Revived

Pain. All Thasvan had felt for the past few days was a mind-numbing, horrible sense of pain radiating from his crushed and mangled legs. Only days prior he had been helping barely seven-year-old children onto escape pods. Only days prior he was holding the hands of crying and scared children as he ran through the corridors. He was so close to entering one himself when the ship around him groaned and shook. He was jolted to the side as the ship hit the ground roughly.. But within moments the room around him exploded into a cacophony of sound and lights. He knew he had to run, as the ceiling above him was creaking and threatening to cave in on him.. But he was too late. He barely managed to leap out of the way, his legs becoming pinned under the titanium that ripped through the seemingly flimsy ceiling. He screamed, the agonizing pain that flared from his desecrated legs causing his vision to blur. Yet he still remained alive and conscious enough to feel every agonizing second. He clawed at the floor, clawed at his legs, screamed his voice raw as he tried his best to pull his way free from the tons of metal. And soon he found himself lying there, the metallic taste of blood in his mouth the only thing he could focus on other than the agonizing pain coming from his legs. In the three days that followed Thasvan drifted in and out of consciousness. When he was awake he was either groaning in pain or silently thinking to himself. He could no longer scream as his throat was too raw.. His fingers were torn to shreds from when he had been clawing at the floor and his pinned legs, his hair was disheveled, and he could almost feel his body weakening with hunger and thirst. If he weren't too focused on the pain or taste of blood he would have noticed the camping pains in his stomach and the dryness of his throat. He would have noticed that he became more gaunt as the days ticked by. And yet he remained alive. When he was lucid enough to think he found himself surprised at the fact that he wasn't going into shock. He kept thinking 'Why me. Why me of all people? I dedicate my life to teaching children how to live better lives, take care of and love one another. I dedicate my life to helping others and this is what happens? This is the thanks I get?' If he had the strength to, he would have laughed, he maybe would have cried. All he could muster was a forced, feeble little smile. It was on the third day that he heard footsteps. At first he thought it was help. He thought they were other humans coming to rescue him. He cried out weakly, barely lifting his head from the floor.. But what arrived was not human. It was horrific. Nothing he had ever seen before. As it approached he realized that the heavy, clunking footsteps did not belong to a human, and he soon realized why. The creature was metallic, the cold, dark metal reflecting the crackling sparks in the corners of the room. The bright, red eye in the center of it's horrible face stared directly down at him. He knew that if it could comprehend emotion it would have pitied him. It almost seemed to regard him with a machine-like curiosity, soon being joined by two others of it's kind. Thasvan stared up at the creatures, not seeming to comprehend the scene in front of him. What were these creatures? He could only think of one word.. "Monster". An apt name he thought as the creatures advanced, one of them lifting it's arm stiffly to aim a weapon at him. Thasvan's gaze flickered to the weapon, a morbid clarity dawning on him. He was going to die. He almost seemed to welcome the thought after the initial horror wore off… At least the pain would stop. But his thoughts were cut short by a loud bang, and after a shudder the body fell still.

One bright little light floated into the abandoned aft of a desecrated colony ship, chirping and twitching as he scanned rusted parts of metal and cracked solar panels. He still didn’t feel any certain, definitive pull to anything...he was a newer Ghost, but in the short time he’d been created, everyone he’d talked to had told him his sole purpose was to find a Guardian. To find someone to gift his light to. Old Ghosts said he’d know it was the one when he felt it- some said it was a pull, others said it was a rush of energy- some just...did it on the spot without thinking. He wanted to think though. He wanted to find just the right person- only- he wasn’t sure who that person would be...would they even be a person? What if it was one of those scary creatures he’d seen gun down other Guardians? A shiver ran through his shell and he swiftly sped down the silent corridor, perking up when he saw the broken mainframe of the colony ship, Failsafe. She was still functioning, if barely. “Failsafe!” He chirped sweetly, floating over to the console. “Friendly Ghost! How are you?” “It’s been literally...two days. You Haven’t been gone long.” “I know! But I haven’t found anything yet, so I thought I’d come over here for help!” “Are you still scanning the entryway?” “You do that every time you come in. You know there’s literally no bodies there, right?” “Yeah-” He admitted, his shell drooping sheepishly. “I mean everybody tells me to just- scan everything just in case…” “That is a foolhardy way to work!” “Also boring. And tedious.” “I don’t think it’s boring! I think it’s exciting! Cause one day I just know I’m gonna feel something! And then I’m gonna have a Guardian! And they’ll be really nice! I think-” “Do you even know what you’re gonna do when you ‘feel