"An ancient weapon, battered and worn - but it still fires true. Perhaps it's been waiting for you." -In Game Description, Khvostov 7G-02

Chapter 1 - Old New World

Humanity called it, 'The Traveler'. Eons it's spent traveling the stars, across and beyond the infinite reaches of space, birthing worlds in the light of a 'Golden Age', much like our own home, we to were gifted with its miracles. Centuries of evolution and Humanity soared towards an unknown future. if only knew what that future had waiting.

A plague, a 'Darkness' carved it's way through the creations of the Traveler, destroying and erasing so many that were gifted with Light, only to sent back into darkness. We nearly fell too, our defenses failed, and our worlds collapsed.

...Yet we lived again. The Traveler gave up all it had to save us, gifting those it saw as Earth's 'Guardians', with 'Light'. In time, Humanity grew under the slumbering shadow of the Traveler, but out there, across the darkest cracks of the universe, the Darkness, slumbered too...waiting...But so were the Guardians, and their Ghosts.

This is one of those stories...

Darkness.

One couldn't begin to describe the feeling I had, this...bleak, voidless existence, I...was dead, but my mind, coiled among the icy fingers of life, I couldn't breathe, at least I couldn't tell if I was. Am I asleep? I couldn't be paralyzed...and yet my world soon trickled life into my being, starting with my touch.

Ice, cold ground, dust, it wasn't warm or embracing, and my ears soon rang with a winter breeze in my eardrums, that was followed by taste, my mouth was dry, tasting like centuries of dust and stone had made their home in my mouth over...a long time, was it long? My memories are...hazy, or, non-existent, no idea of my person, my name, who I was, or why...now, my eyes adjusted to the warmth of a helmet on my head, the rough fabric on the inside wasn't comfortable, but it was at least able to cover my now brittle ears against the cold. Finally, I heard someone call out to me, as my hands, and legs moved under me shakily, the memory of walking nearly lost to my other forgotten memories of something, but what?

"Guardian...Guardian? Eyes up, Guardian!" A synthetic voice called out to me, my eyes slowly cracking open to the afternoon sun among a ruined wasteland before me, it took my eyes a few moments to exercise blinking after a feeling of forever, before they adjusted to the small, cubic 'thing' floating in front of my eyes, I didn't really jump, since I found him to be fascinating, atleast I believe its a 'he'

"It worked! You're alive!" So I was dead, but how did I die? Or why did he seem so happy, judging by how his back seemed to spin with glee, did he...bring me back somehow? While I was about to speak, my throat decided to finally cough out the grime it had built over years of death, as he continued to look at me with a bright, blue eye, which seemed to glow happily. "You don't know how long I've been looking for you."

"Gah! W-who are you?" I asked, sheerly out of panic. I mean, who wouldn't panic if you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and woke up to find a talking, robot...thing talking to you? My next response was that to cough up what felt like sandpaper from my throat

"Well, I'm a Ghost. But I'm your ghost now, but unlike others, my name is 'Ghost', sorry if that's a little confusing, but you...well you've been dead a really long time, so you're gonna see a lot of things you don't understand." He explained for me slowly

"I...uhh, t-thank you *cough-cough* for...bringing me back...umm, Ghost." I repeated under my thanks, with him tilting forwards to indicate a 'nod', that was until something broke the calm, winter wind. An animistic roar, followed by a few howls of the same octave, throwing ice down my spine within moments. Ghost then looked from me, to the wasteland across the massive, rusting wall, then back to me again in a hurry. "What was that?"

"This is Fallen territory, we aren't safe here." Ghost looked just as startled as me, given that he jumped at the roar

Then he flew ahead for a moment, as I shook my head clear under my helmet, noting my broken, low-quality clothing, it wasn't grand by normal standards, but it kept me warm at least, so that's one battle won for now. But 'Fallen'? It didn't sound human, one of the few things I can recall of basic memory, nothing about me or anything beyond basic information, but 'Fallen' and that sound certainly weren't friendly, and that took no memories to see clearly.

"Hold still." I was caught off guard in an instant, with Ghost vanishing into my chest suddenly, as I placed a hand on my chest plate shakily at the sudden vanishing act. "Don't worry, I'm still with you, but we need to move fast and get you to the city, if not, the cold will be the least of our worries."

