Auryx was dead. Murdered by his sister Savathûn along with all the members of the Ammonite Satellite Congress…

Except, he wasn’t dead!

Instead of being no more, he finds himself, minus his physical body, inside what the worm gods described to him as a cyst universe created by his own might. A “Throne World” they called it. All three royal siblings, the worm gods told him, now had this power to survive death… as long as they were not killed in their own Throne World.

From his new found Throne World, Auryx watched as his sisters pressed their advantage against the (now leaderless?) Ammonites. Their strategy of digging into the available moons and breeding their armies back to strength seem to have worked.

At some point, as the battle turned in favor of Savathûn and Xivu Arath, the Leviathan emerged from Fundament’s depths and made for the safety of what was left of the Ammonites’ fleets. We aren’t told why it decided to break cover. Was it no longer safe? Was it trying to protect the Ammonites? We just don’t know.

The worm gods continue to poke and prod at Auryx in every way they can in the hopes of getting him to return to the fight. They again try and contrast their plain, honest “truths” against the Leviathan’s harsh realities. They point out that Taox was not killed alongside Auryx and the Ammonite’s Satellite Congress and is still out there somewhere. And, of course, they point out that Auryx is in effect immortal now thanks to their power. Unfortunately for the Ammonites, the worms’ constant manipulations and gifts (of immortality and dark magic) end up convincing Auryx to make peace with his sisters and rejoin the battle.

The Ammonite’s fleets that once danced circles around Xivu Arath warriors and warships were now burdened with defending their remaining moons and the Leviathan. Soon, Chroma-Admiral Rafriit, the Ammonites’ greatest military leader, is killed and not long after that their forces are completely defeated and Savathûn is busy poisoning the seas of their homemoon. And that’s the last we hear of the Ammonites…

Ever.

In the aftermath, the worms feed upon the corpse of the Leviathan and we also find out that the Traveler fled the Fundament system rather than, say, sacrificing itself. Curious that.

Under the worms’ direction, Auryx and his sisters hollow out some or all of Fundament’s 52 moons into giant ships capable of journeying to new stars. Here we also see Auryx’s followers take on the name “the Hive” and we get a glimpse at how they organize themselves:

A mother Wizard gets fertility from a mate, or from herself. From the Wizard the spawn, from the spawn our Thrall, from the survivors our Acolytes who contend. If they contend well, their worm is fed, and from the well fed worm come Knights and Wizards and Princes.

Interesting that little to nothing is mentioned about being curious or clever anymore. If anything, all the hive and their worm gods are focused on now is strenght and destruction. As happens, this will become more important soon.

And, with the destruction of the Ammonites and the exodus of the Hive, we've reached our first major end in Destiny’s backstory. We learned the tragic tale of three smart, talented royal sisters of a very short lived race trapped on the inner seas of a gas giant who were forced into exile and then corrupted into monsters by strange, powerful worm gods. We saw Aurash, Sathona and Xi Ro, become the xenocidial Auryx, Savathûn, and Xivu Arath, the three leaders of what we now know for sure is the Hive.

The worst part? The end of the Ammonites' civilization is just the beginning of the devastation the Hive will wreck on the galaxy!

Sources:
XVII: The Weakness Verse
XVIII: Leviathan Rises
XIX: Crusaders
XX: Hive

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