Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait, l’ve been super busy but am hoping to have more free time in these coming months. Now before we start l have an important announcement: [b]chapter 19 of Legend Untold will be a crossover that will also serve as chapter 33 of KSeth27’s series Blank Slate![/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/225386550/0/0 And on top of that, Valentines is coming up so my Crimson Days edition of LU is finally coming up! One more thing: make sure you read Day of the Drew before chapter 18 so u can get exactly how hilarious this all is: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/221445449/0/0 [b]Chapter Eighteen: Sand Land[/b] My feet burrowed into sand after the landing from transmat. My visor instantly caught little bits of sand from the dry breeze, and l could tell more was already finding its way into the gaps in my armor. Thank goodness my protective suit would stop chafing, but getting all the sand off of the armor would take forever. l heard Sierra and Drew come to ground at my sides and stood a moment with them to take in the landscape. It was a desert; dunes and mountains of sand and stone only occasionally interrupted by dead trees or bushes. In the distance l could see skyscrapers peeking out over one of the ridges of sand, but even from here l could tell they were in disrepair. l wondered if this all would’ve been buried in sand even if the Collapse hadn’t come. Drew trudged forward slowly, head turning from side to side to take everything in. After a moment, he stopped and turned to us, his helmet disappearing to reveal his face components turned upwards into what l read as a smile, “Sand Land.” “You seem upset to be back,” Sierra referred to the way he had spoke quietly, contrary to his usual exclamations. “What are you talking about?” l looked to Sierra and pointed at Drew, “He’s smiling, that was quiet enthrallment.” “Smiling?” Sierra scoffed, “How the heck can you tell? Every expression looks the same with Exos. And who the heck uses “[i]quiet enthrallment[/i]” in an actual sentence?” “I’m smiling,” Drew was confused. “Those little plates where his cheeks would be shift up a bit and the lower eyelids raise,” l explained, thinking it was obvious. “Leave it to you to be the only Guardian who would ever notice those giveaways,” Sierra sighed. “It’s just like figuring out Ghost expressions!” l reasoned. “l can only tell if John is amused, and only because he is all the time,” Sierra crossed her arms. “But Ghosts don’t have faces,” Drew scratched his head. “It’s complicated Drew,” Sally told him. It seemed to be enough for the Titan. “This isn’t even important right now,” Rush pressed. “Always rushing on to the next thing,” John chuckled. “You are all idiots!” Rush declared, “l am the only one with a brain and l say you should all get a move on so l can watch you get your butts kicked.” “As you wish, oh great brainy master,” l laughed. “That’s more like it,” Rush and the rest joined in the laughter as we began our trek through the desert world. We only had to walk a couple dozen meters away from the transmat zone for the encompassing dunes to turn off where we could see all across the giant bowl we were in. Some low rolling dunes rolled off ahead of us until meeting some kind of cliff or drop, and beyond that lay the derelict city, but off to our right the sand still stood in tall ridges. The interesting part was that we could see a large structure built into the landscape. It mostly used grey metals, had a massive entrance that was currently open, was made mostly of blocky shapes, and definitely wasn’t human. “Cabal outpost?” l guessed. The silence from the others verified that everyone else agreed. “Might as well start there,” l set off towards it, pulling out a pulse rifle because l knew I’d probably want both accuracy and bullet output for an enemy like the Ghosts had described. The walk wasn’t long and the sand wasn’t loose enough to let us sink very deep, but walking in a desert was definitely a new experience for me. We soon found ourselves standing before the first layer of Cabal construction: two short walls that formed a trench placed several meters from the main structure. bunkering down and peeking over the wall at the base, we could faintly hear the sounds of something moving and speaking an alien language somewhere inside. “l guess they aren’t expecting burglars to sneak in,” l commented. “Makes sense after years without Guardians on their doorstep,” Rush whispered, apparently feeling he had to be stealthy even though none but us on the comms could hear him. “They can’t hear you genius,” l whispered mockingly to my Ghost. “Why are we whispering again?” Drew also lowered his voice. “So the bad guys don’t hear us,” Sally dumbed it down for him. Drew nodded in acknowledgment. “Remember that lesson l gave you on stealth the other day, Drew?” l checked. “Yes,” the Exo answered, “Not my strong suit.” “Exactly, so make sure you remember all that stuff about being quiet and follow our lead,” l instructed. “Sure thing, Will,” Drew gave a thumbs up. “Okay, here goes nothing,” l climbed over the small trench wall and started trekking through the sand bent low to make myself less visible. A thump sounded behind me and l turned to see Sierra right behind me, also looking back to find the source of the sound. Drew was lying with his face in the sand and legs in the air, his foot having caught the edge and tripped him. “Can’t we just leave him behind as a sentry or something?” Sierra sighed as Drew pushed himself up and gave us the OK sign with his hand. “l think that would be more dangerous than taking him with us,” l grinned. Sierra gave a dissatisfied grunt of agreement as the three of us began moving again. “l hate babysitting.” “Good thing there aren’t any babies here,” Drew chimed in, clearly lost on the conversation. That earned a grumble from Sierra. “William is only a few months old, does that make him a baby?” Rush snickered. “No more than it makes you an old man for having lived longer than Zavala,” l retorted. “Girls, girls! You’re both pretty! Now shut up!” Sierra hissed. Drew laughed at that, granting a small kick from the Huntress. Smiling beneath my helmet, l led my team to the wall of the base and then we crept over to the giant door. Holding a warning hand up to halt my teammates, l carefully peaked around the corner to see what was going on inside. At first l saw nothing but small barriers and crates set up around the vast room, but then a flicker of movement alerted me to a small alien looking at a terminal in the far corner. The creature was illuminated by the orange glow of the terminal’s holographic display, allowing me to see its grey and purple armor on its small, almost human frame. Rush marked it as a Psion on my HUD display. A guttural call sounded and the rectangular face of the Psion’s helmet turned to face more aliens that were walking into view from a turn on my right at the end of the room. These ones were far larger, standing a few feet taller than a human and clearly weighing far more with their huge, stout figures. They wore green, grey, and brown armor that was all smoothly rounded and carried large one-handed guns that looked small in their meaty hands. Rush labeled them Legionaries, and they struck up a conversation with the Psion and each other. “Rush, do we have records on their language?” l asked quietly. “Yeah, but they’re incomplete,” Rush answered. “Good enough, turn on the translator,” l requested. Link to Ch17, Return: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/239126549/0/0 Link to Ch18 Pt2: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/242226962/0/0 Link to ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0