"R-right..." I hesitated but clenching my fist against my chest, I nodded once. "Ok, I...can't say I understand any of what I'm both seeing or hearing, but...I'll trust you, Ghost."

"I promise when we're safe, I'll explain all I can, but quickly, to the Cosmodrome Wall, we need to find a way out of here, and fast." Ghost ushered for me to move, just as another howl broke the winds again, so I slowly made my way down the aisle of cars, all rusted and overgrown beyond repair, clearly they had aged more than me, seeing how I'm not a walking skeleton under this suit, but the place was packed tightly with them all crowding to the wall, did something happen to cause such chaos? Did I try to get inside too?

I didn't take long for us to enter the massive wall, the wind silencing in the moment I entered, as I passed up a flight of stairs to the insides of the construct, the sudden silence was greeted by loud, hollow groans from within the walls, sending a heavy pressure of uneasiness through me, it was so dead.

"Ok...I need to find you a weapon before the Fallen find us." Ghost muttered, mostly to himself in my head, but as I carefully climbed the steps, I needed to ask

"What are...Fallen?" My question was soon answered to a hall of darkness, and the sounds of footsteps above my head, clanking across metal, with scuffling sounds too. Inside my helmet, I watched a small, circular radar light up completely red for a moment, before the red moved ahead of the arrow, and soon, my small circle was white again. A radar, and from the looks of things, they were above me. "I'm guessing that was them?"

"Shh, they're right above us." Ghost whispered, his body appearing once more to aid in lighting our way, but as we approached another line of steps, the hums of machines blanketing the sounds around us, my eyes drew themselves to a grate broken off the wall, but I yelped in fear, something in blue shambled across the pipes, four arms, and a creepy head, as they crawled upwards, ignoring me completely as I nearly fell backward. "'That', was a Fallen. Please, I didn't just bring you back to die again, let's find you a gun."

"You want me to...shoot them?" Not that I wasn't complaining about self-defense when my memories are gone, I woke up to a floating robot, and now some form of aliens are out to get me, but...the thought of killing is still fresh in my morals, the bigger question was, could I kill them? Do I even know 'how' to use a gun? Sometimes...we just got to roll the dice-

I paused in my footing, the sudden loss of movement had matched my mind at what I just thought to myself. 'Sometimes we just got to roll the dice', why did I know that? Did I used to say that...I...no. Shaking my head, I did my best to focus on my task at hand, if I lived through today, I can ask questions later, let that motivate me, yes, that's right, I'll use it as motivation. Once more, I stepped towards my left.

We moved into the next room and up some more stairs as Ghost soon appeared next to me. This time though, he was shining like a flashlight as he illuminated the path forward for us, reaching a catwalk that looked out into what was the interior of the wall, before looking towards me, the groaning of the massive insides of the wall rattling around us both.

"Hang tight. Fallen thrive in the dark, we won't. We need more light," Well, that seemed kind of obvious. I mean, it's almost pitch black in here. So some more light can definitely help. "I'll see what I can do."

Ghost then floated off to what looked like some kind of…contraption of sorts as he mumbled something to himself. I honestly did not pay much attention to that…but I immediately paid attention to what blinked in the shadows as he passed by, sets of blue lights danced across the walls and supports of the wall, that was when more of them crawl to hide from Ghost's light, their...eyes watched me closely. Fallen, dozens of them.

Suddenly, the whirling of lights echoed, and soon the whole insides of the walls came to life, alongside the scattering of Fallen, some slightly taller than others, as two, red robots flew past Ghost, ascending up the wall, as the rest of the Fallen ran, some moving down the bridge towards the side I was on. Not good.

"They're coming for us!" Ghost called back, my legs moving quickly towards the rusted gate he flew towards, meanwhile, I felt my heart begin to race inside my armor

"What did you do?!" I shouted, personally panicking right now for obvious reasons

"I don't know, but what I do know is that without a weapon, you got nothing to defend yourself out here," He told me, before proceeding to scan the contraption to some kind of gate as he got it open. Once it was open and I stepped through the gate, Ghost began hovering over…wait…is that a gun? And why are there a bunch of bones and a skull around it?! Did the Fallen do this? "Here, I found a rifle! Grab it!"

