I ripped off the SIVA infected power coupling from the legendary heavy weapon I just scavenged, idly throwing it up and down in my right hand after having done so. "Nice and big, ain't it Vergil?"

"Size and requirements are a match as to what Aalek needed." Vergil reported, as he scanned the item. "Just gotta make sure a few more things are good…"

Me and my ghost here were in the now abandoned plaguelands, the Vanguard having deemed the place a lost cause once the city fell and promptly got back up after a few months. Which, in turn, had opened up more shady dealings to be done on the black market, specifically for a market in the SIVA-modified kind from curious warlocks and scavenging fallen houses, who were desperate to get their hands on the tech they lost. I'd almost pity the latter, if it weren't for the fact that the bastards were gonna infect the whole planet with their nanites. As well as take back the Traveler, but that was more of a side-mission to them more than anything else.

Of course, I didn't waste any opportunities during that time. Once the tower started to fall, I swooped in to steal the only Outbreak Prime, in which turned out to have replicated itself in Summer Rose's vault while she was gone. Dismantled one for the SIVA engine within and ran for it, of course, since her vault's remains were sacred to the city. It obviously wasn't much use, but any hunter worth his salt knew it'd become a bargaining tool for later. Said bargaining tool had even came into play recently, as my new clientele had requested for exactly that, as well as some minor things I wasn't really caring of.

It would've seemed dangerous to me if I looked at it with the eyes of a warlock I bet. What's a hunter supposed do though, if it isn't to spit disaster in the face and survive?

I got on the sparrow as my ghost transmatted the items into storage, revving up the engine of a 'truly perfect sparrow' as my boss so kindly put it to heat it up from the cold. My ghost turned to look at me. "You know, I never thought you'd be interested in this kind of stuff."

"And I never thought I'd get raised into a bunch of psychos who'd worship a ball." I fired back. "Your point?"

"My point is SIVA. You always had a distaste in nanotech, and had been wanting to get rid of the engine." The ghost said, moving next to his head. "Why are you helping this guy out beyond just dropping the Engine off and being done with it?"

"Just to see if it actually works." I said with a shrug. "I mean, its portals he's going for, right? If he can make portals to every planet, that'd make our dealings easier, and we'd be known as a reliable source of obtaining valuable materials. Best to get on with this loner while we can so we could benefit."

I then fired up the engine, and drove away from Giant's Rock, traveling through the Doomed Sea, inactive SIVA strands lying lifeless on the ground as he traveled along the coastline. The Plaguelands had been empty in spite of the fact the Vanguard had barred off entrance from any and all guardians. No surprise since the house there had better things to do with their SIVA than stay in one spot and fight guardians.

I hummed in thought. What were those maniacs planning to do with it anyhow? Make strongholds? Get away from this hellhole of a system as a new lifeform in the galaxy? Resurrect Kells and Primes?

I shook my head and laughed at the thought. Let the critters do what they wanted. Even with our own technology, they're not going to defeat humanity. Not that I say my ego is about the size of my privates. SIVA was made by us after all.

I made my way to Archon's Keep in a relatively short time. The SIVA mining drills had since been inactive when the Devils had left behind the scenes, but other than that the place had been the same as ever. Lots of lava, small fallen outpost, and the same ol' buried plane was still there around the pools and streams of lava. From where I was entering, I spotted two Barons the size of Archons at the entrance I was meeting my client at. I smiled, and honked my horn.

QUACK

I stopped a third of the way to the entrance to check my horn. "Oh yeah… I was in a quackfest the other day, wasn't I ghost?"

Vergil laughed as he materialized, getting to work on my horn. "Hope you ain't gonna ruffle your feathers over it," I groaned at that."But I only brought the clarion horn, bellow horn, and the house horn. Your antique horn is back home with your old sparrow, the one you got from Petra."

"Good ol' Velumbra needs some tuning too." I said with a nod. "I wonder what that girl is up to anyhow? I hadn't heard from her in ages due to the Red Legion and the places falling apart..."

With a resounding KER-CHUNK, I heard the horn get locked into place. I honked the horn again.

BBRAAAAAMM

My eye twitched in annoyance, as I looked to my ghost.

"Erm, sorry, also the Dramatic horn. I keep mistaking its data signature for the bellow horn…"

Once more the horn was replaced, but that didn't matter. The second blast had gotten the attention of the two barons, and so I merely drove up to them wordlessly. They prepped their weapons.

"Ikelos core, heavy power coupling, and SIVA Engine at the ready here."

"Password." The barons demanded in unison.

I sighed. "The Red Garden."

They let me pass, weapons aimed down to the ground. I drove into the keep, not caring for the mannerisms of driving in hallways.

