Merlin and Sibyl returned to Eris at her lunar sanctuary to find her, and the Cryptoglyph, absent. In their place stood a dark portal with a deep green rim. He double checked around the field study area but there was certainly no sign of Eris, leaving the ominous portal as their last option.
With a caution step, he entered through the dimensional doorway to a dark square room. A bright bioluminescent growth grew from a mound of composted growth a few meters into the corridor ahead, more of which were scattered along the grey floor. It's Beneath his feet was a ten meter wide ornate black and red circle.
The red there matched the colour of the walls and four pillars that surrounded it. The slight slant in the angle of the walls in the corridor were joined through a connecting pointed ceiling. Deep claw marks gouged into the sides of the hallway as high as three meters in some cases.
Merlin made his way through winding corridor, passing under a couple of pillars hanged from the ceiling, holding a faint yellow light. The path ended at a large hub doorways, all of which were sealed shut. Brutal spikes protruded out from the base of these new walls. He continued down ramps that lead into a tunnel through the moonrock and turned left at the fork.
The tunnel inclined and opened up into a crevasse, the end and bottom of which were lost to the abyssal darkness. At the edge of it was a platform built of the same savage, red architecture as before. A ship of a pyramid shape with geometrical patterns forming between the outer plating hung still in the dark cave air, far out from the platform.
The Exo spotted the Ghost-less Hunter ruminating over artifacts left behind by her fireteam. Their memory loomed over her as garnet spectres, like an ever present nightmare. She addressed him without even acknowledging his approach up the sharp steps.
"Welcome," she said, "to the Scarlet Keep. Xivu Arath, and the Hive sect she commanded, built it to eventually serve as a stronghold from which to strike out at the Traveller. That time has not yet come to pass but, I cannot say for certain it will never come."
"You're not worried about Hive overrunning your… humble retreat?" Merlin questioned.
"I have placed warding runes deeper into the tunnels to keep them at bay. I have enough to worry about without insects crawling out of the cracks in the walls." She carefully moved the memorabilia to one side of the alter. It appeared to be made of shell or polished stone with a brown cloth draped over it. "Have you collected all that we require?"
"We have!" Merlin answered, gesturing for Sibyl materialised and make her way to the alter to transmat all the materials onto the cloth.
"A Braytech rifle, interesting. Ana Bray wields the perfected model; Polaris Lance." Eris stopped and pointed to the scrap cloth. "Is that, what I believe it to be?"
"Probably the last remains of Nokris, and a bit of his robe!" Sibyl said, confirming Eris's hope.
"Remarkable. The Rat tugs a pocket ascendent plane behind his ship, but you've collected a piece of cosmic history."
"Rat?" Merlin asked.
"Germaine; Wu Ming; Eli; The Drifter," Eris elaborated. "He has had many names. 'Rat' is mine for him."
"Sounds like a healthy relationship," the Warlock said under his breath quickly. "So how do we combine all this?"
"Hive magic. Unlike traditional gunsmithing, creating a Weapon of Sorrow requires their ritualistic witchcraft. Stand back." Eris walked around to the other side of the alter and pulled several talismans from a small box kept at the corner. She tipped the contents onto the cloth and slowly but deliberately placed them around the edge.
She began to chant words in a tongue that fell foul on Merlin's ears. The markings on the slates ignited into a furious jade flame. The rifle gently began to levitate, barrel pointed upward. The frame disassembled and the pieces orbited the core. The magazine was emptied and refilled with the chips of Nokris's ritual crystals. The hand guard was removed and the barrel was forced through the Hive god's clavicle.
Two of the Light touched fingers attached themselves in place of the curved blinders next to the rear sight. The once orange glass was now tinted a sickly green, as if permanently illuminated by the talismans; the third fused to the underside, replacing the trigger. Hive rune markings burned themselves onto either side of the bone. With each piece in place, the flames died down from the talismans as a similar light briefly bled out from the sealing gaps. The rifle returned to the alter and Eris ceased her incantation.
"This weapon," Eris began with as she picked it up, "will grow in strength with every kill. Like a blade sharpening itself through drinking the blood it spills." She took a few paces toward Merlin and presented the Bite of Heresy to him ceremoniously. He scooped it out of her outstretched hands and felt it's weight in his arms.
"What does that mean, exactly?" Merlin asked
"The words spoken here, compelling the weapon's creation, have imbued a power of Nokris never seen in any other Guardian's hands. Once the Bite of Heresy is satisfied with it's tithes taken from your participation in Sword Logic, the fingers on top will rise. Forcing them back into position, dominating them, will load a barrage of large Solar projectiles. 'Dying Star', as the Vanguard have dubbed this ability. I advise you to keep the Bite of Heresy away from the Praxic Order's eyes. And, my involvement – they are not the fondest of me, or my philosophies."
Merlin dropped out of hyperspace with a few minutes of flight time before re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Sibyl ran a couple quick time-dilation calculations to better establish where both the cultists and Siegfried and Aunor are.
It seemed to her that the use of Volundr forge was in the middle of its schedule, based on how busy those around it were. "Let's say they're still at the EDZ, and we get into the Disciples today, I believe the Praxic Order should be on their way back and I do recall them deciding to drop by Nessus."
A bright orange glow bled in through the windows around the cockpit as the ship breached the atmosphere, heating the thin air from gas to plasma. Merlin took in what Sibyl said before announcing their plans going forward. "We'll make sure we're in before contacting them. That way we should have insight into which forge they're going to next and we can help plan a move that doesn't end in slaughter."
