Chapter Two: Saved in Fiery Trial

"Well this is awkward." Phoenix muttered as he swept his hair from his forehead.

Koru stood stark still, staring transfixed at Eve across from him. She stood in the center of her fireteam, Hades, in her rose-red leather trenchcoat. Without her helmet on she revealed her tan skin, high cheekbones, bright emerald eyes, and full lips. Her hair was shoulder-length and chocolate brown with bangs. In the sunlight, raging so closeby, she seemed to glow.

Commander Roy laughed heartily and produced a flask to offer the ladies of Fireteam Hades. "Cheers guys, we didn't know you were gonna be here."

"Yeah," Phoenix said, taking the flask from Roy after all three members of the other trio refused the drink, "Koru said you guys were on the moon."

"We were." Ozara-4, the titan of Hades, was clad in heavy black body armor with pastel pink accents, her finish was a forest green and her sky blue optics glowed brightly as if to emulate her own admittedly chipper mood. "But we finished our task quickly. We had an opportunity to finish our last three matches today, and here we are." She beamed and swelled with pride.

"Only three?" Phoenix asked incredulously.

Lilei Nizo, the huntress of Hades, leaned against the large column jutting up from the sand and dirt, clearly bored. She wore light armor that shone gold, black pants, and easily a dozen knives on her person. The ensemble was brought together with her long and tattered white cloak flowing down her backside. Her skin was a luminous violet, her hair a deep navy blue cut short, and her eyes a bright silver. She offered only a glare as a response to Phoenix for his apparent ineptitude.

"Yes, three." Eve explained, glancing nervously to Koru, who had still not taken his gaze from her. "It's Sunday. The Trials were designed to pace guardians, why do you think it spans the entire weekend? Three matches per day." She frowned and looked each of the men up and down. On closer inspection, they were bedraggled and slouching the slightest bit. "Did you just go eight matches in a row?" She asked, obviously impressed.

Roy looked down to his hands and tried counting on his fingers. "One, two, forty-seven, six hundred and one, chocolate… Koru, help!" He looked over to the warlock in a panic. "What comes after chocolate?"

Koru's trance was at last broken at this sudden intrusion and he nearly jumped in surprise. "Ah, ah… uh. Right." He gave a withering look to Roy and then addressed Eve. "Six. Cayde said he pulled some strings."

"Ah." Eve said with a nod, visibly slightly less impressed. "I'm still surprised you guys did so well." She offered with a wan smile.

"Yeah." Lilei finally spoke up, her words cutting like razors. "Normally the Crucible eats you guys alive. Especially Phoenix and Eve's boyfriend." She landed her gaze on Koru, so cold and penetrating in its disregard for him.

"She's doing it again." Koru scoffed. Eve could only muster a shrug in response.

"Actually yeah we had a few problems. But there was one round where Roy just ran right over them."

"Literally." Roy confirmed, smiling wide.

Phoenix continued, "Oh and then I tripped over a wire. Weird thing, the entire team just kinda… disappeared when that happened." He shrugged and looked at each of the women in turn as if expecting an explanation. They looked even more befuddled than he did. "Since it was a win, I decided to try it again. Honestly that was how we won the last three rounds." He chuckled and shook his head.

"So you cheated?" Ozara asked bluntly.

Koru rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore Phoenix's half-baked excuses to the exo woman. He took a half step closer to Eve and cleared his throat quickly. "Eve-"

The sudden boom of the speaker system sending them Lord Shaxx's voice drowned him out.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FINAL MATCH OF THE TRIALS OF OSIRIS."

Koru tried to continue, "-I think we should talk."

"CRUCIBLE VETERANS FIRETEAM HADES FACE OFF AGAINST NEWCOMERS FIRETEAM PLUTO."

Eve tried to cup her ear toward Koru and nearly had to shout to be heard. "What?"

"THE MATCH WILL NOW BEGIN. GET OUT THERE AND FIGHT, GUARDIANS."

Roy remarked, "Huh. That's new."

