Chapter 1: Rebirth


The icey tundra continued for as far as the eye could see, or it least it would have, if not for the blinding blizzard obscuring the area. The only source of light was a set of 7 yellow lights, barely cutting through the blizzard.

The roar of the engines was almost silent in comparison to the howling wind as the Pragmat Harrier landed, its VTOL engines turning downward. The red and back dropship was much heavier and bulkier than many of ships of its kind, due in no small part to its intended purpose. Most jump ships were built for multiple tasks, scouting, dogfighting, whatever was required of them, but this ship was specifically built for carrying fireteams to their destinations no matter the environment.

The doors on the sides opened as six figures, all clad in armor, exited the ship; each looked different from the other; some were bulky and more heavily armored while others were slimmer and more nimble. These were Guardians. While must Guardians teleported out of their ships, this weather made transmitting unprecise, which was not an option on this mission

Surely enough, the weather began to lessen, and the visibility began to improve.

"Alright, we've got a lot of ground to cover, and we've gotta clear things out fast." One of the bulkier Guardians said before the group scattered.

With only two people left near the ship, eight small floating machines appeared out of the ship. The machines resembled a floating eye in a white hexagonal shell.

"You ghosts know your objectives," The bulky guardian said before he and his partner left.

The eight ghosts separated into groups of two, with each group heading in the north, south, and eastern direction.

One of the duos traveled north, and after 20 minutes of silence, one of the ghosts finally decided to speak.

"I enjoy these missions less and less every time," The ghost with purple accents on her shell said in a feminine voice.

The other ghost with red accents noticed her sad tone and spoke in a male voice with "it's not bad…certainly better than doing nothing…we don't have to spend every second seeking."

The other ghost gave her counterpart a stern look before turning away again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend," the red ghost apologized.

The purple ghost sighed and responded, "it's ok…seeking makes me more depressed every time I do it..after all, I've been at it longer than you."

"What do you mean? Ghosts aren't still being made," the red one countered.

"Yes, but the collapse was almost fifteen hundred years ago, and ghosts were being made up until just a few years before the city was established, four hundred and forty-five years ago," the purple ghost countered back.

"Oh…I didn't know…I came online about 20 years before the city was founded," the red ghost confessed.

"I figured you were one of the youngest…I came online one thousand, three hundred, eighty-two years, nine months, three weeks, and four days ago…" the purple ghost revealed.

"Oh my….you saw the dark ages…all of it. Do you know of any other ghosts older than you?" The red ghost asked with wonder.

The purple ghost gave a small chuckle and replied, "you didn't miss much, believe me…and there's only one ghost I know of who is older than me…."

"Really?" the red ghost asked excitedly.

"Yes, but it's been almost a century since I've seen him….well, time to go our separate ways," the purple ghost reminded him as they reached the edge of the coordinates they were supposed to survey while the guardians cleared out the enemy bases.

"Ok, can we talk more after?" the red ghost questioned.

"Certainly," the elder ghost said before beginning a slow, counter-clockwise scan of the massive area it was assigned with.

For the next hour, the ghost scanned the surroundings, until, all of a sudden, she began to glow. It was faint, but there was a dim light within her shell.

"I must be imagining it.." the purple ghost dismissed; however, after a bit, the light faded, and with the blizzard continuing to clear, she noticed it.

"It can't be…." the ghost realized as she retraced his path, and surely enough, the light returned.

She moved back and forth, leaving her established zone as the light around her became more and more noticeable, until she saw her destination.

There it was, within the part of the icy ground that had broken open, a small ship was trapped within the ice.

The ghost slowly approached the site but paused when she saw creatures exiting the icy ditch. Resembling large bugs, with four arms and four glowing eyes, and clad in crudely made white armor, the creatures carried weapons that were clearly cobbled together from spare parts.

Once the creatures departed, the ghost zoomed down and scanned the ship. It had nearly been picked clean.

The ghost looked around to make sure no more of the creatures were nearby, peeking into the small cave they emerged from.

The ghost then moved toward the cockpit of the ship. Something had smashed it open a long time ago. Her glow getting brighter.

"After so long, I've found them!..what will they be like? Will they be a titan or a hunter..maybe a warlock? The ghost mused as she finally reached the cockpit.

"What…no… no...where is it?" the ghost said as her tone turned from excitement to panic.

The cockpit was empty, with no wires, no dials, no flight sticks, and most importantly, no body.

"Those animals must have gotten rid of the body…no…no, my chosen has to be here…" the ghost stammered, noting the light within her shell was still there.

Just as the ghost exited the cockpit, her eye turned downward in sorrow. Her chosen had been right here, and they were gone; it was nothing but the residue of their light. After all the years of searching, she had arrived too late.

However, a small gust of wind blew some of the snow, and when the ghost looked down a mere inch from the cockpit, her hope surged immediately.

There, just barely peaking out of the snow, was the tip of something that wasn't the pure white of the tundra, or rusted metal. It was a bone, a single, intact bone, one that the creatures must have dropped when they removed the body and lost it in the snow.

