“Take us down, Teft,” I say, preparing to embark. It’s been seven years since I was appointed Warlock Vanguard, and the job was pretty easy. All I have to do is help the Warlocks along with their missions, gather the Hidden reports about the state of the other planets, moons, and some of the activities of our enemies, go to various counsels, and a whole bunch of other duties. The Hidden were spies of the Vanguard, headed by me, who gathered intel on everything that they could. Certain Hidden went to the scholars of the City, who made detailed reports on the ecology of planets and moons that could host life. Elsie Bray, an Exo whom I had met on multiple occasions now, gave me proof of life on Europa at the very least. Specifically, she told me that Clovis Bray, her grandfather, the most brilliant scientist and engineer of the Golden Age, as well as the herald of the Vex, had people drill into the ice, into the deep ocean beneath, and stick a camera in that hole. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Life on Europa was only hypothetical, but to see leviathan-class creatures under the thick, icy shell encasing the ocean was mind-boggling. 

Other leviathan class species have been recorded on Titan, before the Witness took the moon along with Commander Sloane, all of our operations, and intel of the planet. The Witness. It was the being that was, or at least the head, of the Darkness. It only just recently was discovered to be the source of the Darkness. Now that we know that the Witness is behind all of the Darkness’s actions, the Pyramid Ships, and everything else, we thought that, like the Light, was a passive thing, only influenced by what controls it. 

During all this thinking, my ship has transmatted me onto the surface of Mars, and taken off for orbit again. I summon my sparrow, which is unnaturally large for its general population, and sped away, towards the distant Enclave. It was about four miles away, so I had some ground to cover. Thankfully, being a Vanguard member has its perks. I press the boost button, using up some of its charge to speed up faster. The booster was modified so that I could go faster than any other speeder, as I had a reputation in the Guardian Games for sparrow racing. At this point, I’m going well over 200 miles per hour, but I barely notice it. What if there had been life on this planet? I thought. How wonderful would it be to meet another species, one that didn’t want to kill off humanity? The Last City has many allies now, among all of the enemy species, except for the Vex. The Vex are time-traveling, self-aware machines that came from a dark future. They came to this timeline to find victory where they could not in their own. The Vex were described by Elsie as “Darkness so dark it hates other Darkness.” 

I approach the Enclave, still picking up speed. There were buildings in the Enclave now since Mars reappeared. Savathun had taken it from the Witness’s grasp and given it back to us somehow. She was the Hive god of Cunning and Magic, so of course she would have a couple of tricks up her sleeve on how to mess with the Witness. Now Savathun is dead. We keep finding clues and hints of what she was up to before I killed her when she was a Lightbearer.

Before Mars had been taken, Ana Bray took the Warmind, Rasputin, and put him in an engram. He was damaged during the transition, so we sent out Guardians to recover codes from Rasputin in the past, in the time-warped zones of Mars, and the old Warmind Bunkers we found a year or so back in the present time. Once restored, he only lived again for a short time. Rasputin sacrificed himself to save the Traveler and the Last City, giving us the location of Neomuna and the Veil. 

Buildings appeared on the horizon as the Enclave came into view. Vanguard headquarters for the Mars Ops was a new building that we had just finished constructing. I began to think of what the meeting was about. Rumors have been circulating through enemy comms for about a month or two of a coming battle here on Mars. The Vanguard was gathering in preparation for it, as the “Date of Invasion” was today. I dismount and open the doors, receiving salutes from various people around the room. It feels more natural for people to salute me if I salute back, so I do so, but it was rushed as I haven’t seen the time. I run to a small room, not much bigger than my space back at the Tower, which is about a 20-foot by 24-foot area. I step in, throw on formal robes quickly, and repeat what I am going to say and what needs to be done about invasion preparations. 

Cayde-6, the Hunter representative, walks in trying to make a joke to Zavala, who is, as usual, confused and trying to hide it poorly. Zavala was usually the big man since the Speaker died in the Red War, but sometimes the pressure got to him. He’s a great leader, but even the Greenvines, Guardians fresh from the grave, understand that leadership has its burdens. 

“The man walked into the noodle shop and shot noodles out his nose?” Zavala asks, still confused. 