The Archon's Forge was empty, no big surprise there. Same ol' rings of lava, same ol' closed domes with fallen signatures on them, and like everything else in the Plaguelands, dormant SIVA. Same thing with the little cave system that comes shortly after too, the Warrens or whatever it is called.

Really, they should just not make any note of these areas. Everyone keeps doing it though, since it is on the way to the real place of interest, Site 6.

I stopped at the entrance to Site 6, a small air vent hiding in a corner of the Warrens. I got off the sparrow and crawled through it, coming out into the fancy lab that comes before the destroyed replication chamber. Dozens of wires were behind the windows, some staircases and white SIVA symbols painted on the walls, scary stuff meant to scare normal guardians into running for help. No biggie though, really.

Talon, the client was standing a few feet away from where I landed. "You're here."

"So I am." I said, as I walked up. "You have my pay?"

An Iron Gjallarhorn materialized in his hands, and he hefted it to me. "Not perfect, is powered up by SIVA… I could use the Engine to further its capabilities, but it functions like the real thing and that's not what we're here for."

I smiled, as I caressed the fabled weapon, not really caring for his words. "The equivalent of 40 exotic heavy engrams in exchange for this shitty ass Engine." I then chuckled, as my ghost transmatted the SIVA Engine into his hands, as well as the Ikelos Core and power coupling. "My man, you practically gave me a steal. I'm feeling a little guilty."

"Progress has no material value." Talon said, as he checked the SIVA Engine over. "Oh you beautiful, divine thing… together, we shall recreate the golden age."

"Ahem." Vergil said, causing us both to stop. "While I understand guardians naturally fawn over the goodies… you guys are acting far too much like the hotshot on this."

We awkwardly cleared our throats, before I continued. "Right, lets see if this mad science plan of yours works."

"Agreed."

A sudden sinking feeling then became known in my gut as we pressed onwards. My hunters instincts were spiking, no doubt due to being in the presence of a warlock that was about to initiate experimentation. Yet… it felt worse somehow. And the hairs on my neck were standing, a sign that I was being watched.

My eyes darted around the room as we walked, occasionally looking behind me as well. A hunter should always listen to his instincts, as the Vanguard himself would say. Truth is sometimes they should, in this case I need to be here for when the portal thing works regardless. There was simply too much at stake here. I mean, what self-respecting man doesn't want to be seen as a contributor to this project?

Normally, I would've turned tail and left though in all honesty, cameras and all that. But the eyes… they were organic. Yet nobody was nearby. Not even when my ghost did an area scan of the room. And that was the most unsettling part. Because organic eyes means you can be tracked. And being tracked is the worst thing to deal with. I had to deal with that first before I decided to find a way to look like I was standing next to him, but was still far away safely from the blast radius that might happen.

The man was spouting some nonsense, how lucky I was to be part of this project, something about how I'll be a prime example of the pursuit of perfection, usual warlock bullshit. I wasn't really listening. These damn eyes were bugging me.

"Ghost, is there any light being used in the area?"

"Not to my knowledge no. Whoever is here has some really good jamming and cloaking tech… or is observing us through some other method."

"We are here." Talon announced, as I snapped my focus back into reality. What looked to be an inactive portal machine was off to the right of the hatch leading to the right of the replication chamber. It was rectangular in shape, and was a black empty frame with what looked to be energy conductors.

"This device is the portal. I have this particular one designated to bring us to the planet Venus." He then pointed at another object, one of the conductors from the abandoned fallen stronghold in the Plaguelands. "Go charge up the conductor with arc light. I'll be busy setting up the portal."

I nodded, and walked up to the conductor. I stabbed my knife into it and activated my arc light reserves, charging the machine. All the while I looked around me, my worry ever present. A good hunter doesn't get tracked for long if they do get spotted, knowing that they'd catch on. I am a renegade. I am a good hunter. And this isn't normal.

"What the hell is this?"

"Guardian, are you certain you're reading your instincts right?"

"I'm the best goddamn hunter the black market has to offer, Vergil. I know my instincts." I snappishly replied back. "Do you sense any Hive? Vex? I'm getting cold feet here."

"None that I can detect, no. There is an unusual fluctuation in reality though. Not a Vex or Hive "

Once I finished charging up the conductor, a process that was normally a moment felt like an eternity, I removed the knife, the conductor spinning up to produce SIVA charges. At the same time, Talon had finished his portal contraption, and was coming over to collect the charges.

"Quickly now!" Talon urged me. "The portal device needs energy in order to work. The faster we get done, the quicker history is made!" He announced with unbridled excitement in his voice.

"Yay, history…"

"Your lack of care has been noted, but I will let it go." Talon said, before he smirked, turning around and rubbing his hands. "Years of research, years of finely crafted victory… now leads up to this!"

