Ten Thousand Arms Pt5

Part Five "Ghost," Blake began as he stepped right up next to me, "Take us down." White light flashed over my eyes and a slight tingle spread over my body again as we transmatted and found ourselves suddenly on top of the wall. It was a slapped-together wall built of many large metal sheets and beams, and I knew that many platforms lined the interior and exterior to create vantage points and places for artillery. We were on its flat top, looking towards the Last City, and before us the thick forestry eventually gave way to buildings that steadily grew larger as they approached the center of the walled off area. Several towers protruded amongst the mass of human structures, but above even the tops of them floated a massive, moon-sized sphere. It sat majestically above the civilization bellow, no gravity affecting anything around it and a beautiful glow shining off of its white shell. But it was hurt; its lower half was scarred and missing chunks of the pristine white shell, exposing another layer of machinery underneath. The Dark had hurt our Great Machine before we had come to this system, and instead of avenging it we had attacked its children; we had even begun stealing from the Dark in a vain attempt to regain the Light, using power from the one thing we hated most. We have truly fallen... Blake had been standing so close he was almost pressed up against me, head swiveling around to make sure nothing was taking aim, but I took I step away from him so I could tilt my head back and spread my arms a bit with eyes closed to bask in the Great Machine's Light. I could feel it, the health and gentle power, radiating off of it more strongly than the light from the Sun. I felt a wholeness, and my prosthetics took on feeling almost like my real arms. Spreading my arms more, I had the illusion of dozens of extra limbs rising around my own four. When I opened my eyes, I could see only four, but the image of ten thousand splayed arms remained etched into my mind. The distant ring of a gun firing came to my ears, and as I began shrinking back the air rippled in from of my face, the single bullet barely missing my head. Blake immediately put his body between me and the direction the sniper was and yelled for his Ghost to transmat us. Almost instantly we found ourselves inside the jump ship, and I slumped against one of the cockpit walls with a satisfied exhale. "I told you to stay right next to me!" Blake yelled. "Vasik knows," I replied distractedly. "Stupid Dreg asks to see the Traveler and nearly gets himself killed because he gets careless next to a City of enemies," Blake muttered as he sat in the pilot's seat. "I have no reason to avoid death any longer," I explained, finally breaking from my awestricken behavior, "My last act was in service of the Great Machine and I have seen it with my own eyes." "Guess you wouldn't mind if I put a bullet in your head instead of that sniper then," Blake growled. "You amuse me, Blake," I chuckled, "No, accepting death is not the same as wanting death. I will continue on, and I will not help those who work against the Great Machine any longer." "What will you do?" Blake's Ghost asked, appearing near me in the cockpit. "The humans will not accept me, and I expected nothing more from them," I answered, "So I will go to the one other force in the system that does not serve the Dark." "The Awoken?" the Ghost inquired. "Hah!" Blake barked, "What makes you think they'll take you in? They don't let anyone close." "Guardians do not know?" I asked myself, confused by their lack of knowledge, "Have you heard of Reef Wars?" "Yes, the war between the Awoken and the House of Wolves," the Ghost replied, "It started as Twilight Gap did. Some Guardians got caught in the crossfire..." "The Awoken did not kill or imprison ALL of the Wolves after they surrendered, yes," I explained, "The surviving leaders and war criminals were placed in the Prison of Elders, and the rest now serve the Queen." "I did hear that the Wolf Kell was killed in the first battle of the war," the Ghost mused. "Yes, not hard for Queen to become leader once we surrendered," I described, "The remaining Wolf leaders had fought each other and Awoken at same time; made for easy destruction of Wolves." "And why does all this mean that they'll just let you come in and work for the Awoken?" Blake questioned. "I was Wolf during Reef Wars, but docked and banished when the Wolves began fighting themselves," I told them, "Devils took me in. But Wolves and Awoken should take me back; wouldn't mind one more servant." "And the Wolves just obey the Queen? No argument?" Blake asked, astounded. "No...most Fallen would despise Kell of different race," I said bitterly, "But we deserve this after what we've done. I will serve Awoken without complaint, as long as we do not work against the Great Machine." "So...we're heading for the Reef then?" the Ghost asked nervously. "Let's hope we don't get shot down," Blake sighed, "You're lucky we promised you a ride." "For which I am grateful," I thanked him. Soon we were hurtling through space at warp speed, our view of space distorted by our speed so that a mesh of blue, violet, and white light zipped by around us. But this was a view I had seen before, and took this time to make an entry in my log rather than admire the view. "I have found kind Ghost and it's Guardian," I began, "After escaping Hive and Fallen, they took me to wall of Last City. Blake is Guardian, and has shown that peace is not impossible for our kinds. I prove friendship is possible. The Great Machine was more than the stories said it was; I could feel its Light. Blake and Ghost now take me to Reef, where I hope to join Wolves under Queen Kell." I paused for a moment, then repeated in my own tongue. When I finished and turned off the data pad, I noticed that Blake was watching me. "Vasik hopes that Eliksni speech did not bother you," I apologized. "No, it didn't bother me," Blake assured me, then stared a moment longer, "Did you mean all that? About peace?" "Meant every word, yes," I answered, "But it will be long before Fallen and humans can have true chance for peace." "You said we were friends?" Blake asked after another moment of thought. "Yes," I responded carefully. Blake merely nodded in acknowledgement and looked back to the controls of his ship. We exited warp speed and the Belt snapped into view. It was a mass of asteroids and the destroyed remains of thousands of ships, all caught around the Sun in a ring resting between the orbits of Mars and Saturn. An odd violet light permeated throughout the arc of debris, its source not visible, and dimly illuminated the rock, metal, and clouds of dust that made up the Belt. This place wasn't a ship graveyard because of the Awoken; most of these ships had been human colony ships that were destroyed when the Collapse struck humanity. Admittedly, the rest were either ships destroyed by the Awoken or Awoken ships destroyed during the Reef Wars. "Well, now we can only hope they don't shoot us down," Blake mumbled. We flew into the field of debris and began weaving our way through, searching for any sign of Awoken presence. Though I knew there was life here, I couldn't shake the oppressive presence of death. So many ships floated in splintered remains as far as the eye could see, stating blatantly that thousands died here, but we were only seeing a tiny portion of the Belt. This was the graveyard of thousands of ships, and millions of souls. In all honesty, I was glad when I heard the crackle of a channel opening on the jump ship's speakers, even after the greeting we were given. "Intruder bearing 294, you are trespassing into Awoken territory. State your business or be fired on by order of the Queen," a voice announced on the channel. Blake muttered a human word I had not heard before, but it appeared to be some form of curse. "I am transporting a passenger who wishes to enter the service of the Queen," Blake told them after a moment. After a few moments of silence, the voice, noticeably female, spoke again. "Get the passenger on the channel or we shoot," she stated. "I am here," I said, stepping closer to the controls to be heard better. "State why you have come," the woman commanded. "I was of House Wolves during Reef Wars, then banished and taken in by Devils," I explained, "Left Devils and have nowhere to go. Nowhere except Reef, where I will not be made to attack Great Machine, yes." "Repeat in Eliksni tongue," the woman commanded. I obeyed and repeated myself in the guttural clicking of my language. After a few seconds of pause once I had finished, the woman spoke again. "Match our trajectory," she ordered, "Any deviation will be taken as aggression." ___________________________________ Link to part 4: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/220869906/0/0 Link to part 6: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/220870032/0/0 Link to Archive: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/217384398/0/0