By sunrise fireteam Cerulean stood at the base of the Vex gate, the Minotaurs that acted as defenders were in piles of metal and glass. The harsh morning sun cast a yellow light over the sands, giving them a blinding orange hue but it paled in comparison to the gate.
As Rorick neared with the Gate Lord's eye, the gate began to come to life. A strange, dark mist swirled from the outer ring and Wren absently fidgeted with the bird hanging from the Better Devils as she stared up at the massive structure.
"Lemon zest," came Cayde's voice and Wren nearly jumped. "I remembered the code word this time. Thought I'd check in on ya and see how you're fairing out there."
"We're about to enter the Garden," Wren said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"You know, you don't have to be ashamed to talk to me. I am your Vanguard. Your extra favorite—"
"Cayde, please."
"Alright, alright. Just uh… be careful out there. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Wren's stomach twisted as she thought about Flak dropping in a pool of his own blood. What would Cayde say to what she'd done?
"I have to go." She hurried toward the gate to follow the others, running straight into the light until her vision distorted and Cayde's voice became static.
She stumbled on the other side, nearly hitting her knees. Her head swam and she thought she might vomit from the jarring nature of the jump, but she regained herself with a few deep breaths and closing her eyes until the world stopped spinning.
Beorn was pulling Franz to his feet when she finally opened her eyes and Flak was sitting on the floor, head on his knee, shoulders heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Sisre and Rorick were the first two through and had nearly recovered, their leader looking around to gain his bearings.
They were at a dead end with one way out. Rock walls surrounded them and for a moment she could hardly see in the darkness. When her eyes adjusted, she could make out soft moss growing here and there. A circular doorway marked the only way out and was obviously of Vex construct.
"Where are we?" Wren asked.
Rorick turned his head slightly, likely conferring with his Ghost before he answered. "I'm not sure. If this is the Black Garden, it's not on any map of known space or… or time."
"We're outside of time?" Franz asked.
"I don't know. But we have to keep moving."
Wren walked down some steps through the doorway and turned the corner on Vex Goblins. She raised her Better Devils to shoot but the Goblins remained stone still, their bodies devoid of any kind of life, light, or movement.
"They're in some kind of stasis," Beorn said, nearing on and gingerly poking it with the barrel of his rifle.
Wren walked among them slowly, taking in the intricate details she missed from far off or due to them moving in battle. It made her skin crawl to walk past them in the dark corridor and she expected them to come to life suddenly and attack. There were many of them standing around like mannequins on the path farther down into… well, wherever they were.
"I really don't like this," Franz said as they turned a corner, two rows of Vex awaiting at the bottom.
The words barely escaped his lips when they came to life and began shooting at them. Wren gasped and jumped back into Flak who shoved her forward again. She opened fire on the Vex and the Guardians killed them quickly before moving on to Harpies and a Minotaur that had entered though a door opposite them.
Only once it was quiet once more did anyone speak.
"Why did only some of them come to life?" Franz asked.
Beorn shrugged. Rorick admitted he had no answer.
There were no more Vex suspended in stasis, only living, active Vex teleporting in to defend their Garden. It didn't deter the Guardians who continued to push onward until they began to feel grass growing under their boots and flowers blossomed between cracks in stone and metal.
The dark corridor opened to the heart of the Black Garden which stretched on as far as the eye could see under a green blue sky. There was no wind, despite them being on high and when Wren looked over the edge, there were walls like a labyrinth but instead of walkways, the halls dropped off into nothing. All she could see below was total darkness.
"How do we get down there?" Sisre asked.
"I don't think we do," Rorick replied. "Brix is getting readings farther down the path. I have to follow it that way."
And so, they did. Fighting through the Vex they encountered along the way and as before with the Cabal, Wren felt underwhelmed by the number of enemies guarding the Garden. She was beginning to consider that they were not underwhelming, but that her team was just that good.
It could be said that the Garden was a labyrinth of twists and turns, sharp corners and narrow corridors, but that would be a lie. There was one way, one path that led them onward toward what they thought was the heart of the Black Garden.
"What is this place?" Franz asked when they found an open area with what appeared to be another massive Vex gate on the other side but this time it looked to be a light instead of an actual portal. Wren couldn't be sure which was true.
"A dead end," Beorn said.
"Brix claims this place is one big machine. He needs us to get him and the other Ghosts closer to the clusters," Rorick said, pointing toward their destinations. "The heart of the Garden is just beyond here."
Wren and Flak were sent to the lower cluster, a round plate on the wall the size of a normal Vex teleporter, only solid metal. Beorn and Sisre sat back with scout and sniper rifle, keeping an eye long range on the two teams as Franz and Rorick took the upper cluster toward the back right of the area.
