Beginnings
We called it the Traveler, and its arrival changed us forever. Great cities were built upon Mars and Venus. Mercury became a garden world. Human lifespan tripled.
It was a time of miracles.
We stared out at the galaxy and knew that it was our destiny to walk in the light of other stars… But the Traveler had an enemy.
A Darkness, which hunted it for eons across the black gulfs of space. Centuries after our Golden Age began, this Darkness found us, and that was the end of everything.
But it was also, a beginning.
Industry District, South America, Earth…
Decrepit.
Ruined.
Forgotten.
The once great cities of Earth stood now as monuments to the pass, accumulating rot and debris with every passing day. Buildings crumbled under the weight of time, cars rusted where they had been abandoned, and the dead lay unburied, as forgotten as the city they had once called home.
Its name was long since lost to time. The manufacturing factorys leaned into the pull of gravity, and rust clung to their steel beams. Roadways had fallen into disrepair, and the setting sun cast long shadows that grasped at the sky.
No longer was the city a place of industry, production, and ingenuity. It was nothing more than ruin and waste. A forgotten land from a forgotten time, fit only for the most desperate of scavengers.
Yet, even in the darkest of lands, light will shine.
This light shone upon the grand ruins, briefly casting itself upon car, building, or forgotten body. It drifted between debris, lost in a quest for someone, or something. The light of its creator radiated from its body. The light, of the Traveler.
This machine, this Ghost of the Traveler, floated through the air, no larger than a thrown stone, its cycloptic eye flicking from body to body. The Ghost slowed before a large manufactory, tilting to the sky.
Cylinders of steel rose from the ground to scrape against the sky. Once, they spewed smoke and gas into the air, a byproduct of the work that went on within the large square building. Now its towers were rusted, one collapsed on its side into another factory, tearing a section of wall to the ground. The windows were hollow and empty, the glass long since looted for use by scavengers.
It was a skeleton of former glory, just like the rest of the city. The perfect place for the Ghost to continue its mysterious quest.
A curious gleam in its metallic eye, the Ghost drifted towards the nearest door. Now it was no more than a hole in the wall. Like the windows, even the door had been stolen for scrap metal. Though this was in the Ghosts favor, for it was unfortunately cursed with a lack of hands.
At the threshold, it paused and its light cast across the ground. The bones of a forgotten human lay on the ground in silent peace. Empty eyes almost seemed to come alive for the briefest of moments. When the light faded, only a ruined skeleton remained.
"A shame," whispered the Ghost.
Its journey continued through the abandoned facility. Conveyor belts lay in strips along the floor, their coverings peeled away by time and scavengers. A few skeletal arms of steel hung from the ceiling, still frozen in the act of construction. Never again would they see a renewed purpose. The Ghost passed them by without a second glance.
Another body lit up under its gentle glow. Once more, an abandoned skeleton. The Ghost cast a low glow over its body. Then it sighed, and continued onwards through machines, crates, and numerous bodies of the fallen.
It reached the far end of the facility now, where a rusted staircase of steel hugged the wall, ragged and ruined like everything else. The Ghost almost passed it over without sparing it a second glance. But something grabbed its attention.
"Hmm?" It turned towards the bottom of the stairs. A lone body lay there, forgotten with the factory itself.
Dried flesh hung on its bones, a few bits of shredded cloth covered its form, and empty eyes stared at the Ghost. In its dried, withered hand, a pistol was given a death grip. An clip of ammo rested halfway inside the handle. This body, fresh and new in relation to so many others the Ghost had seen, had gone down fighting.
Now that, was truly worth investigating.
"I wonder…"
Its light passed over the dried flesh, ruined clothes, and dead eyes. Life almost seemed to flow back into its flesh for a moment's notice, pulsing with dormant energy. The Ghost gasped, and extinguished its light.
"Could it be?"
It drifted closer. Within its cybernetic mind, a spark of hope had ignited, a sensation that the Ghost had not felt in far too long a time. After so long, after so very very long..
Its eye blinked once, "Well, there's only one way to find out."
From its crevices and eye, new light emerged. This new light was a warm, kind light. The light of a freshly lit fireplace, the light of the early morning sun, the Light of the Traveler. Its very body expanded into a sphere of this warm, kind light, passing over the forgotten body.
The reaction was instant. Flesh suddenly lit up with life, inflating to living proportions. Its dried grey color turned warm and a soft white. The shredded clothes sparked and in a fire of activity, spread to their thinnest, forming a new outfit over the body. Its few shreds of hair grew into short, thick bushy hair. The eyes once again saw the world for what it was.
The newly revived woman gasped for air a moment later, shooting up. Her eyes were wide with shock and awe. Air filled her lungs with each breath. She put a hand on her chest and looked down with amazement at her new clothes. Dark green, skin tight. Simple, but covering.
Her short brown bangs fell into her eyes. She raised a shaking hand to brush them out of the way. The sight of her hand made her pause. For a single moment, the woman stared at her hand. Amazed.
She whispered, "I'm…I'm alive. I shouldn't be alive."
Her voice trembled, shook with too many emotions to name. She was alive.
Somehow, someway, she was alive!
At awe, the woman reached up with her hand and tried to stand. Her legs shifted under her and she got her feet under her. She slowly pushed herself up, but collapsed back onto the stone floor a moment later. Her legs felt numb, unused to being…used.
There was no pain or any kind. Just numbness and uncertainty. Her body felt… tired. Eyes squinting, the woman took a deep breath and tried to stand again. With one hand, she grabbed the nearby stairs and used it as a stand to help pull herself up.
