AUTHORS NOTE: A test chapter from me and a buddy of mine. It is based on the entire lore of Destiny (what is in game and outside of game), so if you are confused then read your grimoire cards. For you lore-whores out there, some events are going to be shifted around simply for story purposes. If this gets good feedback it will continue. Enjoy Guardians


"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. And the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - H.P. Lovecraft

Kahmille: Human Titan - Sunbreaker

A lone Titan sat calmly in the barren wastes of the City perimeter awaiting a message from his fireteam member. He flicked his wrist in the air and brought up his UI to inspect his equipment. In the top left corner of the translucent interface his username was on display… "Kahmille". Why in the world did I make that my freaking character name, he thought still cringing every day he saw it..

How long have we been in here, he had long lost count of the days he had spent in the wide and expansive world of Destiny. He could still remember the days he spent with his loved ones prior to the release of Destiny; He can still recall the excitement and 'the hype train' in the weeks leading up to the release, and the conversations he held with his friends about what would await them upon the release of the game. He remembers buying himself and his girlfriend the NerveGear so they could play together just as vividly as he remembered her apprehension on playing a 'stupid game', but he managed to convince her to buy into the experience by telling her, you always did want to spend more time together. He began to recall that first day, back when this was all 'just a game', when Guardians believed themselves invincible and struck out against the Darkness as they ventured out into the world.

He vividly remembers the panic that ensued when no one could 'LOGOUT' of the game. The weeks of frantic search and investigation that ensued as the community attempted to discover a way to free themselves. Unable to handle the pressure of being trapped with no forseeable way out some wandered out into the darkness and were never heard of again, others locked themselves in hotel rooms believing that this was all just a nightmare and they would wake up. Then, the first contact made with the outside world came 15 days into the ordeal. It was a system message from a man called DeeJ, a name that would be synonymous to both hope and ruin.

SYSTEM ALERT: CRITICAL INFORMATION TO FOLLOW

Hello Guardians, my name is DeeJ, the community manager for Bungie

It has come to our attention that the AI in charge of content generation has gone rogue

To prolong it's survival, the AI has placed your collective minds in a state of dilation.

You all are experiencing roughly 6 minutes of game time for every second that passes IRL,that means for every day out in the real world one year will pass for you guardians.

We have concluded that it is using you all as leverage to ensure its survival at the end of Destiny's cycle.

It has, however, given us this guidance. Awaken the Traveler, and you will earn your freedom

This world was designed to respond to the players. We created the framework for this world, but only you Guardians can discover what must be done to escape

There are several things you must know about the game moving forward.

There is no inherent limit to how strong your light can become.

Test yourself against other Guardians in the Crucible, or by combating the enemies of The City in the Wastes, and beyond. Find a way off Earth Guardians, we know that is the first step.

If you are to perish, you may be revived by another Guardian for as long as your light burns (or burns bright against the dark night)

When you are in areas covered in darkness your light will determine how long you have to be resurrected

If your light runs out then we can only assume your next death will be a true death, a permanent one.

We do not know what will happen to you if this occurs, so don't die Guardians.

We will update you as often as possible

A light chime took Kahmille out of his deep thought. A private message from a member of his Fireteam, a warlock named Nymeria, showed up on his HUD.

| Nymerio: Fallen crews are moving around The City. Saladin thinks some big ass event is about to start, maybe as big as the Battle of Six Fronts from the beta.

|Kahmille: You think The City and lowbies will be all right?

| Nymerio: Idk man, we should head back...t Just to be safe.

| Kahmille: Sounds good. I'm worried about A.

| Nymerio: I'm sure she will be fine, she's no lowbie

| Kahmille: Rather not risk it. Meet u at Skwatch?

| Nymerio: Yea

With a flick of his wrist Kahmille closed his UI and summoned his Sparrow and took off in the direction of the Cosmodrome. The drive back to the Cosmodrome would take a little over an hour, but if Fallen crews were moving towards the City it was safer to do that than risk flying his ship in. Once he was close enough the Vanguard could transmat him directly into The City. As he drove closer to The City he began to encounter teams of Fallen dressed in blue cloaks. These scattered groups were easy enough to eliminate, but they grew more numerous and organized the closer he came to the Cosmodrome.

"Hey Ghost, what Fallen house are these/Fallen/ Elinksi from," Kahmille said to his own Ghost. The little light materialized with the Verdant Shell equipped, it spun around with excitement and began to scan the downed Fallen.