“Well you don’t tell it very well, but yeah,” Cayde says with a suffering tone. He looks at me. “You want to hear it, right?” he asks with a hopeful look.

I snort. “Anything that has to do with noodles coming out of people’s noses is nothing I want to hear,” I reply. 

“Awww come on, man. You’d love it!”

“Speaking from recent experiences, I’d say he wouldn’t,” Zavala says, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. In Zavala-speak, that was him giving a good laugh. Since I met the Awoken Guardian, he’d never laughed. Awoken were rare to become Guardians, but they were a thing. The only ones I’d ever met were a few random Guardians and Hidden, Zavala, and Crow. Crow had been around since The Guardian, one of the greatest Guardians to have been around, had been reborn. I was once that person. Then the Night. The night I became the Warlock representative in the Vanguard. The night I remembered. Cayde waves his hand in front of my face. 

“Mars to Stormblessed. Come in. Come on, buddy, you’re spacing out again. You’re thinking about the Night again, aren’t you?” He asks. “Let’s go. We’ll go out for Ramen later. Our favorite shop that was nearly destroyed in the Red War is open again.”

I laugh as I think of the times we’d gone to Cherin. Cherin Ramen was run by an Exo that had come to the Last City long before Cayde had been reborn as a Guardian. Teft appears next to me. 

“Alright everyone,” he says, even though there are only three people in the room. “Let’s cut the crap and talk shop.” Two other Ghosts materialize next to Teft. Sundance, Cayde’s Ghost, immediately started a joke. 

“So me and Cayde went to a new noodle shop in the City-” she begins.

“Nobody cares, Sundance,” Targe, Zavala’s Ghost, cuts her off. “Teft is right. Cut the crap and let the boys talk shop. Traveler knows we don’t need to hear any more noodle jokes from you.” Targe rarely talks from what I hear, but whenever I’m around with Cayde and Sundance, he’s always getting after us for having some fun. 

“But it’s a good one!” Sundance whines, seeming upset at getting one of her jokes interrupted. 

“Targe is right,” I say. “The Vanguard needs to convene. Besides, Cayde already told it to Zavala, and I assume he heard the whole thing. Teft doesn’t want to hear it. Right?”

“Correct, as usual,” Teft answers. “Though I did find the joke about the research team on the Almighty pretty good.”

“Not you too!” Cayde says. “That’s only a level two joke. The noodle thing is level five!”

“We’re getting off track,” Zavala says, bringing our attention to him. “This Vanguard meeting is now in session.

I move to sit in the chair with the symbol of the warlocks engraved in it. The meeting room was the same room that I prepped in. The small room wasn’t exactly the best for big meetings, but you have to deal with what you have. Gotta do what you can to survive, a voice in the back of my head says. I shove it away, into the locked memory safe that I used in the corner of my mind that’s only for my past. 

“So, comms have picked up some radio chatter from the Cabal. Something about an invasion of Mars and a new ‘Shadow Legion.’” Cayde begins. “The date of invasion was set as today, with the Shadow Legion as the bulk of the enemy lines, and a few new things called Tormentors at their head.”

“Tormentors?” I ask. “Sounds like trouble. Legend has it that they used to roam around during the Collapse, following their god Nezarec around.”

“Looks like Calus and the Witness finally made some new toys for us to break,” he says. Zavala gives him a look that says, are you kidding me? That’s how you describe a new, unknown enemy?

“Indeed. If we are to face this… Shadow Legion with its Tormentors, we need to arm ourselves. Launch scout patrols, Storm. Keep an eye out for any hostiles. Cayde, find out more on these Tormentors.” Zavala says. I nod, Cayde doing the same. 

“Alrighty then. Let’s get-” he’s interrupted by the wall exploding, flinging the three of us through the opposite wall and into the common area. 

Yes, you there in the back. Yes, I was blown through a wall. I’m a Guardian. We survive things like that. No, you can’t just die to be resurrected, Mr. Important. That’s not your name? I don’t care. Back to the story now.

