Beneath the Howling Dark

Boot heels clicked up the walkway, calmly and with haste. Mara made no attempt to hide herself and those around bowed as she approached and passed, as they always did.

Such a shame. The day was young and it was beautiful. What she wouldn't give to be out in the privacy of her balcony, letting the rays heat her skin and the mists cool them. She would try not to think about it. It would only make her angrier.

Uldren shadowed her, unaware of what had his sister so agitated but keeping up with her long strides nonetheless. Quite a few of her subjects wandered around the Spine of Keres and as she expected, Petra was among them. She and the Corsairs with her bowed as the Queen passed. Mara does not stop. She only gives one order to Petra and Petra alone. "Follow."

Her Techuens await her at the Oracle, Illyn, Portia and the rest. As soon as Mara enters the Watchtower and ascends the steps, the engine begins to spin. Others may require an offering or at the very least, a command. She does not.

The gateway slides open and a path extends outward, stopping at her feet. The feeling at the center of her chest is worse now. It wants to be debilitating. It wants her to fear. She will not. Instead, she boldly starts up the bridge and crosses the threshold. Dutifully, the others follow behind. Light encompasses her vision for only a second, then darkness, like a sudden night. In the distance, stars swirl and shine. But before it, one and alone beneath the howling dark, stood her seat of power, her throne.

Occupied.

"I AM LORD OF WOLVES," a strange and booming voice cried out, "YOU ARE AN EMPTY THING WITH TWO DEAD SOULS. THIS IS MY HOUSE. THESE ARE MY TERMS. SURRENDER AND I WILL ONLY TAKE YOUR SHIPS."

Behind her, Mara hears Uldren and Petra retrieve weapons. Behind her, Mara feels the power begin to rise among her Techuens. She is the only one to give no reaction. She is the only one to see the futility.

"I AM NOBLE TOO, OH LORD OF WOLVES," the voice continues and she can hear the smile on it.

Slowly, Mara begins their approach. She has not yet seen the trespasser's face. She does not need to.

"YOU HAVE NO LINE," he recites, "YOU HAVE NO POWER."

Mara stops. Now she can see his face. The others can as well. Their reactions are almost audible.

"I AM NOBLE TOO, OH LORD OF WOLVES. FOR STARLIGHT WAS MY MOTHER. AND MY FATHER WAS THE DARK."

The figure rises and takes the first few steps down one by one. She had her feelings even before the Guardians confirmed it. But it was uncanny seeing him up close. This man, the last she saw, was meek, hunched over, unsure; an ever-present apology for existing. Now this man stood tall and proud. He was red-eyed, smiled with too much glee and reeked of 'her father'. But only because he wanted to. He wanted to unsettle them.

"A flair for the dramatic," Pride said, "But that display of power afterwards? Inspiring. Skolas never saw it coming. Neither did Ceres, I'll wager."

Mara Sov remained silent. She bore his crimson scrutiny better than anyone else would and he liked that, she thought. Almost as much as he liked the apprehensive quiet of the others present.

Footsteps approach behind her. She speaks before Illyn can. "Step outside," she says, "I will summon you when I am done."

She can hear Uldren wanting to argue but either his sense or Petra stop him. Together, the lot of them bow and begin their silent retreat and exit of her court. Uldren was last, glowering up at Pride, who paid him no mind. He looks to his sister, approaches and holds up his weapon. She takes it with a nod and without comment, if only it will get him to leave sooner. Soon, he twists on his heels and leaves with the others, leaving her alone with Pride.

After a few seconds, Pride turns and starts back up the stairs to her throne. He circles around it and moves behind it, staring out at the hypnotizing sight she kept her back to whenever she held her courts.

Mara lets the sidearm slip from her grasp. It falls, slows and then stops in its descent halfway to the ground, gently floating over to rest on one of her hologram tables. She ascends the stairs and takes the other route around, joining him in watching the stars swirl before them.

"Your brother is quite loyal," Pride says, a somber look on his face as he stares out into space. "The kind of loyalty that gets people hurt." Pride turns his head and smiles. "Though he's a bit better behaved than the other one, isn't he?"

She ignores his comments on her brothers. She doesn't even bother asking how he got in, how he knew this place existed or what else he knows exists. Instead, she asks, "Why are you here?"

Red eyes turn back to the stars. "You know what I am." Pride deflects, "You know what my brother is." He is not asking.

"Pride and the Gatekeeper. A problem. That's all that matters."

