Forum:The Black Fleet: Difference between revisions

At least one major pyramid unit was left behind, heavily damaged, in orbit of [[Forum:Titania (system)|Titania]] for inscrutable purposes.

{{Quote|Everything the Traveler built, every little thing the Guardians have, we will take from them until there's nothing left for them to save!|[[Forum:The Black Swordsman|Kirito, the Black Swordsman]] rallying the resurrected advocates of Darkness.}}

(TBA)

Upon Earth itself blights appeared everywhere except where the Traveler's shield of light was strongest. Hordes of horrors poured forth—Nightmares conjured out of the collective psyches of many species. Cabal and human fought side by side, Eliksni and Awoken defended the walls of the Last City, which had grown to encompass most of South America and parts of Central America, against the armies of the Dark. The Guardians themselves numbered in the hundreds of millions, the greatest concentration since the Twilight Gap; nary a free Ghost remained Unpaired. It seemed it would be an endless stalemate, the Traveler still recovering from wounds both deep and ancient, and fresh and recent, and the Darkness in the fullness of its strength.

The Darkness had a backdoor. Through the power of Stasis it wielded an undue influence over the minds of those Guardians who adopted its usage, and gradually began to sow discord within the ranks of the Alliance. Those Guardians who hadn't fully embraced Stasis were less affected than those who did; and they who were most affected began to forsake using the Light, preferring to fight fire with fire. They started exploring the rifts and portals created by the Darkness, ending up in strange and mysterious places, and some became lost. When they returned, they had become twisted—the first harbingers of the Shadowkeepers.

Instead they encountered the Black Swordsman. They briefly fought him until the Guardian themselves reappeared. Their Ghost was gone, their arms and armor replaced with living Darkness. Before, the Black Swordsman was evenly matched with the Exo and the Hunter; with the Dark Guardian, the battle was turned in their favor, and the two Allies barely escaped with their lives. They were able to make it back to the City in time to relay to the Vanguard and the Consensus the terrible truth before the Descent happened.

{{Quote|We were betrayed. Our [[Forum:The Guardian (Nightmare)|savior]], our messiah, has fallen to ''them''. We have fled our [[The Last City|home]]. We have nothing left to shelter behind. Please, we beg of you, do not cast us out to the dark.|[[Ikora Rey]]}}

At the head of a great army of Nightmares and twisted beings now known as Shadowkeepers—fallen Guardians among them—came marching the Swordsman and Dark Guardian. In the skies above the unified Cabal and Eliksni fleets broke and fell, and a great Pyramid began its descent downwards. The Moon started to disassemble itself into a J-brain. The Traveler pulsated, and blasted forth a wave of power. The Shadowkeeper host was obliterated—save for two. The Dark Guardian had thrown a shield of Darkness over themselves and the Black Swordsman. When it lifted, a third figure had joined them: the White Angel. More portals were opened and a new host of Shadowkeepers poured forth, encompassing the walls of the City, and began their assault. The Last City's end was nigh.

They fled onwards, fleeing Earth, following after the dying guiding light of the Traveler. Pyramidic scales picked off ships like flies, until two hundred and twenty ships remained to exit the realm where the Solar System had once sat in. The age of the City was over, and a new age of Darkness had begun.

(TBA)

}}