Grim Past

After our first Crucible match, I tried to get to know everyone in the Fireteam better, starting out with Wraith. "What, you want to know more of my past...?" Wraith asked as he looked me in the eyes. I nodded my head and took a seat on a nearby chair while Sigbrand and Sigwulf took the couch and shared a keg of alcohol.

Wraith sighed and said "Very well, but don't start crying after you hear the ending..." in a sarcastic voice.

---

It all started when I was a kid. I was orphaned at a young age and bullied because I was a different race. Before I was an Exo, I was a proud member of the Dark Elf race, and my name was Sovol Wailzagic. I always got into fights with other kids whenever they made fun of the color of my skin or hurled insults at me, earning me the nickname 'Devil's Child'.

I was also a very lonely child and, after I had grown to the age of sixteen, I was cast out of the orphanage and forced to fend for myself in a harsh and cruel environment where no one wanted anything to do with me.

I was forced to eat out of trash cans to survive and forced to sleep in an alleyway during the winters and harsh summers. I was living a miserable and honorless life, until I was presented with a letter from an unknown man in a black suit.

The letter was asking me to join the military and fight off otherworldly beings threatening the world. I initially scoffed at the offer, thinking 'Why should I defend a world that shuns and hates me?' but the man was able to win me over when he explained the various benefits I would get as well as the generous pay.

I ended up accepting the offer and was sent to a remote location in the middle-east where I trained daily, honing my skills in combat for the day I was deployed. It was at this facility that I had met the love of my life, a beautiful Human woman who went by the name Mary, and couldn't care less about my appearance.

We began to train together, eat together, and as our relationship developed, we eventually requested to become roommates. Our application was accepted and we lived our lives at the facility in relative peace, that is until a group of damned Humans tried to kidnap her.

She was able to fight most of them off but, in the end, she was knocked unconscious and dragged off. I followed their trail and found them in an abandoned warehouse before confronting them and eventually beating them all to death.

As I was lying on the floor, bruised, bloodied, and dying, Mary woke and tried everything she could to patch me up before taking one of the kidnappers cars and hauling me back to the facility where I had received medical treatment as Mary was being questioned.

We were eventually let off the hook as surveillance videos began to land on the chairman's desk, portraying that we were the victims in the situation. We continued our daily lives at the facility until it was time for us to be deployed.

Mary and I waited with our breaths held as the various names of the recruits began to flash across a board with the country they were being deployed to. When it finally landed on my name, the word 'Venus' flashed next to my name, sending murmurs of confusion around the room, however, when the same thing had shown up for Mary, many people began to get angry as they thought this was a way of the company saying "You weren't good enough."

Mary and I were ecstatic that we were going to be deployed together, but we were uncertain about how our lives would play out on a different planet. The day soon arrived for us to pack out bags and load up into a newly crafted spaceship, one that could travel the distance from Earth to Mars in a week.

Before we knew it, we were already taking our first steps on the newly colonized planet of Venus. The entire planet looked like a beautiful paradise with massive, green trees, beautiful flowers that were second only to Mary, and large, majestic waterfalls. We were tasked with guarding the perimeter of the large city that had been built and, other than the occasional beast wandering around, the place was relatively peaceful.

During our time on Venus, Mary had gotten pregnant and was granted leave until the child was born. You can't imagine how excited we were to become parents and soon after we became engaged. I began to work extra hard, trying to get a promotion to help out lives run smoothly, but the Humans are a greedy and jealous race.

They denied all of my rank-up applications, saying I had yet to prove myself worthy enough as an excuse. I knew they were lying to me, for I had overheard one of the General's conversations about how the entire chain of command was in a blind rage that I had been the one to win Mary's heart.

Believe me, it took all of my willpower and control not to murder all of those bastards in their sleep. I continued to work even harder despite my paycheck getting docked every few weeks and, by the time our son, a Half-Dark Elf named Lovos Wailzagic, was born I was practically working for free. However, the cruel nature of Humans never prevented me from loving my wife and son. And it was that love that kept me walking forward with my head held high.

