"Nothing," Erytheia said, "This place is abandoned."
A vast ocean, just beyond the edge of perception. Here the veil wore thin.
"I don't get it," the Ghost continued, "Why bring us here? It hasn't been inhabited in years."
Swirling infinities. An endless pattern stretching across all of space-time. A pattern she was strangely familiar with, now that she accepted it. The circuits carved in the surface of the planet far below mirrored its subtle geometries, like a shadow of an object cast on the wall.
Something else remained, traces of another presence. A glimmering figment of brilliance, far purer than her own extinguished Light.
"Time isn't an object in this place," she said, her voice distant in her own ears, "This moment is like an infinite filament stretched across the sky."
Erytheia slowly turned to look at her. "Should I be worried?"
"Of course you should be worried. He knew this would happen all along."
Was her coming to this place inevitable? A foretold constant in the vast shifting sands of time's ocean? She had a connection to this place, not just to him, but the vast woven design that permeated the machines' reality. Of that she was certain now. She felt it tugging at the back of her mind, pulling her along, to a place eternal in the majesty of infinity. To an empty Lighthouse, that somehow remained lit.
Though her mechanical optics continued to stare at the too large and too dim sun, in her mind, she was reliving that meeting, not two months past, yet still so long ago. Oh how quickly everything could fall apart around you…
The Vestian outpost was deserted.
Or at least it felt that way, when Elva remembered the last time she had visited the hollowed out husk of a Fallen ketch, during the height of the Taken War. Hundreds of Guardians had flocked to the Reef back then, seeking to aid the desperate Awoken, and earn a handsome reward in the process. Now only a few found it worthwhile to make the tedious journey out to the asteroid belt. A Titan and another Warlock, wearing the purple and gold of Queen's emissaries, conferenced quietly with Petra Venj. A trio of Hunters haggled Variks over their reward for completing his challenge.
Elva was the only other Guardian there. Even the Cryptarch's post was abandoned. Two years later, the outpost was a ghost town.
She made her way across the precarious walkways that spanned the hull. Her destination was the small alcove tucked in the back corner. Hundreds of candles burned on the floor, filling the space with thin smoke and warm light. A man in a long yellow robe knelt in their midst, tending them.
"So you have finally learned the questions you need to ask," the man said without looking up.
"Excuse me?" Elva asked.
The man ignored her question and continued working on the candles, using the stumps that were almost burned down to light fresh ones. His hood was drawn low over his face, covering his eyes, yet his hands moved with practiced coordination. Not a single drop of wax was spilt.
After a moment, he straightened, brushed his robe off, and turned to face Elva.
"When we first met, you eschewed the Trials, and questioned why such a contest would be worthwhile. I told you then that I could not give you that answer until you found the right questions to ask."
"So now I have the 'right questions?'" Elva asked, raising a bronze eyebrow.
"I should hope so," the disciple continued, "Otherwise you will have made the journey here for nothing."
Elva narrowed her eyes. "I actually remember that conversation. Surely you must have spoken with thousands of Guardians since then. And…you recognized me before I even said anything."
The disciple chuckled. "Ah Warlock, how very confused you must be right now. I certainly don't envy your path. Your Light has always been different. Osiris has taken great interest in you. The impossible Guardian."
A chill shot down Elva's spine. She couldn't read the disciple's stony expression, but she immediately realized he knew. He knew the secret of the origin, the secret she had even kept from her own fireteam.
She glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot, and stepped closer to the disciple. "If you know who I am, what I am," she said quietly but forcefully, "Then you already know why I'm here."
The disciple smiled. "Of course. Osiris warned me you would come to us eventually. After all, who else could answer the questions of one born of the Vex?"
"So tell me then," Elva pressed, "Tell me where Osiris is, so that I may speak with him."
"My master is not a person who can be found. He glowed like a burning star that fell from the sky, and we are merely embers left in his wake. I cannot tell you what has become of him. It is not yet time."