I groan, sitting up, trying to remember what just happened. Then I leap to my feet. I glance around, seeing rubble accumulating as something keeps blowing out walls. Civilians are either dead or unconscious. I hope it’s the latter. A grinding of ruble arrests my attention and a shimmer of Void peeks through the large pile. Suddenly, rocks and rebar are sent careening in all directions as Zavala rises with his Ward of Dawn surrounding him and multiple personnel. 

“Where is Cayde?” He asks. 

“I just came to,” I answer. “He was farthest from the blast, so I wouldn’t expect him to be too injured.” As I say this, an explosion rocks the building from the outside. I hear yelling coming from a familiar voice.

“OK, if you try to take your tank against mine again, you’re going to regret it!” Cayde screams at the invaders. 

“Found him,” I say, covering up a smirk. Cayde loved his tank, and if anyone with their tanks came in, he’d charge head-on into them with his own and blow them to smithereens. He’d modified it so much that it was more of a Fallen Walker than a City tank. Giant, walking fortress.

Another explosion followed up with a new tirade. “I told you, you’re going to regret taking your tank against mine!”

“I suppose we should get him out of this mess before he blows his favorite toy up,” Zavala says. “All personnel must EVACUATE. I’ll handle Cayde. You go take out that army on our doorstep.”

“Yessir, commander, sir.”

“And cut the jokes. This is serious.” He runs out through the hole in the wall and starts yelling at Cayde to get out and help. 

“So how do I take out the army this time?” I ask Teft.

“Maybe use Stormcaller?” 

“Nah, too easy.”

“Nova Bomb?”

“Takes too long to charge.”

“How about Nova Warp? You do need to test that one out.”

“Yeah, I guess so. You take all the fun out of everything.” And with that, I begin climbing to the roof.  

Shortly after I reach the roof, I’m surveying the battlefield. Two Goliath tanks, seven Threshers, and an army of thirty thousand strong. 

“You know Teft, I might want to use Chaos Reach on those Goliaths. It’s the only thing that can take them out in one shot besides Nova Bomb, but it takes a minute less to get.” 

“I see your point. Charge up, Stormblessed. You’ve got a good fight ahead.”

————

An explosion rocked the battlefield beneath the large flagship of the Red Legion as an enemy tank exploded. Fel’Gorath was a Psion who had been Ghaul’s most trusted after he killed The Consul and quickly asserted dominance after the Leviathan incident. Now he looked down on one of the Guardians who had given the Legion Killer the pathway to Ghaul. They called this Guardian Cayde-6. 

“His Ghost is out in the open. Take the shot, and end him.” the voice in his head said. He aimed, a red dot hovering on the back of the Ghost. 

————

When Cayde’s tank exploded, he died. Sundance revived him as always, but he was still disoriented, not realizing that a red dot was aimed straight at the back of Sundance’s shell. Then he saw it and launched himself to protect her, but it was too late. A shot was fired from above and with an explosion of Light, she was gone. 

————

A wave of Light hit me as I heard Cayde scream. “What was that?” I asked Teft, who was safely hidden away. 

“Run,” was all he said.

“Why?” 

“Fel’Gorath is here. You need to find Cayde. Fast.” I run to where I saw the Light come from as I see Cayde rise from the ground, holding pieces of Sundance’s shell. I pull up short. Not Sundance. Without her, Cayde will die. That’s when a bolt of red came from above, piercing through his chest. He hit the ground before I could ever reach him. I yell, looking up at the flagship stationed above the Enclave. I can still see Fel’Gorath laughing as he aims at me. Something within me awakens as I look up at him.

 A Golden Gun, which isn’t possible to be summoned by a Warlock, appeared in my hands. I aim right at the heart of the ship and fire. Then as a horde of War Dogs try to overrun me, another new power erupts out of my chest. A Ward Of Dawn appears around me. I look around, confused. Zavala isn’t anywhere near me. Cayde just fell. There are no other Guardians nearby. And suddenly, I’m somewhere else. 

“Where am I?” I ask. 

“You are in the Garden,” a female voice says behind me. I spin, looking at her. She has chestnut hair and tan skin. She looked like a normal human except for her eyes. Her eyes were pure Light. 

“What is the Garden?” 

