Ronin The Masterless
"We are the Traveler. We wander, we observe, we act swiftly. Our heart is our only guide."
originally posted in:Ronin The Masterless
My casper, Crimson, has a habit of telling ghost stories. Go figure.
Haunting stories about men and women of all 3 aspects of mankind together on the edge of despair. Shadows of the golden age lost in the darkness, unsure of their sacrifice. Avatars of pain and insanity, hope and honor, their common factor being death.
Bullshit.
No normal being could take that type of pain and anguish day in and day out and endure. building a wall on the spent bodies of your friends? Becoming a monster in the eyes of your people for the sake of saving them?
Bullshit...until I met him in the crucible.
There were six of us signed up for this trip to the Asylum, an old life zone on Venus now overrun with everything deadly to man, including the Vex. Fun right?
I made fun of his loin cloth, that's what I called it at the time.
"Hey Sir Lancelot, gonna, use that loincloth to wipe the mud off your face?"
Being the only Titan in the group, he stood out. Nearly 8 feet tall in his armor, almost 5 feet across, he looked like a giant metal block about to fall on us all. That wispy cloth on his hip seemed out of place.
He looked behind him to see if there was someone there. He then turned back to me and pointed a massive gauntleted hand at himself.
"Yeah you, Galahad.", I said.
Crimson floated close to my ear and whispered, "You may want to reconsider your approach."
I ignored him and stepped closer to this pillar of a man and put my hand on his cloth.
"It makes you look pretty." I said sweetly.
The Titan stood as still as stone and I walked away to my starting spot.
A voice boomed over the frequencies letting me know that everyone was an enemy, but, that was nothing new.
I ran to the old cafe, my Hide and Seek 42 Shotgun pumped and ready to make someone's coffee black. I saw a Hunter come around the corner.
Newbie, I thought, as I watched him sprint in my direction.
He ran past where I was hidden and I stepped out into his blind spot and said, "You take it black right?"
I triggered full auto, not waiting for an answer and watched the rounds rip through his barriers and his breast plate.
"With Sugar", came a gruff voice behind me.
"Shit", I whispered.
Then I was back at the moment of my first death, the pain, the despair, the crimson light...
...then Asylum no worse for wear with my casper hovering over me.
"Go get em champ", he said with a chuckle.
"Who was..." I barely got it out of my mouth.
"him" Crimson turned to the right.
I turned just in time to see the Valedictorian Rocket launcher hoisted on the Titan's shoulder spit fire...
The last eight minutes of the crucible were a blur of screaming, pain and that crimson light.
When we returned to the city I saw him standing by the overlook, staring at the Traveler.
"My gun was glitchy."
"Your ghost was working fine." He said.
"Your pretty good at killing" I leaned against the rail.
"Your pretty good at dying." Half of his face smiled.
"Isn't that the Titan creed?" I asked.
His face became as straight as a plumb line.
"What's your name?" I inquired.
"Dark_Avatar23"
"Why 23?" I looked into his eyes.
"I might let you see my mark one day." he replied.
We stood in silence for an eternity.
"Wanna go see a wall?" I broke the calm between us.
He stood up straight and clutched his cloth.
"Crimson." I commanded.
We vanished.