At first, all she could see was nothing, but a faint light swirled around her.
She attempted to reach it, her arm stretched as far as it could go.
Then the light flickered out, like a melted candle.
She stared out into the nothingness that now surrounded her.
She stared out into the end, a universe gone and empty.
She felt hopeless, for the first time in a long time, hopelessness crept its way into her mind.
She didn't know what to do, until she felt a pull.
She felt warmth fill her soul, as if something was comforting her, though it was only briefly.
She saw the Darkness of the end, disappear, replaced by a wonderous light that filled her vision.
That brief comfort was replaced by information flooding in and out of her head. Millions and millions of voices screaming, crying, laughing, and singing all at once.
Then a name appeared in her head: Throne of Heroes
She felt a stinging pain as she heard that name.
The sting of failure, why was she here when she failed to save everyone she cared for.
Then she heard a voice calling to her, a cry for help. She remained unresponsive until...
"Eyes up, Guardian. We have a job to do."
A smile crept on her face upon hearing that familiar voice, accepting the summon, as a Guardian should do.
"Could you hurry up," Olga stated nervously. Her amber eyes darting across the area around her. Fire cracked as smoke filled the air.
"Does it usually take this long," Gudako asked, peaking from behind her brother, Ritsuka. Ritsuka looked at whatever was going on in front of him nervously.
He was absolutely clueless about what was happening. First, he and his sister accepted a strange job, then they were in the middle of a burning city, and skeletons attacked them. Skeletons! Ritsuka thought this seemed like some sort of novel or anime he and his sister had watched many times before.
Mash, who stood next to them wearing rather useless armor, looked at the ferternal twins. "Depends," she answered Gudako softly, causing the siblings to turn their heads toward her.
"What do you mean depends?" Ritsuka asked, getting shot out of his nervous trance like a duck during hunting season.
"Well, it depends whether a Servant answers the call or not. Since we are using the Fate system, we do not need a catalyst, which makes this easier... I guess," Mash added on, hoping it will bring up their moods.
"That is better than nothing," Gudako sighed to herself relaxing ever so slightly.
"You have been protecting Director Olga, my annoying sister, and me brilliantly so far," Ritsuka added on causing the shield user to perk up a bit with a smile, and Gudako intersecting with 'Hey!'
"Th-thank you Sen-," Mash began to thank Ritsuka for the compliment.
"Wait," Olga interrupted walking forward. The four of them stared at the shield as blue orbs of light formed around a rather large shield. They slowly changed into a heavenly golden light, before converging into a beacon, shining into the sky.
Dust blew everywhere, hitting the group. Olga quickly summoned a shimmering golden shield and Mash ran in front of the twins to defend them from the blast. Ritsuka attempted to keep Gudako behind him, but she peaked out from over his shoulders.
As the dust settled it revealed a woman and a... drone? The woman wore a knight-like helmet with a white lower half and a golden top, the helmet had a T-shape visor, clouded by a mist. She had silver armor with gold trimming over wonderous blue robes. On her back was a large blue glaive, that had this digital look to it.
The woman looked up slightly to the right where the drone hovered above her. The drone had a rubix cube-like shell colored blue and yellow, with a single blue eye in the center of a silver orb.
There was a moment of hesitation from the woman, who glaced between the group and the curious drone next to her. "I am Lancer and this is Ghost, we will aid you in your campaign as your Guardian," the woman said with a slight accent, which originated in Northern England.
The four didn't respond for a second, looking at Lancer with various different looks. Ritsuka looked at her with awe, while Gudako looked absolutely excited, Olga gave her a stare, which reminded the woman of someone, Mash had a relatively neutral look.
"I think you broke them," the drone, which the Lancer called 'Ghost' noted.
"Maybe, just give them a minute," the Lancer responded quickly.Olga turned to Ritsuka, ignoring them. "What are their stats?" she asked the young master.
This caught him completely off guard. Stats? Was this some sort of game? It sure did feel like it to him, but everything was all too real. He stared at Olga blankly for a second while Gudako walked over to Lancer with a smile.
"What do you mean stats?" Ritsuka asked honestly confused, causing the director to sigh irritatedly. "Like a video game?
"Senpai, every Servant is has attributes that allow them to be effective in the battlefield, such as strength and endurance. Some Servants have better stats than others," Mash explained.
