[Fanfiction] The Lone Sword (Completed)

[Suzaku]

I am starting to question myself as to why I did not read this when I first saw it. Oh well, at least that saves me the dread feeling of being left hanging. I will continue to await your next chapter with great anticipation.

[FiveHours]

I feel the same anticipation, believe me. You won't believe the amount of times that the plot has veered off somewhere unexpected, only for it to be even better than before! But still, many thanks.

Chapter 12 is making progress, but I can't say when it will be done :/

[FiveHours]

Today is the final day of my exams, thank the Lord, so chapter 12 should be finished by either this weekend or somewhere next week. Ironically, my English exam is today and one of the tasks is creative writing :I let's hope for that A...

[FiveHours]

Chapter 12
Quite pleased how this turned out, thanks to some help from friends to edit this passage. I realise now that I must go more into depth when editing my work, so please expect a bit higher quality work in the future and revisions on old chapters. Anyway, enjoy chapter 12

All she saw was white. There was no difference wherever she looked; everything was little more than a solid wall of white. Even if she closed her eyes, the light still shone through, as if her eyelids weren’t there. And then, as soon as she had appeared in this dimension, she began to fall. The whiteness had begun to wash away from her eyes and the world started to blur past her, filling with colour once more. Air returned to her lungs, making her gasp, half in fear and half in shock from the adrenaline flooding through every fibre of her body. She tumbled down in freefall, her hands grabbing at thin air in futile search of any grip to slow down.
Pain coursed through her as she hit the ground. The force that kicked the air from her lungs was akin to a grenade exploding by her chest. Her warframe had absorbed some of the force, but the lights still blurred and flickered and her head still swam with a pounding ache in her right temple. Sharp waves of fresh pain shot through her as she placed a trembling hand on the ground in a vain attempt to ease her dizziness. Standing up on shaky legs, Antheia looked round to at least try and figure out where she was. The Ember seemed to have the same problem as she, though her dizziness seemed to have gotten worse, making her lean against a marble pillar for support. Ilene sat cross-legged on the floor, looking round intently at the high ceilings and archaic decorations that hung about the walls; she looked more confused and dazed than anything. Her sister, on the other hand, was stood calmly by a glass pillar, seemingly unfazed by the fall.

Antheia groggily studied the rest of her surroundings; she needed to take her mind off the racking headache that was tightening around her head every few moments.

The place she stood in which she stood reminded her of the churches of the Old Earth, although those faded memories were nothing compared to this. Tall archways of gold reached for the impossibly high ceilings, which were linked with strange, geometric patterns that twisted and intertwined into a web of somehow archaic artwork. Fine decorations stretched throughout the room and into others, which were closed off with revolving cylindrical doors. Antheia regarded the immaculate state of the place, but somehow the extravagant patterns and golden trims hid an aura of some definite antiquity; it was as if this ‘room’, and most likely this entire structure, had not remained untouched for millennia.

“Where are we?” She could not help the phrase from escaping her lips, so powerful was her awe.

“To answer your question, Antheia,” Umbra killed the silence, studying her fingernails without much interest as she spoke. “We are not where we are meant to be, thanks to my fool sister.”

“Bite me! I’m not used to travelling long distances like that, so you shouldn’t have expected anything spectacular.” Ilene retorted.

“Hmph.”

Antheia suppressed a sigh as the two began their quarrels; they may have had their brain patterns altered, but sibling rivalry appeared to be something beyond the grasp of science.

“Ladies, this isn’t the time for fighting. More pressing matters are at hand, like how in the world we’re going to get to Ash.” The Ember snapped.

“Any suggestions then?” Silence answered her, before being abruptly interrupted by a low growl that crackled over what sounded like a radio from around the corner.

The four were instantly at their feet, guns and swords drawn without a moment’s hesitation. The growl rose again from behind the wall, this time louder and stronger. It was joined by other warped, crackling noises that seemed to grow and grow into one huge primal beast, a single otherworldly entity. And still, it grew. Closer, and closer as Antheia gripped her Sybaris lever rifle with white knuckles, the all too familiar feeling of sinking dread and fear dragging her down as the growls grew louder. They started to echo off the walls, splitting through the air and burrowing themselves in her ears like parasites, freezing her on her own two feet out of insufferable terror. Her heart pounded in her ears. She felt the blood rushing through her head, making it swim and weaken her grip. Sweat dripped in cold beads down her forehead as the terrible sound still grew to an impossible volume. She tried to slow her increasingly rapid breathing, but her throat was dry and her breaths came raggedly. The anticipation of the threat was driving her superhuman senses to madness. She feared neither foe nor death, but fear itself was another matter

Then, as if to answer her silent prayers, the growls stopped. The silence that followed afterward was a sweet bliss, but only for a few seconds, before an entirely new horror stalked round the corner and into the striking light of the room. Antheia’s breath immediately was strangled from her throat as her eyes fell upon this damnable atrocity before her. It took her several seconds to fully drink in its horrific, diseased features out of pure and utter shock. She did not fear death, but the thing before her was far more terrible than death could ever be.

It seemed to be the decomposed, grotesque result of mutation upon the unlucky host of a Grineer marine, which was only clear because of a pallid mass of flesh bearing huge, cerulean pauldrons, along with the ruined helmet between them. Only one eye-lens remained, and it was a sinister crimson. Staring out from where the second lens had once been there was an unremarkable, brown eye, cold, unblinking, and dead. The rest of the body was simply dead tissue that hung loosely from the creature’s bones and the revolting additional “limbs” that stuck out irregularly from the dead marine’s body. It dragged its four biomechanical limbs across the ground with a sick grinding sound, which sent cold shivers creeping up Antheia’s back with every step. Despite its necrotic appearance, Antheia knew at once that that dead brown eye could see her.

