Earth, island in the middle of the ocean

(Day 0 A.R.)

The sun shines bright on the golden sands, the waves calmly pace back and forth. It is sometime in the morning as the sun can still be spotted steadily climbing towards its zenith. The atmosphere of the beach seems... unreal. The long stretch of sandy land is like a spear cutting the sea. Along the edges of the water a few crabs can be spotted as they search for a place to hide from the unrelenting sun rays. Away from the water, where the sand fades to dirt, and the dirt to grass, starting with small bushes runs a tree line of thick, giant jungle trees that with their heights seem to try and pierce the sky. Among this bliss of uninterrupted nature, an oddity appears, it’s presence disrupting the balance of nature . A young man with a void scar across his eye and part of the forehead is gently washed ashore by the waves, sun strongly reflecting off of golden parts of his armor.

> Vuko:

        A few moments after his body is laid on the sand, like out of a tiny fountain, water starts squirting out of his mouth, as he starts coughing violently. During the fit he turns to the side and vomits a large amount of water and coughs up the remaining drops from his lungs.

        After taking a few minutes to completely regain his consciousness, with a big amount of effort, Vuko lifts himself to a kneeling position and starts looking around. “Aarhh, my head is killing me... Where the void am I? What happened?..... Oh.. right.. the crash..... THE CRASH!” With a sudden burst of adrenaline he jumps onto his feet and frantically starts looking around, trying to find someone. “Oh no... oh no... oh no.. where.....” He freezes instantly at the sight of smoke coming from further down the coastline and a bit more inland. “No... no.. no.. nonononono it can’t be... it can’t...” Vuko says under his nose as he begins rushing towards the source of the smoke, or at least trying to rush as the exhaustion, wet clothes and sand all slow him down to a mere walking speed as he struggles with all his might to reach the destination.(edited)

The forest seems to squeeze down on the exhausted Tenno as he kept pushing deeper into the jungle, the tall ancient trees drawing closer and closer in density causing great shadows to be cast down on the boy from what little light managed to pierce through their tree tops. No sound other than his own can be heard since most of the living creatures ran away from the smoky area long before his appearance, only the occasional rustling on the leaves can be heard.

Eventually, the forest will start to thin out again and the closer he gets to the source of the smoke the more he’ll start noticing the charred and ashen land that will start to surround him. Lush and lively fauna turns to dust and blackness from a recent fire, the air thick with it’s smell but also with the stench of burnt flesh, possibly from the poor critters that didn’t have the time to escape it.

And then he sees it, a enormous metal husk lying in the middle of a dark crater, surrounded by scattered metal and broken objects, all flung out by the vicious impact. It’s a piece of the tower that seemed to break off from the main haul mid entry. By the state it is in, it’s hard to recognize what part of the tower it was, maybe it was someone's room, the kitchen, part of the bay, the course, it doesn’t matter cause whatever it was it’s reduced to nothing more than a heap of metal.

Upon closer inspection, Vuko will notice something far worrying. Lying near the crash site, a couple of meters from it, is a familiar broken and mangled Harka Frost. It’s entire left side seems to have been violently torn as if something hit it with great speed causing the great gash that goes from it’s left chest down to the hip area. There also seems to be dried blood covering it’s arms, as if it was carrying someone before it collapsed. Vuko will also notice drag marks, accompanied by blood, leading from the Frost warframe towards the forest, on the opposite end of where he came from.

> Vuko:

        He pushes through the jungle with all his strength, multiple times stumbling over the roots sticking out of the ground, but every time he picks himself back up, continuing forward. He doesn’t notice anything around him as his mind is consumed with the singular thought and purpose of reaching the source of the smoke.

        When the forest finally thins out, he runs out into the middle of the field like a wild animal, the smell of burning only fueling him as he erratically scavenges the area for any sign of life. Upon reaching the crater, he rushes into it, half-sliding, half-walking his way down, while at the same time repeating the word ‘no’ over and over again under his nose like in some kind of trance. As he finds no sign of what he is looking for inside the crater, with much effort he climbs out of the crater on the other side.

