Pyrrhic Ascent Strides

SIMULATION RECONSTRUCTION LOG // LA-01-04 // TENEMENT BUILDING ROOFTOP, PEREGRINE DISTRICT, LAST CITY

The Traveler hangs like a moon over the Last City, radiating bands of sapphire light from within its cracked shell. Thousands have gathered on rooftops, crowded streets, filled balconies. They look up to the sky, staring at a spectacle never before seen and perhaps never to be witnessed again. From their spot on a terrace, the Hunter Aisha and her Awoken Warlock companion Shayura bear witness to the turn of the age.

"Do you remember Chicago? " Aisha asks, unable to pry her eyes away from the Traveler's silhouette. Shayura's response is a non-verbal acknowledgement. "I thought we were gonna die in the Crypts," Aisha continues.

Light ripples from the Traveler, washing over the pair like foaming tides from far distant shores. Aisha closes her eyes. "I remember… we all blamed the Traveler." She wishes she felt more as the Light touches her face. She wishes she felt anything. "For bringing us back, for putting guns in our hands, for cursing us to die again and again."

Shayura says nothing in return, and for the moment, Aisha does not lament that. The silence allows her to contemplate her own emptiness, her own disaffected sense of belonging to a cosmic force that doesn't understand her, nor she it. But as she opens her eyes, it is still in wonderment. The significance of the moment, what it means for the people of the City, can't be understated. Even if the long-term ramifications are clouded in doubt.

"I remember," Shayura finally replies. Aisha looks at her, surprised to see Shayura's focus not on the Traveler but down on the street. "I never forgot how abandoned we felt," Shayura adds, a tightness in her voice.

Aisha's attention is drawn back to the Traveler as it throbs like a beating heart and erupts into a blinding flash of light. Aisha braces, as if for an incoming attack, but shudders when she feels the wave of Light crash against and roll past her. When it fades, Aisha sees the impossible. The Traveler, once shattered by its exertion to destroy Ghaul, is now whole.

The City rises up in a riotous cheer; Aisha turns to Shayura, but she is gone. A moment of panic clutches at her heart. Aisha frantically looks around until she spies Shayura retreating into the jubilant crowd. Aisha watches her go, afraid that she understands what Shayura is feeling: hollow disaffection.