Masterpost: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/253000143/0/0 “And… decrypted.” Crucius shut his eye beam off, and Zahir held the datapad closer to his face. The same datapad he had found on Altair’s corpse. “A lot of the information on here has been remotely purged. Only the contents of the local drive remain.” “Damn the cloud.” The exo remarked as he began skimming the files. -Log 5. Subject: Korne and Altair -Writer: Arcturus -The= The text on the screen began to fizzle out, and an ominous voice that sounded like the roar of a minotaur if put to practice blared from the datapad. “I see you were foolish enough to try to access my files.” Zahir jolted back. “What’s the meaning of this? Why are Korne and Altair’s names together? You… Arcturus… how do you know them?” Zahir yelled at the tablet, not noticing a small Vex eye sprouting from the bottom of one of its edges. “I have no reason to tell you anything, fool.” Zahir stared at the blank screen for what seemed like hours, unable to come up with a response. There were a lot of things he wanted to know, but the single sentence from Arcturus had killed any momentum he had in the conversation. “Would you like me to explain something at the least, then? Very well. Listen closely. That hunter, Korne. He can be fixed.” Arcturus explained, sounding quite bored. “What?” “He can be fixed. Are you aware of how he is split in time? There is a way out. The root of his identity crisis lies in his memory. So the only way to repair his mind…” “Is to wipe his memories.” “Smart man.” Arcturus praised sarcastically, “He will be made anew and return to life as he had it before. I am sure his ghost would be quite pleased as well. That poor creature has to live with a braindead idiot half the time he is awake.” “Wouldn’t that be… killing him? Taking his memories?” Zahir’s hope was sunken immediately. He should have known that good news would arrive with a dilemma in tow. “Precisely! You would never kill your fellow man, correct?” Laughter came from the device. A sick, hoarse laugh. “I wouldn’t.” He replied instantly. “Yes! You wouldn’t! I knew I could count on you to make the right choice. You… people like you make such harsh choices in the pursuit of peace. Tell me… wouldn’t you like a world free of the pain that arrives from choices like this? You are angry at the fact that there is no better solution. What if I told you that I pursue a world in which these things don’t happen?” Zahir went silent again, holding the datapad. Surely, leaving Korne as he was was the better of the two choices he was presented with. But what did Arcturus mean? A world without conflict? No pain? “Very well. I will leave you with that.” A vex eye peered at Zahir from behind the device, and the titan immediately threw it against the wall of his apartment, shattering it into pieces. “What a mess…” The titan sighed as he began to clean up. Korne looked up at the sky as Io’s mountainous volcanic vents blew smoke into the atmosphere, unfailing to be dominated by the presence of Jupiter. The sight meant nothing to him. “Hey, hunter.” A voice behind him called. The hunched guardian turned to meet a titan in bright blue armor. “I need a couple pieces o’ spinmetal. You got any?” Korne looked the titan up and down. “Spin… spin?” “Spinmetal. You know, twisty silver stuff you find in the Cosmodrome. Don’t tell me ya don’t have any. I mean, I don’t, but it’s ‘cause I used all mine” Korne tilted his head in confusion, unable to comprehend the flurry of words thrown at his ears. “Hey, you listening? Don’t you ignore me.” The titan grabbed Korne by the cloak and turned the now distracted hunter to face him. “Spinmetal. Hand it over. Unless you’re too stupid to access your vault.” Korne, now frightened, put his hand to his belt. “D-don’t… let go… let go!” His voice grew into a snarl as he finished his sentence The titan saw Korne draw his knife and sent his fist into the hunter’s head in immediate retaliation. He stormed off as Korne hit the ground, mumbling and cursing to himself. He soon disappeared into the distance on his sparrow. “Korne!” His ghost fluttered down to the side of his head. “Are you alright? I’m sorry I couldn’t help you, I was-” “Oh, what’s going on? The ground isn’t a place I should be sniffing.” The hunter chuckled, standing upright. His back was no longer slouched, and his voice was more coherent. “Oh.” The ghost straightened herself up. “Hello, Korne.” “And hello to you, too, ghost. What happened? You run away?” “No, it’s… never mind. Is there anything you want to do while we’re here?” “I, erm… ghost, where exactly are we?” He looked around the cold green landscape. “This definitely isn’t Earth.” “Oh! Uh… this is Io, a moon of Jupiter. They don’t talk about it much, but the warlocks use this place to study, because it was the last place the Traveler touched.” She frantically explained. Korne had been altered before even the Taken War, so this version of himself would be unfamiliar with both Io and… “What are those things?” Korne looked down at a patrolling mob of Taken. A shadowy phalanx and pair of thrall roamed around the base of a dead tree, spraying their guttural moans into the air. “I… don’t know? I’ve never seen anything like them.” She lied, as her companion slid down the hill they stood on to get closer. “They look familiar, aside for their pitch blackness. And those glowing eyes. Look at them!” He leaned in close to get a good look, but the phalanx took notice and flipped its shield forward. Korne looked into the gash of its protection, and he was launched back into the hill by a burst of energy. “Now that is a surprise. Never seen a phalanx pull that number on me!” Korne drew his hand cannon and stood up. “Alrighty, let’s get down to business!” He pulled the trigger, but no bullet exited the chamber. “Huh. Not loaded?” “Oh no.” His ghost thought, monitoring his helmet feed, “The other Korne always forgets to reload…” Unable to withstand the onslaught of arc slugs and fiery claws, Korne ducked behind a rock for cover. “Three targets? That’s no problem for me, then.” His hand ignited in solar energy, and the flames began to spread to his hand cannon. He thrust himself into the air, soaring high above the two thrall climbing over his cover, and eliminated them with ease. As they were reduced to ashes behind them, he aimed a third shot at the phalanx, but it raised its shield once again to block his golden gun. As his shot was absorbed harmlessly by the small void before him, the phalanx roared and bashed him aside with its shield. “Not an issue.” Korne let out as he tumbled across the ground, “now you’re open, my friend!” He threw a knife he had drawn earlier at the shadowy beast, and it sailed right into its head as it struggled to move its shield in the direction of its adversary. It screamed as its body was pulled into a pinpoint of nothingness, and its shield and slug rifle clattered to the ground. By the time Korne had stood up and dusted himself off, the armaments too dissipated into nothing. “My, my. What a brawl!” Korne fished out his hand cannon to finally begin reloading it. He gently flipped out its bright blue cylinder and reached into his pocket. “You’re… okay?” The ghost asked. Normally, when Korne saw something out of his own time, he’d revert. “Am I okay? Well, anything I’ve taken, you can heal, if that’s what you’re asking.” He replied warmly as he holstered his newly reloaded gun. His ghost breathed a metaphorical sigh of relief. Perhaps she could spend a little more time than usual with Korne… “You know,” he turned to face the great expanse of the Lost Oasis before him, “this sky is beautiful. More than anything I’ve ever seen.” He bent his knees and took a seat on the ground. “Yeah… it is.” The ghost agreed, floating alongside him. She took in the brilliant view above them. The cool colors of the landscape and sky of Io clashed with the imposing yet calm gas giant in the distance. Perhaps she could live with both Kornes.