Glad to see people are liking this story! And to answer some comments: yes I helped Ahamkara's Eye write Dark Shards and Silver Wings (even before I joined he did a great job and y'all should go read it).
Also, if anyone is wondering Edelweiss is just Grimoire Weiss from NieR Replicant but in Ghost form.
Anywho, next chapter let's gooooooo!
They say that it is in the darkest shadows that the light shines brightest. Well, being surrounded by creatures of literal darkness and shadow certainly helped her shine. Saya laughed as dove down out of another dive, refreshing her solar buddy's energy and clearing the area around her for some breathing room. She took a moment to look up at her destination now that she was closer. The various examples of architecture really reminded her of some areas of the EDZ.
A roar and an explosion had her looking back as her buddy launched another solar mortar into the-now much smaller- group of enemies behind her. Most of the flyers were gone; turns out Incinerator Snap made for good AA fire.
Heh, fire. Saya chuckled at the pun.
With one last glide-boosted dash she found herself propelled through the shattered glass door of the massive tower and into its lobby. Turning around she lobbed a solar grenade into said door just as a group made its way through, landing it right at their feet. A small sun bloomed into existence and a cascade of explosions rocked their their ranks. Using the distraction she ran further into the building, past crumbling infrastructure that didn't exactly fill her with confidence, and then through an open set of double doors before turning around and barring the entry way.
She backed away from the doors, handcannon raised, and waited.
After a while it seemed like the creatures had either finally given up or were looking for alternate entrances. Either way she had a moment to herself and finally had a chance to catch her breath. Sensing the same thing her Ghost companions materialized all around her, each looking around the room.
"Wooooww," breathed Eve, "that was amazing! I sure hope my Guardian can do stuff like that eventually."
Saya chuckled at the awestruck Ghost and patted the top of her shell. "With a Ghost like you at their side, I have no doubt they will."
"Aawwwww." Eve turned around and Saya was sure that, if she could, she'd be blushing.
She then turned her attention from Eve to her surrounding and let out a low whistle. "Man, this place is trashed."
All around were overturned tables and chairs along with most of the windows being shattered. In the center of the room was a large circular desk, behind which was a rolling chair. Hopping over the desk she plopped into the chair causing it to roll backwards a bit before stopping and letting her prop her feet up on the desk.
Aster and Edelweiss floated over and began scanning the desk while Athena and Eve floated off down to the far end of the room and disappeared around the corner.
"Hey you two! Don't wander off too far!"
"We won't!" Came Athena's reply. "We're just looking for a way up!"
Satisfied, Saya turned back to Edelweiss as he nudged her foot out of his way with his shell and continued scanning. "Find anything?"
"Yeah. Computer." Was Aster's verbose response.
"At least there was." Clarified Edelweiss. He kept scanning the desk as he continued. "Whatever was here is dead. There's no power."
"No shit sherlock."
Edelweiss turned to her; the top part of his aperture coming down and allowing him to deadpan at her.
He got a cheeky grin in response.
Before he could retort with something snarky, Eve's voice sounded over the radio. "Everyone, we found something!"
"A way up?" Saya asked while standing and stretching; relishing in the way her back popped.
"More than that. Seriously, come check this out!"
Hopping back over the desk the Warlock made her way back to where Athena and Eve had gone, the two male Ghosts in tow. Upon turning the corner she could see their hovering forms, occasionally they would shoot out those small little scan lines that all Ghosts had. As she neared she could make out what it was exactly they were scanning.
"An elevator?"
"Yeah!" Eve nodded. "But it's not just that, we scanned it to see if it had power but instead found something else!"
Athena stopped her scans and turned to the group. "I'm detecting paracausal power."
She looked up the shaft and Saya did as well. Holding onto the frame and leaning into it she glanced up and saw a small circle of moonlight waaaaayy at the top. She then looked down and, as opposed to up, it revealed nothing but shadows.
Athena continued once she had leaned back out. "Up top is, obviously, where the stone dragon is along with that faint Light signature, but we also detected some paracausal energy readings way down below as well. Plus look at this." Athena shined her eye light into the shaft, and more specifically the support structure.
