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[elaraves]

Reflections

Elara’s footsteps resonated firmly against the marble-colored crystal floor, as she hobbled towards the staircase in front of her. Faint high-pitched squeals of Hive worm death rattles sounded from below her in the open gathering room. The area was still a dim blue shade, with light refracting across the elegantly planned architecture and abnormal flora. Bone fragments just barely peeked out of her tight gloved fist, muscle memory from the field the past few weeks forbidding to let go. She clipped her newly acquired Veist submachine gun onto her belt, and gripped the side of her gut as she cautiously forced herself up the stairway. A few rank-and-file Hive acolytes and thrall swarmed down, but she quickly effortlessly dispatched them with a void orb. She blinked behind the last and sent a hand of consuming energy through their chest, causing them to clatter to pieces immediately around its forceful impact. She flicked the dark oily viscous from her fist, before opening it to expose what she carried.

Shattered pieces of chitin bone and crystal from a Lucent Hive Ghost shined in her exposed gloved palm, loose dust slipping through her fingers.

“No more hostiles,” Question’s voice informed, before flickering into view before her with a shimmer of light, “Let me get a look.”

Elara finally looked down at herself, slowly moving her trembling hand away from her side. Bright crimson stained her palm and down her robes and pant leg. She grimaced from the pain, now that it was staring her in the face, as Question hovered in front.

“You did good,” his voice said as he gave it, and her quick patch healing, a scan, “Let me get the rest for you.”

The segments of his shell opened and spun quickly as the Light washed over them. Elara exhaled sharply as the flesh around the puncture from the Hive Lightbearer’s blade closed. Question’s shell closed again, his single eye watching her.

“All better,” he chirped to her happily.

“Thanks Question,” Elara humbly thanked him through a sigh of relief.

She watched as he bobbed his shell, as if to nod, and turned to open a canister clipped to the opposite side of her belt. She effortlessly removed the top, which opened with a funny dull pop, and let the Lucent Hive Ghost fragments slip inside. It now accompanied at least one other, that was now mixed together in the metal casing. Ikora wouldn’t care regardless, as long as her agents brought them back to study it would all produce the same outcome. Elara firmly secured the top back on, and turned her attention back to the door she was here for, which she now walked towards with an air of importance. It separated and pulled away in three pieces, letting her through without resistance.

The threshold opened to an unfortunately familiar room of Savathun’s throne world, which held the altar used frequently now by Elara and the other Hidden to access information and memories to the Witch Queen’s schemes. Spiked chitin-esque infused architecture and pillars decorated the entire space. Imposingly large bowing thrall statues holding chained light fixtures circled around the elevated shallow water basin, which still held it’s ever-constant shining aura of light. She stepped up to the front of the ethereal altar, Question hovering close beside.

“Ikora, we’re through and ready for that transmat,” his voice said over her comms.

His bright blue light shined like a beam atop the water. Elara deftly removed her helmet, in order to allow for full view, and placed it to her side.

“Copy,” Ikora’s voice responded, “Sending her over now.”

The light coming from Question flickered with intensity as an emptied, angular Ghost shell materialized. Sagira’s distinct golden shell now sat dark and dormant atop the pool. Question backed up more on Elara’s side to give her an ample amount of room to work.

She focused hard on reaccessing Sagira through the altar. Almost immediately Savathun’s towering hologram figure appeared, casting more blue light over them. She was getting the hang of using Deepsight.

“Let’s play a game, shall we?”  Savathun’s cunning voice echoed from the altar, “Two truths, two lies.”

Hmph. More of these puzzles.

“Osiris is dead,” Savathun’s voice started, the hologram shifting to his smaller form.

There was a pause before the next statement was recited, but Elara stood frozen, her attention glossing over completely unintentionally.

Osiris.. No..

A hologram of Ikora and her Ghost materialized off to the side.

“So, which could it be?” Savathun’s voice mocked.

Everything fell quiet again, but she still didn’t move, her jaw locked in anger with her attention still fixed on the first statement. Savathun was currently dead, and she still found ways to play with their emotions. She had returned Osiris alive, but he remained little more than Sagira’s shell, empty of life and unable to wake. Elara’s brow and fists trembled on their own, ferocity bubbling inside her.

“Elara!”

She turned to her Ghost, who whirled anxiously close to her as he stared at her face.

“We’re still here Ikora, I got it all,” he said while glancing to the side, “Sending everything back your way now.”

She watched as the spent Ghost shell dematerialized, being sent back to Ikora’s care. The hologram of Osiris vanished completely along with it, her eyes now only staring into the still nothingness of the pool.

Was he really gone too?.... Oh Saint…

She collapsed to her knees, her full weight falling with her. Finally, the anger erupted from her in the form of a piercing, sharp scream. It vibrated off various surfaces, the lanterns above shaking slightly, and the floor below her cracking as various energies coelesed around her. She held the pitch for longer than she expected, and until she was out of breath. She lowered her head once it was drawn out of her completely, covering her face with her hands. She could still feel the anger and frustration inside of her.

“Elara… don’t believe her,” Question said softly, but close.

She felt a slight nudge on the front of her shoulder, and moved her hands just enough to see it was her Ghost. He was trying to console her.

“Why did she get the Light?! Of anyone, why did the Traveler pick HER?!” Elara said, while actively fighting to keep herself from yelling, “There are plenty of innocent people who’ve died fighting for a better world. Why one who finds joy in murder, manipulation, and destruction?”

“I don’t know.. I agree with Ikora, Zavala, and you… I’m still coming to terms with it myself, but my comment still stands. If you let her get to you, she wins.”

Elara dropped her hands to her lap and truly faced him now. She hated to admit it, but he did have a point.

“There were plenty of “Risen”, corrupt Warlords, and Dredgens before I found you who’ve used the Light, and the authority that came with it, for immoral gain or to kill good people,” Question continued, “This only proves we still have more to learn, which is why we’re out here. Remember- we’re not the answer, but the question that seeks one.”

Elara faintly smiled, before exhaling to steady herself again.

“Need I say more, or shall I go on?”

She shook her head in response.

“Good. Now come on, let’s get back to the Enclave.”

[elaraves]

Enter Red Legion

A female Awoken sat alone at a small table, set outside one of hundreds of food spots nestled around The Last City. An orange awning shielded her, and a purple-colored Ghost that hovered in close to her, from the rain that had begun to trickle overhead. Warm lanterns provided light for them, along with other customers that had gathered. She continued diligently eating a large plate of purchased food, chicken curry with rice, as her Ghost studied her most recent sketches and writing in her opened journal set to the side. Occasionally other patrons would get up to cheer in the other area beside her, to which she’d look up from her plate to the holovid screen they were watching. Another Crucible match was being broadcast, two high-end fireteams were currently matched and were neck and neck in score. She gave a chuckle at the civilians' excitement, she always found it cute that they got so excited for the matches, as if it were like an important soccer match.

“Who do you think will win this match, Elara?” her Ghost asked.

She looked to him, to see he had now turned his attention to the screens as well. She finished chewing a mouthful of her tastefully prepared food as she checked the scoreboard again.

“Mmm.. I think red has a chance, they just need to be a bit more aggressive to stagger blue,” she soon answered, “If they get a power play, they’ll ruin their streak.”

“That’s fair,” her Ghost responded.

She went back to eating again, but paid a bit more attention to the final round. It was nice to finally get some time off duty. Things had been a bit stagnant for her the past few days, so she took some time off to run some errands and spend time down in the City. This restaurant was one of the many she was fond of, but she had been craving this specific meal for over a week now.

“Question, are you done looking it over?” she asked her Ghost, pointing with a finger to her journal.

He gave a soft nod to her. She folded the spine back over to shut it, exposing the aged leather cover, before stashing it with a single hand in the side pouch on her belt.

“So where are we headed first after this?,” her Ghost pondered aloud.

“Well I’m really hoping to find some new textiles for the apartment, I know I want new curtains at least,” she answered, “But also there’s that new shop that I-”

Ka-poom!

An abrupt collision loudly sounded from far behind her, rumbling the ground slightly, as more smaller sounding hits followed. Elara instantly jumped up in alarm.

“What was that?!” she blurted out to her Ghost.

The others around her also took notice, turning in their seats with their attention now towards the sound. She looked up at the feed of the Crucible match again to see a static screen. She grabbed her helmet she had rested on the table and darted off for the nearest clearing for a break in the buildings to see what that noise was coming from. She knew there was no way it was the faint thunderstorm brewing on the outskirts of the wall. She stopped in a clear viewing spot a moment later without issue. What she found overhead was an extremely sudden and unwelcome sight.

Approaching the city was a fleet of airships carrying the storm clouds with them. They had masked their approach while in view of the Tower’s watch posts with giant machines that dumped dark smoke below them. Dozens of smaller gunships broke off from the envoy and turned their sights onto the city below. The area around Elara shook as more gunfire battered the buildings at all sides. Citizens who had gathered around to look in a second of confusion turned and ran screaming in every direction. Elara equipped her helm, along with the rest of her gear.

“Who is that?!” she asked her Ghost, as she began pushing through the chaotic crowd to get another vantage point.

“I don’t know, obviously not friends of ours! I’ll see what the Vanguard reports are and open up comms,” he nervously responded, staying in close reach at her side.

A large explosion sounded from above, a ways ahead of them, shaking her surroundings more violently.

That’s definitely not good…

Elara pushed herself around a corner, and looked up to where the Tower sat in watch atop the City walls, to find it smoking with a freshly collapsed side. She stared frozen in shock. There was no way… How had they managed to get so close without raising alarms? The gunfire continued more aggressively as the ships moved closer in, a clawed contraption on one moving towards the Traveler. Was this really happening? Were the people up in the Tower okay?!

“Work faster on accessing the Vanguard comms! We need to get up there and help!” Elara panicked. She hurled herself forward on her heels, weaving her way through the panicked crowds as fast as she could towards where she had left her ship.

The sounds around her faded briefly as she turned down side streets to dodge the panicked crowds. She vaulted or blinked over any obstacles in her path, her breath growing heavier from the physical activity. One of the nearby back doors flew open, a human and an Exo darting out into the same alley. They just barely managed to throw their weight back to avoid colliding with her, watching her pass before running in the same direction. The light of an opening to a main street of the district shined ahead of her, almost like a beacon of hope.

Elara almost flew past the end of the buildings, skidding to turn where the ships were coming from and looked up at the skies above. Aerial dogfights had already begun taking up the area, the smoke flashing with light from gunfire all around. Both allied and enemy forces now fought with furocity for an advantage. On the left, an enemy ship spiraled out of control encompassed in thick black smoke and flame. The sound of a crushing impact against stone and metal followed moments later.

An almost uncountable number of civilians fled together up the wide cobble street, only a select few stopping to look overhead to witness the events unfolding before them. Nearly fifty yards out, where the groups were moving away from, Elara could faintly see a heavily armored figure. She forced her way out towards them, almost being swept off her feet at least once. When she got closer, she could identify them immediately. It was another Guardian, a Titan directing the people to move with one hand, while holding an assault rifle in the other.

“Hey Titan, need any help?!” Elara yelled out to them through her helmet.

The Titan’s armored head whipped around to see who was calling out to them. She jumped and glided over to break the remaining distance between the both of them.

“Always welcome my friend, thank you,” a man’s voice responded to her with a welcoming, relieved sigh.

The crack of distant ground gunfire drew both of their attentions back forwards.

“Question, give me a quick-fire gun,” Elara said.

Not a moment later, an smg effortlessly flickered into existence in her hands. She turned to face the Titan again, who was looking down the sight of his gun.

“Let’s go,” Elara said.

The Titan gave a reaffirming nod, and they both darted towards the source of distress. Sure enough, not far down the street, enemy forces had landed and had begun storming the area. This was all happening too fast, this had to be a coordinated group. Elara could only make out their size, which was heavyset, and a few flashes of red.

“Do you know who they are?” she questioned the Titan.

“Cabal by the looks of it, not sure numbers or if they have allies,” he responded.

More cover fire, followed by more high-pitched screams, rang out overhead.

“Fuck, they’re going for the people,” Elara growled loudly.

They had to get over there now, but there was still a considerable distance and obstacles in their way. Think Elara, think…

A crazy idea flashed in her mind and she stopped, grabbing at the Titan’s arm. He stopped and looked at her, visible confusion washing over him.

“Can you throw me?” Elara asked.

“Excuse me?” the Titan confusedly muttered.

Elara set her gun on the back of her belt. “If I can get in the air, I can clear the distance faster. Throw me, now!”

He looked down at her and nodded, backing up a few feet. He signaled for her to come at him with a wave of his hand, holding his right arm in a tight bend in front of him. A purple shield flashed into being onto his wrist. Elara pushed herself back a bit further and exhaled deeply, shaking herself in preparation, before sprinting at him.

Just before she hit him head on, she jumped up, pulling her legs in at the knees. Her feet found purchase on his sentinel shield, and he sent her upwards with one strong toss as she springboarded off.

Time stopped for a moment. She was flying feet above the entire crowd. She spiraled in a corkscrew, waiting until she had visual to make her next move. When she did, sure enough there was a wave of enemy Cabal marching in unison towards their position. She raised her right hand higher as they finally caught sight of her overheard, moving their guns from the city civilians onto her. She couldn’t help but smirk slightly. They were too slow.

Flames erupted around her with an accompanying sharp, ringing cry. Wings took form on her back to help carry her, as a fiery sword emerged like a flare from her extended palm. All of the Cabal were firing upon her now, and time quickened back to normal again.

She dodged through a series of aerial dashes and hurled the sword formed out of her very essence down onto them. It crashed into them with intense speed, taking out multiple troops in one hit. More kept advancing to take her down in retaliation, but she kept moving. It didn't matter, she had more Dawnblade swords for them, something that she gladly immediately showed them. With the final blade, she dived down from above, striking it into the last of their numbers before standing calmly on firm ground again unscathed.

