I stare out into the voided waste beyond. Beyond the wall of a civilization. Beyond the walls of safety, and hope. I left them behind so that I may protect it. So that I may become strong enough to protect it. I raise to look through the sight of my gun. Out through the zoom to see them stir against the rust-colored dirt. Patches of dull yellow-green grass spot the land they prowl. One comes into view from behind the remnants of a planet locked ship. I am only vaguely aware of what it was once called. Not that it matters. Not that it is, or will ever again be important. But as the others of my kind, I find all knowledge to be of importance. The problem is sorting through which information is more important, which is more prevalent to survival. I feel as though time has slowed for me. Every thud of their feet, though I can not hear it, thunders in my mind. A useful skill taught to me by. I pause my own inner thoughts.
"Taught to me by a dear friend. Like a sister. But she is dead, and will never again be graced by the light of day." She also taught me of the spot just below the right outer side of the helmet. The spot that regulates the flow of ether to the dreg. That spot that when shot, explodes. I take aim and wait. The dreg has stopped to talk to another guarding the outpost. Quickly a captain walks towards them. Speaking in the strange language that I am still unable to decipher. Orders to get back to work I'm sure. I must be quick. I take aim, and time slows. I hear my own mechanical workings.
Chunk-tick, chunk-tick." It slows further. I hear the entire sound.
"Chunk-cluck-tick-ping, chunk-cluck-tick-ping." the sound is deafening. Everything seems as though it had frozen. The captain is not moving. The dreg is in range. I pull the trigger and it seems for a moment like nothing has happened. I then hear the sound come from the rifle. A burst of light from the tip. And the dreg goes up in blue-green flames.
"SKREEAAHHGGG!" the flames catch not only the other dreg and the captain but also a container. It blows as well, and the entire encampment goes up in flames. And before anyone could even guess where the bullet came from, I was gone.
It had been almost two years since I had reawakened into this hellscape of a life. I had been on foot for most of it. Knowing my destination was the easiest part of the journey. But what did it mean? Not only did I have no way of reaching the last city with ease. I also never felt as though I was strong enough to be of any use. So I simply wandered. In the general direction of the tower, of the city, yes. But nonetheless, I wandered. I had reawakened on an island that I later found out to be called Japan. But like the name of the plane, it was unimportant. The machine had pulled me from under a collapsed building and told me of who she was, and what I was to do with my new life. She referred to herself as a ghost. I at first believed this to be her name, but after she clarified that she was one ghost out of many, I felt it was right to give her a name. A small, menial notion, but one she took to. And so I called her Supernova, after the color of her shell. Black-blue with dots of white on top, leading down into purple, then orange-yellow, and stark white at the bottom. Nova and I traveled onwards. Once we reached the coast, it took me about a month or so to fix up a boat so that we could leave the island. Nova had told me of the Fallen. Who they were, and what they did to the planet, and my people. But they did not have many on the island. I only ever saw glimpses of their ground forces through the trees. Nova whisking me off whenever they came into range. But when I had arrived on the mainland, a place Nova called "Gyeongju National Park" in "South Korea" the name meaning nothing to me. That was when I first truly encountered them. A lone vandal. But it still shook me at the time. Its four eyes pierced me, almost as sharp as the blade it dug into my chest. It didn't take much to kill it. I was able to get a good hold of its neck, nearly tearing its head clean off. But it still was too much for my body. I collapsed, but I was not scared. I was angered. Angered that I had only just begun, that I had survived for months, but this! This is how I was to die! It was not fair, it was not right. It was cruel and I hated it, I hated life, I hated Nova and the fact she brought me back. But it was not enough to quell the darkness that surrounded my vision. But before the circuitry in my body failed completely, Nova's soft voice spoke to me.
"Do not worry. It will be alright." and through my anger, I still held to her voice, and I believed her.