For my fellow Guardians.
Warlock is Master Class
Do not trust anyone.
Do not trust Zavala, for he trusts the Speaker. Do not trust the Speaker, for he trusts the Traveler. Do not trust the Traveler.
Trust only your gun and your Ghost, for they are the only things that will stay with you to the end.
Why do I not trust the Traveler? Does a pawn trust the hand that moves it? Perhapse, yet... we are not pawns to be used nor are our lives a game. Besides, we have made the Traveler into a God, no? No God I've ever met is as pure as we make them out to be.
Trust me.
It is not everyday you are revived from the dead. Awaking from a mindless sleep, to a world of everything once more. Air floods back into my body and I rise to my feet. Greeted by sunlight and blue skies, my blurry vision clears for a floating light to grab my attention.
"Eyes up Guardian. I-I can't believe it... it worked! You're alive!" It exclaims, whirring and levitating about. I look down to my stiff hands, cracking each knuckle in an attempt to bend the joints. Why does everything feel as if brittle metal has replaced my bones and broken rubber for muscles? Am I caked in dirt and rust like the cars that surround me? When I died, did I too become a machine? My gaze rises again, looking at the bobbing light before me.
"I'm a Ghost... well- actually, now I'm you're Ghost. And you? Well, you've been dead a long time," the light says, twirling its extrusions about the dark centerpiece. Just as my Ghost reassembles itself, a strange roar-like cry echoes about the flat, deserted ruins of what appears to be a Russian facility.
"We're not safe here. We need to get you back to the Tower," Ghost explains, nervousness permeating its slightly robotic voice. I just have enough time to nod before another splitting cry, louder and closer, urges us towards the collapsing buildings. My aching body shrieks in agony as I sprint forward, weaving around carcasses of decaying cars so as to keep up with Ghost. I vault up the rusting metal stairs and turn through an empty doorway to be led into a darkened corridor. Just as I'm about to ask where we are, Ghost disappears from sight in a flash of light.
"Don't worry," I hear him say, presumably from within my helmet. "I'm still with you. We need to keep moving."
"What is this place?" I ask, jogging through the interior of the building. Ghost seems slightly surprised by this question.
"You don't know? We're in the Cosmodrome, Old Russia," Ghost states. "You seriously don't remember?"
"Well, I know this is Russian, but from the text. I know who I am, and I know that that is a wall, that is a brick and so on. But I have no recollection of this place, as a concrete memory per se," I respond. This puzzles me greatly. My mind is blank, like a blank piece of paper. I know how to write with words on this paper; I know what things are and what should be on the paper, yet it's still blank. As I continue to ponder this strange predicament, we enter a large, dark room.
"Hold on, I'll get us some light," Ghost assures, blinking into existence before floating off.
"Don't go too far, Ghost. I don't like the looks of this place," I warn. Ghost stops suddenly, looking back at me. It sort of nods, dipping slightly, before returning to attempting to turn on some lights, projecting a sort of laser grid on the beaten control panels. With a surge of energy, the lights snap on in rapid succession, illuminating the large warehouse and revealing strange, humanoid creatures crawling along the fallen girders. They wore blue and red armor, with yellow straw like hair. Some had four arms, each armed with a fierce looking firearm. I turned immediately to Ghost, conflicted between saying I told you so, What did you do, or Run! Thankfully, I didn't have to choose.
"Quick! I found an old gun over here! Grab it!" Ghost quickly screech-whirrs, disappearing back into my helmet once again. I lunge forward for an old Khvostov 7G-02 leaning against some old crates, pulling back on the old action, forcing it back to life. The click of ammo sliding into place gave me some reassurance as I darted around the walkways and back into the darkened corridors. As I finally slowed and raised the sights to my eye, I noticed the sudden change of décor. Instead of the crumbling concrete walls, strange bulbous boxes covered in nets occupied every corner. Large light sticks were forced into the ground, poorly illuminating the hall with eerie orange light.
"What were those things?" I inquired, lowering the gun back to my hip.
