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Through the weather-beaten entrance of an old comms hatch just off Skywatch, two fireteams of New Lights descended into the underbelly of the rusted station—an old, dug-out built in desperation and abandoned in haste.
Their Ghosts hummed with low light, casting faint illumination across shattered concrete and rusted rebar.
They had been given a task. Find and eliminate Gotra, the Hive Wizard.
IEatPaint, TheOneWhoKnocks, and Waffles—moved on the left flank, gliding between broken support pillars.
Undecided, BearSpray, and Gandalf—took the right, rifles raised and boots muffled by the dusty ground. They were cautious, not cocky. This wasn't like the public events or Lost Sectors they'd grown used to.
This was different. There was a silence here, thick and wrong, as if the air itself held its breath. An eerie hum echoed, it was faint, but unforgettable and bewitching.
"Damn, the vibe really shifted. It's almost like we're playing a horror." Waffles chirped, she jittered as the fireteam prowled the dugout.
"Relax.....We'll be fine." TheOneWhoKnocks replied dryly. His eyes anxiously darting as he tried to take it all in.
"There's a simple solution, if it scares you, just shoot." IEatPaint chuckled, aiming through the iron sights of his shotgun.
"The music is riveting, did they really design this?" Undecided was awed. The encounter with the Hive had his blood pumping. Every step he took, every beat that resounded in his ears, it all felt too real.
He was fidgeting, right now, facing this threat, he felt more alive than ever.
"It's quite eerie, almost like it was curated for them. They do look quite creepy though." BearSpray replied.
"Creepy or not, they shall not pass!" Gandalf chuckled, only to get sharp looks from his fireteam forcing him to stay quiet.
Void listened in to their chatter, from the shadows, half-shrouded in darkness and the quiet hum of cloaking tech, Void watched. His visor gleamed faintly beneath his hood as he tracked their movement through his sightline.
Down below, something stirred ahead. Then the walls began to pulse faintly with Hive glyphs—greenish runes writhing across the stone.
Instantly, BearSpray held up a hand. Everyone halted. Suddenly, an eerie silence gripped the dugout. A silence so deafening, that they could hear nothing else.
The earth trembled, or perhaps that was their perception. Something clawed out of the dirt, gnawing towards them. It was weak, and slow yet it approached nonetheless.
A single thrall crawled out form the dark. Its bony arms wrapped arounds its torso, its gaunt figure hunched over, as if in pain. It seemed lost.
Or perhaps, it was. Then, as if it smelled their existence, the thrall seemed to shiver, hitching as it heaved what seemed to be a breath.
The players aimed, they weren't sure what was going on. But before they could pull the trigger, it shrieked as if possessed.
"MOTHERFU****" Waffles jumped at the sound, a hail of bullets tore through the thrall.
But it was too late. First came five. Then Ten, dozens and then too many to count. As the thralls emerged from the dark, they too seemed to hitch.
The silence shattered.
"F*ck, GET EM!" TheOneWhoKnocks unloaded his entire magazine, rushing forwards.
Arc pulses flared, Solar detonations rocked the walls, and the thunder of kinetic rounds echoed down the dugout. Waffles vanished and reappeared mid-air with a blink strike, carving through the wave. IEatPaint let out a shout as he shoulder-charged a dozen thralls, slamming them into a wall.
Gandalf raised a rift behind cover, calling for regroup.
And then, as they were swarmed by thralls from all directions, the air cracked. Hive magic flickered as a portal cleaved through the planes, and from its maw a wizard appeared.
Gotra descended, her wings spread wide and skeletal, cloaked in sickly green mist. She shrieked, and the air itself fractured. Her shield flared bright—thick, reinforced with dark runes.
Void narrowed his eyes. He thought to move, but then his eyes fell on the players, he hesitated, but chose not to react.
As waves of thralls rushed the Guardians from all sides. Undecided popped his super, BearSpray and TheOneWhoKnocks kept the fire tight and focused while Gandalf and Waffles lurked in the backlines farming their super bars.
Still, Gotra hovered above them all, hurling orbs and raising more cursed Thrall from blackened nests.
But the Guardians didn't waver.
As one, the two fireteams began to press her—Paint's rocket broke the shield, Waffles blinked to the side casting an empowering rift, and Gandalf deftly cast a Nova Bomb that slammed her into the earth. The impact crater glowed with dark flame.
She shrieked again.
Her essence rose like smoke from her broken body, swirling in a spiral of greenish vapor as it lashed outwards, slamming away the players. Gotra turned to the dark, her magic weaving in a portal.
"Don't let her finish!" IEatPaint barked, trying his best to burst her through the shotgun.
"She's summoning something! Get back!" Waffles called out, hurriedly throwing a healing rift.
The portal flickered, akin to a gaping wound, its wicked aura consuming the tunnels. Then a grotesque arm tore through, as an Ogre began to drag itself out of it.
"Sorry but, I can't allow that."
That's when Void moved.
In the blink of an eye, from the shadows, he stepped forth, cloak fluttering, sword humming low as he unsheathed it only slightly. The light bent around him—eerie and wrong—as the sword's edge hungrily siphoned the rising essence of Gotra, absorbing it into the metal.
None of the players spoke. They just watched. Even Gotra was dumbfounded.
The portal seemed to stitch together, as if it had never existed. Gotra seemed awed, for a second, the Hive wizard looked to its fingers, unsure if it had even cast the magic.
