Hey Guardians! This is Dreams of the Traveler Part 6: Purpose. If you missed [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/207410406?sort=0&page=0]Part 5 [/url], there it is. I've been kind of busy lately what with getting three characters to Level 5 in Iron Banner ; ) but I promise to get the chapters cranking out with a little more expedience. As always, if you like it, give it a bump and I'll keep seeing where Fireteam Indigo ends up! PS: If you haven't checked out [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/208211390?sort=0&page=0]Into the Hellmouth[/url], you should. The story is just...just...just go read it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To err is human; to forgive, divine. Forgiveness was always something humans seemed to struggle with. Divinity, as well. Millennia of prophetic disagreements fueling wars span all of human existence. Yet, the Truth was never discovered. It was merely redefined. Redefined when the Traveler appeared in Earth’s orbit. Redefined as everything humanity knew to be true was shaken loose as if Truth were simply a mistake on an Etch-a-Sketch. Redefined as it raised corpses from their slumber to walk the mortal realm as warriors, fighting an unending war. But with a changing Truth, came continuous questions. Some were age old: Where did we come from? Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? And some were new: What is the Traveler? Where did it come from? Why is it here? Why? Answers are a rare commodity and Perry never felt poorer. Only a few hours ago, he was safe inside the Sacred Silence. Unaware but safe. However, dreams are too often deferred as to make room for reality. And this was all too real. Perry had to push these haunting dreams aside; they were a distraction from his dangerous actuality. He knew he must focus on survival: for himself as well as his new compatriots. He honed his sensors as the shadow of one of their predators ran across the wall. Sul’leth froze when it passed. His rifle protested as he white knuckled it, turning around to aim behind them; he was certain their rear was compromised. [i]“Eyes forward. Watch your tracker.”[/i] Our Ghosts were back in our helmets, no longer needing to provide Light. “I don’t th—“ Perry interrupted himself and readied his carbine when two of the things hunting us came through an opening in the ventilation shafts above us. Two shots from his rifle put a hole in the chest and cranium of one of the assailants. “HOLD FIRE!” I shouted before Perry could send the other one to its demise. It looked similar to the larger enemy but swung two, rather than the four arms, attached to the twitching alien on the floor. The two armed beast had its leg trapped in cables that had looped around its ankle, suspending it from their ambush point. It seemed to be yelling and cursing at us in whatever language it spoke; clicks, hisses, and throaty roars were all I heard. “What IS this thing, Ghost?” I made sure to keep just outside of its arms’ reach. [i]“This is a Fallen dreg,”[/i] he replied.[i] ”This one in particular belongs to the lowest of the low among the Fallen Houses—The House of Devils.”[/i] Just as my lips opened to ask about the dreg’s headless companion, two loud bangs accompanied by flashes of light cut our conversation short. Standing behind Perry and myself, Sul’leth was breathing heavily, his rifle smoking with the whispers of the dreg’s last thoughts. “What the [i]HELL[/i], Sully?!” I was half surprised and completely irate. [i]“Is it—is it gone?”[/i] Sully’s Ghost emerged, shaking gingerly and scanning the room in what seemed like a panic. “You know—[i]NOTHING[/i]—of the—Fallen,” he said, each word using more oxygen than the previous. Perry stepped toward him, “Sul’leth—“ Then some of the natural glow of his Awoken eyes seemed to fade. “I had been…alive…for a few moments. Not long before Perry and I discovered you—“ My Ghost interjected, [i]“Actually I discovered where you—“[/i] “I was the first of us to be brought back. I didn’t have time to get acclimated, not even for a minute. They were…[i]so fast.[/i]” “Sul—“ “There were two others that had been resurrected near me: they were human, I think. I couldn’t see them that well but what I could see was the vessel that descended from orbit to extinguish the Light of the infantile Guardians. Sul’leth told us the story of what he and his Ghost had seen before joining Perry and Mrs. P. My stomach turned as he recalled a Fallen leader—his Ghost said his name was Rahn, a Captain—leading a squadron to ambush the Guardians. The details of his story were haunting, concluding with Rahn removing pieces of the Guardians’ armor (with parts of the victims still attached) and taking fragments of their Ghosts as trophies. When he finished, Perry was staring at him; the Exo’s mouth hanging open. “So you see, Zoë, you know [i]NOTHING [/i]of the Fallen.” I was mortified; but more than that, I felt the anger brewing inside of me again. Thoughts of the now deceased Guardians plagued me. How helpless and scared they must have been. How unaware they must have been. So scared. I wouldn’t end up like them. WE wouldn’t. “[i]So[/i]?” My ennui was an imitation of when I had first met Sul’leth. My fire team’s faces were disconcerted at my outward lack of empathy. “Listen, the way I see it is we have two options. One: we keep being scared and worried and eventually die in this rusty shithole.” [i]“LANGUAGE!”[/i] “Or TWO,” I continued, ignoring Mrs. Potts’ call for decorum, “we pick these guns up and make sure that Rahn and his little four-armed friends take an early dirt nap!” I punctuated the last sentence by loading one of the fresh magazines we procured from the crate into my rifle. Sul’leth didn’t move. His eyes were fixed on the flickering lights above us; his rifle now lying beside him; the smoke from the barrel playing Icarus, flying up and up—only to be vanquished by the laws of physics. The Fallen were waiting. As were we. I stooped next to my Awoken comrade and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “Sul’leth An’eshe sün Su’ul,” this invoked an involuntary response from my broken friend… …friend… “Sully, you’ve been a dick since I met you,” the glow came back to his eyes, “and quite frankly I get it now. My resurrection was quiet. It was—it wasn’t anything at all like yours. But if what you’re telling us is true, then not long from now, we’re [i]GOING [/i]to die. Just like the others you saw. Please, [i]please [/i]Sully, don’t let one of the only people I know become one of these asshole’s trophies.” Mrs. P. remained silent. The fresh memories played over and over in his head; they painted a picture of caution and fright, resulting in his inaction. But things change. And infants ne’er remain the same. “Ok.” “That’s it? [i]Ok[/i]? I give you a speech and you give me—you know what? That’s good enough.” More dregs clambered through the ventilation shafts and once again, we moved forward to face the Darkness. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/208651771]Part 7.0.1[/url]