She scanned her surroundings in the moment of reprieve that her skillful display had given her. Just around the curve of the main path, she caught a desperate cry. Up ahead, an Awoken laid in pain on the ground, trying to desperately rise to their feet. Another figure was trying to help them up, as more people flooded around them quickly. Elara darted for them, laying a reassuring hand on the figure’s shoulder to alert them of her presence.

They jumped slightly, their face shooting back in her direction. It was another Awoken, young and feminine in appearance with long raven-colored hair pushed behind their shoulders. A small cut was fresh atop their forehead, their bright glowing eyes filled with nothing but fear. Elara turned her attention to the Awoken lying on the ground to tend to their injuries. She looked to be female, roughly the same age as the other, but with bright purple hair trimmed close to frame her face. The white markings across her face were wrinkled in worry as she labored through heavy breaths.

Elara turned to her leg, the source of immediate and obvious concern. She seemed to acknowledge this, shifting it slightly for her searching eyes and hand. A long gash seeped into a tear along the shin of her trousers. It looked as if both were so busy running, they ignored their bumps and bruises. In their panic, the girl tripped and twisted her ankle amongst the surrounding chaos. Elara gently set her hand on the girl’s leg, closing her eyes as she narrowed her focus onto her Light- onto healing.

She felt the energy extend out, enveloping the girl’s injuries with a soothing comfort. The girl gasped slightly in surprise and Elara opened her eyes again. The blood had stopped and the girl anxiously moved her ankle, receiving no immediate pain or discomfort. Deep guttural speech and footsteps sounded from above the hill, ripping Elara’s attention from them. More Cabal were arriving, separating into squads to cover more ground. One had taken notice and was marching for them. Elara pushed herself up to her feet in front of the two, to prevent them from being hit, and grabbed her smg again from the back of her belt. She was ready to take them on, so the others could flee to safety.

A flash of purple flew above her, bashing into the Cabal forces with incredible speed. It ricocheted off the enemies, knocking them out before flying back towards her. The Titan from before landed beside her catching it, his shield, before it fizzled out of existence.

“Thanks,” Elara exhaled.

He nodded to her, before running to meet any others that remained head on with his guns and fists. Elara turned back to the two Awoken she helped, happy to find them both already on their feet.

“Thank you,” the purple-haired Awoken shakily muttered to her. She put her arm on her friend’s shoulder, who helped carry some of her weight without a single word.

“Of course,” Elara quickly said, “Now go, get out of here.”

They both nodded and quickened their pace away to join in the evacuation process.

Elara’s attention returned back to her new Titan ally, who had already cleared a considerable amount ahead. Elara wasn’t surprised, that was just how Titans were. She shook her head and gave a single chuckle before rushing to catch up.

“I got through!” Question’s voice suddenly rang loudly in relief.

“One sec!” Elara shouted to him, running along a manmade incline of supplies and construction. She jumped off, throwing a grenade of pure paracausal energy across into the distance. It split into multiple seekers that all latched onto the closest enemies, a group of wardogs that sniffed them out, and exploded them into mist. Elara tucked and rolled as she fell back to the street, pushing herself up against a small bit of protruding wall beside the Titan.

“Cover me for a bit!” she raised her voice so he could hear her over the sound of his gun.

“Got it!” he responded, not taking his eyes off his targets.

Elara held her gun close to her chest and watched his back as she patched herself through with the help of her Ghost.

“Warlock Ves reporting, engaging Cabal in the Kitarni District. Requesting reports and backup,” she said as calmly as she could muster, “I repeat- Kitarni District requesting reports and backup!”

“Agent Ves, we’re on our way,” an unfamiliar, yet reassuring voice immediately responded, “Converge on Warren Square.”

“Copy!”

Elara flipped through the comms, finding dozens of other districts facing the same scenario as them. Reports were flooding in, everyone throwing out clear and cohesive intel as quickly as possible. She caught the name of the group they were dealing with multiple times- The Red Legion.

“Vanguard report- Evacuate all civilians to transports!” a very familiar voice finally ordered over comms. It was Ikora Rey, the Warlock Vanguard official.

Good, so that means people made it out of the Tower then.

“Copy Commander, is the Tower cleared?” Elara asked.

“The last of our transports are leaving. I will aid in further efforts below once I secure the Speaker.”

Elara muted the functions in her helmet, in order to return her attention back to what was transpiring around her.

“Question, keep an eye on comms for me with any updates,” she said.

“Already on it,” his welcoming voice chirped.

Elara turned around, peeking around cover with her gun hand, to aid the Titan.

“The Tower is mostly cleared, orders are to evac the rest in the city,” Elara shouted to him over their gunfire, “We need to regroup with others at Warren Square.”

He stopped firing. The area around them fell silent, other than the distant crack of bullets, rumble of explosions and thunder, and continuous blaring alarms. Elara looked back over her cover to find no Cabal left standing.

“Well then lead the way,” the Titan said, gesturing ahead with his free hand.

Elara pushed herself up, looking to both sides, before dashing out into the open. She knew the best routes to take, having traversed this section of the City multiple times over in her years. She was careful to keep to the sides, and the occasional deserted cart and abandoned stall. She knew they couldn’t risk being caught out in the open and they still had more than a few blocks to go. It was disturbing to her as they passed through how empty the place was now. The Last City was a safe haven for all people, no matter their race or creed. To think that this Red Legion would come here and destroy that ideal, to take away these peoples’ home and last place to exist without having to always look over their shoulder, it deeply angered her to her core. She looked up at the Traveler again, just barely making out its shape from behind the smoke and flashing lights of overhead fighting in the thick clouds. The clawed contraption she had seen earlier gripped onto the side facing where the Tower had stood.

Elara stopped abruptly in confusion and concern.

The Titan skidded to a halt just behind, almost knocking into her. “What is it?” he asked her.

“What are they doing to the Traveler?” she said, pointing up to where she was looking.

He followed her hand and paused for a moment when he finally realized it as well.

“I have no idea, but it can’t be good. Let’s keep moving.”

She begrudgingly nodded before moving again. Only a couple more blocks, come on.

“It’s three streets up, then you take a right. You keep going until you see the clearing on your left,” Elara told the Titan as they continued forward.

They made it to their turn without any issue or roadblock. Up ahead however, a few nearby explosions almost rocked them off their feet. Elara stopped for a moment, seeing fire take atop one of the larger buildings. Heavy footsteps were getting closer again. Both the Titan and her knew what that meant, and they stopped and positioned themselves accordingly with guns at the ready.

From the same direction, a small group of civilians ran into view. They had to have been caught between forces and fleeing. Elara threw herself to her feet, waving them down to come to her. One of them seemed to take notice, an Exo at the front, and gestured the others towards her. There was another Exo and an adult Awoken. The thing that hit her the hardest was finding that between them were a few adolescents. One of them was a tan-skinned Human girl, who held another small girl similar in appearance, likely a sibling, as tightly into her chest as possible. She covered her head with one hand, likely trying to keep her from witnessing anything that was happening to prevent any further fear. It didn’t stop the tears that were already soaking her cheeks. Elara moved further up, and switched to a pulse rifle, as they all ducked around her position for any place they could get cover. Not a moment later, the first of the Red Legion forces moved into view.

Elara held her ground, not daring to get closer, yet also not wanting to retreat. Anger boiled in her again. Anger for these innocent people. Anger for the hope of peace that would now be permanently shattered for them. Those kids would likely carry these invisible scars for years to come.

“Elara, the Speaker! He’s gone!” Question’s voice rang through her head without warning.

She ducked under the cement barricade she was shooting from, the meaning of his words still echoing in her ear.

“What do you mean he’s gone?!” she questioned her Ghost.

“I mean he’s GONE… Ikora gave the alert, his area was utterly destroyed.”

She mouthed swears under her breath, before turning back to fire off a few rounds and turning to the Titan a few feet across from her.

“The Speaker is gone! We need to get these people out of here now before things get worse!” she shouted over to him.

He was quiet for a moment, probably turning her grim news over in his head.

“Alright! I’ll block, you fire!” he responded.

Elara nodded back to him, covering him as he moved forward. From his wrist, another shield coalesced into being, this time with a wide tinted wall of energy. She watched as the enemy fire was practically eaten by this man’s light. She couldn’t help but be impressed. She didn’t waste anymore time however, blinking from her cover over to his side. It was almost like target practice now, but the forces were still swarming in.

A series of shapes darted above on the rooftops just on the edge of her peripheral vision. Elara whipped to the side, pegging them as more enemies, as she heard what sounded like energy scraping together as a purple-colored light appeared. It shot off like a comet into the distance, the air being cut sharply as it was released. Elara put her gun down, she knew now who they were.

The light hit one of the enemy Cabal square in the chest, immediately causing them to combust into similar purple energy that erupted into a bubbling mass. It latched onto the rest of the enemies around it, covering them with a similar purple aura. They struggled to move, desperately attempting to pull themselves from where they were now anchored. Not a moment after, a large purple orb of nova energy shot off from the same rooftop, arching perfectly for them, and exploding them all into nothingness. Everything was quiet again, and Elara’s Titan friend let his shield drop once more.

The two Guardians above them, a Warlock and a Hunter based on the supers they just used, jumped down to meet them. Elara had already started gesturing to the people they were protecting that it was safe to come out. Her Titan ally marched down the alley she had told him they were headed, being careful to make sure it was secure.

“Safe to assume you’re Warlock Ves?” the Hunter asked.

“Indeed,” Elara answered, “Thanks for the assist.”

She extended her hand out, to which they both took to shake in turn.

“Not a problem, we have more civs waiting at our rendezvous,” the Warlock answered.

Elara turned to her group, who stood around her as if waiting for instructions.

“Alright everyone, follow me,” Elara said to them, “We’re getting you out of here.”

She moved quickly to catch up to the Titan from earlier, the civilians following anxiously close behind. The Guardians that aided them took the rear, making sure that there was no one following them before moving out.

They all moved through the alleyway without any other resistance, although everyone remained on edge. The Titan stopped up ahead where the opening to the courtyard was, patiently waiting for everyone to catch up while his gaze strategically darted around to the areas where enemies could come from. Elara curved around the opening to find three small aircrafts, most likely belonging to these Guardians, packed with other city refugees. At least two other Guardians were standing guard over the bay doors leading to them with guns at the ready. If there were more, she couldn’t see them. Elara turned and gently, but swiftly, guided the group of civilians she helped to them. They all darted together for the ships, possibly their only shot at safety. She, along with the other Lightbearers in her group followed close behind.

“We got space over here,” one of the ship guards, another Titan, called out with a wave of a hand.

They moved to the side as the newcomers orderly filed in towards the front end of the ship. The Warlock that greeted Elara joined her in directing them where to sit as quickly as possible. The kids from earlier stayed close together, most holding back visible tears in their eyes, a few resting back as they breathed slight sighs of relief. The girl who held her younger sibling still held her as close as she could. Her eyes stayed still, locked ahead in shock and fear, as she gently brushed the little girl’s back to soothe her through her now frantic sobs. Pity weighed on Elara, and she moved up to and kneeled before them.

“It’s alright, my young friends,” she said to the group as she laid a reassuring hand on the young girl's shoulder, “As long as you stick together, you’ll make it through,” she continued.

The little girl calmed slightly, but was still visibly upset.

“And here, I have something for you, little one,” Elara said to the young girl as she reached into one of the pockets in her robes.

That caught her attention. She wiped her eyes and turned around completely to Elara now, seemingly forgetting everything that was happening in that moment thanks to her curiosity.

Elara searched by touch through her deep pockets until her hand brushed against a familiar piece of scrap metal. She effortlessly plucked it from inside and held it out to the young girl.

“A token for good luck. I got this from one of the Bray facilities on Mars.”

In between her gloved thumb and index finger rested a bright orange bottle cap. A bubbly lettered white and blue Bray logo was stamped atop. Elara liked to collect little trinkets from her travels for herself and the kids she crossed in the Last City. Some of them were likely to never step foot off of Earth, so it always felt nice to bring a piece of the galaxy back to them. That and it felt like she was reclaiming part of their collective history, while encouraging curiosity and knowledge.

The little girl’s eyes widened slightly as she cracked the faintest smile. She carefully took it from Elara and turned it over in her small hands, keeping it close to her chest as if to mimic her older sister. Elara looked to her sister as she patted the back of her head softly as a sign of a gentle departure. She mouthed the words “thank you” to Elara as she stood up again.

Elara nodded in recognition. “Thank you for being so brave,” she said softly to her, before turning away.

She moved towards where the other Guardians, including the Titan she arrived with, had begun to gather just beyond the ship loading doors. They seemed to be discussing strategy, so she figured it was important to at least listen in.

“We can get all these people out now, but who’s to say we won’t get shot down at the Wall,” the last Guardian of this group, another Warlock said in hushed urgency.

“I can stay behind,” the Nightstalker offered, “I can look for any stragglers before making my way out, it’s what I’m good at.”

“Are you sure, Arlo?” the Voidwalker asked.

“Yeah, it just doesn’t feel right leaving yet.”

“I can stay too,” Elara joined in, “We can both cover the group as you fly out.”

They all looked at her, the Nightstalker nodding in agreement to her idea.

“That’d be the safest, but are you sure? We might not be able to safely make a run back,” the other Titan added.

“Yeah I have my own ride. Besides, I’m going up there," she answered, pointing up at the burned Traveler, “I’m not taking any lightless people along.”

They all looked up at it as well, staring in silence and concern.

“Well the longer we wait, the riskier it gets. Let’s get these engines turning,” the Voidwalker said, before darting for the front of the ship they had previously gone in.

The others split amongst themselves, the Nightstalker taking large leaps to scale their way to the nearby rooftops. The Titan Elara paired with earlier moved closer to her.

“So the name’s Ves?” he questioned her.

Elara smiled under her helm.

“Partially. First name is Elara,” she answered, “I never caught your’s?”

“Name’s Sciath.”

