Cal and Jayesh set out for the EDZ at 0600 the next morning. Jayesh flew his jumpship in formation with Cal's fighter, the guns on its wings like sharp claws.

Phoenix, Jayesh's ghost, slept on his lap the entire three-hour trip. Ghosts usually didn't require sleep, being mostly mechanical parts wrapped around a spark of Light. But Phoenix had spent the last month healing Jayesh's mind, especially at night, while he slept. The ghost was spent. Jayesh let him rest.

As they crossed the Pacific Ocean at high altitude, Jayesh spoke to Cal over the radio. "Whereabouts are we planning to land?"

"Southern Europe," Cal replied. "Around the Shard of the Traveler. Weird place, but good for Light practice."

"I thought the Shard had polluted the land?" Jayesh asked.

Cal grunted. "You ever been there?"

"No, only read about it."

"Consider this a field trip, then. I've been studying the Shard since we found it, have my own theories."

"Ever publish any papers?"

Cal was silent a moment. "Do you know what happened to Osiris?"

Jayesh blinked at his instrument panel, since he couldn't see his companion. "Yes ... he was exiled for heresy."

"Well." Cal hesitated. "Let's say that my views might also be seen as heresy."

Jayesh glanced out of his cockpit window at the bigger ship flying ahead of his. "How do you stay in the Praxic Order if you hold controversial views? I thought they were very by the book."

"They are." Cal hesitated, then went on, "But you're not one of us. I can talk to you. I know your record. Never did hold with what the media did to you."

Jayesh was silent. Even though the City media had long ago moved on to other topics, his reputation as the lunatic who claimed to speak to the Traveler lived on. No matter what he accomplished, people still looked at him funny when they heard his name. At least Cal disagreed with the slander.

As the European continent came into view on the horizon, Jayesh sensed that his ghost was dreaming. It was an odd feeling, picking up Phoenix through their bond, sensing how he felt about whatever was happening inside his mind. At the moment, Phoenix was lonely and scared. These feelings grew stronger. The ghost's segments moved a little, as if he was trying to open his core. Then suddenly his eye blinked on and he shot into the air. He hit the glass canopy and fell back into Jayesh's lap.

"Whoa, you all right?" Jayesh asked, steadying him with one hand.

Phoenix floated into the air again, spinning in place to look around the cockpit. "Oh. The ship. Right." He flew up and burrowed into his Guardian's hair. "I was dreaming about waiting at the portal," he whispered. "But you didn't come back. And I went into the Ascendant Realm. And the Mindbender was there."

Jayesh stroked the ghost. "It was just a bad dream. I've had plenty lately."

Phoenix settled on his shoulder, his slight weight a comforting presence. "We can get through this," he murmured. "Somehow. Light, between your injuries and mine, we're in a feedback loop of awful."

"We'll break the loop," Jayesh told him. "But it'll take time."

They watched the controls and the oncoming landscape. When Cal veered to the southeast, Jayesh followed.

In another hour, they sighted the plume of smoke rising from the Shard of the Traveler long before they saw the Shard itself. They swooped down and landed in a wide meadow a few miles away from it. It was a warm spring day, and the grass underfoot was such a vibrant green that Jayesh pulled off his helmet to make sure the glass wasn't deceiving his eyes.

Cal didn't seem so huge outdoors. He pulled off his helmet, too, and drew a deep breath of fresh air. "Good land, this," he remarked. "When the City population is ready to expand, we need to come back out here." He set off toward the Shard, which was like a mountain standing on its own in the midst of a forest. Jayesh studied it as they walked.

The Shard was a great crescent of the silver material that composed the Traveler's shell. The inside edge had a great deal of the vaulted cathedral structure that Jayesh had seen inside. Lightning crackled over it and arced to the ground. Smoke and haze billowed constantly from the wreckage.

"Ouch," Jayesh remarked. "I didn't realize it was so big."

"The Traveler lost this when the Darkness came," Cal told him, his vivid blue eyes fixed on the Shard. "It's been here for centuries, pouring undiluted Light straight into the ground."

"That doesn't sound good," Jayesh said.

Cal shook his head. "It's not. Light wasn't meant to be used that way. Still. It's fascinating to see what it's done. There's all-new flora species growing from the pollution, feeding on the spilled Light. There's much we can learn about the Traveler's terraforming methods. My hope is that we can someday wield our Light in the same way to terraform planets."

