Last chapter for two weeks sorry :( I'm going away, but ill post more when I get back. God I hate Ren, I thought as the three of us slowly made our way up the side of yet another barren mountain. Ren had been part of Operation Spectre, the fireteam that raided the Vault of Glass. He was a titan that had mastered Ward of Dawn, and that made him a valuable asset to any team, but, he was…crazy. At least that’s what I thought anyway. Something in him changed after the Vault. He was obsessed with Vex technology, he had crafted armor out of dead Vex and had a fusion rifle modified with parts from Atheon’s torch hammer. He also claimed that his helm was once that of Saint 14. Yeah right. That wasn’t it though, I’d never seen his ghost, no one knew his real name, and the only time he ever spoke was when he was giving orders or to himself. He was cold and compassionless, he sacrificed one of our team to give us an edge against the Gorgons. But he was an old friend of Zvalla’s so he was often chosen for leadership roles on important missions. Sierra and I came over the crest of the mountainside, a few meters behind Ren, and stopped awestruck. We stood high above a vast crystal encrusted plateau the sprawled out for miles, surrounded by the rest of Venus’s ancient and enourmous Vaneere mountain range. In the center of the huge expanse of barren land was a pit, dozens of meters in diameter. This was the Chasm, a hole that lead far below Venus’s surface, deep within the crust of the planet, where the Vanguards believed the Vex kept an Axis Mind that coordinated their actions on the planet. The Vanguards had never sanctioned an attack here, fearing that the sheer number of Vex forces hear would overwhelm any team that dared enter. We, however, weren’t here for the Axis Mind, we were here for something far more dangerous. Ren had already gotten himself to the bottom of the cliff, continuing on without us. I grabbed Sierra’s hand and pulled her forwards toward the edge, breaking her gaze over the lifeless landscape. “Come on,” I said smiling, “as pretty as it is, we gotta catch up to Commander Goblin.” She laughed, “Something about this place…it’s just, incredible. I could stay her forever.” “Yeah, well,” I replied, “we don’t have time for forever. We have a god of darkness to, uh, study.” I stepped over the edge of the cliff, and landed gently at the bottom, Sierra followed close behind, landing with a thump. After almost another hour of walking, we reached the edge of The Chasm. I peered over the edge, there was nothing to see but the mossy stone walls and pure black at the out-of-sight bottom. I could however feel a rush of hot air rising from the hole. “You,” Ren said, motioning to Sierra, “jump.” “What?” Sierra responded, shocked. “You heard, jump. Radio up if you live.” “And why do you get to make that call?” I asked with much annoyance. “Zvalla left me as team leader, so if you value your place in the City, I suggest she jumps.” He threated, raising his weapon and walking towards me. He was significantly taller than I was, but I wasn’t intimidated, I knew what he was capable of, and I wasn’t afraid of him. “There’s no chain of command on-” Sierra put her hand on my shoulder, as if to say, “leave it”. I turned to her, “You sure?” I asked, “We literally have no idea what’s down there.” “I’ll be fine,” she replied and hugged me, “I promise.” “Ok… just… don’t die.” I kidded. “I’ll do my best.” I could hear both the smile and the nerves behind her confidant voice. “What if she can’t radio us,” I turned back to Ren, “what if communications are blocked?” He didn’t answer. Echo appeared next to me and said, “I can link with Scarlet and tell you if her location stops broadcasting.” “Smart, sync it to my HUD.” I looked over to Sierra who nodded, she pulled out Scarlet and the two ghosts shone a faint beam of pale blue light into each other for only a moment before both faded back out of existence. “Ok, I’m linked.” Said Echo inside my helmet. “Alright, let’s do this…” Sierra said, the nerves replaced with the reckless courage she was known for. With that, she took a running start, and dove into the pit, disappearing into the dark below. Ren wandered a few paces a way and began mumbling. "An Axis Mind..." he said, "If I could only get a glimpse at..." I couldn't hear him anymore as he continued to pace. He sounded like a