A spark in the dark, Part 2

The sky was bony white, and the ground a pale mirror. Anthracite gray structures loomed around her, defying the laws of physics.

Zara recognized the environment of the Corridors of Time. She was lying on a smooth surface, without weapons or armor. Disoriented, she got up and looked for a landmark in the surroundings, and an unusual detail caught her attention:

Just in front of the angular portal was one of the Obelisks of Osiris, stripped of its metal base and control frame.

"Osiris? Do you copy?" Zara scanned the radio frequencies and found nothing but static.

She frowned and opened her palm to ask Koryl to restore the signal. Her hand remained open, without the Ghost manifesting himself.

"Koryl?" The Guardian then realized his absence. Her voice faded into the white depths of the sky, and no one answered. In fact, she could not hear any sound, only her breath and the beating of her heart.

The anxiety grew on her. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the last events, but her memory was blank. No recollection of how she had ended up here.

Suddenly, the Obelisk made a high-pitched sound, and seven symbols appeared in the center of the arrow. The Warlock knelt to better observe their arrangement.

Plus, Clover, Hexagon, Snake, Plus, Snake, Diamond.

With the combination in mind, and with no real other choice, she walked towards the gate. The corridor opened onto one of the usual branches, a hexagonal hall with six portals and filled with Vex structures. However, there was not a single robot in sight. Zara crossed the area cautiously, expecting to face the Vex defense systems.

As she passed through the second gate, there was still nothing. Her walk took her from one hall to another, each as deserted as the last, and plunged into total silence. Even the lasers that dotted some of the structures were quiet.

Zara's bare feet trod the land of Mercury at different eras, the warm metal of the Vex and the cold, gleaming surface of the Corridors of Time. She walked around the last pillar, set with a diamond symbol, and took a long breath before crossing the portal.

Instead of entering the Time Lost Vault, she found herself in the middle of a huge white and uniform space. Unlike the diffuse sky of the Corridors, this white was dazzling, like the Sun in broad daylight. Zara, surprised, squinted her eyes and protected her face with her hands. She turned her heels, trying to go back, but the gate had disappeared. At the same time, the ground stopped putting pressure on her feet.

She lowered her head and realized that all the Vex structures had disappeared, erased by the white veil. Gravity was no more, and she was floating without any external influence.

Her eyes were hurting her. The total absence of landmarks made her dizzy.

“A world full of Light.”

It was her voice, in her head. She turned around, contorted herself without finding the up or down, looking for the source of the sound.

“An endless suffering.”

She tried to open her eyes, to let the rays burn her retinas: better to become blind than to undergo such torture! But the light did not go out. An intense migraine hammered at her skull.

“No place to hide.”

“Yet it is so easy to break it.”

A black crack appeared within the white veil. It lengthened, widened, and divided, and the sky eventually fractured. Gravity drew Zara inexorably toward the rift. Light gave way to darkness. Zara reopened her eyes, but saw nothing, not even her own body.

She did not feel the contact of the air. However, she felt that her fall was accelerating. She tried to glide to slow down. The Light did not come. Zara's heart began to beat faster. It was like the attack of the Legion. No... her connection to the Light had not been severed. It had only disappeared.

“Come to us. Do not be afraid.”

Zara woke up abruptly. Her lungs filled with air, as if she had drowned. Her clothes and the sheets around her were soaked with sweat. Unaware of her surroundings, she hurriedly crawled to the nearest wall and cowered, shivering with cold.

"Zara!" A shiny object passed in front of her eyes. As a reflex, she raised her hand and an Arc discharge spurted out of it, missed its target, and crashed into the opposite wall.

Her eyes adapted to the darkness. Koryl waved in front of her. She was in her room, in the City.

"Zara, are you alright?" The Ghost leaned over her to scan her. "You're feverish."

The Guardian swallowed. Her throat was dry. "I'm fine, Koryl. It was just a nightmare."

"I'll get you some water. Don't move!"

