Waking Up
"Guardian? Guardian. Wake up, Guardian."
Slowly, the man opened his eyes. It felt difficult and painful as if he had been awoken from a long slumber. A very long one. Once they were fully opened, he could see a…floating…thing…hovering in front of him.
"Ah, you're awake! By the Traveler, that's good." It spoke up in a male voice, sounding like a boy to be more precise. "Anyway, we should go now."
"Go…where…?" He asked it, the floating ball.
"Out of this cave, of course. I, err, don't exactly like dark places. Bad experience with them." It – he answered before flying away. "Come on. We have much to do."
For some reason, he felt that he could trust the little guy. Not wasting any time, he started to follow him as the latter flew towards the exit. Along the way, he noticed that the cave was filled with skeletons, all of them adorned with armor.
After a while, he could see the light at the end of the path. He quickened his pace, from walking fast to jogging to outright running. Finally, he reached the end and exited the cave, finding himself seeing the bright blue sky above. He used his hand to cover his face from the sunlight.
"Well, here we are!" The little guy stated. "Back to the land of the living!"
"Speaking of which, I forgot to ask back there." He looked at him. "What exactly are you?"
"Me? Well, I am a Ghost." He, the Ghost, answered. "More specifically, your Ghost."
"You…don't look like what I expect from a ghost."
"Well, our kind is named after the spiritual being. Quite apt, I must say since I am the reason you return from the dead and as long as I exist, you will never go to the afterlife again."
"…that's supposed to be frightening yet for some reason, I feel nothing about it."
"That's simply how Guardians roll." The Ghost changed the topic. "Anyway, we should better continue. Need to find a place to stay before dark."
"Any idea where to go?"
"Nope! That's why this is an adventure!"
With that, the Guardian and his Ghost began their journey.
After several hours, the pair found themselves walking through a forest. There, they encountered a small river. Quickly approaching it, the man scooped out some of the water and – once seeing how clear it was – started to drink it. He did this several times until his thirst was quenched.
"Still no answer for food." He commented.
"I can make it possible for you to survive without one." The Ghost replied. "Though from what I heard, most Guardians still prefer eating food. Nothing beat the taste, they said."
"I understand. I don't…remember much about myself, but I still remember the taste of chicken that I often ate."
"Alright then. That means our objective now will be to hunt some meat."
As if on cue, a deer suddenly appeared in front of them. The pair looked at each other for a while, thinking about their sudden luck, before the smaller one nudged the bigger one.
"Come on! What are you waiting for?" He shouted. "That's your meat over there!"
"Right, right, just give me a…" The man made a motion to grab something before he realized it. "Shit, I don't have any weapon."
"Oh. Oh, dear…that's…" The Ghost started to look around. "Um, you can use your hands?"
"I don't think it will work. The deer will just run away before I can catch up."
"Throwing a rock, then?"
As they talked to each other, the anime simply munched on the grass below, either unaware of impending danger or simply didn't care much about it. It soon paid for its carelessness when an arrow suddenly embedded into its heart.
The pair grew silent as they saw the killing. They then became aware of the sound of footsteps approaching their position. Wasting no time, he went towards the nearby tree and hid behind it.
Just as expected, the archer that took the shot soon arrived. While most of the head was covered by a hood, he could still see the feminine face under it, confirming that the person was a female. Kneeling near the deer, she took out a knife as her other hand pull down her hood, revealing her face as well through her pointy ears.
From his hiding place, he watched as the elf retrieved her arrow. She inspected it for a bit before throwing it away, likely finding it defective after being used.
Suddenly, she threw the knife at the tree where he hid, causing him to revealed himself in surprise. Without any hesitation, the elf ran towards him as she took out another knife. Having no weapon in his hand, he went towards the knife that was currently jammed in the tree bark.
He managed to take it out just in time to block the attack.
The two fighters jumped away from each other. They kept their eyes on each other, ready for any sudden move that their opponent would make. He didn't understand why, but for some reason, all of this was so familiar. As if he had been doing this for so many times that it became second nature.
Upon seeing that she was making herself lower, he braced himself, thinking that she was planning to dash towards him, when…
"Wait, stop! Stop!" The Ghost suddenly appeared between them. "Guardian, she's like you! A fellow Risen."
"Risen?" He thought about the word for a while before realizing it. "You mean, she's…"
"Yes, just like you!" He said it again. "I was confused at first since I didn't recognize her as a human or Awoken or Exo…"
"Elf." She suddenly stated. "That's what my race is; an elf."
"Right. Anyway, after several scans, I managed to confirm that she possessed the Light because she is a Guardian."
"You know, I just realize this, but you used much jargon that I don't understand." The man stated. "Also, if she's like me, then why her Ghost didn't stop her? They should recognize me, a human, right?"
"It's…actually…that's a good point." The floating being turned his attention. "Where is your Ghost?"
"L-Leg, wait for u-up for me!"
"Oh, her." He had his question answered. "That explains everything."
All of them turned their attention towards the newcomer; another Ghost, likely the partner of the Elf. There were some differences, compared to the man's; the voice was that of a woman and she had a shell with a brighter color scheme; a pink one compared to his Ghost's azure.