“Well I’m glad our paths crossed.”

Elara extended her palm outwards to him for a friendly parting gesture, which he took with one firm clasp.

“Same here,” he responded.

They both let go, to which Elara turned to scale the buildings to get into position. Before she took a step, she turned back to him one last time.

“Oh and look after those kids for me, will you?” she said to him as he also turned for the ships.

He looked back and nodded to her. “Wouldn’t dream of anything else. Just look after yourself and your partner, alright?”

Elara nodded back, and they both finally split from one another to continue to their predestined positions. The ships’ engines whirled to life as she effortlessly rose up to the edge of the rooftop the Nightstalker was waiting at.

“Here, if you need it,” they said, once she crouched on the stone beside them.

She turned to find them handing her a long scout rifle as they propped a sniper rifle against the lip of the edge. She took it without complaint, thanking them softly. She watched as the ships began to slowly ascend in front of them, the draft from their jets buffeting them both slightly. The ships hovered for a moment in front of them, before the Nightstalker gave a signal to say that they were clear. They both took to the skies, one after the other. Elara moved into the rifle’s sight to watch as they moved East. They keep low, while staying a good distance away from the smoldering Tower ruins. A few small aircrafts seemed to notice them moving out, but the pair was quick to target the weapons installed underneath. The aerial City fighters made quick work of them after that. The fleeing makeshift transports sped up as they reached, and flew over, the outer walls. Elara smiled, and rested the gun down in relief, as they rocketed off out of sight beyond.

[elaraves]

Exorcism Aftermath

Elara walked quietly down a hall and past multiple rooms, clutching a folded paper tightly in her dominant hand and a small cardstock box in the other. She weaved around anyone that walked by her, already knowing exactly where she was headed. She quickly reached the end of the corridor, and turned to her left down the opposite. Not far off, a familiar purple-robed figure stood outside one of the rooms. She had to fight the urge to break into a dash towards them, instead walking with purpose.

“Ikora,” Elara called out to her superior.

She turned to face her, her attention being drawn from the window she was standing in front of. She gave a slight, yet welcoming smile as Elara approached.

“Elara,” Ikora repeated back to her in greeting, as she stopped at her side.

Elara’s eyes met what she was watching in silence.

The former Warlock Osiris rested on a clean cot inside, past the glass barrier. He looked… almost foreign and strange to her. He was only in basic clothing, his well worn armor, helmet, and mask kept stored away at the moment. A small shrine of “Get Well” cards and gifts had formed on a set of drawers and a table on the opposite wall. He was tucked into the bedding with care, his sleeping head elevated slightly while a device hooked up to his index finger and chest fed his current vital signs to a side monitor. His face looked saddened in his rest, yet it fortunatly didn’t appear pained anymore. He looked stripped of everything she knew him for, which troubled her. Another familiar, imposing armored figure sat just beside him, with their back facing towards the window. Their patient, gloved hand rested just beside Osiris, a faint purple hue washing over him from their plumed helmet. It was good to see Saint-14 more at ease now that their recovery mission had succeeded and he uphead his oath to bring Osiris home safely.

“No new progress?” Elara muttered to Ikora, her eyes still observing the old pair.

She heard Ikora exhale deeply. “No.”

Silence fell between them both and their watchful eyes.

She still felt bad. Sure, it was a huge win for them to walk away without any losses, but she knew it weighed on everyone to see Osiris like this. Saint, his partner, and Ikora, his protege, the most of all. A lot of it still didn’t feel real, even as she was looking right at it.

“I’m still sorry we didn’t get her,” Elara muttered as she glanced away.

She felt Ikora reach for her shoulder with a delicate, yet firm hand, and she turned to face her again.

“Don’t be, we did what we set out for,” Ikora said.

“I knew she had a trick up her sleeve… I knew and I still went with it.”

“This isn’t anyone’s fault, except hers. This isn’t the end of it, we’ll be ready next time.”

Elara didn’t respond, but gave a nod in return. There were still many consequences to Savathun’s infiltration, but she didn’t want to bother Ikora with it anymore than she probably already was with it herself. Still… the list was huge. The Hidden records, Tower and Vanguard information and reports, the Psion’s anti-Light weapon, the crown of sorrow, and no doubt the fragments of Sagira’s shell… But the thing that hit her the most, was that Savathun kept her word. She could have lied or killed Osiris herself after everything. Was this another game? If not, her entire character was in question..

“I have these,” Elara said to break the awkward tension, holding up what she held in both hands, “The card is for Osiris and the box is for Saint and you.”

Ikora took both carefully in hand and opened the top flap to the box.

“It’s not Dawning cookies, but I figured you both needed a little pick-me-up treat.”

Ikora smiled again, this time with more genuine relief, at the cookies in her hand and closed the box. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to set this card with the others.”

Elara smiled back. “Give Saint my best too, and let me know when Osiris is awake. With your approval, I’d like to be there when discussions are held on his recollection of events,” she said, “Until then, I’ll be doing my own research, but you know how to reach me.”

Ikora nodded. “Of course. Try to get some rest though.”

Elara nodded again, but said nothing. She withheld her decline to the remark, hoping her face didn’t give her away either. She knew she was going to be in the books for a while, the next few days at minimum. She gave a soft, parting bow with her head, which Ikora exchanged in return, and walked away down the path she had just followed in.

“I marked areas of interest in the archives like you asked,” Question’s voice peeked through to her, now that she wasn’t preoccupied.

“Thanks Quest, I’ll head there now. Hope you’re ready to spend some time studying with me,” she answered.

“Always. Besides, it’ll be just like old times.”

Images of the puppeted Osiris from the past year flashed through her head. The flash of cunning that barely peeked through his eyes from her. Their conversations… A shiver went down her spine, before she pushed it away again.

It could have been anyone, even her.. She wasn’t going to let it happen ever again, if she could help it.

She continued on in silence.

[elaraves]

Relished Leverage

Elara’s footsteps resonated against metal plate flooring as she walked through recognizable Eliksni kitbash architecture. It had been a long time since she had stepped foot in this place, something that she had actually been proud of. The arched hallway ended at a closed steel door that appeared spot welded together in places. Elara set her newly-favored auto rifle over her shoulder and removed her tinted helmet, holding it between her waist and the crook of her left arm. She knocked firmly on the door and waited. It didn’t take long for the slot set in it to slide open, exposing multiple glowing blue eyes that peered directly at her. They let out familiar guttural chittering mixed with an alienated speech, through a tone of annoyed confusion. She wasn’t surprised, she did show up unannounced after all.

“Ne tas ze hage,” Elara recited back to them in their own dialect.

They looked at her as a breathy cooing escaped their lips. She hoped she said that right, she was still learning their language and it never sounded quite right to her. The Eliksni she worked with at the Tower had told her she spoke with her tongue instead of her throat. The slot shot closed and the door slid open with a hollow whirl of machinery.

Two Eliksni stood in front of the doorway, decorated in dark copper-colored armor with protective spines on the back that faded into an earthy green. They held their trusted spears, that flickered with arc energy across the blade, at their sides in one hand. The one closest to Elara beckoned her forward with one of their other three free hands. She nodded her head in recognition and calmly walked forwards. It looked like it worked out after all.

The two followed behind her at a comfortable distance as she continued down her familiar path. She passed by multiple machine parts and materials, along with various stage weaponry and pikes as they walked. A few other similarly dressed Eliksni looked up from their work to glance at her as she passed, but returned to their tasks just as quickly. Lightbearers weren’t uncommon to see now, and they knew the ones that passed the threshold would seldom bother them. It probably helped that she was Awoken too, as she could easily pass as one of the Reefborn.

Elara walked up the last set of stairs before an opening into a warmly lit chamber. A comically large Eliksni guarded by another sat comfortably in a tethered seat, tapping at yellow icons projected on a screen incorporated into the side arm. They looked up from their work to see who their new company was. Immediately their bright eyes narrowed in recognition from the space between their armored helm and rebreather. They swiped the screen away from their hands and shifted forwards to promote an imposing presence. Their bodyguard stood at attention, while the escorts behind moved to flank her on either side of the exit.

“Spider,” Elara welcomed through a smirk and a nod.

He glared down upon where she stood. “What is this?,” his voice clicked in disgust, “Why are you here?”

It came as no shock to Elara that he was still upset with her. She was one of the Guardians who advocated for and helped obtain Crow and Glint’s freedom. He didn’t have a weapon through forced obedience to twist to his every whim and call anymore. She hadn’t forgotten about the ordeal either. Frankly, he was lucky he was still breathing. Her Ghost stopped her from putting a bullet between his eyes on multiple occasions before and after Glint’s shell was fixed.

“I come with word, freely given to an old ally,” Elara responded.

An audible, almost purring noise that he commonly, involuntarily produced when speaking cut the air as he pondered her words. He rested back comfortably into his seat and laced both sets of his fingers together.

“And what, pray tell, may that be?,” he questioned.

“The Queen knows,” she effortlessly answered.

Another guttural growl-like noise curled through his mask. She knew he was angry, and she had no doubt he already knew of her return, but it was rewarding getting to see his reaction. There was a flicker of fear behind his eyes, one that she had been waiting to finally see. Mara Sov had that effect on others, and it felt riveting knowing that it hadn’t skipped over him.

“I’d make yourself scarce. I hear Venus has low activity,” she added.

There was notable silence between them after that. She could tell he was still mad, but he seemed to be turning her words over in his head. She was honestly surprised he wasn’t speaking, she had expected him to yell and throw her out.

“Is that all?,” he finally questioned her with an air of annoyance.

Elara nodded her head. Immediately, he motioned for her to go with his right-sided hands.

“Then leave us,” Spider said.

He didn’t have to tell her twice. Elara took her helmet in both hands and slipped it on over her head as she turned towards the exit. She muttered a farewell to the group before walking back out the way she came.

None of them saw it from underneath her helm, but a wide grin had formed across her face. She had to hold back a chuckle. She didn’t care what became of the Spider after she finished her work with the Queen and her Techeuns, but it felt almost intoxicating knowing she had something over him for once. Karma was finally here, and she was thrilled to see it happening firsthand. She’d inform Petra of their meeting if asked, but for now, she was going to take the time to gloat as she made her way back.

[elaraves]

The Assignment

Elara sat in a cushioned seat across from a large curved wooden desk. The warm lights were dim this morning, the newly returned sunlight glaring down through the wide windows that overlooked the Last City. A few were opened fully, allowing the summer breeze to faintly catch the few mini windchimes and other hanging decor. The desk in front of her was just as cluttered with books and transcripts as the last time her appearance was requested here. To her left against the wall, a variety of artifacts also remained cared for. A stick of incense slowly burned away beside them, the familiar faint smell of dark berries filling the air.

“Thank you for coming,” a familiar voice welcomed Elara from her side.

Elara turned to face her superior, Ikora Rey. She entered from her side room behind one of her many impressive walls of tomes and text, and placed a few sheets of parchment down on her desk. She gave a faint smile when she faced Elara, but it quickly subsided, a grim look unintentionally returning to her. Elara could tell there was something bothering her immediately.

She sat down in her own chair and laced her fingers together atop her desk as she affixed her attention on Elara.

“Do you know why I called you here?” she asked.

Elara’s brow furrowed with apologetic concern as she shook her head. She had no idea what this was about, but knew it had to be important based on the energy she was picking up, other than being called privately.

“There has been an.. unfolding of events,” Ikora answered carefully.

Elara’s eyes widened slightly as she held her breath in worry, but she remained silent for Ikora to speak.

“I’m sure you’re aware of Saint’s search for Osiris after the Vex invasion in the Eliksni quarters?” she continued.

Elara nodded her head. She was down there in the old Botza Ruins helping House Light recover from the assault when Ikora summoned her. It was unbelievable how much rubble and debris was still being removed. The refugees also needed extra hands rebuilding living quarters, along with other equipment, to make living in an old bombed out center easier. She found it a little ironic, given that they were capable of growing multiple arms, but regardless she was more than willing to assist where she could. Many of the inhabitants had gotten used to her company now, something that she had worked hard to achieve. She always wanted to show them that she was a friend. It helped knowing some of the basics of their language. Velask was a word she’d gotten too used to saying.

“Well he followed his trail to the Dreaming City, where Crow met with him, and they found.. him… or so they thought.”

Elara paused, she didn’t like how she said “him”.

Ikora turned her attention to the parchment she set on the desk between them and pushed it further out to meet Elara.

“You filed a private report on Osiris weeks prior that was dismissed,” Ikora calmly recited to her as she gestured at the paper, “Would you mind explaining that to me?”

Elara’s face twisted in defensive confusion. Was this about her report? For doing what she thought was right?

“What do you mean?” she retorted.

“You’re not in trouble, I just have questions. Can you tell me why you filed it?” Ikora calmly responded.

Elara took a breath and a moment to recollect herself and her thoughts.

“He was spending a lot of time pouring over the records after you gave him full access, an almost unhealthy amount,” Elara began, “I’d occasionally start conversation in passing and.. there just seemed something different about him. I shrugged it off as… Sagira’s passing.”

The both of them collectively held a moment of uneasy silence at the mention of their mutual friend’s fate.

“Then he stopped me to ask about the Red War… about how the Traveler was caged by Ghaul…. I shared my story and observations. I was close enough and looked over at his research and found many texts of accounts of early Guardians during the Dark Ages, theories on how the Traveler came into being and gave its power to the Ghosts, with a few recovered from Future War Cult on their Vex tech and a diagram of the device that stunned Zavala’s Ghost… I offhandedly joked with him, asking if he was trying to make his own Ghosts…”

Elara shifted a bit in her seat and looked away from Ikora for a moment.

“He laughed it off, but there was a sliver of a moment… his eyes.. there was a flicker in them. A look of hungry power behind a mask..”

Elara looked back to Ikora, who still watched her intently.

“I made the report that night.. Something just didn’t sit well with me. I thought if anything, if it was still mourning, the report would force him to talk with someone about it but… nothing came of it.”

