Mass Effect: A New Adventure.
A/N
Firstly, this is my second fic. My first fic (Mass Effect: A Galaxy Avenged) was deleted some 4ish? years ago, due to the fact i hated it as i hadn't properly planned it out, it was basically rubbish. However most of the chapters are currently briefly planned out, mostly just key points, I just have to write it out in full.
Secondly, my 'H' key on my keyboard is temperamental at times, and sometimes doesn't work, so if you see a word that should have a H but doesn't or 2 H's next to each other when there should be 1, then you will know why.
Thirdly, due to my work schedule, updates will be sporadic. I have 2 jobs, so finding the time to write the story will be hard enough. But know that I will not abandon this story. There might be some lengthy time periods between chapters, but there will be updates when I can get them done. Plus extra time to polish off the chapters will be better for you guys. Chapter lengths will vary depending on what the plan for each chapter is but there will be a minimum of 5k words per chapter.
Fourthly, though English is my mother language, my grammar and sentence structure is practically quiet sh*te, I didn't do the best in school :( . I have a habit of going from past to present tense at the flick of a switch. It's very annoying to me, so I apologise if I have and you also find it annoying. So please don't judge it too harshly.
Finally, constructive criticism is very much welcome and appreciated, however idiots who just post things like 'this story is sh*te' or other useless reviews like that without explaining why you dislike my story, will be completely ignored.
I hope you enjoy the story :)
speech
"speech"
'thoughts'
Chapter 1: Death isn't so bad after all.
'Am I dreaming?' I had to ask myself. I felt odd, for lack of a better word, odd seemed as close to the sensation I was feeling as possible. I felt neither cold nor warm. Neither did I feel like I was standing on anything, more akin to floating. It was at this point, I became aware of the reason why. I had no body, no hands, no feet, no nothing at all. In fact the only sense I seemed to have was my sight. Nothing, that's all I saw around me. Just nothingness, neither black nor white, just nothing. It's kind of hard to describe. In the same sense as describing colour to a blind person, of sound to a deaf person. Just nothingness all around, it felt jarring.
Panic began to well up inside me as I realised that this was something far beyond a dream as I had simply assumed before. How did I get here, where is here, what is here. These were just a few of the questions that were racing through my currently non existent head. As time passed, all I could do was sit... float? there as I tried to think of the answers to my questions.
'What was the last thing I could remember?' I thought to myself. I remembered coming home from yet another long 13 hour work day, let me tell you, whoever thought that having two jobs would be fun, well they were an idiot. Sitting down to dinner, yet another pizza I had brought home from my second job. Watching a bit of my favourite youtubers newest uploads whilst eating before realising how late it was before heading to bed… then nothing.
'I had gone to sleep and ended up here? Am I dead?' Panic yet again welled up inside me as I came to the only conclusion I had left. I had tried to 'wake up' but had no results, I still remained floating in nothingness. 'Is this it? Is this all there is that awaits people when they die?' I wondered to myself. Soul crushing despair hit me like a freight train. 'This can not be it! This can not be all there is after someone dies. Hello God?... Buddha?… Odin?... Anyone at all?!' I called out in my head as I still lacked any ability to actually talk. Silence and yet more nothingness was all that greeted me for a long time, how long had passed since I got here, it felt ages, hours? Days? Years? I don't know but it felt so very long.
'1,209,316 bottles of beer on the wall, 1209,316 bottles of beer, you take swig and pass it around, 1,209,315 bottles of beer on the w-' i was abruptly cut of as a very loud and far to chipper voice spoke.
Hello, unexpected deceased! A box of blue text appeared with the exact words in front of me as the words were spoken.
If anyone were to say I let off quite a girly shriek, I would deny it with every fibre of my non-existent being.
After I calmed down somewhat, I mentally blinked at the message. 'Wait , what do you mean unexpected?'
You were not meant to die just quite yet, in fact, you were not due to pass for at least another 12,262 days by your measurement of time. So this makes you an 'Unexpected deceased'! We apologise for your early passing, I shall find out what the cause was and be right back! Came the reply.
'Wait! Don't leave, I have so many questions.' I thought as loud as possible.
Silence and nothingness once again greeted me. 'Oh great, just great, the first form of any contact or anything for that matter in how long? Decades? Millennia? And it's gone just as quick as it came… how… vexing.' I mentally sighed in frustration. 'Well nothing for it I suppose. Now where was I? Ahh yes of course… *ahem*... 1,209,215 bottles of beer o-' again cut off as the annoyingly happy voice one against boomed all around me.
Hello again, unexpected deceased!
