Reincarnated Into Destiny Universe - Volume 1 Chapter 25 Me Thinks Thou Dost Project Too Much

  (Day 45)

Isaac was sitting in the Void Meditation Chamber, after having just attained level four attunement, when Ikora contacted him.

“Isaac, Ikora is trying to contact you. You should probably take this. It might be important.”

“Dammit, and I was just getting into the groove too. Alright, put her through then.”

“Good morning, Isaac. How are you?”

“I’m well, Ikora. How about yourself?”

“Same here but a few curious things have come to my attention and I was hoping you could come by the command room, so we could talk about them.”

“A few curious things, huh? Well, alright. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Thank you, Isaac. I’ll see you then.” Ikora said as she disconnected.

———-

(Day 38)

Having already seen the Light Fortress in the hologram that Cayde had shown her, Ikora decided to save inspecting the ship, until after she had spoken with these farm residents.

As she approached the Farm, Ikora was dumbstruck by what she saw. One of the Farm’s residents was sitting on top of a Fallen Walker’s head as it walked slowly forward. This Walker, however, was unlike any she had ever seen. Aside from its non-hostile behavior, it was solid white and was clearly a bearer of the Traveler’s Light.

She was uncharacteristically staring slack jawed at the sight before her, as the Walker’s rider spoke to her. “Who are you? Are you a friend of Isaac’s? If so, then what’s the password?”

Ikora, realizing her moment of weakness, mentally cursed herself and recovered her composure. “Greetings. My name is Ikora Ray. I’m the Vanguard’s Warlock Representative and Isaac’s direct superior. Although, this is the first time that I’ve seen this settlement and I’m not aware of any password. I was wondering, if perhaps you would be willing to answer some questions about that ship there in the distance?”

“Well,” The pancho wearing female, with a circular pattern of dots on her face, said. “If you don’t know the password, then I’m afraid I won’t be answering any questions. This here is a gift from Isaac and I’m not about to disregard his desire for secrecy, concerning that ship, just because you claim to be his superior. If you really are his superior, then you should ask him yourself instead of coming to us.” She told Ikora, as she turned the Walker around and headed back to the Farm.

After being rejected by Hawthorne and spending some time inspecting the Light Fortress, Ikora begrudgingly made her way back to the Tower empty handed.

———-

(Day 45)

“Ah, Isaac, I’m glad you’re here. Come over here. This is a very important discussion and one that I’ve been putting off for a few days now and I’m hoping that you’ll be cooperative.”

Isaac was beginning to suspect that he knew what this was about but he only said, “I’ll do what I can, so what’s this about?”

“I’ve actually spent quite a while thinking about various ways to broach this topic but,  ultimately, I’m just going to get straight to the point. We know about your new ship that apparently has the Traveler’s Light within it, the Farm, and the Fallen Walker and Servitor that also have the Traveler’s Light. We would like you to tell us exactly what these things are, where they come from, and what they’re capable of. Is that something that you are willing to do?”

Isaac wasn’t really keen on making his secrets known so soon but, now that it had come to this, there really wasn’t much point in trying to keep up the charade. “Hmmmm…If you really want to know what all of this is about, then I can tell you but not like this. Give me until after lunch and then call everyone on my Fireteam into a closed and secure room along with you, Cayde, and Zavala.

“I know this may seem like an odd request but the Speaker absolutely cannot be involved in this meeting. If I find out that he is listening in or hiding in a closet somewhere, the deal will be immediately called off and I won’t tell you anything. The only way I’ll let you know what you want to know is for you to ensure that the meeting room is completely secure and ensure that you and the ones I mentioned are the only ones allowed inside. So, is that something that you are willing to do?”

Ikora had been visibly disturbed by the notion of excluding the Speaker. She was about to inquire about this odd stipulation but she realized that he never said she couldn’t tell the Speaker afterwards. Realizing this, she decided not to rock the boat and simply acquiesce to his demands. “Alright, Isaac. I’m sure you have your reasons, so I’ll contact you this afternoon as soon as everything is ready.”

