[spoiler]Greetings, Guardians, and here's part twenty-one of Doom of the Dragons! Here's [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/241412317?sort=0&page=0]part twenty [/url]if you missed it. As usual, if you like it, give it a bump, and I'll get more out soon! Stay classy, Guardians![/spoiler] Cupun flanked around the buildings. However, he noticed that two fallen - a vandal and a dreg - had just stumbled out of a nearby alleyway. Cupun growled. Firing his weapons would mean forfeiting the element of surprise. So, he didn’t. Without pausing in his stride, he grabbed a nearby piece of wooden shrapnel, about a meter and a half long. He hoisted it over his head, and threw it like a javelin. The missile flew through the air, and hit home. It sank into the vandal’s chest, pinning the creature to the ground as it let out a surprised-sounding squawk. The dreg turned towards him, but too late. Cupun was already upon it. As he ran up to the alien, he grabbed a small wooden log off the ground, and hit the dreg square in the jaw. The alien’s face caved beneath the blow, and it went down without a sound. Cupun quickly reached the village wall, and peaked around the corner of a nearby street. Sure enough, the Walker was busy moving through the hole that it had created in the wall. Even as he watched, it launched a string of arc missiles in the direction of the defenders. Cupun curled his fingers into a fist. He knew what he had to do. He had to take that walker down - and fast. But he’d have to take down the Fallen around it first. Even as he watched, several of them, including a Captain, clustered together. Cupun smiled. They make it too easy, he thought. He got ready to activate a fist of havoc. He quickly jumped into the air, and felt the light begin coursing through his veins. He began falling through the air towards the Fallen, and let out a war whoop, raising his fists in the air. He felt the arc lightning dance across his armor as the arc energy danced along his armor. He felt the light building within him. . . . . . only to feel it suddenly disappear. Cupun suddenly began falling to the earth, and the war-whoop turned into a surprised yelp. He face-planted into the ground. Groaning, Cupun looked up, and saw a Fallen Captain staring down at him. Amazingly, it wasn’t trying to kill him. . . yet. Suddenly the Captain shook his head, and came out of his stupor. He roared, and pointed a shrapnel launcher at Cupun. Cursing, the titan rolled to avoid the blast, and then grabbed the Captain by the waist. He rolled to the right, bringing the Captain down on top of him. Before the Fallen could react, he grabbed his pulse rifle, and, in one deft motion, slit the Captain’s throat. Using the dying Captain as a body shield, Cupun stood up. He quickly dealt with the Fallen around him, picking them off one by one. He killed the first fallen, a vandal, with a single burst from his pulse rifle. He tossed the Captain’s body at a couple of nearby Fallen, and then ran his bayonet through a nearby dreg. He then stepped glanced at the Fallen pinned under the body of their downed Captain, and fired one burst from his pulse rifle at each. Cupun took a breath, then looked up at the Walker, and realized that its large cannon pointed directly at him. The titan jumped out of the way just as the walker fired, kicking up a large cloud of dirt. Cupun then ran at the walker, trying to get out of range of its main weapons. He grabbed one of its legs, and then climbed onto its top. Suddenly, he saw a hatch in the side of the walker open, and a shank floated out. The little robot turned towards him, and began firing. Cupun suddenly had an idea. He quickly dealt with the shank, shooting out its left engine with a burst from his pulse rifle. The shank spiraled to the ground. Cupun grabbed at the hatch with both hands, and grunting with exertion, pulled it off, exposing a large cavity in the walker’s side. Then, tossing the twisted hatch aside, he took the grenade launcher off his back, and threw it into the exposed cavity. He then took a lightning grenade from his belt, and flung it inside the cavity as well. Then, he grabbed his pulse rifle and jumped clear of the walker. The lighting grenade went off a moment later, and all six projectiles in the grenade launcher went off at once. A split second later, an explosion ripped through the walker’s side, flinging bits of metal everywhere. One of its legs went flying off and careened into a nearby house. Half of its body still on fire, the walker was in its death throes. It took two shambling steps forwards, and collapsed to the ground. * * * After the Walker was destroyed, the Fallen seemed to lose their will to fight. The bulk of them ran out through the hole in the palisade, disappearing into the night. The remainder were quickly killed off by the Guardians and villagers. After the fighting, the three Guardians gathered in the center of town. Marcella wiped the grime from her helmet. “Well,” she said, “I suppose I’ll call in the FOTC.” Kim nodded. “Tell them to send a lot of ships,” he said. “I doubt that too many of the villagers want to stay after this.” Cupun grunted. “Whatever you say,” he said, and walked off. When he was out of sight of his fellow Guardians, he ducked behind a ruined building. He clenched his hand into a fist, and did his best to summon the light. For a brief moment, he felt the familiar rush of energy, and blue sparks appeared his armor. Then, both the feeling and the sparks vanished. Cupun squeezed his eyes shut, and tried again. He dug deep within himself, attempting to summon the light, but he just couldn’t seem to find it. What was happening to him? “Cupun?” his ghost asked. “What’s going on?” Cupun cursed. “Nothing,” he growled. “Cupun,” his ghost said. “I’m always with you. I saw what happened when you attacked those Fallen.” Cupun said nothing. “You’re losing your connection to the light, aren’t you?” his ghost said. “I can feel it. Something is going horribly, horribly wrong.” “It’s nothing!” Cupun barked. He flexed his fingers. “Just having some trouble is all.” “Cupun,” his ghost said. “You need to see the Speaker about this. Now.” Cupun was silent. “Your friends are worried,” his ghost said. “They know -“ “Know what?” Cupun suddenly snapped. “Have you been talking to them about me? Spying on me?” “No!” his ghost said quickly. “But it doesn’t take a spy to know that you’ve changed. And not for the better.” Cupun stood still for a long moment. “I’m fine,” he said at last. He looked down at his hand once more. “Absolutely fine.”