'STOP doing that! I yelled mentally. 'Scared the absolute hell out of me, can you maybe tone it down a little to a normal level of volume?' I asked somewhat sarcastically.
My apologies unexpected deceased.
'And stop calling me that! I have a name you know, call me…' I paused 'uh… what is my name? Why can't I remember my name?' I asked, beginning to once again panic. I began to go through my memories for the first time in what felt like ages. I came to the worrying realisation that I had forgotten a lot of my memories. Mostly things about myself. My name, my age, what I looked like, my family, were all gone. Yet memories of places, activities, my favourite hobbies and pastimes were all still there.
Apologies once again unexpected deceased, due to your untimely passing, you being here in the void was missed for quite some time, roughly 8801 days by your measurement of time have passed since you died. Due to passing many years too early, the usual method for collecting departed souls was not in place waiting for you. Due to this, your soul slipped through the proverbial cracks and landed here in the endless void!
The cause for your death was a heart attack. Too much unhealthy food and working too many hours, strained your body and heart especially until it gave out. What was supposed to happen was, you would have a near death experience before waking up in hospital fully recovered, at which point you would change your life around, becoming healthy and happy living for a few more decades before passing in your sleep peacefully at an old age. Also please don't panic about your missing memories, they are permanently gone, erased. This is due to the process which you will go through. It is done to help you move on and not cling to the past, to help keep you emotionally stable.
'Oh… right… um… that doesn't really make me feel any better, after all i'm still dead. What happens now?' I asked, somewhat a little shaken from what I was just told. I was also a little peeved that I died early. 'Damn, I just realised I missed out on so much! I was really looking forward to playing the Witch Queen DLC for Destiny 2 with my friends.' I lamented sadly. 'Oh and all the other stuff to do with living, like finding a partner and having a family and all that' I hastily added when I felt a presence that could only be described as someone giving me the '...really?' look when you say something dumb.
*ahem* Do you think I don't know what you were doing in your life, and what you planned to do in life? After all I have your file right here, I know your entire life from start to what was supposed to be your actual finish.
'Err… right… never mind' I replied embarrassed. 'Pretend I never said anything…'
No… anyway moving on. Due to your untimely demise, you get to live again!
'Seriously?' I asked, flabbergasted. 'Then I do get to play the Witch Queen DLC after all, well what are we waiting for, send me back!' I shouted with glee.
No
'What? WHY?!'
You can not return to your previous world once your life has ended, early or not. It's just one of the many, many rules of death.
'But… but… Witch Queen' I cried. If I had a body right now, I would for sure be crying a river of tears. 'Hang on a moment, you said I couldn't return to my world. Does that mean there are different worlds out there?!' i exclaimed
Indeed yes, that is correct. There are in fact many worlds and realities out there. An infinite possibilities of realities exist within the multiverse. And you get to choose where you go and who you're going as!
' wait, this is soundly awfully like the start of those gamer fanfictions I read one time.'
Yes and no, while you can choose your world and create a 'character' so to speak, you won't be having the gamer system. It was deemed too Broken and or Overpowered to give to mortals after several gamers ended up destroying their new realities.
I paused at that. 'No gamer? That's fine, I'm not really all that interested in living a life as a video game character. Far too much unexplainable stuff like new powers, healing life threatening injuries with a few hours of sleep to name a couple of them. Alright then mysterious voice and blue writing box, lets get on with it. Actually that's a good point, who and what are you?' I curiously asked.
My name is Amara. I am just one of many Reaper's assigned to guide the souls of the recently deceased to their next adventure, whether that is hell or heaven etcetera etcetera, or in your case reincarnation! Now let's get on with this shall we. If you turn around, you can choose which world you can go to, followed by creating your new body you will inhabit in your next life.
'Well nice to meet you Amara' I said as I turned around and was met by a screen with thousands of choices of realities to go to. By thousands, I meant millions. 'Hmm, that is a lot of choices…' I deadpanned to myself. 'Hey Amara, is there a way to create a list of potential worlds i want to go to so i can minimise this list?' I asked.
Of course, simply drag a selection to the next box. Replied Amara in her usual chipper tone.
After a while of scrolling, I had narrowed my choices down considerably. 'Hmm this is a tough choice.' I thought to myself looking at my now much shorter list.
