Because Marduk only returned to The City once a year he and Ashur remained unaware of each other for over a decade. They met in a chance encounter while waiting to speak with Cayde-6, The Hunter Vanguard, in the Tower. As they stared, wide eyed, at the doppelganger across the table a deluge of memories washed over the men as they remembered who they had been. [i]As close as twins could be, Marduk and Ashur enlisted with the military before the collapse to fight in the war to wreak havoc on the darkness. They deployed together on mission after mission, each time returning victorious. Eventually, in command of their own strike teams, they had been sent on separate assignments and met their demise millions of miles apart.[/i] More than a century and a half later, identified as Guardians, they were raised from the dead to continue the fight. Individually, the brothers had risen through the ranks to become renowned hunters in their own right. Together again, and with their ghosts Shar'Ur and Enuma, they became nearly unstoppable. Years after their reunion, Marduk was sent to Mars to extract a fire team whose jumpships had been shot down by Cabal anti-air cannons. When he arrived a terrible sand storm had engulfed the downed jumpships and Marduk found the fire team sheltered in a nearby cave. Shar'Ur decided that the best thing to do was to move all of their food stores and spare jumpship parts into the cave and send their ship back into orbit to avoid potential damage. At the same time, Ashur found himself en route to Venus. In the ancient city of Lagash increased Vex activity had caught the attention of the vanguard. A gate had opened in the city center and something huge had come through. Four raiding parties sent to shut down the gate had gone missing. The orders from the Vanguard were simple: Ashur was to touch down outside of the city, make his way in on foot, find out what happened to the raiding parties, and to stop the Vex if possible. After days of waiting for the sand storm to die down, unaware that Ashur had received an assignment, Marduk received a garbled distress signal from Enuma. Shar'Ur cleaned up the message and they listened again: gunfire, followed by hasty footsteps and heavy breathing, gunfire again, and at the end, Ashur shouted “…VENUS…BEING HUNTED…GO NOW!” Marduk went cold, history was repeating itself. The stranded Guardians all nodded in agreement. They had supplies enough to last 3 weeks and the spare parts to repair their ships. They didn’t need Marduk to stay. Shar'Ur didn’t miss a beat, in a moments time the Ghost tracked the source of the signal to Lagash, activated their Jumpships’ transmat, and they sped off toward Venus. Ashur was being hunted throughout the city. He tried to get out but, after creating a diversion to let Enuma escape with the case they had found, the Vex had ringed him in. Hiding had always put a bad taste in his mouth but he was at a tactical disadvantage without his Ghost and there was nothing he could do about it. For every Harpy or Goblin he destroyed, two more materialized out of the gate. Every time he tried moving to another building he was greeted with a wall of metal men. He was the better shot but their endless advance caused him to run out of ammo synthesis packs. Hours passed and the Vex patrols seemed to quiet down. Ashur cursed himself. Of all the clichéd places he could have chosen to hide, he'd picked a ventilation shaft. Slowly, quietly, he flexed and stretched his muscles to avoid the aches and cramps of waiting in a confined space for an extended length of time. Then he heard the unmistakable thrumming of a jumpship as it neared, paused, and sped away. He inched toward the shaft's opening and peeked out. He startled as he came face to face with Shar'Ur. On the walkway below, Marduk scanned the area, his sniper rifle shouldered, scope pressed against his visor. Ashur climbed down and briefed Marduk on their situation. He told him of the lab where the mutilated guardians were found, how they had identified a Vex Chimera in the city center, and the disturbing message it was broadcasting: [i]"Anzu is eternal. Anzu is god. All will tremble. All will kneel."