<Yeah sorry, no pictures. Still don't have a new artbook. My bad. Anyway this is the quest that follows the [b]Searching the Archives[/b] strike. Prologue: [b]Ikora Rey[/b] - We've been meticulously analyzing the data you sent us as much as we can... but there's only so much we can do with a mere picture. Either way, we found the Mind. It's on Io, right in the middle of the Cradle. We don't know what it's doing, this is a good time to find out. Not Even the Light: You spawn on the ground, behind you is a large cliff. On top are the playable areas on Io. [b]Asher Mir[/b] - Assistant! Do you mind telling me what's going on? That Vex Mind is stirring up the Taken and there's not even a single Vex unit out here! [b]Ghost[/b] - We tracked it here all the way from Earth. We need to know what it's doing. [b]AM[/b] - Does that involve messing up EVERYTHING that I've wo- [static]! [b]G[/b] - Asher? Damn, signal's blocked. I swear this happens everytime. You walk forward and get halfway to the ruined structures in the center. [b]G[/b] - What are all of these markings on the ground? I feel like I've seen them before... like we've seen them before. A Taken rift appears in the sky above the Cradle. [b]G[/b] - We have to hurry! You fight through numerous Taken and you get to the center of the Cradle. The Archival Mind is already fighting the Taken, one swipe of the sword killing 4 at once. After it's done, it walks over to you. It speaks in a voice not dissimilar to the Warden Eternal's voice from Halo 5. [b]Archival Mind[/b] - Can you trust me? [b]G[/b] - You tried to kill us on Earth and you're asking us if you can trust us? [b]A [/b]- I need to show you something, also the war in Antarctica had me on edge. I found something there but I wasn't done with it. This is the other method. [b]G[/b] - Fine, just don't kill us. [b]A[/b] - Not in my plans today. Follow me. You walk to the very center of the Cradle. Right in the middle is a Teleporter. The Mind steps in. [b]G[/b] - I guess we'll follow... You go into the portal and you find yourself on a small platform overlooking the entire playable space on Io and the Cradle. [b]G[/b] - Woah... [b]A[/b] - Indeed. This is a good way to make sure those Taken and their general annoyance doesn't make it here. [b]G[/b] - What are you? Every other Vex Mind we fought didn't talk, they didn't go to weird places, they just stood in a select spot and shot at us if we got close. [b]A[/b] - I am an amalgamation of Light, Vex, and a dark entity responsible for bringing us all to our knees. You call it the Darkness. [b]G[/b] - How? What? Where? [b]A[/b] - I'll show you... The Mind pulls up a hologram, it looks like a Warlock. It expands to show the surroundings. It moves everytime it talks. [b]A[/b] - 2 years ago, Guardians returned to the inner solar system. They spread out from Earth thanks to the destruction of the Heart of the Garden and hope that things will get better now that the Traveler started healing again. I went to Venus. I heard stories of the Vex Citadel, only from people that had been on it... the few that were still alive. I wanted to see that. When I landed I noticed a pool of this white fluid. We now call it Radiolarian Fluid. A Fallen Ketch came out of slipspace and shook the ruined city... half a building fell and I was unlucky enough to get cut by the shrapnel. My hand bled and yet like an idiot I still touched the Mind Fluid, I wasn't aware of its effects. [b]G[/b] - So that's how you started the transformation? [b]A[/b] - Yes. When Oryx arrived the Vex did something different. They changed their method of conversion. Instead of simply transforming my body, Radiolarian cells went directly to my brain. They were trying to copy my brain waves. They wanted me to live in a new body. The thing was, they didn't know what body they were going to put me in. I realized later that they changed tactics because they never saw my future. They couldn't. I was still a being of Light and I wasn't trapped in their simulations. I wasn't inside the Vault of Glass. [b]G[/b] - But what does Oryx have to do with this? [b]A[/b] - The Vex saw their future as their extinction. Oryx was powerful, and the Vex couldn't defeat him. They wanted to preserve as much as they could, and one of the ways to do that was to... "be nicer" to us. Unfortunately I was the only Guardian undergoing transformation at the time, but they did lure YOU in with Praedyth. Also, Oryx tried to take me. [b]G[/b] - He can't take Guardians... right? You were still a Guardian? [b]A[/b] - Yes I was. You see, Oryx never faced such beings of Light. Not even the first civilization he conquered had Ghosts and resurrection and things that the most recent Collapse produced. I was on Mars, I think it was because of the Vex conversion that he took