Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Destiny was an overly complex game, but not because it was complicated; on the contrary, the main plot was quite easy to understand. The protagonist was someone known simply as The Guardian, protector of the Last City, defender of humanity, fighting against the darkness.
Yes, that was easy to understand, but Destiny, when I still considered it just a video game, had over 10 years' worth of content, and that meant there was a lot of story, a lot of lore, and so much to discover that it made it almost impossible for someone new to keep up if you started looking deeper into the backstory of the universe.
I thought we would do several sessions; I know firsthand that sometimes it was too dense or complicated to get fully immersed in a video game and play for hours and hours without stopping. Still, I hadn't counted on the VR version that involved Braindance technology.
The game felt so real and immersive that everyone just kept playing. We played for hundreds and hundreds of hours. I was happy I had prepared and placed a time bubble and medallions to ward off sleep and hunger for all of us.
The game had been modified to make Fireteams and Raids 5-person, so we could all complete the game's content as a permanent team instead of splitting up. So we started and continued through the entire story.
We started with our rise. We progressed through: fighting the Fallen, preventing the Vex from taking the Black Garden, the Raid to the Vault of Glass, facing the Hive on the Moon, the fight against Crota, Crota's End, the Taken War, fighting and killing the Taken, defeating the Taken leaders, until finally reaching Oryx and his defeat in King's Fall.
Next came: The SIVA Crisis, the killer self-replicating nanotechnology, more Fallen, finally stopping SIVA at the Replication Complex, the Wrath of the Machine Raid, and earning the title of Young Wolf and Iron Lord of the new generation.
We followed that with: The Fall of the Last City, the Red War, the loss of the Light and The Traveler, facing Dominus Ghoul and his Cabals, the awakening of the Traveler after centuries of inactivity, and attracting the Black Fleet towards the solar system.
A breath later, we completed Calus's trials on the Leviathan, rescuing Osiris on Mercury, venturing into and fighting the Vex and their endless simulations, the whole thing with the Warmind Rasputin, and the warsats.
Next came: The death of Cayde-6, the hunt of the Scorn, avenging Cayde by killing Uldren Sov, killing Riven of the Thousand Voices, and the awakening of the Moon Pyramid belonging to the Black Fleet. This leads to the whole business with Eris Morn on the Moon, bringing Saint-14 back, and ending with more business with Rasputin.
We then saw the arrival of the Black Fleet, learned more about the Darkness, mastered Stasis, witnessed the rebirth of Uldren Sov as the Crow, and saw Mithrax and the Eliksni, and the Fallen, join the Last City.
What followed was the revelation of Savathun, the Witch Queen, her death and rebirth as a Lightbearer, the Hive getting a group of Ghosts to join them, the revelation of the Witness and his disciples, and the formation of the Coalition with the Cabals and the Fallen.
Moving forward, we welcomed the arrival of the Witness and his forces to confront The Traveler. Everything that happens in between on Neptune, the Veil, mastering the Strand, the fight against his Witnesses, the portal to the Pale Heart, discovering and mastering Prismatic, the fusion between Light and Darkness, everything until finally reaching the Final Shape.
And finally, we will end up confronting the Witness at the Monolith to weaken him by preventing him from acquiring the Traveler's Light, and then finish the final assault with all the forces of the Coalition and his final defeat.
Hundreds of hours navigating everything, and we didn't just do the main story; we went off on side quests to do side missions, get exotics, quests, dungeons, raids, strikes, dozens of Crucible matches, Iron Banner games, Gambit, Solstices, and much more.
So, here we were now, sitting on the edge of the ship as we looked at the Traveler with the portal to the Pale Heart still open after defeating the Witness.
"So? Satisfied?" I asked playfully as I looked around. We all had armor along with our weapons. Riveria and I had obviously chosen to play Warlock, Rebecca, and, surprisingly, GLaDOS had chosen Titans, and Lucy was the only one who had chosen to play as a Hunter.
"Satisfied? Of course I am, choom! Those were the best few hundred hours of my life!" Rebecca sighed happily. "I'm ordering this template without hesitation. And I want all my weapons," she added immediately. I chuckled.
Rebecca had gone crazy for all the weapons; after all, you couldn't blame her, there were hundreds of them. Hundreds of exotic weapons and even more legendary ones. And Rebecca had fallen in love with all of them, especially the most destructive ones, like shotguns, heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, or any heavy weapon.
On the other hand, Lucy had perfectly maintained her role as a Hunter and constantly used sniper rifles, and the curious thing is, she was really good at it. But what Lucy had fallen most in love with was flying in space; she could easily get lost for hours simply floating in space without anyone bothering her.
Riveria was the most timid in the whole affair; it was the first time she'd even seen a firearm, so it took her a while to get used to their weight and how to use them. Her talents corrected her mistakes and helped her improve quickly, but she obviously remained uncomfortable. Luckily, she had felt more comfortable with bows, but even so, her primary weapon was always her Light.
