One day, I'll stop posting new stories when I really shouldn't. I know I will one day. Just not today, for today I will celebrate the release of The Dark Below by publishing a new story. One featuring arguably the most bada*s Titan there is/was, Kabr the Legionless. I'm not going to have a extremely long introduction, I'm just going to start the story. Enjoy (or not, you may hate my guts for all I know).

Deep within the mechanical crust of Venus, only one fading speck of Light still fought the surrounding Darkness.

Flashes of fire and heat filled the air, briefly highlighting hordes and hordes of brown Vex as they streamed towards the only source of light in the cavern. Sounds of crunching electronics and breaking metal rang throughout the room, just barely drowned out by the never-ending pounding of metallic feet marching towards its target.

The next wave came, charging at its foe as they fired and sent even more streams of fire into the air. Flame struck light made solid, dissipating into molecules the moment they touched the shield made from a destroyed Gorgon.

The Vex continued moving forward, unfazed, swarming towards their enemy in an attempt to overwhelm him with superior numbers. Said enemy merely held his ground on the center of the stairway leading to the Glass Throne, channeling as much Light as he could into the shield before they could reach him. Then, as the Vex came crashing down at him, he struck.

The first Vex that arrived he bashed with the shield, putting himself directly into the center of the swarm. The flame bolts finally began impacting against his armor but he ignored them in favor of the swarm facing him. Instead he swung his shield again, taking out two or three of the Goblins to the side of him. Seeing an opportunity, one particularly bold Goblin teleported to right next to him in a flash of electricity. Ducking underneath the void-infused punch it tried and left without room to use his shield, he leaped forward and headbutted the white crystal pulsing in its stomach, causing it to break into pieces and send its host collapsing to the ground in a shower of sparks.

By then, he was already gone, busy jumping into the sky and slamming the shield into the ground, sending several Goblins off the edge of the stairs and into the pit below by a light-infused shockwave. Without a moment's pause, he chucked a magnetic grenade into the crowd of Vex still standing, a explosion of Void power destroying a few and sending the rest scurrying back for cover. He took the moment's respite to stand still and evaluate the situation as it was.

It was not good. He was forced to abandon the prototypes for his armor a while back along with most of his Vex-derived weaponry, leaving him with only his more advanced form of armor and two of his more Vex-like weapons. As it was, they were out of ammo, forcing him to solely use his latest, greatest, and probably his final creation, the Aegis, against the horde that now had him trapped deep within the Vault. He'll still fight, though, fight and slaughter and destroy all of the Vex that dared to attack him until he collapsed from exhaustion. He was famous for his determination so it was going to be a long while yet. Then he was shaken out of his thoughts by the Vex charging towards him, and so the fight continued.

Minutes, hours, days, not even the literal machines there knew how long they fought. Finally, just as the next group were about to stomp across the Vex parts that coated the ground by now, they stopped, as if receiving orders, before pulling back. He stopped as well, the Aegis held at a ready position in case this was a surprise attack and they were just lulling into into a fake sense of victory.

Rumbling then filled his helmet's filters, causing him to turn around and stare stoically at the top of the stairs just as a flash of light shone there. A massive figure appeared in the light and seemed to step out of it before it faded away, leaving the room shrouded in darkness save for the faint light come from the figure and the Aegis.

It stepped onto the top of stairs, hefting a much larger version of one of the Praetorian Void-launchers in one of its hands. To him, it looked like a glass hybrid of a Goblin and a Minotaur, complete with weapon and power core. They stared at each other for a moment, the room silent, one white eye meeting the glowing red one of his helmet in a deadlock.

The figure began firing without warning seconds later, large blobs of lethal Void matter arcing towards him. He focused, a white sphere made of Light forming around him just in time to stop the blobs from hitting him. This continued for a minute before the glass creature stopped, apparently realizing that they were at a stalemate. Then, with a sense of finality, it raised one glass hand and he suddenly felt his very being shimmer, his existence unraveling by the second.

He was going to die or vanish or whatever this thing was doing, that was for sure at this point, but he would not go without leaving a mark. He had not tried this before, didn't even know if it could work, but he still had to try. Channeling every ounce of Light the Traveler would allow him to, he filled the shield, filling it so much that it couldn't handle the sheer amount of Light flowing through it and expunged it out in the from of a massive missile, going straight for the glass figure. Just as it impacted, he vanished along with the Vex parts and the few unlucky Vex that were misfortunate enough to be close to him at the time, leaving behind only the Aegis, the remaining Vex, and the glass figure cringing in pain.

It had planned for everything, calculated every possibility, and had everything the Vex knew of translated into data form locked into its electronic brain and accounted for, but this… this… pain was something that it NEVER could have calculated. So much Light in one attack, it was mathematically impossible and yet it existed anyway! It screwed up every calculation it had, every single one! Even the one it was doing to send its foe into the timestream was messed up. That one was unfixable, no matter what, because it was already processed and its effects already woven into the fabric of reality. There was no way to recalculate the rest of the equations, not at that rate that the massive Vex was currently computing, so there was only one option.

