A/N: I'm late. Deeply sorry. Things have been rough and I'm afraid I can only post whenever I can. So chapters will be slow…very slow. Did you guys see the new trailers for the DLC? Those subclasses and NEW locations! Oh man, oh man, I need it.

Hope you guys enough this chapter even though I'm a bit iffy about it...


Circle of War
"Understanding is not an end, but a beginning from which new truths are born"

CHAPTER TEN- Clandestine.

As soon as they had returned to the tower, Pahanin had wanted to report their findings to the Vanguard immediately. He practically dragged the entire four teams who were part of the operation in order to get each of their accounts of what had happened. During that span, the Vanguards were quite astounded with what they had heard mainly regarding the House of Plague's activities. Ikora was sure that no evidence of a guardian's previous interactions with any house of Fallen had been documented which only led to their confusion. Something was strange and the vanguards grew increasingly curious of the Fallen house.

After that, they deliberated on Bradley's action and Commander Zavala soon charged him with an appropriate punishment for his reckless behaviour that had inflicted harm upon another guardian. Khallis, who was fit enough to attend the meeting hardly spoke a word, nor did she meet anyone's eyes. Lost in her own thoughts, Riley pitied the warlock for the painful events that had happened to her. Bradley's actions were atrocious and he would have been branded a traitor if Pahanin hadn't forgiven him.

Two hours later, the fireteam were finally allowed to leave and Riley's team was more than eager to collapse into a soft bed. Riley sighed deeply as he rolled his tired shoulders and sluggishly dragged his feet across the Hall of Vanguards. Beside him, both Lux and Evan were due for some much needed rest as well and groaned silently to themselves as they too, trailed after the titan. The group reached the top and inhaled the crisp cold air. Winter was a few days away and already the first signs of it had reached their city.

Hunger and sleep fought his aching body and he was more than ready to quench both his needs. Deciding to acquire some dinner first, he also wanted to check to see if SERP had left him a message. Before he would retire for his bed, Riley's first agenda was the local bar.

"Whoa there, nelly!" Evan said gripping his shoulder and pulling him back a step.

Riley stumbled back, barely catching himself as he threw a glare at the hunter. The male hunter smirked, gripping his helmet in one arm and squeezing his shoulder.

"Where are you off to?"

"Food" Riley murmured and Lux's eyes perked up.

Evan's smiled grew as he leaned against the titan's shoulder, waving a finger at him, "where's our invite? We're starving as well."

Riley pulled away from the hunter and dusted his shoulder as if the hunter was infested with germs or something. He apologised quickly then turned to Lux, offering a hand her way. "Sorry about that, would you join me for dinner …Lux?"

Evan was devastated as the female hunter chuckled and nodded her head, taking on his invitation. He waited and the pair exchanged final looks before turning on their heels and quickly walked away. The hunter beamed at them, screaming.

"Whoa, hey now! You seriously can't exclude me from this date! That's so unfair!" he cried after them as the pair broke into light laughter. Along the way they managed to pick up Khallis who was staring off into the distance. Lux invited the warlock who hesitated at first but eventually agreed with Evan's lively encouragement.

The local bar that SERP had first taken Riley to was more quiet than usual. It wasn't as packed as the last couple of days and there were more new faces that Riley could see. He paused, nodding his head to the Frame working up a storm for a customer's order. Once he finished up rather quickly, he was quick to take the group's orders before allowing Riley access to the VIP room under SERP's name. Riley directed the trio to a second level in the bar and into a certain door that had a nice clean view of the floor below. There even was a dance floor off to one side as some jazzy club music echoed across the bar. A large table sat in the middle with some comfy seats that Evan dived into, laughed wickedly like a pleased child. Lux shook her head, scoffing at his immaturity before finding her own end of the seat with Khallis. Riley was quick to follow, a little disappointed that SERP wasn't the first to be here. Perhaps he had yet to arrive?

Orion was quick to run a check if any private messages had been left in his inbox but sadly there were none.

"This is nice! Never knew this bar had VIP rooms" Evan said gripping his chair and lifting himself up to look over the balcony. Lux pulled him down and he stuck his bottom lip out like a child.

Riley laughed, "Only those with memberships can. This was hired by SERP."

"SERP must be smoking rich then."

