[Io]
Void dropped out of transmat in a crackle of blue light, boots biting into Io's dust.
He moved.
A blur of motion. A streak of Arc. He cut across the crater rims and broken rock, using the terrain like a staircase. Obsidian floated close, scanning, then tightening his orbit when the signal spiked.
He crested a ridge and saw Asher Mir down in the basin, surrounded by a clutter of equipment. Holograms hovered over the rock like pale ghosts. Awoken glyphs. Vex schematics. Old records and newer ones stitched together in a way that only made sense to a Warlock.
Asher didn't look up.
He was muttering to himself, lips moving like he was chewing through the data.
Void landed on the rim with a soft crunch of dust and called out.
"Asher."
The Warlock's shoulders twitched. He didn't spin around, didn't jump. He just exhaled like he'd been waiting for the sound to confirm reality.
"It's good you're finally here," Asher said, voice dry. Then he laughed, sharp and sudden, a little too pleased with himself.
Void slid down into the basin and stopped beside the holograms, eyes flicking over the records fast.
"Where," Void said. "You said you found a dead Gate Lord."
Asher's grin widened.
Asher tapped a projection, and a new set of files unfolded, layered and dense.
"A few hundred years back," Asher began, and his tone shifted. "A Vex incursion occurred. Not here. Not on Venus. Not even on Mars. It happened in Awoken space."
Void's eyes narrowed. "Keep going."
Asher continued anyway, pacing his words like he enjoyed hearing them.
"The Queen's Guard responded. Awoken corsairs. Mercenaries. You can imagine the usual mess.t."
Void's jaw tightened. "And?"
Asher's eyes glinted. He flicked his fingers, and the hologram shifted again.
"During that incursion, a Gate Lord appeared."
Void leaned in.
Asher's voice dipped, almost reverent despite himself.
"And that Gate Lord did not leave."
Void stared at him. "You're telling me the Awoken captured it."
Asher's smile returned. "I'm telling you the Gate Lord was subdued, disabled, and recovered."
Void clicked his tongue. "Get to the point. Who has it?"
Asher didn't answer immediately. He turned his head slightly, like he was listening to how impatient Void had become.
Then he spoke, slow and deliberate.
"There is only one person in the Awoken realms who could have done that."
Void's breath steadied.
His eyes flicked once, and a name came to mind. The only one that could've been responsible for such a feat.
"Mara Sov."
Asher nodded like he'd been waiting for Void to say it out loud.
"Yes," Asher said. "The Queen. With her power. Her… authority. She subdued the Gate Lord within a fraction of a second, according to the record. Not with her Techeun's. Not with a weapon. Alone."
Void's mind started moving.
Fast.
In the original flow, Mara Sov had asked the Guardian to hunt a Gate Lord for its key. She acted like it was some rare thing, some hard prize that needed blood and effort and time.
But if she had already captured one in the past…
Void's eyes hardened.
Asher watched him think and didn't interrupt.
Void's thoughts echoed in his mind
'In the game… she knew the Gate Lord key would open the path.'
But that didn't make sense. There was no way to know that the Gate Lord had the key.
Unless.
'The only way she could know is if she already found the key once.'
Void's gaze shifted.
He looked past the data, past the projections, like he could see the Reef itself from here.
Void's lips pressed into a line. Void exhaled through his nose.
"If she studied it," Void said, "then she knows what it does."
Asher nodded, satisfied. "And if she knows what it does, then she knows it is valuable. Which means it will not be given freely."
Void's eyes flicked back to Asher.
"So we have a chance," Void said. "Not to find a Gate Lord. To retrieve one."
Asher raised a finger, as if he was about to lecture. "Retrieving anything from the Awoken is—"
"Almost impossible," Void finished. "I know."
Asher's mouth twitched. "Correct. And you are not Awoken. You are not Corsair. You are not in their court. You are the kind of outsider they smile at while calculating what you will cost them."
Void nodded once, already accepting that.
Asher continued, voice sharp again.
"And for the record, I have not answered their summons in… a very long time. If you imagine I can walk into their realm and ask nicely, you are delusional."
Void didn't even look offended.
He just stared at the holograms until his thoughts snapped into place.
'What leverage do I have?'
'What tie existed between him and them that wasn't just politics and fragile goodwill?'
The City had nothing the Awoken wanted. Not in the short term. Not in a way that mattered.
But there was something else.
Something older. Something that had bound the Reef and the City together.
Void's eyes flashed with recognition.
'The Great Ahamkara Hunt.'
Void turned away from the holograms as if the decision had been made in a single breath.
Asher frowned. "Where are you going?"
Void didn't answer immediately. Then he looked back over his shoulder.
"I'm thinking," Void said.
Asher's eyes narrowed. "That is not an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting; it's best if you don't know what I'll do next," Void replied. His tone was calm, but there was a new edge in it, like his mind had already left the crater.
Asher scoffed. "And what, you want me to wish you luck?"
Void's lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"Yeah," he said. "Wish me luck."
Asher shook his head like he couldn't decide if Void was insane or brilliant.
Void didn't wait for a response.
He flickered.
Lightning snapped around his frame, the world blurred, and he was gone, transmatting back to his ship.
-
Obsidian's light hovered in the cockpit as the jumpship powered up, engines humming.
Void settled into the seat.
"Alright," he muttered. "Mara Sov."
Zamyr's voice curled in his mind.
«Careful, O brother mine. This queen might not be easy to deal with.»
Void's eyes didn't soften.
"I know that, and more," he said, conjuring the memories of Mara Sov and Riven in his mind.
«This...interesting», Zamyr read through the memories, «Another Ahamkara.»
Void leaned forward, hand on the console as the ship's nose angled toward the stars.
"Worse. A living one."
"If the awoken queen really has a living Ahamkara. Shouldn't the city be alerted?" Obsidian flittered around.
"No." Void shook his head. "The City can neither help us with the Vex nor the Awoken. If anything, the moment we reveal that Awoken Queen has an Ahamkara, we lose all the cards in our hands."
Void sighed, "Or worse, we could jumpstart another conflict between the City and the Awoken."
"Right.." Obsidian shook his head, "In that case, you plan to bluff?"
"Sort of."
«And what if this Queen decides that she no longer cares? Decides that she would willingly wage the war to keep the Ahamkara bound to her?»
Void smiled. "That's where you come in."
«Me?»
A shrewd plan sprouted in Void's mind, and as Zamyr skimmed through his thoughts, the Ahamkara flashed a fanged grin.
«How utterly cunning, O brother mine.» He whispered back into Void's ears.
"Can you pull it off?" Void's brows furrowed.
«To conjure and maintain such a thing would cost power. It is possible, but it would consume everything I have. I would enter a slumber directly afterwards.»
Void tapped his finger on the deck, "Hmm. Is that the only way?"
Zamyr's voice softened. «To fool eyes of that calibre, this is the only choice. Even then, this Queen might not be so amicable afterwards.»
"If this is the only way, we'll do it. I'll worry about the rest."
Then the Jumpship shook and shot towards the stars, disappearing in a burst of energy.
-
A/N: Thank you for reading! I am back at it again, got some time to upload, and I'll continue uploading consistently! Was moving countries, so it was a big hassle.
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