Chapter 24: Scourge of Winter
"Everyone's got their own way about it. Just gotta do what you need to do." -Cayde-6
She left the Sparrow and climbed a long way across spars of volcano rock and between vents of blue fire. Down below, the Ishtar ruins sparked with skirmish light but the guns seemed as distant and brief as the constant starfall and the brooding crater high above. Alone on the rock, she went on with her head down to fight the sense that she would fall up off the world and burn like an inverse meteor.
The message that brought her to this place had no sign, but she could hear Cayde in it. Draksis in the Cinders, it said. Was it true?
And also: Remember your promise.
At dawn she found a sentry and killed it with her knife. Its throat bled gas. She took its post and layed out her bullets one by one on the rock as if to make a count of all the years she has been waiting. Her rifle was nearly as long as she was tall. She laid down by her bullets and used them to kill the other sentries one by one until at last they understand the thunder and the shanks rose up angry from the Cinders below to seek her out.
She left the rifle and walked across the naked obsidian into the swarm firing from the hip as she went, each kick of the old revolver a word, Draksis, Draksis, Kell of Winter, Kell of hate, lord of the kingdom of her vendetta. Her jaw ached. She used to imagine biting out his throat with armored teeth.
The stone smoked around her where the arc fire lashed it and the shrapnel guns threw up leaves of obsidian like glass butterflies. She shot her bandoliers dry and a team of Vandals in glassy stealth leaped up to rush her with knives but she raised her hand and burned them down with the golden gun, laughing, crying out Draksis, Draksis, I am come!
She killed them all and took the next ridge, high above the Cinders. She saw the blue-green pools and the cave mouths where the Vex lights danced. And there among them, gowned in smoke and ash, is the long shark shape of a Ketch, a Wintership, the Kell's ship, come down to nest. Skiffs spewed out of it, soaring to the sky, but none bore the banner of Draksis, none took her quarry away.
She could go down there now and finish this. But she made a promise.
A captain jumped her. She threw two knives into his armor and then staved his chest in with her own Ghost, wrapped up in her fist like a stone.
"Tell the Vanguard," she said to her Ether-spattered fist. "Tell them Draksis is here."
Her Ghost looked up at her in silence. When she made no move to go down the cliff towards the ship it blinked once, in its own way, and made a soft sound, like a sigh, like relief.
…
"Fireteam Guardian, you are living up to your name." Commander Zavala, flanked by Ikora Rey and Cayde-6, stood imposingly behind the huge desk in the Vanguard's headquarters. "Your victory against the Vex mind may well have saved Venus. But the Academy remains at risk. Now that its secrets are out in the open, they are vulnerable to the House of Winter and its Kell, Draksis. He has eluded us for years and performed countless rains on jumpship reclamation convoys."
"That's right," cut in Cayde-6, "I've personally upped the bounty on this guy with my own glimmer. My own glimmer!"
Zavala continued as if Cayde hadn't spoken. "We cannot afford to commit resources to Venus beyond the small forward operating base when so much of Earth remains unclaimed, and what we have committed will not be enough to prevent the House of Winter from seizing the Archives. And so we must eliminate the threat. Cayde will brief you."
As attention turned to the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde's happy-go-lucky demeanor slipped into a move serious tone for a moment. "Look, we have a window here, but a narrow one. First, we know where Draksis is, bedded down in a cave system in the Ishtar Sink in the volcanic Cinders area, and there's no telling how long he'll stay there. Second, a big contingent of his forces just got chopped up by you and the Vex. And three, another big contingent just went offworld, but Draksis didn't go with them. Somewhere down there, right now, that slippery Fallen is sitting with his forces stripped to the bone Now, if we went in heavy with ten or twenty guardians he would disappear again into the night. But a small, quiet and quick move… you might be able to get him. With Draksis gone and the Prime Servitor missing, the House of Winter might just collapse in on itself. Boom—problem solved. Once you get out there, I'll put you in touch with my scout. So, whaddaya say?" he asked, finger guns pointing expectantly.
Whisper glanced at Vistrek, who looked eager, and Alice, who was her usual unreadable self. "We'll take a look and see how it goes."
"I'll take what I can get," replied Cayde. "Word from Amanda is your jumpships will be refueled in the next two hours—I jumped you in line, you're welcome—so you've got until then."