Black Magician Trilogy
Books of Pellinor
DC Comics
DC Extended Universe
Destiny
Dragon Age
Mass Effect
Marvel Comics
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Sword of Truth Series
The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
Warframe
'So hard to choose from, all of these universes are all amazing, full of risk and adventure, but who wants to live a boring life? Each of them I am a huge fan of, so it's going to be really hard to choose from.' I thought to myself. 'I know all of these all exceptionally well' After all I had played all the games multiple times, read the lore etcetera. I have read all the book series multiple times. Watched the films multiple times. 'Screw it, Mass Effect it is. It isn't really a choice in the end, now that I think about it. After all, who doesn't want to go raiding with Shepard, or having the bro-est of bro's Garrus. Or the innocent Liara and Tali and watch them become complete badasses.' I grinned to myself.
So Mass Effect it is. Excellent choice, now would you like to go to the Original Mass Effect Universe or would you like to go to a Random Mass Effect Universe? Amara asked.
'Well to be honest, I am quite tempted to take the Random Mass Effect Universe, after all this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to have. Besides, given the fact of how the original trilogy ended, it's a bit of a bleak outcome, as lets be honest, there is no possible way anyone should choose anything other than destroy. The Reapers are far too powerful to have someone control, not that they can't, but what happens when the controller becomes corrupted, even if it was Shepard, as the saying goes, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Synthesis option is a load of bollocks if you ask me, let's just rob everyone of their choice of existence and force upon them something they might not want. Destroy is the only logical option, and yet fucks everyone over as well. Entire worlds starve as they cant survive without trade, people isolated, the relay network is destroyed as well, which no one knows how to repair let alone replicate otherwise they would have done so before. So yeah let's go with an Alternate Universe, let's live a little.' I mulled over in my mind. 'Will I keep what is left of memories when I go to this new life?' I asked Amara.
Yes you will keep your memories with you. Amara exclaimed happily.
'Ok, now to create a new body,' I said, having selected my world. Second was choosing a new body, there were millions upon millions of races to choose from. I saw races from games I had played, to races from movies, tv shows, books, you name a race in fiction and it was there, as well as others, 'most likely from other realities' I deduced. Hovering over a choice a figure appeared of what that race was, along with a list of positives and negatives of being that race. Feeling slightly overwhelmed, I decided to go with what was familiar and after several minutes of scrolling at an insane pace, I arrived at Human. Though there were more than one type of human options to choose from. ' hmm being human is what i am comfortable and familiar with so let's go with that, though i suppose i can choose a different type of human.' I thought to myself.
Scrolling through them seeing how they looked and seeing their pro's and con's i came across the choice of Biotic Human. They looked just like a normal human, though the pro's stated that they were slightly faster and stronger than normal humans, along with a faster thought process. But to top it all off they had Biotic powers such as what was presented in the a small unknown icon, i mentally selected it and was greeted to a small video of these abilities being demonstrated. 'As a massive Mass Effect fan, I am so choosing Biotics, the powers look awesome and are versatile and powerful enough to have.' I thought giddily to myself. However before I selected it, there was another option of a Mutated Biotic Human below it, hovering over it I saw a small demonstration again of its powers. It was basically the same powers from a normal Biotic however there were 2 big differences. First the Biotics were the same purple colour but with black and light blue mixed instead of the plain purple from cannon, and secondly was that they had the same powers as a all Void abilities from Destiny 2, so like the Warlocks Nova Bomb, the Titans Bubble and Hunters Tether to name a few.
Selecting Mutated Biotic Human was a no brainer if I'm going to a Mass Effect Universe. I was then brought to the character creation menu. To say it was extensive was an understatement. From height to weight, from eye colour to lip colour, all the way down to choosing the maximum length of my leg hairs. 'Yeah, this is going to take a while' I thought, remembering how long it would take me to create a character in Skyrim with a few mods installed.
Take as much time as you like, I will remain here sorting through my paperwork.
'Oof, even in the afterlife, there is no escape from paperwork huh?' I cringed.
Unfortunately
After what felt like several hours, I finally settled on my choice of body. I ended up settling on a body in its late teens, windswept styled midnight black hair that went just below my ears, along with eyes of crystal blue. My body itself was slim but decently muscled with slightly tanned skin. 'Honestly if i was a vain person, i would say i was one handsome devil.' I thought. 'Ok i am all done i believe. Is there anything else I need to do?' I asked Amara, turning to look at the blue text box that hovered behind me.
Nope, you are all set, good luck and have fun in your new life, i will check in with you once or twice when you need me, but for the most part i will watch and wait till you pass on again. Amara said happily as a humming noise began to reverberate all around me.
The humming was getting deafeningly louder, almost pulsing like a heartbeat, only one that had been fed a ludicrous amount of energy drinks and coffee, before there was a bright flash accompanied by a loud boom and everything faded away.
