Two days after the attack
A falcon flies through the air into the unknown. The Traveler appears and stone is lifted into pillars beneath it. Underneath the water lies a deep unrest, with hundreds of humans grasping for safety. Several pyramids fall deeper into those waters. A giant behemoth eating worlds. An electric staff, a flaming sword, a shield made of the Void. All of this follows the falcon as it flies towards a large shard of the Traveler.
Waking up from whatever the hell that was just now, Adora stood up. There was fire everywhere with explosions being heard in the distance. She walked slowly towards what was left of the city in both an attempt to not be seen by the patrolling Red Legion but also because she couldn't muster the strength to move faster.
Making her way through the debris, she noticed the Red Legion's ships scouting for survivors. She stood completely still under a broken bridge, hoping for the ship's searchlight to go away. With nothing of note to find, it did leave, and Adora moved faster with hopes she could, but she couldn't and even more pain spread through her body. Clutching her sides she did her best to get to safety quietly, especially with how much her body felt like there were knives in her trying to come out.
"Guardian!!!"
After hearing a familiar voice, Adora moved even faster. It was extremely painful but she needed to find her friend. She began to notice a familiar light shine through another bridge. It was Light Hope.
"This is awful-awful! This can't be happening…?"
As Adora heard her friend say the same things she was thinking, she also heard how broken her Ghost sounded. She tried to run to her but fell almost immediately from the pain. She groaned in pain as quietly as she could, thankfully only her Ghost was close enough to hear.
"Adora?" Light Hope floated toward her guardian and began to heal Adora's wounds. "You're alive… I thought I'd lost you."
Adora smiled towards her Ghost, showing her bruises beginning to heal. "Hey come on, you know I'm tougher than that." She joked in a vain attempt to make their situation better.
"Adora, I can heal you, but I can't resurrect you. Not since…" Light Hope trailed off silently, Adora knowing full well why.
"The Light… it's?" Adora asked but she already knew the answer.
"Guardian… the Light is gone. They've taken the City, the Traveler, everything…"
Adora bowed her head in anger and sadness. Her home, everything she ever knew, was gone in an instant. She did her best to fight back her tears, knowing full well she was no longer safe in her own city. But that didn't stop a few tears from streaking down her face. Light Hope then began to nuzzle Adora with the hopes of trying to numb a bit of this pain.
"The Red Legion is killing powerless Guardians. We have to get out of here," Light Hope said and Adora agreed.
Moving through the rubble Adora noticed a small hole in the wall, barely big enough to walk through. Carefully walking through the hole she thought that it was rather strange. Normally she would have done anything to stay here and protect, to have fun with her friends, to have some food with Catra. Now every part of her mind is screaming at her that she needs to run. As Adora continues to move through the hole, Light Hope picks up a signal.
"I'm picking up an emergency broadcast. Rendezvous coordinates. They're evacuating the planet."
This was the final nail in the coffin. Adora wanted so very much to believe that this was just some dream. A nightmare she couldn't wake up from. But that message was all the confirmation she needed to understand reality.
"We're on our own…" Adora says as she exits the hole in the wall and begins to find someplace safe. She keeps moving nonstop for four days to the city Outskirts and comes upon a falcon that flies over a nearby destroyed outpost. She notices the corpses and grimaces at their fate.
"These Guardians… they had no chance without their powers. That could be us." Light Hope said with little to no emotion in her voice. "Adora if you die… I can't resurrect you. We must be very careful."
Adora nodded as she then noticed a submachine gun. It was inches away from a Guardian's corpse. Were this before the attack she might have left the gun there in respect of the dead, but without the Light she would have been lucky to make it any farther. Grabbing the gun she began to continue her search for a safe haven, but before she left she plucked a nearby flower and left it at the foot of the Guardian's body.
