My unofficial add on to the Book of Sorrows [b][u]Chapter 1 - My Poison, My Pride[/u][/b] [spoiler][b][i]Verse 1:1 - A war of love[/i][/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/213621711?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=1 [b][i]Verse 1:2 - This is your charge[/i][/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/213708637/0/0 [b][i]Verse 1:3 - From Court to Court[/i][/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/213842051/0/0 [b][i]Verse 1:4 - Little by Little[/i][/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/214141045/0/0 [b][i]Verse 1:5 - No Legacy[/i][/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/215228613/0/0[/spoiler] [b][u]Chapter 2 - A Family Affair[/u][/b] [b][i]Verse 2:1 - The End of Hope[/i][/b] https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/216527434/0/0 [b][i]Verse 2:2 - The Greatest Feast[/i][/b] "Fall back! Fall back!" a Hunter cried to his fellow Guardians. The Hunter stumbled backwards and tripped over the corpse of a comrade. His body shook in terror. He had been seized with despair and his limbs would not obey the calls of his mind and nature to run, to save himself. As he watched a throng of Knights rush forward wielding their dreadful swords, he remembered the warning of Shaxx to the Consensus. He remembered the victory, though it was barely that, over the Hive at Burning Lake and the foolish confidence and pride of the Guardians that were there. Another tremor could be felt. This one was far greater than the first. Fear gripped the army of Guardians as they stood by waiting helplessly for the next phase of their demise to come forth. The ground rocked and shook as a fissure tore open Lunas surface and waves of Light thirsty Thrall poured out of the cracks to devour their prey. They were a moving and tangible plague on the battlefield. "There’s no end to them" the Hunter said to himself despondently. He realized the fearful surety of his own words when a colossal Hive sword bearer tore up through the ground clothed in fire. Crota, the Hive Prince, Son of Oryx, had come to the battle to extinguish the offensive Light of the Guardians. The sky above Mare Ibrium burned a disturbing and piercing green. Pulsing wisps of fire cloaked the sky and rolled like the waves of the sea casting a sickly glow down on the battlefield. The Guardian was overcome with a sudden sense of something that resembled heroism. Perhaps it was the last signals of his body to escape that he misunderstood; a struggle between the natural urges to fight or flee that he interpreted as a command to stand against his enemies. He raised to his feet and thought to catch the giant Knight off guard. He readied his rocket launcher on his shoulder and locked his site on the Hive Prince's head. The missile fired, made contact and knocked the towering beast to his knees. He had done it he thought. The monster was down and ready to be defeated. How wrong he was. The Hive Prince flickered orange and stood again. He looked upon his attacker and pointed his clawed finger at the Hunter to show that he was aware of, and accepted, the challenge. The Hunter turned to run but was too slow. Crota began to fire bolts of burning arc energy from his fists at the Guardian. One..two..three, all of the bolts connected and brought the man down ending his life. His Ghost materialized from nothing and in an instant the Hunter was alive again. Crota paused and chuckled to himself. "His little Light has cast off the throes of death. How quaint." Crota rushed at the Guardian with all of his might. A weight of darkness pressed down on the Guardian and his ghost. It slowed their movement and muddied their thoughts and senses. Crota seized the Hunter in one hand and the Ghost in his other. The Ghost began to scream and plead for mercy. "No! No! Please stop! Please-" Its cries were ignored. Crota emptied the small machine of its Light and then crushed its frame into a knife which he drove repeatedly into the Hunter. Crota examined the freshly killed man in his hands and dropped his limp body onto the ground never to be raised again. Crota thundered down in violence and wrath upon the hordes of Guardians charging at his feet. They rushed at the Prince determined to see him fall. He reared back with his sword and thrust forward skewering one, a Titan, through the chest. Her resolve stayed harder than relic iron despite the giant blade that lifted her high into the air as a display for her companions to behold. She punched at the blade of the sword repeatedly hoping to break it, hoping to have one more chance to kill the Hive Prince. Her hopes were dissolved. Curling fire crawled from the swords hilt up each edge of the blade until it reached her consuming her light and burning her body. Crota laughed and relished in his acts of cruelty and violence. He swung his sword to his