Ritsuka nodded as Olga quickly continued the explanation. "As her Master you should be able to see them. They will appear as letters lowest being E and the highest EX. Now, what are her stats," she said, progressively getting more irritated.
Ritsuka sighed and began to focus on the Lancer in front of him. Suddenly, labels appeared around her with corresponding letters. "Strength: C... Endurance: A... Agility is B... Mana is an A... Luck is an EX. NP, what the heck is NP?" Ritsuka asked himself.
Mash quickly responded to be helpful. "NP stands for Noble Phantasm, it is a special ability unique for each Servant."
"Thank you, Mash."
"You're welcome, Senpai."
Ritsuka sighed a bit before reading of the NP stat, which was an A. Olga was honestly impressed overall, this Lancer was fantastic, though she could not pinpoint their identity. Looking at her from glance, she would've guest a knight of some kind, everything a far too futuristic.
"There is one more stat, Magic Resistance..." Ritsuka began, thinking to himself how bizarre everything is. "which is a A. Are those stats decent?"
"Yes, very much so," the director answered attempting to hide her surprise from gaining a Servant with such an overall decent coverage.
Gudako walked up to Lancer and Ghost, who quickly took note of her. The red head observed the Lancer, studying her knight-like appearance, mixed with the regalness of a wizard.
"You look cool," Gudako chirped, staring at Lancer, who looked back at her.
Ghost let out a chuckle. "It seems you have a fan already!" Gudako smiled at the drone-like entity.
Lancer smiled under her, staring at Gudako. "So, are you my Master?" she asked in a friendly tone.
Gudako giggled a bit at the question, shaking her head. "Nope, my brother Ritsuka is, but I am his sister, so you can consider me Co-Master!"
Lancer laughed, placing her armored hands on her hips. "So what is your name, Co-Master?"
"My name is Gudako Fujimaru. Is that the correct order of names in English?" Gudako answered before squinting her eyes upon asking the question. "I think so."
Lancer merely shrugged unsure as well. "Well, my name is Ari, Guardian of the Last City, Young Wolf of the Iron Lords, Slayer of the Taken King, Protector of Neomuna, Hero of the Red War, Mem-"
"You do not need to give her every single title given to you," Ghost interjected. "Sorry about her."
"Hey! I never get the show those off!" The Lancer now named Ari whined.
Gudako laughed at her antic. "Those are all really cool names, I would really like to no how you got them."
"See someone appreciates my achievements," Ari said jokingly to Ghost, while crossing her arms dramatically.
Ghost rolled his eye at the Lancer. He turned his gaze to the rest. "Gudako, are you messing with them?" Ritsuka asked in a teasing manner, mostly to change his train of thought from this craziness.
"Of course not," Gudako responded back towards her brother. Ari stepped forward to her Master, who has yet to introduce himself to her.
Ritsuka was about eye-level with Ari, if not slightly taller. "Hello, Master, I assume your name is Ritsuka," Ari asked putting her hand out for a handshake.
Ritsuka accepted it, giving a slight smile. "Yes, I overheard your name is Ari, right?" Ari nodded, confirming Ritsuka's question.
"It will be fun to work alongside you, Master, fighting off the Darkness where ever it stands," Ari declared childishly, causing Ritsuka to laugh.
Ritsuka felt more accepting towards Ari and the Servant thing, as he watched her move and talk. Ari turned to Mash, thinking her to be something familiar.
Olga, meanwhile, was already dumbfounded by this rather childish Servant. First her mind waundered, wondering what her name was in legend, then to the titles, which all drew up blanks.
"Um, are you a Titan, ma'am," Ari asked Mash suddenly, which caught her off guard. Mash sheepishly shook her head, unknowing what a 'Titan' was.
"Oh, well you do look like one, then again, Lord Saladin looked like one as well, but he came before the creation of the classes," Ari muttered to herself.
Ghost flew over to the shield on the floor, upon noticing it. He scanned it out of curiosity. Gudako and Ritsuka looked in awe at this, seen the drone do its thing. For all they knew this was normal, since the literally summoned a person from nothing, and teleported to a burning city.
Mash seemed confused by Ari and Ghost, slowly walking over to pick up her shield. Olga grew more impatient with each and every fact they learned about Ari, her mind unable to pin point the legend or historical figure she could be.
