With the help of the worm gods, Auryx, Savathûn, and Xivu Arath load their deep diving needle ship with worm larvae and return to their Osmium Court. They begin to offer the worms’ larvae to any and all of their kind who will accept it. Those that refuse are killed or forced to flee!

With the new might of worm-enhanced followers, the royal siblings lead an army against Taox. They push her invading Helium Drinkers, and any of their own people who refused the worm larvae, out of the Osmium Court and surrounding territories. They don’t manage to kill Taox, but after more than three years in exile they have finally retaken their home.

At this point, it seems that Auryx, Savathûn, and Xivu Arath probably slowed or stopped their conquest, but their new gods are not content with this. They insist that Taox, and the Leviathan, and all the forces of the Sky will still oppose them, and that the only way to be truly free of suffering and injustice is to defeat their enemies. And so, the war continues and soon Taox and her forces are driven all the way back to Kaharn Atoll.

We know from a bit of conversation back when the sisters were repairing the needle ship that Kaharn Atoll is probably some sort of cross-species port or trade destination. This is a place that the vengeful siblings used to regard warmly. For instance, Sathona used to buy Aurash stories written in other races’ languages and read them to her. It was something that they both enjoyed and found relaxing… but now Kaharn is a place where their sworn enemy has begun rallying all the races of Fundament against them.

Meanwhile, the Leviathan and whatever contacts it has within Fundament’s races begin destroying any kind of ship or rocket or spacecraft that might be able to help the worms and their newfound hosts leave the gas giant. This effort is successful enough that the worms come up with a new plan. They tell the vengeful siblings to attack and slaughter everyone at Kaharn! By doing so, they will gain the power to cut wounds in the fabric of space that will let them achieve orbit. They instruct Xivu Arath to lead the attack, saying:

Reality is a fine flesh, oh general ours. Let us feast of it.

Again, we see the “oh ______ mine” type phrasing, this time coming directly from the worm gods. This will be important later…

Very few of the holdouts at Kaharn survive the battle. We are never told how large a port Kaharn is, but we can imagine that it was not a small place since some five hundred races interacted there. Perhaps thousands or millions, military and civilian alike, were slaughtered in the battle. Those that do somehow manage to survive flee into orbit, but the worm gods are true to their word and help the murderous siblings build ships and use their ever growing powers to cut their way into orbit.

We see Hive Tombships use this type of travel all the time in Destiny, but this is the first time it was ever used, it seems.

Once in orbit, the worms spot Taox, and the few survivors of Kaharn, fleeing into the welcoming arms of the Ammonites, a highly advanced spacefaring race of cephalopods that live among the oceans of Fundament’s fifty-two moons. They also spot a fifty-third moon, a Traveler, which they say is a divine presence of the Sky!

Sources:
X: Immortals
XI: Conquerors
XII: Out of the Deep
XIII: Into the Sky
XIV: 52 and One

Previous: 7: The Go[o]d Worms
Next: 9: Auryx's Sadness

I finally got around to reading the Books of Sorrow just before you started your series. While I think I understood the big picture, your series is so helpful at filling in the gaps and putting all the details together.

I finally got around to reading the Books of Sorrow just before you started your series. While I think I understood the big picture, your series is so helpful at filling in the gaps and putting all the details together.

Yup, I've definitely missed out on the details such as Kaharn Atoll likely being a trade port.

While I think I understood the big picture, your series is so helpful at filling in the gaps and putting all the details together.

Ditto.

And Raga, don't take my (and probably the others') silence for a lack of appreciation. I really enjoy reading these write-ups, but I usually do it while on a small break at work and end up not having time to post even a quick thank you!

I don't comment because I don't have anything to contribute, but I really appreciate and enjoy these.

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