Archer's Logs #26-2: Darkblade Revisited

I could feel my heart racing, even hear its beat echo in my suit. I heard the whir of the rockets charging, the Colossus about to make its move. Then I remembered one of the guardians before me, another hunter, well huntress, nicknamed Blackout. She was the best Nightstalker there was, and a damn good sniper too. I remember what she always told me before I took a long shot.

“Inhale, and exhale as you pull the trigger.” Her words echoed in my mind as my lungs let loose, letting my fingers fall too. I heard the whiz of my arrow flying straight into the Colossus’s eye, the void tether forming in front of it as the rockets stopped charging, its arms flailing about. I opened fire on it, aiming right for the eye as I landed, quickly getting behind a rock as the tether wore off. I heard its footsteps moving closer to me before a slight humming sound began to come from behind the rock. I moved away from it to see an orb of black taken energy moving towards me. I opened fire on it as it burst, but then looked to the Colossus, preparing its minigun for me, staring me straight down.

I bolted to the side, taking a few bullets to the arm before preparing another voidwall grenade. I threw it right at its feet before opening fire again, taking cover before the wall faded. Time to break out the big guns. I always hated using it, but it kept me out of severe trouble, and the Vanguard insisted we keep something big in case of these situations. I pulled out my Crown Princess and fired all the rockets in my clip at it, hitting it dead on as it fell backwards, fading into the air as I sat there, letting my launcher fall to my side, catching my breath. I knew Oryx was powerful back then, but at the time, I had no idea he was capable of taking a Colossus, an Ogre yes, but never a Colossus. Either he was getting stronger or the Cabal were weaker.

After a short break, I picked myself back up, sorting out my weapons and reloading them as I walked off through the rest of the Asylum. I climbed across the bridge towards the Darkblade’s chamber, well former chamber. It still was filled with lichenous chitin, as there were even a few Hive worms about. I smashed one under my boot as the others dug their way out of the area. How the hell is the Hive still feeding here, I wondered, but then I remembered a better question, what was Oryx’s echo doing here earlier? They had to have come down this way, so more than likely he was hiding out down in the darkness, right where the sword was. Maybe he was trying to get it for himself, add to his arsenal and was just using the guardians to get rid of the Darkblade for him. I took a deep breath before I jumped down into the darkness.

I hit the ground with a loud thud, rolling as I hit, still feeling quite a shock from the fall. I pried through the darkness to the center of the room, seeing the cursed blade of Alak-Hul embedded in the floor of the chamber, still radiating immense amounts of energy. I don’t know which scared me more, the sword of a once powerful Hive Knight, or the silence of the area around me. I grabbed the hilt of the blade as a surge of energy erupted from it, immense pain racking my brain as I couldn’t help but let go of the blade, my ears screaming as a loud roar was heard, the blade soon disappearing into the darkness, the Echo’s face appearing above it for a moment before fading back. That’s when I noticed something, a ghost with no light in it replaced the blade, covered in the black energy that comprised the Taken.

I moved towards it and reached out for it. That’s when I saw it, the mighty blade swung from the darkness and severed my left hand clean off, splashing blood onto the ghost and the area around it. My shrieking echoed through my helmet, so bad as to even deafen myself as I fell back, trying to cover my newly made stub with my armor sleeve to stop the blood, as I looked to where the sword swung from. I couldn’t believe what I saw when I looked.

It was my teacher, Blackout, except her armor was entirely taken, as one large white eye glowed from her helmet, her body bearing the Darkblade’s sword. She swung it again at me as I scrambled back, avoiding the blade as I pulled out my sidearm and began to fire with my good arm, her shield taking all the bullets as she dragged the blade behind her, slowly approaching me. I tried to pick myself up quickly as I scrambled into the darkness, firing at her again as she her shield ran out, one of the bullets hitting her in the shoulder as she kept coming towards me, a mindless slave of Oryx now. That’s when she disappeared into the darkness, just like Alak-Hul had once before, she must have taken a part of the Darkblade himself with his sword, or he lived on within the sword. Either way, I rushed to the center of the room, trying to cover my arm better and reloading my pistol, using my elbow to hold onto the fresh clip. I heard the sound of a blade swinging towards me as I ducked down, the horizontal slash catching the pillar I was leaned against.