Okay, at the time, my head was thinking about how the hell was I going to learn how to use something like this in such little time. But, going on instinct, I grabbed it and held onto it as I moved around another corner. My heart was beating extremely fast now as I was trying to make sense of what was going on and where I needed to go, since the roars of the Fallen were everywhere, all communicating to each other, against a scared girl like me, my hopes weren't that high right now.

Yet… what Ghost said next didn't help me with concentrating. "I hope you know how to use that thing."

"I...God, I hope so too. Just...aim and pull the trigger, right?" I asked him hopefully, but I wasn't expecting an answer

"Yes, its a standard model of the Golden Age, the rate of fire is average and enough firepower to defend ourselves against the Fallen, so stay sharp, watch your radar for movement." Ghost instructed me calmly, though a pang of irritation of my lack of knowledge was certainly there. That's when Ghost whispered. "Did you see something?"

I didn't, but every shadow felt like it was watching me closely, but we soon rounded another left turn, a short one at that, my finger slowly inched its way across the trigger without warning, as I felt my hand grasp the metal body tightly.

"Above us!" Ghost's call caused me to scream slightly, as I watched a Fallen drop down from above, its body rising high above me, with a smaller one hopping out from the pipeline to my left. The Fallen were quite toned, which explained their ability to maneuver through this place easily, they had four arms, but the one to my left didn't, only two, last were their four, glowing, white-blue eyes. "Guardian, jump back!"

I didn't even need to hear what Ghost ordered me to do, my legs had already tripped themselves out from under me, ducking under a swing of the Fallen's fist, before it raised its rifle with two of its arms, the barrel beginning to trickle with an electrical pulse. I needed to defend myself, come on body, work!

"Come on… come on…" I grit my teeth, trying to focus as I aimed back at these two Fallen, the larger one moving towards me to aim easily at my head. Quickly pulling the trigger, I opened fire at both of them. The first was shot in the left arm, before another round struck its head, the limb erupting into a burst of blackish liquid, but its arm still pulled the trigger, but its arm fell, and the rail shot of lighting struck the chest of the smaller one, killing it too.

Sighing, I took a moment to try and catch my breath after just killing two aliens, but...I still killed them. Internally, I felt sick. "Guardian, are you alright?" Ghost asked me inside my own mind

"No…" I spoke, looking to my hands that shakily held the rifle between my fingers. "I…don't feel alright. Even though they aren't human…I…I haven't killed anything before…"

"Guardian," Ghost tried to talk to me. "I know that a lot is going through your head right now, and I said I'd explain everything later, but in order to make it to 'later' I need you to understand that these Fallen, the Devils, will stop at nothing to kill whoever comes across their way, I've seen what they can do, and some houses are far worse than them. So, if we are to make it to the Last City, I need you to trust me, and work together...okay?"

"Ghost...I..." Could I do it? If they killed innocent people, just because they were trying to survive...then... "O-ok, I'm not saying I like it...but if they've done horrible things to people, then...I'll make sure to not fall the same way."

"That's all I ask, Guardian." I seriously need a name...but...what was my name? "Now then, Fallen up ahead, are you ready?"

Taking a moment to remove the clip from the rifle, I looked to see that only six shots were gone, so I spun it around, and slowly clipped it in place again, hearing the click of the connection, before I held my rifle tightly, my hands still shaking slightly.

"I am now, Ghost."

"Wait...there's something over there." Ghost's curiosity correlated with me, my eyes stopping at the end of the bridge, as I glanced to my right, seeing the lights shining upon another skeleton, this one in what appeared to be an old spacesuit, how I could still recognize it past the tears, dust, and mold was beyond me, but it was what sat next to it that interested me. "A Preacher Mk. 20, that will come in handy."

"Ok..." I knelt down to grab it, placing my rifle on my back for the combat shotgun. I shook my head again, knowing that somehow, Ghost was behind the reason I can recognize the guns and how they worked in only a few seconds of looking, guess I shouldn't complain, he did bring me back to life and gave me the guts to fight. Before I got up, I felt my eyes glue themselves to a small tag on the suit. "What's this?"

