Destiny | The Blackened Heart | Discontinued

12: A New Enemy

I have a moment of apprehension that I quickly block out as the door rolls open. Sickly green smoke seeps out from within as it lifts and a swath of moths swarm out past me.

I draw back involuntarily then jump as the top slat of the door falls halfway back down.

Revulsion washes through me at the sight. The inside is lit by a single pale green lantern and a few wickedly sharp crystals grown up from the floor. The ground, walls, and ceiling are covered in the comb like a hive that shifts and ripples together, making a soft gurgling noise easily heard in the dead silence.

Cautiously, I step inside, peeping around the corner, up a flight of stairs. The darkness is complete, seeming to swallow up even the dull glow of the crystals and lamp. I step inside, half expecting the door to slam shut behind me, but it does no such thing. I start up the stairs, creeping along in silence.

North appears hovering over my shoulder, casting a beam of light from his optic to guide the way.

"What is this?" he muses softly, casting a glace at the comb.

"Do we want to know?" I answer in a low tone.

North says nothing for a moment, then speaks again in a hiss. "Lots of motion ahead! I've got a bad feeling about this..."

I have a worst feeling. But I don't say so, not daring to disturb the silence, or the soft crackle and bubble. My tracker is flickering red all around, but I still see nothing. Only where North's beam shines. Everything else is shadowed.

Ahead the narrow hall opens into a wider room, split down the middle by a row of crates. I am loth to move forward into the open. Out of cover. In sight. Blind. Still, I edge forward.

Then North's light catches something. A flicker of white. I whip my head in that direction as an inhuman scream echoes through the room, and a creature throws itself on me from the side.

I lash out blindly with my dagger, catching the thing in the should and kicking it off over my head. I scramble back to my feet, groping around for my weapon int he dark as the creature regains its feet. And I have a moment to look at it.

It's hideous. Pale white in color, its head is narrow and rounded, pointing down to a row of wicked teeth to form its snarling almost skeletal mouth. It gives a shriek and lunges for me again, reaching with arms as long as its legs. It's three fingered talons slash into my armor, sinking in and catching in flesh, unleashing a weak jolt of arc. I barely have time to register the pain before its drawn back for another swing.

I ram into it with my shoulder, sending it flying back, before sinking my dagger into its chalky flesh. I jerk back, whirling blindly for my rifle. Its on the floor behind me. I snatch it up and turn to face the oncoming swarm.

"The Hive!" North cries in alarm.

Without a thought, I whip the shell of a grenade from my belt, feeling it draw from me as it leaves my hand. For a moment its glow is almost lost amongst the milling bodies of these new enemies, then it explodes, sending them flying in all directions vaporizing into flashes of light as they go.

I have hardly taken a breath before a dart of purple light pierces my ribs. I lurch backward with a cry, stumbling against the wall, out of sight of whatever is shooting at me. At least I think. I am still blind as a bat, and can only hope. Luckily, my guess proved true, as a burst of violet light shatters on the wall behind my head.

I lean out, hands shaking, taking aim int he direction of the shots and pull the trigger. I am rewarded by a yelp, and shoot again twice until the thing evaporates in a burst of light, which reveals his companions close by. Laying down my own cover fire, I rush them, ending one with a bullet and another on the tip of my blade.  

Two engrams lay on the ground where the white creatures had died, and North snaps them up without a word.  I dart into the doorway the Hive emerged from, not quite sure where I am going, or what I have gotten myself into. 

"What are these things?" I hiss, gripping the Trax Callum tightly to steady my trembling hands.  Blood is seeping from where the white one got me, and it burns like fire.  I grit my teeth, darting up the stairs, grateful to see light ahead.  Less grateful when a swarm of whites appears at the tops of the steps, shrieking and snarling. 

"Thralls," North says, as I shoot them down, finding them surprisingly easy to kill as long as they don't get too close.  

"Acolytes," he continues upon reaching the top of the steps.  They whirl toward me, shooting off their purple darts.  I shoot back, ducking behind a wall to reload.  There's lots of cover in this room, crates and  support pillars, painted with the same emblem from outside.  I aim carefully trying to eliminate them with a shot to the head so they can't go back into hiding.  

As I press forward a eerie scream pierces my ears.  

"There's a Wizard here!" North tells me as a fresh wave of Thrall crash over my hiding place.  "You have to kill it!" 

I yank my blade from the papery skull of a Thrall as it crumbles to dust at my feet and drop to one knee, sniper out.  "Target practice," I hiss through gritted teeth. 

The Wizard is in the next room over, but the entrance is wide like a garage and the ceiling is high enough to get her from in here.  I catch a glimpse of a flash of light and aim in that direction as she comes into view.  

She seems like a woman almost, hovering above the ground with grace and speed.  Her head is triangular and covered in a hard exoskeleton.  Ceremonial robes graced with bone and teeth envelope her slim body.  

She lets out a shrieking wail as she sees me, rearing back to charge balls of lighting on either hand, hurling them at me with great speed.  I yank back behind a crate, catching only the outskirts of the blast.  

I roll forward, taking aim again and pulling the trigger.  As soon as I do, a shield flickers into view around her.  I growl and shoot again.  The shield drops.  Unprotected, the Wizard makes a run for the back of the room out of range, and I give chase with my scout rifle, firing thrice into her back.  With a final death wail, she vaporizes in a burst of light.  

I rock back against the crate and slump, energy spent.  Resting the rifle against my leg, I draw a deep breath to calm my racing heart.  

"The Hive haven't been on Earth in centuries," North wonders, appearing before me to run his scanner over the fallen Wizard's remaining armor.  "The Darkness could be a lot closer than we think." 

His words send a chill through me.  These things are not supposed to be here.  But they are only the beginning.  

He turns back to look at me, resolute.  "We should probably get moving.  The Speaker will need to hear about this." 

I nod weakly in agreement.  "Transmat us out of here, my friend.  Let's go home."