[i]Chapter 23, The Maze Part 7[/i] “I work with children,” Sierra grumbled. The conversation died there due to the fighting. We had our hands full here, and I was sure those who had entered the other portal and those guarding the Sync Plates were having the same problem. Finally picking off the last Hobgoblin, I spotted a Minotaur charging straight at Drew as he tore through Goblins with his shotgun. As I ran to assist Drew, the Minotaur teleported from several meters away to right in front of the Titan, its thick arm already raised above its head. Just in time, Drew abandoned his shotgun and caught the arm as it swung down, then grabbed its gun arm and began pounding its legs with kicks. Reaching the desired distance a few meters behind Drew, I sprung up from the ground and propelled myself with Light, flipping over Drew and driving my feet straight into the Minotaur’s head like a battering ram striking a wall. Between Drew’s pressure and my impact, the Vex had to take a step back to stay balanced, and Drew used that moment to sweep its leg out from under it. The Minotaur and I landed on our backs at the same time, and Drew dove onto our opponent with lightning sparking off of his fists. It didn’t take much longer to clear the rest of the Vex until only the Gatekeeper and one Minotaur remained, waiting for us at the top of the staircase. This Gatekeeper was a Precursor; instead of the four large spines that the other had possessed, this one had a massive crest that matched that of the other Precursors, as well as fins protruding from the outermost ends of its chassis. I shot a few rounds at the unshielded Hydra before it fired back and I had to slide behind cover. The air around me shimmered with heat and energy as its blasts pounded the metal I had my back to. “Drew,” I called to the Titan, who was behind other cover, staring at the two Vex as if he was trying to gauge his odds of successfully charging. “Yeah bud?” the Exo looked to me. “You have enough in you for a Fist of Havoc?” I inquired. “Havoc is my middle name,” Drew boasted, raising a fist and making electricity run over it. “I half expected your middle name to be bada-“ Hunter began to comment, but cut off with a yelp and started muttering under his breath about a Hobgoblin. “I’ll distract them, then you’ll break them,” I gave Drew simple orders, then bolted from my hiding place. The Gatekeeper’s barrage followed on my heels, its heat pushing on my back. With a swing of my arm, I tossed a Shock Grenade towards the Minotaur, pressuring it closer to the Gatekeeper. A wild bellow sounded, and I tilted my head up to see Drew soaring high into the air. As the two blue eyes of the Vex turned on him, Drew stopped himself in the air with his Light. Hovering for only a moment while blue electricity started to course over his body, Drew suddenly shot down diagonally towards the Vex like a living lightning bolt, hitting with a burst of energy that disintegrated both targets. “Nice hit, Drew!” I cheered, beginning to walk up the stairs towards him, “Now let’s-!” I stumbled, stomach suddenly turning over and a faint ache forming over my body and mind. Drew hadn’t even gotten up from his landing position, and was now down on one knee and holding his head as if in pain. “We took care of ours, too!” Guardian’s Ghost declared. “Uuaaa,” Hunter’s groan came loud and clear immediately after, “I feel weird.” “What is it?” Warlock asked, apparently unaffected back on the other side of the portal. “A Vex hallucinogen or entheogen, maybe,” I answered sickly, making it up to Drew and trying to get him on his feet, “Could be a pathogen.” “In a language we can understand, please!” Hunter was clearly grouchy from whatever it was that was happening. Luckily, my body seemed unaffected aside from the nausea, so I was able to get Drew up despite the way he still silently cradled his head. The corners of my vision were darkening. “Sickness, basically,” I simplified, “Cellular or mental attacks.” “Shanks! I can hardly see!” Hunter complained, apparently having the exact same problems I was. “Well is there a cure?” Sierra pressured me to think. “No, there’s no cure,” I grabbed at the puzzle pieces in my mind, for some reason having trouble sorting through memories and old knowledge, “It’s not sickness, it’s time itself trying to correct us. That’s why you two aren’t affected.” “Light help us,” Warlock’s shock showed that she understood. “Dumb it down!” Sierra and Hunter snapped in sync. “We aren’t in the times we belong in, so we’re being erased to fix things,” I looked around as my vision steadily grew darker, spotting one bright spot within the triangular frame at the highest part of the platform with us. “Guardian, if it’s there, grab the Aegis,” I advised as I helped Drew walk towards the shield that had appeared before us. I reached out to it as we neared, but I could hardly see my arm through the seeping shadows in my eyes, and the parts of my armor and limb that I could make out didn’t seem very solid. My arm slipped into it, and as soon as I made contact, I felt the Light and power within it bind to my own Light. It felt like infinity; like it contained the power to shape the universe and would never run dry. It felt like another Guardian’s Light- Kabr’s, I imagined -but on a scale that related to the Traveler. Willing its energy into action as I would my own, pure, glowing white Light poured out of the Aegis like a fountain. Creating a sphere of sanctuary around Drew and I. My vision cleared, and I felt right in my own body again. “The Aegis worked,” I reported to the others, “Guardian, Hunter, are you alright?” Several moments of silence passed, and my tension grew with every second. “Yeah, uh, we’re good,” Hunter’s voice allowed me to relax, “Sorry, it looked like Guardian was going to answer…don’t give me that look, you know how you are.” Drew had straightened up next to me when the Aegis created the purified dome around us, but only now did I take the time to check on him. “And you, Drew?” I looked up at him, still worried about how he had seemed to be affected so much worse than I had. “Yeah, it felt like my head went through a blender and then I couldn’t move my body right,” he described, then rapped his knuckles on his helmet, “But you know me: my mind is a steel vault! Literally!” “That’s good, Drew,” I told him, glad he seemed to be back to normal, then looked over to the Gate that Sierra was holding open for us, “I guess we go back with the Aegis.” “You better hurry! A Conflux just appeared!” Warlock warned. Drew and I were on our way without another word. The protective bubble disappeared as soon as I started moving and stopped focusing on fueling it, and the edges of my vision grew dark again, but Drew and I were both able to run just fine this time. As soon as we made it through the portal we had entered from, my eyesight cleared. I looked down to see Sierra watching us from the Sync Plate, then looked to the left to see Guardian’s fireteam standing next to the other Gate. Guardian had the Aegis on his arm like I did. I had honestly expected at least one of them to disappear, but it seemed that the Aegis’ connection to the Vault allowed multiple to exist in one place. There was probably an Aegis for every single one of the infinite branches of time, just as there was likely a Vault for each. Warlock’s hand went up to point behind Guardian, Hunter, and the Gate they stood next to, and I followed their gazes to a Vex Conflux that had appeared before the steps that led up to the triangle of glass bars. Confluxes always meant Vex sacrifices to power some twisted engine, so I wasn’t surprised when a glowing orb and mist formed in the air at the top of the steps to mark the coming of more Vex units. “I’m getting sick of playing king of the hill,” Sierra grumbled, having joined us and seen that we would be keeping the Vex away from yet another asset. Ch23 Pt6: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/251014256/0/0 Ch23 Pt8: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/251014320/0/0 ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0