"Must be the identity chip for this person, not important, we need to get out of the Cosmodrome." Ghost ushered for me to continue on our goal, but something was making me stay, and it was when I read the chip, did I realize why I felt the need to know more. "Guardian?"

[I.D. 1904-B]

[Name - Ceres Wright]

This name...something about it seemed so familiar, it wasn't mine, obviously, but it sounded vague in the back of my mind, somewhere in a haze of mist and unreadable shadows. Ceres, it was strong, proud, kind...who was it? What kind of person were they before everything stopped making sense and logic? Who was I?

"...Ghost...don't call me, 'Guardian', ok?" I slowly spoke again, feeling some remnants of my memories splice in my head for a moment, as I rose to my feet, pumping the shotgun once with my left hand, before placing the brace against my right arm. "Call me...Ceres."

"Alright, then Guar-uh, Ceres." Ghost collected himself on that, but the name felt...right, I'll thank the person for the name, but now I had a new problem, another large hallway, and red was beginning to outline my radar again, meaning more...umm

"Sorry, what are 'Fallen', exactly?" I asked Ghost, but I did feel guilty for asking him so many questions

"The Fallen we've encountered are more like drones. 'Dregs' are the two-armed ones, and carry shock-knives, and pistols. 'Vandals' are the lean ones, with four arms, two of which carry a Wire Rifles, and would typically stay far back, best to take them down by getting into close-quarters. We may also encounter 'Shanks', the red drones from before, and would fire burst shots from the sky, but they typically become easy to avoid." Now I had names to the faces, and drone, which made my job a little easier- "Vandals might also carry dual swords, makes having that shotgun a little better if one gets too close to slicing your armor." -Nevermind

"Thanks, Ghost, sorry if I'm being a little too clueless during all of this." I didn't want him to think I didn't notice his exasperated state with my endless questions, but I continued down the hall, noting how a few red lasers shot forth from the walls, I didn't need to Ghost to tell me that they were trip-mines, so I just ducked under them

"Its hardly your fault, given how you were only brought back a while ago, expecting you to know the Fallen would be impossible." Ghost reassured me, so I did feel a little better, given everything that's happened. Next, I heard him whirl in my head. "Fallen, up ahead."

In an instant, a Dreg shot out from under the grate before me, slashing horizontally to try and knock me into the trip-mines, but I kicked it back, before I pointed the shotgun straight at its chest, before firing a powerful shot, causing it to fly back into a pillar, just as my eyes trained on three more at the end of the trap-ridden hallway, all firing their pistols down the corridor, so I ran to my left, heading past the pillars to their left, avoiding their fire until I was close to the next turn.

Jumping out from behind the final pillar, I pointed my shotgun towards the Fallen directly before me, just as it screamed at the buckshot to its body, the others turned to look at me, but I quickly ran up to the one on my right, kicking its pistol to the ground, before grabbing its shoulder and throwing it into the trip-mines, causing its body to fly against the wall over the explosion that followed the laser's expansion. The last Dreg fired on me, striking my side, and head, my armor taking the shots, but I still felt the sudden jolt of negative energy hit me, but it slowly passed, a white bar trickling back the small piece it lost, in that time, I pointed my shotgun again, and pulled the trigger.

"Ok, so I know you were probably going to ask this, but your helmet comes with a medical display, that white bar represents your state of health, if you're hurt, you'll know how critical it was, and if you ever see a skull below it, that means I can repair you with Light, but you might still have physical marks left behind, so please keep an eye on it." Ghost explained to me, my head nodding slowly to the information presented. But Light? Skull below the bar? Questions for later I guess. "More Fallen again. They have a tighter grip on this place than I thought. Best we clear them out, after that, we'll see about finding us a ship back home."

"A ship?" From what I saw outside, everything was rusted and barren, something like a ship seemed unlikely, but if a talking robot and Light can bring a person back from the dead after so many years, I guess Spaceships were a thing, because that seemed far more likely than an actual 'ship-ship' that sails. "Nevermind."

