Under the sun's radiance the Guardian had moved through the jungle surveying the area. His goal was not an easy one, still the Guardian knew better than to simply give up.

Not having much of an understanding of the place was severe not knowing were a near outpost or city was certainly unpleasant.

Still If they wanted to figure out which direction, they're were supposed to be headed an overall view of the place would help. So, the Guardian had started ascending a big mountain carefully avoiding dangerous steps.

The mountain was a steep one the Guardian carefully maneuvered through the rocks trying his best to avoid troublesome areas. The trek up the mountain was boring to say the least, yet he preferred that over an unlucky occurrence any day. The Guardian was near the peak of the mountain drawing closer with each step.

I hope were not to far from a local station it'd be a real bother otherwise.

They hoped getting assistance from the locals could help, but that was also depended if there were people here at all. He'd managed to near the mountain's peak with every step taken he came closer and what awaited him was a sight to behold.

Positioned on the ridge the Guardian observed, the jungle he was currently at reached the outer edges, ahead a beautiful blue sea that gleamed, and in the far distance a city built on water, but what caught him off guard was the floating islands in the sky.

The landscape or island they were on seemed to be floating in the sky, the Guardian was awe struck they were on a planet that had floating continents.

"Well… This is certainly unexpected." Blink stared at the scenery ahead.

"You can say that again." The Guardian agreed gazing at the flying landmass, sure back on Earth they had the equivalent like the Traveler, but opposite to the miniscule sphere a person wasn't able set foot on it.

"Lucky for us there's a city way for there. We can ask them for help." He pointed to the city in the distance.

"Then let's make haste the sooner we depart the better." The Ghost suggested. The Guardian nodded carefully jumping of the hilltop's edges.

All the way down he resumed moving, as the Guardian plodded through the jungle, he was quick to pick up contact from his rear as his motion tracker had picked up movement, though they didn't know if they were civilians or hostiles. However, it seemed they had decided on keeping a fair distance away. Blink was quick to spot and commented on it.

"Looks like were not alone." The Ghost warned.

"They don't seem hostile for the moment, but that can easily change." He replied watching the motion tracker carefully.

The Guardian decided to let those following him continue to do so. Whoever did their best to keep a good distance away. No doubt trying to determine if he was hostile or not. As much as wanted to turn and face these trackers, he refrained from doing so.

He played along with their little game pretending not to have noticed them, this way he could keep an eye out on his sensors. Every now and then he occasionally stopped turning to a different direction. As a result, his tailers spread out in pattern that looked like pinch attack.

These people had a basic understanding of military tactics and did there best to keep themselves hidden in the undergrowth. As far he could tell there were a dozen or so.

As they turned about Blink commented.

"They don't seem to keen on attacking us yet, if they were part of the Fallen, Cabal or Vex they would've attacked us by now."

"I guess, but even so we don't know who they are or what they are. No reason not to be cautious." The Guardian replied.

"Let's standby for now if they attack us, we'll intercept them."

"What is that?"

The group of people who were tailing the Guardian who walked through the undergrowth were the inhabitants of the Auguste Isles, they had their own share of troubles caused by the Empire. The group pursuing the Guardian were mercenaries passing by the area, they had seen enough for today, but now they were perusing an enemy possibly.

They were patrolling the area when they spotted the armored thing, they had no clue as to what it was. The armored being came into view. It looked human and wore foreign armor, a mask-like helmet with a black face plate that hid its face from them with a cloak with a hood attached to it.

It seemingly came out of nowhere and bewildered them… Even though they had seen many horrors and wonders over the years, the sight of this being before them was unlike anything the group had ever seen before in their lives.

They managed to keep their distance from the being as they watched, when he turned to look at their direction, they did their best to keep themselves hidden. The band of trackers looked at the human shaped thing with worry, they'd never seen anything like it before sure it wasn't as big as a Primal beast. But one could never dismiss the possibility of it being a threat.

"Have you seen anything like that before?"

"No, is it a monster?"

No one of them shook his head.

"I think it's a knight..."

"A knight with a gun? Do you know how crazy that sounds?"

"… What if it its part of the Empire."

Another one shook his head.

"I doubt it. Its armor looks way different than that of the Empire."

The leader, Eugen looked at the armored figure with some concern in the time he hadn't quite seen something like this before and the weapon it had on were unlike anything he'd seen before as well, it easily resembled a gun they would carry, but that one looked way different.

