"An end? No brothers and sisters, this victory is no end to this war we fight, no more than the Traveler's great injury was an end to us. No, the darkness is still out there, plotting and readying themselves for their next great assault. This is a victory, but we must seize the advantage. Go, take the fight to them. Show them what the children of the light can do."

-Warlock Odin addressing the Guardians of the tower upon his return from the Black Garden.

(0)(0)(0)

In the space between Venus and Mercury flew a ship. Deep within the territory of the Darkness and far from the safety of the Tower it sped, a gleaming silver and gold flash in the obsidian backdrop of space. Within its cockpit sat a man, patiently staring at the viewscreen in front of him with a small frown on his face.

He was a Guardian, a warrior who had been reborn in Light to fight in a great war.

He was a Warlock, both a scholar and a fighter whose mind could shatter reality itself.

He was hundreds of years old, and had spent most of those fighting enemies who most could not even imagine.

And he was starting to get frustrated. He had been traveling this route for weeks, searching for any sight of his prey, yet it had eluded him at each turn. He was no stranger to waiting, but normally his hunts were more successful than this.

"Are you sure this information is good?"

The man turned to look at his long time companion. A small construct floated next to him. Its hull was black with red accents, and its eye glowed a dark violet. A Ghost, a shard of the Traveler, created in its dying breath.

The man only smiled. He reached out and gently pushed the tip of the ghost down teasingly. "Don't worry Muninn," he reassured the ghost as it gave him an annoyed look. "I tore this information directly from that Vex mind-hub. I don't even think they're capable of falsehood."

The ghost fixed him with a level stare. "Don't get cocky Odin. You of all people should know that the Vex are never what they seem."

The man went silent. As much as he teased his companion, he also knew that it was right. The Vex were something not to be trifled with lightly, and Odin was lucky to have survived numerous encounters with them relatively unscathed. Especially that time in the Vault with-

A throne of glass. A heart of darkness. A conflux of Vex minds converging into a singular being. A team whose faces and names he couldn't remember.

He inhaled sharply and shook his head to clear the memories. They weren't relevant to the current situation. "I know, believe me, but this isn't the first time I've done something like this."

The Ghost's eye flickered briefly. "Maybe not, but something about this doesn't feel right. I've got a bad feeling about this..."

Odin snorted. "You're a Ghost. How can you get a bad feeling about something?"

"You're the one who studies the Traveler, not me. If anyone knows, you should."

Odin merely shook his head. "It's not like I can take you apart, and you know how angry the Speaker got last time I tried to study a Ghost..."

"Didn't he threaten to exile you?"

"He did. Three times. He still doesn't like me. You would think restoring Light to the Traveler would put me in his good graces, but nooo."

"At least he couldn't exile you now if he tried, with the Vanguard on your side."

"True," Odin said, thinking back to his three friends. Once they were his mentors, helping to guide him on his fight against the Darkness. Since Odin had grown into his own as a fully fledged Guardian, they ceased to see him as a student and began to see him not only as an equal, but as a friend.

Zavala liked him because he had a tendency to get a job done, no matter the difficulty of the task. The House of Devils was shattered almost single-handedly by Odin after he slew both their Archon and Prime Servitor, eliminating 2/3rds of their leadership in two separate strikes.

Cayde-6 liked Odin because he was one of the few Guardians who knew how to let loose and relax. More than once Odin had helped Cayde-6 sneak out of the Vanguard room so they could gaze at the sky, talk, and drink.

Ikora Rey liked him because Odin was once under her tutelage as a Warlock. She watched him grow into the great practitioner of Light he was now. Even now they shared an odd friendly rivalry. One day they would study and research with each other, achieving breakthrough after breakthrough. The next day they would argue and debate hotly, their shouting matches being able to be heard all over the tower. Yet these arguments never broke the oath of camaraderie they shared.

Odin smiled softly as he reached over to touch the bond on his upper arm. It was different from other warlock bonds, one that was his own unique creation. He had spent a month straight creating it, slowly and meticulously transcribing the sigils of all those he held dear. All his friends, allies, and those who he aligned himself with were etched upon the circlet. And at its center was a pure shard of Odin's own light.