“What you see before you is the Garden. I can only provide you with so much information. Please, we have little time. I am the Gardener. The progenitor of what you call the Traveler. I have brought you here because you have become a True Guardian. I have waited for millennia to create the Guardians, wielders of my paracausal power, and more for a True Guardian to be awoken.” 

“What’s a True Guardian?”

“Guardians seem to only be able to hold a sliver of my power, giving you Warlocks, Titans, and Hunters. True Guardians can hold all of that and more. You, Stormblessed, can touch Primordial Light.” I suck in a breath. Primordial Light is what the Traveler used to terraform Mars and Mercury. How could I possibly contain all that power? 

“On top of that, as you’ve already seen, Guardians can also tap into the Darkness. You’ve found Stasis on Europa. More is to be awakened. Strand, the weave of reality, as well as Creation, the form closest to the Light and Dark combined. Now that you’ve unlocked your potential as a True Guardian, you can control the Darkness, much like the Witness and command it with an iron will, Take anything and anyone, and create new Pyramids.” She flickers. “Our time is out. Before you leave, I hereby decree that you are a disciple of the Traveler. I wish you luck.”

“WAIT! How does this all work? How do I access the rest of the Darkness?” 

“You shall soon see,” she says as she fades from view. 

I’m thrown back into the battlefield, my Ward still around me. I run to Cayde, caught just in the shield. 

“Cayde!”

“Hey buddy,” he wheezes. “Where’s Big Blue? This is his Ward isn’t it?”

“It’s mine. I have no time to explain. We’ve got to get you to a medic. Can you move?”

“Wow. How’d you get a Ward up Mr. Warlock?” he asks jokingly. I see his eyes begin to go out. 

“Doesn’t matter. Just stay with me. Come on, man. Stay awake,” I say, my eyes growing misty. 

“Hey. I’ll be-” he coughs. “I’ll be fine. Here.” He pulls out his gun. The Ace of Spades was made specifically for him, and it was his baby. “You take good care of Ace, okay? Tell Big Blue-” another coughing fit, “You tell him that you guys… were the best thing… I…” his voice goes much softer as he speaks. “Best thing I ever lost.” And he was gone. Just like that, his eyes go dark and the Ward goes out around me. I don’t even feel it as the first War Beast clamps its jaws on my shoulder. I just pull it off and shoot it. I rise, feeling empty of emotion. Power, familiar, yet not, wells up inside again. 

————

Fel’Gorath watched from his escape pod as the Legion Killer screamed while he tore apart the War Dogs, then everything around him. This was not supposed to happen. How did a Guardian that was clearly a Warlock, gain the powers of a Titan and a Hunter, disappear for a split second, reappear, and destroy everything with Darkness? This was going horribly wrong. Then, across the distance between them, the Legion Killer met eyes with Fel’Gorath. And he felt fear shiver down his spine, despite the voice telling him he was going to triumph.

————

I glare at the escape pod carrying Fel’Gorath. I meet his eyes and make him feel my pain.

“Storm,” Teft says. I don’t hear him. 

“KALADIN,” he yells. He never used my name, never yelled, and never used that tone. Using all three whipped my head towards him like a disobedient dog on a leash. 

“What?” I ask, voice hard as stone and cold as ice. 

“We need to get out of here. We’re being overrun and you can’t keep using the Darkness like that. To make others do and feel what you do…” he trails off. “You need to stop.” I stare deep into his eye.

“Fine. If you want me to stop, I’ll stop. But come on. I don’t need to lose you too.” I pick up Cayde’s body and we retreat to the main buildings, which had been reduced to rubble. Medical tents were set up everywhere and Zavala was yelling at a lieutenant who was talking to him. 

“-Want you to find them at all costs!” he’s saying. “They are…” He stops finally seeing me. He looks at my arms. He rushes to my side in an instant. 

“Kal,” he said, voice breaking. “What happened?”

“Fel’Gorath is here. He took out Sundance right as she rezzed Cayde. Then he took him out too.” Tears begin to form at the corners of my eyes. “I was too late to get to him.” 

