Oryx
A year has passed since the Guardians helped free Alad-or Salad as Sekana calls him, often eliciting chuckles from most of us at the memory of his reaction when she first called him that- and we were now in full out war. Our alliance-consisting of the Ecumene, Zulu's Hive, a few Saddle Arabian houses and some Minotaur houses as they were organized similar to the Eliksni- or the Fallen, if you do not know Destiny races and their history- which is to say various houses that fall under their own leadership as well as one for the race, and the Guardians- and the Griffons-who had subjugated other Saddle Arabian houses and hired Dragon mercenaries along with crystal ponies up north- were in a stalemate that has lasted for three months.
That would change today.
Myself; an elite strike force of equal parts pegasai, unicorns, earth ponies, and changelings; and the Hunter-who had changed his armor color to that of the arctic proxy shader and changed the chroma color from blue to white, making it ice white with the cloak for the fallen House of Wolves, were in the north. The Crystal Empire, as it turns out, is a research site where the Griffon Empire is working on a new weapon of some sort meant to destroy us in one fell swoop. We were here to destroy it and the notes for it, kill the minds that worked on it, and either free the crystal ponies, subjugate them, or raze their home to the snowy ground.
Before you ask, Didact, Alad, and the other two Guardians were leading the front lines in the Saddle Arabian deserts south of the Ecumene with Platinum, Hurricane, and Puddinghead handling the domestic issues while we were gone.
"So, what are the defenses?" I asked the Hunter, as it was us and one of the other races in this group that stood in the command tent for this operation, a rough map of the Empire on a table in front of us.
"Elite troops numbering near fifty just outside," he reported. "We also have to dela with giant crossbows and crystal guards."
"What do you want done with the last group, sir?" the pegasai officer- a mare with chocalate brown skin and black hair and til- asked.
"Capture if possible, kill if not," I replied. "What's the facility layout?" I asked the unicorn officer.
"Underground, for one," he replied. "Other than that, haven't been able to get much."
I nodded. "I will handle that much. Hvae you pinpointed someone high up from the facility?"
"I have, sir," the changeling officer said. "Name's Obsidian Strength, and he's the captain of their defenses. If the crystal ponies are being subjugated, he's a willing helper, so he'll need to die anyway."
"Planning on adding another to the army?" Josh asked, his arms crossed.
"At the very least, gathering intelligence," I replied. "But most likely, yes," I added.
"Then I'll get my weapons ready," he said before going to leave the tent. If there's one thing I have learned about him personally over the year, it is that he does not enjoy stuff like this, and tries to leave them whenever he can.
"It is best you all do the same as well," I told the officers. "Your troops as well. Once I have the intel, we will need to move as soon as possible. This will not be subtle."
"Sir," they said before saluting.
"Dismissed." With that, they left. "And so thus the fun begins," I said before a green portal opened in front of me, and i stepped through it and into my ascendant realm.
It had taken me time to master my abilities enough to be able to enter it, but now that I had access, I was able to change it however I liked it, and it now resembled the room from the end of King's Fall, though in place of the platforms were, from top left going clockwise to opposite, a play area for Sekana-who was often now looked after Platinum's Taken brother when here- a planning are for any attacks on enemy territory, a table on which any important individuals were to be Taken, and a Rupture base, which is what I call those things the rupture portals have to be connected to on one end.
Currently, Sekana was in the castle in the other realm. A good thing, as I did want to teach her any of my abilities until she was older. Nothing more terrifying than a toddler who can Take one's will. Anyways, I made my way to the area where unfortunate bastards would lose their will. Once there, I closed my eyes, and focused my power in the other plane to find Obsidian Strength. Now, for some reason, even when I didn't know what they looked like, my power always brought me the right target.
A few seconds later, there was a scream as a pony was deposited on the table. I opened my eyes, and saw a see through stallion colored gray with black hair wearing silver armor strapped to the table. "What the buck's going on!? he yelled before seeing me and his visage turned to one of anger and fear. "You," he growled. "I should have known the Demon King would come after me."
