"Is that an Ahamkara?" Argonaut yelled. The ground under Arizona disappeared as Argonaut yanked her behind the statue with himself.
"I'm sorry, a what?" Arizona stared at him. "Wait, he can use the word Ahamkara but compendium is too complicated of a word?"
Fae jumped behind the statue as a beam of what looked like light came from the worm's mouth. "Well seeing as how Ahamkara isn't a word, per se."
"It is a word, Fae, it's the very definition of a word!" She yelled as Fae peeked from behind the statue.
"Shoot it!" Fae yelled and her and Argonaut began to shoot. "This is so not the time for technicalities, Arizona!"
"Never is." Arizona grumped as the shotgun replaced itself with the sniper rifle. She peeked out from the statue but Argonaut dragged her back.
"I knew it!" Arizona heard Fynch from the ghost comms. "I knew the Ahamkara weren't gone. I knew there was one. At least one!"
"The last one died cursing the Dreaming City!" Ikora yelled as Argonaut began to shoot it. Familiar sounds of Scorn being teleported began to ring around them. Arizona took aim at them instead of the worm-the Ahamkara. "This has to be another illusion!"
Argonaut and Arizona ducked behind the statue again. "Well, it feels real!" Argonaut yelled. "Where's Fae?"
Arizona took a brief look around, and pointed. It looked to her as if she stood in the air. Soon, she disappeared. "Argonaut, back her up, alright? I'll take care of the scorn!"
He nodded and leapt out of hiding, flaming hammer in hand. Arizona went back to aiming her shots at the scorn, until the Ahamkara finally writhed and screamed, and light surrounded them, and blinded them. When Arizona was finally able to see, she saw that the way in-and the way out, had been destroyed. With every inhale she took she found her lungs burning. It slowed her down as she met Fae and Argonaut where the Ahamkara had been.
"Of course that Ahamkara would have a final trick." She felt Ghost's presence next to her. "Fynch! Ikora! Any suggestions?" There was silence.
"I can't breathe." Arizona informed the other two.
"You really need to get another rebreather mask when we get back to the Tower." Fae took off her helmet and put it on Arizona. "Here, I don't quite need the same oxygen levels you do."
With the helmet on, Arizona could breathe a little easier, but not by much. "I think we're on our own. How much time do we have, Juggernaut?" Arizona wheezed.
"You might have a couple of minutes if you're lucky, Arizona, you too, Argonaut. Fae, you might have another minute on them."
"So, how do we get out of here if you can't see or touch the path?" Argonaut questioned, turning to Arizona.
"Easy," Fae looked at Argonaut. "You're gonna have to carry her." Before Argonaut could argue, Fae jumped away.
"I could do worse, I guess." Argonaut grumbled as he knelt down. Arizona climbed on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck as he followed Fae. They ran most of the way, ignoring heaps of Scorn. Summoning their Sparrows halfway through.
Arizona's head became lighter and lighter with each toxic breath that she took. Despite the rebreather, she could still feel the burning fumes of whatever toxin the Ahakmara released. She didn't even bother to summon her own Sparrow, opting instead to hang on tightly to Argonaut the whole way. Her chest began to burn furiously again. She tried to breathe as little as possible, but that only made her dizzier.
"Guys, I can't revive her if she doesn't make it out." She barely could hear Ghost.
In her minds eye she could see flashes of something that was barely even human. It had huge eyes, and stared amongst a black background, with pyramids behind it. She didn't even noticed she had closed her eyes until she opened them, gasping and coughing, though she didn't exactly understand why she coughed. The helmet had been taken off of her, and she could barely make out Argonaut and Fae.
"About time you woke up." Fae joked, standing over her.
"What happened?" Arizona looked around slowly. It looked like they were in a cave littered with glittering moths that held crystals, each moth was unique. Slowly, she began to sit up.
"You passed out while Argonaut drove you. He's outside with Fynch. But we did it." In her hands there appeared the worm. "I thought it was a statue, but it doesn't look or feel like a statue." She handed it over to Arizona. "Savathun's worm was exorcised from her, I was there when it happened. I don't suppose this is the real one?"
Slowly Arizona began to examine it., her eyes slowly adjusting, as if she had come into the darkened cave from a bright place. Something about it felt off, and it felt…different. What was different about it?
"Arizona?"
"Hm?" The worm disappeared from her hands and she stood. "Let's get to the Altar of Reflection." She walked out before Fae could, with this nagging feeling in the back of her mind, and the dream creeping into her mind as well. A humanoid figure with doll-like eyes and a head that smoked vague faces. Thinking about it almost made her head hurt.
Argonaut turned as she approached, and opened his mouth but shut it again as his glowing eyes met hers. Fynch had no inkling that anything was bothering her, however, and flew to her face. "Well? What did you guys hear this time?"
Arizona looked up at Argonaut who shook his head. "You mean, when Fae touched it…?"
"That's why she was supposed to give it to you. The last few artifacts you touched the voice…." His voice trailed off. "Did she give it to you?"
Arizona nodded. How could she have forgotten?
The three of them raced to the portal to the Altar of Reflections, leaving Fynch confused and calling after them to fill him in. Arizona grabbed Argonauts arm before he could rush in. "We know what's on the other side. Let me go in first."
He nodded.
She ran to the portal, into the portal, she could almost see the Altar of Reflections, but it felt like something grabbed her by her leg and tossed her out. She hurtled into Argonaut. The door petrified.
"What happened? How come we can't get in?" Ghost questioned. "Ikora, we couldn't unlock the memory on the worm familiar."
"What? Why? What happened?"
"I don't know. We did everything the same as before." Fae answered.
"No, we didn't." Arizona stared at the portal. "Every other object I came into contact with we were able to unlock part of a memory before we even got to the Altar of Reflections. Remember? Sagira's shell whispered, 'The Witness, remember the name.'" She turned on her heels to the group and their ghosts. "And then with the tablet it whispered, 'The tablet hides a riddle'. But this time there was nothing. There was no voice associated with the petrified worm for some reason."
"I suppose we'll need another plan. Bring that thing back to Mars. I'll talk to Eris, see if she has any other ideas."
"We're on our way, Ikora." Ghost cut the comms.
