In all of my life, and yes that does include my newfound life as a guardian, I had never thought that there would be a moment where I would have to actually team up with… let alone fight alongside a former enemy of mine from my past. Adagio and her sisters were once sirens, creatures that were banished from Equestria to this world by Starswirl the Bearded… my Starswirl the Bearded. They had magic, but it was through their voice. Songs of hypnosis to try and have others under their spell.
Back in those days, we stopped them… and when they were defeated, the necklaces that they used as their source of power were broken. After that though, I had not seen them since. However, my mindset was not so much focused on the past as they were on the present. Ray told us about a place in the moon called The World’s Grave, which served as an archive for the hive. A library of knowledge which is said to contain everything that the hive know about earth. At least… that’s what Ray told us. He was relying on the memory of the Ghost we found last time we were here.
Let’s just hope that it leads us in the right direction. “We’re approaching the landing point. Prepare for transmat.” That was the cue for me to make sure I had everything I needed as I looked towards Adagio. It looked as if Twilight had given her some better armor and equipment than what she woke up with, but still kept the revolver that I originally gave her. I wanted to ask if she was ready… but after thinking it through, that just seemed like a redundant question.
We soon reached our destination as both Adagio and I landed on the moon’s surface at Archer’s Line. We were a bit of a ways from the terminal that Ray & I used in order to track down the missing guardian last time we were here. But that was not our focus right now. “Alright then… Now, according to that Ghost we found, the entrance to the World’s Grave is nearby, but an ancient Hive Knight is guarding the entrance. If we kill the knight, then I can get us inside.”
I looked towards Adagio for a moment, before looking in front of me again as a new marker appeared on my helmet. Again, I was tempted to ask if she was ready. But I had to remind myself that she would see it as a redundant question and instead began to proceed towards the marker with Adagio right next to me.
Like the last time I was here, Ray had both Adagio and I head towards the old colony base by the Anchor of Light. And just like last time, the Fallen were there. Opening fire at the two of us the moment that they saw us. Three dregs, two vandals and a shank overlooking them on a nearby ledge. Instinct kicked in as I conjured a solar grenade to throw at the dregs, burning them as I shot down each one with my Auto Rifle.
I was going to shoot the vandals, but Adagio beat me to it first. Shooting her hand cannon, she blew off the heads of the two vandals and smashed the shank into pieces with a palm filled with lightning in a form that was much different than that of Indigo when we were at the Devil’s Lair. But I can worry about that later.
Once we stepped foot through the base that the Fallen were in front of, the marker that Ray had placed was pointing towards what was a rather huge hole in the shelter and down the hill. From there, the two of us saw what I would think was the gateway towards where we needed to go.
It was also in that moment when I realized that it was Adagio’s first time actually seeing the hive with her own eyes. And something told me that she was… rather disgusted by them.
“What the devil is that…?”
“Those… are the Hive,” I heard Ray speak. “Beings of the Darkness… They invaded our colonies on the moon and proceeded to crack it open…”
“I think she meant that Hive specifically.” I let out a deep sigh.
“Well, that’s the Knight that guards the entrance but… Hang on, I don’t think it’s alone.” When I looked back towards the front, I could see that there were two knights standing guard at the entrance. But it was in that moment that I noticed that one of them was looking towards us and aiming it’s weapon… but not at me.
“Adagio, move-!”
The Knight began to fire off what looked like several projectiles that exploded once they made contact with something. I ran over to find cover, looking back to see if Adagio got out of there or not.
Adagio had beelined it opposite of me and ducked into a trench, glaring daggers at me. Or at least… it felt like that. I could not actually see her face because of the helmet that she had on, but it really did feel like that. “Ray, any particular advice on how to kill them!?”
“They seem to be heavily armored all around, except for their face,” My Ghost told us. “But be careful. Knights can create temporary shields in front of them that can block your shots.”
That… also made me think of something. Adagio didn’t seem to have a secondary weapon on her… something that would be rather important for her to keep on hand, especially in particular situations. “Ray, transmat my Gozen-C and give it to Adagio. She might need it more that I do right now.”
At first, Ray seemed to question my thinking… but moments later, he did what I asked and transmitted the sniper rifle for Adagio to use as well as some ammunition. “I’ll try to draw their attention. Think you can get a clear shot?”
“... Yes…” Adagio seemed to have heavily considered, but affirmed. After hearing that, I readied my auto rifle and jumped out of cover. Moving around both of the knights and opening fire so that way I can force the knights to activate their shields and fight me. Not even paying attention to Adagio or what she was about to do as I saw her aiming down the sights of the rifle I just gave her. A few seconds later, I heard the shot that she fired and watched it blow off the head of the first knight and had the lifeless hive turn into a pile of ash.
