Howdy folks! The method seems to be working. Got most of the next Lost Stars chap done, and this got cranked out fast. Happy thanksgiving everyone!

I have a mission today Journ. With Ember, think I told ya about her. She's a Hunter like me, and Ares' bonded. Dunno what she sees in that bloke but hey, I'm not one to judge. It's a Hive mission. Supposed to be easy. Hopefully. I don't care what happens to me. But Traveler, don't let anything happen to her. I've been through the loss, and I still haven't gotten over Meri. Please, don't make Ares have to go through that. Not him. I promised him I'd protect her. He's already lost so much... Fireteam Hydra is down to half now...on that happy note I'll end this log here. I'll write after the mission.

-Log from Cain-1's Journal, given as one of two parts. Gained by Ikora when asked, after the Hidden Agents were injured.

Ares awoke with a groan, his mind and senses foggy. He attempted to stand. Key word being attempted. Pain flared up his leg and side when he moved. Looking down, he saw the reason.

There, sticking from his leg, was a massive shard of the siding of his ship. It nearly bisected his shin. Ares cursed. His eyes wandered to his side, punching through his armor was a metal rod as thick as his wrist. Ares couldn't see it, but from the throbbing on his face he assumed two things and he was more mad about one than the other.

Firstly, he realized his helmet had been knocked off when he landed.

Secondly, his face really fucking hurt, he assumed it looked as bad as it felt.

He looked around, seeing hide nor hair of Harmonia. Panic began to set in. 'Harmonia?' He called mentally.

No response was had.

He looked back to his leg. Sighing knowing this would cause utter agony until healed, he ripped his leg off the metal. He bit back a scream and grabbed two smaller shards and grabbed some cloth from his ruined Mark and made a makeshift splint, leaving the points lower than his foot in order to alleviate some weight. Debating on the topic of the rod in his side, in the end he used strength that rivaled Zavala's himself to snap the rod at the base of where it met the ship.

Hissing in pain as he stood, Ares looked over himself. His armor was in working order, but it was in dire need of repairs, his Mark of the Sunbreakers was utterly ruined, Ares removed the hammer from it, a weapon was needed in unknown territory, and The Doctor? Ripped apart, his creation laid in pieces scattered over the ground. His Dunemarchers were the only part in working order, that in and of itself was a miracle.

Ares surveyed his surroundings through the broken window of the cockpit. It seemed he had landed there when Oryx threw him.

He seemed to be in a forest, the distant sound of roaring water let him know that there was a waterfall nearby. Ares stood and winced as his leg flared up. Traveler it hurt, but he would persevere. He needed to find Harmonia. He looked around more and saw the damage his ship had done.

The ground was rent asunder, scarred for centuries to come. Trees had been obviously crashed through leaving a clear marker as to where he was, that was a problem. He held his side limped through the wreckage. He saw a black blot half sticking out of the ground, he walked over. It was his helmet. His gift from Lord Saladin was ruined, bent into an unrecognizable lump of metal. He saw the Iron Banner sigil at the base of the helmet and it was the only reason he knew what it was. He sighed and continued his limping walk and arrived at what was left of his Armory, each step leaving a bloody trail. He quickly scanned over the room and cursed.

Thunderlord, in pieces.

The Jade Rabbit, demolished.

The gifts of the Iron Lords, decimated.

His sword, snapped in multiple pieces.

His weapons, gone, broken.

His armor sets, destroyed beyond repair.

Dammit all!

He sifted through the debris, trying to find some weapon, any weapon. His hammer alone was not going to cut it. He finally found something, which was better than nothing.

It was a Dreg's Shock Pistol. The weapon was not unfamiliar, just not intimately known.

It would suffice.

He checked to ensure it was loaded, as all his weapons were should he need them at a moment's notice, and left the Armory, blood and debris all that was left in his wake.

His mind had cleared slightly as he made his way out of his destroyed ship, climbing over multiple burning pieces of metal and other debris. Upon exiting the ship he sent out a pulse of Light to find out where his partner went. The return of info caused him to immediately fell to his knees and he vomited the entirety of the contents of his stomach as his mind was assaulted by the feeling every Guardian knew on instinct. It was ingrained in their very being.

Sludge on the mind.

Inky, black, disgusting vileness in his soul.

The feeling of wrongness.

Darkness

This planet, this planet was covered with it. He could feel it, violating the very air with its existence.

After a moment to gather himself, he stood shakily clutching his side. He had found a scant trace of Light. That had to be his Ghost. It was better than nothing.

With that thought on his mind, Ares began to move one limping, strained step at a time.