Eugen weighed his options and decided they would keep track of this thing and determine if it was a threat. If it was, they would have to try and stop it from reaching the city, though he had his doubts on how they'd be able fight this thing. He however knew his duties and wasn't in the mood for any mistakes with such an unknown being. He took out his musket and forward to continue tracking the dark armored figure.

While they followed the Guardian, several suggestions flew between the group which were kept hushed as to not attract the attention of their target they were tracking. Meanwhile Eugen was still trying his best to weigh his choices. Should he approach peacefully or attack swiftly and hope that they could deal with it became a threat? Observe it and hope it steered away from any settlements? So many thoughts ran through the veteran's mind head as he kept his eyes focused on his target.

Every so often the group stopped walking when the Guardian turned to look around hoping to avoid him and when he moved, they would speak again to determine their course of action while trying to find anything what this stranger was.

Little did the band realize, the Ghost listened in on their hushed and private discussions.

The conversation from his trackers told the Ghost they had experience enough, having above average communication skills. From their tone pitches he figured out that they were male, one lucky thing was they could understand what they were saying.

"Their somewhat hesitant, probably confused." Blink said.

"They mentioned something about an empire…?" The Guardian questioned.

"Most likely an adversary of theirs." Blink replied.

Here he was with Blink on an unknown planet with unknown beings tracking him. They were certainly not the Vex that much was clear since they weren't fond of speaking were they potentially colonists that fled the Earth during

He could have turned around and dealt with his pursuers easily enough, but he had to make sure that he made his choices clear to him. Even if he was a Guardian, he wasn't going to take any risk and antagonize any potential allies, however the Guardian decided that it was the right time lose and turn the tables for a change, Blink was quick to pick up on the idea.

"Good idea at least we can see just who is tracking us."

With that the Guardian exploded off, speeding through the trees. This was a light jog for the Guardian, but the sudden movement startled his pursuers.

"What the!"

Eugen and his men were shocked when the armored figure suddenly took off before their eyes with such speed and agility that was more than what they had expected from the armored being. They tried to chase after it but when they finally arrived at a nearby clearing, the thing had just vanished from sight. Eugen had no idea what to do in this situation.

Unbeknownst to him and the rest of his team they were now the ones to be observed by the Guardian and his Ghost companion. The Guardian was hiding behind several large rocks that managed give a hidden wall of rock with a crack in it as the Guardian looked through.

The Guardian and Blink looked at their pursuers… They were humans… But amongst those humans were a couple unknown to them.

"Who are they?" Blink asked shocked.

The Guardian looked at the group trying to make sense of what he was seeing. They appeared human sized and had the exact same body profile as humans, some however were superficially different from humans, they had a pair of furry ears on top of their heads and strangely enough their clothes left their back exposed.

Group were band of mercenaries were fully clothed with armored thigh and hip guards with a scaly pattern design and red headbands. Their weapons varied ranging from daggers, swords, staffs and guns, then the Guardian spoke.

"What are those with the ears, Blink?"

For once Blink was speechless at least for a moment or two until he spoke.

"I'm not sure perhaps an off shoot of humans maybe, they could be mutations and the like. But I'm not sure of that… Some of them are humans, but they don't seem to recognize anything were carrying. In fact, their weaponry and armor are almost like what was used during the 1700s."

This left the Guardian with more questions with answers, but the most important one.

What kind planet did him and Blink land in?

He was soon shaken from his train of thought when several loud cries were heard and out of nowhere came a large number of other beings. The Guardian was quick to turn and face them, and both he and Blink were surprised once more.

The new arrivals were certainly different from the ones they had been studying a few minutes again. They were green skinned humanoids, with long tusk like teeth that jutted from their lower jaws, broad noses, pointed ears and some of their eye colors varied from red to yellow. While some of the first race was human like in form and appearance, this new group was clearly different, and their choice of armor showed that as they wore armor in different parts on their body made of leather and metal.

Some of them carried axes, spears or a sword with shield. Others were dressed in robes that add odd symbols on them and they seemed to have some sort of energy flowing through their hands.

One thing that the Guardian noted about the new arrivals what was common were the skulls around the waist.

"Who or what are they?" Blink asked amazed at what he was witnessed, he got his answer to his question by one of the mercenaries.

"Goblins!" The now identified beings roared out and raised their weapons and aimed it at the other group.

The Guardian watched as the two groups suddenly fought one another, the men fired their weapons into the Goblins and managed to kill a number of them who were charging at them at full speed. This however didn't seem deter the Goblins as a few of them returned the favor by throwing their spears and firing their own arrows into the mercenary' ranks crippling several in the process. Some with scratches and others with more serious wounds.

