The lone Excalibur Warframe descended the Moonstone stairway cautiously, gazing around the circular antechamber for any potential threats. In the center of the room, there appeared to be a pool with rough crystallized tubes snaking from it, attaching to the walls of the chamber.

The Lotus lead them here to save the Tenno from the Stalker and Hunhow's Sentient fighters. Fortunately, the chamber appeared to be in good repair and undamaged, indicating that the Warframe was the first to arrive.

Inside the pool, a spinning, metallic, flower-like structure began to rise from the fog. Shining metal petals unfurled as it rotated, giving the illusion of a blooming lotus. These petals gradually revealed a single pod at the center of the formation, much like the one the Excalibur Warframe awoke inside of so long ago. The petals parted in front of the Warframe, allowing the pod to descend to the edge of the pool.

A hiss echoed in the Transference Chamber, and the pod's cover gradually lifted up and away, revealing its contents to the open air.

The Excalibur Warframe shuddered and collapsed as its connection to the Operator was severed.

There was nothing inside the Transference Pod.

With a brief and sharp gasp, I awoke to darkness. Gone were the golden structures and smoothed white stone of the Orokin Moon. In their place, a musky, dank, and humid odor assaulted my sense of smell, much like the muddy caves of Earth. I turned my head, finding the task incredibly strenuous. The structure I was sitting on looked like a crystalline throne of sorts, softly glowing white. My hands lightly gripped the jagged arms of the seat as if it were an actual throne. By the stars, this was uncomfortable.

Lifting my arms was just as straining as turning my head, but I forced them to obey and cradle my pounding skull. Who knew cutting the Somatic Link would cause a migraine? Thankfully, the place I was in was completely silent.

Wait… "Lotus?" I croaked out, attempting to use vocal chords that have gone unused for who knows how long. There was no response from my motherly guide. "Lotus!" I called again, wishing for confirmation that I wasn't alone.

Warriors are trained and disciplined in the art of war, never letting fear and panic dictate their actions. What I did next was foolish in hindsight.

With a rush of energy, I pushed myself off of the crystal throne, where my legs immediately gave out upon taking my weight. I collapsed to the wet stone floor face first with a startled yell, cursing the stars for leaving me in this state.

Weak, alone, vulnerable, and lost. Anything could find me and finish me off. Dragging my limbs along the moist ground took so much energy, but I had to move somewhere. This cave was not going to be my tomb.

Now that I was away from the glowing crystal throne, the light it shone illuminated the cave I was in slightly more clearly. The throne itself sat in about the center of the cave, three walls bordered it about ten feet away each, the front of the throne faced nothing but darkness.

With a grunt, I side-rolled myself toward one of the walls, impacting it lightly. I then used the pocked stone wall to haul myself into a sitting position, further straining my already tired arms. I took deep breathes of muggy and stale air, silently thanking the stars this place wasn't toxic.

Now that I could see myself somewhat clearly, my skin-tight Tenno suit was already caked with mud and dripping with stagnant water, which smelled terrible. My loose darkly colored hair fell in my eyes as I inspected myself, unable to discern its actual color in the dim light. The Tenno suit was primarily red, with what I believed to be accents of black and tints of white. An odd color combination, but it looked quite sleek to me.

I learned a lot about myself in the hours I spent in that cave. Tenno never need to sleep, drink, or eat. Their innate power that is often seen channeled into the greatly feared Warframes will also sustain their biological needs. That explained why I was supposedly inside of a pod basically unconscious. The less energy spent keeping the Tenno alive, the more that can be siphoned to the Warframe.

Which also explained the acute muscle atrophy I struggled so much with.

After what could have been days of stretching and exercising, I could finally stand on my own two feet again. I never received a single response from Lotus or Ordis, and that fact terrified me, but staying inside this cave with a crystalline throne wasn't going to help either.

With a dire need to see the stars again, I traced my hand along the furthest wall, searching for the opening I discovered hours before. Finding a sharp turn in the wall, I stepped past the threshold and into a pathway. The tunnel turned abruptly, and the glowing crystalline throne was gone from my sight.

One hand traced the left wall and the other traced the right wall as I progressed through the narrow tunnel. My hands never fell from the walls, telling me that this tunnel had no branching paths to get lost in. Only once or twice did I smack my head into a slab of stone when the tunnel made an abrupt turn. I could not see anything, and was moving purely on touch.

Only when my legs were ready to give out did I finally see the first glimmer of light, that wasn't from the crystal throne. It was pale and small, but a wave of fresh air confirmed its origin. The walls I was touching gradually fell away as I entered an area smaller than the crystal throne room but wider than the tunnel. Cool, crisp, clean air beckoned me to find the light source. Opposite the opening I entered the room through was a protruding wall, like a boulder fell in front of a cave entrance. The pale light shone through a crack where the boulder failed to sit flush with the cave's mouth.

My first choice was to sit next to the tunnel exit and regain my strength. I relished the chance to take deep, satisfying breathes of clear air before I finally realized that I was not going to be able to move this boulder with my bare hands. Panic began to set in as fear of never being found invaded my thoughts. I quickly stood up and stumbled to the boulder, "Hey! Help! Lotus! Ordis! Anyone!" left my throat before I could stop it. I didn't care who or what found me at that moment, just anything was better than being trapped in a cave for who knows how long.

I beat my weak fist on the boulder repeatedly, hoping that someone would hear me. Frustrated, I switched from overhand swings to a direct punch, wishing the boulder to shatter into billions of dust fragments.

BT-DEEEEEWWWW

A sudden burst of energy erupted from my fist, launching the obstruction far, far away from me. I fell backwards in surprise, not expecting to actually launch a two-ton boulder. Moonlight flooded the cave entrance now that the mouth was open to the air. A stony crash echoed from below, sealing the fate of the boulder.

I crawled to the cave entrance, not believing what I had just accomplished. The cave seemed to be located on a mountainside, providing a breathtaking vista of a lush green forest before me. On the horizon, a tall tower pulsing with green light stood out beneath a large shattered moon.

I had to look back at the celestial object a second time. A shattered moon? That made no sense. With that orbit and level of destruction, it should have disintegrated and fallen to the planet long ago, considering its core was not visibly glowing from a fresh impact. It was so much different than Earth's moon, which ended up as an abomination of Orokin design, much like anything that ends up in the Void.

I shook my head as I stood up. That tower was a building. Buildings meant civilization. Civilization meant answers. I made the Beacon in the night my goal, and I carefully climbed down the mountainside and into the forest.