It stopped, silent, but for only a moment before it jerked the “head” straight at Antheia, its dead eye shooting a piercing gaze straight through her. It then jerked its head sideways, inspecting her closer, before rearing on its hind legs and letting out an inhuman, horrible screech. A shotgun’s roar cracked through the air the next moment, the monstrosity flopping down on the ground as its body filled with holes The still-smoking shell clattered down on the floor next to the Ember’s clawed feet as she pumped the next shell into the chamber. The silence was kept for a short moment, leaving the four Tenno tensed and nervous with anticipation. Then, as if called from the very same depths of whatever hell the beast had come from, a million voices cried out as one, creating a terrific cacophony of harsh static and warped wails. The grinding returned, this time being made by many instead of one. Sharp clicking filled the air to compliment the terrible din. Antheia’s pounding heart beat like a drum, pounding out a beat for the terrible shrieks. She found herself paralyzed in fear, though she could have sworn that someone was talking to her amidst all this-

“SARYN!” The Ember screamed over the ever-increasing drone of the approaching horde, shaking Antheia from her terror-induced trance.

“The Infested will be here any second now and we need to move.” The Ember said as she slung her shotgun round her back.

Antheia snapped awake and nodded, slotting the Sybaris into the sheath on her back and turning to run after her squad mates. After they ran several corners and through a few revolving cylinders, they arrived at what seemed to be a grand hall. A long table stretched out from one end of the room to the other, encircled with high-backed chairs and all illuminated by small orbs of glowing energy along the sides.

“It’s beautiful…” Antheia breathed as she slowed to a jog.

Unsurprisingly, the Ember immediately put a halt to her momentary admiration and grabbed her attention with a curt “Ahem.”

She looked round one last time before following the rest of her squad, who were hastily making their way up the marble staircase.

The world flung her forward as a sharp hiss, a great fist of air and an almighty crash erupted from behind her. Antheia rolled over, Viper pistol drawn to face her attacker. In front of her stood what looked like a corrupted corpus crewman, glowing fluorescent, sickly green and wheezing clouds of acrid, sulphurous yellow smoke. She shrieked and planted her stiletto into its torso, sending immense pressure onto a tiny point and making it fly back down to the depths below, where it joined the writhing mass of its own kind. Antheia ascended the staircase with utmost urgency to join her squad, who had now taken up firing positions along the banisters and behind a swirling energy barrier. The Zauber energy rifle in Ilene’s hands awoke, lilac smoke trailing from its ribs and a small white sun growing rapidly at its mouth. Wild energy crackled around the spinning electromagnetic coils at its back, accompanied by a slow, droning whine. It belched the orb at the oncoming horde, streaking down the staircase in moments and passing through the mass of dead flesh without hindrance, singing its lethal song as it cauterized the very wounds it made.

But even with the supporting fire and her own fury shredding apart wave after wave of the approaching monstrosities, they advanced, if not in literal leaps and bounds. Antheia glanced back towards the door behind her, and tapped along the communications link for confirmation.

With what sounded like disappointment and an unerring calmness, Umbra sighed over the voice-link as she slammed another magazine home.

“We can’t outrun them. They use the vents and power tubes to get around, so trying to run out there is useless.”

“But we can’t just stay here!” exclaimed Antheia.

“Calm down, ladies, I’ve got it under control.” The Ember rose from her position, leaving her shotgun to clatter to the floor.

“This place does look nice, but you know what they say…” Her eyes lit up as a huge flame burst from her hand, trembling with furious power.

“Earth to earth, ashes to ashes…” She giggled.

“Wait, what are you-“ Ilene turned to the Ember, wide-eyed.

“Dust to dust.” Were the last words that Antheia heard over the cacophony before the Ember’s hand flashed white and the world was consumed by fire.

***

It took several seconds for the white flash to slowly fade from Antheia’s vision, but the blistering heat that spread itself across her body made it known in moments. The warframe AI instantly engaged the helmet locks and the fire retardant armour as the roaring flames grew in number and size, though no amount of protection would guard her against the scorching heat. As the world warped and twisted round her from the hot fury of the fire, she tried to look for any chance to get away, for any place that the flames would not be able to touch her.

Everything was burning. The flames consumed everything, an intractable beast that twisted and turned into every small fissure, purging everything in its path and reducing it to cinders. The Infested themselves had no safety from the fire; they burned just the same as the others. But what Antheia came to realize, and it scared her still whenever her mind thought back to that moment, was that they still ran, uncaring for the horrendous damage being done to their flesh; as long as they reached their target, it seemed that casualties were redundant.

Something grabbed her. An arm, with patterns up and down that she had not seen before, ones that were very geometric and straight, ones that seemed to have no start or end, just a mass of… circuitry. The arm pulsed light blue before fading to black again. Somewhere in the structure an ominous groan rumbled through the floor, growling louder than the burning horde of Infested that had, to some relief, slowed their advance to shuffling and pained groaning as the flames began to eat into their remnants of vital organs and letting them drop, one by one, to the floor. The sick crackling of the flames had died down, but the heat still bled through the air with the same intensity. The arm gave another pull on the mass of her warframe surrounding her collar, jerking her into the canopy of a darkened overhang. Her savior stepped out in front of her and quickly hurried towards the rest of the squad, who were doing their best to shield themselves from the explosions and angry flames that licked their tongues closer every second. One by one, they were dragged by the scruffs of their collars into the overhang before the doors hissed shut and Antheia felt the circular floor they lay on rising, away from the flames and the Infested which they consumed.

The Ember was on her feet at once with her heavy-caliber Lex pistol drawn, aimed with no hesitation at the figure’s face.

“Identify yourself, stranger.” She growled through ragged, smoke filled breaths.

The mysterious warframe-bearer turned to the Ember, unflinching at the menacing mouth of a pistol being shoved in his face. Its helmet, which was remarkably reminiscent of a Mag’s (in which the front of the helmet was a tinted black visor), flickered on, sending small light-blue pulses of light across the front and illuminating a small patchwork of intertwining glowing circuitry. Its eyes could barely be seen behind the tinted front of the helmet, but the more attentive eye could see that they had crinkled up with an obscured smile.

The colorful display on the visor faded abruptly and immediately opened down the middle of the stranger’s face, accompanied by a tiny whirr. The man, who looked to be about Antheia’s age, stuck out a gloved hand towards the Ember, who looked even more ready to fire at this point.