Once her respects were paid, she heard a roar from a beast she had never heard before. Turning around she saw a red creature with sharp teeth, back frills, and metal plate on its head with a symbol of the Red Legion. Imagining that these were the equivalent to a Cabal hound she fired away at it, watching it go down with little to no challenge. More of these War Beasts were heard and they soon began to overwhelm her. After a few shots one of the final beasts leaped onto her back and dug its claws right into her. Screaming with pain she grabbed the beast by the head and threw it over her, firing continuously until her clip was empty.
Once she was done shooting she knelt down to the ground while Light Hope healed her, trying to think of what to do. She suddenly heard the flapping of wings and noticed the same falcon from before fly in a circle. Thinking back, she remembered her weird dream… vision? She went with vision, a flying falcon with a purpose. Shaking her head, Adora continues her journey, thinking now wasn't the time to blindly follow some dream-vision-thing.
As she continues her long trek she finds herself near Twilight Gap. A legendary place where Guardians held off insurmountable enemies and came out victorious. She could taste the irony in the air with how she moved carefully through the snow. Looking around she saw the same falcon from several days ago.
"It's that Falcon again. Is it following us…or are we following it?"
Adora doesn't answer as she continues to move, not even having an answer at the moment as she is too focused on their survival. Coming along the edge of the Gap, she hugs the rocks with everything she has and doing everything else she can to not look down. As she moves she notices the Traveler is slightly more trapped in whatever it was that enveloped it. She wants nothing more than to just head back to the city and take out as many Red Legion as she could, but the overhead enemy ship reminded her that she was nowhere near ready to step foot anywhere close to the city.
Moving up the mountain more of the Cabal War Beasts attacked her. Thankfully she learned from her first fight with them that she needs to keep her distance and to not let them overwhelm her. It wasn't easy but with a few lucky shots and the ancient art of punching she pulled through. Once she saw the falcon aging she was beginning to wonder why it was here. Once she jumped over a few ledges she saw the falcon perch itself on one of them. Something in Adora's head was telling her to go after it and this time she listened. She jumped to where the falcon was but just as she got close she just barely missed the ledge and fell tumbling down.
"Oh shanks!" Adora screamed as the rock and ground hit her. Once she hit solid ground after that steep slope she slowly opened her eyes and saw someone in a blue and red poncho.
"Oh look, somebody left a perfectly good Guardian lying around." This new woman says as she grabs Adora's hand and pulls her up. "Things must be worse off than I thought."
Suddenly a louder noise, most likely a cannon going off, spooked Adora. And Light Hope. With how things have been in the past week they were both understandingly on edge. But the new woman was anything but surprised.
"And … that's our cue. Time to go, people!" The woman ordered the now visible survivors.
"Ah, but… wait! Where… where are you all going?" Light Hope asked, tired and confused.
"As far away from here as possible." The woman said. Then a loud caw could be heard and the three looked up into the sky to see the same falcon that was around for this whole journey perched onto this woman's arm. Both Guardian and Ghost looked at each other in surprise.
"That falcon… it belongs to you?" Adora asked
"The name's Hawthorne. And this is Louis. Best pilot we got. What about you? Fit to fly?" The now named Hawthorne asked.
Adora saw the ships behind Hawthorne. They were not in the best condition but looked like they were at least capable of short range flight. She gave a small nod of what little confidence she had right now.
"Probably gonna need one of these, too."
Hawthorne throws Adora a shotgun. She grabs it and does a quick once over of it. Like most things right now, the shotgun had seen better days, but Adora wasn't in the mood to be very picky. She would take all the help and firepower she could get.
"Time to make yourself useful, Guardian." Hawthorne says, with a bit of irritation at the word Guardian. "All right people, spin 'em up! Got a long flight ahead of us!"
Adora makes a run for her new ship. It honestly is a flying pile of scrap right now but if she could get to somewhere safe she would deal with it. As she lets Light Hope fly the ship, Adora wonders how these people have survived to this point. And when they were flying towards their destination, the European Dead Zone as Hawthorne called it, she saw the same Shard of the Traveler she saw in her vision.
"Look! Do you recognize it? That's where we're supposed to go." Light Hope said with the most enthusiasm and excitement she had since before this whole mess.
