The story of Eien Hikari
Episode 1 - a ghost's journey For exactly 27 hours I've been stuck in the tower unable to reach him, waiting for a call or any sign that he's still alive. No... I suppose I shouldn't say "alive". I know that he's alive, because I'm still here and no ghost can survive long without his Guardian. It saddens me to think Eien may not be here for the speakers address, even more so to think that he may not have much longer. Especially since the last I saw of him he was standing atop a fallen skiff as it retreated into the coming storm that was the entirety of each fallen house. He had gone unnoticed with the current battle ensuing. But I had noticed him, and as I tried to pursue I was stopped by radio hail from the speaker himself. "ALL FORCES OF THE LIGHT, REPORT BACK TO THE TOWER IN PREPARATION FOR THE UPCOMING ASSAULT". I knew he must've heard it too, I opened his channel, " Eien where are you going ? You heard the speakers orders we must head back! EIEN! " my shouting was to no avail, " damn snake " I thought to myself for I knew his faced cracked that menacing grin of his as he flew off into the fallen ranks. Once I was back at the tower it wasn't long before Cayde-6 sent a request to see us, reluctantly I reported to the hunter vanguard, without Eien. Immediately he knew what had happened once he noticed I had arrived alone, I could hear his frame tighten and creak as he clenched his fists in frustration. He slammed the table leaving an imprint, he then paused for a brief moment and began to speak. " for the sake of the light who does he think he is? He's always the show off isn't he?" He paused for another moment collecting his thoughts, "if it were anybody else but him I'd be worried, thankfully nobody enjoys the adrenaline rush of a fight like Vexus." "Vexus?" I inquired, " it's a long story" sighed Cayde-6. "Should I go after him?" I asked hoping he'd allow it. "You know the rules" he responded "and the lockdown for non-combat personnel won't be lifted for a while, all you can do for now is wait." A day had passed before I could leave. Finally I thought to myself as the speakers voice echoed throughout the last city. " after a grueling scrimmage with the fallen we have finally pushed back their onslaught, as the ocean from which their waves emanated has evaporated into clouds of ether and fire. It is now safe again to travel beyond the last city. "Safe" I thought to myself, I began chuckled at the word for the speaker must've forgotten what's beyond the last city. I could hear the bells of churches and the crack of fireworks as I darted through the tower on my way to the hangar bay, citizens and guardians alike celebrated the recent victory, as they cheered I cheered too. Not for victory, but for Eien to prevail wherever it is he may be. I entered the hangar bay and wasn't surprised to see it packed, ships flew by like a kaleidoscope of butterflies. I glided over the the sea of exasperated Guardians and into holidays workshop. She was halfway inside the engine of an old prewar starship, an ycs-36 “Eon trespass” that had a hole recently bored into the side. in a failed attempt to not startle her I spoke into her mind to get her attention, forgetting that she is not a guardian and knows not the voice of a ghost. she jerked suddenly as i spoke within her head, as she jumped down and out of the hull of the ship she was perplexed to see a lone ghost. she recognized me by my markings and questioned the whereabouts of Eien. as I began to explain my predicament she soon sided with me and allowed me to take Eien’s ship in order to go search for him. I flew out of the tower in search of my gaurdian. As I left the veil of the travelers safety I could immediately sense that something was wrong, something just didn't feel right. I hailed for Eien, a brief moment passed before I could hear his voice “there you are little light, where have you been ? its not very reputable for a ghost to leave his gaurdian out in the wilds alone now is it? “ he said jokingly. “ you heard the speakers orders, why did you not retreat? “ I said angrily, he began to explain but cut his sentence short. “ ghost I have no time to argue, I need you and my ship now!” I set a jump course to the twilight gap, the engines began to fire up as the the Ion drives spun faster and faster until all outside light was but a blur. in the ignorance of my haste without thinking I had forgotten that a slipspace jump this close to the surface wasn't the best of ideas. As the ship came out of slipspace was dismayed to see one of the old derelict colony ships blocking my flight path, I attempted to adjust my trajectory. it wasn't enough I quickly teleported myself outside, only to witness the ship clipped the pre war relic and spiraled into the ground, carving the earth with the blade of its wing. “well this is going to be hard to explain” I thought to myself, As i started to think of what i could possibly say to EIen in regards to his ship I suddenly remembered he was in dire straights and needed my assistance. If my geocentric calculations are correct and they usually are, that means he’s only 1.4 miles away from the crash site “at least I’m close”. once more I hailed for Eien once more, a few minutes passed before I received a response, could hear him whisper “ where are you ghost? I need you, im beginning to become overwhelmed and I-” he paused for a moment “ they've found me I must go” i could hear the distinct growls of the fallen as they attacked Eien, I could the hiss of ether as it seeped from the wounds of downed fallen in the background, as well as the sound of bullets and heavy artillery. “i’m very close now”, I could hear the relentless sound of devil walker cannons as they hammered his position in the distance. after traversing through the array station I had finally reached the Twilight gap. The destruction was devastating, bodies of both fallen and guardians were scattered throughout the rubble. if I wasn't a ghost i might have not been able to determine what was blood, ether, or oil. All the substances had formed together creating this dark violet sludge that soaked the fortress that was once a silver beacon of the city’s might. Awestruck at the wreckage that laid before me, I swam through the ocean of skiffs and devil walkers that were torn in pieces on the war tattered landscape. in the distance I could see an accumulation of fallen forces, devil walkers and skiffs bombarded