“Tosh. Pleased to meet you.” He said with a self-satisfied smirk.

Edited June 17, 2014 by TheDeathofThem

[Not_Oliver]

YESS :D 

[Crothetis]

...

wow

[FiveHours]

...

wow

Good or bad wow?

[FiveHours]

Chapter 12 completed! Give it a read ( or the final bit, for that matter)

[FiveHours]

Apologies for the gap in writing, but I am afraid there is more bad news. I have been taken in for an army camp for about a week for basic training, so for those still reading: Chapter 13 will take some time.

[Suzaku]

Apologies for the gap in writing, but I am afraid there is more bad news. I have been taken in for an army camp for about a week for basic training, so for those still reading: Chapter 13 will take some time.

No worries! We can wait. After all, the Warframe community is very understanding... right?

 

Do have ample rest. Basic Training can be very exhausting, so you should try not to push yourself too hard. After all, quality work requires not only a quality writer, but also focus. Of course, I am not implying that your work is not quality work, because it is. 

 

I would say, "Have fun!", but I think I shouldn't, because it's... you know, Basic Training. So I guess "All the best!" would be a far better option.

 

I await the next chapter, as do many other people (I hope?).

[Not_Oliver]

^^^ 

[FiveHours]

Thanks so much for the support, my friends, because all that has been done now is sweeping, yelling and more sweeping, and it's so relieving to come back to the barracks and talk with people from the outside world. I'll take your advice and rest, but not for too long, as I'd feel guilty :(

There will be some lore written later, just to fill in any holes in the story.

Edited July 17, 2014 by TheDeathofThem

[FiveHours]

I'M BAAAAAAAACK!!!

 

 

But seriously, these past few weeks have been the most exciting, tiring and awesome weeks of the year. In them I've been promoted to a Corporal, learned how to play squash properly, held a real Javelin, dual-wielded AKs and been given the Marksmanship award. Pretty damn good, I have to say. I got working on this chapter a few days after my return home, and boy, is it long! Quite a bit happens here, but I'll leave it to you guys to read :)

 

Enjoy, Chapter 13!

 

Chapter 13

 

“Is that supposed to mean something?” The Ember snapped.

 

“Awfully rude, considering I just saved your life, especially because of your incompetence, little Miss Firecracker.” He pretended to take offence, but, for some reason, Antheia could never understand was how he maintained his talkative mood with a huge pistol being pointed at his forehead, especially with an irritated Ember on the trigger.

 

“Anyway, let’s put this behind us.” Tosh exhaled, delicately placing a finger on the top of the barrel of the Lex and slowly lowering so it didn’t go anywhere near his face, at least.  “I am Prelate Tosh of the Coiled Viper wing, Clan of Seven Willows.

 

The Ember stared him straight in his jade eyes for another moment before she, with visible doubt, shoved the gun back into the holster on her hip.

 

“Alright, Tosh, I’ll believe you, but I have a couple of questions to ask you.”

 

“Fire away.” He smiled with relief.

 

“Firstly, why are you here? Secondly, where exactly are we?”

 

“I can answer the first part, but the second part is going to have to take a bit of explanation.”

 

“Answer what you can.”

 

The doors slid open with barely a whisper as the platform came to a slow, graceful stop. It was so still here, Antheia noticed; it was hard to believe that they had just come from such a hellish nightmare not two minutes ago. He led them out, being sure to stay at the front, for he did not fancy causing any suspicion among someone like the Ember, who watched him with narrowed eyes. They followed him round a corner, listening intently for his explanation.

 

“Initially, there were four of us here. Standard Tier Five Tower investigation, the only difference was that all the warframes here were tests; they wanted to gauge how well they did in the field as compared to simple drawing-board stuff. It was going fine until the Tower reactor decided to malfunction, and the purification systems keeping the Infestation from running rampant malfunctioned. We managed to escape to a safer place on the upper floors, but the Infested managed to find us anyway. This place is huge, so relocation wasn’t a problem. The problem was that we couldn’t get out, since the power to the Beacon was overloaded during the partial meltdown.”

 

“What warframes are you talking about?” Umbra suddenly asked.

 

Tosh’s face saddened, losing its previous annoying tactlessness as he stared blankly forward. “It was a Nephthys, like you there,” he gestured with a quick flick of his finger in Ilene’s direction, “a Bastet, an Oculus and me on the mission. The Bastet was suffocated by a Corrupter a few solar cycles back and the Nephthys died after trying to teleport out without the help of a Beacon.”

 

“I’m sorry for that, Tosh.” Ilene apologized with an empathy that Antheia long hadn’t heard; she must have known how her fellow sisters fared under such a horrible death, for her expression was one of wrenching sorrow and… loss.

 

“You mentioned an Oculus?” Antheia softly broke the grievous silence, no less curious than any of the others.

 

“He is alive. But recently, he’s been having- well, how should I put it… visions. You see, his eyesight was far extended past anything thought possible before with his warframe. He can see through the walls, detect thermal signatures, and see anything past when we would be blind. His vision has gotten so advanced that he can detect the muscle movements of attacks before you even make them. Incredible.”

 

“I don’t understand; what visions?”

 

“He’s gone slightly- okay, I won’t say slightly; he’s gone completely insane. Apparently even when he takes off the warframe he sees things, hallucinations. Things start appearing out of nowhere for him; he can’t even look at himself without screaming. All I can do is protect him from the Infested, but he’s too far gone to do anything useful now.”

 

Another moment of recollection passed before Tosh seemed to snap back to reality. He shook his head rapidly before swiping his hand over a glass panel, making the pair of doors in front of them slide open their silver jaws to reveal a nearly completely pitch-black room with only an array of computer monitors to call light.

 

Antheia was surprised at how spacious the room actually made itself to be when the four stepped in, led by Tosh, who sank into an ornate leather armchair in front of the screens. He plugged a fat cable into a small port on the back of his warframe’s neck, which clicked and whirred randomly for several moments before he froze stiff. His eyes darted across the screens in front of him, the screens themselves turning into a flickering display of runes and endless streams of numbers.

