"Ikora, I think we found it." Ghost informed while Fae and Argonaut searched around for one of their Darkness energies.
"Good. Find a connection point. We need answers now!" Ikora commanded.
Arizona sat on the floor with a sigh while she watched Fae and Argonaut jumping around, staring at the same point on the floor. She felt so useless. Some part of her hated Zavala for using her to 'bet' with Ikora.
Soon, however, the portal activated. She scrambled to her feet. She wanted to run through but Argonaut held her back with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'll go in first. If there's trouble I can put up a shield before you and Fae enter."
"Right, good idea." She nodded. He stepped through first. After a moment of waiting Fae stepped through, and then she did.
On the other side of the portal was room tinted in a calming light blue. Everything was blue. The floor was a light blue, the negative space around the balcony they now tread on was a darker blue, the pillars were blue, and in the negative blue space was a black shadow of something that seemed familiar from pictures she'd seen drawn in Ikora's books. The shadow looked somewhat different, however. The shadow wore a crown, but everything about it said it was a Hive god.
"That looks like Savathun," she said her thoughts aloud.
"That's probably nothing but an old imprint." Ghost answered.
Arizona wasn't sure, but she held out her hands anyway. Ghost transmatted the shell into her hand, which was also a bright blue, she noticed, and she placed it gently on the altar. Before her eyes it disappeared and seemed to transform in front of her eyes into a giant Hive. That looked like the Savathun she had seen illustrated in Ikora's books.
It spoke:
"I stand before a being with a thousand names. It whispers only one: The Witness. Remember it. Remember that name."
The shadow of Savathun seemed to move thoughtfully, like it was listening with curiosity.
"It is not Darkness, but something that wears it like a cloak. It gives Darkness a wicked shape. I refuse to be its servant. I spent centuries crafting schemes, playing tricks, finding loopholes…" the body of Savathun disappeared, and reshaped itself as Osiris. "And then I select my new name." Ikora appeared as if welcoming him somewhere. "A man with many enemies and few friends. But those friends know secrets…About the Light. About new beginnings. My plan takes shape…"
The images disappeared, transforming themselves back into Sagira's shell. Arizona took the shell back from the altar and turned to Fae and Argonaut. "What did she mean? What…that wasn't a memory…was it?"
Fae nodded, "That was a memory, for sure. Ikora knows more than we do. We didn't have much to do with Osiris. He's a Warlock so...naturally, big guy here," she tapped Argonaut's chest with the back of her hand, "hated him already. As for me, I found him to be a bit stuck up. There was…one person…he's very close to him still: Saint-14."
"Yeah, I heard, but what does that have to do with what we just saw?"
Fae folded her arms. "When Sagira died something else happened. Savathun…possessed him. Ikora was close to Osiris as well. She'll be able to tell you more about how crafty her deception was."
She nodded, but her stomach felt twisted. Was it…because of Ikora that Savathun had the Light?
"I'm getting a hail from Fynch." Ghost informed them all.
"Go on, what is it?" Arizona said.
"Everyone can hear me?" It was Fynch's voice coming from Ghost.
"Yes, we can hear you, Fynch," Fae answered.
"Look, I got another tip for you-big lead on your next clue. Uh.. come meet me. No time to lose."
Arizona folded her arms. "Guess…Fynch is our next stop then."
Ghost didn't like the idea of seeing Fynch but he did like to see that warm smile come back to Arizona's face-to Maria's face- when Fynch came floating around her in a kind of odd greeting. Arizona laughed.
"Tell me all about it! What did you see?"
"A memory, I guess. Well, Savathun's memory, specifically."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa-you saw a what?" Fynch stopped near her face. Ghost really wished he would learn personal space, and he wished Arizona would push him away. "A memory? See! See! I knew Sagira's shell would start us in the right direction. I knew it!"
"Yes, your lead…turned out to be a good one and we're hoping your next one is even better. You said you had another lead for us, right?"
"Right, right, right. Okay, here's the tip," he turned to Fae and Argonaut, "Ever heard of Oryx? The Taken King?"
"Savathun's brother," Arizona interrupted, showing that she knew a thing or two about Hive myths.
"Yeah, okay, I thought so." He turned back to Arizona. Ghost got the feeling Fae and Argonaut held the same type of reservations that he did. "Savathun's got a temple dedicated to him. I-I-look, I know what the two behind you are thinking. Who cares, right? But we found Sagira's shell in a temple dedicated to the sister, Xivu. Imagine what we could find in Oryx's temple! As far as how we get in? Well, you just leave that to me."
Arizona looked at Ghost with her eyebrows knitted together and turned to Fae and Argonaut. "Why did she even build temples to her siblings? What was the point of commemorating them? One's dead and the other one she's isolated from."
Fae shrugged. "It doesn't matter. If there's something to be found in this temple, then we should go. Keep close behind us. Without Deepsight you'll get left behind."
She nodded, "Right, I will."