Warframe: Relic Hunters
Chapter 27
Armed and Ready
*Location: ???*
“Dream…”
“Not of what you are…”
“But of what you want to be…”
I feel… wrong, like I’m awake, but it feels… different. I can only see the very fabric of the void that cloaked my vison, but that voice. Was it ‘Her’?
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Excalibur, awoke from the Void, when he looked around, the outside was gone, only white and gold displayed itself, the room was long, like a hallway, but it wasn’t the school or HQ.
He then looked down at his body, all remnants of his battle were gone, including his armour and weapons. The only thing he had with him, was 2 capsules. One contained the helmet and Syandana. The other was his armour plates.
“What?” Excalibur whispered as he stared at the room, then he heard footsteps
“Do not worry my child, you are safe,” Came a motherly voice as Excalibur got up, but let his guard down when he saw who it was
“Lotus? But why are you… here? Where is here, more like?” Excalibur asked as he looked around at the many cyropods as Lotus stood, with a calm demeaner
“The Chambers, or in this case, where all the Tenno Leaders laid to rest,” Lotus said, saddened slightly as Excalibur looked at her with shock as he ran around the room
“Where is it? Where is it!?” Excalibur spoke hastily and then he stopped dead in his tracks. “No way.”
He stared at the pod, with the name-plate above reading ‘Excalibur Prime’. He slowly hit the command on the side to open it. But as he feared, nothing was inside, except his warframe, Lato Prime and Skana Prime.
“They never could recover the body, only the warframe that was left behind, I am sorry, Tenno,” Lotus apologised as Excalibur waved her off
“Its… fine, I just… wish he got a proper burial,” Excalibur responded before shaking his head. “Still, why am I here!? I know you did something?”
"I did nothing, whatever happened when you disconnected Hunhow's connection, it must have caused a void shift, sending you here," Lotus explained as she continued. “But, you are right, I did ‘Do’ something, but it is up to you to make the choice,”
“And that is?” Excalibur asked in annoyance
“When a Prime dies, they would choose a descendant, or they would if they made this far, but one of them had already chosen a successor, from the beginning he knew they would be even greater than he could ever be,” Lotus explained as Excalibur listened
“You.” She finished, catching Excalibur off guard
“M-me? No-no-no, not me?” Excalibur denied as Lotus just shook her head
“Excalibur chose ‘you’, right from the beginning, he knew that if he ever told you, you would refuse to accept it, but he once said ‘that every choice we make is never the easiest, but if you believe it’s right, then you can truly lead’,” Lotus finished as Excalibur just stayed silent the guilt stinging his soul
“All this time, and all I did was take one of your most important lessons and ruined it, I killed my team, Nekros, Volt, Trinity, my family, Stalker, all of them…” Excalibur spoke out as he felt his voice croak, but no tears fell
Excalibur clenched his fist as he rubbed his eyes. He then looked at the armour in the pod, its golden sheen, as bright as the day it was made, the very first warframe.
"Excalibur, was the first," Excalibur spoke as he grabbed the helmet in both his hands. "So, i'll be the last,"
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Excalibur stepped away from the pod as his armour slowly enveloped his body, he felt his body surge with new void energy, something far more powerful, as his Syandana glowed a golden sheen, his armour plates did also, but he kept his old helmet instead, feeling more comfortable in it as it matched the armour.
“Ok then, I’m done crying, if I need to fight to end this war, then I’ll make up for the people ive lost, and for the people I can still save,” Excalibur spoke sternly as Lotus smiled. “Wait! How the hell am I getting back, exactly?”
“I can feel your power, its stronger than before… try to focus it,” Lotus suggested as Excalibur thought about it and held his hand out
“Focus huh?” He mumbled as he thought about all that have fallen to bring him this far, he wouldn’t fail again
*WHOOSH-BOOM*
“Holy skag-sac!!!” Excalibur cursed as he laughed, he had just blasted a beam of void energy from his hand, how he did that was beyond him. “Did you just see that!?”
“Concentrate.” Lotus responded as Excalibur stopped laughing and nodded. “You need to focus your mind and travel back to your friends, quickly,”
“Wait why?” Excalibur asked as he saw the grim look on Lotus’s face
“Your battle is far from over, the Stalker is still alive,” Lotus answered as Excalibur hummed
“Not surprising, but this time, I’ll win,” Excalibur responded, feeling better than ever before, he felt like weight had been lifted from him, after all this time
“Do you know how you will get back?” Lotus asked as Excalibur looked at his hands before surging his energy through every fiber of his being
“Like the old saying, ‘when one door closes, choose a nearby wall and smash it in with brute force’,” Excalibur quoted as he channeled his energy and focused on his friends, he could feel something, like dipping his hand into the ocean
Then he felt his surroundings begin to fade, he took one last look at Lotus as she watched with amusement.
“Lotus?” Excalibur asked as she stared. “Thank you,”
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*Location: CHS, 1 Hour since Excalibur’s jump*
Everyone backed away in fear as they watched a Tenno (Rhino) fall to the ground from his wounds, his iron skin fading to nothing as he reached for his shotgun, but a black foot stomped on it before he could grab it.
“Shit.” Rhino groaned as Stalker stared down at him, his Scythe raised
He had lost his new equipment after the sword was shattered, the blast had temporarily knocked him out, but once he regained unconscious, he went on a rampage. Now he had defeated, Rhino and Atlas.
“You all keep fighting for reasons you couldn’t possibly understand, causes that aren’t your own, so I shall punish you for your blind actions,” Stalker spoke as he held his scythe up
“Suck. My. Nuts.” Rhino hissed as it did nothing to phase Stalker
*SHINK*
Stalker grunted as he fell back a few feet. The one who struck him was Skyler, she held the Broken War in her hands as she faced Stalker, the visor covering her hate and sadness.
“You are not my target, weakling,” Stalker spoke like nothing had happened
“I kill you! All he wanted was for this war to end and you killed him!” Skyler screamed as he just stared back. “And you betrayed him, for monsters who owned you like animals!!!”
This got Stalker to raise his Scythe into a stance as he cracked his neck.
“Then you will die for his lies all the same,” Stalker spoke coldly as Skyler held her stance firm
“His lies!? you think you're better than him, but you're not! you’ll never be better than him, you’ll always be weaker!” Skyler spat, then she felt a massive force push against her end of the blade as he feet dug into the pathway
“YOU'LL DIE!!!” Stalker yelled in fury as Skyler kicked him back as he smashed the end of the scythe into the ground as he trailed it through
“Then come and get me!” Skyler dared as the wind died down to a dull whisper
To Be Continued…