A/N: Awakening.
----
The stars stretched out ahead like a quiet road. In the cockpit of the aging Jumpship, Void sat reclined, one boot kicked up on the console. The hum of the thrusters was the only sound—calm, steady, almost peaceful.
He exhaled slowly, eyes flicking back through the viewport behind him.
The City was gone from view. The Nightstalkers, the Consensus, the chase—it all felt distant now. Like it happened in another lifetime. A few months ago, he'd clawed his way out of the Cosmodrome, Ghost at his side, barely understanding what he was.
Now? It had all changed. He was fugitive. A man carving his own path in the galaxy.
Then, the system's screen blinked.
[Checking Pre-requisites]
[Initializing]
[...]
[Host has survived 'The Great Disaster' !]
[Unlocking Live World Stage!]
Void leaned forward, brows pulling together. "That's new."
[Initializing administrator systems....The World will be open for Player Guardians!]
"…What?"
A low hum rolled through the ship as new diagnostics scrolled across the screen. Strange symbols. Lines of code. A part of the system he'd never seen before.
[Initializing administrator systems...][The world will soon open for Player Guardians.]
Void froze. "Wait—players?"
He blinked, eyes scanning the readout again. The idea had always been there, buried in the back of his mind. This place wasn't just a world—it was a game. But he'd been alone in it for so long, he'd stopped thinking about the others. Players. Real people.
[Quest-Giver and NPC Framework unlocked.]
He let out a short laugh. "So what, I'm a quest marker now?"
Still... if this was real—if people were really coming—then everything was about to change.
Destiny players only responded to two things, loot... and loot. He needed to get lots of it.
[Calculation.....Beta Test will conclude in two weeks. World will be live in 30 Days! Be prepared for the awakening.]
Instantly, a wave of nostalgia rushed through him. Awakening. He knew what that was. He'd gone through it himself. The game would thrust you into the Cosmodrome wilds and let the player find their way back to the city.
Void remembered his own beginning. Where each dreg felt like a boss fight. Nights passed him as he feared for his life. A gentle smile rolled on his lips.
He'd come far. And whatever was coming next? He wasn't going to sit on the side lines.
The screen pulsed again.
[World Trailer ready. Watch now?]
Void hesitated. Then smirked, tapping the button.
"Let's see what we're getting into."
The screen flickered, and the trailer began to play.
----
{ Trailer: Become Legend // Year 1}
Darkness.
Then, Ikorra's voice echoed like a faint whisper, a candle in the dark.
"First, there was light" She spoke.
The screen shifted as the dark receded into the corners, revealing the Last City and the Tower below the Traveler. Then, the dark crawled back in as the scene shifted towards the dark horizon.
The moon's curvature blotted out the sun, an eerie sound echoed.
"But we weren't alone. Ancient enemies appeared, chasing the gifts we'd received. To bear the light came at a cost, and now we faced ruin."
A Jumpship cruised along the lunar horizon. A fireteam of three guardians stepped on the moon, and a ghost's voice resounded.
{Careful guardian, dying here is much more likely.}
Then, a hunter retorted, "I'd say so. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't wanna live here."
"Enough talk." A warlock replied.
The titan did not speak.
Their fireteam marched across the lunar battlefield, and earth hung in the horizon behind them. They walked until the gates of Hellmouth were before them. The titan cocked his gun.
"Knock knock." The warlock chuckled.
The titan smirked, a Gjallarhorn rested on his shoulders, "Who's there" He answered. Rockets fired, and the gate was crushed to dust. A Hive army rushed to the surface.
"That's a party." The warlock, rolled her eyes.
"Music?" The hunter smiled, "Something... classical?"
The three nodded, and the fight ensued.
Scenes shifted as the fireteam toured the jungles of Venus on their sparrows. Fought wars on the jagged canyons of mars, and leapt towards the abyss on earth's plague lands.
Then, the screen turned dark.
"To wield the Light," Ikorra whispers, "is to understand its weight."
A ripple crosses the screen like a scar. The corners blacken and she takes a breath.
"Some seek power."
"Some long for purpose."
"And some... they choose to break the balance. To tip the scales—no matter the cost."
The screen burns to white, then collapses into ruin.
A battlefield—scorched, abandoned. Smoke trails into the skies.
Void stands alone at its edge, sword in hand. His cloak tears in the wind.
The air shimmers. Something coils around him—massive, translucent. A phantasmal Ahamkara, its form shifting, impossible to pin down. Its laughter creeps along the air like a haunting echo.
Void's voice cuts through the silence, low and steady.