Ghosts could revive their chosen from almost nothing, a few ashes, or an old blood stain, but a bone was more than sufficient, as they only needed a single strand of DNA.

The ghost looked around at the other materials, the scrap metal was enough to make some rudimentary armor, but they were nowhere near the components for a weapon.

"Wait..think carefully...they'll be defenseless and cold.." the ghost realized, but she also couldn't wait, as the creatures could return at any time, and more importantly, the bone could be lost forever in the snow. She had waited centuries for this exact moment, and she would not wait any longer.

The ghost sent out an emergency distress signal, the team of guardians had likely finished their mission, and as long as one of them showed up, she'd be fine.

Thus the work began; the ghost's shell opened up as the light within surged around her. The ghost had seen this performed hundreds of times, but she still couldn't believe she was finally doing it herself. The bone rose out of the snow as the vague shape of a girl was formed from light.

Light swirled around the area as the nearby scrap metal formed around the girl, creating some simple armor for her. Her skin was a light blue, and her hair was a blue magenta, surprising her ghost, as none of her kind had ever been reported on this world. She looked to be about 18-19 years old when compared to a human.

"This is it!" the ghost exclaimed as she finally saw the face of her chosen; at long last, her seeking had come to an end.


The first thing the girl heard was a voice saying, "Wake up, guardian, please wake up!"

Consciousness slowly returned to her; she felt weak, and every fiber of her being was sore.

Suddenly her glowing blue eyes opened, and she bolted upright, gasping for air.

"Up here, look up hear!" the voice requested.

The sound of the voice was a small, hovering machine with a single eye and a white shell with small purple accents on the edges.

"Who are you?" she asked, but the words almost died in her throat, as she didn't recognize her own voice.

"I'm a ghost…well, I'm your ghost! I brought you back! You've been dead for a long time…wait…no, I should've started with that…" the ghost stammered.

"Dead, how did I die? Where am I? Who am I?" she asked. Her mind was completely blank, with no memories, nothing.

The ghost hovered around nervously as it said, "I don't know, it's probably been hundreds of years…wait, no, that's…oh, I've had centuries to prepare for this moment, and I'm blowing it"

Recalling the first words she could remember, she asked, "you called me guardian; is that my name?"

"No, a guardian is someone a ghost revives, and I revived you. Some guardians can remember their name, but not all of them."

She closed her eyes, thinking hard, her name, she had a name…and then it came to me.

"Clea, my name is Clea," the girl repeated; she was sure that was her name.

"Nice to meet you, Clea, but we need to move," the ghost explained as Clea managed to get to her feet.

Then it hit her; she was cold, terribly cold. Her body was so numb that she hadn't even felt it until now. The wind was so bitter that it felt like she was constantly being bitten.

"If you brought me back, can you keep me warm?" Clea asked the ghost.

The ghost gasped as she realized, "oh yea, I should"

On cue, a bubble of light flashed over her body, and the feeling of cold vanished.

Clea followed the ghost up a hill and out of the alcove, where she woke up. The vastness of the tundra was awe-inspiring, and there was nothing but white snow on all sides.

"Where are we?" Clea questioned.

"This is Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter; we need to get you to Earth; that's where all new guardians need to go first for..." the ghost was cut off by an energy blast hitting its shell, sending it flying into the snow.

Clea turned to the source of the attack only to get blasted herself; the bolt tore right through her shield and armor, and she felt the gaping hole in her chest. Normally the attack wouldn't have even dented a guardian's shields, even if their ghost was blasted beforehand, but the ghost creating the shield was inexperienced at making one.

The girl fell to the ground and immediately began losing consciousness, but then it happened. She felt her body dissolve, and in an instant, she was back as good as new.

"What…how?" Clea asked before she was tackled to the ground by her assailant.

The creature's four eyes were face to face as it taunted her in a language she couldn't understand. The creature then held up her ghost in one of its two free arms and shook it like a prized toy.

"NO, LEAVER HER ALONE!" the ghost yelled, but she was powerless to escape the creature's grip.

The creature's weapon hadn't even scratched her shell, but it was common knowledge that captured ghosts were eventually drained and destroyed.

The creature took its rifle off its back with its other free arm and held the barrel right to Clea's forehead; this was it; there was nothing she could do but close her eyes.

The creature laughed with glee, but before it could pull the trigger, there was a bang.

Clea opened her eyes and saw that creature had a hole directly in the center of its head.

The creature fell to the side dead, and Clea finally saw who saved her. He was clad in white armor with blue gauntlets and was wearing a cloak over his shoulders and back. His helmet had a large blue visor and a mouthpiece with a small canister on the side. He was holding a red revolver with an oversized boxy barrel.

"How in the name of traveler did you get here?" the guardian asked; he sounded young, if only slightly less than Clea. He holstered his Duke MK.44 and offered his hand to help her up.