Riley nodded his head slowly, not really sure if such a fact was true. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't really asked the Exo where all his riches were from. Every step of his guardian career, SERP was rather kind enough to cover his expenses. If he needed a new ship, SERP found a way. For a moment, Riley wondered what he would have done if SERP wasn't there when he had awoken. What his future would have been like if he had never met the Exo. It was bleak and something dark that Riley couldn't really picture.

He sighed, watching as Lux and Evan got into a heated argument over something Evan had done whilst Khallis attempted to contain her laughter with a hand.

He sighed with a slight smile and reached out, grabbing their attention and tried to smooth things over.


Dredgen Yor watched from his vantage point as hot violent flames consumed another small settlement. The flames licked the small shabby houses one by one, spreading like a disease at an astonishing rate. In the distant, Dredgen could hear the villager's screams echoed with agonizing pain of great loss. A smirk graced his lips as he climbed to a stand, deciding to leave the burning inferno to its job whilst he had other places to be.

"Dredgen Yor…"

The hunter turned to the source of the sound and spotted in the shade of darkness, a lone figure. The figure's armour was coated in all black with cracks of neon red highlights here and there. His helmet remained on but under it, Dredgen knew the face behind it to be that of a young ex-guardian. The hunter smirked and slipped his helmet back on as he advanced on the young man.

"Akvar sent a message."

"Oh? What did he want?" answered Dredgen as he passed him without a second glance. He was climbing the slope some more as the young man quickly fell into steps.

"To come to Venus."

The hunter paused and finally locked eyes with the young man. The pair stood frozen for a while, merely staring at each other as time passed. Dredgen grimaced. He was deeply displeased that after months of inactivity, the warlock Akvar had finally decided to contact them.

He came to them, proclaimed to have a way to attack the city, filled them with confidence and then just disappeared without a word. Now he had the audacity to just call upon them like some sort of dog. Not only that, to Venus of all places. Dredgen knew Akvar had a thing with the Vex but the Hive never travelled to Venus, nor did he. With an irritated groan, the hunter pressed on, his hands clenched into a tight fist. He better have a good reason to call him there.

"Should I come?" the young man said, dashing after him. Dredgen wondered if the young follower was up for a new challenge. It wasn't long before he had joined the Hive's ranks but he had displayed some promise and was quickly winning the favour of many of the wizards, Xyor included. After the entire ordeal and much to Dredgen's displeasure, he was partnered up with him. It wasn't that he shunned the boy but was rather used to the fact that the hunter worked alone. Not in groups, holding hands together like some sort of girl's scouts.

"Might as well" grumbled Dredgen.

The young follower nodded his head and quickened his pace so that they were side by side as they climbed the slope. Once on top, Dredgen held up a fist and watched as a crack through the atmosphere formed in the skies. The sound was music to his ears as a dark swirling green vortex seeped out of the cracks. A grating sound sung in their ears as the head of a pitch black ship slithered out revealing the famed Hive's massive Tombship. The ship turned and slowly descended upon the two until it was directly above them.

In silence, the pair waited until a warm orange glow shone over them before they were transported inside the ship, ready for take-off.


The location that Dredgen Yor and his partner had arrived at was heavily in Vex territory. However when they had touched ground, a slam platoon of Vex were there to greet him. Since Akvar had first sent the Vex to attack him on the Moon as a test of his might, the hunter held little faith that the same occurrence would happen again. However this time, the Vex remained idle and almost bowed to his might.

"Is it Akvar's?" inquired his partner.

Dredgen shrugged at first but knew deep down that of course it could only belong to the Vex worshipper. The Vex made several noises, mostly signalling each other before turning on their heels and stomping through the dense jungle of Venus. Dredgen wondered if they were their guide and quickly followed after them. The group, consisting entirely of goblins met up with a lone Minotaur who greeted the pair of ex-guardians with a slight nod of its robotic head. Three goblins dispersed and the Minotaur took charge of the rest of them. The Minotaur resumed the march deeper into the forest.

For a long while the group wondered on without a word, mindlessly following the Vex who was leading them into deeper terrain. The air around them eventually grew thicker and their travels led them lower towards the cold misty parts of Venus. Eventually the Vex's formation had to change and they huddled closer to the ex-guardians in order to keep a safer eye on them. Dredgen frowned but realised the action was due to the heavy mist enveloping the area and made it impossible to see in front of them. Of course Akvar would have chosen a near impossible place for guardians to walk through.

