I stared at the menu screen.
The revolver I was using had felt sub par for killing Oracles, even though it had been serving well for the majority of the Raid. The Lord High Fixer was upgraded fully, the damage upgrades were as high as they could go. I was killing mostly everything with one shot, and my statistics were good.
Still, killing Oracles felt slow, and when I finally saw one fall, a second or third was spawning and all I could focus on was the encroaching darkness as my character popped out the empty cylinders and reloaded.
We looked at the stats screen this round. I killed a couple of Oracles, more than a few Supplicants. But at the end of the encounter, Atheon still stood, and we Guardians of The Remnant were looking at a failure screen. It was all we knew.
We started again, hunkered down in the starting positions where we felt comfortable and waited.
I felt a little tinge of apprehension. I was not afraid because I had done this a dozen times before, fear of the unknown was not a factor. But when we were lost in time, in either the Past or the Future, I had only barely been killing Oracles, and I felt that maybe the last two wipes were my fault.
Behind the column, I made a decision.
I changed my weapon loadout.
I equipped the Grim Citizen, an auto rifle that I had yet to upgrade fully, but what I hoped was a change for the better. With the Lord High Fixer, I was doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different outcome each time.
This time would be different.
I saw as Atheon opened the Time stream and to my relief I was not teleported away.
“Brown or Green?” I asked.
“Green.” I watched as the other two Guardians floated to their positions, opening fire on Supplicants the instant they touched down. I opened fire from my position across the chasm, taking out a few as I listened to my teammates on the other side of the portal, in the same place physically but in the far Future.
“Oracles are down.” I look to the left of the screen to see Time’s Vengeance and a countdown timer.
The Vex Timegate activated with a flare of white light as the last supplicant on that side fell.
“Your gate is clear!” I am louder than I should be on the mic. I am excited, because our execution of this sequence is not perfect. This time it is. I watch as one of our Titans lands in the center of the chasm and creates the Ward of Dawn.
I commence my float down to the center and enter the bubble. Weapons of Light activates in the left corner. The rest of the team collapses on the Relic Carrier as they arrive on the central platform. The Relic’s Shield is activated and the team opens fire on Atheon, dropping him to two thirds health.
The Relic Carrier starts their countdown. At one, we all leave the platform and resume our positions behind the columns.
Two more times, I think to myself. Just two more.
Atheon opened the Time Stream and again, I was one of those left behind. We executed our roles perfectly, and again, our Team returned safely. We opened fire from the stone island in the chasm, sending everything we had against Atheon from the safety of the Relic Shield as our Relic Carrier counted down again.
I crouched behind a pillar and waited as Atheon stood at just over a third of his health remaining.
He opened the Time Stream as my vision blurred.
Oh no.
I was in the Future, and our Relic Carrier was already on his way to the top of the stairs. I aimed upwards and waited for the Oracle to appear and pulled the trigger as I moved forward.
A flare of red light and it was down.
I waited at the top of the stairs as I watched the Relic Carrier. I wondered briefly, who it was. I never figured it out, and ultimately it did not matter.
I watched the area for the other Oracle spawns and as the Grim Citizen performed its task, time lost meaning.
There was only stimulus and response.
Oracles spawned, died—faster than I remembered the last few runs.
We marched slowly and deliberately, with a singular purpose and destroyed the last Oracle as we closed on the gate.
I heard my teammate on the other side of the gate announce, “Gate is clear!” while I ran, blinded by the white light of the portal to the Past Present. The Ward of Dawn was visible in the center chasm. I jumped and switched to Ice Breaker in mid air as I landed in the bubble. I took aim at Atheon’s weak point, the shining jewel of light in his belly, stepped forward into the Relic shield, and opened fire with the rest of my fireteam.
Ice Breaker fired six shots true for six crits. Solar Grenades lit up his platform, glowing brighter than Atheon himself for a brief few eternities.
This time was different.
“Guys—he’s almost dead.”
“Push DPS.”
I was out of ammunition for Ice Breaker, and Grim Citizen had to be reloaded. I threw a final grenade and finished reloading as Time’s Vengeance ran out. Atheon still stood, the tiniest sliver of yellow barely even visible on his health bar.
I cleared the platform and took cover behind a column as he opened the Time Stream, preparing to send three of us to the Past or the Future. I took aim at Atheon and pulled the trigger.
“Brown!” I hear over my headset as the first of my bullets hit Atheon.
Then without fanfare nor warning Atheon died, a fading yellow and red silhouette flickering and fading away like a blown out candle.
Atheon, Time’s Guardian, was gone.
We had done it. Some of us were lost in time forever, but we had done it.
I looked up as the rewards came in. A Suros Regime, an Exotic Tier assault rifle, the Chatterwhite Armor Shader, and more Ascendant Shards, materials to upgrade my current armor.
I breathed and listened as my Fireteam started to realize what happened. Some of us were confused because they were on the other side of the time portal and died. Slowly, we realized what had happened we were congratulating one another about defeating Atheon. We returned to the Tower, all wearing Chatterwhite but for one exception, and danced near the Vault consoles.
When Destiny arrived, I thought that Raid content was out of my reach, that I was not, “that kind of Gamer.” I liked video games, sure, but End Game Content was not for me. But when Atheon dropped, with the help of my friends, it was one of the most satisfying moments of my personal gaming history. It is an accomplishment that I honestly never thought I would accomplish.
It was there, watching my character dance that IÂ truly realized what had happened.
I had seen the dancing, the all white armor. I had seen this many times in the Tower, many Guardians, dressed in white, dancing. Each time I never gave it a second thought.
This time was different.
(Many thanks to my Fireteam and clanmates because this was literally impossible without them.)