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I told you so.
The phrase echoed like a bell in the Exo’s mind, like it was all she could summon in that moment- one never ending second as all she feared finally came true. Vlairyn’s soul was mingled with feelings of rage and despair as she watched the Traveler rise higher and higher into the sky until she could no longer see it through the dense cloud cover of earth.
Her blue faceplates meshed into a look of pure disdain, and she dissolved from off of the rooftop, coming to rest within the HELM as particles of her transmat dissipated behind her. The HELMs remnants of past exploits lining the walls were no comfort to her now, only a heavy reminder of how earth got into this position in the first place, so vulnerable, like a child without its mother.
Her footsteps stopped at the long line of thick glass windows that served as her viewing point to the Traveler as it could be seen clear as day, rising from earth's atmosphere into the vast ocean of space and stars beyond.
A perfect place to watch the downfall of everything. Again.
She watched as the Kell of Darkness took control of the Warsats. Watched as they surrounded the white orb and shone brightly and, in that moment, she was ready. She was ready to finally have the light leave her, and to be left with whatever remained, no matter how broken. For anything could be better than the tinge of solar light within her that only served as a torturous reminder of Cayde.
Except nothing happened.
Nothing that she wanted anyways. When the blinding light cleared, and the glare vanished, it was the Warsats that lay in pieces, not her once infallible god, now fallen from her grace.
The rage and solar light within her simmered once more, only for an overwhelming sense of dread to overtake her as a dark shadow came from beyond earth.
The Witness and his dark fleet, their oppressive aura sent metaphorical chills down her spine and tugged at the light within her even more. Though not with the intent of using it, but of snuffing it out and leaving only a shell like it had done once before.
There would have been a time where Vlairyn would have taken that deal wholeheartedly. To have no connection to a being she neither loved nor trusted would have been peace enough, but much had happened since her rejection of the Paracausal beings on the top of the tower walls, and she had finally learned that the one true victor in any battle between the light and the dark had proven to be death.
Death consumed all.
Mortal beings and immortal Guardians alike would find themselves at the feet of death when Paracausal beings sought to consume each other like unsatiated black holes to the tiny specks of life that were so unfortunate to get caught in the crossfire.
That past realization had proven enough to rip Vlairyn out of commission for months, but she had been needed again by those she cared about and that was the only thing she couldn’t say no to. So, she used the light and dark in tandem, finishing what she had to only to make sure the remaining people she cared for didn’t get hurt. Because that’s what always happened when the light and the dark clashed their blades together, like they were setting up to do again before her very eyes.
She served neither Paracausal being, and both would feel her wrath as was her vow upon the tower walls. She would go to Neptune, and follow Rasputin's findings, but only in the interest of keeping her friends alive. She could care less about what happened to the Traveler and the light unless it aligned with her wishes.
Maybe a smidge of her wanted to see what Neptune held, and if it could free her of immortality. A lost city could hold untold amounts of knowledge after all. She doubted she would ever be so lucky, but while some would say “it never hurts to look”, to her it just seemed to stir the pot that was ready to overflow.