"Okay Nova, I want you to come at me with everything you've got," James stated to his apprentice. Nova was taken in by James after her father died, she felt relatively happy after she'd mourned for a few days. It had been about six months since Charon died, and she didn't feel comfortable with calling James dad quite yet. Their relationship was a relatively happy one.

"Okay James," She replied pulling out her father's sword. This was their first real sparring match in a few days. James typically trained with her during the week like her dad did, afterward, he either made her lunch afterwards or they went out. Sometimes Cameron would train her with James or by herself. Cameron's skills were interesting to practice and learn, especially since she taught her the most powerful skills available to her. She could do a fist of havoc just as good as any titan could and use a ward of dawn just as well.

James pulled out his sword to meet his stepdaughter's, and the pair began to clash swords. "So when are you gonna ask her James?" She asked him.

"What?" He replied, and Nova attempted to disarm him ineffectively. James used a void clone to get to the other side of her. His blade met the other side of her hip, just barely touching the armor. "You know, asking me about when I'm going to ask my girlfriend to marry me as a distraction is kind of dishonorable," James remarked pulling the sword away from her hip.

"You know, using a nova shadow is also cheating James," Nova replied taking her sword and putting it in her scabbard around her hip.

James smiled slightly. "Well, why don't I teach you how to create a nova shadow?"

"Really!?" She replied excitedly.

"Yep, why don't we get started now, and once we're done we head down to Vintagi's for lunch?"

"Sounds fantastic! Where do we begin?"

"Well, why don't we start with getting the shadow created in the first place?" James replied placing the hilt of his sword around his hip. "So the first step in creating a nova shadow is deciding where you want to be after you've created it," James stated to her pointing behind her. "So for practice just focus the void particles in an area directly in front of you, like you're going to blink."

"Alright, sounds easy."

"It's way simpler than you'd think," James replied. "It's one of the rare occasions in which the thing is easier done than said."

"That's not a saying James," Nova replied focusing on an area less than a meter ahead of her. Her eyes were glowing the purple they usually did to indicate she was using her void vision.

"Okay, so now what you need to do next is start creating a void energy field around your body, one that perfectly encompasses your figure."

Nova began to create a void field around her, except for one problem, it was a sphere rather than a person. "You're getting there, try to make it as close to your body as possible. It needs to be mirror perfect," James said to her.

"That's a bit more challenging than it sounds," She said continuing to concentrate on the void field. The hemisphere of energy began to take a more defined shape, James could make out the figure of his stepdaughter out of the void.

"That's it, Nova, stay with it." He whispered not to break her concentration.

Nova continued focusing on the field around her as it became more defined by the second. She could almost feel the void brace her skin; it was cold. When it finally felt as if it had encompassed all of her Nova blinked to the area only a half meter away. She faced the odd void figure that met her. "Wow, it's almost like I'm looking in a mirror, you know if the mirror was just a shade of purple." She chuckled to herself. She stroked the chin of the odd thing that was in front of her. This being was a copy of her, but it couldn't feel, it couldn't move.

James smirked at her joke. "Alright, that should do for the day, what do you think?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I'm feeling a little tired," Nova replied. "And I'm a little hungry too,"

"Alrighty then, let's go get some burgers,"

"Sure, but before we go can I take a shower?"

"Go right ahead," James replied packing up his things and walking out of the training room with Nova. It was warm here; this was James's first summer in the Last City. The hot air cast through the tower plaza, people were out and about in different attire this time of year. Guardians still wore their armor and body glove, but the citizenry ditched their long pants and shirts for more comfortable shorts and t-shirts. This wasn't James's first summer, but it was for him being a guardian. James's previous life was one of adventure, heroism, and sacrifice. He was a member of the MDU, a combat operations unit comprised of the best soldiers in the world. It was there where he had met his girlfriend, Cameron. A beautiful titan with youthful tan skin, snow white hair, and ocean blue eyes.

"So James, where's Cameron?" She asked him wiping the sweat from her brow.

"She told me she was going out with Vel today for some lunch,"

"Oh, does Vel have anybody yet?"

"I don't know, Cameron would have a better idea than I would."

"I would have thought that being back for six months she would have gotten together with somebody."

"Well, some people are a bit hesitant to get with others," James replied unlocking the door to the apartment. The family of three bought the apartment next door and had it remodeled so that access was easier. They walled off the original door and made it accessible from the inside. James kept pretty much everything in their first apartment the same, the apartment that they had added on to their own had three bedrooms to tack on to their original two. As a benefit, it had some fairly large windows on one end since the home was a part of the corner of the tower. Nova's room was up a set of stairs and through a white door with a black knob.

