An Iron Sunset

by Dragon Angel Knight

Mercury Prophetic

Author's Note:

A new chapter!! Apologies for the wait. Been under a lot of stress. Managing it a bit better now, however, so.... yeah...

Anyway, please let me know what you think, as always!

Mercury Prophetic

Deep in an inscrutable forest, a Warlock and a Titan were searching for each other. The Warlock styled himself as a phoenix in every way while the Titan had a fondness for pigeons, the birds being one of many ‘Last Things’ that he strove to protect. The Warlock fancied himself the Sol System’s greatest mind and the foremost authority on the Vex, using their own reality engine on the once garden world of Mercury to help predict future events and hopefully find his lost love. The Titan entered the forest by force, following his phoenix in the hopes of bringing him home. To all outsiders, it appeared as if both simply…. Vanished.

However, one of the many Reflections the Warlock commanded brought news to him one day. A new, non-human Lightbearer had come to the City. The Warlock, intrigued, made his way to the exit of the forest, taking in the true light of Sol’s sun warming his bones for the first time in decades. Holding up his hand, a Ghost materialized and hovered there for a moment.

“Sagira… let’s see this new Lightbearer, shall we?” The Warlock said, “There was nothing about her in the Infinite Forest. She may be exactly what we need to safeguard… everything.”

“You know, you could just send Ikora a message and say ‘Hi’” Sagira sassed back.

Osiris gave his Ghost a pointed look as she giggled a little and got their ship ready to transmat them aboard.

`~`~`~`~`~`~

Sunset found herself wandering through the City with some unexpected time off, the pony Warlock just taking the time to be somewhat normal as she took in the sights. The residents, especially the children, were happily hailing the Iron Lady, waving and sometimes asking if she could stop and play for a while, and play she did. She always enjoyed seeing the smiles on the kids faces and even the adults who watched over them. Eventually, it got fairly late and Sunset began making her way back toward her apartment, passing through a garden on the way.

“Someone is following us,” Philomena said as she hovered nearby, “I don’t think they’re hostile, but your motion tracker is definitely picking someone up.”

“Hmm,” Sunset hummed, “Well, I guess we could sit a while. Daddy is out at the Iron Temple at the moment checking in on Granny Tyra and the wolves. I wish we could have gone to see them, they were the BEST cuddlers…”

“True, but I think it was more to make sure whatever he’s keeping an eye on from the Temple is secure. I’m not sure what it is, but it must be incredibly important.”

“Yeah, I guess so…”

With that, the pair lapsed into a companionable silence as they moved over to a bench. The stars, while not quite as visible due to the myriad of lights coming from the City, were still nice to see every now and then.

“I wonder when our little follower is going to notice I’m not moving anymore,” Sunset said suddenly to the open air, “It’s kind of rude to be following someone like this, y’know.”

“See, I told you! You should have just come forward, but nooo, had to be all mysterious,” said a female Ghost as it came forward, her partner walking into the mild lights in the area.

“Yes, yes, you can admonish me later, Sagira,” the man said, “We should introduce ourselves I suppose.”

The pair came forward and took a seat next to Sunset on the bench before the man said, “My name is Osiris. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”

“Auntie Ikora told me a couple of stories about you, yes,” Sunset said with a nod.

“….’Auntie’?” Sagira asked, a disbelieving shock in her tone, “If she’s you’re Aunt then who is the father?”

“Lord Saladin!” Philomena said from Sunset’s shoulder with a happy chirp.

Osiris was more interested to actually SEE that a Ghost had bonded with a non-human. He had been exploring the Infinite Forest for what felt like an eternity to him now and not once did any single one of his simulations ever predict something like this. An anomaly of this size, was… well, incredible. The elder Warlock sized up the pony and shrugged, thinking ‘comparatively, anyway.’

Out loud, he said, “I am surprised that a Ghost was able to bond with someone like you. Most of our enemies have been non-humans, so to see a Guardian such as yourself is… surprising.”

Turning away, Sunset looked back up to the Traveler and thought for a moment.

“The Speaker was surprised too. So was Daddy. And all the rest of the Vanguard. Daddy won’t let me fight though. Even though I’m a Guardian like him and I can take care of myself, he’s… a little overbearing sometimes,” the young Warlock said, “Even my last mission was more because he had thought that the area was already clear of Eliksni or Cabal. He definitely doesn’t want me dealing with the Hive at all. I don’t wanna deal with them either…”

Taken aback, Osiris looked up at the Traveler himself with a thoughtful look on his face before turning to leave.

“It was nice to meet you, Grandpa Osiris!” Sunset said in farewell as she also stood up to leave.

Osiris stumbled a little in shock as he looked at the adorable pony waving at him as she left the garden. Sagira watched on as well, her eye wide as she struggled to contain her laughter.

“Don’t,” Osiris said warningly.

“If you say so…. Grandpa,” Sagira said as she bust out laughing. Osiris let out a long suffering sigh before leaving, pulling his cloak down over his head a little further.

In the shadows nearby, a Nightstalker Hunter watched the exchange with keen eyes through his Graviton Forefit helmet. He had cloaked himself to keep an eye on Sunset, at Ikora’s request, and was about to head off when Osiris had shown himself.

“Well… this job just got far more interesting.”

Comments

[Jmunoz13]

A great chapter, short, but still great to read it.

[TheGJ90]

Grandpa?! Hahaha, Iron Lady Sunset is a sweetheart!

[The Voice in the Water]

So the Vex aren't aware of Sunset yet? I can't imagine the chaos she's going to throw into their predictive model once they do learn about her.

Also, Grandpa Osiris? Pfft, that's awesome.

[K-O-D-E-X]

I know Osiris looks like an old man but here I thouoght he was a younger guardian that Saladin like the tech obsced gay uncle

[Glutbier]

Ha Ha