The flight to Venus was short, much shorter than the trip to the Reef. Unfortunately for me, not long enough to sleep. Sierra had just finished a crucible tournament, she was really making a name for herself in there. Lord Saladin of the Iron Banner had an eye on her, she’d even attracted the attention of Osiris’ cult recently. But, like any guardian, she needed some time off. She came to Venus to investigate the tampering Skolas had done to the warp gate atop the citadel. We had captured Skolas for Petra several months back, and ever since she was hell-bent on figuring out how the Wolves had made use of Vex technology. Echo said he’d set us down outside the Vault of Glass. Terrifying place, hope I never have to go back there. We were going into hostile territory, so I brought out all the toys, my trusted rifle, a prototype fusion rifle I was working on with Banshee, and my prized possession, Thunderlord. A heavy machinegun born in legend, golden age tech. I’d picked it up from the armory of Cerberus Vae III after Sierra and I dealt with Valus Ta’aurc. The entrance to the Vault had become barren of Vex after the battle with Atheon, we must’ve scared them off. I set my boots on real ground for the first time since we left the tower yesterday. It was almost comforting to step on something with a little give to it. It was raining, no surprise, I thought, it’s always raining on Venus. I hopped on my sparrow, blue and black like the rest of my gear, and sped off down the faint dirt path towards the citadel leaving nothing but the whirr of the engines behind me. I flew through the series of canyons that took me to the citadel, over dirt, mud, and sulfur filled water that sprayed up behind me. The high stone walls covered in moss and lichen were really a stunning sight, but I didn’t take the time to admire the view this time. I had somewhere to be. There was a group of Winter dregs outside the citadel picking through the Vex corpses Sierra had left behind, her arcblade left such a mess, minotaurs cut clean in two, goblin limbs everywhere. I jumped off my sparrow and pulled out my rifle. I fired one burst, two, three. The dregs’ bodies fell to the ground with a dull thud, one after another, like headless dominos. “You could have at least given them a chance.” Echo said sarcastically, materializing next to me “Yeah, cause we want them calling backup.” I retorted “Fair point, the lift is just ahead.” Echo disappeared in a shimmer of light as I walked up the steps. All Ghosts start out fairly generic, over time however, they started to take on the personality of their guardian. In my case, that was usually a good thing. Echo had a sense of humor, but he could be… persistent. Sierra says we can be stubborn, we prefer the term determination. I strode up the steps of the citadel, more Vex bodies inside. One of them was still twitching, I crouched beside it, touched it’s glowing red eye with three fingers and sent a lethal jolt of arc light through it. The corpse fell limp, smoking from the heat. “How’d she fight through this many of them?” “See that, uh, "blood" on the ground?” said Echo, “some of it is fresh, still liquid, and some of it is dried up. My guess is that she’s been holding them off for a day at least.” “Seems like the Vex want this place back.” I noted and continued on to the grav lift. I stepped into the swirling column of energy and was thrown skyward. It was almost like gliding. A familiar sensation for a warlock, but I can imagine it would make most titans or hunters sick to their stomach. When I reached the top, and set my boots back on solid ground, I stopped for a moment and took a look around, we were high above the surface of Venus, up in the clouds. I took off my helmet, the air up here was breathable, not filled with noxious gases like the lower atmosphere. I felt a light mist against my skin and took a deep breath in. The view from here was remarkable, even if it was obscured by the clouds. I looked ahead to the floating platform where we had fought Skolas. Sierra’s ship, an NS44 High Water, was hovering next to the platform. There was a tarp hung and a pile of boxes at the near end, probably to protect her work from the rain. The smaller platforms that formed the path forward seemed to have stabilized and drifted together, almost forming a walkway. I stepped onto the first one and it moved slightly beneath me. Unsettling, but they seemed to hold their place fairly well. I kept walking, careful not to lose my balance until I reached the large platform at the end. “Motion detected,” a faint voice said, “Not Vex.” It was Scarlet, Sierra’s Ghost, named for the color of its shell. “Sierra, its-” I began to call when I was cut off by her springing out from behind a box, hand cannon aimed level with my head. I took a step back, surprised by the sudden move. The sun glinted off the golden detail of the iconic weapon she held, The Last Word. Sierra was the latest in a long line of hunters to wield Jaren Ward’s revolver. I don’t know how exactly she got it, never thought to ask. “God,” she said with relief, “I thought you were a Fallen.” She holstered her weapon and hugged me. “What have you been up to?” she asked. “Bounties for Petra mostly, some Vex research of my own.” I answered, “How’d the tournament go?” “Good, I picked up a new sniper rifle from Saladin, The Spear he calls it.” Scarlet floated out from her hiding place, and settled next to Sierra. Her dark red and white shell stood in contrast to Sierra’s light grey and violet armor and cloak. “Hello Grant, Echo.” She said. I nodded, “Hi Scarlet.” I looked over to one of the partially deconstructed Vex warp gates “Find out anything new?” I turned back to Sierra and Scarlet. “Well the gates don’t open a rift in space like we thought according to Scarlet. It my best guess is that they go to some kind hub outside of space and time, facilitated by the gatelords I would assume. Could be useful information, but not what I’m after, still don’t know how Skolas did it.” She responded disappointedly. “We’ll figure it out eventually.” “Hopefully.” Scarlet interjected. Sierra and I both glared at her. “Sorry.” “Anyways, Eris sent me a message. She said the Hive on the moon are restless. She wants to talk to us.” “Oh good,” Sierra said sarcastically, “Another one of Eris’ little adventures. Whatever, sounds important, let’s go. Scarlet, pack up the gear and back up the data onto the ship, just in case.” Within a second it had all vanished into thin air. “You might want to put that on.” Sierra said nodding to the Monolith Bleed IV helmet under my arm. “Meet us at the bottom with the ship.” she said to Scarlet. “You’re not gonna-” I knew what she wanted to do. Not sure why it surprised me though “You bet I am. And you are too.” She said walking to the edge of the platform Screw it, I thought, why not, “Echo grab the ship.” I told him as I put my helmet back on. I turned back to Sierra just in time to see her disappear over the edge. I ran to where she had jumped from and dove off. It didn’t take long to catch up to her. The rushing wind felt amazing despite being in my robes. Sierra’s cloak flapped in the wind like a falling leaf… in a wind tunnel. I could dance circles around her gliding, staying just out of her reach, teasing her. The walls of the citadel flew past and the ground had come into clearer view. Venus was a truly remarkable sight. A wild and hostile place, yet strikingly beautiful, with its glowing blue lava, miles upon miles of uncharted forest and mountains and rough orange seas crashing violently into the towering smooth stone cliffs. There were more floating stone platforms, we weaved in, around, and between them as we made our hasty descent towards the surface of the planet. I began to slow my fall, while she continued to race downward, at the last second, she jumped on thin air and landed like it was nothing. I set myself down beside her moments later. There was a House of Winter vandal looking at the corpses of the dregs I had killed earlier. It looked up, startled by the two guardians that had just fallen from the sky. It took off before we had time to draw our weapons. I grinned in my helmet, it really was quite a funny sight to see a terrified Fallen. “Yeah, that’s right.” Sierra joked, “Alright, c’mon Scarlet, let’s go.” “There’s a message for you two,” Echo said over both our comms, his voice shaky. “What is it, you sound nervous” I said. “Someone at the Tower has requested to speak with you.” Echo said, nervously again. “Yeah, I know, I already talked to Eris,” I explained “Now, what’s got you worked up? “No, not Eris.” His voice became very serious, as if to tell us bad news, “It’s Toland.” Prologue/Directory [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/139146382/0/0[/url]