The Black Garden

"Fight through the Gate and enter the Black Garden to destroy its heart."

- Mission blurb

Objectives

 * Head to the Gate
 * Kill the Gate Defenders
 * Enter the Gate
 * Explore the Garden
 * Destroy the Vex
 * Find the Garden's Heart
 * Scan Vex clusters
 * Activate the conflux
 * Cross the threshold
 * Annihilate the Vex
 * Kill the First Sol Progeny
 * Kill the Second Sol Progeny
 * Kill the Final Sol Progeny

The Black Garden is a level 18 Story Mission that takes place in the Black Garden.

Transcript
{Loading screen}

GHOST: I don't think we'll get a second chance at this. We pull this off, we can save the Traveler. If not, the Vex will seize our worlds.

{Gameplay}

GHOST: The Gate Lord's eye is still charged. Let's head for the Gate.

The Guardian makes their way to the Valley of the Kings, returning to the massive Gate they previously discovered.

GHOST: The Vex are going to do everything they can to keep us out of the Black Garden.

The Gate is guarded by several Vex, including Minotaurs and a Hydra. The Guardian kills them all. The gate starts to flash and whir as it opens.

GHOST: I hope this works!

Blinding light surrounds the Guardian until they are teleported to an unknown location. The gate closes behind them.

GHOST: Where are we? If this is the Black Garden, it's not on any map of known space and time...I guess we just keep going.

The area is occupied by dozens of Vex, seemingly frozen and completely oblivious to the Guardian's presence. Moss and plant life hang from their limbs and heads, a sign that they have been inactive for years.

GHOST: They're in some kind of stasis....

As the Guardian continues walking, some of them start to come to life and attack. The Guardian kills them and makes their way through the Black Garden. They eventually come across a cliff overlooking the Garden itself.

GHOST: There's something extremely dark down below...I think we found the Black Garden's heart.

The Guardian continues slaughtering Vex, until they come across a large force field blocking their exit. In front of the barrier is a Major Hydra, the Divisive Mind.

GHOST: The Vex here are powering that barrier! Take them out.

The Guardian kills the squadron of Vex, including the Divisive Mind.

GHOST: Barrier is down.

The Guardian makes their way further below, coming to a stop in a large square pavilion. A locked circular door sits on the far side, and dozens of Vex teleport in through spawn clouds.

GHOST: Dead end. The heart is just beyond here. This place is just one big machine...get me close to the clusters.

The Guardian fights their way through multitudes of Vex and reaches a cluster. They let Ghost analyze it.

GHOST: I can manipulate them. I just need to break their manifold encryption...That did it! Let's hit the other one!

On a large plateau in the center of the pavilion, a massive obelisk of light begins to form, taking a rectangular shape.

GHOST: It's working...a Spire is forming!

The Guardian makes their way to the other cluster and sends the Ghost to scan it.

GHOST: Let's see if it worked!

The 'box' of light on the plateau disappears and a Spire takes its place. The Guardian heads to the circular door, where a conflux appears. The Ghost activates it.

GHOST: All we need is permission to enter...as a Gate Lord.

The conflux disappears, and a small grid of light in the shape of a door appears in front of the Guardian. It eventually solidifies in place, then suddenly lifts high in the air. Behind the Guardian, the Spire fires a beam of light, and the 'door' breaks into several smaller pieces. The light reflects off of each piece, pointing towards the circular locked door. The door succumbs, each segment pushing back in eights, before the bottom half splits open slowly.

GHOST: (awestruck) The Heart of the Black Garden...well, here goes nothing...or everything.

The Heart's darkness turns the bright teal environment into an abysmal dark brown. As the Guardian walks through the large door, the camera cuts to black.

{Cutscene}

The Guardian walks slowly forward, as the camera pans upward to show the Heart of the Black Garden, pulsing with electricity. Three gargantuan stone statues of Gate Lords surround the heart, as if defending it. On the ground below, several Vex Goblins and Hobgoblins kneel in front of the heart in their own form of worship. Upon sensing the Guardian's presence, they slowly start to activate, and turn to the source of the intrusion, red lights glowing as if they are angry. They start to rise and advance on the Guardian.

GHOST: So...think you can kill a God? GUARDIAN: Don't think I have a choice.

The camera focuses on the Heart, as one of its electronic pulses slowly reach out towards the center statue. Fades to black.

{Gameplay}

The Guardian leaps into the center of the coliseum, killing the Disciples of the Sol Divisive. Once the Vex are eliminated, the Heart sends a pulse of energy to the statue on the left. It cracks, ruptures and breaks, revealing light underneath. The pedestal on which the statue stands slowly starts to sink, rotating as it does so.

GHOST: The Heart is bringing that statue to life!

The rubble eventually explodes, revealing a Sol Progeny, the Eschaton Mind. It removes an enormous Torch Hammer from its back and proceeds to fire on the Guardian. It is eventually destroyed.

GHOST: The Heart is dying! Keep fighting them!!

The Heart sends another pulse, now to the statue on the right. It starts to come to life as the Eschaton Mind before it. The Imminent Mind, along with its subordinates, is eliminated. Finally, the Heart sends a pulse to the final statue in the center. The final Sol Progeny, the Primeval Mind, battles the Guardian, with Minotaurs and Harpies providing assistance. Eventually however, the Primeval Mind is destroyed. The coliseum starts to violently shake as the Heart starts to expand and falter, surging with electricity. An explosion of white light washes over the Black Garden, temporarily blinding the Guardian. When their vision clears, nothing is left of the heart but floating embers, still lit. The environment's color has returned, and a peaceful quiet surrounds the Garden.

GHOST: We're back! ...on Mars! The shroud of Darkness is lifting, and Light returns to the Traveler! (proudly) The Speaker is calling us home.

Mission ends.

{Cutscene}

The camera fades in on a shot of the Traveler, panning down to the Tower in The Last City. The plaza is nearly overflowing with Guardians, watching with reverence as the Speaker addresses them from the front of the marketplace.

THE SPEAKER: For centuries, we feared the forces of Darkness massing against us. We sought to hide and cower, beneath a broken God....No more. These Guardians show us what we are, what we have always been, and what we will be again. We are what remains of the Light...

The camera cuts to the hangar of the Tower, with The Guardian's ship is docked. The Exo Stranger stands at the end of the hangar, and the Guardian is seen walking towards her, Ghost in tow. The Speaker can still be heard in the distance.

SPEAKER:...and we will not be stamped out.

The Guardian reaches the Stranger at the edge of the dock.

EXO STRANGER: It's a day for pretty speeches and medals. But we know the real fight takes place out there.

The camera cuts to a shot of them looking out towards the Traveler, and beyond. The Stranger picks up her weapon and hands it to the Guardian.

STRANGER: Take this.

The Guardian picks it up and lets it settle into their grip as they look it over.

STRANGER: There's so much more, Guardian. I've seen terrible things born out in the Darkness. Every moment brings them closer. All ends are beginnings...our fight is far from over.

She steps forward, and dissipates. The Guardian turns toward their ship. It powers up and takes off, departing from the Tower, and Earth's orbit, as they start their new adventure. Fades to black.

Game ends.

Vex

 * Goblin
 * Hobgoblin
 * Minotaur
 * Harpy
 * Hydra

Bosses

 * Divisive Mind
 * Sol Progeny

Trivia
When the door just before the encounter with the Heart opens, a touch outline of the Orion constellation can be seen.