#as the dlc approaches i can feel the madness enveloping me again

[samipekoe]

I'm crazy don't talk to me

[ohgodwhy151]

Oryx and a Human

So here is something weird. I’ve been playing a lot of destiny and just LOVE the story of Oryx, so I got the urge to write a little a thing about him that takes place just before the Taken King DLC. Feel free to tell me what you think, I just wanted a place to keep this. 

When Oryx spoke the whole universe listened, however, a being of such age and wisdom would often turn his attention and three glowing eyes to a much smaller listener. 

“Tell me of your Last City.” His timeless voice echoed through the halls of his Dreadnaught. 

The woman walked with her eyes locked on the floor as the King floated beside her. “I’m not giving you any information.” She spat defiantly. 

The king hummed deeply. “You don’t understand. I could erase your city and it’s… Guardian,” He chuckled. “From the annals of existence. But I am not my sister, I am not here for war, not yet. I am here to learn from you.” Landing on his feet the floor deformed slightly around his body as he knelt down to her level. 

“What do you want to learn from me?” The human asked. 

The king smiled. “I have traveled the stars for longer than your sun has burned and in all my voyages I have never met a species like you. I wish to know why the Traveler has chosen your kind.” 

Mustering the courage to at least look upon his plated body the woman shook her head. “Then you’re asking the wrong person. I’m not a guardian. 

Oryx once again hummed. “No, I don’t smell the wretched Light on you. You are mortal and it intrigues me.” 

“I’m not a guinea pig. I’d rather die than be your experiment.” 

Narrowing his green eyes Oryx tilted his head. “It is clear there is much I have to learn, but I have no intention of giving you to my wizards or witches. I wish to learn it from you. That is why I had my Thrall brought you here.” 

“I have nothing to say to you.” 

Oryx sighed as he took off from the ground, his ancient wings silently beating in the air. “Your kind’s resistance will act as a grindstone to the universe to perfect itself, but you, yourself need not die yet. Surely as a mortal and human, you fear death.” 

With balled fists, the woman did her best to calm herself. “I don’t care about your demented religion and it’s not like I’m not afraid, I am, it’s just I’ve realised that I’m never going home, I’ll never see my family or friends again. Now, I’m angry.”

“Family,” The king echoed. “We may come from different worlds but we still love our family.” 

Finally boiling over the woman met Oryx’s eyes. “What could you know about love?” She hissed. 

Standing to his full height Oryx took a deep breath. “Xivu Arath and Savathün. My sisters and I loved each other so much we would kill each other countless times over to perfect ourselves. You just made me realise, I haven’t said their names in meliena,” He chuckled. “I should thank you for allowing me to pay them mind, I’m sure Savathün will be pleased for the thought.” 

“You’re mad.” 

Reaching to his side Oryx allowed his clawed fingers the dance over the stone tablets that hung from his waist. “I am enlightened. I saw into the Deep and from it, I took my strength. Surely you understand my power.” 

“I’m not a guardian, I’m a damn cook. I don’t know about the deep, or your sisters. All I know is that you and your Hive are a plague on my home.” 

“A cook?” Oryx hummed. “Do you prepare tribute for your acende- superiors?” 

“What?” The woman stuttered. “You want to learn about my cooking?” 

Oryx turned to look at her as they walked. “I wish to learn all. It is my nature. For example… I wish to know your name.” 

“My name?” 

Oryx nodded. “You are the first human I have met. I wish for yours to be the first name I learn.”    

“Sophie.” She said with narrowed eyes. 

Lowering his head to her Oryx echoed. “Sophie,” He said as if savouring every syllable. “I shall remember it for as long as my worm hungers.” 

“S-so now what? You know my name and that I’m a cook. Want to know my favourite color?” 

Oryx smiled down at Sophie. “Follow me.” 

