Bright dawn

The darkness was impenetrable in my mind. A solid inky black was the totality of my perception for as long as I could refer back to. How long was that? I didn't know the answer to the question that seemed to conjure itself in my mind. You will be free from this ignorance. Before I could even register that there was foreign voice in my mind, a light ebbed into vision. Having experienced no such thing in what seemed like an eternity, I was blinded by what would have been a dim light to any other. Embrace the true light..

At once, every part of my body came back to life; lights flickered on in a bright purple hue, servos whirred to life and hummed loudly for only a few moments before quieting themselves. Where was I? What was I? More questions I didn't have the answer to. You are alive. You are alive without being made slave to the Traveler. I looked down at my hands and my first thought was that I was wearing armor. As I brought my other hand over, I dragged a finger across the palm of my left hand. It felt as real of contact as skin would. And then I remembered. I wore no armor. This was as true a body as I ever owned. I was an EXO, Creation of the human race. You are a slave to no creature. But there will be those who try to enslave you. Creatures forged by hate and death. Cast their words away and I will give you the tools to withstand them.

I turned my head slowly, trying to discern where I was until once again, I remembered. It was a library, on Mars. Carefully, I sat up and from that position, I awkwardly shifted to a position on my knees. The mechanisms in my body ached from their long stillness. I watched as sand spilled from every crevice of my body, only adding to the ocean of it on the floor. Placing a hand on a shelf to my side, I pushed myself upright with a faltering groan. On the same shelf, I watched with some level of surprise as shadows seemed to become three dimensional, twisting and convulsing until they formed what was a strange and oddly efficient looking handgun. The design was sleek and black with a flat top. Unrecognizable designs were carved all along the weapon. Prove yourself and I will arm you as a champion. I hardly wanted to touch the weapon until I heard voices echo through the building. What felt like an instinct kicked in and I grabbed the weapon, carefully pulling the slide back to ensure that a bullet was in the chamber. I pressed myself flat against the shelf as quietly as I could, weapon lowered down by my side.

"What exactly are we looking for? Because what you're sayin' doesn't make sense." The Hunter walked slowly into the building shotgun raised. He spoke to his ghost in a irritated voice, not looking away from the path in front of him.

"There was an EXO here. Long deactivated , but awaiting a resurrection. And soon as I took note of it, the signal vanished. The signal suggests that it- well... woke up." The ghost floated ahead a few feet and made quick scans of the shelves, making sure that there were no bits of information not previously acquired by other ghosts or guardians.

"Did another ghost bring them back?"

"We wouldn't be here if I thought that was even possible. Something different has happened here. Feedback ahead. Eyes up Guardian." The ghost moved to be behind the Hunter, allowing him to take point.

The hunter maintained silence after that point and moved slowly, only making a quick movement when he came to a corner, checking each blind spot with a rapid turn of his gun.

I knew how to fight. I didn't need to remember that. It felt like it was hard-wired into my head, everything from weapons operation to CQC and the latter was what was used first in my new life. As the barrel of the shotgun broke the threshold of the bookshelf, I reacted like lightning. My first move was to grab the front of the gun and push it to the right as I came past the shelf myself. In my left hand was the conjured pistol and I wasted no time bringing the pistol over to where I could fire into the other's leg. Blood splattered as the bullet passed through, but the hunter was quick to react as well. He outright let go of his shotgun and drew a knife from a holster across his other arm. Faster than I could even comprehend, he drove the knife up into my arm, right where it connected to the shoulder. Sparks flew and the sound of my pain matched the sounds of distressed machinery. My arm fell limp at my side and the gun clattered on the floor. Do not relinquish yourself back to death so quickly. Ignoring my arm for the time being, I targeted his uninjured leg, driving my knee into it, forcing him to put weight on his wound. He collapsed quickly enough and before he could do anything else, I was straddling his chest, pistol now reclaimed and held with my right hand. I pressed the gun against the side of his helmet, warring with myself as to pull the trigger. He was disabled, was it necessary to kill him?

He is a slaver. He wants nothing more than to add to his indentured army. End his wretched life.

"What the fuck are you?" The Hunter's voice was hoarse, a clear sign of his struggle to breath from my weight upon him.

What was I? And then I remembered: "I am alive." One more shot rang out in the library before silence regained its throne and I watched with unnatural joy as crimson pooled around the figure below me. I felt like achieved my purpose. I had struck up a victory for myself. You have earned the right to be a champion of the true light. You will be rewarded.. I looked onward, where the other had come from, curious about the other voice I had heard until I saw the small machine on the floor, convulsing and twitching as a similar shadow to early forced its way into the tiny shell.

When the little machine stopped moving, it was only for a moment and it rose back up into the air slowly, gliding over to be barely a foot away from my face. "May my voice now have form for you. I will guide you on your journey towards true freedom." It was the same voice from inside my head and it was certainly more comfortable to physically hear it than for it to just appear within my mind. "We must leave this place. Others will come and I need more resources to better equip you for the hardships to come."

With that I rose and and wiped the blood from myself as best as I could before shambling towards the door with the blade still lodged in my left arm, and the conjured sidearm still in my right.