Botza Ruins, Botza District, The Last City
The Guardian arrives at the Eliksni encampment and approaches Mithrax, Saint-14, and Lakshmi-2.
Mithrax: You see what was done! Our Ether tanks, smashed! Our supplies, stolen! Our home, defaced!
Saint-14 looks towards the destroyed supplies.
Saint-14: I cannot find any witnesses.
Lakshmi-2: This is not surprising. The locals have been under enormous pressure. You are lucky it was not worse.
Mithrax: This destruction helps no one but the Vex. Please, instead of teaching your people to fear us, tell them the truth.
Lakshmi-2: The truth is that your kind preyed upon us for as long as we can remember. There is nothing I can say that will make them forget.
Mithrax: House Light has never raised arms against humanity!
Lakshmi-2: Your Houses and titles are layers of politics. You are still Fallen.
Mithrax steps towards Lakshmi-2.
Mithrax: You promised us your protection.
Lakshmi-2: And you've had it! We allowed your brood to squat and chitter here in our city, but still the Vex simulation persists! If you are displeased with how you have been treated for your failure, then I suggest you camp elsewhere.
Mithrax: Your people destroyed what little we possessed. Now we have nothing, nowhere to go.
Lakshmi-2: Humanity faced a challenge like that once.
Lakshmi-2 steps towards Mithrax.
Lakshmi-2: We banded together and built a city with walls to keep our enemies outside… where they belong.
Lakshmi-2 turns and transmats out of the area. Saint-14 turns away from Mithrax just as Mithrax turns toward Saint-14.
Mithrax: We hear her broadcasts, but more than that — we feel the energy of her words in the air. Sharp as blades pointed at an enemy. At us.
Saint-14: You cannot ask people to live alongside their monsters.
Mithrax steps closer to Saint-14.
Mithrax: Listen to me now, Saint. Let me tell you something about monsters.
Mithrax explains how the Eliksni view Saint-14.
Mithrax: Once, in a city grander even than yours, we prospered. But it did not last. Our Great Machine abandoned us. And when we pursued it… you sent something back. A creature fueled by hatred… It tore through our great houses like they were nothing. And then it came for the rest of us. Nowhere was safe from its insatiable rage. In its eyes, even the most innocent of Eliksni were still Fallen. It could die, but it would not stay dead. It would shake off the rot and rise again. And if it caught you in its crushing embrace, impaled you on its ragged crest, dragged you screaming into its foul shell… none lived to speak of these horrors. It called itself… the Saint. My people must now see the creature every day. It sees us. If we wish to survive, we must all learn… to live alongside our monsters.