Everything hurt as I slowly regained consciousness. Things were starting to become clear and my head stopped spinning as everything came into focus. I groaned before pausing. "Ugh what happe-" I stopped bewildered. 'That's not my normal voice' "Er hello?" again i stopped. 'That voice is far too high pitched' I thought, my eyes widening in surprise. I stood up, and immediately fell over completely unbalanced. I glanced down and saw that my body was much smaller than I remembered. 'What on earth is going on?' I thought.
Pausing while lying on my back as the pain of my everything finally ceased, I began to wrack my memory for any clues. It took a minute before it all came back to me. Me dying, spending years in an endless void before meeting Amara, creating a new body and being sent off to Mass Effect. 'A random mass effect world' I reminded myself.
Gathering myself, I slowly regained my balance as I stood. I now stood around 4 and a half feet in height, and rather on the skinny end of the scale. I was dressed in what could only be described as rags. Plain but slightly torn and rather dirty, but at least they felt warm enough. Taking a look around, I seemed to have been placed in a dirty alleyway. Large metal crates that seemed to smell like a rubbish bin were littered up and down every few metres, most likely belonging to the houses they were placed behind. Spotting a large sheet of metal propped up against one of the bins, I decided to take a look at my reflection. Walking over I soon saw myself, though I did look like the body I had chosen, I was much younger, probably around 8 years of age.
Humming to myself I decided to take a walk around and do some sight seeing, to see if i couldn't find anything of use. Choosing to head in to the nearest end of the alleyway I took off. Though it wasn't far it took me more than a few minutes to get used to this new body's centre of mass and balance. After all I was an adult turned child again, so it was slightly off putting. Coming out of the alleyway I found myself in a slum-like section of a town. In the far distance I could see sprawling skyscrapers of an amazing design. They were far larger than any skyscraper I had seen in my last life, making the Burj Khalifa look small in comparison. Tall, shiny metallic in colour, and as someone who had an appreciation for art, they looked quite majestic seeing them on the horizon against the blue sky. I tore my gaze away as I continued to walk around.
After an hour of walking I had headed further into the town and had come upon an exceptionally busy marketplace. Stall after stall lined every street, the market square had barely any more room at all with all the people milling around there. I had to squeeze my way through the crowd before reaching a set of stairs leading up to some large building. I sat at the top of the stairs to observe the people in the market below. I sat thinking about what I would do, planning my course ahead.
At this point the world turned grey as the people below stopped moving, all sound ceased and became eerily quiet. A blue text box opened up in front of me.
Hello again Unexpected Deceased, you should really think of giving yourself a new name. Currently time is paused so we can have this interaction without causing any trouble. I am here to give you some information on this new life you are living. As this is an alternate universe of Mass Effect, there have been some changes to what you are familiar with. So things are different. I will give you a very brief overview of the major changes, anything else you will have to find out about yourself later on. Please read the information in the Blue Text Box. Goodbye now. Amara said before going quiet as she left.
Looking down at the box, new text started to appear, so I started reading, knowing that the information here would prove to be most useful. After spending over an hour reading, I was floored at what I had read.
Turns out, in this Universe, Humanity or Terran's as they call themselves now, are a much older and more powerful species compared to the Canon Humanity. Around 6,000 years ago, in the year 2,258 humanity reached the stars developing their first Faster than Light engine. After a century of prosperity called Humanities First Golden Age, Humanity had colonised 42 worlds with a 43rd secret world designated purely for military and scientific use.
However as the name 'First Golden Age' suggests, it had to have an end, and it did, just not in a good way. Here I got another surprise, as a race that also does not belong to Mass Effect made an appearance. The Hive from the Destiny Universe existed here, or rather HAD existed. The first golden age came crashing down as the Hive made contact with Humanity in the year 2,367. A pleasant first contact, there wasn't, for the Hive either killed or enslaved all Humans they came in contact with, thus beginning the First Hive War, otherwise known as the The Great Collapse. The Hive, just like in Destiny, were a blood thirsty violent monstrous race. The Hive were more technologically advanced than that of a young Humanity. Quickly moving through all of the 42 colonies and Earth itself. Humanity found themselves severely out matched in numbers and tech. All the military might of Humanity was quickly crushed. Every world was enslaved by the Hive. Human's of all ages were enslaved, forced to work in the pits that were carved into every world, those who couldn't work, were quickly killed and eaten. Sometimes they were just randomly killed and eaten by the Hive in front of others. A truly gruesome and horrifying time to be alive in.