Entering a larger room of boilers and control stations, I noted the two Vandals, one with dual blades, the other with a Wire Rifle just by the next door, with two Dregs to its sides, whilst the other Vandal had another two Dregs, all now looking at me as I entered the room, roaring in unison too. Taking that as my cue to run, I rolled away from the line of blue that struck the wall behind me, as the Dregs opened fire on me, so I switched to my Rifle, and quickly gave myself covering fire, a stray bullet landing in the skull of a Dreg, its head bursting with that black bloody-mist again.

"Nice shot!" Why thank you, Ghost. "Your left!"

Raising my rifle to block the blades, I felt my arms stiffen at the weight of the blades striking my rifle, yet I was surprisingly strong, and so I hardly felt the strain, so I spun my body, throwing the Vandal to my left, before it spun on its heel, swinging both blades down from the left to right diagonally, striking my left arm, my breath catching in my throat for a moment, before I rolled away from another lunge, my barrel aligning with its chest, before I pulled the trigger, firing five shots into its chest, and dropping the Vandal like a sack of bricks.

Sighing, I ran out from behind cover, ducking low to avoid the gunshots from the Dregs, so I slid down on my side, raising my rifle again to fire a burst of rounds into the Dreg before me, taking it down in seconds, before I stopped at the small steps, rolling back to my feet to run from the gunfire, and the trace line of electricity from strike me, before I ran around another pillar and once around, I raised my left fist, throwing it forward, and hearing the bone of the creepy jaw on the Dreg crack.

I then grunted under the two shots hitting me exposed chestplate, before I recoiled with my rifle, firing upon the last Dreg with ease, a bullet piercing its arm, then its throat, before striking its forehead, throwing its corpse backwards, and past the Vandal, who didn't hesitate to fire another trace shot, one that struck my right shoulder, forcing me to a knee when I screamed slightly, feeling bone and muscle tear from the powerful, jolting shot, but I shakily raised my rifle in my hand, firing a single shot through the Vandal's leg, making it grunt itself, before its head came level with my barrel, so I unloaded the last few rounds randomly, causing the black liquid to stain the floor below it once it fell. By then, I watched my wound clot over in seconds, leaving the peachy-pink flesh exposed through a tiny hole in my armor.

"Is this...Light?" I wasn't looking for an answer from Ghost, my own fascination over this 'Light' was hard to describe, a part of me felt amazed that simple wounds or even near fatal ones could be fixed in moments, whilst that nagging question in my mind felt daunting to think of. What happens when I can't heal properly? Is it when that skull appeared only, or would I not escape death again?

"Yes. Light is what you and I were born from. I was given life by the Traveler, he was the one to bring us to life again, and save humanity from the Darkness, and I used my Light to bring you back to my Guardian, and it can not only heal wounds, but grant you a power we will know over time, and even bring you back from death countless times over." I...could come back? I-I mean I knew this 'Light' was able to perform a miracle like this...but to escape death, was that possible? "I know this adds to your questions, but we need to move-"

"I know, Ghost, sorry, all of this is pretty amazing, but...we need a ship, right?" I continued for him with a smile under my helmet, feeling a new, more fulfilling breath of air reach my lungs

"Right, but...I'm getting some strange trans-dimensional readings from outside, this isn't good." Ghost nervous reply wasn't a comforting one, so I threw the empty clip away, just as Ghost brought one out of the air for me to carefully place back into the rifle, and so we moved for the other side of the wall

Once we made our way out into the night, my eyes were beginning to widen larger than dinner-plates at the scene before me. The Cosmodrome, as Ghost spoke of, was a wasteland, massive spires aligned the distant horizon, with many derelict buildings aligning the area, with cargo crates laid to rust in the mounds of snow, whilst old paths and road were broken, cracked and gone due to time. This was horrid, just...how many died like me to end up forgotten here? Sadly, a sudden BANG made me jump, and a read flare entered the sky.

"Incoming!" Ghost's reply added to my slack-jaw under my helmet, as the blue energy ruptured the atmosphere above us, and within moments, a massive, rust-colored ship breached the air with a powerful blast of engine power, collapsing the support of one of the spires upon entry, as smaller ships flew past it, and over our heads, all the noises nearly made Ghost's voice inaudible through all the roars of metal beasts. "Fallen ships!? And this close to the surface!?"

