Chapter 6: Gift from the Darkness
GREAT CELESTIAL-DRAGON: This isn't the same kind of light like in Destiny. The Light from Destiny has shown to be sentient, and it is not part of the GrimmFall universe. If it was then it would mess with already established lore on the creation of the GrimmFall universe, which is why the Pyramid and the Vex seen here were specifically said to have been from the Destiny universe. For example, the Light in Destiny is half responsible for the creation of the Destiny universe. The "Light" that the Eliksni worship in the GrimmFall universe is not really the Light but rather the Quintessence but they were never able to access it to the same degree that the Galra and Alteans were able to do, and they never encountered those two races, so they never learned the proper name.
nightmaster000: You're about to get your answer I hope it both shocks and intrigues you.
Xxx
Incoming transmission:
To all who hear my voice, this is Solkis, Kell of Devils.
I speak to you now in response to the message sent by the traitor Eramis, the Shipstealer. Here accusations against me and ruling Kells is false! We would never side with the tyrant warlord Vilgax! We would never betray the Stellar Alliance! We know who our true allies are, unlike Eramis and rebelling Eliksni.
May I remind you that Eramis is a verified traitor! She has tried to usurp my Kellship before and now she thinks to steal power from not just me but the rest our kind! My former firebrand has forgotten what it means to hold loyalty to one's own race and now seeks to demoralize us!
We must stand together my Eliksni brothers and sisters if we are to crush the rebels and restore peace to our warring houses!
Stand firm! And stand together!
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Accessing File: The Visionary
In the first month of her freedom, Eramis curses Misraaks the Forsaken, the so-called Kell of House Light.
He is a wish-to-be Kell, a four-armed Dreg cringing before the Stellar Alliance, a traitor who listens to the teachings of non-Eliksni.
And worst of all, the most humiliating: he has beaten Eramis.
She has failed to secure the loyalty of the Houses of Stone and Rain, failed to shame Solkis, failed to convince the rest of House Devils to side with her. Her failure haunts her.
Now she sits in the bridge of her stolen Ketch, straight-spined, staring. Staring at some distant point that she has long passed, one she can never return to.
Atraks, youngest of her council, watches her from across the room. She closes the gap between them.
"My Kell," she says. She has a voice like a child.
Eramis is quiet for a beat longer than she needs to be. Finally, she says, "You are too young to remember the old house. What the Devils were before."
Atraks bows her head out of respect.
"This failure has no sting for you," Eramis bites, bitter.
Atraks keeps her head bowed. Then, slowly, she raises it. Her eyes dart over Eramis's face, searching. "I am too young to remember," she agrees. "But my eyes are clear. I can see what the Devils will be."
Eramis opens her mouth to remind Atraks of her place, and then pauses.
Something in her mind has unlocked.
She stands to her full, towering height, stretches her second set of arms.
"No," she says. Clarity has descended on her like a Riis rain shower. "The Devils are nothing."
She begins to walk out of the room, purpose in her step, fire reignited in her belly. "The Devils are not worthy of us."
House of Anarchy. House of Ruin.
House of Eramis.
"We must become something new."
Close File
Xxx
"Anastasia is not part of the Bray bloodline. What was my son thinking adopting an outsider and potentially ruining the Bray legacy!"
— Clovis Bray I
Xxx
Many Years Ago
Elsie-1 POV
A week after I became an Exo, I felt the need to see with my relatives outside of my father so I can understand them and hope that they can help me remember any memories that I may have lost after undergoing the Exo conversion. The first was my sister Ana and she was ecstatic to see me again.
"Oh my God, Elsie! You're gorgeous!"
Ana throws her arms around me, and I can taste the sodium laurate in her shampoo and the long-chain fatty acids in the rosehip oil that lingers from her girlfriend's kiss, and it is all so good. I hug her as hard as she can be hugged. It's the first time. I could not remember ever touching her before.
Ana murmurs in the place where I once had an ear. "Before you ask if I'm mad, of course I'm not. It was your right to keep it secret."
