In Which They Go Back


Oh, it's the empty chamber of a loaded gun
It's the finish line of a race half run
Oh, it's the breath to a candle whose flame won't burn
And if it's all of these things
Why wouldn't you want it
That much
At all

Chamber – Amber Run


August 01, 2951, 18:12 (Tower Time); Asylum, Ishtar Sink, Venus

It was only three days after the death of Crota. Three days after fireteam Dauntless emerged, victorious, from the Hellmouth. Three days of revelry. Finally, some payback for the Great Disaster. Finally, the Guardians had taken the fight to the Hive and beaten them at their own game.

For the Guardians who had actually done the taking and the beating, the revelry grew thin after a while. It was hard to get any work done. The cheering of crowds was grating with the Deathsong still ringing in your ears.

They all had their escapes. Veera, for one, had thrown herself into the Crucible as a way to unwind. Even there, she couldn't escape the congratulations, but at least she could vent her frustrations.

At first she'd wished that she could be like the Hunters, whom she'd barely seen since the celebration had started. When the City became uncomfortable for them, they could just go somewhere else. There were no libraries or Orders to tie them down. Their Vanguard was more than happy to give leniency.

Veera was surprised to see Azra show up on the Crucible roster. Training or not, this series was publicly broadcast, and besides Azra hated fighting Guardians. Everyone knew it. She hated the public attention even more. Yet there she was, touting an out-of-meta SMG and a Scout Rifle.

By luck or divine intervention from Shaxx, they ended up on the same team. They fell in together without a single word. Fighting next to Azra felt natural. The Arcstrider doled out death with beautiful, perfectly-controlled form. She was clearly lacking in practice, but she made up for it with the element of surprise. Nobody knew how to deal with and Arc Staff, even with a year to study. She and Veera eked out a victory, side-by-side. The Crucible commentators would have a field day with it.

Azra shoulder-checked her as they left the arena. "Mind if we talk?" The Arcstrider asked.


There were many details that Veera didn't notice until they were out of the battle zone- the scuffed armor and wrinkled cloth, a faint sheen of regolith covering everything, the distinctive soot-stains of Wizard bolts and the stitched repairs of sword cuts.

"You've been busy," the Warlock commented.

"We can't all sit around basking in the glow of victory," the Arcstrider drawled. "The Swarm is scattering like a nest of cockroaches. We've been trying to capitalize on the chaos. Lots of high-priority targets running around, lots more tunnels to map and pictures to take."

"Plenty of maps and pictures to analyze," Veera offered. "Things have not been slow at home, either. Are you… doing alright?" The Darkness of the Hellmouth had left them all a little troubled.

Azra took off her helmet. She looked like she'd barely slept, though Veera believed her when she nodded affirmation. "I wanted a favor from you."

"What is it?" Veera asked. Tapio had taught her better than to write blank checks in promises, though Azra never seemed the type to take advantage.

The Arcstrider's lips were pressed thin. "I can't tell you unless you promise to keep it a secret."

"Secrets?" Veera asked.

"I know what I'm doing. I just… don't want to worry people."

Veera crossed her arms. "If you think you will need leverage to keep my mouth shut-"

"After what happened last time, with the Vault and Cayde-"

"I never apologized for that? Sorry." Veera said.

It seemed to bring Azra up short. Some wind went out of her sails. "I just… this is important. Can I trust you to keep a secret? Even if you don't think it should be one?"

"Of course."

Azra looked guilty. "There's no good way to say this… I'm going back to the Vault."

The universe seemed to pause for a heartbeat, but surely that was just Veera's imagination. She was kind of hoping the Hunter would stumble on ahead in a hurried explanation, but she just screwed her lips into a grimace and waited for judgement.

Veera put up her hands. "Why don't you… sit down. And start from the beginning." Something was eating at her, clearly, but to go back? Again? You could still see the haunted look in Azra's eyes when she mentioned the Vex fortress. What could possibly be so bad to make that the better option?

Azra sat on a crumbled bit of Vex stone, wringing her hands. "I been thinking about Eris Morn… It's hard to look at her and not see a bit of myself."

