.
Not after seeing what just happened to my love.
I wouldn't subject my friends, Priest or Farah to that fate.
I reached behind my back, and from my pocket, drew something I'm glad I held on to.
The Stepping Stone.
I crushed it in my hand, and threw it down, and felt myself slip through a white, misty gate.
I felt myself shatter like glass, and my vision fade, before I ever made it to the other side.
*          *         *
One moment, Priest was taking an Acolyte by the neck, holding it up and launching his punch toward its head as he saw from the corner of his eye what had happened.
By the time he saw full view of it, it was too late.
Rei wasn't Rei anymore.
She was melting away in purple light when he felt a portal envelop him.
He landed hard on his shoulder on the familiar thud of the Lookinglass.
Farah fell and stumbled a few steps, before she stood and turned sharp on her heels.
They both looked up, and saw the final portal spit out the limp Dylan's body. The sword he used to kill Rei clanged after him.
Priest was on his feet, diving to catch him.
His Ghost appeared before him, and said dismally that, there was nothing physically wrong with him.
Priest lifted him up, and demanded that they all return to Tower.
To the Traveller.
If anything could wake him.
Light would.