Saya ran her hand over the metal. "It's all melted and scorched."
At first she just thought the lack of light made it seem dark but no, it was blackened from extreme heat, and she could see, all along the length, points where the metal had melted, dripped, and then cooled. She also noticed that most of those points had a somewhat upward bend.
"Whoever, or whatever, did this went from down to up." she explained, pointing out the discovery to the Ghosts.
"So where do you want to start?" Questioned Edelweiss. "Down? Or up?"
Saya looked up the shaft for any way to traverse the length. She saw various metal beams sticking out as well as some holes blasted into the elevator shaft and she knew what she would have to do to get up there.
"Down." she said in a clipped tone. "We're starting at the bottom and then going up top."
"What? Why?" asked Athena.
"Jumping puzzles." Chuckled Edelweiss. "She hates jumping puzzles."
"With a passion." drawled Saya.
"Okay? Well then we'll leave it to you." And with that Eve, Athena and Aster disappeared in shining sparks as Edelweiss took position above her right shoulder while turning on his searchlight and pointing down.
"After you." he sassed.
Rolling her eyes Saya stepped to the edge of the doorway and looked down. Even with her Ghost's light on full power she still couldn't see the bottom. Shrugging, she stepped past the threshold and let gravity do its thing.
She fell for a few minutes, listening to the air rushing past her helmet, before she finally got close enough for something down below to be illuminated. Light was forced down and out below her, stopping her completely in midair and letting her hover in place for a few moments as Edelweiss floated down and flashed his search light back and forth.
"Just some rubble" he paused for a moment, "And not much else."
With the all-clear given Saya cut her glide and fell the rest of the distance, bending her knees to absorb the shock, though her shields still ate a portion of the possible damage. Standing to her full height, Edelweiss joined her as she began walking down the long pathway. She glanced around as she did, noting the massive support columns sporting unlit braziers. Slowing down as she reached a massive four-way intersection, she spun about looking around and up.
"Wow," she breathed, "this place is massive."
"Yes, quite ostentatious don't you think? And for what? There's nothing down here. It's like they made it unduly excessive for no other reason than simply because they could." Her Ghost disparaged while shaking his shell.
Turning back forward, he cast his light back down the long hallway and both stopped as it illuminated a confusing and gruesome scene: It was a machine with two pods, clearly meant for people, connected by a series of thick cables and with three terminals. There was one by each pod, one between the two, and in front of the machine was a burned and charred corpse.
Her companions rematerialized. Each one turning on their flashlights and looking around.
Saya knelt down by the corpse on the ground. There were no identifying features, just a blackened, vaguely human-shaped husk.
Eve floated down and began scanning but abruptly stopped.
"That's not right." she whispered.
"What isn't?" Saya questioned, looking up at the Ghost.
"This body." Eve gestured down to it, "Normally when we scan a corpse we can see if they're worthy of the Light, as well as getting the feeling if they're right for us."
Saya nodded, remembering that Weiss had mentioned something like that when she asked him how he knew she was his Guardian when he found her remains nearly half a century ago.
Eve continued. "When we scan for compatibility, we essentially look at them as an existence. We don't get any specific details, all the scan does is look at who they were and determines if they're worthy. And then we as individual Ghosts also get a feeling as whether they're our destined Guardians."
Saya turned to the Ghost. "And how is this one different?"
"There's nothing."
"Uuuhh." Saya looked back down at the burnt remains. "There's definitely a body there Eve."
Eve rolled her eye. "No, I mean I'm not getting any resonance. It's almost as if there's nothing left of this person. Like, when they died, whoever they were as a person was scooped out and all that's left is just a physical husk. There's no past life to account for in judging if they're worthy or anything. It's very weird...and also slightly off-putting, if I'm being honest."
A eerie quiet hung between everyone as they all processed this new, disturbing revelation.
"Welp," Saya grunted while pushing up off her knees, "keep at it and try and get some more data. Hopefully this is an isolated incident."