"Thank you," I breathe (don't breathe; can't breathe). "Father showed me a recording of me telling him that I was undergoing the procedure to protect you after everything that happened to our older sister Willa and our mother. In the recording he told me that he wanted me to undergo it so I could be saved from a genetic condition that grandfather accidentally caused in father and his descendants. Apparently, I wasn't even sure that I had the—the disease. Until recently."
"Are you sure you actually had it?" Ana's pretending to tease, but there is a pang of real fear in her voice. "Maybe he faked the diagnosis. To get you into this body. Did you run the tests yourself?"
"I can't remember," I admit.
"Right, right, of course. I read the letter." Ana draws away, holds you by the shoulders. "Elsie, what matters is that you're going to be around forever. We have so much to do! We can finally climb Mount Everest. And after we summit, I can push you off a cliff and watch you stick the landing."
Her smile is infectious. The light in my mouth reflects in her eyes.
POV ENDS
Xxx
"Elsie?"
Standing before Ana and her fireteam were two people she did not recognize and an Exo woman who looked just like her sister. She wondered how it could be possible when her sister is still in the psychiatric hospital and could not get to any of the secret Jumpships in storage at Clovis Bray.
"Is that really you?" Ana asked.
"It's me. Though I'm not your Elsie." Elsie said as she motioned the group to follow her to campsite nearby. "Come with me and I'll answer all of your questions."
As she began to walk ahead of everybody the others followed behind her with Cayde striking up a conversation with The Drifter and Eris Morn.
"The Drifter and Eris Morn, it's been too long. How have you two been?" Cayde asked.
"Too long indeed brother me and Moondust here got contacted by Stranger over their to help her out." The Drifter said as he took out his green coin and began flipping it. "I still got people running those bounties I post for jobs I don't have time to do, and Stranger taught us that Aura thing and gave us Stasis powers, so everything's been well for me."
"You know these people Cayde?" Banshee asked.
"Yeah, they're from the Gaia Union worlds but they've generally been seen as outcasts." Cayde explained. "Drifter here is what you would call a scoundrel, he's done some black-market dealings and hosts an illegal fighting tournament against some of the deadliest predators in the universe."
"What better way to show that you're the apex predator when going up against some of the nastiest monsters around." The Drifter said as he smiled behind his rebreather.
"And Eris here was part of some order of space wizards or something." Cayde said. "Her real name is Erisia Pyatova-Hsien and she started delving into like dark magic and that changed her biology a little. As you can see, she now has three-eyes, and she does not even need to breath air anymore. After that she got kicked out and she changed her name to Eris Morn. Though she seems to be ignoring me, this wouldn't happen to be-"
"About my ship which she too from me without permission to infiltrate a Gem base and got it destroyed? Yes, this is about that." Eris said as she looked over her shoulder at Cayde before turning away. "You still owe me a new one."
"I'm still working on it." Cayde hastily said.
"Nice to know you're as careful off Earth as you are when you're on it." Banshee said as he chuckled a little.
The groups come to a fire pit that Elsie lights in front of the campsite with a chemical container.
"I know. I owe you an explanation for all of this." Elsie says to Ana. "I am Elsie but I'm from the future, or rather an alternate future."
This catches Ana, Cayde, and Banshee by surprise. Ana was no stranger to time travelers as she encountered some a few months ago back on Reach.
"So, you're not my Elsie." Ana said
"Yes, yours is still in the hospital." The alternate Elsie-1 confirmed.
"Wait, you said that you're from an alternate future. What the heck does that mean?" Cayde asked.
"Most people see time like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction but when in reality it's more like an ocean in a storm." Elsie explained. "I come from a future where Crom Cruach wasn't defeated allowing him to rampage across the world and plunge it into darkness. My grandfather had secret escape ships hidden in the Russian ocean each one equipped with an ORCA device to keep Grimm away. Many of us escaped on these vessels and came to Reach to start over. Eventually received a distress beacon coming from Europa."
"Which lead them to discovering the House of Salvation." Cayde said.
