We Stand Together

Chapter 25: Fire of the Sunbreaker

The battle begins fairly quickly as the Gate Lord steps down from the portal. Armies of Vex spawn around his feet, tiny red eyes glaring and metallic voices screeching and screaming. They all turn their attention to Eden until the rest of her fireteam fires their weapons. Half of the Vex and Gate Lord turn and begin shooting back.

"Eden, be careful. Now that he's here, he's brought a lot more darkness with him," Uriah mutters inside her helmet. She nods and then everything in the background fades away as Eden looks towards the oncoming waves of Vex.

Anger pulses through her veins and she fights. Every Vex that stands in her way is demolished just as quick as they appear. Piles of broken metal bodies stack as she keeps shooting and punching, each strike harder than the last.

She doesn't pay any attention as she's mowing down hordes of Vex, barely aware of her fireteam now. Even Uriah becomes a mere thought, pushed to the back of her mind. The only important thing to her right now is fighting and killing Vex and taking down the Gate Lord.

Somewhere deep down, Eden knows she should be focusing more on the Gate Lord himself but it's addicting, killing the Vex and taking her anger out on them.

"Eden," Uriah quips in her mind, annoyed and worried.

"What?" She snaps, panting.

Unfazed, he answers,"Be careful. You've been inching closer and closer to him for the past few minutes. His attention may be on the others for now but it won't be soon."

Eden merely grunts but she keeps an eye out, watching herself and the others.

Another wave of Vex appear and Eden wipes them out before deciding to focus solely on the Gate Lord. He's currently in the middle of trying to blast holes through her teammates and stomp them. Eden looks around before spotting a perfect spot to try out her new sniper. Within seconds, she's up and aiming at the giant Vex.

A soft hum leaves her mouth as she takes a shot at the white oval in the middle of his metal body.

Metallic screeches leave the robot and his glaring red optic swivels toward Eden.

She takes another shot in panic but Eden quickly realizes that whatever he's made of, it's a lot tougher than the other Vex.

The Gate Lord moves the giant gun towards her and fires. A huge bullet hits the rock she's on and Eden goes flying through the air. Varies calls of her name ring out as she hits the ground rolling. Pieces of blocks rain down around her, thudding heavily against the ground. Eden groans and picks herself up, feeling around for her gun. When she does, she grips it and turns to face the Gate Lord, only to realize that she's been pushed closer to him. He stands in front of her with his red eye glowering down at her.

For a minute, he stands there, staring, until the air around them begins to feel weird.

Eden can see everything moving... backward?

All the Vex that were previously dead, lift off the ground and piece together again. Even her teammates are moving backward, the bullets whizzing back into the barrels of their gun. Then, everything stops and the Gate Lord is staring at her again.

Her heart thuds inside her chest in fear.

That thing just re-winded time and she had a feeling it wanted her to see it, to witness the power of what it could do.

The breath in her chest leaves her as she watches its foot raise in the air. Uriah screams inside her head but all she can do is whisper his name before the Vex's foot comes down, crushing her body.

Agonizing pain alights every nerve she has. Everything in her body either breaks or smashes. Thick, red liquid drains into her throat and she drowns in her own blood.