For over a century, Humanity existed and dwindled in numbers under the oppression of the Hive. However, in the year 2,496, hope rose in the form of the secret 43rd colony. A secret Military world that went dark in the early days of the war with the Hive, when it became evident Humanity was going to lose. For the entire time, hidden away, a few thousand Humans, mostly scientists that worked there in secret, worked hard to free Humanity from its alien overlords. First they reverse engineered recovered Hive technology, and then improved it. However a big issue was they had few to no soldiers. This was solved by creating clones. Not just normal clones, but perfected and enhanced clones. Stronger, faster, more intelligent than normal humans. Their lifespan was artificially altered as well, once where people would live for on average 110 years, they now would live for almost 1,500 years. They would age normally until around the age of 20, where ageing would slow down, enabling them to stay in their prime for centuries.
From there they built up a truly massive army. Tens of thousands of ships from small fighters to 3 kilometre long dreadnoughts were built and then filled with clone troops, ready to take on the Hive and free Humanity. And free Humanity it did.
In less than a year, all of Humanity's people and colonies were freed from the Hive, thus ending the Second Hive War otherwise known as the Liberation War. The Hive having taken such a bloody nose from the conflict retreated to their own space. Humanity not wanting to take risks began to recover and rebuild. All the whilst knowing that the Hive were still out there most likely gearing up for a third war with Humanity.
Taking this time, the rest of humanity were given genome therapy like the clones, all of humanity was now enhanced and long lived. The two wars with the Hive united Humanity like never before. Having seen how individual states and countries and worlds had caused them to fall, being divided due to conflicts between nations or entire worlds. United as one, Humanity renamed Earth to Terra, and themselves as Terran's. Their new government was an odd one, but seemed to work. The Public elected a member from each world called a Senator, to represent their world in the Grand Senate. Under each Senator was a public elected council who helped govern a planet. The Senate did what usual governments did, discussing law and what not. However they ultimately had little power. The real power lay in the hands of the Emperor of the time. The Grand Senate would decide things based on what the public wanted or what was best for the public, and then it was up to the Emperor whether to approve or deny what the Grand Senate decided.
Odd, but it worked apparently, and it had existed this entire time. The Royal family had ruled all Terran space for over 6 millennia now. With the Emperor in charge and the Senate not having any true power, meant that corruption was very little, as what's the point of trying to corrupt a group of senators who didn't actually have that much power in the first place.
The Third Hive War, otherwise known as the Extermination War, began in the year 2,541. The Hive had returned in a much greater strength than before, throwing the entire weight of their own Empire at the newly formed Terran Empire. This time however, the Terran Empire was ready. For over 7 decades, war between the 2 Empires raged. Billions of soldiers with tens of thousands of ships went forth to battle the endless tides of Hive. Eventually the Terran Empire came out the victor, with the Hive home world shattered into a million pieces, along with the Hive colonial worlds glassed into molten rock, never to bear life again.
Recovering from the war, the Terran Empire grew and grew, taking world after world, system after system, terraforming barren worlds into lush garden worlds. Harvesting gas giants, asteroid belts, planets and the very Stars themselves for materials. Hundreds of worlds were colonised, many now within the several billion population mark, with thousands of other worlds claimed for resources or simple outposts on the edge of their territory. The total space of the Empire was now around 100 lightyears in any direction of Terra. The Empire became a truly powerful force to reckon with. It was the Second Golden Age, one that had yet to end as the Empire only continued to grow stronger.
It was a millennia or so after the wars that Biotics' began to appear. Simply called Biotics after their own power. After some time of researching, they found the cause of their power being due to tier parents being exposed to Element Zero. Nonetheless they were powerful, and were soon inducted into a new regiment of the Military, forming the Biotic Corp. Their training was brutal, by far the most in deep training of any section of the military. Considered the most elite force within Empire space, and making up the entirety of the Emperor's Royal Guard for himself and his family. Each Biotic was considered to be an army unto themselves. Though strangely enough, there were never very many of them. For reasons unknown, most born with Biotics were not able to withstand having them and died early in life, caused by rampant growing cancerous nodes in their body. However those that lived became very powerful and were always without fail, recruited into the Emperor's Royal Guard at a young age and instilled a duty in them to protect the Royal Family with their life if need be. The Biotic power only ever appeared once or twice for every half billion people born, meaning there were no more than a few hundred of them at any given time.
