“We made it. This is it.” Bree and her team of the four Vandals finally arrived at the final stage of the Trials of Mar. A team that used to be six, was now five, and while no one could fill the void that was left by Brayden’s death, Bree felt that there was no challenge she would face, now, that she couldn’t overcome. She clutched her auto rifle to her chest, a wicked looking fusion rifle strapped her back; all Hell was about to break loose, and Bree, stood at the ready. They came to stand inside of one of the largest caves they have been in so far. It was quadruple the size of the Trial of Corruption, and with a vaulted ceiling so high, one couldn’t even see it. The floor was littered with broken stalagmites, poor excuses for cover, busted fragments of rocks, Bree knew that finding anything that resembled a decent hiding spot was going to be difficult. Tiny crevices in the outer walls seeped burning, blue lava, holes that were two sparrows wide peppered the floor like a piece of Swiss cheese; navigation was going to be difficult, if not altogether impossible. Then, it came. The bellowing, howling, harrowing scream of death, coming from deep within the holes in the floor. It rumbled and shook the stone beneath their feet, Bree popped the magazine, checked its rounds and then slammed it back into the rifle. Bree and her team huddled closely together, their eyes trying to pierce through the gloom and haze of the darkness. The screech started out distantly at first, but ascended into an ear-piercing wail of fury. It was as if time came to a halt and everything stood still, then, the creatures from below emerged through three of the holes that were deeper within the room. All three looked identical to one another, and Bree felt her blood turn cold, a crashing wave of fear swept over her and nearly knocked her off of her feet. Their wings were black as night and made loud thunderous claps as they beat to carry them higher into the air. Long black scales that were thick and impenetrable, their eyes glowed brightly, illuminating the cave with light; which was their only distinguishing mark. The first beast’s eyes irradiated like burning charcoal, Bree could nearly feel the heat from them through her suit. The second beast had eyes that pulsated and throbbed like crackling bolts of electricity. Finally, the third beast’s eyes shined a blinding purple as smokey purple flames danced around the beast’s sockets. By the time the creatures reached their apex, they must have been ten stories tall. Long, lashing tails that whipped back and forth violently, their skulls were unlike anything Bree had ever seen. They resembled some type of reptile, possibly, lost long, long ago, but she didn’t have much time to observe them as the first one screeched upon seeing the fireteam. The mighty jaws of the creature parted, a small glowing orb of orange appeared, but grew to an immense size in the blink of an eye. “Oh...f*ck,” Bree said as the burning ball of fire exploded from the creature's mouth and came hurtling at them. Like cockroaches scattering with the activation of a light source, Bree and her team ran for their lives. The velocity and blast radius of the explosion were so immense that it left a crater in the stone floor where they had once stood. Bree was sent rolling, her Vandals jumped, some scrambled, trying desperately to escape instant death. The heat washed over her, but she didn’t pay it any attention as she barrel rolled right back to her feet. She went right away for the fusion rifle on her back, the auto rifle wasn’t even a possibility to do anything against these monsters. Depressing the trigger, it took a bit of muscle and a couple of long seconds before the weapon came to its full charge. The rifle discharged and shot a solar bolt of flames towards the first beast, but the desired effect wasn’t achieved. Bree swore under her breath as she heard various pulse, auto, and fusion rifles being fired at the three creatures. Luckily, because of their size, the free range of movement for the creatures was severely inhibited which Bree took to be a +1 for the good. She was side-stepping quickly, keeping her feet moving and firing her fusion rifle as often as the charges would allow, but it wasn’t enough. As she galloped, the room erupted in a blindingly bright purple hue, it took away her vision temporarily, and she slammed into a broken wall. The blast could be closely related to a Nova bomb, but it was on a much more grand of a scale. Purple pulses flashed and detonated as the creature with the Void colored eyes, launched another unrelenting attack. The tempestuous winds caused by the blasts slammed into Bree as she was barely able to regain her composure from running into the wall, then, finally, the electrified Arc ability of the last creature pummeled the disoriented team. All of the teamwork and trust that had been formed throughout the whole rest of the Trials, now were nothing more than a distant memory. Fight or flight, survival instincts were the only thing that any of them knew, and the only strategy, was to stay alive. As if a thunderstorm had somehow formulated in the cave, dazzling, beaming arrays of electricity discharged from the last creature, and blasted the ground with overwhelming lightning strikes. “Flower! I need you to retrieve my Gjallarhorn! I don’t give a shit what energy you have to sacrifice in order to get it, but do it!” Bree screamed the command into her helmet as she squeezed her body into a little niche in the wall of stone. The Vandals were finally able to form up, and eventually found some decent cover that hid them from the sight of the beasts. The shelling from above ceased for a bit when everyone found a hidey hole which Bree thanked the Gods in the Heavens for as it gave her a minute to catch her breath. She moved out from within the rocks, stayed low, and moved back towards the entrance, trying to work her way over to her team without being seen. The creatures hovered high above them, but the smoke and debris caused by their bombardment provided a temporary smokescreen for the five. Bree felt the weight of her most prized possession materialize on her back, her HUD immediately displayed that she had six precious rockets for it. One of the Vandals had a Wire rifle, another had, what looked to be, an outdated version of a Shrapnel launcher, some Fusion rifles, and Shock rifles. Bree finally made it to them, she stared at them through her helmet, she switched to her G-Horn. “Flower, send a message to them, on my signal, we fire everything we’ve got at the Arc energized creature.” Bree loaded one of the large shells into her rocket launcher, and let it come to rest on her shoulder. She took a few deep breaths as she watched the Vandals receive her instructions and they all loaded up their weapons to ready themselves for the assault. Bree held out her open hand to them, then, closed it tightly into a fist. They all popped out of their cover, eyes through their sights, the beeping from her Gjallarhorn ringing in her ears as it locked on, and as the creatures picked up their movements; the fireteam unleashed their rain of Hell on them. [i]Thank you all for reading! I hope everyone enjoyed it on some level or another. Any feedback, comments, suggestions are all welcome.[/i] [i]Trials of a Guardian: Fight to the End (Chapter 10: Part II)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/121176891 [i]Trials of a Guardian: ALL Chapters (Appendix)[/i]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/105589170/0/0