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sapphic-scylla · 6 years ago

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Cassus, The Devil of the Reef: Prologue and Forging of a God (Chapters 1 & 2)

(This is a Mass Effect/Destiny crossover so keep that in mind)

Prologue

Before the Traveler came, several races came together. One man investigated a beacon on a human colony on the outer rim of council space. What he found would kick start a war between the races of the Milky Way and a race of sentient machines.

This man was my great grandfather. Zachary Thomas Shepard was a Commander in the N7 Alliance Navy. Now, the timeline may sound fucked up, but that’s not true. As the war fell to a close and Zach’s decisions lead him to a crossroad, his gravitation towards the protection of the galaxy gave him the ability to destroy the Reapers once and for all.

Not without heavy casualties, the races began to rebuild. Before the war, the humans, asari, quarians, krogans, turians, and the rest of the races sent out a vanguard to the far off galaxy of Andromeda. This led to the colonization of a new civilization.

After the war on the Reapers, a new arrival caused the universe to flourish. A Golden age was upon them as a god had graced them with its blessing. This huge white ball called the Traveler. This ball blessed us with amazing tech, incredible healing abilities, and to many people it deemed worthy, immortality.

As this Golden Age settles in, my great grandfather fell in love with a quarian who was my great grandmother. Tali Shepard vas Normandy was a strong woman and a main inspiration for most of my life. Each of the heroes of the Citadel was gifted with that blessing of life and, with that, they decided to travel to Andromeda to protect and defend as well as start families.

Generations continued and, while in Andromeda, our family progressed to where I was born. As I grew I learned from all different sources until I turned six. I know my great grandfather and my extensive family is out there somewhere watching and praying for us as they watch from Andromeda.

My father eventually married my mother, coincidentally also a quarian, who was to be the last of her kind in the Milky Way.

Eventually, a small group of people desired to see the fruits of the Traveler more thoroughly. Several humans wanted to return to the Earth to begin a new life. Unfortunately, that was the plight of my grandfather as well as my father.

The rest decided to stay in Andromeda. Thanks to modern technology, she and my father were able to have four children together. I was the youngest and somehow was the only one to gain the traits of both races. Human in nature, but my eyes flowed a deep blue.

As my grandfather and the rest of our family stepped on a return ship leaving our great grandfamily behind, several years passed as we sat in cryosleep. As we reached earth.

Unfortunately, the god we had was also running from someone or something. That something was already there

Eventually, the universe began to take notice of where the Traveler was. The Earth and Solar system was attacked by heathen races vying for the Traveler. As we ferried into the atmosphere, we were shot down, thankfully with no casualties. As we bunkered down in Manhattan, we began to learn the history from the few that were left.

The Fallen scavengers attacked first. Then, the ritualistic Hive rained down nature’s vengeance, which just happened to be the ones that shot us down. They were followed by the time-traveling Vex and the relentless warmongers, the Cabal. With their attacks, they pushed us to the last remaining city on Earth, Vostok Russia.

I continued to grow up in the MDZ, or the Manhattan Dead Zone, as it became known as. Time moved forward as we defended our city and settlers. I eventually lost my grandparents in a raid by shadowy doppelgängers of the other races attacking we learned all too late were named “Taken.”

My father and mother became part of our small sectors leadership as descendants of the heroes of the Citadel. More details about life growing up will come later, but let’s just say life until I was 23 formed who I was as a man.

As we tried to push them back, the Traveler began blessing thousands and thousands of people with Light. These men and women were known by many names. Most of them were risen from the dead to aid the fight. These men and women became known as Guardians. As these demon forces began attacking our final city, this is where my story begins and ends and begins again.

Forging of a God

I’d always admired heroes. I never was one. I hid a mask of light over the shadow that consumed me. I always knew that my flip side would consume me one day, but most people like me had a lifespan. I did not. I was gifted immortality. Leader, savior, hero...all names I was saddled with. The only one I knew fit was killer.

I was one of the people that flocked to the mercy of the Traveler. Me and my best friend, Dredgen Yor, looked to it as a start of a new life, a change from who we were. We were 24 year olds who lost a sense of where the world was going. We knew our settlement was doomed and got what people we could out. We got as far as we could and thought we were safe. Just not as safe as we hoped.

