Gus stumbles, almost dropping Rezic. He looks around, wondering if the portal disappeared before he could jump through. The area around him looks strangely familiar. Except for the lack of bullets flying past him and a pedestal, the room looks the same.
Are we in the same ship?
Some light source above him moves slightly and he can see further into the darkness. The dark ghost that brought them here is nowhere to be seen. Harker and Tyr appear before him.
“Gus, set him down. Let me take a look,” Tyr says. He’s already spinning inside his chassis getting ready to scan the warlock. A slight groan escapes from his lips as the titan sets him down on the hard floor.
He’s alive. Thank the Traveler.
Tyr scans Rezic’s body up and down, trying to find the cause of his current state, but not finding one. “Gus, turn him over so I can scan his back.” Gus does so and lifts Rezic to his side, supporting him the whole way. Tyr scans the bullet wounds for a length of time, worrying the titan. “I have no idea what these are, and they don’t look good. He’ll need more medical attention soon, but he’s stable for now.”
On cue, Rezic lets out a gasp and moves his arms to push himself up to a seated position. He removes his helmet and looks at Tyr. “Thank you,” and then to Gus, “Do you know where we are?”
“We’re in a Pyramid ship, however I’m not sure if it’s the same one or another.”
“And that ghost?”
Gus opens his mouth to speak when the ghost flies in from the darkness above them, moving this way and that as if scanning the air around him as he flies.
“I’m here. It’s good to see you both made it. Follow me.”
He zooms off without waiting for an answer, down a nearby hallway that’s being lit as he approaches it.
“Can you stand?” Gus asks, leaning to help his friend up.
Rezic lifts his arm without saying anything. Gus helps him while he takes a deep breath. This time the ghost waits for them in the hallway, turning back to make sure they follow.
“You sure we can trust him?” Rezic whispers.
“Don’t have much choice. We can’t navigate this place on our own. I’m not even sure we’re on the same ship.”
Rezic nods. Gus is right. This ghost is looking for Tissea. We need to follow it.
“Let’s not keep him waiting.” Rezic walks towards the hallway with a slight limp, but his stride evens out with each step. The ghost hovers in place until the guardians are within a few steps, and then turns and floats down the hallway. Tyr and Harker are both out as well, scanning the ship as they go. Rezic debates telling them to stay hidden, but some feeling in the back of his mind stays the command. For whatever reason, this ship doesn’t feel as threatening.
The hallways move around them at a slower pace than before, providing glimpses at the ship around them. Gus keeps his eyes open as wide as he can. Shadows seem to dance around them, and he’s not sure if they’re hostile, let alone real. The memories of the Fallen being killed by similar looking shadows are fresh in his mind. For a moment, he debates drawing his shotgun, but eventually decides that might provoke whatever they are.
Better to act like I haven’t noticed them, he thinks.
“Gus, hurry up,” Rezic calls. Gus realizes he’s lagged behind and jogs to catch up. He ducks as something whistles past his head. Looking at Rezic, he can tell that the warlock didn’t see whatever it was that flew past him. Maybe I’m seeing things, he thinks.
Rezic stands at the entrance of a great room. He’s not sure what Gus is distracted by, and the worry that the titan is near his breaking point creeps back into Rezic’s mind. We’re at the finish line, friend. Just hold on a little longer. He opens the visor on his helmet.
“Everything okay?” he asks.
Gus looks over. He can tell that Rezic is worried about him. He lifts his helmet off so they can speak face to face.
“I’m good – sorry. I thought I saw something.”
“The shadows?”
“You’ve seen them, too?”
Rezic sighs and pats the titan on the shoulder. “You’re not going crazy. I think they’re the Darkness, or at least created by the Darkness. Whatever they are, they’re keeping their space. Whether that’s because of him,” he points over his shoulder at the dark ghost floating in the room, “or because they have orders to let us live, I’m not sure. Regardless, we’re safe for the moment.” He fixes Gus with a gaze. A mixture of care, and sternness, that Gus has seen numerous times over the years before any difficult missions. “We’re so close, Gus. I can feel it.”