Harmonia hummed to herself to pass the time. She was scouting. So far what she found was disturbing to say the least. It had been 15 hours, 32 minutes and 17 seconds since they had landed here as a result of Oryx's action. Ares had been nearly killed. She had healed him enough to where he wouldn't die as long as he stayed there. Honestly, it would have been easier if he died, she could just resurrect him outside the damaged area, but he was adamant on keeping his death toll as little as possible. It had nothing to do with pride so much as losing himself, in his own words.

This planet however, was intriguing yet concerning. The Darkness that encompassed nearly all of the planet. She had scanned the cosmos while Ares was out. They were certainly nowhere near home. This planet...the Traveler had visited it definitely. The traces of the Traveler's Light were apparent in the atmosphere, the ground and the life she saw. She also saw what form the Darkness had taken here. Pitch colored creatures with bone plates stalked the forest.

One feline looking one had seen her. She had seen it however and she showed it why she was the Strongest Ghost of the Tower. Harmonia hadn't even moved from her spot, only her back fins spun as she fired a super heated beam from her core straight into its head. It was dead before it hit the ground.

Gliding down to the beast, she began scanning. She noticed it began decaying immediately, "At least they are self-cleaning," Harmonia commented as she went over the data she now had.

Pure Darkness is what made up these beings, why they took the shapes of animals she knew not. This one seemed young, with few boney plates to its name along with its small size, but that was just a theory. She would have to see more to know for certain. She heard the cracking of branching and shifting of grass underfoot and looked to the sound of the noise.

A large black hand reached towards her as the huge shape stumbled out of the woodwork. It fell onto its front and hissed in pain.

It was Ares.

Harmonia immediately flew over. He rolled onto his back to face his Ghost. "Ares! You finally woke up!" She looked over him and tutted at seeing his leg and side in the state they were. "Why didn't you just stay where you were? I was just about to come back for you and heal you if you were awake."

Ares grunted, "And you saw fit not to do it while I was unconscious due to what?"

"I didn't want to mess up the transmat of the pieces. Its difficult with people. Objects? Easy, if something gets cut off by an atom or two no big deal. People? If that happens to people I may just accidentally fuse the two materials I am trying to separate." Harmonia spoke softly and looked down as her back fins slowly spun.

Ares managed a small smile, bloodstained as it was. His Ghost was just worried, as usual. "It is alright. It is behind us. Let us focus on the present and figure out where we are. Are you still connected to the Traveler's Light?"

Harmonia seemed to make a so-so gesture with her body. "Yes and no. This planet has Light Ares, I think the Traveler visited this place. That means if needed, resurrection is possible. But," she seemed worried now, "my connection to the Traveler seems...distant very, very distant. Which means we are so far from it...," she looked to her Guardian, blue eye half hidden by her shell as she bluntly told her Guardian what she had found, "I don't think we could get home even if we had millennia to spare Ares."

Ares cursed yet again. "Traveler above this is bad. But we will get home Harmonia, make no mistake of that, no matter how long it takes us." His eyes burned with a fire, a fire that spoke of no uncertainty in his statement.

He really meant it.

Harmonia nodded to herself.

"Yes. We will. Now lets get you patched up partner." Ares motioned to his side as it was the more pressing wound. Harmonia flew low. She examined the wound some more than she had earlier and spoke with a tone that was pure focus, "Remove the pipe by pushing out the back enough to where you can grab the front, then pull and I'll heal the wound as it goes to prevent blood loss. Slowly."

Ares nodded and grit his teeth. Moving his hand to his side, he began to push. It hurt, a lot. But it was healing. Once that bit of painful fun was had, Harmonia moved to his leg. "The shard in it was attached to the ship," he explained, "so I just pulled the leg off it. Nothing left inside as far as I know." How many times had they done this song and dance, Ares wondered, he would get injured, and due to his own regards with death, he took longer to heal even if it was just a few minutes more.

He sighed pleasantly as he was brought back to full health. He cracked his neck to the side, "So tell me. While you were scouting what did you find?"

Harmonia tilted side to side as she thought, "I sensed a larger gathering of Light, but the amount present was like a small settlement of civilians, yet at the same time it felt...locked. It felt like there was more to their Light but it was bound."

"Did you see an actual settlement?" She nodded her head.

"I think so judging by the walls I saw. As capable as I am, I do not know what they possess. If I approached they may have attacked."

"I see, we shall approach in the morning," Ares stated looking to the sky that was quickly turning to dusk, "for now we need to hide the ship's wreckage. Have you seen any caves large enough to hide it?"