"Well, best get to work." Lilei smirked and gave Koru a wicked glare and a suggestive wink.

"We'll talk after the match." Eve offered as she turned and ushered her team to their starting position. Koru watched her go for a moment before doing the same, heading off to the opposite end of the Burning Shrine with Phoenix and Roy.

II

"Cover me." Phoenix whispered to Roy as he peeked around the corner, keeping his back to the wall. He had his silver pistol drawn, its elegant engraving gleaming in the artificial light of the Vex constructs. He slid out of cover and crept along the ground in a trench crawl, his head on a swivel for his opponents. The cable that had led to their previous victories stuck out from the central power battery in the back of the shrine. He sidled up next to the battery and crouched to better hide behind it. He reached around the corner of it blindly groping for the cable jutting from it near the floor.

Curiously, his hand found something hard, metal and smooth. He tilted his head slightly in confusion and continued searching for the cable, but the object was much longer than he had thought. He craned his neck up only to see the towering form of a guardian staring down at him. For a brief moment Phoenix saw his life flash before his eyes, but the other guardian only watched him silently. Clad in pale white and orange armor, with furred collar and pauldrons, and a visorless helmet with a single horn protruding from one side, Lord Shaxx looked every part the hardened warrior that his reputation suggested. Resting with its tip against the ground between his feet and his hands laid upon the pommel was his elegant sword-straight, thin, double-edged with a wide gilded crossguard. Even as Phoenix stared at the magnificent blade it appeared to be changing color ever so slowly.

Lord Shaxx stared down Phoenix without a word, the cable of the battery barred from being pulled by the tip of his sword.

Phoenix frowned. "Come on, man, don't you have anything better to do?"

"Not today." Shaxx replied, his voice was a calm and quiet tone now, so different from the voice he affected to announce the match. "Break my rules again and I will break you myself, child of prophecy or not." With that he resumed his stance looking straight ahead, taking the role of stoic protector to heart.

"Yes sir." Phoenix said meekly, nodded and slowly slid away from Shaxx back to the cover he had left in the hands of Commander Roy. Once safely behind the wall again, he allowed himself to exhale almost violently.

Roy whistled in surprise. "He's a quick one. So what now?"

Phoenix looked to Roy and shrugged. "I guess we just fight them. Let's radio Koru and see how he's doing." He glanced around the corner. Shaxx was still standing guard over the sanctity of his match, and Phoenix didn't notice anything else amiss-no movement, no noise. Roy looked out as well for good measure. Phoenix tapped the side of his helmet to speak over the team's radio channel. "Hey Koru, buddy, how's your countersniping going?"

Koru's response was incredibly clear. "That? Oh. Right. Well, she's an extraordinary shot, so I decided not to risk it. What are we looking at?" The warlock looked around the same corner from behind Roy and Phoenix. "Is that Shaxx?"

Phoenix stared dumbfounded at Koru, cradling his red and white Ice Breaker sniper rifle. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Roy turned around and nearly jumped back in surprise. "Whoa! Where'd you come from?"

"Do you mean we didn't have any lookout for our six?" Phoenix asked indignantly.

Koru just shrugged. "I suppose now our only recourse is to," He paused, thinking of the appropriate words, "Wing it."

"Well at least I understood some of that." Phoenix digressed with a sigh. "Aren't you supposed to be the tactics guy here? What kind of a plan is 'wing it'?"

"A fun one." Roy offered in answer. He lifted his own pistol, a gunmetal gray weapon with sweeping craftsmanship that ended in sinister points all over the thing. Its sights glowed with an ethereal green flame. "You hit 'em hard," He looked to Koru. "You hit 'em fast," He nodded to Phoenix. "And I'll make 'em bleed." He gazed almost lovingly at the weapon in his grip.

The members of Fireteam Pluto nodded and split their attention. Phoenix looked back to the central room. Koru surveyed their rear, taking a strategic spot behind a jutting section of the wall that offered cover and a vantage point. Commander Roy took point on the narrow hallway that turned and led up a few short steps and into the bridge area.