Wren gave Flak his space, her breath growing more rapid now that they were alone. They cleared the area of Vex so it would be safe for them to deploy a Ghost and Flak was the first to the cluster, sending his Ghost, Marr, out to break the encryption. Wren stayed a few feet away, eyes locked on Marr.
Marr finished, gave a nervous little nod to his Guardian, then vanished. Flak remained in place for a moment, only slightly turning his helmet toward Wren.
"I'm going to ruin you," he said. "I know what you did."
Wren swallowed hard. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes you do," he said, taking a step closer. "I've already had Marr log the report against you. As soon as we're out of the Garden it'll be sent straight to the Tower."
"And what if I tell them everything you've done?" she snapped back.
"Did you report anything?"
"Well… no…."
He laughed. "Of course you didn't," he tutted. "If you say a word, they'll only think it's lies made up to defend what you did. They won't believe you."
"I didn't do anything to you." Wren said firmly, though her hands trembled.
"Is that what you're sticking with?"
Wren didn't reply. Flak huffed and turned on his heel. He ran toward the second cluster, jumping away and out of sight.
"What do I do Kiran?"
"I… I don't know. I don't want to tell you to lie to the Vanguard."
"And if I tell them everything he's done?"
"There's a chance they might believe you but… you didn't tell anyone. It's hard to say."
"Will Zavala pull me from Cerulean? And Cayde…"
"I can't say for sure, but we have to get back to the fireteam. Please, just calm down Wren. We'll figure something out."
"I'm going to lie. I'm going to say it was an accident. Or that I didn't do it. He doesn't have proof. He can't have proof, right?"
Kiran sighed. "No, he can't. But can you live with knowing you lied about what happened?"
"If it means I can stay with Sisre. And Beorn and Franz… then yes."
Kiran fell silent. "You have to stay in the Light. You can't do that again."
"I know. And I won't. Please Kiran."
"Alright. But I don't like this."
Wren ran toward the second cluster in time to see Rorick's team complete their task, a Minotaur tumbling from the platform as Brix finished his decryption. In the center of the pavilion, a spire of light formed in the rectangular shape.
Sisre and Beorn caught up with her as Brix scanned the last conflux. The same rectangular light from the Spire on Mars glowed above Rorick's head, then broke into pieces, the center one catching a beam of light from the spire behind them. They followed the light to Rorick's team and joined them on the platform, watching as light connected the shattered pieces left over, then converged on the gate.
"This is it. The heart of the Black Garden," Rorick said, taking the lead as the gate began to open, but instead of a teleporter, it was more of a door. Its inner workings spiraled and pulled apart, spinning out of the way until they could see the place beyond.
Darkness leeched the color out of everything around it, turning the cyan Garden into a murky grey brown with only a hint of desaturated orange from flowers that dared to grow on the outer edges. High cliff walls formed a natural barrier around the heart, dropping off into an abyss beyond the half circle platform where a Vex gate hovered, a pulsating black blob at its center. Three Minotaurs, larger than any Wren had ever encountered, stood on pedestals facing it, arms outstretched as if to receive it. Three perfect rows of Vex Goblins sat at their feet, kneeling with their heads back, arms out at their sides, in stasis.
"Hope you're ready to kill a god," Rorick said and a chill raced down Wren's spine.
Excitement tinged with fear coursed through her and the consequences of what she'd done to Flak fell into the back of her mind. They walked forward on the steps and the Goblins moved. Their arms came back into joint, their heads clicked down into place on their moss-covered bodies. The Gate Lord they had expected to come through the gate was instead, a fireteam of Guardians
Their heads turned toward Cerulean, eyes flashing on, creating orbs of red in the dull heart of the Garden. White flashes of energy like lightning shot from the blob at the heart into the three Minotaurs but they didn't move.
The Goblins didn't waste any time teleporting to the stairs where Cerulean had already begun their fight. They range for teleportation seemed longer here, at the heart of their Garden and they were more powerful than the ones that guarded the heart.
Cerulean dropped and split, pulling the Vex in different directions to separate them into smaller groups. Wren was shot in the back, a searing pain catching her between her shoulder blades and she cried out as she hit the ground and rolled, trying to scramble between two carved stone blocks as Franz ran past her, firing his auto rifle at the Goblin that shot her.
"That statue is coming to life," she heard Sisre say through comms and she peeked out from her hiding place to see the Minotaur standing only a few meters away from her was moving. Its body jolted, joints popping into place, dislodging moss and dirt that had gathered there.
Its weapon fired energy rounds that shook the ground beneath her feet and her heart dropped when Franz emerged from behind cover and began firing on the Minotaur. She gritted her teeth and cursed him in her head as she ran out to cover him.
She wasn't sure what hit her. She didn't see the Miinotaur turn. It was as simple as being there one minute and not the next. Everything had gone white and there was a low rumble, but when she opened her eyes she was in the dark abyss of death.
