Chapter 2

Life is a fragile concept.

Life is what binds all living things together.

Life leads to death.

And death leads to something greater.

Nothing.

But the Nothing can wait, as long as Nothing consumes the life later.

Life is allowed a second chance.

Just to be snatched away once again.

The wastelands of Mars could easily be described as tundras of burning air and orange sand. Here lies the laboratories of humanity's achievements, and here rises the militaristic embodiment that is the Cabal.

Ghosts, in recent events, have been repurposed due to the lack of natural revives. Ghosts who had lost hope in ever finding their Guardian had volunteered to be a resource gathers for most of the system, excluding Earth's moon, far too dangerous.

Three Ghosts floated through the heat barren desert of Mars, collecting 'Relic Iron,' a material special to Mars, as they went. The Ghosts made light talk as they went, eventually spreading out to cover more ground. One of the Ghosts, a black and red ghost with a white colored eye, tread onward to a certain facility, hoping to gather more materials from a structure rather than taking chances in the tundra.

The air lacked the hard blow of Mars' winds, calming the Ghost as it scanned the surrounding area.

Something happened here.

Decayed corpses were strewn about the facility, some clutching themselves, some holding others. Bones were collapsed onto the floor and tables alike. What caught the Ghosts eye however was a glint in the corner. As he approached the shine, multiple things raised red flags. Weathered bullet casings and empty magazines were abundant the closer he got, eventually inspecting the glint. It was an Exo, it's body shot to pieces, and in its clutches was what appeared to be a broken Scout Rifle.

The Ghost was shaken, and started to retreat back to the door. But something was drawing the Ghost back to the glint of…

Light.

It clicked for the Ghost, and decided to give it a shot. It used the 'Relic Iron' to repair the battered machine, and once it was finished, it started the Resurrection process with a flash of blue light…

The Exo slowly came to, groaning as it's body started to ache. He looked around, immediately taken aback by the sight that surrounded him. Before he could yell, an orb floated in his face.

"N-No way… I thought I was just getting my hopes up!"

The Orb spoke, the white light on its face pulsing each time it spoke. The Exo looked down at his hands, flexing them, the Orb In front of him rambling on about something, but the Exo wasn't listening. A small green flash was appearing in the top right of his red optics, a single, chilling message.

'Objective Complete.'

As soon as he saw that, the Exo attempted to access it's memories, only for him to be met with his name and reset count, along with a current set of instructions, ones that were marked as complete.

Adam-2 was his name, one wipe was done by an unknown force, the other was a full wipe triggered by himself. The last set of instructions left before the wipe were even more terrifying.

'Kill them all.'

The Exo, Adam, took a look around again at the carnage that had taken place, and had been forgotten years past. He did this, nothing else could've. What compelled him… why..? Adam-1 wanted him to slaughter these people, but Adam-2 wanted answers, he didn't want to; he was scared, more so of himself than anything else.

The orb noticed that he wasn't paying attention, and leaned in closer.

"Are you alright? Considering the circumstances atleast…"

Adam has to lie, he didn't have a choice. What was he supposed to do? Tell this Orb that he was the cause of these people's death? That he had ripped the life out of them? No. He couldn't.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" Adam re-assured the orb, picking himself up off the floor.

Adam's Exo frame was of simple enough design. A pitch black and vermillion red color coding, with the colors proportions respectively. He had two metal horns on his head, bolted on rather than as a base part of his frame. His eyes were a perfect hue of red, and the same went for his mouth whenever he spoke. He threw the broken weapon away, no longer wanting to be associated with the rifle. He looked back to the orb, a metallic sigh leaving his mouth.

"So… what are you? Where are we?"

The two started to leave the building, heading back out into the blowing sands of Mars, the other two Ghosts from earlier returning, taken aback by the newest arrival. The orb turned to look at him.

"Well. I'm a Ghost, And now, I'm your Ghost…"

Her eyes cracked open, crawling along the cursed wreckage that was once her ship. The exit was wide open thanks to the rough landing, and she toppled out, letting out a pained cry as she hit the ground. Her arm was broken before she jumped out, but now it's pain increased tenfold. She started coughing, bad. She tore off the sorry excuse for a helmet that her Queen oh-so generously provided.

