Destiny story ch 1 A Second Chance Darkness... Cold and devoid of life... It's claws tear out my light... Chapter One A Ghost was out patrolling for materials just outside the outskirts of The City's safe zone. The growing Darkness was slowly draining the city's resources. Not only that but they needed more Guardians. He sent out a wide environmental scan and nearly dropped out of the air from surprise. A few meters away there was a point the size of coin of extremely condensed light. It was a Guardians soul. "No way." The ghost zipped over to the spot and looked down. Who ever this is they had to be here before The Collapse but then the soul should've deteriorated a long time ago. In an instant the Ghost decided what he must do. His outer shell floated off of him and a blue sphere of energy formed around him. He began drawing the soul to the surface and after several long seconds it emerged. A formless ball of light drifted up and stayed a few inches above the dirt. "Alright let's see if I can do the impossible." Slowly he gathered up the necessary materials and then used the soul's own light to shape a body. All of it happened in an instant and then there was a young human standing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I sucked in air to my starved lungs and started coughing. I fell to my knees and covered my mouth. When I finally stopped I looked at my surroundings with a mix of shock and fear. My clothes were different, almost like a tunic or robe, but more suitable for combat. Then I heard a mechanical whir and a voice. "It worked! Your alive!" I whipped my head around to see what who was there. But I turned too quickly and hurt my neck. I rotated my body instead while rubbing my neck to see the person. When I saw a floating blue prism like robot, I froze. It had a single white eye in the middle and it did a happy flip followed by the rear half rotating. Then it seemed to notice my confusion. “Oh right. Sorry about all this and I know this is very confusing for you but I’ll just sum it up. I’m your Ghost now and you’ve been dead for a very, very long time. But now we need you.” I opened my mouth to speak but all that came out were hoarse squeaks. I furrowed my brow and tried again and was able to force out a few words. “What do you mean?” His glowing eye blinked with a quiet click. “Our situation is a rather dire one. You see after the Golden Age came the Collapse and that nearly wiped out humanity and the last of the light. After countless centuries the only humans left were in The City. Under the protection of the Traveler we slowly began to rebuild. But in the last decades the Darkness has grown stronger. Luckily I found you and since you were from the Golden Age you can give us important information.” “Umm…ok?” I was a little overwhelmed by all the talking and questioning. “Where am I exactly?” “You’re in the extreme outskirts of The City's safe zone. I don’t know how you died or what you were doing but it’s a good thing you were so close. Do you remember why you died out here?” He did another rotation and a click. “I was…I…” Memories came flooding back. I remembered why I rushed desperately to The City. But I was with someone. Someone I would give my life for. I wildly ran around shouting. “ALLISION!! ALLISON!!” My Ghost chased after me. “Calm down you’re going to alert the Fallen!” I didn’t hear him and continued to blindly run around yelling her name. In despair I fell to the ground and hot tears escaped my eyes and raced down my face as the last fragment of memory slid into place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We were running for our lives. I gripped my rusted hand cannon even tighter as I heard an inhuman roar not too far behind me. I slid behind a wide rock and sucked in lungful’s of air. A few feet away was Allison also trying to breathe again. We’ve been running since our town was destroyed by the Fallen. It was fifty miles away from The City where the protection of the Traveler was strongest. We were on the run with some other people, but they didn’t make it. Some disappeared and the rest were slaughtered. I peeked out from the rock and nearly got my head blasted off from a sniper. I sucked in a scream as shards of heated rock tore the left side of my face and neck, and blood oozed out. I whipped out a cloth and pressed it to my shredded skin. Allison crawled over when she heard my stifled scream. “Are you okay?!” Her once straight brown hair and tan face were coated in grim and dirt. Her ratty clothes were torn in some places and stained. I could see her desperate fear in her green eyes and trembling lip. “Yeah for now I am.” "Well we have to go now or-" Just then a four-armed Fallen jumped on top of the rock and aimed it's strange gun. I spun around and kicked off the rock to slid away on my back. As I slid, I fired off six shots as the dirt exploded where I was a second ago. The vandal froze as gas leaked out of its chest then it collapsed on the rock. It's arm was draped over the edge and it's rifle slipped out of it's grasp. I looked to Allison. "Are you okay?" She patted her self down and then said. "A little shaken but I'll live." I almost smirked. Even in the end she still had her humor. I turned my attention to my hand cannon. I popped out the cylinder and checked for any more ammo. I was out. "Those were my last bullets." "At least you made them count." Then I did crack a small smile. I bent down and grabbed the Fallen gun and slip the knife in my belt. The gun looked like one of their standard rifles. They shoot slow moving arcs of energy, but home in as I've seen too many times. The grip was a little awkward in my hand since they have only three fingers versus our five. Then another Fallen cry sounded. The smile on my face disappeared and panic took its place. I turned back to Allison and saw a similar change. "Run." We both took off towards The City. I crested a small hill and saw it. The Traveler floated majestically above a small cityscape, but showed signs of recent battles. I turning to Allison with good news when I heard running feet. A softer, faster pair and a loud clanking pair. I did turn and I nearly froze. Allison was running from a Fallen captain. One of its primary arms hung limp at its side with a knife buried to the hilt in its flesh. But the other held a sword the sparked with energy. I raised my stolen rifle and fired a burst of energy. It impacted and a shimmering field around the captain flared then popped. I fired again but it warped a few feet to the right. One of its smaller arms threw a dagger and stuck in my left forearm making me drop the rifle. With out hesitating I ran down to meet them while pulling out the dagger with a spurt of blood. But I was still several meters away. It turned back to Allison and pounced. Time slowed, I threw the dagger but I missed. Then to my horror I saw the sword enter her back and emerge from her chest. She cried out in pain and after a few more agonizing seconds fell off the blood stained sword. I was now only five feet away when the Fallen prepared for its next prey. I leapt as high as I could. I pulled my right fist back and knew this was it. The same sword that killed Allison pierced my own chest. I hung limp suspended the captain's sword and my arm fell to my side. I heard it laugh with another kill. But I felt something flow deep within me. I raised my hand and uncurled my fingers. Purple energy frothed around my hand and I thrust it into the captain’s neck. The laugh died and the body disintegrated away by the purple energy. The lack of Fallen holding me up meant that I was suddenly dropped. Somehow I dragged myself to Allison. But she was already dead. Gently I closed her eyes as tears flowed from my undamaged eye. I heard screams of more Fallen as they came too late to the aid of their captain. I didn't care. They were now all around me and leveled their guns. I never took my gaze off Allison as I murmured her name. At once they all fired and it didn't take long until I was silenced forever.