Having gotten over the shock of just what I had gotten myself into, I felt truly hopeful about the future ahead of me. 'With the Empire being so powerful, surely the Reapers won't be too much of a problem right?' I wondered to myself. 'Then again, there wasn't a single mention of mass relays being found anywhere within the Empire's territory. Maybe this is a scenario where the Reapers missed us after the last cycle? After all, the history had mentioned a Prothean beacon on Mars. But there was little to no information of their downfall, only that there was a war and they were losing. Guess that is why we don't use mass effect tech here, rather tech more along the lines of Star Wars tech mixed with Halo Tech.' I thought to myself. 'Ah well, nothing I can do now, besides I'm getting hungry. Hmm, that's a problem, I'm an orphan with no family, friends or even money to my name. How am I going to survive here?' I asked, beginning to get hungry. 'Probably going to have to swipe some food from the stalls when no one is looking, at least until i can get some legitimate income. I won't result to begging, my pride will not allow me to do so. Spying on the stalls, I began to stake out which stalls would be easy to swipe from. Choosing a rather easy looking target, a stall filled with what looked to be an assortment of fruits. Arriving at my target, I casually strolled past, discreetly swiping some fruit that looked like apples only purple instead of the usual greens or red. Moving away without hearing any reaction, I placed the fruit into my pockets before moving away. Spying another easy target, one loaded with fresh looking bakery goods, I again pinched some buns and walked away.
Having claimed my bounty, I walked away from the market. 'I need a place to stay for now' I thought to myself. I carried on walking for several hours, heading out of the city past the slum-like section of the city, out into the countryside happily munching away on my stolen goods. After several hours, it was beginning to turn dark. The light in the sky was beginning to dim when I came across what looked to be an old abandoned dam going across a gorge. Seeing very few options for myself, I decided to investigate the old dam.
Upon entering I quickly discovered that it was dark. Seeing a problem with visibility, I thought of solutions. 'I'm an idiot,' I thought to myself while facepalming. I had my mutated Biotic powers. 'If I could find out how to manifest that power into a simple ball, it would be like a hand held light, and I would be able to see.' I pondered to myself.
"Well nothing for it but to give it a go." I said to no one in particular. I looked at my hand, trying to imagine the biotic energy swirling around my hand. As expected, nothing happened.
"Yeah, I didn't think it would be that easy.'' I grouched.
Sitting down I began to think of anything that would be able to manifest my power. From hand gestures like Spiderman, to meditating, nothing seemed to work at all. Sitting there for over an hour thinking and trying new ways to get my power to work, I was beginning to get frustrated.
"Why wont this stupid power WORK?!" I shouted the last word slamming my hands down on the ground beside where I sat.
A deafening boom sounded as an explosion took place below me. I found myself being flung through the air, spinning head over arse as I went before crashing into some nearby shrubbery. Feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting me, I groaned as I pulled myself out of the bush, pulling a twig out of my hair and brushing myself down off any dirt. Confused at what in the hell just happened, I glanced at where I was previously sitting. Only to see a small crater was now there.
I looked at my hands in awe at what had just happened. Grinning like a loon, I had finally triggered my power to work. 'Frustration and or emotion, or was it the movement of my hands that caused it.' I wondered. Repeating the same hand gesture results in the same results I had experienced for the last hour, absolutely zilch. 'Emotion it is then, but what would give the best results. Usually with these cliché emotion powered …err powers, anger gives the strongest result, so let's give it ago.' I decided.
Thinking back on this whole situation, the fact i had died when I was supposed to, spending decades floating around by myself with nothing to do, hating the fact I was basically an unknown orphan on an unknown world with nothing to my name except the rags I wore.
Feeling the anger welling up inside me, I turned my thoughts to my power, willing it to form in my hand as a simple ball. Opening my eyes, I let out a cheer as I was delighted to see it was there, hovering just above my open palm. But as quickly as it came, it vanished. 'A lapse in concentration, causing it to disperse maybe?' I thought. Concentrating again, I managed to get the ball of energy to reappear in my palm. Instead of cheering this time, I held my concentration on the small but rather bright ball of energy. Nodding to myself, I set foot into the abandoned dam.
{Time Skip}
It had been a long 6 years since I had woken up in that alleyway, I was now 14 years old by my reckoning. Not that the 6 years had been a bad time. In fact, I would dare to say they had been some of the best years of my both my current and previous life. Freeing would be how I would describe them. No having to get up early to go to work, no having to be bossed around by people in a higher position than me. No responsibilities at all to be held accountable for. It was simply freeing.
I sighed as I sat upon the top of the dam watching the sunset in the distance. I had long since claimed the old abandoned dam and the lands surrounding it as my own little kingdom of freedom. I was eating some simple berries I had found on my recent travels around the lands nearby earlier that day, as I watched some spaceships taking off or landing in the city's nearby spaceport. The city I had some time ago found out it was called Druuxcaster, which was also the capital city of this planet named New Terezon, named after the Captain of the ship that had first found this planet almost 2 thousand of years ago, was sprawling with nightlife. 'Some things never changed about us Terran's.' I thought. 'Even now, thousands of years into the future in a completely different universe, nothing will stop the young from hitting the town's nightclubs for a night of alcohol-fuelled dancing, poor decisions and debauchery.' I smirked to myself.