Ten more minutes in their walk and the pair eventually had begun noticing the sudden changes of the forest around them. The chirps of birds were no more and they hadn't seen a wild mammal in a long while. The air was crispy cold, dark and the plants around them had turned almost pure white. White trees hung low over their heads as several plants bloomed in grey and white leaves and petals. Dredgen had never seen such a sight as his partner openly expressed their awe.

The Vex, familiar with the area pressed on as all sounds of life were gone from their ears. Was this a dead forest without sound? Without life and was only guarded by the Vex?

Dredgen couldn't help but find everything interesting and wondered what sort of place Akvar had claimed his home to be.

Time stretched on and the fog grew thicker, hindering the guardians' sights as they uneasily tailed after the Vex. Somehow, two Harpies had joined them and remained at the end of their group, sandwiching the guardians between a wall of Vex. A red light blinked on and off in the distance signalling that they were coming close to their destination as the Vex quickened their pace. The pale green grass covered in a thin layer of ice under them had turned into stone after and they were wondering onto concrete. Stone pillars infused with Vex technology opened up as the mist cleared enough for them to see. Ahead of them a long bridge built by Vex hands tunnelled its way into the side of a tall mountain. A large Vex Cyclops crackled to life, blinking its one eye at the guardians who crossed its territory.

Dredgen met eyes with the guardian who held their gaze cautiously. Passing the Cyclops unharmed, the Minotaur dismissed most of the goblins leaving only two Harpies tailing after them. Inside the mountain, the entire hallway was excavated revealing a high ceiling coupled with Vex lights and machines. The Minotaur soon stopped as Dredgen noted several transfer Gates lingering around against the many walls of the hall.

A moment later, Akvar appeared through one of the gates unfazed with three Harpies at his side. "Good, you made it."

Dredgen Yor folded his arms over his chest, eyeing the warlock as he approached them, "you said you needed to see us?"

"Us?" Akvar said and finally noted the young guardian at his side.

"Hayden, sir" replied Dredgen's partner with a curt nod of his head.

A smile graced the warlock's lips and he waved the Vex away. The guardian's escorts were quick to exit the room as Akvar motioned the pair to follow him. "When did that happen?"

"Not long" Dredgen replied a little annoyed Akvar had evaded his question. "Again, why did you call us?"

"Are we not working together?" the warlock sighed as he activated a Vex elevator.

Dredgen grunted in reply and Akvar chuckled.

The machine sprung to light in an instant to his touch and Akvar indicated for them to step in first. The pair obliged without much difficulty as Akvar played with the activator to set their coordinates. In an instant they were thrown upwards into the air passing many levels before reaching the very top. When they landed, the room was large and contained many Vex standing to attention. However these Vex were dormant and did not move to their appearance. Akvar beckoned the two to follow as he pressed on in the dimly lit hallway.

As a large stone door split open to another large room adored with even more Vex related gizmos, Akvar turned his attention to the centre of the room. Two guardians were standing by conversing with one another as they inspected a mechanical machine in the room. As Akvar approached, they stood nodding their heads to him.

"Dredgen, Hayden, meet Adelia and Tetra Klemnor" Akvar introduced. The female warlock, Adelia waved her hands enthusiastically at them whilst the female titan merely nodded her head. Hayden returned the wave whilst Dredgen remained still and stiff. The female guardians were awoken twins and both were almost polar opposites of each other. It was easy to tell that the warlock was more graceful and feminine in appearance with her pale brown eyes and her styled braided hair wrapped into a bun whilst the titan was more tomboyish. Short cut green hair with intense piecing hard brown eyes.

Dredgen sighed deeply still waiting on Akvar to explain why he had been summoned until his eyes was drawn to the object at his feet. Instantly recognition graced the hunter's face and his disposition crumbled.

"…SERP?"

"Who?" Adelia said before following his gaze to the robot by her feet.

Dredgen knew the Exo to be a valiant titan who accomplished many great feats. He was strong, kind and worked dutifully. Now he was simply reduced to a heap of broken metal. Bullets punctured his chest and his mechanical arm was torn from him, lying beside his broken corpse. His helmet was violently ripped off and cracked, probably lost beyond repair now. It was an odd scene for the hunter, to witness two guardians triumph over someone as capable as SERP-27.