We reached the outside of the wall when we were ambushed. Guns went off and explosions shook the ground. I yelled for people to get inside the wall as we held them off. As we fought off these demon creatures, I was shot in the leg and I knew it was over. Dredge died quickly. He was impaled and it was over. Me? They tortured me, left me to die, and all I saw before I blacked out after 3 days of the worst pain I’d ever experienced and the severing of all four of my limbs was a three-eyed swordsman from Hell, laughing as my head rolled away.

What feels like seconds later, I wake up in an unfamiliar skin. My limbs are all there, but a few feel metallic and rough. All except for my torso and the stumps of arms and a leg I had left were pure steel, parts, and stuff I can't explain. My face felt mechanical and strange.

I look up to see a pale, little box telling me in the most frantic yet sarcastic voice that we need to get inside the wall and that’s how I met Sapphire, my loyally sassy ghost. She’s a goofball, bubbly, and a weirdo most of the time, but she’s a nerd at heart and god help her, she knows more about me than I do and yet she loves me regardless. Strange, I don't remember the wall being that big.

As we move forward, I hear the foreign mumblings of what seems to be anger and interest. She finds me a Kvostov. Not my wheelhouse as I preferred pulse rifles and handcannons but I could never turn down a machine gun. As we took off in a derelict ship with not much more than guesses and questions as to what came next, I flew towards what felt like the right way.

I walk into the tower to see the first familiar face. Cayde-6, my old mentor, was waiting and somehow knew me from this new face. I guess considering he was an Exo now, an AI with the memories, emotions, and senses of a human, I shouldn’t be talking because I was in the same position. Guarantee he lost a bet to be saddled with tower duty. He was always a free spirit.

I guess all “Exos” had their own distinct personalities and mine stuck out like a sore thumb to him. He explained what had happened to me and filled me in on the beings in the wall. Fallen. Never heard of them, but they weren't who I was looking for. Cayde, being Hunter Vanguard, passed me a good hand cannon (he knew me too well) and said we have some work to do.

“These are gonna be just like your Hellfire days, dude. Only this time, you will actually be making a difference as actual heroes, not vigilantes. Do what you do best, Guardian. Welcome to the best of the best, the Hunters.”

Hellfire was a nickname I had gained in the MDZ. They said I could shoot a demon square in the face from a thousand miles away with a pistol. I wondered about the whole badass flaming pistol thing. I had always been a gunslinger by choice due to my weapon expertise and pinpoint precision, but with that and all of the throwing knives and grenades I could ever ask for, all of this could not be more amazing and perfect. I grew accustomed to these new powers, I began to wonder more of Dredgen and what of him.

“There are rules to being a part of the city’s Vanguard that you would do well to remember.” Zavala droned on.

God, this tour was long. I mean, I’m ADHD and overly hyperactive in my head at that, but, Jesus, it’s like Father Time was dragging a boulder the size of a krogan around with him. And why the hell were Titans so big. I felt like I needed a Sparrow to keep up with him.

“First, no researching past lives unless authorized by the Vanguard. You also must fill a patrol quota each week to make sure that everyone does their part.” He said, sternly.

I figured as much. That being said, my curiosity could kill nine lives off of the world’s luckiest cat.

“Also, only the Vanguard’s majority vote authorizes high-priority mission. We choose fireteams unless we trust the person’s initial choice. Any questions?” He finished.

“What is the capital of Assyria?!” I said in a witchy voice.

He literally just sighed and moved on. If he had to deal with Cayde, I can’t imagine how many of these jokes he had heard.

“On a serious note, where do I live?” I ask, honestly.

“We give glimmer for bounties, missions, patrols, and a finder’s fee for new tech, weapons, materials, and relics. You can use that to buy an apartment. We’re not picky as to where you stay as long as you report to the Vanguard regularly.” Zavala said.

“Fantastic.” I responded.

“Forge your light. Master your abilities. The more powerful and trustworthy you become, the more missions you get sent on and the more specialized weaponry we trust you with. Ever heard of a Gjallerhorn?” He asked.

“Wasn’t that, like, a rocket launcher forged by that old army of warriors?” I said, wondering where this was going.

“Correct. Gain our trust enough and maybe we will allow you to create your own. But not today. Good luck, Cassus. Make us proud.” He said as he trudged off.

A year passes and I guess a perk of being a guardian is that I’d be staying 24 forever. My body was already 30% armored steel but I wouldn’t be aging anymore, which is good. All of those mortal wounds didn’t hurt anymore which was brilliant. The Traveler had remade me and for that I’d be forever grateful.