 

His eyes snapped forward and his spine arched at a horrible angle before he slumped onto the table. Antheia gasped and rushed forward to help him, but his twitching hand rose to stop her.

 

“I’m… fine. It does that sometimes, although that time was a bit more painful, I think.” said Tosh wearily, somehow cracking a dry smile as he sat up. Antheia looked to her fellow Tenno, but they shared the same indifferent look, except maybe for the Ember, who looked ready to draw her Lex at her slightest suspicion.

 

Tosh’s fingers flew over the keys, the screens responding with their own small show as they flew through the Origin System and into the black Void, then zooming out and soaring past floating golden spires. Tosh’s fingers stopped abruptly in the middle of their dance, making the screens stop at the view of a golden spire. It was identical to the others before and after it, except for one definite feature: no shining light glowed from its peak, no lighthouse to guide lost ships home.

 

“To answer your second question, Ember, this is where we are. A Tier Five Tower located in a place far from where you and I come from. I haven’t even been round the entire place yet; it’s simply too big. This Tower has something about it, though, I must warn you. It does things to warframe powers, things that it shouldn’t. It probably explains why you nearly blew up half the place back there.” Tosh explained as he spun round in his chair.

 

“That doesn’t-“

 

“Ah-ah, that’s it. You have your answers. Now I must bid you a question, Miss Firecracker.” He jeered, wagging his finger.

 

“Don’t call me that.” She replied coldly.

 

“Who are you, exactly?” He ignored her. “I should at least know who I’m talking to before I expose all my secrets.”

 

Antheia spoke up first.

 

“I am the Saryn, but you may call me Antheia, Tosh.”

 

“Umbra. That’s Ilene.” The Nyx continued with the introductions, nodding over towards the Nephthys, who had maintained a nervous silence until now.

 

“Hi.” Was all she said, with a feeble wave.

 

“Excellent. I already knew who all of you were, but, as you must agree, there needs to be trust before we are to help one another, no?”

 

“Well, now I have to ask. How did you know?” Umbra huffed.

 

“I’ve told you that the warframes sent here were prototypes, correct? This,” he gestured to the device on the back of his neck, “is a Nexus control port. Used only in the Nimda warframe.”

 

“Nimda?”

 

“Yes, you can hear correctly, well done.” He answered, as if to praise her, “I am proud to call myself the bearer of the first Nimda warframe.”

 

“What’s so special about you, then?” Umbra sneered back at him.

 

“The first ‘non-combat’ warframe in the field. Well, I would say ‘non-direct combat’, anyway; the frame was developed for the use of network breaching, file stealing, sabotage and the like. That might explain how I knew who you were, to answer your question; not even the Lotus’ warframe systems can lock me out.” Tosh bragged, grinning smugly.

 

“Are we supposed to be impressed?” She crossed her arms, anything but impressed.

 

“No, but you will when you see what sorts of wonderful things this place can do. You name it: turret overrides, airlocks, lasers, sentry guards, electrical discharges, power outages…” He continued his monologue, unfazed.

 

“Ember, I hate to ask,” Umbra’s discontented voice sounded over the voice-link, “but how is this man going to help us, exactly?”

 

“I don’t know, let’s see if he can.” For the first time in a while, the Ember seemed unsure.

 

“Alright, Tosh, here’s the situation we’re in:” She placed a hand in front of him on the desk, grabbing his drifting attention. “Our friend was cast out to the Void to die, but we have reason to believe that he is still alive. Ilene tried to get us to him, but we ended up here.”

 

“Of course you would.” Tosh added as he swiveled back round to face the screens, which now had begun to show some sort of schematics for the top portion of the Tower.

 

“What do you mean?” The Ember seemed more uneasy now.

 

“Just because the reactor was breached doesn’t mean the Beacon hasn’t stopped working, it just doesn’t work the way it should. The Beacon seems to attract any travelling warframes and ships that come past; it’s like a graveyard at the upper decks.”

 

He let the silence hang for a moment before continuing.

 

“There have been many before you here; you seem to be the first ones to actually find us. The rest make up the Infested you saw earlier.”

 

Those were once… Tenno? Antheia would have gasped if she wasn’t frozen in horror.

 

“By ‘come past’ you mean that we were near to his location before we came here?” The Ember asked before he trailed off again.

 

“By a few thousand miles, but yes, you were.”

 

“Then how would we find him?”

 

“Well, if it was close enough, I could try and reach out and steer the ship he was on into the hangar, but there’s no guarantee that it would work.” He shrugged.

 

“Just tell us, is there a chance?” Umbra pleaded, placing a hand on the shoulder of the chair and looking him straight in the eyes.

 

“Slim, but present.” He replied, simply.

 

“Will you?”

 

“I guess I kind of have to now, don’t I? My, my, this is certainly interesting...” He began his monologue once more, fingers tapping lightly over the holographic keys, making a gridded display coming up on the screen.

 

A small circle flitted about the monitor, expanding and contracting round various, tiny objects that floated aimlessly about the Void. The circle fixed suddenly onto a black, slim object with a small speck of green pulsating from the end. It seemed to move faster, much faster than the rocks and asteroids that flew about, grabbing the rare attention of Tosh, who leaned in and eyed the object with sudden interest. He drew his finger across the screen and lightly tapped the, receiving a small blip and a closer view at what it was. It appeared to be a ship with a wide body and a blade-like front, trailing a pale green fire from its engines. No lights shone from its windows, and its course seemed to have no real direction, just endless flight through nothingness.

 

Tosh immediately began to punch in instructions to the console, which responded in the same, frantic manner with the same shower of glyphs that raced around the screen. His fingers began to dance once more, playing softly across the holographic keys with swift, accurate strokes. His helmet closed over the front and lit up with minor pulses of blue light as he did his skilful work, almost dancing to the tune of his fingers. The screens, now completely clouded over, began to flash as suddenly Tosh froze stiff, leaving only his fingers in racking, erratic spasms. Antheia could only watch with silent pity as he started to send himself deeper into the mainframe.