"You both-" Veera started. Her hand came up to her face, finding regular flesh and bone where Eris had chitin. Hers was a more visible alteration to be sure, but no more profound than Azra's time… whatever.

"We're Hunters," Azra's voice was sharp. "We adapt. I don't begrudge her any choices she's made. She lost her whole fireteam in that pit. What I'm worried about… I'm starting to think that I did, too."

"Pahanin escaped," Veera pointed out.

Azra's gaze was distant, like she was seeing something besides the world in front of her. "Pahanin died thinking I was dead. The Vex broke him, drove him crazy. I'm… preoccupied with Praedyth. It's been over a year, and. And I wanted to go check. To be sure."

Veera tilted her head. "Why didn't we check after we defeated Atheon?" It would have been simple, even if they were all complaining about aching legs.

Azra's fingers would not settle. They probed along her armor, catching on seams and dents, but never stilling. "There was no way to Praedyth's cell."

"We could have walked. We would have done it for another Guardian." If Azra had brought it up, it would have been a feat convincing them to not go. Fireteam Dauntless was all the self-sacrificing type.

"Praedyth did not occupy all times in the Vault. He was linear, he'd have to have lived there for all eternity. And the way the Vault collapsed, there was no way to get to anywhen he had been or would be."

"And now you think there would be a way?"

"No," Azra said bleakly, "But I'm out of other ideas. I just wanted… someone who was there, you know? In case I lose it, or… I don't know." She hung her head.

"I'm in," Veera said. "Of course I'm in."

It was always so funny how she looked surprised. She never expected anyone or anything to give her a break.

"You should sleep first," Veera said.

Azra sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah… yeah. I should."

"Shall I meet you at the Tower tomorrow?"

Her face screwed up in displeasure. "No. That's dumb. I don't need a day's worth of sleep. And it'll be night there in a bit. Just meet me at the campsite, say… nine hours?"

"Which campsite is that?" Veera asked.

"THE campsite. I'll have Spark give you the coordinates."


August 02, 2951, 09:00 (Local Time); The Crew's Campsite, Lake Võrtsjärv, Old Estonia, Earth

It was well past sunrise by the time Veera got to the campsite (The Campsite, she had to remind herself). It was pleasant enough weather. The scenery was breathtaking. The lake was enormous, surrounded by dense woodland. The Campsite was situated on the sandier northern shore, spread on the dry soil well above the water line. The surface of the lake was rippling in the morning breeze.

Veera expected Azra to be waiting for her, but there was no Arcstrider in sight. Two other Hunters sat next to a smoldering fire. They were both covered in moon dust. There was a tarp between them, covered in parts of guns and cleaning cloths. They had both paused in their work when Veera transmatted down. She took a few uncertain steps forward.

"Uhh, is Azra around?" Veera asked. She recognized the two figures as she got close- the short Exo was Shiro-4; they'd run into each other a few times. The lanky Human had threatened her life once. He must be Tevis Larsen.

It was Shiro who answered. "Oh yeah, she's just off tidying up. Should be back in a few."

Veera stood awkwardly for a moment before the Bladedancer took pity on her and motioned her to sit. There were logs by the fire- the pair of Hunters was leaned against one. Veera sat on the other, back to the lake. Shiro went back to polishing the stock of an Auto Rifle.

"So, where are you two headed?" he drawled, "Azra hasn't mentioned any plans." Tevis didn't say anything at all, cleaning his own gun with what seemed like malicious intent.

"It's a secret," Veera said, eying the Nightstalker with some trepidation.

Shiro's eyebrow-plates went up. "A secret, huh?"

"Yes," Veera said.

Tevis eyed her up and down. His expression shifted. "Well then," he muttered. "Some advice? Stay on Spark's good side. Azra will just about forgive you for murder if her Ghost likes you."

"Okay?" Vera half-replied, half-asked. Where was he going with this?

Tevis peered down the chamber of his Hand Cannon, continuing to dictate. "Don't ever make plans in the City. I think it's just about her least favorite place in the solar system. Mapping missions are much more her ideal date. Low-key, but not too low-key, yeah? Keep things a little interesting."

Wait a minute. "Date?"

