KALI'S RECORD OF SHIT THAT HAPPENS WITH WEAVER
MISSION 482
LOCATION: MERIDIAN BAY, THAT FUCKING BALL OF RED DUST
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL TIMESTAMPS ARE ACCORDING TO LOCALTIME.
[13:07:03] Well we're here. Again. I keep hoping we'll never have to see this place again but we keep coming back. And Weaver wanted to take away her head-tumor blocker so now I have to deal with that too.
There's four of us, this time. Zach and his two friends, an Exo named Halley and a rather silent Earthborn named Rigel. The extra help is definitely appreciated, for something like this.
[13:08:42] That's a really big ring. Very Vex, though, having a big ring in the middle of nowhere that leads to their secret pocket dimension.
[13:09:08] Well, they certainly didn't leave it unguarded. They've got a Hydra and everything. Giant floaty Vex platform with big guns that look like the top few segments of a centipede. And a handful Minotaurs, but those aren't too bad, just eight feet tall shielded murder robots who would like nothing more than to kill you for existing. You know, the usual. Bunch of small fries too, but they don't count anymore with how good Weaver's gotten at killing them.
[13:12:12] All the Vex are down, now to the gate.
[13:12:26] There are some really freaky energy readings coming off of that thing now. Darkness stuff and everythi—
[13:12:27] Is this what time tastes like? I think this is what time tastes like.
CHRONAL REFERENCE UNAVAILABLE. GEOSAT MESH UNAVAILABLE. SWITCHING TO INTERNAL CLOCKS. PLEASE NOTE INTERNAL CLOCKS MAY NOT BE ACCURATE WHEN SUBJECTED TO: HIGH GRAVITY, HIGH TEMPERATURE, HIGH LIGHTBEARERS.
[13:12:29] Bleh. I'm seriously not looking forward to the return trip if that's what we have to deal with.
[13:12:30] Weaver's 'passenger' freaked out from the transfer. She says she thinks it expected a dimensional shift and not a an isolated spacetime manifold.
Ugh. Sharing Weaver's head with this new thing is not fun. Well. Weaver says it was there for her first life, so technically it was there first BUT YOU KNOW WHAT.
AND NOW IT TALKS TO ME. WHAT THE FUCK.
Apparently however it communicates comes with emotions, so I can't even hide and resent it when it goes all '[concern|worry|Are you okay?]' because I know it's real and it means that.
It's even worse because it feels like Weaver. It feels like a part of her. Like a Ghost should be. Sometimes, I can barely tell that it's there, but it always is. Even its thoughts, its feelings feel like her. And I could never hate Weaver.
How much did it guide her, shape her into the person my Risen is now?
I think I'm afraid of the answer.
I'VE GOT MY EYE ON YOU, PASSENGER THING.
[13:12:32] We're enclosed in some sort of Vex stone structure, with a very obvious hallway in front of us. It almost feels like we're underground. I'm just going to note, I did not sign up for tomb-raiding. …But if we are I am so there.
[13:12:49] Vex!– Oh, nevermind. They're just standing there. And even have moss and stuff growing on them. It… looks like they're in some sort of stasis state, frozen. Frozen Vex. …Freeze-dried Vex?
Can you freeze-dry a Vex?
ENTRY ADDED TO "KALI'S LIST OF SHIT FOR WEAVER TO TEST"
[13:20:11] Lots of hallways. Lots of frozen Vex. Lots of grass and moss and plants. All green, too, which uh, is that even supposed to be possible without sunlight? I mean there are these weird small lights embedded in the walls but they really don't seem like enough for even this much vegetation.
[13:22:20] Frozen Vex.
[13:28:28] More frozen Vex.
[13:35:35] More froze— OH SHIT NEVER MIND THOSE AREN'T FROZEN.
[13:38:47] They're dead now. Fuck, I hate jumpscares.
[13:40:23] There were more hiding around the corner. A Minotaur and a pair of Harpies. I've always thought they were kinda cute. You know, for murderous robots. They're like metal jellyfish that float sideways with this red eye that holds nothing but hate at the center, complete with a few tentacles behind them.
You know, cute.
[13:45:07] So it's pretty obvious they know we're here now. They've teleported a whole group into this room that's pretty much just like the rest of the hallway, but bigger.
[13:50:13] Aaaaand they're dead. My partner is so good at killing things!
[13:50:14] Alright and I guess these other guys aren't so bad either.
[14:06:22] There's more rooms than hallways now. And more Vex. There's a bunch of Vex. No trouble so far, though!
