Haunted Earth.
Large quadrupedal machines stand dormant around the checkpoint's boundary. Oppressively long shadows cast off of the towering constructs as the sun begins to leave its high place in the sky.
"This is it," Spark announces, as she leads her partner between the legs of one of the mechanical giants.
The pair enter one of the military checkpoint's mostly still intact buildings.
"Find anything useful yet?" Klutz asks across the room to his helpful partner as he idly fondles the strange black card in his pocket.
"I think so!" Spark replies excitedly.
Klutz joins her to see she has discovered a locked gun case that has somehow survived untouched over the dozens of years in this neglected place. The Ghost emits a beam of energy at the lock, and after a moment, it pops open. Klutz opens the case to reveal a single revolver style handgun from a time long past. He removes the weapon from its housing, along with eight bullets.
"I can synthesize more ammo for you if I have access to the right materials… Hopefully I won't need to," Spark says softly.
Klutz inspects the firearm in a manner that demonstrates extensive experience, before loading it with his limited ammunition. "I agree. I don't look forward to meeting those creepy things. I've seen them watching from the buildings for hours," he says before holstering his weapon.
"Sooner or later, we will have to meet them," Spark utters with concern. "I know you have the power to fight them, even if you don't feel it yet."
Klutz looks to his Ghost with serious curiosity and says, "You mentioned something about that before. Said I could 'wield the Light.'"
The Ghost is still as she looks at her friend and answers, "Yes, the same way I can use the Light as a tool to heal your wounds and bring you back from death. You can use it as a weapon."
"How?" asks the man plainly.
Spark pauses for a brief moment and says, "I don't know for sure, but when the time comes, I imagine it will come to you as naturally as swinging your fist."
Rays of light peek between buildings as the sun hangs low enough to hide behind them. Klutz does what he can to avoid deeper sections of the swamp as the pair venture further through the city. His boots keep out most of the water, but as evident by the uncomfortable squishing of his soaked socks, they are only so effective.
"We aren't far now!" the little light says somewhat anxiously.
"You said we have to cut through a tunnel, right?" asks the man as he does what he can to ignore his less than ideal sock situation.
"Yeah about that… I didn't want to worry you before, but this tunnel I mentioned is something of an 'addition' to this city."
Klutz looks at her confused.
"The Hive, it's what we call those things that live in the dark spaces of this place, they constructed this tunnel some time ago," Spark sheepishly confesses.
"So we are going to have to fight through them?" Klutz asks with a slight tremble in his speech.
Spark tries to reassure him, "I don't think so. I've been around here before, and I've never seen any of them come through this tunnel. I think most of them are living far deeper down and this tunnel has been essentially abandoned." She can see on his face that her reassurance wasn't totally effective. "Believe me, this is the safest way to where we are going, and if we do run into any trouble, I'm sure you can handle it."
With a little more confidence in his movement, Klutz readies himself and says, "Let's put that to the test."
The duo approach the gaping maw of the visibly unsettling tunnel. Dark grey, almost organic looking material, makes up the structure of The Hive's hideous construction.
Klutz looks into the darkness beyond the opening, half expecting to see the horrific green glow of the eyes that he has seen watching him from the dark corners of the city throughout the day.
"I'm sure everything will be fine," says Spark, trying to bolster the confidence of her partner.
She shines her light as bright as she can, but visibility is still quite low in the oppressive darkness of the tomb they are about to venture into. Klutz readies his weapon and steps through the knee high water and down into the darkness.
The walls of this frightening chasm are built in chaotically arranged layers of dark chitinous matter that give off a strange and suffocating feeling of dread.
Spark gets the man's attention "I have to be honest with you," she says in a quiet sheepish voice. "The Darkness here makes it very difficult for me to help you."
The man looks at her with a worried expression.
"What I mean is, something about this place weakens my connection to the Light… So if something horrible happens to you, it will take me a long time to bring you back on my own. Truth be told, I'm not sure I'll be able to bring you back at all."
Without saying anything, Klutz walks carefully through the water, making sure not to misplace a step. As he inches through the wide passage, the light of his Ghost illuminates large metal chains that dangle from the ceiling. Many of these chains are ended by huge sharp hooks. Klutz tries his best not to think about their disturbing purpose.
Now fairly deep into the dark abyss, Klutz spots a dim red glow emitting from a collapsed section in the wall.
"I don't think that's Hive," Spark says quietly.
"Maybe it's a shortcut out of here?" Klutz replies with genuine optimism.
"I doubt it, but it's worth investigating," says the normally quite hopeful Ghost.
The pair move close to the space that the light is coming from. Spark floats up into the hole to make sure it's safe before signaling Klutz to climb up to join her. Inside they find themselves in what appears to be an old access corridor for the city's subway system. Following the dim glow to its source, the pair find that it is coming out of some kind of small device fixed to the dead end wall of the corridor.
"What is it?" Klutz asks as Spark moves her light around to look for some clue.
As she scans her lamp over the area. She stops on a strange logo illustrated near the top of the wall. The logo depicts a tall white arch with three arrows pointing away toward three smaller symbols, a butterfly, a hook, and a hand.
Klutz looks for a moment before it dawns on him. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the black card he found on his person when he was first revived.
"Spark, can you give me some light, please?" The Ghost shines light, allowing the man to see the white symbols that adorn his card.
Comparing the symbols on his card to the image on the wall shows them to be a perfect match, aside from a little wear on the card from the decades it spent in the wallet of a dead man.
After thinking for a moment, Klutz holds the card to the small glowing device. The black card is lit by the dim red glow briefly, before the glow suddenly turns bright green. The wall in front of them begins to rise, revealing it to in fact be some sort of hidden door. Quickly opening the entrance to a seemingly untouched room, hidden for centuries. Lights flip on, showering the room in sterile brightness. After a brief look around, the duo step inside.