ALLIANCE
How long ago it was? Ten years, maybe more? Traveler, it's hard to tell when you keep dying and coming back to life, sometimes you even forget your name, or even why you came back to life.
Or why you started fighting and keep fighting.
The Traveler gives us power through our Ghost who keep us alive and revives us every time we die, we could technically live forever, if our life wasn't so dangerous and they so… fragile; I mean, they seem made of plastic! You can crush them with a well placed fist, if they weren't so elusive, and you, killed. Permanently.
But, who are we? Came on! It's not a Pop Quiz and we aren't that secretive! We are Guardians, wielders of the Light the Traveler gifted us to protect what remains of humanity and, well, itself? We are capable of great things, even if sometimes we tell tall tales of everything we do, and we like to share our adventures among fellow comrades—to hear who tell the biggest nonsense—or with 'normal people' who are looking for something to distract themselves with during these dark times.
And, yeah, they are very dark. Since that floating, white beach ball arrived everything changed: first, technological progress, the life was better, we were able to travel from planet to planet in this system like you can go to the gunsmith and ask 'Can you give me 20 heavy syntheses that I have to make Crota kneel?'. It was our Golden Age. But everything has an end, and so our civilization: in less than a century, we lost everything. Every major city, entire planets, every technology, every hope.
During our Age, there were numerous novels, movies, games featuring invaders who tried to claim Earth as theirs, but during the Collapse those fantasies became real.
The Hive, Cabal forces, Fallen scavengers, time traveler Vex – can I call them aliens? They are robots, but, still—they took everything from us, slaughtered us and made us flee beyond the Asteroid Belt or cornered inside the bastions of The Last City of Earth.
This is the long story short of what happened to humanity, a prequel to what happened much before a rater odd story I heard, so, sit tight and listen.
As I told before, I don't remember how long ago the events of this tale took place, but I remember where and most importantly who the protagonists were.
A small fire team of three Guardians was sent to India, near New Delhi, to retrieve valuable data from the university; from what the Warlock Vanguard had told them, the facility held information about some kind of Golden Age technology, blueprints and data of starships models the Dead Orbit needed to 'start a new life for humanity' outside the Wall's. It was hot, with the sun shining high above what once was one of the biggest cities on Earth; the streets had became meadows of green grass and plants by the large leaves, rusted and abandoned cars at every corner, the derelict skyscrapers and buildings wrapped in vines an tree roots.
Where once human citizens lived, now had been occupied by the fauna once inhabited the area, baboons and colorful parrots were a common sight in the green jungle that overtook the concrete jungle.
The trio of Guardians walked its way around the city, careful to not draw unwanted guests.
Leading the group, walking tall and stoic, with his bronze scout rifle ready in hand, and the toughest and most determinate titan I ever met: Sansone 13-16. A true war dog that survived the Battle of the Twilight Gap and still has only one though: protect humanity, the Last City and the Traveler by any Darkness' creature. And he still hasn't given up.
On that day he worn a full set of Crucible gear, gained by crushing jaws with endless shoulder charges, all ornate in gold and white. His purple mark hung from the right side of the belt, woven with a golden broad axe on it. His helm was the copy of the one worn by the legendary general Saint-14 during the Twilight Gap and had a dent that run across all the visor, probable a mark left by a shock blade.
His heavy footsteps hushed the ones of the hunter behind him, who made no sound, not even her long cloak rustled against the grass. Her name was Holly, but you could call her 'mom', thanks to her motherly and cheerful behavior. Her armor wasn't a full set like the like the one of the titan, it had Vanguard and Crucible pieces, either bought or found in an engram —am I the only one who only finds shards in those things?!- Anyway, the best piece was the exotic chest plate by the golden wolf head on it, perfectly matching the one embroiled on her cloak.
Behind her, as the last member of the fire team: Jaquimo; a young warlock, who at the time had just started his Guardian career after being a Speaker's student for most of his second life. The color scheme of his armor was rater…odd, for a task in the jungle, especially his robe: bright red and blue, with a shining black helm piece and a flaming bond, perfectly matching his hotheaded and eccentric nature.
"Ugh! How long do we have to walk to get to this stupid university?" asked the warlock, waving his arms like no tomorrow to dispatch the cloud of darting horseflies that followed the trio.
"And, most importantly, why aren't we using our sparrows?" wined him again.
The titan let out a low, metallic grunt "If you are able to maneuver that thing without smashing it against the rocks and scraps hidden behind this grass wall, use it!"
"Is this a challenge, tin man?" replied Jaquimo with a smirk, ready to summon his vehicle.
"Nobody is challenging anyone." interrupted the hunter, glancing at booth her team mates.
"Yes, mom!" replied sarcastically the youngster, resulting in a small chuckle from the titan.
After a couple of minutes of more walking, what remained of New Delhi's Space Odyssey Foundation revealed itself to the eyes of the Guardians: Banyan trees had overrun the place, tangling their roots with the concrete and steel of the facility, beautiful and colorful flowers sprouted at every corner both inside and outside the building. The place was clearly abandoned by humans but not by other forms of life.
The trio reached the main hall, a semicircle shaped room connected with the upper levels by two stairways at its sides, and to the conference hall by a door between the two stairs. At its center, a circular desk, probable once the reception of the building, with old computers placed on it and papers scattered across the mossy floor.
Sansone gave a quick look around and rolled his shoulders and neck: "Alright guys, this place is huge and we need to find those data, even if they are prototypes," he said, turning toward the other two Guardians.
"Jaquimo, you go right, Holly, left, I'll go upstairs. Scan everything you can and watch out for any threat." concluded the titan walking toward the stairway. His two teammates nodded and left.
The hunter and the warlock went through every room, every laboratory, looking for something that could help the Dead Orbit's plans, but the overgrown vegetation had tangled and destroyed most of the computers that probably held anything of interest.
The titan had been luckier, however, finding the laboratories upstairs mostly intact. He was quite happy of his discovery, but his cheerful thoughts were interrupted by a series of clicking sounds coming from the corridor outside. Sansone remained silent, his body tensed up and his hands gripped firmly his rifle, he knew too well those chatters.
"Fallen" he thought, gritting together his metallic teeth.
He quietly walked toward the sound source, ready to shoot anything that came on his path. He heard the chattering again, coming from another room. Cautiously, he entered, aiming down the scope of his weapon: his expression became dark, angry, when his optics caught the figure of a fallen captain.
The creature worn a standard captain armor by the brown and bronze color scheme, like the long, bronze colored cape bearing its House symbol embroiled in black on it; it walked nervously up and down the room, chattering something at the microphone incorporated in its headpiece, without having noticed the Guardian who observed it.
In a matter of thoughts, Sansone's helm changed from the grey, roman like one to a golden and more modern model; he shook his head slightly and two blue flames erupted from the visor, just above his eyebrows. The titan clipped his gun to his back and moved his body like a wave, readying all his joints.
"Kill twenty enemies with a melee attack without dying minus: one." He thought, taking a deep breath.
Here is the first chapter of my first fanfiction, i really hope you like it!
(Apologizing in advance for any grammar mistake)