"I know what you are, your Grace," he says, "You're like me."

The Queen's eyes narrow. "I am harmony between the Deep and the Sky. I am their union. You are their war. The brutal aftermath. We are nothing alike, Wayward Son."

He smiles ruefully. "Pride, the Wayward Son. I'm aware of how I am known. But you are accidental, your Grace," Pride gives back, "You and your people. An unintended consequence of our actions. And my brother's death. We, at the very least, were deliberate. My brother and I." He waves a hand. "And assorted others."

"You dismiss them? These 'assorted other's?"

"Of course not. But they are problems for later. A wrench in the grand scheme of things, just not now."

Mara turns her head towards him, searching his face. Then she turns back. "You do not know them yet."

"Just the last one," he surprisingly admits. "Though I shouldn't be surprised. There were three on the day this all began. My brother and I come from one. Only stands to reason that at least one come from the two others."

"And why haven't you sought the last out?"

"Because they are still sleeping. They live, yes but they are asleep."

"And when they wake?"

"Then they will make themselves known to all," he says, "They have no choice. As neither of us did." He stares into the void for some time more, letting silence settle before ending it again. "Are you afraid of me, Queen Sov?"

She simply says she is not. "Good," he responds, "I didn't come here to be threatening." Pride turns away from the galaxy and rounds the throne again. Hands behind his back, his walk is leisurely. Mara follows, taking the way she came up, back down.

"My brother was here," he goes on. "Not here, in your City, but in your Reef. I can feel the remains of his presence. Almost see him walking the halls of your outpost. Under the guise of ambassadors to inform you of my existence, though I doubt you haven't already known for a century or three."

Mara says, "I simply suspected. I received my confirmation when I saw his face. Felt him arrive." She hums lowly, "Seems he is not 'awake', as you say, either."

Pride is walking again, footsteps echoing into the nothing as he tours his way around her court. "And you did nothing about it. Why?" He pauses to turn to her slightly, "And don't lie to me like you're lying to your brothers. About what you are. How long you've been here."

Mara ends that thread sharply. "What do you want, Herald of Night?"

Pride begins his walking again, up to one of the pixilated hologram tables at the center of her court. He waved one hand over dancing particles, smiling just slightly when they reacted. Then he turns again and puts his Deep-filled eyes onto her own, bright as the Sky itself. "Have you heard of the Black Garden?"

Her eyes narrow again. He laughs and waves a dismissive hand. "Stupid question, I know. But do you know what's inside it, your Grace? A piece of me. A piece of you. And a way to…" Pride stops talking, ripping his eyes away from her to stare off into the distance. His shoulders have tightened, his mouth a thin line. When he turns back, he speaks again. "Your friend wishes to speak." He says and deep in her core, she knows who he means.

"Are you afraid?"

A quiet scoff. "I killed too many of them during the great hunt to be afraid. She just recognizes power when she sees it. Opportunity when she sees it."

"As she should," Mara tells him, "So she obeys."

"And you're not worried about anyone stronger than you? Being usurped? It is always a possibility."

Mara's hand, clasped behind her back, tightens. "I grow tired of your deflecting, Herald. Tell me why you are here and then vacate my realm."

"Truly, majesty?" His bright teeth light up the night, " Your City is so beautiful. And I am working so hard to keep myself…contained."

With the last word, he touches the hologram table. The pixels jump and shake violently, forming images without command. A swirling vortex. A hooded face. A massive, three-eyed winged shape. A pyramid.

"Enough," Mara's voice booms. The tables suddenly shut down.

Pride removes his hand." My plans are moving ahead, Queen Mara," he tells her, rubbing his fingers together as if something was soiling them. "It's high time they did. My brother is essential to those plans." His hand drops. "More than that, he is important to me, even if I accept that I may have to give him up to do what is best, as you have with your own. Should anything, your Grace, happen to him, everything is forfeit."

Mara regards him, colder than anyone else she has to interact with. Without a word or even base acknowledgement, she turns around and ascends back to her throne, reclining across it. "If you are so concerned with your brother's safety, Pride, why not take care of the problem now? He is not 'awake'. I could still end him. Leave his Ghost to my Wolves."

The man, deep and resonating, chuckles. "Are you admitting I could take care of the problem, your Grace?"

She laughs louder. "Don't be ridiculous. Not alone."