 

But, as hard as it was to avert her eyes from the Nimda in front of her, Antheia could spot the ship slowly turning its bow toward the golden spire; shaking and trembling, but definitely turning. The ship seemed to come alive, fighting against its new master with small shakes and shivers. The carbon-black engines roared against Tosh’s influence, but he kept his focus and pulled harder. The engine buckled and strained against his will as he pulled the ship in closer, but it seemed to be giving up and being taken over by some other force. It started to ease its spasms and slowly began to gain speed directly to where…

 

“It’s going straight for us.” Antheia gasped with new, horrible realization.

 

The others seemed to notice this as well; they all wore the same, confused, hopeless expressions on their faces. The ship sped faster towards their location, not shaking or flinching from its new path. Tosh, who now seemingly had lost control, slumped forward in his chair.

 

“I don’t think we have the time to wait around; it’s heading right for the Tower!” Ilene exclaimed, snapping the rest of the Tenno out of their trance.

 

“We don’t have time to run, either.” The Ember remarked with a strange absence of any worry or fear, pointing at the screen with a clawed finger. On the monitor it showed the ship, a green streak against the black canvas of space, speeding on in its unfaltering flight.

 

“Then what can we do?!” Ilene looked back to the Ember, worry in her eyes and panic in her voice.

 

“I’ll handle this.” Umbra began, speaking calmly and assuredly to quell her sisters rising hysteria. 

 

“Oh, and what can you d-“ Ilene began to make a snide reply, but a sudden pale green wave of energy rushed from Umbra’s finger to hush her.

 

The small beeps and whirrs from the monitors and the rumbles from the belly of the Tower now subsided and came as muffled noise in the background. No one said a word as Umbra pushed her hands outward, casting a large bubble out around the five Tenno that rippled with energy every few seconds. Antheia turned her head in surprise, looking out to nothing but a hazy, frosted image of the golden archways and dazzling white lights outside.

 

Antheia had barely opened her mouth before she was met with a low rumble and then an almighty boom from above her head. A sudden shockwave rippled down through the Tower to meet them, throwing the monitors off the desk and causing several of the orbs outside to die and break into small showers of glass. The Tenno, however, felt next to nothing, save for a small, intangible sensation that pressed upon their skulls. Umbra, however, seemed to feel the full force of the explosion, if not more, for the bubble had dissipated and she had dropped to the ground, blood trickling from her nose and her skin deathly pale. Her sister rushed to her aid while Antheia saw to Tosh. Opening up the helmet, she pressed two fingers to the side of his neck.

 

She felt a pulse; a faint one, but a pulse nonetheless. She closed his helmet back over and walked out into the half-destroyed hall, a distraught Ilene and her barely recovered sister following behind. The Ember seemed to still have ill opinion of Tosh, even when he was unconscious, so she decided against leaving him alone and stayed behind.

 

“Come on, Ash may be injured.” Ilene said worriedly before splitting apart a nearby wall with her hands, creating a portal just big enough for them to walk through.

 

Antheia stepped through with some hesitation, but felt relief when she stepped onto solid marble once more. However, as she looked around, she slowly drank in the full destruction that the ship had left behind. Black scorch marks streaked across the walls. Glittering razor-sharp glass carpeted the floor and several wooden desks were splintered and broken into uneven pieces, as if a beast of fire had charged through and rended everything to woodchips and cinders. Antheia made care to switch on the gas filtration systems in her helmet, for the acrid smoke that clung to the ceiling and walls with black claws had made itself known within seconds, making her cough and splutter on its bitter taste in her mouth.

 

She drew her rifle from its holster and led the way round a corner, following the origin of the smoke and the concentration of the heat. After passing through another ruined archway with destroyed glass and charred wood, they found what they were looking for.

 

The helm of the ship, twisted and burned through to the frame, protruded at an ugly angle through the wall of the Tower, already falling further apart from the weakness in its melted joints. Antheia rushed towards the emergency airlock, which was held ajar by a piece of broken frame. She gripped the edge of the door and gave a sharp pull, to which it responded with a slow groan and then a whine, before flying open and knocking Antheia slightly off balance. She entered the craft and turned into the helm, where the only thing that was left seemed to be what used to be an armchair and half-melted computer consoles. She turned the other way and ran past the two sisters, taking the next right and entering a vast chamber with blackened domed walls and several weapons scattered across its splintered oaken floor. Next to the shattered viewing window lay a body, with what looked like a blood-caked blade sticking out from its chest, and next to that was…

 

“Ash!” 

Edited August 9, 2014 by TheDeathofThem

[Not_Oliver]

:O YESSSSS

[FiveHours]

Eugh, I just found out that I'm going off to another camp in Kent in a couple of days, so writing shall be postponed until after that is done :/

[(PSN)V0rtxex]

Thanks a lot, you bumping this thread bought me some more time to write, with school and all :/

Chapter 6 will be up the day after tomorrow at the latest, so look out for that! I'll make the account, thanks :)

still waiting

[FiveHours]

Guys, please forgive me for the past few weeks. Now that I'm on my GCSE curriculum I'm a lot more occupied and my general mental capacity for work and play and writing cannot all co-exist. So my actual writing will slow down and may stop altogether for a bit, but I made a promise to myself not to quit on this project, because that's often what I'm guilty of. Besides, things are starting to get very interesting, and there's a big dun-dun-duuuuuun moment at the end. I *might* have torn out a chunk out of the last chapter to fit in the new perspective, but I'll make it up to you guys in the next, don't worry. The exposition express is going full speed ahead, people. See you on the next update.

still waiting

It's been out for quite a while, dude. Look through the topic and you'll find it :)

Chapter 14

Ash had never felt so cold. Not ever in his rare, dreamless nights or when unconsciousness dragged him under had he felt a feeling so great, one that gripped his very heart with an unrelenting chill. He seemed to have regained some sort of sense back to his body after waking up, but waking up from what? His eyes saw nothing, his ears picked up naught but the slow, shallow pulse of his heart and he didn’t seem to be able to touch, let alone feel. His dead mind ran in circles as it tried to make seems of where he was, or if he was even alive. He didn’t seem to quite belong to anything, rather just floating in a pitch-black sea of nothingness that was neither death nor life; a horrible, eternal limbo from which nothing returned.

