"It worked! Guardian, you have no idea how long I've been looking for you."
Tisiphone took in a breath for the first time in what felt like centuries, and she shortly let out a violent cough as her lungs tried to clear themselves. Her body curled involuntarily in on itself, hands grasping at snow and dirt. There hadn't been snow on the ground, last she could remember. Though truth be told, she could remember very little. Shaking, she moved to pick herself up off the ground, but only made it to all fours, her bones groaning, muscles straining with the simple movement. Her eyes burned- the light was so bright- and her lungs themselves felt like dried jerky.
"You're actually alive." A bright, blue light was hovering around the woman's face, forcing her to squint in order to make out its shape. It was a machine, made up of red angled surfaces with a black orb in the center and a blue optic glowing out at her. This had to be the source of the voice speaking to her- there wasn't anything else around that was moving. Moving to sit down once more, Tis pushed it away from her face with an unceremonious shove.
"What are you?" Tis' voice rasped up from her throat, dry and cracking in the air. She went to shield her eyes with her hand, but paused, staring at her fingers. She knew, definitely, that they were hers, but they felt like a stranger's. Like she'd been switched into someone else's body entirely. She forced herself to stand, using the car she had lain next to for support. "What happened?" Her body was still armored- it looked old and worn. Surprisingly, her corpse had not scavenged, unless the machine had collected or synthesized some armor for her. Her helmet felt intact, as well- her newly recreated eyes were just overly sensitive, it would seem.
"I'm a Ghost. An autonomous, and sentient, creation of the Traveler. And now, I'm yours. You've been dead for quite some time. I brought you back." The machine, its back half twisting around, sounded proud of itself.
As Tis' eyes grew more accustomed to the light, she could see a vastly altered environment from what she remembered. Grass and weeds erupted from the surface of what had once been a massive highway, now gridlocked with long-rusted vehicles, the rest of its surface hidden beneath the grasses. She had been dead for a long time. "How- how long?"
"I'm not sure," the Ghost said. "I was created by the Traveler after the Collapse. But let's go- Earth isn't the same anymore. I have to get you to the City. Hold still." The Ghost, small and mostly unassuming, zipped toward Tis' head, causing her to flinch away, but it didn't matter. The Ghost fused with her helmet all the same, though very little seemed to have changed. "Let's go. I'll project a symbol to help guide you. You don't have a Sparrow link right now, either."
"So it's gonna be a long walk," Tis grumbled as a diamond appeared on her HUD. "And while we're on the way, you can tell me everything. Like why you keep calling me Guardian."
An alien howl echoed over the empty plain, causing a cold shiver to race down Tis' spine. "Let's find you a weapon, first," the Ghost said.
"And this is the Tower. The home of the Guardians. We have gunsmiths, armor vendors and a shipwright. The Speaker will want to see you first, though." Projecting another diamond into Tis' vision, the Ghost seemed to feel almost content. Their trek had taken quite some time, but it had done very little of the walking. Or floating. The Fallen were thorough scavengers, and had had centuries to pick the remains of Old Russia clean of anything that would have gotten them quicker travel. The Ghost had synthesized her, it said, with enough mass and hydration to not have to worry about either for several days, but that didn't stop her gut from rumbling at the mere thought of food. After the rumbling, a nearly palpable ache formed in her stomach. With a defeated sigh, the woman started toward the western portion of the Tower.
The Speaker's chamber housed an impressive structure of spinning metal, rings dancing inside of one another, all around a central orb of green light. Beyond it, through an expansive window, the Traveler itself could be seen, hovering quietly over the rest of the City. "There was a time when we were much more powerful," a soft, warm voice interrupted Tisiphone's thoughts. She looked over to the find the Speaker, a robed priest, anonymous and unreadable behind the white face of his mask. "But that was long ago. Until it wakes and finds its voice, I am the one who speaks for the Traveler," he said, sounding almost lonely as he turned to survey the giant machine. "You must have no end of questions, Guardian." He turned to look at Tis now, and she could almost feel him examining her, determining her worth. He likely saw thousands of Guardians, and who knew how many newly resurrected faces per day. He turned back to the Traveler, quiet for another moment. "In its dying breath, the Traveler created the Ghosts to seek out those who can wield its Light as a weapon- Guardians, to protect us, and do what the Traveler itself no longer can."
"What happened to it?" Tis asked, staring out at the blank surface of the Traveler. Much of it was still white, still pristine, but other portions looked rotten, decrepit. Such a massive creation, something so powerful couldn't have simply stopped working, given up. It couldn't have just died.