As the taken king toured his new companion around the Dreadnaught he found himself asking question after question in a way he hadn’t since his time on Fundament. It kindled beneath his plated skin, something long thought cold that he hadn’t felt since pestering his tutor Taox about his people’s history. 

“It is impressive,” Oryx cooed. “For humanity to expand so quickly from such weak beginnings. It would take centuries to build a single war-moon and yet humans can take over a whole plant in equal time.” 

Sophie furrowed her brow. “We only have one planet, well, we used to have more. Before the collapse.” 

“You held many worlds?” 

Shaking her head Sophie looked up at the king. “I didn’t. I’ve only ever known earth. But before the collapse people lived on Mars, Venus and even further out into the solar system.” 

“And now your kind are in ruins, with your false god slumbering over you.” 

“The traveler looks after us.” 

Oryx hissed. “It does no such thing. It has employed another species to fight it’s wars as it runs from the inevitable. It has made slaves of what were a powerful people.” He explained with an outstretched claw.       

Trapped within his growing shadow Sophie began to shiver. 

Taking note of her discomfort Oryx stood back. “You are cold?” When Sophie slowly nodded he landed beside her and brought a single wing around her. “The Hive know little of warmth, but my soulfire kept me warm in the Deep.” A deep green bloomed from the appendage filling the air not so much with warmth but instead chasing the cold away. 

“T-thank you, I think.” 

“Now,” Oryx said as they began walking once again. “In return for the history of your people, I shall show you mine.”

Growing more comfortable in his presence Sophie looked up to the king. “Aren’t we enemies. Why would you teach me?” 

Oryx laughed. “The Sword-Logic does not belong to a single species, only the strongest. It is the purpose of the Hive the create the strongest through war, cunning and knowledge. I am giving you knowledge in hope that you grow strong.” 

“But I’m mortal,” Sophie scoffed. “I can’t get strong, I can’t use the Light.” 

Holding out a balled fist Oryx instructed her to focus. “The Light is not for the strong. It is a crutch, meant for the weak to resist the final shape. The Sword-Logic belongs to the strong,” As he spoke an eerie green flame enveloped his fist. It flickered and waved in the stagnant air as he brought it down to her. “Hold out your hand.” 

In horror, Sophie recoiled. “What?” She shrieked. “N-no.” 

“On my center eye, it will not hurt you.” 

Compelled by the strength in his voice Sophie slowly reached out her hand, towards Oryx’s. She flinched when he brought the flame closer to her but remained steady as he encouraged her. Taking one last deep breath she closed her eyes and thrust her hand forward into the flame. 

It deformed around her hand but quickly engulfed her down to her elbow. Instinctively she pulled back and with wide eyes gawked at the green hues that shone from her palm. “I-it doesn’t burn.”  

Pleased, Oryx knelt down. “Because you are strong. Countless weak beings have gone mad aboard this ship but you remain strong. That strength pleases the Sword-Logic and so, you weren’t burnt.” 

Coddling the flame in her hand Sophie once again met the king’s eyes. “Aren’t guardians strong though? They can’t die.” 

“Your… guardians,” He growled. “See death as an inconvenience. Instead of the stepping stone it is.” 

“I… I don’t understand.” 

With a deep laugh, Oryx brought a hand to Sophie’s back and eased her forward. “Come, I will show you where the Sword-Logic is taught.” 

As they walked Oryx continued to quiz his companion on humanity and their history, and while still wary of him, Sophie began to relax in his presence, longer repulsed by his hollow green eyes or scared stiff by his towering figure. Instead, she too was curious about this foreign being. 

They continued their questioning of each other until they came to stop ahead of a long, rotted corridor. “This is my court,” Oryx said as they stepped forward. The walls of the corridor were lined with a series of weathered and scared statues, as they passed them Sophie noticed an altar at the base of each monument. 

“What are they?” Sophie asked. 

“They are for my Hive, they allow my champions to be summoned and be tested.” 

“Like survival of the fittest?” 

Oryx beamed. “Yes. I like this phrase. Survival of the fittest, of the sharpest.”  

As he spoke Sophie closed her eyes, she swore she could hear the statues whispering as Oryx spoke. She didn’t understand the words that filled the air but their venomous tone made her clutch the fire in her hand close to her chest. 

Oryx quickly noticed her discomfort and with a single beat of his wings silenced not only the voices but every Hive and Taken aboard the Dreadnaught. “This ship was crafted from the body of Akka after I slew him. The worm’s voice can still be heard but do not worry. All on this ship live by my rule.” 

Feeling herself shrink in his presence Sophie swallowed the lump in her throat. “Y-you said you’ve been traveling since before our sun… how is that possible?” 

Oryx grinned. “My strength has preserved me. The strength of my spawn has preserved me. The strength of my Dreadnaught has preserved me.” 

Before Sophie could even draw breath to ask another question a coldness flooded the corridor that pierced the human down to her very core, even the soulfire, gifted to her by the taken king quivered in the frigid air. With wide eyes she stared past Oryx, towards the towering archway ahead of them where she saw the floating figure. She could tell they were far smaller than Oryx, although knowing the Hive they were still probably much bigger than herself. “W-who is that?” She asked with a fear-filled voice. 

As Oryx went to answer the creature turned and quickly rushed down the corridor, as they approached Sophie recoiled behind the king, fearing for her life she fell to her knees as a soul-rending scream engulfed her.    

“Halak,” Oryx boomed in a voice that could silence a roaring star. “Silence your songs! We have a mortal guest and should they be harmed then my worm will feed well from your death.” 

As far as Sophie could see the being had no eyes to gaze upon her, it’s head was shaped to a fine point from plated chitin that could cut any observer with a sharp look. “Forgive me, father, I could smell a foreigner onboard and wished to test my latest verse.” 

“You shall have your practice when we arrive. There you and your sister will sing and bring death to all who listen,” Oryx beamed. “Until then our guest is to be kept alive.” 

Halak bowed her head before turning her attention to human her father was protecting. “Why bring a human here, unless she is to feed Golgoroth.” 

“She is my guest, we are taking knowledge from each other in order to grow stronger. See, she is the first human to hold soulfire.” 

Looking down at the trembling human, Halak brought herself down to Sophie’s level. “This human is afraid, surely this fear weakens her.” 

“You are strong enough to warrant the praise of Xivu. Does that mean you don’t fear her?” 

Halak quickly turned to her father and shook her head. “O-of course not, father. I am merely perplexed as to why you chose her.” 

“I asked my Thrall to bring me a human. And they did. Now we sharpen each other through taken knowledge.” 

Halak clasped her claws together. “I am curious as to how the Deep will perfect a human. Would you take her to demonstrate your might.” 

As her fire dimmed Sophie stepped back from both Halak and Oryx. “T-take? What are you going to do to me?” 

Rounding on his daughter, Oryx towered over the witch and from a wound in space pulled a sword that had ended more lives than there were stars in the sky. “You are not Savathün, your trickery is weak compared to hers. Now leave us, before I send you to the Sunless Cell.” He warned as he cleaved a pocket world to hold Willbreaker.

The witch with no eyes hesitated a moment before bowering to her father and gazing down at Sophie before flying back to the archway, leaving the faint smell of rot in the air. 

Oryx sighed. “Forgive my daughter, some days her curiosity outweighs her loyalty. It has killed her many times.” He chuckled. 

“Y-you have a daughter?” 

The king nodded. “Ir Halak and Ir Anûk. My Deathsingers, they were born as twins and so destined to become witches while my son… became an eater of hope.” 

Swallowing her fear Sophie looked down her fire and mustered all her courage. “I heard your son was killed. O-on the moon.” She said as her fire swelled. 

Oryx bowed his head. “Yes, his absence feels like a hole in my stomach. It aches.” 