Ikora took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, before speaking.

“I want to apologize for that.. you were right,” she said.

“What do you mean? What happened?” Elara interrupted, “Is everyone ok?!”

“Osiris wasn’t… Osiris,” Ikora answered.

Elara stopped to turn that sentence over in her head.

“Again.. what do you mean?”

“We were deceived for a time. I was made aware by Saint that Savathun, the Witch Queen, disguised herself as him.”

A shiver went down Elara’s spine. To think their enemy was among them this entire time, working in the background while offering “council”. Elara had read of such deceptions in a few of the fantasy novels she occasionally divulged in during her free time, but she never expected to actually be faced with it, let alone speak with them.

“She was contained by Mara Sov, who she made a mutual agreement with. If the Queen removes her worm, she agrees to return the real Osiris to us and work to remove the curse Quria left on the Dreaming City.”

“And we agreed to this?” Elara said slightly bitterly, “We can trust that she’ll keep her word, that Osiris is still-”

She didn’t finish her sentence. She couldn’t bear to say it, and the hurt in Ikora’s eyes made her feel even worse. Instead, she called out to her Ghost, who apperated beside her moments later.

“Can you inform Misraaks and Vikrhys that I will be departing on business for some time,” she asked him.

He nodded with his entire shell to her, before disappearing from sight again.

“What are you planning?” Ikora questioned her.

“I’m going to offer my help to the Reefborn,” Elara answered, “I might not like it, but if it’s our best shot at getting him back and stopping the curse cycle too, then I’ll do what I can. That and I want to keep an eye on things and make sure there’s no deceit.”

“So we’re in agreement then?”

“Wait.. were you going to assign me to this?”

Ikora smiled faintly and nodded. “I want more people there I can trust, and clearly you have the eye for it already.”

Elara smiled back, it felt nice to be entrusted with such an important endeavor.

“I only ask that you handle this with discretion. I know it will take no time for word to spread of these recent events, but I want to make sure nothing prevents our and the Reef’s success.”

Elara nodded and stood from her seat. “You have my word. Besides, I need to catch up with Crow and Petra separately. I can only imagine how the first meetings have gone so far. They probably spooked him already.”

A single chuckle escaped Ikora’s lips as she rolled her eyes. “Thank you, friend,” she smiled in relief.

Elara nodded and turned, walking back towards and through the sliding door from which she came.

[elaraves]

A Humble Gift

Elara Ves walked alone with her Ghost through the decaying European Dead Zone. The sun shined brightly down upon her back, providing warmth in the current chilly climate. She continued over an overgrown cement roadway, past abandoned cars from a long forgotten era lying along it. Elara kicked a few stray pebbles below her feet, enjoying the small joys of being outside the Tower. She looked up to the tunnel she was approaching to see a familiar figure covered in darkened armor, sitting leisurely in wait on the rubble stacked on one side of the opening.

“So he made it,” Question muttered to her, “It’s kind of weird seeing him not at… well you know..”

“Why wouldn’t he come, we’re acquaintances now after all. We shared drinks to toast our victory last week,” Elara quietly responded from behind her equipped helmet.

“That was nice… It felt good finally having something to celebrate, even for just a moment. I don’t think I’ve seen you two at such ease.”

Elara smiled faintly, before returning to her neutral expression.

“I just wish he could have shared it with others too.”

They continued walking in silence, but Elara knew he agreed with her. The figure noticed their arrival and stood from his temporary post. Elara waved gently to him, faintly noticing his Ghost happily twirling into view beside him. They both turned to each other, most likely to converse as they patiently waited for her. When the two finally converged, they shared a firm mutual handshake.

“Glad you could make it,” Elara said.

“Well.. I have a lot of free time now,” the figure joked, his normal voice slightly distorted by the voice modulator in his helmet, “Now, what’s this “surprise” you have for me?”

“Follow me.”

Elara held a hand out below her Ghost and gave a soft nod. A beautifully crafted sparrow flashed into existence at her side. She threw a leg over the seat and turned to face her ally.

“Guess we’ll catch up with you,” his Ghost commented.

“What do you mean?” Elara teased.

She extended her palm to the space between them, a simple undecorated sparrow appearing beside her. She wished she could see his face past his helmet, but the giddy movement of his Ghost worked for now.

“She’s an older model. I used her briefly before upgrading, so I figured you’d have more use of her,” Elara said, “Feel free to decorate her how you like, she’s your’s.”

“Thank you,” her ally’s humbled voice said.

Elara waited a moment for him to get on and look over the control panel.

“I lied though, you’ll need to catch up,” she said, immediately pulling back on the throttle of her ride.

Her sparrow roared to life flying forward under her calculated guidance, leaving only a trail of light and dust behind. She weaved effortlessly down the darkened tunnel, bobbing back and forth around more destroyed cars and caved in architecture. Up ahead the light from the end grew larger before her, until she skidded to a halt outside the archway in the open air. She quickly looked behind to make sure her ally was following, to see them in steady pursuit behind. He was just being a bit more cautious, trying to get a feel for his new ride.

Elara turned back and continued forward over the grass, rock, and past the long abandoned encampment. Up ahead she found a familiar, partially destroyed attempt at a bridge over the gaps in the cliffs surrounding her. When she got closer, she lined up her sparrow and pushed it into the highest possible speed. There was a moment of weightlessness and adrenaline, as her sparrow flew up and over the collapsed section, before touching down upon the soil of the other side. She skidded to the side as she turned the nose to the left, and came to a soft halt just up ahead before a naturally-occurring rock formation. She turned to watch for her companion as she dismounted, letting the engine come to rest below her. Following her example, they flew less gracefully over the gap, coming to a more bumpy landing.

“Now there’s something you never thought you’d see,” she chuckled softly to her Ghost.

Her ally came to a hard stop beside her and let their arms fall off the handles.

“It’s just a short walk up ahead,” Elara’s voice broke the silence between them.

Elara allowed Question to transmat her sparrow as she climbed over the rock to continue down the path before them. He vanished from sight after finishing, and Elara’s ally and his Ghost followed suit.

It had been a while since Elara was last in this area, having been busy for months on her own in the field. She allowed herself to fondly take in her surroundings, now that it was quiet. Normally she’d be too busy to appreciate the trees and the accompanying hardy flora growing around them and at her feet. A few birds flew off the branches from overheard, chirping as they moved in unison. Elara stopped when she reached the end, a rocky ascent standing before her and a forced opening to a man-made structure inside to her right.

“What’s that?” her ally questioned, looking over the mangled debris that was scattered about.

“Oh, that’s one of the Black Armory Forges. I can explain a bit about it later, but it’s not what we’re here for,” she answered, before beginning to climb the rocky cliff face before her, “This way.”

With the combined use of her climbing and Warlock jumps, Elara had no trouble scaling above to the top plateau. Her ally had no trouble either, but relied on some of their calculated leaps inside of floating. Elara extended her arms forward to what she had waiting for them, once they both safely reached the top.

“And here we are,” she said.

Before them sat a neglected structure. Areas that had collapsed in or been destroyed were boarded up like rough patchwork, along with all of the windows on the first level. Vines clung around the outside walls and choked at least one side entirely. Nothing special stood out about the building, but it was at least standing with a roof intact.

“That’s an.. abandoned building?” her ally said confused.

She moved towards it and gestured with a wave for him to follow. “Not just any, come on.”

She leisurely walked up to the door standing in front of her and turned the knob on it. The two stepped inside, darkness encompassing them. Both of their Ghosts appeared at their sides to provide a light source, and Elara moved further in towards a piece of heavy equipment at the back wall. She flipped a few switches and the warm lights around them came to life. She hit another button and messed with a knob to turn on the makeshift heating elements. Elara removed her helmet and sighed softly in relief, before moving past her ally to set it on a countertop in a tossed kitchen area. She reached up to one of the many cabinets missing a door and pulled a pair of granola bars from the small stash of rations in it. She jumped up and sat atop a series of crates stacked along the wall beside her.

“Here, catch!” she said, holding one of the packaged bars up before tossing it over to her ally. He caught it mid air without issue, and sat at a tall chair on the other side of the counter facing towards Elara. Elara opened the packaging of her’s, and watched him as he set it down in front of him and moved his hands to remove his helmet.

The familiar glow of his golden eyes fell upon his gear. He brushed his raven-colored hair back into a comfortable place, the stray white streak following his fingers. The newly appointed Guardian, who still went by the name Crow, looked up at Elara.

“What’s all this?” Crow asked, the dull white tattoo across his face crinkling in confusion as he gestured at his surroundings.

“You like it? Figured you needed a new place as an option, since you’re not working for Spider anymore. I wanted it to be an upgrade, one that doesn’t stink and that you don’t have to fight Taken to get to,” Elara answered, before taking a bite from the bar in her hand.

Crow took a moment to look around. It was pretty dusty and barren. An old couch was pushed against the wall to his right with mismatched bedding dumped over it. A large wooden table with a few accompanying chairs sat in the middle of the space. The only carpet was a small rug to wipe your feet at the door and an average squared mirror with a crack in the bottom corner was nailed off-center on the wall behind him.

“I- I don’t know what to say.. Thank you,” Crow said, turning back to face her again.

“No problem, it’s the least I could do as thanks for your help with the Wrathborn,” Elara responded, “You’ve got all your basic amenities along with rations, tools, and supplies in these crates.”

Elara patted the crates she was sitting on to show what she was talking about.

“Oh and there’s more here,” she continued, shoving the last of her food in her mouth before jumping up to her feet.

Crow watched as she walked past him again, and stood before following her down a set of wooden stairs to a lower level of the building. Elara flipped a switch to turn on the light and continued to the bottom. There were mainly more scattered tools and books on a few tables, but there were also the two things Elara was most excited for Crow to finally have. Before them sat a clean bed, with various colorful pillows and warm bedding. A large white banner with beautiful golden and blue designs used for the Dawning event was hung on the wall it was pressed against.

“Thank you Elara, you are far too generous,” Crow softly remarked, his eyes still admiring the banner.

“Yeah well there’s also space upstairs, so if I need some place to “hide out” once and awhile, don’t be surprised if I crash here unexpectedly. That’s what this place was beforehand, a quiet place to come and think. Oh, and also to watch over the Forge occasionally,” Elara commented, “There’s not much traffic anymore though, and I haven’t seen many Eliksni this way in some time, not that that’d be a problem.”

“You care to explain this “Forge” now?”

“Right!” Elara almost shouted, remembering she never told him about it, “Come on, let’s talk as we unload the crates. I’ll take you in after for a little tour.”

Crow nodded in agreement, and followed Elara, as she walked back up the steps to the main living area.

[elaraves]

Nightmares

Elara pushed forward in the darkness, a beam of light from Question’s shell the only access to sight through the choking blackness of the abandoned station. The air was humid and smelly, specks from what Elara called “Hive gunk” floated into view with every step. She held a submachine gun firmly in hand in front of her, her attention at high alert.

“Sloane pinged the Golden Age tech here, so we should be close. Let me get a look around,” Question said through Elara’s comm device in her helmet.

“Sure just, be quick.. I don’t like it down here,” Elara uneasily stated.

Question floated further up above, the light fading from around Elara’s immediate surroundings as he pulled away. She returned to watching their backs, listening to any sounds around them as a substitute for her limited vision. The occasional pitter-patter of water droplets was the only thing she could hear, other than her Ghost’s current survey scan. She hoped it would stay that way, but her sense of unease never diminished while on this planetoid.

“Over here. It’s very outdated, but it’ll be worth looking over once we get back,” Question’s voice called over to her.

Elara’s attention was pulled back to her Ghost, and the task she was given. She walked to where he hovered in wait, happy to be back in his light. He guided her further forward to a corner where various machinery lie long forgotten under decades of Hive inhabitants. Elara crouched down, dusted off the equipment, and picked at some of the crusted growth encasing it.

“I’m going to have to cut through this to salvage anything for transmat,” Elara sighed.

Elara stowed her weapon on her hip and opened the pack of tools she kept on her side. She quickly found her cutting tools, since she kept her pack organized, and began chipping away at the organic overgrowth. Dust particles floated in her face as she worked, and she found herself thankful that she was wearing her helmet. The smell without it would have been putrid.

Her progress was slow and tedious, as she tried being as delicate as possible to prevent ruining anything. Eventually, a console loosened from its death grip. Carefully, she began prying everything from its place. There was a few cracks as she pulled, which made Elara nervous, but eventually it fell free. Hive worms exposed abruptly from their hidden dormancy scurried away. She set the device down at her side, and continued cutting the rest of the kit. She wanted to make sure she got everything. She didn’t want to come back down if it could be helped.

“That should be all of it,” Question said, after she set a small cord bundle on her growing pile of newly recovered tech.

“Let’s get back to Sloane. The sooner I’m out of this hellish place, the better I’ll feel,” she said, putting her tools back in favor of re-equipping her gun.

Blue light cascaded from her Ghost over the pile of salvaged equipment. Slowly it vanished under it, transmatted back over to home base where the others would be waiting for her return.

“No complaints there, I’ll lead the way,” Question said.

Elara followed close behind her Ghost, who lit the halls back to the outside of the Rig. She was uneasy again, it was odd to not run into more resistance the further in you got. She hadn’t come across any more Hive since she first entered. Normally that’d be a good thing, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. She didn’t realize she was about to be proved right.

“Hostiles up ahead!” Question shouted.

Elara halted and held her stance firm. She saw the faint green glow and heard the low growl before they came into the light.

A Knight charged at her, shield held forward and sword held behind ready to swipe. Elara fires multiple rounds into the shield, backing up as they rushed her. The shield quickly shattered into pieces as they finally reached her. She dodged to the side, knowing from experience that meant they were going to bring their sword down upon her. Her enemy did just that, and she released more shots into their armored skin. Thrown off balance and hurt, her enemy stepped back and swung wide with their sword again in frustration. Elara easily ducked under and lunged forwards. A Light-charged melee from her at their sternum quickly finished them off, with an explosion of energy.