"Visuals?" Roy asked.

Koru saw the telltale glint of Lilei's sniper rifle for just an instant. "Positive. Sniper on our eight."

Phoenix heard the soft crunch of stone underfoot from across the room. He peered around the corner and watched Ozara's approach-she led with the broad side of a Cabal Phalanx's thick shield, nearly as tall as she was. "Got the titan coming up on our twelve. Up by Shaxx."

Koru outstretched his hand and traced a pattern in the air, drawing a fiery orange rune on the ground at the top of the stairs leading to their hallway. The lines quickly faded to glow a dull ember-orange, barely noticeable among the dust, debris, and general disarray of the floor. He took note that the huntress of Hades seemed to have disappeared.

Roy clenched his jaw and called out, "Incoming!"

And Hades converged on Pluto.

The world was awash with color, sound, and fury in that first instant.

A violet ball of light came sailing from the hallway Roy was guarding and fell at his feet, exploding out in a cluster of smaller violet cubes that bounced up at the titan and exploded in the air with a cacophony like shattering glass. Commander Roy danced backward and brought his arms up to cover his eyes from the blinding, burning flash. "Ah shit, warlock!" He yelled as he recovered his bearings.

From the main stairs that Koru was watching came another ball of light, this one a dazzling electric blue. It hit the ground once and skipped off the stone in a wide arc, splitting into seven smaller balls that proceeded to curve in the air around Koru's cover and swarm him. He batted at the things and hissed in pain as they pressed against his legs and torso and exploded in stinging electric agony. The shimmering translucent protective barrier around his body flickered and at last dissipated as the final ball found its mark on his chest. "Gah," He panted in pain while leaning against the wall for support. "Hunter's coming up." He looked to his teammates.

Phoenix watched as Ozara-4 dug her boots into the sand and rushed forward, propelling herself with powerful strides. In her left hand she easily hefted her massive shield and in her other a worn-looking shotgun.

Koru's eyes danced from point to point in the small area. To Roy falling back, his eyes on the hallway where Eve had thrown her grenade. To Phoenix, slinking back behind the wall and away from Ozara's approach. To the wide hallway that Lilei was no doubt approaching from. In a flash he felt a moment of tranquil calm and called out to his teammates. "Roy! Hold the line!"

"Got it." Was the commander's staunch reply as he leveled the barrel of his pistol down the hallway, searching for movement.

"Phoenix!" He yelled, looking to the hunter from across the way. "Switch with me. You know how hunters fight."

Phoenix nodded grimly and looked down the empty hallway.

This would have to work, Koru thought as he shifted his attention to Ozara. The exo titan was rushing forward at a steady pace, her shield bobbing up and down rhythmically ever so slightly with each step. He took a breath.

Koru Sen knew that running headfirst at a titan armed with a shotgun was a fool's task, but he had to try. He stowed his sniper rifle on his back and instead drew the silver pistol at his hip. He ran forward. Ozara's shield was too wide to be able to fire her shotgun around it effectively-he had seen her fight before-and knew that he had only a split second to make this work. He began twisting the fingers of his left hand through the air, letting sparks jump from his palm and sizzle away.

Just as the warlock was about to meet the business-end of the titan's heavy metal shield he dropped low and slid past her brutal swing. She caught herself before she over-extended but still took a second too long to register where he had gone. Koru quickly extended one hand out and flared his fingers to place a fiery orange rune on the inside of her shield. She turned to meet him and raised her shotgun to his face, and for the briefest of moments Koru could see in the abyss of its barrel his demise. Just before she pulled the trigger he thrust his free hand palm-out and felt the flames rush from his being and made manifest to lash and lick at her.

Ozara's weapon was batted aside and the rush of Koru's attack, like a solar wind, set her entire body ablaze for a breath before smoldering away, but not before stripping away her protective energy shield with an audible pop. However, just as his energized palm-thrust made contact he was repelled back forcefully by the sudden materialization of Ozara's force barrier that coated her bulky armor in pulsing indigo energy.

