A Guardian in the Making

anonymous

“Ah!” His first feeling was cold. The wind whistled throughout the open field. He shivered. He realized he didn’t know where he was. “Wha-” “Hi!” A small robot appeared out of nowhere. “Who are you?” he asked.

“I am a ghost. You have been dead for a long time. I have been looking for you for a long time, searching in this star system for my guardian, the one I was chosen to find. I have traveled the sun-scorched sands of Mercury, the dead and silent buildings of the Ishtar Collective on Venus, the vast halls of Rasputin on Mars, the crystalline caves of Io, even the Earth’s Moon, in the deepest caves of the Hellmouth. I have seen much no ghost should see, but I finally found you, sitting in the barren wastes of Old Russia. This is Earth. A wasteland since the Collapse. Only the Last City survives.” He paused, surveying the area, “What is your name?”

I don’t know…” he stammered, with the realization of what he was. “How did you revive me?” he started to look at himself, feeling his body, “I’m a bit stiff, but I can walk. Do you have a name?”

“Yes. I am Eve. I will guide you through this world and to the Last City. To Home.” The ghost hovered around, seemingly in a more exciting series of robotic movements. He observed Eve, she was a small, hovering, robot, in an 8 point star position. It had a small eye in the middle, glowing in the dawn of Old Russia. 

“What do I do?” he asked. “And how do we get to this ‘Last City’?” He noticed that he had a Russian accent. He asked himself ‘how do I know that?’ then realized it was obvious given his location. But he still couldn’t wrap his head around this concept. “I don’t understand…what happened to me?” He shuddered as the cold set in. It started to snow.

“You were likely caught in the many skirmishes between the Fallen and Humanity. You seem to be dressed for battle. Unfortunately, you are unarmed, so we will have to be careful. We will be forced to be stealthy.” The ghost floated to another angle and moved its frame in a way that it seemed to cringe. “Errrr, you don’t seem like the type of person to be stealthy. No offense.”

“None taken. Nonetheless, you are correct in your assessment. It would be foolish to engage the same folks who I seem to have fallen to. Who are the Fallen anyway?”

“They are a race of aliens, and we conflict with them most. They used to have the same blessing of the Light. The Light is the paracausal energy given to us by the Traveller. It is the large body that sits above the Tower, the center of the City. The Traveller used to reside above the homeworld of the Fallen. It gave them the benefits that it used to give humanity.”

“Used to?”

“The Collapse took the Light from most of humanity. It was when the Darkness finally caught up to the Traveller. It went immediately into full shut down. It shielded humanity to the extent that it could, but it couldn’t do everything. Humanity led an Exodus from the Solar system, but the ships were destroyed by the onslaught of the Darkness. In the Traveller’s last act, it created the ghosts. Me, among millions of others. From that moment, we had one mission. Find those who were worthy of the Light, and the ability to defend humanity from the other parts of the Collapse. The many species of aliens invading our Solar System. The Fallen pursuing the Great Machine, the Hive, seeking to destroy the light once and for all. The Vex, and their endless onslaught of machines, coming from their crafting of spacetime, the Black Garden. The Cabal, seeking conquest for their endless empire. The Taken, the mindless. You are now one of those Guardians. Your duty is to protect what is left of humanity and to work with the Vanguard. You are what the children in the city look up to, in knowing that you protect them at night and give them the freedom to play in the streets.”

“Wow,” he said, starting to survey the area. “That’s all well and good, but we should probably get out of here.” He glanced around. “Where do we find a ship?”

“We could try the Cosmodrome. It is the old port in this part of Earth, it’s been a dead zone for more than a hundred years. There still might be a ship though, the Fallen have a few that they conserved. We should head out.” They began trekking through the snow, facing the harsh wind, making for the massive white building in the distance. They could hear the cries of the Fallen in the distance. They ducked occasionally when a low-flying Ketch appeared. “What is that?” He asked.

“A Ketch. The Fallens’ main transport ship. Watch out, they tend to be packing a lot of weaponry, sometimes tanks. The thing I would worry more about, however, is a Fallen Captain and his squad. Judging by the scorch marks on some of the walls back there, they have been on the roam.” The ghost pushed forward, squinting its little eye. “This is going to be a while. We will have to hope that we find what we’re looking for, or we will be forced to hunker down there without good cover or shelter.”

“We have to keep pushing on. I have confidence that we can get out of here in one piece.” 

“If you say so.” They kept on, walking for hours, skirting around Fallen patrols and pushing through the cold. Just as it started to clear up, they came to the Cosmodrome.

“Wow.”

“I know. It’s huge. But we have the best chance of finding some kind of transport in the Cosmodrome, despite the large Fallen presence.” He kept walking, the ghost hovering skittishly along with him. He was scanning the area for traces of computer consoles or residual heat from jump ship engines. The ghost started to glow, and whir about, evidently scanning the area for signs of an escape. “I’m picking something up!” She shouted excitedly. “There seems to have been a skirmish between the Fallen and another human. I’m pinpointing their location,” the ghost pulled itself in and started processing, “That way. Through those ducts.” They scrambled through the ducts, past some Fallen having an argument, through some hallways and finally to a larger corridor. “We’re getting close!” The newfound Guardian wondered what the Tower would be like. He envisioned a place of safety and kindness, of veneration to the citizens of the City. He was quickly put off these thoughts when he thought he heard an engine.

“Do you hear that?” He panted, running through the corridor. “It sounded like an engine.”

“I don’t-” Eve was about to reply when they came to a large hangar, just in time to see a small jump ship speed off into the daylight. “Who was that? They didn’t send any distress signals.” Eve started to look around. 

“I don’t know, but whoever it was knocked this poor schmuck out.” He pointed to a small Fallen Dreg.

“Those markings on him…they appear to be caused by lightning wounds, and the only thing that could create this kind of trace is a Light powered fist. We’re dealing with another Guardian. A Titan, like you. He must’ve been just as desperate and knocked down this Dreg, and in the end, there’s nothing we can do about him now.”

“Titan?”

“…Warlocks, and Hunters. The three types of Guardians. Each has their own supernatural abilities given to them by their Light. This Titan was charged with arc energy. From the reading I get from you, you are Solar as of yet. Fire.”

“So I can have fire fists?”

“Yes, but not only that. Titans can summon walls of Light to protect them and their allies.”

“Sounds useful, but we have greater problems. We need to get out of here as soon as possible, or the Fallen will be back. I think we will have to-” at that moment, he saw a Fallen Captain. Seven feet tall with a glowing energy shield. It wielded what looked like a flame thrower, burning at the muzzle. He put up a wall, almost instinctively, realizing the danger of the situation. He scanned the room, looking for anything to help him escape. He noticed a large hallway to his left, blocked by a large slab of metal. He ran at it, punching his way through the metal, leaving it as a twisted metal hunk. He and his ghost sped through the hallway. They ran for a while, stopping eventually to take a breath. “I think we are going to be stuck together for a long time.”

“Agreed.”