Elva bit her lip and crossed her arms. "Osiris vanished years ago. I'm starting to doubt you'll ever think its time."
"Soon Warlock, very soon." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black chip. A data core. "These are the coordinates to a spire on Mercury. We maintained a shrine at the top. Osiris bid me to send you there when you came. He will not be there when you arrive, but perhaps the answers you seek will remain."
Elva eyed the disciple as her Ghost scanned the chip. "So that's it. No rite of passage, no test of some sort?"
"That depends. Only you will know when you are ready to make the journey."
"I have the coordinates," Erytheia said.
The disciple slipped the chip back into his belt.
"How do you know I'm not ready now?" Elva asked.
He shrugged. "Perhaps you are. It is not my place to say."
Only you will know when you are ready to make the journey…
She had fooled herself into thinking it didn't matter. When she returned from the Reef, she ignored the coordinates, she sequestered herself with the Praxic Order. She learned new ways to channel her Light, and practiced with her new abilities. She thought she could be a Guardian, a being of the Light. She thought she could ignore the other half of her nature. She told herself, again and again, that she didn't need the tantalizing secrets that awaited her at the edge of the Caloris Basin.
Oh what a fool she was. It only took losing everything to make her accept the truth staring at her the entire time.
Was she ready? Her home was gone. Her team, her friends, were missing, dead for all she knew. And yet she had come anyways, fleeing from the burning City like a coward, because she had nowhere else left.
Again, the sensation returned to her. A vast weight, all around her and yet nowhere at once. This place was abandoned, but that didn't mean she was alone.
The surface of Mercury stretched beneath her, stone and metal shaped into an unliving city by unfeeling machines. It all looked so fragile from afar. How hard would it be to sweep it all away, just as the Cabal had swept away her own City?
She finally tore her gaze away from the burning sun and the shining spires. The tower she stood atop reminded her much of the monolith that had taken her to the future, and given her the weapon and knowledge she now carried. How fitting. Such was the nature of the world, an endless loop, bound to repeat itself for eternity.
The broad ledge was an entryway of sorts. A perfectly circular archway stood at the back, granting access to the inner sanctums. It was festooned with banners and plates of circular metal. Effigies of the sun, she assumed.
She walked slowly, reverently even. This place was a gateway, a stepping stone to something greater than herself. Osiris's followers were gone now, but they had clearly lived here a long time. It must be sacred to them in some way. As such, it demanded respect.
The archway led to a small vestibule. Dim lanterns hung from the ceiling, and a blue stripe was painted on the left wall. The floor was littered with sand blown in by the scorching Mercurial winds.
The room was empty. She continued through the opening on the other side.
Beyond was a broad and sandy courtyard. Here it was shaded from the sun, and the temperatures were cooler, pleasant even. Burned out braziers sat in the corners. An ancient looking ship rested in the corner beside a pair of fuel tanks. Elva frowned. The ship was a Hawk, a City craft.
She wandered around the courtyard, past alcoves and banners hung from the walls. Why did Osiris send her here? To meditate on the sand and loneliness?
A small altar stood in the very back of the courtyard. The remains of dozens of candles littered the surrounding stone, and a projection of the Sun floated above it.
The Sun. The source of all life in the system. Osiris's followers had chosen to make their home close in its burning embrace. They worshiped it. Until very recently, she had been its disciple as well, in a way. She had felt its fire flow freely through her synthetic veins, and cupped its power in her mechanical hand. Now that spark was extinguished.
A grid of white filaments spanned the gap behind the altar, blocking the path beyond. She stepped close to it, watching as transient patterns coalesced and vanished on the translucent canvas. She once would have thought the movements were random, bound to a logic she could never understand. Now, if she listened, she could hear the rhythm of their design, a symphony at the edges of her mind.
She had a connection to this place, to the stones and metal, and the vast, endless mind that built them. A connection that sustained her and her Ghost, even as her light had gone cold. Ignoring the bond wasn't an option anymore. The reality was simple. She was one of the Vex.