"Classic Warlock mistake is trying to gift personal items like cloaks or knives. Those are serious. Leave 'em for really important occasions. I know you types. Stick to guns. Azra's always had a thing for Scout Rifles. Maybe a new sidearm. Something interesting."

"That's not what I'm talki-"

"Take a few steps back, Tevis," the Bladedancer interrupted. "You are-"

"Setting up Azra on a date," Tevis confirmed.

Shiro was skeptical. "Is Veera really her type? Does she even have a type?"

"Use your eyes sometime, metal-brains." The Nightstalker growled.

"Metal-brains? Using a Cayde insult? On me?" Shiro's voice had risen in pitch.

A familiar voice called from the treeline. "What's going on here?" Sure enough, the Arcstrider came out of the woods, adjusting her belt.

"Tevis called me metal-brains!" Shiro exclaimed, throwing up his hands.

"Were you being a metal-brain?" Azra asked.

"Yes," Tevis said with finality.

"Um," Veera said, wondering if interrupting was a good idea.

Azra cracked a smile and put a hand on her hip. "I'll not call foul on insults earned, Shiro. Ready to go?"

That last bit was directed at Veera. The Warlock stood up in surprise.

"Have fun!" the Exo said cheerily. Azra shot him a look, shook her head in confusion, then summoned her Ghost for transmat.

Veera, blushing furiously, followed as quickly as she could.


August 02, 2951, 03:35 (Tower Time); Waking Ruins, Ishtar Sink, Venus

Spirits started high, but Azra's smile faded as Venus came in sight. It had given way to a sharp scowl by the time they broke atmosphere. The two Guardians pulled a bold move and transmatted directly down into the Waking Ruins. There were only a few Vex there. No organized response answered their intrusion.

They didn't need to raise the Spire, as Azra's Ghost had made a key. A bit of clicking and spinning and the gate opened in the exact same methodical way it had last time. And like last time, there was a hiccup of hesitation in Azra's stride before she stepped over the threshold. And like last time, she shook it off and moved forward.

She did not smile or joke as they made their way inside. The place still reeked with residual Darkness, but it was nothing like the oppressive choking sensation that had followed Veera through their first visit. The Hunter went first, picking a familiar passage through the twisting, blocky tunnels.

Veera distracted herself taking scans of everything she could. There were a lot of details she had missed the first time around. Now, with the timespace stable, they could actually map the Vault and all of its crannies.

Veera explained this to the Hunter when she had to rush to catch up. She thought Azra would be excited about it; she'd always loved maps. They practically had to drag her out of Crota's Throne World.

Azra sent her a look and pinged her high-resolution files, already made. They included not just the areas Fireteam Dauntless had been through before, but miles of twisting side passageways, dead ends, and oddly-shaped chambers.

"How… this isn't the first time you have been back here," Veera accused.

Azra shook her head. "Yes, it is." Her voice was quiet. It did not ring and echo in the space like Veera's did. "I just ran my data with the new parameters, and this fell out. It's accurate, as far as I can remember."

"Why aren't these in the Vanguard archives?" Veera exclaimed. Echoes, again. Azra winced.

"Don't want to encourage people to come here. This place doesn't let you to be reckless."

Azra was the opposite of reckless. Her footsteps were silent. She peeked around corners before she stuck so much as a toe out. She hugged walls and paused to listen every dozen meters or so.

Veera reached out, but the Hunter tensed just before her hand made contact. She thought better of the motion. "Why are you so worried?" The Warlock asked. "We destroyed everything in here."

"What if," the Hunter murmured. She did not have to speak an end to the statement, it was clear the kinds of fear that were haunting her.

"Then we will face it, and we will beat it." Veera put her hand on her companion's shoulder. She did not flinch. Her muscles were rock-hard with tension. "We have seen far worse than a stray Hobgoblin."

"You can't seriously expect me to relax," Azra spat. "Cracked or not, this is the Vault of Glass."

"Talk to me, at least," Veera said. "I don't like you digging these holes for yourself."

They edged, together, around a buttress of stone, and-


"What was that?" Wahida-14 asked. "Did you guys hear that?"

Azra pulled herself into the present. "Keep it together, Wahida," she ground out. "We need to keep moving." She couldn't lose it now, not when they were so close.