"Should we run now!?" I yelled over the passing ship, turning the night near black for a moment, the massive spaceship shaking the ground from under my boots, forcing my body to stabilize with the barrel of my gun pushed into the ground to stop myself from falling, the rattling of the engines shaking my vision painfully.

"Yes, good, great, run for the hanger!" No need to tell me twice

"I...think I...had enough *pant-*pant* action for my last 'and' this life." I couldn't breathe for a moment since I managed to battle through an army of Fallen, survived, and made it to just inside the ruined remains of the hanger, slightly warmer since the walls stood much better than most buildings

"I think I've had enough guys shooting at me to last never!" Ghost sounded more relieved than exhausted, lucky him. Taking my rifle in both hands again, I continued inside the complex, following the small map in my helmet towards the smaller double doors. "Good news, I'm picking up signs of an old Jumpship inside."

I was almost afraid to ask. "And the bad?"

"The Fallen are inside, only four though..." It sounded like a trap, given how we had to battle through hordes to get here, I don't know why, but I just had a feeling this wasn't any normal Fallen like last time. For a moment, my eyes blinked at the sudden flash of white light to my waist, when I looked down, I saw a strange, silver ball attached to my belt, with a few, orange line humming between the welding lines. "Take this, it can only be used every few minutes, but this Condensed-Light-Grenade or CLG should work. Although, I have a bad feeling about this, Gu-Ceres."

That made me smile a little, tightening my grip around my rifle again, but this time, I was shaking, I didn't feel weak, sure, the thought of killing anything was a gut-punch to me, but something about this seemed...right, not malice or hatred, but...righteous. "Sometimes...we got to roll the dice."

"Clear them out!" Ghost called out with more confidence in not me, but both of us, as I flew around the corner, deciding to hold off on that CLG for...what the hell was that!? Atop the Jumpship was a much bulkier Fallen, bigger four arms, and held a big gun too, not to mention its tag soon appeared on my H.U.D, Fallen 'Captain', great, what next, 'Quartermaster'? Besides that more intimidating Fallen, it pointed to me, leaping down from the hull of the ship, as the three Dregs came into view, so I pulled my rifle up to my eyesight, and fired a burst of round towards their legs, halting their separation, as they opted to stick as a unit, which made it easier for me, so I latched my arm around a derelict poll, swinging my body around to avoid their gunfire, and the buckshot of the Fallen Captain's weapon, before I rolled, grabbing my shotgun with my left arm, leveling it to the three Fallen, time slowed for me, as several shots struck my chest, jolting my nerves and body with electricity

Then I slid before them, I squeezed the trigger once, as the brute force behind the slug slaughtered their armour, killing the two in-front, before I kicked out with my right leg, knocking the knife from the third Dreg, before I reeled by rifle around in my right, the weight of the gun nearly holding me down for a moment, just at the point I aimed it at its neck, firing four rounds into its head, watching its head erupt with that liquid again, staining my armor slightly.

On my back, I kicked myself up to my knees, just in time to feel my ribs crack under an intense pressure, my eyesight now levels above the Captain's form, in seconds, my spine broke my fall onto the concrete, my yelp of agony replaced with a moan, followed by the hairs on the back of my neck standing up at the sight of the Captain raising its sawed-off shotgun towards me, four massive blasts of slugs melting the wall behind me to slag. I pushed with my elbows, throwing my body into a roll from the open area, then I holstered my rifle, quickly loading the last three slugs I had into Preacher, pulling back on the forearm of the weapon violently.

This ends now. Moving to my feet, I scrambled behind a crate for protection under its constant bombardment of slugs, the molten rounds ricocheting off the crate and across the hanger. I didn't waste time, curling my fingers around the top of the crate, pulling myself atop the container and running off the side, flying right over the Captain, his shotgun to heavy to push up with its two other arms in time, so I leveled my shotgun with one arm, firing my first slug through its helmet and shoulders, knocking the Captain to its knees.