"That thing? They call it the Shard of the Traveler. I call it: not a place you want to go poking around." Hawthorne exclaims as they make their way to what looked like an old farm. Most of it was in shambles but it seemed to be in a good enough condition to house the remaining survivors.
Transmitting to the ground, Adora took note of her surroundings and noticed someone she hadn't seen since she was at the Iron Temple, Tyra Karn, a Cryptarch. She walks towards Tyra with hopes that she is ok.
"Oh, I'm glad to see you safe. I am Trya, Tyra Karn-I'm sorry, have we met before? Losing my connection to the Light has been… disorienting."
Adora could feel a punch to the gut when Tyra said those words. They may not have been that close but knowing that a friend of hers had forgotten her was sad to hear.
"Yeah… we know each other. We met at the Iron Temple, you helped me stop a very big evil from destroying the city." Adora says solemnly.
"Hm, I assume that was before all this?" Tyra gestures to the whole of the farm.
Adora nods but says nothing. She doesn't really know what to do in this situation. What can she do? She's no Warlock and even if she was she doesn't think she could be much help for Tyra right now.
"Well I am glad we were able to stop… whatever it was we stopped. Now, I understand you seek the Shard of the Traveler. I, too, have dreamt of it. It's jagged, broken edge. A wound that never heals. But I do not trust its pull. Like us, the Shard no longer knows the Light; not since the Traveler cast it off during the Collapse. For Centuries it has twisted and corrupted everything around it. Where it lies now was a place of death. If you are determined to go, remember: we Guardians are no longer immortal." Trya says giving Adora some worry but not enough to deter her.
"Thanks for the warning Trya. I'll try to keep that in mind." Adora says as she turns around to leave.
"Oh wait! I believe I have something for you before you leave." Trya pulls out a Titan mark that looks brand new.
"Thanks, but I don't have any glimmer to pay for this." Adora says sadly, as she really wanted something new to wear.
"Oh don't worry. This is free of charge. Think of it as a gift from your old friend Tyra. Besides if you do go after the Shard you'll need as much protection as you can get. Why not wear it with something a bit less tattered." Tyra says, slightly joking.
Adora goes from the mark, slightly hesitating to grab it before Tyra grabs her hand and places it in her palm. Adora looks at Trya and she nods in thanks as she puts it on. It wasn't much to change how destroyed the rest of her armor was but it was an improvement. She was about to find out where Hawthorne was as she walked through the Farm but was suddenly tackled by two familiar guardians, Bow and Glimmer!
"ADORA!" both of them yelled as they hugged her. She was so surprised she couldn't even process that she was now crying too, embracing both of her friends. This went on for a few minutes because quite frankly this was the calmest moment any of them had had in a long time. Both of her friends armor looked just as destroyed as hers so she was ecstatic to see them alive and well.
"Oh man I thought I lost you guys!" Adora says as she finally pulls away from the hug.
"Us too! We're so glad to see you alive!" Glimmer says as she wipes the tears from her eyes. Her Ghost Angella floating by her side.
"WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" Bow screams and continues to ugly cry. His Ghost George was doing the Ghost equivalent of a sweat drop.
"Hey if you guys are here does that mean Catra is too? Adora asks as she turns her head around trying to find her girlfriend.
Both of her friends kind of go quiet for a second and Adora gets worried. "Yeah she's here but she's not exactly in a great mood." Bow says, scratching the back of his head.
Glimmer points to the section of the Farm with the ships and Adora makes her way to it. She looks inside and sees a bunch of mechanical work as well as Scorpia and Entrapta-6. Scorpia was leaning against a wall and Entrapta-6 was fixing up part of a ship. In the very back of the room she noticed Catra was sitting on a crate with her back to the world.
"Catra?" Adora says barely louder than a whisper and Catra leaps from her seat, turns around and runs to Adora to give her a much needed hug for the both of them.
"You idiot. I thought I was never going to see you again." Catra says as she tries to contain her tears.