"chnk Based on the cryptarchy records these are the colors of the House of Winter. chnk", his Ghost chimed in it's small metallic voice. Kahmille wordlessly dispersed his Ghost and began to send a message to Nymeria.

| Kahmille: Ran into some Fallen trash mobs. House Winter. Was this in beta?

| Nymerio: I have Devils over here. Pretty Organized. Maybe massing for a big attack. Usually don't see two Houses working together.

| Kahmille: Awko. Move more faster sloot

| Nymerio: You love me

"chnk Are we off to adventure? chnk", Ghost asked.
"I will be adventuring yes. You are gonna stay quiet unless I need something you dumb AI," Kahmille barked.
With a hint of sadness that Kahmille was certain was pre-programmed his Ghost sighed. Whoever wrote the scripts for these Ghost sure tried to make these things likeable, Kahmille mused. He refused to get emotionally invested in this world. He would fight and kill and burn all that stood between him and his escape from this hell. As his rage built the fire in his chest responded to his rage. His power, the power of the Sunbreaker, responded to his fury at his condition.

Most Titans had been lucky enough to be Strikers, whose power was drawn from the easy to control Arc-light. Strikers were a fount of unstoppable force, tearing through enemies with destructive energy and awe inspiring power. The light of the Striker seems to grow based on progress and movement. The more the Striker fights the stronger he becomes. By a lesser margin a number of Titans were drawn to the void as Defenders. If there was ever a question of what would win, an unstoppable force or an immovable object then the unwavering Ward of Dawn of a Defender will answer that question in favor of immovable objects. Trained in protection and being a defensive bastion against the enemies of The City. The Void-light of the Defender grows stronger as the Titan takes punishment. The more damage he takes the stronger his light will become. And then there are the Sunbreakers, a minority of the many Titan orders. The light of the Sunbreaker is that of divine fury, a rage against the Darkness itself. The Light of a Sunbreaker grows as one's enemies burn. But the fires of the sun are no easy task to control, many Sunbreakers find it difficult to control the flames within and suffer the consequences. The Sunbreakers of The City have the Hammer of Sol, but many are reluctant to give in to their innate fury to use their power. The Hammer is indiscriminate, burning friend and foe alike, it is for that reason that most Sunbreakers spend their time in the Wastes where their power can harm no one.

Kahmille lamented his situation for a time before he decided his next course of action.

Nymerio: Awoken Warlock - Voidwalker

Nymerio was sitting cross legged atop a hill out in the wastes looking at his surroundings. Everything looked, felt, and smelled so real it was hard to believe that it was all just a digital composition made from some crazed rogue AI. The grass swayed in the wind, metal debris of the golden age planes was rusting and would actually cut you if one was stupid or too curious, and the air smelled clean, like 0 pollution clean. Nymerio stood up and checked the time 10 minutes had passed so the spinmetal should have respawned by now. He put his hands together in front of him and spread them apart to open up the UI. He only needed 5 more spinmetal for his quota for Dead Orbit today. After collecting the shiny spinmetal he contacted Kahmille and relayed Saladin's worries. After agreeing to meet in the Cosmodrone he summoned his sparrow and sped away to the rendezvous point.

After about 20 minutes Nymerio noticed a fallen patrol of 3 vandals and a dreg. He slowed down, hopped off the sparrow and crouch walked over behind a rock nearby to get the surprise on the fallen. The 3 vandals were in a circle crouched down barking at each other and waving their top 2 hands around while the bottom 2 were pointed at some kind of drawing they had made in the ground, perhaps a map or something maybe they were lost, Saladin did mention Fallen crews in the area.

Nymerio thought to himself for a moment and then pulled his ghost from his backpack. His ghost was wearing the Frontier Shell, a boon rewarded for all involved in the beta test, but his was special there was a piece of his ghost missing, a side spike, due to one of his first experiments about whether or not ghost felt pain.

Nymerio: Ghost begin audio and visuals for research experiment 37 Title "Vandals

and Sparrows

: chnkGreat… another one? Beginning audio and visual recording for research experiment 37*sigh*chnk

Nymerio: Don't worry Ghostie you're just watching this time.

Nymerio pulled up his UI and switched to the skip grenades of the Voidwalkers. Then he summoned his sparrow. He had a smile on his face as he hopped on and pulled out from around the rock he was hiding behind. By now a Fallen Captain had joined them. Well this should be interesting he thought to himself.

The Fallen were maybe 15 meters away so Nymerio had to the necessary speed quickly. He gunned it right into the Vandal with his back turned to him and them slammed the brake as he let go of the acceleration and turned the sparrow hard knocking over the other 2 vandals and frying the dreg with the exhaust flames. Quickly he leaped up and glided up above the sparrow. By now the Fallen captain had been smart enough to retreat a bit and the 2 vandals that stumbled had regained their footing and noticed the guardian in the air above them. It was then that Nymerio threw his grenade at the sparrow, still pinning one vandal to the ground. The void energycollided with the sparrow and sent a few dozen small explosive void cubes to the surrounding area causing the two standing vandals to evaporate and the sparrow to explode, which killed the pinned vandal as well.