Vistrek turned to face the rest of the fireteam, sensing Cayde's dismissal. "I need to speak with Banshee-44; the action on my shotgun is sticking a little. I will meet you at the hangar."
"And I must meditate. Until then." Alice strode off, followed by Vistrek.
"Whisper," called Ikora as the other two Vanguard members returned to their duties, "I have an appointment to get to. Will you walk with me?"
It was not the sort of invitation you turned down. Many eyes were drawn towards the powerful warlock as the pair of guardians left the Vanguard headquarters and walked. They made their way out along the edge of the wall, passing by the battlements. "I, too, want to congratulate you, but also to apologize. We are asking a lot of all three of your fireteam, but especially of you. Normally I would tell you to take a break, but events seem to be accelerating. First the hive, now the Vex and the Fallen. We need to get ahead of it, and it is taking longer than I had hoped to pull in roaming guardians for more active service. But I'm afraid that same duty calls me now. So, tell me your thoughts on this assignment."
Whisper considered for a moment, turning it over in her mind. "I have two thoughts. On the flight back I kept thinking about the Fallen. From everything I've heard they are little more than scavengers, stealing everything they can get their claws on. But this… they were after information, knowledge. And they were aware of the threat from Sekrion before we were and moved in force on a risky mission to counter the threat. That's not the action of roving scavengers—they are committed to a long-term plan, and we have no idea what that plan is."
Ikora nodded approvingly. "They were not always as they are now. There are only traces left today, but long ago, before the City was founded, there were more hints of what they had once been. Decorated armor for their kells, elaborate ceremonial robes for their archons, and other hints showed that they were a proud people once, great, in their own way. In the years since they have truly become the Fallen, degenerating into the pirates and butchers that is all new Lights ever see in them. And you are right to be wary—the younger Fallen know nothing of their past, but their older kells still remember, and they have only grown craftier with age. The House of Kings are their best schemers, but every kell as old as Draksis has survived be being as clever as they are vicious. We have not heard from them beyond their raids since they limped back to Venus to lick their wounds after Twilight Gap, but we would do well to remember how great of a thorn they were in our sides before then, and could be again now that they have rebuilt their forces."
The sound of their footsteps echoed off concrete floors as Whisper tried to put her second thought into words. "There is more to this than the Archive, isn't there?"
For the first time Ikora hesitated and her feet slowed. "What do you mean?"
"I was thinking about the Archive, about the risk to the data from the House of Winter. It makes sense, what Commander Zavala said, but… only in the short term. If the data itself was that valuable, you would have gone to collect it long ago, before the Vex activated, before House of Winter poked its nose out of whatever hole it dug into."
"I believe Zavala has explained the information economy which drives most of the interactions between the Vanguard and the factions. What makes you think we don't do the same with the Cryptarchy?" asked Ikora curiously.
Whisper frowned, trying to put her finger on it. "I'm sure you do, but that would apply before, too. If the data is so valuable, why wait until it's in danger to retrieve it? Why not do it when it's quick, quiet, and easy? And even if it somehow was overlooked, why not just download all of the data now and purge the Archives so the Fallen can't steal it, instead of trying to assassinate the kell? No, it's not about the data. There's something else, some other impetus behind this mission to eliminate Draksis. But I still haven't figured out what it is."
Ikora watched her speculatively, hooded eyes giving away nothing. Seconds passed and Whisper wondered if she'd given away too much, when the Vanguard member finally smiled. "Most guardians leap at the chance to go after a high-profile target, to make a name for themselves. Few would consider the reasons for the assignment, and fewer still consider the reasons for the reasoning behind the assignment. You've shared your insight, so I will share some information of my own, which must be kept completely confidential. The Cryptarchy is salivating at the chance to get their hands on the Archive, but we have also received word very quietly through Petra Venj that the Reef would appreciate Draksis being taken care of. He is one of the last of the old kells, old enough he may remember where they came from. That could make him a rallying point for the Fallen that serve the Reef, potentially fomenting a rebellion against the Queen. They want to eliminate this threat before it can begin to manifest."
Whisper nodded slowly, impressed. "You tell the Cryptarchy you'll send your guardians to secure it in exchange for their cooperation and a favor. But you secure it by eliminating Draksis, earning a favor from Mara Sov and her awoken. Whether for the City or the Reef it's a good strategic move—two favors with one bullet."