"Hey I told you I wasn't going to do anything stupid." Adora says, reminding her girlfriend of the last thing she said to her before the City's takeover. Catra pulls away from the hug and looks at Adora angrily.
"This isn't a joke Adora! You could have died. And now all of a sudden I'm hearing of a Guardian wanting to run out into the woods to go after that Shard. I wonder who would be stupid enough to do something like that huh?" Catra yells at Adora.
"Look I get it but if we have any chance to take back the City we need the Light. That Shard may be our only way to get it right now." Adora says as she tries to plead with Catra to see her reason.
"No, what you need is to stay safe!"
"Look Catra…" Adora tries to find the words to comfort her girlfriend right now but she can't think of a single thing.
"No. I don't want to hear it. If you want to go gallivanting off to do some dangerous stupid adventure then you can just forget it. I am not going to lose you over this." Catra says as she holds Adora's hands close to her chest and pleads. "Please don't do this."
Adora says nothing for a minute before giving her answer. "Catra… if there is even the smallest chance we can save our home we have to take it. No matter the cost."
Those last words broke Catra. Adroa was putting the world before herself, again. It was her nature and Catra knew it, she just hoped that for once she could just ignore it. She lets go of Adora and goes back to sitting in her spot. She says nothing, leaving Adora worried she might have said the wrong thing. As she leaves the area she turns towards Scorpia.
"Hey, mind keeping an eye on her for me?" Adora asks, knowing the answer already.
"Way ahead of you. Try to come back for our girl ok? I don't think she can take much more of this." Scorpia says, worrying for her best friend.
Adora nods and begins to head towards Hawthorne. She noticed that she seemed a bit overwhelmed. Louis was on his own personal perch being a bit jittery. Poor guy was probably used to being around only a handful of people. Adora guessed that might be the same issue with his owner/friend.
"This is-hoo-a lot of civilization. For me, at least. Course, I've been living outside the city half my life. So. Huh." Hawthorne says, letting out a bit of stress she didn't even know she had.
"Don't' think I've ever heard of someone living that long outside the city walls who wasn't a Guardian. Impressive." Adora says honestly, but can tell Hawthorne is a bit wary of Guardians.
"Thanks. Anyway, heard you want to go poke around that busted-up hunk if Traveler. You Guardians have a weird idea of a good time" Hawthorne says.
"Well you are not wrong there." Adora laughs, slightly scratching her cheek in both amusement and embarrassment.
"Ah, well. Louis and I know plenty about trusting your gut. So I'm not about to stop you. I got enough to deal with here. Take that ship you flew here. At least it'll get you back faster."
"Wow, I'm surprised you're letting me go this easily. Did I leave that good of a first impression on you?" Adora says teasingly.
"Not even remotely. I just know you Guardians don't go down easy Light or no. You can handle yourself." Hawthorne then begins to look towards the people, "See all these refugees? I haven't lost one yet. Don't you and your friends be my first."
"Oh don't worry I'll… I'm sorry did you say me and my friends?" she asks as she points to herself and then to Bow and Glimmer who were sitting on some small brick wall.
"Oh yeah, they said that if anyone was going to go to the Shard it would be their friend Adora. And let's just say they were not at all quiet when they hugged you not that long ago."
Adora was so focused on going to the Shard she never thought to ask her friends. As this new revelation hit her she walked towards her friends.
"Hey guys do you want to…"
"Yes." Both Bow and Glimmer said at the exact same time.
"…go to the Shard with me. Ok." She said surprised.
"What? Did you think we would really leave you to do this all on your own?" Glimmer asks with a bit of snark.
"Come on, Adora, we're the best friend squad. We don't leave each other hanging." Bow says with a thumbs up and a smile.
Adora takes a sigh of relief and says, "Thanks guys. after what happened with Catra I didn't think anyone else would come with me."
"Well too bad, you're stuck with us!" Glimmer says, trying to joke around.
