Chapter 1

Darkness. Darkness was all I saw. I was surrounded by it. Felt it as it began to suffocate me.

Then I heard something whisper: "You are their Savior," it said. .

And suddenly, everything began to grow brighter and brighter.

I woke up in a daze. I looked around not knowing where or who I was. I was scared,confused, and alone. Who or what had whispered to me? Whose savior was I? Looking up, I noticed something floating in front of me.

It spoke.

"Guardian ……Guardian ? Eyes up Guardian! It worked… You're alive! You don't know how long I've been looking for you. I'm a ghost. Actually, now I'm your ghost. And……well, you've been dead a long time. So, you're going to see a lot of things you won't understand," it told me.

Far off in the distance, a loud, angry roar startled me. I jumped a little at the sound. The Ghost looked off in the direction it came from, then turned back to me.

"This is Fallen territory. We aren't safe here. I have to get you to the City. Hold still," he instructed.

So many questions were running through my mind. What were the Fallen ? And why are we in their territory? Were they a society of humans? If so, why are we running? Were they bad? The Ghost said we weren't safe here. Should I run?

The Ghost then disappeared in a blue shimmer of dust.

Did he just leave me here? I wondered.

"Don't worry, I'm still with you," he then reassured me. "We need to move fast, we won't survive long out in the open like this, let's get inside the wall" the ghost says in my head?

I got to my feet and started to head towards the rusted and broken down walls ahead of us, jumping into thin air over cars, running as fast as I could.

"You can hear me right? We are going to die out here if we don't get inside the walls. I need you to trust me on this," Ghost told me.

I didn't really know if I could trust this Ghost, but it was my only option at the moment.

I Continued to run as fast as I could, spotting an open door up a short set of stairs. Once inside the Ghost spoke again .

"Ok , I need to find you a weapon before the Fallen find us" he explained.

Again who were the Fallen? I wanted to ask but it was as if something was holding me back from asking the question. Maybe it was the adrenaline? Or the fear that I felt? Or was it that I was supposed to fight whatever the Fallen were? I didn't know, but I figured it could wait. First I needed to survive.

I jogged up another set of stairs and slowly walked over a long catwalk. Ghost continued to speak to me.

"Quite! They're right above us," he whispered.

I could hear something scrambling along inside the walls.

Walking up another flight of stairs I entered a large open room. It was very dark. I could hardly see anything. .

"Hang tight… Fallen thrive in the dark. We won't. We need more light. I'll see what I can do," Ghost said while floating around, seeming to look for something.

"Another one of these hardened military systems and a few centuries of entropy working against me," the Ghost muttered to himself.

I looked around, hearing a crackling electrical sound just before the lights came on. Above us, strange alien-like monsters scurried back away from the direct light and started coming down over beams and old piping in our direction! .

"They're coming for us!" Ghost exclaimed, and zipped through the air past me.

My blood ran cold as fear and adrenaline took over my body.

Then, I heard a gate begin to rattle open behind me, so I turned and made a beeline for it, dropping down and sliding under it.

'Here. I found a rifle. Grabit!" Ghost quickly instructed.

Not having to be told twice, I swiftly ran over to the rifle and grabbed it up, checking the amo and holding it in a way that just seemed natural - as if my muscle memory was still there and my survival instincts still honed, like prey once it had sensed a predator.

"I hope you know how to use that thing," Ghost stated.

So did I, I thought as I peeked around the corner for enemies, then swiftly rounded it and ran down the hall. I didn't get far before skidding to a stop when I saw a shadowy figure slowly walking my way. My rifle drawn, I was ready to fire at anyone or anything that came at me.

"What was that?" Ghost asked.

How am I supposed to know? I just got here, I sarcastically thought. .

I made my way through the low and winding hall, , when, suddenly, two weird-looking creatures jumped in front of me! I fired, quickly taking them down, then immediately reloaded my gun, shooting another as it came running around a bend a little further down. I made my way past the bodies, the end of the hall looking like it opened up into another big room when yet another one of those creatures dropped down from somewhere above, right in front of me! I stabbed it in the face with a knife I didn't even realize I had before that moment, then continued on my journey through the walls. Eventually,I entered another room, a swarm of enemies appearing out of what seemed like nowhere! I ducked behind a wall and picked them off, one by one, then made my way down a narrow bridge.

"You're doing good! Keep it up!" Ghost encouraged "Oh! A loot of cash!" he then said, seeing a small kitbashed chest sitting beside a railing up ahead. Let's see what's inside."