Jayesh blinked at his companion. "You think so? Our powers are combat-oriented."

"Ours are," Cal said, waving a hand impatiently. "We're Guardians, created for a specific purpose. But the Traveler does so much more than that. It doesn't hurt to learn about it."

Here was another person as interested in the Traveler as Jayesh, himself. They fell to discussing Light theory as they walked, the conversation becoming enthusiastic and animated. Jayesh actually told Cal about his time inside the Traveler and the discussions they'd had. Cal listened intently and had his ghost take notes.

As they neared the foot of the Shard, the trees around them died, their leafless branches still held to the sky. Dark blue plants covered the ground, their leaves and stems growing in strange shapes. Some had sent out oblong buds or flowers that glowed with Light. Jayesh picked one. It glowed for a while in his hand, then slowly faded.

Cal turned to him. "My thinking is, you need Light. This isn't the best quality Light, but there's a lot of it. Maybe it'll make a difference."

"Maybe." Jayesh studied the glowing plants. "This is weird as anything, but who knows?"

"Let's practice," Cal said. "Novice training. Show me your fire."

Jayesh summoned the pathetic flickers that remained of his Solar Light. Cal made him do it again and again, patiently walking him through the mental training and focus exercises. The big warlock never grew impatient, even though Jayesh had trouble maintaining fire for longer than a minute.

Jayesh, however, grew miserably frustrated. "This used to be easy!" he burst out. "When I entered warlock training, I summoned the sword on my first try. Now look at me. I can't even call fire."

Cal watched him as Jayesh flung himself on the ground. There was a moment of silence, broken only by Jayesh's panting. Then Cal said, "How do you know you're a Sunsinger?"

"The Traveler said I was," Jayesh mumbled.

Cal turned and gazed at the Shard, which was visible through the trees. Neither of them spoke for a moment. Then Cal said, "Maybe you'd better tell me exactly what the Traveler told you."

Jayesh repeated its words about learning the song of suns and stars. "Then it taught me a song. Kind of a weird melody, no words."

"Sing it," Cal said.

Jayesh stood up again, suddenly self-conscious. "You want me to sing?"

"Much like mathematics," Cal replied, "music is a universal language. The Hive sing their magic. The Fallen perform rhythmic chanting at their gatherings. Why shouldn't we, too, work our Light in song?"

Jayesh considered this. "Are you a Sunsinger?"

"I was," Cal said. His face fell for the first time. "When the Traveler awakened, my Light returned as a Dawnblade. It happened to many of us." He held out a hand. "Sword." The fiery sword appeared in his hand, rippling with flame.

Jayesh gazed at it, pierced with longing. He extended a hand. "Sword." Nothing happened. His hand remained empty.

Cal let his sword disappear. "Sing the song, then. It might enable you to reach the fire."

Embarrassed, Jayesh cleared his throat a few times. He didn't sing much, and was certain that he wouldn't be able to hit the right notes. But Cal was waiting, and Jayesh did want his powers back. So, after a few halting attempts, he began to sing.

Within the first few notes, the Light inside him steadied. Jayesh's frustration calmed. His last contact with the Traveler had been this song - an aria similar to the way his ghost had interceded for him. Around him, the blue Light flowers grew brighter. Cal smiled, as if he recognized the melody.

Jayesh broke off. "Then it starts over."

"Sing it again," Cal said. "Summon your fire while you sing."

Jayesh did, which was harder than he expected. Concentrating on getting the tune right while concentrating on the fire made his brain twist into pretzels. When the fire came, it leaped into being, blazing from his palm with a life of its own. Jayesh closed his fist, then opened it again to summon a grenade. It appeared, a burning, dangerous ball of Light. He was so delighted, he stopped singing to say, "Look!"

At once, the grenade fizzled and disappeared.

"Don't stop," Cal said, grinning.

Jayesh sang until he was hoarse, working through the motions of summoning every kind of fire. He secretly tried to summon his sword a few times, but nothing happened.

When his voice gave out and he started to cough, Cal let him rest.