Before she could even take a breath and acknowledge her quick victory, high-pitched screeches rang in her ears. A pack of Thrall that had followed behind the Knight overtook her position, and ripped her off her feet. A long yell of pure fear and panic escaped her lips. She fought to keep them back, but they easily outnumbered her. Their claws and teeth quickly tore into her body. She continued yelling as she fought to get up, anything to get away from them, but their numbers swelled further over her. All she could see through the broken light was their eyeless twisted faces, pushing into hers. The image of their jagged, foul teeth burned into her mind. Searing pain racked her body, and whether through that or sheer terror she couldn’t move. She tried to look away from them, and let out one last scream, which quickly faded from her. Her vision dimmed out last. She died on that dusted floor.

.

.

Elara jolted awake in the darkness. Covered in a layer of sweat, her heart beating wildly in her ears, she frantically looked around her surroundings.

Question re-materialized beside her, the faint light from his eye hitting her panicked face. “Elara?” he said as he examined her, “What is it, are you ok?”

She looked around more and slowly it hit her. Nothing was attacking her. She was asleep in her bed in her apartment at the Tower. She was just dreaming. It took a few moments, but she managed to slow some of her breathing.

She nodded her head and answered through labored breaths. “Yeah just… nightmare.”

Question illuminated himself more to create a soft night light in front of her in hopes it would help make her feel safer.

“What was it about?” he asked.

“Remember that time you had to rez me multiple times from Thrall on Titan?” she responded.

“Yeah… I was terrified I’d lost you. You saw that again?”

She nodded and wiped the sweat from her brow.

“Well you’re safe here. I’m not going to let any Hive get you, alright? And we don’t even go to Titan anymore anyways,” he continued.

Elara exhaled deeply and gave a half chuckle.

“Yeah.. Fuck Titan,” she said.

[elaraves]

Paired Entry

Elara swiftly transmatted her sparrow again below her and got back onto it.

“Hop on,” she told Aylin, gesturing her over with a hand.

Cautiously, she slowly pulled herself onto the seat behind Elara and carefully held onto her after being advised to do so.

Elara pulled back the throttle and they sped off down the path ahead of them towards the coordinates she was given. The sudden jolt in speed almost threw Aylin backwards and she gripped tighter to her new found friend.

The pair continued speeding down the crude path through more decaying augmentation, crumbling structures, and over a small stream of radioloria above one of the waterfalls. Elara could feel Aylin immediately grow tense and curl up into herself as they both passed over it. She chose not to question her about it, they still didn’t really know each other yet.

“It’s just up ahead, but be careful. I’m scanning multiple Cabal,” Question’s voice warned Elara, as she approached an archway to their left. She pulled her hand back from the sparrow’s clutch and let it come to slow rest. Elara stood up off of her vehicle, before turning back around to face Aylin.

“We’re going to walk from here. Take your weapon with you,” she said.

Aylin nodded her head and immediately stood up beside Elara, pulling her old scout rifle off of her back and into her readied hands. Question quickly de-transmatted the sparrow out of existence.

“Stay behind me, okay?” Elara said to Aylin.

She received another nod and the two crouched low to the ground as they moved under the arch and peeked around the corner.

As always, Question was right. There were multiple Legionaries and a few Psions scattered about the area in front of the Well of Flame. It looked like a small patrol unit keeping watch around the immediate area. Elara fiddled with a few of the functionalities on her helmet to make sure she got a proper count of their numbers.

She unintentionally held her collarbone as her eyes swept over the Psions. Three of them. Four Legionaries. Two Phalanxes. No war dogs. Ok, they could totally do this.

Elara extended her left palm outwards, to which her Ghost flashed into view over.

“Ques, can you pull out my Spindle for a moment?” she asked.

“Of course,” he answered.

Not a moment later, a long black sniper rifle flickered into material existence in her other hand. Spines protruded in a row off of the barrel down to a cluster that looked like the head of a creature at the muzzle. White light slowly rippled along the entire body. She checked its ammo reserves and flipped off the safety, resting it low and firmly in her hands. Aylin took a moment to herself to quietly stare in awe at it.

“So we need to take out the three snipers there, there, and there,” Elara whispered, pointing over to each one as she talked, “Then we go for the ones with shields. Which ones do you want?”

She watched as Aylin’s predictive gaze washed over their targets. They quickly pointed at the Psion closest to them, then to the two Phalanxes.

“Alright, on my signal then,” Elara muttered.

She raised the scope of her gun to aim the sights at the furthest Psion and shifted it so she could get a clear headshot. She waited a few moments in silence for Aylin.

“Ready?” Elara asked.

“Ready,” Aylin responded.

“Fire.”

Their bullets cut the air loudly in unison. Both of their Psions collapsed to the ground as Elara moved her rifle to headshot the last Psion. It didn’t take her long to send a bullet through its skull as it frantically aimed its own rifle back towards where she was hiding. A few more bullets erupted from Elara’s side and all of the shield wielding Cabal fell silent. The last of the patrol, which was only the Legionaries, anxiously barked out garbled calls and orders to each other and started storming towards their position. Elara stood up confidently, her gun hand falling to the side, and she walked forward to meet them. She built up her light in her clawed fist, purple colored energy bubbling excitedly. When she was finally in range, she released it with a toss of the hand. The void energy fell at their feet and erupted like a grenade, additional orbs hungrily seeking out their prey. All but one exploded into nova energy and out of existence after being hit by it, and Elara quickly held her gun back up to fire.

Crack!

She wasn’t fast enough. Aylin had brought the final enemy down with a shot through the chest. Elara lowered her gun again, but kept it close in case it would be needed again suddenly. There were no other Cabal reinforcements around the area. Elara turned to where she left her new friend and ushered her over. Aylin scurried over out of hiding and followed close behind her. Together they walked up the old stone steps that led into the spiral tower. Part of the top was destroyed, so it required the help of their jumps to reach the triangular opening.

“I’m sensing data signatures down below. They’re looking for something,” Question said once they had walked inside.

“Cayde, I’ve reached the position and will keep you posted on my findings,” Elara said into her comm device.

“Alright, let’s go team!” his voice cheerfully remarked.

Elara stopped after a few moments, once they were met with a large cylindrical dropoff. She stared down to see how far it reached and put her sniper over her shoulder.

“You aren’t afraid of heights are you?” she asked Aylin, as she backed away a few feet.

“No?” she answered curiously. She moved closer to the edge to see how far down the passage was.

“Good. Watch your ankles.”

Immediately, Elara dashed forwards off the side into a swan dive. Her robes fluttered wildly in the air as she descended and she flipped so she would land feet first. Just before hitting the ground, she broke the fall with her glide and gracefully touched down. Moments later, Aylin less gracefully plummeted down and used her extra jumps to break her fall. Up ahead of them, a Vex portal shined brightly through the clusters of rock.

“Through that portal,” Question said.

Elara turned back to Aylin, who was at her side again. “Ready?”

Aylin nodded. “Let’s go.”

They both walked through the energized gateway together, bright light encompassing them.

[elaraves]

The Offer

It took Elara longer to get to the landing zone than she wanted. The sound of her sparrow had alerted a small band of nearby Fallen scavengers in the Glade of Echoes. She managed to dodge most of their fire, and it didn’t take long for her to bait them out of hiding. Three rushed her with their electric daggers, but a Light energy charged melee and grenade toss dealt with them in seconds. The last enemy peaked into view to fire a sniper shot in her, but was too slow on the draw. Ether air squealed as Elara’s bullet swiftly silenced them. She continued forward on her sparrow again once the area was clear.

Elara boosted the speed of her sparrow as she passed underneath various stone and augmented structures. Quickly she found the clearing where the sky opened outwards once more and slowed. Above her, the familiar console station and Vanguard flag waved her over.

Elara effortlessly jumped up the stone steps to it. Immediately, her Ghost tapped into the console to signal the arrival and mission debriefing.

“Alright team, my scouts reported the activity nearby. Sending you coordinates now,” Cayde-6’s voice answered over her comm, “Last time we dealt with the Red Legion, they kicked down our door. Let’s return the favor.”

She was surprised to not hear Ikora’s voice, but not disturbed. She actually found the Hunter Vanguard to be very likeable and charming. However, he did call her “Eves” on multiple occasions and her ghost “Question Mark” whenever he grew agitated with him. She didn’t know how to react to it, so she just accepted it as part of his humor. She’d seen the dynamic between him and Ikora.

“Now that I can do,” she smirked as she responded.

“Got it! Marking it on our map,” Question spun.

An icon flashed on the display of her visor and she looked in the distance to where it led. It was the crumbling cylinder shaped structure that sat past the sea of radioloria on the horizon, commonly referred to as the Well of Flame. Elara floated back down to her sparrow and got on. She checked over a few of its switches and armoring before taking off, she was about to head towards enemy territory and didn’t need it sparking under her after being shot at.

“So, where’s this “crew member” Failsafe mentioned?” Question wondered.

“As we both concluded earlier, not real,” Elara answered.

The wind turbulence whipped at the bottom of her robes more violently. She followed the dirt path that had cut through rocky terrain, foreign red vegetation, and bits of Vex augmentation. Soon she saw the glistening white of the radiolorian sea, then slight movement and a reflective flash on her right. She hit the brakes on her sparrow and looked around for the source. Above them a dark figure ducked quickly behind cover.

“Who’s there?” Elara called, standing up from her sparrow, which fell silent to the ground beneath her.

Silence. Elara removed her pulse rifle from her shoulder and held it steady.

“Do not give me a reason to shoot. I will retaliate when fired upon,” she continued, her eyes darting among any possible bits of stone cover. She slowly crept up a hill, the crunch of the earth and pebbles beneath her boots sounding louder than ever.

“8 o’clock!” Question’s voice rang in her ears.

Elara spun on her heels in a flash, her eyes and gun facing their unknown watcher. It was another female humanoid, with tattered greyed armor. It looked like the only items they had on them were the bare essentials that they had managed to loot from long dead bodies. They held onto their decrepit scout rifle, Fallen looking in design, but remained low in a prepared stance. Elara could see they were fearful of her and knew she could get the first shot in.

“Failsafe sent me,” Elara told the figure, hoping it would spark recognition.

To her surprise, it did. The figure’s shoulders immediately fell lax as they moved to stand calmly before Elara.

“So she was telling the truth,” Question’s voice gasped in her ears.

She sighed and looped her rifle back over her shoulder. “You’re not use to introductions are you? Next time, don’t sneak up on people, ‘kay?”

The figure followed by her example and put their gun away after. They remained silent as they faced Elara.

“Well my name’s Elara,” she said, to break the awkward moment as she extended her palm outwards, “And yours is?”

The figure looked down at her palm, to her face, and back. Elara kept her palm out and they eventually took it in theirs to shake.

“Aylin,” they said.

A ghost flashed into view over the figure’s shoulder, coming close to inspect Elara.

“Aylin, this is just what we need. Another Guardian! We can get off this planet!” it cheered from the shell.

It’s eyes continued excitedly looking over Elara. Question reappeared next to Elara.

“You haven’t been to the Tower yet, have you? You just rezzed,” Question said aloud.

The Ghost snorted and glared at him. “I’ll have you know, MY GUARDIAN and I have survived out here for months.”

Aylin shushed her Ghost. “Candide… chill.”

Months? That would mean… the Tower attack. Did they rez just before it?.. They’ve been alone here for that long without the Light?

Question pulled back in hesitation. “I meant no disrespect.”

If the other Ghost had arms and a face, Elara could have sworn they would have crossed their arms and stuck their nose up at him in disgust. The Ghost quickly dematerialized in front of them.

“Sorry,” Aylin muttered.

“It’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before, don’t stress it,” Elara said, “So you need a ship, they said?”

Aylin looked between Elara and Question, and nodded.

“Well, I have an op. I’m currently on. Care to tag along and I can give you a ride back? I’m headed where you want to go anyway,” Elara offered.

Aylin seemed to be still in thought for a moment, considering the options she had.

“Why not? Might be fun,” she said.

[elaraves]

Reunions and Parted Ways

Elara, Question, and Dulnefni accompanied Hawthorne and Louis on their ship. It was a decently sized aircraft, with a large cargo hold and well worn paint on the top and sides. Small parts of the interior and exterior looked to be patched over with care. Elara could tell she was a courier, but what other things she delved in she was unsure. She spotted a few Vanguard sigils on some of the guns and crates the group had acquired, but chose to leave it be. This was hardly the time to start questioning her new found friend. She’d leave that to her Ghost.

“You still haven’t told us where exactly you’re bringing us,” Question started questioning Hawthorne as they took off.

She hit a few buttons to keep the autopilot going so she could check the other equipment she had set to the side. She answered him while keeping her attention on her hands.

“We call it “The Farm”. It’s a safe homestead on the edge of the European Dead Zone that I’ve resided at for years.”

“You don’t live in the Last City?,” he continued.

“No, I don’t,” she groaned. She flipped a switch of the vast keyboard in front of her and shifted back into the pilot seat.

“Why’s that?”

“Because of a thing I call “it’s not your business”.”

Elara had to fight back a snicker. She had to admit, that response got her. Question huffed and returned to her side.

“It’ll be a little while until we land, so make yourself comfortable back there,” Hawthorne stated without taking her eyes off the cockpit.

Elara and Dulnefni took her advice without debate. They both enjoyed their first moment of peace in weeks.

From the warmth and rhythmic hum of the engines, Elara managed to doze off with Question in her lap during the flight. The sudden shift in movement signalling their arrival roused her from her nap. She looked around the hold before turning to Dulnefni. She found him in a similar state, or as close as an Exo could be to sleeping. He sat hunched over in his seat, light snuffed from his eyes and jaw. His gun hand clutched the grip of his holstered hand cannon, ready to fight at any given moment even in slumber. If you didn’t know better, it would appear as if he were nonfunctional and lost in the void of system failure. This was how Elara first came across him.