"He was part of the scouting team we dealt with" Tetra explained snapping Dredgen out of his daydream as Akvar nodded his head slowly.

"What happened?" Dredgen questioned and Akvar laughed.

"Since I left the Moon months ago, a lot has transpired on Venus. A team had been sent into the Vault of Glass and I was summoned to assist in destroying the guardians there. I met Tetra and Adelia not long after establishing this location as a base of operations" Akvar clarified as he pointed to have SERP moved to a stone table against the wall. The twins were quick to act, gripping the downed Exo and hauled his body along. Once on the table, Akvar removed his helmet and summoned his Ghost Sigma, who went to work scanning his body.

"After that, we've had a few pests poking around and I've been busy tending to them" Akvar chuckled grabbing a screwdriver and worked to breaking into SERP's skull. The twins smirked and declared they were going to do a bit of hunting as the warlock dismiss them. Dredgen remained where he was as Hayden stepped closer to inspect the Exo. By now Sigma had finished his scanning and was quickly moving to the spot Akvar had cracked open.

"And SERP was one of those scouts? What happened to his Ghost then?"

"Adelia destroyed it, so I'm told" The warlock said as he paused from his work, holding a piece of metal plating he had stripped from SERP's head. He set the metal sheet down and caught Dredgen Yor's gaze. "How do you know him?"

"Met him a few times in the Crucible and on missions. Doubt anyone old enough didn't know him" Dredgen said with a shrug.

Akvar laughed at this and nodded his head, "respectable guy. Too bad the vanguards set him on an unfortunate mission. SERP just happened to be in the wrong place, wrong time when I needed an Exo to dismantle."

Now Dredgen was curious as to why the warlock needed an Exo in their grand schemes. Akvar worked to disassemble the remaining pieces of SERP's skull until he found the juicy wiring under all the protective metal. He probed around, his fingers fishing around the gaps. After a while the warlock pulled away and Sigma was scanning SERP's skull.

"What are you doing?" Dredgen inquired, a little impatient.

Akvar smirked wickedly at him like a devious child who held a tantalizing secret. Even his two toned eyes glowed devious with his wide smirk. The warlock said nothing and merely waited until his Ghost made a few 'beeping' sounds and activated something within. Sigma shone its light across a plain stone wall and painted several images from them. It was almost like an old fashion movie projection and the images were flickering from one thing to the next. The images eventually formed into a silent motion picture but the images were blurred and it was hard to tell what each of the flickering photos were until Sigma adjusted himself.

The silent movie was soon accompanied with sound and the first thing the group heard was the whistle of birds as the camera focused on the view of the city from the Tower. It was nolstagic seeing the vivid scene of the tiny city below the mighty guardian's Tower.

"What's…this?"

"Memories, specifically SERP's."

"His memories? You can do that now?"

Akvar nodded his head slowly as he watched SERP tear his eyes away from the view and was now staring intently at the world progressing in the tower. Various guardians walked by, submerged in their own little worlds as a few lingered here and there, preparing or reporting for a mission. A few stood conversing with vendors whilst others negotiated deals with the gunsmith. It seemed like a normal day at the tower with the sun at its peak high in the sky and SERP was casually on standby, enjoying the view.

"He's a machine" said the warlock as he commanded Sigma to fast forward to a point of interest in SERP's memory banks. "It's not that hard to hack into an Exo."

"Then what are you trying to accomplish, searching in the memory of a dead thing?"

Akvar laughed, inhaling deeply as he watched more than a dozen memories skim by, "what I'm searching for is a snippet of the truth."

"The truth?" asked a curious Hayden who had finally spoken up. Dredgen eyed the young man, forgetting for a moment that he had not come alone and shook his head. This Truth that Akvar seemed so captivated by was a topic that had eluded him for a months. He attempted to pry an answer from Xyor but the Wizard refused to speak about it.

"Thought you already knew it" Dredgen said. The warlock rolled his eyes and turned back to Sigma whom had finally located a point of interest in SERP's memory.

"Some things don't add up from what I've been told" He simply replied and watched as SERP greet the three vanguards in the Hall of Guardians. Dredgen said nothing more on the topic, watching as idle chatter were exchanged between the four guardians.