the derelict structures. I thought to myself “he must be there”, atop the walls of the Cosmodrome. As I crossed the gutted terrain, the fallen devil walkers began to climb the walls, as they inched to the top I hastened my pace for Eiens sake and consequently my own. The place was congested with fallen, dregs, shanks, and vandals. they oozed from the sinuses of the cosmodrome pouring out in the hundreds. they all converged the wall as Eien fought his way to the top. It was too risky to just simply fly to the top, I activated my stealth cloak and traversed the through the fallen ranks. the fallen shouted and growled as I floated mere inches away from blade and tooth, I tried to decode their incoherent growls, but it was a wasted effort in this sea of berated fallen. after tapping into their radio transmissions I fully understood their murderous intent, both the house of devil’s Archon and Kell were furiously shouting orders stop the approaching guardians. “quickly !” the Kell shouted, “ They mustn't be allowed to board the ship, if you dont want to be left to die here then i suggest you take them out!". "He's not alone?" I questioned as the fallen surged around the derelict walls. They began to chant " kill them, kill them, KILL THEM!" Dregs, vandals, and captains alike began to swarm the entrance like a school of fish. Shanks joined the ranks of ascending devil walkers on their warpath to the top. Even though they had just suffered a severe loss they attacked with full force. Just as the walkers crested their front legs atop the wall, I had reached the top. To my surprise Eien and his anonymous fire team had not yet reached the top. I took a moment to get a lay of the land as the fallen found their positions. I could see the beautiful Russian landscape, the oil painted sky,....... and the decimated fallen ketch that sat in shambles. "That's why they're so desperate" a faint voice said. I turned around to see an Exo split in half, his legs hidden amongst the rubble. He told me of the battle of the twilight gap, how him and his fire team got seperated, how he came atop these walls to get a better view to aid him in his search for his lost companions, and as his light faded he told me to scan his internal storage convex for an accurate depiction of the events that had transpired. As I decoded the scene from his memory banks he slowly drifted into the void. I could vividly see a ketch barreling towards me, or I should say the exo, retreating from its lost battle at the twilight gap. As the ship came closer to the wall explosions and torrents of arc began to emit from the inside out. Chunks were shaved off the ship like a knife through butter, first the cargo bay was cut in one foul slice, then they engines fell off one by one, skiffs began to pour out of the ship as it plummeted past the Exo and into ground. Several of the skiffs began to fall as streams of arc tore them asunder, I could see that it was Eien, his notorious twin tanto’s in hand as he stood atop a fleeing skiff, both swords consumed with arc energy that emanated from his reservoir of light and passion. As Eien rode the skiff into the ground fallen amassed around his position, he spun and released a hurricane of acr energy that liquified the fallen on contact. unfortunately for him the skiff landed on the opposite side of the wall that the Ketch landed. He must be after both the archon and the kell, “chasing the impossible as always” I thought. I hailed for Eien, I let him know my position at the top. “ good I could use a bit of your healing” he said with his usual sinister tone. I began to hear a faint screaming, it became louder and louder until I realized it was right underneath an unsuspecting devil walker. “thats definitely not Eien” and my prediction was proved to be true when a titan cracked the roof of the wall with an upwards fist of havok. The titan uppercutted the tank straight into the air sending it barreling towards another walker. It landed with a thunderous clap. the walkers motors squealed almost as though they felt pain, pushing both walkers off the edge and into the fire engulfed wreckage below. two more walkers took their place and prepared to fire. As the ion shells within the tanks began to hiss from from the heating process, a titan emerged from the recently formed hole and brought forth a ward of dawn. the tanks fired as the void light wall formed around the three guardians, plumes of dust and rubble filled the air. it was quiet for a moment, the crackling fires echoed from the ground below. The dust began to clear, I began to inch towards the ward but halted when I saw that there was only one guardian left within its protective circumference. the fallen shrieked at the disappearance of the two. thier shrieks were only replaced by gargling as Eien cut them and the walker to shreds. opposite to Eien, the striker titan pounced on the remaining spider tank and bored a hole straight through using his body as a meteor. The battle had ravaged the guardians bodies, Eien was leaking blood like a sieve, and the Exo’s sparked and creaked as their damaged frames attempted to push on. I quickly attended to Eien’s wounds and before I could scan him for internal injuries he was ready to leave agian, I urged him not too but i made no progress. “ I need you to stay here and heal these exos, they fought valiantly and their light has been sapped from them. I’m after those two “ he pointed at the wrecks below and before I could interject he leaped off the wall and into the burning debris below. Obedient as always I complied with my orders and healed the severely wounded Exo. As the various wires and plates of metal began to reform They began to tell me how lucky I was to have guardian as strong as Eien, “ Trust me I know”, and you dont even know the half of it i thought to myself. Skiffs from all directions began to swarm the ketch like vultures to a carcass. they picked the remains clean of any remaining fallen and began to retreat. I knew it was a bad sign, I hailed for Eien but it was too late. As the skiffs flew away a series of explosions began from within the ship. Each explosion hammering my mind with thoughts of death, both mine and Eiens. After the debri settled and the titans were on their feet once more I noticed that i was still alive, that meant Eien was still alive. There is still hope..
I hope you enjoyed the first episode, please don’t be afraid to leave a comment, share, or whatever.