“What’d I tell you, Shimmer~?” Adagio remarked, before reloading. “I’m keeping this.”
“Go ahead,” I told her, moving out of the way of the second knight’s blasts. “I normally use a shotgun anyways.” Just as I said that, I began to fire off a couple of shells from the shotgun I had for my secondary so that way we could repeat the same procedure on how we defeated the last knight. Once it’s shield was down, Adagio fired again and annihilated the other knight as I looked back at her.
“Holy crap, you are much better at being a sniper then I am.” I admitted, watching Adagio come down from where she was at and meet me at the entryway. Upon going inside, we began to descend down a spiral pathway and the farther we went in, the more that we began to see what it actually looked like under the moon’s surface.
Instead of tunnels and pathways, everything underground was filled with open chambers and catacombs, with crystals that let out a small, yet chilling light around what we were seeing. “By the traveler… It’s a whole necropolis down here.”
“Yeah, necropolis… What’s that?” Adagio asked, deadpanning.
“A giant tomb…” I said. “One that’s the size of the entire moon…”
“Alright… is that some kind of shock or is this common knowledge?” Adagio asked.
“I think this came as a shock to all of us, myself included,” Ray then spoke. “No one really knew what was under the surface of the moon. We only know that there were small temples and shrines that the hive have created, but nothing on this big of a scale.”
“What do they want with earth?” Adagio questioned, more to herself than to Ray. It was a question that I asked myself as well, but we did not have the time to really think of an answer for it right now. Especially since the Hive realized that we were here.
This time around, there was only a single knight… but it was accompanied by three to four hive acolytes and a Hive Wizard in the far back of the current chamber we were in. I had to quickly explain to her how to defeat the Acolytes and the Wizard in the back of the room as they began to fire at us. When one of them got too close, I smacked them with a Scorching hand as they turned into smoke before focusing on some of the others.
First things first, we had to take care of the acolytes while staying out of the way of the knight’s own attacks and the barrage of arcane bolts from the wizard. Next came the knight as we followed the same strategy that we did just a few minutes ago. Lastly came the wizard, which was the trickiest since not only did it blast us with arcane bolts and have a solar shield around itself, but it could easily fly out of the way of Adagio’s sniper and conjure up a cloud of poison if we got too close.
Given how I had already used both my grenade and my Scorch attack already, I decided to do something else in order to take down the shield of the wizard. Which was executing my super. Conjuring up all the power I had, fire began to burn around me and what looked like solar wings began to form on my back as I used it to throw a few grenades at once in order to destroy the wizards shield and causing it to stagger. Allowing for Adagio to line up her next shot and firing at the wizard as it let out a deathly screech before becoming a pile of ash.
After taking them down, my Radiance form did not last much longer as the flames I had all around me soon diminished a few seconds later. However, we did not have time to catch our breath as a hive tombship randomly appeared out of nowhere, dropping down more hive for us to fight as I tossed some extra ammo over to Adagio. However, it was as we were fighting that we saw what looked like a floating rock expand outward. An eye of void like energy staring directly at us.
“Find cover! It’s a shrieker!!”
“Wha-?” I barely had time to ask as missiles of void energy began to bombard our current location. However, unlike the attacks from a wizard, these ones followed us to the point where they exploded upon coming into contact with something. “Ray, what the hell is that!?”
“Hive Shrieker… They’re sentries of hive void energy. If we’re seeing one now, then we must be getting close to what we’re looking for,” Oh right… the Knight that holds the key to the world’s grave. “The two of you need to defeat that shrieker from long range and behind cover.”
“What the hell are we even supposed to shoot?!” I asked, more void blasts exploding in front of me as the shrieker kept on firing at us.
“The eye in the center is its weak point. Any shots to its shell will just bounce off.” My ghost told the two of us as I tried to aim at it and open fire while behind cover. Drawing it’s attention so Adagio can pin it down with sniper fire. Even though the shrieker did draw it’s attention away from me to try and fire it’s blasts towards Adagio, the siren was behind some rather sturdy cover as I fired at the shrieker to get it’s attention again.
However, before I could fire anymore, I heard a click and was forced to have to reload my weapon while the shrieker was unleashing another series of void blasts. But before I could be able to open fire, I heard one last shot from Adagio’s rifle as the shell of the shrieker began to drop to the ground. It’s core setting off a huge explosion before fading away and clearing the path for us.
“Nice shot.”
