Fading Light

Eris Morn panted again, after running away from the Fallen. She still wasn't used to her disconnect with the Light, not since she encountered Crota in his Throne World. He and his followers cut down Eris's fireteam as if they were mere Thrall, stealing their Light and ripping their bodies into shreds, all from a single song from the Deathsinger. Eris barely survived, but as soon as she reached the surface, the former Hunter realized that her Light was drained. She took one good look in the mirror to find out that not only was her helmet nearly shattered, but her pair of fiery yellow eyes was replaced by a trio of glowing, venomous green eyes. 'What did they do to me!? Fool! Don't you remember what Toland said!? You're becoming one of THEM!' She wondered how much time had passed while she was escaping from the Hellmouth, so she spent all of yesterday looking for a console that could possibly tell her the time.

Most of the Moon's surface was overrun by Fallen House of Exile. A Fallen House without a Kell, Archon Priest, and Prime Servitor was doomed to disintegrate; however, the House of Wolves refused to do this. For 5 years after Skolas's defeat, the Wolves retreated to the Moon, only looking to survive. Without a Ketch, Prime, religious and political leader, the Wolves began to fight amongst themselves, until a Dreg named Frigoris yelled the Fallen equivalent of "ENOUGH!" and ordered the leaderless Wolves into making a base for themselves, as well as commanding the Captains and any brave Vandals to patrol the surface. Frigoris gained the title of 'Baron', given to him by his peers. The Dregs would've named him 'Kell', but Frigoris didn't want a title that equated him to the cruel politicians and priests that docked his arms. Plus, the Captains didn't want a low-life to be their new king.

Eris managed to sneak inside an old Chinese installation sitting on Archer's Line, one that specialized in colliding electrons to create fuel for the Colony Ships, and not just Chinese ones either. In here was a partially active console, hopefully with a clock program still intact. Eris flipped the master control switch, but the room remained dark. "Idiot! No rusted Golden Age facility would have a functioning electrical system!" She sighed, "I miss my Arc Blade..."

Just then, she heard a Jumpship approaching the Moon's surface and beamed as a response. "The Guardians came for me! Wait! Do I-?" She turned around to find an old and dull mirror, and her reflection bore an ugly forehead and eye sockets resembling the Hive. "They took more than just my Light!"

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At the bottom of Archer's Line, Max and Lilli touched down on the Moon, fully armored from head to toe against the vacuum of space. They ran up to the Chinese facility and walked in to find a Guardian tying a brown bandana, which looked like it was torn from her cloak, around her forehead. Just as she pulled her hood up to conceal her bulbous scalp, Max cleared his throat and said, "Excuse me?"

The Guardian turned around and stared at the duo with her 3 green eyes, "What do you want?"

Lilli and Max were taken aback by the sight of Hive eyes slapped onto an Awoken Hunter's head. "Umm...well..."

"Speak, Warlock," she demanded.

Max sighed and straightened himself, "We need help navigating the Moon."

"Good luck with that," the Hive Awoken snapped.

"Given your...um...experiences with the Hive, we were wondering if you could...help us?"

The Awoken sighed, "Let me make myself clear: I am in no way, shape, or form going to be tangling with the Hive again, as you can clearly see."

"You mean you lost your Light?" Lilli asked.

The Awoken answered, "More than that. I lost my fireteam, my friends, my Ghost, and my patience! Now, if you don't mind, I'm looking for a ship. I need to warn the City!"

"We already tried that."

"And!?"

Lilli slumped, "They wouldn't listen."

Max asked the corrupted Awoken, "Just out of curiosity, who are you?"

"I am Eris Morn, the last of the Fireteam named Crota's Bane, and now I need to escape."

"Well," the Warlock started, "we do have a ship, but it's the only one we have, and...well...it's our only way back to the City, too."

Eris groaned, "I have no time for sympathy, Warlock! I need your ship!"

"How about this:" Lilli proposed, "You can come back to Earth on our ship, if and only if you agree to help us find our teammate."

Eris groaned again, "I don't see why I should."

"Well, enjoy your company with the Fallen and Hive, alone on the Moon," Lilli bravely said.

Fear ran up Eris's spine, "Ok ok, fine. I'll help you."

Lilli grinned, "Thanks, Eris. Now, tell us more about why the Hive would kidnap a Guardian."

Eris sighed, "Why else? The Hive see everything as flawed, until it is cut into their shape by the swords of their Gods."

"And Crota is one of those gods?" Max asked.

Eris laughed, "Hah! No! Crota wishes he could be, but he is from the blood of his father, Oryx, the Supreme Hive God. As much as he and his Spawn want to cut all ties to Oryx, they can't."

"I don't understand, why would they kidnap a Guardian?"

