Cabal: Difference between revisions

As the Guardian ventures onto the vessel, they find it eerily deserted and large sections of it overgrown with the same dark flora that had overtaken the Glykon Volatus. Unnerved by this discovery, the Guardians venture deeper into the Leviathan but encounter a unique Nightmare that actually speaks in a voice that Zavala recognizes. However, the Guardian encounters a Loyalist Gladiator that they cannot seem to harm. Left with no choice but to hide and escape, the Guardian proceeds further through the vessel until reaching Calus's throne room, and encounters one of the Emperor's damaged robotic proxies. Investigating the robot seemed to activate it, producing the laughter of Calus himself before summoning swarms of Loyalist forces. On the verge of being overwhelmed, Eris attempts to teleport the Guardian to safety, only to discover that a power is blocking her attempts, forcing the Guardian to flee from the Leviathan on their own. Despite the Loyalists' efforts, the Guardian managed to reach their ship and return to the Vanguard to report their findings.

Eris meets with Zavala and Caiatl, explaining that the [[Pyramid (Luna)|Lunar Pyramid]] was stirred by the Leviathan's call and it now manifests their deepest regrets, wearing familiar faces and speaking with familiar voices. Eris explains that she can bind the Nightmares, granting safe passage through the Leviathan but Caiatl balks at the thought of using Hive Magic to do so. Despite his concerns, Zavala agrees after Eris stated that the rules have been bent around them and now they must bend to survive. Though Caiatl refuses to take part in the ritual, she stands firm in leading the charge, claiming her armor is protection enough. Gathering Zavala, Crow and the Guardian to her ritual center in the H.E.L.M. where Eris had taken possession of the [[Crown of Sorrow]], she conducts the ritual, requiring Crow and Zavala to offer their most painful regrets to the crown. Despite some difficulty, the ritual is completed, allowing Eris to create an item, the [[Nightmare Harvester]], that draws out the Nightmares, allowing the Guardians to slay them and then imprison them within the psychic prison that Eris had made of the Crown of Sorrow. However, the ritual also forces Crow and Zavala to be actively tormented by their regrets. In Crow's case, his former life as [[Uldren Sov]]. For Zavala, he would be haunted by [[Safiyah]], a woman he once shared a life with. Though Caiatl didn't partake in the ritual, the Empress would find herself haunted by her former co-conspirator, Dominus Ghaul.

Seeking to break the connection that Calus is attempting to create with the Lunar Pyramid, Eris has the Guardian head back to the Leviathan to take part in a ritual of severance, but for it to work, Crow must take part and face the shame and regret that his Nightmare embodies. Despite his efforts, Crow falters to the Nightmare's taunts, which manifests a powerful phantom, The Nightmare of the Fanatic, forcing the Guardian to battle it. The ritual's progression allows the Guardian to wield a new weapon, a reaper scythe, that aids them in slaying the phantom. Regardless, the ritual ultimately fails as Crow is unable to conquer his fears of becoming just like his past self. Realizing that she underestimated the ritual's complexity, Eris Morn instructs the Guardian to continue their [[Nightmare Containment]] assignments while also investigating the Leviathan.

As the Guardians patrolled the Derelict Leviathan, they encountered another one of Calus's robotic proxies which allows them to reestablish personal contact with Calus himself. Though wary, the Guardians and Crow listen to the former Emperor as he explains the condition of his vessel, the nature of the dark flora spreading, even to some personal memories involving his daughter, Caiatl.

After a time of reclusion in understanding the Nightmares, Eris returns to inform the Guardian that the best solution to defeat the Nightmares is not through denial but through acceptance. Taking another chance at the severance ritual with Crow, the Guardian repeats the process to prepare the ritual as Crow stood firm against his Nightmare's taunts. As the ritual begins, the Nightmare of the Fanatic reappears, forcing the Guardian to battle it as Crow finally accepts his past life and decides to learn from his mistakes. As Eris hoped, the ritual this time works, transforming the Nightmare of Uldren Sov into the Memory of Uldren Sov, which causes the Pyramid's connection to the Leviathan to fray.

