XII: Triumphs and Disasters
The Great Siege and the Battle of Twilight Gap, while victories for Humanity, had been bloodbaths. Seven of the legendary Iron Lords, including Felwinter, had been slain, leaving only Saladin Forge, Jolder, and their shared pupil Efrideet to lead the Iron Wolves. To commemorate the Iron Lords, weaponsmith Feizel Crux forged their armor into the Gjallarhorn, a ceremonial reminder of their power and influence together during the Long Winter. Anatasia Bray, a fabled gunslinger believed to hail from the influential family of the Golden Age, was also killed in the final assault, being instrumental in destroying the House of Winter's sole Ketch.
The House of Winter, hitching rides on the Kings' vessels, fled to the outer Solar System and lawless portions of the Reef, where both Houses delved into piracy of their fellow Fallen splinter groups. Driven by fanaticism, the House of Devils chose to remain on Earth, continuing to harass Humanity. Saint-14, never wanting the Fallen to encroach on the Last City again, led the Firebreak Campaign to push back the Houses of Devils. This crusade ended when Saint-14 killed the Devil Kell Solkis with a mighty headbutt, leaving the Devils in disarray for decades as their members fought over the right to ascension. Feeling responsible for originally recommending Osiris to the Vanguard, Saint-14 announced his plans to travel to Mercury in search of the exile, in hopes of mending the split between them and the Speaker and returning him to the Lats City. He nominated Zavala, a stern and stalwart hero of Twilight Gap to succeed his place in the Vanguard.
In the Reef and over Mars, Mara Sov's intervention in the battle had left her people embroiled in war against the House of Wolves. The conflict finally ended four years later, when Mara Sov unleashed the Harbingers on Ceres to destroy the House of Wolves' stronghold there, leading to the annihilation of the entire moon. From there, she challenged and bested the Wolf Kell in single combat, earning claim to the House of Wolves. With the Reef War over, Mara Sov set about furthering her plans of molding the Awoken to protect the Traveler. Her goal's completion would be hastened by the arrival of the Ahamkara in the Solar System, who had finally caught up with the Traveler in search of more prey. These great beasts granted wishes to hundreds of mortals on Earth, only to devour their wish-makers as intended shortly after. The Consensus, finding the creatures too dangerous to persist, ordered for their extermination, beginning the Great Ahamkara Hunt.
In fleets of newly-forged ships, many of which being created from combined Golden Age and Fallen technology, the Guardians chased the Ahamkara to the calm tropical islands of Venus. Despite their intentions, many Guardians made wishes, their Light spoiling the taste of their wants to the Ahamkara. Driven into frenzies by the poor-tasting desires, the wish-dragons reduced Venus to a blasted and barren world, a near-copy of its image before the Traveler's terraforming.
As Venus was devastated, Uldren Sov found an Ahamkara newborn and transported her to his sister. Mara Sov, wishing to make herself and her people strong for the doom that awaited, secretly used Riven to provide the Guardians with powerful weapons, the Fell Spears, to cut down the wish-eaters. With these weapons, the Guardians slew the Ahamkara and took their bones for study, returning the Fell Spears to Mara Sov as per their bargain. Now possessing the sole Ahamkara in the Solar System and the power that accompanied it, the First Awoken used the beast, whom dubbed herself the Riven of a Thousand Voices, to create a gleaming city within the Reef. Within this Dreaming City, the Queen and her Techeuns, witches who had been tasked with studying the arcane forces of the universe, would decipher a means of challenging the Darkness. Having perceived the Ascendant Plane and its realms during her brief omnipotence within the Distributary, Mara Sov created Eleusinia, a bootstrapped Ascendant Realm forged through dragon wishes rather than death. From there, she would lay in wait, watching Humanity with careful eyes to enact her plan.
Humanity, having triumphed in the Great Siege and against the Ahamkara threat, was filled with pride and courage, with many calling for them to retake the Solar System. While the Vanguard supported this agenda, analysis on the whereabouts of Dredgen Yor, whose original identity had been publicly suppressed to avoid demoralization, led to disturbing results. The former hero was found to have killed over eight hundred mortals, and slain twenty-eight Guardians, in just two decades. He was finally discovered to have been killed by the skilled gunman Shin Malphur, who had recently been christened a Guardian. The Vanguard's investigations into Dredgen Yor's point of corruption would lead their eyes to the Moon.
As this realization came, a Shaper scouting party, sent by Crota to more closely observe the Traveler's condition, was discovered and engaged by Guardian forces at the Battle of Burning Lake. Though hard-fought, the fifty Guardians that were dispatched successfully slew the thirty Shapers, tracing their origins directly to the Moon. With the link between Yor's fall and the arrival of this new enemy established, the Consensus commissioned a preemptive invasion to liberate the lunar satellite.
Shaxx, having studied the weapons of the Shapers slain at Burning Lake, loudly cautioned against the attack, stating time was needed to understand this new enemy and their weapons. The former Warlord's pleas fell on deaf ears, and the campaign proceeded.
Six hundred Guardians departed for the Moon, the fire of bravery in each of their hearts. When their ships returned a day later, only fifty-three souls stepped from the vessels, each in shambles and stammering with fear.
The survivors spoke of how the Shapers had met them with hordes of claws, blades, and guns, each imbued with a touch that seemed to eat their Light. Despite it, they had forged onward and cleaved through their foes, with the proud Wei Ning at the head of the charge. They had nearly pressed into the great pit of the Hellmouth, only to see Crota emerge from its Abyss. His sword shattered the Guardian ranks and fractured the Moon's surface, slaying hundreds of their number single-handedly; including Wei Ning herself.
