Spiritually Driven 7 (Patreon)

Spiritually Driven 7 - or ‘The Traveler is ‘God’, but I am quite the Messiah in this Dark World’ (Destiny/Destiny II, Spirit!SI)

Education is important, but so is social life.

Nokris was still too young to understand the meaning of balance within his own life, but he listened- not with outright devotion, but childish curiosity and delight.

He was still stubborn about leaving books to play with the children of Harmony, but he slowly managed to break away from the unpleasant shell of loneliness that his foolish father put him through.

Despite that, I would say that his simple life was tough to conquer for me. After all, I had to handle some diplomatic circumstances within his arrival between the queries with the Ammonites and the Krills. Neither had raised objections on the topic, but they were both wary as communities about these developments.

A fair worry at that, but we made sure that the Hive wouldn’t find us. The ensuing months proved this to be the right choice, but the strife didn’t limit itself to mere diplomacy. The Harmony wanted to idolize Nokris as the ‘Grandson’ or something akin to that.

But I pushed back on the topic, seeing only harm coming our way by putting him on too high of a pedestal. Sure, he starved for affection and respect, but just dropping all of it on his plate would just ruin his chances of developing as his own being.

Religious education was fine, but religious elevation to something akin to Sainthood was excessive in my standards. Plus, the child had a bigger role than a spiritual one.

The Traveler confirmed it to me- Nokris held worthiness to become a Guardian or… ‘more’ in due time. I wasn’t able to acquire greater info on this ‘more’ role but I decided to see it as something beyond the ‘resurrection’ cycle that ghosts provided to Guardians.

So, he was not trained just in literary arts but also martial ones- rather than trying to have him harness a sword, such a tool being unfit to him by mindset first and preparation second, we gave him a shield.

The ‘Light Shield’ was a weapon that had been tested by the Harmony as a ‘squad defending tool’. It wasn’t meant to be used in an offensive manner but- Nokris was quick to adapt to the idea and his training within a year was quite incredible.

He managed to learn the basis of the item and turn it into something that was fueled by his own Light power. The more energy he pumped in it, the more it could be manifested in layers and forms he wanted.

An unpredictable tool for an unpredictable kid.

Well, a kid that was soon growing up fast due to his biology. Different from Krills of old or even those of new, Nokris’ immortality survived the turning to the light. But while that provided him with an eternal chance, it did nothing to lessen the quickened growth that the Hive had inherited from the old Krills.

So, in the span of three years, Nokris had matured to his prime form. Young and yet an adult that had mountains of knowledge resting within his ever-expanding mind. Taking upon the mantle of keeping his promise to his ‘former father’, Nokris pursued a new form of entertainment and quest- exploration.

While he wouldn’t abandon himself into reckless discoveries, he would welcome the offers to join colonial efforts by the Harmony, offering assistance in suppressing dangerous entities within those planets.

Nokris would keep journals over his many tales, mimicking his mother and slowly understanding the thrill of seeing so many locations and giving them names. It made him feel ‘important’ in a way that he could justify without putting too much effort but still putting work into it.

He made quite the contributions to The Harmony society and… he managed to ultimately gain permission to visit the Krill State. He was stunned and fascinated by their evolved culture, but refrained from pestering his guide. As I had advised him back then, he put an effort to not sound too inquisitive and thus appear suspicious.

The ensuing visits guaranteed a slow mellowing of relations. He was still treated as a ‘stranger’, but that didn’t seem to bother him much. Had this been a thought forced to him when he was first curious of his ‘ancestors/descendants’, then he would have perceived it as an insult- but Nokris learned the culture had changed much and, while they did appear similar to one another, the Light Priest could tell there were far greater differences.

The Ammonites were also subject to visits, but Nokris’ interests were dim due to their lack of meaningful literature. After eons of existence through their naval prowess, the Ammonites had become a maritime/naval society with a focus on their militaristic roots. Not enough to subvert any of the democratic traditions, but enough to have some cultural zeal to their society.

However, while we didn’t find any external threat, we soon learned of a worrying pattern that was pestering the Harmony. As one would expect, ‘rebellious morons’ are a thing when it comes to foes you don’t understand.

People that pursue evil for the sake of Evil and this manifested through the creation of a small cult that was noticed in one of the underground’s area of Harmony's homeplanet.

Nokris and I tagged along the task of neutralizing the cult. It was practicing dark matters, thus it had to be purged with haste and ruthlessness. Nothing there could match Nokris as the Light Priest carefully and yet swiftly tore through his enemies.

He was quiet, careful and then… reached our destination. A large communication chamber.

“I recognize it,” He remarked quietly. “Familiar design from the Hive. This is neither one of Father’s or Xivu Arath’s.”

Which left a single potential culprit behind such a move and-

“Indeed, that would be my style for communication chamber,” A strong voice purred happily, leaving Nokris in a tense stance.