The warm hue radiating in faded away and a blindingly bright white took its place as they passed through the cloud cover above the EDZ. Merlin mulled over the possible ways to announce his Weapon on Sorrow, and how he could even get an audience with their Sorrow Smith.
It was not long before the pair found themselves once again zipping through the tunnels into the European hillside, again void of any Cabal resistance. A confident stride onto the loading platform and a swift gesture to the Awoken guardsman was enough for him to be granted passage to the forge.
"Already got those other Ghosts?" the guard asked. "You act fast. I'm sure Lieutenant will like that!"
"I've got something better," Merlin said calmly, stepping steadily down the steep path.
"Better?"
"Something I'd say the Sorrow Smith will find interesting," Merlin said gently gliding across the gap in the bridge. He stopped by the steps and glanced over everyone, then locking onto the lieutenant. He walked briskly over to him as the guard skipped behind to keep up.
"You're back already?" he said surprised. "I figured we would've heard about a mass murdering Guardian on the loose if you've got a dozen Ghosts…"
"I've got, what I believe to be, something of much greater interest to the one in charge." The Lieutenant let out a hearty laugh. Silence again fell over the Disciples, as they turned to see what was causing the disturbance.
"And what's that, then?" he asked, looming over the Warlock. Merlin reached over his shoulder to draw his new rifle as Sibyl materialised it. He brought it to his chest and held it tight as the Lieutenant tried to grab it. "Interesting gun – lemme have a look."
Merlin dropped the weapon and Sibyl caught and stowed it away. "The Sorrow Smith, please," he calmly demanded. The Titan scoffed and turned to call out into the cave behind.
"Katake!" A Hunter with silvery skin, icy blue eyes and wiry jet-black hair stepped out from behind a pillar not far from the pair of Exos. A fusion rifle hung from his shoulder; black with a large golden eye on each side. Once the man who wore golden leathers came to within arms reach of the Lieutenant, he provided some context to the Hunter. "This one wants to join us, and has something to show you."
Katake stared at the stranger, expecting further explanation. Sibyl brought the Bite of Heresy back to her Guardian's grip and thew Hunter's eyes widened. "Through Hive rituals, I have created a new Weapon of Sorrow," Merlin told him. "Combining frozen Hive, a Braytech RWP Mark II, and the remains of Nokris himself, I present the Bite of Heresy."
Pale fingers stretched out from slightly oversized sleeves, but restrained from touching the rifle. "It's beautiful. I've not seen a new Weapon of Sorrow in some time," he whispered before snapping back to his sullen self and turning to the Titan. "Get this new Initiate an amulet. He'll need to be able to identify other Disciples throughout the system."
"So, I'm in?" Merlin asked.
"Of course!" Katake exclaimed. "You can be an extra Sorrow Smith for our operation, and make us more of those. I'll teach you how we speed up the process of making Necrochasms too, so I can finally take a break without worry."
"I don't know about-" the Warlock tried to say but was cut off.
"We're about to start shutting things down here soon. Can't stay at one spot too long or we risk the Praxic Order coming down on us."
"The Prax-ic Order?"
"Self-righteous pricks under the Vanguard's command that selectively carry out their duties."
"Sounds like you've run into them before?" The Lieutenant returned, carrying a necklace with an oval stone hanging from it. A simplistic flower with nine petals was engraved into it, with two dots above and below the petals. Katake took it and handed it to Merlin, gesturing the Titan leave afterward.
Katake's excited expression dropped in favour of a grim one. "They already had my ex-fireteam member in their sights. She grew obsessed with wielding Darkness and convinced me to at least look into it with her on Europa. When I declined, she shot my ship down and left me for dead. My Ghost, Josseo, cleverly waited for her to leave before showing up to res' me. If the Praxic Order did their job properly, none of that would even have happened."
"If you're against using the Darkness, why manufacture Weapons of Sorrow?" Merlin asked.
"Spite," the Hunter answered. "Last I saw Sola, she still hadn't gained that power so this is a polite middle-finger to her. But why are you interested in Weapons of Sorrow?"
The Warlock quickly shrugged. "When I was first brought back, we got chased down by some Hive nest. I wanted to learn more about them so they're easier to squash," he claimed. "That lead me to the Sword Logic & the Weapons of Sorrow. I don't lean in favour or against the Traveller – I'm in it for the knowledge."
"Reminds me of 'Moondust,' as the Drifter calls her. The Order hate her too, but because she's good friends with the Vanguard, she's untouchable."
"That wouldn't be Eris Morn, is it?"
"You've met?" Katake asked with a touch of eagerness in his voice.
"We got some of her insight before building the Bite of Heresy," Merlin answered proudly.
"Smart. Drifter pointed me in the right direction. It would be pretty foolish to attempt this without any prior knowledge. With that said, I'm excited to learn more about this," Katake continued, "so make sure you have a good presentation ready for me at the Gofannon Forge in about thirty-six hours. You can show me how it preforms on the Fallen there too."
"I'll get my notes together!" the Warlock said with an unsure salute. Katake gave him a nod of appreciation then gestured for him to leave. He followed the instruction and made his way out of the cave, smirking at the Lieutenant as he passed. "Sibyl, where exactly is the Gofannon Forge? Let's reach out to Aunor," Merlin said, once he was outside and riding his sparrow back to the ship rendez-vous point.
"What do you want me to relay?" Sibyl chirped from within the Guardian's mind. She transmat him to his jumpship as it swooped into range. "It's in the Arcadian Valley on Nessus."
"We know where they're going to be; I have a plan on how we can bring in the leaders and some others without any final deaths; meet us on Nessus."
