"At close quarters a fist is better than any gun."
"A lone wolf who lives for the perfect shot."
"Those who have stared into the Void are not bound by the laws of space and time."
* * *
I stood between Tyrk and Memphis, my eyes still half shut, my body still half asleep. Heeding Ikora's warning, we were not late to our training exercise, and much to my surprise I'd managed to put all my armour on the right way, with a little help from the Titan. I looked out at the environment we would be training in, and I couldn't help but feel a little dwarfed by the stony maze, I had no idea what the morning would entail.
"Welcome to Crucible." A deep voice sounded though seemed to be attached to no one that I could see...Until he rounded the corner.
This guy was huge. When I say huge, I mean larger than life. Memphis was a big guy, broadness and height to his advantage, but standing in front of this armoured brute, even our Titan looked small. I shrunk back, obviously staring, I couldn't help it. I hadn't seen anyone this large before.
"My name is Lord Shaxx, I am the Crucible Handler and I will be responsible for your training exercises from now on. Your Vanguards hold no sway here. This is my world and the sooner you understand that, the sooner that we will...Get along." I couldn't see his face from his helm, which had one large horn protruding from the side, the other snapped off. Evidently, he'd seen combat more than once. "Your basics will be the first thing you learn, perhaps those that take to your abilities quicker than the others will face a small match before the day is out." Shaxx's head turned as he looked the group over.
Within the first two hours, my limbs were already burning and I was exhausted. I had learned how to use my jump ability along with my melee, which I had to admit, was fairly empowering. We'd taken a quick break to recuperate and I was sprawled on a grassy patch in front of Memphis.
"How are you not dying?" I asked him, turning my head to look at him. My hair was stuck to my head and I could feel the neoprene of my cryo-suit sticking to me. "I feel like I'm on fire."
Memphis simply grinned at me and shook his head. "Apparently I have a knack for endurance." He paused for a moment before looking back down at me and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. I had to turn away.
"Get back out there!" Shaxx bellowed over our chatter and I struggled back to my feet, Memphis patted my shoulder, again, I turned away from him to hide the tinge of purple creeping up my cheeks. "We have two hours left, the last hour will be a match to see which of you have grasped your abilities." The Crucible Handler gestured for us to continue and stood with his hands on his hips, watching us like a hawk.
I dodged Tyrk's melee and managed to slide underneath his attack and swipe his feet from underneath him with the force and momentum of my left arm. The Warlock landed on his face but managed to right himself fairly quickly. I turned to face Memphis, fully ready to jump out of the way to avoid the attack, but a snarled shriek had my head turning back to see Tyrk rushing me. Before I knew it I'd been pushed down and he was suspended in mid-air.
Memphis had Tyrk around the waist, his arm wrapped fully around him, he glanced back at me, presumably to make sure I was alright before he dropped the Warlock on his backside. "We're not against each other, we have enough enemies on the other side of that wall, I don't need to worry about you two killing each other." He wasn't even facing me and I could feel the glare he was giving Tyrk. I brushed the dirt off my hands and cleared my throat, watching the smaller of the two males regain his footing. It was clear he was reasonably unhappy about my taking him down, although admittedly, pride rushed through me.