I opened the chest, seeing a bunch of small, blue glowing objects settled inside along with a shotgun. I grabbed the gun, the small glowing objects disappearing as I did, then made my way down a couple steps and around yet another corner.

"Tripmines!" Ghost suddenly yelled, pointing out a couple small spike-shaped grenades sticking out the walls, ceiling, and along the floor, a red blinking light atop each. "Don't touch them," he warned.

I slowly and cautiously walked around them, then ducked down under the mines above me, careful so as not to set them off. Once I was in the clear I let out a relieved breath of air, then proceeded to kill more enemies left and right as I weaved between pillars to avoid more trip mines.

The area clear, I moved on to another room where there was a large hole in the wall, more enemies spilling out from the shadows. I began to shoot them, knocking each enemy down, one by one until the room was silent and empty save myself and Ghost.

"The fallen have a tighter hold on this place than I thought," he said. "Just a little bit further," he told me. "Let's hope there's something left out there."

We can only hope I thought.

I then walked into a tunnel with a huge broken fan and a working one further down past it. I squeezed through an opening between the blades of the broken fan, noticing an open door to my right that appeared to lead outside.

Was I finally free?

I stepped through the door and out into the bright light, my eyes adjusting, taking in my surroundings. There were crumbling buildings ahead and a clearing leading to another big building. "Not much to see" I thought.

"This was an old cosmodrome," Ghost explained. "There's got to be something we can fly out here," he mused.

A loud bang sounded in the distance, followed by a flair of some kind shooting up into the air.

The atmosphere shifted and rumbled, the ground beneath my feet trembling with it. "Incoming!" Ghost shouted.

A huge ship seemed to appear out of nowhere, a burst of different colors fanning out into the sky all around it.

"Fallen ships! This close to the surface?! Move!"

I ran as fast as I could before I found myself surrounded by enemies once again! A whole lot of them, too! I fought them off, shooting them down and throwing my knife, picking them off a few at a time, until all of them were dead. Then, the way clear, I ran into another building to safety.

"I'm picking up signs of an old jump ship. Could be our ticket out of here!" Ghost told me.

Thank the gods, I thought.

Even inside, I still wasn't completely safe, and had more Fallen to dispense with before making my way into a large open space with no central roof, a ship suspended by heavy cables from the partial ceiling. Apparently we weren't the only ones interested in the ship and I had yet one more group of Fallen to take care of.

"Alright, let me see if I can get us out of here," Ghost said as I walked us over to the ship and he floated up to inspect it.

"It's been here a while. Hasn't made a jump in centuries. We're lucky the Fallen haven't completely picked it clean," he told me as he flashed a beam of light over various parts of the ship, checking it.

"Will it fly?" I finally managed, speaking for the first time since I woke up here. My voice was soft, angelic, and almost alien to me. So unfamiliar.

"I can make it work" Ghost assured me, giving me a little nod

He disappeared into the ship and suddenly the engines began humming and whirring to life! It snaps free of the cables and drops just a bit then holds itself, suspended in the air. It works!

Suddenly, behind me, a loud, furious roar sounds. I turn to see a giant Fallen crawling out of a hole in the wall, a smaller Fallen close at its side. I grab for my gun just as Ghost speaks.

"Bringing you in!" he calls, and I suddenly find myself whisked into the ship as we lift off the ground. "We can come back for them when you're ready," he assures me, then directs the ship further up and away from the Fallen fire, lifting us high above the Cosmodrome, jetting us away.

Letting out a long sigh I decided I would worry about that later; there were too many things I still didn't know or understand, and for me to keep pondering over it would be a waste of time for it could have meant nothing, just my imagination. I decided it was time I took my helmet off, my hands hitting the clips at the back open with a soft clank; Once the helmet came off with a soft hiss and my vision had finally cleared I looked at the soft view in front of me; looking at all the mountains and plains that spread out across the land when we approached a storm of clouds, thunder striking around me, but, there was a calm feeling to it, washing over my body like water when it tricked down your skin in a calm manner, the soft sensation you felt, like the calm before the storm. When finally we pushed through the dark grey clouds, beams of sunlight hitting me, the warmth felt like a nice sunny day with a cool breeze; and when it cleared, I saw a tower-like structure with a big gray ball in the middle black like scars seeping from the bottom. Flying around the tower and coming to a stop and (what my ghost calls transmitting) teleported onto a courtyard to red banners on either side of me, my ghost appearing right next to me.

" Welcome to the last safe city on earth, the only place the traveler can still protect, it took centuries to build… now we're counting every day it stands," the ghost says softly to me.