Where was he? He had just been fighting the Vex on Venus. All he had felt was a sharp, burning pain before his apparent "death". This place it looked nothing like where he was originally from. It was night time, and he was standing on a jagged cliff with endless pines across the ravine and a ghostly fog behind him. The gnarled branit ches of trees reach out, as if to snag him away.

WHY ARE YOU HERE, LIGHT?

It was a thought, or something similar, that echoed through his mind.

WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE, AGENT OF THE SKY?

"I am Avos Lemmod, Warlock Guardian from the planet Earth. What are you, entity, why are you here?"

I AM A BEING OLDER THAN THOSE "VEX"

now the gate has been unlatched

I AM OLDER THAN LIGHT AND DARK

headstones pushed aside

I AM AN ENDLESS CHORUS

corpses shift and offer room

A fate you must ABIDE!

"ARGH!" said Avos. The echoing thoughts became headsplitting, and tentacles reached from the fog. It was an unbearable pain to expirence.

this is not your grave, but you are welcome to it.

"What are... You? What's... Happening..."

I AM A MONUMENT TO ALL YOUR SINS.

WE ARE TWO CORPSES IN ONE... GRAVE.

WE WILL BE INTERTWINED, ONE WHOLE BEING.

YOU WILL LET ME FREE!

"No! Never!" shouted Avos. Then, the screaming thoughts were gone. He believed they were gone.

DO YOU THINK ME DEFEATED?

I HAVE BEATEN FLEETS OF THOUSANDS! CONSUMED A GALAXY OF FLESH AND MIND AND BONE!

AND YOU ARE BUT THE SHAPE OF THE DEAD, EMBUED WITH THE POWER OF A DEAD GOD! I WILL RETAKE WHAT WAS ONCE AND WILL BE MINE.

Then Avos woke up.

But this was not the Avos that arrived into the wretched arena. This one had no ghost, and his skin was a pale white and musty green. His eyes were bloodshot, and a greenish gas exited his mouth every time he breathed.

This was no Guardian.

Not anymore.