A few months after our child had been born, there was news of a Cabal attack on the Last City back on Earth. We were all horrified at the news, but things got much worse after that. We received word shortly after that last one of our scouting parties had been slaughtered by a horde of robots-like creatures with conical heads.

At that moment, I cared about nothing more than getting Mary and Lovos off of that damned planet, however, the only thing I had accomplished was made myself feel even more despair as I watched the various leaders and Generals take off in all of the ships, leaving us to die.

I clenched my fist in frustration as I watched the ships take flight and depart from Venus, but I found a new determination in that moment as I ran back to the city and spoke to the citizens who had volunteered to help in the colonization efforts.

Through many days and nights I had finally managed to win their hearts and convince them to take one last stand against the approaching army. We created a bunker with countless rations inside for the women and children as the rest of us men donned our armor and loaded our weapons.

I stood at the frontlines with a grim expression as I stared out over the horizon at the approaching army of red-eyed robots. They likely numbered in the millions, while we only had a few thousand, but the fighting spirit of each and every one of us was not to be underestimated.

Even to this day, I wished I wouldn't have given the signal to open fire. To this day...I still wish that I could've slept in the same bed with my wife and son one, last time.

As I commanded our makeshift army to open fire, we began to get barraged by a storm of lasers. It was a complete and utter massacre, but we had to keep fighting to protect what we loved. I took out countless robots with my autorifle, but they just kept coming.

I watched as comrades died, choking on their own blood right in front of me, but I continued to fight. I continued to scream out for the hope of a better tomorrow. But I was fighting a hopeless battle, and I knew it.

I shot, pummeled, and exploded those damned robots until I couldn't move anymore. At this point, two days had passed since the fighting broke out, and only a handful of us were left, while the robotic army looked as if it hadn't lost a single member.

It was then when I held a picture of my wife, Lovos, and I together that I remembered what I was fighting for. I was fighting for the love that I had finally found, and wanted nothing more than to protect. I picked up my arms once more and continued my fight.

I was soon shot down by the horde and lay there on the ground, bleeding and full of regret. I still regret that I wasn't strong enough to win, and I still blame myself for not stumbling upon the Light sooner, because maybe, just maybe, I would have been able to save them...

I died from my wounds and, when I had woke, I was in this metal prison with one, single word echoing in my mind. Revenge. I learned that my body was scavenged from Venus and used to create a new type of Exo, one specializing in assassination.

I was then forced to work for an organization named 'Monolith', a political party that wants nothing more than to see the Guardians crumble. I took orders directly from their leader, a man who went by the alias 'Mr. Omura'. This old man has lived for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and he is very dangerous.

It was after I had killed many people for Omura that he had gave me permission to wipe out the organization known as Braytech, which had been the ones to secretly send military troops to Venus in order to cultivate its natural resources, as well as the same company that had left all of us to die on that forsaken planet.

I took the job without hesitation and, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I reveled in killing each and every single one of the bastards that approved the secret campaign. After I had completed the annihilation of Braytech, I had encountered the entirety of the U.S. military and clashed with them, ending in my second death.

I had once again defied death and was resurrected by Zero, becoming a Guardian in the process. After that I had kept my ties with Monolith due to the Vanguard's request to gather information on their next move.

I now live the rest of my life as a Guardian atoning for my sins and endeavoring to make the world a better place for those who do not have the strength to do so...

---

After Wraith had completed his story, I was momentarily taken aback by his tragic background. I had heard that most Exo's would never remember their past, but Wraith had revealed that he was purposefully made to keep his memories in order to eliminate Braytech.

I knew I could never sympathize with the pains he had faced, but I knew that I could be there for him as a friend when things got tough. I looked Wraith in the eyes and said "Wraith, I may never know your pain, but I can promise to help make sure that you never go through something like that ever again..."

Wraith chuckled and said "I don't need you sympathy, but thank you. I'll be counting on you to have our back from now on..." as he looked over toward the two smiling brothers, who had somehow gained another keg of alcohol.