Mithrax meets a guardian

The Forsaken
Chapter 3: The Warlock

Mithrax turned around to face the guardian who yelled at him, standing there, with his gun pointed right at Mith’s face.

“back away from the pool. Slowly” the captain did as ordered, slowly walking over to one of the bushes at the edge of the vegetation. He then kneeled down, arms up.

“Human, Misraaks means no harm.” The guardian, stood there, surprised. Every Fallen he’s come across has wanted blood, much less had knowledge of English. This Fallen, who had such audacity to come into the center of the Cradle, just surrendered on the spot.

“how much English do you understand?”

“small” replied Mithrax, with the characteristic Growl of a not-so-fluent Eliksni. He started to move for his Canteen of Ether, which was still on his belt. The Warlock moved his gun swiftly, not liking this movement.

“ether” said mith, unbinding the ether canteen, then taking a swig.

“d-don’t you breathe that stuff?” the guardian was very confused, all the fallen had tubes, and rebreathers to supply their Ether. Mithrax did not have such an apparatus.

“dirty” growled Mith. The purity of Ether determines its state, if it’s really pure, it’s like a white gas, but if it’s impure, it’s like a liquid.

“let Misraaks go. I was curious.” The captain motioned to an opening in the wall. A minute passed of just staring. The warlock conceded, but not without giving a warning.

“if I find you here again, I will not hesitate in making your head explode. Got that?” Mithrax nodded, then ran out. It was short, but his time in that place, made him feel invigorated. Being so close to a place filled with life-energy, reminded him like incredibly pure Ether, so pure and radiant, it wasn’t like a gas, but rather like a force.

“Syivax, I need a transport” he said over a radio, and in no time the captain’s Skiff appeared overhead. As fast as it came, he was transported into the bridge. The Servitor gurgled with happiness at seeing Mith again. Mithrax slumped in his chair. He’d found some answers, but left with even more.

“the humans are so protective of anywhere the great Machine was.” The Eliksni mulled over what he had learned. The Machine stopped on that moon. Left it partially changed, and loads of the life-energy from it was left over.

“thinking is too hard right now. I’m too tired.” Mithrax slumped in his chair, then slowly drifted to sleep.
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A hawk flies over the Last city, landing on the windowsill owned by a warlock guardian. Twirling a pen in his fingers, it’s hard trying to think of how to write down the events of the day, since memory isn’t something easy to come by lately.

*Today, it was a standard patrol on Io. The Taken are clinging onto that moon like mold to fruit, no matter how many you get rid of, they just keep coming. The cabal have stopped drilling since the vanguard and their pet guardian killed Gaul. I noticed a fallen trying to sneak into the Cradle, possibly to try and steal the residual light there. He was really weird though, he surrendered as soon as I made myself known, and didn’t even try to attack me when I wasn’t looking.*

He trailed off in thought, WHY did that fallen not attack him? It was so strange. Nonetheless, this journal was assigned to him as a better way to deliver mission reports to Ikora, since his memory was spotty. Closing the book, he got up to leave his apartment. He wasn’t one of those sleepless, work-work-work guardians, he likes to be around the citizens, all the laughing and joy made him feel like guardian work was worth all the dying over and over.

“good morning Mr. Ganjes!”

“morning Elys! How goes the patrols?” asked a nice middle-aged Awoken, who was vending newspapers on the streets.

“just your standard aliens, trying to shoot me.” Replied the warlock, with a smile.

“they can’t get through this, though” he said, as he created a crude shield out of light. Ganjes laughed, and returned to his customers. The guardian proceeded to the 2nd tower to report to the warlock vanguard. Walking through the tower, he greeted all the workers, and made an effort to avoid talking to Banshee. He just reminded Elys of what may happen to him, forgetting the last conversation he had, even forgetting a loved one if it got bad enough.

“ah, Elys. Do you have my report?” asked Ikora, calmly turning around to face the guardian.

“here it is. I think the journal is getting pretty full. After I leave, I think I’ll buy a new one.”

“that would be a good idea, guardian.” She said, skimming over the notes, scrawled over the paper. The last few lines made her eyebrows scrunch up.

“what’s this about a Fallen sneaking into the Cradle? This is very suspicious. I’ll have some Hidden posted there to prevent any more events like this” she put the book on her desk, and looked out to the traveler

“if this means the fallen are going to make a move, traveler, give us strength.” Elys slowly slipped out before the vanguard has a chance to make a huge speech. As always, he went to Zavala to get his next patrol assignment.

“ever since the red war happened, vex activity on Venus has slowed. We should make sure it stays that way. There will be patrol beacons active there, use one to notify us when you arrive. We’ll coordinate from there” as he took those last words to mind, he transmatted to his ship, and set course.
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Mithrax paced in his ship, unsure of what to do. He dreamt weird things, but nothing too notable. The servitor floated in the corner, growling silently.

“just staying won’t help. I need some action.” The Eliksni stopped at a table in the hanger he had set up. Grabbing his Ether canteen, he resumed mumbling to himself.

“Augh, I can’t decide. Syivax, set a course for a random planet.” He ordered. The Servitor glided into the cockpit, and manipulated the controls, sending the Skiff into subspace. In a few minutes, the tunnel gave way to a planet covered in red. This planet was used by the Cabal as something of a front for their invasion. It’s been abandoned by the main military since the humans defeated them on earth not too long ago.

“I guess we can work with this. Send us down” Gurgling affirmatively, Syivax lowered the ship into landing. A canyon by the looks of things. Myth got out, and as usual, told his servitor to stay put. The distant noises of a sandstorm approached as he made his way across the desert, until he came onto a small town, half buried by years of erosion and sand buildup. He traversed through the streets, looking for any kind of entrance. Most of the doors had dunes blocking the way, other’s mechanisms were jammed.

“ah! There’s one!” one door, leading into a 5-story building, was wide open. The old lightbulbs long burnt out, only the ambient light from the windows granted sight to the dark interior. There were random human and non-human skeletons here and there. Some old cabal armor was on the floor, some of it still sparking.

“what happened here?” going in further, the bodies kept increasing, until he got to the end of a hallway. There were scorch marks on the wall, and ashes on the ground. At the very end, was a body slumped against the wall.

“a guardian? Here?” said the Captain, inspecting the corpse. Usually, they would just jump back up, as if nothing happened. This one wasn’t. it was nasty, slug holes everywhere, a cape was burned up to the scarf.

“what’s this?” he took notice of a hunk of metal laying on the ground. It was made of white metal, with gold highlights, and a sphere in the middle of it. There was bullet hole going straight through it.

“so odd. It looks valuable, though.” Mithrax picked up the dead piece of machinery, and strapped it to his belt. In the distance, he heard the faint howl of cabal war hounds, and decided to leave before they found him. When he eventually returned to the ship, Syivax was waiting just outside.

“I told you to stay hidden. Whatever, dispense a quart of Ether.” Some gurgling followed, and a thick stream of gas poured out of the center of the servitor’s eye. The Ether drifted into the canteen, much purer than the last batch.

“much better. I should put this in my diffuser.” The Fallen walked over to a machine at the back of the Skiff, and plugged the Ether canteen into a hole. Soon, a few glass canisters filled up with the white gas, which Mith promptly took out, and put into a pocket in his robes.

“for now, I’m going to leave this here. Syivax, keep this safe.” He put the machine on the table, then left the skiff again, but not without the Servitor buzzing in agreement.