So long as Odin carried this bond he would never forget those he had fought and bled and died for.

"Hold on," the Ghost suddenly said, startling Odin out of his thoughts. "I've got something."

A smile crept upon Odin's face. "About time. I was starting to get bored."

He stared out into the inky blackness, eyes straining to see any hint of the incoming Vex. For a second he felt a twinge of something on his extra senses. A hint of worry perhaps, or a warning of something to come.

His expression flickered. His instincts never lied. Maybe he should head back to the Tower. Maybe he should-

A dozen Vex warships, each three kilometers long, dropped out of FTL around him.

There was a brief second where nothing was said, where Odin and his Ghost simply stared at the massive ships surrounding them. The silence seemed to pervade through the pocket of space they were in, spreading from beyond Odin's ship to the Vex. For a short time, nothing moved.

Then Odin shattered that silence with four words.

"That's not a patrol."

Like a pistol signalling the start of a race, everything moved at once. Silvery lights ran over the Vex ships as they accelerated towards Odin's ship, weapons and systems visibly lighting up and charging.

Within his ship, Muninn began shouting, "Move dammit! Move! Or we're dead!"

That was all the reason he needed. Odin slammed down on the afterburner and his ship jumped, shooting forward and slamming Odin back into his seat from the G-forces despite the inertial dampeners. He grit his teeth as he felt a rib crack, then heal itself almost immediately.

Lines of solar beams began screaming through the void around his ship, and Odin banked and spun 'down.' For a brief moment he wondered if the ships' weapons used the same mechanism on the Hobgoblin's Line Rifles before he filed that thought away for later when he wasn't being SHOT AT!

His ship shook and began a tumble as one of the beams scored a glancing hit on one of his engines. He cursed and tugged at the controls, barely managing to get it back in control while dodging what seemed like a dozen other shots. One of his hands danced across the controls and there was a brief shake as he launched a volley of ten missiles.

Programmed and remotely controlled by his Ghost, these missiles flew on random trajectories towards the Vex ships, who then promptly ignored them. Why wouldn't they? The missiles were tiny, and the Vex ships were huge. It was like a martian gnat trying to attack a Cabal Colossus in full armor. Indeed, the missiles splashed against the Vex shields, doing as much damage as if they were water balloons.

However, these missiles were never meant to cause permanent damage or harm to the Vex. As they hit, they exploded and released their cargo, a highly effective mixture of stolen Vex Mind Fluid and an infusion of highly volatile and specialized Light, similar to that used by some Striker Titans.

In other words, a starship sized Vex specialized flashbang/jammer.

The Vex ships were effectively blinded as the missiles hit. Their sensors corrupted, they could only "guess" on where Odin's ship was by using telemetry from the other Vex ships. Needless to say their accuracy was significantly lowered.

Odin had no intention of wasting the advantage.

"Hold onto something!" he shouted, pulling the sticks of his ship up into a climb towards a gap between three Vex ships. "I'm going to do something crazy!"

"What do you mean hold onto something?!" Muninn shouted back, "I don't have any arms! And how is this any more crazy than nor-"

The Ghost suddenly stopped. Its mind an incredibly powerful computer, it saw and comprehended what the Vex were doing. Why had they arranged like that. Why they had let the missiles hit them. Why they had arrived like this.

Vex don't think like humans do. They see the universe in four dimensions, seeing glimpses of the future, present, and past. They know some things which none should be able to know. The Gate Lord Qodron traveled to the Prison of Elders in the Reef because it knew that its future would help be secured if it snuffed out a light within it.

The Vex knew of Odin. He had destroyed their god, the Heart of the Black Garden. He had faced down their greatest Axis Minds and brought them low. He had fought them again and again and emerged victorious each time.

Yes, the Vex knew Odin. He was a threat towards their future. So he must be eliminated. But he couldn't be killed. No, that was risky. Temporary.

So instead they must simply remove him from the equation.

Muninn began to shout a warning, but although it had a mind of a supercomputer, Odin had a mind of flesh and blood and light. He could not react in time.

His ship passed between the Vex ships. Their hulls glowed brightly.

Space distorted and folded.

And Odin was gone.