something’??” Failsafe questioned incredulously, her console lights flaring orange. “Well- um- uh-” He twittered a moment, his shell fidgeting. “I’m sure I’ll know what to do when it happens!” “That sounds like a lot of guesswork! It’s too bad I cannot compute all the calculations for you! Too many outliers!” “Seeing as there’s like, way too many dead people to possibly count.” “Well...all the dead people I’ve looked at didn’t do me much good.” He gave a mechanical sigh and drifted downwards, settling on a metal rail. Failsafe seemed to twitter for a moment, her cylindrical processing units cranking in thought. “I have an idea!” She announced brightly, making the Ghost startle from his perch. “There is a lot of room on my ship, and three-quarters of it you have not explored! Perhaps you can find someone in my corridors!” “Besides, there’s like...tons of dead people in there anyway.” His bright green eye blinked for a moment, then brightened in hope. “You do?? Which way is it??” “Down this right hall and to the left are multiple branches!” “Oh, thank you Failsafe!! You’re so nice! If I find my Guardian I’ll bring them back here and tell them how amazing you are thank you thank you!!” He called, immediately darting down the corridor. “Wait- you need to be careful around the- Vex constructs…” He was already out of the console room. “Oh dear! I hope he doesn’t get shot!” “That’d make another friend down the drain..” The Ghost bobbed past shifted crates and shattered garden cloches, ducking his way past a curtain of vines that crept through the ceiling. He saw multiple skeletons on the floor and scanned each one, but didn’t feel anything in particular, so he kept moving. As he crept deeper into the dilapidated ship, odd mechanical changes became evident. The rusted steel morphed into bronze-like metal, tendrils of something like silver reached across the dirtied floor, as if infecting the ship with its metallic disease. The farther he went down the hall, the more completely the infection took over everything. He shied away from odd, blinking lights, although he took a pause to look at the odd, bubbly white fluid running through the cracks in the floor. It sparked and sizzled like electricity.. He spun around when he heard heavy, clanking footsteps, and immediately swerved into a tiny crevice in the wall, peeking out just slightly to see what was making the noise. Huge metal beings clomped past him, burning, apathetic red eyes stared down the corridor. He shivered a little as they passed- they were full of Darkness. He kept his shell close to his body, like clutching a blanket close to oneself in fear. Once he was sure they hadn’t noticed him, he flew out of the crevice and past where they’d gone, deeper into the labryinth. The bodies were fewer here, and he wasn’t sure why he was risking going down so far. It was almost like an innate urge drove him down, one he wasn’t familiar with yet. It was only when he came upon the construct that he felt it. He had hovered right into the home of a Vex construct, a computer through which the Vex transported and communicated. In the center of the room, a huge tower loomed, fit together by snaking strands of white matter-thought, pure AI processing in the form of liquid. Streams of the sizzling milk flowed from the construct and pooled in the edges of the room, forming a steaming moat of the stuff. Darkness was thick here- it would have scared him, if he hadn’t felt the pull. It was like a heartbeat, pulsating and staving off the Dark, even in its sleeping state. He hovered for a moment, stock-still in shock before darting into the room. No Vex were inside...yet. He flew to the corners of the room, trying to find where the feeling was strongest. But he couldn’t see any body- any skeleton.. He paused as he came near the right corner, the pulsating was stronger here. He floated lower, closer to the floor...it was coming from underneath-! He swiveled around for a moment before spotting a crack in the half-formed walls, flying directly at it. At first, he was wedged in the gap, but through a lot of strenuous wiggling and exertion he managed to quite literally scrape through, losing one of his wings. But that didn’t matter- he felt the pull, the tug, the sensation he’d been waiting his whole life for. Underneath the metal corruption, he could see the mossy, blackened remains of the ship that it had grown over, engulfing everything in its wake. He darted around broken consoles and portholes, zooming past a sign that read “ESCAPE PODS: ONLY FOR USE IN EMERGENCY”. He saw the roof had entirely collapsed- titanium rebar plunged into the floor, like a dagger through a stick of butter. Shaking in excitement, he floated around the impact of the collapse, and there is where he saw it. A skeleton lying on the floor, its lower half obliterated by the roof jutting into the floor. The skull had a clean, precise hole in the middle of the forehead. He was jittering so much he couldn’t even fly straight, then and there he just wanted to swallow him whole in Light, to bathe him and explode in brilliance- but he physically restrained himself. He wanted to make sure. He wanted to know it was the one. Ever so delicately he hovered, just above the ribcage. And there, he could feel it. Compassion, love, sacrifice. This one had died for the sake of others. This one would be noble. This one would be pure. He could stand it no longer. In the next second he let himself explode with Light, he found himself taken over by an exuberance and