But, as he lay in this other realm, Ash started to notice something. Tiny, barely perceptible distortions, ones that didn’t quite fit with the eerie perfect silence of the blackness, poked and stabbed at the invisible walls in which he was imprisoned, creating small ripples in an otherwise still pool. These glitches grew more common, slowly adding in flashes of grey or white, and then fading into subtle then more defined shades of red, orange and yellow. Deep rumbles began to thresh upon his detached frame, rising through the dead air and shaking the walls. His world began to tremble violently, flashes of colour beginning to flit across his vision in a vibrant yet chaotic display. The blackness containing him started to crack, fissures appeared all over, widening and splitting before completely breaking open, shattering this realm into showers of black glass and giving way to a faded white. Blurred shapes, seemingly human-shaped, swam hurriedly around his vision, making him sick from dizziness.

He felt. His mind reeled as it came to this realization, but he felt a strange relief come over him as it did, a relief to be alive. The shapes, although still restless and blurry behind his frosted vision, seemed to settle at last, save for two ominous objects that slowly moved for the sides of his head and rested there with a small tingling sensation. They stayed there for several tense moments, before they jolted and Ash felt the most intense pain he had ever felt in the hundreds of damned years of his life.

Although lasting only a few seconds, it was enough to make him thrash and spasm violently, screaming and crying out as the agony drove through his body. It flowed through him slowly and painfully, as if his very blood had been replaced by white-hot metal and his skin had been set alight. His screams, now hoarse and broken from his torture, were choked from his throat as he struggled to breathe; so great and so horrible was his torment.

Harsh, bright light streamed through as Ash slowly opened his eyes. The bleak, whitewashed walls mixed with bloodied warframes in front of him, painting a sickening display of dark crimson, bleached white and sullen grey. His head swam and lolled to one side, smacking into the wall with a thud. He heard voices, indiscernible in their worried tone, as well as what he now saw as fingers propping his head back up straight. Two more hazy figures came in from the backdrop, one with slashes of fiery red and orange up and down its frame, with the other, relatively weak-looking in comparison, following behind drowsily. The taller of the pair came forth and kneeled by his side, muttering unintelligible words to itself and shaking its head. It raised an appendage and struck him on the side of the face, leaving a sharp sting that faded after a few moments, but after looking up, he noticed that his eyes saw clearly once more.

Three females in their own distinguished warframes kneeled next to him, carefully tending to the grievous damage done to his frame and the even worse damage to his body. The one with the arch on its helmet curved backward picked apart bone fractures with strong but cautious determination, the younger looking warframe-bearer with soft chestnut hair tied into a neat plait singed together the adamite scales and the starkly, almost impossibly beautiful Tenno with cascading golden hair and deep, amaranthine eyes hastily searched round his torso and head for injuries.

“It’s good to have you back, Ash.” The one with the clawed hands smirked, somehow sounding like she was joking. He stared at her, detached, trying to figure out some sort of sense as to where he was. He felt a distinct familiarity towards the Tenno around him, but he couldn’t quite touch on it.

“Who... are you?” Ash slurred as he began to wake up.

“I know you know who I am, Ash, I’m certainly not that stupid to believe such child’s play. Now, how are you feeling?” She smiled with genuine warmth. The Tenno working on his leg, however, began to grow an expression of concern.

“I don’t know... who you are. Where am I? What did you do to me?” Ash’s voice lost its slurred tone. He stood up.

“Hold on...” The Nyx stopped suddenly, dropping her bloodied hands into her lap and looking up worriedly at him.

“Come on, Ash, this isn’t funny.”

“What?! I’m not trying to-“

“Wait.” The hall fell silent. All eyes turned on the rising Nyx, even Ash’s.

“Are you Tenno?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where you are?”

“No.”

“Do you know who I am?”

“I thought I made that clear, but once again, no.”

“Where is your home?”

Home.

The word flashed across his mind, but left a small cut in his blackened memory, exposing something terrible underneath. He could see a city set ablaze, lighting up a night sky and sending plumes of acrid black smoke into the air. All around him people fled in fear, some stopping to collect pictures, items of value, memories. Some simply stopped in their hurried tracks and watched in utter horror, eyes red from crying, the black smoke, or both. No one seemed to make any effort to put the actual fires out, but to run away from something much greater in threat. He could hear terrified screams, the rattles of gunfire and the sick crackling of fire eating through flesh. The metallic smell of blood filled his nostrils, making him double over and lean against the masonry for support. The last thing he saw was a figure at the end of the street on which he stood, one who, under the light of the roaring and raging flames, wore a blood-curdling smile. The world disintegrated almost immediately afterward, interrupted by the feeling of a hand holding onto his shoulder. He looked to his right, in a daze, seeing the Saryn look with nothing but worry on her face.

The sick parasite of terror that burrowed inside him before disappeared as he set his wide-eyed gaze upon her, being replaced by the feral savage beast that was fury. It tore at his walls of common sense with claws of fiery anger, making his blood seethe and his mind go blank. His soul seemed to take flight from his body, being replaced by something indescribable as he grabbed her by the throat. A twisted sense of satisfaction found him as he felt the twitches of her fragile neck, the desperate attempts for air. He smiled viciously on the outside, yet inside he knew himself no longer.

Pain shot through his right side, throwing him to the floor and releasing the Saryn from his grip. He stared, eyes wide, at the angry orange flame that was eating into his armour and had already started to singe his skin. He gritted his teeth and batted at the flame until it finally died, but it had left its mark. Red, blistered skin covered his entire right side, making even the slightest touch excruciating. Ash looked up with nothing but the deepest, most hateful fury he had ever felt, straight into the eyes of the Ember.

He then looked round to the Nyx, the Saryn, and the two strange ones next to them. The destructive malevolence that possessed him seemed to be quenched for the moment, blocked out only by the blinding pain in the side of his gut. He glared at the Saryn in particular, who wore nothing but hurt on her face. Ash felt nothing in return. He drew a ragged breath, and spoke, his voice quivering and trembling:

“I don’t know who any of you are, nor do I wish to meet you again. I don’t know how I ended up here, but I’m going to find answers. And if one of you follows me, I will not hesitate to slice you open and let your blood paint the walls red.”