As the guardian helped her to her feet, she turned to the ghost and said, "I had a hole through my stomach…why didn't I die? What did you do to save me?" Clea asked as the ghost wiggled out of the dead creature's hand.

"Oh, you did die; I just brought you back! That's kinda my job!" the ghost explained.

So many questions were going through the newly risen girl's mind that she couldn't comprehend them. Just then, another ghost materialized next to the other guardian. Its shell was white with black accents. It spoke in a deeper male voice with "we should probably regroup with the others."

"Yea, we should. Could you lead the way, Orion?" the guardian requested, causing his ghost to spawn a beam of light and begin heading south.

The trio followed the ghost for about five minutes in silence. Clea whispered to her ghost as she asked, "his ghost has a name?"

Her ghost dissolved into light then she heard him speaking, saying, "this is our internal comms, only you can hear me and vice versa, and ghosts can have names, though their guardians pick them usually"

"Sorry, I don't really know what I should name you…." Clea admitted, unaware she had spoken out loud.

"You'll figure it out eventually. Do you have a name?" The Guardian asked, remembering he had made a similar mistake.

"oh …yea, Clea…" the girl repeated, still not used to the sound of her own name.

"Most guardians can't remember their name and just choose one; you can call me Ash," the guardian, now identified as Ash, introduced himself.

"How long have you been a guardian?" Clea questioned, releasing that Ash was actually a few inches shorter than her

Ash sighed and said, "just over a year, and this was my test to see if I could handle an off-world assignment; I've probably blown it…."

Clea was unsure how to respond; she didn't even know what being a guardian entailed. However, upon reaching the ship, she was stunned. The other five members of Ash's fire team had much more sophisticated armor and much more refined-looking weapons.

"Your late Ash…who is that?" the bulky guardian who had sent out the ghosts inquired.

Ash rubbed the back of his head as he said, "she's…ah.."

"She's my guardian!" Clea's ghost said as she reappeared, the pride in her voice unmistakable.

Every single guardian present stopped what they were doing and stared at the new arrival, causing Clea and Ash to freeze in place.

The awkward silence was finally broken when a guardian who was even shorter than Ash spoke up and said, "yea, yea, a new guardian, hooray! Can we give the girl some space? I'm ready to leave this ice ball."

"I'm with Cassie; the speaker and the vanguard will have all sorts of questions; let's get home," said the one guardian who wasn't wearing a cloak or bulky armor. The guardian stashed a small stone in her long trench coat and motioned for everyone to get on.

Clea simply followed along as everyone sat down, and the other cloaked guardian, identified as Cassie, took the pilot's seat.

The Pragmat Harrier roared to life as they quickly exited the moon's atmosphere. Clea's eyes widened as she saw the vastness of space outside the window. There were so many bright lights, more than she could possibly count.

She turned to Ash, who was sitting next to her, he then took off his helmet, revealing his face. He looked roughly the same age as her, with black hair, tan skin, and blue eyes, his most noticeable feature, however, was black patches of skin all over his face, from his cheeks to his forehead.

"Quite the blemishes, huh? I'm just unlucky; Orion says it's because of how I died originally; burn marks are literally part of my DNA," Ash explained.

Clea nodded and turned to look out at space again, still in awe at what she was seeing.

"Ghost, you still there?" Clea asked, focusing her thoughts on trying to use her internal communications.

"Yes, you figured it out! The stars are beautiful, aren't they" the ghost admitted.

Clea nodded and replied, "that's what they're called. Do they have names?"

"Some do, some don't; see that one up there, the really bright one?" the ghost questioned.

Clea nodded; there was one star that seemed brighter than the others.

"That's the north star; humans used it for navigation for hundreds of years…they apparently used to call it polari…at least that's what surviving records say" The ghost admitted.

Clea's eyes narrowed as she focused on that name, before she smiled and said, "polari….how would you like that for your name?"

"I…would love that!" her ghost responded.

Just then, Cassie announced, "strap in; we're making the jump,"

The Pragmat Harrier's engine roared as it accelerated to an obscene speed; space outside was nothing but a multicolored tunnel of light.

Clea's second life had just begun, and no matter what, she was determined to succeed.

Author's note-welcome to Destiny: Guiding Light!

I have been having horrendous writing block on my other stories, and so I decided I'd try something else. As with my previous stories, I'll have notes down here

1. Polari and the other ghost's conversation is my best guess as to the timeline of the collapse. Remember that the Drifter is over 1000 years old, so the collapse being 1500 years ago is a reasonable estimate.

2. Given what we learned in the witch queen, some ghosts are older than others, so that's the best explanation.

3. I won't do this for anyone else, but for the sake of clarity, Polari's intended voice is none other than Jen Taylor/AKA Cortana from Halo. On the other hand, Ash's ghost, Orion, sounds like the ghost's original voice from destiny one, a la Peter Dinklage.

4. this story will loosely follow the events of destiny 1 and 2, but it's not going to adhere to the timeline aside from major events..

Leave a review; I want to know if anyone is interested in this story.