"There is one behind a waterfall nearby," that statement caused Ares to chuckle internally, he felt like a secret spy or something.

He nodded, "Let's get it transmatted inside. We can use the cloaking tech Cayde gave us a while ago to mask the cave entrance," with that last order given the duo set off back to the wreckage.

It took them past nightfall to get all the pieces safely inside the cave system and scavenge what they could. No more armor or weapons sadly, and Harmonia was unable to fix them. Somethings they found however, brought a happy cheer from the Ghost.

"Yes! The metal survived the crash," Harmonia looked at the pure metal they had. Lord Saladin had showed them where the Iron Lords found their materials whilst under their tutelage. They had fortunately stocked up on the metal before departing for their mission.

While that was good news, something else had Ares in high spirits, "The Shard is safe as well, through some miracle. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth."

Harmonia nodded. "And it still filled with Light, but not as much as a shard this large would have."

"It seems its time in the Hive's care took most of it," Ares hummed to himself as he laid a hand on the object, working it under the Light-hiding sealing and began to channel Light into the Shard. It felt like something was stirring inside, but it settled. "Peculiar," he removed his hand and redid the sealing. That would take investigating certainly. For now, they would scout as one. "Harmonia, come, we are going to scout around," sheathing the hammer on his waist mag holster and the Dreg Shock Pistol on his thigh, he set out.

They left the cave and cloaked the entrance. Once satisfied it was safely hidden, Ares set out, Harmonia melded into his Light once more. The moment they left the roar of the waterfall, they heard something.

Using Light to enhance his senses, Ares strained his ears to pickup the noise. It was screams, smelling the air, he found a tinge of smoke and ash. Turning around he saw a orange glow on the horizon.

'Harmonia, which direction was that settlement,' as he drew the pistol his Ghost told him. Ares was moving before she finished.

He activated his Dunemarchers and bolted through the forest around him.

It took him several minutes even with the Dunemarchers to get to the wall Harmonia spoke of.

He smelled the fire before he saw it. The Guardian came upon a wall.

It was tall. Very tall. If he had to wager a guess he would say at least fourty feet.

However.

Walls don't matter once they're broken.

He knew that all too well.

Ares noticed the stream of Dark Creatures that streamed in, avian to lupine to sapiens to even equine, the creatures rushed about the wrecked wall.

He heard screams and he began to move. Ares raised the pistol and fired a shot without looking at the lupine beast that attempted to attack him. It fell without the Lightbearer breaking stride. Ares fired round upon round into the horde, thinning it with each discharge. With each black body that fell, he moved closer to the town.

A man with black hair and gold eyes held a spear as he fended off one of the creatures with the men of the town guard against the creatures of Grimm. The man was known as Asha Miko, head of the guard of the town of Milas.

The beasts had broke through the walls. Luckily, it was a small hole. They had managed to evacuate many of the townsfolk into the shelter behind him.

"Brothers! Lock shields, we shall hold! We shall not break," he called in the native tongue of Mistral.

His men obeyed and they formed a wall, spears glinting with the blood of the Grimm. His men had stone faces as the next group approached them, Beringels and Beowulves. Asha gripped his spear tighter.

Then, the Grimm at the wall exploded in blinding Light.

Asha blinked away the colors in his vision and readied his spear for the onrush.

It never came.

Asha looked at the Grimm that stampeded back to the hole, drawn to something.

And he saw a man.

He was massive with hair as red as blood, skin paler than snow. He seemed to be wearing ruined armor, a hammer at his side and a strange weapon in his hand.

The man turned and took a deep, slow breath in as he took in the situation.

There was carnage.

Buildings destroyed.

Fire burning the town to ash.

Bodies ripped apart.

Human bodies.

Creatures of the Dark feasting upon the dead.

The man breathed out, face forming a snarl.

Then, he was gone.

He reappeared, stopped in front of one of the Beringel with his fist cocked back, he launched it and it flew through its chest cavity, thick bone plating doing nothing to stop it. Using the strange weapon in his currently not deep in Dark hand, he aimed it under the head as it looked down at him and pulled a trigger. It blew the head apart and the man ripped his hand out, flicking the flesh off. More creatures of the Dark sensed him, sensed his power, and attacked as one, covering the man from view.

Asha cursed, another death this day. He and his readied themselves for the horde that would rush them once the Grimm dealt with the man.

Only for the Grimm that had dog piled the man to explode as the man was seen inside the mass, finishing a spin. Flames licked at his form, his back to Asha's view.

Battle between the two opposing sides lulled for a brief second, then resumed.

He moved like a never ending current, flowing from one kill to the next.

