Exile's Journal

The Moon.

During her first life, it had been a boring place: the place where a scientist ended up if they couldn't succeed anywhere else. The place where their careers went to die.

Now, it was a place where young Guardians went to die. At the moment, it seemed Adeen was about to become the latest in a long string of Guardians who got in way over their heads.

After all the trouble she'd been through since escaping Venus, she was very annoyed that it was going to end like this. Her hand cannon finally ran out of ammo, and there were still plenty of thralls charging her. She meleed as many as she could, her Flame Shield offering a brief respite, but she wasn't paying attention to what she was hitting. That proved fatal when she accidentally hit a cursed thrall.

The explosion sent Adeen flying through the air, only to land on her back and knock the wind from her lungs. She tried to get up, but the thrall swarmed her in an instant. Claws ripped through her armor, sending arc burns across any flesh they encountered. A mass of eyeless faces filled her vision. A seething fury coursed through her veins, but she was physically incapable of releasing it. As the last vestiges of life and Light left her body, she didn't feel pain.

All she felt was anger.

Adeen found herself in a familiar nothingness. But it couldn't be nothing; she was there. She still felt her consciousness suspended in the void. But most of all, she still felt the anger. In a final act of desperation, she focused all her rage into a fiery singularity.

A supernova exploded in the void, and from it sprang life. Adeen's life to be precise.

Like a phoenix being born from its own ashes, Adeen reappeared in the midst of the very thralls that had just killed her. Gliding into the air above the mindless enemies, she rained Solar Grenades down upon them. Any thrall caught within that heavenly fire was incinerated down to its very quarks.

At last, she returned to the surface, her Radiance depleted. Her radar showed no signs of enemies nearby. After scanning the area to make sure, she slumped to the ground, gasping for air.

"Rigel, mind telling me what the hell just happened?" she asked between breaths.

"You activated your Radiance from beyond the grave," it - he - said. "It's a technique that takes most Sunsingers years to learn and even longer to perfect. Fireborn. It's said that the elite members of the Praxic Order are immune to death itself."

"Heh. I like the sound of that. But I doubt I could do it again anytime soon. I'll just refrain from dying anytime soon."

"Good idea. After all the trouble I went through to find you, I couldn't have you dying on me so soon."

"Very funny, little star," Adeen said. "Now come on, let's - " Something caught her eye out in the distance: a small glint against the otherwise dull grey rock. She walked towards it, leaving Rigel to catch up.

It was a Ghost. Its Light, what little there was to start, was almost gone. Adeen picked it up, careful not to damage it any further.

"It's dying," Rigel said. "But I can recover the message it's carrying before its Light fades." Adeen simply nodded. After a moment, the Ghost in her hand faded away into the void. She held a moment of silence, hoping that its Light would find its way back to the Traveler.

Eventually, she spoke. "What was the message?"

"A journal entry from someone named Toland, the Shattered. I'll read it to you, but it's a bit long.

"I drive myself to the edge of madness trying to explain the truth.

"It's so simple. Elegant like a knife point. It explains - this is not hyperbole, this is the farthest thing from exaggeration - EVERYTHING.

"But you lay it out and they stare at you like you've just been exhaling dust. Maybe they're missing some underlying scaffold of truth. Maybe they are all propped on a bed of lies that must be burned away."

A few minutes later, the journal entry ended. Adeen had sat down half way through, unable to trust her legs to hold her against the onslaught of information. It sounded like the ravings of a madman, but at the same time, his message spoke to her. She couldn't explain why, but suddenly she needed to know more about this man, hear more of what he had to say. She found truth in his words.

"Come on, Ri," she said, standing back up. "Let's go back to the Tower."

"But we haven't completed the Order's assignment yet."

"We can do that later. I think this could be very important."

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Adeen walked into the Vanguard Hall and came to stand in front of Ikora Rey. Ikora continued reading whatever it was on her desk, ignoring Adeen for a solid 30 seconds. Adeen just stood there and waited. She had interrupted Ikora once, and it would never happen again. Finally, the Warlock Vanguard put down the report and looked up at one of her newest Guardians.

"Adeen. I thought you'd still be on the Moon fulfilling your assignment."

"I found something there that I wanted information on, and I come asking as a fellow member of the Order, not one of your Guardians."

Ikora narrowed her eyes. "Go on."

"I found a journal entry on a dying Ghost. The journal apparently belonged to someone named Toland, the Shattered." Ikora's jaw clenched at the name. "It appears you recognize the name."

"Of course I do, though I'm not surprised you don't," Ikora said. "We normally refrain from speaking of him, but as an initiate of the Order, I will tell you. Toland was a Warlock many years ago, during our attempt to the Moon. He made it his life's work to study the Hive, and, in short, it drove him mad."

"Where might I find his other writings?" Adeen asked. Ikora gave the younger woman a Look.

"Not here, Guardian. Toland was exiled and his works made forbidden. Some fragments may yet remain in the wild, as you found, but I doubt a complete catalog of his writings exist anywhere."

"Thank you, Sister. If I may be excused, I shall finish my assignment."

"You are dismissed, Initiate," Ikora said. Adeen turned around, but before she left the room, Ikora spoke again. "Do yourself a favor and forget you ever heard of him. You show promise, and I would hate to see that wasted."

"I'm sorry, I cannot do that."

Up till now, Adeen had been wandering aimlessly through her new life. She had a very obvious purpose - defend against the forces of the Darkness - but she had no motivation driving her. Toland had known something, she was sure of it. Something so profound that it drove him mad.

She vowed to uncover his secrets.