Most Loyal

Deep in the heart of the Prison of Elders, Variks of House Judgment clutched a splinter of bone as he watched the solar system burn. The facility had been outfitted over the years with massive sensor grids slaved to arrays spread across the Reef. They gave…

Variks watched Petra's Corsairs march their latest prize into the cellblock: a gaggle of Ether-starved Dregs bearing the mark of the Scorned Barons. Nearby, Petra drummed her fingers along the hilt of her knife; her eyes glinted with envy. She held onto this…

After the Taken War, the Scorned Barons banded together in a time of weakness to become strong, to prey on anyone and anything that practiced the old Eliksni ways. They began with the one thing their people needed to survive: Ether. In a way, the Barons had…

In the Prison of Elders' security hub, Variks brooded. When the Great Machine woke, he had been sure he felt something deep within him stir. He had hoped it would give him answers, power, anything. All it did was remind him how far he had fallen. He slammed…

Variks hid beneath a bannerless cloak as he descended into Spider's lair. To wear the Judgment sigil in the Tangled Shore would be to invite death. Even with the Spider's blessing to pass, he would have been picked clean and docked two times over. The…

Variks had never seen the Vanguard Commander in person before. The images he'd seen were either candid shots from agents or images from co-opted surveillance that didn't reveal the man's true stature. Most of Zavala's "bulk," he realized, was the armor. He…

The light seemed to dance in blue over the horizon of Unknown Space, but all else was black. Tendrils seemed to grow with the light. Where they were reaching from or stretching toward, he could not comprehend. Fear gripped Variks's mind. The paths before him…

Petra called for not one, but two cells. Variks finished his Ether, considering. Perhaps Cayde had finally found Fikrul—and for that, Variks would need every drop of strength he could muster. His strides were long and slow as he allowed the Ether to course…

"Your Grace…" Variks couldn't help but use the title. Like a reflex. As he looked into the prince's eyes, he saw a fleeting shadow of darkness dance across their normal ethereal golden glow. Variks looked back to Petra. "Petra Venj… I—I do not understand."…

The explosion of Servitors snapped Variks away from the pull of the prince's words. He tried to move quickly, but one of his toes caught awkwardly on the grated catwalk, and he stumbled to the floor. He lifted his head to see the extraction Servitors lying…

Variks, ever the Loyal, did as Petra commanded: Access to the lowest cellblock was reserved strictly to the Warden and the Regent-Commander. Unfortunately, this meant that every menial operational task was left to him. Meal distribution. Waste disposal.…

Variks admired his masterpiece, the improvised Servitor chain that would finally reveal the secrets of his fanatical former friend. Unfortunately, Fikrul refused talk of the past, would speak only of the future. Or of Uldren, his Awoken "father," who…

Variks's experiment succeeded, but not how he expected. Ingestion of the Etheric concoction still resulted in Fallen death; it was not, by any means, a life-sustaining substance. It was, however, a life-GIVING substance. Though the dark Ether lingered like a…