Disclaimer
I do not own Destiny or any of it's characters, this just for fun and practice. Bungie and Sony please be chill.
A goliath's Path:
Voyage
Today had been a day of surprises... and it had been the first day like it in a very long time...
He still remembered when his journey first began. When the traveller released him into the light alongside millions of his brothers and sisters. Those first moments of exposure full of confusion, but one thought had cut through, one mission. He knew he had to set off and find his guardian.
He spent uncountable years searching the solar system. He had travelled across every continent of Earth, from the frozen wastes, to the deepest jungles. But he never found anything. He had even combed through the cosmodrome a few times before, he had just never checked that one exact spot.
How would things be different if he had found her earlier? She would have been a guardian far, far earlier. Would she have been a warlord or an iron lord? Could she have been one of the thousands of guardians slaughtered in Crota's rampage across the moon? Would she be one of the hundreds of names remembered for their bravery and their deeds, or one of the hundreds of thousands that were forgotten, killed alone with their ghost in some secluded cave or ruin? Perhaps she would be different, perhaps she wouldn't have been afraid of guns for some reason. But in the end he didn't regret that he missed her those first few times, because things seemed to be going well, against all odds. And if he had found her earlier, he never would have had the chance to explore.
Although he felt guilty about it, sometimes the search for his guardian would take a backseat, and he just enjoyed exploring. There was so much to see! From the lush jungles and libraries of Venus, to the dry forgotten deserts of Mars, even the dark and seemingly endless caverns of the moon. Sometimes he even got in trouble, it had been a lot of fun when he was a little more daring. He fondly remembers diving deep into a cavern in the moon with a friend of his. They spent a year or so dodging Hive patrols, and just exploring things that likely hadn't been seen by anyone in centuries. But like everything else, it had come to end. After that year or so, his friend found her guardian deep in that cavern. He had even assisted in getting them out, and against all odds they had! But Nix hadn't seen his friend in years now. She had guardian things to do.
So did all of his friends. They dropped off one by one through the years, finding their guardians and becoming too busy. His existence had begun to become quite lonely, and so he put all his effort into resuming his search. He didn't like being alone, and so when he finally felt it, for just a moment in that cosmodrome, he couldn't help but whiz around for a few minutes in silent elation. He had finally found them! His guardian! What would they be like? A steadfast Titan, a silent Hunter, or a curious Warlock? He had his hopes, but he knew no matter what they would be amazing! So many adventures to be had, so many places to explore! And he'd never be alone again! In fact he'd be able to see his friends again! They could all do guardian stuff together! The anticipation started to get to him so he begun the resurrection process.
She was Human, not an Exo or an Awoken. He had expected that, it was an old corpse in one of the most populated areas during the collapse. He got his first look at his very own guardian as her sea green eyes fluttered open and struggled to adjust. Her chestnut hair obscured most of her face until she began to take in her surroundings, at which point it fell away from her face revealing her sharp features peppered with light freckles across the bridge of her nose.
As she gasped and took her first few breaths, he realized he should probably say something.
"Guardian... Guardian? Eyes up guardian."
Eyes up? What a silly first thing to say! She didn't seem to appreciate his sudden addition to her already overwhelmed senses, because she immediately scrambled backwards on her hands. She only made it a few feet before her muscles gave out, and she collapsed onto her back. He watched for a moment as she took in her surroundings. Her eyes seemed to drift over everything, before settling on the old rusted wall of the cosmodrome beside them. He decided to try again, but this time he should appear. His appearance may overwhelm her again, but maybe it's better than a sourceless voice. He materialized himself, and spoke again, softer this time.
"It worked! You're alive!"
He decided to be a little more positive in his language this time. To show her he meant her no harm. Her eyes settled on his tiny form after a moment. There was less panic this time as she focused on him, a confused look overtaking her face. A better reaction, so he decided to press on.
"You don't know how long I've been looking for you."
He could see as she moved her mouth to speak, but as expected it took her a few tries. After all her throat hadn't been used in at least a few thousand years.
"Wha... What are you?"