The mercenaries with the staves started to assist and to the shock of the Guardian, the men unleashed small tornadoes that stopped several Goblins and sent them flying into the air.

"Wow." Blink gasped to what was going on before him.

Not willing to be outdone the Goblins began to unleash their own magic hit the battlefield, waves of fire and dark glowing bolts of red energy flew into the air and struck at the mercenaries. Some of the men suddenly were screaming in pain and dropping their guns, some of the men were burned by the bolts of fire.

The Guardian Weighed his options quickly, he knew that getting involved in this fight between a unknown species and one somewhat unknown both possessing unknown abilities that could possible spark a dynamite of trouble, the last thing though was to be the spark that set it all off.

On the other hand, these mercenaries or whatever they were could hold answers that he might need. He knew that his decisions could determine his fate with one blow, yet he had no other option as he knew nothing of the land and from what he could see from the way the Goblins attacked, they were brutal. The Guardian had been trained to see the state of a person's being and from what he could see in the way the Goblins fought, they were murderous and fanatical, not the sort one allied with unless in dire straits. As it stood the mercenaries seemed like the better choice to help.

"We're going in." He finally said.

Blink let out a sigh.

"I was afraid you'd say that. Just one question, which party will we assist in this confrontation?"

The Guardian responded by positioning his Stillpiercer to his shoulder and taking aim at his target.

/

BANG!

One of the Goblins had just enough time to let out one last roar before it lost its head. The mercenaries and the remaining members of the Goblins looked on in shock and stopped dead in their tracks as the Shaman who was providing support for Goblins hit the ground as a headless corpse.

Another shot rang in the air as the round smashed into a Hobgoblin. The impact left a gaping hole in the Goblin's chest. He could only gape in shock as he watched a river of his own blood flooded out of his mouth and chest as he dropped dead.

It wasn't just them as two more Goblins were suddenly shot with two the same roars being heard at the very same time and the first Goblin had half his arm and a portion of his chest ripped off by the sheer force of whatever it was that hit him. The second also had a massive hole where his stomach used to be, and he was sent to hit the ground with a thump.

The silence that followed left both groups stunned but some of the Goblins tried to attack once more, only to be greeted by another roar that ripped the leg of another Goblin with brutal force and then something landed on the ground with a thump on the ground before several Goblin and then an explosion occurred, and as the smoke cleared, several Goblins cried out in pain and shock as some had their limbs blown off while some had gaping wounds on their bodies.

The mercenaries tried to figure pot what had happened; they had lost their target and then were attacked by Goblins and their forces and now it seemed that something was killing the Goblins.

It was then that the two sides were able to see something come out from a cave a fair distance from them all. It was the Guardian himself who still carried that strange gun. The Guardian said nothing and fired another bullet, this time it cut into three of the still stunned Goblins and literally killed all three of them. The bullet tore through their bodies like they were not even there.

The Goblins roared and charged right at the black armored being who made his rifle vanish and took out another one, charging into the Goblins and began to fire. The sounds of the weapon firing, the flash of fire, the unmistakable smell of gun powder and the deaths of the Goblins was shocking to the stunned mercenaries as they could only watch as the soldier tore into the green creatures.

The Guardian was quick on his feet, cutting down several of the Goblins with shots of his Hawkmoon Hand cannon, the ones that got close tried to cut the Guardian down with their weapons, but they were not going to get far as the Guardian lashed out with powerful counter attacks.

One Hobgoblin was sent flying back with a powerful strike to the face, another got kicked in the chest and sent smashing hard into another tree, breaking several ribs. One more got kneed and was shot in the face with a round of his Hawkmoon. The rest of the Goblin were soon finding out that attacking the Guardian was a serious mistake as the unknown being was proving to be deadly in close combat.

The Guardian quickly reloaded his Hawkmoon while taking out his Hunter Knife and slashed out with such speed and accuracy and cut down several Goblin by cutting while evading their weapons. Once they dropped dead, more Goblins were cut down, the Kinetic rounds of the Hawkmoon were more than enough to slice through the armor worn by the Goblins with ease that scared the ones watching on both sides as the rounds sliced through the Goblins.

The Guardian threw his Hunter Knife right into the chest of another attacking Goblin armed with a sword and shield and before the Goblin could even look to see the weapon thrusted deeply in his chest, the Guardian introduced the Hawkmoon into his face and blasted the Goblin bullseye, The round easily tore into Goblin's head green gush exploding from its head.

