Very odd that one Pyramid would wage war with nightmares, and soon after, one would appear on Io and begin terraforming and very soon, will direct us to Europa where one will give us power.
So my take on things is: The Pyramids are b****ing us. "Are you still hurt by adversity? Does the fight to exist still scare you? No? Okay well what about when I threaten to boot you from worlds you THOUGHT you were regaining and change them? Still no? Well shit okay here have some dark berry icy pops! Still gonna kill ya though!"
Maybe they smacked us during the collapse because they saw how poorly we coped with dealing with mental warfare, declared us weak, and figured "Okay this is pathetic. They're hallucinating and killing each other. They are unfit to deal with other enemies. Pull the plug guys."
But the Traveler said: "No don't do it! They can survive! Gimme me a few hundred years and they'll pass your stupid tests!" Prompting the Darkness to leave and say: "Okay we'll see. The Hive, space rhinos, spider bois, and milk droids are coming anyway, and your deaths will be slower. I offered salvation salads and mercy from suffering but uh...good luck dorks!" So now we proved them wrong but they are still warning Eris about a second collapse.
So were nightmares a test, or is it possible the Pyramids are starting to do their own thing and defy one another?
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Reminds me of the first incredibles movie. Mr. Incredible hauled off to some island to slay countless iterations of a specific robot and all the while it was usng him as a test for its own weakness so the final iteration was essentially unkillable. perhaps something similar. Probe guardians abilities, strengths, weaknesses and bring the pain with that it knows we fail against.