Reincarnated Into Destiny Universe

(Day 170)

     Fireteam Isaac was on standby, while the members of Fireteam Ferra were each soloing their own room in the Summoning Pits. Because of the effects of the Darkness Zone, they couldn't all go in at the same time or else Eris wouldn't be able to contact them when needed. The comms device, being also connected to Ikora, would contact both her and Isaac every time Eris sent a signal. If Isaac and his teammates were inside a Darkness Zone, then Ikora would relay the signal to Fireteam Ferra.

     As Fireteam Isaac were sitting around chatting and waiting for Fireteam Ferra to finish up, Isaac received another Haste Signal from Eris.

     "It's another Haste, Daniel. Sending you the coordinates now." Isaac informed him.

     Without waiting for Isaac to even finish his second sentence, Daniel was already using his fastest speed rush towards Eris' direction. Knowing that they might be called on at any time, the six Guardians had decided waiting at the top of the Summoning Pits would be ideal. They didn't want to waste unnecessary time jumping from ring to ring all the way back up top every time they were called on. Each time one fireteam finished their slaughtering, they would signal the standby team and would begin making their way back up and the standby team would make their way down.

     Daniel rushed past the few Hive wandering the corridors without paying them any attention. In less than a minute, he had arrived at the coordinates Isaac had sent him. As he approached the room, he saw Eris reveal herself and stopped as she seemed to be signaling him.

     "What's going on here, Eris? Didn't you need help with something?" Daniel asked. 

     "Yes, but keep your voice down. Inside that room are an entirely new breed of Hive. They're making Cursed Wizards that can easily summon Cursed Thralls to their side. I suggest you throw something destructive inside and quickly retreat. The entire room is overflowing with Cursed Thralls and Wizards. The resulting explosion may even cause some type of cave in, despite the reinforced nature of these Hive excavated tunnels." Eris responded.

     Daniel thought for a moment about what she had told him. He wasn't that concerned with the new Cursed Thralls. They might be dangerous to some but not to him or his teammates. After some consideration, he decided this would be a good job for the Void Flame Bomb that Isaac had created to synergize with his fighting style.

     Having made his decision, Daniel began shaping the ability in his mind, as he approached the room. Once he stepped across the threshold, he immediately released his ability and then used LAMP to make an instant 180', blast himself away from there, and scooped up Eris as he passed her. He planned to carry himself and Eris at least an entire kilometer away from that room.

     It had been less than five seconds after he had launched his Void Flame Bomb and he had traveled less than a quarter of that kilometer, when they both heard and felt the consequences of his previous action.

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!

RUUUUMMMBLE!!!

     The ground beneath their feet began shaking violently an instant after the distant explosion resounded in their ears. The walls and floors of the corridor they were running on began cracking and rocks of various sizes began falling from the ceiling. Having to carry Eris was slowing him down but it's not like he could just leave her so he managed the fastest speed he could muster and continued forward, while dodging past the falling debris.

     A couple of minutes later, Daniel rushed through a door leading into one of the main corridors. He then headed back towards the Circle of Bones and could hear the distant sound of a tunnel collapse a few seconds after they had exited.

     Less than a minute later, Daniel and Eris arrived in the Circle of Bones, where he finally set her down and they continued onwards towards the entrance to the Summoning Pits.

     Upon their arrival, the crew took a moment to consider what they had learned but quickly set up a safe zone for them to take turns sleeping. Since there were seven of them all together, they decided that each person, starting with Eris, would go to sleep for an hour and then a second person would join them. Once three people were asleep, the three still awake would wait two hours before a fourth person would go to sleep. As soon as the sixth person went to sleep, the seventh person would wake up Eris and an hour later wake up the second person to have gone to sleep. At this point, the seventh person would go to sleep and the second person would stay on guard, until everyone was up.

     It was in this way that the seven of them spent a little over two weeks creeping around inside the Helmouth and leaving the place quite deserted upon the departure. At the end of their mission, Eris had managed to gain quite a bit of useful information about the Hive's magic and, although they had never seen the end of the Summoning Pits, they had slaughtered well over a million Hive during their stay here.