"Will do." Murmured Eve somewhat distractedly. She scanned the area all around them for a few moments before pausing. "Yeah this place is teeming with residual energy. Whatever happened here was big."
This vault deep underground, a strange machine, a charred corpse, heaps of residual paracausal energy, the slagged elevator and the signals at the top of the tower that they still had to investigate; none of this was adding up at the moment, but she knew they were on the right track to uncovering this mystery, each of these things a piece to the puzzle. Her face scrunched in though before she then turned to head back to the device.
Her Ghost lingered for a moment more before commenting and floating away, following her. "Poor bastard. I can't imagine what kind of existence they must have lived if that's the case."
Saya didn't say anything, merely nodding in agreement, as she walked over to the machine where Athena and Aster floated up to the glass to be level with the young woman's face.
Saya sucked in air through her teeth as Edelweiss' light illuminated the inside which housed the remains of a young woman though it was hard to tell given the state of decay. Small tufts of brown hair stubbornly clung to desiccated patches of skin and flesh on a nearly exposed skull. Insects could be seen crawling around the inside of the tube and along the bones of the skeleton.
"Poor girl." Lamented Athena before she then floated down to the console and began shooting her hacking beam into it, trying to gleam something from the depowered device.
Saya glanced at her for a moment before turning back to Aster who was now scanning the young woman up and down. She was about to ask what he found before he promptly spun to look at her.
"Found her." He said simply.
It took her a moment to realize what he said, and then it clicked. She gaped, looking at the girl then back to Aster, the girl, and then Aster.
"Her?" Her voice sounded dubious.
The Ghost blinked once, then simply nodded.
Saya looked back at the pod for a moment and then shrugged. "Well if you're gonna rez her then we might want to remove that." She stated pointing at the arrow still lodged in her chest.
Aster continued to stare at her. "Yes."
Letting out a sigh, the Warlock stepped up to the pod and grasped the shaft of the arrow and pulled straight back. It slid a few inches before cracking, then snapping in half, causing her to lose balance and fall back with a yelp onto her rear while still holding the shaft.
She brought the remains of the deadly implement up to her face and stared. "Glass?" She asked incredulously. "Who the heck makes arrows out of glass?"
"I'm not sure. But either way that still leaves the other half still lodged in her sternum." Commented Edelweiss.
Saya picked herself up off the floor and tossed the remains of the arrow aside where it clinked against the floor as it rolled away. She walked up and pressed her helmet up against the pod at an angle to try and see the rest of the arrow.
"Hmmmm. Well, I don't know how we're supposed to get the rest out then."
"You know," began Athena, having taken a pause from her attempt at data collection to watch them, "if he's going to resurrect her, just open the pod. Yeah it will pull the arrow out and it won't be pretty but what's it going to do? Make her even more dead? When she revives she'll be good as new."
The Guardian and two Ghosts stared at her without saying anything before looking between themselves.
"We knew that." they all stated at once.
"Uh huh." Athena didn't believe them for a second.
Without another word Saya move to the end of the pod and felt around the edges.
"Aha! Found a latch!" she cheered.
She placed both hands into the small indent and then squatted. After all, a Titan once told her that one must remember to lift with their legs and not their back. With a quick inhale she heaved as her legs extended and tensed. She grunted and hissed, all the while her muscles began to burn, and just when she thought she going to have to quit she felt the door budge and then finally, slowly, it opened with a slight hiss pulling the arrow out and leaving a gaping hole in what remained of the skin on the corpse's chest.
Saya staggered back, panting and trying to catch her breath as Aster floated up and expanded his shell around an aura of Light; it span faster and faster until it snapped shut and a wave of Light expanded out and down towards the girl. The Guardian watched as the hole in her sternum was closed and the flesh and skin regrew until a young, brown haired woman lay in the pod looking no worse for wear.
The newly resurrected woman's eyes fluttered open; a groan leaving her lips. She looked around, bleary and still coming to full consciousness.
"Wh-what?" she breathed out, voice hoarse, "Where am I?"
/-/
"Wh-what? Where am I?"