GLaDOS had been curious about everything she saw, literally everything, from the Sparrows and the ships to every weapon we found. She tested every weapon we'd come across, taking notes the whole time.
She was almost annoyed when it became obvious that she couldn't take them apart and look inside for the blueprints, but she kept taking notes anyway. And not only that, she studied all the technology she saw in detail: even the Vex, especially the Vex.
I first witnessed her practically having an orgasm when we saw Mercury transformed into a machine world, used solely as a massive information processing node. She didn't say anything, but I could practically feel GLaDOS's desire and her complete and utter envy of the Vex.
In fact, that made her angry at the Vex. That was good, but I could also see that she was already making plans to get her own machine world, so I don't know how good that news really was.
For my part, I basically played with whatever was missing from the team, especially using the Dawnblade and Well of Radiance subclasses. I had basically become the healer and support of the team, and I had no problems.
I had played Destiny for thousands of hours, so I was very familiar with its world and story. I basically let the other four lead the way and just went in as support.
Except for Raids, they tried to run one on their own to figure out its mechanics, and it ended badly, with a few dozen deaths in a row. So I took command of the raids and guided them through them, all their strange, convoluted mechanics.
"We have to come back here, for real, open a portal to this universe." Rebecca sighed with a smile; I snorted.
"Yeah, no, definitely not, not in the short term." I said dryly.
"What? Why not?! We did great!" Rebecca complained, her eyes wide.
"In a video game." I immediately retorted. "Do you really think the enemies we face, literally gods capable of warping the universe itself, could be destroyed so 'easily'? They would fight on a very different level in reality." I said with a grimace. Rebecca's mouth fell open.
"Touché," Rebecca said, pouting. "But still, I've grown fond of this place. We have to go back. I'm sure the others want to come back, too." She complained. I hummed.
"I want to do it, I've barely been able to study 10% of all the technology we found, not being able to study it in more depth is like having an ice pick stuck in my circuits." GLaDOS growled in annoyance.
"I wouldn't mind going back just for the view." Lucy sighed as she gazed into space, lost in thought. "I... I never thought flying through space could be so calming." Lucy added dreamily.
"I wouldn't be against it, although it would be nice to be able to use things other than weapons, no matter how... powerful they are. I'm still not used to using weapons." Riveria sighed. "I really wish I could have a proper conversation with Ikora and Eris Morn; it would be a fascinating chat."
"Yes," I said with a small smile. Being trapped in a video game and constantly fighting helped me get to know Riveria even better, which was a good thing. Riveria, GLaDOS, and I often got lost trying to fully decipher how Light, Darkness, and everything in between worked.
The game felt quite real, almost so much so that it was indistinguishable from reality, but it still had limitations; Light and Darkness could only be used in their defined classes and subclasses. We couldn't experiment to see what else we could achieve with the strongest, most primordial paracausal forces of existence.
The Traveler could terraform entire planets, while the Witness could form and absorb an entire species, creating a single Gestalt consciousness. So yes, both paracausal forces should be able to do far more than what we could choose from in the subclasses.
"Very well, I'll think about it, but in the future," I said, nodding. Rebecca smiled broadly.
"Good!" Rebecca said simply.
"So, you just want the Guardian template, or the Doom Slayer one too?" I asked curiously.
"I mean... the weapons in Doom were incredible, the BFG-9000 is a marvel that still makes me wet with excitement, I mean, it's literally called the Big Fucking Gun, but everything else is pretty much just normal weapons, well, I mean, compared to the ones in this world."
"Yes, all the strength and runes of Doom Slayer were fun, but playing with The Light or The Darkness is so much better, there's nothing like being launched like a missile wrapped in Arc with Thundercrash, or summoning a flaming hammer and destroying everything in my path with Hammer of Sol or Burning Maul, even Glacial Quake was so much fun!!" Rebecca said with a huge, excited smile.
We all sighed. Yes, Rebecca had a great time while we were killing things.
"I could always buy the template for you, or I think I can just buy the BFG-9000 separately." I said playfully.
"Do it." Rebecca and GLaDOS said in unison. I snorted and nodded.
"Okay, so for The Guardian template, you'll have all the weapons and all your powers, but the resurrection comes from the Ghost, so you have to buy that separately too." I started humming softly.
Ghosts, small intelligent machines created by The Traveler, serve as companions, explorers, librarians, and mechanics, in addition to their greatest purpose, resurrecting The Guardians when they die.
That's what made the Guardians so menacing: their inability to stay dead on the battlefield. There was a piece of lore about a person, Saint-14, told by one of the enemies of the Last City that still sends shivers down my spine.
Once, in a city grander even than yours, we prospered. But it did not last. Our Great Machine abandoned us. And when we pursued it… You sent something back.
A creature fueled by hatred… It tore through our great houses like they were nothing. And then it came for the rest of us. Nowhere was safe from its insatiable rage. In its eyes, even the most innocent of Eliksni were still Fallen.
It could die, but it would not stay dead. It would shake off the rot and rise again. And if it caught you in its crushing embrace, impaled you on its ragged crest, dragged you screaming into its foul shell… none lived to speak of these horrors.