Elva raised her hand, servos and sensors sheathed in bronze skin. The glowing patterns shied away as her fingers came close to the force field.
For years, you've bent and warped their pattern to your will.
She remembered Praedyth's words to her. He was right. She had refused to believe it, but he was right. What else had she ignored in her willful oblivion?
Her fingertips brushed against the force field, and her mind melded with the vast infinity beyond.
She drifted through the currents of time for an eternity no longer than the blink of an eye.
Her physical brain was far too limited to see the full extent of the Vex network of course. She could only feel the pattern immediately around her, the single spire on Mercury. The little piece claimed by the Cult of Osiris.
For a while she swam lazily through the vast ocean, letting the currents take her where they would. Ripples spread outwards from her and returned like distant echoes. Here and now, all of her mere physical concerns and constraints fell away. Humanity, the City, even her own strange origin did not matter in this place beyond words. There was only the pattern, in its infinite unknowable majesty. The sensation was euphoric and terrifying.
As she navigated the eddies and channels, she became aware of a string of marks left on the pattern. She was not the first to tread these waters. Someone else had come before her, someone with a true understanding of this beauty.
The marks shifted in her mind's eye, and they spelled out a string of words. A message.
I do not envy you, the words said.
The burden you bear is unlike any I have seen before. I watched as the Light gave you life and tore you away from the machines. You've been suspended between your two natures ever since.
The patterns rearranged, forming new words.
Your origins are a curse of course. I can only imagine what you must have felt every day since Praedyth revealed you your nature. As with all curses though, it might be a gift if you allow it.
Again the words changed.
You have come to me looking for answers. But I can only give you what you already know in your heart. You question if you are a Guardian or a puppet of the machines. You are what you believe yourself to be. If you let your origin control you, then it will. The Light gave you purpose, thought, and independence. I hope that you do not squander it.
The lines shifted one final time.
Look at how they move to your will! You are a magnificent specimen, so much potential! Let your command over their pattern guide you in the troubles to come. I have left you the notes of my own studies. Perhaps knowledge will be the weapon that sets you free.
The tide of time washed the words away, and she swam in the waters for a while longer.
Elva lowered her hand.
She shivered despite the heat. She had just experienced something wonderfully transcendent. Already the impressions were fading, leaving her hollow and ashen. She would be weeping, if only her metal eyes had the tears to cry.
"Well you did something," Erytheia said. Her voice was an anchor, dragging her further back into the world, away from that beautiful and seductive place beyond places. "A bunch of files just appeared in this confluence. Human files, not Vex."
"Download them," Elva said quietly.
"Working on it…Oh wow. There's exabytes of data here. Documents, diagrams, audio recordings. It's all about the Vex. Detailed notes about their designs, their networks, everything! This is incredible! It makes the data recovered by Fireteam Tuyet look like a footnote in a children's book. It will take years to parse through it all, but it will change everything!" The Ghost was excited, ecstatic even, like a Hunter in a knife shop.
"We don't have years," Elva said, "Our enemies are here now."
She turned around and began walking back to the entrance of the courtyard.
"Is this it?" Erytheia questioned, "Is this what we came for?"
"No," Elva said, "but it will have to do. Call the ship down and ready for transmat."
"Right. It's on its way."
Elva emerged back into the blinding sunlight. It pushed against her with an almost physical force. She wanted to wither away before it, but she held her ground. Even without the Light, she was still a child of the sun. Everyone was.
"I'm picking up a transmission on Guardian channels," Erytheia said.
"Survivors?" Elva asked, "The Vanguard?"
"It's not the Vanguard, it's Linvana and Telysa!"
Elva inhaled. "They're alive? I thought I was the only one who survived the fall…" She trailed off. She didn't want to finish that thought. She didn't need to, now that she knew they were alive.
"They're alive alright. The message is a general transmission to Fireteam Dawnstar. They want us to regroup with them. They included coordinates for a location on Mars."
"Then set a course. If they survived, there must be others as well."
Maybe not everything was lost.