"Don't expect to go into combat singing at the top of your lungs," Cal told him, passing him a water bottle. "A Sunsinger is only a conduit for the song. The song, itself, is outside you, the resonance of atoms, the orbit of planets, the great surges of gravity throughout the universe. You have to learn to hear it and find your place within it."

Jayesh drained half the bottle. "How does healing work?"

Cal tilted his head. "What healing?"

"How do Sunsingers heal?"

"They don't."

Jayesh stared at him. "But ... I'm a healer. The Traveler granted me a seed of light for it. There must be a way."

Cal shrugged. "Unless the Traveler taught you a different song, you can't heal as a Sunsinger."

"Well, it did." Jayesh recalled the softer, minor key that the Traveler had called the tender refrain of healing. He hummed it and felt the Light inside him change.

"Phoenix," he thought, "heal my tired throat?"

His ghost appeared and did so, sweeping a beam up and down his neck. The sore, scratchy feeling vanished.

Jayesh tried singing the other song, which was simply an extra verse of the fire song. He took the Light inside him and stamped his feet, opening a healing rift on the ground around him. Blue light sparkled underfoot.

Cal raised one eyebrow and clapped slowly.

"I did it!" Jayesh exclaimed. But as soon as he stopped singing, the rift faded. He gazed at the vanishing Light, his triumph disappearing with it. "This is much harder than it used to be."

"I'd gladly trade places with you," Cal said, so quietly that Jayesh barely heard him.

Jayesh looked up. "You miss it?"

Cal shrugged. "I was a Sunsinger. You were a Dawnblade. Now we've been forced to switch disciplines."

Jayesh tried to think of something to say, but couldn't. Should he offer sympathy? Or say that he disliked being a Sunsinger already and wanted to return to being a Dawnblade? That would be rude.

In his head, Phoenix said suddenly, "Guardians coming. Put on your helmet."

Confused, Jayesh retrieved his helmet from the tree branch where he had hung it and jammed it on. Nearby, Cal's ghost must have given him the same instructions. He buckled on his own helmet.

"Why helmets?" Jayesh asked. "They're just Guardians."

"I have a feeling," Phoenix replied cryptically.

Jayesh had Phoenix transmat him his sidearm and hand cannon, Drang and Sturm, just in case. Cal's ghost transmatted him a submachine gun that he held easily in one big hand.

Three Guardians appeared, picking their way through the dead trees. They walked with a prowling swagger, as if unafraid of the forest and its dangers. Their gear was dirty and tattered, as if they had been in the field a long time. Jayesh couldn't tell what classes they were - all three wore cloaks over armor. Hunters, maybe.

As the three stalked toward Jayesh and Cal, uneasiness swept Jayesh. Why did they move so aggressively? What might they want?

"Phoenix, any reads?"

"Their ghosts are laying low," Phoenix replied. "Tags are masked. They don't want us to know who they are. And their weapons - Jay, their weapons -"

Cal stepped forward, raising a friendly hand. "Hello, Guardians. What brings you here?"

"The same thing that brings you here," said the foremost Hunter. "Investigating the Shard."

"What about their weapons?" Jayesh thought. "Their cloaks are hiding them."

"Heavily modded," Phoenix said. "Displaying scan on your helmet screen."

A picture appeared of a rifle outlined in green. At first glance, it looked like an average scout rifle with a custom scope. Then Phoenix highlighted the mods in red. Jayesh's eyes widened.

"We're in need of transport," one of the other Hunters said. "Got extra space on your ships?"

"Not mine," Jayesh said. "It's just a basic jumpship."

Cal shrugged. "Mine? I couldn't say."

"Where are you docked?" the third Hunter asked.

Jayesh opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again. Those mods on that rifle ...

"That's none of your business," Cal said, his hand dropping to the butt of the pistol at his hip. "What're you three really after?"

The three Guardians drew their weapons. A rifle and two hand cannons. All had been infused with bone, transforming them into jagged, ugly shapes. Just looking at them turned Jayesh's stomach. Weapons of sorrow, capable of extinguishing a Guardian's light forever. The Praxic Order was working to keep these very weapons away from Guardians, yet this fireteam had three.

"We'll be taking your ships," said the lead Hunter. "You won't need them any more."

They're going to kill us double-dead, Phoenix!

Run, Jay! Run!