Gus doesn’t break eye contact with Rezic. He knows the warlock is right. The feeling of the inevitable end of whatever this is, is on the horizon. Every mission has that feeling. After a moment, Gus breaks his gaze away from his friend and scans the ship around him.
“It’s what we’re close to that I’m so worried about.” He looks back at Rezic. “Just let me do the fighting, ok? Those shots earlier really knocked you out.”
Rezic laughs. “Deal. I’m getting too old for all these firefights anyway.”
Gus nods and spreads his mouth in a smile before replacing his helmet. He can see over Rezic’s shoulder that the ghost is floating towards them.
“Come, come, Guardians. We are very close now. Please enter the lift.”
In the center of the room, a large circle of lights appears and tiny particles start floating towards the ceiling. The guardians look up, but the darkness hides the destination of the lift. Once again, they’ll have to trust the ghost to not lead them into a trap.
“And what exactly are we close to?” Rezic asks as they walk towards the center of the room, stopping just outside the lift.
“The answers for what you seek, of course.” The ghost floats into the lift and slowly begins drifting towards the ceiling. The guardians share a brief look and step into the lift simultaneously. This time, Gus draws his shotgun and chambers a shell as the gravity around him reverses, lifting him alongside Rezic. The warlock checks his hand cannon, spins the chamber, and snaps it closed. Neither say a word as the lift carries them through an opening and sets them down in a circular room, this one larger than before.
Another wheel of passageways. Hallways lead away at even intervals. Gus scans each, and then lets his eyes wander up the wall. The room is a dome. The walls don’t have much decoration besides statues of hooded figures sitting between each entryway. With faces covered by shadow, Gus pays little attention to the all-too-familiar carvings, except something catches his eye. The shoulder of the statue he’s looking at is slightly bigger on one side. He takes a step forward as he analyzes it more intensely. Then it clicks. Each statue has slightly different characteristics. Twelve separate statues in total surround them.
“Twelve disciples?”
The question comes from Rezic. Gus snaps from his focus and looks at this friend.
“You noticed it too? The differences in the statues?”
Rezic nods. “I don’t think we’re on the same ship as before…” The guardians look back towards the dark ghost. It floats patiently near the lift.
“You are correct.”
The voice doesn’t come from the ghost. Footsteps echo down one of the hallways to the guardian’s right. A spark of hope ignites inside Gus. He almost runs towards the familiar voice, if not for some other voice deep inside his mind telling him not to. Rezic experiences a similar wave of emotions. Could it be?
Tissea strides into the light of the room. She stops next to a statue, touches it, and looks up towards the face for a few moments. Her lips move, but the guardians can’t hear what she says. Just as quickly, she moves away and approaches the ghost.
“Thank you for bringing him to me,” she says. Rezic looks confused. The ghost brought both of them to her. Who does she mean? Before he has any time to dwell on it longer, Tissea reaches her hand out and the ghost floats obediently towards her. “I always knew I could trust you, Rezic.”
Tissea lifts her other hand. An energy begins dancing between her hands and the ghost, while its chassis spins in response. After a few seconds, the energy stops and the ghost looks at her like a dog waiting for a command. Rezic isn’t sure what he just witnessed. He’s never seen anything like it.
“Where’s Amir?” he asks. Tissea looks over at him. She isn’t wearing a helmet. Her features seem sharper, almost younger looking. There’s curiosity dancing in her eyes, as if she isn’t sure which answer she wants to give the warlock. She smiles.
“He’s no longer needed,” she says. The smile that once seemed genuine now resembles a sneer. She looks back at the ghost, “Amir did not understand the path that we must walk. He had to be left behind.” The ghost looks up at her, its red light pulsing slowly. “But thank you for bringing my new guide. He knows the path, and will help me walk it.”
