I sat in the rear hold of my ship, meditating. The death of a team mate always hits hard, even if you don’t see eye to eye. I wasn’t mourning, but I had to come to terms with what happened. I never liked Ren, but he was a guardian all the same. There was nothing I could have done. It was his choice to stay behind. No blood on my hands, not this time. It wasn’t my fault. All of these thoughts ran through the back of my head as I softly spoke the words of the hymn for the dozenth time. “Light within, and light beyond. Forever through me, your faded light lives on. In the dark we stand defiant. Forever through me you stand beside us.” It was a tribute taught to all warlocks, an oath to the dead that their actions would not be in vain. I began to recite it again, when Echo floated into the room. “Urgent message. Coming from Earth.” “I’ll be right there.” I stood slowly, took a deep breath, wiped the tears from my face, and let it all go with an exhale. I opened the door to the cockpit to find Sierra waiting for me, head hung low. I stepped over to her and gave her a long, warm hug. I needed it as much as she did. “Again.” She whispered solemnly. “It happened again.” “This is nothing like what happened to Fynn. It’s not our fault.” Truth is, that’s what we were both upset about. This brought back too many memories. I gave her one last squeeze and looked her in the eyes. “It’s done, we can’t change the past. But we can take on the future.” Echo and Scarlet shimmered into existence in front of us. “Not to interrupt…” Scarlet started. We turned to face the Ghosts. “The transmission came from a city in old Russia. Astrachan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea.” “Isn’t that Fallen territory?” I asked “It’s a Fallen transmission. From the House of Kings.” Echo replied, “They want to…talk.” “Hopefully,” Scarlet continued, “That doesn’t mean throw us in an arena to see if we’re strong enough, like our other Fallen friend.” “We should go.” Said Sierra. “It’s clearly a trap. They probably want to hold us ransom for the Traveler or something.” Echo retorted. “Sierra’s right,” I said, Echo looked surprised, “With Oryx here, it’s in the best interest of the Fallen to defeat him. And how else would they have contacted us other than through Variks?” “Fair point.” Scarlet agreed. “Three against one Echo…” Sierra joked. “Fine. Let’s go die.” “We’ll have to be quick.” I said, “Toland will have new intel soon, I’m sure.” Sierra and Scarlet teleported back to their ship, and while Echo set course for Earth, I once again drifted off to some much needed sleep in the cockpit. We set down near the outskirts of the city. Row upon row of city blocks, covered in vines and slowly crumbling away. Even from here, you could hear the waves crashing into the shore. The narrow streets were filled with bricks and stone, wooden beams and rusted metal. The rubble of apartment, shops, and homes lay strewn everywhere. Trees and grass grew up through the cracked pavement as nature took back the land, piece by piece. It was a chilling, heartbreaking thought, that these desolate ruins were once the home to thousands of people. We made our way to the far end of the city, near the waterfront. The residential area gave way to factories and warehouses, all of which in equally bad shape. Some were leveled completely. Others stood precariously, daring gravity to bring them down. There was Fallen writing on some of the buildings, a symbol I was not familiar with. We reached the largest building, a warehouse by the looks of it, that sat beside the port, where several massive ships had been stripped down to just their frame. It was half a dozen stories tall and the size of a city block. The doors at the loading dock were left wide open, the unfamiliar fallen emblem painted above them. We took a few steps closer, when two vandals in bronze-orange armor stepped out of the loading bay doors. They both raised their weapons, and one called something aloud. Both Sierra and I raised our hand above our heads. “We’re not here to hurt you.” She called, taking off her helmet slowly. I followed suit, doing the same thing, but the vandal simply snarled and aimed at us. Thud. Thud. Thud. The noise came from within the building, I tensed, looking around for potential cover, and waiting to pull the fusion rifle off my belt. Another thud, followed by my sigh of relief as Variks stepped out of the door, hitting the hard concrete floor with his staff. He frustratedly yelled something at the two vandals and waved for us to follow him inside. As I entered the warehouse, my jaw dropped. The massive industrial building was filled with shipping containers that had been cut, stacked, and welded into pod-like shelters. High above were catwalks and moving cranes that hung from rails in the rafters. In the opposite corner, there was a large open space that was occupied by three Fallen walkers. Nearer to us on the far side was a single large structure, made from more shipping containers, and metal plating that had been taken from the ships at the docks. The building was bustling with Fallen, milling about, and preforming various tasks. Some carried large pieces of metal or circuitry, while several othesr in one of the containers close to us seemed to be repairing and painting armor. It sounded like… work, not war. These fallen were building infrastructure, building a home. I followed Variks to the large building, still admiring the amount of effort and time that must have been put into this place. I noticed the second part of the building, a low roofed area that seemed to be a hangar, when the roof groaned open for a skiff to enter. The building was equally as impressive on the inside, I had a partial second story that ringed the room. The main level was filled with computers and displays, made from old, scavenged tech and the emblem I had seen earlier was painted large and in orange on the back wall. In the center of the room was a large metal table, where Variks and three other Fallen stood. One was a baron from the House of Kings, the second was also a baron, in dark blue and green colors. The third was obviously a Kell. He stood tall, and was significantly larger than the others. He was decorated in the same orange and bronze colors and emblem of the house that occupied this place. “These, guardian…” said Variks, breaking the silence “are Asksis King baron, Droskis Storm baron, and Skorips... she is the Kell of House Rust…” After they’re name was spoken, each Fallen nodded in acknowledgement. Variks turned to his brethren and spoke in words we could not understand. When he finished, the three Fallen nobles bowed, I looked to Variks and he nodded. We returned the gesture. “House Rust, House Kings, and House Storm, have seen those you call Taken… They for us to fight together…” This was an opportunity, not only to gain an edge on Oryx, but to work with the Fallen instead of fighting against them. “I think that’s beneficial for all of us.” I replied. Variks made the closest thing he could to a grin and spoke to the other Fallen. After a brief moment of chatter, Variks turned back to us and said “They are most pleased… for the chance to work together…” “Variks, can we trust them?” “We… are bound by honor…they will be most trustworthy…” he answered. “It’s an honor, that we may call on you in our time of need.” I spoke to the group. Variks translated, and the three seemed to speak unanimously. “The honor…” Variks started, “Is ours… to fight with the light…” “Message waiting,” Echo interjected, “from the Tower.” “We should go,” I told Variks, he spoke to the others, and Skorips replied. “They present a gift…to show… gratitude…” Skorips reached across the table and handed me a small glass ball. Within it, several shining bronze gears turned, they were all interlocked and in perpetual motion. I reached into one of the pouches on my belt, and pulled out a mote of light, and held it out in my hand. The three Fallen seemed to gasp in awe, mumbling quietly. “Our thanks.” Variks quickly translated, and the three nobles gave a slight bow, and Skorpis took it gently from my palm. “We’ll return when we get the chance.” Sierra said as the two of us turned to leave. “The Fallen… await… Good fights to you guardians…” “And to you too.” I said, and we walked out the door. As we left the large building, I took another look around to marvel at this place. It was amazing to see a Fallen house dedicated to a cause other than fighting. And surely this wasn’t the only base that Rust had. So many questions, I thought, I’ll have to talk to Variks about all of this. We walked out of the loading bay door to find our ships waiting. We climbed in and headed for orbit, while Echo played the waiting message. Prologue/directory [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139146382/0/0[/url]