Spiritually Driven 3 (Patreon)

Spiritually Driven 3 - or ‘The Traveler is ‘God’, but I am quite the Messiah in this Dark World’ (Destiny/Destiny II, Spirit!SI)

Pain is not a pleasant emotion to be reminded of, but it can be quite the horrendous drive to start getting things ready for the most radical decision I had planned to make.

Now, many would imagine by lore alone that I was going to get the Ammonites to be readier for war- to win against the soon-to-be-born Hive, but… I knew that was not an option.

While the Ammonites had an advantage early on due to their experienced armies and fleets, they were not as numerous as the inhabitants of Fundament. The moons were also not as easy to defend and lacked a lot of resources nowadays ever since most of those were used for the industrialization and modernization of their nation.

Which is why it’s been a recurring thought ‘when’ it was time for the Ammonites to move away.

The moons may have been their homes, but their proximity to Fundament presented constant trouble due to raiders. Likewise, the industry, despite being a fairly ‘mobile’ one, needed resources that we were trading off from Fundament.

Three decades ago, the solution was introduced to the congress as a ‘rapid-deployment colonization’ idea. Planets had been scouted for a while for a valuable new home for the United Federation, and then something was found.

A large planet, roughly Jupiter-sized- it was named Atlantis Prime. No intelligent life within the planet, but animals to keep an eye on. Through this discovery, Project Krypticus was established with the main goal being to fully explore the planet, discover the best locations to start establishing colonies, and get some of the paid families to move in these new places.

It was a voluntary invitation, but it gained so much attention that it was clear many were hooked at the idea of a single big planet to inhabit. The only issue being that the capacity to build there at the time was endangered by a lack of a proper garrison. Three decades had seen this problem fixed and also double-improved upon as two orbital stations were built over it.

They lacked much attention in recent years, but a quick push from the central government was going to see them up and running at maximum efficiency in no time. The brief issue there being how to ‘convince’ the government that it was the right time to make the jump.

I was pleased to be backed by the Traveler as the large entity nodded at my announcement that the Darkness was awakening in Fundament and that the current circumstances didn’t allow the Ammonites to fight against it. In fact, staying and fighting it would just grant the ever-hungry monsters growing within the planet to get stronger and more vicious.

I refused to mention the sisters and the Traveler saw no point in bringing that up. But as the process was started to see waves of new controlled migratory ships to take on the trip to what had been called the ‘Grand Odyssey’ to Atlantis Prime, we received a visit from Fundament itself.

I was afraid it was the Hive, but it was actually a group of Krills that had sought asylum in the moons. The Court of the Osmium Regency, the very one where Xi Ro, Aurash and Sathona were once princesses of, was seeking refuge as the Hive was spreading and their immediate civil war was getting ugly on them.

It’s been just two weeks since the migration started, and to hear that the trio were already conquering people and kingdoms so fast was both dreadful and… in part, flattering.

I taught them how to wage war… within the limitations of planet-limited skirmishes. I had refrained from giving them an education on space-warfare, and this was going to be quite important in the long-run.

Still, back to the envoy, the Ammonites in the Congress were mostly reluctant to even hear their stories. The enmity between the two species was a known aspect of Fundament’s societies, but I made a case which was built on… merit.

As much as one can hate the Krill’s divisive nations, the truth is that we are all on the same side when it comes to fighting the Deep. We may hate the Krill and the Krill may hate us, but I believe, and I think the Traveler will agree with me about this, that it is time to drop hostilities and entertain an idea of an unitary society with these untainted Krills.

The Traveller’s ‘hum’ reached far and wide, but everyone could spot acceptance with my point.

However.

I wasn’t done just yet.

However there is to understand that not all Krill will be accepted. One of you will be forced to stay behind out of ramifications they carry with their mere survival. Taox of Osmium, Usurper of the Throne and… the one that led the three leading figures of the Hive to seek the Worm Gods, you will be surrendered to Fundament’s new order.

‘That is unfair! I don’t deserve this!’

But the Traveler hummed and I decided to expand on this.

Taox, I blame you not for picking the survival of many at the expense of the few, but this decision caused this calamity. Likewise, just like it had been there back then when you surrendered the King’s lives and those loyal to him to the Helium Drinkers, the Congress has the right to make a fair choice: the survival of the many Krills, at the expense of the ‘few’.

Agreement resounded on the entire political body and… no Krill raised a defense towards Taox. A pushover and a doormat in recent years, the ‘regent’ had allowed the Osmium Court to fall into disarray. This was a case of ‘cleaning the house’ to start anew.

The rest of the Krill were allowed to join Project Krypticus and tagged for the last migratory trips. With Fundament’s society collapsing, all equipment and technology remaining on the moons were stripped, all blueprints or objects that could have been reverse-engineered were moved to Atlantis Prime.

Taox would be the ‘sacrificial lamb’ as she was confined in the returning ship to Fundament. A last gift, I suppose, but also a smart decision to keep a big reason for the sisters to hunt us down on our departure.

Atlantis Prime was a couple Light Years away from Fundament and by the time they will have ships capable of FTL trips the traces of the migration will have disappeared by a long while.

Still, before the last ship left, I decided to ‘leave’ something. Nothing that was useful but… one last memento for the siblings to have. To know why I left and why I would have been approachable the next time we met.

And I just knew who was going to find it first, so I addressed it to her first and foremost.

—----d-d-d-d—----

Auryx’ arrival to the biggest moon of Fundament was a quiet and tense affair.

