If you missed the last episode, you can find it [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/221940208/0/0]here[/url], or if you need to find a previous episode, you can find them all in the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/220441594/0/0]Master Post[/url]. Please give a bump, upvote, or leave comment if you enjoy this and any other chapter! *** My boots click on the deck as I enter the throne room once more. A feeling of pride, of accomplishment, fuels me as I approach the royal siblings with a smirk. The prince turns around slowly, his haughty expression still intact. The Queen peers over his shoulder, calmly watching me approach with a detached confidence. “It is alive,” she says quietly. “And still has its ball.” The prince smirks, considering me with supreme arrogance. “There is no shame in running away, Guardian,” he taunts. “Apart from the cowardice and failure of it, it’s an excellent strategy.” I meet his expression, and his smile falters slightly. “We didn’t run.” “Was no Gate Lord slain, brother?” the Queen asks, intrigued. “Oh, we slayed a Gate Lord,” Ghost answers confidently. “Ghost,” I order him, and he materializes the Gate Lord’s head to fall with a thundering crash to the deck. The Vandals behind the Queen tighten their grip on their pikes as the prince simply stares, finally at a loss for words. “We need to find the Black Garden,” I declare seriously. The prince smirks, unable to keep his silence for long. “They don’t even know where it is.” “Then let us tell them,” the Queen purrs. “Search the Gate Lord for that which gains them entrance.” “Why?” the prince growls, wheeling on his sister suddenly, angrily. “If you wish them certain death, just kill them here.” His words echo around the silence of the room. The Queen fixes him with a calm, but penetrating stare. “Often, when we guess at others’ motives, we reveal only our own.” “My motive is simply loyalty,” the prince corrects himself, crossing to the throne to kneel at his sister’s feet. “To a people. A Queen, and a sister.” “Then please,” the Queen answers quietly, almost like she’s bored. “Take what is required.” With obvious effort, the prince rises and walks back to the Gate Lord’s head. Ripping apart pieces and rummaging around, he finally yanks a glowing red orb from its depths. As the prince holds it aloft, the glowing red eye suddenly fades, power draining from it. “Dead,” he declares haughtily. “Unfortunately. A wasted journey, I’m afraid.” I feel anger rising up as I glare at the prince’s condescending expression. I feel my hand curl into a fist as I think that this prince has one of the most easily-punchable faces I’ve ever seen – “Perhaps,” the Queen interrupts, and I feel my hand loosen. “But this one’s resourceful.” I meet her eyes, and could swear I see the hint of a smile across her face. “We gift it. In sympathy for their Traveler.” My heart soars, and my disdain for the prince transforms into triumph as I see him sigh, disappointed. He tosses the broken orb from the Gate Lord, and I catch it instinctively. “Mars,” he says coldly. “84 North, 32 East. Meridian Bay.” I nod to him in appreciation, then turn back to the Queen as she slowly rises from her throne, piercing eyes fixed on me, boring holes through me – “I have shown you benevolence, Guardian. Should the Awoken ever need an ally, I will call upon you. And expect you to answer.” [i]Of course there’s a catch,[/i] I think ruefully as the prince turns from his sister to scowl at me. “She’s saying you owe us, Guardian.” Biting my tongue from what I wish I could say, I merely incline my head respectfully. “I understand. Your Grace.” I turn to leave before I say something I’ll regret. As I depart the throne room, I hear the prince calling obnoxiously after me: “Good luck….getting through the Exclusion Zone.” [i]Double dealing bastards,[/i] I hiss inside. [i]They can’t all be like this out here, can they?