Rise of A Guardian - A Character Origin Story

1. Eyes Up Guardian

She sat up gasping for air. The woman blinked several times as she tried to clear the dust and debris from her eyes. The earth seemed to settle in every crevice of her body. She felt like aged leather as she forced her body to sit up.

"Guardian!" Her ears faintly caught a small but loud voice.

"Guardian, I'm so excited I finally found you." the voice shivered with excitement.

"Where am I?" she squinted, struggling to gain a clearer picture of the surroundings" who are you?"

"I'm your ghost," the little floating robot said "Look I have no time to explain right now. We need to get moving. Fallen are crawling all over this place. Let's move to that building we'll be safe there."

The woman shakily got to her feet and tried to balance in her boots. The hot dusty air began to fill her lungs. She coughed hard to expel it. Just then a loud terrifying shriek filled the air. A chill ran up her spine as she turned to locate the being.

"Run!" the ghost yelled.

The woman gathered all her strength and sprinted in the direction of the building. Rusted cars, bones, and rubble littered the area. The parched ground pounded in her ears with each heavy step she took. She tried to focus on the dilapidated building in their path to distract from the pain in every part of her body.

Once inside she collapsed against the side of an old rusted oil drum.

"I'm so tired." She gasped trying to catch her breath.

"I know you're tired. There's a ship a few yards away. I can get us to the city, but I need you to keep moving." the ghost said gently but urgently.

The woman heard heavy metal-clad footsteps approaching them.

"This way!" the little robot yelled.

The two made it to an open room with a roof that was partially missing. An old Arcadia class jump ship that had seen better days hung suspended in the air. "I can make this work." the ghost assured her.

Just then a menacing Fallen Captain tore through the wall with his sights set on the newly resurrected woman. Two of his arms steadied himself while he used the other two to steady his rifle as he aimed to take a shot at the woman.

"Not today!" the ghost taunted and immediately trans matted her newly found Guardian onto the ship and took off.

The woman sat in silence curiously staring at the floating machine who confidently navigated the ship's controls. The ghost was pointy on all sides and had one blue optical eye. She was beautiful and obvious the handiwork of someone very skilled. As impossible as it seemed the machine looked a weary and aged. It was as if she had lived many lifetimes.

"Where are you taking me?" the woman inquired staring at the control panel.

"To the last city. There are other Guardians like you who live there. The Vanguard will take exceptionally good care of you."

"Why do you keep calling me Guardian. I don't even know what that means." the woman spoke.

"It means" the ghost paused" It means that you have been chosen by the Traveler to wield the light and protect the last of humanity."

The woman laughed softly flashing her bright white teeth.

"Me? A protector." She leaned forward resting her boney elbows on her knees.

"I know it may be a bit hard to understand right now but it will all make sense soon." the ghost floated over to the woman" I promise you will get the answers you seek."

The woman leaned back and looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a pair of dark blue denim jeans with a faded red smock over her clothes. The leather messenger bag looked singed as if it had caught on fire.

"What was I doing out there?" she asked looking up at the ghost.

"I'm not entirely sure." the ghost said quietly. She had an idea but wasn't sure the woman was ready to hear it. Sometimes Guardians who were newly resurrected would become frightened if given too much information all at once. The ghost felt so strongly about her new partner she couldn't risk losing what she had been searching for so many centuries.

Almost as soon as the words left the ghost the pair landed at the Tower hangar.

"Welcome to the tower. Home of the Guardians." the ghost said as if it were smiling.

They stepped off the old rusted ship and onto the polished hangar floor. There was so much happening. Ships were coming and going, workers were repairing vehicles as impressively dressed soldiers walked around. The hum of the hangar overwhelming her senses.

"Wow, these soldiers look amazing." the woman admired.

"They ain't soldiers." a friendly voice came from behind her.

She turned to see a young blonde woman wiping her greasy hands on her blue coveralls. Her hair was cut short possibly to avoid getting in the way of her manual labor.

"They're Guardians and let me guess you're a newbie." Amanda smiled brightly as she brushed her blonde hair from her eyes" I'm Amanda."

"Yes, found her in the Cosmodrome." the ghost sounded proud of herself.

The ghost watched as Amanda continued to create a conversation with her guardian. Amanda was almost always the first-person new Guardians encountered. She was always warm and inviting.

"Seems we've got quite a bit of you coming in lately." Amanda chuckled.

"It's nice to meet you." The guardian yawned "excuse me but I need some sleep."

"We better take you to meet the Vanguard first. They're gonna wanna take a look at ya. Where you from?" Amanda asked.

"I don't know, I really can't remember anything." she winced.

"Maybe you've got something in that bag." Amanda motioned with her head.

She opened the bag and rummaged around. There was a pink wallet and upon opening it a small wallet fell out.

"Says my name is Rory Acres and I'm from a place called Texas."

"Hey, that's where my ancestry is from. I hate to tell you, but Texas isn't the same..."Amanda's voice trailed off.

The ghost shook her body as if to say no to Amanda. This was no time to get into something that could be saved for later.

"Well, we can save that story for another time." the ghost tried to change the subject.

"I know for a fact Zavala is gonna wanna see ya so get on up there. Glad that you're here. "

With that, they made their way to the command center.

------------------------