Koryl went through the window and went down into the City. Zara tried to relax and resume normal breathing. She tried to recall her recent memories before she fell asleep: the return from Titan, the evening with Willow, the exhaustion on the way home. Slowly, she got up and regained her landmarks in the real world. Her Ghost came back a few minutes later, carrying a bottle of water in balance on his points.

Zara hydrated with gratitude. "If you need anything at all... "Koryl began.

"Prepare my Dreambane armor and call Amanda. I need our ship."

"What? But..."

"Don't argue, please."

Soon after, they left the Earth's atmosphere. Zara launched the warp jump to the Moon and checked her ammunition supply.

"I don't like this at all," Koryl said, making anxious back and forth movements in the cockpit. "Why there? Why now?"

"I believe the Darkness contacted me in my sleep. I have to figure it out."

Luna's scarred surface filled their sight. They disembarked at the Sorrow's Harbor and headed towards the scarlet fortress. When they arrived at the first gate, Zara stopped sharply.

"Koryl, return to the Sanctuary. I'm going alone."

"Have you lost your mind?" The Ghost appeared in front of her eyes, looking as angry as he was worried. "First these visions, and now you want me to let you go down into the Hive deeps alone?"

"If something happens to me, go get Jayden and Willow. You can count on them."

"That's not the point!"

"Koryl, please. I don't want that thing to speak through you again."

The Ghost shivered but refused to move. Then, he surrendered and let his Guardian pass.

"Don't make me regret it."

"That's the last thing I want."

The Warlock prepared her weapon and went into the Keep. As a member of the Hidden, she had studied the reports of Eris and the Young Wolf extensively and knew the path to take.

The forces of the Hive were not a problem. Zara descended, more and more, until she reached the ledge overlooking the Pyramid. The opening in the dark hull was still open, but the pulling force that had drawn the Guardian and Eris inside was absent.

Zara waited, each step throwing clouds of lunar dust into the abyss. Finally, she lost patience and drew her bow. She had learned this technique from watching Willow: her Arc Light formed a sharp arrow, a lightning bolt concentrated into a single projectile. She aimed at the center of the opening and concentrated for a moment. When she released the string, her body turned into electricity and followed the wake of the arrow.

The shot of pure Light went straight through the hull of the Pyramid and into the platform on the other side of the chasm. An Arc blast spread through the air, and Zara materialized inside the ship.

"You will not take my Ghost today," she declared to the dark entity. "If you want to talk, come and tell me in person!"

Zara made a spark of Solar Light appear and covered the walls and the floor with a wave of fire, like the sensor of a Ghost. The black surface remained perfectly inert.

The Warlock clenched her fists and went into the long corridors of the ship. Ghosts of Guardians floated silently around her, painful memories of past defeats. Zara did her best to ignore them and kept moving forward. Contrary to what the Young Wolf had reported, there was no trace of Ghaul or Crota.

The atmosphere was heavy, oppressive. Zara felt like pressure on her armor as she walked. She was now in the hands of the Darkness.

The veiled statue greeted her at the top of a long stairway. It was as previous visitors had described her. Overwhelming, silent.

"I don't have time for your riddles!" Zara exclaimed. Her heart was pounding. She was uncomfortable. Her presence was not wanted. "If you have nothing to say, let us sleep!"

Suddenly, the base of the statue lit up. Not literally, but its presence shone in the spirit of the Warlock like the beam of a lighthouse. She reached out her hand over the black surface and hesitated. It was as if a magnetic field emanated from the altar, urging her to make contact. Zara wanted to touch it. Part of her feared a trap and tried to resist, but the other part took over: she was beyond questioning.

She put her hand on the cold metal. Her sight became blurred. She saw a silhouette, too fast to identify it. She heard words, too indistinct to understand them. Her vision turned gray and blurred. A melody rose to Zara's ears, covering the message of the Darkness. She recognized the tone and immediately let go of the altar.

The viral chant faded as the Guardian shook her head to bring out the insidious refrain. The statue overhung her, still silent.

The Witch Queen interfered with the message. She should have known. She found Koryl and they took off for Io a few minutes later. She had no idea how she got out of the Pyramid.