"How fairs the training, mentor?" Cayde-6 queried. SERP exhaled deeply and ran a hand over his forehead as if swiping away sweat. He had just recently come back from an intense session of practicing hand to hand combat with his student.

"He's developing at an exponential rate."

"Is that not a good thing?" Ikora asked as she set down the book she had been reading and marked the page with a red bookmark. Her sharp eyes locked with the Exo who nodded his head slowly at her.

"Yes, I'm glad he is a fast learner but there is something else." The Exo titan was unsure of how to convey his words across to the vanguards without sounding paranoid. He sighed, shrugging his shoulders and opted for the best response his mind could conjure up. "His Light, it's different from others I have trained. Though his appears in control, it seems there's too much aggression in his Light as if he's…"

"—Ready to explode?" Ikora said earning a surprised nod from the Exo.

"Yes, like he's consumed too much Light."

"A gathering of too much Light, is that possible in a guardian?" Cayde inquired.

Ikora nodded her head earning a confused stare from the three guardians within the room. She sighed, her arms folded across her chest as she leaned heavily on one leg. "Yes, but the details have never…formally been documented."

"What are you saying?" Commander Zavala said sternly.

"There was a Titan who very much was the same" Ikora said. "His Light was so bright and full that occasionally it ran rampant. Once or twice his Light would harm those around him. It took a big hit to his sanity and he eventually disappeared leaving a cryptic message."

"What was it?"

Ikora frowned and beckoned her silent Ghost to appear. The small white machine appeared at her side and she commanded it to pull up the very same note left behind by the Titan. It only took a few seconds before a projection of the message was painted along one of the walls of the room. All eyes were on the projection and it appeared in the form of messy words, carved out by a knife into a thick layer of stone. The site of the message was unknown but SERP suspected that it had once been in the tower somewhere. Whether it was still there or not was a mystery to him.

'My Light is weaved for her intentions.
I will be nothing as she mirrors me.
From ashes I was born and from whence I return.
As my Will is my own, not hers.
NEVER. NEVER. NEVER.'

"Are you suggesting that Riley would become very much the same as this Titan?" SERP asked worriedly.

"I'm not certain but in order for history to not repeat itself, SERP you will need to keep an eye on him and report back to us should something surface."

The Exo frowned and nodded his head and the memory faded away.


Sigma groaned as the projection dissipated away.

The warlock grew wary and took a hold of his Ghost, inquiring what had happened as he inspected if there were any damages to the little machine. Apparently the connection to SERP had been lost somehow as if something or someone was interfering with the line. But Akvar knew that such a thing was impossible when it was only them within the room. Unsure of what had happen, the warlock decided to leave the issue for another time as he contemplated other pressing matters.

"Did you find your truth from that?" Dredgen asked the warlock who snapped his head up as if startled he was still lingering around.

"No, but something even better. A guardian with immense light…Riley, was it?" muttered Akvar completely evading the question again as he begun pacing around. From SERP's memories, this was nothing connected to the piece of information he had been seeking but rather something else of interest to him. He mused over the thought, acquiring such immense light for his order. "There's something interesting about this. Dredgen, while I tend to this, I have another matter for you."

The hunter nodded his head, his arms folded over his chest. He had been waiting too long now and was more than ready to dig his Thorn into more souls.

"Your job is to exterminate a guardian named Pahanin Errata and retrieve the weapon he has invested his time on."


Countess of Monleigh - indeed that jerk! Sorry if its short, she'll have more time to shine soon enough! Haha so, SERP's future huh. Doesn't seem good, huh?

Bladed Raptor - Yes! Time to get the baddies back into action. I'm happy I gave you enough inspiration! Aviris will play a big role, she'll have plenty of time to flesh out her part in this story, hopefully. How can one not love Omnigul?! This is madness! What's your prediction of the future so far?

The PIZZ4 GUY - The twins didn't get much spotlight in this chapter but soon! What's wrong with a female titan? They can hold their own, maybe? Yep, thanks for the ideas! Always very insightful and helpful! Aha! Still can't read my mind now, can you? Yes that misty ruins, exactly what it was. With a bit of redesigning of course. Thanks!

Qwertyunion - Oh so you did wanted her to punch him? Should of did it then but I was afraid to break her character somehow with that one punch! Haha. Yep, I'm already thinking about how to play with Riley's emotions and such. The story is based on him being conflicted by two sides anyway!