Im finally back after two weeks! ~Predatorage I turned to Sierra, “Any idea how we get across?” After a moment, she replied, “Sort of… Come on.” I followed her for a few meters along the stone ledge along the pit. The ledge broke off here, crumbling into the dark abyss. Sierra turned and lead me into another tunnel in the wall. Our ghosts sprang to life, lighting the way ahead of us as we slowly made our way the winding labyrinth of rock. We came out onto another ledge, much higher up than the last, and significantly narrower. Inlayed into the wall next to us, there were three broken rings of slowly rotating Vex metal, interwoven by five evenly spaced and perfectly straight spokes. “Down there.” Sierra said, carefully leaning over the edge. Peering into the darkness, I could see a softly glowing ball of blue light floating above a small platform close to the far wall. “I don't think I can make that jump, but you probably can, and I think we need that orb, whatever it is.” Sierra suggested, turning to face me. “Well, I guess I don’t really have a choice, do I?” “Nope, I had to jump first last time.” She replied. “Alright…” I said nervously. I took two steps forward, and leapt off the edge. I launched myself forward, gliding slowly down towards the small stone and metal platform. I landed hard, bending my knees to absorb some of the impact. I studied the ball for a few moments, but it was too bright to look directly at. When I touched it the ground beneath me vanished. I clutched the ball in my left hand and reached out to the wall with my right. My fingers caught a narrow outcropping, not two inches wide. I grasped onto it for dear life, and hung there by nothing but my fingertips. The orb I held in my other hand made my fingers warm and almost numb. It was surprisingly heavy for an object that size, yet it seemed to cling to my palm. “What happened?” Sierra called down in a concerned voice, “You ok?” “Fine,” I managed to say through heavy breathing and a racing heart. Sierra began to say something, but a buzzing, crackling static noise drowned her out. An instant later, three bolts of solar energy flew past her. She ducked and pressed her back to the wall beside the doorway, drawing her weapon. She tossed a grenade around the corner that sent the Vex into a flurry. She unloaded five shots, but the bolts kept flying. Meanwhile, my arm was beginning to grow tired, and the ball seemed to be getting heavier than it already was. “Sierra!” I shouted, “I can’t stay here forever.” “I know,” she responded, “Just hang on a minute.” Ha ha, I thought, hilarious. Three more shots, and the Vex fell silent, as my fingers began to slip. “Ok. Toss it!” I heaved the glowing orb to my side and threw it with all my strength. I watched as Sierra caught it, then turned and reached up to the next ledge with my right hand, pulling myself up to the ledge which I could strand on. As I rose to my feet, Sierra’s scream cut through the silence, I turned around to see one of the Vex we had encountered before on top of Sierra, electrically charged arm raised above her. In one swift motion, I pulled my rifle from off my back and fired a single burst into its armored mechanical head. The Vex reeled back, stunned by the shot, energy fading from its arm. Sierra took her chance to turn the tables and blinked forward, driving her knife into the machine with astonishing force. In her other hand, she still held the ball, which she cautiously placed in the center of the contraption on the wall. The glow from the orb faded, and the spokes of the device began to spin more quickly. From the abyss below, two large stone platforms rose to fill the gap between the two walls. As the enormous, flat rocks passed, I jumped from my tiny ledge and grabbed onto the side of the nearer platform, and quickly made my way atop it. Sierra hastily made her way across the bridge and we continued through another set of maze like tunnels and passages that glowed dimly with blue and orange light. We emerged from the catacomb like tunnels into a much larger cavern. Many other tunnels seemed to lead into this chamber. The walls were clean cut stone with various metallic protrusions and devices. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Vex stood dormant along the sides of the room in perfectly straight rows, they looked as if they hadn’t move in hundreds of years. At one end of the cave sat an enormous Vex gate, much like the one at the Endless Steps in the Ishtar sink, at the other, the cavern opened into another space. We made our way down the center of the cavern, careful not to make any sound. I stepped through the threshold between the rooms and stopped dead in my tracks, my hand slowly moving to the fusion rifle at my hip. The room was large and circular, it was ringed in Vex gates with a set of stairs into yet another chamber opposite me. The gates each had a set of steps that lead down several meters to the floor of the room. And there, in the center of the