Koru stumbled back several steps until he managed to catch his footing, then watched as Ozara readjusted herself after his failed offensive. Just as she brought her shield up to bear again he clenched his hand into a fist and the explosive rune he had set on her shield exploded in a shower of flame and sparks that completely engulfed her as it ripped the shield from her grasp and sent it rocketing through the air, spinning like a hypersonic discus-directly at Shaxx, still standing guard at the mysterious cable outlet.

The guardians' fight ground to a screeching halt as they watched the Phalanx shield careen through the air. They each looked over to Shaxx with neck-snapping velocity.

Lord Shaxx calmly brought up his right arm and caught the shield with ease, stopping it with a resounding CLANG that rang through the halls of the Burning Shrine. He turned to face the two guardians, his visorless helmet cocked to one side as if in adamant inquiry. He spoke as calmly as he had caught the flying chunk of spinning metal. "This is yours, isn't it, miss Ozara-4?"

Ozara stood straight at attention and nodded ever so slightly, the waver in her voice growing with each forced word. "Y-yes, Lord Shaxx." She managed.

Shaxx took a moment of thought, serving only to intensify the already harrowing situation. Ozara and Koru looked at each other, holding their breath. At last the Crucible handler nodded once and tossed the shield through the air to land unceremoniously at Ozara's boots. "Use of foreign weaponry is prohibited in my Crucible." He spoke simply, and added with what almost sounded like an apology: "You are disqualified."

"What?" Ozara stammered. "B-but, you never said anything before…"

Shaxx returned to his post and looked straight ahead, away from and past either guardian in front of him. "That might fly in exhibition matches or Saladin's Iron Banner, but I will not tolerate it in the Trials of Osiris. You are dismissed, Ozara."

She lowered her head and put her shotgun away, letting it clip onto the magnetic field on her armor's back. "W-what about my teammates, sir?" She looked up meekly.

"Only you are disqualified until further notice. I should not have to say it again, titan." His voice was stern, but held a hint of softness in its tone.

"Of course." Ozara said as she picked up her shield and walked away, hands up and palms out in a display of peace and surrender.

Koru stared, dumbfounded, as the titan woman walked away in defeat. He looked to Shaxx to Ozara and back again several times as he tried to wrap his mind around the events that had just occurred. "That was," He paused, looking for the right word, "Stupefying."

Shaxx sighed and looked to him. "Best get going, warlock. You're still in this."

/-/-/

Phoenix ran past Roy at his station by the doorway and held his pistol at the ready. His head on a swivel, he kept his eyes open for the huntress of Fireteam Hades in the huge stone chamber.

"Up here, idiot." He heard the demure, sultry voice of Lilei call out from above and behind him.

He wheeled around and looked up to see the huntress gazing down at him through the sights of her gray sniper rifle, its scope covered by a layer of forest-green netting. She knelt on a pillar fifteen feet above him and did not take the barrel of her weapon away from him.

"Oh, hi." Phoenix offered in a vain attempt at friendly conversation. "So now you're gonna blow my brains out, right?" He added with a chuckle.

"No." Lilei said simply, keeping her finger hovering dangerously close to the trigger still. "If I wanted to kill you I would. I'm the best shot in the Tower, after all." She added the last statement with a haughty laugh. "I was actually waiting for Koru. I mean." She paused, flustered, "I mean Eve's boyfriend."

"Oh." Phoenix said without noticing the glitch in her cold facade, and cocked his thumb back behind him. "He wanted to switch so he went to fight Ozara."

"Wonder how that's going." Lilei mused absently.

"Prob'ly shitty. So if you aren't gonna kill me, what are you gonna do?"

Lilei shrugged, her crosshairs had still not moved from Phoenix's green and black gasmask-style helmet. "Not sure. Oz is sure to kick his ass. I guess Eve is dealing with the drunk. Hm." She looked down to him, noticing he was now leveling his engraved pistol up at her and flames were rising from his shoulderblades. "I could kill you now and win this whole thing."