The slaughter had resumed when he retrieved his knife, one of the surviving Shaman unleashed a powerful fireball at the Guardian, and this time he was hit as he turned at the sight of the fireball.

The Goblins that were still alive roared in triumph and the mercenaries thought that their unexpected ally was dead, but that was changed when several Goblins were suddenly shredded along with the Hobgoblin who stumbled a bit due to the bullets that tore into in as he dropped dead. The Goblins that survived looked on in terror as the Guardian appeared from the fire unharmed.

The Hobgoblins roared in anger and tried to unleash yet another assault but the Guardian was quick to attack at high speed and cut them down swiftly, the Hobgoblins were easily cut down and the rest of the Goblins tried to attack once more, only to be greeted by the Guardians's energy shields that was unknown to them and their weapons bounced off, unleashing blue energy as the Guardian retaliated with the Hawkmoon.

As soon as he was done making sure that the Goblins were all dead, he turned to his attention to the mercenaries after loading a fresh magazine to his Hawkmoon and decided to talk to them.

This left the mercenaries who were still shocked at the sight of the Guardian walking towards them through battlefield seemingly unharmed. They had seen before battles as well, but this was something that was unlike any battle that they had been in, all due to the fact that so many of the enemy had been slaughtered by only one person. As soon as he was before them, they were tense and ready to defend themselves lest he turned on them as well, though they doubted that they were going to have any success. However, the unknown being retreated his weapons and they finally heard his voice.

"Who are you and why were you following me?"

Eugen then decided to speak out, since this behemoth seemed to speak the human language, she decided to use the human tongue to find out who or what was this being.

"I'm Eugen the leader of this group, who are you?"

The Guardian stared at the apparent leader known as Eugen and that was when Blink spoke.

"Normally I'd suggest not revealing any critical information but were short on intel and you don't have to dive into specifics. I do suggest you mention what you are after that little show they might think you're some sort of demon."

The Guardian chuckled a bit and replied to Blink.

"You can call me Guardian, a member of the Vanguard."

This seemed to confuse the mercenaries more confusion than expected. He didn't no what he could do judging by their reaction it meant they most likely never heard about the Guardians or the Vanguard. But he decided to give out some information and sure enough, they did, or at least Eugen did as he was the leader.

"What is this Vanguard you speak of?" He asked curiously.

"It is the faction I serve currently." The Guardian replied

Eugen looked at the being, though he had to lean his neck back a little, there was no doubt in his head that staring at his faceplate with his own reflection looking back at him had a troubling effect. But he was a veteran soldier he wasn't going to let himself be intimidated so easily, but one thing was for certain from the way he fought the Goblins he could tell he was an experienced soldier like himself.

"Very well… Guardian what race are you?" Eugen finally asked. To that he replied with one word.

"Exo."

Needless to say, the Guardian's response had confused the mercenaries. Exo… What was an Exo? They all had no idea, but if such a strong warrior like him existed where their more like him?

So many questions were flying through everybody's mind, but Eugen had two and he wasn't going to let them stay in his head.

"What's an Exo?"

"I'm not human that's all you need to know." The Guardian replied.

"Well can you at least show your face to us." Eugen asked.

Eugen frowned at that he was slightly annoyed but kept is temper in check and reminded himself that fighting this thing wasn't the best course of action. Considering how easily dealt with the Goblin force, he still had another question and decided to ask it quickly.

"No, I'd rather not I'm afraid you guys might wet yourselves." Guardian replied with shake of his head.

"All right for my next question. Is this Vanguard you're associated with the Erste Empire."

"No." The Guardian shook his head again.

Now Eugen was even more confused then before, here was a supposed being who was telling he was not from the Empire. This confused him a lot and he was nowhere near any answers that made sense to him, for now however he decided to shelve those questions aside for the moment and focus on the more pressing issue.

"Where were you going?"

The Exo then replied.

"To the city. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get moving."

The Guardian turned and began to head off in a different direction in order to get to the city, but before he could go anywhere, the man was in front of him and to his surprise, as well as that of Blink, he had his rifle aimed right at his visor. This man had guts to be aiming a gun at him since the shields of the Wildwood hunter armor would absorb it. The other mercenaries were admired by this, hence why didn't stop their leader from her actions.

That showed that they respected had for their leader and the Guardian could understand that, he however replied quickly and patiently.

"Why are you aiming that at me?"