Broken

Well guys, I did it again. Last Halloween I made a story for a writing contest that ended up being too long and I had to write a shorter submission that wasn't nearly as good. That story was the first Destiny related story I ever wrote and the first I posted in the forums, and even after a year I can still say I'm proud of how it turned out. This story, Broken, was also too long for the DFP contest going on now, but I did write a shorter submission that came out really good, and I will also be posting it today. The theme is "A world without Light", in respect to Destiny 2. Consider this a tribute to the story that got me into the world of Destiny fanfiction, The Moon's Abyss. Enjoy [b][u]Broken[/u][/b] Part One An explosion rocked the earth only several meters away from me, causing a spray of dirt to rain down over my position. The man next to me started to get up, but I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back down to sit next to me with our backs against the small wall of rubble that we had built up from the remains of the surrounding buildings. Stray projectiles flew all around our position, sometimes pounding against our makeshift barrier. The battle wasn't going well for us. I didn't know how many casualties we had sustained, but the numbers had to be high. Of course, I was certain that the enemy casualties were far higher despite the suddenness and ferocity of their attack. It was the Cabal, although an outfit I had never seen before on Mars, and they had different tech and a few additional forms of troops amongst their ranks. The Tower had been bombarded, but it still stood and the last update said that the Vanguard was still holding. The roar of multiple sets of engines drew near and a spray of heavy fire mowed the ground near our position, followed by the sudden slap of an explosion and several large shards of shrapnel driving down into the ground. A weak cry sounded to my left and I looked to see that someone further down the line had taken a piece of shrapnel to the back, stabbing him all the way through. It didn't matter though, as his Ghost revived him only moments later. What I worried about were the civilians. So far us Guardians had been able to keep the Cabal busy, as they were mostly focused on eliminating the warriors anyway, but any Cabal that ran into a civilian would doubtlessly kill without hesitation. I could only hope that teams had formed up to hold back Cabal from unevacuated areas and to guide people out of the war zone, but for now I had to focus on my charges. A small group of civilians, all huddled up in a small trench that had been carved into the ground by a crashed ship and clustered around a single Defender Titan who stood with arms raised, shaking under the effort of holding a Ward of Dawn around them for so long. We had held here for some number of minutes...maybe hours...I didn't know how long this had drawn out, and several Guardians had already given their Light protecting this group with me. Their Ghosts and remains lay scattered; some behind the line where we could recover them and lay them down to rest peacefully, others out in front where no one would dare pause to mourn them. We held about a block of the City, waving over any Guardian who wandered near to join our perimeter. The Cabal had certainly noticed us, but they were having trouble hitting such small targets on the ground while in the middle of a battle above the City, and the ground troops were having trouble getting bearings on our positions. The roar of battle continued, and the Guardian at my side stayed tense to move even after I had held him back. Everyone else I could see down along our entrenchments was the same way. A short while ago the Cabal had regrouped and started trying to flush us out using some explosive weaponry, so we were ducked down, waiting for them to get too close. Another explosion rocked the ground, this time several meters away from our position, followed by the grunts and roars of Cabal as they followed the explosions in search of fleeing Guardians. As if we would run away. "NOW!" I cried out to the others, and I rose to my feet with the Guardian next to me and the others in neighboring bits of cover. A blitz of fire flew out from behind our fortifications as a dozen enraged Guardians yelled curses and taunts at the Cabal who had wandered too close to us. Dozens fell before the hulking aliens returned fire, but even then, in unknown terrain and not knowing which direction we would strike from, their reaction time was remarkable. A Hunter crouched behind a small bank of rubble in front of me took a round to the face and fell onto his back, limp. A Titan standing bravely in front of the scar in the ground that hid the civilians fell to her knees, screaming and trying to grasp an arm that was no longer there. To my right a Warlock in the line fell with a War Beast on top of her, her hands pressing up against its neck and chest to hold it back, but when one of its feet tore through her abdomen inadvertently her arms gave out and the creature's fangs sunk into her neck. The hound-like animal turned its eyes to a Hunter next, who had already drawn his knife to kill the foul thing. However, before either could move, the Warlock's hand shot up and grabbed it by the throat again, only this time wreathed in golden flames. It took only a moment for the War Beast to burn to cinders in her grasp, and she got back up and began hurling grenade after grenade out at the Cabal, her wings of fire shining fiercely. In front of me the Hunter was revived by his Ghost just in time to catch hold of another War Beast that had tried slipping past his position, taking it by the hind legs and actually tossing it over my head and to the female Titan behind me, who batted it out of the air with her freshly reformed arm. We could still win this. Just then, a new glow spreading over the battlefield caught my eye. It wasn't from and explosion or Guardian wielding their Light, it was an orange glow from the giant machine that the Cabal had flown up next to the Traveler in the beginning of the battle. It had just sat there at first, making me think that it was some Psion-operated station to observe and study the Traveler, but now a net of energy was spreading out from the six-pronged machine and wrapping all the way around the Traveler's pristine white surface. As I watched, the orange field closed around the opposite end of the Traveler, and all of a sudden it felt as if all the life and strength within me was being torn out by raking claws. A shimmer of Light in the vague form of my body drifted out in front of me before dissipating and leaving me to stand on legs that barely held, gasping for breath and struggling to see straight. All around me the other Guardians experienced the same phenomenon, falling down to their knees or sides and trying to push themselves back up. A collective murmur of surprise sounded from behind me, and I knew that the Defender Titan had fallen amongst the civilians, his Ward no longer existent. I heard a clatter and looked down to find my Ghost laying at my feet, his eye just flickering out of existence. Letting my knees give out at last, I thumped to the ground and scooped up my companion in shaking hands. "Rush..." I whispered his name, hardly even able to speak in this state. They had blocked off the Traveler's Light. Crippling sorrow and anger coursed through me, and I turned my eyes up again towards the Cabal that had been held back under our collective might only moments ago. Some shot down the Guardians in the front lines, and some simply walked up to to them as they lay there, clutching their Ghosts as I did, then finished them with a crushing blow or a round to the head. My left hand clutched Rush tightly to my chest, and my right drifted down to the grip of my rifle. As the Cabal came closer in their confidence, I nudged the man that lay to my left with the barrel of my gun, drawing his attention to me. He turned his head weakly to me, and I didn't have to see his face through his Hunter helm to know that he was just as sad and enraged as I was. His hand fumbled towards the cannon that rested on his hip, and he nodded to me. Rubble shifted in front of me, and I turned my head slowly to look at a Cabal that stood atop my makeshift barricade. It reached down to take me by the head, clearly not worried that I might be able to fight back. So of course it was surprised when my companion put several rounds into its armored head, knocking it down onto its back, dead as a stone. With a weak battle cry I began firing at the other Cabal from down on my knees, sending them reeling to ready their weapons as the Hunter next to me reloaded his cannon and started firing again. Collecting themselves, the other surviving Guardians found their weapons and joined in the fray, screaming with all the rage and strength they could muster. Many Cabal fell in the unexpected retaliation, but Guardians were dropping like flies. __________________________________ Link to part 2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/229945590/0/0 Link to my Archive: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0