Sharp flashes of light pierced through the somewhat murky blackness of the cave as Terminus hovered over Tempest’s arm, putting the finishing touches on his arm. The Warlock stayed perfectly still, as even a single shudder could completely ruin the repairs the Ghost had made to his Guardian’s arm, and could mean hours of more work as he struggled to make sure it was in working order again. So as Terminus fluttered back and forth making repairs, Tempest regarded the state of the team he had so unfortunately been thrown in. Lazarus was leaning against the cave wall not far ahead of him. He had crossed his legs into the lotus position and closed his eyes, his steady breathing one of the few sounds that dared to interrupt the whirring of the Ghost and the steady dripping of water down the walls. Reforming his body had been quite the strain on his previously unused powers, and fighting off all of those high-level Vex seemed to have thoroughly drained him. For a Warlock, and act as simple as meditation could rekindle, recharge, and focus one’s powers, and he would need them for the supposed fight to come. Jadis had spent much of the trip to this little hole in the Ishtar Cliffs passing in and out of consciousness. The excruciating pain that had been tormenting her since the battle in the Academy had finally passed, and she had come to to see Tempest and Lazarus hiding the bodies of a Fallen patrol group. She had spent the past couple of hours brooding at the cave entrance, both watching for any assailants that happened to sneak up on their position, and to remain as far away from her companions as possible. Tempest leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. “What am I going to do?” he mumbled. “If that Hunter was able to catch onto our trail so quickly, then what’s going to stop Itami from sending others?” “Nothing,” whispered the distracted Ghost. “There’s nothing to stop that megalomaniac from sending any available Guardians he has at his disposal to Venus to hunt us down and kill us. You could always fight him again…” “No thanks. I prefer to have my skull intact. Not to mention that it would be next to impossible for me to overpower him. How’s my arm by the way?” “It’s just about…” Terminus trailed off as he burst a few flashes of energy at the last opening, finally restoring the arm. “Done. Just make sure to not break this one.” the Ghost glanced back at the other two Guardians. “Are you going to tell them about your ‘theory’?” “It’s been done before.” “It has, but you don’t remember exactly how he did it, and it isn’t as if you’ve practiced tampering with-“ “When was the last time you’ve known me to fail at anything Terminus?” “…three years ago.” And at that, he dissolved into nothingness. *** “We’re planning on doing what, exactly?” asked a wide-eyed Lazarus. “We’re going to make some “alterations” to a Vex time gate, which will allow us to get off world without using a ship.” “We don’t even know if our bodies are compatible with Vex time gates.” “Of course we do. Guardians use the one on Mars to enter in and out of the Black Garden all of the time, and according to reports from the Vault of Glass, we’re able to freely pass through those as well” “You know those are both special cases. I don’t deny that you have the knowledge to figure it out, but has it ever been done before?” Tempest centered his gaze at the ancient suns that were Lazarus’s eyes. “It’s only ever been done once.” The Sunsinger scoffed, but he became less uncertain of the plan’s half-baked premise the longer he watched Tempest’s unwavering resolve. “What do you think? Should we find another option?” Lazarus said as he turned towards Jadis. She looked up wearily at the two Warlocks, bright red lines crisscrossing her yellow pupils. “As long as we get off this hunk of rock, I don’t care what we have to do.” And with that, she stuck her face between her knees. Disregarding her aloofness, Lazarus turned to Tempest again. “So where to?” “The Endless Steps.” *** The three Guardians moved as silently as they could through the Venusian jungle, avoiding the main paths for fear that Itami truly did have some of his own allies looking for them. Communicating via their helmet comms wasn’t secure either. Communications between Guardians may have been secure from their enemies, but there was no way to hide themselves from any eavesdroppers in the Tower. Jadis scouted ahead, blending in and out of the shadows as she continued to move closer and closer towards the Endless Steps: a place that had reoccurred in her nightmares over and over those first few weeks. It just seemed that she was