If you missed the last chapter of REEF MOB, you can find it [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/221976664/0/0]here[/url], or if you need to find a previous chapter, you can find them all in the [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/218618986?sort=0&page=0]Table of Contents[/url]. Please give a bump or leave a comment if you enjoy this and any other chapter! ***  Starlight is my mother, and Darkness, my father. In the wake of devastation, we built our new world amongst the wreckage of the old. We had all lost something, but we united under the common goal of survival. And that alliance has been fruitful – in time, we turned the grave where we were meant to die into a home, a refuge from the conflict between the Light and the Dark. But it was not to last. From the Battle of the Twilight Gap to the Wolves’ Rebellion, the Reef has known strife and war far longer than it ever knew peace. I hear my people’s cries for help, their suffering, their anger and hope. I desire to give them all they wish and more – but it would do no good. The threats to the Reef continue to accelerate, to multiply with every passing day, and in the few quiet moments alone I can find, I allow myself to feel the fear that our home is doomed. By one hand or another, I fear that the destruction of all we’ve built is inevitable. “Two minutes to landing, Your Grace,” the pilot says, and I nod lightly to confirm. [i]Variks said this creature is unlike any we’ve ever encountered[/i], I think coldly. [i]And it cannot be killed.[/i] A bad taste rises in the back of my throat as I think of our expanding roster of enemies. [i]They’re all the same, in the end. All believe they cannot be killed, cannot be defeated, that they are….special, in one way or another. But they have all fallen eventually. Just like Skolas shall. Just as this new creature shall. The end of peace, the end of our home, may be inevitable – but we will fight until our last breath to defend it, and bury our adversaries with us.[/i] I turn from watching the Reef slip past the window and face those from the Coven that I’ve chosen to accompany me, nodding to each in turn. [i]Shuro. Kalli. Sedia. Portia.[/i] They respectfully bow back, silent as always, though their thoughts affirm their allegiance. Shuro speaks for them in my mind, and I nod in agreement. “Prince Uldren’s reporting in, Your Grace,” one of my crew tells me. I peer into her mind to remember her name, to remember how long she’s been here – “Thank you, Roslyn,” I tell her, permitting a brief smile to grace my lips. “Inform him we’ll be arriving shortly.” Roslyn confirms the order and relays it back. [i]She’s so young[/i], I think with surprise. [i]Yet so loyal. She worked and prepared all her life to serve me on the Queen’s vessel – yet I can’t promise her safety. I can’t promise any of the Awoken what I tell them I can. Heavy is the burden of those who rule[/i], I think wearily, letting my face show no emotion. [i]Heavy are the hearts of those of us who must lie to protect our people, to look at the pride and honor of those who serve, and to know that at any moment it can all come crumbling down. This is the true mantle a Queen bears: to know that suffering is inevitable, that death is inevitable, but to lie and pretend for her people to give them hope to keep fighting. Which is why it must be I who first meets this creature who’s been brought to our home. Such is the mantle a Queen must bear.[/i] My ship touches down on the surface of Interamnia, and I turn to my Techeuns once more. They watch me quietly, concerned, having heard my internal strife, but I think calming thoughts to them and they fall in line behind me, ready to serve as always. I march from the bridge to the docking bay, my Guards joining the Witches as I lead the way out of the ship. Within minutes, I step out onto the dusty, forgotten surface of the old asteroid, looking around through the faceplate of my helmet. This outpost was yet another potential roost my brother’s Crows once thought could be used for their purposes – but like so many of his ideas, it fell through in the end. [i]Still, he is my responsibility[/i], I think as I see his ship leading a squadron of Crows down to the asteroid’s surface. [i]As are all who enter our realm.