She clicked it open and walked inside. James and Cameron let her decorate her room however she wanted. She had the photos of her and her parents on some shelves that she had built into the wall. Along with that, Nova had some of the books that her dad had owned in his personal library. Her walls were painted a gray color, and she had one of the art pieces she made for her mom hung up above her bed. She took off her armor and body glove and threw it on the bed and walked into the shower to bathe.

James took his armor off and put on some regular clothes. Just a pair of jeans a t-shirt and his 76 labeled jacket. Ghost floated out from him and over to the bookshelf, more specifically towards the collection of research notes that James had. Most of the cryptarchs of the city have read and based their theories off of James's research.

"It's kinda starting to get to that point with this one James," Ghost remarked looking at the newest book that James was writing in. James walked over to his robotic companion and started flipping through the pages.

"I suppose you're right; we should go buy another one when we get the chance." He replied gently placing the book down on his desk. In only six months James managed to fill up ten of the three hundred fifty-four page books. The old woman who ran the shop that sold them had passed away around January, and her grandson took the helm of the quaint little shop down Summerset Avenue. Grimoire was the name of the store that sold the books and James called the small notebooks after it. James made it a habit of having his notes published for all the city to read, the steady flow of income from something other than fighting was nice. The glimmer, however, wasn't the reason why James had his notes published. He wanted the city to have the knowledge of what existed in the outside world.

James hardly ever wanted or did anything for himself, humility and modesty were just a few of the traits that he had. He was the man who killed the heart of the Black Garden and the one who lead the team to kill Crota. Those were just a few of the many accomplishments that James had under his belt; he had done so much more than he would like to admit. And the things that he did admit to doing he brushed off as insignificant compared to someone else's achievements. Many people in the tower thought of James as some figure brought to them by the Traveler himself to save them, James, however, discredited the idea. He was no son of the Traveler.

Nova finally stepped out of the shower and started to dry herself off. She grabbed some regular clothes out of her closet and slipped into them. She stopped for a moment and looked at herself in the mirror, recalling when she couldn't. Nova was only sixteen years old, making her the youngest guardian in existence. When she was born she couldn't see, she was born blind. Her blindness baffled both her parents and medical professionals alike; humans haven't been blind for hundreds of years.

They did a genetics test to figure out what was wrong and it turned up negative. Nova was blind for all of her life until James came around. James could feel the void energy that Nova received from her mom, Kronah, and began teaching her how to be a voidwalker. The first thing he taught her was how to use void vision; a technique which allows the user to see the entire universe in through the eyes of void energy. She couldn't see anything, but in a fraction of a second, it was as if she could see the entire universe. If she pulled her vision out even further, then she would be able to.

Nova had a youthful complexion, with eyes that glowed purple when she wanted to see, and they were a solid gray when she didn't. Her hair is jet black, short with some bangs that hung over the side around her ears. Her girlfriend, Katie, always told her she was beautiful but she never believed her. She started to think that she was right ever since she was able to see.

Nova looked down and heard a buzz from a device. Most cell phones of this new age were hooked into the central cell tower just outside of the walls, in the one kilometer long stretch of land between the city and the outer walls. It was a text from her girlfriend.

"How are you doing?" the message read.

"I'm doing alright how about you?" Nova responded rather quickly.

"Okay, how goes training with your stepdad?"

"Fantastic! He taught me how to make a nova shadow just a few minutes ago."

"Wait, wasn't that the skill that you always complained about him using when he trained with you?"

"Yep, now I can use it, well, not entirely, but I can use it!"

"BTW does your stepdad know, well, about us?"

Nova paused for a second; she had never told James about Katie. What if he's homophobic? What if Cameron is? She had so many questions that ran through her head at that very moment that she almost didn't hear James knock on her door.

"No, I haven't told them yet."

"Why? Your stepdad seems like a reasonable guy,"

"I don't know, what if he's homophobic? I can't guess that!"

"Okay, I still think you're overreacting a bit. Anyway, hope to see you soon! Love ya."

"Love you too."

James opened the door as Nova hurriedly placed her phone in her pocket. "Nova, you ready to go?"

"Sure. let's get going." She replied rather quickly.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine James."