"Indeed. Both sides saw similarities with each other, exiled from their own home world as it plunged into chaos." Elsie continued. "They became allies and decided to work together with the Terrans teaching the Eliksni Aura and Semblances and the Eliksni teaching the Terrans how to use Stasis. After a year of preparation, they came to Earth and slew Crom with the power of Stasis. But what should have been a celebration became the eve of darkness. Most of the Stasis users whose minds were clouded with hatred became violent and desired to destroy." Elsie said as she summoned a Stasis crystal in her right hand. "They killed Eramis and Cruxes of Darkness began to spread out across the system sending signals to the rest of the galaxy with a promise of power."
"But why are you three using Stasis?" Ana asked.
"While the power is darkness it's only a tool and those who give themselves over to their own hatred become corrupted by it." Elsie said. "And with what happened in my time more and more people were easily corrupted by it. The Sol System and its surrounding star systems became bloodbaths with dark factions continuously killing everything in sight. I tried to put a stop to it but eventually I realized I couldn't." Elsie said as glanced at Ana before turning her gaze to the fire. "I returned to Earth to find my time ship and try to undo all of this, but my first jump accidentally brought me to Europa's past."
"Where you encountered the Clovis Bray team and got caught up in the Vex Invasion." Banshee said upon realization. "What was it that we were doing here and how did we have the Gem of Creation?"
"I see you've begun to remember." Elsie said.
"Only bits and pieces and I know you hated me." Banshee said.
"Not anymore after you learned about your past and became disgusted with your past actions." Elsie said. "Out grandfather has had the Gem of Creation for a long time he used it to make his company and several inventions he did not show to the public."
"Like what?" Ana asked.
"Well for starters his better ships which could take people to beyond the edges of the system." Elsie explained. "He didn't want any of the Soviet Union's leaders knowing what he really had or else they might've plunged it into another war. He detected the Pyramid here on Europa and came here to study it and believed it could help him realize his ultimate goal."
"And what was that?" Cayde asked.
"Us." Elsie said as she gestured to herself, Cayde, and Banshee. "He didn't create the Exo program to help the world fight Grimm but rather to create his own fountain of youth. The old man was obsessed with finding the key to eternal life and he would not allow anything to stop him. Not even the death of a family member."
Ana looked confused at this and then asked. "What do you mean?"
Elsie sighs and answers. "Before you were adopted our father was experiencing some health problems, the same problems he feared I was having." Elsie explained before glancing at herself. "Our grandfather had been making genetic modifications to him all his life as he saw him as a copy of himself. However, one of his modifications had started to kill him so our grandfather decided to make him a test subject for the Exo project as his research showed that cryo-genic sleep would not stop the 'Clovis Curse,' as his associates called the condition. Unfortunately, our father's mind couldn't handle it and he…tore himself apart." Elsie hesitantly said.
"What!? But…that can't be true!?" Ana said in shock. "If that happened than who was that who raised us for our entire lives!?"
"Because of his connections to the Grey Agency our grandfather was able to create a clone of our father and was able remove any genetic modifications in it." Elsie explained. "And once grandfather met his end here on Europa and when our mother committed suicide there was nothing stopping the Grey Agency from modeling him into someone they could use."
"Damn." Banshee says before asking. "Were the Vex the key to the Exo upload problem?"
"Yes." Elsie answered. "The Pyramid showed him how to construct a gateway back to its universe, more precise to a Vex controlled world where he led survey teams to acquire radiolaria, or "Vex Milk" as some liked to call it. This substance is what the Vex really were, microscopic silica-based organisms typically suspended in a briny white, luminescent fluid. He exposed it to the energy of the Darkness, and it became a substance he called Alkahest. He was able to make successful Exos but with the Alkahest in hand he studied it and found a way to create Exos without it."
"Our Auras were the key." Ana said upon realization.
"Yes, and with that he no longer needed to send Alkahest to Earth for Exo creation and he was able to set up a proper Exo creation facility." Elsie said. "But his research on the Pyramid continued and eventually the Vex invaded. Me and everyone else here fought and overcame the Vex invasion and destroyed the gate cutting our two universes off from each other. The survivors decided it was best that they underwent a manual reboot and made sure that their memories of this place were erased so no one would ever know what happened here."
"Cause people like the Grey Agency would conduct their own experiments." Ana said.