Adagio herself just ignored my comment, and just proceeded forward as I caught up with her. We moved out of the area in here that was called the ‘Hall of Wisdom’ and now began to step foot in another section of the Hive’s necropolis down here. One that had the unsettling name of ‘The Circle of Bones’.
“Alright… I’m picking up traces of the knight not far off on the right hand side up ahead. Once we kill it, we can get the key and head straight to the grave,” Ray told us… before clarifying one small thing. “The world’s grave I mean, not ours.”
Duly noted. After making sure that I had enough ammo for my weapons, I turned towards Adagio. “Are you running low on any ammunition or are you good for right now?”
“I’m fine, Shimmer.” Adagio all but glowered. “I did grab my own ammunition before coming here. I’m not a fool.”
“I understand that,” I told her, putting away some of the ammo I had taken out for her and saving it for later. “I just thought that you needed some more considering the amount of hive that we had already faced so far. I don’t think either of us want to get in a situation where we’re completely out.”
All Adagio did was just let out a deep sigh as she walked past me and towards the location that Ray had marked for us. Unlike some of the area’s that we had been before where the hive were in an open space, the knight was in a part of the Circle of Bones which reminded me of a colosseum from ancient times.
Upon finding the knight that we were looking for, the two of us realized that he wasn’t exactly by himself. A few acolytes were circling the path around where he was, leaving the two of us to have to take them out first before focusing on the knight that had our key. And this one had a name that appeared on my visor.
Kranox, the Graven. It’s outer appearance didn’t exactly look as different as some of the other knights that Adagio and I have dealt with, but it was a bit taller than the others. Surely, for someone who’s supposed to be their ‘keeper of secrets’, it did not look that foreboding if I were completely honest with myself.
The knight first focused it’s fire on Adagio as she tried to fire around the knight’s head with her hand cannon. Only for Kranox to activate it’s shield to deflect the bullets as it focused its attention on Adagio.
“Why’s it so fixated on me!?” Adagio screamed as she backed away from the knight and looked for cover as she attempted to suppress the knight’s advanced with a blind barrage.
“Hang on! I’ll try to get it’s attention!!” I told her, grabbing my shotgun as I threw out my grenade. The solar grenade I threw out stook to the knight’s armor before exploding as it began to turn itself around and look towards me. As it charged, I aimed my shotgun and fired off two shells, causing it to stagger and glare at me. Not even paying attention to Adagio now. “There! Now’s your chance-!”
Before she had a chance to finish, Adagio fired a round from her sniper rifle as it went through the back of the Hive’s head. However, that didn’t exactly finish the job. Before I even let the knight think about turning back around to shoot at Adagio, I fired off another shell to get it’s attention again. Chipping away as some of the armor around its body as I had it chase me around the ring and backed me up close to a wall. Setting up another shot for my partner to make. And just as it’s open, Adagio took her shot, causing the knight to crumple under the force and damage.
I let out a deep breath, personally relieved that the ordeal was over. But it was as the knight crumbled that a couple of things rolled towards Adagio’s feet. One looked like that of an uncommon engram, meaning that she had obtained some new equipment… but the other looked to be that of a green orb that was pulsing. “Ray, is that what we’re looking for?”
“Based off of the readings… Yes, that’s the key! I know where we need to go now,” I picked up the orb and let Ray transmat it because it was highly possible that we were going to need it later. But we now also got what appeared to be a new set of coordinates too. Without taking a moment to stop what we were doing, both Adagio and I set off towards the next destination that we needed to reach.
After facing off several Hive that tried to attack us on our route, there were a set of giant doors that blocked our path. But, the moment that Ray transmitted the key into my hand, the orb began to float on its own. Shoving itself into the door as it split apart for us and presented the way forward. Even though some of the tunnels were crawling with thrall no matter where we looked.
Eventually, we found what we were looking for. Yet, there were several knights and acolytes that looked to have been… worshipping or something like that which we needed to take down first. “Ray, get out my launcher. We’re in a hurry and I don’t think we want to waste anymore time with these guys.”
My ghost… actually seemed to agree with me on that as he transmitted my Rocket Launcher. Aiming at the space in between the first two knights, I pulled the trigger. Launching the rocket as the blast desecrated the knights that were in the room. Quickly, I got my Auto Rifle out afterwards in order to take the acolytes down and speed up the process as I sent out Ray to scan the Grave.
“Let’s see… Oh wow… There’s a LOT of information here…” Ray replied back as we turned around. “Luckily, I don’t think the Hive know we’re here… I’ll take what I can, but there’s something else I’m picking up not far from here. It looks like… some kind of holo-journal.”
“I don’t care unless it’s Aria’s.” Adagio voiced her frustration.