The massive glass Vex, later codenamed Atheon by the City, had no choice but to insert the Aegis into every reality of the Vault of Glass, past, present, and future. It was the only way to allow every calculation to self-correct, for it always existed and always will, therefore it always was calculated to begin with. As a result, the Aegis was not created, it simply existed. It simply was.

Thus Kabr the Legionless, the lone Titan who dared to dwell the Vault, triumphed over Atheon in the end, by creating the means of its own destruction by its own hand. Thus, the Vault was purged many years later by a fireteam of Guardians and was rendered a mechanical tomb for eternity. Thus, the Vex were crippled and the City celebrated and thrived.

Thus, Kabr became legend.

At least, that was normally believed to have been the case.

Instead, he had another legend, in an another place, in an another time. There, Kabr's legend was something different, something more, and it all began after Atheon sent him into the timestream.

For the briefest of moments, Kabr felt himself disintergrate and become nothing, then the moment passed and he found himself in a clearing in the midst of a forest. He was surrounded by the fallen Vex and their remains but the living (well, as much as machines could live) ones had vanished.

He stumbled as he stepped forward, a sudden wave of nausea pounding in his skull. Apparently having your existence unwritten and then rewritten in the fabric of reality was a bit of a dizzying experience. Nevertheless, he stood back up soon enough and began examining his surroundings.

The forest surrounding him was actually on a mountainside if the view he could see over the treetops was any indication. It appeared to go on for several miles, uniterrupted, before the vegetation died off and eventually became sand as the forest shifted into a beach as it reached the ocean. No matter how far he could see, there was not a single sign of civilization.

Kabr looked away from the view and instead focused in on his armor. It could read his coordinates in both space and time, and if he was close enough to his ship he could call it in and return to the City to warn them. The Speaker needed to hear about the Vault and send a team in to destroy the machines within. Hopefully he would send a full team this time, no one person… alone… could defeat the Vault… was he alone? Wasn't there…?

Beep, beep, beep. The armor indicated it was done finding the coordinates, bringing Kabr back to the present. If only he still had his Ghost, then he wouldn't have to wait for his armor to find the coordinates every twenty minutes. Oh well, he'll make do with what he has. He read the display that appeared floating above his right arm. Then read it again. Then again. Finally he stopped looking, instead clicking it off and instead choose to begin gathering the Vex parts for anaylsis.

How could he be outside of known space and time? The Vex could warp him around, even send him through time, but they never could transport him outside of what they know. They were machines and machines couldn't calculate for something that didn't exist. That's where he was, technically, somewhere that didn't exist. He could be in the Black Garden, maybe, but why would they warp him straight into their most sacred place?

Suddenly he heard a noise, making him stop his scrounging and turn towards where it came from. It sounded like the animals he once heard fighting in the jungles on Venus. There was snarling and growling, probably having cornered some prey and were now about to pounce. Kabr turned back to his scavenging, not caring about the circle of life one bit, but stopped when the sound of the prey hit his ears.

The sound of a man yelling in fear.

Immediately he dropped whatever pieces of Vex he had in his hands and sprinted towards the sounds of violence. No matter where he was, he was a Guardian and Guardians protect those couldn't themselves (oh gosh, that was so cliche that I want to slap myself).

Then the sound of fighting Vex filled his ears and all became a blur.

The hunter (a regular one) was pinned up against a boulder, a pack of Beowolves closing in around him. His bow had long since been broken, his spear splintered and shattered on the ground. This was it, he was doomed.

Why, oh why didn't he listen to the elder and not leave camp this morning? Now he was going to die and he wasn't even twenty yet!

He had already yelled his voice hoarse and was about to accept his fate as dinner when something strange happened. Creatures made of brown metal filled the clearing, outnumbering both him and the Beowolves two to one. They were stumbling about, fighting amongst themselves and somehow sending swathes of flame randomly into the air from long tubes of metal as they went.

Within seconds, several Bowolves were lit on fire and were scrambling around the clearing, some already succumbing to the flames and collapsing to the ground. One tried to attack the mysterious attackers but was struck with a flash of purple, its body disintergrating into the air. Another tried to flee, only to be hit with several shots at once and bursting into a rest, seeing their opportunity slipping away, inched closer to the trapped hunter, jaws opening to devour him before they were killed.

Before they could reach him or the other creatures could move closer in their frenzied state, something entirely different entered the clearing.