"And don't forget, throwing the House of Winter into disarray, pulling the attention of the other Fallen Houses away from us while they sense weakness and potential new recruits to be gained. We strive to be efficient, Whisper. But remember this," said Ikora, suddenly grim. "The data in that Archive is immensely valuable all on its own, and we really should have collected it years, even centuries, ago. But the threats facing the City are so many and so great, and the guardians both able and willing to work for the Vanguard when the City isn't directly under threat instead of accepting more lucrative freelance work are so few, that only when we can solve two or three problems at once can we afford to send guardians at all. You were right, Whisper; this is doing it the hard way. But now, I must get to my meeting. Good luck."
The warlock turned and strode away, leaving Whisper with a lot of thinking to do.
…
Blabber bounced energetically, making patterns in the mist as Whisper set foot on the humid surface of Venus once more. I'm ready if you are.
"You're enthusiastic today."
Fighting Fallen, defeating a kell that's hounded the people of the City for years, this I understand.
"That doesn't mean we're not going to follow up on Black Garden, Blabber. This is just more urgent, for the moment."
I can always hope.
Whisper rolled her eyes. "Right." She transmatted her sparrow into existence as Alice and Vistrek pulled up beside her on their own sparrows. Huh. They both had fancy ships, but Vistrek was riding a Moonrider Zero and Alice a more streamlined Starchaser Zero, both base model sparrows she'd seen at Amanda's offices for sale. Alice looked from her, down to her S-20 Nomad, then back up to her again curiously. Whisper shrugged.
The radios buzzed to life and Cayde-6's voice, clear through the signal repeater Shiro-4 had brought with him for the Vanguard FOB, spoke all the way from Earth. "Alright people, here's the deal. One of my best scouts is the one that called this in, and I may have promised she would get to participate in the attack to bring him down so she wouldn't try to take him on her own. So meet up with the nice lady at the coordinates coming at you now, and she'll show you what's what."
"Why didn't you mention this before?"
"Well, see, her info is always solid, but she doesn't play nice with others. People hear her name, and they jump to conclusions, start to doubt the intel."
"You mean she's crazy," scoffed Vistrek.
"Hey!" cut in Cayde, all humor vanished from his voice. "You folks do things your ways, we hunters do things our ways. And we take care of our own. So trust me on this—she may be a little out there, but you would have to kill her to stop her from coming along, and Draksis is the reason why. Anyway, where were we?" continued Cayde, his voice light once again. "Right, Draksis. So, meet up with the scout, scoot on in there, take him out, and then come on home. Nothing to it. Let me know when it's done."
Cayde cut the line and Whisper and Alice both stared at Vistrek.
"What? If our scout and information source is crazy, we need to know."
Whisper plugged in the coordinates and led off on the sparrow, the other two following in her wake. They had a long way to go.
…
Taniks the Scarred growled, flexing mechanical limbs as the Prison of Elders came within sight. Around him the drekhs of House Winter moved, nervous at the sight of the awoken fortress-prison. He did not like working with others, but they were necessary for his plan. He comforted himself with the thought that none would survive this mission.
…
After nearly two hours on the sparrows they descended from the dripping jungles into the rocky, barren lands near the active volcanic region known as the Cinders. Pools of sulfur-infused water smoked in cracks in the surface as they continued down, down, down into the base of an inactive volcano. Hopefully inactive.
They eased the overworked sparrows to a halt and looked around in the twilight as evening fell. "This is it. There, there's an entrance to a cave down there." Whisper pointed.
Vistrek looked down at the spot through the optics of his helmet. "No outpost, no guards… are you sure this is the place?"
"They are trying to stay hidden," replied Alice mildly. "After you, hunter."
Whisper shrugged and took the lead, picking her way down and towards the cave entrance as carefully as she could. The going wasn't too difficult, but she heard Vistrek scrabbling on the loose rock in his heavy armor with muffled curses. Whisper glanced back and saw Alice serenely gliding through the air from one solid outcrop to the next. Warlocks.
The cave was narrow, it's opening little more than two meters wide, but once down level with it, she saw a yellow glow rod ahead in the dark. She toggled her helmet radio to transmit her voice to the others, eliminating any betraying sound from external speakers. "Well, something is in there. I've got artificial light sources, which means power generation."
The others joined with her quickly, Vistrek brushing the dirt from the long strip of fabric at his waist. They headed inside, and after just two short turns they stopped, stunned. The cavern opened and was lined with numerous side-tunnels, each clearly excavated to be wider and more regular-shaped than natural. This wasn't the work of days, this was the work of years of work and effort. And they hadn't had the slightest idea it was here.