“Sunset, could you go pick it up? If we take the journal back to your ship, we can be able to find what’s inside it.” For a moment, I was a bit puzzled since I thought that Ray could do that. Then I realized that he was still working on the present task at hand, leading me to let out a sigh as I went over to what he was talking about. It looked like a metal kind of recording device, a simple one… though, there was something that made this one stand out.
It had the symbol of the red pendants. The same ones that Adagio and her sisters used back at the Battle of the Bands all those years ago. “Adagio… I think I found something. And I think it’s Aria’s.”
Ocean of Storms, Orbit
After getting what we came for and also finding something else that was rather important, Ray brought us back up to my ship in orbit. But we weren’t going back to the tower just yet. Instead, Ray was trying to see if there was a way to bypass the security protocols that were on the holo-journal that we found. If there was something from Aria that was inside that journal, then we were going to get it out so Adagio could hear it.
While he was trying to figure that out though, I watched as Adagio had her ghost out… which got me to ask her something. “So Adagio… I’ve been meaning to ask… have you thought of a name for your ghost?”
For a moment, Adagio paused with what she was doing… before looking back at me and just giving me a small shrug. “Why? It doesn’t speak and stays far away from… well, everything.”
“Well, calling it Ghost is like calling a pet dog that you have ‘dog’. It’s generic and some guardians think that it… adds a bit of a personal touch to it,” I explained to her, looking at Ray for a short moment… before sighing as I looked back at Adagio. “I… named Ray after someone I miss back home. My-”
“Oh boohoo, is the little Sunset homesick?” Adagio mocked, her annoyance apparent. “Save it. I don’t want a personal touch on a machine.”
“-father.” I finally finished saying. “I’m not homesick… but since I named Ray after my father, Solar Ray, to me it means that I can still remember my home even though we can’t be there. My Ghost reminds me of my father… so that’s why I named it after him. And-”
“I hate to interrupt…” We both heard Ray as we turned to see what was going on with him. “But I will need Adagio’s help… It appears that your sister put a password on the holo-journal. I’ve tried decrypting it a few times, but I haven’t had any progress. The only hint I’ve gotten though has been ‘the mother siren’.”
Adagio narrowed her eyes. “Scylla Daze.” At first, I raised my eyebrow to that, curious as to what it meant… but a few seconds later.
“... We’re in. It’s open now,” Ray told us. “There’s only one recording on here. Should I play it?” There was a small pause in the room… but after a bit, my ghost then said something else. “I’m going to just guess that the silence in the room is a yes then. Playing the recording…”
Around the time I heard him beginning to play the recording, we both now heard a different voice. It sounded… like Aria. However, the pitch of her voice sounded more dreary than before. “For those who find this, take this as a warning… a sign of things to come. Like you, I was a guardian. Filled with as much power as my pride could bear. I was with several others on the day that I tried to reclaim this moon… but now, I’m alone. The humans that were once alive… the guardians I had to trust as my comrades are gone. We all thought that we could send the hive screaming back into the depths of the hellmouth. We thought that together, we were invincible
Oh how wrong we were… For that was when we came face to face with what was true terror. The Hive Prince himself… Crota. He and his armies slaughtered my comrades one by one and when it came to me, I thought that he would have me face the same fate. However… what happened to me was far worse. That monster ripped all the power that I had out of my very being… and stole my sight. The same power that I swore to use to find my two sisters again was taken from me… and now, I don’t think I can be able to see them in person anymore.
Years after this, I had been forced to survive in the tunnel deep below the moon… But as of now, I have an opportunity to get out of this forsaken place. And I must hurry… Crota and his armies have their sights set on earth. I must warn them of what it coming before it is too late.
To the ones who were able to give me this chance… I want to give you my thanks. You are such a brave light… When we meet, I will help you prepare yourself for what comes next. And to my sisters… stay strong. If I can be able to see you again and to hear your voice… then it can help me feel some kind of joy amidst all this pain. This is Aria Blaze… and I hope you find me soon. Because until we find Crota, we’re all just water racing down the drain.”
The message then ceased as I looked back to Adagio. She seemed… shocked by everything that she had just heard right now. However, the name that we heard… Crota. That sent shivers down my spine. If this prince was able to strip a guardian of their light… especially one such as Aria… I honestly couldn’t even think about how we’re suppose to beat a foe like that.
However, I didn’t have time in order to comprehend what I just heard. Because a few seconds later, Ray got a message from Twilight at the tower telling us to come back immediately. When I asked why, Ray only had one answer for me.
Twilight had found Aria. And she was at the tower.