"But you just-"

"Focus," Azzra insisted, looking her in the eye. "You can't go chasing rabbits in here. Ignore it."


"This is where Sulla almost got stuck," Veera said. Her words were slow in wonder. "I had no idea what you were talking about. You seemed to know something."


"It's like," Azra growled, "losing your grip. If you start chasing the future like you can remember it, start feeling for the past like you can relive it, then you don't get to have a present anymore. So focus. It's just echoes. Associations. They don't mean anything, they're not important, so stop. Listening!"

Her voice had risen in pitch. Azra realized her hands were white-knuckled fists on the ground. Here, the currents of Light were so faint she could barely taste the tinge of concern. The dim ambient glow was enough to make out Sylas's frown and Tapio's bewildered eyes, though.


"Please, don't," Azra pleaded. "Don't do it like that."

"What's wrong?" Veera asked.

The Hunter shook her head. "You're giving me a headache. Timespace ain't stable here, exactly, still."

"Let us… move on," Veera suggested. Azra nodded, jerky, and swept ahead in the passage. Several minutes of tense silence followed.

"I am confused," Veera began when an appropriate amount of time had passed. "What… what is that? What was that? I have never seen anything like that before."

Azra sighed. "It's just… echoes. Of what was, what could be. I've been having 'em all my life." She took an abrupt turn, deviating from the path Veera knew. "Didn't know they could happen to someone else, until then. Kinda worrying."

"Your whole life?" Veera asked, "or just since you came back?"

"Whole life, before and after the Vault."

Veera spoke carefully. "You must have your reasons for not making it public knowledge, but that seems… useful."

"Can hardly remember them after they happen, or before they happen." They came to a T-shaped intersection. Azra double-checked both hallways before proceeding down the left one. "Imprints of imprints. Just… static."

She turned back to look at Veera over her shoulder, finally lowering her sidearm. "I've never told anyone about it before." Her voice was quiet, almost wistful. She looked so small. "Not Andal, not Tevis. Nobody. What good could it do?"

"… Thank you," Veera said slowly, trying to not draw it out into a question, trying not to throw doubt on this. She had learned how much vulnerability from the timelost Arcstrider was a gift. "I find it difficult to understand why you have not looked into this more deeply."

"You think maybe the fact that I don't pick at things is exactly why I survived down here?" She slid along the passageway, double-checking corners with a smoothness like well-practiced choreography. "I adapt, it's what I do. Drop me on Titan or Mercury and I can make myself fit because I don't pick and hammer at every difference." And that was what she was doing here, falling into old patterns, becoming part of the scenery again.

Veera watched with a frown. At least, as they talked, more confidence bled into the actions. Less and less like a scared rat, more like the self-assured Arcstrider she'd come to know over the past year and a half.


TYPE: LIVE COMBAT FEED
PARTIES: Two [2]. One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Veera [v]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Hunter, designate Azra Jax [aj]
ASSOCIATIONS: Brask, Andal; Jax, Azra; Larsen, Tevis; Pahanin; Vault of Glass [Venus]; Veera; Vex; Ward, Jaren; Yor, Dredgen
/AUDIO UNAVAILABLE/
/TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS.../

[v:01]: You don't talk about them much.

[aj:01]: They weren't important to me.

[v:02]: They were your fireteam, were they not?

[aj:02]: Some people… they run with the same people. All the time. So fireteam means something, you know? I was just a contractor to them. My family was, is, my pack. I didn't know them three particularly well.

[v:03]: But you did know them.

[v:04]: All this happened before I was alive. What were they like?

[aj:03]: Pahanin was the guy I got along with the best. I think it was just kinda… a Hunter thing. He traveled a lot, too. Wrote some. Got all rich and famous on a book about how to piss of Warlocks.

[aj:04]: But he was… chill. Some Nightstalkers, the got this gravity to them. Like Tevis.

[v:05]: He seems to take things very seriously.

[aj:05]: Yeah. Not that he doesn't know how to have a good time, but everything's so important. Pahanin let things skate.