"The Traveler's Light," Eris answered, "is a mysterious thing. No one knows its origin, and we can only guess at its goals. One thing is certain, Light is powerful, and that scares and empowers the Hive. If they can twist it into something devious, something absolutely dark, then they can harness it for whatever they want."

Max snapped his fingers in enlightenment, "Crota!" Then he thought, "Wait, is he dead, or hidden, or something?"

Eris shook her head, "I'll explain later. Right now, you need more information, and I need to get back to the City."

Lilli pulled a small contraption from her pocket and said, "Here, it's a one-way teleport back to the City. Just press the button."

Eris took the teleport, pressed the button in the center, and was instantly transported back to the City.

Max asked Lilli, "Wait, you had a teleporter?"

The Hunter laughed, "No, Leviathan did. I picked it from his pocket when you ran into him."

Max raised an eyebrow, "Why would he have a teleporter? Shouldn't his Ghost revive him if he dies?"

"Have you seen him lately? He's too scared of anything that can shoot him back, and tries to assert dominance over us."

"Fair enough."

The pair of Guardians walked out of the building and around the Moon's surface, looking for any traces of Hive or Leviathan. They searched all of Archer's Line, the Anchor of Light adjacent to the Line, and the outside ring of the Hellmouth, the center of attention on the surface of the Moon. For 2 hours, they found nothing. Then, Max found something branching away from the Anchor; a path leading to a huge, sealed Hive door. Max told Lilli through the comms, "Hey, I found something interesting."

"What is it?"

"A giant Hive door. With 3 runes locking it."

"Max..."

"Level with me here: if we understand what the runes meant, or find some sort of key altar on the surface, we can open the door, charge and blast our way through the Hive, and rescue our teammate from their ritual."

"Or," Lilli suggested, "we can find another way in, aside from the front door."

Max nodded, "or that." Just then, the runes began to heat up and melt the metal locks they were attached to. Max stared at the door, "Uh, Lilli!?"

"Yeah? What is it?"

The doors broke off the hinges and came crashing down around the Warlock. Max promptly ran away and screamed, "HEEEELLLLP!!!!"

Thrall flooded the doorway just as Max climbed up to higher ground. Acolytes and Knights followed the Thrall in smaller numbers and began shooting at the Warlock. He retaliated by spraying bullets, but to no avail. Max frantically glided over to a new area with cover, throwing his new scatter grenades at the Hive hoard. They worked wonders against the Thrall, but the deceased were quickly replaced by more Thrall and Acolytes. Still being shot at, Max launched a Nova Bomb at the Hive Hoard, successfully demolishing all of the Thrall, Acolytes, and most of the Knights. Max landed on the ground and killed the remaining Knights with headshots from his scout rifle.

Max panted through the comms, "On second thought, Lilli...I've got it covered."

"Well, that's a waste of time!" The Hunter shouted. She sounds close. Max whirled around fast, his eyes locked onto her as she descended the chasm to the door. "You cry out for help, then say the fight's over!?"

The Warlock stuttered, "I-I-I didn't know! I just got scared and-"

"The next time you cry for help, make sure you mean it!"

Max shakily nodded, "Y-yes, ma'am."

Lilli walked through the door undisturbed, searching for any trace of Leviathan, while Max followed behind her. They looked and walked around the dimly lit dark green room, finding nothing out of the Hive ordinary.

Then Lilli felt something hard under her boot, and that something weakly cried out, "pleeeeeease...stop..."

Lilli jumped back, "OH MY TRAVELER!" and picked up a Ghost, "Are you alright?!"

"nnnooooo...." the Ghost wailed, "my ghoul...he's...he's..."

"Save your Light, we need to get you back to the City," then she turned to Max and tossed him a small fob, "Hey! Catch!" Max turned to catch the fob midair and pressed the top button, summoning the ship. Lilli comforted the dying Ghost while their ride arrived, "Everything's going to be fine, you're safe."

"...save him...save my guardian...save Leviath-..." The Ghost's Light and her shell faded to grey. Lilli wept for Gabriela as their ship appeared outside the door, then a new emotion emerged through the tears, "Mark my words, Gabriela," she said to the dead Ghost, "I may not save Leviathan, but I most certainly will avenge you!"

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Leviathan was now strapped to an obsidian table, similar to the one Dredgen Yor was strapped to during his conversion. Instead of being laid down horizontally, he was hoisted vertically, the obsidian plate digging into the ground, but he himself was 2 feet above. The giant chamber that surrounded him was the eeriest, primal, and dark of all the Hive Chambers on the Moon; this was the dreaded Chamber of Night.

And it was there that Leviathan realized, 'I am going to be sacrificed!'