"Right." Elsie said. "Using data, that I gleamed from the Vex I was able to modify my time device and installed it into my body. I use it to move around much more effectively in combat. And no, I don't use it to erase past mistakes, use it to for my own selfish gains, or any other asinine idea, time is rather fragile."
"Okay, but what about Crom Cruach?" Ana asked.
"I tried to prevent his escape, but someone convinced me not to." Elsie said as she had a flashback to a time, she infiltrated the Golden Castle.
The past Elsie spots Billiam Milliam outside in the distance and aims her rifle at him. It starts to rain but the rain seems to stop, and she is left confused something grabs her gun from out of nowhere and she sees a man in a white trench coat and holding a pocket watch in one hand.
"Sorry about that Ms. Bray but I'm afraid assassinating Mr. Milliam won't be necessary." Said the strange man.
Elsie stops remembering and returns to the conversation. "As you can see Crom was defeated without me being needed, but there is still one problem." Elsie said before looking in the direction of the Pyramid.
"The Pyramid in our timeline is still giving Stasis to people." Cayde said. "But why are you guys using it?"
"I wield it now with the intent to stop our enemies where regular means cannot." Elsie replied. "You all have the resilience that shows you are all capable of wielding it too." Elsie then gestures to the structure that had recently appeared. "Before us lies what we call a 'Zigguart.' Its purpose is temptation. To begin your training, you must give in."
Ana was caught off guard by this and says, "That sounds like a bad idea Elsie. Maybe we shouldn't try it."
"I know that it doesn't sound right little light, but you must trust me." Elsie said in a calming manner before she materializes three Splinters of Darkness that she hands over to Ana, Cayde, and Banshee. "Here, take these."
"These are what Eramis and some members of her House use to harness Stasis." Ana said as she looked over her Splinter.
"Yes. Unlike us Eramis and her trusted few require the Splinters to use the power of Stasis. The ones I give you are weak but over time will grow in strength and eventually you will not need them." Elsie explained. "Please understand. The line between Light and Darkness is so very thin. Let's cross it together."
Ana nods her head before she materializes her fireteam's Sparrows and mounts them. Before taking off to the Ziggurat she glances at her sister's alternate future self before speeding off to the structure with her team. Elsie sighs to herself as she knew the look that Ana was giving her beneath that helmet.
"What's wrong?" The Drifter asked.
"Ana's happy to see me but beneath her helmet I could tell she was showing me a look of distrust she has displayed to me a few times when I refused to answer any questions on sensitive matters about her past." Elsie replied. "And with us being in uncharted territory in time this time around I'm worried about what may happen to her."
"I mean…do you know any of the answers to what she was asking you?" Drifter asked.
"I do, but even though I never agreed with keeping secrets from her I began to see the need in keeping them." Elsie explained. "But seeing me, an Elsie from the future who is free from the madness of seeing all possible futures, will only stir up those old feelings until one of us explodes from the pressure of keeping our feelings bottled up."
"I don't really do this emotional stuff sister but maybe you should tell her before something bad happens or if it gets worse when the time comes." The Drifter explained.
"Maybe." Elsie said before returning to the inside of her camp.
Meanwhile, Ana and her fireteam reach the bottom of the Ziggurat and begin ascending its stairs.
"Hey, is something wrong?" Banshee asked Ana. "I know I can't tell from your helmet, but I got the impression that you were frowning at your sister's future self."
"I was." Ana answered sternly. "I'm happy to see her even if she isn't my Elsie but some old feelings, I've had about her are starting to come back up."
"Like what?" Cayde asked.
"If she'll tell me who my birth parents are." Ana answered catching both Exos off guard. "As I grew up, I began to get the impression that both she, Willa, and our parents knew who my birth family was. But they never answered my question especially Elsie even though she was the one I was the closest too."
"I'm sure they had a good reason too keep it a secret." Banshee says.
Ana scoffs and says. "I bet they did."
The group makes it to the top and finds themselves on a platform with two walls on the side and before was a circular plate with four tetrahedral objects with glowing orange lines in the air surrounding it. The three could hear the closest one calling to them so they approach it and each place one hand on it. A bright orange light flashes from the object and it begins to derezz in front of them.