[/i] The Crows’ ships halt just above the surface, and project light down onto Interamnia. Out of the light descends a dark figure, a twisting, writhing mass of red tendrils surrounding him, pushing, poking and tearing at the invisible force that binds them. It falls slowly to meet us, the Crows’ ships cautiously watching its progress as a ketch sets down nearby. Variks and Paladin Zire join us on the surface, masks on and eyes wary as we all wait with bated breath to meet this creature. I step forward, the Techeuns tensing behind me – I halt them in my mind, calming them. [i]I do not fear this creature[/i], I think forcefully. As if it can detect I’m thinking about it, the creature raises its head and looks at me curiously. We take the moment to size each other up – my eyes rove over its dark and bloodied armor, the crimson skin, the wild eyes that seem to swallow the light around them – “What is its name?” I demand from it. “We have no name anymore,” it responds quietly, eyes roving over me and bouncing between the various forces guarding it. I look over my shoulder and nod to the Techeuns – Shuro steps forward, and I can hear her reaching into the creature’s mind – it feels the intrusion, writhing its neck and gritting its teeth as it struggles against the mental invasion – And then suddenly it smiles. Shuro takes an unconscious step back, warning me in my mind. [i]I cannot find its name, it’s….blocking me.[/i] I watch the creature shrewdly. “What does it wish us to call it?” The creature thinks a moment, then says finally: “We are SIVA.” I look to Variks, but can’t read what he’s thinking. [i]He spoke this name to me, long ago, during the Reef Wars. I paid it no mind at the time, just another potential threat, and we had enough of those back then. Still…[/i] I direct the Techeuns telepathically, and watch as they scroll through their own memories, looking, looking… Portia finds the answer first, feeding a directive, a compulsion, into my mind: [i]~ Consume Enhance Replicate ~ So the bane of the Iron Lords has returned…[/i] “Why has it come here?” “We didn’t come. We were brought.” I cast a quick glance to Variks, who nods to me knowingly, and I don’t need to read his mind to understand why he brought it here. “Then that is unfortunate for it.” “For [i]all[/i],” the creature adds menacingly. “So free us.” “And why would I let it go free?” “It wouldn’t be the first time,” the creature says with a wicked grin, and I feel a jolt. [i]It knows of us…. This tête à tête will go on forever,[/i] I think wearily. [i]It needs a demonstration that it is not the only power here.[/i] “Clear the asteroid,” I cooly order the assembled Guards and Corsairs. I feel looks, hear the questions in their minds, but push them down. [i]This is not the time to question the Queen. “Grace?”[/i] Variks asks, stepping forward. “Now,” I reply calmly, fixing him with a penetrating gaze. He nods obediently, and leads Zire back to their ketch. The Corsairs follow, and the Guards fall back to our ship. Looking up, I nod to the Crows, hearing my brother’s protestations in my head. I silence them with a quick headshake, and against their better judgment, they follow my orders. As the ships rise off the surface of Interamnia, the Crows obey my instructions and drop their forcefield. The creature, freed, lands lightly on the surface. Its face is unmasked, skin exposed to the vacuum, but it ignores this as though the lack of air and absolute cold don’t matter. I feel the slightest twinge of fear as it stands and turns to face me, but only a twinge – summoning my courage against it, I direct the Techeuns behind me as our eyes begin to glow – The creature just watches us silently, without fear, as the Techeuns and I begin our work, the energy gathering around us, a rift in space beginning to open – “Does it think it can bargain with us?!” I demand forcefully, my voice booming through my helmet. “Does it think it even has anything to bargain with?!” The creature simply stares, cocking its head to the side as it watches us. Knowing we must instill fear in order to slake our own, I work the energy around us feverishly, the waves moving through me and the Techeuns and back again, weaving, growing – The light of the Harbingers gathers around us as the creature continues to stare. The ships move further out of range as I hear their panic in my mind – I shove it down and work the energy more forcefully, our attack gaining mass, gaining power – The Harbingers grow in the vacuum above us, expanding, blinding – the ships scurry further away as the creature watches the growing balls of light with fascination, a hint of fear finally appearing in its eyes – [i]Enough[/i], I command the Techeuns, and the Harbingers start to shrink, the energy dissipating back into the pockets of space it was pulled from. “Does it understand now?” I ask darkly. The creature doesn’t answer, merely watching. “Take it,” I order the Crows, and the zero-point field hits the creature again, locking it inside. As it watches me through the field, I issue my next command for all assembled to hear: “Lock it away in the Prison of Elders. I never wish to see its face again.” The creature is borne away, the Crows ferrying it back into the Vestian Web. I march past the Techeuns onto the ship, eager to leave the cold of space and this creature behind. I can hear the thousands of questions reverberating through the minds of all assembled, and sigh wearily once more. [i]Heavy is the mantle of the Queen[/i], I think grimly. [i]But only I am strong enough to bear it.[/i]