"Zamyr."
The creature roars—soundless and deafening all at once.
The world shatters like glass.
A single line fades in at the end.
"We need you Guardian. Greatness Awaits."
---
Void rubbed his chin, he never expected that he'd be a mystery addition to the trailer. Then again, perhaps he really had tipped the scales of the world.
His console blinked, Void looked ahead, the Reef wasn't far. He'd made it to the first hub. But of course, the reef wasn't exactly his first destination.
"Obsidian, navigate to the Tangled Shore, avoid the Awoken patrols." Void spoke up.
Obsidian's eye pulsed, "I've gotten the coordinates from the City's archive. Which landing zone?"
Void's eyes lit up, "Thieves' Landing."
Obsidian was puzzled, "Are you sure? Area's quite active with fallen squads. There's mention of a crime syndicate."
"Don't worry about that. It's time we start a little something of our own, don't you think?" Void smirked.
Obsidian's eye narrowed, "Right....I assume this has nothing to do with the aforementioned syndicate?"
"Don't sweat the small stuff." Void brushed him off and Obsidian continued the navigation.
Then, his wrist buzzed. Pulsing like a tracker. Void tensed, looking at the chip in his transponder. He recognized the chip, after all he was the one to put it in.
But since it lit up, it could only mean one thing. The Vault of Glass fireteam was alive...or at least one of them was.
"Obsidian, once we land, send exact coordinates to the GPS chip from Pahanin." Void's jaw tightened.
"Affimrative." Obsidian paused, "There's a Jumpship already en route towards us, I've sent our landing dock details."
Void nodded.
----
[Tangled Shore- Thieves Landing]
The dock sizzled with static discharge as the old Jumpship touched down, its hull scarred with blaster marks and the signs of a Vex assault. Void stood still on the landing platform, cloak dancing in the dry wind, eyes narrowed beneath his hood. Obsidian hovered quietly beside him, light dimmed to a soft orange.
The ramp hissed open.
Pahanin stepped out—slower than he used to, shoulders hunched beneath worn-out armor, his cloak torn and heavy with grit. Terror lingered in his eyes until he found Void.
"Void," he breathed, a half-smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Pahanin immediately jolted towards him, and they met in the middle of the platform. He put his hand on Void's shoulder— and held firm, but lingered for a second longer than necessary, like he needed to make sure Void was real.
Almost as if he thought this was all, an illusion.
The moment passed, and Pahanin heaved heavy breaths, almost faltering to his knees. Void immediately stood him up.
"What happened Void...What is going on." Pahanin spoke with a broken voice, "The City's empty, the guardians, they're all missing. Everything, is wrong."
Pahanin paused, his voice turned lower, "They don't recognize me. No one does." Then his eyes drifted to Void, his hand still lingered on Void's shoulder and the hunter squeezed tighter. Afraid that Void would slip away.
"You know who I am...right?" Pahanin asked with an unease gripping his voice, he searched Void's eyes for recognition.
"I do. I remember... I remember everything." Void reassured him and Pahanin heaved a sigh of relief. He sat down on the landing pad.
"What happened."
Void pursed his lips, "The City went ahead with a lunar war. But we lost. The Hive were too strong." Void continued, "The war ravaged us, hundreds lost their light. But its over now."
Pahanin glanced at him, and swallowed hard, "Feels like I stepped into the wrong world. Everything is in shambles. I..."
There was a tremble in his voice, and then it died down.
"You're here now. That's what matters." Void placed a hand on his shoulder.
Pahanin's faced seemed to regain colour as he nodded.
Then Void asked, "How did you escape the vault?"
Pahanin stiffened, his body jerked, almost as if he was afraid he'd gone back.
"It's...hard to explain." His voice lowered. "Something opened. I don't know why. Or how. I just—walked out. Like something let me go. Like it was...done with me."
Void nodded and studied him with a complex gaze. He hesitated then spoke.
"What about...Kabr?"
Pahanin paused, "....We lost him. I...I watched it happen. He's gone." His voice turned to a whisper.
"And Praedyth?" Void continued.
Pahanin blinked, entirely puzzled. He seemed to speak, but the next instant, he forgot his own words. A few seconds passed and the hunter stayed quiet. Then with a whisper he asked.
"Who's that?" Pahanin paused, "Should....Should I know him?" He asked.
Void's brow twitched, his heart tinged with regret, but he masked it quickly.
"No, its no one." He said softly, "It doesn't matter now."
Pahanin nodded.
==
A/N: Enjoy Chapter