Rigel and Tela didn't find anything by the docks. Wherever Archangel was, he wasn't there.

"I'd demand my money back if it didn't mean I'd have to talk to that wreck again." Tela said, irritated as she and Rigel walked towards the nearest hangar. Nova was bringing the Blind Well in for a landing. It was far safer to sleep on the ship than it was to trust any of the dingy motels on Omega.

"Don't get worked up over it. We're back to square one, but at least we eliminated a possible lead. Now that we've burned the Archangel bridge, we should start thinking of some other way to find Jaroth."

Tela gave Rigel a long-suffering look. "And how do you suppose we do that? There's two of us. Omega is too large for us to track him down on foot and he's not likely to meet with us. What's your plan?"

Rigel shrugged. "I don't have one, but we have all night to think of something."

The two came to a stop as the Blind Well entered the hangar, lowering its loading ramp to allow them to hop in without ever touching the ground. Once they were aboard, Nova backed the ship out of the hangar and back into open space.

"I'll think later." Tela said as they walked through the ship. "I'm hungry and need a drink. You want anything?"

"No. I'll be fine for a while." Rigel said as he walked past the small mess, heading towards the cockpit.

Tela looked after him curiously. "You haven't eaten at all today."

"Nor do I need to." Rigel called back as he fell into the pilot's chair, taking control of the ship from Nova.

Once he was in control, Nova shimmered into being over his shoulder.

"I've been looking everywhere, but I can't find anything on Jaroth or Archangel's current location."

"Don't worry about it, Nova. Give them some time to slip up. We've still got another week before Eclipse is scheduled to finish their serum, and that was with disposable test subjects. Since we cut off their Illium branch, we might have as much as two weeks."

"I wouldn't hold your breath. Fanatic, power-hungry asari can get ravenous when they're close to a breakthrough. It's best to assume we have five days and be surprised if we have longer." Tela said as she walked into the cockpit. In one hand she held two beers. In the other were two Citadel issued MREs. She tossed Rigel a MRE and held out one of the beers. "Immortal warrior or not, I'm sure you still need to eat. Even if you don't, I need a drink, and drinking alone sucks. Take the damn beer."

Rigel accepted the bottle with a grin. "That's the only reason? You don't want to have to drink alone?"

Tela shrugged as she sat down in the copilot's seat. "That and I was hoping to get you drunk enough to start talking about this other universe you supposedly come from. It's a lot harder to keep the details of a lie straight when you can't even think straight."

Chuckling, Rigel opened the MRE, finding a tube of nutrient paste and a cookie. "Sorry to foil your devious plan, but I can't really get drunk. It takes more alcohol than we have on this ship to muddle my thoughts. I can get a little buzz from stuff like this." Rigel raised the beer bottle. "It just doesn't last very long."

"Really?" Tela said, surprise written on her face.

"Really."

"That sucks. What's the point of living for four-hundred years if you can't get drunk every now and again?"

Nova floated over in front of Tela. "Well, Risen weren't really brought back to have fun. The Traveler needed them to defend itself. Drunk warriors are unfocused warriors."

"Traveler?" Tela said with calculating eyes. "I heard the capital 'T' in there. Who is the Traveler?"

Rigel unscrewed the lid of the nutrient paste and gave it an experimental whiff. It smelled like tilled dirt. Not the worst thing he'd ever eaten but not exactly appealing. "The Traveler's a what not a who. It's a big, mechanical sphere god that uplifted my version of humanity into the stars. A lot of Risen worshiped it, though I never did, and I recently got to say I told you so."

"Oh?" Tela said, not bothering to hide her interest in the topic as she nibbled on her own cookie.

"Yeah. Turns out, the Traveler turned the Hive goddess of lies into a Risen. It's one of the most cutting betrayals of humanity. At least in Zavala's mind. Drifter and I have been waiting for the Traveler's inevitable betrayal for literal centuries. I don't think Eris was all that surprised either. She just adapted."

