"Why can't we just catch a break?" asked the Ghost.

The Exo shrugged. Before taking cover behind a boulder. Unfortunately for him part of it cracked and rolled off making noise against the ground.

The Fallen Captain seemed to order a couple of Dregs and Shanks to near the boulder. A Fallen Dreg closer to it stepped slowly towards the boulder the Exo was hiding behind.

With snow crunching beneath its feet, it was clear that the Exo knew it was approaching. The Exo counted in his head.

3...2...1...

The Exo jumped from his cover shooting the unfortunate Dreg in the head before tossing a swarm grenade at the group of Shanks. The Captain roared as it raised its Shock Rifle and fired at the Exo.

The Exo slid under the shot and fired his rifle at the Fallen Captain, breaking its shield. The Captain grabbed the Exo and threw him a fair distance before going behind cover to regain its shield.

After the Exo was thrown, he recovered and ran to where the Fallen Captain was. He reached the building where he saw the Captain hide behind and turned the corner only to see nothing behind it. He heard the crunch of snow behind him.

The Exo turned around and was faced with the barrel of the Captains Rifle. Time stood still, the Exo had limited time to think but as if it were instinct he grabbed the barrel of the weapon and yanked the Riffle out of the Captain's hands before swinging the thing at its face and breaking part of its helmet. The weapon itself was broken and unusable.

The Captain recovered from the impact of its own weapon and pulled out its shock dagger. The Exo saw this and raised his rifle only to have it slapped out of his hand. The Captain swung the knife at the Exo managing to graze his arm a bit. The Exo tried to jump back but the Captain had grabbed him with his other arm and swung him to the floor.

The Exo now laying on the floor noticed a Shock pistol on the ground next to him. He reached out to it and grabbed it, but before he could aim it directly at the Captain, he felt a stinging sensation in his chest. The Shock dagger clear as day was impaled right where his heart would be. His vision began to blur, but he would not fall easily. He pulled the pistol to the Captain's head and fired multiple times, the first two shots shattered its shield, the next two shots went through its head and the final shot was to be sure it was dead. The fight was over.

The Exo attempted to stand but failed. His Ghost appeared by his side and began looking at his injuries. The Exo opened his mouth to speak.

"Some Guardian I am, huh?" He said. His Ghost spoke back.

"You'll be fine Guardian." He said. The Exo was confused, how is his Ghost, his partner not freaking out about the hole in his chest. Soon enough the Exo's vision started to darken and his eyes flickered on and off. The eyes of the Exo soon went dark. He had died.

The Ghost now floating over the corpse of his partner opened up and allowed light to flow into his Guardian. In a matter of seconds, his partner's body was healed and his eyes opened. The Ghost spoke once more.

"Hello, Guardian." The Guardian looked around to make sure that he was seeing what was in front of him.

"I-I'm alive? But how?" he asked his Ghost.

"Its one of the many perks of being a Guardian. You are technically immortal." His Ghost responded.

"What do you mean by technically?" He asked. His Ghost looked at him.

"Well if an area has an absurd or large amount of darkness then they are called a Darkness Zone." He paused and continued. "These zones won't allow me to revive you anymore." The Exo now answered with a conclusion. "So I'll be dead permanently then." The Ghost slightly bobbed up and down in agreement. The Ghost looked around. "We should get going," he said.

The Exo nodded and stood up. Walking to pick up his rifle. Once he was armed once more he began his treck to the area his Ghost had put on his map.

Once he arrived at the area he had to deal with a few Fallen before entering a big room. The room itself looked worn down much like the rest of the areas he has been at. The only difference was the big ship hanging from the roof. His Ghost appeared next to him.

"Alright, let's see if I can get us out of here." said his Ghost. "Its been here a while. Hasn't made a jump in centuries. We're lucky the Fallen haven't picked it clean."

"Will it fly?" asked the Exo.

"I can make it work." responded the Ghost.

The Ghost scanned the ship before looking down at his Guardian. "Okay...it's not going break orbit, but it might just get us to the city. Now..about that transmat..."

Within a matter of Moments Fallen started rushing in the room. The Ghost looked around before vanishing into the ship. The ships engines turned on before it began to hover.

"Bringing you in!" Shouted the Ghost from inside the ship.

The Exo was transmatted into the ship's cockpit.

"We can come back for them when you're ready.

Let's get you home." The ship took off to the city, unaware of the cloaked figure watching them from the roof of the building.

Soon enough the Exo and his Ghost arrived at the Last City. The Exo was transmatted down while his Ghost sent the ship to the hangar. The Ghost then appeared next to him.

"Welcome to the last safe city on Earth-the only place The Traveler can still protect. It took centuries to build. Now, we're counting every day it stands. And this Tower is where Guardians live.

To Be Continued.

(A/n: boy that took a while to make. Thank you for reading this chapter of Rise. See you in the next chapter!)