Eventually, curiosity overtook me and, with permission from the Vanguard, aka Cayde signing me off ‘cuz he’s my bestie, I spent days in the Tower archives, digging out the remains of my past life. I spent hours, searching through pages and pages of scouting reports, histories, and biographies until I broke through. My brothers had been guardians. Pahanin and Praedyth. In fact, Pahanin’s old HMR was the first Exotic I’d been allowed to own. But his history was a different story completely.

Several decades ago, Kabr had been sent with my brothers into the Vault of Glass to investigate at the orders of none other than Osiris. Just when I thought I had avoided him for good. The Vex were the enemy that had attacked our town and forced us to evacuate. Their attempt at a foothold on Earth had lasted for a good year. Assault after assault we held them until they finally broke and forced us to make a run for the Last City. I had been split up from my brothers and my father. All I had was my best friend, Dredgen, and the very few refugees we could help escape. Until now. All of this was Osiris’ fault.

Osiris was a fanatic. He was unnaturally obsessed with the Vex and everything about them. Their networking, their hive mind, their terraforming, every aspect of them was something he wanted to dissect. He was also head of defense for our zone. Because he was eccentric, he was consistently dressed like a fucking Egyptian bird. See what I mean? So overly dramatic and egotistical.

What really bothered me was that he always put knowledge and curiosity before everything and everyone else in his life. He never gave a second thought to his own actions or the consequences. All he wanted was unlimited amounts of pure knowledge and if that meant risking a few humans’ and loved ones’ lives, so be it. However, the worst of it came about three years before my death.

The attack came when I was 21. It was a perfect summer sunset evening. I was about to switch out for the evening. Dredge and I matched schedules, so we would be meeting up soon for my “second job” as the city’s police force. Crisis and chaos can turn people nasty as all hell, so Dredge and I kept the piece the best way we knew how: through fear. As I walked in to Osiris to report on my watch, I found him tinkering with a Vex Hobgoblin.

“Osiris, what the hell are you doing?! This is not ok! This is going to end like the last time and someone else important is gonna die.”

“How will we know if we don’t study this?”

God, was he eccentric… “First of all, I am not a scientist, I am a bounty hunter. Second off, THIS” I said, shaking a Vex arm at him, “puts lives at risk! Great grandma Tali would not be ok with this! Shit like this almost destroyed the Migrant fleet! Society is crumbling. My mother died the last time you pulled a stunt like this!”

“But I’m so close! If I can backtrace to the main neural netw-“

“Osiris, the Vex have hive mind, if one of them got captured-“

I never got to finish.

For those of you who have never heard a Vex Mind scream, it is not something I can describe perfectly. It is a demonic screech of a vengeful machine god louder than anything you have or will ever hear. There are only a handful of things that were worse than what I heard that night. I ran out to see a Minotaur ten feet tall leading an army of other Vex, marching towards us in the distance.

“Evacuate…..EVACUATE!!!” I yelled at full volume.

“I can control them. If I use this unit-”

“Osiris, look outside, you ignorant bosh’tet! You can’t control that!”

“We can’t kill them, but if we can coerce them to fight for us, we can take back this planet! Our honor depends on…”

“DEPENDS ON WHAT EXACTLY?! Your obsession has saddled us into too many life risking situations already and for what!? Your own personal interest?! This planet or so you say?! My mother lost her life because YOU thought she could harvest their radiolarian fluid! And you think this is about HONOR?! Remember Javik’s words, Osiris? Stand on the mounds of hundreds of dead civilians YOU caused and ask them if honor matters. The silence is your answer.”

Those were the last words I said to him before we died. Words I had learned from the very last survivor of a an ancient dead race. I let those words echo in his brain before I stormed out to save the civilians.

That day, we lost everyone but the few families that Dredge and I could save along with a few orphans. Pahanin and Praedyth were nowhere to be seen. I learned from the Tower that the Vex in that town had been destroyed about a month after by Rasputin, the AI Warmind. He launched an attack, eliminating any chance for a Vex foothold on Earth. The Warminds were more active then.

After we escaped, it turned into a 3 year journey searching for civilization. Every place we reached was empty. We lived outside of Manhattan and we walked west. Cities, the whole country, was just gone. We knew the MDZ was gone, but we didn’t realize it was this bad. Eventually we reached the city and you know that part of the story.

That being said, a lot of lives were lost because of Osiris’ carelessness and lack of restraint. He was dead to me and he always will be and no action he can do will change that.

#destiny2 #destiny #guardian #fanfic #masseffect #cassusshepard

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krissysbookshelf · 7 years ago

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