originally posted in:Destiny Fiction Producers
He hovered there for a few seconds. Bathed in flames, his fiery wings outstretched to their maximum width. We all just stared, not knowing what to say to this new development. It should have been impossible, yet I stared at the impossible with my very own eyes.
He floated down gently, landing just a few feet in front of us. We gawked at him, yet he wasted no time in getting us back on track. His flaming wings of fire disappeared in a puff of smoke and he got down to business.
“We haven't stopped the fallen, we only slowed them down,” he said as if him being able to fly isn't something out of the ordinary, “Look, they're already starting to climb up the wall.” He motioned for us to look down. I pulled out my sniper rifle again, and looked to the bottom of the wall. Sure enough, the fallen were starting to climb the wall like spiders. The bottom of the wall was no longer visible, all I could see was a mass of fallen covering it. And it was slowly spreading up the wall. I looked a little higher. The skiffs were now hovering above the scorched earth, dropping their crew to the ground. My stomach jumped into my throat when I saw three fallen walkers drop from a their respective ships. The sickening thud from them hitting the ground could be heard from here.
Traveler almighty, I thought, we're gonna die. We can’t hold off this army. We’re doomed. I don’t wanna do this, I can’t do this. I...I can’t.
“Guardian?” My ghosts voice spoke inside my helmet, “Guardian, your brainwaves are going off the charts, your heart's going at 209 bpm!” I started panting, hyperventilating. Oh god, I don't want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die. I had only been a guardian for a few months, I could do so much more! So much more! Not in a place like this, don’t let me die in a place like this. The fallen were gonna rip out my insides. They’re gonna slaughter us and the entire city. I can’t do anything to stop them. I shuddered, hugging myself with my arms, as tears began to swell in my eyes. My anxiety disorder getting the better of me. Just as it has always done. I can't do anything in this state, I'm useless. I've only been running on adrenaline up till now. A sob escapes my throats before I could stop it. I didn't want the others to think that I was weak, but I can't help it. I felt a hand on my shoulder.I looked up, my helmet hiding my terrified expression, to see that it was Silas. I saw his hand shaking, which gave me little comfort until I realized that I was the one shaking. He looked to me.
“It's a guardian’s duty to protect this city,” he said in a calm voice, “You are the symbol of courage, don't stain that reputation and fight without fear in your heart. Then, I know for sure, we can survive. We have a city to protect. We are guardians, and that title means more than just one person, it means more than your fear. It means protection from the horrors that want us dead. Stand up and fight to the bitter end, because that's what makes us guardians.” I considered his advice, with a heavy heart. God, how pathetic am I? I'm a guardian. I need to face death with courage, and not let this city fall. I can’t stain our courage and bravery with my own fear, I have something to fight for. We have to win. And I can’t bring us down because I’m afraid. I started to breath normal, calm deep breath. I managed to get my heart rate down and calm myself enough to stop shuddering. I opened my eyes and stood up, no longer shaking.
“Th… thank you. I… needed that,” I said to the warlock. He nodded, then focused his attention to the bigger issue than my mental breakdown. He nodded, then turned and kneeled down looking over the edge to the fallen below. I did the same and saw a ghastly sight.
The fallen were almost halfway up the wall already, completely covering the wall in a mass of limbs and armor. There were hundreds climbing the wall, with even more coming out of the forests still. There could be thousands of them all together. I shuddered at the thought of roughly 21 guardians fighting thousands of fallen. Then there were the walkers. All three of them were making there way towards the bottom of the wall and the mass of fallen already there. But why? They couldn’t climb the wall, couldn’t they?
Seeing this entire sight terrified me even more. No, I thought, I can’t let everyone here down. Remember what Silas told me. He was looking at me now, his posture showing he was still concerned about me. I nodded at him, still terrified, but ready to fight. I took a few more deep breaths to calm myself again, then steeled myself for what was to come.
“Welp,” said a hunter, quite casually, “Better get the shootin’ started,” He loaded a hand cannon and aimed down at the hordes below.
“That's not going to work,” Silas’ voice came from my side. He got up from his kneeling position, “We're too high up, your shots wouldn't do much to them down below.” Silas said, patronizing the hunter. The hunter seethed, not liking that this new guy has suddenly taken control and is telling him what to do. He looked like he was going to protest, maybe even fight Silas, before a titan spoke up.
“Flame on here is right,” he said, making a jab at Silas that I didn’t get, and that he didn’t get either telling from his confused response, “We're fifty stories up, and they're all the way down at the bottom. Well, except for the fact that they're climbing up as fast as they can.”
“Which means that we have a few minutes to prepare, and we'll be able to to start picking them off once they get in range. They're going to be spread a little thin, climbing while making room for the ones beside you. When the first wave hits it’s gonna be easy for us to hit something, while they still have to avoid gunfire.” Silas began, picking up on the titan’s train of thought.
“But when they're in range for us to shoot, we'll be in range for them,” the titan spoke up again. “And they have a helluva lot guns down there.”
