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“This is a load of shit!”
Cayde-6 crams his hands into his armpits and squeezes in a vain attempt at silencing the relays screaming that his fingers are melted…or frozen…or crushed or hell, who knows? His brain can’t seem to reconcile the transmitted information beyond the fact that he hurts and he hardly even managed to brush the Void, never mind bend it to his will.
The sigh coming from the sideline sounds as exhausted as Cayde feels and the Exo shoots a glare three stories up at his supposed ‘teacher.’ Tevis has the gall to lounge curled up on a nearby balcony looking just like a sunbathing cat. The black and white plates of the Nightstalker’s face even shift in a showy yawn and internal lights glow soft pink.
“Hey!” Cayde barks with his arms still crossed. “Old man! You're supposed to be helping me so you wanna get your shiny ass down here and show me what’s wrong with your stupid Void?”
Tevis’ sad ‘tsk tsk’ bounces off the crumbling storefronts on either side of their training ground before he calls back. “Nothing wrong with the Void, Kiddo. This is all user error.”
“Fine,” Cayde growls while he examines one hand to be sure he still has the usual number of digits. “Then why don’t you get down here and show me what I’m apparently doing wrong?”
Black clad limbs stretch in exaggeration before the Nightstalker practically pours over the balcony railing in a haze of purple and black, rematerializes in the air, alights on an overturned delivery truck, flips off the vehicle while phasing into another cloud of dark energy, and lands soundlessly in the street just a few feet from Cayde-6. It is quite simply the most over-dramatic display of shadestep ever.
Blue optics roll spectacularly. “Totally unnecessary.”
Tevis chuckles and lightly bumps shoulders with the slightly shorter Exo. “Your hands are fine. We call it Voidburn and it goes away in a few minutes.”
Cayde sneakily tries to shake out his limbs and drop them back to his sides. Tevis decides to be merciful and pretends not to notice the younger Exo’s attempt to look tough.
“It happens when you pull at the Void,” Tevis explains. “But that’s not how She works, Cayde. Did you start with a solar affinity?”
"Yeah, my first," Cayde nods. "Not bad at the arc stuff either."
Tevis finds himself mirroring the head bob now that his suspicion is confirmed. “Solar energy comes from inside. Just a hint of Light and it ignites in your hand and in your chest. You summon it from inside you. Use it like a tool. Force it into a gun and out through the squeeze of a trigger. Arc is similar in the way that energy follows your Light and snaps to you. But the Void isn’t something you force. And you certainly don’t snap your fingers and expect Her to be there. The Void comes in the absence of other things. If you clear your mind and surrender to the possibility that you’re not the end all, be all of the universe, then She’ll fill in the space. And then you can do this.”
There’s something about the way Tevis lets go- darkens his eyes and relaxes his knees and just…seems to float while standing still- that makes Cayde incredibly uneasy. Every time Cayde summons his Golden Gun, his body tenses. Every time Cayde binds arc into a cutting edge, his mind seizes. These are the moments, the fractions of a second, in which Cayde prepares himself for battle, for struggle. But Tevis looks like he’s fallen asleep on his feet. The black and white Exo raises his arms with zero hint of urgency and the Void blinks into a brilliant curve of purple and blue sprinkled with star stuff in front of Tevis- a perfect Nightstalker’s bow. Tevis smoothly draws back an elbow. An arrow follows his fingers, materializing from the bow itself, and the Hunter releases. The shot takes off down the street and strikes the rusty four-door vehicle that has been Cayde’s target all morning. Energy splinters like light through a crystal and dozens of Void tethers strike out and catch the only thing moving in the still street…the leaves rustling on the ivy covering ancient buildings. Cayde has seen a Nightstalker’s tether a few times but never one attuned to such small movement or with this many lines reaching out like fine threads.
“Whoah! Pretty web you got there.”
“Do you know why most Nightstalkers jump before they shoot?”
Cayde tears himself away from the hypnotizing show down the street. “For flair?”
Tevis fixes Cayde with an amused arch of a white brow. “No. It’s for the fall. That moment of uncertainty, of helplessness, that’s where the Void thrives. You gotta surrender before She can help you.”
“It sounds…terrifying,” Cayde winces.
“You’re not wrong," Tevis agrees with a shrug of a single shoulder. "But here’s the thing to remember: You don’t use the Void, you’re not just passing through the Void, you are the Void. You let it consume you entirely for just a moment. Become the terror of the vacuum and nothing is more frightening than yourself. It’s raw power. The kind of stuff that makes Warlocks crazy. It can be addicting, Cayde. Between the surrender and the power, there's a lot of Guardians who don't want to come back and that’s what they call the Nightstalker’s Curse. Once you learn to make the bow, it’s hard to put it down.”
Cayde uneasily contemplates the lines of dark energy that are beginning to fray and wink back into their own plane of existence.
“I wanna win this thing against Andal tomorrow, but I’m not much interested in being cursed,” Cayde finally admits. “My luck’s not what it used to be, ya know?”
“You don't have to give your life to the Void. It can be just a little surrender. And knowing you, a little surrender is probably all you're capable of so I'm sure you'll be safe from the curse." Tevis snickers and pats the other Exo’s shoulder reassuringly but allows the hand to rest then squeeze as his thoughts shift again. “Cayde, not every Guardian is meant to form a lasting bond with the Void but you need to understand it. As much as any of us can, at least. If you’re going to be the next Hunter Vanguard, you might need to guide some Kinderguardians with elemental affinities different from yours.”
“Very funny, Tevis,” Cayde glares under his brow, “but I’m not gonna lose the dare.”
“It is funny,” the other Exo notes with a pink grin and flashing green eyes, “because I seem to remember Andal saying the same thing in this very spot and look where he is now.”
Cayde grumbles under his breath. “Bet he was good at this his first try.”
Tevis laughs and shakes his head. “Oh no! He was even worse than you. And with a better grasp of a Nightstalker's abilities, Andal might not have lost his duel and been forced into the Vanguard spot so easily. A Void anchor is powerful but you can escape it if you're one with the Void as well. Which is why you should keep practicing. Because even if he wasn’t good at it his first time, your friend isn’t too shabby with a bow now and I’d hate for you to lose just because he’s got access to the Void and you don’t. When you’re dared to a duel that decides your freedom, a few sore fingers are worth an extra tool in your arsenal, yeah? So try again, Kiddo, and remember it's not just about smoke and spiderwebs. You've got to learn to surrender if you want to win."
"And...if I can't," Cayde stiffens uneasily.
"Well," Tevis shrugs with a bright grin, "you either learn today or I visit you in the Tower. Now, show me what you got."