Before the Wall: A Destiny Story - Chapter 1
Story by Axel the Silver fox on SoFurry
Another destiny fan-fiction I'm working on
Warmth...
Enveloping... Surrounding... All-encompassing...and then...
Light...
Brilliant... Blinding... Piercing the surrounding darkness...
"At last! I've got you!" a voice calls, echoing through the void. Then finally...
Life...
With a pulse of bright, warm white light a still figure upon the ground gasped to life, hands reaching upwards towards the ceiling of the dim metal room he found himself in. His vision was hazy, but clearing quickly. As the fog was lifted from him, he could make out a small floating mechanical object floating above him, gazing down at him with a single glowing blue eye. The man below it continues to gasp for air, as though his lungs have not taken in Oxygen for a millennia or more. Given a few moments however, his breathing steadies, and the sounds of his gasps are replaced by the sound of a distinguishable male mechanical voice.
"Welcome back, Guardian." the floating object says as it stares down at him.
His own glowing blue eyes do not return the mechanical object's gaze however. Rather, they begin to peer at his surroundings for a brief moment. What he sees are bodies, many years dead, scattered around the dim metal room he found himself in. Naught remained but bones and the space suits they had been wearing. Strangely this sight did not shock the man laying below the floating object, and after a few moments longer his gaze returned to the object above him.
"What did you call me?" his voice rang out, deep and regal in tone.
"I called you what you are, a Guardian." the floating object responded.
"I don't understand..." the man below it began only to be cut off by the object above him.
"You've been dead a very long time now, and I have been looking for you a very long time as well. You are a Guardian, chosen by the Traveler and gifted with its light."
"Traveler? Light?" the man repeated questioningly, his expression becoming more and more confused by the moment.
"There is much to explain, but now is not the time nor place. A lot has changed since the time when you lived, and right now we are in danger. We must go, now." the floating object said with a commanding tone. "Get up, now."
The man seemed far from satisfied by the objects response, but for now he did as it wished and slowly rolled to his side before slowly climbing to his feet and dusting himself off. As he did so, he realized he wore the same armor like space suit as the other dead bodies around him did, and also that he was quite tall, at least six and a half feet. As his eyes adjusted further to the dim light filtering into the room from several cracks in the metal structure of whatever this was that he was in, he noticed a doorway along the back wall of the room and began walking towards it, the floating object following closely behind him.
"Hurry now, we need to get out of here before they come back." it said, a hint of urgency sounding in its mechanical voice.
"Who's they?" the man asked as they made their way through the doorway and into a long metal hallway running perpendicular to the room they had just exited with light filtering in from a doorway on the far right side.
Just then he'd hear a loud other-worldly sounding yell of a very garbled sounding alien language from the far left end of the hallway, causing him to turn his gaze upon a thin four-armed figure with four glowing blue eyes and a strange looking weapon held at its side standing there seeming to glare at the two of them.
"The Fallen! Run!" the floating object commanded urgently.
This time with no hesitation the man turned and began to run towards the doorway at the far right side of the long hallway, his footsteps pounding heavily on the metal floor. Suddenly he heard an electrical 'Buzz' whizz past his head as a few glowing electrical projectiles barely missed him and impacted the metal walls of the hallway around him.
"He's shooting at us!" the man cried as he ran that much harder towards the doorway to the outside world at the end of the hallway.
"Uh, yeah! That's why we're running!" the object retorted curtly as the two of them passed through the doorway and found themselves outside and exposed to the sun above.
The man quickly took in his surroundings. The region was arrid, red sand in all directions. Upon the horizon to the north, he could see the beginnings of what looked to be a city of some sort, or at least the ruins of what used to be a city. Without a second though, he changed directions and began sprinting towards the city, the angry cries of the Fallen echoing from inside of what he could now see had been the wreckage of some sort of large space ship.
"If we make it to that city alive, you owe me answers!" the man huffed as he continued to sprint towards the city.
The object moved to hover alongside of him as he sprinted and seemed to nod, at least as much as a floating mechanical orb can. "You get us there alive and I'll tell you whatever you wish to know. Think they're coming after us?"
"Not turning around to find out!" the man retorted curtly.
And so the two fled towards the city, the man running until his legs had nearly given out on him. the fallen had given up the chase long ago, and he collapsed onto the red dirt of the landscape gasping for breath much as he had when he had first awoken. The city was now only about five miles away from the two of them, they'd be able to reach it by nightfall. The man heard a mechanical whirr near his head and looked up to see the floating object staring down at him.
"What?" he demanded.
"Nothing, I'm rather impressed you made it this far without a break. Most newly risen are relatively weak for their first few days, not used to being among the living again." the object replied.
"Ummm...thanks...I think." the man replied. "What do I call you anyway?"
"I am a ghost, one of many created by the traveler to seek out Guardians that can use its light." the ghost replied. "And....what about you? What should I call you?"
The man's brow furrowed as he ran his gloved right hand through his ear-length silvery hair. "Nix." he'd reply after a short pause.
"Alright Nix, when you're ready lead the way. This place gets more dangerous at night." the Ghost replied.
"Outstanding...." Nix retorted, getting back to his feet with a huff and beginning the long walk towards the city, ghost hovering quietly after him.....
-To be continued-