“You miss him?” 

Oryx remained still. “Yes. He was my firstborn. When he took the worm inside him I proclaimed that no other being could wield a cleaver like him. His strength brought much joy and rage to Xivu Arath.” 

Sophie furrowed her brow. “He killed hundreds of guardians and shattered our moon.”

“Yet he wasn’t strong enough. His death weighs heavy in my chest and I will have my vengeance, but his death, like all, serve the Sword-logic,” He explained with a hand resting on the tablets that hung from him. “Tell me, Sophie. Do you have a family?” 

The fire in her palm bloomed as Sophie thought to her loved ones so far away. “Y-yes, she said choking back tears. I have a husband.” 

“You have a consort?” 

Sophie laughed. “I guess you could call him that. He came to the City with a group of refugees about ten years ago now.” 

As his interest grew Oryx lowered himself to her level. “How did he approach you?” 

Once again Sophie laughed. “He didn’t. I ‘approached’ him. He was so skinny and weak when he arrived but he always found the strength to stand up and help those he needed it, even when he was the one who needed it,” She sighed as her eyes began to well up. “It took me a while to muster up the courage, but eventually I asked him to join me for dinner. At first, he said no, that he couldn’t pay, but I offered to pay for the whole night and after that, he couldn’t say no.” 

Oryx hummed. “Is this common courting behavior on earth?”   

“I don’t know. It depends on who you are. Someone people go out for a meal, others meet at work. There are countless stories of how people fall in love.” 

Seemingly satisfied Oryx stood. “You have given me much knowledge, Sophie, I will use it to sharpen myself as you will grow sharp.” 

“Are you going to kill me now?” 

Looking down at her, the Taken King shook his head. “No. Our conversation has given me reason to think, not to kill. I will return you to your world. On one condition. When you die your soul is mine. There are many more things I wish to learn from you.” 

At the mere mention of going home, Sophie eagerly nodded her head, doing her best to ignore the implications of what she had traded in return. “I guess I should thank you. For not killing me.” 

As Oryx reached down to her with an open hand he laughed. “It is strange. My worm hungers for your death and yet I refuse it’s want,” he whispered. “When you wake this will seem like a dream and no one but my Hive and you will see your soulfire. Cherish your knowledge Sophie, Holder of Fire.”  

Before she could ask one of the many questions that still plagued her, Sophie felt a drowning weight overcome her. The thing she saw before her eyes closed was Oryx, kneeling down beside her limp body. 

When Sophie woke her eyes stung at the harsh sunlight that met her, reaching up to shield her eyes she gasped at green flames that licked at her hand and arm. “I-it wasn’t a dream?” She gasped. 

“What wasn’t?” A familiar voice asked.

Sitting up, Sophie looked over to see the gentle smile of her husband from their bedroom door. “N-nothing. I just had a weird dream.” 

“Oh yeah? What was it about?” 

Sophie looked down at her hand. “I dreamt about the Hive.” 

Her husband’s expression hardened. “Sounds more like a nightmare to me.” 

“I guess so.” 

The fire suddenly extinguished one day; almost exactly a year later. Sophie nearly dropped the pot of freshly cooked noodles when the familiar green hues disappeared, after excusing herself to the bathroom she held out her open hand and thought back to Oryx’s words. 

“He gave me this fire. Was it his soulfire?” 

Since that night Sophie devoured as much information regarding the Hive as she possibly could, to those who asked she merely shrugged her sudden curiosity off as just that. Curiosity. But deep down she could feel a near irresistible urge to learn more about the creatures that took her and the King who spared her. 

It was only when the City celebrated did Sophie learn what had happened, with the true death of the Taken King Sol was safe once again. The six who ended his ancient rein were hailed as heroes and god-slayers, and while Sophie was relieved that her and the city were safe part of her missed the warmth she once held. The warmth gifted to her by Oryx, the Taken King.