It looked like the metal creatures on first glance but it was much bulkier upon looking again. Whereas the creatures were thin and entirely metal, the new being was bulky and it appeared only parts of it were metal, the rest of it consisting of some form of black cloth. Despite that, it still was very similiar. It had the same wires, it had the same accents, it even had the same red eye. However, while their eyes flickered like a dimming fire, its glowed constantly, like a steady flame.

The hunter saw all of this in only a moment because after that moment the being struck.

In a blink of an eye it was across the clearing, its hand grasping one of the metal creature's eyes before ripping it straight out. It crushed the eye into bits, then punched the creature straight in the chest. It exploded in a shower of sparks and began to fall to the ground. Before it could, though, its destroyer grabbed it by the legs, swung it around, and threw it across the clearing, the body crashing into several others and sending them straight to the ground in another explosion of sparks.

By then more of the metal constructs had noticed the newcomer and had started firing at it. The flames were ignored by their target in favor of rushing forward and punching another one into smoldering bits. It reached down and grabbed its metal weapon out of the pile of parts, kicking aside some scraps in the process. Then, in a combination of fire and fists, it desposed of most of the rest of the other creatures, leaving only scraps of metal and wires littering the ground.

Only then had it noticed the Beowolves hovering around the hunter. The sudden intrusion had confused the creatures and had them milling around, sparing the hunter for a few more moments.

The bulky imposter aimed at the Grimm and fired at them, hitting several in the mask and others on the back. As they either began running about on fire or recoiled from the sudden scorch marks on their masks, the creature ran to them, firing at the surviving metal creatures (who were still not all focused on it) while doing so and taking down a few more in the process.

The moment it reached the panicked Grimm, it began flinging out punches, shattering masks, breaking spikes, and crunching bones with every blow. Fire seemed to not affect it, for it continued punching them no matter how much the flames licked at its metal. Grimm fell with every blow, a carpet of black and red rapidly coating the ground. The Grimm had no chance against this metallic monster.

They seemed to realize this after a bit and tried to run off. Only one or two managed to avoid the final punches aimed at them, leaving the rest behind in a mound of corpses.

The hunter stared, slack-jawed, at its metallic savior. It payed him no mind, instead turning around to face the last remaining metal creatures still lurking about the clearing. Its hand twisted around, looking like it was holding an invisible rock, before brief flashes of purple began flickering out it.

It threw its hand forward and the flashing purple went out, flying over to the remaining metal creatures and landing in the midst of them. Kaboom! There was an explosion of purple light for a moment before it vanished, revealing the falling pieces of metal coming from the sky. One or two still remained, which were promptly dispatched by several more swathes of fire.

"Wow…" the hunter said as he looked around the clearing, taking in the sights of the quickly-disappearing Grimm corpses and the scattered piles of metal. The sole metal creature paid him no attention as it went around the clearing, gathering up all of the metal and somehow making it disappear into its own metal. The hunter ran up to it and tapped its shoulder, curious about its savior.

"Hey, what are you?" It stopped in the middle of picking up a shard and turned its head towards him, its one large red eye staring into his own eyes. Then it went back to its gathering, seemingly ignoring his question. Just when the hunter thought it wasn't able to talk, it answered.

"Kabr." The voice was muffled and raspy, as it hadn't been used in a long time. Nevertheless, there was a distinctive undertone of masculinity in its, no, his speech.

"Kabr? Okay, I am Edward." He waited for any sign of aknowledgement but Kabr merely continued his scavenging. "What are you wearing? It's metal but not like anything I ever seen before."

"Armor."

"Okayyy…" Man, this guy didn't like talking much, did he? Instead, Edward watched as Kabr gathered the strange metal and wires, not seeing any sign of meat anywhere. "Where's the meat from this things?"

"Machine, not animal. Not living."

"What?!" He recoiled from Kabr, shock written across his entire face. "It wasn't alive?! But how?! It moved. it worked, it killed!"

Kabr lifted up a still-sparking wire in response. "Metal and electricity make machine."

"Electricity?"

Kabr pointed to the sky. "Lightning."

Kabr suddenly stood up, sending Edward stumbling back in an attempt to not be hit by the armored man. He watched blankly as Kabr strode off into the woods before he startled and chased off after him. "Wait! Where are you going?!"

"Exploring. New place." Kabr called back to him. Edward tripped over a few roots and lost sight of Kabr before he stood back up.

"Wait!" He yelled, trying to get Kabr to come back into view. "I know this forest! I could show you around! Kabr! Wait! Kabr! Kabr!"

He eventually ran into another clearing at full speed. Looking around, he saw no sign of his armored rescuer. Sighing, he sat on the ground and rested his head against his hand. "Dang… if Kabr had stayed, my tribe would have been safe forever from those Grimm. Maybe I could find him? No, he's long gone."

He sighed again, looking around the clearing through half-closed eyes. Then he opened wide open and bolted to his left, grabbing at some metal on the ground. Bringing it close and examining it, it appeared to be exactly like the ones Kabr was gathering earlier.