[aj:06]: He was always good with building stuff. That's what made him a good traveler. No matter where you went, he could take what was there and throw together a gun, or a communicator, or a bomb if you batted your eyelashes right.

[aj:07]: Never met one of his guns. Maybe I will someday. Wonder if he talked about me. I don't think I would have.

[v:06]: Met his guns?

[aj:08]: He did lots of stuff with A.I. Smart weapons.

[v:07]: How did he die?

[aj:09]: He was murdered by Dredgen Yor. Don't know much of the details.

[v:08]: Dredgen Yor? Where have I heard that name before?

[aj:10]: He was a Guardian killer. THE Guardian killer. Forsake the Light and went on a murder spree.

[aj:11]: Killed plenty of civilians too. But he got some good friends of mine. Got a lot of people. Including Pahanin.

[v:09]: I am sorry to hear that.

[aj:12]: That's kinda the horror of all this. I was just… held back from a whole period of history. I should have been there. If not for Pahanin, then for Jaren, or Andal… but I didn't get to interact with the world like that.

[v:10]: For me, it is all just history. I have no claim to stake on those temporal shores. I have had a year.

[aj:13]: A damn good year.

[v:11]: Only a year, all the same. We have to do the most with what we are given.


TYPE: LIVE COMBAT FEED
PARTIES: Two [2]. One [1] Guardian-type, Class Hunter, designate Azra Jax [aj]; One [1] Guardian-type, Class Warlock, designate Veera [v]
ASSOCIATIONS: Aegis; Dauntless [Fireteam]; Jax, Azra; Kabr; Vault of Glass [Venus]; Veera; Vex
/AUDIO UNAVAILABLE/
/TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS.../

[aj:01]: Kabr… is everything. I don't think I can properly describe it. He's just… fucking impossible. He doomed me, and he saved me. And he saved everything.

[aj:02]: He organized this whole endeavor. It was his mission; he had the drive. I never would have come here- well, maybe that's a lie, but all this would not have happened without him.

[aj:03]: And then he went and… did his thing. Cracked the glass. At least he took the fall for his own hubris.

[v:01]: Do you wish you had never come here?

[aj:04]: If I'm being selfish about it, yeah. This was bad. This is almost as bad as my entire life is good, probably worse if I look at it too close. But how can I put myself against literally the entire universe? The Vex have been beaten, at least here and now.

[v:02]: You don't know that we couldn't have solved this without you.

[aj:05]: I don't play with stakes that high. But you've met Kabr. A little bit, at least.

[v:03]: I met a fragment of him. I heard him say perhaps three words.

[aj:06]: That's the usual Kabr experience. Didn't say much, but he made what he did say mean something. Always worth listening to him.

[aj:07]: He was always pretty focused on his Titan things. Y'know, guarding, punching things, defeating the enemies of Humanity. I'm not sure if he had any hobbies.

[v:04]: Do you have any hobbies? Beyond your Hunter things.

[beat]

[aj:08]: I guess not. Maybe we're more alike than I thought. I respected him. Now I'm just in awe. I can never repay him. Even if he were able to be repaid. I owe him nothing, 'cause he doomed me. I owe him everything, 'cause he saved me. He saved the universe.


August 02, 2951, ?; Vault of Glass, Venus

They reached the cell. It was high atop a cliff on a narrow shelf of outcropped stone. Water ran all around them, trickling down the walls, throwing up mist in the darkness that made the world seem at once both claustrophobic and loomingly infinite. The lighting was dim.

Azra ran a hand over some inert construct on the wall- it looked like there were bullet marks on it. Then she swept into the room. The empty room.

Empty only at first glance. Veera let her Ghost out to scan the space, and he immediately zoned in on a pile of scrap in the corner. Or what Veera first dismissed as a pile of scrap- Ghost lit up the circuits and told her it was a working radio, if a crude one. Made out of an old helmet and scavenged wiring. There was even a card with some audio files on it. Ghost busied himself extracting and decrypting them.

Veera took in the rest of the room. It was tiny, no more than three meters by two. Obviously lived in, from the scratch marks on the walls and the pile of fabric scraps in the corner. The ground was hard, unyielding stone.

