Part 1: Becoming a Hunter Part 2: Becoming a Hero

Out in the fields past The Farm. The booming sounds of thunder and lightning could be heard crashing down but curiously not a single storm cloud graced the clear blue skies.

“Take this!” An Arc infused punch coming flying towards the Exo Hunter Viper-7. He deflects it with his own arc infused strike while with some fancy footwork gets behind his opponent and strikes just stopping an inch away from their face, “You’re dead again Luna.”

She curses under her breath and looks at Viper, “Why are we practicing so much hand to hand combat V? Most fights are won with my gun anyways.”

“That kind of thinking is what gets most Hunters killed in the field. You need every trick under your belt. And if you want to be a Bladedancer. Your very body has to be a blade itself. I think you’re ready to attempt the Arc Blade. But you need to prove it to me in combat.” The Hunter takes a few steps back to where Aria and Polaris are watching closely.

Viper starts taking off his cloak and his upper body armor revealing his Exo body. The red plating of his body is covered entirely in scarring and permanent singe marks. His body having gained a lot of these scars over time as a Hunter. Close calls in battle and some were even from training with his former mentor. Each scar and marking had a story to tell. Luna noticed on his left arm there was a design that was coiling around his arm. It was a tattoo. Or what would be the closest thing to a tattoo for Exo’s she thought. She could make out the pattern to be the body of a snake coiling around his arm and on his back. The head of the snake appearing on the back of his shoulder.

As the Exo turned around Arc energy began to crackle through his entire body, “Luna. Every Hunter risks their lives everyday. Adventure is what we live for. But, at the same time we put our lives on the line to better understand the world around us and our enemies motives and plans. We are the scouts that never leave the front line. We gather every piece of intel while satisfying that never ending hunger for adventure.”

He assumes a stance in front on his pupil, “But just because your immortal or got a gun doesn’t mean you’re always safe. Now. Let’s continue the lesson. You’re going to achieve the blade trance today. And the best way to achieve a blade trance is to fight.”

Luna breathes deeply. She takes in the sight of her mentor. Normally he’s so jovial and light-hearted to the point it's encouraging but ever since they started today's lesson. He’s been serious to the point of being cold-blooded. She admits to herself she feels a little intimidated for once by Viper. The young Awoken girl takes a stance and breathes deeply allowing the arc energy to envelop her body.

They both nod and lunge forward. They meet each other head on with their fists connecting. The impact of their blow resounding like a crash of thunder. Some Titans might even be impressed with the level of power in their attack.

Polaris looks with clear interest, “Luna is holding up well against Viper isn’t she?” Aria nods, “I’m surprised she can handle him at 25% power.” Polaris looks at his fellow ghost with surprise, “25%? Are you telling me you’re intentionally stifling Viper’s light right now Aria?” Aria nods again, “We talked about it before Revenant dropped you both off for today’s lesson at the Farm. Viper knows at full power he can easily kill Aria with a look. You’ve seen how strong Rev is right?” Polaris thinks about it for a second before nodding in agreement over the statement, “He’s a powerful Warlock. His control over the light is unbelievable.” Aria bounces, “Well, V is the Hunter equivalent I would say. He’s a talented Hunter and training Luna has really boosted his confidence lately and he’s even revisiting Arc energy for the first time in so long.” Polaris watches with a new sense of wonder of his Guardian’s mentor, “Luna has an amazing teacher.” Aria floats proudly, “That she does. Best get ready Polaris. This match is just about over.” Polaris nods noticing that Luna’s movements are getting slower despite the Arc energy still coursing through her body while Viper hasn’t lost any of his momentum.

Luna goes flying backwards as Viper kicks her in the solar plexus with an Arc infused kick and slams into a tree. Viper lunges forward and as Luna collapses onto the ground Viper punches his fist through the tree leaving and singed a hole from the point his fist impacted, “You’re dead again Luna.” He says gently to which she sighs in pain as Polaris floats beside her and starts healing her, “You kept fighting with three…no four broken ribs in that fight Luna.” Her ghost continues on, “That’s impressive in it’s own right.”

Viper takes a seat on a log and breathes deeply as Aria floats by him and heals him, “You didn’t let me heal you once during all ten of those matches." Viper groans slightly at the lecture he's receiving from his ghost, "While you may have an enhanced body compared to her. You still suffered some extensive damage. I pretty sure you gained at least one new scar.” The Exo chuckles as Aria’s light begins to heal his body, “One more story for the collection. Plus, It feels good to challenge myself. She definitely gave me a run for my glimmer though.”

“Is that so?” Luna says as she stands in front of her mentor. Viper laughs, “Yep. You did good Luna. We’ll pick it up again shortly. Time for a Hunter story. Who do you want to learn about?” Luna took a seat on the boulder beside Viper and thought about who she should ask about. Viper rarely talks about Sai Mota and she wonders if she’ll ever get to hear more stories about her.