     Unfortunately, slaughtering Hive minions wasn't anywhere near as profitable as looting Fallen Strongholds. While they were all glad at the prospect of finally being able to leave that place, they were also a bit miffed at the lack of loot. After having gone through and snatched up anything of value they could find, they all made their way out of the Helmouth and back to the Tower for some much needed R&R.

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                              (Day 189)

     After returning to the Tower, Eris made her full report to Ikora and the next day Isaac, Ikora, and Eris all poured over the details of that report to try and determine how the knowledge could be useful to them. They spent the rest of the day deliberating, concluded that a theoretical discussion simply wouldn't suffice, and decided to set the matter aside, until Crota had been dealt with.

     Eris, in quite a rare mood, left that meeting and went directly to the Potential Energy Chamber, where she would stay until Isaac decided to contact her.

     Isaac had been surprised to find out that Eris could use Potential Energy, despite having had her Light completely drained. This gave him an idea and so he headed over to the Farm to speak with Hawthorne.

     "Hi there, Suraya. How are things holding up out here?" Isaac asked. 

     "Never been better. The people here are safer than they've ever been, in no small way thanks to you giving us these awesome new machines. Was there something you needed?" Suraya responded. 

     "Ahh, I'm glad to hear the Light Servitors and Light Walkers are working out for you. That being said, I do have a proposition for you. I'm not sure whether you'll like it or not but you should consider the benefits it could bring the people who live here, before making a decision. 

     "There's a chance that you and the others living here, actually the entirety of humanity, could obtain powers similar to those we Guardians wield. It isn't guaranteed as all of this is still very much hypothetical but, if you are willing to follow my instructions, we can find out for certain."

     Hawthorne, whose eyes had gone wide at the mention of obtaining Guardian-like powers, narrowed her eyes as she stared at Isaac and considered her response. "What would we have to do? Is it dangerous?"

     "Not at all. The only thing you would need to do is spend some time meditating over near the Light Fortress. I'll be heading over there to make a few changes, before I leave. Once those changes are in place, you should lead a group of people over there and have them meditate in the spaces provided. I'm not sure how long it will take but I'll leave you with as much guidance as I can on how to do this meditation properly.

     "If the same people continue to meditate at the Light Fortress daily and follow my instructions, you should eventually obtain what we Guardians call an attunement. Once you are attuned to this Potential Energy, you should be able to accomplish lesser but similar feats as us Guardians. Anyone who manages to obtain an attunement can continue meditating there to increase his or her attunement, which will increase his or her ability to wield this Potential Energy."

     Hawthorne looked over at the Light Fortress in the distance and considered Isaac's proposal for a moment. "If you had asked me this when we first met, I'm almost certain I never would have considered it. After everything that you've done for us, however, including these unexplainable machines that would normally be attacking us, it's hard to find a reason not to at least give it a shot. If it really is as harmless as doing some meditations, I'm certain I can find a few volunteers to give this thing a solid try. And if actually succeeds...well, it's probably best not to get our hopes up. Nothing's guaranteed, as you've said."

     "Ah, wonderful! I'm glad you are willing and I'm also glad that you're maintaining a realistic perspective. Of course, I'd have expected nothing less from you. Why don't you follow me over to the Light Fortress and I can expound on the details of the meditation and show you how to use the meditation space?"

     Isaac led Suraya over to the Light Fortress and left her standing outside, while he entered the ship and had Emcee summon the customization panels. After finalizing his customizations, Emcee transmatted him back outside and implemented the changes he had made.

     Suraya and Isaac stood a ways back from the Light Fortress and watched as it was entirely enveloped in a brilliant radiance. Its outline began to shift and reshape, until it resembled a Pentagon-like building with stairs leading up to its primary entrance.

     Isaac led Suraya inside and showed her all of the various rooms and functions. Isaac had decided to make the current Light Fortress a training outpost for non-Guardian people. Once they defeated Crota, he would take his personal ship and go shard hunting again.

     He had not only added Potential Energy Meditation Chambers but also everything else that he had previously had inside the Light Fortress. With this Light Pentagon here, the entire population of the Farm could easily move in and, once a few of them were proficient in manipulating Potential Energy, he could establish a full fledged civilian training facility.

     After confirming that Suraya understood all of the details, Wraitheon transmatted Isaac back to his ship and they made their way back to the Tower.