"Twenty two, and what did you expect? I need to know what you do," I said. "Mainly the defenses and layout of the research center."
"Please, you'll never get it," he said confidently.
"Fifty, and bitch, I was able to turn Princess platinum's stubborn ass brother into a soulless husk. You are nothing to that," I growled before raising my palm, Darkness travelling down my arm to the palm, and I recited, "You are filled with anger and malice. I name you Obsidian Strength, servant of the Griffons. I see unending loyalty and a willingness to die. But you are afraid of being betrayed.
You are Taken
There is a knife. It is shaped like Deception. Take the knife. Defend yourself by making your enemies think you are something else.
As I said this, his armor and skin began to change colors to resemble black speckled with white, and his eyes began to glow as he struggled and screamed in pain as his very being- his will- was stolen from him, along with the memories from him I needed, everything else being discarded.
You are a servant of Oryx, unafraid of death and willing to kill those you once called friend to follow his will, that which is the only one that matters. You are Taken, and you find glory in it. As I finished this version of the "Taken Speech" as I called it, Obsidian stopped screaming, and only moved vi the usual twitch that accompanied being Taken. Using the Darkness, I teleported him off the table and in front of me.
"Now, show me your ability," I commanded.
He did so, and changed instantly into his former guise. Though he did have specks of black and white on his skin, and his eyes still had a slight glow. He then changed into the Hunter. Intel reports, I assume. Regardless, he then went back to his Taken form. Curious, I used my abilities to give him some semblance of a will, just enough to speak. "Speak."
Roughly, he said, "I am a. . .servant of Oryx, the Taken, King." I added a little more, carefully monitoring how much will he had, and kept telling him to speak until he spoke effortlessly. Looks as if I have an infiltrator now. Perfect.
"Follow," I ordered him, and he did so as I went to the Rupture, and used my Hive Magic to pen the portal before stepping through, the new Taken in tow. I stepped out next to the the Guardian, which is what I wanted.
"Got the intel?" he asked as he examined his weapon, the Year two Suros Regime rifle.
"Along with an Infiltrator," I replied before turning my head to face him out of the corner of my eye. "Assume your previous form, and return to the Empire, and head towards the southern gate. As soon as I signal, open it."
"Yes, my king," he said before returning to his previous form and teleporting to I assume his house..
"That's a little weird," Josh said. "I'm used to Taken not talking." A second of silence. "Rhino and Cybis agree with me, by the way."
"And I'll never get used to you three having a mental link," I shot back, referencing the ability those three had to telepathically communicate, regardless of distance. I swear, if all three of them are machines, it'll be like Vex with personalities.
"Fair enough," he replied. "So, got a plan?"
"Indeed I do," I replied. "Get the group leaders, and finish your preparations, Guardian. The Empire falls by the week's end."
A day later-Josh
I ran through the snowy landscape, the scout for the attack group looking for patrolling guards and taking any out with an Arc Ironwreath side arm, the light type being because it would blend in with the enviornment. So far, I had encountered only two groups of four each, and took them out with ease, a mix of bullets and throwing knives to the skulls taking them out quickly and silently. Another advantage I had was the blizzard, as it reduced enemy sights. True, it reduced mine as well, but my Tracker made up for it with three-sixty detection.
Now, before you ask, Alad and the Didact had been working to make advanced combat suits for the Ecumene soldiers, something akin to a mix of Spartan MJOLNIR and Warframe's warframes-which I still don't know what they really are- that would allow their troops to operate in conditions like this as if it was a sunny day with no wind. So far, prototypes were in the field-which the assault group were using- but nothing in terms of mass production. Weapons? Some kind of mix between Hardlight-which is what Forerunner weapons used if not some kind of particle based weaponry- and a few of the weapons Cybis, Rhino, and I brought, mainly liquid ammo and energy based weapons, as well as Ammo transmat like what the Super Good Advice does with the rounds it fires. Yeah, that last one was currently only being used in prototype tanks-I am not kidding- and LMGs. Oh boy.