It was just them, in a small ship, and soon they were rushing through the broken halls of what once had served as the main government building of the Ammonites’ congress. Many tales they heard of this place, once filled with workers, machines and… life.

Right now, there was only deadly silence and a deboned structure that felt hollow. So empty, so… familiar to their current state of minds. Auryx didn’t stop, however, the King of the Hive pushed forth as their plan was one and the same: find Father.

He had to be there, she- THEY knew that he was there! He had to!

It’s been a month- a full month of conquering, pillaging and converting. The Hive stood at a prosperous height, but it was a shaky business due to the hunger. How many times did Father warn them that this would have happened? That the Worm’s hunger was so intense?

Auryx had refused to concede to this, their master ordering them to focus on the task at hand. Find the Ammonites, find Food, destroy- rip and shred! But nothing was there to do any of that. So a single goal persisted in Auryx’s mind: Father.

It’s been so long since they heard him. Xivu Arath, the God of War, was wrathful as she tried to find peace in war, but the bloodlust could only sate her own void for so long. Likewise, Savathûn sought clarity by forbidden tomes- it’s been so long since she looked out of her office, her face slapping books’ pages and never once contemplating beyond those.

Auryx was honest to themselves- Father had to be the one with the answer to their plight… no, he was the answer. He had to. The many memories tormented the King of the Hive through that wild chase across the building to find the single relevant element their scanners found.

Xivu Arath had been ready to muster the banners against the Ammonites to show Father that the Hive was stronger and better… but when she turned her attention to the moon, she found them defiled.

No one was there and no resource survived the mass-stripping that had drained the value of the 52 celestial bodies.

Nothing stood out but… a single machinery piece. One that Xivu saw as a trap, Savathûn deemed a lie, but that Auryx saw in a hopeful manner. She found it- a terminal and one that activated right as she approached it.

“Father,” Her breath caught up to her throat, as Auryx stared at the familiar frame projected as a hologram.

“Aurash. I know you will be the one that will find this. If it is any of your sisters then… you have slacked off immensely.”

She had not- she sharpened her skills to always be on top- to be a proper King!

“Still, if it is you… I am sorry. I am sorry I failed you.”

…What?

“I know I should have been more strict about this. To have told you to the fullest the extent of what damned path you all took. I hope you will relay this message to your sisters, for I know that I will not have the heart to do this two more times.”

Auryx noticed the comms were open. She had personally closed them- Savathûn had to have been behind this move. After all, she could tell her sisters were the only ones in that channel at that moment.

“The Darkness will trust you with power, with the height of greatness no mere mortals will achieve. It will be wonderful and you will think that the only expense is hunger- it is not. The ‘power’ is corrupting- even now as you waddle in it you should feel the changes slowly unfold. And the hunger… oh, the hunger is not the end of it. It will grow more demanding. The Darkness exists as a destroyer of everything that is complex. And life to it is complex.”

The worms were oddly quiet at this point.

“The reason why you still live- you, Aurash, and your sisters- is because you are useful to it. You are an agent of it, pawns that have a single role of destroying anything that is trying to stop the Darkness but… once that is done, do you think you will live for long? That the Darkness will spare you? No, it will not matter how strong you will get, how mighty the Hive shall be- the Darkness will have sleeper agents in each of you, ready to spring in action and kill you from within. That worm? It’s not going to be your ‘friend’. It is only there to keep a knife ready to stab your heart the moment you are no longer useful.”

“...Why? Why hold back from us?”

The recording shifted again, this time moving to the ‘right topic’.

“If you are curious on… why I had to hold back so much- and how this would have made a difference… it would have not. I held back because I knew that the grasp the damn worm had over all of you was already too strong. Had I pushed it, had I just… made it too harsh on you all, I knew it would have hurt you. Emotionally and through your growth. You had to be independent, you had to have a choice on the matter. The Leviathan and the Traveler would have lambasted you three for damaging yourselves and your race. I bet the former bastard got dealt with for being the primary source of stupidity but…”

A loud sigh ensued and, for a brief moment Aurash felt small again.

“But I hope you all understand that, no matter how I would want to help you now… you are cursed. This is the kind of pact you can’t break with what the Light knows. It’s that kind of foul binding that goes beyond what one can understand. And… And I can’t protect you again. You are no longer my children the moment you took to be what you are now. You sought power easily, but condemned how many innocents? How many more will die because of that hunger you all have? I am truly sorry but this is… a farewell. Xi Ro, Sathona and… Aurash… I hope you all find a way out of that hell, for I can’t and will no longer help you from this point onward.”

And the hologram was over.

Silence ensued as the void finally became worse as the cold that came from it couldn’t be soothed by the worm, no matter how hard it tried to do so.

And Auryx- no, Aurash let out a powerful scream that tore through the building and through other moons.

An anguished child now losing her father again, this time by her own hands.

—-----d-d-d-d—----

AN

What will this mean? A lot. The Ammonites leaving means that the Hive will lack food for a while and that will make them more motivated to destroy the Ecumene, an Angelic-themed Galactic Federation, faster. Likewise, they will be missing on valuable technology the Traveler left to the Ammonites, with their modernization taking a bit longer to achieve but… they will get quicker about it as Savathûn will not slack off on the topic. And Auryx… Well, their current inability to make the big step to become a proper ‘King’ will stunt their capacity to fully undertake some of the more vicious paths they would have taken as Canon Auryx/Oryx.

Likewise, there’s the matter of the Ammonites. They survive and they will spread. By the time the First Darkness War will occur, they will be essential against the Paracausal Force itself and all its allies.