She looks down at Viper’s cloak to which she noticed has been neatly folded and placed gently on the ground compared to the rest of his chest armor and arm guards which have been thrown haphazardly onto the ground, “Tell me about the Hunter your cloak comes from.”

Viper looks stunned for a second at her request before looking down at his Vanguard Dare Cloak and smiles as best as an Exo can, “My cloak is a replica of my mentor’s cloak. Custom made by Tess for me after his passing. Cayde-6 the last Hunter Vanguard and honestly a Legend among Hunters.”

“A Legend? How so?” Viper smiles at Luna’s curiosity, “Among all the Hunters. Cayde was the most unorthodox to say the least. If he had a plan you could bet your bottom glimmer that it would end disastrously, gloriously, or hilariously, or a combination of the three. He also taught me everything it means to be a Hunter.”

“I remember my first real mission with him. I was inexperienced and new like you. It was supposed to be a simple scouting mission for Andal Brask the previous Hunter Vanguard before Cayde took on the role. But Hunter missions rarely ever end up being what their initially briefed as. Fallen activity had spiked in the Cosmodrome that day. The fireteam consisted of myself and Cayde that day. All we were doing was seeing what the House of Devils were planning only to be pinned in between by the enemies we we’re scouting and a Fallen Assault Walker behind us.”

Luna looked with wonder, “Knowing you V. You probably had some slick moves at the ready like a perfectly thrown knife that destroyed the plating of one of the Walkers legs instantly.”

Aria laughs to which Viper sighs before chuckling himself, “Yeah, not even close Luna. I panicked like a wuss.” Aria continued giggling hysterically before answering, “The second they noticed us. Cayde’s already bolted for cover leaving this Hunter who was still wet behind the antennae hanging high and dry with a Walker Cannon aimed right for him and BOOM! Instantly Dead.”

Luna looks at V with surprise and confusion, “But you’re so tough Viper. How could you let that happen to you?” Viper smiles, “Luna we’re all beginners at one point. As soon as Aria revived me. Cayde’s already got his favorite gun in hand putting down Fallen like it’s another day ending in y while I’m busy running like crazy trying to keep the Walker’s guns off of me while I fumble to load my gun and take my first shot at it.”

Aria chimed in, “Cayde made combat an art form. He was as wily as they came. He could plant a Trapwire Mine at the last second before an enemy could take notice walking into the trap. He threw his knifes with such grace and accuracy that he once threw two knives simultaneously into each other that when they collided they went flying into two separate targets heads killing them instantly.” Viper smiled happily at those memories and the first time he managed to recreate the feat on his own once.

“So here I was jumping and dodging like some idiotic monkey while taking the worst potshots with my gun against this walking mess of a tank. I get shot down by the cannon again and sent flying off a cliff to my death yet again.” Aria shook her head and mumbled, “Three times…”

Viper sighed, “Three times. In my own stupid way I helped keep the Walker off Cayde’s back and to this day I wonder if that was his plan all along because he usually wings it with any given situation.” Luna frowned, “That’s awful! How could he do that to you?”

Viper laughed at Luna’s anger over the situation and smiled, “One of the biggest lessons I learned as a Hunter when we fly solo. You can’t rely on anyone but yourself sometimes. In a way Cayde taught me that day that maybe I won’t have anyone but Aria to watch my back when things look awful and by my fifth death I finally got revived by some cover I could take.”

Aria continued the story, “Cayde was fighting off about forty Fallen on his own including three captains. Which even on the best of days can be tricky for a lone average Guardian. But not Cayde-6. The way he fought was poetry in motion that truly solidified his status as a Legend among the Hunters. He'd headshot one fallen with the Ace of Spades popping of a Firefly explosion that engulfed those around the exploding body with a knife thrown at the next target killing it instantly-“ Viper continues on in excitement, “The corpse would fall to the ground tripping over an enemy that was following behind and as it stumbled allowing Cayde to put another bullet in both that stumbling target and three more fallen before tossing a grenade into a large crowd and letting the bodies fly where they may in the explosion that follows before taking advantage of the chaos that ensued among their ranks.”

Luna was now consumed with awe over the way they described Cayde’s fighting style as Viper continued to tell of the way Cayde would slay his enemies left and right like it was a dance almost. He would gesture emphatically at each moment, kill, gunshot, and explosion to which Luna noticed his eyes lit up just like hers. It was like Viper was a kid talking about his hero more than a student reminiscing about their mentor. She wondered if this is how she might come to see Revenant or Viper one day when she’s older.