I rolled my eyes, as I dumped the SIVA charges into the portal's compartment, causing it to glow with a brighter and brighter red as we charged it up. I decided to make small talk with the cilent to find out who the interloper may be.

"So are you or any of your buddies into Hive and Vex stuff?"

"A true servant of the Traveler does not look into either of those. Both roads lead into-"

"Yeah yeah, stop it with the copypasta already." I said with an annoyed sigh. "Look, is it a yes or a no? You're looking at the top smuggler here, no need to be shy."

"No."

"I'm asking because we're being watched."

Talon's face grew serious, and he moved away to play with some equipment.

"Hmmm… well there are some anomalies being detected. Nothing major though, probably the portal's doing."

"Ah!" I let out in pain, as one of the charges suddenly, and violently exploded in my hands, burning my two arms with electrified SIVA nanites. "Damn thing stung me!"

Talon frowned at that. "Bah! Dumb hunters getting me distracted, back to work!" He then grabbed one last SIVA charge and put it into the compartment with the SIVA charges, before proceeding to activate the portal. The portal glowed with a bright, eerie red static.

I bit my tongue back at that. Not my fault Cayde is the poster child for stupidity, as well as a lot of other hunters that outright insult the existence of warlocks and titans.

Talon fumbled around with the console a bit, rapidly pressing different buttons and button combinations to ensure it worked properly. The light of the portal fizzled, distorted even, until finally an oval shaped portal appeared before me, the lush surface of Venus visible before me.

My jaw dropped. I looked to Talon, who was still playing with the console. He didn't seem to notice.

"You think it's safe Kalmin?"

I looked at the portal. "Well, only one way to find out. He'd probably pull that same ol' 'I'm gonna use you as a test subject first.' thing anyhow."

"By the by, once I finish typing in the coordinates, I'll need you to go through the portal to test it."

"'Kay" Was all I said, as I mindlessly went into the portal. Fuck you too by the way Talon.

And that's when I got played.

What should've been the lush jungles of Venus, was a well placed wallpaper that looked like the jungles of Venus, and that I had stumbled inside of a portal with red eyes literally everywhere.

Nope.

I tried to back up, but I found my feet had no ground to walk on, and that I was falling away from the portal. I tried to jump back up to it using my triple jump, but it proved fruitless. I didn't even get close to the wallpaper, which had been ripped off and falling away from both me and the portal in a different direction.

Crap.

Well, only one good way to go out here.

"SCREW YOU TALON!" I cried out, as I fell into the abyss screaming in fear.

Falling down never changes.


Back in the lab, Talon had heard Kalmin's cries, looking up from his machine at the portal, which was still shimmering in a completely normal fashion. Talon blinked a bit, looking around to see if it was some mere trick of the light. He waited a few moments to see if the hunter would uncloak.

He never came.

"Huh." Talon said with a shrug. "Oh well, Osiris was pragmatic, and so shall I be as it is necessary!"

Little did the mad warlock know the harsh reality of the situation that would soon befall him, as the barons slowly snuck up behind him.


I screamed in fear as I fell for what seemed like an eternity, flailing about in desperation to find something to grab onto. Nothing came of it. Thoughts of everything I had done so far had come to mind, me wondering what went wrong as my lives flash before my eyes. And then I came to a sudden realization, which stopped my panic.

I had been falling for 2 minutes straight in some sort of spacey area with eyes.

Or rather I was floating? It was hard to tell. Everything looked the same here.

"...Ghost, are you here?"

"Yes actually." Vergil said with a smug tone to his voice. "It was honestly quite amusing to watch you act like such an idiot, wallpaper notwithstanding as I didn't think of it either until I saw you fall through and rushed after you."

"Har har, you're an idiot too by the way for following." I said sarcastically. "Where in that ball thing's name are we?"

"I don't know." Vergil muttered, as he looked to be in thought. "None of this matches the data from both the Vanguard archives and what we have. I guess we just keep waiting?"

"Well this sucks."

A few seconds, minutes, hours later? Sometime after I got sucked in, My ghost and I were suddenly sucked out another portal that had opened up, me landing face first onto a patch of grass as my ghost stayed afloat a few inches from the ground and cloaked, causing me to cry out in pain as the rest of my body followed.

I let out a few grunts of pain as I forced myself up, instinctively looking at my surroundings. A woman with purple eyes and long blonde hair. She carried a pink lace parasol and a paper fan, along with a deep purple dress, and a pale pink mob cap with a thin red ribbon. Smaller ribbons were tied liberally on her accessories and the tips of her hair.

She was about to open her mouth to speak, but I didn't let her. I immediately pulled out my golden gun and aimed it at her first, a golden glow on my body. "Alright, what the hell did you do to me?!"

She paused for a few seconds. "Well that's a greeting if I've ever seen one."