“Give him to me,” he says. I give him Cayde’s corpse. He carries him to a table, sets him down, and places a cover over him. “We’ve lost too many people already. I lost Amanda earlier. I can’t lose Cayde too…” He slams his fist on the table, a small arc discharge coming off it. I put my hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey, big guy. We’ve got an army on our doorstep. Take your anger out on them. I’ll deal with Fel’Gorath. Put a bullet in his head and maybe eat a sandwich.” I say, quoting Cayde back in the Red War when he was going to fight Ghaul. A sad smile tugs at the corners of Zavala’s mouth.

“You wait for me to do that. I want to make sure he pays.”

The fighting had reached an impasse after almost half a day. Night was falling and I was looking out across the barren landscape. So many died today. We lost Cayde, Amanda, and countless others.

“How many more are going to die?” I yell at the empty sky. “How many more are you willing to sacrifice?” Teft was quiet, knowing not to answer. Although he was a small splinter of the Traveler, he had no way to communicate with it, hear it, or even know its intentions. Inside, I feel a presence brush against mine. 

“I do not ask you to die for me. These Guardians who died today showed what it means to hold the Light,” says the Gardner.

“Why do we fight, then? Why do we follow you so blindly? How could you let this happen?” I say, my voice breaking. 

“You follow me because you have nothing else left. You fight to protect those who live underneath the Traveler, not for me. If there was another way to go about this, I would use it, but there is no other way.”

“You don’t know that!” 

“Yes, Kaladin. I have lived longer than you can ever imagine. I have tried every possible path. My creation of the Traveler was the last straw for the Winnower. The fault is mine that you fight, true, but the Winnower has had many chances to leave me alone. But it has chased me for millions of years. It does not want my power like Ghaul did. It seeks the Final Shape. The Witness is its physical form, much like the Traveler is mine. Physical forms can be killed. Find a way to destroy him. Once you’ve done that, you must destroy me. You will not lose your Light, so long as you have Ghosts. We must keep the balance of the Flower Game…” Her voice trails away as the presence fades away. 

“Where are you going?!” I demand. Only silence ensues in the Martian night.

————

Night had fallen long ago. Fel’Gorath had been retrieved by his second shortly before the Legion Killer had started talking to himself. Has he finally broken? And all it took was killing some of his friends. But something had changed in the Killer. Awakened power he should not have. Powers of the Light that a Warlock could not possess. Powers of the Darkness, never seen before. How was it possible? The questions plagued Fel’Gorath for the rest of the night.

———— 

The next morning, the battle was still going. Zavala is injured and Cayde is dead. I am the only remaining active Vanguard member. Cayde had never even set a new Dare for the Hunters… Zavala would need to appoint someone whom he could count on. That would’ve been Sloane but she’s still MIA from when the Witness took the planets and moons. The only reason Europa hadn’t been Taken was because the Darkness wanted to tempt us with Stasis. 

“Sir,” one of the Titans is reporting. “What should we do? This battle is not Six Fronts, but maybe the equivalent of Twilight Gap. We’ve lost too many Guardians to hold the line. We need to retreat.”

“No,” I say. “I’m personally going out to the battlefield. Today, Fel’Gorath pays for Cayde and all the others who’ve fallen.”

“But sir-” I cut him off with a gesture. 

“I’m tired of hiding behind walls. It ends today. We will bring peace to the Sol system, one way, or another.” I caused a flash of lightning above with thunder to emphasize the words. 

Yes Mr. Importance, I called lightning. What else would you have me do? No, that was not a serious question. Now sit back down.

————

In the distance, Fel’Gorath heard the clap of thunder. There were no storms on Mars. Not after humanity’s Collapse. Yet he could see dark clouds boiling over the battlefield as swaths of Legionaries were gunned down, War Dogs ripped apart, and Gladiators cleaved by their own swords. Something had changed in the rhythm of the battle. Rolling thunder, scorching heat, and cold darkness were slowly creeping towards the Command Tent. He realized that some of the thunder was a voice. He switched on his translator and set it for the human language. 