The Speaker took in a heavy breath and folded his hands together as he moved toward a small, spinning diorama of the solar system. "I could tell you of the Great Battle, centuries ago, how the Traveler was crippled. I could tell you of the power of the Darkness, its ancient enemy. There are many tales told throughout the City to frighten children. Lately, those tales have stopped. Now, the children are frightened anyway." That, it seemed, would be her only answer. Vague half-statements meant to say very little. At the same time, from the sounds of it, she was only missing out on a long, winding tale that she would likely learn on her own, later. "The Darkness is coming back," he continued. "We will not survive it this time." His tone was foreboding, but not apocalyptic. There had to be some hope in the Guardians.
"Its armies surround us. The Fallen are just the beginning," her Ghost said.
"What can I do?"
"You must push back the Darkness," the Speaker said, squaring his shoulders again as his hidden eyes returned to her. "Guardians are fighting on Earth and beyond. Join them. Your Ghost will guide you. I only hope he chose wisely." The Speaker turned now, quietly dismissing the newly formed pair as he strode back up his steps.
Tis glanced at the small floating machine. Apparently it was male. "I did," he said, proud of himself once again. "I'm sure of it. We're in this together now."
"I didn't see you do any of the walking," she griped at him. "Now, food," she said as she crossed the glass walkway out of the Speaker's chambers, a hand pressed into the armor over her abdomen.
Munching on a nutrition bar, Tis continued to watch the skies of the City. There were always ships coming or going, it seemed. Most of them came to the Tower itself, and at least half of them dropped off Guardians before piloting themselves away to the hangar, likely by the Ghosts. Her feet and back still ached, but there was a noticeable lack of nausea-inducing hunger. "So, every Guardian had their own ship?"
"Most of them," her Ghost said. "Scavenged, mostly, but the most successful can buy them newer with enough Glimmer."
"Seems to be the general state of things," Tis had been given a better weapon, free from the rust that marred the one they had been able to find, and a newer chest plate, but nothing else. Even Cayde-6, her Vanguard Commander, had little more than a finger point for her.
"The Tower and the City still have to have functioning economies. They can't give out everything for free. Be glad you got a new weapon with the one that we had to trade in."
Tis let out a low sigh, crumpling the wrapper of her meal into a ball. "So I guess I need a ship."
"I have a ship," a new voice said, and Tisiphone turned to find another woman staring at her with glowing blue eyes. An Awoken, with deep violet skin and jet black hair fashioned into a braid, which matched circular dots that crossed her face. "And I hear you have a gun. I'm in need of some help." This stranger crossed her arms, the muzzle of a sniper rifle peeking out from behind her knee. She was tall, lean, and her cloak was new. Her armor bore the signs of conflict, but it was definitely newer, definitely in a better state of repair.
"What kind of help?" Tis' eyes narrowed and her arms crossed her chest, mimicking the other's stance. Hopefully she wasn't looking for bait.
"I have a mission in the old Cosmodrome that requires a bit more firepower than I can muster alone. Some Hive troops have been spotted on Earth, and they can not be allowed to gain a foothold," the woman said. "My Ghost can send yours the data, see if you're interested." The woman's Ghost appeared, and its optic flashed as it transmitted something to Tis' own. "There's cash involved."
"I'll do it," Tis said, the decision made before she even had enough time to truly think it through. If her Ghost could revive her once, he could do it again. She was also in desperate need of a ship, and money, and at least if she had a partner, her odds of dying might decrease a bit.
"Good," the other woman nodded. "Get some sleep. We leave tomorrow before dawn, and you look like you're dead on your feet," she said before turning to disappear around a corner.
"You didn't even ask her name. You weren't distracted, were you guardian?" Tis' Ghost hovered around her shoulder, his tone obviously teasing. "Lucky for you, I got it from her Ghost."
"I didn't ask your name, either," she said, tone pointed. "Do you even have a name?"
"That's because I raised you from the dead. If someone does something like that for you, you don't need to know their name. She just proposed something that might return you to the grave."
"You brought me back from a heap of bones. I'm sure you can fix a bullet to the brain," Tis waved a hand, trying not to think about whether or not being shot in the head actually hurt.
"Her name is Megaera, by the way, and she's been at this for a while. Typically solo, from what her Ghost's records show. They were assigned a mission by Cayde-6 to eradicate what seems to be a Hive nest. If she's gathering allies, it's going to be a fight."
"What is a Hive nest?"
"The Hive are a race of, well, monsters that appear to be servants to the Darkness. We don't know that much, truthfully, but if they're on Earth, that means bad things are going to be happening."