I had not been idle these last 6 years however. I had in fact spent a long time training with my power in order to fully understand and control it, and while I did have a good grasp on it, there was always room for improvement. All the while on the days I didn't train, I was doing odd repair jobs, using what I could that lay around me or that I had scavenged from a scrapyard on the outskirts of the city during the nights, to repair some of the wear and tear on the dam. Mostly in the area I was living in, which was quite a ways down underneath the dam. I didn't need to worry about any unexpected flooding, after all the dam had long since dried up leaving nothing but a stony creek on either side. There was a labyrinth of tunnels leading from the dam all the way to the city. I had thoroughly explored all those tunnels, only finding myself lost on a few occasions. Luckily there were hatches I could use every so often that lead back to the surface, so being completely lost wasn't all that much of a problem.
I had memorised the entire layout of the tunnel system, it was great for avoiding any unwanted attention, and for quick escapes for when I found myself on the wrong side of the law when I had been caught either pickpocketing or stealing from stalls.
I had even made my own little vegetable patch near the entrance to the dam. It didn't yield all that much but it did enough to get by most days. Small animals were always in abundance in the forests, a snare here and there did wonders for having plenty of fresh meat that I could either eat, or store in the much cooler underground sections of my new home underground. A small generator I had salvaged from the scrapyard, by trial and error and sheer luck I had managed to get it repaired. How long it would last, i didn't know seeing as i had no idea what fuel it ran on. It had started working around a year ago, and since then, I had been looking for another to have as a backup for if and when this one failed and broke down.
It was tonight that I was planning another trip to the scrapyard to see if I could find another either the same or similar enough. The generator ran a small set of lights and an old TV, apparently they were still a thing. Surprisingly enough I had found several broken omni-tools in my nightly adventures to the scrapyard. Apparently, omni-tools were a product of Terra, created around 4 thousand years ago, still in use and they were far more advanced these days than when first created, and way better than their counterpart in canon mass effect if their functions and speed were anything to go by. Coming across those omni-tools had been a godsend, as it had allowed me to find out virtually everything about this day and age, as well as step by step tutorials on how to fix things I came across. Very useful.
Heading down to my little lair, I began to tinker with some scrap I had 'found' on my adventures. I was merely passing time before it was dark and late enough into the night that I could do my little raid on the scrapyard tonight.
After several hours of mindless work, I deemed it late enough to begin my adventure. I set off down the many tunnels from my hideout. Left, right, left again I turned as I walked, humming a simple tune to myself, making it up as I went. It was at least 3 miles to the edge of the city from the dam I lived at. It took just under an hour of walking to reach the city. Turning right down another tunnel, I headed in the direction of the scrapyard. Though the tunnels were home to some small mammals like rats and mice, they always left me alone, preferring to scurry away from what they thought to be a threat, not that i was unhappy about it, i didn't really like them anyway.
Finding myself at a ladder leading upwards, I wrapped a scarf around my face, leaving my eyes uncovered, and pulling my hood up to conceal my identity, I began to climb. Lifting the hatch slightly, just enough for me to have a look around, I saw the coast was clear of anyone, there usually never is anyone around here during the day let alone at night, as this was just a dirty back alley. I climbed fully out of the hatch, replacing the hatch back over the hole. Walking a little further down the alley, I climbed up a pipe that was attached to the alley wall. Once on top of the wall I jumped to another wall about 6 feet away. Finding my balance I walked along the narrow wall to where I could jump down directly into the scrapyard, it wasn't a very large drop, just a little over 12 feet.
Landing as softly as possible I had a look and listened out for anything I could hear, silence and no movement greeted me. Grinning to myself I began to explore, heading to a section I haven't searched before. The scrapyard was a very large place, at least 200 or so metres as long as it was wide. After a few minutes of walking, I arrived at my targeted place. I started to have a look around, trying to remain as quiet as possible.
It was some time later that I came across a grand prize. It was a dirty old rusted metal crate about 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep, it had some lettering on the side but due to time, they had either faded away or just covered in gunk. It took some effort to prise it open, but I managed it. I grimaced as the hinges groaned as I opened it, echoing loudly all around.
Taking a peek inside, revealed there were weapons and armour that I immediately recognised. How could I not, when I had spent several hundred hours playing Destiny 2 to get them. It was a couple weapons and armour of my Titan character from Destiny 2, though they were dirty and covered in grime. 'How this is possible I don't know, but if I were a betting man, I would say Amara had something to do with this.' I grinned excitedly to myself. 'Nevertheless this is a hell of a find.'