Her voice eventually came forth, but it was weak and dry. She also attempted to stand up. But her muscles, just like her throat, had not been used in a very long time. She discovered this after a moment, as her knees wouldn't support her, and she collapsed again against a rusted car for support. He could fix that with a thought, but he had to make sure she was stable first. He didn't want to fix her up fully just to have her run away. And unfortunately she had started with the hard questions. He can't overwhelm her yet with everything, so a short version until they can get back to the city should suffice.
"I'm a ghost. Actually now I'm your ghost. And you... well you've been dead a long time. So you're going to see a lot of things you won't understand."
He could see as her eyes drifted downwards, away from him, and deep in thought. She looked even more confused as she looked back up to him.
"Ho... how could I have been dead? I'm right here, right now."
He started to think of ways to answer this that wouldn't cause her to panic immediately. But before he could think of anything, the familiar and ugly call of a vandal filled the air around them. He quickly checked their surroundings, nothing but rusted metal and skeletons. But the Fallen were creative, he knew from experience they could hide extremely well. This wasn't good, in fact it was really bad. He took a moment to calm himself, and thought about how he'd done this before. Just like the cave on the Moon, but Fallen instead of Hive thankfully. The most important thing was to get her moving, as soon as possible.
"I can explain everything to you later. But right now, we're in Fallen territory. We aren't safe here. We need to get you to the city."
He didn't have time to explain who, or even what, the Fallen were. He just hoped their name was enough to get her to trust him, if only for a moment. Thankfully, she seemed to listen to him, as she started to move again. She only made it a few feet before she collapsed again, but now she was at least listening to him.
"Ah, right sorry. I can fix that."
He felt for a moment for their connection. He wasn't quite sure what it would feel like, but as he looked at her he seemed to feel this buzzing sensation. He focused on it, and as he did, it seemed to draw from his light. As it did, it became less of a discordant buzz, and more of a smooth, warm sensation. He knew it, because he hadn't felt it in quite a while. A sense of belonging.
As he gave into the sense, the light overtook his new guardian. He could see her muscles being renewed, and the armour forming over her. He had to admit he was excited for the armour, it would be when he knew what type of guardian she would be. The only thing that knew a guardian better than their ghost, is the light itself. He watched as the shimmering moved up her form, overtaken the partially shredded rags she had on, and began to form what appeared to be plates. He had to admit, he was a little disappointed. Plates almost always meant Titan, and well, Titans tended to stay near the city instead of moving out across the solar system.
As the doubt started to set in, he realized something was a little different. And the first surprise of the day hit him. The arrangement of the plates was odd. They only covered vital areas, not the whole body. A Titan's plates should cover the whole body so that there is no weak link, even if that sacrificed movement. These plates were arranged so that she still had full movement. In fact the armour under the plates themselves seemed more akin to Hunter armour than a Titan's. This was an odd development, and he honestly didn't understand what it meant. What was important right now was that they moved, this was a later problem. He dematerialized himself on the chance they were spotted. It would be a lot for her, but if she did fall he needed to be able to bring her back, that meant he had to stay hidden. He watched for a moment as she looked around, confused as to where he went.
"Don't worry, I'm still with you. We need to move, fast."
He had to project his thoughts to her, since he had dematerialized. It caught her off guard for a moment, as she seemed to flinch, but she began to quickly recover.
"We won't survive long out in the open like this, let's get inside the wall."
She began to move, with much more fluidity this time, towards the entrance to the cosmodrome. She managed to make her way inside the wall, but not without the millennia old door coming free of its hinges with a screech.
"I really wish you hadn't done that..."
Another Vandal called out, closer this time, in response to the noise she had made.
"That's the Fallen. Get inside, now!"
She began to make her way up the stairs. He could tell she was taking more caution to not make noise.
"If you're going to help me, I should at least know your name. Or is it just ghost?"
Her voice had begun to sound better, but it still came out quite raspy.
"No, I am a ghost, you can call me Nix. Do you know your name?"
He already knew the answer to his own question. He just needed her to realize the answer. Better she realized now, then she freeze up in realization when they're being attacked. After a moment, she paused on the stairs. She had realized. So he rematerialized for a moment, hoping it would ease this for her slightly.
"I know you don't know who you are, or where you are, or anything going on at all. But I can tell you this right now. I have spent a very long time looking for you, longer than you can imagine. So trust me when I tell you, I have your best interests at heart right now. I will explain everything when I get you to safety, but I've got to get you there first. So please, keep moving and I will tell you everything, I promise you."