It called itself… the Saint.
(Destiny 2: Season of the Splicer - "The Saint" Bedtime Story)
I shuddered to think of that introduction.
"No, thank you," Rebecca said immediately. "Isn't there any other way besides using the Ghosts?" Rebecca asked with a grimace. I blinked in her direction.
"Is there a reason? I thought you liked them, you even named yours Pilar." I said playfully. Rebecca snorted and blushed slightly.
"Shut up, Gonk," Rebecca pouted. "But you said it yourself, this is a video game, but I don't think it's that different in real life. Ghosts are... easy to destroy, so... easy. I still remember the dozens we crushed from Savathun's Lucent Brood." Rebecca said, opening and closing her fist. I grimaced.
A group of Ghosts had begun to revive fellow Hive members, starting with Savathun, one of the goddesses of Hive, and then quickly formed Lucent Brood, a group of Hive Lightbearers unable to die.
The only way to stop them was by destroying their Ghosts, who had been deemed traitors to humanity and the Light.
"Yeah... I mean, you need a paracausal force to damage the Ghost enough to destroy it, but... I think magic would have the same result." I said with a grimace. "Although I'm sure I could place some kind of template on it that makes it indestructible or impossible to kill." I said immediately. Rebecca shook her head.
"No thanks, if you can find another way to use resurrection, that would be nice." Rebecca said simply, and I nodded while humming.
"I... the Ghost templates are useful for connecting with the Traveler, but since the templates simply internalize all the powers, the connection isn't really necessary, so it wouldn't do much more than revive you. You could choose another template for the same effect." I conceded with a grimace.
"I'll leave it to you. I just want my weapons, and I doubt I'll face entities capable of destroying worlds or killing me to that extent," Rebecca said, shrugging. I chuckled.
"Okay, I'll think about it." I nodded. I... I had some ideas, but I'd have to think about it more. I could just give her something like Bella's resurrection, or Alucard's, and resolve everything, but I'd have to think about it.
"Riveria?" I asked curiously, and she simply hummed.
"I don't really need the full template; it would be a complete waste, but I wouldn't mind having access to the Light and the Darkness. I must say I've grown a little fond of some things." Riveria confessed meekly.
"Me too. I need access to both to see if I can replicate the weapons," GLaDOS said without hesitation. "With Rebecca's template, we'll have access to the entire armory, weapons and armor alike, so we can fully study the weapons imbued with both paracausal energies and attempt to replicate them," GLaDOS said, her voice filled with desire.
"Great, I was planning to do the same," I said with a smile. "Honestly, some of the weapons sound so incredible that I can't help but want to study them, like the pulse rifle, the Graviton Lance, which theoretically shoots black holes the size of bullets—that... sounds truly impossible." I said, my eyes sparkling.
"And they would be, normally, especially since an object the size of a bullet with the density of a black hole would have a mass comparable to that of the Moon." GLaDOS said immediately, Rebecca whistled in amazement.
"It didn't feel that way to be hit by one of those," Rebecca said simply.
"Could it be that the Light we use as a passive shield simply cancels out most of the paracausal effects for anyone else? It's possible they'd feel very differently," Riveria said casually. I shrugged.
"Or it's possible that the paracausal force is causing it to behave differently than a normal black hole— after all, it's imbued with Void." I pointed excitedly. "I mean, in theory, the Warlock's super, the Nova Bomb, has the force of a collapsing star, and that's even worse." My eyes were shining brightly.
"If a star were to collapse, it would devastate the entire Earth." GLaDOS growled.
"I don't think those descriptions should be taken too literally. I mean, the dome created with the Ward of Dawn of the Titans, in theory, opens a pocket universe within the same universe as an absolute defense," Riveria said, wrinkling her nose.
"Hey, it's not unusual, I know at least one defense that does the same thing, it places the wearer in another separate world functioning as an absolute defense," I replied.
"Even if it were capable of that, the Titans' Hammer of Sol also burns with starlight intensity, but I don't think it would reach that level." GLaDOS added, wrinkling her nose. "I know the temperature of a star, and that definitely wasn't close to one." GLaDOS retorted.
"I guess we can't rely on the reliability of a game." I sighed sadly.
"Then we'll just have to experiment once we go into the real world," Riveria said excitedly.
"Nerds," Rebecca said playfully, used to our conversations at this point. I snorted, amused.
"I want to join." I stopped abruptly when I looked at Lucy in surprise. Wow, I really didn't see that coming.
Author's Notes: First! For those unfamiliar with Destiny, I apologize for the first part, which includes a lot of Destiny terminology and events; you can simply ignore it! I only put it on because it sounded great!
Now, as The Light and The Darkness come into play, I'll try to explain most things to make them easier to understand, but if I forget something or it's not explained well, I'm sorry! I've played Destiny for a couple of thousand hours, and I've played through about 90% of the things I mention, so I might forget to explain something that I take for granted!