[/i] I pass through the doors and out into the corridor, my thoughts already shifting. [i]We need to get into the Black Garden….but I need to find my new friend first. “We will find each other when you return,[/i]” he said, and I wonder how long it will take before I run into him – I move through the corridor, taking an intersection and moving deeper through the Queen’s ship. Royal Guards pass me and give me distrustful looks, but say nothing. I come upon more Fallen, and as we pass each other, both the Fallen and I watch each other warily, nervously. [i]They’re just as worried about me as I am about them[/i], I realize. “Do all these Fallen belong to the Queen?” Ghost asks. “Where did they come from?” “I don’t know,” I answer quietly, eyes roving for a hint of the mysterious stranger. “But we don’t have time to – “ “Is it coincidence that brings us together, do you think?” I turn to the sound of the voice, peering around the shadows – Vance emerges once more, hands folded piously, hood drawn low over his face. “There you are,” I say, a hint of relief in my voice. “Is this where I should be?” he asks suddenly. “What a strange place to find myself. What a strange time.” As intrigued and perplexed as always, I shake my head, chuckling. “And what a strange man.” Vance smiles. “You have returned,” he says. “You knew why I’m here, you knew what I offered, and you have returned.” “You told me before that the Speaker was not the true Speaker. That this Osiris was. What did you mean?” “Come,” Vance gestures, turning from me to walk back into the shadows. Without a word, he disappears. Sighing, I follow him into the darkness. I stretch my hands out to feel my way through the blinding blackness, but the walls are too far apart – I hug one side, hands feeling forward. “Where are you?” I whisper. “I lost my sight long ago,” Vance whispers back through the darkness. “But there are other senses. Use them.” I try to do as he commands, try to feel the the space around me, to catch any smells, any sounds, but I can’t. I feel like a child, stumbling through the dark, no idea where – “I can’t find you,” I whisper. “Where are you?” “Let’s get some light in here – “ Ghost starts to say, but I hiss quickly to him. “Don’t – just…wait.” I can feel his curiosity, but he doesn’t argue as I keep moving through the darkness – And then suddenly I feel his hand on my shoulder – I turn, and in the next second I squeeze my eyes shut against the sudden burst of light. After a moment, I peek out, and see Vance standing before me, dozens of candles lit around him. “How….” I wonder, but Vance stops me. “The candles are for focus. Don’t let them distract you.” I move toward him, watching him carefully as Ghost buzzes around my head. “Why have you come?” Vance asks suddenly. “You told me to – “ “And what if I told you that everything you’ve been told is a lie, that what the Speaker calls the Darkness is really the Light? Would you turn to fight the Light, then? Would you join the Darkness?” “No, but – “ “Soldiers do as they’re told,” he says seriously. “Warriors fight for a cause.” “And what cause do you fight for?” “To understand why we fight,” Vance says simply. I ruminate on his words – [i]What are we fighting for? Why? How do we know the Darkness is evil? Is there a way to find peace between the Light and Dark?[/i] “How?” “If you seek Osiris,” Vance says. “You must begin with the Trials.” “Trials?” Vance smiles. “The purpose of the Trials is to hone the right weapon for the right moment. If we miss our moment, if we’re not ready, it won’t come again.” I shake my head in confusion. “I don’t understand. Why can’t you just tell me?” “Be still,” he tells me, stepping closer. He reaches out to me with his hands, seeming to feel the air around me, reading something in me. “Watch. No body. No weight. Be an eye.” I watch his hands moving around me – [i]What is he doing?[/i] I can feel Ghost shivering, nervous as it hovers around us, unsure of what to do – “You know why I’m here,” Vance declares, and from the way he looks at me, I could swear he can see me. “And you know what I offer. Do you wish to learn?” I think of all that I’ve been through since my Ghost found me – the confusion, the lack of answers, the riddles that go nowhere and the endless repetition of the missions the Tower sends me on. It all has felt so….routine. [i]I am just a soldier[/i], I suddenly realize. [i]Just following orders without question. Without thought. Just a puppet obeying his master’s whims. And what are the Speaker’s whims? What is his purpose? Why does he use the dead to fight the living? How is that fighting for the Light?[/i] “What is the Black Garden?” I finally ask. “It is a place of life,” Vance answers. “But it is also a distraction, a directive without a purpose. Destroying the Black Garden will not destroy the Darkness, for the Darkness is not a physical entity as you’ve been led to believe.” “Then what is it?” “What is the Light?” is all Vance replies. I ponder his question. [i]Why are we fighting? What haven’t I been told? And why do I feel like this isn’t the first time I’ve asked this?[/i] “Teach me,” I finally say, bowing my head to Vance. Vance smiles. “If you think you’re ready,” he says, a hint of pride in his voice. “Then you’re ready.”