Jayesh dove sideways into the bushes an instant before the Guardians fired. Cal leaped straight up into the treetops. As Jayesh rolled to his feet, he glimpsed a long black spike impact a tree trunk a few inches from his head. Devourer Bullets. These rogues had done the job properly.

Then Jayesh was running for his life and there was no time for further thought. He wove between trees and slid down the hillside, trying to keep as much of the terrain between himself and enemy fire as possible. Behind him, several more shots were fired in quick succession, then fell silent.

"Cal better not be dead," Jayesh thought, dodging around a rock. He leaped through a patch of the glowing mutant flowers, his boots crushing their leaves and releasing a strange, pungent odor. "They're following me back to the ships! Phoenix, guide me somewhere else!"

"I've detected another Guardian," Phoenix said. "Southeast. Turn right. I've alerted his ghost that we're fleeing three hostile Lightbearers."

"How do you know this one isn't rogue?"

"His ghost's tag wasn't masked."

Jayesh swerved and climbed a hillside, his breath beginning to rasp in his lungs. Usually, while running, he'd draw on his Light to empower his muscles. But in order to do that now, he had to sing the song, and at the moment, he couldn't even think of how it went.

"I'm not going to die today," he told himself fiercely. "I have Kari and Connor depending on me. The Vanguard needs Guardians. I can't afford to die today."

He whirled and raised both weapons. Three dark shapes flitted through the trees a hundred feet behind him. He fired at them and they ducked. Good, that might give them something to think about. He whirled and kept running. "What I wouldn't give for a grenade."

On the tiny map in his helmet, Phoenix dropped an arrow pointing at a blue dot. "Almost there! The other Guardian is moving toward us. When you see him, drop. His ghost says -"

Jayesh plunged through a tangled thicket, almost stuck, tore himself free, leaving his robe and skin in tatters, and saw the lone Guardian. He stood in an open spot among the trees, a golden gun burning in one hand, ready to raise and fire.

Jayesh threw himself behind a tree and crouched, gasping for breath. The lone Guardian nodded briefly, then fixed his attention on the pursuit. Another Hunter, Jayesh thought - this one in proper armor and hood, his gear cleaned and well kept.

The lone Hunter stalked slowly down the hill, out of Jayesh's range of vision. Jayesh watched the dots on his helmet map. The three hostiles drew closer and closer, the single blue dot moving to meet them -

Three gunshots from the golden gun. Panicked shouts from the rogues. Two red dots vanished. The third fled at an angle. The blue dot ran in pursuit.

"He got them," Jayesh whispered, straightening. "Thank the Traveler. Who was that guy?"

"Uh," Phoenix said. "Do you know who Shin Malphur is?"

"Should I?" Jayesh said. "Can you detect Cal?"

"His ghost is that way," Phoenix said, dropping an arrow on the map. "Light, Jayesh, haven't you read about the first weapon of sorrow?"

"Once," Jayesh said, jogging back through the trees. "It was on the test for becoming a warlock. Is Cal alive?"

"His ghost says yes, but injured. Jayesh, Shin Malphur killed Dredgen Yor."

"Good for him," Jayesh said. "Do you know the healing song? I can't think of it to save my life right now."

"Yes," Phoenix exclaimed in exasperation. "Jay, pay attention! We may have stumbled across something big!"

"Yes, they used weapons of sorrow on us, I noticed." Jayesh barely heard Phoenix over the noise of his own running. He pounded back uphill toward Cal's dot on his map. "Don't die, please, don't die ..."

He found the big warlock kneeling in a clump of trees, clutching a bloody wound in his side. He gripped his submachine gun in his other hand, and aimed it at Jayesh for a second as he approached. Then Cal recognized him and relaxed.

"They got you?" Jayesh panted, kneeling beside his companion.

"I removed the projectile," Cal grunted, pointing at a gory spike lying on the leaves. "Could use some of that healing song right now."

Jayesh sat there a moment, trying to calm himself and catch his breath. In his head, Phoenix helpfully hummed the first few bars of the song.

Jayesh hummed along, which was easier than singing. Fortunately, his Light responded just as well. Jayesh dropped a healing rift under Cal and kept humming as it worked. Cal's ghost appeared and focused healing directly on the wound. Cal exhaled and leaned against a tree trunk, closing his eyes in relief.