energy he’d never known before. All the colors of the rainbow bounced off the surroundings walls and cascaded upon the body, swathing everything in brilliant, beautiful Light. Bone reknit to tendon, tendon reknit to muscle, muscle reknit to skin. He laughed in excitement, out of pure ecstacy. With a gasp, he closed again, his work finished. A whole human laid before him, donned in simple, woven armor as a gift from the Light. He hadn’t gifted him his helmet quite yet though- he wanted to see his face...and it was a kind one. He looked so calm, asleep. So noble. He giggled with glee and then he let the helmet appear, finishing his last touches. “Guardian!!” He chirped in a shaky, ecstatic voice- a voice of someone who’d never thought their greatest dream would come true. “Wake up-” The figure stirred, then sat up slowly, as if someone who was waking up from a very long, dream-filled sleep. He paused, then took note of his surroundings, then the very bright, blinking eye in front of him. “What-” His voice was dry- unused. He cleared his throat, trying to form words again. He found he could form sentences and thought in his mind, but he had no recollection of anything before seeing this floating..machine. “What happened-...Who are you??” “I’m your Ghost!!” He squeaked so excitedly, having waited to say those words all his life. “And I brought you to life!” “You...what? Who am I-?” He took pause, looking down at his gloved hands to flex them. “You’re a Guardian!” The Ghost chirped again, ever-so-helpful. “Like I said- I made you alive again! You were dead at first. Right under that big collapse, see?” He directed his gaze to the crushed floor, frowning for a moment. “Then what...what am I supposed to do?” “We’re gonna save people together!!” The Ghost clicked excitedly, and the statement stirred something in him. Saving. He felt as if that was, in fact, what he was supposed to do. It was his purpose. He nodded slowly, then stood up, experimenting and stretching out his limbs. “Where do we go then? Where are we?” That’s when the Ghost stopped acting so excited. “Oh- right- I forgot...uhm- we’re in a not-so-nice place- with- not-so-nice bad guys..” “Bad guys?” “They’re not gonna like you- they’re gonna wanna hurt you.” He said as a matter-of-fact, and the Guardian frowned. “What am I supposed to do against that?” “Here- I’m sure there’s some kind of weapon around here! This is an old ship, and if I’ve learned anything, old ships have cool old weapons!” He zipped around the decayed room until he came upon an old storage chest. “Here! Try cracking this open.” The figure paused, then went over- staring at it for a second before rapping it with a fist. “No no silly! You’re a Guardian- which means you’ve gotta lotta strength! Just- break it open!” After a moment he took that into consideration, and, raising a fist, splintered the lid right off the crate. He couldn’t help but smile faintly at the mechanical giggling beside him, staring down at the assortment of guns in the crate. “There you go! Take a few!” He hovered above the weapons. “Trigger makes it fire, you cock it with that, and reload goes in there!” The Guardian frowned a little at the crash-course gun safety lesson, trying to figure it out for himself when he shot a hole into the floor and dropped the weapon with a clang. The Ghost squeaked and stared at the weapon for a minute, then looked at the Guardian, who’d fallen clean off his feet. “Yep- they do that!” He laughed, then gave his helmet a little bonk, encouraging him to get back to his feet. He stopped mid-giggle however, hearing the familiar inquisitive coo of a Vex above them. “Oh no-” His shell tucked tight against his body and he quickly nudged the Guardian’s arm, urging him to pick up the weapon. “They heard that, we need to go-” “Who’s they??” The Guardian complied anyway, confused as he was, scooping up the weapon and following the anxious light over to where he’d squeezed through. “I squeezed through this crack to get to you- but you’re too big to fit through.. You’re gonna have to shoot your way out.” He motioned at the weapon in his hand, and the Guardian looked at it, contemplative for a moment before he aimed it at the floor above them. Several loud bangs ricocheted off the metal before he managed to blast the crack open wide enough to crawl through. As soon as he’d clambered out of the man-made hole however, he was met by several, blinking crimson eyes. The Ghost squeaked and de-materialized, and the Guardian flinched in shock. “Don’t worry!” The voice chimed in his ear. “I’m still here- I’m just safe inside your...I guess you could call it a backpack?? I don’t want to get shot-!” The metal beasts raised their own weapons, flickering lights primed to fire. His stomach clenched. The feeling was frighteningly familiar, and he didn’t understand it. He almost felt the urge to just...lie there and take it. “Shoot them!!” The squealing words stung in his ear and he thrust his gun upward almost on reflex, sending a few rounds straight through the Vex in front of him. It staggered and fell with a strangled cry, and immediately the rest began to fire. Almost on instinct, he rolled back behind an outcropping of metal, his heart pounding in his ears. “Now what?!” He breathed hoarsely, his hands gripping his weapon tightly to his chest. “Those white areas in their stomachs- that’s the weak point- shoot them there and you’ll cripple them.” The Ghost explained, twittering anxiously. “I know this isn’t the best, but I found