Nymerio touched down and asked his ghost "did you get all that"

"chnk yes, yes i did chnk" his Ghost replied sounding amused.

For a second the Captain just stood there with a surprised and aghast look on his face before it turned into snarling anger. Nymerio had come across hundreds of Fallen Captains by now, so he knew what to do. He pulled out his arc fusion rifle and blast him right in the chest, then switch to his new auto rifle to finish him off. As he was making his way to the Cosmodrone he found several other Fallen patrols, strangely organized and seemed to be amassing in great number. He zoomed past several of them, it was more important to get to the City he needed to warn Regina.

All warlocks are naturally inquisitive and curious. So their light strengthens through research, scientific discovery, and learning about lore from ages past. The majority of Warlocks ended up with the Sunsinger class. Their power is drawn from the stars, the beacons of light in the solar systems. The next class of warlocks are the Stormcallers. These warlock act as a conduit of the powerful arc energy flowing through their entire being. Only letting the energy explode to decimate their enemies. These warlocks strengthen their light by taking on greater amounts of arc energy into their bodies and harnessing it, which has resulted in a few unlucky deaths early on. The last class is the least popular, the Voidwalkers, those who will the dark light as a force of tremendous energy. These warlocks strengthen their light by studying the dark, learning its secrets, understanding its power, and making it their own. Since they do this Voidwalkers are known for eccentric behavior. Allies of Voidwalkers call them special at best and mad at worst.

Nymerio ordered his Ghost to open his messages and after a 'friendly' exchanged with his quick tempered ally Khamiile the warlock's inquisitive nature began to pay off. The culminating event of the Beta test had been a World-Changing Event called the Battle of Six Fronts. These events differed from the public events that occurred in the wastes. World-changing events was the game's response to player activity. It would pit that entire community against an opposing force that required an incredible amount of communication and grit to overcome. During the Beta the beta-testers had to organize a defense against six fronts of attack. The Fallen House of Kings had managed to sneak into positions surrounding the city and attacked en-masse. The pre-launch Clan of "The Iron Lords" were the deciding factor in this battle. Nymerio could easily remember the fluid movements of Felwinter, as he danced between Captains and tore them asunder with his arc covered blade. The fury of Radeghast as he screamed defiance in the wind against the wave of Fallen assaulting the City. The unshaken resolve of Timur, as he rallied the survivors to hold the lines against a horde of King Walkers. The actions of these players are legendary in the community, but Nymerio wondered if the same kind of action would be seen, and needed, in the upcoming battle.

Nymerio began to tap his foot as he started to type several messages to various players of renown within the City. "Ghost, is my ship still cloaked in orbit?", Nymerio asked asked his as he began to run through various options in his head.

"chnkYes it is. I would assume you wish to scan the area for Fallen " Ghost replied.

"How'd you know?" Nymerio asked his Ghost, puzzled that the AI predicted his next statement.

"chnk I am designed to learn the behavior of my Guardian you know. And you are doing the foot tapping thing, that always means it is time to go gather intel"chnk Ghost said rather smug.

"That is amazing. What I would do to understand your programming…," He mused with intrigue.

"chnk I would prefer to not be a subject of anymore of your 'experiments'. I like being FULLY functional chnk," His Ghost said.

With a shrug Nymerio decided to end the discussion. He could investigate the Ghost's full potential later, for now he needed to get a good estimate of the Fallen's battle strength. In his UI the orbital scan from his ship began to come in. Hundreds of thousand of Fallen traveled through the ruined highways leading up to the City. Since this game of death began, the Artisan players, with the help of the volunteering Titans, had erected massive walls and battlements to protect the City. A system of patrols manned the Wall, ensuring all combat able Guardians had a shift in protecting the only safe place for players. With the technology salvaged in the Wastes, The City would pick up the movement of the Fallen infantry in minutes… unless they were doing the same thing the Kings had done previously. Unfortunately the players still hadn't figured out how the Fallen were able to approach without detection.

Nymerio began to rapidly send a message to all key leaders of the City, whether they were in the wall or out everyone of importance needed to know this. He identified the area that the Fallen were approaching and sent the message:

|Nymerio: 3 Fallen Houses incoming towards Twilight Gap! Prepare to defend the City

He pressed send and summoned his Sparrow, he needed to rendezvous with Kahmille. His thoughts drifted towards Regina, and could only hope that she would stay safe.


END NOTE: IF you're from Reddit, just leave your thoughts on that thread. If you having critiques please let me know I am always looking to improve my writing and storytelling. Thank you for reading! See you later Guardians.