me. Perhaps he knew that Light would negate it, but hoped that I was Vex enough. It didn't work. [b]G[/b] - Of course it didn't. Why did Oryx even try? [b]A[/b] - Like I said, he had never encountered our kind before. Eitherway, he sent me through a portal and I arrived in this "dark dimension". The entity inside was pissed that Oryx sent an "imperfect being" to its realm. IT circled me. Wondering how to proceed with this. IT rushed at me suddenly. To this day I'm not sure what it did. I just woke up back on Mars. [b]G[/b] - What? [b]A[/b] - It clearly had messed with my body though. My Vex parts glitched out and wouldn't follow the rest of my body. The Light I could visibly see pushing against those converted areas. I had a massive headache. Then it all stopped. I couldn't see the Light anymore, my Ghost who had been asking questions nonstop couldn't link with me anymore. She said I still had Light but she didn't even know how. I don't even know how. Nevertheless, the Vex parts eventually fixed themselves, it only took a few hours. It then went back to copying by brain. [b]G[/b] - So not even you know what happened? [b]A[/b] - No. When I left a week ago to finish the transformation I then had the slightest guess. The entity planted a part of itself in me. It kept it there. And despite my body being Vex, I noticed that this Radiolarian Fluid and all that it produced were corrupted. I analyzed it. It had the glow of the Light, the shape of the Vex, and the insides of an unknown. [b]G[/b] - The Darkness? [b]A[/b] - During transformation, the Vex settled on a Mind to put me as. It took the name and power of a recently deceased Mind, one destroyed in your incursion into the Forest. It had a different task. It was a keeper of the map of the Infinite Forest. My task is to research the Darkness. I found it... but I need to know more. I'm pulling thoughts from as many sources as possible but I don't have a connection to the Vex Collective, I'm corrupted. [b]G[/b] - So why come to the Cradle? [b]A[/b] - Because the Traveler never finished. Also these symbols... they weren't made by the Traveler, nor any species in the system right now. Wait... no... that's not right... Suddenly the Taken spawn on the platform. It's all Phalanxes. Have fun! [b]G[/b] - I thought you said the platform was safe! [b]A[/b] - The symbols! They were made by the fleet! [b]G[/b] - What fleet? [b]A[/b] - The pyramids! [b]G[/b] - The things that look suspiciously like you? The ones we found in the Archive? [b]A[/b] - Yes that's it! That's the Darkness, that's its minions! [b]G[/b] - I thought the Hive were its minions. [b]A[/b] - The Hive are one of few. There are the Hive, the Worms, and its closest followers. The latter inhabits these ships. They are the ones that caused the Collapse! [b]G[/b] - I thought the Darkness would be another Traveler. [b]A[/b] - Who says it isn't? These ships could hold so much more... one of them could very well be the same thing as the Traveler. Just... much bigger. [b]G[/b] - How big? [b]A[/b] - Big enough to kick dust off an entire planet. They're coming, warn EVERYONE. You're going to have to fight. The Traveler won't be able to save you this time. [b]G[/b] - Slow down! [b]A[/b] - I can't! You realize that this time, they're going to wipe us ALL out. They've never witnessed defeat like this in a millennia! Do you honestly think they're going to give us a chance this time? They- The Mind stops. [b]A[/b] - Titan, we have to go to Titan. [b]G[/b] - Why? [b]A[/b] - Because your friends will die if the Hive leave... and they've already crawled out of the Arcology. [b]G[/b] - How do you know? [b]A[/b] - A message came in just now, all channels. Your Deputy Commander requests backup. [b]G[/b] - I haven't gotten a thing. [b]A[/b] - My bad. The Mind creates a Vex gate at the edge of the platform. It then releases a wave of energy. Your radio crackles and the Mind turns. [b]A[/b] - I had to make sure nobody came in while I was talking and ruin the conversation. Now, come with me, slayer of Oryx. The quest step ends. Sorry if this wasn't as good as the strike. I just wanted to have a quest that actually explained something. And while Dynasty and O'Captain my Captain did... they kinda didn't. Considering the strike and the quest revolves around my character I wanted to make this the chance to explain the origins of it. There's a little bit more but that's in part 2. Also part 2 is going to have a lot more fighting. Another thing, if this in any way feels rushed, that's because it was. I had the whole thing planned out and then accidentally exited the tab... whoops. In the end, this is a summary... yeah there was a lot more. However, I'm glad to get the story part out of the way and on to the good part... fighting with a -blam!-ing npc.>