Thankfully, she seemed to believe him, because she continued up the stairs without a word. He dematerialized again as she began making her way to the interior of the wall. A Dreg skittered past them along a pipe that could be seen through a hole in the wall, which made her hesitate for a moment. But she began to move again quite quickly. And now the Fallen definitely knew where they were, especially after the gate she had just lifted to advance into the next room dropped back to the floor with a metallic boom that echoed through the interior of the wall. He checked the darkened interior as she inspected something on the floor. When he turned back to her, he saw it was a rifle she was inspecting. She seemed to handle it decently, the light coursing through her indirectly instructing her how. He knew she could fire it too, even if she didn't.
After a moment, she took her helmet off. He went to say something about how bad an idea that was right now, when he saw her bring her armoured glove up to her cheek to wipe away a... tear? Why was she crying? Her whole body suddenly seemed disgusted to be holding the rifle, as the single tear turned into quiet sobs. He took another quick look around to make sure they were alone for the moment, before he turned back to her. Her face displayed the same confusion he was currently experiencing.
"You still with me Nix?"
The same sobbing that had turned her eyes a tinge of red had seemed to fix her throat. She sounded much better
"I'm here, are you alright?"
He forgot his surroundings for a moment as he let concern seep into his voice. She placed her plated helmet back on her head as she began to move forward without answering him. She placed the stock of the rifle against her shoulder as she moved. They only made it about ten feet down the hall when a grating fell off the ceiling, and the same Dreg they had seen before dropped down in front of them. He suddenly realized she likely doesn't know what to make of this thing, let alone how dangerous it is!
"Kill it!"
He watched as she immediately responded, she pulled the trigger, but the rifle hadn't fired! The Dreg, however, had. Her shielding absorbed the first shot as she immediately dived for the pillar to her left. Without a gun she was going to have to take it down by hand, which would be far more difficult. The light could convey how to use weaponry, but sparing is something Guardians have to practice, it's too spontaneous and unpredictable. He was going to have to walk her through this step by step. He felt his frustration grow at the sudden turn of his luck.
"Of course it was wishful thinking for that antique to work! Wait until it gets close, and I'll walk you through how to disarm it! I hope you're a quick learner for both our sake's!"
His felt a little better as her stature seem to become more confident, as she stood up behind the pillar. She faced the corner the Dreg was approaching. Her left palm placed flatly against the wall, ready to use it as leverage for a swing from her raised right fist.
"When I say go, step out and go for it's elbo-"
Before he could even finish his instructions she stepped out towards the Dreg and threw her rifle at it! Before he could even respond, the Dreg was dead. She had moved in a flash, it's corpse twitched once, before it's form remained motionless while it continued to bleed on the floor. She shouldn't have been able to do that. Sure she could have punched it and maybe dodged, but that maneuver where she broke it's arm, that was far too advanced to do with no training.
"How... how did you do that?"
His bewildered voice seemed to make her jump slightly, as she had zoned out while staring at her hands.
"I'm not sure... it just happened"
It just... happened? Things don't just happen?! He was starting to get worried, first the armour and now this! All later problems, he needs to get her to the city as soon as he could, he reminded himself.
"Well it's a discussion for later, we need to move. Grab the Dreg's pistol and then let's go!"
She knelt to grab the pistol, but then she hesitated. She then stood back up and backed away from the body, without the pistol.
"No, I've got a better idea."
She started to walk back to the pillar she had hid behind, as panic started to swell within him.
"No?! What do you mean no! We don't know how many Fallen are out there, and you haven't seen what Vandals can do!"
Memories of packs of Vandals ripping Guardians apart with their bear hands started to fill his thoughts, as she wrenched free a pipe from the pillar.
"Well... I'm not quite sure what I can do either. Why don't we find out?"
She began to walk past the body and down the hall while he sputtered in a panic that stopped any thoughts before they could form into words. After all this time, he had finally found his Guardian. But not only would she not listen to him, she was also probably about to get them both killed.