He stumbled through revolving door and out onto the other side, wincing with every step.

“Ash, how can you just leave us? Don’t we mean anything to you now?”

“No, you don’t, and my name is not Ash.” He spat the name with particular revulsion.

“It’s Orion.”

The door shut.

Edited June 8, 2015 by TheDeathofThem

[Not_Oliver]

my reaction:

 

but honestly, this stuff is really, really good :D 

[FiveHours]

my reaction:

 

but honestly, this stuff is really, really good :D 

Thank you very much, your support has always been encouraging :)

[Noctrix2099]

Please make another chapter i've only read it one day and I can't get enough of it (well after you end the story I have to force myself toncope with it)

[FiveHours]

I'm writing the next chapter, albeit as not quickly as before, but it's being written. Also, as for my writing stopping, that's not gonna happen. I will most probably definitely write another one of these, because I've finally managed to rediscover my love for writing on here. So don't worry, I'm not going away :)

[FiveHours]

Hello again, friends. Like I promised, I haven't disappeared yet, and am still going to keep posting.

 

However, and this is a big however, I have been incredibly busy with exams and the like for the past few weeks, so writing has not reached the rate that I would like it to be at.

 

I've also stopped writing new material because I've gone over old stuff and realised that it doesn't really agree with what I put in later on, and I quite frankly think its a bit too diluted and a bit too saturated in all the wrong places. I intend to edit the first couple of chapters over after I finish Chapter 15, then I'll release it all as one.

 

But, that's still no excuse. I feel S#&$ty about it, but I've been getting my nose into some books lately and I should be getting back on track once this hellish week is over. Thanks for your patience and support, guys, I can't say it enough. I must say that I do not regret writing this story at all :)

Edited November 19, 2014 by TheDeathofThem

[Not_Oliver]

ayy gotta say It's alright as I'm really busy with school as well.

 

take your time, and I know it'll be awesome :D 

[FiveHours]

Phew!

I'm very relieved that I managed to actually write this chapter and be somewhat satisfied with it, since it has quite a lot of stuff in it that changes the story/ character development quite significantly, so you can imagine how choice of words, structure of sentences and generally making things perfect is quite difficult. Nearly 3,000 words, here's chapter 15 :)

Chapter 15

The pain had eased, but the anger had not retreated an inch. It still burned, simmering and seething inside him as his mind cycled through horrible, hate-filled thoughts on how to kill them. But amidst this bloody sea of malevolent delusions was a single, solitary question that he could not rid from his mind.


So, what stopped you?
Orion jumped. He looked round wildly, finding nothing.


Ash?
It was inside his head. He breathed in and out to calm himself, before answering.

“Who are you?”


Do you really not know?
“No. Why are you inside my head?”


I fear my suspicions have proven true.
“What suspicions?”


You wouldn’t know. What is important is that my name is Dust – the sword strapped to your thigh - and you are not yourself at the moment.

Orion looked to his thigh, and indeed the sword glowed anew and trailed a thin, wispy smoke as he walked.

“Well, Dust, would you mind telling me why I’m suddenly recognised by everyone I don’t know?”


I could, but telling you would prove too much for your mind in its current state. I will tell you when I feel that you’ve returned to your normal self.
“My normal self? What are you talking about? What’s going on here?!”

Orion shouted into the silent air, receiving no answer, before breathing out and running his bloodied hand through his hair.

“S#&$, maybe I am going crazy.”

The warframe meant to offer him protection against all but the worst blizzards, but it offered no protection against the cold feeling of dread that came over him. He felt the hairs on his back and arms rise as he breathed in a smell entirely different. It was no longer the unnaturally pure smell like before, but a strange combination of metal and wet earth. He stopped before a corner, and looked down from where he came. Darkness shrouded the hallway.

Sighing, Orion slumped into the wall and sat down slowly. He brought up a built-in map of his immediate area to show him at least some hint of where he was. All it showed him was more winding corridors and staircases. Air hissed through his teeth as he cursed. He closed his eyes and let his head rest on the cold marble wall.

What stopped me?

The question still rung like an iron bell in his head. It blocked out any other thoughts, apart from that one, damned question. He toiled over the memory with his mind, trying to pick apart anything he might have missed. But it all ended the same: that sadistic, blood-curdling smile before everything went black. He sighed again.

Well, I won’t find any answers sitting here, he thought.

A small click sounded from above him, breaking the shallow silence. Orion looked up in half-interest, but what made him freeze was the lone, snow-white eye that stared back at him.

His heart seemed to explode as he jumped up, adrenaline pulsing hard through his body and igniting his muscles into action. His arm on his good side instantly went to Dust, the other quickly reaching for the Kunai strapped to his thigh. The eye moved, but just a little. Studying. Planning. Orion could vaguely see the rest of the figure behind the eye, which had cocked its head slightly in curiosity.

The foul-smelling air hung between them before the thing spoke.

“Interesting. An Ash warframe. Don’t see many of you around anymore.”

Orion kept his silence under the helmet.

“What’s that you have? A Pangolin Sword?” The figure seemed to know enough about the Tenno, and he spoke the Common Tongue. Orion looked at him carefully before speaking evenly but firmly.

“How do you know about the Tenno? State your name.”

“Getting all official, are we? I’ll bite. Oculus. That’s my name. I am a Tenno, if you haven’t guessed.”
He snorted.

“Why are you here? What warframe do you carry?”

“Hold on a second, too many questions at once.”

“I asked you two.” Orion began to lose confidence.

“So many questions, so little time to answer them!” He chuckled. “Never mind. There isn’t much to do anyway. All empty space and time. Oh, and those creatures you see sometimes.” The stranger continued his monologue.

“Stop fooling around. Why are you here?” Orion’s voice was returning to its cold, raspy tone; he was losing his patience.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I’m Oculus. I’ve got this funny warframe, but see here, it’s special. None other like it. I got sent here to see how I would do. Things didn’t go as planned. People died. Unhappy stuff.”

