ALT A digital drawing of Exo Warlock Heulog-12 and Lucent Hive Lightbearer Wizard Kysurax lounging on a sunny beach under an umbrella that is decorated like a Hive ritual circle. Kysurax has much of her chitin removed, save for a waist garment and a lightweight version of her mask/helmet and is wearing a large sun hat, and is lying prone while Heulog applies some sort of glowy-green Hive ointment to her skin. Heulog is sitting cross-legged, and is wearing a simple green two-piece bikini.

ALT P1: Kysurax and Heulog-12 are sitting on a rock watching two bees. H:Do the Hive have methods for physically showing affection? Other than trying to kill each other, I mean. K:Like your various means of embracing one another? Your hugs and your kisses? H: Yeah. K: We do. P2: A Hive Wizard about to stab a corpse on a stone table covered in Hive runes. K:There is one in particular—a minor liturgy—that most Hive refrain from, as it is a corruption of a heretical rite, not unlike your ‘minced oaths’. The Inquisition of Self is a hated ritual in which one can transfer the essence of one being into the body of another—considered blasphemous for its attempts to circumvent the Sword Logic. This truncated form—this Yielding Inquisition—is a defanged reduction of the concept to a metaphorical expression of trust and love. There is no Unmaking, no loss of Self, only the symbolic exchange of Essence. A mingling of Soulfire. P3: H:Have you done this? K:I have. H:Would you show me what it's like?

ALT Heulog holds herself as close as she can and continues to hum. She couldn’t yet form the vocalizations, and maybe would never be able to do so, but she hoped that for now the acrid notes alone would suffice. That through the burgeoning haze of unchecked anxiety Kysurax would be able to recall the invoking words and hear the earnest appeal to her inner strength, the words that define that strength as extant and obligate it to come forth, to inhabit her bones and manifest as the truest form of her will. The words that assert that she, as a single unified force of will and body—in defiance of all existence—shall persist. Heulog feels the thrumming slow, its rhythmic cadence aligning with her own deep breaths. She gently removes her hand from Kysurax’s torso and feels the Wizard’s arms close around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I am afraid,” Kysurax finally says, calm returned to her voice.

ALT A colorful illustrative portrait of Kulve Taroth from Monster Hunter: World. She is a dragon with black scales, who is covered in gold that was melted and cooled, so it drips from her ram-like horns, neck and face. She is lit from below by a soft greenish-blue light. There is a glow from within her mouth which portends her use of her incredibly high-temperature breath weapon. Most importantly: she is beautiful.

ALT A digital drawing of two original Destiny 2 characters: Heulog-12, an Exo Warlock, and Kysurax, a Lucent Hive Lightbearer Wizard, embracing in front of the Traveler. They are in casual summery wear, t-shirts, tanktops, and lower-body wraps, and both of them are wearing numerous bits of gold jewelry, largely in the form of piercings.

ALT A drawing of Heulog-12 in the air casting her Dawnblade, stylized with bright colors: the backdrop is a purple gradient, with half-tone action lines pointing at the sword. An ink-brush-like set of flaming wings flanks her, which have a purple-to-red-to-orange-to-yellow gradient. The lighting is very stark, and is especially noticeable on her metallic gold Luxe Soles, the light from the blade playing across the highlights in soft glow. The blade itself is rimmed in stylised ink-brush yellow-to-red flames bursting from the center and causing faint coronal lens flares.

ALT A digital illustration of Dûl Incaru, the Eternal Return, daughter of the Witch Queen Savathûn, from the game Destiny 2. She is holding herself tightly in a sentimental pose, arms crossing her chest with her head resting on one hand. She is a Hive Wizard with a unique model, with tall flanges on the side of the crest on her head, which gives the impression of wings or ears. She has three glowing green eyes. She has broad, spiky pauldrons that are pierced with spiked rings. Around her wrists are spiked bracelets inscribed with glowing Hive runes. She has more spiked rings attached at the waist, from which flow crimson ribbons. She is flanked by shattered columns, and looming behind her are Savathûn's three eyes.

ALT A painting of Eris protecting herself as three Hive Wizards perform a ritual, holding Omar Agah aloft as he is transfigured into the weapon Xenophage. Toland also is there, in his already-transfigured Taken Wisp form. After Goya's "Witches Flight"