Olga crossed her arms. "Romani!" she shouted. Suddenly a blue hologram on a man in a lab coat appeared in front of her.
Ari almost immediately took interest in the hologram, shooting over so quickly and cartoonishly, one would mistake her for being animated, literally.
"What do you need Director," Romani asked while eating what seemed to be a bowl of chocolates.
The doctor notice Olga eye twitch and quickly went to hide them from her view. With a sigh, Olga told Romani what she need. "Could you search for any mention of Ari in the library," she ordered.
"Sure, but why?" Romani asked genuinely confused, until the sudden appearance of Ari made him jump.
"A hologram, without a giant clucky box! So cool!" Ari squealed with awe, cause Olga to take a breath to calm herself down.
"Because of her," Olga said gesturing to Ari, which made Romani nod.
The doctor watched Ari, seeing her rather curious clothing and weapon. Then Ghost entered his view, flying next to Ari.
"This must be one of our Masters allies," Ghost noted to himself, scanning the hologram.
Romani looked at the flying little drone in shock, as he didn't know any legend with a companion like that. "I will look into it," Romani told Olga before the hologram disappeared.
"The orgin was not found, how curious," Ghost said to himself.
"Did you just try to track the hologram, do you now how much of a safety hazard that could be?" Olga said, sounding like she was about to go off on the poor machine.
"Oh, he tends to do that a bit too often," Ari said. The others could almost picture the nervous smile under Ari's helmet.
Olga rolled her eyes at her before turning to walk and put a bit. Fire crackled as brick and concrete snapped and popped. Ritsuka and Gudako sat down with Mash standing next to them.
"So what is our mission?" Ari asked the group. They all looked at her briefly.
"Yeah, what is our goal?" Ritsuka asked as well, looking over at Olga, who turned toward then.
The director let out a long sigh, her gaze looking up toward the starless night. "Is to find what caused this Singularity and put an end to it," Olga explained.
"You never explained how we do that," Gudako responded quickly, tilting her head.
"Because I do not currently know how too, that's why we need to find the cause," Olga added hesitantly.
The twins sighed standing up, with the help of Mash. The pink-haired girl looked around a bit, still confused about Ari and Ghost. The wind blew, causing their hair to flow with it, as well as Ari's robes.
"What is a Singularity?" Ari asked sheepishly. Ghost looked over at everyone with a curious look in his eye.
"Um, Mash could you explain it. I would, but I think you would do better at it," Ritsuka requested.
"Its because he fell asleep during orintation, so he doesn't know," Gudako whispered loudly to Ari, causing her to laugh.
"Hey you feel asleep too!" Ritsuka countered in a very defensive tone.
"And I won't hide it," Gudako declared to her brother who rolled her eyes. Ari smiled at them as they reminded her of the playful bickering she once had with her... fireteam.
"Alright, Senpai!" Mash chirped, in response to Ritsuka's original request. "A Singularity is a point in time that is disrupted in some form, usually through magical means. Our job here is to correct these temporal disruptions, before they become catastrophic."
Ghost seeming nodded, well, as close he could with just being a drone. "Sounds like the Vex, especially the ones in the Vault of Glass," he mummered to himself.
Ari didn't really pay attentions, to Ghost's personal notes, but made a similar connection to their former robotic foe. For some reason, Ari was always terrified of then, because with each engagement, they evolved and adapted, the only really edge she had was the Light.
Olga overheard Ghost and her mind went to work to find some legend or historical location or story related to something called the Vault of Glass, to find some connection with Ari. She knew if Romani didn't find something she will have to face the source themselves.
Everything felt wrong to her, she felt the chance to prove herself as director is devolving into the biggest blunder in human history. This is her chance, and she will prove it to everyone, first by finding out who Ari is then by fixing this Singularity.
"We should start to head out," Olga order, causing everyone to scramble. Soon they began to explore the burning city.
Servant Profile:
Name: Ari
Class: Lancer
Title: Guardian of Sol, Young Wolf, and Kingslayer
Stats:
Strength: C
Endurance: A
Agility: B
Mana: B
Luck: EX
NP: A
Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: A
Unique Skills
Kingslayer: B - Slayer of the Taken King, the Witch Queen, and Calus they have grown a reputation of killing royalty. This allows them to deal extra damage to royals
God Killer: A - They've murdered gods and god-like beings throughout their time as a Guardian. They deal extra damage to Divine Spirits.