"Now what?" Cayde asked. "The longer we're here, the more nervous I'm getting. Not that I think we can't handle it. I know we can."
"Fireteam, can you hear me?" Elsie says on their comms.
"We read you Elsie." Ana answered.
"Good. Since Eris gained Stasis, she has made a connection with the Pyramid using her own dark magic. She's learned that it's sending a Crux of Darkness to Asterion Abyss. You can get to it through Charon's Crossing." Elsie says. "Commune with it and it will allow you to use Stasis through your Splinters but remember you will have to return the power to it."
"Why?" Cayde asked. "If the Pyramid wanted us to have Stasis, why would it want us to give it back?"
"It's testing you to see if you really deserve the power." Elsie answered. "If you are truly worthy of it you won't require the Splinters to use it. Stay safe you three."
"Don't worry I'll keep my ear to the ground." Cayde said with a smirk.
"And I'll be sure not to step on your head." Eris said with venom in her voice as she cut in on the conversation over the comms.
"Wow." Banshee says. "I don't think I've ever heard anyone that angry with you before and I know plenty of people who hate you."
"Eris loves me! She'll be fine. Really." Cayde says with an unconvincingly with his voice giving off hope that the dark mage will forgive him for getting her ship destroyed.
The three made their way on their Sparrows and returned to Charon's Crossing. They then stored away the Sparrow bikes and began climbing up to ground level and summoned their Sparrows again and headed toward Asterion Abyss. On their way to the location, they saw a large Vex structure in the distance sticking out of the ground. They eventually made it to the location and saw even more Vex structures littering the area. The followed the coordinates leading to a hill sloping down into a cave made from a Vex structure. The group got off their Sparrows but being in the location felt familiar to Banshee-44.
'I was here before.' Banshee thought to himself.
"Okay, so now what?" Cayde-6 asked.
Suddenly a Crux of Darkness materializes in front of the group and began to give off whispers to them.
"Ask and you shall receive Cayde." Ana said with a smirk to the bounty hunter.
The three of them approach the Crux and each place a hand on it. Suddenly the three are each enveloped in a dark blue energy. A storm of ice and wind forms around them causing them to freeze until they were frozen in ice. For a couple of seconds, they didn't move until…
FLASH!
They each moved an arm that broke the ice covering it.
FLASH!
They move their other arm out of the ice.
FLASH!
All three manage to break their whole bodies out of the ice covering them.
STATIC!
Cayde brings a hand to the side of his head. "Guys I'm reading House Salvation chatter they noticed the Crux and are sending a few Skiffs to harvest more Splinters from it."
"Good." Ana says as she summons a Stasis crystal in her hand. "Let's give these new powers a test drive."
(Acceptance (Action) (Destiny 2: Beyond Light Soundtrack) Starts)
The groups see a few Skiffs coming to their direction. The dropships stop a few feet away and out from a few exits in their undersides Eliksni climb out of them and jump down to the ground with weapons ready. Leading them was a particularly large Captain wearing a white furred cloak and had a gauntlet that held a Splinter of Darkness.
The captain than says something in Eliksni that just confuses Banshee-44 and Ana.
"Uh, Cayde do you know what that Eliksni said?" Ana asks as she takes out her rifle and switches it to glaive mode.
"Hold on my Eliksni is a little rusty." Cayde said. "Okay I believe he said 'my name is Elenaks, Salvation Elite I claim this territory in the name of my Baroness Phylaks, the Warrior. Surrender and die Terrans'."
"That's not happening." Banshee said as he readied his sword The Lament.
The fireteam charges into the crowd of Eliksni. Cayde forms Kama blades made of Stasis in each of his hands and then uses his thruster pack to propel himself into the air. Having the advantage, he then throws a Kama which freezes a group of Eliksni when it shatters on the ground and then he throws the other Kama which shatters and releases a storm of Stasis wind that shatters the frozen ones and damages more Eliksni caught in the mini storm.