"Yeah Catra just needs some time right now. Besides with the three of us working together we should be able to at least survive long enough to see if the Shard can help us." Bow says optimistically
With a final group nod, all three of them transmat onto their ships and head towards the EDZ. After a few minutes they are able to find a safe spot to land. Once they radio in Hawthorne gives them one more chance to think this over.
"Are you sure you want to do this? That Shard is the reason this place is called a Dead Zone."
"We have to, Hawthorne. It's a sign." Light Hope replies
"Yeah a sign that says, Dead Zone."
Once they transmat down to the surface the guardians ready their weapons for whatever foes they would face on this quest.
"You know, I've been all over the EDZ. Charming. I mean, nothing says come visit like a dark, haunted forest."
As they hear Hawthorne's colorful commentary they see a small gap in between a car that somehow got stuck in the way. Thankfully they were able to move past it and make their way to the EDZ. Upon exiting they could see why this place was called a Dead Zone. There were abandoned cars everywhere with giant trees that didn't have a single leaf on them. They walked through what was left of an old highway and found a hole that led deeper into the Dead Zone.
"Let me know when you've…" Hawthorne tries to send a last message but all the Guardian's hear is static.
"Hawthorne? Hawthorne! Can you hear us?" Angella asks.
"Signal's dead." George says as they continue to move through the dark cave.
"Am I the only one who thinks this is starting to feel like one of those pre-golden age horror movies?" Bow asks as he does his best to not jump at the slightest noise.
"Really Bow? You chose now to say that and not, oh I don't know, after we get out of this place?" Glimmer whisper-yells as she is now scared too of whatever might be here.
"Focus guys. We have a job to do." Adora says, trying to get her team back on track. She notices a small area once the cave ends but before she jumps down she notices a familiar shimmer in the air along with the sound of pebbles moving near the same area.
"Did you hear something?" Light Hope asks with a hint of fear in her voice. Adora didn't answer as she jumped down with her friends with their guns raised, looking for a shimmer in the air. When she does she notices it from behind Bow! Moving past him she fires her shotgun and kills the invisible enemy that was about to attack him.
"Fallen. Okay you stupid crabs, bring it on! I will not let you hurt my man!"
Glimmer shrieks as more of the four armed aliens come out from hiding. With their element of surprise gone the Guardians were able to take them out with ease. Once they were defeated, Bow noticed something strange.
"Those Fallen weren't wearing any house colors we've seen before." George said mirroring Bow's thoughts.
"Exactly what I was thinking. Whoever these guys are, someone has rallied them under a whole new banner." Bow says.
He always did feel bad for these guys. They were always more scavengers and survivors than just pure monsters. He won't lie some of them needed to be stopped to protect the City but from the stories he's heard about them he honestly just felt like they needed better leaders and they might actually survive instead of just taking other's stuff. Adora agreed to an extent on this, working with Variks the Loyal had helped her see the Fallen in a better light. Glimmer on the other hand could not agree, she was one to hold a grudge and rarely saw past the bad deeds done by some and not thinking or caring how they got there.
After a while they saw a Fallen chest. Once they opened it Adora got a new assault rifle, Bow chose the precision rifle, and Glimmer got the Pulse rifle. Now packing better weapons they felt their chances were just a bit better. Moving forward they saw some Fallen dregs begin to tear apart a newly crashed Red Legion ship. Once the Fallen saw them the opened fire and continued to walk through the EDZ.
Once they got near the Shard they saw a captain and a few dregs circle around it. This could have been a stomping ground for them but right now these guardians needed that Shard more than the Fallen. After a tense battle they were able to marvel at the Shard in front of them. Slowly walking with their Ghosts in hand they stopped when they thought the Ghost could hover enough on their own.
"This is why we were led by her." Angella says.
"We haven't been this close to the Traveler's Light since…" George says, trying to find the words.
"Do you feel it?" Light Hope asks as she and the other two turn around to their guardians and all say, "Hold onto your helmets."