She reached over to him with her off hand, gently touching his arm as she spoke his name. The lights and machinery in his manmade body whirled back to instant life. In a quick reflex, his gun hand was held out. He slowly stowed it again, once he realized there was no danger around them.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I think we’re here,” Elara said.

No sooner did she make the comment, the ship gave a modest shake from landing. The hum of the engines slowly fell silent and the hatch and walkway ramp opened. The sound of movement and footsteps came from the flight deck.

“We’re here,” Hawthorne announced to them as she walked into view. Her rifle and pack rested on her back while Louis remained atop her gloved hand.

Dulnefni and Elara both moved to stand and follow behind her lead. Elara was anxious to see where they were, while Dulnefni returned to keeping a watchful eye.

“Follow me, there’s another man who will want to see you before we find the others. We can worry about offloading these supplies after,” Hawthorne continued, walking past the crates and out the ramp door.

They both followed and walked out off the ship to find themselves among a vast green valley. Elara’s eyes moved about in awe. To their left were dozens of civilian tent housing, groups of families walking to and from. Old spiral wind turbines remained functional above them, no doubt providing power for the entire area. To their right was a vast beautiful snow capped mountain range and treeline, overgrown and untamed. Down the valley were more ships, some of which had arrived with them and had begun to face the procedure of cargo removal. Hawthorne talked with a few bystanders as they walked and shouted orders down to a few of the pilots. Elara didn’t hear what she said, she was too busy staring at what laid beyond the valley. A familiar looking colossal white object sparked where it sat, a resolute symbol above the horizon. Before them was a shard of the Traveler. To some, it could appear as an ominous omen the way it seemed to be in decay and smoke in the distance, but to her it was a symbol of hope. Their friend was still somehow with them. Even Question was floating in watchful silence at it beside her.

“You coming?” Hawthorne called back to Elara a few yards behind.

Elara pulled her attention back to their current objective and quickly regrouped with her and Dulnefni as they walked through a small soccer field and over a small wooden bridge.

In front of them was what Elara assumed to be the main base of operations of “The Farm”. There were a few old decaying buildings sitting next to each other near a lake in the center of a mountainous forest region. Parts of each structure looked to be overgrown with flora and have points of destruction and patched over with new tech, as if there was a sudden unknown attack long ago. One building had a water mill that somehow still managed to turn. In the center of everything was an area for multiple to move about and converse. A broken stone fountain sat crumbling below on the right. The building in front of them, a maintenance bot was posted offering info and support. A few people walked back and forth from the building with clipboards and materials. It looked as if that was where all their intel and high maintenance tech was housed. Further ahead of them was the faint sight of the lake they flew over. A large filtration pump was hooked up in it, currently purifying a portion of the water for the residents. Hawthorne continued and walked into the building to their left, allowing Louis to fly off to a perch above an area designated as a maintenance bot workshop. This building was the largest of the three, housing multiple floors of vehicles, supplies, and assorted equipment. A large ship was currently being inspected and fixed as they entered.

“Over here! Shaxx, I have some more Guardians here to see you,” Hawthorne said as she led them to an alcove below a set of stairs to their left.

Turning away from his decorated workshop to face them was the famous one-horned Crucible handler himself, Lord Shaxx.

“Ah it’s good to see you safe, my friends!,” the Titan beamed loudly as he clasped their shoulders.

Elara couldn’t stop the deep grin that creeped across her face, she was happy to see Shaxx so vocally excited after she last parted from him. It was almost intoxicating how boisterous he was, even through the air of solemn seriousness that surrounded them all. He was a huge help.

“Evie!,” a voice called loudly from behind.

Elara turned to see who was calling her name. Outside the building in front of her stood two familiar hunters, Lucca and Zayden. She quickly moved back out through the threshold to meet them, as they jogged over to meet halfway. Lucca was the first to get to her, embracing her in a long bear hug once she was in range. She hugged him back and moved once he let go to give Zayden a soft hug as well.

“We were so worried about you! We were about to go searching,” Lucca exclaimed, before noticing her bandages, “What happened? Are you alright?”

“Yes I’m fine. It’s a long story I can tell you later,” she answered.

“Who’s your friend?” Zayden asked while looking behind her.

Elara glanced behind to notice Dulnefni quietly approaching her side.

“Oh, this is my good friend Dulnefni-12. He helped me get here. Dul, this is Zayden and Lucca,” Elara introduced the two parties to each other.

“Wait, this is THE fated Eliksni Hunter?” Lucca gasped.

Dulnefni gave a sharp exhale and slight smirk as he nodded. “Yeah that’d be me.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Lucca said, reaching his hand out to him.

Dulnefni obliged him, as well as Zayden after, with a handshake. Elara smiled, it was nice seeing her different friends coming together.

“Well I’ll be seeing you folks,” Dulnefni waved as he moved to depart.

“Hold on wait,” Elara said.

He stopped as she turned to the others.

“Excuse me for a moment,” she said to the pair.

Zayden and Lucca both nodded for her to do what she needed.

“Go ahead, we’ll wait over here for you,” Zayden said.

Elara thanked them and turned back to Dulnefni. She walked by his side as he moved back towards the valley where they landed.

“Where are you going?” she asked him.

“Hawthorne gave me permission to take one of the ships to fly back over to gather the other civilians and get them here. From there, you already have an idea of what my plans are,” he calmly answered.

“Let me come with you. We can-”

“No, you should stay here for now. You have friends here. You still need to heal a bit more.”

“But what about you?.... I’m…”

She cut short her sentence for a moment and stopped walking. Dulnefni halted immediately. She uneasily looked down away from him.

“You can tell me what’s on your mind,” he said.

“I’m afraid if I let you leave… you won’t come back again,” she almost cried.

His eyes widened and the light of his jaw grew brighter as he moved it to say something in return, but he fell silent again. He held his hand on her shoulder and finally found the right words after a moment.

“That promise I made Danny, it also applies to you. I’m not dying out there alone.”

Elara threw her arms around him, to hold him in a close hug. She didn’t want to let him leave without one.

“Promise to stay in touch. The silence of not knowing if my friends are safe already hurt me. It’s going to kill me now,” she whimpered.

“I promise, kiddo,” Dulnefni said, patting her on the back before hugging her in return.

Once Elara was content, she let him go. He walked back out past the gate of the soccer field on the dirt path. She waved as she watched him as he went.

“Oh, and hey Dul!,” she shouted over to him before he got too far.

“Ja?” he asked loudly.

“I’m sorry, but everyone’s going to know now. You officially are a charity!”

He looked at her in shocked silence, before breaking out into laughter at the joke from years ago. She could have sworn he looked like he could have almost let a tear fall after realizing she fondly remembered that comment, that is if his Exo frame allowed it.

He smiled and waved back before walking away again in the distance. Elara stood in silence as she watched him leave on the borrowed ship.

[elaraves]

Introductions

They had followed the path of the falcon for hours as it reached midday. It looked as if it was slowing now, circling back into their view if they lost sight of it for too long. Elara was being less cautious in her movement, practically breaking into a slow dash at times to catch it. There was just something about it, a feeling of sorts, that she knew to follow. Was it a dream she had?

The bird suddenly dove down from the air a ways ahead of them, lost from sight. There was probably an unseen drop from a cliffside up ahead. Elara picked up speed again after it through the rock debri. She couldn’t risk losing it again.

“Elara stop!” Dulnefni shouted, grabbing at her arm before she could leave his range.

She turned to face him, a confused and slightly aggitated face hiding beneath her tinted visor.

“What is it? We need to catch up,” she stated.

“No we don’t! That thing is a wild animal, not a sign… Look at yourself! You’re going to kill yourself from exhaustion before we find refuge if you keep this up!”

Her face twisted in frustration, but she held her tongue to think of a witty comeback. He wasn’t wrong that she was exhausted, she was already taking this unexpected moment to catch her breath, but she just knew in her gut she was right. She couldn’t prove it though… Maybe she should listen to him after all?

Question cut the silent air at their side. “I hate to break it to you, but you’re wrong.”

“Excuse me?” Dulnefni glared over at him.

Elara also turned to look at him. He appeared to be scanning a bit ahead, where she wanted to continue her pursuit.

“I’m scanning lifeforms up ahead. Many for that matter. Come see,” he calmly answered.

Dulnefni and Elara both looked from him, to each other, and back. Elara practically threw herself over to his side to see. Dulnefni was close behind. They both remained low in cover.

They had managed to finally reach the end of the mountain range pass. Below them was a valley of clear hills that lead into more wild forests. At the base, a large gathering of people were working together, conversing and moving supplies. A few silent ships remained sitting in wait in the middle of the commotion. They all appeared to be average looking humans, a few Exos and Awoken in the background amongst them once you looked harder. Elara continued scanning their numbers, she had to find that falcon. Quickly she found it, perched on the arm of a human woman wearing a blue and red covering that went over her head. She carried a long rifle and pack over her shoulder. Elara could only assume she was the leader by the way she confidently moved and conversed with everyone as she passed through. Was she one of the Hunters?

“Take this,” Dulnefni said.

Elara glanced to her side to see him moving to stand, and did a double take. He was holding his sniper rifle out to her.

“Wait, what are you doing? I can go down,” Elara said.

“No, stay here and cover me. If you hear gunfire, then you’ll know there’s trouble.”

“But you’re a better shot with this. Besides they’re just-”

“We don’t know them, Elara.”

She grew quiet at his firm tone. She knew about some of the dealings he’d faced with other Lightbearers long before she was first rezzed. It was only bits he cared to share with her over drinks and during their first meeting. She nodded, she wasn’t about to fight him on this one.

“I’ve got your back,” she said, “We both have your back.”

Dulnefni looked from her, to Question and back, before nodding and quickly descending the rock face to the group. Elara set the barrel of the rifle down upon the last bit of rock cover she had before the drop, and moved down into its sight. She shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a better way to prop the butt of the gun so it wouldn’t kick back into her bad shoulder. She quickly gave up, and held it firmly against her gunshot wound. She’d rather risk any comfort, than miss an important shot. Question moved behind her other shoulder in order to take cover beside her, but kept his sightline open. Elara used the scope of the gun to watch Dulnefni, as well as the unknown group of people below.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the bottom, and by that point he had already made his presence known. A few lookouts posted to keep watch at the perimeter held his approach firmly in their gun sights. Elara could hear them yelling out to the others, who quickly took to cover. The leader let the falcon fly off, and quickly equipped her rifle at her side. Dulnefni held his hands high to them to show he wasn’t there to be hostile. Elara could hear his voice as he loudly called out to them, but they were too far down for her to discern what was being said. She was too busy anxiously holding her aim among the multiple lookouts. Her heart beat louder in her chest as she silently prayed they didn’t start opening fire. They occasionally looked down at the same woman Elara picked out before, patiently waiting for instructions. Elara shifted the sight of the rifle to aim towards her. She watched as she called back out to Dulnefni, still keeping her gun firmly in hand. The woman’s eyes darted above to the mountain side. She clearly knew there was more than just him, but the amount and position she was trying to figure out.

The two continued to say a few words to each other from a safe distance, before Dulnefni finally removed his helmet to expose his robotic face. The woman took one look at him, before lowering her rifle and calling back towards her people. Those on watch immediately lowered their weapons and those in hiding peeked from behind their cover, slowly moving back out. After a moment, Dulnefni turned and looked upwards towards where he last left Elara, before giving her a hand gesture to come down. Elara and Question both gave a loud sigh of relief, before she moved from her spot to join them.

It took Elara longer to rejoin Dulnefni. She had to take the side paths slower, as her knees almost gave out from under her multiple times. Her body’s exhaustion and the sting of her wounds had slowly, but firmly begun to call back out to her, now that her adrenaline rush had halted. She was still trying to hold onto the deep breaths she took before aiming the rifle in an attempt to help. She gave one last deep sigh once she reached the bottom, and limped her way over to Dulnefni’s side. He, along with the group’s leader, seemed to notice her slowed approach and moved to meet her. Dulnefni reached out to her, but was calmly brushed aside.

“I’m good.. Here you should take this back,” Elara said, as she held the sniper rifle out towards him.

He took it and immediately stowed it back over his shoulder. With her now free hands, Elara removed her helmet as well, in order to get some more air. The leader studied her face for a moment before speaking.

“So we’ve got ourselves a couple of Guardians. Are there more with you?” she asked them.

“No, just us at the moment,” Dulnefni carefully answered.

“Where are you all going?” Question pondered out loud.

Elara was wondering the same. The others appeared to be loading the last of the crates they had gathered onto the ships. A few had started to whirl to life, but remained on the ground for the moment.

“We were about to head back to base after we gathered these lost supplies. You two looking to join us?” the woman answered.

They all looked at each other. Elara wanted to say yes, but Dulnefni still seemed a bit hesitant. A screech called from above them that signaled the falcon’s approach. It quickly broke the tension between them, as it rejoined the woman on it’s perch on her arm. Elara smiled softly at them when it looked to her again.

“This one belongs to you? I owe them a lot for leading us here,” Elara said.

“This is Louis, best pilot we got. He’s already helped find a few others here,” the woman smiled down at him affectionately, “My name’s Hawthorne. Suraya Hawthorne. And your’s?”

“Elara Ves. This is Question,” Elara answered, gesturing towards her ghost as she said his name.

“Dulnefni-12,” Dulnefni responded after her.

He shifted a bit as he avoided mentioning his Ghost. Elara knew it was best not to poke the touchy topic.

“Hmm I think I remember someone was looking for you,” Hawthorne said, questioning her memory as she looked at Elara.

“Wait who?”, she immediately asked.

“Can’t remember the names, but it was a few Guardians. Two were male Hunters like your friend here. One of them was Awoken.”

Elara pondered who she could be referring to, as she recalled all the names and faces she was familiar with. A few seconds later it hit her.

“We need to get back to them,” Elara said.