“Good, then I’ll see you there.”

———-

(Day 45)

Isaac spent the rest of the morning in hIs room using the Guardian Mind Meld to sort out all of the details of the presentation he was about to give.

Almost immediately after he had finished his lunch, Ikora contacted him, with the confirmation regarding the secure room and the guest list. He then followed Polter to the room that had been indicated. As Isaac entered, he surveyed the room and asked Polter to do the same to ensure there were no Speaker type spies. Once he was certain that they were the only ones there and they weren’t being spied on, he walked to the head of the table they were all gathered around and addressed them as a group.

“Now that everyone is here, I’d like you to know that I had every intention of revealing this information at some point but, because of certain events, I’m now being forced to reveal these things sooner than I had planned. With that being said, I have a warning that each of you should consider very carefully. Polter here can verify my words, if you are still uncertain after hearing them.

“Polter is about to show you holographic footage of some things that are fairly remarkable and could cause some of you a fair bit of distress or anxiety. However, everything you will see is in fact a true occurrence that has happened to either myself or Polter.

“As soon as you all acknowledge that you’re ready and willing to witness things that you may very well consider shocking and disturbing, I’ll begin my presentation.”

“He’s not exaggerating even a little bit. I was completely stunned, when I witnessed all this for the first time, so heed his warnings and brace yourselves.” Polter added.

Everyone, upon hearing these words, seemed a bit uncomfortable but no one got up to leave or made any objections.

“Alright, well, if there aren’t any objections, let’s get this ball rolling.” Polter said, as he started up the holographic presentation that the two of them had carefully edited.

Isaac and Polter had gone through all of the scenes that had they were both familiar with and cut out a lot of the middle parts. This presentation mostly focused on the missions being received and their outcomes. They obviously included all of the cutscenes, along with many of Isaac and Polter’s thoughts after Isaac’s reincarnation and during their missions.

At the very beginning of the presentation, Isaac had made a short announcement letting them know that basically everything they would be seeing during this presentation were memories not only from this life but also his past life. This all captured their attention thoroughly and they watched as a young unfamiliar Human Male hung out with his friends and chatted about something called “video games.”

As the scenes progressed into him hearing about Destiny and seeing the promotional material for it they were all becoming more and more curious. Once they witnessed the first scene of the game, many were visibly shocked as their eyes remained glued to the projection.

Many of their reactions were the same as Polter’s had been, upon witnessing Crota, Oryx, The Last City’s destruction, the Speaker’s death, Ghual’s defeat, and the rest. Cayde naturally had a visceral reaction to witnessing his own permanent death and the others all looked his way for a moment, before quickly returning their focus to the captivating projections.

They were all a bit confused when Isaac died and the projection went black. Then, upon witnessing the same scene that was in the game unfolding from Isaac’s perspective, many were even more shocked by this than Polter had been.

At this point, the addition of his and Polter’s thoughts helped the others to understand exactly what the situation was with the Traveler’s shard and his desire for secrecy.

As his presentation ended, Isaac simply remained seated and silent. He wanted to give them all time to process what they had just witnessed. It wasn’t too long, before Zavala decided to speak up.

“Isaac, if what this projection shows is true, then are we to understand that you are some kind of wandering soul, from another world in which our world and its events are already played out inside some game?”

“As remarkable and absurd as it may seem, yes that is exactly the case. However, as you have also seen there are some discrepancies, some more worrying than others.” Isaac responded.

“Indeed, after seeing the difference between your battle with the Black Heart in the game and the one in this world, it’s clear that while this foresight can certainly be useful it shouldn’t be relied upon to the letter. Some caution should be exercised to account for unexpected discrepancies.

