“Is this the artifact?” The voice came from a warlock, from the Praxic Order. The young cryptarch looked to Rahool, then answered. “Yes.” He nervously stated. The warlock approached it with two others as it resonated a dark energy. The warlock who spoke wanted a better look at the artifact, he moved closer than the others dared. “Where did you find it?” He asked. “A hunter found it floating around in space. Near the Jovians.” Rahool answered. The artifact wasn’t hive. It resonated with an energy that resembled signatures from the collapse. “Really, well it is a good thing you called us.” The warlock said. “What do these runes mean?” “We don’t know, but they predate humanity. We think it says something about cosmic balances but the cipher can’t really figure it out.” The younger cryptarch said. “We should call backup before we touch it.” One of the other warlocks suggested. “I agree.” The other remarked. “Cosmic balances…” The lead warlock reached out a shaky hand to touch the dark relic. A dark energy met his hand halfway. The warlock resisted it at first then lost it. “Wait! Don’t touch it!” The second warlock yelled as she drew her rifle. The lead grabbed the artifact and it began unleashing dark energies into him. Not long after, his light was gone and his ghost collapsed to the ground. Dead. The corrupted warlock turned and shot the warlock holding him at gunpoint without hesitation. Rahool and the other cryptarchs fled for cover while sounding the alarm. The warlock that was shot could not be revived. The corrupted walked through the facility with the dark artifact in one hand and a shotgun in the other. He killed everything in his path to the exit. The Vanguard had dispatched a dozen guardians to contain the archive. The corrupted threw a black nova bomb wiping them out. Nothing could stop his power. He was no guardian. He was an Aphelion now. He left the City in his jump ship. As he flew, it too became corrupted. “We need to warn the Vanguard, they’re here.” Rahool told the last remaining warlock. Moments after the assault Rahool and the Warlock made it back to the Tower. Flanking Zavala at his usual spot, they explained the terrible events at the archive. “You mean to tell me, one of our own did this?” Zavala demanded. He was on edge, no artifact to date could corrupt a guardian so easily. Especially one of the Praxic Order. They needed answers and now. “Get me everyone. And the Guardian, Now!” A ship flew in as guardians mingled and gossiped about the emergency in the Tower. It was being kept under wraps to keep everyone level headed, but to summon the hero of the Red and Taken War, was going to arouse suspicion. The ship came in late and a little damaged. The Guardian wasn’t exactly kind to his equipment. “Hey! Are you that Guardian? The one in the legends? So? Are they True?” A titan approached the guardian that was summoned. After a moment of reflection, the proud guardian simply says “yes.” “Yes? Wait, witch one?” “All of them.” The titan was in awe, he was in the presence of THE Guardian. But there was no time, the Guardian proceeded to the briefing. “Good, we’ve been waiting” Field Commander Sloane greeted her old friend and lead him to the conference. The Guardian was in the presence of some hotshots. Two Clans were in the briefing, this was serious. Zavala needed his best after what happened at the Archive. The Contenders were there, which was odd, they never leave the Crucible. Real junkeys for Shaxx and his war games. Then there was the Last Light. They are famed for being the last out in tough situations, the guys that get our back if things get too crazy. Hence the name, Last Light. “Good, we can finally start.” “Yeah, now that we’re done waiting for mister hero over there.” Axel was the Impatient type, that’s why the Contenders love to follow him. “Yeah, lets not forget that he’s the reason we are all still here.” Wolf was the sentimental type, she would defend her friends until the bitter end, the Guardian was no exception. “ENOUGH!” Zavala was clearly concerned. “We have a Skyshock event unfolding before us. You two need to set it aside!” This got everyone to stand up straight. Skyshock ment end of the world stuff. This hasn’t happened since the Collapse. “The guardian that attacked the Archive was corrupted by an artifact that predates the collapse. As he touched it, it consumed his light and replaced it with darkness.” Rahool saw it happen right in front of him. Everyone looked concerned. Like he just gave them a blue out of a purple. “Yes, I need you all to get any and all intel you can get on this. We’ve lost good people, we will not lose more until we find out what we are up against. Guardian, I need you to investigate the Shard of the Traveler, We have old contacts that have moved into the region, I need to know why.” [spoiler]This is the first of several different parts and acts. Follow a concept of the destiny 3 universe as I imagine it, with the help of existing lore. I hope you enjoyed the read, there will be much more to this. I'll try to keep a schedule going for uploads. Sorry if it's a wall of text or difficult to follow, I'm trying to maximize the space I'm given to minimize uploads. If you liked it, please follow the stryderosu tag to see the rest as I upload them. Thanks again for reading, see you Starside. -Stryder out[/spoiler]