I turned back to the pillar, seeing my former friend and mentor struggling to pull the blade back out of the wall to kill me with. I fired my sidearm at her again, landing more shots as I caught my breath, as she yanked the sword from the wall, soon charging at me with it, the blade scraping across the ground. I ran back into the darkness as her sword made a loud clang against the ground. I reloaded and fired again at her, but she faded out again, giving me a chance to recover. The cycle seemed to repeat itself again and again, her landing a quick slash on me a few times, gashing my armor plating a few times, as I shot her each time, getting a few good shots out in various places on her. I was losing breathe and ammo faster and faster, as I began to feel faint from the blood loss.

She reappeared for a final blow to me, holding the sword in front, preparing to charge and stab me through. I remember thinking about her many lessons, taking me out on patrols and missions with her, as my now chopped hand drew back, my arms making the shape of holding my bow. She began her charge as the purple light bow began to form, the light even forming a new hand and cauterizing my stub as I charged the shot. I counted my seconds until she was on me.

3...2...1…Fire. The shot rang out, and I fell back against the wall behind me.

The tether did its job as she was stuck to a pillar nearby, the sword inches from me as I stuck my knife into her armor, piercing the shield before I raised my sidearm to her head, opening fire as she soon fell back, the taken energy fading from her armor as she lie there, dead long before I had arrived. She was wearing the vanguard armor of the strike team, nobody had told me she was in it, not even her. Her body was entirely limp, no light left in her whatsoever, as the cursed sword lie beside her. I picked it up with my one good hand, hauling it into the air as I felt its darkness pulse through me. My ghost began to pick up on Alak-Hul’s soul, the rest of it trapped within the blade, as the echo showed itself to me again. They both began to chatter in my ears, bombarding me with commands, deals, beckoning me to join them.

Oryx must have gotten here a while ago, and taken control of what remained of Alak-Hul’s soul, but what would happen if I bring this back? Oryx has his hands on it, and if it goes back to the tower, who knows what would happen? I felt my chest heave, coughing up small amounts of blood in my helmet from the fight and the darkness cascading over me. I flung the sword into the air and slammed it down, crashing it onto the hard floor. I heard the echo and Alak-Hul’s screaming in my ears, but I would not stop. Again, I picked it up and flung it to the floor, soon feeling their immense pain as the echo tried to consume me. I kept smashing it against the ground, again and again, chipping away at the damned blade that stole my friend. Then, with one final swing, it shattered into pieces, the echo disappearing after a final shriek as Alak-Hul’s soul was lost, destroyed for good.

All the pain ceased, the darkness fell away as I fell to my knees, tears and blood dripping from my eyes as I crawled over to my friend’s body. I remember her most valued possession was her Judith-D Hand Cannon, so I paid my respects, and took the weapon to show what had happened to her back at the tower. I pressed my hand gently across her helmet, telling her she can rest now, for good. I crawled over to her ghost, stained with my blood and the raw energy of the taken, no light in it. I picked it up and kept it for myself, having my own ghost take me back to my ship and pilot us to the tower.

“You really should try to forget about all that you know.” the exo woman said, my moment to reminisce coming to an end. I simply nodded and stared into the eye of Blackout’s ghost.

“I’ll be out to celebrate in a bit, just leave me to think for a bit." I told her. She simply shrugged and stood up, walking back towards the festivities.

“Wait,” I yelped out, stopping her at the stairs as she looked back, “Thanks for coming to get me, Eris-8.” She smiled before walking out to the tower surface. I looked back to the ghost again, taking my gloves off, my left hand now that of an exo’s, and placed it on the ghost. Again, I felt that darkness from that day sweeping over me, but now there was a shred of light to move towards. I flung myself into that light, and saw when I was first being taught to use my bow by Blackout. Her words rang out, clear as day.

“Remember, let your arrow light the way. We draw from the void, but our truth shines through, Archer.”

To Be Continued...