That was the second surprise of the day. She held her own without that pistol. The pipe lasted until she ducked under the third Dreg's knife and it shattered against the back of it's head. The blow was powerful enough that the shrapnel embedded itself along the Dreg's back, paralyzing it as she killed it with a heavy blow to the head with her fist. The fourth one came up behind her, but without even looking she clipped it's jaw with her left heel as she spun around into a hook kick. He heard the Dreg's jaw shatter as she took a step forward, and shoved the sharp remainder of the pipe into it'a abdomen, just below it's ribcage. It soundlessly slumped to it's knees and forwards, the pipe making a soft metallic clang sound as it gently hit the floor. After the initial Drag, he had quickly adjusted to his shock, and had started granting small amounts of light to her strikes. It was making her even stronger and faster than she already was. She seemed to be adjusting to it extremely quickly, much quicker than any guardian he had ever seen, and much faster than he had though possible. The other reason most had to practice was because light infused sparring often made limbs move faster than the muscles within could keep up. Meaning the unpracticed would often badly dislocate joints or tear muscles trying to fight the light and slow down for better accuracy. But she had neither of these issues, she let the light speed her up, and never missed by the smallest millimetre.
She proceeded to jump across the darkened chasm that lined the interior of the wall, and faced her first vandal. Being much bigger than the Dregs, with full plate armour and use of all four arms, he had meant to give her a warning or some advice, but before he could, she had already set into motion. She dodged the shots it fired from it's rifle, and when she got close she ducked under it's left arms and grabbed both of it's shoulders. She then spun while holding it, which caught it off guard and immediately unbalanced it. She then threw the entire Vandal backwards with enough strength to rival a seasoned Titan. It flew backwards into the next hallway, which was lined with an array of red lasers. Every time it hit a laser, the connected mine detonated. After seven or eight explosions, what remained of the Vandal impacted the wall at the back of the hall with a faint wet slap. As she walked down the hallway, Nix looked on in renewed horror at the bits of Vandal that splattered the walls and even the ceiling in some parts. Before at the end of the hall, he saw the corpse up close, bits of brain matter mixed among bone. He couldn't tell where it's face had once been. If he had a stomach, it likely would have emptied. Somehow her's didn't.
She moved from room to room through the cosmodrome, tearing Vandals and Dregs apart with her bare hands. Astonishingly she was rarely hit, she managed to move from cover to cover like she was trained. What few shots she did take her shield easily absorbed. She was resourceful as well. Using another pipe here, hurling a crate there. She left nothing behind except mangled corpses and the occasional bloody boot-print.
She worked her way outside without sustaining any serious injuries, and glanced up to the sky with a hand warding the sun out of her eyes. They had found themselves on the other of the wall in a courtyard littered with old rusted shacks and dumpsters. More Fallen stood between them and the next building. She continued as she had been, and tore them apart. A few of the Dregs even thought better and actually tried to run, but they didn't get far. They continued through the courtyard to the next building, and after a few more twisted rusting hallways, found what he had been hoping for.
They found themselves in a larger room, sunlight filtering in through the massive hole in the roof. The hole created by the starship that had crashed through it and was currently suspended by wires that had once run through the roof. It was a single seater tri-engine. But it seemed to be in decent repair. It would have been perfect, if not for the figure under it. A Fallen captain stood in the centre of the room, it's angry gaze already fallen upon her, readying it's two swords that coursed with electrical energy. He tried to warn her, but she was too quick. She dashed towards it, and placed two jabs into it's stomach, and a right hook into it's jaw. Then she realized her mistake. There was a faint blue shimmer around the captain, that to her likely looked like a slightly larger Vandal. A shimmer she quickly realized was a shield as none of her strikes properly connected. The captain let out a guttural rasping sound that he recognized as Fallen laughter, before it responded by striking back. It brought both swords down upon her. It moved much faster than the Vandals, and The first one aimed for her abdomen which her shield absorbed, but quickly cracked under the weight of the strike. He watched in horror as the second strike aimed for her chest. She saw it coming and attempted to parry it, but the captain was much stronger than she likely anticipated, and she only managed to push it slightly off course. The sword pierced directly through her right shoulder armour and out the other side. She let out a pained scream as the captains other two hands slammed down into her shoulders from above. It knocked the sword free from her shoulder, but slammed her down into the dirt. Her helmet collided with the ground with enough force that he heard it's visor crack.
That's when he realized, this room was different. There was a presence here he recognized... the darkness! If she fell here, he couldn't bring her back, he could feel his connection to her waning under it's oppressive force.