Anyway, back to now and here. My path had me heading toward the southern gate. After that was open and the group was in, my job was assassination of the research heads here, acquisition of any and all position intel on enemy forces, and maybe-as if not really, just do- plant a bomb of concentrated Darkness in the city that would either turn all in it into basic Taken or kill them, as well as escort any civilians I could out of the blast radius.
Ten minutes had passed of my killing the second patrol squad when I reached the gates. "Route clear," I whispered. "Move in."
"Understood," Oryx replied over the radio. Well, not really radio, more Darkness echos. Yeah, I don't know, it's whatever the Hive use to communicate in game. The contact then cut off before I initiated another channel.
"Noland, initiate music protocol designate badass royal."
"On it."
The perfect song to kick ass to if you're a king. Anyways, that was the signal-or Oryx has telepathy with the Taken- as the gate opened. I stepped through, and instantly had my rifle transmatted out for Dreadfang, and sliced two Griffons in half. "Gate's open," I reported. "Moving towards target."
I did not hear his reply, as I instantly had to kill three other guards-two Griffons and one crystal pony- by slicing their heads off before running towards my objective. I then had it swapped back out for Suros, and began moving.
"Josh, I'm picking up some odd frequencies," Noland reported. "Subsonic-but not fatal- mixed with some ultraviolet and infrared light. Don't worry, your armor's protecting you, but from what I can get from here and the Empire back home, the frequencies hit a resonance with Crystal ponies. They may be under mind control. Don;t worry, I told Oryx and the assault group."
"Then let's just hope Obsidian didn't have a family and was a prick without mind control," I muttered before speaking up. "You got the source?"
"Destination area, sub-level six. Ironically enough, what Oryx got from Obsidian shows that's where the main research project is, code named: Heart. . . . You thinking what I am?"
"This is fucking medieval Equis, I wouldn't be surprised!" I shouted as I fired my rifle at a large mob of ponies, aiming for their legs to cripple them before reloading and continuing. For the most part, hostile guards were Griffons-killed with headshots or shanked in the brain- but there were a few ponies, each of which got a crippling but non-lethal bullet somewhere in their bodies. Eventually, I reached the center of the Empire as screams of pain were heard in the distance. Turning, I saw an entire area of the Empire up in flames. Black and white flames, that is.
"Looks like he's having fun," Noland said as he appeared next to me. "Sure you can handle taking the entire facility by yourself?"
"Noland, let me ask you a question," I said. "What do badasses wear?" I asked as I pulled out a breaching charge which utilized very volatile light for the explosive.
"Uh. . .shades?"
"Yes, but they also wear cloaks. And what do all Hunters wear?"
"Cloaks."
"So, if we follow that logic," I said. "Hunters are badasses. And we Hunters are god race."
"And yet Warlocks can self rez," he countered.
"True, and that makes them master race," I retorted as I stuck the explosive to the door of the facility in front of me, a simple square building on the surface. "But I said Hunters are god race, and a master is below a god. And gods can not die," i said before jumping back and blowing the door. "Now, if you'll allow me, I must do the one tradition of gamers everywhere." I cleared my throat before yelling at the top of my lungs, "LEEERRROYYY JENKIIIINSSS!" and running into the building with bladedancer and the spear active.
"Oh boy," I vaguely heard Noland say as I began to kill the Griffons in the building left and right. I slashed with the blade and stabbed with the spear, spinning as if I was an electric tornado of death, making my way to the stairs and down towards sub-level six. Once there, my Arc weapons vanished, and i once again took hold of my Suros, which had been on my back the entire time. Thank you advanced magnetic locks.
"Don't ever do that again," Noland said as he caught up with me.
"Dude, Titans are the one to plan, not Hunters," I said as I entered the first room on this sub-level. "Why do you think most Hunters in the canon are Lone wolves?" I asked before blind shooting a griffon in the head to my front.
