Dakota dragged a crying Guardian up the stairs and into the Iron Temple; her left arm and lower left ribs were missing, but she was miraculously still alive. Dakota ran back out and hid behind a pillar along with Lord Gideon Fidel and Lady Kourtney Osborne. “What h*** just happened?!” the warlock screamed as he gunned down a legionnaire; he tried to conjure a solar grenade, but his Light drifted away.     “How am I supposed to know?” Gideon replied as he reloaded both hand cannons. His armor, which once glowed with fire, was now stone cold.     “Look!” Kourtney shouted while pointing toward the Traveler miles off in the distance. Even from Felwinter’s Peak, the Cabal device could be seen wrapped around the orb.     “What the h*** is that?...” Gideon mumbled. A slug round blew off a chunk of the pillar he hid behind, knocking him out of his daze. He poked his head around and shot at a Cabal, piercing its helmet and skull. “Maybe they trapped the Light,” the hunter declared.     “That shouldn't be possible,” Dakota rebuked. The warlock ripped his bayonet from a psion and continued to shoot at the advancing Cabal.     “I can't think of any other reason,” Gideon replied.     A harvester descended from the sky and aimed its turret straight at the Guardians. Without hesitation, the Iron Lords and Lady retreated into the temple where dozens of wounded Guardians hid. Dakota and Gideon used what little strength they had left to force the large doors shut. Just as the entrance was sealed and the Guardians relaxed, the doors flew back open, and the hunter and warlock tumbled across the stone floor. Dakota rolled over, groaning slightly, then forced himself to his feet; new rage shone in his eyes.     Cabal soldiers entered the fortress and switched on flashlights to scan the chambers. It was pitch black, with the exception of a single firepit in the middle of the chamber, guarded by two large wolves. Behind the pit, Dakota materialized his Iron Battleaxe and held the head of it over the flame, igniting it like a torch. The Cabal threw up their rifles at the warlock, but their focus was broken as one legionnaire fell to the ground, nearly cut in half.     Kourtney amputated another Cabal, then thrust her sword into its belly. The remaining soldiers swung their weapons toward her. Dakota took the opportunity to swing the massive weapon into the chest of a centurion, caving its armor in. Gideon jumped onto the back of a legionnaire, then thrust a knife into its neck. He dropped down after pulling his knife free, then shot another. After an eternity of mere seconds, gunshots ceased and screams of agony were silenced.     The three standing Guardians exited the temple, preparing for the next wave. However, only the bodies of fallen Guardians and Cabal scattered across the blood-soaked snow remained. Something was wrong, and they all sensed it. T.C, Dakota's ghost, made a scan of Vostok Observatory and confirmed that there were no more lifeforms nearby. It wasn't long before they realized why.     A Cabal warship flew around Felwinter's Peak, a massive cannon aimed at the temple. “Run!” Dakota screamed. The Guardians burst into a sprint, hoping to reach the cover of the observatory, which was across the bridge. One round was enough to throw them in all directions, and to cause the mountain to crumble. Snow cascaded down the mountain, ice turned into vapor, boulders fell from the sky.     Gideon caught himself by the ropes of the bridge threatening to break, but he was still dangling over a massive crevice. The jolt alone was enough to rip his breath from his lungs. Dakota had fallen on a ledge on the side of the mountain, rocks raining all around him; one in particular landed on his legs. Kourtney, however, was nowhere to be seen.     Gideon pulled himself onto the bridge and scanned for anymore Cabal troops, the courtyard was vacant. Harvesters docked with the warship before it flew toward the City. The hunter turned back around, but the temple was no more. Surely it had survived the explosion, but even if it did, it was now buried in snow; so were the dozens of Guardians trapped inside. Gideon was rendered motionless.     Kourtney poked her head out of the snow once the warship flew away; her chatterwhite armor served as perfect camouflage for her environment. She glanced at the horizon over her shoulder and realized the only thing that kept her from falling off of the mountain was her knife shoved in a chunk of ice. She pulled herself up, then used it as a step and climbed back to the courtyard. Once the huntress was on stable ground, she and Monica collapsed into the powdery snow.     Dakota struggled for several minutes trying to lift the boulder off of his feet, but each shift seemed to grind his bones even more. He yelled out in pain each time, but his voice was drowned out by the ceaseless ringing in his head. Finally, he was able to get enough of the rock over the edge that it tumbled off on its own; the relief was euphoric, but only briefly. He looked at his bloody legs, which he could not move, but his eyes fell upon his jittering ghost. T.C. stared at Dakota one final time, then his Light faded away.