you in the middle of a whole bunch of bad guys- like- a bad guy nest. These ones are called the Vex- but I’ll tell you more when we get to safety-” He squeaked as a purple grenade flew over their heads. The Guardian clenched his jaw in resolve and flung himself out from behind cover, aiming as best he could for the white underbellies of those hideous creatures as he fired left and right. “Yes!!” He couldn’t help feeling proud of himself as his Ghost crowed triumphantly, quickly ambling down the hall of white and bronze. He could see some kind of exit, a place where plants began to grow, and the infection died out. He just had to reach it- A searing pain shot through his shoulder and he yelped, toppling to the ground. “Guardian!!” His Ghost cried out, and he rolled onto his back, trying to breathe through the shooting pain in his arm. A scarily familiar Vex marched up to him, weapon primed. He felt a sense of deja vu wash over him...it would shoot, and he would die. No sooner had the thought left his mind, then came the cracking noise of the weapon, and his world faded into nothing. … And then it came back. He gasped and sat up, light flooding his vision before he found himself staring up at the confused Vex again. A million thoughts ran through his head all at once. He’d been shot. He’d been killed. ….And yet here he was, no more pain, as if nothing had ever happened. As if time rewound itself. He almost felt...invincible. The thought sent a rush of coursing energy through his body and he found himself leaping to his feet, fire surging through his veins. It felt so natural as he extended his arm, a hand cannon of pure flame and light forming in his grip. The Vex attempted to shoot again, but this time he felt no pain. He only laughed it off and with a shot, bang, the monster’s body evaporated into ash. He stood there for a moment, in awe of what he’d just done. The flames melted away and he stared down at his hands, trembling slightly. “...What- what just happened-” “That was your super-” His Ghost seemed almost equally in awe. “You just did your first super!!!” “What’s a super??” “It’s where you harness your light! To like- blow LOTS of bad guys up!! Like you just did!! That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!!” His Ghost giggled hysterically, materializing just to do a little loop in the air. The Guardian took another pause. “But...how come I’m alive- how- why didn’t I die?” “Oh, you did- but with me, I can bring you back to life again- like I did the first time!” “But- I remembered being dead that time-” “Well yeah, you’ll remember now- but now you won’t have to worry about it! With me around, you won’t ever have to die for good again!” He paused, staring his little Ghost in the eye for a moment. He remembered the tangible fear, the deja vu he’d felt when that creature had him point-blank. But now it didn’t seem so bad...the concept of death almost seemed..harmless now. “C’mon then!” The Ghost bonked his helmet gently, shaking him out of his stupor. “I’ve got someone you’ll wanna meet!” Excitedly, he led his Guardian down the rest of the hall, chattering cheerily all the way. “...You see, there’s a bunch of other Guardians and Ghosts like me, and we’re gonna do a lot of good stuff! We’re gonna protect the rest of humanity from allllll the bad guys that want to kill them! And we protect the Traveler! That’s the thing that made me, y’know! There’s also different kinds of Guardians! I’m pretty sure you’re a Hunter though, because you pulled out a Golden Gun! It was the coolest Golden Gun i’ve seen in my life, and it’s not just cause you’re my Guardian either, it was just really really cool-” He stopped when they came to a familiar console, perking up. “Failsafe!!!” He squealed in delight, floating over to the computer. The Guardian tilted his head in confusion. “Oh, this is Failsafe, she’s a computer, so she can hear you- don’t worry! Failsafe, I would like you to meet my Guardian!!” He giggled and did circles in the air, before settling next to the Guardian’s shoulder, fidgeting excitedly. “Hello Friendly Ghost! I am so glad to see you alive! I was worried you had been destroyed! And hello, Ghost’s Guardian! You must be Thasvan Leolyn- I have you in my register!” “It’s uh...weird to see you alive again. Considering you were like, dead and all.” “...My name is Thasvan?” He inquired, glancing at his Ghost. “Huh- I guess so-! I was just gonna call you dad, since that seems to be a popular authority term.” “Friendly Ghost, you can’t call him dad, that refers to a biological parental figure!” “Yeah, your dad would be like...the Traveler.” “I can call him dad if I want to! Everybody else can use Thasvan fine and dandy but I think dad sounds better.” “Suit yourself.” “What do I call you, then?” Thasvan turned his head to the Ghost, arms at his sides. His Ghost blinked in surprise, spinning his shell for a moment. “Oh-! I...never thought of that- everyone just calls me Ghost- but I guess there’s also a lot of other Ghosts out there too..” He mused, settling down on his little rail perch to think. Failsafe’s motors hummed for a moment, then she made a beeping noise. “It says here in my files that Thasvan Leolyn was a kindergarten teacher. His star student was a child by the name of Gailen Virren!” “So you could use that- if it’s not too weird or anything, I guess.” “Gailen.” Thasvan nodded slightly, crossing his arms. “Gailen is...nice.” “Okay!” The Ghost beamed, zipping back over to Thasvan’s side. “Call me Gailen then.”