experiencing all varieties of seemingly unbearable pain today. She shook her head of the latent memories, turning back to watch the Warlocks. Those two may not have been as stealthy as her, but they did move quite silently. Not even the undergrowth on the forest floor shifted as they walked. Finally, as the sun began to set over the horizon, they arrived at a convoluted series of raised plateaus and staircases forged by the engineers of the Vex. “Hold on” said Tempest as he stopped beside a ledge built fairly low into the side of a plateau. “Let me see if I can find a good one.” He took a few steps back, and with a running start, jumped and glided onto the ledge, using it as a stepping stone to catapult up onto the top of the plateau. Once on top, Terminus appeared in his palm. “Think you can find me a suitable gate?” Terminus simply broke apart, his body forming into a swirling jigsaw puzzle of machinery and light as the Ghost extended the range his sensors to their maximum capacity. Jadis and Lazarus came up slowly via the stairs, holding their weapons at the ready and sweeping the area clear, assured that there were no Vex in the area. Terminus had reformed himself by the time the other two joined. “That gate over there on the next plateau over should be suitable. I also made a scan for any Vex activity. Besides the latent background activity that’s considered normal, there doesn’t seem to be any Vex in this area. Just don’t do anything to attract their attention…at least anything more than you have to.” “Thank you my friend.” As Terminus vanished, Tempest looked back at Lazarus, whose face had turned a dark, oppressive mask. “What’s the matter with you?” Lazarus looked back at him, his normally bright yellow eyes now cooled to a dull red. “Don’t take your Ghost for granted.” “I never do.” *** The sun had set on Venus long ago, with the distant stars and their unfamiliar constellations laid out before them in the dark blanket of the sky, but Tempest hadn’t been able to focus on anything except the alien innards of the Vex time gate splayed before him. It was hard to explain just how difficult this task seemed to be. It hadn’t taken him long to activate the gate, but he couldn’t get a grasp on where the gate should send him. All the while he had been feeling a susceptible tug in the back of his head, as if something was trying to pull him through time itself Just like back in the Vault. All the while Lazarus and Jadis stood guard behind him. Well, not exactly. Jadis had placed her handcannon, Hawkmoon, to the side while she tinkered with the innards of her Mythoclast. Lazarus had taken to leaning against a wall, already quite bored with simply watching Tempest’s endeavors. “You sure you don’t need any he-“ “NO!” hissed Tempest. “I’ve almost got it. Give me a little more time.” Lazarus merely shook his head and turned his gaze across the Endless Steps. Tempest slammed his fist against the side of the gate, and that’s when he felt it, [i]saw[/i] it. It was like skimming across a map of the universe, a timeline across the very ages. It pulled at him, scraping at his very existence, drawing him in. But Tempest resisted, and he used his mind to reach out into the depths of time and space, the very Void itself, as he searched for something in particular. His consciousness seemed to stretch in every direction at once as he attempted to grasp at where he wanted to go. He brushed by a place, somewhere covered in desert, and then he pulled back and grabbed hold of it. The dry winds, the grit of sand between his feet, the hot sun; he had found what he needed. He “hooked” the space-time stream to the gate, and as his mind pulled back, the gate sparked, beginning to crackle with blue light, before going silent once more. He began to tinker with the gate again, and he felt the stream slip away. Like a man fumbling for a shoe in the dark, he grasped it with his mind, keeping it connected to the gate. He felt a hand clamp on his shoulder, and the Warlock turned around to look into the furious gaze of Jadis. “What did you do?” she growled. That’s when he saw them: the purple clouds, flashing with lightning, and they were everywhere. As far as the eye could see, clouds of darkness were spread across the Steps like early morning fog. It wasn’t too long until the dull glow of eyes shone through the perpetual blackness, and then the wailing cries of a thousand Vex pierced the still night air. [b]Link to Chapter Index[/b]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/116093772/0/0 [b]Link to Chapter Nine[/b]: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/147919430