“Savathun.”

“Hello nephew. I have to give praise where it is due- it’s a shame that my brother and your father refused to give you a chance to prosper. Shame, but now I am curious to see your full potential,” The disembodied voice commented. “And hello to you too, my dear father. You are unchanged. How are you? Still leading the frail fools of old through preaches and tales?”

Oh, I am well. And I suppose you are still relying on lies to make up for a lacking capacity to be in charge compared to your siblings.

“Shame, father! Trying to hurt your smart daughter with memories of my past weakness. I am no longer that fool.”

You are right. You are far worse now as you only use lies.

“Heh, truly… perplexing. Say, father, I have been waiting for this moment- I even planned it.”

What are you talking about?

“To make it simple, I thought of using this to help poor Oryx and Xivu Arath to find you. You know, Xi Ro is so worried sick and she has put an effort to personally lead the charge to rescue you. But then, I realized… I think I have a right to know something more than ever. So, I will make a deal as Sathona once would- you answer this question of mine and I shall ‘forget’ where your petty little group of friends in the Light are.”

What?

Something about this didn’t feel right. A question to just let her siblings miss out on a ‘family reunion’? Something just screamed red flags over red flags.

“A simple question. You will have to forgive this inquisitive daughter of yours for being concerned by this emotional plight. Still, without further ado…”

There was a pause and then a green hologram of Savathun manifested in front of us.

“Do you still love us, Father?”

I thought I made that-

“Lies come through all forms. I think we had this very conversation when you taught me that lying within reason of goodness is not wrong. Isn’t it?”

…

“Say it!” The Witch Queen snarled, her temper flaring at the silence. “I want you to be honest about it! Do you hate or love us?! Do you still find the strength to call us your precious dau-”

I do.

There was an immediate pause, then Savathun’s anger cooled down into nothingness.

“Hm?”

I still love Aurash, Xi Ro, Sathona. I love them to death. Then I see you, Savathun, I see Oryx and Xivu Arath… And I feel pain because I know you are not going to come back from this. I know what you may think right now ‘I can change with the light, after all that is how Nokris broke free from the Darkness’, but Nokris was not twisted by it. He was not broken by it. He was not stolen from me.

…

“Father-”

You made a choice that day, Sathona. How many times do I have to remind you and your siblings about it? You had a chance, you had the means to say no- no one was trying to coax you into this and you had free will. What do you have now if not a fake godhood that is chained by some worms and a mongrel that defines himself as the true manifestation of darkness?!

“...You are right.”

Nokris looked surprised by this admission, but even more by the sight of Savathun on her knees.

“I am the one to blame. Not my sisters. Father- Dad, I… I know now. I can see it myself. The pain, the abuse, the lying- THE LIARS!”

Her scream was then sharply, her hands rushing to her chest as something gnawed at it.

"Gah-ghhh."

…Enough, Sathona. Crying in the past will not solve it. Congratulations on catching up to this, but I have no solution for you. You are too corrupted, even beyond what the worms did to you. The experience, the pain- those things define you after so much time has gone by. You may have once bore that name, but, at this point, it’s an old man’s senile moment to consider you or your siblings as you are right now with those words. Goodbye.

I turned to leave and Nokris followed, but not without stealing glances over his shoulder at the sobbing shape of a genuinely broken Savathun. To Nokris, someone that had long been taught in his childhood that the ‘Gods of the Hive’ couldn’t be beaten so easily… he found the sight to be surprisingly cathartic.

Yet, he shared no words with me on the topic in the ensuing days. I think he noticed I wouldn’t provide him with answers as I pursued a bit of a distant effort to recollect myself.

Up to this point I met Oryx and Savathun. Oryx was ‘strong’, Savathun was not. If one was King, the other was Queen. But while those two terms normally mattered the same in a hierarchical context, the Hive’s mindset offered a different translation.

The King ruled, the Queen groomed the newer generations. While the Krills-based society had mutated under the hive, that concept persisted. And how could a Queen foster new waves of monsters if she doesn’t know how to approach one’s emotions?

Empathy had been something that Sathona was never able to fully legitimize in her actions, but it was clear she focused on this out of pragmatic need. Or… was there another reason? I had pushed her to be more open with people, but she was always reluctant to do so… unless around me.

And that meltdown depicted just that if not for the fact that Nokris was there too. Sathona didn’t ignore that- she knew he was there and she should have refrained from showing herself being so weak.

…Unless the pain had gotten unbearable at this point, right as I had told them. The hunger… it only gets worse.

Despite that… I had to go forward. And I could tell the real trouble would soon begin once the Traveler departed for the next civilization. If my estimations were right, he was going to meet the Eliksni in roughly two thousand years from now and… that’s when the Witness will make the ball roll with his fleet in an effort to catch the Traveler off-guard.

If only he knew I was going to leave him with a broken nose through this expected skirmish…