[14:09:31] I just had to say it, didn't I? Ugh. There's not enough ambient Light anymore if I need to revive Weaver on my own. I'll either need one of the others to give me some or she'll have to self rez.
I really hate areas like this. They make me feel so useless. What's a Ghost that can't even revive its partner?
Weaver's really good at not dying, though. I hope she doesn't. She probably won't. But I still hate it.
[14:17:48] There's stairs up ahead. And sky!
[14:19:57] Oh. Oh wow. That's pretty. It sets off all my bad-warning tingles but it's still pretty. I'm gonna save a better picture of this than crappy video. Eliera will probably like it. It's like a labyrinth made of plateaus that all have grass and these black plants with red flowers growing on top of them, all extending into the distance towards a giant mesa, the entire scene lit by an aurora.
It's so pretty, but so wrong at the same time.
So… Dark.
I don't like it here.
I think it hates us.
[14:42:25] We just keep moving forward. The Vex have become a constant at this point, and it's all giant adjacent rooms now. The only special thing was a Cyclops, which is like if you took a robot eye, stuck it in an upside-down triangle and turned into a fixed piece of artillery.
[14:58:38] And now they're bringing out the big guns. A Mind. Higher-grade Vex platform, this one in the shape of a Hydra, but faster, stronger, and with, well, bigger guns.
[15:06:09] We're descending down a series of stone platforms into the labyrinth now.
…I'm really glad we're not alone.
[15:10:55] This entire place is plain weird. Even constants aren't constant. The deeper into the Garden we go, the more shaky reality becomes. We're only protected because of our Light.
But there's definitely more here than Vex and red flowers. The passenger might know more. I think it's been doing something, though I don't know what. Something's gotten it curious, and I can feel the interest in the back of Weaver's head.
[15:25:17] It seems when the Vex can't solve a problem with force, they turn to numbers. Great Machine, there's a lot of them.
[15:38:44] There's a big door up ahead. And behind it… I can feel something. I think the others can too. Everybody's on edge, testy. We weren't meant to be here. I feel strained in a way I've never known before, and I don't know what it is.
Everything here is wrong.
The door is closed, but there's these two things that look like Vex data points that might give some hints.
[15:46:32] Current running death tally: Halley - 3, Rigel - 2, Zachary - 2, Weaver - 0 (of course). The Vex are trying very hard to stop us from getting any further.
[15:51:10] There's a conflux now. Better get to that. It seems like they realized they can't stop us now and aren't appearing any more. Probably preparing ahead on the other side, wherever this door leads.
I'm not sure I want to see what's on the other side anymore.
[15:52:16] …Go, fancy laser key!
[15:52:21] Oh. Oh fuck.
I can barely even look at it. I didn't know Ghosts could get sick before now. There's… there's a mass of Darkness. Pure, undiluted. It can't be anything else. Concentrated so much it exists in more than three dimensions, roiling and twisting in ways that burn into my memory.
I can feel it, feel it in the way our Light abhors it, stays as far away as possible. I can tell when it turns its attention to us by the way my soul screams and tries to flee.
IT HATES US.
IT WANTS OUR LIGHT.
IT WANTS TO DEVOUR US AND GRO—
[15:52:24] I can feel Weaver wrapping her Light and soul around me, protecting me. She says it's not a god, just a blighted wound in reality, with such disdain and conviction I can't do anything but believe her. To me, to my soul she says 'Don't worry. I will protect you.'
With her Light around me, I can think clearly now.
And now that I can think clearly, I understand better. This is a monster, but a crippled one.
It's trying to scare us off.
It is a broken, wounded thing, nascent and weak, and it knows we can kill it.
It's afraid.
I laugh.
[16:12:00] The fight is still going. Weaver had me get out the number two sword. To be fair, there are a lot of Vex in close quarters of us. It lets the others focus on the fuckhuge Minotaur Axis Minds that are at least eight meters tall. The Heart has been throwing them at us in a childish fit to keep us away.
But no matter what it throws at us, we're going to win.
[16:21:13] The Axis Minds are dead. And the Heart—that stupid inkblot—is practically howling at us as it withers, the energy falling off it in waves, washing over us. For a moment, I thought I felt something in the energy shift before we were back on Mars, but my sensors are still all sorts of fucked up in this place.
I'm so glad we're leaving.
[16:25:34] We've said our goodbyes. They're going back to the Vanguard. We're going to the Reef. Thank the Great Machine.
It's time to go home.
END OF FILE