Azra was crouched at the other end of the cell. There was a ripple there, a fold in space, some artifact where the edges of reality didn't meet themselves. Azra had her hands in it. Her Ghost orbited the figment. Veera didn't want to distract her, so she just watched in fascination.

The Hunter shifted, pulling back, and then spacetime was whole and there was a rifle in her hands. Azra let out a long sigh.

"I have to stop being surprised when you do things like that," Veera complained. "It is getting old."

Azra stood, flipping the rifle this way and that. Her deft fingers were surprisingly gentle on the casing. She cradled the gun like a newborn baby. "Do you know what this is?" She asked.

Veera held out her hand. Azra passed it over. Veera's Ghost did a scan of the rifle while Veera visually inspected it. It was dulled by tarnish and soot. Rust was just barely beginning to eat at the corners- it would be completely salvageable. The action worked smoothly and the magazine even had a few bullets left in it.

"It's Praedyth's rifle," Azra explained. "He… left it here somehow."

"I was going to say it belonged to someone else," Ghost commented. "This is remarkably similar in design to the Exo Stranger's rifle."

Azra's eyebrows came together in confusion. "No, I recognize it. As far as I understood, it was a custom project. No duplicates."

Ghost spun and hit the rifle with another scan. "And I recognize it, too. I'm sure of it."

Veera spoke up. "So we have more impossibilities on our hands. Is that really a surprise?"

"…No," Azra said at last.

Veera's hands traced the shakily-etched word on the gun's stock. "Soon," she murmured, "I wonder what it meant."

"It's hope," Azra said. "For anything to be soon, here?"

"Might it be a message?" Veera asked. "If he left it here, could it be a warning? A prediction?"

"Well, I guess that depends on what you found," Azra replied. "Does the radio work?"


FILE 001
/AUDIO UNAVAILABLE/
/TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS.../

P: I look though my door, and I see many timelines. I see battles fought. I see paths uncovered. Too often, I see the world drowning in Darkness.

P: I don't know which timelines are mine. I hope they are not the Dark ones, but I do not know. I am only adrift on the ocean of time, with no anchor to hold me fast.

P: I hope nobody has to find this. But if someone does-

P: My name is Praedyth. I came into the Vault with five others.

P: I came into the Vault with three others. Kabr was intense sometimes. Pahanin was always talking to himself, and Azra… I barely knew her. But they don't deserve what happened. No one does.

P: I look through my door, and I see many timelines. Some of them would be the future, some of them would be the past, if I had either of those things.

P: I had a friend back in the Tower, in one past. She used to say, 'Praedyth, there's always room in the mind for hope. It's the crack that lets the Light in.'

P: The Vex have no hope. No imagination. No drive, no fear. All they have is the Pattern. Everything must fit. If it can be made to fit, good! If it can't, it gets cut away.

P: I have known people to get cut away.

P: I have known a Titan to chip the Shears, bend the Needle to a new shape.

P: I have known a Hunter to slip through the Eye, to fall into the weft and weave of the cloth and in doing so, change the Pattern.

P: I have known myself to sit by and watch. I know not what my purpose is in this action. But I trust there is a purpose.

P: I trust one day I will stand in the light of the Sun, one day to walk in the City with the Traveler's blessing without me and within me.

P: You promised I would leave. I know not where this arc leads, but I know it will intersect somewhere. It has to. I look through my door, and I see it.

P: My name is Praedyth. My name was Praedyth, and my name will be Praedyth.


The audio recording finished with a crackle and a pop. The two Guardians stared at the mess of wires in contemplation.

"It's from a long time ago," Azra explained after a moment. Her eyes were sad. She crouched over the shorted-out tech.

"Really?" Veera asked.

The Hunter tilted her head. "It's in the static. You… can't tell, can you." Her expression was bleak. "We shouldn't have come back. We can't save him."

"Of course not," Veera said. "You already did."

Silence sat between them for a moment, only broken by the steady drip of water over stone.

"Come on," the Warlock said at last. "There is one thing left still to do."


?, The Waking Ruins, Ishtar Sink, Venus

For a moment, briefly, for just a sliver of a millisecond, the Waking Ruins were lit by blue light.

A Warlock stumbles on the threshold to the Vault of Glass. His knees tremble feebly, but he stands nonetheless.