"Alright, let's get moving." He replied walking out of the room with her following close behind. James took the keys to the apartment and headed toward the elevator to get to ground level. James locked the door behind them with his keypad code continued walking down the hallway. Nova felt nervous after that incident; she wondered if he was going to ask her what she was doing.

"So.."

"Nothing!"

"You didn't let me finish; I was gonna say, what did you want for lunch?"

"Oh, um, huh. I don't know; I guess I'll find out when we get there."

"Is everything alright?" He asked her calmly. James always had some concern for Nova after her dad died. He cared about her just as much as her first father did if not more. Charon's final wish to James seemed to compel him to take good care of her; he grew to love her like a good father would. Nova didn't know how to respond to that question.

"Yeah, everything's okay," She replied calmly.

"Alright then," James said aloud.

"Me thinks she's lying to you," Ghost stated to James telepathically.

"Why did you say me instead of I?"

"I thought it would be funny."

Ghost was one of the first people that he met when he first got back, and the two grew to be very close friends. James and Nova finally made it to the elevator, but they noticed that Sidriks was outside one of the hospital rooms. His eyes strained, and his armor coated with a blue liquid in some areas.

"Sidriks is everything okay?" James asked him walking over. Sidriks looked through the window to the hospital room inside. Shandri was in terrible shape from the eight hundred years of torture she had to endure. The scars on her upper chest and lower pelvis are especially bad. Sidriks looked away and sat on the ground. James then saw something nobody ever saw before, an Eliksni captain without his helmet on. Sidriks took off his helmet and placed it on the ground next to him.

Many would have expected a face that had mandibles that spread apart like a flower when they would scream, something that would look less human. But it was the exact opposite with the exception the eyes. Eliksni had four eyes and more sharp teeth than an average person would, however, it wasn't enough to be terrifying. Sidriks took in a deep breath and set his head in his hands. He had gray skin and jet black hair. He then looked up to James from his position on the ground.

"I found my daughter, James," He said turning to the right to face the door. "But she was tortured, mutilated, every sort of punishment under the two suns." He replied. James didn't know how to react, should he be happy or sad for him?

"I'm sorry Sidriks," James told him. Sidriks could feel tears go down his face as he sat against the wall.

"Thank you, James, great Goddess I must look pathetic." He said looking up to him.

"Pathetic? Of all the things that you are showing me right now Sidriks, a complete outsider who hardly knows you doesn't think you're pathetic." Nova told him. "If anything it shows how good a father you truly are, a hardened warrior who is willing to cry for his daughter."

"By the way Sidriks, what's all that blue stuff on your armor?" James asked Sidriks.

"It's the blood of the wolves who took my daughter away from me," He replied. Nova got down on the ground and gave the captain a hug. She knew how it felt to lose someone you care about more than anything. His daughter managed to stay alive for eight hundred years.

"Thank you." He replied somewhat returning the embrace that the young woman offered him. Nova let go and stood up from the captain's side.

"Well, you may have to get changed now Nova," James remarked looking at the slight dampness on her clothing.

"Oh, I'll be alright James," Nova commented to him. "I hope she feels better soon Sidriks."

"Thank you, Nova," He replied as they walked away towards the elevator. Sidriks took the helmet in a set of his arms. "The helm of an Eliksni captain was once a symbol. A symbol of pride, achievement, of hope. Now I can see nothing but a shell of what it once was." He thought to himself.

"Perhaps it can mean that again Sidriks," Oracle replied to him.

"What? Please explain,"

"Don't you remember the prophecy? The one about the Kell of Kells?"

"The Kishari? Yes, I remember."

"Well, I think that you are the one that the prophecy spoke of."

Sidriks snickered a little. "I'm no Kishari, Oracle."

"What make's you so sure?"

"I'm confident that the prophecy stated that for you to be the Kishari, you have to be a Kell in the first place."

"Well, you just might have to become the Kell of your former house. From what you told me they're oppressed under the Kell who rose to power."

"That's the way it typically goes; the newer Kell is always more ruthless than the last." He replied placing his helmet on his head.

"Your people need you Sidriks; you can unite them, lead them with the city. They won't listen to guardians, but you, you are one of them, they will see through the light and see the man you are."

Sidriks looked up to the afternoon sky and began to think about what Oracle said to him. Their leader oppressed the people in the House of Devils. He could seize power; he could make his people's future bright again. "I need to think about this,"

"That's fine Sidriks, take as much time as you need."