        That is when he notices the remains of the Frost, towards which he runs over. When he reaches the mangled corpse, with a horrified look on his face, he yells out “DEVROS!” in desperation, trying to find his friend. Instead he notices all the blood covering the frame, and then the blood on the ground, and he follows the trail back into the forest.

The trail will lead the boy back in to the density of the forest. The more he follows it the more bloody it gets, until eventually he runs into a pair of familiar busted glasses, snapped and abandoned in the dirt. But after a couple of minutes he will come across their end, a small cave embedded in the rocky area of the eastern reach on the island. The blood trail leads in to it’s void.

At approach, the boy will hear silent whines resonating from within. The cries ring out in a consistent somber tone as if the one making them is calling for someone, while their hushed intensity speaks volumes of silent sorrow. The sound drags out and bounces off the cave walls making them somewhat eerie to listen to as if the wind itself was howling.

> Vuko:

   He follows the bloody trail, getting more and more terrified of what he will find at the end of it. As he finds the glasses, he takes them and hides them in one of the pockets, hoping, that by some miracle, he will be able to give them back to their owner, and continues to push onwards, trying to keep the thoughts of the worst possibility at bay. Vuko continues on until stumbling onto the cave. He stops for a moment, making sure the trail leads inside, wandering what thing dragged his friend in there.

        The Tenno begins to slowly descend inside, being cautious to make as little noise as possible, while at the same time watching for any foul fiend that might live there. The whining chills him to the bone, but he goes deeper anyways.

The entry of the cave is wide so what little light that pierced through the treetops illuminated those few steps inside before the shadows take hold. It might take the boy a few seconds to adjust to the light starved surrounding but after a few steps inside the shallow cave, the boy will see a huge shadow hiding in the farthest corner, coiled around something. The silent whines seem to come from it

As Vuko approaches closer, the shadows will start to take shape under what little light managed to reach them.

The much bigger silhouette is none other than Garhul. The kubrows pelt is dark with ash and dust, his once glorious Lotus coat now a blur of bruises and blood. There are many gashes going down his back, some still soaking his fur with fresh blood but none seem life threatening, it’s more as if he’s been sprinkled with shrapnel and quite possibly still has metal imbedded in to him. His left ear is missing, cut clean at the base by something that whizzed past his head during all the tumbling chaos, the blood that tickles from it continues to drop down his chin. The fur around his left shoulder area is burnt to the skin, revealing a nasty burn mark that stretches from his elbow all the way to the top of his shoulder.

The battered kubrow doesn’t seem to notice Vuko entering, nor does he seem to care as all of his attention is turned towards the other occupant of the cave.

There

Sitting against the wall of the cave

Is Devros

His right leg torn off, his body covered in deep lacerations, his spine in a obvious shamble form a violent crash, scratches going across his face…his Oro extinguished.

And yet the kubrow lies next to him, head in the boys lap, licking the wounds as if they could make it all better. Garhul continues to wail, his cries directed at Devros, hoping it would make him move, make him wake up, make him live. He nudges the boy gently but gets no response, like all the ones before it. He licks his cheek but doesn’t get a smile. He paws at his arm but gets no embrace. The kubrow coils himself around the lifeless body, refusing to accept this truth, the truth of losing someone that’s been with you from the start, that nurtured you, loved you, cared for you, was there through many adventures.

He will wake up, he will smile, he will laugh again, he will run...he will...he will...

”He will hug me again”

> Vuko:

        There are no words that can fully describe what he felt when he saw what lies inside the cavern. Anger, anguish, sorrow. All of them true, none adequate.

        The view of his friends dead body was heart wrenching enough, but seeing his life long friend huddled around him shook Vuko to the core. His eyes glossed over and a single tear formed in his eye and slowly made its way down his cheek, a tribute to the fallen comrade. The battle-hardened Tenno, who has never been seen crying before, and never will be, quickly wiped the tear off, and slowly walked over to the body, wanting to close the eyes of the fallen, letting him rest one, final time.