Saya watched as the New Light came to and wondered what it meant that even on this new and strange world they still found those worthy of the Light. Then again, if some Ghosts found Hive to be worthy then this shouldn't be too much of a shock. Seeing that the girl was almost fully awake and coherent, Saya stepped forward.
"Heya!" she greeted with a light wave.
The girl turned to her and her eyes widened. "Uh, who are you?"
Saya stopped right next to the pod and offered a hand to the young woman. "My name is Saya, Guardian of the Last City."
The girl stared at the hand before taking it and letting herself be pulled out of the pod. "I have no idea what any of that means."
Saya let out a mirthful chuckle. "It's what we are."
"Wait." the girl paused. "We?"
"Yes. We Guardians have been chosen from amongst the honored dead to be resurrected and to wield the Traveler's Light in the defense of humanity."
"Resurrected?! You mean"- the young woman looked back at the pod and swallowed hard-"you mean I was dead?"
"Mhm." Saya nodded.
"And you," the girl continued while looking to Aster, "resurrected me?"
"Yes."
"That's-that's crazy..." She may have just woken up in a strange place with strange people, but she still had her wits about her and she knew people didn't just come back from the dead willy-nilly.
"Tell me"-Saya placed a hand on her shoulder-"what do you remember about yourself before waking up in the pod?"
The brunette looked down for a moment, her face scrunched in thought, before looking up with wide eyes. "Nothing."
Saya nodded in understanding, a sad smile on her face. "Exactly, no Guardian remembers their past life after being resurrected."
"You mean-"
Saya gave a small comforting squeeze to her shoulders. "Yup. The only memories I've got are what I've made since waking up as well."
"Oh...okay. Glad I'm not the outlier then." And she really was. If it turned out she was some fluke and that everyone else got to remember their names and who they were, she might just flip out. Oh gosh, did she have a family? Friends? What about a lover?! Should she try and find them!?
Thankfully she was broken out of her panic spiral when the other woman spoke up in a cheery tone again. "Nope. Oh! We need to pick out a name for you! Can't keep calling you 'New Light' can I?" Saya chuckled.
"A new name? Is that even a thing?"
"Yup. New life, new name" The woman nodded sagely. "Most Guardians name themselves after something or somewhere nearby. Some may wake up near something that has their old name, like Ana Bray. She woke up next to an ID badge that had her photo and everything, but those cases are the exception."
"Oh...well I mean the only thing here is that machine and this underground vault..." She wasn't about to name herself "Vaulty" or "Pod Girl".
Athena floated up her, shell twisting around her frame. "I may able to help with that! I wasn't able to get much out of those terminals but certain phrases came up, either frequently or were cited as important: 'Fall Maiden',' Aura', and 'Autumn'."
"Fall Maiden?" The new girl muttered while pinching her chin in though. "That sounds more like a title than a name."
"Well if not that then how about Autumn?" Suggested Saya. "It sounds nice and obviously you had a theme going."
The young woman rolled the name around in her head, testing it out in different scenarios before a small, satisfied smile breaking out a small, satisfied smile. "Yeah...yeah I like it. It feels...right."
Aster floated in front of and looked her square in the eyes. "Nice to meet you, Autumn."
Despite the straight delivery, the newly christened Autumn could both hear and feel the affection in his voice and let out a giggle as she let the feeling wash over her. "It's nice to meet you too Aster. I'm looking forward to getting to know you."
The sides of his shell rose up and Autumn got the feeling he was "smiling".
The moment was interrupted when a slight breeze passed over her skin sending goose bumps up her arms and making her shiver. When she looked down she finally took stock of what she was wearing: nothing but a pair of compression shorts and a tube top.
"Ugh, I need better clothes." She rubbed her arms trying to get some warmth going.
"Got you covered Autumn." Saya smirked cheekily before gesturing with her hand.
Aster floated over to her and scanned her from top to bottom. She gawked as clothing began to materialize on her body directly; a skin tight body glove first followed by a fancy-looking swept back robe, gauntlets, pants, boots and a helmet. She also felt something pinch around her left bicep and saw that a band of plain metal had formed. A tingling sensation all across her body had her gasp in surprise as a white barrier formed around her body just above her clothing before disappearing.