Curse of the Architects: E - Being a Warlock they tend to fail their jumps often or get rather unlucky with traps, leading to then taking extra damage from environmental hazards.
Jack of All Trades: A - They are able to wield any weapon with ease, letting them be more adaptable in combat.
Rift: B - Being a Warlock, they can create a pool of light beneath that either increases their damage or heals them.
Noble Phatasms:
Ghost: EX - Upon death they are able to revive as long as Ghost is alive and they are in an area touched by the light.
Vexcalibur: B (Anti-Person)- A glaive made from Vex and Vanguard tech, when activated Vexcalibur with charge up an attack, and when the attack lands it will deal extra damage and give all of Ari's allies and overshield that will defend from lethal attacks for a short amount of times.
Nova Bomb: A (Anti-Army)- Using the destructive force of the void, they create a massive orb of purple energy and devours whatever it comes in contact with, including the user if used to closely.
Dialouge
Summoning - "I am Ari, a Lancer, I am glad to assist you New Light!"
Dialogue 1 - "I love looking up at the stars sometimes, either from my ship or from planetside. It just feels nice, you know?"
Dialogue 2 - "Would you ever like to learn how to shoot a gun, I would love to teach you! It will be nice to shoot something that won't shoot back... I mean the target by the way, I would never shoot you on purpose."
Dialogue 3 - Ghost: "This place is wonderful, to think all this technology existed before the Traveler was even discovered! You have to show me more at some point."
Dialogue 4 - "I was talking to some of the employees here about games. They said that love playing this capitalistic board game with this mustachioed man. I would love to play against Tess, to beat her at her own game."
Dialogue 5 (If you have Mordred) - "She seems uncomfortable around me, did I do something to her... wait did she see me play in Trials of Osiris... she must be terrified of me!"
Dialogue 6 (If you have Zavala) - "The Commander is here! Don't be nervous around him, he is the kindest man you will ever meet."
Dialogue 7 (If you have Jeanne D'Arc) - "She is so pleasant to talk to, but she keeps bring up this God figure, and I have no idea who he is. She said she is learning how to read to she and I could read a book called the Bible together."
Dialogue 8 (If you have Savathun) - "I recommend you desummon her, it will be better for all paries, even her somehow."
Dialogue 9 (If you have Lord Radegast) - "What! He is here? Where, I must meet him! Will he notice me, I hope he makes me a proper Iron Lord! I will tell you hoe it goes, Master!"
Dialogue 10 (If you have a Knight of the Roundtable) - "They seem to be weirded out by me. I have no clue why, some even look disgusted with me, as if I stole something from them."
Dialogue 11 (If you have a Saberface) - "It is so weird to see people with the same face as me? Do you often confuse us for each other, I probably would."
Dialogue 12 (If you have Ikora) - "She is distrustful of everyone, especially as of late, which I don't blame her, after... nevermind, that's not important right now."
Dialogue 13 (If you have Cayde) - "He is here? I need to go an say hello, and return his gun to him. Thank you, Master, for letting this reunion happen."
Dialogue 14 (If you have Archer) - "How curious he looks rather similar to a member of my fireteam, though a lot more blunt and cynical."
Dialogue 15 (If you have Cu Chulainn) - "I know a Titan who would love him, though I don't want to see them drink together, that would be horrifying."
Dialogue 16 (If you have am Arturia) - "I feel connected with them in a rather strange way, it's almost has If we are the same person. I don't know, to be honest. If it is possible, I hope it is not true, I don't want to be someone so cold, I never want to be like that."
Ascension 1 - "That Light grows within me!"
Ascension 2 - "You know what would be good with this new strength, a new gun."
Ascension 3 - "I think I can finally beat the Architects!" Ghost: "You cannot beat gravity, Guardian."
Ascension 4 - "You made a fantastic Master, and fireteam member!"
Event - "May the best class wi- wait this isn't Guardian Games... then, may the Light guide our victory!
Wish for the Grail - "A second chance to change the ending of my story."
A/N: More dialogue lines will come for Ari in later chapters. This is a rewrite of Destiny/Final Order, on my old Alt Account called Archer of Justice, if you are coming from that, I am sorry I had to cancel it and it took my so long to make a replacement. I needed a break and I couldn't recover that account.
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter.