A Message

Delve tries to focus. The Light inside him burned brightly, leaving Delve with a pain like he'd never felt before. He could feel every servo, piston, hinge, and wire in his mechanical body, and all of them were on fire. It was as if his body would melt into a molten puddle of slag on the concrete walkway of the Tower. He does his best to relax his body, calming his mind through the screaming pain.

Then.. Nothing. One moment, his body felt like he was walking on the Sun, and the next, he feels fine. He opens a tentative eye. He's immediately taken aback by what he sees. Instead of the Tower, Delve now finds himself in a void. There's no ground beneath him, or if there is, it's the same perfect pitch black as the sky that he's now looking up at. He looks around and his eyes focus on a single white dot. The only light in the darkness. He watches as it grows larger, and larger.

"No.. It's not growing larger. It's getting closer." He thinks to himself, wondering what he's looking at

He continues like this, his eyes fixated on the only other thing with him in the void. Eventually after what seems like hours, it's close enough that Delve can recognize the familiar white sphere. It was the Traveler. By now it was close enough that he could make out every missing piece and scar on the face of the semi-celestial body. He continues to wait like this, until the Traveler filled his entire view. Then it stopped approaching.

Delve, who had grown accustomed to seeing the mass approach him, was so startled by the sudden lack of movement that he stood up. He starts walking towards the Traveler, and after a few minutes he can tell that he doesn't seem to be getting any closer, so he gives up on that.

He had always heard that the Traveler was alive. Sentient, even. He'd never put much thought into it. All the people he'd met that thought that it was alive also revered it as a god. To him, anything that recruited dead people to fight as undying soldiers could never be a god. Sentient, yes. But not a god.

"Rust?" He asks, instinctively holding out his hand for her to materialize above. But she doesn't appear. Nor does she respond. He sighs and looks up at the Traveler again.

"Hello?" Delve calls out to it, unable to think of anything else to do.

In response, he feels a vibration, almost a humming. A reverberation that shakes him to his core. There were no words, and yet.. He could tell exactly what the Traveler was saying.

But didn't have a voice. Instead, images were carried along into Delve's head along with the vibration. Fields of green grass, trees flowing in the wind, people laughing at an unknown joke. But it also carried other images with it. Sad ones: As if the Traveler knew something that he didn't. A grandmother's last breath, the room empty besides for her. A warrior bleeding out, a stained picture of his spouse in his hand. A newborn puppy freezing in the cold after its mother had gone off to find food, only to wander into a road. The images grew more and more melancholy until Delve realizes he's on his knees again, holding his head.

"Why are you showing me these things?" He cries out at the Traveler, wishing it would all end.

There is no response, just more images. The Last City in flames, as Cabal ships fill the sky. The fall of the Hunter Vanguard with one final gun shot ringing out. The now-living nightmares of every Guardian flooding from under the Moon's surface. Pyramid ships being unearthed, and the subsequent vanishing of many of the planets in the solar system. A sibling of Oryx wielding the Light. And finally, someone that even through the Traveler's visions, he couldn't tell who or what it was. Delve inspects the figure. It has pale skin and is tall. It's wearing black robes over its thin frame. The top of its head seemed to billow away like smoke. Then it turns and looks straight at Delve. Black eyes bore into his own. He hears a new voice. Not the Traveler's. This one was much more ominous. It sounded as if a hundred voices were all speaking at once. The figure speaks only two words to Delve.

"Witness me."

Then the images end. Delve finds himself doubled over, still clutching at his own head. He lets go and looks at the Traveler again.

"What.. Was that?" He asks. The Traveler responds with more images. They're softer this time, but they do nothing to explain.

"I don't understand." He holds his head again, this time out of confusion. "What did you just show me?" This time, the Traveler spoke using its voice.

"I have shown you the future, my Lightbearer." It says, it's voice sounding like a thousand wind chimes in a perfect melody.

"What?" He asks. Had he really just been shown the future? "You mean.. Everything you've shown me.." He trails off.

"Will come to pass." The Traveler finishes his sentence for him.

"All those awful things.." He says, looking at his hands that are now in his lap. He shakes his head and returns his gaze to the Traveler. "Why don't you stop them?"

"Because they will happen. They must happen. The Light will fall one day. But that day is not today." Its voice shifts, now sounding like a light breeze on a warm summer day. "Something is coming." It says after a pause.

"What?"

"Something that will upset the flow. That will change the events that must play out." The Traveler sounds like the ocean now. "That is why I have you, my Lightbearer."

Delve is silent for a moment.

"Chosen me for what?" He asks gently.

"There is something coming. It is dangerous to all who live."

"Chosen me for what?" Delve calls out again, this time much less gently. After a pause that made Delve question whether or not he'd actually get a response, the Traveler speaks once more.

"You must restore the flow. Bring back what must be. You alone can maintain the future. You are my Lightbearer. My Chosen."

Delve feels a shooting pain in his body again, and he shuts his eyes as he screams out. The fiery pain has returned and is more intense than ever. Then, like before, it disappears. He struggles to maintain consciousness as he falls forward onto his hands and knees. His palms impact the cold concrete ground of the Tower with a clank. He opens his eyes, his mind clear again.