What a fucking joke.

She stood up, looking down at the ground, stained with the purple blood she had just coughed up. Her gaze turned towards where the light was coming from.

Above her, a gap in the ground was there. Her ship had crashed, and just so happened to be the point of a sinkhole, waiting to strike.

The ground level was too far up, it had to be at least a five story drop.

She was trapped.

More coughs, more blood.

She was dying.

Ironic. She had fled to save her life, and here, in this pit, is where Erina would face her final death.

Her vision was fading, and she sighed, leaning up against her totaled ship, trying to get as comfortable as possible for the end.

Eleven minutes later, Erina Xia was no more. Nothing, had consumed her.

The storm raged around the old ship, creaking noises made it sound like the ships Hull was about to tear into two. The man had been pestering his Ghost about it, but the Ghost simply kept reassuring him it would hold.

The man sat in one of the Pilots chairs, fiddling with the empty rifle in his hands. The man's thoughts lingered, his thumb rubbing the grip of the rifle over and over.

His Ghost appeared in front of himself, if it could look worried, it would be.

"...hey, are you doing alright?" The feminine voice sounded again, checking up on the man.

"Y-Yeah, I am." The man looked up at the Ghost, a fake smile underneath his helmet. Changing the subject, he leaned back into his chair. "You. Have some explaining to do. What's going on, what were those things?" Obviously he picked up on the classifications, but the man wanted to know why those things were out for his blood.

The Ghost let out a short sigh, dipping is frame towards the ground.

"We just had a run-in with the Fallen. A group of scavengers that kill for what they desire. That was the most prominent of Houses, the House Of Devils. The houses can be distinguished by the shades of their marks. Devils are Red, Kings are Yellow, and so on. As for what's going on… that's a little harder to explain; and it's really not my place to say. Once we get to the city, I'll find a way for you to speak with, well, the Speaker."

The man listened, satisfied with the answer his Ghost gave him. He got lost in a train of thought again, before an obvious question hit him; one that he had no clue how it hadn't been asked yet.

"Do you… have a name?" The man asked, feeling slightly embarrassed that this was just now a point of conversation.

"No… some name their Ghosts, some Ghosts name themselves, but it's mostly uncommon to find a Ghost with a name."

The Ghost responded, thinking for a second.

"Now that you mention it… I did meet a Ghost named Garrett once."

The man took a liking to that name, it had a ring to it, not as unique as some names he had in his head, but not as common as others. Obviously, the name wouldn't work well on his Ghost, but it could serve another purpose…

"Ghosts… hm, like spiritual or supernatural?" The man asked, wondering what the base name meant.

"More like… supernatural with a side of divinity. Ghosts are children of the Traveler, so to speak."

"Traveler?"

"Again, not my place to explain. Not my strong suit anyways." The Ghost floated closer, teasingly. "Why? What's on your mind, tryna name me?"

"For better or worse, yes?"

"Cute. Any ideas?" The Ghost was genuinely excited, on top of the fact that it was one of the only Ghosts in recent history to resurrect a Guardian. And now they were getting a name!

"Well… if it's… hmm…" The man gave thought to it, weighing options to definitions that he could remember, and finally settled on something.

"Katherine?"

Silence filled the air, the two mulling it over, the Ghost eventually giving a twirl, and squeal, of approval.

The man exhaled, not knowing whether or not he had made a mistake. He smiled, a genuine one, under his helmet.

The man tried to stand up, cursing as his cloak got snagged on the seat. Katherine laughed, pointing out the spot that was binding the man down.

"You're a Hunter, you better get used to getting your cloak caught on things."

"Hunter?"

The silence reminded him that it wasn't Kat's place to say, and he just shrugged it off. But that title also gave him another idea.

"Speaking of names-"

"You thought of another one?"

"For myself. Garrett Hunter, fitting, right?" The man asked his Ghost.