flat, stone floor, floating just off the ground was Oryx. A giant hive knight veiled in robes like that of a wizard. His massive horned head tilted back, and his three clawed hands outstretched, bleeding the same black green fire that burned within the Taken. Dozens upon dozens of Vex, of all kinds, knelt around the Taken King, offering themselves to him. The flames began to kindle within each of the Vex, and then they vanished. More Vex spilled from the gates, and again knelt before the god. I turned to look at Sierra, and wordlessly she nodded. We were both thinking the same thing, and in silent unison, we acted. In the same moment, we filled ourselves with arc light, and charged the horde of Vex. I let loose with lightning, frying Vex after Vex before turning my attention to Oryx who had broke his trance. While I threw my energy at the god, Sierra moved effortlessly through the crowd of machines, making quick work of both them and the portals with her blade. Oryx roared and teleported away in a blinding flash. I set my feet back on the ground, just as Taken Vex began to spill into the room from the far stairs. I fired my fusion rifle at the first line of goblins, but they kept marching, unscathed. “They’re shielded!” I called to Sierra. “Looks like it’s coming from the ones behind them.” Sure enough, the next line of taken goblins were projecting a glowing beam the enveloped their forward counterparts. Sierra tossed a grenade over the first line of Taken, and the shields broke. Again I fired at them with my fusion rifle and this time, sure enough, they disintegrated in void light. Sierra sprinted up the steps, with me close on her heels, firing into the onslaught of Taken. I threw a grenade into the group of machines to finish them off before I rounded the corner into the third cavern. Oryx stood, waiting for us. He raised his fist towards us and opened his hand, unleashing a wave that knocked us off our feet. While we lay sprawled on the ground, he summoned two taken ogres, a Fallen captain holding two swords and another horde of Vex. I raised myself to a knee and said, “Hold them off, I’m going after him.” Rising to my feet I charged toward Oryx who had moved to our left. I soared up into the air above his head, and opened up with my Thunderlord. I landed behind a stone pillar on the outside of the room, and began to hastily reload my machine gun. The solid rock behind me exploded with a loud crash, again sending me to the floor. This time a jolt of pain shot through my chest. Broken rib. Damn. Ignore it, you’ve fought through worse I told myself as the last pieces of rubble rained down on my back. “Grant!” Sierra called over the comm, “Grant, are you good?” “Yeah,” I replied, as the sound of gunfire echoed through her mic “nothing too bad.” I looked up to see Oryx unleash a torrent of dark energy toward me. I rolled out of the way at the last second, narrowly escaping death. “Ah,” I grunted as another jab of pain shot through my ribs. I stood, and again Oryx roared and disappeared in a flash of light. A void bolt stung the wall next to me, as a Taken hobgoblin slowly marched forward. I drew my pulse rifle and fired a burst that ripped through its chest before it could charge another shot. “These Vex keep coming!” Sierra called, “There’s no way-” “The Axis Mind!” I cut her off. I looked towards the four pillars of stone in the center of the carven, and sure enough, several meters off the ground, surrounded by towers of stone, sat the Vex Axis Mind. The massive hydra had three glowing shields slowly rotating around it. It also had three heads, a central one with two smaller ones on the left and right shoulder, and tendrils reaching out from its back. It had descended from a ring of displays and advanced computers at the top of the room, where it would normally sit, and it bore the same dark green fire as the other Taken. “We have to kill it or the Vex won’t stop coming.” I told Sierra as we backed towards the door opposite the one which we had entered from. Sierra drew the rocket launcher from her back and backed up behind me as I fended off the swarm of Vex. “I can’t get a clear shot…” she called. “Shoot the pillars. Bring the ceiling down on top of it.” “Wait, how do we get out then?” “Better hope Ren was right and there is another way down here then.” I answered. I knew the stakes, but we didn’t have an option. Sierra let the rocket fly, and within seconds the warhead exploded and smashed through the stone pillar. The ceilings above the hydra gave way, as did the other three pillars. Huge chunks of rock fell, crushing the Vex Axis Mind with a crunch and a squeal. A cloud of dust rolled across the room, and the Vex froze. The room shook as more debris fell from the top of the large room, and the doors on each side of the room began to close. The Vex whirred back to life, and charged towards us in a mechanical blood lust. Prologue/directory [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139146382/0/0[/url]