[elaraves]

A Warlock’s Symbol

The pair walked on together with their ghosts across and further down the mountain landscape. Dulnefni had mentioned he was leading them back to his ship where the other refugees were stationed in wait. Elara continued to half walk-half limp behind him. The bite wounds on her legs were still healing, and she was being careful not to reopen them. She couldn’t help but feel like a burden to Dul, but she pushed through out of spite. She wasn’t going to stop until the exhaustion hit.

The sun barred down on their backs at midday. Beads of sweat had begun to form under her helmet and robes. Even Dulnefni seemed to slow more. Elara assumed the heat was getting to him too, but he didn’t want to say anything.

“Hey, let’s stop here for a moment,” she said. She pointed to her side at a cluster of rock hidden away in shade.

Dulnefni looked and nodded. “Sure. Why don’t you eat too while you’re at it.”

Elara didn’t protest, immediately sitting on one of the lower rocks and pulling out her rations and canteen. She sighed in relief as she took her helm off her head. The air felt a lot nicer now and she could finally wipe the sweat from her brow. She set it down on her lap, and began to tear into a chunk of the jerky and drink water. Dulnefni rested his back against the wall beside her in the shade, but still kept an eye on their surroundings. Elara watched him for a bit, being caught in high alert.

“Here,” she said, holding both her water and a portion of her food out to him.

He turned to face her and shook his head.

“I don’t need it, save it for yourself,” he politely declined.

She pulled the hand holding the food away, but kept the water out. She’d forgotten, Exos can eat and drink, but don’t technically need to in order to function. It was another way they were programmed to not reject their new bodies. She figured he was declining because of this.

“At least take the water,” she continued.

“You’re not going to quit until I do, are you?” he commented.

“Correct!”

He sighed and paused, before taking it in his off hand. She watched him take a sip from it.

“Evie! The falcon!” Question’s voice suddenly cut the air.

Dulnefni almost dropped the container in alarm at the sudden alert. They all looked up in unison. Circling in the air above them was the brown falcon Elara had come across in the wilds multiple times prior. She was starting to put the pieces together now. Dulnefni handed her canteen back down to her, put his helmet back on, and casually slipped his rifle off his shoulder.

“Don’t shoot it!” Elara ordered, holding the barrel of his gun back.

“Why?” he said.

“Because I’ve seen it before. I think it’s been looking for stranded people.”

“Umm ok… I think you’ve officially lost it. Let me check your head again.”

Elara annoyingly brushed him aside and stood up, holding out her arm and giving a sharp whistle.

The falcon called down to her and dived downwards. When it got close enough, it broke its descent with a flap of its wings, and perched carefully atop her forearm.

“Don’t let it eat me, Evie!” Question cried, immediately hiding away behind her.

“You’re fine, Ques,” she chuckled softly, before turning back to Dulnefni, “See, what did I say?”

She couldn’t see his face, but she could tell by his silence and posture that he was standing back in shock.

“The crazy Warlock was actually right… It really is the end of days. You do realize that’s a bird of prey right?,” he finally commented.

Elara turned back to the bird, who cocked its head quizzitively at her. It was obviously questioning who she was and if she had food to give. She cautiously gave it a tiny portion of her rations, which it happily accepted without incident. It took to flight above them again and circled for a few moments, before continuing down another one of the mountain paths. Elara took this as her sign to follow, and gathered her things before slipping her helmet back over her head.

“Wait, we're really following a bird?” Dulnefni stopped her.

“Yeah! Come on,” she said, before continuing onward after its path.

He sighed heavily for her to hear and skipped forward to catch up.

“You Warlocks and your signs and symbology,” he said.

“Listen, we can find a snake if you’d prefer that,” she teased.

“Oh stuff it!”

Elara laughed.

[elaraves]

Ghost Crew

The silence of the area around Exodus Black was broken as a ship broke orbit. It slowly touched down atop the clear cliff formations, sending a flock of crying birds flying away. The ship shined vibrant in the light, with four insect shaped wings that held it steady. The engines grew quiet as a lone robed female figure walked out into the open, accompanied closely by a small ghost.

The woman’s rich purple robes pierced the constant red and green hues of the planetoid, her legs and armor bearing a dark brown shade. A sleek dark skeletal shaped helmet sat over her head, the jaw bone and small spikes atop it protruding outwards. Her gloved hand tapped the side at the earpiece to ensure her HUD and communication device was functioning in their current environment.

“Question, inform the Vanguard we’ve landed and are en-route to the coordinates,” she said.

Her ghost nodded and spun in its star-covered shell, a small wave of light encapsulating him. The woman busied herself with checking that her weapons and equipment were in proper order while she waited. She held a red pulse rifle in her hands by her side as she scanned the surroundings. No Fallen were scurrying about the area, which was a good sign. It meant less of a hassle getting inside the remainder of the crashed ship. She turned back to her Ghost as he came to rest again.

“It’s done. Now though, why exactly are we visiting her again, Elara?” he asked, “The mission was marked in the Cistern.”

“We’re here already, so it doesn’t hurt. She’s a valuable asset,” she stated, “Besides.. she’s nice and enjoys the company, Ques.”

“Maybe to you, but she hates me.”

“Oh stop it, she does not.”

She stepped over the cliffside and gracefully floated down to the ground below. The area remained silent, other than the splash of her footsteps as she walked over a film of water.

Still no Fallen huh? This was going to be simple. She quickly reached the first bit of rusted debri and turned right up a set of metal steps.

“Ah, hello Captain!” a voice cheerfully greeted her, as she entered up the small walkway into sight.

An AI sat permanently inside the back wall behind a console, bright yellow lights spinning as it scanned over them.

“Hello Failsafe, how’ve things been?” Elara smiled.

Her lights shifted to a glaring red as she answered, “Oh you know, boring as ever being unable to leave this piece of rock.”

The AI’s color fell back to a warm yellow before she continued, “But enough about me, what brings you here?”

“The Vanguard scouts reported Red Legion activity in the Cistern. I’ve been sent to investigate.”

“Oh good! Since you’re headed there, you should rendezvous with one of my crew members! They were at Artifact’s Edge, but I’ll tell them to meet you at your Vanguard’s landing zone,” Failsafe cheerfully stated.

“But Failsafe, your crew is… your crew died. We even investigated for you,” Question said.

“I assure you, this crew member is very much alive!”

“Failsafe your-”

Elara cut off Question mid sentence. “We’d be more than happy to meet them, Failsafe. We’ll head out right now,”

He seemed to want to fight her on it, but keep his mouth shut to not accidentally agitate the malfunctioning AI anymore.

“Oh good, thank you Captain! I hope you succeed with your mission,” Failsafe said as Elara turned and waved to her.

She continued walking back down and out of the makeshift shelter into the open light to even ground.

“I think she’s officially lost it,” Question remarked to Elara as she held him out in her palm.

“You don’t say?” she said sarcastically.

She swiftly transmitted her sparrow, a small vehicle she used to travel quicker by land. Green deer and plant designs decorated the steel plating. Her Ghost vanished from sight as she jumped atop it, and she sped off towards their destination.

[elaraves]

Uncertainty

“Hey Evie, wake up.”

Elara quickly, but groggily, roused from her slumber. Soft daylight had begun to trickle over the sky and into the cavern they had camped in. Dulnefni shifted over to her again and waited for her to sit up. She mindlessly began lifting her arms to stretch and rub her eyes. Instantly sharp pain erupted from her shoulder. She released a sharp intake of air and dropped them.

“Easy there!” Dulnefni firmly said, swiftly grabbing at her wrist in a single hand to stop anymore unintentional unnecessary movement.

“So we both obviously know the current state of your bullet wound, but I need to do a test so copy me,” he continued.

Dulnefni held his hands outward and began moving every part of his engineered body’s joints, starting from his fingertips up into his arms, and all the way down to his feet. Elara reluctantly followed his movements. He then gestured for her to breath in and out as he felt her ribs, and lastly to allow him to inspect her head for any bruising. She figured this was just another one of the many pros to not having hair.

“Any new pain or numbness?”

She shook her head. “Only the areas from before.”

“Alright let me check.”

Elara allowed him to carefully peel back the makeshift bandages he had tightly wrapped around her the day prior. The fresh air stung at her healing flesh, the worst again being the sniper wound sitting under her collar bone. She grimaced looking down at it, while he carefully felt the flesh and bone around it. He tightly re-tied the bandage and did the same for her lower legs. She’d been injured before and seen her fair share of violence and blood, but this was something new to her personally. Normally Question could patch her up in the blink of an eye. She wasn’t used to feeling and seeing the way her own body would heal past trauma if she didn’t have the Light. She was just thankful it hadn’t turned septic. She wasn’t ready to deal with that if it did, let alone the smell.

“Good news- I’m not seeing any infection yet and I don’t hear or feel any internal fractures or bleeding. The bullet went clean through,” Dulnefni stated.

“And the bad news?” Elara said. There had to be some.

“You’re going to be a little slower for a bit.”

“Ah yes, just what we need right now. Dead weight while fleeing.”

“Hey I never-!”

He cut his sentence short, letting out an aggravated sigh. He obviously didn’t want to start this fight.

“You’ll be alright. I’m here with you. We’re being smart and careful.”

“Like the others?! Tell me how many did you come across? How are they any different?!,” Elara loudy stated.

He placed a hand on her untouched shoulder, glowing eyes piercing directly through her gaze.

“Listen kid,” he said before pausing, “Listen Elara… you’re right, we’re not. We’re not different from anyone else. Not before and certainly not anymore, but I can’t have you quitting now. I won’t allow it, or we’ve already lost.”

She watched him as he let go of her to reach down into the pack attached to his hip. What he pulled from it, she could have never predicted. Resting dormant in his fist was his Ghost, Danny. He remained silent, unmoving, and lightless in his old shank shell.

“What happened?!” Elara immediately gasped, tears welling in her eyes. She reached her hand out to hold him, which Dulnefni obliged. Question floated wordlessly over to inspect him.

“He used the last of his light to save me, knowing this would happen, so I could find Sarna and you and help others,” he answered, glancing downwards as to not face Elara directly.

Elara was wondering where Danny was. She just assumed he was hiding away. Now that she thought of it, that was a stupid assumption. Without the Light, her Ghost couldn’t phase his shell from existence to hide.

“Is he.. Are you-”

“Mortal? Last I checked, we all are now. Ghostless? He made me promise to bring back the Light. Said he didn’t want me to die without him… No doubt in my mind he’ll wake up when I make that happen.”

He paused again to look back up at Elara, who glanced in anguish from her own Ghost to him.

“Don’t waste the sacrifice he made,” he said.

She looked from him back down to the shank shell in her grasp. A few wordless tears fell onto it.

Question floated closer to check on her. “Evie are you-”

She held her palm out to cut him short. She nodded and quickly wiped the tears from her face.

“You’re right,” she nodded, still looking down at her friend’s Ghost.

Elara cradled him close to her, like a delicate young animal being held in an embrace, and closed her eyes. She had so many thoughts she wanted to say to him. She wanted him to know that she was safe. She wanted him to know she was going to ruin those who attacked them. Mostly, she just wanted to thank him. She wanted him to know how grateful she was for him and his Guardian. This was all she could settle for in the moment, hoping that it could somehow penetrate the void he was in. At least she wanted to think the gesture mattered. It did to her.  

She let out a deep breath to help calm herself and opened her eyes before gently handing Danny back to Dulnefni. He gave her a soft apologetic smile as he took him from her, and carefully placed him back into his pack. She assumed he probably felt a little guilty for making her upset, but she needed the eye opener. It was a reality she needed to face to focus on what needed to be done.

“It’ll be ok, Evie,” Question muttered to her as he slowly nudged into her.

This was his way of hugging and showing affection. It always managed to make her feel better, and it was working now. She released another shaky breath and nodded. She pushed her fears behind her for now, they had to get out of here.

“Let me help you up,” Dulnefni said to her.

“Before that, here,” she said. She held his cloak up in her hand before him.

“Why thank you.”

With a quick flourish, he swept it back on, over, and around him. He slipped his helmet onto his head and flipped the hood over it. She smiled slightly at him as she equipped her helmet. Now that was one thing back to normal.

He turned back to her and held his hands out for her to grip. She reached out and grabbed hold of them, and was instantly yanked up onto her feet. With some help, she managed to find weight to her footing.

“Take the first ones slow so you can get used to it,” he warned, still gripping her under the arm on her good side.

Her lower legs cried out in protest to the sudden movement. She would have fallen over into the rock with the second step if Dulnefni weren’t there to guide her. By the time they reached even ground beneath their temporary camp, she’d gotten the hang of it.

“I think I’m good now, thanks,” she said.

Dulnefni nodded and let go of her, but remained close to keep an eye on her.

“Let’s get out of here,” he remarked.

Elara nodded back to him. They both slowly continued their trek forward, together.

[elaraves]

A Place of Rest

They talked for hours as Elara laid in rest. They took their time catching up since the last time they saw each other. It was oddly very soothing, and helped get her mind off of the events that had recently unfolded before her eyes. That was until they got to the tower attack. There was a very long unsettling pause as the mood of them both had shifted. Dulnefni was the first to break the silence, explaining more in depth his scenario and where the others he was with were currently hiding in wait. Elara explained the details about her counter attack, her fall, and how she made it out. With effort, she also uneasily discussed the slain Guardians she came across.

By the time they finished, the darkness and cold of the night had encompassed them. They couldn’t start a fire, as it would only act as a beacon for their enemies stalking about the area. The only light that found them in their hidey hole was from the moon and their own eyes.

Elara curled more into herself and wrapped her tattered robes around herself as closely as she could with her free hand. She tried to mask it, but she was shaking from the cold. She looked over at Dulnefni, who was currently busy looking out the mouth of the cave. He seemed none the wiser while continuing his self appointed watch. She wondered how he seemed unaffected by the drop in the temperature.

“Evie you’re shivering,” Question softly stated beside her.