lunatic on Christmas morning. I played some music quietly in my helmet to ease the increasingly uncomfortable situation. After almost two minutes of waiting, Echo said aloud, “Lost contact… Vex signatures are interfering.” I turned to Ren, “I think it’s about time we followed.” I said. “No.” he snapped, “We find another way.” “It’s a damn hole in the ground. There is no other way.” Again, no response. “Fine,” I said, “You find another way. I’m going down. We don’t have time on our side.” “You,” Ren turned towards me, his anger growing, “will not jeopardize the mission.” “I won’t? Oryx could already be down there, and we’re wasting our time doing nothing.” “The survival of the City could depend on our success.” “And our success does depend on our speed.” I retorted, “To hell with this.” I said in frustration, I grabbed my rifle and jumped of the edge into the pit. As I fell through the darkness, I could feel the warm air growing hotter through my robes. The inky black seemed to stick to my helmet and blot out the view of the world. After nearly a minute of falling, I could see a soft orange glow below me, as I got closer, the already wide hole which I had jumped down, opened up into a massive cavern filled with lava. I slowed my fall and landed on a small, circular, stone platform in the center. The cavern appeared to be natural, spires of stone hanging from the ceiling, and the rough, dark rock walls that gradually rose in to an open topped dome. The platform on which I stood however, was clearly unnatural. It was perfectly circular, and inlayed into the floor were a complex series of stone gears and blocks, slowly rotating around a larger central gear that housed a small orb. I leant down to look at the orb, it looked like glass but it was swirling blue and orange and contained what appeared to be the eye of a Vex. I looked up and saw that a path of energy, a bridge of sorts, lead from one side of the platform to the stone wall. I stood again and the bridge vanished. I set a foot where it had been and realised it was solid. You could walk on it, you just couldn’t see it. I looked back at the platform one more time, and saw my footprints in the dust and ash that covered the stone, as if it hadn’t moved in many years. Huh, I thought, Sierra must have activated it somehow. Slowly and carefully, I made my way across the invisible bridge. “This is really dumb.” Echo said, “If you die, it’s your fault.” I laughed and started to walk faster, the heat was getting to me. I reached the small doorway in the wall that I hadn’t seen from the center of the cave. Cool air washed over me as I stepped through and it opened into a wider, dimly lit tunnel. I walked down the tunnel, my weapon raised, waiting for something to jump out and try to kill me. It was quiet except for a dull and distant, yet constant clicking. The walls morphed seamlessly from smooth natural stone, to clean cut Vex architecture. There was a figure standing ahead of me. It’s Sierra, I thought, she was staring at whatever was at the end of the tunnel. I lowered my weapon and approached her. “Sierra,” I called. She turned to face me, but it wasn’t Sierra, it was a Vex. Its glowing red eye brightened as I focused on me. It wasn’t like any Vex id ever seen. It was bulkier, stronger than a goblin, yet smaller than a minotaur. It made and angry whirring noise, and its arms charged with arc energy. It dove towards me, but before I could draw my weapon, a loud crack broke the relative silence, and it fell at my feet. Another figure stood in front of me. “Hey.” Sierra said calmly. “What was that thing?” I asked, relieved that I didn’t have ten thousand amps running through my skull right now. “Not sure,” she replied, “I’ve seen a couple though, so watch out.” “Right then.” I looked around, and saw that there was a tunnel to the left leading up, a tunnel to the right leading down, and the doorway where Sierra stood. “Where do we go from here? Any idea?” “Doesn’t matter.” She responded. Confused, I asked her, “What do you mean?” She motioned me to follow her, and so I did. Through the opening where she stood there was a ledge, about three feet wide that ran the length of a gap, roughly a hundred meters across and farther than I could see. “Ah.” I said, “I see the issue.” Prologue/directory [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139146382/0/0[/url]