“What ‘unhappy stuff’?” Orion demanded.

“The kitty died, the braniac too. Then there’s that weird guy, Tosh. That’s it. He’s still alive. Have you seen him around lately?”

“Tosh?”

“Tosh. Grey warframe. Dodgy eyes.” The Oculus looked quizzically at Orion.

“I don-“, Orion began.

The Oculus chuckled rather too loudly to himself.

“Trick question. Of course you don’t! I saw him with those ladies about an hour ago. There was a blond one, real pretty. Antheia, I think her name was.

Orion’s grip softened at the last sentence.

“The Saryn is not here. She is back at my clan’s dojo. You could not have seen her here.”

The Oculus scowled and buried his face in his hands. “Take a clue, genius. My name is Oculus. I have an eye in the middle of my helmet. This means that I can see things. Very, very far. And I can also see a lot more things than you can. A lot more.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’re being awfully rude, you know? Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”

Orion gritted his teeth and exhaled through his flaring nostrils.

“You know nothing.”

“Do I, now?”

“I advise you leave me alone, before you regret your arrogance.”

“Sticks and stones, my friend.”

Orion held his blade for another moment before smirking and letting his arms fall. He simply looked away, and walked on.

“I wouldn’t be so hasty, if I were you.” Orion could practically see the condescending wag of the finger behind him.

“And why would that be?” He asked with a smile, not breaking his stride.

“I may be in possession of something very important to you.”

“Which is?”

“This.”

The Oculus then moved - no, moving was not fast enough – blinked in front of him, dangling a long object from his fingertips. Orion couldn’t make out what it was, but a brief spark from the tip of the object lit up the whole thing, and as it flashed, so did a small glimpse in Orion’s mind.

My Nikana.

His senses seemed to defy him for a few moments; his ears picked up no sound, his eyes saw no colour, his hands could not feel the cold of his sword. But, to his horror, they all came back to him, with something infinitely worse in waiting.

He was back. The heat of hellish fire, the bitter smell of the nebulous clouds of ash that mixed with the sick stench of burning flesh, the terrible sight of total, bloody carnage to the furthest reaches of his vision. Everything rushed back as one, hitting Orion with unrelenting force. He wretched and coughed as smoke entered his lungs, making breathing nearly impossible. He stumbled through on weak legs, waving his hands franticly through the scorching air to dispel the black haze blocking his path. Tears streaked down his cheeks from blood-red eyes as his hands fell to his sides. He felt the strength drain from his legs as his head became heavier, and heavier, until he could scarcely keep himself upright, let alone walk. His ankles gave, letting him fall to the razed, smoke-blackened earth and onto his hands and knees. Orion’s chest gave a pained heave, perhaps his last, before he fell to the ground. His eyes shut.

A pair of hands, large and unnaturally strong, scooped him up from the floor by his armpits and, as if he were nothing but a slab of meat, slung him over a broad shoulder. He stirred and tried to breathe, but he only got a few sips of precious oxygen before the smoke made him cough it all out again.

Orion was made to feel every painful jab into his ribs as he felt whoever was carrying him walk with long, heavy strides. After a minute or so, he felt the air get clearer and clearer as they moved, allowing the sweet, refreshing taste of oxygen to tingle his burned tongue.

Orion felt his back touch a wall as he was set down with gentle hands. His eyelids seemed to weigh a ton as he tried to open his eyes, never giving and driving him into blindness again. Only after a few moments could he open his eyes enough for them to focus on the scene around him.

It was not any better than the scene beforehand, but the deadly ash cloud was gone, and Orion could see once again.

Okay. I’m not going to die.

“I’ve found Ash.”

He looked up. A gaunt man, clad in an Ash warframe like his, looked down at him. He showed no emotion in his eyes, a shadowy grey, but below that burned something brighter, a vengeful spirit waiting to be set free. A large, unmistakable sword, with a fierce dragon’s head at its hilt, was slung by a leather belt at his hip.

My Nikana.

The Tenno knelt down to his level. He looked straight at Orion with a gaze that betrayed longing, or even sorrow.

“Orion” He began. Orion parted his dry lips, but the man continued.
“Don’t try to speak, it’ll sap your strength. I need you to listen to me, more than you ever have. We will not survive this. I will not survive this. They are simply too strong. However, that does not mean we won’t fight.”

He paused, holding his gaze. Orion dared not speak.

“You are in no such condition to fight right now, so try and save your strength. I must return to the battle, but you need to go.”

An explosion sounded off near, followed by an agonised scream that eventually blended into the hellish cacophony outside.
“I fear this is goodbye. I don’t have much need for this anymore, and I believe you are ready. Take this Nikana, and, like our people, let it never die.”

The Tenno unstrapped the Nikana on his thigh and placed it on Orion’s lap. He looked at Orion for another moment before burrowing his face in his shoulder, allowing his grief to gush out in muffled sobs. Orion looked down at the Tenno who had embraced him, and felt that same feeling of distant, unexplainable familiarity. He wanted so desperately to know who this was, if he could feel the same, but nothing came. It was in that moment, when the world was burning and it was just the two of them in the centre of it, in which everything stilled.

Slivers of flame stopped their deadly dance in mid-air. Embers and sparks froze in flight, like tiny birds in the background of one of the many paintings Orion had often liked to gaze at for hours. A piece of a wooden support was suspended mere feet of the ground outside, draped in a curtain of wild flame. Orion looked down at the lone Tenno that had his arms locked around him with such determination, such strength, that it seemed like he would never let go.

The support hit the floor. The shrill cries from outside, the heat, the unrelenting heat, rushing back to him. Orion nearly passed out. The Tenno had gotten up, drawing an ornate-looking revolver from his hip straps with his right hand and unsheathing a Glaive with his left. It was only when the Tenno gave one final, tearful glance into Orion’s shadowy grey eyes that the truth finally dawned. The one, single word, the one that hit him like a wall of bricks and sent his mind spiralling back into his reality:

Father.

I'm so sorry :<

Edited March 8, 2015 by TheDeathofThem

[Not_Oliver]

Father. 

 

...