“However, even with the limited nature of this foresight, almost all of the major events in that game have come to pass. With an advantage like this, we should be able to prepare much more effectively for the dangers that lay ahead of us.” Zavala looked Isaac directly in the eye and involuntarily lowered his voice an octave. “When you spoke to the Traveler and said you hoped to prevent the main body of the Traveler from becoming shackled by that contraption, you misunderstood something, Isaac. I promise you, here and now in front of all of these witnesses, if and when Dominus Ghaul ever brings his Red Legion to our city, he will absolutely never get that accursed contraption onto our Traveler.

“The character you saw in that game was not me and, knowing what is to come, there isn’t a chance in hell that I will fail in protecting the Traveler. You have my absolute support, in your mission to find the rest of the Traveler’s shards but the Red Legion is mine. If they should ever come knocking, they will very quickly realize the severity of their mistake.

“Whatever else may come of this meeting, know that the Traveler’s safety is in my hands and I will not fail.” Zavala dramatically proclaimed. (as a Zavala does)

Isaac smiled as he responded. “Very well, Zavala. We’re all counting on you.”

“I say, Zavala,” Ikora added. “those are some pretty large claims but I can tell that you’re serious and I know that you can handle it. I’ll join Isaac, in trusting this task to you and thank you ahead of time for your effort. That being said, I’d like to bring up another bit of controversy that has been revealed here.

“Isaac, am I to understand, from your desire to leave the Speaker out of this and your plans to build a new Guardian Order, that you wish to see the Speaker step down or be removed from his position?”

“Yes, I do. I don’t believe that a false leader can ever truly do what is necessary for his people. A false leader can only ever play his false role and dance upon his strings. The people don’t need lies to comfort them, they need tools to build their own comfort.

“Even if you tell me that he is well intentioned and that it’s for the sake of the people, I will not support a fraud as a leader, especially not one who constantly tiptoes around the people’s belief that he has the ability to speak with the Traveler, despite having never done so. Hell, as you plainly saw, even Polter was under the impression that the Speaker was some sort of miraculous chosen one.”

“I understand your position, Isaac, and I’m not entirely disagreeing with you but if we were to seek to depose the Speaker it would take time. We would at the very least need to give him the chance to step down peacefully before taking any drastic action. I hope you’ll understand.”

“I do and I’m not in a great hurry about this but know that, when the time comes, I’ll make my move with or without the Speaker’s voluntary removal. If he is still playing leader at that time, I will stand against him and expose his deception.”

“I see. In that case, I will work with the rest of the Conclave to resolve this issue, before that time comes. Would you be so kind as to alert us before you make such a move?”

“I will. It isn’t my intention to show discord. I only wish to enlighten people to the deception they’ve been sold and draw Guardians into my order.”

“That’s good to hear. Cayde, you’ve been quiet this whole time. Do you have anything you’d like to say?”

“Who me? No, I was just thinking that this new batch of Guardians has been coming out with all these new moves and energies and tactics. I should probably get some training in, before these upstarts get to thinking that they can surpass me. Wouldn’t want to go and get soft on Zavala, he might need me to crack some skulls when the Red Legion gets here.”

Zavala looked at Cayde with a slight grin and said, “I’ll be counting on you, Partner, and, when the Red Legion is dealt with, know that you can count on me.”

“Thanks Zavala. I look forward to working with you.” Cayde responded.

Isaac’s teammates had all been sitting there wondering at how these three could just start chatting it up, in less than a minute after everything they had seen. Many of them still hadn’t fully processed it all, before Isaac and their representatives started stacking more wood into the fire and eventually asked if they would like to contribute to the conversation.

A few of them posed some basic questions about what it was like being reincarnated and such but the meeting was soon adjourned, with Ikora, Cayde, and Zavala promising not to reveal any of what they had learned to the Speaker.

His teammates all went out to dinner together at Ferra’s suggestion. She insisted they should try to relax and discuss their thoughts about what they had seen. The Vanguard Representatives went back to the command room, while Isaac went and spent the rest of the day in the Void Energy Meditation Chamber.