(Please remember it's just a story, enjoy) Prologue: Le’riah had grown accustomed to the sulfur stench that runs rampant over the surface of Venus during the day long ago. She peered from behind the glowing haze of a spirit bloom cluster at a Vex patrol that was oddly accompanied by two Minotaurs. It perplexed Le’riah how strange this particular patrol was. The Vex, so meticulous in their methods would always send Goblins, Hobgoblins, and a Harpy or two on routine patrols. The fact that this patrol had two Minotaurs in tow could mean several things. The Vex may have evolved their combat strategy for this planet and could be beefing up their assault. Perhaps, this patrol is a glitch in the larger Vex world, a slight miscalculation by one of the millions of machines that caused a couple of extra troops to be dispersed with this patrol. It is hard to imagine that amongst all the calculations, across all space and time that the Vex have going on that there wouldn’t be a small mistake somewhere. Maybe, the Minotaurs are a roving patrol that moves around Ishtar Sink regulating the roaming patrols. Most likely, Le’riah was trying too hard to keep her mind off of what was really troubling her. She avoided the city as much as she could these days because the reminders there amplified the pain too much. The beeping whistle sound that materialized over her left shoulder was unmistakable. Her mind wandering caused her to be taken by surprise by a lowly Harpy. Without hesitation she blink teleported behind the Harpy and melted it into a heap of glowing green dust and metal shards with one round from her Thorn. The precision with which she disposed of the rest of the Vex would have caused fear had any of her fellow Guardians been there to bear witness. The hatred she fought with was so foul she was brought to tears once the lopsided excuse for a battle was over. The hatred, she couldn’t control the hatred, and it was the reason the she went from being a celebrated champion in the Iron Banner to having anger so vile the Speaker himself is rumored to have suspected Hive sorcery to be the root of her burden. They didn’t know anything, nobody did. Not the Speaker, not Lord Saladin, not even Ikora Rey knew what poisoned Le’riah’s heart. The amplification effect that her hatred has on her Voidwalker abilities would cause some to cry blasphemy. She can already imagine the Speaker upon her return. “Such power should not be wielded by Guardians of the Light.” Blah, blah. “Your path is wrong Le’riah.” “I don’t care anymore,” she whispered to herself while wiping the last of her tears away. All the politics and factions with their biased viewpoints and one dimensional traditions no longer held her captive. She would always protect and give her life for the city but no longer would she stand idly by and not make her presence felt. There were issues that needed to be addressed for the safety of the City, the Tower, and what’s left of the Traveler. They were the sort of issues that were better left unrevealed to the majority of those in the Tower. Le’riah calmly summoned her ghost to return to her ship. Despite all of her success as a Guardian she never invested much in her ship settling for a rare make that Holliday the Shipwright had given her. Le’riah would sit in orbit for hours on end sometimes drifting into the maddening thoughts that propel her anger. Other times she would sit and listen to the Old Russian opera music that she had stumbled upon on Earth. Listening repeatedly to the dark story of Aleko seemed to provide her only escape. She lowered the solar shield over her ship windows as her orbit approached the Sun side of Venus. She knew that she needed to be more active in the Tower but she did not know how to overcome the fear that the others in the Tower display towards her. Yet, on the other hand she is completely fed up with trying to partake in something that she does not seem welcome in. Enough wasting her downtime thinking about the things that she is trying to forget. She will let them all know soon enough, and then what she brings to the table will have to be accepted. Le’riah let her mind float away to where she wanted to be……..