In time, it would be Zavala's turn to take part in the ritual, forcing him to confront his grief over the loss of his former love and the family he started with her. Despite this, Zavala refuses to speak about his past involving Safiyah, forcing Eris Morn to elaborate the history between Zavala and Safiyah. She reveals that during Zavala's time as a student to Lord Saladin Forge, he met a surgeon who offered her medical skills to the Iron Lords. At first, the two vexed each other but over time, they grew close, enough that Zavala ultimately left being Saladin's student, married Safiyah and adopted a boy named Hakim, staring a family. Though Zavala was happy with his family, he was plagued about leaving behind his duty. Though he trained Hakim, the boy was slaughtered by a House of Devils raid, much to Zavala's and Safiyah's grief. Zavala asked for her forgiveness but Safiyah believed there was nothing to forgive. Even so, both separated and returned to the lives they once had. While Zavala would go on and become a leader amongst the rising Guardians, Safiyah would find love again and have a daughter but would ultimately pass away, leaving Zavala to continue mourning and asking for forgiveness, which he could not find.

Preparing the ritual, Zavala would help the Guardian in placing amplifiers to sever Calus's connection but would soon be tormented by Safiyah's voice before being attacked by what he believed to be Fallen from the House of Devils, which Eris believes the Nightmares are deceiving him with. At the ritual location, Zavala begins but almost immediately struggles as the Nightmare of Safiyah reminds Zavala of all he had lost and of the pain he carries with his memories. The ritual would bring forth the [[Nightmare of Kethiks, Grief Unforgiven]], an apparition of the Fallen who had killed Zavala's son. Though the Guardian managed to defeat the Nightmare, the ritual fails just as it did with Crow, leading Eris to conclude that Zavala still carries blame and that they cannot proceed until he finds forgiveness, something that the Nightmare of Safiyah scoffs at. Admonishing Zavala for making peace with the Fallen of the House of Light, claiming that his new life dishonors his old, denouncing Zavala as a "hollowed man leading others to die" for a "silent god." Though Eris attempts to comfort Zavala stating that his true family wouldn't torment him, he remains despondent, returning to the Tower in silence. Though refusing to speak to anyone about the ritual, the Guardian is able to get Zavala to speak who admits that he was unprepared for the emotional burden that came with the ritual. He knows that Safiyah wants him to open up and confide his feelings with the Guardian but the Vanguard Commander doesn't see what good it will do.

Returning to Eris, she states that Zavala's wounds run deeper than he would allow those to see and though she understands his pain and unwillingness to open up, she likewise knows that he needs to open himself if he wishes to move beyond the past. Eris believes that if he is counseled by friends and family, there can be hope for Zavala, as there is no running from the past.

As the Guardians worked in reaping the Nightmares and investigating the Leviathan's current condition, Eris Morn would find a statue of the former Emperor where the Darkness is coalesced inside but more importantly, it is connected to Calus's very consciousness. Managing to catch that connection, Eris is able to allow the Guardians to enter Calus's very mind and steal his darkest secrets but warns them that even though they are entering into a world born of Calus's thoughts, it will be no less dangerous than reality. Entering into the rift, the Guardians explore the reaches of a palace-like environment but to Eris's surprise, they find the imprints of Calus's consciousness are fractured and straining. This makes it apparent that Calus is at war with himself. As they collect pieces of Calus's memories and recollections of the his past, the Guardians hear echoes of the former Emperor, something that Eris believes are Calus's personal torment.

As they traverse the former Emperor's mindscape, the Guardians hear every repressed personal thought of Calus, from his rise to power, overthrowing the Praetorate, his drunken stupors to the moment Ghaul led the coup against him. As they progress, the Guardians face off against the [[Nightmare of Ghalran, the Sorrow-Bearer]]. Despite the danger, the Guardians prevail against the Nightmare and collect more memories of Calus's time during his exile before coming into contact with [[The Witness]] and vowing to become it's herald and be the last being left in the universe before the end. Their journey through the expansive world of Calus's mind would ultimately have the Guardians confront a phantom of the Emperor's daughter, the [[Nightmare of Caiatl, Princess-Imperial]]. After a struggle and using the reality of Calus's mind against the Nightmare, the Guardians managed to defeat Nightmare of Caiatl before claiming the last of Calus's repressed memories. With Eris's aid, the Guardians return to their reality and from what they have gleaned from Calus's nightmares is that the former Emperor is seeking a transfiguration of sorts, believing it will help him understand the goals of the Witness. Recalling Calus mentioning the "final shape" that Eris has heard before in Hive apocrypha and from Toland, she claims that by understanding the true goals of what the Witness seeks, they might be able to prevent a second Collapse.