Banshee meanwhile was slashing any Eliksni in his way The Lament and given how it was a giant claymore it was not a pretty sight for any who had a weak stomach as many of the House Salvation soldiers were being cut into pieces. An Eliksni then takes out a Shock Grenade and throws it at the gunsmith, it explodes and sends him back. Banshee hits the ice and climbs back to his feet and puts The Lament on his back. He gathers Stasis energy into his right hand and covers it in a gauntlet made of Stasis crystals. He charges back into the crowd of Eliksni and fires Stasis blasts from his left hand that freeze the Eliksni they hit. He then jumps into the air and slams his Stasis crystal covered right hand into the ground that releases a wave of energy that shatters any frozen Eliksni in its path, freezes any other enemy not caught in the wave, and makes Stasis crystals rise from the ground.
Ana meanwhile had summoned Stasis daggers in her hands and used them combined with her Semblance Void Dancer's ability to accelerate her movements to move fast and strike down any Eliksni she came across. After hitting a few down, she sees a crowd of Dregs and Vandals charging at her. She then charges her Stasis daggers with energy and throws them at the charging crowd of soldiers. The daggers strike down two Eliksni and then both daggers explode and freeze the crowd solid. Ana then charges her fist with Stasis energy and slams it into the ground to release a shockwave that shatters the frozen.
From the shattering of the frozen a mist had taken place and Elenaks charges from it and shoots at Ana with his Shock Rifle and alternates with a few Stasis blasts. Ana dodges the shoots and creates a few Stasis shurikens at the captain. But Elenaks becomes enveloped in a purple light that causes the Stasis weapons to bounce off harmlessly. Ana looks to see that from the dissipating mist two Servitors have emerged and sent an Ether shield that protected the captain and invigorated it. The Servitors begin to fire large purple blasts at the human, but she then creates a wall of Stasis ice to protect herself.
"Okay I got to try something to get through Elenaks shield." Ana says to herself. "If I can destroy those Servitors than maybe the shield will go away but I need to do it fast or else Elenaks will hit me with a Stasis blast." Thinking to herself Ana got an idea as the wall was starting to break further. "Maybe if I do what Elsie did before."
Ana takes out her rifle in right hand and gathers Stasis energy in her left hand. It seemed to be working as a strange white symbol appeared in it.
'Some sort of cosmic energy footprint, but no time to think about it now.' Ana thought to herself.
The Stasis wall shatters and Ana charges through. With her left hand raised she releases three blasts of energy that tracks their targets, Elenaks and his Servitors. Elenaks fires a Stasis blast at the attack coming for him but the other two freeze his Servitors solid leaving him surprised. Ana then fires a couple of rounds from her rifle at the frozen floating spherical machines causing them to shatter into pieces. Elenaks then sees that his Ether shield is gone leaving him shocked and allowing Ana to charge at him with her rifle Polaris Lance in glaive mode. Once she was close enough, she thrusts the energy blade forward and stabs her larger foe in the chest. Elenaks staggers for a few seconds before he falls backward dead.
(Acceptance (Action) (Destiny 2: Beyond Light Soundtrack) Ends)
Ana looks around to see that the battle was over and that all of the attacking Eliksni were dead. She breaths a sigh of relief before she sees something on Elenaks' belt that catches her attention. She grabs it and sees that it is some sort of data pad.
'Could be useful.' Ana thought to herself. 'I better show this to Variks, maybe he can find something useful on it.'
Ana puts away the data pad and regroups with the others at the Crux of Darkness and returns the power.
"Okay I will admit that was actually awesome of how we used those powers." Cayde said as the Crux derezzes. "Just wish we could keep the power the power with us after the first use."
"You remember what Elsie said Cayde we first have to train ourselves in it before we can use it all the time without these Splinters." Banshee explained. "Who knows what could happen if we don't return it."
"Maybe we become corrupt like the people Eramis and her followers, or even the people in Elsie's time." Ana said morbidly. "But what matters now is that we stop Eramis here before she causes any more damage, especially with the Gem of Creation on the moon."
"So now what?" Cayde asked. "Should we check back with your sister's future self."
"No, we head back to Variks." Ana explained. "I found a data pad on Elenaks and we'll need him to access it."
"Got it." Cayde said as Ana summoned their Sparrows. The group gets on them and drives back toward Charon's Crossing.