"Standard Warlock gear -which is a pleasant surprise to see that you are by the way-complete with Heads Up Display and designed to work with your Light to shield you." Explained Saya. "Additionally, as a Warlock, your gloves incorporate Axion condensers to help shape reality along with a sensory cortex in each finger and neuromotors for added precision, which together allow us to pluck an atom from a molecule."
Autumn held her hand in front of her while clenching and releasing it; getting a feel for her new gear as well as the gloves.
Saya continued on. "Our robes are adjusted to the atomic level, our pants have Fieldweave that can alter its physical properties and so on and so forth. This microscopic manipulation allows the Fieldweave in warlock armor to form a clean circuit for the Light by the way. Oh! We also infuse our fieldweave with Hadronic Essence."
Autumn paused in her simple exercise and looked to the veteran warlock. "What's 'Hadronic Essence'?"
"A dense lattice of exotic baryons and mesons." Saya stated plainly while cocking her hip.
"Uuuuhh..."
Saya let out an amused chuckle and placed her hand atop the younger and slightly shorter warlock's head. "Don't' worry, you'll learn. After all, a warlock's greatest weapon-even more than the Light- is their mind."
As if sensing her doubt Eve spoke up. "Don't worry, every Guardian starts at square one, and warlocks in particular have a strong sense of community and tend to look after New Lights and help them learn and grow."
Autumn released a breath she didn't know she was holding as she listened; a fire growing inside her. She actually couldn't wait to see her teacher? Leader? Mentor? Mentor. She couldn't wait to see her mentor in action and see what she could one day be capable of...she hoped.
"I have so much to learn" she groaned. Yet she felt eager anticipation at the thought of learning. She figured it must be because she's a warlock too. This desire for knowledge and intellectual growth must come naturally to her.
Saya straightened out and nodded while beginning her walk back to the elevator shaft, Autumn quickly taking up a pace next to her. "Yup, and trust me we will cover everything, but for now we still have those signals at the top of this tower to look into."
Autumn looked forward as they walked. She was eager to finally be out of here. She was sure that in her old life she lived outside of this dim vault but in this new life, as short as it was, it was all she knew and she was ready to leave.
Once they reached the shaft Saya looked up and groaned, having completely forgotten this part and now dreading having to do it. "Dammit."
Autumn looked at her and tilted her head, questioning.
"I hate jumping puzzles."
"Jumping puzzles?" It almost sounded like something from a video game.
"Yeeessss." Saya groused, her shoulder slumping. "It's just annoying. All it takes is one mistake and you either fall and lose your progress at best, or fall to your death and have to start aallll over at worst. Either way it's a pain in the ass."
Autumn looked back up the shaft and shrugged. She didn't know about all that but it kind of sounded fun.
/-/
"I take it back..." Autumn whined as she crawled forward past the elevator doorway and slumped flat against the glass floor on her face. "It wasn't fun at all."
Saya stopped and stood above her, her body rigid and tense as she spoke in a haunted tone. "I told you. It's the worst."
Autumn didn't even bother lifting her face away from the floor when she spoke. "We fell so many times."
"Uh huh."
"I died so many times."
"We both did."
"I didn't think I'd ever actually be able to get used to falling to my death."
"Mhm."
"Literally the worst thing ever."
"Yuuuuuup." Saya said popping the "p".
The young warlock rolled over onto her back and looked up at her. "Also is that gonna be a thing? Getting used to dying?"
Athena materialized in a flash of blue sparks and hovered over to the center of the room. "Oh, stop being so melodramatic."
Autumn sat up from her supine position. "Hey, it's a legitimate question!"
Athena giggled and floated upwards and looked around and paused as she looked up, and up and up. "Uh...Guardians?"
Autumn stood and joined Saya in looking towards where the Ghost was and they both froze. Looming over them, mouth open in a frozen roar, was the giant stone dragon.