He hums. His feet are moving again. Slowly, he follows her path back up to the throne. She feels a shift in the air. Her eyes never leave his but her attention turns to the shadow. They almost seem to be crawling up to her. "You're a schemer, Grace, but not nearly as clever as you'd like to believe. You have no idea what I am capable of."

"I have seen Heralds before."

"But not one like me and you know it." He stops before her, standing at his full height. Not much taller than most but towering over her. "And I never once said I came alone."

Another change in the air and this one forced Mara's attention away from Pride. A smaller scale of the pressure and dread he exuded but enough. It was enough. Mara's eyes turned upwards, to the stone face that hung over her court. And in the Deep-black shadows, four pairs of eyes stared back. All as red as the blood they've spilled.

"I never took you for subtlety."

"I can be subtle."

"And how long did it take your brother to discover your Heralds? With your subtlety?"

Pride snorts and for a second of a second, she sees the man behind the monster. He steps back down. "I will concede that."

He walks down the steps away from her throne. "I won't say my brother is off-limits. You don't care about that. You're too smart to respect that." He turns to her once more, "But he is one man. Weigh his life against the lives of your people. All of your people. Against your brothers. Against your own. Ask yourself if it is truly worth it."

Pair by pair, the eyes above her head begin to fade away. "You ask why I am here. It is simply to ask a favor. My only request, Queen Mara; do not make me a monster."

Pride turns away into blackness. From howling dark to howling dark, his feet no longer feel a solid surface beneath them and formless, sourceless lightning flash in the distance. It has never been so easy to physically enter the Ascendant Realm, even from the base he chose. But this place is so close, he could slip in accidentally if he is not careful.

His brother was learning.

Pride drifted forward, lightning making the void bright for just barely a heartbeat at a time. In that time, he can see into the distance. He does not see an end.

It ends as quickly as it began. Pride feels solid quartz stone touch his feet and a different darkness greets his sight. The room he is in is massive. It's main structure; a towering spire stretching up.

"I'm here." He quietly says, booming nevertheless, "You might as well show yourself."

She does. Pride's gaze is drawn to a ledge halfway up the spire. A cat, as sheer black as the Plane he just left, reclines along the ledge. Its tail twitched lazily in the air. Its eyes were as red as his.

It stands and stretches. Then it leaps forward and lands on the vertical pillar, sticking onto the smooth structure as if it was the ground itself. She begins to walk down and Pride watches her until she reaches the ground. She immediately walked towards him, eyes never disconnecting from his. As soon as he is close enough, she begins to rub against and between his legs, eyes closed, tail twitching and mewling.

Pride gazes down at her. "If your mistress was smart, she'd get rid of you. I would. I will, when I come to power. You know I will," he says. Pride squats down and holds his hand out. The black cat immediately comes up and rubs her face against them, purring against his skin. "And you're not concerned in the slightest," he laughs softly, taking his hand and scratching across its forehead. "I'll almost regret it." The fingers move for a few more moments then stop. "Almost."

In the next moment, Pride fades into the shadows. The cat lays itself down, it's red eyes glowing in the darkness and it's tail waving and twitching; contentment and anticipation intertwined and almost as one. Things were moving ahead indeed.

She could not wait to see how this ends.

"The Black Garden?" Kalli repeats. "No one should have business there. The Vex-"

"He had the Time's Conflux under his control for a long time," Sedia reminds her. "The Lightbearer, Kabr, was among his first. He may still have some Vex in thrall. He did not divulge details, of course. But it cannot bode well. For anyone."

Mara is watching them deliberate her words, distant but present. Her Wrath was watching her, trying against every odd to discern what her Queen was thinking. What words passed between her and the Herald.

Mara's voice rings out, ending their discussion. "Kalli, Sedia, and Shiro Chi will go to the Keep of Voices. Its occupant has already attempted contact and we need to ensure she is…behaving."

Mara rises to her feet. "Illyn, you and the rest of your Coven will join me in reinforcing our defenses. The Reef, the City, the Distributary. We will not be caught unprepared"

The Techuen's bow. Kalli, Sedia and Shuro Chi do so before fading in a flash of light. The rest await her word.

"Petra?"

Her Wrath seemed almost surprised at being addressed. "My lady?"

Mara closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath. "You will send a message to my brother. You and Uldren will prepare for their arrival at the Vestian Outpost. It is clearly what the Heralds want but the only way to move is forward."

Queen Mara takes each step one by one, boot heels clicking down the stairs calmly and with no haste. Her Coven and her Wrath parted from her path like the sea and as soon as she was at the head, they followed.