"Fallen, one of the many races of the Darkness. They invaded Earth centuries ago, but it seems they have a better hold on this place than I thought. We need to get you back to the Tower. You'll be safe there," Ghost clarified before falling silent once more. I walked tentatively forward, sensing something was about to happen. My suspicions were confirmed when a handful of Fallen dropped from broken tiles in the ceiling, screaming the strange cries we heard from outside. I brought the sights back up and pulled the trigger, gritting my teeth trying to control the recoil. Their bodies dropped at my feet, dark blood splattering over the floor. One of the Fallen from the back ran up to me, swinging a blade at my face. I ducked, retaliating by outstretching my arm. A surge of dark purple energy swirled around my arm and exploded from my palm, sending the Fallen foot soldier flying backwards and disintegrating him in what I could only describe as the Void. I stepped back, looking at the dead Fallen at my feet.
"How did you do that?" Ghost asked.
"Well, I pointed the gun and held down the tr-" I began before being cut off.
"No, with that one Dreg. You initiated a Void power. No Warlock, not even Ikora have been able to do that with such little time as a Guardian. How did you do that?" Ghost inquired once more, shock obvious. I just could only shrug.
"I don't know. I just kind of went to punch the uh, Dreg, but something else forced my arm out instead," I mumbled, not really sure myself how exactly it happened.
"If there wasn't enough incentive before, we need to get you to the Tower. Maybe Ikora or Eris will know what happened," Ghost declared. I nodded again and started forward once more. The darkness and deafening silence only accentuated my heavy breathing and limbs, fatigue threatening to drag me to my knees. Not even the adrenaline that was still pumping through my veins could keep me up for much longer. We needed to get to this "Tower", and fast, before I collapse of exhaustion and the Fallen get to me.
"Ghost, I don't think I can go much further," I pant, bending over to catch my breath.
"I'm sensing a Jump Ship close by. We just need to get you there and I'll take care of the rest. Just a little further and-" Ghost began before another growling screech echoed throughout the building. Yet this cry was deeper and much coarser, like the roar of a lion. I didn't need to know what made it to know that I needed to start running. My breath burned at the base of my lungs as I forced oxygen into my body, running through hall after hall, following Ghost's directions. We enter an area where a spaceship is tangled in cords, hanging from the caved in ceiling. I gasp in relief, taking a step forward, only to be knocked from my feet by a bone rattling explosion behind me. I flip onto my back to see a large Fallen, surrounded by Dregs. It has a large canon with four barrels, each aimed directly at me.
"Ghost!" I shout. The little ball of light appears in front of me, only to spin about in shock and zoom behind me.
"A Captain! We need to get that Jump Ship working, now!" It yelps. My Khvostov is quickly in my hands again and I'm unloading the magazine into the Captain. It points at me with one of its arms and roars once more. The Dregs advance, shooting blue arcing bullets at me. I scramble to my feet, taking steps backwards so as not to get hit. The Captain takes aim once more and I can see the orange glow begin to grow.
"Ghost! Today would be nice!" I manage to holler before diving out of the way of another explosion. This explosion rocks the ship, some of the cables snapping and rocks falling from the gaping hole in the roof. I crouch behind one of the larger chunks, panting. I try and peek out from behind and take a few pot shots, but I'm just met by a volley of shots. I close my eyes and exhale slowly, letting my head fall backwards. I nod once to myself and vault out from behind my cover, not even caring where I'm aiming, hoping to buy time. The Captain lets out what I assume as a laugh, firing rockets in my direction. I leap as high as I can, evading almost all the rockets. Unfortunately for me, one of the rockets nails me in the leg, instantly fracturing it. I growl in pain, falling to the ground on my knees. The Captain laughs again, making me even angrier. I bellow out in rage and pain, dragging myself to my feet once more and firing right at the Captain. He stumbles backward, dropping the cannon and shaking his head. I take this opportunity to line up that perfect shot.
