Wake Up Guardian
“Guardian? Guardian! Can you hear me? Wake up!”
I recognize the voice of my ghost as I begin to regain consciousness. Sitting up I shook my head to clear the grogginess from my mind. Looking toward him I was taken aback by his rusted exterior and faded paint. Usually, I try my best to maintain his shell but it looks like something bad happened. I moved to stand up and he floated up to match my height. It only takes me a second to realize that I can’t remember what happened. So I ask the most obvious question that comes to mind.
“What happened?” I almost recoiled at the grinding of my throat as I asked. Though Ghost quickly remedies this with some quick healing to my body. I immediately felt refreshed.
“To answer your question, I don’t know either. And before you ask, I don’t know where we are either. There’s a blank in my memory where the information we need should be.”
I shake my head at this. Looking down I realize that I am not in my usual gear. It’s like I’ve been downgraded to the basic bitch setup I first woke up with when I became a guardian. But it’s still better than when I started. It’s slightly more protective and I at least still have my weapons with me. Next on the list, I need to look over the actual condition of everything. Weapons break down, and apparently, something happened to Ghost.
“Status?” His light dims for a moment before a few clicks sound. His body rotates like a Rubix Cube a few times before he turns back to me.
“I appear to be operating correctly. And we still have our connection to the light that the traveler gives off, even though there doesn’t appear to be any readings of its light anywhere in the vicinity. Your weapons seem OK, though we lack ammo. Your powers should work at the very least though.”
OK, at least that’s a good thing. I hold out my hand and he hovers over to it. Then I perform the motion of bringing him into me. It’s sort of like a storage thing that a guardian’s ghost can do. That way they aren’t out in the open where they can get destroyed.
Looking around to quickly get my bearings tells me that we are in a forest. And judging by the noises I’m hearing it is likely hazardous flora AND fauna out here... Quickly turning on my heel I start sprinting away from the noises as silently as I can. I am, after all, a hunter. Keeping low I eventually spot a light emanating from a tree. Slowly approaching it I peered into a window. The first thing I noticed was the giant cauldron in the center of the room. The second thing I noticed was the Zebra looking thing standing over it mixing stuff in while chanting some sort of rhyme. I didn’t bother trying to understand it, instead, I breathed a sigh of relief that at least it spoke a language I could understand, Then I moved toward the front door.
Raising my fist I did a classic knock that I can only slightly remember from before I became a guardian. I hear some shuffling, and then the door in front of me clicks and opens slightly. Then the Zebra pokes its head out before coming all the way out. They scan me up and down before speaking.
“Ah, well hello to you. What is it for you that I can do?”
Waving my hand I bring ghost out. I normally keep quiet, I’m not great with the whole social thing. I only really talk when it’s to Ghost, or to a commanding officer. Other times Ghost usually handles it. The Zebra kinda backs up a little as Ghost manifests in midair, then calms down as it realizes it’s not a threat.
“Well hello, little sprite of flight, what brings you here this night?”
Sprite? Hah, this must be some backwater world for stuff like that to still be talked about. Either way, Ghost doesn’t take long to respond.
“What brings us here is something we’re still trying to figure out. Last thing either of us remembers we were fighting aboard a Cabal Warship and then suddenly the whole place lights up in an explosion. Next thing we knew we were waking up in the forest a little while away from your little home here.”
This seems to confuse the Zebra a little bit but she doesn’t press further. Instead, she offers us a bit of advice.
“For this, I don’t have an answer, for your story sounds like quite the hazard. But down the road you may just find, the one to help you in your bind. A town deemed friendly you soon shall find. But do be careful for they are blind. They believe the strange are danger, but soon shall see they need to change their behavior.”
Jesus christ lady rhyme much? I was tempted to say something when suddenly Ghost piped up.
“Thanks for the directions miss?”
“Zecora”
“Right, Thanks for the directions Zecora, we’ll be on our way now.”
Wait those were directions? I make my confusion clear by spreading my arms and tilting my head. He just flies into my chest and disappears to speak in my head.
“I know it was a lot to follow but basically what she said is there’s a town down the road that might help us but to be careful because they think creatures out of the ordinary are dangerous. And I guess we count as that. We just gotta make them see we are friendly, then they will change their behavior.”
Jesus christ he got all that from that? Well OK then. Off to the town it is then. Quickly darting off into the trees again I made sure to keep fast and low as we followed the road Zecora mentioned. Of course, I never spent too long in the open. When we got to the edge of the forest I felt around with my power to see if I could summon my Sparrow. A Sparrow is basically a hoverbike. And remarkably, it worked! My sparrow appeared in a flash of white light directly in front of my outstretched hand. Well, a few feet actually but you get the point. Quickly hopping on I Revved the throttle and to my surprise, it actually worked, Even though it, much like Ghost. Was also covered in rust and faded paint. After the successful test I fired up the engines all the way and we sped off across the grass towards what looked like a little medieval village.