"The situation is degrading into a race against time. We must claim the Collective's ruins for our own - and hope they will warn us what other threats now rise from Venus' acid seas and ancient stone." - Grimoire of the Ishtar Sink

Jade woke up suddenly, jerking upright. She blinked the fog from her eyes and looked around, assessing her environment as she got to her feet.

The place looked almost like a library, full of shelves and balconies. However, most of it had been overrun by plants and everything had a weathered look to it. She turned around and stepped back. A stone statue towered over her, cracked in many places. It's featured were almost weathered away, but it seemed to depict a winged woman with a horseshoe held aloft, as though she was presenting it to some unseen deity. But that was not all. At the statue's feet, and scattered all over the room were the bronze metallic husks of vaguely humanoid shapes.

Jade knelt down for a better look. They were made completely out of metal and seemed to only have one eye, a faded glass bulb in the middle of their heads. Many had weapons clutched in their hands, as though they had died fighting in a great battle. They looked old, not as old as the rest of the place, but she could safely assume they'd been lying here for quite some time.'

"Hi!"

Jade nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around, looking for the source of the unexpected greeting. Her eyes landed on a small metallic shape floating in front of her. It was red with an electric blue eye, and it seemed to rotate as it looked at her. "Hello?" Jade asked carefully.

"Great! You can talk!" Its voice was female and oddly cheerful-sounding.

"Who are you?"

"I'm a Ghost, of course. And you are my Guardian!"

"Sorry, I'm a what?"

"A Guardian. A warrior brought back from the dead to fight for the Traveler and the Last Safe City."

"Ok… And what is this place?"

"This is all that remains of the Ishtar Academy. It was once the jewel of Venus."

"Venus? I thought the air on Venus wasn't...breathable."

"It wasn't. Not until the Traveler came and terraformed most of the planets in the solar system."

Jade's breath hitched. Traveler...terraforming planets...Venus...Ishtar Academy... "That sounds familiar…"

"The Traveler has been around for centuries. Everyone in the solar system has heard of it."

Jade shook her head. "That's not it…" Not exactly… Something was trying to come through. A memory. News...Mars...spaceship...Traveler... "...The Ares mission in the twenty-first century!"

"What?" asked the Ghost.

"The Ares One mission. It was a famous historical event. A team of astronauts was sent to Mars to make first contact with the Traveler…" Jade wasn't sure where she'd heard the information before, but she felt sure that it was right.

"How on Earth do you know that?" the Ghost asked.

Jade just shook her head, confused. "I don't know. I must have learned it somewhere before… You said you brought me back from the dead, right? Is it possible that I could be remembering my past?"

The Ghost's answer was uncertain. "I'm not sure. It's pretty rare for a Guardian to remember anything. What else can you remember?"

Jade frowned, concentrating. Images flashed through her mind. Vague flickers at first, but then they became clearer. House...ocean...blue sky... "I must have grown up on Earth! No other planet looks like that"

"Earth? That would mean you grew up during the Golden Age!" said the Ghost excitedly.

Jade looked up. She'd almost forgotten the Ghost was there. "Yeah, it's coming back to me now... Slowly."

Earth...Traveler...technology... She sat down on the statue's pedestal, resting her head in her hands.

The Ghost hovered closer. "Are you ok?" It sounded concerned.

"I'm fine, it's just... a lot. Everything's changed so much from what I knew…"

"Maybe if you talk about what you remember, your other memories will come back faster," said the Ghost helpfully, "Do you remember anything that would indicate which part of the Golden Age you lived in?"

Jade thought back. Project...research...Mars...Bray... "I remember doing a... historical science project on the founding of Clovis Bray. I...wanted to be a scientist when I grew up and I was interested in Doctor Willa Bray's development of the first matter-encryption process through the fourth state of matter."

"What about the Exos? Warminds? Were they around?"

AI...orbital destruction... "Of course, but that was...years before I was born."

"What about the Ahamkara?"

Wisdom...promises...dragons...stories... "Ahamkara? They're nothing but an old myth. My...father used to tell me ghost stories about them."

"I think I'm getting a better understanding of where you're from. Do you remember what the Exos were like?"

Robots..."They were an artificial intelligence… No one knows why they were created."

"But did they have personalities? Were they like people?"

Jade was put off by the Ghost's line of questioning. She wasn't sure what it was getting at. Metal...circuits...wires... "Not that I knew of. They weren't much more than robots."

"Hmm… From what you're telling me, it seems like you grew up sometime between 2230 and 2260. It looks like you'll have some catching up to do."

"Why? What year is it?" The Ghost hesitated and Jade felt her chest tighten. It knows I won't like what it's about to say.