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                            (Day 195)

     After taking a Day of Reflection, Isaac and his team spent a few days familiarizing themselves with Potential Energy. It was time, however, to settle things with Crota, so Isaac ran quickly through his morning routine and then contacted Eris to let her know that today was the day.

     During this time Isaac had also reconstructed his Kinetic Energy Light Organ into a Potential Energy one. He had also been attempting some new things with his newly connected Light Wielder's and Light Condensation Organ but so far nothing had come of it.

     "Alright, gang, today is the big day. I know that we've all gotten a lot stronger, since we assaulted the Vault of Glass but I don't want any of you getting c.o.c.ky out there. We're going into an incredibly dangerous place and, while we'll probably have a much easier time of things than others might, that doesn't mean we have the luxury of taking this mission lightly.

     "Once we get inside, we'll most likely be inside of a Darkness Zone the entire time so Light Charge management will be a top priority. At this point, we all have fairly impressive weaponry and so we'll need to make the most of them. The Vex Mythoclasts we got from the Vault should give us a fairly impressive performance, in there, so make sure you bring them.

     "With all that being said, I know we can do this we just have to make sure not to get ahead of ourselves and remain vigilant at all times. Well, do you guys have any questions?"

     "Ah, just one. Are you talking about us or yourself?" Ferra asked. 

     "Uhhh, a little of Column A, a little of Column B." Isaac responded. 

     "Uhuh…"

     "How about you, Eris? Anything to add?" Isaac deflected.

     "No, now get going, before we all grow old." Eris commanded. 

     "Wait a minute, do Guardians…"

     "LEAVE NOW!" Eris screamed at them.

     "Right, right, sorry! Going now!"

     Isaac and the others were swiftly transmatted to their sh.i.p.s and made their way to the Moon. Setting down near the Helmouth, the crew approached the massive gaping hole in the Moon's surface.

     On the lip of the massive hole, there were a few small Hive structures surrounding a circular platform. The platform was almost flush with the ground and was covered in strange markings. The six of them approached the platform and stepped on top of it. They stood there waiting for some kind of response but nothing happened.

     After nearly half an hour of waiting with no response, they decided that this wasn't going to work and they would need to try something else. Isaac sent Daniel out to scout the location of the nearest Hive and bring one back.

     Two minutes later Daniel returned with two Thralls, one in each hand. Isaac told him to stand on the platform and kill the two Thralls. Daniel did as instructed and a familiar green energy flowed from the Thrall's corpse and into the platform. The markings on the platform began to glow faintly but only for a few seconds before fading away.

     All of the slaughtering they had done on the Moon, was now working against them. It appeared as though they would need Hive sacrifices in order to activate this platform and there wasn't a Hive in sight. Not only was there not a Hive currently in sight, they had yet to see any Hive patrolling the area as they landed. Daniel had only managed to find those two Thralls hiding out in a nearby cave because of his incredible speed. It would probably take them an hour or more to hunt down all of the Hive necessary to activate the platform.

     'Well, this isn't this just a damned fine mess? Even if we find enough Hive for the job, how will we get all of them back here alive? At most we could get twelve Thralls but would that be enough? If we can't find anymore Hive in the immediate area, we may have to go all the way down into the Summoning Pits…'

     "Guys, something's not right here. I think the Hive suspected that we would go after Crota and are leading us into a trap. Eris, as much as I hate to say it we're going to have to delay this mission for another day. Whatever they have planned, they will have to show themselves, if we walk in there looking for them. 

     "At that point if we run away, they'll know that we're on to them and might even change their plans. However, if we leave now and obtain the required Hive sacrifices from Earth, then at the very least they won't be able to waste our time and our Light with whatever is waiting for us in or near the Summoning Pits."

     "Hmmm...You may be on to something, Isaac. The Hive are terribly clever and those who underestimate them never last long. It's truly unfortunate. I had hoped to see Crota fall today but I suppose one more day isn't that big of a deal. Very well. Return and collect the Hive you need from Earth. Make sure you're topped off with Light Charge and get to bed early. I want all of you ready to go, before the sun rises." Eris instructed them.

     "You guys heard the lady. This mission may be delayed but we've still got work to do. Let's get to it."

     Isaac and his fireteam left the Moon and went back to Earth, to make the necessary presentations for tomorrow's mission.