The Consensus, shocked by the sudden failure and the overwhelming power of their new foe, declared the Moon a Forbidden Zone to all Guardians and denizens of the Last City, hoping that by non-provocation they could avoid the Shapers' wrath. Crota, himself content with the battle and seeking to continue following his father's decree, withheld from invading the Earth in full force. However, the fires of vengeance burned in the heart of Eriana-3, the lover of Wei Ning, who organized a Guardian fireteam to defy the Consensus' lunar interdiction and slay Crota themselves. Though valiant, the fireteam was decimated, with Eriana being cut down by Crota himself in the Abyss. Only one member of the fireteam, Eris Morn, returned to Earth, forever changed by the dark experience in the blinding darkness of the Abyss. Now bearing the three green eyes of a Shaper Acolyte, hatred for the ancient killers festered in her heart, leading her to vanish into parts unknown.
Seeking to makeup for the so-called "Great Disaster" on the Moon and reignite morale in the Last City, the three remaining Iron Lords led their Wolves into the far northern reaches of the Old Russian Cosmodrome. In its long-abandoned facilities, they searched of lost technologies to advance Humanity's recovery. Pushing through the blinding snow, they found Site 6, the forgotten production center for the SIVA nanotechnology used throughout the Golden Age. In tampering with the systems of Site 6 to reactivate its replication engine, they released a signal that reassembled Rasputin's consciousness from the thousands of damaged servers across the Cosmodrome. Bewildered, incomplete, and afraid of the intruders in his intended safe haven, the Last Warmind triggered the SIVA nanites within Site 6, only to inadvertently remove their override protocols in his stupor. The nanites, now operating exclusively under a protocol of consumption and replication, assailed the Iron Lords and Wolves, infecting their armor and bodies to force them into fighting one another. A dying Lady Jolder sealed the entrance to Site 6 and crippled its replication engine, ensuring the malignant strain of SIVA would not spread beyond its walls.
When the dust settled, only Saladin Forge, Efrideet, and three Iron Wolves remained from the battle. Disgraced, Saladin asked the Consensus to declare the northern regions of the Cosmodrome as a Forbidden Zone, so that no one would travel there and risk entering Site 6. The motion was passed, and Saladin placed himself in exile on Felwinter's Peak, where he would watch to ensure no one unearthed SIVA ever again.
For the next forty years, both Humanity and the Reef Awoken continued on as they had, beginning a mutual alliance against threats such as the Houses of Winter and Kings. Nevertheless, the two civilizations remained wary of one another, refusing to stray into reliance upon each other for support.
The public reaction within the Last City to the Great Disaster and SIVA Crisis instilled a sense of uncertainty and fear in the hearts of the people. In time, new ideas on how to approach the era ahead formed, with groups organizing to advocate them. The New Monarchy, a political party inspired by the kings and queens of old, called for political reform, so that Humanity could operate under a unified vision of the future rather than divisive opinions. Another group, the Dead Orbit Movement, claimed Humanity should flee the Solar System altogether to the stars beyond, and began requisitioning a new fleet to carry those who would them. These groups would see themselves form into new Factions, integrating themselves into the Consensus alongside the secretive Future War Cult.
Shaxx, disgusted by the Great Disaster and the complete lack of preparedness exhibited by the Guardians in the battle, founded the Crucible. In this wargame arena, Guardians would train against one another and hone their skills, so that they may better combat threats in the future. The Crucible, though looked upon by the Vanguard as a resource sink, soon gained an avid fan base among competitive Guardians and onlooking mortals, ensuring its continued presence.
In response to the failed lunar campaign, the Vanguard shifted Humanity's military to the defense once more, preferring to watch its enemies and strike only when concrete information was available. When the City Expedition Force Vanguard Andal Brask was killed by a Fallen mercenary under the employ of the Devils, his position was succeeded by his friend Cayde-6; a carefree Guardian who quickly grew bored with his post. This direct strike against the Vanguard further spurred defensive tactics, with even the proudly explorative C.E.F. being confined to limited patrols of the Eurasian regions.
Unfortunately, this would allow for the House of Devils to organize in secret, with many regions once regularly patrolled by the Guardians becoming open for the scavengers to exploit in their campaign to reclaim the Great Machine.
However, there was a hope for Humanity despite this decline.
Centuries of slow restoration had restored its power, once lost in the desperate Great Light. The chaos throughout the Solar System had created enough death to fuel its weapon's disruptive fire. Its past knowledge as an Architect afforded an understanding of the Darkness' destructive laws, and thus how to break them.
Three hundred and eighty years after the Collapse, the Traveler's weapon was complete.
And so, it unleashed the reins on its chosen Ghost of Dawn, and set him loose upon the Earth. He would find a dead thing and drag them from death as a new being.
They would become the Traveler's dreadful weapon of hope and sorrow. They would become the Dawnbearer.
Author's Note
First off, I'm kinda annoyed with myself right now, since this is getting posted on June 25th according to the calendar. Which means I missed my self-imposed deadline by a few hours. Whatever, I guess; still better than two or three weeks of hiatus.
But more importantly, it's done; I finally got through all the particular changes to the canonical story. To those who sat through all of the stuff to get to this point, I appreciate it. Hopefully, you won't lose interest in this story after all this fluff, if so I'm honestly sorry to have wasted your time.
For a brief tease, the next chapter will focus solely on the Dawnbearer's first major experiences in the world. I'll let the readers guess who it is for now.