The crate was heavy, but not too heavy that I couldn't handle it. With my enhanced strength I managed to lift it up by its rusted handles. Tonight was a good night, I had a great find, now all i had to do was get it back home. An easier task said than done. Heading in a slightly different direction to my entrance point, I had previously found a fence that could be pried open, leaving a hole big enough for me to leave with the generator I had pinched that night. Prying open the fence, I stopped as I heard someone shout not too far away.
"Over here!" an unknown voice called out. "I swear I heard something over here" My eyes opened wide in panic as I thought I had been discovered.
"Hey you stop right there!" another voice called out.
Not stopping to look back at whoever the pair were that had discovered me, I shoved my stolen goods through the gap, I went through and pulled the fence back, noise be damned. Picking up my crate again, I began running as fast as I could. With my enhanced speed, which was above that of even what was considered normal given that everyone born this day and age was enhanced due to their ancestors all having the gene therapy millennia ago, I quickly lost my pursuers through the winding alleyways of the area I was in.
After having a short rest to regain my breath, I headed in the direction of the entrance to the tunnels nearby. It wasn't the same as the one I left, but it was the closest. Upon arriving, I realised I faced a problem. The crate was too large to fit down the hatch into the tunnels. Groaning at this simple miscalculation, frowning at myself. 'Well looks like I will have to carry this back above ground.' I thought to myself. Sighing, I picked up my crate and started walking again.
It took me almost 3 hours to get back home. Due to being above ground, there were still some people I had to dodge to avoid looking suspicious, after all what 14 year old carrying a large dirty crate in the middle of the night on the streets doesn't look suspicious. Dodging people and going through the winding city streets to the outskirts took more time than the rest of the journey home. Resting myself on my old couch, I propped up my feet on top of my new crate, deciding to take a nap.
I awoke several hours later in the early hours of the morning. Grabbing a clean cup, I boiled some water in an old but now clean kettle, and made myself a cup of coffee. Taking a sip as I sat down, I sighed to myself. Opening the crate in front of me, wanting a better look at my loot. I confirmed it was indeed all from Destiny 2. I grabbed the weapons in front of me first. A pair of Igneous Hammers hand cannons, one is each hand. They looked exactly like they did in the game, they didn't feel like they weighed all that much at all, maybe half a kilogram each. Looking in the crate again, I saw what looked to be ammo cartridges that would slot into them as well, plenty of them, at least 500 of them.
Setting the hand cannons aside, I pulled out the armour pieces next. Firstly was a black padded body suit, which was dirty. Fortunately there wasn't any obvious damage to it, so with a clean it would be serviceable. The next piece I grabbed was the helmet. It was the Helm of Saint 14, though it wasn't the dented and battered version. Next came the chest piece. It was the Phoenix Strife Type-0 chest piece. The gauntlets were the Star Crossed Fists. Next the leg and boots armour, were the Virtuous Greaves. Finally came the Titan Mark, which was the Legacy Oath's Mark. They were all dirty and covered in grime. It was going to take a lot of effort and some elbow grease to get them clean.
Seeing nothing for it, I began to get them clean. It took most of the day to get them all cleaned. Having first dunked all the armour pieces in hot water letting them soak for an hour. Next came the hard part, with a rough sponge and some heavy duty cleaning chemicals I had procured, I set about scrubbing them all clean. The hand cannons, which were unloaded thankfully, I carefully dismantled. Carefully with a cloth and some more cleaning chemicals, I once again set about getting rid of all the dirt that had accumulated there.
By the end of the day, the armour and weapons were mostly clean. It would take another hot soak and another day of scrubbing for it to be usable. The problem was that it all looked too big for me to put on and use. Right now I was only 14 years old, so I still had several more years of growing room before I could grow into it. If my memory of the end result of what I should look like was accurate, then it should be the perfect fit for me by the time I would finish growing in a few years.
I lay down in my bed, looking up at the ceiling, I sighed to myself wondering what the future would bring. 'If Amara did have something to do with this, then I am very grateful. The only problem is, what does this mean? Is there some trouble heading my way in the future?' I thought anxiously. Sighing once more, I rolled over, closing my eyes, drifting off to sleep.
A/N: Well, that's a wrap for the first chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. If you wish to leave a review, then please do, I am looking for feedback on how to improve :)
For a picture of the Armour in full go to deviantart (dotcom) /zodiacera/art/Titan-4-904781316 or just have a look at the story icon picture.
Zodiac out :)