When I landed behind it, I spun on my heel, digging my feet into the dirt, before firing with both hands on the grip and forearm, training my eye down the barrel, then I pulled it again, the Captain managing to raise its own shotgun to block most of the fatal slug shards, then it ran at me, throwing a fist directly at me, but I took this time for a lightbulb to resonate in my head, so at that moment, I ducked to my right, taking the hidden stab with its knife in its other arm to my side, so I could grasp the CLG in my fingers, feeling a powerful warmth burn within its shell from the contact, so I threw it, clunking the Fallen in the face with the metal sphere, just as I stumbled back against a small wall.

It turned to look at me one last time before its head shot down at the ball between its feet, and within that moment, a blinding nova of fire consumed its body, throwing its ragdoll form flying through the air, armor now turned to slag. With a final sigh of relief, its body crashed into a pile of snow. Finally, my radar was grey again, and I felt my muscles release the tension of battle after the intense afternoon I and Ghost endured.

"That was impressive, Ceres, I think you got the ropes just fine." Ghost materialized beside me, his eye flashing with what I could tell was praise, but I only placed my shotgun slowly onto my back beside my rifle

"I'm still new to...all of this, but...'we' were impressive, if not for you telling me what to do, I'd been...gone a while ago." I complimented back, seeing his form spin around towards the ship, his pieces tilting down into what could be described as a furrowed brow, or irritation, or both. "So, what's it look like?"

"Its been here a while, hasn't made a clean jump in centuries, not in this state." I continued to listen with dwindling hope of escape from these Fallen, his blue scanner flashing over what looked to be important pieces to the Jumpship. "We're lucky the Fallen haven't completely picked it clean."

"Uh…any good news?" I spoke up because I was unsure what exactly he meant by that

"It should be able to take us to The City," He replied back to me. "Bad news though is that it won't be able to break orbit…"

Okay, but that doesn't answer the main question, one I think it a little more important. "Can it fly though?"

Turning around, Ghost looked…rather confident, nodding too. "I can make it work. Just give me a second…" With that, he faded into the ship. Almost the same way that he was able to do that so far with me

Within seconds, the entire Jumpship whirled to life before my eyes, now nearly as overbearing as that massive ship from before, but the power was still there, lights came to life again, and the engines burned brilliantly once more. The wires suspending it above the hanger snapped off with ease as Ghost leveled the ship before me.

"Now then, its time we..." Ghost detected it too, my radar flashed a line of red behind me, turning quickly, my eyes widened slightly at the sight of two Vandals, but through the massive hole in the complex, a much, MUCH, larger Fallen crawled out, its icy-blue eyes glaring down at me. "Bringing you in now!"

My vision went from a dusky-night to a dark, and blue space where my eyes watched from the comfort of a seat, the glass overlooking the outside of the Jumpship, the Cosmodrome's sizable wasteland of planes, and other machines laid wasting on the snow far below. It was a graveyard.

"We can come back for them once we're better suited, for now, let's go home." Home...wonder where my home was before this? If I did, there's probably nothing left to go back to, but now, inside this Jumpship, I felt safer, much warmer in my seat than when I was stuck out there, this armor aided me, but it was torn and broken now, and was horrid to keeping the cold out...but in here...I can...re...lax. "Now, I guess I should start with-Uhh, Guardian? Ceres?"

Zzz...ZZzzz...

"Great, guess I'll tell her later, she did seem tense all this time anyway."

To Be Continued...

[Advancement]

Fusion Grenade - Complete

Lift - Incomplete

[][][]~-[Destiny - Tale of Two Souls]-~[][][]

[OP - Thrill, Risk, Heartless]

I have always wanted to write a Destiny fic, so I did, going from Year 1 of D1 up to D2+! We'll be seeing more than just the original story, but some interesting developments of my own, but for now, we follow Ceres on her road to being the Sunbreaker of legend! Hope you enjoyed, seeya in the next chapter!

Next Chapter: Legends Rise

Now filled on the way to the Last City, Ceres sees the scope of humanity under the Traveler, and sees the reason for her revival, even if conflicted of her forgotten past. Upon arrival, Ceres will truly begin to know those she will hope to one day call 'friends'.