As Viper finished the last of his story and leaned back looking up to the sky, “Cayde was a true Legend among the Hunters. I wear that cloak both in memory and reverence of him. I continually aspire to be just as capable of a Hunter as he was and hopefully to inspire Hunter’s like you Luna into becoming your own Legend.”

Luna smiled and stood up, “I’m ready to try the blade trance now Viper.” Viper looked at the quiet resolve that burned in her eyes. He could see she was ready and nodded, “Aria.” His ghost bounced and materializes two combat knives in Viper's hands as he stands.

He looked at his pupil with a quiet ferocity as he threw one of the blades between her feet, “I want you to come at me with every intention to kill me with that blade Luna.” V looks at Luna seriously while holding his blade in a reverse grip, "Cayde always said, 'You want to know fear? Face down a Bladedancer, all sharp edges and crackling death. Then you'll know fear'." Arc energy crackles all along Viper's body as he looks ready to kill Luna.

Luna feels a chill up her spine as she grabs the blade off the ground. Viper was talking in that cold-blooded tone of his again. How could this Hunter so easily flip between this jovial and charismatic being to someone with zero mercy and a look that almost felt like a literal viper snake was slowly starting to constrict around her body as it goes in for the kill. She now truly understood where he earned his name as one of the most deadly Hunter’s on the Tower.

The Arc flickers around her body. But for some reason she feels like she’s having difficulty unleashing her Arc energy compared to earlier. She looks at Viper who’s body crackles like a sharp blade as he described earlier. He speaks in that dark tone, “Bladedancers enter a special trance. Stormcallers do as well called the Arc Trance. Ours however is called the Blade Trance. You are no longer a Hunter in this state. You are a Blade. An instrument of death. The moment the blade is unsheathed.“ Viper disappears from Luna’s sights and holds the Arcblade to her throat, “Is the moment your enemy falls to the ground dead.” Luna feels everything go dark as Viper finishes speaking. The hands of death engulf her but it isn’t painful. It’s tingles across her body almost invitingly. She knows her body has been disintegrated by Arc energy and yet it doesn’t hurt. Everything just washes away…

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She awakens petrified, “Did-Did I die?” Viper looks at her gently and smiles, “Sorry. But yeah…I killed you with the Arcblade Luna. Are you alright?” Luna looks at Viper hesitantly and shakes her head clearly upset. Viper’s expression softens further and he gently pats her on the head calming her slightly, “The Arcblade is powerful and terrifying. Not as bad as the Spectral Blades or the Duskbow but still being faced with it by a trained Guardian. The sheer pressure the Blade Trance inflicts alone on those inexperienced with it can be suffocating.”

Luna nodded quietly, “It felt like a snake trying to strangle my whole body.” Viper nods, “For me the first time I was paralyzed in fear by the Blade Trance was with Shiro-4. It felt like I was drowning on the spot. I couldn’t breathe as it felt like I was falling slowly to my death when I was already dead. The Blade Trance is a state of being that affects both yourself and your enemies differently. Everyone’s personal experience is different.”

Luna nods trying picking up her knife and trying to charge Arc energy through it but it kept flickering out in fear, “I…can’t do it.” Viper sits beside her and wraps an arm around her pulling her in close, “Keep trying Luna. I’m not going to hurt you anymore. So you don’t have to be afraid. The Blade Trance is a state of serenity. When you find that serenity you sharpen it and hone it and make it your own.” Luna looks up at Viper confused, “Serenity?” The Exo smiles holding his free hand up and forming the Arc Blade. The iridescent blue light that flickers brilliantly off the electrified combat knife had a different air about it. It didn’t scare her like before. If anything it reminded her of when she was killed by it. As weird as it sounds, it wasn’t a terrifying death. It was almost peaceful as if she were laid to rest gently. Viper continues his explanation, “A purpose for your blade. My blade and the serenity I’ve found when I enter the Blade Trance. The sharp blade of lightning I’ve honed is the dear memories of every Hunter I’ve ever known. Every dream and aspiration they held I carry them with me as a blade that cuts all that stands in my way. Every promise I carry on in memory of them is the lightning that breathes life into this blade.”

The blade vanishes from his hand as he continues speaking to Luna who’s breathing has finally slowed to something much calmer, “My blade carries a weight. I may sow death wherever I go with it but it’s only so I may live another day to continue carrying on those memories and promises of the dearly departed that came before me . In essence my Arcblade is every Hunter by my side.”

Luna smiles at that thought and holds the knife up proudly and feels her Arc Light course through it yet again. For a brief second it flashes blue like a bolt of lightning and returns to normal yet again. Viper smiles proudly at the sight he just witnessed, “Luna. I know you’ll find your blade’s purpose.” He pulls her into a tight hug to which she laughs happily, “One day your blade will be a Legend among Hunters everywhere.” Just like Sai he thought quietly to himself.

to be continued