Tesni Jarmila blinked.<\/p>\n
The scene before her: an island shore, crashing waves, and washed up bits of wreckage large and small\u2026 It all made some sort of sense\u2026 didn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
The tall, blue-skinned woman took in and released a series of shaky breaths as she looked a little to her left, then a little to her right, then straight ahead once more. There was nothing to see except the bright sandy beach, the rusted scraps of washed up metal, and the glistening water that stretched out to the horizon. She watched the next wave wash in, closer and closer towards her until it swept gently\u00a0over her\u2026 armored boots?! She\u2019d never owned these! Her hands, too, were encased in thick, protective gloves. She\u2019d never worn these! Something similar maybe, tattered and torn, but not these! It only took a moment for her troubled mind to realize she was entirely suited in heavy armor the likes of which she\u2019d never seen before!<\/p>\n
The last things she remembered were a boat, overflowing with people\u2026 refugees\u2026 and herself, firing a rifle at something largely unseen across the water, through the black of night\u2026 It must have fired back\u2026 and been bigger\u2026 There was an explosion. Bodies and debris flew then splashed in the darkness. Then another flash and\u2026 she\u2019d been thrown into the air and gone under too!<\/p>\n
The unwanted memory knocked Tesni back onto the sand, had her scrambling backwards away from the wave until her back pressed up against something hard and segmented\u2026 a rock, or a tree maybe\u2026 that prevented her further retreat.<\/p>\n
She clenched her eyes shut and dug her fingers into the soft dirt as she remembered and felt<\/em> her own final moments. There was pain, intense pain and darkness, and the heavy, semi-restricted feeling of being immersed in and surrounded by water. There was no up, or down, or escape. At first she\u2019d thrashed and struggled\u2026 as best she could\u2026 with which of her limbs remained\u2026 but it was no use. She\u2019d given up. And then\u2026. and then\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cKeep calm, Guardian,\u201d an articulate voice urged her in the present.<\/p>\n \u2026and then there was a sense of calm<\/em>, of serenity even. After everything she\u2019d been through she was finally done. Done with searching. Done with fighting. Done with suffering. Done with protecting. Done with surviving\u2026 She\u2019d closed her eyes and almost relaxed. Some small part of her had still been in panic, but mostly\u2026 For a few brief seconds, she\u2019d actually enjoyed the warmth of the water, and the way the currents had pushed and pulled on her as waves rolled by somewhere unseen overhead. \u2018No one can hurt me now<\/em>,\u2019 she remembered thinking just before the end. And then\u2026 she\u2019d Awoken here!<\/p>\n \u201cEverything will be all right,\u201d the nearby voice reassured her amongst a distracting backdrop of electronic clicks and distortions. \u201cThe City you were hoping to find back then? It\u2019s just found you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBack\u2026 then\u2026?\u201d Tesni asked as she opened her eyes. She was expecting to find a person kneeling in front of her. Instead she saw a piece of\u2026 floating geometry. That\u2019s what it was, floating geometry, all angles and interlocking pieces hanging effortlessly in the air… with a single expressive eye marking its center.<\/p>\n \u201cYou died a long time ago, centuries ago, but I brought you back,\u201d the strange machine said, moving and pulsing slightly with each word it spoke.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a Ghost. Now, I\u2019m your Ghost,\u201d it explained unhelpfully.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. Why bring me back?\u201d Tesni asked as she examined her intact<\/em> gloved hand and armored legs more closely.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Darkness, the thing that nearly wiped us out, is coming back. Guardians, people like you, have the power to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n Tesni sighed in disbelief. \u201cThe Darkness\u2026 it’s real?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n Her Ghost nodded but she just scoffed.<\/p>\n \u2018The Darkness\u2019 had just been an unimaginative way to explain the wars that had engulfed the world after a great conflict or tragedy had torn apart civilization. The fictional idea had come from the same places as legends of ancient marathons, or myths of light speed travel, or the demon-like oni, or\u2026 she laughed a little inside… angels with glowing halos. But if Darkness was real, that meant that The City was real\u2026 and The Traveler? It was real too? The legends were\u00a0true?! She brought a hand up to cover her mouth as tears pooled in her brightly colored eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d\u2026 always hoped. It\u2019s why we fought and ran\u2026 But I never really thought\u2026 It was just, any place was better than where we were\u2026\u201d she said as she began to cry. \u201cHow close did I\u2026 did we\u2026 get?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNot as close as some, but closer than many,\u201d her Ghost replied. It turned to gaze seaward and said, \u201cYour ride\u2019s almost here.\u201d<\/p>\n Sure enough, an unfamiliar aircraft had just appeared on the horizon, racing towards her, keeping low over the water. A minute later it hovered over the beach then sat down, it\u2019s engines at idle, waiting for her. Tesni wiped her eyes and clenched her jaw. She\u2019d always been strong, no matter the situation. She\u2019d stared down warlords, escorted families, broken through ambushes, and given hope of a safe city even when she herself hadn\u2019t truly believed. After all that, now didn\u2019t seem like a very good time to show weakness.<\/p>\n \u201cWelcome aboard, Guardian,\u201d one of the pilots greeted her as she hauled herself up into the back of the waiting aircraft.<\/p>\n \u201cHappy to be here,\u201d Tesni replied, meaning it. \u201cNow, take me home,\u201d she ordered, \u201cI\u2019d like to see The Traveler.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes ma\u2019am,\u201d the pilot replied.<\/p>\n The sight of it, hours later, peaking up over the horizon as they got close, and then the sight of it gleaming above The Last Safe City\u2026<\/p>\n It was everything the legends said it would be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tesni Jarmila blinked. The scene before her: an island shore, crashing waves, and washed up bits of wreckage large and small\u2026 It all made some sort of sense\u2026 didn\u2019t it? The tall, blue-skinned woman took in and released a series of shaky breaths as she looked a little to her left, then a little to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[101,106,16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":794,"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/destiny.bungie.org\/fanfic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}