“Tissea, we’ve been all over the system looking for you,” Gus’s speech is rushed, fueled by the excitement of finally finding his lost friend, “We’ve been battling Fallen, Hive, and even Cabal. We traveled to the Dreadnaught looking for you and battled waves of Hive in the Court. You wouldn’t believe the amount of Hive I killed protecting Rezic. He fell into some trance when he grabbed that, that,” he points to the ghost, “thing and I had to protect him. I fought for minutes inside my Ward and beat Thrall and Acolytes to a bloody pulp. House Salvation is scavenging Golden Age tech from the temporal distortions created by Savathun and rebuilding their house. They already have TWO ketches! Can you believe it? Oh, and the Vanguard. Don’t even get me started about Zavala. He doesn’t understand what’s going on, and he’s sending guardians after us! Trying to bring us in! He’s losing it! You have no idea what’s been going on out there.” The titan’s voice rises with each topic. He’s straining for her to understand their plight. To understand the struggles they’ve faced searching the system for her.
Tissea forces out some noise that resembles a laugh, but unlike any laugh Gus or Rezic have heard from her. “I know what’s been happening while you two have been chasing ghosts,” she says. “I’ve been watching it all from here. We all have.”
Gus is exasperated and so confused. Tissea doesn’t seem like Tissea. Whatever this is standing in front of him sure looks like her, except her mannerisms and her speech, it all just seems…off. He opens his mouth to speak, but a vibration through the floor distracts him. He glances at Rezic. Gus doesn’t think the warlock can feel it yet. Now they feel like footsteps and they’re getting closer. Something with a long stride, weighing a tremendous amount, is walking down one of the hallways. Gus isn’t sure which one.
Finally, the shaking is enough for Rezic to feel it. He looks over at Gus.
“What…” He doesn’t finish the sentence. His eyes open wide, looking over the shoulder of his large titan friend, seeing the outline of some being that dwarfs even Gus. Gus follows his stare, turning to the hallway.
Whatever it is, its body almost fills the gaping hole that is the entrance to the hallway. Not entirely, but by Gus’s calculations it’s almost twice the size of him. As it enters the room, the light dances across the grisly features of its face. The teeth are the first thing that shine brightly. Large, and sharp enough to pierce armor, the underbite pronounces the lower canines like a boar, but the face is flatter. Its nose is smashed against the other features of its face, but the nostrils flare with each passing breath. Large ears that come to a point above its head outline the face, and the protruding browline casts shadows into each crevice around the mouth, nose, and eyes. Calling it ugly would be an understatement, considering it is completely hairless from what the guardians can see. Starting at its neck, an armored, black skin-suit covers the body down to the feet. Its tightness exposes each striation in its muscles from its shoulders to its lower legs. The being is immense, and doesn’t look happy.
“Acolyte,” it growls, “stop playing with your toys and bring them to the bridge. The process must begin.” It doesn’t wait for a response as it thunders back down the hallway it came.
Tissea looks at the guardians and pauses for a moment. She turns in silence, following the colossal beast. Rezic and Gus follow along without saying a word. Rezic opens the private channel, hoping the helmet-less Tissea cannot overhear them.
“Gus, I’m not sure what’s going on, but we have to convince her to leave with us.” He waits for a response, but Gus remains silent. “And let’s not piss off whoever that was.”
This time, Gus’s response is tightening his grip on his shotgun, the gun creaking under his strength. “We’ll get her home, Rez. Whatever it takes.”
Rezic glances over, imaging the look on the titan’s face under his opaque visor. The determination of his friend against insurmountable odds is still there. Rezic smiles to himself. There may still be hope yet.
They walk down the hallway with Tissea and her “new” ghost leading the way. Halfway down the dark passage, the ship begins moving around them again. Rezic focuses on the path ahead of them wondering how they’re going to get off this ship when suddenly she comes to a stop, as well as her ghost. The platform has disappeared ahead of them, or at least it seems to be gone.
Maybe it was never there, Rezic thinks. He turns to see that the platform has been disappearing behind them this whole time. The three of them are now standing on a small square large enough just for them.
It shoots into the air without warning. Rezic has to steady himself to avoid falling. Air is whipping past them. Darkness envelopes the group as they rocket towards their destination. Suddenly, the platform slams to a stop. Rezic tries to blink through the darkness, opening his eyes as wide as possible.
“Where -”
The incredible display of lights blinds him. His visor adjusts automatically, but he still sees spots for a moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Gus standing with his shotgun across his chest, unwavering.
“We’re here,” he says into their private channel.
Writing by Adam 