Garhul finally acknowledges Vuko’s presence as the Tenno starts walking towards him and Devros. The behemoth lifts his head from the still boys lap and lowers his ears out of fear, his fangs barring and a low threatening growl rumbling from his throat. However, as the shadow moved closer he recognized the intruder as a friend and his growls turned to whines, louder and louder as Vuko approached, as if pleading for his help, for the living to help the unmoving. He straightens up, lifting his head off of Devros’ lap to sit on his hind legs, making way for the boy.

The kubrow watches as Vuko closes the eyes of his life long friend and with a confused gaze, looks back at the living Tenno not understanding the notion. Garhul reaches forward with his muzzle, nudging Devros’ cheek again, thinking he should be alright now…but no, the still boy remains unmoving.

Garhul wails again, louder, more panicky, looking for help from Vuko with his dull golden eyes. He starts pawing at Devros’ arm, more vigorously, desperate for the attention he had lost.

> Vuko:

        He takes a knee, and shifts his attention to Garhul, looking straight into his golden eyes, with his own, still glossy, amethysts. - “There is nothing we can do... I... am sorry.” - He tells the faithful Kubrow, despite knowing that he won’t understand a single word. It is almost like he is apologizing to his friend for not being able to help him, rather than his companion.

        Vuko tries to hug Garhul, embracing the giant beast, wanting to ease both their pain.

His desperate nudges slow down, and finally reach to a stop as he feels Vuko embrace him across his bruised and bloodied body. He stops for a moment, his left front paw lingering in the air above his best friends leg, barely breathing, just staring without blinking at Devros' red stained face, not even whining.

So it's true

He flew away

He has no light in his eyes

The color on his cheeks doesn't rise

I tried

Should have helped him more

I even swore

But I can't

I want him back...

His remaining ear dips, his sorrowful gaze hitting the floor. Overwhelmed by this emotion, Garhul let's out a deep and mournful howl which resonates in the cave, bouncing off it's walls and hurdling the powerful cry out to die among the trees...as if he threw out his soul.

> Vuko:

        He let go of the giant, as he began to howl. He understood his pain. He also understood that it was now his duty to take care of Garhul, and help him deal with the loss. Vuko wiped the tear from his cheek and chin as quickly as he could, trying to regain his composure.

        The Tenno stood once again, looking at his friends mangled body, but despite trying to remain calm the view made his blood boil. -“I told him not bring the tower into orbit... I told him that it won’t end well... DAMN YOU AND YOUR WARPED IDEALS! YOU SEE WHAT YOU DID?! ARE YOU PROUD OF YOURSELF?!”- He shouts out in anger with the entire might of his voice, the sounds echoing from the walls of the cave.

        Vuko then closes his eyes, takes a deep breath... and breathes out. He repeats that two more times... and opens his eyes, once again gazing at his dead friend. With a sigh he takes a knee next to the body, and delicately puts one hand behind his back and the other under his knees, lifting the body.

        With Devros in his arms, Vuko heads out of the cave.

The kubrows howl died down, his energy almost completely gone as he looks towards Devros, with his ear tipped down. Vuko’s shouting brought the companions dull yellow gaze towards him but otherwise didn’t react to the boys outburst, seeming too emotionally tired to even give one. He watches as Vuko picks Devros up and he too gets up on all fours to follow after him, limping, knowing all too well that things will never be what they were. That a life without Devros has just begun.

If you can call it such.

> Vuko:

        He could feel the body slowly stiffening in his hands. The skin drying out as it left the dampness of the cave behind. The stench of decay fading as it met with the gentle breeze of the sea. ’It truly is the end, isn’t it?’ He asks himself as the soft grass under his feet makes room for a much harsher, rougher, rocky terrain. Drops of sweat form on his forehead from scaling the increasingly steeper path. He doesn’t stop however, but continues forward. Then a familiar sound of waves gently crashing against a cliff join in, telling Vuko he reached his destination.

        He lays the body on the ground a few meters away from the cliffside, covering it with whatever cloth he could find. - “Farewell, my friend.” - He says, looking at Devros one, last time.

A few hours later, as the sun is setting over the vast ocean and everything is lit orange, Vuko and Garhul can be spotted looking out into the water. Next to them - a barrow made out of rocks. At its base - a tall basalt stone, pointing towards the sky.