“Fel’Gorath,” the voice boomed. “This is the one you call Legion Killer. If you are true Cabal, you will face me in the Rite of Proving. Meet me here, in the center of the ruined city, and we may begin.” There was no mistaking it. It was the Legion Killer. The challenge was valid, as the Rite of Proving could be issued by anyone, Cabal or not. But the center of the old city was a deathtrap. Vex roamed the crumbling streets, and Fallen hid in the shadows, not to mention the Taken. The “perfected” version of anything the Dark had touched, the Taken were relentless and would never stop coming. He could not possibly survive the journey in, let alone a Guardian with unknown potential. But it was the Rite of Proving, and he could not turn this challenge down. Not without losing every scrap of honor he held. 

“You shall meet him head on, my Disciple,” the voice said.

“Prepare an Interceptor. I shall meet this challenge with a smile on my face as I look into death’s own.”

———— 

I pace, waiting in the ruins of what was once a great Martian city. Clovis Bray had done wonders in his time, but not without a price. The Darkness lured him, and told him to build a Vex gate. He was the reason the Vex invaded and destroyed the city of Eventide on Europa. I didn’t live during the time, but it sounded like the people had awoken to machines killing everything in sight. They must have been terrified. 

A distant roar of a Cabal Interceptor echoed through the ancient city as Fel’Gorath rounded the bend. Behind him, a legion marched. He did not come alone, it seemed. 

“You be careful Kal,” Teft says. “You don’t want to knock down any buildings while you deal with that legion.”

“I’ll try not to destroy anything too ancient,” I say, helmet hiding my smile. Beneath that grin, raw hatred was coursing through my veins. Yes, I know I’m a machine. Hush and listen to the story. No, Mr. I’m-So-Important, I do not have any real veins. I’m just giving a little more character to my robotic body. 

Anyways, seeing Fel’Gorath made me angry. It took every ounce of willpower to stay in one spot, and more as I called out to him calmly. 

“I see you’ve brought backup,” I say. “You know that I’m called the Legion Killer for a reason, Fel’Gorath. But it is no matter. I”ll destroy them as easily as I took down the Red Legion.” 

“Enough of this, Lightbearer,” he calls. “The legion is only here to witness my glory as I pull your Ghost apart, piece by piece, as it tries to resurrect you.” He seems like he’s putting up a front, buying time for himself. He doesn’t know that I have not one, but two new sets of powers, not to mention the Darkness waiting on my call. 

“Very well. Let’s get this over with. Anything is on the table?” He gave me a predatory smile. He wasn’t putting up a front…

“Of course. Anything. Let us begin the Rite of Proving!” His proclamation was punctuated by battle cries from the legion. Darn it, I had let him bring in the legion without meaning to. This was going to be harder than I thought. Suddenly, an orange-like haze spread over the battlefield, and I felt some of my Light become unreachable. Like a wall had been slammed down on each and every one of my supers. I had to keep the Dark close, use it as a trump card. I could still use all of my normal abilities, but the big guns were cut off. Fel’Gorath retreated behind a Phalanx’s wall and let the legion flood past. 

Calmly, I pulled out Ace, and began firing. With each shot, the white parts grew more and more blue, until the glow was solid. A blue fire erupted around the barrel as Cayde’s- my - signature Memento Mori activated. Legionnaires began bursting into flames as they died, the embers spreading and igniting those living around them. Fel’Gorath was climbing onto a ledge with a long range gun strapped to his back. Smart. He wanted to take the high ground and snipe me. 

I jumped, using a Hunter Triple Jump to reach the ledge. Fel’Gorath stumbled back, grabbing his sidearm. He lifted the weapon and fired at me wildly. Another pulse from the suppressing haze sent me flying. I crashed to the ground with a ring of Light puffing into the sky. A nearby Gladiator noticed and began charging. That Gladiator never saw the Void in my hand. I tossed the grenade, which sucked in all the nearby foes and gave me more power. I had to find the source of the field. 

Again, I jumped to the outcropping, but this time, I surveyed the area. Directly in the center, a Goliath tank was taking aim. Attached to it was some sort of device. That had to be the suppressor. The tank fired as I jumped, only to be slammed into the ground by something. Above, rocks were tumbling, most likely from the tank’s shot. The only thing that kept me alive was the Devour that I had been given by the kills with Void. With some force, I shoved the boulders off and began charging to the Goliath. 

