Kabr did not sleep well. He was visited many times by his dreams. He could not tell if they were a forewarning or just his previous dreams but with the added sensory context of physically being in the Vault. Praedyth and Preus were on their sniper rifles, still looking at the temple and speaking in a low whisper. Brale was admiring his newly configured shotgun; Praedyth had worked her magic on it but Brale could not yet test the results. Kelvin stood by Brale, admiring his newly updated sparrow. Apparently, Brale had sneaked a Praetorian Void torch hammer at the gate while everyone was staring at the Praetorian’s armor. Just like a Hunter to sneak away for a prize. Brale had used the Void fusion core to boost the output of Kelvin’s sparrow…now the rest would struggle to keep up with Kelvin. Brale - That should help your fat ass keep up with us. Praedyth - Be careful Kelvin, I’m not sure I trust a sparrow engine that was hot-wired by a Hunter…would you like me to check his handy work…make sure the thing won’t overload and explode? Kelvin - No thanks. I’ll still take it slow for now, I’m not into speed like Brale is. Kabr noticed that Pahanin was off to the side, not conspiring with this fellow guardians. Kabr - Do you not require companionship? Pahanin - Do you? Kabr - No. I just assumed all Hunters enjoyed sitting around and talking. Every Hunter I have encountered has been more like Brale. Pahanin - I prefer to lone wolf. Plus I’m still trying to figure out your angle. Kabr - My angle? Pahanin - You know more about this place then you are letting on. Kabr - Perhaps. Did you want to share what your business was at the Endless Steps? Pahanin - No. Kabr - Very well. I think it is time we discussed the next part of our excursion with our fellow guardians. Kabr walked over and gathered the guardians around. He turned to Preus and Praedyth and asked for a status report on the temple. Preus - It is fairly symmetrical. There is a middle section that has stairs leading down to a center section, and an upper section with what appears to be a massive Vex door behind it. The right and left sections lead up and back to the far wall. The entire temple appears to be carved out of the cave wall. Kabr - Anything worth noting? Preus - Yes, there are strange alcoves spread around the temple, and a strange construct in the middle front area of the temple. Kabr - Show me. Preus grabbed his sniper rifle and handed it to Kabr. When Kabr grabbed the rifle he was amazed at how light it was, how well balanced, and how easily he could sight it in. Praedyth was indeed very skilled. Preus pointed to a location on the temple, and Kabr focused on it. It looked familiar. A sudden flash of an image appeared in Kabr mind…the singing yellow suns. Kabr - And the construct? Preus - Right in front of us. This construct also looked familiar. Kabr had seen them on Venus. Pahanin - That is a Vex sacrifice conflux. Brale - A what? Pahanin - We gave it that name, I’m not actually sure what it does. Vex approach it and when they get within a close range the conflux glows white and absorbs the Vex. Preus - That was my conclusion as well. My father has shown me the ritual on Venus. Brale - So the Vex kill themselves on that…isn’t that a good thing? Preus - Not really, the conflux gains strength with each sacrifice, and the Vex become more aware of its presence. It can then call more Vex to it, and once the conflux reaches critical mass it will kill any organic beings in its proximity. Pahanin - We have no way of knowing how many Vex are down here. And we also do not know where the Gorgons or Templar reside. Kelvin - That door in the back is massive, something equally big must travel through it. Pahanin’s Ghost - Not necessarily, since Vex tend to prefer teleportation. Kelvin - It might not have always been this way. Pahanin’s Ghost - That is equally hard to discern. It is hard to infer anything that relies on a past or a passage of time since time has no constant inside the Vault. It is hard to say “in the past” since Atheon could travel backward or forward through time. In fact, we do not know how or when the Vault got here. Brale - Well I’d guess this emperor Atheon built it. Pahanin’s Ghost - We cannot know for sure, for the Vault appears to shatter the ideas of space-time. The Vault itself does not follow a defined timeline. Because of this, it is difficult to comprehend events here. Atheon can undo events, yet the events must occur for Atheon to undo them. And if Atheon can only change events that occur in the Vault it stands to reason that there was a point when the Vault was built, yet there is no way to determine when that was as the Vault exists beyond the normal ideas of beginning and end. Brale - My head hurts. Preus - Chicken or the egg. Kelvin - What? Pahanin - Preus is saying it is a paradox. You cannot have an egg without a chicken to lay it, and you cannot have a chicken unless it came from an egg. There is no way to say what came first without accepting some limitations/explanations on evolution and mutation. Brale - Can we just stick to shooting things? Kabr - Ok, we must travel across. Given there is no easy way to return, I feel obliged to leave someone on this side of the well. Pahanin, you shall stay. Pahanin began to object, but decided to keep his mouth shut. He had brought a special toy that made sense he stay on this side. In combat, ammo is always a problem, but his Icebreaker could provide long-range support without concern of running low on ammo. The Warlocks could revive themselves, Kelvin had a powerful Blessing of Light that he could use to protect the others, and Brale needed to itch his trigger finger. Pahanin knew he was the best option to stay behind, but he was still concerned for Kabr’s state of mind. Kabr - We jump across and take defensive positions around the conflux…nothing gets to it. Praedyth - I wish to have my son close to me so I can watch him and make sure he doesn’t do anything reckless, we will cover the right side. Kabr - Very well, we shall cover the middle and left. Pahanin, hit any long range targets or targets of opportunity, and make sure to keep an eye on the conflux in case any Vex try to teleport to it. Pahanin - Done. [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/100607273]Links to the 16 chapters...[/url]