"Wow..." Athena floated over to the massive figure bearing down on them. She was soon joined by her fellow Ghosts in scanning it for any information they could get.
"Well it's definitely one of those creatures down there." Commented Eve. "Getting a lot of the same readings."
"Quite. However it seems to be locked in some kind of stasis." Added Edelweiss. "This isn't just some stony exterior; it extends all the way through. It has been completely and -if our readings are right- irrevocably turned to stone."
Athena floated over to the edge of the massive platform and scanned for a moment. "The faint Light signals are strongest here." She emphasized the last word with a short bob.
Saya shifted her weight to one foot and crossed her arms. "From the sounds of it: someone arrived, used something based on Light and turned the giant dragon into the worlds largest gargoyle."
Athena turned to her and tilted her shell. "Another Guardian?"
Saya shook her head. "Unknown. But either way we need to proceed with caution."
Athena nodded and then rose into the air, trying to get a panoramic view of the area when she froze, looking out over the west.
Eve floated over to her alongside Aster and Edelweiss before speaking. "That must be the source of the signals we were getting."
A sea of glowing lights, stretching far beyond the horizon ;aid before them. A city; which meant civilization, which meant people. Relief and hope filled the Awoken warlock before a thought cut them short.
"But why are they so weak?" She asked aloud. "Going off of signal strength these are merely local signals. I'm not detecting anything that would indicate global communications." The signals she was seeing from her Ghost were only going out so far, in fact from where they were atop the tower the signals were already weaking which meant they probably didn't extend much further than there. It was fine for local comms but if they wanted to reach anyone further away, like say another continent, they'd need more than this. Not mention she wasn't seeing any orbital signals either, which meant no communications satellites. As far as they knew, the only thing in orbit of the planet was her jumpship.
Autumn meanwhile was staring in silence. Both due to the sight and also the turmoil she was feeling. It felt like she had seen this before, like this wasn't her first time up in this office and seeing this exact same sight, albeit through actual windows. It filled her with an intense sense of nostalgia. She turned back to the room hoping that by getting a better look she might jog something loose.
She examined the room...or what remained. All around them was the remains of what they assumed was an office. Most noticeably, the entirety of the roof was missing. The supporting pillars were destroyed and the remains of the massive glass windows were either partially or completely shattered. Strewn across the edges were massive metal cogs that matched the ones they could see through the massive cracks in the floor. Autumn imagined that whoever owned this space was definitely going for a theme, and that too prickled something at the back of her mind. She let out a low whistle as she took it all in.
"Yeah, it's definitely seen better days." Added the older warlock. Saya then pointed out spots all along the pillars and wall where the elevator shaft was located. "I'm seeing lots of burn marks and bullet holes. There was definitely a fight that took place here."
"Against the dragon?"
"Possibly, but-"
A peal of excited laughter interrupted Saya as they turned to see Athena floating over a spot in the center of the room.
"I FOUND YOU!" Her shell expanded similar to Aster. "I FINALLY FOUND YOU!"
"No way..." Autumn breathed out as she and Aster watched a body be remade in Light until finally solidifying into a red headed female. She stared at the newly resurrected girl. Even lying down she could tell she was tall, with bright red hair, a gorget, bronze armor and a red sash.
She looked at Saya. "Is that...?"
The veteran nodded. "Yup. Looks like we found another New Light here. What're the odds right?" She shook her head in amusement before making her way over to the young girl as she began to stir.
And thus a second new Guardian joins the ranks! Who is this mysterious red-haired spartan-like woman? We may never know.
Pffft, yeah right. Like you all didn't figure out the vision from chapter one right away. A master of metaphor I am not.
Anyways, we still have one more Guardian to go if you're looking at the Ghosts, but if you look at where we are in the timeline and compare it to who the vision hinted at...they don't exactly add up do they? Hmmmmm.
Wanted to get this chapter out since I'll be going on vacation for the 4th of July, or as I like to call it: Freedom Week *cue patriotic Eagle screech*
Hope you all enjoy it and I cant wait to see you all in the next one!