"This is just like Kabr's metal…" the hunter breathed out in wonder, admiring the metal shard and the bits of wire sticking out of it. He watched as a spark flickered and died, the metal gleaming for a moment before dimming.

"What did Kabr say these were? Machines?" Edward wondered outloud as he held the metal tightly in his hands. "He said they worked through metal and…. electricity?" He peered closely at it, waiting for another spark to appear. When none had appeared for five minutes, he groaned and sat back down.

"Drats, it seems to have died. Well, I guess even machines die eventually. They weren't alive so I guess it wasn't much of… a loss…." Edward's mind raced as he realized something, the thought making him grasp the metal all the more tightly.

"Wait… he said machines weren't alive. If they don't live, it's not a loss if they die. They could kill, I saw them kill some Grimm, so they're not pointless. If a machine can kill and if they aren't a loss when they die, they can defend us and we wouldn't die.. They would. We humans wouldn't die. Machines, not humans, would die. If we could make machines…" a grin emerged on Edward's face as one final thought entered his mind, "then humans would never again die to a Grimm."

He started scrambling about, trying to find as much metal as he could while he continued thinking outloud. "Where can we find electricity? He said lightning but storms don't happen a lot. Hmm.. I'll deal with that when I get to it."

The man that would one day become known as Edward Ironwood, founder of the Atlas line of generals and military officers, then continued scavenging up scraps of metal while he hummed a cheery tune to himself.

Kabr walked further into the forest, leaving the hunter and the clearing behind him far behind him in just a few minutes. Eventuallly he reached a cliff on the side of the mountain overlooking the whole forest. There he stopped and took a moment to get his bearings.

He saved the hunter and that was it. He did not expect nor desire any conversation from the encounter. He did what he had to do and then continued on with his journey. Even before the Vault he wasn't the most sociable person and spending so much time there… alone… didn't help with social matters at all.

He suffered the man's questions for as long as he gathered the Vex remains to experiment with but left as soon as every last bit had been gathered. Thank goodness Guardians could dismantle objects on a molecular level and store them within their own wellsprings of Light or else he might not have ever escaped the man in time.

Kabr sat down crosslegged on the cliff and pulled out a Vex slap rifle from his Light storage. The familar shimmering bands of light surrounded the otherwise invisible gun and soon enough it appeared in his hands. Without any further thought he ripped it apart and exposed its electonic guts to the open air. He needed some Vex solar batteries to refill his weapons and he might as well get some now.

Before he could rummage around in the wiring, however,a sharp stain of pain ran through his gut, causing the solitary Titan to double over in agony. Soon enough it passed and he sat up again, this time choosing to pull up his arm display again and find out his Light level readings. The blue square flashed up, he saw what it said, and he closed it down before resuming his work, his mind reflecting upon his situation and the first seeds of despair being planted in his mind.

The Darkness was beginning to consume him.

He should have seen this coming, really. He'd spent so long in the bowels of one of the most Darkness-infested places in the entire solar system that it was an absolute miracle if he hadn't already been consumed before now. Now, though, in an unknown place with no possible way back to the Traveler and its cleansing properties, he was doomed.

Was it those creatures from earlier that caused it? They reeked of the Darkness, yet it was different from the kind he knew. His kind of Darkness was all-consuming, deep-rooted and sophiscated, an agent actively expanding towards devouring the Light. Theirs, however, was more primal, acting more upon instincts and raw savergy than the plans and thought-out procedures of the one back home. Still, the Darkness was the Darkness no matter its actions, and it was all too likely that those creatures have caused his eventual demise.

Kabr was unafraid and undaunted as he thought of these things, cracking open more rifles and gathering more solar batteries all the while. He was Kabr, the one Guardian crazy enough to test the Vault, the one foolish enough to challenge a Gorgon, the one reckless enough to strike the Vex mastermind on his own throne, and if he could survive all of that relatively unscathed, then he would not submit to the Darkness now eating his very Light!

Kabr finally collected all of the batteries and put both them and the remains of the slap rifles back into his Light, then stood up. He looked out over the forest and the ocean glistening in the distance one more time before turning around and walking away, leaving only a footprint in the dirt to ever show he had been there.

He was Kabr the Legionless and his will would not be denied.

So…. what did you think? Does that meet your preconceptions about Kabr? Did everything seem somewhat logical? Should I stop asking questions now?

In case you didn't pick up on it, Kabr is wearing the currently/previously unused set of raid armor, you know, Kabr's Faceguard and the such. His shader is currently a custom one mimicking the Vex because if he's going to wear armor like them, he was sure going to be colored like them as well.

I don't want to hold you any longer now and I'm probably going to be playing The Dark Below when you read this so, without any further ado, ciao, adios, see ya, all that jazz. Bye.