Guardian-Child
(Destiny OC insert; takes place during Season of Plunder)
(Warning(s): kidnapping, brief threats of torture, implied character death if you squint)
Even Eramiskel would have shrieked in outrage if she had seen the small thing that my crew dropped at my feet, and she was far more patient than I have and ever will be. But I forced myself to hold my tongue and instead watch the creature before me struggle to get up with both pairs of its wrists bound together. It was an older hatchling: small and gowned in leather, armor and blue cloth. Its flesh and shell were of dark shades that I have never seen on an Eliksni—I could see its near-black carapace and almost-gray skin peek out from under its hood as it wriggled itself up into a sitting position. It adjusted, casually crossing its legs and placing its bound hands in its lap before it lifted its head and locked four dark blue eyes onto me. It gazed at me and I glared straight back. Straight into those undisturbed abysses that somehow seemed to stare directly into my soul. It felt like the Darkness itself was looking directly at me.
It was unnerving.
One of my Drekhs crawled forward, watching the hatchling carefully from the corner of their eyes as they muttered to me, “It wears a weapon like Eramiskel…!”
“He wears a weapon like Eramiskel,” the child corrected in a tone that did not portray his situation of being bound in chains and imprisoned on an enemy Ketch with Eliksni that would gladly kill him. The Drekh flinched at his words and quickly scuttled away like the coward they were while I continued to glare him down, drawing my knife from its sheathe and toying with the blade in my lower claws as I slowly stepped closer and closer to him, and in response, he stretched out his arms with a quiet groan. I saw it. My crew couldn’t see it, but I could and I knew that he was purposely brandishing that gauntlet strapped to his left upper arm to me. Silently telling me that he wielded the same power as my Kell. Silently telling me that I was weaker than him.
Foolish hatchling. Two can play at this game. I will not be outplayed, and certainly not by a child. You show off your strength, I will show off mine. I stood before the child for a moment, completely eclipsing him in my shadow and making him have to crane his neck up to look at my face. When his eyes met mine, I struck fast, snatched the chain linked around his upper wrists, yanked him to his feet and pulled his face to mine, hissing, “Who are you?”
The hatchling didn’t flinch despite the fact that the tips of his toes were barely touching the floor and his upper arms were forced over his head. He simply stared up at me, expression unchanging and unmoved, and responded with long, almost breathless pauses between each word and even longer pauses between each sentence. “I am Nekeks. Nekeks of The Last City. Nekeks of House Light. Nekeks, son of Scribe Eido. Grandson of Misraakskel.” He leaned forward. He was so close that I could taste the Ether coming from his rebreather—it was different from my own. Sweeter. Purer. I ignored my craving for the untainted Ether as he told me, “I am Nekeks, the Guardian-Child.”
Something exploded on the lower decks of my Ketch just as he said that. I did my best to ignore it. “You won’t escape. You will be pinned down, docked, and then killed—if you are lucky. You will die on my Ketch with no one coming for you.” I tried to make a point by pressing my blade to the almost-gray flesh of his neck. But he didn’t react to the danger and only replied with a slow and unbothered, “Wrong. The Guardians will come for me. I will not die. I will be free again.” He sounded so sure.
“Why side with the Machine-spawn?” I couldn’t catch the question from escaping my mouth.
He spoke in that strange way again, with short sentences and long pauses in-between. I figured it was simply how he was. Some of my Drekhs that had come from damaged eggs spoke like that. “Because my Mama is Machine-spawn. My Mama is brave. My Mama cares for House Light. My Mama cares for Eliksni. My Mama cares for innocents.” Then his demeanor changed to something much darker and his eyes crinkled in a sinister smile. “My Mama hates you. You took me—her kin. Her hatchling. So now… my Mama will destroy your Ketch. My Mama will defeat your crew. My Mama will kill you.” Another explosion, much closer this time. They have moved up to our level. I made the mistake of letting my fear slip into my expression, and it made the hatchling chuckle dangerously. “You are scared. Good. Because Mama is coming. Coming for you.”
Something banged against the door and me and my crew jumped, eyes darting towards the noticeable dent in the thick metal. I didn’t even realize that I had let go of the hatchling’s chains and had allowed him to sink back into a sitting position on the floor. Nekeks slowly rocked himself back and forth and he grinned underneath his rebreather, singing, “She’s heeeeerreee~”
The doors were flung from their tracks in an explosion of blue lightning that made the air sing with the fury of a thousand storms and a mother’s rage.
O Guardian-child of Tomes and Light, you have outdone me. Well played.