Beneath Infinity

Fluctuations

Ikora Rey cupped her hands and allowed the little yellow Ghost to nestle into them. It was shivering, she could feel it, and the colour had drained from its shell slightly. The Light it radiated had dimmed massively, as it no longer had a Guardian to relay power from. None of them had. The other two Ghosts had said nothing since returning from the Moon; one had deactivated as soon as it reached the Tower and the other simply stared at the Traveller and mumbled jibberish to itself. This one alone still had the ability to communicate, though it was in shock.

"Come come, Little Light. You are safe now - your Light is safe. Please, I know it is hard, can you tell us what happened?"

"It's no use. Look at it, it's barely active!"

"You're not helping, Cayde!"

"Cayde is right, Ikora. I don't know how much you can learn from a broken Ghost."

"Exactly, you don't know. That's why I'm trying, Zavala, it might be able to pull through. We must try to help, at least."

She turned back to the Ghost, trying not to let her irritation show. She could tell it was grieving. Every now and then it gave a tiny mechanical shudder, the kind a child would if it had been crying. Ghosts were children of the Light, and this one had somehow been stripped of that which had made it. Ikora knew what this meant, she had seen it before. She just hoped she was wrong.

"Ghost, I need you to tell me what happened. Earlier you said you were attacked. I need to know where your Guardian is, please."

The Ghost's blue eye shifted upwards to look at Ikora. It stared for a moment before speaking softly.

"It came from the Hellmouth. Darkness incarnate; Light Stripper; Hive soul in ancient bones. I don't know what it was, but it killed them. All of them. My Guardian, she... She fought it, but it was futile. I felt everything she felt - the beast made me feel it - as it broke her mind and tore her body: I broke too. My Light... It left me."

"Who was your Guardian, Ghost? Please, can you tell me her name?"

"My Guardian was the bravest of all. She was a strong, valiant being, the Light shone from her very fingertips to illuminate the stars. She was one and only one; nothing to compare to."

The Ghost was broken. It was dead inside. Ikora was not an emotional or sentimental woman, but she felt great sympathy for the loss this little machine had suffered. Still, it had divulged no useful information other than the location of its Guardian's attack.

"I'm sure all you have said is true. I need your Guardian's name if I am to understand and help you get her back."

"She cannot come back, the light was torn from her body. Her name was Aerel Vance, and she is as dead as the dust in which she lies. She cannot come back, and I am alone..."

Ikora looked at the other Vanguard, distressed. She felt a pang of guilt as Cayde looked at her with a sullen 'I-told-you-so' kind of expression. Zavala said nothing and merely kept his eyes lowered to the table, his violet lips thin and serious. If Aerel was dead, and there had been no communication with George or Lupa, it suggested that all three of these Ghosts had lost their partners, starkly explaining their grief.

"I am sorry for your loss. I am so sorry."

Ikora repeated this first to the yellow Ghost in her hands, and then again to the two that were oblivious on the table next to her, who ignored her and continued to be distant. If something so powerful as to kill three strong and capable Guardians and relieve them of their Light was still roaming the system, then the city was not safe. They would need to try to understand what it was that killed their warriors before they could fight the force, however.