You may be sitting there asking yourself; 'Didn't Morgan already type something for Destiny 2?' To that end, the answer is simply; 'Yes, yes I did.' However, considering the full game for Destiny 2 is a mere four days away at the time of this posting, I wanted to retcon the initial start. Instead of shoving Demeter into the limelight like the initial teaser, I want you all to get to know her as a character.
These next few installments are for the introduction of Demeter, who she is and what drives her. Without further delay, please enjoy the first arc of Sentinel; Lost to Light.
The hall of the Vanguard was a place of legends. Everyone within the city, and even far beyond her reach knew of the place. It was where Guardians of all walks of life, be they famous or infamous, had at one point walked the length of the table. Once representing the heads at the table, who were titled, obviously, after the hall itself.
Demeter was awestruck to be allowed for the first time in her life. She was no Guardian, and she had not felt the blessing of the Light. However, she knew she wanted to do her part in the constant protection of the City. Lady Amethyst, a lovely Titan of the recently disbanded Fireteam Stratus, had opted to taking the young, twenty year old, under her expert wing.
Training had been difficult, running the streets of the City twice a day. She was trained to lift weights that someone of her previous stature should not have been capable of. Amethyst had taught her endurance, through shooting her with rubber bullets, or having her go without food or drink for days at a time and still maintain some energy. When they weren't running the streets, or practicing endurance, Amethyst was always treated to a part-time job as a weapon tester for the Gunsmith, Banshee-44 of the Tower.
Today was a rare exception, as Amethyst had intended to take Demeter to the Tower and give her a taste of actual combat. In her years, Demeter had only been to the Tower Hanger, and occasionally to the Speaker's study on tours sanctioned by the recently deceased owner of her former orphanage. Despite the hall's reputation, today it seemed almost barren, with only a singular Exo in a cape standing at the middle of the table.
"Lady Amethyst, if you're looking for six foot and blue, he's not here right now." Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard notorious for his actions in the Taken War, grinned at their approach. "I can't promise much of anything, but I think you'll find I'm a suitable replacement."
"True as that may be, Cayde," Amethyst smirked, her eye turning to Demeter at the corner. "She's training to one day be a Titan, if the Traveler will ever bless her. So unless you're willing to trade in that rusty old solar powered hand cannon for a Hammer of Sol, we need an assignment for her befitting of a Titan."
"Thanks to the efforts of all Guardian fire teams in the Plaguelands and beyond, the 'Age of Triumph' has left the majority of us bored." Cayde shook his head. "To prove my point, I'd be up for Eris' crazed mutterings as a change of pace. She left the Tower some time ago, in search of something. Probably Hive related, or she's giving that old rock of her's a good cleaning."
Demeter, who had been taught to speak when spoken to, remained silent as she took in her surroundings. The sun was shining brightly just outside of the over watch window and the valley far beyond the City, even the Twilight Gap had seen a momentary cease fire, which was rare with the occasional raiding Fallen that she had heard about happening almost weekly.
Amethyst noticed her slight stirring, giving her a disappointed look. Not in Demeter's behavior, but rather that she knew Demeter was eager to finally learn some life combat.
"Thank you anyways." Amethyst sighed, turning to Demeter. "Guess we'll train you why Fusion Rifles are worthless outside of the Crucible. Patch'll likely have a list of reasons why, and I'll go over each of them for you."
"Well actually, speaking of the Crucible. Perhaps you and her could participate in a friendly spar?"
"I want live fire, I don't want her killed." Amethyst sighed. "A Fallen scouting party in the Cosmodrome or at Twilight Gap."
"Well come to think of it, Shaxx has been pretty sour today- er, more than usual that is. Perhaps he might have something for you to do?"
Amethyst pondered the idea for a moment, before nudging her apprentice on the shoulder. With a noble bow, Demeter followed Amethyst back out into the Crucible lounge. Guardians of all shapes gathered in groups of six, jumping at a lone robot behind the counter.
"Error, registry not found. I'm sorry, Guardians, but circumstance have limited the battlegrounds for you to participate in safely, without enemy interference." Arcite 99-40, the Crucible Quartermaster, sighed in a monotone, robotic voice. "There are plenty of minions of the Darkness to still kill out there, surely you'd find more substance killing them instead of your peers?"
"Can it, tin can!" one Hunter snarled, his fist slamming the counter. "I want my six vs. six competitive matches against my fellow Guardians to be FLAWLESS! Leave it to the weak to deal with the Darkness, I'm content shooting my friends in the face for sport!"
Amethyst and Demeter attempted to squeeze their way through the uproarious crowd of irritated Guardians. The majority of them she had never seen outside of the Tower on mandatory Patrol, except to perhaps sit wherever their Ghost dropped them off, staring blankly at the world crumbling around them. Shaking her head, Amethyst shoved a Hunter out of the way, as Lord Shaxx proudly placed his fists on his hips.
"Ah, Lady Amethyst. What is it that we can do for you today?"
"Cayde is under the impression you may have an issue for us to handle?" Amethyst gestured towards Demeter. "She's not a Guardian, but she's not content with her training without being forged in fire."
"Ah, a Titan's heart beats in her chest. Forging in fire is the specialty of the Crucible and that... Iron Banner my old companion gases up." Shaxx grunted with annoyance. "I do have some work for you both, as long as your apprentice understands the risks?"
"Yes sir." Demeter nodded her head, even though he seemed friendly enough, Lord Shaxx had a reputation of being intimidating, especially to young children, as she had witnessed first hand during the Dawning.
"I can't spare you the details at the moment." Shaxx crossed his arms boldly across his chest. "I have far too many Guardians here giving Arcite and I a headache."