"C'mon you bastard, look up," I growl beneath my breath, ready for the headshot. I feel my leg getting worse. Ghost better hurry up or my leg won't be the only thing that is broken. The Captain rights himself, only to be struck in the face by the rest of my mag, killing him. The blood from the Fallen has turned the floor a dark blue, the Captain falling to the ground and splattering the gore everywhere. I whoop in victory, raising my gun above my head. The engines of the Jump Ship roar behind me. Before I can say any snarky remarks, my knees give way and I black out, falling to the floor.
When I regain consciousness, I am reclining in the seat of what I assume is the spaceship, my helmet on the floor and my leg wrapped in bandages. Ghost is hovering above my broken leg, doing that weird laser grid thing, hovering about in a tizzy. I groan and shift in my seat, weaving my hand into my silver hair. Everything hurts. Even the hurting hurts.
"Oh, good. You finally woke up," Ghost says absent-mindedly. "I'm just running some scans on your leg before I regenerate the bone and tissue." The bandages undo themselves and fall to the floor, exposing my pale blue skin. I can see the bruise already starting to bloom, a nasty purple and deep blue. Hopefully, that would go away when Ghost regenerates me. I take this chance to look around the interior of the spaceship, taking in my surroundings. It was in pretty good shape for a crashed Jump Ship, relatively clean and everything seemed to work. The large windscreen was filled with vast blue and rolling clouds, traipsing past us as we traveled through the skies. The glowing ice blue eyes of my reflection stared back at me as I gaped at the marvel.
"Woah," I breathed, struggling to sit up a bit more. Ghost whirred in annoyance, struggling to keep the bone from getting more damaged. I grimace as hot pain shoots up my leg, forcing me back into the seat.
"Hold still. We need to get you all patched up before we reach the Tower. Commander Zavala prefers his Guardians undamaged," Ghost protests, focusing on my leg once more. I snort and roll my eyes.
"This Zavala sounds like a real peachy guy," I snigger. Ghost sighs and lets out a reluctant chuckle.
"I wouldn't talk about him that way. He's the head of the Vanguard, commands all the Guardians and is the Titan trainer. He is not a guy you want to mess with," Ghost describes, rolling his eye to match. I just shrug and pull my long hair up behind my neck, sighing at the familiar feeling. Familiar how, I'm not sure, but it feels good and relaxing, which I can totally get behind right now. My long bangs fall in front of my left eye again, making dark columns across half of my vision.
"So what is the Tower anyway?" I ask as Ghost finally floats backwards, signally my leg is good to go. I sit up and cross my legs, happy with the lack of pain that this causes. Ghost dips down to rest on the dash of the ship, looking at me lazily.
"The Tower is in the Last City, the last safe city on Earth... or anywhere really. The Tower is where everyone dedicated to protecting it stays. The Vanguard, The Speaker and all the different merchants hang around there. Guardians stay in the Tower," Ghost clarifies.
"The last safe city? Anywhere?" I murmur in disbelief. Is that even possible? In the entire universe, only one city remains safe?
"Ever since the Collapse, the Darkness has been stronger than ever, and with the Traveler gone silent, the Guardians are our last hope at protecting the City," Ghost confirmed dejectedly. I nod solemnly, staring out the window to the sky. Somehow, it doesn't seem as vast and beautiful, but isolated and trapping. Soon, Ghost notified that we were approaching the Tower. I feel our altitude lower and we break the bottom of the clouds. Below us a huge sprawling city lit with a rainbow of lights is revealed, surrounded by majestic mountains. In the center of it all, a huge orb of pure white floats above, casting a shadow on the central city blocks.
"That's the Traveller. Before the Collapse, the Traveller spurred on the biggest technology advancement in history and protected all of humanity. Now, this is all it can protect," Ghost illuminates. I manually pull the ship down lower, pulling up to the main terrace of the Tower.
"I'm going to teleport you down there, Amanda Holliday will take care of the ship," Ghost explains, before my vision is blinded by light. I drop to my feet on the walkway in the Tower, straightening out.
"Welcome to the Tower," I hear Ghost say.