"There could be thousands of Fallen in here," whispered Alice, as if they could overhear her despite the dampening of her helmet.
"How are we supposed to find that scout in all… oh." Vistrek fell silent as he saw the body of a Fallen dreg. They moved closer, and within moments it was clear they were following a trail of pure destruction. Whoever had done this, they had assaulted the Fallen with a brazen fearlessness bordering on insanity. Splashes of human blood showed where the lack of self-preservation had cost wound after wound, no doubt healed by a ghost over and over again. Some of the Fallen had been shot by weapons, others burned by Light, and some had been brutally beaten to death.
They didn't speak as they followed after Cayde's scout. Whisper winced as she saw a dead dreg without weapons or armor. It would have been utterly helpless before the guardian's advance. Are there civilians in here? Is this where they've been hiding them all?
They passed through chamber after chamber, some completely unchanged, others with mats on the floors and drawings on the walls, some of Fallen, some of what might have been the Traveler, and others of a circle in garish purple paint, surrounded by a partial outer circle, though the paint at the top was splashed like spikes of some kind. I wonder what those mean?
After a grisly ten minutes, they broke out of the cave to the other side, revealing a narrow, extremely steep box canyon. And right in the middle of it, moored to the mountains themselves, was a Fallen ketch.
It was bigger than she expected, easily the size of an Exodus colony ship. There could be thousands, even tens of thousands of Fallen in there if they packed them in. The ketch must have anti-gravity running around the clock to keep it from crunching down to the ground, which would explain the long mooring lines anchoring the ship to the rocky slabs in the canyon walls.
A winding trail led down the canyon to a small base camp near the open rear cargo ramp of the ketch to her right, which meant they faced the starboard side. There was significant Fallen activity down there. Three separate groups of Fallen patrolled the ketch's perimeter, and some ramshackle Fallen structures had been set up just off the ramp. While she watched, a Fallen skiff sailed in from further up the canyon and settled to a hover over the loading ramp. Supplies were lowered by anti-grav, by rope, and some items just tossed from a dreg on the skiff to a waiting dreg on the ground, while a team of shanks carefully lowered a large sheet of metal that looked like it had bene ripped from the walls of the Ishtar Academy.
"Took you long enough," spoke a harsh, female voice
Whisper started as a hunter seemed to emerge from the ground just meters in front of them. Her armor was dinged and worn, even before she'd rubbed it in the reddish dirt of the canyon. Small branches bearing leaves of the hardy desert bush poked out of her armor in various spots. She looked an absolute mess, but Whisper had to admit that it was artfully done – without her IFF beacon activated, Whisper wouldn't have been able to see her at all.
And yet, despite the obvious effort made into staying out of sight, there was a single vermilion stripe painted across the forehead of her helmet.
"I take it you're Cayde's scout?"
The eyes of the woman's helmet glowed dimly beneath her hood. "Call me whatever you like. We're here to kill Draksis – that's all that matters."
Whisper nodded then looked out over the canyon again. "That's a lot of Fallen at the base camp, and probably a lot more on board."
"Fewer than there were," the scout hissed back. "One big group, maybe two skiffs worth, left two days ago. Another, five full skiffs, left a few hours ago and headed for space. Don't know where they're going, but they won't be back at least until tomorrow at the earliest. Draksis is vulnerable; we have to strike now."
Whisper considered the news. The first group must have been the ones heading to the Nexus, so only stragglers should be coming back from that. Who knows where the other group went or what they're doing. Could they be in hiding just over the ridge line, waiting to spring a trap?
It didn't seem likely, but this Draksis was supposed to be clever. On the other hand, it's not like we can hide our presence here, what with the swathe of destruction this hunter left in the caves back there. With all the effort they took to hide this place, they'll probably leave once they know they're discovered. This might be our only chance.
Whisper grimaced behind her helmet, the nodded. "I don't think we'll get another chance at this. We'll go, but we'll try to do it quietly. If we go in loud, there's a good chance Draksis will make a run for it." The hunter's protest cut off into thoughtful silence, and Whisper continued. "You're obviously skilled at unseen movement. Do you think you can get us to the loading ramp without being spotted by those patrols?"