All of a sudden the Traveler's Light enters the Ghosts and they blast their respective Guardians with that Light. That Light envelopes the Guardians and empower them just like when they were first reborn. In a gorgeous ray of energy all three Guardians have their light returned to them but it feels brand new.
"Do you feel it?" George asks Bow.
"The light is back!" Angella tells Glimmer.
"We're back!" Light Hope exclaims with pure joy.
Looking at themselves once more they could only revel in their power's return. They felt like they could take on an army. They felt like they could level mountains. They felt like Guardians.
"Eyes up, Guardians" Light Hope said with a newfound vigor.
All of a sudden a roar of incoming Fallen brought the Guardians to attention and they were ready for some action.
"Time to shine." Bow says as he activates his new super and creates an arc staff and begins to slash through the Fallen like they were nothing.
"Oh man have I missed this!" Glimmer says as she flies through the air with her Dawnblade and launches volleys of fire at the Fallen. Once she landed to slash at some more Fallen a captain fired at her while she was distracted but something blocked his shots.
"Not today, big guy," Adora mocks as she blocks his shots with her sentinel shield. With that brief moment of distraction she threw her shield at the fallen staggering him. The shield then came back to her and she began to hit him with it until his was nothing but atoms. Once they were able to reduce the reinforcements of Fallen to nothing they all looked at each other and with new found hope set out for the farm. With the Light in hand they would take back their home.
The leader of the Red Legion, Ghaul, was in his recently repaired command ship looking outside from his personal deck towards his prize. The Traveler had touched many worlds and had so much power, yet it gave that power to these foolish humans. They were no conquers, no rulers, they were nothing but fools that could barely survive to the next day. They did not deserve the power they were given. He knew that he was far more worthy than their entire species, and he would prove it.
"Do you see, Traveler… all that I have done. Grace me with your Light. Take your place at the center of my empire! See me, and the Red Legion will be your true Guardians."
"Dominus!" Turning around Ghaul looks toward his old friend and mentor the Consul. "The City is secure. Those who fled are being hunted…and those foolish enough to remain have been executed. Victory, as will all things, is yours to claim."
"This Victory is as much yours as mine, old friend."
"All that remains is the completion of the cage around this great machine." The Consul said gesturing to the cage growing ever slowly around the Traveler. Then we may begin the extraction of its power and put it to its rightful use."
"They call it the Traveler." Ghaul said, feeling like it needed to be addressed properly if he and his army were to gain the light.
"I would contend that other civilizations may be more precise in their naming. Its functions can be controlled and exploited… as we have so clearly proven." The Consul boasted with great pride.
"Yet they believe it to be a god." Ghaul retorted, still remembering all the stories and legends he has read about it. He did not believe the humans were all that wrong on this matter.
The Consul sees doubt, small as it is, creeping ever so deep into Ghaul's mind. If they were to take this power their leader would need to be reminded why they alone were worthy of such power and why he could do as he saw fit for the good of the Cabal.
"Dominus-Ghaul. We have spent our lives, you and I, working to reshape our society… reforge our people… rebuild an empire nearly destroyed by Calus's greed and corruption. There is nothing in this universe greater than you! The Red Legion will have the machine's power. You will be called Emperor! What more would the Dominus have?" The Consul asks, believing he has reinvigorated Ghaul's warrior spirit.
"I would have words with my guest."
Ghaul begins to walk towards his command chair and a machine begins to fall from the ceiling. This device holds a single human captive, holding his arms and legs in some kind of restraints. The man's clothes were old and tattered but they had a sort of spiritual feel to them. He also had a mask that was partially broken, showing off the right side of his face, his red eye, pale skin, and dark navy blue hair. This was the Awoken called Hordak, the Speaker.
Walking ever so close into Hordak's face, Ghaul was able to get a good look at his prisoner. Of all the people to communicate for the Traveler, this welp seemed like the least worthy of them all. But if Ghaul could understand the Traveler, he could have the Light. All he needs is to conduct some… friendly questioning.
"So, you're the one who speaks for the Traveler."