"Copacetic." The first Ghost greeted her. "Unable to catch up with your Guardian, eh?"
"Oh, shut it, Zete." The other Ghost retorted. "Let me remind you that I almost got destroyed back then. Which why I am like this."
"Right. Of course. That must be why."
"Shut your mouth, will you?"
"I have no mouth."
"You know what I mean!"
"So, you two know each other?" The man said, trying to prevent a fight.
"Somewhat." His Ghost, Zete, answered. "When you're trying to escape killer-time-traveling-robots, you'll bond with anyone not trying to kill you."
"Yet another jargon that I do not understand." He shook his head before focusing on the elf. "Speaking of which, I don't catch your name. Leg, is it?"
"Legolas." She replied. "That's my name."
"Legolas?" Zete stared at his fellow Ghost. "You do realize that the name belongs to a male elf, right?"
"I have no other idea, OK?" Copacetic complained. "The moment I know that she's an elf, I start calling her Legolas and now it becomes her name."
"Eh, still better than me, who is practically nameless." The man stated.
"Ah, right. We need to think of a name for you." His Ghost told him. "Usually, when a Guardian is…"
"Um, just saying, but I need to start cooking this deer, else it would go bad," Legolas said as she pointed at the animal. "Also, my partner is waiting for me."
"Huh, what do you know? Just a day after awakening and we already meet two."
"I suppose you can say that we have the devil's own luck." He commented.
During their journey back to the dwelling of Legolas and her partner, he offered to carry the deer, which was surprisingly light. For some reason, he had a feeling that the animal should've been heavier than this.
Anyway, the two of them arrived at a makeshift tent made from branches, leaves, and some animal hides. Nearby was a woman attending the campfire. Every time the fire became dimmer, she would put flammable materials into it, like dried leaves and sticks.
He noticed that just like the elf, the woman was not a human, indicated by the horns on her head and wings on her back.
"Lily, we're back!" Legolas declared.
"Ah, Leg!" The woman, Lily, stood up and noticed him. "And who you are with?"
"Someone's like us." She replied. "Has no name at the moment."
"Oh." She nodded in understanding. "Well, I manage to collect some fruits and roots. Should be enough for three along with the deer."
"Excellent news then." The elf declared.
It didn't take long for them to prepare the meal. The fruits could be immediately eaten and the roots had been roasted. As they ate them, they were also preparing the venison. The animal was skinned, the meat cut into several pieces, skewered them with sticks, gave some salt, and put them over the fire.
It was not exactly well-made. Some of them didn't have enough salt. Others had too much instead. Nevertheless, it was enough to satisfy their stomachs.
"So, to kill some time," He spoke as he picked a skewer. "What exactly are you?"
"Me?" Lily said, biting off a lump of meat from the skewer. "I am…not sure myself. I look human, but I also have horns, wings, and tail."
She showed him the tail in question, which was quite lean and pointed at the end.
"Well, considering the Awoken and even more exotic Exo," Zete joined in, laughing a bit at the rhyme. "It's likely that you're a human that was modified either by design or by accident."
"Yeah, when you put it that way," Copacetic joined in. "Elves are simply humans with longer-than-normal ears. You and Leg could likely trace your origin to humanity, just like the Awoken and Exo."
"Speaking about you two," He noticed something. "Where's Lily's Ghost?"
"He's…sleeping." She answered. "Or whatever the equivalent for the Ghost is."
"Somnia?" The blue Ghost asked.
"How do you know?"
"That's why he received that name."
"Changing the subject," The man said. "What should we do now? We have a place to live with enough food and water. But that's not the end of it, isn't it?"
"Indeed," Zete confirmed. "Right now, we need to find a way to return to Earth. To the Last City."
"Unfortunately, we don't know on which planet we are nor its location," Copacetic added.
"We do know the location of a nearby settlement," Legolas stated as she took out a map. "Or at least a potential of one."
It revealed what she meant by that; the map in her hand was an old one. It had lost most of its edge and looked to be worn out. The only things still readable were the symbols of a tree and what looked like a house.
Considering the age of the map, there was a possibility that the settlement no longer existing.
"Still better than nothing," Lily stated.
"Indeed. If we could reach a settlement, then we could ask the locals about the locations of ruins from the Golden Age." The male Ghost said. "There should be something that we could scavenge from there."
"Well, that's our objective then." The man concluded. "Find a settlement, ask for the location of a ruin, and get something that we could use there."
"A crude way to put it, but nonetheless right." The elf commented. "In any case, we should go tomorrow. The sun is almost set."
"A fair point."
The next day, the group of three begun their journey. One that would change their world forever.
And this is it.
So, I decided to rewrite the story due to two things; the pacing and the information.
About the former, I realize that I am too…fast with it. Just a few chapters of introduction, Lescatie and its fall, and then going back to Earth. Basically, I decided to take things slower, make the story more coherent, and fix some issues with it.
About the latter, well, let's just say I don't use the information that I have properly.
If you have a question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.
Review, please!