Tela held up a hand as she finished taking a swig of her beer. "Okay, back up. There's a lot of names there that I didn't understand. Who are all of those people?"

"Friends." Rigel answered simply. "I seriously doubt the Citadel's council will care much about my acquaintances."

Tela openly laughed at that. "Do you really think I'm going to send a report to the council about you? How exactly would that go? 'Yes, Councilor Tevos. He's an immortal human who said he fell into our universe while he was killing a time god. What? No! Don't take my Spectre status! It's the truth!'"

Rigel laughed along with her as she finished. "I guess it does sound a little insane when you put it that way."

Tela snorted. "It sounds insane no matter how you put it." She drank some of her nutrient paste, obviously unbothered by the smell and taste. When she lowered the tube, her smile turned into a frown. "Rigel?"

"Yes?"

"Are there asari in your universe?"

Rigel turned to Nova, the two sharing a long look.

Should we lie? Nova suggested.

She'd see through it. We already decided she was the closest thing we had to an ally, right? No use lying to spare her feelings. We'll only piss her off.

"Hey." Tela said, eyes narrowed as she looked between the Risen and the ghost. "I may not have known you two very long, but I can tell when you're having a telepathic conversation without me. Did you forget that asari are telepathic too?"

"Wait, what?" Rigel said, genuinely surprised.

"It's not really telepathy in the sense you're thinking of." Nova said out loud as she floated in front of Rigel. "Asari can link nervous systems with another sentient organic and share thoughts. It's also how they reproduce."

"Seriously? How does that–"

"Hey!" Tela said, visibly irritated. "What happened to the asari in your universe?"

Rigel's warlock curiosity immediately died. He shared one last look with Nova before turning and looking Tela in the eye. "I can't say for sure, but I have a pretty good guess."

Tela's muscles relaxed, a frown on her face as she said, "Lay it on me."

"If asari existed at all where we come from, they very likely don't any more."

"Were we killed by that time god you were fighting?" Tela said, resigned.

Rigel shook his head, his expression somber. "No. Atheon wasn't the only deity I've faced. And honestly, Atheon was one of the less destructive ones. No, if asari existed, they were either conquered and enslaved by the Cabal or, what I think is more likely, Oryx devoured them."

"Cabal? Oryx?" Tela said, her beer and meal laying forgotten on her armrest.

"The Cabal… Think… Actually, Nova would you mind…"

"No problem." Nova said. She floated around in front of Tela and projected out a series of images.

A Cabal legionary raising its sword. A psion coated in Void energy. Emperor Calus wearing an evil smile. Empress Caiatl shaking hands with Zavala.

"The Cabal are an interstellar empire." Rigel explained as images of Cabal fleets and outposts passed before Tela's eyes. "They move from system to system conquering or destroying the inhabitants. They harvest all they can from the planets then they move on. They're bred for war and are incredibly devastating to face in combat."

"They're built like krogan." Tela observed.

"Yes. Krogan with better armor and weapons but no redundant nervous system. If they'd destroyed the asari, we probably would have heard something of it. We're working with them now. Kind of an 'end of the world, the enemy of my enemy who also doesn't want to die or be enslaved by an asshole is my friend' kind of deal. We've shared a lot of our history with one-another, and I didn't see anything like any of the Citadel races. Which is why–"

"Why you think this Oryx devoured them." Tela cut in, her eyes hard. "Your word choice was specific there. What do you mean 'devoured'?"

Nova cut off the projection, turning to look at Rigel, her shell slumped in sadness.

Rigel rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "I'm not changing the subject here, but I need to explain some things before you'll be able to fully understand." At Tela's accepting nod, he continued. "The Hive are arguably the worst thing to ever happen to my universe. The Vex, while they could be an astronomical threat, only send glorified construction workers at us because they want data, but the Hive are legitimately trying to consume everything in their path. They operate on something called the Sword Logic. A friend of mine named Toland got really screwed up studying it. So screwed up that the last time I saw him he was an orb of light." There was a bit more to the story of how Toland ended up…how he was, but Rigel was trying to impress upon Tela the gravity of the Hive's power.