"They still plan, dumbass."
"Hey, I'll give you to Alad."
"You're the one who started this argument."
"You brought the subject up."
"No, that as you with the comment on planning. You do realize I'm the reason you can't die, right?"
"Eeyup," I said before ducking under a sword swung at me from the right of my body and then shooting him in the head. "Damned morons. Even if you got past my shield, my clothes are made of a material you're swords can't cut through, pretty much hard as steel!"
"You do realize the griffons don't give a shit, right?" Noland asked.
"Yep, but you know how I am when it comes to stupidity," I replied as we arrived at a door.
"Frequency seems to be coming from the other side of the door," Noland said as he turned to face it. "Please tell me you at least have a plan to handle this." In reply, I held up G-horn. "And if it doesn't work?"
"Then maybe Oryx can do something," I said. "Can you open it?"
"It's a door made of steel and wood," he replied. "Of course I can," he said before emitting a blue energy stream into the lock. "Just need to turn the lock this way and. . . . gotcha." There was a small click as the door became ajar. "What would you do without me?" he asked.
"Bust the thing down," I replied in a smartass tone before opening the door, revealing a large, circular room with metal walls-I can only imagine that was a pain in the ass to shape- with a large, glass cylinder in the center, and with a familiar, heart shaped crystal in the center. "Looks like we were right," I said. "That good or bad?"
"Bad," Noland replied. "The heart, if I'm right, is bound to have multiple protection spells on it, and is most likely to cause a large explosion if it's destroyed."
"So, Ascendant?"
"Ascendant. I'll get Oryx."
Oryx
As I cleaved a griffon soldier in two with Willbreaker, Josh's Ghost contacted me. "Oryx, we found the Heart, but my scans say it's got enough magic built up in it to nuke the Entire Empire and some of the Ecumene of it's destroyed. Can you move the thing to the Ascendant realm where it can be more easily controlled?"
"I'll have to be there, but yes," I replied before turning to face the unicorn leader of the assault group. "Lieutenant, you have command over the group. The Guardian requires my aid."
He nodded. "Understood, sir," he said. Now, as Josh said, the assault group was using prototype armor. The armor itself was shaped to resemble Forerunner armor according to how it was described in Halo novels, with small, floating parts above the shoulders and lights that changed to show emotions. It also was able to assemble and disassemble at the wearer's will, but this required a neural interface. Something tricky enough when dealing with one race, but four races is a challenge especially. As for weapons, they were using auto rifles using liquid ammo. Eat it, Omolon!
With that out of the way , back to the story. I made my way to the research complex, killing Griffons whenever they charged and cutting the legs off of ponies when they charged. Eventually, I reached my destination, and saw that there were many a body that looked as if it had been electrified. The stairwell was too small for me, so I simply teleported down to Sub-level six.
"Why not?" I heard Josh ask his Ghost as I arrived.
"Because if you did, she'd kill you after castrating you," the Ghost replied. "She's the Goddess of the fucking moon, for Christ's sake!"
"So? Rhino's a robot, and he's got a marefriend. Even Cybis, and he's the blandest out of the three of us. Not to say he is bland, he simply acts like Spock."
"I'm certain I do not wish to know," I commented as they came into my view, as well as the room. "Is that the Crystal Heart?"
"Yep," Josh replied. "You ever heard of Fall of Equestria?"
"No, but I have a feeling you'll explain," I replied.
"Yeah. So, in that world, a race known as Caribou-who are sexist, misogynist, patriarchal-"
"To the degree feminists think all men back home are," the Ghost added.
"Yay," I sarcastically commented.
"Back to it, they're also Mary Sues who only have control of Equestria because the guy who made it is probably a closet sexist who thinks the only role for women is on their knees, but in universe it's because they mind raped who ever they came across to see their ideals, but leave females out of it, only using that control to target males, but this-what we're dealing with right now- is working because it actually hits all of them instead of a single gender, and it fully works. Only difference- the griffons aren't using this to literally and figuratively rape a country."