“And there’s the double edged blade…” Silas muttered under his breath, but loud enough to be heard. “They can’t shoot us, but we can’t shoot them. And when they are in range, as will we. But we'll have the advantage in that we don’t have to keep a few hands on the wall to stop us from falling while being shot at and shooting back. Yet, they do have the advantage in numbers.” He looked at the ever growing crowd of fallen, “And there are a helluva lot of fallen down there too.”
“Then there's the skiffs,” the titan pointed away from the mass of fallen slowly thinning out as they climbed up the walls. I looked through my scope again to where he was pointing. The skiffs remained over the battlefield, even after dropping off their crews and their spider tanks “They're remaining stationary,hovering there doing nothing, like they're waiting for something. I can only assume that when the fight gets started that they'll fly right on up and we'll be fighting from two angles again. But this time, we don't have as much cover.”
The top of the wall behind us was barren, with only a few pieces of outcropping metal for cover. But, there isn't nearly enough for all of us. He was right, we'd be screwed fighting those skiff turrets and the fallen climbing up the wall at the same time.
“Right, so we're pretty much screwed,” Silas said not sounding all that concerned, like he was just playing a game, “But… Does anyone have any turret beacons?” He turned back to the rest of the guardians. A warlock raised his hand after a few seconds of silence.
“I've got five here, but I think that I'm the only one with any.”
“Doesn't matter, set those up in intervals around our section of the wall here. Those things have high enough caliber rounds to tear through the fallen skiffs. Plus, I think that I can assume that a few people here have rockets,” there were several muttered responses, “Good. When the first wave is in range the turrets will sweep across the wall, hopefully taking those fallen down a peg. And when the skiffs start moving the people using the turrets and those with rockets and ranged supers will tear them apart. We can't allow them to get high enough to use their weapons if we do then we might as well give up now. The rest of the guardians who aren't in turrets will be keeping the fallen at bay down below.This is our only option at the moment, and we can’t afford to die. Any problems with this plan, cause it's all I've got.”
No one said anything, but the hunter from earlier didn't look too happy.
“Good. Now,” He looked over the ledge then back to us, “Get ready for the fight of your lives. Cause it might be your last.” We nodded and, I swear, I heard the start of more music coming from Silas’ helmet. Guess he likes music, I thought as brought out my scout rifle and got ready to the impossible. I got ready to survive.
It took a few minutes for the first shot to go off, but when it did the sky lit up as our battle for survival began. And in that battle, both sides lost.
[b]Continued In Comments[/b]
[b]Table of Contents:[/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/230034700/0/0
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Hours Later Zavala walked into the vanguard hall with a solemn look in his face. They had lost too many good guardians in this recent attack, it was horrible. Nevertheless, he took his place at the head of the table as they began to discuss the recent events. “I know that we have lost many, and that this attack was a major blow to the city,” he began, “but we must stay strong for our people.” He looked around at rest of the vanguard and lord Saladin. “Status report on the security of the walls,” Saladin said as Zavala finished. “All sectors seem to be clear with minor fallen strays and resistance, and all guardians from those sectors reported in,” Ikora said. “Except…” she paused for a moment, “When Shaxx led his counter assault on the wall they found sector 15 to be devoid of all life and heavily damaged.” “What do you mean?” Zavala asked. “When they got there, there were multiple dead guardians and what looked to be thousands of fallen all dead.” “So, they fought to a standstill,” Andaal Brask offered. “It would seem that way,” she shook her head as she looked at a holo tablet, “But most of the guardians didn't die normally. They were brain dead.” She finished with a solemn look on her face. “Brain dead?” Zavala asked, confounded. “While several guardians did look to die by fallen means, the rest were scanned as brain dead and unresponsive. Their ghosts were not found at the scene except for one that belonged to a warlock. It has one message on it.” She paused again “Forewarning, the guardian who recorded this message volunteered to use Future War Cults’ so called ‘device’ early after his resurrection and was never given a psychiatric evaluation afterwards. FWC also refuse to tell us what he saw.” Zavala nodded “Play it,”he said. Ikora touched a few buttons on her holo tablet and played the message. Sounds of screaming and explosions could be heard. "To anyone that hears this, be warned." The voice sounded strained and was laced with insanity. "Do not trust the angel of flame who delves into the void and fear his mistress of minds who has caused so much sorrow." The voice burst out into insane laughter. "The one has so many secrets, some not even known to him, and shall bring destruction down upon us all" The voice repeated several unintelligible words for a few seconds then started speaking again. It yelled now, with more insanity and fanaticism to make Zavala take a step back. "THE ONE WITH FOUR VOICES THAT GIVE HIM POWER, THE ONE WHO BRINGS DEATH AND AGONY. HE SHALL DESTROY US ALL!" The voice burst into more insane laughter "BEWARE THE ONE WHO SHALL BRING DARKNESS UPON US ALL. HE IS…." The voice screamed out in agony as an explosion rang out and the message turned to static and cut out. Zavala looked down to the holo tablet showing sector 15 in front of him. The top half of the wall was destroyed, a large chunk looked like it had somehow been seamlessly removed. The part that had been removed was scorched purple. Zavala didn't know what this meant, but he knew that it couldn't be good. To Be Continued