For a moment, he is left breathless. He does not know where he is. This must be the Waking Ruins, but the night sky isn't the usual oppressive blanket of cloud. There isn't a cloud in sight. Instead, the sky is a deep expanse of stars, carelessly scattered by an omnipotent hand into clumps and whorls. The Milky Way stretches one horizon to the other in absolute glory. The Ruins are bathed in its gentle light.

He wants to fall to his knees and weep, but he doesn't know if he could get up again. The breeze is cool and balmy, a lover's caress through the threadbare and rot-eaten clothing he wears. He has no armor. He had scrapped it all for parts, sketched messages on any smooth surface he could find and chucked them into oblivion, hoping for a backsplash or an echo that could help him triangulate reality.

Reality needs no triangulation now. He stands in it, breathless in awe.

He does his best to move forward- after so long sitting in place, waiting, even the concept of it seems alien. Mind not his aching and neglected body. He makes his way down the stairs, one trembling step at a time.

He almost misses it. The friendly green light catches his eye like a chipped nail catches loose threads. The design of the cache is neutral, a City standard. Someone has tucked it away in a corner of Vex architecture, hidden from all angles but this one.


FILE 001
/AUDIO UNAVAILABLE/
/TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS.../

AJ: My name is Azra Jax. Please, listen. I have left this cache for Praedyth. We were members of Kabr's fireteam. I fear he won't live long without supplies. If you need something, take it, but please return it. If you find this empty, fill it. We all owe him a debt of existence.

AJ: The structure behind you was called the Vault of Glass. It was a Vex fortress, one they used to manipulate ontology. Time. Existence. It was a threat on a universal level. We went in- Pahanin and I, Kabr and Praedyth, seeking knowledge about the Vex and their plans. Some of us have paid prices greater than death to end them.

AJ: I escaped, and I brought others back, and we killed this place. And I freed Praedyth, but I do not know when he will be. Right now, the year is 2951.

AJ: I will check as often as I can, but Praedyth, I might be gone. Long gone. I hope the City still stands. I hope the universe is kind to you. You deserve it.

/ADDENDUM A/

D: My name is Dove. This cache saved my life. I guess I'll keep an eye on it, on the chance it'll save someone else's. Maybe even who it was supposed to.

/ADDENDUM B/

LF: This is Liu Feng of the Sunbreakers. We remember Praedyth. If he needs our help, he needs but call.

/ADDENDUM C/

O6: Updated the hermetic tech. Food and ammo will keep longer. Long enough, hopefully.

/ADDENDUM D/

MR: Marcus Ren speaking! Never knew you, Praedyth, but Pahanin was a good guy. I owe him one. Guess that means I owe you one, in a way. Drinks on me when you get back to the City. I left a Sparrow to help you get there.

/ADDENDUM E/

SQ: I am Seif Qasim, marked by the Cormorant Seal. Wherever you are, know that you've made the Praxic Order proud.

/ADDENDUM F/

E5: Patrol through here all the time, never knew this was here. Fireteam Dauntless is heroes, back in the City. Azra Jax thinks you deserve some of that credit? Least I can do is leave you my old Shotgun. Pulled my ass out of more messes than I can count. Here's hoping it pulls yours out of some, too.

/ADDENDUM G/

G: I'm just a Ghost. I can't do anything for you. Just know I'm cheering for you, way back here. I'd never find my Guardian if all of time got erased, right?

/ADDENDUM H/

C6: Now this ain't the good stuff, but even in instant form, Ramen ain't nothing to turn your nose up at. Can't say I never did anything for ya, buddy. Just remember this when you get back to the City, eh? You can treat me to the real deal.

C6: Plus, Azra still turns green whenever you mention tree-cabbage. Nobody deserves that kind of torture.

/ADDENDUM I/

L: Never know where hope will shine, Praedyth. Some of us never forgot you. It's been decades since you left, but I'm still here, eh? We might talk again some day. I'll keep on doing my best to not die, you keep on doing yours as well.

L: That's assuming you haven't come out centuries in the past and died on Venus before Guardians ever reached it.

L: Well, here's to hoping.