"Guardian? Guardian? Eyes up, Guardian." My eyes flicker open, hands curling open and shut. "Guardian... it worked, you're alive! You don't know how long I've been looking for you." Lightning crackled in the black sky, interrupted periodically by loud peals of thunder. It was true, I was alive - how, I didn't know. A loud, alien cry pierced the sound of the oncoming storm.
The voice sounded urgent. "This is fallen territory." I looked up. Fallen? What was the little voice talking about? Surely this was all a joke. I wasn't really back from the dead and hearing a disembodied voice, and surely this was just punishment for misdeeds in my former life. Surely, this was Hell. I looked around at the rusty, abandoned cars, covered in snow. Wasn't Hell supposed to be hot? "Come on, Guardian. I didn't bring you back so you could die again." I look at the little floating cube that the voice is coming from.
As I try to form words, I cough violently. It sounds urgent still. "I'll answer all your questions once you're safe," it says, trying to nudge me forward. How it knew what I was thinking, I wasn't sure. But this little light seemed to know what it was talking about, so I followed it.
"I'm a Ghost," it states, "actually, now I'm your Ghost." Ghost? What was that? A tiny little robot with the power to resurrect the dead? Come on. I coughed some more trying to voice my disbelief. The ghost was having none of it, trying to push me forward. The alien cries got louder. I took a step forward.
The ghost led me out of the frozen field and into the wall that cut the land like a scar. "Quiet. The Fallen are right above us," it says, as an alien figure skitters away. I couldn't speak if I wanted to. I was angry - couldn't this ghost have let me rest in peace? Now I was running from some unseen threat, lost and confused. Not to mention cold. Wherever I was, it was cold, and my ears were going numb. At least it was a little warmer inside the wall. But it was dark, and the ghost appeared, floating away from me.
"Another one of those hardened military systems… and a few centuries of entropy working against me." I looked around nervously. I couldn't see anything, just rough shapes, but then old lights flickered on, and more alien forms scattered, afraid of the light.
Nearby, a gate opened, and Ghost, I had decided to call it, floated over toward it and said, "I found you a weapon. Quick, grab it!" I wasn't going to argue, the alien shrieks piercing the calm before the storm didn't exactly give me a choice. By the time we break free of the wall, rain is pouring from the sky in torrents, and within minutes, I am soaked to the bone, trying to defend myself against the "fallen".
Somehow I knew how to use this gun, and I knew that it was the only thing protecting me from another grave. Why was I fighting if I wanted to rest? I let the gun fall to the floor. Ghost hovers around me, puzzled. "What are you doing?" I cough and splutter, choking to life. "I don't want to fight," I murmured shakily at the little light, my throat cracking. "You have to," Ghost cried. "I brought you back for a reason. You are a Guardian now – born of the Light. You have to fight."
"I don't want to. I was just fine being dead. You," I paused, watching the tiny robot, "little light, why couldn't you find someone else?" It sighs, frustrated. "There was no one else." It nudged my hand toward the abandoned automatic rifle. "Please. The world needs you," it pleaded, blinking. "I need you." I picked up the rifle, sighing.
"I'm only doing this because I don't want to fall victim to an enemy I don't even recognize." The ghost replies, "Good enough," and promptly disappears. "Don't worry, I'm still with you," it assures me, and I start forward again.
We make it to the remains of an old jumpship, and the ghost appears from nowhere, scanning the ship. "Will it fly?" I ask, watching it. It looks at me, its parts whirring and conveying pride. "I can make it work." Of course, somehow I believed this little light, as it clicked and whirred above my head, I felt almost peaceful. This ghost would keep me safe.
"It won't warp to other planets, but it'll get us to the tower," Ghost says, beaming me up into the ship. "Come on, let's get you home."