She was finally standing moments later. Her legs trembled, but they remained steady.
"Okay..." she sighed, "Thats-"
A loud crack filled the air. The rail which she used to steady herself, suddenly snapped. The rusted metal, after years of abuse from time and the elements snapped right off the stairs, catching her unaware. The sudden jolt sent her stumbling forward. She only just kept herself from face-planting.
Shocked, the woman glanced at her hands. Between her gloved fingers was a tiny section of what had once been the stair's railing. The metal, once smooth and grey steel was cracked, brown, and crumbling as she gripped it.
Her eyes widened, and the woman tossed the piece of metal to the ground. The bar bounced once when it hit the ground. Then, it was dust. The metal crumbled against the worn and beaten floor.
"I...that..." she stuttered, at a loss for words.
"It worked! You're alive!"
Like the flip of a switch, the woman's body froze up as if it were ice. On instinct, she tensed, her muscle aching in protest. Silently, she glanced around the room in front of her, startled, but aware. In every direction, there was ruin. The factory, once bustling and almost frantic, was cold. The concrete was cracked, small patches of grass pushing free into the air. The ceiling was more hole than roof. Mother Nature slowly was working her way inside, entangling the steel ceiling with her vines.
By the woman's eyes, she seemed alone. Or, so she thought.
As the newly awoken woman gazed around for the source of the sudden voice, something appeared in front of her. A small, little machine floated down in front of her face. The woman gasped and stumbled back once more. The robot was small, tiny, barely bigger than her fist.
Its body was the shape of two interlocking stars, white as snow, glowing orange along its tips. A blue fire, an optic the woman realized, was at the center, staring at her in what was barely restrained glee.
It 'chuckled' at her, "You have...no idea how long I've been looking for you."
The machine's voice was warm and cheerful, like someone who had recently had a great burden removed from its shoulders. Though the Ghost had no shoulders to speak of, admittedly.
On instinct alone, the woman jumped back and whipped one of her hands forward, the same hand which had once held a pistol. But upon raising the weapon, the woman winced. In her hand was not a pistol or a weapon of any kind. Or at least, not anymore.
The gun, or what had been a gun, was held in pieces between her clenched fist. All she held now was the handle with the broken remains of the trigger just hanging onto her index finger. The remains of the gun rested in a pile of shattered plastic and steel by her feet. The gun was not as fortunate as she was, clearly.
Defenseless, the woman turned her gaze back towards the ghost. Without a word, she dropped the remains of her weapon and lowered her arms. She gulped and cleared for throat for the first time in…in…
How long had it been?
"Wh-what are you?" she asked. One question at a time.
Still floating in front of her, the Ghost bounced forward at the nervous woman and tilted its 'head' to the side, "Ah, the first question. Been waiting for that too."
"…What?"
The Ghost shook itself again and cleared its throat. Despite its lack of vocal cords, managed to accurately imitate the action before plainly stating, "I'm a Ghost."
"Or to be more accurate, I'm your Ghost."
The woman stared, "…My what?"
Yet again, the tiny machine bounced in the air. The woman followed it with her eyes, a bit put off with how happy a tiny little robot like it could be. Robots couldn't be happy, right? That's what she remembered…. Well, thought she remembered. She wasn't sure.
"A Ghost." It began again, "I'll explain that in more detail when we're somewhere safer. But for what you need to know, I'm here to help you. And…you…"
The Ghost suddenly grew silent. Its eye darted around for a moment, uncertainty apparent on its nonexistent face. While startled, the woman followed its eye. She saw nothing, and had to wonder what was bugging it.
Then, it spoke again.
"You have been dead…for a long, long time."
The woman froze, a cold chill creeping up her spine. Her throat grew dry, and sweat started to bead across her forehead. She slowly opened her mouth and tried to speak, but no words came forth. They were caught dead in the back of her throat.
The Ghost continued on, oblivious, "So, there are going to be some things you're not going to understand. Things have certainly changed, and I'm going to help you, I prom-"
A growl cut off the Ghost, echoing throughout the abandoned manufactory. Empty halls, rooms for storage, assembly lines, and even offices that had long been unattended filled with the growl. The ghost stopped dead, and the woman's head snapped up at the chilling sound. It rose in pitch, rising higher and higher into a screech, a howl of what felt like fury and anger.
"…oh dear." The Ghost mumbled, "That…is not good."
The woman's head shot back to the Ghost, "What do you mean that's not good!? What's going on!"
She might be nervous, but she wanted some answers damn it!
"No time!" 'her' Ghost said, and darted away from her.
"Hey, wait!" she called after it. Her legs jerked forward, and suddenly she was awkwardly running through the factory after the Ghost.
The Ghost was muttering to itself, "Not good, not good. Really not good."
It stopped to let her catch up next to a large conveyor belt. She leaned against it, catching her breath, "What's not good?" she demanded through her gasps.
The Ghost whirled back around to look at her. Its voice was dead serious, "It's the Fallen. They're here, and if they see us, they will kill us."
A/N: Welcome to the Collab! I'm Rapidfyrez, and my co-author is DarkDemon619! We're both huge fans of Destiny, and avid writers on this site. So, we decide to pool our talents, and this is the result! Please note that this was just the prologue to the story, and future chapters will hopefully be twice this length. We hope you enjoyed the beginning to what is hopefully going to be a long and successful story. Please review and let us know what you think!
A/N.2: Indeed! This is DarkDemon619 and like my Co-author said, I hope you all enjoy this! Review and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send us a PM!