“I-It’s fine,” Elara said, a faint fog escaping from the moisture in her voice.

“Here Evie, you can borrow this,” Dulnefni said after hearing them and taking notice.

Elara turned to face him again to see him unclasping his cape from around his neck. With one quick pull, he lifted it up over his head. She gasped softly under her breath. She knew some Hunters who’d rather die than take off their cloak or helmet in front of another person. She always thought he was one of those types. He walked back over to her side and knelt down before gently laying it over her.

It was instantly warm, the fur of the collar barely touching the chin of her face. It had a distinct smell to it as well. Not one of a foul body odor, as his mechanic body didn’t sweat, but of different soils, flora, and battles. It was like this piece of clothing just shared a glimpse of it’s story in that instant to her, and her alone. It comforted her.

“What about you?” Elara asked.

“Ah I’ll be fine. One perk to being a machine, you aren’t affected by the cold. Heat on the other hand, that’s a different story,” he responded, resting back in his spot.

Elara looked from him to her Ghost again.

“Makes sense,” she remarked.

“Now get some sleep, kid.”

Elara pulled Question in closer to her out of comfort of having him close. She was already feeling the lull of sleep now, her eyes growing heavy under the blanket of new found warmth.

“Aye aye, captain,” she softly teased between a yawn.

She rested her head back and sleep quickly took her.

[elaraves]

Lost then Found

“Evie?”

Someone was calling to her. Was that her ghost? Where was he?

“Evie.”

Again the voice uttered her name, but all she found was darkness surrounding her. Her head swam in circles, desperately trying to find a place of rest. She tried to walk, to reach out in front of her. Again, there was nothing but the dark. It weighed down on her body like she was fighting quicksand.

“I think she’s coming to.”

That voice again. She had to follow it. She slowly willed her being forward. The tiniest crack of light appeared ahead of her.

Slowly she opened her eyes, her surroundings and figures standing over her were blurred.

“Oh thank the Light, you’re ok,” Question sighed in relief directly over her face, “You know that was real cocky what you pulled back there. You had me worried.”

“Mmm s-sorry,” Elara managed to babble out. Her mind was still trying to find traction and gather her current whereabouts. Her whole torso ached as she shivered in a cold sweat.

He frowned at her. She could sense his concern and upset over her current state of well being. His shell was still dirtied and caked with her dried blood.

“Can’t believe I’m saying it, but he’s right you know,” a familiar voice mocked.

Elara blinked again and gently pushed Question to the side out of her direct line of sight.

She almost gasped. Sitting beside her was her long distant friend Dulnefni-12. Other than more wear and tear, he looked the same as the last time she saw him in the Tower. That was when she asked him to visit the Reef for her. He wore the same gear and armor and carried the same attitude in his presence. It brought back a rush of fond memories.

“Dul I-” she began to mutter as she moved to sit up. He immediately jumped to hold her back.

“Whoa there kid, lay back down. I worked hard to patch you up, I don’t need you bleeding all over us again,” he firmly warned.

She stared into his electrical eyes. There was a time when she couldn’t read his face and emotions through the firm robotic framing, but she knew him well enough now that he was failing miserably to mask his concern. She followed his advice and carefully rested back into the makeshift sleeping area he had obviously set her in.

She took to finally gathering her immediate surroundings. They were camped in what looked like a cavern alcove. It was dark, other than the light of the opening, and musty but she couldn’t really complain. She was dry and safe after all. Dulnefni took to sitting back against the wall right beside her and began cleaning and inspecting his weapons. There was minimal gear and supplies to their side. She could only gander that he found this place on a whim to hide them for the night.

“Where were you when it happened?” she finally managed to ask him to cut the awkward silence, “How did you find me?”

“Skye and I were at the Tower getting ship maintenance and supplies when the attack happened. We managed to get a large number of refugees out to safety amid the chaos, but we were just missing you. I doubled back with my ghost to look for you..” he started to almost recite back to her.

He paused for another moment. She could tell something was weighing on his mind. She could only guess it was something from the past he chose to bury. Something that caused him great pain to see again. His face twisted oddly. “You know, we need to stop bumping into each other out here when you’re in peril.”

Elara raised her eyebrow and chuckled at his joke. There was that famous Hunter humor he always had.

“Thank you though,” she said after their moods both warmed, “Seriously, I mean it. I owe you.”

He immediately waved her off. “No you don’t, don’t mention it. Remember I told you I wasn’t a charity. That’s just what friends do. Plus you can add this to your stories later. You made it farther than any other book lover I know. You deserve at least some credit.”

Elara narrowed her eyes and smirked at him.

“What?” he questioned in response to her face.

“I’m just picturing how mad Ikora would be at you right now,” she snickered.

“Damn you’re right… Don’t tell her I said that,” he immediately responded.

They both shared a short laugh again. The air felt a little less tense.

“Get some rest, I’ll stand watch. I can tell you need it,” Dulnefni said, “I’ll check on you at first light before we move out.”

[elaraves]

Lost Light

With much effort, Elara managed to squeeze through parts of the ruined city wall. Ahead of her was the wilds, untamed and dangerous to go unarmed. The tops of the trees that lined the edge of the woods waved to her. She gave one last look up and behind her to make sure no Cabal was sitting in wait at the perimeter. All she found was more ash and destruction. She couldn’t help but feel sad and scared. Her home and people were in ruin and she only had her Ghost to accompany her into the unknown.

Calm yourself. She took a moment to breathe. Question seemed to notice her hesitation and remained silent.

Her fiery eyes flashed open once more and she dashed for the treeline. She ducked under and behind the brambles and peeked back towards where she was. Nothing had changed. No one was pursuing her. She stood and continued her stealthy trek onward.

EE:// Outskirts // 4 Days after Tower attack

She had to find a weapon and rations. Anything to help sustain herself. She was tired of picking berries that Question told her were safe. It was growing colder the further away she moved from the City. She didn’t even know where she was heading. She could also hear the sounds of Cabal, Fallen, and various other predators out beyond where they camped at night. Question always looked out for her and she was careful not to draw unwanted attention to them, but she definitely didn’t sleep much anymore.

“Evie look!” Question gasped.

She stopped and looked up. A beautiful brown falcon was perched above them. It looked well cared for and fed. Strange. It was looking intently at them and screeched, before taking flight away.

“Weird. Was it looking for something?” Elara wondered.

“As long as it doesn’t try flying off with me,” Question stated.

Elara watched where it flew to, and continued walking the same path. Once they reached the edge of the ledge they were on, she came to a dead stop and gasped.

A moderately sized campsite was set up right under them. A handful of corpses were scattered amongst it. The area looked destroyed and ripped through. There was a struggle, but ultimately they were all slain.

“Those are.. Guardians,” Question gasped.

Elara quickly skidded down the gravel incline into the camp. Hurriedly, she moved to check to see if any were still alive.

“They’re all dead..” Question said after a quick scan of the area, “This is horrible, they didn’t have a chance without-“ Elara faced him and he stopped. She assumed he didn’t want to scare her anymore with the truth. It didn’t make her feel any better.

“I’m going to see if there’s anything I can salvage to help us. Scan this area to identify them and mark the location for a later date,” Elara stated, “I want to bring these names back with me and allow a return for a proper burial.”

Question nodded and immediately got to work while Elara dug through the few crates they had. She managed to grab a decent amount of rations and some unused ammo clips. She found a functional hand cannon on a male Hunter and SMG on a female Titan, but she didn’t dare shoot them yet out in the open here. She looped them on her belt and turned to watch Question. He was currently hovering over another female Warlock.

“Anyone we know?” Elara questioned.

She was afraid of the answer, but she had to know. Out of everything, she was most terrified of finding a familiar face among them at this moment.

“No. Nothing more than passing names and faces,” Question answered.

That didn’t make her feel any better either.

She looked over the Warlock again and knelt beside her body. Her hand was outstretched towards something. Elara looked to where she was reaching to find a discarded sidearm. She picked it up and placed it firmly in the Warlock’s hand, before resting it over her chest. She hoped it was a nice symbolic gesture of respect, but this stuff was never familiar nor easy for people like her.

Elara looked at her closer. The Warlock’s helmet remained almost untouched, with only minor chipping on a portion of the outside rim of the visor.

“I’m sorry to do this. I didn’t want to disturb anyone here,” Elara said, reaching a hand for it.

She carefully removed the helm to find she was another Awoken. She had short red choppy hair that stood on end and a clear, soft face. What startled Elara the most was that the small waves of light that danced under the Awoken people’s skin were gone from her. Elara removed her own broken helmet and replaced it.

“Goodbye, cousin. Thank you.”

She stood again and turned to Question who was quietly watching.

“Are we all set here?” she asked him.

“Yes. I’ve got everything you asked for.”

“Good. Let’s keep moving.”

They continued on in silence.

EE:// Twilight Gap // 1 week after Tower attack

The two had managed to travel a far distance in the amount of time they’d been on their own. They even managed to hit the mountain ridgelines that afternoon. Elara still had a fair amount of rations carefully saved, but that was about to get more difficult. It was going to take a lot to keep her stamina up. Cabal ships were frequently passing through this area as the days passed, which kept her even more on edge. She told Question to keep scanning for ships they could commandeer as they went.

As she crossed over a crest, she faced a familiar sight. The falcon from days prior was perched off of the rock wall in front of her. It turned its head at the sound of her arrival, let out a cry, and took off further down the mountain.

“Is it following us?” Question said, also noticing it’s presence.

Elara continued down the ridge to the mountain pass where the bird flew. Something was telling her she should follow, but then again she could be going crazy out here. She already respected the Hunters ability to live out here on their own, but now she really understood how easy it was to lose yourself. They’d probably be the only ones that had a chance now..

She pushed that thought to the back of her mind. She had to remain optimistic for herself. If not for her, at least for Question. She had to see him safely through this.

She came across a ledge that led into a large opening of the mountain pass and jumped down. She walked further down and around large clusters of rock. The falcon was gone. She continued looking.

“Evie up ahead!” Question alerted.

She looked up in that moment and saw it. Two Cabal psions were perched overhead, keeping watch over the area. They were alerted to her presence with Question’s voice and took aim at her. She turned and dove to the ground in a flash as the two rifle shots whistled in unison.

Not fast enough..

She felt a knock on the top of her helm and was tossed backwards. Sharp stinging pain erupted from below her right clavicle. She heaved her chest upwards to a sitting position and pushed herself up against the stone she was hidden behind. Looking down, blood was already pouring out of her ruined armored robes.

Shit!

It was the only word running through her head. She managed to dodge lethal blows, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid the bullets completely. The sound of alerted Cabal legionaries and their war dogs arrived immediately after the gunfire.

Elara pressed her left hand firmly over the entry wound, a sharp cry escaping her lips. She looked down again through the pain to find her palm soaked in blood. She pressed down harder before carefully pulling the SMG from her belt and flipping off the safety with her free hand.

“Evie, you’re hit! Let me look at you!” Question cried in front of her.

She turned behind to get a better line of sight. The war dogs' snarls were close.

“No get back!” she yelled at him, firmly nudging him backwards with her gun hand. More pain cried through her shoulder at that protective gesture. She moved to hold her arm steady.

As soon as she saw the first canine turn the corner, she opened fire. Countless followed on either side, all slumping to the ground, but more kept coming. Her heart beat faster in fear, she was going to be swarmed in any moment.

“Elara!” Question urgently yelled. He was serious now, he only ever called her by her real name when he was.

“I said get away! Hide!” Elara yelled in response, while glancing back at him.

He remained hovering behind her shadow. In a flash, she turned to face him. Grabbing him from the air in her bloodied fist, she tossed him into cover in a bramble bush a few feet behind her. She felt a pang of guilt for throwing him in his battered state, but she didn’t want them hurting him.

She turned back around and was immediately thrown to the ground. Teeth and claws ripped at her person. She screamed and released more bullets into the dogs, before the pain unintentionally caused her to lose grip of it. She attempted to claw back over to it, but the dogs began pulling her by the legs in their maws back to their owners. She kicked to try getting them to open their bites, but it only received more.

A large figure shadowed over her. A Legionnaire looked down at her and shooed his last remaining dogs away. Elara quickly grabbed at her hand cannon and fired.

Click. What? Click click. No.. the safety is still on!

The Cabal soldier gave an alienated laugh and swatted her gun aside. He pressed one foot down upon her chest, immediately receiving a wheezing exhale from her. She couldn’t breath. She punched and clawed at him, anything to try to get the weight of the mountain off of her. She only received a slug rifle in her face.

This is it, I’m dead…

She braced for the impact.

Bang!........ Bang!

She looked back up. That wasn’t against her and it was close.

The Cabal was looking in the direction the noise came from as well, his dogs already running off barking away from sight. He moved off of Elara and yelled something in his native tongue into the air. She gave a heavy exhale in relief as she could breathe again.

Pow! The air in the Cabal’s armor hissed and he collapsed to the side, silent and unmoving.

Whoever that was, they were helping her.

She turned over and pushed herself up somewhat to her unsteady feet. The pain in her shoulder and new punctures across her body screamed and her vision grew hazy. She didn’t need to look down at her wounds to know she was on the verge of bleeding out. A few more cracks of gunfire cut the air and the wind grew silent again. She grew dizzy as she scanned around for her tossed weapon and her ghost. She caught sight of her hand cannon, and reached down towards it before falling face first into the dirt. The sound of footsteps approaching alerted her and she turned to face her unexpected savior.

A cloaked figure, bathed in browns and red with multiple glowing eyes was hurrying to her. She blinked to fight the haze in her head. An Eliksni helped her?.. There was no way.

“Question,” she muttered aimlessly in an attempt to call him to her. “Question..”

It didn’t stop coming. She grabbed the gun from where it lay on the ground next to her and aimed after quickly flipping the safety off. She continued trying to call out to her Ghost.

Her arms gave up before her eyes did. She saw their well worn boots before the darkness of unconsciousness swallowed her.