The hunter glanced at the three of them skeptically, her gaze lingering on Vistrek for a long moment. "Maybe. If you can keep low and quiet, and follow me, we might be able to get close before they hear you lot crashing around."
Vistrek snorted. "I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around." Alice gave him a warning glance, then nodded.
Their guide cocked her head to the side staring at Vistrek. "You'll get your fight, titan. Now follow me." With that, she turned and stalked forward into the falling night. Whisper watched her closely, trying to put her feet where the hunter had. Whisper was no slouch in quiet movement, but it was obvious this was an experienced stalker. It took a long time as they carefully crept along, progressing slowly. As the minutes passed Whisper could sense tension building in the hunter, as whatever was driving her slowly burned through her disciplined patience. But at last, they made it to the within a dozen meters of the ramps.
Whisper could hear the Fallen chattering to each other as another skiff sailed out into the darkness, its blinding floodlights receding. Whisper wondered what they were saying.
"Now!" whispered the hunter urgently through the comms. In the same instant a knife sprouted from the nearest dreg, who slumped silently. Whisper threw her own knife, catching a vandal in the throat, and then the guardians were among them. They didn't fire, instead relying on the raw strength of armor powered by the Light. Bone crunched and Fallen screeched, but in remarkably short order, it was done as Alice floated over to the last dreg as it tried to run and touched it with a gloved hand. The Light coursed through her, and the dreg simply disintegrated.
Whisper shuddered. I don't think I'll ever get used to that.
The hunter wiped blood from her blade. "Alright, you have your element of surprise. We're ready to board – Draksis can't flee. Now we do it my way. Come on, titan. Let's see what you're made of."
"What do you—"
Whisper's question cut off as the hunter pulled out a shotgun and charged up the ramp past two light-blue banners of the House of Winter, ready to kill any Fallen in her way.
The fireteam followed in her wake in a rapid, violent scramble. Dregs and vandals and even the occasional captain were caught completely by surprise, and the guardians sliced through them without breaking stride. In between the muzzle flashes Whisper took in glimpses of the ship's architecture. It was different from the ramshackle loading dock, and even from the more elaborate work in the caves. This ship was beautiful… or it had been. Smooth, almost organic curved walls flowed from one space into the next. The material itself was high grade, far from the scrap so much of their equipment was cobbled together from, covered in complex, finely detailed geometric designs. But there were interruptions where smooth panels had been peeled back to reveal tubing and pipes with patched repair work atop patched repair work. And even where the walls remain unmarred that finery was faded now, worn beneath centuries of hard use.
Somewhere on this thing is a throne room. That's where we'll find Draksis.
The ship was like a warren of side passages and dead ends, all twisting over and around themselves. There was a pattern to it, something Whisper could almost wrap her head around, but there was not time to think. They took turns checking out the side passages and hosing down the Fallen in each.
The nameless hunter charged forward once again, and Whisper cut left to check a bypassed, small access corridor. The room behind her was filled with the thunder of weapons as she mashed the controls and leveled the SG-Scattercast shotgun. Inside in the dim light she caught movement, but it was small, and she hesitated. Her sensors adjusted to the darkness and she quickly made out the forms of Fallen cowering against the far wall of the enclosed room, small bundles strapped to their wastes. Grenades! Her finger tightened on the trigger and the Fallen wailed, then she froze stock-still. Those weren't grenades. Those were tiny, hatchling Fallen. Traveler above! Were any of the other rooms like this? Void take me, we used grenades in some of those rooms…
She hesitated a second longer while guardian and Fallen stared at each other, each shocked, but there was no time to contemplate. "Shit," she muttered, and hit the controls, slamming the door shut while she turned back to the fight. "Clear on this side, keep moving!"
They made their way upwards towards, keeping on the main access corridors on the theory it would lead to the bridge. More and more Fallen were pouring in from every direction now, and some had time to collect some serious weaponry. They were slowing down. This isn't good.
Then a larger doorway loomed, marked with strange Fallen runes and guarded by two captains with more ornate, ceremonial armor but colorless, slate-grey cloaks with no House affiliation. "Kell's guard mercenaries!" hissed the hunter. "He's here!" She leaped into the fray, heedless of her anything else. She threw herself at the nearest, impaling herself on the captain's shock blade, but her aim held true and her momentum carried her own knife through a gap in its armor and clear to its heart. They both fell dead in a tangle of limbs, but with a flash of Light she was back on her feet and rushing the next.