[/i] The brothers agreed that Lagash was lost. The Vex presence was too strong and the whole city would have to go. They scaled the tallest building at the edge of the main plaza to assess their options. Neither had seen a Chimera before but Enuma insisted the classification was correct. Shar'Ur confirmed that they were faced with the task of destroying a Chimera. Countless goblins and harpies had been fused to a Gatekeeper to form the twisted, towering mass of metal plates and writhing tentacles. A crude crown sat atop its massive head and a giant, golden, cloak had been draped around its body. Marduk produced a pack from beneath his cloak, set it down in front of his brother and threw open the flap. Ashur looked inside and was ecstatic to find the pack full of ammo and their modified Flux Charges. With proper placement, one charge was enough to bring down a Cabal Titan. An entire pack of charges was a thing of beauty and these were wired for remote detonation. Marduk and Ashur agreed that the best course of action was to plant the charges on the Gate. The explosion would destabilize the Vex portal and the resulting shockwave would destroy the Chimera and level the city. Shar'Ur would rendezvous with Enuma, wait for the signal to bring the Jumpships, and extract the twins. It was the only chance they had to escape the blast. The brothers crept up to the gate as planned and planted the charges at the base. Detonator in hand they turned to leave just as a dozen harpies materialized out of the gate. Marduk emptied his clip but only half of his shots found their target. The harpies movements were too erratic and at close range his sniper rifle was not the best choice. Ashur drew his shotgun and ended the harpy threat. Too late, the Vex in the plaza were aware of the guardian presence. As the Vex threatened to overtake them, the brothers called on The Light for protection but before they could bring the full force of the Traveler to bear the Chimeras giant head twisted around to face them and let out a terrible shriek. A mass of tentacles shot out from its body and slammed Ashur into a wall. Marduk tried to reach his brother but the tentacles filled his vision in every direction. The hunters awoke in the main plaza. Two minotaurs grabbed them by their arms, hoisted the brothers to their feet, and abruptly shoved them toward the Chimera. A thousand red eyes burned with the light of hell and their voices, like metal scraping metal, called out in unison. [i]"Anzu the almighty, lord of time, ruler of all that has been and all that will be demands that you kneel and offer tribute."[/i] Marduk turned to Ashur and pressed the detonator into his hand, then turned to face the Chimera. He removed his helmet and gloves, turned back to the chimera, spat on the ground and made the rudest gesture he could think of. A tentacle snaked out, wrapped itself around his torso, and lifted Marduk into the air to stare into the eye of the beast. The voices called out again. [i]"Insignificant creature, so full of pride, why won't you kneel before your god?”[/i] Marduk spat into the Chimeras eye and laughed again. Anzu shrieked, wrapped a second tentacle around his legs, tore Marduk in half, and dropped the lifeless body on the ground in front of Ashur. Again the voices called out. [i]"Anzu the almighty, lord of time, ruler of all that has been and all that will be demands that you kneel and offer tribute."[/i] Drenched in his brothers’ blood, Ashur closed his eyes, steadied his breathing and took a seat, cross legged, in front of the mad machine-god. Shar'Ur and Enuma waited beyond the edge of the city for a signal that never came. They heard the gunfire, heard the terrible shriek. They waited through the hours of silence that followed. When they heard the Chimera shriek again the Ghosts became concerned. Still they waited; the crate that Enuma had taken from the city was too precious to risk being recaptured by the Vex. They saw the flash, and the shockwave hit them before the sound of the gate ripping itself apart reached them. The Ghosts watched the ancient city of Lagash crumble to the ground. Before the dust could settle they rushed the jumpships to the heart of the city. Although a few tattered Vex remained at the edge of the city, the Chimera had been obliterated. The ghosts began the search for their guardians immediately. After an hour, Shar'Ur found a fragment of Marduk and began the reconstruction. Moments later Enuma located Ashur. When the brothers were whole again they laughed at the sight of each other. The blast from the collapsing gate had been too much for their armor to survive intact and they stood in the center of the destruction in tattered rags. Ashur nodded at his ghost. Enuma activated the Transmat and the crate they had extracted appeared on the ground. Ashur opened it and smiled. Inside sat four neat rows of deactivated Ghosts. Twenty-Four ghosts for twenty four missing guardians. When the last ghost had been reawakened Ashur and Marduk began gathering materials for a new set of armor. Once all the pieces had been collected Shar'Ur and Enuma began cobbling together a functional set of armor for their guardians. One by one, the reactivated ghosts found their guardians. Titan, Warlock, and Hunter alike gathered together in the center of the once great city of Lagash for a hard-earned meal and rest. In the morning, before heading back to The City, Marduk gathered all the Guardians together for some "words of wisdom." Ashur groaned and Marduk cleared his throat. "We've all been dead before. Shake it off!"