Ahead, Fel’Gorath was hiding behind walls upon walls of Phalanx’s. I cut through the War Beasts and Legionnaires standing in my way, and sent a Solar grenade into the midst of the walls. He seemed to lose confidence every time I got closer to him, turning more and more into a scared little Psion. It was time to draw the first trump card. I tapped into the first new Darkness power, opening myself to it, knowing that my perspective was somehow important in using it. I fired a green needle straight through the wall and made a gap. I used my speed to close the distance, but didn’t target Fel’Gorath. No, my target was the tank with the suppressor. I called on the Dark and used blades of Strand to cut through the device.

 Immediately, my Light returned in full force. I whipped my helm off and gave Fel’Gorath a disrespectful gesture with a grin. Now the fun really began. I activated Nova Warp, which I had found useful for its teleportation that didn’t cost as much as its Arc cousin, and then found another use for it. I could pop into one enemy line, throw a Hammer of Sol or shoot a Nightstalker arrow in the center, and pop out in seconds. Fel’Gorath was nowhere to be seen, but I would deal with him after seeing to the legion. 

————

Fel’Gorath watched from a hidden outcrop just around the bend from where the Legion Killer was ripping his forces apart. He was truly scared. How did he access his powers with the suppressor activated? And even worse, he’d destroyed the only suppressor they brought for the invasion. He couldn’t believe that those were powers of Light. That had to have been the Darkness. He hadn’t thought the rumors were true that the Guardians were wielding the Dark. Now he knew he shouldn’t have dismissed such a threat so easily. 

“How?” he asked. That voice had been with him since the fall of Torobatl. He had been promised it would disappear after the Final Shape had been found. 

“These powers were not our gift,” it said. “The beast somehow took a portion of the Darkness from our grasp. It was thought to be ours, and only ours. Now we know it can be split, and it will continue to split, until one of us ceases to exist. Kill him. End our pain.”

“As you wish, my Witness.”

————

As I killed the last of the legion that had followed Fel’Gorath to their deaths, I saw movement from up around the bend. Was it an ambush? I flicked the knife across the Gladiator's throat, and warily glanced around the bend. There was one lonely Psion in a purple cloak standing, with a gun aimed straight at me. Fel’Gorath fired, hitting the barrier I had thrown up a second before. The barrier shattered, but I was already moving. I summoned the Darkness within, using Creation. I knew what it was capable of. Strand was about the weave of reality. Creation was the loom it was made upon. With it, I could control time and space.

Distantly, I heard a scream, like many voices overlapping. The Witness was being injured as I took more power from it. I froze time, inspecting the Psion. I could feel a connection to the Witness through him. I began weaving Light and Dark together to create something beautiful and deadly. I used the thing I created to not only split Fel’Gorath from the weave of Strand, but from the Witness as well. He wasn’t killed though. He was now an unknown variable in the universe. That could not be. His connection to the Witness must have saved him. I unfroze time, and he doubled over. 

“What… What is this?” I held Stormbreaker in my hand, aimed at his head. “No… No! My Witness! Please, save me!”

“You will never hear its voice again, Fel'Gorath. Nor any other voice. You are condemned to death for the murder of Cayde-6, attacking operatives of the City, and for thinking you could invade while I was still kicking around. You can’t beat this. I am something you can never understand. Any last words?”

“You will never defeat the Witness. It is too strong for you.” He began laughing maniacally, and I cut his head cleanly off. 

“Too bad. Looks like I’m already hurting it,” I say. Then I began searching through my connection to the Dark for the Witness.

“Our Disciple was right. You can never beat us. We are a whole civilization. You are nothing but a sack of bones with too much power. Let us take that power back. Give us what is ours.” 

“How about I don’t. You’re not in any position to be making demands of me. I will find you. In the meantime, this Darkness over here is looking like I could take it at any time.” I reached out for it, and stole it from the being in front of me. It screamed again. 

“Don’t take what you can’t handle, young one. We understand the Darkness. Know it deeply. How do you plan on controlling it?”

“By doing what should have been done in the first place. To combine Light and Dark into one. It will be the Final Shape, but not the one you’re looking for. This will let the Flower Game continue, but always changing with life. Farewell, creature. I will see you in the Garden.”