Then they were through and up the stairs into the throne room. A more lavish set of stairs led up to a platform were a truly massive Fallen, decked out in enormous, thick armor plates, sat on an equally massive throne. He was surrounded by Fallen with weapons trained.
There's the kell!
The hunter charged forward heedlessly. She had tossed aside her shotgun and now fired an automatic grenade launcher indiscriminately across the upper platforms. Whisper posted up at the door, sealing it shut behind her and pulling out a sniper rifle. Vistrek grunted and tore after reckless hunter to watch her back, his shotgun booming, while Alice leaped into the air and hurled a massive ball of void energy at the upper decks.
A whirlwind of Light and destruction fell on the Fallen. The void energy evaporated luckless Fallen who got in the way, and more were thrown from the balcony by the hunter's grenades or cut down by Vistrek's shotgun.
Return fire hissed back with the crackle of arc pistols, rifles, cannons, and grenades. Energy shields sizzled and Whisper took aim at the kell. He was impressive, to say the least. Swollen from ether, he towered over everything in sight at nearly four meters tall. An ornate helmet with what looked like two horns speared up form his head and covered his chin, where feeder tubes constantly breathed ether into him from tanks on his back. His armor was extremely heavy, and he leveled a massive shrapnel launcher. A single blast hit the hunter squarely in the chest, cutting her in half in a spray of blood.
Whisper fired, sniper rifle hammering her shoulder, and her round caught Draksis square in the helmet. His head snapped back from the impact, but the thick helmet turned aside the bullet with a screech, leaving a black smear along it. The kell bellowed, then Vistrek was on him. The Fallen guards redirected their fire as Vistrek closed, afraid of hitting their own kell, and the titan leaped up to tackle the kell while crackling with arc energy.
His first punch smacked into the kell's chest and drove him a step back, but he planted his feet and his lower two arms grappled with the smaller titan. Caught in the air without leverage, Vistrek thrashed, slamming arc-laced fists down on Draksis' gloves, but the mighty kell ignored his sizzling armor and bodily hurled the titan across the room. Vistrek slammed into the wall with enough force to crack bother the titanium and the titan's skull.
Then the hunter was back, her own blade glowing with arc energy, and she danced in. Draksis saw her coming and pulled the trigger on his shrapnel cannon. She was too quick this time, dancing left, but Draksis anticipated the move and sidestepped her blade while drawing an arc blade in his upper right hand. He swung it in a powerful stroke with enough force to bisect the little hunter that reached his waste. She vanished, blinking away from the blow, and buried her crackling knife into the back of his knee. Draksis roared and slammed his fist into his own armor, and he teleported away, leaving the hunter stumbling. A volley from the Fallen still on their feet brought down her shields, and she leaped away.
Whisper fired again, but the teleportation caught her by surprise and she missed, her bullet severing one of the ether cables from his facemask and spraying the silver-white substance everywhere.
Vistrek and Alice had regrouped, and they fired together. Vistrek's rocket slammed into the kell's chest armor, detonating in a fireball that scorched the Fallen black, then the rolling explosions of Alice's grenade launcher followed.
Draksis staggered from the fireball, armor twisted and melting, but unbroken still. He teleported again, grabbed Alice and snapped her neck with one hand while another pair backhanded Vistrek across the room. The nameless hunter leaped onto his back, her blade dance spent, and drove the hardened steel into his neck again and again, piercing the last threads of armor there. Draksis roared and leaped backwards, crushing the hunter against a blistered hull panel.
Whisper fired again, her bullet flying true and hitting the shrapnel cannon which exploded and took one of his arms with it. Draksis howled in agony, dropping to a knee, and Vistrek leaped once more, bringing both arms down with all his power in a blow that cracked Draksis' helmet in two.
Draksis, Winter Kell, toppled over, dead at last. The surviving Fallen wailed in terror and anguish and fled the throne room, throwing away their weapons behind them. The guardians searched around them, wild-eyed and looking for targets, but none remained.
Whisper breathed heavily from forgotten instinct. It was over. They'd done it.
Lore Referenced:
Items:
Vigil of Heroes
Moonrider Zero
Starchaser Zero
Vermilion Stripe 1.0
D1 Grimoire Cards:
Ghost Fragment: Hunter
Draksis, Winter Kell
Other:
Scourge of Winter (quest description)
Last Days of Winte (bounty description)