"Right, or," Phoenix offered, his voice still chipper. "Or, we could make this interesting."

"How so?" Her curiosity had been piqued.

"Well," Phoenix explained, breathing a sigh of relief that she had taken his bait, "Neither of us really care about this right?"

She nodded reluctantly.

"And neither of us want to die right now, right?"

"Right." She agreed.

"So let's make a bet."

"I'm listening." She allowed her sights to drop from him only when he lowered his own weapon.

"All right, so we don't fight. We listen in on our teammates, and whoever's team beats the other, the loser has to forfeit." He smiled, a wasted gesture behind his mask, and in general for the grim Lilei.

She thought for a moment but quickly assented. "Sure, sounds like an easy win for me."

"Right, right." Phoenix nodded as he flared the flaming wings from his back and rose up to join his fellow hunter on the large stone pillar overlooking the main tubular chamber of the Burning Shrine.

Lilei recoiled slightly and scooted away from Phoenix as he sat down next to her.

He looked over and tapped her on the upper arm lightly. "You want some pizza?"

/-/-/

¨Oz?" Eve whispered into her headset radio. Silence responded. ¨Ozara?" She repeated the titan's name with resounding urgency. She let out a breathy sigh. She tried again: "Lily? Do you read me?" Only silence responded. Eve knew all too well what was happening.

They were losing.

She clenched her jaw and seethed, her grip on her assault rifle, painted red with a bayonet attached on the underside of the barrel, grew tighter. She trotted over to the wide stairs that led into the huge main chamber, looking around furtively for any signs of her teammates. At a point, she realized, she would settle for a glimpse of her enemies.

Eve groaned and shook her head, turning around. The men of Fireteam Pluto had to be having trouble with her girls, even if it was two on three. That, or they had already won and were surrounding her. She rested her finger on the trigger of her rifle. Fine. She wouldn't be going down without a fight, and she knew if she played her cards right she could kill them all. Just had to pick her battles. She pondered a moment. Koru and Phoenix she would have to close in on to take out-the latter had those damned swords, though, but she was confident her training sessions with Shaxx would give her the edge. Roy was a force unto himself in close quarters, she'd have to stay back a ways to deal with him.

Caught up in her planning, or perhaps wishful thinking, Eve could not hear the guardian approaching her from behind.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. A voice speaking. She was almost comforted, but its pitch was deeper than either of her teammates', definitively masculine. She turned with a start and took a wild slash at him with the bayonet of her rifle.

Koru danced away from her attack and took several frantic steps back, his hands up in the air in a demonstration of peace. "Whoa, hey, calm down! Please!"

Eve scowled at him. "God damnit, Koru! You scared the shit out of me." She raised her rifle to his face.

Koru paused for a moment. "We need to talk." He said finally.

"What?"

"I said we need to talk." He repeated.

"Get your gun out." She commanded.

He tilted his head in confusion. "No?" He answered almost sheepishly in a question form.

"Get your gun out, Koru!" She yelled, pointing down to the pistol on his hip with the tip of her bayonet. "Now!"

"Why?" He asked.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No?" This time there was even less conviction in his voice.

"We're in the middle of a fight!" She bit back a harsh insult and took a deep breath.

"A fight? I was hoping it could just be a discussion to air our grievances and come to a reconciliation of sorts. An argument, maybe, at best." Koru explained, his hands still up in the air.

Eve groaned and walked forward, lowering her weapon. With her free hand she grabbed Koru's pistol and forced it into his grip, though he still refused to lower his arms. "There. Fine. Ugh. What do you want to talk about, Koru?" She asked him, too patronizingly.

Koru pretended he did not hear the obvious agitation in her voice. "I put two and two together, and I was thinking…" He paused, unsure how to put his discovery into words for his girlfriend-a discovery that affected her so. Affected them both.

