Prologue
Captain James Meyers pressed the release button on the capsule display before standing up from his seat. Two other men were with him in the capsule as the capsule door began to hiss as the capsule matched the pressure outside. He grabbed an Assault rifle from a weapon rack built into the capsule wall and checked the weapon over before securing a vest with more ammo for the rifle to his spacesuit. He slid down the visor on his helmet as the capsule lit up with a bright green LED light.
The capsule door slid open and light spilled into the capsule's cramped space. Meyers stepped out and dropped down on to the red dust of the planet surface. Dunes of reddish dust swirled and went on for miles in every direction.
"Men. Congratulations. We're the first men to ever step foot on the Martian surface," Meyers beamed with pride. Two years of training alongside his men had accumulated to this moment.
"Great. So now what sir?" Replied one of Meyer's men. The youngest of them at 32, Lieutenant Rory Weston had spent a decade in the British Air Force as a fighter pilot. He tended to be brash at times but Meyers understood.
"Time to explore, Rory. Eyes open everyone," Replied Meyers.
"What are we looking for, sir," Replied Lieutenant Johnson, Meyers other man. "Little green men?"
Rory laughed at Johnson's joke but Meyers only let a smirk touch his lips.
"Not this time, Johnson. Just here to map the area. Now come on. We've got a lot of ground to cover."
The next few hours Meyers and his men climbed dune after dune of Martian ground. Four hours passed before they stopped for a break. Meyers sat down on a large rock and pressed a button on his suit's system interface on his wrist. A needle jabbed into his arm and a supplement began to flow into his system. The supplement was mostly nutrients meant to keep the user hydrated and staved off hunger long enough to get back to the landing capsule to get real food into their systems.
"I think there's a problem with my suit, sir," Rory sheepishly said over his comlink.
"What is it, Rory?" Meyers wasn't worried about any problems with the suit. They had all triple checked each other's suits before leaving the capsule. Rory was just trying to relieve the stress of the miles long trek.
"There appears to be a large-scale invasion of sand into my trouser area."
"Dammit, Rory. Keep the jokes to a minimal. This is serious," Meyers replied. He knew the kid had good intentions, but this was truly a serious operation for all of them.
"We should get moving again, sir," Johnson cut in. "Nightfall on Mars is only six hours away and it'll take us four to get back to the capsule."
"Johnson's right." Meyers stood up and began to climb up a large dune. "Won't be long before we have to head ba-"
"Sir?" Johnson turned to see Meyers was at the top of the dune, staring out at something.
"Get up here now," was Meyers' reply.
"What is it, sir." Asked Rory in a voice mocking Johnson's heavy use of the word sir when referring to Meyers. "More damn dus-." Rory stopped like Meyers when he reached the top.
Johnson reached the top of the dune last and was awestruck by what was hovering above a barren plain of dust.
A giant orb of the purest white hovered serenely there, unmoving.
"Someone get Houston on the line. Let them know. We've found something."
The giant orb discovered floating over Mars proved more than just an orb of unknown origin. It was the Traveler.
A sentient machine being made of Light. The Traveler made its way to Earth with the astronauts that had discovered it. There it ushered in a Golden Age for all of humanity. Life spans tripled, technology advanced by incredible leaps and bounds, and space exploration flourished as colonies were established on the Moon. Then Venus and Mercury and finally Mars. Decades passed and human civilization made itself the rulers of the Inner Solar System. Until the Darkness arrived.
The Darkness was not an actual being but a force like the Traveler's Light. Races that served the Darkness emerged across the Solar system and began to attack humanity wherever it was. Planet after planet was plunged into Darkness. First Mars fell to the Cabal, a military race of creatures of unbelievable size and strength. Then vile machines known as the Vex turned Mercury into a machine. An entire planet became a machine in days, then they turned their eye on Venus. And the Moon opened up to release its terrible secret, the Hive. The primitively advanced Hive destroyed the Lunar colonies and drove humanity from its surface. Then the Fallen came and began to scavenge what they could from Venus and the Moon. The Space pirates grew restless and attacked humanity's last stronghold in the Solar System, Earth. Backed by the Darkness the Fallen rolled through humanity. Sensing the impending loss the Traveler sacrificed itself to protect humanity, driving the Darkness from the Inner Solar System. Only one city survived the Darkness's onslaught.
In its dying breaths the Traveler created the Ghosts. Small constructs of Light that would serve as the companions of an emerging force, The Guardians. Three kinds of Guardians emerged.
The Titans were the strongest of the Guardians in their suits of armor like knights of old. Once soldiers from across the Solar System, they built the wall that surrounds the Last City in months. An effort that should have taken years and thousands of workers and machines was done in months by the first Titans.
The Warlocks were the smartest of the Guardians in their robes and cryptic helmets. Once scholars and professors, they sought to learn the secrets of the Golden Age in all its past glory and display it for the new world to see what had been.
Then there was the Hunters, the most cunning and agile of Guardians. They were once outlaws and survivalists that learned to transform the Traveler's light into something to help them survive, now they serve as scouts and recon experts for other Guardians that always find a way past a problem.
Many legends developed as decades passed. One of the most legendary was the Vault of Glass. A vault of Vex machinery and horrors that has claimed the lives of many Guardians before sealing itself for over a century. But the Vault has reopened. Now more will be claimed by the Vault. But six will stand against the Vault and find their destiny within. The Vex can control time, but can these Guardians show that they have control of their destiny?