Its eyes hesitantly drifted to Void, as it began to question. What manner of being was it even fighting against? What kind of existence could cancel out its magic?
Gotra raised a hand to cast another spell, but then Void spoke.
"I told the City I won't let anything happen to you, but that's all." Void spoke up, "Take care of the rest."
The players seemed startled, and so was Gotra. As everyone looked at Void, he simply vanished.
With Gotra staring at its magic dumbfounded, the players snapped out of their trance.
"NUKE HIM!" Gandalf roared, aware that Waffles had completed her Nova bomb. Naturally, Waffles obliged.
A dark and riveting energy condensed in her palms, one hungry to devour. Waffles rose in the air, supporting the Nova bomb on her hand. Then, with a quick flick, she threw it down.
Gotra faced it head on, it tried to cast a spell, but with its magic consumed, the wizard was nothing but a thrall in robes. Helpless against the light, Gotra was torn to shreds.
[Mission Complete!]
A notification pulsed on the players screens.
"LET'S GOOOO!" Undecided roared.
TheOneWhoKnocks instantly slid across the room, jumping to Gotra's corpse. Naturally, he didn't get any loot and sombrely stood in silence.
"So we won right? IEatPaint chuckled.
"What the hell are you on about?" BearSpray retorted.
Waffles chimed in, "I got the last hit dumbass. So we won."
"Doesn't count, I did most of the damage with my super and gandalf's bomb chunked her pretty good." Undecided immediately countered.
"Please, that shit almost missed." Waffles snorted.
"Oi! I hit her leg, I am sure of it!" Gandalf barked back.
As the players tussled to settle the winner, Void cleared his throat, garnering their attention.
Void continued giving them a smile, "Good job taking her down. So? How'd it feel? Exhilarating?"
The players paused, thinking through their reactions.
"Perhaps, you were afraid, or perhaps all your powers suddenly made sense. Like you found a piece of the puzzle." Void jeered.
The players murmured to each other, agreeing. They'd all thought that the themes of their powers didn't really make sense. But once they faced the Hive, it really did feel like fighting a sworn enemy.
"Truth is, it doesn't matter. What you feel, what you think, no one cares. Not you, nor I, nor the City. Only one thing matters, when the dark shows up, will you stand by and watch, or stand and fight?" Void smiled, it wasn't joyful, but reminiscing.
He turned away, stepping into the gloom.
"Whether we like it or not, we who wield the light were born to fight the dark. Lit ablaze against our wills, like a candle, destined to flicker away when our time comes. You're no different. That's why the City needs you to get stronger. That's the only way."
He paused. Voice laced with urgency.
"We don't have much time Guardian. Hurry up. Because sooner or later, the Hive will rise again, and the next time, they'll have an army."
Void looked over his shoulder, the players looked at him with wide eyes.
"If you want to dawdle around and follow the city forever, be my guest. But if you're ready to take the next step, meet me on the Reef."
"Remember guardian, the Light stands tall—only because its shadows serve as an anchor. Without them, it would drift, directionless and blind."
He vanished.
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[Tower, Last City]
The Tower was quiet, for now.
Zavala sat alone in the Vanguard War Table chamber, light from a dozen projectors reflecting across his armor. He moved with slow precision, fingers scrolling through reports, tactical maps, and Guardian rosters. Lines of text flickered—mission success rates, telemetry logs from Europa, decrypted communications from hidden outposts.
The Hive in Skywatch were dead. That front, at least, was handled.
A comm signal blinked.
Zavala accepted the call without looking up. Tevis's voice came through, crisp and steady as ever.
"Gotra is dead. The Guardians performed well. Two fireteams. No casualties."
Zavala's eyes flicked upward slightly, his face unreadable.
"The node at Skywatch is stable—for now."
Zavala nodded. "Good. Thank you, Tevis."
The call ended. The War Table resumed its quiet hum.
He reached to flag the mission complete—when something flickered across the radar interface. A red pulse. Then another. Multiple blips. Too many.
He leaned in, brow furrowed.
"Cosmodrome array... malfunctioning?" he muttered. "What is—"
The feed spiked. Movement across the Mothyards. Then the Divide. Every surveillance drone they had was lighting up.
His comm pinged again—before he could answer, the door slid open.
Cayde stormed in, Exo eyes glowing brighter than usual, cloak billowing behind him.
"I hope you're seeing what I'm seeing," Cayde said, tossing a holo-device onto the table. "My scouts say the Cosmodrome's on fire."
Zavala frowned. "What kind of fire?"
"The 'hundreds of Fallen scavenger squads patrolling from Devil's lair' kind" Cayde said.
The feed changed. Shanks patrolled overhead, scanning with eerie purpose. The Devil's Lair—already half-collapsed—was now crawling with movement.
A quiet chime echoed. Ikorra entered next, her steps measured and composed. She walked straight to the table, wordless.
Zavala watched the footage and his eyes narrowed.
"Someone's giving orders," Zavala said, his voice low.
"No dreg's running this show," Cayde agreed, "I thought we took care of their Archon."
Ikorra nodded. "We've intercepted a few transmissions. I think they're under new leadership."
Zavala's hands curled into fists. "What are they up to?."
"Whatever it is, we need eyes on the ground. I'll tell the hidden to continue monitoring" Ikorra added.
The three of them stood in silence, watching as the feed continued to flicker.
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