The Ghost sighed. "I'm so sorry…but we are more than a decade into the twenty-ninth century now…"

Jade felt as though someone had dunked her in ice cold water. Her eyes fixed on the far wall as she attempted to process what the Ghost had said. She held up her hands in front of her, studying them. They didn't look like the hands of a skeleton. How could I have been dead for six centuries? She realized with a pang of sorrow that everyone she'd known was most definitely dead now. My friends...my family… She knew she should be grateful for her second chance, but she couldn't help but wish everyone else had gotten one too.

She looked up, noticing that the Ghost was still watching her with pity...if an AI could feel pity. She sighed. Pity won't help me right now. Nor will feeling sorry for myself. I should concentrate on the present. Everything else can wait. She took a breath, centering herself, then turned back to the Ghost. "What happened after the Golden Age?"

The Ghost's eye blinked uncertainly, but Jade held its gaze and it seemed to nod. "After the Golden Age came...the Collapse." It shuddered. "Sorry, I don't like talking about it… In the year 2400, the Warmind Rasputin detected an incoming force heading for our solar system... It was the Darkness, the Traveler's ancient enemy. The Warminds attempted to fight it, but almost all of them were defeated."

Jade felt disbelief flood her. The Warminds were defeated? The AI network built to protect humanity had been in place long before she was born. She wasn't keen to meet anything that could overwhelm them. She nodded at the Ghost to continue.

"When the Collapse occurred, everyone attempted to flee the Earth, but many were left behind. The ones that made it out were caught in the shockwave in the Asteroid Belt. The survivors became the race known as the Awoken."

Awoken... "Do they still live out there? Among the asteroids?"

"Yes, they call their home the Reef and they are governed by a Queen… Also, Ghosts were created around this time to find and revive special individuals to fight for the Traveler. Guardians. The system was plunged into a Dark Age immediately following the Collapse. The remnants of humanity were scattered across Earth and all the planetary colonies were thought to be lost."

Jade shivered. The idea that one event could change so much, rip people's' lives away… It was unimaginable. All those colonies… All those people. "So what happened to them? Everyone still on Earth?"

"The First Guardians began to guide them. They wandered the land in hopes of finding the Traveler. During this time, an alien race called the Fallen arrived in the system and began to loot and pillage. They attacked survivors and burned cities to the ground. At some point, the Vex conquered Mercury, turning it into a machine world in a matter of days."

Robots...killing machines...aliens...Venus... "The Vex? The same ones discovered on Venus during the Golden Age?"

"Yes. And that is not all. Another race called the Cabal landed on Mars and created the Exclusion Zone: an almost impenetrable defense line."

Mercury...Venus...Earth...Mars... "So there are aliens on nearly every planet?"

"Pretty much… After the Dark Age came the City Age, around fifty years later, when what remained of humanity found the Traveler and the Last City was founded beneath it. It was later attacked by the Fallen at the Battle of Six Fronts, but the Guardians held them off and kept the City from being destroyed. Around a century later, the Reef Wars began. An unknown Fallen leader united the various Fallen Houses to attack the City, as in Six Fronts. However, the House of Wolves, one of the largest Houses, were intercepted by the Awoken Queen. She destroyed the dwarf planet Ceres where the Wolves were stationed and killed their Kell - their leader. The remainder scattered into the Belt, later to be hunted by the Awoken. Despite their absence, the remaining Houses proceeded to continue with their invasion but were fought off by the Guardians at Twilight Gap. At some point after this was the Battle of Mare Imbrium on the Moon between the Guardians and another alien race called the Hive. It was a great tragedy. Hundreds, if not thousands of Guardians were slain there..."

Battle? The Moon was lost? "Did we ever manage to take the Moon back?"

"Um, there was a recent effort... Just a few years ago, survivors of Mare Imbrium gathered a fireteam and entered the Hive fortresses on the Moon. But they...never came back... More recently, the Reef Wars ended when the Queen of the Awoken became the Kell of Wolves and assumed their loyalty... That's about the last major event up until now."

Guardians disappeared on the Moon? The Fallen attacked the City twice? The Awoken destroyed a planet? Jade rubbed her forehead. "So that's everything that happened?" She couldn't believe how much had changed since her time - how long the Guardians had been fighting. Whole centuries of battling the Darkness.

"Not even close!" said the Ghost, "Those were just the most major events."

Jade groaned. She'd never had to take in so much information on such short notice before. So many struggles, so much tragedy had happened. How am I supposed to keep up with it all? I'm just one Guardian, and I'm not even completely sure what a Guardian is yet.

As she glanced up and caught sight of the Ghost again, a thought occurred to her that completely pulled her mind away from its earlier subject. "...I don't think I ever got your name," she said.

The Ghost whirred, spinning its shell. "Most Ghosts don't have names, just numbers and letters… So you can call me 4."

"4?" Jade was bewildered, "That's not even close to a name."

