Eyes open. Dark. The clock reads 5:17am. -blam!- me. Wide awake. Quietly sneak out of bed, not to wake my wife. Slither serpentine down the stairs, avoiding the creaky spots on the 51 year-old steps, not to wake my three year-old sleeping in the bedroom feet away. Turn on the coffee maker. Don't know why I bother setting the auto-timer for 6:35. Haven't slept past 6:15 in five years. Go to couch. Boot up to orbit. Maybe I'll check bounties. Hive majors. Sensor mites. Twenty kills with no damage. Some Eris with the Nightfall. Ok, I can do a few. It's 5:45. Go to Cosmodrome. Descend the hive major room. Someone else with the same idea. Then a 17 shows up, not understanding how the spawn works. Standing there like it's a damn loot cave. Move dammit. Melee, shoot, point. Nothing. He moves, but not far enough away and not long enough. Majors don't come. Asshole. He leaves. Pop. Pop. Pop. There are my majors. Pop. There are my sensor mites. To orbit. It's 5:58. I got time. My daughter's clock turns yellow when it's time to get up. I set it later in the weekend and forgot to set it back. I've got 52 minutes. Why not, let's see how many of these other bounties I can do. To Phogoth! Land, on my moped and it's into the Hellmouth I go. Avoid the first nights. The goal is speed, I want to get to the three-phase fight fast. I can't get through the first room. Wizard has it out for me. Fatebringer sings her beautiful song. Thrall and Acolytes melting into a miasma around me. That damn knight. I'm dead. Respawn. That bastard needs to meet my friend Epitaph. It writes a few headstones. Knight down. Wizard do ... shit I'm dead again. Respawn. Charge into the room. Duck behind a rock. I can skip the Wizard. I don't need to fight it. But it's principle now. The Wizard's head pops, the body is a glorious wine bottle of death and explosion. I love that perk. Crap, it's been 10 minutes! Pop another wax idol. Descend the stairs. Start the three phase. Phogoth is out of the question. But I just want the bounties now. Thrall rush at me. They have no chance. Headshots. My counter ticks up. Cursed Thrall now. Each headshot wipes out a crowd. My bounty progress slows. Phase 2. The Knights come. They're yellow. My Epitaph speaks their praises as they explode, one headshot at a time. Then the shot comes. The boomer lands his money shot on my face and I'm dead. In a Nightfall section. The counter starts ticking. Today is not that day my friends. Self res. Two quick scopes and I rob the last Knight of victory. There's a Wizard. Not messing around. I pull out the Horn Of The Gods, and the Wizard is down. Phase 3. It's 6:22. Shit, how long have I gone without a wax idol active? Pop another. The Knights come like lemmings and I lead them to the edge of the cliff. Bounty pops - hive majors in a Nightfall! One bounty to go. Just headshots, Phogoth is still out of the question. I tick away at the heads, waiting for the inevitable Wizard foursome to come out and try to end my morning. More headshots. Wizards call, and I answer with the Horn. I'm dead. Self-res and up the stairs. They fell into my trap. Three more rockets and two are down. Did I get the first Wizard before I died? I don't remember. I have two rockets left. Let's go find out. I charge into the room. Wizard #3 comes out and is down before I take damage. Then Wizard #1 comes back, half health but full shield. No rockets. The Epitaph arcs at the Wizard. Body shot. Body shot. Head shot. She's down. Clean up the trash. Fatebringer back out, and then the Station Agent tells me the door is open. It's 6:30. I've got 20 minutes. And then it hits me. Phogoth is going down. I sprint to fight the Ogre. Thrall rush from both sides. Pop. Pop. Pop BOOM. Damn cursed thrall more pops. Then a bounty, headshots done. Heavy synth and the Ogre and his little friend are down. Run to the next room, running down the elevated walkway just pecking at the Acolytes. At this point, my bounties are done, and my eyes are on Phogoth. If I wipe, so be it. A few grenades and hip fires and I'm through. Jump off the walkway and I'm now facing those two bastard Knights right before Phogoth. No time. I run around them. Into the antechamber I pitch my tent and set up camp. I fire my Epitaph as if it were full auto. The first bit of Phogoth's health turns black and I've got 13 minutes. I got this. The dance of Phogoth has begun. The graceful waltz with the suitors in the doorway while the Shrieker sings us our ballad. I step and pirouette more. Hot arcs spew forth. I have no time for trash. I spy my partner across the dance floor and he will be mine. The Knights appear as if my daughter has summoned them from her dreams. They are blocking my routine. I check the monitor. My daughter is asleep. Not even rustling. I waste far too much time on them, and Phogoth is down by half with fewer than five minutes to go. I've been lucky with ammo drops, but now I have to add the Icebreaker into my choreography. I am not winning without my Epitaph, and I need the ammo. 30% The dance, modified, continues. I run, I slide, I fire, I die, I revive. And back again. 20% I fit my tiny arcs through two doorways, peppering the hulking giant. Not fast enough. Heavy synth. For once Phogoth is fighting the bull and I AM going to bring the Horns. Tiny wolves dance in the sky around my prey. They've done their job, and soon I'm empty. 5% The monitor. My daughter is rustling. She's awake. My coffee sits cold on the ottoman in front of me. As a parent, I have to put my family first before everything. And unfortunately it looks like my time is done. I press the guide button. But my Little Light is silent. There she is, not moving. She is asleep. Icebreaker give me 12 more rounds. It's this or nothing. On this day, the Epitaph has written another eulogy. Nightfall complete. My reward, a fusion rifle that is nowhere near as good as Murmur. But sometimes the adventure isn't about the outcome, but the journey. Destiny as a dad.