"Isn't that the reason you hired us on, sir?" Demeter asked, as Shaxx belted out laughter strong enough to silence the crowd of befuddled Guardians.
"Indeed, it's a vicious circle. These Guardians are upset for two reasons, first, the majority of our arenas are over-run with minions of the Darkness. I am currently low on Red Jacks to handle the situation."
"And the second?" Amethyst asked, crossing her arms across her armor.
"I've decided that six vs six combat has become too chaotic, even for the Crucible, so effective next week when I hope the arenas will be properly cleared out, all Crucible matches will be four vs four, high intensity matches of skill and wit." Shaxx gestured to the crowd of Guardians angrily spouting about their distaste for the change in the corner. "It seems no matter what changes I make to the Crucible, no-one can be happy. Not that I honestly care, they are here to train for combat out there."
"I'll have Arcite send you the details." Shaxx continued, with a gesture towards Demeter. "I will lend you one of my spare Crucible ships, so you can properly learn how to be a pilot. Also, talk with Rahool. He has some weapon prototypes that I've had my eye on. You may use them for this task and, who knows, if your work impresses me, I may even allow you to keep them."
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"Ah hello, Lady Amethyst. I trust things have been well?" Master Rahool, the notorious Cryptarch, smiled warmly as they approached.
"About as well as life could be right now, I guess." Amethyst shrugged, her mechanical arm twitching as if on cue. "No matter how much Amanda or I tweak the damn thing, it just twitches when it wants to."
Demeter and her friends in the City had often rumored about how the Iron Lady had lost her arm. Some said that she lost it in the lava fields of the Plaguelands. Some say she ripped it off to beat a Hive Knight, just to prove a point. The rest are convinced she lost it when Drake Stratus, the Legendary Titan and slayer of Crota; Son of Oryx, and his father Oryx; the Taken King, perished.
"If I know that young Ms. Holliday as well as I like to think I do," Master Rahool nodded sagely. "She'll get it working in pristine condition in no time, it's all just trial and error."
"Oh, you mean like decrypting Purple Engrams into rare tier weapons or lower?" Amethyst placed her remaining arm on her hip.
"Gah! You know full well that those were all flukes because Master Ives stole my ledger!" Master Rahool, flustered, shook his head.
"-and by that, you mean Cayde-6 caught on to your misdeeds and 'met you in a back alley'?" Amethyst snickered.
"Is there a particular reason you're here, or are you here to torment me?" Rahool sighed with annoyance. "I've been nothing but respectful thus far, is it too much to ask for some in return?"
"I'm only picking on you, Master Rahool." Amethyst smiled. "With Lance nor Chelsea around to bust your chin about it, I had to take up the mantle."
"A mantle that deserves to be dismantled." Rahool shook his head, resting his right elbow in his left hand, and his head in his propped up right hand.
"Sorry for my intrusion," Demeter spoke up. "Lord Shaxx informed us that you may have some experimental weapons for usage?"
"Ah, yes. A one of a kind we have here. All foundries have located schematics to compact machine guns that are lightweight and have exceptional stability and rate of fire. Sub machine guns." Rahool turned to behind his counter, producing a small compact light blue weapon, and a large, imposing red and white long weapon.
"What's this one?" Demeter asked, somewhat knowledgeable of most weapon archtypes, the latter was definitely not a sub machine gun.
"That one is unique indeed. She is called 'Sweet Business', and is the one of a kind I mentioned earlier." Rahool smiled proudly. "She is defined as an Auto Rifle, but she's more like a chain-gun. If you want to put some holes into your targets and the scenery behind them, this is your weapon."
There was a moment of silence between the three of them, as Demeter eyed the 'Sweet Business' weapon. While it wasn't a food substance, the newness and sheen of the weapon made her mouth drool as if it was. Reaching out for it, she frowned as Amethyst snatched it up, before turning to her.
"I can see your hunger for this weapon, but it's of exotic quality. Like many other exotic tier weapons, there can either be one of them, as Rahool said, or countless of them, even mock copies. Even so, you are too inexperienced to even consider handling this." Amethyst said. "Complete your training with me, and I'll gladly give it to you. For now, take the sub machine gun, and I'll loan you my brother's scout rifle."
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"Well I'll be darned, I never thought I'd see you again." Amanda Holliday lifted herself from her usual seat on a crate of parts to formally great the two on their approach. "Howdy!"
"It's been a long time, Amanda." Amethyst smiled. "We're here on orders from Lord Shaxx. He said you could loan my apprentice, Demeter, here one of his Crucible themed ships?"
"Sure thing. I'm indebted to your family anyways, so I'll make sure to ensure it in case of damages." Amanda smiled, before her eyes widened and she turned to Demeter. "Oh, I'm sorry. I meant no offense by-"
Demeter merely smiled, she knew Amanda meant no harm. In truth, it was the safest option. Demeter had been trained to be a pilot by Mr. Nathan Stratus, well before Ms. Holliday took over for him five years prior. Even so, anything could be possible, and she didn't feel like owing the intimidating Lord Shaxx a blood debt on the off chance something went wrong during the mission.
"This is tricky as neither of you have Ghosts." Arcite sighed. "Lord Shaxx informed me you intend to help our Red-Jacks reclaim our battle grounds for the Crucible. If you're willing to help rid me of these annoying murder intending 'Guardians', than I'm willing to help you out."
"During our last transmission with the latest wave of Red-Jacks, they warned of a Fallen raiding party at Exodus Blue. With the Fallen packing up and leaving shop throughout the Cosmodrome, it's not entirely hard to think that their exiles are still around scavenging. If you could help clear that sector out and reactivate any operable Red-Jacks you see, it'd be a great service to us, and we can handle it from there."
Last edited by Shad0wChas3r on March 9th 2019, 2:25 pm; edited 4 times in total