Jayesh was still working when his helmet HUD showed the friendly Guardian approaching. Jayesh nudged Cal and pointed, not daring to stop humming.

The single Hunter approached through the trees, carrying a hand cannon ready in both hands. He wore goggles that obscured his eyes, but his nose and mouth were visible.

Cal lifted a hand in a weak salute. "Shin."

The Hunter nodded. "Cal."

Shin holstered his weapon. "Killed two of the bastards. The third escaped. Had a chat with their ghosts. They could abandon their Guardians, or take a bullet."

Jayesh broke off his song to exclaim, "You kill ghosts?"

In response, Shin tossed the remains of a ghost shell on the leaves. "One of them refused to leave."

Jayesh stared at the dead ghost in sick horror. He couldn't even react, only stare until his stomach threatened to empty itself. He turned away hurriedly and studied Cal's wound.

Cal said, "Harsh."

"Has to be done," Shin said. "These Guardians think playing with Darkness is fun. Who will stop them, they ask, when they prey on the Light? Their ghosts have either given up or joined them. They're far from the Vanguard ... or the Praxic order," he added, glancing at the logo on Cal's warlock bond.

"So you give them something to fear," Cal finished.

Shin inclined his head. "Believe me, I take no pleasure in ghost killing. I always give them a choice."

Jayesh sensed Phoenix's shiver.

Shin turned to Jayesh. "Nice move, kiting them straight to me. I've been hunting them for days. How'd you know I was in the area?"

"I didn't," Jayesh replied, rising to his feet. He barely knew how to speak to a man who killed Guardians so casually. His natural garrulousness came to his aid. "They wanted our ships, so I couldn't lead them there. My ghost picked you up and guided me."

Shin nodded, shifting his weight to a more relaxed stance. "Thinking on your feet. Good job. Crucible much?"

"N-no."

Shin lowered his head. "Gambit?"

"No."

Shin studied him a moment, inscrutable behind the goggles. "Maybe you should start."

"Gambit?" Jayesh said. "But ... isn't it all about corrupting Guardians or something?"

"Nothing is what it seems," Shin replied. "Can a game truly place corruption in a man's heart? Or does it only reveal what already lay beneath?"

Jayesh didn't expect a speech like this from a Hunter. After a moment of gathering his wits, he said, "What if I'm already aware of my weakness and have no desire to tread that path any further?"

Shin studied him from behind his goggles in silence. Jayesh had the impression that he was being weighed and measured in some way. Then Shin reached into the pack on his back and produced one of the bone-covered hand cannons. He held it out, grip-first.

Jayesh backed away. "I don't want that."

"Take it," Shin said, tossing it. The cannon landed at Jayesh's feet. "Destroy it. Or use it, if you're so inclined."

"You're giving me a weapon of sorrow?" Jayesh exclaimed. "Look, I had enough of Darkness when Riven and I had a little face to face visit. I'm not doing that again."

"Riven," Shin said softly, appraisingly. "Did your Light affect her?"

"No," Jayesh muttered. "She fed on it."

Shin gestured at the cannon. "Darkness is coming. We Guardians will be its prey - unless we use powers it cannot devour. Darkness cannot consume Darkness."

"And Darkness also lies," Jayesh counters. "It brings madness and death."

"Only if you choose so," Shin replied. "When we reach a place where there is no light, we must use such weapons as we have. Use the cannon, or destroy it. Give a thought to Gambit. It's not as harmful as some say." He turned and walked away into the trees.

Jayesh gazed after him. Then he nudged the hand cannon with the toe of his boot.

Cal straightened, cautiously drawing a deep breath. Finding the pain diminished, he rose to his feet. "Well?"

Jayesh looked up at him. "Is Shin Malphur ... sane?"

A smile slowly spread across Cal's face. "In some ways, the man is more sane than you or I. In others, he's mad as a Hive thrall. If you take the cannon, I won't tell the Order."

Jayesh picked it up with the corner of his robe, reluctant to touch the corrupted weapon. "I'll take it back and destroy it. I don't want the thing in my apartment, let alone the Tower."

"You can use the Praxic Order's weapon lockers," Cal said. "They have lead-lined ones for dangerous items." He coughed a little and clutched his side. "Let's go."