Her ears rang from the last of noise and she searched for Cayde all around, but he wasn't there. That was alright, he hadn't been at first the last time either. She stood and turned around a few times, expecting him to appear out of no where and lead her back to… wherever. To home.
"Cayde?" she called out. "Where are you?"
Her voice didn't echo in this place. The water around her boots made no noise, no splashing as she started to walk. Not even her own body made noise, nor her armor as she moved.
"Cayde? I don't know which way to go," she said but still, there was no reply. "Is this because of what happened with Flak? I'm sorry. I should have told you. I shouldn't have done what I did, I know that. Where are you?"
She ran for a time, but it didn't feel like she was moving at all. The abyss didn't turn into white, fractalized light as it had when Cayde led her out, it remained pitch black with only a mysterious reflection on the water.
"I'm sorry!" she yelled and dropped to her knees. "I can still be a good Hunter."
Wren wasn't sure how long she'd been dead. All she knew was that it felt like hours that she was alone in the darkness before it began to break apart like shattering glass and she dropped from that abyss into her own body, waking with a sharp intake of breath.
Finally there was sound again! Explosions, yelling, crumbling rocks, the mechanical screeching of Vex, all came rushing back to her at once and as overwhelming as it was, she was glad to look up and see Beorn hovering over her.
"C'mon, we have to fall back," he said, yanking her to her feet.
The pair of them ran away from the platform's center, away from the pulsing blob to where Rorick held a position with the rest of Cerulean.
"I'm sorry," Franz said, nudging Wren's shoulder. "I should have been more careful."
Wren gave him a short nod, still shaken from her time in the darkness.
The first Minotaur was down, the second weakened. Sparks arced across its bettered body but her team looked worse for wear as well. Flak sat by a pillar, trying to catch his breath, a steak of charred metal covering half his helmet and extending down to his shoulder. Beorn and Franz' robes were singed, and holes had been ripped in the fabric. The left side of Rorick's chest plate was cracked and Sisre's sniper rifle had the scope broken off.
"We down that thing and we have one more," Rorick said.
"What about after that?"
Rorick turned to Beorn. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
"This was a suicide mission," Flak grumbled but no one paid him any mind.
"Who has their super ready?" Rorick asked.
Wren, Franz, and Flak raised their hands.
"Sorry," Sisre said. "I had to use mine to take down that first one."
"And I used mine getting to Wren," Beorn added.
"I also don't have mine," Rorick said. "Beorn, Sisre, and I will sit back and draw the final Minotaur's attention when it comes to life. Stay high if you can, I'll fire rockets at its feet. I only have two more so we'll have to make them count. Flak, go for the head with your Arc while Wren focuses her shots on the crit point," he said, hitting his chest with his fist. "Franz, focus crit with Wren. We want him as distracted as possible but don't knock his head off. I have no idea what would happen but Vex tend to go berserk if you do that and I don't know if we can handle that right now. Alright, focus fire to take down Minotaur two and we'll go for three. Stay safe and watch each other's backs."
The third and final Minotaur stepped from its pedestal to a barrage from all sides. Sisre set up with her scout rifle under the mysterious heart while Rorick's rockets staggered it, exploding around its feet. Beorn's rifle tore through metal and Franz took his first shot. Void energy flew from his palm into the glassy center of the Minotaur. A metallic cry set Wren's teeth on edge, like metal across a plate, as the glass holding the radiolarian at its gut cracking. All she had to do was shatter it.
Flak leapt high and spun in midair, Arc energy sparking around him as he ran up the Minotaur's arm and began to attack its head. The golden light of its eye tracked him, allowing Wren an opening. Another rocket exploded on the ground before she could get there and she jumped over it, the heat of it singing her cloak and making her armor hot around her skin.
Solar energy flared from her fingertips as the Golden Gun materialized and she got two rounds off into the Minotaur. The first widened the crack, the second missed its mark. She had one more and time was running out. She took aim as she fell but the Minotaur caught her in its hand, crushing on arm to her side. One more shot! It screeched and began to lift her up when she took the final shot and the glass holding the radiolarian broke open. The milky white liquid splashed to the floor and the Minotaur dropped her.
Wren dodged away, almost losing her footing as it fell to the ground, silent. The world began to shake, the edges of her vision growing hazy as the black blob went haywire, shooting white lighting out in all directions until the darkness that surrounded it faded away and a blinding light overtook her.
When she could see again, the bodies of the Vex were gone and the sky had regained its cyan color. The blob was gone as well and the weight of darkness had lifted.
"We're back. On Mars," Rorick said as orange flower petals rose in the air from the disturbance. He lifted his head to the sky, then nodded. "The Speaker is calling us home," he said and Wren felt the adrenaline of the moment pass, leaving only a bitter taste in her mouth and the growing fear of facing the Vanguard.