"Well, i know what I'm going to do to them should I encounter them," I replied. "So, what do you have in mind to eliminate this artifact?"
"Either send it to the Ascendant realm so it doesn't affect the ponies here, or counter it's ability," Ghost said.
"I'll send it to the Ascendant realm, then," I said before raising my hand towards the artifact as black and white flames began to lick at it. A few seconds later, it vanished. "I will handle the rest after this battle," I told them. "Come. Time to finish this battle."
A few hours later-Ascendant realm
I arrived in my throne room in a burst of concentrated Darkness. Still, none were present but me. Of course, there was something new in the very middle, and that was the Crystal Heart. I made my way to it, and examined. It looked much like how I remembered it from that forced marathon, only it was being contained in a stasis field.
Now, since I captured it, an idea had come to my mind on how to use it. I ran it by Alad thanks to our personal communication devices, and though he said it may backfire, it was also possible. Time to see if so.
With a wave of my hand, I released the stasis field before filling the Heart with pure Darkness, making it turn from the crystal blue to black and white in mere seconds. Step one complete. Now fro what I know I'll regret should it fail.
I sent a single message to Platinum's brother to come here with something. A second later, he appeared. "You called, my. . .king?" he asked. The little incident with Obsidian led me to experiment a little with this asshat, which led to me learning putting enough of one's will back into them allows them to speak, but little else. In his hands was a sleeping Sekana.
"Indeed I did," I replied. "Set Sekana down next to the Heart, then return."
"Yes. . .my king," he said with a bow before doing so. Once he was gone, I breathed in a troubled breath and released a troubled sigh.
"May this work," I whispered as I rose my hand again, taking direct control over a small portion of Darkness in the Heart before doing so with my mind on what little magic there was in my daughter. I then made the amounts equal in power-leading to less Darkness than magic if it could be quantitative- and began to transfer the two, the magic to the Heart to be corrupted, the Darkness to Sekana so that she can begin training in it as soon as possible while still being herself, and not a monster. Not a minute later, the transfer was done, and I went to pick up Sekana.
She awakened once I had finished and looked up at me. "Daddy," she cooed with a smile, making me release a breath I knew not I was holding. Here eyes now had specks of white and black flame in the iris, and, for a second, her horn flared, releasing black and white light. Other than that, no changes I could so far perceive.
Of course, I was not a doctor, so I'll have to have Alad analyze her upon my return. Still, I released a small smile at seeing Sekana was-currently, at least- safe. "Once you are able, daughter, we will begin your training," I told her. She was old enough to understand, trust me. She just enjoyed acting like this. "Simply ensure you do not put training ahead of your cousin, will you? We are the only immortals in this universe, after all."
And with that, I teleported to the main castle from which Alad, Didact, and I ruled. Alad hadn't left the castle for combat. Instead, he used Zanuka to fight as his Proxy. He was in his lab, which is where I teleported to, waiting for me.
"Ah, Oryx," the scientist said upon my arrival. "Judging from Sekana being in your arms, I trust she is well."
"As far as I can tell, Alad," I replied.
"But you need me to scan her organs to ensure her physiology hasn't changed?" he asked. "A fair an legitimate concern, given what happened. May I?"
"Of course," I said as he walked over and I handed Sekana over to him.
"Uncle Salad!" she exclaimed in joy, and instantly began to play with the ring on his neck.
"Sekana, stop, that isn't a toy," he said. "Now, I need to do a little check up on you. It won't be long, I promise."
"Okay, Uncle Salad," she said with a smile.
"Good, good," he said before putting her on one of the seats. "Before I start, Oryx, there is something you should know."
"What?" I asked.
"My Zanuka picked up dimensional reading just before you got here, one indicative of transport. I had it investigate," he told me.
"What did it find?" I asked.
"A very peculiar thing," Alad said. "It found a warframe. An Excalibur, to be precise.