I couldn't help but make a flat face at that. Does this woman WANT to get shot by this? I shook my head, and pressed on. "Talk!"

"I shall talk on my own terms." She ordered, and I suddenly felt a wave of power emanate from her. Power of which I've never felt before. "Put the gun back."

I cursed under my breath for a moment, before reluctantly dispelling it, the golden glow going away. I then crossed my arms, waiting for an answer.

"So to put it simply:I saw you were going to get overwhelmed by a whole bunch of those four armed people, and took you out of there." She said with that smug smile of hers. "I would've taken that science friend of yours too, but you two didn't seem to have much care for each other, and was rather rude."

"Four armed?" I couldn't help but ask, before realizing what she meant. "Wait, you mean those barons up there were going to come down upon us? I knew I should've just blasted them!"

"And he wasn't doing the portal right, so the room was going to explode too." She said with a nod. "I took you along, because you seemed like a decent enough person to have as a shikigami."

"I don't suppose that's you suggesting I be a slave?" I said with crossed arms. "Because if so, sorry, but-"

"If it is what I'm expecting it to be," She cut me off, as if I wasn't even speaking. "Then your position would allow you a lot of freedom. I'm not going to force you into this, as truthfully becoming stronger when in the presence of your onmyouji would only make you stronger, with little benefits otherwise." She then held her hand out. "Would you be interested in setting yourself up for my Chen?"

I paused at that. "Getting stronger, eh…" I looked away in thought for a moment, before speaking to my ghost via internal comms. "You alright with this Vergil?"

"I'm not detecting any malicious intents, and there's no contradictions to be found. I think she's speaking the truth."

I nodded, and then turned back to her. "And I would die if I was far away from her?"

"You would not, and would only lose your boost in power, but it'd be in your best interest to be nearby." She explained.

"'Aight then," I said as I took her hand. "As long as whoever this 'Chen' guy or gal is, I'm game."

She smiled. "Welcome to our little family then." She said, and another one of those portals opened up beneath us. I instinctively tried to let go and jump out of the way, but Yukari's grip was firm yet soft, as she pulled me in.

I let out a small yelp of surprise of being put back inside of this place, before shortly ending up in what looked like an abandoned village with cats all over the place. I turned to look at Yukari. "So you are the one who made the portals. I thought I was sensing someone behind this."

She took on a look of surprise. "You could sense me even though I wasn't there?"

"A good hunter is trained to feel what kind of eyes are watching them, both mechanical and organic." I casually explained. "Safe to say, I was feeling your eyes on me the whole time back there, but couldn't quite place where it was."

I then looked around, finally spotting a worn sign that said 'Mayohiga'. "So where in Mayohiga is this 'Chen'?"


9 months had passed since I was inducted into this little family of mine. I thankfully didn't seem to be infected with any dangerous SIVA during my stay here. Chen and I treated each other like best friends, despite the magical bonds that automatically make me weaker when trying to fight her. Being her shikigami had honestly been an afterthought to us both, like it didn't even matter. We'd just ask each other to do stuff, and we'd do it without a second thought. I did scouting, getting yarn for her to mess around with, exploring when we had free-time, or even just having general fun. It felt like one of those instances where a cat was friends with a mouse.

Did I say cat and yarn? Because she is a cat. Two-tailed. Though that part is concealed for the most part unless jumps in water like a dolt. Never went near her during those times, as any sane person would.

She also turned out to be a bit of a chieftain of cats, ironically enough. Mainly to search for a shikigami, of which she got as a birthday present. That birthday present being me, funny how that worked out.

It was pretty much unreasonable for us to just leave each other. It was working out too well.

Which is why today sucked, as Ran had came up to us with an order that neither of us were fine with.

"This is bull." I mumbled to myself, as I restarted the ol' sparrow, which Vergil had transmatted for me. "Why's she ordering me around?! She doesn't have me as a Shiki!"

"She has me though, Kalmin." She said with a frown, wincing in sympathy. "The rules are rules for us. What she says is my order."

"Buuut, we do get to play lots like usual, won't we?" She offered with her cute smile on her face. "I bet I'll beat you at fishing this time!"

I couldn't help but grin at the challenge. "Heh. In your dreams kitty. You can't beat the harpoon master!"

She huffed at that and made a mock frown. "I'll have you know, I'm just as good at cooking tuna as catching! It's not my favorite food for no reason!"

We laughed looked to the horizon. The sun was beginning to peer from the horizon, and the Sparrow had finally warmed up.

I gave her a little noogie on the head, before getting on. "Don't go biting anyone, eh?"

She gave me a playful smack on my butt with one of her tails at that, causing me to chuckle. "Don't go causing small incidents either!"

"The call of b- duty always awaits me." I said, shit eating grin on my face as I left.

Time to see what the hell Yukari wanted me for now.