[b]Part 4 - Take Care of Yourself[/b] [spoiler] Present day Korne looked over the mess in front of him again. Four trapped guardians and a taken Vex mind. He didn’t recognize any of them, but his ghost suggested that he help them out. He had only been awake for less than a day, so the scene was a lot to take in. There was one thing he knew for sure, though, and that was that the people trapped in cages had to be freed. Korne walked up to the struggling titan and fired at the corners of his prison, freeing him. “Ugh! Oh, geez. Korne? That you?” Lacer rubbed his head, but there was no time to think. Damocles creaked into motion and floated over to the pair with an outstretched arm. “Stay away!” Lacer formed a shield of void energy, but a sharp pain in his chest followed. “Not good. The pure darkness from that knife is really taking its toll on you.” Lacer’s ghost said. The titan struggled to block Damocles’ fire. Korne shot at the mind with his hand cannon from behind. “You ever find out what the hell that knife was, anyway?” “Yeah. When Wasp attacked Spekris’ ketch last month, he stole something that the Guardian Killer had been working on before he died.” “Tivik.” “Right. Tivik had been concentrating the energy of the taken blights he came across into a dagger.” “No wonder it’s doing me dirty right now.” Lacer ran forward and dissolved his shield. He grabbed onto Damocles’ face and ripped open its plates by expanding void energy in front of him. His attack exposed a glowing white orb. Damocles’ core. “My new friend, what are you doing?” Korne watched as the titan struggled to hang on to the taken beast’s diamond shaped head. “Hey, you! Korne! You’re a gunslinger, aren’t you? Take that weird bird-looking helmet from the other hunter! Quick! Your ghost’ll tell you what to do!” Lacer swung his legs up and used them to force Damocles’ faceplates open wider. “Lacer!” His ghost yelled, “you’re not going to survive if you keep doing this! The taken energy is intense, and you’re draining every ounce of our light to keep this void energy flowing!” “Jolt, I made a promise to myself. That I’d be a good person.” “Lacer…” “So come on, pal. Ride with me one last time, and let’s fulfill my wish. Plus, I’ll look great while doing it. Heh.” Korne slipped on the Celestial Nighthawk. “Are you sure he’s gonna be fine if I use this?” Lacer’s body was spread right in front of the eye of Damocles, in the path of a hypothetical gunshot. “I’ve run the calculations. Any guardian should have enough light to hang on, even if you disintegrate him. “Take the shot, kid! Hurry!” Lacer groaned as he felt the cold sensation in his chest crawl to his limbs. A storm of taken energy began to howl and whip around the area. =Zahir-2! Usher in a new age! An age of painlessness! A world where nobody will ever be unhappy again!= This Korne had never cast a golden gun before, but it felt natural to be cloaked by solar energy. The warmth spread to his hands as a revolver of pure fire formed in his palms. He aimed straight at Damocles’ exposed eye. At Lacer. He took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, ending the Eternal Slumber. As Lacer felt his body turn to ash from the middle out, he looked to the sky, which was no longer wounded by the deep. His light was gone, and he couldn’t feel the touch of his ghost. “That’s it, eh?” He floated lower as his arms and torso disappeared, “guess my pride really got to me in the end…” The last thing he saw was Zahir’s body being spit out of Damocles before his vision faded to black. Zahir turned away from the grave as the last patch of dirt was pat down. “Rest in peace, Lacer. I’m glad you got your final wish.” Ascella looked at him with teary eyes, “are you going to be okay, Zahir?” The exo looked back. His mechanical eyes looked like they’d aged a millenia, because they had. “Yes. I’ll be fine.” “What exactly happened back there?” “Just as Wasp said. Eternal slumber is living endless simulated lives to break down your perception of reality. I lived at least one hundred and thirty lives in the short time I was captured. Damocles did a lot to me. Said a lot to me. It made me think. It and Arcturus wanted me to destroy the world, but I did my best to refuse. Because I know this life is real, and that it’s worth living for, no matter what hardships I go through. There’s something in the end, and that’s the satisfaction of what I’ve done.” “What will you do? You said you’re done fighting. That you’re done being a guardian!” Ascella wiped her tears away. Zahir looked back at the city. “I’m going back to the person that kept me sane during my slumber. Maybe… I’ll even settle down. I don’t know. I’m done fighting for sure, though. It’s not for me anymore. I will never go out into the field again. I’m moving on.” The exo walked away as his ghost transmatted his armor off for the last time. Korne looked over the grave of the titan he never knew. “You really didn’t know him for long, huh?” His ghost spun her shell beside him. “No, but one thing’s for sure. I’ve been inspired by him. I want to be like him.” Korne crossed his arms, “this noble man, I’ll carry on what he did in his name.” Korne turned to look at his fellow hunter. “Ascella, was it? I hear you’re the new leader of a scouting team…” [/spoiler]