"That's your problem, Koru." She took advantage of his momentary pause to interrupt him. "You're always thinking. Always looking at the big picture. You never just live in the god damn moment, Koru!" She yelled and prodded him with an accusatory finger in his chest. "That's why you suck at the Crucible. That's why you and your team will never be good enough."

He stood still, staring into her helmet's dark visor. He was dumbstruck and speechless.

"So go ahead. Tell me what you wanted to talk about so badly. Then I'll blow your brains out. Then I'll go and kill your friends." She sighed and looked to him, staring him down. "Go on." She urged him.

Koru swallowed hard and started to speak. "I was thinking. I found out about you and Roy." He said simply, hoping not to have to explain further, for his own sake.

"And?" She asked indignantly.

He shook his head once to dispel the flood of millions of individual thoughts arising to his mind at once as if his brain were boiling. "It's just-"

Roy cut in from his place in the narrow hallway that connected the two larger ones from across the chamber and interrupted Koru. "Hey, what are we fighting about?"

"Is that all?" Eve asked, obviously rhetorical. "That's what you're interrupting this match for? To bring up the past? God damnit, Koru, I'm gonna kill you now."

"Why?" He asked, immediately regretting the words.

"Because it's the Crucible! The Trials of Osiris! It's what we're supposed to do, fight and kill each other, and you're interrupting it for some petty problems we can solve later!" Eve roared at him in fury.

"Yeah!" Roy piped up, also yelling at Koru. "We're in the middle of a fight!"

"Thank you Roy!" Eve said as she raised her rifle again. With a sudden realization she nearly jumped back several feet. "Holy shit! Roy?" She backed up, her attention divided between the titan and warlock. "When did you get here?"

Roy shrugged. "Like three insults ago?"

"So," Koru looked to her, "Are we fighting still? Because I believe there are still some unresolved issues on the table."

"Yeah okay, fuck this." Roy muttered as he clenched his fist, charged it with arc energy, and sent a swift electric punch directly into Eve's throat. The warlock woman's neck cracked violently and just before she was sent flying through the air, it seemed to explode in a violent spray of viscera. Her body was sent through the air to land in a crumpled heap in the corner.

Koru watched in horror as his girlfriend's lifeless corpse came to rest against the cold stone wall. He started to stumble toward her. "Eve?" He asked, knowing there would be no response.

The booming voice of Lord Shaxx came on over the speakers a moment later. He commanded his usual authority, this time tinged with a hint of regret. "FIRETEAM PLUTO HAS TRIUMPHED IN THE TRIALS OF OSIRIS." He announced. "THE DISCIPLES OF OSIRIS HAVE REQUESTED AN AUDIENCE WITH THEM POSTHASTE."

Commander Roy stood tall and grabbed Koru by the scruff of his neck, nearly dragging the smaller man out of the hallway and down the stairs toward the main entrance of the Burning Shrine. "Come on buddy, we won. Time for our victory lap."

"Eve?" Koru called out again, quieter this time. There was no response.

III

All through the flight to the other side of Mercury and their march through the work camp of the Disciples of Osiris Koru remained silent and only begrudgingly joined his comrades. The camp was curiously abandoned except for their guide, who wore bright yellow hooded robes with stylized black eyes emblazoned upon the hood, shoulders, and chest. He introduced himself as Brother Ahmad.

"Assalamualaikum." He said pleasantly as the team descended from their ships.

Koru and Phoenix gave a confused shrug to each other, but Roy greeted the man happily. "Mualaikumsalam."

Brother Ahmad's bright yellow eyes widened slightly, clearly surprised to have received a proper response. His skin was a dark brown beneath his hood, and he sported a neatly trimmed goatee on his lean face. "Well," He said with an obvious smile behind his words, "The Disciples of Osiris are pleased to welcome and congratulate you on your victories, Fireteam Pluto."

Koru crossed his arms and grimaced, following as Ahmad led them through the complex of abandoned Vex tunnels that was laden with various stations-research, development, study, sleep, repair, food-their modest scientific camp had all the amenities to be expected of such an endeavor.