"You need to get back up! Make some space between you and it, and then we can make a plan!"
He saw her hands moving underneath her form, but he couldn't tell what she was doing. He kept internally begging her to get back up, as the captain laughed again and began to line up it's sword for a kill shot through her back. He let out an audible scream as the captain's sword came down, but just before it struck, she rolled to the side. As she did, she had slipped her helmet off, having already undone the clasps before she had rolled. The captain's sword sunk into the floor, and before it could pull it back out, she got up on one knee and swung her helmet into the captain's head with enough force to shatter the entire helmet. Fragments of the helmet sprayed across the room, from the resulting explosion. The helmet had been a construct of pure light, but a very small one. It's tiny detonation wasn't enough to do any damage, but it was enough to break the captain's shields.
"Kill it now! Before it's shields come back up!"
She must have heard him, as she rolled forward, in-between it's legs. As she rolled, she grabbed a fragment of the helmet that had settled near them in the dirt, and stabbed it into the back of the captain's right knee. It let out a scream that Nix had recently become accustomed with, and she stood up and struck again. Before the captain could recover, she kicked the fragment further into it's leg, forcing it down onto one knee. While it was lowered, she grabbed it's upper right arm, and twisted it up behind it's back. The resulting motion made the captain drop it's sword, right into her grasp. With one swift motion, she stepped backwards with a spin, and decapitated the captain. The electrical energy cauterized the wound as it went through, leaving behind nothing but the smell of burnt flesh. It's head fell off it's neck with a squelching sound.
She threw the sword back down at it's corpse, and covered the wound on her right shoulder with her hand, in an attempt to stem the bleeding, as she took a moment to recover.
"I know that probably hurts, but I need to get you out of here. Brace yourself, this'll be uncomfortable the first few times."
He then focused for a moment to transmat her into the ship above them, a short range teleportation. When she appeared in the pilot's seat, she entered a panic for a moment, not sure where she was. After a moment he got the ship into the air, and she quickly understood what had happened.
After they got a little bit away, he could feel the darkness fade, and his connection to her fully return. He let light flow back into the connection, and watched as her shoulder knit itself back together. He rematerialized in the ship front of her as it did. She touched her renewed shoulder gingerly with a finger, testing it, as she looked up at him.
"Thank you. it felt like you disappeared for a moment there. I didn't notice the connection until it waned"
So she could feel it too. He imagined he would be learning almost as much about their connection as she would in the coming days.
"Sorry, there's some areas where it's hard to maintain. We'll get better at spotting them as time goes on. Are you feeling okay?"
She had finished testing her shoulder with her finger, and as she withdrew it, the armour repaired itself with a quick shimmer.
"Yes I... I'm fine now."
After a moments pause, she continued.
"Are we safe? Can I ask those questions now?"
As scary as that journey through the cosmodrome was, this was the part he had been dreading.
"Yes, as I promised. The ship's course is set for the city, so ask away."
watched as she thought to herself for a moment, her brows furrowing as she watched the clouds drift past outside the window.
"You said... you said I was dead. How could I have been? And if I was, how can I be here now."
There it was again, the question he still wasn't quite sure how to answer. This time though, he had no excuse, and she had nowhere to run if she didn't like what he did have to say. He settled his tiny metallic form down on the dashboard of the ship, as he began to speak.
"You are a Guardian, and I am your ghost. I was created by a being known as the traveller. It cared for Humanity long ago, but it has been dormant ever since it was attacked. It's last act was to create us, the ghosts. We seek out those who can competently wield the light, and resurrect them. These resurrected people, like you, are known as Guardians. As for how you died, I'm not sure. No Guardian knows their past, it's always the same wiped memory. On the upside! You get to pick your own name! So make sure it's something you like!"
He tried to end it on a more positive note, to lessen the impact of what he had just told her. But as she came out of her deep thoughts and focused on him again, she uttered the third surprise of the day, the one that caught him the most off guard.
"That's it though… when that last... thing hit me down, it jogged something. A name ran through my mind while I was dazed. It think it's mine... Cadron."
He just sat there in shocked silence for a moment, as his thoughts of the day began to come together.
It had been a day of surprises... and it had been the first day like it in a long time...