"It sounds nice, if not a little odd; with you being a Hunter and all…"

"Then it's settled." Garrett stated, another smile crossing his face under his helmet.

The two kept chatting, until their tattered ship broke through the clouds, revealing a beautiful city to their eyes; and a monolith of a tower before them.

Katherine sighed as she looked out the windshield with the Hunter. "The Last City on Earth… it's our job to keep it safe…"

The ship descended into the Hangar, Katherine already receiving clearance sometime before.

"There's guest rooms nearby in the tower. We can rest up in one of those for tonight, and you can meet the Vanguard in the morning. I'll set up an appointment, you deserve a rest."

Garrett didn't complain, following the waypoint to the open rooms, fitted with four beds and four nightstands, no privacy between the ones borrowing the rooms. Thankfully, he was the only one there for the time being. He removed his helmet and pulled down his hood, closing his eyes and falling asleep within the next few minutes; still clad in the rest of his armor.

A Fallen is only as powerful as it's Kell.

A Vex is only as correct as it's Present.

A Cabal is only as victorious as it's General.

But a Hive is as supreme as it's God.

People yearn to worship gods, this is undeniable.

Give those who are lost to society time, and they will construct a god or an idol to worship.

This evidence is as true as it is real.

But what happens when the God is real?

What happens when the God bears a sword?

What happens when the God is spiteful?

Dark.

The night consumed all light, the scouting party relying now on the lights of a nearby scavenging team of Ghosts. Two Hunters the scouting team consisted of, stumbling in the night; all in a vain attempt to get to the LZ.

"I don't like this." One of the Hunters jabbed over the comms. "We are a goddamn beacon in this dark."

"I hear ya, but at least we-" The second couldn't answer, as an arc strand picked him off.

"Fallen! Go! I'll get his resu-" The downed Hunters Ghost couldn't finish what it was attempting to say either, as another strand picked it off.

The remaining Hunter and his Ghost ran, and the other three Ghosts from the scavenging team scattered. The Hunter eventually disappeared into the night, the three from the scavenging team becoming alone, eventually down to one last Ghost.

That Ghost eventually found a deep hole in the ground, diving down into it to evade incoming fire. It was easily five stories deep, but it would be easy to get out of you could float. Once the pursuing Fallen gave up the chase, the Ghost was able to relax a bit. Once everything had settled down, it began to notice these pink lights flashing around in the dark. It was hesitant, but it was sure the coast was clear, and shined it's own flashlight onto the mini lights.

It was a still smoking hull of a ship, a purple and yellow color pattern and the ship of an odd make; it had never seen anything like it…

It looked around more in the damp cavern, eventually coming across a discarded helmet, from what it could tell, the helmet was of a midnight purple color scheme, small hints of silver here and there. It looked like it was fir for someone more on the younger side, but who…

The Ghost saw the body, propped up against the same wrecked ship, and wearing the same armor that the helmet belonged to. A blue corpse sat on the dirt, hunched over and dead. Blood surrounded them and caked their mouth, most likely the result of an internal injury. The death couldn't have occurred less than 48 hours ago, due to the still smoking ship and lack of rotting on the corpse. But the Ghost… felt something. This could be its… no.

The Ghost turned away, about to leave; there was no possible way that it could be the next Ghost to have a resurrected Guardian in years! It kept on going, until it left the pit, disappearing out of sight.

Only for it to zoom back down, getting in the woman's face, and emitting a blue flash of light.

A.N.

Alright so there is no way in hell that I'm gonna have this arc done by early December if I go for 3,000 words a chapter, so I'm just going to upload these as I finish them. Make sure you favorite or at least follow the story to stay caught up!

Also, reviews. Even if you have nothing to critique, I still love to hear feedback so I know that I'm doing what you guy's love. Please leave reviews when you can so I can know if I'm on the right track.

One last thing. This story is inspired by multiple things; one of which I will address right now. Matt's 'Guardians Never Die', is the main inspiration to get me back into writing again, and I severely recommend reading that.

See you all next time!

Echorent