"...It may not be, but it is all I have."

Jade shook her head. "No. I'm going to give you a name. A better name. After all, we're supposed to work together, right? ...Ghosts and Guardians?"

"Absolutely!" The Ghost suddenly slowed, sounding ashamed. "I never asked you your name. I'm sorry. I was just so excited about finding you…"

Jade smiled. "That's ok. My name's Jaedryth Wrythal, but I prefer Jade."

"Jade… I like that name!"

"Thank you. Now a name for you… I think I'll call you Delta… I had to take an ancient history class to get credit so I could pursue my research, and delta is a letter from the Greek alphabet. It means 'the fourth.'"

"I love it! It sounds much better than 4!"

"I'm glad you like it..." Jade stood up and looked around again. "So this is Ishtar Academy… You know, I used to dream about seeing this place. Now...it all just seems so far away. Everything's crumbled and turned to ruin, but I'm still here. It's so...surreal."

She walked over to more of the alien bodies she'd seen when she woke up. I can't believe these are the Vex. The same Vex they discovered here all those years ago… I wonder what killed them?

"Uh-oh."

Jade turned to see Delta scanning their surroundings. "What's wrong?"

Delta moved closer to her. "I'm detecting traces of Vex presence."

What? "There's Vex all around us."

Delta shook her head. "These are live signals… I think the Vex know we're here."

Jade's insides froze. She had never met the Vex and she didn't want her first encounter to happen now. She'd heard a lot of descriptions, none of them good. 'Murderous robots' was a term she'd come across too many times for comfort. "What do we do?"

"There is a tunnel at the other end of the room," said Delta, "We need to head that way… Hold still."

To Jade's amazement, the Ghost vanished before her eyes, disappearing in a blink. "Where'd you go?"

"Don't worry. I'm still here."

Jade's head whipped around, but she saw no sign of Delta anywhere.

"I melded my Light with yours. I'm incorporeal right now. It makes it harder for enemies to target me when we're in combat."

"Why would they target you? Wouldn't it make more sense to go for me?"

"Not with Guardians. If you die, I can bring you back."

Jade understood. "You're saying that if they kill you, I won't be able to come back if I die."

"Yes. Now don't...move."

"Um...why?"

Delta was silent for a moment. "There! You can move now. I was fabricating a helmet...just in case. You don't have to wear it until we find a ship."

"What? How?"

"I gathered materials from the surrounding area. That's also how I made your armor! ...Usually, I'd be more than happy to answer your questions, but we really should get moving."

"Right. The Vex." She made her way to the opposite wall, instantly seeing the hole Delta had mentioned. She stopped and looked down.

"Not to rush you, but the Vex are almost here!"

Taking a deep breath, Jade descended into the tunnel. Instantly, her chest tightened and her heart rate increased, creating a drumming in her ears. It's...really dark. Are there Vex down here?

"Are you ok?"

Jade banished the thoughts from her mind. She gave a tight smile. "I think so… This tunnel might just take some getting used to."

"I'm sorry… The tunnel widens ahead. It's not very long."

Sure enough, after a few more feet, the tunnel opened up into a much wider space. This isn't so bad. Jade scanned the darkness, but could barely make out anything in the gloom. "At least it's better than being back there with the Vex," she muttered.

"You'd better keep moving... The Vex are still coming!"

Jade took a couple cautious steps forward and found herself stepping into water. Wow, that's cold! Luckily it wasn't very deep and didn't even reach her knees. She was about to continue when she heard a splash from up ahead. It was small, but not small enough for her to think she'd imagined it. Vex? She gulped.

"Delta? I think there's something in here with us..."

A/N: Ok so I was planning to wait a bit before uploading the second chapter but I was really excited so that idea went out the window. It will be some time before the third part comes out, though, as I'm planning to upload it on Wednesday. Anyway, to business... I'd like to thank ConnorPerson and Glamdring804 for the favs and follows as well as give big love to everyone who reviewed cuz you guys are great!

DoomDragon2: Apparently this story's become the YouTube comment section XD

RWBYGAMES: Thank you muchly :)

ConnorPerson: Because it's the best faction! And I've already told you my other reasons :3

Glamdring804: Thank you! I'm afraid this chapter was even more of an exposition dump lol. Another reason why I'm posting it earlier than planned is to get character introductions out of the way so we can get into it with chapter three. Sorry for all the exposition XP

In other news, I'd like to know more about what you guys think so far. How did you imagine the sequel would start? What do you think will happen in future chapters? I love hearing opinions and predictions, so by all means, flood the review section! ;)

Until the next time...

- TheWolfParadox

P.S. Name pronunciation:

Fyr (fie-er) Allerton (al-ler-ton)

Jaedryth (jay-drith) Wrythal (rie-thall)