Tela blinked in shock, unconsciously swallowing as she realized Rigel wasn't joking.

"Toland shared a lot of what he'd learned with Eris and I. The Sword Logic, and I'm explaining this in what I feel will be easiest for you to understand, states that he who has defeated their opponent, has proven that they deserve to exist. Since the loser was unable to prove their right to exist, their existence should therefore feed the victor. Any entity a creature connected to the Hive kills will be absorbed, down to their very soul, by their killer and increase that killer's power."

Tela looked a paler shade of blue than normal.

"It gets worse. Each entity in the Hive must pay a tithe of power to those above it. By being more powerful than those below you, your existence deserves more. A thrall will pay tribute to the entire Hive Hierarchy with each kill, leaving almost no power for itself. The beings at the top of this hierarchy receive tithes of power from the entire Hive race."

"Oryx." Tela said, her voice a whisper.

"And his family. There were originally three. The Darkness, we'll touch on that later if you're up for it, tricked Savathun into convincing her two sisters to barter with Hive worms. These three became Savathun, Goddess of Lies; Xivu Arath, Goddess of War; and Oryx, the Taken King. The three went on to have various children, Crota, Dul Incaru, Nokris, and more, but they don't really pertain to this specifically. Savathun, Xivu Arath, and the children are awful, but Oryx spent billions, yes billions of years conquering his way across the galaxy. Oryx predates Earth and had been tearing the universe apart his entire life. Anything he didn't deem useful enough to Take he would consume to feed his Sword Logic. Anything that was Taken suffered a worse fate as his puppet and slave for the rest of its pitiful existence."

Tela's head slowly fell against her headrest, her eyes were unfocused. "That's what you think happened to us? You think a god ate all our souls?"

Rigel nodded. "I'm sorry. I wish I could think of something else, but Thessia is right in the path Oryx would have had to take to reach us. Unless you had access to paracausal powers to resist him, you wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Is there any chance of that happening here?" Tela asked, staring at the ceiling. "Is it possible Oryx is out there somewhere, just a few million years away from finding us and eating our souls?"

"I seriously doubt it." Nova said, maneuvering herself to float above Tela's head and into her eyeline. "Savathun was tricked by the Darkness into…well, becoming Savathun. Without the Darkness to pull the strings, Aurash likely never became Hive, living out her life and dying as a Krill."

"Krill?" Tela said, confused. "That's a new term."

"When you sift through the memories of the Hive Goddess of Lies in an effort to finally kill that same Goddess, you learn a lot you wouldn't otherwise know about the universe." Rigel said, sounding extraordinarily tired as he recalled his experiences traversing Savathun's memories of her life. "Suffice to say, the Hive probably never existed here if their precursors even existed at all. If you haven't been devoured yet, you're likely not going to be."

Tela shook her head. "Your universe is fucked, Rigel."

Rigel burst out laughing, drawing a look of disbelief and near outrage from Tela.

Rigel wiped a tear out of his eye as he got his breathing under control. "That is literally not even a quarter of the screwed up shit in my universe. Next time you wake up, be very thankful that there aren't a dozen eons-old entities plotting new and exciting ways to kill, enslave, devour, torture, unmake, and otherwise make your life a living hell."

Tela stared at him with a tilted head as if she was trying to unravel some great mystery. "What's even the point then?"

Nova and Rigel both seemed to recoil like they'd been slapped, but Tela pressed on.

"If you're facing things worse than that on a regular basis, what's the point? Why even bother if you're going to be overwhelmed anyway? Just run. Leave the bullshit behind and get out while you can."

Rigel's eyes were soft as he stared out the Blind Well's viewport, looking at the stars beyond. "Nova? Do me a favor and pull up a picture of Beth when we found her."

