Destiny: Fireteam Euphrati

Chapter Four

Vae sat at the edge of the courtyard, the only sounds being the quiet crackle of the flame of the Iron Banner and the chirp of birds.

She had been meditating since morning and fellow Guardians learned long ago not to disturb her.

Sitting cross legged, she looked out over the sweeping view of the earth beyond the Last City's walls. In her right hand was the occasional crack of Arc energy, in her left, the quiet emptiness of the Void.

As she had gotten older, she more often felt conflicted about walking two paths.

She wondered if she feared the Void.

Staring blankly ahead, seeing nothing, she was oblivious to the conversation Saladin shared with two Hunters as to what the Warlock was doing.

She wondered if all Voidwalkers felt the grip of its power, picking and pulling at their Light every time they willed it to life. She wondered if other Warlocks had ever felt the Voidfangs.

Someone had to, at least. The Vestments she kept locked away in her study proved that much. Her thoughts turned to the Hive, specifically the Wizards. Victus wondered if they were in the grip of the Fangs, or if they were simply bent to the whim of Oryx, or at least the memory of him.

The thought drifted off, replaced by others, and she sat for a long while more, unmoving.

Her mind seemed to draw her back to the Void, that deep expanse clinging to the back of her consciousness.

She decided she could understand why so many people abhored the Warlocks, openly calling for their end in the realm of City politics. Her lips twinged, the frown nearly breaking her concentration.

Were it not the Warlocks who first rose as Guardians, though, she wondered to herself. It was sad, Vae thought, that something like that could be so easily dismissed.

She understood their fear though, especially of Voidwalkers. They wielded the same power as the Wizards of the Hive.

She wondered if the Taken were linked to the Void, but the feeling was different, it even looked different.

She wondered if the Taken's abilities could be harnessed to work for the Light. The Warlock knew it was a heretical line of thought. Such thinking would tear her away from the Light of the Traveler.

A sarcastic snort, and she blinked her eyes back into focus. The whisps of power about her fingertips shrivelled away and she rose to her feet in one fluid movement.

Walking down the center walkway, she watched the ripples in the reflection pools caused by the leaves.

She stopped perpendicular to Lord Saladin's massive Iron Banner Icon, giving him a bow in the old martial fashion, bending at the waist. The gold clad Titan nodded respectfully, in a more or less parade-rest stance.

Vae had immense respect for the grizzled old hero, having fought alongside the Lords of Iron so many years ago.

So many things had changed in the years since, Victus thought, descending the the steps and nodding to the Gunsmith.

The Ebonthorn bond she had recieved from Eris, something created by Toland in his last days, chafed at her arm as a reminder that the worst changes had been recent.

Even dead and gone, the Taken King still struck fear and wreaked havoc. The Warlock was deprived of sleep, night terrors of tens of thousands of Thralls and Taken rising to swallow her, snuff out her Light, tear her out of the web of existence.

Perhaps he wasn't really gone, she thought. Simply because something lacked physical form did not mean it did not continue to exist.

She had overheard rumor that he wasn't dead at all, that he claimed himself as Taken in his last moments.

The woman shuddered at the thought, glancing up at the pale, pink evening sky as she walked.

Her Ghost was at her shoulder, disrupting the string of dark thoughts. "The others are ready to go. Are we?"

The Warlock stepped out onto the metal grated floor of the docking bay, six ships prepped for launch.

"Aye, we are."