"Okay," Phoenix started, sidling up next to Brother Ahmad as he walked, Ahmad's hands clasped in front of him within his billowing yellow sleeves, "Cayde said there would be prizes when we won."

"In due time." Ahmad responded with purposeful crypticism.

"But when?" Phoenix asked impatiently.

"Soon enough." the monk was beginning to grow audibly irritated.

"But that's not soon enough!" Phoenix exclaimed, but nonetheless fell back in line with Koru and Roy as they followed Ahmad through the winding camp, kicking up sand and dust with every footfall. At last Phoenix looked to Koru, "So what's going on, anyway?"

Koru shrugged. "I don't know." He answered quickly.

"Wow, you don't know something? That's weird." Roy looked around at the high walls that formed an artificial canyon, protection from the sun's harmful solar wind and harsh, oppressive heat.

Brother Ahmad called back to them. "The Disciples of Osiris followed the titular warlock after his exile from the Tower many years ago. We dedicate our lives to the study of the Light, and of the Dark." He led the way up a long set of stone steps. "Osiris is said to be gone along with many of his original followers. We maintain a presence here, on Mercury, where he studied the Vex in great detail. We are not so powerful as we used to be, though recently we have reinstated Osiris's Trials, a unique challenge for champions of the Light, such as yourselves, to test the strength of the Light as a whole. It has grown exceptionally stronger recently."

"Why?" Phoenix asked.

"That may have something to do with you, actually." Ahmad continued, "We have seen that you are not typical of the guardian ranks. You possess not a specialized form of Light but one of general, and dare I say, pure form. You use the sun itself as if it were naturally born to you, and can use pure light as a weapon. Fascinating."

"Yeah I already knew that. Cayde explained it all to me." Phoenix waved his hand nonchalantly. "I'm supposed to save the world from the Darkness, all that."

Ahmad chuckled as he reached the top of the stairs at last. "Indeed you shall." He added incredulously.

The top of the stairs emptied into a circular room with a relatively low ceiling. Directly ahead lay a stone path that led to a circular dais upon which a large table sat with a single wooden chest underneath. To either side of the pathway were deep trenches carved directly into the rock. Ahead, the thin window-like opening extended all across the rest of the enormous building and offered a majestic view of the burning sun to gaze out upon.

Standing in front of the table with their back to the stairs was another individual in bright yellow robes. At Ahmad's approach she turned around and offered a bow to the guardians. "Assalamualaikum." She smiled. Her skin was pale and her cheeks flushed. Her eyes glowed the same bright yellow as Ahmad's under her thick hood.

Roy responded automatically: "Mualaikumsalam." He nodded toward her slightly.

Koru tried to sound out the response he had only heard twice now. "Moo-lay-kum...sull-ahm. Like alms?" He asked absently. It took him several tries before he felt comfortable putting it all together.

Phoenix, however, simply went right into it. "Me licka salami." He smiled wide and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

Brother Ahmad and the new woman looked at each other. Ahmad whispered, "They're trying, at least."

"Right." The woman gave a resigned shrug and a playful smile. "I am Sister Asha. I've been eagerly spectating the Trials this week, and am proud to say I have picked out your boons appropriately. Here," She gestured to the table behind her and the three wooden boxes upon it. "One for each of you."

Sister Asha and Brother Ahmad took their places side by side on the other side of the table. Asha led the guardians to their prizes, starting from the left box and moving down. "For Commander Roy, the titan who rushes headfirst into battle, a new helmet!" She grinned wide as she watched him flip open the lid of the box.

Roy picked up the helmet and inspected it. It had a silver base and a large golden visor. Two huge cracks emanated from the crown of the head near the temples. "It's broken." he said simply, looking to Asha. "Can I get a new one?"

Asha frowned and shook her head. "No, it's not broken. Try it on, you'll see." She dismissed him and moved down the line to the box in the center, pushing it toward Koru. "For Koru Sen, the warlock who wields the sun in his hands, a new pair of gloves!"