Wordlessly, Nova floated back in front of Tela and fired up her projector again. A still image was displayed. There was a small, human infant wrapped in thick white fabric. The infant was crying. Two adult humans, a male and a female, lay dead next to the child, the corpse of a four-armed, lithe, armored alien dead next to them.

The image suddenly changed to a young girl with flowing auburn hair helping to construct a wooden fence. To a young woman learning to use a rifle. To a family huddled together in a small cave, smiling contentedly as they sat around a fire. To the same woman laying next to her children, smiling despite the large wound in her stomach as she died. To that woman's son's family. To that son's death as he fought a four-armed alien to defend his wife. To his daughter's family. To that daughter's death from a disease that blackened her veins. To that daughter's daughter's family. On and on the pictures came, conditions around the family improving with each new generation.

First there was nothing but caves and death. Then there were small, fenced encampments and warmth. Then there were structures, fortifications and smiles. Then there was a great wall and hope shining in the eyes of all who saw it. Then there was a thriving city and people openly laughing in the streets. All the while, the same auburn hair was present.

The final picture was taken from the top of a large structure, hundreds of buildings were visible beneath the two figures present. Rigel stood without his helmet, his arm around the shoulders of a woman with auburn hair.

"I found Beth around fifty years after I woke up. We didn't have anything back then. Risen were at each other's throats, and regular people had to choose to take their chances with us or the Vex and later the Fallen."

Tela stared numbly at the image in front of her, unable to speak.

"I promised to watch after her until she could take care of herself. Then I stayed a little longer. Before I knew it, she was dying. She asked me to watch over her kids as I had her. I agreed. For three-hundred-years, I have done my best to watch over her family. But like with her, I just kept failing. I was never fast enough. I'd leave for ten minutes and come back to destruction. Even through the death and loss, I watched them climb from the mud into a metropolis. I watched them overcome the impossible to finally forge a better life."

Rigel turned to face Tela, and she noticed a tear in his eye.

"Why do I fight? Why do I bother? Because if I don't, people like Beth and her children will be swept away by a wave so large they can't even see its crest." Rigel smiled sadly. "Risen have a new name that's grown in popularity over the years. Guardians. No one really knows where it came from except for me. That's why I've never taken that name, because I can't live up to it."

Rigel looked back out the viewport. "Beth called me a Guardian. I can't be sure she was the one who coined the term, but it was certainly the first time I'd ever heard it. Even as settlements collapsed around her, and I left everyone else to die to get her out safely, she said I was humanity's Guardian." Rigel turned back to face Tela. "I fight so that one day, I can call myself a Guardian without seeing that hole in her stomach. I fight to give everyone who was born in the mud a life in the stars. I fight so that no other race needs to suffer like the asari surely did when Oryx found them. I fight because someone fucking has to."

Rigel stood from the pilot's chair, grabbing his beer but leaving his dinner behind. "Nova, let me know when six hours have passed. I'm going to try to get some sleep." He gulped down the entire bottle before he'd even left the cockpit.

Tela sat numbly behind as he left, trying and failing to find words that would bring him back. She jolted in surprise as Nova's shell rammed into her forehead with the force of a human's fist.

"Ow! Hey!" Tela looked up to see Nova's bright light concentrated down, almost like she was narrowing her eyes at her.

"You're a bitch." Nova said, sounding infuriated. "You have no idea what he's been through. You have no idea how much he's lost. He wasn't handed everything just because he was born with one-in-ten-million biotic potential. Next time you feel like opening your mouth, I'll get some glue so I can seal it shut. Try to screw with him or manipulate him and I will end you. Stay away from my Guardian." Nova disappeared in a flash of light.

Tela swallowed a lump in her throat she hadn't realized was there in the wake of Nova's departure. She fell heavily back against her seat and stared straight into the ceiling.

"…I might have fucked up."