A Boarbatusk spun at the man, he caught it by the tusks. Catching it under the snout with the edge of his boot, he kicked it and snapped off the tusks as the body was sent flying from the force. He flipped one into an underside grip. Two Beowulves attacked the man's back as he dealt with one of their Grimm brethren.

The man didn't even look as he swept low and sliced, catching one's leg on his impromptu hook and the other one in its ribcage. He launched them into their kin, the leg being torn off and the bodies off the tusks as he jumped and snapped the neck of an approaching Ursa. Its head was ripped from its shoulders due to the pure force. As he kicked, he launched a punch at another Beowulf, caving in its skull.

Asha was in awe of the man slaughtered the Grimm like cattle.

He was an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

The horde was endless, but so was the rage of the War God.

That was what the man had to be, for no mere man had the power this one possessed.

The man ducked under a dive-bomb from one of the Nevermore catching its talon as it passed. The massive being screeched in rage as it was caught. The man tightened his grip, face set in a savage snarl, his eyes burning with so much Light it flowed forth covering his eyes in blinding white. He turned on his heel and crashed the Nevermore into the final of its kin, a lowly Tajitu, crushing all three heads at once.

He stood there, panting for a brief moment, then he roared a loud, resounding roar that echoed over the land, challenging any more Grimm to attempt to take him down.

None answered the call.

Breathing heavily, Ares allowed his Light to fade as he fell to a knee. That, was tough especially since he had expended so much Light healing his wounds from the crash.

'You did well Ares, but you need to know how to pace yourself,' Harmonia spoke in his mind.

'We both know I am only breathing hard due to the fact we used much Light to heal me and transmat the ship,' he retorted.

'Shush. I'm the Ghost. I'm supposed to be right.'

He rolled his eyes at his partner and saw a man with black hair approach. Ares stood, legs steady despite the exhaustion he felt.

"Are you well Battlewright?" The man asked.

Ares raised an eyebrow, he couldn't understand the man. 'Harmonia do you recognize the dialect,' Ares asked watching the man warily.

'If he speaks some more I may be able to cross reference it.'

The man seemed to sense Ares confusion and said once more, this time using gestures, pointing to Ares then gesturing to his own wounds then back to Ares, "Are you well Battlewright," the man pointed to himself again, "I am Asha Miko."

Ares seemed to understand the man's gestures at least. He nodded. He was okay, and the man's name was Asha Miko it seemed. 'Harmonia? You got it yet?'

There was a brief silence before Harmonia spoke, 'It seems to be a blend of several Earth languages. Mainly French, Chinese, Russian, and Japanese. One second, you'll feel a slight shock, I'm going to essentially download them all into your brain. You should be able to understand then.'

Ares' eyes clenched shut as he felt the effects, 'That hurt,' he thought before he shook his head to clear it. A minor headache was left in the wake of his Ghost's doing.

"Battlewright? Are you well?"

"That word," Ares' voice came out speaking as the man did automatically, "what does it mean? Why address me by it?"

Asha's eyes lit up as it seemed the god could understand him. "Ah! You can understand me. Good. Battlewright, it is a title we give to our greatest warriors, the ones of our history that have fought the Grimm with a ferocity and skill not commonly seen. Based on your prowess today I say you have earned the title," Asha cocked an eyebrow. "Unless you wish to be addressed differently?"

"Call me Ares," he stated.

"No family name," Asha asked. He figured even gods had family, the Brothers showed that.

Ares thought for a moment. "Nike. Ares Nike."

Asha smiled at him, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance War God Ares Nike." The warrior knelt and bowed, as did the men behind him who approached at their leader's urging. "Thank you for saving Milas. Our home. If there is any way to repay you please, just say the word."

'...God?'

'I blame you,'Ares stated to his partner. 'I do not know how but this is your fault.' Sighing he spoke, "Stand, I am no god Asha. But if you wish it I would enjoy meeting with your town's leader."

Asha stood and nodded. "Yes. We can do that. Come. Meet the town first. Everyone is in the shelter. Follow please." Asha turned on his heel and gestured. They began walking. "We are fortunate you came when you did, the Grimm would have overran us if not for you."

"The Grimm. Do you mean those Dark beasts?"

He nodded. "They have plagued Remnant since we can remember. Some think they came from the shattered moon. Some think they came from the underworld. Some think they exist because we exist," he shrugged. "We know not. We just know they hunt us. So we fight to survive."

'Wait,' Ares looked to the sky. What he saw caused him to lose composure from sheer shock, the moon was indeed shattered outward on one side.

'WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR MOON?'