Koru opened the box and looked down at the contents without picking them up. A pair of gray metal bands connected by a wire. "This is it?"

Asha sighed. "You'll have to put them on first to get the idea." Still not dissuaded, she moved on to the final box, which Phoenix had already grabbed and was eagerly waiting for his cue to open it. "And for Phoenix, the hunter who flies close to the sun, a new breastplate!" Asha giddily smiled up at him.

Phoenix opened up the box and held up his new armor, tossing the box aside unceremoniously. It was angular and painted black. On its back near the shoulderblades were protrusions of metal with slits cut into them, as if made to accommodate his fiery wings. "Cool!" Phoenix smiled and looked to Asha and Ahmad. "Were these specially made?"

The pair offered only a smile and a nod in response, looking to each other and beaming with pride.

"Guys." Roy said, stumbling around and looking about in all directions as he situated the new helmet on his head. The cracks in the temples flared to life and spewed out continuous, luminous azure flames. "I can see everything. The universe is one with me." He stood up and reached out to grab at the air. "Get back here, universe!"

Koru nodded in appreciation as he clasped the fasteners on his wrists and forearms of his new bracers. They flared to life and glowed a brilliant orange-yellow like the sun along the length of his forearm, but did not burn him. "Very interesting." He smiled slightly and examined his new prize more closely.

Phoenix slid into his new breastplate and activated his fiery wings, and they sprouted from his back through the slits effortlessly. With barely a thought he was able to bend and contort them as he pleased. "Oh, like a rudder or somethin'." He looked to his teammates. "Shit's cool huh?"

"Ah," Ahmad interrupted their appreciation, "There is one more thing. As a show of congratulations for besting your peers in the Trials, it is customary to also bestow upon you weapons." He bent down to the chest beneath the table and produced three arm-length hammers engraved with the Eye of Osiris on their heads, one at a time. "One for each of you, of course."

"Oh, sweet!" Phoenix said, grabbing one of the hammers. It was heavier than he had anticipated, but he quickly adjusted and gave it a few test swings.

Koru eyed the hammer in front of him suspiciously and grabbed it, finding its hefty weight rather unagreeable. He managed to pull it off the table, and though he kept his grip on it, it fell to the ground with a THUD and he struggled to lift it up.

"Come on brah." Roy looked down at Koru and shook his head. He shooed the warlock aside and picked up the hammer from the ground easily, hefting its weight with casualness. Then he grabbed the one left on the table with his off hand and swung them both together a few times for practice. "Hey, think I could chain these together?" He asked Ahmad.

"Uhm, excuse me?" the monk asked, taken aback.

"Yeah, like right here." Roy tapped the bottom of the hammers' handles together. "Chain them together, make nunchuks out of them." He paused as if in realization. "Hammerchuks!" He added gleefully.

"Well, they're not supposed to be… They're more ceremonial, you see…" Ahmad tried to explain.

"I think it could work." Phoenix said. "Maybe add a third one. What do they call those big ones with three sticks, Koru?"

"Sanbu?" The warlock offered.

"Yeah those things." Phoenix continued, completely disregarding the self-doubt in Koru's answer. "That would be fucking sweet."

"Look," Ahmad said, "They're just supposed to be wallhangers. They're really weak metal-"

"I bet I could kill so many Kells with these hammerchuk sand-bun things." Roy beamed with pride. "The universe is gonna be my bitch!"

Ahmad and Asha looked to each other in utter confusion. At last Ahmad spoke up. "Gentlemen, if you'd be so kind as to take your leave, now."

"Huh?" Phoenix asked. "But we just got here."

"Yeah." Roy added, "We're your guests."

"I am interested in learning more about the Vex that Osiris was researching here." Koru said.

Ahmad pinched the bridge of his nose. "You got your prizes, we've shown you the place, you have everything we had to give you. And… and that information is off limits to you." He sighed in exasperation.

"But come on-"

"What about some food-"

"Why is it-"

"LEAVE!" Ahmad nearly shouted at them.