side casting off the Titan's body and striking down many more of her comrades. Every swing of his sword, every blow that it struck to the wielders of the Traveler's Light acted as a siphon draining them of their very will to exist. Crota and his armies marched on across the surface of Luna. Their rampage was contested by the Light and proved to be too much. The face of the moon had been carved apart forever leaving scars as a testament to the bloody battle that took place. The bodies of Guardians were drug away in the hundreds by Thrall. Many of the Guardians clawed and screamed as they were pulled down into the pit below while others had already died. Regardless of their condition at the time their fate was all the same, to be food for the growing army in the depths of Luna. A final push had been organized against Crota by one of the Guardians. A Warlock bearing the Cormorant seal stood in zealous anger at the head of a small army of Guardians. She shouted Crota's name, somehow she had learned it, as the she led the charge. Dozens of Guardians raced down a steep hillside riding Sparrows. They dismounted in waves all bearing rocket launchers or rifles of some kind. They descended in rows with each layer opening fire upon the Hive Prince and his soldiers. Those Guardians who no longer had guns to fire with used their very Light as a weapon. Bombs of burning void energy and bullets of solar fire bombarded the Hive forces. Crota fell again to his knees overwhelmed and stunned. His body, though buffeted, remained unscathed and whole. Again, he stood and raised his blade high to strike but something stayed his hand. Crota froze mid swing and the Guradians trembled with fear at the realization that the monster was truly invincible. A voice called to him from the unknown. Across the cold and unforgiving void of space the command of Oryx could be heard by all. It beckoned for Crota to return to the ascendant realm. A group of Wizards darted through the shadows from the pit below into the center of the battle. As Crota's physical form gave way it turned to green fire. These flames were beckoned and caught by the Wizards who then retreated back into the dark below. The living Guardians who remained retreated, leaving the Hive as the conquerors of the day and claimants of Luna. +++THE OVERSOUL THRONE+++ Crota opened his three eyes. He sat slumped upon his throne beneath the dead husk of a star. The Prince was unable to remember what had taken place or how he had returned to his throne space. He was weak, terribly weak and unable to stand. A wound tore open in front of him. The shadowy echo of his father emerged. The Shade looked upon Crota with deepest compassion. "My son..." The Shade reached out and grabbed one of Crota's horns. Crota was lifted up by the head and examined carefully. "You are weary. Give me a report of your assault. Tell me of your grand slaughter. Remember!" Crota opened his eyes again and spoke to the echo. "The Traveler has changed father. It has gifted its Light to a race that practices war. Their mastery of violence parallels our devotion to the Sword Logic. They killed my brood on their home planet. A victory which filled them with pride and foolish conviction. Notwithstanding, they are bound by weakness and frailty. Thousands of precious morsels came to wage war on us, on me. Father, it was the greatest feast of Light I have beheld in centuries!" "I see." The Shade released its hold and the Prince dropped to the floor catching himself with his claws. "The time to extinguish the Traveler has not yet come. You will amass an army of your own. For every thousand that you slew you will breed ten thousand. Your children, your Spawn, will serve you to overrun their planet and disect their exosystems. Then you will devour it all in my name and offer the Traveler to me." The Shade floated back away from Crota. It sniffed the air of the tainted throne room. "Come out of your holes you wretches!" The command was heard but it wasn't at first apparent who he addressed. Omnigul and Sardon, an ancient Wizard and Knight, emerged from the shadows around Crota's throne. They had been watching and listening in silence. "You have heard your commands" the Shade said firmly. "See that my son recovers his strength." The Shade turned to the Wizard. "Omnigul, you have been favored by Crota above all others. Bear his children and raise them in fierceness." He then turned to the Knight. "Sardon, crush his enemies and tithe the slaughter to him." The two Hive disciples bowed and accepted their charge. Crota raised and fell backwards into his throne again. "But what of brother?" Crota asked with genuine interest. "Surely Alak-Hul could grind these vessels of Light until I have regained my strength." "No. This is your task. Alak-Hul needs to hunger more. He needs to grow sharper and I have seen to this personally."